Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: How can I prevent messages from popping up on my YouTube videos?

Posted on April 14, 2019

Question from Robin G.: Hi Rick. I have a question that I hope you can answer for me.

I’m subscribed to several YouTube channels, and when I’m watching any of the videos posted on one of them a big ugly message always pops up telling me to visit the channel’s website.

I already visit that website pretty often and I don’t need these reminders popping up all the time.

Is there any way to prevent them from popping up on the YouTube videos that I’m watching? They are really annoying!

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Windows 10 users no longer have to ‘Eject’ removable drives before disconnecting them

Posted on April 8, 2019

If you’re a Windows user you’re probably very familiar with the need to “Eject” your removable drives before disconnecting them from your PC.

In the past Microsoft has always cached the data written to removable media to make the system run a little faster.

That meant we had to “Eject” a removable drive before disconnecting it from the PC to prevent losing any cached, but unwritten data and possibly corrupting the drive’s file system.

[Read more…]

Review: Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop

Posted on April 3, 2019

Serious gamers have long preferred desktop gaming PCs over laptops because they were more powerful and more easily upgradeable.

But now that preference is beginning to change.

The latest gaming laptops to arrive on the market pack plenty of power for running even the most demanding games, making them a great choice for gamers who like to take their rigs with them when they travel.

A perfect case in point is the Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop (#ad) from Acer.

This laptop packs tons of speed and power, yet it’s about as affordable as a machine of this caliber can get. Here’s a quick look at the specs: [Read more…]

Scam alert: Office Depot fined $25 Million dollars for charging customers to remove non-existent malware from their PCs

Posted on April 1, 2019

Have you ever taken your laptop or desktop PC into Office Depot (now Office Depot/Office Max) for a free “PC Checkup” or some other service?

If so, did you end up paying them big bucks to remove malware from the machine?

Well, if you did you were probably scammed.

[Read more…]

Review: Samsung 860 EVO 2TB SATA III Internal SSD

Posted on March 28, 2019

Thanks to the advent of 3D V-NAND and other new flash memory technologies, solid state drives are getting both larger and less expensive all the time.

While SSDs are still considerably more expensive than hard drives with the same amount of storage capacity, the cost differential is now smaller than ever.

A perfect example is the new Samsung 860 EVO 2TB SATA III Internal SSD (#ad), one of the largest commonly available solid state drives on the market today. I recently had the opportunity to check one out, and I came away quite impressed. [Read more…]