Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Where can I get a good deal on a replacement battery for my Toshiba laptop?

Posted on February 28, 2019

Question from Missy: The battery in my Toshiba Satellite C655D-S520 laptop has gone bad. Where can I get a good deal on a replacement battery?

I checked with Best Buy and Office Depot and they can order one for me but they want a small fortune for it!

I’ll be happy to consider a third-party laptop battery instead of one from Toshiba as long as it’s reliable and safe (as in it won’t burn my house down or damage my laptop!).

Rick’s answer: Hi Missy. As with most things electronic, I always buy my laptop batteries at Amazon because of their excellent selection, great prices and outstanding customer service. [Read more…]

Q&A: What could be causing my laptop to get really hot?

Posted on February 26, 2019

Like my tips? Click here to sign up for my free Daily Tech Tips Newsletter and you’ll never miss one!

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Summer G.: Hi Rick. I’m really worried that my Acer laptop is going to burn itself out.

After it’s been on for just a few minutes it gets so hot I can barely stand to touch the keyboard. And if I leave it on for as little as 15 to 20 minutes it shuts itself off.

What could be causing my laptop to get so hot? Thanks in advance for your help!

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Great news: You can now buy a 1TB SSD for about $100!

Posted on February 25, 2019

Regular readers of this blog know that I often recommend replacing your computer’s hard drive with a super-fast solid state drive (SSD).

As I explain in this post, SSDs have several advantages over spinning hard drives.

But unfortunately they’ve always had one major disadvantage as well: SSDs have always cost a lot more than hard drives with the same storage capacity.

Well, thankfully that’s rapidly changing.

[Read more…]

Yet more proof has surfaced that password managers put your entire digital life at risk

Posted on February 21, 2019

I’ve written several posts explaining the dangers of using a password manager to store the passwords to all of your online accounts.

Well, new information has recently surfaced that proves just how dangerous password managers really are.

The researchers at Independent Security Evaluators have just published the results of an in-depth study that tested how effective several of the most popular password managers are at protecting your passwords from hackers.

Well, the results are troubling to say the least. [Read more…]

If you use any of these apps from the Microsoft Store, delete them NOW!

Posted on February 18, 2019

Microsoft encourages Windows users to only download Windows apps from the official Microsoft Store because there’s no way to ensure the safety of apps that are available from third-party download sites.

Well, it appears that Microsoft needs to pick up their game a bit if they want to maintain the Microsoft Store’s reputation as a source for safe app downloads.

Security firm Symantec has just discovered that at least eight apps available from the Microsoft Store start engaging in crypto jacking operations immediately after they are downloaded and installed on a user’s Windows machine.

[Read more…]