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John wants to know how to clean up years' worth of Gmail email messages.
Quite a long time ago you had an article showing how we could clean up our old emails very quickly rather than one at a time. I have probably got 10 years of emails in Gmail I will never read again. I would appreciate if you could show us how to do this again. Many Thanks.

Our answer
Hi John. The article we wrote was about how to jump from the newest to the oldest emails in Gmail.

However you can easily select all emails on a page just by checking a box.

Open Gmail to the page containing the emails you want to delete and tick the box at the top - as below;

Once you tick that box, all emails on the page will be selected. If there are any mails selected you don't want to delete, just remove the checkmark next to them. To delete the selected emails just click on the trash can icon at the top and confirm you want to delete the selected emails.

You can delete up to 100 emails at a time using this method.



Mona has problems installing a scanner
When I try to install the software that came with the photo scanner that I purchased, I receive the following message:



I had a 'live chat' with the scanner manufacturer, PlusTek, regarding the ePhoto Z300 scanner than I purchased. It was suggested that they suspect that the problem is a corrupted system file. Does that make sense? They gave me the link to download the driver. I am having no success and looking for help.

Thanks for your anticipated help. Over my many years on my computer, I don’t recall ever having an installation problem like this. Mona.

Our answer
Hi Mona. We'll try to help. Here are some ideas.

Turn off your computer and leave it off 5 minutes - restart it.

Run both SFC and DISM scans as outlined on this page. Be sure to restart your computer after running both.

Next, right-click on the scanner installation/driver exe and choose "Run as administrator".

If that does not work, restart your computer, and re-download the installation software from https://plustek.com/us/products/film-photo-scanners/ephoto-z300/support.php and try to install it. This is a zip file with an installer package in it. Unzip it, then right-click on the installer and choose "Run as administrator".

I think it's sad that the company blames you/your computer - instead of helping you. I'm sure they have heard of this issue before.

Let us know if this helps you.
-------
Mona wrote back: "Good Morning, TC. My most sincere gratitude to you for the “extra mile” that you did to help guide me through my installation problem. Your detailed ideas were exactly what did the trick, and my scanner is on a roll. I do admit that there are times when I read instructions online, the technical wording leaves me ‘clueless’. I was able to follow your step-by-step instructions, and all is well. Even with the challenge, the scanner is A-1. I now have a reliable scanner for slides, and this one scans paper photographs, as well as tools for adjusting and rejuvenating the scanned photos. Enjoy your day… stay well... Mona B."

Mary wants an easy to use, free or low-cost word processing program
Would you please recommend a good or low-cost word processing program. I don't need anything fancy. I just to be able to write simple letters. Thank you for all you do... especially us oldies. Mary.

Our answer
Hi Mary. Thanks for your nice comments.  I think my favorite free word processor is Jarte - but AbleWord is also very good. And every Windows 10 PC comes with WordPad which is a capable word processor also.

Here's an article we wrote called "A Trio of Excellent Free Word Processors.  In that article you'll find information and download links for two excellent free word processors - Jarte and AbleWord, as well as info about Microsoft's WordPad.

We hope this helps you, Mary.
------
Mary wrote back: "Thank you so much for the recommendations. That is what is so extra special about Cloudeight; you are so quick with your responses!"



Leslie has a freeware suggestion
This freeware program looks interesting. There is a free and a paid version. It's called Grammarly. It's a grammar and spelling checker.

You can read more about it here.

All the best, Leslie.

Our answer
Hi Leslie. I've been using Grammarly free for over 2 years - can't you tell? :-) I use it as well as Word's grammar/spelling editor to review our weekly newsletter.

I use the free version; I've never tried the paid version.

Thanks for the reminder, Leslie.  This would be a great time to share Grammarly with everyone - especially those who do a lot of writing.

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Dawn accidently deleted some important files
Can you tell me if it is possible to recover somehow deleted PDF files. I tried to download a program and Emsisoft kicked it off. Thank goodness. My two-year bank statement PDF files have gone totally AWOL and now I have downloaded them from my bank I do not have access to them anymore. I am a long-time user, and you are my Bible gurus so any help will be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Our answer
Hi Dawn. Thanks so much for your nice comments and your long-time support. Whether you can recover those files depends how long ago they were deleted. Our recommended recovery program is called "Puran File Recovery. Please read our post here about Puran File Recovery and see it that sounds like something that would work for you. There are download links to the program in the post.

Terry wants to send sensitive data
I need to send sensitive data would you use? 7zip encrypted file? Word encrypted file? Any suggestions? Thanks, Terry.

Our answer
Hi Terry. It depends on how tech savvy the person you are sending the file to. Personally, I would not choose any of these methods. I would send a link to the file in my Google Drive (not totally secure but the file can't be edited). Or you can share files securely using Microsoft OneDrive. Either way is a lot easier than for the person on the other end rather than having them fooling around with 7-zip encrypted files or other password-protected files. If you use OneDrive, read this article about sharing files securely.

