{"id":28917,"date":"2024-08-17T10:08:12","date_gmt":"2024-08-17T14:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=28917"},"modified":"2024-08-17T10:08:12","modified_gmt":"2024-08-17T14:08:12","slug":"saturday-bonus-questions-and-answers-081724","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/saturday-bonus-questions-and-answers-081724\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Bonus Questions and Answers \u2013 081724"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Saturday Bonus Questions and Answers \u2013 081724<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Here in my neck of the woods, the kids are going back to school, summer is fleeting and autumn is just around the corner. And, of course, it’s another Saturday and it’s time for a new edition of Saturday Bonus Questions & Answers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, as we do every Saturday, we\u2019re featuring some of the questions and answers from past issues of our InfoAve Weekly<\/a> newsletters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These questions & answers were selected at random from past InfoAve Weekly newsletters.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Please consider giving us a helping hand!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If our computer support & help or our tips and tricks have helped you or made your computer life easier or more productive, please help us with a small donation\u00a0 Your gifts allow us to continue to help you.\u00a0 Take a moment and help us if you can.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Help<\/a><\/span>
\nDonate today and help us to keep helping you!<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Satur<\/span>day Bonus Questions and Answers \u2013 081724<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Penny wants to download plain-color desktop backgrounds<\/strong><\/span>
\nCan you suggest a website where I can download plain backgrounds for my Windows 10 desktop? I would prefer soft colors and no images. Thanks, Penny.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our answer<\/strong><\/span>
\nHi Penny. You don\u2019t need to download plain backgrounds. Since you\u2019re using Windows 10, you can make your desktop background any color you want. Here\u2019s how:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Right-click on an empty space on your desktop.<\/span>
\n2. Click Personalize<\/span>
\n3. Click on Background in the menu on the left.<\/span>
\n4..Under Background, click the down arrow to reveal the choices\u2026 \u201cPictures\u201d, \u201cSolid Color\u201d, or \u201cSlideshow\u201d.<\/span>
\n5. Click \u201cSolid color\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/span><\/p>\n

6. When you select \u201cSolid color\u201d you can select one of the colors showing. Or you can choose any color you want by clicking on the + sign next to \u201cCustom color\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/span><\/p>\n

7. After you click Custom color you\u2019ll see. Use the slider and the circle to choose any color you want.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/span><\/p>\n

8. And if that\u2019s not enough color choices for you, click on the down arrow next to \u201cMore\u201d and you\u2019ll see this\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Windows.<\/span><\/p>\n

This dialog allows you to choose a background color in several other ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

In short, you can choose any solid color you can imagine using this tip.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Donald wants to block spam<\/strong><\/span>
\nI am getting a lot of spam emails that I want to block. My ISP allows me to enter either an email address OR a domain to block that spam in the future. In many of the spam email addresses, the email address is preceded by some words that are in quotes. If I enter the words in quotes will that block all spam emails that begin with those words?<\/span><\/p>\n

Our answer<\/strong><\/span>
\nHi Donald. I\u2019m afraid you\u2019re fighting a losing battle trying to block spam by email address or domain. Spammers forge email headers and rarely send spam from the same domain or email address.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since you have a Gmail account, you can control spam the way we control spam which is about 98% effective. We get hundreds of emails each week and rarely ever see a spam email come into our inboxes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how we do it<\/a> and you can do it this way too. I can tell you from experience, that if you do it this way, you\u2019ll get very little spam coming to your inbox. And you\u2019ll rarely find a \u201cgood\u201d email in your spam folder.<\/span><\/p>\n

