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Dan can't get Windows check box feature working on Windows 10
I am a recent convert from Windows 7. For the most part I like Windows 10. But one feature of Windows 7 I loved but now can't find on Windows 10 is the item checkbox feature. Did Microsoft do away with item checkboxes in Windows 10?

Our answer
Hi Dan. Good news! Item checkbox feature is alive and well on Windows 10. In fact, it works just like it did on Windows 7.

Here is how to enable the item check boxes feature in all versions of Windows 10.

Press the Windows Key + E key to open File Explorer. Then click on "View" at the top. Now, tick the box next to "Item check boxes" (see below),  then close File Explorer.



Here's a closer view:



Now item checkboxes will work, just as they did in Windows 7.

Jack's spell checking stopped working in Chrome
Good Morning &Happy Monday. If my memory serves me correctly...some time ago you said Google Chrome has a built-in spell checker. It was working fine for me, but a week or so ago it disappeared. Is there a way to get it back whereever it may be? "Thank You" for all your help thru the years with Premium Issues and daily updates. I especially appreciate the way you explain things so even a non-geek like me can understand. Again "Thank You"...keep up the good work & take good care of each other...Jack

Our answer
Hi Jack. Thanks so much. Since turning on Spell Checker in settings didn't work for you, then it seems to me you have something installed on your computer that is superseding the built-in spell check in Chrome- for instance a browser extension. Or it could be that your Chrome browser is corrupted and needs to be repaired.

You can try repairing Chrome; just follow the simple instructions on this page.

If that does not work then you'll need to figure out what you installed on your system that is blocking the spell check in chrome - I would guess some kind of spell checking application or extension, but just a guess.

Let me know if you need more help.

Jack wrote back: "Thank you for your help! Repaired Chrome as per your instructions. Back in business. When talking computers with friends I always mention the two of you. They ask if you are really good. My answer is always the same,.I simply say "You are the best...bar none." Some you have helped are of the same opinion. Stay healthy & happy. Jack."

Debbie has a question about resetting passwords with LastPass
Hello Again. I finally took your advice and a few months ago I installed LastPass. My passwords are only Intermediate strength. One thing I am not sure of is do I have to go into each of the places where I have to log in and change my password or does LastPass? Thanks, Debbie.

Our answer
Hi Debbie. LastPass will generate new passwords for you if you want it to and it will change each password for you - but you are in charge and you have to tell it what you want to do.

So first, open your LastPass vault and go to each account for which you want to change the password. Click "Auto Change Password" and you'll see something like this:



LastPass will generate a strong password, save it for that account and automatically sign you in whenever you need to log in to that site.

Keep in mind that Auto Change Password is only available on some sites, but you can manually change passwords on any site you want. You can either make up a strong password or use the built-in password generator that comes with LastPass to do it for you. Also, we have a  tutorial on how to generate strong passwords here.

I hope this helps.
------
Debbie wrote back: "This is great, TC! Thanks very much. Debbie"   

Jody wants to know if there's a way to get a retrieve a password from Chrome.
I would love to know if there is a way to retrieve a password that I let Google save and I’ve forgotten the password. Thanks a million for your help. Jody

Our answer
Hi Jody. You're in luck. It's really easy to retrieve a password from Chrome. Just to this:

1. Click on the "3 vertical dots" icon at the top right of the browser
2. Click on "Settings" in the menu that appears.
3. In settings, scroll all the way to the bottom and click on Advanced
4. In Advanced settings scroll down until you see "Manage passwords". Click on "Manage passwords". Look for "Saved passwords". Click on the "eye" icon to see any password in plain text that you have saved in Chrome. If your Windows account is password protected, you'll need to type in your Windows password to see your passwords in plain text.

We have tutorial that will help you too. Just visit this page - and see step-by-step how to manage passwords with Chrome and how to see whatever passwords Chrome has saved.

We hope this helps you, Jody.

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Make Your Mouse Pointer Easier to Find
Windows 10 (all versions)

Sometimes it’s hard to find your mouse pointer. Maybe you’re getting older like me and sometimes you have little bit of trouble seeing the mouse pointer. Or maybe the color of the background makes it hard to see the mouse pointer. Whatever the reason is, we’re going to give you a tip that will help you find your mouse pointer.

We call this our sonar effect tip. No doubt we are the only ones who do, so don’t go to your geeky neighbor and start talking about Windows sonar effects or she’ll think you’re crazy. We call it the sonar effect because of the concentric circles Windows generates to help you find a missing mouse pointer.    The sonar effect causes your mouse pointer to pop-up in the center of concentric rings so you can easily find it.