You can also send files securely using a site like https://www.sendfilessecurely.com/.

We hope this helps you, Terry.

Judie is careful. She uses Emsisoft and LastPass but still her email was compromised
What I don't understand with Emsisoft and LastPass how my email could be compromised in the first place. I have been with you since the beginning; you have taught me so much and fixed my computer a few times, so thank you so much again! I have recommended you every time someone I know gets into a pickle and most have signed up and used you and have always been happy. Judie

Our answer
Hi Judie. Thanks for your nice comments. Your email was not compromised, your email password was. Security programs and password managers don't have anything to do with hackers breaching web sites and collecting usernames and passwords. Security breaches occur on Websites where you have logged in - they have nothing to do with your computer or your security software, or your password manager.

For instance, when Equifax was breached, criminals stole user information and passwords form Equifax, not from personal computers. If your user information was stored by Equifax, your info was compromised. The same is true of any breach you read about in the news. If your information is on a site that is breached then your information is compromised.

You really can't prevent companies on the web from being hacked, all you can do is use strong passwords and change them every few months. There is nothing you can install on your computer that can prevent this.

Diane is still not sure what to do about LastPass
I am not sure what I want or should do regarding my LastPass. Is it still good or do I need to switch to something else? I sure would love to hear your recommendations. You know I will follow you off the edge of the cliff!

Our answer
Hi Diane. The only reason you would need to change password managers is if you use LastPass on more than one type of device. If you only use it on Windows PCs (laptops, desktops, all-in-ones) you don't have to do anything. You can continue to use LastPass FREE on all your Windows PCs. There is no reason to worry about switching to something else.

But if you use LastPass on your Windows PCs and your smartphone or tablet, you'll either have to pay a $2 or $3 a month to keep using LastPass, or switch to another free password manager, like Bitwarden.

If you don't want to pay LastPass, we created a tutorial showing how to switch from LastPass to Bitwarden without losing any of your LastPass logins or data.

I hope this answers your question and addresses your concerns. If not, let me know.

Our newest Cloudeight Endorsed Email Program - Very Similar to Windows Mail & Outlook Express. Stationery works great!

Read more about OE Classic here!

3 Time-Saving Tips
Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (all versions)

Tip #1
Let’s say, you are filling out a Web form and you make a mistake -you typed in the wrong email address or whatever. Instead of backspacing to remove the incorrect address, put your cursor in the form field and press the CTRL key plus the A key and then the Delete Key. CTRL + A highlights everything in the form field. The Delete key deletes all the highlighted text.

Tip #2
Now, imagine you’re viewing a very long web page and you want to go back to the top. Instead of scrolling all the way back up, press the HOME key. If you want to go to the bottom of the page, instead of scrolling all the way down to the bottom, just press the END key. It’s simple, I tells ya!

Tip #3
OK, last one: Here’s a really easy way to highlight a large block of text. Put your cursor at the top of this tip and left-click. Now put it at the bottom of this tip and click while holding down the SHIFT key. Pretty cool, huh?

All About Your RAM
Windows 10 (all versions)

RAM is also known as memory. The amount of memory installed in your computer has a lot to do with how “fast” it runs. The more RAM you have installed, the faster your computer will be. More than anything else, RAM determines how well your computer performs. There are other factors too, but RAM has more impact on your computer’s performance than anything else.

But how much do you know about your computer’s RAM? You probably know how much RAM you have, but do you know how many RAM chips you have installed or what type of RAM you have?

This tip is probably more for the geeks among you, but we think many of you non-geeks are curious. So, we’re going to show you how to use a Windows command to find out more about your computer’s RAM than you probably know right now.

If you want to know how many RAM chips you have installed in your computer, the capacity of each chip, and the type of RAM installed, you can do it quickly and easily with one command.

So, let’s open a Command Prompt window first.

Type CMD in taskbar search and press Enter.

At the command prompt type:

wmic MEMORYCHIP get BankLabel, DeviceLocator, MemoryType, TypeDetail, Capacity, Speed

It’s important you type that command as shown – spaces and commas matter. Commands are not case sensitive though so upper and lower case letters do not matter.

The screenshot above shows that I have two RAM chips installed (Bank 0 and Bank 2). Under Capacity, it shows each RAM chip has a capacity of 4294967296 MB of RAM – which is 4GB. Two RAM chips of 4 GB each means my computer has a total of 8 GB of RAM

MemoryType tells you the type of your physical memory. In my case, this shows I have memory type 24 which is DDR 3 type RAM.

Under TypeDetail you’ll find the SMBIOS information. This shows I have type 128 which means I have synchronous RAM.

