Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
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…]
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.
Question from Donna L.: Hi Rick. I just read your post explaining why I need to password protect my Wi-Fi connection, and I want to do it.
The problem is I can’t find the manual for my router so I don’t know what IP address I need to use to log into it. Can you tell me what it is? It’s a Lynksys E2500. Also, I can’t remember the username and password for the login screen. Can I reset them?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Caleb W.: I recently dipped my toes into the world of gaming and a friend said I’ll get better performance out of my system (Gateway DX-4860) if I upgrade it by installing a discrete graphics card.
The instructions for the card I bought said I should disable the integrated graphics circuitry that’s built onto the motherboard, but I can’t figure out how to do it. Can you tell me what I need to do?
Rick’s answer: Caleb, the BIOS in your Gateway DX-4860 will detect that you have installed a discrete graphics card and automatically disable the on-board video circuitry. You don’t really need to do a thing except just install the new card. Give it a try, and let me know if you run in to any problems. I wish you well and hope you enjoy your games!
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Question from Larry V.: Rick, I have a Dell Dimension 3100 (Windows XP) that’s served me quite well over the years, but when I turned it on yesterday morning it wouldn’t connect to the Internet.
When I plug in the cable from the router it recognizes it and says it’s connected at 100 Mbs, but I can’t access any websites, check for system updates, or do anything else that requires an Internet connection. Do you think it might be a hardware problem?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]