Saturday Bonus Questions and Answers – 120724
Merry Christmas from Darcy & TC!
It’s hard to believe it’s Christmastime already and now there are less than 3 weeks to go until Christmas. And, of course, it’s Saturday, and it’s time for another edition of Saturday Bonus Questions and 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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Saturday Bonus Questions and Answers – 120724
Ellen wants to hide her desktop icons on Windows 11
I have upgraded to Windows 11 and I no longer have my little arrow point down to show my desktop so that I can get the icons off my desktop. Is there a way I can do it again? All I have is a line that says to show the desktop, but they don’t take them off my desktop wallpaper.
Our answer
Hi Ellen. Here’s how to hide the icons on your desktop in Windows 11…
b.) Click “View”.
c.) Uncheck “Show desktop icons”.
Myron wants to clear the cache in Microsoft Edge
I know you have answered this before but I have an excuse for losing it, I’m 91 years old and we lose things. Tell me please how to clean my cache in Microsoft Edge. I’m getting a McAfee pop-up and I’m thinking this will solve the problem. Thanks, Myron.
Our answer
Hi Myron. Open Microsoft Edge and press CTRL + H.
When the History dialog opens, click on the 3 horizontal dots at the top right.
See the screenshot below.
When the Clear browsing data dialog opens, select “All time” under “Time range” and, unless you have a particular reason to check other options, just tick the 4 four boxes under “Browsing history”, “Download history”, “Cookies and other site data”, and “Cached images and files”.
Once you’ve done that, click “Clear now”.
Remember, once you do this, you’ll need to re-login to the sites you were logged into when you cleared the cache.
We hope this helps you, Myron.
Bil has problems with OneDrive
Hi, superheroes. I have a problem that doesn’t seem to be affecting my PC, however, it is annoying! It keeps getting a message that my OneDrive has sync issues! It gives me the option to change the invalid letters for “_”. I do this and it then tells me that it couldn’t do it and I must do it manually. When I go into OneDrive and check all my files there are none with invalid characters in them! Do you have any ideas? Bil
Our Answer
Hi Bil. There can be many reasons for sync issues with OneDrive, such as an unreliable internet connection, conflicts with other programs or files, or problems with the OneDrive app. If you’re sure you’ve no problems with your Internet connection and no conflicts with other apps you can try the following:
1.) Restart the OneDrive app and try syncing again. Go to Settings > Apps > Apps & Features, locate OneDrive, and click on it. You’ll see “Advanced options” appear. Click on “Advanced options” then in “Advanced options” click on “Terminate”. Restart your computer.
2.) If the problem persists, you can try resetting the app. Go to Settings > Apps > Apps & Features, locate OneDrive, and click on it. You’ll see “Advanced options” appear. Click on “Advanced options” then in “Advanced options” click on “Reset”. Restart your computer.
3.) If neither of the above works you can uninstall and reinstall OneDrive. Go to Settings > Apps > Apps & Features, locate OneDrive, click on it, and then click “Uninstall”. Restart your computer. You can download OneDrive from here.
We hope this helps you, Bil.
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Jean has a problem with an external hard drive
I have a problem with my external hard drive. You are probably fed up with hearing about external drives. File History is set up and running. It backs up every day.
When I first set it up, all was well until Seagate and something called Toolkit took over. I don’t think Seagate is backing up anything. I don’t know how to use it.
Can I format the drive and is there anything special I need to do other than right-click and choose “Format”. It only gives me the option to quick format. Should I just buy another external drive and make sure nothing is ever downloaded onto it. Seagate is not listed in Apps and Features so I can’t find any way to uninstall it. Thank you. Hope you can help.
Our answer
Hi Jean. While we remind people quite frequently to not install the software that comes with external drives (they will work just fine without it), many people still install the software that comes with the drive. If you installed the software that came with your drive you’ll get Seagate Toolkit installed with it or added to it as an “update”. You can read more about it here.
Since you’re not selling the drive or giving it away, a Quick Format is just what you need. Since you’re going to re-use the drive yourself, you don’t have to be concerned about doing a full format. A Quick Format will remove all data on the drive and also remove the Seagate Toolkit.
As for why Toolkit is not listed in Apps & Features, I don’t know and it doesn’t matter if you’re going to format (Quick Format) the external drive, Toolkit will not survive. Just do not reinstall it. The drive will work just fine without any supporting software.
