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Q&A

Welcome to the Power Users community on Codidact!

Power Users is a Q&A site for questions about the usage of computer software and hardware. We are still a small site and would like to grow, so please consider joining our community. We are looking forward to your questions and answers; they are the building blocks of a repository of knowledge we are building together.

General Q&A about software and hardware usage

Filters (None)
85%
+10 −0
Computer whining (~16khz noise coming from somewhere in the case)

My computer makes a very annoying high pitched noise under medium loads. I have been chasing this problem for a few days now and would appreciate any input you might have. System details: OS: Lub...

2 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by Darth_Muldoon‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

85%
+10 −0
How to stop all automatic Windows Update restarts on a Windows 10 Pro machine?

I have Octoprint on a Windows 10 computer to print to an Ender 5, it's fairly often that prints will go overnight and around 15-16 hours. If Windows Updates plus a restart were to happen during th...

3 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Charlie Brumbaugh‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Chris Henry‭

84%
+9 −0
How do I copy an unencoded URL from my browser?

Whenever I copy and paste URLs from my browser, they end up being percent-encoded and completely unreadable. For example, the homepage URL of the Japanese version of Wikipedia, https://ja.wikipedi...

2 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Moshi‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Quasímodo‭

83%
+8 −0
In Windows 10 21H1, how do I remove the weather report in the task bar?

Windows 10 version 21H1 added a weather report to the task bar, next to the system tray area. Since I can just look out the window instead and get accurate, up-to-the-second weather information, I...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by Canina‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Canina‭

83%
+8 −0
How to use GitHub Personal Access Token?

I have repositories on GitHub, and have been using a user name and password to access them. All was working great. I could use various GIT commands on the command line, and GIT would automaticall...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by Olin Lathrop‭  ·  edited 2y ago by FoggyFinder‭

83%
+8 −0
What is a good browser suitable for every-day use that respects user privacy and freedom?

What is a good browser suitable for every-day use that respects user privacy and freedom? This browser should: Respect user privacy. Ideally no telemetry, or at least opt-in telemetry. Does not...

4 answers  ·  posted 6mo ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  last activity 5mo ago by matthewsnyder‭

81%
+7 −0
Why can't I change any data on this micro SD card or format it?

I have an old microSD card that I'm trying to wipe. I've backed up all the files to somewhere else, and now I'm trying to clear the card. However, I can't seem to change anything on the card. Whe...

1 answer  ·  posted 12mo ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 8mo ago by Pogo‭

81%
+7 −0
Using "Print using system dialogue" as default in Firefox

I'd like Firefox to automatically use the "Print using the system dialogue" setting: In older versions, I could use print.tab_modal.enabled = false in about:config to automatically get the ...

2 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by samcarter‭  ·  edited 2y ago by Alexei‭

81%
+7 −0
Increase contrast between current and other tabs in Firefox

In most recent Firefox versions I find it hard to distinguish the current tab at a glance, especially if the screen is set at low brightness. That is because the colors used for the current and oth...

2 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by Quasímodo‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Quasímodo‭

81%
+7 −0
Turn off proofing for quotations in Word

When directly quoting somebody, I would like to quote them verbatim, and their writing style often clashes with Word's style/grammar checker. While I can manually ignore them, the squiggly lines al...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by Moshi‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Trilarion‭

81%
+7 −0
Delete command from Vim's command line history?

Sometimes I accidentally enter a command with a typo in Vim, e.g. :e!fil instead of :e!file. As a consequence, the incorrect command clutters the history until it is evicted from the binary .vi...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by Quasímodo‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Quasímodo‭

vim
80%
+6 −0
How to fully verify a Windows computer so that I can use Remote Desktop without having to type the password every time?

There are a bunch of Windows Servers that I use Remote Desktop to connect to, all but one allow the saving of passwords. When I try to connect to that particular server I get an error message that ...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by Charlie Brumbaugh‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Charlie Brumbaugh‭

80%
+6 −0
Application check for updates will never succeed and blocks launch; can I intercept or bypass it?

I have a software application (Trope Trainer, from Kinnor Software) that I installed on my Mac (OS 10.12) several years ago. I don't use it often but it's always worked fine for me. The applicati...

3 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Canina‭

80%
+6 −0
Case independent tab completion in zsh shell

I'm using a zsh shell with zstyle ':completion:*' matcher-list 'm:{a-z}={A-Za-z}' autoload -Uz compinit && compinit to allow tab completion regardless of capitalisation, e.g. cd desk w...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by samcarter‭  ·  edited 2y ago by Alexei‭

80%
+6 −0
How to indent list items in Vim

Problem How do I indent a list item in Vim the following way? Ideally I want this to happen automatically upon wrap, but will settle for something like ESC TAB doing the trick. Have This is a ...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by mcp‭  ·  last activity 8mo ago by tssm‭

80%
+6 −0
How to get rid of the ugly search icon rolled out in today's Windows 10/11 update?

