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THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WECHAT – PART 5

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So far we’ve opened a WeChat account with a temporary and free phone number, verified our email and played around with the social parts of the app. In this post we’re going to get a new password. If you forget your WeChat password, there are two ways to get back into your account. One is by SMS and the other is by email. There is a third option but it exists ONLY if you have signed up for WeChat with QQ. Today, it’s email that we’re going to use.

1. We logged out of our account. Since we used a ridiculously easy password, we weren’t too concerned about forgetting it. We did make one mistake though. Follow along to hear about it.

WeChat forgot password 1
Switch account, log in or get a new password. We chose the last.

2. Once you’re logged out, you have some choices. You can switch to another WeChat account on the same screen or log in again to the same account. Or, and this is the reason for this post, you can tell WeChat that you forgot your password. The other option is to sign in by SMS but we’ll leave that for another time.

WeChat forgot password 2
Yes, we forgot our password although we could still log in with an SMS that WeChat will send us.

3. If you tell WeChat that you’ve forgotten your password, there are three options open to you: reset via email, log in via SMS or sign in with your QQ password and ID.

WeChat forgot password 3
Three options. We want to ‘Reset password via email’.

Note: In order to regain a lost password, you must have either a phone number or an email account linked to your account. That seems obvious, right? You would not believe the number of readers who don’t seem to get this point. Don’t use a made-up number or email account to register for WeChat. Make sure you verify at least one of the two ways that WeChat can communicate with you if you forget your password. WeChat will only send SMS messages or emails to verified accounts. Why? Because if they did it any other way then anyone could steal anyone else’s WeChat account. Think about it and make sure you verify a number or an email account.

4. Fill in your email address, the one that is linked to your WeChat account. We had to do this a few times because we forgot what email we used to sign up. Then, when we used autofill, it somehow made a typo and WeChat wouldn’t accept the email address, even though we were sure it was correct. It wasn’t until we actually typed the address into the slot that we we able to get WeChat to send us the new password form.

WeChat Forgot Address 4
Use autofill at your peril. Better to type it in yourself.

5. Press Next and wait. Go to your email account and check both the inbox and the junk mail folder. It could take a few minutes for the message to come through so be patient. When the message arrives, open it to see this:

WeChat Forgot Address 5
Here’s the email. That URL is long enough, isn’t it?

6. Click on the link and this comes up.

WeChat Forgot Address 6
Make it strong and memorable. Hey, at least write it down!

7. Fill in the new password. Click OK. This comes up:

WeChat Forgot Address 8
Done! Now go log in to make sure it worked.

8. Go back to your mobile device and sign in with your new password. Write it down so you don’t forget it again.

Comments and questions are welcome but  Likes on our Facebook page get immediate attention.  Here’s the link: Computers Made Simple on Facebook .  Thanks for reading!

 

Computers

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WECHAT – PART 4

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We learned how to link an email account to our WeChat profile in our last post. Today, let’s link a Facebook account to WeChat.

1. You can link the two accounts whether or not you have Facebook installed on your mobile device. We have done it both ways, no problem.

2. Go to Me then Settings then My Account. Whatever you can link WeChat with is shown on the page. The reason we say that is because your screen may be different than ours. We’re in North America so we see what’s available here, not in Asia, for instance.

3. You should see something like this:

Photo of WeChat page 1
Here’s what you’ll probably see. ‘Facebook Not Linked’

4. Next, you’ll see the Connect to Facebook page.

Photo of screen
Read the fine print first then click Connect to Facebook if you agree.

5. Now, fill in your Facebook details including email and password, then press Log In.

Facebook detail screen
Fill in the details.

6. Once you do that, there will be a few screens which tell you everything that Facebook wants to do. WeChat will see your public profile, your Facebook name, your profile photo and some other information.

Facebook Requirements
Read the details and click OK if you decide to go for it.

7. Next, you have to decide if you want WeChat to post on Facebook. We’re not sure what they will post so if you choose Yes, make sure you check to see what they post!

Photo of WeChat/Facebook
It depends on what they post, right? Be careful!

8. Once you have decided on these things, the two accounts will link up. We got this notice, not sure what the ‘null’ means however.

Linked Facebook Account
The option here is to Unlink so we would guess that we are now linked. Yay!

9. Next, when you go back to My Account, you’ll see your Facebook account name. You’re done!

Details of linking
Gerry Garcia? Wasn’t he..but he’s…yes, he’s fake.

Note: Anything you see here about our account is not real. We have several trial Facebook accounts using names that we have made up. The same goes for WeChat and phone numbers. There are many ways to fake your identification, right?

Ok so we’ve linked email, phone and Facebook. If you signed up with QQ then you’ve already linked that too. What’s next? Well, we will show you how to recover your account if you lose access to it. Stay tuned!

Comments and questions are welcome but  Likes on our Facebook page get immediate attention.  Here’s the link: Computers Made Simple on Facebook .  Thanks for reading!

Computers

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WECHAT – PART 3

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Let’s lock up our WeChat account, shall we? There are three ways to do that. You can use your mobile number, your email or your Facebook account. Here’s how to link your email:

1. Press Me then Settings then My Account.

2. Depending on how you registered for WeChat, you will see different options on this page. We registered using a mobile number. For us, only email and Facebook are showing. What you see here may be totally different from what someone else sees. This is about what we can do with our account in North America.

