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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:

Windows 10 version — Are you running the current version of Windows 10? Mar 29, 2021
Show notes

There are different versions of Windows 10, and you might not be running the most current one. Here’s how to check.

Windows 10 is the most current Windows operating system. If you’re still running Windows 7, you NEED to upgrade to Windows 10 now (you actually needed to do this over a year ago). If you’re still running Windows 8.1, you SHOULD upgrade, but it’s not critical that you do so immediately. The primary reason for upgrading from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 is because Windows 8.1 is really awful.

But at this point, almost all of the computers I see are running Windows 10. That’s a good thing. The bad news is, it’s not always the most current version of Windows 10.

Probably the oldest version of Windows 10 I see sometimes these days is version 1909. That version is almost to its end of service. So if you’re running that one, we need to take action before it reaches its end of service on May 11, 2021.

The next versions after 1909 are 2004, and then the current one, which is 20H2. Either of those is fine for right now.

Here’s how to check on which version of Windows 10 you are running:

On the keyboard, find the Windows key (lower left area). Hold that down and type the letter “r”.

In the box that comes up, type: winver and click OK.

You’ll get a window that looks like the one below, which will tell you if you’re running version 1909, 2004, or 20H2.

If you are still running 1909, it most likely means that the automated Windows Updates are “stuck” and needs to be forced to update. I can do this through my Remote Support service if you need help with that. You would need the 2-hour package (it sometimes takes longer than two hours, but we don’t need to be on the phone for that whole time).

If you are running 2004 or 20H2, you’re fine for at least the rest of this year (2021).

The post Are you running the current version of Windows 10? first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

lost Word document — How to recover a Word document that was never saved Mar 15, 2021
Show notes

Have you ever started typing up a Word document, and gotten quite a bit of text entered, then accidentally closed it without saving? Today’s lifesaving tip will show you how it’s possible to get that document back.

A friend of mine used to create Word documents very dangerously. He was a pastor of a church. And he would always create his Sunday sermon in a Word document. He would just open Word, open a new blank document, and start writing. He might write for hours, filling that document up with many pages of text. And that whole time, at the top of that document it would say “Untitled document” – because he never clicked to save it and give it a name. I only knew this because one day I visited him in his office on a computer matter, and I happened to see his Sunday sermon document on the screen – many pages and many hours of work, and none of it had been saved to his computer. When I asked him about it, he said, “Oh, it’s no problem. When I have my full sermon completed, I just click the “X” up in the corner to close the document…” – that in itself caused a little shot of adrenaline in me – “… and the program pops up and asks me if I want to save it. So I say “Yes” and give it a name, and it’s all saved, no problem!” What he had not considered is – What if some day Word DOESN’T ask him if he wants to save it, and just closes? What if some day Word asks him to save, and he (without thinking) clicks “Don’t save”? What if he has several hours of work put in, and there’s a sudden power blip and the computer shuts down? All of those things are possibilities. But he had his routine that he was used to. And I understand that – change can be hard to implement when you’ve been doing something a particular way for a while. Especially since you haven’t had any problem at all (s0 far) with the way you’ve always done it. Unfortunately, some time after that I was called in to see if I could find a document that had gotten closed without saving, and could not be found. I wish I had known today’s tip then. Actually I don’t even know if that old version of Word even offered this function that we’re talking about today. But the current version of Word does, and for some people, it’s a real lifesaver. What we’re talking about is getting back a Word document that has been closed, without EVER having been saved or given a file name. To show how this works, just go through this process: Open a blank Word document, and add some text to it. Don’t save it. At the top, it will just have the title “Document1”, which is the default file name until you save it and give it a name that makes sense: Now, close that document with the X in the top right corner. When it asks if you want to save it, click on “Don’t Save”. At this point, most people would assume that file is lost. Or actually, it just doesn’t exist any more. But it actually does exist. Open File Explorer by clicking on the little folder icon down in the bottom left area of the screen, on the taskbar. Then click on “This PC”: Then in the top right corner, in the search field, type: *.asd and hit Enter: When you do that search, you’ll see your unsaved Word document come up in the search results. It might take a while, depending on how big your computer’s drive is and how much storage space you’re using. But it will be there: You can identify it in the list because it will show the first few words of the document. At this point you want to do a RIGHT click on that file, and click on “Open with”: If Word is not immediately shown in the list of programs, click on “More apps” and scroll down to choose to open it in Word. When it opens, the first thing you’ll see is a prompt to Save it and give it a name: Do that before you do anything else! So now your lost/nonexistent file now has a name and it is saved somewhere on your computer (most likely in the Documents folder). Even if you don’t need this tip right now, keep track of it because someday it could save your life! Open blank Word doc, add some text Close it without saving To find it: Open File Explorer and click on This PC in the search field, type: *.asd the lost document will show up in the search results Right click – open with – choose WordThe post How to recover a Word document that was never saved first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Word doc — How to recover a Word document that was never saved Mar 15, 2021
Show notes

Have you ever started typing up a Word document, and gotten quite a bit of text entered, then accidentally closed it without saving? Today’s lifesaving tip will show you how it’s possible to get that document back.

