Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: How can I stop websites from asking to track my location with Firefox?

Posted on January 18, 2023

Question from Debra: How can I prevent websites from asking for my location when using Firefox?

I hate having to answer that stupid question a dozen times a day, especially when it’s for the very same sites over and over again. [Read more…]

How to remotely erase a lost or stolen smartphone

Posted on January 17, 2023

Have you ever stopped to consider just how much of your digital life is stored on your smartphone?

First, there are the names and phone numbers of all your contacts (and possibly their email addresses as well).

Then there are apps for accessing your bank account, your social media accounts and the accounts for all the other online services you use (and possibly the usernames and passwords to those accounts as well). [Read more…]

Q&A: Why won’t my new RAM stick fit in my computer?

Posted on January 17, 2023

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from David: I recently bought a refurbished Dell desktop computer that came with 8GB of RAM installed. I want to double that to 16GB.

I ran the “Crucial System Scanner” you mentioned in this post and it said the machine can use up to 64GB of DDR4-2133 RAM.

I found an 8GB DDR4-2133 RAM stick on Ebay for less than half of what Crucial is selling them for so I bought it. I received the new RAM just 3 days after I ordered it but it won’t fit into one of the empty RAM sockets on the computer.

Do you think the problem is an error in the info I got from the System Scanner? [Read more…]

How to control a hard-wired light fixture with your phone

Posted on January 16, 2023

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

A while back I wrote a post explaining how to use a WeMo Mini Smart Plug to remotely control most anything you can plug into an electrical outlet.

I received a lot of feedback from that post, and several readers asked if there’s a way to control a hard-wired light fixture with a smart phone as well. [Read more…]

Q&A: Why is my monitor shutting down while the computer is still running?

Posted on January 15, 2023

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Myron: I have a 4 year old Dell Inspiron desktop PC with Windows 10 that started giving me a problem a couple of days ago.

Now when I turn on the computer it will run fine for a few minutes and then the screen will go black and say “No Signal”. A few seconds after that it blanks out completely.

I hope you can help me figure out what’s going on. [Read more…]