Assuming you’re dining alone, or with an understanding and forgiving co-diner, you can eat some brain-food before the fried mozzarella sticks arrive, in a few seconds with these tips from Kim Komando.
Kim‘s a fun one to follow, for real-life tips.
And just for laughs, some sites you might never have seen before that will help you use AI the bestest ways:
[Article written by Kate Holmes, STUG volunteer, with organizing help from Claude AI. I was too shook up to take proper notes of the fiasco.]
I recently got a new laptop and set merrily to, transferring my digital life from old to new. I’ve done this before. I know what I’m doing. Or so I thought. I finished the switchover in record time. Or so I thought.
Within the first few days, I noticed something odd. Files I was sure I’d saved to my Desktop weren’t where I expected them. Documents I’d created weren’t in my Documents folder — or rather, they were, but the folder wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Things felt slightly off in a way that was hard to pin down.
When you set up a new Windows 11 machine, or often when Windows 10 upgrades to Windows 11, OneDrive doesn’t just offer to back up your files. It goes ahead and redirects your core folders — Desktop, Documents, and Pictures — into its own sync folder, deep inside your user directory. Your Desktop is no longer at C:\Users\YourName\Desktop. It’s now at C:\Users\YourName\OneDrive\Desktop.
The folders look exactly the same on screen. The Desktop still looks like a desktop. Documents still looks like Documents. Nothing waves a flag to tell you that these locations have been silently relocated into Microsoft’s cloud sync system.
This matters for several reasons:
* Files you think are local may actually be in the cloud even only in the cloud, if OneDrive decides to free up local space
* If your internet connection drops, OneDrive can lose the plot. Files can appear to vanish or become inaccessible
* Anything that syncs to the cloud is subject to Microsoft’s terms, not just sitting quietly on your hard drive
* If you later unlink OneDrive, those redirected folders can end up stranded in unexpected locations
And here’s what happened to me: I accidentally sent a very large folder to the Recycle Bin during cleanup. Because it was inside OneDrive, recovering it was a hair-tugging exercise. It worked out, but only because I caught it fast (and I had AI on my side.)
If you are upgrading an existing machine from Windows 10 to Windows 11, you may hit the same issue. The Windows 11 setup process prompts you to sign in with a Microsoft account and strongly nudges you toward OneDrive backup. Many people click through those screens without realizing what they’re agreeing to. The folder redirect can happen during that process just as easily as it did on my brand-new machine.
If you’re already on Windows 11 and you’re not sure whether this has happened to you, here’s the quick check: open File Explorer, right-click on your Documents folder, choose Properties, and look at the Location tab. If the path shown contains the word “OneDrive,” your folder has been redirected.
On a new machine, before you do anything else: when Windows setup asks about OneDrive backup, decline it, or at minimum, uncheck the folder redirection options. You can always set up OneDrive manually later, on your own terms.
If the redirect has already happened: you can move the folders back. Right-click the folder → Properties → Location → Restore Default. Windows will move everything back to the local path. Do this before you unlink OneDrive, or things get complicated. [Note from Kate: Claude AI says this. I didn’t try that, so you’re on your own; remember, AI ain’t always right.]
Get your files settled, your folder structure sorted, and your backup solution chosen deliberately. You might choose OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, or something else. Only after you’re happy with your structure should you set up cloud sync on your own terms.
Now I assume that OneDrive is not a bad product. For people who want seamless cloud backup and don’t mind their files living in Microsoft’s ecosystem, it works well. But the way Windows 11 deploys it, silently, during setup, without a clear explanation of what folder redirection actually means, is a genuine gotcha. It catches experienced users, not just beginners.
Photo credits Designboom.com, Sunday Robotics
It’s December 25 right now, and without responsibility for the Christmas feast, I was reading my emails. Came across this tip from Kim Komando and thought I’d test it out for you:
Use your Voice Memo app to interview the oldest person in the room. Ask them one question: “What was the one gift you wanted most when you were 10 years old?” The tech genius move: Once you’ve recorded the answer, use an AI tool like Otter.ai or ChatGPT (upload the audio) to transcribe it. Then, ask the AI: “Write a short, heartwarming story based on this memory in the style of a classic Christmas book.” The result: You can print the story out or email it to the whole family. You’ve turned a fleeting, three-minute conversation into a family heirloom that will be read for years.
So I used the voice memo app on my iPhone, told the story of what I wanted most at twelve. Then I transcribed it in that same app (3-dot menu in upper right), then copied it (an offered choice) and pasted it into ChatGPT (by pressing for a long time in the query box) and asked Chat what Kim, above, suggested. (I’m giving you more detailed steps, ’cause Kim sometimes thinks I know how to do something, that I don’t.)
Then I copied the AI-generated story and added it to a holiday template in PicMonkey (you can use Canva if you choose). Adjusted the template, pasted in the text, edited a bit, and played around with fonts and line spacing to have it fit nicely.
Result: a one-sheet graphic to save, send to family, or print out as a Christmas story.
Try this process if you write a New Year’s family letter sharing what happened this past year!
Ran across this recently. Making sure your family has a “safe word” is now more important than ever.
Altman Warns: Use a Safe Word
In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Sam Altman said the quiet part out loud: you can no longer trust voice, video, or text by default. His recommendation was stark—families may need rotating “safe words” to verify identity during sensitive interactions.
The concern is no longer future-facing. Voice cloning, real-time impersonation, and deepfake scams are already operational. Altman’s message wasn’t that AI might get there—it’s that it already has.
When the CEO of OpenAI says you shouldn’t assume what you see or hear is real anymore, that’s not hype. It’s an admission of arrival. Source: https://www.aiornot.com/
The AI world is moving so fast. I found a 2023 article on how you make your own voice recording, using nothing more than your phone. It’s meant so that you can use your iPhone to speak, outloud, the words you type. Fabulous for the speech-impaired or even if you are just suffering laryngitis… but also scary. My trial “personal voice” sounds pretty real to me. If I were nefarious, I could combine it with some background noise (a truck stop?) and make a convincing scam phone call to a frantic relative.
So make sure your extended family does have a code phrase or family word, and change it regularly.
Tip: Chat GPT is butting in to say: Choose something ordinary, not alarming (“blue notebook,” “Tuesday soup”), so it doesn’t raise suspicion if overheard. [Ed. Note: Tuesday soup?]
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