Author: Raymond

I am Raymond Oglesby, an Information Technology (IT) specialist with 30 years in the field. I have taught Microsoft Applications and troubleshot computers in 15 countries and many States. My career was focused on mainframes and desktops from application development to implementation. I have written hundreds of programs for various architectures. I decided to start a blog to share my knowledge and experiences with you. I plan on updating this blog at least twice a week about smart phone apps to Windows. Please feel free to leave a Comment or Tweet. I would love to hear from you. Do you have a computer tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the app and version that you are using. To help me out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

How to Access your PC From an iPhone or iPad

With the Remote Desktop Mobile app for iOS and Android, you can connect to and control a remote Windows computer to work with your files and applications. This can be done from computer to computer, or you can use Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Mobile tool to access a remote PC from an iOS or Android device. With it, you can view the screen, open files and work with applications as easily as if you were in front of that computer. Let’s explore how to use the mobile app to access a remote computer.

We will first discuss setting up your PC for remote access, then explore what needs to be done on your iPhone or iPad. The steps for an Android will be similar

This is for PCs running Windows 10 and iPhones. The screenshots are for a PC and iPhone. Android devices will be similar.

Dilbert and Mask — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Allow Remote Access

First, open Settings by typing in Settings in the Cortana search bar followed by clicking the app in upper left hand corner or click the Start button then click on the Settings tile (the cog wheel).

Next, click on the System option. Refer to below image:

Remote Access 1 — Access the System option

Now, click on the Remote Desktop option. See below image:

Remote Access 2 — Access Remote Desktop option for the PC

Next, slide the Enable Remote Desktop to the ON position. You will be presented with a confirmation screen. Just click Confirm to enable it. See following image:

Remote Access 3 — Confirm Enable Remote Desktop access

By default, the options for Keep your PC awake for connections when it is plugged in and Make my PC discoverable on private networks to enable automatic connection from a remote device may both be enabled. To view or modify either option, click the corresponding link to Show settings, but you can leave both turned on at this point.

While you’re here, write down or copy the name of the PC as you may need it when you set up the connection. Refer to below image:

Remote Access 4 — The Remote Desktop options for the PC

Remote Access Settings

Let’s check a few more options while in Settings. Click the Advanced settings link and make sure the box for Configure Network Level Authentication is turned on. This feature provides an extra layer of protection to ward off uninvited guests.

If you’ll be connecting to the computer on the same network via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or other means, ignore the section for External connections. The section for Remote Desktop port shows the default port to listen for and accept a remote connection. Refer to below image:

Remote Access 5 — Advanced Settings for Remote Desktop

Allowing User to Signin Remotely

By default, any user who has an administrative account on the remote PC can access it. Assuming you’re using a Microsoft Account or company account to sign into Windows, your best bet is to use that account to sign in remotely.

If you want to give remote access to a different account, click the link at the bottom for Select users that can remotely access this PC. Click Add and enter the user name for the account you want to use. See below image:

Remote Access 6 — *Setup users to access the remote computer*

Access Your IP Address

In the Cortana search box, enter cmd and press the Enter key. The Command Prompt app will open. Next, enter ipconfig and press the Enter key. Copy or write down your IP addresses (especially the IP4 address) for later use. Refer to below image: (Note! I have blanked out my IP addresses for security reasons).

Access your User Account Name

If you are using a local account to sign in for Windows 10 and forgot your User Account name, navigate to the Settings app by:

Pressing the Windows key + I
Click the Accounts option
Click on Your Info

Your User Account name will be in bold under your profile photo. See my info below:

Download Remote Access for Your iPhone or iPad

Now, let’s explore the second part of our remote access, the iPhone or iPad setup.

To access the computer from your iPhone or iPad, download and install the Remote Desktop Mobile app from Apple’s App Store. Open the app, tap the plus (+) symbol in upper right hand, and choose the option to Add PC. See following image:

Remote Access 7 — Add a PC to connect remotely

Setup Remote Access for iOS

At the Add PC window, enter the computer name or IP Address (both copied down earlier, normally this would be your IP4 address) in the PC Name field. Type the account name you want to use in the User Account field and password or leave the field set to Ask When Required if you’d rather enter the name each time for security reasons.

