Two handy tips I use…

By | October 15, 2018
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“What have you got?”

When I was a teenager and computers were first coming in, kids at my school would often ask “Have you got a computer?” and if you said yes they’d ask “What type is it?”

Nowadays it’s all a bit different. It’s not just computers – people use tablets and smartphones too.

But it’s not so much what device you have – many people have more than one. A PC and a smartphone… a phone and a tablet. Or all three.  After all they’re all useful in different situations or for different things.

I use my phone, a laptop and an old iPad. (Of course, I use all sorts of different devices at work when I’m writing about them, but I’m talking about at home.)

Maybe you use more than one device as well – many people do. And if you do, there’s a simple trick that can make it more useful.

It’s this: use the same web browser on all the devices and make sure you’re logged into the same account on all of them. I personally use Google’s Chrome on all three, but Microsoft have recently made their “Edge” browser available on phones and tablets as well or you could use Firefox.

As long as you log into the same account on all of the devices, then it’ll remember what you were doing on all of them, no matter which one you’re using at the time.

You know how when you go to type in a web address that you’ve been to before and it fills it in for you? It’ll do that even if you’ve only visited the page on a different device.

Any pages you “bookmark” or make a “favourite” on one device will be bookmarked on the other devices too.

And anything else it remembers for you will be shared between the different devices.

Of course, it’s up to you. You might prefer to keep what each device remembers separate for some reason. But it certainly makes using more than one device that bit simpler and less hassle.

One more tip: if you’re using one device and sharing it with another person (at home both my wife and I use the same laptop), sometimes it might be annoying that it remembers things. Of course if you’re shopping for a Birthday present, you don’t want it remembering the webpage and your other half spotting it. But also if you both have (say) a gmail account… or an account for anything else, it can get confusing when it tries to log you into the other person’s one.

We get around this by simply using different browsers. I always use Google Chrome, Julie tends to use Microsoft Edge. That way Edge remembers her settings, Chrome remembers mine and they don’t get mixed up.

Again, not something you have to do, but it might make life easier.

2 thoughts on “Two handy tips I use…

  1. Brian Veillard

    I have been using Internet Explorer since it first came out and am perfectly happy with it. Unfortunately I down- loaded Google Chrome to see what it was like and now all internet references in other programmes, eg. Emails, automatically use Chrome. I hate Chrome ; or do I mean Edge? It is nowhere as good as Explorer. How do I get rid of it? Any help welcome.
    I am an unreconstructed caveman. I still use Lotus 123 rather than Excel and Lotus WordPro instead of the MS equivalent which I could just about manage with the Windows 8 version but this version will not operate with windows 10 so I have Libre office which is reasonable but I cannot find how to do certain things that are no problem in Lotus.
    Thank God I am a retired octogenarian.

    Reply
    1. Emma - The Helpful Book Company

      Hello Brian,
      If you have Windows 10 you’ll have Microsoft edge installed as your Windows web browser.
      You can uninstall Google Chrome on Windows 10, you’ll need to click on the Windows icon (four little squares) in the bottom left-hand corner of your screen, this will bring up a list of all the programmes on your PC so just search for Google Chrome. When you’ve found it click on it using the right-hand button on your mouse or keypad and select uninstall. That should get rid of it for you.
      I also use Libre office and have found it to be a good alternative to Excel.
      I hope I’ve managed to help you.
      Thanks
      Emma

      Reply

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