Unlike the tart taste of Sour Patch candy, software patches provide sweet results. Their intended purpose is to quickly push out fixes to known bugs as well as protection from ever-evolving viruses. Update patches:

Correct bugs within the software that make it perform less than optimal
Fix security holes
Add newer and more secure features
Remove old/unprotected features
Optimize the utilization of resources on the operating system
Update hardware drivers to increase software efficiency (due to the constant development of hardware)

When a new patch becomes available, it’s good practice to wait a day or two before updating.

While the Hershey Company first introduced the unusually-named candy bar, Whatchamacallit, back in 1978, people still find themselves at a loss for words—reaching out to the plethora of information available on the internet whenever they have a question.

Most business users have grown used to Microsoft’s flagship productivity software products such as Outlook, Word and Excel; but have you checked out Office 365?

Office 365 has all the familiar software you use and love, but Microsoft has continued to enhance and add to their capabilities within the desktop software itself as well as the Office 365 online suite.

Windows 10’s new browser, Microsoft Edge, can be just as colorful as Willy Wonka’s Everlasting Gobstoppers which are composed of several layers of brightly colored, sweet candy shells!  In fact, it is the first web browser that allows you to add notes to webpages!

You’ve heard it said that “a picture is worth a thousand words.

In the late 80’s a gameshow called Wipeout aired.  The show’s contestants would be pitted against each other on any given category where a few wrong answers or “wipeouts” were hidden amongst the answer pool.  The contestants who answered successfully and avoided the wipeouts were deemed the champions.

The Hollywood Squares ranked No. 7 in TV Guide’s list of the 60 greatest game shows ever.  What an honor for a glorified tic-tac-toe game!  A favorite, long-standing cast member, Paul Lynde, occupied the coveted center square for a total of 742 episodes from 1966-1979.  Lynde’s witty, wisecracking one-liners made him one of the game show’s favorite and funniest cast members.

Do you realize that your Microsoft Word document may contain hidden and personal information that you may not want to share with others?  Confidential information is stored in the document properties or document itself (e.g., comments from reviewers, revision marks from tracked changes, details about the author, date when a document was created, headers, footers and hidden text).

When sharing electronic copies of Microsoft Word documents, it is a good idea to remove this metadata before sharing with others.

The .dot file extension (DOcument Template) is used by Microsoft Word to store document templates.  A template is a document type that creates a copy of itself when you open it.  Templates contain pre-formatted settings and allow users to recreate documents with pre-defined margins, headers, fonts and page styles to maintain consistency AND save time.

Connecting the Dots…

In this issue:

• Different Types of Connections
• Speaking of Dots…
• Mobile Technology Connecting the World
• When Technology and Humanity Connect

The news is that Windows 10 is free!  But you need to act soon, before the deadline.

Windows 7 or 8 users are eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 10 until July 29, 2016.
After that, an upgrade could cost about $100.00 per PC just for the software.