20 DIFFERENT USES FOR A RASPBERRY PI

20 DIFFERENT USES FOR A RASPBERRY PI

1.    DESKTOP PC

Let’s start with the simplest use for a Raspberry Pi: a desktop computer. This makes sense in several ways, not least because this project ensures you have almost all of the equipment you’ll need for your Raspberry Pi.

Along with the Pi itself, the microSD card, and power supply, you’ll need a HDMI cable and a suitable display. As with a traditional computer, you’ll also need a USB keyboard and mouse.

The Raspberry Pi 3 has built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but if you’re using a different model, you’ll need compatible USB dongles (you can check compatibility at elinux.org’s Raspberry Pi Hub). If you prefer to use Ethernet, however, the Pi is equipped with an Ethernet port.

Once you’re set up, and have your preferred operating system installed (unless specified, all of these projects require the latest version of Raspbian), you’ll find all of the tools you need to run your Raspberry Pi like a desktop computer.

2.    WIRELESS PRINT SERVER

If you have an old printer that you really like using, but which cannot be connected to wirelessly, you’re probably inclined to dispose of it safely. But you really don’t need to. All you need is a Raspberry Pi connected to your home network, and some print server software.

This is done by installing the Samba file sharing software, followed by CUPS. The Common Unix Printing System provides drivers for your printer and provides an administration console.

Once this is set up, configure the Pi to ensure any Windows or macOS computers on your home network can access the printer. That’s all there is to it. Note that this really depends on your printer having a USB cable. If it doesn’t, adaptors are available… but if your printer is that old, it should probably be upgraded to something that is cheaper to run.

3.    ADD AIRPRINT SUPPORT TO YOUR PI PRINT SERVER

The above project only takes things so far. It’s ideal for printing from a Windows, Mac or Linux computer, but what about tablets and phones? For that, you’ll need Air Print support, which can be added via a single script.

Although printing is available natively on iOS devices, Android tablets and phones will require a dedicated app. Most new printers offer support for printing from mobile devices. With a Raspberry Pi, you can extend this functionality to older printers!

4.    MEDIA CENTER

While there are no figures, there’s a very strong possibility that the main use for a Raspberry Pi is as a Kodi media center. Available as disk images, several Kodi builds have been released, with OSMC and OpenElec among the most popular.

If you prefer to keep your Raspberry Pi available for other projects, however, Kodi can simply be installed. It can also be added to retro gaming systems (see below). Installing Kodi comes with some caveats, however. Not all add-ons are available, and of those that are, many will be intended to stream pirated content.

As such, we recommend you only install safe and legal add-ons from the official Kodi repositories. But it doesn’t end there. As with any device, a Raspberry Pi running Kodi is vulnerable to some security issues.

5.    RETRO GAMING MACHINE

One of the Raspberry Pi’s most popular uses, the device is ideal as a retro gaming machine. After all, it’s compact and powerful enough to be used in a number of different ways. Not least to fit it as one of the lightest components of a full-sized arcade machine!

Two main options are available for retro gaming, Recalbox and RetroPie. Others can be used, but all will need a suitable controller that will need some initial configuration. So many platforms can be emulated, from classic MS-DOS PC gaming to the Commodore 64, with a number of popular 16-bit games consoles along the way.

But you don’t actually need to emulate games. Some great games can be run on your Raspberry Pi without emulators. A great example is Doom, which can incredibly be installed to run on the Raspberry Pi.

6.    MINECRAFT GAME SERVER

It doesn’t stop with retro gaming. You probably know that your Raspberry Pi’s default operating system, Raspbian, comes with a special version of Minecraft pre-installed. But did you know that your Pi can be used as a game server too?

Most effectively, your Pi makes an excellent game server for Minecraft, housing the world in which you can play from anywhere on your home network. If you have multiple Raspberry Pis, having one as dedicated server will give you a great gaming experience. This works particularly well if you have plenty of Minecraft fans to play with.

Beyond Minecraft, however, other multiplayer network games can be set up on the Raspberry Pi. Open source ports of Quake, Civilization, Doom, Open TTD and even the official version of Windward can be installed as game servers on your Raspberry Pi.

7.    ROBOT CONTROLLER

There are so many robot-controller Raspberry Pi projects that it’s difficult to settle on a single example. You might, for instance, rely on a dedicated robotics package for your Pi, with the device battery powered and used to communicate and control your robot.

Or you might prefer your own design, built from components you already own. Either way, you’ll need to make the right choice of Raspberry Pi, and for robots it can only be the Pi Zero W. This slimline version of the Raspberry Pi features onboard wireless connectivity, making it absolutely ideal for lightweight robots.

It’s noticeably lighter than the Model B+ boards of the Raspberry Pi 2 and 3, and the low profile means it can be placed in the most efficient position, without worrying about USB ports.

