In order to keep the main blades in my tech toolkit sharp. I like to use a single blade Swiss Army knife for activities like box and package opening.

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MS Office | The alternative way to remove the mini toolbar from Word, Excel or PowerPoint As Microsoft Office has evolved, new features have been introduced that you may not find to be all that useful. For us one such feature is the mini toolbar. Which is a secondary menu that will appear…

After a 10 year break from MS Office. I find the user interface to Word, Excel and PowerPoint both distracting and cluttered. Not least the mini toolbar, which in my opinion feels redundant.

However, disabling it can be a problem. So here's an alternative way.

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April News 2026 | the US ban new foreign made internet routers. In a recent BBC article, it was reported that the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has listed all consumer grade internet routers made outside of the USA, as being not secure.

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Synology BeeStation | BeePhotos One of the main reasons for owning a BeeStation, is to have a personal cloud that you can use to store your photographs and family videos. So we’re going to take a look at how you setup and use the…

Finally finish this video on BeePhotos for a Synology BeeStation. Which is Synology's personal cloud alternative for storing photos and videos.

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MS Excel | combine data with the TextJoin function While the CONCATENATE and CONCAT functions are both widely used in order to join data into series. For example joining a first and last name, in order to get someone’s full name. You might be better…

Patrick Matthews, is right TEXTJOINS better than CONCAT.

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MS Excel | combine data with the TextJoin function While the CONCATENATE and CONCAT functions are both widely used in order to join data into series. For example joining a first and last name, in order to get someone’s full name. You might be better…

From the feed back we got regarding our Excel CONCAT video. TEXTJOIN is definitely easier to work with.

mydoodads.com/ms-excel-com...

Whats in my tech toolkit | various iFixit prying and opening tools In order to open most modern electronic devices, you will need specialist tools that will help you to open something without damaging it. So in our tech tool kit we like to keep an array of prying and...

In order to open various electronics. You will start to gather useful bits & bobs that won't damage the case of a device. So we thought you might like to see what we use.

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Enable a ruler and formatting marks in Microsoft Word When collaborating with others, or having to format a document in Microsoft Word. We like to leave two functions permanently enabled. The ruler which is an obvious visual aid that will help with…

We recommend that when using Microsoft Word, you leave the ruler and formatting marks enabled. As these two features will make managing page layout much easier.

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March News 2026 | Your guest WiFi may not be secure! While WiFi is a convenient way to connect devices to the internet. It is a technology that from it’s inception has been inherently insecure. So I was not surprised to read in an Ars Technica article.

mydoodads.com/march-news-2...

February News 2026 | is the video games industry in trouble? In 1983 the video game industry was almost destroyed. When according to Wikipedia, the rising popularity of personal computers, market over-saturation and poor quality games like E.

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January News 2026 | Happy New Year! In the news for January 2026, we look at the increase in RAM prices and we discuss the fallout from the debate on the petition to repeal the Online Safety Act.

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How to see hidden file extensions in Windows 11 In Windows 11, file extensions are hidden by default, making it tough to figure out what a file is. But hey, we’ve got a trick up our sleeves! In this video, we’ll show you how to reveal those hidden…

#mydoodads #Windows

As I find file extensions useful to see. I prefer to leave them on, rather than having to rely on Windows 11 showing me the correct application icon.

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What’s in my tech toolkit | A Victorinox Cyber Tool M One of the first tools that we added to our tech tool kit, was a Victorinox Cyber Tool M Swiss Army knife. Which is a 32 function tool that is very useful for general purpose tasks.

#mydoodads #whatsinmytechtoolkit

This was the first tool I added to my tech tool kit.

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Thanks I'll give it a try.

MS Excel | the CONCAT function In Microsoft Excel you might find you need to concatenate. Which is where we link or chain together data into a series. So we would use the CONCAT function.

#mydoodads #Excel

It's said that you do not really understand something until you can explain it to someone else. So here's my attempt at explaining the CONCAT function in Microsoft Excel.

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How to turn off the Startup screen in Microsoft Word By default when you start Microsoft Word, you will be presented with a startup screen. While the aim of the startup screen is to help you get started with creating or editing a document.

