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Cloudeight InfoAve Premium
Issue  #844
Volume 17 Number 8
December 13, 2019

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Cloudeight InfoAve Premium issue  #844. Thank you very much for subscribing and for being a part of our Cloudeight family. We appreciate your friendship and support very much!

We wish you all a happy and blessed holiday season and a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Cloudeight and Amazon

Now when you shop Amazon using our links, you can save money, get great products and help us too! For every purchase you make using our Amazon affiliate links, we make a small commission. If you shop at Amazon, we hope you'll use our Amazon affiliate links. It won't cost you a penny more, but it will help us a great deal! Al l you need to help us is use the following link whenever you shop Amazon - for anything.

https://amzn.to/32zhiIo

That link goes to the same Amazon site you'd see if you went to www.amazon.com, but when you use our link, we'll get a small commission on anything you buy from Amazon. It's another way you can help us and it won't cost you a penny more. And you'll get the same great Amazon prices, sale prices, and promo prices you always get.

So the next time you shop Amazon, use our special affiliate link and bookmark the Amazon page once you get there.  Then use that bookmark whenever you shop Amazon!

Thanks so much for helping us!


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Cloudeight Christmas Famly Pack

Cloudeight Direct Family Pack Christmas Special!

For a limited time - you can get 3 Cloudeight Direct Computer Care keys that you can use yourself or share with family members or friends. These keys are fully transferable. And like all our Cloudeight Direct Computer Keys, they never expire. They are good until you use them. 

Our Cloudeight Direct Computer Care keys are good for all kinds of computer repairs, checkups, optimization, malware removal and a whole lot more.

These Cloudeight Direct Computer Care & Repair Keys are transferable so you can share them with friends or family members. Cloudeight Direct computer care keys never expire - they are good until you use them.  Don't miss out!

Get more info and/or save some money here. 

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Cloudeight InfoAve Premium - Reader's Comments

A comment from Caroline
Dear TC, With your essay, The Seven Candles of Christmas, you have outdone yourself in the most beautiful and meaningful description of what Christmas is truly about. Thank you for reminding all of us what we should be grateful for, and how blessed we are in the gifts God has given us.

We are also blessed to have honest and caring friends like you and Darcy and I want to wish both of you and your staff the most joyful Christmas. I hope each of you have a year filled with all God's blessings, with happiness and joy and peace. Let there be peace on earth. Sincerely, Caroline

A comment from Sharon
I found RoboForm password manager through your newsletter and have been using it for many years. I recently set my Amazon login to your link so I wouldn't forget to use it. So glad to be able to repay you for all the help you've given me over the years!

A comment from Janet
Hi TC. One of your subscribers kept telling me about your company for years and I finally listened. Then I realized that all the good things she'd told me about Cloudeight were really true. I used your computer repair service. You were friendly, courteous, and very knowledgeable. You fixed everything I wanted to be fixed and you didn't short me on time. You took the time to explain what you were doing as you did it. Everything is working so much better now. I am now a believer and I will continue to use your services and support your small business. And if my computer ever needs fixing again, I'll know exactly who to call on! Thanks again. Janet

A comment from Delores
My thanks to Darcy for working with my slow Internet connection to get Emsisoft installed and my computer cleaned up. I live where high-speed internet is not available. Although my provider calls their service "Broadband" it's not. Darcy worked through some difficult conditions to clean up my computer and install Emsisoft. Thanks for your patience, Darcy. Delores.

A comment from Jeff
TC upgrade both my laptop and my all-in-one from Windows 7 to Windows 10. He made it look easy! Then the next day he came back and made them both look and work so much like Windows 7, most of the time I forget I've got Windows 10 now. Kudos to Cloudeight & TC for helping me get my computers upgraded. All the best, Jeff.

A big Cloudeight "Thank you!" to Caroline, Sharon, Janet, Delores, Jeff and everyone who took time out to write to us, share a comment and/or share us on Facebook! We appreciate your kind words and your support very much! Merry Christmas, Darcy & TC. 

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Make Windows 10 look and work like Windows 7

TIME IS RUNNING OUT! LET US HELP YOU UPGRADE YOUR WINDOWS 7 COMPUTER TO WINDOWS 10

Microsoft will end support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. Using Windows 7 after that date may put your computer at risk as Microsoft will no longer be releasing security updates and fixes for it. Now's the time to upgrade to Windows 10!

