Since about half the world’s phones are Android, and since Windows 11 is now making Android apps run on their OS, this may be topical.
There is a malware being distributed in some Android apps that can basically lead to a complete takeover of the phone. While the exploit was found in 19 different apps, and have since been removed from the app store, it is worth reading the full article HERE. 

Check to be sure you haven’t downloaded any of these specific apps.
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Malware is all around. Keep your computer and phones up to date. Be careful what you download. 

As this is a tech tip column, generally speaking, I like to find articles and write about stuff that I use, or that seem useful, or is a real convenience, in the tech world of computers, phones, etc.
I have a few sites I particularly like, and Kim Komando is one of them. The one I am referencing is from USA Today.   Click

From the Nest Camera sharing, thru dictation, and the rest, I found all good ideas. And number 11, an app that transcribes for you? That was pretty cool. I need to try that one out.

Earlier I was reading a tech tip about keyboard shortcuts, but I thought the ones they were referencing were not very useful. If you aren’t using Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V, then I don’t know how you get through the day on a computer. Check out the list. They are the common, basic, extremely useful shortcuts.
For Macs. 
For Windows. 
For Chrome. 

Lately I’ve been playing with some iMacs, generally trying to upgrade them farther than Apple will generally allow. Officially, the iMacs I’ve been working with are upgradable to High Sierra, but I have upgraded them to Catalina using a patched version of the OS, by someone called Dosdude1. Today, I upgraded an iMac from Late 2013 to Big Sur, using a patched version of the OS.  (Thank you Tom and Jan)

The instructions for going to Catalina are HERE.   Generally for 2008 or newer Macs. The web site has the specifics. It’s a clear and easy to follow process. The main site to read about patching Big Sur is HERE.   Generally for 2012 or newer macs.
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The site where I downloaded the program that creates the patched Big Sur is HERE.    (it’s at the top right. I used “Patched Sur v1.0.1”)

The only problem I had was formatting the USB’s partition table to be GUID. It’s easy, but it didn’t immediately show up in the disk utility. Do this: from the View menu choose "Show All Devices" and then you will be able to see the actual USB device that holds this volume and erase it, selecting the partition type.

I am now running Big Sur on an iMac, Late 2013. The whole installation process, including the downloads and creation of the bootable flash drive, takes several hours. I did not sit and watch it, for the most part. When it seemed like it was going to take a long time, I went and did other things. It did an update to the iMac, not a clean install. I think it requires the existing OS to be either Catalina or Big Sur in order to install.
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 As always, do not mess with your OS unless you have a backup of your data. 

an update: I upgraded my 2012 iMac to Big Sur, without issue. Everything was where I left it. Mind you, I don't have any fancy software installed that could be an issue. I do have VirtualBox on there with Windows 10, and it needed to run an update for it, but it still works. And yes, I did make a backup before installing.

So far, my Windows 11 experience has been, oh, let’s say interesting.
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I installed some beta versions on a couple of computers a few weeks back. Surprisingly, they worked fine. They did not fit the minimum requirements yet they installed. Windows 11 was much nicer to look at, and it ran fast. When Win 11 was officially released, the installation no longer worked on these computers. Neither of the 2 computers I was using were up to snuff, and so, I did what everybody else in this situation does, I looked for a workaround.

There are a couple of places I know of that offer a solution to install Windows 11 without the TPM, or CPU requirements. I used Rufus, a program that creates a bootable thumb drive for installing. Last weekend the good folks at Rufus made a version available that takes the MS Windows 11 regular install, and it removes the TPM and CPU requirements. This worked great for a clean install, i.e. an installation that removes everything on the hard drive and installs a fresh copy of the OS.

I had been trying to install 11 on my actual computer as an upgrade and kept getting the TPM error, which my computer should have, and seems to have. So I tried using the Windows install upgrade feature. Unfortunately, though I chose the upgrade option, it wiped my drive anyway and installed.

I had a backup, so it was OK, but at this point in time, I can’t recommend upgrading to 11 unless you have a really good backup. I do know someone whose laptop offered the upgrade, and it installed fine, with no data loss. Perhaps that is the safest option right now, to wait till they offer it to you. Still, make sure you have a backup of whatever data you don’t want to lose.
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Last thing, my audio doesn’t work anymore. Not a big deal for me. Perhaps MS will provide a fix one of these days, but for now, I have no sound.

The first thing I would say is, give it to Brian. I will try and give it away so it can live another life with someone else.

The next thing I might suggest is, make something out of it. A broach, a pterodactyl, whatever. Old phones can be used as computers, clocks, something dedicated to a single feature on that phone. They don’t need a sim card to function. Tablets can be repurposed as computers, picture frames, music players, game players, etc. Computers can be used as movie servers, music servers, video conferencing centers.
A great article my brother-in-law David sent me on these thoughts may be found HERE. 
Thanks David.