I get this question all the time. It’s often accompanied with obvious exasperation or panic. “Where did my desktop icons go?” has an easy fix, and I’ll tell you about it now, so you won’t be too worried if it occurs on your PC. There’s an option in Windows to hide all of the icons … Read more
Windows computers have a lot of built-in protections, to help fend off viruses and malware and more. One of these protective components is called SmartScreen. Microsoft SmartScreen is always watching for malware and phishing attempts, and may pop up at any time, to ask if you really want to run that file. Or it may … Read more
Windows 11 now has a built-in ability to display Live Captions for any audio you are playing. Whether it’s a YouTube video or Facebook Reel or Skype meeting, Win11 can show you captions for whatever speech is coming onto your computer. This can be extremely helpful for those who are hard of hearing, and also … Read more
Microsoft Designer is a new design app that you can use, for free, to create graphics, visual presentations and more. It’s comparable to Canva and other free design tools. Right now, Microsoft Designer is in preview mode and you can only get in by invite. But I put my email on the waitlist and was … Read more
Microsoft has made some changes to the amount of free storage you get with their email and other cloud services. If you are a paid member of Microsoft 365, you probably don’t have to worry about any of this. But free users are in a different boat. The new storage limits on Outlook.com email addresses … Read more
Your PC should update the Windows OS automatically. Same goes for your Microsoft Office software and browsers. But there’s a whole bunch of other programs on your system that may not update without deliberate action on your part. It’s often not strictly necessary to chase down these updates. But if you’re a stickler for updating … Read more
This tip is just clever enough to amuse me, and I hope some of you can appreciate it. On Windows computers, you can create a folder that is nearly invisible. The folder is still locatable, highlightable and clickable, but if you make it on the Desktop, it’s very well camouflaged. First, you would: Next: You … Read more
Microsoft has made their Outlook email client free to download & use on Apple computers. This is just for the Outlook app. If you want Word, Excel or other Office apps, you’ll still have to pay up. Or use LibreOffice. Outlook aims to be the swiss-army tool of mail clients, with calendaring, tasks and more. … Read more
Remember the Control Panel? It was the best thing that Microsoft made to adjust and tweak the way their Windows OS worked. But then, starting with Windows 8, we were forced to deal more with new-fangled Settings Panels, as Microsoft hid away all those classic controls. But it’s still there. To this day, you can … Read more
Microsoft offers a batch of extra tools and utilities for anyone to add to their Windows computers. These “Power Toys” come bundled together as a single free download, and you can get them here or from the Microsoft Store. Some of these tools are basic while others are for advanced users, so breeze through the … Read more