Questions tagged [operating-systems]

The software layer between your hardware and application programs. It manages program scheduling, memory allocation, interrupt handling, disk input/output, graphic acceleration, hosting device drivers and various other resources.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
0 votes
1 answer
352 views

Do different operating systems have different read and write speeds? [closed]

If I have two different operating systems, such as Windows 8 and Ubuntu, running on the same hardware, will the two operating systems have different read and write speeds? My guess is that there ...
Ivan's user avatar
  • 111
2 votes
2 answers
114 views

I spend a lot of time customizing my OS X. If my computer breaks, can I use the whole system in another machine?

I spend lots of time customizing my OS X. That includes lots of VIM customizations, folders, changing the keyboard layout, playing with system variables and so on. I probably do not even remember how ...
MaiaVictor's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
200 views

Installing existing Windows 7 on one computer to a new computer

I'm looking to upgrade my computer and I currently have Windows 7 Home Premium installed on a HP Pavilion Elite. It didn't come with Windows 7 disks just the Factory Image partition. My new computer ...
Vian Esterhuizen's user avatar
93 votes
4 answers
11k views

How does the computer know that the PC was not properly shut down?

Actually, this question struck me because of power cuts in my house. When there is a power cut, there is a sudden loss of power from the computer. How does the computer know that the shutdown was ...
FrozenKing's user avatar
  • 1,390
2 votes
1 answer
170 views

Why is my recovery partition content so different than another one I saw?

From this video that I saw on creating a recovery partition, the contents of his recovery partition was a folder named WindowsImageBackup. The screenshot below is what is inside my recovery partition ...
A User's user avatar
  • 694
0 votes
1 answer
177 views

What is recovery disk? [closed]

I created a set of 3 recovery DVDs when I first got my laptop. Windows 7 Home Premium was pre-installed. Now I wanna know: Can I use these disks to install my genuine OS in my new HDD? Machine (...
A User's user avatar
  • 694
0 votes
0 answers
116 views

Final questions regarding installing a new system HDD

Of late, my HDD has started to fail and I have to buy a new one. Being a total noob I encountered the following issues: Backing up the data. I solved this problem by using DIXML (Thanks to the SE ...
A User's user avatar
  • 694
2 votes
2 answers
875 views

Can I find out which operating system created a file? [closed]

I have some files. All of them were created in different operating systems. Is there any way to identify from which OS each file was generated?
bhargavi's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
830 views

Does installing and uninstalling apps have a negative impact on your systems performance? [closed]

I'm mostly interested in mac, but would be interested to see if it is different on Windows or other unix OS's. I am an app addict and love trying out new applications. Every time I reinstall my ...
Jason's user avatar
  • 113
0 votes
1 answer
1k views

How do I backup my OS? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: What utility can move my Windows boot partition over to another hard drive? OK my HDD is failing and I might have to replace it sooner or later. The problem is that I will ...
A User's user avatar
  • 694
1 vote
3 answers
319 views

General name for Macs' operating system

First of all, I hope that my question is fairly suitable for this site. I have a website where I would like to write articles about some operating systems. Therefore, I have created a main category ...
ba0708's user avatar
  • 131
0 votes
1 answer
138 views

Are older browsers limited to certain operating systems and hardware? [closed]

What exactly are the reasons that people still use something like IE6? Surely it must be something more than "they are just not computer-savvy"... I am assuming that there are possible hardware and ...
Ian Campbell's user avatar
9 votes
4 answers
25k views

Redirect stdout while a process is running -- What is that process sending to /dev/null

I've run a command and redirected it's output via > /dev/null Now that it's been running significantly longer than I expected I want to see what it's doing. Is there a way to re-redirect the ...
Mikhail's user avatar
  • 1,471
0 votes
0 answers
501 views

VMware server issues with page file and dynamic memory

I'm having significant issues on our dev server and since our systems support won't maintain it I'm trying to determine our issues. Right now we have 2 GB of memory, allocated dynamically by VMware (...
Volvox's user avatar
  • 101
1 vote
1 answer
6k views

How to install OSX Lion onto a Macbook Air from USB drive without any OS already on the system?

For whatever reason, I have recently come into an early 2008 Macbook Air which has had its hard drive wiped completely, so there is no OS on there currently. How do I install OSX Lion or Windows 7/8 ...
Taimur's user avatar
  • 151
2 votes
2 answers
95 views

Is there a good command-line OS from which I can launch VMs? [closed]

Generally speaking, I'm interested in something that can load quickly and, depending on what I want to do, can choose to launch a Virtual Machine that is tailored to my desired activity. So, ...
Dredj's user avatar
  • 21
-1 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is more than 4GB RAM on a 32 bit Operating System redundant? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: What happens when you install > 4GB of RAM in a computer with a 32-Bit OS? I have 32 bit windows 7 operating System with 2GB RAM. One IDES Software has been installed in ...
Ashwin's user avatar
  • 365
44 votes
1 answer
7k views

Do 64bit software/applications require more RAM than their 32bit counterparts?