In Windows 10 the sonar effect should already be turned on by default. To find out if yours is turned on, press your Ctrl key right now. Did you see the circles appear around your mouse? If you did, you’re all set.

 If you didn’t you can turn on the “sonar effect” opening Settings > Devices > Mouse > Related Settings > Additional mouse options.

Note: If you open the Windows 10 Settings app full-screen, “Related settings” / “Additional mouse options” will appear on the far-right side.

When the Mouse Properties dialog opens (see below) click on the Pointer Options tab,

Make sure the box next to “Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key” is checked.

The next time you lose your mouse pointer, just press the CTRL key and Windows will create concentric circles around your pointer to help you find it. Hint: You might have to press the CTRL key a couple of times; the circles don’t stay on the screen long.

Taskbar Search – One of the Best Features of Windows 10
Windows 10 (all versions)

You can use the taskbar search for a lot more things than you think. We think that the taskbar search is one of the most underused features of Windows 10. And it’s one of Windows best time-saving features.

If you’re not using the taskbar search then you’re missing out on a great, time-saving feature of Windows 10, we tells ya!

For instance, if you want to find System Restore, you can fumble around in Settings and you’ll be redirected to System Information/System Protection. But did you know if you type System Restore in taskbar search, you’ll find it almost as fast as you can type System Restore.

Just by typing “system restore” (no quotes) in taskbar search you’ll immediately be able to access System Restore, or create a manual restore point.

Don’t want the taskbar search or even its icon taking up your taskbar real estate? Don’t worry! You can bring up the taskbar search using the Windows Key + S shortcut. Try it, you’ll see

OK here are some of the many things you can do with the taskbar search.

To open Notepad, type note and press enter. To open MS Word (if installed) type word and press enter. To open WordPad, type wordpad and press enter. Open Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Emsisoft and many other (but not all) programs. Just type the program’s name and press enter.

And you can also run some commands from taskbar search. Here are some of them:

Type the command (or word) and press Enter. Here are some to try (words to type are bolded):

Cmd (Opens a command prompt. If you need a command prompt with administrator privileges, type cmd in taskbar search, right-click when “Command Prompt” appears at the top and choose “Run as administrator”.)

winver (tells you the Windows version you’re using.)

services.msc (Opens Services where you can start, stop and configure other settings for each service.)

control (opens the Control Panel)

cleanmgr (runs Windows disk cleanup app)

msinfo32 (opens System information where you can find out almost anything about your computer)

wuapp (check for Windows updates)

power (Power options)

run (run command/run box)

about (Learn all about your PC)

info (Opens System Information)

calendar (opens Windows 10 calendar app)

weather (opens Windows 10 weather app)

event (opens Windows 10 Event Viewer)

User accounts (Opens user account settings)

There are a lot more, but that should be enough to show you that taskbar search is a quick way to perform different tasks, launch programs, run commands, and a lot more. For instance, you can open a URL (web address) by typing it or pasting it in the taskbar search and then pressing the Enter key.

If you’re not using the taskbar search, you’re missing a lot. Try some of the things shown in this article. And don’t be afraid to experiment with the taskbar search on your own. We think if you start using it, you’ll keep using it. We use it all the time. And you should be using it all the time too, we tells ya!

Want more tips, tricks, and information?

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VirusTotal

We were going to have a fun site pick today, but we've had a lot of those, so today our site pick is a serious and useful one.

Often we'll get email from someone asking us if a file/program is safe. Or sometimes we'll feature a freeware pick and we'll have people tell us that they're antivirus program found a "virus" or something else wrong with it. And sometimes, we'll recommend something that will make Windows' crazy "SmartScreen" go wild with all kinds of warning.

We use Emsisoft on all our computers, so we never know when someone using Avast, AVG, McAfee, TrendMicro, Norton or some other antivirus will write us saying their security software found a problem with a file or program we recommended.

And we've had issues with Windows SmartScreen many times - but we've learned that SmartScreen isn't always smart. So, normally when we find a good program that ticks off SmartScreen - we'll go ahead and recommend it anyway - and note that SmartScreen detected it, but the file is safe. Here's an article we wrote about a program that SmartScreen said was malicious but was not.

So, how do we know the file is safe, even if SmartScreen - or some antivirus says it isn't? We use VirusTotal to scan the file with 70 different scanners to determine if a file is safe, whenever we have the slightest doubt. The last thing we'd ever want to do is not be certain before we recommend something to you.

