Rick's Daily Tips

How to prepare a PC running Windows XP for an upgrade to Windows 8.1

Posted on April 8, 2015

xp-to-8-1 Microsoft effectively killed off Windows XP in about a year ago, and many XP users are trying decide whether to upgrade their PCs to Windows 8.1, dump Windows altogether and switch to Linux, or simply replace their old PC with a new one.

Personally, I think switching to Ubuntu Linux is a great way to go if the PC is used primarily for email and Internet access, but as long as the hardware is new enough to support Windows 8.1, that’s a great choice as well.

If you decide to upgrade Win XP to 8.1, it’s a good idea to prepare for the upgrade before jumping into it. Here are my recommendations: [Read more…]

Review: Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual

Posted on April 7, 2015

Most everyone knows that the Internet is an awesome resource that’s filled with information on virtually every topic known to man, but sometimes there’s just no substitute for a good old-fashioned printed book.

Although most of my research is done online nowadays, I still keep a small library of physical books on hand. And one book that has been a great help to me is Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual.

There was a time when every software program you purchased came with a printed manual, and that included MS-DOS and Windows. You not only got a disk, but a book explaining how to use the software as well. [Read more…]

How to disable Auto-Correct on the Samsung Galaxy S5

Posted on April 3, 2015

Auto-Correct is one of those features that we tend to either love or hate. Personally, I don’t like it, but that’s just me. I’d much rather proof-read my text than send annoying (and potentially embarrassing) erroneous words.

For some reason, the Auto-Correct feature on the popular Samsung Galaxy S5 smart phone seems to be even worse at guessing what you intended to type than its predecessors were.

If, like me, you aren’t all that fond of Auto-Correct, you can easily disable it on your own Galaxy S5. Here’s how: [Read more…]

Q&A: Why is Windows 8 not using all of my RAM?

Posted on April 3, 2015

Question from Rodney T: I have an Acer Aspire 5552G-7641 with 8GB of RAM. It came with Windows 7 which always showed the entire 8GB on the System Information screen.

My employer paid for a copy of Windows 8 so I backed up my data and wiped the hard drive, then installed Windows 8 (that was an ordeal in itself but I won’t go into it here lol).

Long story short, after installing Windows 8 the System Information screen is only showing 3GB of RAM even though the BIOS screen shows the full 8GB. Did I do something wrong? [Read more…]

How to tell Verizon to stop tracking your every move while you’re using the Internet

Posted on April 2, 2015

Are you a Verizon Wireless customer?

If so, did you know they secretly use cookies to track every move you make while using the Internet on their network with a mobile device?

Well, they do, and those cookies are actually “supercookies” that can not be removed! [Read more…]