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The Computer Tutor — Software How-To
The Computer Tutor

Computer repair, personal computer instruction in Safety Harbor, Clearwater, Tampa, St Pete

Latest Episodes:

LastPass — Secure your LastPass account by doing these two things today Jun 22, 2015
Show notes

I’ve written blog posts about LastPass, the online secure password manager. I have been using it for quite some time, and I have set it up for several of my clients. You may have heard recently that LastPass may have been compromised. I wanted to clear up what (may have) happened, and what you need to do if you use LastPass (and yes, I continue to highly recommend that you use it).

I’m not going to go into all the details of how LastPass works and why I recommend it – that is all covered in great detail in my blog post where I wrote about it (here). My purpose here today is for you to understand that it’s still fine to use, and what you need to do if you already have a LastPass account.

LastPass dominated the “tech news” headlines recently. The details can get pretty technical. The underlying important facts here are these:

1. LastPass is a high-value target. Think about it – they store all of the important passwords for probably hundreds of thousands of people all around the world. If someone with malicious intent got access to all of that information, it would be hard to place a value on what it would be worth on the black market. So it’s very important that LastPass gets their security right.

2. LastPass does it right. LastPass does everything possible to make sure that data remains confidential. In fact, even LastPass themselves cannot access it because it’s all encrypted. In fact, they take precaution to a whole new level. That’s why, if there is any entity on the internet that you can trust, it’s LastPass (in my opinion, based on what I know and have heard about them). Not only because of their integrity and business philosophy, but also because of the security measures and procedures they have in place.

You may have heard or read news stories that include phrases such as “LastPass got hacked” or “LastPass has had a data breach” or something similar. For the most part, that is media sensationalism.

What actually happened, based on a report that was in the LastPass blog announcing the incident, was this: “…our team discovered and blocked suspicious activity on our network.”

Furthermore (again, directly from LastPass): “…we have found no evidence that encrypted user vault data was taken, nor that LastPass user accounts were accessed.”

The two things that might pertain to LastPass users that could be of concern, which may have been compromised:

The user’s email address

The password hint

If a hacker has your email address, that does not give him access to your LastPass account. He also needs your password. Would your password hint give too much information about what your password is? Personally, I don’t like using password hints at all because it gives the bad guy something to work with. But frankly – for a good, strong password there is no hint anyway. I mean, if your password is “mPi4h7c$jrb&%” how do you come up with a hint for that? There is no hint that would work. But if your password is Florida, and your password hint is “the sunshine state” you might be in trouble.

This just emphasizes the importance of using a password that is both unique (not used for any other account) and strong (random numbers, characters and upper and lower case letters).

What action should you take?

To make sure you’re LastPass account is completely safe, I recommend doing at least 2 things (and I’ll suggest a third action if you like to be REALLY cautious):

First, change your master password. Make it a good one, as I mentioned above. But then that brings up the question, how do you remember it? You could write it on a little piece of paper and stick it in a drawer or in your wallet. Of course, don’t label it “LastPass master password”. Just write it down somewhere so that you know where to get it but if someone else finds it they won’t know what it is.

In fact, even if you write it down and store it somewhere, you could include some fake characters at the beginning or end of the password, and only you would know that they don’t belong there. For example, if your actual password is yT5k9&3nMdCC you could add a random 4-digit number to the end so that what is written down is yT5k9&3nMdCC8346. Then you might at some point in the future try to use that full password and when it doesn’t work, it will remind you that you added the 4 numbers at the end to make it safer.

To change your password, go to lastpass.com and log in. On the left side, click on Account Settings. In the new window, click on “Change Master Password”. Enter your old password, then your new password twice and click “Save Master Password”:

Second, enable country-restricted login. Let’s be honest here. I have nothing against the nice folks of Russia and China, but if someone is going to try to hack into your LastPass account, there’s a good chance the hacker is based in one of those two countries. You can set up your account so that LastPass only allows login from the country where you live. For me, that’s the United States. That will immediately eliminate any attempted logins from any other country, even if the foreign hackers were to figure out your password (which they won’t because it’s a good one, right?).

To restrict logins by country, go to lastpass.com and log in. On the left side, click on Account Settings. In the new window, click on “Show advanced settings”. Check the box “Only allow login from selected countries” and click Update (I also selected Ecuador since we travel there sometimes):

The third thing you can do – if you really feel like you need to go above and beyond in terms of security – is to enable two-factor authentication. I won’t go into all the details on that because it could be a whole blog post in itself. But basically, this means that if the hacker were in your same country, AND he came up with your email address and password, he still couldn’t log into your account unless he had your smartphone. Just another layer of protection if you have data in your LastPass account that is critical.

Bottom line is: LastPass is safe, and continues to be the best password manager (in my opinion). It’s also free, unless you want to use it on your smartphone too (and even then it’s only $12 annually). If you have trouble coming up with those long random passwords, it will come up with them for you. There really is no excuse for using weak passwords any more.

The post Secure your LastPass account by doing these two things today first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

lastpass — Secure your LastPass account by doing these two things today Jun 22, 2015
Show notes

I’ve written blog posts about LastPass, the online secure password manager. I have been using it for quite some time, and I have set it up for several of my clients. You may have heard recently that LastPass may have been compromised. I wanted to clear up what (may have) happened, and what you need to do if you use LastPass (and yes, I continue to highly recommend that you use it).

I’m not going to go into all the details of how LastPass works and why I recommend it – that is all covered in great detail in my blog post where I wrote about it (here). My purpose here today is for you to understand that it’s still fine to use, and what you need to do if you already have a LastPass account.

LastPass dominated the “tech news” headlines recently. The details can get pretty technical. The underlying important facts here are these:

1. LastPass is a high-value target. Think about it – they store all of the important passwords for probably hundreds of thousands of people all around the world. If someone with malicious intent got access to all of that information, it would be hard to place a value on what it would be worth on the black market. So it’s very important that LastPass gets their security right.

2. LastPass does it right. LastPass does everything possible to make sure that data remains confidential. In fact, even LastPass themselves cannot access it because it’s all encrypted. In fact, they take precaution to a whole new level. That’s why, if there is any entity on the internet that you can trust, it’s LastPass (in my opinion, based on what I know and have heard about them). Not only because of their integrity and business philosophy, but also because of the security measures and procedures they have in place.

You may have heard or read news stories that include phrases such as “LastPass got hacked” or “LastPass has had a data breach” or something similar. For the most part, that is media sensationalism.

What actually happened, based on a report that was in the LastPass blog announcing the incident, was this: “…our team discovered and blocked suspicious activity on our network.”

Furthermore (again, directly from LastPass): “…we have found no evidence that encrypted user vault data was taken, nor that LastPass user accounts were accessed.”

The two things that might pertain to LastPass users that could be of concern, which may have been compromised:

The user’s email address

The password hint

If a hacker has your email address, that does not give him access to your LastPass account. He also needs your password. Would your password hint give too much information about what your password is? Personally, I don’t like using password hints at all because it gives the bad guy something to work with. But frankly – for a good, strong password there is no hint anyway. I mean, if your password is “mPi4h7c$jrb&%” how do you come up with a hint for that? There is no hint that would work. But if your password is Florida, and your password hint is “the sunshine state” you might be in trouble.

This just emphasizes the importance of using a password that is both unique (not used for any other account) and strong (random numbers, characters and upper and lower case letters).

What action should you take?

To make sure you’re LastPass account is completely safe, I recommend doing at least 2 things (and I’ll suggest a third action if you like to be REALLY cautious):

First, change your master password. Make it a good one, as I mentioned above. But then that brings up the question, how do you remember it? You could write it on a little piece of paper and stick it in a drawer or in your wallet. Of course, don’t label it “LastPass master password”. Just write it down somewhere so that you know where to get it but if someone else finds it they won’t know what it is.

In fact, even if you write it down and store it somewhere, you could include some fake characters at the beginning or end of the password, and only you would know that they don’t belong there. For example, if your actual password is yT5k9&3nMdCC you could add a random 4-digit number to the end so that what is written down is yT5k9&3nMdCC8346. Then you might at some point in the future try to use that full password and when it doesn’t work, it will remind you that you added the 4 numbers at the end to make it safer.

To change your password, go to lastpass.com and log in. On the left side, click on Account Settings. In the new window, click on “Change Master Password”. Enter your old password, then your new password twice and click “Save Master Password”:

Second, enable country-restricted login. Let’s be honest here. I have nothing against the nice folks of Russia and China, but if someone is going to try to hack into your LastPass account, there’s a good chance the hacker is based in one of those two countries. You can set up your account so that LastPass only allows login from the country where you live. For me, that’s the United States. That will immediately eliminate any attempted logins from any other country, even if the foreign hackers were to figure out your password (which they won’t because it’s a good one, right?).

To restrict logins by country, go to lastpass.com and log in. On the left side, click on Account Settings. In the new window, click on “Show advanced settings”. Check the box “Only allow login from selected countries” and click Update (I also selected Ecuador since we travel there sometimes):

The third thing you can do – if you really feel like you need to go above and beyond in terms of security – is to enable two-factor authentication. I won’t go into all the details on that because it could be a whole blog post in itself. But basically, this means that if the hacker were in your same country, AND he came up with your email address and password, he still couldn’t log into your account unless he had your smartphone. Just another layer of protection if you have data in your LastPass account that is critical.

