Rick's Daily Tips

How to reduce the thickness of the Taskbar in Windows 11

Posted on March 10, 2022

If you recently purchased a Windows 11 PC or upgraded an existing machine to Windows 11, you’ve probably noticed that the Taskbar is thicker than it was in previous Windows versions.

And if you went looking for one, you probably noticed that there’s no setting in either the Control Panel or the Setting app to change the Taskbar’s thickness.

Personally, I like having my Taskbar as thin as possible to ensure that I have as much of the usable part of the screen in view as possible.

If you’d prefer a thinner Taskbar as well, I have some good news for you… [Read more…]

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…]