Q. Is the face-recognition
feature on the Nexus tablet safer than using a password to unlock the tablet’s screen?
Face Unlock, a feature that uses the tablet’s camera to compare your live image with a stored photo of yourself, is not as secure as other methods for keeping your tablet’s contents locked up.
When the feature first appeared, in Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), it was not long before people were posting videos of the software getting fooled by simple photos of faces.
It is also possible that someone who looks similar to you could get past Face Unlock.
Google has improved the program over the years, adding improved face matching and a “Liveness check” that requires you to prove you are not a photograph — by blinking for the camera. However, even Google says the Face Unlock feature is “not very secure, but it can be convenient and fun to use.”
If you would like to try Face Unlock, open the Settings icon on the tablet’s screen.
Tap Personal, then Security and select Screen Lock.
The current Android 4.4 (KitKat) system provides several ways to keep your tablet’s contents locked up, including by password, personal identification number, a specific pattern you draw on the screen or by Face Unlock.
Once you choose Face Unlock, go through the setup process on the screen, including taking your photo.
You should also turn on the options for “Improve face matching” and “Liveness check,” just to make the feature as safe as it can be.
Q. My son sends me videos of my grandson taken with a cellphone, but the ones he films in portrait mode play back in landscape mode in Windows Media Player on my Windows 7 computer. Is there a way to rotate them?
If you have the Windows Movie Maker software already installed on Windows 7, you should be able to import and rotate the clips using that program.
If you do not have Movie Maker, Microsoft’s free basic video-editing program, it is available at bit.ly/1bNfpr4. Once you open Movie Maker, import the clip you want to change.
When you have a video open in the Movie Maker window, click the Edit tab to get to the options for rotating the clip left or right.
Once you have flipped the clip, save the file to keep the new orientation.
Many other third-party video-editing programs can also rotate movie clips, so if you have such an application, you can try using it for the job. VideoLAN’s free VLC media player, Apple’s QuickTime Pro for Windows or Adobe Premiere Elements all can rotate videos.
Each program’s own documentation will have instructions.
Windows 8.1 update
Continuing with efforts to make its original Windows 8 operating system easier to use, Microsoft has released another significant update on top of last fall’s Windows 8.1 upgrade.
The new Windows 8.1 Update, which arrived recently, brings a number of interface adjustments, along with security patches and performance enhancements.
For example, the new software adds search and power buttons right on the Start screen - missing features that some people have been complaining about since the original Windows 8 arrived in 2012.
Windows 8.1 Update also includes a more consistent presence on the Windows taskbar and features that should appeal to those using the system primarily with a keyboard and mouse.
To help users get up to speed quickly, Microsoft has a free 16-page brochure, which can be downloaded from M bit.ly/1gJhEkM.