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 […]
Ransomware Worry: a reader asks… I’ve been reading about the increase in “Ransomware” and am worried about my home network and equipment. I have a router, a network printer, my wife’s Mac (MacOS Sierra) and my Windows 10 PC, along with our iPhones and her iPad. Can you tell me what I need to do to make sure I’m safe from this threat? Your concern is genuine, as ransomware attacks are increasing exponentially – they’re the new ‘darlings’ of the […]
Website Hacked: a reader asks… I have a WordPress-powered website, it’s a simple blog without a lot of fancy plugins. I don’t use it much anymore, but recently noticed that I can’t log into the control panel anymore. I think I might have been hacked, although the site looks ok and I don’t see anything strange-looking on the pages. What should I do? One of the most important things you can do with your WordPress website (other than posting articles) […]
iPhone Battery: a reader asks… My 2+ year-old iPhone 6 is having real problems. The battery works ok till I get to around 60%, and then it drops down to the red almost instantly. If I don’t plug in it will shut off minutes later. When I plug it back in, the battery meter jumps back up into the green almost instantly. What’s going on? This problem started appearing in iOS 9.x and became much more widespread in iOS 10.x […]
USB Matters: a reader asks… I have a computer with USB 2.0 ports and just bought a thumbdrive that is USB 3.0. Will I have any problems using it on this computer? I am going to use it to copy all my files so I can put them on a new computer (that will have USB 3.0 ports). Does the USB version really matter? First off, it may not matter to your old computer, as the USB specification is backwards […]
Protect my Win10 Computer: a reader asks… I just bought a new Windows 10 computer and have set it up, thanks for your tips! Now before I start using it I want to make sure I have good protection. I know that Windows 10 has a firewall and antivirus protection baked in, so what else do I need? I know to surf and use email safely. Congratulations on your purchase! Windows 10 is very much more reliable and secure than […]
Used Electronics: a reader asks… I have the chance of getting a second hand Onkyo HT-R558, should I get it? What are the pitfalls? Used electronic equipment can be tricky, you never know what’s happened to it. While used cars can be examined for evidence of previous crashes/damage, most times electronic equipment can’t. Your best bet is to try before you buy. You should visit the seller and they should have the receiver hooked up to a TV, speakers […]
Scan to Computer: a reader asks… I have an HP all-in-one printer that has a scan-to-computer function. I’m not sure how to set it up on my Windows 10 computer. I’ve got the HP AIO app from the Microsoft App Store. Can you help me? If you run the AIO app and click the Scan button, you’ll see that you also need another app, “HP Scan and Capture” which you get from the Microsoft Store (it’s free). Once you download […]
Fake eFax: a reader asks… Since I’ve never gotten one of these, I am not sure if it is real or not. I don’t use eFax. So you have two clues that this is a fake (yes, it is). First, you don’t use the eFax service, and the scam message is telling you that you have a 2 page incoming fax. That should be enough to warn you to not click on any link. Second, if you hover over each […]
LastPass Free vs Premium: a reader asks… I have LastPass setup on my iPhone. Can I set this up on my wife’s iPhone, on our two iPads and on our two Macbooks as well? Or can I have it on my devices only? LastPass comes in a free version and a Premium version which costs a paltry $12 per year. The free version is limited to the type of device that originally setup the account. So in your case, you could […]
Spell-check: a reader asks… I have a laptop and a desktop; both running Win 7. I use Gmail for my email. On my desktop I suddenly cannot get auto spell check (have to now do it manually), but when I use my laptop on the same Gmail account. the auto spell check works fine. Any suggestions on how to fix it on my desktop Gmail? For spell-checking on your computers, I’m going to have to give you some guesses since you didn’t […]
"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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