Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Dana G.: I read an article the other day that said if your computer uses too much virtual memory it will really slow down your programs and stuff.
My laptop (a Dell w/Windows XP) is running really slow lately, and I was wondering if that could be the problem. And if it is, how can I stop it?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
As you probably know by now, Microsoft made a ton of changes when they designed the Windows 8 user interface, and many of them were quite unpopular to say the least.
Some of the most reviled changes were addressed with the release of Windows 8.1, but there’s one that really irritates me that wasn’t addressed at all: the procedure for printing from a modern app.
Before Windows 8 came along, printing was almost as easy as breathing. All you had to do was either click the Print icon on a toolbar or the Print option on the “File” menu. But since most modern apps no longer have these features we must do it in a completely different way.
Follow the steps below to print from a modern app in Windows 8.1: [Read more…]
If you have recently upgraded to Windows 8.1, you have probably noticed that both the address bar and tabs list in the “modern” version of IE 11 (the app that loads when you click the Internet Explorer tile on the Start screen) keep disappearing every time you load a new web page.
If you find the disappearing address bar and tabs as frustrating as I do, follow these steps to force them to remain visible for you: [Read more…]
Question from Dulce F.: Rick, I have an HP Pavilion G60 laptop that won’t turn on unless the charger is plugged in to the wall.
I’ve tried removing the battery and putting it back in and a few other things that my nephew suggested, but so far nothing has worked.
Can you tell me what’s wrong and what I need to do to fix it? This is so frustrating because I’ve only had this computer for 3 years! Thanks so much for your help!
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Mark V.: I bought a brand new Toshiba Satellite C55-A laptop from Best Buy a couple of months ago, then had to go out of town on business for 6 weeks before I could even open the box and try it out.
When I got back home I hooked it up and found out that the Wi-Fi connection is really SLOW!!! I know it’s not a weak signal from the router because both my 5 year old HP laptop and my iPad 4 get great wireless speeds in every part of the house.
I’ve tried everything I can think of, including resetting Windows 8 to the factory default. No luck!! Any ideas? Neither Toshiba nor Best Buy were any help at all since I had to wait so long to try it out!
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]