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Pearl needs to convert an MS Word document to PDF
I needed to change an MS Word document to PDF (of a JPEG). How do I do that? Is there a program to do that?

Our answer
Hi Pearl. You can convert any file to PDF using Windows 10's (or Windows 11) Print to PDF feature. See our tutorial here.

Another easy way to convert a Word document to a PDF file is to use one of the many free online tools. Here's one we've featured before...

https://smallpdf.com/word-to-pdf

All you have to do is visit that page, select the Word doc you want to convert to PDF, and click the convert button. You'll see it says "Converting" then when the conversion is done, you will see a download button appear. Click the download button to download your PDF file.

We hope this helps you, Pearl.

David wants to add the Brave search engine to MS Edge
How do I add the Brave search engine to Microsoft Edge? It is not in the list of search engines shown in Edge. Thanks.

Our answer
Hi David. Brave is a browser, not a stand-alone search engine. The Brave browser uses its own proprietary search engine, but you can't "add" it to Edge, Chrome, Firefox, or any other browser. If you want to use the Brave search engine, you'll have to install the Brave privacy browser (freeware). You can get it at https://www.brave.com.

I've tested Brave quite extensively over the last year or so and while the Brave browser's search feature may indeed be private, it doesn't work very well when it comes to finding things. And, after all, finding things is the purpose of any search engine. If you want more privacy when searching you could use DuckDuckGo which you can add to Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and many other browsers. See https://www.duckduckgo.com.

Keep this in mind though... any kind of privacy on the web is an illusion. There is no way to ensure 100% privacy when you're on the Internet.

We hope this helps you, David.

Daniel wants to send large files by email but...
I've been watching all of your daily and weekly newsletters religiously for years. I learn a lot of things and I thank you very much. Occasionally we need to send someone a big email, for example, 50 MB, 150 MB, or even larger. But we are limited to 10 MB with Bell (or ISP) or 25 meg with Gmail. Could you suggest a free site on the internet or a program that would allow me to send large files to a person for free? Thank you very much for your help. Yours sincerely, Daniel.

Our answer
Hi Daniel. Thanks very much for your nice comments. There are many free "big file" transfer services that allow you to share large files up to 10 GB. They all work in the same way. You upload the large file(s) you want to share and a link is created that you can share with the recipient(s). Essentially, you upload the large file and send an email with a link to download the file(s) to anyone you want to share the file(s) with.

Here are two such services:

https://www.filemail.com/

https://wetransfer.com/

Most of these kinds of services require you to sign-up for a free account. And generally, free accounts have limitations as to the size of the file (but much larger than the 150 MB you mentioned).

Of the two services mentioned above, they have file size limits for free accounts of 10 GB and 2 GB respectively. Another limitation of the free accounts is that your recipients will have to download the file within a certain number of days or it will be deleted. But if you are looking for a free, easy, way to share large files this is the best way - unless you have a Gmail account (which you can get free). If you have a Gmail account you can share large files using Google Drive - you can read more about that here.

We hope this helps you, Daniel.

Anne says she was hit by a scammer
Hi. I was hit by a spammer today. It was a Microsoft scam and my computer was frozen. This guy from the Microsoft number I called said he would take care of it. He installed the LogMeIn Rescue applet. I can see it I’m my Windows program files (x86) but don’t know how to remove it. He accessed my computer remotely, but we aborted the call as we thought it was a scam. I need your help. I think I still have a session left with you. I ran an Emsisoft scan and all came back clear. I hope to hear from you soon.

Our Answer
Dear Anne. Microsoft does not ask you to call them and ask you to let them access your computer. You fell for an ad scam and called a number and let someone access your PC. Whoever it was it was not a Microsoft employee. Keep in mind that an antivirus program will not protect you from you voluntarily allowing someone remote access to your computer.

If you paid the scammer anything, you should contact your credit card or bank and let them know you were scammed. If you gave this person access to your credit card or bank account information, you will need to have those account numbers changed. It is a good thing that you hung up and cut them off.

Be assured though that there was no block on your computer. All you had to do was close your browser and/or restart your computer.

Here are some articles we have written about this sort of thing.

https://www.thundercloud.net/infoave/new/tech-support-scams-are-back-microsoft-warns-users/

https://www.thundercloud.net/infoave/new/be-prepared-not-scared-tech-support-scams-microsoft-support-scams-are-everywhere/

https://www.thundercloud.net/infoave/new/the-infamous-microsoft-phone-phishing-scam/

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Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.  Sign up for our daily newsletter here.

