All Issues
24,993 verified issues
32 vs 64 bits... what's the big deal?
Why is it considered to be such a big deal to have a 64-bit computer? Why does it "change everything?" Why do applications need to be designed differently between 32- and 64-bit platforms? And, on OS X, how do you find which one you have!?
Why did my flash drive become "read only" and (how) can I fix it?
I have a brand new flash drive (one week old) that has become marked as read only, by Windows, Kubuntu and a bootable partitioner. Why did this happen? Is it fixable? If it is, how can I fix this? The problem Firstly, this drive is new. It's certainly not been used enough to die from normal wear and tear, though I would not discount defective components. The drive itself has somehow become locked in a read only state. Windows' Disk management: Diskpart: What really confuses me is and . Attempted solutions So far, I've tried: Formatting it in Windows (in Disk management, the format options are greyed out when right clicking). DiskPart Clean ( ): There was nothing in the event log. Windows command line format Windows chkdsk: see below for details Kubuntu fsck (through VirtualBox USB passthrough): see below for details Acronis True Image to format, to convert to GPT, to destroy and rebuild MBR, basically anything: failed (could not write to MBR) Details (and a nice story) Background This…
How to check root partition with fsck?
I installed Linux Mint 12 KDE, and I would like to check the root partition for any errors. How do I check the root partition with fsck at boot time?
How to extract subtitles from MP4 and MKV movies
I'm trying to extract subtitles from MP4 and MKV movies. I'm using mp4box (on OS X) but cannot figure out how it works. Any hints?
Fastest method to determine my PC's IP address (Windows)
This may seem trivial but I'm looking for the quickest method to determine my PC's IP address within my network. This changes regularly as I connect from one network to the next via DHCP The connection changes from wired to wireless Windows 7 PC (although ideally the perfect solution would work on all versions of Windows) Various adapters installed (e.g. VMWare, Tunnels, etc.) I need to know this as I often run a local web server where I need to access files over the local network... and since it changes regularly I want the fastest method to retrieve the address. My current flow is: WindowsKey + R to open the Run dialog "cmd" + Enter to open a command prompt "ipconfig" + Enter to get the diagnostics info Scroll to or resize the window so that I can see the line in my Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection for my ipv4 Address Remember it to type elsewhere... or Right click > select Mark > highlight the address > press Enter to copy it to the clipboard This wasn't so bad with Windows X…
How is the computer able to save things before it crashes?
I was under the impression that when a computer has crashed, something went wrong and it can't perform anymore. I was wondering how is the computer able to save things before it crashes? Is the computer really capable of knowing when it's going to crash (and thus inform all processes: "Save ASAP because I'm about to crash") ? If not, how is it possible that programs like and can offer "restoring" services after the computer has crashed?
Print screen with cursor in Windows 7
I'm trying to capture some screenshots for a tutorial. When I press Print Screen (or PrtSc) on my keyboard, and paste into an image editor, the cursor's gone. The "tooltips" (if any) do print, but I need the cursor to show users where to click. * There is supposed to be a cursor over the photo icon here. Is there any way to keep the cursor and print the screen? I'd like to avoid installing even more third party software on my computer, if possible, for this small feature (browser addons I'm happy to install), and I'm really only interested in what's in the browser's viewport. I have the Screengrab Firefox add-on installed, but that doesn't help. I also tried one or two random key combos in Windows, but they didn't do it either. Is there any way to keep the cursor and print the screen?
Why is my dual-core CPU recognized as a quad-core one?
My processor is an Intel Core i3-380m. As you can see, it's 2 cores and 4 threads. Although, both Ubuntu 11.04 and Windows 7 seem to think it's a quad-core CPU: Why is this? Is it because there are 2 threads per core, dividing the CPU in 4 processing units?
Can you launch Remote Desktop via URL?
Is it possible to have a URL that launches a remote desktop session? I realize it may be considered a security vulnerability for some, but the convenience would really save me a lot of time. I would like to have a hyperlink like: where clicking on it launches with the target computer filled in (in this case with ). How best to set this up?
Replace Symbolic Links with Files
Is there an easy way to replace all symbolic links with the file they link to?
How to list Explorer extensions and disable them?
I have reason to believe that I may have malware on my system in the form of an Explorer extension. I suspect this because Procmon shows that Explorer.exe keeps re-writing a certain Registry key that is intended to run a certain EXE at startup. How do I find out what Explorer extensions are installed, and how do I remove them?
Using USB 3.0 to speed up transfer between USB 2.0 devices?
I've noticed that transfers between USB 2.0 drives are usually very slow. From what I understand, this is because all USB 2.0 devices connected to the same USB 2.0-host share the same 480Mb/s of bandwidth. Is it possible to speed this up by using USB 3.0, ie connecting both drives to a USB 3.0 controller (like a USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapter)? In other words, do USB2 devices get the full, unshared bandwidth each on a USB3 host?
Bash autocomplete on symlink to directory complete to whole directory, including slash
Possible Duplicate: Tab-completion with directories/links when I've a symlink linking to a directory and I start typing and hit tab, it completes to but I'd like to complete it to so I can immediately add the next character for further completes. How can I do that?
find / grep command without searching mounted shares
When I used the find command, I almost always need to search the local drives. But, I almost always have super large network shares mounted and these are included in the search. Is there an easy way to exclude those in the find command, grep and other similar commands? Example: find / -name .vimrc
Copy colored output from Mac OS X terminal
I see a nicely colored output in my terminal. The terminal has a "Export Text As" command but it saves a plain-text file without the colors. Same with copy&paste. Do you know a way to save terminal output including colors?
Is there a Pac-Man-like character in ASCII or Unicode?
Simple question: is there a character that looks either like Pac-Man, or like the ghost in Pac-Man? With Google's recent Pac-Man logo, everyone should know what these look like, but in case you don't here are some sample images: If you answer "no" please provide a little more proof that you actually searched all unicode characters... Example of what I'm looking for: If I were to ask, "is there a character that looks like a sun", I would expect an answer along the lines of "Yes, ☼ and according to charmap it is U+263C". That's what I'm looking for, but with Pac-Man or the ghost... Usage: I would like to paste this symbol into a web form textbox in order for it to show on a webpage. This is a one-line textbox, so a complex ASCII art "image" isn't acceptable in this case.
How to manually insert signature in Thunderbird? (impossible?)
How can I manually insert a signature in Thunderbird when I am busy composing an email? I don't find the option/action in any of the menus (specifically not under Insert, as I would expect). (Note: I know how to configure Thunderbird to automatically insert a signature when creating a new mail in a certain account. But if you delete the signature (accidentaly or not), how can you reinsert it? Or how can you insert it for an account which isn't configured to automatically insert a signature?)
Copy list of files
I have a list of files separated by spaces in a file . I'd like to copy them to a new folder. I tried to do: but it did not work. How would you do this ? Update: Thank you for all your very interesting answers. I did not ask for that much :) After having tried the solution above a second time, it seems that printed the usage help because the folder did not exist yet! Sorry, it seems to be a stupid mistake... When I create the folder before, it works. However, I have learnt much from all your answers and solutions, thank you for the time you take to write them.
How can I select an HTML tag's content in Vim?
Is it possible to select an HTML tag's content in Vim? For example: I would like to select "I am a silly butterfly". I know that you can use to select text inside quotes, brackets, etc. The problem here is that the text inside the HTML tags is not really within anything that I can use the function for.
Does Windows have the ln -s or equivalent?
I need to link a file to How can I do that with Windows ? Is there a soft link such as or equivalent in Windows ?