Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Enid H.: I have an Alienware laptop running Windows 7 Pro – 64 bit.
If I start the computer up and run it for just a few minutes it’ll shut down and power off just fine. But if I let it run for an hour or more it won’t shut down. It just stays on the Shutdown screen forever until you unplug the power cord.
Do you have any idea what’s wrong and how I can get my laptop to shut down correctly?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Every few days I receive an email asking me which brand/model of laptop is the best selling laptop currently on the market.
I certainly don’t mind looking it up for folks whenever I’m asked, but I thought it might be a good idea to simply post the 5 best-selling laptops on Amazon from the previous week every Monday.
If you’re wondering why so many people inquire about the “best sellers”, it’s because it makes them feel better about their own purchase if they choose a popular model with plenty of great reviews.
With that in mind, here are some of the best-selling laptops on Amazon: [Read more…]
Microsoft has announced that they’ll be shutting down the Microsoft Messenger service on October 31 of this year.
That means if you use MS Messenger to chat with your friends, you’ll need to migrate to a different messaging service before that date.
Current MS Messenger users will automatically be transitioned to Skype, the popular audio/video calling and messaging service that Microsoft recently purchased. But if you’d prefer not to use Skype, there are plenty of options available to you, including these heavily used services: [Read more…]
HP has just announced the recall of approximately 6 million power cords belonging to HP and Compaq laptop owners in the USA and Canada.
The reason? They tend to overheat, leading to melting insulation – and even fires in some cases.
The “brick” section of the power cord and the wire that’s permanently attached to it appear to be fine. It’s the cord that plugs into and detaches from the “brick” that’s defective. [Read more…]
Google has finally released a 64 bit version of their popular Chrome web browser, and after putting it through its paces it appears to be a lot faster and more stable than the 32 bit version that we’ve all been using for so long.
Let me tell you, this is one fast browser!
There are other enhancements in the new version as well, one of my favorites being much crisper text on high-DPI monitors. But the increases in speed and stability are by far the most important of all the enhancements. [Read more…]