A very happy Friday to you, friend! Let’s get things going with trivia, as always. Which fact about the Ford F‑150 is true? Is it … A.) The official truck for the state of Texas, B.) The first pickup to offer a hybrid engine option or C.) One F‑150 is sold every minute in the U.S.? You’ll find the answer at the end.

🤑 These streaming platforms, apps and websites purposely make it very difficult to track down every subscription you forgot about. That’s why I want you to know about the tool I use called Rocket Money. I saved almost $450 using this app in just a few minutes. Try it out. Sweet! — Kim

Social media account hacking is on fire … and not in a good way. Account hijacking has grown by as much as 1,000% annually in the last few years, with celebrities and politicians so mad about it they’re starting to sue.

The chances of your Instagram, X, Facebook or other account (even Spotify!) getting taken over by spammy bots and data-stealing thieves have never been higher. So, don’t sit there all smug, thinking, “Oh, Kim, that could never happen to little ol’ me!”

A lot of the advice you find online about hacked social media sites and profiles is just plain wrong or, worse, leads to a scammer who promises to get your account back — but really just steals your money. Not on my watch!

Here I am to save the day, with moves you should make when your social media accounts are hacked. You might want to use the share buttons below to email this article to yourself. This way, you have it handy when you need it.

Step 1: Sign out on every device

It’s disarming to think about someone else’s hands all over your social account, posting crap on your page. Fully sign out of your account on every device you’ve got.

Depending on the hacking attempt, this can often “kick out” more casual hackers who were piggybacking on automatic sign-ins. They’ll get asked for passwords they don’t have and won’t be able to log in again, so they can’t spam your peeps. Phew. But don’t stop here!

Step 2: Change your password

Log into your account on one device and change your password. The account or settings page will have an option, like this Instagram page. If hackers did get your password (maybe from a big data theft), this will lock them out.

You know the drill: Replace your old password with a strong one. Make it at least 12 characters with a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.

Step 3: Report the hack

Now, hackers should be mostly locked out of your socials. You can take a deep breath — but don’t stop just yet. Report the hack so the social media platform can help you roll back your hacked messages and freeze your account until you’re sure everything is safe.

This problem is so bad, there’s a dedicated Facebook hacked page. No surprise, there’s also an Instagram hacked page and X’s questionnaire. No TikTok version … yet.

Step 4: Check for surprise changes

No one likes cleaning the house, but it has to be done. Jump over to your account settings and check for any funny business.

• Fake messages or posts: Get rid of them.
• Connected devices: Hackers add their own devices for easy access to accounts. Give them the boot.
• Third-party apps: New apps to track you or steal data might’ve been snuck in while your account was compromised. Remove them.
• Linked accounts: Hackers may have grabbed a bunch of bots or stalker-looking accounts as followers. Bye‑bye.
• Your profile photos: Make sure it’s you and not some hot Russian woman — unless you’re a hot Russian woman like me. 😅

Step 5: One last thing to do

Phew, you’re almost done. Be sure to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for your account. With 2FA, a secondary form of verification is required to prove your identity, rather than just providing your username and password to log into an account. You’ll get a text with a six-digit number, for instance, you’ll need to enter to access your account.

FYI, you can only get 2FA on X if you pay for its $8 monthly Premium service. Annoying, right? Next week, I’ve got the insider scoop on how to get around that and make 2FA for any account a little safer.

If you run into any trouble with these steps …

… Or if a hacker got your account suspended, call them. Keep in mind these social media companies don’t care about you. They don’t want to help you. You will have to be persistent. Here’s a list of popular tech numbers. I wish I could wave my magic wand to make all your hacked accounts good again, but, sadly, I cannot.

Speaking of … Cybersecurity experts have found an easy way to spot North Korean hackers. They never use the Shift key because they hate capitalism.

Repeat after me: I will not buy the cheapest charging cord I can find. It’s not worth it. They bend, they break, and they can start fires. The folks at Consumer Reports did a ton of testing and found these winners:

• For iPhone 14 and older: The Apple USB‑C-to-Lightning cable ($29; 17% off right now) survived over 11,500 bends. That’s when they stopped testing. Yeah, it’ll stand up to everyday use. NOTE: You’ll need a charging block with a USB‑C connection.
• For Androids and iPhone 15s: The Amazon Basics USB‑C cable ($7.75) held up just as long.

⚠️ One of the biggest password dumps in history: A massive data breach exposed 71 million credentials linked to Facebook, Yahoo, eBay, Roblox and other sites. These passwords were in plain text — meaning hackers could just copy and paste them. Update all your passwords ASAP (don’t get mad at me — I’m just the messenger!), and watch out for phishing emails and texts.