I just saw these minimum requirements for a game: Memory: 2GB for 32-bit OS or 4GB for 64-bit OS Why does the 64bit OS require more RAM than its 32bit counterpart?
MegaNairda's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
12k views

Is it possible to install an OS through a virtual machine on a harddrive, and then use that harddrive to boot normally?

I want to reinstall my operating system, but I don't want my computer to be down for a day while I get everything set up again. Can I install the new OS onto a fresh hard-drive through, say, Virtual ...
mpen's user avatar
  • 12.1k
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

unable to install windows 7 in my laptop with no os

I have a the following message when i try to install windows 7 through an bootable USB.. setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition I will explain ...
user1539's user avatar
  • 149
0 votes
3 answers
581 views

Merge disk partitions - Win 7, Win 8 & Ubuntu

I have three operating systems in my laptop: Windows 7, Windows 8 and Ubuntu. I installed Windows 8 just to test it (I should have installed into a virtual machine...), but now I want to remove ...
amp's user avatar
  • 101
2 votes
1 answer
173 views

Changing RAM from 2 GB up to 4 GB

I use Windows Vista 32 bit with 2 GB of RAM and now want to increase my RAM of 2 GB up to 4 GB. Does changing RAM of 2 GB up to 4 GB needs reinstalling windows vista 32 bit? And does 4 GB of RAM ...
Elvin Mammadov's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
4k views

Optimum NAS Setup for Mac & Windows

Please help me set up my new NAS. I have my head around the RAID setup (I think) and Time Machine, but I have questions. Setup: Synology DS212j NAS Macbook Air with OSX 10.8 Windows laptop (running ...
conradj's user avatar
  • 189
49 votes
3 answers
102k views

How can I upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 and keep my files and applications?

I want to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8. How can I do this while keeping all of my files in-tact? Is it possible to retain all of my applications and user settings, too?
Jeremy Thompson's user avatar
29 votes
1 answer
42k views

How do preferred and alternate or multiple DNS servers work?

I was considering adding 8.8.8.8 to the end of my adapter's list of DNS servers as a backup in case everything fails, when it occurred to me that I don't really know how secondary and tertiary DNS ...
rtf's user avatar
  • 12.7k
3 votes
1 answer
181 views

Turn User Agent into Device Information [closed]

I have a list of user agents which visited my website. And I would like to turn them into user statics such as which browser and os are reaching the most to my website. For Example: I have one user ...
Win Htut's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
347 views

Operating System not found when OS is installed

I've got something strange going on here. I have a a laptop which could reboot because the BIOS was set to start-up from network. I changed the booting order to the internal HD to be the first, but ...
Michiel's user avatar
  • 223
1 vote
1 answer
594 views

Reinstalling windows 7 on a seperate internal hard drive, will this delete files from other internal hard drives?

I have 2 internal hard drives. One is 160GB with windows 7 32bit on it and the other is 1TB with all my pictures, videos etc on it. If I wanted to remove windows 7 and install a fresh copy on my ...
Dale's user avatar
  • 11
0 votes
2 answers
19k views

Upgrading RAM in Dell Optiplex 380 [closed]

I've Dell optiplex 380 machine and I've 32bit Windows 7 ultimate OS on it with DDR3 2*2GB RAM on it. I want to upgrade my machine to use 8GB RAM with 64bit windows 7 ultimate OS and want to install ...
JayaprakashReddy's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
14k views

Is it possible to run a computer program without an operating system? [closed]

I'm wondering if it's possible to run a computer program without an operating system. Is there any way that this can be done?
Anderson Green's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
17k views

How many active partition a hard drive may have?

If a primary partition contains operating system then it is marked as active, so if we have more than one OS in different primary partition then more than one partition must be marked as active. So ...
Debabratta Jena's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
310 views

Operating system ejectable SSD

Why is my SSD, on which my operating system (Windows 7) is installed, showing as an ejectable device? I tried to eject it, half-expecting the drive to burst out of my case, but the device was - ...
Thomas's user avatar
  • 468
1 vote
1 answer
164 views

32-bit operating system on 64-bit machine with 4 gigabytes of memory or less [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Other benefits of 64-bit OS apart from memory expansion? I'm going to be buying a laptop soon. I'm going to install Linux so that it will dual-boot Windows and Linux. If it ...
user avatar
4 votes
4 answers
1k views

What are the risks (if any) of installing an older version of Linux

My machine has limited RAM capacity. Newer Linux distributions seem to require more memory (often 1 GB or more) and seem to consume more than 500 MB on itself. Is it safe to use an older version of ...
wisdom's user avatar
  • 497
0 votes
2 answers
2k views

In LAN , One System cant access some Websites except Google

In Our Office we are facing some weird problem , one of our staff PC unable to open may websites except Google and other websites . PC is re formatted and stored fresh Windows Xp but still getting ...
panindra's user avatar
  • 151
19 votes
2 answers
6k views

Computer architecture: Are USB keyboards less responsive due to narrow IRQ range?

