Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Marisol F.: My laptop got a virus and I had to re-install Windows 7 on it. After it finished over 160 Windows Updates were installed.
Is this normal? I’ve never seen anywhere near that many updates installed at one time before. Do you think I need to re-install Windows again?
This is the first time I’ve ever had to do this so I’m a little confused.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
I’m often asked if it’s still possible to buy a new PC that comes with Windows 7, and the answer is yes. A perfect example is the excellent Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E545 20B20011US (#ad) laptop.
Actually, this laptop gives you a choice between two operating systems: Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
It comes with Windows 7 Pro pre-installed, but it also comes with a Windows 8 installation DVD and license. You can always replace Windows 7 with Windows 8 at no additional charge, then update Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 for free.
But the flexibility you get in terms of the operating system isn’t the only great thing about this machine. The hardware is quite capable (and expandable) as well. In a nutshell, this is what you get: [Read more…]
Question from Ferrell G.: Rick, the best computer I have ever owned has finally died on me and I need to replace it.
The thing is I’ve heard horrible things about both Windows 8 and Windows 10, but none of the stores I’ve been to have any Windows 7 machines left.
Do you know if it’s still possible to even buy a PC with Windows 7 on it? If so, where?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Did you update your PC from Windows 7 to Windows 10 only to decide later that you’d like to go back to Window 7?
As you probably know, you can easily roll your Windows 10 installation back to Windows 7 if you want to, but there’s a catch…
You’ll only have 30 days to roll your system back to Windows 7 if you decide that you don’t want Windows 10.
If you wait longer than a month your computer’s original Windows 7 license will be permanently assigned to your new Windows 10 installation.
That being said, if you have already missed the 30 day roll-back window you can still install Windows 7 onto your machine, but it’ll cost you a few bucks. [Read more…]
Question from Todd L.: I have a 4 year old Dell laptop with Windows 7, and I really like it.
A guy I know told me that if I don’t turn off Windows Update it will automatically replace Windows 7 with Windows 10.
I don’t want Windows 10 but I can’t figure out how to turn off Windows Update. How do I do that?
Ricks’ answer: [Read more…]