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67 votes
11 answers
153k views

Free way to clone HDD to SSD? [closed]

Is there a free way to clone a full Windows 7 installation from HDD to SSD? (The free part is important, I know I can pay for Acronis True Image.) SSDs are usually much smaller than HDDs which ...
Borek Bernard's user avatar
61 votes
11 answers
213k views

Laptop power supplies, does current matter?

I have two laptops (same manufacture), with the same type of power connector. However, the power supplies/transformers are slightly different. The output on the first laptop's power supply is 15.6&...
BIBD's user avatar
  • 1,574
44 votes
5 answers
25k views

Where can I download Windows 8 legally, from Microsoft?

I obtained a licence key for Windows 8 through DreamSpark. Is there a way to download a Windows 8 ISO image like you could for Windows 7? I am on a non-Windows machine, so I cannot use the Secure ...
Ishan's user avatar
  • 3,432
140 votes
11 answers
159k views

How can I add an item to the 'new' context menu?

When I right click anywhere I get an option to add a new file with a specified extension. I would like to add some custom files into this menu, so I can right click and create a new PHP file for ...
user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
6k views

What is the purpose of the DISM /RestoreHealth parameter and SFC?

What is the purpose of the DISM /RestoreHealth parameter and the SFC /ScanNow parameter? How do they correlate to one another? In what order should they be run? Why does the order sequence matter ...
JW0914's user avatar
  • 7,828
51 votes
15 answers
154k views

How can I monitor all and any Internet traffic from my home PC?

I would like to monitor all and any Internet traffic from my home PC to see what programs installed on my home machine are accessing the Internet. I thought I could use Fiddler for this, but I ...
Paul Rowland's user avatar
  • 1,237
509 votes
19 answers
867k views

Is there any 'sudo' command for Windows?

I always work on a non-administrator account on my Windows computer. Sometimes I need to install programs which requires administrator access. As I mostly use the Windows command prompt, is there a ...
ukanth's user avatar
  • 10.7k
358 votes
11 answers
898k views

How to read ext4 partitions on Windows?

Is there a way to read ext4 partitions from Windows? If so, what can I do?
638 votes
5 answers
856k 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 ...
krosenvold's user avatar
  • 6,787
82 votes
9 answers
191k views

How much time until an unused hard drive loses its data?

Do you guys know how much time needs to pass until the data stored on a hard drive starts to degrade? To keep the data intact for long periods of time, I heard you need to periodically rewrite it on ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 979
73 votes
12 answers
136k views

How to "unpivot" or "reverse pivot" in Excel?

I have data that looks like this: Id | Loc1 | Loc2 | Loc3 | Loc4 ---+------+------+------+----- 1 | NY | CA | TX | IL 2 | WA | OR | NH | RI And I want to convert it to this: Id | ...
devuxer's user avatar
  • 4,031
17 votes
2 answers
66k views

My keyboard is typing by itself, could there be a ghost in it?

The keyboard on my laptop seems to be typing by itself: It sometimes types characters like 134, whether by itself or when I hit certain keys. Repeating characters may appear unexpectedly. The system ...
bwDraco's user avatar
  • 46.1k
239 votes
1 answer
508k views

What is port forwarding and what is it used for?

There are a lot of questions on 'port forwarding', but there doesn't seem to be one that clearly states what it is and what it's used for. So: What is port forwarding? What is it used for, and why ...
238 votes
6 answers
205k 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 ...
Click Upvote's user avatar
  • 4,200
194 votes
10 answers
241k views

How do I set up SSH so I don't have to type my password?

How do I set up SSH so I don't have to type my password when connecting to a host?
6 votes
1 answer
22k views

Computer doesn't boot up, shows PXE error and/or "operating system not found", "no bootable device", "insert boot media", or other similar error

My computer no longer boots Windows or the installed operating system. Instead, I may get this error: PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable -or- Check cable connection! PXE-M0F: Exiting PXE ROM. ...
bwDraco's user avatar
  • 46.1k
16 votes
0 answers
7k views

How do I troubleshoot a Windows 7 freeze or slowness? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: What are the first steps for diagnosing a slow machine? I have a new pc with windows 7 which freezes randomly. I hit every single key on the keyboard and it works again. Is ...
Jason Martin's user avatar
196 votes
13 answers
400k views

How can I make the Windows VPN route selective traffic (by destination network)?

I want to use a Windows VPN but only for a particular network, so that it doesn't take over my entire network connection. e.g., Instead of the VPN becoming the default route, make it only the route ...
Legooolas's user avatar
  • 5,860
190 votes
13 answers
713k views

How can I put the computer to sleep from Command Prompt/Run menu?

