Newsletter Archives

• Get more OneDrive with these tips

  Posted on April 25, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  There are a few tricky ways to beat the 365 plan quota, to get more than one terabyte of OneDrive space for nothing and save local disk space by pushing files to OneDrive.

  Most Microsoft 365 plans, including Family, Personal, and most Business plans, include one terabyte of OneDrive storage. That’s 1,000 GB, more than enough for most people. But if you need more, there are cheaper – or even free – options available that are legitimate, inside the bounds of Microsoft’s rules.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.17.0, 2022-04-25).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, OneDrive, tips

• Gearing up for cyberwar

  Posted on April 25, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Once upon a time, I used to publish maps showing the location of each water pump in the city where I live.

  Fresno residents rely on the underground water supply and pump much of the drinking water from various wells throughout the city. And then Fresno — like every other city — realized that publishing information about critically important infrastructure items, such as drinking water, probably wasn’t wise. That was especially driven home after 9/11; governments realized that they were handing over helpful data to those who might use it to attack us.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.17.0, 2022-04-25).

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

• Making connections between computers and monitors

  Posted on April 18, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.16 • 2022-04-18

  HARDWARE

  

  By Ben Myers

  With four different standards for video ports and cables, as well as some “mini” ports, it can be downright confusing to come up with the right cables to connect your computer to a monitor.

  In the best of all possible worlds, we would all want to buy a computer and a monitor at the same time, ensuring that they connect to one another and work well together with the right cabling. In our real world, a computer meets an untimely demise and an upscale monitor is still exactly what we need. Or maybe the monitor fails to light up, it becomes too dim, you punch out the screen in anger, or it is simply time for a larger monitor. Possibly you want to attach a monitor to your laptop, duplicating the laptop screen on a larger viewing area or using dual screens to see more information.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.16.0, 2022-04-18).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, DisplayPort, Displays, DVI, hardware, HDMI, Standards, Thunderbolt, VGA

• Protect yourself from iPhone and Android spying

  Posted on April 18, 2022 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  As technology marches forward, there are more and more things for us to watch out for. One thing you might not be aware of is how easy it is for someone to listen to everything you say through a smartphone, such as an iPhone — even if the device is turned off.

  That’s right. That innocent-looking glass slab on the next table could be picking up everything you say and transmitting it 100 meters or so to an Apple AirPod earpiece, in the case of an iPhone, or to any wireless headphones, by using an app for Android phones.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.16.0, 2022-04-18).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender Android, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, iPhone, Spying

• Lance Whitney: Taking center stage

  Posted on April 18, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  PROFILES

  

  By Chris Husted

  When a person with 25 years’ experience as a technology writer has some wisdom to impart, it pays to listen.

  Lance Whitney has been a full-time freelance tech journalist for “only” the past 12 years, but that comes after decades of working in IT first as a technician, then as a consultant, and today as a writer of tech articles scripted especially for IT professionals and for the everyday user, as AskWoody readers already know.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.16.0, 2022-04-18).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Profiles AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Profiles

• Drenched in patches

  Posted on April 18, 2022 at 02:22 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  As is typical for this time of year, Microsoft is releasing a deluge of security patches for our Windows machines.

  One threat has already been used in the wild. CVE-2022-24521 is a vulnerability in the Windows Common Log File System Driver and can lead to elevation of privileges on a system. Troubling to me is CVE-2022-26809, which is a potentially wormable remote code vulnerability that could be especially damaging if the attacker gets inside your firewall or network.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.16.0, 2022-04-18).

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

• The Last Langalist

  Posted on April 11, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.15 • 2022-04-11

  EDITORIAL

  

  By Will Fastie

  Fred’s retiring.

  I don’t know where to start, but people keep telling me I should start from the beginning. For me, that was about 30 years ago, when I visited Fred at CMP in search of an editing job after PC Tech Journal unexpectedly shuttered. We knew each other by reputation, of course, but had never met in person — remarkable because we both endured the same, endless trade shows, and most editors knew one another.

  He didn’t hire me. I forgive him.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.15.0, 2022-04-11).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

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

• Shutdown.exe /f

  Posted on April 11, 2022 at 02:44 CDT by Fred Langa • Comment in the Forums

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  As this weekly column reaches the end of its 25-year run, it’s a bittersweet moment for me.

  But in large part because of you, dear reader, there’s far more sweet than bitter!

  Thank you!

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.15.0, 2022-04-11).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

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

• What technology will run your life a few years from now?

  Posted on April 11, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  SILICON

  

  By Brian Livingston

  “My interest is in the future, because I’m going to spend the rest of my life there,” said Charles Kettering, the head of research at General Motors from 1920 to 1947.

  I’m sure his statement is true. Time travel into the future isn’t science fiction — we all do it every day at the usual speed. But what kind of a future will it be, and can we head off the worst aspects of it?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.15.0, 2022-04-11).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Silicon AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Intel, Samsung, Semiconductor Manufacturing, Silicon, TSMC

• DockFolders — it’s the pretty things …

  Posted on April 11, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  I would like to start out with an apology to those I have neglected this year. I have been so nerdy with the software, and then I remember that some of you just want pretty things.

  No worries! I have what you need! Pretty and useful! DockFolders by Silon Systems is beta freeware (you know I have to be the first to try anything) that creates a gorgeous, curved folder dock/menu on your desktop. The program works on Windows 7, 10, and 11.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.15.0, 2022-04-11).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Freeware Spotlight AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, File Explorer, utilities

• Is this the end of the road for Windows 7?

  Posted on April 11, 2022 at 02:41 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Vendors start to draw the line.

  Ahh, Windows 7. I remember when you first came out. I remember when people hated — truly hated — your User Account Control (UAC) system that required administrator approval any time they wanted to do something that had been perfectly normal in Windows XP. I remember that UAC was so annoying that Apple lampooned it (more like harpooned it) in several of its famous Mac-versus-PC TV ads.

  

  I went so far as having a cartoon made, urging people to “zip up” their UAC setting rather than disabling it, because I saw both users and administrators removing the UAC prompt entirely. But that represented a lowering of security for Windows 7. I thus urged people not to disable it, despite the annoyance. I told them to zip the slider all the way to the top. Remember the slider?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.15.0, 2022-04-11).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, security, Web Browsers, windows 7

• 5 free utilities to help you get more out of Windows 11

  Posted on April 4, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.14 • 2022-04-04

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Lance Whitney

  You can squeeze more features and flexibility out of Windows 11 with the right utility programs.

  You’ve just upgraded to Windows 11. And maybe you like certain aspects of it but wish the new OS offered more capabilities. In many ways, Windows 11 is a minor upgrade to Windows 10, with visual changes and some new or redesigned features. But otherwise, it’s still the same old Windows with the same limitations and constraints.

  One way to make Windows 11 more robust and flexible is through a good utility program. An array of utilities is available that will enhance or improve the OS in both significant and subtle ways. Among the vast number of utilities out there, I’ve come up with five free ones: Microsoft PowerToys, ThisIsWin11, Files, BeWidgets, and Winaero Tweaker. Let’s check them out.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.14.0, 2022-04-04).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Windows 11 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Essential utilities, utilities, Windows 11
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