Secure · Productive · In the age of AI
Live a secure and productive online life.
sharpe.co.za is a set of plain-English field guides for everyday people. How to hold your own keys, protect your privacy, and work alongside AI without handing over the things that matter.
Field guides
Latest
- Latest
Plain-English field guide · Apple
On Device
What stays on your iPhone, what goes to Apple's cloud, and what to switch off.
A plain-English read on what Apple Intelligence keeps on your iPhone, what it sends to Apple's private cloud, what the new Google Gemini deal means for Siri, and the settings that put you back in charge.
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Plain-English field guide · Cross-platform
Passwordless
A plain-English guide to switching your Google, Apple and Microsoft accounts to passkeys, and setting up more than one way back in so a lost phone never locks you out.
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Plain-English field guide · Windows
Lock and Key
A plain-English guide to setting up a hardware-backed password vault on Windows with gopass and a YubiKey, so only a physical key can open your passwords.
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Plain-English field guide · Cross-platform
The Handover
A plain-English guide to the one sealed plan that lets a trusted person reach your accounts and keys if you cannot, without leaving secrets lying around.
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Plain-English field guide · Cross-platform
Three Copies
A hands-on guide to the three-copy backup rule, done with encryption you hold the key to, so theft, fire or ransomware never means lost files.
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Plain-English field guide · Windows, Mac, Linux
Local Mind
A hands-on guide to running a capable AI assistant entirely on your own laptop with Ollama or LM Studio, with no account and nothing sent anywhere.
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Plain-English field guide · Phone and family
Code Word
A plain-English guide to the AI voice-clone call that mimics a loved one in trouble, and the one agreed family code word that defeats it.
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Plain-English field guide · Cross-platform
Off the List
A hands-on guide to finding the sites that sell your home address and phone number, and using your right to deletion to make them take it down.
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Plain-English field guide · Home network
Front Door
A hands-on guide to the handful of router settings that matter, and how to put smart gadgets on their own network so a weak one cannot reach your real devices.
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Plain-English field guide · Cross-platform
Off the Record
A plain-English guide to what ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude keep from your conversations, and the one setting in each that stops your chats training the model.
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Plain-English field guide · Cross-platform
Masked
A plain-English guide to handing out alias email addresses and a spare phone number, so a breach or a spammer never reaches the real ones.
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Plain-English field guide · Cross-platform
Second Factor
A plain-English guide to moving your most important logins off SMS codes onto passkeys and a hardware key, the single biggest account-safety upgrade most people can make.
Free browser tools
Tools
- New
Free browser tool · Made on your device
Code Word Generator
A free browser tool that makes a memorable family code word to beat AI voice-clone scam calls. The words are made on your device, never stored and never sent.
- New
Free browser tool · Made on your device
Passphrase Generator
A free passphrase generator that builds a memorable string of random words on your device, with nothing stored and nothing sent. For the one password you have to type and remember, like a vault or disk key.
- New
Free browser tool · Made on your device
Password Generator
A free password generator that builds a strong random password on your device, with nothing stored and nothing sent. Set the length, choose the characters, and copy it into your manager.
