One of the drawbacks about being a computer hobbyist is that family and friends think of you as tech support. Over the years, I’ve been asked lots of questions about technology. This month, I thought I’d share some of them with you.
The most asked question I get about Android phones is “Why does my screen go dark so quick?” The answer is because the default ‘Screen Timeout’ is 15 seconds. If you don’t touch the screen within that period, it goes to sleep. This is done simply to conserve battery power. To change, open Settings, do a search for timeout and change it to whatever you like. Some phones have other features to stop the timeout.
I often get asked why Microsoft makes it so hard to keep track of the where the cursor is. It is even harder to find if you use more than one monitor. There are two things you can do to help with this. Open Mouse Settings and then click Advance Settings. Look for the check box to enable “Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key”. Enabling will allow the mouse location to be highlighted whenever you touch the Ctrl key. In Advanced Options, you can also adjust the size of the cursor. Most mouse manufacturers have settings where you can select mouse colors. I like the setting where the cursor color changes to contrast with the screen background.
People often complain to me that their Windows machine starts really slow. I always suggest that it is because they have a lot of programs that load on a Windows boot. This is usually why it seems slow. The easiest way to solve the problem is to open the Windows Task Manager. Click on the Startup Tab and then disable programs that don’t need to be running all the time.
I forgot my password is a problem that is often unsolvable. There are several programs you can buy to “crack” your missing password. The problem is that they often do not work. Nir Sofer is a software developer who has created hundreds of free utilities. More than twenty of these are password recovery utilities. If it is a website, there are usually options for recovering a password. In most cases, you are out of luck.
I’m always asked, “What is the best web browser, password manager, graphics program, anti‑virus, word processor, etc.” I usually respond by asking what is the best car to drive or where is the best place to buy a cheeseburger. The real answer is that I don’t know. Whats best for me isn’t necessarily best for anyone else. I can only tell what I use and why. My recommendation is to try the various programs until you find one you like.
Another frequently asked question is “Why do they call you Tiny?” Unfortunately, I’m running out of column space and can’t answer it here.
Thanks for reading.