Reboot your Router: a reader asks… I’ve been reading in the news that I should reboot my router, and possibly do more stuff. Not sure what to believe these days or do. I have Verizon FIOS. Any advice? At this point, my recommendation is along the lines of the FBI’s recommendation and reinforced by a Dept. of Justice notice: unplug electrical power from your router, wait 60 seconds and plug it back in. Given that this threat is ongoing, I […]
Gmail Retract Email: a reader asks… I use Gmail and have found that sometimes I’ve accidentally hit the send button too quick. Is there a way for me to cancel an email that I’ve already sent? Yes, this is something that Gmail users have been asking for forever. Google added that feature in awhile ago, but it’s easy to miss that setting. It’s called “Undo Send” and you can use it to set a hidden sending delay of up to […]
Laptop Brands: a reader asks… I’m in the market for two new laptops to replace our aging ones. My wife and I are PC folks, not interested in the Mac. I have two questions: What are your top brand recommendations for light and powerful laptops, and what are your recommendations on specifications? We don’t do anything really taxing (no video editing or gaming), but do have a lot of multi-tasking going on. Thanks for your help! The first question is […]
Laptop for Analytics: a reader asks… I’m going to start Graduate school in the fall, working on a Masters in Business Analytics, so I imagine I will be working with large sets of data. I spoke with someone who did the program this past year and he used the school issued Thinkpad (I have an X1 carbon with an i5 now) and he said that the laptop specs weren’t really necessary. He said that the only issue he faced was […]
Mac BootCamp vs. Parallels: a reader asks… I’ve got a Macbook Air and occasionally need to use Windows. Do you think I should use Boot Camp or Parallels? It really depends on your needs and how you want to operate. Let me go over the differences in the way the two options operate. They both give you an alternate computing environment to work in, and if you want to use Microsoft Windows, you’ll need to buy a software license. With […]
Macbook Pro Fix? I have a 6 year old MacBook Pro which has been incredibly slow for quite a while. The rest of my family can’t even stand to use it. For example, when I click on a URL, often it will take 15-30 seconds to load the site, and sometimes it just beach balls until I leave the computer. I had initially thought that the slow response time was due to having Mac versions of Office products (Excel and […]
Airdrop Photos, iPhone to Mac: a reader asks… I want to send some photos from my iPhone to my Mac, but I don’t use iCloud. I’ve figured out how to send the photos from my iPhone, but don’t know where they are going on the Mac. Usually, files that are AirDropped to your Mac are sent to the Downloads folder. Open Finder and click on the Favorite Downloads. If you are AirDropping a lot of files, you’ll want to make […]
Quick Scan a file: a reader asks… I followed your recommendations and have Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium running on my computer. I know these scan my computer periodically for bad stuff, but is there a way I can scan a particular file? Such as a file attachment in email? For the most part, you’ll be looking at either your desktop icons or a File Explorer window showing you the name of the file. Normally you’d single click to select […]
Browser Tabs: a reader asks… I’m new to computers and have what is probably a dumb question, but here goes. I know how to open a web browser to go to a web page, but I don’t know how to have multiple web pages open at the same time. I read something about ‘tabs’ but aren’t sure what those are and how to use them. Can you give me a quick primer? All modern web browsers can have multiple web […]
Mac Chrome Cookies: a reader asks… Are you aware of any setting that might always be clearing cookies in Chrome on my mac? So often I get “we don’t recognize this device” on sites I frequent, and then I have to answer extra security questions. Then things are hey for a little while, but then it happens again. It’s a huge pain and I have looked in Settings but found nothing. Sometimes, settings can get stuck for whatever reason, and […]
Another Malwarebytes Update: a reader asks… I just got and installed an update to my Malwarebytes Premium protection program as you recommended. I’m showing version 3.4.5. Am I good to go now? Sorry, in a word, no. The current version is 3.5.1 and is most likely not going to show up with the program’s automatic update notifier for awhile. I’m guessing that the folks at Malwarebytes do this on purpose so that they can have folks (early adopters) test out […]
Fix Win10 Update: a reader asks… I tried to install the Windows 10 update 1803 but it keeps erroring out, it says “Error 0x80070005”. Do you have any advice for how I can fix this and get the update? I’m worried because I read that the Meltdown and Spectre updates for Windows 10 didn’t work. You’re right that the updates to Windows 10 intended to fix vulnerabilities for Meltdown and Spectre were not effective. As a result, all versions of […]
FIOS Quantum: a reader asks… I just got new boxes from Verizon FIOS, I was talked into upgrading my TV service to their Quantum after asking if they had smaller cable boxes. So I got the boxes and want to know how I should go about doing the upgrade, they delivered the boxes and said it’s “self-install”. My main TV (Samsung) has the cable box connected and also my Onkyo home theater receiver which handles the audio from the TV. […]
Sprint Wireless Boost: a reader asks… I got an email from Sprint today offering me a “Magic Box” for signal boosting, free. Do you think I should get it for my home, I’m in kind of a dead zone. While I normally eschew 3rd party devices that purport to boost your wireless cellular signal, Since Sprint is offering you this for free, it might be worth using. Please note that while the device is free to you, it comes with […]
Windows 10 April Update: a reader asks… I’ve been reading about a major update to Windows 10 coming soon. Should I install it? In a word, yes, but with a caveat or two. On April 30th, 2018 the April 2018 update is released to consumers. That means that within a few days, weeks or months, your computer will tell you that it wants to install the update. You have to affirm that you do in order for it to happen, […]
