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.
This is a summary of Zoom posts I have blogged about over the past few weeks. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are working from home using Zoom for video/audio conferencing. If you take some time, you can make the video meeting a smooth experience for all participants. The host of the Zoom meeting has the responsiblity to setup and run the meeting. By exploring the following blog posts, you can achieve your goal of hosting a successful meeting, making it easy for the participants to join the video conference and keeping the Zoom troll attacks at a minimum.
This if for a PCs and Macs browsers and smartdevices that support Zoom
Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS
Following are my blog links for a Zoom video/audio meeting:
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
For most users, battery life can last most all day on modern iOS devices. However, you can change some iOS 13 settings to maximize the most of your battery usage.
This is for iOS devices iPhone and iPad running iOS 13 and above. Some tips can be applied in earlier versions.
Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS
Disable Dynamic Wallpapers on Your iOS Device
Dynamic Wallpapers was a fun UI feature that was added to iOS 7, but it drains battery life. If you use Dynamic Wallpapers and experience issues with battery life, you might want to disable the app and pick a standard background image by following these steps:
Open the Settings app
Select Wallpaper > Choose a New Wallpaper > Stills
Select a solid color, then set it as the Home Screen background and Lock Screen background.
Note: Selecting the solid black wallpaper on an OLED screen will cause the device to use less power. Solid black pixels do not use power to display the screen.
Use Dark Mode on Your Device
Using Dark Mode can increase the battery life on OLED devices because it swaps out the white backgrounds for dark backgrounds that use less battery life as mentioned above. To enable Dark Mode follow these steps:
Open the Settings app
Select Display & Brightness
Change the Appearance from Light to Dark
Disable Raise to Wake
Raise to Wake was introduced with the iPhone X as a way to view the Lock Screen Notifications by raising your iPhone into portrait mode. This is a great feature, but it can cause your screen to turn on throughout the day and drain your battery life. To disable this feature, perform the following steps:
Open the Settings app
Navigate to Display & Brightness
Disable the option for Raise To Wake
With this feature disabled, you can still tap the screen to turn it on, but raising it will not cause the screen to turn on.
Disable Background App Refresh on Cellular
Background App Refresh is a great feature in iOS that allows apps to update in the background so that the next time you launch an app, everything is already loaded.
While you shouldn’t disable this feature for all apps, it’s good to review the apps that do use it and disable any that aren’t regularly used so they aren’t wasting battery life.
To check which apps are using Background App Refresh, follow these steps:
Open the Settings app
Navigate to General > Background App Refresh
Disable this feature for any apps in this list that aren’t frequently used
When Background App Refresh is disabled and you quit an app that’s in this list, it will no longer download data in the backgroud; instead, you must open the app for it to download new content.
Background App Refresh has a feature that allows apps to use it only when you’re connected to Wi-Fi, not when you’re running on cellular data. To enable Wi-Fi-only Background App Refresh, complete the following steps:
Open the Settings app
Navigate to General > Background App Refresh > Background App Refresh
Select Wi-Fi instead of the default Wi-Fi & Cellular
Ensuring that apps use Background App Refresh only when on Wi-Fi means it will not use battery-draining cellular data to perform the requests.
Disable Motion Effects on Your iOS Device
Disabling motion effects means that the cute animations throughout iOS and third-party apps won’t be as prominent, but if you can live without them, you can save battery life.
To disable motion effects, perform the following steps:
Open the Settings app
Navigate to Accessibility > Motion
Enable the option for Reduce Motion
Manage Bluetooth Connections on Your iOS Device
If you have multiple Bluetooth devices connected to your iOS device and are not using them, it may be a good opportunity to review the items and remove any you’re not currently using.
Follow these steps to review and remove Bluetooth devices:
Open the Settings app
Select Bluetooth, and tap the “i” next to the connected devices you wish to disconnect
Tap Forget This Device (or Disconnect), if available
You can also turn Bluetooth off completely by following these steps\:
Open the Settings app
Select Bluetooth
Toggle the switch to OFF
Manage Location Settings on Your iOS Device
Location and the use of GPS to track your device for various apps can be a huge battery hog, and iOS 13 includes a new way to manage these settings.
It’s worthwhile to manage your loccation settings in apps to ensure only those that need to use your location have access to do so.
To review and manage location tracking follow the below steps:
Open the Settings app
Select Privacy
Tap Location Services
You should check and control the location tracking for each individual app. Remember that disabling Location Services may hinder the apps functionally.
