2026 September eBytes
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Do This to Speed Up Your Current Phone So It Lasts Longer
You're using 3M Command strips all wrong
Your Comcast router doubles as a motion detector now - and a potential police informant
What Fitness Tech Should You Buy? These Expert Recommendations Are All You Need
I replaced my paid streaming apps with free ones - here's what surprised me
Microsoft Says This Free App Can Fix Slow PCs in One Click. I Had to Try It
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Do This to Speed Up Your Current Phone So It Lasts Longer
Worried about the cost of upgrading? Your smartphone can last longer than you think. Follow these tips to squeeze some more life from your current iPhone or Android device.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-speed-up-your-smartphone-make-it-last-longer
Is Your iPhone Annoyingly Slow? Clearing Hidden App Caches Might Fix It - Cache is all the data your phone stores locally, but it can build up over time and slow things down. Here's how to clear your cache and start fresh.
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/is-your-iphone-annoyingly-slow-clearing-hidden-app-caches-might-fix-it
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You're using 3M Command strips all wrong
3M Command strips are incredibly useful, if you use them right. These tips can turn 'it fell off the wall' into 'it's still there' years later.
https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/youre-using-3m-command-strips-all-wrong/
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Your Comcast router doubles as a motion detector now - and a potential police informant
Opinion: Comcast's new motion detection technology could benefit your home, but it also raises privacy concerns. The details are in the fine print.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/comcast-routers-detect-motion/
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What Fitness Tech Should You Buy? These Expert Recommendations Are All You Need
From recovery tools to smartwatches, these are the devices the pros use daily.
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I replaced my paid streaming apps with free ones - here's what surprised me
Are free streaming services that bad? I swapped my paid subscriptions for free ones to see.
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Microsoft Says This Free App Can Fix Slow PCs in One Click. I Had to Try It
I installed Microsoft's free PC Manager tool to see if a single click could actually make a difference on a sluggish computer.
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Links - News, Tips, & Downloads
Stop paying for smartphone storage you don't need - here's a better approach - How to stop wasting money on storage: Think in dollars, not gigabytes.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/stop-paying-for-smartphone-storage-you-dont-need/
Need More Google Drive Space? Try These Free and Easy Ways to Open Up Room - Google gives you a few gigabytes of free digital storage, but these tips can help you clear out some space without breaking the bank.
I tested Microsoft Copilot Health with my real medical records - here's my verdict - By sharing your health history and records with Copilot, the AI aims to better address your own medical questions. But what are the downsides?
https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-copilot-health-medical-issues/
The Best Personal Finance and Budgeting Apps We've Tested for 2026 - Whether you need instant answers about your bank accounts, credit profile, or net worth, the top personal finance apps we've tested can give you the data in seconds and help you take control of your money.
https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-personal-finance-services
7 simple gadgets that can make your home smarter for under $100 - You don't have to spend lots of money to make your home smarter. Here are the best affordable gadgets to upgrade your space.
https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/smart-home/simple-smart-home-gadgets-under-100/
Have You Set Up Your Digital ID Yet? How to Add Your Driver’s License and Passport to Your Phone - Tired of pulling out your ID at the airport? You can add your driver's license and passport to your phone for easy scanning at TSA checkpoints and other supported locations.
My Photos Were Scattered Across 5 Cloud Services. Here's How I Finally Cleaned It All Up - I reduced my storage subscription fees and learned a valuable lesson in how to back up priceless memories.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/how-to-organize-your-photos-and-videos/
What Is OneDrive Photos? Microsoft Quietly Adds App to Windows 11 - It's not Photos, it's not OneDrive: it's a brand new app that does a bit of both.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-onedrive-photos-microsoft-quietly-adds-app-to-windows-11
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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 - How to create a chart of my manual blood pressure readings that my doctor wants me to take two times a day?
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. They had a page of hand written readings for the last several weeks. I showed them how to use Excel to create a line graph. I told them most new blood pressure devices have an app that will automatically store readings, chart, and are easy to share or show your doctor. Omron has multiple models, each with more features. This is a good basic model.
https://www.target.com/p/omron-series-3-upper-arm-blood-pressure-monitor-with-bluetooth/-/A-89555129
Also, many of the new smart watches now support BP.
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Q. From a PCC Member - We read many books and keep them in a Word file. I bought 365 a few years ago but now with computer updates I no longer have access to 365. I can see the files which are pages long. They are 3 columns in a Word file. I was able to use "Save Word files for free" but it can only sort A-Z in the first column not the second column. Yesterday, I tried to move the files to Google and add books I read over the past year. Google will not sort any columns, or at least I don't know how to do it. I'm really not good at moving files to another system. We have not worked on updating these files for awhile and with reading 2 books a week the update will be significant. Can you suggest a way to do this without having to buy 365?
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. There are lots of free and paid options to work with files locally or on the Internet. The Oct PCC meeting will be on this subject that was last done for the PCC on Aug 2021 to see old video and handout
Microsoft Office & Alternatives by Tom Kreuzer
* Paid & Free Options - Word, Excel, PowerPoint
* Apps, sites, Google Docs, etc.
This also ties in with the Sep PCC meeting on Cloud Storage where you should decide to store your files on Microsoft, Google, or Apple. If you upload your files to Microsoft OneDrive you can use a free Internet version of Word that works for most people and has most of the features of the paid Word 365 version. If you need more than the 5 GB of free storage Microsoft provides, you can buy more or buy a combination of 1TB of cloud storage and the full Microsoft 365 software for less than $100 a year.
Google Docs can sort on any column. Lock header if you have one then just click on the header: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn6ICgtTCiA
Sounds like it might be easier and have more features if you use Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets instead of a Word document. A spreadsheet is much better than a document when you are dealing with rows and columns.
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Q. From a PCC Member - My husband's laptop computer is getting constant pop up ads on Microsoft Edge telling him he has viruses on his computer and needs McAfee software. We have Webroot software and don't need McAfee. Can't seem to get rid of or block these ads, we've tried a couple of things that Google said to try. Any suggestions?
A. From Tom Kreuzer, a PCC Board member. Not sure what you have tried and what the exact message is, the following works for most people:
Go to Edge Browser\Settings. The "..." in the top right corner.
Search for "Notifications" (with bell icon)
See "Allowed to send notifications" section and remove any sites listed
Then Search for "Cache" in the Edge settings (select "Clear browsing data" and clear your cache)
Close Edge and Restart. If that doesn't work do a Google search and put in exactly the text of the message you see. There are many scams using notifications and pop-up windows.
Member Responds - That fixed the pop up problem.
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