About the Author
Peter H. Gregory is a life-long technologist, having worked on old-school mainframes, supercomputers, minis, micros, PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, smartphones, and more, up to the present day. Since early in his career, Gregory has been helping others understand how to use computers and software through seminars, university courses, on-site training, and by mentoring friends and family. He taught a cybersecurity course for IT professionals for ten years at the University of Washington, and he is also adjunct faculty for the University of South Florida’s Cybersecurity for Executives program. Gregory was also an instructor of motorcycle riding for a few years until a new job with heavy travel made him hang up his motorcycle-instruction spurs for a time. Currently, Gregory is an executive cybersecurity advisor for Optiv Security, where he helps business executives and board members understand cybersecurity issues in business terms. He holds several cybersecurity certifications (CISA, CISM, CRISC, CISSP, CIPM, CCISO, CCSK, and PCI-QSA), which for Chromebooks means only that he knows information technology, privacy, and cybersecurity inside and out. In his spare time, he enjoys motorcycling, woodworking, and metalworking.
Dedication
To people everywhere who are just looking for a simpler and safer way to get online.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful for my wife, Rebekah, who inspires me to greatness, and who put up with a lot of early mornings, late nights, and weekends when I was there at home but still far, far away. Many thanks to Katie Mohr at Wiley for responding to numerous emails as well as for helping to drive this project to completion. Thanks also to Russ Mullen, our technical reviewer, for great and constructive feedback, even before he saw a single written page. Thank you, Susan Christophersen, for helping to organize, refine, and copy edit all this content. Also, thanks to Wordsmith Editorial, Inc. for proofing and the Wiley production team for the layout. Thank you, Gio G. and Rich S. for being live test subjects. My gratitude also goes to Rebecca Steele, my faithful business manager and research assistant, for being an excellent Chromebook test subject. And finally, thanks to my agent, Carole Jelen, for pursuing this opportunity. Writing a book is not a solo act but a team sport, and I’m grateful for everyone mentioned here and others I’m not aware of. Thanks to Ralph Pratt (God rest your soul) for inspiring and coaching me for my first classroom instruction gig, where I taught programmers, department heads, and business leaders how to use a new computer program known as Mapper, which is a bit like modern-day spreadsheets. Mind you, this was in the early 1980s, before Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, Multiplan, or even Visicalc. Ralph’s patient coaching set me on a path that would change my career and lead to my writing dozens of books, helping thousands better understand the great complexity of information technology.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
Associate Publisher: Katie Mohr
Project Manager and Copy Editor: Susan Christopherson
Technical Editor: Russ Mullen
Author’s Research Assistant: Rebecca Steele
Production Editor: Siddique Shaik
Cover Image: Screenshot provided by Peter H. Gregory