Rick's Daily Tips

This is the handiest tool on my tech bench

Posted on August 31, 2023

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

I wrote a post a while back explaining why every computer owner needs to keep a USB to SATA adapter sitting on a shelf somewhere, but that post primarily discusses how handy they are when working with hard drives.

Well, yesterday I found myself using it for a slightly different kind of task… [Read more…]

How to recover a deleted contact in Gmail

Posted on August 29, 2023

Have you ever accidentally deleted a Gmail contacts that you didn’t intend to delete?

Even worse, have you ever logged into your Gmail account and discovered that all of your contacts had mysteriously disappeared?

Unfortunately, these things happen from time to time, and we often don’t realize it until several days have gone by.

Luckily, it’s very easy to recover any Gmail contacts that were deleted within the last 30 days. [Read more…]

Q&A: Will installing an SSD void my new PC’s warranty?

Posted on August 29, 2023

Question from Markus: Hi, Rick. I recently bought a new computer that came with a 1 year warranty.

I’d really like to swap out its 1TB hard drive for an SSD (as you often recommend).

I have not read anything anywhere about potential consequences if one does this. Could this possibly be considered an “unauthorized” activity and therefore void the computer’s warranty? [Read more…]

How to quickly find out what a used computer is worth

Posted on August 28, 2023

Do you have a used computer that you’re planning to sell?

If so, you might be wondering about what it’s worth so you can determine how much you should ask for it.

Or perhaps you’re planning to buy a used computer and you want to make sure you don’t over-pay?

Determining the actual value of an item used to be pretty difficult, but the Internet has given us a great tool that can give us that info in a hurry: Ebay! [Read more…]

How to preview a page in Chrome for Android without opening it

Posted on August 28, 2023

I have four different web browsers on my Android phone, and I use all of them at various times for different purposes.

The browser I prefer for reading articles and blog posts is Chrome because it has several useful features that simply aren’t found in other browsers.

One feature that I really love and use often is “Page Preview”, a nifty little tool that allows you to preview the web page a link is pointing to without actually opening the page in a browser tab. [Read more…]