Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Trevor: The integrated sound has gone out on my ancient, but beloved HP Pavilion Slimline s5680d PC’s motherboard (model # MSI MS-7613).
Can you recommend a cheap replacement motherboard that’ll fit inside this computer’s case and work with its power supply? [Read more…]
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These days, laptops are as common in our schools as backpacks, notebooks and pencils. In fact, most colleges (and many high schools) now require that every student own one.
Unfortunately, laptops also tend to disappear when you aren’t looking. In fact, many campus police departments receive more reports about stolen laptops than any other item.
Simply following just a few simple common-sense rules can help keep your laptop safe and sound regardless of where you might happen to be on campus. [Read more…]
Question from Don: I have a 2TB external hard drive that I’ve used to back up my MacBook for a while. I just bought a 6TB drive to replace it.
I want to give the old drive to my nephew because he needs one and he can’t really afford to buy one.
How can I securely wipe that drive to make sure it’s completely empty before I give it to him? [Read more…]
Question from Travis: I have an HP desktop computer that got fried by lightning.
I also have an old Dell desktop that had a bad hard drive. Both PCs ran Windows 10.
My cousin connected the hard drive from the HP to his computer and it seemed to work fine, so I replaced the bad hard drive in my Dell with the one from the dead HP.
But now after switching the drives, when I turn the computer on Windows won’t boot up. All it does is display a blue screen with an error message on it.
What do I need to do to fix this? [Read more…]
It hasn’t been all that long ago since most of us had only one choice when it came to Internet connectivity: an agonizingly slow dial-up connection through a standard telephone landline.
But times have changed. Nowadays virtually everyone in the United States can get a broadband Internet connection via their cable TV provider, the local phone company, a blazing-fast fiber optic connection or satellite Internet.
In fact, some folks even have the luxury of choosing between two or more broadband options simply due to where they happen to live. [Read more…]