Tekee Tim's Tips

Taking a screenshot of your device

If you want to capture some information that’s displayed on your screen, such as a receipt, it can often be helpful to take a screenshot.

Luckily this is easy on all devices, Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.

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.

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.

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.

Can it be useful to have two browsers on your computer?

It's often useful to have two different web browsers installed on your computer, this can help if one stops working, doesn't display a page correctly or you just need to browse privately and need to clear the cache and history at the end of your browsing.

In this tip, we'll give you some ideas of the way they can be useful and give you some options for the best browsers to use.

How can I silence my devices quickly?

If you're going to the cinema, into a meeting or running a presentation, you'll need to quickly silence your devices and stop any notifications popping up on the screen. This is usually just one or two taps or clicks and we'll run through all the ways to do it here.

Do more with desktop apps

When you're looking to get more from your PC or Mac, the best place to start is by installing new applications that can expand the things that your computer can do. For example, you might want to install a game to play, install an app to allow you to access Twitter or Facebook without having to keep visiting their websites or install an app to help you keep notes or keep your photos organised.

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.

Removing unwanted software from your Windows PC

Every PC comes with a lot of handy software installed, such as Adobe Reader and iTunes but after a while you often find that other software has been installed on your PC either as a trial that you never got round to removing or something that got downloaded as part of something else but isn't actually required. Occasionally cleaning up this unwanted software can help keep your PC running fast and stop it getting cluttered.

Where did my download go?

We're often asked how to find files that have just been downloaded through a web browser, so we thought we'd put a little guide together to show you how to easily locate your downloads.

How can I create my own playlists in iTunes

Playlists are a great way to keep track of your favourite music in iTunes, they let you have quick access to the tracks that you want to listen to and you can easily swap songs in and out as you need to.

iTunes can also make you playlists automatically based on a few criteria. In this tip, we'll show you how to create a Smart Playlist.

How to change your default web browser and email apps

With such a wide choice of apps available for PCs, Macs and mobile devices, you'll often want to use a different default application for your web browsing, email, photo editing, playing music etc and this is easy to change on all your devices.

In this tip we'll go through how to set the default apps on your different devices.