Under the General section, type a name in the field for Friendly Name to add a more convenient label for this connection. Turning on the switch for Admin Mode connects you to a console session to manage a Windows server; normally you would leave this turned off. The option for Swap Mouse Buttons swaps the left and right mouse buttons.

In the Gateway section, you will need to enable and set up the option for Gateway only if your organization uses a Remote Desktop Gateway to secure remote connections. See below image:

Configure Session Features

Swipe down to the Device & Audio Redirection section to enable any features on your iOS device that you wish to use during a remote connection. You’d likely want to direct the Sound to play on this device. You may also want to enable the Clipboard if you plan to copy and paste back and forth. You can also enable the Microphone, Camera and Remote Storage. When finished, tap Save in the upper-right corner. Refer to below image:

Remote Access 9 — Configure device features

Connect to Remote PC on iOS

The computer you wish to access will be displayed in the app. Tap the name and icon of the computer connection you just set up. The first time you try to access the computer, Remote Desktop may ask to verify the connection to that computer. Enable the option for Don’t ask me again for connections to this computer and then tap Accept. You may click the hamburger icon (the 3 dots) in lower left hand corner to edit your entries. See following image:

Remote Access 10 — The connect icon to a PC from your smart device

Remote Connection Toolbar for iOS

You now should be connected to the remote computer. You may now open apps and windows, manage the desktop and do just about everything you can do if you were sitting in front of the PC.

If you get the error code “0x204”, navigate back to the section Setup Remote Access for iOS and enter the IP4 address in the PC Name field. If you still get the error code, then click here on guidelines to resolve this issue.

To help you control your remote session, the app displays a small toolbar at the top. Tap the Magnifying glass icon to zoom in on the screen. Tap it again to zoom back out. Tap the Keyboard icon to display your device’s keyboard. Refer to below image:

Remote Access 11 — The Remote Desktop Connection toolbar

Manage Remote Connections

Tap the middle icon to view all your remote connections. Tap on a different remote connection to jump to another session. This page has its own toolbar at the top. Tap the Home icon to return to the home screen, where you can set up or access another connection. Tap the Hand icon to switch to touch-screen mode and tap the Mouse icon to switch to mouse mode.

Tap the X button in the thumbnail to terminate the connection for that session. Otherwise, tap Disconnect All PCs to end every current session. See below image:

Remote Access 12 — Access Remote Desktop options on the smartdevice

I Would Like to Hear From You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help us out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong: Events and Aftermath

Three PC Performance Tips

There are numerous books, eBooks, social media, online and printed magazine articles, and posts on how to improve the performance of your PC desktop, laptop or tablet running Windows. Out of hundreds of examples, we are going to explore three little know tips on how to speed up your device.

These enhancements involve a couple of Settings examples and one Control Panel tip. There are no Yes or Okay buttons to click, simple make the change and its automatically saved. So, lets get started.

This is for PCs and similar devices running Windows. Screenshots are for Windows 10.

Dilbert and Server — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Adjusting Your Restart Settings

First, we are going to open the Settings dialog for changing our Sign-in Privacy option to improve performance. There are three ways to open Settings on your device:

Navigate to the Settings app by clicking the Start button and then select the Settings option (the cog wheel) in lower left of the Start menu
Type in Settings in the Cortana search bar, located in lower left hand of your screen, then click on the Settings app in upper left hand of the screen
Click the Start button, then click on the Settings tile (the cog wheel) on your display

Now, select the Accounts option. Refer to below image:

PC Tips 1 — Selecting the Accounts option

Next, select the Sign-in options. See below image:

PC Tips 2 — Selecting the Sign-in options

Then, under the Privacy group, turn off the slider for Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device and reopen my apps after an update or restart. See following image:

PC Tips 3 — Turning off the sign-in info option

Tweaking Your Power Plan

By default, Windows 10 uses the Balanced power usage plan that can sometimes hamper performance. We can increase the CPU speed by choosing another plan through the Control Panel.

