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Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly Issue #1045 Volume 20 Number 51 October 20, 2023 Dear Friends, Welcome to Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly Issue #1045. 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.
Don't have a Cloudeight SeniorPass? It's a great deal. Learn more here. Our Cloudeight SeniorPass is a great deal. You get unlimited support for one full year from the date you first use your SeniorPass. We can help keep your computer running well, fix all kinds of computer problems, clean up malware, and a whole lot more. Our SeniorPass is like having insurance for your computer. And it's only $99 for an entire year.Get your SeniorPass today for just $99. It's just like having insurance for your computer - only better! To learn more about our SeniorPass, please see this page.
Linda wants to set up daily virus
scanning Our answer
To check your Microsoft Defender settings type SECURITY in the
taskbar search, then open Virus & threat protection > Manage
settings > Real-time Protection.
Emsisoft has a
higher protection rating, especially against the kinds of malware
you're most likely to encounter on the Web.
We hope this answers your question, Linda.
Janice can't find the image resizer we recommended
I have lost your recommended resize tool and I hesitate to
download one which you have not approved. I had it
previously...just a little right-click thing that worked so
well. I want it for photos. Thanks for all you do. All I
know about computing I learned from you. Janice/
Our answer
Hi Janice. The image resizer we recommended (right-click
resizer) is now part of Microsoft PowerToys. Here's our
original article. We just recently wrote about
PowerToys which now contains the image resizer you asked
about. See
our most recent PowerToys article here.
PowerToys is free and has a lot of other useful
utilities too.
We hope this helps you, Janice.
Ted wants to help a friend by connecting to her computer
Can you tell me where to go to find a program to connect to another
computer so that I can help a friend with her computer? Thanks as always
for your help.
Our answer
We wrote an article showing how to use Quick Assist which shows
you how to give help to someone or get help from someone.
We hope this helps you help your friend, Ted.
Betty wants to know what ad-blocker we recommend
I have Windows 10 and use Microsoft Edge for my browser. I recently lost
my ad popup blocker. I looked on your search page, but you may have
updated some of your results as the ones I saw were pretty old. Please
let me know which is the best. I am used to surfing without popup ads
and am afraid to download one that will mess up my computer. Thanks so
much.
Our answer
We hope this helps you, Betty.
We gladly help everyone who writes every day by answering their questions and helping to solve their computer problems. Please help us continue to do that! Make a small donation and help us help you!If you don't need any of our products or services right now, please help us with a donation. Even the smallest gift is appreciated. Every donation helps us to provide useful information that helps you with your computer as well as helps us to keep you safe on the Internet. We offer free help to thousands of people every year... and we offer an honest and inexpensive computer repair service too. We do everything we can to help you with your computer and keep you safe too.So if you don't need any of our products or services right now, please help us by making a donation right now. Interested in making a monthly gift? Visit this page. Help us keep helping you! Thank you so much for your support!
Kerryn's husband fell for a
scammer's tricks
Hi guys. I'm not sure how to go about explaining all this but basically, I am asking if Emsisoft may have blocked any of this on my husband's laptop. Today he got a phone call that was obviously a scammer but he realized it too late. They said they were from NBN and due to current works in our area (which IS actually happening) he needed to follow their instructions. He did what they instructed, clicked on this and that which he can no longer remember. I no longer live with him so I checked his laptop later after he rang me and told me what had happened and I went there. I found Anydesk.exe in his downloads, which I found out is a program used to remotely control his desktop. He didn't wake up to what was happening until they asked for his bank/credit/debit card details. He then hung up on the call. I uninstalled Anydesk but it said some parts couldn't be removed. I am fairly sure the NBN is still connected to my email address of --------@bigpond.com. I rang the ISP and they blocked all international phone calls to the phone and will keep an eye on his account. He rang one bank and informed them. My husband doesn't have a smartphone, only a basic flip phone for mobile calls, and is not tech-savvy at all. I think I am losing my tech-savvy also lately. Would Emsisoft have blocked access by Anydesk? Thanks for any help. Kerryn. Our answer
Emsisoft is an antivirus and antimalware, it cannot prevent you
from falling for a scam. Anydesk is a legitimate remote
connection app that scammers use to gain access to your
computer. Anydesk does not block Emsisoft.
A virus or a malware app cannot connect to your email. The only
way an app or hacker or anything else could connect to your
email is if you gave someone your email password or someone
stole your email password via a phishing scam. If you believe
someone has stolen your password or has obtained your password,
the solution is to change your password immediately.
