You have some choices but you can’t completely “hide” an app. You can delete an app by a tap and hold on the icon until the “X” appears, then tap it.
The choices are making the app hard to find via a search or using Siri. To do this we are going to turn off some of an app features.
This is for iPhone and iPad
Hide an App
Launch Settings
Tap Siri and Search. See below image:
The Settings screen for Siri & Search
Find the app you want to “hide” from your list of installed apps. I selected the app “Yale Cleaners”. Refer to below image:
My Yale Cleaners app
On this screen, disable all items by toggling them off. The Show App toggle will be revealed; disable this toggle as well. This will exclude the app from all search results and and suggestions screens. See below image:
Disabling all Yale Cleaners searches
Note! The Settings app does not follow the rules. Any app you try to “hide” will appear in Settings and it’s search field.
Find Your Hidden App
To find the “hidden” app, you have to find its icon somewhere among your installed apps to launch it.
Unhide Your App
Launch Settings
Find the app from your list of installed apps.
Tap Siri & Search and toggle on each feature
Tap Notifications and toggle it on. Refer to below image:
Unhide Yale Cleaners for searches
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 tech or smart device 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.
LinkedIn software can be a dauting task to setup and maintain. You should update your LinkedIn profile regularly to attract recruiters, coworkers and friends. Of course, most of us don’t have the time, so we put off this task. If you want to take a little time, you should addrtess fives areas of your profile.
This feature is for your iOS (iPhone/iPad), Android device, Windows 10 or whatever smart device supports LinkedIn
1. Your Heading Statement
This is the short statement that appears below your name. That Heading is what the recruiter’s search for. The Heading needs to say what you do or want to do. It should hit these points using keywords. People who haven’t updated their profile in a while might have their current job title followed by a comma and then their employer or department name. If so, I suggest changing the Heading to some keywords that match what you want to do.
See below image for my Heading as a Blogger: (Note! I used the tips in this post to update my LinkedIn profile for blogging purposes).
LinkedIn Heading statement
2. Updating your Photo
Does the photo reflect who you are today? It would be unwise to visit a recruiter looking completely different from your photo. Of course, you want a headshot photo of you smiling. Put on an appropriate shirt or blouse because it might show up in the photo. You want a photo that will impress recruiters, coworkers or friends.
3. Using Keywords in your Profile
We have discussed using keywords in your Heading. Using keywords in your Skills & Endorsements is also very important. You can use a ton of keywords. Make sure you hit the top words that reflect your experience. Click the “plus” sign in upper right hand corner to add skill(s). Refer to following image:
LinkedIn Skills section
Tap in the Skill search box. Then go thru the aphabet, keying in one letter, ie, key in A, then select your keyword(s); then key in B, etc. through the alphabet to see which LinkedIn keywords to apply. See below image:
LinkedIn adding Skills using keywords
4. Using your Geography
If you are looking for work, it helps to provide a location. Its best to use a general location in a greater city areas, like Oklahoma City/Tulsa metro area instead of a just a single city. This will open up more possibilites for recruiters to locate a matching job.
5. How Open are you to Recruiters?
LinkedIn has a setting you can turn on which tells only recruiters that you are open to being contacted. When you turn on this setting, no one else can see it, only people who have recruiter accountgs. This setting is found in several places in your profile. The setting is labeled Only recuriters.
Go to your profile and look just below your Heading (refer to the first image in this post). When you tap Only recruiters, you are taken to the Job preferences screen. See below image:
LinkedIn Job Preferences
Tap the Edit icon (the pencil in upper right hand corner). Here you can add Job titles, Job locations and select Job types. Refer to below image:
LinkedIn adding Job titles, locations and types
Tap the Only recruiters drop down arror to allow your job information to be shown to anyone using LinkedIn or just Recruiters.
Updating these five areas of your profile will open up more job opportunities and attract more recruiters.
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.
Whereever you go, Goggle is tracking you, especially Google Maps, and archives that activity in your Google Timeline. It is both a blessing and a curse. It can take you down memory lane, but as a curse, it leaves the door wide open to your privacy.
With Timeline, Google Maps can show where you are going and where you have been. Even photos taken and uploaded to Google Photos can reveal your location. You can also share your location in realtime on your smartphone.
If you prefer to keep your location private, you can remove your location history and stop Google from following you.