You’ll need to set up File History again though. To find out how to set up File History on Windows 10, see our tutorial here.
We hope this helps you, Jean.
Diane wants to replace Thunderbird
I’m ready to get rid of Thunderbird. I know you have a product you recommend but I cannot find it. I’ve just lost several years of emails (most not important) so now would be a good time for a switch. Please advise. Thanks, Diane.
Our answer
Hi Diane. We currently recommend OE Classic but it’s not free. The program costs $37 (lifetime license, three years of updates). It’s easy to install if you want to do it yourself. If not, we do offer an installation service for $30. We’ll install OE Classic for you and set it up for you. See this page for more details.
If you are going to use Gmail in OE Classic and you have it set up as IMAP in Thunderbird (and you probably do) then all your Gmail folders and mail will be synchronized in OE Classic.
However, any local folders and message rules you created in Thunderbird will not be transferred when you switch to OE Classic.
You can read more about OE Classic here.
We hope this answers your question, Diane.
Darlene said our suggestion for Mint doesn’t work for her.
Unfortunately, it’s Mint that I’ve been using and it is no longer tracking my bank & financial account. But thanks for trying. It was wonderful until about 6 months ago. Many others are having the same problem with Mint after years of very satisfactory service. Darlene
Our answer
We’re nothing if not intrepid! Here are some alternatives to Intuit Mint:
Each of these personal finance management tools offers slightly different features and functionality, so it may be worth researching each one to determine which is the best fit for your needs. Some have free or very inexpensive plans. The ones that have a fee offer free trials so you can try them out.
Keep in mind we have not tried any of them, but all seem to have good reputations.
Please let us know if you decide to use any of these so we can pass your review and experience on to others.
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Roberta wants to get rid of trending searches in Google search
How can I get rid of trending searches in Google search?
Our answer
Hi Roberta. We’ll be glad to help you with this.
Click the link below (it opens the main Google search page).
1. On the Google search page, click on the Settings option at the bottom.
2. Select Search Settings.
3. Go to the ‘Auto-complete with trending searches’ option.
4. Select “Do not show popular searches.”
5. Then click “Save”
To help you even more see the step-by-step visual tutorial below:
Step one:
Steps two, three, and four.
Once you click save, you will see this confirmation (below). Click OK. Restart Chrome and you’ll have no more trending searches.
We hope this helps you, Roberta.
Doris wants to remove OneDrive from Windows 11
I have Windows 11 on my Acer Computer. One Drive is giving me a lot of problems. How do I take One Drive off? I tried to uninstall it and thought it was gone, but it’s not. Thank you for your help.
Our answer
Hi Doris. You can uninstall OneDrive from Windows 11 this way:
Randy wants to know how to defrag his SSD (Solid-State Hard Drive)
I have a new Windows 11 laptop with a 500 GB SSD. This is the first time I’ve had a computer with an SSD and I’m not sure how to defrag it or even if I should. Can you please tell me if I need to defragment my SSD?
Our answer
Hi Randy. You don’t need to defrag an SSD. SSDs work differently than hard drives, and defragging them can actually damage the drive.
Here are some of the reasons why you don’t need to defrag an SSD:
— SSDs don’t use magnetic platters like hard drives. Instead, they use flash memory, which stores data in cells. Files are stored in contiguous blocks of cells, so there is no need to defragment them.
— Defragging an SSD can actually damage the drive. This is because the process of defragmentation involves moving data around, which can wear out the flash memory cells.
— SSDs are much faster than hard drives, so the performance benefits of defragmentation are negligible.
If have concerns about the performance of your SSD, you can optimize it by using the built-in disk optimization tool in Windows. This tool will trim the drive, which frees up space that is no longer being used.
Here’s how to optimize your SSD using the built-in disk optimization tool in Windows:
Type Defragment and Optimize Drives in the taskbar search
Click on the Defragment and Optimize Drives app.
Select the SSD drive that you want to optimize.
Click on the Optimize button.
The disk optimization tool will then optimize the drive. This process may take some time, depending on the size of the drive.
Keep in mind that Windows scheduled maintenance is probably already set up to check your drive (s) weekly and optimize as needed…so our advice is just to let Windows handle the optimization of your SSD.
We hope this helps you, Randy.
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