Question from Paul: I have a custom built gaming PC that I bought in January 2014. It came with Windows 8.1 on it.
I then updated the machine to Windows 10 while Microsoft was allowing the upgrade for free.
Now I’d like to upgrade the machine itself by installing a new, more powerful motherboard.
My question is will I be able to reinstall Windows 10 and have it activate after replacing the motherboard? [Read more…]
Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.
Question from Jeannie: Hi, Rick. I live in an area that’s prone to frequent electrical storms so I’ve always been fanatical about keeping my electronic stuff plugged into surge protectors.
But I heard the other day that surge protectors can go bad after a while. Is that true? All of mine are several years old.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Darryl: I have always understood Windows’ built-in “Microsoft Defender” antivirus app to be inferior to other antivirus programs.
But yesterday I heard that might no longer be the case.
What’s your opinion about Microsoft Defender?
Is it really just as good as the third-party antivirus programs that are being sold today?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Jill: Hi Rick, I’ve just joined your Rick’s Tech Tips Facebook group and already have learned so much!
I have a Facebook question. I don’t know if it is within your scope, but here goes.
I’m an admin on a group and from time to time one of the members posts links for things like Psychic Reading pages and similar things.
These links appear to be affiliate links and I think the person posting them receives some type of payment.
However there is a message going round that these posts are not in fact coming from that person but are somehow being sent by a third party purporting to be the member. And that’s what the person posting the links is claiming too.
If she is indeed posting these links I plan to remove her and block her from the group.
So my question is, is it possible that she’s telling the truth or is this just an excuse she’s using after having been caught? [Read more…]
Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.
Question from Alan: Hi, Rick. I have a question for you.
I have a desktop PC that I use only for writing blog posts in Microsoft Word before uploading them to my WordPress blogs..
I plan to turn my blog posts into a series of books some day so I want to keep the posts stored on my hard drive in MS Word format.
Right now the 7 folders containing the posts and their associated images add up to a grand total of a little over 22 Gigabytes.
My question is do you see anything wrong with using a 64 GB USB thumb drive to hold backup copies of these 7 folders? [Read more…]