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Q: How important are service packs? I upgraded to a Windows 10 PC and am giving my old Windows 7 PC to a friend without any PC in the home. This will allow a student to tele-school because of COVID. To delete my personal information, I reinstalled the O/S from the original disks that came […]

Q: I enjoy reading your column although I don’t understand 75% of the questions or the answers but would appreciate your answer to a somewhat minor problem I continue to experience. Every time my husband forwards me an email from his account, instead of his name or email address appearing in the “from”, it says […]

Q: When printing a document from Word to my Brother B&W laser printer it prints anything that is in color as shades of grey, as it should. When printing the same document to an HP OfficeJet color printer from the same computer it will not print color. The Brother is connected through USB, the HP […]

Q: Interesting article on location services (Geek Note: I.G.T.M. #680a – Special to ION Magazine, August 2020). Thanks. Might want to write about how Siri is sucking batteries dry. It is also spying on us. I turned Siri off in each app and iCloud and it pretty much resolved the issue. Although today I looked […]

Geek Note: I’ve been warning you that my question queue was running on fumes.  All too few of you responded with new column fodder.  So, now you’ve done it – you’ve left it up to me to decide on a topic to fill this week’s issue.  You’re just going to have to live with the […]

Q: My father is in an assisted living facility and his (old) computer died recently. I’ll get him a new one (basic model for email, pix), but wondering if I could/should get some sort of remote access tool to help keep it up to date and help him if he has an issue. Do you […]

Q: There is a company that advertises on TV that is selling protection for your computer which in turn will protect your identity, personal information and devices. The commercial talks about one important part, the “Secure VPN”. What is that? Do I need one? How can I tell if I do or do not already […]

Q: Turning on my computer this morning, Microsoft Edge had been installed overnight. I did a system restore and got rid of it. I don’t think I want it. Am I wrong? Can I keep it from happening again? – Nancy C.Fort Walton Beach, Florida A:  You are among a handful of people I’ve heard […]

Geek Note:  In last week’s issue I answered a great question from reader James Y.  James also had other unrelated questions in his submission that are all worth answering.  So, I’ve brought them forward to this week’s issue. • • • Q: I use three desktops: an HP Pavillion 20 Standalone and two HP Optiplex […]