Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Sean W.: I have an HP laptop running Windows Vista. Now all of a sudden it won’t turn on. When I press the power button some of the LEDs light up then go right back out and the system is dead. Do you think my computer is fried? Or maybe the power adaptor?
Rick’s answer: Sean, I don’t think anything is “fried”. I believe a hard reset to the machine will probably get you back up and running. Try this: [Read more…]
As a general rule, I don’t recommend buying a used laptop computer. Why? There are several reasons:
1 – The prices of new budget laptops have dropped to the point where they can now be considered disposable items. Why pay $200 for a used laptop that might have all kinds of hidden problems when you can pay $350 and get a brand new one with a warranty.
2 – For various reasons, the useful life of a typical laptop is around 5 years. After that you’re running on borrowed time, and paying for the privilege rarely makes sense. [Read more…]
Maintaining a healthy hard drive is essential for protecting your valuable photos, documents and other precious data.
While a having a current backup on hand in case of disaster is an absolute must, performing a thorough diagnostic test of your PC’s hard drive on a regular basis is a great way to find out when (not if) the drive is about to bite the dust and take your data with it.
A great way to keep tabs on your hard drive’s health is to periodically run a high quality diagnostic test on it. The one I use and recommend is Seatools, a free program available directly from the hard drive manufacturer Seagate Technologies. [Read more…]
Obviously, one of the greatest benefits of owning a laptop computer is the ability to use it pretty much anywhere, including in bed.
But if you like to relax with your laptop while lying in bed, you’d be wise to never rest it directly on the bed itself or on a pillow.
Like desktop computers, laptops need an adequate amount of airflow over and around the internal components in order to prevent the build-up of damaging heat inside the case.
If you turn your laptop over and look at the bottom you’ll see several vents that allow the internal fan to draw air into the case. This airflow cools the internal components by drawing heat away from them and blowing it out the exit vent. [Read more…]