Microsoft Outlook is still a popular email app, used by companies across the world, and home users like myself.

But it seems like Microsoft 365 editions of Outlook have an annoying habit of complaining that a user’s PST file is corrupt and refusing to start. You’re directed to use the SCANPST tool, which says it fixed the errors… but Outlook soon starts complaining about it being corrupt again. But IS IT really corrupt? Is all your data just… gone?

Maybe… but probably not. One habit I picked up from an old timer somewhere along the way (and that refuses to die) is that you’re supposed to run SCANPST on a PST file repeatedly (sending the backups to the Recycle Bin, just in case), until the tool says “only minor inconsistencies were found in this file”:

In my version of SCANPST, the “Repair” button is even greyed out, so I couldn’t even run it if I wanted to. So you don’t run the tool once. You run it 3-4, maybe even 5 times, until you see the screen above.

Anyway, if you’ve run SCANPST several times, and you’re sure your hard drive\SSD isn’t failing (by running chkdksk for example, or getting S.M.A.R.T. warnings, or corrupted files in other apps) then chances are Outlook has just gotten stuck in panic mode and needs help getting out of it:

Shut down Outlook, then open REGEDIT and navigate to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\PST

You may wish to back up this key for safety. Once that’s done, delete the LastCorruptStore and PromptRepair keys. Open Outlook… and everything should be OK now.

Google Chrome, the desktop web browser, is known for its vast library of extensions, small browser add-ons that fix minor (or major) annoyances. One of the most popular types of extensions are ad blockers. I can’t imagine surfing the Internet without uBlock Origin, and neither should you.

But Google, the company, has long resisted allowing Chrome for Android to use extensions. They claim it would be a support and security nightmare. And maybe they’re not entirely wrong. But without any kind of aggressive ad blocker, using Chrome for Android is just downright painful – pop-ups, pop-unders, video ads, those ads that take up the whole screen that you have to scroll past. I’m just trying to read about my favorite band’s next tour, but Chrome is allowing the site to make my phone look like an epileptic slot machine.

Firefox for Android does support extensions. Sort of. Once upon a time, you could use *any* Firefox extension on mobile, but for the same security and stability reasons as Google, Mozilla blocked most of them. Instead, they whitelisted 16 “official” extensions for Firefox Android. But one of those is uBlock Origin, which means you can get the same high-quality ad blocking on your mobile browser as on your desktop!

But wait… there’s more! Until recently there was an extension called Bypass Firewalls Clean that, as the name suggests, allowed you to bypass the paywalls at hundreds of news sites. Mozilla recently yanked the extension from Mozilla’s extension repository. We don’t know why, although the extension’s author suggests unhappy media companies issued Mozilla DMCA notices on his work, rather than it being a security issue on his part.

The good news? You can still download the extension from the author’s github page. Even better, the author created an oft-updating set of rules that allows uBlock Origin to act exactly like Bypass Paywalls Clean! Although this “trick” works in both desktop and mobile Firefox, it’s especially interesting for mobile in that it essentially gives a bonus extension that wouldn’t have been available ordinarily.

To set it up in either desktop or mobile Firefox, just open uBlock’s settings, go to “Filter Lists” and scroll down to “Import”. Paste the following URL into the box that opens:

https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-clean-filters/-/raw/main/bpc-paywall-filter.txt

So now you have uBlock AND Bypass Paywalls Clean on your mobile browser!

There are a lot of other great features of Firefox for Android to check out – I like how easy it is to send tabs to\from my desktop to\from my phone to\from my laptop, or pull a tab from my desktop session up on the phone.

Today’s tip is a simple one, but one that I don’t think a lot of people know about.

If you have guests and want to share your Wi-Fi info with them, but it’s difficult for some reason – maybe you have a long or complex password, or maybe the person you want to share with is hard of hearing, or maybe they just got a new phone and don’t know how to add a Wi-Fi network, whatever – there’s an easier way. You need an Android phone on your end, but their phone can be Android or iOS:

Make sure your phone is connected to the Wi-Fi network you want to share and also that your screen is set to maximum brightness. Also have your guest unlock their phone and have their camera open and ready.

Open the Wi-Fi applet on your phone and tap the “Settings” (gear) icon near the top of the screen:

Click “Share”:

A QR code will now appear. Have your guest point their phone (camera) at the code. They will see a pop-up  asking if they want to join your Wi-Fi network (the exact wording differs from Android and iOS). Tap “Yes” or “OK”:

They should then be instantly connected to your network, no need to type the password manually. However, if it doesn’t work for some reason, the password will be shown under the QR code. This is also a good way to find a forgotten Wi-Fi password. And don’t forget to turn your screen’s brightness down to a reasonable level when done!

EDIT: To anticipate your next question, YES, you can print a screencap of that QR code and frame it, or tape it to a cabinet., or whatever.