Tech Questions & Answers Archives

Q&A: Should I replace a 3 year old SSD just to be safe?

Posted on April 1, 2026

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Question from Kendra: Hi, Rick. I really love your blog, especially the section where you answer questions from your readers.

If you don’t mind I’d like to ask a question of my own.

Back in March of 2023 the tech guy I used at the time installed a Crucial 500GB SSD in my Acer laptop and it really made it run a lot faster. [Read more…]

Q&A: Can you exclude a specific website from Google’s search results?

Posted on March 31, 2026

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Question from Paula: Hi, Rick. Thanks for all your hard work writing and sharing your tips. I’ve been reading your stuff for more years than either of us want to admit!

I’m wondering if you know of a way to do a Google search for things and have them leave pages from Pinterest out of the search results?

[Read more…]

Q&A: Is it safe to use an online password checker?

Posted on March 28, 2026

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Question from Charise: I read that with all the hacking going on we need to check the strength of our passwords with an online password checker.

I did a Google search for the term “password checker” and a bunch of them came up. The thing is, I’m wondering if it’s safe to use them.

I’m a little leery of typing my passwords into a form on a website that I don’t know anything about.

Are those password checker websites safe to use? [Read more…]

Q&A: Why are my Internet download speeds so slow?

Posted on March 27, 2026

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Question from Kellie: I have Xfinity Internet and the plan I’m on is for 300 Mbps download speed.

I used SpeedTest.net to run several speed tests yesterday and again this morning. The fastest speed I got was around 165 Mbps.

I called Xfinity this afternoon and they ran some kind of test from their end and said I was getting all the speed I’m paying for.

Is there something I’m doing wrong when I run the speed test or is Xfinity just blowing me off? [Read more…]

Q&A: Why won’t a site load in Chrome when it loads fine in other browsers?

Posted on March 24, 2026

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Question from Chantelle: Last night my Facebook just froze up and stopped responding to my mouse and keyboard.

I closed the browser and then reopened it but Facebook wouldn’t load at all. It gave me a “500 Internal Server Error” and just sat there. I tried over and over with the same result. I even tried rebooting the computer.

The thing is I can open Facebook just fine in other browsers, but I’m used to Chrome and I’d really like to use it with Facebook.

Can you tell me how to fix this? [Read more…]