There are many websites that most people go to daily or quite often. If you do not want to type the website address there are several options for a shortcut. You can create a favorite in your favorite browser, create a shortcut on the desktop, or pin the website to the start menu (Windows 8).Continue reading

Computer users seem to get younger and younger every day. When I was growing up I didn’t really use a computer until I was in my teens and that was only a little at school. I now work at a school and they use computers as early as Kindergarten! This is the reason why parental controls have become even more important.Continue reading

New laptops are moving away from having a CD/DVD drive in them. The reason for this is because more people are using online storage, flash drives, and video streaming so the drive isn’t necessary and it saves space to make devices thinner. Well to some surprise, Windows 8 does not even play DVD’s “out of the box”. You do have options tho.Continue reading

Why should you backup your data? The main reason would be hard drive failure. Hard drives are hardware, and can fail. Other reasons you need to backup your data could include accidental deletion, operating system failure, and fire. Sometimes we get in a hurry and delete a file that was important, don’t rely on the trash bin for storage. Some files don’t even go to the recycle bin when deleted, for example if they are too large. Continue reading

There have been a few (good) changes that were made with Windows 8.1 Update and more to come. These updates seem to be bringing back what Windows users are missing from the older versions of windows. With Windows 8, Microsoft was gearing toward touch devices. Although this is not a bad thing, they seem to have forgotten about the mouse and keyboard with some features.Continue reading

Sometimes when navigating windows, there is an easier way to get tasks accomplished. The following is a list of keyboard shortcuts. (Found in Windows 8 Basics pamphlet)

Windows Key:   Return to the Start screen from an open app or the Windows desktop or press again to return to the previous screen.
Windows Key + F1: Open online help.
Windows Key + C: Display the charms.
Windows Key + D: Display the Windows desktop (second time to hide)
Windows Key + E: Open Computer (Windows explorer) Continue reading

One of the main complaints that I have heard so far is the start menu, or the lack there of. In the first release of Windows 8 the start button was gone and it was not obvious how to access the start menu (the new metro designed one). With the release of 8.1, Microsoft made the change and added a start button again, but you won’t get the start menu as it was in Windows 7 or before.

To access the start menu in Windows 8, you have to put the mouse pointer in the bottom left hand corner and a “icon” will appear, click this to get to the start menu. Alternatively, you can hit the windows key on your keyboard (This works in Windows 8.1 also). Continue reading