Computer Tips 2018

9-2018 Computer Tips

03-22-2020 Haven't used that old computer for awhile?

On your personal computers, hit the win key, settings, update&security

Check for updates and give your computer lots of time to update.

Check your internet browsers to make sure that they are updated.

Update Edge: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge
In Chrome:  click on the three vertical bullets, choose help, About Google Chrome and you should see a message saying that Google Chrome is up to date.

Next: install this free trial:

Download ccleaner here: https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/download

Download the Professional Free Trial

Run both the browser cleaners and registry cleaner.

Google Search Operators - especially love the map one
https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/

Copy youtube videos'

Skip the hassle to download quickly.
https://www.4kdownload.com
$15 for 3 lifetime licenses 

How to Enable 16-bit Application Support in Windows 10

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/enable-16-bit-application-support-windows-10/

Embeded Links

Most of us know that when we open a new credit card account or have a bank account, there will be emails indicating that there is a problem or asking for additional information-just click on the embedded link.  This is a wonderful way to either give up your account information to thieves or to allow your computer to become infected with malware.  These links also may come embedded in emails that look like they are from a friend and often have very similar addresses. 

If you still have an overpowering need to find out, select the link (do not click on it) and choose copy.  Then go to https://www.virustotal.com or https://www.urlvoid.com/  and past into the search box.  If it has a shortened url: http://checkshorturl.com/expand.php

If there is no indication that the link is unsafe, you are likely safe to then click on it.

Older Software Problem

Recently I was using an older version of Adobe Photoshop and when scanning a photo, I was unable to save it.  I would get messages like “No file is available” which made no sense.  I then thought that maybe the picture folder was locked, so I tried every way to unlock it.  I finally read one of the messages I usually do not read that said Virus and Threat Protection, Unauthorized Changes Blocked, Controlled Folder Access Blocked, …

I learned that now if I use Windows Defender, I will have to go to Settings, Windows Security, Virus & Threat Protection, Virus and Threat Protection Settings, Controlled Folder Access.

Then click on Manage Controlled folder Access, click on Allow an App Through Controlled Folder Access.  Click on Add an Allowed App.  This opened File Explorer and then I had to look in my Program Files folders for the Adobe Photoshop program folder.  I opened that folder and found the file ending in .exe and double clicked it.  It was then added to the allowed Folder Access.  I was back in business.

Microsoft Edge

Will soon be discontinued by Microsoft

Windows 10 Apps

Don’t like those pesky apps bundled with windows 10? https://www.thewindowsclub.com/10appsmanager-windows-10

DNS - phone, computer, wireless router
Internet Censorship: https://labs.ripe.net/Members/stephane_bortzmeyer/dns-censorship-dns-lies-seen-by-atlas-probes

My favorite DNS server:  https://1.1.1.1/

eBooks

To import to Kindle format change the extension of a DRM-free ePub book from .epub to .png.

Have a computer you have given up on and have a Windows CD?

Start over one of these two ways:

Method 1

Use that Recovery Media CD and follow the included instructions:
1. Insert the Window disc
2. Restart your system and continuously tap the F11 key.
3. Once you are inside the boot menu, select to boot from your CD drive (should be label as CD / DVDRAM). There will be a very quick screen flash that say PRESS ANY KEY TO LAUNCH FROM DISK. Make sure you press any key in time otherwise your system will boot straight into Window and you'll have to start from step 2 again.
4. Let the disc load and once you are on the menu screen select your language and press the INSTALL NOW button.
5. It will ask for your product key that you can enter from the side panel Window Product Key sticker
6. On the next screen, please select ADVANCED CUSTOM INSTALL option
7. You should now see all the disk partitions you have on your system. Please select each partition from bottom up and click DELETE.
8. Once you have deleted the partitions, you should have only an UNALLOCATED space which you can select then press NEXT.
9. Window will now start to install on the new hard drive. Wait for it to complete and it will guide you through Window set up for things such as user account / time / Wi-Fi / etc...

Method 2

1. If you have a Windows CD, Make an iso of it using my favorite free program BurnAware free
2. Use the free program Rufus to create a boot disk on a flash drive with your Windows iso added.
3. Boot to the USB flash drive – usually hit f12 on boot to select boot device
4. Go to repair on the bottom of the windows 10 install page and then advanced options
5. Find and go to the command prompt
6. type diskpart
7. type listdisk
8. select the largest disk where windows is installed, usually boot disk 0 by typing, select disk 0
9. Type clean (if you type clean ALL, it may take hours to complete as every sector will be marked 0)
10. Restart and then you should be able to reinstall windows - on reinstall, press the button that says "new" with the star and all of your partitions will then be rebuilt. I usually reduce the size of the listed partition a bit so that there is plenty of room for system partitions.

Disk Cleanup

The Ccleaner application is good although you could save your money and use the built in app Disk Cleanup which works perfectly.

Disk Cleanup shortcut location: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools

1.       Press the windows key

2.       Type Disk Cleanup

3.       Right click on the Disk Cleanup – Desktop App and select Pin to Taskbar or Pin to Start, or both.

    Speed up Old Computer

https://www.tweaking.com/content/page/simple_system_tweaker.html

Using Old Drive for Storage

DiskPart command line systax and parameters can be found here.

Unhide Recovery Partition

1.    Start Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) on your computer and take a closer look at your hard disk. Note the disk number and the partitions.

2.    Start DiskPart and select your disk: DISKPART> select disk 0

3.    List all partitions: DISKPART> list partition

4.    Now, select the hidden partition (see step 1) DISKPART> select partition 1

5.    Type DISKPART> detail partition and verify that it is hidden. Remember the Type value, this will be handy if something goes wrong.

6.    Set the type of the hidden partition to 07. Type DISKPART> set id = 07 override

7.    If everything goes ok, you will receive the following message “Diskpart successfully set the partition ID.“

8.    All done. Type Exit to close DiskPart.

9.    Check the Disk Management to see which drive letter has been assigned to the recovery partition.

List of partition types:

§  07 = Windows NT NTFS

§  17 = Hidden

§  27 = OEM Recovery

https://defaultreasoning.com/2009/05/29/unhide-the-recovery-partition-on-a-basic-disk-with-diskpart/