Tech Questions & Answers Archives - Page 74 of 258

Q&A: Can you recommend a good, but cheap external hard drive enclosure?

Posted on June 5, 2023

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Question from Elizabeth: I just finished reading your post about converting an internal hard drive into an external drive. I never dreamed that it would be so easy!

I have a 1GB hard drive that came out of my Dell Inspiron 15 5000 laptop when it died on me. The guy at the shop tested the drive and said it’s working fine.

I’d like to put that drive into an external enclosure and connect it to my other laptop that has Windows 10 and USB 3.0 ports. [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I clear the ‘Recent Items’ list on my Mac?

Posted on May 24, 2023

Question from Tina: I’m a single mom and I’ve started dating again after being divorced for two years.

I have some dating-related documents on my MacBook that I would prefer my 12 year old son not see while he’s using the computer.

There’s nothing of an “adult” nature on there but I would still prefer to keep those dating-related documents private for now.

I noticed that some of those documents are showing up on the ‘Recent Items” list. How do I clear the items from that list? [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I retrieve my files from a damaged ultrabook?

Posted on May 22, 2023

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Question from Shruti: Hi, Rick. I hope you’re doing well.

I have a Dell XPS 13 9370 Ultrabook. Everything was fine until this morning when my screen just turned grey-ish black.

I had dropped my laptop and slightly cracked the top right edge of the screen along with one of the hinges a few months back but everything seemed to still be working fine.

I don’t know why this suddenly happened.

I have important data on this machine so I’d like to know if there is any way to retrieve the data without fixing the screen? [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I run a fan off solar power without using a battery?

Posted on May 18, 2023

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Question from Adam: I hope you can answer a question about solar power for me.

I have a small outbuilding that’s located about 120 yards from my house. This outbuilding has a dark green roof and it gets extremely hot inside on hot summer days.

What I’d like to do is install a fan in the eve of the building to pull fresh air into the building while expelling the hot air, but there’s no electric service there to power the fan. Can you help me with this? [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I make my laptop shut down when I close the lid?

Posted on May 13, 2023

Question from Trevor: Rick, I have an HP laptop running Windows 11.

When I close the lid it goes into sleep mode, but I’d rather have it just shut down all the way because I’m usually going to just leave it in my laptop bag and not use it for a while.

Is there a way to make it do that? Thanks.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]