Newsletter Archives

• Take control of your Mac’s privacy

  Posted on May 3rd, 2021 at 01:08 Nathan Parker Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.16 • 2021-05-03

  APPLE

  

  By Nathan Parker

  Apple’s emphasis on privacy is focused on personal devices, such as iPads and iPhones. But Macs have privacy settings, too.

  In my recent article “Take control of your privacy — iPhone & iPad” (AskWoody 18.12, 2021-04-05), I discussed many of the settings provided by iOS and iPadOS to control the privacy and security of the device and the apps running on it. Although one might think all Apple systems would be in lockstep, I have noticed that the settings in macOS are not quite as granular, not quite as detailed, as those in iOS/iPadOS.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.16.0 (2021-05-03).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.16.F (2021-05-03).

  Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Privacy Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, MacOS, privacy

• New PC? Lost your Microsoft account password?

  Posted on April 26th, 2021 at 01:10 Ben Myers Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.15 • 2021-04-26

  MICROSOFT

  

  By Ben Myers

  If your dog ate your Microsoft account credentials, Microsoft will welcome you to the tenth circle of hell.

  You probably don’t want to hear this, because you’ve been nagged this way before; but make sure you have a safe record of your user credentials for every online account you maintain. Just do it.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.15.0 (2021-04-26).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.15.F (2021-04-26).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft, passwords

• New M1 devices from Apple

  Posted on April 26th, 2021 at 01:08 Will Fastie Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  APPLE NEWS

  

  By Will Fastie

  Last week Apple welcomed more models into its family of M1-powered devices, including two new iPads!

  I listened to last Tuesday’s Apple event announcing a new iMac and the new iPads as well as several other less important products. I have a lot of thoughts not only about the products, but also about how Apple might interact with us in the future.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.15.0 (2021-04-26).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.15.F (2021-04-26).

  Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter Apple, Apple Silicon, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, News

• End of the road for old Edge

  Posted on April 19th, 2021 at 01:08 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

   

  ISSUE 18.14 • 2021-04-19

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The April 13 updates bring a close to “old”  or “legacy” Edge and force us to say hello to “new” Edge. The Windows 10 updates released in April will remove legacy Edge and replace it with new Edge.

  I’ve noted before that when I’ve set a default PDF viewer and then installed new Edge, it has been necessary to reset the preference. Resetting default applications always has been problematic in Windows 10; it has often taken several feature releases before things settled down and defaults were respected.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.14.0 (2021-04-19).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.14.F (2021-04-19).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts

• How to customize and manage your Microsoft Account

  Posted on April 12th, 2021 at 01:08 Lance Whitney Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.13 • 2021-04-12

  MICROSOFT

  

  By Lance Whitney

  You can view and administer your subscriptions, devices, family members, rewards, and other aspects of your Microsoft account through a dedicated website.

  You have a Microsoft account that you use to sign in to Windows and possibly to other apps such as Outlook, Office 365, OneDrive, and Skype. But maybe there are aspects of your account that you’d like to tweak or at least review. Microsoft offers a website that serves up all the relevant details and settings on your account.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.13.0 (2021-04-12).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.13.F (2021-04-12).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, Windows 10 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Account

• Touchscreen misregisters point-and-clicks

  Posted on April 5th, 2021 at 01:10 Fred Langa Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.12 • 2021-04-05

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  Touchscreens are ubiquitous and usually reliable, but when one malfunctions, even simple pointing and clicking can become an exercise in extreme frustration.

  Here are the likely causes of touchscreen miscalibration, and several easy ways to get things working properly again.

  Plus: How to protect yourself from Windows’ dangerous, semi-secret back door!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.12.0 (2021-04-05).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.12.F (2021-04-05).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, hardware, LangaList, Touch screen

• Woody Leonhard – A new life in paradise

  Posted on March 15th, 2021 at 01:08 Chris Husted Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.10 • 2021-03-15

  PROFILES

  

  By Chris Husted

  Is he having fun yet?

  Late last year, after 28 years of publishing everything everyone needed to know about Windows, esteemed AskWoody founder Woody Leonhard retired. He disappeared from our screens, but never drifted far from our thoughts. That voice we had grown accustomed to, calling out Windows for its shortfalls – sometimes with a roar, sometimes a grumble, but never a whimper – had gone.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.10.0 (2021-03-15).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.10.F (2021-03-15).

  AskWoody, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter AskWoody Plus Newsletter

• Using Windows 10 Quick Assist in reverse

  Posted on March 8th, 2021 at 01:08 Will Fastie Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.9 • 2021-03-08

  

  QUICK TIP

  

  By Will Fastie

  Instead of helping someone with remote control, Quick Assist can be used as a demonstration tool.

