Newsletter Archives

• Being legal, supported, and secure

  Posted on February 27, 2023 at 02:43 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Who regulates your software decisions?

  As an operating system comes to the end of its life span, we users have to decide what to do with our technology. Do we continue using it as is, with no consideration of risks? Do we stop using the technology and look for alternatives? Or do some of us do a combination of both?

  With proprietary software, our decisions are often driven by what type of customer we are.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.09.0, 2023-02-27).

  On Security Licensing, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Risk, Software, updates

• Which antivirus solution is the best?

  Posted on February 13, 2023 at 02:42 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Once upon a time, antivirus was the only thing that kept the attackers on the outside and protected your data on the inside.

  Even though antivirus is still an important item in your security toolkit, it is by no means the only means of protection. These days, I look to security programs that provide a balance between protection, information, minimal or no performance impact, and rare false positives. In the days when Microsoft still released major Windows service packs, your antivirus solution often meant the difference between a successful upgrade and one that was painful.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.07.0, 2023-02-13).

  On Security Antivirus, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Security, Software

• How to use your Gmail account for more than just Gmail

  Posted on October 17, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.42 • 2022-10-17

  SOFTWARE

  

  By Lance Whitney

  With the Gmail website or app, you can add access to non-Gmail accounts.

  Those of you who have a Gmail account likely use the Gmail website or app to view and work with your Google email. But both the site and the app are more versatile than you may think. With either one, you’re able to add a non-Gmail account, such as one for Outlook or Yahoo. Here’s how this plays out.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.42.0, 2022-10-17).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Software Email Clients, Gmail, Newsletters, Software

• Vivaldi as a Web browser

  Posted on September 12, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  SOFTWARE

  

  By Will Fastie

  If you’ve never heard of Vivaldi before, I’m not surprised.

  Although its use is growing, its share of the Web browser market lags behind those of the “brand name” browsers — Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.

  Lance Whitney’s excellent explanation of the features of Vivaldi, in the lead article in this issue, focuses on how the software can be used as an inexpensive replacement for Outlook. This brief article is about using Vivaldi for its native function, Web browsing.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.37.0, 2022-09-12).

  Software Newsletters, Software, Web Browsers

• Thunderbird: A worthy alternative to Microsoft Outlook

  Posted on August 22, 2022 at 02:44 CDT by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  SOFTWARE

  

  By Lance Whitney

  If you find the Outlook email client too cumbersome or complicated, Thunderbird is a simpler yet robust email program worth trying.

  I’ve used Microsoft Outlook as my desktop email client for many years. That’s partly because I come from a corporate IT background with a company that was a Microsoft shop. And it’s partly because I subscribe to Microsoft 365, so Outlook is part of the package and integrates with the other Office apps.

  But that doesn’t mean I’m a huge fan of the program.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.34.0, 2022-08-22).

  Software Mozilla, Newsletters, Outlook, Software, Thunderbird

• Randy’s top 10 customer-support issues: Identified!

  Posted on August 15, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Randy McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.33 • 2022-08-15

  SUPPORT

  

  By Randy McElveen

  You hear pretty much everything when you’ve been in the computer-repair business for as long as I have, but you also hear a lot of the same questions and see the same issues on a daily basis.

  In this series of articles, I have one goal — to keep you out of stores like mine by giving you some tips on what to do when you experience any of the following problems or have any of these questions.

  Let’s start this week by simply identifying the most common things I see on a weekly basis, and then I’ll do a few follow-up articles to show what you can do to avoid me.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.33.0, 2022-08-15).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Support Customer satisfaction, Hardware, malware, Newsletters, Software, Support

• Software gems: Paint.net

  Posted on January 17, 2022 at 02:43 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  SOFTWARE

  

  By Will Fastie

  Besides having a very interesting history, paint.net is a useful program.

  Paint.net has an unusual origin. It was written as a senior project by a computer science student at Washington State University, Rick Brewster. His project was to write a better version of Microsoft Paint, the ubiquitous program that has been part of Windows since the dawn of Windows.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.03.0 (2022-01-17).

  Software Graphics Editors, Newsletters, review, Software
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