Q: How do I remove a hard disk bad sector? (via Quora) A: Try chkdsk (Windows) or fsck (Linux); both can detect and repair some kinds of damage to a hard drive. But have a care: Although some software can restore some bad sectors to service, it may be best not to! Tools like fsck…
Category: Windows
A reader asks: Does Windows have a feature that can count my daily keystrokes?
Q: Does Windows have a feature that can count my daily keystrokes? (via Quora) A: Not built-in, but there are many, many add-on apps that can. Here are just a few example apps for counting user-input activity — number of keystrokes and mouse clicks, distance of mouse travel, etc.: KeyCounter: KeyCounter – DonationCoder.com Keycounter (different…
A reader asks: How do I fix an “Application Starter/Parameter is Incorrect” error?
Writing from the Netherlands, reader Maarten Woerlee asks (via the CONTACT link): Q: In Windows, sometimes there’s a pop-up window named “Application Starter” with the message “The parameter is incorrect.” What’s going on, and how do I fix this? A: We can figure this out by looking at the two clues in your question: (1)…
Still getting other peoples’ email at Langa.Com
Vietnam joins the parade of countries from which I’ve received for-real, private, and personal emails intended for others due to email shenanigans and a likely soft-hijacking of the Langa.com web domain. Today’s email-meant-for-others is from Vietnam. It’s pretty benign in itself, but is one of thousands and thousands of emails from all over the world, some…
Sloppy UI design complicates Win10’s routine disk cleanups
Why on earth would Microsoft give two entirely different functions the same name? It’s a baffling user-interface mistake: When Microsoft spliced some functions from the classic Disk Cleanup app into Win10’s “Storage sense,” they created silliness like this: There are now two separate on-demand disk-cleanup functions, both called Free up space now, both just one…
A reader asks: How much open space does a drive really need?
Reader Liz G asks (via the CONTACT link) how much open space a drive really needs: I know installed hard drives need 15% breathing room. How about portable external hard drives? I have 7 Western Digital drives ranging in size from 500GB to 2TB and the only thing on them are images of the seven…
A reader asks: Can I install x86-based Microsoft Office Pro Plus in a 32-bit OS, x64-based processor?
Q. Can I install x86-based Microsoft Office Pro Plus in a 32-bit OS, x64-based processor? (via Quora) A: Almost surely, yes. You usually can run 32-bit software on 64-bit hardware. In your case, you want to run a 32-bit (“x86”) version of Office on 32-bit Windows, itself installed on a 64-bit system. That’s all legit…
A reader asks: How do I prevent auto-connection to unknown WiFi networks on Win10?
Q: How do I prevent auto connection to unknown Wi-Fi networks on Windows 10 Pro? I already tried everything, what do I do? (via Quora) A: There’s a very easy fix! But the thing here is that it’s an unknown network. Windows shouldn’t be auto-connecting to truly unknown networks that you’ve never connected to before;…
Heads up: Replicator v3.7 now available
Last week, Joe Winett at Karenware.com released a long-awaited new version of the classic Karen’s PowerTool, Replicator. The new Replicator v3.7 (still free) corrects a few lingering bugs found in the last working version of the venerable tool. For more info and a download link, see the Replicator page at Karenware.com. For more on the…
A reader asks: Is it legal to activate Windows 10 with a key found for free on the internet?
Q. Is it legal to activate Windows 10 with a key found for free on the internet? A: No, of course not — you didn’t “find” the key, as if it were dropped on a sidewalk or thrown in a trash bin. Someone posted a Win10 product key online, and you (and who knows how…