Computing & Technology, discussion page
This was formerly a password protected blog page, where only Group Members or other members of Stowmarket U3A who had the password were able able to access it.
The password protection has now been removed, so if you are a member of Stowmarket U3A, please feel free to post your query.
This essentially replaces ‘Agony Corner’, a feature of the previous monthly meetings.
If you have a computing or general digital equipment query, just post a new comment. This can be read by any member of the group and if they have an answer or can direct you to where you might find it, they will reply. There may be more than one person who has an answer and any number of these can offer their reply.
To reply to a question, click the ‘Reply’ just below the post and write in the pop up box, then ‘Send’. If you wish to start a new topic or raise a new question, click where it says “Add your own……” (immediately below) and enter your message in the pop-up box
Stowmarket U3A 
1. Keith Shelton | March 25, 2024 at 12:53 am
I have a touchscreen laptop and for some reason the touchscreen function ceases to work. I have rebooted, disabled and updated the driver but still not working. It is a Microsoft Surface 5 laptop. Any ideas? I thank you in advance for any help or suggestions. Keith Shelton
2. Peter D | March 25, 2024 at 1:49 am
Keith – Nice to see the system is still working!!
I’ve found some info for you here, https://tinyurl.com/376vptj8, which may point you in the right direction….
Not sure now how many of our members will see your query here, so why not join our WhatsApp Q&A group and post again there? I’ll send the invite in an an email….
Peter
3. Jean | February 20, 2023 at 2:54 pm
My new financial year starts in April. I use an excel spreadsheet with a main page and sheet one for sundries. I want to be able to transfer the monthly total from sheet one to appear on the main page. Can you tell me the formula to insert, please. I do the figures monthly. I have tried “Learn free” but did not find the answer!.
4. Peter D | February 20, 2023 at 5:38 pm
Jean
No problem. On sheet 1, highlight the cell with the monthly total, right click this and ‘Copy’. Go back to the main page, left click on the cell where you want the information to go then right click again > Paste > Paste special > Paste Link > left click.
All changes you make to the cell on sheet 1 will show in the new location on the main page.
Peter
5. John H | June 12, 2022 at 11:44 am
Suggestions needed.
My pc died with a blue screen recently. I tried troubleshooting to remove the latest update, but that didn’t wothen shuts down, but does not restartrk. I then obtained a repair disc which appeared to do the job, until it got to a blue screen with the following on it – ‘Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We’ll rrestart it for you.
Error message – Stopcode 0xc000021A’
The PC then shuts down, but does not restart
6. Peter D | June 13, 2022 at 10:11 pm
John
This looks tricky! I’ve done the usual Google search for the error message and find that there are reams of information available, much of it quite convoluted. I’ve found this video,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBEWoMl3I6k (in English) which summarises much of the content I’ve read elsewhere and may be of some help. Possibly, one of our members could give some constructive advice.
Peter
7. Peter D | June 14, 2022 at 9:18 pm
Testing, testing, testing!
8. Keith Shelton | September 23, 2021 at 11:59 am
Hopefully this enables me to add a new topic (and nor reply to previous topics). For some reason my gmail account does not enable me to receive emails.with attachments. I am able to receive emails without attachments. I have tried different browsers (chrome, firefox, edge) and different email platforms (mail, web-based outlook and gmail and apps on mobile phone), but the result is the same. Research on google suggests that it might be something to do with the filters (I have filtered out attachments?) but I cannot find how to check this. Any suggestions will be most appreciated. Thank you.
9. Peter D | September 23, 2021 at 1:16 pm
Keith
You’ve obviously gone into a lot of research already so I won’t attempt an answer straight away. The message should have triggered an alert with the other C&T members but if I get nowhere, I’ll circulate it directly.
I doubt if it’s a browser error, more a Gmail idiosyncrasy. Has this always been the case or is it just recent?
Peter
10. Keith Shelton | September 23, 2021 at 8:55 pm
It has only occurred in the last week or so. My alternative email accounts, which also come through, say, outlook, do enable me to receive emails with attachments – it is only my gmail email address which seems to have the problem. A number of different people have sent me attachments, none of which have been delivered, so I think the problem is at my end (not the sender’s)
11. Keith Shelton | September 26, 2021 at 8:56 pm
Just to let you know I have solved the problem I had regarding the inability to receive emails with attachments in my gmail email account. The solution was……
“Clicked on the cogwheel (settings) and then clicked on “All Settings”. Clicked on “Forwarding and POP/IMAP”. In the “Forwarding” section, pressed “Disable forwarding”. Saved. Now checked if I could receive emails with attachments now. It was successful. Revisited “Forwarding” section in “All Settings” and clicked on “Forward a copy of incoming mail to” again. Saved. Problem solved.”
Thank you to all those who offered support and help.
12. Peter D | September 30, 2021 at 12:18 pm
Keith
Glad it all worked out in the end!
Peter
13. David Potter | September 23, 2021 at 5:10 pm
Hi Keith
Having spent some time delving into this question it looks as though it is quite a complex problem to solve.
Can I ask if it’s possible that you have “safe browsing” set up within your Gmail account?
You could also try to temporarily pause the actions of any browser extensions that may be adding some sort of restriction and scrutiny to your email downloads.
Beyond this, I’m not sure where else to advise you to look.
Have a look at this webpage for some guidance on Safe Browsing.
https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/9890866
Although you have probably already read this support page I have added it just in case you haven’t come across it yet!
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/30719?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
Please let me know how you get on
Regards
David Potter
14. Keith Shelton | September 23, 2021 at 9:03 pm
Thank you David. I will check and get back to you
15. Peter D | September 23, 2021 at 9:35 pm
Keith
Silly question – have you checked your spam folder? Assuming that’s not the case, here are another couple of sites that may be able to throw some light on the problem,
https://tinyurl.com/ye27hd6n (this one poses your exact problem) and https://askleo.com/how-to-get-email-with-attachments-delivered/ – Ask Leo is always full of useful information.
