TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

You're careful not to drop your notebook computer into the ocean or down a flight of stairs, but heat is the insidious destroyer of all electronic devices. In Short Circuits: Ordering groceries online with curbside pickup or home delivery made big advances during the worst months of the Covid pandemic. Growth has slowed, but not stopped. Big chains have gone all in, and smaller stores are struggli...

Maybe you love software as a service, but probably you don't. Regardless of your opinion or mine, it's the future and other industries are taking note. In Short Circuits: Microsoft is in the process of executing a nearly flawless flip-flop to correct problems created when they tried to force OneNote for Windows 10 on OneNote users. They relented following an outcry from fans of the standalone appl...

Smart phones are ideal companions, but they're easy to lose and easy to steal. Taking preventive measures before something bad happens and preparing to deal with a missing device is well worth the relatively small amount of time required. In Short Circuits: We can't eliminate errors and stupidity, but we can ensure that we can recover from stupid events. What we need is something that will save ou...

Now that more people connect their computers to external sound systems, Windows needs a better way to modify its audio outputs. Fortunately, a couple of open-source applications are just what's needed. In Short Circuits: As good as Adobe Acrobat is for working with PDF documents, sometimes there's a better choice. You can obtain it for free. • Apple has ordered its employees to return to the offic...

Mozilla's Thunderbird email client version 102 has been released with important user interface updates, security measures, and improved features. If you haven't looked at Thunderbird in the past few years, now would be an excellent time to do so. In Short Circuits: Teen usage of Facebook has dropped substantially in the past five years and even Meta recognizes that this is just the beginning of a...

Opinions: Always shoot in raw mode! Never shoot in raw mode! JPEG is just as good as raw! JPEG severely degrades photos! Both modes exist for a reason and it's not an always-or-never decision. Let's consider the advantages of each format. In Short Circuits: If you've ever tried to tell someone where you are when no street address is available, you'll immediately see the advantages of using the Wha...

One of the best things about digital photography is that individual images cost nothing, so even amateur photographers routinely amass tens of thousands of images. Excire Foto can help when you're looking for one specific image. In Short Circuits: When something goes wrong, don't panic. Until you're sure what's happening, the best action is often no action at all. As first responders say, "Be part...

Smart watches aren't exactly new because they've been around in one form or another since 2004. Apple's introduction of a smart watch in 2015 gave the market a kick start, but only one fifth of US adults currently own one. Women are more likely to have a smart watch than men are. In Short Circuits: Many crypto-currencies have lost significant value in the past several months, but they still have w...

You're using Linux right now because it's what runs the TechByter Worldwide website. But you probably aren't using Linux on your desktop or notebook computer. Linux may never take over the desktop market, but let's take a look anyway. In Short Circuits: People who are looking for a new notebook computer may forget to examine the list of ports on the computer, and that would be a mistake. • Adobe M...

Although the cursor may seem unimportant when creating a video to illustrate a computer-based procedure, Camtasia 2022 clearly shows that to be false and includes ways to improve your videos by enhancing the cursor. In Short Circuits: A heavy-duty cable with two types of USB connectors on each end can replace a lot of standard cables. One version is less than 6 inches long, the other nearly 5 feet...

A single monitor was sufficient around the turn of the century, but that's no longer the case for enterprise users, and probably not for home users, either. In Short Circuits: DuckDuckGo is all about privacy and security, but there's more. Is it enough to justify dropping Google's search engine? If so, would you want to? • A clever utility called WhatRuns is for website developers, but it might be...

Facebook gives users a way to keep in contact with friends and relatives, but it also can be intensely frustrating. An add-on application for browsers can tame the beast. In Short Circuits: Cameras in mobile phones have capabilities that often go well beyond what even an expensive camera can do, and apps give mobile users the ability to perform tasks that were once limited to computer-based digita...

