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Shakespeare would be confused, too.
Starting our fourth decade: Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously online for 30 years
Ease the pain of keeping up with the times
April 20, 2014
By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2014, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2014, The Post-Standard
Essays -- and, ahem, newspaper columns -- are supposed to say one thing and say it well. I'm sure I've missed the mark many times in the 3,000 columns I've written over the last 31 years.
But when I do manage to follow that advice, sometimes I get myself in trouble. It's the nature of the beast. Anything that gets too technical is likely to scare some readers away.
So let me offer some help, in a sort of pre-forgiving way. (I'm hoping you'll forgive me in advance for anything too technical that I write about. Wouldn't it be grand if life itself worked that way?)
Sometimes I mention a topic I've written about before, in detail. If that's the case, I might refer to the previous article. Or I might simply say something like, "As I've said before," just like your mom used to say when you forgot to put your dirty clothes in the hamper.
In any case, you've got help. Go to my website -- www.technofileonline.com -- and use the search form to look up what I've written previously. You don't have to email me to ask if I'll send you an older column. They're all online.
Sometimes I'll tell you about a free piece of software you might want to try. If I'm writing about something for your iPhone or iPad, the software will be located at the App Store. There's an App Store icon on your iPhone or iPad. You never have to know anything special to get an app for those two devices; just follow the simple directions at the App Store.
This works the same way for Android phones and tablets. Just go to the Play Store (look for the icon) or the Amazon Appstore (ditto) and follow the simple instructions.
Alas and alack -- Shakespeare would be confused, too -- things are totally the opposite if you want to get software for older PCs or Macs. The bad old way works like this: You go to a website that might have any name and be any place and have any sort of menu -- or no menu at all. Then you have to do a mysterious operation called downloading. Bah. Humbug.
If you have to do things the bad old way, get some help on my site by searching for DOWNLOADING, just like that.
But if you have a Windows 8 PC or a recent Mac, you might be able to find the software you want at the Windows app store or the Mac App Store. Getting stuff from them is just as easy as getting apps for phones and tablets.