Rick's Daily Tips

Broadcast live events on Facebook using your smartphone or tablet with Facebook Live

Posted on March 29, 2018

Modern smartphones and tablets make it easy to document the world around us by taking photos and capturing video with just a couple of taps on the screen.

We can then easily (and instantly) share those photos and videos with others by posting them on Facebook.

Well, the folks at Facebook have taken the ability to share our videos to an entirely new level with an awesome feature called Facebook Live.

In a nutshell, Facebook Live lets you record live audio and video of virtually any event in real time and share it on your Facebook Timeline so your Facebook friends can witness the event as it unfolds. [Read more…]

Make your PC boot up faster with Startup Delayer

Posted on March 27, 2018

Does it seem like it takes forever for your PC to boot up or Restart? If so, chances are you have several applications that load automatically every time Windows boots up, and the boot process gets bogged down when several apps try to load at once.

You can (and probably should) prevent some of those applications from loading automatically, and the best way to do that is with a free download that I wrote about a while back called Autoruns. That being said, some programs are indeed worthy of automatic startup, but they don’t have to all start up at once.

Startup Delayer is a free Windows utility that allows you to delay the automatic startup of any or all of your auto-loading applications. Here’s how to download and install Startup Delayer: [Read more…]

Is this the perfect tech gift for an inquisitive child?

Posted on March 25, 2018

Regular readers of this blog know that I love technology, and I always have.

It all started back in the early 1970’s when I began taking old vacuum tube radios and TVs apart to learn how they worked.

By the time that decade drew to a close the tech world had begun to make the move from analog to digital.

Before I knew it I was taking my Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I computer apart and souping it up with modifications of all types. [Read more…]

Q&A: If I buy a laptop with Windows 10, can I install Windows 7 if I don’t like it?

Posted on March 25, 2018

Question from Sara A.: The screen went bad in my laptop so I’m looking for a new one. I’ve been to all the local stores, and all of laptops they have come with Windows 10.

I’m used to Windows 7 and I’ve heard that Windows 10 is a lot different. If I buy a laptop with Windows 10 on it will I be able to install Windows 7 if I don’t like it? I have the Windows 7 CD that came with my old laptop.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]