Long gone, but now back… sort of. :)
Q*: “How do I fix my laptop? When it is turned on and I plug it in, it will not charge, and will only charge when it is plugged in while turned off. What’s going on?” A: The most common cause for this is an aging battery that draws too much power when recharging; the…
Q. Why haven’t Chicago, New York, and Boston produced tech hubs like Silicon Valley? (via Quora) A: Ha! Boston has been and still is a major tech hub. In fact, Boston was the US’s first, and thus is also its oldest high-tech hub, starting all the way back with the freaking industrial revolution (industrial mills,…
Q: “How do I recover data from an undetectable Seagate external hard drive? Is it possible through some software, or is it advisable to get it done through professionals?” (via Quora) A: It depends on what you mean by “undetectable.” For example, there’s physical/electrical undetectability; and undetectability due to logical or software issues. You’ll need…
Q: What is the difference between laptop and notebook PCs, if any? (via Quora) A: There is a difference, although in casual use the terms are more or less interchangeable now. Strictly speaking, laptops are larger portables with full-sized keyboards or nearly so. Screens generally are larger, too; 17″/43cm is a typical size, with some…
Q: Why do I see 1TB of storage on my hard drive label but only 930-960GB when it’s plugged to my computer? (via Quora) A: The drive is sold by raw capacity; but must first be partitioned and formatted before use, and that process consumes some space. An analogy: Think of an empty filing cabinet…
Q: Why is it that when I shut my phone all the way off to save battery and then turn it on again, the battery drains way faster? (via Quora) A: At restart, all your regularly-used phone apps load, start, and try to go online at the same time — email, messaging, Facebook, Twitter, weather…
Q: How much RAM do I need for my laptop? I mostly use it for word documents, Internet browsing with multiple tabs, and, occasionally, light video editing. I currently have 4GB but I’m considering going up to 8GB. (via Quora) A: Here’s an easy way to see if you have enough RAM in any PC,…
Q: What is the best way to get around Boston? (via Quora) A: Here’s my list, in ascending order, best to worst; I adjust as needed to account for weather issues, distance being travelled, schedule pressures, whether or not I need to carry bulky items, etc.: Walk Bike T (subway and streetcars) Lyft/Uber T (Bus)…
Q: “Why does tech support think that formatting your hard drive is the only solution for all your PC problems?” (via Quora) A. Holy smokes! Who told you that? If that’s your experience with tech support, you really should change techs, brands, stores — or wherever it is you’re getting that advice. Formatting a drive…
Reader Jacob Leeds asks: “How do I automatically track my resource usage stats on Windows 10?” That’s easy, Jacob: Win10’s built-in Performance Monitor does exactly what you want! It lets you produce and save graphs, charts, and text-based output that tracks any of Windows’ thousands of performance metrics over time. You can access the tool…