Microsoft makes it super easy to check which version of Windows your PC is running. You can check your PC’s main version (like Windows 10 or 11), minor version, build number, and edition. Some ways to find your Windows version include using Run, Settings, System Information, and a command from Command Prompt. Regardless of the method you use, you’ll see the same version of your Windows operating system. Why Should You Find Your Version of Windows?...
Did your Windows computer get stuck while restarting? Or is it caught up in an endless reboot loop? If so, there are several possible troubleshooting solutions you can try. Your Windows PC usually gets stuck at the “Restarting” screen when system or other activity—such as Windows Update—interferes with the restart process. Luckily, fixing a Windows computer stuck while restarting is usually pretty straightforward. On rare occasions, though, Windows can get caught in a vicious restart loop, which requires advanced troubleshooting....
The FIDO Alliance, also known as the Fast Identity Online Alliance, is an industry consortium created to develop new authentication technologies. These technologies address the problem of creating and remembering multiple online usernames and passwords. It works to make fingerprint scanners, voice and facial recognition, USB security tokens, smart cards, near field communication, and public key cryptography work together. The FIDO Alliance was founded by several companies and organizations including PayPal and Lenovo....
GIFV is an alternative to the animated GIF format for presenting animated images on a web page. It is not a unique file format, but rather an approach to serving video files using the HTML tag. It uses the H.264 or WebM video formats, which have widespread support in modern web browsers. When you view a GIFV file on a website such as Imgur, you are actually viewing a video file, which would normally have the file extension ....
Short for hierarchical file system, HFS is a file system used to store the files on floppy disks, CD-ROM discs, and hard drives of older Apple Macintosh computers. Since OS X was introduced, Apple no longer supports the ability to write to or format HFS disks. CD terms, Computer acronyms, File system, Hybrid, ISO 9660, Operating system terms Related information CD-ROM help and support.
A method of organizing and accessing text or other data, such as tables, presentational content and images, through the use of hyperlinks. Anyone who’s been on Internet is familiar with hypertext as it’s in every link they click or tap on their screen. Hypertext is a concept that was mentioned in a 1945 Atlantic Monthly article by Vannevar Bush. In the article, he hypothesized a photoelectric mechanical device called a Memex (for “memory extension”) that could create and follow links between microfiche documents....
When you switch on a Windows PC, a number of hidden system services and processes kick into action. These processes determine how Windows appears on your screen, how your device connects to your local network, how you access connected devices, sign into Windows, and more. Without them, your PC won’t work. One of the more unusual processes that you’ll see in Windows 10 is the lockapp.exe process. This isn’t just any old executable file, as lockapp....
Multicast is a method of routing data on a computer network that allows one or more senders to communicate efficiently with a group of receivers. Multicasting supports one-to-many routing, where a single device sends data to a group of devices. It also supports many-to-many routing, where a group sends data to a group. Multicasting is one of the five major techniques for routing data on a computer network. The others are unicast, broadcast, anycast, and geocast....
Short for optical character recognition or optical character reader, OCR is taking an image of letters or typed text and converting it into data the computer understands. A good example is companies and libraries taking physical copies of books, magazines, or old printed material and using OCR to put them onto computers. While far from perfect, OCR is currently the best method of digitizing typed pages of text. Methods of input Data are generally passed to the computer using a scanner or other hardware device, like a digital camera....
Short for one laptop per child, OLPC is an organization founded by Nicholas Negroponte with the goal to provide children around the world with a laptop computer for $100.00 US. The first working prototype of this laptop was introduced to the public on November 16, 2005, at WSIS and began being developed and shipped in November 2007. Computer abbreviations, Hardware terms, Laptop Related information The official OLPC website.
First developed by Phillip Katz, PKZIP is a compression utility that compacts files and reduces the overall storage space they require. To use a compressed PKZIP file, the files must first be decompressed using PKUNZIP or another compression program capable of unzipping a zip file. PKUNZIP, Software terms, WinRAR, Zip Related information How to extract or decompress a compressed file. PKZIP can be downloaded from the official PKWARE website.
Start troubleshooting this problem by entering your BIOS setup and enable LBA (large block addressing) or ECHS (extended cylinder-head-sector). If these aren’t an option, see if the computer or motherboard manufacturer has a BIOS upgrade to enable this option in the CMOS. How to enter and exit the BIOS or CMOS setup. When changing the hard drive modes to Standard CHS, extended CHS, or LBA, it changes the layout structure of the hard drive, which can cause data read errors....
Student-Contributed Wiki An awesome team of students from our education program made this wiki. When the controller’s buttons are pressed, they remain in the down position after the user has lifted his or her finger off the button. The buttons might have residue underneath or around the buttons because of continued use or spills. The buttons can be cleaned using rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs. Follow the Disassembly Guide to make the buttons more accessible....
DXI may refer to any of the following: DXi, also known as DirectX Instrument, is a DirectX effect plugin that generates, processes, receives, and manipulates one or more streams of audio. Launched in March 2008, DXI, also known as DX11 or DirecTV-11, is a Boeing model 702 satellite which broadcasts MPEG-4 HDTV to DirecTV customers. Audio, HDTV, Video terms
First released on March 11, 2014, Hearthstone is a turn-based card game created by Blizzard Entertainment. Each player creates a 30-card deck from their collection, which may be supplemented by buying additional card packs with gold or real money. Then, they compete against one another with the ultimate goal of reducing their opponent’s health to zero. Additional Hearthstone information Gameplay Each player begins with 30 cards that cost a specific amount of mana (from 1-12) to play....
Lubuntu is a lightweight operating system based on Ubuntu Linux. Its desktop environment is LXDE, the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment. It is designed to consume fewer system resources, and in testing, uses about half as much system RAM as comparable Linux distributions. Lubuntu is fast, secure, reliable, easy to set up, and a great choice for older PCs. Lubuntu comes packaged with many popular free software packages, such as Abiword, Audacious, Gnumeric, MPlayer, Pidgin, XChat, and Leafpad....
Commonly abbreviated as MIN, a mobile identification number is a unique series of 10 numbers assigned to a cell phone and smartphone for identification by a wireless data provider. This number makes it easier to identify a device regardless of its service provider. Computer Acronyms, IMEI, Phone terms
Qi (pronounced “chee”) may refer to any of the following: Qi is an interface standard for devices with the ability to charge their batteries wirelessly. Power can be transferred from a special “Qi pad” to a Qi compatible device using electromagnetic induction over a distance of up to 1.6-inches. Qi is the name of a functional programming language released in April 2005 that is similar to Lisp. The Qi language is metaprogrammable that allows the user to re-program components of the language itself....
A dark pattern is a term coined by Harry Brignull describing a user interface feature designed to trick users into doing something more beneficial to the company over the user. For example, a company may intentionally make it difficult to cancel an account or service so that the user gives up in frustration and leaves it active. Dark pattern examples The following is a list of dark pattern tactics used by some companies....
Difficulty Moderate Steps 24 Time Required 30 minutes Sections 3 Battery 1 step why! W650SZ Bottom Cover Replacement 1 step Motherboard 22 steps Flags Member-Contributed Guide An awesome member of our community made this guide. It is not managed by iFixit staff. Bullets! Better coordination with markups and the color/type of bullets will help make this guide more clear! Better Introduction Improve this guide by completing or revising its introduction....
