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Windows 10’s “Check for Updates” Button Just Got Safer

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Microsoft promised to stop installing unstable updates when you click “Check for Updates” and now it’s delivering. Rather than automatically installing such updates, Windows gives you a “Download and install now” button. The button started appearing on PCs today. We previously warned that clicking the “Check for Updates” button would often install unstable updates . Windows Update would normally wait to install big updates like Windows 10’s buggy October 2018 Update and monthly cumulative C and D updates. However, if you clicked “Check for Updates” at the wrong time, Windows would just install those updates immediately. You wouldn’t see any warning this was happening and there was no way to cancel it. In other words, the “Check for Updates” button often meant “Please give me unstable updates that need more testing.” Microsoft actually warned people not to click it in blog posts that no average Windows user would read. Microsoft announced big Windows Update changes on April 4, 201...
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How to Change the Color Theme of Microsoft Office

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If you’re getting bored of the default theme in your Office desktop apps, you can change the color and background to give it a more personalized feel. It’s simple and only requires a few simple steps, so let’s get to it. Changing the Office Color Theme via App Options By default, Office uses what it calls the “Colorful” theme. This theme gives the title bar the color of its respective app. For example, Word’s is blue, Excel’s is green, PowerPoint’s is red, and so on. Additionally, it gives you a standard light gray background and ribbon, and a white content area. You can change the theme from inside any Office application, and those changes are made throughout all of your Office apps. First, open any Office application. We’ll be using Word in this example. Click the “File” tab at the top-left of the ribbon. A pane will appear on the left side with several different options. At the very bottom of the pane, select “Options.” Read the remaining 15 paragraphs
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Daily Deals: An Echo Dot for $30, an iPad for $187, a Logitech MX Anywhere 2S Mouse for $50, and More

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The Best Board Games to Play with Kids (While Keeping Your Sanity)

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How to Change your Outlook.com Shortcuts to match Gmail or Yahoo!

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If you’re a dedicated user of Gmail or Yahoo! Mail, but you have to use Outlook.com for some reason, you can change Outlook’s keyboard shortcuts to match the ones you know and love from Gmail or Yahoo! Mail. Outlook.com Modern vs. Classic Look Most users of Outlook.com should have the modern look and feel for their email account now, which by default shows an all blue bar. If you’ve still got the classic version, which a lot of enterprise versions (the work email provided by your company) are still using, it’ll show a primarily black bar by default. Either way, the process is generally the same, but the location of the settings is slightly different. Working with Search History in the Modern Outlook.com View In the modern view, click the Settings cog and then click “View all Outlook Settings.” Read the remaining 14 paragraphs
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Daily News Roundup: Google Gives More Granular Control Over Location Data

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A couple of weeks ago, the New York Times had a piece about how police are using a Google database called “Sensorvault” to track and find witnesses and suspects. Now, Google is going to offer better control of your location and web data. Up until this point, you had two choices: disable location tracking altogether , or deal with your data being stored in Sensorvault. But soon, Google is going to offer another choice with a new auto-delete option for location history and activity data. The feature isn’t available yet (it will be rolling out “in the coming weeks”), but it looks like it’s going to be a pretty simple setup process. Once available, you’ll need to access your Google Account Activity Controls , where there will be a new activity option to “Choose to delete automatically.” The auto-delete schedule will offer two options: 3 or 18 months. That means you can allow your data to be stored for as little as three months if you’d like—which should be long enough to glean any ben...
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How to Browse as a Guest in Chrome and on a Chromebook

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Guest mode for Google Chrome and on Chromebooks is perfect if you need to lend your computer to a friend without giving them complete access to all your personal information stored inside your browser. Here’s how to browse as a Guest. What’s the Difference Between Guest Mode and Incognito Mode? While neither Guest mode nor Incognito mode saves any information while browsing, there are a few differences that separate the two and might have you choosing Guest mode the next time you need to lend out your computer. RELATED: How Private Browsing Works, and Why It Doesn’t Offer Complete Privacy Guest Mode Guest mode is a separate, temporary account in Chrome and on Chromebooks that clears up your digital trail for you after you log out or exit. It’s ideal for when someone wants to borrow your computer to access the internet or if you’re using a public computer, like one in a library or school. Anything you do while browsing as a guest won’t be saved. This includes cookies, pa...
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