Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Can my hard drive be repaired?

Posted on June 5, 2013

Question from Michael: I have an HP Pavilion dv5t laptop with a 500GB hard drive which recently began making clicking and clunking sounds. After reading your article about hard drives making unusual sounds I realize that the drive is probably in the process of failing.

My question is can hard drives be repaired? This is a 7200RPM model which I understand to be one of the best. (By the way, I have backed everything up so I’m not worried about losing any programs or data.)

Rick‘s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Where are screenshots stored on my computer?

Posted on June 4, 2013

Question from Belinda L.: Hi Rick. I remember reading somewhere that if you press key combination Ctrl+Print Screen the computer will save a screenshot image of whatever is on the screen at the time. But when I press those keys nothing happens.

I’ve searched my documents folder, the desktop and everywhere else I can think to look but I can’t find a screenshot image. What am I doing wrong? My PC uses Windows 7.

Rick‘s answer: You’re not doing anything wrong Belinda, you’re just not finishing the procedure.

When you press the Ctrl+Print Screen key combination (Note: the Print Screen key is sometimes labeled PrtScrn or something similar) it saves an image of the screen contents to the Windows Clipboard which is nothing more than a small section of RAM set aside as a buffer.

In order to convert that screenshot into an actual image file you’ll need to open your favorite image editor (Paint, Photoshop Express etc.) and paste the contents of the Clipboard into it.

Once you have the screenshot displayed in the image editor, you can crop it, resize it or edit it just like any other image and then save it as a JPEG, BMP or other type of image file.

Since you’re using Windows 7 you have Microsoft Paint already installed on your system by default. Here’s how to use the Ctrl+Print Screen key combination and MS Paint in order to capture a screenshot and save it as an image file: [Read more…]

Why you should buy a laptop with both an SSD and a hard drive

Posted on June 4, 2013

laptop If you’ve been shopping around for a new laptop recently, chances are you’ve seen several models that come with both a small solid state drive (SSD) and a traditional hard drive. If so, you might be wondering if it’s worth paying extra to buy a model that has both. In my opinion, it is.

Although relatively small, the SSD in a dual drive laptop will hold the operating system at the very least, providing boot-up times that are up to three times faster than what you’re used to seeing, and any programs that are stored on the SSD will load at lightning speed. [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I install 64 bit Windows on my Dell OptiPlex 775?

Posted on June 3, 2013

Question from Lars K.: Rick, I have a Dell OptiPlex 775 desktop PC that is maxed out at 4GB RAM. I bought it for practically nothing from a friend and it has Windows 7 – 32 bit installed on a 160GB hard drive. I bought a 1TB drive to replace the old drive with and I plan to do a clean install of Windows when I swap out the drives.

My question for you is can I install the 64 bit version of Windows 7 on this machine? Thanks in advance for your help!

Rick’s answer: Yes, you sure can Lars. The Optiplex 775 has a 64 bit CPU and the 4GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive are more than adequate. The only possible issue that might arise is finding 64 bit drivers for any older expansion cards and peripherals that you might plan to attach to the computer. But as far as the PC itself is concerned, you’re good to go!

Do you have a tech question of your own for Rick? Click here and send it in!

Free download: “Windows 8 End User Training Brochure”

Posted on June 3, 2013

Windows 8 is vastly different from previous versions of Windows, and there is indeed a learning curve involved with learning the new Metro user interface. If you have recently bought a new PC or upgraded your existing PC to Windows 8, Microsoft has a gift for you…

The “Windows 8 End User Training Brochure” is actually a pretty decent guide to learning the basics of Windows 8, and you can download the PDF file from this page on the Microsoft website for free.

Microsoft stopped providing printed user manuals with their boxed software years ago, and this free guide is certainly no substitute for one. That being said, I still believe it’s a useful download (and you can’t beat the price). It’ll help you get started navigating your way around Windows 8 and performing the most basic tasks. If you use Windows 8 it’s definitely worth a look!