Microsoft OneNote improves every year and continues to be an indispensable tool for keeping track of varied and disparate bits of information. Even better, it's free for anyone to use on Windows, MacOS, Android, or IOS devices -- as well as on the web. In Short Circuits: Although SnagIt is what I consider the best screen capture application, there's ShareX for those who can't justify SnagIt's cost...

Not losing computer files is important to me because replacing lost files would be difficult and, in many cases, impossible. That's why having a solid backup system is crucial. In Short Circuits: Scammers are out to steal your social media credentials. Modifying a few settings will help, but the best way to keep accounts safe involves a bit of suspicion and lot of common sense. • If you have more...

Those who must create flyers, web graphics, and posters even though they have no training in graphic design can use free and low-cost online services to avoid creating laughable, poorly executed results. In Short Circuits: Anyone who watches videos on a computer should have the VideoLAN Client. It's a strong competitor, even for players that cost $50 or $100, and it can perform some actions that e...

Some scammers are smart enough to create legitimate looking ploys, but even well made scams are usually apparent following only a brief inspection. In Short Circuits: The Windows File Explorer can display thumbnail images of some file types, but not Photoshop files. This is an absurd shortcoming and there's an easy fix. • Is there a digital camera gathering dust around your house? The ubiquitous s...

I'd like to tell you about a couple of thumb drives that belong, if not in your pocket, at least on the desk with your computer. In Short Circuits: We'll look at expanding one of those thumb drives to make it even more useful with utilities that are helpful when there's a problem with the computer, or you just need information about the computer. • Belarc Advisor, which is free for home use, is th...

My wife and I decided to eliminate cable television about a year ago. We wanted to save money, but not lose content. So, did we succeed? In Short Circuits: Firefox isn't the force it once was, but there are good reasons for every computer user to have the browser installed even if it's not the primary browser. • Cheap thumb drives are everywhere. You'll pay just pennies per gigabyte, but are thumb...

If some company other than Adobe had created Lightroom Classic, Adobe would have to worry about the future of Photoshop. As it is, Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, Photoshop, and some mobile apps from Adobe play exceedingly well together. In Short Circuits: Whether you love or loathe Windows 11, there are probably some annoyances you'd like to fix. Windows 11 Fixer 2.0 is a brilliant solution to many...

Facebook users seem to complain about the service frequently, but it's difficult to find a competing service that has all of Facebook's features. Perhaps it's impossible. In Short Circuits: Device drivers are essential. Without them, printers, mice, disc players, and keyboards would be nothing more than expensive paperweights. But device drivers are often the cause of problems, too. • The Windows...

Digitizing film negatives by scanning them will almost always reveal dust spots and may reveal scratches. Fortunately, there's a way to reduce or eliminate these if your scanner and your scanning software support infra-red scanning. In Short Circuits: When you're nervous about installing a new application, the Windows Sandbox offers a way to test the new application without concern, but only with...

Of the more than 4700 objects in the Windows System32 directory, around 650 are applications. Some of these are useful tools that that you can use to maintain a clean operating system. But which ones? In Short Circuits: Windows 11 offers organizational techniques that might work better than what you're doing now to find and start applications. • Some Android phones can take a series of photos when...

Most routers intended for home and small-office use have four ports. If that's not enough, you can add more with a hub or a switch. What's the difference and how much do these things cost? Let's look. In Short Circuits: Password managers are essential and LastPass offers a family plan that gives up to six family members their own separate accounts and the ability to share information between membe...

Windows seems to have an infinite number of settings and controls. We all know that the options aren't really infinite, but a lot of them exist. Sometimes making a change can eliminate an annoyance and we'll consider three examples this week. In Short Circuits: When you need to create a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray disc, you can use the Windows Explorer. There's a better choice, though -- ImgBurn has been...

The latest version of Microsoft's PowerToys is an ongoing project that receives new features regularly and adds useful functionality to Windows 10 and Windows 11. In Short Circuits: 1980s computers could run one program at a time. Then we got the ability to multitask programs and now it's easy to have so many applications running that we encounter the limit of human multitasking. • It's getting ha...