A Sad Goodbye
As many of you know, our old friend and long-standing member of the Computer Club, Margaret Hughes passed away on 22nd September at the age of 90. She attended the Club regularly from its earliest days until as recently as February this year. She will be fondly remembered and greatly missed.
Windows 22H2 Update – Smart App Control
As mentioned last time, the 22H2 update for Windows 11 was released on 20th Sept and you may have now received it. If you have not got it yet, it will be available for your PC soon. You can check for updates by going to:-
Settings (Windows Key + I), Windows Update, Check for Updates.
There is a new security feature in version Windows 11-22H2 called Smart App Control, but ONLY if you do a clean install or have a brand new PC that comes with 22H2 installed. If you are simply upgrading via the Windows Update process you will not be able to access this feature. To locate this feature, go to:-
Settings, Privacy & security, Windows Security, App & browser control.
Smart App Control uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify and block potentially malicious apps. It is a global setting, so if it blocks an app which you need and know to be safe, your only option would be to turn it off completely. Once turned off, it can NOT be turned back on unless you do a clean install of Windows (which can be done by Resetting your PC in Settings, System, Recovery). For more details see this XDA Developer article:-
https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-use-smart-app-control-windows-11-2022-update-version-22h2/
The 22H2 update to Windows 10 is expected to be released this month. It will not introduce any major changes. If you keep Windows 10 update to date, it is safe to use through to 14th October 2025.
Windows 10/11 Clipboard History
To turn this feature on, click on Start, Settings or press Windows Key + I
Then select System, Clipboard.
Ensure Clipboard History is ON.
On Windows 11, you can also turn on Sync across your devices if you sign into more than one Windows PC.
Once enabled, use Windows Key + V (instead of the usual Ctrl + V) to paste and a list of items you have recently cut or copied will appear, from which you can select the item you wish to paste.
We had some discussion about the number of items Clipboard History can hold. Since the meeting, I found this How-To-Geek article which suggests the maximum number of items is 25:-
https://www.howtogeek.com/671222/how-to-enable-and-use-clipboard-history-on-windows-10/
A further discussion on a Microsoft forum suggests that the maximum image size that Clipboard History can store is 4MB:-
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-adjust-maximum-counts-of-clipboard-history/cf856fe6-cae5-4aa4-83d0-59dddd30a406
New Search Engine
Developed by former Google employee, Sridhar Ramaswamy, Neeva is a new search engine to rival Google and Bing. It promises to be ad-free and does not track users activities. It is free to use by going to:-
https://neeva.com/
There is a premium service which adds a password manager and a VPN, but this is currently only available in the US.
Neeva uses Bing, together with its own index to provide search results. It remains to be seen how successful this new venture will be, but if you are fed up of ads and don’t want to be tracked, you could give it a try.
If you want to know how to set Neeva as the default search engine (i.e. the one it will use from the Address Bar), see this Neeva help page:-
https://help.neeva.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500007395162-How-to-Set-Neeva-as-your-Default-Search-Engine#h_01F6JPJ846D6GKWTJW421B0QP5
Stopping Pop-Ups
John raised the issue of stopping pop-ups in web browsers. Most browsers offer this feature in their settings.
For example, in Safari on an iPad/iPhone, go to:-
Settings, Safari and turn on Block Pop-ups.
In Chrome, go to:-
3-dots, Settings, Privacy and security, Site settings, Pop-ups and redirects and select Don't allow sites to send pop-ups or redirects.
Excel Scroll Bars
Linda had an issue in Excel where the horizontal and vertical scroll bars had disappeared on some spreadsheets, but not all. Dave suggested that she select all cells in the failing spread and then paste them into a new spreadsheet. Linda immediately tried that and it solved the problem. Thanks Dave!
To select All items, you can usually use Ctrl+A. However, in Excel this first selects the current range, so you may have to press Ctrl+A a second time to select the whole sheet. See this article:-
https://www.microassist.com/software-tips/excel-tip-selecting-the-entire-worksheet/
When pasting the selected items into a new sheet, right-click in cell A1 and then select Paste Special and Keep Source Formatting (hover over the icons to see what each one does).
Windows Update Restart in System Tray
Cherry had a issue with the symbol in the System Tray (near the clock on the Taskbar) which indicates a restart is required, which seemed to be staying there!
