Putting hyperlinks into emails and other documents

Do you struggle to put hyperlinks to web pages into emails and other documents? Every now and again when I am with a client, there is a need for them to put a hyperlink into an email message (or a Word document or other document) and I watch them really struggle to type the whole …
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Use a browser to open pdf files

Even the name’s become bloated – “Adobe Acrobat Reader DC” If you are like me, you have long been fed up with the complexity and bloat of Adobe Reader and no longer wish to use it to view pdf files. There are other pdf readers available, but there is a simpler alternative. I have three …
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Changing Your Browser’s Home Page

Has something hijacked your home page? It is quite common for both malicious and benign software to decide (rather arrogantly) that it’s going to replace your browser home page with something else and that it’s not going to ask your permission or even tell you about it. This blog explains how to put it back …
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Running and Saving Downloads

What is the difference between “saving” and “running” files downloaded from the internet? Actually, probably not much in most circumstances. When you “run” a file from a website, it is downloaded to your own computer and placed in a temporary folder. You probably can’t easily see where that temporary folder is and you probably won’t …
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Internal Server Error – 500

Would you like the good news first, or the bad news? Sometimes when you attempt to visit a website you may be presented with a fairly blank screen that just has some incomprehensible (and somewhat intimidating) text. This text comes in lots of variations that mention either or both of “error 500” and/or “internal server …
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Time to un-install Java

Java is a security risk and is now of very little use What is Java? Java is a programming language that is often installed (free of charge) onto computers. It works via an “add-in” to the web browser. A browser is the program you use to view and interact with websites (eg Internet Explorer, Chrome, …
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AdBlock Plus

From time to time, clients ask me which browser I use, and I reply “Firefox”.. I started using Firefox just because it wasn’t the leading browser (which was Microsoft’s Internet Explorer at that time). However, there were a few substantive reasons as well – it was faster, more secure and (most relevant for this blog …
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Oh dear – error!

Computer error messages are only as good as the programs that call them In other words, if the program is badly designed or badly tested then you may not be able to glean any useful information from a displayed error message other than “something’s gone wrong”. Here’s an example that I would guess at least …
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Moving a Browser Tab to a New Window

Have you ever wanted to compare the contents of two browser tabs side by side? A quite common situation occurred to me a few days ago when a client asked me to compare two computers that she had shortlisted for possible purchase. She sent me the links to the web pages that she had been …
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