Tips to avoid pickpocketers in Paris

I went to Paris in 2022 and would like to impart some tips to avoid being pickpocketed.

• Use a front-facing shoulder bag or fanny pack (bum bag). Pull your bag up and clasp your hand over it during busy crowds so they can't easily open the zip.

• Close your zips with a Bobino zipper clip (or a similar device). In my experience, the clips are tricky to open. You may want to use the clip with another key ring, as the clips' native rings can flay open if you tug hard on them.

• Bury expensive items at the bottom of your backpack and cheap items at the top. On top of my backpack are the sunscreens and a spare T-shirt.

• Spread out your cash, including putting some on a lanyard under your shirt. Personally, I have €10 in my wallet, €40 in the inner zip pockets of my backpack (spread out, of course), €5 under my phone holder, and €50 in small notes on the lanyard. I saw a tour guide placing money in a lanyard and adopted that trick. So, if my wallet is stolen, I can still reach my hotel by the latest.

• Keep as little as possible in your wallet. Preferably, an amount you're OK with losing.

• Use inner zippers to keep your credit card separate from your wallet or deep in your backpack. Use Apple Pay or Google Pay as much as possible, preferably with a watch, to avoid taking out your phone.

• Split your ID from your credit card, especially if your ID has an address that matches the billing address of one of your cards. Carry the ID separately from your card. Or use an ID with no address on it.

• Attach your phone using a retractable badge holder. You can also do the same for your Navigo Go card.

• Use a Navigo card or a physical ticket, especially if you have pieces of luggage. Don't use your phone, as they may be able to "snatch" it while you have it out.

• Avoid ticket machines. You can top up the Navigo card using your phone from the safety of your hotel.

• Use a wrist strap with your phone.

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Review: Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra

Today I'm reviewing the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra worth, as of the time of this review, £267.43 on Amazon UK.   The LTE version costs £329.99.  I received the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra LTE product as part of a review program in return for an unbiased review.  Mobvoi had no editorial rights to my review and they did not receive any preview copy of the review.

Pro:

• Extremely long battery life (upward of 3 days)
• Lightweight
• Faux leather/silicon wrist strap (if that's your style)
• Activity tracker
• An extremely readable secondary display

Cons:

• Short wrist strap
• The vibration motor is meh
• Protruding side buttons
• Leather wrist strap 
• Proprietary charger
• LTE version locked to Vodafone

TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra... that's quite a mouthful.  It seems the company is just tacking on words to the name.  It reminds me of this video by Mrwhosetheboss.

https://youtu.be/wadg_mLOPJQ

But I digress.  If you have the TicWatch Pro 3, the Ultra version is more or less the same as the TicWatch Pro 3.  Unlike the Pro 3, the Ultra has an internal compass.  They both have great battery life.  In fact, no watch to date beat Mobvoi's Pro 3 and Pro 3 Ultra in terms of battery longevity.

Style

The TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra LTE has a dual-screen display.  The second low battery secondary display reminds me of the Casio non-smartwatches.

Unlike the non-Ultra version ie TicWatch Pro 3, the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra's Secondary display can change colors.  However, that setting isn't in the main watch settings and is controlled by the Essential mode app.

To change the color:

1. Open the Essential Mode app (using its launcher icon)

2. Swipe left for settings

3. Scroll down until you get the option for backlight color

Thanks to u/DYNALogix on r/WearOS

If you want to boost the brightness of the screen, you can double-click the top page button.

The LTE version is made of faux leather/silicon hybrid.  Although it looks more stylish than the non-Ultra or non-LTE version, the leather band has a few caveats.

After about two weeks of wearing, it suffered some stress on the bands, causing marks around the holes.

Also, I find the buttons a bit protruding and uncomfortable under certain conditions.  The bezels on the watch are also large, making the watch a bit bulky.  However, unlike the Samsung Watch 4, the bezels are useless; it does not have a rotating crown.  Although the crown on the Samsung may be a bit of a gimmick for some, I use it fairly often, especially when it's raining since the touches may misregister if the screen is wet.

For me, the strap was a bit small.

In fact, out of the three watches I own, the Pro 3 Ultra is one of the smallest circumference bands.  However, you can probably get bigger bands aftermarket.

