Category: A reader asks…

A reader asks: “What is the size and interface of the oldest hard drive (not SSD) you regularly use, and why do you still use it?”

Posted on by Fred Langa

How about four identical 14-year old, 250GB ATA/EIDE hard drives? They’re still in use and still run fine. I use them for archival/backup storage of various photos, software, and virtual machines. Those drives actually have more miles on them than shown because they were inexpensive remanufactured models. They’d already been in service; had failed or…

A readers asks: “Why is there not a key on the keyboard for the cent sign nor for the degree sign for temperature?”

Posted on by Fred Langa

Keyboards are ultimately a trade-off between the number of letters and numbers in common use in the language being supported, and the size of human hands and fingertips. Ideally, you want the most-commonly used letters, numbers, and symbols to be immediately visible and accessible; but not have so many keys that the keyboard is huge,…

A reader asks: “How does YouTube add disk space quickly enough to keep up with the constant stream of data being added?”

Posted on by Fred Langa

Some estimates say YouTube adds something north of a petabyte of new data every day. That’s impressive in itself, but remember that YouTube is owned by Google, whose servers have to store data for: Google Search; Google Docs/Sheets/Slides; Gmail/Inbox; Google Calendar; Google Drive; Google Translate; Google Maps; Waze; Google Earth; Street View; Google Keep; Google…

A reader asks: “What is the sense of backing up data on your hard drive if it is lost when the computer crashes?”

Posted on by Fred Langa

You’re right. There’s absolutely no sense in that. Storing backups on the same physical hardware as the original is a terrible idea because, as you say, any major PC problem that takes out the original is also likely to take out the backup. You’d be left with nothing. True backup copies should be stored on…

A reader asks: “How do I unfreeze my laptop? I’ve pressed ctrl-shift-del but it did not work.”

Posted on by Fred Langa

If a laptop is completely unresponsive to normal keys and switches, your only option is to kill the power. Try pressing and holding down the PC’s power button for 15 seconds or so: Many electronic devices (not just PCs) will perform a forced power-off after the power button is continuously depressed for around 4-10 seconds….

A reader asks: “Does it still make sense to buy external hard drives in the cloud era?”

Posted on by Fred Langa

Reader Simone Paciaroni* asks: “Does it still make sense to buy external hard drives in the cloud era?“ I think so, yes. But not instead of cloud storage — with cloud storage. Local storage gives you immediate access to everything, regardless of the size or number of files you’re accessing. When you’re dealing with terabytes of…

German researchers find ‘flaw’ in Password Checker

Posted on by Fred Langa

Reader Doug* sent in this report after reading, “New, free Chrome extension checks for password hacks in real time.” “Fred …found this in a forum…..a security flaw in the Password Checker extension…from Google…unfortunately it is in German….but perhaps you can further research the security flaw:https://www.kuketz-blog.de/chrome-add-on-password-checkup-uebermittelt-domainname/andhttps://www.deskmodder.de/blog/2019/02/06/password-checkup-google-uebermittelt-doch-nicht-alles-verschluesselt/ “ Thanks, Doug! Yes, a German researcher looked at the datastream that…

Reader response on: Chrome’s new Password Checker

Posted on by Fred Langa

Wow! Yesterday’s item, “New, free Chrome extension checks for password hacks in real time” generated a ton of replies… and questions! For example, over on the AskWoody lounge, a number of readers expressed concerns about explicitly asking a Google product to examine your passwords. As I explained there, I completely understand the reluctance to invite…

A reader asks: “Is there any way to recover data from a computer that has been factory reset?”

Posted on by Fred Langa

Reader Troy Marcotte* asks: “Is there any way to recover data from a computer that has been factory reset?” If the device was simply reset using an ordinary factory recovery DVD/flash drive, or the like, then yes, some data may still be available. With a standard factory reset, the drive usually gets reformatted, and fresh…

A reader asks: “How do I safely transfer files from an old, possibly infected laptop to an external HDD?”

Posted on by Fred Langa

First, scan the “possibly infected” system using an external, self-contained, bootable, DVD- or flashdrive-based anti-malware tool. (Examples; many are free.) Boot and run the suspect PC from the anti-malware DVD or flash drive — not from the possibly-infected hard drive. The anti-malware tool then runs, scans, and cleans all the files on the hard drive….