Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Luella S.: Hi Rick. I made a big mistake and downloaded a free game onto my PC. After I installed it my computer started running really slow and my Internet Explorer had 7 toolbars attached to it!
I was able to remove 4 of the toolbars via the “Remove a program” thingy, but the rest don’t even show up in there. I tried to do a System Restore, but there were no Restore Points! Can you please, please help?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Ken B.: Rick, I turned my computer on this morning (Dell XPS 15 laptop w/Windows 7) and my desktop was blank. After it booted up everything on the desktop was missing, including the Recycle Bin, the Computer icon and all of my shortcuts. I don’t know what happened to make then disappear, but I desperately need them back ASAP.
Can you please tell me how to get all of my desktop icons and shortcuts back without reinstalling everything? I’ll be indebted to you for life my friend! Thanks in advance for you help.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Karan F.: Hi Rick. I hope you can help me. I have a close friend who finally got around to creating a Facebook account after much prodding from me and a couple of her other friends. We exchanged several messages a few nights ago, then I logged off and went to bed.
When I logged back into Facebook the next day, I opened our previous conversation and tried messaging her again. I couldn’t. The previous messages were still there, but her name was in black. I tried clicking on her name so I could message her from her profile page, but it wouldn’t click.
Finally, in desperation I searched for her name in the search box and it said it couldn’t find her account. I called her to ask what was going on and she said she didn’t know but she couldn’t log in. Sorry, I know this is long but I really need to find out what’s going on? Do you have any clue as to what might have happened?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Amir H.: I just bought a new computer and on the back is a switch labeled 120V/240V. What is this switch used for and do I need to change it? Thank you.
Rick’s answer: Hi Amir. The switch you’re asking about is used to select the proper input voltage for the computer’s power supply unit (PSU).
Here in North America the power that comes out of a standard wall outlet is roughly 120 volts AC, but in many places around the world it is twice that (approximately 240 volts AC). The red switch on the back of the PSU needs to be set to match the output voltage of the wall outlets where you happen to live. [Read more…]
Question from Margaret L.: I have a serious problem Rick. I bought an HP laptop from Best Buy on February 6, 2012 and I also took the three year extended warranty. The laptop died and now I can’t find my receipt or extended warranty paperwork.
Best Buy said there’s nothing they can do without the paperwork except send it off to HP for repair at my expense. Is there anything I can do to get them to honor the warranty I paid for? I’m just so frustrated right now.
Rick‘s answer: [Read more…]