Microsoft account for Win10: a reader asks… I recently got a new Windows 10 computer. When I was setting it up, it asked me to create a Microsoft account which I did. Now everytime I restart the computer I have to sign into that account with the online password – just to use Windows. Is there a way to streamline this? With Windows 10, Microsoft is pushing everybody to create a linked user account on their computer – linked to […]
Location Request? a reader asks… I’ve noticed that lately my web browser (Google Chrome) is giving me a popup it never used to. When I visit sites, the popup asks me if I want to share my location with the website. I get that for using mapping websites like google maps and mapquest, but no other website should be asking for my location! Can I turn that off? Also, some sites I visit display an annoying popup asking me if […]
Internet Nanny: a reader asks… I have an 8-year-old who’s wanting to use the computer. We only have one computer in the house. What’s the best way I can make sure my child doesn’t visit the seamier parts of the internet? One word: supervision. As in yours – you looking over their shoulder while they use the computer. That is really the only way you can make sure they stay safe. There are tons of software programs out there that […]
More secure surfing: a reader asks… I use the Google Chrome web browser, and will sometimes use an Incognito window when I’m visiting someplace where I don’t want them to track me. What else should I do to protect my surfing privacy online? First off, using Incognito Mode (InPrivate window for MS Edge/IE, Private window for Firefox), doesn’t hide you from websites you visit. All Incognito Mode does is prevent Google from saving your site visit activity on your computer. When […]
AirPods vs… a reader asks… I’m considering getting a pair of Airpods to work with my iPhone 7 Plus, my iPad Pro, and my Macbook Pro. The order-to-deliver time is very long though. Is there a better alternative? For you, I’d say wait it out. Order your $159 Airpods and sit back. If you want to possibly shorten the time, give http://fruit-basket.surge.sh/ a try – you can plug in your zip code and distance you’re willing to travel. That website will […]
Alexa Tip: a reader asks… I bought an Amazon Echo and put it in my family room open to the kitchen. I can call on Alexa from either room and she’s good about responding. I also have a Firestick on my Family Room TV. Can the two Alexa’s talk to each other? I’d like to get the Echo to turn on the TV, change channels on my cable box and switch to the Firestick by voice command. No, or rather […]
iPhone Battery: a reader asks… My ongoing saga with my iPhone 6 has been bumming me out for awhile. Back in October 2016 it started showing problems, draining very quickly. Like instantly from 62% to 2% and then shutting off. Plug it in before it shuts off and it jumps back up to 55%, again instantly. I contacted the genius bar online and they had me reset my iPhone back to factory and then restore my latest iCloud backup. That […]
Switch email: a reader asks… I’ve been using email for a lot of years, and never bothered to switch email addresses when I switched internet service providers. I’ve been hesitant because it’s so hard to do. I tried getting an outlook.com email account, but forgot the password and can’t get back into that account (I never setup an alternate way for the forgotten password feature to reach me). I’m ready to try again, but have two requirements: one, I don’t […]
Tech Support Scam: a reader asks… I opened my computer to discover some audio playing that warns me my computer is infected, and to call a number. It sounds very serious. What should I do? I can’t seem to stop it from happening, even after I restart my computer. It’s also opening a bunch of Edge windows that I can’t shut down and popups. I use Windows 10 with Malwarebytes 3.0 Premium. First things first, DO NOT call the number! […]
Ransomware on the rise: a reader asks… I’m worried about a ransomware attack on my home computer after reading how many people are getting attacked this way. How can I best protect my computer? First let me say that a home computer has been much less likely to be targeted than business computers in the past. Going forward, I think it’s safe to say that any computer is at risk, as these type of attacks are most often received as […]
iMac Questions: a reader asks… I recently switched from Windows PC to a new iMac. Can you answer these questions? 1) Can I get the time to always be visible at the top of the display? 2) I enlarged iTunes (accidentally) to fill the whole screen, but I cannot figure out how to make it smaller. 3) How do I add to favorites? For your first question, the time should always be visible at the top-right corner of the screen. […]
Window Zoom: a reader asks… I’m new to computers, so sorry for the basic questions. I have Windows 10 and use the Edge web browser. Some webpages are really hard to see. Is there a way to magnify them quickly? Zooming the magnification level on Edge windows open on your PC is very easy. Near the top-right of your Edge window you’ll see some icons – click on the right-most one that is three dots placed horizontally. That’s called an […]
Safe Digital Life: It’s time to refresh my recommendations on how to keep yourself safe when using consumer technology. Specifically, computers (Mac and PC), smartphones and tablets, online services, websites and apps. It doesn’t matter which type of computer, tablet or smartphone you use, you need to take steps to make sure you and your personal information are kept safe from prying eyes and hackers hands. I encourage you to take a look at my more detailed Safe Computing Practices […]
CIA Hacks: a reader asks… In light of the recent Wikileaks news of all those CIA hacking tools, do I need to change what I do? I have an always-updated Windows 10 computer with the built-in antivirus, Malwarebytes 3.0, and I use LastPass for password management with a very long master password that I have memorized. I don’t connect to free wi-fi hotspots and don’t use my computer out of the house. My home wi-fi is Verizon FIOS and has […]
Login problems: a reader asks… I’m having trouble logging into an online account at a website. What can I do? Our wonderful technology is actually not very forgiving, even the slightest mistake in our typing can throw it for a loop. When you log into a website, you usually have a username (often that’s your email address), and a password. Passwords are case-specific, so it’s easy to neglect to hit your shift key to type a capital letter. We also […]