If your husband did not give his credit/debit card info to the
scammers they most likely would not be able to steal money or
charge his debit or credit cards.
When you uninstalled AnyDesk, you did the right thing, Scammers
cannot re-access his computer now that AnyDesk has been uninstalled.
As for the parts of it that could not be removed, that's because you
use the standard uninstaller that came with AnyDesk. That's why we
recommend using an uninstaller like
HiBit Uninstaller or Geek Uninstaller.
No security software in this world can prevent people from being
tricked and scammed.
I hope this helps you, Kerryn, but if you have more questions,
please let me know.
Sandee got blindsided by Microsoft Our answer Windows is an operating system created by Microsoft. Other operating systems include Linux, Android, Apple iOS, Apple OS, and Chrome (Chromebooks). Windows is the operating system that is installed on most computers. It's not too difficult to get out of "S" mode. We've written step-by-step instructions for getting out of "S" mode for Windows 10 and Windows 11 users here. We hope this helps you detest Microsoft a little less.
Rita is having problems with Google
Chrome Our answer
It sounds like you've installed something in Chrome (probably
without knowing it) that is trying to get you to download other
things that you don't need and may be harmful. But don't worry, it's
easy to fix. Just reset Chrome to its default settings. Don't
worry, you won't lose any bookmarks or saved passwords. Here's how
to reset Chrome.
1. Open Chrome and click on the 3 vertical dots icon in the top
right corner
2. Click Settings
3. In Settings, from the menu on the left click on "Reset settings"
4. You'll see the following page appear. Click on the "Reset
settings" button. It will take a few minutes for Chrome to reset.
Once it's done, close Chrome and reopen it. Chrome should work
normally.
My Windows is in Dark mode, if yours is in Light mode the reset
Window will be white with black text.
I hope this helps solve your Chrome issues. Rita!
Install Fonts by “Dragging and dropping”
Them Here’s a screenshot from Windows 10 showing the “Drag and drop to install” feature.
And in the same dialog, you can scroll through all your fonts and see exactly what they look like. And here’s the same dialog in Windows 11…
You can find the Drag & Drop font installer and preview all your fonts this way: 1. Right-click your desktop
What Happens to Your Gmail Account If
Something Happens to You? Although we don’t like to think about the inevitable, we will all eventually escape the charades of Microsoft and go to that big, happy computer in the sky. And if that should happen unexpectedly, what happens to all the stuff you left behind on Gmail, Google Docs, Google Photos, YouTube, and other Google services? And even if it happens when you expected it — what if you’re not able to make such trenchant decisions? Eh? And what if you just get tired of computers, smartphones, tablets, the Internet, Microsoft, and all things electronic and technical and decide to hermitize in SW Arizona and spend your days watching the sunrise and the scorpions crawling up your leg and swimming in your cereal bowl? What happens to all the information you left behind on your Google account(s)? Google has an interesting feature called Inactive Account Manager. It lets you decide what to do with all the data in your Google Account(s) should something happen to you. You can give a friend, spouse,family memer, partner, or whomever, access to your account(s) should you no longer be around or capable or available to access them. Or, if you are smart, like TC, you’ll just have Google delete your account upon your demise. Heaven knows I don’t want any of my friends or partners looking at my accounts and discovering the foibles of my worldly existence in the flesh! But what happens to your data is your choice. Setting up the Inactive Account Manager for each Google Account you own is a wise idea. You can remain in control of your data even while you’re floating around the pearly gates — or if you end up like EB, crossing the River Styx with you-know-who. We’re going to give you a quick pictorial guide to setting you your Google Account (Gmail Account) in case you pass on or decide to give up computers and live in the woods with the woodland fairies. You can remain in control of your data, even when you’ve left this crazy world simply by using Google’s Inactive Account Manager. Let’s get started. Visit this page and log in to your Google Account’s Inactive Account Manager. Here are some screenshots to guide you along – but you’ll find that Google prompts you each step of the way. EB yells at me when I get too wordy, so I’ll try to say it with pictures!
Hey EB, I’m out of your clutches and floating around with the angels (then insert a tongue-sticking-out emoji). No more orders and pay cuts from you!
You’ll have a chance to confirm your plan.
That’s it. Get started now by going to your Google Account’s Inactive Account Manager.