Place Your iPhone Face Down When Not in Use
This is more of a tip than a setting change. Starting with the iPhone 6, Apple made its iPhones so that if you turn one face down it will keep the screen from lighting up upon notifications, which helps prevent battery drain.
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
Internet trolls are crashing Zoom video conferences and flooding them with inappropriate content. Here are some ways to stablize your meetings and keep Zoom running smoothly.
This if for a PCs and Macs browsers and smartdevices that support Zoom
opyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS
1. Close All Running Apps
Before you start your video conference call or join the on-line meeting, save your work and close all running apps. Too many open apps will slow down your computer while you’re on a video call. This is because the call requires a lot of resources, especially if you’re on a lightweight laptop.
2. Check the Speed of Your Browser
Before your call, use a speed test tool, like Fast.com or Speedtest.net, to test your internet speed. If you’re not getting enough speed, move closer to your Wi-Fi router or try some other tips to boost your Wi-Fi signal. You can also use one of these tools to speed up your internet connection. Minimum bandwidth is 600 Kbps (up/down) and recommended is 1.5 Mbps (up/down). You may need to call your internet service provider and/or upgrade your equipment, which would be the best choice, if your equipment does not meet the minimum.
If you run both programs, you will notice a signifance difference in the speed test. This is due to the time of day you run the test, servers they are using and its location. Hopefully, your equipment exceeds the minimum speed for a Zoom meeting.
Below are my results in running Speedtest for Windows (Note that I greatly exceed the minimum):
Results in running SpeedTest on my browser
3. Test Your Audio and Video
You can also launch a test Zoom meeting anytime at zoom.us/test. This will launch a meeting where you are the only participant (you can invite others). This option lets you test your audio and video even if you don’t have the Zoom app installed.
See the article Joining A Test Meeting in the Zoom Help Center for more information about using the using the Zoom Test Meeting feature.
4. Mute Yourself When Not Speaking
When you’re in a video meeting with a lot of participants, it’s best to keep yourself muted. Only unmute yourself when you need to speak.
This eliminates any background noise on your end. Also, if anyone walks in the room and starts talking while you’re on a call, you won’t have to rush to find the mute button.
5. Never Use Your Personal Meeting ID
Each Zoom user has a personal meeting ID; think of it as your Zoom phone number. When creating a meeting, you can use your personal ID or generate a random one. You should always generate a random meeting ID.
If your personal meeting ID is leaked to the web, Zoom trolls are free to harass you with calls whenever they please.
6. Always Use a Meeting Password
For a video meeting other than a large classroom, town hall or lecture meeting, passwords should be turned on.
Make sure the password is kept safe. Zoom sends meeting passwords out to all invitees when invitations are sent. If you’re worried that someone unwanted may get the password, create the meeting without one set, update the meeting to add a password and send it out to invitees in a separate email or via another form of communication.
7. Set Join the Waiting Room Option
When you enable the waiting room for a Zoom meeting, each user who connects is put in a queue that the meeting host has to approve. If you don’t recognize someone in the waiting room, simply don’t let them in.
To enable this feature, navigate to Settings > In Meeting (Advanced), scroll down till you see the following option and toggle it to the On position. See below image:
Setting Join Waiting Room option
8. Set Meeting Options
Under Meetings > Schedule a Meeting, set the following options:
Video > Host to On
Video > Participant to Off especially if your participates are using older equipment
Audio set to Both
Meeting Options set Emable waiting room to On. Set Record the meeting automatically on the local computer should only be set to On for the host. You don’t want each particpant to be recording and viewing at the same time. If a participate wants a recording, the host can send the video via email or some other form of communication.
Always Save you changes. Refer to following image:
Setting other options
9.Turn Off Screen Sharing
Zoom trolls need to be able to visually take over a meeting to be effective. Preventing anyone from sharing their screen aside from the meeting host stops them from being able to go on the attack.
Under Settings > In Meeting (Basic), scroll down till you see the Show Zoom windows during screen share and set the following options:
Screen sharing, toggle to On
Who can share, toggle Host Only to On
Who can share when someone else is sharing, toggle Host Only to On
Always Save your changes. Refer to below image:
Setting screen share option
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
This post will show you how to allow easy access to your favorite websites. We will discuss adding a desktop shortcut for any website to your Windows 10 Taskbar or Start Menu.
