Rick's Daily Tips

Did you click an ad on Yahoo last week? If so, your PC just might be infected with malware.

Posted on January 6, 2014

Malware seems to be attacking our computers from every direction these days, but we still tend to take the security of the world’s most trafficked websites as a given. As it turns out, that could be a huge mistake.

According to online security firm Fox IT, hundreds of thousands of visitors to the massive network of Yahoo websites on or around January 3 were served ads that redirected their browsers to websites containing malware. Once on a computer, the malware exploits security holes in the JAVA framework that’s installed on the PC. [Read more…]

Q&A: Why is Windows Update stalling at 35% on the reboot?

Posted on January 4, 2014

Question from Brenda G: Hi Rick. I desperately need your help! I have an Acer Aspire AS5733Z-4477 laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium. I’ve never had a problem with it installing Windows Updates before, but this time it won’t finish installing them.

What happens is the updates will install within Windows, then it tells me to reboot the computer. It then tries to finish installing the updates during the reboot, but it always gets stuck at 35% and just sits there. How can I get it to finish the process and boot on up into Windows?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to use your iPhone’s flash as a flashlight without a third-party app

Posted on January 3, 2014

Thanks to a new feature in iOS 7, iPhone users can now turn on the camera’s flash and use it as a flashlight without having to install a third-party app.

In my opinion, this is a feature that should have been included in the operating system of every smart phone for years.

There are several flashlight apps available for the iPhone, but now we don’t have to use them on phones running iOS 7.

It’s easy to turn on the new Flashlight feature. Here’s how: [Read more…]

Hackers steal 4.6 million Snapchat usernames and phone numbers

Posted on January 2, 2014

If you use the popular Snapchat messaging app there’s a good chance that your username and phone number could be in the hands of criminals right now.

Snapchat has announced that a recent security breach has allowed the usernames and phone numbers of 4.6 million registered users to be stolen by hackers.

While this breach isn’t anywhere near as serious as most of the ones that have been in the news lately, it could still cause problems for the unlucky victims. [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I uninstall Microsoft Office from one PC and install it on another one?

Posted on January 1, 2014

Question from Margo S.: My husband gave me a Gateway desktop computer for Christmas to replace the ancient Dell that I use to run my pottery shop along with a boxed copy of Microsoft Office Home and Business 2013 to install on it.

On December 26 I unpacked the new PC and set it up, then installed Office on it. After using it for a couple of days I found out that it has a hardware issue and I’m going to have to return it.

I have a concern that I’m a little worried about. Since I have already installed Office on the new computer, will I still be able to install it on the replacement computer that I’ll be getting too?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]