Computer Tips From A Computer Guy

Change Default Search Provider in Microsoft Edge to Google
How to Make Your Computer Talk/Speak What You Type
How to Determine if BIOS Update is Needed
How to Hide Your Facebook Online Status

Change Default Search Provider in Microsoft Edge to Google

Posted: 08 Sep 2015 11:44 AM PDT

Windows 10 comes with an entirely new web browser from Microsoft called Edge. It’s actually surprisingly fast and works with all the websites I normally use.

That being said, it also has some really annoying problems. For one, it doesn’t yet support add-ons or extensions, but will soon. Another annoying issue is that it defaults to Bing when you perform any search in the address bar.

Now this would normally not be a major issue because you can just change the search provider to Google or Yahoo easily, however, Microsoft has made the process purposely confusing so that you keep using Bing.

Sorry Microsoft, but I prefer Google and I’m going to make sure I use them. Here’s how to go about changing the search provider in Microsoft Edge to Google or another search provider.

Step 1: Open Edge and click on the button at the far right with three dots on it and then click on Settings at the bottom.

Step 2: A side panel will load on the right and you need to scroll all the way down and click on View Advanced Settings.

Step 3: Scroll down until you see the Search in the address bar with setting and then click on Add new.

Now this is where Microsoft tried to be sly. Most people will simply see the following screen where you can do absolutely nothing.

Wow, there are no other search providers to add! Thanks Microsoft, guess I will just keep using Bing. Ya right! So the trick here is that you actually have to go to the website for the search provider you want to add. First, click in the address bar and go to www.google.com. Then follow steps 1 thru 3 again and you’ll now see Google as an option to add!

Click on it and then click the Add as default button. Now you’ll see that Google is your default search engine for Edge.

This method is also how you would go about adding Yahoo as a default search provider. Visit www.yahoo.com and then go to the advanced settings. If you prefer to use a search engine like DuckDuckGo, then simply visit www.duckduckgo.com and you’ll be set!

After playing around with it a bit, I saw you can also add Wikipedia as a default search provider, so that was interesting. I haven’t tried it myself, but this should work for Ask, AOL and other search providers too. If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment. Enjoy!

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How to Make Your Computer Talk/Speak What You Type

Posted: 08 Sep 2015 11:16 AM PDT

There is cool feature in Windows that allows you to make your computer talk or speak whatever you tell it! This method takes advantage of a built-in API installed on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10 called SAPI (Speech Application Programming Interface).

The Microsoft Speech API is what is used for the text-to-speech accessibility feature built into Windows. You can also write programs that call the API, which would allow you to let your applications speak, but that’s for developers.

Just making your computer say what you want is pretty easy actually! In this article, I’ll show you how to create a VBS script that will take a text input from a user and then speak it. I’ll also mention how to hard code the text you want spoken and then schedule that script to run on specific events like starting Windows or logging off.

Input Text, Speak Message

Let’s start off with a simple script that will popup a dialog box where you can type in what you want Windows to speak. First, go ahead and open Notepad.

Step 1: Paste the following text into a new document:

Dim message, sapi
message=InputBox(“Enter the text you want spoken”,”Speak This”)
Set sapi=CreateObject(“sapi.spvoice”)
sapi.Speak message

Note that when you copy text from your web browser and paste it into Notepad, the quotes will cause problems. Before you save the file, you need to go through and delete each quote (“) and retype the quote. In the example below, there are six quotes. It should look something like the image below.

Now when you go to save the file, give it any name, but make sure you also type .VBS after the name. Next, for the Save as type box, choose All files instead of the default Text Documents.

Now double-click on the VBS file and you should see an input box where you can type in the text you want spoken! Type something and click OK.

If you did everything right, you should hear either a male or female voice speak out your sentence. If you get any kind of error message, make sure to copy and paste the text again and replace those quotes.

Configure SAPI Voice Settings

This is fun, but we can also configure our little talking computer with different settings. We can change the volume, how fast or slow the voice talks and change the gender between male and female. Here is some example code where I added a couple of extra lines.

Dim message, sapi
message=InputBox(“Enter the text you want spoken”,”Speak This”)
Set sapi=CreateObject(“sapi.spvoice”)
Set sapi.Voice = sapi.GetVoices.Item(1)
sapi.Rate = 0
sapi.volume = 100
sapi.Speak message

The default rate is 0 and the range is -10 to 10. -10 will have the voice speak super slowly and 10 will speak super fast. The volume is defaulted at 100 and the range is 0 to 100. The line that starts with Set sapi.Voice will allow you to change to another voice, if installed on your system.

Note that the number of voices you can choose from depends on the operating system. In Windows 7, there is only one voice, Microsoft Anna.

In Windows 10, there are two voices: Microsoft David and Microsoft Zira as shown below.

microsoft zira voice

If there is only one voice installed on your system, you have to change that says sapi.GetVoices.Item(1) to sapi.GetVoices.Item(0), otherwise you will get an error message when you try to run the script. You can also create another Notepad document and paste the code below in, which will tell you what voices are installed. Save it as a .VBS file like shown above and run it.

Set VObj = CreateObject(“SAPI.SpVoice”)
For Each Voice In VObj.getvoices
I = I + 1
msgbox “” & (I – 1) & ” – ” & Voice.GetDescription
Next

Up until now, we have been using this popup dialog to enter text, but you could also simply type your message into the script file. This would be useful if you wanted to then schedule the script to run automatically. Obviously, this can be used to prank your friends and family and it works really well.

Just imagine someone turning on their computer and hearing the computer tell them “Hello John, I’m very sleepy, please don’t bother me today!” when it boots up! I can promise you from experience, it’s hysterical and you should definitely try it.

In order to hardcode the message, simply change the last line to something like this:

sapi.Speak “Hello John, I am very tired today!”

Schedule Script File

Now that you have hardcoded your message for your intended target, you simply have to run it when you want. If you are tech-savvy, you could use a program like AutoIt, which will allow you to do extreme stuff like run your script file when a certain program is opened or when a windows is maximized or minimized.

I don’t have time to get into all that in this post, but luckily Microsoft has a built-in feature called the Task Scheduler that lets you do some pretty complicated stuff with scripts easily.

My previous post goes in depth on how to schedule a script file to run when certain events occur in Windows. If you have any trouble getting your script to work, feel free to post a comment and I’ll try to help. Enjoy!

The post How to Make Your Computer Talk/Speak What You Type appeared first on Online Tech Tips.

How to Determine if BIOS Update is Needed

Posted: 08 Sep 2015 09:12 AM PDT

Do you need to update the BIOS on your computer? Probably not, but in this article I’ll walk you through the process of determining whether or not there is an update for your BIOS or UEFI firmware and whether or not you need to install it.

Just because there is an update for your BIOS does not mean that you should necessarily install it. It’s a myth that BIOS updates somehow make your computer faster or run better. In some rare instances, a BIOS update can fix a motherboard issue that might make your computer perform better, but it’s usually not related to speed.

For example, a BIOS update may help solve an overheating issue. Also, many BIOS updates are released that simply support new hardware like a new CPU model or graphics card. If you specifically need this new hardware, then it’s probably worth taking the risk to install it. If not, then you should simply stick with your current BIOS because the new BIOS won’t make any difference and could actually cause more problems.

Unlike the operating system, the BIOS is low-level software that is stored on a chip on the motherboard of the computer. In order to update this low-level software, you normally have to “flash the BIOS“, which will replace the old software with the new version. If you bought a computer from Dell, HP, etc, you normally just have to download an EXE file and run it to flash the BIOS.

If you built your own computer, you will either need to download a BIOS update program from your motherboard manufacturer or you will need to manually perform the flash, which normally entails using a USB stick and booting into DOS.

Each motherboard model requires its own BIOS version and this is where the problems can occur.

Firstly, if you use the BIOS for a different motherboard or even a slightly different revision of the same motherboard, major problems can occur. Your computer may not power up at all or you may get strange error messages when it boots.
Secondly, if the computer loses power or something else goes wrong during the update itself, it can brick your computer and cost hundreds to repair.
Thirdly, not all BIOS updates are tested as thoroughly as the one that came with your computer, so a new BIOS version may cause boot problems, etc.

