Newsletter Archives

• The new privacy policy’s here! The new privacy policy’s here!

  Posted on August 8, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.32 • 2022-08-08

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  On July 26, Meta (aka Facebook) changed its privacy policy.

  So this is a good time to ask two questions: what’s in the new policy, and what should you do about it?

  You can find the new privacy policy here. Settle in — it’s enormous.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.32.0, 2022-08-08).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal Brief AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Facebook, Legal Brief, Meta, Privacy Policy

• What to do first with Windows 11

  Posted on August 1, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.31 • 2022-08-01

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Susan Bradley

  You just decided that the deal at the local computer store was too great to pass up, and you took home a new Windows 11 computer.

  Nevertheless, you’ve heard us complain about menus, taskbars, and other annoyances. Not quite sure what you’ve gotten yourself into? Never fear, it’s still a Windows computer that you can make behave as you like.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.31.0, 2022-08-01).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Windows 11 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11

• Solo collaboration: Office’s untold advantage

  Posted on July 25, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.30 • 2022-07-25

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Modern Office app “collaboration” features are hyped by Microsoft for businesspeople to share a document. But all those features — comments, tracking, versioning, and multi-computer access — are available and useful for solo, personal work, too.

  Using the collaboration tools on your own is an easy way to become confident with those features without embarrassing yourself — nobody is looking over your shoulder. The same tools are useful to help you manage a complex document by leaving notes and reminders to yourself. The also help you recall deleted text and access the latest version from wherever you are.

  I’ll focus on Word in this article because it has the most comprehensive collaboration features. The same tips apply generally to Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and even a little bit for Outlook.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.30.0, 2022-07-25).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Collaboration, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Office

• Welcome to assistive and adaptive technology

  Posted on July 18, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.29 • 2022-07-18

  ACCESSIBILITY

  

  By Chris Husted

  The future of technology is in your hands, hands-free.

  Whether people know it or not, many of the latest features that make using the phone in their hand so much easier all came from developing “assistive and adaptive technology” (AAT), that branch of research and development specifically dedicated to help disabled people with their daily lives.

  More than 13 million Americans use assistive technology devices, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But with the population aging, the number of people with vision impairment and age-related dexterity issues is growing. Chances are, you already use assistive technology or know someone who does.

  Stephen Dawes, a senior systems analyst for the local government Calgary, Canada, has lived the history of assistive and adaptive technology related to computers. He also foretells an interesting future.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.29.0, 2022-07-18).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Accessibility, AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter Accessibility, Adaptive & Assistive Technology, AskWoody Plus Newsletter

• TikTok steals your files, passwords, and more: FCC official

  Posted on July 11, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.28 • 2022-07-11

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  TikTok, the wildly popular short-video app owned by China’s ByteDance corporation, may be kicked out of Apple’s and Google’s download stores.

  A US official boldly asserts that TikTok is “accessing users’ most sensitive data, including passwords, cryptocurrency wallet addresses, and personal messages.”

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.28.0, 2022-07-11).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Federal Communications Commission, privacy, Public Defender, security, TikTok

• SPECIAL EDITION: Web Presence

  Posted on July 4, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.27 • 2022-07-04

  EDITORIAL

  

  By Will Fastie

  Freedom!

  For our US-based readership, today is a celebration of freedom and liberty. To add our little bit to the festivities, we are “liberating” eight articles previously available only to Plus members. And for Plus members, you’ll now have this entire set in one, ad-free place.

  I’m talking about the “Web Presence” series I wrote for Woody in the second half of 2020. In the series, I tried to provide a comprehensive primer about living on the Web and especially about creating and maintaining your own website, whether for personal or business reasons. The series touches on domains, email, social networks, development, and more.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.27.0, 2022-07-04).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Web Presence AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Branding, Domains, Ecommerce, Email, Web Development, Web presence

• The right to repair

  Posted on June 27, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.26 • 2022-06-27

  Look for our special issue on July 4, 2022!

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  Purchasing a product gives you broad rights to do with it as you please.

  Those rights are not unlimited. For example, you can’t drive your new Ferrari through town at 120 mph; you can’t use your new hammer to smash anyone’s thumb but your own.

  Those rights are also limited by two legal constraints: you cannot infringe on someone else’s intellectual property rights, and you cannot use the product in a way you promised not to by entering into a contract to that effect.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.26.0, 2022-06-27).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Legal Brief AskWoody Plus Newsletter, hardware, Legal Brief, Repair, Right to Repair

• Terabyte update 2022

  Posted on June 20, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.25 • 2022-06-20

  HARDWARE

  

  By Will Fastie

  This year, the trend line for storage prices is harder to discern.

  In last year’s installment of this series, I wrote, “There has never been a time when I have been so uncertain about what comes next.”

  I’m glad I made that “prediction,” because I would never have guessed no change in prices. That’s pretty much what we got.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.25.0, 2022-06-20).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, hardware, HDDs, SSDs, Storage Prices

• Why there isn’t just one OneNote

  Posted on June 13, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.24 • 2022-06-13

  ONENOTE

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  OneNote started out on Windows, and it’s been a sleeper success — but getting the full set of features has been confusing.

  OneNote was always intended to be the one place that you put your notes — and all the other information you need to hang on to — “Things to do, important stuff to remember, things to review, and a bunch of stuff you think you might need some day but can’t be sure,” as Chris Pratley put it when describing his original idea for OneNote back in 2000.

  It’s supremely useful for that.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.24.0, 2022-06-13).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, OneNote AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, OneDrive, OneNote

• The ASR GUI tool is safe

  Posted on June 13, 2022 at 02:44 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Most antivirus programs flag ASR GUI as infected. Those results are false positives.

  In my most recent AskWoody MS-DEFCON Alert, I recommended a tool to help you set preventive attack rules, otherwise known as ASR (Attack Surface Reduction) rules. I’ve recommended ASR GUI tool for years because Microsoft doesn’t provide an easy GUI to set rules for standalone computers.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.24.0, 2022-06-13).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security, Patch Lady Posts

• Will Fastie: How to speak machine

  Posted on June 6, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.23 • 2022-06-06

  PROFILES

  

  By Chris Husted

  This newsletter’s editor in chief is proficient in more than 16 programming languages. At many of them, he’s an expert. That’s what happens when you understand how a computer works at the most fundamental level.

  Of course, some of those languages are related to or derivative of other languages, such C and C++. “I call them all languages because they are languages. You must understand the syntax. You must understand what the words you are writing mean. You must understand how they are applied. It is a translation of a set of requirements into something that is actionable,” says Will.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.23.0, 2022-06-06).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

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

• An important change to our forums

  Posted on June 6, 2022 at 02:44 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  FROM THE FORUMS

  

  We always look for ways to improve and grow our forums.

  We have been burning a lot of extra time maintaining the forums due to some customizations made years ago. The problem is that every update to the forum software wipes out the customizations, which we then need to restore manually. Besides the extra time, such a process is prone to error.

  One of the customizations allows forum visitors to post anonymously using a makeshift username (“anonymous”) and email address (“anonymous@askwoody.com”). Beginning on June 8, 2022, this option will no longer be available.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.23.0, 2022-06-06).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

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