Rick's Daily Tips

Microsoft to stop supporting older versions of Internet Explorer

Posted on August 8, 2014

Microsoft has announced that beginning in January 2016 they will stop supporting all but the latest version of Internet Explorer – which as of today is IE 11. Of course there could be an even newer version by the time 2016 rolls around.

This policy change means if you’re running an older version of IE you won’t receive security updates for your browser after that date. And as well all know, using an unsupported web browser is just asking for trouble.

Microsoft has two goals in mind with this new policy: [Read more…]

Facebook is removing the Messaging feature from its mobile app

Posted on August 5, 2014

Do you use Facebook’s mobile app to send and receive messages via your Android or iOS device? If so, you won’t be able to do it much longer.

Facebook has announced that they are now in the process of rolling out a new version of the Facebook app that doesn’t include the messaging feature. That means if you want keep on sending and receiving Facebook messages while on the go, you’ll need to download the stand-alone Facebook Messenger app. [Read more…]

Verizon boosts upload speeds for FiOS customers to match their download speeds

Posted on August 4, 2014

It has always been a sad fact of life that your broadband Internet upload speeds were a lot slower the speed at which you could download Internet content such as web pages, emails, photos, videos and such.

But if you have a Verizon FiOS fiber Internet connection, you can now kiss that annoyance goodbye.

Effective immediately, all new and existing FiOS customers will be able to upload data to the web just as fast as they can download it. This is a major development if you back up your computer’s data to the cloud, play interactive online games, or do just about anything else that requires the uploading of tons of data. [Read more…]

Q&A: Why can’t Internet Explorer load websites after viruses were removed?

Posted on July 29, 2014

Question from Annika T.: During the last virus scan Norton found a couple of viruses and removed them. Now Internet Explorer won’t load any websites. All I get is a blank screen and a message saying the site might be down or something.

I know it’s not my Internet connection because Firefox still loads pages just fine. I really need to get IE back working again because I use it and Firefox together to use two Gmail accounts at the same time. Can you help me?

If it matters, my computer is running Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 11.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Bloggers beware: The MailPoet plugin is letting hackers take over thousands of WordPress sites

Posted on July 25, 2014

If you’re a blogger and you use the popular MailPoet plugin on your WordPress blog, you need to update it to the latest version immediately.

MailPoet adds several useful features and capabilities to a blog, but an extremely serious issue has arisen for its users.

A previously unknown vulnerability in the plugin allows hackers to access full control over your WordPress installation, including the ability to add malicious code to your WordPress core files, theme files and plugins. They can also alter your posts and pages. [Read more…]