Long gone, but now back… sort of. :)
This week’s new AskWoody Plus (Issue 16.14.0 – 2019-04-15 ) newsletter is out; and for a while, you can read it for free, here. Today’s issue includes: LANGALIST: Why won’t some Win10 PCs update? A number of LangaList readers have reported being still stuck with a year-old version of Windows 10 — Release 1803 — and their setups will not…
Read: “Why So Many Drawings in the Margins Depict Bunnies Going Bad” — Open Culture Permalink: https://langa.com/?p=2592
Speaking very generally: RAM is very fast, temporary data storage used only while the device is powered on. The data in RAM goes away when you turn off the device. Hard drives are for storing data longer term; they retain data even when powered off. But hard drives — even solid state drives! — are…
Reader Met Chin asks “Can I mount my hard drive sideways/upside down?” Sure! Unless the owner’s material states otherwise, most desktop/rack-mount/non-portable drives work fine flat (right side up or down), or on end, or on one of their sides. Everything else being equal, as long as the drive’s platters are parallel to the floor, or…
Reader Janet Ybarra wrote: “I have a laptop which intermittently shuts down on its own, apparently from overheating. What would be the problem and what can I do?” For conventional, fan-cooled laptops: Visually check the fan blades for encrusted dust and debris; use a cotton swab and a blast of dry, compressed air from a can (examples) to…
Reader Ron Ashrovy wonders if frequent factory resets are dangerous. No: PCs, phones, TVs, or whatever, should not be damaged by frequent factory resets, beyond the measure of extra wear and tear that such resets cause. (A system undergoing reset typically works very hard for a while as it sets itself back up; but this isn’t…
This week’s new AskWoody Plus newsletter is out; and for a while, you can read it for free, here. Woody’s Windows Watch: Bombshell: Updating Win10 will be better — really! LANGALIST: A reader’s laptop becomes a fire hazard! ON SECURITY: Preparing for Microsoft’s patch-security changes BEST UTILITIES: Freeware Spotlight — Hekasoft Backup & Restore Previous issues are archived here. What’s this about? Woody…
The older column reprinted below was originally published in the August 13, 2015 , Windows Secrets newsletter. This older content supplements brand-new content posted today (April 8, 2019) in the AskWoody Plus newsletter, available here. An upcoming column will update and refine the information below. (I’m reprinting selected Windows Secrets columns here to help ensure…
A 5-year-old hard drive is probably near the end of its safe service life. I wouldn’t recommend reusing it for anything essential or irreplaceable. But using it as a secondary scratchpad drive, or as redundant or tertiary storage, you might be able to squeeze a bit more life out of the old drive. The rest…
Yup. It’s a security feature, so that a hacker or thief won’t have an infinite number of chances to break into your phone. For example, Android 9 (“Pie”) on a Samsung, will optionally perform a factory reset after 15 consecutive failed logons/unlocks. Not all phones do this; and the exact verbiage, number of allowed attempts,…