Clean, Quick Charge: a reader asks… I have a small problem and need your advice. I have a number of battery-powered devices that I have to plug in to recharge every night. My iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, my wife’s Samsung Galaxy, a Verizon MiFi, and an older iPhone I use as an alarm clock (so it’s always plugged in). Each of these uses their own charger, so I have them all lined up on a power strip with cables […]
Apple Ecosphere: a reader asks… Bit by bit I’ve been sucked into the Apple world. It started with the iPhone 6, then I got into Apple Music (subscription as well as my huge library), then a pair of Airpods, then an Apple Watch, an iPad Pro and finally a 12″ Macbook. Gotta say I’m pretty happy, they all work pretty well together once I bumped up the iCloud storage space. Yep, I’m paying Apple monthly both for Apple Music and […]
LastPass Oops: a reader asks… I was following your advice to set up LastPass as a PW manager. But the free app never downloaded and I set up an account and now cannot get in – it does not recognize my PW and won’t let me reset because it states it cannot locate LastPass on the browser. So I went to delete my account but got the message below. What data will this permanently delete? It has me very concerned […]
Time Capsule Woes: a reader asks… I have a Time Capsule on my home network, and two Macbook Pro’s. I run Time Machine on both to back them up. Recently I upgraded both Macs to MacOS High Sierra and now my Time Machine app won’t backup to the Time Capsule. What should I do? Most likely it’s a case of your Time Capsule has older firmware which needs to be updated as well in order to work with the updated […]
Teeny Outlook: a reader asks… I use Microsoft Outlook (2010) and somehow all the fonts on my window have shrunk down to teeny-tiny sizes. I can’t read it! How can I fix this? If you use Outlook, you may have accidentally encountered a situation where all the text in messages changes to larger or smaller size. This happens when you accidentally activate a “keyboard shortcut” but didn’t mean to (or even know you were doing so). Outlook in particular, and […]
Quick Password Tip: a reader asks… In light of all the hacking, and our 21st century busy lifestyle, can you give me the short and sweet version of good password management? Short and sweet it is: Use only long and unique passwords. Too short? Let’s unpack that just a bit. How long is long? These days, any password 13 characters or less are going to be at risk of being cracked using brute force methods. Hackers have built specialized computers […]
iPhone X? a reader asks… I’m struggling with the decision on my iPhone upgrade – should I get the 8 or the X? What do you think? I have an iPhone 6s and am not interested in the plus size phones. I usually upgrade every 2 years so it’s about time. I think you should do a small bit of navel-gazing. Are you an “early adopter”? Do you like having the latest and greatest tech? Are you willing to live […]
Simple Fix: a reader asks… What can I do when my computer stops working right? It seems like that happens all too often. I’m tired of having to call someone to fix it. It’s a fairly new Windows 10 PC by the way. The simple and first fix anyone should try before calling for help is to restart your computer. I have solved many thousands of computer problems and that is all it takes for about 80% of the time. […]
Gmail Tags? a reader asks… Another followup on the gmail issue, what’s the difference between tags and folders? You mention both, and I’m fuzzy on which is which in Gmail. It can be confusing, but working with them is easy. First off, I use the term “Tags” which is a generic term for what Gmail calls “Labels”. Gmail doesn’t use folders to store emails, rather all email is in one huge folder called “All Mail”. In normal email programs like […]
Gmail Auto-file: Just a quick question (following up on yesterday’s stealth gmail), how do I automatically file incoming emails? I would like all emails sent to my business email account to go to the business folder, bypassing my Gmail inbox. You can set this up using the Settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses menu, or just do it on the fly, which is easier and faster. Here’s how: When looking at the inbox, select any email sent to your work […]
Stealth Gmail: a reader asked… I have a Gmail account that I’d like to use not only for my personal email, but also for business. I have a domain name and have already set up email forwarding so my business email is sent to my Gmail inbox, but I’d like to be able to reply using my business email address. Instructions please? This is a pretty common thing for folks to do, to keep from having to check multiple different […]
PC like MacMini: a reader asks… I’m looking for new/replacement computers for my company. We are tight on space so I’d like something about the size of a Mac Mini, that runs Windows 10. They just need to do regular office work with Microsoft Office, no fancy stuff. Do you have any suggestions? When space is at a premium, there are two main ways to go. If you need to also replace old monitors, then you might want to consider […]
Set Edge to forget passwords: a reader asks… On my Windows 10 computer, I use Microsoft Edge to surf the web. I also use it to check my AOL mail. Unfortunately, I checked the “Remember me” checkbox when logging into AOL mail, and now when I go to https://mail.aol.com it automatically logs me in. I don’t want this. I don’t want Edge to remember any passwords, that helps force me to remember them. What should I do to make sure […]
Router Wi-Fi Scare: a reader asks… I just read about Wi-fi being compromised. Something called Krack. Now what do I do? I have a home router from Verizon FIOS, a Dell laptop and an iPhone. First, be aware that this scare is way overblown by the news services. Security researchers found a way to get past the security encryption protocol WPA2 – in the lab. My guess is by the time hackers are able to weaponize this flaw, device manufacturers […]
Wrong Apple ID: a reader asks… My wife and I each have our own Apple IDs on our iPhones and for years have shared apps using each other’s IDs. I think that since we set it up Apple has made “family sharing” easier, but we’ve never changed. I just discovered (after the latest update, maybe, but not sure) that the Health app had her name on it when I went to set up emergency contact. I could change the name, […]