Want some inspiration? Our look at film and TV robots that can be built with a Raspberry Pi should help. Otherwise, if you want to get started right away, robot car kits can be bought online.

8.    STOP MOTION CAMERA

Everybody loves stop motion video. From Wallace and Gromit to renowned director Terry Gilliam’s early Monty Python’s Flying Circus work, it never fails to amuse. But how is stop motion made? You can find out with a Raspberry Pi and a dedicated camera module.

Using the Python programming language, a suitable mount (overhead for Gilliam-esque paper craft animation, a standard tripod for clay- or toy-based), and a well-lit area, this is a time-consuming process. Some practice is needed to get good results, and you’ll need to add a sound track.

You’ll also need a breadboard to mount a button (unless you already have a suitable plunger button that can be connected to the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO), and a Python script to snap each image.

9.    TIME LAPSE CAMERA

Combining the Raspberry Pi camera module with a different script creates another use for your Pi: capturing time lapse movies. This is done by taking single frames with a timed delay.

How you then use the Raspberry Pi for photographing time lapse is up to you. You’ll perhaps need a portable battery solution, and a tripod may come in useful again. This time, you may prefer a smartphone tripod (the clamp should fit your Pi’s case perfectly), to keep the device sturdy.

But what should you film? Flowers in the garden, fruit in a bowl, people passing by… perhaps the clouds in the sky, or the changing weather? You’re really only limited by your own imagination, and how far you’re willing to travel to get a good video.

Meanwhile, if your Raspberry Pi isn’t giving you the photo quality you want, or the processing is too slow, why not use it to manage time lapse on your DSLR?

10.FM RADIO STATION

Do you have a message you want to share? Need to communicate with a group or community of people who don’t have access to the internet? The answer is radio: and the Raspberry Pi is capable of broadcasting on the FM band!

Before you hit the link, however, it’s caveat time: broadcasting over FM is illegal without a license. Fortunately, the Pi can only broadcast over a short distance, so you should be able to avoid getting into any trouble. Really, this is a proof of concept project. It might prove useful in some remote part of the world… it’s certainly not suitable for setting up in a city center or suburban neighborhood.

A portable battery solution and soldering skills are required here. Any audio you wish to broadcast will need to be pre-loaded to the microSD card, and played in a loop.

11.WEB SERVER

Another fantastic use for a Raspberry Pi is to set it up as a web server. This basically means that it can be configured to host a website. It might host your blog, for example.

Several methods can be used. You’ll need to get started by installing the right software: Apache and its associated libraries. Or you might install a full LAMP stack, with PHP and MySQL alongside Apache. It’s useful if you also set up FTP.

Once these steps are completed, you can save HTML files into the /www/ directory, and your web server is ready. Or you might install some specific web software like WordPress, or its slimline competitor, Ghost.

To get your website online, using a solution like No-IP.com can get around the lack of a static IP address from your internet provider.

For a more educational approach to creating a website, Google provides the Coder disk image, which teaches HTML, CSS, and JavaScript skills.

12. CREATE A TWITTER BOT

Twitter is full of nonsense. Much of it is courtesy of bots, programs that are created with the intention of posting messages. Some of these are useful; they might be updates from your favorite websites, for instance. Many are annoying, however, or even unpleasant. Most of these automated accounts are just targeted spam.

But there are a few useful things you can do, and rather than utilize an online service to publish these messages, you can use a Python application on your Raspberry Pi. As long as your Pi has a permanent connection to the internet, it’s possible to create a Twitter bot.

You’ll need to register a Twitter app via the Twitter website. This enables access to the Twitter API, which the Twython software will interact with. All you need to do then is specify the type of content to be tweeted (anything from CPU temperature to a randomly selected “quote of the day”), with a cron job ensuring the bot tweets regularly. That’s all there is to it!

But what sort of Twitter bot should you create?

13. BUILD A MOTION CAPTURE SECURITY SYSTEM

Who is trespassing on your property? Who thinks they can break into your room and go through your things? And just what are they doing with your toothbrush?!

The only way to find the answer to these questions is with some sort of security system. With the Raspberry Pi Camera Module attached, or a generic USB webcam, you can build a motion capture security system.

Note that you will need a high capacity microSD card, or a USB storage device, for storing footage from the device.

This Raspberry Pi project combines the motion software with uvccapture, a tool for capturing the footage from your webcam. The ffmpeg software is also used to for managing the bitrate and time lapse. Once it’s all up and running, you can expect the system to start recording whenever motion is detected. Email alerts can also be configured.

 

14. INSPIRING DIGITAL PHOTO FRAME

Off-the-shelf digital photo frames are attractive, if somewhat limited in space, storage, and purpose. What if they could do more than just display your favorite family photos?

