Rick's Daily Tips

How to use the Onscreen Keyboard in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10

Posted on June 21, 2020

By now you are probably quite familiar with the onscreen keyboard that pops up whenever you access a text box on your mobile device.

What most people don’t know however is recent versions of Microsoft Windows come with onscreen keyboards as well.

You might be wondering why you would ever want to use an onscreen keyboard when your PC already has a full-size physical keyboard.

Well, there are several situations in which an onscreen keyboard can come in handy. Here are a couple that arise fairly often : [Read more…]

Q&A: How expensive is it to have a bad audio connector replaced on a laptop?

Posted on June 17, 2020

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from MaryAnne G.: I’m hoping you can answer a question for me. How much will a computer shop charge me to replace the audio connector on my three year old Lenovo laptop?

I use headphones a LOT when I’m watching videos and the connector has become wallowed out and I can’t seem to get a good connection anymore when I plug the headphones in.

I know it’s the connector on the laptop that’s bad because it does the same thing with a brand new pair of headphones. Ans I can feel the connector wiggle with the slightest touch.

If it’s gonna cost more than $40 to $50 I think I’d rather just buy a new laptop. If you can give me a rough estimate that’ll help me decide what to do. Thanks.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Is your iPhone running out of memory? Here’s a quick tip that can help.

Posted on June 17, 2020

If you’re an iPhone user you probably know that keeping as much of your phone’s memory free as possible will help it run faster and also prevent glitches and freeze-ups.

However, you might not be aware that old iMessages that contain images and other attachments can use up a huge portion of your phone’s available memory.

Luckily, it’s very easy to free up lots of memory space once per month simply by instructing your phone to automatically delete your older iMessages on a monthly basis. All it takes is a simple settings change: [Read more…]

Q&A: Is it possible to hide a hard drive in Windows 10?

Posted on June 17, 2020

Question from Leta W.: I have an external USB hard drive that I use to back up all of my important files. I keep this drive plugged into the back of my PC, and it’s hidden from view.

My question is can I hide that drive from showing up in File Explorer?

My daughter uses this computer too, and I want to make sure she doesn’t wipe out any of my saved files on the external drive. This computer is running Windows 10.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]