A friend of mine used to create Word documents very dangerously. He was a pastor of a church. And he would always create his Sunday sermon in a Word document. He would just open Word, open a new blank document, and start writing. He might write for hours, filling that document up with many pages of text. And that whole time, at the top of that document it would say “Untitled document” – because he never clicked to save it and give it a name. I only knew this because one day I visited him in his office on a computer matter, and I happened to see his Sunday sermon document on the screen – many pages and many hours of work, and none of it had been saved to his computer. When I asked him about it, he said, “Oh, it’s no problem. When I have my full sermon completed, I just click the “X” up in the corner to close the document…” – that in itself caused a little shot of adrenaline in me – “… and the program pops up and asks me if I want to save it. So I say “Yes” and give it a name, and it’s all saved, no problem!” What he had not considered is – What if some day Word DOESN’T ask him if he wants to save it, and just closes? What if some day Word asks him to save, and he (without thinking) clicks “Don’t save”? What if he has several hours of work put in, and there’s a sudden power blip and the computer shuts down? All of those things are possibilities. But he had his routine that he was used to. And I understand that – change can be hard to implement when you’ve been doing something a particular way for a while. Especially since you haven’t had any problem at all (s0 far) with the way you’ve always done it. Unfortunately, some time after that I was called in to see if I could find a document that had gotten closed without saving, and could not be found. I wish I had known today’s tip then. Actually I don’t even know if that old version of Word even offered this function that we’re talking about today. But the current version of Word does, and for some people, it’s a real lifesaver. What we’re talking about is getting back a Word document that has been closed, without EVER having been saved or given a file name. To show how this works, just go through this process: Open a blank Word document, and add some text to it. Don’t save it. At the top, it will just have the title “Document1”, which is the default file name until you save it and give it a name that makes sense: Now, close that document with the X in the top right corner. When it asks if you want to save it, click on “Don’t Save”. At this point, most people would assume that file is lost. Or actually, it just doesn’t exist any more. But it actually does exist. Open File Explorer by clicking on the little folder icon down in the bottom left area of the screen, on the taskbar. Then click on “This PC”: Then in the top right corner, in the search field, type: *.asd and hit Enter: When you do that search, you’ll see your unsaved Word document come up in the search results. It might take a while, depending on how big your computer’s drive is and how much storage space you’re using. But it will be there: You can identify it in the list because it will show the first few words of the document. At this point you want to do a RIGHT click on that file, and click on “Open with”: If Word is not immediately shown in the list of programs, click on “More apps” and scroll down to choose to open it in Word. When it opens, the first thing you’ll see is a prompt to Save it and give it a name: Do that before you do anything else! So now your lost/nonexistent file now has a name and it is saved somewhere on your computer (most likely in the Documents folder). Even if you don’t need this tip right now, keep track of it because someday it could save your life! Open blank Word doc, add some text Close it without saving To find it: Open File Explorer and click on This PC in the search field, type: *.asd the lost document will show up in the search results Right click – open with – choose WordThe post How to recover a Word document that was never saved first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

start at bootup — How to make a program start at every bootup Mar 01, 2021
Show notes

Is there a particular program that you want to run automatically, every time you turn on your computer? Here’s how to make that happen.

What we’re talking about today is usually the OPPOSITE of how we discuss this topic. So many programs want to insert themselves into the “startup” process when they have no business being there. I’m constantly removing programs from automatically starting up every time the computer boots up, on client computers and even my own primary PC.

But what about if you actually WANT a program to run every time you turn on or restart your computer? In some situations, that might make sense.

Here’s an example.

A while back (actually it’s been 4 years ago now), I wrote about a program that checks the health of your hard drive. It’s called Crystal Disk Info. Once it’s installed, you can run it whenever you want just to check your hard drive.

For me, I like to check my hard drive regularly – ideally, that would be every time I boot up the computer or restart it. And that is exactly what happens, using the following process.

When you install Crystal Disk Info, it creates a shortcut icon on the desktop.

Then, you hold down the Windows key and tap the letter “r”. That will open a little window with a space to type an instruction. You will type:

shell:startup

and click OK.

That will open a new window. Now, you can just drag (or copy/paste) the Crystal Disk Info shortcut icon into that window. Done!

And you can check it by just restarting your computer. When you get back to Windows, you’ll see Crystal Disk Info pop up and give you your hard drive health report, which should look something like this:

Now you can close that window and get on with your work or whatever you need to do. It will show up every time you boot up or restart your computer.

