All Issues
24,993 verified issues
Increase Scrollback Buffer in Putty
I'm running Putty on Windows and can't find an option to increase the size of the scrollback buffer . It seems set at about 4 pages of text. Am I missing something?
What computer components are currently vulnerable to magnets?
When I first started using computers, law of the land in computer class was never bring magnets near anything computer related, lest you lose all your data or screw up your monitor. Now I am pretty sure magnets will still royally mess up a standard hard drive, and I know for a fact they screw up a CRT monitor. Though I am also pretty sure they do not screw up a LCD monitor? Now I have my phone which uses magnets to determine if it's docked, and it made me wonder. Is it the power of the magnet preventing data loss or the sheer fact that whatever memory type in the phone is immune to it? What about ear buds, as I know those have tiny magnets in them. Are those capable of damaging any electronic device currently in use? I'm wondering if I'm being paranoid, but I really am not sure what magnets will damage and what they won't! Is there a list, or rule of thumb for determining what will be hurt by magnets and what won't be?
Getting host to capture certain key presses in VirtualBox
I'm using VirtualBox on Ubuntu 9.10 with Windows XP as the guest OS. It's pretty annoying that when I am in the guest OS - I can't switch virtual desktops (workspaces) on the host (Ubuntu) by pressing Control+Alt+(Left|Right|Up|Down) because VirtualBox captures those key combinations. Is it possible to disable keyboard capture for some key combinations?
Why does the Mac OS X firewall dialog recurringly pop-up and disappear by itself (without letting me respond) under Snow Leopard?
From time to time, I'll be on my Macbook using a program that accesses the network – whether Firefox, or Sony's Reader Library – really, it seems like it could happen with any program that accesses the network – and for no reason that I can discern so far (that is, it happens intermittently) the OS X firewall dialog pops up to ask me the question: [OS X firewall dialog] Do you want the application "Reader Library.app" to accept incoming network connections? Clicking Deny may limit the application's behavior. This setting can be changed in the Firewall pane of Security preferences. [Deny] [Allow] Except it doesn't actually let me click anything before it disappears! That is: the dialog pops up, ... then goes away by itself a second later, then pops up again, ... then goes away by itself a second later, etc. It happens a few times before stopping. It wouldn't be so maddening to be interrupted if I could just be allowed to click "Allow" and make the darn thing go away for good. In Securi…
Auto-tagging MP3s
I have a ton of MP3s, but their ID tags are not filled in. Going in manually to populate them is simply too much work. I was wondering if there is a way to populate them automatically. Perhaps by feeding the MP3s to Shazam or Midori or something like. I am not above writing some code to make it happen, if someone can suggest a way.
How to tar directory and then remove originals including the directory?
I'm trying to a collection of files in a directory called 'my_directory' and remove the originals by using the command: However it is only removing the individual files inside the directory and not the directory itself (which is what I specified in the command). What am I missing here? EDIT: Yes, I suppose the 'remove-files' option is fairly literal. Although I too found the man page unclear on that point. (In linux I tend not to really distinguish much between directories and files that much, and forget sometimes that they are not the same thing). It looks like the consensus is that it doesn't remove directories. However, my major prompting point for asking this question stems from tar's handling of absolute paths. Because you must specify a relative path to a file/s to be compressed, you therefore must change to the parent directory to tar it properly. As I see it using any kind of follow-on 'rm' command is potentially dangerous in that situation. Thus I was hoping to simplify thing…
invoke zsh, having it run a command, and then enter interactive mode instead of exiting
i'd like to start zsh similar to but instead of exiting after running that command, leaving me at the propt of the invoked zsh (not wherever it is being called from). one particular use-case for this is in screenrc files, you could do something like: and after running that command you're left with a shell there instead of it closing.