Using this build, you can create a digital photo frame that delivers inspiring messages alongside photos of beautiful scenes from around the world. The result is something that dazzles your eyes while making you really think about the message. While we used a Raspberry Pi touchscreen display for this project, any LCD display that can be connected to the Pi should be suitable.

You don’t have to use the project linked to above, either. There are many other great picture frame projects for the Raspberry Pi—you might use these as inspiration for your own project.

15. PHOTOGRAPH THE NIGHT SKY

If stop motion, time lapse, and motion capture security aren’t enough for your Raspberry Pi’s Camera Module, why not try some night photography? For this, you’ll need a Raspberry Pi No-IR Camera Module.

With the IR filter removed, the camera gives better night-time results, letting you photograph what is happening above while you sleep below. This gives you the opportunity to snap stars, meteors, the moon, planets, even UFOs.

For instance, you might use time-lapse photography to track the path of the stars and the moon overnight. Or employ a slow shutter speed to get a trace effect. Whatever your plan for night photography, the Raspberry Pi should suit your requirements perfectly.

16. BUILD A NETWORK MONITORING TOOL

Interested in being able to monitor the devices on your network? Concerned about a lack of connectivity, or want quick notice when your blog or website is offline?

The answer is a network monitoring solution. Several are available, but perhaps the most popular is the open source Nagios tool, which is easy to install and configure. With this installed, you can monitor up time, view a visualization of the devices on your network, and more.

Traditionally, it has been installed on Linux boxes, but in truth, it’s a bit of a waste of a full desktop PC or server. However, it is an ideal use for a Raspberry Pi!

All you need to do is download the Nagios disk image and flash it to your Pi’s SD card. For the best results, use a Raspberry Pi 2 or later for this project, as Nagios can get a bit resource-intensive.

17. YOUR RASPBERRY PI AS A SMART TV

We’ve already looked at Kodi as a media center, but there are more TV-based entertainment projects you can do with a Raspberry Pi. In short, you can turn your standard, dumb TV into a smart TV. As if that wasn’t enough, you can even enhance the features of an existing smart TV!

For a TV to be “smart” it should be able to play media from a USB or flash storage device, stream video from Netflix, YouTube, and similar sites, and offer remote control. This is often from a mobile device when it comes to Raspberry Pi projects. Smart TVs should also offer news and weather, and PVR support, which a Raspberry Pi can manage thanks to a USB TV card.

Beyond Kodi (or in conjunction with it) a Raspberry Pi can be used as a Plex client. This means that you have a PC or server running Plex, and have the RasPlex software installed on your Pi. Browsing the server’s media should be straightforward, enabling you to enjoy all movies, TV shows and music stored upon it.

Meanwhile, the Raspberry Pi 3 can mimic the Google Chromecast thanks to MiracleCast. This means you can “cast” video from your mobile device to your Pi. Pretty handy! Other smart TV projects are available, as you’ll discover.

18. DIY NAS BOX

Want to create your own local network drive? It’s a great idea to have a Network Attached Storage device, if only for browsing from a media center. My personal favorite use is as a network drive where I can store all of my writing projects.

Personal NAS drives are very small, too, which means they can be hidden away in cupboards, or on top of wardrobes. The same is true of a Raspberry Pi NAS, which is simply your Pi connected to an external hard disk drive or high capacity flash storage. You might even use an SSD drive.

You can set this up manually with Samba. It won’t be long before your vital data is stored on your home network drive, freeing up space on your PC. Just remember to back up your NAS drive regularly!

19. A HOME AUTOMATION SYSTEM WITH ARDUINO

The Raspberry Pi makes an ideal brain and interface for a home automation system. You can even use Raspberry Pi to automate your garage door. Coupled with an Arduino, and running the Node.js app Heimcontrol, home automation is made possible via a few remote-controlled radio-enabled mains adapters. Heimcontrol lets you enable or disable any devices plugged into the adapters, via the Raspberry Pi, with signals transmitted by the Arduino.

To be honest, this approach is best taken if you’re looking for a way to familiarize yourself with the basics of home automation. However, if you’re interested in a system that more or less works right away, with smart home automation tools, hardware, and equipment that is already up and running in your home, then teaming up a Raspberry Pi with OpenHAB should work perfectly.

20. BUILD AN AIRPLAY RECEIVER

We’ve already seen how AirPrint support can be added to a Raspberry Pi acting as a wireless print server. Concluding this list, here’s AirPlay in operation, enabling you to turn your Raspberry Pi into a smart speaker. Want to stream audio from your mobile device through a DIY speaker set up?

Utilizing the Pi Music Box dedicated disk image for the Raspberry Pi, and connecting the minicomputer to a suitable speaker (in our example, a combi amp), you can also stream audio directly from the web. Google Music, Spotify, SoundCloud and many other services.

