IT DEVICES

Mac Equivalents of Windows Programs and Features

If you’ve recently converted over
 to a Mac or are being forced to use one against your will, you probably
 are used to the user-friendly environment of Windows and want to know 
the Mac equivalent of your favorite Windows program or feature, right?<div class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="KonaBody">
Well, luckily, recent Macs running the latest versions of OS X are 
not wildly different than the current versions of Windows. The biggest 
difference in my opinion is the lack of any kind of Start button on OS 
X. That’s pretty much what Microsoft did with Windows 8 and probably why
 everybody hated it.<br />

There simply is no Mac equivalent of the Windows Start button or 
Start Menu in OS X. The only thing you can do is get a list of all your 
applications in the OS X Dock, which is like the Windows taskbar. In 
this article, I’ll go through all the Mac equivalents of Windows 
programs and hopefully you’ll find using a Mac just as easy as a Windows
 machine.<br />

<h2>
Windows Taskbar – OS X Dock</h2>
Even though you’ll miss the Start button, OS X at least has the equivalent of the taskbar called the <strong>Dock</strong>. It shows you currently open programs and you can add or remove icons for any other applications installed on your Mac.<br />

The recycle bin is also located on the Dock and in order to eject any
 device connected to your Mac, you drag and drop it into the trash. You 
can also go to <strong>System Preferences</strong> and adjust the 
settings for the Dock: allow it to remain visible at all times, increase
 the size, change the position on the screen, etc.<br />

To get all the applications as an icon on your Dock, open Finder and drag <strong>Applications</strong> from the sidebar and drop it onto the Dock.<br />

<h2>
Windows Explorer – Mac Finder</h2>
Next up is Windows Explorer. The Mac equivalent is the <strong>Finder</strong>.
 Windows Explorer is pretty good, but I actually like the Mac Finder 
more. For one thing, it allows you to have multiple tabs open in the 
same Finder window, making it easy to drag and drop files to a different
 location without having to open multiple Finder windows.<br />

Secondly, it shows you more useful stuff in the sidebar than Windows 
like shared servers, other computers, connected devices, etc. You can 
also click on <strong>Finder</strong> and then <strong>Preferences</strong> and configure what items show on the sidebar, which you can’t do in Windows either.<br />

<h2>
Windows Control Panel – Mac System Preferences</h2>
The Control Panel is the place to go in Windows to control how 
Windows operates. You can manage pretty much everything from here 
including backups, encryption, default programs, audio, fonts, Java, 
Flash, languages, mouse and keyboard settings, user accounts, firewall 
settings, and lots more.<br />

Though not exactly the same, you can manage all the settings for your Mac from System Preferences.<br />

<h2>
Windows Notepad – OS X Text Edit</h2>
If you use Notepad in Windows, then you’ll be happy to know there is 
an equivalent in Mac known as TextEdit. It ships with all Macs and it’s a
 basic text editor that lets you work with plain text too. That’s really
 the only reason I use Notepad and it’ll probably be the only reason you
 use TextEdit on your Mac.<br />

The only thing you have to do in TextEdit is click on <strong>Format</strong> and then click on<strong> Make Plain Text</strong>. It is basically WordPad and Notepad combined into one, which is nice.<br />

<h2>
Windows Task Manager – Mac Activity Monitor</h2>
The Task Manager in Windows is one of my favorite features and I use 
it all the time to check which process is eating up memory or the CPU. 
You can also get a lot of extra information about your <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/windows-8/8-windows-8-task-manager-tips/" target="_blank">system from the Task Manager</a>.<br />

Like the Task Manager, the Activity Monitor (open Spotlight and search for activity monitor) is broken into several tabs: <strong>CPU</strong>, <strong>Memory</strong>, <strong>Energy</strong>, <strong>Disk</strong> and <strong>Network</strong>.<br />

The Energy tab is unique to Macs and is useful for laptops so that 
you can see which processes consume the most power. Otherwise, you can 
use Activity Monitor to end a process or to run system diagnostics.<br />

<h2>
Windows Command Prompt – OS X Terminal</h2>
The Command Prompt in Windows is the tool you have to use when you 
have to do something technical to fix your computer or change an obscure
 setting that you can’t get to any other way. The same applies to the 
Mac equivalent, which is called <strong>Terminal</strong>.<br />

The Terminal is a very powerful tool that allows you to control the 
underlying UNIX system that OS X runs on top of. So if you are familiar 
with Linux commands, Terminal is a piece of cake. One task I have to use
 the Terminal occasionally for is showing hidden files. You open 
Terminal and paste in the following command:<br />

<pre>defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES</pre>
Now you can see hidden files in Finder. Again, you’ll probably only 
use Terminal in these rare instances where you simply have to copy and 
paste the command.<br />

<h2>
Windows Paint – OS X Preview</h2>
If you use Paint in Windows, the closest tool in OS X is <strong>Preview</strong>. It can’t match everything that Paint can do, but it allows for basic drawing.<br />

You can also use it to make basic edits to images like cropping, 
removing backgrounds, adding outlines, adding text, adjusting colors, 
etc. You can also use it to add signatures to your PDF files and fill in
 forms.<br />

<h2>
Windows Disk Management – OS X Disk Utility</h2>
The Disk Management tool allows you to format and partition hard 
drives in Windows easily. You can do other stuff, but those are the main
 functions. The Disk Utility tool on Macs allows you to do pretty much 
the same thing.<br />

