By BD Bondy
 
I’ve written about Starlink before, and I know a lot of folks aren’t happy with E.M. However, as I’ve said, if you knew the CEO of all the companies you bought from, you probably wouldn't. So, all I can say is that Starlink provided us with the fastest, most trouble free, reliable internet service we’ve ever had.

That said, they were very expensive. Lately though, I’ve been getting ads for Starlink where the Residential Lite plan is $49/month, and the hardware is down to $89. I paid a whopping $600 for our unit and thought I’d be able to sell it for half that or so. I ended up giving it to a friend.
At these prices, I’m even thinking of getting a backup. We use T-Mobile internet, and it’s good, not great. Good enough for us, fast enough, works way better than Windstream, not as reliable as Starlink, but it’s $30/month, so that was a $90 savings, per month, over what we paid for Starlink.

The Residential Lite plan is now $49/month for unlimited data, though the regular Residential plan gets ‘priority’ when and if there’s a heavy usage period. That means the Lite plan may get throttled down. I figure if its regular speed is over 300Mbs and you get throttled down to 50Mbs, you’d still be ahead of the game.

Also, there is a roaming option for some of their devices. You can supposedly put it in a backpack, it’s that small. It’s lower power too. There’s a 12v option for it. It’s limited to 50Gb/month, but for roaming, that may be plenty.   A lot of RVer's use it.  I was thinking of that one for us as well.

By BD Bondy

I got a call from a friend saying he needed to buy a new computer as his 6 year old computer wouldn’t update to Windows 11. After talking to him a bit we decided to try and update his ‘old’ computer first, despite Microsoft saying it could not be done.

There are a lot of options for installing Win 11 on non-acceptable computers, and I’ve written about that before. There are just a couple of issues, normally, as to why MS doesn’t allow the upgrade, but they can be bypassed with a few tools.

In the case of an update though, that’s something I haven’t been doing. I always wipe the drive and install a fresh copy without keeping any of the user’s data. Then, the old data can be moved over to the ‘new’ computer manually.

What I found a couple of days ago is an easy to use free tool that allows you to upgrade your Windows 10 (and possibly older) computer to Windows 11. I’ve only done it one and a half times. I’m in the middle of doing one right now, it isn’t finished.

​The link to the how to video is HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiMdzZjjwNg

He explains the entire process. I suggest watching the video FIRST, all the way through. I didn’t, and it worked out fine, but there is more to it which I recommend. I ran the update as the video went along, pausing it till Windows 11 was installed. Today, I finished the video, and there were a few more things that might interest you.

The overall process takes place on the target computer. First, download the FLYOOBE app https://github.com/builtbybel/Flyoobe , I used version flyoobe 1.11, then download a copy of Windows, then unpack the Flyoobe folder and run the Fly0 app. It walks you through how to do everything, though there are some steps to pay attention to. The Flyo app will also walk you through downloading Windows, if you prefer it that way.
You answer some questions and then it runs. Watch it until after the screen where it says it will install Windows 11 and Keep everything. After that it runs till it’s done. What should come up then is your computer, now on Win 11.

By Rick Rouse Daily Tech Tips

Question from Marcus:  I know that some websites can see my location when I visit them with Chrome.
I know there are some sites that need to see my location (like Google Maps, for instance) but I’d rather keep my location hidden from the ones that don’t.

Is there a way to see which sites can see my location?

Also, is there a way to stop the ones that don’t need access to my location from seeing it? 

Rick’s answer:  Marcus, you can easily view a list of the sites that are allowed to see your location. And luckily, it’s very easy to block the ones you want to prevent from seeing it.
​
You didn’t mention whether you’re using Chrome on a computer or an Android device so I’ll give you directions for both.

If you use Chrome on a laptop or desktop computer:

1 – Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of the Chrome window.
2 – Click Settings.
3 – In the left-hand pane, click Privacy and security.
4 – In the right-hand pane, click Site Settings.
5 – In the “Permissions” section, click Location.
6 – Scroll down to the Allowed to see your location section to see a list of all the sites that have permission to see your location.
7 – Check the sites listed here to see if there’s one you want to revoke access to your location for. If so, click on that site and toggle the “Location” permission setting from Allow to Block.
8 – Repeat step 7 for any other sites you want to prevent from seeing your location.