Bottom line is: LastPass is safe, and continues to be the best password manager (in my opinion). It’s also free, unless you want to use it on your smartphone too (and even then it’s only $12 annually). If you have trouble coming up with those long random passwords, it will come up with them for you. There really is no excuse for using weak passwords any more.

The post Secure your LastPass account by doing these two things today first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Windows 10 — Windows 10 Frequently Asked Questions Jun 15, 2015
Show notes

Last week I wrote about what to do with the little “Get Windows 10” icon that showed up, and after that I got a number of questions about Windows 10 in general. Lots of people are wondering how it will work, what it will be like, and other details. So here are the answers to some of the questions you might have about the soon-to-be-released Windows 10.

What actually happens when I click to reserve my upgrade?

It might appear that nothing happens. But in the background, the Windows 10 upgrade is downloading in bits and pieces over time. That way, by the time the actual release date gets here, you already have the full download and on that day the only thing left is to actually install it. And even the installation will happen automatically, just like other Windows Update installations. If your computer is on at 3 am, that’s when it usually happens. Otherwise it would be the next time you boot it up.

I clicked it for the reservation but changed my mind. How do I cancel it?

Click the icon again.

In the new window, click the “menu” icon in the top left:

In the new menu that slides out on the left, side, click on “View confirmation”:

In the next window, click on “Cancel reservation”:

On the next screen, confirm that you do want to cancel. Now it’s cancelled. You can get it back again in the future, and you will still be able to upgrade even though you cancelled this early reservation.

What if I didn’t get the upgrade icon?

There are a few reasons why you may not have gotten the upgrade icon. You might not have the updated Service Pack for Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. You also might not have Windows Updates set to install automatically. Or maybe Microsoft just doesn’t like you (not true – they love everyone equally). You could go to Control Panel – Windows Update and run it manually if you want, and see if that brings in the upgrade icon. But the bottom line is, you don’t need that icon right now anyway because it’s best to not click it yet for the “automated” upgrade. You will always be able to get it later. The best thing to do right now is to wait.

How long will Windows 10 be free?

If you’re upgrading to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or 8 or 8.1, you can do that anytime from the day it’s released (currently scheduled for July 29, 2015) and for one year after that, and you will not have to pay anything.

If I upgrade in the first year for free, how much will I have to pay in the second year and following?

Nothing. If you upgrade in the first year, you will have the Windows 10 license and it is good for life. There is no subscription in place at this point. There have been some speculations that Microsoft might make Windows into a subscription-based product (like they have done for Office) but there is nothing to substantiate that at this point.

How much will it cost if I upgrade after the free period?

Microsoft has not yet published the pricing for upgrades after the free year. If you’re running a version of Windows that is older than Windows 7, you’ll need to purchase the full version of Windows 10 (rather than getting the free upgrade). That full version will be $119 for Windows 10 Home, and $199 for Windows 10 Professional. The pricing for upgrades would be less than these of course.

How will Windows 10 be different from Windows 7 or 8?

There will be several differences, and at some point after the release date I will probably do a full blog post on this. But here are some of the basic things that are different:

Start menu – this is probably the one that most people are excited about. The Start button and Start menu are not only back, but greatly improved and expanded.

No charms bar – if you are one of the millions of people that hated that stupid charms bar, you’ll be happy.

New web browser – this replaces Internet Explorer. Earlier, this new browser was called Spartan. Now Microsoft has renamed it the Edge browser. Internet Explorer was really crappy for a long time, which is why so many people switched to Chrome or Firefox. You’ll still be able to use those other browsers, but it will be interesting to see what Edge is like.

Do I have to backup my computer before getting the upgrade?

Technically, no. You are not required to. But the smart users will do a full system image backup before getting any Windows 10 upgrade. You want to be included among the “smart users” group, don’t you? Seriously, I cannot over-emphasize how complex a computer’s operating system is. With this upgrade, you’ll be changing out the current operating system to a whole new one – can you see where there is a potential for things to go wrong? If you have a system image backup, you can just go back to your current version with no hassle and nothing lost. For me, I do a new system image backup on my primary computer every night. So doing one before upgrading the operating system is a no-brainer.

Will I need to have a Microsoft account?

Again, this one is a “technical” no. But I think you should get one and you will probably want one anyway. Just makes everything easier, and it will also give you access to the Windows Store, where you can get all kinds of great apps for your computer. And when you have an account and sign in to it on your various devices, all of your settings and preferences are synced so you don’t have to set up each one of them individually. Just do it – go to Microsoft.com and create a new account (it’s free). Make sure you use a strong password (meaning it’s not a password you have used at any other site, and it has no pronounceable words – it should just be a random series of numbers and upper and lower case letter). Keep track of that account login information so you can use it when you need to. If you want to see the other benefits about having a Microsoft account, here’s where Microsoft talks about this.

The post Windows 10 Frequently Asked Questions first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Windows 10 — Windows 10 Frequently Asked Questions Jun 15, 2015
Show notes

Last week I wrote about what to do with the little “Get Windows 10” icon that showed up, and after that I got a number of questions about Windows 10 in general. Lots of people are wondering how it will work, what it will be like, and other details. So here are the answers to some of the questions you might have about the soon-to-be-released Windows 10.

What actually happens when I click to reserve my upgrade?

It might appear that nothing happens. But in the background, the Windows 10 upgrade is downloading in bits and pieces over time. That way, by the time the actual release date gets here, you already have the full download and on that day the only thing left is to actually install it. And even the installation will happen automatically, just like other Windows Update installations. If your computer is on at 3 am, that’s when it usually happens. Otherwise it would be the next time you boot it up.

I clicked it for the reservation but changed my mind. How do I cancel it?

Click the icon again.

In the new window, click the “menu” icon in the top left:

In the new menu that slides out on the left, side, click on “View confirmation”:

In the next window, click on “Cancel reservation”:

On the next screen, confirm that you do want to cancel. Now it’s cancelled. You can get it back again in the future, and you will still be able to upgrade even though you cancelled this early reservation.

What if I didn’t get the upgrade icon?

There are a few reasons why you may not have gotten the upgrade icon. You might not have the updated Service Pack for Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. You also might not have Windows Updates set to install automatically. Or maybe Microsoft just doesn’t like you (not true – they love everyone equally). You could go to Control Panel – Windows Update and run it manually if you want, and see if that brings in the upgrade icon. But the bottom line is, you don’t need that icon right now anyway because it’s best to not click it yet for the “automated” upgrade. You will always be able to get it later. The best thing to do right now is to wait.

How long will Windows 10 be free?

If you’re upgrading to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or 8 or 8.1, you can do that anytime from the day it’s released (currently scheduled for July 29, 2015) and for one year after that, and you will not have to pay anything.

If I upgrade in the first year for free, how much will I have to pay in the second year and following?

Nothing. If you upgrade in the first year, you will have the Windows 10 license and it is good for life. There is no subscription in place at this point. There have been some speculations that Microsoft might make Windows into a subscription-based product (like they have done for Office) but there is nothing to substantiate that at this point.

How much will it cost if I upgrade after the free period?

Microsoft has not yet published the pricing for upgrades after the free year. If you’re running a version of Windows that is older than Windows 7, you’ll need to purchase the full version of Windows 10 (rather than getting the free upgrade). That full version will be $119 for Windows 10 Home, and $199 for Windows 10 Professional. The pricing for upgrades would be less than these of course.

How will Windows 10 be different from Windows 7 or 8?

There will be several differences, and at some point after the release date I will probably do a full blog post on this. But here are some of the basic things that are different:

Start menu – this is probably the one that most people are excited about. The Start button and Start menu are not only back, but greatly improved and expanded.

No charms bar – if you are one of the millions of people that hated that stupid charms bar, you’ll be happy.

New web browser – this replaces Internet Explorer. Earlier, this new browser was called Spartan. Now Microsoft has renamed it the Edge browser. Internet Explorer was really crappy for a long time, which is why so many people switched to Chrome or Firefox. You’ll still be able to use those other browsers, but it will be interesting to see what Edge is like.

Do I have to backup my computer before getting the upgrade?

Technically, no. You are not required to. But the smart users will do a full system image backup before getting any Windows 10 upgrade. You want to be included among the “smart users” group, don’t you? Seriously, I cannot over-emphasize how complex a computer’s operating system is. With this upgrade, you’ll be changing out the current operating system to a whole new one – can you see where there is a potential for things to go wrong? If you have a system image backup, you can just go back to your current version with no hassle and nothing lost. For me, I do a new system image backup on my primary computer every night. So doing one before upgrading the operating system is a no-brainer.

Will I need to have a Microsoft account?

Again, this one is a “technical” no. But I think you should get one and you will probably want one anyway. Just makes everything easier, and it will also give you access to the Windows Store, where you can get all kinds of great apps for your computer. And when you have an account and sign in to it on your various devices, all of your settings and preferences are synced so you don’t have to set up each one of them individually. Just do it – go to Microsoft.com and create a new account (it’s free). Make sure you use a strong password (meaning it’s not a password you have used at any other site, and it has no pronounceable words – it should just be a random series of numbers and upper and lower case letter). Keep track of that account login information so you can use it when you need to. If you want to see the other benefits about having a Microsoft account, here’s where Microsoft talks about this.