First, type in Control Panel in the Cortana search bar, located in lower left hand of your screen.

Next, click on the app in the upper left hand of your screen. You will see a similar screen as displayed below.

Note! Your screen may be different depending on how the Control Panel is configured.

PC Tips 4 — Selecting the System and Security option

Now, select the Power Options. Refer to below image:

Then, select the High Performance option. We are not overclocking the CPU, that is a different option outside of Windows. See following image:

PC Tips 6 — Turning on the High performance option

Recovering From a Sudden Slowdown

If your PC is suddenly slowing down, there are two culprits to look at, Microsoft updates and Malware.

First culprit may be Microsoft updates. Open the Settings app by one of the three methods listed under Adjusting Your Restart Settings at the beginning of this post.

Now, select the Update & Security option. Refer to below image:

PC Tips 7 — Selecting Update & Security option

Next, select View update history. See below image:

PC Tips 8 — Selecting View update history option

Your Microsoft updates will be displayed. Now, search online by the update’s Knowledge Base (KB) number (it’s in brackets at the end of each update title) to see if anyone else is having problems about the update from your browser results, PC news sites, forums or social media posts. To view infomation abou the update, just click the blue link for that KB number.

If lots of people are having trouble since that update, then you may need to uninstall it (click on Uninstall updates blue link at top of the screen and find the KB number) or wait for Microsoft to send a fix. See following image:

PC Tips 9 — Viewing your Microsoft Update history

Second culprit may be Malware. You can run a free Malware scan using Malwarebytes. Click here to install and scan your device using Malwarebytes.

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The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong: Events and Aftermath

How to Use Widgets on Your iPhone and iPad

When you swipe right on your iPhone Lock or Home screen, you are presented with the Today View screen. On this screen are widgets from Apple main apps. If you want to customize this screen, you can add and customize widgets from Apple and/or third-party apps. Also, you can rearrange these widgets to your liking.

By default, Apple shows you the widgets from the Calendar, Siri App Suggestions, News, Weather and more. But that’s not all. When you go into the editing mode, you’ll discover that many of the apps that you have installed (whether they’re popular apps or not) include useful widgets.

You can add extra functionality to your iPhone using third-party app widgets. Here are a couple of recommendations:

Dictionary.com for adding a word of the day.
PCalc Lite for adding a calculator.

This is for iPhone and iPad devices. Text and screenshots are for the iPhone.

Dilbert and Work — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Accessing Your Widgets

Lets get started. First, swipe right when you’re on your iPhone’s Lock or Home screen to access the Today View. Here, you can swipe up to view more widgets and tap on any of the arrow buttons (to the right of the widget name) to expand or contract a widget. Refer to below image:

Editing a Widget

If we want to edit a widget, swipe all the way down to the bottom of the widgets screen and tap on the Edit button. See below image:

At the top of the list are the widgets installed on your iPhone, they have a “-“ sign next to the widget name. See following image:

Scroll down till you see the More Widgets listing, denoted by the “+” sign. Refer to below image:

Widgets 4 — Listing of Widges you can add

Adding a Widget

When you see a widget you want to add, tap on that “+” sign next to the widget label. It will be added to the bottom of the enabled widgets list. Simply do this for each widget you want to add. In my example, I added the Bible widget. See following screen:

Remove a Widget

To remove a widget, navigate to the top of the list for the enabled widgets. Tap the “-“ sign left of the widget name, then tap the Remove option. Refer to below image for my removal of the Dropbox widget:

Widgets 6 — Selecting a Widget to remove

This does not delete the iPhone app, only the widget associated with it.

Reorder Widgets

To reorder widgets, tap on the Hamburger icon to the right of the widget name and drag each item to a new location. See following image where I moved Siri App Suggestions to the top of the list:

Saving Your Changes

To save all your changes, tap Done in upper right hand corner at the top of your enabled widgets list. Refer to below image:

Note: Your must tap the Done option, if not, all your changes will be lost.

