Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: How can I force my laptop to connect via Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi by default?

Posted on July 30, 2013

Question from Bill T.: Rick, my office doesn’t have Wi-Fi installed at all. For security reasons my company requires everyone to connect our laptops to the network via Ethernet (we have a cable at each desk).

The problem that many of us have is our laptops ignoring the wired Ethernet connection altogether and connecting to an open Wi-Fi network from the building next door.

What we all do at the moment is turn Wi-Fi off, but what we’d really like to be able to do is leave it on and have our laptops default to a wired connection whenever one is available. Can you tell me what settings to change in Windows 7 to make this happen? Your help will be very much appreciated. Thanks!

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Notepad is missing from my Start Menu. How do I get it back?

Posted on July 29, 2013

Question from Kris C.: I use Notepad every day, but now it seems to be missing from the Start Menu. What happened to it and how can I get it back on there? My computer is an HP desktop with Windows 7 on it. Thanks.

Rick‘s answer: Hi Kris. There’s really no way to know why Notepad is no longer showing up on the Start Menu as there are many things that can cause that to happen. It’s very easy to put it back on there however (assuming that the program itself hasn’t been deleted from the hard drive). Here’s how: [Read more…]

How to prevent your PC from automatically rebooting after installing Windows Updates

Posted on July 28, 2013

Have you ever lost important work that you had intended to finish when you returned to your PC because the system rebooted after installing Windows Updates? I’m guessing that we all have, and it’s certainly no fun when it happens.

You can make sure that you never again lose work in progress because of an automatic restart by following the steps listed below. But first, I need for you to read and agree to my semi-standard disclaimer…

Important: This tip involves editing the Windows Registry, a process that could render your Windows installation unstable (or even unable to boot up properly) if performed incorrectly.

Therefore, if you choose to follow the steps listed below, you do so at your own risk. You also agree that if the Moon flies out of its orbit and knocks Saturn for a loop, the waters of the Mississippi turn into clabbered milk, or your PC becomes unstable or refuses to boot, it won’t be the fault of your humble tech blogger (namely ME).

If you agree with everything I said above, feel free to follow these steps to disable automatic restarts after Windows Updates have been installed: [Read more…]

Q&A: How do I turn on the Wi-Fi on my Dell Inspiron Mini 1010?

Posted on July 26, 2013

Question from Larry K.: Rick, I have a Dell Inspiron Mini 1010 laptop running Windows XP and I can’t figure out how to enable the Wi-Fi on it.

One friend told me to slide a switch on the front of the case to the right, but there is no switch to slide.

Another friend told me to make sure Wi-Fi is enabled in the BIOS (it is) and then to press F2 while the PC is booting up. F2 does nothing regardless of when I press it. Can you please tell me what to do? I’m at a total loss.

Rick‘s answer: [Read more…]

How to enlarge the ‘New Message’ window in Gmail

Posted on July 25, 2013

gmail 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…]