Tech Questions & Answers Archives

Q&A: How can I mark my place so I can come back later to read more posts on your blog?

Posted on December 9, 2018

Question from Diane: Hi Rick. Maybe it’s just me, but as a fairly new subscriber, I have been going through all your tip pages, one by one.

Of course, there’s no way to read all 500 plus pages in one sitting since there are 6 posts on each page, so I’ve been going through a few a day.

The thing is, it’s really hard to pick up where I left off on a certain page after constantly clicking “Next Page”.

If there’s a fairly simple way for you to add a feature to go to a specific page…. for other OCD’s / newbies like me, it would really be appreciated. Or, then again, maybe I am missing an easier way to do it?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I add an HDMI port to my laptop?

Posted on December 9, 2018

Question from Kevin: I have a Lenovo Thinkpad T520 laptop that I’d like to hook up to a spare 40 inch flat panel TV that I’m not using so I can watch Netflix on a larger screen.

The problem is the Thinkpad T520 does’t have an HDMI port and the TV doesn’t have a VGA connector.

Is there any way to add an HDMI port to this laptop so I can connect my TV to it?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Why do drive letters start with ‘C’ instead of ‘A’ in Microsoft Windows?

Posted on December 9, 2018

Question from Brittney P.: I have a question that I’ve been wanting the answer to for a long time and nobody seems to know the answer. Now that I’ve found this site I’ll ask you.

I’ve noticed that the drive letters in computers always start with “C” and go up from there?

There doesn’t seem to be an “A” drive or a “B” drive. Can you tell me why that is?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Can using Bitly to shorten URLs hurt my blog’s Google rankings?

Posted on December 8, 2018

Question from Kevin: For a while now I’ve been using Bitly to shorten my blog post URLs before I post them on Twitter and LinkedIn so I can track the clicks on them.

Yesterday I heard that using a URL shortener can cause a website to rank lower in the search engines.

Is that true? If it is true how can I get all the Bitly links removed from Twitter and LinkedIn?

I’m asking because my blog’s Google rankings took a nosedive a few months back. Do you think Google is penalizing my blog for using Bitly?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I install a 3.5″ floppy disk drive in my desktop computer?

Posted on December 7, 2018

Question from Deanna T.: Hi Rick. I have a question for you.

Is it possible to install a 3.5″, 1.44MB floppy disk drive in a Dell Inspiron 660s computer?

The reason I’m asking is because the trusty 11 year old PC I use in my fabric shop has finally bitten the dust.

I’ve replaced it with a refurbished Dell 660s that works great, but all of my data files are on 1.44MB floppy disks.

I found out today that the company that wrote the software I use has a new version available that’ll work on my new computer, but I’ll need to retrieve the data files from the floppies.

I was hoping I could just buy a 3.5″ floppy drive and install it in the computer.

Is that possible? Can you even still buy a floppy disk drive? As you can tell, I’m a little on the dumb side when it comes to computers.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]