This is for Windows 10 devices
Using Google Chrome
Navigate to the website you want to pin
Click the Menu icon (the one with the 3 dots) in upper right hand corner
Hover your mouse over More Tools
Click Create Shortcut
In the popup menu, change the name of the shortcut, if desired
Click Create. See below image:
Creating Desktop shortcut for pinning
This will create a desktop shortcut. Refer to below image for my techsavve.life shortcut at the bottom:
If you select the option Open in window, Chrome will open the page in its own window.
Right click on the shortcut and either click Pin to Start or Pin to taskbar. Once you have pinned the website for one or both ways, you can delete the desktop shortcut.
Using the new Microsoft Edge
The new Microsoft Chromium based browser works similar to Google Chrome. Yes, Microsoft has embraced the Chrome browser, even the version number is the same.
Navigate to the website you want to pin
Click the Settings and more icon (the one with the 3 dots) in upper right hand corner
Hover your mouse over More Tools
Click Pin to taskbar
The new Edge has a new feature called Launch taskbar pinning wizard. It is located just below Pin to taskbar in the menu dialog box.
Click the wizard. Edge will guide you through a short menu that lets you pin the most popular websites and Microsoft web apps to your taskbar. See below image for the first of the three screen wizard:
The Pin to to the taskbar wizard, one of three screens
Note! The new Edge does not have the feature Pin to Start
The Classic Edge
The classic version of Edge came with the original version of Windows 10. If you have yet to update to the new Edge, then use the following for pinning:
To pin the website to the Taskbar:
Navigate to the website you want to pin
Click the Menu icon (the one with the 3 dots) in upper right hand corner
Click Pin this page to the taskbar
To pin the website to the Start menu:
Navigate to the website you want to pin
Click the Menu icon (the one with the 3 dots) in upper right hand corner
Hover your mouse over More Tools
Click Pin this page to Start
You can now delete any created desktop shortcut(s).
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
If you don’t want to see your own face during a Zoom video meeting, here’s how to hide, unhide and tweak your video settings.
A lot of us used to working in offices have found ourselves working at home due to the outbreak of theCoronavirus and that means a lot of virtual meetings. Users new to Zoom’s desktop app may find it a bit odd when their face appears while speaking. If you want to hide your own video, adjust it so you don’t take over the screen or bring it back once it’s hidden, then this post is for you.
There are several options for hiding and unhiding videos during a Zoom meeting, both for yourself and other. Lets get started.
This if for a PC, Macs, iPhone/iPad and Android devices that support Zoom
Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS
Accessing Zoom Settings
First, fire up Zoom and join an active meeting. Then click on your small profile photo in upper right-hand corner. This will open up the dialog options window. From here, click on the Settings option. See below image:
Accessomg the Settings option
The Video Settings
Once you click on the Settings option, the Settings dialog window will be revealed. Now, click on the Video tab. The below image only shows some of the settings.
Note!The black area on the below screens would show your online video image.
The Video tab part one
The Video tab has numerous options for configuring video in meetings that will change the way Zoom handles all videos in a meeting. The below image shows the rest of the settings.
The Video tab part two
Hide/Unhide a Video
During a meeting, if you wish to hide your video from your own screen to make room for other participants, just right-click on your video and choose Hide Myself. If you want to bring your own video back onto your screen, just right-click on any other user and select Show Myself.
Note! This won’t disable your video from showing up for other participants; only from from your screen.
To disable your own video completely, you can select the checkbox in the Video Settings screen shown above that says Turn off my video when joining a meeting to disable it, or click the Stop Video button in a meeting to temporary turn it off for the video session.
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
There is a way to have a Zoom web client meeting without the participates having to install the Zoom app. We are going to learn how to enable this option to make digital meetings even easier.
Zoom’s web client based system has many of the same features as the desktop app, but for users only needing to join meetings as participants it’s very useful. All a attendee has to do is click on the meeting invite link from the host and the web client will do the rest of the work.
There is a sticky problem in doing this type of meeting. The participtes joining a meeting without the app is not enabled by default. The host needs to turn this default on.
If you want your meeting attendees to be able to use the Zoom web client based system, you’ll have to start by logging into your Zoom account on Zoom’s website.
Note! We are NOT using the Zoom app; rather the Zoom web site program.
