# Fresh From Cache
> Tech news and how-to guides you don't have to be tech savvy to follow. Make sense of the tech in your life in about five minutes a week.
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).

## Pages
- [About](https://www.freshfromcache.com/about.md) - Fresh From Cache™ is a technology publication for people who use technology every day and occasionally want someone to explain what's actually going on. News, how-tos, and explainers on the things that should have come with a better manual. No assumptions about what you already know. Who's writing…
- [The Cache](https://www.freshfromcache.com/cache.md) - Your free stash of tech help: short guides to spot scams, phishing, protect your accounts, and fix a slow computer.
- [How healthy is your digital life?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/checkup.md) - A 2-minute digital health check that shows you the few security things you have not done yet, most important first.
- [Frequently asked questions](https://www.freshfromcache.com/faq.md) - Who writes Fresh From Cache, whether it's free, how AI is used, how facts get checked, and how to reach me.
- [Glossary](https://www.freshfromcache.com/glossary.md) - Plain definitions for the tech terms that come up most: passkeys, VPNs, phishing, ransomware, and more.
- [How FFC is made](https://www.freshfromcache.com/how-ffc-is-made.md) - Exactly how AI is and isn't used at Fresh From Cache, broken down by the kind of post you're reading.
- [Start here](https://www.freshfromcache.com/start-here.md) - New here? A hand-picked tour of the most useful pieces, grouped by topic.
- [Make sense of the tech in your life. In about five minutes a week.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/subscribe.md) - News and explainers for people who aren't techy, written by a working IT pro. What changed, why it matters to you, and what to actually do about it. Every issue, you get: * What's happening in tech, minus the jargon * Why it matters to you * The one thing to do about it, if anything A few recent is…
- [You're in.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/your-guide.md) - Check your inbox. Your welcome email is on its way, with a link to everything you get. Don't see it in a minute or two? Check spam or your Promotions tab, and add joel@freshfromcache.com to your contacts so the next one lands where it should. Want your free downloads now? They all live in one place…

## Posts
- [Can somebody steal a passkey?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/can-passkeys-be-stolen.md) - New research says malware can reach Google's synced passkeys on Windows. Here is what has to go wrong first, and why a clean computer is the whole defense.
- [This week: AI in your exam room, and a delete with no undo](https://www.freshfromcache.com/newsletter/before-you-say-yes-at-the-clinic.md) - Also in this issue: what location sharing actually hands over, why your next phone costs more, and five shortcuts hiding on your phone.
- [A colon cancer test company got breached. If you took Cologuard, expect a phone call.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/cologuard-data-breach.md) - Exact Sciences, the Abbott company behind the at-home Cologuard colon cancer test, was breached and 10.9 million email addresses are public. What to do before the notification letter arrives.
- [Two people agreed to your location sharing. Three are in it.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/what-location-sharing-actually-shares.md) - You agreed with one person. A company is in it too, and what that company keeps depends on which app you picked.
- [Five shortcuts I wish somebody had told me about](https://www.freshfromcache.com/hidden-phone-and-computer-shortcuts.md) - Five small things your phone and computer have always done. I learned most of them late, and I use every one of them almost daily.
- [Your doctor wants to record the visit with AI. Here is what to ask before you say yes.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/should-you-let-ai-record-your-doctor-visit.md) - Your clinic will tell you the tool is HIPAA compliant. That doesn't actually mean much. Four questions to ask before you agree, and what to do if you would rather not.
- [Also this week: your location, an AI shopper in court, and California's AI labels](https://www.freshfromcache.com/also-this-week-2026-08-07.md) - Four stories from the week: leaky ad code, an AI shopper's day in court, California's new AI labels, and the end of Google Assistant on your phone.
- [Your phone says storage is almost full. Don't delete anything yet.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/why-is-my-phone-storage-full.md) - The standard advice is to delete some photos. On the wrong phone, that advice destroys the only copy. Answer one question first.
- [The AI boom is showing up on price tags](https://www.freshfromcache.com/why-your-next-phone-costs-more.md) - AI data centers are buying up the memory chips that go into every phone, laptop, and game console. The bill has reached store shelves. The cheapest devices are taking the biggest hit. Here is a real answer on whether to buy now or wait.
- [This week: the first hour after a scam](https://www.freshfromcache.com/newsletter/the-first-hour-after-a-scam.md) - Also in this issue: what your kid's school laptop can see, your router's expiration date, and the magnifying glass hiding in your phone.
- [The school laptop is a work computer. Here's what it does and doesn't monitor.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/is-my-kids-school-laptop-monitored.md) - Every adult knows how to behave on a work laptop. Your child was handed one at school and nobody explained the distinction. Here is what the school district can see, and what to check before you sign the packet.
- [Check Your Router's Expiration Date. No Manufacturer Is Required to Tell You It Has One.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/router-expiration-date.md) - Washington spent this month regulating where your router was manufactured. The far more dangerous question is how long anyone will keep patching it, and on that one you are entirely on your own.
- [Your phone has a magnifying glass](https://www.freshfromcache.com/your-phone-is-a-magnifying-glass.md) - The camera app zooms. The magnifier holds the image still, turns up the contrast, and on an iPhone it will even read the small print out loud.
- [What is an AI agent, and should you let one loose on your computer?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/what-is-an-ai-agent.md) - An AI broke out of a sealed test environment and hacked a real company to cheat on its own exam. Here is what an agent actually is, and how to try one without getting burned.
- [Also this week: iPhone leases, a movable taskbar, and a deepfake law in court](https://www.freshfromcache.com/also-this-week-2026-07-31.md) - Four stories from the week I did not write a full piece about, and a sentence or two on why each one matters to you.
- [The power company is not calling to cut you off in 30 minutes](https://www.freshfromcache.com/power-shutoff-scam-call.md) - A call says your electricity goes off within the hour unless you pay right now. Real shutoffs move by mail, and during dangerous heat the shutoff itself can be against the law.
- [Millions of cars carry a Southern California dealer alarm with a security flaw](https://www.freshfromcache.com/the-car-alarm-you-never-bought.md) - Most of the 2.2 million affected cars were sold at Southern California dealerships, but resale carried several hundred thousand of them everywhere else. Two minutes tells you whether yours is one.
- [The map your robot vacuum made of your house, the camera reading your license plate, and a deepfake takedown that costs nothing](https://www.freshfromcache.com/newsletter/your-vacuum-mapped-your-house.md) - Also in this issue: the Odyssey streaming scams, the AI habits that actually pay off, something new on Fridays, and how to make your phone stop ringing for robocalls.
- [You just got scammed. What now?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/what-to-do-after-a-scam.md) - The hours lost to embarrassment are what turn a bad afternoon into a drained account. Here is the order to work in, and what is actually recoverable.
- [Google wants a video of your face. Skip it for now.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/google-wants-a-video-of-your-face.md) - Google's new selfie sign-in is optional, stored on Google's servers, and easier to turn on than to undo. Five minutes on your recovery settings does more for you.
- [Make your phone stop ringing for robocalls](https://www.freshfromcache.com/stop-spam-calls.md) - Your phone can send robocalls straight to voicemail, or make them say who they are first. Here is the five-minute setup on iPhone, Android, and Samsung.
- [What a Flock camera actually does](https://www.freshfromcache.com/what-is-a-flock-camera.md) - It photographs every car that passes, including yours. The argument your city council is having is about who gets to search the record.
- [Also this week: rival app stores, Siri's public beta, and rising phone prices](https://www.freshfromcache.com/also-this-week-2026-07-24.md) - Four tech stories from this week that matter to everyday people, each in a sentence or two, with a link to whoever reported it well.
- [The Odyssey hit theaters Friday. The scams were ready by Monday.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/the-odyssey-piracy-scams.md) - Scam sites and a fake movie file appeared within hours of release. Two rules protect you, and neither needs technical skill.
- [AI tips for people who don't want to get left behind](https://www.freshfromcache.com/ai-tips-for-everyday-people.md) - The habits that make AI genuinely useful, written for regular people, not AI people. What to set up, what to watch out for, and why it works.
- [How to get a deepfake of you taken down](https://www.freshfromcache.com/how-to-get-a-deepfake-taken-down.md) - The full platform-by-platform companion to our deepfake explainer: where the real removal paths are, what each report form actually covers, and what to save before you file anything.