Technology

Activity tracking

As with the TicWatch Pro 3 (and just about most other smartwatches), this watch tracks heart rate, steps, activity, etc.  However, it comes with a few added features.  It has IHB AFiB Detection and 24 hours stress monitoring.

The step counter was fairly accurate and was about 50 steps off from the Galaxy Watch 4.  This is a small margin of error and can be attributed to perhaps me being more dominant on the arm that I wore the Galaxy Watch 4.  One good thing about the Mobvoi watch is that it syncs with Google Fit, unlike the Samsung watch.  Samsung Watch only syncs with Samsung Health and you need a third-party app like Health Sync.  In my experience, it didn't sense the sport that accurately and you have to manually select the sport.

Vibration motor

The vibration motor on this watch isn't that strong compared to the Samsung but it's strong enough.

Synergy with phone

One feature on the Samsung that I miss is the synergy with the phone.  The Samsung Watch syncs the do not disturb mode with the Samsung Note 20 Ultra.  In addition, with the Samsung, any alarms ringing on the phone also ring on the watch, which is nice.  The TicWatch Pro 3 and Pro 3 Ultra, however, lacks this feature.

Google Assistant

Unlike the Samsung watch, the Pro 3 Ultra comes with Google Assistant.  However, during my 2 weeks of use, I rarely use the assistant on my watch.  Although it supports control of my smart home devices, it does not support routines.  When I'm at home, I tend to use my Google Home Hub Max anyway and if I'm on the way, I will use my headphones to trigger the Google assistant from my phone.

4G/LTE

Although my version provided by Mobvoi is the LTE version, it is tied to the Vodafone network.  However, there is an unofficial workaround on Reddit.  The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 is slightly more open but I found out only certain networks and certain plans support the esim on the watch.  Your watch and your phone must be with the same provider.  

In other words, if you want to use the watch to make independent calls, you need to be with a certain network (on your phone) and you have to pay more to support the watch.  Last I checked, none of the supported providers support the watch on their PAYG plan.  You need to be in with a contract with the network.  There isn't a PAYG plan just for the watch.

I miss my Huawei Watch 2 when you can simply pop a sim into the smart watch and use it as a phone.

Battery life

The TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra has no contender in the battery life category.  It has extremely long battery life.  With its 577 mAh battery and secondary FSTN display, the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra is the king of battery life.  Mobvoi says it would last 72 hours in normal "smart" mode and 45 days in the essential mode.  The essential mode only uses the secondary display and allows you to see your steps and battery life along with the time and date.

Wear OS version

The watch comes with Wear OS 2.33.  However, no other smartwatch apart from the Samsung Watch 4 comes with Wear OS 3.0, so I'm not going to count this as a con, unlike other review sites.  The TicWatch Pro 3 and Pro 3 Ultra are slated to be upgraded to Wear OS 3 later this year.

Watch Specs

These are the watch details from Mobvoi's website.

Model: TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS

Dimensions (mm): 47 x 48 x 12.3

Weight: 41g

Color: Shadow Black

Watch case: Stainless steel and high-strength nylon with fiberglass

Screen: Corning Gorilla Anti-fingerprint Cover Glass

Operating System: Wear OS by Google

Chipset: Qualcomm® Snapdragon Wear™ 4100 Platform and Mobvoi dual processor system

Memory: 

• RAM: 1GB
• Onboard storage: 8GB

Display: 1.4“ 454x454 326ppi Full Color Always On Display AMOLED + FSTN

Connectivity: 

• Bluetooth 5.0
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n (Wifi 4)
• GNSS: GPS+Beidou+Glonass+Galileo+QZSS

NFC Payments: Google Pay

Additional features:

• Speaker
• Mic
• Vibrator
• Barometer

Sensors: 

• Accelerometer
• Gyro Sensor
• HD PPG Heart Rate Sensor
• SpO2 Sensor
• Low Latency Off-Body Sensor
• Barometer

Battery capacity: 577mAh

Durability: IP68, Pool Swim/MIL-STD-810G

Conclusion

Mobvoi is a champion with battery life and their dual-display technology is extremely legible even in bright sunlight.  TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra continues this trend of excellence in the TicWatch Pro 3.  It has a couple of negatives though.  The watch is slightly bulky and the wristband is smaller than other watches, including the TicWatch Pro 3.  Also, unless you're with Vodafone or plan to switch to Vodafone, don't get the LTE version.  The Bluetooth version will suffice and you will save a couple of bucks as well.  For a more in-depth review, please see Brian Burriston's excellent review on Notebookcheck.net: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobvoi-TicWatch-Pro-3-Ultra-GPS-in-review-Small-update-of-a-good-smartwatch.574006.0.html.