Auto-correct fix: a reader asks… I have an iPhone with an annoying problem with the auto-correct feature. When I type an “s” accidentally, meaning an “a” it doesn’t correct it for me but leaves the s. So a phrase “this is a problem” becomes “this is s problem”. There are also other misspellings that I do commonly, like “snd” for “and” that don’t auto-correct. How can I fix this? Unfortunately, auto-correct on the iPhone learns as you use it, even […]
Old Mac New Mac: a reader asks… I have an older Macbook Air that’s finally giving out, so I’m going to go buy a new one. What’s the easiest way to get everything transferred over? If you have an Apple Store nearby, the easiest way is to take your old Macbook Air with you when you buy the new one, and ask the salesperson to transfer things for you. They’ll hook the two computers up together and do it easily […]
Photo Editing: a reader asks… I have some photos I took with my smartphone that I’d like to share with some friends, but before I upload them I’d like to crop the photo. Do you have a recommendation on the best software that can do some quick and easy photo editing without me having to learn a complicated software like Photoshop? I use a Windows 10 PC by the way… Rotating and cropping photos are the most common tasks people […]
Video Editing: a reader asks… I need to edit some video on my Windows 10 computer. It was shot with an HD videocam that puts out .MXF files. Can you give me some advice on what video editing software to get and if my computer is good enough to do the job? It’s got an Intel i3 processor, 4gb of RAM, Intel HD 530 graphics processing, and a 500gb hard drive. If I need a better computer, what should it […]
No www website: a reader asks… I notice that some URLs for websites have the www. at the start and some don’t. Is there a difference between these two? Not really any longer, except in a very few cases. In the early days of the internet, prefixes were in common use to differentiate between different types of internet servers. For example, www indicated a ‘world-wide web’ type of server that serves up websites and web pages, while ftp indicated ‘file […]
What’s a Troll? a reader asks… Can you tell me, what’s an internet troll? I heard this on social media. Wikipedia defines a troll as “a person who sows discord on the internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal, on-topic discussion, often for the troll’s […]
TV Audio Snafu: a reader asks… I have a home theater system and a flat-screen TV. I’ve been trying to get the sound from my TV into my receiver but am having no luck. I’ve got a pair of RCA cables (red and white tips) and have tried all the various ports on both the TV and the receiver and can’t get it to work. What am I doing wrong? Without knowing brand and model numbers of your TV and […]
Google Sign-in: a reader asks… I received an email from Google asking me if I got a new iPhone. I didn’t. I did sign up for an account on an iPhone app, and was asked to type in my Google account password. I did that. Did I just get hacked? I’m going to guess and say probably not, as long as you got the app from the iPhone App Store. What likely happened is that there was a signup option […]
Better lock screen: a reader asks… I have a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone. Instead of a 4-digit PIN, I draw a pattern on the phone to unlock it. Is this safer? Does the shape matter? The first question I’d ask you back: do you have your phone set to wipe if the wrong unlock shape is tried too many times? Verizon calls that “Reactivation Lock Antitheft” and it should come pre-installed and configured. You can turn that off (and […]
Internet Lies: a reader asks… How can you tell if something you see on the internet is true or not? That’s a huge question, and there’s really no way I can adequately cover everything, so let me focus on the kind of information you see on the internet that’s similar to what you’ll read here at Practical Help. Finding answers to consumer tech questions can be like searching for a needle in a haystack (sorry for the tired, old metaphor, […]
Win10 File Explorer: a reader asks… I’m slowly getting used to all the new stuff in Windows 10. One thing that bugs me though, when I open File Explorer it opens to a view it calls “quick access” when almost all the time I want to go to My Computer and see my account’s personal folders as well as all the drives I can access (like a plugged in thumbdrive or my DVD drive). Is there an easy way to […]
Deleted iCloud email: a reader asks… Help! I think I accidentally deleted my email account from the mail app on my Macbook Pro. Did I just lose everything? Can I get it back? Worry not, if you are using an iCloud account for email, everything is safely stored online, so just add the account back to Mail and you’ll be back where you were. Same for if you use an MS Exchange account. And with some caveats, Google, Yahoo! and […]
Google Authenticator: a reader asks… About this 2-factor authentication. Google tells me to use their app Google Authenticator. Can you give me a quick primer on using it with a website login? Sure! First off let me applaud you for considering using 2-factor authentication. The standard username/password combo has proven itself to be inadequate for even basic security. Most folks simply won’t use strong and unique passwords to secure their online accounts. I’m not saying that 2-factor authentication is perfect, […]
iPhone App Stuck: a reader asks… I have an iPhone with the latest version of iOS installed. The problem is that an app I really need seems frozen and won’t do anything. What can I do? The first thing you should try is to kill the app and start it again. For that you use the task switcher, which you get to by double-pressing the Home button. That puts multiple apps in view, and you can move between apps by […]
LastPass vs Keychain: a reader asks… I have a MacBook, an iPad and an iPhone. I use Apple’s Keychain to remember my passwords, and it works across all the devices. Is there any reason I should need to use LastPass? The fact that all the devices you use are Apple means that the Apple Keychain password manager can do almost as good a job as a true password manager like LastPass. The upside is that when you use Safari or […]
"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!"
Hi! I'm Chris Gardner, Your Tech Coach giving you Practical Help for Your Digital Life® since 1996. My job is to translate geek-speak into clear and concise advice and give you easy-to-understand how-to's and instructions about your consumer technology products and services.
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