If you want to remove anything from that shell:startup list, just open it up, right click on the item to be removed, and choose Delete.

So whatever program you want to run at each bootup, that’s the process you use.

The post How to make a program start at every bootup first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

shell startup — How to make a program start at every bootup Mar 01, 2021
Show notes

Is there a particular program that you want to run automatically, every time you turn on your computer? Here’s how to make that happen.

What we’re talking about today is usually the OPPOSITE of how we discuss this topic. So many programs want to insert themselves into the “startup” process when they have no business being there. I’m constantly removing programs from automatically starting up every time the computer boots up, on client computers and even my own primary PC.

But what about if you actually WANT a program to run every time you turn on or restart your computer? In some situations, that might make sense.

Here’s an example.

A while back (actually it’s been 4 years ago now), I wrote about a program that checks the health of your hard drive. It’s called Crystal Disk Info. Once it’s installed, you can run it whenever you want just to check your hard drive.

For me, I like to check my hard drive regularly – ideally, that would be every time I boot up the computer or restart it. And that is exactly what happens, using the following process.

When you install Crystal Disk Info, it creates a shortcut icon on the desktop.

Then, you hold down the Windows key and tap the letter “r”. That will open a little window with a space to type an instruction. You will type:

shell:startup

and click OK.

That will open a new window. Now, you can just drag (or copy/paste) the Crystal Disk Info shortcut icon into that window. Done!

And you can check it by just restarting your computer. When you get back to Windows, you’ll see Crystal Disk Info pop up and give you your hard drive health report, which should look something like this:

Now you can close that window and get on with your work or whatever you need to do. It will show up every time you boot up or restart your computer.

If you want to remove anything from that shell:startup list, just open it up, right click on the item to be removed, and choose Delete.

So whatever program you want to run at each bootup, that’s the process you use.

The post How to make a program start at every bootup first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

MS Word — How to password protect a Word document Feb 15, 2021
Show notes

Do you have information in a Word document that you don’t want anyone else to see? Here’s how to put a password on it.

Some of my clients store all of their account passwords in a Word document. Some people use a Word doc to keep track of their medical information, or perhaps their bank account details. If you have private information of any kind in a Word document, it might be a good idea to add a password to that document so that it doesn’t get seen by anyone else.

And it turns out, adding a password to a Word file is pretty easy:

Open the document, then click File:

Next, in the left column, click on Info. Then, under “Protect Document” click the drop-down menu and choose “Encrypt with Password”:

Now you are presented with a window to enter the password you want to use for this file:

You enter the password, then it will prompt you to enter it again to confirm. Then you just Save the document and close it.

Now you can test it – double click to open that file, and it should prompt you for the password.

If you want to remove the password, use the same process as above, but leave the password field blank, then save the document again.

Keep in mind – this level of protection is not all that strong. Someone with a reasonable level of expertise could most likely get past that password protection. But for a lot of people, this simple password protection is sufficient.

The post How to password protect a Word document first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Word document — How to password protect a Word document Feb 15, 2021
Show notes

Do you have information in a Word document that you don’t want anyone else to see? Here’s how to put a password on it.

Some of my clients store all of their account passwords in a Word document. Some people use a Word doc to keep track of their medical information, or perhaps their bank account details. If you have private information of any kind in a Word document, it might be a good idea to add a password to that document so that it doesn’t get seen by anyone else.

And it turns out, adding a password to a Word file is pretty easy:

Open the document, then click File:

Next, in the left column, click on Info. Then, under “Protect Document” click the drop-down menu and choose “Encrypt with Password”:

Now you are presented with a window to enter the password you want to use for this file:

You enter the password, then it will prompt you to enter it again to confirm. Then you just Save the document and close it.

Now you can test it – double click to open that file, and it should prompt you for the password.

If you want to remove the password, use the same process as above, but leave the password field blank, then save the document again.

Keep in mind – this level of protection is not all that strong. Someone with a reasonable level of expertise could most likely get past that password protection. But for a lot of people, this simple password protection is sufficient.

The post How to password protect a Word document first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

bad software permission — Should you ever allow a bad program to make changes to your PC? Feb 01, 2021
Show notes

Do you think there’s a time when a bad program requests permission to make changes to your computer, and you should allow it?

This question came in from Jerry, in Minnesota –

Hi Scott, I’m a long time subscriber. We’ve “talked” in the past about your laptops and a couple other things. Here’s a Computer Tutor topic for the future…I hope. I have the Slimware cookie or whatever that keeps its window popping up. The solution appears to be to uninstall it. However, one of the first steps in the uninstall asks me if I want to allow this thing to make changes to my computer. That just sounds like a very bad idea. What do you say to that? Thanks, and I hope you find this worthy of a Monday post. Sooner rather than later I hope!

Thank you,
Jerry

Loretto, Minnesota (near Minneapolis)

Great question, Jerry!

