Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
A few days ago I wrote a post about a bad Windows Update that was causing many Windows 7 PCs to go into a reboot loop. Inexplicably, Microsoft has yet to release a fix for the issue.
As I explained in that post, if your PC already has the bad update installed and it’s stuck in a reboot loop, you can probably use the System Restore utility to roll back your Windows installation to a point in time before the bad update was installed. [Read more…]
Question from Beverly L.: Rick, I have a four year old Dell laptop computer that I’m planning to sell on Craigslist.
The problem is I have no idea what the model number of the computer is. The label on the bottom is faded so badly that I can’t read it. I also can’t remember how much memory is in it or how big the hard drive is.
I do know that this PC has Windows 7 on it. How can I find out what the model number is, how much memory it has, and how big the hard drive is?
Rick’s answer: Beverly, you can easily find that information with a quick bit of detective work. Here’s how: [Read more…]
A while back a local business owner asked me if there is a way to move the ‘My Documents’ folder from its default location on the hard drive to a USB flash drive.
His routine was simple, yet time-consuming. At the end of every workday he copied all of his data files from the ‘My Documents’ folder on his hard drive to a 64GB thumb drive so he can work on them some more at home. The next morning he copied them back onto the hard drive.
I told him how to make the change, and now his files are automatically saved directly to his thumb drive regardless of where he happens to be working. Since he is quite happy with the new setup, I thought some of you might be interested in doing the same. The instructions that follow will explain how to set it up, step-by-step, in either windows 7 or Windows 8. [Read more…]
Question from Todd H.: The hard drive went out on my HP Pavilion dm1-4010us Notebook computer.
I replaced the bad drive with one that I had taken out of an older laptop but I had to order a Windows Restore DVD from HP so I could put Windows back on it.
When the Restore DVD arrived I went to install it and found out the screen is bad too. After considering all my options, I decided that I’d like to just trash the laptop and build a desktop computer from scratch. If I do that will I be able to install the Windows 7 from the HP Restore DVD onto the new computer?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
If you’re one of the millions of computer users who still run Windows 7 on their PCs, you’ll no longer be able to ask for free help from Microsoft if you run into problems.
As of yesterday, PC users can no longer request free “Mainstream Support” for Windows 7 issues from the folks up in Redmond. You’ll now have to shell out a hefty fee in order to get help directly from Microsoft under the Windows 7 “Extended Support” plan. [Read more…]