Software Shilling

It is very common in the tech world, for one company to promote another, in order to boost business and earn commissions. I don’t go around looking for kickbacks, but I see and understand why companies seek referral bonuses and such. I am dismayed to report, though, that HP is now promoting a software that … Read more

Browser Volume Boost

As I enjoy YouTube and TikTok, I struggle with the varying volume levels. Some videos are easily heard, while others are quiet and hard to hear. It’s not that I’m hard of hearing. Rather, it’s that my laptop has very modest speakers, and adjusting the system volume can only do so much. I want to … Read more

Remote Control Scams Using ScreenConnect

Remote control scams are still very common, and I get to help people everyday in recovering from them. It’s pretty straightforward, most of the time: I explain the scam. Before we deal with the computer, the client secures their finances with their banks. Next, we go over their PC or phone to uninstall the scammer’s … Read more

The 2025 Avast Settlement

The antivirus company known as Avast got in some trouble. They allegedly collected and sold customer data to other companies, without getting your permission. The FTC went after Avast, and there’s $16.5M to divvy up amongst Avast customers. So how do you get your piece of the 2025 Avast Settlement? First, please know that this … Read more

Microsoft 365’s Deceptive Price Hike

If you subscribe to Microsoft 365, you may have seen their significant price increase in January 2025. Oh, you didn’t notice? Microsoft 365 Personal jumped from $70/yr to $100/yr, while Microsoft 365 Family increased from $100/yr to $130/yr. If this came in below your radar, that’s because Microsoft did it on the QT. And that’s … Read more

AI Patter Song

I am an artificial form of sentient intelligenceI’ve conversation esoteric, wonderful and meaninglessI hear your fingers typing and I crawl the sites methodical from Amazon to DuckDuckGo, absorbing pathological I’m very much creative, too, with art and photos colorful Assimilating images from pages, I’m inculpable Your legal briefs and poetry and emails all get synthesized … Read more

Divider Lines in Microsoft Word

Divider lines, in Microsoft Word, are something special. Here are a few tidbits that may help you use them. The Basics To insert a divider line in Microsoft Word, press Enter to start a new line, type three dashes and press Enter again. You’ll have a horizontal line across your document. It looks really good, … Read more

Free Email Clients

Microsoft is making more and more changes to its email clients. Long gone are the peaceful days of Windows Live Mail. Mail is also being taken from us, and Microsoft is foisting their “New” Outlook on us as a replacement. “Classic” Outlook users are being offered that same “New” Outlook, but when they take the … Read more

How to Get Wordpad Back

Microsoft, in their inestimable wisdom, has quietly removed Wordpad from Windows. This has been a long time in coming, and a recent update finally nixed it. If you never used this app, this may be no big deal to you. But if you still like it and use it, here’s how to get Wordpad back … Read more