Rick's Daily Tips

4 tips for protecting your computer from lightning strikes

Posted on May 29, 2026

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Well, summer is officially here, and that means the long, hot days to come will be spawning plenty of electrical storms.

There’s really nothing you can do to keep the coming storms at bay, but there are several things you can do that would greatly reduce the risk of a lightning strike damaging your expensive computer equipment.

Here are a few tips for protecting your computer from lightning strikes: [Read more…]

Q&A: What does the term ‘bottleneck’ mean?

Posted on May 28, 2026

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Question from Alvin: I recently retired after working for the same construction company for 43 years.

Now I’d like to take up something new to occupy all this free time that I suddenly have to fill.

I’ve always wanted to learn about computers so I’ve started reading a few tech blogs, and RicksDailyTips is one of them (thanks to my brother Keith for recommending it).

I’m not tech savvy by any stretch (I hope to change that eventually) but I do believe I’m progressing ok for an older dude who still uses a flip phone.

There’s a term that keeps popping up in the articles I read that I just can’t seem to get my head around. Can you tell me what the word “bottleneck” means in regards to computers? [Read more…]

Small business technology decisions that work until employee count hits 40

Posted on May 28, 2026

Your Atlanta company started with eight people sharing a handful of laptops, using Google Workspace for email, and calling your tech-savvy employee whenever something broke. It worked fine. You grew to 20 employees with the same basic approach—added more devices, same IT setup, occasional help from that one person who knows computers.

At 30 employees, you started noticing friction. Systems that used to be fast felt sluggish. The informal “ask whoever knows technology” support model created bottlenecks. But nothing was completely broken, so you kept going with the same approach. [Read more…]

7 smart home gadgets to monitor air quality & cooling

Posted on May 28, 2026

Modern homes generate data about the air inside them, and you can finally read it. Things that used to be invisible — fine dust, carbon dioxide buildup, humidity creep, and how hard your air conditioner is actually working — now show up as live numbers on your phone. A handful of affordable smart home gadgets turn indoor air quality and cooling performance into something you can watch, track, and act on.

This matters because poor air and weak cooling cost you more than comfort. Stale, humid, or polluted indoor air affects sleep quality, focus, and how often you reach for the thermostat, and an AC that quietly loses efficiency drives up your electricity bill long before it fails outright. The catch is that these devices report symptoms, not causes. A sensor can tell you the humidity is too high or a room never cools down — it can’t tell you the refrigerant is low or the compressor is struggling. [Read more…]

This is probably my best tech tip, ever. (Trust me!)

Posted on May 27, 2026

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If you’ve been following this blog for a while you’ve probably figured out by now that I love technology.

No, check that – you’ve probably figured out that I REALLY love technology!

I also love sharing the things I’ve learned while working in the IT field for almost four decades as well as helping people out of jams whenever I can.

To those ends I have posted over 7,500 tech tips on this blog to date. And now I’m about to share what is likely the best tip of the lot.

What is this awesome, must-read tip you ask?

Well, it’s this…

[Read more…]