Here is a statement I just thought of. Can anyone tell me whether, and why, it is true? Statement: Because USB keyboards rely on a USB generic driver and architecture that has only access to lower ...
PPC's user avatar
  • 736
2 votes
2 answers
16k views

I want to use a USB stick as a harddrive - hardware questions

I installed the latest Ubuntu OS on a USB stick and I'm having some (expected?) lags. Updating packages takes hours, but I can live with that. But the general response time is pretty bad. For instance ...
F. Rakes's user avatar
  • 187
5 votes
1 answer
26k views

Swaping, Paging, Segmentation, and Virtual memory on x86 PM architecture

Well, this may seem a common or already asked question but after searching various books, online tutorials and even here on SU, I am still puzzled at how these four beasts work together on a x86 ...
jacks's user avatar
  • 181
2 votes
2 answers
125 views

Do you need a boot loader to install Windows and mulltiple linux distros on one computer?

I usually dualboot Windows and Ubuntu, but I am getting a new laptop and I plan to install Windows, Ubuntu and other distros (might try arch for example) on the harddrive. Do I need to install a ...
Steve's user avatar
  • 21
0 votes
0 answers
42 views

32-bit or 64-bit OS? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: 32-bit vs. 64-bit systems I just built a new box which has an i7 3820 running as CPU. I usually run linux distros on my boxes. Is it best to go with a 64-bit distro with ...
ironicaldiction's user avatar
5 votes
5 answers
2k views

Why do modern pre-emptive multitasking OSs hang when the CPU is loaded?

This is an open-ended question, with many possible answers, but perhaps there's one big thing I'm overlooking. If not, perhaps this question should be community wiki. I don't use other OSs often ...
user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
2k views

How does the system identify an executable file

How does the system identify an executable file from a data file or a media file...is the system just looking for known extensions or is there something more low level that determines whether its ...
sujith1406's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
27k views

Scheduling algorithm used in Windows 7

What is the scheduling algorithm used in Windows 7?
arulappan's user avatar
  • 993
2 votes
0 answers
1k views

Can't Install Linux Mint

As the title says, I am having trouble installing the Linux Mint 13 Operating System in my computer and I am looking for advise on how to solve the problem. I hope you can help me. I downloaded Linux ...
Guido Chemaya's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
3k views

Is my laptop processor 64bit?

I have a Lenovo Ideapad Y510. I have always used 32bit OS in it. Yesterday I came across this detail of my laptop and it says processor of my laptop is 64bit (hope I have not misinterpret anything) so ...
Sandy's user avatar
  • 4,909
1 vote
3 answers
272 views

How could I pack my linux installation to installable DVD

I have spend more than 2 months configuring my openSUSE 12.1 linux as ultimate development environment with manual installs of many tools and packages. How could I pack this as my own distro on a DVD ...
azec-pdx's user avatar
  • 111
0 votes
1 answer
1k views

How to reset Sony VAIO laptop to factory settings if OS is corrupted and recovery partition is not visible in boot up?

I have a Sony VAIO laptop that was formatted by mistake. I don’t have the recovery discs. How do I get it back to factory settings? The recovery partition is not getting accessed on bootup. Is there ...
tksy's user avatar
  • 131
0 votes
1 answer
622 views

Can I install windows which comes with rc730 laptop (on its hard drive) on secondary disk which I will add to this laptop?

I plan to bought secondary disk (SSD) and add it to my rc730 laptop (my laptop has 2 slots for hard drives, so it is not a problem). I want to place Windows on secondary disk, SSD, which will be much ...
SuitUp's user avatar
  • 548
-6 votes
1 answer
221 views

is Windows Vista x64 Ultimate secure with replaced shell explorer.exe? [closed]

I've replaced explorer.exe as the default shell with steam.exe using a program called instant sheller. I don't want to run the stock firewall, and want to invoke the firewall and antivirus from the ...
Saulius's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
60 views

Swapping laptops while keeping current systems (kernel)

I am going to be getting a new laptop from HP soon, due to a faulty part, and they are giving my an upgrade. Almost all of the specifications will be changing, but I'm not keen on reinstalling my ...
Peter Klipfel's user avatar

1
21 22
23
24 25
32