Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Carolyn S.: Hi Rick. I have a 4 year old HP Desktop computer running Windows 7 – 32 bit.
I bought the Windows 8.1 DVD but I don’t know whether I should install it in 32 bit or 64 bit mode.
This computer has a 64 bit CPU but just 4GB of RAM that I plan to upgrade at some point. I’ve heard that the extra RAM won’t do any good unless I install 64 bit Windows.
If that’s true, do you think it’s worth installing the 64 bit version? What do you suggest?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Earnest H.: Hi Rick. I’ve heard that I’ll be able to upgrade my Dell computer from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 for free at the end of the month. I have also heard conflicting stories whether or not it will remain free forever.
Some of the things I’ve read say if you qualify for the free upgrade, Windows 10 will only be free for the first year. After that you’ll have to pay a monthly subscription fee to Microsoft in order to keep on using it. But then I’ve heard other people say that the free Windows 10 upgrades will stay free forever.
Can you clear this up for me once and for all? I’d love to replace Windows 8.1 with Windows 10, but not if I’ll end up having to pay for it after the first year is up.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
For all their faults (and they have many IMO), you have to give Microsoft credit where credit is due. They are quite generous their outstanding collection of ebooks.
You can download hundreds of step-by-step how-to guides and other valuable resource ebooks from Microsoft’s MSDN website for free. The topics covered run the gamut from Windows 7 to Windows 10. You can even download books on Microsoft Office and Computer Programming.
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Question from Brenda Y.: I have a BIG problem Rick, and I really need your help. My computer (Lenovo desktop w/ Windows 7) was installing updates last night when it just shut off. It does that sometimes when my heat pump turns on.
Anyway, when I turned it back on it refused to boot up all the way into Windows. It’ll start, then hang up after the Windows logo is displayed. I even tried booting it into Safe Mode but it gets stuck there too.
I’d like to try to do a System Restore, but I can’t because the computer won’t boot up at all. Is there any way to do a System Restore manually without having to actually have Windows loaded?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Windows users have an awesome utility called CCleaner to help keep all the junk cleared out of their PCs and their systems running smoothly. CCleaner is also available for the Mac, but Mac users have another option that I’d like to tell you about.
I’ve been checking out CleanMyMac 3, and it is a fantastic program that does just what its name implies. In a nutshell, it will scan your system and remove tons of junk files that are slowing it down and wasting precious disk space. All of the following are scanned for junk and duplicates: [Read more…]