I've never been the victim of any sort of fraud until recently; I got alerts on my phone about suspicious transactions on my bank account, and sure enough, someone had used my bank card to make a couple of purchases for digital goods on Amazon at 4:00 a.m. - I of course locked the card, and got all but one of my purchases reversed (one is still pending).

Oddly enough, my wife and I put down a deposit for a privacy fence on our new home the afternoon before using this very card, which I haven't used for anything in months.  However when I did this, I read the card number out loud over the phone to the fence company representative we've been working with for a while now (we've met with these folks many times, so I knew who we were talking to - and they are a large and reputable company in our area) - the kicker, though, is that I had an Amazon Echo device in the room we were in, and now I can't help but think of all the possibilities and vulnerabilities on the table. 

While there may have very well been a number ways my card could have been compromised from long ago as I've had it for years (or, perhaps the fence company has some security issues on their end, etc.), the timing of it all, the fact that the card has not been used in months, and that the card number was just read out loud over the phone in a room where I've got an Amazon Echo mere hours before the fraud occurred has me overthinking this from every angle.  Furthermore, I live in a subdivision with little space between the homes to boot, so I can see a number of Wi-Fi networks pop up when I go to seek my own connection, and it makes me wonder - how secure is my internet from not just general threats, but ones near me?  The answer, at least to me now, is: clearly not secure enough, especially when I've got all these neat little devices and cameras inside and outside of my home, hooked up to my Wi-Fi, just begging to be potentially used or exploited by someone who can jump onto my poorly secured network.

With all that being said, my point is this; Broin isn't the old man around here anymore these days!  I need to get up-to-date on some basic, but effective, internet security.  I'm thankful that I've still got my fellow Angels to lean in to and trust with questions like this!

Can you all provide me with some suggestions regarding Firewall, Antivirus, Malware, and VPN software I should be keeping in my Security Swiss Army Knife?  I know some things are free, and free is great - but I'm also okay with paying for some services as well.  Recommendations for both would be stellar, if reliable versions of each service exists!  Any other suggestions or software related to security that I may be missing is also welcome!

Thank you in advance for any recommendations!

Yikes, I'm late as well!  It went by criminally fast this year.  It's all going by too fast, to be honest!

1) Late Merry Christmas, 2) Late Happy New Year to you all!

Here's to an amazing 2025!

20 years!  What?!

Merry Christmas, FA!

Jeyk, the cable I linked is the one I use. I like it because it also connects to a wall charger and, therefore, keeps my headset charged during play. Using other cables the headset's battery will slowly drain.

I understand now; I just assumed the USB-C to USB-C cables would handle the charging if I had a C port available.  Thank you for the link to the article as well.
 
I tried AirLink, and it was no bueno on my end.  I had $25 in credit at Target, so I just grabbed the last official Link cable they had while I was there.  I'll try it out tomorrow and see how it rolls.

I will check out Pop: One.  Should I be searching for that on Steam, or the Meta marketplace?

So I nabbed a Meta Quest 3 today, but was disappointed to see that I can’t access all the games I bought on the Rift, with the exception of Climb, which has “Cross Buy”. 

Is there any way I’ll be able to play my old Oculus library with this thing?  I’ve read that I may be able to with a link cable on my PC, but not entirely sure as it seems that what I’ve read refers to the Quest 2 - I figured you (or someone here in a similar jam) would have the skinny on this.

How’s everyone been?  Another year whipping by, I hope you’re all are well!

I’m classically late again; Merry Christmas!