Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Windows 7 includes a feature that allows you to expand open windows and rearrange them on the screen by dragging them hither and yon with the mouse. Some people like it, others despise it.
I happen to be among those who find it irritating when a window suddenly expands to fill the entire screen when all I’m trying to do is move it over just a bit. If you find it irritating as well, here’s how to disable it (refer to the screenshot below): [Read more…]
Microsoft released Windows 8 in October with high hopes of enticing users to either upgrade their older versions of Windows to Windows 8 or simply buy a new Windows 8 based PC outright, but that has turned out to be a pipe dream.
Most consumers and businesses seem intent on skipping the upgrade this time around thanks to several major blunders Microsoft made while planning and designing Windows 8.
First of all, people are pretty happy with their current Windows version. Both Windows XP and Windows 7 are quite stable as Windows goes and the computer hardware they run on are more than capable of running the current generation of software. In short, there is simply no pressing need for most of us to upgrade right now. [Read more…]
If you’ve been using Microsoft Windows-based PCs for a while you’re probably quite familiar with the Windows Task Manager. It is in fact one of the most-used Windows utilities.
After all, who among us has never had to open the Task Manager in order to kill a stuck program that simply refused to go away when you clicked the little X in the top-right corner? [Read more…]
I download, test and review a lot of software and I always create a new System Restore Point before I install every new program just in case something goes wrong. System Restore has saved my bacon on several occasions, and chances are it has also saved yours at least once in the past.
If you use the System Restore utility as much as I do, I recommend creating a shortcut to it and keeping it on your Desktop. Here are instructions for creating a shortcut to System Restore in Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 (just skip to the section that’s applicable to you): [Read more…]
Question from Vicky P.: Rick, I logged into my PayPal account the other day and noticed that a payment for $74.94 had been made to someone that I had never heard of. Since my 13 year old daughter and I are the only people who ever use my computer I knew right away that she was the one who made the purchase.
Well, we had a short “discussion” during which I discovered that she had opened an eBay account in my name and used it to buy an item that she knew I would never allow her to have otherwise. Needless to say, she is grounded for life (well, for a month anyway lol). Is there any way to block eBay so that it cannot be accessed at all on my PC?
Rick’s answer: Yes, in fact there is Vicky. All you need to do is add a single line to a Windows file named Hosts. Here’s how: [Read more…]