Ask-A-Techie, Where you can have all of your questions answered.

Is Windows 8 a good thing?

Posted by Serges LaRiviere on Sat, Mar 10, 2012

Dear Techie,

I have been hearing about Windows 8 being the next big thing from Microsoft.  From what has been said so far, it sounds like Windows 8 has a lot of change in store.  I remember how difficult some things were when I upgraded from Windows XP to Windows Vista.  What things are changing?

Sincerely.

User who wishes Windows was “pane-free”

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Tags: OS reviews, Windows 8 good or bad, Operating System, Ask-a-techie, Windows Tips, Windows 8

What does “Delete” really do?

Posted by Serges LaRiviere on Sat, Feb 25, 2012

Dear Techie,

I work from home and as a result end up with a lot of things on my hard drive that I want to securely delete.  I know that when I “delete” something it goes to my Recycle Bin.  How do I make sure that when I get rid of something it cannot be brought back?

Thanks,

D. Liet

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Tags: PC Fix, Protection, privacy, Ask-a-techie, PC tips, Security

Disk Cleanup

Posted by Serges LaRiviere on Sat, Feb 11, 2012

Dear Techie

I have an older computer that keeps saying my disk space is low.  I haven’t installed anything on my computer that takes up space.  What should I do?Thanks,

 

Spaced Out

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Tags: Low Disk Space, temporary Files, PC Fix, Protection, privacy, Ask-a-techie, PC tips, Windows Tips, Security, Speed up my computer

Ask-A-Techie: Virus Alert

Posted by Serges LaRiviere on Sat, Jan 28, 2012

Hi Techie,

My computer started doing some strange things in the past few days and I think I have a virus.  I was online and an error message came up saying I had a virus infection, so I clicked the button and it started to scan my computer.  It says I have over 9000 viruses on my computer.  How did this happen?   I have an antivirus program, isn’t that supposed to stop the viruses?  The program that detected the viruses isn’t even my normal anti-virus, I don’t know how it got there, but at least it was able to detect those viruses.  It wants me to enter a credit card number to pay for a full version of the software.  Only then will it remove all the viruses.  What should I do?

Panicked and Infected

Panicked,

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Tags: Virus removal, Viruses, Scams, PC Fix, Fake Antivirus, Ask-a-techie, PC tips, Security

Ask-a-Techie: Autoplay

Posted by Serges LaRiviere on Wed, Jan 18, 2012

Heya Techie,

Every time I put a CD or DVD into my media player program pops up.  How can I stop this from happening?  I want to be able to select what program opens what file.

Thanks,

Otto-matically Annoyed

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Tags: Disable Autoplay, Operating System, PC Tips & Tricks, Ask-a-techie, Windows Tips, Security, Windows Tweaks

Ask-A-Techie: Gmail Backups

Posted by Serges LaRiviere on Fri, Jan 13, 2012

Hi Techie,

I use Gmail for all my email for both home and business.  I know they have backups of everything I write and send but I know that I should have backups myself just in case.  Looking around Gmail, I can’t seem to find any way I can save and backup my years of email, what can I do?

GoogleWorrier

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Tags: Protection, Ask-a-techie, PC tips, email, Windows Tips, Data Backup

Ask-A-Techie: Pop-up Madness

Posted by Serges LaRiviere on Fri, Jan 06, 2012

Dear Techie,

I switched over from using Internet Explorer about a few years ago to Mozilla Firefox hearing that Firefox has less pop-ups.  As time went on, I started to notice that pop-ups were still happening, and they have gotten worse.  How can I stop this from happening?

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Tags: Stop Pop-ups, AdBlockPlus, Pop-up Ads, Scams, PC Fix, Fake Antivirus, Ask-a-techie, PC tips, Security

Ask-A-Techie: New Browsers and Toolbars

Posted by Serges LaRiviere on Fri, Jan 06, 2012

Dear Techie,
The last time I updated Firefox (to the newest version, 8.0), it took out my list of bookmarks, and the top bar.. ie; (File, Edit, View, Tools, Help),
All that was left after this was this the Bing toolbar and Ask.com bar which I do not remember installing.
Ask.com was also installed on Internet Explorer.  I didn’t want either Bing or Ask.com in either browser but they appeared one day.  What can I do?
Thanks.

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Tags: Toolbar Removal, Firefox tips, PC Tips & Tricks, PC Fix, Protection, Ask-a-techie, Windows Tips, Web Browser, Security, Windows Tweaks