Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Why is my blog taking so much time to load?

Posted on November 16, 2021

Question from Carrie: I have a WordPress blog that averages around 2200 visitors a day.

When I first started this blog the pages loaded very quickly, almost instantly. But now it takes them forever to load, often as long as a minute or more.

I’ve read everything I could find about how to make blog pages load faster and so far nothing has helped.

I’ve cut back on my images quite a bit and optimized the ones I’m still using. I cut the number of WordPress plugins I was using from 16 to 5.

I even ran a malware scan in my blog like you recommended in this post.

I’m at a loss as to what I’m doing wrong. Do you have any idea what could be making my blog load so slowly? [Read more…]

Why you should ask for a second opinion after a ‘clean’ virus scan

Posted on November 15, 2021

Over the years I’ve worked on lots of computers that exhibited all the classic signs of a malware infection.

And as you might expect, many of the owners of those machines insisted that the problem couldn’t possibly be malware because they regularly scan their systems with antivirus programs.

But when I ran my own scans on those systems, I often discovered that they were indeed infected, some of them with dozens of viruses, spyware objects, malicious toolbars and other digital nasties.

How could that be? [Read more…]

How can students use modern technology while studying?

Posted on November 15, 2021

Technology has impacted every facet of life, and the education system is not exempted.

In this modern age of growing technology and connectivity, tech gadgets have penetrated classrooms and learning institutions and have greatly enhanced the lives of students.

Technology in the classroom is commonplace these days and students from grade school level to university level make use of them.

[Read more…]

How to safely access the Internet while you’re on vacation

Posted on November 14, 2021

In today’s connected world, taking a vacation doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have to forgo using the Internet while you’re enjoying some tropical paradise or hiking some wilderness trail.

In fact, there aren’t that many places left in the world where you simply cannot find a way to get your laptop or mobile device connected to the web.

Unfortunately, using the Internet while you’re away from home is risky business unless you know how to do it safely.

[Read more…]

6 tips for doing your own Tech Support for gadget issues

Posted on November 13, 2021

Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter

I often hear from readers how much they hate having to contact “Tech Support” when an issue arises with their computer or one of their other gadgets.

As you probably know, calling Tech Support is usually about as much fun as having a tooth pulled without an injection of Novocain.

Well, truth be told, the Tech Support experience is often intentionally designed to be frustrating because some companies would rather have you resolve the issue on your own instead of utilizing their Support system.

Luckily, there are a few things you can try that just might help you resolve your issue without having to call Tech Support at all: [Read more…]