Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Micha V.: I love the “Weather” app in Windows 10 but I seem to have messed it up somehow.
For some reason it’s started showing the current temperature in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit.
I must be an idiot. How can I get it switched back to Fahrenheit?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
I love free software that helps me complete my daily tasks and keep my PC running fast and smooth, and my absolute favorite is CCleaner from Piriform, a great company that produces some of the best software out there, free or otherwise.
In a nutshell, CCleaner is like a vaccum cleaner for the file system of your Windows PC.
Running this powerful tool on a regular basis will keep your system clear of clutter such as temporary files, recent documents, cookies, obsolete form data, download history…in fact most any “leftovers” that tend to build up and clutter up your hard drive and slow down your machine. [Read more…]
As you probably know by now, Facebook is currently under fire for a serious data breach with a firm called Cambridge Analytica.
In a nutshell, Cambridge Analytica used a malicious app to steal the personal information of millions of Facebook users during the last U.S. presidential election cycle.
Unfortunately, you could easily be one of them.
If you’re wondering if your own data was stolen by Cambridge Analytica, you can easily find out right now. Here’s how: [Read more…]
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Question from Seth: I need help with a RAM upgrade issue, Rick.
My computer came with 4GB of RAM already installed (two 2GB sticks). It has two empty RAM slots open.
I bought two 8GB RAM sticks and installed them in the empty slots.
When I try to start up the PC with the new RAM sticks installed, I hear a beeping sound and an error message comes up on the screen.
If I remove the new RAM sticks and leave the old sticks installed the computer boots up OK.
What can be causing the computer not to boot up with the new RAM sticks installed? Thanks.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Ransomware is a type of virus that encrypts all the data on your computer’s hard drive or SSD and then demands that you pay a ransom to a hacker in exchange for the decryption key.
In other words, it holds your files and data hostage until you pony up the amount demanded for the ransom.
And the danger is very real. In fact, ransomware attacks are now one of the most common types of malware attacks being perpetrated on the public. [Read more…]