Rick's Daily Tips

Rick’s Daily Pick: Qinlianf Outlet Extender and Surge Protector w/ 4 USB Charging Ports

Posted on March 25, 2026

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

My “Pick” for today is this fantastic Qinlianf Outlet Extender and Surge Protector w/ 4 USB Charging Ports.

Several people have asked me about this since the last time I featured it so I thought I’d feature it again for those who might have missed it.

This thing is simply amazing. It basically converts a single 120V electrical outlet into a comprehensive, surge protected power distribution system.

Click here to check out this Qinlianf Outlet Extender and Surge Protector w/ 4 USB Charging Ports at Amazon.

Did you miss (or want to revisit) one of my earlier picks? You might find it right here.

Picture of the Day: “Last Light at the Lake”

Posted on March 25, 2026

Today’s POTD shows the last light of the day reflecting in the waters of a small lake in rural Louisiana. I hope you like it.

Have lots of treasured photos of your own that you’d love to display in your home but you have limited wall space? A digital picture frame (#ad) is an excellent solution. Check them out!

Enjoy these Pictures of the Day? Sign up for my free Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter and you’ll never miss one (or any of my tech tips either)!

Monthly Tech Giveaway – March 2026

Posted on February 28, 2026

Note: The links on this page are affiliate links.

March’s winner will receive a fantastic Samsung 27” Odyssey OLED G5 Gaming Monitor.

Whether you’re a gamer looking to up your gaming experience or a regular user who is just looking for a great monitor to replace the one you have now, this is a fantastic option.

All subscribers to the Standard edition of my Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter have an equal chance to win.

Premium subscribers have two chances to win (their email addresses are added to the “pot” twice).

Not a subscriber? Just enter your email address in the sign-up form on this page.

Once subscribed you’ll be eligible to win each month’s drawing – starting with this month. Better yet, opt for a Premium subscription for double the chance to win!

The drawing for this month’s prize will be held on March 31 and the winner will be notified by email. The winner will be selected at random.

Good luck!

Scam alert: Beware fake ads for concert and event tickets

Posted on March 25, 2026

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As you probably know, ticket prices for concerts, professional sporting events, theme parks and a wide variety of other public events are astronomical these days.

Never ones to miss an opportunity, scammers are now running fake ads for deeply discounted tickets on social media sites and sending fraudulent emails hawking them to millions of email inboxes.

As usual, taking the bait and responding to these fake ads or fraudulent emails can have a number of detrimental effects, including all the following, and more:

1 – The scammer will end up with your banking info, which they’ll use to attempt to clean out your checking account.

2 – The scammer will use your credit/debit card info to order a bunch of merchandise, all at your expense.

3 – The scammer will end up with enough of your personal and financial info to successfully assume your identity and open new (and fraudulent) financial accounts in your name.

4 – You’ll fall victim to any other misdeed the scammer can come up with in order to separate you from your money and cause you as much grief as possible.

Bottom line: If you see an ad for any kind of event ticket on social media, ignore it unless you can verify that it was posted by the verified account of the band or event themselves.

If one of these “offers” hits your email inbox don’t even consider the possibility that it could somehow be legitimate. The odds are close to 100% that it isn’t.

Just remember the following and you’ll stay safe:

1 – With all the pent-up demand for affordable concerts and other events, we’re unlikely to see any deeply discounted tickets on the market for a good while.

2 – The safest way to get event information about and/or tickets to a concert or other event is by visiting the band or event’s official website, the official website of the venue hosting the event or one of the major online ticket vendors.

The old saying still applies: “If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is!”

Q&A: Why won’t a site load in Chrome when it loads fine in other browsers?

Posted on March 24, 2026

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Question from Chantelle: Last night my Facebook just froze up and stopped responding to my mouse and keyboard.

I closed the browser and then reopened it but Facebook wouldn’t load at all. It gave me a “500 Internal Server Error” and just sat there. I tried over and over with the same result. I even tried rebooting the computer.

The thing is I can open Facebook just fine in other browsers, but I’m used to Chrome and I’d really like to use it with Facebook.

Can you tell me how to fix this? [Read more…]

Q&A: Does Google really fine people for spamming with Gmail?

Posted on March 23, 2026

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Question from Beverly: Google sent me an email saying my Gmail account was caught sending spam.

They said I have to pay a $250 fine within 48 hours or my Gmail address will be permanently shut down.

This seems like a scam to me, but the email looks real and I can’t afford to take a chance on losing my Gmail address. Everything I do online is linked to that address.

My question: Is this email legit? [Read more…]