If you are requesting a session for us to take a look, please use our request form found with your direct care key order.

We hope this helps you, Anne
--------
Note: Anne scheduled a session with us via our Cloudeight Direct Computer Care service and we found no evidence of any hacking or malware on her computer.

Ken upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11 and now some of his programs are missing
I upgraded to Windows 11 and now I do not have all the installed programs that I had on Windows 10. How do I find all these programs in Windows 11?

Our answer
Hi Ken. The programs you see when you open the Windows 11 Start Menu are not all the programs you have installed. To see all the programs installed, you'll need to click on "All apps". You'll see a complete list of all installed programs in alphabetical order.

Further, you can remove, add, and customize the Windows 11 start menu. You can add or remove or change the order of anything you see on the main menu. Just right-click on anything on the main start menu and you'll see the option to "unpin" (remove) from the start menu. If you click on All apps and find programs you want to add to the main start menu, right-click on them and choose Pin to Start. You can also drag the icons around the start menu to put them in any order you want.

We hope this helps you, Ken.

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Eldad asks about OAuth2 email authentication
Hi. I read in your Infoave Weekly newsletter about OE Classic will comply with Gmail authentication requirements - OAuth2 - in due course. My question is: Do you know something similar about Mozilla Thunderbird? I'm using this email client for years, and want to continue using it. Thanks, Eldad.

Our answer
Hi Eldad. Thunderbird has supported OAuth2 for a couple of years, so all current versions of Thunderbird already support this authentication method.

If for some reason your Gmail was not set up using OAuth2, you can easily re-set it up without losing anything. When you set up your Gmail account in Thunderbird, you will see a Gmail sign-in page appear where you  can sign in to Gmail with your username and password. Then the authentication details from Gmail are passed to Thunderbird - it's automatic. But you don't have to do this unless you have problems on May 30, 2022, and we don't think you will.

Doris asks about RealPlayer and Movies & TV on her Windows 10 PC
I have RealPlayer on my Windows 10 desktop computer. There is also Movies & Tv installed already on it. When I download a video to Real Player the video also goes to the program Movies & TV, which is fine. My question is, I would like to save the videos to a Thumb Drive but I can't find any way to do that from either RealPlayer or Movies & Tv. Can I do that and if so How. I'm not that computer smart. Thank you for your help.

Our answer
Hi Doris. RealPlayer is outdated and unnecessary. Besides that, many security apps consider it a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program). We suggest you download and install a free media player called VLC from here. Once you install it,, you can make it your default media player for all media types. See this page for instructions on how to save any file you have open in VLC to your computer.

We hope this helps you but if you need more help, please let us know.

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A Reminder: Please Be SUPER Careful Whenever You Search!
A Tip for everyone

There are two things you should never search for and those are "support" and "drivers". Many people have gotten in serious trouble by searching for these. The reason? Criminals and scammers know that people will search for things like HP Printer Support, Canon Printer Support, Dell Support, Display drivers, printer drivers, and so on. These search terms are full of danger for you. Why? Because the unscrupulous know you will be searching for these things and will make ad buys on search engines so their scummy ads will show up on your search results. Once you click on one, you could easily find yourself in a trap or worse thinking you’re on a legitimate site when you’re not.

If you need help with your printer, type in the site’s web address, for instance, http://www.hp.com/ or https://www.canon.com. If you need help, click on support, If you need support for Windows, don’t go searching for Microsoft support. Go to www.microsoft.com and click on support – or get help right from your PC. If you need drivers don’t search for anything using the word drivers. If you have an NVidia display adapter that you need drivers for, go to NVidia’s website. If you need help with a Dell computer, go to Dell’s website.

If you must search for anything having to do with a driver or product support, remember this – only the name before the dot.com or dot.net or dot.org  or dot.biz, or dot.tv, etc. in a URL (website address) is the actual domain.

For instance, the following web address is not for Dell support:  dell.support.geeksrus.com.

It is not a Dell site at all – it’s a geekrus site.

Likewise, mircosoft.support.wegotcha.com is not a Microsoft site – it’s a wegotcha site, and if you click on a link like that, believe me, they gotcha!

Let’s take a test:

1.) Which of the following 3 URLs belongs to Microsoft?

A. microsoft.support.com 

B. support.microsoft.com

C. .microsoft.windows-support.com

Answer? Only “B” is a Microsoft Site.

2.) Which of the following belong to HP?

