Wednesday 11th December 2019

Microsoft Account Problem Message

Linda was getting a message on her Windows 10 system saying "Microsoft account problem. We need to fix your Microsoft account (most likely your password changed). Select here to fix it in Shared experiences settings." Googling suggests this is a bug, although it might be 'fixed' by going to Start, Settings, System, Shared Experiences and turning off the two slide switches. See this article for more:-

https://www.brucebnews.com/2019/09/how-to-get-rid-of-the-microsoft-account-problem-notification/

LastPass Automatic Sign Out

Linda uses LastPass and found it sometimes signs her out. There is a setting in LastPass which will sign you out when you close the browser, otherwise LastPass will usually remain signed in, although it may sign out after a period of inactivity. To find the setting, click on the LastPass icon in the toolbar of your browser. Select Account Options, Extension Preferences where you will find a tick-box labelled "Log out when all browsers are closed".

Resetting Yahoo Password

A friend of Tony's had reported problems signing into Yahoo and she believes she has been hacked, although this is fairly unlikely. This led to a discussion on resetting passwords. 

Almost all accounts offer a secure way to reset a forgotten password, but this will require some additional information or a second method of contacting you to verify your identity. When you set up an account with Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, etc, you can add recovery phone numbers or email addresses. If you forget your password, a code number can be sent to the phone (by text) or to the recovery email addresses which you can then enter to allow you to create a new password. If you did not enter these sort of recovery methods when you created the account, or if they are no longer available (e.g. you have changed you phone number) you may not be able to regain access to your account.

This article explains the password recovery process for a Yahoo account:-

https://www.lifewire.com/recover-yahoo-password-1174485

It is worth signing into your various accounts and checking that you have at least 2 recovery methods set up (e.g. email and phone) and adding extra ones if necessary. Most accounts offer 2-factor authentication (2FA) which, once set up, means that you will need a second factor (e.g. a code sent by SMS or from an authenticator app) whenever you try to sign in on a new device. 2FA would prevent anyone else signing into your account, even if they know your password.

Caret Browsing
Brian had seen a message about "Caret Browsing" which caused some concern. In fact, Caret Browsing is a feature of some web browsers and can be invoked by pressing the F7 function key. Caret browsing lets you place a cursor on the web page and then move it with the arrow keys and select text using Shift+Arrow Key, in the same way you might do in a word-processor. See this article for more explanation:-
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/enable-caret-browsing-in-firefox-and-chrome

iPad/iPhone Hard Reset
Linda raised this issue. Some times, an iPad or iPhone may cease working correctly. The first thing to try is holding down the Power button and completely powering the device off and then on again. If this fails to solve the problem, you can perform a hard reset. On devices with a Home button, hold down both the Power and Home buttons. On newer devices without a Home button, press and release the Volume Up button, press and release the Volume Down button, then hold down the Power button until you see the Apple logo.

Windows 10 – Spring 2020 Update

Microsoft have announced that the next big feature update, due for release in Spring next year, will be version 2004. We will talk more about what changes and features it will introduce nearer the release date.

Updating W7/8 to Windows 10

With the January 14^th date for the end of support for Windows 7 looming, it might be worth noting that the free update to Windows 10 still works, although I can’t guarantee this will continue. I recently updated a Windows 8.1 system to Windows 10 successfully. Refer to the May 2019 blog for further guidance on how to do this.

Thunderbolt and Lightning and USB-C

I’m sure you are all familiar with the USB Type A connector which has been around for many years and looks like this:-

The technology used by USB has improved and got faster over the years, with USB 3 being the latest version. On most connectors, USB 3 is denoted by a blue insert, rather than a black insert for USB 2.

However, the Type A connector is too large for many modern devices such as smartphones and ultra-books (i.e. light-weight laptops). So the Type C connector has been introduced which is smaller and can be plugged in either way round.
It looks like this:-

This new Type C connector supports USB 3.0, 3.1 or 3.2, with each version being faster than the previous one.

To add confusion, the Type C connector can also support a technology called Thunderbolt. The current Thunderbolt 3 standard is twice as fast as USB 3.2.

The same Type C port on an Ultra book can support both Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.2, or it my only support USB 3.2. You need to check the specification, or look carefully for the symbols by the ports.

Thunderbolt:-

USB:-

Apple use a different small, reversible connector on their devices called a Lightning connector which looks like this:-

Type-C ports are also use to charge phones and laptops. 

Next Session

Wed 8^th January 2020 1:30 to 3:30pm.