If you want more information about your RAM than you’ll ever probably want to know, type the following command in a Command window at the prompt and press Enter.

WMIC MEMORYCHIP LIST FULL

How to Quickly Rename All Files in a Folder at Once
Windows 10 (all versions)

Here’s a handy tip if have a lot of digital photos and you’ve ended up with folders full of images with names like DCC0122420171107.jpg. Not very descriptive. You can’t tell if it’s a picture from a birthday party, Christmas day, or your vacation to Hawaii.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you could give all the pictures in a folder a more descriptive name – and rename all of them at the same time?  You’re in luck! It’s easy using Windows 10’s File Explorer. All of geeks out there probably know this trick as “batch rename”. But whatever you call it, this is a quick and easy way of renaming all the files in a folder at once.

Here’s how to do it.

First, open the folder containing the images you want to rename.

Above, you can see I selected all the images in a folder full of desktop wallpaper pictures. To select them all, I just highlighted one and pressed CTRL +A.

With all the images in the folder selected, I pressed “F2” to rename them. You can right-click and choose “Rename”, you can click the Rename button at the top of File Explorer, or you can just press F2 as I did.

The first picture’s name in the folder will become editable:

Just type in the name you want (I chose Wallpaper), and press Enter.

And all the files in the folder will be named Wallpaper (1), Wallpaper (2), sequentially to the last image the folder.

So, folks, if you end up a whole bunch of precious pictures with names like DCS122420175947.jpg, wouldn’t it be better to have them all named Judy’s-birthday2020(1), Judy’s-birthday2020(2) or Tahiti-vacation2019(1), Tahiti-vacation2017(2), and so on? We thought you’d agree. And now you know how easy it is to do, you’ll do it, right?

OH YES! One more thing. You can use this tip to rename files of any type, not just pictures.

Want more tips, tricks, and information?

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

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Reg Organizer - A Swiss Army Knife of Windows Tools - Works Great on Windows 10!

Easy Context Menu - Quickly and Easily Remove Right-click Context Menu Items

Last week, Lynn asked us a question that we have not heard for a while – she wanted to know how to remove some of the programs from her right-click context menu – she was tired of scrolling down a long list just to get to “Rename” and “Delete” which are the two items she uses most.

There are a lot of programs that can help with paring down the list of items on the right-click context menu – you can even remove items by editing the registry. But few people consider editing the registry easy or fun – and we found many of the context menu editors complicated.  

Because of Lynn’s question, we went on a search for an easy-to-use context menu editor. And we found a free program that’s extremely easy to use — so much so that removing items from the right-click context menu is as easy as this:

Highlight the item you want to remove and click “Delete”.

The program is called “Easy Context Menu”. You can download the zip file from here. 

Once you download it, unzip the file, and open the folder inside. Then click on EcMenu or EcMenu64 (if you have a 64-bit computer click on EcMenu64 – if you’re not sure click on EcMenu).

Once you open the program, press Ctrl-X (or choose “File” > “Context menu cleaner”) to open the Context Menu Cleaner. Highlight the item you want to remove from your right-click menu and click “Delete”.

If you want to delete several items at once, highlight multiple items by holding down the SHIFT key while you click on the items you want to remove. Then, when you have all the items you want to remove from your right-click context menu selected, click on the Delete button on the left side. That’s it.

Context Menu Cleaner has many other features as well. You can read more about it and all its features here.  

It’s the Little Things

They showed their pretty heads this week. After a cold and snowy winter, the crocuses, and the snowdrops magically showed their lovely heads and broke winter’s spell – at least for a while.

One day the ground was covered with snow, then the snow melted and brown, muddy dirt was all that was left. Then, magically, from the ugly patch of brown appeared little yellow and purple and white flowers. Every year, when I see the first signs of spring emerge from the frozen, brown, ugly dirt, I think it’s a miracle. And although I’m now an old man, the miracle of spring is just as much a miracle now as it was when I was a child.

But you see, I never lost the child inside. I never lost the feeling that it is the little things that make life worth living. The first flowers of spring, the sight of kids flying kites on a sunny, but chilly day in April. That first perfect day in spring when the sky is so blue and the majestic clouds so white, that it takes your breath away.

Spring… One day the trees are brittle and barren, the next day... 

Please read the rest of this essay here. 

Do you have a 64-bit or 32-bit PC?

Chances are you have a 64-bit PC, but if you want to find out for sure, follow the instructions below.

1.) Type About PC in the taskbar search.

2.) Press Enter when “About your PC” shows up at the top of the search results.

3.) Under Device Specifications, you’ll find your system type.

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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.

Have a great weekend... be safe!

Your friends at Cloudeight,

Darcy and TC
Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly - Issue #910
Volume 18 Number 20
March 19, 2021 

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