In the meantime, I’ll send two emails to your Gmail address one with a PDF attachment and the other with a link to the same file on Google Drive and we’ll see what that throws up.
Peter
16. Colin Hardy | November 22, 2020 at 8:31 am
Does anyone have experience of SSD drives I am thinking of using one to store my ‘Pictures’ folder on as the folder is getting very big 222GB. I have an old Seagate 1TB drive which I may experiment with. What I hope is that if I have to buy a new computer I can load Lightroom on to it and link it to the ‘Pictures’ folder on the SSD drive.
Thanks for your help, Colin
17. Dave | November 22, 2020 at 11:34 am
Hi Colin
This shouldn’t be a problem, once you have connected an external drive, either an SSD or your 1TB Hard drive via a USB port on your computer, you should have no trouble finding it in your Explore window.
It’s then simply a case of copying the files from your existing hard drive to the new one, either using the copy and paste method or simply doing drag and drop.
Please feel free to come back to me for more information if you need it.
Regards
David Potter
18. Colin Hardy | November 22, 2020 at 4:20 pm
Thanks Peter I will try dragging the whole content of the ‘Pictures’ folder onto the ssd drive. Then try the ssd drive on another computer (a mac).
If it works is there any reason why I should not leave the pictures folder on the ssd drive and work from there? The mac I borrow from by wife and I think it only has 256gb of memory hence the wish to operate from the ssd. I may buy a mac.
thanks a lot for your time and help, Colin
19. Peter D | November 22, 2020 at 4:41 pm
Colin
It was Dave who replied to you first, not me!
You can use an external drive, SSD or HDD as either a file back up or for permanent store as you wish.
SSDs have come down in price a lot recently and are certainly worth considering. You may recollect that Roy stores his Photoshop pictures on a portable drive (not sure whether it’s SSD or HDD though) so he can switch between his desk top and lap top computers.
Peter
20. Colin | November 22, 2020 at 6:55 pm
Sorry Dave did not realise it was your reply but very useful thanks Colin
21. bryan hilton | May 2, 2020 at 6:34 pm
Apologies, it’s me again.
I now find that although the Bluetooth icon shows in the bottom right of the laptop screen, the device will not recognise any other Bluetooth-enabled device – even my smartphone. And I’ve rebooted the Bluetooth function on the laptop.
I have seen (inconclusive) references to problems caused by a Windows Update. What do you guys think?
22. bryan hilton | May 1, 2020 at 11:49 am
I thought my smartphone had died – but it was only a dodgy charging cable! Phew!
Made me realise though that all my contacts are on that fone.
Does anyone now how you can copy onto a hard disk or PC?
23. Ann Williams | April 29, 2020 at 9:15 pm
Have you tried Zamzar? It’s been recommended in Computeractive and I found it works well.
24. Peter D | April 29, 2020 at 10:16 pm
Ann, I think should be in the thread below!?
Yes, I’ve often used Zamzar in the past but when I tried it for this exercise it resulted in a lot of text overlays which was impossible to edit.
Peter
25. bryan hilton | April 28, 2020 at 1:07 pm
With time to spare, I’m frustrated that I can’t edit a pdf with the version of Acrobat I’ve got, without upgrading to the paid version. Can anyone recommend a freebie?
26. Peter D | April 28, 2020 at 9:44 pm
Bryan
Your best bet is to use an online converter. I’ve used several, but the best I’ve found is https://www.onlineocr.net/.
Just upload a PDF and select .doc or .docx to convert to. It only takes a few moments and then presents your file to download. Do your edits on the Word document and then use ‘save as’ to recreate your PDF. QED!
Onlineocr gives you (I think) unlimited conversions of single page PDFs. If you want to convert multi-page PDFs then you have to register; this gives 50 pages of conversions for free, after this there’s a small charge for each extra 50 pages.
Peter
27. Bryan Hilton | April 29, 2020 at 6:53 am
Thanks, Peter. I’ll give it a go.
Best wishes
Bryan
28. Colin Hardy | April 29, 2020 at 7:10 am
If you open word then go to ‘File’ ‘Open’, and search for the PDF file and double click on it word will try to open it. You will get message saying it is converting and that some formatting may be lost (I have never found this to be the case).
If you are lucky most docs will open then in Word and you will be able to edit them.
Best wishes, Colin
29. Peter D | April 29, 2020 at 11:20 am
Colin
I’ve checked on this and it only works with Word 2013 onward. I tried with Word 2010 to no avail.
Another root to consider is Google Docs.. have a look at this….
1: Go to your Google drive and log in to your account. Once inside, click on “Upload” icon to upload files on to your account. This will allow you to browse for the PDF file on your computer.
2: Once the file had been uploaded, right click on it and then select “Open With > Google Docs”.
3: In the popup window that appears, browse to choose the target image and then click “Open” to import it (pictures wont be imported).
4: Edit your PDF as needed. You can change, add, or delete text like you would for a regular Google Docs document.Your PDF’s formatting may change depending on the type of PDF it was before you opened it in Google Docs.
5:Download the edited PDF. Click File, select the Download as option in the drop-down menu, and click PDF Document in the resulting pop-out menu. This will convert the document back into a PDF and download it onto your computer.You can also click Microsoft Word instead of PDF if you want to save the PDF as a Word document in order to edit it later.
Peter
30. bryan hilton | May 1, 2020 at 12:22 pm
Thank you Colin for your helpful advice
31. bryan hilton | May 1, 2020 at 11:55 am
thanks Peter for the advice. tried it and it works nicely
32. bryan hilton | April 27, 2020 at 5:25 pm
Hi guys and girls.