Logically, it makes complete sense to have concerns about this. Why would you let a known bad or malicious program make changes to your computer. Seems like that would be similar to letting a car thief borrow your car, or giving a scammer your credit card number. It just seems unwise, from a security standpoint.

But there is an exception!

When you realize a program is unwanted, the next step of course is to remove it from your computer. In most cases, this means you go to Control Panel, where you can look in the “Programs and Features” category to see a list of the programs installed on your computer. Then you can do a right click on the one you want to remove, and choose the option to “Uninstall”.

But then, you’ll likely get this pop-up alert:

And though it may go against your safety concerns and your intuition, the correct answer is “Yes”.

That’s because the change for which it’s requesting permission it to uninstall itself. And of course since that’s the whole goal of this operation, you want it to be able to do that. If you say “No”, then the operation will stop and the program will still be installed and able to run.

So, when you’re trying to uninstall a program and it asks you for permission to make changes, the correct thing is to allow that to happen. Once that “change” has been made, the program should be gone. At least, in theory. Some malicious programs make it seem like they’re going away, but they’re really sticking around. If you have a program that won’t uninstall, contact me. We’ll force it out!

The post Should you ever allow a bad program to make changes to your PC? first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

permission alert — Should you ever allow a bad program to make changes to your PC? Feb 01, 2021
Show notes

Do you think there’s a time when a bad program requests permission to make changes to your computer, and you should allow it?

This question came in from Jerry, in Minnesota –

Hi Scott, I’m a long time subscriber. We’ve “talked” in the past about your laptops and a couple other things. Here’s a Computer Tutor topic for the future…I hope. I have the Slimware cookie or whatever that keeps its window popping up. The solution appears to be to uninstall it. However, one of the first steps in the uninstall asks me if I want to allow this thing to make changes to my computer. That just sounds like a very bad idea. What do you say to that? Thanks, and I hope you find this worthy of a Monday post. Sooner rather than later I hope!

Thank you,
Jerry

Loretto, Minnesota (near Minneapolis)

Great question, Jerry!

Logically, it makes complete sense to have concerns about this. Why would you let a known bad or malicious program make changes to your computer. Seems like that would be similar to letting a car thief borrow your car, or giving a scammer your credit card number. It just seems unwise, from a security standpoint.

But there is an exception!

When you realize a program is unwanted, the next step of course is to remove it from your computer. In most cases, this means you go to Control Panel, where you can look in the “Programs and Features” category to see a list of the programs installed on your computer. Then you can do a right click on the one you want to remove, and choose the option to “Uninstall”.

But then, you’ll likely get this pop-up alert:

And though it may go against your safety concerns and your intuition, the correct answer is “Yes”.

That’s because the change for which it’s requesting permission it to uninstall itself. And of course since that’s the whole goal of this operation, you want it to be able to do that. If you say “No”, then the operation will stop and the program will still be installed and able to run.

So, when you’re trying to uninstall a program and it asks you for permission to make changes, the correct thing is to allow that to happen. Once that “change” has been made, the program should be gone. At least, in theory. Some malicious programs make it seem like they’re going away, but they’re really sticking around. If you have a program that won’t uninstall, contact me. We’ll force it out!

The post Should you ever allow a bad program to make changes to your PC? first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Deep web — What is the Deep Web? Jan 18, 2021
Show notes

You’ve probably heard the terms “Deep Web” and “Dark Web”. They are not the same thing.

In general, there are 3 internets, or 3 “webs”.

The first one is often referred to as the Clear Web. It’s also called the Surface Web. This is the internet that most people use every day – Google searches, reading blogs, watching YouTube videos, seeing what’s on a website. The Clear Web consists of the stuff that anyone can access with a regular web browser such as Chrome. It’s content that’s available to the public. This is, of course, the most popular web as it’s something just about everyone uses.

The second one is the Deep Web. Most likely, you have used the Deep Web as well. It consists of content that is hidden – and “hidden” can mean different things. The content might be your online bank account, and of course that is hidden by your password. The general public can’t go to your bank’s website and see your personal account, because it’s in the Deep Web and requires your password. Same thing for your Facebook account – only you can log in and post things on your Facebook account. This also applies to online forums where you have to register in order to post something. And it’s becoming more common to see newspapers put their content on the Deep Web, behind a paywall. This information is still accessible, but only to those authorized to see it.

The third web is the Dark Web. If you think about the internet in general as a big city, the Dark Web would be considered a really bad neighborhood. It’s not a place you want to go. This is where most of the illegal online activity takes place, including:

buying and selling illegal drugs

buying and selling of malware and viruses

terrorist forums

pedophile groups

So you might be thinking – if the authorities know that all of this takes place on the Dark Web, why don’t they just go there and find these people and arrest them? Well, it’s not that easy, for a couple of reasons:

The Invisible Internet Project provides hosting of this content anonymously. So the servers that store the information cannot be accessed (at least not through traditional methods).

