Computer Tips Archives - Page 95 of 233

Google is storing your search history. Here’s how to stop it

Posted on October 29, 2023

Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter

A while back I wrote a post explaining how to delete your entire search history that Google has collected and stored since the moment you began using their service way back when.

Several of you have since written in and asked me if there’s a way to prevent Google from gathering and storing that information in the first place? Well, the answer to that question is yes.

[Read more…]

How to make Windows start up with your last-used apps and websites already open

Posted on October 27, 2023

Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter

I know someone who recently bought a Windows laptop after her MacBook went belly-up on her.

She asked me if Windows would ever have a feature like the Macs that would allow the system to start up with the last-used programs and websites already open.

My answer: It already does!

[Read more…]

How to enable ‘Whisper Mode’ on an Alexa device

Posted on October 26, 2023

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Do you ever have any conversations with your Alexa device that you’d prefer that other family members or house guests not be able to hear?

Or do you occasionally prompt Alexa to answer a query late at night only to have her wake up everyone in the house with her reply?

Well, as luck would have it, your Alexa device has a nifty “Whisper Mode” that can prevent others from hearing (and/or being disturbed by) the conversations you have with the device. [Read more…]

3 ways to recover the files from a dead PC

Posted on October 25, 2023

I receive hundreds of tech questions every week, and the one I seem to get asked most often is how to retrieve the files from the hard drive after a PC goes belly-up.

My answer always depends on which part of the computer has failed.

If the hard drive itself is the component that died, you’ll have to either send the drive off to a data recovery service or purchase a data recovery software utility and attempt to recover the files yourself. [Read more…]