InfoAve Weekly Bonus Questions & Answers Part 20

 

 

Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly Bonus Questions & Answers: Part 20

Each week we receive more questions than we can answer in the newsletter due to space restrictions. We try to answer every question we receive. Unfortunately, we just don’t have room to put all the questions and answers in our weekly Weekly newsletter. 

So now, each week, we will put some of the questions and answers we had to leave out of or Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly newsletter and post them here and share them with our Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly subscribers, our InfoAve Daily subscribers and our website visitors also.

Below are just a few of the questions and answers that we didn’t have room for in this week’s (March 13, 2020 – Issue #857) Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly newsletter.

Thanks so much to all of you who sent us your questions last week. Please keep them coming!

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Marilyn wants to know a good site to convert PDF files to Word format
Didn’t you recommend a free site for converting PDF files to Word? Would you refresh me on the name of the site, please? Thank you, Marilyn

Our answer
Hi Marilyn. There are many of these conversion sites online. I tried 3 this morning and this one is the easiest to use and works the best.

https://simplypdf.com/

Just click on “Select a file to convert” and Windows Explorer opens. Navigate to the PDF file you want to convert and click “Convert”. When it’s done you’ll see a download link to download your Word document. You can do as many as you like, just click “Do another conversion.”

I did 3 PDF to Word conversions in less than 2 minutes.

Hope this helps you.

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JoAnn wants to change her desktop icon colors
Is there a way to change the color of your folder icons that are on your desktop! I love your newsletters! I learn so much and appreciate all you share!

Our answer
Hi JoAnn. Thanks so much! Many 3rd-party programs make it possible to change folder colors (and icons), but Windows 10 does not have the option to change folder colors.

We offer a free program to change folder colors. It’s free and you can give it a try. You can download it from the following link.

http://www.foldermagic.com

We are no longer updating it, but it does work with Windows 10. We cannot guarantee it will continue to work in as new versions of Windows 10 are released.

Here is another program that allows you to color folders and change their icons if you wish:

http://filemarker.net/file-marker-free.php

But I have not tested it.

I hope this helps you, JoAnn.
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JoAnn wrote back: “Thank you so much, TC!! You are the best! Sincerely, JoAnn”
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Bil has a question about MSE and Windows 7
Hi, I am a little confused! I understood that Windows 7 would cease to be supported on 14th January 2020. In that case, why have I had almost daily updates for this version of Windows? They seem mainly to be Security updates. The latest (today – 7th March 2020) was Security Intelligence Update for Microsoft Security Essentials KB2310138 ( version 1.34.701.0). Also, Love your Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly. Bil

Our answer
Hi Bil. Thanks for your nice comments and for subscribing to our newsletters.

Microsoft will continue to upgrade MSE for at least another year or two since businesses had the option to buy special support for Windows 7 that was not available to home users. Some of these companies and enterprise users are also still using Microsoft Security Essentials, therefore even those home users who want to risk having any unpatched Windows 7 vulnerabilities exploited will still get updates for MSE.

But keep in mind, that MSE is not a very robust antivirus/security program. And even if it were, antivirus/antimalware software does not protect you from operating system vulnerabilities that will certainly be discovered by hackers and other miscreates as time goes by. Only operating system updates and security patches can do that – and if you’re a home user you will no longer get any operating system upgrades or patches. And what that means is that as more time passes more vulnerabilities will be discovered and eventually exploited… whether MSE is updated and no matter what antivirus/security software you choose to use.

I hope this answers your concerns and questions, Bil.

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Judith wants to know what our computer care programs are
Could you explain exactly what your computer help programs are exactly?

Our answer
Hi Judith. Cloudeight Direct Computer Care is a remote computer repair and care service. If you have PC problems, or you want your computer cleaned up and optimized, or you need malware removed, we can connect to your computer and clean it, repair it, or optimize it. We can fix most any Windows problem.. We cannot repair hardware (bad hard drives, bad video cards, bad sound cards, etc.

You can get more details at www.thundercloud.net/direct/

We look forward to helping you soon.

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Linda wants to download Windows Live Essentials 2012
Hi TC. A short while back you sent an email about how to get Windows essentials 2012, which I did and it worked ok. Because of a bad graphics driver update from the original company on my computer. I finally had to do first a reset which was still not correct and then another restart. and I lost the windows essentials 2012. trying the internet Microsoft steps in and I was unable to find the one you sent before could you please resend it or put it in your newsletter again, please. Many thanks, Linda

Our answer
Hi Linda. First, I want to make it clear that we referenced Windows Live Essentials only concerning Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker. We did not recommend it for Windows Live Mail. Windows Live Mail is a non-secure mail app that we warn people never to use. If you use it you use it with the understanding you could lose your mail and that any future Windows 10 upgrade could stop it from working.

Here is the article we wrote that contains the link to Windows Live Essentials.

I hope this helps you, Linda.

