Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Is it normal for a laptop’s screen to dim when you unplug the charger?

Posted on June 15, 2017

Question from Charlene: My friend bought a new Dell laptop a couple of months ago but she hates it because she can’t get used to Windows 10.

She went and found another laptop with Windows 8.1 on it and she offered to sell me the one with Windows 10 for half what she paid for it.

The problem is the screen dims every time you unplug the charger and I’m afraid something might be wrong with it. She says it’s normal for a laptop to dim the screen when the charger is unplugged, but my old laptop never did that.

I have two questions for you. First, do you think something’s wrong with this laptop, or is this normal?

And second, if there’s something wrong with it, will Dell fix it for me under the warranty even though I’m not the person that bought it?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Is your iPhone about to be orphaned by Apple?

Posted on June 12, 2017

If you have an iPhone you probably know that Apple is expected to release the update to iOS 11 in September.

What’s more, you probably also know that some of your favorite apps might no longer work after you update your device to the new version.

Well, there’s more to this story that just might impact you as well. [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I transfer an old CD-based game to a USB Flash Drive?

Posted on June 12, 2017

Question from Ashley: Hey there! I just got a new Acer Aspire Touchscreen Laptop and I have an old game that I want to put on it. However, the new laptop doesn’t have an optical disk drive.

Is there any possible way to transfer a CD’s contents onto a USB drive so I can play the game on my laptop? Thanks so much!!!

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Chrome will soon start blocking annoying ads by default

Posted on June 7, 2017

Don’t you just hate those annoying ads that hide the actual content of a web page until you click a hard-to-find “Close” button?

Or how about the ones that force you to wait ten seconds while a timer counts down to zero?

And even worse, those ads that start playing audio at maximum volume just as soon as the page is loaded into your browser?

Well, I happen to despise those annoying types of ads, I’m guessing that you despise them too.

And apparently the folks at Google agree with us. [Read more…]

Q&A: My screen is displaying everything sideways! How do I get it back to normal?

Posted on June 5, 2017

Question from Belinda G.: Rick, I need your help bad, but please don’t think I’m crazy after you read this!

I was checking my email with my 17 month old on my lap when she started tapping the keyboard. All of a sudden the entire screen image rotated 90 degrees to the right and I can’t figure out how to get it back to normal.

Please help??? I’m tired of having to lay on my side to read the screen! By the way, it’s a Dell desktop computer with Windows 10.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]