I know that almost everything on Windows, like opening any sort of application, can be done from the command prompt or from the Run menu. How can I put my computer to sleep or shut it down? What is ...
Lazer's user avatar
  • 17.7k
103 votes
7 answers
203k views

How does the Windows RENAME command interpret wildcards?

How does the Windows RENAME (REN) command interpret wildcards? The built in HELP facility is of no help - it doesn't address wildcards at all. The Microsoft technet XP online help isn't much better. ...
dbenham's user avatar
  • 11.4k
90 votes
37 answers
227k views

How to force Windows to rename a file with a special character?

I have a song that Windows can't play because there is a question mark in the name of the file. "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?.ogg" // as an example So I try to rename it and Windows complains ...
88 votes
4 answers
143k views

Windows using too much RAM, how to diagnose resource hog

I have 16GB of system RAM. On startup with no applications open except the task-manager Windows is using about 3gb of RAM. I looked in the processes tab, but nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. ...
Vader's user avatar
  • 1,693
27 votes
2 answers
96k views

Expanding wireless coverage: What are the differences between LAN to LAN and LAN to WAN when it comes to connecting two wireless routers?

I'm trying to link two wireless routers with an Ethernet cable in order to expand my wireless network. Both routers need to provide wired and wireless Internet access. I'd like to know the ...
User X's user avatar
  • 281
14 votes
6 answers
41k views

Are the Command Prompt and MS-DOS the same thing?

I argued with my friend that the Command Prompt is just a GUI version of MS-DOS which works in the Windows forms environment. He totally disagrees with me. Who is right?
user978733's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
25k views

Make Windows 10 stop installing driver software automatically

I've upgraded my PC from Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 10 Pro; overall it seems to be working fine, with small bugs here and there. One thing that I find really annoying is that Windows seems to think ...
Daniel's user avatar
  • 375
36 votes
2 answers
5k views

Why is my USB drive showing corrupted data when plugged as an internal SATA drive?

I have a 3TB Seagate Backup Plus Desktop USB 3.0 drive, which works fine when in its enclosure, but when I get it off its enclosure and directly plug it as an internal SATA drive, it's just not ...
OMA's user avatar
  • 1,690
451 votes
11 answers
1.8m views

How to rename the User folder in Windows 10?

After installing Windows 10 on my Surface Pro 3 it took my user name 'Jeremy' and created a user folder named C:\Users\jerem. I want to rename the folder C:\Users\Jeremy. The procedure for Windows 8 ...
GollyJer's user avatar
  • 7,290
301 votes
9 answers
1.3m views

Using cd command in Windows command line, can't navigate to D:\

This may be a silly question, and I think I have looked elsewhere to find the answer... Might be a path issue, but when I open the command line and type from the C:\>: cd D:\ I cannot get to the ...
nicorellius's user avatar
  • 6,715
104 votes
4 answers
30k views

What is a Codec (e.g. DivX?), and how does it differ from a File Format (e.g. MPG)?

I'm so confused... what is the difference between an audio/video codec (which apparently is a shorthand for "encoder/decoder", kind of like how "modem" is really "modulator/demodulator") and an audio/...
user541686's user avatar
  • 23.9k
64 votes
9 answers
54k views

How do I delete a 'locked' file?

On Windows XP, when I try and delete a specific file it says: Cannot delete blah.blah: Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use. How can I ...
Ron Tuffin's user avatar
  • 2,520
61 votes
9 answers
46k views

Moving users folder on Windows Vista/7 to another partition

When I format the computer and reinstall Windows, my first step is move the My Documents folder to another partition. In Windows XP it wasn't enough because the desktop folder and another user folders ...
Click Ok's user avatar
  • 3,865
33 votes
8 answers
389k views

Why is all my extra RAM marked as "hardware reserved" in Windows 7?

I have a new HP Z800 Workstation, running Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit. Z800 Specs are here. The machine has 4GB of RAM -- windows reported 1.99GB available, 2GB was "hardware reserved". I added ...
ericvg's user avatar
  • 1,286
13 votes
5 answers
4k views

Recover harddrive data

I have a dell laptop that recently "died" (It would get the blue screen of death upon starting) and the hard drive would make a weird cyclic clicking noises. I wanted to see if I could use some tools ...
Erik W's user avatar
  • 348
4 votes
1 answer
5k views

Parameter expansion (variable expansion) and quotes within quotes

While working in a (Unix) shell, sometimes I need to double-quote single-quotes or vice versa, i.e. to write something like "foo 'bar baz' moo" or 'foo "bar baz" moo'. This may be because the ...
Kamil Maciorowski's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

How to find which RAM to get for my computer? [duplicate]

I don't have any knowledge in hardware and would like to know which RAM should I buy for my laptop. How do I discover what RAM I need & how much my machine can take? I have a Razer Blade 15 (...
jestin-g's user avatar
348 votes
7 answers
1.4m views

Why does virtualbox only have 32-bit option, no 64-bit option on Windows 7?

