Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Why is my PC’s hard drive making a clicking sound?

Posted on July 9, 2023

Question from Nancy: Rick, my desktop PC has started making a faint, but noticeable clicking sound when I first turn it on.

It only clicks for about 8-10 seconds, then it boots up normally and runs fine until I shut it down.

It’s hard to tell for sure, but I took the cover off the side of the computer and the clicking sound seems to be coming from the hard drive.

I haven’t downloaded anything recently or made any changes to the system that I’m aware of.

This machine came with Windows 8.1 but it’s been updated to Windows 10.

Do you have any idea what I can do to stop the clicking? [Read more…]

Q&A: What does the term ‘bottleneck’ mean?

Posted on July 9, 2023

Question from Alvin: I recently retired after working for the same construction company for 43 years.

Now I’d like to take up something new to occupy all this free time that I suddenly have to fill.

I’ve always wanted to learn about computers so I’ve started reading a few tech blogs, and RicksDailyTips is one of them (thanks to my brother Keith for recommending it).

I’m not tech savvy by any stretch (I hope to change that eventually) but I do believe I’m progressing ok for an older dude who still uses a flip phone.

There’s a term that keeps popping up in the articles I read that I just can’t seem to get my head around. Can you tell me what the word “bottleneck” means in regards to computers? [Read more…]

Q&A: Can you use the same USB thumb drive with both Windows PCs and Macs?

Posted on July 8, 2023

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Kerrie: I have a MacBook Pro and don’t own a Windows computer.

If I copy files from my MacBook Pro onto a thumb drive will my sisters be able to copy those files from that same thumb drive onto their Windows PCs?

[Read more…]

5 great tools for checking your blog’s page load speeds

Posted on July 7, 2023

If you’re a blogger you probably know that Google and the other major search engines now take page load times into consideration when ranking web pages in their search results.

In a nutshell, that means all other things being equal, your blog’s pages will rank lower in the search results for a given search query than other similar pages that load faster than yours.

And as you know, that can be a huge problem. [Read more…]

Q&A: Which type of cable is better, DVI or HDMI?

Posted on July 7, 2023

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Stephanie: I need some advice Rick. I’ve done quite a bit of research on video cables and I’m still confused.

I’m getting ready to order a new computer and monitor from Amazon. I’ve already selected the computer and monitor, but now I have to decide on a video cable.

I have the option of using either DVI or HDMI, but I don’t know which I should choose. [Read more…]