Friday, November 20, 2020

Computer Class Notes 11-19-2020

View the class at https://tinyurl.com/y4z8dkoy

How To Edit A PDF
We talked about this on 9-3-2020. Here are those notes:

Tools to Edit a PDF File
You don't give a PDF file a second thought, but this file format can be tricky too. Sure, every browser can open a PDF these days---but do you know how to edit PDF files? Keep reading to learn how to edit a PDF on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux.
https://tinyurl.com/yxhxjm8e



SmallPDF.com lets you edit a PDF or convert a PDF into something else

Microsoft Word can also open a PDF for editing but not very well and not with the online version of Word
  • How To Find Previous Class Notes
  • In your browser, Ctrl+L to jump to the address bar
  • Backspace key to clear it
  • Type your search followed by site:dickevanstraining.blogspot.com
  • Press the Enter key
The notes found on the blog containing your search words will be displayed. Use Ctrl+F to search on the blog page to drill down into the notes.

More On Google Photos
They are STILL free. A change is coming as of June 1, 2021, whereby all high definition photos added will count against your free 15 GB allocated to anyone having a Google account. All pictures in your Google cloud up until that date will still NOT count against your 15 GB, only the new additions. If your average picture size is 3 MB then you have enough room for over 5,000 pictures in that 15 GB.

A Question Came Up About Albums
How do I move images from one album I created to another new album? It also looks like if I have images in the albums that they are still all in "Photos file". Am I correct in this? When I do delete a photo in the photo file does this photo stay in the album?

An album does NOT contain any pictures. All pictures are in one “box”. They are not sorted or organized in any way. When you create an album you are organizing how you want to view some of the items in the “box”. They remain in the “box”. Only a reference or a pointer as to where to find them in the “box” is in the folder. When you access the folder, the pictures you have put in the album are found in the “box” and shown to you. They are never taken out of the “box”. So, if you delete a picture from the “box”, it is gone from the cloud and will not show in any album you had it in. And, yes, you can reference the same picture in multiple albums. If you delete a picture in an album, it does not delete it from another album, or from the “box”. If you delete it from the “box”, it deletes from any album that referenced it.

Address List and Mailing Labels


MyMailList claims to be the best selling mail list management software for the last 20 years. With this software, you will be able to use hundreds of professional templates to design your mail or email that you will get nowhere else. Also, you will be able to print out custom labels, postcards, and envelopes with logos and graphics using the simple interface. Get started today with your copy of MyMailList & Address Book.

I have used an older copy of this software and it is easy to use and prints labels directly from the address list. No need for merging with Word or Excel. However, it does have a one-time price of $30.

Here is a Free address list app:



Efficient Address Book Free is a professional free address database software program designed for personal and business use. It helps to note the phone numbers, website addresses, country, company name, addresses, email addresses, city, fax, and mobile of your partners and contacts.

I have not tried this one and hope one of you will download it and let us know how easy it is to use. The reviews are good. And I wonder how the data can be used to print labels.

Unique Lorem Ipsum Generators
Lorem Ipsum is placeholder text used in publishing and web design so that designers can see how a page will look. It’s usually a form of nonsense Latin, but here are 10 generators that make the text more interesting.
https://tinyurl.com/y3ed3599

In Microsoft Word, just type =rand(p,s) on a new line and placeholder text will be generated for you where p stands for the number of paragraphs and s for the number of sentences.

If you want Lorem Ipsum text, use =lorem(p,s).=

If you want The Quick Brown Fox, use =rand. old(p,s).

How Do I Delete Files From OneDrive, but Not My Computer?
There are two basic approaches to deleting files from OneDrive online cloud storage while still keeping copies for yourself. Which you want depends on whether or not you want to continue to use OneDrive at all.
https://tinyurl.com/y3a9y7n3

Is a Periodic Password Change a Good Thing?
There’s no reason to change your password periodically only because time has passed. Most password-based hacks have little to do with age and more to do with bad passwords, phishing attacks, and/or keystroke loggers. For the best security, use good password hygiene to begin with. Change your password if you hear of a breach or something else that affects your account.
https://tinyurl.com/nr35g2z

What about Windows 10 backup?
Backups should be easy. File backups in the form of file history can be if you remember to set it up. The image backup function – a cornerstone of a comprehensive backup strategy in my opinion – is so well-hidden it might as well not exist.
https://tinyurl.com/y4dsmjt5

Avoiding or Fixing Software Rot in Windows 10

Software rot is the slow degradation of your computer's performance for no apparent reason. I'll review why it happens, how to prevent it, and how to recover.
https://tinyurl.com/yxmw88oq

This is a very good article pointing out a number of ways to avoid issues. However, issues will arise and that is why we suggest continuous weekly maintenance and image backups.

Windows 10 File History
File History is a good thing, and I encourage you to turn it on if you haven’t already.



Some of your files will start getting backed up periodically.

Which files? Well, apparently any files you have stored in Windows Libraries (which typically includes your Camera Roll, Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos folders), your desktop, your Windows Contacts, and your Favorites.

How often? Every hour.

As I said, it’s a good thing. For the data files you have stored in areas covered by File History, it’s another layer of protection.

But it is no substitute for a complete back-up system, and sadly, that’s what Microsoft, originally at least, set out for it to be.

I have a 64 GB flash drive set as my File History drive and it filled up very quickly so I think a better approach is an external hard drive. But it works very well keeping a history of what is on and is changed on the system drive.

If you want your computer to run as well as when you brought it home from the store, I suggest a new hard drive and a fresh load of the latest Windows 10.

Before you pull the old hard drive, run Belarc Advisor to have a list of all the software you have installed and the software key codes for the OS and Microsoft Office, etc.

Use the old hard drive as an external drive to copy all your data to the new drive. Then install any additional apps from your installation media or download them from the web. I leave many of the downloaded installation software in my downloads folder so I would just have to install them from the external drive. And use Ninite and/or PatchMyPC to install other software.

Another approach is to use the Recovery option in Windows to Reset this PC. Before doing this I strongly suggest making an image backup with EaseUS or Macrium.

Win+I to open the Settings window.
Click Update & Security, then Recovery.

You can reset it keeping all your programs and file or have it remove them and reinstall Windows 10.

Restore Points
A chrome extension somehow changed my search engine. This is where having a restore point is very helpful


Simple go to Settings (Win+I) and type “restore” then choose to Create a restore point.



Click Create to set a restore point. I suggest doing this prior to running the maintenance programs once a week. This will give you a point in time to return to if issues come up.


Click System Restore to locate previously created restore points to take you back in time to where everything was working fine.

Click Next to view the restore points available



Choose one and click Next to back your computer up to that point in time.



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