You can use Disk Utility to repair a hard drive if OS X is not 
booting properly, partition a hard drive, erase a drive and see what 
kind of data is taking up space on the hard drive.<br />

<h2>
Windows Netstat, Ping, Tracert – OS X Network Utility</h2>
The Network Utility in OS X is one place where Apple does a much 
better job than Windows. The Network Utility lets you quickly get 
information about your network connection and lets you easily run tests 
like <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/monitor-hidden-website-and-internet-connections/" target="_blank">netstat</a>, ping, traceroute, Whois, Finger, and port scans.<br />

You can use the Netstat tab to quickly see all the connections your 
computer has made. To do any of this in Windows, you have to open a 
command prompt and type in commands! It’s way more technical and not 
nearly as nicely implemented as it is in OS X.<br />

<h2>
Windows Event Viewer – Mac Console</h2>
Lastly, the Event Viewer program in Windows allows you to see a log 
of everything that is happening on your computer. It’s really useful for
 debugging hard to fix problems.<br />

The Console is pretty much exactly the same as Event Viewer and 
allows you to see pretty much everything that happens in the background 
of your computer.<br />

You really only look at the log files when you are looking for 
something specific, otherwise, there are just way too many messages 
generated by the operating system.<br />

There are other equivalents that I could mention here, but I think 
these are the basics and enough for most people who are just starting to
 use a Mac after being on Windows for a long time. If you have any 
questions, feel free to comment. Enjoy!<br />

</div>
</div>

Softwares TIPS Mac Equivalents of Windows Programs and Features

If you’ve recently converted over to a Mac or are being forced to use one against your will, you probably are used to the user-friendly en...

How to Turn on Private Browsing in Firefox

9:12 AM Unknown 0

All web browsers now have a 
privacy feature called private browsing that lets you browse websites 
without your history being tracked locally on your computer. I’ve 
already written about how to <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/internet-explorer-tips/use-private-browsing-ie-11-microsoft-edge/" target="_blank">enable private browsing on IE 11 and Microsoft Edge</a> and in this article we’ll talk about Firefox.<div class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="KonaBody">
Note that in Firefox, private browsing works a bit differently than 
other browsers. In addition to not recording your web browsing history, 
Firefox also enables tracking protection. This will block parts of sites
 that try to track your browsing history across multiple sites.<br />

Ever visit a travel website to do some research on a vacation and 
then suddenly see ads for that same place while browsing other websites?
 That’s you being tracked as you browse. Firefox will prevent this when 
you are in private mode.<br />

To enable private browsing in Firefox, click on the hamburger icon at the top right and then select<strong> New Private Window</strong>. You can also just use the <strong>CTRL + SHIFT + P</strong> keyboard shortcut.<br />

You will be able to tell you are in private mode because of the mask located in the top right of the window.<br />

You’ll also get a new window showing you what is saved and what is 
not saved while browsing in this mode. As with all private browsing, 
your activity is not tracked locally in your browser, but your ISP, 
employer or even software installed on your system can possibly track 
everything you are doing.<br />

As mentioned earlier, tracking protection is enabled also, but can be turned off. By default, it uses the list provided by <a href="https://disconnect.me/trackerprotection" target="_blank">Disconnect</a>,
 which is an online security and privacy product. Firefox uses the 
standard list, which blocks common advertising trackers, social sharing 
trackers and analytics trackers.<br />

If you want even more protection, you can enable the strict 
protection list, which will block all trackers. The only issue with this
 is that it might break some sites since it blocks a lot of stuff. You 
can enable the stricter list by clicking on the hamburger icon, then 
clicking on <strong>Options</strong> and then going to <strong>Privacy</strong>.<br />

Next to <strong>Use Tracking Protection in Private Windows</strong>, click on the<strong> Change Block List</strong> button.<br />

Now go ahead and click on the Disconnect.me strict protection list and then click<strong> Save Changes</strong>. So what exactly does this do? Well, here’s an example of my own website below.<br />

If you open up the web console, you’ll see exactly what resources get
 blocked. In my case, all the ads from Google are blocked, Kontera, the 
Google Analytics script, and Google+. Your browsing will definitely be 
faster and more private using this mode. Obviously, it hurts sites that 
make their money off ads like mine, but that’s your choice.<br />

If you need to allow trackers on specific sites, you can click on the little shield icon in the address bar and then click on <strong>Disable protection for this session</strong>.<br />

Finally, if you want to enable private browsing mode all the time in Firefox, you can do that by going to the same <strong>Privacy</strong> tab under <strong>Options</strong> and then choosing <strong>Never remember history</strong> next to <strong>Firefox will:</strong> under the <strong>History</strong> heading.<br />

Choosing this option is the same as private browsing mode. The only 
difference is that you will not see that purple mask icon in the browser
 window. Firefox will have to restart in order for the changes to take 
effect. You can also click on<strong> Use custom settings for history</strong> and then check the <strong>Always use private browsing mode</strong> box.<br />

This is exactly the same as choosing <strong>Never remember history</strong>,
 so I’m not sure why they have the option here also. I’m guessing it’s 
more clear to users and therefore they feel safer. Private Browsing mode
 will also delete all cookies when Firefox is closed. Other data that is
 not stored include form and search bar entries, passwords, list of 
downloads, and cached web content (temporary Internet files).<br />

Overall, Firefox’s implementation of private browsing is really good 
from a privacy and security perspective and definitely worth using when 
you need to keep your browsing history private. If you have any 
questions, feel free to comment. Enjoy!<br />

</div>
</div>

Softwares TIPS How to Turn on Private Browsing in Firefox

All web browsers now have a privacy feature called private browsing that lets you browse websites without your history being tracked local...