This feature is for your iOS (iPhone/iPad), Android device, Windows 10 or whatever smart device supports Google
Stop Activity and Location Tracking
Open your Google browser
Log into your account at myaccount.google.com
Select Data & personalization
You can disable what Google can tract and collect from you by managing your Activity controls. To stop tracking, click on the Title and toggle the switch to off. See below image:
Google Activity controls
Warning! Turning off these Activity controls will effect the use of their features.
Delete your Activities
Your activities are kept until you manually delete them (the default). You have the option of deleting all data for the past 18 months or past 3 months.
Navigate to your Google account at myaccount.google.com
Select Data & personalization>Web & App Activity>Manage Activity>Choose to delete automatically. See below image:
Google Deletion process
Select the 18 or 3 month option
Tap Next. See below image:
Google selection of how long to keep your activity
Google will show you what is about to be deleted
Tap Confirm at the bottom of your screen. See below image:
Google confirmation of your activity deletion
Also, you can delete a particular day’s browsing activity by taping the Trash icon next to the day. Refer to second image above.
To select a custom range, an hour or a date:
Tap the Menu icon located next to My Activity
Select Delete activity by. See below image:
Google custom deletion
Choose one of the following options. See below image:
Google selecting your custom deletion
There are other privacy settings you can explore such as Location Services under Settings>Privacy and Security>Location>Location. A set of apps that use Location Services can be toggled on or off. See the following screen:
Google Location Services to turn on or off
Warning! Turning off these Apps Location Services will effect the use of their features.
Go Incognito
The best and easist way to “hide” your browsing is to set the Incognito Mode. This feature allows you to browse without Google compiling history, cookies, site data or form information. Google has extended the feature to Maps and YouTube. Maps will stop tracking your location history; YouTube will no longer track your search and view history.
Launch Google
Tap the More icon in bottom right hand corner (the 3 dots)
Tap Turn on incognito. See below image:
Google setting for Incognito Mode
You will see the following screen:
Google Incognito Mode turned on
To turn off Incognito Mode:
Launch Google
Tap the More icon in the bottom right hand corner (the 3 dots)
Tap In incognito mode
Tap Turn off incognito. Refer to following image:
Google Incognito Mode turned off
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.
Microsoft Edge has a new “crapware” blocker. For some reason, it isn’t enabled by default, and it should be.
The browser can block “potentially unwanted programs (PUP)”, also known as “potentially unwanted apps”. These are obnoxious programs like adware, cryptocurrency miners, malware and browser toolbars, to name a few.
There is a simple toggle to block these “crapware” downloads. Let’s see how this is done.
This is for Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 and Mac versions
First, let’s check what version of Edge you are running. The stable release of Edge is 80+.
Check Your Version of Edge
Stable Version
Open Microsoft Edge
Click the Settings & more icon (the three dots in the upper right-hand corner)
Click Help & feedback
Click About Microsoft Edge
If you have the correct version, let’s enable the toggle. If not, go to Windows Update to check for updates or download and install from this link.
Set the Toggle to Block Unwanted Apps
Click the Settings & more icon (the three dots in the upper right-hand corner)
Click Settings
Click Privacy and services option
Under Services, toggle to On for Block potentially unwanted apps option
Close the Settings screen
You may now Close or Exit Edge
Microsoft Edge will now be more active in blocking unwanted software.
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.
Your photos are off center and you want to fix one or more. The Apple iOS 13 photo editor can straighten a photo. But what if you want more control over the photo. I am going to introduce to you to a free third party app called Snapseed from Google.
This is for iOS devices iPhone and iPad
Either take a crooked photo or select one that you want to fix. See my following crooked photo:
My crooked iPhone photo
Cropping the Photo
Tap the Edit button
Tap the Crop button at the bottom of the screen
The photo will be automatically crop and the perspective will be changed. Sometimes, this is enough. If so, just click Done and your finished. In my case, I had to use the Straighten tool to rotate the photo then I clicked Done. Notice I rotated the photo a -18. Refer to below image for my result:
Editing with iPhone photo editor
If you are using iOS 13+, head over to the App Store to download and install the free program Snapseed. Once installed:
The Snapseed Tools
Open your crooked photo in Snapseed
Click on Tools at the bottom of the screen. You will see the following image:
Snapseed tool set
As you will notice, there are lots of tools to chose from for your photo.
