computer

Fri
30
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

How to: Send a Fax Online the Internet for Free

Infopackets Reader Karin S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently received a letter in the mail from the government requesting additional information on my account. The letter states that I can mail or fax in my information back to them (they won't ... accept email attachments for some reason). As such, I would prefer to fax the information as that is the fastest method. I would like to know if you can recommend a good, free fax service over the Internet that I can use to send this information? Thanks! " My response: I did a bit of research, and there are two popular websites offering free faxes ... (view more)

Mon
05
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

Easy Duplicate Finder Review

Duplicate files are the curse of every computer user - even professional computer technicians have them. While duplicate files are not really something that harms your PC, they do take up disk drive space, slow the PC down (especially when thumbnail ... previews are generated in Windows), and make things very disorganized. So, if you have a large drive - or a couple of them - and store lots of files on your PC, one thing I recommend my clients do is to take some time to manage duplicate files in order to free up space. This not only saves backup space, but also the users' sanity, should they ever ... (view more)

Thu
24
Nov
John Lister's picture

Report: Earphones Could Be Hijacked By Hackers

Security researchers say hackers could turn people's headphones into a microphone for surreptitious remote listening. However, the method has enough limitations that it shouldn't be a major concern for most users. The method, shown off by ... researchers at Ben Guiron University in Israel, takes advantage of a very simple element of engineering. That is that the process by which a microphone turns speech into an electronic signal is effectively the same as that by which earphones turn a speaker into sound, just with the process reversed. According to the researchers, that's a security ... (view more)

Fri
11
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: Remove Drive Letters from File Explorer

Infopackets Reader John D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded to Windows 10 recently. When I click on File Explorer by the Start menu (which brings up This PC or "My Computer" in previous editions of Windows), I now see C and D drive and now a ... drive E which appears to be empty - it is only about 1 gigabyte large. I don't know where this drive came from but I have no use for it and would prefer not to see it. Is there any way to remove this drive letter in file explorer? " My response: Some manufactures will assign partitions on the hard drive for Windows or BIOS recovery or some other ... (view more)

Fri
28
Oct
Dennis Faas's picture

Explained: How and Why Windows Goes Corrupt

I've been repairing computers now for over 23 years and for the last few years, I began offering my computer repair service online . One of the most popular repairs I do today is to fix Windows Update; sometimes, however, Windows Update is too far ... corrupt that it requires a complete reinstall of Windows in order to fix the issue. The same can be said in other situations where Windows is too far corrupt that it cannot be repaired even by someone with as much experience as I have . Based on this, users ask me "Why is my Windows corrupt?" and "How can this have happened?" I thought I'd write an ... (view more)

Tue
25
Oct
John Lister's picture

Microsoft Warns: Fake Blue Screen of Death with 1-800 Number is a Scam

Microsoft has warned that scammers are trying to trick users with a fake "Blue Screen of Death" error message. The idea is to fool users into calling a bogus 1-800 tech support hotline. The Blue Screen of Death is an unofficial name given to a ... particular type of error message which appears when a Windows computer suffers a serious malfunction. In most cases, once the screen appears the only option is to reboot the computer, usually by switching it off with a physical power button or by resetting the machine with a reset button (if it is available). The idea of the screen is to give ... (view more)

Fri
14
Oct
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: Firefox Forget Username / Remove Autocomplete

Infopackets Bill P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am using Windows 10 and Firefox. Recently I went to sign onto my banking website and entered in the wrong user name during the sign on. A few days later I went to sign onto the bank again and it seems ... that Firefox saved the incorrect user name to that field (note - I am not using the Firefox password manager to fill my fields, I am doing it manually). Normally when I visit my bank website, I enter in a few characters for my user name and then Firefox usually presents me with the correct user name as part of the field - sort of the same autocomplete ... (view more)

Mon
10
Oct
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: Windows 10 Drive Letters Missing in Explorer

Infopackets Reader Barb J. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded to Windows 10. When I click on 'This PC' from the Start menu, my drive letters are missing from Windows explorer. Previously, I was using Windows 7, and when I clicked on My Computer ... it would show the C drive (my hard drive), and D, E, and F drive which are memory card slots. Why are my drive letters missing from explorer in Windows 10? Is this a feature I can change? " My response: Sometimes when you do a major upgrade from one operating system to another, settings from the previous operating system get misconstrued and weird ... (view more)

Fri
07
Oct
Dennis Faas's picture

How to Fix: Disable Airplane Mode in Windows 10

How to Fix: Disable Airplane Mode in Windows 10 Infopackets Reader Eric H. writes: " Dear Dennis, When I used my computer last night (after returning home from work), I was immediately told that there was no Internet connection - none of my web ... browsers would work. I tried to reset my router by unplugging it, waiting a few seconds, and plugging it back in, but that did not help. With that said, I did notice that when I moved the mouse over the network icon in the system tray bar, a dialogue box says I have Airplane Mode turned on. I should mention this is a desktop PC. I managed to go to the ... (view more)

Thu
06
Oct
John Lister's picture

Is a Chromebook Right for You?

With smartphones and tablets gaining extreme popularity thanks to low-cost production and ever-increasing CPU speeds, many users are looking at alternatives to Windows when it comes to being able to compute on the go. One system in particular is the ... ChromeBook (laptop) which is based on Google's Chrome operating system. Many major manufacturers produce Chromebooks, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung. As of September 2016 there were at least three dozen Chromebook models on the market. What is Chrome OS? Chrome OS is a somewhat similar, but separate operating system to Android ... (view more)

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