Tag Archives: Microsoft

Software, Technology, Tips & Tricks

Micro$oft gets nasty on forced Windows 10 “Upgrade” — (Update to “How to Stop Windows 10”)

This is an update to what I previously posted here. (I’m a Mac user, but I write such things out of concern for friends still suffering the handicap known as Windows.)

Microsoft has recently gotten downright mean, and certainly unethical. The latest “popup” windows about upgrading now interpret clicking the “X” as “upgrade” instead of “close” — both the “X” and the “OK” button function the same as choosing “upgrade.”

According to a WND article here:

To avoid the forced “upgrade,” a user has to go into the fine print. Inside a logo box in the ad is a scheduled date for a mandatory upgrade. The user must look in the tiny type just below that line and find where it says “here” and click on that to avoid the upgrade.

Read more on their site.

Software, Technology, Tips & Tricks

How to Stop Windows 10

Many of you are frustrated at Micro$oft forcing Windows 10 on you against your will. This is no exaggeration. They are silently downloading 3 gigabytes of Windows 10 installer files without consent (which is practically theft since it robs you of bandwidth and storage space you pay for), and they are insisting (via pop-ups that leave you no way out) that people with Windows 7, Windows 8.1, etc, upgrade to Windows 10. This new OS drags many PCs to a crawl. If you were forced into an “upgrade,” there is a way to downgrade, going back to your earlier version, but you must do so within 30 days of the upgrade. Settings –> Restore –> (Google is your friend here). There is also a freeware program that will delete the unwanted Windows 10 installer files and stop the merciless pop-ups. Again, Google is your friend. I am not a Windows user (I use Mac), but again, I am your friend. The freeware I installed on a church computer to stop the madness, is called GWX Control Panel from Ultimate Outsider (link below). http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/

Technology

How to save Word template, getting around the “same name” issue!

This solution is easy. Forget any sites or solutions that told you run some something in the “VBA editor” and blah, blah, blah.

So, you opened a template you’ve created previously, and tweaked it. Now you just want to save the updated template as a template, in the special folder where they go, and under the same name as before. But … you’re getting blocked by a dreaded dialogue box that says, “Word cannot give a document the same name as an open document.” Argh!

I ran into this using MS Word on Mac OS X (in multiple versions of the operating system and through multiple updates of Word from Microsoft). However, it seems that Windows users also have the same issue. Word just won’t let you save it as a template. What to do?

Try this quick and easy solution: Save as the .DOTX only after first saving as a .DOT. It’s that easy!

  1. Click File > Save.
  2. Under “Format” choose “.DOT” (Word 97 – 2004 Template). (Notice that we are not doing .DOTX yet.)
  3. Repeat above steps, but this time choose .DOTX. Viola!

This will essentially give you two of the same template, but that does not hurt. In fact, one could serve as a backup, just in case.

Sound off in the comments and let me know whether this helps or not.