There’s been a lot of news lately about “Google issuing an alert advising 2.5 billion users to change their passwords.” And you didn’t see me blogging about it, because it simply wasn’t true. Around the globe, news media companies chose to be inciteful, not insightful. And I knew this reporting wasn’t quite right, even when … Read more
Downloading Facebook videos, to save and safeguard on your computer, is not easy. You are welcome to right-click on a photo, and use ther Save As function to sock that away. But Meta doesn’t want you to abscond with a video file. If you try the Save As trick, you’ll wind up with a confusing … Read more
For anyone on a Windows 10 computer who also uses TurboTax Desktop software, I have some bad news for you. It looks like the TurboTax Desktop 2025 software will require Windows 11 to run. TurboTax Desktop (for tax year 2025) will refuse to install on a Windows 10 machine. So Windows 10 / TurboTax software … Read more
Get ready to ignore or report any text message about an Amazon Recall. These texts are not legitimate. They are not from Amazon, but from spammers and scammers! Here are example images of the Amazon Recall Smishing Scam: If you receive anything like this, do NOT click any links or attachments in the text! There … Read more
I get a lot of questions about HEIC files. Specifically, clients tell me: “I just received this picture file and can’t open it! I just wanna see this picture of my grandkids…” If someone sends you an unusable photo, this may help you figure out what the HEIC is going on. What is HEIC? HEIC … Read more
It’s said that here’s no such thing as a free lunch. So, of course, the same logic applies to all those spammy emails you get. The ones claiming you won a lottery. Earned a free gift card. Awarded an iPhone. None of these offers is legitimate, even though their logos and senders look real. But … Read more
It is uncommon, but someday your computer may tell you that it is running low on disk space. Using File Explorer or Finder, you can often sniff out some large files to delete and move on. But rarely, this turns into a mystery. Sometimes a drive is full and you cannot easily tell what is … Read more
A PDF handler is just a fancy-pants term for “a program you use to open PDF files.” Perhaps the best-known PDF handler is Adobe Acrobat Reader, but it is not your only option and I no longer recommend it. Adobe used to be the best and safest PDF viewer, but it has fallen from grace. … Read more
In the past, HP would install a variety of software and desktop icons, for you to use with your printer. One app in particular was called the HP Print & Scan Doctor. While many of you may still have and appreciate this fix-it tool, I must now recommend you remove it from your PC. Because … Read more
In January, I blogged about how Windows 10 computers really don’t need to be retired in October 2025. Microsoft will grant a reprieve (stay of execution?), even though Windows 10’s end-of-support date is 10/14/2025. If you missed my first post on this topic, you may want to check it out before we get into the … Read more