TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

Sometimes the best software choice is an application that's been created by a developer who offers it for free, or just for a donation. Let's consider some of those today. In Short Circuits: Watch out for viscous PUPs. No, this isn't going to be an anti-dog tirade, but an explanation of how to avoid potentially unwanted programs. • Have you ever felt that your internet service provider doesn't really care about the quality of the service you're getting? Individual complaints may go nowhere, but there's power in collective complaining. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The covid pandemic was a disaster, no matter how you look at it, but some people managed to update their skills during the past year. • Version 89 of Firefox, released at the end of May, has a more modern appearance, faster operation, and improved security. • Twenty years ago: I was amazed by being able to talk to my older daughter in Columbus while I was heading for San Ysidro from San Diego on a trolley. That would still be unusual today because seemingly only a few people actually use mobile phones to make phone calls.

TechSmith's Camtasia is an essential tool for anyone who creates how-to videos, online product demonstrations, video lessons, or presentations. The 2021 version adds some powerful new features. In Short Circuits: The second item in a series of articles on security takes a look at malware, adware, and other nasties, then suggests some protective measures. • Although the technology link might be a bit week, let's consider a television program that had time travel even before Doctor Who and still has a loyal following nearly 60 years after its last episode aired. In Spare Parts (only on the website): As we begin to shed some pandemic precautions, it appears that consumers want retail stores to continue delivery, online purchases with curbside pick-up, and other conveniences that became common in the past year. • Possibly another result of the pandemic is that now more individuals and families are budgeting income and expenses. • Twenty years ago: A new program called IncrediMail had just launched, and it represented a new way to send messages.

Buying a $200 film scanner doesn't come without risk, I wanted something that would make quick work of some old medium-format film and this cheap scanner would have done an acceptable job if the designers had done the right thing. In Short Circuits: The first in a series of security posts will consider steps you can take to safeguard a Wi-Fi router. • Microsoft has released Windows 10 version 21H1, but waiting a month or two before installing it seems wise. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Where you live has some effect on the internet speed you can get. The United States is below normal overall, and there are wide variances within the country. • There's a new data breach seemingly about every other day, so it's important to see if your email address or phone number has been compromised and, if so, to take protective actions. • Twenty years ago: Voice recognition in 2001 was still new and some systems involved having humans transcribe speech.

Those who know more about how computers work than their friends and family do are often called on to answer questions and provide help. Helping even nearby friends can be a problem because social distancing is still recommended, but if that person is halfway across the country, you need a way to see what's on your friend's computer. In Short Circuits: Because spams and scams are fascinating, I sometimes deconstruct them to see what makes them tick. If you're more interested in just avoiding the things, consider this recommendation: Any email must be assumed to be a con until it proves that it's not. • Whether you know it or not, you probably have a scanner in your pocket, and that's something that can be quite useful. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Adobe Creative Cloud users who also use Google Docs or Google Slides in Google Workspace will find that the systems now connect with each other. • When the PR people forget to check with the technicians, embarrassing mistakes can happen such as that in a recent email from the Mozilla Foundation • Twenty years ago: Both Gateway and Juno had just settled with the Federal Trade Commission over use of the word "free".

Adobe Photoshop's Neural Filters have been in place for about six months and more will probably be added at or before this year's Adobe Max. These are tools that can perform effects that are close to magic. In Short Circuits: As important as diagnostic utilities are for figuring out what's wrong with a computer, sometimes lower-tech tools help, too. Sight, sound, and smell can provide early warnings about problems. • Continuing that low-tech line of thought, being comfortable when using a computer depends on things we rarely give much thought to. In Spare Parts (only on the website): When spaces between the keys on a keyboard fill with junk, you can pull out the keys and vacuum the space below, but there's another option you may not have considered. • A shortage of computer chips will result in more dirty dogs, fewer new automobiles, and a variety of other unanticipated and seemingly unrelated problems. • Twenty years ago: Linux was one of the featured products at the 2001 edition of PC Expo. I was preparing to attend what would be the last of the big shows.

