Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Beverly K.: Hi there Rick. I need some help. All of a sudden my computer started doing some odd things when I press certain key combinations.
My daughter took a look at it, and she said she believes the keyboard is set to use British English instead of American English. How do I change it back? I’m using Windows 7 if that makes a difference. Thanks.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Roger: Rick, I’ve had DSL through Verizon for 3 years with no problems whatsoever till 3 days ago when I installed a new FAX machine. Whenever the FAX machine is connected to the phone line my Internet stops working until I unplug it.
Before I bought this FAX machine I’d never had one connected to my phone line before. I’d always just used eFax. It’s hard to believe that one piece of equipment can stop the Internet connection dead in its tracks, but it does.
Do you know what I need to do to fix this problem? It’s a pain having to stop using the Internet and plug in the FAX machine every time I need to use it (which is several times a day).
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Carol: Hi Rick. I paid a man I used to work with $220 to install Windows 7 Ultimate on my Dell laptop (it originally came with Windows Vista). Now every time I boot the computer into Windows it tells me that my Windows isn’t genuine.
I tried to call him to ask him to fix this error, but his phone has been disconnected and I don’t know how to get in touch with him. What should I do to get this fixed? I really appreciate your help.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Camille I.: I have cable Internet through Charter and it’s usually pretty fast, but during the evenings it sometimes slows to a crawl. I read somewhere a while back that some web browsers work better on slow Internet connections than others. Can you recommend one?
Rick’s answer: I sure can Camille. For overall speed it’s hard to beat Google Chrome, but if you have a slow Internet connection Opera running in turbo mode is amazing! What makes Opera so much faster over a slow connection than other browsers is their data proprietary compression system. [Read more…]
Question from Ken L.: Rick, I need help big time my friend. I accidentally deleted all the files from my USB pen drive and I REALLY need to get them back. I checked the Recycle Bin and they aren’t in there. Is there anything I can do to get them back?
Rick’s answer: There’s a good chance that you’ll be able to recover at least some of your lost files Ken, and maybe even all of them if luck is on your side. Here’s what you need to do: [Read more…]