Techbyter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) With Bill Blinn

Sometimes a magic wand can be handy. Like when you need to use a computer that isn't yours and you don't want to leave any data behind. In Short Circuits: All operating systems have a couple of useful utilities that can show where a problem is when you can't reach a website or any other device with an IP address. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Google Maps has a new layer that might be on your phone, but not all phones have the COVID-19 information layer yet. • Facebook continues to shut down fraudulent accounts. • Twenty years ago: Remember SCSI drives? That's an acronym for small computer system interface, not an opinion about the quality of the drive.

Zoom Meetings has become almost the de facto standard for business meetings, conferences, webinars, and even screen sharing. It's all just talking heads, though. This is a problem that can be resolved by using PowerPoint. Carefully. In Short Circuits: If you have an application on your computer that forces you to right-click the icon and specify that it should run as Administrator, there's a way to eliminate that problem forever, and it takes only a few moments. • Microsoft has been adding functions to what used to be Office 365 - now called Microsoft 365 - features that can help students make better progress in reading, writing, math, and communications. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Photographers have a love-hate relationship with stock photography, and so do project managers. Adobe's bi-annual report on the state of stock photography has just been released. • If the Microsoft segment this week didn't convince you that education tools are a big thing this year, a report from App Annie might do it. •

Have you ever turned your computer on and found that your carefully organized Desktop icons are all over the screen? If the location of Desktop icons is important to you, there's a way to glue them in place. In Short Circuits: Tablet and convertible computer users often close applications without intending to. There's a way to fix this, but it's not as easy as it should be. • If you're a Facebook user, you probably have the new interface by now. If not, it won't be long, and there's no way to go back to the old system. Or is there? In Spare Parts (only on the website): Maybe you read a book a few years ago and now you need some information or a quotation from the text, but you can't remember the name of the book. All is not lost. • Microsoft has found that underwater data centers have fewer system failures than land-based data centers. • Twenty years ago: I thought that computers were everywhere, but I had no way to foresee what was coming in 2020.

In addition to Excire's new standalone Foto application, the company has updated Search, a plug-in for Adobe Lightroom Classic. In Short Circuits: Is Facebook's new interface terrible? Many say that it is, but I'm willing to give it a chance, and I'm liking it more as a browser plug-in called Social Fixer continues to improve its abilities to remove the dreck. • Have you seen the video of the two 17-year-old guys who need four minutes to figure out how to use a rotary-dial phone? Maybe you shouldn't be laughing quite so hard. In Spare Parts (only on the website): This year's Adobe MAX will be in no physical location. As an online event, there's no attendance fee, and Adobe would like to hire people to provide some of the virtual trimmings. • Microsoft and LinkedIn have established a plan to provide training for those who need new job skills. Training will be provided without cost. • Twenty years ago: What we meant by "high-speed internet" was a lot different in 2000 than it is today.

MacroExpress is an application that has been on every Windows computer I've used since sometime in the late 1990s. It's one of those rare applications that I consider to be absolutely essential. I'll explain why, and maybe you'll feel the same. In Short Circuits: No, you don't have to verify your account. Any email, instant message, or phone call that says you must "verify" your account information is almost certainly a scam. • In the 1960s, top 40 radio stations had promos that shouted "the hits just keep on coming!" The same could be said about fraudulent emails. This week, we'll take a look at couple of recent scam attempts. In Spare Parts (only on the website): There's one critical step you should take before contacting tech support to report a problem, and that one simple step may solve the problem. • If that one simple, critical step doesn't solve the problem, there's one more thing to think about. • Twenty years ago: Storing files on the internet was new and expensive. Eventually it caught on and becam

Serif's Affinity division has released updated versions of Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Publisher. Despite the low prices of these applications, they pack surprisingly robust feature sets. In Short Circuits: Scammers stay up to date on news, and COVID-19 has been profitable for them. So profitable that Medicare and the Centers for Disease Control have launched a campaign to explain how contact tracing works and, just as important, how to spot a fake. • Has Microsoft set your default browser to Edge, or has something changed your preferred search engine? If so, it's an easy fix and I'll explain how for the three major browsers. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Adobe's free Photoshop Camera app for Android and IOS devices keeps getting better with the addition of free lenses that modify images taken with the app. • Acronis TrueImage 2021 doubles down on security measures with tools that scan for viruses, watch for malware, and use artificial intelligence to identify attacks before they c

If you've ever bought a piece of hardware that didn't quite live up to its hype and its reviews, you're not alone. I have a story for you that involves sequential failures to satisfy. Perhaps it'll be worth a chuckle or two. In Short Circuits: Microsoft has added a security function in version 2004 of Windows 10 to identify and block potentially unwanted programs, but it has a serious shortcoming. • If you're still running an earlier version of Windows and wish Microsoft would get around to pushing the 2004 update to your computer, you can obtain it without Microsoft's help. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Too many people fail to recognize scam ads and blindly share the ad or follow the link. Let's think about that. • One of the worst performing business sectors in terms of online security awareness is the one that encompasses energy and utilities. • Twenty years ago: Corel thought that Linux would allow the company to compete with Microsoft.

