Cybersecurity: AI Dulls Our Critical Thinking and Enables Scammers to be More Effective (Microsoft Warned Us!)

The rise of "AI" (mostly Large Language Models, or LLMs, like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and so on) does enable a lot of "productivity hacks". However, Microsoft had warned us back in Jan 2025 that the most you rely on them, the more atrophied your critical thinking skills. Most "knowledge workers" who admitted to using AI tools, only use their own critical thinking skills to "fact-check" the LLMs. This suggests that the "average user" may be doing even less than that. 

This bodes ill for the average user, as they seem to regard ChatGPT and LLMs as some sort of generic "expert", when it is nothing of the sort. Indeed, merely by browsing /r/cybersecurity_help there are a number of topics where the poster openly admitted to "I checked my logs with ChatGPT..." when they lacked even the skills to fact-check the LLM they used. They suspected something, and they wanted ChatGPT to confirm their suspicions. 

But that's not the actually worrying part. Instead, Microsoft security is ringing the alarm: scammers are using LLMs to craft their latest scams to enhance their social engineering... by leveraging every sort of fakery possible, from fake website to fake job posting to fake customer service chatbots, because making them is so much easier with LLMs consolidating such knowledge. 

Be wary out there. 

App Discovery: Cobalt.tools, the video downloader that just works

One of the biggest pet peeves about Youtube is it's impossible to simply transfer your video to a different channel, when you have several. You have to download your videos, then re-upload them to the other channel, then re-enter the information. 

While for channel owners there is an option to download individual videos, there is no mass download option, so you need to click on each one individually to download each file individually, and you are now at the mercy of your browser's downloader. And every once in a while, you run into a few videos that just refuse to download. You click on download, you somehow get dumped back to the content tab, or the download simply "failed" with no error given. 

Yes, there are all sorts of shady sites and apps that claims to download Youtube videos for you, many of them want money, subscription, or more. Just search for "Youtube downloader" on Google... They all look shady for one reason or another. 

Then I found https://cobalt.tools , yes, that's the whole URL. 

No registration, no payment, no subscription. 

Simply paste in the URL of the video you want downloaded, and voila, it downloads. Even the ones previous you can't download from Youtube itself as the owner of the video. 

It has other options, like get audio only of a video, or download from other platforms (not just Youtube, but all the Chinese ones, like Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, as well as the Western ones). 

It just works. 

App Discovery: PyMacroRecord -- a completely free (no trial, no freemium, FREE!) macro recorder for Win10/11

Sometimes, you need to record a macro that will just copy data across multiple windows, move the mouse, and so on. However, when you search, you find... expensive options that has an fee... or an ANNUAL fee. 

Then you keep looking, and find PyMacroRecord. Completely free, source code in Python available on GitHub. One guy's passion project made available for all to you. 

And it works. 

I need to move some videos across my different Youtube channels. However, there is no such functionality on Youtube. The ONLY option is to re-upload. 

So I quickly whipped up a macro that copies title and description from one channel to the other. The rest, like keywords and such, can be handled by re-using an existing description. I have the videos available for re-upload (and the rest, I can download in batch). 

That's a TON of manual copy/paste saved. 30+ videos means probably closer to an hour saved. 

I am sure you have your own use case when you need such functions. Don't pay when this free tool will do. 

PC Hardware Discovery: One of the Best Mouse Bargains on Amazon -- Infinmind Mouse

Recently, I ended up buying two mice on Amazon. One I am okay with, but the other I am ecstatic with.

The latter is the Infinmind Mouse

NOTE: See long-term update later. 

It's a simple mouse, with 4 buttons (2 regular, 2 near the thumb), but it has a couple extra tricks. It is basically a clone or tribute of Logitech's Master Mouse. 

Instead of mouse wheel "tilting" (like Logitech) to scroll sideways, there's a separate mouse scroll roller next to the thumb. 

And the mouse wheel is METAL, and it's buttery smooth, yet has a distinctive step feedback if you scroll slowly. And it will let you spin on inertia alone so you will scroll a LONG way. It's hard to describe. 

The tracking is precise, as the built-in 4 different DPI setting, from 1000 to 3000 DPI, makes my scrolling on my triple-wide desktop (I use 3 x 24 inch monitors each at 1080p) very comfortably on a space that's barely twice as wide as my mouse. 

AND this mouse is both 2.4 Ghz wireless AND Bluetooth. In fact, it's 2 channel Bluetooth (can be paired to 2 different devices) AND available in both black and white. 

It even CAME with AA alkaline batteries, so it's ready to be used immediately. 

So what's the price of this amazing mouse? 

$18.99, and there's a 16% off coupon you can clip right now.  (As of 4/15/2025)

I daresay this is better than most Logitech mice I've used. We'll see how long it lasts. But in the meanwhile, this is one of the best mouse bargains on Amazon. 

LONG TERM UPDATE: It's now June 2025, and after 2 months of using it, it's... crap. It freezes up every few minutes, that I had to power cycle it to get it to work again. And that's USING the wireless dongle! I haven't tested Bluetooth mode yet. Will check later, but this is... not good. I had to power cycle the mouse multiple times a day. That's just... "no bueno".     

App Discovery: Spacedesk by Datronicsoft

As you use more and more tech, you object have extra old tech left over. If you have an old tablet left over, have you wondered what you should do with it? 

