Tech Questions & Answers Archives - Page 74 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: Can I run a fan off solar power without using a battery?

Posted on May 18, 2023

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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: Can I make my laptop shut down when I close the lid?

Posted on May 13, 2023

Question from Trevor: Rick, I have an HP laptop running Windows 11.

When I close the lid it goes into sleep mode, but I’d rather have it just shut down all the way because I’m usually going to just leave it in my laptop bag and not use it for a while.

Is there a way to make it do that? Thanks.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Can you use two cable modems in the same house?

Posted on May 8, 2023

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Question from Michael: I’ve rented a room in a private home and I’ll be moving in next week. I have a question about my options concerning Internet access.

The room I’m moving into is already wired for cable and they have Internet through Comcast/Xfinity.

The thing is, my landlord won’t let me use his Wi-Fi connection. He said I’ll have to have to sign up for an account with Comcast and get my own cable modem.

Which brings me to my question: Is that even possible to have two cable modems in the same house? [Read more…]

Q&A: How do you switch Windows out of S mode?

Posted on May 4, 2023

Question from Karla: I bought a closeout Acer laptop a couple of months ago and I didn’t realize it had Windows 10 S on it. I didn’t even know there was such a thing.

I just found out that some of the software I really need to run won’t work with Windows 10 S. It needs Windows 10 Home instead.

I’d just return the laptop and get a different one but it was a closeout and I can’t return it.

I heard that you can convert Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Home for free but I don’t know how to do it. Can you tell me? [Read more…]