Rick's Daily Tips

Rick’s Daily Pick: Ancel AD410 Pro 2-in-1 OBD2 Scanner & Battery Tester

Posted on March 27, 2025

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

My “Pick” for today is this super-handy Ancel AD410 Pro 2-in-1 OBD2 Scanner & Battery Tester.

Have you ever flew into a panic because your car’s ‘Check Engine’ light came on for no apparent reason?

This little gem will help you diagnose the cause of your next Check Engine light episode.

It could be something simple and cheap or something complicated and expensive. Keep one of these handy and you’ll at least get a general idea of what could be wrong BEFORE you call the tow truck.

Click here to check out the Ancel AD410 Pro 2-in-1 OBD2 Scanner & Battery Tester at Amazon.

Picture of the Day: “Misty Morning in the Country”

Posted on March 27, 2025

Today’s POTD features a very misty morning scene from rural Washington County, Virginia. I hope you like it.

Enjoy these Pictures of the Day? Sign up for my free Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter and you’ll never miss one (or any of my tech tips either)!

Monthly Tech Giveaway – March 2025

Posted on February 28, 2024

Note: The links on this page are affiliate links.

March’s winner will receive this fantastic DJI Power 1000 Portable Power Station.

This is one of my favorite UPS systems. It provides a clean sinewave output and it’ll keep your computer gear up and running long enough for you to save all of your open files and perform a normal shutdown when your power goes out.

All subscribers to the Standard edition of my Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter have an equal chance to win.

Premium subscribers have two chances to win (their email addresses are added to the “pot” twice).

Not a subscriber? Just enter your email address in the form on this page. Once subscribed you’ll be eligible to win each month’s drawing – starting with this month. Better yet, opt for a Premium subscription for double the chance to win!

The drawing for this month’s prize will be held on March 31 and the winner will be notified by email. The winner will be selected at random.

Good luck!

7 tips for effectively dealing with Robocalls

Posted on March 27, 2025

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Do you have a phone? If you do (and who doesn’t these days) it’s a good bet that you receive a robocall every now and then.

Even worse, if you’re one of the unlucky folks whose number has found its way onto an active caller list you probably receive several of these irritating calls per day.

Robocalls are incredibly frustrating because there’s really very little you can do to prevent them from coming in, but you can manage them and prevent them from causing you a bunch of grief.

[Read more…]

Q&A: How can I regain control of my hacked router?

Posted on March 26, 2025

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Question from Barbara: Hi, Rick. I have a very urgent problem and I need your help, ASAP!

Everything was fine when I went to bed last night, but when I woke up this morning and turned on my laptop to check my email, the laptop couldn’t find my WiFi network.

I had it scan for available networks and it found just one (and it had a really nasty name that I can’t repeat here). [Read more…]

Computer (or phone) acting strange? Try this first.

Posted on March 25, 2025

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Have you ever been using your computer and had it start acting strange for no apparent reason?

I’m sure you probably have because it happens all the time.

For example, just the other day my Internet connection shut down and it simply refused to re-establish a connection.

A couple of days later my earbuds just stopped working right in the middle of a video I was watching, and they refused to start working again even after I loaded a different video. They worked fine when I tried them with phone.

When those things happened I didn’t immediately jump into troubleshooting mode and start checking drivers or verifying system settings. I did this instead… [Read more…]