You will be taken back to the Today View with your saved changes.

When you add new apps, you can go back to the Edit screen and add new widgets to the Today View by following the above steps.

Checking if an App Has a Widget

To see if a widget is available for an app, press and hold the app icon. If it supports widgets, you will see the Add Widget link. Tap on it to add the widget to the bottom of Today View screen. See following image where I added back the Dropbox widget:

Widgets 9 — Checking if your app has a Widget

As a confirmation, the Add Widget link will be replaced with a check mark. Refer to below image:

Widgets 10 — Confirming your Widget has been added

That’s it. You have learned how to add, remove and rearrange your iPhone widgets. The process is similar for an iPad.

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How to Fix a Detected Hard Disk Problem

So, how do you fix the Windows detected a hard disk problem error in your PC? We are going to look at two ways to resolve this error.

Note! It is recommended to exit all running programs. Also, you may want to backup your important documents and files to an external drive or cloud storage.

This for for the Windows 10 operating system, other versions will be similar.

Dilbert and Science — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

How to Check Your Hard Drive Status

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Open a Command Prompt

First, we have to open an administrative Command Prompt by using the Start menu. Click Start, type command in the Cortana search bar and you’ll see the Command Prompt menu options on the right. Now, just click the Run as administrator option. Refer to below image:

HD Problem 1 — The Command Prompt option to run as administrator

If you get the User Account Control dialog box, just click the Yes button.

Using the System File Checker Utility

To preview the available options in using this utility, type in sfc help and press Enter. See below image:

HD Problem 2 — The help screen for System File Checkder

We are going to opt in for the scannow option. Now, type in sfc /scannow and press Enter. This may take a little while, so be patient. Before you close this Command Prompt window, ensure that it is 100% complete. See following image for a result similar to yours:

HD Problem 3 — The result of running System File Checker

This option will scan all protected system files and replace all corrupted files with a backup copy. After the process is 100% finished, exit the Command Prompt, restart your machine and see if the problem is resolved. Notice, I had corrupted files that the utility resolved.

If you are still experiencing problems, lets try the second method to fix the error.

Using the Check Disk Utility

To preview the available options in using this utility, first open the Command Prompt and select the Run as administrator option as noted in the first image above. Then type in help chkdsk and press Enter. See below image:

HD Problem 4 — The help screen for Check Disk Utility

First, lets scan your main volume, or drive C. Type in chkcsk C: /scan and press Enter. Refer to below image for results similar to yours:

HD Problem 6 — Running a scan of a hard drive partition

If the scan shows no errors, then you are finished and your hard drive should be funcational. If not, we are going to opt in for several options as follows:

/f – fixes errors on the selected volume

/r – locates bad sectors and recovers readable information

/x – forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. Imples using the /f option.

Now, type in chkdsk C: /f/r/x and press the Enter key.

You may receive the following screen denoting that chkdsk needs to run after a restart. If so, respond with a y, exit the Command Prompt and restart your device. See below image:

HD Problem 5 — Repairing a hard drive partition using Check Disk Utility after a restart

If you need to check and fix a hard drive problem on other partitions, replace the drive letter C: with those partition letter (s).

Getting Rid of the Hard Disk Failure Message

Sometimes the message Windows detected a hard disk problem pops up even when there are no errors with the hard disk. In order to not be annoyed by this, you can follow the steps below to disable it.

First, open the Run dialog box by pressing Windows+R key. Then type in gpedit.msc and click OK. Refer to below image:

HD Problem 7 — Starting the Group Policy Editor using the Run command

Next, head to Administrative Templates > System > Troubleshooting and Diagnostics > Disk Diagnostics. Then double-click on Disk Diagnostics: Configure execution level on the right pane. See below image:

HD Problem 8 — Finding the error message location for detected hard drive error

Now, click on Disabled option and click OK. See following image:

HD Problem 9 — Diabling the hard drive error detected message.

