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The problem exists on the phone as well as on the computer. That is, after the jpg’s are transferred to the computer, they have the same orientations as viewed through the app on the phone.

I use the camera and viewing app that came with the phone.

In Settings | Apps, the camera isn’t identified as being anything in particular, except “Version 13.” No brand for the camera software stated anywhere that I can see.

The viewing app on the phone is Samsung Gallery, Version 14.5.08.0. Would the viewing app affect it though? Without knowing anything about anything, I had assumed that once the jpg’s were created by the camera, the photos would sit in whatever orientation in which they were created by the camera before they were ever viewed through an app. But maybe I have that wrong.

I use Quick Share from Google to transfer photos from phone to computer. Quick Share works by selecting the photos through the viewing app, so if the latter is affecting the orientation, I can see where that would carry through to the computer.

As a result of your reply, I thought maybe I’d try another viewing app just to see how that affected things. I Googled alternatives, and came across something that baffles me. Most viewing apps are listed in the same format as that for, as an example, 1Gallery: “Price: Free / In-app purchases ($1.49 – $4.49 per item).” I have no idea whether that means “free” or not. Apps for computers are constantly being listed as “free download,” but that invariably means that there will be charges if you actually use them. And in this case, I have no idea what “items” are being referred to, since it’s hard to believe that an app is going to charge me a minimum of $1.49 for each and every jpg that I transfer to my computer. So if anyone can offer guidance on that one, I’d appreciate it.

Thanks.

Sorry, I should have said. (I’m relatively new to having a smartphone, and think of “Android” as simply meaning a phone; also, didn’t know Chromebooks could take photos.)

It’s a phone: a Galaxy A03s.

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PKCano

This is weird. I use also Samsung Messages, but in Settings | About Messages, it says that I have the latest version: 14.5.42.5.

Do you know: does the “latest” version vary according to phone? Maybe not the actual latest version for cheapo phones? (I have a Galaxy A03s, for which Verizon charged me $10 in the process of forcing me to give up my flip phone.)

Thanks.

Bob99 and Paul,

Thanks for the replies.

Does the Google messages app have a setting to block *all* text messages from unknown numbers? And without blocking *phone calls* from unknown numbers?

The Samsung app has a setting to block all calls and texts from unknown numbers, but it doesn’t block anything. And I wouldn’t use it even if it did work, because the setting, dysfunctional as it is, doesn’t distinguish between text messages and phone calls.

I’ll quickly switch to the Google app if *both* answers are yes. Otherwise, since it’s served me well, I’m inclined to stick with the Samsung app, at least until I can find a messages app (assuming one exists) that will block messages as described.

And Paul, I wasn’t aware of a new chat bubble icon. I Googled it just now and saw what it was. Not sure that I’ll want to use it, but I’m going to give it a try. Thanks for mentioning it.

My messaging app doesn’t work that way. Or perhaps it works more than one way, and I know only one of them.

Pressing and holding an individual message (which is what I do for forwarding), doesn’t make the message change color and a new three dot menu doesn’t appear. (Before I press and hold the message, there already is a menu in the upper right, but it’s the standard one, which doesn’t appear to have anything to do with forwarding.) Instead, a pop-up menu appears, giving me options for, in order, Delete, Copy text, Select text, Forward, Share… and 4 others. To forward a text message I tap Forward, and then everything proceeds as described in my first message.

Does this suggest that I need to change a setting somewhere? Or that there’s another procedure I can follow? Or do I just have the wrong app for reporting spam messages? I have the app that came with the phone, Samsung Messages, and it’s apparently the current version.

Thanks.

As I’ve continued to receive unwanted political text messages, I decided to take your advice and report them to Verizon as spam. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work, and I need advice on how to do it.

This is a somewhat different question than the one that started this thread. I don’t want this new subject to get lost in the shuffle of the multiple messages that have already piled up in the current thread, so I’m going to ask how to do it by starting a new thread in this same forum.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks for the suggestion.

