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.
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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.
Do you want to save electricity? Shutting down your Windows 10 Desktop or Laptop at a specific date and time is one answer. Normally, we walk away from our computer at the end of the day. At some point, your PC will slip into hibernation or sleep mode, which saves power consumption but we are going to save even more electricity plus reduce heat buildup.
The Windows operating system has a Task Scheduler which allows us to setup a shutdown at a specific date and time. This Scheduler has been around since Windows XP. By setting up a scheduled task, we are going to shut down your PC at a specific time. I am going to walk you through the setup process screen by screen.
The steps are for Windows 10 operating system. The Task Scheduler is for Windows XP through Windows 10
In the Cortana search box, type in “task scheduler“ (without the quotes)
Open the Task Scheduler. See following image:
Opening the Task Scheduler
Create the Auto Shutdown Task
Select Create Basic Task. See following image:
Creating a Basic Task
Give the Task a name and a description. I am using Auto Shutdown at 10 pm as the name. See following image:
Assigning a Name and Description to our scheduled task
Set the Task Triggers
Click Next at the bottom of the screen to open the Task Trigger screen
Select Daily (the default). See the following image:
Selecting the Task Trigger
Select Next
Select a Start: date and time
Set Recur every: 1 day (the default). See below image:
Setting the start date, time and the recurrence of the scheduled task
Set the Task Action
Select Next. You will see the Action screen
Select Start a program (the default). See below image:
Selecting the Action we want to perform
Set the Task Arguments
Click Next
In the Program/script box, enter “shutdown” (without the quotes)
Enter -s -f -t 60 in the Add arguments box. See following screen:
Entering the program name and arguments for the scheduled task
These arguments are part of the shutdown.exe program. The -s tells Windows to shutdown, you could enter -r for a shutdown and Restart. The -f forces all running programs to close and is implied if the -t argument is greater than 0. The -t 60 adds a 60 seconds countdown, if you want an immediate shutdown, change to -t 0. See following image:
Setting the program name and arguments
View Your Task Summary
Click Next and you will see your Summary screen. See below image:
A Summary of the scheduled task
Click Finish
Close the Task Scheduler. For our example, we are initiating a daily shutdown starting on 2/5/2020 at 10pm by closing all running applications with a 60 seconds countdown.
View, Edit or Delete Your Scheduled Task
Open Task Scheduler
Click on Task Scheduler Library
Find your task under the Name column and highlight it. You can view your Triggers and Actions under the appropriate tab. See following image:
Viewing your scheduled task
To Edit your task, highlight the task and select Properties. I recommend you go through each tab and make any necessary change(s). Click OK to apply your change(s).
To Delete the task, highlight the task and select Delete. Click Yes to complete the deletion.
Close the Task Scheduler
You are finished. At the designated date and time, watch your computer automatically shutdown. In our example, the auto shutdown occurs every day at 10 pm..
I Would Like to Hear from You
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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
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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
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You can “pull on that drawer” like the above image to get your PC in shape or follow this blog post.
I have discussed various programs on fine tuning your PC in previous posts. This is a summary post of those programs, all in one place. I have done this fine tuning on many kinds of machines and operating systems in 15 countries as well as the USA. All these programs are free or available on a trial basis.
Some friends of mine had rather take their PC to a geek shop for a reformat of their hard drive and a fresh copy of Microsoft Windows every six months. They spend hundreds of dollars in doing this, which is unnecessary.
You have a choice of following the steps below or paying a consultant (like myself) or paying a geek shop to fine tune your PC. But its not hard to do it on your own. It takes one to three hours about every three to six months. If you haven’t already done so, you will need to download and install the following programs. You only have to do this once, then just run the programs. The links provided below walk you through downloading, installing and running these applications.
This is for a Windows based operating systems
Download and Install Applications
DriverMax (paid or trial version) or a similar free program like Driver Booster
Uninstall applications not being used through the Apps and Features. In the Cortana search box. type “Uninstall Programs” (without the quotes) to load the feature to uninstall your unneeded programs
Check your device driver updates using DriverMax(paid or trial program) or a similar free program like Driver Booster
Run Belarc Advisorfor a status of your PC, especially for anti virus software definitions and missing Windows Updates and apply updates as necessary
Check your startup applications and missing entries using Autoruns
That’s it. Your PC will now run faster and be more stable!
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.
The Registry keeps growing when you use Windows, so does the obsolete items in the Registry, which would eventually lead to performance degradation and even system crashes. Wise Registry Cleaner scans the Windows Registry and finds errors and residual items in the Registry and then cleans or defrags them. By fixing these residual and corrupted items in Windows Registry, your system will run faster and be more stable.
