Tech Questions & Answers Archives - Page 36 of 258

Q&A: Should I replace a 4 year old SSD just to be safe?

Posted on January 26, 2024

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Question from Kendra: Hi, Rick. I really love your blog, especially the section where you answer questions from your readers.

If you don’t mind I’d like to ask a question of my own.

Back in March of 2020 the tech guy I used at the time installed a Crucial 500GB SSD in my Acer laptop and it really made it run a lot faster.

I recently read on another site that all SSDs wear out over time because they can only be written to a certain number of times.

That has me sort of worried because this drive is now about four years old and I have a lot of personal files on it that I don’t want to lose.

My question is do you think this drive is likely to fail at some time in the near future? [Read more…]

Q&A: Can you exclude a specific website from Google’s search results?

Posted on January 25, 2024

Question from Paula: Hi, Rick. Thanks for all your hard work writing and sharing your tips. I’ve been reading your stuff for more years than either of us want to admit!

I’m wondering if you know of a way to do a Google search for things and have them leave pages from Pinterest out of the search results?

[Read more…]

Q&A: Can I completely disable my laptop’s camera?

Posted on January 22, 2024

Question from Callie: I bought a new Windows laptop (an Acer) that has a camera built into it.

I don’t ever plan to use the camera for anything and I’d like to completely disable it.

I don’t want to just prevent apps from accessing the camera. I want to disable it completely.

Is it possible to do that? If it is, can you tell me how to do it? [Read more…]

Q&A: Should I add more RAM to my PC or install an SSD?

Posted on January 21, 2024

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Question from Thomas: I have a little cash to spend to upgrade my desktop computer and I need your advice on how best to spend it.

Right now it has 16GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive (which is close to being full).

My question is should I use the money to double the RAM on this machine by adding another 16GB or would I be better off replacing the hard drive with a 1TB SSD? [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I force Chrome to always open in Incognito mode?

Posted on January 21, 2024

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Question from Caleb: I hope you can help me with a browser issue, Rick.

Google Chrome is the only browser I use and I always use it in Incognito Mode. I might be the only one lol.

Is there any way to have Chrome open in Incognito Mode by default so I can skip the step of manually opening an Incognito tab every time? [Read more…]