No matter how much effort Microsoft expends on the Start Menu, it will never please everyone. The Start Menu does offer a lot of customizations, but if you really want to take control there’s Start 11 from Stardock. In Short Circuits: Updating to the latest version of Windows 24H2 created some significant problems on my primary computer, but the up…

I talk about libraries frequently because they are probably the best value provided for our tax dollars. If you’re looking for access to news media that are often behind a paywall, your local library may be able to help. In Short Circuits: Continuing with the topic of locating reliable, honest, unbiased news sources in the days leading up to this y…

It seems that I lied last week when I said TechByter Worldwide would resume this week. Covid is in the rear-view mirror, but I still can’t talk for more than 30 seconds without a sneeze or a cough.By Bill Blinn

Here’s where I would mention the upcoming topics, but there aren’t any this week. That’s because Phyllis and I both contracted covid after avoiding it entirely for more than four years. I’m better now, but there’s not enough time to finish the program that would have been here. I’ll pick things up again next week.…

Just as people have fingerprints, so do browsers. The fingerprint is what allows the browser to be tracked from site to site. If you find this disturbing, there are ways to fight back. In Short Circuits: If you’ve ever posted something to Facebook and immediately received a like or a friend request from someone you don’t know, it’s probably yet ano…

The National Institutes of Health would like to know more about you. Share some information with the All of Us project and you’ll help researchers understand more about disease treatment, control, and prevention. In Short Circuits: With the internet drowning in the proliferation of scams and fraud, staying safe involves treating any message from an…

Regardless of what software came with your scanner, VueScan will do a better job and you’ll never have to worry about the scanner being orphaned by outdated drivers. In Short Circuits: Library Genesis, a source for downloading millions of books, articles, and academic papers, is controversial to say the least. Let’s consider the pros and cons. • I …

Is there a “best” browser? Of course there is, but your “best” browser may not be my “best” browser, and my “best” today at noon may not be my “best” browser this afternoon at 3. What’s “best” depends on a lot of variables. In Short Circuits: If paper sticky notes are all over your desk and computer, maybe it’s time to switch to the electronic vers…

You’re going to die someday. As a eulogy I once heard put it, “The young may die and the old must.” Dying is as easy as it ever has been but the job for survivors can be difficult if the they have no access to user names and passwords for the services we’ve used to make our lives easier. In Short Circuits: Windows has lots of hidden little keystrok…

If you think sorting out differences between cellular plans is a challenge, try wading through information for the low-cost plans, particularly if the person who will use the plan has some unusual requirements. In Short Circuits: Microsoft has been talking about eliminating the Control Panel for about two decades and yet it remains. It may eventual…

Sometimes the fastest and most efficient way to diagnose a problem with a computer involves creating a new account. In Short Circuits: When I increased storage on a tablet computer with a 1.5TB MicroSDXC memory card, I was surprised by the 10-year warranty it came with. I shouldn’t have been. • When you’re looking for a new or replacement disk driv…

Canva, especially with its acquisition of Affinity’s Photo, Design, and Publishing apps, is a powerful competitor for graphic design, but don’t expect it to unseat Adobe anytime soon, if ever. In Short Circuits: Artificial intelligence for visual tasks is advancing so fast that any examination of the current state of affairs is nearly pointless, bu…

As our computers become repositories for ever increasing numbers of files, sometimes it’s hard to find the one you’re looking for even if you try to keep them organized. The free version of Agent Ransack can save the day. In Short Circuits: Although the risk of being victimized by a SIM-swap scam is small, the damage done by such an attack could be…

Microsoft and Adobe are gigantic, but are they as evil as some would have us believe? Big doesn’t always mean bad, so let’s take a look. In Short Circuits: What might the prosecution say in making the case that Adobe, Microsoft, or both are evil. I tried to work out what cases might be made.By Bill Blinn

Doctored images, deep-fake videos, and disinformation have us surrounded, so now it’s time to identify the ways we can protect ourselves from the lies. In Short Circuits: It’s still easy to spot some manipulated photos or videos, but increasingly we’re going to need artificial intelligence to help us identify the dreck that has been created by arti…

Even if you use an online backup service, it probably doesn’t capture the operating system and the Registry. An image backup application is needed if you want to avoid having to reinstall Windows and all applications if the disk drive fails. The free Aomei Backupper application may be sufficient. In Short Circuits: You can have absolute madness on …

No matter how long or complex a password is, it’s useless if a scammer gains access to it. One of the most beneficial aspects of passkeys is that they can be compromised only if the crook gains access to the computer or smart phone where they are stored. In Short Circuits: Microsoft Outlook is facing more competition than it has seen in quite some …