Troubleshoot Windows 10 Does Not Go to Sleep

9:11 AM Unknown 0

I’ve already written about how to fix issues with <a href="http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-will-not-sleep/" target="_blank">Windows 7 not going to sleep</a> and <a href="http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-8/fix-windows-8-1-will-sleep/" target="_blank">Windows 8 not going to sleep</a>,
 but I haven’t talked about sleep issues in Windows 10. Due to the wide 
number of machines and huge variety of hardware that Windows can run on,
 every single version of Windows will have problems going to sleep in 
certain situations.<div class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="KonaBody">
Sometimes the problem is because of hardware, sometimes it’s due to 
drivers and other times it’s something not configured properly with the 
operating system. In this article, I’m going to go through all the 
different solutions I could find to fix this issue in Windows 10.<br />

Note that I’ll try not to repeat the solutions already mentioned in 
the Windows 7 and Windows 8 articles, so feel free to read those if none
 of the solutions below work. Since Windows 10 is fairly new, there 
seems to be a lot of issues on specific machines, probably due to 
drivers not fully supporting Windows 10 yet.<br />

The only real solution in those cases is to wait until an appropriate
 Windows 10 driver is released. Method 1 is your best shot if you’ve 
found that many people with the same machine as yours are having sleep 
issues.<br />

<h2>
Method 1 – Update Chipset Drivers</h2>
The quickest way to possibly solve this issue is to download the 
latest drivers for your Windows 10 machine from the PC manufacturer 
website. For example, I have a Dell and using Dell System Detect, it 
automatically scans my system and finds all the appropriate driver 
updates.<br />

The most important drivers to update are the chipset drivers, BIOS 
and network card drivers. If you have a custom built system, read my 
post on using <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/windows-tips-how-to-automatically-backup-or-update-your-computers-device-drivers/" target="_blank">third-party software to find and update drivers</a>. I’ve also previously written that it’s probably <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/ott-explains-do-you-need-to-update-your-bios/" target="_blank">not a good idea to update your BIOS</a>,
 except for certain cases like this where you’re having possibly 
hardware-related problems. If you do decide to update the BIOS, read my 
post on how to check <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/cool-websites/determine-if-bios-update-is-needed/" target="_blank">whether an update is available for your BIOS or not</a>.<br />

In addition to updating drivers, make sure you go to <strong>Settings</strong> – <strong>Update & Security</strong> and install all the latest updates for Windows 10 from Microsoft.<br />

<h2>
Method 2 – Check for Power Requests</h2>
Sometimes certain Windows programs send power requests to the system,
 which prevent the system from shutting down or going to sleep. Normally
 these cases are valid like when you are playing a DVD and there is no 
interaction with the mouse and keyboard for several hours, the screen 
will remain on.<br />

The requests should automatically go away when the program is closed.
 However, there are instances where it can become stuck. You can check 
to see all power requests by opening an elevated command prompt (Click 
on Start, type <strong>cmd</strong>, right-click on<strong> Command Prompt</strong> and choose <strong>Run as Administrator</strong>) and typing in the following command:<br />

<pre>powercfg -requests</pre>
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/powercfg-requests.png" rel="attachment wp-att-59018"><img alt="powercfg requests" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59018 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/powercfg-requests.png" height="329" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/powercfg-requests.png" style="display: block;" width="430" /></a><br />

Ideally, you want all of the items to say <strong>None</strong>, which means no power requests currently exist. If you do have something listed like <strong>SRVNET</strong>, check out the Windows 8 article I mentioned at the very beginning of the article.<br />

Another good use of the powercfg command is to see which devices on 
your system can wake the system up. Normally, this includes the mouse 
and keyboard, but sometimes other devices like the network card, 
graphics card, etc., register themselves and can cause issues. Read 
Method 3 from my <a href="http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-will-not-sleep/" target="_blank">Windows 7 post</a> to prevent devices from waking your computer up.<br />

I’ve also read that checking the <strong>Only allow a magic packet to wake the compute</strong>r
 box for your network adapter fixes the sleep issue too. Also, to see 
the last device that waked your computer up, run the following command:<br />

<pre>powercfg -lastwake</pre>
<h2>
Method 3 – Run Troubleshooters</h2>
Windows 10 has some good troubleshooting apps installed that can fix a
 lot of problems for you automatically. Go to Control Panel, click on <strong>Troubleshooting</strong> and then click on <strong>View all</strong> at the top left.<br />

The two you want to run are <strong>Power</strong> and<strong> System Maintenance</strong>.<br />

I’ve had some success running these on certain client machines, so it’s worth a shot.<br />

<h2>
Method 4 – Disconnect Devices</h2>
I had one client whose computer would not sleep and after hours of 
trying all kinds of fixes in Windows, it ended up being a Logitech USB 
Joystick that was causing the problem! So another possibly easy solution
 is to remove any connected USB devices, restart your computer and see 
if Windows 10 goes to sleep.<br />

