All Questions
1118
votes
8answers
123k views
How do I make a machine “blank screen” for a period of time (as a penalty) if certain noise levels are reached?
My kids (4 and 5) yell a lot when playing games on computer. I found an effective cure for this. I ssh into game computer and do:
chvt 3; sleep 15; chvt 7
when I hear loud noises. This will turn ...
596
votes
19answers
361k views
What are the Windows A: and B: drives used for?
In Windows you have a C: drive. Everything labeled beyond that is with the following letter.
So your second drive is D:, your DVD is E: and if you put in a USB stick it becomes F: and the following ...
561
votes
3answers
115k views
Transatlantic ping faster than sending a pixel to the screen?
John Carmack tweeted,
I can send an IP packet to Europe faster than I can send a pixel to the screen. How f’d up is that?
And if this weren’t John Carmack, I’d file it under “the interwebs being ...
481
votes
5answers
384k views
What is the cURL command-line syntax to do a POST request?
How do I make a POST request with cURL command-line tool?
472
votes
4answers
60k views
Why does this PNG image display differently in Chrome & Firefox than in Safari and IE?
Check this image out:
On Chrome and Firefox it will show as a pear. Now, try to save it and look at it saved on your desktop. Also, try viewing in safari or IE. It will display as an apple!
Try ...
363
votes
9answers
44k views
From a quality perspective, what is better: turning volume up in the software, in the OS, or on the speakers?
If music isn't loud enough, how do I get the best quality (even if the difference is in fact so small it's negligible)?
By making the music louder in my music player, game or other sound-producing ...
319
votes
8answers
61k views
Why don't websites immediately display their text these days?
I've noticed that recently many websites are slow to display their text. Usually, the background, images and so on are going to be loaded, but no text. After some time the text starts appearing here ...
302
votes
7answers
15k views
How does a computer restart itself?
How can a computer restart itself? After it's off, how does it tell itself to come back on again? What kind of software is it that can do this?
289
votes
15answers
40k views
Does e-mail address obfuscation actually work? [closed]
Most of the time when I see someone post their email address online, especially if it's a personal address, they use something like
me [at] example [dot] com
instead of the actual email address ...
264
votes
4answers
34k views
Why does pinging 192.168.072 (only 2 dots) return a response from 192.168.0.58?
I mistakenly missed the dot off of an IP address and typed in 192.168.072.
To my surprise I connected to a machine at 192.168.0.58
If I ping 192.168.072 I get responses from 192.168.0.58.
Why is ...
257
votes
11answers
9k views
How can I give my wife emergency access to logins, passwords, etc.?
I'm the digital guru in my household. My wife is good with email and forum websites, but she trusts me with all our important digital stuff — online banking and other things that require ...
227
votes
4answers
14k views
Who provides the Internet service to Internet Service Providers (ISPs)?
I've been wondering recently about how the infrastructure of the Internet really works.
I know that I have an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that supplies my connection to the Internet.
But what ...
207
votes
7answers
124k views
How can I sort the output of 'ls' by last modified date?
How can I sort the output of ls by last modified date?
I can't find the answer on Google without digging around, an there is no answer on Stack Overflow either.
207
votes
8answers
70k views
Which Unicode characters do smilies like ٩(•̮̮̃•̃)۶ consist of?
How do I make Unicode texts like the one in the title, or like the following, without resorting to copy+paste?
٩(-̮̮̃-̃)۶ ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶ ٩(-̮̮̃•̃).
As an aside, note that in your browser the ...
194
votes
28answers
25k views
How to mess up a PC running Windows 7? [closed]
Ok, so for my PC class I have to find 3 hacks that would mess up the lab's PC. Me and my partner are going to mess up the PC and then another team will try to fix it. The system on it is Windows 7. ...
191
votes
10answers
15k views
Why is Google so much faster than a hard-drive search?
When I search a file on my HD in Windows 7 or Windows XP it takes some minutes to finish the process. If I fill in a search term in Google, the answer is on my screen in milliseconds
How is it ...