Then today, when looking at some fun and crazy sites to feature, I downloaded something that set off SmartScreen. I uploaded it to VirusTotal and found the file was safe. Then it dawned on me... why not make VirusTotal a Cloudeight Site Pick? It sure deserves to be.

It's easy to use. It's free to use. And anyone can use it. You can upload a file to VirusTotal. You can upload a file from our computer to VirusTotal, use a URL (link) to the download, or you can use the search on VirusTotal to check out a file you're considering downloading.


Above: VirusTotal is easy to use. You can upload a file from your computer, paste a link to the file, or search for the filename.

Above: VirusTotal scanned this file with 70 different scanners (including Emsisoft). None of the scanners found any problem with this file.

Above: You may, on occasion, see where one or two 'engines' (scanners) detected a file you submitted for examination. In the screen shot directly above you can see the file was scanned by 68 scanners and only one found a problem (a heuristic "malware"). When you see this kind of result, you know that the scanner that found a problem is reporting a false positive.

So, now it's time to bring in VirusTotal's people and have them tell you a bit more about VirusTotal before we send you on your way:

"...VirusTotal inspects items with over 70 antivirus scanners and URL/domain blacklisting services, in addition to a myriad of tools to extract signals from the studied content. Any user can select a file from their computer using their browser and send it to VirusTotal. VirusTotal offers a number of file submission methods, including the primary public web interface, desktop uploaders, browser extensions and a programmatic API. The web interface has the highest scanning priority among the publicly available submission methods. Submissions may be scripted in any programming language using the HTTP-based public API.

As with files, URLs can be submitted via several different means including the VirusTotal webpage, browser extensions and the API.

Upon submitting a file or URL basic results are shared with the submitter, and also between the examining partners, who use results to improve their own systems. As a result, by submitting files, URLs, domains, etc. to VirusTotal you are contributing to raise the global IT security level.

This core analysis is also the basis for several other features, including the VirusTotal Community: a network that allows users to comment on files and URLs and share notes with each other. VirusTotal can be useful in detecting malicious content and also in identifying false positives -- normal and harmless items detected as malicious by one or more scanners.

Free and unbiased

VirusTotal is free to end users for non-commercial use in accordance with our Terms of Service. Though we work with engines belonging to many different organizations, VirusTotal does not distribute or promote any of those third-party engines. We simply act as an aggregator of information. This allows us to offer an objective and unbiased service to our users..."

Now it's time for you to check out and/or use VirusTotal by visiting their Website here.

And here's tip from good ol' Darcy and TC: It would be a great idea to bookmark VirusTotal  - a day will come when you'll want to use it.

The Things We Can’t See

The wind howls from the south and rattles the windows. I watch the storm and I revel in its power, surrender to its majesty, and admire its beauty and strength; I sit mesmerized by the window watching its darkness cover the sky and, for a swirling moment make the mighty sun disappear.

Whenever I witness the power of nature I am often stunned and humbled. And I am reminded that we don’t know the answers to the simplest things. Why are we here?

No one knows where the wind comes from or to where it goes. It blows where it will when it will, and we are powerless to stop it. We cannot see the wind, but we can its effects. We see the trees bending, branches breaking; we can see the wind push huge cottony clouds across a cerulean-blue sky.

The wind shakes the house. I watch as shingles from a neighbor’s house are torn from the roof and blown like paper down the street. I watch the street turn from a peaceful lane into a whirlwind of wet and swirling debris.

I see a pizza box blowing by, and as I watch it, I imagine a family, gathered around a television, eating pizza, and watching a movie. Mom and dad were too busy or too tired to make dinner? Or was this pizza night for the family? Or perhaps it once belonged to lovers...

Please read the rest of this essay here.

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What is a context menu?

A context menu, which is also called a pop-up menu is a menu that appears which you right-click on something on your computer. A context menu offers you a limited set of choices available in the "context" of that file or application. Or simply put - a context menu is the menu which appears when you right-click something on your computer. See? A context menu is something you probably see every day but just didn't know what it was officially called. Now you do!

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We hope you have enjoyed this issue of Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly. Thanks so much for your support and for being an InfoAve Weekly subscriber.

With hope and prayers, may you and your loved ones stay safe and well.

Your friends at Cloudeight,

Darcy and TC
Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly - Issue #882
Volume 17 Number 45
September 4, 2020
 
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