Hello to a tech-spectacular Saturday, friends! Trivia time starts now. Why does Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wear the same style of clothing every day? Is it … A.) To match his favorite video game character, B.) Because it’s a special fabric that boosts Wi‑Fi signals, C.) To limit the number of decisions he makes each day or D.) Because he lost a bet with a fellow tech CEO? You'll find the answer at the end.

✅ If you’re using free antivirus software, stop that. It’s not good enough. Be sure to click the link to check out TotalAV, today’s sponsor and my pick for antivirus software. Your support helps me send free tech smarts your way every single day! — Kim

When we have friends and family with kids over, voice assistants become a favorite attraction. At best, someone starts another round of “Baby Shark,” and you’ll be singing it for a week. But what if one of those little gremlins decides to buy toys with your Amazon Echo?

Or maybe your niece, Alexis, will have the Echo going haywire. And trust me, you don't want to tell someone, "No, Alexa can't look up a naked Santa," only to have your Fire TV Stick open a browser and cheerfully say, "Searching for naked Santas!" True story, and not the only time this has happened.

That's why it's worth changing a few settings to make your voice assistants safer when guests come knocking. Do it now before the holiday rush!

Know your mute buttons

Manufacturers include physical mute buttons on every voice assistant device because they care about our privacy. No, they just do it so they can say they care.

When you have guests and it looks like they’re overdoing it with the voice commands, tap mute to stop any commands. Look for the crossed-out speaker icon. For displays, an accompanying switch flips the camera off, too ... just in case.

Change your wake word to limit guest use

It's understandable if you don't want guests using your voice assistants, especially if you have personalized options — or it’s just too annoying.

One thing you could do is change the wake word. Bad news: You can't do this with Siri or Google. Well, there are reports Google Assistant responds to, "Hey, boobies" (yes, really), but that's probably not what you had in mind. If you use Apple or Google smart home gear, stick with the mute button.

If you use Alexa, though, you can change your wake word:

• Open your Amazon Alexa app and tap on the three-lined More button at the bottom of your screen.
• Select Device Settings, then tap the device you want to update the wake word for.
• On the next screen, tap the cogwheel icon in the upper right.
• In your specific device’s settings page, scroll until you see Wake Word, then tap it. Here, you can switch it to something more unique than “Alexa.” "Ziggy" is a good option … unless you have David Bowie fans over all the time.

🔊 That’s not all! I’m just out of space here. Head to my site for more privacy tips.

Free antivirus software is cool in theory … but not in practice. Let’s say best case it’s not a bogus program just trying to get your info. Free options aren’t robust enough to keep up with everything hackers have up their digital sleeves. That’s why I rely on TotalAV.

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⚠️ App malware warning: In Israel, phone apps use real-time data to warn about incoming attacks. Folks in the U.S. use the apps to keep tabs on friends and family there. Be careful, though — these apps are now a hacker’s target.

Attention, iPhone 15 owners: Apple issued an urgent update that fixes wireless payment glitches, weather lockups, problems working with BMWs and Toyotas, and other bugs. Make sure yours is running iOS 17.1.1.

Into the universe: The first images are here from the European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope, and they’re seriously cool. Euclid has a big job: It’s spending the next six years observing the dark spots in space to create the largest cosmic 3D map ever. Sounds pretty … far out.

Ugly shoe dividing the internet: It's called the Tabi. Searches for the $1,000-plus hoof-shaped shoes are up 342%. Celebs like Nick Jonas have been spotted wearing them, and a TikTokker went viral after her date stole hers (she got them back). Question: How many toes do you put in per side? The jury’s still out.

🤖 Hot or not? Mozilla’s Fakespot isn’t perfect, but it’s one of the only apps that analyzes Amazon for fraudulent reviews. Now, you can chat with the Fakespot spotter when you’re looking at products. Speaking of … What do you call someone trying to fake Italian heritage? An impasta!

"Forever" has a nice ring: Skyla Carmona lost her wedding band nearly 50 years ago in a Massachusetts forest. For decades, she went back to search for the ring with no luck. Then she posted on Facebook. A bunch of metal detectorists went to the location, and — boom! — they found it in 15 minutes. Isn’t that something?!

Sound like a tech pro, even if you're not one. Try my award-winning, daily podcast. Search for my last name with "K" wherever you get your podcasts and "Go Komando!"

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📴 Control freak: Instead of a total annoying barrage all day, control precisely when you get notifications on your phone. Love this around the holidays when I’m trying to focus on my family!

Free marketing intern: ChatGPT is a whizz at writing branded copy, social media posts and marketing materials — if you know the right ways to prompt it.

🚶🏼‍♀️ I need to hit my 10,000 steps: Don’t panic if you’re at 9,800. Turns out smartwatches aren’t as accurate as we’d like to think.

Orange is his color: “Crypto King” Sam Bankman-Fried is looking at more than 100 years in prison. Such a crazy story that ends with the loss of $8 billion — just like that.

If the van’s a-rockin’: Car companies collect a crazy amount of data about your conversations, contacts and even your sex life. Yes, really.

Saving you money: Head to your favorite retailer’s website. Follow the links in the footer at the bottom to download their app or sign up for their newsletter. You’ll get exclusive coupon codes and deals. Pro tip: Use a burner email to avoid junk in your real inbox.

🔎 Get smart: If you need to search legitimate educational websites, type this in the search bar: site:edu [search term]. Have a particular institution in mind? Use the formula site:[institution website] [search term], like this: site:jhu.edu cancer. That will bring up cancer resources from the Johns Hopkins University domain.

No more clutter: You can take photos through the Notes app on your iPhone so they don’t appear in your camera roll. Go to Settings > Notes, then turn off “Save to Photos.” Now, open the Notes app. Create a new note and tap the camera icon > Take Photo or Video.

You need to check this out: SimpliSafe’s new camera and monitoring plan let agents stop a crime when it’s happening and talk to burglars in real time. You can save 60% on a SimpliSafe* system right now. If you live alone, you don’t need to live in fear.

The defense is non-cents.

The answer: C.) To limit the number of decisions he makes each day. Zuckerberg says he wears a gray T-shirt and jeans daily to avoid wasting time on unimportant things. After all, he runs Facebook …

🔐 Have a happy Saturday, and show our sponsor, TotalAV, some love. It’s the perfect day to update your devices with the top security software. And it only takes a few minutes.

Thanks for being here, friend. I’ll see you in your inbox tomorrow with another issue of the best tech newsletter in the USA! — Kim