Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
The folks at Google are constantly working to improve their extremely popular Gmail service, and one of the most recent enhancements is a “full screen” New Message window.
To call it a “full screen” window is quite a stretch because it isn’t even close, but it is indeed a vast improvement over a message box that’s so tiny that it makes you feel like you’re typing your message on a smart phone.
Want to give Gmail’s “full screen” message window a try, here’s how: [Read more…]
Question from Shauntelle G: Hi Rick. I know this is probably going to sound stupid because I don’t know a lot about how computers work, but I have a question. I have a Toshiba Satellite L505 laptop with 3GB RAM and Windows 7.
I was told that upgrading Windows 7/32bit to the 64 bit version would give me more RAM. If so, how much more would it give me? Also, how can I find out which version of Windows 7 the laptop has on it?
Rick’s answer: Hello Shauntelle. First of all, your question isn’t stupid at all. You’ll never know if you don’t ask! Now, for the answer… [Read more…]
If it seems like you spend a lot of your “Internet time” using one or more of Google’s popular web services, you certainly aren’t alone. But if you’re like me you’ll be shocked to find out just how many others do the same.
According to a new study by the folks at Deepfield Analytics, Google properties such as Google Search, Gmail, Youtube, Google + and others now account for roughly 1/4 of all the traffic on the entire Internet! [Read more…]
One of the biggest criticisms of Google’s Chrome operating system has always been the fact that any device it runs on is pretty much useless without an Internet connection.
Well, that criticism has apparently been taken to heart by Google because they have released a great new app that lets you do a number of constructive things with your Chrome-based device even when you’re offline.
The new Chrome App Launcher adds something akin to a “Start Button” to the Chrome O.S. taskbar. Just click or tap it and up pops Chrome’s version of a “Start Menu” from which you can launch any of your installed web-based apps – without ever leaving the Desktop! [Read more…]
It’s a fact of life: Sooner or later there will come a time when you’ll need to re-install Windows on your PC.
Whether it’ll be due to a hard drive failure, a virus attack or just the desire to re-install the operating system from scratch and start over fresh, you most likely will have to refresh your Windows installation at some point.
If you have a set of recovery discs, re-installing Windows from scratch is easy. If you don’t, it’s virtually impossible. But what if you can’t find your recovery discs (or never had a set in the first place)? Well, you have three options:
1 – Order a replacement set of recovery discs for your specific PC model directly from the support section of the manufacturer’s website. This option can be (and in most cases is) fairly expensive.
2 – Purchase a full retail version of Windows, either on discs or via direct download. This option is even more expensive than the first one.
3 – Create your own Windows 7 or Windows 8 installation media. This option is virtually free (you’ll need either a blank, writable DVD or a blank USB thumb drive).
If you choose to go with option 3, here are the steps you’ll need to take in order to create your own Windows 7 or 8 installation media: [Read more…]