I have downloaded and installed the newest virtualbox 4.3.20 for my Windows 7 (64-bit OS), but when I want to install 64-bit Linux, the New->Create Virtual Machine only displays 32-bit option, no 64-...
Nan Xiao's user avatar
  • 4,113
34 votes
20 answers
210k views

Display Blank when Referencing Blank Cell in Excel 2010

I have an Excel 2010 workbook that contains a number of individual worksheets. The cells on one of the sheets are linked to individual cells on two other worksheets in the same workbook. I'm using a ...
Dave's user avatar
  • 349
28 votes
6 answers
33k views

Recover data from SD card

I have a 2 GB Kingston microSD card which is about three years old. I put it in a reader today in my Windows Vista computer, wrote a 32 MB file onto it, safely removed it, and then tried to ...
Paul Tarjan's user avatar
18 votes
6 answers
104k views

How to access the Administrator Command Prompt in Windows 8?

When I access the Run dialog in Windows 8 and type cmd, it opens a command prompt but it doesn't have administrative privileges. Looking for cmd at the default start screen does show a command prompt ...
Charles's user avatar
  • 387
652 votes
16 answers
616k views

How do I convert a video to GIF using ffmpeg, with reasonable quality?

I'm converting a video to GIF file with ffmpeg: ffmpeg \ -i input.flv \ -ss 00:00:00.000 \ -pix_fmt rgb24 \ -r 10 \ -s 320x240 \ -t 00:00:10.000 \ output.gif It works great, but output ...
Kamil Hismatullin's user avatar
136 votes
9 answers
93k 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?
MatthewSot's user avatar
  • 3,657
96 votes
3 answers
98k views

Resizing videos with ffmpeg/avconv to fit into static sized player

I have a html 5 video player which is 700px wide, 400px high. I'm trying to use avconv to use ffmpeg to resize (while retaining the aspect ratio) and making sure it fits into my player. Input can be a ...
Jamie Taylor's user avatar
  • 1,451
92 votes
11 answers
123k views

How do you type Unicode characters using hexadecimal codes?

This is in Windows, but answers for other operating systems can be handy to others. Most guides say something to the effect of "hold down the Alt key and type in the code on the keypad". This works ...
user avatar
92 votes
8 answers
921k views

How to disable or uninstall Microsoft Edge in Windows 10

Is there any possibility to completely disable the new Edge browser? The old IE could be disabled in Settings → Default Programs, but in Windows 10, the checkbox is missing for Edge. Is there any way ...
K. Biermann's user avatar
  • 1,019
31 votes
11 answers
168k views

How can I monitor internet usage in my network? [closed]

I need to know which computer is consuming my bandwidth. Is there a tool to do this?
Luiscencio's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
14k views

How to force the deletion of a locked file that has no locking handle on Windows?

When I try to delete the file, using the GUI it says The action cannot be completed because the file is open in another program And using the del /f /q command line it says Access is denied ...
J. Doe's user avatar
  • 73
565 votes
6 answers
207k views

Difference between .bashrc and .bash_profile

What's the difference between .bashrc and .bash_profile and which one should I use?
cfischer's user avatar
  • 9,063
97 votes
9 answers
587k views

How do I fix my USB drive to get its original 8GB size back?

My USB drive used to be originally 8GB when I bought it. I'm trying to reformatted in Windows 7 by right clicking on the drive and selecting Format.... But the capacity only shows 250MB. Is there ...
fent's user avatar
  • 1,581
29 votes
5 answers
59k views

Installing Windows XP from USB pen drive

I want to install Windows XP on my desktop computer (only XP), but my CD drive is not working. I've only found installation tutorials on how to install it on the pen drive rather than from the pen ...
OrangeRind's user avatar
319 votes
3 answers
168k views

Conclusively stop wake timers from waking Windows 10 desktop

How do you stop a Windows 10 Desktop waking up from the sleeping/hibernated power state without user intervention? For lots of users this won't be an issue but, if you sleep in the same room as your ...
seagull's user avatar
  • 5,516

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