Microsoft Windows Can't See Other Computers

While troubleshooting a computer which could not see other devices on the network, I found that the "network discovery" setting would not turn on. This is on Microsoft Windows 10.

Press the Start button, and then type: control panel
Open the Control Panel and go to: Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center

Choose "Change advanced sharing settings"

Choose "Turn on network discovery" and then press "Save changes".

You will then be taken back to the prior window. Go back in to "Change advanced sharing settings" and confirm the network discovery is actually turned on. If it is not turned on, you should check which services are running.
Press the Start button and then type: services
In the Services application, look for "SSDP Discovery". If it is not running, right-click and start it.

Now when you start File Explorer and go to Network, you should see devices on the network. You should at least be able to see your router. If you can see the router but not other devices such as a NAS, start troubleshooting by trying to ping the device by IP address.

Brave Web Browser

The Brave web browser is built to be private and secure. It is available on desktop and smartphone.  Brave is fast, you can read the open source code, and there is a community support forum. The "private browsing" is better than any other web browser.

Give Brave a try by downloading here.

Android Smartphone Custom Email Apps

Email providers such as Gmail and Hotmail would like you to download their custom email app, in order to better track you and target advertising. As a person with multiple email accounts on multiple services, I do not want many individual apps for reading email. One centralized email "Hub" would be useful.

Microsoft is pushing their Outlook app for Hotmail. Using smartphone web browser to access Microsoft's Hotmail results in the following intercept and encouragement to use Microsoft's app:

Then log in to Hotmail (or live.com or outlook.com) and Microsoft has created an email which again encourages the user to download the Microsoft app:

My favorite integrated email reader from BlackBerry and is named "Hub". Link to download BlackBerry Hub.  Hub integrates email, text (SMS) and social media such as Twitter in to one interface in which you can prioritize messaging.