Rick's Daily Tips

Tech Tips, Tricks and Tutorials

Tips and information on...
Computers - Smart Phones - Tablets
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Q&A: Is it safe to pay for an Ebay purchase with Western Union?

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Question from Marie L.:  I agreed to purchase three new iPads on Ebay for my grandchildren.

The seller said he’ll give me a 30% discount if I pay with Western Union because he doesn’t like using PayPal.

He has pretty good feedback (48 total with 91% positive), but this just seems a little fishy to me because I have always been able to pay with PayPal in the past.

My question is do you think it’s safe to pay for the iPads with Western Union or do you think he’s trying to scam me? I’m really confused and don’t know what I should do.

Rick’s answer:  [Read more…]

How to disable the Control Panel and Settings app in Windows 10 (and why you might want to)

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As you probably know, Windows 10 has both a Control Panel and a Settings app that make it easy to alter a plethora of Windows settings and features.

Unfortunately, these powerful tools also make it very easy for inexperienced users to make system changes that end up causing issues with either the Windows installation itself or the programs and apps that run under it.

[Read more…]

Q&A: If I block someone on Facebook, will they be told that I blocked them?

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Question from Pam:  I have a question Rick. If I block a friend on Facebook, will Facebook tell her I blocked her? I hope the answer is no.

I know I could unfriend her but then my profile would pop up under “People you may know” on her page and that would tip her off that I had unfriended her.

Since I work with this person, I’d rather not upset her, but some of her posts are very crude and I don’t want them showing up on my page. Can you advise?

Rick’s answer:   [Read more…]

Why you should enable ‘Breadcrumbs’ on your blog

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If you’re a blogger you’re probably familiar with the term “breadcrumbs”.

In a nutshell, breadcrumbs are navigable paths from a blog’s home page to the page that’s currently displayed in the browser.

Every portion of the breadcrumb path except for the post/page name itself can be clicked on to jump immediately to that section of the blog.

For example, if you look at the top of this page you’ll see the following breadcrumb situated between the bottom menu bar and the post title: [Read more…]

Speed up Windows 10 by disabling ‘Pretty’ features

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If you’re like me you want your computer to respond to your clicks and perform its tasks as quickly as possible.

By default, Windows 10 has several features enabled that are designed to make the user interface look pretty.

For example, have you noticed how menus slide into view instead of just popping immediately onto the screen? Or perhaps you’ve noticed the cute little shadow that is displayed under your mouse pointer?

There are actually well over a dozen of these features that spiff up the user interface in Windows 10, and most of them are enabled by default. Unfortunately, all of those “pretty” features slow your system down by varying degrees.

[Read more…]

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