Rick's Daily Tips

Review: Apricorn EZ-Upgrade SATA Notebook Hard Drive Upgrade Kit

Posted on December 21, 2019

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Regular readers of this blog know that upgrading the hard drive in a notebook PC is a fairly straightforward process because I have written about it several times in the past.

Simply connect your new drive to the PC with a USB to SATA adapter cable, use disc cloning software to copy the contents of the existing drive to the new one, then remove the old drive and replace it with the new drive.

Sounds simple, right? Well, it really is pretty simple IF you’ve done it before AND you feel comfortable with the process. [Read more…]

Microsoft is set to abandon Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows 7 in January

Posted on December 20, 2019

Microsoft will be ending support for Windows 7 in January 2020, and that move will leave Windows 7 users with a very important choice to make.

If you have a Windows 7 PC one of the choices you’ll have available to you is to take your chances and keep using Windows 7 even after Microsoft stops releasing critical security updates for it.

I don’t really recommend that due to the reasons stated in the post I linked to above, but if you decide to forge ahead with Windows 7 anyway you can reduce the significant security risk a bit by using a really good antivirus and anti-malware product.

[Read more…]

Don’t forget the ‘extras’ while doing your Christmas shopping this year

Posted on December 13, 2019

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Not all that long ago it was common for folks to begin their Christmas shopping on the day after Thanksgiving – aka “Black Friday”.

And of course many people still do.

But in recent years the major retailers have successfully expanded Black Friday to the point where it’s now really “Black November”.

That means the Christmas shopping season is now in full swing!

As you rush around trying to pick up all of the Christmas gifts on your list, don’t forget about the essential extras that you’ll probably want to buy to go along with the gadgets that are on the list.

[Read more…]

Q&A: How can I mute the ads in ‘Microsoft Solitaire Collection’ but still hear my YouTube videos?

Posted on December 12, 2019

Question from Mary: I have a Lenovo laptop with Windows 10 that I use for both work and pleasure.

During my downtime I enjoy playing Solitaire with the “Microsoft Solitaire Collection” app while also listening to music videos on YouTube.

The problem is every time an ad comes on in the Solitaire app the audio from the ad blasts through the music from YouTube.

I searched the settings in the app up and down and I can’t find a way to mute the ads. Do you know of a way to do it?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]