Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Gail: I’m getting ready to buy a new computer.
My friend said I need to buy a Mac because Microsoft designed Windows 10 and Windows 11 to primarily be spy tools.
First of all, is that true? And if it is, why does Microsoft want to spy on people? [Read more…]
Question from Edward: Hello, Rick. Love your site! I hope you can answer a question for me.
I downloaded a game onto my Dell laptop a few days ago and I immediately started getting lots of pop-up ads on my screen.
I uninstalled the game but I’m still getting the pop-ups. I read in a Windows forum that a System Restore should fix the problem but that there are no guarantees.
My question is can a System Restore be reversed if it doesn’t fix the problem?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
If you’re a Windows user you’re probably familiar with Cortana, the personal assistant that Microsoft added to Windows beginning with the initial 2015 release of Windows 10.
Personally, I’ve never been a fan of Cortana and removing it has always been one of the first things I did any time I got a new PC or reinstalled Windows for some reason. [Read more…]
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Question from Andie: I have a gorgeous photo of a sunrise over Lake Michigan as my desktop background.
The problem I’m having is all the icons scattered around the screen make it hard to enjoy the photo.
I know you can hide the desktop icons because my boss has them hidden on her computer screen.
Is there an easy way to hide them when I don’t need them and then make them reappear when I do? [Read more…]
Question from Michael: I recently bought a new desktop computer with to replace the one I’ve been using for the past six years.
It seems like the updates I’ve been installing on this new machine have all been filled with bugs because almost every time I install them something goes wrong.
The last time it happened my nephew had to completely reinstall Windows for me.
I’d like to completely disable the installation of updates on the new PC. Is it safe to do that? [Read more…]