The domain name service you use may have an effect on the speed with which web pages load, but there are other reasons to examine the DNS you use now and possibly change it. In Short Circuits: When you’re giving away or selling a computer or disk drive, think about the files that were on the computer. Just deleting them doesn’t really remove the da…

Panicking pundits pummel Photoshop prematurely. If you listen to or read some of what passes for thoughtful reporting, you might be convinced that Adobe is a demon that must be eliminated. I disagree. In Short Circuits: Windows 7 introduced a handy new way to share files with other local users, but HomeGroup wasn’t widely used and it was discontinu…

When I noticed a disk drive problem early one Saturday, I decided it was time to replace an aging cabinet filled with aging disk drives. A significant performance boost was a welcome extra. In Short Circuits: Microsoft would like you not to use cleanup applications such as CCleaner because they might damage the Registry, but now they’re offering a …

Despite having used CrashPlan for the past eight years and still feeling that it is a viable online backup service, I have switched to Backblaze. In Short Circuits: Starting in less that two weeks, Facebook will begin using your public posts, photos, and chatbot iterations to train its AI. • Libraries are among my favorite institutions because of t…

This week is all about artificial intelligence, starting with the many ways AI can be used to improve images and sometimes create scenes that do not exist in real life. There are also applications for old and new motion pictures. In Short Circuits: We’ll move on to how AI might soon be used to help applications like Waze and Google Maps evaluate mo…

Many Windows 11 users will be offered an update to Windows 11 version 24H2 between now and the end of the year. As is usual with Windows, the update brings both useful new features and a certain number of annoyances. In Short Circuits: Actions by three states probably kept internet service providers from doing their worst when the FCC eliminated ne…

An update to Excire Search brings the ability to look for photos using a text description, as introduced in Exicre Foto, to the company’s plug-in for Adobe Lightroom Classic. In Short Circuits: Fake reviews, scam products, and questionable sellers can all be made to look like real bargains. Fakespot by Mozilla helps you sort the truth from the lies…

Ensuring that your computer is safe, private, and secure is easy enough, but doing so will make the computer virtually unusable. Let’s consider some options that help without hindering, at least not too much. In Short Circuits: Windows computers use the New Technology File System, which was new in 1993, but it’s not a good choice for devices that m…

Some remarkable capabilities have been added to Audacity, but it’s still not a contender to take Audition’s place for audio productions. In Short Circuits: It’s not a good idea to skimp on the devices you use to interact with your computer. One or more properly placed monitors, a mouse that fits comfortably in your hand, and a keyboard that doesn’t…

When something goes wrong with your computer, it may be easier, faster, and less frustrating to fix it yourself instead of dealing with tech support. In Short Circuits: Every computer screen is different and your vision is unique to your eyes. That’s why it’s a good idea to use Microsoft’s ClearType Text Tuner. • You’ll start to see computers being…

A surprising number of Facebook accounts are being stolen and recovering them is difficult, if not impossible. That’s why it’s better to avoid trouble in the first place. In Short Circuits: Although your internet service provider includes domain name services, there’s a good reason to use one of several alternate services. • Efforts by the federal …

You still have about a year and a half to decide what you’ll do when Microsoft ends support for Windows 10. There are several choices, but not all options will work for all users. Let’s take a look at some that will keep the computer out of the trash. In Short Circuits: Although Microsoft has added a file renamer function to PowerToys, it won’t be …

Romania-based security company Bitdefender offers a comprehensive protective suite for Windows and MacOS computers, as well as IOS and Android phones. The package includes enough licenses for all devices used by everyone in the family unless you have an exceptionally large family or everyone has five or six devices. In Short Circuits: Your internet…

The virtual desktops feature that was added to Windows 10 and improved in Windows 11 can help organize the computer when you need to work on more than one task at a time. In Short Circuits: Artificial intelligence is now being used to improve audio recordings by removing flaws such as background noise and room echo. Despite being new, the results a…

If you regularly mutter to your computer that it doesn’t do something you want it to do or doesn’t do something the way you want it to, stop for a moment and investigate. There’s a good chance that the computer can accommodate your desires. In Short Circuits: Anyone who has trouble finding where TV programs they want to watch are streaming, or who …

One of the most common ways that people are victimized online involves the victims failing to recognize social engineering and giving their login credentials to scammers. In Short Circuits: Facebook accounts are filled with gold that scammers like to mine. There’s a quick and easy way to view what crooks see so that you can modify your account to m…

When a charge for a service I didn’t recognize showed up in an alert from my bank, I found that I had been signed up for a video streaming service I’d never heard of. Eliminating the service was easy enough, but a lot of people have reported terminating it was difficult. In Short Circuits: Even those of us who are not typographers, graphic designer…

