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Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly Issue #937 Volume 18 Number 47 September 24, 2021 Dear Friends, Welcome to Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly Issue #937. Thank you very much for subscribing and for being a part of our Cloudeight family. We appreciate your friendship and support very much! Please share our newsletters and our website with your friends and family. If you're not getting our InfoAve Daily newsletter, you're missing out on a lot of good stuff! It's free and it only takes a few seconds to sign up. We'd love to have you with us. Visit this page to sign up for our Cloudeight InfoAve Daily Newsletter.
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Cheryl wants Chrome to stop asking to save passwords.
Sue keeps getting a "Sign in to Google Drive" popup when she
opens Chrome
Pete had his hard drive replaced and now it won't boot
Wayne's taskbar clock is gone and he wants it back
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Terry wants a portable alternative to our freeware pick "Easy
File Locker"
Robert asks about a program called Restoro.
Anna asks about browser extensions
Ronald wants to know how long Microsoft will support Windows 8.1
Our answer
The Best Computer Care and Repair - Anywhere! We can fix your computer while you watch. You never have to leave your home. Just sit back, relax, and watch us work. Get PC service from folks you trust at the best prices you'll find anywhere. Get more information here.
Take Control of System Restore in Windows 10
Increasing the disk space allocated to System Restore increases the number of restore points you’ll have available. We recommend you don’t go crazy here. Don't allocate more than 10% of your hard drive space to System Restore. And keep in mind too, increasing the drive space allocated to System Restore has no immediate effect – you’re not going to see five new restore points appear out of the blue. Over time, you’ll have 4 or 5 (or more) restore points to choose from instead of 1 or 2. More is better to a certain point, but don't go wild! Bonus tips: You can access System Restore, should you need to use a restore point quickly this way: Type RSTRUI in taskbar search and press Enter. And, if you open System Restore and you only see one or two restore points, don't forget the tick the box near the bottom of the System Restore dialog that says "Show more restore points":
Ticking "Show more restore points" shows all available restore points.
And yes, System Restore works the same way on Windows 11 too. Here are some screenshots of System Restore on Windows 11.
Before You Reset Windows 10 Try This Tip If your computer is running poorly and/or Windows 10 features seem to be missing, not working, or slow to load, resetting Windows 10 will almost always help. Resetting Windows 10 will keep all you personal files, but you'll have to reinstall all the programs you installed that didn't come with Windows 10. And if you have a lot of programs installed that you need and use, it can take a while. Before you resort to resetting Windows 10, always try this tip first. 1. Type CMD in taskbar search. 2. When you see Command Prompt appear, right-click it and choose "Run as administrator". 3. At the prompt type: SFC /SCANNOWand press Enter. (Note the slash between SFC and the slash.) SFC (System File Checker) will take some time to run. It will tell you when it's finished. When SFC finishes running, do not close the Command Prompt window. 4. Type the following at the prompt in the Command Prompt window: DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /RestoreHealthBe certain you copy & paste that command - or type it exactly as shown - including the spaces. DISM stands for Deployment Image Servicing and Management. You can use DSIM /Online/ Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth to scan the Windows image for component store corruption and perform repair operations automatically. It can take from 10 minutes to over an hour to run .. depending on how much needs to be repaired. Running these two commands in this order can fix many Windows problems and the risk level is zero. So, if you're having serious problems with Windows 10, this tip may save you a lot of time... and a lot of work. How to Use the Dictation Feature in Windows 10 and Windows 11 Windows 10 (all versions) and Windows 11 Voice recognition has come a long way. While it’s still not 100% accurate, it’s accurate enough and reliable enough you can use it to dictate recipes, emails, reminders, notes, essays, short stories, journals, even angry letters to the editor! To use the new and improved dictation feature in Windows 10 and Windows 11, press and hold down the Windows Key and tap the H key. Place your cursor in (almost) any text field and start talking. It works with almost any app including MS Word, Notepad, WordPad, Gmail, Outlook, Outlook.com, etc. Using Windows 10 Dictation Use the Windows key shortcut Windows key + H to begin. Click the “microphone” icon in the dictation bar.
When it’s done initializing, you’ll see “Listening” and then you can start talking. Here’s an example of Windows 10 Dictation being used with Notepad.
As you can see above Windows 10 Dictation is “Listening…” and you can see what I’ve dictated so far. You can add punctuation by saying comma, period, semi-colon, exclamation point, etc. And if you want a new line, say, “new line”. If you want a new paragraph, say “new paragraph”. You get the idea. The more you use Windows Dictation, the better it gets at understanding your voice. When you’re done dictating just say “Stop dictating”. Using Microsoft Speech Services (dictation) in Windows 11 And you’ll be glad to know that dictation gets even better, more accurate, and more fluid in Windows 11. It even gets a new name, “Microsoft Speech Services”. But it works the same way it works in Windows 11. Open Windows Speech Services in Windows 11 by using the Windows key + H shortcut. Here’s Windows Speech Services opening in Windows 11. To begin voice typing, just click the microphone icon, or as Microsoft puts it the “mic button”.
I put Windows Speech Services in Windows 11 through a rather difficult test using a poem by A.E. Housman. I’ll give Windows Speech Service an A-minus, it only made one major mistake… where it should have been “rose lipt maids” Windows Speech Services typed “rows left”. But “rose lipt” isn’t a common expression and I don’t want to be too critical because Windows Speech Services worked well. Even the spell-checker I’m using to write this doesn’t like the word “lipt”.
