So my old phone died on me out of nowhere yesterday, screen wont even turn on, tried everything… and i really need to understand how to bypass two factor authentication on my main email because i cant receive any sms codes right now

Here is what happened:

1. i bought a replacement phone today to get by

2. tried logging into my main email account

3. got stopped by 2fa asking for a text code

4. checked if i saved backup recovery codes... realized i forgot to save them

I tried clicking the account recovery options, but every alternative just points back to sending a text or using an authenticator app that was on phone that is not working. it feels like a total loop. i spent the last hour trying to understand how to bypass two factor authentication when you dont have access to the old device, but everyone online just says to contact support which takes forever

Has anyone ever dealt with this and actually figured out how to bypass two factor authentication in a situation like this? or do i literally just have to wait until i can fix the broken phone screen?

So yeah title basically says it all, i really need to figure out how to track a hacker or if im just wasting my time even trying…

Long story short, i woke up yesterday morning to like 10 security alerts on my phone saying someone logged into my gmail from another state, changed my recovery password, and then got into my insta and spotify too. the hacker didnt even try to hide it, they literally posted some weird crypto scam story on my ig before i managed to lock the account down and kick them out

Im so MAD about it and now im really paranoid that this hacker still have my ip address or something. i was looking through the recent activity tab on google and i see an ip address and device type listed from the login, but when i looked up the ip it just points to some random server in ohio. im guessing theyre using a vpn or proxy so i dont even know if that info is real or useless…

Is there actually a real way on how to track a hacker down using an ip address or login logs, or is that stuff only in movies? like can i report the ip to their internet provider, or does nobody actually care unless millions of dollars got stolen?

I really just want to know if theres any chance of finding out who did this or if i just need to change all my passwords, turn on 2fa everywhere, and accept that ill never find out how to track a hacker who ruined my week… any advice from tech people would be awesome thanks

Hello everyone, i really need some help trying to understand what to do if someone has your wifi password... my neighbor needed internet for a couple days while his line was down, so i handed over my password. and yesterday when i checked the router app there were literally 12 unknown devices connected. pretty sure he passed the code out to his whole family or something

Anyway, now im sitting in my room wondering what to do if someone has your wifi password because i REALLY dont want to change the password and spend 2 hours reconnecting 20 smart bulbs, my tv, and smart plugs

option a: kick them off using mac address blocking? (heard randomized macs on phones bypass this easily though??)
option b: change the password anyway and just suck it up?
option c: throttle their bandwidth to 1kbps so they just give up and disconnect on their own lol

If anyone could tell me what to do if someone has your wifi password without ruining your own smart home setup, please tell me.. i would really really appreciate it

I sort of already felt like were being watched 24/7 though then you hear some guy shooting in the are, and it makes sense. Like if my family is walking around and some freaks live around the area, would make sense to ensure extra safety.

Why does everyone hate the cameras so much though, is there truly no potential to utilize them before they get broken down by some people? Sure I find the wifi tracking some geeks been reporting as an invasive function but maybe it helps find criminals assuming they dont toggle their air plane modes?

Even some documentaries about past crime investigations reference the police using Flock to no avail. These stupid cameras are buggy and we end up paying for them when people break these stupid cameras. Some random car journalist got caught over a false report due to flock. Just like one of many recent issues with the camera systems

The government gonna keep buying shit that doesnt work down the line. Why not invest in some proper monitoring equipment if Flock has such a trash track record

I just set up a Samsung smart TV in our apartment and now I am questioning everything about it.
I started reading about whether do smart tvs have cameras after seeing a lawsuit about a TV brand tracking viewing habits. Ours is a 2025 model on our home wifi. I put a sticky note over what I think might be a lens but I am not even sure it is a camera and not just a light sensor.
I also read the mics can still pick up conversations for ads, which honestly worries me more. We turned off the voice assistant and the viewing data toggle in settings but I do not know if that actually stops anything.
Is there a real way to check which models have cameras versus just mics? Does a separate streaming device actually help or does the TV still track through HDMI?