The Onion Routing project allows people to access the internet anonymously. They do this using a special web browser (called the Tor browser), which hides your IP address. Your connection bounces around at points all over the world before it actually lands on the server with the illegal content – so there’s no way to trace that access back to you.

And of course, most of the buying and selling on the Dark Web is done using cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin – which is also essentially anonymous.

So, you use the Clear Web probably every day, and you probably use the Deep Web fairly often. But I’ll bet you haven’t accessed the Dark Web. I haven’t either – and I really don’t have any plans to.

The post What is the Deep Web? first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

listen to my podcast in Apple Podcasts — What is the Deep Web? Jan 18, 2021
Show notes

You’ve probably heard the terms “Deep Web” and “Dark Web”. They are not the same thing.

In general, there are 3 internets, or 3 “webs”.

The first one is often referred to as the Clear Web. It’s also called the Surface Web. This is the internet that most people use every day – Google searches, reading blogs, watching YouTube videos, seeing what’s on a website. The Clear Web consists of the stuff that anyone can access with a regular web browser such as Chrome. It’s content that’s available to the public. This is, of course, the most popular web as it’s something just about everyone uses.

The second one is the Deep Web. Most likely, you have used the Deep Web as well. It consists of content that is hidden – and “hidden” can mean different things. The content might be your online bank account, and of course that is hidden by your password. The general public can’t go to your bank’s website and see your personal account, because it’s in the Deep Web and requires your password. Same thing for your Facebook account – only you can log in and post things on your Facebook account. This also applies to online forums where you have to register in order to post something. And it’s becoming more common to see newspapers put their content on the Deep Web, behind a paywall. This information is still accessible, but only to those authorized to see it.

The third web is the Dark Web. If you think about the internet in general as a big city, the Dark Web would be considered a really bad neighborhood. It’s not a place you want to go. This is where most of the illegal online activity takes place, including:

buying and selling illegal drugs

buying and selling of malware and viruses

terrorist forums

pedophile groups

So you might be thinking – if the authorities know that all of this takes place on the Dark Web, why don’t they just go there and find these people and arrest them? Well, it’s not that easy, for a couple of reasons:

The Invisible Internet Project provides hosting of this content anonymously. So the servers that store the information cannot be accessed (at least not through traditional methods).

The Onion Routing project allows people to access the internet anonymously. They do this using a special web browser (called the Tor browser), which hides your IP address. Your connection bounces around at points all over the world before it actually lands on the server with the illegal content – so there’s no way to trace that access back to you.

And of course, most of the buying and selling on the Dark Web is done using cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin – which is also essentially anonymous.

So, you use the Clear Web probably every day, and you probably use the Deep Web fairly often. But I’ll bet you haven’t accessed the Dark Web. I haven’t either – and I really don’t have any plans to.

The post What is the Deep Web? first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

The world’s largest online library Jan 04, 2021
Show notes

Almost any book you can think of – available online for free. Same as your local library.

If you have a library card for your local library, you probably already know you can borrow digital books. You just need to create an account using an app called Libby, and that allows you to access lots of digital books that are available right there at your local library. And of course, all of this costs you nothing since it it part of the services at the library. It’s really pretty amazing, since you can borrow and read even recent, popular books. Books that if purchased, you might pay $10 or $20 for. But since it’s through the library, you don’t pay anything.

But there’s an online library that’s available to just about anyone – and this takes borrowing digital books to a whole new level.

It’s called Z-Library. You can view it at https://b-ok.cc/ (not sure what that domain name stands for though).

If you thought your local library had a lot of digital books available for download, you’re in for a big fat surprise when you check out Z-Library. As I write this, there are currently over 5.9 MILLION books available there for download.

If you’re looking for a specific book, you can most likely search for it and download it without even registering for an account. You’re allowed up to 5 downloads per day without registering.

If you create a free account with your email address and a password, that increases your download limit to 10 e-books per day, and a faster download speed. But this only allows you to download and read books on your computer. Still, for some people that’s fine. I mean, how many people read more than 10 books a day?

But if you really want all the features, you can get a Premium Plan. To get a Premium Plan, you can donate as little as $1. That allows you to have digital books sent to your Kindle, and the downloads are free of any ads (the free accounts have advertisements).

Beyond that, there are additional benefits if you pay more. But you can always choose how much you want to pay.

If you pay $1 to $4.99, you get all the extra features but you are still limited to 10 downloads per day.

If you need more than 10 downloads a day, you can choose to pay more (but it’s still really cheap).

You’ll see the pricing structure listed after you create your free account with your email address.

