Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Another insidious scam is making the rounds on Facebook. This one is perpetuated by a “free” browser extension called Profile Visitors for Facebook.
The website that’s hawking this fraudulent extension (I will not publish the URL for obvious reasons) claims that it will add a new menu option to your Facebook page that, when clicked, will tell you who has been looking at your Facebook profile. [Read more…]
If you’re a long-time Facebook user you’re surely aware by now that plenty of scams make the rounds on there. The latest scam involves a fake video with a title that begins with the words [Shocking Video].
In most cases there really is no video to see at all, just a photo of some unbelievable scene with a YouTube-style Play button Photoshopped onto it.
If you click through to watch the video, you’ll be redirected to a fake site that looks like Facebook and asked to take a survey. That survey earns cash… for the scammer, not you! [Read more…]
If you use a tablet PC that has a limited amount of file storage capacity, SkyDrive makes it easy to store your files in the cloud to prevent filling up your precious local storage space.
That’s all well and good, but if you use a regular PC that has a large hard drive, storing your files locally will allow you to access them even when you aren’t connected to the Internet.
Luckily, it’s very easy to force SkyDrive to save local copies of your files right on your hard drive for offline access in Windows 8.1. Here’s how: [Read more…]
Question from Alan J.: Rick, I travel frequently and I use my mobile phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot via “tethering” for my laptop. The problem is I’m only allotted 2 GB of data transfer per month.
2GB would be enough but something on my laptop is constantly checking for updates and downloading them. I need to put a stop to the auto-updates because they’re using up my paltry supply of monthly data.
I’ve already turned off automatic Windows Updates. How can I prevent ALL auto-updates from my laptop with Windows 8.1?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Many of us use one or more VOIP (Voice over IP) apps in order to save our mobile phone minutes, but it’s a hassle having to load the app every time we want to make a call.
Bolt is a free app that replaces your Android phone’s default dialer app. What sets Bolt apart from other VOIP apps is how it automatically places calls to other Bolt users via VOIP while still placing calls to everyone else over your carrier’s regular network (using your plan minutes of course). [Read more…]