Thursday, December 15, 2016

Class Summary 12-15-2016

New life for old computer. Simply insert your Xtra-PC into a USB port, restart your computer, hit the boot ... Why invest in a new computer when you can transform your old computer into a like-new one for under $25. ... Affordable; Tiny size USB stick; 8GB of storage.
http://tinyurl.com/zjn4clq

Build your own Linux USB stick. This web page will show you how and you can skip the $25
http://tinyurl.com/zmldglo

7 Hidden iPhone Camera Features That Every Photographer Should Use. These are really great tips. It is a 33 minute video, so be patient as he goes through all 7 of them. Sorry you Android uses. This does not apply to you.
http://tinyurl.com/jz9gozv

32 tips and tricks for Google Photos. Got Google Photos? This guide will help you get around the service like a pro. As you know, Google Photos allows you to store all your photos in the cloud at no charge. It does not matter how many you have. And these tricks help you to view them in various ways and edit them right online.
http://tinyurl.com/jlbdpmo

Google Drive update makes managing backups a little easier. Install this app to your smartphone and your important things on the phone will be backed up to the cloud.
http://tinyurl.com/zn3pwyy

Virtual Machines are a great way to run some of those old programs from XP or Vista. Use this free program to create a virtual machine on your hard drive and then install that old operating system. Then you can boot to that virtual machine and install those old programs.
http://tinyurl.com/nez2uzy

And another program to use in a similar way. VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.
https://www.virtualbox.org/

Chrome – High CPU Usage? Reinstall It. That is what this article says. Check your CPU usage and if it is high when nothing seems to be running, then try removing all of chrome and then check the usage.
http://tinyurl.com/jdnglfs

Google Goggle is an app for your cell phone that lets you take a picture of anything. When it finishes it will display all it can fine about what it scanned. If just words, it will OCR them and show them to you in a form you can modify. If a picture it will search the web for that picture and tell you all about it. And more…

If you have Windows 10 and would rather be using 7, try installing Classic Shell. It will give you back the look and feel of 7 or Vista or XP. If you don’t like it, it is an easy task to take it out later. We have talked about this in the past, so search the blog for more.
http://classicshell.net/

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Class Summary 12-8-2016




Put those key tags for all those stores on your phone Get stocard… works on iPhone and Android. Get those pesky reward cards off your keychain. Mine was very thick with them.
http://tinyurl.com/h3r4n4p

US Debt Clock is an interesting page, but scary when you see how much we are in debt in this country of ours. And how fast it is adding up as we watch the screen.
http://tinyurl.com/ore883

Remember Walkie-talkies? Well now you can have one using your cell phone. Many have used CB radios in the past to communicate between two cars. Today we probably use our cell phones, but that requires an open phone call. This free app turns your cell phone into a walkie-talkie that can communicate world wide as long as there is cell service or WiFi.
http://tinyurl.com/74nyfry

Keep tabs on family. After installing the new Google app on your Android phone, you can flag some of your contacts as "trusted." Then you'll be able to send your location to a trusted contact or ask for their location. The whole app is built around the "emergency" use case, complete with a dead man's switch for location requests. When someone asks for your location, you'll get a full screen pop up allowing you to approve or deny the request. You only have five minutes to do this, though—after five minutes, your location will be shared automatically. The idea is that if you're unable to use your phone, your trusted contacts will still be able to find you.
http://tinyurl.com/zuhuc6m

This All-In-One System Rescue Toolkit. This free All-In-One System Rescue Toolkit Automatically Repairs Your PC, but it is not for everyone. This might be a “techie” toolkit...
http://tinyurl.com/jpv62tn

Netflix Downloads. Download and Go. Once you update the app and login to Netflix, you’ll see the Download & Go screen. Click on Find Something to Download, select an option and then click the download icon to download that show to your device. Now grab those headphones and watch in the waiting room, on the train to work, in an airplane – all free from data charges.
http://tinyurl.com/jevw9zc

NETPLWIZ is the program to run to remove the need to enter your password when you turn on your Windows 10 computer. It does not remove your password, just automatically puts it in for you. From the Run box (Win+R) type NETPLWIZ and press Enter. At the next screen uncheck the box. When you Apply it, you will have to enter your current password. Next reboot and you will no longer have to enter it.



Password protect a Word document. At the Save As screen click Tools > General Options, then at the next screen enter the password you would like to use to open it the next time.


OneTab is an extension that remembers all the tabs you have open. When you open the browser again you get to restore all or some of them. Makes remembering where you left off easier and your browser starts up quickly.

If you don’t want Google Chrome to save a record of what you visit and download, you can browse the web privately in Incognito mode. Read the details here…
http://tinyurl.com/z78x33w




Adblock is another extension that will block ads on webpages for you. As you can see, it has blocked over 51,000 for me so far.

You can display multiple screens by resizing them to both fit next to each other and this is sometimes referred to as a split screen. If you drag one window to the right as far as it will go, Windows 10 will make it fit on the right half of the screen. Then drag the other windows to the left as far as it will go and it will be resized to fit on the other half.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Class Summary 12-1-2016

Talked about cell phones, internet access, using locknote to secure passwords, 2FA, and more.

CyberChef: swiss-army knife conversion tool. Interesting but maybe for techies...
http://tinyurl.com/zztzf6v

Why you should start using Google Keep right away on your phone and PCs
http://tinyurl.com/h4wx684

Windows 10 Quick Tips - Editing The Send to Menu. You know the menu that pops up when you right-click on a file or folders. You can add to it, remove items, and rename them.
http://tinyurl.com/gru2bhw

How To Do Reverse Image Search - Google. Did not have much luck, but you can drag an image to the search box in Google and it will search for the image.
http://tinyurl.com/jpj9uq7

Best of Freeware 2016. Inlcudes some of our favorites and some new ones. Sandboxie might be worth a look.
http://tinyurl.com/hc6crp4

Free Books for your Kindle and… also bookbub.com
https://www.freebooksy.com

Google's new PhotoScan app will transform your prints into digital images. Google Photos is also getting a number of new editing tools so you can make more detailed tweaks to your existing images. Watch the video and this is very cool.
http://tinyurl.com/hstboyd