Computer Tips Archives - Page 147 of 233

Q&A: How do you erase an external hard drive with a Mac?

Posted on March 24, 2021

Question from Alan: I bought a new 4TB external hard drive to hold my photos.

I bought the new drive because the 1TB drive I’ve been using to store my photos is full and I have a lot more pictures to scan and store.

My plan is to give the 1TB drive to my niece so she can use it with her iMac, but I want to completely erase everything from the drive before I give it to her.

That way she can start fresh with a blank drive.

Can you tell me how to completely erase this drive with my MacBook?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Save money by using rechargeable batteries in your gadgets

Posted on March 18, 2021

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

If you’re like me you probably have a dozen or more electronic devices that use AA or AAA batteries.

If so, you’ve probably noticed how much quality disposable batteries cost nowadays!

For example, a bulk pack of 24 name-brand batteries can easily set you back $20 or more, and their prices will most likely just keep going up in the future.

Luckily, there’s an easy way to save money on your batteries while making sure your gadgets are always powered up and ready to use when you need them… [Read more…]

How to easily remove preinstalled Windows 10 apps from your PC

Posted on March 18, 2021

If you use Windows 10 you probably know it comes with a bunch of preinstalled apps that most of us will never use.

You can easily uninstall several of these unwanted apps simply by right-clicking on their Start Menu entries and then selecting the Uninstall option, but for whatever reason Microsoft has decided not to provide an Uninstall option for some of them.

If you search the web for “uninstall any Windows 10 app” you’ll find a number of ways to do it, but the easiest method I have found by far is using a simple free app called Bloatbox.

[Read more…]

How to disable Google Chrome’s new ‘Reading List’ feature

Posted on March 18, 2021

Do you use Google’s Chrome web browser?

If so, you’ve probably noticed a new “Reading List” link over on the right side of Chrome’s Bookmarks Bar.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, “Reading List” is a place where you can store links to web pages that you want to read at a later date/time.

I’m sure there are plenty of people who like and use this new feature, but I don’t know any of them.

[Read more…]

Warning: Installing this new Windows Update could crash your PC!

Posted on March 14, 2021

If you’ve been using Microsoft Windows for a while you’re probably quite familiar with Windows Updates.

These periodic updates to the Windows operating system do everything from patching newly-discovered security holes to adding entirely new features the OS.

Unfortunately, they also occasionally cause problems and one of the latest updates to Windows 10 is causing a big one.

[Read more…]