This if for a PCs and Macs browsers and smartdevices that support Zoom
Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS
Sign in or Sign up to Zoom
Open your browser and click here to sign in or sign up for Zoom. If the link does not work, with your browser open, type in https://zoom.us/signin in the search field. You will see the following screen for sign in or sign up. For my example, I have already signed up.
Sign in to Zoom web based client program
Once you’ve logged in, you should see your Profile screen:
Your Profile screen
Access the Settings Menu
Click on the Settings menu option. Refer to below image:
Accessing the Setttings
Now, click on In Meeting (Advanced) menu option. Refer to below screen:
Chosing the In Meeting settings option
Join Using Your Browser
Then scroll down until you see the following screen displayed. Look for the option labeled Show a “Join From Your Browser” link.
The Join a Meeting option
Now click the toggle switch to the On position. See below image:
Enabling Join a Meeting option
Schedule a Meeting
If you want to schedule a meeting at this time, click on the link SCHEDULE MEETING in the top menu bar. If you perfer to schedule a meeting later, you may want to set the following options as displayed on the next three screens. Refer to following image:
Selecting Schedule a Meeting option
Options for Scheduling a Meeting
There are two options you may want to enable. Select Schedule A Meeting>Meetings>My Meetings and scroll down till you see the option Video>Host which allows you to record a video of the meeting. Also, at the bottom, checkmark the option Record the meeting automatically on the local computer. You have the option to let the parcipates also record the meeting as well. It is recommended not to enable this option in order to save bandwidth during the on-line meeting. See following image:
Two Options to enable
Additionally, under the In Meeting (Basic) menu option, you can turn on a sound when particpates either join or leave a meeting by enabling the Play sound when participates join or leave toggle. See below image:
The Sound option to enable
Invitation to Join a Meeting
When a meeting attendee clicks on your invitation link to join a meeting they’ll have the option to download and install Zoom or Start From Your Browser. Tell your attendees to select the latter option, install the plugin for your browser and follow the on-screen instructions. Refer to below image:
The participate invitation to Join a Meeting screen
There are fewer options, buttons and clicks required to join a meeting using the web client based Zoom, so hopefully it will eliminate some of the confusion that comes with using Zoom. Remember you are using your web browser to join a Zoom meeting, NOT the Zoom app on a smartdevice or the Zoom program on a PC or Mac.
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
When entering numbers into Microsoft Excel, leading zeros are removed by default. This can be problematic for ZIP codes, phone numbers, credit/debit card numbers and IDs that you type into a cell. We are going to explore some options on fixing this Excel behavior.
If you want to keep a leading zero on the fly, you can enter an apostrophe (‘) before you enter the number that begins with zero. Excel treats the number as a text field. The apostrophe (‘) is not displayed and calculations will still work. But who wants to do this every time, there has to be a better way.
This is for Excel for Office 365 Windows and Mac versions. Other versions of Excel will be similar.
Create the Excel Sheet
Create a simple Excel sheet like the example below:
Excel Sheet for Zip Codes
Setup the Zip Code Format
Select a cell or range of cells to format; in my case G2 thru G6
Click “Ctrl+1” to load Format Cells dialog. Also, you can right click and select Format Cells.
Select the Number tab
Select Custom from the Category list
In the Type box, type in 00000 for a five digit zip code or 00000-0000 for a nine digit zip code. This allows leading zeros to be placed in the cell, you only have to enter the Zip code numbers. This is not intuitive, you think you have to select a format from the list. Refer to the following image:
Setup Excel Sheet format
Using the Special Zip Code Format
You can also click Special, then select Zip Code or Zip Code + 4. In Google Sheets, this special Zip code format is not available, but you can enter the format of leading zeros. See the following example:
Excel Special Zip Code format
Click OK to apply the format. The 00000 or 00000-0000 format is saved in the Type list for future use.
This will only effect Zip Codes that are entered after the format is applied.
You can also format the Zip Code as Plain Text. Anything you enter will show exactly how you typed it in text.
To do this:
Select your data range
Press “Ctrl+1” to launch the Format Cells dialog box
On the Number tab, click Text
What about Zip Codes entries that have more than 5 digits? We can use a Conditional Format in an adjacent column to flag the invalid Zip codes. I used the formula; if the length (cell reference)>5 is True then present an “Invalid Zip” message, if the expression is False, then no message is presented.
