Rick's Daily Tips

How to delete your entire Google search history (and stop Google from storing it)

Posted on May 1, 2025

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Did you know Google keeps a record of every search you’ve ever made?

Well, they do. And they’ll keep it forever unless you tell them to delete it.

As you can probably guess, there are many reasons why you might not want a record of every Google search you’ve ever made hanging around year after year.

Luckily, it’s quite easy to delete your entire Google search history in one fell swoop. [Read more…]

When to click ‘Apply’ in a Windows dialog box

Posted on April 30, 2025

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If you’ve been using Microsoft Windows for a while you’ve probably noticed that many of the dialog boxes you encounter have both an “Apply” button and an “OK” button.

If these buttons aren’t coming to mind at the moment, take a quick glance at the images on this page for a visual reminder.

The purpose of the “Apply” button is to make a settings change that you just made take effect immediately without closing the dialog box.

The thing is, clicking the “OK” button without clicking “Apply” works too, which brings up a question that I receive fairly often: “Do I need to click the “Apply” button AND the “OK” button after making a change?” [Read more…]

Here’s a great way to keep your new PC running like new

Posted on April 29, 2025

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Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Did you recently purchase a new laptop or desktop PC because your old one had become sluggish and unstable?

If you plan to use your new computer primarily for offline tasks like editing photos or doing office-type tasks, there’s a simple way to keep it running like new for years to come…

[Read more…]

Q&A: Will replacing the hard drive with an SSD make a PC run hotter?

Posted on April 28, 2025

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Question from Michael: I have a three year old laptop that runs a bit on the warm side. It always has, ever since I first took it out of the box.

I read your post about replacing a hard drive with an SSD and I’d love to replace the existing 1TB hard drive in this laptop with a 1TB SSD.

The thing is I’m afraid it will cause the laptop to overheat since it’s getting really warm already. Do you think it might? [Read more…]