Computer Tips Archives - Page 3 of 154

Windows users: Save time by skipping the clicking!

Posted on February 10, 2019

Ok, I’ll admit it. I’m impatient. Well, at least when it comes to getting things done on my computer. After all, there are only so many hours in the day, right?

With that in mind, one of the best tips I’ve learned over the years is that the keyboard is often a lot faster and more efficient than the mouse.

I used to get frustrated at having to click through multiple layers of menus, click on the program I want to run and then scroll through a couple hundred filenames until I find the specific file I need to work with.

But these days in most cases I can just skip the mouse altogether except for one final click and be working with my file in mere seconds. Here’s how it’s done: [Read more…]

Why the best protection against malware is YOU!

Posted on February 9, 2019

Regular readers of this blog know that many of my posts stress the importance of running regular malware scans to keep your system free of digital nasties.

But as important as anti-malware software apps are at keeping your PC malware-free, the best protection against viruses, spyware, ransomware and other malicious forms of software has nothing to do with your computer itself.

The best tool you can ever have in your security arsenal is you!

While most malicious code will indeed be blocked by your security apps, there will always be new strains of malware that can slip past their defenses.

Luckily, it’s fairly easy to steer clear of the most common sources of malicious code if you know what to look out for. Here are a few tips: [Read more…]

How to quickly block future emails from any sender in Gmail

Posted on February 8, 2019

Gmail is one of the most popular email services out there thanks to all the cool and useful features it offers.

One of the handiest Gmail features of all is the ability to quickly and easily block anyone at all from sending you emails with just a couple of mouse clicks.

Thanks to this powerful feature, you don’t have to create a complicated “Rule” to keep a person’s emails from landing in your Inbox. You can simply block that person, and from that point forward any emails they send you will go directly into your SPAM folder!

Sound good? Then follow these simple steps to block future emails from any sender on Gmail: [Read more…]

How to initiate a System Restore when your PC won’t boot into Windows

Posted on February 8, 2019

System Restore is a powerful tool for reversing detrimental changes to your PC’s Windows installation.

In a nutshell, System Restore allows you to “roll back” the Windows installation to the state it was in at a time before the detrimental changes were made.

For example, lets say that somehow a critical Windows setting gets changed and your system starts doing strange and unexpected things.

You can usually fix this type of issue by simply using System Restore to roll Windows back to a Restore Point that was created a few days earlier.

System Restore is typically launched from within Windows, but what if the issue at hand is so severe that your PC won’t boot up into Windows at all? [Read more…]

How to enable ‘Secure Sign-In’ in Windows 10

Posted on February 7, 2019

I’ve received several emails within the last few weeks asking me how to enable Secure Sign-In in Windows 10, so I thought I’d write those instructions up as a tip.

If you’re unfamiliar with how it works, the Secure Sign-In feature forces the user to press the Ctrl+Alt+Delete key combination before they are allowed to sign in to Windows.

This forces users to sign in using Windows’ authentic login screen instead of one of the countless fake login screens that start showing up on computers after they become infected with certain types of malware.

In a nutshell, the Ctrl+Alt+Delete key combination is strictly reserved for Windows’s use. It cannot be re-mapped by a malware program to cause it to complete any task other than the one Windows has permanently assigned to it.

That means after you’ve enabled Secure Sign-In on your machine you’ll be able to press that special key combination to access the Windows login screen, knowing without a doubt that it’s the real Windows login screen and not a fake one that was created by a hacker with the intentions of stealing your login credentials.

If you’d like to enable Secure Sign-In on your Windows 10 machine, just follow the steps listed below: [Read more…]