Another good afternoon both online with those away and those who joined us live at the club. We had a number of questions and conversations before getting to look at the items I had bulleted in my email.
Desktop Shortcuts for WebsiteSee
https://davescomputertips.com/elderly-computing-tip/Some shortcuts we used today:F11 while in a browser removes the top lines like the address bar and shortcut bar to give more room for the page itself. F11 to toggle back
Win+D hides all open windows so you can see the desktop. Win+D to toggle the windows back.
Win+I opens the Settings window
Copy/MoveGetting files/folders off a device plugged into your PC--USB flash drive, camera, SD card, CD, audio recorder, etc. The device will open in File Manager and look like a disk drive with floders and files. To move that data off the external device onto your PC, left-drag the file or folder to wherever you want it to reside on your PC. Since the from device is external, left -drag will copy the data. It will end up on your PC and still remain on your device. If you are moving from one area on a device (PC or external) to another area on the same device, left-drag will move it. If you right-drag instead of left, an options menu will pop up asking what you want to do--move, copy, create a shortcut.
Ctrl+C to copy what is selected
Ctlr+X to copy what is selected and remove the selected item
Ctrl+V to paste the last thing selected
Ctrl+Z to undo the last action
Ctrl+Y to redo the last action
Win+V to scroll through the clipboard
About DefraggingDefrag is a way to put fragmented files back together on the hard drive. It speeds up access to files and frees up available space on the drive. Windows 10 does a defrag when the system is idle. However, you may run it on your own. I like the Defrag that is in Glary. CCleaner has one as well. To access the one in Windows: Win+I > type “defrag” and click to open the Optimize Drives window.
Photo SizeWhen you take a picture the size of the file depends on the quality of the image. An outdoor photo generally is larger than one with less light. The size is also determined by the pixel size your camera is designed to create. Most cell phones make about a 15 MP image. This creates a file size of 2-3 MB. When you send this by email you should resize the image so it does not take such a long time to send. Some email carriers have a limit on the total size of attachments.
When you upload or use the Google Photos app on your cell phone, your images will upload in their original size and you will be charged for space on Google Drive. If you select to allow Google to reduce the size of the image, you will not be charged. The size they reduce it to is still quite large. But if you download an image from Photos and compare it to the original you will see the difference.
The conclusion of our discussion was that is we have pictures that we want to retain the high quality in, keep them in a folder on your hard drive or even in OneDrive as it does not reduce the size/quality of the images.
Capture Video Playing On The PCWe did not find this during class. With Windows 10 you can capture your screen for later playback using these steps.
Switch to Settings>Gaming>Game DVR.
Set up your audio and video quality settings.
When you're ready to record, open the Game Bar with Win+G.
Click “yes, this a game”
Record your screen capture video.
Find your video in Videos>Captures.
Try it out and let me know how it works… Here is a good article about it:
Windows 10 has a built-in free screen recorderYou've very probably been using Windows 10 for a long time now, but that doesn't mean that you've discovered everything it has to offer. The operating system is packed with features, but there are some that are hidden away to the extent that they could be considered secrets.
https://tinyurl.com/y55oj853 How to create a Bootable Linux CDFirst, you need to download the ISO file for the version of Linux you want to create a boot disk from. Here is a link to downloading the latest Mint ISO:
https://linuxmint.com/download.phpBe sure to choose the version for your PC, 32 or 64 bit. Now that you have it on your PC (probably in Downloads) you need to burn it to a CD.
Insert a blank DVD into your Optical drive. You may see a popup window asking you what to do with the Disc, close the window as you do not need it.
Locate the ISO image then Right-Click and select 'Burn disc image'.
Check 'Verify disc after burning' and click 'Burn'.
Take the burned DVD and boot from it. You will see a live session of that Linux OS running in RAM not having any effect on your Windows OS or your hard drive.
How To Start Word In Safe ModeEven though it is highly unusual to encounter stability issues with Microsoft Word, it does happen on occasion. If Word is not starting properly, you can start it in Safe Mode to try to sort out what the problem may be.
We did not get into this as nobody in the class was actually using Word. If you are, check it out. It might become useful to you in the future.
http://tinyurl.com/yyxsfkt8 How to disable Google Chrome Software Reporter ToolSoftware Reporter Tool is a Google Chrome standalone process that monitors your Chrome install and reports if any add-ons are interfering with the normal functioning of the browser. The tool isn’t connected to the web but mainly used by the browser to recognize programs that may conflict with it. It’s visible as a 54Kb executable named “software_reporter_tool.exe“. If you face a high CPU usage for this process or if you frequently see a message Google Chrome Software Reporter Tool has stopped working; you might want to disable or remove it. Here is how you can do it.
This is something that could slow down processing. It does require some technical ease so not everyone should attempt some of these changes.
https://tinyurl.com/y3h3a5uy Alternative Web BrowsersUsing a less-popular web browser can offer benefits not found in the more commonly used software, such as greater customization and privacy.
I use Brave and am very happy with it. If I find a web site that will not work right in Brave or another browser I use Edge. Yes, I know Edge. Web sites are generally created to use Edge because it is the one that comes with Windows.
This article shows you a number of other browsers, each with its own special features. Check them out and you might find one just for you.
https://tinyurl.com/yydhqdn8 How to Import an Old Email Account Into GmailIf you recently switched to Gmail, but want to import all your old emails into your account, Google makes it a breeze. Automatically transfer messages and contacts from one email address to the other within minutes.
My advice is to NOT use the email that your service provider supplied you. Ie: @comcast.net, @embarqmail.com. I use @yahoo.com and @gmail.com.
My provider is Comcast so I do have an email address with them. One feature in all email providers is to allow your email to be forwarded to another email address. I forward all others to my Yahoo account.
If you decide to move to another state you will have to get a new provider. Or you may just want to switch. Your new provider will assign you a new email address. If you have an internet email such as Gmail all you have to do is forward your new email to the Gmail account. Nothing changes with your email. All your contacts still know you at your Gmail address.
If you had a provider email address like an @comcast.net you would have to let all your contacts know the new email address because when you cancel that Comcast account you will not be able to receive emails there any more.
This article shows how you can use a new feature in Gmail to transfer your email including your contacts and the actual emails from your old account to your Gmail account. You don’t lose anything. You will still have to inform your contacts of the move. Do NOT cancel the old account until you have made the transfer.
https://tinyurl.com/y49555tx Tab Notes lets you write and save notes in Firefox and ChromeType something in the page, it doesn't get simpler than this. You can use it to create as many notes as you want. To add a new note, click on the hamburger menu icon on the left to bring up the sidebar, and then select the "Plus" button. And since it works in the browser, it uses the default spell-check tool of the browser.
This is an extension that makes a notepad available to you. What you type is saved as you type. This makes it easy to take notes as you are in your browser. I use a website called
notepad.pw and have that tab open at all times,
https://tinyurl.com/y6f58yz4
