Android - get rid of Google Meet bar

 The Gmail app in Android now has a MEET bar across the bottom, to turn off:

 

• Select the three-line “hamburger” icon in the upper left corner, scroll down, and tap on “Settings.”
• Select the Gmail account you want to change.
• Scroll down to the “Meet” category and uncheck “Show the Meet tab for video calling.”

Go to your Gmail settings.

Uncheck “Show the Meet tab for video calling.”

And that’s it! You’ve reclaimed some space on your Gmail app and can now use Zoom or whatever videoconferencing app you prefer without having to be constantly reminded of Meet.

 theverge.com/21363976/google-meet-gmail-tab-how-to-android-ios

monitoring computer temperatures

Looking for apps and software that check PC temps and fan speeds:


Heat can severely impair the performance of computer components, with hard drives being the most susceptible. If your hard drive seems like it’s dying, first check the internal temperature. Fortunately, checking temperatures is as easy as using one of these free heat monitor apps.

1. CrystalDiskInfo

If your chief concern is the temperature of a hard drive, look no further than CrystalDiskInfo. This is a dedicated utility for managing the health of HDDs and SSDs and is so useful that we consider it a must-have diagnostic tool for Windows users.

13 Windows Diagnostics Tools to Check Your PC's Health Use these computer diagnostic tools to run a PC health check and fix issues. Some support Windows 10 diagnostics, specifically. Read More
With its clear and easy-to-use interface, you’ll have no trouble navigating all the information it has for you. And with all its advanced features, it’s practical enough for power users, not just newbies.

Notable features include:

• Monitors temperatures for all system HDDs and SSDs.
• Health Status estimates the overall health of each drive.
• In-depth diagnostics for all read/write drive values.
• In-depth graphs for HDD and SSD values over time.
• Available in 32-bit and 64-bit, installed or portable.

Download: CrystalDiskInfo for Windows (Free)

2. Core Temp

Core Temp is a fast, accurate, and flexible laptop temperature monitor. However, a word of warning: the installer comes with bundleware! You can avoid it by unchecking it, but you must pay attention during installation. Otherwise, there are no ads.

Notable features include:

• System tray icon with real-time information.
• Pick which sensor to display in the system tray icon.
• Overheat protection notifies when the temperature is too hot.
• Tracks system hardware details for reference.
• Checks for BIOS and Driver updates.

Download: Core Temp for Windows (Free)

3. HWiNFO

HWiNFO is a lightweight diagnostic tool for gleaming in-depth hardware information and monitoring systems in real-time. It’s a lot easier to use than it sounds. Plus, it’s actively updated—a new version about once every 1-2 months, which is great for cutting-edge systems.

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Notable features include:

• System tray icon with real-time information.
• Reports for CPU, RAM, HDDs, SSDs, battery, and more.
• Allows remote monitoring of sensor data.
• Available in 32-bit and 64-bit, installed or portable.

Download: HWiNFO for Windows (Free)

4. HWMonitor

HWMonitor is one of the most trusted system monitoring apps currently available. The free version is more than enough for keeping tabs on temperature, but there is a Pro version with advanced features (e.g., graph generation) for €20.
Notable features include:

• Read any sensor with voltages, temperatures, or fans.
• Save monitoring data to a log for troubleshooting.
• Checks for BIOS and Driver updates.
• Available in 32-bit and 64-bit, installed or portable.

Download: HWMonitor for Windows (Free)

5. Macs Fan Control

If you’re running Windows on a Mac, things get slightly tricky because the hardware in a Mac has a few proprietary quirks.
The good news is, there’s a free app designed specifically for you, and it’s called Macs Fan Control. It’s easy to use and highly recommended.
Notable features include:

• System tray icon with real-time temperature.
• Pick which sensor to display in the system tray icon.
• Set custom min/max fan RPMs based on sensor values.
• Supports sensors for third-party HDDs and SSDs.
• Supports every model: iMac, MacBook, Mac Mini, Mac Pro.

Download: Macs Fan Control for Windows (Free)

6. SpeedFan

In addition to potential hardware damage, high system temperatures are problematic because they cause your laptop’s fans to work overtime. A hard-working fan wears out faster, but more importantly, fast-spinning fans are loud. Much louder than you’d anticipate. Of the many ways to silence noisy laptop fans, the easiest is to use SpeedFan to control fan revolutions per minute (RPM) manually.

6 Things You Can Do to Silence a Noisy Laptop Fan Wondering why your laptop fan is so loud? Here are several ways to get some peace and make your laptop fan quieter. Read More
What’s nice is that SpeedFan also has features for monitoring temperature, so it’s like a 2-in-1 app— just not as advanced as the others above.
Notable features include:

• System tray icon with real-time information.
• Read any sensor with voltages, temperatures, or fans.
• Set custom min/max fan RPMs based on sensor values.
• Adjust and fix incorrect temperature readings on sensors.
• Chart values over time for troubleshooting.

