You bought a new iPad, unwrapped it from that shiny packaging, and are finally ready to take it for a test drive. There’s only one problem: you have no idea what to start. They didn’t offer Tablets 101 when you were in school, at least not in any of the official course catalogs. So what’s a discouraged iPad newbie to do?

First, don’t give up or let your inexperience get you down. As long as you’re willing to do things just a bit differently than in the past, it’s easy to pick up the iPad. And, if you’re willing to learn a few new tricks, iPad mastery is well within your reach — even if “tech savvy” is that last word anyone would use to describe you.

There are more iPad tricks out there than you can shake a stick at. Start with these four favorites of entrepreneur and computer guru George Otte:

1. Leverage Multitouch Gesture Capabilities

Multitouch what? Yes, like your smartphone, the iPad has a responsive touch screen. That’s great news for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the incredible power of multitouch gesture. You can unlock numerous functions and shortcuts with a few swipes of your finger(s), including:

• Swipe up from the screen bottom with one finger to reveal frequently used settings and other useful features
• Swipe upward with four fingers anywhere on the screen to unhide the multitasking bar
• Pinch four fingers together on the screen to close the app you’re currently working in

2. Turn Down Your Screen’s Brightness for Longer Battery Life

This one is head-slappingly simple, but often overlooked. Turning down your screen’s brightness can boost your iPad’s battery life by a significant margin — a tremendous benefit on long trips or remote areas.

3. Swipe to Switch Apps

If you think of your iPad as a rotating app carousel, the swipe-left/swipe-right feature will make more sense. To switch between running apps, simply place four fingers on the screen and move them right (to unlock the app to the “left”) or left (to unlock the app to the “right”). No more closing apps every time you want to switch or dealing with a confusing task bar!

4. Unlock the Power of Triple Clicking

You’ve heard of double clicking, but what about…triple clicking?

Yep, it’s a thing. On the iPad, at least. Once you turn on triple clicking functionality in your settings menu, you can tap the home button three times and unlock a bevy of cool features. For instance, triple clicking allows you to invert your screen colors (for a striking, super-fun look) or activate your iPad’s VoiceOver function (which provides audible cues as you navigate your operating system). Try it for yourself!

Not the Only Tricks in the iPad Book

As noted, these aren’t the only five iPad tricks in the book. There’s plenty more you can do to get the most out of your sleek new (or refurbished) tablet. If you’re serious about squeezing the most value out of your iPad, don’t hesitate to consult an expert who knows iPads for more guidance. After all, you’ll never know if you don’t ask.

Your home is your castle. At least, that’s what you’ve been told all these years. What if an invisible threat lurked in the digital plumbing that connects it to the wider world?

Among cybersecurity experts like George Otte, there’s growing alarm that home wireless networks simply aren’t as safe as many people assume. That’s a problem, because poorly defended networks expose users to all sorts of scary risks.

Here’s a look at why your home network might be more exposed than you realize…and a few tips for fixing that ASAP.

Shaky Credentials?

Your home wireless network’s most vulnerable point is its router. That’s because millions of home routers retain their default credentials — the password that allows administrative access to the machine and protects against unauthorized use. If hackers someone become aware of your router’s default credentials (and they’re not hard for seasoned cybercriminals to uncover), they can use your router to infect your home devices with all manner of nasty malware.

Why Home Network Hacking Matters

Home network hacking isn’t just a problem for the individual users it affects. If your home network is compromised, your devices can spread malware far and wide — to anyone in your email contacts and to other computers on the public wireless networks you use, to name but two avenues. In other words, you could unwittingly become a vector for cybercriminals.

How to Protect Your Router

Fortunately, securing a home wireless network is a straightforward affair. The simplest step you can take is simply to change the default credentials on your router. You can also set up WPA encryption for your router, which doesn’t require expert-level tech savvy. These two steps are likely to prevent the most basic, common attacks.

For a more robust approach to home network protection, use an OpenDNS server that protects you from some of the threats on your default server. You can also disable remote admin access (if enabled), further choking off entry to your network. Finally, you can use open-source firmware (or simply keep your firmware up to date) rather than rely on manufacturer firmware that may be out of date by the time it reaches you.

Threats Abound

It’s often said that the cybersecurity landscape resembles an arms race between two mortal enemies. As each side fights for position, advancing and retreating across a scarred battlefield, the real casualties are all too often rank-and-file technology users who just want to be left to surf the Web in peace.

Given the proliferation of digital threats out there, it’s important not to put too much stock in any one threat over any other. Home wireless networks might be a key vulnerability for average Web users. But there are plenty of other threats — unsecured public networks, phishing scams, trojans and who knows what else. As a concerned user, the best thing you can do is be aware of as many threats as you can, and vigilant to suspicious activity that could presage something worse to come..

These days, the world’s scariest viruses often don’t always attack the human body. Some attack the digital infrastructure that we depend on for, well, just about everything. Computer viruses — and trojans, worms and other nasty pieces of malware — are the next frontier in global “health.”

Not all computer viruses are super-widespread or destructive. Some infect a few machines locally, then die out, go dormant or otherwise become inactive.

Some, though, wreak havoc across frighteningly wide geographies. Viruses have been responsible for some of the worst data breaches in history and have sapped untold billions of dollars from the global economy. Even the world’s best digital minds struggle to keep up with the relentless barrage of new digital treats.

There are plenty of contenders for “worst computer virus of all time,” but these five stand head and shoulders above the rest. Have you come face to face with any of these in your digital travels?

1. Melissa

Named for a Florida stripper, Melissa actually wasn’t intended to cause havoc. Back in the late 1990s, when Internet pornography was still pretty novel, Melissa was conceived as a self-replicating file containing special passwords to nearly 100 adult websites. However, its self-replication capabilities proved overwhelming, and it quickly infected millions of machines across the United States — leading Microsoft to shut down its email servers for a time.

2. My Doom

Unleashed in 2004, My Doom still holds the “world’s fastest-spreading virus” title. It ultimately infected 1 in 12 computers worldwide, a shocking total in any era, and forced Google to shut down for a full day. Worse, the authorities never caught the perpetrators. They could be working on their follow-up right now.

3. Klez

2001’s Klez was the most sophisticated virus to date. It selected the optimal transmission method based on network and machine characteristics, and was one of the first viruses to effectively employ spoofing. Subsequent viruses copied many of its tricks.

4. Nimda

Released in 2001, Nimda was one of the first viruses to affect cell phones (though, due to the low number of Internet-connected phones at the time, the damage was minimal). More notably, it affected backend systems across the web, throwing corporate operations into a cocked hat.

5. SQL Slammer

SQL Slammer spread across the world in 2003, causing more than $1 billion in economic damages due to disrupted air travel systems, email servers and financial systems. It took Bank of America’s ATM network offline temporarily and caused Continental to cancel a handful of flights, disrupting thousands of travel plans.

No Rest for the Digital Weary

Sure as the sun rises, new digital threats will rear their ugly heads in the years to come. Some might make the malware described above seem quaint and mild by comparison. It’s critical for all Internet users, no matter how little they know about technology or how carefully they surf the Web, to stay vigilant. As the Boy Scouts say, “Always be prepared.”