Rick's Daily Tips

Rick’s Daily Pick: FIFINE AmpliGame AM8T XLR/USB Gaming/Streaming Dynamic PC Microphone

Posted on October 9, 2026

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

My “Pick” for today is this fantastic FIFINE AmpliGame AM8T XLR/USB Gaming/Streaming Dynamic PC Microphone.

Have you been looking for a really good, but inexpensive USB microphone for your PC? This one is Plug-n-Play and doesn’t require you to install any additional hardware drivers.

This gem is perfect for most any task that requires the use of a microphone. The sound quality is excellent and it’s very easy to install and use.

Click here to check out the FIFINE AmpliGame AM8T XLR/USB Gaming/Streaming Dynamic PC Microphone at Amazon.

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

Picture of the Day: “Almost Gone”

Posted on October 9, 2026

Today’s POTD shows the last third of the setting sun casting three trees into silhouette. I hope you like it.

Are you interested in trying your hand at landscape photography? Well, this is a great camera to get hit the ground running with! (#ad)

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 – October 2026

Posted on September 30, 2026

Note: The links on this page are affiliate links.

October’s winner will receive a fantastic DZVW Laptop Triple Screen Extender 15.6″.

This gem will literally triple your laptop’s screen space by adding an extra 15.6″ monitor on either side of your laptop’s existing screen.

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 October 31 and the winner will be notified by email. The winner will be selected at random.

Good luck!

How to convert a bare hard drive or SSD into an external USB drive

Posted on October 9, 2026

Want to get my easy to follow Tech Tips in your email?

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Hard drives and SSDs are a bit on the expensive side these days so it makes sense to repurpose any bare drives you might have laying around and put them to good use.

If you have a working hard drive or SSD laying around you have a great option for putting it to good use: convert it into an external USB hard drive. All you need to do is purchase a very inexpensive external USB drive enclosure and plug your drive into it. It really is that simple.

External hard drive enclosures are quite inexpensive these days. In fact, you can find them on Amazon starting at around 10 bucks.

Important: Most laptop hard drives have SATA connections so virtually any 2.5 inch SATA compatible external drive enclosure will work with them.

However, if your drive was removed from a desktop computer likely a 3.5 inch drive. What’s more, it could well have a different interface type (IDE/ATA/PATA, etc.).

If your drive wasn’t removed from a fairly recent laptop you’ll need to purchase an external enclosure that matches the drive type and size.

If you’re unsure about which type of external hard drive enclosure you’ll need, feel free to contact me and I’ll help you choose one to match your drive.

Simply send me a message containing the brand and model of either the hard drive itself or the computer it was removed from and I’ll answer with a couple of suggestions.

While your new external hard drive likely won’t be anywhere near as spacious as one you could buy off the shelf today, it will likely be plenty big enough to store a backup set or two.

Besides, most of us can always use an extra external drive, right? And at around 10 bucks it’s quite a bargain.

Note: After installing the bare drive in the enclosure and plugging it into your PC, you’ll probably want to reformat it. Simply right-click on the the drive in File Explorer and click Format.

Alternatively, if you choose to not format it. That’ll instant you access to whatever files and photos might still be on the drive.

That’s all there is to it! Good luck!

Click here to check out the current selection of External USB Hard Drive Enclosures at Amazon.

Scam alert: Don’t fall for this dangerous virus notification scam

Posted on October 9, 2026

Want to get my easy to follow Tech Tips in your email?

As you probably already know, scams and hoaxes are everywhere these days, and some of them are quite believable and compelling.

It’s very easy to fall for some of these scams because they mimic actions that are taken by legitimate security apps.

One of the most dangerous scams that’s making the rounds right now is the insidious “Your computer has a virus!” scam. There are several variations of this scam, but they typically work something like this… [Read more…]

Did you know Google is an excellent ‘site search’ tool?

Posted on October 8, 2026

Want to get my easy to follow Tech Tips in your email?

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

You’ve probably noticed that the built-in search tools on most websites often do a horrible job at helping you find the exact content you’re looking for on those sites.

For example, if you make even the slightest of a misspelling of a single word in your search term, the search will usually come up empty.

What’s more, most site search tools won’t suggest posts/pages from the site that are closely related to, but slightly different from the actual search term.

Google excels in situations like those, and that’s why I almost always use Google instead of a website’s native search tool.

[Read more…]