47. When will Windows XP stop working?

This is another question I have been asked recently, and it points to a bit of a misunderstanding.

Microsoft is due to stop supporting Windows XP on April 8th 2014. What this means is that Windows XP users will stop receiving updates from that date: if anyone discovers a security flaw in Windows XP, it won’t be fixed. As far as Microsoft is concerned, next April marks the point at which the company can finally forget about Windows XP and concentrate all their efforts on newer versions of Windows.

However, XP isn’t going to stop working: if you chose to do so, you could continue using it for years. Whether it would be wise to do so is another question (to which my answer is: "No it isn’t". If you are not ready for Windows 8 then install Windows 7.), but there’s certainly no need to worry that your copy of Windows XP is suddenly going to be ‘switched off’ in April 2014.

46. Does Icognito Mode make you Anonymous

No it doesn’t.

Whatever the name, Icognito, Private Browsing, InPrivate etc. etc. all this mode does is hide your tracks online. When this mode was first introduced it became known a “Porn Mode” as people used it to visit unsavoury sites without storing the evidence on their PCs.

The usual histories, cookies, and temporary Internet Pages are all deleted as your session ends but that does not make you anonymous whilst online.

Your ISP, sites you visit, your work network, may all log your visit and the pages you have looked at so be aware!

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45. A telephone scam to be aware of

A friend had a telephone call from a gentleman seeking access to his computer to correct security dangers.

It’s been a long time since this has been mentioned, but I think it deserves another outing to ensure that new readers are aware of it, and to remind long-time readers that it’s still going on.

It’s a scam, plain and simple. You receive an unexpected telephone call from someone who claims to be from Microsoft or ‘Windows technical support’. This person explains that they’ve been monitoring your PC and it’s exhibiting all sorts of errors and is infected by a large number of viruses. They may even threaten that your Internet access will be cut off because your PC is in such a mess that it’s a risk to other computer users.

The caller directs you to various areas of Windows where long lists of technical information are stored, telling you that all these items are the ‘errors’ or ‘viruses’ that your PC has silently reported to this mysterious technical support company.

In fact, these lists are quite normal – every Windows user has them – but the caller knows you’ve probably never seen them before and that he can pretend they’re something important and worrying.

When he feels he’s convinced you, the caller asks you to install some software that allows him to take remote control of your PC under the pretence of correcting all these problems. You have to supply payment details for this ‘service’, and then allow the caller to do whatever he wants with your PC.

The key point to remember is that there is no-one – anywhere in the world – monitoring your PC (and doing so without your knowledge would be illegal anyway). The caller doesn’t know who you are, and doesn’t even know whether you have a PC.

Indeed, the caller doesn’t know whether you are, in fact, a PC expert who knows more about computers than the scammer does! We recommend a free security program named Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware.

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44. Does "Log off" do the same as "Shut down" from the Windows menu?

The short answer is: no, it doesn’t. When you choose ‘Shut down’, Windows closes all your programs, shuts itself down and switches off your PC, but when you choose ‘Log off’, Windows continues running and the computer stays on. The one similarity is that all your programs are closed.

So what’s it for? Well, let’s step back to the moment you started your PC. Before you could do anything, you had to 'log in’ to Windows by clicking your username and, perhaps, typing your Windows password. In doing that, you’ve told Windows who you are: you may have set up several different usernames on your PC, and Windows now knows which of these users is at the computer.

Windows now sets up everything the way you like it: your desktop wallpaper, your desktop icons, your sound effects, your volume levels, and so on. When you go to the ‘My Documents’ folder, it shows your documents rather than those belonging to another of your PC’s users, and each program you use will load your personal settings and preferences. As an example of how important that last point is, if you start your email program, you’ll see only your own email messages and it will connect to your own email account to collect your own new messages.

Perhaps you have other usernames set up on your PC, and one of those people would like to use the PC when you’ve finished with it. This is where that ‘Log off’ option is useful: you choose ‘Log off’ and Windows closes your programs and returns you to the ‘Log on’ screen. That other user can now click his username, type his password, and use Windows with everything set up the way he likes it.

The result, then, is that if there’s only one username set up on your PC, there’s rarely any point in using the ‘Log off’ option. Similarly, even if Windows is set up for multiple users, if no-one wants to use the PC after you, you might as well head straight for the ‘Shut down’ option.