Libraries have always been an incredible local resource. To give you an idea on how this compares to purchase, I looked up the complete set of Harry Potter books on Amazon. The Kindle version is $62.99:

But at Z-Library, you can just click to download the whole thing to your computer. Or pay a little bit of money, and have them sent to your Kindle e-reader:

If you’re wondering if they have a particular book you want, just go to the website and do a search on the title. With almost 6 million books to choose from, there’s a very good chance you’ll find it available.

So if you’re planning to make a New Year’s resolution to read more books, the Z-Library could play a big role in making that happen!

The post The world’s largest online library first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Harry Potter Set — The world’s largest online library Jan 04, 2021
Show notes

Almost any book you can think of – available online for free. Same as your local library.

If you have a library card for your local library, you probably already know you can borrow digital books. You just need to create an account using an app called Libby, and that allows you to access lots of digital books that are available right there at your local library. And of course, all of this costs you nothing since it it part of the services at the library. It’s really pretty amazing, since you can borrow and read even recent, popular books. Books that if purchased, you might pay $10 or $20 for. But since it’s through the library, you don’t pay anything.

But there’s an online library that’s available to just about anyone – and this takes borrowing digital books to a whole new level.

It’s called Z-Library. You can view it at https://b-ok.cc/ (not sure what that domain name stands for though).

If you thought your local library had a lot of digital books available for download, you’re in for a big fat surprise when you check out Z-Library. As I write this, there are currently over 5.9 MILLION books available there for download.

If you’re looking for a specific book, you can most likely search for it and download it without even registering for an account. You’re allowed up to 5 downloads per day without registering.

If you create a free account with your email address and a password, that increases your download limit to 10 e-books per day, and a faster download speed. But this only allows you to download and read books on your computer. Still, for some people that’s fine. I mean, how many people read more than 10 books a day?

But if you really want all the features, you can get a Premium Plan. To get a Premium Plan, you can donate as little as $1. That allows you to have digital books sent to your Kindle, and the downloads are free of any ads (the free accounts have advertisements).

Beyond that, there are additional benefits if you pay more. But you can always choose how much you want to pay.

If you pay $1 to $4.99, you get all the extra features but you are still limited to 10 downloads per day.

If you need more than 10 downloads a day, you can choose to pay more (but it’s still really cheap).

You’ll see the pricing structure listed after you create your free account with your email address.

Libraries have always been an incredible local resource. To give you an idea on how this compares to purchase, I looked up the complete set of Harry Potter books on Amazon. The Kindle version is $62.99:

But at Z-Library, you can just click to download the whole thing to your computer. Or pay a little bit of money, and have them sent to your Kindle e-reader:

If you’re wondering if they have a particular book you want, just go to the website and do a search on the title. With almost 6 million books to choose from, there’s a very good chance you’ll find it available.

So if you’re planning to make a New Year’s resolution to read more books, the Z-Library could play a big role in making that happen!

The post The world’s largest online library first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Facebook — Should you hide your Facebook friends list? YES – here’s how Dec 21, 2020
Show notes

There are good reasons for hiding your list of Facebook friends on your Facebook public profile.

You’ve seen those posts from your Facebook friends:

“I’ve been hacked! If you get a friend request from me, it’s a fake!”

But, as I’ve written before, this is not a “hack”. Their Facebook account has not been compromised. The scammer has just created a new Facebook account, using your friend’s name and profile picture, and they’re pretending to be your friend. The plan for this scam is that they will send friend requests to the people you are already friends with, and some of those friends will just blindly accept (even though you’re already friends). Then they will try to scam your friends, posing as you in order to take advantage of their trust.

And THAT’S why your list of Facebook friends should be hidden from public view. If the scammer sees that he cannot find out who your friends are and try to contact them, he’ll move on to another Facebook profile to run his little scheme. So, having your Facebook friends hidden saves you AND your friends the hassle of dealing with it.

Here’s how you hide your list of friends. (This is how you do it in Chrome, on a desktop/laptop computer. The process on your phone may look different.)

Go to Facebook, and click the little triangle in the top right corner. Then, click on “Settings and Privacy”:

In the next window, click on Settings:

In the next window, look in the column on the left and click on Privacy:

Now look out to the middle part of that page, and find the section called “How People Find and Contact you”. You’ll see an option named “Who can see your friends list?” – click to Edit that setting:

In the drop-down menu, choose “Only me”:

Now just click “Close” over on the right hand side, and you’re done. There’s no “Save” button needed – Facebook has already saved your preferences.

Now, no one can see your list of Facebook friends except you.

The post Should you hide your Facebook friends list? YES – here’s how first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Facebook Settings and Privacy — Should you hide your Facebook friends list? YES – here’s how Dec 21, 2020
Show notes

There are good reasons for hiding your list of Facebook friends on your Facebook public profile.

You’ve seen those posts from your Facebook friends:

“I’ve been hacked! If you get a friend request from me, it’s a fake!”

