Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: How can I keep my 4 year old from exiting Internet Explorer?

Posted on August 16, 2013

Question from Andrea L.: Hi Rick. I have a problem and I’m betting you might be able to help me solve it.

My 4 year old daughter likes playing the games on the PBS Kids website (https://pbskids.org). The problem is she isn’t the best at controlling the mouse yet and she sometimes accidentally leaves Internet Explorer and starts click in places where she doesn’t need to be clicking. Last night I caught her clicking around the Control Panel!

Is there a way to force her to stay within the confines of the web browser? The computer runs Windows 7 if that makes a difference. Thanks so much for your help!

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Microsoft to release Windows 8.1 on October 18

Posted on August 15, 2013

windows-8-1 If you purchased a new PC with Windows 8 pre-installed or upgraded an existing computer to Windows 8 from a previous version, chances are you are unhappy with Microsoft’s new operating system. Well, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and the end of the tunnel is rapidly approaching.

I wrote a post a while back explaining how Windows 8.1 would eventually be released as a free upgrade to make Windows 8 work more like Windows 7. Thankfully, we now know when “eventually” will be. [Read more…]

Memo to Microsoft: Users just aren’t that interested in touch screens on laptops and desktop PCs

Posted on August 13, 2013

touch-screen-laptop I found it odd when Microsoft decided to make the touch screen-friendly tiles of the new Start Screen the primary selling point of Windows 8.

To this day I still haven’t figured out why the folks in Redmond thought of laptop and Desktops PC users would ever prefer “touching” their computer screens over using their mice and keyboards.

Well, it turns out that I’m not the only person who feels that way. [Read more…]

Q&A: Why is ‘Burn disc image’ missing when working with ISO files?

Posted on August 12, 2013

Question from Nathan E.: Hi Rick. I have a problem that I can’t seem to figure out. I’m hoping you can help me.

I work with a lot of ISO files that I download from the web and then burn onto writable CDs and DVDs. Until recently I could right-click on an ISO file and click “Burn disc image” and Windows’ built-in CD/DVD burner utility would create a bootable disc.

Alternatively, I could get “Burn disc image” to show up as a menu item in Windows Explorer by simply clicking on the name of the ISO file.

I don’t know what happened, but starting a few days ago the “Burn disc image” option fails to appear regardless of which of the above-mentioned methods I try. Can you help me get it back? I’ll be much in your debt if you can! My laptop is running Windows 7. Thanks!

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to set Ubuntu Linux to boot up without requiring your password

Posted on August 12, 2013

Linux is one of the most secure operating systems in use today, and one of the things that makes it so secure is its insistence that you enter a password before doing anything that can possibly cause harm to your system.

But if you’re the only person who has access to your computer, you really don’t need to enter a password just to load the operating system.

If you use Ubuntu (the most popular Linux distro), you can easily set it to bypass the login screen and boot directly to the Desktop. Here’s how: [Read more…]