Tech Questions & Answers Archives - Page 137 of 258

Q&A: Will a new SSD work in an older computer?

Posted on August 7, 2021

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Question from Richard: Hi, Rick. I hope you can answer a question for me.

I have an older Gateway desktop PC running Ubuntu Linux. The hard drive died and I want to replace it with a solid state drive (SSD).

My cousin is offering to sell me an unused 1TB SSD for about half what I’d have to pay for a new one. He bought it a while back but he no longer needs it because the computer he was going to put it in died.

My question is will this drive work in my computer? I’m asking because the old hard drive had a SATA II interface and the SSD I’m thinking about buying is SATA III. [Read more…]

Q&A: Does the number of cells in a laptop battery really matter all that much?

Posted on July 29, 2021

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Question from Anita.: Hi Rick. The battery in my HP laptop went bad and I need to order a new one.

When I looked up the model number for my laptop on Amazon a thousand choices for replacement batteries came up.

What really confuses me is the number of cells each battery has. Some have 4 cells, some have 6 and others have 9.

Are more cells better? [Read more…]

Q&A: Should I replace my PC’s CPU cooler with a liquid CPU cooler?

Posted on July 28, 2021

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Question from Alice: I bought a new HP desktop computer with Windows 10 and an Intel Core i5 CPU.

Overall, I really like this computer and I want to do everything I can to make it last as long as possible.

I’ve read that keeping a computer’s CPU cool can prevent it from over-heating and failing prematurely and that a liquid CPU cooler does the best job at that.

I want this computer to last as long as possible so I’m thinking about having my computer guy replace the existing CPU cooler with a liquid CPU cooler to keep the CPU as cool as possible while the computer is running.

I use this machine primarily for Internet (mostly Facebook and Pinterest) and watching Netflix as or playing an occasional game of “Words with Friends”.

Do you think that’s a good idea to replace the CPU cooler? [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I remove the login password from my Windows 10 PC?

Posted on July 27, 2021

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Question from Joyce: I recently bought a new computer with Windows 10 on it to replace my old Windows 7 laptop now that it’s no longer safe to use.

Thanks for the info you provided on that by the way.

My niece helped me set the new machine up while she was in for the holidays but now she’s gone back and she isn’t here to help me.

What I’m wanting to do is remove the login password that she put on it because I live alone and no one else has access to the computer.

Can you tell me how to remove that password? It’s a hassle having to enter it every time I turn the machine on.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]