Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: How do I run the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) on Windows 7?

Posted on March 18, 2013

Question from Alex G.: Hi Rick. Love this site and all your tips!! I hope you can help me with a problem I’m having.

I just bought an ebook filled with Windows 7 tweaks and several of the ones I really want to try require running a program called Group Policy Editor. The instructions say to type gpedit.msc into the Search box, but when I do I get this error message:

“Windows cannot find ‘gpedit.msc’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.”

What am I doing wrong? My computer is a Dell laptop running the upgrade version of Windows 7 Home Premium. It originally came with Windows Vista.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Instabridge – Allow friends to use your secure Wi-Fi network without giving out the password

Posted on March 18, 2013

Do you ever have guests over to your home who ask to access your secure Wi-Fi connection? Depending on the guests, it can be a little uncomfortable handing over the password to your Wi-Fi network. Well, now you don’t have to if both you and your guests use Android devices.

Instabridge is a free Android app that allows you to invite guests to use your secure Wi-Fi connection without having to give them your network password. Here’s how it works: [Read more…]

Android devices under attack by “NotCompatible” malware

Posted on March 17, 2013

malware Android devices the world over are becoming infected at an ever-increasing rate with a strain of malware known as “NotCompatible”. Although NotCompatible has been around since May 2012 it has only recently started spreading quickly in the wild.

Once a device has been infected with NotCompatible it can be used as a web proxy which allows the miscreants responsible for creating and spreading the malware to do all kinds of illicit things on the web without the dirty deeds being traced back to them. [Read more…]

How to block your name from being used with Facebook Social Ads

Posted on March 17, 2013

If you’ve been on Facebook recently you might have noticed your name being used in one of Facebook’s new “Social Ads”. It usually looks something like “Rick Rouse likes AT&T” in close proximity to an ad for the AT&T Facebook page.

Basically, they’re promoting a page that you have “Liked” to your friends with the hope that your friends will take notice and visit the page. Personally, I don’t mind my friends knowing which pages I have “Liked”, but I’m not too fond of having that info used in conjunction with an ad!

If seeing your name used as part of an ad irritates you as much as it does me, you can easily opt out. Here’s how: [Read more…]

Mac users pay more than Windows users when shopping on the web

Posted on March 16, 2013

mac-users-pay-extra Are you a Mac user who shops online? If so, you probably end up paying more than Windows users when shopping for the same products and services.

Want proof? The travel site Orbitz recently disclosed to the Wall Street Journal that Mac users tend to spend 30% more when booking hotel rooms than Windows users.

What’s more, in order to help them spend that extra cash, the site checks to see which web browser the customer is using and adjusts the prices of the rooms that he/she is offered accordingly. If Orbitz detects Apple’s Safari browser, they’ll offer rooms with prices that are approximately 30% higher than would be offered to Internet Explorer users.

And Orbitz isn’t alone in their use of selective pricing. Some of the largest commercial websites on the Internet do the very same thing. Personally, I don’t use a Mac. But if I did I’d keep a windows PC handy just for shopping on the web! If you’d like to read the Journal article for yourself you’ll find it right here.