Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Beverly W.: I recently read an article that said using ReadyBoost with a flash drive will speed up your computer. My laptop is pretty slow so I decided I wanted to try it.
But now I’m confused because when I asked a friend of mine how to set it up he told me not to bother because it doesn’t really help.
I hope you can clear this up for me. Does ReadyBoost work or not? I don’t want to buy a flash drive to use with it if it won’t really do me any good.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
In times past, loading the BIOS Setup Utility on most any PC was as simple as pressing a special key at the beginning of the boot process.
With some modern laptops and ultrabooks running Windows 8.1 however, it isn’t quite that easy.
But as long as you can boot the PC into Windows, you can load the UEFI (BIOS) Setup Screen from there. Here’s how: [Read more…]
Could Windows 10 be the last new version of Windows we will ever install on our PCs and mobile devices?
If some of things being said and hinted at by Microsoft are any indication, the answer could very well be yes.
It’s no secret that Windows 10 will likely be sold on a subscription model, which means that as long as we keep making periodic payments to Microsoft our Windows installations will keep on running on our devices without interruption. [Read more…]
Question from Freida K.: I just bought a Samsung Galaxy S6 phone and it keeps loading the Camera app every time I double-tab the “Home” button.
I don’t like that and it’s driving me nuts. Is there a way to stop it from happening?
Rick’s answer: I understand your frustration Freida, and you aren’t alone in your dislike for Samsung’s “Camera Quick Launch” feature. Luckily, you can easily turn it off. Here’s how: [Read more…]
Lenovo has just announced the recall of 166,500 laptop batteries in the United States and Canada due to a potential fire hazard.
If your laptop has one of the affected batteries, you should remove it from the laptop immediately and contact Lenovo Support to request a free replacement battery. To find out if the battery in your laptop is affected by this recall, simply visit this page and check to see if its part number is on the list.
While you’re waiting for your replacement battery to arrive, you can use your laptop while running on power supplied by the AC adapter (without a battery installed).