I hope this helps you, Donald.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Mona has four email addresses and needs help sorting them out<\/strong><\/span>
\nHere I am again\u2026 I have 4 email addresses (Google), keeping business and personal accounts. Because I spend time moving from one Google account to another and trying to help my husband who doesn\u2019t like computers. Is there any way that one log in will open the four accounts and keep them open until I physically close them? It would be so much easier than having to log in every time I have something to do on a different account.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our answer
\n<\/strong>Hi Mona. The easiest option is to use a mail program like OE Classic, as all four accounts can be set up in the program, and all four will stay separate. Here is the info page<\/a> if you are interested.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another option is to set up each in a different browser, i.e. Edge, Chrome, or Firefox. But still requires a lot of clicking.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can also open each account in the browser\u2019s Incognito mode, also called In-Private mode\/Private mode depending on the browser.<\/span><\/p>\n

The third option is to have one Gmail account check the other three and create a label to keep them separate. You should also set up the main Gmail account to send from any of the four when replying. This is an option in Settings for Gmail.<\/span><\/p>\n

We hope this helps you, Mona.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\"CLOUDEIGHT<\/a><\/p>\n

We can fix your Windows computer… check out our low prices here!<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
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Earla wants to know what\u2019s using up her bandwidth<\/strong><\/span>
\nI am using Networx to monitor my internet connections. Today I was receiving warnings that 200 MB\/per minute were being uploaded and shortly the DL registered 2.62 GB used \u2013 it had been around 1.5 GB when I started.<\/span><\/p>\n

I just shut off my Turbo Hub to stop it. Is it possible to find out what (program?) specifically was suddenly using so much data?<\/span><\/p>\n

I went to Windows Update to see if it registered anything new but saw no indication of something being interrupted if it was. Couldn\u2019t see anything within Networx topics that helped.<\/span><\/p>\n

I sure would appreciate your thoughts on this because it does happen from time to time and I am on a limited data usage plan. I usually figure it is a Windows update. Thanks in advance for any ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our answer
\n<\/strong>Hi Earla. I had to look up \u201cNetworx\u201d to find out what it is. I found that it measures your bandwidth consumption.<\/span><\/p>\n

Windows 10 does that automatically, so there\u2019s no need to use a 3rd-party program. Windows Update uses bandwidth when it checks for updates and sometimes it downloads updates I\u2019ve never used Networx so I\u2019m not sure why it\u2019s not showing you exactly what is using your bandwidth\/data.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, if you read our article here<\/a>, you\u2019ll see that Windows 10 keeps track of your data usage and shows you exactly what\u2019s using the most bandwidth (and the least bandwidth). If you follow the instructions in that article, you\u2019ll be able to see what is using that much bandwidth.<\/span><\/p>\n

I hope this helps you, Earla. If not, just let us know.<\/span><\/p>\n

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August runs a speed test on both of his computers but\u2026<\/strong><\/span>
\nI ran the test on both of my computers and the desktop was as follows: Ping 9 download 112 upload was 9.9 On the laptop I got only 57 download upload was 9.8. What could cause the difference between the two? The laptop is much slower than the desktop. Do I need to have you look into this?<\/span>
\n
\nOur answer<\/strong><\/span>
\nHi August. There are many factors at play here. If your desktop is plugged into the router or modem with an Ethernet cable, it\u2019s always going to be faster than a wireless connection.<\/span><\/p>\n

