With Cortana following you around -- from spamming helpful suggestions based on what you’re typing to displaying extremely precise and personalized ads based on your online search -- Windows 10 can often feel intrusive. Here are a few tips you can follow to leave Microsoft’s watchful eye behind.

Despite security being one of Microsoft’s top priorities, it has been recently discovered that there are two vulnerabilities in computer chips, named Meltdown and Spectre, that put private data in jeopardy. As a solution, Microsoft has released an update to fix this vulnerability.

Installing security patches is usually such a humdrum task that even the most inexperienced users handle it. Unfortunately, that has not been the case with the Spectre and Meltdown fixes. This time around, we recommend you skip installing the update and let an IT professional handle it for you.

In the first week of 2018, security researchers announced that modern computer processors have a fundamental flaw called Spectre. If exploited, hackers could gain access to systems that store confidential information. And the most vulnerable to these attacks are outdated web browsers like Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox.

Bloatware, junkware, trialware, third-party apps -- whatever you call it. There’s now yet another reason to get rid of these annoying pre-installed programs and plugins indefinitely: security threats. Learn more about the other risk that might do more than slow down your computer.

While Apple products are renowned for being highly secure, they’re not completely immune to cyberattacks. Fortunately, Apple frequently releases updates to fix any issue that they’ve discovered. And if you have macOS High Sierra, you need to make sure you’re running the latest patch.

Strict parents can monitor their kids’ online activities, law enforcement officers can see your outgoing messages, and some employers can (unethically) check whether employees are on Facebook during working time. All they need to do is install a keylogger on one’s computing device.

Cyber criminals will stop at nothing to attack your systems and profit from it…and they know there are vulnerabilities to be exploited in businesses that use mobile technology. To beef up data security, adopt a mobile threat detection (MTD) strategy.

Even if you’re sure that the websites you visit are safe, harmful software can still slip through, especially when you download and install free programs and applications. As the world’s most popular browser, Chrome is especially prone to infection.

Android users will want to take a bite of the latest OS’s features, and with good reason. Oreo is packed with enhancements and add-ons, including a significant interface overhaul, a picture-in-picture mode, smart text selection, and other nifty features.