Category: Google (Page 3 of 3)

Periods & Plus Signs in Gmail Addresses

July 19, 2021 / / 0 Comments
periods & plus signs in gmail addresses

An email address are generally case-insensitive, that is, it doesn’t matter if you use capital letters or lower-case. But Google has a few more tricks up its Gmail sleeve. Let me describe how you might use extra periods and plus signs in Gmail addresses:

Periods: In any Gmail address, periods are ignored before the @ symbol. So feel free to add periods anywhere in the username portion, if it makes your email address easier to read or understand.

As far as Google is concerned, joedfragmented@gmail.com is the same as joe.d.fragmented@gmail.com is the same as Joe.D.Frag.Mented@gmail.com . But one may look better than another on a resume, while another may be easier to relay over the phone, so choose appropriately!

Plus Signs: Plus Signs are also ignored in any Gmail address, along with anything that comes after the plus sign, up to the @ symbol. That means you can customize your email address with any words you like.

Betsy.NoSpam@gmail.com might be your address, but feel free to use:

  • Betsy.NoSpam+fundraiser@gmail.com
  • Betsy.NoSpam+whitehouse@gmail.com
  • Betsy.NoSpam+amazon@gmail.com

Messages sent to those extra addresses will still get through to you at your normal address. But the Plus Sign info will still be visible to you on the mail you receive. You can use this tool to know when someone is sharing or selling your info. And you can also use this in writing email rules!

Let’s say you give out Betsy.NoSpam+lottery@gmail.com for a contest. And after you didn’t win anything, you noticed a lot of spam coming in, sent to that +lottery-address. In Gmail (or your mail client), you could then write a Rule or Filter to auto-delete everything sent to that particular address.

Preserving a Voicemail Message

February 23, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Let’s say you have a special voicemail message. Maybe it’s critical to a lawsuit you’re involved with. Or perhaps it’s a precious memory from a long-lost friend. If it’s important to you, then it needs to be protected! Don’t take your voicemail for granted, as it can be deleted or lost, like computer data.

If you have a valuable voicemail on your smartphone, please know that you can copy it to other locations, and then back it up. Here are some possibilities:

iPhone users: Tap on a voicemail, and then look for the Share button (looks like a box with an arrow pointing out of it). Tap that Share button to find a wealth of options. You should be able to copy the voicemail to Notes, Voice memos, or even attach it to an email message.

Android users: Tap on a voicemail and look down low for a Send To… option. Tap this to reveal choices for saving the recording to Google Drive, attaching it to a text message or sending it along in an email.

If you don’t see a Send To… option on your Android device, play the voicemail all the way through to the end, and then check again. If your phone still doesn’t offer that option, tap or tap-and-hold on the voicemail and look for pop-up options like Save or Save to Phone.

My preference is to email the audio message as an attachment. Creating an email is an easily-saved item, but also, the attachment is usually a universal MP3 file, which can later be downloaded, saved to a computer, backed up to another drive or shared with any other computer user.

Safeguarding a voicemail sent to a landline is a different ball of wax. Every telephone company is different from the next. Comcast, for example, allows for voicemail web access if you are an Xfinity Voice customer, and you can download/save voicemail files from their website. Shentel, on the other hand, offers no voicemail backup tools. If this becomes important to you, contact your specific provider to ask what is possible with their phone service. Or consider making a re-recording using another device, as described in this article.

Prevent an App from Using Background Data

February 21, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Recently, I got a warning from my cellphone provider that I’d crossed a data usage threshold. My smartphone had consumed almost 2GB of data in a single day. This was exceptional for me, so I did the detective work to figure out what happened.

As it turns out, the Amazon Shopping app was the culprit. It consumed a copious amount of data, during a time when I was outside of my home and away from Wi-Fi. I had not opened the app that day! Since I do not have unlimited data on my cellular plan, this was a concern to me. (Google Fi typically charges $10/GB.)

Amazon Support failed to support me in this matter. Repeated attempts to reach qualified support were fruitless. While they compensated me for the mistake, it was more important that I make sure the app didn’t devour data like this again!

The solution was this: I needed to prevent the app from using Background Data. This would allow the app to continue to function, but only when it was open and in the foreground.

