TechByter Worldwide 2017-01-22: Serious Threats Are Aimed at Your Data Right Now; Short Circuits; and Spare Parts.

There's just one topic in the main section of the podcast this week and it's an important one. The data on your computer is at risk and crooks are working to find a way to get at it. In Short Circuits: Bogus pop-up warnings in browsers are increasingly common. Shutting them down is easy if you know how. When several unexpected directories with strange files appeared on my computer, I was concerned, but there was no real threat. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The Economist magazine and Kaspersky Lab ran a competition that challenged college students to find a way to use blockchain technology to make on-line voting safe and tablet computers continue to evolve even though the market segment is becoming mature.