It won’t be long, and the frost will be on the pumpkin, and the fodder will be in shock. Those frosty days will be here soon enough. But not today. Today is just an early-October Saturday, and it is time for a new edition of Saturday Bonus Questions & Answers.
Today, as we do every Saturday, we’re featuring some of the questions and answers from past issues of our InfoAve Weekly newsletters.
These questions & answers were selected at random from past InfoAve Weekly newsletters.
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Carla wants a free program to open zip files I am hoping that you can help me find a free Zip file opener. I can not open some of the zip files that I get for my art and embroidery projects. Thank you! Carla.
Our answer Hi Carla. We don’t know what type of zip files you have, but we can tell you that 7-Zip can open just about any type of compressed (zip ) file there is, including GZ and RAR. But so can Windows 11.
However, 7-Zip has many features that make it one of the best unzip tools available. And it’s free. You can download it from https://www.7-zip.org.
There’s a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version. If you don’t know whether your Windows 10 PC is 32-bit or 64-bit, do this: Type ABOUT in the taskbar search and press Enter. Look under “Device Specifications” and then “System type”. Almost all computers are now 64-bit. ——— Carla wrote back: “Thanks so much! That’s exactly what I was looking for. 7-Zip works great! Thanks again! Carla”.
Diane needs help and is willing to reinstall Windows if necessary Hi TC or Darcy. I noticed a problem in a ‘Word’ type program 4 or 5 days ago, thought it was the program so I switched, but I still have the problem. Then, yesterday, when I decided to try a System Restore, it told me I have no restore points even though I created one not long ago. And now, when I plug in my external drive, where I keep my backups, my laptop doesn’t recognize it. I hate to send this off anywhere, so I figured maybe you can help me. If you suggest a re-install of Windows for me, that’s ok. I don’t keep much on here anyway. I download/save everything to an external drive…so I wouldn’t mind losing what is on here. I’d just have to reinstall programs, which isn’t hard. I appreciate any help you can give me! Dianne.
Our answer Hi Dianne. If you don’t mind doing a reset that would be the fastest and more certain fix. The only thing you’d lose by doing a reset would be any programs you installed. A reset saves all your files. A reset takes about an hour and it’s easy to do.
I can get it started for you – but I would not be able to stay connected to your PC through to the conclusion because it Windows Reset disconnects from the internet and then restarts the PC several times during the process.
If you would feel more comfortable if we started the reset process for you, I’d be glad to help you with it – it only takes a few minutes to start the process. —– Dianne wrote back: “Thank you, TC! I was able (finally!) to make a flash drive with Windows on it–and did the reset. Had to choose the whole thing…so it will take me a while to add some apps. But it’s all good now! I’m going to post more praise in the NOTH computer group, want everyone to know you helped me figure it out. Dianne.”
Ed wants to know if he should reinstall SuperAntiSpyware I will be setting up a new computer for my wife since hers died the other day. I was wondering in your opinion, is it worth reinstalling SuperAntiSpyware? I have had the program (lifetime key) on our computers since 2011 and I have had a slight problem with it since my new computer, asking me to upgrade every time I boot my machine, and was not very happy with their customer service to try and remedy the problem, seems they did not want to bother since I paid for it so long ago. We have had Emsisoft for many years and are happy with that program. So I’m not sure about installing SuperAntiSpyware on hers and opening her up to the same annoying popup.
Our answer Hi Ed. SuperAntiSpyware was once one of our recommended programs. But the company that makes it was sold many years ago and SuperAntiSpyware isn’t the same anymore.
These days, spyware is grouped with the general category of malware. One of the reasons we recommend Emsisoft is that it replaces things like SuperAntiSpyware, Malwarebytes, etc. So, we recommend that you DO NOT install SuperAntiSpyware. And we would also recommend you uninstall it from the other computer.
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Diane B. wants to know if Guardio is good to use I am wondering if you recommend Guardio Chrome Extension. I already use Emsisoft. Would this be a good extension to use? Do you recommend it?
Our answer Hi Diane. We do not recommend Guardio. Guardio makes promises it cannot possibly keep (like so many other scammy products) and all those “we protect you from everything” type promises that are so typical of scammy products only give users a false sense of security.
Nothing can automatically protect you from everything and anything that tells you it can isn’t being honest. So, while Guardio may not be a scam, it makes promises it cannot possibly keep. Also, Guardio is expensive if you opt for the full version Our advice? Steer clear of it. It borders on being a scam.
We hope this helps you make a good decision, Diane.
Terry has problems opening MS Edge from its taskbar shortcut After spending weeks experimenting with various email programs, I decided to leave well enough alone and continue with Windows 11 Mail. More recently, I’ve spent a couple of days trying to get my MS Edge browser to behave and open even. Each time I select the icon from the Task Bar I get the following pop-up: I can’t screen cap and post the message here for some reason so I’ll type it:
C:AppDataRoamingMicrosoftInternetExplorerQuickLaunchUserPinnedTaskBarMicrosoftEdgeLink: The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the applications event log or use the command line XSXTRACE.EXE tool for more detail.
I’ve tried to figure this out and have attempted a few times with no positive results. So, as usual, I require your help in restoring my MS Edge. Thank you again, Terry.
Our answer Hi Terry. Here’s the easiest way to fix that.
Unpin the shortcut from your taskbar and create a new one. To unpin the shortcut, right-click on it and choose “Unpin from taskbar”.
Next, open File Explorer (Windows key + E) and navigate to “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application”. Find the file named msedge.exe and right-click on it. From the menu that opens, click “Show more options”, then click “Pin to taskbar”.
Now try opening Edge by clicking on the new taskbar shortcut (icon).
We hope this solves the problem for you, Terry.
Now available: Reg Organizer 9.40
If you purchased or renewed Reg Organizer through Cloudeight within the last 12 months, you’re entitled to a free version upgrade to Reg Organizer 9.40. It works great with Windows 10 and Windows 11!
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