Tech Help and Discussions

More than five years of updates for Windows 7 in a single package. It's about time. Microsoft is finally making it easier to reinstall Windows 7 from scratch with a new Service Pack (SP) that the company refuses to call a service pack. Windows 7 may not be available to most of us anymore, but there are many reasons to reinstall the operating system on existing Windows 7 PCs, and Microsoft never released a Service Pack after Windows 7 Service Pack 1's release in early 2011. Because of that, updating a Windows 7 PC in recent times required countless “download update-install-reboot-repeat” cycles to fully patch the system, installing five full years of updates piec…

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Bill M. replied May 19, 20168 yr

There are dozens of websites that can determine the download speeds of your current Internet connection. Starting this week, there’s another, this time from Netflix. The video streaming service announced Wednesday that it would launch Fast.com, a second website that allows users to see how fast their Internet connection really is. Because Netflix is all about video — and quality of that content — Fast.com only focuses on download speeds, which determines the quality of video appearing on your screen. Here’s how it works: go to fast.com, and the test begins — there’s not even a button to push. The test is complete when the grey number turns a solid black color. U…

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Bill M. replied May 19, 20168 yr

(Bloomberg) -- Google is turning to artificial intelligence to make sure people keep using its search engine, even if they’re not spending as much time on the Web and personal computers. The Alphabet Inc. division unveiled a new mobile messaging application Wednesday called Allo containing a digital personal assistant, based on AI technology that powers other Google services like Inbox. At its I/O developer conference near its Silicon Valley headquarters, the company also showed off a voice-based search device called Google Home that uses the same assistant technology to answer questions when people are in their houses, a potentially potent rival to Amazon.com Inc.’…

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Bill M. replied May 19, 20168 yr

With Windows 7 updates which are huge and can take 24hrs just to download, wondering what PC HELP FORUM Techies do for clients when clean Installing Windows 7. Many Friends and Clients still want Windows7 installed on their Computers. 1. Do you keep their PC's all this extra time, till sure all updates are installed correctly? 2. Do you let the clients install the updates, which can on occasions go belly up and go into a revert loop? 3. Do you have all Windows 7 and office updates burnt to an external media, or stick for quick install? Interested what your method is.:)

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DSTM replied May 19, 20168 yr

In just a little more than two months Microsoft's free Windows 10 upgrade offer for those of you using Windows 7 and 8.1 will expire. Many are holding out hope that Microsoft will change their mind at the last minute and extend the offer even further. I mean 1 billion users is a very big number and Microsoft will want the chance to expand beyond the over 300 million monthly active users that are already using the operating system - right? In my opinion this free upgrade offer is going to end on time and before 29 July 2016 arrives you need to decide whether you want an option to upgrade to Windows 10 at no cost on your current devices at some point in the lifetime o…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied May 18, 20168 yr

The Devuan GNU/Linux community's much-awaited Devuan Linux Jessie 1.0 beta release is available. It took two years for disgruntled Debian community members to make good on their promise of a systemd-free Debian distro. They rejected a Linux-wide trend to replace older init processes such as Upstart and System V with systemd. The process of forking Debian into Devuan took much longer than the Devuan leadership expected, according to Devuan.org. Despite that delay, caused in part by the developers not wanting to miss any details, Devuan Jessie is a safe upgrade path from Debian Wheezy. The init -- short for initialization -- is a background process that starts when…

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AWS replied May 18, 20168 yr

Don’t think for a minute that the internet is the only place where technology-savvy scammers are taking advantage of innocent victims. These criminals are finding ways to use text messaging to lure you into traps, either to scam money from you or steal personal information. Recognizing the most common scams will prevent you from becoming a victim yourself. While in some cases it’s much more difficult to separate the legitimate from the faked, we hope this list of the most common text scams will keep you safe and one step ahead of the scammers. 1. Smishing Smishing is the texting equivalent of “phishing,” the Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson says. Like it…

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DSTM replied May 16, 20168 yr

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Vivaldi-Browser-Is-a-Breath-of-Fresh-Air-83473.html Thoughts? Would you use this?

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Nebulous replied May 16, 20168 yr

While Google’s Street View camera cars may have gotten less ridiculous-looking over the years, they are still pretty obvious when they roll down the streets, snapping photos in all directions for later use on Google’s Maps service. So it didn’t take long for savvy folks to sniff out something off about the alleged “Google Maps” truck recently spotted on the streets of Philadelphia. The faux Google SUV, complete with police license plate, was spotted by U.Penn Professor Matt Blaze earlier this week, who posted a photo of the vehicle to Twitter: Vice’s Motherboard subsequently confirmed with the Philly Police Department that officers had indeed gussied up the …

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allheart55 Cindy E replied May 15, 20168 yr

There are a number of well-known apps that allow you remotely track your phone if it’s lost, or that track the movement of another device but do so with that user’s knowledge. What about those apps that let you track another phone — and maybe intercept calls and texts — without the other person having any idea? At the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Government Accountability Office looked at the marketing of 40 different tracking apps to determine how many were touting features that could violate federal laws against wiretapping, stalking, fraud, and deceptive business practices. The GAO report [PDF] doesn’t name specific apps, but it does look at a w…

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Digerati replied May 12, 20168 yr

https://overcast.fm/ Anyone use this podcast app? Its only available for iPhone and I think its way better than the stock app.