The symbol looks like this:-
This indicates that Windows needs to perform a Restart to complete an update. Clicking on the symbol will allow you to restart now or schedule it for later.
Alternatively, you can go to Settings, Windows Update where you can do the same thing. Having done an update, I suggested returning to Windows Update and clicking the Check for updates button again. Repeat this process until no further updates are found.
When all updates are complete, the symbol should disappear from the Taskbar.
Windows Home Drive Encryption
Windows 10/11 Pro have a drive encryption feature called Bitlocker. However, most users have the Home versions of Windows, rather the Pro, but there is still a feature to encrypt your drive(s) called Drive Encryption. Your hardware must meet certain standards for Drive Encryption to work:-
- An enabled TPM (Trusted Platform Module) version 2.
- Support for Modern Standby
- UEFI Firmware
To discover if your PC supports Drive Encryption:-
Click Start and type System Information
Right-click on the app in the search result and select Run as administrator (enter password if necessary).
The System Information window will open – look for Device Encryption Support in the right-hand column. If it says Meets prerequisites, then Drive Encryption is supported.
This Microsoft article explains how to turn on (or off) Drive Encryption for compatible machines running either Windows 10 or 11:-
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/turn-on-device-encryption-0c453637-bc88-5f74-5105-741561aae838
Note that, if Drive Encryption or BitLocker has been enabled for a drive, that drive will be inaccessible without the user’s password or if connected to a different PC without the Recovery Key. To find and save the Recovery Key, go to:-
Settings, Privacy & Security, Device Encryption.
Click on Bitlocker Drive Encryption, then select Backup your recovery key. You can save it to a file on a USB stick, or print it.
Hopefully, you will never need the Recovery Key, but if your drive is encrypted, it would be wise to save the Recovery Key is a safe place - just in case.
Stored Passwords - iPads/iPhones
John pointed out that you can see saved passwords on your iPad and iPhone by going to:-
Settings, scroll down to Passwords in the left-hand column. On the right, you will see web sites which have saved credentials. Tap one of these sites and you will see more details including the obscured password - tap on this to see it in the clear. There is sometimes a critique of your password under the Security Recommendation heading. You can also delete the password here if you wish.
You will notice that you can also enable AutoFill Passwords from here. If you turn this on, you can select filling passwords from various browsers, or password managers such as Apple's Keychain or LastPass.
So, is having these passwords stored on your iPhone/iPad a security risk? To unlock your device, you need a password, PIN or biometric ID (fingerprint or face-recognition), so only you should be able to unlock it. You will also note that when you select Passwords in Settings (as described above), you will be asked again for authentication. This means that no one else should be able to access these stores passwords.
There is a balance between security and convenience. Using a Password Manager or Password Vault to save your logon-credentials is very convenient and facilitates having long, strong, unique passwords for every site you sign in to. However, you need to be confident that no one else could access your vault.
Virtually all browsers now provide a password manager function in addition to Apple's Keychain or other third-party products such a LastPass and BitWarden. I would suggest you make sure you know where your passwords are being saved and that you are comfortable with the security implications.
iPad Fingerprint ID Not Working
Cherry has a friend who cannot access the passwords (as above) because it requires a fingerprint (or Face ID), but the user had never registered a fingerprint. Linda and John suggested trying to add a fingerprint. This would require going to Settings, Touch ID & Passcode - they would then need to enter their Passcode and then tap Add a Fingerprint and follow the process to register a fingerprint (preferable more than one finger).
This may then allow access to the passwords. It would be interesting to know if this solves the problem.
Don't Show Notification Details On Lock Screen
While discussing security issues, John raised the point that you should NOT allow notification details to show on the Lock Screen of your mobile device (either Apple or Android). If your mobile device was stolen, then the Passcode or Biometric ID should prevent the thief unlocking it. However, you do not want sensitive information appearing in notifications on the Lock Screen of your device. For example, if the thief tries to sign in to one of your accounts - perhaps using some credentials stolen in a data breach - you do NOT want the OTP (One-Time-Passcode) text message appearing in the clear on your Lock Screen!
To avoid this, set notifications on the Lock Screen to hide sensitive information.
To do this on an iPhone or iPad, go to:-
Settings, Notifications and select When Unlocked.
To do this on an Android device, go to:-
Settings, App and notifications or Notifications and turn off Sensitive notifications.
Next Session
Wed 9th November 2022 at 2 pm by Zoom.
