Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Ann H.: Hi Rick. I have an 8 year old HP ENVY 14 laptop.
It worked fine until a few days ago when it stopped charging the battery. The computer works fine as long as it’s plugged in, but dies immediately if I unplug it.
How can I figure out if it’s the charger or the battery that needs to be replaced?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Chris D.: I bought a tablet with Windows 10 on it, and I love it. But there’s one thing about it that’s driving me absolutely batty.
Every time I type a character on the onscreen keyboard it makes a clicking sound, and it’s quite loud when I’m using it in class.
Can you tell me how to make it stop making those clicking sounds when I’m typing?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Ronnie G.: I bought a pallet of what appeared to be mostly junk for $28 at a storage auction. To my surprise, one of the boxes on the pallet had a like-new Microsoft Surface 3 in it.
This device came with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of flash storage. I know the RAM can’t be upgraded so I should never really need a 64 bit Windows.
My question is would replacing the Windows 10/64 bit that’s on it with 32 bit Windows 10 speed things up any? This machine isn’t a snail, but I’d like to make it run faster if I can.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Anita K.: About 2 years ago I bought an old farmhouse that’s located way out in the country.
I love living here, but I have a serious problem that I hope you can help me find a solution for.
I get my water from a well, and every time the pump turns on my lights dim and other strange things happen.
I don’t know why but it’s causing my light bulbs to blow on a regular basis. I’ve also lost three TVs (all used if that makes a difference), several phone chargers, a wireless router and two computers.
Needless to say, I need to get this fixed as soon as possible. I called an electrician and they want $85 just to come out and check it.
I’m hoping you can tell me what I need to do. What do you think is causing it, and how can I fix it?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Billy P.: I dropped my Surface Pro 3 a few days ago and it shut off when it hit the floor.
I thought I had destroyed it for good but when I pressed the power button it started up just fine.
I used it three days in a row and everything seemed normal but last night I turned it on and nothing happened. No lights, no sounds, no nothing.
I’m hoping this is just a simple fix since it worked ok for a while after I dropped it.
Can you tell me how to get the back off of it and what to check once I get it opened up?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]