Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Why won’t my external hard drive work through my USB hub?

Posted on September 8, 2017

Question from Erica P.: Hi Rick! I have a question that I hope you can answer for me.

I have an older Seagate 200 GB external hard drive that has lots of wonderful family photos that I’ve scanned over the years stored on it.

The drive works fine when I plug it directly into a USB port, but it won’t work at all when I plug it into my 4-port USB hub. I really need to use the hub because my PC is under my desk and the USB ports are a pain to get to.

Do you think I need to buy a new hub? I don’t think the one I have is bad because I have my printer and webcam plugged into it, and they both work just fine. Thanks for any advice you can give me!

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Scam alert: Equifax hack leaves almost half of all Americans subject to identity theft

Posted on September 8, 2017

As you’ve probably heard by now, credit reporting giant Equifax has been hacked in what is being described as the largest security breach in history.

According to the company, the breach may have affected up to 143 million Americans. That’s almost half of the entire U.S. population.

And when you consider that millions of our fellow citizens are children who aren’t even in Equifax’s system, you can see that the odds are quite high that you and I are among those affected. [Read more…]

Beware of fbDOWNLOADER, a free app for downloading your Facebook pics to your PC

Posted on September 8, 2017

If you ever receive an offer or recommendation to download a free Facebook app called fbDOWNLOADER, I strongly recommend that you don’t.

The “pitch” sounds so tempting: “Download all of your Facebook photos and albums directly to your PC at one time. Even download the ‘public’ pictures of your Facebook friends and other photos that you have been tagged in.”

Sound like a great app, right? The pitch sounds so good in fact that a very well-known tech expert fell for it and recommended this app on her weekly radio show and on her website. [Read more…]

How to listen to your favorite ‘Talk Radio’ show over the Internet

Posted on September 3, 2017

Do you always seem to miss the local broadcast of your favorite “Talk Radio” show due to work, school or some other scheduling conflict?

Did your local talk radio station drop your favorite show, making it impossible to listen to it in your local area?

Well, now there’s an easy way to listen to your favorite talk radio personality at most any time of the day, regardless of where you might happen to live. All you need is an Internet connection! [Read more…]

Scam alert: Don’t fall for the ‘Help Hurricane Harvey Victims’ scams that are making the rounds

Posted on August 31, 2017

By now you’ve surely seen the heartbreaking images and videos coming out of the Houston, Texas area. Hurricane Harvey has almost completely devastated that area, and it isn’t finished yet.

Sadly, dozens of our fellow citizens and an untold number of pets are already known to have lost their lives in the flood, and those numbers are only expected to grow as the waters eventually recede.

What’s more, the scope and scale of the property damage is absolutely staggering. Hundreds of thousands of people have had to flee their homes and many of them will never be able to return. [Read more…]