If both computers are using wireless connections, the one closest to the router will be faster. And even if both computers are using Wi-Fi and both are the same distance from the router, you still can have variations. Each computer may have different wireless cards. Also, the age of the computer and the configuration can affect the internet connection speed.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is certainly not unusual, and it does not indicate any kind of problem.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Candace gets an Emsisoft warning<\/strong><\/span>
\nHi TC. Help! I entered a link to download a Facebook video, and I got a warning from Emsisoft telling me that the program had been changed. It has an option to update the rule (which was highlighted) or to remove the rule. I\u2019m wondering what to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our answer<\/strong><\/span>
\nHi Candace. Any time you update a program you\u2019ve used before, Emsisoft will give you a warning that the program has changed (update the rule Emsisoft uses to recognize the program as safe), Since you know it has changed because you just reinstalled it, it\u2019s okay to go ahead and let Emsisoft update the rule.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have several programs on my computer that I frequently update \u2013 Emsisoft warns me the program has changed and asks if I want to update the rule. As long as I know the program and know it has changed, I know it\u2019s okay to let Emsisoft update the rule.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\"Help<\/a>
\nDonate today and help us keep on helping you!<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Would you be interested in making an automatic monthly gift?\u00a0Visit this page<\/a>. Please help us keep on helping you\u2026 and help us keep you safe on the Web.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Stanley has questions about finding and downloading software<\/strong><\/span>
\nYou have been so helpful in the past that I hope you can help me with this question, which I also think would be of interest to many of your subscribers.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was looking for a website that is even half as good as you are in giving advice and reviews about programs before I download them. My saga began when I was looking for a program that could compress a WMV file and\/or convert it to an avi file.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I searched for a program to do this, I got many hits. However, after a couple of hours, I got more and more frustrated with the information these sites gave me, so I gave up.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first big problem was that when I looked at the reviews, they were given by a company that made software to do this, so of course, they gave their products rave reviews compared to other products. I could not find any independent websites to give an honest review such as you do.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second problem was websites that advertise free downloads. If I had my way, I would block them for misleading information. They could indeed be downloaded and then installed on the computer. It was only after spending a lot of time downloading the file that I wanted to convert that I received the error message that the file was too big, but if I still wanted to continue, I could purchase the full program.<\/span><\/p>\n

I apologize for such a long message but, I am sure you will have heard similar complaints from many people who like me would very much appreciate your help. I wish you good health during this difficult time that we are all going through. Regards, Stanley.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our answer<\/strong><\/span>
\nHi Stanley. Thanks for your nice comments.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem you detail has been a problem that has faced every single person who has ever searched for software. The worst thing you can do is search for a program and just accept the results. You really have to hone your search skills\u2026 I\u2019m lucky as I learned this lesson long ago \u2013 Darcy used to call me the king of search.<\/span><\/p>\n

If I wanted to convert an audio file from one format to another, I would look for an online converter. By using the search term (without quotes) \u201cconvert WMV to avi online\u201d I came up with this site:<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/cloudconvert.com\/wmv-to-avi<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

One way I know that site is legit is they offer services for which they charge. Plus, I\u2019ve used this site before. This is the self-description they offer\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

CloudConvert is your Swiss army knife for file conversions. We support nearly all audio, video, document, ebook, archive, image, spreadsheet, and presentation formats. Plus, you can use our online tool without downloading any software.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what the size of your file is, and I don\u2019t know what, if any file size limits CloudConvert\u2019s free service has. They have a pricing schedule where you can buy 500 minutes of conversion time for $8.00 (U.S.) with unlimited file size (5 gigabytes is the theoretical limit).<\/span><\/p>\n

We know from experience that downloading most free YouTube converters, file converters, music converters, etc. is an invitation to download software bundled with PUPs or malware. These days more than 50% of freeware seems to be compromised in some way.<\/span><\/p>\n

And you have to be careful of download sites too. CNET\/Download.com, Softonic, Tucows, and many others have been known to take good, clean, free software and bundle it with other software (PUPs\/malware\/questionable software). There are several you can trust, for instance, www.snapfiles.com<\/a> is the one we trust most, followed by www.majorgeeks.com<\/a>. I rarely venture from those sites unless I find a good developer who offers software from his\/her site and who does not play whack-a-mole with download buttons.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finding good, free, software is like walking through a minefield. You have to be cautious and you have to hone your search skills so you\u2019re more likely to come up with good, reliable, and safe search results.<\/span><\/p>\n

I hope this helps you, Stanley, but if not, let me know.<\/span>
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/span>
\nStanley wrote back: \u201cWow! That was quick. As always you have really helped me. Why can\u2019t you offer a paying service that would give advice in a similar way to the information I received now? I would definitely consider using this. In the long run, it would save a lot of time and frustration. I do not doubt that many others feel the same. Keep safe and well. Stanley.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n