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Elaine wants to know if it's safe to install updates
Hi. Every now and then I get a notification to say updates are available. Is it safe to download them? I thought computers automatically updated themselves. I am wary of downloading anything I am not sure of. Many thanks, Elaine.

Our answer
Hi Elaine. The Windows 10 default setting is to notify you before installing updates. It was not always this way. As long as you're not downloading updates from fake emails or from web sites and stick to Settings > Update & Security, it's safe - or as safe as installing Windows Updates can ever be.



Sheryl has a search engine hijacker
How do I stop hphemailaccesshere from popping up on my computer. When I run Emsisoft it doesn't find malware on my computer. I thought that's what this was? Can you help? Thanks so much. Warmly, Sheryl.

Our answer
Hi Sheryl. It's a browser extension (search hijacker) that you installed - most likely by mistake or without knowing it. It probably came bundled in a freeware program you installed.

The best way to get rid of it is to reset your browser. We written tutorials on to do this for the 3 most popular browsers:

Click here to learn how to reset Chrome.

Click here to learn how to reset Microsoft Edge

Click here to learn to reset Firefox.

Once you reset your browser, it would be a good idea to restart your computer.
-------
Sheryl wrote back: "Hello. Thank you so much for the tutorials... it got rid of my browser hijacker. I sure appreciate the help. Warmly, Sheryl "

Beverly wants to stop repetitive spam emails
Hi EB & TC, I still enjoy your newsletters with so much info to peruse over or to find answers to any issues. wish to show you a Spam I got 2 days ago. How bold they are and to try and take advantage of people. So disappointing but at least with you folks we learned to recognize. I need to know how to stop repetitive spam e-mails which are so aggravating. Every day I have to add them to spam folder I use in Windows 10. I add to Block Sender, add to Spam Folder and every day same ones.

Our answer
Hi Beverly. If we had the secret to stop repetitive or all spam emails, we would be millionaires! We've tried every anti-spam program known to mankind and the trouble with all of them is they let some spam through - but put good email in the spam folder.

There is no secret. We control spam - we cannot stop it. We received thousands of emails every week and we see very little if any spam. It's no secret because we share it with everyone.

If you want to learn how to control spam the way we control spam, take a look at the following page:

https://www.thundercloud.net/infoave/new/control-spam-the-way-we-control-spam/.

This is how we manage spam and it just plain works.

One more thing...The miscreants that send spam don't use real email addresses to send them from, they use forged or stolen email addresses with forged headers to make identifying or blocking the real sender nearly impossible. It takes a lot of digging through email headers to identify the real source of the spam. Google's spam algorithms work so well at picking up and identifying spam, we rarely get any spam in our inbox, but our spam folder fills up quickly. Every week or so we look in the spam folder to make sure no good email was mistakenly sent to the spam folder - and very rarely do we ever find a legitimate email in the spam folder - or a spam email in our inbox. Nothing's perfect, but Google spam algorithms are as close to perfect as they can be.

We hope this helps you, Beverly.



Darlene has a browser opening to a search page on startup
Every time I open Windows. it opens with Edge on a Bing search page, even though I have set Chrome as my default browser in Windows Settings. Is there any way to stop this?

As soon as that page closes, a window opens with a little message telling me that if I want to continue using Handy Address Book, I will need to purchase a license. As soon as I click okay, another mini window opens asking me if I want to buy Handy Address Book. I click no, then I have to go up to the corner to close the page of Handy Address

Our answer
First, neither Chrome nor Edge should be in your Startups. Open Task Manager and click on the Startup Tab and right-click on Edge and disable it. Disable Bing if it's there. Disable Chrome if it's in Startups and disable "Address book" too, if it's listed in Startups.

Next, you'll need to reset both Edge and Chrome. I am guessing "Address Book" is not something installed on Windows, it's something added to your browser.

How to reset Edge.

How to reset Chrome.

I hope this helps you, Darlene.

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Sydney is having problems with Ashampoo Backup
For the past 3 weeks, my weekly Ashampoo Backup has started as normal, but after a few minutes it hangs up and just sits there spinning and saying "Backing up" but doesn't progress. Last week I stopped it and started it again and it worked. This week that didn't help. It got to the same spot (84.34 MB) and hangs. I checked and have the latest version. The external drive has more available room clear than my hard drive, so that's not the problem. Any ideas? Any help will be appreciated.

Our Answer
Hi Sidney. We are no longer installing or recommending Ashampoo. We are currently recommending Windows File History - which comes with Windows 10. It's reliable and very low maintenance.

