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Windows, Google, Siri and More

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update now has a release date of October 17. And why would you care? If you have one of a few supported virtual reality headsets, then you will find support with its Mixed Reality platform. Honestly, there is not much new for most of us. I see changes in some Settings panes and better OneDrive integration if you use Office 365; otherwise, it is just a big download in the background.

Google Drive app is going away to be replaced by Backup and Sync. Like many things Google, you get used to one thing and they change it. Backup and Sync adds more to Google Drive, most importantly better control of backing up files and folders from any place on your computer, including photos, into the Google “cloud.” March 12, 2018 marks the closing of Google Drive, and starting this October you will likely see prompts to “upgrade.” There are more specifics at google.com/drive

You may already know how Siri can help with reading and writing on your iPhone but if you turn on some (or all) of the Accessibility features you can control even more of your iPhone with just your voice. Explore under Settings, General, Accessibility, Speech. And while you are in Accessibility, look at other options in case you find other ones that might also help you.

Recovering data from corrupted memory card or USB drives includes first trying them on other ports and card readers on your computer, then on other computers. If that fails, you may want to try software
like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free, with the free version limited to 2 GB of recovered content, (https://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/free-data-
recovery-software.htm) with both Mac and PC versions available); Recuva (https://www.piriform.com/recuva) from Piriform (makers of CCleaner); or TestDisk/PhotoRec from http://www.cgsecurity.org/

Preventing PCs (and Macs also) from sleeping can be useful when you are trying to finish tasks running while you are away from the computer and plugged into AC power. In Windows 10, open the Start menu and go to the Settings, the gear icon, then click on System. Click on Power and Sleep in the left-hand column, scroll down to the Sleep, and click on the dropdown menu under “When plugged in, PC goes to sleep after,” and click it to Never. There is no extra Save button to click now. And remember to change this back to restore the Sleep function. On a Mac, get into System Preferences, then find and click on Energy Saver. Click on the Power Adapter and slide the Computer sleep slider all the way to the right, to Never. When you close this preference pane, the changes are saved.

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