Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: How do I display the Battery Life Percentage indicator on IOS 7?

Posted on September 19, 2013

Question from Carl: Hi Rick. I have an iPhone 4 that I upgraded to IOS 7 just as soon as it was released. I think it’s a great upgrade, but I can’t figure out how to display the Battery Life Precentage indicator. Can you tell me how?

Rick’s answer: This issue has perplexed a lot of iPhone users Carl. You’d think something as important as the Battery Life Indicator would be enabled by default, wouldn’t you? Anyway, here’s how to turn it on:

1 – Open the Settings Menu

2 – Tap General

3 – Tap Usage

4 – Tap Battery Percentage

Do you have a tech question of your own for Rick? Click here and send it in!

How to use Firefox as an FTP client

Posted on September 17, 2013

Firefox is one of the most poplar web browsers in use today, primarily because of the huge number of outstanding add-ons that are available for it. One of my favorite Firefox add-ons is FireFTP, a wonderful extension that lets you send and receive files via FTP right from a tab in the Firefox browser window!

I use FireFTP every single day to upload images and other files to my WordPress blogs. Follow the steps below if you’d like to give it a try. [Read more…]

Q&A: Why am I getting pop-up ads at random times when I’m using Firefox?

Posted on September 13, 2013

Question from Desiree M.: Rick, all of a sudden my computer started displaying pop-up ads at random times, but only when I’m using Firefox. Do you think my PC is infected with malware? If so, how can I get rid of it?

I followed the steps you listed in your post about removing malware and it did find some infections, but I’m still getting the pop-ups. It’s driving me up the wall! Thanks SO MUCH for your help!!

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I put a password on my computer?

Posted on September 11, 2013

Question from Jeromy: Hi Rick. I have a Gateway SX2855 running Windows 7 Home Premium. I also have 2 brothers who love getting on it and playing games.

The problem is they download viruses to it at least once a week. My question is how can I put a password on my computer to keep my brothers from using it?

Rick’s answer: Jeromy, it’s very easy to add a password to your computer. Here’s how: [Read more…]

SMS Wakeup lets you know when you receive a text message on your Android phone

Posted on September 10, 2013

sms-wakeup Have you ever received an important text message but didn’t know it until much later because you didn’t hear the audible alert? Me too, and it’s rather annoying. But there’s an easy way to prevent this from happening in the future.

A nifty free Android app called SMS Wakeup will turn on your phone’s screen momentarily whenever a text message hits your inbox. Whenever the app is active, as long as you keep your phone where you can see it you can rest assured that you won’t miss another important text message that really needs to be answered ASAP.

SMS Wakeup also comes in a paid version ($0.99) that has some extra features, but the small and lightweight free version is all you’re likely to need. You can read more about SMS Wakeup (and download it) from the Google Play Store.