Rick's Daily Tips

New computer? Prepare for having it serviced by creating an info packet!

Posted on January 27, 2015

pc-data-card Does this scenario sound familiar? You buy a new computer, take it home, set it up and begin using it.

Everything works just fine for several months, but then one morning it just refuses to boot into Windows. Try as you might, you can’t get the system to come up. Oh well, time to send it on for repair, right?

But then a question pops into your mind: Is the computer still under warranty? You know you’ve had it close to a year, but is the warranty still in effect? Did you spring for the extended warranty when you bought it? No problem, you’ll just get that information right off of the receipt.

Uh-oh, you can’t find the receipt! What to do now? [Read more…]

Call Control – Stop telemarketing and nuisance calls with this free Android app

Posted on January 27, 2015

Have you started receiving SPAM calls from unscrupulous telemarketers? Are you being called at the most inopportune times by bill collectors? Or perhaps you’re getting harassing calls in the middle of the night from someone who has made it his/her mission in life to make yours as miserable as possible?

If so, you need Call Control, a free Android app that automatically blocks calls from known “bad” numbers such as telemarketers, scammers, debt collectors and more. You can even add numbers on your own to prevent absolutely anyone at all from calling you if you simply would rather not talk to them.

With Call Control, you can set your phone to handle unwanted calls in one of three ways: [Read more…]

Review: EaseUS EverySync 2.0 File Synchronization Software

Posted on January 26, 2015

These days it seems that we have files stored everywhere. Such is life in our high-tech world.

Many of us find ourselves switching between our computers and mobile devices, working on the same files on multiple devices and trying our best to manage those files and keep them up-to-date as we go along.

In an effort to make that juggling act a little easier to manage, I recently began checking out a file sync software utility from the folks at EaseUS that keeps all of your files updated automatically on all of your devices, plus any cloud storage that you use. It’s called EverySync 2.0, and I am extremely pleased with how well it performs. [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I disable Read Receipts in WhatsApp on my iPhone?

Posted on January 24, 2015

Question from Tina L.: When I read a message in WhatsApp on my iPhone 6 it tells the person who sent it that I have read it.

I don’t like that because there are times when I’d rather the person not know that I have read their message. Can you tell me how to disable Read Receipts in WhatsApp? My phone has iOS 8 on it.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Pick up an Acer Chromebook C720 and get free shipping!

Posted on January 23, 2015

acer-c720-chromebook In an effort to bring Chromebooks (laptops running the Google Chrome operating system) to the masses, Acer has decided to sell the Chromebook C720 for a great price, and the shipping is free!

This is a great deal on a very capable laptop for those who use their PCs primarily for Internet use, checking emails, Facebooking, etc.

As one might expect, the Chromebook C720 isn’t the fastest or most capacious laptop on the market (after all, it does cost about $200), but it does what it was intended to do very well – the uses mentioned above.

Here’s what you’ll get: [Read more…]