Keeping up with the Gates’s

By | April 22, 2019
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Hello & Happy Easter!

I’m going to dash this email off quickly as we’re off out for the day.  Apologies for any typos – I’ll do my best to avoid them anyway!

You might think that since I write about computers and the like, I know all the latest news about how Microsoft and the rest keep changing things.

It’s not true, though.  Sometimes they changes things and it catches me out.  Sometimes something’s changed and I don’t realise for a while, until someone mentions it to me.  

I don’t always manage to keep up with how fast Bill Gates and his lot keep changing things.

For example, apparently earlier in the month they changed how it works if you use a USB drive (also called a pen drive, flash drive and so on).  You might use one for backing up files, photos or whatever… or for moving files from one PC to another.

And until recently, it was recommended that you always click and choose “eject” or “safely remove” before you pulled it out of the computer again.  It lets the computer make sure it has finished using it before you do.

But Microsoft are just changing how it works. Your PC or laptop might not have the update yet, but once you have it, you can pull out a USB drive without choosing “Safely remove hardware”… as long as you aren’t still copying files to or from the device at the time.

The downside is that to make it work like this means they had to change some of the technical gubbins… which might mean it works slightly slower.  I doubt you’d notice the difference in practice though.

So if you use a USB drive and are wondering where the option to safely remove has gone – you don’t need to worry.

I mentioned last time that members of the Inner Circle get access to “Inner Circle TV”. They also get access to a selection of ebooks, included in their membership.

Some of these ebooks are only available to members – there’s no other way to get them (short of being a highwayman, holding me up at pistol point and saying “stand and deliver those ebooks”).  

For example “Backing Up Demystified” and “How to Speed Up Your PC” – only for members, not for anyone else (well, except possibly highwaymen).

Others are ebook versions of short books we’ve made available at various times over the past few years – but they’re gathered together here so members can get at all of them.  For example “Make Your PC Easier to Use”, “How to control your tablet”, “Eleven (and a half) little-known things you can do on the internet”.

Once you’re a member, you can read them on screen or print them out – whichever you prefer.  And you get access to them instantly once you join.

If you’re a member and you didn’t know about these ebooks, you might want to have a look – go to the Inner Circle website, go to the Library section and choose “ebooks”.

If you’re not a member, you might want to think about joining.  There’s more information (including how to join – online or over the phone) on the page here.  

Don’t hesitate too long, though.  Next week we’ll be closing the doors and not allowing any more members in until next time.  I don’t know when that’ll be, but usually it’s been over a year between “openings”.

Here’s the link to the information about it again.

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