Flagging Invalid Zip Codes
Create a column adjacent to the Zip Code and label it Error Message
Set the Conditional Format for the first cell adjacent to the Zip Code. In my example, it is cell G2
Type in this formula, =IF (LEN(your cell reference)>5,”Invalid Zip”,””)
Copy this formula, then highlight a range of cells, then Paste
See the following image for the Invalid Zip message related to cell G2 and G6, both have more than 5 numbers. An important note, Excel lets you enter as many digits as allowed, there is no truncation. The template of 00000 formatting is for adding leading zeros if the number of digits is less than 5.
Flagging Invalid Zip Codes screen
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
If you forget your Windows 10 login PIN, you won’t be able to retrieve it. However, you can change it. If you don’t use a PIN, normally you would signin using a Password. There are other signin options, but the PIN and Password are the most commonuly used.
Using the PIN makes it much easier and faster to login. Before resetting you PIN, I advise you to create a Password Reset Disk.
I was using the guidelines in this post to reset my PIN. I canceled out of the process. That prompted Windows 10 to delete my PIN. I attempted to login with my PIN, but it was gone. Then, I tried using my Password, but I had the wrong Password. After spending an hour or so trying to login and reading help guidelines on my iPhone, I finally entered the correct Password and got past the Windows 10 login screen. In resetting your PIN, DO NOT CANCEL the process.
Even though this post is about resetting your PIN, you should create a Password Reset Disk to avoid the above nightmare.
Windows has a built-in application called Forgotten Password Wizard. This Password recovery tool is what you would use to create your Password reset disk.
This is for Windows 10 devices. To follow this blog post, you will need your Microsoft account Password and Windows 10 login Password.
Creating a Password Reset Disk
In the Cortona search box, type in Control Panel
Open the Control Panel
Click User Accounts
Click User Accounts. Refer to below image:
The Settings User Accounts screen
Insert a flash drive
Click the link Create a password reset disk. This will open the Forgotten Password Wizard. See below image:
Starting the Forgotten Password Wizard
To start, click Next. The wizard will walk you through the process. You will be asked to select the flash drive from a drop down menu where you want to store the reset disk. Click Next to proceed.
Then you will be asked to enter your current Windows Password. Enter your Password and click Next. See following image:
Entering your current Windows Password
You will be presented with a progress bar; once it reaches 100%, click Next, then click Finish. Refer to below image:
Finishing the Forgotten Password Wizard
At this point, you can check for a file called userkey.psw on your designated flash drive. See below image:
Locating your new Password Reset file
You can now remove the flash drive, label it and store in a safe place.
Using the Password Reset Disk
The next time you are locked out of your PC, plug in your USB flash drive and click Reset Password link. You may have to attempt your login a few times before you see the link. Select your disk from the drop down menu and click Next. You will be prompted to type your new Password and a Password hint. When you are done, click Finish.
You should now be able to sign into Windows with your new Password.
Reseting Your Windows 10 PIN When Not Signed In
This assumes you already have a PIN for your Windows 10 login. If not, refer to the section below about adding a PIN. Its best to change your PIN while you are logged on. If you are locked out of your PC and you have a PIN, you should see I Forgot My PIN link on the login screen. If so, click the link. You will be asked to enter your Microsoft account Password and how to send a new code. Once you have the code, input it and click Verify. Enter your new PIN twice and now you can use the new PIN when logging into your device.
Resetting Your Windows 10 PIN When Signed In
Click the Start button
Click the Settings tile (the one with the gear icon)
Click Accounts
Click Sign-in options. Refer to below screen:
The User Accounts sign=in options screen
Click Windows Hello PIN. See following image:
The Windows Hello PIN screen
Click I forgot my PIN link
You will be presented with an Are You Sure screen. Please read the info about resetting you PIN. If you are sure about doing this, click Continue. Refer to following image:
Are you sure you want to do this screen
At this point, DO NOT CANCEL the process. Next, you will be asked to enter your Microsoft account Password. Enter your Password and click Sign in. See following image:
Entering your Microsoft account Password
Now you will be asked to enter your new PIN twice. then click OK. Refer to below image:
Verifying your new PIN
You now have successfully changed your PIN. Simply use it the next time you login into Windows 10 on your device.
