Rick's Daily Tips

Kingsoft Office – An outstanding free replacement for Microsoft Office

Posted on September 19, 2017

I have often wondered why so many companies and individuals continue to pay big bucks for Microsoft Office when there are a number of outstanding free alternatives to choose from.

I haven’t owned a current version of either Microsoft Word or Excel for over a decade, and the free software on my PC can read and write those files just fine.

I have used Apache OpenOffice for some time and highly recommend it, but I recently downloaded and began testing Kingsoft Office. So far I find myself very impressed. Here’s why: [Read more…]

How to enable Two Factor Authentication on your Dropbox account

Posted on September 19, 2017

Regular readers of this blog know that I’m a huge fan of two-factor authentication for online accounts.

For those who might have missed them, I have already written posts explaining how to enable it on Facebook and Twitter.

Two factor authentication is a security measure which requires you to enter a verification code that’s sent to your mobile phone before you’ll be allowed to log in to your account.

This effectively locks your online account as tight as a virtual drum since a hacker would need physical access to your cell phone in order to break into your account.

The steps below explain how to quickly and easily enable two-step verification on your Dropbox account: [Read more…]

Scam alert: CCleaner has been hacked. If you use it you need to download the latest version, ASAP!

Posted on September 18, 2017

CCleaner has been one of my favorite Windows cleanup tools for years, and I’ve recommended it to countless other folks during that time.

Unfortunately, CCleaner’s maker Piriform has just announced that hackers have somehow managed to break into one of their servers and add malicious code to a recent build of the CCleaner software.

That means if you recently downloaded CCleaner to your PC or installed a recent update, your computer could well have malware on it. [Read more…]

Q&A: Why is the keyboard on my iPad split in half?

Posted on September 17, 2017

Question from Linda: My 4 year old got her hands on my iPad and now the onscreen keyboard is split into two halves.

I tried typing with it like this but I just can’t because it feels so unnatural.

I’ll be forever in your debt if you can tell me what I need to do to get it back to normal! Can you?

Rick’s answer: This actually happens a lot Linda, and it’s almost always by accident based on the desperate pleas for help I receive on a fairly consistent basis.

Your message prompted me to finally write this post explaining how to fix the split keyboard issue. [Read more…]

Just for fun: How close are we to the planet Mars?

Posted on September 17, 2017

Most everyone knows that our universe is an amazingly vast place that the human mind will likely never be able to truly comprehend, but relatively few realize just how far it is even to our closest planetary neighbors.

Take for instance the distance to that favorite fodder for countless science fiction books, the planet Mars.

Many of us have been fascinated by the “Red Planet” for our entire lives, but actually going there would take a lot longer than a typical vacation would allow. [Read more…]