Long gone, but now back… sort of. :)
The answer is: 17. Or 674. Or 2. Or 4,237. Not all “programs, tasks, and games” are equal. A handful of resource-hungry apps might bring even a top-of-the-line PC to its figurative knees. But you could run hundreds or even thousands of tiny, efficient apps on the same machine. Sorry, there’s no way to answer…
You have four choices: a safe and ethically positive one; a probably-safe but ethically murky one; a maybe-kinda-sorta-safe one, also with murky ethics; and a totally unsafe one, with murky ethics. The 100% safe choice is not to keep the drive. For one thing, the person who lost the drive might need it or its…
The files will then be doubly-encrypted; once by TrueCrypt, and once by the ransomware. The good news is that the malware can’t read the contents of your TrueCrypt-encrypted files. That’s not what ransomware is really about anyway: It’s not designed to snoop; it’s just designed to take your files hostage. But the bad news is…
If you can remove the batteries, then an e-bike is just like any other bike, and is subject to the same rules. A battery-less, totally inert e-bike can be shipped by almost any means. Li-ion batteries, if damaged or defective, can cause a very serious, very energetic chemical fire. That’s why shipping Li-ion batteries require…
Remember them? I wrote some! 🙂 In fact, I believe I wrote the first type-and-run program to appear in a non-computer, general-circulation magazine, at least in the US. Back at the dawn of the PC era, I was a newly-hatched junior editor at New Shelter magazine; a general-circulation publication with 750,000 subscribers; covering things like…
Yes, with one exception; especially if you mean doing a full shutdown, followed by a full restart some time later. All reasonably current PCs have well-developed power-management systems that are designed to reduce unnecessary energy consumption during use, while the PC is idling, and during restart. Because energy consumption is directly correlated with wear-and-tear of…
Q: “How can you fix an SD card which cannot be formatted? Every time I reformat it the files are still there.” A: The card is probably write-protected by hardware; or by software; or is simply broken. Hardware write-protection: Examine the card for a “lock” or “write protect” slider or switch, often (not always) on…
As with any city, there are places and times when traffic is bad; and places and times when it’s not. Without more specificity to your question, it’s really not answerable. But here’s how you can find out: Open Google Maps for Boston, and enable the traffic layer; Google Maps will then show you live traffic…
I hadn’t, but I’m glad you asked (thanks!). This was fun to research, not only because it involves an interesting artifact from the early days of computers, but also because it shares a concept with Bandersnatch, the Netflix choose-your-own-ending movie! TUTAC stands for “TUTorial Automatic Computer,” a device that existed only on paper, in the…
In Windows, it’s easy! Open Device Manager by your preferred means (e.g. use search/run/cortana and enter “device manager” or “devmgmt.msc”; or open device manager in Control Panel/Devices and Printers/device manager; etc.). See Fig 1. To make sure you’re seeing everything, click View, and select Show hidden devices. Fig 2. Scroll down the list of devices:…