All Issues
24,993 verified issues
How to wipe free disk space in Linux?
When a file is deleted, its contents may still be left in the filesystem, unless explicitly overwritten with something else. The command can securely erase files, but does not seem to allow erasing free disk space not used by any files. What should I use to achieve this?
How can I give write-access of a folder to all users in linux?
I installed apache2 on Ubuntu just now, and noticed that the /var/www folder is protected. I can just everything but I would rather just give it write access. How can I do this? I tried but it didn't work.
Mass deleting files in Windows
I have a directory, that contains ~ 3 million files in certain subdirectories on a Windows 2008 server. Manually deleting the files via SHIFT+DEL on the root dir takes ages. Is there any other way to do the deletion in a faster manner?
How can the font size be changed in Notepad++?
How can the font size be changed in Notepad++? I just downloaded and installed Notepad++ v5.4.5 (I have been using UltraEdit for the last 11.5 years) and can not find a menu command for changing the screen font. I want to change it to Lucida Console 18pt. Other notes: to download Notepad++ go directly to the SourceForce download page for Notepad++. (Note: Another question, How do I change Notepad++'s console font?, deals with changing the font (not the font size). For instance, answers to that question that only talks about font size are being downvoted.)
What is randomart produced by ssh-keygen?
When you generate a key, you get "randomart" from newer versions of OpenSSH. I am unable to find an explanation of why, and what I'm supposed to use it for.
Why are there directories called Local, LocalLow, and Roaming under \Users\<username>\AppData?
I have a workstation running Windows Server 2008 that's logged into an AD domain, and I have a dual boot with Ubuntu Linux. When running Linux, I'd like to be able to use the same Thunderbird profile I use under Windows, so I pointed Thunderbird to use a profile I found under: It turns out it was not the correct profile -- it had the right configuration, but the Inbox was an old version. I eventually found out the correct path was: What's the rationale behind those different places to store application data?
Good on-screen ruler application for Windows?
What's a good (preferably free) on-screen ruler for Windows? I just need to measure a few things in pixels on the screen. I need it to be flexible (easily resizable and able to measure both vertically and horizontally), and hopefully not look like crap. A quick Google search revealed a ton of different applications, and I don't want to try every single one.
Open Excel files in new window
When I have Excel running and I double click an Excel file in Windows explorer, I'd like it to launch in a new window by default so that I can move documents to separate monitors. Is there any way to get this behavior?
What's the life expectancy of an SD card?
I have some SD cards that I use. Is there a limit to how many times I can write over them? If I leave information on a card, is there anything that can cause it to lose this information eventually (other than a magnetic field)? What's the preferred storage conditions for these cards?
Preventing applications from stealing focus
Are there any solutions to prevent applications stealing focus from the active window? This is especially annoying when I'm starting an application, switch to do something else and the new application starts receiving half a sentence of text.
Is it safe to delete from C:\Windows\Installer?
I've been looking on an XP machine what is using all that diskspace, and it turns out C:\Windows\Installer is high up there on the list of directories that use the most diskspace. It seems to contain a cache of msi and msp files. Is it safe to delete those? To save diskspace, I've been deleting the "$KB...$" directories for ages without any problems. I want my Windows Updates in my system, why you would want to uninstall them is something that I have never understood. (Except when you're on an update revision board professionally or something of that order.)
Is it better to use a laptop on battery or on AC power?
When I'm at home, is it better to use the laptop plugged into AC power, or with just the battery, for the overall battery life?
What Tiling Window Manager for Windows do you recommend?
What is the best tiling window manager for Windows? I'm looking for something like . It would be nice if it removes the title bar and has "comfortable" shortcut keys (for me that's keys, but feel free to use your own reference). Open source would be a plus.
How do I find out what version of Linux I'm running?
Is there a way to determine what version (distribution & kernel version, I suppose) of Linux is running (from the command-line), that works on any Linux system?
How can I mass rename files?
I've got a bunch of files named with a the pattern and I'd like to remove the number from the front so I just have . How can I do this? Can I do it from the command line or is there a utility that can do this?
How to sync bookmarks between Firefox, Chrome, and Safari on multiple computers?
There are some similar question on bookmark syncing, but most answers point to Delicious or Google bookmarks. However, as Chrome doesn't have the Google toolbar, how would those sync? I use several computers and different browsers on them so I would like a easy solution to keep all of the bookmarks in sync on various computers and browsers in the same organizational structure throughout. Also, I would prefer to have my bookmarks only synced to my account, not necessarily visible to the whole world as on Delicious. Is there any service that could handle this?
How to set the default program for opening files without an extension in Windows?
How to set the default program for opening files without an extension in Windows?
Hex editors for Windows?
Are there some hex editors for Windows? Preferably open source or free since I don't need a hex editor all that often... Things I do need is the ability to search in different types (text, raw hex, little endian short, big endian short, etc.) and viewing by type (same as searching types) starting at the selected byte. It would be nice to be able to create structs on the fly, so I can view binary blobs in the file. Binary file comparison is also a must, hopefully it would be smart and enable block detection. I do know about the list on Wikipedia, but I don't really have time to try the 60 or hex editors, and I was wondering what other people use.
How can I determine which process owns a hotkey in Windows?
Given a hotkey, how can I find which program owns it?
How can I make a Windows PC bullet-proof for home users?
I realize that virus-proof on a Windows PC is far fetched, but in the interest of keeping time spent as the "family-tech-support" to a minimum, I am looking for ideas to lock a computer down to the point that it is very hard to collect ad-ware/spyware, malware, or viruses. Assume the user is my mom, who rarely, if ever, needs administrator access and mostly uses the computer for MS Office and web browsing.