Google will be eliminating third-party cookies for those who use the Chrome browser and replacing them with Federated Learning of Cohorts, which many privacy experts say is just as bad and possibly worse. In Short Circuits: If you're tired of having websites constantly pop up messages asking for your permission to push notifications to you, most browsers have a way to make it stop. • Adobe Stock is offering a limited number of completely free photo and video resources, but it seems more likely to be a way to introduce new users to the paid stock offerings. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Having digital copies of medical IDs on a phone will helpful if you need care when your wallet has been lost or stolen, but it's even better if you have the information online where you can retrieve it from any computer. Good security is essential. • It's likely that hybrid education will continue for a while, and many businesses seemingly have no plans to ever restore full-time in-office requirements for employees. • Twenty years ago: Following the dot-com melt-down, there were some encouraging signs for high tech, but no shortage of problems remained.

Despite its many useful features, Facebook includes a plethora of dangers, frustrations, and annoyances. A browser plug-in has been making Facebook less annoying for years, a new version works with Facebook's latest updates, and the developer is now designing an app that will bring some of the features to phones and tablets. In Short Circuits: Maybe you've seen suggestions for improving Windows networking speeds with a simple Registry tweak. The good news is that the tweak doesn't harm anything, but the bad news is that it also doesn't do much to improve things. • It may seem like email has been around forever, but it was invented just 50 years ago and it didn't become widely available until 30 years ago. In Spare Parts (only on the website): In an effort to become an important player in medical computing, Microsoft is acquiring Nuance. • A survey suggests that about half of US students are concerned about school safety and the ability of school administrators to deal with threats. • Twenty years ago: A small organization in Toronto launched Naked News. It's still around, but most of the news has been replaced by feature stories and there are no longer weather reports.

Cellular providers boast that 75% of the US already has 5G coverage, but there's more than a little hyperbole there, and Russia is doing everything it can to discourage development in the US. In Short Circuits: You've probably used Google Translate, but there's a competing service from Germany that might be worth trying. • In 1992, Microsoft introduced Windows for Workgroups. The revolutionary Windows 95 was still a few years in the future, but Windows 3.11 finally offered useful features and better reliability. In Spare Parts (only on the website): It's possible to marginally improve a Windows 10 computer's speed with changes to some of the system settings. The improvements are usually modest, but perceptible. • It's questionable whether offices will ever be fully populated again, but collaboration spaces may be the next step for workers. • Twenty years ago: 3Com was in serious trouble and had begun the death spiral that saw it being acquired by HP about eight years later.

When somebody tells you that they've received a new friend request from you on Facebook and you know you haven't sent one, you may think your account has been hacked. That's probably not the case. The account has probably been cloned, and that problem is easy to fix. In Short Circuits: Would you be surprised that scammers target people who follow a police department's Facebook page? That seems like something that should be a surprise, but of course it isn't. We'll get the rest of the story from Lieutenant Tim Cotton of the Bangor Police Department. • Which will occur first: The paperless office or the paperless bathroom? What about the cashless society? In Spare Parts (only on the website): LastPass has severely limited the usability of its free service, but some of the competing programs are still free. • Comcast's Internet Essentials program for low-income families now has more than 10 million users. • Twenty years ago: It was time for networking the computers at my house. Even though I wasn't on the leading edge, setting up a home network then was a lot harder than it is today.

Any time spent waiting for a computer is wasted. Computer speed is a factor of its several components, but many applications can be bogged down by a slow disk drive. In Short Circuits: Windows 10 includes some deprecated features and services. These can be eliminated, and it's easy to do. • The National Institutes of Health has established "All of Us", a medical research project that uses data from participants to find ways to treat and prevent disease, and may also give those who enroll useful information about themselves. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Consumer Reports magazine accuses Comcast of taking unfair advantage of subscribers who are working from home. • Microsoft is renovating part of its huge campus in Redmond, Washington, and all heating and cooling needs will be served by deep underground wells. • Twenty years ago: AT and T was offering an "unlimited" internet plan for $7 per month, but the company defined "unlimited" as 150 hours per month.