It’s that time of year again. It’s time to play change the clocks. Why do we keep doing this? Someone give me an answer! Don’t forget to switch your clocks if you live in a clock-switching area. And yes, you’re right! It’s<\/span> Saturday and time for another Saturday Bonus Questions and Answers edition. Sometimes the best tips and tricks are hidden in the questions and answers we publish. And rarely do we post questions and answers on this website. Today, we\u2019re featuring some of the questions and answers from past issues of our\u00a0InfoAve Weekly<\/a> newsletters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These questions & answers were selected at random from past InfoAve Weekly newsletters.<\/span><\/p>\n It’s springtime and it’s time to get your computer ready for summer. With our new Spring Checkup, Cleanup, and Optimization service, we’ll make that EASY for you.<\/span><\/p>\n We’ll check your PC, clean it up, optimize it, and get it ready for summer.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here’s what we’ll do for you:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Get your Spring PC Checkup, Cleanup, and Optimization now! It’s only $20 and only for a limited time!<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Saturday Bonus Questions and Answers – 030825<\/strong><\/span> Laura says Bing has taken over<\/strong><\/span> Our answer<\/strong><\/span> Try this:<\/span><\/p>\n 1. Type CHROME:\/\/EXTENSIONS in the Chrome address bar & press \u201cEnter\u201d<\/span> You can also remove Bing from the list of search engines available in Chrome.<\/span><\/p>\n 1. Type CHROME:\/\/SETTINGS\/SEARCH in the Chrome address bar & press \u201cEnter\u201d<\/span> 3. After you click \u201cManage search engines, you can remove Bing from the list of available search engines, if you choose to do so.<\/span><\/p>\n If the above doesn\u2019t stop Bing, reset Chrome by following the instructions on this page<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Resetting Chromes returns Chrome to its defaults. Keep in mind this does not remove bookmarks. It disables all extensions, clears Chrome history and cache, and restores Chrome to its factory defaults.<\/span><\/p>\n Restoro is malware in our opinion. It\u2019s scammy and it can mess up your computer. Our advice is don\u2019t use it. It\u2019s certainly not the miracle cure it claims to be. If you have installed it, we recommend you uninstall it.<\/span><\/p>\n Mike\u2019s friend sent him a tip on how to make his computer lightning-fast Our answer<\/strong><\/span> Some people refer to desktop programs as \u201capps\u201d. The only programs that generally affect performance are the ones starting with Windows. The only programs that need to start with Windows are programs like antivirus programs or programs necessary for an essential function like the computer\u2019s sound. There are dozens of programs (many free) that help control startups. Generally, there should not be more than 4 or 5 programs starting with Windows.<\/span><\/p>\n Our two favorite programs to use to manage Windows startup programs are HiBit Uninstaller<\/a> and Autoruns<\/a>. You can also use Windows Task Manager to control start-ups. Hibit and Autoruns are more robust.<\/span><\/p>\n Cutting back on startup programs can make a big difference in computer performance, but \u201clightning-fast\u201d is probably more due to having a lot of RAM than it is to turning off background apps and keeping startup programs to a minimum, although it\u2019s always helpful to keep things under control.<\/span><\/p>\n Task Manager is also a good way to see what programs are using the most resources thus slowing down your computer. See this article<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n And I can tell you this if a Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC has only 4GB of RAM, there\u2019s no way on God\u2019s green earth, that that computer is going to be lightning-fast no matter what do. The more programs you open the fewer resources you\u2019ll have available. And most people don\u2019t realize that with most browsers, each tab opens as a separate process. So having 20 browser tabs open will slow down any computer that doesn\u2019t have enough installed RAM. We don\u2019t suggest running Windows 10 or Windows 11 with less than 8 GB of RAM.<\/span><\/p>\n My $280 cheapie Windows 11 computer runs \u201clightning-fast\u201d because it has 12 GB of RAM. And even with more than adequate RAM, I still don\u2019t allow many programs starting with Windows<\/span><\/p>\n So, whenever I hear someone saying \u201cOh, you and do this and that and make your computer lightning fast\u201d I raise my eyebrows and think \u201csure\u201d \u2013 because this is the fallacy promoted by the many scammy One-Click-Wonder-Fix programs.<\/span><\/p>\n So, I guess, my answer isn\u2019t what you wanted to hear, but we hope it\u2019s helpful anyway.<\/span> Larry says his \u201cwebmail\u201d adblocker no longer works<\/strong><\/span> Our answer<\/strong><\/span> We have never heard of a webmail ad blocker and we\u2019re not familiar with \u201cWeb Ad Blocker\u201d so we have no idea what\u2019s going on with it. The only two ad blockers we\u2019ve ever recommended are Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin. While we recommend installing them both, if you\u2019re only going to install one, then you should install uBlock Origin. It will block ads on all web pages including on webmail pages.