Computer Tips Archives - Page 139 of 232

PC freezing up at random times? This tool can help fix it.

Posted on September 9, 2021

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Does your PC freeze up on you, reboot at random times, or display the infamous “Blue Screen of Death” on occasion?

If so, there are two likely culprits:

1 – Malware that’s wreaking havoc with your Windows environment

2 – A buggy or outdated device driver

[Read more…]

Q&A: Can I add USB 3.1 Type-C ports to an older PC?

Posted on September 9, 2021

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Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Chris G.: I have a Dell OptiPlex 9020 mini-tower desktop PC that has both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports on it.

The hard drive died a while back and I replaced it with a 1TB SSD.

I couldn’t believe the difference in speed adding the SSD gave me!

I use this machine for my work computer, and even though it’s pretty old it works really well for me now that I’ve installed the SSD.

I’ve been using an external USB hard drive for my backups but I’m thinking seriously about getting this Crucial external SSD to speed up the backup process.

The problem is this Dell doesn’t have any USB 3.1 Gen 2 – Type C ports to plug the external SSD into.

Is it possible add at least one USB 3.1 Gen 2 – Type C port to the Dell OptiPlex 9020 without having to replace the motherboard?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

My initial thoughts about Windows 11 (likes and dislikes)

Posted on September 5, 2021

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As you probably know, I’ve been testing the “Preview” version of Windows 11 for a while now, and I think this is a great time to express my initial thoughts about it.

I’ll just say at the outset that after using Windows 11 for a while, one word comes to mind: Pointless.

[Read more…]

FYI: Windows 11 might run on your PC even if Microsoft says it can’t.

Posted on September 4, 2021

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As I reported in this post, Microsoft has announced that Windows 11 will officially be released to the masses on October 5.

I’ve received a ton of feedback about this with about half the respondents saying they’ll be sticking with Windows 10 and the other half chomping at the bit to install Windows 11 ASAP.

If you happen to fall into the “I want to install it ASAP” camp you can compare your PC’s hardware configuration against the system requirements listed on this page to see if Microsoft believes Windows 11 will run on your machine. [Read more…]