But, as I’ve written before, this is not a “hack”. Their Facebook account has not been compromised. The scammer has just created a new Facebook account, using your friend’s name and profile picture, and they’re pretending to be your friend. The plan for this scam is that they will send friend requests to the people you are already friends with, and some of those friends will just blindly accept (even though you’re already friends). Then they will try to scam your friends, posing as you in order to take advantage of their trust.

And THAT’S why your list of Facebook friends should be hidden from public view. If the scammer sees that he cannot find out who your friends are and try to contact them, he’ll move on to another Facebook profile to run his little scheme. So, having your Facebook friends hidden saves you AND your friends the hassle of dealing with it.

Here’s how you hide your list of friends. (This is how you do it in Chrome, on a desktop/laptop computer. The process on your phone may look different.)

Go to Facebook, and click the little triangle in the top right corner. Then, click on “Settings and Privacy”:

In the next window, click on Settings:

In the next window, look in the column on the left and click on Privacy:

Now look out to the middle part of that page, and find the section called “How People Find and Contact you”. You’ll see an option named “Who can see your friends list?” – click to Edit that setting:

In the drop-down menu, choose “Only me”:

Now just click “Close” over on the right hand side, and you’re done. There’s no “Save” button needed – Facebook has already saved your preferences.

Now, no one can see your list of Facebook friends except you.

The post Should you hide your Facebook friends list? YES – here’s how first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

Adobe Flash — What should you do with Adobe Flash Player? Dec 07, 2020
Show notes

You might see a notice pop up on your computer that Adobe Flash Player is being discontinued, and asking if you want to uninstall it from your computer. Here’s what to do.

I’ve had several clients ask me recently about this message they’ve gotten on their computer:

The questions that come up…

What is Flash?

Do I need it?

Should I uninstall it?

What is Flash? Flash is a programming language that used to be very common. Websites used it to display some of their content, such as animated images or games. An example of this is the original Facebook game of Farmville – remember when all your friends were always talking about playing that game? It’s actually still played by a lot of people, but that will end at the end of this year when Zynga (the company that owns Farmville) ends it. Only the original Farmville is being discontinued – newer versions will still be available, since they don’t use the Flash technology.

The end of Flash has actually been on the horizon for a while. Adobe announced the “end of life” for Flash over two years ago, to give enough time for websites to change over to its replacement (HTML 5). And why is it going away? Because of all the security problems it causes. Of all the malware in existence right now, about HALF of it is due to security issues in Flash. It’s really bad.

Do you need Flash? No. The vast majority of websites have already switched over to the much safer HTML 5, and you probably didn’t even notice. There are still a few sites that use Flash to display content, but it’s becoming pretty rare now. And those sites are going to have a big problem after December 31, when Flash no longer works.

Should you uninstall Flash? Yes. There’s a good chance you don’t even have it installed now anyway. I haven’t been installing Flash on new computers and the laptops I sell for at least a couple of years. If you have had your computer for longer than that, you might still have it installed. If so, when you get that pop-up on your screen offering to uninstall the Adobe Flash Player, you can go ahead and get rid of it.

If you have not seen that pop-up and want to make sure you don’t have it, you can go to Control Panel and look at the list of programs available to uninstall, and see if it is listed there as Adobe Flash Player. If you see it, you can go ahead and uninstall it. Or, you can use the Adobe Flash Uninstaller program here.

And if you still play the original Facebook Farmville game, enjoy it while you can!

The post What should you do with Adobe Flash Player? first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

uninstall Flash — What should you do with Adobe Flash Player? Dec 07, 2020
Show notes

You might see a notice pop up on your computer that Adobe Flash Player is being discontinued, and asking if you want to uninstall it from your computer. Here’s what to do.

I’ve had several clients ask me recently about this message they’ve gotten on their computer:

The questions that come up…

What is Flash?

Do I need it?

Should I uninstall it?

What is Flash? Flash is a programming language that used to be very common. Websites used it to display some of their content, such as animated images or games. An example of this is the original Facebook game of Farmville – remember when all your friends were always talking about playing that game? It’s actually still played by a lot of people, but that will end at the end of this year when Zynga (the company that owns Farmville) ends it. Only the original Farmville is being discontinued – newer versions will still be available, since they don’t use the Flash technology.

The end of Flash has actually been on the horizon for a while. Adobe announced the “end of life” for Flash over two years ago, to give enough time for websites to change over to its replacement (HTML 5). And why is it going away? Because of all the security problems it causes. Of all the malware in existence right now, about HALF of it is due to security issues in Flash. It’s really bad.

Do you need Flash? No. The vast majority of websites have already switched over to the much safer HTML 5, and you probably didn’t even notice. There are still a few sites that use Flash to display content, but it’s becoming pretty rare now. And those sites are going to have a big problem after December 31, when Flash no longer works.

