My love for technology began way back in 1978, the virtual stone age of the PC era. I was a senior in high school and enrolled in the Electronics program at our local vocational center at the time.
The focus of the program was to prepare us for a career in Radio and TV repair, but one day a classmate brought in a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1 that he had recently purchased.
After “playing” with that awesome (for the time) machine for just a few minutes I was hooked! Before long I had one of my own. I have owned at least one computer ever since the day I brought that baby home.
IBM soon introduced the very first IBM PC, a primitive machine by today’s standards, but quite advanced in comparison with my beloved TRS-80.
Before long there were IBM “clones” popping up everywhere, and along with them came countless retailers selling computer parts such as cases, motherboards, RAM, floppy disk drives…basically everything you needed to build a PC clone in your basement.
Well, I ordered the necessary parts and assembled my first home-built computer, and much to my surprise it worked the first time I hit the power switch. Once again, I was hooked.
Before long I was ordering parts in bulk and building computers to sell at a profit. This continued for some time, but eventually PCs became commodities akin to TV sets and microwave ovens.
Predictably, the prices for off-the-shelf computers began to drop as everyone and their brother bought one, and before I knew it I couldn’t build a PC as cheaply as I could buy one.
That pretty much put an end to my days of building computers for profit, but not before I had built and sold around 150 of them.
My computer endeavors quickly morphed from building PCs to upgrading and repairing them. I bought a couple of study guides for the Comptia A+ Exam, then took it and passed it a few weeks later.
I worked in the IT field in various capacities for the next several decades, including a stint as an officer in the US Army Signal Corps.
These days I spend most of my time blogging here at RicksDailyTips.com, but I still enjoy “popping the hood” on a PC and upgrading or repairing it.
The purpose of this blog is to share my insights and experiences with you, and hopefully learn some new things myself while I’m at it. After all, we’re never too old or too experienced to learn, especially with us living during an era when computer technology changes virtually by the day.
I hope you’ll return again and again to find out what’s new. I named this site Rick’s Daily Tips because I plan to post at least one new “tech tip” every day.
Thanks so much for stopping by. I appreciate it very much!
Rick
P.S. Want to make sure you never miss one of my tech tips? Enter your email address here to sign up for my daily Tech Tips Newsletter!
Contact Info:
ricksdailytips@outlook.com and I’ll try my best to get back to you ASAP.
Rick’s Blog Posts that We’ve Shared
Protect Your Privacy: Important PayPal Update
Starting November 27, 2024, PayPal will start implementing new terms and conditions that users should be aware of, especially concerning privacy and data sharing. The company is making a gradual shift toward leveraging user [...]
Upgrade some computer hardware (Windows 11is coming) by December 31 and take advantage of this business tax relief
When you buy new IT equipment you can deduct the full purchase price from your gross income this year, rather than depreciate it over a few years. But you must have purchased the equipment [...]
LastPass warns of fake support centers trying to steal customer data
Listen HERE LastPass is warning about an ongoing campaign where scammers are writing reviews for its Chrome extension to promote a fake customer support phone number. However, this phone number is part of a [...]
Stay Alert: Credit Card Skimming Can Happen Anywhere
It’s a normal day—you’re filling up at the gas station or withdrawing cash from an ATM. But unbeknownst to you, criminals may be capturing your credit card information, leading to unauthorized transactions that can [...]
Credit Card Processing Paying Lowest Percentage Does Not Always Mean Best Price
The old adage of, "If it sounds too good to be true...it probably is" is very much in play when shopping for a Credit Card Processor. There are no shortage of Reps out there [...]
How to Conduct a Fair and Accurate Internal Investigation of Employee Complaints
Litigation attorneys know there is an art to the opening statement, direct examination, cross examination, and the closing argument. Similarly, there is an art to conducting an internal investigation of an employee complaint. Directing [...]
As if reality isn’t confusing enough…..
Listen HERE The United States’ Special Operations Command is looking for companies to help create deepfake internet users so convincing that neither humans nor computers will be able to detect they are fake. The [...]
NPD (National Public Data) files for bankruptcy
We talked about this breach when it became public knowledge on August 12, 2024. (https://actsmartit.com/data-breach-national-public-data/) The breach occurred in December 2023 and exposed approximately 2.9 billion records. Last Wednesday, The Register reported that the massive data [...]
NIST Recommends New Guidelines For Password Security
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommended changing passwords only when there is a known compromise or every 365 days. NIST no longer recommends requiring users to change their passwords regularly because it can [...]
LinkedInTM: How to stand out from the crowd
You’ve all heard of LinkedIn, right? It’s the go-to business platform for a lot of business folks worldwide, whether they work for others or themselves. But how successful are most of them in getting [...]
October 2024 Newsletter
In This Issue: Your Cybersecurity Plan Renovating the Dental Office LinkedInTM: How to stand out from the crowd How to Host Community Events: A Guide For Organizing Food and Blood Drives And MORE Read [...]
Password reset phishing emails
I’ve been receiving an increasing number of this type of email scam lately so I have to assume that many others are as well. I get emails supposedly from Microsoft to reset my Office [...]