Sands Consulting (tomsands.com)

"Where computers are our friends"


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Stop Websites From Asking You To Sign In With Your Google Account

Ricky Mondello (Major Apple Software Engineer who works on Safari and especially with security features) posted in Mastodon that there is a setting in your own Google Account that allows you to turn off the floaty prompt that has been harassing us recently. Click on this link and turn off “Google Account sign-in Prompts.”


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How To Reset the Apple TV Remote

  1. Press and hold the TV/Control Center button  and the Volume Down button  at the same time. Hold the buttons down for about 5 seconds, or until the status light on Apple TV turns off then turns on again.  
  2. Release the buttons, then wait 5–10 seconds. A Connection Lost notification will appear on your TV screen. 
  3. After your remote restarts, a Connected notification will appear on your TV screen. 

My 2021 Apple TV 4K with the new remote stopped controlling the volume on my Denon AVR-S730H A/V Receiver. The Apple TV 4K was running the latest tvOS. I rebooted the device several times and unplugged it and left it overnight. I deleted and “Leaned New Device” in the Settings–>Remotes and Devices–>Home Theater Control–>Volume Control area several times. My receiver did not respond to the Apple TV remote.

When I reset the Apple TV remote using the method listed above, the remote started controlling the volume on my receiver perfectly. It took me a long time to find this fix so it is posted here.


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Echo Devices Stop Using Apple Music When Requested

When you echo is using the basic Amazon Music service even though you have set it up to use your Apple Music subscription you typically think that the Alexa App is no longer configured to use Apple Music as the default. You open the Alexa App, click on the ‘More’ tab then ‘Settings.’ You scroll down and choose ‘Music & Podcasts’ but find that ‘Default Services still says ‘Apple Music.’

It is likely that the ‘Apple Music’ Skill needs to be activated again. In the Apple Music Skill Settings –> Account Linking, Link your Apple Music account again.


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How To Force Restart An iPhone 11

The Shortcut items that I saved to my Home Screen stopped working. A reasonable suggestion mentioned performing a “Force Restart.” I tried this and the Shortcut item started working again. From the apple website (https://tinyurl.com/3zfkjcyr) described this clearly.

  1. Press and quickly release the Volume up button
  2. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button
  3. Press and hold the “Side” button UNTIL the Apple Logo shows up (about 15 seconds)


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MSI GE75 Raider Laptop’s Fans Running at Full

2020-07-29

MSI GE75 Raider Laptop’s Fans Running at Full

  1. Open MSI Dragon Center
  1. View “Monitor”
  1. Change Scenario from ‘User’ to anything else – Initial Fix

User Scenario is a mode for Users to Customize Settings

The Performance Level was set for ‘High’

The Fan Speed was set for ‘Cooler Boost’

I Changed Fan to ‘Auto’ and the speed immediately dropped

FIXED


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How To Set Up ‘Scan to Folder” from a HP Color LaserJet MFP M281cdw to a Mac

Create a Shared Folder on your Mac

  1. Choose “Sharing” in System Preferences
  2. Check the “File Sharing” box under Service on the left
  3. Click on the “+” under the Shared Folders column
  4. Use the Finder window to create a new folder (or use a current folder) where the Scans should go and click on the “add” box.
  5. Choose a user under the Users column and change the permissions to “Read & Write.”
  6. Note the sentence above the Shared Folders area which starts with “Other users can access shared folders on this computer, and administrators all volumes, at “
  7. Ignore the part that likely says “afp:” and/or “smb:” and copy the IP address
  8. Open a new tab with the IP address of the HP Printer (Not the IP of the Mac that you just copied) and hit enter. This will open all of the settings of the HP Printer.
  9. Under the Scan tab, choose Scan to Network Folder -> Network Folder Setup on the left and click the New button to the right.
  10. In the Display Name* field, enter any name that you choose.
  11. In the Network Path* field, enter
    1. “//”
    2. The IP address of your Mac (which you just saved) and another single “/”
    3. The name of the root directory of the User you set up above and another single “/”
    4. Finally, each additional subdirectory and finishing with the Shared directory, each with a single “/” separating each subdirectory
  12. Here is mine as an example: //192.168.1.112/Tom/Documents/HPScan
  13. Quick Tip: Remember to use forward slashes (/) and NOT backslashes (\)
  14. For the “Username,” use the “Account name:” rather than the “Full Name” which is shown after a fresh boot of your Mac.
  15. For example for my own login, “Tom Sands” is my full name, but “Tom” is my account name.
  16. Enter the Password for the login account that is associated with your shared folder.
  17. You can choose to add a four-digit PIN for security, but I didn’t because it would require you to enter the PIN for EVERY single scan.
  18. Choose the Scan Settings of your choice and click on Save and Test