Tech Questions & Answers Archives - Page 2 of 259

Q&A: Is System Restore adequate for backing up Windows?

Posted on May 17, 2026

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Question from Mike: I install lots of free software and I always create a new System Restore Point before installing a program just in case something goes wrong.

I think Windows is great, but as you know, things do go wrong sometimes.

My boss told me that relying on System Restore for my backups isn’t good enough. He said I need to create regular backups too, but I think that’s overkill.

What’s your opinion on this? [Read more…]

Q&A: Can you tell the location of a caller by their phone number?

Posted on May 14, 2026

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Question from Martha: About three or four times a month I get a call from the number (205) 595-XXXX.

(I blanked out the last four digits to protect the caller in case everything is on the up and up.)

The strange thing is this person just calls and then hangs up just as soon as I answer. Then it’ll be a week or two before they call again.

I won’t tell you where I live because I don’t want this person to see it and hunt me down. I know I’m probably just being paranoid, but it does worry me.

My question for you is do you know if it’s possible to determine where that caller is located just from looking at the phone number? [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I share my Internet connection with a nearby building?

Posted on May 9, 2026

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Question from James: My wife has accepted an offer from her employer to work remote from home.

She will be setting up her office in a small 12′ x 15′ detached guest cottage that’s approximately 75 feet from our house.

Our cable modem and router are in our living room.

Since the cottage is separate from our living space we do not have the ability to just run a long Ethernet cable and phone cable from the router to that space.

The cottage gets a very weak Wi-Fi signal from our router but she has to have a wired Ethernet connection in order to use the devices she has.

What essentially I’m asking is should she set up her own internet service in that room and have the ISP just hardwire the space? [Read more…]

Q&A: Why won’t my TV work with my computer?

Posted on May 7, 2026

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Question from Glenda: I bought a used TV at a yard sale and I want to use it as a monitor for an old desktop computer that I’m going to use just for watching Netflix.

I plugged an HDMI cable between the computer and the TV and nothing comes on the screen. It’s like it isn’t getting any signal.

I know the HDMI port on the computer is working because it works with the old monitor just fine. And I know the TV is working because I hooked it up to my cable box.

What could be causing the computer to refuse to work with the TV? [Read more…]

Q&A: Will an SSD go bad just sitting on a shelf?

Posted on May 5, 2026

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Question from Glen: A while back I read your post about replacing a computer’s hard drive with an SSD and it sounded like a pretty good idea.

I finally ended up buying a 1TB SSD to replace the hard drive in my old Acer laptop, but the laptop’s screen went bad before I had a chance to make the switch.

I really didn’t want to spend a lot of money to have the Acer fixed so I just ditched it and started using my wife’s Dell laptop.

The Dell has a 1TB hard drive so I don’t really need the SSD at this time. Can I put the SSD on a shelf and keep it for a backup in case the hard drive ever fails, or will it go bad after a while if I don’t use it? [Read more…]