TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

A surprising number of Facebook accounts are being stolen and recovering them is difficult, if not impossible. That’s why it’s better to avoid trouble in the first place. In Short Circuits: Although your internet service provider includes domain name services, there’s a good reason to use one of several alternate services. • Efforts by the federal government to eliminate junk fees have finally resulted in some changes that affect what service providers must tell you before you sign up.

You still have about a year and a half to decide what you’ll do when Microsoft ends support for Windows 10. There are several choices, but not all options will work for all users. Let’s take a look at some that will keep the computer out of the trash. In Short Circuits: Although Microsoft has added a file renamer function to PowerToys, it won’t be sufficient when you need to apply complex names to a lot of files. A manual process becomes cumbersome when more than a few files are involved, absurd for hundreds or thousands of files. This is a job for the Bulk Rename Utility. • Newer keyboards have a special key to open the emoticon finder, but there’s a faster and easier way to insert bullets, fractions, currency symbols, and accented characters. It’s yet another utility built in to PowerToys.

Romania-based security company Bitdefender offers a comprehensive protective suite for Windows and MacOS computers, as well as IOS and Android phones. The package includes enough licenses for all devices used by everyone in the family unless you have an exceptionally large family or everyone has five or six devices. In Short Circuits: Your internet service provider would like you to continue renting a modem from them, but there are good reasons to buy your own and cost is just one of the reasons. • Scam offers appear like clockwork every couple of months for counterfeit US postage stamps that are often shipped from China. Facebook seemingly can’t (or won’t) do anything to stop them.

The virtual desktops feature that was added to Windows 10 and improved in Windows 11 can help organize the computer when you need to work on more than one task at a time. In Short Circuits: Artificial intelligence is now being used to improve audio recordings by removing flaws such as background noise and room echo. Despite being new, the results are already astonishingly good. • Bugs are a simple fact of life for computer users. If you’re delaying a purchase until all the bugs have been eliminated, you’re going to wait for a very long time.

If you regularly mutter to your computer that it doesn’t do something you want it to do or doesn’t do something the way you want it to, stop for a moment and investigate. There’s a good chance that the computer can accommodate your desires. In Short Circuits: Anyone who has trouble finding where TV programs they want to watch are streaming, or who forgets to watch new episodes, will find JustWatch useful. • The latest versions of Adobe’s photo editing applications are filled with useful features, but that doesn’t mean we should forget about applications such as SnapArt4.

One of the most common ways that people are victimized online involves the victims failing to recognize social engineering and giving their login credentials to scammers. In Short Circuits: Facebook accounts are filled with gold that scammers like to mine. There’s a quick and easy way to view what crooks see so that you can modify your account to maximize security. • Europeans can remove Microsoft’s Edge browser because of European Union rules, but these rules don’t apply in the United States. There’s still a way to tame or remove Edge, and I’ll explain how.

When a charge for a service I didn’t recognize showed up in an alert from my bank, I found that I had been signed up for a video streaming service I’d never heard of. Eliminating the service was easy enough, but a lot of people have reported terminating it was difficult. In Short Circuits: Even those of us who are not typographers, graphic designers, or publishers sometimes need to deal with typefaces. What most people think of as “fonts” aren’t fonts, but this may be a surprise: It doesn’t really matter. • Anyone who relies on Amazon’s ratings to make buying decisions isn’t getting the full story. A service that rates that ratings helps, but it’s still wise to proceed with caution.

Exposure hasn’t had an upgrade from the X7 version, which was released in 2021, but it’s still a good choice both as a standalone application and as a plug-in for Lightroom Classic. In Short Circuits: Speaking of golden oldies, I encountered a little connector that could be used to join lots of devices two years ago. It saved the day a week ago when I had to deal with an IPhone that had a low battery. • There’s a lot of concern about the dangers of artificial intelligence, so I went straight to the source and asked two AI engines about the dangers of AI.

A hijacked Facebook account can be a lot of fun, but only if you have a most peculiar understanding of the term “fun”. It wasn’t my account, but I had to deal with the repercussions of a hack recently. In Short Circuits: The technology that powers GPS, Bluetooth devices, and other modern high technology was invented 83 years ago by someone considered to be “the most beautiful woman in the world.” Even now she doesn’t get the recognition she deserved in 1941. • Ever notice how technology someone doesn’t understand, doesn’t like, or fears is labeled as “bloatware”. That’s the term being used with AI today, along with a fair amount of faulty logic.

Which is better, cable or streaming? There are lots of variables and cable is perfect for some people while streaming is the winner for others. After switching to streaming three years ago, now seemed a good time to re-evaluate. In Short Circuits: You might have some old digital photos that would benefit greatly from today’s AI-powered applications. I have a couple of examples. • “Warning: Your privacy settings can’t guarantee your privacy on Facebook.” That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.