How to find the Bluetooth address of an iPad Mini

To see the Bluetooth address for an iPad Mini or iPad Mini 2:

- Tap the Settings icon on the home screen
- Tap General in the left pane
- Tap About in the right pane

You'll see the iPad Mini's Bluetooth address displayed toward the bottom of the list, under "Bluetooth."  The Bluetooth address will be displayed even when Bluetooth is disconnected or disabled.

How to enable the LPR command in Windows 7

The LPR command can be a useful feature when troubleshooting printing problems.  If you're not sure if a specific issue is originating from the printer itself or from the print driver, sending an LPR print job can help to narrow down the source of the problem.

Sending an LPR print job is very easy from the Windows command prompt.  However, on some systems, the LPR feature may not be enabled.  If you try to use LPR and you get a message stating that it's an invalid command, you may need to enable LPR on your computer.  These instructions show you how to enable LPR on a Windows 7 computer.

- Open the Control Panel.  You can either click on it from the Start menu, or type "control" in the Search bar and click on it when it comes up.

- Select Programs and Features.

- Select Turn Windows features on or off (on the left side of the window).

- Click the "+" next to Print and Document Services.

- Select LPR Port Monitor.

- Select OK.

It may take a few minutes for Windows to enable the feature, but once it's completed you should be able to use the LPR command.

How to force close apps on an iPhone

As you use your iPhone, various apps and programs are opened.  When you open an app and then hit the Home button to exit out of it, that app typically remains open.  While that usually doesn't cause a problem, with enough open apps your phone could start to slow down a bit.

Closing open apps on an iPhone is easy to do.  There's no red circle like on a Mac, and no X in the corner like on a Windows computer, but it's still a simple task to close apps that are running on an iPhone.

To close apps that are open, tap the Home button twice.  All of the open apps will be shown in a cascading line of tiles.  Swipe to either side to scroll through the list of open apps, and when you come to an app that you want to close, simply tap that app and, without releasing your finger, drag it up to the top of the screen.  It will be removed from the list of running apps (but won't be deleted from your phone).  Once you have closed all of the apps that you wanted to close, tap the Home button to return to the home screen, or tap one of the open apps to bring it to the front.

How to create a shared folder in Windows 7

In Windows, you can share folders to make them accessible to other users who don't have physical access to your computer.  Folders can be shared across the network, which is also useful for sending documents or images from a scanner directly to your computer.  Many scanners support SMB scanning (also called scan to folder) which generally requires the destination folder to be shared.

To create a shared folder, you first need to create the folder.  (If you've already created the folder, skip this step and navigate to that folder instead).  Click on the Windows icon in the lower left corner of the screen to bring up the Start menu, then select Computer.  From here, select the C: drive.  Right click in the white space of the C: drive and hover over New.  A submenu will appear; select Folder.  Type in a name for the folder, then press the <ENTER> key.

Now that you have your folder, you can share it.  Right click on the folder and select Properties.  Select the Sharing tab.  Under where it says "Not Shared," click Share.

A list of users or groups will be displayed.  Select the ones that you wish to share your folder with.  If you don't see the user or users you're looking for, click on the drop-down arrow and select them.  Or, to share the folder with everyone, click the drop-down arrow and select Everyone.  Then click on Add.

By default, anyone you add will not have the ability to change or edit files in this folder.  You can give them that permission by clicking on "Read" and selecting "Read/Write" instead.  For setting up scan to folder, you will need to give either a specific user (that you will use as the authenticating user) or everyone the ability to write to that folder.

Once you have all the users you want added and they have the permissions that you want to assign them, click Share at the bottom of the window.  Windows will begin the process of sharing the folder, which may take a little while.  When it has completed, click Done.

How to enable Facebook notifications from a friend if you are not currently receiving them

If you are missing notifications from someone that you are friends with (or following) on Facebook, below are the steps to enable notifications from a specific person.

- In your web browser, log into your Facebook account.
- Either go to your friend's page directly, or search for it in the search bar at the top of the page and then click on their name in the results.
- If you see a button under the person's profile picture on the right that says Follow, click on it.  It will change to Following.
- Above the Follow/Following button, hover over the Friends button.
- If there is no check mark next to Get Notifications, select it now to enable notifications.

