Dick Evans – Daves Computer Tips

Floppy Disks – Those Old Memories

Dick Evans — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 05:10:56 +0000

I know I am dating myself but I programmed computers a while back that used 8-inch floppy disks. They were called floppy because when you held one side they would actually bend. The most common size held 80 KB of data. That does not seem like much but was much more than an 80 column punch card. Our old keypunch equipment was replaced with ones writing to floppies instead of punch cards.

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How To Set Up A New Computer

Dick Evans — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 06:00:25 +0000

It’s a new year and Santa brought you a new laptop. All your “stuff” is still on the old computer, so how do you get your files and programs moved to the new one? This is not a difficult task, but there are a few steps to take. The data is easy– the programs are more challenging. There are a few ways to accomplish this. A couple of approaches are costly but we will look at ones that are free.

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How To Turn Off The Sleep Button

Dick Evans — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 04:01:36 +0000

I had a question from someone today about this little half-moon on the top row of their keyboard. They wanted to know what it was so I had them tap the key. They were quite surprised when their monitor went dark and the computer went to sleep. I told them that it is known as the sleep button, the reason for the picture of a half-moon. It may actually be found someplace else on…

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My Memories

Dick Evans — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 04:01:27 +0000

I wish I had something from my parents that told their story. Sure, I remember a little that they told me as I was growing up. There are old photo albums but they are mostly pictures of people I do not know. Back then there was no easy way to get that information down in a form to pass on for future generations. Technology has changed and we can now record our memories in many forms.

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How To Use Wise Checkit For Windows 11 Requirements

Dick Evans — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 04:04:41 +0000

I have been using a couple of the Wise applications for some time. Wise Disk Cleaner runs automatically daily cleaning out stuff on my drive. Today I noticed a link to a new utility as Disk Cleaner was running. It is called Checkit and it helps you to check whether your current PC meets the minimum requirements for Windows 11, such as Processor, Memory, Storage, UEFI, TPM 2.0, etc.

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How To Format Mail Merge Zip Codes

Dick Evans — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 04:02:57 +0000

When using Microsoft Word to mail merge name and address data into a series of form letters or even labels, the zip code field will merge great if it contains 5 digits. However, there are areas of the country that have five digits that begin with a zero. Mail Merge drops the leading zero and this can be a serious problem for the USPS. Your letter going to 02920, a Rhode Island zip code…

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Understanding Copy And Paste

Dick Evans — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 04:22:30 +0000

I know most of us have been using copy/paste through many operating systems from DOS to Windows to Linux to Chrome OS and perhaps others. There are others who are new to computers that have yet to master the process and find it confusing. First, let’s define some key concepts: Right-click means to point at something on the screen with the mouse pointer and then clicking the…

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How To Find SpellCheck For WordPad

Dick Evans — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 04:02:03 +0000

I find many users without the need for an Office Suite. WordPad comes with Windows 10 and they will use it when they need to type a letter or record something in a document file. WordPad is not Microsoft Word but a stripped-down word processor one step up from using Notepad, another free program that comes with Windows. WordPad has many basic editing tools such as changing fonts and font sizes…

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How To Pin Shortcut To Taskbar Hack

Dick Evans — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 04:01:13 +0000

In Windows 10, the bottom bar on the desktop is called the Taskbar. It has the Start button on the left and the time/date on the right. When we open an application, an icon representing that application appears on the Taskbar with an underline indicating that the application is running. We can also place an application’s icon in the Taskbar manually, which is referred to as pinning it.

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How To Use Windows Local Account [No Password]

Dick Evans — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 04:05:27 +0000

We have been plagued with the requirement to enter a password to startup Windows forever. The addition of a PIN and even facial recognition has been recently added to Windows 10. Yet, there are some who like their computer to start without entering anything. In the past, we were able to change the password requirement using NETPLWIZ from the Run dialog box. This NO LONGER works.

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File Extensions Revisited

Dick Evans — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 04:01:37 +0000

A file extension consists of the characters after the dot in a file name. It designates which application was used to create the file. By default, file extensions are not displayed in File Manager. In Windows 10, extensions are also referred to as file types. For example, the file MYFILE.DOCX tells us the name of the file is MYFILE. DOCX is the extension. It tells us that the file was created…

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Thoughts On Linux

Dick Evans — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 04:04:06 +0000

I see articles on Linux and most of them seem to indicate that there’s a big learning curve. Very few seem to talk about how easy it is to slip from using Windows to using Linux with many of the distributions and still do all the things that most people do on a day-to-day basis. Most will never have to learn anything about the innards of Linux. Let’s face it, most of the people I know who…

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How To Auto-Start Your Browser

Dick Evans — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 04:04:25 +0000

Whether using Windows 10, a Chromebook, an iPad, a smartphone, or a Linux platform, we are all using a browser. As long as we can get to it we can utilize all of the websites and web applications that we need. I have helped a number of people who have difficulty navigating through the various buttons and screens on the computer they’re using, especially Windows 10 as they are the…

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The New Google Photos Confusion

Dick Evans — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 08:58:05 +0000

There seems to be some confusion about Google Photos charging as of today, June 1st. Many seem to be panicking and looking for ways to pull their photos off Google. Wow. There is no need. All the photos you have on Google photos right now are not charged against your allocated space and will not be charged for them now. It is only photos that are uploaded June 1st and beyond that will be…

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