Cloud Computing – Daves Computer Tips

Beware Xmas Online Shopping Scams!

Jim Hillier — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 06:07:44 +0000

It’s almost Christmas time again, which means it’s gift time, and many of you will be looking to purchase online. The scammers are well aware of the increased activity at this time of year and crawl out from under their rocks to do their worst. Here then are some tips to help you avoid these scams: Scammers will employ all sorts of devious methods to make their products appear larger…

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Hallmark Card Studio Cannot Connect To Server

Terry Hollett — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 05:01:29 +0000

I was trying to make up a card with “Hallmark Card Studio” when I kept getting an internet connection error. It couldn’t connect to the server, and I couldn’t open any of the listed templates or clip art. For the first time after using this program for a few years, I realized it depends on an active internet connection. The biggest problem was that there was no problem with my internet.

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Microsoft Provides Free Windows 10 ESU For Europe

Jim Hillier — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 04:01:22 +0000

Microsoft has agreed to provide Windows 10 users in the European Economic Area (EEA) with free extended security updates until 13th October 2026. Microsoft’s decision follows pressure from representatives of the Euroconsumers group, who pointed out that Microsoft’s plan to stop providing security updates as of 14th October 2025 was in violation of the EU’s Digital Markets Act. However…

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Is Windows 11 Losing Ground to Windows 10?

Jim Hillier — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 06:06:33 +0000

Yet another sensationalist headline – e.g., Windows 10 usage share climbs while Windows 11’s falls – is doing the rounds, suggesting that Windows 11’s user base is shrinking with a corresponding increase in Windows 10 users. These headlines are predicated on numbers provided by StatCounter, which are inherently flawed. To use StatCounter’s numbers to produce these types of clickbait headlines is…

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The Great Software Ripoff

Jim Hillier — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 04:34:41 +0000

Very recently, we published an article discussing the Best Free Partition Managers, and during my research for that article, I noticed a somewhat alarming pattern, which, when thinking about it later, I realized was something I’d come across previously. This applies to software that is part of a freemium model – that is, software with both free and Premium versions available.

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Windows 10 Users Get A Year’s Reprieve – With A Catch

Marc Thomas — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 05:55:38 +0000

Windows 10 users will now get a year’s reprieve, according to a recent announcement from Microsoft. However, in order to receive security updates up to October 2026, you will need to sign up with the ESU (Extended Security Updates) program for free instead of paying $30 and/or sync your PC settings and data to the cloud through a Microsoft account. This extension does not include support…

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Don’t Let OneDrive Screw Up Your PC

Marc Thomas — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 07:27:12 +0000

I’m in a family subscription to Microsoft 365 Copilot, formally known as Office 365 (I wish MS would stop coming up with ridiculous names!), which gives us 1TB of storage with OneDrive, access to all the Office programs, and, if I’m not mistaken, unlimited use of Copilot. After major Windows 11 updates, a window appears inviting us to back up our PCs, and it looks like this: You can choose to…

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Are Warranties On TVs And PCs Long Enough?

Jim Hillier — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 04:10:20 +0000

With big-screen smart TVs now all the go, I am amazed that the major television manufacturers — Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Sony — are still getting away with providing just 12 months warranty. It is incongruous to me that a TV costing hundreds, and even thousands of dollars, can come with the same period of warranty as a $30 toaster. If manufacturers are not prepared to warranty their TVs beyond one…

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OneDrive vs Google Drive – Which Is Best?

Marc Thomas — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 05:01:22 +0000

This is an update on a previous article comparing both services now that I’ve had a chance to compare them for a couple of years. I’ve been using both OneDrive and Google Drive for many years now and it appears to me that the former has taken a long while to catch up with the latter in terms of features. Both have file storage, while Google opts for separate apps for files and photos – Drive and…

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Are Streaming Service Menu Systems The Worst?

Jim Hillier — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 05:35:35 +0000

I subscribe to half a dozen video streaming services and, in my opinion, not one provides a decent menu system. I’m not sure if it’s just me but I find the majority of these streaming services’ menu systems unintuitive and tedious. I won’t go into detail because I’m sure you’ll each have your own pet peeves. Suffice it to say that I suspect these menu systems must have been designed by an out…

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Modern Appliances: Calculated Failure & Planned Obsolescence

Jim Hillier — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 04:30:06 +0000

When we were young, and our kids were little, my wife and I had a fridge that lasted 15 years and still going strong. We also owned one of the original twin-tub washing machines with a noise level akin to a 747 taking off. We’d always find it in a different part of the laundry as it jumped around doing its thing, the distance traveled only restricted by the length of the electrical cord.

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A Day In The Life Of A PC Technician

Marc Thomas — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 04:10:23 +0000

It’s 0800, I’ve barely finished my second cup of coffee, the phone rings and a lady recounts a woeful tale of how her PC just stopped working over the weekend, on Saturday when her grandchildren were visiting, to be exact. It just stopped working or similar phrases such as it’s frozen up or it’s a tad slow are perfectly apt descriptions and generally hit the nail right on the head.

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How To Translate Documents

Marc Thomas — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 08:11:02 +0000

I love that we live in a world of diverse cultures and rich languages, but we don’t always understand what we’re reading. For my part, whilst I speak fluent Spanish and can read and write in that language, sometimes I need more than a little help. I’m reminded of this fact by coming across Dick Evans’ excellent article from March 2021 How To Translate Foreign Language PDF To DOC where he used both…

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Best Amazon Fake Customer Review Checkers

Jim Hillier — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 04:08:20 +0000

Two free tools to check whether customer reviews on Amazon are legitimate. I believe that most online shoppers would read customer product reviews as part of their decision-making process, I know I do. These two AI-powered tools will filter out fake reviews and present a much clearer picture of customer feedback. Both are available as extensions for all browsers and mobile apps.

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