I had my laptop connected to a separate speaker – great for listening to Spotify music. But the laptop suddenly cannot see the speaker any more.
Any ideas?
Bryan H
33. Peter D | April 27, 2020 at 10:02 pm
Bryan
I’m assuming that the speaker works OK from other sources?
I know nothing about Spotify so I put your question into Google and found that this is a very common problem.
So common in fact that there are a multitude of solutions – you can find just one here https://tinyurl.com/ycmg87k6
…………….maybe others can give you a more specific answer.
Peter
34. Gill Charlton | September 13, 2019 at 3:27 pm
Testing the auto email system!
35. Peter D | September 13, 2019 at 5:19 pm
Thanks, Gill
We’ll see if you get the response now?!
Peter
36. Gill Charlton | September 13, 2019 at 5:28 pm
Yes, got your response in an email!
37. Peter D | September 13, 2019 at 6:02 pm
Great! I’ll remind everyone about this in my followup email
Peter
38. Colin Hardy | September 14, 2019 at 7:19 am
Thanks to all those who helped me with formatting and wrapping photos so they do not move around when pasted into word.
In fact experimenting I have now found that ‘Paint’ is useful program for doing this, saving the final image as a PDF and pasting that into word as a single item.
again thanks for all the help, Colin
39. Colin Hardy | September 10, 2019 at 10:30 am
I have to put some photos into ‘Word’ I find that when I try to put 3-4 photos together they start to jump all over the page (even if I change the ‘wrap’/ layout function for each photo.
What I need is an ‘easel’ onto which can place as many photos as I want and they stay in the place where I put them. To some extent the MS programme ‘Paint’ allows me to do this then I ‘save as’ a pdf and paste into word.
Does anyone know of free software that allows me to do this?
Thanks for you help, Coli
40. Peter D | September 10, 2019 at 2:27 pm
Colin
You should be able to insert pictures into Word without this happening. Drag your picture from Explore into Word, click it to select, then on the ribbon, Picture Tools, format, Wrap text, ‘Square’. It then can be resized and moved around, and any text will wrap around accordingly.
If it still doesn’t work for you, try using Fastone Image viewer. You may already have it; if not you can get it via Ninite.
Open Fastone, select one of the images you want then go to Print – Design and Print. You can select the page size you want, import as many pictures you want and manoeuvre them into position. You can also add text as well if required. When you are happy, save the whole as a jpg which can the be dragged into Word and positioned as a whole where ever you like.
Hope this helps
Peter
41. Colin Hardy | September 10, 2019 at 2:59 pm
Thanks Peter I will try ‘Fastone’ best wishes, Colin
42. Jean Roche | September 9, 2019 at 4:53 pm
Since I upgraded to Windows 10 the “Welcome” picture is out of focus. All other pictures are OK. Any idea how to fix this, please?
43. Peter D | September 9, 2019 at 10:58 pm
Jean
This is a feature introduced in Windows 10 1903. If you don’t like it, just follow the steps:
Windows Start > Cog wheel (settings) > Personalisation > Colours. On that page look for ‘Transparent effects’ and click to switch off.
Next time you switch on you will get the current picture in all its glory.
You can revert back, of course, at any time.
Peter
44. bryan hilton | September 1, 2019 at 8:47 am
Sorry Peter, but the “add your own” button doesn’t seem to work for me; so my plea is here:
I’ve a Galaxy 7 Edge fone and am paranoid about losing the Contacts and Calendar on it…but backing up to the cloud doesn’t meet my need.
Can anyone please tell me how to sync both with Office Outlook on my laptop – maybe via Bluetooth?
Thanks, oh wise ones. Bryan
45. Peter D | September 2, 2019 at 10:11 pm
Bryan
You did arrive in the right place – at the top with a new query.
I’m no expert in all matters ‘smart phone’ but have done a little research on your behalf. This link https://tinyurl.com/yy98o2cd gives you a step by step (32 of them!) guide.
Hope other members who may already have done this can give more help.
Peter
46. bryan hilton | September 3, 2019 at 11:05 am
Thank you Peter. that looks v comprehensive. B
47. bryan hilton | July 4, 2019 at 7:56 am
Following our long discussion last time about Win 10 updates and their possible effects, I’ve been finding that attachments I receive (or even send!) do not get automatically downloaded with the associated message.
I’ve searched Outlook Options but cannot see how to adjust the level of security (as it seems to be that sort of issue)
48. Bryan Hilton | June 25, 2019 at 9:08 am
Well, thanks Dave. I’ll just have to keep an eye on my unused storage!
In the meantime, I can clean out some . Is it Ctrl +Shift to collect a bunch of files?
49. Peter D | June 25, 2019 at 11:39 pm
Bryan
Did you mean to start a new thread?
Re your Ctrl+Shift query, that’s nearly there but not quite right. If you have a contiguous list of files which you wish to delete, then – left click on the first, press Shift then click on the last. This will select all which can then be deleted together (right click whilst on the selection, then ‘Delete).
If, however, you don’t want to select them all or they are not all together then – click on the first one then press Ctrl while you click on the remainder individually and delete as above.
You original query, below, has actually proved quite useful to me. Dave’s quite right in saying that you have to be careful with software solutions. Putting your query into Google brings up a myriad of answers, usually with Ccleaner at the top of the list. I’ve never used it and would be reluctant to now as it’s received a lot of bad press in recent times.
I did come across ‘Glary Utilities’ (which I’ve heard about but never used), however, which seems to get good reviews all round. Here’s the home site which tells you all about it https://www.glarysoft.com/ , but I downloaded mine from Ninite, https://ninite.com/ .