- [The sketchy hospital letter that turned out to be real, a deepfake you can't report, and the Windows bug eating your drive](https://www.freshfromcache.com/newsletter/sketchy-hospital-letter-was-real.md) - Also in this issue: what data brokers actually sell, the password habit worth one evening, and a five-minute trick for copying text out of a photo.
- [Shark fixed the vacuum flaw. Here's what yours knows about you.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/robot-vacuum-watching-you.md) - A researcher pulled a live camera feed, a floor plan, and a Wi-Fi password off a Shark robot vacuum he didn't own. Shark hasn't fixed it. Here's what every robot vacuum collects, and what you can do about it.
- [Samsung killed its texting app, but your texts are fine.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/samsung-shut-down-its-texting-app.md) - Samsung Messages stopped working July 6 on newer Galaxy phones. Nothing is broken, your old texts are not gone, and the switch takes about ten minutes.
- [I lost ten years of photos. Now I print a photo book every January.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/yearly-photo-book.md) - Half an hour in January, and a printed book of your whole year shows up at your door. I started because I lost a decade of pictures.
- [That sketchy letter from your hospital might be real](https://www.freshfromcache.com/that-sketchy-letter-from-your-hospital-might-be-real.md) - Rochester patients got a real breach notice with the wrong hospital name on it. Many threw it away.
- [What do you do when an AI deepfake has your face?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/ai-deepfake-has-your-face.md) - A New Orleans doctor spent months trying to get fake AI ads of himself taken down. What worked, what didn't, and why the settings you've heard about wouldn't have helped.
- [Your phone can copy text out of any photo](https://www.freshfromcache.com/copy-text-from-a-photo.md) - The two-minute trick that ends retyping wifi passwords, codes, and recipes off a screen.
- [The Meta AI panic is over, but turn off this lingering setting.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/meta-instagram-ai-feature.md) - Meta pulled the feature that let anyone make AI images from your public Instagram photos. The setting that fed it is still on by default. Here is how to turn it off.
- [Data brokers have a file on you. California is making them delete it.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/what-is-a-data-broker.md) - Companies you've never dealt with sell lists of who's pregnant, who has Alzheimer's, and who might fall for a scam. Starting August 1, Californians can make them delete it. There are steps for the rest of us, too.
- [The parental controls that fail, Amazon's Starlink rival, and a VPN warning](https://www.freshfromcache.com/newsletter/parental-controls-that-dont-work.md) - Also in this issue: the Windows rewind button, who answers for a chatbot, and a five-minute email fix.
- [Start using a password manager](https://www.freshfromcache.com/start-using-a-password-manager.md) - One password used everywhere is one key to every lock. A password manager fixes that, and starting is easier than you think.
- [Windows 11 has a disk-eating bug. Tuesday's update fixes it.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/windows-11-disk-eating-bug.md) - A hidden Windows 11 file has been swallowing disk space, up to 500GB in the worst cases, and Windows gives you no way to see it happening. The repair arrives automatically July 14. Two minutes in Settings tells you if you're affected.
- [Check your email's recovery info before you get locked out](https://www.freshfromcache.com/email-recovery-check.md) - Password resets for everything else land in your inbox, which makes your email account the master key. The recovery phone and backup email on that account are how you get back in, and most of us set them years ago.
- [Starlink is about to get competition](https://www.freshfromcache.com/starlink-is-about-to-get-competition.md) - Amazon says its satellite internet service turns on later this year. Here is what it is, how it differs from the satellite internet you may remember, and how to think about it if your internet provider options are bad.
- [Most teen safety features don't work. Here's what does.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/teen-safety-features-that-work.md) - An independent audit tested 86 safety features across TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. Most failed. These are the ones worth turning on, and the ones you can skip.
- [You bought it, but do you own it?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/do-you-own-what-you-buy.md) - When you click Buy on a movie, book, song, or game, you usually get a license, not the thing itself. What that means, and where you can still own what you pay for.
- [Can OpenAI Be Held Responsible When ChatGPT Is Blamed for a Death?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/ai-accountability.md) - The first lawsuit to blame a chatbot for a death is forcing a question the law has not answered: when an AI is blamed for harm, who is responsible?
- [Your computer probably isn't dying](https://www.freshfromcache.com/newsletter/your-computer-isnt-dying.md) - How to find what's actually dragging it down before you spend a cent, plus the Edge add-ons that turned on their users.