Don’t use Internet Explorer: a reader asks… I just got a new computer and it has Windows 10. I was using Windows 7 with Internet Explorer. After some searching, I finally found the Internet Explorer program to surf the internet, but it’s not on the new All Programs list, I have to search for it every time I want to use it. Is there an easy way to put a shortcut somewhere so I can run the program without searching […]
Delete Photos from iPhone: a reader asks… Is there a quick way to delete all photos off of my iPhone? I need to make space and want to do it as quickly as possible. I don’t use iCloud. The short answer is ‘sort of’. Quick is a relative term and often doing things quickly may result in unanticipated or unwanted byproducts. The iOS ecosphere is tied very closely to iCloud so if you don’t use iCloud you are significantly handicapping […]
iTunes Copy Computer to Computer: a reader asks… I have a newish macbook pro laptop and an old macbook pro laptop. I want to copy one iTunes music playlist from the new computer to the old one because at an upcoming event I want to have a 2nd computer that someone else can play the music during breaks etc while I am using another laptop to run my Powerpoint slide deck. Having 2 computers seemed like a great way to […]
Firestick & Ethernet: a reader asks… I have a firestick with the Amazon Ethernet adapter, that is directly connect to my router what do I need or do to connect to my blue ray so i can get surround sound with my firestick.my blue ray player the following outputs HDMI output no input! A Ethernet output and a USB wireless connection port. I want to be able to still use Ethernet rather than wireless can this be achieved!!! It would have […]
Dropbox Sync-Not! a reader asks… Occasionally but regularly I get an error message when I try to delete or move a file or folder saying that a file is in use by another program (never specified, of course). I tracked it down to Dropbox and solved it by closing Dropbox. Dropbox is in constant sync mode, and this in itself is puzzling because all file or folder changes sync at normal tempo. This all started happening maybe a few months […]
Renewable Toner Cartridge: a reader asks… I have a question regarding replacing the toner cartridge in my older HP laser printer. It takes a 49A HP…I see where I can order one “renewable” toner compatible to 49A on Amazon, but will the printer refuse to operate if it’s not a genuine HP cartridge? I know my HP Envy 5660 printer won’t let me replace the cartridge with anything renewed! Does this make sense? Obviously the price is considerably cheaper on […]
Registering a Domain Name: a reader asks… I’m creating a website to serve as a portfolio for my artwork, in order to have something to refer people to when I do design work and also to have a way to publicize my artwork. I want to register a domain, which I know is available, for the portfolio to be on. My question is how do I go about properly registering and purchasing a domain? Are certain sites better to buy from than […]
Lenovo Critical Updates: a reader asked… I keep getting a pop up notice that says I have critical Lenovo updates. I keep ignoring b/c it doesn’t give me a link to find out what the updates are. But it is persistent – how can I determine if I need to do this? I have not downloaded any Lenovo updates since I got the laptop (new). Short answer: go ahead and click Yes and then install all available Lenovo updates. All […]
Mac Air vs. Pro: a reader asks… I’m planning to buy a new Macbook for personal use. I saw an ad for a Macbook Air 13″ with a 2.2 GHz i7 new on sale from BestBuy for $1300 (list $1550). I love the idea of a Retina screen, so was looking also at a similarly configured (but better in a lot of details) Pro with a 3.1 GHz i5. Since I do plan to do maybe 20% usage for photoshop […]
Buh-bye Facebook: a reader asks… I’ve been noticing that facebook has become a bit creepy. Even if I talk to someone in person (nothing online), I’m finding ads for what we were talking about on facebook – is facebook listening in on my conversations? I’m also concerned about the whole issue of fake news , about Russia’s meddling in our elections, and how my personal data has been grabbed and misused by Cambridge Analytica. That’s three strikes for me, so I’m […]
Photo Magic: a reader asks… I want to do some photo editing with Adobe Photoshop. I’ve looked through tutorials but am not sure I understand them. What I want to do is take a color photo that has some rose petals in it, and turn the entire photo black and white but with the petals still red. Can you help? Photoshop is a very powerful tool for creative artists to make true works of art out of just about any […]
Firestick with Analog Snafu: a reader asks… I want to hook my firestick to my Panasonic Projector PT-AE500U. The Projector and my receiver Onkyo HT-R510 only have component hook up. I bought XF Times HDMI to YPbPr+Audio converter. I plugged the Firestick into the converter HDMI side then ran my component cables to the receiver input. No picture! What am I doing wrong? Most likely the video problem you’re experiencing is that with analog connections (like your YPbPr RCA cables from […]
Win10 Stuck Restart: a reader asks… My Windows 10 computer notified me that it had to do some updates and restart. I went ahead and hit the restart control, but now I have a blue screen with the circling dots and “Restarting”. It’s been going on for hours now. What should I do? Sometimes the restart process gets stuck (this has been happening to Windows since as far back as I can remember). The fix is pretty simple, press your […]
Google-Gmail Security: a reader asks… I recently started having a problem when using Google Chrome and Gmail (I use gmail.com). When composing an email, every word is now underlined like it was misspelled. I looked and saw that the spell check for Chrome was set on Spanish. I turned off “Spanish” but couldn’t turn on “English” as the spell check language. Can you help? I also use the mail app on both iPhone and iPad to access my Gmail account. […]
Battery Conditioning: a reader asks… I’ve recently acquired a new smartphone. I’ve read about the problems with battery life and longevity. What should I do to make sure my battery gives as good service as it can? Battery technology has advanced quite a bit over the years. In the old days of Nickel-Cadmium (Ni-Cad) batteries, you had to pre-condition them by fully charging before first use, and then periodically drain them down fully to re-condition them and ensure you get […]
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