A. hp.com

B. support.hp.com

C .hp-drivers.softonic.com

D. hp-printer.drivers.com

If you said “A” and “B” you’re right. Both A and B are HP sites. C and D are not. If you learn how to read a URL you’re on the way to safer browsing – and searching.

Be careful what you search for and learn how to read URLs (Web site addresses). Always pay attention to the words/names right before the dot com, dot net, dot. org, etc. in a URL (website address). 

10 Really Quick Windows Tips
Windows 10 and Windows 11

Here are 10 really “quick” Windows tips that work on Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 10. We call these quick tips. We hope you find them useful!

Quick Change
Want to change the name of a desktop icon, folder, file, etc.? Click whatever you want to rename, then press the F2 key and make your change!

Quick View
To view the properties menu of a file, folder, etc., highlight it and press Alt + Enter. Highlight My Computer (This PC) and click Alt + Enter to view System Properties.

Quick Print
Click Control + P to open the Print Dialog in any program.

Quick Downloads
While using your favorite browser, press CTRL + J to view recent downloads.

Quick History
While using your favorite browser, press CTRL + H to view your browser history.

Quick File Explorer 
Press the Windows Key + E to open Windows File Explorer.

Quick-Lock Your Computer
Press the Windows Key + L to lock your computer. You’ll need to type your password/PIN to log back into your user account. 

Quick Run
Press and hold down the Windows key and tap the R key to open a run box.

Quick Hyperlink
Underline the text you want to make into a hyperlink, like this, then press CTRL + K to add a link and turn your text into a link.

Quick Windows Accessibility Settings
Press and hold the Windows key and tap the u key. 

We have a lot of tips that require you to open a command prompt. And when you do, most of you see a black box with small white text that can be hard to read.

But you don’t have to put up with hard-to-read fonts or that stark, foreboding black background I tells you. You can take command of the command prompt and it’s not hard.

First, let’s open a command prompt with administrator privileges.

1.) Type CMD in taskbar search. When it appears at the top right-click on it and choose Run as Administrator.

2.) When the command prompt opens, right-click on its title bar and choose “Properties” from the drop-down menu.

3.) Let’s change the font and the font size and make it bold too, for easy viewing. In the “Properties” dialog (below), click on the “Font” tab at the top.  Choose a size and font, and make it bold if you like. If you want to leave the background black, you can click “OK” after changing the font, font size, and font style.

But if you want to change the background color and or the font color, you have more to do.

4.) To change the background color and/or the font color, click on the “Colors” tab in the Command prompt properties dialog.

Select “Screen Text” then click on a color in the color bar, if you know your RGBs, you can use a custom color. Don’t spend too much time on this, the available colors should work just fine.

Select “Screen Background” to change the background color of the command prompt window. Again you can choose one of the color bars, or if you’re a fussy RGB’er you can choose Red, Green, Blue settings. But really, you should spend that much time on this.

Make sure you click “OK” to save your changes. And that’s it, you’re done.

If you want to further customize the command prompt you can change the popup dialog background font colors, and you can even set a customized size for the command prompt window. You can explore the other tabs in the command prompt “Properties” dialog, but for us just changing the font, font-size, font-style, font color, and command prompt background was good enough.

Now you can see the larger, bolder font on a blue background is much easier to read than the small faded white font on a black background that is the command prompt’s default.

Or get braver -- go purple.

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

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Now available: Reg Organizer 8.91

If you purchased or renewed Reg Organizer through Cloudeight within the last 12 months, you're entitled to a free version upgrade to Reg Organizer 8.91. Works great with Windows 10 and Windows 11!

Save $14 on Reg Organizer right now!

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

The Inflation Calculator Will Make You Wish You Could Go Back in Time

Inflation, inflation, inflation. It’s all over the news these days. Heck, you don’t need any news bobbleheads to tell you that prices are soaring. Have you filled up your tank lately? How about eggs? Bought any eggs recently. Heck a month ago around my neck of the woods, eggs were seventy-nine cents a dozen. Granted they weren’t the free-range ultra-organic eggs, but eggs nonetheless. Today a dozen eggs cost $2.79.

Have you ever wondered what inflation has done to our dollar?

There’s a site where you can see how much $100 in today’s money would be worth, let’s say, in the 1960’s money. If you’re curious, $100 in 2022 money would have purchased about $10.55 worth of goods/services in 1960. According to the Inflation Calculator…

Adjusted for inflation, $100.00 in 2022 is equal to $10.55 in 1960.
Annual inflation over this period was 3.69%.

