Budget laptops

Reviews of inexpensive laptops, from NYTimes


CNET top budget laptops

PCmag budget laptops 

globally remove hyperlinks in Word document

Need to remove all the hyperlinks in a Word doc:

How do I remove a hyperlink without losing the display text or image?

To remove a single hyperlink without losing the display text or image, right-click the hyperlink, and then click Remove Hyperlink.

To remove all hyperlinks in a document, press CTRL+A to select the entire document and then press CTRL+SHIFT+F9.

Note: Performing this operation converts all fields, not just hyperlinks, to plain text.


https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/291182/frequently-asked-questions-about-hyperlinks-in-word

Turn off hyperlink creation in Word

To turn off automatic hyperlinks, follow these steps,:

• In Microsoft Office Word 2010and 2013, follow these steps:  
  1. On the File menu, click Options.
     
  2. Click Proofing, and then click AutoCorrect Options.
  3. On the AutoFormat as you type tab and on the AutoFormat tab, click to clear the Internet and network paths with hyperlinks check box, and then click OK.
     
  4. Click OK to close the Word Options dialog box.
  
  

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/291182/frequently-asked-questions-about-hyperlinks-in-word

Using iMac as monitor for external computer

To use an iMac just as a monitor for another computer:

If you have an iMac made in mid-2011 or later, then one thing you can do with it is to use it as an external monitor. Similar to Target Disk mode, where one Mac's internal hard drives can be mounted as external drives via FireWire or Thunderbolt to another system,

Target Display mode allows an iMac's display to be captured and used by a second Mac.

While Target Disk mode requires you to restart the Mac, Target Display mode can be invoked from within OS X.

To do this, first check the model of your iMac to ensure it was made in 2011 or later, and then simply press Command-F2. Note that on most Macs, the F-keys are assigned to a system function by default, so you will either have to revert this in the Keyboard system preferences, or hold the "Fn" key in addition to the Command key before tapping F2.
When you press this hotkey, the system will remain running, but the display will now be accessible through the Thunderbolt connection of the iMac.

Tip

• If you have an aluminum Apple keyboard connected to your PC, you can toggle your iMac between displaying the video output of the PC and its own video output by pressing the "Command + F2" keys.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-use-your-imac-as-a-monitor/

Sierra console output

To get error messages from Sierra client, open the  iiirunner.lax   file in notepad, and edit the section below so that output goes to CONSOLE

#   LAX.STDOUT.REDIRECT
#   -------------------
#   leave blank for no output, "console" to send to a console window,
#   and any path to a file to save to the file 

 
lax.stdout.redirect=console

javascript search box

Mark.js is a text highlighter written in JavaScript. It can be used to dynamically mark search terms or custom regular expressions and offers you built-in options like diacritics support, separate word search, custom synonyms, iframes support, custom filters, accuracy definition, custom element, custom class name and more.

https://markjs.io/     Examples

Here is a version that will allow you to jump to matching text   

Windows 10 Search Bar

If the search bar on Taskbar has been hidden:

1. Right on the task bar and select Search,

2. Click on Show search bar.

autologin Windows 7 on domain computer

From ITsupportguides


This will allow you to do auto login via a domain or local account.

1. Open the registry editor (regedit)
2. Navigiate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
3. Open the ‘AutoAdminLogon’ key and change it’s value to “1”
4. 
5. Open the ‘DefaultDomainName’ key and set the value to your domain name (or the computers name if using a local account)
6. Open the ‘DefaultUserName’ key and set the value to the user name for the auto logon
7. Create a new STRING (REG_SZ) value called ‘DefaultPassword’ and set the value to the user account password.

External Drives and Apple OS

External NTFS drives will be read only on Apple OS, to get write access:

Launch a terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal)

Type the following command into the terminal to open the /etc/fstab for editing in the nano text editor:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add the following line to nano, replacing “NAME” with the label of your NTFS drive:

LABEL=NAME none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse

Press Ctrl+O to save the file after you’re done, and then press Ctrl+X to close nano.

From:  http://www.howtogeek.com/236055/how-to-write-to-ntfs-drives-on-a-mac/

Seagate has software that will make their external hard drives read/write

RAM tools: CPU Z and memtest86 freeware

To look at RAM and CPU details   http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

To test RAM for errors (older than Win 7)  memtext86    http://www.memtest86.com/

With Windows 7 and above, tool is included under Control Panel, Administrative tools:


 

Connecting Android to Apple OS

To connect android smartphones to Apple laptop use tool from Android.com

1. Download the app.
2. Open androidfiletransfer.dmg.
3. Drag Android File Transfer to Applications.
4. Use the USB cable that came with your Android device and connect it to your Mac.
5. Double click Android File Transfer.
6. Browse the files and folders on your Android device and copy files up to 4GB.

mailto links in Firefox

Q. When I click an email address link on a web page to send a new message on my PC, Firefox tries to open the separate mail program I never use, instead of switching to the Gmail page I have open in another tab and creating the new message there. Can I fix this?



A. Firefox looks for the computer’s default mail application when you click a “mailto” link on a webpage or email message. If you find the program is opening Windows Mail, Apple Mail, Outlook, Thunderbird or another stand-alone mail program instead of the mail service you use through your browser (like Gmail or Yahoo Mail), you just have to change a Firefox setting.
To change the default mail program Firefox opens, click the three-lined Menu button in the top-right corner of the browser window and select Options (Windows) or Preferences (Mac). On the left side of the next screen, click Applications. In the Content Type list in the middle of the screen, scroll down and select “mailto” and in the Actions drop-down menu next to it, choose Gmail. The next time you click an address to compose a note, Firefox should pop open a New Message form in your Gmail window.
Google Chrome has its own setting you can adjust. If your browser’s settings do not give you the option to choose a web mail service as your default mail program, a browser add-on might work. For example, the Google Toolbar extension for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser allows you to open “mailto” links with Gmail. A free extension for the Chrome browser called Mailto: for Gmail is another way to pop open a fresh Gmail message when you click an address link.


