Tech Questions & Answers Archives - Page 55 of 258

Q&A: How can I add a ‘Windows’ key to an older keyboard?

Posted on July 19, 2023

Question from Phil: Your article on the Windows key prompts me to ask this question…

What’s the best way to add a ‘Windows key’ function to an older keyboard that doesn’t have that key on it?

[Read more…]

Q&A: How’s the best way to scan old family photos?

Posted on July 19, 2023

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Mary: Hi, Rick. I need some advice on the best way to scan pictures.

I learned yesterday that I may have an opportunity to access some old family photographs that are about 60 – 100 years old.

I’d like to scan all of those pictures so they’ll be available digitally.

Do you have any recommendations on the equipment I’ll need to scan them?

[Read more…]

Q&A: Should I shut a laptop with an SSD down before moving it?

Posted on July 16, 2023

Question from Jim: I took your advice and upgraded my laptop with an SSD and the increase in performance is truly amazing.

My question is since the hard drive is now solid state how critical is it that the laptop be totally shut down before moving or transporting it? [Read more…]

Q&A: Why do almost all gaming computers run Windows?

Posted on July 16, 2023

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Rita.: My son has been wanting a nice gaming computer and I’m planning to buy him one for his 12th birthday.

I looked at the gaming computers on Amazon and virtually every computer that came up runs Windows. It was the same thing at Best Buy.

My son has been playing around with Linux for a while and he really likes it. That’s why I’m trying to find a gaming PC with Linux on it.

My question is why aren’t there any gaming computers that run Linux? And if there are some, can you recommend one? [Read more…]

Q&A: Can you recommend a cheap, but reliable SSD for an older laptop?

Posted on July 13, 2023

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Ari: The hard drive in my 6 year old Dell Inspiron laptop died a few days ago. This has been a great machine and I don’t want to just trash it.

I’d like to replace the bad hard drive with an SSD, but I’d rather not spend a lot of money if I can help it.

After reading your post about Linux Mint I’d like to install it on this laptop and use it as my primary Internet computer. I won’t need a lot of storage space so a fairly small SSD should be ok.

What I’m looking for is the cheapest SSD I can get that’s large enough to hold the new Linux installation and maybe a few Chrome extensions. But I’d like the SSD to be as reliable as possible. [Read more…]