Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Where can I buy a Windows 8.1 Pro upgrade disc?

Posted on December 16, 2013

win-8-1-pro-pack Question from Sheila S.: I have accepted a great new job as a customer service representative for a major corporation and I’ll be working from home. One of the prerequisites for getting the job was owning a computer that can run the company’s proprietary C.S. software.

I ordered one of the laptops from the list they provided, but after I received it I found out that it has to run Windows 8.1 Pro instead of the standard Windows 8.1 that came with it. None of our local electronics retailers sell Windows 8.1 upgrade discs and I need to have it running on my laptop by January 2!

Do you know where I can buy a Windows 8.1 Pro upgrade disc ASAP? Please help me!!!

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to block images from being displayed automatically in your Gmail messages

Posted on December 16, 2013

gmail As many of you may have already noticed, Google recently changed the way Gmail displays images that are attached to the emails in your inbox.

In the past, the email would contain a short notification that the message contains an attachment, along with a link to click to display it. But now images are displayed by default, whether you want to see them or not.

There are several scenarios in which you might not want the messages in your emails to be displayed by default: [Read more…]

Q&A: Why are my apps missing from the Start Screen after upgrading to Windows 8.1?

Posted on December 14, 2013

Question from Julie T.: I bought a Lenovo computer with Windows 8 on it in August and finally got around to upgrading it to Windows 8.1 just a few days ago.

After 8.1 was installed I noticed that the apps I had downloaded before I did the upgrade were all missing. I downloaded all of them again but they still aren’t showing up on the Start Screen.

What am I doing wrong? Are the apps not being installed even though it says they are?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

If you use incandescent light bulbs you need to stock up while you can!

Posted on December 14, 2013

incandescent-bulb On January 1, 2014 it will become illegal to manufacture incandescent light bulbs in the U.S. or import them from other countries. This means if you use either 40 watt or 60 watt incandescent bulbs you won’t be able to buy any more of them once current retailer inventories run out.

This is all due to the passage of a 2007 bill that set minimum energy efficiency standards for light bulbs.

While the law doesn’t actually outlaw incandescent bulbs directly, it sets the standard for energy efficiency for each class of bulb so low that it would be impossible to design and make an incandescent bulb that meets them – which of course effectively makes it illegal to make them. [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I add the RAM from an old Gateway computer to my HP desktop PC?

Posted on December 13, 2013

Question from Christopher: My neighbor gave me an old Gateway GM5442 desktop computer that has two 1GB RAM modules in it. The RAM should be good because he stopped using the computer after the hard drive died.

Can I pull the RAM from that Gateway and add it to my HP Pro 3500? (It has two empty memory slots.) I’d just throw caution to the wind and give it a try, but I really can’t afford to mess anything up.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]