Windows Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

How to get instant help with Windows CMD Commands

Posted on July 26, 2026

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These days most everyone is familiar with Windows’ sleek Graphical User Interface (i.e. GUI) and how it allows us to do most anything with a click or two of the mouse.

But those who started using computers back in the early days of home computing know that using a PC wasn’t always that easy.

Back then there was no such thing as a “GUI” interface. The “DOS” operating system that was in common use back then didn’t support the use of a mouse except for a short period before Windows 1.0 was released.

[Read more…]

Give an older PC new life by replacing Windows with Linux

Posted on July 14, 2026

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In this post I’m going to explain what Linux is, and more importantly, what it can do for you as the owner of an older PC that’s running a version of Windows that has been abandoned by Microsoft (i.e. they have stopped supplying security updates for it).

As you probably know by now, Microsoft is no longer releasing security updates for many versions of Windows, which means computers that are still running them are wide open to hackers and malware.

But an awesome free operating system called Linux can make using that unsafe computer safe again.

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Q&A: Why does Microsoft sell Office for Macs even though Apple is a competitor?

Posted on July 9, 2026

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Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Claude: I was looking at the various options for buying Microsoft Office on Amazon the other day and I saw they’re selling Microsoft Office that runs on Macs.

That really surprised me since Microsoft and Apple are direct competitors of each other.

Why do they make a Mac version of Office when that obviously encourages people who would buy a Windows computer to run MS Office on to buy a Mac instead? [Read more…]

How to quickly lock down ALL of Windows’ privacy settings

Posted on June 26, 2026

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Like Windows 10 before it, Windows 11’s default privacy settings are extremely invasive.

You can change a number of privacy settings to make both Windows 11 and Windows 10 just as stingy with your personal info as their predecessors were, but Microsoft has scattered those many settings all around the various nooks and crannies of the Windows user interface.

[Read more…]

How to force a Windows Desktop shortcut to always ‘Run as Administrator’ by default

Posted on June 12, 2026

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One of the things I like most about Microsoft Windows is the ability to create shortcuts on the Windows Desktop that simplify the execution of common tasks.

For example, I find myself creating a lot of System Restore Points on my PC so I created a handy desktop shortcut that creates a new Restore Point every time I click on it.

This particular shortcut makes it easy for me to quickly create a Restore Point at any time without having to wade through a series of menus. [Read more…]