Rick's Daily Tips

How to ask for a second opinion after a clean virus scan (and why you should)

Posted on July 16, 2025

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Over the years I’ve worked on lots of computers that exhibited all the classic signs of a malware infection.

And as you might expect, many of the owners of those machines insisted that the problem couldn’t possibly be malware because they regularly scan their systems with antivirus programs.

But when I ran my own scans on those systems, I often discovered that they were indeed infected, some of them with dozens of viruses, spyware objects, malicious toolbars and other digital nasties.

How could that be? [Read more…]

Did you know you can subscribe to Amazon Prime one month at a time?

Posted on July 15, 2025

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

By now you probably know that Amazon Prime members get fast and free shipping on Prime-eligible products plus a bunch of other awesome perks. It truly is one of the best deals around.

That being said, you might be reluctant to sign up for a Prime membership due to the $139 annual fee, especially if you tend to cluster your Amazon shopping at various times of the year.

Well guess what? You can sign up for Amazon Prime one month at a time if you only need it for a short time. [Read more…]

How (and when) to clear your YouTube ‘Watch History’

Posted on July 15, 2025

Did you know YouTube maintains a list of every search you’ve ever made via YouTube’s search box?

And did you know they also maintain a list of every video you have ever watched on their site?

This might not seem like a big deal to some folks, especially if the things they search for and the videos they watch aren’t controversial in any way.

However, you might consider it a huge deal if you go to great lengths to protect your online privacy.

[Read more…]

Scam alert: Why you should cancel all of your unused email accounts

Posted on July 14, 2025

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Email is a wonderful tool that allows us to correspond with family members, friends and associates all around the world in just a matter of moments.

Gone are the days of having to write a letter, address an envelope, buy a stamp and send it on its merry way through the postal system with no guarantee that the recipient will receive it in a timely fashion, if at all.

But as the massive Yahoo hack reminded us, all is not perfect in the world of email. [Read more…]

Rant alert: Why on earth do computers still crash after all these years?

Posted on July 13, 2025

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<rant>

One of the most irritating things about computers is how they stutter, freeze up or simply crash altogether, usually at the worst possible time.

That happened to one of my friends this morning, and it really got me thinking…

Why is it that after all these years computers still crash at all? [Read more…]