This is especially true if you have any USB devices like writing 
tablets, joysticks, microphones, cameras, external hard drives, etc. 
connected to your computer. If you do find that it’s one of your USB 
devices, try to find the latest driver for that device and install it.<br />

<h2>
Method 5 – Clean Boot</h2>
Beyond these issues, the only other reason is some kind of startup 
program or service that is preventing Windows from going to sleep. The 
only solution to this problem is performing a clean boot. You can read 
instructions here on how to <a href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135" target="_blank">perform a clean boot</a>. Follow the instructions for Windows 8.1 as they will be the same for Windows 10.<br />

In the clean boot, you basically disable all startup items and then 
restart the computer. If you find that the computer is going to sleep, 
you now know the problem lies with one of the startup programs. You then
 enable each startup program one by one and restart the computer until 
the problem comes back. At that point, you’ll know which program is the 
culprit. It’s a tedious process, but it does work!<br />

Before performing a clean boot, you can quickly check to see if it’ll work by <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/restart-safe-mode/" target="_blank">restarting Windows in safe mode</a>.
 If the computer sleeps fine in safe mode, then go ahead and perform a 
clean boot to find the program causing the sleep problem.<br />

<h2>
Method 6 – Restore Plan Defaults</h2>
Another quick fix is to restore your power plan defaults. Go to Control Panel, click on <strong>Power Options</strong>, and then click on <strong>Change plan settings</strong> next to the plan you have selected.<br />

Click on <strong>Restore default settings for this pla</strong>n and restart your computer.<br />

<h2>
Method 7 – Restore PC</h2>
This is obviously a last resort, but resetting your PC might be the 
only thing you can do if you’ve tried everything else. Check out my post
 on <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/restore-windows-to-factory-settings/" target="_blank">resetting your Windows 10 PC</a>. Note that you can choose to keep your data and files, so it’s not a complete wipe of your system.<br />

It’s basically reinstalling Windows 10 and that’s it. A lot of people
 have had success with this method, but it’s more time consuming and 
riskier. Make sure to backup your data before you restore your PC just 
in case something goes wrong.<br />

<h2>
Other Possible Solutions</h2>
There are several one-off solutions that work for some people and no 
one really knows why. Anyway, I have compiled them here just in case you
 happen to be one of those people!<br />

<ol>
<li>Some users have stated that if they are log into Windows 10 with a 
Microsoft account, the sleep/shutdown problem goes away when they change
 the password on their Microsoft account. This makes zero sense, but it 
has worked for some.</li>
<li>If you have a Windows PC, you probably have a lot of Intel software 
installed like Intel Management Engine, Intel Rapid Storage Technology, 
Intel Security Assistant, Intel HD Graphics Driver, etc. You don’t 
really need all this software in order for your system to work, so you 
can try uninstalling these programs and seeing if that fixes the issue.</li>
<li>Turn off or disable fast startup. This is a feature in Windows 8/10 
that helps the computer boot very fast from a shutdown state (not a 
restart). Just Google it and see if it fixes your problem.</li>
</ol>
Hopefully, one of the above solutions will work for your computer. If not, post a comment and I’ll try to help. Enjoy!<br />

</div>
</div>

TIPS Troubleshoot Windows 10 Does Not Go to Sleep

I’ve already written about how to fix issues with Windows 7 not going to sleep and Windows 8 not going to sleep , but I haven’t talked abo...

Ultimate Guide to Running Windows on a Mac

9:11 AM Unknown 0

Even though I use my Mac as my 
main working machine for everyday use, I still need Windows occasionally
 for certain programs or for certain websites that only work in Internet
 Explorer. Instead of having to use a second computer, it’s much easier 
to just run Windows on my Mac.<div class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="KonaBody">
In this article, I’m going to talk about the different ways you can 
install Windows on a Mac and the advantages/disadvantages to each 
method. Most people assume that we are only talking about installing a 
full copy of Windows on OS X, but that’s not necessarily the only 
option.<br />

For example, using special software, you can run certain Windows apps
 on a Mac without actually having to install a full copy of Windows. 
Also, if you already have a Windows PC on your network, you could simply
 remote desktop into the Windows machine and not have to install 
anything! Let’s talk about the different options.<br />

<h2>
Boot Camp</h2>
The most common solution you will read about online is using Boot 
Camp. It’s a free tool included with all versions of OS X and it allows 
you to install a single copy of Windows alongside OS X on your Mac. I’ve
 actually already written an article on <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/mac-os-x/windows-7-bootcamp/" target="_blank">how to install Windows using Boot Camp</a>.<br />

The process of installing Windows using Boot Camp is 
straight-forward, but not something I think most consumers would be able
 to do unless they have a technical background. If you have a Windows 
CD/DVD with you, that makes it much easier. If not, you have to <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/download-windows-10-8-7-install-usb-flash-drive/" target="_blank">download an ISO version of Windows</a> and install that onto a USB flash drive.<br />

The advantages of using Boot Camp are two-fold: you get an entire 
copy of Windows installed and it is running directly on the Mac 
hardware. This means it’ll be faster than any other method mentioned 
below. With a full copy of Windows, you can install any and all programs
 without limitation.<br />

You’ll also need to have about 50 to 100 GB of free space available 
on your Mac in order to install Windows. Overall, if you need a full 
copy of Windows and want to fully utilize the specs of your Mac, I 
suggest using Boot Camp.<br />

