How to do a clean install of Windows 11 – Four ways to safely shop online
Enjoy today's selection of practical, easy-to-follow tech tips.
Rick's Daily Tips Tech Update for Monday, October 11, 2021.
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Today's Quick Tip....
How to do a clean install of Windows 11
As you probably know, Windows 11 has now officially been released. That means it's now available for updating Windows 10 PCs to Windows 11.
If your PC is capable of running Windows 11 (or if you want to give it a try even if Microsoft says it isn't), a great way to do it is to perform a clean install that wipes everything off your hard drive and then installs Windows 11 from scratch.
Important: A clean install of Windows 11 will remove Windows 10 and all of your existing photos and files from the system. Make sure you copy everything you want to keep onto an external USB hard drive before proceeding.
I don't recommend that you follow these instructions unless you have a recent backup on hand AND you know how to use it to restore your system's Windows installation. Otherwise, you'd probably be better off paying a computer tech to complete the installation for you. Just sayin'.
Now, if you feel comfortable with everything you just read, feel free to continue with Step 1 to wipe your PC's hard drive and install Windows 11 from scratch...
1 - Create a fresh backup of your PC's hard drive in case something goes wrong and the Windows 11 installation fails for some reason.
2 - Download the Windows 11 "Media Creation Tool" by visiting this page on the Microsoft website and clicking the Download Now button in the "Create Windows 11 Installation Media" section.
3 - Insert a USB flash drive containing at least 8GB of free space and then run the downloaded Media Creation Tool to create a bootable Windows 11 installation drive.
4 - Go into your PC's BIOS settings and change the boot order to instruct the machine to boot from a USB drive.
5 - Restart the PC and follow the prompts as they appear on the screen.
6 - When you get to the "Which type of installation do you want?" screen select the Custom option.
7 - Follow the prompts as they appear to complete the installation of Windows 11.
Note: If Windows 11 fails to install correctly that likely means your PC's hardware is indeed incompatible with Windows 11. If that turns out to be the case you'll need to restore your PC from the backup you made earlier.
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The latest from Rick’s Daily Tips...
• 4 ways to safely shop online
All the hacking and data breaches taking place these days has many consumers skittish about shopping online. This post discusses four things you can do to make online shopping a lot safer.
• Q&A: Do surge protectors ever go bad?
A reader wants to know if surge protectors can go bad over time, leaving the items plugged into them at risk from lightning strikes and power surges. The answer just might surprise you.
• Reminder: Students and teachers can get Microsoft Office 365 at no cost.
Are you a student or teacher at a school, college or university? If so, Microsoft will allow you to use Office 365 without having to pay a dime for it.
• Click here to see today's 'Picture of the Day'.
Every morning I post a new photo that I find inspiring, intriguing, or just plain beautiful to look at. Jumpstart your day by checking it out.
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Today's post from 'My Daily Smile'...
Guess what? The ‘twinkling’ stars you see in the night sky aren’t really twinkling at all.
This post explains why the stars in the night sky appear to twinkle when, in reality they don't
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Tech news that caught my eye...
• Here are 4 ways to protect your parcels from 'porch pirates' this holiday season
• Disney’s shift to streaming puts ESPN in awkward position of clinging to the past
• These virtual obstacle courses help real robots learn to walk
• Company that routes SMS for all major US carriers was hacked for five years
• How to choose the right cloud backup service
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Thanks so much, and have an amazing day.
Your tech buddy,
Rick Rouse