Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Henry P.: I’ve been shopping online for a new computer and I found out that there are still some Windows 7 computers available. My question is should I buy one?
I really like Windows 7 but I want to make sure I won’t end up buying a headache now that Windows 10 is the norm.
Do you know of any reason why I should buy something with Windows 10 on it instead of Windows 7? Something I’m missing perhaps?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
As you probably know, Microsoft continues to provide security updates for older versions of Windows for several years after the next version is released.
Unfortunately, they have to stop supporting those old Windows versions at some point in order to better focus their resources on developing and supporting newer versions of the operating system.
You might recall that Microsoft officially ended support for Windows XP back in April 2014. Well, now it’s Vista’s turn.
The final security patches for Windows Vista will be released on April 11, after which there will be no more of them coming down the pike. That means Vista will essentially become an orphan on that date with Microsoft cutting it loose to survive in the wild on its own.
As always happens when Microsoft stops supporting an older version of Windows, it won’t take long for the hackers and scammers of the world to find and exploit previously undiscovered and unpatched security holes in the Vista framework.
What does all this mean? [Read more…]
Do you still have a laptop or desktop PC that’s running Windows Vista? If so, you’ll soon have to decide whether want to keep using it or not.
Microsoft officially ended support for Windows XP about a year ago, and Vista is scheduled to get the boot on April 11 of this year.
What does this change mean for Vista users?
Well, your PC won’t simply stop working on April 11. In fact, you won’t notice any change at all from your perspective as a user. But there’s a problem… [Read more…]
Question from Bobby E.: I bought a computer at an estate sale a few days ago. The lady told me her dad had built the computer himself a couple of years ago but she didn’t know anything about it. I think I got a good deal because it only cost me $30.
Apparently there’s no operating system on the hard drive, and I’d like to install Windows 10 on it and use this PC as a backup Internet-only computer.
What I’d like to find out is if the CPU is a 32 bit or 64 bit chip. If it has a 64 bit CPU I’d like to install the 64 bit version of Windows 10. How can I find out?
I really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
There was a time when I built PCs from scratch and sold them at a profit, and I was able to generate a pretty decent side income from it. In total, I built and sold right at 200 computers before I moved on to other interests.
Today, computers are mass-produced commodities, and that makes it pretty hard to purchase all the individual parts required to build a PC at prices low enough to make a profit when selling the assembled unit.
After all, it’s hard for the little guy to compete with the big guys these days due to economy of scale.
That being said, there are still some benefits to be derived from building your own computer instead of purchasing one at retail. Here are a few of the reasons why some folks still build their own PCs: [Read more…]