Finally, a quick clarification for Windows 8 users. Although I’ve referred to ‘Log off’ above, Windows 8 refers to it as ?Sign out’. Also, rather oddly, that ‘Sign out’ option doesn’t appear in the same place as ‘Shut down’, ‘Restart’ and other related options: to log off, go to the Start screen, click your name in the top-right corner and choose Sign out from the menu.

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43. Changes to Windows 8.

Even before Windows 8 was released last October, it was clear that Microsoft hadn’t got it right. The question was, would they fix it? If so, when and how? And what would they actually ‘fix’?

We’ve learned the answers to some of these questions over the last few months: yes, there will be a new version later this year (named Windows 8.1), it will address some of the complaints about Windows 8, it will be a free upgrade, and it will demonstrate that Microsoft is now listening to customers. As regards what would actually be fixed, though, any answers have been based mainly on rumour, supposition and hope.

Some of the major changes:

•There will be an option to land at the desktop after logging in, rather than at the Start screen – a tiny detail, but one that will make Windows 8 feel a lot more like its predecessors.
•The Start button makes a welcome return to the taskbar: clicking the Start button takes you to the Start screen; right-clicking it opens the handy ‘Power User’ menu (currently available by pressing Win+X).
•The Start screen can display the same background wallpaper picture as your desktop, making for a less-jarring experience when you switch back and forth between the two.
•The Start screen can be made to display its ‘All Apps’ view by default – an alphabetical list of every installed program (and the closest thing Windows 8 has to a Start menu).
•That ‘All Apps’ view can also be made to arrange all your programs by usage, so that the programs you use most appear first in the list.
•Apps will update themselves automatically in the same way that Windows itself does, rather than forcing you to visit the Windows Store and update them manually.

That’s not the whole list by any means, but it covers the main points, and for anyone already using Windows 8 it should be apparent that some real improvements are being made. We’ll see most (if not all) of these on 26th June, when Microsoft releases a ‘Public Preview’ of the new version which, like the final release due later in the year, will be free for all Windows 8 users to install.

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42. Add Favourite Options to the Quick Access Toolbar in Microsoft Word

If you use Word 2013, 2010 or 2007, do you find yourself hunting through the Ribbon trying to find a favourite option but not remembering quite where it is?

Perhaps you know exactly where it is, but you find it annoying to have to keep switching between tabs to reach it?

If so, here’s a simple tip you may not have discovered. Almost any button you find on the Ribbon can be added to the ‘Quick Access Toolbar’, the little toolbar in the extreme top-left corner of the Word window. The handy thing about this little toolbar is that it’s always visible, so the buttons it contains are always just one click away.

Adding a new item to it is easy. As an example, let’s say that you frequently need to add comments to Word documents, meaning that you’re forever flipping to the Review tab and clicking the New Comment button. Go to that tab now and right-click on the New Comment button. On the menu that appears, click Add to Quick Access Toolbar. Hey presto – that button now appears in the little toolbar, ready and waiting whenever you need it.

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41. How Do I Take a Screenshot in Windows 8?

A ‘screenshot’, as you may know, is a picture of what you see on your screen. It’s useful to take a screenshot for your own reference in some situations (a confirmation web page shown after you buy something online, for instance) or to send to someone by email when seeking help with a problem on your PC. Another reason for taking a screenshot is if you see a wonderful picture which you want to save for future use for use as a Wallpaper or article illustration.

In Windows 8 there are two ways of taking screenshots. The first is the way that’s common to all versions of Windows:
•To take a screenshot of the whole screen, press the Print Screen key (sometimes abbreviated to Prt Scn; it’s usually just above the block of Home/End/Page keys). To take a screenshot of just the window you’re currently using, press Alt+Print Screen.

The screenshot is now stored on the Windows Clipboard. From here, you can paste it into a Word document or a picture-editing program by pressing Ctrl+V and then save the document or picture.

The alternative method, which is new in Windows 8, is to press Win+Print Screen. (Win refers to the Windows key which appears on all modern keyboards). This takes a screenshot of your whole screen, but it doesn't leave you to muck around with pasting it somewhere: instead it saves it as a picture file on your hard disk. Press Win+E to open File Explorer, go into your Pictures library and you’ll find a folder named Screenshots. Open this folder, and you’ll find the screenshot you’ve just created.

Cool eh?

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