Tekee Tim's Tips

Using formulas in Excel

Did you know that it's easy to add formulas into Excel so you can quickly and easily create a household budget or something similar?

In this tip, we'll show you how to do just this.

Why should I create a new user instead of renaming an old one?

If you receive a computer from someone else, either because you've taken over from them at work, or someone has passed on a computer that they don't need anymore, it's important that you create a new user for yourself before you start to use it.

When do I right click?

One shortcut that can save a lot of time on Windows and Mac computers but not everyone knows about is using the right mouse click to pop up a menu giving quick access to some often used commands. The commands that you can access when you right click change on what your mouse is over at the time but usually always provide a quick way to access commands that you might usually go back to the menu for.

Protect yourself on public WiFi with a VPN

Did you know that when you connect your phone to a public WiFi network, whether it's in a coffee shop, a hotel or even in guest network in an office, you're potentially letting everyone else on the network see all the websites you're visiting and potentially even your login information for websites? Here, we'll show you how to avoid this problem.

Making the most of your PC storage

Most Windows laptops and some desktops now come with the main hard drive split into 2 partitions, so if you've bought a PC with a 1TB hard drive, you will find that you have 2x 500GB partitions, usually labelled as C and D. This can start to cause problems if you fill up the C drive as it's not easy to move space from one drive to the other. In this tip, we'll shop you how to move some of your files from one drive to another to keep the drive usage equal.

Why did my email bounce back?

Occasionally, when you send an email you might get an email back telling you that it couldn't be delivered. There are many reasons why an email fails to get delivered. The return email will usually tell you what the problem is and we'll run through a few of the more common reasons here.

How can I remember my passwords?

These days we all have passwords for everything and they all need to be unique, secure and cryptic but easy to access when you need them.

For years now we've been using and recommending 1Password as an easy way to create, store and enter passwords that match all the requirements above.

Checking disk usage in macOS Ventura

In a previous Tekeez Tip, we showed you how to see where your disk space was being used in both Windows and macOS. As this process has now changed in both Windows 11 and macOS Ventura, we thought it was time for a new time to help you see what's using up all your disk space.

How can I edit text on my desktop?

Whether you're writing an email or a document on your Mac or Windows PC, you'll often need to correct typos or move words or whole sentences around or add an underline, bold or italic for emphasis.

We’ll show you how to do the essentials below, using Word for Mac and Windows.

How do I save attachments from my email?

If you receive attachments via email, it’s important to save them onto your computer. Once you’ve done this you can edit the attachments, email them on to other people and file them away into your filing system.

Below we’ll show you how to save your file attachments from Mac Mail, Outlook and iPhone/iPad Mail.

Reset your Mac to factory settings

If you ever need to reset your Mac back to factory settings, for example, if you're upgrading to a new Mac and passing your existing one to someone else, it's very important to make sure that all your files and settings are removed from your Mac before giving it to anyone else.

This tip will show you how to reset your Mac completely so it's safe to hand over to a new user. Please note that this only works on macOS 12 Monterey and newer.

Install iPhone and iPad apps on your new Mac

If you have one of Apple's new Macs using their own Apple Silicon processor, then you can install a selection of iPhone and iPad apps and use them on your Mac as you would a normal Mac app. At the time of writing this tip, the new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini all feature the new Apple M1 chip.

In today's Tekeez Tip, we'll show you how to find and install an iPhone or iPad app on your new Mac.