Rick's Daily Tips

USB 3.1 set to double the already blazing speed of USB 3.0

Posted on August 4, 2013

A little over a year ago I wrote a tip explaining how to put your PC’s USB devices into overdrive by installing a USB 3.0 card. With a maximum data transfer rate of 5 Gbps and up to 1 amp of power available for attached devices, USB 3.0 was a vast improvement over the aging USB 2.0 specification.

Well, the specs for USB 3.1 have just been released, and once again the improvement is staggering. USB 3.1 will double 3.0’s maximum data transfer speed to 10 Gbps while maintaining backwards compatibility with legacy USB devices. [Read more…]

Prevent Android 4.3 from continuously scanning for available Wi-Fi networks

Posted on August 3, 2013

Do you keep the Wi-Fi setting on your smart phone turned off when not in use in order to conserve battery life? If not, you should, because your phone’s Wi-Fi radio is a major battery hog.

If you have a phone running Android 4.3, did you know that it continuously scans for available Wi-Fi networks even when you have Wi-Fi turned off? This isn’t good, and not just because of the battery drain.

Some major retail establishments now track your phone’s Wi-Fi radio to keep tabs on your exact location while you’re inside their stores. And if the private sector finds that capability useful, can you imagine what uses the government might have for it?

There is a way to turn this continuous scanning off, but it’s hidden within the bowels of Android 4.3’s settings menu. Follow these steps to disable it: [Read more…]

Stop your PC from going to sleep at the most inconvenient times

Posted on August 1, 2013

Have you ever been reading a lengthy article or watching a video and had your computer go into sleep mode or activate the screensaver right in the middle of it? Me too, and it can get rather annoying.

Depending on your system’s power settings, Windows will often think you aren’t using your PC if several minutes go by without you pressing a key or moving the mouse, and it will happily activate your screensaver or go into sleep mode. And when that happens it’s usually at the most inconvenient time possible.

A great free download called Caffeine will keep Windows from interrupting your work even when it thinks that the computer is sitting idle. Just activate it when you know you’ll be doing something for a while that doesn’t require keyboard or mouse activity, then de-activate it when you’re done. That way you can leave your power settings as they are.

Here’s how to use Caffeine to keep your PC active during long periods with no keyboard or mouse activity: [Read more…]

Find out if a shortened link is safe before you click it

Posted on July 31, 2013

Millions of computers are infected by viruses and other forms of malware every month, and a large percentage of those infections occur as the result of clicking on a bad link. That’s why I’ve written several times in the past about the importance of avoiding links that will take you to an unfamiliar website.

But there’s a problem. With so many people using shortened URLs on Facebook and Twitter, it seems all but impossible to determine where a link will take you without clicking on it first. Well, now there is an easy way to determine exactly where a shortened link will take you, and even get a quick “opinion” from security experts about just how safe the landing page is! [Read more…]

Q&A: How do you kill a stuck process in Ubuntu Linux?

Posted on July 31, 2013

Question from Keith: I recently built a computer from scratch and I decided to install Ubuntu Linux on it instead of buying a copy of Windows. It’s a pretty steep learning curve for me, but I’m enjoying it immensely.

I have a problem that I hope you can help me with. I’m using Firefox for my web browser and every now and then it hangs up, causing me to have to reboot the computer to clear it. Back in my Windows days I used the Task Manager to kill a stuck process, but something tells me that it won’t be quite that simple with Linux.

My question is this: How do you kill a stuck process in Ubuntu? Is there a Linux utility that I can download that works something like the Windows Task Manager?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]