If battery life is your main concern, get the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra.  If you have a Samsung phone and would like the greater synergy between your phone and watch, get the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 classic.

This blog participates in the Amazon affiliate program and if you buy through the links, we may earn an affiliate commission.  This does not affect the quality of the review, however.

Tech for University

Source: Wikipedia by Ryan at UTSA Libraries

Now that you're in University, you might be wondering what new tech you might need.  In the run-up to University, big store pushing ‘back to school’ tech sales in our face.  You might see PCWorld having big banners advertising £100 discount off the latest computers or £50 rebate with the purchase of a certain brand of computer.  And it may seem that technology may be embedded into our daily lives, but I’m here to guide you through the maze of tech buying.  I will help you stay cool and within budget.

Computers

It is no arguing that computers and students go hand in hand.  Almost all of the lecture notes in the upcoming weeks can be found on Blackboard (Blackboard.swan.ac.uk) and most of you will be writing essay papers on computers to be printed out later.

Today, there are so many laptops and so much competition in the market you should have no problem finding one that suits your needs at a reasonable price.  

Four of the most important hardware specs to look at when buying a new Windows PC are the processor, memory, graphics card, and storage.

Hardware components

Source: JIP on Wikipedia

Processor

Computer processors come a myriad of models with a confusing number-based model like the Core i7, i5, etc.  For everyday tasks, Core i3 or i5 (or AMD equivalent) would suit your need.  For the gamers out there, if your budget suits, you could go for the Core i7 processor, depending on the need of the game you’re playing since not all games are built equal.

Random Access Memory (RAM)

Ram is your computer’s ‘working area.’  The more RAM you have, the more concurrent tasks your computer can perform at the same time.  An example would be working on an essay while playing music in the background.  For a headache-less experience, look for a laptop around 4 GBs of RAM or more.

Storage

Your computer storage is like a filing cabinet.  The more storage you have, the more you can store.  Music, videos, pictures, and university work all use up storage.  Long ago, if you store a lot of things on your computer, just get a computer with more storage options.

However, nowadays, there are tons of cloud storage option available.  Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive allow you to save your work online and then access them anywhere.  So essentially you might not need that big a storage that a salesperson might be pushing at you.

In addition, adding to the mix are the two main types of hard drives HHDs and SSDs.  HHD or hard-disk drives are the traditional platter-based hard drive of magnetic tapes that store your files.  As you can imagine, it takes time for the platter to ‘spin’ to the right place where the file is stored.  Therefore, SSDs or solid-state drives were created.  Unlike HHDs, SSDs have no moving parts; therefore, data can be accessed instantly with little to no delay.  It allows your computer more speed and efficiency.  A drawback of SSDs is the cost.  SSDs are more expensive per GB.  But they might be worth your attention if you don’t store a lot of things on your computer.  And even if you do, hybrid-drives are an alternative compromise, storing essential software files on the SSD while regular files sit on the larger HHDs.

Graphics card

A graphics card, as the name suggests, is hardware that is used to convert the 1’s and 0’s into an image that you can see.  Cheap laptops often have the graphics processor built into the circuit board or even into the main processor chip.  These might be perfectly fine for everyday use, but for the power-hungry gamer out there, it might be worth investing in a dedicated graphics card for maximum performance.

In addition to the hardware specs, an important aspect of a computer is the operating system.  Below are three of the most popular computer system.

Operating systems

Mac OS X

It is often the go-to computer in movie University where all students are seen carrying one of these shiny slick aluminum machines.  But it is no arguing that they are quite pricey.  But if Apple is your liking you can grab a cheap bargain by going to the Apple Student store and buying a new device from there.  As of the writing of this blog, Apple is offering 15% off selected iMac lines.

