Tech Questions & Answers Archives

Q&A: Can I share my Internet connection with a nearby building?

Posted on May 9, 2026

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Question from James: My wife has accepted an offer from her employer to work remote from home.

She will be setting up her office in a small 12′ x 15′ detached guest cottage that’s approximately 75 feet from our house.

Our cable modem and router are in our living room.

Since the cottage is separate from our living space we do not have the ability to just run a long Ethernet cable and phone cable from the router to that space.

The cottage gets a very weak Wi-Fi signal from our router but she has to have a wired Ethernet connection in order to use the devices she has.

What essentially I’m asking is should she set up her own internet service in that room and have the ISP just hardwire the space? [Read more…]

Q&A: Why won’t my TV work with my computer?

Posted on May 7, 2026

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Question from Glenda: I bought a used TV at a yard sale and I want to use it as a monitor for an old desktop computer that I’m going to use just for watching Netflix.

I plugged an HDMI cable between the computer and the TV and nothing comes on the screen. It’s like it isn’t getting any signal.

I know the HDMI port on the computer is working because it works with the old monitor just fine. And I know the TV is working because I hooked it up to my cable box.

What could be causing the computer to refuse to work with the TV? [Read more…]

Q&A: Will an SSD go bad just sitting on a shelf?

Posted on May 5, 2026

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Question from Glen: A while back I read your post about replacing a computer’s hard drive with an SSD and it sounded like a pretty good idea.

I finally ended up buying a 1TB SSD to replace the hard drive in my old Acer laptop, but the laptop’s screen went bad before I had a chance to make the switch.

I really didn’t want to spend a lot of money to have the Acer fixed so I just ditched it and started using my wife’s Dell laptop.

The Dell has a 1TB hard drive so I don’t really need the SSD at this time. Can I put the SSD on a shelf and keep it for a backup in case the hard drive ever fails, or will it go bad after a while if I don’t use it? [Read more…]

Q&A: Can spilling something on a keyboard damage the entire computer?

Posted on May 4, 2026

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Question from Kayla: I spilled a large glass of coke all over my keyboard.

After I saw what I had done I immediately unplugged the power cable from the computer and disconnected the keyboard from the computer too.

I’m not worried about the keyboard since they’re so cheap, but it’s the tower that has me worried.

Do you think I can just buy a new keyboard and plug it in or do you recommend having the computer checked out by a repair shop first to make sure it’s not damaged? [Read more…]

Q&A: Can a PC with an antivirus app still catch a virus?

Posted on April 27, 2026

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Question from Arlen: I bought a new laptop in August 2022 and paid the people at Best Buy to install Webroot antivirus on it.

This machine has always worked great but a few weeks ago it locked up on me with a message saying it had been taken over by a hacker.

I was finally able to shut it down by holding the power button in but when I turned it back on it went right back to that same screen.

I took it to Best Buy and the technician said it had a virus and they were going to charge me $150 to remove it. [Read more…]