Long gone, but now back… sort of. :)
Boston’s street-level, light-rail, “Green Line” has B, C, D, and E Branches. Reader Kevin McCullough* asks: “Why is there no ‘A’ Branch,” There was, originally. It ran to Watertown and incorporated some of the oldest street-transit lines in Boston, dating back to pre-electric, horse-drawn streetcars. Today’s B Branch split off from it: But the tracks…
Regional forecasts are actually pretty accurate. (See: How Reliable Are Weather Forecasts?) But very local, small scale forecasts have additional variables. For example, Boston is a waterfront city and so is subject to various effects that apply only to the immediate coast. A distance of a few miles/KM can make a huge difference in temperature,…
A few days ago, in “Taking my own advice,” I told you how I used Task Manager to objectively determine that I’ve maxed out my current hardware. It’s time for a new PC. Several readers had interesting reactions, suggestions, and questions. For example, App103 wrote: Before you run out and buy a new computer, perhaps…
(Question asked by reader Tevin Gotti*.) No, it’s not true. Lots of data gets permanently deleted all the time. Data that’s been fully and completely overwritten is beyond recovery. But it takes extra steps to “fully and completely” overwrite data. When that’s not done, all bets are off: It might be possible to recover old…
If this is a new problem — if the laptop used to charge normally — your battery is likely showing its age. It’s now requiring more power to recharge, and is overtaxing the power supply, leaving you with an either-or choice — charge the battery or run the PC. A new battery will likely restore…
First, be sure your hard drive is the true bottleneck: If you’re using Windows, open Task Manager/More Details and select the Performance tab. If your hard drive is a truly the bottleneck, you’ll see something like this: If the problem is the hard drive, you can help by giving it a tune-up. First, free up…
Reader Bernie Holladay* writes: Fred, I have a question about the USB-C port. I needed to spec a USB connection for my new PC and choose Type-C. It was for a connection to a USB powered cooling pad for a laptop. It worked fine but when I shut down I noticed the fans were still…
It depends on where the files are located. If the files are on a removeable memory card, it’s easy! Just shut down the phone, remove the memory card, plug the card into a PC’s card reader and use any of the gazillion free and paid file-recovery tools available. (Examples.) No card reader? You can buy…
Badly scrambled, is my guess. An error during shutdown, or storage, or reboot, may have damaged the disk’s MBR or Boot Sector or GUID table (depending on how the disk was set up). If there were files on the disk, they’re still there, but the OS can’t see or access them. Hard drives in long-term,…
For one thing, car windshields would be much harder to keep clean. (And yes, I get some very offbeat questions… 🙂 ) Permalink: https://langa.com/?p=1667 Want to ask Fred a question? Have a comment? Click here! Want free notification of new content like this? Click here!