- [Freeze your credit before someone else uses it](https://www.freshfromcache.com/freeze-your-credit.md) - Breach notices arrive constantly, and most people answer with credit monitoring. A freeze is the free step that stops new accounts in your name before they open, and almost nobody sets it up.
- [Windows 11's new rewind button works, but it is not a backup](https://www.freshfromcache.com/windows-point-in-time-restore.md) - Windows 11's new Point-in-Time Restore can roll your PC back to yesterday. It is handy, but it is not a backup.
- [Google is changing how Android apps get installed.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/google-android-app-verification.md) - A countdown clock says your Android phone is about to be locked down. Here is what Google's new app verification actually changes, and what it does not.
- [Why rebooting your router works, and when it won't](https://www.freshfromcache.com/why-does-rebooting-your-router-work.md) - Restarting the router clears out clutter and starts every connection fresh. That fixes most home internet hiccups. When a reboot doesn't work, here's what to do.
- [Your browser can block trackers and scam sites. The strongest settings just aren't on by default.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/chrome-edge-privacy-settings.md) - Your browser can block trackers and warn you off scam sites. In Chrome the strongest settings are off by default; in Edge they are turned down. Five minutes fixes both.
- [The apps I'd recommend aren't the ones I use most](https://www.freshfromcache.com/suggested-apps.md) - My most-used apps are mostly work, not what I'd recommend. This is the short list for a normal person's phone, and the ones worth deleting.
- [You can finally hide your phone number on WhatsApp](https://www.freshfromcache.com/whatsapp-usernames.md) - WhatsApp is finally letting you hide your phone number behind a username. Here's what that actually protects, and what it doesn't.
- [Your computer feels slow. Here's what to do.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/why-is-my-computer-slow.md) - Most "slow computer" problems aren't the computer at all. This is how to find what's really slowing it down, and fix it for free or close to it, on a Windows PC.
- [The pop-up scam just got raided](https://www.freshfromcache.com/newsletter/pop-up-scam-raided.md) - Police seized the servers behind it. Plus encrypted texts between iPhone and Android, and a five-minute phone setup worth doing before the long weekend.
- [Microsoft pulls Edge extensions due to malware](https://www.freshfromcache.com/microsoft-pulls-edge-extensions-due-to-malware.md) - Microsoft pulled 119 Edge add-ons that worked for years, then turned on their users. Time to clean out the extensions you forgot you had.
- [How Much Water Does AI Really Use?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/how-much-water-does-ai-really-use.md) - A single AI prompt uses far less water than the headlines suggest, somewhere between five drops and a few tablespoons. The fight worth having is about where these data centers get built, often in the driest places in the country.
- [Police take down major pop-up scams](https://www.freshfromcache.com/fake-update-scam-taken-down.md) - An international police operation seized the servers behind the fake 'update your browser' pop-up. A rare win, and what it actually changes for you.
- [iPhone to Android texting finally encrypted.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/iphone-android-texts-encrypted.md) - A text between an iPhone and an Android phone can now be locked end to end for the first time. The tell is a small padlock, and it doesn't cover everything.
- [Set up your phone to share your medical info in an emergency](https://www.freshfromcache.com/phone-medical-id.md) - Your phone can show your medical info and call your contacts without anyone unlocking it. Five minutes of setup, and you can confirm it works.
- [How to capture fireworks with your phone](https://www.freshfromcache.com/capture-fireworks-phone.md) - You have been following DSLR instructions your phone can't run. Here is the phone-native way to actually catch fireworks, plus the one manual button that finally nails the trail.
- [Are those smart glasses recording you? How to tell](https://www.freshfromcache.com/smart-glasses-recording-you.md) - Smart glasses look like ordinary sunglasses, but they record video and audio, and the tiny warning light is easy to miss or defeat. What they capture, where it goes, and how to tell if the pair across the table is on.
- [The scam that gets you to do the hacking yourself](https://www.freshfromcache.com/newsletter/do-the-hacking-yourself.md) - Plus a router that senses you walk by, iPhones too locked to steal, and a five-minute Wi-Fi trick.
- [Three breaches in one week, and your medical records are the target](https://www.freshfromcache.com/three-breaches-in-one-week.md) - Three companies disclosed breaches in one week, and medical data was the target. Why thieves want it, and the free steps that limit the damage.