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Nebulous replied May 12, 20168 yr

Hello I am requesting an opinion, please. I have a Dell XPS 8300- 4 years of age- and a new Dell monitor S234OM. When I close a screen by xing out, the screen flickers, slightly. I brought it back to a store and got another, which is the same. it does the same thing. It is hard for me to be mobile as I am disabled and I did not know if I should try another brand or if my tower is the culprit. I wish I had another monitor to test it but am alone. My wife has a laptop very similar to this desktop. The store has a policy if I return it for another say HP I have to pay again for a new warranty. Do you have any suggestions that might help me? Thank you Petere

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Digerati replied May 11, 20168 yr

Microsoft said the free Windows 10 upgrade deadline does not apply to people 'who use assistive technologies' After announcing that 300 million devices are running Windows 10, Microsoft said its free upgrade offer ends on July 29. If you want Windows 10 after that date, then you can purchase the $119 Windows 10 Home version or buy a new device running Windows 10. The free upgrade offer will not end, however, for Windows customers who have accessibility issues. The Microsoft Accessibility Blog wrote: If you don’t have and don’t want Windows 10, those annoying Get Windows 10 notifications will eventually stop after July 29. Microsoft told BetaNews the nag up…

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allheart55 Cindy E replied May 10, 20168 yr

Hey guys, a while back I had posted for help with my older unit having issues and figured it was the 20-30 tabs being open at the same time which was causing the issues. Now I know for sure that's what it was, just got a brand new win10, i5 8gb Dell machine and same deal. I am wondering why a pc cannot handle 20 or more tabs on a consistent basis? Or what I can possibly do to help the situation?

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mikehende replied May 10, 20168 yr

A tech told me yesterday that the free win10 upgrade is "free for life" and only until June 2016,. I told him my sources show that the free upgrade is only valid for one year from date of install at which time users would need to either purchase it or revert back to their older OS, who is correct please?

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mikehende replied May 10, 20168 yr

Happy Mother's Day!

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Nebulous replied May 10, 20168 yr

We first wrote about the “Maria Duval psychic mailer” scheme, which used supposedly personalized mass mailings to trick people into paying money for Duval’s otherworldly insights, more than six years ago, and the internet is full of complaints from people who lost thousands of dollars to Duval and her related businesses. Today, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement that permanently bars Duval and others from continuing to bilk consumers out of their money with false promises of psychic guidance. In 2014, the DOJ sued New York-based company Data Marketing Group and Quebec’s Infogest Direct Marketing for partnering with Hong Kong-based Destiny Research Ce…

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Bill M. replied May 9, 20168 yr

Last week Microsoft unveiled their latest momentum numbers for Windows 10 and announced that the nearly 10-month old operating system is now running on 300 million active devices. Early on Microsoft announced an ambitious goal of having Windows 10 installed on 1 billion devices within 2-3 years of the operating systems release. Since its release back on 29 July 2015, we have received periodic momentum updates from Microsoft and with last weeks updated number of active users let’s take a look and see how that effort is progressing. Here is a summary of the momentum numbers announced by Microsoft since the release of Windows 10: 26 August 2015 – 75 million devi…

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Bill M. replied May 9, 20168 yr

NEW YORK—You may already be on a first-name basis with Siri, Cortana, Google or Alexa, the Fab Four of voice-activated digital assistants. Now that relationship is expanding from one device (typically a smartphone) to many. The major tech companies are putting these digital assistants, powered by artificial intelligence algorithms and activated by voice, into multiple products. It's a strategic thrust to enmesh you further in their ecosystems, deepening and potentially adding sources of revenue. And the field is about to get a new name, with the founders of Siri poised to unleash an AI-driven virtual assistant called Viv at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in Brook…

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Bill M. replied May 8, 20168 yr

It’s make your mind up time. Windows 10 has come in for a lot of (justified) criticism but it also represents the future of Windows and is free – but not for much longer… This week Microsoft MSFT +0.88% has taken to its official Windows blog to confirm news many feared: the days of free Windows 10 upgrades are indeed coming to a close: “The free upgrade offer to Windows 10 was a first for Microsoft, helping people upgrade faster than ever before. And time is running out,” announced Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group. “The free upgrade offer will end on July 29 and we want to make sure you don’t miss out. After July 29th, …

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allheart55 Cindy E replied May 8, 20168 yr

Javier Soltero, corporate vice president for the Outlook team, warned that Windows Live Mail 2012 users won't be able to send or receive mail on Outlook.com, and they need to upgrade their mail app. The recommendation put forth by Microsoft: If you are using Windows 7, upgrade to a newer operating system and use the Mail app. If you are using Windows 7 and you do not want to upgrade to a newer operating system, get used to checking your Outlook account via a Web browser. The Outlook.com team should also be sending you an email offer for a one-year free subscription to Office 365, so you can check out the Outlook 2016 application. If you are using Windows 8.1 o…

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Rachel replied May 8, 20168 yr