Tech Questions & Answers Archives - Page 64 of 258

Q&A: How can I retrieve my files from a damaged ultrabook?

Posted on May 22, 2023

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Question from Shruti: Hi, Rick. I hope you’re doing well.

I have a Dell XPS 13 9370 Ultrabook. Everything was fine until this morning when my screen just turned grey-ish black.

I had dropped my laptop and slightly cracked the top right edge of the screen along with one of the hinges a few months back but everything seemed to still be working fine.

I don’t know why this suddenly happened.

I have important data on this machine so I’d like to know if there is any way to retrieve the data without fixing the screen? [Read more…]

Q&A: Should I let my neighbor piggyback off my WiFi network?

Posted on May 21, 2023

Question from Mallorie: I need some advice Rick, and it’s sort of a touchy situation.

We live in a duplex and our neighbor has a 14 year old son who bought a Straight Talk phone from my daughter.

The thing is she didn’t reset the phone before she sold it to him because he said he’d like to just take over her phone number, and she said that would be fine.

This phone still automatically connects to our WiFi network, and I know for a fact that he uses our WiFi a lot because he told my daughter that he does.

My question is do you think he could cause us any problems by piggybacking off of our wireless network? [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I run a fan off solar power without using a battery?

Posted on May 18, 2023

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Adam: I hope you can answer a question about solar power for me.

I have a small outbuilding that’s located about 120 yards from my house. This outbuilding has a dark green roof and it gets extremely hot inside on hot summer days.

What I’d like to do is install a fan in the eve of the building to pull fresh air into the building while expelling the hot air, but there’s no electric service there to power the fan. Can you help me with this? [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I watch YouTube while working in another program?

Posted on May 17, 2023

Question from Rhonda: I have a question for you. How can I keep a YouTube video playing in the corner of my computer screen even when I’m working with other programs?

I subscribe to a channel that features inspirational videos and I’d love to be able to watch them while I’m working.

I know this can be done because I’ve seen it, but the person who did it is no longer with the company so I can’t ask them how to do it. [Read more…]

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

Posted on May 15, 2023

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 on here).

I first thought it might be a neighbor’s WiFi signal that was straying into my house, but then I noticed that it was a really strong signal.

Since it was so strong I figured this strange WiFi signal had to be coming from my own router, and sure enough when I unplugged my router the “nasty” WiFi network disappeared.

It appears that someone has hacked my router somehow but I don’t know how to take back control of it because it won’t accept my password. Can you help? [Read more…]