How to easily toggle alerts in Skype chats

Getting annoyed with alerts from one of your Skype chats? There's a fast way to turn them off.

Skype's group conversations are a convenient way to stay in touch with family, friends, or coworkers from your computer. But sometimes the constant stream of blips and beeps for new messages can be frustrating if you need to focus on another task.

Disabling notifications for all chats means you may miss something important if you also use Skype for work. And leaving a group conversation means you can't catch up on what was said later. Luckily, there's a quick way to disable alerts on a group-by-group (or individual) basis, and still get notified if someone mentions you by name. Here's how:

Note: For Mac users, these commands are available, but do not work consistently, according to Skype support.

Toggling alerts

• Open the chat window you want to disable alerts for. This can be a group or individual chat.
• Type /alertsoff, then press Enter. You will not see a confirmation message, but alerts for this chat are now disabled and no notification counters will appear on the Skype icon.
• When you want to enable alerts for the chat again, simply type /alertson. Again, you will not see a confirmation message.

Trigger word alerts

After turning off alerts, you can set up trigger words that will still alert you when mentioned in the chat.

• If you type /alertson [yournamehere], you'll be notified and your name will be highlighted.
• You can expand on this trigger by adding more words with spaces between them. So if your name is David and you like talking about basketball, you can use /alertson david basketball.

Now you won't have to hear every alert, just the ones pertaining to you or your interests.

Source: Cnet

Six ways to make your iPhone more secure

1. Use a passcode

I now use a passcode. The standard passcode for iOS 9 is a six-digit passcode, though you can increase the strength of the passcode by choosing an alphanumeric passcode or a numeric passcode longer than six digits. You can also move in the opposite direction and choose a four-digit passcode, which was the default option prior to iOS 9. (Even if you set up Touch ID to use your fingerprint to unlock your iPhone, you'll still need a passcode for times when your finger is sweaty or wet or otherwise can't be read by your iPhone's fingerprint scanner.)

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To turn on a passcode, head to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode. Tap Turn Passcode On and enter a six-digit code. To downgrade to a more convenient but less secure four-digit passcode or a stronger custom passcode, tap Change Passcode and then tap Passcode Options.