As you would expect, Google Maps is a terrific app – available for both iOS and Android. If you don’t have it on your phone, download the free app right away. It doesn’t just show you how to get from point A to point B, although that is always helpful and is far more accurate than the GPS system I have in my car.
Google Maps can let you know how busy your destination is. In the Google Maps app, tap on the business or location you want to visit and scroll down until you see a graph labeled Popular times. Tap the day of the week if you’re planning a trip for later that week.
Tap on the red column to see current foot-traffic data, or one of the blue columns to get a summary of how busy you can expect it to be at another time: Not busy, Not too busy, A little busy or As busy as it gets.
Next, under the heading labeled Plan your visit, you’ll find general information like peak wait times (“up to 5 min from 6 a.m — 12 a.m”) and length of average visit (“People typically spend 20 min here”).
Google Maps is also a review app, like Yelp or TripAdvisor. This feature is especially useful if your destination is a restaurant, hotel or bar, where previewing menu options and prices would be good information. On most restaurant listings you’ll see a navigation bar at the top with Overview, Menu, Reviews and Photos listed as options. Tap any of those or just scroll down. The link labeled Menu is often listed just below operating hours, but keep scrolling until you see the heading Popular dishes to see photos of food. Keep going past Popular times until almost the very bottom to find the restaurant’s five-star average and user reviews.
Tip of the month
Windows 10 Tricks
Hopefully all PC owners are aware they are not secure unless their operating system is Windows 10 or they are personally paying Microsoft for security updates. If you are brand new (or just aren’t aware) there are a tips and tricks that may be helpful. Here are a few:
You know that to get to the Start menu, you hit the Windows icon at the bottom left of the screen or on your keyboard. But Windows 10 includes a lesser-known second Start menu that makes accessing important features like the Command Prompt, the Control Panel and the Task Manager much easier. You can access it two different ways, either by pressing the Windows key + X, or right click the Windows icon/Start button.
Screenshots – There are many ways you can take a screenshot with Windows 10. If you want to capture and save a picture of your entire screen, the easiest way is to hit the Windows key + Print Screen key, and that picture will be saved to the Pictures > Screenshots folder. To capture just one part of your screen, hit the Windows key + Shift + S to open a tool called Snip & Sketch, which allows you to click and drag to create a screenshot, which is saved to your Clipboard. REMEMBER – You won’t see the image copied to your clipboard until you paste into a document or program.
If your desktop screen has gotten too crowded with open windows, you can quickly minimize them all except the one you are currently working in. Just click the title bar of the window you want to remain open to select it. Then, hold the mouse down and move the window back and forth quickly — shaking it, essentially. After a couple of quick shakes, all other open windows will minimize, leaving only the one you’ve shaken open.