Washington Works Blog

Microsoft Word is more or less synonymous with word processing, but with the right tricks, you can do so much more. For this week’s tip, we’ll go over four neat and useful capabilities that Microsoft Word has.

Special text characters are an integral part of typing. For the most part, however, they are not something that your normal, run-of-the-mill keyboard or laptop keypad is able to access easily. Luckily, for Windows 10 users, there is a shortcut that allows you to access all sorts of special characters.

Phishing attacks have been around for decades, first being recorded in 1995 where scammers would pose as AOL employees and request a user’s billing information through instant messages. Nowadays, email phishing attempts have tricked users into handing over personal information of all kinds. There are many methods of identifying a phishing attempt, but today we’ll focus on one.

Does it feel like your web browser is running slower than it should? Or is your browser prone to freezing up and crashing? If so, there’s one easy troubleshooting tip that you’ll want to try: clearing the cache.

Have you ever come across a great soundtrack or album on YouTube that you would love to put on repeat, but can’t because YouTube doesn’t offer this feature? Well, fear not--there are a ton of services available that you can use to put your favorite videos on repeat, allowing you to save plenty of time on clicking that play button so that you can stay productive.

Fact: your PC has a limited amount of storage space. When a user runs out of space or comes close to it, they need to come up with a solution. Without taking any action, performance will lag and saving data for future projects will be impossible. By using a helpful tool like WinDirStat, you can free up space by easily identifying and then taking action with your PC’s biggest files.

You know Microsoft Word as the great word processor that your business relies on to compose documents of all kinds. However, Microsoft Word is much more flexible and versatile than you might think. Did you know that you can perform simple calculations in your Microsoft Word document in a quick and efficient way?

It’s no secret that finding a particular program or file on your computer can be a pain, especially when you don’t have the time to hunt it down by clicking through folders. However, there is a much easier way to locate your desired data. All you need to do is use the search option found in the Start menu, which is the subject of this week’s tip.

What happens when you lock your Windows 10 PC? Unless you’ve changed your lock screen settings, you’re greeted with a dynamic background image that changes every day or so. Sometimes, Windows will show you an image that’s so good that you’ll want to download it so you can look at it more. But how does one go about this? For this week’s tip, we’ll show you how!

Fact: There’s a shortage in the IT skills market. Yet, businesses now have more opportunity than ever to make up for this shortage. A simple solution is to outsource your IT services to a managed service provider. You might find that it’s a great way to save time and revenue on a department that’s becoming increasingly difficult to hire for. Here are three reasons why outsourced IT services can resolve the shortage of IT talent.

Your workstation is equipped with all of your necessary software solutions, but sometimes it can be challenging to find a specific app. If you want to see a list of all applications on your device, Windows 10 makes it easy. The key to doing so lies in the Start menu.

Cell phones: as much as they’re needed for business purposes, there are definitely times that they shouldn’t ring and interrupt what is going on around you. However, turning a phone’s volume up or down isn’t always the first thing on a user’s mind. Fortunately for Android users, it no longer has to be.

Windows 10’s updates have provided users with entirely new ways to receive notifications, including the ability to sync their notifications via Android’s Cortana app. However, you’ll be happy to hear that you can control how these notifications appear. We’ll walk you through some basic steps on how to customize your Windows 10 notifications.

An active Google user will inevitably accumulate a stockpile of photos and videos via their account’s Google Photos app. For this week’s tip, we’ll show you how to download all of this media to a local device.

Do you find yourself traveling for your business? Be it for a conference, a series of meetings that require your attendance, or some other reason, you may very likely need to spend some time on the road; time that could be spent on tasks your business needs to function. Despite the lack of a traditional workspace, this time spent traveling doesn’t necessarily need to be time wasted. Thanks to the technology of today, you have the ability to remain productive while mobile.

A Chromebook is an inexpensive alternative to laptops that allows users to gain the benefits of mobile computing, without the need for a hefty price tag. The problem that most users have with the Chromebook is that offline use is somewhat limited, due to the nature of the Chrome OS that it uses. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of a limited functionality device like the Chromebook.

When you’re trying to keep your accounts secured, one of the best strategies is to employ a two-factor authentication strategy wherever possible. You’ve probably utilized it before, without even realizing it.

Have you ever encountered something that you thought was interesting on social media, and you wanted to share it with your friends? Before, sharing a link or a story would also slap a status update on your Facebook profile, for all of the world to see. Now, however, Facebook offers an alternative, in the form of sharing a post on the News Feed without also posting it to your timeline.

You might know your Wi-Fi password, but can you tell your new staff members, guests, and clients, what it is off the top of your head? If you don’t write your password down, or store it somewhere that’s easily accessible, it can be difficult to remember; especially if it’s long and complex like it should be. Thankfully, if you already have a computer connected to the network, you can easily find out what your Wi-Fi password is.

There’s a special kind of frustration that accompanies a dropped Internet connection. In such dire times, try these four troubleshooting tips before hitting the panic button.