Articles in Category: Internet

The Internet – the global network of networks and one of the most significant and powerful things to have come along ever.

Office witrh

Is OneDrive a Backup?

OneDrive is a powerful tool, but thinking of it as a backup can take you down a dangerous path.

Dropbox + Boxcryptor = ?

What Should I Do About Boxcryptor?

With its sale to Dropbox, the future of Boxcryptor is uncertain. There’s no rush to take action, but I’ll share recommendations.

Edge to Chrome

How Do I Switch From Edge to Chrome?

It’s easy to start using the Chrome internet browser instead of Edge, and I’ll show you how. Unfortunately, Edge may still make occasional appearances.

Generic Search Results

Two Steps to Better Search Results

Searching the internet is an art of sorts. I’ll share my two-step approach to better search results.

Cookies!

Where Do Cookies Come From?

Cookies are a fact of life when browsing the web. But if you look at the cookies stored on your machine, you might be surprised how many there are.

Diving into Dropbox

Five Reasons I Went All-in With Dropbox

Knowing how you use online storage will help you choose the correct provider with the correct set of features at an appropriate price.

Which Browser?

What Browser Should I Use in 2022?

It’s difficult to go wrong when selecting a browser these days.

Date

How Do I Find Out When a Webpage Was Created?

It’s surprisingly difficult to tell with certainty when a webpage was written. There are some clues we can gather that might help a little.

Googling Google

The Most Searched-for Term on the Internet

The most searched-for term on the internet tells us something about people’s understanding (or lack of understanding) about how browsers and the internet work.

Sign in again for good fortune.

How Do I Clear Cookies for One Site?

Clearing all cookies can be painful. Fortunately, it’s also possible to clear cookies one site at a time.

Office witrh

Half a Dozen Uses for OneDrive

OneDrive is a surprisingly powerful service that many people overlook or don’t understand. I’ll review six ways you can leverage OneDrive.

Whoops!

How Can One Service Take Down So Much?

What happens when a major cloud service goes down, and what’s the takeaway?

A QR Code.

What’s a QR Code?

QR codes are a nifty way to encode web addresses and other text in a way that’s easy for your smartphone to decode, but they are not without risk.

Search

How Do I Search a Site That Has No Search Box?

Many sites lack a search facility. Fortunately, it’s easy to do it yourself using a search engine like Google. Even when sites provide their own, this do-it-yourself solution may give you better results.

Office witrh

Why “Always Keep on this Device” Doesn’t

The “Always keep on this device” feature has misled people into deleting and losing important files. Here’s why, and what to do instead.

OneDrive Too Big

Why Is My OneDrive Full?

OneDrive tries to make it easy to back up important folders, but at the cost of making some things very confusing.

An RSS icon

What is RSS, and Why Should I Care?

RSS is a powerful information-publishing and -collection mechanism that bypasses email and makes it easy to stay up-to-date with a large number of websites and other RSS-enabled services.

The Internet Of Things

How Do I Protect My IoT Devices from Being Hijacked?

Attacks on the internet demonstrate that the so-called “internet of things” lacks basic security considerations.

Your connection is not private???

How Do I Fix “Your Connection is Not Private”?

“Your connection is not private” errors are often benign, but are worth paying attention to.

Investigate

How Do I Determine a Shortlink’s Destination?

Link-shortening services make it hard to tell a link’s final destination. When you receive one in an email, you may want to do some detective work to see where it’s going before you click.

www.

When Is “www” Needed and Why?

The “www” in website addresses is now typically optional and even redundant, but there was once a reason as to why it was required in URLs.

OMG! Porn Spam!

Does Getting Porn Spam Mean You’ve Been Surfing Porn Sites?

Porn spam doesn’t mean anyone did anything illicit. Everyone gets spam, and some of it is porn. Lack of spam doesn’t imply you’ve been good, either.

Teaching via Zoom

Why Is My Zoom Video Breaking Up?

Video break-up on video calls and conferences is common. There is one common culprit, but it can be difficult to diagnose.

Go Away

What Do I Do About Websites Bugging Me About Notifications?

Responding to notification permissions is annoying. In some browsers, we can turn that off completely.

Bitcoin

How Does Bitcoin Mining Work?

What does it mean to mine something that doesn’t physically exist? And why might it use so much electricity?

OneDrive Too Big

What if My OneDrive is Too Big for My Hard Drive?

