Whether it’s a simple utility, favorite media player, browser addons, games, or expensive programs like Photoshop, everyone has favorite applications that they can’t live without. Here’s a list of five programs that must be installed on all of my computers, in no particular order. Of course there are several more, but these are the first five that popped in my head right away. Google ChromeVLCWinSnapCrashPlanLastPass Also, when you are about to install your favorite free and open source programs, use Ninite....

Originally, I was using SyncToy to keep my main multimedia library in sync with the network drive library. But for inexplicable reasons, SyncToy has been running monstrously slow ever since I upgraded to Windows 7 and Windows 8. Since Microsoft stopped supporting SyncToy about four years ago, it’s unlikely that it’ll be fixed. So, I’ve started using Robocopy instead. And so far, it works great. I can sync a folder pair consisting of my main photo library and a folder on my network drive....

Did we mention that Ron also has a famously irreverent sense of humor that drew a huge number of fans to his columns and features while he was executive editor of PC Computing magazine? His writing has been described as both “lucid” (The New York Times) and “outrageous” (his wife). Ron will also be contributing off-beat news and software reviews. He has studied criticism at the O’Neill Critics Institute and at the National Endowment of Humanities, where he is one of 12 fellows in criticism, he’s been writing reviews of everything from art, movies and books to computers and software for 30 years....

Portable solar panels and solar generators are great to keep you powered up when enjoying outdoor activities, camping, or using your RV in a spot with no power (sometimes those are the best spots!). With the new advances from BLUETTI, solar panels can even provide power at home during power outages at home — no smelly gas generators required! The BLUETTI solar panel product line has a shorter history than its power stations....

Photo Credit: liewcf First, on your iPad go to Settings » General » Bluetooth. Now switch the slider to ON. The Devices field will display and is now searching for Bluetooth devices. I’m connecting a Bluetooth keyboard that came with my iPad case. Verify you have batteries in the keyboard, power it on and press Connect. Keep in mind each Bluetooth keyboard is different, but the process is essentially the same....

The Microsoft Surface includes Bluetooth 4.0 which is the latest version of the wireless protocol and more energy efficient. It’s is backward compatible and allows you to connect your Bluetooth devices easily. Here’s how to find and add Bluetooth devices to the Surface. Bluetooth Microsoft Surface By default, the Bluetooth icon appears on the desktop Taskbar. After turning on the Bluetooth device, you want to pair, click or tap the icon and select “Add a Bluetooth Device....

To access the theme, hit the keyboard shortcut Windows Key + R and type: C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\aero then hit Enter or click OK. Now copy aerolite.msstyles. Then paste it to the Themes folder (the parent file one level up). You’ll get the following message about admin permissions – just click Continue. After that copy aero.theme to the Clipboard. Then paste it to the desktop (so you have the ability to edit it)....

But in Windows 8.x, the feature basic feature is already built-in, sans some the extra features a third-party utility will give you. Here’s a look at how to use it. Different Wallpapers on Each Monitor in Windows 8 Having a different wallpaper on each monitor is easy to set up in Windows 8. In this example I am setting up a different background for a dual-monitor configuration. Right-click an empty are on the desktop and select Personalize....

So far the app is seeing a solid 5-star rating across the board from over 730 early adopters. On the downside, it’s not compatible with older than third generation iOS devices — with the exception of the iPad. The Duolingo mobile dev team is already rolling out updates to fix minor issues reported by users. The app is free, and pledges to be free forever. If you’d like to give it a try, the App is available in the official iTunes App Store....

At the start of a meeting, Right Click the calendar item and Click OneNote OneNote will automatically create a new Note in your Default Notebook and Section with the main details from the Outlook Calendar Item including the subject of the meeting, attendees, time and location and any text in the invite. And because the notes are linked to the Outlook calendar item, just click the Link to Outlook Item hyperlink to return back to the calendar item....

Microsoft usually releases a trial version of its software. Office 2013 (Office 365) is no exception and comes with a 30 day preview. However, Microsoft also included a tool that resets the trial time, it can be ran a total of 6 times. This gives us 6 x 30 days = 180 days of free Office 2013. Not too bad for the price! It doesn’t matter when you do the re-arm, so if you aren’t going to be using Office 2013 for a while just wait until you need it....

Downloading F.lux can be downloaded for free from the official f.lux website. Great things about F.lux is that no matter OS what you might be running, you should be covered since they support pretty much all version of Windows, OSX and even Linus. Using f.lux After installing f.lux you will notice it has a pretty simple interface. 24-Hour Preview You can double-click the orange orb, which shows the current time and monitor state as well as a quick preview of what changes f....

It will be the result of the first public offering of stock for Facebook–the business, web site, and cultural phenomenon created by Zuckerberg. Investors talk about it in terms of Visa and GM’s IPO–only more so. Facebook watchers are saying the IPO will net Facebook $10 billion and give Facebook a total value of $100 billion, 24 percent of which belongs to Zuckerberg. It would put him, at age 27 in May, ahead of Steve Jobs’ net worth and the 35th richest American, according to Forbes....

Opera is the only well-known browser that Facebook could actually acquire. According to Pocket Lint’s sources, Facebook is planning to buy Opera Software, the company that makes the Opera browser. The browser which its makers say has 200 million users and is the fifth most used one last week, according to StatCounter. Buying Opera Software would help Facebook kill two birds with one stone –- Opera has a very good mobile browser....

The most notable of which is controlling your Fire TV with your Alexa device. You’ll be able to activate Alexa with your voice (versus hitting the microphone button on the remote to activate it) and use commands like play, pause, rewind, skip back, jump forward, next show and others. You can also launch apps and search for TV shows and movies. To pair the devices, you need to use the Alexa app on your mobile device or the online version....

Now, Sicore’s note says that they have 160 blockers (bugs, if you will) left and that it usually took them around six weeks to get to the Release Candidate status once they were down to 100. This time, the plan is to finish the hard blockers by the start of next month and to release the final version by the end of the month. I for one can’t wait to see the final version!...

This is a year that users need to think hard about what you buy, read or even empathize about. Earlier in the year, I started seeing the early signs of fake news in my news feed from users, including family and close friends. I never thought too much of it, but as the 2016 U.S. election approached, the floodgates opened. Even after the election, the war on facts continues because, apparently, people are making serious money off fake news....

Free Office Pro Plus Training Microsoft’s pitch for this training includes the following: The new training portal powered by what Microsoft calls the MLX (Modern Learning Experiences) platform provides e-Learning courses for Office 365 Pro Plus subscribers with a targeted catalog of training material. To get started, just log in and begin taking Office 365 online training courses. Office 2016 launched in September and includes many improvements that target enterprise customers such as Outlook Groups, Email Attachments, built in Power Query support, and real-time collaboration....

Startup Google Earth. Go to the top of the screen and find the little Saturn. Click it, and select Mars. Now try to find the coordinates you see at the bottom of the next screenshot. There you will find Meliza, the alien from Mars. How groovy is that! Scout the Martian surface. Maybe you’ll get more alien encounters, or find some left behind vehicles. Let us know what you found....

It wasn’t long ago that we were telling you about Microsoft increasing OneDrive storage for free accounts from 7 GB to 15 GB, and that Office 365 users would receive 1 TB of storage. Then a few months later, Microsoft upped the storage again to 30 GB for mobile users. On the heels of those announcements, the Redmond giant is taking it an even larger leap forward by offering unlimited storage on OneDrive – in case 1 TB wasn’t enough....