I’m still seeing a LOT of these showing up, and clients still contact me to see if they are legitimate. Here’s how to identify this scam.   There’s a good chance you’ve gotten one of these emails at some point over the past several months. The scammers have been sending out a LOT of them – sometimes [...] Read more »

Do you have all your photos automatically saved to your Google Photos account? What if you want to download all those photos and save them to your computer? Here’s how.   Storing all of your photos on Google Photos is a good thing. It’s kind of like an automatic backup for the photos you take on your [...] Read more »

If your computer is currently running Windows 10, like most Windows computers currently are, there’s a new major update that’s just been released – it’s Windows 11. It’s not something you want yet. For quite some time, Microsoft said that the last version of Windows would be Windows 10. They said they would just continue to [...] Read more »

If your hard drive starts to show signs of failure, you want to know that as soon as possible. Here’s how to get that alert nice and early. When someone says to you, “I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?” what do you say? For me, I am a “bad news [...] Read more »

Did you know that Google Chrome can run a quick Safety Check on your computer? Here’s how to do it.   Open Chrome, and click the 3 dots in the top right, and choose Settings. Then, scroll down to the Safety Check session and click on “Check now”. Chrome will take a few seconds and check for: Is Chrome up [...] Read more »

There are some people who use computers, but don’t do text messages.  That sometimes presents a problem for them, but there’s a way to get around it.   Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. When you go to set up a new Microsoft account, one of the things they will want you to provide is a [...] Read more »

When you’re online, do you find yourself constantly having to manually type in your name and address when creating a new account? Here’s how to do that with one click.   You know what I’m talking about. You see something on the internet you want to purchase, and it’s for sale on some website where you haven’t [...] Read more »

Your Windows computer has a clipboard feature that you are probably not even aware of!   Before I tell you today’s tip, a little background or “setup” information so that everyone is on the same page. One of the most useful features of a computer is the ability to Cut and Paste or Copy and Paste. If you [...] Read more »

One of the most common things I hear from people is still this: “My computer is too slow!” The problem is, they could be talking about two different things.   This leads me to ask a clarifying question, so we know exactly what we are dealing with. I ask, “When you say it’s slow, are you talking about [...] Read more »

You probably heard the announcement recently from Microsoft – Windows 11 is coming. Here’s what you need to do. For quite some time, Microsoft held to their position that Windows 10 would be the last one. They would just keep doing updates to Windows 10, and there wouldn’t be any “new” named versions of Windows. So much [...] Read more »

Recently, Western Digital had a problem with a couple of their external drives. This caused a huge disaster for some users, who ended up losing all of their data. Here’s what happened, and why those who follow my backup process had no problems.   First, let’s clear up some terminology. A portable drive usually is slightly smaller than [...] Read more »

A recent Windows update probably added a new icon to the lower right corner of your screen. If you don’t want it there, here’s the easy way to get rid of it.   Microsoft really loves to put things on your computer screen even though you didn’t request it. Last week (June 8, 2021, to be exact) was [...] Read more »

Are you thinking about buying a laptop? Here are some things to consider before handing over your money. Manufacturer When someone is asking me about which brand(s) I recommend, my first response is to say that who makes the laptop is not as important as what’s inside. In other words, it’s more important to consider the specs [...] Read more »

Have you ever created a Word document and included a link to a YouTube video? Today I’ll show you how to put that video right into the document!   Most people don’t even know this is possible so it’s a great trick to show your friends. First, you need to determine what video you want to use for [...] Read more »

You should not save your passwords in Chrome. But before you delete them from Chrome, you need to save them so that you can refer to them.   I’ve said it many times – don’t store your passwords in your web browser. Yes, it makes things easy. You go to a website, and Chrome just automatically inserts [...] Read more »

Is there something you want to learn? The internet has what you need.   If you have the time and the incentive, there are resources online that will help  you learn just about anything you can imagine. Online courses: Coursera – Coursera.org – build skills with courses, certificates, and degrees online from world-class universities and companies. Udacity – udacity.com – [...] Read more »

You know I love writing about illegal scams, how they work, and how to avoid them. Recently I was approached by something that seems to have all the characteristics of a scam, but it’s most likely legal.   Just this past week, I received this message, which was submitted via the Contact form on my website:   The subject [...] Read more »

There are different versions of Windows 10, and you might not be running the most current one. Here’s how to check.   Windows 10 is the most current Windows operating system. If you’re still running Windows 7, you NEED to upgrade to Windows 10 now (you actually needed to do this over a year ago). If you’re [...] Read more »

Have you ever started typing up a Word document, and gotten quite a bit of text entered, then accidentally closed it without saving? Today’s lifesaving tip will show you how it’s possible to get that document back.       A friend of mine used to create Word documents very dangerously. He was a pastor of a church. And he [...] Read more »

Is there a particular program that you want to run automatically, every time you turn on your computer? Here’s how to make that happen.   What we’re talking about today is usually the OPPOSITE of how we discuss this topic. So many programs want to insert themselves into the “startup” process when they have no business being [...] Read more »

Do you have information in a Word document that you don’t want anyone else to see? Here’s how to put a password on it.   Some of my clients store all of their account passwords in a Word document. Some people use a Word doc to keep track of their medical information, or perhaps their bank account [...] Read more »

Do you think there’s a time when a bad program requests permission to make changes to your computer, and you should allow it?   This question came in from Jerry, in Minnesota – Hi Scott, I’m a long time subscriber.  We’ve “talked” in the past about your laptops and a couple other things.  Here’s a Computer Tutor topic [...] Read more »

You’ve probably heard the terms “Deep Web” and “Dark Web”. They are not the same thing.   In general, there are 3 internets, or 3 “webs”. The first one is often referred to as the Clear Web. It’s also called the Surface Web. This is the internet that most people use every day – [...] Read more »

Almost any book you can think of – available online for free. Same as your local library.   If you have a library card for your local library, you probably already know you can borrow digital books. You just need to create an account using an app called Libby, and that allows you to [...] Read more »