I haven’t mentioned Chromebooks in a while and I don’t want them to feel neglected. When Chromebooks first came out, they were a bit more simplistic than they are now. I don’t think most people thought they would last long, but clearly, they fill a need. The main need is simplicity.
 
Chromebooks can generally be thought of as a computer that has one main purpose, accessing the internet via a Web Browser. However, they are now a lot more than that, and can do many things offline. The Chromebook works within the Browser, but doesn’t require an internet connection to do everything. Obviously, the best experience will be with internet, but many apps are now available within the Browser that do not require an internet connection.
 
When you think about what you do on your phone, tablet, computer, a lot of it is done through a Web Browser, so that makes the Chromebook a more focused use computer. When I am on my home desktop computer, I spend most of my time in a Browser. I use a Browser to get to MS Word, buy from eBay and Amazon, and to look up tech tips, how-to’s, and funny videos.
 
Read about Chromebooks and why they are good CLICK HERE. 
 
Now, another reason I like Chromebooks is that they generally require less resources that Windows and Macs. What this means is that an older Windows laptop that has gotten too slow over the years may be re-purposed as a Chromebook, which will run just fine. A link to do that is CLICK HERE. 
 
The fact is, Windows and Macs operating systems are designed to do lots of things for lots of people, and many of those things are never used by most people. By simplifying the Chromebook experience, it focuses of what most people want to do most of the time. It can still be a word processor, do spreadsheets, and video editing. If you are a professional video editor, than sure, you’ll want a Mac or PC, but most of us can get what we want from a simpler Chromebook.
 
Most games that are in the Google Play Store will run on the Chromebook. So if you prefer playing Stupid Zombies 2 on a bigger screen than your smart phone, then maybe a Chromebook is the way to go. In terms of money well spent, your bucks will go farther on a Chromebook, as long as it will fulfill your needs.

I wouldn’t know about this problem personally, as I have an apparently ancient iPhone 11 that works fine. That said, Apple issued a fix for this problem recently, so if you do have an overheating iPhone 15, you should do a software update to get the patch from Apple.

I used to have an Android phone that periodically started heating up in my pocket to the point it was concerning. I powered it off, then on again, and that took care of it for a while.  Lithium Ion batteries are great, except for that one little self-emolliating problem.

One of these days a different, better battery will come along. And transporters too. And Warp drive, and justice and equality. In the meantime, we wait.

No idea your iPhone 15 was full of rage and heated up? Read about it here.  
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I was recently asked what to do about a mailbox being full. This is likely a pretty common occurance, though it’s not a question I get asked very often. Carol’s mailbox gets full all the time, usually because of very large pictures sent to her.

A common issue with mailboxes is that we use them as file cabinets. It would be a bit like saving all your favorite mail in your mailbox. It would fill up fairly quickly, I imagine. While much of it may be junk you can throw away, after a few years it would be impossible to deliver mail.

Pictures take up the most room, probably. The fastest way to make space would be to delete emails that have pictures, saving the pictures you want to keep, first. My suggestion would be to sort your INBOX by size. Do that by clicking on the heading, ‘Size’. Once your mail is sorted biggest to smallest, you can make the most of deleting. Check the email contents for whatever you want to save and save them to your Downloads folder, or Pictures folder, or wherever you think is best.  Then delete the email. You can save the whole email if you want, but usually it’s the pics we are after.

After you save what you want, delete the email. It won’t take long to recover a lot of space from the INBOX. The thing to remember though, you’ll have to empty your trash folder to actually recover the space. When you delete the emails, they typically will be placed in the Trash folder. They will stay there for a preset amount of time. By Emptying the Trash, you will get get the space back immediately.
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What I have described is a general rule of thumb, so your email may work a bit differently. This is a guideline. Also, remember that there are multiple email folders, like Junk, Sent, Outbox, etc. The Sent folder contains all the emails you have sent out. That folder should also be looked at to see if it can be cleaned up. And again, don’t forget to empty the Trash.

The internet has been a topic out here for a long time. While the Bondy household chose to go with Starlink, along with quite a few other folks, there are other alternatives. The one I like is T-Mobile. There is a T-Mobile tower right next to the Fire Station and it covers a big area. A friend of ours reports having a few days of failed service from the tower this past week due to maintenance, but he called me this morning to report it’s working again and faster than ever.
Gary is using a T-Mobile hotspot in his home and reported 60Mbs this morning. When he first got the hotspot a year or so ago, he said he was getting about 30Mbs.

Obviously, T-Mobile's tower won’t reach everywhere in our area, but if it does get to your location, it could be a great source of internet, and it could save you some money over Windstream. Judging from Gary’s experience, it’ll be more reliable, and faster too.

Last week I wrote about pop-ups that you can’t close and say your computer is infected, Mac or PC, and to call this number for help. Sometimes they say they are Microsoft, sometimes Apple, sometimes they purport to be the IRS or Federal Marshals. One person said there was a picture of them, using the computer’s built-in camera. It can seem scary and real. Especially with the noise the pop-up can make, the dire red screen, or maybe even a picture of you presented in the screen.
 
These pop-ups usually harmless, unless you call the number, or click on the screen, or give them access to your computer. Don’t do any of those things.
 
The best thing to do is end the browser that is causing the pop-up and avoid the site that called up the pop-up. If you are a mad-person, then you can call the number and give the scammer a hard time. I do not have that personality but there are people that do. And apparently, there is a ‘call’ center devoted to giving scammers a hard time. I just learned about this and on YouTube, there is a young woman that is a voice actor and musician that seems to spend an inordinate amount of time pestering these horrible people.
 
If I’m not pretty enough to listen to, then listen to this talented young woman CLICK HERE: 
 
I’m giving several links to her videos so you can watch, and relish, her particular talents. She mimics Siri, Alexa, ‘old lady’, ‘Valley Girl/Karen’ and more. BTW, I have friend’s named Karen, so I don’t like that term. I don’t know any Brandon’s, but I don’t like that either. We need to be more tolerant, but that’s for another day. Boomers. I don’t like that. There’s a theme here.
 
Here’s a ‘granny’ and Siri video: 

Here’s an Alexa video.
 
If you click on her name you can find all her videos and see some of the ones where she’s at a call center, harassing scammers with others. I consider them superheroes, of a sort.