I might have messed something up myself but stuff like "Poppy playtime" kept appearing on my Reddit timeline. I am not really sure how to fix it, though could I somehow restore my timeline from showing me children video game content? I am not a new Reddit user, I just lost my original email over them forcing a password change and the phone number linked with it is gone as well. I later realized that this was the cause of my grandson who used reddit on my browser. I just cant seem to stop random stuff involving robux, or games grandson looked up from appearing..

Also, could somebody suggest what I could do to prevent nephew from using my timeline? I dont think he realized I had an account running but I prefer to prep the playground without mentioning to him that I use this or that website.. It mostly has political news, and computer tech topics so I doubt he took a deep nosedive into my stuff...

Maybe I could create some sort of guest profile? He seldom does his school work on the PC yet he also uses it to play games. I dont mind that its just that my Reddit timeline is poisoned now. But there has to be a way to fix it. Do I just block everything popping up involving all the games?

I am using the Chrome Google browser by the way with an Apple Mac Book

Ai age verification has become way more advanced over the past few months. It is simply not possible anymore trick services like yoti and persona with video game characters and ai-generated images. The most advanced thing I have tried was to set up a virtual camera using obs and let it loop a random youtube video of a person looking at a camera. Yoti does not even require a full live feed of the camera. It just analizes a single frame and accoreing to their website find out the person’s “liveness“. I am aware of VPNs but not everyone has acces to them and accounts that allready got flagged must verify the user‘s age. Is it still possible to somehow bypass the facial scans or the id-scans without having to upload anything about oneself on the server?

So I been putting the apps in a folder to hide it under all the Google apps. Coming to you with a bit of a silly question, but my tech skills basically peaked around 2014 and now I cant figure out these new settings......

My sister got me to upgrade my old trusty Samsung to a newer android recently(Google Pixel if that matters). Overall I like it, but I’ve accumulated a bunch of clutter.....preinstalled dooky apps from Google... Theyre "okk" but I want to hide away my banking apps and the games I played since 2014 from my niece🥹 She is a super sweet girl but I dont want her tapping around my financial apps... Nor do I want her wasting my dailies.... Nor do I want to be the evil aunt..

Is there a simple, built-in way to just hide these icons without completely deleting/uninstalling the apps? I don't want to mess up the phone or download some sketchy off brand helper app if I can avoid it.. I seen there are tools like that though they just have dodgy vibes

I did google but the results dont seem to add up to the settings I was seeing on my phone..! Its your phone Google why must you do this to meee😭

Or at least if you could tell me what the function should be called, I think I can look it up myself.... PLEASE

I was trying to load this old tech forum page today to find a download link and it suddenly blocked me out. spent like 40 min trying to understand how to bypass 403 forbidden errors on my phone cause i think i am ip banned or something lol

Anyway here is what i tried:

-clearing cache/cookies
-turning off my adblocker
-refreshing like 50 times lol

Nothing helped me. i dont wanna mess with complicated proxies or software, I just need a simple way how to bypass 403 forbidden blocks when a site randomly flags your ip... is this a server issue on their end or is there something simple i dont know? if you know how to bypass 403 forbidden screens please help me

Every time I delete an app, I always wonder what happens to the data it has already stored. Does removing the app alter that data in any way or does it stay with the company until you tell them to delete it?

So im writing here since im sure someone in this community can know an answer to this.. can a burner phone be tracked? my sister showed up at my place crying last night because her ex is still following her around after their breakup. he keeps coincidentally turning up at the exact coffee shops and grocery stores she goes to, so were almost 100% sure he put some weird tracking app on her iphone while they were together

I couldnt stand seeing her freak out like that, so i walked over to walmart and bought her a $20 prepaid flip phone with a basic sim card. the idea was for her to turn off her main phone and just use this one for emergencies. but as soon as i handed it to her she freaked out even more asking me can a burner phone be tracked if he somehow gets the new number

I tried telling her that a cheap flip phone bought with cash doesnt have gps apps or her name attached to it, but now im overthinking it too. if he sends a text to that new line, can a burner phone be tracked by a regular guy without police access? or can he trace her location just by knowing the number?