The Techlicious article links to a Verizon site which recommends texting “off” to 4040 in order to block text messages that originate in email messages. I don’t know what that really means, but what the hey, I did it a while ago, after I first saw the Verizon announcement, so presumably I haven’t been getting text messages that came from emails. However, since I’ve still been getting so many election text messages, I have to assume either that those messages aren’t from emails or that the 4040 solution doesn’t work perfectly. In either case, I’d still love to be able to block all texts from unknown numbers.

Thanks for the suggestion.

However, although if I get irritated enough, I’d seriously consider reporting spam, I prefer to simply block all text messages from unknown numbers, so I can experience the peace of mind that comes from thinking that such messages don’t really exist. Selfish, I know, but if I don’t have to be annoyed by having my attention directed to spam messages, that’s the way I’d like to live.

I don’t have a spam filer per se. I use a free macro app, MacroDroid, which I set to mute all phone calls from unknown numbers. It’s performed quite well for me. The only people who have ever left me voice mail messages after their calls were muted were people who I knew, but who happened not to have been in my contacts at the time. (E.g., a doctor who called from his home.) I’ve never had a spammer leave a voice mail. Maybe I’ve been lucky, but I’ll live with that kind of luck.

The only downside to merely muting phone calls, instead of blocking them with some kind of spam filter, is that they end up being listed in the phone app as recent calls. But that hasn’t been a burden. I generally clear out all recent calls on more than a daily basis, anyway, and since all of them are cleared out in one fell swoop, it’s not burdensome that they happen to include muted calls as well as those from people I know.

But in any case, that’s phone calls. My current problem relates to text messages, which apparently is an entirely different thing with respect to whether they can be blocked.

And by the way, it wasn’t until I thought of mentioning that I had MacroDroid that it occurred to me that I should check whether that app can also be set up to block text messages from unwanted numbers. Its website doesn’t say anything relevant, and when I looked through its forum, no one suggested that it could do such a thing, but one guy specifically said that it couldn’t be done by any app unless it was the default SMS app. (No idea how knowledgeable he may be on this score.) He suggested using a free messaging app available from the Google Play Store.

I followed his link, which led to something identified in the store as “Mezo SMS AI — Spam Blocker, Text Blocker.” See https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smsBlocker&pli=1  That page doesn’t say that it’s actually a text messaging app, as opposed to merely a text blocker (at least it doesn’t say so in words that I’d understand to be conveying that message), but some of the comments by satisfied users suggest that the former is the case. Those comments also suggest that the app isn’t free, although the store itself doesn’t say anything in that regard. But more to the specific point, one of the satisfied users, in a comment posted less than two weeks ago, says that he’s “been using the app’s ‘message content’ feature to block tons of political ad texts and other spam. It just blocks them if they’re not in my contacts.” So this app may be just the thing that I want, although I still have to check out some other apps, including the two that I mentioned in my earlier message, TextKiller and SpamHound.

Bigi wrote:

When I blocked all unknown texts it was a while ago (years).  I cannot find this option on the website anymore.  There is a block all texts option but I do not see a block unknown text message from anyone not on your contacts list.  I would call Verizon and check whether this can still be done.

My experience with Verizon support hasn’t been good. When I’ve tried to get them to deal with other problems, there’s either a 40 minute wait, so I give up, or I’ve ended up with someone who doesn’t know what he/she’s doing.

But I’ll try.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I didn’t find anything on the Verizon site about blocking all text messages from unknown numbers (though maybe I don’t know how to look effectively).

I found only two things on the subject of blocking messages:

1) Call Filter, for $2.99/month, which is said to block “all spam and robocalls.” The description reads as though it applies to phone calls as well as text messages, without distinction, which isn’t what I want. Also, I’m not interested in an elaborate process that identifies and then blocks spam; I just want to do something much simpler: block all messages from unknown numbers.

2) A feature that blocks up to 5 specific calls for up to 90 days. This of course is much more limited than what I need.

