Are you the expert?

 

Are you the person your friends and family turn to when they have a question about their computers? I have three tips you can share that will make you sound like an expert, and will help your friends and family get along with their computers a little better.

Make desktop icons bigger or smaller

When I set up a new computer for a customer, I get one of two questions about the icons on the desktop. Some say, “I can’t see anything. Can I make those icons bigger?” and others say, “Holy cow, those icons are HUGE! How do I make them normal?”

It's easy to change the size of the icons on your Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7 or Vista desktop.

Here's how:

Right-click on an empty spot on the desktop.
Click on View.
Choose between Large, Medium, and Classic /Small (depends on your Windows version)

If you want more than those three options, and you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, you can further customize the icons.

Click on an empty spot on the desktop.
Hold down the CTRL key, and scroll up and down with your mouse wheel until you get the icons just the size you like.
Release the CTRL key and stop scrolling.

Check a file or a website with VirusTotal

Customers, friends, family, and readers often ask me how they can tell whether a link or a file is safe.

One way is to check it with VirusTotal.

When you visit the VirusTotal website you’ll see a very clear explanation of the site’s purpose:

VirusTotal is a free service that analyzes suspicious files and URLs and facilitates the quick detection of viruses, worms, trojans, and all kinds of malware.

Not only that, it does it quickly, efficiently, and with a high degree of accuracy. VirusTotal aggregates information from 50 or so antivirus engines, and checks files, URLs, and IP addresses. When you search on any of those, VirusTotal returns a result that shows how many of the AV engines return a positive result. You can then decide if the file/site is likely to be harmful. 

It’s dead easy to use, but if you need help, check the excellent documentation here.

Display the menu bar in Internet Explorer or Firefox

People ask me about this all the time. The menu bar is near the top of a window, and shows choices for File / Edit / View / Tools, and so on. If you wonder what happened to the menu bar in Internet Explorer and Firefox, it’s in there, but by default it’s just turned off. Why is it off by default? Beats me. The good news is, it’s easy to turn back on.

Open Internet Explorer or Firefox, then press the ALT key, and you’ll see the familiar choices displayed in the old familiar places. Nice trick, right? The problem is that as soon as you do anything, the Menu Bar goes into hiding again. If you want it there all the time:

Press the ALT key
Click on View | Toolbars
Place a check next to Menu Bar

Done!

Are you using Google Chrome? Tough luck. No menu bar for you! Click on the list icon over on the right side of the window to get to the items that you would otherwise find on the menu bar.

Microsoft Edge? No menu bar for you, either. Click on the three dots over on the top right to get to the (meagre) list of options. Hate Edge? Read about alternatives here. Your friends and family will thank you!

 

Links

VirusTotal 

Searching with VirusTotal 

Take Charge of Windows 10 

Computer Care Kelowna 

Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives 

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This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.