Along with AirPlay, the Pi Music Box uses Spotify Connect, DLNA/OpenHome, and BubbleUPnP, has USB audio support, and compatibility with several Raspberry Pi soundcards.

Huawei P30 - Rebooting Issue and How to Fix it

What to do if Huawei P30 keeps rebooting randomly

What to do if Huawei P30 keeps rebooting randomly | troubleshoot random reboot issue
If you’re looking for a way to troubleshoot a Huawei P30 that keeps rebooting randomly, this article should help. Be sure to follow the troubleshooting steps below.


#1: Perform soft reset - Huawei P30 keeps rebooting randomly fix 
In our years of using several Huawei flagships, there’s been very little incident of our devices experiencing this problem. But if your current P30 keeps rebooting randomly and you have no idea why, the very first thing that you want to do is to ensure that you restart it. You can do that performing a soft reset. This is basically a simulation of the effects of pulling out the battery since you are unable to physically do that. Restarting a device can sometimes do wonders. Try to do a forced reboot by pressing and holding the Power key for 10 to 15 seconds. If your phone works, it should reboot and you should feel a vibration and see the Huawei logo. In case you do not feel the vibration and the screen is still blank, then simply press and hold the Power Key for more time until you see the device restart itself.

If nothing changes after attempting to reboot the device a few times, you can abandon this troubleshooting and proceed to the next ones below.


#2: Clear cache partition - Huawei P30 keeps rebooting randomly fix 
At times, an Android device can encounter all sorts of bugs due to a bad system cache, which is located in the cache partition. This cache is important as the system uses it to load apps quickly. Sometimes, this cache may get corrupted or outdated and if this occurs, troubles may appear. In most cases, the effect will be slow performance issues but in some, a device may be forced to reboot randomly as well. In order to ensure that your phone has good system cache, you can wipe the cache partition where it’s kept. If you haven’t tried it yet, clearing the cache partition on your device must be done at this point. Here’s how to do it:

With your phone turned off, press and hold both the Volume Up and Power buttons simultaneously for at least 10 seconds.
Let go of the buttons when the Honor logo appears.
Shortly after seeing the logo, the EMUI screen shows up with the recovery mode options.
Press the Volume Down button to scroll to and highlight Wipe cache partition option.
Then press the Power button to confirm selection.
Use the Volume buttons to scroll to and highlight the next options and Power button to confirm selection.


#3: Recalibrate battery and OS - Huawei P30 keeps rebooting randomly fix 
Sometimes, an Android device may reboot on its own if the battery and OS are buggy. Power management system is a complex software environment and sometimes, a glitch may affect the OS in reading battery levels. This can sometimes lead to random reboot troubles. To ensure that this does not happen, especially to a new phone, you want to recalibrate the battery and Operating System. Here’s how it’s done:

Drain the battery completely. This means using your device until it powers down by its own and the battery level reads 0%.
Charge the phone until it reaches 100%. Be sure to use original charging equipment for your device and let it charge up completely. Do not unplug your device for at least two more hours and also don’t use it while charging.
After the elapsed time, unplug your device.
Restart the device.
Use your phone until it completely runs out of power again.
Repeat steps 1-5.


#4: Check for overheating - Huawei P30 keeps rebooting randomly fix 
Though the Huawei P30 sports such powerful hardware, it still can freeze or lag for a number of reasons. One of such possible reasons why it may be rebooting on its own right now can be due to overheating. Overheating can be a result of a software glitch, bad hardware, or both. When a system is overheated, it may not work as intended as the system may slow down due to heat, or because of built-in safeguards to protect itself. Because electronics don’t do well with too much heat, manufacturers design phones to slow down or to turn themselves off when inside temperature has reached a certain level. Sometimes, this sudden slow down may appear as sudden unresponsiveness, freezing, or lagging. If you noticed that your Huawei device has frozen or became unresponsive and it’s becoming uncomfortably warm, it may have overheated. What you want to do in this case to stop the overheating immediately by turning it off. Allow your device to cool off for at least 30 minutes to an hour. After that, use it again and see what happens.

Even powerful phones like Huawei P30 may overheat if used for heavy tasks for a long time. If you’ve been streaming graphics-heavy videos, or playing games for hours at a stretch, your device may be overheating because of that. Allow it to cool down for an hour before you use it again. If Huawei P30 still keeps freezing even when it’s not overheating though, there may be other reasons for it. Continue with the rest of the troubleshooting below.


#5: Update software and apps - Huawei P30 keeps rebooting randomly fix 
Keeping the Operating System and apps up-to-date is an underrated solution for most people. What most Android users don’t realize though is that some problems are not fixable on their end. Some of these apps may have roots deep within the software so only a coding modification can fix them. It is for this reason that you should always install updates for both Android and apps if they are available.