Click on the Perspective icon. You can tilt up or down, rotate right or left, scale the photo or free hand the perspective. Refer to my below image:
Using the Snapseed Perspective tool
The app is super sensitive to your touch, much more precise than the built in iPhone photo editor. As you move the perspective, the app will automatically fill in the edges. Check out all the other tools you can use for photo editing. Once you are finished, click Done. Notice at the top of the screen the Straighten is precise to the hundreds of a percent. See the below image:
Final image with Snapseed. This photo was cropped showing white edges
Saving Your Photo
Tap on the Checkmark icon in the lower right of your screen
Tap on Export. You will see the following image:
Saving your photo
Tap on Save to save your changes or Save a copy to preserve your original photo. You are now finished.
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.
I have been blogging using WordPress as my hosting site for a couple of months. I have discovered a few tips and gotchas using WordPress that may be of interest to you.
First, if you noticed some strange highlighted text on your site, don’t panic. They will go away by exiting and relaunching your site. I had some highlighted text (in yellow) in my Categories section that I did not enter. After exiting and relaunching, the highlighted yellow text disappeared.
Second, if you have links in your posts, the linkage may add the words “opens in a new tab” at the end of your URL. This happens if you have the slider controlOpen in new tab turned off. This control is found in the drop down arrow next to the Return or the Edit (the pencil) icon). Your links will not work. You must remove the words (opens in a new tab) in the link URL. To open the link in a new tab, you must turn the slider control Open in new tab to the On position.
Third, when I am writing a post, I want to return to a previous block to add or change some text. I position the cursor in the text, but nothing happens. I am unable to add or change any text. I have to save whatever changes I have made, exit the post, then relaunch the post. Then I am able to make text changes. This is most frustrating aspect of WordPress.
Fourth, in my version of WordPress, the Dashboard does not automatically load. To get to the Dashboard, enter <your website name>/wp-admin in your browser search field. For my blog, I would enter the following in my browser: techsavvy.life/wp-admin.
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.
We all have our favorite smart device apps. This would include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Reddit and others. What happens when you turn off your device, power off or shutdown? These apps are still active and readily available when your device is turned back on.
These apps offer you convenient access by keeping you logged in. When you log into a financial institution, say Bank of America or Morgan Stanley, you are logged out within two minutes of no activity.
Our favorite apps should do the same. By staying logged in, the apps are more subjective to hacks by others.
Of course, by logging out, means you have to reenter a UserID, Password and Passcode, if using Two Factor Authentication, to gain access. And that can be a pain but it’s worth it.
If you are selling or disposing a smart device, you should log out all apps. Also, you may consider erasing all data and/or resetting your device. Only do this if you no longer need the device.
I would like the app industry to follow the same logging out protocol as financial entities. What do you think? Please take the one question survey.
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.
I ran across this neat feature of Microsoft PowerPoint that I want to share with you. As a presenter, you are in control of what is being displayed. Instead of presenting all your bullet points at once lets dim there appearance one at a time. The “dim text” feature allows the audience to focus on one topic. For my example I am using a single slide with five bullet points.
This is for PowerPoint for Office 365 Windows and Mac versions. Other versions of PowerPoint will be similar.
Launch PowerPoint
Open PowerPoint on your Desktop/Laptop or Mac
Find a slide that contains bullet points or text you want to dim. See my example below:
PowerPoint Slide Bullet Points screen
Highlight a bullet point or text
Select the Animations tab and choose the Appear animation
Set Animations
The animation will be successfully applied if you see a number next to the bullet point or slide.
Repeat the above steps until you have applied an animation to each bullet point or text. Refer to the following image:
PowerPoint Slide with Animation applied screen
Select all the Animations by using the “Ctrl” key and clicking on each animation.
Select the arrow next to the right side of the animation
PowerPoint Animations screen
Set Effects
Select Effect Options. See following image:
PowerPoint Effects screen
Change Behavior for Dimming
We are going to change the behavior of the default Don’t Dim option by clicking the arrow next to the item (a drop down box selection) and select a color slightly different than your bullet points or text. You want your color selected to be visible to the audience. For my example, I selected a light red color:
PowerPoint Color Selection for Animation screen
Click OK
Test Your Slide
Now its time to test out your slide. You should see something like the following screen as you manually or automatically select each bullet point.
PowerPoint using the Dim Feature
This is a nifty feature for your next text presentation. Save your slide or presentation, you are finished.
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 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.
Do you want to protect your Microsoft Excel workbook or a sheet in your workbook? If so, this blog post is for you. We are going to password protect a workbook, protect a sheet in a workbook and the Excel file itself.
This is for Excel for Office 365 Windows and Mac versions. Other versions of Excel will be similar.