If you have plenty of space on your external drive, turn off Ashampoo in Startups (File Explorer & click on Startup tab) so that it does not run on Windows startup. Then setup File History. Here's a tutorial showing how to set up Windows 10 File History.

Once you have built the first backup using File History (which only takes a couple of hours) you can go ahead and uninstall Ashampoo.

We hope this helps you, Sydney.

Ted's laptop screen went black
My laptop just went black yesterday; it will not boot on or to any menu. From what I have described black screen no activity other than a slight sound when turning on or off but no screen action at all. Is there anything I can try or is it history? Yes, I have it backed up, etc.

Our answer
Hi Ted. Try this. Make sure the laptop it turned off. Unplug the laptop from the power source (if it's plugged in). After it's unplugged, if it has a removable battery, remove the battery. Leave the computer off for 5 minutes. Plug the computer back into a power source, replace the battery, hold down the SHIFT key and while continuing to hold down the SHIFT key turn the laptop on. Keep holding down the SHIFT key and hopefully you'll see Advanced Boot Options appear. If you get that far, click on Troubleshooting in the Advanced Boot Options menu and run Startup Repair.

If you cannot boot to the Advanced Boot Options menu, you can try to boot with a Windows 10 installation disc or Windows 10 USB installation drive. If you don't have one of these, you can create installation media at any time. If you need help with this, let me know.

Jim has a strange search tab on his Chrome browser
I have a search tab button that just appeared after I updated chrome. It is a black circle with an inverted triangle. I find it annoying. I have tried to find out how to delete it without any luck. This is on my laptop - my desktop does not have this. I have tried to attach a screenshot with no luck

Our answer
Hi Jim. I think you enabled Chrome's "Tab search" by accident. To check, copy and paste the following into Chrome's address bar:

chrome://flags/#enable-tab-search

You can disable it from that location. It should be the first option on the list.

I hope this helps you, Jim.
-----
Jim wrote back: "Hi Darcy. Thanks so much for this information. It worked. I don't know how I turned it on, but it is gone. Jim"

Judie uses Emsisoft and LastPass and still her email address was compromised
I don't understand how, when I have Emsisoft and LastPass installed, my email address could be compromised.

I have been with you since the beginning; you have taught me so much and fixed my computer a few times, so I 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 your service and have always been happy. Judie.

Our answer
Hi Judie. 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 password. Security breaches occur on Websites where you log in and have nothing to do with your computer or your security software, or your password manger.

For instance, when Equifax was breached, criminals stole user information and passwords form Equifax, not from personal computers. The same is true of any breach you read about in the news. If your information is on 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 very strong passwords, and if your email passwords are stolen in an online data breach, change our password immediately. There's nothing you can install on your computer that can prevent this.

And, Judie, thank you so much for your nice comments and for telling your friends about us.

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

Read more about OE Classic here!

Our Top Ten Windows Key Shortcuts
(Windows 10 - All supported versions)

Everyone uses their computers in different ways. We’re shortcut fans; anything that saves time is welcome. If you’re not using Windows Key shortcuts you’re missing out. Windows Key shortcuts can save you time, but only if you use them.

We put our heads together this morning to come up with a list of what we think are the ten most valuable and useful Windows Key shortcuts. These are the Windows Key shortcuts we use most often, and we hope you find these shortcuts useful too!

Using Windows Key shortcuts is a great way to save time. Do you use Windows Key shortcuts as much as we do?  

How to Disable the Banner in the Windows 10 Settings App
Windows 10 (Version 2004 and newer)

Some of you who’ve installed Windows 10 version 2004 or Windows 10 version 20H2 are seeing a banner at the top of the Settings app. The banner displays the user’s username and avatar, email address, type of account (local or Microsoft), Windows Update, One Drive, Rewards, and Web browsing settings (in other words, Microsoft Edge).

Here’s what the banner looks like…

If you don’t like the banner, you can disable it with just a little bit of work. Unfortunately, Microsoft does not provide the means for you to disable the banner, but there’s a third-party program called ViveTool you can use (with a little help from Windows PowerShell) to disable – and/or re-enable – the Windows 10 Settings app banner.

How to disable the Settings app banner.

1. Download the ViveTool from GitHub.

2. Unzip the file and then open the VIVE tool folder.

3. With the ViveTool folder open in Windows File Explorer, click on…
File > Open Windows PowerShell > Open Windows Power Shell as administrator…

4. To disable the banner copy and paste the following command at the prompt in PowerShell and press Enter.

You will get a message "Successfully set feature configuration".

