Futurelawyer

YourPhone - Control Your Phone From Your PC Screen.

Microsoft YourPhone App. We spend a lot of our working lives in front of a PC screen. We carry those lives with us when we leave home or the office. Texts and emails are now a principal connection between us and the rest of the world. The YourPhone app allows me to bring up my phone screen anytime I am at my desks, and to view my phone as if it were in my hand. I can leave it cradled until I have to leave the home office or regular office, and never miss a call or text. Notifications on the notebook or big screen are nice; but, actually using the phone from the office setup is very efficient and fun. Here is a grab of the YourPhone screen on my notebook computer.

Ctrl F - The Lawyer's Friend

The Reasons Why Ctrl F Is Your Best Friend. Lawyers are always dealing with long, often dry, documents. From pleadings to memoranda to contracts, we have to slog through stuff while our eyes blur. When we need to find a particular word or phrase in a long document, we are used to using the menu strip at the top, and clicking edit, scroll down to find, click find, and enter the text we want. But, there is a keyboard shortcut that you should be using instead of all that clicking: Ctrl F. Yep, it means bring up the Find text box, and all you have to do is enter the text you are looking for. There are many other keyboard shortcuts. Learn them.

Microsoft Releases PowerToys For Windows 10

PowerToys For Windows 10. I will take a risk and say that putting the words "Power" and "Toys" in the name is a sure way of getting male geek blood going. I used PowerToys back when Windows 95 was the OS de jour, and it was fun to get under the hood and do cool things. So, this new version appeals both to the geek and the guy who loves playing with "toys". Anyone with me? Grunt.

Windows Update Is Essential To Your Security

Windows Computers Aren't Getting Patched. The most recent Windows monthly security update patched 132 vulnerabilities. None of them had been exposed in the wild; but, if you need a reason why Microsoft OS defaults to getting the updates, and makes it difficult to turn them off, that is it. Operating systems ALWAYS have bugs in the system. With millions of lines of code, it is inevitable. I talk a lot about computer security and data security. For lawyers, it is essential, because we deal with confidential information every day. However, most of you have older computers still buzzing along that aren't being regularly updated. I talk mostly about two factor authentication, and other ways to limit risk when information is accessed or stored in the cloud; but, just keeping the computer software current is the first step. How long would your car run without regular maintenance? When that check engine light goes on, do you investigate immediately whether it is caused by something as simple as a loose gas cap? Go to Windows Update and make sure your computers, all of them, are running the latest version. Do it now. Tomorrow may be too late.

 

Liquid Text For Windows Desktop - Pour Your Words On To The Page.

Liquid Text. Finally, something Apple invented that I am happy to use on my Windows machine. This cool app allows you to take any computer document and add notes, written with a stylus, or typed, and drag and drop excerpts of the document to a side by side workspace. I will use it most to review documents that I formerly printed and annotated with a pen. Thanks, Apple. It's about time you did something for Windows users. In fact, since Windows notebooks have touch screens, we can now make notes right on the screen. I hadn't used a Microsoft stylus; but, I see one in my future. Put your 2 in 1 notebook computer in tablet mode, and go to town. Cool.

Can't Be There For Grandma? Use Remote Desktop For Windows 10

How To Use Remote Desktop In Windows 10. There is a lot of remote computing going on these days. Lawyers, staff, clients, and others are communicating with each other over remote video conferencing software connected to the Internet. But, there is a whole class of persons who don't need to connect that way with their offices and clients. I am speaking of that vastly ignored percentage of our population that has a computer, and access to the Internet; but, who thinks the DVD tray is a cupholder. When someone tells them to press any key, they look around the keyboard for a key marked: "any". You know who they are. You might be them. What happens to them? Who will help them? Some of us are the designated family tech guy. If a computer isn't working properly, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters? No, you are going to call the FutureLawyer, or some other unfortunate soul who is unlucky enough to know more about your computer than you do. So, who is looking out for us? Who is looking out for Grandma? Well, I am happy to report that Microsoft Windows 10 has a solution. It is called Remote Desktop, and allows tech gurus to access a computer over the Internet as if they were there. Oh joy. Oh, happy day. Now, I can provide tech support to the entire extended family. Can you guess how happy that makes me?

Brave Browser Is Better Than Chrome.

Brave Versus Chrome. Which is better, the new Brave Browser or the trusty old Chrome? I have used Chrome primarily for years; and, subject to bloat and slow down, Chrome is the best browser I have ever used. However, for the past several days, I have been using the new Brave browser, and it is amazing. It looks, feels, and acts like Chrome; but, it is 6 times faster. Really. I predict that Brave will take off like a house on fire. And soon.

Top Ten Ways To Speed Up Your Windows 10 Computer

How To Speed Up Windows 10. My son, Aron, was having trouble with Internet access yesterday. I had bought him a high end gaming laptop several years ago. It has a Core I7 state of the art processor, and high end graphics. It was perfect for him, and is really overpowered for his current college studies. However, the Internet was crawling along on his system, and we first thought it was the WiFi in the house. He is also, to my eternal shame, and iPhone user, and, like all Apple people, thinks computers should just work all the time, with no user effort. I am joking, of course. However, many Apple iPhone users who have Windows 10 computers, don't spend anytime under the hood, and don't realize that, over time, all computers systems can get bogged down. This a great list of things you can do yourself that will eliminate a lot of the problems you may be having with your system. In 10 minutes on his machine, I showed him how to load msconfig, and remove some unneeded apps from the startup menu. Many software programs insinuate themselves into the startup process and clog up the works, even if you don't need them in the background every time you power up. Just restarting the system after removing some of these memory hogs can do wonders. Another thing users aren't diligent enough about is keeping the system and drivers up to date. While many updates happen automatically, it pays to spend some time learning how to keep drivers and other apps updated. You can also disable a lot of special effects, like transparent windows, and animations that take up memory. One of the best things you can do is buy a computer with an SSD. Solid state drives are fast, and don't break down, because they don't have mechanical parts inside. There are other things you can do to keep your system running like new. In fact, once a year, it is a good idea to start all over. Just make sure you have all of your software available for reinstallation, and that you save all of your data before resetting the device. You have the time now. Learn your system. The more you do, the less I have to do for you.

Microsoft User? Zoom Isn't The Only Game In Town

Microsoft Teams. Now that everyone needs to learn how to videoconference on their computers at home, the applications that allow it are becoming very popular. I have written about the leader in the field, Zoom, which is easy to use, free for most applications, and has the most features for most of us. However, if you live in the Microsoft universe, and Office 365 (soon to be Microsoft 365) is best used with Microsoft Teams, the free meeting, chat and video conferencing app from Microsoft. It doesn't yet have virtual backgrounds like Zoom, although the feature has been promised by Microsoft for a year or more. I suspect that Microsoft engineers are rushing that process now that everyone is downloading and using these apps. However, if you have a team or office that uses Microsoft apps, Teams is a no brainer. You can blur the background if your office at home looks like the FutureLawyer's, so nobody knows what a slob you are. In any event, it is a good thing to have options, and I have downloaded Teams, just in case I need it. If you need tech advice, email me at rickgeorges@futurelawyer.com. Or, in the vernacular of the Nineties, call me maybe?

Top Ten Windows 10 Tools

Windows 10 Tools. There are many cool things you can do with Windows 10 to make your work day easier and better. But, you have to learn them. Sunday is a good day to practice. My favorite is Timeline, which, with a click, brings up all of your recent Windows. Want to go back, just point and click. This tool is as close as pressing the Windows key and the Tab key simultaneously. Try it. Then, read this article to find out the other cool things you can do with your machine. You can do it, power user. Power to the people.