<h2>
Virtual Machine Software</h2>
The second best choice in my opinion if you need Windows installed 
locally on the machine is to use a virtual machine. I’ve already written
 several articles on virtual machines because they are a great way to 
keep you safe from viruses and increase your privacy.<br />

In addition, you can try out other operating systems on your current 
machine without having to create dual boot or triple boot systems. 
Virtual machines run inside software, so they are a bit slower, but they
 have some huge advantages.<br />

Firstly, everything inside the virtual machine stays inside the 
virtual machine. From a privacy standpoint, it’s great. Secondly, if the
 virtual machine gets a virus or crashes or anything else happens, you 
just reset it and you’re back to a pristine copy of your operating 
system.<br />

For Mac, there are a couple of virtual machine vendors that you can use:<br />

<pre><a href="https://www.vmware.com/products/fusion" target="_blank">VMware Fusion</a></pre>
<pre><a href="http://www.parallels.com/" target="_blank">Parallels</a></pre>
<pre><a href="https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads" target="_blank">VirtualBox</a></pre>
These are really the only three good options. The first two, Fusion 
and Parallels, are paid programs and VirtualBox is free. If you’re just 
doing this as a test, I suggest trying VirtualBox since it’s free. If 
you really want Windows to run well on your Mac with full 3D graphics 
support, you should spend the money on VMware Fusion or Parallels.<br />

I personally use VMware Workstation and VMWare Fusion on my Windows 
and Mac machines to run virtual copies of Windows and OS X. It’s fast 
and still allows you to have a full copy of Windows installed on your 
system. The only downside is that you won’t be able to do anything too 
graphics intensive, even when using the paid programs.<br />

Check out my articles on how to <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/mac-os-x/install-os-x-in-vmware-fusion/" target="_blank">install OS X using VMware Fusion</a> and how to <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/install-windows-8-in-a-virtual-machine/" target="_blank">install Windows in a virtual machine</a>. Another big advantage to virtual machines is that they are much easier to setup than Boot Camp is, for example.<br />

You can also store the virtual machine file anywhere you like, so an 
external hard drive or even a NAS (network attached storage device) 
would work fine.<br />

<h2>
Remote Desktop</h2>
Another good option is to use remote desktop from your Mac to another
 Windows PC. This method obviously means you won’t have Windows 
installed locally and you’ll need to have a network connection in order 
to connect to the other machine.<br />

In addition, it’s more complicated because you have to properly <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/windows-xp/how-to-setup-remote-desktop-on-windows-xp/" target="_blank">configure Windows to accept remote desktop</a> connections. On top of that, if you want to connect to your Windows machine from outside of your local network, you have to <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/ott-explains-what-is-port-forwarding-and-what-is-it-used-for/" target="_blank">forward ports on your router</a> and  <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/ddns-dynamic-dns-service/" target="_blank">setup dynamic DNS</a> too, which is a lot more complicated.<br />

However, if you only need to connect to Windows while on your local 
LAN, then it’s not terribly hard to do. Once Windows is configured, you 
just download the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-remote-desktop/id715768417?mt=12&ls=1" target="_blank">Microsoft Remote Desktop</a> client from the Mac App Store and you’re good to go.<br />

The big advantage to this method is that you literally don’t have to 
install anything on any machine. If you already have a Windows PC, just 
enable remote desktop connections and connect from your Mac! It requires
 just one small app on your Mac and that’s it.<br />

In addition, Windows will run smoothly since that depends on the 
hardware of the PC. You can run into issues if your network connection 
is slow, so it’s best to use an Ethernet cable for both the Mac and PC 
if possible. If you’re trying to connect over WiFi, just make sure 
you’re using at least wireless N or AC.<br />

<h2>
CrossOver/Wine for Mac</h2>
The last option you have is to use a program called <a href="https://www.codeweavers.com/" target="_blank">CrossOver</a>.
 This program will allow you to run specific Windows applications on 
your Mac computer without the need for installing Windows or even having
 a Windows license.<br />

The major limitation is that this program only works with a subset of
 all Windows programs. The subset is fairly large: around 13,000 
programs according to their website. These are programs that have been 
tested with CrossOver. You can still install unknown programs, but you 
might run into issues.<br />

The program also supports a lot of the big software applications you 
might be using like Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, etc. They also 
support a whole bunch of games like Star Wars, Fallout, Grand Theft 
Auto, The Elder Scrolls, etc. So if you want to play Windows games on 
your Mac, this is a good choice.<br />

Again, this program only runs certain Windows applications. There is 
no Start Menu or Windows Explorer or anything else related to Windows.<br />

There is another program called <a href="https://wiki.winehq.org/MacOSX" target="_blank">Wine</a>
 that was originally developed for Linux, but now can be used on Macs 
too. Unfortunately, it requires a lot of technical skill and use of the 
command line, etc. I only recommend this option for very tech-savvy 
folk.<br />

<h2>
Conclusion</h2>
As you can there, you have several options when it comes to getting 
Windows or Windows applications running on your Mac. Each solution has 
its pluses and minuses, along with varying levels of difficulty and 
prices.<br />

The best options will require you to purchase an extra license for 
Windows and purchase virtual machine software, so it’s not cheap by any 
means to do this. However, if you’re a heavy user of both operating 
systems, it’s totally worth the cost. If you have any questions, feel 
free to comment. Enjoy!<br />

</div>
</div>

Softwares TIPS Ultimate Guide to Running Windows on a Mac

Even though I use my Mac as my main working machine for everyday use, I still need Windows occasionally for certain programs or for certai...