The post Windows 10 Frequently Asked Questions first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Windows 10 icon — What to do about Windows 10 Jun 08, 2015
Show notes

On June 1, 2015 – about a week ago – you might have noticed something new on your computer. You would have seen this if you are using Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. It’s the Windows 10 notification, encouraging you to “reserve” your free upgrade to Windows 10.

That morning, I started getting questions from lots of my clients who noticed it and wondered what to do about it, if anything. So I sent out a “special edition” email newsletter to advise this: You can ignore it for now. In fact, if you want to, you can remove it from your screen (I’ll show you how to do that later in this post).

The full release of Windows 10 is not out yet. The current planned release date is July 29, or roughly 2 months from now. So why is Microsoft sending out this notification already? They’re planning ahead, since on July 29 their servers will be slammed with people trying to get the upgrade on that day. It’s about a 3 gb download, which is significant even on a high-speed connection.

With this notification that popped up on your screen, you can choose to “reserve” your upgrade. That means that the installation file will download in the background AHEAD of the July 29 release date, and then once that date has passed you can choose to install it whenever you wish to.

My current recommendation: wait.

If you’re currently running Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 the upgrade to Windows 10 will be free for an entire year – from July 29, 2015 to July 28, 2016. You can upgrade anytime during that year at no cost. It’s not yet known what the cost will be to upgrade after the free year.

It’s common knowledge that a new piece of software – particularly one as complicated as an operating system is – will have some bugs.

When Microsoft releases a new OS, let other people be the pioneers. Let their computers get the bugs, the crashes, the freeze-ups, and the subsequent updates to fix those problems. Then, after the dust has settled, maybe 6 months later, go ahead and get the Windows 10 upgrade if you want. Anyone that reads this blog, listens to my podcast, or gets my Monday email newsletter will know when I have begun to officially recommend getting the upgrade to Windows 10.

I’ve been checking out a “preview” version of Windows 10, and the early indications is that it will be very good. So most likely, at some point, I will be recommending the upgrade during that first year. But right now, we know Windows 7 works fine and is fast and stable. Even if you’re using the cumbersome and unpopular Windows 8 or 8.1, I really can’t recommend doing the upgrade right away. Let Microsoft get the kinks out of the system first.

In the meantime, what can you do with that little Windows 10 icon at the bottom of your screen?

Ignore it

Explore it

Remove it

Ignore it: Really, that icon sitting there doesn’t hurt anything. So you can leave it there if you just don’t want to mess with it right now.

Explore it: If you do one left-click on the icon, it brings up a new window. In that window you can click to reserve your upgrade (not recommended yet) or you can click on the “advance slide” link on the right to scroll through Microsoft’s little sales pitch on how great Windows 10 is going to be:

When you close that window, you will still see the icon sitting down there at the bottom of your screen. So you can click it anytime to reserve your upgrade, if you want to.

Remove it: if you just don’t want to have it there for whatever reason, you can just get rid of it. This doesn’t actually remove it from your computer; it just keeps it from showing up down there in the Notifications area. To do this:

– Right click in a blank area on the taskbar (the bar across the bottom of your screen, and in the new menu, choose “Properties”:

– In the new window, click the button that says “Customize”:

– Now look for “GWX” (it’s probably the first one in the list), and in the drop down menu choose “Hide icon and notifications”, then click OK

No doubt over the next couple of months, we will hear many times from Microsoft about all the cool new features in Windows 10 and why everyone should upgrade. And in time, you probably will upgrade. But there’s no real advantage to being first in line. Be a settler, not a pioneer.

The post What to do about Windows 10 first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

windows 10 — What to do about Windows 10 Jun 08, 2015
Show notes

On June 1, 2015 – about a week ago – you might have noticed something new on your computer. You would have seen this if you are using Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. It’s the Windows 10 notification, encouraging you to “reserve” your free upgrade to Windows 10.

That morning, I started getting questions from lots of my clients who noticed it and wondered what to do about it, if anything. So I sent out a “special edition” email newsletter to advise this: You can ignore it for now. In fact, if you want to, you can remove it from your screen (I’ll show you how to do that later in this post).

The full release of Windows 10 is not out yet. The current planned release date is July 29, or roughly 2 months from now. So why is Microsoft sending out this notification already? They’re planning ahead, since on July 29 their servers will be slammed with people trying to get the upgrade on that day. It’s about a 3 gb download, which is significant even on a high-speed connection.

With this notification that popped up on your screen, you can choose to “reserve” your upgrade. That means that the installation file will download in the background AHEAD of the July 29 release date, and then once that date has passed you can choose to install it whenever you wish to.

My current recommendation: wait.

If you’re currently running Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 the upgrade to Windows 10 will be free for an entire year – from July 29, 2015 to July 28, 2016. You can upgrade anytime during that year at no cost. It’s not yet known what the cost will be to upgrade after the free year.

It’s common knowledge that a new piece of software – particularly one as complicated as an operating system is – will have some bugs.

When Microsoft releases a new OS, let other people be the pioneers. Let their computers get the bugs, the crashes, the freeze-ups, and the subsequent updates to fix those problems. Then, after the dust has settled, maybe 6 months later, go ahead and get the Windows 10 upgrade if you want. Anyone that reads this blog, listens to my podcast, or gets my Monday email newsletter will know when I have begun to officially recommend getting the upgrade to Windows 10.

I’ve been checking out a “preview” version of Windows 10, and the early indications is that it will be very good. So most likely, at some point, I will be recommending the upgrade during that first year. But right now, we know Windows 7 works fine and is fast and stable. Even if you’re using the cumbersome and unpopular Windows 8 or 8.1, I really can’t recommend doing the upgrade right away. Let Microsoft get the kinks out of the system first.

In the meantime, what can you do with that little Windows 10 icon at the bottom of your screen?

Ignore it

Explore it

Remove it

Ignore it: Really, that icon sitting there doesn’t hurt anything. So you can leave it there if you just don’t want to mess with it right now.

Explore it: If you do one left-click on the icon, it brings up a new window. In that window you can click to reserve your upgrade (not recommended yet) or you can click on the “advance slide” link on the right to scroll through Microsoft’s little sales pitch on how great Windows 10 is going to be:

When you close that window, you will still see the icon sitting down there at the bottom of your screen. So you can click it anytime to reserve your upgrade, if you want to.

Remove it: if you just don’t want to have it there for whatever reason, you can just get rid of it. This doesn’t actually remove it from your computer; it just keeps it from showing up down there in the Notifications area. To do this:

– Right click in a blank area on the taskbar (the bar across the bottom of your screen, and in the new menu, choose “Properties”:

– In the new window, click the button that says “Customize”:

– Now look for “GWX” (it’s probably the first one in the list), and in the drop down menu choose “Hide icon and notifications”, then click OK

No doubt over the next couple of months, we will hear many times from Microsoft about all the cool new features in Windows 10 and why everyone should upgrade. And in time, you probably will upgrade. But there’s no real advantage to being first in line. Be a settler, not a pioneer.

The post What to do about Windows 10 first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

vacation photos — The safest way to never lose your important vacation pictures Jun 01, 2015
Show notes

Summer is almost here, time to do some traveling! When you’re on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, and taking hundreds (or thousands) of pictures, one of the worst things that could happen is for you to lose those pictures. How could this happen, and how can this be prevented?

Here are a few ways this could happen:

You drop your digital camera in the water.

Your camera gets stolen.

Your camera gets left behind in the hotel room and the staff checks and can’t find it.

Your camera’s memory card gets corrupted.

You accidentally delete the pictures you intended to save.

Of course there are other bad things that can happen to electronics while traveling, but you get the idea. A lot can happen, and the risk of loss is pretty high since these photographs are essentially irreplaceable.

But there’s a simple process you can use that will virtually guarantee the safety of your pictures.

First, you will need a few things:

1. A memory card for each day of your actual vacation. 10 day vacation, 8 memory cards (assuming the first and last days are spent in transit). If you use SD cards that are 8 GB in size, and your pictures are 10 mb each or less, that means you can take 800 pictures each day. Cost of 8 of these memory cards: around $50.

2. A laptop computer. I’m going to assume you already own one.

3. A portable USB drive. If you don’t already have one, this is something you can use at home even after you are done traveling. These are about the size of a pack of cigarettes, and the only cable is the one that plugs into the USB port of your laptop. If you get a 1 TB drive, that will provide more than enough storage space. Cost: about $55.

Here’s the strategy you use for taking pictures each day:

1. Spend the day having fun and taking as many pictures as you want.

2. At the end of the day, connect your camera to your laptop and COPY the pictures to a folder named “Day 1”. It’s important that you do not move the pictures, you just want to copy them. Now the pictures are still on the memory card in your camera, and they are also on your laptop. You would do the same thing the next day, using a folder called “Day 2”.

3. After you have copied the pictures to the “daily” folder on the laptop, connect the USB portable drive to your computer and copy the folder of pictures from the laptop to the portable drive. Then disconnect the portable drive and put it back in your suitcase or in the hotel room safe. At this point your pictures for that day are in 3 places: the memory card, your laptop, and the portable drive.

4. Take the memory card out of your camera and put it in a safe place, such as a small envelope inside a purse. Then put the next day’s memory card in the camera and you’re ready to get started the next morning, capturing a bunch of new memories for that day.