Frankly, I’ve been amazed at what it can show you (including finding duplicate files with exact description and location) and do to clean up your system. There’s too much to describe here but there are plenty of You Tube videos which show you and I’ve uploaded a screen shot here https://u3astowmarket.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/glary-utilities.jpg
showing the advanced options
Today, I’ve checked duplicate files, backed up the registry, done updates to a variety of programmes plus several other things. Now, here’s the good news…. at the meeting on 14th June I’d described how I’d successfully installed 1903 on two laps tops but was waiting for it to be offered on my desk top. That evening I checked my Windows Update situation and at long last there was the message that 1903 was available.
Having made sure that my various backups were in place, I clicked the button in anticipation. It reached 99% in it’s original download then failed with an error message. I checked this on the web and as usual got lots of possible reasons and solutions – none worked. Since then I’ve tried many times but always got a failure somewhere along the line.
Glary Utilities has ‘Registry Repair’ and ‘Repair System Files’ options which identifies and repairs in one sweep, so I gave them a try. With some trepidation, I tried the up date again and lo and behold within an hour I had 1903 fully installed!
Thanks, then, for your original query which led me to this – without that I’d still be struggling!
Peter
50. Bryan Hilton | June 22, 2019 at 9:53 am
DUPLICATE FILES
For reasons unknown, I seem to have accumulated a large number of duplicated files on both my Galaxy tablet, and my Tosh laptop.
What would you recommend as the safest/simplest way to remove all duplicates and free up storage space? Thank you.
51. David Potter | June 24, 2019 at 8:13 pm
Hi Bryan
Unfortunately this is a problem that is very difficult to solve.
All of the duplicate file finding software I have used just lists every duplicate file that it finds without clearly identifying what the file is .
You can’t just delete all the duplicates as some of them could easily be similar file that used in several different programs.
Maybe Peter will have a solution to this problem but otherwise I think the safe way would be to delete them individually, which I know it’s a terribly time-consuming and boring job.
Sorry I can’t be of more help
Dave
52. David Warner | June 16, 2019 at 2:23 pm
Unfortunately I couldn’t make it on Friday but I do have a question as follows:
I’ve recently received notification that support for Windows 7 which my laptop runs on is not going to be provided from January next year and I won’t receive security updates or technical support. Does this mean that I need to be looking to buy a new laptop and/or what else might I need to look out for?
David W
53. Peter D | June 17, 2019 at 12:06 am
Dave
There’s some time left but you should be looking to upgrade to Windows 10 sometime soon. Whilst in theory the availability of a free upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10 is long past, it seems that this may still possible in a kind of unofficial way.
On the web opinion is divided, some saying it’s possible others that it doesn’t work. The most common is that if you have a valid Windows 7 licence then this becomes the digital licence for Windows 10. The article here goes through the methodology, https://zd.net/2KOYT2M .
If you do decide to try this, make sure you back up all your documents and pictures to a separate hard dive first.
If it comes down to to the fact that you do have to pay for the upgrade (£120) you may decide to invest in a new lap top instead which can be quite cost effective these days.
Dave P may be able to throw some more light on this topic for you.
Peter
54. Dave Potter | June 17, 2019 at 8:04 am
Hi David
It’s a shame that you couldn’t make it on Friday as this could have provided a very interesting topic of conversation at the meeting.
With regard to your question, I think that Peter’s comments are absolutely right.
The first option has got to be attempting the free upgrade to Windows 10.
The second option, a new laptop, really depends on how old your existing one is and whether it is doing the job that you need to do . If it’s fulfilling your current needs without any problems it does seem a shame to replace it just for the sake of the windows upgrade.
If you do a Google search for the “Windows upgrade assistant“ and run this program, Microsoft will test your computer to see that it is compatible with the latest Windows 10 version and that will give you guidance on whether your laptop is suitable.
An option that we have discussed some time ago at the club, and both John and I have successfully taken advantage of, is the possibility of buying a digital license on eBay from one of the companies that scrap laptops and sell on the license.
There are two potential problems with this, one is that I have heard rumours of the license expiring after one or two years, I don’t quite understand why this should be but it has been an issue that’s been raised. The second issue is, as with anything on eBay, you have to be reasonably confident that the seller is selling a genuine article, but to put this into context I believe John successfully bought a license for £10 and I recollect that I paid a similar amount. So it’s not as though you are risking large sums of money!
If you need to discuss this further please feel free to post more details in another question.
David Potter
55. Bryan Hilton | June 17, 2019 at 10:22 am
As I’ve come to expect, David’s answer goes further – and even more helpfully – than I could have expected.
Bryan
56. David Potter | June 17, 2019 at 12:14 pm
Thank you Bryan
Dave
57. David | June 18, 2019 at 11:05 am
Thanks for your comments
I notice my resistance to trying to upgrade, but my computer is not even 7 years old and working well at the moment. Can I keep running without support and what are the dangers of not having the support? I did the google search and there are so many options that I’m unsure where to start. The link I find confusing and not sure I would like to start that process not knowing how it might result. Before I do anything I also need to get a hard disc and backup as advised at the last meeting which I still haven’t got round to yet. I have until January 2020 before support stops so have some time.
David
58. Dave | June 18, 2019 at 2:52 pm
Hi David
First things first, make sure that the backup hard disk you choose to purchase is at least as big as the hard disk on your computer/laptop.
If you can choose a more modern SSD type of hard disk as you will find that the read and the right speeds to and from it and much faster and the whole process will be quicker.
Ideally you should be looking for a hard disk that just plugs into a USB port on your machine and comes with backup software preprogrammed into it.
Once you have got through the backup stage we can address the upgrade issues a step at a time.
Regards
Dave
59. David Warner | June 19, 2019 at 5:26 pm
Thanks Dave
I will get on with buying a hard drive now
David
60. Ann Williams | May 11, 2019 at 12:53 pm
I haven’t had this problem myself but I seem to remember seeing something about editing the right click context menu in a fairly recent issue of Computeractive. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to locate it yet.