Burn Image context menu item missing in Windows 7
My understanding is that in Windows 7 if I right click an ISO image I should have an option Burn Image, or if I double click an ISO I should get a dialog to let me burn the image.... Not happening for me, any idea's why? Edit: 29th April. I do have isoburn.exe in my system32 directory, and it works just fine if I launch it manually from cmd. However I simply do not have the context menu when I right click on a iso file. So my more specific question is, does anyone know how to simply restore this context menu item, an entry in the registry perhaps? (but where and what)
How to swap the "fn" use of Function keys on an Apple Keyboard in Linux
I have an apple slim keyboard (USB) and if I want to use one of the Function Key as-is, I also have to press "fn " key first. Otherwise, it will try to perform the other function of the key, such as increasing or decreasing the display intensity, change the volume/mute, etc.... As well, the fn key is actually in the position of the "insert" key for regular keyboards. How can I fix all of that ? I really like this keyboard, as it make my typing much easier, and much more silent too. But some of those mappings that are different sometime bug me. Thanks :-)
Equivalent/Alternatives for Alt+Dot in Mac
One thing i miss from the Linux shell is the Alt+Dot shortcut. What it does is insert the last argument of the previous command. It appears to be a trivial technique, but it's really useful. i.e. if you type this: The next time you just have to type a command + shortcut and the argument will be completed for you. On Mac i know 2 alternatives; pressing Esc+Dot or typing !$, !* with the magic space setup. However while both alternatives do insert the last argument(s) you've used, they can't scroll back in command history like typing Alt+Dot repeatedly does. I can live with this options for now, but i'd love to know if someone knows a better way to do it.
awk, mawk, nawk, gawk... WHAT?
I've just started learning awk and I'm a little confused about all those versions around. Is there any "version" which is found on all Unix-like systems? Like, you know, plain vi? Does the standard awk support the -F option?
How do I find out what processes are accessing the hard disk in a GNU/Linux-based system?
I'm looking for the equivalent to top for disk access, so I can tell which process(es) are currently reading and/or writing to disk. I'm currently using Ubuntu, but I imagine there's a standard tool that's available as part of the GNU toolset.
How do I get the mx records for a domain from *nix command line?
What is the best way to lookup MX records for a domain from the command line?
Weird symbols for key combinations on a Mac
Where am I supposed to learn the meaning of the weird key-combination symbols on a Mac? I'm specifically talking about the hollow up arrow, the broken switch circuit symbol, the hollow up arrow with a hollow square under it, the caret, the forward arrow with a bar or pipe in front, and the circle with an arrow leading out of it. The only weird symbol I have actually drawn on my keyboard is the command symbol which is like a clover. The other symbols I mentioned respectively mean: shift, option(alt), caps lock, control (only one I got right away), tab, and escape (the most frustrating one). Clearly these must be documented somewhere (although why they're not on the keyboard is very odd to me) but where are they discussed? Update: I totally forgot the other, much sillier ones: strike-through caret is enter (number pad), up-left arrow is home, down-right arrow is end, and the fairly more obvious right, u-turn, left arrow is carriage return. ! I'm missing an image for caps lock, but you s…
Install software: choose .msi or .exe?
Some software sites allow to download their software to be installed either as an .msi file or as an .exe file. When given the option, which one should one choose to download for installing software, i.e: what are the advantages of using the .msi file instead of the installer (.exe)? I do understand the difference between both, in that the .msi file is an installation package that will be processed by a Windows installer executable. And the .exe file is an executable containing the installer and installation files. But what is the real benefit of choosing .msi over .exe. In the end, the result is the same. Or not?
Global proxy settings for all Windows applications in Windows Vista
How do I make Windows (Vista) to apply certain proxy server for all applications that use internet?
Short, easy to understand explanation of GPG/PGP for nontechnical people?
Does anyone have a link to a good, but short (1-2 paragraphs) explanation of the benefits of using GPG/PGP signing and encryption for Email focused at non-technical readers? That is, why would someone care about email being signed? I've looked but all I ever find are deeply technical, jargon filled documents; perhaps my Google-fu is failing me.
What is the right procedure to safely remove stickers from a laptop?
My new Dell Studio 15 has those annoying "permanent" decal stickers for Windows Vista and Intel Centrino processor. I want them gone. I don't want to try to peel them only to discover that I've ruined the surface underneath. What is the right procedure to safely remove stickers from a laptop?
HDMI vs Component vs VGA vs DVI vs DisplayPort
What are the pros and cons of each of these different display adapters and cables? From what I can understand, HDMI offers the ability to send audio along the same cable as well as the ability to do progressive scan. I've Googled but I can't seem to find any real answers. Why would someone care to run 1280x1024 over HDMI or DVI instead of VGA? What about component? All I hear is one is digital and one is analog, but I can't find what that means from a feature/benefit stand point.
How do I open the Windows Task Manager during a Remote Desktop session?
When I press Ctrl-Alt-Delete I can only open the Task Manager for the local PC. Is there some simple way to open the Task Manager on the remote PC while running Remote Desktop from one Windows XP machine to another?