How to Subtract Dates in Excel

9:10 AM Unknown 0

If you have an Excel sheet with a
 lot of dates, chances are you will eventually need to calculate the 
differences between some of those dates. Maybe you want to see how many 
months it took you to pay off your debt or how many days it took you to 
lose a certain amount of weight?<div class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="KonaBody">
Calculating the difference between dates in Excel is easy, but can 
become complicated depending on how you want to calculate certain 
values. For example, if you wanted to know the number of months between 
2/5/2016 and 1/15/2016, should the answer be 0 or 1? Some people might 
say 0 since it’s not a full month between the dates and others might say
 1 because it’s a different month.<br />

In this article, I’ll show you how to calculate the differences 
between two dates to find the number of days, months and years with 
different formulas, depending on your preferences.<br />

<h2>
Days Between Two Dates</h2>
The simplest calculation we can do is to get the number of days 
between two dates. The good thing about calculating days is that there 
really is only one way to calculate the value, so you don’t have to 
worry about different formulas giving you different answers.<br />

In my example above, I have two dates stored in cells A2 and A3. At 
the right, you can see the difference between those two dates is 802 
days. In Excel, there are always multiple ways to calculate the same 
value and that’s what I did here. Let’s take a look at the formulas:<br />

The first formula is just a simple subtraction of the two dates, A3 –
 A2. Excel knows it’s a date and simply calculates the number of days 
between those two dates. Easy and very straight-forward. In addition, 
you can also use the <strong>DAYS</strong> function.<br />

<pre>=DAYS(A3, A2)</pre>
This function takes two arguments: the end date and the start date. 
If you switch the dates in the formula, you’ll just get a negative 
number. Lastly, you can use a function called <strong>DATEDIF</strong>, which is included in Excel from Lotus 1-2-3 days, but isn’t an officially supported formula in Excel.<br />

<pre>=DATEDIF(A2, A3, "D")</pre>
When you type the formula, you’ll see that Excel does not give you 
any suggestions for the fields, etc. Luckily, you can see the syntax and
 all supported arguments for the <a href="https://support.office.com/en-us/article/DATEDIF-function-bd549d1c-f829-4691-a77d-4a1e3d42bc1a" target="_blank">DATEDIF function</a> here.<br />

As an added bonus, what if you wanted to calculate the number of 
weekdays between two dates? That’s easy enough also because we have a 
built-in formula:<br />

<pre>=NETWORKDAYS(startDate,endDate)</pre>
Calculating the number of days and weekdays is simple enough, so let’s talk about months now.<br />

<h2>
Months Between Two Dates</h2>
The trickiest calculation is the number of months because of how you 
can either round up or round down depending on whether it’s a complete 
month or a partial month. Now there is a MONTHS function in Excel, but 
it’s very limited because it will only look at the month when 
calculating the difference and not the year. This means it’s only useful
 for calculating the difference between two months in the same year.<br />

Since that is kind of pointless, let’s look at some formulas that will get us the correct answer. Microsoft has provided these <a href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/214134" target="_blank">here</a>, but if you are too lazy to visit the link, I have provided them below also.<br />

<pre>Round Up - =(YEAR(LDate)-YEAR(EDate))*12+MONTH(LDate)-MONTH(EDate)</pre>
<pre>Round Down - =IF(DAY(LDate)>=DAY(EDate),0,-1)+(YEAR(LDate)-YEAR(EDate))
*12+MONTH(LDate)-MONTH(EDate)</pre>
Now these are two fairly long and complicated formulas and you really
 don’t need to understand what’s going on. Here are the formulas in 
Excel:<br />

Note the you should edit the round down formula in the actual cell 
itself because for some odd reason the entire formula does not show up 
in the formula bar. In order to see the formula in the cell itself, 
click on the <strong>Formulas</strong> tab and then click <strong>Show Formulas</strong>.<br />

So what’s the final result of the two formulas on our current example? Let’s see below:<br />

Round up gives me 27 months and round down gives me 26 months, which 
is accurate, depending on how you want to look at it. Lastly, you can 
also use the DATEDIF function, but it only calculates full months, so in
 our case the answer it returns is 26.<br />

<pre>=DATEDIF(A2, A3, "M")</pre>
<h2>
Years Between Two Dates</h2>
As with months, years can also be calculated depending on whether you
 want to count 1 year as a full 365 days or if a change in the year 
counts. So let’s take our example where I have used two different 
formulas for calculating the number of years:<br />

One formula uses DATEDIF and the other uses the YEAR function. Since 
the difference in the number of days is only 802, DATEDIF shows 2 years 
whereas the YEAR function shows 3 years.<br />

Again, this is a matter of preference and depends on what exactly you
 are trying to calculate. It’s a good idea to know both methods so that 
you can attack different problems with different formulas.<br />

As long as you are careful with which formulas you use, it’s fairly 
easy to calculate exactly what you are looking for. There are also a lot
 more date functions outside of the ones I mentioned, so feel free to 
check those out also on the <a href="https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Date-and-time-functions-reference-fd1b5961-c1ae-4677-be58-074152f97b81" target="_blank">Office Support</a> site. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. Enjoy!<br />

</div>
</div>

Softwares TIPS How to Subtract Dates in Excel

If you have an Excel sheet with a lot of dates, chances are you will eventually need to calculate the differences between some of those da...