A search on the internet does seem to agree with Peter in recommending editing the registry (not something I would undertake lightly!), or to use 3rd party software. I’m sorry I can’t be more help.
61. John H | May 10, 2019 at 10:53 am
My PC having expired I now have a new one. Fine, except that I have a mouse problem – I can ‘copy’, but ‘paste’ does not show. also, in one case, the drop down does not appear at all (copying the licence code into the box in the programme). two mice tried.
Any suggestions
62. Peter D | May 10, 2019 at 5:06 pm
John
It’s more likely to be a Windows issue not a mouse problem. As you know, the context menu is exactly that, so it shows different options depending on what you are doing. We looked at this in detail first in 2012 and again in 2016, https://tinyurl.com/y6kvwvz7 . Often the ‘Paste’ option won’t appear until you’ve used ‘Copy’ but in others like Office programmes it’s there all the while. Is it the case that you never see it what ever you are doing?.
I’ve found a video which shows you how to correct context menu errors, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-tBAMj5g1g but it does mean going into the registry!
There are also software solutions – one I’ve read about (but not used!) is Easy Context Editor. Seems to be from a reputable source and might be worth a try but check its safe with Virus Total and Malware Bytes before you install,
https://tinyurl.com/yyjm453r .
Has anyone else got any more information on this topic?
Peter
63. John H | May 12, 2019 at 11:58 am
I am wary about working in the registry, although I have done it in the past, but the Ctrl+c and Ctrl+V method shown in the YouTube video works, so I will use that for the time being.
Thanks
64. Bryan Hilton | March 18, 2019 at 8:46 am
Sorry Colin. Although I also have Word 2013 I’ve not encountered that problem.
But I’m sure there’ll be someone in the Group who will be able to help.
Regards Bryan
65. Colin Hardy | March 17, 2019 at 10:06 pm
I am having problems loading PDF document into Word 2013.
When I try I get a message “This image cannot currently be displayed”.
But when I load it into the version of Word on my wife’s computer it loads up fine as an image which can be selected and sized, all that I need for a newsletter that I produce.
Can I change the setup of Word 2013 so that it accepts PDF docs. at least so that they can be sized and put into a word Doc?
Thanks Colin Hardy
66. David Potter | March 18, 2019 at 8:38 am
Hi Colin
I’ve had a quick look at this and find I have a similar problem using Word 2007.
If you convert the PDF file to a JPG file, Word will treat i as a picture.
Try using this link
https://pdftoimage.com
Hope this helps
Dave
67. Colin Hardy | March 18, 2019 at 4:37 pm
Thanks Dave certainly JPG are a lot easier to work with so I will try this site, many thanks for getting back to me. Colin
68. David Potter | March 18, 2019 at 8:41 am
Hi Colin
you could also try this link, if you are going to do this regularly just download this program, I have used it many times over the years.
https://www.microsoft.com/store/productId/9WZDNCRDQCQX
Dave
69. Peter D | March 18, 2019 at 11:20 am
Colin
I am still using Office 2010 and it’s straightforward to copy/paste a PDF into that, if all you want is a picture. I don’t see why this shouldn’t work in 2013 in the same way? However, if you truly want an editable PDF in Word, suggest you read this article which shows you how to do it, https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-edit-a-pdf-document-in-word-2013/ whilst also saying that it not always reliable.
A very simple way to convert PDF to an editable Word document is to use an online converter. Two I use regularly are https://www.onlineocr.net/ and https://www.zamzar.com/ . Good Luck!
Peter
70. Colin Hardy | March 18, 2019 at 4:47 pm
Thanks David I will have a look at this, all best Colin
71. Bryan Hilton | June 28, 2018 at 10:21 am
I followed the Links Peter found (regarding my problem below) and…..
All is now well. Thank you to the Forum
72. Bryan Hilton | June 25, 2018 at 12:19 pm
I recently found that Word 2016 would not let me Save As into a folder on my computer. It referred to the document I was “trying to merge” – which I was not – to “try again later”… I did that several times, but to no avail.
The problem occurred just after I had downloaded a Windows 10 update. and given stories I had heard, I did wonder…………..
73. Peter D | June 25, 2018 at 10:48 pm
I haven’t come across this problem myself but I don’t think that it is necessarily anything to do with the latest Windows update other than you might have accidentally activated syncing with OneDrive? Putting the query into Google shows that it is a common problem, see this forum page https://tinyurl.com/y96659sk and there’s a link to a MS solution https://tinyurl.com/ycoq67w8
Any one else had any problems like this?
74. John | June 26, 2018 at 4:21 pm
I have just tried this, and ‘save as’ gives Onedrive at the top, but if you select ‘this PC’ (the second item) you can then choose the folder that you wish to use.
75. Ann Williams | June 27, 2018 at 2:52 pm
I haven’t had any problems like this – the latest update seems to have been trouble free, thank goodness!
76. Peter D | May 23, 2018 at 1:16 pm
Here’s a list of Q&As that have arison in recent months. Some have been raised directly with me by members, others reflect issues that I’ve come across and have had to deal with myself.
Q. “My router lights are flashing and I’ve ‘lost’ my mouse pointer so can’t do anything on my PC. The mouse is wire connected USB”.
A. It’s highly unlikely that the router/internet connection has caused the mouse to disappear. All routers have some flashing lights at some time which only become relavent if there’s an internet problem. Mice can be affected by all sorts of things, e.g. drivers can be corrupted during a Windows update. USB drive access points can also spontaneously stop working. Suggest you move the mouse connection to another USB socket on the PC.
This was successful and the mouse is working successfully.
Q. “When I click on the ‘please click for email to Peter Dakeyne’ on the Computer group page, nothing happens. What’s wrong here?”
A. There are no personal email addresses on our web site but there are several including the Committee officers and mine that are set up to be anonymous, hiding the origin. In this case, when clicked your default email client should open a blank email with this address webmaster@u3astowmarket.org.uk, e.g in my case this would be Windows Live Mail.
