Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
By now you’re probably familiar with all the security holes that keep popping up in Flash, Java and other popular software, providing easy ways for hackers to install malicious software onto your computer.
In fact, Java alone is so insecure that I completely uninstalled it from my PCs a long time ago, and I recommend that you do the same. [Read more…]
Question from Jules P: Hi Rick. I stopped using Internet Explorer and switched to Firefox a couple of years ago because IE was crashing all the time. I like Firefox, but after trying Google Chrome I noticed that it loads the pages I visit a lot faster than Firefox.
My question is now that I’ve started using Chrome, how can I transfer my bookmarks and stored passwords from Firefox into Chrome?
Rick’s answer: Chrome is a great browser for sure Jules, and I’ve used it as my primary browser for some time now. It’s easy to import your bookmarks, stored passwords and other settings from Firefox into Chrome. Here’s how: [Read more…]
You might have noticed that when you have two or more windows open at once, in order to scroll the contents of an inactive window you have to first click it to make it the active window. This can be quite annoying if all you want to do in that window is scroll the contents up or down a bit.
Well now there’s a nifty little free download that will make your mouse work the way it should have worked all along. It’s called WizMouse, and once it’s loaded your mouse wheel will scroll the contents of the window that’s directly under the mouse pointer without making that window active! What a time-saver! [Read more…]
Regular readers of this blog know that I’m not a fan of toolbars. Quite simply, this is because most of them are actually malware. There is one exception however, and that is the AVG Secure Search toolbar.
The AVG Secure Search toolbar helps prevent your computer from downloading viruses by scanning web pages for malware before you actually visit them, then warning you if malware is found. That way you can avoid visiting the page and unknowingly infecting your computer with the malware contained within the infected page’s code.
Installing the AVG Secure Search toolbar is easy. Here’s how: [Read more…]
Question from Keith: Hello Rick. I recently noticed a new icon in the notifications area of my task bar when I use the Chrome web browser. When I hover my mouse over the icon it says “Chrome Notifications”.
I don’t need this icon in my task bar and I want to get rid of it, but I can’t figure out how to do it. Can you help?
Rick’s answer: Keith, you can indeed remove Chrome Notifications from your task bar. Here’s how: [Read more…]