Microsoft Windows OS

 Microsoft Windows is the king of the operating system.  It is the de facto operating system of choice by manufacturers.

Windows surface tablet by Takeaway. 
Source: Wikipedia

There are tons of computer buying guide out there, but ultimately the decision rest with you with choosing a computer that fit your needs.  Like the Mac OS X mention above, many of the Windows manufacturers are offering ‘student stores’ that offer discounts on the popular range of PCs.  One example is the HP student store.

Google Chrome OS

Google Chromebooks are the newcomers on the block.  They are powered by Chrome OS, a brand new operating system built by Google from the ground up with a view toward the web. If you have used a Chrome browser, you have pretty much used the operating system.  Chrome OS is a browser OS, and it is lightweight and require very little resource.  Updates install on the background and simply require a reboot to start. In addition, Chrome OS takes mere seconds (around 7 in my tests) from pressing the power button to being on the web.

Source: laboratorio linux

Now you might be asking what use is a web browser when you can’t do anything offline.  Thanks to the Microsoft Scroogled smear campaign attempt to discredit Chrome OS, Chrome OS is painted in a negative light that it is basically a paperweight since it can’t do things that a ‘real PC’ can do.  Well, don’t fret.  Word processing? No problem. Two solutions are available: Google docs or Microsoft Office online. Music your thing? No biggy. I'm pretty sure most of you are on YouTube anyway. Plus you can upload your music to Google Play Music online and it will work on any PC.  Anything you do on a traditional computer there is an equivalent application on the web.

Also, nowadays, Chromebooks can run Linux apps.  And there's usually a Linux equivalent of any Windows software you want.

For an in-depth review, please see my article on Chromebooks.

Cell Phones

It seems that cellphones are all the craze nowadays, with the top of the line Samsung Galaxy S10+ or iPhone X seen as ‘cool’ and hip.  But do you really need those phones or that many minutes? Shop around and find the best deal to suit your needs.  You may find out you don’t actually need that many minutes offered on the plan.

In addition, you could try getting last year's model or the year before that.  They are just as capable.  How much do you need the new iPhone X or the new Samsung Galaxy S10?  You could easily grab a bargain on the old iPhone 5 or the old Galaxy S4 or S5.  Last year’s flagship models are just as capable as this year’s model for a fraction of the cost.  In addition, there are tons of cheaper alternative like Motorola Moto X Play (from £21.99 per month (EE) or £249.99 sim free at Carphone Warehouse) or the Moto G (from £16.99 per month (EE) or £159.99 sim free at Carphone Warehouse).

Tablets

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

Tablets are perhaps the least appreciated technology. With phones getting bigger and computers getting smaller, tablets are slowly getting crowded out of the market.  But tablets are great for taking notes.  I have one and frequently use that to scribble on lecture slides with any notes that I want to add during lectures.  However, but you don’t need to go purchase a new tablet just for University. You could always search eBay for a good second-hand tablet

There are many tablets out there, but I personally recommend a tablet that has a stylus, which is good for taking notes.

Office software

Now we move onto the software.  I’m sure many of you are familiar with Microsoft Office for writing documents.  But if you don’t have that, don’t fret.  Swansea University provides a free copy of Office ProPlus for the PC (inc. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, etc.) or Microsoft Office for Apple Mac (inc. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).  To download a copy go to https://myuni.swansea.ac.uk/it-services/software-enquiry/. There may be a similar deal offered by your local University.

In addition, there are tons of free Microsoft office alternative out there.  One of them is Google Docs, which is an online document writer that is just as good as Microsoft Office.  One advantage of Google docs is that it allows easy collaboration of the document with other students.  Just click “share” on the document and then type in the email.  Then all your friends or group partner can type in the same document in real-time.  There’s even a Google chat to discuss ideas.

Another free alternative is Openoffice or Microsoft Office Online, which is a watered-down Office provided online by Microsoft.  It is quite similar to Google docs.

In summary, you don’t have to spend big bucks and go broke buying all the necessary techs for university.  And wherever the road may take you, have fun and enjoy your time at your chosen university!

What to do if you're in debt?

