Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
In Windows 7 (and earlier versions of Windows) it was easy to see which programs were running and access all the active notification icons. All you had to do was glance at the Task Bar.
But while the Task Bar is still alive and well in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, it is usually hidden when viewing the Start Screen or while running a modern app. And it also tends to stay hidden when you move the mouse pointer to the bottom of the screen. [Read more…]
When a program is installed on a computer, bits and pieces of the installation are placed in several places on the hard drive. This is typical of the way most modern operating systems work, and for the most part it works well.
The problem with this “distributed installation” approach occurs when the programs are uninstalled and removed from the system. The built-in unistallers typically leave behind remnants of the installation that clog up the hard drive and can potentially create system instability issues. [Read more…]
As they have with previous versions of Windows, Microsoft decided to hide “known” file extensions by default in Windows 8.1.
Why they would ever think it’s a good idea to hide them is beyond me, but of course the guys and gals in Redmond have had me scratching my head in wonder for years.
In addition to making it difficult to determine a file’s “type” while viewing it in a list, hiding file extensions also makes it easier for hackers to trick us into opening malicious files. Not a good thing!
As luck would have it, it’s very easy to prevent Windows 8.1 from hiding file extensions. Just follow these steps: [Read more…]
USB flash drives have made the process of transferring files between one PC and another the easiest that it has ever been. Simply plug the drive into one PC, copy the desired files to it, then plug it into the 2nd PC and copy the files to the hard drive. It’s a fast and easy process.
But this convenience comes at a high potential cost. Plug a thumb drive into a computer that’s infected with a virus and that virus can hitch a free ride right onto your own PC’s hard drive. [Read more…]
A while back I found myself needing a wired Ethernet connection in my garage. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the project, but I knew it would some work.
The problem is the garage is on one end of my long ranch-style house while my cable modem and wireless router are located in my office near the other end of the house.
After a bit of reflection, this is the solution that I came up with: [Read more…]