How to Stop an LCD Monitor from Flickering

9:09 AM Unknown 0

Compared to older displays, LCD 
monitors are an excellent low-cost, low-power solution to our need for a
 computer display. Unfortunately, some monitor settings can make an LCD 
screen appear to flicker.<div class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="KonaBody">
A flickering LCD monitor is more than just an annoyance. It can cause
 eye strain, headaches, and a host of other ailments, especially if you 
spend a great deal of time in front of your computer. Luckily, there are
 some steps you can take to stop the flickering and avoid these 
problems. In this article, I’ll show you how to stop your LCD monitor 
from flickering.<br />

<h2>
What Causes an LCD Monitor to Flicker</h2>
Although your computer monitor may appear to be a still image when no
 one is using it, it is actually being updated constantly. Much like a 
film strip is just a bunch of static images displayed quickly, your 
monitor updates at a fast rate to make it look like things are moving 
smoothly on the screen.<br />

The rate at which your monitor updates is measured in Hertz. One 
Hertz is equal to one cycle per second. If your monitor is set to update
 at a rate of 100 Hertz, then it is refreshing 100 times per second. The
 Hertz used to measure monitor refresh rates is similar to the Gigahertz
 used to measure the speed of your CPU, except that Gigahertz is a 
measure expressed in billions of cycles per second.<br />

If the refresh rate on your LCD monitor is set too low, it can appear
 to be flickering since there aren’t enough updates per second. While 
some people are comfortable with around 30 Hertz, others can see the 
flickering and require a higher refresh rate. The most common refresh 
rate is 60 Hertz.<br />

There are other factors that can cause screen flickering and I have mentioned those at the bottom of this post.<br />

<h2>
Setting the Refresh Rate for an LCD Monitor</h2>
The refresh rates that you can set for your LCD monitor are largely 
determined by the capabilities of your monitor. While some LCD monitors 
can take advantage of several different refresh rates, others are 
confined to just one or two.<br />

To choose a new refresh rate for your LCD monitor in Windows, begin by clicking on <strong>Start > Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Display</strong>.
 If you are on Windows 8 or 10, just right-click on the Start button and
 choose Control Panel. If you’re in icon view, you can click directly on
 <strong>Display</strong>.<br />

On the left hand side of the window, click on <strong>Change Display Settings</strong>.<br />

Finally, click on <strong>Advanced Settings</strong> at the bottom right of the window.<br />

Click on the <strong>Monitor</strong> tab and you will notice a few things. First, notice the setting labeled<strong> Screen Refresh Rate</strong>.
 This is the current refresh rate for your LCD monitor. Click the drop 
down menu and Windows will display all of the refresh rates possible for
 your monitor.<br />

It is likely that your monitor can only use one or two refresh rates,
 so this list may not be long. Some manufacturers build monitors that 
can display anywhere from 30 Hertz to 200 Hertz. Normally, monitors with
 higher refresh rates will be more expensive. A common refresh rate for 
gaming monitors is 144 Hertz. If the price of a monitor seems too cheap 
to you, it’s probably because it has a low refresh rate. For example, 
some new 4K monitors are cheap, but are only 30 Hertz, which can make 
everything look choppy on the screen.<br />

Also, a lot of monitors will show 59Hz and 60Hz and you can pick 
between the two. So what’s the difference? It’s basically something to 
do with rounding and it really doesn’t matter. You can read the exact 
details on <a href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2006076" target="_blank">59Hz vs 60Hz</a> here.<br />

From here, you can try a higher refresh rate and see if the 
flickering stops. Usually this does the trick. If it doesn’t work or 
there is only one refresh rate listed, there are two things you can try.<br />

First, make sure you are using the latest driver for your LCD 
monitor. If the driver is outdated or Windows is using a generic driver,
 the number of refresh rates available may be limited. Visit the 
manufacturer website and download the latest driver for your version of 
Windows.<br />

If that doesn’t work, you can force Windows to use a refresh rate 
that is not technically supported by the monitor. Be careful, though, 
because it is possible to damage your monitor hardware if you do this.<br />

On the <strong>Monitor</strong> tab shown above, there is an option that is checked by default called <strong>Hide Modes That This Monitor Cannot Display</strong>. By unchecking this option, you can force Windows to use any refresh rate for your monitor that you want.<br />

Notice that right underneath this option, Windows warns you about an 
unusable or damaged display. Uncheck this option and set your monitor to
 an unsupported refresh rate at your own risk. Depending on your version
 of Windows, this option may be grayed out, meaning you can only pick 
from the refresh rates listed in the box.<br />

For Mac users running OS X, you can go to <strong>System Preferences</strong> and click on <strong>Display</strong>. Here you can change the refresh rate for an external display connected to your Mac.<br />

<h2>
Other Screen Flickering Causes</h2>
If changing the refresh rate doesn’t fix the flicker on the screen, 
it could be related to other factors. Here is a list of other items you 
should check:<br />

<strong>Cable</strong> – If you can, change the cable connecting your
 monitor to your computer. In some cases, a defective cable can cause 
the signal to break while being transmitted across the wire.<br />