How about turn it into an extra display for your desk accesories that you don't want to take up extra desktop space? 

I have an old Nexus 7 (2nd gen) tablet, too old and too slow for 2025, but it's fast enough to act as a secondary display. I cleaned it up (removed all the old apps I don't use), uninstalled a bunch of crap, then went to 

https://www.spacedesk.net/

And downloaded the "driver" for the PC. Then went to Google Play Store (yes, my Nexus 7 can still access it) and downloaded the Spacedesk app.  I connected the USB cable between the 2, set the tablet on file transfer mode, fiddled with it a bit, the driver software saw the app, and voila, I have a 4th screen. 

This will also work in Wifi, but wired is more secure and faster. 

My triple-wide desktop, now with a small 4th display.
I stuck my desktop widgets and other stuff there.  

The software is FREE for personal use. If you have Spotify or Stock Ticker or Weather, Clock, and so on, put in on that display for extra clean look of your desktop. 

And happy "Pi" Day. 

(3/14, get it?)

Cybersecurity: Stop the Fake CAPTCHA Run Trap

Recently, there has been a spade of reports in Reddit's /r/cybersecurity of a "new" attack that relies on users being unaware of how their computer works, and tricked into executing a malicous script, by describing the attack as a CAPTCHA challenge. 

CAPTCHA stands for "completely automated Public Turing test to tell computers and Humans Apart". It's those picture tests where you need to answer certain question, such as "pick out the tiles in a segmented picture that contains a bus" or "which pictures has a motorcycle in it?" But later the term was genericized to mean any sort of "are you human" challenge test designed to weed out the automated scripts. 

The fake version asks the user to press Windows-R on their keyboard, followed by Control-V, to prove they're human. 

EDIT: The attack has been highlighted by KrebsOnSecurity and named "ClickFix" attack. 

If you didn't recognize these keystrokes, Windows-R (Win-R) brings up the Windows Run box, where you are supposed to enter a program to run. And Control-V (Ctrl-V) pastes what's in the clipboard into the whatever you have open. 

In other words, you just ran something, but you have no idea what. 

That is indeed... VERY bad. Because you basically just gave away control of your PC to the bad guys. And who knows what they'll do with it, probably download malware to your PC, steal all your accounts, and more. 

Given that 99% of the users will NEVER need to touch the Run box, you should disable it ASAP, esp. if you have computers being used by users who can be tricked into running this (very young, or very old)

To disable the Windows Run box, please follow this article: 

https://www.auslogics.com/en/articles/enable-or-disable-run-command-winr-box/

There are ways around it, but if you trained your users well (call me if you run into any errors you don't understand), you can stop them from trying to further compromise their PC. This is basically a barrier that says "are you sure what you're doing? Call me before you continue..." instead of blindly follow some malicious instructions. 

Conversation: Are You a Tattle-Tale?

Recently I ran into a couple scenarios that just annoyed the heck out of me, that I don't want to share any more info with that person, due to the negative reactions I got. I'll create a fictional but based on real life scenario below. Trust me, there's a lesson for everyone at the end. 

I have been going to the same barber for 20+ years. I know this barber is a bit expensive, ($25 for a haircut, vs the really cheap ones at like $8), esp. when you add some tip, but I don't really have to give any instructions or such. The guy and his wife (also a barber) know me. 

Anyway, ran into an acquaintance, who's a known miser, yet constantly ran out of money and had to borrow $30 from me. He paid me back, and I remarked, "Good, I just spent $30 on my haircut" since I also noticed he's sporting a new do as well. 

For the next five full minutes I get non-stop tsk-tsk about how I am wasting my money, his haircut was only 8 bucks, are you made of money, I make a lot more than you do yet so you're so spendy, you clearly don't need the money so can I borrow that $30 again, he got a free hair wash with that $8 too what a bargain, blah blah blah. Had he and I were not meeting more friends for lunch I would have ditched him right there. 

The harangue did not stop once other friends arrived and lunch started. He started replaying the entire "lecture" to every acquaintance within hearing distance, and he's not a quiet guy. "Oh, can you believe So-and-So spent $30 on a haircut? I only spend $8!"  You can probably hear him a couple tables away. 

I normally were not a cheerful guy, but I can hold a conversation in a group setting, do the social smalltalk, and so on. I am just not a social butterfuly, like the miser thought he was. But when I've been made the topic and the butt of the joke, I am sulking inside, starting to regret knowing this guy, and vowed never to talk to this guy again, and if I see him coming toward me I'd jaywalk to the other side of the street. 

So what's the takeaway? 

Don't be a tattle-tale. 

Miser may have thought he was offering useful advice or being helpful, but once he got started he failed to notice my counter-remark "I've been going there for years." And instead of leaving this between us, he turned it into a conversation topic with other people and I was made into a butt of a joke. 

Now that's just mean, and childish, and he's probably not even aware he's doing it. He's socially oblivious yet thought he's going sociable. 

Next time you receive some info, consider the context it was given. Don't be so quick to criticize, then repeat it to every acquaintance within reach. Not every piece of info you receive is meant to be replicated public knowledge, and you're not a broadcaster / newsreader (unless you actually are). 

Share something about yourself instead, not something you just learned about someone else. 

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.