Rick's Daily Tips

Review: SkyBell Wi-Fi Video Doorbell lets you ‘answer’ your door from anywhere in the world

Posted on January 10, 2018

Don’t you just hate it when you’ve settled in for the evening and your doorbell rings?

Or while you’re away on vacation, do you worry about burglars ringing your doorbell to see whether you’re home or not?

The ingenious SkyBell Video Wi-Fi Doorbell (#ad) lets you easily handle situations like these without even having to get out of your easy chair – or even while you’re lounging on some faraway beach!

When someone pushes the button to ring your doorbell, you’ll be instantly alerted via your Android phone or iPhone.

And thanks to a built-in camera, speaker and microphone, you’ll be able to see the person standing at your door and carry on a conversation with him/her from anywhere in the world via your smartphone. [Read more…]

Dashlane wants to completely control your passwords. I believe that’s a very bad idea.

Posted on January 8, 2018

Password managers are quite popular these days, and Dashlane is one of the most-used providers of that service on the web.

Well, the folks at Dashlane have just published a new blog post about a great sounding initiative they’ve developed called “Project Mirror: Kill the Password”.

I won’t go into the details of how Project Mirror will work because you can get all that info in their blog post should you choose to read it. But I will tell you that I don’t like it. [Read more…]

Some HP laptop batteries have been recalled. Is your laptop affected?

Posted on January 6, 2018

HP has just announced a voluntary recall of the batteries in some HP notebook computers and mobile workstations.

The batteries affected by the recall are prone to over-heating, a situation that could potentially cause a fire or present a burn hazard to the user.

If you purchased a laptop or mobile workstation on this list between December 2015 and December 2017 it might well be subject to the recall: [Read more…]

Check your PC’s RAM for problems with Memtest86+

Posted on January 4, 2018

Although computer memory is a lot more reliable today than in times past, memory sticks do go bad from time to time. They don’t go bad very often, but it does happen.

And if one goes bad in your PC you can expect to experience problems ranging from minor software glitches to a system that simply refuses to boot up.

If you suspect that your PC might have a defective memory stick you can test it with a great free RAM diagnostic utility called Memtest86+. [Read more…]

Scam alert: Don’t fall for the ‘Lets Start a Prayer Chain’ hoax on Facebook

Posted on January 4, 2018

As I’m sure you know, Facebook is a favorite playground for scammers and hoaxers thanks to it’s massive 2 billion+ person worldwide user base.

I despise scams and hoaxes in general, but the ones that really bother me the most are the ones that target Christians.

A while back I wrote a post about the insidious “Amen scam” that scammers use to profit off the good will of Christians.

That scam never ends because it’s so lucrative for the scammers, but others seem to come and go as the seasons change. [Read more…]