Rick's Daily Tips

Review: MINIX NEO Z83-4, Intel Cherry Trail Fanless Mini PC

Posted on January 24, 2018

Have you been looking for a really small Windows PC that works exactly like a full-sized desktop computer? If so, you’re sure to love the one featured in today’s deal!

The MINIX NEO Z83-4, Intel Cherry Trail Fanless Mini PC (#ad) is less than 5 inches square and only a little over an inch tall (not counting the Wi-Fi antenna).

But don’t let it’s tiny size fool you. This is a fully operational Windows 10 PC that starts up fast and works like a champ on the Internet thanks to its built-in 802.11ac Dual-Band Wi-Fi connectivity.

If you don’t have Wi-Fi in your home or office you can connect to a wired LAN instead via the Gigabit wired Ethernet port. [Read more…]

Scam Alert: Did you ‘Like’ one of the Russian Facebook pages that posted fake news during the 2016 election? Find out right now!

Posted on January 23, 2018

Unless you were living on another planet during the 2016 election cycle you probably know that fake Russian Facebook pages posted tons of links to fake news stories about the candidates.

What you night not have realized at the time is any “Likes” and “Shares” you might have made on those posts were helping spread “fake news”.

This isn’t an accusation in any way. As we all know, it was very easy to get taken in by those sham pages. That being said, I thought you might be interested in knowing for sure whether you interacted with any of them.

Luckily, it’s very easy to find out if you interacted with any of those infamous fake Russian Facebook pages. Here’s how: [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I replace Windows 10 with Windows 7 on a brand new laptop?

Posted on January 22, 2018

Question from Lenora H.: I recently bought a brand new Acer laptop that came with Windows 10 (which I had never used before).

I’ve been using this machine for almost a month now and I’ve discovered that I absolutely hate Windows 10!

If I buy a Windows 7 DVD can I wipe out the Windows 10 and install Windows 7 in its place? And if I can, do you know of any important reasons why I shouldn’t?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I get my PC to shut down immediately without having to click ‘Shut down anyway’ when an app is stuck?

Posted on January 17, 2018

Question from Emil P.: Ever since I updated my computer to Windows 10 it’s been hanging up at shutdown.

It displays a window saying that the system is closing X number of apps and shutting down.

But then it says that an app is preventing Windows from shutting down and asks if I want to shut down anyway or click cancel.

Sometimes it will name the app that’s hanging the shutdown but sometimes it won’t.

This is a screenshot of one of these messages: [Read more…]