TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

Keeping track of passwords is impossible without help. That's why everyone needs a password manager and there are several good ones. We'll take a close look at the one I consider to be the very best. Even if you're not of AARP age, the organization and Microsoft have put together some useful tips for avoiding all kinds of scams. In Short Circuits: Yahoo will get a new name when it's acquired by Versizon. If it's acquired by Verizon. There's one quick, simple step anyone can take that can eliminate a call to tech support. I'll explain. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Translating websites into multiple languages is time consuming, expensive, and difficult. A new service aims to change that. It's likely that we'll hear the terms "Microsoft" and "Linux" together more frequently in the future.

If you got a new computer for Christmas or one of the other end-of-year, winter solstice holidays, I have a list of free and low-cost applications that are worth thinking about adding. Microsoft thinks about listening to editors' opinions about Word. Might the company listen to others who want to provide input about operating systems and applications? In Short Circuits: How much computer can you get for $150 to $250? Not a lot, but it might just be enough. Despite what Apple CEO Tim Cook said a couple of years ago, the PC (meaning desktop machines whether they run Windows or MacOS) is not dead. Sales increases are on the way. In Spare Parts (only on the website): As you add more Wi-Fi enabled devices to every corner of your home, you'll need a Wi-Fi signal that reaches every corner, an Irish on-line training center will provide training for Adobe applications and student discounts for Adobe software.

A 10-second look at what's new on the website this year, then trying to figure out whether a Chromebook would be a good choice or not. My attempt to find a way to use Evernote ended abruptly and I'll explain why. In Short Circuits: The Wild West atmosphere of the internet continues and the situation won't get better anytime soon. Might there be some middle way to give police access to data on electronic devices in certain kinds of cases? In Spare Parts (only on the website): An attempt to train emergency responders using virtual reality to make the exercises both more realistic and more safe, and Microsoft Teams has been released in test mode for enterprise customers.

TechByter Worldwide will return on 1 January 2017. Thanks for your support this year and best wishes for 2017.

Landscape Pro isn't something for your garden. Instead, it's a new application that will improve your photos, and not only landscape photos. If you'd like to look like a video or HTML5 genius, Adobe's free on-line Spark application will do the trick and, if you're a Creative Cloud member, you'll get some extra benefits. In Short Circuits: Tis the season ... for fraud with a capital F. You'll find brazen attempt to separate your money from you can creep into even generally safe areas like Amazon. Fraud fighter Malwarebytes has combined all of its products into a single application that does everything its separate applications did before, and it threatens to displace standard anti-virus applications. Yahoo has admitted yet another breach of its security system. This time it's one billion records and it happened three years ago! In Spare Parts (only on the website): Replacing passwords with eyeballs, a small tablet that might be willing to take a bullet for you, and a look at how widespread malware is on popular websites.

A new browser from the developers who created Opera may be worth your review because it offers several imaginative features, but beware the bugs. When you want to print a huge image for display on a wall, upsampling is helpful and an Alien Skin application makes quick work of the task. In Short Circuits: Amazon is testing a new kind of grocery store in Seattle, one with no cash registers and no checkout lines. Eight years after starting development of Windows 8, Settings and the Control Panel still haven't been merged. Why? In Spare Parts (only on the website): Crooks have wreaked havoc in 2016 by stealing data and 2017 doesn't look like it will be better. If you're tired of trading privacy for convenience, you might be interested by an anti-social network launched in England. Microsoft calls for new entrants in its grant program aimed at providing reasonably priced internet access in under-served areas. A Japanese supercomputer can transfer 1 terabyte of data per second. That's fast!

You can help crooks plant malware on your computer, but I can't exactly recommend it. I can, however, share some warning signs to watch for. The 2017 version of Adobe Dreamweaver has some exciting new features, but also some disappointing bugs. In Short Circuits: Research suggests that many people are willing to use on-line chat sessions (and even automated "chatbots") instead of working with humans, but still want to be able to reach a real live person when they need one. And real live people are available at AskIT, a free service by CompTIA, an IT industry trade organization. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Lots of Android users are at risk and the culprit is malware known as "Gooligan", and Microsoft has made another large investment in wind-generated electricity for some of its data centers.

Happy Thanksgiving! This is last week's program.

Alien Skin's Eye Candy allows photographers to add unique effects to photos, but it really shines in the hands of designers. After using Firefox as my primary browser for more years that I can remember, I started thinking about swapping it out for something else. In Short Circuits: Running out-of-date apps on a mobile device is just as dangerous as doing that on a desktop or notebook computer -- maybe even more dangerous. Shutterstock's on-line editor provides access to more than 1 million images and templates that can be used to create presentations. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The European Space Agency and Germany's SAP combine to provide access to geospatial information for a fee, Comodo offers a free service designed to help corporate IT departments find malware before it bites them, and those who work in the software industry say that they expect to automate themselves out of a job in the next decade unless they learn new skills.

The 2017 version of Photoshop adds surprising features in surprising locations. Microsoft goes after designers and artists with its new Surface Studio, but makes some of the same mistakes it made with the Surface Pro. In Short Circuits: Microsoft patched 68 vulnerabilities on Patch Tuesday, which also happened to be election day. Kaspersky Lab says that there's a shortage of people who want to search out and destroy malware. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Those who had their personal information stolen from the US Office of Personnel Management are now being targeted for malware, financial institutions are under unrelenting attack says a provider of measures designed to prevent attacks, and a bank in Bangladesh will recover $15 that was stolen electronically, but the full theft was $81 million.