Windows 8.1: Disable Bing search

If you want to keep Bing from being the search engine that searches you PC, just follow the instructions below.

1.  Hover your mouse over the top right corner of your screen so that you can trigger the settings bar.  Click the "Settings" gear icon.

2.  Now click the "Change PC Settings" option all the way at the bottom.

3.  Click on the "Search and apps" option. 

4.  Now find the "Use Bing to search online" option.  Take the slider and slide it to the left until the "On" turns to "Off."

That's all it takes to disable the Bing search.

Google Spreadsheets: How do I wrap text in a Google Spreadsheet

In many spreadsheet programs you just right click on selected cells and format the column to wrap text.  In Google spreadsheets however you don't have to right click and format your cells.  Google has made it very easy to wrap text using a toolbar button.  Below is a quick tutorial on how to wrap text in Google spreadsheets.

1.  Highlight the cells in which text wrapping will occur.

 

2.  Locate the "Wrap text" icon/button on the Google Spreadsheet toolbar.

Your text should now start wrapping.

Windows Vista: Black screen appears after Windows Vista welcome logon.

Well this problem took me quite awhile to figure out.  I had a client bring her machine in with a bunch of spyware and malware issues.  I cleaned those up right away, installed Microsoft Security Essentials.  One of the options in Microsoft Security Essentials was to make sure the Windows Firewall was turned on.  After reading blogs and tech sites for about 2 hours, I thought I might go back and just disable the Firewall and MS Security Essentials.  That was the key.  For whatever reason when the Firewall services were starting automatically I would get about a 90 second delay after logging in.  I would just see a black screen with a working mouse, but no desktop.

I don't know if this solution will help anybody but this Windows Vista machine, but here is a tutorial on delaying the Windows Firewall start up.

1.  Click your start button and type in the search area "services."

2.  Open your "services" program.

3.  Scroll until you find "Windows Firewalls."  Double click on it.





4.  Verify that this is your issue by changing the Automatic to "Manual."

5.  Restart your machine and see if this solves your issue with a long black screen delay after the welcome screen.


After all the research I have concluded that there are probably many reasons why you get a black screen after logging in.  So far this is a method that worked for this particular machine.  HP Pavillion a6313w

 

Toshiba Satellite Laptop: Touchpad quit working

One of my students came up to me and let me know that her mouse pad on her Toshiba Satellite quit working.  With a quick search of the keypad I found a symbol that looked like it could resemble a touchpad.  Sure enough, it was the touchpad lock.

Check for a symbol on the F5 key.  Some say it is the F9 key, but for our Toshibas it is definitely the F5 Key.