As you read through the steps detailed above, it might seem like this is a big hassle and too inconvenient. But in reality, it just takes a few minutes at the end of the day and after a couple of days it will be such an easy routine you won’t even think about it being a bother.

So if you accidentally leave your camera behind and never see it again, who cares. You have the pictures on your laptop and external drive.

If you lose your camera AND drop your laptop in the ocean, you still have the pictures on your external drive.

If you lose your camera, AND your laptop, AND your external drive, you still have all the originals on the individual memory cards.

That might seem like overkill or paranoia, but consider the alternative. You just get a 64 gb camera memory card and take a few hundred pictures each day, just adding them to that same card continually. This means all of your 800 pictures are all on that one card, in that one device. You take one last picture on the airplane flight as you head home, and stick the camera in the seatback pouch in front of you. As you are driving home from the airport, you remember it – but it’s never found. That’s when you would wish you had been a little more “paranoid”.

This is all based on the assumption that you are using a digital camera to take all these pictures. If you use your phone, you could actually use the same process and just pop a different memory card in your phone each day. But you can also set up a process so that whenever you take a picture on your phone, it’s automatically uploaded to Dropbox or Google Drive or some other online storage service. But uploading to the cloud assumes you have internet access, which may not be the case depending on how remote your vacation destination is.

The post The safest way to never lose your important vacation pictures first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

vacation photos — The safest way to never lose your important vacation pictures Jun 01, 2015
Show notes

Summer is almost here, time to do some traveling! When you’re on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, and taking hundreds (or thousands) of pictures, one of the worst things that could happen is for you to lose those pictures. How could this happen, and how can this be prevented?

Here are a few ways this could happen:

You drop your digital camera in the water.

Your camera gets stolen.

Your camera gets left behind in the hotel room and the staff checks and can’t find it.

Your camera’s memory card gets corrupted.

You accidentally delete the pictures you intended to save.

Of course there are other bad things that can happen to electronics while traveling, but you get the idea. A lot can happen, and the risk of loss is pretty high since these photographs are essentially irreplaceable.

But there’s a simple process you can use that will virtually guarantee the safety of your pictures.

First, you will need a few things:

1. A memory card for each day of your actual vacation. 10 day vacation, 8 memory cards (assuming the first and last days are spent in transit). If you use SD cards that are 8 GB in size, and your pictures are 10 mb each or less, that means you can take 800 pictures each day. Cost of 8 of these memory cards: around $50.

2. A laptop computer. I’m going to assume you already own one.

3. A portable USB drive. If you don’t already have one, this is something you can use at home even after you are done traveling. These are about the size of a pack of cigarettes, and the only cable is the one that plugs into the USB port of your laptop. If you get a 1 TB drive, that will provide more than enough storage space. Cost: about $55.

Here’s the strategy you use for taking pictures each day:

1. Spend the day having fun and taking as many pictures as you want.

2. At the end of the day, connect your camera to your laptop and COPY the pictures to a folder named “Day 1”. It’s important that you do not move the pictures, you just want to copy them. Now the pictures are still on the memory card in your camera, and they are also on your laptop. You would do the same thing the next day, using a folder called “Day 2”.

3. After you have copied the pictures to the “daily” folder on the laptop, connect the USB portable drive to your computer and copy the folder of pictures from the laptop to the portable drive. Then disconnect the portable drive and put it back in your suitcase or in the hotel room safe. At this point your pictures for that day are in 3 places: the memory card, your laptop, and the portable drive.

4. Take the memory card out of your camera and put it in a safe place, such as a small envelope inside a purse. Then put the next day’s memory card in the camera and you’re ready to get started the next morning, capturing a bunch of new memories for that day.

As you read through the steps detailed above, it might seem like this is a big hassle and too inconvenient. But in reality, it just takes a few minutes at the end of the day and after a couple of days it will be such an easy routine you won’t even think about it being a bother.

So if you accidentally leave your camera behind and never see it again, who cares. You have the pictures on your laptop and external drive.

If you lose your camera AND drop your laptop in the ocean, you still have the pictures on your external drive.

If you lose your camera, AND your laptop, AND your external drive, you still have all the originals on the individual memory cards.

That might seem like overkill or paranoia, but consider the alternative. You just get a 64 gb camera memory card and take a few hundred pictures each day, just adding them to that same card continually. This means all of your 800 pictures are all on that one card, in that one device. You take one last picture on the airplane flight as you head home, and stick the camera in the seatback pouch in front of you. As you are driving home from the airport, you remember it – but it’s never found. That’s when you would wish you had been a little more “paranoid”.

This is all based on the assumption that you are using a digital camera to take all these pictures. If you use your phone, you could actually use the same process and just pop a different memory card in your phone each day. But you can also set up a process so that whenever you take a picture on your phone, it’s automatically uploaded to Dropbox or Google Drive or some other online storage service. But uploading to the cloud assumes you have internet access, which may not be the case depending on how remote your vacation destination is.

The post The safest way to never lose your important vacation pictures first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Craigslist notification — Your unfair advantage over lots of other Craigslist shoppers May 25, 2015
Show notes

In the past I’ve written about third-party services that will alert you to new Craigslist postings. One of the ones I have used over the years is Blogtrottr, and I have definitely gotten some good deals as a result. But now there’s an even better way – getting new ad alerts directly from Craigslist.

What’s the value in this? Let’s talk about an example situation.

In our example, I’m looking to buy a used car. I want to get a Honda Civic. My requirements are:

model year must be 2009 or newer

no more than 50,000 miles

I only want to see ads that include pictures of the car

automatic transmission

I only want to look at cars that are priced $11,000 or less

So I go to my local Craigslist site at Craigslist.org, and I do a search based on those preferences. In that search, 5 cars come up. I call about a couple of them but don’t end up buying any of them.

Of course, people are listing cars for sale all the time on Craigslist. Sometimes they are overpriced because the owner thinks it’s worth more than it really is. But some are actually amazing bargains. Of course, it’s the bargains that you are really looking for.

But the key to getting a bargain on Craigslist is being the first (or one of the first) to see that ad. There are LOTS of people shopping on Craigslist for a good deal on a car. If someone posts their car for sale at a really good price, chances are someone looking for a car is going to just happen to search Craigslist a short time after the ad is posted, and go buy that car. They found it just because they were lucky enough to be searching right after the ad was listed, so hardly anyone else had a chance to even see that ad.

But if you check Craigslist each day at 8 am and 5 pm, what if the hugely-discounted car for sale gets listed at 9 am? That means it’s going to sit there all day, with tons of other people looking at it, before you even do your next check at 5 pm. That car would likely already be sold by then.

So you could just save that Craigslist search on your smartphone and keep checking it throughout the day, but your employer might not be too happy with that. Not to mention that it’s kind of a pain.

That’s why there have been some services that have popped up, to notify you about new Craigslist ads. That way you don’t have to keep checking it all the time. You just get an email when a new ad gets posted that meets your criteria. As I said, I have used Blogtrottr for a while. It was okay, but not perfect. The emails they send have third-party advertisements, and I can’t really fault them for that since they have to make money somehow.

But the real problem with Blogtrottr and others is the fact that it’s not really an “immediate” notification. Sometimes I would get an email and check the ad on Craigslist and see that it actually got posted several hours earlier. In some cases I didn’t get the email alert until the next day. That kind of defeats the purpose if you’re trying to know about a new listing right away in order to get there before anyone else can.

Well, I don’t use Blogtrottr any more, because Craigslist now offers this alert service directly. And of course it’s free.

Of course, I wanted to be sure that the notifications were immediate, so I checked it by creating a “test” alert request. Then I posted an ad on Craigslist that matched that alert. Within a few minutes, I was sent an email telling me about that new posting. Bingo!

One of the keys to this strategy is to make your search as specific as possible, based on as many criteria as you wish. In fact, it’s even better if you create multiple detailed searches and save them in your Craigslist account, and get an alert for each one. With a specific search like that, a bargain that matches that search might not show up in Craigslist very often – but when it does, you’ll be the first to know about it!

To set up an email alert, first you have to create the search and see the results of that search on your screen. Then look for the link at the top that says “email alert”:

That will show you your list of saved searches, and you can toggle the email alert on or off if you want. You can always see all of your saved searches by clicking on the “Searches” tab when you’re logged in to your Craigslist account:

As far as I know, there is no limit to the number of searches and alerts you can save in your Craigslist account.

For those people that are sort of “entrepreneurial” by nature, this alert service could present an opportunity to make some money. Do you have some type of specialized knowledge in a particular area? If you know about certain specialty items and their value, you could use that to your advantage. You could set up an alert for a particular item that you know is worth $500. But you only get notified if someone posts one of that item for sale for $300. So you go and buy it for $300, then sell it on Craigslist to someone else for $400. The person that bought it from you is still getting a bargain price, and you make $100. Sure, you might not be notified very often for something so underpriced, but when it happens you can take action. And it actually might surprise you how often things are posted on Craigslist at prices much lower than their real value.

The post Your unfair advantage over lots of other Craigslist shoppers first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Craigslist cars — Your unfair advantage over lots of other Craigslist shoppers May 25, 2015
Show notes

In the past I’ve written about third-party services that will alert you to new Craigslist postings. One of the ones I have used over the years is Blogtrottr, and I have definitely gotten some good deals as a result. But now there’s an even better way – getting new ad alerts directly from Craigslist.