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/technology/personaltech/make-firefox-open-gmail-to-send-a-message.html

Modifiying Ricoh Copier home screen

Need to remove copy function from a public Ricoh Aficio 301, here are steps:

1. Start Web Image Monitor.
2. For details, see "Using Web Image Monitor", Connecting the Machine/ System Settings.
3. Log in to Web Image Monitor as an administrator.
4. Point to [Device Management], and then click [Device Home Management].
5. Click [Edit Icons].
6. Drag the icon that you want to delete, and then drop it in the trash box on the left of the screen.
7. Click [OK] three times.

 

 

From Ricoh

Dual boot Apple OS

Install Windows 10 on Your Mac

In the steps below, we'll use Boot Camp Assistant to create a bootable USB drive and install Windows 10 on a new partition. Then you'll be able to choose which OS you want to use whenever you start the Mac up.

1. Download the Windows 10 ISO disk image from Microsoft using this link. Choose the 64-bit version of Windows. Also, some people, including myself, have gotten an error message if the ISO image is saved to your default Downloads folder, so save the ISO image to your Documents folder or somewhere else to avoid problems.

2. Open Boot Camp Assistant. You'll find this in the Utilities folder or you can hit CMD + Spacebar to search for "Boot Camp Assistant."




For the rest:  http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/dual-boot-windows-os-x-mac

Apple OS on USB drive

Apple has included a terminal command that can create an install disk for you. Assuming that you have the macOS Sierra installer in your Applications folder and you have a Mac OS Extended (Journaled)-formatted USB drive named "Untitled" mounted on the system, you can create a Sierra install drive by typing the following command into the Terminal.

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app --nointeraction


The command will erase the disk and copy the install files over. Give it some time, and your volume will soon be loaded up with not just the macOS installer but also an external recovery partition that may come in handy if your hard drive dies and you're away from an Internet connection.


http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/09/how-to-make-your-own-bootable-macos-10-12-sierra-usb-install-drive/

SSL testing for web server

Here is a tool for testing SSL certificates on web servers   https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html

Using gmail as default email client - Apple OS

Need to set mail to open google mail:  (also see stackexchange)




This only means email will open by default in another email client. If you want mailto: links to open in Gmail on Safari or Chrome or any other browser, however, then doing this won’t work. You actually have to cut out Mail altogether and make the changes to the browser itself.
On Chrome, it’s incredibly easy to default open mailto: links in Gmail. You can simply open a Gmail window and click on the gray double diamonds next to the bookmark star. Out pops a dialog asking if you want to allow, deny, or ignore. If you choose “allow” or “deny” then either way, you’re set.

If you later change your mind, such as if you realize you do want to open mailto: links in Gmail, then you can change it. Type “chrome://settings/handlers” in the location bar and choose (or remove) gmail as your mail handler.

If you use Firefox, it’s also easy. Open the preferences (“Command + ,”) and click the “Applications” tab. Scroll through the “Content Type” until you find “mailto” and then choose your default “Action” from the right column.



Details

smart phone batteries

Some tips on prolonging battery life, From  NYTimes

People looking to preserve their batteries should make sure their phones don’t become overheated, Mr. Campos advised, because high temperatures further excite the lithium-ion in batteries, leading to even quicker deterioration.
Apple’s website says temperatures above 95 degrees Fahrenheit (or 35 Celsius) can “permanently damage battery capacity.”
Both Mr. Zeine and Mr. Campos noted that given the constant demand for new cellphones, charging overnight might not be a point of great concern for many people.
“All this actually doesn’t make a huge difference for consumers,” Mr. Campos said, citing a 2015 Gallup survey showing that 44 percent of smartphone users planned to upgrade their devices as soon as their providers allowed it — usually after two years, about the length of time it takes for batteries to start showing signs of wear.

Also:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/25/technology/personaltech/tips-and-myths-about-extending-smartphone-battery-life.html?action=click&contentCollection=Personal%20Tech&module=RelatedCoverage&region=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article

Google cloud print on Windows server

Want to set up classic printer on Windows cloud print service:

1. Using Chrome, download and install Google Cloud Print Service for Windows.
2. From your Start menu, open Google Cloud Print Service and run it.
3. Enter your Windows administrator username and password.
4. Click Register.
5. In the Chrome window that opens, sign in to your Google Apps account.
6. Click Add Printers and leave the browser open. The config utility will close it automatically. (You can close the popup if it's still open.) The "State:" field should switch to "Running".
7. Verify that the expected printers are available in the management page.

https://support.google.com/a/answer/3179170?hl=en

set default printer via command line

Via vb script you can install and set default printer. 
Need to place the script in the startup directory, so that it will get run for every user:


'Put this in   C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\ 

Set WshNetwork = CreateObject ("WScript.Network")
WshNetwork.AddwindowsPrinterConnection "\\testsrva\print_queue_name"
WshNetwork.SetDefaultPrinter "\\testsrva\print_queue_name"

'  Wscript.Echo "end"
'  end of script




Looked at "ntprint /setdefault name=<printer name>"  but was not as reliable




From eHow