And, like Windows 10’s Dictation feature, you can use Windows 11 Microsoft Voice Services to type reminders, notes, recipes, journals, essays, stories, lists, emails, and more. Here’s an email I wrote using Microsoft Speech Services…
Unfortunately (and predictably) Darcy ignored my email, and I didn’t get my raise. But I can’t blame that on poor dictation by Microsoft Speech Services! When you first start using Microsoft Speech Services in Windows 11, it will ask if you want to contribute your voice clips to make Speech Services better. You can choose “Yes” to contribute your voice clips – or “No” if you don’t want to contribute.
Now you know how to save yourself a lot of typing whether you’re using Windows 10 or Windows 11.
Want more tips, tricks, and information? We have thousands of Windows tips, tricks, and more on our InfoAve website. Subscribe to our free InfoAve Daily newsletter.
If You Like Trivia, You’ll Love
Triviaplaza A long, long time ago, in a kingdom by the sea, there lived a young
man who played Trivial Pursuit with anyone who would play it with him.
It didn’t take long before everyone who played against him found his
Achilles’ heel — the category was “Entertainment”. Yep, that young man was me and I was a terror at Trivial Pursuit in
every category except Entertainment. Like I know who Tom Hanks and Gene
Wilder and Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart are. But I have no idea who
most actors and actresses are. For example, I thought Reese Witherspoon was a basketball player —
and that’s the truth. I thought Kanye West was a girl. Stuff like that.
I didn’t know entertainment when I was young, and I know even less about
it now. Unlike EB I don’t have my head buried in “People” magazine. The point is, and yes, I do have one, almost everyone loves a good
trivia quiz. I guess because if you flunk a trivia quiz you can still
think you’re smart, whereas if you took a real test and flunked you
might have self-image issues. I spent so much time messing around with this site pick, that I
neglected my work, and now EB is hunting me down and if she catches me,
I will be on the road to perdition. And yes, everything I tell you about
EB is 100% true! I know you think it’s all fiction. I’ll tell you a secret about EB – she has a sign at the end of her
driveway that says: “Stay out or be shot”. And if you’re tempted just
look up at her front porch and you’ll see EB sitting there in camos
cradling a shotgun. Getting back to the subject at hand: A lot of you think I’m full of
hot air and an incessant purveyor of bad grammar. You think I don’t know
much. I’m about to prove you wrong, if not about my grammar, about my not
knowing much. Just hang on and I’ll show you! The site where I displayed my considerable trivia
talent is called
Triviaplaza. If you love Trivia as much as I do, then you’ll really
love this site too.
You can clearly see from the image above; I really did visit this
Cloudeight site pick. You can also see some of the categories of trivia
offered. Look up! See? Not only did I visit Triviaplaza, but I also wasted over 3 hours
there while I should have been writing this. It’s a wonder I get
anything done. I took a Web Interface Icons test and I aced it, see?
And I took a quiz on File Extensions too…and aced it!
So now you’re thinking, what a ruse, TC only takes tests in things he
knows well like computers. Doubt me, will you? You can see I almost aced a general knowledge
quiz. See EB? I’m no dummy!
Regardless of your interests, you’ll find a trivia category on this
site to challenge you. So, if you think you’re the king or queen of
trivia, or just want to spend some time having fun on the web, you’ll
want to plan on visiting Triviaplaza.
And if the main categories above didn’t entice you, look at the wide
selection of miscellaneous categories. There’s got to be something here
that interests you, right? You really can spend hours here!
Just so you know, EB would not allow me to post her trivia test
results here. She threatened me with horrible consequences if I did. I
don’t like her idea of horrible consequences, so as you can see, I am
complying with her wishes… as I always do! If you like Trivia as much as we do, you’ll
love our site pick, Triviaplaza. Fun With Spam 101 Note: Please don’t try this at home. This is only for
silly people like me to try. If you read this and follow my example,
you’ll only end up wasting time and getting more spam. Therefore,
this warning: If you follow my example, you do so at your own peril. (Was that a good enough warning, EB? You’re so fussy!) Fun With Spam 101 – Part One I’ve come to the point in my life where my brain is losing cells faster
than my body can replace them. This leaves me particularly vulnerable to
falling in love with strange things like watching “House” and reading
spam. I find myself waking up in the morning and rushing to the computer
(not even stopping by the coffee pot first) to see how much spam arrived
overnight. I am never disappointed. One thing I can count on is oodles
of spam and I’ve learned to love it so much! Now, I know, you’re sitting there reading this in a state of disbelief!
Horrified. Some of you might even be gaping aghast. I am aware that you
are thinking what a pathetic man I am. You’re thinking that I’m so
hard-up for entertainment that I’ve taken to watching “House” and
reading subject lines from spam, just to get my jollies. But, think what
you want! As my brain cells continue to rot at an ever-increasing pace,
I am sure I will only get worse. And I am horribly aware that I might
end up being a babbling, drooling, old, loony maniac. But, let me tell
those of you who think that’s what I am already – I just checked and
there is not a drop of drool on my keyboard – and my t-shirt is not on
backward this morning. So, there! Today, at least, I am in perfect,
working order. Fun With Spam 101 – Part Two...
Please read the rest of this essay here. My Windows 10 Computer Takes
FOREVER to Boot! But sometimes, we connect to the customer and do a reboot and we find
that their computer is booting in between 2 or 3 minutes. When we
measure boot time we measure from the time the computer is restarted
until the time the computer is fully usable again (desktop, taskbar and
all icons loaded). While that may seem like a long time compared to an
Android or an Apple device, it's about par for the course for Windows
10. If your computer boots up within 2 to 4 minutes, that's
normal. If your computer is taking longer than that then you have too
many programs and services starting with Windows, or you have other
problems.
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