Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Derick G.: I read a news report that indicated that Windows XP will become unusable when Microsoft abandons it this spring. I have a Dell Inspiron Mini 12 that’s running Windows XP Home Edition that still works like a champ.
What would you recommend that I do with this computer? Sell it? Scavenge it for spare parts? Just recycle it? I really have no idea how much it’s worth, either in whole or in parts.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Dana G.: I read an article the other day that said if your computer uses too much virtual memory it will really slow down your programs and stuff.
My laptop (a Dell w/Windows XP) is running really slow lately, and I was wondering if that could be the problem. And if it is, how can I stop it?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Cameron G.: Rick, I have a 7 year old HP desktop PC that’s served me very well over the years, but I decided to replace it after reading your post about Microsoft ending support for Windows XP early next year.
A good friend of mine says I can save a lot of money by buying the parts and building my new computer from scratch, and he even offered to help me. But I’m skeptical about about actually saving any money that way because I looked into it a few years ago and the numbers didn’t seem to add up.
What do you think about it? Can I really save money by building a PC from scratch instead of buying one outright? And if so, do you have any tips that might help me save a few extra bucks?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Aaron: The hard drive crashed on my Dell Inspiron 14z laptop so I took it to a guy I know who works on computers. He replaced the bad drive and installed a bootleg copy of Windows 7 since I didn’t have a set of recovery disks.
My question is if I buy a Windows 8 Pro upgrade will it make my Windows installation “legitimate”? I’m not out to rip off Microsoft, just get my laptop back “legal” with a fully working version of Windows.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
As I explained in this post, Ubuntu Linux is definitely worthy of consideration as a replacement operating system should you ever decide to ditch Microsoft Windows, but it does have a few quirks. Most of those quirks can easily be mitigated however.
One example is the way Ubuntu insists on placing every program window you open in the top left-hand corner of the screen and leaving it there. But there is a simple way to break those windows free of their constraints and move them to the center of the screen (a location that makes infinitely more sense in my opinion). Here’s how: [Read more…]