Rick's Daily Tips

10 New Years Resolutions that every computer user should keep

Posted on January 1, 2014

2014 I’ve never really been one to make New Years Resolutions, but this year I’ve come up with 10 of them that can help all of us keep our computers running smoothly and the hackers at bay. I hope you find at least a few of them useful.

Note: All of the links contained within the following list of resolutions will open in a new window. This will make it easy to return to the next resolution by simply closing the current browser window or tab.

Rick’s 10 New Years Resolutions for computer users: [Read more…]

The most popular post of 2013

Posted on December 31, 2013

most-popular-2013 To wrap up 2013 I thought it might be fun to take a look at my blog stats to see which post was read the most over the course of the past year. What I discovered astounded me.

The most popular post of the year wasn’t number one by just a hair. It actually had a whopping 22% more page views than the runner up. [Read more…]

Q&A: Why can’t I run the Instagram app on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 3?

Posted on December 31, 2013

Question from Ameet J.: I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 and really like it. The apps that came pre-installed work fine, but I downloaded the Instagram app from the website, but I can’t get it to load. In fact, I can’t even find it in the apps list! What’s wrong?

Rick’s answer: Hi Ameet. Many people have run into this very problem. I recommend installing the Instagram app from the Google Play Store instead of the Instagram website. In fact, it’s best to install ALL apps from the Play Store whenever possible.

Here’s all you need to do:

1 – Open the Play Store app on your Galaxy Tab 3 and log in to your Google account.

2 – Search for Instagram, then tap on the app to install it.

Do you have a tech question of your own for Rick? Click here and send it in!

Q&A: How do I restore my Toshiba Satellite C660-195 back to the factory defaults?

Posted on December 31, 2013

Question from Edward K.: The Windows installation on my Toshiba Satellite C660-195 laptop is trashed thanks to a major virus infestation.

I believe the only way to fix it is to restore everything back to the way it was when it left the factory, but I can’t figure out how to do that since it didn’t come with a restore disc.

I’m pretty sure there’s a recovery partition on the hard drive, but I have no clue how to access it. I can’t see it in Windows Explorer and I can’t find any info on the Toshiba website. Can you tell me how to restore this laptop back to the factory defaults? Thanks!

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Why won’t Avast let me download the latest version of Gimp?

Posted on December 30, 2013

Question from Lee: Rick, I have a problem that I just can’t figure out. I got an email from Gimp yesterday morning letting me know that there’s a new version available, but I can’t seem to download it.

Every time I click on the download link my Avast Anti-virus keeps blocking it. Do you think it would be ok to turn off Avast long enough to download and install the new version of the software?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]