Rick's Daily Tips

Advertisers and publishers hate ad blockers, but they have only themselves to blame for them.

Posted on May 27, 2018

The recent explosion in the number of Internet users installing ad blockers has greatly reduced the amount of advertising revenue being earned by many online publishers.

Truth be told, I use ad blockers on all my browsers myself, and I doubt if I’ll ever surf the web without them again.

Publishers hate ad blockers because the ads they place on their websites never make it to the reader’s web browser. And as one would expect, every blocked ad represents a loss of revenue.

But guess what? The publishers have no one but themselves to blame for this huge loss of income. To understand why that is, it’s important to consider the history of online advertising… [Read more…]

Heads-Up: Google is removing the “Secure” indicator for secure websites from the Chrome browser

Posted on May 21, 2018

If you’re like me you’ve probably grown used to seeing the green “Secure” indicator in the address bar when you visit a secure website with the Chrome web browser.

That simple word “Secure” and green padlock gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling about the websites I visit because I know that any information I might supply to them will be encrypted before it’s transmitted across the Internet to their server.

Well, here’s a little heads-up: Google will soon be eliminating that comforting “Secure” designation from Chrome. [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I still buy a video card that doesn’t use a fan?

Posted on May 19, 2018

asus-ati-radeon-hd6450-silence-1gb-video-card — (#ad)

Question from Glen J.: I have what is probably a very odd request. I need a low powered video card that doesn’t use a fan.

The video card in my PC has always been very noisy, and now the fan has started making screeching noises and the blades are wobbly (bad bearings perhaps?).

My question is can I buy a simple low powered, fanless video card that will work in a PCIe slot? I don’t need anything fancy, just something to drive my 21″ LCD monitor. I wouldn’t even replace the bad card at all were it not for the fact that my motherboard doesn’t have integrated video.

Any help you can provide will be very appreciated. [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I stop the screen on my Surface Pro 4 from flickering?

Posted on May 15, 2018

Question from Dolly F.: I bought a Surface Pro 4 back in December and I recently started noticing a very faint, but irritating screen flicker.

I’ve tried changing pretty much all the available screen settings and installed all the latest updates but I just can’t get the flickering to stop.

This is absolutely driving me up the wall!

If you can tell me how to get this to stop you’ll be my hero lol. Thanks for your help in advance. Love your site by the way.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Why am I getting a ‘Some settings are hidden or managed by your organization’ error in Windows 10?

Posted on May 7, 2018

Question from Kenny W.: I recently upgraded my HP laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 10, and I have a problem that I can’t figure out.

When I try to change some of the system settings the settings options are disabled and the screen displays this message:

“Some settings are hidden or managed by your organization.”

The thing is I’m not part of an organization. This is my own private computer.

How can I fix this so that I can make changes to the system settings on my PC?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]