I note you have a Gmail account and unlesss for other reasons it’s been set up, your machine will not identify it as the ‘default’.
To do this, open your Gmail account page look at the right hand end of the address bar. You should see a double diamond like icon – hover over this and it says ‘This page wants to install a service handler’. Click and a drop down box gives the options Allow, Deny, Ignore. Click the ‘Allow’ and save. If you now try the link in the web page again, hopefully it will open a new Gmail message addressed to webmaster@u3astowmarket.org.uk.
This was successful.
Q. Follow up to December Agony Corner question: “I have a message to say my Premium trial (of Malware Bytes) expires in 5 days. It says upgrade to avoid losing real time protection. Either I “Upgrade now” or “Activate license”. Do I just click on upgrade? Will it still be free?”
A. Answer was – “Just ignore it! The messages are just there to scare you into buying the premium version. The free version will continue to work as normal”.
This is correct, but please note that it seems impossible these days to get the free version of Malware bytes without accepting the 30 day trial of the premium, real time protection version. If you wish, however, it is possible to stop these nagging messages altogether…….
Open the Malware Bytes control panel; click Settings; click Account Details; at the bottom, click Deactivate Premium Trial, and all messages go. If you don’t do this and accept the nags after 30 day it will tell you that its expired, but you will still be able to scan on demand as normal. Sooner or later you will receive an offer to accept another 30 day trial. It’s your choice!
Q. “I want to set up a timed back up to an external USB drive. This needs a specific drive letter to funtion correctly but its not always the same. Can I set a permanent drive letter?”
A. Apart from the main C:, Windows assigns drive letters to whatever type of drive is available—floppies, internal hard disks, optical drives, SD cards, and external USB drives. This can be annoying—especially in cases such as above.
It is quite eay to fix however, but be sure to select a drive letter later in the alphabet (say,’s’ onward) that is unlikely to be assigned randomly by Windows. You can find full instructions here… https://tinyurl.com/ya3rye5b
Q. “I’ve read that in the latest versions of Windows, it’s possible to set Windows Defender to block ransomware encrypting valuable files. How do I do this?”
A. In Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Windows Defender Exploit Guard was released, with a new set of intrusion prevention capabilities. One of its features, Controlled folder access, stops ransomware in its tracks by preventing unauthorized access to important files. Controlled folder access locks down folders, allowing only authorized apps to access files. Unauthorized apps, including ransomware and other malicious executable files, DLLs, and scripts are denied access to folders.
How to enable Controlled folder access – follow this link for detailed instructions, https://tinyurl.com/ycmullaj . (Ignore later instructions relating to ‘Group Policy’ and ‘Powershell’)
Q. “The icon for Windows File Explorer has disappeared from the Start menu. How do I get it back?”
A. At times, the File Explorer icon might go missing from the Start menu for no specific reason, forcing you to launch File Explorer using other methods. It’s useful to have different methods available to open File explorer so that you can have two or more windows open to enable drag and drop or copy and paste of files to different folders. File Explorer usually can be launched from the Task bar as well as by pressing the Windows key + E.
If the File Explorer is missing from the Start menu in Windows 10, you can easily restore it as follows.
Step 1: Open Settings by clicking its icon in the lower left area of Start menu or simultaneously pressing Windows logo and I keys.
Step 2: Once the Settings is launched, click Personalization, and then click Start.
Step 3: Click Choose which folders appear on Start link. Turn on the option labelled File Explorer to add File Explorer back to the Start menu.
77. John | January 15, 2018 at 12:29 pm
I bought a Seagate Slim Backup Plus drive. It does not work on my pc, but is OK on the laptop. I contacted Seagate, and have followed all their suggestions without success. It appears in Disk Management, but not in File Explorer, which is where I need it for ‘drag & drop’. It also does not work wish Seagate Dashboard, which is less essential to me.Both the pc and the laptop have AMD processors, and are running W10, version 1709.
Any suggestions (while I still have some hair)
78. Peter D | January 15, 2018 at 1:22 pm
John
As the Seagate drive works ok on the laptop but not on the PC it’s obvious that the drive is itself not faulty but its communications with the PC are. I’m no expert on these kind of hardware issues so I copied/pasted the whole of your question into Google search and it seems that a lot of people are having almost the identical problem with this particular drive. It might be you can find the solution somewhere there.
In the meantime, I know that Dave P has a lot of experience with external drive installation/use and he may be able to point you in the right direction?
Peter
79. David Potter | January 23, 2018 at 9:26 am
Hi John
I remember reading an article in computer active last year that looked at a similar problem to yours.
In this particular case the reader had written with a similar query and the answer given was that if the disk drive was not formatted to a recognisable Windows 10 format then file explorer wouldn’t be able to recognise it.
So maybe this is something you could explore further by going into device manager and attempting to format your portable Seagate drive.
Hope this helps
Dave
80. David Potter | January 15, 2018 at 1:59 pm
Hi John
My initial suggestion would be that you click on Start and in the search box type “device manager”.
Open device manager and under the subheading “disc drives” right click and a drop down menu will offer “search for hardware changes”– click on this and see if it finds your new drive
If it doesn’t work after that, go down the menu to “portable devices” and see if clicking there will give you a positive result .
Regards
Dave
81. JohnH | February 20, 2018 at 10:57 am
Sorry for the delay in responding. The new backup drive is now recognised having been given a drive letter in diskmgr, as have two old drives ex old pc’s. I still have one Seagate drive that does not appear, but I will battle on!
82. David Potter | November 13, 2017 at 3:29 pm
Re: Windows File history / Backup
Hi Brian
If you wish to use Windows 10 backup then Peters recommended weblink gives you all you should need to know, however if you can’t get along with it let me know, as their are some third party products that do a very good job, and are often free!
