Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Jamey B: Hi Rick. I really hope you can help me. I always check the Google PageRank of blogs that I want to submit guest posts to, but ever since I updated my Google Toolbar to the latest version a couple of days ago the PageRank indicator isn’t showing up.
I’ve searched high and low for a way to turn the PR indicator on but I can’t find one. Has Google decided to remove it completely or am I just overlooking the place where you activate it?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Gail T.: Hi Rick. I have a Gateway FX-6800-03h desktop computer that I’ve owned for over 4 years with no problems whatsoever. It has Windows 7 on it, and last Christmas my brother upgraded it to 12 GB of RAM and added a 2 TB hard drive for me as a gift.
I love this computer but now I have a big problem! I recently went out of town for a few days and when I got back I couldn’t get Windows to load. All it does when I press the power button is give one long, continuous beep and nothing ever shows up on the screen.
Please, please, please tell me this is a simple fix? I can’t really afford a new computer right now. Thanks in advance!
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Kim F.: Hi Rick! I really love your daily tech tips, especially the questions and answers. Now I have one of my own…
I’m in the process of shopping around for a new desktop computer and I’m pretty much up to speed on the advantages of more memory and faster CPUs, but there’s one thing I’m unclear about.
Does it really pay to spend more for a computer with a stand-alone graphics card rather than one with integrated graphics? Thanks in advance for your reply!
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Judy L: I’ve been using Google Chrome as my primary web browser for about 3 months now and I really like it. But a couple of days ago it started taking forever to begin loading a web page. What could be causing this?
Rick’s answer: Judy, when you try loading a page, does it say “Resolving proxy” in the lower left-hand corner of the browser? If so (and I’m sure it probably does), something or someone has configured Chrome to access websites through a web proxy.
If you’re the only person that uses this computer I’m guessing that your system has malware on it that initiated the change without your knowledge. The first thing you need to do is adjust the settings in Chrome to prevent it from using a web proxy. Here’s how: [Read more…]
Question from Chad: I’m in desperate need of a USB external hard drive that I can plug in to my Mac when I’m at home and then take it to work with me to plug into the Windows 7 PC I use there. The larger the better, but 2TB or larger will suffice.
I’ll be using this drive to transfer large video files that are several gigabytes each. Can you tell me where I can find a drive that meets this requirement? I’ve checked all over the web with no luck. Thanks! [Read more…]