apple | At Home with Tech

February 26, 2017

A Quick Way to Fix a Corrupted Word File

Why does it always seem that technology will fail you at the worst moment? Here’s a trick to help you the next time disaster strikes…

Repeatedly saving your Microsoft Word document doesn’t always help if your PC laptap unexpectedly runs out of power. Yeah, that happened to me last week at work…

My .docx file containing the results of a productive 90-minute team script-writing session got trapped when the file became corrupted. Well, it was kind of my fault, because my laptop was only running on battery power.

But to be fair to the faulty human, there was no warning… none at all.
Now, come on!
(My Apple products always warn me when I’m dangerously low on power.)

“Khaaannnn!!!”
Then, when I plugged in my laptop and rebooted, I couldn’t open up the script.
The computer ‘suggested’ the file was unrecognizable or it had been corrupted.
Uhhhh…
What do you do?
What do you do??!

We needed to get this script right over to our video editor as we had a really tight deadline. But part of the team was about to disperse to meet other commitments.

So I couldn’t just magically say, “Reassemble!”
That would take time. And time we didn’t have…

Suddenly, I was facing my own Kobayashi Maru* scenario!

Fixing the File, Stat!
The only option was to take the dead file into surgery and try to extract the data. So I brought the challenge to two tech experts in the room. I looked at them both and said, “You’ve got to come through on this. Please… work the problem!”
(I felt like Ed Harris in “Apollo 13.”)

For the first fifteen minutes, it didn’t look good.

But then, within a few moments of each other, they each came back, offering up a new file of mostly unreadable gobbly gook. But buried in their horrible ‘creations’ were the magic sentences from the script I needed.

We were saved!

Try This at Home
So of course, I was interested in the tech voodoo they used. They took different paths to the finish line, but the solution that surprised me the most was the one that used a Mac. And it was so straightforward.

The secret?

With your Apple computer, simply open the damaged Word file using TextEdit…

Do a ‘Control Click’ on the damaged file
Go to ‘Open With’
Then click on the ‘TextEdit.app’ option

And Voilà!

I tried it myself…
No, the results didn’t look pretty, but what I wanted was all in there.
(I just had to sift a little.)

TextEdit to the Rescue
So what did I learn from my little ‘experience?’
(Get your fortune cookie folder out.)

Yes, Murphy’s Law is alive and well.
But don’t forget it’s always darkest just before the dawn.

Never trust your PC laptop to run on battery for too long.
(Using pen and paper may not yet be such an antiquated concept.)

Always bring in the team to help you beat your Kobayashi Maru* test.

And most importantly, remembering Apple’s simple TextEdit as a repair tool can really save your day!

*This is a “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn” reference about handling the
‘no-win’ scenario.
(Apologies, if I’ve just stated the obvious. “Qapla!”)

February 19, 2017

Don’t Accidentally Do This on Your Keyboard

Your subconscious can really ruin your day. Especially when you’re typing away on your computer. Here are a couple of fixes to help set things straight…

Computer keyboard designers must have a really cruel sense of humor. Why else would you be able to unknowingly disable your keyboard’s functionality through some accidental, though not entirely random gesture?

For My PC Friends Out There…
On a PC laptop… you’d better not tap the top left corner of your touchpad twice… where the tiny LED light is. That will turn the touchpad off.
Sure, you can tap it twice again to turn it back on, but you first need to know the secret!
(A BIG clue is the LED light turns on when the touchpad turns off!)

Last week, a colleague of mine who’s more Mac-centric didn’t know the trick and was forced to Google the solution on a different computer.
(No, I didn’t know the answer either!)

And for the Apple Universe…
Don’t accidentally hit the ‘Option’ key five times. That will turn your keyboard off.
What?
(Yup.)

It all has to do with an accessibility feature called ‘Mouse Keys’ which turns your keyboard off and morphs it into a pointer controller.

So guess what the fix is…
Tap your ‘Option’ key five times again.

That’s it.
Your keyboard will come back to life.

Every time you hit your Option key five times, it toggles this feature ‘on’ or ‘off.’

‘X’ Marks the Spot?
I often tap the ‘X’ key a few times as a placeholder for something I intend to write later.

If you look down at your keyboard, you’ll see that the Option key is rather close to the ‘X’… perfectly positioned to receive your slightly misaligned finger.

So chances are you’re eventually going to fall into the same trap…

Listen for It
A big clue you’ve made this infuriating mistake is an audio effect that announces Mouse Keys has just been enabled.
(It sounds like an amused robotic mouse scampering across your desk.)

Option to Resume
So the next time you hear the chuckle of a computerized rodent, you shouldn’t be confused why your Mac has suddenly stopped working.

No, it isn’t frozen with fear.
You just need to provide a gentle reminder five times with the ‘Option’ key to keep on going…

January 15, 2017

How to Make Your Old iPhone Act Like New

Is your iPhone having trouble holding a charge? If you’ve owned it for long enough, that’s inevitable. Now it’s time to take your phone on a little trip…

My iPhone was in big trouble. After not even two and a half years, the battery in my old iPhone 6 Plus was showing some serious wear.

It just couldn’t make it as long anymore without a little pick me up. And never for more than a day. Sometimes it couldn’t even get to lunch. And then there were the times the battery level would suddenly go from 30% to zero.
(What?!)

In the cold… forget it. My iPhone would shut down faster than you can say,
“I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me,” five times fast.

Time to Make the Doctor’s Appointment
So I brought my ailing companion to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store. The Genius ran the diagnostics on the battery and reported it was almost due for replacement… but not quite yet. I asked if it would last me until this fall.
(Yeah, I’m planning on pulling the trigger on the latest and greatest then.)

“Definitely not,” she said.

“How much for a new battery?”

“Eighty dollars.”

Huh.
So the way I saw it, I had a choice:

I could nurse my iPhone with a power drip and carry around an external battery or stay close to power outlets for as long as possible. And then rush back to the Apple Store for the operation when there was no longer an alternative…

Or I could electively do the battery swap out now.

Is that even a choice?

The Cost of Living in a Digital World
Look, no battery lasts forever.
It would have been nice for my iPhone to go a full three years on its original power cell, but it’s not like I didn’t get a lot of use out of it.

Is there any other device you depend more on every day?
Exactly.

Is $80 a lot of money for a silly battery? At one level… yes.
But considering the original cost of the iPhone, not at all.

Think of it as a simple maintenance cost…
(The thing doesn’t run on Pixie Dust.)

Tech Zen Restored
So my iPhone was whisked away to the back of the Apple Store for a ‘Battery Replaceadectamy.’
(No, you can’t do it yourself… or at least, you’re not supposed to.)

Now… my iPhone is back to its old self again.
And I’m a whole lot happier… not having to stress about all this.

Look at all of the time I’ve brought back into my life not having to always figure out how to feed my smartphone a little more juice.

I think it’s the best eighty bucks I’ve ever spent.

Tag: apple

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