Just updated Windows (2022-06-17, version Windows 10 Pro 21H2) and now there's an eye-catching, ugly icon in the taskbar, which graphics suggests that Windows' intended target audience is children ...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by Lundin‭  ·  edited 1y ago by Lundin‭

80%
+6 −0
reduce gzip archive size if files are similar

I'd like to use the similarities between files to produce a gzip archive that's as small as possible. On gzip's Wikipedia entry it says that: gzip is not to be confused with the ZIP archive for...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by Matthias Braun‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Canina‭

77%
+5 −0
Determine encoding of text

I have some text files which think they are encoded in utf8: file test.txt test.txt: Unicode text, UTF-8 text, with CRLF line terminators (https://github.com/samcarter/shared/blob/main/test.tx...

3 answers  ·  posted 7mo ago by samcarter‭  ·  last activity 5mo ago by Michael‭

77%
+5 −0
What technical steps can I take to reduce Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) and discomfort from heavy computer use?

I use computers heavily, both for work and out of personal habits. It's probably typical for me to spend ~60 hours a week at a computer (how depressing, I know). Over the years, this has caused so...

2 answers  ·  posted 9mo ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  edited 9mo ago by Alexei‭

77%
+5 −0
Hardware for occasional direct control of personal server

Sorry if the title is weird, please feel free to suggest a rephrase. I have a personal server in my closet. I host various software on this for my family's use. The vast majority of the time I con...

2 answers  ·  posted 9mo ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  last activity 6mo ago by Journeymangeek ‭

77%
+5 −0
Remove extension icon from Firefox url bar

I'm using the firefox extension metrication. I only ever use it via its entry in the context menu, therefore I would like to remove its icon from the url bar to gain more space: I tried the sugg...

1 answer  ·  posted 10mo ago by samcarter‭  ·  last activity 6mo ago by samcarter‭

77%
+5 −0
How to copy files preserving one directory up

Have mkdir -p d1/d1_sd1/ d2/d2_sd1/ touch d1/d1_sd1/f1.txt d2/d2_sd1/f1.txt . ├── d1 │   └── d1_sd1 │   └── f1.txt └── d2 └── d2_sd1 └── f1.txt 4 directories, 2 files ...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by mcp‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by mcp‭

77%
+5 −0
How do I get the Pixel (Android 12) to show the incoming phone number for probable spam?

I have a Pixel 5A running Android 12 (I assume stock Android because it's a Pixel, but I don't know how to tell). The phone app that came with it reports probable spam or scam calls by labeling th...

0 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by Monica Cellio‭

77%
+5 −0
Switching to an admin user within Powershell SSH session

Is it possible to switch to an admin user from a regular user within a PowerShell SSH session (similar to Linux's su <user>) without even connecting to a remote desktop session and open Power...

0 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by ajhalili2006‭  ·  edited 2y ago by Canina‭

77%
+5 −0
Switch off automatic redirection to search result in DuckDuckGo

I intermediately have a problem with DuckDuckGo. Instead of showing me the list of search results it sometimes directly jumps to one of the search results, without giving me a chance to check if th...

2 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by samcarter‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Quasímodo‭

77%
+5 −0
Matrix solution software

I am trying to invert the matrix in the picture. I had done mistakes 3 times. And I heard someone in Khanacademy were saying "let computer do the hard tasks". I was trying to find better Matrix s...

3 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by Anonymous‭  ·  edited 2y ago by Quasímodo‭

77%
+5 −0
How to block all images in Outlook by default?

By default, Outlook client does a great job at blocking images coming from external sources (ensures no tracking, no potentially disturbing images etc). Some folks within my organization are using ...

0 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by Alexei‭

77%
+5 −0
How can I force new Chrome tabs to the end of the list?

When I launch new browser tabs from links on other pages, I want the new tabs to appear at the end, not right after the current tab. Chrome (desktop) doesn't have a setting for this (or at least n...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Monica Cellio‭

77%
+5 −0
Automated Git bisect

Inspired by this comment thread, is there a way to automate git bisect with a new test (and a known good state)? The way things usually work for me is… Oh no! Reproducible bug is found. (Manual...

1 answer  ·  posted 5mo ago by Michael‭  ·  last activity 5mo ago by Caleb‭

77%
+5 −0
What does this suspicious URL structure do?

I (well, my spam trap) received email that I know is a scam, but I'm trying to understand how it works. The message contains a URL of the following form: https:/example.com:2096/?goto_app=Somethi...

2 answers  ·  posted 5mo ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 5mo ago by Canina‭

75%
+4 −0
How can I disable channel drag and drop in Discord?

When using Discord in a web browser, on a server where I have admin privileges, I sometimes find that I've accidentally moved a channel, which affects everyone on the server and can affect channel ...

1 answer  ·  posted 4mo ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 4mo ago by Zer0‭

75%
+4 −0
How to create a dump of a complete MariaDB how the data is at a single point in time?

A MariaDB server is installed on a Linux server. How can a dump of the complete database be made, how it is at a single point in time, while preventing write access to the database during the dump...

1 answer  ·  posted 4mo ago by H_H‭  ·  edited 4mo ago by H_H‭

75%
+4 −0
Setting a cookie with a userscript

Background: I'm using a websites which uses a pin code locally stored in a cookie for login. As firefox does not recognise the field to input the pin as a password field, it won't store the passwo...