How to cancel a print job to an HP LaserJet 9050 from the printer's web page

Occasionally print jobs get stuck or become corrupted, and you need to cancel them.  You can do this from the printer itself, by pressing the Stop button, but you can also do it remotely from your computer (as long as the printer is connected to the network).

On a Windows PC, you can often cancel a print job by going into the printer's queue, choosing the job and canceling it.  But sometimes this method won't work.  For example, if someone else sent the job, you may not be allowed to cancel it.  Or if you don't have rights to manage the printer, you may be prevented from canceling the job.  In either case, you can still cancel the print job through the printer's embedded web server (EWS).

To get to the EWS, you will need the printer's IP address and a web browser.  (If you don't know the printer's IP address, you can find it by printing out a configuration page -- instructions can be read here.)  Open the web browser, type in the printer's IP address and hit <ENTER>.

The printer's web page or web server should load, with the HP logo and information about the printer, including it's current status.  Once this page loads, look in the middle of the page.  If you see a red circle and the words "Cancel Current Job," click on the red circle and you will be able to stop the print job.

More than likely, you won't see that red circle.  It will need to be enabled.  Follow the steps below to enable the cancel print job option.

- Click Log In in the upper right corner of the page.  (If Log In is not there, skip this step and the next step.)

- Enter the administrator user name and password for the printer.

- Select the Settings tab.

- Select Security on the left side bar.

- Under Set Options, click the box next to Cancel Job.

- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Apply.

- Select the Information tab.

- Click on the red circle next to Cancel Current Job.

- Confirm your choice, if prompted.

How to stop Microsoft Word from printing an extra page with your document

If an extra page prints out with your document when you print from Microsoft Word, the fix is very easy.  This page is called the document properties page, and it includes information such as the file name, any keywords, the total number of words, and much more.  It is a simple process to stop the document properties page from being printed.

To disable the document properties page in Word 2010:

- Open Word 2010
- Click on File in the upper left corner
- Select Options on the file menu
- Select Display in the left pane of the Word Options window
- Under the Printing options heading, click the box next to "Print document properties" to remove the check mark from it
- Click OK at the bottom of the window

These steps will also work for Word 2016.  For older versions of Word, you can see how to disable the document properties page in this Microsoft support article.

How to close open apps on an iPad Mini

Too many open apps can slow down your iPad Mini.  Closing an app that is running in the background is easy to do on an iPad Mini, but if you're used to an Android device, the process is different.  This guide will show you how to close apps that may be running in the background on an iPad Mini.

On your iPad Mini, tap the Home button twice.  All of your currently-open apps will be displayed on the screen, in a horizontal list.  You can scroll through the list to see which apps are currently running.

To close an app, tap it and without letting go, drag it up to the top of the screen.  The app will disappear from the list of open programs.  You can close multiple apps this way if you want.

Once you are finished, tap the Home button to return to the home screen, or tap one of the open apps to bring that app to the forefront.

How to find the Bluetooth address for a Lenovo IdeaTab A10-70 tablet

To see the Bluetooth address for a Lenovo IdeaTab A10-70 tablet:

- Tap Settings from the home screen
- At the bottom of the settings list, tap About tablet
- Tap Status

The tablet's Bluetooth address will be displayed, but only if Bluetooth is currently enabled.

Chrome no longer supports NPAPI plugins

It's been over a month now, but some users may not yet be aware -- or are suddenly finding out -- that Chrome has dropped support for NPAPI plugins.  Two big plugins no longer supported are Java and Silverlight.  If you visit web sites that rely on either one of those, you'll likely be looking for a new web browser.

If you use Outlook Web App, you may have already noticed that the Attach button no longer works.  This feature utilized the Silverlight plugin, so it's out the window in Chrome.  You can either load OWA in another web browser, or you can use the light version of OWA (check the box when you log in) as a workaround -- the light version will allow you to attach files without requiring Silverlight.

More information can be found on this Google help page.