Microsoft’s Word app has a dark mode that you can use right now, but it’s not as dark as you might prefer it if you’re the kind of person who likes working on projects in the wee hours of the night.

When you fire up Word normally, this is what you’ll see when you’re using its “Colourful” theme:

If you go to switch the theme (via File > Options > General > Personalise your copy of Microsoft Office or File > Account > Office Theme ), you’ll be able to pick a slightly darker grey to use:

And even a straight-up black setting, the app’s “dark mode” as it currently exists:

Even in dark mode, you have a big-arse hunk of white staring you in the face: the very page you’re working on. It kind of takes away the purpose of having a dark mode.

While you can certainly change this yourself using the Page Colour option under Design , that modifies the document for all who view it. And it’s possible that whoever you’re sending your work to might not want white text on a black background.

To get around this, Microsoft is testing a new dark mode iteration for Word that turns the page black, if that’s your preference — but only as a viewing mode. That document will still look normal in whatever viewing mode another person has set up for themselves.

To get to this feature, you’ll need to first sign up to be an Office Insider. You’ll find that option within the Account window on your main Office screen:

Sign up for the Beta Insider channel, rather than the Preview insider channel, and then click on the Update Options box on your Account screen to download whatever updates Word asks of you. You’ll now be “on the cutting edge,” as Microsoft says:

Close Word and reopen it. From there, head back to File > Options , and set your theme to Black once again. You should now see a blissful black background that you can type on:

And if you want to switch back to a white page at any point, simply pull up the View tab in your document and click on the new Switch Modes button:

The post Make Microsoft Word’s ‘Dark Mode’ Actually Dark appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

Hearing that there’s been some kind of eye-opening twist on WandaVision might make you anxious about logging into any kind of social media. We’ve already talked about a number of techniques you can use to avoid spoilers on social media , but here’s a new one to add to the mix: Hide Twitter Trends .

This aptly named Chrome extension does exactly what it suggests. Install it, and your Twitter home page will go from this:

To this:

That’s quite a purge of information — basically everything on the right-hand side of Twitter’s UI. However, it’ll help ensure that your Twitter UI stays as spoiler-free as possible, though it won’t do anything about your actual feed. For that, make sure you continue using our advice of muting keywords related to content that you don’t want to see. You can set these blocks permanently or for, say, 30 days from the current date, with the hopes that internet chatter about whatever spoiler-filled topic you’re concerned about dies down by then.

While Twitter Trends are generally pretty dull, I wouldn’t assume that you’ll be safe from spoilers by simply not looking at them. There have been instances where key moments in media are ruined by Twitter’s “helpful” feature though:

Once again, WandaVision spoilers on Twitter trends.

Great episode though. Kathryn Hahn is a national treasure as always

— Sounds Dangerous! Stan Account (@Tui717) February 5, 2021

So, unfortunately, you’re going to want to mute keywords and have a browser extension installed — and, even then, hope that someone doesn’t fumble-fingers that “Dorth” Vader is Luke’s father. And, of course, if your media matters that much to you, perhaps staying off Twitter around key moments is for the best.

The post How to Ward Off Spoilers on Twitter appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

Over the weekend, some Slack Android users received a seemingly random email urging them to update their passwords. The email claims a bug in the Android app incorrectly logged password data as plaintext that could be easily scooped up by hackers.

I don’t blame you if you ignored the email — it has many signs of a phishing scam — but it’s legit. Android Police confirmed with multiple Slack representatives that the emails originated from Slack, the security issues are real, and the links within the message are safe to click. While there’s no evidence passwords have been stolen or accounts hacked, Slack is proactively asking users to update their passwords.

Slack’s email includes instructions for changing your password and clearing your app cache, but it’s unclear if all affected users were alerted, so it’s wise for anyone using Slack on Android to follow the company’s suggestions, even if they didn’t get the email. Here’s what you need to do:

First, update your password with the link in Slack’s email, or under your account settings on Slack’s website.