Note that the PC manufacturer remedies some of these problems for you. For example, a BIOS update from Dell will be packaged into an executable file that will not only check to make sure the version of the BIOS you are installing is compatible with your system, but will also go ahead flash the BIOS without you having to manually do it.

Now that I’ve explained the reasons for and against updating your BIOS, let’s talk about how to figure out whether there is an update for your BIOS.

The first thing you’ll need to do is check the current version of your BIOS, which I have already explained previously in the linked article.

Take note of the version and the date of the release. Now you have to visit the PC manufacturer’s website and go to their support section. Search for your particular computer model and you should see a section called Drivers and Downloads or something similar. Here is an example from Dell.com.

Always read the release notes or details to see what is actually being updated. You can click View details on Dell’s website to see this information.

As you can see, this update fixes some USB keyboard/mouse issue and upgrades ePSA to the latest version. So should you install this update? Well, if you don’t have any keyboard or mouse issue and no other problem with your system, it’s probably not necessary.

For custom built PCs, you will need to visit the motherboard manufacturer website and download the drivers from there. This is an example from the MSI website below.

It also gives you a description of what the update includes. Improved memory compatibility means the motherboard simply supports more RAM chips from different manufacturers. If your memory is fine, then that’s not a reason to upgrade. There’s also a fix for a Realtek LAN card, but only if you disable it. Lastly, it has some VBIOS and GOP driver updates, which Intel says you only need to update if you are having graphics issues.

Of course, you may need to Google some of the technical terms in order to understand what they are talking about. Check the version and date of the BIOS listed on the website and compare it to the one on your system. If you decide there is an update you would like to install, there are several possible ways.

Firstly, download the BIOS file, which will usually be in archive format like .ZIP. Open the archive and look for a Readme.txt file. This file will usually explain exactly what you need to do to perform the upgrade. There are three main paths:

Download the BIOS file, copy it to USB, boot to the BIOS and find the option in the BIOS itself to flash the BIOS
If your BIOS doesn’t support flashing, then you might have to create a DOS based live USB drive with the BIOS file that you boot from
Download Windows flashing tool and run the executable file

The last option is the easiest and is normally what you will always get from big PC manufacturers like Dell, HP, etc. For a custom PC, you should use option 1 or 2, if possible, as it is less risky. Updating the BIOS while logged into Windows can cause problems and cause the update to fail. Once you have updated the BIOS and restarted your computer, you’ll be using the new BIOS immediately. If you have any questions, post a comment. Enjoy!

The post How to Determine if BIOS Update is Needed appeared first on Online Tech Tips.

How to Hide Your Facebook Online Status

Posted: 08 Sep 2015 07:12 AM PDT

Here's a simple tip that I just figured out myself the other day: hide your online status on Facebook! Why is this useful? Well, now that Facebook has built chat into the online interface (kind of like Google Hangouts running inside Gmail), your friends can start chatting with you any time you log into Facebook.

Personally, I never wanted to use Facebook.com as an instant messaging program and instead use Facebook Messenger for that purpose. Thankfully, Facebook has made it very easy to change your online status so that people cannot see you are online. Actually, they’ve added a couple of options in the last year or so that let you control it more granularly.

Turn Off Facebook Chat

The easiest way to not be disturbed by anybody is to simply go offline by turning off chat completely.

Obviously, if you go offline completely, no one will be able to see you are online, but you will also not be able to see which of your friends are online. It's not like the Invisible feature in Yahoo Messenger. Check out my previous post on how to detect if someone is invisible in Yahoo.

Here's how to quickly go offline and hide your online status:

Step 1: Log into your Facebook account

Step 2: Click on the gear icon at the bottom right of the browser screen and you'll get a list of some options. One of the options is to Turn Off Chat.

When you click on that option, you’ll get another popup with three options. Previously, you didn’t have another option and Facebook would simply turn off chat for all friends. Now you can selectively pick who you want to hide from, which is great.

You can choose from Turn off chat for all friends except or Turn off chat for only some friends. When you turn off chat for everyone or a group of people, they can still message you, but the messages will go to your Inbox and not show up in the chat area or in Facebook Messenger.

Note that you can also turn off chat in Facebook Messenger, but the app only lets you turn it off completely. Currently, there is no option to choose who you want to hide from.