SerSwimsALot

See my comment above, it's a tradeoff depending on if you trust the host provider or the VPN provider more really.

Great piece for showcasing the security and practical uses of a VPN, but I feel it's skimps on the best reason, which is privacy. Using a hosting provider with your VPN will allow the provider (eg Amazon) to see all traffic leaving your server. Even if you're using https, they can gather domain information. If you are the only one using the VPN, then all the traffic leaving the server is yours.

While I agree that third party VPN providers are not necessarily to be trusted, if they are deleting their logs as some claim they do, then no one knows which traffic is yours. Your privacy is protected from end to end only in this case.

Does TR-064 only affect ISP provided routers? The way I understand it, it seems this would be the case.

Number one reason why I switched to mutt was after mailbox was discontinued, I wanted an easy way to move my mail between several organized folders (this requires 3+ clicks in gmail). Now I have keyboard shortcuts to move a message to my various frequented folders, and I can move through dozens of email in less than a minute.

Keep it simple but long, see famous relevant xkcd "correct horse battery staple" . My randomly generated passwords are usually 16 characters, but my password manager master is 40+ chars, and much easier to remember.