Exposure hasn’t had an upgrade from the X7 version, which was released in 2021, but it’s still a good choice both as a standalone application and as a plug-in for Lightroom Classic. In Short Circuits: Speaking of golden oldies, I encountered a little connector that could be used to join lots of devices two years ago. It saved the day a week ago whe…

A hijacked Facebook account can be a lot of fun, but only if you have a most peculiar understanding of the term “fun”. It wasn’t my account, but I had to deal with the repercussions of a hack recently. In Short Circuits: The technology that powers GPS, Bluetooth devices, and other modern high technology was invented 83 years ago by someone consider…

Which is better, cable or streaming? There are lots of variables and cable is perfect for some people while streaming is the winner for others. After switching to streaming three years ago, now seemed a good time to re-evaluate. In Short Circuits: You might have some old digital photos that would benefit greatly from today’s AI-powered applications…

The more digital photos you have, the harder it is to find the one you’re looking for. Excire Search, a plug-in for Lightroom Classic, makes the process much easier. In Short Circuits: Libre Office is the ideal office suite for those who are unable or unwilling to pay a monthly subscription fee. The latest version, though, has a surprising number. …

Free, open-source software is often viewed as being second rate when compared to commercial software, but sometimes the best application actually does cost nothing. In Short Circuits: When something starts with Windows, but you don’t want it to, finding a way to make it stop can be a challenge. Autoruns fixes that. • Phones no longer have dials, bu…

Windows 11 cannot be installed on certain computers, mainly older models that lack sufficient hardware, but it is possible to force-install Windows 11 on computers that would fail otherwise because they lack hardware security features. In Short Circuits: With so many free email clients, you might wonder why anyone would be willing to pay $60 per ye…

Anyone who has digital photos that are more than a decade old could improve their quality substantially with an application that uses artificial intelligence to fill in details that don’t exist in the originals. In Short Circuits: Speaking of AI, if you’re trying to keep up with what’s new, you may suspect that it’s difficult and maybe impossible. …

The Sysinternals suite of utilities has been around since the 1990s and has been part of Microsoft since 2006. More than 70 utilities make Sysinternals essential for all Windows computer users and today we’ll take a look at just two of them. In Short Circuits: Believable sound effects are essential for motion pictures and podcasts, but it’s not an …

We don’t run out of disk space as often now as we did in the early days, but you might wonder about discarding some old junk even if space isn’t a significant problem. Several utilities are available to help you identify the junk. In Short Circuits: Scammers work hard to earn your trust and then steal your money. A Washington Post article about a r…

Microsoft’s new PC Manager takes the place of some other utilities such as CCleaner and offers quick, easy access to built-in Windows functions that are often several layers deep in Settings or the Control Panel. In Short Circuits: If you’ve ever wished you could unsend an email because you forgot to add an attachment or make an important point, Se…

Because digital photographs are free, we take a lot of them and that can be a problem when we want to find one particular image among tens of thousands on the computer. A new version of Excire Foto adds artificial intelligence that helps a lot. In Short Circuits: Anyone who operates a web domain on one of the big hosting services may occasionally h…

Like the Windows 11 Start Menu or hate it, Start11 from Stardock can make it better. Maybe you’d like the start menu to work the way it did in Windows 7, 8, or 10. Maybe you like the Windows 11 approach, but would like to add some features. That’s the point of Start11. In Short Circuits: Python is a popular programming language. It’s powerful, but …

Playing DVDs and Blu-ray discs on a computer can sometimes be better than watching them on a television, but Microsoft doesn’t include a player with Windows, and the Media Player app is quite limited. Other options exist, but some are pricey. One is free. In Short Circuits: Even if you use just a single chat application, taking a look at Beeper is …

Development cycles for large applications once were frequently 18 months. Now it’s a rare day that we don’t receive a bug fix, security update, or feature release for at least one application. Keeping up is a challenge. In Short Circuits: Heat is the enemy of electronic devices and notebook computers are highly vulnerable. I recently added a device…

Artificial intelligence is something Adobe has been working on for several years and this year’s advances mark the beginning of what seems likely to be an explosion of advanced capabilities. In Short Circuits: Adobe pointed to some of its plans for future products at the annual Max conference in Los Angeles. The sneak peeks could easily be mistaken…

AeroAdmin is an excellent choice if you need to help friends or family solve problems with their computers and when you want to log onto your computer when you’re not in front of it. In Short Circuits: Artificial intelligence can create text for you, and it can paraphrase your text. Is it worth trying an application such as QuillBot to see how good…