Download: SpeedFan for Windows (Free)

7. Open Hardware Monitor

Open Hardware Monitor is similar to HWiNFO and HWMonitor, except that it’s open-source. In fact, Open Hardware Monitor was considered a dead project, as it had not received an update since 2016 (which stopped Open Hardware Monitor working with some of the latest hardware).
However, in early 2020, Open Hardware Monitor updates began rolling out, updating the laptop temperature monitoring tool for the latest CPUs, GPUs, and other hardware.
Notable features include:

• Read most sensors with voltages, temperatures, or fans.
• Save sensor data to a log for troubleshooting.
• Display data on a remote web server.
• Portable, so no installation needed.

Download: Open Hardware Monitor for Windows (Free)

8. NZXT CAM

NZXT CAM is a temperature and hardware monitoring tool with a slick user interface and numerous options.
You might note the name of the developer, NZXT. NZXT manufactures a range of PC hardware, and as such, NZXT CAM works very well with their hardware. For instance, you can use NZXT CAM to control case lights, fan speeds, power supply voltages, and more, where supported.
Notable features include:

• Read a wide range of temperature, fan, and speed sensors.
• Control NZXT compatible hardware.
• Customizable user interface.
• Displays detailed system specifications.
• Optional gaming overlay.

Download: NZXT CAM for Windows (Free)

Tips for Reducing Laptop Temperatures

Make sure you check temperatures when your laptop is idle (with no apps running) and under load (with performance-heavy apps running). A high idle temperature can be just as degrading as a high spike under load. Learn more about how hot is too hot for a PC.
If it is running too hot, don’t worry. You have options.
We have plenty of tips on fixing an overheating laptop and several more tips on keeping your PC cool. The most effective steps are to clean out internal dust, always use on a hard flat surface, and supplement with a laptop cooling pad.




makeuseof.com/tag/3-laptop-computer-temperature-monitor-apps-save-hard-drive/

Turn off resume assistant in Word

In Office 365, you can turn off resume assistant:

Turning off Resume Assistant

In Windows, you can turn off Resume Assistant by switching off all LinkedIn features in Office: in File > Options > General, uncheck Show LinkedIn features in my Office applications. For more information about this setting, see About LinkedIn information and features in Microsoft apps and services.
On a Mac, if you want to turn off Resume Assistant, go to Word > Preferences > General, and check Turn off Resume Assistant.

From https://support.microsoft.com/

chatbots

A patron asked about chatbots, or apps that you could talk to:

Today, as the need for mental health services continues to surpass availability, people in distress can reach out online to mental health “chatbots.” In some instances, the responses are based on artificial intelligence (AI). In others, there’s a human element.
But the question remains: Is it possible to automate the expertise needed to become an effective therapist, using sophisticated algorithms and programming, when humans spend a lifetime trying to master these skills?
Initial studiesTrusted SourceTrusted Source of chatbots have, as it happens, been promising. To get a sense of how chatbots measure up to in-person therapy, we did a test run of four mental health chatbots and asked three people to provide feedback: Dr. Dillon Browne, a clinical psychologist, and Meredith Arthur and Miriam Slozberg, two people who’ve tried in-person therapy.
Here’s what they found:
https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/chatbots-reviews#11

Clipboard History in Windows 10

You can now access your clipboard history in Windows 10:

To view your clipboard history, tap the Win+V keyboard shortcut. A little panel will open that will list all items, images and text, that you copied to your clipboard. Scroll through it and click an item you want to paste again.

If you look closely at the panel, you will see that each item has a little pin icon on it. Clicking it will exempt the item from being cleared when you clear your clipboard history. Speaking of which, you can clear your history by clicking the Clear all button on the clipboard history panel. You can also delete it from the Clipboard tab in the Settings app.


https://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/view-clipboard-history-on-windows-10/

Quick Assist remote help

Windows 10 has a built in program, Quick Assist, to allow users to get remote help:

Editing PDFs

For freeware that edits PDFs:

1. Smallpdf

A handy cloud-based free PDF editor

Operating system: Windows, macOS, Linux (in browser)

VISIT SITE

Powerful range of tools

Cloud-based

PDF to Word converter

Limited free trial

With Smallpdf’s Edit PDF tool, you get a simple user interface that allows you to add text and image content to your PDF files. This platform also offers simple e-signing, and the ability to add comments and highlights to information already stored in your PDFs. 