What’s the value in this? Let’s talk about an example situation.

In our example, I’m looking to buy a used car. I want to get a Honda Civic. My requirements are:

model year must be 2009 or newer

no more than 50,000 miles

I only want to see ads that include pictures of the car

automatic transmission

I only want to look at cars that are priced $11,000 or less

So I go to my local Craigslist site at Craigslist.org, and I do a search based on those preferences. In that search, 5 cars come up. I call about a couple of them but don’t end up buying any of them.

Of course, people are listing cars for sale all the time on Craigslist. Sometimes they are overpriced because the owner thinks it’s worth more than it really is. But some are actually amazing bargains. Of course, it’s the bargains that you are really looking for.

But the key to getting a bargain on Craigslist is being the first (or one of the first) to see that ad. There are LOTS of people shopping on Craigslist for a good deal on a car. If someone posts their car for sale at a really good price, chances are someone looking for a car is going to just happen to search Craigslist a short time after the ad is posted, and go buy that car. They found it just because they were lucky enough to be searching right after the ad was listed, so hardly anyone else had a chance to even see that ad.

But if you check Craigslist each day at 8 am and 5 pm, what if the hugely-discounted car for sale gets listed at 9 am? That means it’s going to sit there all day, with tons of other people looking at it, before you even do your next check at 5 pm. That car would likely already be sold by then.

So you could just save that Craigslist search on your smartphone and keep checking it throughout the day, but your employer might not be too happy with that. Not to mention that it’s kind of a pain.

That’s why there have been some services that have popped up, to notify you about new Craigslist ads. That way you don’t have to keep checking it all the time. You just get an email when a new ad gets posted that meets your criteria. As I said, I have used Blogtrottr for a while. It was okay, but not perfect. The emails they send have third-party advertisements, and I can’t really fault them for that since they have to make money somehow.

But the real problem with Blogtrottr and others is the fact that it’s not really an “immediate” notification. Sometimes I would get an email and check the ad on Craigslist and see that it actually got posted several hours earlier. In some cases I didn’t get the email alert until the next day. That kind of defeats the purpose if you’re trying to know about a new listing right away in order to get there before anyone else can.

Well, I don’t use Blogtrottr any more, because Craigslist now offers this alert service directly. And of course it’s free.

Of course, I wanted to be sure that the notifications were immediate, so I checked it by creating a “test” alert request. Then I posted an ad on Craigslist that matched that alert. Within a few minutes, I was sent an email telling me about that new posting. Bingo!

One of the keys to this strategy is to make your search as specific as possible, based on as many criteria as you wish. In fact, it’s even better if you create multiple detailed searches and save them in your Craigslist account, and get an alert for each one. With a specific search like that, a bargain that matches that search might not show up in Craigslist very often – but when it does, you’ll be the first to know about it!

To set up an email alert, first you have to create the search and see the results of that search on your screen. Then look for the link at the top that says “email alert”:

That will show you your list of saved searches, and you can toggle the email alert on or off if you want. You can always see all of your saved searches by clicking on the “Searches” tab when you’re logged in to your Craigslist account:

As far as I know, there is no limit to the number of searches and alerts you can save in your Craigslist account.

For those people that are sort of “entrepreneurial” by nature, this alert service could present an opportunity to make some money. Do you have some type of specialized knowledge in a particular area? If you know about certain specialty items and their value, you could use that to your advantage. You could set up an alert for a particular item that you know is worth $500. But you only get notified if someone posts one of that item for sale for $300. So you go and buy it for $300, then sell it on Craigslist to someone else for $400. The person that bought it from you is still getting a bargain price, and you make $100. Sure, you might not be notified very often for something so underpriced, but when it happens you can take action. And it actually might surprise you how often things are posted on Craigslist at prices much lower than their real value.

The post Your unfair advantage over lots of other Craigslist shoppers first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

start screen — How to get Windows 8.1 to start up in the Desktop view May 18, 2015
Show notes

There’s one thing that is widely hated by Windows 8 users everywhere – the Windows 8.1 Start Screen. I usually refer to it as the App Screen, since that’s what it’s filled with – each tile represents an app. Microsoft originally called it “Metro” but changed later to just “Start Screen”. And there are some people that refer to it out of frustration, using words that, in the interest of good taste, I won’t repeat here in my blog.

I think most people dislike it for a couple of primary reasons:

They’re not used to it, so using it is not really “intuitive”

It keeps showing up when they aren’t expecting it and they don’t want to see it

The Start screen is part of Windows 8.1, but you don’t have to use it. The problem is, with a lot of the Windows 8.1 computers I work on, I see that when the computer first boots up, it goes directly to that Start screen. Then you have to find the “Desktop” app to click on and get back to the more familiar environment of the Windows Desktop.

It would be much more convenient if the computer just booted up directly to the Desktop screen, right?

If that’s what you prefer (as most people do), you can set it to do that. After all, your computer is not the boss, you’re the boss! The computer has to do what you tell it to do! You just have to know how to tell it. Here’s what you do:

1. The taskbar is the bar that runs along the bottom edge of the screen. In an open area on that bar, do a RIGHT click and in the new menu that comes up, choose “Properties”.

2. In the new window that comes up, click on the “Navigation” tab.

3. Checkmark the box that says “Go to the desktop instead of Start when I sign in”:

4. Click OK. That’s it!

Now, whenever you sign in to your Windows 8.1 computer, it will just go straight to the desktop view – no more Start Screen. Of course, if for some reason you wanted to see the Start Screen again with all the apps, you can get there – just move the cursor to the top right corner of the screen, then in the “Charms bar” that slides out from the right, you can choose the Start screen icon from there.

One thing to note – the procedure described above will only work if you have the Windows 8.1 update. If your computer is still running just Windows 8, the procedure is different and a little more complicated. But you need to get the 8.1 update anyway, so just do that.

The post How to get Windows 8.1 to start up in the Desktop view first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Start Screen — How to get Windows 8.1 to start up in the Desktop view May 18, 2015
Show notes

There’s one thing that is widely hated by Windows 8 users everywhere – the Windows 8.1 Start Screen. I usually refer to it as the App Screen, since that’s what it’s filled with – each tile represents an app. Microsoft originally called it “Metro” but changed later to just “Start Screen”. And there are some people that refer to it out of frustration, using words that, in the interest of good taste, I won’t repeat here in my blog.

I think most people dislike it for a couple of primary reasons:

They’re not used to it, so using it is not really “intuitive”

It keeps showing up when they aren’t expecting it and they don’t want to see it

The Start screen is part of Windows 8.1, but you don’t have to use it. The problem is, with a lot of the Windows 8.1 computers I work on, I see that when the computer first boots up, it goes directly to that Start screen. Then you have to find the “Desktop” app to click on and get back to the more familiar environment of the Windows Desktop.

It would be much more convenient if the computer just booted up directly to the Desktop screen, right?

If that’s what you prefer (as most people do), you can set it to do that. After all, your computer is not the boss, you’re the boss! The computer has to do what you tell it to do! You just have to know how to tell it. Here’s what you do:

1. The taskbar is the bar that runs along the bottom edge of the screen. In an open area on that bar, do a RIGHT click and in the new menu that comes up, choose “Properties”.

2. In the new window that comes up, click on the “Navigation” tab.

3. Checkmark the box that says “Go to the desktop instead of Start when I sign in”:

4. Click OK. That’s it!

Now, whenever you sign in to your Windows 8.1 computer, it will just go straight to the desktop view – no more Start Screen. Of course, if for some reason you wanted to see the Start Screen again with all the apps, you can get there – just move the cursor to the top right corner of the screen, then in the “Charms bar” that slides out from the right, you can choose the Start screen icon from there.

One thing to note – the procedure described above will only work if you have the Windows 8.1 update. If your computer is still running just Windows 8, the procedure is different and a little more complicated. But you need to get the 8.1 update anyway, so just do that.

The post How to get Windows 8.1 to start up in the Desktop view first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

what3words — Every location on earth now has a simple, 3-word address May 11, 2015
Show notes

I think right now is the best time ever to be alive, because we are seeing so many amazing innovations in lots of different areas. I’ve just recently learned of something that I believe will change the way we think about location and mapping around the world. It’s called What3Words.

What3Words.com is where you can get the app, and you can play with the mapping concept it’s based on, right there on the website at what3words.com.

This innovative idea solves a big problem. The problem is trying to describe to someone where you are. This can be a problem in a variety of situations:

– You’re at the state fair. This is an event that covers hundreds of acres because there’s a lot there – all the animals, the midway with all the games, the entertainment area, the rides, the huge fields that are used for parking. Your wife might want to go and browse the 4H vegetable growing competition, and you want to take the kids to see the pig races. An hour later you are trying to find each other. You might be able to describe nearby landmarks, but it can be difficult to walk straight from where you are to where she is since the place she is standing doesn’t have an actual “address”.

– You’re in your car, driving on a long, desolate country road. Suddenly you have a flat tire, and you discover that your spare is also flat. You can call AAA to come out and change your tire, but you’re not even sure of the name of the road you’re on, much less what the address would be. How do you tell them where to come?

– You’re visiting your friend in Australia for a week. You go out for a walk, and end up walking farther than you originally planned, and now you’re out in the middle of nowhere without a sense of which direction to go. You could call or text message your friend to come and get you, but the only “landmarks” to describe are trees. How can your friend find easily find you?