WordPress White Screen: a reader asks… I am a small business owner and have a WordPress-powered website. Everything was working fine until this morning, when I can no longer access the control panel. All I get is a white screen! What should I do? My website displays fine, I just can’t edit it. While Microsoft Windows 7 and before had the dreaded “Blue Screen of Death”, aka BSOD, Apple Macs could get the “Spinning Wheel of Death” aka SWOD, WordPress […]
Quick Win10 Protection: a reader asks… I have a new Windows 10 computer. Can you give it to me short and sweet? What do I have to do for basic protection against computer viruses and malware? I’m not concerned about anything else at this point. Hmm, you should be, but I’ll answer the question as asked. Your Windows 10 computer comes with Windows Defender built-in, which provides some basic protection against viruses and malware. So you don’t have to do […]
Can’t open .htm: A member asks… Since yesterday we’ve suddenly been unable to open our son’s grade reports that come as “.htm” attachments to e-mails. In the past, double-clicking on these attachments always opened them in a new web browser window, but now we get a “Can’t create file” error message when we try to do this, even for attachments to old e-mails that we’ve successfully opened in the past. I suppose we’ve inadvertently changed some setting or other, but […]
Make my laptop faster: a reader asks… My dad bought me a new Windows 10 laptop last year for college. Now that I’m there, my laptop seems to work a lot slower than others. I’m always waiting for a long time for programs to open, and for the computer to start up and shut down. Can I speed up my laptop? Parents often are looking for good deals when buying laptops for their college-bound children. Saving money is good, but […]
Second Monitor: a reader asks… Hi Chris, I’ve been using a Windows laptop for many years now, and my only complaint is that the screen size is limited. I see other folks with these giant screens and even some that have two computer monitors – I’m jealous! Can you give me some tips on how to get and setup a bigger screen or 2nd monitor to use with my laptop? There’s a not-so-old saying that once you’ve used dual-monitors, there’s […]
Attach photo to Mac email: a reader asks… I use a Macbook Air with the Apple Photos app. The only problem I have is when I try to attach a photo to an outgoing email, I tried but it won’t get to my photos library. What can I do? I’m guessing your Photos library file is pretty large, which can delay things if you don’t already have the Photos app running. If you’re using Mac Mail for email, then there […]
Word won’t save: a reader asks… I’m using Office 365 on a Windows 10 computer. Recently, I stopped being able to save a Word document into Dropbox, Word freezes. I also can’t copy text from a Word document into an email using the Windows 10 Mail app. Can you help? A little digging revealed that the reader was using Malwarebytes Premium, but had never updated since it was originally installed. So the user was on version 3.0.6 (the current version […]
Make a Ringtone: a reader asks… How do I make a custom ringtone for my iPhone from a song in my iTunes library? I use a Macbook. You can do this using iTunes on your Macbook. A ringtone is going to be a short loop of a song that repeats over and over. The process to do this is a little tedious, but it’s certainly doable. The process involves a few stages where you first choose a usable song (in […]
Slow Internet: a reader asks… My internet speed seems to be slowing down. At first it was only sometimes, but now it seems like everything is slow. I’m paying Verizon FIOS for high speed (75/75) but not getting much. I ran a speed test (http://beta.speedtest.net/) on my laptop and sometimes get less than 10/5, sometimes 30/25, but never anything even close to what I should be getting. What should I do? First question, how old is your router? See my […]
The Half-life of Tech: a reader asks… How come these expensive tech devices don’t last very long? I’m having to replace my Windows laptop every few years because it gets messed up and becomes unusable, and it seems like my various smartphones die within a couple years or less. I feel like I’m personally investing in filling up landfills with stuff that should last a lot longer. What gives with this? In a word, money. Companies that make consumer electronics […]
No Android Update? a reader asks… Hi Chris, unlike you, I have an Android-powered smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy S6. You’re always letting us know when the iPhone gets an update to iOS, but why don’t you tell us when there’s an update to Android? I have a pretty simple answer, but you’re not gonna like it. Because Android-powered smartphones rarely, if ever, get updates to the operating system. I touched on this in my article: Smartphones-What’s the Diff?, so let me […]
Not getting emails: a reader asks… I signed up for your email digest awhile ago, thanks! But I stopped getting them a few weeks ago. Did you stop sending them out? No, my weekly digest goes out every Friday morning. Here’s what happened: At some point, your email service notified you that your email box was full and that you had to delete some items to save space. Until you did that, your email service would reject incoming emails. When […]
Small Mac, big files: a reader asks… I read your note about working with a Mac that has a full hard drive, but can you recap the essentials for me? I have a huge Photos library on my 2014 Macbook Air with 256gb SSD. Ok, I’ve written about this general issue several times, in my articles More Space on Mac, Huge Apple Photos library, MacOS won’t start, and Locked up Macbook. When you click the Apple > About this Mac and […]
Wi-fi Passcode: a reader asks… Hi Chris, I have a problem. My computer automatically connects to my home Wi-fi network, but I have no idea what the security passcode is. So I can’t connect any other computers or smartphones or tablets to it. I don’t remember how I set it up in the first place, so I can’t just do that again. Can you help? I have a Windows 10 laptop and an iPhone 6s. Here are two ways you […]
Pair Airpods to Watch: a reader asks… I just got a new Apple Watch (series 3). I’d like to use it with my Airpods. Is there an easy way to set that up? Yes, direct from Apple (at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204218) are the simple instructions to pair your new Apple watch with your Airpods. On the Watch, go to Settings > Bluetooth. Then with your Airpods (in their case) close to your Watch, see if they show up on the Watch screen and […]
"I'm all about helping you deal with our 21st century high-tech digital world so you can enjoy a healthy and secure digital life!"
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