Rick's Daily Tips

Scam alert: Beware the free VPN app ‘S5Mark’ – It’s actually malware!

Posted on June 19, 2018

As you probably know, many free download sites attach additional “drive-by” downloads to the files you download from their sites to your PC.

A relative handful of those “add-on” programs are actually beneficial, but the vast majority of them are simply junk that will bloat your system and slow it down.

Even worse, some add-ons that claim to provide a useful service are actually malware that will spy on you and/or do nefarious things and make it look like you’re the culprit.

One of the most insidious “drive-by” add-ons that you’re likely to ever encounter is a program called S5Mark. [Read more…]

Three awesome (and free) diagnostic tools for your PC

Posted on June 15, 2018

Personal computers have now become commodities, and as a result their prices are now the lowest they have ever been. Even better, their speed and capabilities just keep increasing even as their prices continue to drop.

But even with the prices of computers at an all-time low, even an entry level model will likely set you back at least $200 or more.

That means you’ll probably want to do everything you can to ensure that yours continues to run at peak efficiency for as long as possible. [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I redirect all 404 errors to the home page in WordPress?

Posted on June 13, 2018

Question from Seth P.: I have a WordPress blog that has several missing posts that I’ve deleted because they contained outdated information that was either incorrect or no longer relevant.

My blog now has lots of requests going to the 404 error page because those posts no longer exist.

I’d like to redirect all of those requests to my blog’s home page instead of displaying the 404 error page. How can I do that?

Ricks’s Answer: [Read more…]

Yahoo is pulling the plug on Yahoo Messenger

Posted on June 11, 2018

Back in the “Stone Age” of the Internet (i.e. before Facebook came along) Yahoo Messenger and AOL Messenger were used on a daily basis by millions of users to keep in touch with friends and family.

Well, times have changed…

AOL Messenger was shut down last year, leaving only Yahoo Messenger to compete with Facebook’s hugely popular Messenger app.

As of today that competition is officially over because Yahoo has just announced they’ll shutting down the entire Yahoo Messenger platform on July 17, 2018. [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I edit Image Size in pixels instead of inches with Adobe Photoshop Elements?

Posted on June 8, 2018

Question from Melinda Q.: I recently bought a new laptop because my old one died on me.

I installed Photoshop Elements on the new laptop from the same installation disc that I used to install it on the old one.

It seems to be working fine except for one thing: It won’t let me resize images in pixels. The only thing I can change is the document size (in inches).

On my old laptop I could change the image size in pixes but on the new one I don’t have that option. What am I doing wrong?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]