Rick's Daily Tips

Thank ‘Windows 8.1 with Bing’ for all the $200 Windows laptops that are now on the market

Posted on November 30, 2014

If you’ve been computer shopping recently, you’ve no doubt noticed the plethora of laptops priced around $200. It seems they’re everywhere these days, and even the big name-brands are selling them.

If you’re wondering how the computer manufacturers can afford to sell a Windows laptop for $200, it basically boils down to one reason: Microsoft’s release of Windows 8.1 with Bing.

At its core, Windows 8.1 with Bing is exactly the same operating system as the standard Windows 8.1, but two things differentiate Windows 8.1 with Bing from standard Windows 8.1: [Read more…]

Q&A: How’s the best way to use my new hard drive to back up my main drive?

Posted on November 29, 2014

Question from Eric J.: I have an older Gateway desktop computer that came with a 320Gb hard drive, which is now full. I bought a new Seagate 1TB drive and installed it in the computer.

How do you recommend that I back up the smaller drive onto the larger one? Can I just copy my files from the small drive onto the new one and then delete them from the old drive to free up some space?

I want to make sure I do this right because I don’t want to lose any of my files. I’ll really appreciate any advice you can give me. Thanks.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to manually enable TRIM support in Windows

Posted on November 26, 2014

microsoft-windows TRIM is a feature in Windows 7 and above that immediately frees up the space on a solid state drive (SSD) that was previously occupied by a deleted file.

This allows Windows to re-use those no longer needed memory locations right away instead of having to search for unused locations elsewhere on the drive.

In a nutshell, having TRIM enabled keeps your SSD from slowing down with regular use, and it makes the drive last longer to boot. [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I prevent my Facebook friends from knowing that I have read their messages?

Posted on November 24, 2014

Question from Lexie V.: I get tons of messages from my Facebook friends, and I always try to read them as soon as possible.

That being said, there are times when I’d rather not let some senders know that I have read the messages they sent to me.

Is there any way to keep my friends from knowing that I have read the messages they sent me on Facebook?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to bypass the Windows Login screen

Posted on November 23, 2014

skip-login-screen If you’re the only person who ever uses your computer you can have Windows boot straight to the Desktop or Start Screen without prompting you for a password.

It’s easy to set up and the instructions below will show you how to do it. Simply skip to the section with instructions for your particular Windows version.

Windows XP

1 – Click Start > Run.

2 – Type control userpasswords2 into the box and click Ok.

3 – Uncheck the box beside Users must enter a username and password to use this computer, then click Ok. [Read more…]