Computer Tips Archives - Page 169 of 230

HazeOver helps Mac users concentrate on the task at hand

Posted on April 5, 2018

If you’re a Mac user who tends to have several windows open on the desktop at any given time, you might find yourself getting distracted at times by all the other stuff that’s on the screen.

If so, there’s a fantastic app called HazeOver that can help minimize the distractions from background windows.

In a nutshell, Hazeover dims everything in the background while keeping the active window bright and clear. You can still see everything that’s dimmed in case something important changes, but your attention will remain focused on the active window.

Here’s a short video that shows HazeOver in action: [Read more…]

How to use your Mac keyboard with virtually any mobile device

Posted on April 3, 2018

A few days ago a reader asked me if it’s possible to use a full-size PC keyboard with a Windows tablet. The answer is yes as long as the keyboard supports Bluetooth connectivity.

As I was answering that question it got me to thinking about all the Apple users out there who might have a Bluetooth-enabled Mac keyboard laying around.

As one would imagine, a Mac keyboard should be the perfect keyboard to use with an Apple device running iOS. [Read more…]

4 tips for successfully updating your motherboard’s UEFI BIOS firmware

Posted on March 30, 2018

I often receive questions about updating the UEFI BIOS firmware on a computer’s motherboard.

Horror stories abound about firmware updates that went bad and bricked the devices so many folks are understandably nervous about attempting to update the BIOS on their own motherboards.

In a nutshell, the UEFI BIOS firmware is a basic set of instructions and settings that inform your CPU about the various hardware components that are inside your PC and how it should interact with them.

If this firmware get’s corrupted somehow one or more of your computer’s hardware devices could fail to operate correctly. [Read more…]

Save time by posting Tweets from your phone via a text message

Posted on March 23, 2018

If you use Twitter, you probably already know that you can post a tweet from virtually anywhere using your smart phone in conjunction with one of the many Twitter apps that are in use today.

But did you know that you can also tweet from virtually any cell phone just by sending Twitter a text message? Well, you can, and it’s a lot faster than loading your Twitter app!

Setting up your Twitter account to accept tweets from any mobile phone via SMS is very easy. Here’s how: [Read more…]