<\/span><\/p>\n You can read more about uBlock Origin here.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n If you’re using Google Chrome check out uBlock Origin Lite.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in adding the Privacy Badger extension to your browser also, see this page.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n We hope this helps you, Larry.<\/span><\/p>\n Please help us to keep on helping you!<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n This week we gladly helped dozens of people solve their computer problems by email quickly and free of charge.<\/span><\/p>\n If you don\u2019t need any of our products or services right now, please help us with a donation. Even the smallest gift is appreciated. Every donation helps us to provide useful information that helps you with your computer as well as helps us to keep you safe on the Internet. We offer free help to thousands of people every year\u2026 and we offer an honest and inexpensive computer repair service too. We do everything we can to help you with your computer and keep you safe too.<\/span><\/p>\n So if you don\u2019t need any of our products or services right now, please help us by donating right now<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Interested in making a monthly gift? Visit this page<\/strong><\/a>. Help us to keep on helping you!<\/span><\/p>\n Thank you so much for your support!<\/span> Dennis cannot figure out how to network his computers<\/strong><\/span> Our answer<\/strong><\/span> It\u2019s a lot easier to share files and folders between computers (file\/folder sharing) than it is to network them. But since you asked, and since we are not going to get into writing guides for networking, we\u2019re going to point you in the right direction. Here\u2019s a guide that may help you<\/a>. It shows how to network two computers \u2013 and that\u2019s what you should do. Once the two are networked, you can then add the third.<\/span><\/p>\n To say that it\u2019s so simple any third-grader could do it may have been true back in the days of \u201cHomegroups\u201d but it’s not that elementary anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n We hope this helps you, Dennis.<\/span><\/p>\n Doris says her Windows 10 Start button has disappeared from her taskbar Our answer<\/strong><\/span> But before we go through all of that, let me ask you to try two things for me:<\/span><\/p>\n #1. If you press the Windows key (it\u2019s the key on the bottom of your keyboard with the Windows logo on it) \u2013 does your Start Menu open?<\/span><\/p>\n #2. Shut down your PC. Power it off completely. Make sure you hold the power button in for at least 30 seconds so all power is off and no lights on your computer are lit. Leave your computer off for at least 5 minutes \u2013 then turn it back on. Is your Start button there?<\/span><\/p>\n Let me know the answer to those 2 questions and we\u2019ll go from there.<\/span> Barbara says her computer screen is upside-down<\/strong><\/span> Our answer<\/strong><\/span> We hope this helps you, Barbara.<\/span><\/p>\n It’s springtime and it’s time to get your computer ready for summer. With our new Spring Checkup, Cleanup, and Optimization service, we’ll make that EASY for you.<\/span><\/p>\n We’ll check your PC, clean it up, optimize it, and get it ready for summer.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here’s what we’ll do for you:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Get your Spring PC Checkup, Cleanup, and Optimization now! It’s only $20 and only for a limited time!\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Janice asks if we have a list of freeware we recommend<\/strong><\/span> Our answer<\/strong><\/span> We have 16 free programs in our Freeware Hall of Fame which we updated in April 2022. You can resize images with any image editor \u2013 our freeware picks \u201cIrfanView\u201d and \u201cFastStone Image Viewer\u201d make it quick and easy to resize images. You can see our Freeware Hall of Fame here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Adding \u201cCopy to\u201d & \u201cMove to\u201d to your right-click menu doesn\u2019t require a program. It just requires a couple of files you need to download. Since you\u2019re using Windows 10, see our tutorial on how to add \u201cCopy to\u201d and \u201cMove to\u201d to your right-click menu here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n We hope this helps you, Janice.<\/span><\/p>\n David wants to know what we recommend to open, print, and save PDF files<\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n![\"Cloudeight](\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2025\/spring25a,.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nIT’S TIME TO GET YOUR COMPUTER READY FOR SUMMER!<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n\n
\n
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\nBing keeps taking over Google Chrome. Someone said I should use Restoro to check it out. Please do you have an answer? Thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nHi Laura. Bing is a Microsoft search engine. I am guessing you added a Bing toolbar (extension) or some other extension to Chrome that keeps switching your search engine. It could be a search engine hijacker.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n2. Disable or remove any extension that contains the word Bing or Search<\/span><\/p>\n