#mydoodads #MSWord

As I hate the way Microsoft Word now starts up. Here's how to turn off its startup screen, so that you start with a blank page.

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December News 2025 | a new Steam Machine and other goodies As someone who enjoys playing video games, I like to keep a watchful eye for any announcements regarding new hardware. So my interest was peeked with an announcement from Valve Software regarding a…

mydoodads.com/december-new...

10 tips for a new Nintendo Switch 2 user If you just got a new Switch 2, or even the original Nintendo Switch. There are a number of things you need to know or do before you start playing games. So in this video we take a look at 10 actions…

#nydoodads #NintendoSwitch

For any new Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 users. Here are 10 tips that you might find useful.

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MS Excel | Customise your instance of Excel The default layout for Microsoft Excel, can be both distracting and a little intimidating. Particularly if you are new to Excel. So it’s lucky that there are a number of settings that we can use…

#mydoodads #msexcel

You might find this video useful if you find Microsoft Excel cluttered or distracting.

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MS Word | Use Text to Speech in Microsoft Word YouTube video by mydoodads

#mydoodads #msword

Built into Microsoft Word is the ability to have your computer read back the text that you wrote. Something that is very useful if you are trying to proof-read your work. So in our video we take a quick look at this feature.

youtu.be/PFHm-JzwmN8

What’s in my tech toolkit | Mi Precision Screwdriver Kit As all toolkits should include a precision screwdriver. We decided to choose a Mi Precision screwdriver for our tech toolkit. While perhaps this kit does not have quite as extensive array of bits…

A sturdy and well made driver and set of precision bits. Which is great for opening laptops and smartphones.

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Synology BeeStation | backup and restore In this video we take a look at the backup options for a Synology BeeStation, and then take a look at the four different ways that we can restore our data.

#mydoodads #BeeStation

In this video we take a look at the backup options for a Synology BeeStation, and then take a look at the four different ways that we can restore our data.

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Display network shares on the desktop of macOS In this video, we’ll show you how to show network shares on your macOS desktop. This is super helpful if you use a file server, because having icons on your desktop that link to your network shares…

#mydoodads #macos

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How to turn off the Startup screen in MS Excel By default when you start Microsoft Excel, you are presented with a startup screen. While the aim of the startup screen is to help you get started with creating or editing a spreadsheet.

#mydoodads #Excel

This might be useful to do if you just want to start working with Microsoft Excel.

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What’s in my tech toolkit | A TreeDix USB cable tester In our tech tool kit we like to have a TreeDix TRX5-0816 USB cable tester. Something that while expensive, is easy to understand and use.

#Mydoodads #whatsinmytechtoolkit

Because you never know when a USB cable tester might come in handy.

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5 useful ways to customise Microsoft Word If you are new to Microsoft Word, its layout can feel a little intimidating and distracting. So in this video we take a look at a number of ways you can customise Word, to make it easier to work with.

#mydoodads #MSWord

So you can concentrate on what you are writing. Here are a number of useful customisations that might help to de-clutter Microsoft Word.

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The hidden secondary Start menu in Windows 11 Did you know that the Start button in Windows 11 has a secret menu? Many people don’t know about it, but it’s super handy! It has quick ways to access some of Windows’ most important functions and…

#mydoodads #Windows

Who knew. Windows Start has a second hidden menu!

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How to paste text without formatting on macOS YouTube video by mydoodads

#mydoodads #macos

As macOS will paste formatting by default. We demo how you can just paste text into Apple Pages.

youtu.be/SPtFVRTHEHU

A quick heads up to everyone. Makes sure to check that YouTube hasn't put you in restricted mode as this can stop you seeing your favorite YouTubers videos.

In the app head over to settings/general to find the toggle. On desktop hit you avatar in the top right to see if it's switched on.

The equivalent ipconfig command for macOS. While Windows user have a terminal command called ipconfig. Apple Mac users have to use something different called ifconfig. So lets take a look.

#mydoodads #macOS #terminal

Quickly get a computers IP address using a macOS terminal command.

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