Google is gagging: A recent study by a German university shows Google’s search results suck. They’re drowning in low-quality SEO spam. AI has ruined search as we know it. We no longer need to search for results when we can search for answers. Bye-bye, websites. Bye‑bye.

Worked tirelessly to catch a car thief: A guy in Toronto had his SUV stolen not once but twice in a year. Fed up, he used an Apple AirTag to track it from a local railyard, across oceans, all the way to a Dubai car lot over 6,800 miles away. It’s up for sale there — same mileage, VIN and everything. PSA: Put an AirTag in your car’s engine bar secured with waterproof, heavy-duty black duct tape.

📚 Pens down: A Columbia University study shows kids grasp more from reading on paper than on screens. They tested 59 children ages 10 to 12 with a unique “word association” method and found traditional print reading beats digital. Maybe we should stop filling schools with Chromebooks.

But, but, but! Cable lobbyists and advertisers are in a fit over the FTC's new "click-to-cancel" rule — aka if you can sign up online, you have to be able to cancel online. They say it’ll confuse customers who really just want another option. OK, sure. It’s about time canceling got as easy as subscribing.

More crypto scams on X: These jerks are hacking verified accounts you'd trust (think politicians and companies) and replacing everything so it looks like a crypto project. Click on the links and bam, your crypto wallet is empty. Steer clear, folks, and don’t keep all your crypto cash in one wallet.

Mobile office: Microsoft is pushing Teams into your car with an Android Auto update. Remember those peaceful drives, just you and your thoughts, unwinding from work? Now, it’s a heck of a lot easier to take work calls and messages. To keep your sanity, consider kicking Teams off your phone.

🌱 Plant whisperers: OK, this is awesome. Scientists in Japan caught plants sending out warning scents to neighbors when bugs attack. They tweaked a plant to glow when stressed, and the plant lit up like a Christmas tree when it smelled danger. Be careful, because they’ll probably also warn each other when you forget to water them.

In the middle of an emergency, like a sudden severe storm, you might not have your cellphone on you — but if you find someone else's password-protected phone lying around, there are ways to call emergency services.

• On an iPhone, hold the side button and one of the volume buttons. Drag the Emergency SOS slider, and you're connected.
• On an iPhone 7 or earlier, quickly press the side or top button five times, and the emergency slider will appear.
• Android device? Look for an Emergency Call button on the lock screen. Simply tap it, dial your local emergency number, and you'll be connected to help.

Knowledge is power. Let the kids and older adults in your family know, too.

🖨️ Streaky pages? You’re getting that “Low ink” warning. Before you swap the cartridge, shake it. Really! Remove the cartridge and shake it. This trick helps you use those last drops of ink.

Nifty way to wake your phone: Turn on Samsung's “Lift to wake” feature, and all you have to do is pick up your phone or take it out of your pocket and the screen turns on. If you have facial rec set up, you can unlock your phone with a single motion. Open Settings, tap Advanced features > Motions and gestures. Tap the switch next to Lift to wake to enable it.

🖊️ Grab a (virtual) pen: You can mark up your presentations during a meeting. In Google Slides, ​​open Slideshow mode by clicking the Slideshow button in the app bar. Mouse over the bottom left of the viewer, open the three-dot menu, then select Turn on the pen. Circle things, scrawl notes or cross out the ideas everyone hates.

Get an unknown call? Type the phone number into Google, Bing or Yahoo in quotation marks for a precise match. Results often include websites, forums or consumer complaint boards where that number may have been reported. While you’re at it, file a report at reportfraud.ftc.gov.

💓 Ahhhh: Scientists say a nice, long soak in the hot tub — 30 minutes — has the same cardiovascular and mood-boosting benefits as running for half an hour. This is your permission to unwind.

Finding and canceling all your subscriptions is a major pain. Rocket Money is an app that does it for you. It hunts down subscription services and makes it super easy to cancel the ones you don’t use. I did it and saved $456.76.

It only takes a few minutes and you’ll finally get rid of that nagging feeling that you need to cancel all the stuff you’re not using.

Save yourself time and trouble and use Rocket Money. It’s worth it.

Live and let dry!

The answer: C.) One F‑150 is sold every minute in the U.S. Isn’t that something? The Ford F‑150 first hit the road in 1975, and Ford just introduced a sweet, new electric off-road model.

😂 My friend left his Adderall in his Ford Fiesta. Now, he has a Ford Focus. (Sometimes, I’m just so funny!)

Before you go: Save some cash. Rocket Money will tell you all the subscriptions you pay for and cancel anything you don’t want. Love that. See you right back here tomorrow for our fun Saturday edition! — Kim