  The simple difference between a screen-sharing tool (Skype, Zoom) and a remote-control tool such as Quick Assist is that the latter is one-way. Once the session is underway, the roles of the two systems involved cannot be swapped.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.9.0 (2021-03-08).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.9.F (2021-03-08).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Windows 10 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Quick Tips, Windows 10

• How to create a bootable macOS installer

  Posted on February 22nd, 2021 at 01:08 Nathan Parker Comment on the AskWoody Lounge
  

  APPLE

  How to create a bootable macOS installer

  By Nathan Parker

  Once included with macOS, installers are now available only for download.

  In the past, macOS X installers were available on a DVD. This changed with OS X Lion in 2011. The only way to get the installers today is to download them (at no charge) from the Mac App Store.

  Despite this minor inconvenience, the process to create an installer is quite simple.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.7.0 (2021-02-22).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.7.F (2021-02-22).

  Apple, AskWoody FREE Newsletter Apple, MacOS

• Trying Linux on your Windows system

  Posted on February 15th, 2021 at 01:20 Sandra Henry-Stocker Comment on the AskWoody Lounge
  

  LINUX

  Trying Linux on your Windows system

  By Sandra Henry-Stocker

  Did you ever think you might like to give Linux a try without making a commitment to a new operating system? Well, guess what? You can!

  In fact, there are a number of ways to pull this off — without disrupting, interfering with, or unseating your Windows installation. You can install a command line tool on top of Windows 10, run a Linux desktop on top of Windows, run a full Linux distribution with its own GUI from a DVD or USB drive, install it as a second OS and decide at boot time which you want to run, or install Linux on some old PC you don’t use anymore.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.6.0 (2021-02-15).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.6.F (2021-02-15).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux

• Keeping the spammers away

  Posted on February 2nd, 2021 at 23:34 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  First off, my goal here is to protect the regulars and keep out the spammers.  I’m using a specific spam service that is designed to keep known spammers off of discussion web sites.  I’ve set the settings such that if you are a registered user, or an AskWoody plus member you shouldn’t see the filtering software or the count down that it does to keep denial of service attacks at a minimum.   My goal is to get it so that the regulars won’t see any change at all, but anyone who is a spammer will be throttled and kept away from the site.

  Clearly I’m still tweaking the settings because I’ve seen a couple of folks get caught by the spam engine and they shouldn’t be getting caught.  If you need me to whitelist your IP because it’s flagging you as a spammer even though you are not, let me know.  I know that with Wordfence sometimes you need to try another VPN connection.

  As always with technology that makes things more secure there’s always hiccups and false positives.  Thank you for your understanding.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus membership, AskWoody Plus Newsletter Patch Lady Posts

• Tech Author Brian Livingston returns

  Posted on January 8th, 2021 at 09:02 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PRWEB link

  Tech Author Brian Livingston Returns as “Public Defender,” Weekly in AskWoody.com

   

  Author of “Windows Secrets” and “Muscular Portfolios” is Back in Business, Solving Crimes of Technology at AskWoody.com

  Well-known and sometimes beloved technology author and investigative journalist Brian Livingston has been appointed columnist at the Ask Woody newsletter. His new weekly column, entitled “Public Defender,” will offer insights to help consumers resolve technology frustrations.

  “If it’s irritating you, and it has an ‘on’ switch, I’ll take the case,” said Livingston. His first column will focus on the recent ruling that stops cable companies from charging customers a fee to use the equipment they already own. “I’ll go beyond reporting. I’m going to help solve the crime. In this case, you’ll get specific answers on how to easily fix the problem. I see myself as offering consumer protection from technology.”

  

  As technology continues its pervasive march into our lives, we are now not just frustrated and exasperated by Microsoft Windows, where Livingston spent his early career. Instead, we’re frustrated by our appliances, our tele-healthcare, and our watches. They’re all just technology, after all.

  The column can be read in the Ask Woody newsletter, which is free but supported by donations. It can be read at https://www.askwoody.com/ starting January 11, 2021.

   

  —–

  About Brian Livingston
  Mr. Livingston is an award-winning journalist with more than three decades of experience covering the tech industry. He founded the “Windows Secrets” Newsletter, which grew to 400,000 subscribers, and co-authored 11 books in the Windows Secrets series (John Wiley & Sons), which sold 2.5 million copies. In 2018, he turned his attention to the investment industry as a contributor to MarketWatch and StockCharts, and the author of “Muscular Portfolios.”

  About Ask Woody
  AskWoody.com is a reader-supported website that focuses on news, tips, advice and support for Windows, Microsoft Office, personal computers, the Internet of things and other technologies. AskWoody.com receives its support through reader donations. Readers can sign up for a free newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/AskWoody.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter PublicDefender
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