Tech Questions & Answers Archives - Page 124 of 258

Q&A: How do I decide which programs to install on a small SSD?

Posted on December 25, 2021

Question from Larry: I read your post explaining the advantages of installing an SSD a while back and I’ve wanted one ever since to go in my HP desktop PC.

I ended up buying a 120GB SSD (I got it for $20!) and installed it as the boot drive in my HP desktop computer. I left the 750GB hard drive in there for extra storage.

I installed Windows 10 from scratch on the SSD and now I’m ready to install my programs. The thing is with only 120GB of space on the SSD it won’t hold anywhere near all of my programs.

I have a couple of questions for you:

1 – Which programs should I install on the SSD and which ones should I leave on the hard drive?

2 – Should I leave the original Windows 10 files on the hard drive or is it safe to delete them to free up that space?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Does Linux need a bigger hard drive than Windows?

Posted on December 23, 2021

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Marla: I have an older HP laptop with Windows 7 that’s got really slow over the years.

I read your post about replacing Windows with Linux and since Windows 7 is no longer safe to use I’d really like to do that.

I don’t use this laptop for anything but Facebook so I believe it’ll work out just fine.

The thing is this laptop only has a 320GB hard drive in it. Is that enough space to hold Linux or will I need to replace the hard drive with a bigger one? [Read more…]

Q&A: Is Facebook constantly spying on me? It sure seems like it.

Posted on December 19, 2021

Question from Felicia: I have a question for you Rick, and it’s a serious question so please don’t laugh at me! lol

I do most of my shopping online and I’ve noticed that whenever I log on to Facebook I see ads for the very items I was shopping for earlier. That sort of concerns me.

Is Facebook spying on me when I’m using other websites? If they are I’ll probably close my account.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Should the battery in a new laptop fully charged before using it?

Posted on December 8, 2021

Question from Brenda: I just bought my son a new laptop for his birthday. As I was paying for it the cashier told me I need to let the battery charge to 100% before I let my son start using it.

In the past I have always just unboxed my new laptops and plugged them in and started using them immediately, and as far as I know there was never any problem.

Do you think I really need to charge the battery before I give it to him? [Read more…]