187
votes
7answers
11k views
Purpose of a “mystery key” on an IBM PC 3270 keyboard
A colleague has just come into possession of a large number of IBM PC 3270 keyboards (don't ask!). These keyboards have a number of very interesting looking keys, but the one that most intrigued us ...
186
votes
11answers
32k views
Simulate limited bandwidth from within Firefox?
Is there a way I can simulate various connection speeds from within Firefox?
I need to be able to check http://localhost with varying speeds.
I know there are standalone applications that can do ...
176
votes
12answers
23k views
Why are we still using CPUs instead of GPUs?
It seems to me that these days lots of calculations are done on the GPU. Obviously graphics are done there, but using CUDA and the like, AI, hashing algorithms (think bitcoins) and others are also ...
168
votes
15answers
35k views
Is there a modern browser that runs on Windows 3.1?
Ok, so I know what you are thinking: "What on earth are you doing still running Windows 3.1?"
Here's the situation. The computer running 3.1 is also the controller for $150,000 bandsaw made in ...
166
votes
4answers
191k views
How can I get the same SSID for multiple access points?
I need to upgrade my existing wireless infrastructure and this time I want 2 access points to cover my house, since I get blind spots no matter what with a single AP. I have physical cabling to my ...
163
votes
15answers
48k views
How do I get rid of malicious spyware, malware, viruses or rootkits from my PC?
What should I do if my Windows computer seems to be infected with a virus or malware?
What are the symptoms of an infection?
What should I do after noticing an infection?
What can I do to get rid of ...
159
votes
24answers
7k views
What are some options for transfering large files without using the Internet? [closed]
My employer's Internet connection is extremely slow. It's a $6,000 a month, 9 Mb, bonded T1, shared by over 150 users. It's not untypical to see regular file transfer speeds of 20-100 KBps. And ...
154
votes
2answers
3k views
How do I reset the time on my computer without turning it on?
Alright, so today, I did something very stupid: Do an experiment on my computer without backing it up.
So I saw that the calendar in Windows could only go up to 12/31/2999 (or something like that). ...
153
votes
7answers
77k views
How to clear/flush the DNS cache in Google Chrome?
As you probably know Google Chrome has its own internal DNS cache. Is there a way to clear it without having to wait for the time out or close the browser?
152
votes
12answers
19k views
How can I change to the previous directory instead of going up?
I currently spend a lot of my working hours moving back and forth between two paths which are very far down the tree and divert from each other at root. It strikes me that my life would be a lot ...
152
votes
8answers
6k views
How far will you get with an 'rm -rf /' command?
I've often wondered how far the system will actually get if you run rm -rf /. I doubt the OS would be able to erase itself (?)
Bonus Question: After the command has been executed, will rm have ...
151
votes
2answers
6k views
Do not cover this hole?
On many hard drives, there's a text warning to "not cover this hole", sometimes adding that doing so will void the warranty.
What is the purpose of this hole and why would covering it cause damage or ...
140
votes
17answers
8k views
What is the advantage of using 'tar' today?
I know that tar was made for tape archives back in the day, but today we have archive file formats that both aggregate files and perform compression within the same logical file format.
Questions:
...
136
votes
3answers
43k views
How do I scroll in tmux?
I just started using tmux, and I really like it, but I need to be able to scroll within the buffers/panes/windows I have open. I don't care if it works with the mouse or not. When I search the tmux ...
133
votes
15answers
9k views
Is the performance of a CPU affected as it ages? [closed]
This is a hypothetical question about how a CPU operates. If I purchase two identical CPUs, and use one long term (say one year), will it be identical in speed to the unused CPU? Will the number of ...
132
votes
5answers
79k views
Notepad++ is unable to load langs.xml, why?
Whenever I open NotePad++ the following error message appears:
---------------------------
Configurator
---------------------------
Load langs.xml failed!
---------------------------
...
131
votes
6answers
49k views
Should laptops remain plugged in when their battery is 100% charged?
When your laptop's battery is 100% charged, should you leave it plugged in so any battery power doesn't get used, or will that cause overcharging, overheating, etc.? Should the laptop be unplugged ...
130
votes
9answers
76k views
Is there any 'sudo' command for Windows?
