How to make your Windows PC easier to use

 Your Windows PC can do a lot for you and make your work faster if you know your way around it.

To help your Windows PC adapt to you and not the other way around, you have lots of options. You can give some of these tips to make your Windows PC easier to use.

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Use voice typing to talk instead of type.

 With voice typing, you can enter text on your PC by speaking. Voice typing uses online speech recognition, which is powered by Azure Speech services.

Once you turn on voice typing, it will start listening automatically. Wait for the “Listening…” alert before you start speaking.

Change how captions appear on your Windows PC.

Captions let you read the words spoken in the audio portion of a video, TV show, or movie. To define how the captions appear in Windows and some Windows apps, you can select one of the predefined caption options or customize an option to better suit your needs.

1. Select (Start) >   Settings > Accessibility > Captions.
2. In Caption style, expand the menu, select one of the predefined options, and see how it appears in the preview.
3. To customize the selected predefined option, select Edit and then modify the option details to your liking.

Make it easier to focus on tasks with Focus Assist.

Windows offers lots of ways to minimize distractions so it’s easier to focus on tasks. You can declutter your taskbar and simplify the Start menu, use Focus assist to manage your notifications, and use the Immersive Reader to minimize visual distractions when reading a web page in Microsoft Edge.

Have text read aloud with Narrator.

 Narrator is a screen-reading app that’s built into Windows 10, so there’s nothing you need to download or install. This guide describes how to use Narrator with Windows so that you can start using apps, browsing the web, and more. 

Below the table of contents, there’s a section about what’s new in Narrator.

Make your desktop screen easier to see with colour filters.

 If it’s hard to see what’s on the screen, apply a color filter. Colour filters change the colour palette on the screen and can help you distinguish between things that differ only by colour.

To use a color filter:

1.   To go to the Accessibility settings on your computer, press the Windows logo key+U or select Start > Settings > Accessibility. Select Colour filters. Turn the Colour filters switch on. Select a colour filter from the list. Try each filter to see which one suits you best.

Make your Windows PC easier to hear.

Windows lets you convert stereo sound into a single channel so you can hear everything, even if you’re using just one headphone. Select the Start button, then select Settings > Accessibility > Audio, and then switch on the Mono audio toggle.

Display audio alerts visually

f you have trouble hearing audio alerts, you can have your PC display them visually. Select the Start button, then select Settings > Accessibility > Audio.

Under Flash my screen during audio notifications, choose how you want audio alerts displayed. You can choose to have the title bar of the active window, the active window, or the entire screen flash when a notification arrives, instead of relying on sound alone.

FG, South Korea begin implementation of $13m e-government project

The Federal Government and South Korean government under the Korean Inter-Cooperation Agency (KOICA), have begun the implementation of the $13m second phase of Digital Governance in Nigeria.

They made the announcement in Abuja at the kick-off partnership meeting of the project, themed ‘Project for building by foundations towards Digital Governance in Nigeria’.

Speaking at the event, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, said that the commencement of the Phase II of the project for e-Government Development in Nigeria, in collaboration with the KOICA is in line with its mandate to utilize ICT to drive transparency in governance and improve the quality and cost effectiveness of public service delivery in Nigeria.

The minister, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr. William Alo, said that the National Digital Economy Policy (NDEPS) (2020-2030) was developed and launched by President Muhammadu Buhari, to fast track the nation’s journey to a Digital Nigeria and to diversify the Nigeria economy away from the dependency on oil.

“The Policy is anchored on eight pillars for the acceleration of the National Digital Economy, namely Developmental Regulation; Digital Literacy and Skills; Solid Infrastructure; Service Infrastructure; Digital Services Development and Promotion; Soft Infrastructure; Digital Society and Emerging Technologies; and Indigenous Content Development and Adoption,” he said.

He said that the implementation of the Project for eGovernment Development in Nigeria, in collaboration with the KOICA aligns with Pillar #2 Digital Literacy and Skills, which has a policy objective to support training and capacity building among public sector employees in the development and use of digital tools and applications to improve the delivery of government services.

He noted that the first phase of the project ‘Project for Capacity Building Of E-Government in Nigeria (2013-2018)’ commenced in 2013 with the support of the KOICA, as part of the Bilateral Cooperation between Nigeria and the Government of Republic of Korea.

He said that by the by the end of the implementation of the project, various achievements were recorded including the establishment of an equipped E-Government Training Center (ETC), which was handed over to the Federal Government in November 2019; and the conduct of E-Government Capacity Building Programs, in various courses, for over 1400 public servants in both Nigeria and South Korea.

Also speaking, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Nigeria, Kim Young-chae, said the event further signified the friendly and thriving bilateral relations between the two countries and was part of the bilateral relations which have been in existence for over 40 years.

“Korea’s success on the eGovernment development is portrayed as one of the world’s best successful stories. Certainly, not every Korean eGovernment policy and intervention became successful, however, there were many other aspects of unique Korean experiences that could be adapted to suit other partner countries.

“Hence, the continued partnership on this field between Nigeria and Korea has provided a activated platform for both of us to collaborate and make the most of experiences Korea has gone through.

“With Today’s project funded by KOICA’s grant aid to the tune of $13m, is expected to enhance capacity for the further execution of key initiatives of the National eGovernment Master Plan, competencies for the eGovernment service delivery, and the development of the Government Service Portal. It can also create increased access of the NIN enrolment for ordinary people,” he said.

NCC advises on automatic updates of antiviruses 

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has advised telecom consumers and other Information and Communications Technology (ICT) end users on the need to always enable automatic update features for AVAST and AVG antiviruses to prevent potential cyber vulnerabilities.

This was contained in a new advisory released by the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT), the cybersecurity centre for the telecom sector established by the Commission, in continuation of its resolve to always keep Nigerians safe in the cyber space.

 The advisory noted that cyber vulnerability in AVAST and AVG Antiviruses can lead to attacks on millions of devices with high impact in terms of consequences to the ICT user. The threat types as a result of this vulnerability are Bypass Authentication, Remote Code Execution and Unauthorised Access while consequences range from Privilege Escalation, Bypass Security Products, Overwrite System Components and corrupting the Operating System.

According to CSIRT, researchers at SentinelOne security firm have discovered two potentially damaging vulnerabilities in AVAST and AVG antivirus products that allow attackers to escalate privileges enabling them to disable security products, overwrite system components, corrupt the operating system, or perform malicious operations unimpeded.

“Two vulnerabilities identified as CVE-2022-26522 and CVE-2022-26523 targeted the “Anti Rootkit” driver of Avast antivirus (also used by AVG) allowing an attacker with limited privileges on the targeted system to execute code in system mode (kernel mode) and take complete control of the device. Moreover, the vulnerabilities allow complete take-over of a device, even without privileges, due to the ability to execute code in kernel mode,” the CSIRT said in the advisory.

However, the cybersecurity centre has offered a tripartite measure that should be taken by Internet/ICT users to prevent being vulnerable to the cyber threats. They include enabling automatic update feature for AVAST and AVG antiviruses, upgrading AVAST and AVG antiviruses to version 22.1.2504, as well as carrying out regular patch management.

Sources: https://www.microsoft.com  and https://www.ncc.gov.ng