Whether you upgrade your Windows 7 to Windows 10 (still free) or buy a new Windows 10 computer, we can make you feel right at home on Windows 10 with our Windows Transformation service. We can make your Windows 10 look and work much more like Windows 7.

With our Windows 10 Transformation service, we can make your Windows 10 computer look and work more like Windows 7! With our transformation service we will:

  1. Start the Windows 10 upgrade for you and assist you with the update.
    ~ After the update has completed, we will:
  2. Change the start menu to look like Windows 7 classic style and include your favorite programs
  3. Change your taskbar and start menu colors to your preferences
  4. Add an authentic Windows 7 start button
  5. Add Windows 7 Wallpaper (if desired)
  6. Change Windows 10 File Explorer so it works more like Windows 7's Windows Explorer
  7. Add My Computer -- and other familiar Windows 7 icons --  to your desktop (if desired).
  8. The Windows 10 Transformation service key never expires it's good until you use it.  So get yours now!
  9. We've kept the price low at $35... it's a great deal

Get more information or purchase your "Transformation" now.

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Here are some important links for you:

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Doris wants to know if she can still upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10
Can I still upgrade to Windows 10? I would have done this before but I was losing internet service. Never knew when it would just go off. I am getting a new server on Friday, so I am hoping I can update to Windows 10. My computer is 9-years-old, maybe too old to update, hope not. I am 90 years old, don't know if I want to invest in a new computer. Thanks in advance. Doris

Our answer
Hi Doris. Yes, you can still update to Windows 10 free. If you want us to help you with this and to make Windows 10 look more like Windows 7, see this page.

I have a 4-year-old ASUS laptop and Dell laptop that is over 8-years-old - both are running Windows 10. Guess which I use most? I use the Dell for work. I am writing this on the Dell. So, just because a computer is 9-years-old doesn't mean it can't be upgraded to Windows 10. It's sure worth a try.

And remember, if you want to hire us, we'll help you through the upgrade process and come back and make it look a lot more like Windows 7. And we're inexpensive too! I was going to say "cheap" but Darcy scolded me and told me she's not cheap!

I hope this helps you make a decision, Doris.

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Kat says she updated Windows and lost Toggle Distilled Web Page Contents" in Chrome
I have been using your recommended "Print Friendly" & love it. Up until MS went from Winver 1903 to 1909 there was an equivalent program called "Toggle Distilled Page Content". It showed as 3 bars in the address bar. It had to be enabled through "Flags". It's no longer listed under the "Flags". Was it problematic and will it ever be offered again? The difference between the two programs was minimal, but there were differences. Blessings to you & yours, Kat.

Our answer
Hi Kat. Toggle Distilled Page Contents, is not an extension like "Print Friendly", rather it is part of Chrome. It may sometimes disappear when Chrome updates, or when Windows updates. But that's not a problem. All you have to do is set it up again following the instructions here.

Toggle Distilled Web Page Contents is still an experimental feature of Chrome, but someday, hopefully, it will be a regular feature and it won't disappear with upgrades like it sometimes can now.

I hope this helps you. Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas.

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Erica wants to know if hackers can watch you with your own Webcam.
I've read several articles that say that webcams can be activated by hackers and used to look at you things in your house. Is this true? Can hackers turn on my webcam and watch me and look at things in my room?

Our answer
Hi Erica. Not only is it true that webcams can be activated remotely, but it's also happened many times and even some famous people have had their privacy invaded. There are several ways this can happen, but usually, it usually happens when the victim is tricked into clicking a link in an email and downloading spyware/malware onto the computer thus giving the attacker control over the computer's webcam. It can be activated without the user's knowledge. Sometimes the cam can be activated without the "webcam active" light being on.

It's not likely to happen if a user has good antivirus / antimalware installed. However, no software is 100% foolproof. We've written articles about this before and we recommend putting a tiny piece of electrician's tape (opaque) over the camera lens. If you're concerned about the tape's sticky substance harming your lens you can put a small piece of paper between the tape and the lens.

This is not something that happens very often. But it's important to know it's not a hoax, it probably happens more than we like to think. And remember to always make sure you're protected. Someone spying on by you using your own webcam is possible, but not very likely. It just makes good sense to understand the risks and always use the best safe computing practices.

