Rick's Daily Tips

Warning: Apple will soon start ‘analyzing’ your iCloud data and personal files

Posted on February 2, 2017

Apple is planning to release iOS 10.3 before long, and with that update will come several significant changes to the operating system.

I believe most of those changes will be good ones, but there’s one that concerns me.

Beginning with iOS 10.3, Apple will start “analyzing” your iCloud data to “help them improve intelligent features and services such as Siri and other similar or related services.”

In a nutshell, that means Apple will soon start scanning your email, your notes, your contacts, your photos, your calendar, Keychain, Find My iPhone, your iTunes items and all the various files you have stored on iCloud. [Read more…]

Q&A: Is it safe to run ‘chkdsk’ to fix a hard drive with bad sectors?

Posted on January 31, 2017

Question from Randy F.: My hard drive started making a combination of loud whining and clicking sounds last night.

I did some research (thanks Google!) and found a forum post that said to run chkdsk to see if the drive has any bad sectors. It then said if bad sectors are found to run chkdsk/r to fix them.

I ran chkdsk and it did find a bunch of bad sectors. I started to run chkdsk /r to fix the bad sectors but then I remembered reading a follow-up post that said running chkdsk /r can kill a hard drive outright.

What’s your advice on this? I’d like to fix the drive and not have to replace it if that’s possible, but I don’t want to lose my pictures and other files by killing the drive. I need some advice on how to proceed.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: What would prevent a home-built computer from powering up?

Posted on January 30, 2017

Question from Aaron P.: When my PC died I decided to build my own computer instead of buying one off the shelf to replace it.

This is a list of the parts I used in the build:

Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 Motherboard
Athlon X2 5200+ CPU
Kingston HyperX FURY 16GB RAM Kit
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SC Gaming Video Card
2 Crucial MX300 1TB SSDs
Thermaltake Smart DPS G 750W 80Plus Gold Power Supply
Windows 10 Home Edition

After the parts arrived I put everything together but I can’t get it to power up. The screen stays blank and there are no beeps or sounds of any kind except for the case fans and PSU fan noise.

I’ve double-checked everything I know to check. Any ideas?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to easily double the SSD flash storage in your MacBook Air or Macbook Pro

Posted on January 27, 2017

Modern MacBooks are awesome machines, but the limited amount of internal SSD flash storage in some recent models can be a real problem, especially if you have lots of programs, apps and data files stored on the SSD.

Well, now there’s a fast and easy way to double the amount of internal SSD flash storage space in your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. In fact, it’s so easy you won’t even have to open up your laptop’s case!

All you have to do is slide a fantastic TarDisk storage expansion card (#ad) into your machine’s SDXC slot and the amount of internal flash storage space will double (up to 512GB, depending on the size of your TarDisk card). [Read more…]

Scam alert: Beware the dangerous ‘Energy Rescue’ ransomware app!

Posted on January 26, 2017

Hackers and scammers have been using ransomware attacks to extort money from unsuspecting PC users for years, and now they’re targeting smartphone and tablet users as well.

Unfortunately, it’s very easy to install a malicious app on your phone or tablet by mistakenly thinking the app is legit.

Right now there’s a very dangerous ransomware app targeting Android users, and apparently plenty of people are installing it. [Read more…]