Downloads Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Can you recommend a good ‘Screen Recorder’ app for Linux that’s easy to use?

Posted on October 3, 2020

Question from Earnie: I’ve been following you on Facebook for a long time Rick, and I’ve learned a lot from the great info you post.

One post that really helped was the one where you basically said we need to ditch Windows 7 because it’s no longer being supported. I had no idea!

After reading that post and pondering my options for several days I finally took your advice and replaced the Windows 7 on my laptop with Linux Mint, and I believe it was a good move.

I checked your list of Linux replacements for Windows programs (very helpful, thanks!) for a screen recorder app but I didn’t see one listed.

I searched Google for Linux screen recorder apps and found several but all the ones I tried are too complicated for what I need.

All I need is a very simple app that can record everything that happens inside the active window.

Is there one that you can recommend?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to check the health of your PC’s hard drive

Posted on September 30, 2020

Personal computers are amazing things. They allow us to do things and work in ways that were simply unimaginable just a few short years ago.

But they are also complex machines that run millions of lines of programming code each day while storing our digital lives on hard drive platters that spin thousands of times per minute.

The hard drive is arguably the most important part inside any PC, and unfortunately it is also the most likely part to fail. [Read more…]

How to protect the photos and videos on your phone from prying eyes

Posted on September 28, 2020

Do you have family photos or videos on your phone that you’d rather not share with just anyone who happens to pick up your phone?

Do you hate it when you let someone borrow your phone and they decide to take a peek at your photos before handing it back to you?

Or perhaps you worry about your phone getting lost or stolen, resulting in a total stranger gaining access to your personal images?

If so, there’s a great free Android app called Vaulty will let you put some or all of your photos and videos into a password-protected “vault”.

That way you can loan your phone to a friend (or even a stranger) without having to worry about them snooping around and seeing your private family snapshots and videos. [Read more…]

Quickly uninstall any program and remove all its traces with GeekUninstaller

Posted on September 16, 2020

Windows’ native “Uninstall a program” utility is an extremely inefficient and cumbersome tool for removing programs from your machine.

In addition to being slow to display a list of installed applications and remove the ones selected, the removal process sometimes fails and almost always leaves behind traces of uninstalled programs which clutter up the Windows registry and slow your system down.

As luck would have it, there are several excellent third-party alternatives to Windows’ Uninstaller utility.

The one I like best is called GeekUninstaller because I have found it to be fast, extremely easy to use and incredibly thorough at removing all traces of uninstalled programs. [Read more…]

How to view all the devices that are using your Wi-Fi network

Posted on September 5, 2020

Do you suspect that someone might be using your Wi-Fi network without your knowledge and permission?

If they are, you really need to know about it so you can boot them off and lock down your network ASAP!

“Piggybackers” can slow down your network and make your devices appear sluggish and unstable.

Even worse, they could potentially cause you some pretty serious legal problems if they’re using your network to break the law in some way. [Read more…]