I always work on a normal account on my Windows box. Sometimes I need to install programs which requires administrator access. As I mostly use a Windows command prompt, is there any command similar to ...
119
votes
11answers
340k views
How to search inside files on Windows 7?
In Windows XP we can search for files which contains a defined keyword (inside all files types).
Windows 7 can look inside files for a keyword.
Okay, but only for text files. (*.doc, *.txt, *.inf, ...
118
votes
21answers
143k views
Does an equivalent of Time Machine exist for Windows?
A simple Google search for "Time Machine for Windows" results in a flurry of different little apps. But instead of relying on forum anecdotes and advertisements, I call on the much wiser Super User ...
117
votes
19answers
19k views
How can I visualize the file system usage on Windows?
How can I visualize which folders and files are taking up all of the space on my hard drive?
I'm getting some conflicting reports on the size of hard drive contents. Namely what is and isn't there ...
117
votes
7answers
5k views
Why did dialup modems make noise?
I know that the signal was just tone pulses but why was it when (back in the 90s) when you first connected to the internet you heard a bunch of funny noises. After that if you were to use the ...
117
votes
5answers
87k views
Disable Java Plugin in Google Chrome?
This is the second time I've had a drive-by executable installed on my machine using the following:
Google Chrome 6 (latest)
Windows 7, UAC on
This happened while I was browsing for images to add ...
116
votes
5answers
5k views
What do the parentheses and number after a Unix command or C function mean?
I keep seeing parentheses and a number after a command in Unix or Linux or C function.
For example: man(8), ftok(2), mount(8), etc.
What do these mean? I see them in man too.
115
votes
2answers
4k views
What is the reason that file URLs start with three slashes: “file:///” etc?
I was wondering why file URLs have 3 slashes in front.
For example, if I were to read a pdf file using chrome, the URL would be file:///D:/Desktop/Book.pdf.
This seems totally unnecessary. Since ...
107
votes
5answers
6k views
How do I securely store and manage 180 passwords?
I have about 180 passwords for different websites and web services. They are all stored in one single password protected Excel document. As the list gets longer I am more and more concerned about its ...
106
votes
12answers
124k views
How to force refresh without cache in Google Chrome?
Does Chrome have an equivalent to Firefox's Ctrl+F5 refresh? I can't seem to find one.
I changed my gravatar last night, and I can see the new one in Firefox after a Ctrl+F5 refresh, but Chrome seems ...
106
votes
7answers
4k views
Why can't I email myself at: MyEmail@74.125.235.55?
I opened cmd and typed ping gmail.com. It shows me:
C:\Windows\system32>ping gmail.com
Pinging gmail.com [74.125.235.55] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 74.125.235.55: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=56
...
105
votes
8answers
444k views
How do I get different background images on my dual monitors?
Is there a way to set two different background pictures for my two monitors in Windows 7?
By default the same background picture is used for both displays. I am looking for a solution without ...
105
votes
5answers
47k views
How to control Windows 7 snap feature with two monitors?
There is the Snap feature in Windows 7. But it seems to not work when dragging window to the edge that are adjoin to the second monitor. How to make it working? May be some regedit cheat or something?
...
105
votes
8answers
65k views
How do I turn off Modern UI and get the old Start Menu back in Windows 8?
I just bought a new Windows 8 laptop, but I want to get rid of the new "Modern UI" Start Screen, and get the old Start Menu back. How do I do this?
104
votes
10answers
24k views
Why does 64-bit Windows need a separate “Program Files (x86)” folder?
I know that on a 64-bit version of Windows the "Program Files" folder is for 64-bit programs and the "Program Files (x86)" folder is for 32-bit programs, but why is this even necessary?
By ...
103
votes
19answers
16k views
32-bit vs. 64-bit systems
What are the differences between 32-bit and 64-bit systems?
If you have used both of them, what kind of sharp differences have you experienced?
Would it be a problem to use 32-bit programs on ...
102
votes
10answers
42k views
Why does the /winsxs folder grow so large, and can it be made smaller?
A Vista virtual machine I use only has a 10 GB virtual hard disk -- and I'm worried about it running out of space over time.
I used TreeSize to check for the culprits..
And the primary culprit is ...