#6: Check for rogue apps - Huawei P30 keeps rebooting randomly fix 
Sometimes, a third party app may cause problems or interfere with the Operating System. Having network troubles due to a bad app is not unheard of in Huawei devices. Restart the phone to safe mode and see if that’s the case. In safe mode, no third party app should be able to run. So, if wifi works normally on safe mode, you can bet a bad third party app is to blame. Here’s how to boot it to safe mode:

Power off the device.
Power it back on.
Once you see the Huawei animation on the screen press and hold Volume Down button.
You can see safe mode at the bottom left corner once the device finishes booting.
Now that the device has started on safe mode, charge it and see if there’s a difference.
Don’t forget: safe mode blocks third party apps but it won’t tell you which of them is the real cause. If you think that there’s a rogue third party app in the system, you must identify it. Here’s what you need to do exactly:

Boot to safe mode.
Check for the problem.
Once you’ve confirmed that a third party app is to blame, you can start uninstalling apps individually. We suggest that you begin with the most recent ones you added.
After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
If your Huawei P30 is still problematic, repeat steps 1-4.


#7: Hard reset your device - Huawei P30 keeps rebooting randomly fix 
If your Huawei P30 still keeps rebooting randomly at this point, you should not hesitate to restore its software settings to their factory defaults. By wiping the phone via factory reset, you will know if the cause of the problem is software-related or not. If there’s an issue with Android, factory reset will likely help.

There are two methods to perform a factory reset on your Huawei P30. You want to do the first one first if there’s no problem going under Settings menu.

Method 1: Hard reset on Huawei P30 via Settings
Wiping your phone with factory reset will automatically erase information from your device’s internal storage. The software environment on your device is basically returned to its original form, just like when it left the factory. This means that everything you added to the device like files, photos, videos, and apps will all be deleted. If you don’t want to lose irreplaceable data, make sure to create a backup ahead of time.

There can be many different reasons why a user may want to factory reset a device. If your situation calls for a Hard reset on Huawei P30  and you are able to access your device’s settings menu, then this first method is for you. It’s easier to do compared to the second one below so this is a go-to method for you.

To perform a Hard reset on Huawei P30 via Settings:
Create a backup of your personal data.
Turn on the device.
Tap Settings.
Tap System.
Choose Reset.
Tap Reset all settings.
Tap Reset all settings.
Confirm the action by tapping on Reset all settings.
Wait for factory reset to finish.
Method 2: Hard reset on Huawei P30 via Recovery Mode

This method is useful in one particular situation: when Settings menu is not accessible. There may be a variety of reasons why Settings menu may become unreachable. In some cases, the device may have simply frozen or unresponsive. At other times, it can be due to a problem that you are currently trying to troubleshoot. In any case, you must do Hard reset on Huawei P30 via Recovery Mode when the situation forces you to. We still recommend that you use the first method as your primary option for convenience reasons. Effects-wise, the two methods don’t have any difference at all. The device will be completely sanitized and all user data deleted after doing any of them.

To perform a Hard reset on Huawei P30 via Recovery Mode:
Create a backup of your personal data.
Turn off the mobile by pressing the Power key for a few moments.
Press and hold Volume Up and Power buttons for a couple of seconds.
When Recovery Mode appears let go of all keys​​​​​​.
Now choose “wipe data/factory reset”. Use Volume buttons to navigate and the Power key to accept it.
Confirm the operation by typing in “yes” and select “wipe data/factory reset”.
When you see the Google Verification info confirm the operation by selecting “wipe data/factory reset”.
Finally choose “reboot system now” by using the Power key.

#8: Get help from Huawei - Huawei P30 keeps rebooting randomly fix 
Although it’s rare for Huawei devices, this problem is not unheard of. If your device continues to randomly reboot after a factory reset, you can assume that there’s a deeper reason for it. Unfortunately, there’s really no other way for an average user to know the extent of the problem. You’ll have to let a technician check the device. Contact your Huawei Service Center so you can schedule an appointment.

RIESGOS ASOCIADOS A LAS REDES WI-FI PÚBLICAS

RIESGOS ASOCIADOS A LAS REDES WI-FI PÚBLICAS:

CUÁLES SON Y CÓMO PREVENIRLOS

La llegada del Wi-Fi a los lugares públicos marcó un antes y un después en el día a día de los usuarios interconectados, ya que nos permitió aprovechar el servicio de Internet cuando nos sentamos en algún café, ya sea que tengamos que pedir la contraseña o que directamente esté abierta para cualquiera que desee conectarse.

Pero si tan solo nos detuviéramos unos minutos para pensar en qué tan seguras son estas conexiones, rápidamente encontraríamos varios motivos para dar una respuesta negativa. Si al visitar un lugar público no dejamos nuestras pertenencias en cualquier sitio, porque conocemos los riesgos de hacerlo, ¿por qué lo haríamos con la información almacenada en nuestros dispositivos?