Protect a Workbook
I recommend you start with a blank Excel workbook, just in case you forget a password. To assign a password to an Excel workbook, do the following:
Open a blank Excel workbook. For demonstration purposes, I am using an Excel workbook that contains one sheet with cell data. You can choose an existing Excel workbook if you chose. See my workbook below :
Select File>Save As
Select More options (underneath Excel Workbook drop down box)
Select the Tools drop down box
Chose General Options
Set the Password(s)
You will see notice two password boxes, one to open the workbook and one to modify the workbook
Enter one or both passwords. Make sure you write down these passwords and store them in a safe place.
You have two other options to set if you chose, Always create backup and Enable Read-only recommended. The first is self explanatory. The second option is an extra layer of protection by enabling the workbook to read-only status upon opening.
Confirm your password(s) by reentering the password(s)
Click OK
Click Save
Close or Exit Excel
Note! A user who doesn’t know the second password can open and view the data by clicking the Read Only option. This user can still modify the data, but they are unable to save their changes to the protected workbook. However, the user can save the workbook under a new name, which circumvents the protection process. Of course, password-cracking software will get you into the workbook.
Protect a Sheet
Open a blank Excel workbook. For demonstration purposes, I am using an Excel workbook that contains one sheet with cell data. You can choose an existing Excel workbook if you chose.
Select the Review tab
Click the Protect icon
Click Protect Sheet icon. Refer to following image:
Enter your password in the Password to unprotect sheet box
Click OK
In the Confirm Password dialog box, type the password again
Click OK
Save your changes
Close or Exit Excel
Tip! To remove a password, click Protect>Unprotect Sheet and enter your password. You can also select Protect Workbook icon to protect a workbook which follows.
Protect Excel Structure
Open a blank Excel workbook. For demonstration purposes, I am using an Excel workbook that contains one sheet with cell data. You can choose an existing Excel workbook if you chose.
Select the Review tab
Click the Protect icon
Click Protect Workbook icon. Refer to the following image:
Select the Windows option if you want to prevent users from moving, resizing, or closing the workbook window or hide/unhide windows
Enter your password
Click OK
In the Confirm Password dialog box, type the password again
Click OK
Save your changes
Close or Exit Excel
Protect the Excel File
To prevent users from accessing the data in your Excel file, we are going to protect the file with a password
Open a blank Excel workbook. For demonstration purposes, I am using an Excel workbook that contains one sheet with cell data. You can choose an existing Excel workbook if you chose.
Select File>Info. Refer to my image below:
Click Protect Workbook icon
Chose Encrypt with Password option
Enter a password in the Encrypt Document dialog box
Click OK
In the Confirm Password dialog box, type the password again
Save your changes
Close or Exit Excel
Be cautious when sharing files or passwords with other users. You still run the risk of passwords falling into the hands of unintended users. Remember to write down your passwords and store them in a safe 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 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.
Apple had made some new enhancements to its feature browser, Safari, for the iPhone/iPad. There are a few notable features that increase our productivity regarding bookmarks and open tabs. Safari’s toolbar has only five choices for you to select from, Forward, Backward, Share, Bookmarks and New Tab/Page. Instead of just taping on a choice, we are going to press down on these icons and see what happens.
This is for an iPhone/iPad and Mac iOS 13 operating system
This seems to be an Apple feature. I have gotten into the habit of pressing down on every icon in iOS 13. Just press and hold the Share icon, the one with an up arrow, nothing happens until you release your hold. You will get the regular Share screen, like the image below:
Safari Share Behavior
So much for that.
The Bookmarks
Let’s try pressing and holding the Bookmarks icon. You will get the following screenshot:
Well, that worked. I do not recommend adding Bookmarks for all open tabs; this would tend to make your bookmarks messy. It would be better just to add a Bookmark for the current tab.
Testing the New Tab/Page
Okay, lets press and hold the New Tab/Page icon. You should get the following screen:
Yea, two out of three have the press and hold feature. From this screen, you can close all open tabs or just the current one. Also, you can create a new Private Tab or a New Tab.
This time, just press the New Tab/Page icon to reveal your open tabs (normal behavior). Press and hold a tab to move it into a different location. This works in portrait or landscape mode.
Setting the Time Interval
There is another feature to explore; setting a time interval as to when tabs are closed.
Go to Settings and select Safari. You will see the following image:
Click the Close Tabs button. Your screen should display options on when to close your Safari tabs like the following image:
Select your choice from the four options.
Okay, for now. Thanks for trying out these iPhone/iPad features for Safari in IOS 13+.
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 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.
Tech Savvy Life 