Tech Questions & Answers Archives - Page 56 of 258

Q&A: Will I need a new modem if I upgrade to faster Internet?

Posted on November 8, 2023

Question from Rod: I received a flyer in the mail from Xfinity saying everyone in my area now has the option to upgrade our Internet service to 1200Mbps with virtually no increase in the monthly charges.

I’d love to do that because that would be a huge increase from the 200Mbps I’m getting now, but I can’t afford to buy a new modem.

I bought the modem I have now four years ago and it’s still working great.

My question is will I need to buy a new modem in order to get the full 1200Mbps speed that comes with this new plan? [Read more…]

Q&A: Should I pay extra to double the RAM in a new PC?

Posted on November 8, 2023

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Question from Sarah: I’m getting ready to order this new laptop from Amazon and I have a question about it.

This laptop comes with 16GB of RAM but I can get the same machine with 32GB for about $50 more.

Do you think it’s worth paying an extra $50 to double the RAM? Will I even need 32GB? [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I remove a Google account from my Android phone?

Posted on November 6, 2023

Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter

Question from Laurie: My daughter lost her phone and she had to wait till she got paid before she could buy a new phone, so I let her borrow mine for a couple of days.

After she bought herself a new phone she gave mine back to me.

I just discovered that she added her own Google account to my phone (she said she wanted to download an app she needed to use without me having to pay for it).

How can I remove my daughter’s Google account from my phone? [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I share my Internet connection with a nearby building?

Posted on November 5, 2023

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Question from James: My wife has accepted an offer from her employer to work remote from home.

She will be setting up her office in a small 12′ x 15′ detached guest cottage that’s approximately 75 feet from our house.

Our cable modem and router are in our living room.

Since the cottage is separate from our living space we do not have the ability to just run a long Ethernet cable and phone cable from the router to that space.

The cottage gets a very weak Wi-Fi signal from our router but she has to have a wired Ethernet connection in order to use the devices she has.

What essentially I’m asking is should she set up her own internet service in that room and have the ISP just hardwire the space? [Read more…]

Q&A: What is overclocking (and can I do it to my laptop)?

Posted on November 3, 2023

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Question from Brenda: I heard a couple of kids talking about overclocking their computers to make them run faster.

What exactly do they mean by overclocking? And it that something that I can do to speed up my HP laptop?

It’s a pretty slow machine and I’d love to overclock it if you think it’s would really help.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]