Covering the lens is a good option, but having a good antimalware/antivirus like Emsisoft installed is essential.

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Linda has some questions about upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10
A couple of questions about the 7 to 10 upgrade. Is it still free could the upgrade crash my computer completely and then I can't use it to contact you for help? Also Any chance we could lose the following? 1.opened and undeleted emails and contacts (outlook). 2. iTunes library.  3. documents. 4. folders. 5 desktop stuff? 5, is there any prep I should do to make the upgrade go smoothly? Thanks so much. Linda

Our answer
Hi Linda. I've done 50 upgrades (47 successful) and no one has lost any files, programs, etc. That does not guarantee anything but it's a good indication that upgrading to Windows 10 does not generally disturb your files. Many people are shocked after they upgrade that their desktop wallpaper & icons are just like they were on Windows 7. And after the upgrade, some are not even sure they've been upgraded until the look closely at the taskbar. The real shock comes when they click the Start button and see the Windows 10 menu with the tiles. Outlook works on Windows 10 just like it works on Windows 7. Upgrading won't remove your contacts, emails, or any other files at least it's never happened in my experience.

Apple is discontinuing iTunes, but upgrading to Windows 10 won't affect whatever Apple does with it. I'm sure they won't touch your library.

If the upgrade is not successful, then your computer will be returned to its prior state. It won't lock you out or destroy your files... at least not that I've seen in over 4 dozen updates. But as in life, in computer life, anything that can happen does happen.

There is nothing you can do to enhance or speed up the upgrade... but on the day of the upgrade, you should unplug any external drives, flash drives or micro SD camera cards.

If you have any other questions let me know.

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Rex is concerned about a Windows update for Windows Defender
Hi Darcy/TC. The following update failed to install. Is it important should I worry or wait for it to correct itself?  I ran the troubleshooter but it just kept running for over 30 minutes so I cancelled. Update for Windows Defender Antivirus antimalware platform - KB4052623 (Version 4.18.1911.3) - Error 0x80070643. Thanks for any help you can give me. Rex

Our answer
Hi Rex. If Windows Defender is your only antivirus/security software then it would be best to update it as soon as possible. If you can't get it to install from Windows Update, you can download it from the Microsoft Catalog and then install it.

Download the update from this link:

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4052623

If you don't rely on Windows Defender as your only antivirus/security software, then you can just wait until the update installs normally. We have found that generally, updates eventually install themselves over time (days even a few weeks).

I hope this helps you, Rex.
-----
Rex wrote back: "HI TC. It's amazing how quickly and expertly you deal with my questions for help. You always give me a complete answer, the reason for my problem, the severity if any, the solution and other options that I may consider and finally you allay my fears and worry that bad things could happen if I don't find a solution. My fellow seniors and I try to determine what this would cost us from our local techs and the answer is always the same, there is no way at any price could we get the same help. Some of us have keys we have never used, thanks to your daily weekly and regular and easy to follow advice. Thanks again for your help though it might seem small to everyone else it is huge in our books. Forever grateful, Rex and Buddies"

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Jim wants to create a recovery drive for his new computer
I just purchased a new laptop with a 1 TB hard drive but no Optical drive. Should I create a USB recovery drive or a USB boot drive? I have created an ISO image as of today on a USB hard Drive but should I also create a boot or recovery USB drive as mentioned above?

Our answer
Hi Jim. Computers that do not have optical drives (CD/DVD drives) have the BIOS set up to boot from bootable flash drives. So you can create a bootable Windows 10 installation flash drive by going this page:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

On that page click on the button labeled "Download tool now". You'll be able to create a Windows 10 installation flash drive using the tool.

We recommend you create a Windows 10 installation flash drive. It has everything a recovery drive has and more and it's bootable. You can boot your computer from it, use troubleshooting tools, and even do a reset or repair installation using it. And since your computer has no optical drives, its BIOS is already set to boot from a bootable flash drive.

I hope this helps you, Jim.

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We answer more of your questions from the past week here!

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Cloudeight InfoAve Premium -Tips & Tricks 

Clean Up Junk Files Using Storage Sense
Windows 10

Windows 10  lets you clean junk and temporary files from your computer automatically. All you have to do is turn it on and configure it.

Right-click on the Start button and click "Settings".

In "Settings", click on "System" --> "Storage"

In "Storage" under "Storage Sense can automatically free up space..." turn the switch On. Then click on "Configure Storage Sense or run it now".