Cloud storage is ubiquitous, convenient, and BIG. There are options if OneDrive is too big for your hard drive.

Password: 123456

Is It Safe to Let Your Browser Remember Passwords?

Letting your browser remember passwords is a convenient feature. With that convenience comes risk — often significant risk. Most folks are much better served by using a password vault. I’ll explain why.

Dealing With Video Starts and Stops While Watching: Two Common Causes and Three Possible Solutions

There are common causes, and sometimes simple solutions, for a video that starts and stops as you watch it.

Secure cloud storage

The Two Types of Cloud Data Threats and How You Protect Yourself

All cloud data threats boil down to one of two things. I’ll review them and lay out what you need to do to keep your data is safe in the cloud.

Cookies!

How Do Cookies Work, and How Do I Delete Them?

Deleting cookies is an easy task. Whether it’s necessary or not is another matter.

How Do I Change the Browser Home Page in Windows 10?

How Do I Change the Browser Home Page in Windows 10? Take Control with Quick Instructions for Edge, Firefox, and Chrome

Sometimes installers change your browser home page “for you”. Other times, homepage content changes. I’ll show you how to be more productive and set your homepage to what you want.

No Flash

What Do I Do About Adobe Flash End of Life in 2020?

Support for Adobe Flash will end at the end of 2020. The good news is that most sites have stopped needing it. For those that do, there’s really no alternative.

How Do I Copy Text From a Copy Protected Website?

How Do I Copy Text from a Copy Protected Website?

Assuming your intent is legal or at least moral, it’s not hard to copy content from a webpage that attempts to prevent it.

How Do I Delete Files From OneDrive, but Not My Computer?

How Do I Delete Files From OneDrive, but Not My Computer?

There are a couple of ways to delete files from OneDrive without deleting them from your PC: move them or stop using OneDrive.

Getting Rid of Bing in Windows Search

Getting Rid of Bing in Windows Search

We can’t change the search engine used by Windows Search when searching the web, but we can avoid Bing by not having Windows Search search the web at all.

Could OneDrive Get Hacked? What You Really Need to Worry About

Could OneDrive Get Hacked? What You Really Need to Worry About

Yes, OneDrive could get hacked. So can any online service. The real question is, how likely is it, and are there other things we should be worrying about instead?

Diagnosing a Slow-loading Webpage with Firefox

Firefox and other browsers include diagnostic tools. I’ll show how to use the network tool to diagnose slow-loading web pages.

Copy

How Do I Copy a Webpage?

Copying a webpage is not terribly difficult, but getting everything to display as it appeared can be a challenge.

No Bing

How Do I Get Rid of Bing?

How to say, “Thanks, but no thanks” to Bing — to the extent that you can, that is.

How Can I Make an Income Working Online?

Making money online sounds like a wonderful opportunity. It is, if you have the personality for it.

https

Are HTTPS Connections Really Safe?

HTTPS is an important part of keeping your data safe, but it’s only a part. It’s important to understand what it does and doesn’t mean.

False

How Much Can I Trust Information on the Internet?

Information on the internet ranges from truth to fiction to intentional misinformation. It’s important to develop a critical eye towards everything you read.

Microsoft Edge

Edge Redeemed

Microsoft Edge has a bad reputation as an under-powered web browser. That’s all about to change.

Passwords on Sticky Notes (Don't Do This.)

View Your Saved Passwords in Google Chrome

Google Chrome can save your and display your passwords. That’s convenient, but is it secure?

Inspecting

Diagnosing Web Pages with Inspect

Modern browsers include a webpage debugging tool that you should know about, even if you aren’t a web developer.

Missing an Image?

Why Don’t Pictures Show When I Visit Some Websites?

There are many reasons pictures don’t show on websites. Some you can control, but others are problems with the websites themselves.

Recommended!

Why Are There No Objective Review Sites?

Looking for objective reviews isn’t a spectator sport. I’ll look at why this is a complex question.

Time Options in Google Search Results

Why Do Search Results Not Have Dates?

Google’s search tools can help you find websites that have been tagged with particular dates. But be cautious; dates may not mean what you think.

Google Search

The Most Important Skill You Can Improve

If I could have you prioritize one thing to improve your online experience, this would be it.

How Do I Change My DNS to 1.1.1.1 in Windows 10?

How Do I Change My DNS to 1.1.1.1 in Windows 10?

Alternate DNS providers can be faster, safer, or both. I’ll show you how to change your DNS setting for Windows 10.