Finally, exit the dialog box and restart your PC. Your hard drive should now be fixed. If the error message no longer appears, navigate back to the image above and click the Enabled option, then exit and restart your machine. Congratulations, you are finished. Please feel free to share this post! One way to share is via Twitter, as mentioned below.

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— Raymond Oglesby (@RaymondOglesby2) December 4, 2020

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The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong: Events and Aftermath

How to Turn Off AutoFit Table Columns Feature in Word

Microsoft Word will auto adjust table column widths to fit the content you are entering. This is the default setting for a Word table. There are times you may not want this, instead, you want to control the column widths.

The default setting may push the table beyond the right margin or a column widens unnecessarily.

So, let’s see how to turn off AutoFit option and do table adjustments yourself.

This is for Office 365 Microsoft Word on PCs, Macs and similar platforms. Other versions of Word will be similar.

Dilbert and Security — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Turn Off AutoFit Feature

To turn off this feature, first, place your cursor anywhere in the table you want to change.

Next, go to the Layout tab located in right hand side, not to be confused with the other Layout tab to the left side of the screen. Note! This option only appears when you are in a table. Refer to below image:

Now, click AutoFit and select the Fixed Column Width option. See below image:

You can now drag the column borders to your desired width. The column borders you set will stay that way even if you enter longer text into them. See following image:

Now, you can control Word’s table column widths. That’s it.

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How to Show Explorer’s Preview Pane in Windows 10

It is easy to preview files without opening them in Windows 10, thanks to the Preview Pane feature in File Explorer. You can see thumbnails of most images, videos, audio files and some text-based documents. Lets see how to do this.

You may have heard about a security flaw in using the preview pane, but that was fixed in Windows 10 update released on April 14, 2020. If you have the latest updates, it’s safe to use.

This is for Windows 10 operating system

Dilbert and Hoarding — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Opening File Explorer

There are at least three ways to access the File Explorer:

Open File Explorer by pressing Windows+E
Click the Explorer folder icon in your taskbar
Click the Explorer option in your Start menu

Accessing the Preview Pane

In the menu bar at the top of the File Explorer window, click View. See below image:

File Explorer Preview 1 — Selecting the View option

Find Preview pane option in the upper-left of the toolbar and click on it. Refer to below image:

File Explorer Preview 2 — Selecting the Preview pane option

The Preview pane will be highlighted and is now activated. Navigate the File Explorer to a folder that has documents you’d like to preview. When you select a file, you will see its preview thumbnail in the right side of the window. See following image:

File Explorer Preview 3 — The results of Previw pane option displayed on the right

Accessing the Details Pane

File Explorer also has a related feature called Details Pane. To turn it on, click View in the Explorer menu bar, then click the Details pane option in the toolbar (it’s right below the Preview pane option). Refer to below image:

File Explorer Preview 4 — Selecting the Details pane option

When you highlight a file with Details pane turned on, you will see a tiny thumbnail (for applicable file types) and some details about the file, such as its size, date created, date modified, etc. in the right portion of the window. See following image:

File Explorer Preview 5 — *The results of Details pane option displayed on the right*

To return to the normal view of File Explorer, first, you have to click on View, then, either click the Preview or Details pane option depending on which one is highlighted.

You also have other options under the View tab to see your contents; like the size of your icons; extra large, large, medium and small, as well as by list, details, tiles and content.

Keyboard Shortcuts

It’s also possible to quickly toggle the Preview and Details panes using keyboard shortcuts. First, open File Explorer, then use the below shortcuts:

Press Alt+P to open or close the Preview pane
Press Alt+Shift+P to open or close the Details pane

That its. You have successfully explored two seldom used options of the File Explorer in Windows 10.

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How to Use the Files App to Share Files and Folders

With the release of iOS 13.4 and above, you can now share files and folders using your favorite share connection. This feature is built into the Files app.

Apple engineers took a long time in releasing this feature. It’s about time. Let’s see how this is done.

