No sound from a Windows computer

There are several places to look if your Windows computer has gone mute Lots of volume/speaker settings need to be correct for sound to come out. If any of these is turned off or if physical components are disconnected then the result is silence. If you check that ALL of the following are correctly set …
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Clipboard History

Copy and Paste is possibly the most useful little technique in computing Copy and paste is by no means unique to Windows. It certainly preceded Windows and, as far as I know, is offered by all operating systems. Generally speaking, I’m not really one for shortcuts, except for programs that I use a lot. In …
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Metered Wifi Connections in Windows

Easy to get caught out – but easy to fix On Monday, I was working on a client’s computer when my phone pinged. It was EE (my mobile provider) warning me that I’d run out of data allowance for the month. I thought it was odd, but I’d got my Microsoft Surface laptop connected to …
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Windows Control Panel – and how to find it

You might think that the Windows Control Panel has disappeared – it hasn’t The Control Panel is a set of “utilities” (or “applets”) that have formed part of Windows since Windows 2 in 1987. The Control Panel allows changes to be made to how Windows looks and works (see the illustration at the end of …
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Renaming Multiple Files in Windows

You don’t have to rename files individually if you want them all to have more-or-less the same name I’ve recently been transferring TV programs that I have recorded from DVDs to a Seagate “NAS” drive. “NAS” means “Network attached storage”. At its simplest, this is an external hard drive that connects to the router so …
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Dragging Folder Shortcuts to the Windows Taskbar

Windows doesn’t readily allow you to drag folder shortcuts to the taskbar – but it can be done It is useful to be able to drag desktop shortcuts onto the taskbar so that they are easily found whether or not the desktop is being displayed. If, however, you have desktop shortcuts that are shortcuts to …
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Screen Inversion

Help! My screen’s turned upside down! You probably won’t find this blog of use today (unless you are an office wag – see below), but if ever you see that the contents of your screen have turned upside down (or sideways for that matter), then just remember that you read about it here. You can …
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Windows 10 – like it or lump it

Microsoft appear to be pushing their weight around, attempting to foist Windows 10 on users whether they want it or not A few weeks ago Microsoft were accused of heavy-handedness in downloading the installation files for Windows 10, irrespective of whether the user had actually asked for the upgrade. The upgrade didn’t install automatically, but …
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