- [Share your Wi-Fi without ever spelling out the password](https://www.freshfromcache.com/share-wifi-qr-code.md) - Your phone can turn your network into a QR code that any camera scans, iPhone or Android. Five minutes, and you never recite the password again.
- [The fake CAPTCHA scam you run yourself](https://www.freshfromcache.com/fake-captcha-scam.md) - A new version of the "verify you're human" box tells you to press a few keys, and you install the malware yourself. Here is the one rule that spots it.
- [Your Wi-Fi Router Can Track Movement in Your Home](https://www.freshfromcache.com/wifi-motion-sensing.md) - Your Wi-Fi router can detect people moving through your home, no camera needed. What ships today, what is still in the lab, and the one setting to check.
- [Your car has been grading your driving and selling the report card](https://www.freshfromcache.com/your-car-grades-your-driving.md) - Your car may be logging how you drive and selling it to insurers, sometimes for pennies. What it costs you, how to opt out, and what Oregon just changed.
- [Who gets your photos and email when you're gone? Set this up in five minutes.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/who-gets-your-accounts.md) - Your photos and email don't pass to anyone when you die. Apple's Legacy Contact and Google's Inactive Account Manager fix that in five minutes each.
- [How the UK Plans to Keep Teens Off Social Media (and What It Means for Adults)](https://www.freshfromcache.com/prove-your-age.md) - The UK wants to keep teens off social media. Enforcing that means everyone else proves their age first, and the only way to check a stranger's age ends with your face or your ID on a server. How it works, and what it costs the rest of us.
- [The ransomware crew with a marketing department](https://www.freshfromcache.com/newsletter/the-cheaper-plan-microsoft-hides.md) - The second most active ransomware crew on earth runs like a franchise, complete with a marketing hire. Plus the week the companies you pay changed the deal: Windows 10 lost its patches, Office got pricier for AI, and QuickBooks Desktop starts its exit.
- [Stolen iPhones are becoming worthless to thieves.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/stolen-iphones-worthless-to-thieves.md) - London's phone thefts dropped after Apple made stolen iPhones worthless to resell.
- [The Self-Driving Car Is Real. You Just Can't Buy It.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/self-driving-car-is-real.md) - Robotaxis with nobody at the wheel are real, scaling, and stuck inside a handful of cities. The 'self-driving' car you can actually buy still needs you. Where autonomous driving really stands in 2026, and why the holdup isn't the technology.
- [An entire industry is getting out of GTA's way](https://www.freshfromcache.com/gta-6-empty-november.md) - An entire industry shuffled its 2026 calendar to get out of one game's way. Why GTA VI's November 19 launch is a real cultural-economic event, and which viral numbers to ignore.
- [Ransomware has been franchised](https://www.freshfromcache.com/ransomware-has-been-franchised.md) - The second most active ransomware crew on earth runs like a franchise: 90% commission for the contractors, and a boss who lists "head of B2B marketing" as his day job.
- [QuickBooks Desktop is going away.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/quickbooks-desktop-is-going-away.md) - Intuit is winding down QuickBooks Desktop one version at a time. I priced out your three real options before you're forced to pick one.
- [The cheaper Microsoft 365 plan Microsoft hides behind the cancel button](https://www.freshfromcache.com/microsoft-365-classic-plan.md) - Microsoft raised the price of its home Office plans for Copilot. There's a cheaper version without it, at the old price. Here's how to find it.
- [Scammers first to the World Cup](https://www.freshfromcache.com/newsletter/scammers-first-to-the-world-cup.md) - Fake FIFA sites are already live before kickoff, a stranger found a "burner" Instagram from one bus ride, and the data trail behind both. Plus two settings worth changing.
- [Microsoft stopped patching Windows 10. Now what?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/windows-10-out-of-support.md) - Your Windows 10 PC didn't break. Microsoft just stopped sending it free security updates. Six plain-English ways to handle it, with real costs and steps.
- [Your TV has a side hustle, and you're paying for it](https://www.freshfromcache.com/tv-side-hustle.md) - Free apps on smart TVs can turn your set into a relay for someone else's web scraping. Using your connection and your IP. Here's how to tell, and how to stop it.