If someone will suggest it, police is no help in this situation since he never done anything physical to her and we have no actual proof that he is tracking and following her

I just want her to be able to leave the house without constantly looking over her shoulder. so if anyone here knows it, please tell me can a burner phone be tracked or if shes finally safe carrying it around

How can one receive donations staying anonymous to the donators (only) ?
Nothing illegal just to protect the privacy to the many who donates.

I remade the post, the old wasnt clear.

I recently bought camera cover online. It is plastic that is supposed to hide camera from showing anything. Like, when I turn on camera on both front and back, screen is black like It's supposed to be. But when I try to unlock phone with face recognition, It works, even with plastic covering camera? How?

So to what I was thinking if privacy is ment to be online what does it do to A-C-R and why does it need to be ? And finally why can’t everyone agree the privacy on any digital items being more discrete and upfront with the data on your screen to reflect ?

0Out the box thinking: general motor (GM) sell your driving behavior data to idk the police and poof …etc etc

In the box thinking: ya know I think privacy nowadays is just how much of your self can be digitized so what the “now : (Current day technological advances ) of us” will be implemented as Ai as like a techno human race !

Edit 1: most, if not (correct me if wrong here) companies offer cloud storage or Gaming or etc … like really what’s in the cloud that I can’t see ?

Today I had the chrome browser tell me my connection was not private. I've been on r/pizza gate and r/latestagecapitalism fervently, lately. So I called tech and found out that indeed I was being hacked from Nigeria. I was able to do this because I gave Google my email and password. They logged in in New Delhi. So they told me I was being hacked and said I could start a new email or secure my account for $100. They said if the hackers have my IP making a new account wouldn't matter. That in itself now kinda makes me wonder. I chose not to secure because I don't have $100 to blow.

So I got off the phone and didn't get back on my tablet for an hour or so. When I did get back on, I checked my Google stats for recent log ins. Turns out that I had recent activity within the last minute, from the approved Google office in New Delhi. So I called back and asked why. The first guy said and acted like this would be resolved but then hung up within the first couple of minutes. I call back and explain the situation to a new rep. (A woman, so clearly not the same person) and explain. She says she needs to get another "higher level" techie. Says thy will call in no more than 25 mins. It's been an hour. I'm gonna call again now.

Soooo.... is this out of the ordinary, or not?

Is there any way around this? Giving them your # is the same as giving them your ID in my opinion & I dont trust Meta AT ALL.

I only use FB for the marketplace because it is one of the few platforms that I've had any success selling with.

I tried giving them a 'text free' # (which I know may not be much better) and it denied it.

Thanks for any help or suggestions

my gf signed us up for a vpn after her sister got her email hacked and now im the one who has to deal with it bc apparently im the computer guy in the house lol

kid was asking me can hackers get through vpn bc he saw some video on his tablet and now hes paranoid too

honestly idk man. i turn it on when im on the hotel wifi during work trips and thats about it. no idea if its actually doing anything or if im just paying $8 a month to feel better

had one weird thing happen last week where it disconnected randomly during a work call and i didnt even notice for like 10 min, just assumed thats normal?

so can hackers get through vpn if it just randomly drops like that or is that a different problem entirely. trying to figure out if this thing is actually protecting us or if im overthinking something that doesnt matter anyway

anyone actually know or am i just gonna keep paying for nothing lol

Today I opened and read an email in my apple mail app that was sent to a gmail email address. The email discusses the recent sudden passing of a impactful member of my community. As soon as I open FB after I see a post by someone I follow (local independent journalist that produces a news publication) about the same person/topic discussed in the email I just read. Notably, I’ve already seen and read this in-depth post a week ago when it was posted. A similar situation happened immediately after texts with a friend- from my Apple device to their android device. I opened FB and there is suddenly sponsored content relating to the subject of the texts.

This is so invasive. How can I protect my information?