Should you uninstall Flash? Yes. There’s a good chance you don’t even have it installed now anyway. I haven’t been installing Flash on new computers and the laptops I sell for at least a couple of years. If you have had your computer for longer than that, you might still have it installed. If so, when you get that pop-up on your screen offering to uninstall the Adobe Flash Player, you can go ahead and get rid of it.

If you have not seen that pop-up and want to make sure you don’t have it, you can go to Control Panel and look at the list of programs available to uninstall, and see if it is listed there as Adobe Flash Player. If you see it, you can go ahead and uninstall it. Or, you can use the Adobe Flash Uninstaller program here.

And if you still play the original Facebook Farmville game, enjoy it while you can!

The post What should you do with Adobe Flash Player? first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

MS Word — How to select text in MS Word – VERTICALLY Nov 23, 2020
Show notes

This is a trick you can do with MS Word, that very few people know about. It can be handy in certain situations.

What we’re talking about is being able to select and highlight certain text in a Word document.

You already know that if you double-click on a single word, that word is highlighted (selected). You might also know that if you TRIPLE click, the entire paragraph is selected. (If you didn’t know that, there’s a bonus tip for you this week.) You can click on a certain word and drag the cursor across several words, and just those words are selected. You can even do CTRL + A and select the entire document.

Then, whatever you have selected, you can do whatever you want with that text. You can cut and paste, copy and paste, change the font or size, or even delete it. Whatever action you take, it applies to ALL of the text you have selected.

But here’s a different scenario:

Let’s say you have a Word document, and the text in that document is a list of names. Each line is the last name, then a tab, then the first name. Like this:

For your purpose, you need to select ONLY the first names (the second column) in that list. How do you do that? If you start with the first one, John, and drag to select, as soon as you get to the second line you’ll see that it’s highlighting the whole second line (not just the first name, Elizabeth). What is the fix for this?

Well, for a list that is short like the one above, you could just hold down the CTRL key and double click each first name. That would achieve the goal. But what if this list contained 150 names? or 1500 names? Double clicking on each first name would take quite some time. And there’s a risk – you could spend a bunch of time double clicking and have 89 first names selected, then accidentally click without holding the CTRL key – that means you have DEselected all of them, and you have to start over from scratch.

But there’s a little-known trick that makes this process much easier. With a certain keyboard key combination, Word will allow you to select text vertically.

In our example, you can place the cursor just to the left of the letter “J” in “John”. Then, on the keyboard, hold down CTRL + ALT + Shift at the same time, and drag the cursor straight down. This allows you to highlight ONLY the first names on the list:

Now you can copy those names into an Excel spreadsheet column, or print them, or do whatever you want with them.

The post How to select text in MS Word – VERTICALLY first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

selecting text in Word — How to select text in MS Word – VERTICALLY Nov 23, 2020
Show notes

This is a trick you can do with MS Word, that very few people know about. It can be handy in certain situations.

What we’re talking about is being able to select and highlight certain text in a Word document.

You already know that if you double-click on a single word, that word is highlighted (selected). You might also know that if you TRIPLE click, the entire paragraph is selected. (If you didn’t know that, there’s a bonus tip for you this week.) You can click on a certain word and drag the cursor across several words, and just those words are selected. You can even do CTRL + A and select the entire document.

Then, whatever you have selected, you can do whatever you want with that text. You can cut and paste, copy and paste, change the font or size, or even delete it. Whatever action you take, it applies to ALL of the text you have selected.

But here’s a different scenario:

Let’s say you have a Word document, and the text in that document is a list of names. Each line is the last name, then a tab, then the first name. Like this:

For your purpose, you need to select ONLY the first names (the second column) in that list. How do you do that? If you start with the first one, John, and drag to select, as soon as you get to the second line you’ll see that it’s highlighting the whole second line (not just the first name, Elizabeth). What is the fix for this?

Well, for a list that is short like the one above, you could just hold down the CTRL key and double click each first name. That would achieve the goal. But what if this list contained 150 names? or 1500 names? Double clicking on each first name would take quite some time. And there’s a risk – you could spend a bunch of time double clicking and have 89 first names selected, then accidentally click without holding the CTRL key – that means you have DEselected all of them, and you have to start over from scratch.

But there’s a little-known trick that makes this process much easier. With a certain keyboard key combination, Word will allow you to select text vertically.

In our example, you can place the cursor just to the left of the letter “J” in “John”. Then, on the keyboard, hold down CTRL + ALT + Shift at the same time, and drag the cursor straight down. This allows you to highlight ONLY the first names on the list:

Now you can copy those names into an Excel spreadsheet column, or print them, or do whatever you want with them.

The post How to select text in MS Word – VERTICALLY first appeared on The Computer Tutor.

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