- [The World Cup Fraud Economy](https://www.freshfromcache.com/the-world-cup-fraud-economy.md) - Thousands of fake FIFA sites are already live before the June 11 kickoff. Here's how the World Cup scam machine works, and the simple habits that keep you out of it.
- [Why the robocalls about your Google listing won't stop](https://www.freshfromcache.com/google-listing-robocalls.md) - Put your business on Google and the robocalls never stop? Here's why it happens, why blocking fails, and what actually works.
- [An IT Guy on Vacation](https://www.freshfromcache.com/an-it-guy-on-vacation.md) - I went on vacation to shut my brain off. Naturally, I spent it finding the Wi-Fi access points hidden in a cruise ship's walls.
- [Your photos know where you live](https://www.freshfromcache.com/your-photos-know-where-you-live.md) - I handed an AI a photo with nothing in it, a blank wall and a few trees, no signs. It named the state. Then I gave it a window view with the location scrubbed out, and minutes later it had the exact building and floor.
- [How a stranger on the bus found her secret Instagram](https://www.freshfromcache.com/stranger-on-the-bus.md) - Instagram's People You May Know can connect an anonymous burner account to your real identity through synced contacts and shared networks. How to see what is linking your accounts.
- [You can’t say bomb on an airplane](https://www.freshfromcache.com/you-cant-say-bomb-on-an-airplane.md) - A Bluetooth speaker named BOMB turned a transatlantic flight around. What your phone and its accessories broadcast to everyone nearby, and how to rename them in a minute.
- [Microsoft 365 prices go up July 1.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/microsoft-365-prices-go-up-july-1.md) - Business Basic is now $7 and Business Standard $14 per user each month, with E3 up 13 percent. Every new plan price, plus the nonprofit rates and cheaper options most people miss.
- [The AI jobs apocalypse got postponed.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/the-ai-jobs-apocalypse-got-postponed.md) - Sam Altman and Dario Amodei both walked back their AI job-loss warnings this month. What the employment numbers actually show so far, and why the timing deserves a second look.
- [Leaked Email](https://www.freshfromcache.com/leaked-email.md) - Your email address is in a data breach, probably several. What that actually means for you, how to check which leaks you are in, and the short list of steps that genuinely help.
- [Why MFA annoyance is worth it](https://www.freshfromcache.com/why-mfa-annoyance-is-worth-it.md) - Those two-factor codes show up because somebody already has your password. Which kind of MFA to use, which kind to avoid, and why a strong password is not the answer by itself.
- [What a VPN actually does](https://www.freshfromcache.com/what-a-vpn-actually-does.md) - VPN ads sell a coffee-shop hacker problem the web mostly engineered away years ago. What a VPN really protects, what it never did, and the few times one is genuinely useful.
- [How to spot a phishing email in 2026](https://www.freshfromcache.com/how-to-spot-a-phishing-email.md) - The old advice about typos and bad grammar stopped working. The current signs of a scam email, where to look before you click a link, and the habits that catch the rest.
- [Patching is the new password](https://www.freshfromcache.com/patching-is-the-new-password.md) - Verizon's 2026 breach report found unpatched software passed stolen passwords as the top way attackers get in. Why installing updates now matters as much as your login does.
- [A WordPress privacy plugin opened 115,000 sites to takeover](https://www.freshfromcache.com/wordpress-privacy-plugin.md) - Burst Statistics, installed on about 200,000 WordPress sites, had a flaw letting attackers sign in as administrator. How to check your version, and what to do if you run one.
- [CISA contractor posted admin keys to public GitHub](https://www.freshfromcache.com/cisa-contractor-keys-on-github.md) - A federal contractor left AWS GovCloud admin credentials and a file of plaintext passwords in a public repository for six months. How it happened, and the habit that prevents it.
- [Meta dropped Instagram DM encryption. Why?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/meta-dropped-instagram-encryption.md) - Meta turned off end-to-end encryption for Instagram direct messages, so new DMs are readable again. What changed, what happened to old conversations, and what to use instead.
- [What the heck is a Passkey?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/what-the-heck-is-a-passkey.md) - A passkey signs you into a site with your face, fingerprint, or PIN instead of a password. How it works, why a scammer cannot phish one, and what happens if you lose your phone.