5. You may need to restart your computer to see the changes. If all went well, you’ll now see the Windows 10 Settings app, sans banner.

How to re-enable the Settings app banner.

If you’ve disabled the Settings banner and you want it back, you can re-enable it by following the above steps, except at step 4 you’ll copy & paste the following command and press Enter.

Again, you may need to restart your computer to see the changes.

That’s it. Now you have a choice to have the Settings banner or not.

Scan Your Hard Drive(s) for Errors on Windows 10
Windows 10 (all versions)

Windows 10 lets you scan your hard drive(s) for errors while you use your computer – and it’s easy to do.

Let’s scan your Windows drive (usually C:\).

Open File Explorer (Windows Key + E). On the left pane under This PC, right-click on your C:\ drive, click “Properties”. When the “Properties” dialog opens, click the “Tools” tab, and then click the “Check” button.

Once you click the “Check” button, you’ll see the following dialog appear. If you need to scan the drive for errors, it will tell you. If you don’t (as below) it will tell you that also. Even if it says, “You don’t need to scan this drive”, you can still scan the drive if you want to. Just click “Scan drive”.

You can scan any hard drive using this tip.

Bonus Tip: Scan your hard drive(s) using a Command Prompt.

1.) Type CMD in the taskbar search.
2.) In the search results click on “Run as administrator”.
3.) At the prompt, type the following command and press Enter. (Make sure you leave a space before the slash.)

CHKDSK /SCAN

Windows will scan your drive…

And when the scan is done Windows will let you know if further action is required. As you can see, I don’t need to do anything more. My drive is fine.

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

How to Find Out if Your Phone Number Was Stolen in the Facebook Breach

Recently, the personal data of 533 million Facebook users was stolen and placed on a hacking forum. 

“Have I been pwned” has added a new feature that is especially useful if you’re a Facebook user. As a result of the Facebook breach, the site now allows people to find out if their phone numbers have been exposed. “Have I been pwned” previously allowed users to check to see if their email addresses and passwords were exposed in past breaches.

The recent Facebook breach prompted Troy Hunt, the security expert who runs “Have I been pwned”, to enhance the site so that people can search to see if their phone numbers have been breached too. As you may know, the recent Facebook breach exposed far more phone numbers than email addresses.

To see if your phone number was exposed in the Facebook breach, go to
https://haveibeenpwned.com/.

To search for a phone number, enter your phone number using the international format — i.e., with the country and area codes. A user in the U.S.A. would add +1 and their area code before their phone number. For example, a U.S. phone number 555-555-1111 would be entered as +1-555-555-1111.

Here are a few country codes:

USA country code +1
Australia country code +61
New Zealand country code +64
Great Britain country code +44

If yours is not listed, just google country code + the name of your country.

Good luck. May your phone number not be listed among the pilfered ones.

Time

“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” (Henry Van Dyke)

The world has certainly gotten crazier over the last decade. The way people act you’d think none of us had anything in common. It seems we’re on one side or the other and it’s always the wrong side if it’s not the side you’re on.

A few months before he was assassinated, John F. Kennedy, in a speech at American University in Washington, D.C. said:

“For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”

I think, somewhere along the line, we forgot that we’re all in this together — no matter what side of the fence we’re on. It makes no sense to hate someone who doesn’t think the way you do. But there sure is a lot of that going around these days, isn’t there?

We’ve been through this many times before – think of the crusades where each side believed they were so right that the other side needed to be obliterated. Thank goodness, we’ve become a little more civil – or have we? I’m not so sure... 

You can read the rest of this essay here. 

Wildcards

When you think of Wildcards I think of Jokers. When I think of Jokers, I think of EB. But I'm not talking about Jokers wild - or EB the Joker. I'm talking about Windows wildcards.

Now...back in the days when EB was young and thin - and TC was dashing and macho - we used to use what were known as "Wildcards". For instance, if we were looking for a PDF file and we didn't know its name, we could use a wildcard to search for all PDF files on our computers.

The search would look like:

*.pdf

The asterisk is the wildcard. If we were looking for a text file but not sure of its name...

*.txt

Or a Word document:

*.doc or *.docx

And, though EB is no longer young and thin, wildcards still work on Windows 10.

Wildcards can help you find things when you're not sure of the name of the file, but you know it's type (extension).

Jokers wild, EB!

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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 #913
Volume 18 Number 23
April 9, 2021 

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