Sorry to ask if this requires work on your part, but do you have a specific reference to what Verizon has available? Say, by name or by the way it’s supposed to work?

In the meanwhile, I Googled for apps that can block all text messages from unknown numbers. Most of such apps’ web pages talk about blocking spam according to various criteria that the user specifies, and fail to talk about the solution I’m looking for.

Two apps, however, may (or may not) do the trick: SpamHound SMS Spam Filter and TextKiller. General statements on their main web pages suggest that they possibly can be set up to do what I want, but I have to investigate further. But if Verizon has a good solution after all, I’d certain like to know about it.

Thanks for your help.

The Windows setting doesn’t work for all MS apps either. For example, it doesn’t affect things in Edge, whether in the address bar, in Google searches or, I assume, when filling in forms (though I haven’t tried that last one, since I never use Edge, anyway).

I tried the Word screenshot feature just now, and it worked fine, so I have that for future reference.

Thanks for the advice.

Ah, thanks for that suggestion.

Two photos are attached: one for Word Perfect and the other for Word.

Each photo shows two different things that (right or wrong) I’ve seen referred to as a “cursor” over the years. In the Word Perfect attachment, there’s a green arrow (which follows the movement of the mouse) and a thin vertical line between o and i in the word “point” (it appears where I last clicked inside the active document). In the Word attachment, there’s a large green “I” and vertical line (thicker this time) between the o and the i.

The vertical line between the o and the i is the thing that I want to make thicker. As you can see, it is thicker in the Word file, because I adjusted the setting in Windows Settings | Ease of Access | Text cursor | Change text cursor appearance. (I made it thicker than I actually need for normal usage, because I wanted it to be especially prominent in the photo.) Changing that setting affects only Word, and not Word Perfect. Same in the case of Notepad vs. EditPad Pro: changing the setting affects only the former, and not the latter. In short, the setting affects only MS apps (and not all of them, by the way).

What I’d like to do, if possible, is make it thicker in non-MS apps as well.

Thanks for the help.

I haven’t been able to do that.

I have both Snip & Sketch and a text file open, with the text file active. The moment I press Alt + Tab in order to use S&S, the insertion point disappears from the text file. I encounter the same problem with both Word Perfect and EditPad Pro.

Am I doing something wrong? If so, what’s the correct way to keep the text file active while using S&S in order to get the screen shot?

Thanks for all the help. However, I’m not sure that I’ve now got the specific solution that I’m looking for.

I may not be using the correct terminology to describe the “cursor” thing that I’d like to alter. Unfortunately, I can’t provide a screen shot, because the thing I’m talking about requires the underlying file to be active on the screen, whereas the moment I launch a screen capture app, the app becomes active, which makes the cursor thing disappear. So please bear with me.

Open any word processing file that has some text typed out. Suppose the text includes the word “computer.” Click between the u and the t in that word. Then, without clicking anywhere else, move the mouse. Wherever you’ve moved the mouse to is indicated by a large capital i shaped thing (a vertical line, with short horizontal bars across both the top and bottom). As best as I can tell, all of the suggestions here affect the size/appearance of that i-shaped thing, but that’s not what I’m concerned with.

The “insertion point” that I’m concerned with is the thin vertical line that remains between the u and the t. If you go into Settings | Ease of Access | Text cursor, and move the slider for “Change text cursor thicknes,” in an MS Word document that line becomes thicker. But its thickness is not affected in other word processing programs, such as Word Perfect. That’s the insertion point that I’d like to be able to make thicker.

I appreciate the suggestions here, and if it’s not possible to do what I’ve described, I’ll live with it, because the suggestions are all somewhat helpful. But if there’s a way to thicken that particular insertion point, I’d really like to be able to do it.

If I’ve missed something, and one of the suggestions actually does do the thing I want, please let me know what I missed. I did look. But if the suggestions to date don’t do the specific thing I’ve now asked about, I’d appreciate advice on whether it’s possible.

Thanks.