What3Words has solved this problem. They have divided the entire planet into little 3 meter by 3 meter squares – 57 trillion of them in fact. And every one of those squares is designated by a unique set of just 3 words.

This is so much better than the “system” we have now:

– It’s more accurate. More specific.

– It’s universal worldwide. Currently, each country has its own system for addresses. You might know the system for the country where you live (for example, I know that each town in the US has its own 5-digit ZIP code) but if you travel somewhere else, such as Canada, that’s all different (I have no idea how the postal codes in Canada designate locations). And in third-world or developing countries they might not even have a workable system for every location. But they do now – every 3m by 3m square has an address.

– It’s MUCH easier to remember. It doesn’t even compare. For example, there’s a nearby hair salon with this mailing address: Hair Cuttery, Bayside Bridge Shopping Plaza, 1500 North McMullen-Booth Rd, Suite A15, Clearwater, Florida 33759. Instead of that long address, you could instead use these three words: weep.hilltop.myth. That would take you right to the front door of that business, and that location is the only location in the WORLD that has that 3-word address.

Of course you can pinpoint a location somewhere in the world with latitude and longitude coordinates, but words are much easier to remember.

All of the 3-word addresses for the entire world fits into an app small enough to run on your smart phone. So wherever you happen to be, it can figure out which 3-word address you’re in so that you can communicate that to AAA, your spouse, or your friend in Australia. And it even works offline, so you don’t need a data connection in order to use it.

The way this will change things is astounding. From the website:

They have also made this explanatory video that gives a good overview:

https://youtu.be/EW2PuGwYmjY

The post Every location on earth now has a simple, 3-word address first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

what3words — Every location on earth now has a simple, 3-word address May 11, 2015
Show notes

I think right now is the best time ever to be alive, because we are seeing so many amazing innovations in lots of different areas. I’ve just recently learned of something that I believe will change the way we think about location and mapping around the world. It’s called What3Words.

What3Words.com is where you can get the app, and you can play with the mapping concept it’s based on, right there on the website at what3words.com.

This innovative idea solves a big problem. The problem is trying to describe to someone where you are. This can be a problem in a variety of situations:

– You’re at the state fair. This is an event that covers hundreds of acres because there’s a lot there – all the animals, the midway with all the games, the entertainment area, the rides, the huge fields that are used for parking. Your wife might want to go and browse the 4H vegetable growing competition, and you want to take the kids to see the pig races. An hour later you are trying to find each other. You might be able to describe nearby landmarks, but it can be difficult to walk straight from where you are to where she is since the place she is standing doesn’t have an actual “address”.

– You’re in your car, driving on a long, desolate country road. Suddenly you have a flat tire, and you discover that your spare is also flat. You can call AAA to come out and change your tire, but you’re not even sure of the name of the road you’re on, much less what the address would be. How do you tell them where to come?

– You’re visiting your friend in Australia for a week. You go out for a walk, and end up walking farther than you originally planned, and now you’re out in the middle of nowhere without a sense of which direction to go. You could call or text message your friend to come and get you, but the only “landmarks” to describe are trees. How can your friend find easily find you?

What3Words has solved this problem. They have divided the entire planet into little 3 meter by 3 meter squares – 57 trillion of them in fact. And every one of those squares is designated by a unique set of just 3 words.

This is so much better than the “system” we have now:

– It’s more accurate. More specific.

– It’s universal worldwide. Currently, each country has its own system for addresses. You might know the system for the country where you live (for example, I know that each town in the US has its own 5-digit ZIP code) but if you travel somewhere else, such as Canada, that’s all different (I have no idea how the postal codes in Canada designate locations). And in third-world or developing countries they might not even have a workable system for every location. But they do now – every 3m by 3m square has an address.

– It’s MUCH easier to remember. It doesn’t even compare. For example, there’s a nearby hair salon with this mailing address: Hair Cuttery, Bayside Bridge Shopping Plaza, 1500 North McMullen-Booth Rd, Suite A15, Clearwater, Florida 33759. Instead of that long address, you could instead use these three words: weep.hilltop.myth. That would take you right to the front door of that business, and that location is the only location in the WORLD that has that 3-word address.

Of course you can pinpoint a location somewhere in the world with latitude and longitude coordinates, but words are much easier to remember.

All of the 3-word addresses for the entire world fits into an app small enough to run on your smart phone. So wherever you happen to be, it can figure out which 3-word address you’re in so that you can communicate that to AAA, your spouse, or your friend in Australia. And it even works offline, so you don’t need a data connection in order to use it.

The way this will change things is astounding. From the website:

They have also made this explanatory video that gives a good overview:

https://youtu.be/EW2PuGwYmjY

The post Every location on earth now has a simple, 3-word address first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Google Drive — The easy way to email a huge file May 04, 2015
Show notes

What would you do if you had a large file on your computer, and you needed to send it to someone by email? For example, you used your phone to take a video of your dog doing some tricks, and you want to email it to your friend who lives 500 miles away? To send an email by regular attachment, most email services have a strict limit on file size – and most video files are fairly big. But thanks to Google, there’s an easy way to do that now. You can use Google Drive.

For this example, I’m going to use my Gmail account. Google owns Gmail, and Google obviously owns Google Drive, so they all work together perfectly.

Google Drive is basically just data storage space that Google gives you as part of your Google account. You get 15 gb total, which is quite a bit of space. Keep in mind, however, that this 15 gb is used for your Gmail account (including any attachments such as pictures), Google Docs, Google Pictures and your Google Drive general storage. But to put things in perspective – I have had my Google account since Gmail first became available back in 2004, and I archive most of my emails. And even now after 11 years, I am using less than half of the 15 gb of space I am allowed.

And if for some reason you need more space, Google sells it cheap:

15 gb is already free with your account

100 gb is $1.99 per month

1 tb (1000 gb) is $9.99 per month

So the first step is to get your Google/Gmail account if you don’t already have one. If you want to, you can install Google Drive on your computer (you can get that free at drive.google.com). That just makes it easier if you want to put files or folders there on a regular basis, but having it on your computer is not necessary for sending a large file by email.

If you already have the large file stored in Google Drive, that’s fine. But for this example, we’ll assume you just have the file stored on your computer and not yet in Google Drive.

Here’s how you email the large file:

1. Go to gmail.com and log in to your email account.

2. Click on “Compose” in the top left, to create a new email. Put in your friend’s email address and the subject line, and any text you want to include in the message area.

3. Now you need to attach the video. Look in the bottom row, and you’ll see the Google Drive icon:

4. Click on the icon. That opens a new window, and one of the options is “Upload”.

5. When you click “Upload”, a new window opens. You want to click on “Select files from your computer”.

6. Now you need to find the dog tricks video, wherever that is stored on your computer. When you find it, double click on that file.

7. Now you will see your video file is listed as the file that will be inserted. It even shows the file size (in this case, 65 mb). If this is showing correctly, click the “upload” button at the bottom of the screen.

8. You will see the progress bar as the file uploads:

9. When it’s done (usually pretty quickly, depending on the file size) you should be back to your email “Compose” window with the file listed. If you want to, you can click to attach another file. When you are done adding files to this email, just click the “Send” button:

10. Since you just now uploaded that video file, you might get a window that comes up telling you that this particular file is not currently “Shared” with the person you are sending it to. That’s no problem. Just click “Share and send”:

And that’s it! Usually within a few minutes it will be waiting for your friend to check email and find it in their inbox, waiting to read.

But here’s the great thing – since it wasn’t actually sent as a traditional “attachment”, your friend doesn’t have to wait for it to load in his email inbox. All he sees is a link to click on. When he clicks that link, he will see your video, in your Google Drive folder. He can watch the video, or he can save it to his computer if he wants to.

So even though Gmail limits file attachments to 25 mb or smaller, you just sent your friend a 65 mb video file. And by using this method (sending via Google Drive) you can send up to TEN GIGABYTES of files (that’s 10,000 mb)! You might not need to do that, but it’s nice to know that you can if you run into that situation.

There are definitely other methods for transferring large files from one computer to another one over the internet. You can use Dropbox and share a file. You could upload the video to YouTube, and then send your friend the link to it. Using Google Drive is just one option, but it’s a very simple one. And simple is usually good.

The post The easy way to email a huge file first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Google drive — The easy way to email a huge file May 04, 2015
Show notes

What would you do if you had a large file on your computer, and you needed to send it to someone by email? For example, you used your phone to take a video of your dog doing some tricks, and you want to email it to your friend who lives 500 miles away? To send an email by regular attachment, most email services have a strict limit on file size – and most video files are fairly big. But thanks to Google, there’s an easy way to do that now. You can use Google Drive.

For this example, I’m going to use my Gmail account. Google owns Gmail, and Google obviously owns Google Drive, so they all work together perfectly.

Google Drive is basically just data storage space that Google gives you as part of your Google account. You get 15 gb total, which is quite a bit of space. Keep in mind, however, that this 15 gb is used for your Gmail account (including any attachments such as pictures), Google Docs, Google Pictures and your Google Drive general storage. But to put things in perspective – I have had my Google account since Gmail first became available back in 2004, and I archive most of my emails. And even now after 11 years, I am using less than half of the 15 gb of space I am allowed.