This is for iPhone and iPad running iOS 13.4 or higher

Dilbert and Reports — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Sharing a Folder

First, launch the Files app. Navigate to the iCloud folder you would like to share. Next, press and hold the folder until a menu appears. Now, select Share. See below image:

iPhone Files 1 — Selecting the Share option for a folder

Next, select Add People. Refer to below image:

iPhone Files 2 — Selecting the Add People option for the folder to be shared

Now, select a share method from the options like Mail, Messages, Messenger and so on. See following image:

iPhone Files 3 — Selecting the share connection for the folder

Type in your subject and message, if necessary, then select your audience. When finished, Send your message. See below image:

iPhone Files 4 — Selecting the recipient(s) for sharing the folder

Change Access Rights

First, launch the Files app. Navigate to the shared iCloud folder. Next, press and hold the folder until a menu appears. Select Share then select Show People. Refer to below image:

iPhone Files 5 — Accessing the Show People option

Tap a person in the list. Refer below to my list:

iPhone Files 6 — Selecting the recipient(s) to change access rights

You are given two options for Permission: Can make changes and View only. You can also change Who Can Access options for the folder by selecting Only people you invite and Anyone with the link. See below image:

iPhone Files 7 — Setting the access rights

There is the option to remove the user’s access, just tap Stop Sharing and tap OK. See following image:

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How to Use a Virtual Device in Windows 10

In Windows 10, it’s easy to enable and use a virtual device, like a keyboard. This is super handy if you have a touch screen device. There are times when using a mouse or touchpad is inconvenient and problematic with kids or pets squirming on your lap.

This how-to guide shows you how to enable and use the virtual interface built into Windows 10.

This is for Windows 10 operating system

Dilbert and Stock Market — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Enable the Virtual Device

It’s super easy to enable the virtual interface. Just right-click on any open area of your Taskbar and select Show touch keyboard button. Refer to below image:

Virtual Device 1 — View the touch keyboard option

You should now see a keyboard icon in the Taskbar tray. See below image:

Virtual Device 2 — Showing the touch keyboard icon

Use the Virtual Device

To bring up a virtual keyboard, click on that icon.

If you have a touch display, you may now tap the keys with your finger or use your mouse or touchpad for selecting the keys. To close the virtual keyboard, click the X in upper right hand corner. See following image:

Virtual Device 3 — The default touch keyboard

To change the default setting, you can tap or click one of the icons in upper left hand corner. There are three keyboard layouts to choose from, including a full QWERTY keyboard. See below image:

Virtual Device 4 — The QWERTY touch keyboard

You can opt to enable your microphone for the interface dictation or select one of the touchpad options. There is also an option to choose a different language for your virtual keyboard.

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How to Enable Developer Settings to Control Windows 10

Several of the more powerful applications, tools and utilities available in Windows 10 are locked behind disabled settings and a labyrinth of configurations menus. We can reach some of these power tools through Developer Settings. Lets get started.

This is for Windows 10 devices

*Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Access Developer Settings

Click the Start button
Select Settings (the gear icon)
Select Update & Security
Select For Developers

My wifes computer always wants to only install apps from the Microsoft Store. To turn this off, select Sideload apps which allows third party apps to be installed

I suggest you leave Developer mod setting disabled

Device Portal and Device Discovery is to see, configure and manage your PC remotely over a network or USB connection. Unless you have a need for this, leave the features unchecked. See following image:

Win 10 Developers 1 — For Developers screen

To view or change the other features, scroll down the right pane (For Developers)

The File Explorer

Note! In the File Explorer, Remote Desktop and Powershell sections, click the Show Settings blue link to view or change the setting. If you change a setting, remember to click OK at the bottom of the dialog box to save your change.

