Computer Tips Archives - Page 153 of 226

Scam alert: Avoid the ‘You’re tagged in this video!’ scam on Facebook

Posted on February 5, 2020

It seems like a new scam pops up on Facebook every day, and others seem to come and go in cycles.

Unfortunately, one of the most dangerous Facebook scams you’re likely to encounter is making the rounds yet again.

It’s called the ‘You’re tagged in this video!‘ scam, and although there are several subtle variations of it, they all work something like this:

Someone either makes a post on your timeline or sends you a private message stating that one of your friends has tagged you in a video. Naturally, you’re intrigued as to who the friend is and what the video is about, so you click the link to watch it.

After you click the link to view the video you receive a pop-up message stating that in order to see the video, you’ll need to download a software update or browser extension. Without giving it a second thought, you click the link to complete the download.

Congratulations! Your computer is now infected with one or more viruses, trojans and/or other forms of malware!

As always, the only way to truly protect yourself from falling victim to the criminals who perpetrate these scams is to be diligent and use extreme caution when deciding whether or not to click a link. Here are a few tips: [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I prevent notifications from popping up in the lower-right corner of the screen in Windows 10?

Posted on January 22, 2020

Question from Edwin: My old Windows XP computer that I really love finally died and I had no choice but to buy a new computer.

I’d been dreading having to switch to Windows 10 but after using it for a while I’ve found out I actually like it.

But one thing about it really irritates me. I hate having all those notification messages pop up at random times in the lower-right corner of the screen.

Is there any way to turn those notifications off?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

‘Windows Timeline’ is a handy ‘history’ feature for your Windows 10 computer!

Posted on January 20, 2020

You’re probably familiar with your web browser’s “History” feature that allows you to go back in time and quickly load web pages that you visited in the past.

But did you know that Windows 10 has it’s own “History” feature that works a lot better than your browser’s (and is a lot easier to use)?

It’s called Windows Timeline, and it works like a charm!

[Read more…]

Why I recommend replacing Notepad with Notepad++

Posted on January 4, 2020

The Windows Notepad utility is one of the handiest little programs there is, but it comes with a number of frustrating limitations.

But even with those limitations I found myself using it several times a day simply because it’s so convenient.

But no more. I long ago switched to a wonderful free Notepad replacement app called Notepad++.

Notepad++ does everything the standard Windows Notepad does, only better. I won’t list all the great features here, but there are three features that really made it worth the switch for me: [Read more…]