Cloudeight InfoAve Windows tips and tricks

You can configure Storage Sense to run automatically or you can run it manually whenever you want to clean up some junk files. You can configure Storage Sense to run daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever Windows detects that your drive space is getting low. We recommend you set it to run weekly.

Cloudeight InfoAve Windows tips and tricks

Cloudeight InfoAve Windows tips and tricks

Cloudeight InfoAve Windows tips and tricks

Above: You can choose how often you want Windows to automatically delete files in your recycle bin.  You can choose from "Never" to 60 days. We think 14 days is a good option.  You can also automatically clean up your download folder. We suggest you clean up the download folder manually.

Below: You can set up Storage Sense to view storage on other drives

Cloudeight InfoAve Windows tips and tricks

You can also use Storage Sense to see how your disk space is being used and find out what's hogging the most space on your hard drive.

Cloudeight InfoAve Windows tips and tricks


Here are some of the items Storage Sense cleans up:

Temporary Internet Files.
Recycle Bin.
Temporary files.
Windows upgrade log files.
Thumbnails.
System created Windows Error Reporting Files.
Previous Windows installations.
Device driver packages.
Delivery Optimization Files.
DirectX Shared Cache.
DirectX Shader Cache

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Lucky 13 Freeware Picks (PLUS)
Windows 7, 8x, and Windows 10

We grew up with freeware. When we first jumped on the Web over two decades ago, almost all software was freeware. Things have changed. But we still use love freeware – not just because it’s free – but because it’s good stuff. And you can’t beat the price.

We have probably left off this list a lot of good freeware that we use, and if that’s the case, then let this be a good start.

So here it is Our first list (at least in a long time) of our favorite freeware. Most of these programs we use on our computers.

All of these programs work on Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and all versions of Windows 10.

  1. Irfanview – A super-fast photo viewer and simple photo editor. Always one of the first things we install when we get a new computer. Sometimes the developer plays games with the installer, but there is always an option to install anything but Irfanview. If it were anything other than Irfanview it would not be on this list. Get more information about and /or download Irfanview here.
  2. MetaPad – It’s an oldie but a goodie. This little text editor leaves Notepad in the dust, But the next version of Windows 10 (version 1809) promises to update Notepad for the first time in over a decade – and it looks like it’s going to be good – but still not as good as MetaPad.  You can get more information and download MetaPad here.  Hint: You don’t want MetaPad LE – just Metapad.zip.
  3. LastPass – LastPass is a free password manager that works on almost any browser as well as on tablets and smartphones. If you don’t have a password manager you really should have one. You can’t go wrong with LastPass. You can read more about it and/or get it free here.
  4. HiBit Uninstaller – an uninstaller on steroids. HiBit is not only a great uninstaller, but a great startup manager, disk cleaner, services manager, and more. It’s a Jack-of-all-trades that has mastered most of them. You can learn more about and/or download Hibit Uninstaller here.
  5. Geek Uninstaller –  Geek does one thing well. It’s the fastest uninstaller around. If you don’t need all the features of HiBit and you don’t want to pay for an uninstaller (or get a free one that is bundled with no-no ware), Geek Uninstaller (Free) should be on your PC. Nope, it’s not as robust as paid programs like Revo Uninstaller, but it is more than good enough to be on this list. Learn more about Geek Uninstaller and / or download the free version from here.
  6. FastStone Capture (the last freeware version) – The last free version of FastStone is old and doesn’t have nearly the features of the paid version, but we’ll stack the old, last free version of FastStone Capture up against any free screen capture tool around today. Read more about and/or download the last free version of FastStone Capture (version 5.3) here.
  7. 7-Zip – Windows users don’t need a zip utility unless they need to unzip RAR files and/or need more flexibility working with compressed (zipped files). If we had to choose one zip utility for our computers, it’s going to be 7-Zip. Visit the 7-Zip web site for more information and to download it. Note: There are separate versions for 32-bit and 64-bit computers.
  8. AutoRuns – The all-time BEST Free startup manager – heck – it’s the best darn startup manager free or not free. But, alas, it’s not for beginners. But if you’ve been around Windows a while and you know the ropes, there is no better startup manager anywhere. If you’re not at least a moderately advanced Windows user, heed this warning: Be careful what you disable/delete with AutoRuns. Learn more about and / or get AutoRuns here.
  9. Privacy Badger – Not exactly an application – it’s an extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. This extension is a product of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) – an agency advocating for a free and unrestricted internet. Regardless of your political views, Privacy Badger is an excellent ad blocker, anti-tracker, and privacy extension. If you’re looking for a very good and thoughtfully crafted extension to block ads and increase your privacy, we think you’ll like Privacy Badger. A lot more information about Privacy Badger – and download links for Chrome, Firefox and Opera can be found here.
  10. VLC Media Player – Without a doubt, VLC deserves a place on your computer. It’s a master at playing all types of media files. VLC can play almost any time of audio and/or video file natively. It also deserves to be installed on your PC. It’s our default media player… if you give a try, it will probably be yours too. Learn more about and/or download VLC Media Player here.
  11. Everything Search – Everything search is a free Windows search tool that can find anything on your computer almost instantly. In our tests, Everything produced great search results and found “everything” we searched for almost instantly. In the first test, we looked for all files on my laptop with the “white.mid” in their names. Everything found, well, everything with “white.mid” in its name in the blink of an eye. If you’re looking for a faster way to search Windows, you’ll want to read more about and/or download Everything search. You’ll like it!
  12. FastStone Image Viewer – FastStone Image Viewer is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter, and editor. It has a nice array of features that include image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping, retouching and color adjustments. Other features include a high-quality magnifier and a musical slideshow with 150+ transitional effects, as well as lossless JPEG transitions, drop shadow effects, image annotation, scanner support, histogram and much more.  Read more about and/or download FastStone Image Viewer here.
  13. Puran File Recovery – Most Windows users know that when you delete a file it’s not really erased. We found an excellent free file recovery program called “Puran File Recovery”. It can recover deleted files from any storage media including hard drives, external drives, flash drives, camera cards, smartphones, etc. It’s a great program and it is very robust; it can do almost any type of file recovery you would want or need to do, including recovering data from formatted drives. Read more about Puran File Recovery and/or download it here.