These options will be familar to power users. The benefits of the settings are fairly self-explanatory. Refer to below image:

Win 10 Developers 2 — For Developers File Explorer screen

Click Apply to save any changes

Remote Desktop Functions

Remote access to a workstation connected to a local enterprise network through a VPN is often required. To enable a secure remote connection, these settings must be enabled. See following image:

Win 10 Developers 3 — For Developers Remote Access screen

Click Apply to save any changes

The Powershell

This allows developers to run special utility scripts that have no certificate associated with them. If you are not running Powershell scripts on a regular basis, its best to leave the setting disabled. Refer to following image:

Win 10 Developers 4 — For Developers Powershell screen

Click Apply to save any changes

While many of the configurationn settings located in the For Developers section can be managed from other configuration menus and screens, in Windows 10 they are conviently located in a central location. In previous versions of Windows, power users had to track down these settings. Now, they are in one place.

I Would Like to Hear from You

Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love hearing from you. Do you have a computer or smart device tech question? I will do my best to answer your inquiry. Please mention the device, app and version that you are using. To help me out, you can send screenshots of your data related to your question.

The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong: Events and Aftermath

How to Send a Message with Google Maps

By using Google Maps you can find the location of a restaurant, store or some other company. How about asking the business a question? In some cases, you can do so through Google Maps. If the entity supports Google Maps messaging feature, you can send a message to that company. If the company responds, you can carry on a back-and-forth conversation; like texting, but instead you are using Google Maps.

To date, this is the most unusual post I have written. Its relatively unknown to the business community. I recommend you try out my example before searching for a business in your area that uses Google Maps for messaging.

This feature is for your iOS (iPhone/iPad) or Android device or whatever smart device supports Google Maps

If you haven’t already done so, download and install Google Maps to your device.

Dilbert Purchasing — *Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS*

Search for a Business

Launch Google Maps
Search for a business you want to use or visit. In my example, I am searching for “Lobster House”. Refer to following image:

Google Maps 1 — Search for Lobster House

If using my example, select the first entry. Refer to following screenshot:

Google Maps 2 — Selecting First Entry for Lobster House

View the Overview Tab

Swipe Up below the map till you see the Overview tab, like the following image:

Google Maps 3 — Overview Tab for Lobster House

If the company supports Google Maps messaging, in the center of the screen you will see a link that says “Contact us now“

Type in Your Message

Tap on this link
Type in your message and tap the Send icon. A pertinent question might be reserving a table at a certain time instead of my example. Refer to following screen:

In my example of the “Lobster House”, they usually respond within a few hours. So, revisit the “Lobster House” for their reply by:

Search for Messages

Searching for the business
Swipe Up to view the Overview Tab
Tap the 3 dots in upper right hand corner. Refer to following image:

Reply to Messages

You will see the following screen. Tap on Message to view their reply. You can then reply back to the business if you need to.

Whats challenging about this feature is finding a business that supports Google Maps messaging. Unfortunately, many do not. But, if a business of interest does offer messaging, you can use this feature to obtain more information about the company or perhaps, setup a reservation.

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The author’s Vietnam eBook on the Battle for Tra Bong: Events and Aftermath

Allow Remote Access

Remote Access Settings

Allowing User to Signin Remotely

Access Your IP Address

Access your User Account Name

Download Remote Access for Your iPhone or iPad

Setup Remote Access for iOS

Configure Session Features

Connect to Remote PC on iOS

Remote Connection Toolbar for iOS

Manage Remote Connections

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Adjusting Your Restart Settings

Tweaking Your Power Plan

Recovering From a Sudden Slowdown

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Accessing Your Widgets

Editing a Widget

Adding a Widget

Remove a Widget

Reorder Widgets

Saving Your Changes

Checking if an App Has a Widget

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Related

Open a Command Prompt

Using the System File Checker Utility

Using the Check Disk Utility

Getting Rid of the Hard Disk Failure Message

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Turn Off AutoFit Feature

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Opening File Explorer

Accessing the Preview Pane

Accessing the Details Pane

Keyboard Shortcuts

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Sharing a Folder

Change Access Rights

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Enable the Virtual Device

Use the Virtual Device

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Access Developer Settings

The File Explorer

Remote Desktop Functions

The Powershell

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Search for a Business

View the Overview Tab

Type in Your Message

Search for Messages

Reply to Messages

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