And if for some reason you need more space, Google sells it cheap:

15 gb is already free with your account

100 gb is $1.99 per month

1 tb (1000 gb) is $9.99 per month

So the first step is to get your Google/Gmail account if you don’t already have one. If you want to, you can install Google Drive on your computer (you can get that free at drive.google.com). That just makes it easier if you want to put files or folders there on a regular basis, but having it on your computer is not necessary for sending a large file by email.

If you already have the large file stored in Google Drive, that’s fine. But for this example, we’ll assume you just have the file stored on your computer and not yet in Google Drive.

Here’s how you email the large file:

1. Go to gmail.com and log in to your email account.

2. Click on “Compose” in the top left, to create a new email. Put in your friend’s email address and the subject line, and any text you want to include in the message area.

3. Now you need to attach the video. Look in the bottom row, and you’ll see the Google Drive icon:

4. Click on the icon. That opens a new window, and one of the options is “Upload”.

5. When you click “Upload”, a new window opens. You want to click on “Select files from your computer”.

6. Now you need to find the dog tricks video, wherever that is stored on your computer. When you find it, double click on that file.

7. Now you will see your video file is listed as the file that will be inserted. It even shows the file size (in this case, 65 mb). If this is showing correctly, click the “upload” button at the bottom of the screen.

8. You will see the progress bar as the file uploads:

9. When it’s done (usually pretty quickly, depending on the file size) you should be back to your email “Compose” window with the file listed. If you want to, you can click to attach another file. When you are done adding files to this email, just click the “Send” button:

10. Since you just now uploaded that video file, you might get a window that comes up telling you that this particular file is not currently “Shared” with the person you are sending it to. That’s no problem. Just click “Share and send”:

And that’s it! Usually within a few minutes it will be waiting for your friend to check email and find it in their inbox, waiting to read.

But here’s the great thing – since it wasn’t actually sent as a traditional “attachment”, your friend doesn’t have to wait for it to load in his email inbox. All he sees is a link to click on. When he clicks that link, he will see your video, in your Google Drive folder. He can watch the video, or he can save it to his computer if he wants to.

So even though Gmail limits file attachments to 25 mb or smaller, you just sent your friend a 65 mb video file. And by using this method (sending via Google Drive) you can send up to TEN GIGABYTES of files (that’s 10,000 mb)! You might not need to do that, but it’s nice to know that you can if you run into that situation.

There are definitely other methods for transferring large files from one computer to another one over the internet. You can use Dropbox and share a file. You could upload the video to YouTube, and then send your friend the link to it. Using Google Drive is just one option, but it’s a very simple one. And simple is usually good.

The post The easy way to email a huge file first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

handy services — I discovered 2 handy services in one place Apr 27, 2015
Show notes

Many of the things I cover here on my blog and on my podcast are products or services that I discover just in my routine daily work. Recently I came across a couple of handy things – one is an online service, the other is a product that’s sold online – and I know that a lot of people will find one or both of these useful.

I was recently involved in a transaction with a client out of state, and part of the process was that the client needed to send me some money via Paypal. I know there are a few people that don’t like Paypal, but I use them all the time and so far have not had any problems.

When someone pays you money through Paypal, Paypal takes a small percentage of the amount. That’s how they make their money. But in this case, I needed for the NET amount to be a certain dollar figure, so the client had to add on the amount of the Paypal fees to what he sent so that I would actually receive the right dollar amount.

That meant we needed to figure out what Paypal would charge for their fees. I know as a rough figure Paypal is usually around 5%, but that percentage gets adjusted based on the amount being sent. So I didn’t know exactly what percentage we would have deducted. And if you go on Paypal’s website, it’s not the easiest thing to find (although I know they do publish the information somewhere). I also could have called them, but going through the phone menu with a big company can sometimes be a hassle.

So I found an easier way – the online Paypal Fee Calculator. You can try it out at TheFeeCalculator.com.

To use it, the process really couldn’t be any simpler. Right there on the front page is the place for you to enter the dollar amount of the transaction. For example, if my client is going to send me $475.00 through Paypal, and I want to know how much Paypal is going to deduct for their fees:

You enter the amount, and hit “Calculate” and it immediately gives you this answer (with a little bit of editorializing):

In most cases that’s what you need to know, what amount you will net. But there’s another little bit of information that is also processed. If you know the amount that you NEED to net, what is the amount that the sender needs to send? That calculation is also offered on the same page:

The site is run by a guy named Derek. He tells about how it came about back in 2005:

So now, whenever I need to calculate a Paypal fee, I know where I can go to get it quickly and easily.

But while I was on the site, I noticed what appeared to be an advertisement, right below the place where you enter the dollar amount:

It’s talking about nametags, like the ones that people wear when they work in a service business. Normally I don’t even notice ads such as that, much less click on them. But for some reason I clicked on this one.

I do wear a name tag. It has my company logo and my name on it. There’s no real requirement for it, but there are some benefits. When I’m doing on onsite appointment in a client’s home (or business), and it’s the first time they have met with me, a name tag with the company logo adds a degree of credibility. And actually I even wear it when I’m working at home, because sometimes first-time clients drop off their computer at my home office.

And in addition to the credibility factor, if I happen to stop in a store to pick something up, or I stop to fill up with gas, there have been several instances where people notice the name tag and comment on it. When they see “The Computer Tutor” the most common remark is “Boy, I sure need someone like YOU!” and in a few cases it has resulted in a new client.

So I do definitely find value in wearing my name tag. But I’ve had this one for a few years, so it’s starting to look a little worn. The colors are fading a bit and it’s just not as sharp as it once was.

When I clicked on the text link advertisement, it took me to a different website – Nametag Ninja (NametagNinja.com).

What caught my eye were the 3 main features displayed on the first page:

Free shipping

No setup fees

24 hour turnaround

At that point I knew that as long as the prices were reasonable, I was going to order a new nametag. When I checked into the pricing options, I saw that a new nametag was only going to cost me $8. I don’t remember what I paid for my current one but I know it was more than that, and that was from a local business that took a week to get it done.

Here’s the interesting part. In placing my order, there was a problem with the online ordering process. I was trying to customize the nametag to a particular size, and to have a magnetic attachment rather than a pin. But it wasn’t showing up that way in the final order. So before I completed the process, I sent an email to inquire about how to get this resolved.

Almost immediately I got a response back from a man named Derek, who said he was unaware of the problem but would look into it. In the meantime, he said I could just email him my requested order and he could manually invoice me, so that my order would not be delayed by the website order issue.

This is why I like dealing with small, “mom and pop” businesses.
Can you imagine getting this kind of personal service from Vistaprint?

I was planning to do the order via email the next day, but before I could even do that, Derek emailed me again to advise that the website problem had been fixed so I could order the regular way. He was also appreciative that I had let him know about the problem so that he could get it fixed.

In my communication with Derek, I came to find out that he is actually the one that created the Paypal Fees Calculator website as well. For the record, he did not ask me for this blog post or recommendation, and I don’t get any commission for sending him new customers. I did this because it’s unfortunately kind of unusual to come across a service that is reasonably priced and provides excellent attention to the customer. So when I find something like that, I like to pass it along. I know that a lot of my blog readers and podcast listeners either own a service business (like I do) or work for one, so this is a good source for employee name tags.

If you end up ordering some name tags from the site, tell Derek you heard about it here.

The post I discovered 2 handy services in one place first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Paypal fees calculator — I discovered 2 handy services in one place Apr 27, 2015
Show notes

Many of the things I cover here on my blog and on my podcast are products or services that I discover just in my routine daily work. Recently I came across a couple of handy things – one is an online service, the other is a product that’s sold online – and I know that a lot of people will find one or both of these useful.

I was recently involved in a transaction with a client out of state, and part of the process was that the client needed to send me some money via Paypal. I know there are a few people that don’t like Paypal, but I use them all the time and so far have not had any problems.

When someone pays you money through Paypal, Paypal takes a small percentage of the amount. That’s how they make their money. But in this case, I needed for the NET amount to be a certain dollar figure, so the client had to add on the amount of the Paypal fees to what he sent so that I would actually receive the right dollar amount.

That meant we needed to figure out what Paypal would charge for their fees. I know as a rough figure Paypal is usually around 5%, but that percentage gets adjusted based on the amount being sent. So I didn’t know exactly what percentage we would have deducted. And if you go on Paypal’s website, it’s not the easiest thing to find (although I know they do publish the information somewhere). I also could have called them, but going through the phone menu with a big company can sometimes be a hassle.

So I found an easier way – the online Paypal Fee Calculator. You can try it out at TheFeeCalculator.com.

To use it, the process really couldn’t be any simpler. Right there on the front page is the place for you to enter the dollar amount of the transaction. For example, if my client is going to send me $475.00 through Paypal, and I want to know how much Paypal is going to deduct for their fees:

You enter the amount, and hit “Calculate” and it immediately gives you this answer (with a little bit of editorializing):

In most cases that’s what you need to know, what amount you will net. But there’s another little bit of information that is also processed. If you know the amount that you NEED to net, what is the amount that the sender needs to send? That calculation is also offered on the same page:

The site is run by a guy named Derek. He tells about how it came about back in 2005:

So now, whenever I need to calculate a Paypal fee, I know where I can go to get it quickly and easily.

