Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from William: Every time I check for new Windows Updates on my Windows 10 Lenovo laptop it tells me there are a couple of driver updates available as “optional” updates.
Should I go ahead and let Windows Update install those optional updates or should I just skip them?
I’ve been confused by this for a long time.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Charley: Before I ask my question I want to thank you for everything you do to keep us informed and help us use our computers better.
You really are such a great help to people who are clueless like I am.
Now, I have a problem I hope you can help me with.
I recently bought my first Windows 10 computer (an HP laptop). I like it ok except for all the notifications that pop up in the lower right corner of the screen.
Is there a way to limit the notifications to just the ones that I really need to see? [Read more…]
Question from Bill: I have an Acer desktop PC with 4 GB of RAM that I updated to Windows 10 back when the update was free.
When I have all the programs and browser tabs that I normally use open at the same time the Task Manager says there is approximately 1.2 GB of RAM not being used.
I recently bought a brand new Dell desktop with 8 GB of RAM and Windows 10.
When I have the same exact configuration of programs and browser tabs open on the new machine it says there is still less than 2 GB of RAM that’s not being used.
How can this be? [Read more…]
Like Windows 7 and 8 before it, Windows 10 has a Taskbar Preview feature that is enabled by default.
As with most every other Windows feature, some folks love having a small preview of a window’s contents pop up when the mouse is hovered over a Taskbar button.
Others, myself included, find it a bit irritating.
If you find it irritating as well, you can ditch Taskbar Previews in Windows 10 by following the instructions below. But first, I must ask you to read my semi-standard disclaimer: [Read more…]
Question from Paul: I have a custom built gaming PC that I bought in January 2014. It came with Windows 8.1 on it.
I then updated the machine to Windows 10 while Microsoft was allowing the upgrade for free.
Now I’d like to upgrade the machine itself by installing a new, more powerful motherboard.
My question is will I be able to reinstall Windows 10 and have it activate after replacing the motherboard? [Read more…]