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Quick Productivity Tips

This section covers articles that provide quick tips as opposed to the longer tutorial section that mostly covers Microsoft and Google products.

This master list is presently comprised of 6 categories:

  • Cell Phone
  • Email
  • Internet of Things
  • Computer Security
  • Web
  • Microsoft Windows

This section is several pages long so be sure to use the blue Next Page >> button at the bottom or the search box to the right.

When Alexa Voice Recognition Gets it Wrong

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Image my surprise this morning when I looked at my To Do list and saw, “do a review on grimm kermit call marilee”. I stared at the screen for a good 20 seconds hoping something would pop to mind. I was stumped. Fortunately, I could tell the task had been placed the day before by Alexa. Now, the question was how to figure out what Alexa voice recognition heard. It was time to go to the source.

How To Fix Email Links So They Open In Chrome

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Somedays, I just want to scream when things that did work, no longer work. This happened this week when I needed to contact a vendor by email. This is usually a simple task where you click an email link and it opens in your default application. Instead of getting Gmail to open up in Chrome, I was staring at the Microsoft Store email app.

Free Kindle for PC Offers Awesome Benefits

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Like many readers, I own an Amazon Kindle. What you may not know is that when it comes to learning and studying books, product manuals or PDFs, I often use the free version – “Kindle for PC”. There is a comparable version for the Mac.

Stop Being Lazy and Get a Password Manager

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Before you get mad at me for the lazy reference, just know I’ve been called lazy too. Lazy people try to find systems so they don’t have to do mundane stuff. This article is a remake of one I did over a decade ago about predictability and passwords. However, the password strategy I outlined years ago is no longer recommended.

How to Find Out More about Suspicious URLs

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I’m sure this experience has happened to many of us. You see an email come in from a friend, but something just doesn’t look right based on the preview. Parts look normal, but some stuff was suspect. This happened to me this weekend and I decided to research it more.

Could Your Printer Be Vulnerable to an Attack?

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I know we’re sick of security warnings, myself included. But have you ever thought of your printer as a security threat? A recent article by Tenable, a network security firm, referenced some unexpected issues with a line of Hewlett-Packard (HP) printers including the default settings. Regardless of your brand, I would be inclined to check your printer settings. The reason is that automatic updates may not be enabled.

Simple Ways to Protect Your Online Accounts

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Recently, I met a friend who looked stressed. He returned home from work only to find out that someone had broken into his online accounts. Naturally, he was concerned about the data, but also the amount of time it would take to fix the problem. I told him an easy way to reduce the risk of account breaches is to use something called “two factor authentication” or 2FA. But, it has some issues if you’re not careful.

How to Fix Web Pages Where Text is Too Wide

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The web is a wonderful place, but sometimes the pages don’t work for me. It’s not the content, but how they display. I’ll find a site where the text is very wide or even full screen. On some monitors, this works well. Other times, the width makes it harder to read the page. Your eyes have to span the full screen and it’s more tiring. But, with the use of your browser and a couple of tweaks, you can fix pages where the text is too wide.