I highly recommend this software utility. I have used this software on many PCs throughout the world. Best of all, there is a free version. This software is a companion product to Wise Disk Cleaner as discussed in a previous post. In troubleshooting a PC, I use them both to clean up a computer.
Its been my experience to find the best free program that does one thing very well. Although CCleaner has a Registry cleaner, I do not recommend it, instead use this software.
This is for a Windows based operating system from XP to Windows 10
You will see the download file in the lower left of your screen
Click or double click to install the software and follow the simple instructions
A desktop/laptop shortcut will be added
Close other running program(s)
Empty your Recycle Bin
Click or double click the shortcut to run
Following image is after an install. Your screen should look similar:
Wise Registry Cleaner main screen
Backup Before Running
Although the program sets a Restore Point and a Backup of the Registry, I prefer doing this procedure manually. To view these options, refer to the last image in this post.
First, we want to create a System Restore point and a backup of the Registry as a safety precaution in case something goes wrong. See the following screenshot:
Wish Registry Cleaner Restore and Backup options
Select the Create a system restore point button. Once finished you will see the following popup image:
Creation of System Restore completed
Click OK
Repeat above steps, but this time select Create a full registry backup button
When finished, your are taken back to the main program screen.
Run the Software
Click the Quick Scan icon to begin scanning your Registry. After completion, you will see a similar screenshot:
Results of Wise Registry Cleaner run
Click the Clean button to fix your Registry. Your results screen will be similar to the below image:
Wise Registry Cleaner complete
That’s it. You are done. If you want to setup a schedule for checking updates:
Click on Settings from the top of the main program screen
Select the General and change when to check for updates; I recommend keeping the default to Weekly.
Wise Registry Cleaner Pro has a Scheduler option and many others.
Your screen should look like the following:
Close the program
Restart your machine
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.
Over time, junk files, temporary files, all kinds of system files and other items you do not need at all accumulate on your Windows computer. Those useless files take up valuable hard disk space and slow down your computer. Wise Disk Cleaner can delete these unnecessary files on your hard disk to free up disk space and make your computer run faster. It also provides many custom options to allow users to clean up more files they don’t need. Wise Disk Cleaner can scan and remove them quickly, making it one of the most efficient disk cleaners out there
I highly recommend this software utility. I have used this software on many PCs throughout the world. Best of all, there is a free version. This software is a companion product to CCleaner as discussed in a previous post. In troubleshooting a PC, I use them both to clean up a computer.
This is for a Windows based operating system from XP to Windows 10
You will see the download file in the lower left of your screen
Click to install the software and follow the simple instructions
A desktop/laptop shortcut will be added
Close any running program(s)
Empty your Recycle Bin
Click or double click the shortcut to run
After installation you will see the following image:
Wise Disk Cleaner install
Run the Software
Click the Scan button to begin
Your screen will be similar to the following image:
Wise Disk Cleaner scan
Notice the results of my scan; the number of files to be deleted, the disk space to be saved and number of Traces to be deleted are shown. Traces are messages that can occupy a large amount of disk space, and they can be deleted without effecting your PC. When you run this software for the first time, do not be surprised at the scan results.
Click the Clean button to delete the files
You may receive popup menus regarding closing your browser like the image below:
Google Chrome popup
Click Yes
In my case, I responded with a No because I needed my browser running to document this post. Normally, you would respond with a Yes.
The Results
After cleaning, you will see the results like the image below:
Wise Disk Cleaner results
That’s it, you are done. You may set up a schedule on when to run the software. I recommend you run this program weekly.
Close the program
Restart your PC
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.
Are your device drivers up-to-date on your PC? How would you know? You don’t unless you visit each manufacture for their latest driver for each device in your PC. My favorite program for device updates is DriverMax. When you run this program for the first time, don’t be surprised at the number of drivers that are out of date.
I have used this utility software for several years. The software does one task; update your PC drivers. There is a trial version for you to check out. I recommend purchasing the Pro version.
You can find driver updates for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.
DriverMax analyzes your existing drivers and provides the latest versions for over 2.3 million devices.
DriverMax automatically tests each new driver before installing it on your PC. In addition, it backs up the current drivers and creates a system Restore Point, allowing a quick rollback of the installation.
Starting DriverMax
The following is a screenshot of DriverMax at startup:
DriverMax install
Running DriverMax
Just click on the Scan… button to begin. The following screenshot is my results from my PC. I have two drivers that are out of date. Just click on the Download and Install button and take a short break while the drivers are being updated.