A continuación, te mostramos cuáles son algunos de los riesgos los que nos exponemos al utilizar redes Wi-Fi públicas.

SER VÍCTIMA DE UN ATAQUE “MAN IN THE MIDDLE”

Como su nombre lo indica, los de ataques “Man in the Middle”, que traducido sería “hombre en el medio”, asociados a conexiones a redes Wi-Fi públicas suelen estar relacionados con la presencia de un intermediario entre la víctima y el sitio que ésta visita, pudiendo el cibercriminal acceder a los datos mientras viajan.

No solo se trata de ataques altamente efectivos, sino que, además, también motivo de su efectividad, son muy difíciles de detectar, dado que la información es interceptada a mitad de camino cuando viaja entre el dispositivo de usuario y el router, sin que sea percibido.

ROBO DE DATOS PERSONALES, INFORMACIÓN CONFIDENCIAL Y/O CREDENCIALES

Por supuesto, si la red Wi-Fi a la que te conectas no es lo suficientemente segura, los datos que guardas en tu computadora o teléfono (archivos personales o contraseñas) pueden quedar expuestos al robo. ¿Cómo? Por ejemplo, si un criminal se aprovecha de la falta de mecanismos de seguridad en una red Wi-Fí pública podría interceptar el tráfico mediante un ataque Man in the Middle. Esto podría tener consecuencias aún peores si te conectas a esta red desde tu equipo de trabajo, donde probablemente haya información confidencial.

CUIDADO AL REALIZAR UNA TRANSACCIÓN EN LÍNEA

Puedes pensar que no es necesario decirlo, pero son muchos los usuarios que siguen realizando compras y transferencias online o ingresando a Homebanking conectados a la red Wi-Fi de algún café, hotel o aeropuerto. Sin importar desde qué dispositivos te conectes, el uso de una red pública siempre representará un riesgo para realizar cualquier acción que involucre algún dato privado, porque como vimos anteriormente, no sabemos si alguien está interceptando el tráfico.

FALSOS PUNTOS DE ACCESO SE PRESENTAN COMO REDES SIN CLAVE

Cada vez es más común encontrarnos con redes Wi-Fi en lugares públicos sin ningún tipo de seguridad. Si se trata de un café, por ejemplo, es normal ver que el nombre del lugar figura también como nombre una red y que ésta no tuviera clave alguna.

En estos casos, es importante tener presente dos cosas:

1.    No es recomendable conectarse a redes sin clave, si vas a hacerlo es aconsejable consultar cuál es el nombre de la red de ese lugar para comprobar que efectivamente sea el que ves en tu pantalla.

2.    Un atacante aproveche estas conexiones para clonarlas (montando una red con el mismo nombre) para utilizarla como un señuelo a la espera de que los usuarios se conecten y enlacen sus dispositivos a la antena del atacante. Si esto ocurre, todos los paquetes de conexión que entren y salgan pasarán por el equipo atacante, quien podrá ver y modificar todo a voluntad.

ROUTER VULNERADO

Sí, así como los computadores y smartphones pueden infectarse, también existen vulnerabilidades presentes en otros dispositivos conectados, como los routers. Tal vez el ataque se trate de un simple secuestro del ancho de banda, o podría incluso escalar hasta convertir a los dispositivos infectados en partes de una botnet. La realidad es que, sin una mínima protección básica, como la modificación de la contraseña predeterminada, el router puede convertirse en la puerta de entrada para que un atacante logre acceder a cualquier dispositivo que esté conectado a él.

Las compañías fabricantes suelen lanzar parches de seguridad para las vulnerabilidades que se detecten en los routers, muchos usuarios no realizan las actualizaciones correspondientes, lo que ha llevado a masivas campañas de cryptojacking y cientos de miles de usuarios afectados. Ahora, ¿podemos estar seguros que estos parches fueron aplicados en el router de un lugar que visitamos?

ENTONCES, CÓMO CONECTARSE A REDES WI-FI PÚBLICAS DE MANERA SEGURA?

MANTÉN TU SOLUCIÓN DE SEGURIDAD ACTUALIZADA (ANTIVIRUS / ROUTER / FIREWALL ) Y TU SISTEMA OPERATIVO (MICROSOFT, LINUX, OS)

Demás está decir que tener un antivirus instalado en tus dispositivos, tanto laptops como móviles, es el primer paso para estar seguro. Asegúrate de tener siempre la última versión del producto descargada, garantizando así que todas sus funcionalidades estén al día y listas para evitar el ingreso de aplicaciones potencialmente no deseadas.

