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Q: I have a PlayStation issue. I reached out to Sony on Facebook and haven’t heard back from them and don’t know if it’s something you can help me out with. I bought my PlayStation 4 shortly after launch and set it as my primary PlayStation 4, which allows me to play downloaded games when the system is not connected to the internet. That PlayStation bricked on me in October of last year and I replaced it with a new one. When I went to set the new PlayStation as my primary system, I got a notification saying that I can’t do that because I already have a system set up as my primary and that I must deactivate that one first. I obviously can’t do that since it was bricked and recycled. Do you have any advice?

– Dusty R.
Fort Walton Beach, Florida

A: Not being a PlayStation owner, I had to do a little research on this one. I was somewhat surprised to find out there are quite a few people out there with this, or similar problems. It seems that Sony has designed a system that they intend to be secure, but in certain cases their policy can actually lock the owner out of his or her own, paid content.

Under normal circumstances, you, as the owner of a PlayStation 4 (PS/4) are “supposed to” deactivate your system from the PlayStation Network before replacing it with a new one. The intent is for that operation to be done from the console itself, to thwart people who would try to usurp your account and register their own machine as primary. This sounds like a good idea, and works just fine, until the console in question happens to be broken, or stolen, or is sold before the operation is completed. In such cases, you can use a computer to log on to your PlayStation account at www.PlayStationNetwork.com. Go to “Account”, then “Media and Devices” and then select “Deactivate All”. Yes, “All”. This will deactivate all consoles associated with your account, allowing you to go in and reactivate one or more, and select a new one as primary.

Use the above mass-deactivation action with extreme caution, as Sony has instituted a policy that only allows you to use it once every six months. This can be a real problem if you’ve already used it, then the hardware dies. But I read about far worse scenarios, in which someone’s PlayStation account was hacked, and the hacker deregistered the owner’s primary system and then enrolled his own as the primary. The result? The owner no longer has access to the “primary” console to deactivate it, and is forbidden from performing a “Deactivate All” operation until the lockout period expires. The hacker now gets to spend the next six months enjoying all of the legitimate owner’s paid gaming content. If the forums I read are true, the pleas of owners who have been so-affected have largely fallen on deaf ears at Sony, which seems completely inflexible on this policy.

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 Q: When I signed-up for my account on Facebook, I used my work e-mail address as the login. I’m about to retire from that position, but I don’t want to lose access to my Facebook page when my e-mail address goes away. Is there a way for me to change the e-mail address that Facebook uses without having to start a brand new page?

– Margaret M.
Fort Walton Beach, Florida

A: Absolutely, Margaret! The simple answer is that you add a second e-mail to your account, then set it to be the primary, then remove the defunct one. You can do this even if you no longer have access to the old e-mail account.

Here are the step-by-step instructions for how to do this. Note that although it may be possible to perform similar steps via the Facebook app for whatever smart device you own, these procedures are specific to the web browser version of Facebook.

Start by clicking the downward-pointing triangle on the right side of the blue bar at the top of your Facebook window. From the menu, select “Settings”. Under “Email”, select the “Edit” link. Click “Add another email or mobile number” and complete the process of adding and confirming a new e-mail address. Once that’s done, the Email section will show two addresses. The old one will be marked “Primary Contact”. Check the button next to the new one and click on “Save Changes”. Click the Email “Edit” link again, and you’ll now see that the new address is the “Primary Contact” and there is a “Remove” link next to the old address. Click the link and complete the removal process, and you’re all done.