Computer Tips Archives - Page 158 of 229

Caution: ALWAYS plug your PC into a battery backup device before updating your motherboard’s BIOS/UEFI firmware!

Posted on October 26, 2019

The motherboard in every Windows PC is equipped with firmware code that the CPU uses to initialize the computer’s hardware components and prepare the machine to boot up into Windows.

Depending on the age and model of your PC, this firmware is typically referred to as either the BIOS or the UEFI.

In a nutshell, the firmware in older PCs is referred to as the BIOS while newer computers have a UEFI Control Panel.

Just keep in mind that regardless of what the manufacturer of your particular motherboard calls it, the onboard firmware performs the same basic “bootstrap” tasks.

Manufacturers occasionally release firmware updates for their motherboards in order to fix bugs, optimize hardware performance and add new features.

Personally, I don’t recommend installing BIOS/UEFI updates unless they are absolutely necessary, for the following reasons: [Read more…]

Great news: Apple has reversed their de facto ban on third-party repairs of Apple devices.

Posted on September 1, 2019

It’s no secret that Apple has always opposed allowing third-party repair shops to service Apple products.

As a result, third-party shops weren’t allowed to use genuine Apple parts, which meant they either had to use often inferior after-market replacement parts or buy genuine Apple OEM parts from the gray market.

As you might expect, a third-party repair would also void the device’s warranty.

And to top it all off, just last month Apple released a firmware update for iOS devices that refused to show new batteries that had been installed by third-party techs as “healthy” even when they were brand new genuine Apple batteries that had been obtained on the gray market.

After taking an incredible amount of heat over the new battery policy, Apple has now reversed course by announcing a new program under which authorized third-party repair shops can now fix Apple products using genuine Apple parts that are provided directly by Apple.

[Read more…]

Q&A: Why is Windows 10 telling me I don’t have permission to save a file I just edited?

Posted on August 22, 2019

Question from Debbie: Rick, I edited a photo today and then I tried to save it, but Windows won’t let me save the edited file.

Every time I try to save the photo I get the following error message:

“You don’t have permission to save in this location.

Contact the administrator to obtain permission.

Would you like to save in the Pictures folder instead?”

Here’s a screenshot of the actual error message: [Read more…]

Now you can take online college courses from dozens of the world’s top universities

Posted on August 15, 2019

Would you like to take online college courses offered by Duke University, Princeton, Ohio State, John Hopkins and dozens of other top colleges and universities, right from home?

Well, now you can thanks to wonderful website called Coursera!

Whether you simply want to take courses that interest you for your own personal development or actually earn a Bachelors or Masters degree from a top university, you can meet that goal with the help of Coursera.

Coursera has partnered with almost 200 of the world’s top institutions of higher learning to offer online college-level courses in virtually any field you can think of.

And these aren’t fluff courses either. In fact, they cover everything from the arts and humanities to the hard sciences. [Read more…]