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Clearly, it’s not good. I can still boot up (Compaq Windows PC) usually, although not always. I'm pretty sure it's coming from the hard drive.

Probably so, but that’s no guarantee either. It isn’t as if other countries aren’t doing similar things with companies physically located within their borders. Plus, once you are transmitting data offshore, you potentially lose whatever protections exist for US citizens, although those are pretty thin these days.

I understand that it requires more effort (hence the “2” part of 2-factor). I don’t mind putting forth a little more effort, but do people find that it is worth it, or does the inconvenience outweigh the added security?

I’m not certain if this is true for all batteries, but I know a MacBook Pro or Air has a battery life expectancy of ~1000 cycles. At that point, capacity is expected to fall to 80% of original capacity, so it isn’t as if the battery just goes belly up all at once. You could still get acceptable performance for quite a while longer.

I’m headed to Europe in a few weeks, and I will be in England, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Which makes the most sense, taking a cheap GSM phone along and switching out SIM cards, or just using my carrier’s international data/calling option? I’m with AT&T if that makes a difference.

In Windows 7, you just established yourself as an admin, created an account for your kid, and defined the restrictions in the account settings using parental controls. This has changed in Windows 8 apparently. How do you go about using parental control in Windows 8? Does it work as well?

My cat likes to sleep on my desk at home, and is constantly pushing around the mouse, which causes my computer to wake up. She is apparently a very modern cat. Is there a way in Windows 8 to stop the computer from waking up when the mouse is moved?

I saw that Google is testing a ring that acts as an authentication token. Obviously, a fair number of businesses use physical authentication tokens, but as far as I know they haven't been adopted for individual private use. Ok, I'm sure there are a few people out there using them, but I've never met them.

How can I make sure that the hardware I have is supported by Linux? I know that Linux is much, much better (easier) when it comes to hardware support than Windows, but how can I make sure a given graphics card, motherboard, etc. will work?

It seems that whenever there is a zero day vulnerability, there is a better than even chance that it will have something to do with Java. What is it about Java that makes it so prone to security threats? Oracle isn't exactly some start-up operating out of a garage, you would think they would have this Java thing figured out by now.

I'm pretty new to the world of Mac, having used mostly Windows PCs for more years than I like to admit. I've never used FileVault before, but I just turned on FileVault on my work issued MacBook. Is this really a secure encryption method, or is it just a weak "consumer use" security blanket?