A house that cost  $45,000 in 1965 would cost $402,118 in 2022.

The Inflation Calculator says…

$402,118

Adjusted for inflation, $45,000 in 1965 is equal to $402,118 in 2022.

Annual inflation over this period was 3.92%.

$518.22
Adjusted for inflation, $50.00 in 1954 is equal to $518.22 in 2022.
Annual inflation over this period was 3.50%.

$17,070
Adjusted for inflation, $1,800 in 1960 is equal to $17,070 in 2022.
Annual inflation over this period was 3.69%.

The folks at Dollar Times, who created the Inflation Calculator, want you to know…

A dollar just ain’t what it used to be. Our inflation calculator will tell you the relative buying power of a dollar in the United States between any two years from 1914–2022. It will also calculate the rate of inflation during the time period you choose.

We determine the value of a dollar using the Consumer Price Index from December of the previous year. All calculations are approximate.

Fun fact: In 2021, inflation surged to over 7%, the highest rate since 1982.

It’s time to see how much inflation has affected you over your lifetime. One thing we know for sure — you’ll find the Inflation Calculator interesting, if not useful.

Check out the Inflation Calculator here

Not Living in the USA? No worries!

If you’re living in someplace other than the USA,  do not fret. Do you know how easy it is to convert U.S. dollars to your brand of money? If you use Google as your default search engine, just type the following into your browser’s address bar.

Great Britain
100 GBP USD

Australia
100 AUD USD

New Zealand
100 NZD USD

Canada
100 CAD USD

Instant conversion!

Check out the Inflation Calculator here

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Raincrows: An Ode to My Grandfather

My grandfather was born on May 18th, 126 years ago. I am now almost the same age as my grandfather was when he died. It’s scary how fast time passes. Today, I honor his memory and all the wonderful memories he gave me by republishing this essay I wrote fifteen years ago. Thanks for the memories, grandpa!

Today was a rainy, unseasonably chilly day in May. I waited most of the day for the rain to stop so that I could take my daily walk. I’ve always liked to walk but just in the past couple of months I’ve become an avid walker; motivated by recent health problems and spurred on by my Georgian friend, I try to walk at least one hour each day. Today was no exception. The rain finally stopped.

Although it was very chilly for a day in mid-May, a light jacket and a brisk pace were all I needed to keep myself comfortably warm. The sidewalks and streets were glistening wet, the wind was calm, and the sky a gloomy, endless overcast that made the time of day seem later than it really was. 

For those of you who walk you’ll probably understand it when I say that a long walk exercises your mind as well as your body. I do my best thinking when I’m walking on a long walk as the day draws to a close.

This evening with the wet streets, puddled sidewalks, and lack of wind, the evening seem quieter than most. And it was a Sunday too. There’s something different about Sunday. It seems more peaceful than other days. Maybe it’s just my imagination or maybe it’s because not as many people are out hurrying to and fro with something important on their minds that needs to be done. Whatever it is, Sundays seem much different to me than other days...

Read the rest of this essay here.

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Oh! You have so much desktop clutter

We have seen a lot of desktops. And we know that many of you have dozens and dozens of icons on your desktop. All of us have been through that.  As soon as we start using Windows, we realize that the first thing staring us in the face when we start up our computers is the desktop. So it's hard to resist putting everything on the desktop that you use or think you're going to use often. The only problem with that is - eventually your desktop will be covered with icons and you'll find yourself searching through dozens and dozens of icons looking for something.   And we know that it's sacrilege to even try to get you to remove any of those icons. They're there for a reason, right?

Well, if you don't want to remove them, how about organizing them. Create folders on your desktop and drag your icons into the folders.  Let's use an example of photo editors and image viewers. Let's say you have icons for PaintShop Pro, IrfanView, FastStone Capture, Aunt Tilly's Amazing Image Enhancer,  Starglaze Photo Bleater, and  RedEye NoMore.  They're all related to graphics in one way or another. So why not make a folder and call it Graphics programs and drag all those icons into that folder. Just with one folder, you have cleared 7 icons from your desktop and yet they are still right there when you can find them.

And what about all those website shortcuts you have on your desktop? Make a folder called "Website shortcuts" and drag all of them into that folder.

You get the idea, right?  So just think if you made 6 folders and moved 7 icons into each folder, you'd clear 42 icons from your desktop.  Yet you'd still have easy access to them, because, after all, they are still on your desktop... right?

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