Tech Talk #169–December 18, 2021 Wi-Fi Extender vs. Mesh Network Don’t give up if your home Wi-Fi signal doesn’t reach the other side of the house, upstairs, or out to the garage. Wi-Fi extenders and mesh networks can improve the Wi-Fi signal coverage in your home. How did it get this way in the first place? The installer from your Internet Service Provider (ISP) probably installed their connection and your Wi-Fi router next to your
Tech Talk #168–December 4, 2021 Deleting unused accounts Data breaches are common. Security fails even on major sites like Yahoo, Goldman Sachs, Home Depot, and more. But what about all the smaller sites like that Vauxhall restoration forum site you signed up for? Or that mailing list for left-handed fishing lures? If the big guys have trouble keeping the doors locked, you know the little guys have trouble too. So it makes sense to delete
Tech Talk #167–November 20, 2021 Windows 10 Video Editor Did you know Windows has a built-in video editor? While more like Apple iMovie or Windows Movie Maker than Adobe Premier, the Windows Photos app also edits video. Surprised? I was. But first, get the video file onto your computer. Either pull the SD card from your digital camera and put it in your camera, upload videos from your phone to your phone’s cloud service, or
Tech Talk #166–November 6, 2021 Android phone settings To conserve your battery, reduce your cellular data usage, and increase your privacy, here are settings to change on your Android phone. Open Settings > Connections > More connection settings and turn off Nearby device scanning. Turning this off will keep your phone from scanning for other devices to connect to and save your battery life. Go back to the main Settings page and click on Google.
Tech Talk #165–October 23rd, 2021 iPhone settings To conserve your battery, reduce your cellular data usage, and increase your privacy, here are settings to change on your iPhone. Open Settings > Privacy > Tracking and turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track. Turning this off prevents apps from tracking your activity across different apps and using that information to target advertising for you. This screen also shows any apps that already have permission to
Tech Talk #164–October 9th, 2021 Remember how I’ve been telling you that Windows 10 would be the last version of Windows? And instead of releasing an entirely new operating system every few years, Microsoft planned to release major upgrades to Windows 10 annually? Ahem. Well. Six years after introducing Windows 10, say hello to Windows 11. Six years is a long time for babies and operating systems, so eventually, Microsoft’s list of design changes added
Tech Talk #163–Sept 25, 2021 Deleting Junk Email Do you struggle with hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of emails in your inbox? Do you feel faint and a touch nauseous thinking about deleting all those emails? In the old days, we could curl up with a cup of coffee or tea on a rainy day and delete those old and unwanted emails. I can almost remember a rainy day, but it’s been a
Tech Talk #162–Sept 11, 2021 As we use the internet for shopping, research, bill paying, or playing games, we know that the websites we use collect information about us. Collecting information about you is how websites and the companies behind them improve their products and sell advertising. And it’s all legal. But what information are they collecting, and how do they do it? It starts when you connect to a website. Your browser has information
Tech Talk #161–Aug 28, 2021 Also known as feature phones, dumb phones are phones without the smarts of a smartphone. They come in candybar and flip styles. If you don't need to read a book, look up the word "defenestration," or check the weather on your phone, get a dumb phone. If you want to keep a phone in your car for emergency use but don't need to be reachable 24/7, get a dumb phone.
Tech Talk #160–Aug 14, 2021 Analogies Analogies are helpful as a comparison between two things to explain technology in simple terms. Here are a few examples: Wi-Fi — You can think of Wi-Fi as a sprinkler connected to a hose. Here, the hose is the internet, and the Wi-Fi “sprinkles” internet to devices that can’t directly connect to the hose. Passwords—Your username and password combine to make the key to a lock on a door.