Friday, May 25, 2018

Class Notes 5-24-2018

Today was the last Thursday class for me until I return from my trips north to visit children and friends, show Sherri some of the country she has not seen before, speak at various places, spend a little time in our KY home. We had a good class today going over a number of things. I will try to connect using Hangouts over the weeks we will be away. It all depends on a good WiFi connection wherever we are. I will send an email to let you know or you can just check in on Thursday afternoons at 4:00 PM Eastern. The link is http://tinyurl.com/DickEvans. If I am not there you can connect with whoever is and have a Q&A session without me.



On the left of my taskbar I had a Cortana search window that was taking too much space for my taste. I would rather have more room for taskbar items.


Right-click on the taskbar> click on Cortana > then choose Hidden, Shoe Cortana icon, or Show search box. I checked Hidden.

Then to open Cortana just press Windows+Q and the Cortana window with a search box appears.

In that search box we can type the name of a program, like quick assist, and a link to it will appear at the top of the window. Press Enter to open the program or right click to pin the link to your Start Menu or to the taskbar. You can also create a desktop shortcut.



Click Open file location



Right-click the program name, then click Create shortcut



Click Yes and a shortcut with it’s icon will appear on the desktop

One of our members found a great Chrome browser extension: Block ads from Facebook. Yes it really works.
http://tinyurl.com/6m2rfcc and search for “facebook ad blocker” and add it to chrome.

We talked again about the importance of image backups and using Google Photos to automatically backup your photos from your cell phone to the Google cloud at NO CHARGE. There is no limit to how many pictures you send and you can view them anywhere by simply signing in with your Google credentials.



We looked at using a cell phone amplifier to boost cell signals inside your home. It works by having you place an antenna outside your home and pointing it toward the cell tower nearest you. So instead of having to go outside to make a call you can have full access in the house.

Here is one for Verizon 4G LTE for $47… http://tinyurl.com/y73jxhqr

I found recently after my iPhone phone battery was needing recharging after a few hours that I could go to Settings and Battery and turn on the Low Power Mode. I still get my phone calls, text messages, and Facebook messages. Google Maps still works. And at the end of the day I still have plenty of battery left. Not sure about an Android.

This works with all cell phones. Need a fast charge? Put the phone in Airplane mode. Nothing will be using the battery in the background and the charge time is less. REMEMBER to take it out of Airplane mode when the charge is done or you will not get phone calls, texts, etc.

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.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Class Notes 5-10-2018

Well the season must be over. Small class on Tuesday for using Macrium backup and a small class for the open forum. We spent most of the time on cut-copy-paste (see class notes 5-26-2018). Then we hit on a few other questions. What follows are some new things you might be interested in.

If you are using Kodi you might check this article out.
http://tinyurl.com/ybls52ze

Cut the cable and lose high-speed internet, says Comcast.
http://tinyurl.com/yap38o7m

Windows Build Numbers
http://tinyurl.com/y8hz7c6v

Open-Source Desktop Publisher
http://tinyurl.com/yb4kbgkh

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.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Meeting Notes 5-1-2018

Inactive Windows Scrolling
We are used to having to click on a window to bring it to the front to be able to scroll in that windows. We click to bring it forward and the other window(s) go into the background. In Windows 10 we just have to mouse over the window in the background to scroll without making that window active.

Win+I > Devices > Mouse, then make sure Scroll inactive... is On.


Toggle color on and off in Windows 10
Ctrl+Win+C

Rotate the screen with Ctrl+Alt+arrow keys



Change in how to add an extension in Chrome. Click the menu button (upper right three dots) and choose More tools > Extensions. Click the menu button (upper left three lines). Scroll to the notton and select Open Chrome Web Store.

Popular extensions: Adblock and Show and Hide Passwords



Free up disk space automatically on Windows 10 with Storage Sense.
Win+I to open Settings > System > Storage



Win+I to open Settings > System > Storage > Change how we free up space

1803 update note… Allows cleaning up a larger number of files including no longer needed windows update files.
http://tinyurl.com/y9mg4xgw

What's the Difference Between Hibernate and Sleep?

Hibernate: writes RAM to disk and then turns off the power

The contents of RAM are written to disk. All the loaded and running programs are included in the exact state they happen to be in, including any data they’ve initialized and maintained.

Sleep: keep RAM in RAM and power is left on at a low level. The battery is being used so do not do when not plugged in.

1803 update note... when an update is ready to come down Windows will not allow sleep mode to start

http://tinyurl.com/y7etoqn8

Snipping Tool vs Paint
The Snipping Tool comes bundled with Windows free of charge and so does Paint. A look using both
http://tinyurl.com/ycgp49lx

Another 1803 update… Password Recovery for local accounts