Rick's Daily Tips - Page 2 of 585 - Tech Tips, Tricks and Tutorials

Q&A: Why does Windows 10 keep changing my default printer?

Posted on February 25, 2020

Question from Darren S.: I love your blog Rick, especially the questions and answers section.

I hope you can help me solve a problem I’m having since I replaced my old computer with a new one running Windows 10.

I use two printers with my computer. The first one is an Epson inkjet that I use every now and then to print photos. The other is a Brother laser printer that I use to print most everything else.

With Windows 7 I could leave the laser printer as the default printer, then switch to the inkjet manually on the rare occasions when I need it. But I recently upgraded to Windows 10 and now every time I print to either printer, that printer gets set as the default printer.

I really want the laser printer to remain as the default and switch to the inkjet manually when I need it. Is there any way to stop Windows 10 from changing the default printer without my permission?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to convert a bare hard drive or SSD into an external USB-C / USB 3.1 drive

Posted on February 25, 2020

A while back I wrote this post that explains how to convert an unused internal hard drive into an external USB 3.0 drive.

That has turned out to be one of the most popular posts I have ever written, but a lot has changed since then.

Solid State Drives (SSDs) are quickly replacing traditional hard drives in many newer desktop computers and laptops.

What’s more, many of the newest computers, tablets and smartphones now come with the newer, and much smaller USB-C ports.

If you own a computer or mobile device that only has a USB-C port, it makes sense to use an external drive enclosure that also supports this modern connection type.

Luckily, the awesome new USB-C external drive enclosures (#ad) don’t cost any more than their USB 3.0 predecessors and they work perfectly with both traditional 2.5 inch hard drives and SSDs! [Read more…]

Q&A: Does Facebook spy on me while I’m shopping on other websites?

Posted on February 25, 2020

Question from Felicia R.: I have a question for you Rick, and it’s a serious question so please don’t laugh at me! lol

I do most of my shopping online and I’ve noticed that whenever I log on to Facebook I see ads for the very items I was shopping for earlier. That sort of concerns me.

Is Facebook spying on me when I’m using other websites? If they are I’ll probably close my account.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to instantly get the current time in any city or town in the world

Posted on February 24, 2020

Have you ever found yourself calculating the current time in some far off locale, only to discover later that your calculation missed the mark by a mile?

Well, thanks to our friends at Google we can instantly get the current time for virtually any city or town on the planet. Here’s how: [Read more…]

Here’s a very simple way to reduce your phone’s monthly data usage

Posted on February 24, 2020

Do you have a smartphone? If so, it probably has dozens of apps installed on it.

Some of those apps were likely installed manually by you, but most of them probably came pre-installed on your phone from the factory.

Most of your phone’s installed apps have one thing in common: They’re constantly sending data to and receiving data from remote servers located in various parts of the world.

This isn’t usually a problem for most users, but if you happen to have a cellular contract with a limited data plan it can be a huge problem for you! [Read more…]