2025 March eBytes
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If you need a new laptop, you might want to buy it now - here's why
3 in 5 Americans Say AI Improves Their Lives
How to Use ChatGPT: A Beginner's Guide
Internet Bills Too High? Here Are 8 Ways You Can Lower Your Monthly Bills and Save Money
Why rebooting your phone daily is your best defense against zero-click hackers
How to clear the cache on your Windows 11 PC (and why you shouldn't wait to do it)
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If you need a new laptop, you might want to buy it now - here's why
Acer has announced new price hikes for laptops in response to US tariffs - and other companies could follow suit.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/if-you-need-a-new-laptop-you-might-want-to-buy-it-now-heres-why/
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3 in 5 Americans Say AI Improves Their Lives
The most common reasons for using AI are writing, editing, and online search, according to a study from The Listening App.
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How to Use ChatGPT: A Beginner's Guide
Consider this your ChatGPT 101 class.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-use-chatgpt-a-beginners-guide/
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Internet Bills Too High? Here Are 8 Ways You Can Lower Your Monthly Bills and Save Money
Don't let the cost of internet weigh you down. Here are our top tips for cutting back your monthly internet bill.
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Why rebooting your phone daily is your best defense against zero-click hackers
Mobile spyware attacks are on the rise globally. That's why you should treat your phone like a computer, according to this cybersecurity expert.
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How to clear the cache on your Windows 11 PC (and why you shouldn't wait to do it)
Clearing out cache and temporary files can significantly improve your PC's performance - and it is easy to do without installing additional software.
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Links - News, Tips, & Downloads
40 Best Android Tips to Make Your Phone More Useful - Maximize your Android phone’s potential with these top tips from ExtremeTech. Boost functionality, save time, and get more out of your device.
https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/best-android-tips
Go Beyond Google: The Best Alternative Search Engines - Are you worried about anticompetitive practices or privacy? Maybe you just want a new take on web search? These 15 search engines beat Google in many ways, including AI, curated content, and more.
https://www.pcmag.com/picks/go-beyond-google-best-alternative-search-engines
Alexa Is Getting a Major AI Upgrade From Amazon. What We Know So Far - Alexa is about to start thinking after years of listening.
Better Than Chrome: 21 Hidden Tricks Inside Microsoft's Edge Browser - As the default browser in Windows, Edge offers a host of helpful features. Here’s how to get the most out of the program.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/microsoft-edge-browser-tips-tricks
How to create a Windows recovery drive in 4 easy steps - before it's too late - If your PC is operating perfectly right now, great! But getting ahead of any future PC fiascos with a recovery drive may save you from a major tech-induced headache later.
Finally, Bluetooth trackers for Android users that function even better than AirTags (and now they're 10% off) - Chipolo's One and Card trackers are ideal for those who frequently misplace their keys or wallets. Available individually or in multipacks, they offer a convenient solution for keeping track of your essentials (and they're on sale for Presidents' Day).
How to Wipe Your Windows Hard Drive - Planning to get rid of your Windows PC? Here's how to make sure all the personal files on your storage drive are erased and unrecoverable, whether you're running Windows 11, 10, 8.1, or 7.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-wipe-your-hard-drive
How to Connect Your Phone to Nearly Any TV to Play Your Videos - Casting video from your phone to a TV is easy. The trick is knowing which method will work best for your phone.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/how-to-connect-your-phone-to-nearly-any-tv-to-play-your-videos/
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Ask a Question - Send any Tips & Downloads, Ask a Question, For Sale, or articles to: TheMiningPCC@gmail.com
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Q. From a PCC Member - What is happening with Google maps/ timeline. I keep getting these messages on my phone about imminent changes. Do you know what is happening with that?
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. Looks like Google is changing where and how it saves location data. Many people for security reasons do not like their location data up on Google servers.
https://support.google.com/maps/answer/14169818?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
If you have used and saved trips you do in Timeline they will need to be downloaded to your phone as they will be deleted on the Google Server. You will need to have enough memory on the phone to store the trips since that data will no longer be on Google servers. If you no longer use Timeline, you can turn it off and do nothing. Make sure to follow directions to turn off just that service. If you turn off all location services on your phone things like GPS driving directions or marking photo locations will not work. You only want to turn off Timeline locations tracking.
https://support.google.com/maps/answer/6258979?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
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Q. From a PCC Member - Free unsecure WiFi in condo.
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. Did not have time to talk about your free condo wifi and not use your phone Hotspot unless you have no other option. 20 years ago it was unsafe to use unsecured public wifi because most sites and apps did not use encryption. Today 99.99999% of apps and websites and 100% of what you do use HTTPS, which is a secure end to end encryption that starts on your laptop or phone and is just 1s and 0s if anyone in the middle trys to see what you are doing on an unsecured public wifi. Usually you will get faster speed and latency than using your Hotspot. This is also the main reason most people do not need a VPN connection.
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Q. From a PCC Member - Backing up my PC. Do you use Cobian Backup, now updated to Cobian Reflector? Or is there something else you prefer more? I'm currently backed up to OneDrive by MicroSoft (takes about 95 GB), but I'm considering a 2nd backup to a microSDXC card. What is your opinion of this idea?
If you do use Cobian Reflector, could you make a standard setup sheet with your recommended settings that I could use? There are so many setting choices and I don't know which ones should be used and which ones not.
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. I do use and recommend Cobian Reflector. I gave a presentation in Dec 2024 on Backup if you did not see it.
2024 Dec - Backing Up Your Devices by Tom Kreuzer, What to Back Up, Where to Back Up, How to Back Up Video Handout
In the presentation I talk about Reflector task settings to change or check. I run a schedule at 1 AM daily since my backup drive is always connected. The defaults are fine for the other settings.
My Cobian Reflector Task:
● Schedule Daily 1 AM
● Incremental - Cobian compares existing files to what is on the external hard drive. So when I swap drives it ends up being a full backup.
● No Encryption (password), No Compression
● Include directories listed earlier
● Exclude directories \Temp, \Download, or ~*.* temp files
You do want to have multiple backups in multiple places so the OneDrive and SD card will work. The SD card backup is not as fast as a Solid State Drive or even an old hard drive, but if speed is not an issue for you, it will work fine. SD cards are fragile, so you should limit the number of times you plug in and remove them. Using Reflector to copy means that you can see, copy, restore, work with the backup directories on the SD on any device using any software. That is the main reason to use Reflector.
Take a look at the handout and task settings and let me know if you have any questions.
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