Um, plug it in? If the phone (or any lithium-ion device) was put away healthy, turned off, and with a reasonable charge (manufacturers use 30–40% for storage), the battery should be fine for months. If the battery was allowed to run all the way down, and the phone was stored that way, then it depends…
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“Should I add 2 more sticks of RAM to my PC if I already have 32GB of RAM?”
(Answer requested by Alejandro Calle) For any “should I add more RAM?” questions, regardless of the amount, let Windows’ Task Manager be your guide. Open Task Manager (info), select More Details, and then open the Performance tab. Position the Task Manager window so it’s out of the way, but visible. Use your PC normally for…
October 14 Newsletter now available
The newest AskWoody Plus newsletter, including a new LangaList item, is now available to members. In this issue: LANGALIST: Easily back up all your PC’s current drivers BEST OF THE LOUNGE: What’s the real risk in using Internet Explorer? PATCH WATCH: October’s updates look promising; however … NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTING: Using the ipconfig command to troubleshoot network problems BEST UTILITIES: Freeware Spotlight —…
“Why don’t restaurants provide power outlets so customers can recharge cell phones or computers?”
(Answer requested by Jonathan Morrone) There can be myriad reasons, but here are two very important ones: Many restaurants (and airport terminals, hotels, public building, etc.) were designed and built before everyone started carrying power-hungry smartphones! It’s expensive to re-do electrical systems (especially where liquids will be handled, served, and — inevitably — spilled, as…
“How many passwords do you keep for smartphones & laptops?”
(Answer requested by Byron Inductivo) I currently have over 700 passwords in use, but I only have to remember one. I use a password manager on all my devices: I only have to remember the password-manager’s own master password. Once I enter that, the software takes over. When I encounter a website or app login…
“Is a 128GB SSD big enough for a desktop computer?”
It might be, depending on how you set things up. Very broadly speaking, a PC works best with at least 15–25% of empty space on the drive for page files, hibernation files, caches, and such. So, a 128GB drive might be fine if you have less than maybe 100GB of live apps and files that…
“Is there any way to revive an over-discharged Li-Ion 18650 battery?”
Not a good idea. The protective circuitry (in the Li-ion battery or in the device that the battery powers) is designed to prevent dangerous over- and undercharging, which can cause the battery to overheat and catch fire. (Remember all those hoverboard fires a couple years ago? That’s what you get when you abuse a Li-ion…
October 7 Newsletter now available
The newest AskWoody Plus newsletter has been emailed to members, and is now posted on the AskWoody site, where members can read it anytime. In this issue: WOODY’S WINDOWS WATCH: Shedding light on September’s out-of-band Windows patches PATCH WATCH: Finally! We have a true out-of-band IE update BEST OF THE LOUNGE: Things that should stay in the junk…
“In a PC with 8GB RAM, 16GB Optane memory, and 1TB HD, what is the benefit of the Optane memory?”
I recently purchased a similar Optane-equipped PC, benchmarked the hell out of it, and used it in real life — before ripping Optane out of the PC. I documented the results in these three articles: Part 1, “Taking the plunge with a new PC” (AskWoody Plus newsletter 2019-06-03), gets the ball rolling. In Part 2,…
“How can the defragmentation of a hard drive affect PC speed?”
(Answer requested by Ahmed Belkhouja) Very easily! Here’s why: Files are stored on a hard drive in very small chunks called clusters. On a conventional NTFS-formatted drive, for example, the default cluster size is 4KB; large files are stored as a series of 4KB clusters. On a new, empty, spinning-platter drive, saved files will be stored…