Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Can you retrieve a Windows 10 license key from a bad hard drive?

Posted on June 3, 2022

Question from Keith: I updated my Windows 7 computer to Windows 10 a while back, and like a dummy I didn’t write down the license key for it.

The hard drive in this machine went bad and I replaced it with a 1TB SSD. The bad drive appears to be completely dead because it doesn’t make any noise at all.

I have already installed the SSD I and downloaded the Windows 10 files onto a thumb drive with the instructions they provided.

The thing is, I’ll need the license key to activate Windows 10 after I install it, right? [Read more…]

Q&A: Would moving the Page File to a RAM Disk make a PC run faster?

Posted on June 1, 2022

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Ethan: I was reading an article last night that discussed using part of a computer’s unused RAM as a RAM Disk, and it got me to thinking.

I have a pretty old desktop computer that’s running Windows 7. It has 2GB of RAM and a 200GB hard drive.

This machine runs really slow, coming almost to a crawl at times. After doing some research I’ve determined that it’s likely sluggish because it’s doing a ton of swapping back and forth with the page file.

Do you think moving the Windows Page File to a RAM Disk would help speed it up? [Read more…]

Review: Anker PowerCore 20100mAh Portable Charger

Posted on May 30, 2022

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Modern technology and the abundance of mobile devices we have at our disposal are great, but keeping all of our gadgets charged up and ready for use when we need them can be a challenge.

But that challenge is a lot easier to meet with a powerful USB charger and external battery pack combo.

I’m always eager to test and review new portable charging devices, and I recently had the opportunity to put a true powerhouse to the test. [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I uninstall the ‘Phone Link’ app in Windows 11?

Posted on May 29, 2022

Question from Michael: I just bought my first Windows 11 PC and it came with a ‘Phone Link’ app that’s supposed to let you make calls and send texts from your computer.

I have no desire to use my computer as a phone because I like to keep my devices as isolated from one another as possible.

I want to uninstall the Phone Link app but I can’t figure out how to do it. Can you help? [Read more…]