DriverMax results
DriverMax has a Backup and Restore feature. As mentioned above, the program automatically creates a Restore Point when you are updating any drivers. You can click on the Backup tab to manually create a Restore Point. The Restore tab lets you roll back your latest driver updates if something goes wrong.
DriverMax Notifications
You will receive notifications in your Tray Bar (as shown below) when new drivers are detected.
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.
Have you ever wanted to share your iPhone contacts with your Windows 10 PC? I have wanted to do this for a year. It used to work but my PC went “south” last year. I finally did some research and came up with this post for you to implement. You can share your smart device contacts through Apple’s iCloud service. To use this service, your contacts must be synced with iCloud. So, lets get started.
This is for iPhone or iPad and Windows 10 operating system
Open the Settings app on your iPhone. Its usually located on your home screen. Your screen should look similar to the following image:
My iPhone home screen
Tap your name at the top of the screen. See following screenshot:
My iPhone Settings screen
Syncing Contacts
Tap iCloud
Verify that your Contacts is being synced. Either the toggle switch will be green or you will see iCloud storage being used like the below image. If not, tap the toggle button to enable the process and sync your contacts.
My iPhone iCloud Storage screen
On your Windows 10 PC, log in to iCloud website with your Apple ID and Password
Click on the Contacts applet. See following screenshot:
iCloud applets on Windows 10 PC screen
Selecting/Exporting Contacts
Select a Contact from your list. See the following image for my selection of Chris Dow:
iCloud Contacts screen
Click the small gear icon at the bottom left corner
Select Export vCard. Refer to following screenshot:
Selecting and Exporting an iCloud Contact screen
You can select more than one contact by selecting a single name and using the “Shift” key to select the last contact. There is an option to Create Group at the bottom right for your multiple contact selection.
Note! It is best to export just one contact. Although you can select multiple contacts, only one contact data (the first one selected) is exported, especially for Outlook.
By default, the exported VCF file is placed in your PC Downloads folder.
Open your File Explore and find the VCF file. Refer to following image:
File Explorer Downloads folder screen with Chris Dow VCF file
Using Your VCF File
Right click on the VCF file and select Open
Select where you want to install your contact(s). You have several choices, like Outlook, the People app and Windows Contacts
Select your choice and click OK
Your choice will open for your review.
For Outlook, click the Save & Close option to complete the export. See following screen::
Exported VCF file from iCloud to Microsoft Outlook in Windows 10 screen
That’s it. You are done.
Enable iCloud Contacts Sharing
BUT WAIT, I want to share all my Contacts via iCloud to my Windows 10 PC, not just a few. You can use iCloud for Windows to synchronize your contacts and other data between your iOS device and Outlook. Lets get started.
This works with the following variations of Outlook:
Outlook for Office 365, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010
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.
Drop down lists are used to select specific data, in our example, a list of Salutations. If the user tries to enter a Salutation that is not in the list, Excel rejects the entry.
I am using a simple drop down list in an Excel sheet. This feature is not well known nor initiative.
Salutations was a BIG DEAL for a religious organization that I worked for as a Consultant. The company had a donor base of 25,000+ names/addresses. (Of course, I was using a database, not Excel, to manage the data.) If the Salutation was incorrect on a donor letter, some donors refused to give monies for the company projects. For example, do you address them as Mr. and Mrs. or Dr. and Mrs. or Mr. and Dr.? Some donors wanted no Salutation. I spent a lot time getting the Salutations correct.
This is for Excel for Office 365 Windows and Mac versions. Other versions of Excel will be similar.
Setting Up the Excel Sheet
Enter the headings in Row 1 (Optional)
Create a list of cells E2:E5. Alternatively, you could put the list in another sheet.
Select the empty cell A2. (You can position the drop down list in most any cell or even multiple cells.)
Setting up Excel for a drop down list
Using Data Validation
Select the Data tab
Select Data Validation
Choose List from the Allow options drop down list
Click the Source control and drag to highlight cells E2:E5. Alternatively, you could enter the cell reference $E$2:$E$5 or use a sheet and cell reference if your list is in another sheet.
Ensure that the In Cell dropdown option is checked. If you leave this unchecked, Excel forces users to enter only the list values, but it won’t present a drop down list. The users would have to guess the values; not a good idea!
See the following screenshot:
Entering the Allow and Source option
Click OK
You can add the drop down list to multiple cells. Select the range of data input cells instead of a single cell. Also, you can select noncontinuous cells by holding down the Shift key while you click the appropriate cells.
You can copy and paste this drop down cell to any other cells in your sheet.
Below is a screenshot where Mr. was selected as a Salutation for cell A2:
Excel drop down list selection
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 