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Sue has a question about Windows Photos
Hi TC…Thank you so much for all the information! I opened the Photos for Windows 10 suggestion, that works great! But if you will humor me with one more question…if all my photos are on my laptop in one app, is it possible to safely remove the other apps…such as Dropbox and Amazon Drive where photos are stored as well? I am fairly certain that all of the photos on Dropbox and Amazon photos are also in Google Photos. But I have been a bit scared to remove those apps! I am still going to purchase a Repair Key, I think my laptop needs a general cleanup and check for anything that shouldn’t be there! Thanks again TC!

Our answer
Hi Sue. Thanks so much.

Programs like Windows Photos, FastStone Image Viewer, etc. only collate the photos on your PC, they don’t find or collate images in the “cloud” (Amazon, Google Photos, Dropbox, etc.). They find all the images on your computer and display them all in one place.

Hope this answers your questions, Sue.

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John wants Copy to/Move to on his Windows 10 right-click menu
Can you please send me instructions on how to add Copy to/Move to option to the right-click context menu in Windows Version 1909?

Our answer
Hi John. You have a couple of options. You can add Copy to/Move to your Windows right-click menu.

To add “Copy to/Move to” to your right-click menu click here.

You can also easily copy and move files using File Explorer. To see how to do that, read this article.

I hope this helps you, John.

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Dotty wants to know how to open MBOX files
I did the Google takeout, received the results, and downloaded it to my desktop. I open it and when I go to the mail file (MBOX) file a box pops up telling me; ‘No program is associated with the type of file you are trying to open’. The pop-up gives me 3 options. I chose the first (find a program that can open your file) ffvsetup.exp is the file it suggests, but Emsisoft marks it as failed-Visus detected. Is there some other way to open this file? I love all the help you both have been given for years.

Our answer
Hi Dotty,  Here are 3 ways to open MBOX files.

1. You can open MBOX files with Thunderbird… a free email program from the same company that makes the Firefox browser. You can download Thunderbird from here.

Once you’ve downloaded Thunderbird, follow the instructions on this page

2. You can download a free MBOX viewer called Aryson MBOX Viewer (I just tested it to make sure it was safe and no warnings from Emsisoft and no trickery or bundling).  Download the free MBOX viewer here.

3. If you have Microsoft Office installed with Outlook, you can open MBOX files with Outlook installed by double-clicking them.

I hope this helps you, Dotty.

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Tricia sees some strange things when using Chrome
Hi Darcy and/or TC. I have a lot of pages I want to view come up with:

Click Continue
Click Add to Chrome
Click Enjoy

Should I add these pages to Chrome as suggested or avoid doing so? Cheers, Tricia

Our answer
Hi Tricia. Don’t add anything to Chrome based on what you are seeing.

I think you’ve installed extensions in your Chrome browser that have corrupted it. You should not see “Add to Chrome” unless intentionally adding an extension. “Continue” may be more common but certainly not on most pages.

I think your Chrome browser has been corrupted by some bad extensions. The best thing you can do is to reset it.

Please follow the instructions on this page to reset Chrome.

Let me know if this helps you.
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Tricia wrote back: “Thank you TC for your emails helping me to solve my problem. I think you and Darcy should be called Saint TC and Saint Darcy. I also think that if you liked to double or triple your charges for anything you do, I for one would be happy to pay and I am sure others would too. We want to keep you two in business if not luxury. Cheers, Tricia from Australia.”

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Carol wants to unblock a publisher/program
How can I unblock a publisher? I’m trying to unblock the Desktop Snowflakes program that you recommended several years ago. I must have hit something that blocked it. When the block comes up it gives a link to the Windows Help page and reads, “How to unblock a publisher,” but I can’t figure out how the find it. I am running Windows 10.

Our answer
Hi Carol. Try this: Right-click the installer or file that you can’t run. Choose Properties from the menu. Go to the General tab and in the Attributes section, you should see the Unblock option. Check the Unblock option and click Apply and OK to save the change.

If that does not work… Are you getting a warning that the program is not safe to run? Can you send me a screenshot of what you see? I have seen “Windows Smart Filter has blocked this file…” (or similar) warnings.

Let me know.
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Carol wrote back: “It worked, TC! Thank you so much! Carol”

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Gail wants to know if we still recommend Windows 10 Customization
I have a question about Windows 10 customization. Do you still recommend that transformation?

Our answer
Hi Gail. As far as customizing Windows 10 to look and work more like Windows 7 – it’s not a matter of our recommendation, it’s a matter of personal choice, Many folks were comfortable with Windows 7, knew were everything was, and were reluctant to upgrade to Windows 10, because they didn’t want to have to deal with a lot of changes. Our Windows 10 customization service can make a Windows 10 computer look and work a lot more like Windows 10.

I think our customization service has encouraged a lot of people who didn’t want to upgrade to Windows 10 to do so – and that’s a good thing because continuing to use Windows 7 is continually going to get less safe.

We are still offering our Windows 10 Transformation service where we help Windows 7 users upgrade to Windows 10 and then after the upgrade we make Windows 10 look and work more like Windows 7. We are also still offering our Windows 10 Customization service where we can make any Windows 10 computer look and work more like Windows 7.

I hope this answers your question.

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