Can you put a computer on carpet? Yes, with caveats

Can you put a computer on carpet? Yes, with caveats

Can you put a computer on carpet? Yes you can, with caveats. But the biggest issue with putting your computer on carpet probably isn’t what you think.

Putting a computer on carpet is one of those weird questions I get, like putting a computer on its side. It’s one of those things that might have been a bad idea at one time, but doesn’t make much difference today.

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Why the hard drive is called C

Why the hard drive is called C

The hard drive or solid state drive on your PC is called drive c, which implies the existence of a drive A and B. So what are drives A and B? What does the C drive stand for? Why is the hard drive called C?

Drive letters are a holdover from early microcomputers. The letters A and B went to floppy drives, so if you had a hard drive, it went to the earliest available drive letter, which was C.

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Scroll lock on laptop

Scroll lock on laptop

Scroll lock is an obscure key that has mostly outlived its usefulness. Size-constrained laptops often omit the key, layering it with some other key combination that you generate by pressing the FN key plus a second key that varies. Here’s how to get scroll lock on a laptop when your keyboard doesn’t have the key.

Usually to get scroll lock to toggle, use the FN key and a combination of a second key, often C, K, S, or even F12. You can also use the Windows on screen keyboard.

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Floppy drive pinout

Floppy drive pinout

You probably came here looking for the standard 34 pin floppy drive pinout, as used on most PCs. However, the PC floppy drive pinout was derived from a standard created by shugart in the 1970s, and More than one version of that pinout exists today. So let’s talk about the common floppy drive pinout, and the variance that you might see in your retro adventures.

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How to tell which PCI express slot I have

How to tell which PCI express slot I have

If you want to upgrade your PC, you need to make sure you have room to plug them in. Many upgrades, including GPUs, plug into PCI Express slots. Here’s how to tell which PCI Express slot you have, so you know your options.

You can identify your PCI Express cards visually (x1 slots are 1 inch long and x16 are 3.5 inches long), or using the command line from within Windows or Linux. The command line is more reliable and helps you identify an x4 or x8 slot with an x16 connector.

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How to tell what motherboard you have

How to tell what motherboard you have

Your motherboard determines how much you can upgrade your PC. It also determines what upgrades will and won’t work in your PC. Here’s how to tell what motherboard you have, possibly without even opening your computer.

You can check which motherboard you have by running a WMI command in Windows, dmidecode in Linux, or looking for visual cues on the motherboard itself.

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Windows 10 not recognizing new CPU: The fix

Windows 10 not recognizing new CPU: The fix

I helped my son replace the i5 CPU in his PC with an i7 to hopefully solve some occasional performance problems he was having. But when we booted the upgraded machine for the first time and pulled up task manager, Windows 10 still thought it was an i5. Here’s how to fix Windows 10 not recognizing a new CPU.

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Disk cache vs memory cache

Disk cache vs memory cache

It’s understandable if the concept of disk cache vs memory cache is confusing. They have distinct similarities though they are not interchangeable with one another. But let’s talk about the concept and how it works.

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Roku remote stopped working? Try this

Roku remote stopped working? Try this

We hadn’t used the Roku in one of our rooms in a couple of months, and when we went to use it the other day, the remote didn’t work. Not even after changing batteries. If your Roku remote stopped working, here’s how to fix it.

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Why aren’t computers getting cheaper?

Why aren’t computers getting cheaper?

When you study the history of computers, one recurring theme is that computers get smaller, cheaper, and faster over time. So why is there a floor on computer prices? Why aren’t computers getting cheaper anymore, especially at retail?

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