Worth mentioning…

Libre Office & Open Office.

Both of these free Office suites can handle almost any Microsoft Office document. They can also create documents that can be opened in Microsoft Office.

If you don’t have extra money to spend on an office program, either of these will make a nifty addition to your freeware collection. Both are great.

Learn more about Libre Office here – and more about Open Office here.

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The Enhanced Windows 10 Clipboard
Windows 10 (version 1809 & newer)

After 20+ years, the Windows clipboard has finally been updated. All Windows 10 versions starting with version1809 have the enhanced clipboard.  The enhanced clipboard — or as we sometimes call it “the Windows 10 Clipboard Manager”– is not turned on by default, so if you want to use it, you’ll need to turn it on first.

Here’s how to turn on the enhanced clipboard in Windows 10.

1.) Open Settings (Windows key + i ) or Right-click on the start button and click Settings.

2.) Click on System then click “Clipboard”

3.) Turn the switch under “Clipboard history” to “On”.

Cloudeight Windows 10 Tips and Tricks

4.) To view your saved clipboard items, press Windows Key + V. This will bring up the clipboard view pane. Anything you copy is copied and saved to the enhanced clipboard. If you have an item on the enhanced clipboard that you want to use over and over – for example, an email signature, just pin the item to you clipboard by clicking the 3-horizontal-dots at the top, then click on “Pin”.

Cloudeight Windows 10 tips - Clipboard Manager

Once pinned the pinned item will stay on your clipboard until you unpin it. Clearing the clipboard will not remove pinned items. But you can unpin them any time and delete them.

Cloudeight Windows 10 tips - Clipboard Manager

5.)  In the screenshot above you can see that images and text are saved to the clipboard when copied. You can paste from the Clipboard manager by opening a document, email, etc. and clicking in the space where you want to insert the item from the clipboard then using the Windows key + V shortcut to open the Clipboard manager and clicking the item you want to paste.

See?

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! 

TC
Cloudeight Internet

It’s a great way to add signatures to emails or paste the often-repeated text into an email, a document, a text file, etc. Once you start using the “enhanced” clipboard — that we call the Windows 10 Clipboard manager — you’ll find many ways to use it and it can save you a lot of time.

We think you’ll find Windows 10’s enhanced clipboard a big improvement over the old Windows clipboard. Is it as good as some of the other freeware clipboard managers? Probably not.  But it sure it beats the standard Windows clipboard.