If you use the Chrome app on an Android phone or tablet:

1 – Tap the three dots icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
2 – Scroll down and tap Settings.
3 – Scroll down and tap Site settings.
4 – Tap Location. You should now see a list of the sites that are allowed to see your location in the “Allowed” section.
5 – Check the sites listed here to see if there’s one you want to revoke access to your location for. If so, tap on that site and then tap Block.
6 – Repeat step 5 for any other sites you want to prevent from seeing your location.

That’s all there is to it. Now only the sites you want to have access to your location should have it. All the rest should now be blocked.

I hope this helps, Marcus. Good luck!

Update from Marcus:  Thanks, Rick. Exactly what I needed.

Bonus tip:  Want to remain as private and anonymous as possible on the Internet? Check this out.  (#ad)

By Rick Rouse
Rick's Daily Tech Tips

If you have an iPhone, iPad or Mac you probably have tons of irreplaceable photos and other things stored on your device(s).

Have you ever thought about what might happen to your precious photos and important files after you pass on?

Wouldn’t it be nice if someone you trust would be able to properly (and completely) dispose of your Apple account and save any photos and files that you want to pass on to your family after you’re gone?

If so, I have good news for you… 

Apple provides an opportunity for every user to designate one or more Legacy Contacts for their Apple account.

In a nutshell, a Legacy Contact is someone you designate to take control of your Apple account and your connected Apple devices when you eventually pass away.

Once you have designated at least one Legacy Contact that person will be able remove the Activation Lock on your devices and access everything that’s stored on them.

As you can see, this person should be someone you would trust with the key to your entire digital life, because that’s pretty close to what they will have.

Adding a Legacy Contact to your account will help ensure that you’ll be able to recover access to your devices if you ever get locked out of them. It will also help ensure that your photos and data are handled according to your wishes after you’ve passed away.

If you’re inclined to do so, you can add a Legacy Contact to your Apple account by following the steps below for the device you’re using.

If you’re using an iPhone or iPad:
1 – Tap the gear-shaped Settings icon.
2 – Tap on your  name.
3 – Tap Sign-In & Security.
4 – Tap Legacy Contact.
5 – Tap Add Legacy Contact and follow the prompts as they appear.
If you’re using a Mac:
1 – Click on the Apple icon in the top-left corner of the screen.
2 – Click System Settings.
3 – Click Sign-In & Security.
4 – Click Legacy contact.
5 – Click Add Legacy Contact and follow the prompts as they appear.

Your Legacy Contact should now be ready and able to help you should you ever need them.
At the time of your passing your Legacy Contact(s) will be able to request that apple remove the activation lock from your Apple devices and transfer control of those devices (and the data that’s stored on them) over to them. They’ll just need the following in order to complete the request:

1 – The access key that you generated when you designated them as your contact
2 – Your death certificate
​
Bottom line: If you have an Apple account (and you do have one if you own one or more Apple devices) I strongly recommend that you follow the steps listed above to designate at one Legacy Contact for your account. Actually, two would be even better since there’s always a chance that your Legacy Contact might pass away before you do.

Bonus tip: If you just recently got your first MacBook (or you’d like to learn more about the one you’ve had for a while), you might want to check this out.  (#ad)

By BD Bondy

This year I'm on a seemingly never-ending quest to retire, and remain alive doing it. My plan is to stop working on computers completely and that means not to refurbish and give away computers anymore. I plan to give away all my spare parts and all my computer repair toys that I have. If you’re interested in picking up the ball and running with it, please let me know.

I’ve given away over 500 computers, which you all have given me. For that, I thank you.

​So today I'm writing my tech tip on my phone. I don't usually do this. I prefer to sit down at my desk and write a tech tip. The other thing I like to do is to use Carol's iPad with an external keyboard and mouse. It’s easier to type that way for me. Today, I am using a transcribing tool that's on my iPhone. I asked Siri to open it up. I didn't know the name of it. I just asked her to open up a voice recorder and Siri did that (Voice Memos on the iPhone) and now I'm literally talking into my phone, and after I'm done, after I press stop, it gives me an option to look at the transcript and I can then copy and paste the transcript into a writing tool. So that's my tech tip today. If you want to write on your phone, you can actually just talk to it and you can edit the transcript, copy and paste it into some editing tool, and it's weird, interesting, fun, and extremely useful.
Secondarily, you may gain from this an awareness that you can ask Siri to do stuff. Delegate some of the things you want to do on your to Siri, like re-booting, open files, read messages, open wallet (I can never find that one) and the like. Whatever assistant your phone has, they want to help.