February 7, 2017The Keyboard Adores USB 2.0It’s been awhile since it mattered which port you used to connect a PC’s keyboard. Back in the old, old days, you had to use the DIN port — and the PC had to be turned off when you connected or disconnected the keyboard. Then came the PS/2 ports, one for the mouse and another for the PC. Today, everything is USB, so you’d think that using any old USB port for the keyboard would be okay, right? Nope! February 2, 2017Happy Groundhog Day Bill Murray as Phil Connors in 1993’s Groundhog Day. February 2 is Groundhog Day in the US. It’s the midpoint of winter. Seasonally, winter is only 6 weeks old, but because winter weather can start in mid-November, at this point of the year most people are really sick of the cold, wet, snow, and ice. So Groundhog Day becomes a point of reflection: Do we have six more weeks of winter or can we hope for an early spring?
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January 31, 2017I’ve Been Workin’ on the WebsiteEvery so often, I read up on various web page design and publishing technologies, then I turn to this website and review what I’ve done and try to make it better. It’s a not something I get paid for, but I try to excel in everything I do.
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January 26, 2017Safe Mode HellA good writing day is one when I can pound out the words, hour after hour, all while standing at my PC. It’s fun! I enjoy my job, especially when I spend most of my day writing. That’s not always the case.
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January 24, 2017Giving Away an Old PCDo people still give away old PCs? The real question is, “How old?” Because very old PCs, like 6 or more years, are more of a burden than a practical use for anyone. Old PCs run slow. They malfunction. They die. They can’t run new software. But when you want to give away an old PC, what do you do? January 19, 2017Cable TV: Bah!It’s been over a year since the household cut the cable. Let me report to you that all is well.
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January 17, 2017System Restore to the Rescue – MaybeMy mom called in a panic. She thought she was visiting Google Maps, but instead she opened another web page, downloaded a program, and suddenly Google Chrome had been hijacked. The start page had changed. And any websites she wanted to visit were redirected elsewhere. It was a nightmare.
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January 12, 2017Word’s New Icon GraphicsI suppose I’m going to stumble upon new Word 2016 features as they ooze out of the Microsoft mothership and populate my Office 365 Word subscription. My latest discovery is the Icons button. January 10, 2017Word 2016 Update: Right-Click Spell CheckMicrosoft updates its Office suite every so often. You may see the Office Update request appear — or not. I have the Office 365 subscription, so I’m guessing that my software might get updated more frequently than an off-the-shelf Office purchase. In any event, I noticed a change recently to how Word impliments the document proofing check.
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January 5, 2017MS-DOS Finally, Finally Put Out to PastureIt’s been years since Microsoft last released MS-DOS; I believe version 6.22 in 1993 was the final standalone version. Microsoft dropped all support for DOS quite some time ago. Still, Windows versions 95, 98, and ME were based on DOS. Even after those versions, the command prompt lingered on in Windows as the |
