Rick's Daily Tips - Page 3 of 560 - Tech Tips, Tricks and Tutorials

Need a 100TB SSD? You can get one (but it’ll cost you a fortune).

Posted on May 21, 2019

A while back I wrote a post explaining how you can put your computer on steroids by replacing its hard drive with a solid state drive (SSD).

Until fairly recently upgrading to an SSD would have cost you dearly if you wanted to keep (or even increase) your system’s current amount of storage space.

Well, that changed last year when the prices of many 1TB SSDs dropped to around a hundred bucks!

SSDs in the 2TB range and up are still pretty expensive compared to hard drives, but I expect that to change as well in the second half of 2019.

SSD manufacturers are now in the process of ramping up the production of large drives and I believe the cost of 2TB SSDs will sink to the same ~$100 level that 1TB models currently sell for fairly soon.

[Read more…]

How to add your favorite folder(s) to ‘File Explorer’ in Windows 10

Posted on May 21, 2019

Do you find yourself opening a ‘File Explorer’ window and navigating to the same folder(s) on a regular basis?

If so, you can easily place a shortcut to your frequently used folders right in ‘File Explorer’ so you won’t have to navigate to them every time.

I have several folders listed in the ‘File Explorer’ dialog on my work PC, and it’s a real time saver!

Follow these steps to add your favorite folder(s) to ‘File Explorer’ on your own Windows 10 PC: [Read more…]

Did you know you can shop at Amazon and pay cash?

Posted on May 20, 2019

Have you always wanted to take advantage of Amazon’s great deals and awesome selection of merchandise but didn’t because you don’t feel comfortable with using your credit or debit card to shop online?

Well, truth be told, there are actually a couple of easy ways to shop at Amazon without having to give them your card info.

In fact, I wrote a post a while back that explains how to buy Amazon gift cards locally and use them to shop at the Amazon website.

Well there’s another way to shop online at Amazon without having to use a credit card: Pay with cash!

Yes, you read that correctly. You can actually shop at the world’s largest online retailer and pay cash for your purchases! Here’s how: [Read more…]

Q&A: Is Cleanmgr.exe a virus, or it safe for me to run it?

Posted on May 20, 2019

Question from Melinda A: Hi Rick. I have a computer question about my Windows 10 Acer laptop.

Yesterday morning I asked a computer-savvy friend on Facebook a computer question and his reply was that I need to run a file called Cleanmgr.exe.

I’m a little leery about running .exe files because I remember reading that they can be dangerous.

Here’s my question: Is Cleanmgr.exe a virus or is it safe for me to run? And if it’s safe, do you think I should run it?

I’ve been reading your columns for a while and I trust your judgement.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I retrieve my Windows 10 license key from a bad hard drive?

Posted on May 20, 2019

Question from Keith: I upgraded my Windows 7 computer to Windows 10 shortly after it was released, and like a dummy I didn’t write down the license key for it.

The hard drive in this machine went bad and I replaced it with a 500GB SSD. The bad drive appears to be completely dead because it doesn’t make any noise at all.

After I installed the new drive I downloaded the Windows 10 files and put them on a CD. I know I’ll need the license key to activate Windows 10 after I install it, but I don’t have it.

I read that you can sometimes retrieve files from a dead hard drive. Is there any way to retrieve the Windows license key from a hard drive when Windows won’t even recognize the drive when its plugged into a different computer?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]