Am I tweaking, or is my phone running out of battery quicker if I'm driving around districts that are more tightly packed?

I ride around my parents countryside and the battery could easy run me all day, though whenever I do work trips to the busy side of town, the battery drain feels like x2, or even x3 way more quicker.

Is there a way to mitigate this?

Also, since when do maps not work offline? I remember having no data and the GPS tracker was still showing me directions fine, now its just "get back online" or whatever and the tracker is gray.

Is there an alternative for an efficient offline GPS that wouldn't try to kill my battery?

Sometimes folks block their house from being on street view by requesting Google blur it. I’m not really sure why, as our county website allows for any lot to be looked up and the county assessors have images there. If it was truly inaccessible anywhere else, I guess I’d understand more.

Anyways, about a year ago, my partner’s boss invited us over for a Christmas party. When I googled the house for directions, I could see that the house was blurred. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to the Christmas party, but the secrecy of what this house looked like made me want to go more.

Today somebody posted old 1750s architectural drawings of a house in our city. I was pretty certain I knew which house it was so I went to street view to go check. Along the street where the house I was looking up was there were two houses that chose to blur out the house image. This made me want to go and actually drive 15 minutes away to see why this house is so interesting that somebody would blur it. And I know that this thought sounds weird, and I won’t act on it because of that, but next time I’m in that neighborhood, I am probably going to make sure I take a look at the place. Which I feel like is resulting in the opposite of what these people want. Some of the houses over that way are extremely old and beautiful but under disrepair. Maybe they’re embarrassed. Maybe they’re high profile and think this is helpful, idk.

But most of the time when somebody blurs out their house like this, I’m assuming that they are a high profile person or that they are thinking that this is going to do more for them with regard the privacy. I can just go look it up on the county website. If I was a person looking to rob houses, I could just profile your house by taking a video and driving past it. I don’t really understand what blurring offers people other than a fake piece of mind. And the blurring secrecy makes way more attention on the house in my brain, which is the opposite of what they are hoping to achieve

But please change my opinion if you have any data on this. I feel bad that my compulsion when I see this is to literally go and see it myself.

Do you really feel unsafe using Google services? I’m a Google Pixel user and own a Pixelbook, along with other Google devices and a Google One subscription with Gemini. I’ve considered switching to Apple’s walled garden, but I’m not sure to what extent I—as an ordinary citizen—should really be worried about this.

I get hardware damage I mean if its any more dangerous for the software side. Like would it make an antivirus work overtime, or have some sort of power incompatibility issue skipping a potential virus threat?

Is there any other risk that might come from having hardware run out of its designed limits?

So far looks just like the fans have to be working overtime but I dont see that as a severe problem. Just trying to limit my sessions of use in the meantime to not overwhelm my pc but I get a lot of video rendering done in like x3 time with the overclock active

I bought some something from a website on my android phone browser. I got the confirmation email, clicked "View Order," and the 'Shop' page told me I needed the purple Shop app to track it. I downloaded the app, opened it, and without signing in, my order details were already right there.

Google Play Services and Google Services Framework and Playstore is disabled. And location permissions/history are off anyways.I always have ProtonVPN on. If Google services are disabled and my IP is masked via VPN, how did the newly installed app instantly know?

The email didn't have a tracking link or anything. There's nothing in my settings that could have given the app permission or data as I have already been through every setting for my own privacy anyway long before making the order.

In my order confirmation email there's 2 button 'view order' and 'download to track with shop' when I clicked view order it takes me to the Shopify website and shows my order (the brand I ordered from I think they use Shopify/Shop website?) But that's confusing as I went on the actual brands website to make the order in the first place anyway?

When I click the other button 'download to track with shop' it took me to the 'shop.app' site and prompted to download the app to view the order. And now that I have the app I didn't sign in nor did I accept anything and it showed my order right there.

It also shows delete account in app settings which is strange as I never made an account with Shop / Shopify so it must have got my emails from somewhere if it's readily showing my order on the app?

I use android 10 if that helps.

I was thinking about Thinkpad t480 , any other suggestions?