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Tweak Your Windows 10 Start Menu
Windows 10 (all supported versions)

Did you know you can remove all the Windows 10 tiles from your Start menu and tweak it to make it smaller without losing access to any of your programs or apps? It’s easy to do. Here’s how.

First, start by removing all of the tiles from your start menu – don’t worry, all the tiles you remove are still accessible from the list of programs and apps in the Start menu.

Cloudeight Windows 10 Tips

Right-click on each tile and choose “Unpin from Start”. This will remove the tile but won’t remove the program or app from the Start menu. If you have a lot of tiles, this will take some time, but if you want a sleeker Start menu, it will be worth it!

Windows 10 tips by Cloudeight

With all the tiles removed, you can now resize your Start menu. Hover the mouse cursor over the right edge until you see the mouse pointer turn into a double arrow. Then drag the right edge as far to the left as you can.

Cloudeight Windows 10 tips

You can make your Start menu shorter too. Hover the mouse cursor over the top edge of the Start menu and drag the top edge down until you have the menu the height you want it.

As you can see below, it looks a lot more like the old Windows 7 start menu, with just a scrollable list of apps and programs.

Cloudeight Windows 10 tips

Everything is in alphabetical order. And if you want to go from A to say W, you can do that without scrolling, just click on a letter and a box will appear like this:

Cloudeight Windows 10 tips

Just click the first letter of the program or app you want to open. If you want to open VLC Media Player, click on the V and your Start menu will jump right the V section.

Now you know how you can tweak your Windows 10 Start menu to make it just the way you want it!

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Want more tips, tricks, and information?

We have thousands of Windows tips, tricks and more on our InfoAve web site.

Subscribe to our free InfoAve Daily newsletter.

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Cloudeight Christmas Famly Pack

Cloudeight Direct Family Pack Christmas Special!

For a limited time - you can get 3 Cloudeight Direct Computer Care keys that you can use yourself or share with family members or friends. These keys are fully transferable. And like all our Cloudeight Direct Computer Keys, they never expire. They are good until you use them. 

Our Cloudeight Direct Computer Care keys are good for all kinds of computer repairs, checkups, optimization, malware removal and a whole lot more.

These Cloudeight Direct Computer Care & Repair Keys are transferable so you can share them with friends or family members. Cloudeight Direct computer care keys never expire - they are good until you use them.  Don't miss out!

Get more info and/or save some money here

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Cloudeight InfoAve Premium -Tips & Tricks

A Website That Empowers Consumers

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, I say ‘they” are right. After spending 3 hours trying to straighten out an order with my wireless carrier yesterday, I was ready to blow a fuse. I spent 3 hours listening to crazy, nondescript music while on hold waiting for yet another customer service representative told me he or she would take care of it and call me back. Ya think they called me back? At least they could have played Christmas carols while I waited instead of cabbage music. But ya think Christmas carols would be politically correct?

It all began when I took advantage of a mail promotion about which it seems, the wireless company failed to notify its customer service representatives. Anyway, I bought into the promo – naive dolt that I am. I ordered two of the phones that were advertised. One was free the other was not – basically a buy one get one free deal. However, when my order arrived from UPS, I had been “upgraded” to phones that cost $80 more and neither was free.

The final straw was when one of the customer service reps asked me to send her photos of the promotional flyer for the free phone. Really? Like I’m making all this up? Oh well. I’ll be a sport. I dutifully scanned both sides of the flyer. saved them as JPEGs and sent them via email to the representative. She promised to call me back when she got the pictures and fix things up for me. She never called back and things never got fixed up.

That was it. I had had it. The pressure valves in my head were about to explode. But every dark road has a light on it somewhere. All that frustration and exasperation led me to Elliot Advocacy.

Cloudeight Site Pick Elliott Advocacy

It’s a gold mine for frustrated consumers who are sick and tired of being on the treadmill that is trying to talk to a real human being and to talk to a human being who has the brains and the authority to fix problems.

Cloudeight Site Pick Elliott Advocacy
Above: We grayed out the email addresses, but you’ll find them posted at Elliott Advocacy.

