Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Microsoft completely changed the look and feel of the Windows operating system with the release of Windows 8, and it became apparent almost immediately that most seasoned Windows users hated it.
Well, Microsoft eventually took all the criticism to heart and released Windows 8.1 in an attempt to regain some of the good will they had lost, and for the most part I think they succeeded because 8.1 is a vast improvement over Windows 8. [Read more…]
Windows 8.1 still includes the colorful Start Screen that Microsoft introduced as the focal point of Windows 8.
And depending on who you ask, the Start Screen is either the best thing since the discovery of fire or a scourge on all humanity.
Many users – myself included – have discovered that the ‘All Apps’ screen is a lot more useful than the Start Screen since it lists every app that’s installed on your computer instead of just the ones that Microsoft thinks are important. [Read more…]
If you have a spare laptop and webcam laying around your house, you have at your fingertips all you need to set up an outstanding free baby monitor.
It doesn’t have to be a top-of-the-line laptop either. You can easily use one that has been sitting on a shelf gathering dust for a couple of years (as long as it still works).
All you need to do is open a free Google + account to use as the digital “connection” between your spare laptop’s webcam and your smart phone. Here’s how to set it up, step-by-step: [Read more…]
A while back a local business owner asked me if there is a way to move the ‘My Documents’ folder from its default location on the hard drive to a USB flash drive.
His routine was simple, yet time-consuming. At the end of every workday he copied all of his data files from the ‘My Documents’ folder on his hard drive to a 64GB thumb drive so he can work on them some more at home. The next morning he copied them back onto the hard drive.
I told him how to make the change, and now his files are automatically saved directly to his thumb drive regardless of where he happens to be working. Since he is quite happy with the new setup, I thought some of you might be interested in doing the same. The instructions that follow will explain how to set it up, step-by-step, in either windows 7 or Windows 8. [Read more…]
If your PC is running Windows 8.1, your hard drive probably has a hidden recovery partition that you can use to restore your Windows installation if something ever goes wrong and Windows becomes corrupted.
But what if your hard drive fails or the recovery partition itself becomes corrupted and no longer usable? It happens, and when it does it can cause all kinds of heartache for those who don’t have a backup of some sort to restore from.
Luckily, Windows 8.1 users have a very easy way to prepare for such an emergency. All you need to do is create a USB Flash Recovery Drive. Here’s how: [Read more…]