The Smallpdf system actually contains lots of other PDF modification tools too. Along with the editor function, there’s a variety of options to convert PDFs into easier-to-edit formats such as Word and Powerpoint files, and you can save space by merging individual PDF documents into a single file. 

But the best thing about Smallpdf is that it’s a cloud-based platform. In other words, you can access it from any supported device simply by visiting the Smallpdf website and dragging-and-dropping a PDF into your browser.

Don’t be thrown off by the prompts to begin a 'free trial' – you only have to do that if you want to install the Smallpdf Desktop program for offline editing.

Read our full SmallPDF review

(Image credit: PDF-XChange Editor; Shutterstock)

2. PDF-XChange Editor

Another superb tool for editing text in PDFs, with built-in OCR

Operating system: Windows

DOWNLOAD FREE

Optical character recognition

Text editing

Splits and extracts pages

Watermarks documents

PDF-XChange Editor is a free PDF editing program for Windows computers developed by Tracker Software. The interface is a little more complex than that of the Smallpdf editing suite but gives you easy access to plenty of helpful features such as a stamp option for marking documents as 'Expired' or 'Approved'. 

 But for most users, the main reason to use PDF-XChange Editor is the fact that it comes with inbuilt Optical Character Recognition (OCR). This means that if your original PDF document is a photocopy, PDF-XChange will still recognize the text and allow you to edit it. Also, PDF-XChange Editor lets you reformat text, and even convert it into fonts that aren’t already loaded on your computer. 

And like Smallpdf, you can use this platform to merge or split individual PDF files. The only serious downside of this powerful editor is that, if you haven’t signed up to the Pro version, a small 'Created with PDF-XChange Editor' watermark will be added at the bottom of any PDF files that you export. 

Read our full PDF-XChange Editor review

(Image credit: KingStreetLabs; Shutterstock)

3. Formswift

A completely free PDF editor for your web browser

Operating system: Windows, macOS, Linux (in browser)

VISIT SITE

Scans documents from phones

Edits images and text in PDFs

Simple cloud-based system

Can't split/merge documents

FormSwift is an in-browser PDF editor that you can start using in just a couple of seconds. Unlike PDF-XChange Editor and Smallpdf, the FormSwift platform is totally free. That means there’s no need to start a free trial to use it. There aren’t even any annoying 'upgrade now' prompts to ignore.

With support for image addition, text editing, e-signatures, and checkmarks, FormSwift has everything you need to perform basic PDF edits. After you’ve finished your edits, you can print directly from the FormSwift interface or save your file as a Word or PDF file. 

Plus, if you need to import a paper document for editing, all you need to do is visit the FormSwift Snap URL on your phone. Once you’ve given it permission to, the platform will use your phone’s camera to import the file.  

Full FormSwift review coming soon

(Image credit: PDFescape; Shutterstock)

4. PDFescape

Ideal for editing smaller PDF files

Operating system: Windows, macOS, Linux (in browser)

VISIT SITE

No account necessary

Easy document merging

10MB file size limit

Desktop editor is paid-only

With PDFescape, you can either edit online or through a desktop application. The desktop application is the more powerful of the two as it supports edits to pre-existing PDF content and allows you to scan paper documents. However, only the online version of PDFescape is free to use.  

All the same, you get plenty of useful PDF editing options with PDFescape online such as the ability to make freehand notes and a tool for adding clickable URL links to your documents. You’ll also find that it’s pleasingly easy to add, rotate, and annotate pages with the in-browser version of PDFescape.

The only major flaw of this free PDF editor is that you can’t upload documents that are larger than 10MB. A regular A4-size PDF page only takes up about 100KB of data though, so this shouldn’t cause a problem unless you’re editing a book-length document. 

Read our full PDFescape review

(Image credit: Sejda; Shutterstock)

5. Sejda

PDF editing with a slick interface in the cloud

Operating system: Windows, macOS, Linux (in browser)

VISIT SITE

No account necessary

Simple interface

File size limits

Premium is expensive

PDF files are a good way to store professional or financial information, which means that their contents are often sensitive. Sejda is a free online PDF editor that you can trust with important documents because all uploaded files are wiped from its servers after five hours. 

Aside from security, Sejda is a good choice if you are after a free PDF editor with a user-friendly interface. Sejda’s single menu bar makes it easy to find all the editing options necessary for adding text, links, images, and signatures to PDF documents. 

When you’re done editing a document in Sejda, you just need to click the 'Apply Changes' button and proceed to save the finished product in your Google Drive account, Dropbox system, or locally.

Sejda does come with some limits, but they aren’t restrictive enough to cause problems for casual users. You can only perform three tasks and upload 50MB, or 200 pages of information to the Sejda platform every hour.

Read our full Sejda review

From https://www.techradar.com/best/free-pdf-editor