Rick's Daily Tips

WhoAreYou – Visual Caller ID, Call Blocker, and Text Blocker for Android phones

Posted on January 12, 2013

whoareyou Do you hate getting calls from “Unknown Number” or texts from phone numbers you don’t recognize? Do you ever wish you could block a phone number from ever calling or texting you again? Well, you’re in luck if you have an Android based smart phone.

A free App called WhoAreYou puts you in control of who is or isn’t allowed to call or text you, and it lets you know who is calling or texting even if that person isn’t on your contact list. Pretty nifty, huh?

If you receive a call or text from someone you simply don’t want to ever hear from again (i.e. your ex, a telemarketer, etc.) just tap the “Ditch” button and they’ll be history (at least as far as your phone is concerned). [Read more…]

Connectify – Turn your laptop into a Wi-Fi Hotspot

Posted on January 12, 2013

As I explained in this post, it’s easy to create a Wi-Fi hotspot with your Android smart phone. And thanks to an awesome program called Connectify (price starting at $25), you can also create one using your laptop!

If you’re wondering why you might need to a create a Wi-Fi hotspot when you already have a wired high speed Internet connection, there are several reasons: [Read more…]

How to enable the Hibernate option in Windows 8/8.1

Posted on January 11, 2013

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Microsoft made some pretty drastic changes when they designed the look and feel of Window 8.

In this post I’ll show you how to activate another popular feature they decided to “hide” by default: The option to place the computer into Hibernation mode at shutdown.

First of all, I’ll spend a few moments explaining what Hibernate mode is and when you might want to use it instead of Sleep mode or simply clicking Shutdown. There are three primary ways of powering down your PC: [Read more…]

Seagate Seatools – Free utility to test your hard drive for problems

Posted on January 10, 2013

seatools Maintaining a healthy hard drive is essential for protecting your valuable photos, documents and other precious data.

While a having a current backup on hand in case of disaster is an absolute must, performing a thorough diagnostic test of your PC’s hard drive on a regular basis is a great way to find out when (not if) the drive is about to bite the dust and take your data with it.

A great way to keep tabs on your hard drive’s health is to periodically run a high quality diagnostic test on it. The one I use and recommend is Seatools, a free program available directly from the hard drive manufacturer Seagate Technologies. [Read more…]

How to install Windows 8…and keep Windows 7 too!

Posted on January 9, 2013

dual-boot Do you want to install Windows 8 and still keep your existing Windows 7 installation too? Well, you can by setting up a dual boot system. Here’s how:

1 – Purchase a copy of your preferred version of Windows 8. In order to set up a dual boot system you’ll need to spring for a full retail copy, not a Windows 8 upgrade package.

If you buy Windows 8 in a brick and mortar store (say from Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc.) you’ll be all set to proceed once you get home with it. But if you buy it online and download the Windows 8 ISO file you’ll need to burn it onto a blank DVD. Either way, once you have a Windows 8 installation disc at the ready, proceed to step 2. [Read more…]