Image courtesy of artur84 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Students are well known for being poor and cash-strapped and loan companies know this.  Therefore, some companies, such as Smart-pig, target students promising a quick and easy way to borrow money to cover shortfalls in the budget.  These types of loans are informally known as "payday loans" as they are aimed at providing money between paydays.  It is typically expected that the debt is repaid the next payday.

However, don't be tempted into taking out a loan with these companies.  Smart-pig charges 0.8% A DAY capping the interest at 50% of the original loan (according to the website).  Wonga, the infamous payday company that had recently gone bankrupt, charges an interest rate of 292%.  Therefore, you can quickly get into more financial problems if you have used one of those short-term loan companies.

Image courtesy of ladybeastcharmer on DeviantArt

An even worse source of money is a loan shark.  These illegal lenders target low-income people and charge high-interest rates.  For example, according to the Money Advice Service, one woman who borrowed £500 ended up repaying £88,000.  These lenders will seem friendly at first, but unlike payday loans, these loan sharks will often harass you or resort to violence if you get behind on your payment.   In addition, they might pressure you to borrow more money to cover the original loan.  As a result, you might end up in a spiral of debt that you can never repay.

Link to video: https://youtu.be/vZ4Sne0wdxY

A payday loan or a loan shark should never be relied upon if you are short of cash.  What you can do instead, is talk to your parents or friends and see if they can help you out with your financial issues.  I'm sure they are more than willing to help you out.

In addition, as a Swansea University student, you have a comprehensive team to support your financial issues.  Your first point of call should be Money@CampusLife team which can give you advice about keeping your finance in check.  In addition, the Money@CampusLife team can advise you about the various Hardship Funds available to help students who are struggling with their finances.

If you're not a Swansea University student, contact your local student union for directions to the relevant team at your university.

If you are not a University student, you can ask the Citizens Advice Bureau or the Money Advice Service for advice regarding debts.

You should never feel that you're alone. There are people there to support you.

Tech tips for students

Hey.  I'm sure going to University for the first time is both exciting and scary.  Here are some tech tips for you.

Get your own router

Unless you like random people blasting music on your Google Home or Amazon Echo devices, I recommend getting your own router. Depending on your budget, a cheapo router from Amazon could do the deed but if you plan on holding on your router for longer than 3 years, maybe it would be worth investing in a good brand name router. Look at reviews to decide which router is best for you.

Our rooms at Swansea University Bay Campus have an ethernet to plug in a router but this can vary depending on the accommodation you are moving in to.

Also, a router allows you to form a local area network in your room so that you can connect network devices like printers, Chromecasts, etc.

Getting some oomph from library computers (specifically for Swansea Students but your mileage may vary)

The computers at Swansea University have a hidden "C:" drive that is not normally seen. All files you save are stored in a network drive located at Singleton Campus. So running large simulations or CAD software from it can be slow and laggy. Therefore, I would save your files on the local C: drive and copy it off to a USB thumb drive or external hard drive once the simulation is done

Also, by default, you get around 2 GB of space allotted but you can ask nicely to have it expanded to 4 GB. Just email "engineeringit@swansea.ac.uk" with your request or visit room Engineering Central C105 (Engineering Central, C Block, 1st floor, Room 105).

Other Universities may have a similar configuration set up.

Make sure to match the version of software installed on the library computer

Most engineering software is not backward compatible. That means that files made with a newer version won't run on older versions. Software with known backward incompatibility:

• Solidworks
  For example, files made with version 2018 won't run on version 2017.
• Ansys
  For example, files made with version 19.2 won't run on version 18.2.

Therefore, always check the version installed on your university computers before downloading and installing it on your own PC. There's nothing worse than having to re-do the work because the file you send to your groupmate won't open on their computer.

If you feel I'm missing any tips, be sure to leave a comment on this post.

Image sources:

• Router: Image by RoboxInvasion from Pixabay
• Speedometer: Image by janjf93 from Pixabay
• Download icon: Image by IO-Images from Pixabay

Keeping your PC updated

There is nothing worse than switching on your PC and seeing the dreaded "Working on updates" screen," especially if you have a major deadline a few hours away.

To make matters worse, you can't skip the update.  However, here's some tip to keep it under control.

