Rick's Daily Tips

Warning: Make sure you back up your PC before installing the ‘Windows 10 October 2018 Update’!

Posted on October 4, 2018

Well, Microsoft has now released their massive annual Fall update for this year.

They’re referring to it as the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, and as usual they’re preparing to roll it out to user’s PCs in stages.

This update is already available for folks who want to install the update manually instead of waiting for it to “roll out” to their machines via the regular update cycle.

Lots of folks have already installed the update on their machines with with no problems whatsoever, but others haven’t been so lucky.

[Read more…]

Speed up your slow laptop with an inexpensive Solid State Hybrid Drive

Posted on September 28, 2018

I’ve written several posts in the past explaining how you can speed up your computer dramatically by replacing its hard drive with a Solid State Drive (SSD).

Installing an SSD is, quite literally, the best single upgrade you can make on virtually any computer. That being said, installing an SSD in a laptop does have a downside…

Byte for byte, large capacity SSDs are still relatively expensive when compared to hard drives with similar capacities, and since most laptops only have one drive bay, leaving your larger hard drive installed to hold your data isn’t usually an option. [Read more…]

Warning: The upcoming ‘Windows 10 October 2018 Update’ might break your PC’s Windows installation.

Posted on September 25, 2018

Well, October is just around the corner and that means Microsoft will soon be releasing the annual Fall update to Windows 10.

Unfortunately, the upcoming release of the “Windows 10 October 2018 Update” will end up preventing a lot of PCs from booting up into Windows after the update is installed.

[Read more…]

Q&A: Can a laptop with a bad power connector be fixed?

Posted on September 23, 2018

Question from Ron: My Toshiba laptop seems to have an intermittent short in the motherboard power connector.

Most of the time it acts like the AC adapter isn’t even plugged in, but if you wiggle the connector a certain way it will sometimes start charging the battery and the screen will get brighter.

I know the problem isn’t a bad AC adapter because it does the same thing with my wife’s adapter plugged in (we have identical laptops).

This laptop is only 14 months old (2 months out of warranty) but I don’t want to spend almost as much as I could buy a new one for to get it fixed. I’m afraid it might need a new motherboard, but I’m hoping it’s something a lot simpler and cheaper.

Do you think this can be fixed without laying out too much cash?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Can you recommend a good parental control software that’s free?

Posted on September 23, 2018

Question from Renee: I just bought my 9 year old son his first computer. It’s an Acer laptop with Windows 10.

Can you recommend a good parental control software program that doesn’t cost a lot (hopefully free)?

Ideally the program would prevent him from visiting porn sites and downloading any programs.

Any advice you can give me will be much appreciated. Thanks.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]