Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Will my existing USB devices work with a new MacBook Pro?

Posted on January 4, 2026

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Question from Kelly: I’m thinking about buying a new Apple MacBook Pro but I need a bit of advice first.

The reviews I’ve read were great, but they said this machine doesn’t have any old-style USB ports, only USB-C.

If I buy this laptop will I have to replace my external hard drive and other USB devices with new ones that have USB-C connections? [Read more…]

Q&A: Why does Windows 11 use so much RAM on a new PC?

Posted on January 3, 2026

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Question from Bill: I have an Acer desktop PC with 4 GB of RAM that I updated to Windows 11 a while back.

When I have all the programs and browser tabs that I normally use open at the same time the Task Manager says there is approximately 1.2 GB of RAM not being used.

I recently bought a brand new Dell desktop with 8 GB of RAM and Windows 11.

When I have the same exact configuration of programs and browser tabs open on the new machine it says there is still less than 2 GB of RAM that’s not being used.

How can this be? [Read more…]

How to keep your computer running for hours when the power goes out

Posted on January 3, 2026

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Regular readers of this blog know I’m a huge proponent of Battery Backup devices.

Truth be told, they are absolutely essential if you live in an area that’s served by an unreliable power grid, especially if you work from home and need to keep your computer gear up and running during frequent outages.

But as awesome as battery backup devices are, all consumer-grade models share one major disadvantage… [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I find out how much RAM Windows is using?

Posted on January 3, 2026

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Question from Devon: Back in November I bought this HP gaming desktop PC with Windows 11 on it.

I recently started getting a “Your computer is low on memory” warning that pops up on a regular basis. This is my first Windows PC (I’ve always been a Mac guy) so I don’t know where to start to try to track down the problem.

Restarting the computer clears the warning but it always comes back after a couple of hours.

This machine has 16GB of RAM in it and I don’t run that many programs at a time so I shouldn’t be getting this warning. I only get this error if I have Firefox running, and I get it even if there are no other programs running.

How can I find out how much RAM Windows is actually using? [Read more…]

6 tips for doing your own Tech Support for most any tech problem

Posted on January 2, 2026

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I often hear from readers how much they hate having to contact “Tech Support” when an issue arises with their computer or one of their other gadgets.

As you probably know, calling Tech Support is usually about as much fun as having a tooth pulled without an injection of Novocain.

Well, truth be told, the Tech Support experience is often intentionally designed to be frustrating because some companies would rather have you resolve the issue on your own instead of utilizing their Support system.

Luckily, there are a few things you can try that just might help you resolve your issue without having to call Tech Support at all: [Read more…]

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