If an app is closed or minimized or left behind for another app, it is considered to be “running in the background.” So in case you ever have a problem with an app using too much data when you are not using it, here’s what to do:

Android users would go to Settings -> Apps & Notifications -> See All Apps. Tap the data-hungry app, then tap Mobile Data & Wi-Fi. Use the slider to turn off “Background Data”.

Apple users would go to Settings -> General -> Background App Refresh. Once there, you can turn off background usage for any app, or ALL apps.

If your cellular plan allows for unlimited data, then this tip may not be a money-saver for you. Except that data-hungry apps may also deplete your phone’s battery faster! So if you ever take background data away from a greedy app, you may also notice your phone stays powered for longer.

Hide Google Meet in Gmail

February 9, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Google really wants everyone to try out Google Meet. So they built it into their Gmail page design, some months ago. Google Meet probably roosts in the lower-left corner when you visit Gmail.com on your computer.

But not everyone uses Google Meet. And some people want that valuable screen real estate back, for their email folder list! So here’s how to remove Meet from Gmail:

  • Open your computer’s web browser and go to Gmail.com.
  • Click the Settings cogwheel icon to the upper-right, and then click See All Settings.
  • Look across the sections headings, and click Chat and Meet.
  • Click the bubble next to “Hide the Meet section…”. (And if you don’t use Hangouts, you can turn that off here, as well!)
  • Click the Save Changes button, and then reload your Gmail page.

If you make use of this tip, you can still use Google Meet. Simply go to the Google Meet website, or reverse these steps to bring back Meet to your Gmail page.

The Google Plus Settlement

August 4, 2020 / / 0 Comments

From 2011 to 2019, Google tried to get in on the social media craze with their Google+ platform. It never caught on, and the nail in its coffin was when it was shown that users’ information was not safeguarded well. Anyone with a Google+ profile may have had their PII revealed to 3rd-party developers.

If you had a Gmail account at that time, you had a Google+ profile. It was created for you automatically by Google! Hence, Google must invite anyone with a Gmail address to enter as a claimant in this class action lawsuit.

The payout will be $12 or less, per email address, and you can consider the details here:

https://www.googleplusdatalitigation.com/

Use the small SUBMIT A CLAIM button to fill out your info, if you want your share of the settlement. If you have multiple Gmails, you are welcome to submit the form again and again, for some or all of your addresses.

Locate Your Device

June 10, 2020 / / 0 Comments
locate your device

If you lose your smartphone or tablet, don’t give up hope. That goes for stolen devices, too. You may be able to locate your device! Android and Apple devices offer tracking tools, built-in to their accounts and devices, and they are free for all to use.

The Tools

On a computer, open your browser and use the appropriate website for your type of phone:

Android (Google) phones: www.google.com/android/find
(Apple) iPhones: www.icloud.com/find

If you are using a different mobile device, download and/or open the appropriate app:

Google’s Find My Device app
Apple’s Find My app

The Details

With either type of locator tool, you’ll need to sign in to the account associated with the missing device. After that, you’ll see a wealth of options:

  • Locate your device(s) on a GPS-style map (or its last-known location before it was powered off).
  • Cause your device to make a loud sound. Your ringtone will play at full-volume, even if you have your phone set to Do Not Disturb!
  • Lock/erase your device.

Whether your phone has been stolen, left at the grocery or just hidden between the couch cushions, I hope you can appreciate these tools’ usefulness. Try them out now to get familiar with them. And bookmark the site you use, so you can quickly return to it when needed.

Google Flight Simulator

April 26, 2020 / / 1 Comment
google flight simulator

Are you a fan of flight simulators? You should know that there is one hidden in Google Earth. Just download *Google Earth Pro on Desktop* and install it to your computer. This is 100% free, by the way! You’ll be able to open the Google Earth program. The Google Flight Simulator is hiding on the Tools menu.

https://www.google.com/earth/versions/#earth-pro

This is not for the faint-of-heart, and you may want to study the controls before your first flight. If you click the Help button before you take off, it’ll give you a run-down of the controls and keyboard shortcuts you need to learn.

Newer posts »

Thanks for Visiting!

Feel free to email me if you have a question or suggestion for a future blog post.

Newsletter Sign-Up

I send out a semi-monthly email newsletter, sign up here for free!

Gratuities

If anything I’ve written has helped you out in a big way, please consider leaving a tip.

© 2024 BlueScreen Computer

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy