Tech Tips, Tricks and Tutorials
Question from Marc H: Beginning last Tuesday, every time I load Firefox it opens all the pages that were open when I quit the previous session. It’s really irritating.
I must have done something wrong, but I don’t know when or how. Can you tell me how to get Firefox to always open nothing but my home page whenever it loads?
Rick’s answer: Marc, somehow a key setting has been changed that’s causing Firefox to behave that way, but luckily it’s very easy to fix. Here’s how: [Read more…]
Question from Wilma F.: My 6 year old desktop computer died and I’m in the process of shopping for a new one.
I really like the look of some of the All-in-One computers that I’ve seen.
And I also like the idea of not having to deal with a tower box or a bunch of extra cables.
I’d love to hear your honest opinion of All-in-One computers.
The upsides of buying one are obvious. Do you know of any downsides to be aware of when comparing them to laptops and desktop computers?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Ariel: I have an HP dv6000t laptop that originally had Windows XP on it.
While my son was in for Christmas he installed Linux Mint on it after reading your article about replacing Windows with Linux.
I mainly use this laptop for reading my cooking groups on Facebook and printing the recipes that interest me.
The Linux is working out great but I’m having a problem with the USB ports.
This laptop has three USB ports and I’m using all of them for my printer, a mouse and the external hard drive that he copied my pictures onto.
The printer and mouse work fine but when I plug the hard drive in the laptop instantly freezes up. As soon as I unplug the hard drive the laptop starts working again.
Do you think I’m using too many USB ports? I really need both my printer and my mouse but I need to access the photos on the external hard drive too.
Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Kevin: I’m a retired computer tech and I have lots of funny stories to tell from my working days. I’m sure you do as well.
What’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you while working as a tech?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Andrew. T.: Rick, I have a weird problem and I’m hoping you can help me solve it.
Since I switched from I.E. to Google Chrome I can’t read any RSS feeds. All I see is gibberish that looks like computer code.
I really like Chrome, but I really need to be able to read RSS feeds. Is there any way to fix this? Thanks in advance.
Rick’s answer: Andrew, for whatever reason Google decided not to have Chrome support formatted viewing of RSS feeds by default, and there isn’t an entry in the settings menu for enabling RSS feeds.
But don’t despair, the folks on the Chrome team have provided a handy extension that will display your RSS feeds correctly. Here’s how to install it: [Read more…]
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