Computer Hardware – Daves Computer Tips

Can’t Right-Click? It’s On Your Keyboard!

Marc Thomas — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 05:05:08 +0000

The other day, I dropped my Corsair Iron Claw wireless gaming mouse, with the end result being that right-click ceased to function. I’m not normally a clumsy person, and at the time, it was sitting on my Asus gaming laptop as I was moving both to the next room. Of course, it could have been much worse – dropping the laptop would have been a disaster. Anyway, I soon realised how often I use…

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HP Printer Error Code 0xB98088FC

Terry Hollett — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 05:04:54 +0000

I woke up this morning to this error message blinking on my HP Printer (HP OfficeJet 3830). Error Code 0xB98088FC Luckily, the fix was simple. Turn it off and on again. I pressed the power button, but it didn’t go off. It did restart. Problem solved? I’ve been reading online that some people have fixed the problem, only to have it return a few days later. Only time will tell. Here are a few…

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Will Copilot+ PCs Become The Only Choice?

Jim Hillier — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 05:01:53 +0000

Will the day come when traditional PCs are no longer available, and Copilot+ PCs then become the only choice? This is a question that I often ponder, and with a certain amount of trepidation, I might add. While our politicians seem unable to learn from history, it’s to history I turn when seeking a possible answer. If history has taught us anything, it’s that newer technology usually…

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No Power On Gateway PC

Terry Hollett — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 06:12:38 +0000

After a winter storm, we had a power outage that lasted almost 20 hours. Not good in an apartment with only electric heat. No lights, no heat, can’t go online to complain to anyone. 🙂 I previously wrote about someone’s computer not turning on after a power outage. The fix was to unplug the computer, hold down the power button for 30 seconds, plug it back in, and turn it on.

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Windows 11 Supported CPUs Is Now Even More Confusing

Marc Thomas — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 06:07:41 +0000

Microsoft recently ‘updated’ its lists of Windows 11 supported processors, but for Intel CPUs, the company chose to list CPU series as opposed to each processor, which is very confusing. For example, it lists the Celeron series being supported when in fact only one out of ten of that series is supported – the Celeron 3867U. What baffles most people is that CPUs such as the mighty Intel 10th Gen…

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What Has Been The Greatest Advancement In PC Specs?

Jim Hillier — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 08:05:31 +0000

When you get to my age, looking back at the history of PCs owned, it’s amazing just how much PC specs have advanced over the years. My very first PC was a TRS-80, which loaded programs via tape cassettes. The programs were written in BASIC, a language I eventually mastered, and each was volume-sensitive. So I kept a list of programs, each marked with the optimal volume for loading successfully.

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Some Motherboard UEFIs Are Injecting Software Into Windows

Marc Thomas — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 05:01:52 +0000

Following my article about BitLocker encrypting the OS drive on my Asus laptop without my consent, I began to delve deeper into what was really going on with my one-year-old Asus TUF Gaming A16 laptop. My findings will surprise you. Having solved the BitLocker issue, I was curious about other software that was installed without my intervention, so I looked at Armoury Crate and My Asus…

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What’s The Oldest Tech Hardware You Still Use?

Marc Thomas — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 05:01:16 +0000

Shiny Thing Syndrome (STS) is a hard condition to shake, and I’ve been collecting computer hardware since the early ’90s. Some I’ve kept and some I’ve regrettably sold. Not all my vintage hardware is in continuous daily use, except for one. I’ve had this case since the early ’90s and have been lugging it around ever since. Originally, it housed an Intel 486 and a tiny hard drive with…

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ASCOMP PC Internals Overview & Giveaway

Richard Pedersen — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 07:51:15 +0000

This contest has now expired. Winners will be notified by email. Congratulations to the Winners and Thank You to everyone who participated! ASCOMP has kindly offered our DCT readers a chance to win one of five licenses for their PC Internals program. These licenses are currently each valued at $24.90 (US). A limited free version is also available for personal use and evaluation.

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This Is Why “Gaming” Adds So Much To The Price Of Hardware

Marc Thomas — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 05:23:40 +0000

Gaming is an expensive hobby, not only for the price of games but also rising costs of hardware. We are all aware of Microsoft’s questionable stance on Windows 11 requirements, and the same is happening in AAA games. For example, DOOM: The Dark Ages and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle require an SSD and a hardware-capable ray tracing GPU. I can understand the SSD requirement because everything…

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Dead NVMe Boot Drive In Sony VAIO Laptop

Marc Thomas — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 05:01:05 +0000

Last week, a customer brought a four-year-old Sony Vaio VJFE54F11UAR model laptop to me that wouldn’t boot to Windows and instead went directly to the BIOS. Upon further investigation, it was found that no NVMe drive was installed. I then booted from a WinPE rescue pen drive, and no disk was present, so I opened up the laptop. I was surprised to find a brand of NVMe I had never seen before…

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New Windows 11 Auto-Repair Feature

Jim Hillier — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 04:02:33 +0000

Microsoft has added a new feature to Windows 11 that has the ability to automatically repair a non-booting system. This new feature is called “Quick machine recovery” (QMR) and, while it’s available in all Insider builds, I believe the general release is still in the process of rolling out. So, if you haven’t gotten QMR yet, don’t worry, you should be getting it soon. QMR is a cloud-based…

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When AIO Water Cooling Goes Wrong

Marc Thomas — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 04:01:27 +0000

Being a gamer with several rigs boasting powerful CPUs, I have two machines equipped with water cooling and from my point of view, AIO (all-in-one) water cooling kits really do the job. So I was very surprised when one came into my workshop, which appeared to be failing. Last week, a customer turned up with a gaming rig he’d built four years ago when he was only eleven…

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How I Fixed The Power Button On My Wife’s PC

Marc Thomas — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:19:56 +0000

The other morning, as I was enjoying my usual cup of tea, my wife told me that her PC wouldn’t switch on. At first, I thought it was the PSU (power supply), and I even tried numerous power cables because sometimes even these can fail. But then I remembered that the power switch had been behaving strangely, requiring two or three presses to get things going. I had built the PC myself after…

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