OCR, SPAM increases, Enhance Old Photos

Being able to copy text embedded in an image will soon be easy in Windows 10 and 11 as part of Microsoft PowerToys. In the next few months, with PowerOCR, you will be able to select part of an image with recognizable text to be converted and put in the Windows clipboard as text for you to paste.

Microsoft makes rather decent hardware— ergonomic keyboards and mice and a lineup of tablets and laptops under their Surface moniker. Their tablets offer a Windows alternative to Chrome and Apple tablets.

Windows 11 users: Microsoft recently rolled out its big update, version 22H2, offering all sorts of new learning opportunities and ways to keep your mind supple.

If you have a Gmail address and have noticed an increase in political campaign emails in your inbox, it is due to the Federal Election Commission approving a Google plan to let campaign emails bypass Gmail’s spam filters.

If you write email like spam, it will go to a spam folder. Avoid poor grammar and spelling; all caps and heavy punctuation, especially exclamation marks; too many links or attachments; inconsistent fonts, colors and formatting: image-only emails or a high image-to-text ratio; and promotional language like “click here,” “no cost,” “make money now” or “a great deal.”

End-to-end encryption in Facebook Messenger is not yet the default, you can turn it on. Its called Secret Conversations, which you can enable each time you start a one-on-one chat. Find it by tapping the person’s name at the top of Messenger; scroll to find the lock icon for “Go to secret conversation,” and then tap. If you already have an unencrypted conversation going, pay attention to which thread you are using.

When making or updating a will, remember to include a digital executor with access to your digital estate, which can include logins/passwords for all devices and online services; purchased assets like music and apps; and all stored data, local and cloud. That person will notify your online community of your death and ensure any accounts, subscrip- tions or other services are canceled or transferred to your next of kin.

A new service can digitally enhance old photos, which might help you finally identify that one face that had faded too much to see. Go to tinyurl.com/4c54c65h.

DuckDuckGo lets you create an email address that strips out trackers and forwards them to your inbox. Use for those “subscribe to our newsletter” requests.