Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Terry G.: Rick, I have an older Dell laptop with Windows XP installed. I want to take your advice and replace Windows with Ubuntu Linux, but I have a problem. The Dell’s DVD drive is broken and no longer works.
My question is how can I install Ubuntu on my laptop without using a Linux installation disc?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Pat M.: Rick, is there a way to delete Facebook Messenger from my iPad?
Rick’s answer: There sure is Pat. Lots of folks are ditching the official Facebook Messenger app and switching to third party messaging apps instead.
My preferred method of completely eradicating the Facebook Messenger app from an iOS device is below. Please give it a try and let me know if it works for you.
Follow these steps to remove the Facebook Messenger app from your iPad: [Read more…]
There’s an insidious scam making the rounds that could possibly target you or someone you know. Here’s the scenario:
You’re having a conversation with a friend when he tells you that a mutual friend has been talking trash about you. You tell your friend that you know that person well, and you don’t believe he would ever say anything like that about you.
“Hold on”, he says, “I have proof!” [Read more…]
As I explained in this post, adding a solid state drive (SSD) to your computer can speed it up more than any other other upgrade you can make for the same amount of money.
Today I’m going to tell you how to give your system the same awesome speed boosts provided by solid state drives at just a fraction of the cost. What’s more, you won’t have to replace your hard drive or copy its contents onto a new drive!
The little gem that makes all this possible is called a “Cache Only SSD”.
In essence, a Cache Only SSD is a slimmed down solid state drive that does just one thing: cache your most-used programs and operating system routines in flash memory. Then when the CPU needs those programs and routines again, they’re loaded from the super-fast flash memory instead of the much slower hard drive.
In short, a Cache Only SSD makes your Windows operating system and programs load in, well…a flash! [Read more…]
Back when I first heard that Lenovo was planning to buy out IBM’s personal computer business, I was concerned that the quality of their PCs would suffer. But that turned out not to be the case at all.
Lenovo has consistently built high quality machines, and that has paid off by making them one of the world’s top selling brands year after year.
I recently had a chance to check out the Lenovo IdeaPad 15.6 Inch Touchscreen Laptop, and I was impressed with the quality and features that come in the standard model. [Read more…]