The free, open-source office suite, LibreOffice, is out with version 7, and it has an impressive bunch of new features, improved performance, and enhanced capabilities to deal with Microsoft Office files. In Short Circuits: Microsoft created restore points for Windows systems in the distant past, and you may think that your Windows 10 computer is protected by the technology. Surprise! Unless you have enabled restore points, it isn't. • Everybody should have a password manager, but maybe you don't want a password manager that stores your passwords in the cloud even though it's demonstrably safe. If so, now's the time to take a look at KeePassXC, a new version of the venerable KeePass. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The novel coronavirus has become a gold mine for scammers. They have adapted old ploys to new circumstances. • Adobe, Red Hat, and IBM are teaming up to enhance online security as users of online systems demand more ease of use. • Twenty years ago: The Oxford English Dictionary had just been

Skylum's Luminar 3 has made remarkable strides on the way to Luminar 4. The application is less than four years old, yet it offers some delightful surprises. In Short Circuits: If you'd like to be able to create a temporary address that you can provide when you're not quite sure you want to give someone your real address, Mozilla's Firefox Relay may do the job. It's in private beta now. • Remember The Oregon Trail, Zork, PacMan, or M.U.L.E.? If you liked these games in the 1980s, you can give them a second shot right now on any Windows, Mac, or Linux computer. No downloads are involved because they run in a browser window. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Microsoft is experimenting with hydrogen fuel cells for backup power at data centers, and says that they offer advantages over diesel generators. • The Firefighter Safety Research Institute has released a report on a fire at a 2.16 megawatt lithium ion battery energy storage system in Surprise, Arizona. • Twenty years ago: The US Postal Service was thin

As the number of digital images we accumulate increases, possibly at an alarming rate, finding one specific image becomes challenging. Artificial intelligence can help. In Short Circuits: Device drivers are among the most problematic issues for Windows users, but they're virtually invisible and that makes keeping them up to date difficult. There are applications that can help, but they need to be treated with care. • Although a bad device driver can cause a problem with keyboards, sometimes the keyboard just fails. Microsoft wants more than $100 for their keyboard cover that fits on Surface Pro tablets, but a third-party keyboard for half that price offers a lot of useful features. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Mozilla has begun offering a virtual private network. It's currently limited to Windows computers and both IOS and Android mobile devices in six countries, but more devices and countries are coming. • Two mechanical dogs are wandering around a Ford plant, helping engineers to collect data for a

A strong password helps to keep your information private, but a single error can give control of your accounts to crooks. Setting up two-factor authentication is the best way to add security, and you may be surprised by how easy the process has become. In Short Circuits: Adobe has two painting applications, one for people who know how to draw and paint (or want to learn) and another for those who just want to create painterly effects using their own photographs. We'll take a look at both. • Earlier this month, I was about two seconds away from disaster as I held the mouse cursor over a poisoned link. Then logic kicked in. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Potential disaster lurks behind more than 100,000 websites that claim to have legitimate Covid-19 information. • The pandemic is creating severe supply shortages for information technology departments. • Twenty years ago: Online services were beginning to make it possible for travel agents to book ground transportation in addition to flights.

Online backup systems often offer the ability to recover more than just the most recent version of a file, but there are less expensive options if you're willing to give up that useful feature. In Short Circuits: Despite their advantages, tablet computers have one huge disadvantage: Price. When you're shopping for a Windows tablet, it's possible to save money on storage space if the device offers an XD memory card slot. • Facebook users often see messages about "hacked" accounts, but the accounts probably haven't been hacked — just cloned. There are ways to make your account unattractive to crooks. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Podcast aggregator Stitcher is about to be acquired by SiriusXM after being owned by the E W Scripps Company for five years. • Would you take a pay cut to gain the flexibility of working from home? A lot of people would, and you may be surprised by how much of a pay cut they would accept. • Twenty years ago: The Crusoe processor from Transmeta promised to bring to market amazin

The software world continues its transition to software as a service, and users see small changes frequently. Adobe delivers two large updates every year, one of which arrived in late June with lots of new features. In Short Circuits: Microsoft seems to be suggesting that the Control Panel will eventually be removed from Windows 10. That will happen only after all Control Panel functions are migrated to the Settings app, and that's something developers have been working on for a decade. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The seeming illogic of selecting a Wi-Fi channel for your router has a basis in logic. • Microsoft continues its push to get Windows users to at least give the new Edge browser a try. • Twenty years ago: Microsoft was about to start shipping the Millennium Edition of Windows, and I thought it would be an improvement over Windows 98. Well, not exactly.