Next, make sure you have the right version of Slack installed. This part is simple: If Slack works on your phone, you have the right version; if not, you can safely download the latest build from Google Play. Google removed the bugged version of the app from Google Play, which also disabled it on devices that had previously downloaded it, so there’s no risk in using the app anymore.

With the correct version of Slack installed on your device, the last step is to clear the app’s data cache to ensure the improperly-stored password data is removed. There are two ways to do this:

( Note: Clearing the app cache logs you out of Slack, so make sure you sign back in afterward.)

1. In your Android settings, g o to Settings > Apps > Slack > Storage and select “ Clear Data or Storage . ”
2. Long-press the Slack icon from your app launcher. Tap App Info , then Storage , then select “Clear Data or Storage.”

The post Update Your Slack Passwords Now, Android Users appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

Kerboom. That’s the sound of your Telegram account automatically deleting itself. Honestly, I wish this feature was baked into more services. Wouldn’t it be great to have an old email account you never used disappear once you haven’t logged in for two years’ straight?

Telegram’s self-destruct sequence normally starts at six months’ worth of inactivity. As Telegram describes :

Telegram is not a commercial organisation, and we value our disk space greatly. If you stop using Telegram and don’t come online for at least six months, your account will be deleted along with all messages, media, contacts and every other piece of data you store in the Telegram cloud.

However, six months is just a default. You can edit that setting to a shorter or longer time period if you want a little extra security — as in, you want your account gone after a month or you don’t trust yourself and would prefer to have a little extra leeway before Telegram deletes everything on your behalf.

To get started, launch Telegram ( iOS , Android ) and pull up its settings by tapping in the lower-right corner. Next, tap on Privacy and Security, which should launch a screen that looks like this:

Tap on “If Away For” under the Automatically Delete My Account section and change it to whatever value you prefer:

• 1 month

• 3 months

• 6 months

• 12 months

And while you’re here, set up two-step verification on your account. Even though you might not have an account if you let it linger for too long, at least your inactive account will be secure for the short (or long) time period it exists. As part of Telegram’s 2FA setup, you can create a secondary password that one has to use when logging in on a new device in addition to receiving a code via SMS. That’s pretty secure, if you ask me.

The post How to Set Your Telegram Account to Self-Destruct appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

Many Twitter found their display settings suddenly changed without warning today.

For some — including me — the app swapped from the “Dim” dark mode to the fully-black “Lights Out” theme, while others are now seeing the default Light mode rather than either dark mode. Some users were unable to change their Twitter display settings back to a dark theme if their OS was set to light mode.

Good news is, if you’re unhappy with Twitter’s new look, there’s an easy explanation and an even easier fix.

Twitter recently changed its website and mobile app to automatically match your device’s theme settings, and “Lights Out” is now the app’s default dark theme. So if your computer or smartphone has dark mode on all the time, Twitter now shows up with the “Lights out” theme unless you manually change it to “Dim.”

This is also why Twitter switched to light mode instead of dark mode in some instances — the app is simply responding to the device’s system-level settings. However, Twitter told The Verge the forced light mode was an unintended bug. The bug is reportedly fixed now, so users can switch back to Dim or Lights Out in the app’s settings without having to change their device’s OS theme.

How to restore Twitter’s dark mode settings

On desktop (Windows, Mac):

1. From any Twitter page, click “More” from the sidebar to open the overflow menu.
2. Select “Display ” to open the display settings. (These options are also found under Settings and Privacy > Accessibility, Display and Languages > Display ).
3. Select your desired theme under the “Background” section. The new theme will appear automatically.

On mobile (Android, iOS):

1. Open the Twitter app then tap your profile picture to open the overflow mneu.
2. Go to Settings and privacy > Display and sound .
3. Make sure the “Dark mode” slider toggled on.
4. Select your preferred dark mode appearance.

(Note: This menu is only available on the standard Twitter mobile app. Twitter Lite doesn’t include display options.)

The post How to Fix Twitter’s Recent Dark Mode Changes appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .