Oh, Sunday! Perfect day to kick back and play some video games. If you played Call of Duty professionally, how much do you think you’d earn in a year on average? Is it … $29,000, $78,000, $175,000 or $360,000? Answer’s at the end, friends, but don’t tell the kiddos!

🥜 Every Sunday, I share my weekly syndicated USA Today column, some smart tips to make your life better and a video you should def watch. This week’s is nuts. — Kim

Every week, I write two special features for USA Today. They don’t publish on their site until next week, but because you get my free newsletters, you’re in the know first!

Your Microsoft account or Apple ID is the key to the castle. They allow you to register your software and even update your computer.

And, if you’ve had the same account for a while, you’ve probably got a lot of treasure squirreled away in that castle — aka, data. Yep, everything from what you’ve looked up online to your credit info. Think I’m kidding? Take a look.

Prepare to be shocked. 

Have a Windows PC?

Go to the Privacy Dashboard. It’s illuminating, to say the least. From there, you can clear your search history, review your location data, change your advertising settings and edit your marketing preferences.

Or you can manage some of the data that Microsoft has right from your desktop.

• Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & security. Select General.
• Toggle the switch to the left under “Let apps show me personalized ads by using my advertising ID.” Switch off anything else that feels too invasive. 

✅ Don’t stop yet! Get detailed steps if you have a Windows PC here. →

Use an Apple Mac?

When you create an Apple ID, Apple can collect:

• Contact info, like your name, physical address and phone number, along with your billing address, bank details or card info.
• Your browsing history, search history, product interaction, crash data, performance and other diagnostic and usage data. OK …
• Health info relating to physical or mental health conditions. Um.
• Salary, income and asset information (if you provide it) and information related to Apple-branded financial offerings. Whoa there, buddy!

Want a copy of what they know?

Go to privacy.apple.com and sign in with your Apple ID.

• Under Get a copy of your data, select Request a copy of your data. Choose what you’d like to download or Select all. Click Continue.
• Choose your preferred file size, then Complete request.

You’ll get an email when your data is ready. Give it up to a week. 

🗣️ Remember, when Big Tech says, “We value your privacy,” what they really mean is “We put a value on your privacy.”

If you love this newsletter, check out my quick daily podcast. In one handy feed, you get my Daily Tech Update and the Digital Life Hack. 

They’re each just one minute and arm you with the tech knowledge you need to say, “Yeah, I already knew that,” to your annoying coworker … or impress your boss and friends with how smart you are.

Get it here or search for my last name, Komando, wherever you listen to podcasts. Seriously, two minutes. Think you don’t have the time? Tune in while you brush your teeth!

🎧 Want more? Find me on your local radio station or listen now in the Komando Community. Or get the podcast, Kim Komando Today.

🤗 Need my help? Leave me a note here. I read them all myself!

Our tech is smart, but you have to know what you're doing to get the most out of it. If your calendar is packed and you're thinking, "There has to be a better way," there probably is. Here are a few of my fave Google Calendar tricks.

1. Know when people are free

I use this daily at work. Put your cursor in the search box labeled Search for people under the heading Meet with. Everybody in your organization should be searchable here, so no more setting meetings no one can attend. You can also create a new meeting, add guests and click “Find a time” under the date to see the attendee's availability side by side!

2. Automatically share meeting minutes

When you open meeting details, click “Create meeting notes” under the event description to generate a Google Doc that automatically gets shared with attendees. It includes a built-in outline for the date, attendees, notes and action items.

Pro tip: Attach any additional notes, documents, slides or whatever else to the meeting itself so no one is looking around for them later.

3. An easier way to email attendees

If you need to touch base with attendees before a meeting or follow up after, you don’t have to search for email addresses or type them all in. Instead:

• Click on any event’s details.
• Next to your guests, click the mail icon to create a new message.

I knew a guy who got fired from his job at the calendar factory. All he did was take a day off …

✅ You know I have more amazing tips up my sleeve. Get more Google Cal secrets. →

And not just because they sponsor my national radio show. ExpressVPN is fast, private and just works.

Big Tech companies match your internet activity to your identity or location by using your public IP address. With ExpressVPN, no one can see your IP address — no one. It just takes one click to connect, and it won’t slow you down.

When I saw this video, I had to share it with you. There’s a government warehouse that stores just about everything you could imagine — vitamins, “domestic sludge,” a standard bullet and even a jar of peanut butter that sells for about 200 times the going rate at your grocery store.

They even maintain a cybersecurity database with all known software vulnerabilities. You’ll find all this at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. So, what are they up to, exactly?

🎦 Watch the vid here. Hey, it beats watching the news.

Moses was also the first person to use “Control C” as a shortcut.

💰 The answer: $360,000 per year. Just like being a professional athlete, gaming is hard work. Professional gamers spend 12 to 18 hours per day playing and suffer from exhaustion, injuries and burnout just like your favorite football players. Most pro gamers retire before they hit 30.

Concerned his son was spending too much time on video games, a dad told him, “When Abe Lincoln was your age, he was studying books by the light of the fireplace.” “Oh, yeah?” the son retorts. “When Abe Lincoln was your age, he was president of the United States.”

👍 My goal is to get 500 new subscribers this weekend. So far, I’m at 383 new subscribers. Please help me out! Forward this newsletter to one person and ask them to subscribe at www.komando.com/subscribe. Thank you! — Kim