Rick's Daily Tips

Scam alert: Use a dating app? It’s probably selling your personal info.

Posted on March 7, 2022

Do you use a dating app on your phone or tablet?

If so, it’s probably selling or otherwise sharing your personal info with dozens of other companies.

According to this ABC News report from 2020, the Norwegian Consumer Council has discovered that “serious privacy infringements” are being perpetrated by the companies behind several of the world’s most popular dating apps.

And guess what? Many dating apps are still doing it.

In short, the apps are selling or otherwise sharing the personal info from user accounts with at least 135 other third-party companies and services.

[Read more…]

Q&A: Will Windows let you change a file’s creation date?

Posted on March 6, 2022

Question from Gary: I’m getting ready to turn over a bunch of files to another party and I don’t want him to know exactly when these particular files were created.

Don’t worry, there’s nothing illegal or immoral going on here, we’re just doing a business deal and I don’t want the files’ creation dates to become an issue.

Is there any way to change a file’s creation date with a Windows computer? [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I copy photos from my iPhone to a laptop?

Posted on March 3, 2022

Question from Donna: My iPhone’s storage is almost full because of all the pictures and videos that are on it.

I want to copy all the existing photos and videos from the phone to my HP Envy 13 (2019) Windows laptop and then delete them from the iPhone to make room for new ones.

I know I could upload them to iCloud and then download them onto my computer, but I don’t trust cloud storage and I never use it. I have iCloud syncing disabled and I’d really prefer to keep it that way.

Can you tell me how to transfer the photos and videos from the iPhone to my laptop without using iCloud? [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I stop my neighbor from stealing my electricity?

Posted on March 2, 2022

Question from William: I have a detached garage that has a 120 volt electrical outlet that’s accessible from the outside.

On cold nights (which we have lots of here in Wisconsin) my jerk of a neighbor likes to plug his diesel truck’s block heater into that outlet with a long extension cord.

I’ve told him to stop doing this on three different occasions because I don’t like him running up my electric bill.

He’ll stop, but then a few days later he goes right back to doing it.

I’m thinking about temporarily connecting 240 volts to that outlet (which would be very easy to do in the garage’s breaker panel) to destroy his truck’s block heater and teach him a lesson. Do you think that would work? [Read more…]

Q&A: What’s a good replacement for Windows’ Photos app?

Posted on March 1, 2022

Question from Barbara: I bought a new computer with Windows 11 on it and after using it for a while I’ve decided that I despise the Photos app.

Can you recommend a good replacement for it?

Free would be great but I don’t mind paying if I have to in order to get a good one. [Read more…]