3. Email verification is the easiest. Click on the word Email then type in the email address that you want to link to your WeChat account. Make double/triple/quadruple sure that you type the address correctly. If you happen to make a typo, someone else could steal your account before you realize it.

4. Once you fill in the details, wait patiently for the verification email to arrive. This is what it looks like:

WeChat email verification 1
Click on the OK and your account is automatically linked to your WeChat account.

5.Click on OK and this is what opens up in a new tab:

WeChat email verification 2
Success!

6. Remember that you cannot link two email accounts or two phone numbers to your WeChat. Only one of each. If you have to register a new email or number, you have to unlink your old one. Keep that in mind.

We’ll link a Facebook account to our WeChat in the next post. In the meantime, comments and questions are welcome but  Likes on our Facebook page get immediate attention.  Here’s the link: Computers Made Simple on Facebook .  Thanks for reading!

Computers

The Ultimate Guide to WeChat – Part 2

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Once you’ve got your WeChat account up and running, make sure you add a real profile photo and a greeting. You can take a photo with your camera or use one that you’ve taken before. Your message should be polite and friendly. Don’t be rude, whatever you do or you’ll probably get banned.

Photo of WeChat
Here they are, WeChats social features.

Not that you’re all set up, share some Moments. Add photos or short videos, you can even type a message or thought or status update. Just hold the camera icon for a second or two. That will allow you to type your message. WeChat has changed the way you add photos to your Moments. Instead of a still photo, you can only add short videos. If you want to add a photo, you have to take the photo when you are outside of WeChat then choose ‘Images’ when you press on the camera icon. The video part is good but we kind of miss the immediate photo sharing.

If you want to meet people, WeChat has three options for you. The easiest to use is People Nearby. WeChat uses your GPS to show you other WeChat users who are close to your location.

Photo of People Nearby
You can choose to meet males or females here.

Shake is another way to meet people but it seems to cause problems for some users, problems we think that come from using it too often. Your mobile device must have a motion detector for Shake to work. If it does, all you do is Shake your phone or tablet and WeChat finds another user who happens to be shaking their device at the same time. Cool huh? We’ve had hundreds of questions about Shake so we’re pretty sure that it’s one of the most popular features that WeChat has to offer.

WeChat Shake Photo
A warning and then a Shake. Works for us!

Finally, there is Drift Bottle. Just as it sounds, you write a message and toss the bottle containing it into the ocean. Sooner or later, much later it seems, someone might find your bottle and answer your message. It’s the least popular feature of WeChat but that’s not to say it doesn’t work. It just doesn’t work as often as the other systems.

WeChat drift bottle feature
Write a message and toss the bottle into the ocean. Quite romantic, actually.

Yes, this post was supposed to be about security in WeChat. We’ll do that in our next post. The social features of WeChat are VERY popular so we decided to describe them before we got into WeChat security.

Comments and questions are welcome but  Likes on our Facebook page get immediate attention.  Here’s the link: Computers Made Simple on Facebook .  Thanks for reading!

Computers

The Ultimate Guide to WeChat – Part 1

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WeChat isn’t new, that’s for sure. In the few short years that it’s been around, however, it’s become very popular in many parts of the world. WeChat is so popular, it’s become our #1 topic here on Computers Made Simple. Why is it so popular? Well, many of our readers seem to get into jams with it, situations that we’ve never encountered with our accounts but ones that need solutions.

Our next few posts will guide you through the basics, everything from getting a new account to the intricacies of recovering a lost password or a banned account. Off we go!

1. Download and install WeChat from your app store. Make sure it’s the REAL app, not a third-party fake :

Photo of WeChat App
This is what the REAL WeChat app looks like in the Google Play Store

2. It seems that you need a mobile phone number OR Facebook to sign up for WeChat. That’s new. At one time all you needed was a QQ account or email. It seems that WeChat has tightened up their security for some reason.

Johnny Appleseed? How did they know? Use your real name or a fake name, doesn't matter.
Johnny Appleseed? How did they know? Use your real name or a fake name, doesn’t matter.

3. If you have Facebook installed on your mobile device, the ‘Sign in with Facebook’ option will come up on your screen when you attempt to register for WeChat. If you don’t have Facebook installed, you’ll have to cough up your mobile phone number.

NOTE: If you have an old account, you can still log in with your QQ account number, your email or your WeChat ID but for new registrants, it’s mobile number or Facebook, that’s it.

4. If you don’t have a real mobile phone, let’s say you’re using a tablet instead of a smartphone, you can try registering with one of the many free WiFi phone numbers that are available. We used Fongo to get our free number.  Since we couldn’t seem to receive SMS messages, we chose to get the verification code via phone call. That too was hit and miss but we were finally able to get a code and enter it into the proper verification line.

5. Once you get the verification code via SMS or phone call, enter it in the proper space and you’re in. You’ll get a message or two or three from WeChat. Ignore them, unless you want to add some stickers to lighten up your chats.

6. Next, set up your profile. Make up a name for yourself, tell WeChat where you are and what city you’re in, things like that, and you can start to add contacts.

7. People Nearby and Shake are easy to use. We prefer People Nearby but it’s up to you.  Tell WeChat who you want to meet ,as in men or women or both, then you’re off!

Installing and running WeChat is simple, no different from any other app that’s out there. What seems to be confusing is the security options. In our next post we’ll give you tips on how to secure your account.

Comments and questions are welcome but  Likes on our Facebook page get immediate attention.  Here’s the link: Computers Made Simple on Facebook .  Thanks for reading!