Regards
Dave
83. JohnH | January 19, 2018 at 10:40 am
David,
Yes it appears in Device Manager, but not where I need it – File Manager. Also,it is listed in Dashboard, but when I set up a backup plan it does not appear, only cloud options.
I suspect that one of the W10 updates is causing the problem, so I will be investigating that.
Seagate havegiven me loads of options, none of which have worked!
84. Peter D | January 19, 2018 at 11:00 pm
John
I think you put your reply under the wrong message! Anyway….you say that you’ve received info from Seagate that hasn’t helped. Did they by any chance direct you to this trouble shooting page..https://tinyurl.com/lybn6op ?
There are also a couple of Youtube Videos that may help…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ3FLaU2hhk and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg_zE3tm6OI.
Peter
85. Peter D | November 13, 2017 at 12:10 pm
Having circulated some information on Bcc in emails to the Committee and Group Convenors, I’ve received this message and it seems appropriate to post the query here for, perhaps, a response from our iPad users.
“Thank you for your email re bcc.
Just a thought. We will need to include access to bcc from Apple devices
You may not have one but many people use Apple tablets and laptops.
Maybe we can have a go at showing how they too may always use the bcc tab.
Many thanks….”
Peter
86. David Potter | November 13, 2017 at 3:35 pm
Hi Peter
I’m not sure I understand the problem here, so can you send me an email with the bcc issue included, so that I can open it on my iPad and try to get my head around it.
Regards
Dave
87. Peter D | November 13, 2017 at 4:09 pm
Will do!
88. JohnH | November 13, 2017 at 5:40 pm
I have just experimented on my ipod, and when I went to send an email the form had the line cc/bcc. When I selected this it split into two lines, cc and bcc.
An address can be entered in the bcc box in the same way as Windows pc’s work
89. David Potter | November 14, 2017 at 6:39 pm
Hi Peter
The reason some people may not see the “cc/bcc” option on their iPad is that it is switched off.
To activate it, open “settings” on the main screen and then scroll down to “Mail” and tap it.
In the “Mail” heading scroll down to “Show cc” and slide the adjacent switch to “on”.
This should cure the problem.
Regards
Dave
90. Bryan | November 12, 2017 at 10:12 am
With an earlier version of Windows, I used File History to back up to a separate hard disk.
Can’t see how to do it in Windows 10.
Help please. Bryan
91. Peter D | November 13, 2017 at 12:02 pm
Bryan.. I haven’t used file history myself but there’s plenty of guidance on the web. Here’s just one.. https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-file-history-back-your-files .
I’ve read mixed reviews about Windows File History back up, particularly about the cumulative increase in space taken on the external drive. Reading through, ‘tho, it seems that this is manageable.
Any other members using Windows file history to add to the debate??
Peter
92. Bryan h | October 23, 2017 at 7:28 am
Today I notice the ad is for Groupon, an outfit I have bought from.
But how I/others prevent our recent transactions interfering with our Forum remains the question
93. Peter D | October 23, 2017 at 9:47 pm
Bryan – This would more properly be a continuation of the thread below started with your October 17 query rather than a new comment. As explained, we can get rid of the ads altogether by paying £36.00 per year. This should really be put to the Committee though as the ads affect the whole site, not just our discussion page (although I agree they are more intrusive here).
In the mean time you could install Adblock or Adblock Plus and disable the ‘Permit acceptable Ads’ option. Please see the links below in my reply to your first question where you will be able to find how to do this.
94. Bryan h | October 24, 2017 at 7:13 am
I have now installed Adblock. Watch this – I hope – space!!
95. bryan | October 17, 2017 at 1:08 pm
Why have ads started to appear on our Forum page?
96. Peter D | October 22, 2017 at 10:33 pm
Bryan – Thanks for posting this query. I have been aware for some about the potential for WordPress to show ads because of this https://photos.app.goo.gl/GuQokoHNtXGGUDua2 message when I load a new document. However, to date I’d not seen any adverts so I assumed that we weren’t affected.
Since you raised the query, I’ve discovered that WordPress allows the inclusion of ‘acceptable’ ads as a way to raise funds to keep WordPress free but as the’owner’of the site I’m always logged in and the ads do not show. Acceptable ads are supposed to be non intrusive, of small size and appear at the end of text. They will usually relate to something you have recently bought or searched for on you device. There’s more detailed information on the pages from Adblock Plus, https://tinyurl.com/76lxct5, and Adblock https://tinyurl.com/ydgmzrfx.
Pressure on these software providers has forced them to allow these ‘acceptable’ ads by default, but as described in these articles this can be overridden to hide the ads.
I have experimented on another machine having logged out of WordPress and proved that this is possible.
On our site, the ads all appear at the bottom of the page apart, unfortunately, on our private discussion page where they appear below the text but immediately above the Q&A comments and answers.
Wordpress do have an upgrade option that for a payment of £36.00 pa, all ads would be removed.
I would be interested in other members’ views on this. Have you experienced the ads? Do you find them intrusive or could you live wth them? Do you think that our U3A should pay the money to keep the site totally free?
Peter
97. JohnH | October 23, 2017 at 7:50 am
When I was not logged in to WP on my tablet the ads took up the screen. After I logged in, like you, they did not appear. I would be willing to contribute towards the upgrade to stop the for everyone.
98. Ann Williams | October 23, 2017 at 10:04 am
I had noticed the ads too – they are rather intrusive as they are large and appear before the Q&A comments and answers. I use Adblock Plus and had wondered why they still appeared and now understand that these are deemed to be ‘acceptable ads’. £36 is not a high price to keep the site ad-free if the majority of users would like them removed.
99. Peter D | October 23, 2017 at 9:34 pm
Ann – pending a decision on whether we pay or not, as you are using Adblock Plus you can disable these ads. Follow the Adblock URL above and there’s a link on there showing you how to do it.
100. Ann Williams | October 7, 2017 at 7:22 am
My neighbour has recently bought a new iPad but it seems very slow to connect to the internet. Her broadband is very slow anyway, but my smartphone connected to her broadband much more quickly then her iPad.
Has anyone any suggestions as to how she can speed it up? I wondered if there might be a lot of background processes running, but don’t know how to check this on an iPad.
Perhaps someone can recommend an app that would improve its performance?
101. Dave | October 8, 2017 at 6:13 am
Hi Ann
One of the first things that you can check is to see that the operating system software is up-to-date, if it’s a new iPad it should be operating the IOS 11.0.2 version. To check this click on settings on the first screen and then open up the general tab and then the software update tab.
If this isn’t 11.0.2 then it will be telling you to install an update.
Once this is done check that Bluetooth it’s switched off on the settings page.
Next open the app store and then check for updates to installed programs.
If this fails to make any difference get back to me and I’ll have a think about other possibilities.
Regards
Dave
102. Ann Williams | October 17, 2017 at 11:18 am
Thank you for this. Many apologies for the delay in replying. I think the iPad is probably up to date as it is very new. I emailed your suggestion to her and am waiting on her response.
103. Philip | September 17, 2017 at 6:21 pm
Thanks for your efforts but I am no further forward .
The second ide does not work on this m/c.
I still have been trying to switch on the power button (my version) , but it refuses to work.
I have come to the conclusion that the programme for this is missing and therefore it cannot be switched on.
104. Peter D | September 17, 2017 at 9:32 pm
Philip, this should have been a continuation of the thread below, not a new question.
It does indeed seem that the battery icon is missing altogether. Here’s something else to try.
Press the Windows key, Type Device Manager,enter, then in device manager click ‘Batteries’ then ‘Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery’…see screen shots here https://photos.app.goo.gl/BY1nM3XARwuH0Cup1.
this will bring up the properties pane. Click Driver tab.
Try first..click ‘Disable Device’, OK, then ‘Enable device’, OK. Check to see if this solves the problem. If not…
Try clicking the ‘Update driver button’….
Good luck!
105. Philip | September 13, 2017 at 7:06 pm
The laptop that I brought today originally had Windows 8 and now upgraded to 10.
Somehow I never see and cannot find the icon which tells me the current state of the battery level of charge, which I find to be a nuisance. does anyone know how to get it back ?
106. Peter D | September 13, 2017 at 9:55 pm
Philip. This link should give you the answer you need…https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/restore-missing-battery-icon-windows-10
Please reply if this does or does not answer your query
Peter
107. Philip | September 14, 2017 at 7:17 pm
I have followed the instructions religiously and found the required panel, which did look a little different ie instead of buttons to click there were a series of arrowheads, all of which were ‘ON’, except power But this refused to change !!!!! It almost looked as if I didn’t have any power and yet I am using it now.
108. Peter D | September 14, 2017 at 8:02 pm
OK, I’ll look a little deeper
109. Peter D | September 14, 2017 at 11:49 pm
On the task bar on the RHS (where you are looking for the battery icon) there is an up arrow which opens the panel with additional icons. Have you checked there? That’s where it was on our Win 10 laptop.
If not, I’ve provided a PDF showing a more simple way to get the icon back…
Click to access showing-battery-icon-on-task-bar.pdf
110. David Potter | September 5, 2017 at 12:45 pm
Hi Peter I’m afraid I’m still not getting email conformations of new postings.
Dave
111. Peter D | September 5, 2017 at 1:05 pm
Dave
As you can see I’ve been trying using putting Zena’s email for notifications. There are a couple of approval stages and then there’s a message definitely saying she will receive emails, see these screen shots with the sequence
https://goo.gl/photos/YphtD2pEtrhKupUx5 , but still no messages. I’m placing an inquiry with WordPress to see if there’s any help there.
Peter
112. Peter D | September 4, 2017 at 8:43 pm
This is a test to see if Zena gets the message that a new comment has been made
P
113. Peter D | September 5, 2017 at 8:23 am
In spite of all the authorisations, no email received yet. See if there’s more success with this……
114. Ann W | August 21, 2017 at 8:07 am
Just catching up with earlier comments – better late than never! I agree with Dave that adding images could often be very helpful, for example error messages. Would it be worth adding instructions as to how to take a screen shot? Not everyone may be aware of this facility.
115. Peter D | August 21, 2017 at 3:30 pm
Ann, It’s not possible to upload an image when making a comment/reply, but providing a link to Google Photos, say, does seem to work as per my reply to Dave earlier. I’ll try another here, https://goo.gl/photos/gKJyARQnUa7GWh7x9
Peter
116. Peter D | August 21, 2017 at 3:44 pm
Following this line of thought, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t add a link to help answer any query and if necessary when approving the posted comments, I could edit one in.
If we can get generate interest in this new way of communication with the members, I think we may be onto something valuable to all!
PS Having subscribed to the blog, do you all get an email notification each time a new comment/reply is posted?
Peter
117. Ann W | August 27, 2017 at 11:33 am
Adding a link to help answer a query is an excellent idea.
By the way I still don’t get email notifications when a new comment or reply is posted.
118. Ann W | August 27, 2017 at 11:30 am
Sorry Peter – I didn’t make it clear what I meant. I understand that an image, e.g. a screenshot, can’t be uploaded, but that a link to, say, Google photos, will work, as you have demonstrated. What I meant was that it is possible that not everyone might know how to make a screenshot, and that instructions as to how to make one and create such a link might help.
119. Peter D | August 27, 2017 at 12:29 pm
Ann
It’s on my agenda for Wednesday on how to provide the members with some detailed instruction on using this facility. I’m thinking on the main group page before following on this
Peter