All Questions
41,905
questions
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 ...
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&...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 | ...
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 ...
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 ...
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.
...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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. ...
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 ...
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?
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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/...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 (...
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-...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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?
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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?
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
...
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?
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...