2 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by samcarter‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by samcarter‭

75%
+4 −0
How can I speed up Git cloning in Windows?

Since my Ubuntu system is currently fried, and running a live boot was encountering problems, I am forced to resort to attempting to clone a Git repository on a Windows 10 system. I installed Git f...

0 answers  ·  posted 7mo ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 7mo ago by matthewsnyder‭

75%
+4 −0
Userscript or -style to disable responsiveness of website

I like to arrange my browser on one site of my screen and have room for another application on the other half of the screen. This results in a width of my browser window of about 775 px. Many site...

1 answer  ·  posted 7mo ago by samcarter‭  ·  last activity 3mo ago by Ullallulloo‭

75%
+4 −0
In FreeCAD, can you set units per-document?

I use metric units in some projects, imperial in others. It's annoying having to keep switching global units every time. Is there a way in FreeCAD to set the units per-document? When I open a docu...

1 answer  ·  posted 8mo ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  last activity 6mo ago by H_H‭

75%
+4 −0
How do I check email without depending on a mail client?

I use email frequently, for many things, some of them important (banks, work). From what I've seen, all the offline mail clients (like Thunderbird, Evolution, Kmail) suck for a power user - mail fi...

1 answer  ·  posted 9mo ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  last activity 9mo ago by matthewsnyder‭

75%
+4 −0
Get supported resolutions of scanner in Linux

How can I find out the different image resolutions in DPI that my scanner supports? I'd prefer to use a command line tool to get the supported resolutions.

1 answer  ·  posted 10mo ago by Matthias Braun‭  ·  edited 9mo ago by Wicket‭

75%
+4 −0
Fit page content to paper format in LibreOffice Writer

I have a docx file in A3 format here consisting of one page. Using LibreOffice Writer, I'd like to scale it down to A4 without breaking the layout. Eventually, I want to print the document on an A...

0 answers  ·  posted 10mo ago by Matthias Braun‭  ·  edited 9mo ago by Wicket‭

75%
+4 −0
Permanently disable motivational messages and animations on duolingo.com

I'm using firefox to access duolingo. The website offers settings to disable motivational messages and animations. However the settings frequently turn themselves back on automatically. Is there...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by samcarter‭  ·  edited 9mo ago by Wicket‭

75%
+4 −0
Commenting on multiple selections in Google Docs

How can one add one comment to two or more selections in Google Docs? It is clearly technically possible, since when you copy a section with a comment, any pasted text will link to the same commen...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Moshi‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by qohelet‭

75%
+4 −0
What is the magit equivalent of git switch branch?

What is the magit equivalent of git switch branch? I'm particularly interested in the situation where you cloned a repo, and want to checkout a remote branch locally. From the commandline that u...

0 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by mcp‭  ·  edited 1y ago by mcp‭

75%
+4 −0
How to quickly change the maximum processor state in Windows 10?

I am using a Lenovo Legion laptop and one thing I have noticed is the fan working at full speed from time to time. This seems to be related to the CPU jumping to a high frequency to deliver more pr...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by Alexei‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Alexei‭

75%
+4 −0
All file types associated with an application

How can I get a list of all file types for which a certain application is the default program? I know that I can get a list of all file types an application is capable of opening from the info.pli...

0 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by samcarter‭  ·  edited 2y ago by samcarter‭

75%
+4 −0
Programmatically changing the keyboard illumination in small steps

Background story: I would like to have a button in my touch bar which changes the illumination of the keyboard in small steps (what you normally get from pressing Illumination(up/down)+option+shif...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by samcarter‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by samcarter‭

75%
+4 −0
Clean up firefox's new tab page in private mode

By default, the new tab page in Firefox has a lot of clutter in private mode. How to remove all this clutter?

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by samcarter‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by samcarter‭

75%
+4 −0
Change colour of search markers in firefox scroll bar

The markings for search results in the firefox scrollbar are pink by default (requires "Highlight All" to be selected): Is there any code I can plug into a userChrome.css file or similar to chan...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by samcarter‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Quasímodo‭

75%
+4 −0
Camera USB device in file explorer - why so slow?

I have been using my 10-year-old small Samsung compact camera until recently. Whenever I plug that one into a Windows laptop, it shows up as a regular mass storage device just providing files, no-...

2 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by CanisSomnolentus‭  ·  edited 2y ago by Alexei‭

75%
+4 −0
Control whether Firefox renders web pages in dark or light mode

It has been reported that, if on a dark theme in KDE, Firefox automatically renders some websites that support it (e.g. Duckduckgo does, but Codidact doesn't) in dark mode. How can I better contro...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by Quasímodo‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Quasímodo‭

75%
+4 −0
How do I fix Firefox fonts having extra spacing and weird numbers on Ubuntu?

After upgrading one of my computers to Firefox 99.0.1 on Ubuntu, it's started rendering some fonts—specifically DejaVu Sans and Arial, although there may be others—incorrectly. The actual words are...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by Ullallulloo‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Ullallulloo‭