In my state of aggravated exasperation, I found corporate executives’ contact information listed on Elliott advocacy. I promptly wrote an email to 3 different vice presidents explaining the merry-go-round I was on. And within 30 minutes of sending those emails, my phone rang. It was from a lady who worked for one of the vice presidents. In less than 30 minutes she had all my problems solved, My order was corrected, my phones upgraded for free, and I received a credit on my bill for all the trouble I had. And this happened only because I finally got the eyes and ears of someone who could help.  Now I am a happy customer again.

Let’s let Elliott Advocacy say a few words…

“Elliott Advocacy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can’t. 

"We do it through direct consumer advocacy, journalism on an ad-free website and maintaining the largest database of executive contact information on the Internet for consumers. 

"…If you’re having trouble with a business — any business — and you’ve reached a dead end, we’ll try to help. Send our consumer advocacy team a request and we’ll investigate. Please read our frequently asked questions before getting in touch…. 

"Elliott Advocacy is a nonprofit organization that offers free advice and advocacy for consumers. If you need help with any problem, please contact us through this form. You can also post your question on our public help forum. We’re here to help..."

If you are having a big problem with a product or service and you find yourself trapped in an endless rat-maze of misdirection while trying to find a real person who can help you, Elliott Advocacy publishes the email addresses of corporate executives. And if you have a serious problem with an order, a service or a product, and you contact the right person, there’s a good chance you’ll get it resolved… and pronto. The hard part is finding the right person.

The maze that is customer service for most large companies, was put in place for a reason. To take care of minor complaints, simple problems and the ever-present folks out there trying to get something.

But if you have serious problems and can’t seem to find anyone to help you, visit Elliott Advocacy and look up the email addresses of corporate executives. You might be surprised how fast your problems are resolved.

Besides contact information for corporate executives for most major companies, Elliott Advocacy can help you through its free consumer advocacy service.

When you’ve run the exhaustive treadmill of endless waiting on the phone, and pressing one for this, and two for that, and three for something else, and all you want to do is reach a living, breathing person who has the power to help, you’ll find a lot of good information and some very powerful corporate contact information on the Elliott Advocacy website.

Take a trip to Elliot Advocacy right now! 

To read the complete article and see more screenshots see the online version of this article here.

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Cloudeight InfoAve Premium - Essays , Rants, etc.

Merry ChristmasFinding the Spirit of Christmas

“So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians Chapter 13

Winter has arrived ahead of schedule this year. Tonight, I look out my window and see softly falling flakes of snow drifting in the dim light of the old lamp post in my front yard. How many times I’ve looked out upon this same winterscape I cannot count. I wonder how many times I’ve seen this same scene without really seeing it. How many beautiful things have passed from my view because I’ve been too busy? How many days in my life have come and gone in my life when I never really saw anything at all?

But tonight I’m feeling wistful and pensive. Not sad. Just thoughtful. Life is flowing by me faster than I ever imagined. I suppose none of us at age twenty can imagine the true value of time. Seasons come and go so quickly now. And now here it is Christmastime again. It felt strange this night to think that Christmas is less than two weeks away,

When I was a child a whole week to wait for Christmas to arrive seemed a painfully long time. Two weeks seems like an eternity. Counting down the days and hours made it seem even longer. But Christmas did eventually come – it came and went. It has come and gone so many times. And here I am, many years older, and hopefully, many years wiser, looking back over all those Christmases past. Less than two weeks until Christmas? But unlike a child, the days until Christmas will come and go in the blink of an eye.

As I look back at Christmases past, the ones I remember most are the ones where I had the least. Perhaps the lavish gifts of the more prosperous years got in the way of the greatest gift of all. Maybe I buried the greatest gift under mountains of other less important gifts. You know the ones...

Please read the rest of this Christmas essay here.

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Solid-state hard drives are silent and have much faster access times than hard disk drives. The interface which connects a solid-state hard drive to the motherboard is the same as for a traditional hard drive (SATA) - making it easy to replace a traditional hard drive with a solid-state drive. However, solid-state drives are more expensive than traditional hard drives but the prices for SSDs continue to fall. Eventually, SSDs will replace standard SATA hard drives and we'll all be whizzing along at SSD speeds.

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Wishing you and yours all the best during the holidays and always


We hope you have enjoyed this issue of InfoAve Premium. Thanks so much for your support and for being a Premium subscriber.

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas to all!

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Cloudeight InfoAve Premium - Issue  #844
Volume 17 Number 8
December 13, 2019

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