TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

Windows seemingly has adjustments, settings, configurations, and modifications for just about everything. Despite a decade-long effort to finalize the Settings app, the Control Panel is still needed sometimes and finding the adjustment you’re seeking can be difficult. That’s one reason you might want to enable God Mode. In Short Circuits: One of the first things technicians want us to do when something goes wrong with a computer or other electronic device is turn it off and turn it back on again. This actually fixes a lot of problems, but why? • Do you use Wikipedia for research? Millions of people do every day and, despite the doubters, it’s usually quite accurate.

Two words make my teeth itch when I hear them, particularly when I hear them from photographers. Someone who claims to be artistic and creative probably should use “always” and “never” rarely, if at all. In Short Circuits: Facebook seems to be the most annoying application on Earth, yet people rarely abandon it. There are ways to make it better, at least on computers, and I recently switched from one of the primary players to the other. • We need to get to the BIOS settings screen rarely, and getting there can be difficult. What if you could put an icon on your desktop to get there with just a click?

No matter how much effort Microsoft expends on the Start Menu, it will never please everyone. The Start Menu does offer a lot of customizations, but if you really want to take control there’s Start 11 from Stardock. In Short Circuits: Updating to the latest version of Windows 24H2 created some significant problems on my primary computer, but the update worked flawlessly on the tablet computer. This is why every operating system update needs to be approached with caution. • Too many organizations still force users to change their passwords too frequently, mistakenly believing that doing so improves security. The opposite is true.

I talk about libraries frequently because they are probably the best value provided for our tax dollars. If you’re looking for access to news media that are often behind a paywall, your local library may be able to help. In Short Circuits: Continuing with the topic of locating reliable, honest, unbiased news sources in the days leading up to this year’s presidential election, we’ll take a look at 1440 News. • Podcasts for the past two weeks were cancelled because Phyllis and I were both dealing with covid when I should have been preparing the report. You may already have had covid, perhaps more than once. For us, it was our inaugural voyage.

It seems that I lied last week when I said TechByter Worldwide would resume this week. Covid is in the rear-view mirror, but I still can’t talk for more than 30 seconds without a sneeze or a cough.

Here’s where I would mention the upcoming topics, but there aren’t any this week. That’s because Phyllis and I both contracted covid after avoiding it entirely for more than four years. I’m better now, but there’s not enough time to finish the program that would have been here. I’ll pick things up again next week.

Just as people have fingerprints, so do browsers. The fingerprint is what allows the browser to be tracked from site to site. If you find this disturbing, there are ways to fight back. In Short Circuits: If you’ve ever posted something to Facebook and immediately received a like or a friend request from someone you don’t know, it’s probably yet another scourge that Facebook can’t (or won’t) do anything about. • Chrono Quest is a game that requires placing six historical events in the correct chronological order. It’s amusing, but don’t expect to learn any useful history by playing.

The National Institutes of Health would like to know more about you. Share some information with the All of Us project and you’ll help researchers understand more about disease treatment, control, and prevention. In Short Circuits: With the internet drowning in the proliferation of scams and fraud, staying safe involves treating any message from any source with more than a bit of skepticism. • When the plastic battery cover on my Bose TV speaker remote control broke, I contacted Bose to see if they sold replacements. What should have been a 5-minute chat went on for 40 minutes, required a 20-minute follow-up chat, and the problem involving a 5¢ part still hasn’t been resolved.

Regardless of what software came with your scanner, VueScan will do a better job and you’ll never have to worry about the scanner being orphaned by outdated drivers. In Short Circuits: Library Genesis, a source for downloading millions of books, articles, and academic papers, is controversial to say the least. Let’s consider the pros and cons. • I had a can of Stone Brewing’s FML hazy double IPA recently. Then I looked at the back of the can and learned more about those letters, which (in this case) mean “Fear Movie Lions”.

Is there a “best” browser? Of course there is, but your “best” browser may not be my “best” browser, and my “best” today at noon may not be my “best” browser this afternoon at 3. What’s “best” depends on a lot of variables. In Short Circuits: If paper sticky notes are all over your desk and computer, maybe it’s time to switch to the electronic version. • There are benefits to having an email address that obscures your identity and can be abandoned as needed without affecting your primary address.