Nunca deben de estar instalados dos o mas antivirus y similares programas que hagan conflicto. Si en caso pasara, uno desactiva al otro y viceversa. Al realizar las exploraciones automáticas consumirán muchos recursos y el equipo sufrirá una merma en su rendimiento.

Además de el antivirus, recuerda mantener siempre actualizado tu Sistema Operativo y las aplicaciones del sistema, aplicando los parches de seguridad que lanzan los fabricantes y protegiendo, entonces sí, tu laptop y dispositivo móvil.

CUIDA LAS ACCIONES QUE REALIZAS DESDE ESTAS CONEXIONES

Si decides conectarte a una red Wi-Fi pública, es aconsejable usar Internet para visitar sitios que no requieran credenciales ni información personal, como portales o diarios. Además, podrías querer deshabilitar todos los servicios de homebanking, cuentas de correo electrónico, redes sociales y demás aplicaciones que requieran usuario y contraseña para establecer la conexión.

Si efectivamente te encuentras fuera del alcance de una red de confianza y necesitas acceder a servicios como el Homebanking o el correo, considera utilizar tus datos móviles si es que tienes esa posibilidad. Si se trata del equipo que utilizas para trabajar, hacer uso de una VPN y mantener tu información cifrada.

INGRESA A SITIOS WEB QUE UTILICEN PROTOCOLO HTTPS

El protocolo HTTPS garantiza que la información transmitida entre la computadora del usuario y el sitio web sea cifrada en su transmisión. Motivo suficiente para utilizarlo, ¿verdad?

Y dado que en dispositivos móviles y/o tablets ejecutamos prácticamente las mismas acciones que desde cualquier computador de escritorio o laptop, es importante conocer si al ingresar a un sitio web éste utiliza el protocolo seguro de navegación.

CONFIGURA TU DISPOSITIVO PARA QUE PREGUNTE ANTES DE CONECTARSE

Para evitar que la conexión sea automática y evitar posibles riesgos, recuerda configurar tu dispositivo para que te pregunte si quieres conectarte a la red del sitio en el que estás cada vez que lo visites.

Una vez que cuentes con tu solución de seguridad instalada, tu Sistema Operativo actualizado, tus servicios críticos deshabilitados y que hayas consultado con el lugar si su red es la que dice ser (…menudo trabajo), estarás en condiciones de decidir si efectivamente quieres establecer esa conexión.

UTILIZA DOBLE FACTOR DE AUTENTICACIÓN

Por supuesto, nunca está de más tener una capa extra de seguridad como la que aporta el doble factor de autenticación. La mayoría de los servicios que utilizamos día a día cuentan con la posibilidad de configurar el ingreso al sitio para que luego de colocar la contraseña debas confirmar que eres tú al ingresar un código adicional que será enviado a tu teléfono a través de un SMS, un correo, una app o una llamada.

La tecnología inalámbrica facilita y agiliza nuestra vida cotidiana, pero lamentablemente su popularidad viene acompañada de riesgos, a los que hay que estar atento para ser capaces de prevenirlos, aplicando las medidas de seguridad adecuadas, protegiendo nuestra información y garantizando nuestro disfrute de la tecnología de la manera más segura.

6 BAD HABITS THAT ARE DESTROYING YOUR PC

6 BAD HABITS THAT ARE DESTROYING YOUR PC

1.    LEAVING YOUR LAPTOP ON A PLUSH SURFACE (AND OTHER OVERHEATING PROBLEMS)

Heat is your computer’s mortal enemy. If your computer gets too hot, it can reduce the lifespan of the hardware inside, like your processor, fans, and battery not to mention make your computer loud and sizzling to the touch. For desktop computers, the solution is pretty simple:

Just clean out the dust once in a while with some compressed air and keep it out of any small cabinets. You want air to flow freely through your computer, not to get trapped in a tight space. You can also prevent dust by keeping your computer off the ground and putting filters on your intake fans. Laptops, on the other hand, require a bit more care.

Their portability leads to a lot of bad habits, like putting them on blankets or other plush surfaces. This blocks airflow underneath (where the rubber feet would raise it off a desk) and potentially through the laptop (when the blanket covers the fan vents). When possible, use your laptop on a flat surface, or at least make sure your lap is free of blankets and other things that can block airflow. Lap desks are a good way to ensure things stay cool.

If your computer gets too hot, it can reduce the lifespan of the hardware inside, like your processor, fans, and battery.

Other than that, the same rules apply to your laptop as your desktop: Don’t leave it in hot places (such as a car on a sunny day) and clean it out with some compressed air once in a while. If you can keep it dust-free, the components will run happily for a long time.

