Monday, April 30, 2018

Class Notes 4-26-2018

We spent almost an hour on Cut Copy Paste giving examples of moving file or folder from one place to another. The example talks about files but the same directions apply to folders. When you copy or move a folder all the files within that folder will also be moved.

When you use Copy the file is placed in the Windows clipboard and will stay there until another copy or cut is performed. Cut copies the file and removes it from its original location. Ctrl+Z will reverse the process.

There are two ways of moving a file from one location to another. You can drag the file or you can right-click the file and select cut or copy. Then go to the destination location and right-click and select paste. Use cut if you want to move the file and copy if you just want to copy it and have it in two locations.

It is a little different use the drag and drop method. When you left drag a file to another location on the same drive the system assumes you want to move the file. If you are dragging to another drive, like to or from a USB flash drive, the system assumes you want to copy the file. As you drag a box appears telling you what you are about to do. The safest way to drag is to right-drag. When you do a box appears giving you choice between Copy, Paste, Create a shortcut,or Cancel.

We all know that deleting a file places the file in the recycle bin. The file is still on the hard drive and can be restored by opening the recycle bin. Empty the recycle bin or run one of the maintenance program that deletes temporary or deleted files removes access to the file with Windows explorer. However, the data in the file is still there until the drive is wiped with some utility or Windows needs the space and overrides it with another file.

Piriform.com has a free utility called recuva to recover those deleted files, if they are still there. The best time to do so is soon after the erroneous deletion. The longer you wait the less chance the file is available for recovery.

Speccy is another Pirifom utility that displays specifications for the computer it is run on.

If you have open windows you can easily switch between using Alt+Tab.

Friday, April 13, 2018

Class Notes 4-12-2018

We talked about the website George demonstrated at the meeting last week. Open the site and type in your name and the state where you reside. It searches all the unclaimed money and gives you a list of what is out there. I ran my name and did not find anything for me but I did find over $100 due to my oldest son. Check it out. One of our class members is getting back over $100!
www.missingmoney.com



Check your internet speed by running one of the speedtest sites. See what the test results are compared to the speed you are promised by your internet provider. I am using Comcast and you see my results above. So before you attack your computer with all kinds of maintenance programs, check your internet speed. Might not be anything wrong with your PC. www.speedtest.net

WizFile is an ultra-fast Windows Search tool. We downloaded and ran this in class and the speed in which it locates file is wild. As you type the last letter the results are displaying. This program is portable meaning you can put it on a flash drive and run it from there.
http://tinyurl.com/y7n2mw3a

How Do I Find Out What Program Is Using All My CPU? Computer slow? This article explains what those detail in Task Manager are all about.
http://tinyurl.com/y8vu9kxy

Financial Documents: Should You Save or Shred Them? Just a reference for what we need to save and what we can destroy now that tax season is over.
http://tinyurl.com/y76bhsn7

This article explains how you can get a list of every single thing Google knows about you. It will come in the form of a .zip file. Don’t expect it right away as it may take hours to create the file. I recommend you have it sent to one of your cloud accounts instead of email. The options are built in to the task so you can choose.
http://tinyurl.com/y74hf327

In addition to my own research, I want to give thanks to Harold at the Club, Ghacks.net Newsletter, AskLeo, tomshardware, and DavesComputerTips.com for the useful ideas we take a look at each week.