Posts

Windows Update is the service that keeps Windows 10 and other Microsoft products up-to-date on your computer. Unfortunately, it has a history of issues, with update errors being a common occurrence . But rarely, various reasons—such as incorrectly configured or conflicting settings—can also prevent it from running on your computer altogether. If you keep receiving an error claiming that the Windows Update service (or a related service) is not running on your computer, the list of fixes that follow should help you get it functioning normally again....

If you have ever tried to format a USB thumb drive or memory stick, you may have noticed that the only file system options you have are FAT and FAT32. This is the default behavior in Windows. However, with some slight tweaking of settings, you can actually format your removable storage devices in NTFS format, including external hard drives, etc. Of course, Windows defaults the formatting of removable storage to FAT and FAT32 for certain reasons....

Although FaceTime debuted way back in 2010, it’s still available only for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. So don’t expect to find Apple’s popular video chat app listed anywhere on the Play Store for Android. However, with the release of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 12 Monterey, Apple surprisingly relaxed its grip on FaceTime by allowing Android users to participate in one-on-one and group video calls (albeit with lots of restrictions)....

Sometimes hearing a document read out loud is helpful. With Microsoft Word, you can take advantage of a text-to-speech feature that reads documents. Using Read Aloud, just sit back and listen. We’ll show you how to use the Microsoft Word Read Aloud feature on your desktop, the web, and in the mobile app. Note : As of this writing, Read Aloud is available in Office 2019, Office 2021, and Microsoft 365....

One of the most common issues laptops develop over time is the appearance of black spots on the screen. Although they are often small and won’t prevent you from using your device, they can be annoying and distracting. No matter what brand of laptop you have, whether it’s Asus, Lenovo, or Dell, or which operating system you are using (Windows, macOS, or Linux), it can happen to everyone. This article will explain what causes the black spots on a laptop screen and how to get rid of them....

Need to make the text in your Word document stand out? You can highlight it. Highlighting is a useful way to emphasize important points, mark revisions, or draw attention to specific words or phrases in your text. Once you’ve highlighted the text in your document, you can then search through the highlights. Or, if you want, remove them entirely once you’re finished with them. If you want to know how to highlight important text in your Word document (and remove the highlights afterward), follow the steps below....

Where Are the Comment Tools in Word? How to Insert a Comment Select the text you want to comment on. The selected text will be marked as a comment scope. It is a part of the text to which the comment refers to. Go to the Review tab . Select New Comment . That’s all that there is to it. You successfully inserted a new comment. You’ll now see a dialog box, also known as the markup area, opened in the margin of the document....

Installing and running Linux Apps on your Chromebook expands its capabilities with more productivity tools. This tutorial will explain how to install and run Linux apps as well as offer some suggestions on which to use. If you don’t already know, the latest versions of Chrome OS allow you to install Linux natively without having to create a separate install. The default distro that gets installed seems to be Debian. There is currently a feature request that will give you the option to install other distros like Ubuntu or Fedora....

Can you join a PlayStation Party Chat on your PC? You sure can, and it’s easy once you know how. We’ll walk you through the entire process step by step. You can join a PlayStation Party Chat on Android and iPhone whenever possible, courtesy of Sony’s PlayStation App. But what if you want to do that on your PC? The PlayStation App is unavailable for Windows, so that’s a no-go....

Here’s a typical situation: someone initiates a group chat with you to plan an upcoming event. In the group, people discuss things like logistics, contributions per person, and job roles. In the beginning, the conversations are useful. But once the event is over, some group members seem to have hijacked the group chat. Before you know it, your phone blows up uncontrollably, and you’re getting tons of texts, memes, GIFs, videos, and other files each day....

If you’re a Linux user or administrator, you need to know how to manage services on your system. Services are programs that run in the background and provide essential functionality, such as networking, printing, logging, and more. But how do you list, start, stop, enable, disable, or restart services on Linux? The answer is the systemctl command. This command is part of systemd , a modern system and service manager for Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Debian....

Apple recently found itself in hot water for doing what many customers had long suspected: slowing down older iPhones’ performance. In the aftermath of the revelation, Apple explained that it only throttled iPhone performance when the device’s battery had degraded to the point that running at full speed could cause the device to shut down. Apple insisted that this was to prevent customers from having to prematurely upgrade, experts weighed in saying it was the correct solution to a difficult problem, customers filed lawsuits and news agencies continued to highlight the “battery-gate” scandal....

Are you tired of having to manually open Google Maps whenever you need directions? Do you find yourself using the same destination over and over again, leading to a lot of time wasted in skipping the steps? If so, it may be time to make Google Maps your default navigation app on your iPhone. Google Maps adds more data than Apple Maps. The result is accurate traffic information and faster routes that’ll save you some gas money....

Not every owner of a social media account wants to broadcast their life publicly. If you’re not a social media influencer, there will be parts of your social media activity that you want to keep from prying eyes. Even if you don’t post any sensitive or private information on social networks (which you should never do), hiding parts of or all social media activity is a good first step. You can protect yourself from data mining, identity theft, catfishing, and cyberstalkers with simple precautions....

Are you struggling to convert and move your Thunderbird profile, settings, and email to a new computer? Many people choose to use Thunderbird as their email client for its many benefits including advanced spam filtering, a good reputation for being dependable, the ability to customize, a high level of security, support for email protocols such as SMTP, POP3, and IMAP, and more. The instructions below can also be used to backup and restore your Thunderbird data ....

Discord is one of the most popular text and voice chat platforms on the internet. It’s used for everything from gaming communities to niche, enthusiast groups and everything in between. Unfortunately, as with any online community, Discord can attract a few bad apples. If you only use Discord with friends, you will likely never need to use the Mute function. If you’re part of larger communities, though, you might encounter someone that harasses you or speaks in a rather distasteful way....

You probably look at the Photos app on your iPhone with a bit of dread. It’s got years and years of photos, probably in the thousands. But it’s a mess. When you want to find that one photo from that one trip when that one friend did that really funny thing, well, you’re not able to. The problem is that the Photos app doesn’t make things easier. Its search and auto-organization features are a far cry from Google Photos ....

Copyright can seem like it’s meaningless in a world where sharing is so easy, but it does matter, and you do own the full rights to your created work. Whilst fair use can protect users from showing and commenting on your work, it’s a breach of copyright for somebody to re-upload your work in full on another platform. It can be a pain to go through the process of removing your work from somebody’s channel, social accounts, or website, but it is possible....

Older versions of Google Chrome had a Reading List in the Bookmarks Bar. While this was a handy way to save pages to read later, it took up precious space. In recent Chrome versions, this feature has been moved to the Sidebar, so it’s no longer an issue. However, if you’re running an older version of Chrome and want to free up space on your Bookmark bar, here’s how to remove the reading list from Chrome bookmark bar....

Whether you want to share a photo on social media or send one in an email, the default naming convention in Photos on iPhone and iPad isn’t ideal. We’ll show you various ways to rename your pictures. One important point to remember is that Apple hasn’t yet provided the ability to rename images in the Photos app on your mobile device. However, there are a few workarounds you can use, depending on your plan for the photo....