<strong>Input Port</strong> – Another solution is to use a 
different port on the monitor, if possible. For example, if you are 
connecting using HDMI, try DVI or DisplayPort or VGA instead and see if 
that fixes the problem.<br />

<strong>Surroundings</strong> – In addition to hardware issues, 
electromagnetic fields can also cause screen flickering problems. If you
 have something else plugged into the same power strip like a heater, 
fan, etc., try removing it.<br />

<strong>Video card</strong> – If there is an issue with your video 
card, it will obviously effect the output on the screen. Update the 
drivers and open your computer to ensure that the video card is properly
 seated in the slot.<br />

<strong>Monitor</strong> – Lastly, the monitor itself could be 
damaged or defective. Try connecting the monitor to another computer to 
see if the problem goes away or remains.<br />

Hopefully, this will help you figure out what’s causing the 
flickering issues with your monitor. If you have any questions, feel 
free to comment. Enjoy!<br />

</div>
</div>

Computer Peripherals Softwares TIPS How to Stop an LCD Monitor from Flickering

Compared to older displays, LCD monitors are an excellent low-cost, low-power solution to our need for a computer display. Unfortunately, ...

Prevent a Mouse or USB Device from Waking Windows from Sleep Mode

9:09 AM Unknown 0

One of the best power management 
features in Windows is sleep mode, a convenient way to save power and 
reduce the wear and tear on your PC hardware while it isn’t being used. 
Normally, your mouse and keyboard are set by default to wake up Windows 
from sleep mode.
This isn’t a problem for most people, but can be troublesome for 
certain people with a very sensitive mouse. Even slight vibrations can 
cause Windows to wake up from sleep. Luckily, you can easily disable the
 mouse or any other USB device from waking Windows up.<br />

In this article, I’ll show you how to change the power settings for 
your mouse or USB device so that it won’t interfere with Windows 
sleeping. For me, I just use my keyboard to wake up the computer, so I 
don’t have to worry about pressing the power button.<br />

<h2>
Stop Mouse from Waking PC</h2>
To start, go to Control Panel and click on <strong>Mouse</strong>. If you are in category view, click on<strong> Hardware and Sound</strong> and then click on <strong>Mouse</strong> under<strong> Devices and Printer</strong>s.<br />
<a href="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/mouse-settings-1.png" rel="attachment wp-att-59063"><img alt="mouse settings" class="lazy size-full wp-image-59063 aligncenter" data-original="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/mouse-settings-1.png" height="243" itemprop="image" src="http://11986-presscdn-0-77.pagely.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/mouse-settings-1.png" style="display: block;" width="629" /></a><br />

In the <strong>Mouse Properties</strong> window, click on the <strong>Hardware</strong>
 tab and select your mouse from the list of devices. Normally, there 
will only be one mouse listed here, but that will depend on the hardware
 you have connected to your computer. When you have selected your mouse 
from the list, click the <strong>Properties</strong> button.<br />

In the second <strong>Properties</strong> window for your mouse, click on the <strong>Change Settings</strong> button on the <strong>General</strong> tab.<br />

Finally, click the <strong>Power Management</strong> tab and uncheck the <strong>Allow This Device to Wake the Computer </strong>box. Click the <strong>OK</strong>
 button and click OK on all the other open windows too. From now on, you
 cannot wake up Windows from sleep mode by clicking a mouse button or 
moving the mouse around.<br />

Some high-end mice, like gaming mice, have high polling rates and 
high DPI, which means even the tiniest of movements will be detected and
 cause your computer to wake up. Fixing this setting will prevent that 
from happening. Note that you can also get to this setting by clicking 
on Start and then typing in <strong>Device Manager</strong>.<br />

Expand <strong>Mice</strong> and other pointing device and then right-click on the mouse and choose <strong>Properties</strong>.<br />

This will get you to the same dialog with the Power Management tab as
 shown above. To prevent other USB devices from waking your computer, 
just right-click on them, choose Properties and go to the power tab. For
 example, you can also prevent the keyboard from waking your computer or
 the network card too.<br />

If you have a wireless keyboard/mouse and there is a USB transmitter 
attached to your computer, you will also need to disable this option for
 that device too. It should show up under <strong>Keyboards</strong>. If nothing else other than <strong>HID Keyboard Device</strong> shows up, then just disable it for that also.<br />

<h2>
Missing Power Management Tab</h2>
In some cases, you might not see a Power Management tab for some or all of your USB devices. In addition, sometimes the <strong>Allow this device to wake the computer</strong> box is grayed out and you can’t check or uncheck it.<br />

If you are missing the Power Management tab or the box is grayed out,
 you need to go into your computer BIOS and make sure it supports wake 
over USB. You can usually tell this if there is an option to enable <strong>USB Wake Support</strong> or enable a sleep state higher than S1 (normally S3). The option in the BIOS may be called <strong>ACPI Suspend Type</strong>.<br />

You might also see some options under <strong>Wake Up Event Setup</strong> related to resuming from S3/S4/S5 by mouse/keyboard/USB device. Make sure these are all enabled.<br />

If you’re having other sleep issues, make sure to check out my post on <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/windows-10/windows-10-will-not-sleep/" target="_blank">troubleshooting Windows not going to sleep</a>. If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment. Enjoy

Computer Peripherals TIPS Prevent a Mouse or USB Device from Waking Windows from Sleep Mode

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Prevent a Mouse or USB Device from Waking Windows from Sleep Mode

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