Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Should I replace the battery on a 2 year old laptop?

Posted on September 6, 2020

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Brenda G.: I have a two and a half year old Dell Latitude E5570 laptop that no longer works unless it’s plugged into a wall outlet.

I took it to the computer shop here in town and they said the battery is bad but they can order a replacement battery and install it for me for $160.

I really like this laptop but I don’t want to spend that much money for a battery if you don’t think it’s a wise use of the money.

My question is do you think I should have the guys at the computer shop order a battery and install it for me or would it make more sense to just apply that $160 towards a new laptop?

I really respect your opinion and I’ll take your advice regardless of which way you recommend I go.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to turn your old smartphone or tablet into an emergency radio scanner

Posted on September 4, 2020

Regular readers of this blog know that you don’t have to just junk your old smartphone or tablet when it comes time to upgrade because there are countless uses for working mobile devices.

In this post I’ll explain how to give your old iPhone, iPad or Android device a second life as a dedicated emergency radio scanner.

You’ll be able to use your “scanner” 24/7 while at home or anywhere that you have access to WiFi (your old phone likely won’t have an active data plan). [Read more…]

Does your blog take too long to load? Here’s how to find out right now.

Posted on August 30, 2020

Now that Google and other major search engines are taking page load times into consideration when ranking web pages in their search results, it’s more important than ever to make sure your blog pages load as quickly as possible.

There are a number of factors that affect how quickly a web page will load, but figuring out how to make the changes necessary to speed up a blog can be difficult in some cases. [Read more…]

7 awesome free software downloads that I use and recommend

Posted on August 26, 2020

The methods used to distribute software programs to the masses have changed quite a bit over the years.

Back in the early days of personal computing, software was usually distributed in one of three ways:

1 – We could buy a program outright and use it for as long as we wanted to without having to make any further payments.

Eventually the software companies figured out that most of us would be willing to shell out our hard-earned dollars on a regular basis to buy “upgraded” versions of our software.

That’s why many folks pay out the nose once a year or so for the privilege of installing the “new and improved” versions of their favorite programs. [Read more…]