Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Larry V.: Rick, I have a Dell Dimension 3100 (Windows XP) that’s served me quite well over the years, but when I turned it on yesterday morning it wouldn’t connect to the Internet.
When I plug in the cable from the router it recognizes it and says it’s connected at 100 Mbs, but I can’t access any websites, check for system updates, or do anything else that requires an Internet connection. Do you think it might be a hardware problem?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Daphne W.: Hi Rick. I have a quick question if you don’t mind.
Every now and then I see a post on Facebook stating that cell phone numbers are going to be released to telemarketers soon and that we should all add our cell numbers to the “Do Not Call” list.
Someone else usually comments back that it’s a hoax and that adding a cell number to the list will get you in trouble with the government. What’s the real deal here? Thanks!
Rick’s answer: Daphne, there is absolutely no truth whatsoever to the frequent posts about cell numbers being released to telemarketers. This hoax has been making the rounds on Facebook for years so “soon” should have been here a long, long time ago. Don’t worry, it isn’t going to happen! [Read more…]
Question from Adelle H.: Hi Rick. I really like your site and your tips, and I would love to have your opinion about something. I would really like to have an iPad just for Facebooking, checking email and watching an occasional movie, but at the moment I can’t afford the iPad 4.
Would it be a mistake to buy an iPad 2 instead of saving up for an iPad 4? If I wait it’ll be a good while before I can afford one and I’ve found a really great deal on a brand new iPad 2 still in the box.
Rick’s answer: Adelle, in my opinion there’s absolutely nothing wrong with buying a brand new iPad 2 instead of waiting until you can afford the latest model (the iPad 5 will be released very soon). The iPad 2 is a very capable device and I believe you’ll be quite happy with it. [Read more…]
Question from Aaron: The hard drive crashed on my Dell Inspiron 14z laptop so I took it to a guy I know who works on computers. He replaced the bad drive and installed a bootleg copy of Windows 7 since I didn’t have a set of recovery disks.
My question is if I buy a Windows 8 Pro upgrade will it make my Windows installation “legitimate”? I’m not out to rip off Microsoft, just get my laptop back “legal” with a fully working version of Windows.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Marcia N.: After using nothing but iPhones for years, I recently decided to give the Samsung Galaxy S4 a try after hearing a friend rave on and on about how great it is. And you know what? He’s right. I really do love it.
That being said, there’s something that really bugs me about the Galaxy S4. It has a ton of pre-installed apps on it that I’ll never use and are just taking up space in the internal memory, yet they can’t be uninstalled! What’s up with that?
Anyway, my friend told me that he “rooted” his phone and installed an app called Titanium Backup which he was able to use to remove some of the pre-installed apps. I’ve heard horror stories about phones being totally destroyed by rooting them and I’m really nervous about it. Should I be?
Rick’s answer: Yes Marcia, you should be. Why? Because in almost all cases rooting a phone immediately voids the warranty, leaving you without any recourse whatsoever should the phone develop a hardware problem during the warranty period. [Read more…]