Adding a Windows 10 PIN When Signed In
Remember my nightmare story about losing my PIN. I finally got back into Windows through my Password. Adding a PIN is similar to resetting your PIN while signed in. Follow the steps preceeding the first screenshot above, then:
Click Windows Hello PIN. See following image:
The Windows Hello Pin screen
Click the Add button
Enter your Windows 10 login Password and click OK. Refer to below image:
Entering your Windows Password
Now you will be asked to enter your new PIN twice. then click OK. See following image:
Verify your new PIN
You now have successfully added a PIN. Simply use it the next time you login into Windows 10 on your device.
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
Facebook’s new website interface change is not well known. At some point, it will probably be the new standard. The interface is getting a visual overhaul that almost everyone can access. You can now update to this brand new, less cluttered design with the click of a button. If you don’t like the change, you can easily switch back to the classic interface.
This if for a desktop/laptop, Macs and smartphones supporting Facebook
Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS
Enabling the New Interface
Note! This post relates to a PC, other devices will be similar. If you don’t see the new Facebook option then Facebook has yet to rollout the change to your device.
Fire up your device and log in to your Facebook account.
Next, click on the down arrow in the top-right corner of the interface. Select the Switch To New Facebook option. The page will refresh and the new interface design will load. Refer to below image:
Switch to the new Facebook option
A welcome message will appear the first time that you switch to the new Facebook design. Facebook claims that the redesign has faster loading time, cleaner look and bigger text. Additionally, Facebook now includes a dark mode that you can enable whenever you want.
Additionally, this update comes with a user-friendly redesign of the Groups tab and an overhaul of the News Feed. See below image:
The Welcome message for the new interface
Simply click the Next button. You will see the following image allowing you to select how yout interface will look.
Selecting your interface look
Just click the Get Started button. That’s it, you are all set with the new desktop interface. If you aren’t a fan of the Dark mode, you can switch back to Light whenever you like.
Switching Back to the Classic Interface
Once you’ve enabled the new interface, you can always revert the change from your Facebook account’s front page. Just click on the down arrow in the top-right and then select Switch To Classic Facebook. See following image:
Reverting back to the Classic interface
At some point in the future, Facebook may decide to roll out the new design permentally for all platforms. If so, reverting back to the classic interface will no longer be an option.
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
If you’re running iOS 13 or higher, you can directly ask Siri to play your favorite playlist, song or an artist on Spotify. iOS 13+ expands third-party support for Siri which now includes Spotify. This means you can get Apple Music style playback controls with Siri on your iPhone. Here’s how to set it up.
If you already have the Spotify app installed, and you’re logged into your account, all you have to do is start talking to Siri. Say “Play the Beatles on Spotify”.
This is for iPhone or iPad running iOS 13 or above
Copyright Scott Adams, Inc./Distributed by Universal Uclick for UFS
Enable Spotify Access to Siri
As this is your first time using Spotify with Siri, it will ask for permission to access your Spotify data. Simpily tap the Yes button. Refer to below image:
Giving permission to access Spotify
Spotify will start playing the music you requested. You’ll see a Now Playing widget playback control on the Siri screen.
You can also control the Siri access for Spotify from your iPhone.
Open Settings
Select Spotify
Select Siri & Search. See following image:
Accessing Siri and Search
At the bottom of the screen, toggle on the Use with Ask Siri feature to enable Siri access for Spotify. Refer to below image:
Toggle on the Use with Ask Siri
Control Spotify on Using Siri
Once Spotify is connected to Siri, you can use it to play any song, album, artist or playlist. You can also get specific about albums and years of release.
Below are some Spotify commands you can use with Siri:
Play [song name] on Spotify
Play [album name] on Spotify
Play [artist name] on Spotify
Play on Spotify
Play my liked songs on Spotify
Shuffle on Spotify
Play the latest album by [artist name] on Spotify
Play [genre] music on Spotify
Other than these, you can use the standard playback controls in Siri as well. For instance, you can ask Siri to play, pause, skip, repeat, shuffle or go to the previous track. Refer to below image:
The playback control
On your iPhone, you can also open Spotify and see what is playing at the bottom of the screen. See below image:
Accessing Spotify to see what is playing
The following image is an example of using the Spotify command Play Easy Listening on Spotify:
Listening to Easy Listening on Spotify
For now, Siri only supports playback features in Spotify. You can’t use Siri to interact with the app. For instance, you can’t search for something like a song in Spotify using Siri. You also can’t use Siri to add a song to a playlist either.
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
Tech Savvy Life 