Microsoft release Windows updates on the second Tuesday of the month around 10 AM PST.  That translates to around 6 PM UK time.  Non-security updates to Microsoft Office tend to occur on the first Tuesday of each month and firmware updates for Microsoft's Surface devices on the third Tuesday of every month.

Therefore, to avoid unnecessary interruptions to your schedules, it might be good to block a "maintenance" period for your PC.  That way Windows won't interrupt your work.

At this point, you might be wondering why do I need the updates?

People often put off updating their PCs thinking that the updates are annoying and unnecessary.

However, they are wrong.  Windows updates often patch a major vulnerability that allows hackers to compromise your PC.

While it may take a while to update your PC, maybe block off a day "holiday" to update it.  Your PC will thank you for it.

Tips for new students

First of all, congratulations with securing a place at a university of your choice.  All your hard work during GCSE and A-level paid off.  You are one of the 241,585 (32.6%) of 18-year-olds who gained a place in higher education. [UCAS] 

But now what? Here are some top tips ensure success at university.

After receiving your acceptance letter

Sort out your accommodation early

You have made your firm choice on UCAS and had sorted out accommodation to stay for the year. If you haven't yet already, this should be the first thing on your checklist. You certainly don't want to be homeless when attending university. While many universities guarantee accommodation to those that make that university a firm choice, on-campus residences are extremely popular and you might be placed in a hall miles away from the campus.  Many university towns also sport student accommodations run by private companies but they could be more expensive or further away from the campus than the University's own hall of residence.  When comparing your accommodation choices, make sure to factor in the cost of utilities as well as the cost of transportation.

Moving in day

Picture by John Benson

What to bring with you?

If you're anything like me, you will be tempted to just bring your entire room with you.  However, sometimes it might be more convenient to just buy the items online and ship it to the place of residence.  Signing up to Amazon Prime student allows you to get your Amazon shopping delivered to your door within one day.  

If your place is anything like mine you can start sending parcels there about 2 weeks in advance of your arrival.  That means that you don't need to load your car to the brim with stuff.  Your parents will certainly thank you for it.

If you do want to bring some items from home, here's what I would recommend:

• Duvet and duvet case
  It would be good to bring a warm blanket or duvet.  Universities in UK start in September and the weather would quickly become cold in the coming weeks and months.  Therefore, it would be helpful to bring a blanket or duvet with you.  In my experience, stores can run out of duvets especially on moving-in week since everybody would be clamoring to buy one.

• Enough clothing to last two to three weeks
  You don't need to bring mountains of clothing since almost all student accommodations have onsite laundromats.  If you want, you can bring your fancy clothes for parties or a suit or two for formal events.

• Extension cords
  Not all places have conveniently placed sockets so extension cords are sometimes helpful

• Laptop
  A laptop should be adequate for most students.  And bringing one from home means you are familiar with it.  If you don't have a laptop, have you considered buying a Chromebook?  These laptops are low maintenance.  I personally would recommend a Windows desktop and a Chrome laptop (Chromebook) rather than a Windows desktop and Windows laptop.  You can remote desktop into the desktop from the Chromebook.

• Bedsheets
  Many student sites recommend bringing a bedsheet but I would email or call the accommodation to make sure the bedsheet you bring fits the bed you have.  Also, if you don't know the size, use flat sheets rather than elastic ones as they can fit beds that are larger than the size they are made for, albeit not perfectly.

• Place an online order with your favorite retailer
  Many high street retailers allow you to place groceries order with retailers like Tesco or ASDA who would often deliver right to your door.  I often make my first delivery purchase the evening of my arrival or the day after.  It can work out cheaper or more convenient for them to deliver to you than for you to go to them.  Delivery savers by these sites would work out cheaper if you make multiple purchases.  In addition, you can share them with your parents!  You can ask your parents to part pay for the delivery saver and let them use the plan.  The caveat is that you both can't book delivery slots for the same day.

Getting down to business

Now you have all your fun during Fresher's week and its time to put your head down and study.

Organizing your work

Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels

• Use online cloud storage like Google Drive or OneDrive to save your work
  More often than not, your university will be subscribed to Office 365, which comes with 1 TB of storage.  Make sure to back up your work to online cloud storage.  You never know when your computer might be hit by a nasty virus or suffer technical problems.  Also, working off cloud storage like Google Drive enables you to work from any computer, not just your own.