Windows Copilot Lumbers Down the Runway
but Fails to Takeoff AI is everywhere and Microsoft is all in on it; it’s basing its future on AI. In the beginning, I found AI remarkable, but as time has gone by I am getting less and less impressed. It gives a lot of people an easy way to cheat. It makes it easy for non-writers to write and profit from it. It is giving non-artists, a way to create art and profit from it. But what AI really is in its current state, says Theoretical Physicist Michio Kaku, is a “glorified tape recorder.”
Microsoft is rushing to incorporate AI into Windows. It’s already added AI to Bing search in Edge and is now adding what it called Windows Copilot” to Windows. Windows Copilot is now beginning to roll out to Windows 11 users. It seems to be rolling out slowly. One of my Windows 11 computers has it, the other one does not. But to me, it makes no difference because Copilot is, to put it bluntly, a disappointment – at least in its current state. Since Microsoft likes using airplane metaphors, I will use one too. Windows Copilot fails to take off – it lumbers down the runway but fails to take off. If you are using Windows 11 and have not yet gotten Copilot and want to get an idea of what it looks like, just open Edge and click on the big “B” in the top right. It looks a lot like that. Well, here, we’ll show you:
While Microsoft promises Copilot will be tightly integrated into Windows and will help users manage Windows and solve problems. It’s supposed to help you get things done, but in reality, it struggles to be even mediocre. Windows Co-Pilot is essentially a Bing Chat chatbot with some Windows integration, but it falls short of being a truly useful tool. To be worthwhile, it needs to be able to work with all kinds of system settings and integrate with more apps. While it can do some basic Windows tasks, like taking screenshots and starting Focus Sessions, it is still very limited and not very helpful. And the answers it gives you are often incomplete, or just plain wrong. Copilot tries to be your digital sidekick that’s always there for you, but sometimes it’s more of a nuisance than a help. It insists on hogging the spotlight, even when you’re trying to focus on something else. Imagine, for example, every time you tried to open an app, it would pop up and demand your attention. Copilot would be much more useful if it were an overlay, like a pop-up window or a heads-up display. That way, it could be there when you need it, but without getting in the way and squeezing other windows on the screen. And since you have to focus on Copilot to use it anyway, why bother having it open all the time? Just let users press a keyboard shortcut to bring it up when they need it. Copilot has the potential to be a great tool, but it’s just not there yet. Microsoft needs to rethink the way it works and make it more user-friendly. Until then, Copilot is just not very useful. To be fair, Windows Copilot is still under development and has a long way to go before it can reach it will be useful to most Windows users. However, it can potentially be a powerful tool for productivity and creativity. Here are some of the current limitations of Windows Copilot:
Despite these limitations, Windows Copilot has a lot of potential. As time goes by, it has the potential to revolutionize the way we use our computers. It can help us to be more productive by automating tasks and providing us with help and assistance to solve Windows problems. It can also help us to be more creative by generating new ideas and helping us to express ourselves in new ways. Microsoft is actively developing Windows Copilot and adding new features and capabilities all the time. As it continues to learn and grow, it hopefully will continue to improve and be a useful tool for all Windows users. But as of now, in my opinion, Copilot, as of now, is a major disappointment. But hopefully, Microsoft will continue to improve it and when it does we’ll keep you updated. But wait, there’s more… AI-assisted apps are coming soon. The new AI-assisted Snipping Tool and the new AI-assisted Paint – with layers and a background remover, promise to be spectacular additions to Windows 11. And as soon as we get them and have a chance to test them, we’ll be telling you more about these new Windows AI-assisted apps. 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. THE ONLY CLOUDEIGHT-ENDORSED EMAIL PROGRAM OE Classic is the only Cloudeight Endorsed Email Program - Very Similar to Windows Mail & Outlook Express! If you're looking for an email program that feels familiar and
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A Treasure Trove of Desktop Wallpaper We’ve discovered a treasure trove of beautiful desktop wallpaper. All of the images were featured at one time or another on Bing's home page. While you may not use or like the Bing search engine, the daily backgrounds are almost always stunning. There are THOUSANDS of beautiful desktop wallpaper available here. You can browse through this great collection by country. These images were used as Bing background images starting in 2010 and continuing through 2023. The countries represented are: Australia But no more words, how about some examples? All images on the site are full-sized, high-resolution images. We've resized the images to fit this page. Note: These images are in webp format. If you are using Safari or Internet Explorer you won't see the images. Please use Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Brave, Opera, or any other modern browser to see the images.
