Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Why does Systeminfo close immediately after it opens?

Posted on November 18, 2013

Question from Beverly: My friend is trying to help me troubleshoot a problem with my laptop. He told me to type Systeminfo into the Windows 7 “Search” box and send him the “BIOS version” listed there.

I tried that several times, but the window closes immediately after it opens. He says it works fine on his computer. What am I doing wrong?

Rick’s answer: Beverly, you’re having this problem because you can’t run a command line utility such as Systeminfo from the “Search” box. You’ll need to run it from a command prompt instead. Here’s how: [Read more…]

How to reclaim 6GB of wasted disk space after upgrading from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1

Posted on November 17, 2013

windows-8-1 If you have recently upgraded your Windows 8 installation to Windows 8.1, you can reclaim 6GB of hard drive space by removing the old Windows 8 files. Here’s a little background info for you…

When you upgrade to a newer version of Microsoft Windows, the version being replaced is retained in a folder called Windows.old just in case the upgrade fails or you wish to revert back to the previous version for some reason.

The amount of space required to store the previous version of Windows varies depending on the versions involved. Since you have just upgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, you now have roughly 6GB of old (and now useless) Windows 8 system files just sitting there taking up valuable disk space. [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I block those annoying Bitstrips cartoons on Facebook?

Posted on November 17, 2013

Question from Randy E.: Hi Rick. Are you familiar with those Bitstrips cartoons that pop up on Facebook now where your friends are the characters in the cartoons? Well I hate them, and I’d love to be able to block them. Can you tell me how?

Rick’s answer: Randy, I sure am familiar with the Bitstrips, and to be honest I sort of like them. But I can certainly see where others might find them annoying if they aren’t really into that sort of thing.

There are two ways to block Bitstrips and prevent them from showing up in your newsfeed. [Read more…]

Q&A: Why is the fan/heatsink on my new AMD FX 6350 CPU not working properly?

Posted on November 17, 2013

Question from Benji: I decided to try my hand at building my own PC so I bought the parts from Newegg, and as soon as they arrived I carefully put them together with my nephew’s help. Everything worked fine, but the case was to small for my chosen video card to fit comfortably within it.

I bought a larger case and transferred the components from the old case into it, then powered it up. Everything seemed fine for several seconds but then I got a CPU heatsink error. I double-checked everything, and I can’t find anything wrong.

Any ideas about what to look for? I’d hate to have to send everything back! By the way, the heatsink/fan is a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I connect my Samsung Galaxy S4 to my router via USB?

Posted on November 17, 2013

Question from Devon P.: Rick, I have Charter Internet, and I access it through a Belkin wireless router that the Wi-Fi has stopped working on. That’s fine for me because I only have one computer, and since it’s a desktop I just keep it plugged in to the router via an Ethernet cable.

The problem I have is I also need to connect my Samsung Galaxy S4 to the router via the Micro USB connector since there is no Wi-Fi available and there is no usable cell service out here in the boondocks where I live.

I can’t seem to get a straight answer as to whether I can do this or not, and I’d really appreciate it you could give me a yes or no (and if the answer is yes, the steps I need to take to do it). I’d like to avoid having to buy a new wireless router if I can.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]