2.    HANDLING YOUR LAPTOP CARELESSLY

While desktops have the luxury of sitting comfortably in your office, laptops are subject to all sorts of abuse. I’ve seen people pick up a laptop by its display, open the hinge from one side with way too much force, and toss a laptop onto the couch from the other side of the room. (Sure, a couch is rather soft, but one day, you’re going to miss and hit the table or floor, and you’ll be sorry.) I’ve even seen people use closed laptops as a coaster for drinks, which makes me grit my teeth in anxiety.

Laptops are meant to be portable, and some can be pretty durable—but the more you abuse them, the more likely you are to damage something. At best, you’ll have to deal with just a worn-out hinge or a crack in the casing. But if your laptop has a traditional spinning hard drive instead of an SSD, tossing or shaking the computer—especially if the drive is active at the time—can cause its head to dislocate or touch the surface of the disk. It isn’t common, but if that happens, you’re going to have a bad day, especially if you haven’t backed up your data. Your laptop is an expensive piece of property: Treat it as such.

3.    CONSTANTLY DISCHARGING YOUR BATTERY

Just because your laptop’s battery starts out with eight hours of battery life doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way forever. Batteries degrade over time—you may get eight hours on a full charge when you first buy a laptop, but after a few years, that could degrade to six or seven hours. There’s no escaping this decline, but if you always run your laptop down to nothing, you may be degrading it faster than necessary. To prolong your battery’s long-term health, it’s best to perform shallow discharges and recharge it frequently. Don’t stress about this, of course—if you’re on a plane and need to work, an occasional discharge won’t kill your battery—but over time, it’s best to err on the side of charging regularly than running it down to empty.

4.    DISREGARDING ELECTRICAL SAFETY

Your PC draws a sizeable amount of power, and it’s susceptible to damage from power surges—small, temporary increases in voltage coming through the power line. These can happen after power outages, after turning on another highpower device in your home, or from an unreliable power grid in your city.

The power supply inside your PC includes some basic surge protection, but you’ll get longer-lasting protection from a dedicated surge protector. Note that this is different from a power strip, which provides multiple outlets without the protection from surges. Be sure to replace a surge protector every three to five years, too, since that protection wears out over time—if yours is old, there’s a good chance it’s offering zero protection.

Keep in mind that a surge protector won’t protect against high-voltage spikes (such as lightning), but it can protect against smaller surges and extend the life of your PC. When you have a few more dollars to spend, you might want to get an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which contains a battery backup that prevents your computer from shutting down and losing data during a sudden power outage.

Last, laptops require a bit more care because of their portability. A desktop’s power cable can sit stationary for years at a time, but your laptop cable goes with you everywhere—so it’s subject to kinking, hard yanks out of the wall, and other mishandling. This can not only make the cable unreliable but it can also pose a fire hazard, so always pull the charger out of the wall holding the plug, not the cable—and don’t wrap the cable too tightly.

5.    WASTING TIME ON UNNECESSARY MAINTENANCE

Back in the days of Windows XP, when hardware was limited and computers were slow, personal computer maintenance may have made a difference. But these days, deleting unused and temporary files is unlikely to give you a noticeable speed boost. Many “PC cleaning” utilities are scams meant to scare you into buying their product—and the free, less-scammy ones are still unnecessary most of the time.

Furthermore, certain types of “maintenance” may actually be harmful. Registry cleaners provide almost no benefit, and if they delete a registry entry that you actually need, they can actually cause problems. Similarly, the new “privacy” apps that claim to stop Windows 10 from “spying” on you can break certain features without you knowing why. The internet is full of people confused about why something stopped working only to find that it’s the fault of one of these tools. You’re better off going through Windows 10’s settings, learning what they do, and tweaking them yourself.

But if you still want to clean up your hard drive, use Windows’ built-in Disk Cleanup utility and delete any movies, music, and other files you aren’t using.

And if your computer is running unbearably slow, try removing startup programs or resetting your PC. If that doesn’t work, it’s probably time to upgrade your hardware.

6.    BROWSING THE WEB UNPROTECTED

Contrary to popular belief, “common sense,” while very valuable, should not be your only malware protection. Even legitimate sites can become infected with malware and then pass those problems on to you; browsing carefully won’t save you. You have to use an antivirus on your computer.

Thankfully, after a few years of sub-par ratings, Microsoft’s built-in Windows Defender feature has gotten quite good. Just leave it on and let it do its job. For extra protection, though, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is more aggressive with its protection, and I’ve found that it catches a lot of stuff that Chrome and Windows Defender miss. The free version is fine for those who just want to run an occasional scan, but the paid version includes always-running anti-exploit features that block potentially harmful sites. When you use it in conjunction with a traditional antivirus such as Windows Defender, you’ll be set on protection.

On top of that, other basic security practices still apply:

Keep your software up to date (both Windows and the programs you use), use a good password manager, and learn how to spot phishing scams. It may seem trivial, but a bad piece of malware or ransomware can cause you a world of hurt.