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How do I go online safely with Windows 7?
How do I go online safely using Windows 7?
Q I first must say a thank you to you and your team for all the advice and tips over the years. However, there was one thing that I didn’t understand about Issue 576’s Don’t Bin Your Desktop PC cover feature. I have two spare desktop PCS, both still running Windows 7, so this was of interest. Unfortunately, I’m not clear how I would connect these safely to the internet to download the various bits and pieces I would need to get some use out of them, as advised in your article. Keith Beevers
Thanks for the compliment! In A response to your question, the first thing we’d say is that it’s possible you’d actually be able to update your Windows 7 PCS to Windows 10, as Microsoft still makes it possible to upgrade for free. To do that, visit the Microsoft page at www.snipca.com/34649 and follow the instructions to download and install Windows 10. You’d then be able to continue running both PCS safely, and go online with confidence.
However, if there’s some reason you don’t wish to upgrade your old computers to Windows 10, or indeed they cannot be upgraded, then there are numerous strategies you can follow to keep Windows 7 secure for a while yet.
We covered these in depth in our Keep Using Windows 7 Safely feature, published in Issue 570, so we won’t repeat them all here. But, if we had to distil all our advice on this matter, it’d be to ensure that you have good security software installed on your Windows 7 computers. If you do that, and go online only to install specific trusted software or to download the latest updates for them, then the risk of a malware infection really is very low.
Why can’t I sort in Libreoffice Writer?
Q I hope you and yours are all keeping safe. I’m writing after reading a note in a recent edition about the Sort feature of Libreoffice Writer. I’m very keen to use this command and, after reading about it, I managed to find it in my copy of the program. However, on both of our family’s laptops the command is greyed out, meaning we cannot use it. Despite trying, I cannot find any way to activate this command – but I’ll bet you know someone who can! John Boden
We do know someone – us! A And the simple (though not necessarily obvious) answer is that the Sort command will remain greyed out (see screenshot left) until you have selected items that Writer can actually arrange into some order.
For example, it’s not enough just to type a list of names or numbers that you’d like to have sorted alphabetically or numerically. Instead, you must first use the mouse to click and drag to select those items, or hold down Shift before doing the same with the cursor (arrow) keys. Once you’ve done that, the Sort option will magically become active. So, that’s all there is to it: you need to select what you want to sort before instructing Writer to sort it.
Can I disable my Windows 7 touchpad?
Q In Issue 577’s Make Windows Better section, on page 46, you explain how to stop accidental touchpad actions in Windows 10. That’s a good tip, but it didn’t work for me because I’m still using Windows 7. Is there a similar tip or alternative method? Ivan Dickason
Yes, this is usually possible – A depending on your particular laptop and the particular touchpad. Almost all touchpads offer an option like this, but its precise location varies between makes and models.
Try looking for it in Windows 7 via the Mouse Properties box in Control Panel. To access this, first press Windows key+r to summon a Run box, then type control main.cpl and press Enter. Next, click to select the Device Settings tab and, there, you’ll most likely see a box labelled ‘Disable internal pointing device when external USB pointing device is attached’ (see screenshot above). Just click to tick this, and then click OK.
If it’s not there, then click through the Hardware tab and look there, or any other touchpad-specific tabs that you might find on this menu.