\n2. Make sure your default search engine is set to Google.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Cloudeight](\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2020\/bingo.png\")
<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Cloudeight](\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2020\/bingo1.png\")
<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/strong>How to kill Win 10 apps\u2026 A friend of mine found on the web how to disable all the extra apps on Win10 to trim his PC down to the bare minimum and reported blinding speeds as a result. Rather than search the internet, I thought I\u2019d ask the experts \u2013 YOU! Where do you look to disable or even remove all the nonessential programs in Windows 10? A list of what to kill or keep and where to find those controls would be terrific.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nHi Michael. There are a lot of myths going on here. Windows Store apps don\u2019t use any resources when they\u2019re not running. And you can stop any app from running in the background by going to Settings > Apps >Privacy >Background apps and turning the switch at the top under \u201cLet apps run in the background\u201d to \u201cOff\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u2014\u2014<\/span>
\nMike wrote back: \u201cBrilliant answer TC! You\u2019re the best! My friend does have heaps of RAM.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\nHello, folks! I need some advice and I know you computer wizards can help me. I used Web Ad Blocker for a long time, and it worked to block all the ads in all of my email programs (Outlook and Gmail), but then suddenly quit working. I uninstalled it and reinstalled it, and the ads continue to appear, especially in my Outlook mail. I remember you guys recommending this program and that is why I got it, and it has worked great for years. Reinstalling it did not help. Is Web Ad Blocker no longer viable? Is there another (easy) program that I could install to block ads in my mail, which are so distracting? Thank you both so much, I would be lost without you guys there to help and guide us old folks! I trust your judgment and know you will give me the best advice. Thank you, from your friend! Larry H.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nHi Larry. Thanks so much.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n![\"Help](\"https:\/\/thundercloud.net\/infoave\/images\/2021\/donate2021.png\")
<\/span><\/p>\nMake a small donation and help us help you!<\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\nI\u2019ve tried and tried, but I cannot set up a network among our 3 computers. 2 are Windows 11 and the other is an old MS Surface running Windows 10. Can you recommend some kind of reading material in regular English (and illustrations won\u2019t hurt) that will help this old fart accomplish something that I think most 3rd graders can do with ease?<\/span><\/p>\n
\nHi Dennis. First, it\u2019s not true (anymore) that networking computers is something any 3rd grader could do. Maybe back in the days when Windows still had \u201cHomegroups\u201d, but Windows 10 and Windows 11 do not. Networking is not simple anymore, it requires a lot of steps and some time. Before you attempt to network 3 computers, you should network the two Windows 11 computers and then add the Windows 10 computer following similar steps. There are some differences between what you need to do in Windows 11 and what you need to do in Windows 10 but they are still similar.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/strong>I hope you can help me with this. My start button on my taskbar has disappeared. Can you tell me how to find it? Or maybe you can do it for me?\u00a0 I am an old senior citizen and have a hard time following instructions. I have a Cloudeight Direct service key from 2017 which I can use. Thank you Doris G.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nHi Doris. This may be something I would need to look at since I don\u2019t know if you had your Windows 10 PC set up to look like Windows 7 or not. If you did and if Classic Shell was installed then we\u2019d need to reinstall it or remove it and just go with the Windows 10 Start button.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span>
\nDoris wrote back: \u201cThanks so much! I turned my computer off for about 5 minutes and then turned it on, and the\u00a0 Start button was back on my taskbar. You two are great! Thanks again. Doris.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\nHow do I fix an upside-down display? My desktop screen turned upside-down this morning. HELP!<\/span><\/p>\n
\nHi Barbara. There\u2019s an easy fix. The works on any version of Windows including Windows 10 and Windows 11. You can make your upside-down screen right-side-up by holding down the CTRL+ALT keys and tapping the UP ARROW key on your keyboard.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nIT’S TIME TO GET YOUR COMPUTER READY FOR SUMMER!<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n\n
\n
\nHello\u2026could you please tell me where I can find a list of programs that you endorse? I need to find the Image Resize and the Copy to\/Move to programs that I had on my computer before it had to be \u201cfixed\u201d. Thanks for all!! Janice<\/span><\/p>\n
\nHi Janice. Thanks!<\/span><\/p>\n
\n