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Advantages and disadvantages of CLI

Dave Farquhar Software June 25, 2019June 9, 2019 0 Comment

Many people regard command line interfaces as old-fashioned. They’re certainly less friendly and much less intuitive than icons and a mouse. Nevertheless, command line interfaces still exist, and even the Macintosh, the computer that introduced the masses to icons and mice, has one. So what are the advantages and disadvantages of CLI?

Command lines can be cryptic but they can be a whole lot faster, and they make automation and dealing with huge data sets possible. Network administrators, system administrators, security professionals, and data scientists may all spend significant time using a CLI for this reason.

How game cracking works

Dave Farquhar Software March 28, 2019March 3, 2019 0 Comment

Copying software is a problem as old as software itself. Software manufacturers immediately sought to prevent people from copying their products. And it’s been a game of cat and mouse ever since, as people figured out how to crack the software so they could copy it. Here’s how game cracking works.

Cracking games, or any other software, is a matter of making the software stop performing whatever checks the manufacturer put in place to defeat copying. It typically takes some knowledge of machine language, and sometimes encryption, to make it work. But once the check is circumvented, the software generally can be copied freely.

How to create a stacked bar chart in Excel

Dave Farquhar Office, Software July 15, 2018November 19, 2018excel, Plumbing, sprint 0 Comment

My boss’ management is clamoring for metrics. They want to know, at a glance, what we’re doing and how far along we are. Sounds like a job for stacked bar charts in Excel to me. So here’s how to create a stacked bar chart in Excel.

Figuring out a way to track our progress was fairly easy. Figuring out how to make Excel display that chart in a meaningful fashion… Well, that took about five hours. I’ll try to make it easier for you than it was for me.
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How to accept all changes in Word

Dave Farquhar Office, Software July 15, 2018November 19, 2018markup, microsoft word 0 Comment

Every couple of months or so, we have to collaborate at work on a Microsoft Word document and submit it without all the distracting markup in it. And it seems like it always takes four of us half an hour to re-figure out how to accept all changes in Word and remove the comments. This applies to Word 2007 and all newer versions.

Sometimes I also find the tracked changes and other markup causes weird problems, and the fastest way to make them go away is to get rid of the markup.

So I figured it might help someone. This is something that either takes you 30 seconds or 30 minutes. If you don’t do this every day, it’s likely to take too long. This is for those of you who can’t do it in less than 30 minutes.
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What does compressing a file do?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, Software June 11, 2018May 27, 2018 0 Comment

What does compressing a file do? There are several ways to describe it, from eliminating redundancy, to just thinking of it as digital shorthand. The goal is to make the file take up less space on disk and in transit. How it works is a bit more complicated.

What is a bot in computer terms?

Dave Farquhar Software May 21, 2018November 24, 2018 0 Comment

You hear the word “bot” thrown around a lot today. It’s in conversations, on the news, and even in stand-up comedians’ routines. So everyone assumes you know what it means. But what is a bot in computer terms?

Don’t be afraid to ask. I’ll explain it.

Zero client vs thin client

Dave Farquhar Software May 2, 2018August 12, 2018 3 Comments

Zero clients and thin clients are two ways companies deal with the problem of sprawling computer infrastructure its associated costs. Instead of putting an expensive computer on every desk, you put something small and cheap on every desk and share that expensive computer. Let’s look at zero client vs thin client, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

What is public cloud?

Dave Farquhar Software April 12, 2018April 11, 2018 0 Comment

Cloud computing is all the rage right now, and it’s created a mess of jargon that can make your head spin. Don’t worry though. No one was born knowing this stuff. So, what is public cloud, and what makes it different from other clouds? Assuming there are other clouds?

Public cloud is a booming business. In Q4 of 2017, Amazon’s cloud business accounted for 60 percent of the company’s total operating income. Amazon made its name selling books, but today it makes its money renting computer time. A lot of people don’t know that. Or at least it seems that way.

What is machine language?

Dave Farquhar Software April 3, 2018October 18, 2018 0 Comment

From time to time you may find a reference to something mysterious and computer-related called machine language. Most people just assume you know what it means, if you care. But what is machine language in computer terminology, and why is it important?

Who still uses Wordperfect?

Dave Farquhar Software July 7, 2017July 24, 2019excel, keyboard shortcuts, Microsoft Office, microsoft word, office 2007, troubleshooting

I had an odd question come up the other day: Who still uses Wordperfect? It’s a fair question. Wordperfect, as you may know, is still very much in production. Corel releases new versions every year or two. It’s the #2 word processor in the market, still. Someone is still using it, then.

Wordperfect is a software classic, especially the old version 5.1 that ran under DOS. For a time, Wordperfect 5.1 was one of the two most famous programs for IBM compatible PCs. The other was Lotus 1-2-3.

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