There are thousands more. When you click on an image, you'll have a choice to download a 4K high-res image or a 3840 x 2160 that will work on any desktop.
All are free and most of these images make beautiful desktops. Visit our Cloudeight site pick called PeaPix right now.
We gladly help everyone who writes every day by answering their questions and helping to solve their computer problems. Please help us continue to do that! Make a small donation and help us help you!If you don't need any of our products or services right now, please help us with a donation. Even the smallest gift is appreciated. Every donation helps us to provide useful information that helps you with your computer as well as helps us to keep you safe on the Internet. We offer free help to thousands of people every year... and we offer an honest and inexpensive computer repair service too. We do everything we can to help you with your computer and keep you safe too.So if you don't need any of our products or services right now, please help us by making a donation right now. Interested in making a monthly gift? Visit this page. Help us keep helping you! Thank you so much for your support!
Colonel Kyber and the Mysterious Horse Barn
– Part One Read the rest of this short story here.
Don't have a Cloudeight SeniorPass? It's a great deal. Learn more here. Our Cloudeight SeniorPass is a great deal. You get unlimited support for one full year from the date you first use your SeniorPass. We can help keep your computer running well, fix all kinds of computer problems, clean up malware, and a whole lot more. Our SeniorPass is like having insurance for your computer. And it's only $99 for an entire year.Get your SeniorPass today for just $99. It's just like having insurance for your computer - only better! To learn more about our SeniorPass, please see this page. What the heck are large language models (LLMs)? Here is a simple analogy to help you understand LLMs: Imagine that you are teaching a child to read. You start by showing them individual letters. Then, you teach them how to combine letters into words. Once they know how to read words, you start teaching them how to read sentences. And so on. LLMs work in a similar way. They are trained on massive amounts of text data, which allows them to learn the patterns and rules of language. Once they understand the basics of language, they can be used to perform a variety of tasks, such as generating text, translating languages, and answering questions.
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computer help services we provide. SeniorPass - One year of Cloudeight Direct Computer Care - unlimited sessions! Get more information here. Windows 10 Customization: Make Windows 10 look and work the way you want it to. Learn more. MORE IMPORTANT STUFF! Your InfoAve Weekly Members' Home Page is located here. Print our Cloudeight Direct Computer Care Flyer and spread the word about our Cloudeight Direct Computer Care repair services. Get our ready-to-print flyer here. Help us Grow! Forward this email newsletter to a friend or family member - and have them sign up for InfoAve Weekly here! Get our free daily newsletter! Each evening we send a short newsletter with a tip or trick or a computer-related article - it's short and sweet - and free. Sign up right now. We have thousands of Windows tips and tricks and computer articles posted on our Cloudeight InfoAve website. Our site has a great search engine to help you find what you're looking for too! Please visit us today! Help us by using our Start Page. It costs nothing, and it helps us a lot. Print our Cloudeight Direct Flyer and spread the word about our computer repair service! If you want to help us by telling your friends about our Cloudeight Direct Computer Care service, you can download a printable flyer you can hand out or post on bulletin boards, etc. Get the printable PDF Cloudeight Direct Computer Care flyer here. We'd love to hear from you! If you have comments, questions, a tip, a trick, a freeware pick, or just want to tell us off for something, let us know. If you need to change your newsletter subscription address, please see "Manage your subscription" at the very bottom of your newsletter. We received hundreds of questions for possible use in IA news. Please keep in mind we cannot answer all general computer questions. We try to personally answer as many as we can. We can only use a few in each week's newsletter, so keep this in mind. If you have a support question about a service or product we sell, please contact us here. Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter! Get computer tips & tricks every night. Our daily newsletter features a computer tip/trick or two every day. We send it out every night around 9 PM Eastern Time (USA). It's short and sweet, easy to read, and FREE. Subscribe to our Cloudeight InfoAve Daily Newsletter 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! Darcy and TC Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly - Issue #1045 Volume 20 Number 51 October 20, 2023 Not a subscriber? Subscribe to our FREE Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly Newsletter here. "Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly" newsletter is published by: Cloudeight Internet LLC PO Box 73 Middleville, Michigan USA 49333-0073 Read our disclaimer about the tips, tricks, answers, site picks, and freeware picks featured in this newsletter. Copyright �2023 by Cloudeight Internet |
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