But while I was on the site, I noticed what appeared to be an advertisement, right below the place where you enter the dollar amount:

It’s talking about nametags, like the ones that people wear when they work in a service business. Normally I don’t even notice ads such as that, much less click on them. But for some reason I clicked on this one.

I do wear a name tag. It has my company logo and my name on it. There’s no real requirement for it, but there are some benefits. When I’m doing on onsite appointment in a client’s home (or business), and it’s the first time they have met with me, a name tag with the company logo adds a degree of credibility. And actually I even wear it when I’m working at home, because sometimes first-time clients drop off their computer at my home office.

And in addition to the credibility factor, if I happen to stop in a store to pick something up, or I stop to fill up with gas, there have been several instances where people notice the name tag and comment on it. When they see “The Computer Tutor” the most common remark is “Boy, I sure need someone like YOU!” and in a few cases it has resulted in a new client.

So I do definitely find value in wearing my name tag. But I’ve had this one for a few years, so it’s starting to look a little worn. The colors are fading a bit and it’s just not as sharp as it once was.

When I clicked on the text link advertisement, it took me to a different website – Nametag Ninja (NametagNinja.com).

What caught my eye were the 3 main features displayed on the first page:

Free shipping

No setup fees

24 hour turnaround

At that point I knew that as long as the prices were reasonable, I was going to order a new nametag. When I checked into the pricing options, I saw that a new nametag was only going to cost me $8. I don’t remember what I paid for my current one but I know it was more than that, and that was from a local business that took a week to get it done.

Here’s the interesting part. In placing my order, there was a problem with the online ordering process. I was trying to customize the nametag to a particular size, and to have a magnetic attachment rather than a pin. But it wasn’t showing up that way in the final order. So before I completed the process, I sent an email to inquire about how to get this resolved.

Almost immediately I got a response back from a man named Derek, who said he was unaware of the problem but would look into it. In the meantime, he said I could just email him my requested order and he could manually invoice me, so that my order would not be delayed by the website order issue.

This is why I like dealing with small, “mom and pop” businesses.
Can you imagine getting this kind of personal service from Vistaprint?

I was planning to do the order via email the next day, but before I could even do that, Derek emailed me again to advise that the website problem had been fixed so I could order the regular way. He was also appreciative that I had let him know about the problem so that he could get it fixed.

In my communication with Derek, I came to find out that he is actually the one that created the Paypal Fees Calculator website as well. For the record, he did not ask me for this blog post or recommendation, and I don’t get any commission for sending him new customers. I did this because it’s unfortunately kind of unusual to come across a service that is reasonably priced and provides excellent attention to the customer. So when I find something like that, I like to pass it along. I know that a lot of my blog readers and podcast listeners either own a service business (like I do) or work for one, so this is a good source for employee name tags.

If you end up ordering some name tags from the site, tell Derek you heard about it here.

The post I discovered 2 handy services in one place first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

solution — A couple of handy computer tools Apr 20, 2015
Show notes

Today I’m going to show you a couple of things that you might find to be pretty handy. Nothing fancy really, but each of these could definitely be a solution for someone that’s in need of either one of them.

Tool #1: Simple countdown timer

It doesn’t get much easier than this. Just go to Google, and in the search box type:

timer 1 minute

and hit Enter on the keyboard. Right away you will see a countdown timer at the top of the Google search results. But you don’t have to click on it or do anything else – it is already running, counting down from one minute.

Right under the numbers you will see the link to Stop, if you want to pause the timer. Or you can reset it back to 1 minute. When the timer gets down to zero, it sounds a little beeping alarm that sounds like a digital alarm clock. Easy and free.

You can set the time for any number of minutes or hours up to 23 hours. I couldn’t get it to work when I tried putting in 24 hours, but I didn’t mess around with it for very long so maybe there’s a way to do that.

How would you use this? The possibilities are unlimited. For me, I try to take a break from working at my computer sometimes, but I don’t want to get sucked into Facebook or YouTube for so long that it becomes a big waste of time. So when I take a break, I just open up a new tab in my browser and start the countdown timer for 5 or 10 minutes, and when I hear the beep I get back to work. But really, anything you do that needs to be tracked for time is a potential use for it.

Tool #2: Video blocker

This is an extension that works with Chrome and Firefox. I love this little thing because it solves an annoying problem.

The problem has to do with YouTube. YouTube tries to be smart about what videos it offers you when you first go to the site. If you’re subscribed to any particular YouTube channels, it will often display new videos from those channels. It tries to display up front the videos it THINKS you want to see, based on what videos you’ve looked at previously. So if you watched some videos about football yesterday, then when you go to YouTube today, you’ll see that they’ll show you some links to some other football videos. They’re just trying to give you what you want, in order to keep you on the site and viewing videos as long as possible. That, in itself, is not necessarily a bad thing.

The problem arises when I might click to view a video that outside my typical areas of interest. For example, a friend might tell me, “Hey, you have to check out this video of this guy – he’s the best man at his brother’s wedding and for the Best Man Toast, he SINGS a song that he wrote himself!” And to be fair, it is a pretty amazing video that has recently gone viral. You can watch it on YouTube, and right below the video itself are the lyrics so you can follow along.

So if I watch that video today, then later today or tomorrow when I go back to YouTube, it’s likely that the front page is going to be offering me more wedding videos. Actual full weddings, dancing at wedding receptions, people falling down at weddings, wedding photography services, and on and on.

This might even continue for days and weeks – every time I go to YouTube I have to wade through all the wedding-related videos in order to see the things that I actually want to see.

Video Blocker solves that problem. When you have Video Blocker installed, you can go to YouTube and right-click on any video thumbnail, and you are given the option to block all the videos from that particular channel from being displayed.

It’s great! So now, with the help of this little tool, I can have some actual control over what gets displayed whenever I open up YouTube to see what’s new.

To get Video Blocker, do a Google search for video blocker. If you’re using Chrome, you would want the Chrome extension:

If you’re using Firefox, get the Firefox version:

When you click the link to get it, it will ask you to install it as a browser extension or add-on. Go ahead and do that, then restart Chrome or Firefox and go exploring YouTube and try it out.

The post A couple of handy computer tools first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

countdown timer — A couple of handy computer tools Apr 20, 2015
Show notes

Today I’m going to show you a couple of things that you might find to be pretty handy. Nothing fancy really, but each of these could definitely be a solution for someone that’s in need of either one of them.

Tool #1: Simple countdown timer

It doesn’t get much easier than this. Just go to Google, and in the search box type:

timer 1 minute

and hit Enter on the keyboard. Right away you will see a countdown timer at the top of the Google search results. But you don’t have to click on it or do anything else – it is already running, counting down from one minute.

Right under the numbers you will see the link to Stop, if you want to pause the timer. Or you can reset it back to 1 minute. When the timer gets down to zero, it sounds a little beeping alarm that sounds like a digital alarm clock. Easy and free.

You can set the time for any number of minutes or hours up to 23 hours. I couldn’t get it to work when I tried putting in 24 hours, but I didn’t mess around with it for very long so maybe there’s a way to do that.

How would you use this? The possibilities are unlimited. For me, I try to take a break from working at my computer sometimes, but I don’t want to get sucked into Facebook or YouTube for so long that it becomes a big waste of time. So when I take a break, I just open up a new tab in my browser and start the countdown timer for 5 or 10 minutes, and when I hear the beep I get back to work. But really, anything you do that needs to be tracked for time is a potential use for it.

Tool #2: Video blocker

This is an extension that works with Chrome and Firefox. I love this little thing because it solves an annoying problem.

The problem has to do with YouTube. YouTube tries to be smart about what videos it offers you when you first go to the site. If you’re subscribed to any particular YouTube channels, it will often display new videos from those channels. It tries to display up front the videos it THINKS you want to see, based on what videos you’ve looked at previously. So if you watched some videos about football yesterday, then when you go to YouTube today, you’ll see that they’ll show you some links to some other football videos. They’re just trying to give you what you want, in order to keep you on the site and viewing videos as long as possible. That, in itself, is not necessarily a bad thing.

The problem arises when I might click to view a video that outside my typical areas of interest. For example, a friend might tell me, “Hey, you have to check out this video of this guy – he’s the best man at his brother’s wedding and for the Best Man Toast, he SINGS a song that he wrote himself!” And to be fair, it is a pretty amazing video that has recently gone viral. You can watch it on YouTube, and right below the video itself are the lyrics so you can follow along.

So if I watch that video today, then later today or tomorrow when I go back to YouTube, it’s likely that the front page is going to be offering me more wedding videos. Actual full weddings, dancing at wedding receptions, people falling down at weddings, wedding photography services, and on and on.

This might even continue for days and weeks – every time I go to YouTube I have to wade through all the wedding-related videos in order to see the things that I actually want to see.

Video Blocker solves that problem. When you have Video Blocker installed, you can go to YouTube and right-click on any video thumbnail, and you are given the option to block all the videos from that particular channel from being displayed.

It’s great! So now, with the help of this little tool, I can have some actual control over what gets displayed whenever I open up YouTube to see what’s new.

To get Video Blocker, do a Google search for video blocker. If you’re using Chrome, you would want the Chrome extension:

If you’re using Firefox, get the Firefox version:

When you click the link to get it, it will ask you to install it as a browser extension or add-on. Go ahead and do that, then restart Chrome or Firefox and go exploring YouTube and try it out.

The post A couple of handy computer tools first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

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