Rick's Daily Tips

Beyond the One-Click Prompt: Scaling creative output with an AI Photo Editor

Posted on July 15, 2026

The narrative surrounding generative AI often centers on the “magic” of the prompt. We are told that with the right combination of descriptive adjectives and technical parameters, a high-fidelity marketing asset will simply materialize.

In a controlled demo, this holds true. In a high-stakes production environment, the reality is far messier. A creator might spend three hours “prompt engineering” a specific scene in Flux or Seedream, only to find that while the lighting is perfect, the subject’s hand has six fingers, or a background object is nonsensically fused into a wall. [Read more…]

Give an older PC new life by replacing Windows with Linux

Posted on July 14, 2026

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In this post I’m going to explain what Linux is, and more importantly, what it can do for you as the owner of an older PC that’s running a version of Windows that has been abandoned by Microsoft (i.e. they have stopped supplying security updates for it).

As you probably know by now, Microsoft is no longer releasing security updates for many versions of Windows, which means computers that are still running them are wide open to hackers and malware.

But an awesome free operating system called Linux can make using that unsafe computer safe again.

[Read more…]

Q&A: Windows is showing my WiFi network as Public. Isn’t that dangerous?

Posted on July 12, 2026

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Question from Kellie: I was messing around with the network settings on my Windows 11 laptop last night.

While I was in there I noticed that my WiFi network is set to “Public” instead of “Private”.

I’ve always heard that public networks are dangerous.

Is that true? And if it is, how can I change it to private? [Read more…]

Review: Azio Large Print Tri-Color Backlit Wired Keyboard

Posted on July 11, 2026

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Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

If you’re like me and your eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be, you might be interested in hearing about a large print backlit keyboard that I’ve been using for a long time now.

[Read more…]