Your smart phone or tablet doubtless includes an email application, but there's probably a better option. Let's look for one. In Short Circuits: Up-to-date weather information is good to have and there are several services that use differing approaches to present that information. • Many email application can be set up to delay messages you send. That's a handy feature if you frequently think of something you meant to include shortly after pressing the Send button. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Internet service provider Wide Open West is warning customers about a scam. The warning applies to all ISPs. • You probably have a Google account, and now would be a good time to run a security audit. It's easy and takes just a few minutes. • Twenty years ago: "Big, Fast, and Cheap — Choose Any Three!" Disk drives were finally becoming affordable.

It's essential to use a virtual private network on portable devices that connect to Wi-Fi hotspots or open networks. Although it's a good safety practice to also use a VPN on a desktop system with a wired connection, you may find that it's not possible. In Short Circuits: If your office job still has you working from home, you should have a virtual private network, and we'll look at some other important security measures. • Many of us are still staying at home most of the time. To reduce the boredom, you might consider picking up a new skill or two. Your local library can probably help with that. In Spare Parts (only on the website): A minor Windows Explorer annoyance turned out to be an easy fix. I'll explain what the problem was and how I corrected it. • Microsoft's Windows Insider program is changing. Some of the changes are semantic, but it appears that there will be an increased emphasis on quality. • Twenty years ago: Time Warner Columbus told Roadrunner users that there would no longer be an extra char

Don't expect to do any heavy-duty editing or spreadsheet development on your smartphone or tablet, but now several Office 365 apps let you work with Office suite documents wherever you are and on whatever device you have. In Short Circuits: Maybe you think you've seen the Taskbar and Desktop refresh repeatedly, but thought you're halluciniting. You're not. It is. And there's a way to fix it. Maybe. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Recognizing that a smartphone camera serves as the primary camera, and possibly the only camera, for a growing number of people, Adobe continues to add features to its Lightroom Camera app and the June update included a new application called Photoshop Camera. • Covid-19 has created a demand for computers, but it has also limited the supply of computers and components that are made in China. • Twenty years ago: PC Expo was about to get underway in New York City, where home networks would be a hot topic.

The latest Ipads from Apple can be bought with an overpriced keyboard and an overpriced pencil. If you add the extras, you'll almost have a computer, and it might replace your portable computer. We'll take a look at pluses and minuses. In Short Circuits: When you're looking for the cause of a problem or considering an upgrade, you may need to find out what's under the computer's hood. Speccy, HWInfo64, and Crystal Disk Info are three tools that provide insight, and you'll want at least two of them. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Adobe's big mid-year update was delivered to Creative Cloud users this week, and the additions range from fun toys to highly desirable new and improved features. • Facebook launched an initiative to register voters this week, and will offer some new capabilities: One allows users to hide annoying political ads and a second reveals how much is being spent on Facebook ads for presidential and congressional races. • Twenty years ago: Online shopping was just beginning to be someth

If you encounter a computer problem that can't possibly be happening, it's important to realize two things: First, it is happening, and second, there is a reason it's happening. Finding the reason and fixing it are the entertaining parts, if you have a warped sense of "entertainment". In Short Circuits: Thunderbird is an email application that will probably never see another major update, but it's full of useful features and a great solution for those who don't like Outlook. • The latest version of Firefox has added some worthwhile features while expanding its efforts to keep users and their data secure. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Some Facebook scammers aren't even trying to appear legitimate any more. • Keeping employees safe has exposed some companies' networks and proprietary data during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. • Twenty years ago: Maxtor was about to introduce enormous disk drives that could hold up to 60 gigabytes of data, but you would need deep pockets to buy one.

Just like cars, trucks, airplanes, furnaces, and bicycles, hardware and software can fail even if you perform all the suggested maintenance. Maintenance does allow you to find upcoming problems and fix them before they happen, though. Routine troubleshooting is easy and doesn't take much time. In Short Circuits: Portable USB solid-state drives were once a luxury for those who needed lots of fast external storage while on the go. The drives are still a bit pricy, but they're a lot more affordable than they used to be. • Offices are reopening, but many people are still working from home, and may be for a long time. Maybe permanently. Too many companies neglected to secure equipment used for office work and now they're in danger. In Spare Parts (only on the website): You know not to open email attachments from strangers, but what if somebody you do know replies to an email from you and includes an unexpected attachment? • If you've ever wondered which antivirus application is best, the answer is easy: None of th

Your internet service provider has a domain name server, but you don't have to use it. There are good reasons why you might want to ditch the provided service and use a better one. The change is easy to make, you'll get better service, and it won't cost anything. In Short Circuits: Computers that run on MacOS are less of a target than those running Windows, but threats do exist. Let's consider some protective measures. • Those who miss the variety that radio used to provide can use a clever service to find and listen to radio stations all over the world. In Spare Parts (only on the website): COVID-19 is forcing many changes. Among them: Making security systems at financial institutions stronger, ways for people to enjoy an at-home vacation, expected changes in work-from-home policies by companies, and huge increases in at-home data consumption. • Twenty years ago: The trial to break up Microsoft was nearing an end with an order that broke Microsoft into two pieces, except that it didn't.