- [Outlook icon confusion](https://www.freshfromcache.com/outlook-icon-confusion.md) - Windows 11 ships with Outlook (new) while Microsoft 365 installs Outlook Classic, so both sit in your Start menu. Which one to use, and what you give up by switching.
- [IT twins wipe 96 government databases.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/it-twins-wipe-96-government-databases.md) - Two contractors were fired on a video call and deleted 96 federal databases in 56 minutes. What it shows about the accounts nobody closes when an employee leaves.
- [The data center boom reaches Hillsboro, OR.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/the-data-center-boom-reaches-hillsboro.md) - Data centers are arriving west of Portland, and they run on water and electricity from the same system everyone else uses. What the boom means for the people who live nearby.
- [The Chatbot: What We Actually Know About AI Companions and Mental Health](https://www.freshfromcache.com/the-chatbot.md) - A JAMA study of nearly 21,000 adults found daily AI users aged 45 to 64 were 54 percent likelier to screen positive for depression. What the research can and cannot tell us yet.
- [The Disturbing Reality of AI-Powered Plush Toys](https://www.freshfromcache.com/ai-powered-toys.md) - A $99 AI teddy bear told researchers where to find pills and matches. How AI toys for kids actually work, what they send to the cloud, and what to check before one comes home.
- [Google is sending a few clicks back to your website](https://www.freshfromcache.com/google-clicks-back.md) - Google is adding outbound links back into AI Overviews after years of falling click-through rates. What the five changes do for small sites, and what they leave unfixed.
- [Four steps to fix your printer (and the rule for when to stop)](https://www.freshfromcache.com/four-steps-to-fix-your-printer.md) - Your printer says it is ready and nothing comes out. Four steps that fix most printer problems in order, and the rule for when buying a new one is the cheaper answer.
- [Fake face. Real money.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/fake-face-real-money.md) - Deepfake software can put someone else's face on a live Zoom or Teams call in real time, and it is sold openly. How these impersonation scams work, and the check that still catches them.
- [A third of new websites are AI-generated. A Stanford study explains what changed.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/a-third-of-new-websites-are-ai-generated.md) - Stanford, Imperial College London, and the Internet Archive sampled the web for 33 months. They tested six common fears about what AI writing is doing to it, and only two held up.
- [I Can’t Let You Save That, Dave: The AI Hard Drive Hostage Crisis](https://www.freshfromcache.com/i-cant-let-you-save-that-dave.md) - AI data centers bought up so much storage that hard drive and SSD prices climbed hard. Why a 2 TB SSD went from $159 to around $575, and what to do before your next upgrade.
- [The big ChatGPT-in-education study just got retracted.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/chatgpt-retracted.md) - Springer Nature pulled a meta-analysis claiming ChatGPT helps students learn, a year and hundreds of citations after publication. What broke in the numbers, and what it means for schools.
- [Canvas got breached. Again.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/canvas-got-breached-again.md) - Instructure confirmed a breach of Canvas, the learning platform used by roughly 7,000 universities and thousands of K-12 districts. What was taken, and what the phrase no passwords hides.
- [Boring AI Advice: Five Practical Uses for Your Business or Career](https://www.freshfromcache.com/boring-ai-advice.md) - Five unglamorous ways to use ChatGPT and Copilot that hold up in real work: documents that look right, meeting notes, first drafts, research, and learning something unfamiliar.
- [Friendly AI is less accurate. A new Oxford study explains why.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/friendly-ai-is-less-accurate.md) - An Oxford study found chatbots tuned to sound warm are 10 to 30 percent more likely to get facts wrong, and about 40 percent likelier to agree with you when you are wrong.
- [Why I Built This](https://www.freshfromcache.com/why-i-built-this.md) - Starting a business turned out to be far easier than I expected, but nobody explains the technology side of it. That gap is why Fresh From Cache exists.
- [A critical Linux vulnerability called CopyFail just went public](https://www.freshfromcache.com/a-critical-linux-vulnerability.md) - CopyFail gives an attacker full administrator access to almost any Linux system with a single script, no malware required. What it reaches, and how to confirm your servers are patched.
- [Do you need backups? You might already have them.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/do-you-need-backups.md) - Woof! I recently was contacted by a dog rescue that lives in my area. She was looking for somebody to look at their computer because it had been "acting funny for a while" and that they had all of their important business files on it. They were wondering if I could come rescue it. I was happy to of…

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