• Create a folder hierarchy and label each folder properly
  Don't randomly assign names to the folders.  This would make it hard for you to later find your work.

• Download your lessons and save them on your cloud storage or hard drive
  This may seem like an unusual tip but sometimes Blackboard (used by Swansea University) goes offline.  So saving your lessons would allow you to access the lectures even if your University site crashes or have technical problems.

Take notes

Photo by Startup Stock Photos from Pexels

• Take plenty of notes during lectures
  Personally, I would recommend taking notes using a tablet to take notes.  This would enable you to store tons of notes without having to lug around tons of notebooks around.  If you can't catch up to the lectures, use your phone to take pictures of your lecturer's writing.

• Film your lectures
  This may seem a bit controversial so ask your lecturer before using your mobile phone to film the lecture.  Filming the lecture makes it easier for you to review them later on at your leisure.  A lot of Swansea Univerity courses use lecture capture to store the lecture slide along with the lecturer's teachings.  However, not all lecturers use it and the audio quality might be poor depending on how far the lecturer is from the mic.

Watch out for phishing email

University students are often a prime target for phishers and hackers.  I have made a handy article about how to keep yourself safe online.  Be sure to check it out.  Also, practice caution lest you hand over your student log in to spammers who use your account to spam other students and academics.

These are my top tips for Univerity.  Be sure to check out my other advice articles and pob lwc (good luck) with your future!

Tips on how to keep yourself safe online

Image by RyanMcGuire

On the Internet, you can be whoever you want.  Usually, these impersonations are harmless like roleplaying on Twitter as your favorite characters like Superman or Batman.  However, it becomes worrying when scammers pretend to be a trusted institution like a bank to part you from your hard earned money.

To prevent that, here are four tips on how to protect yourself.

Look for the blue tick

Credits: Wikipedia

Twitter, one of the most prominent social media websites, have a feature that verifies an account of public interest is authentic.  That is if the account is really who they say they are.  Facebook also has a similar feature.
Here’s an example from Twitter and Facebook, respectively

This feature can be used to alert you to the fact that the page you’re visiting may not actually be the company they’re claiming to be.  Take this very fake P&O Cruise Facebook page.

There isn’t a blue checkmark next to the name so we know that the person behind the page doesn’t actually represent P&O Cruises.

Social media accounts belonging to large companies such as P&O Cruises or Natwest will have a blue tick next to their name.  Pages of small companies sometimes don’t have the checkmark but the company will usually have a link to their social media pages from their website.

Credits: Wikipedia

Look for the green padlock

The padlock symbolizes that the connection to the website is made over a secure connection.  Extended validation certificates, which will produce a green padlock in all major browsers, require identity checks before they are issued.

However, it’s not a sure fire way as sometimes fake competition slip through the net like this fake Cadbury competition.

Also, there had been cases where security researchers had been able to circumvent extended validations to create fake websites.

Thus, if the website doesn’t feel right, it’s always best to search for the company’s name to find their website.

Don’t click on links sent in SMS texts or email

Photo by Rainy Lake on Unsplash

You may get a text proclaiming your bank account will be suspended unless you go to a website and change your password now!  DON’T CLICK ON IT!  That’s just a scammer trying to get your details or worse install malware (malicious software) on your computer.

The link could lead to a website that plants malicious software on your account.  At its tamest, the link could just be a phishing site. As the name suggests, the scammer is trying to “fish” for your details like your email, password, or other personal details that they could use to compromise your accounts.

While browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Edge try to warn you of phishing links, phishing sites might be so new that it hasn’t been added to the warning database.  Also, the site might be gone long when these browsers finally come around to warn you.

To learn more about phishing see this video:

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TRR6lHviQc

Credits: Revolution689

Google is your friend

To avoid being phished, don’t click on links in text messages or emails.  Instead, go to Google (or Bing if you’re so inclined) and search for the company’s name.  Then go to the contact us page to contact the company directly if you have concerns about your account.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftQ6A3DKKeg

With these 4 trusty tips in mind, stay safe out there and remember, Google is your friend.  If in doubt, Google it.