System

What Does a Windows Folder Icon With Double Blue Arrows Mean? by Akemi Iwaya on May 16th, 2017 For the most part, many of us are familiar with the various folder icons included with Windows over the years, but once in a while, a new one shows up. With that in mind, today’s SuperUser Q&A post has the answer to a curious reader’s question. Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites. The Question SuperUser reader K.A. wants to know what a Windows folder icon with double blue arrows means: While browsing through my Windows directory, I found the Panther subdirectory, which had this folder icon: Does anyone know what this signifies? I was able to open it normally, and it was, to all appearances, a normal directory. What does a Windows folder icon with double blue arrows mean? The Answer SuperUser contributor Biswa has the answer for us: T...

What Is UEFI, and How Is It Different from BIOS? by Chris Hoffman on May 16th, 2017 New computers use UEFI firmware instead of the traditional BIOS. Both are low-level software that starts when you boot your PC before booting your operating system, but UEFI is a more modern solution, supporting larger hard drives, faster boot times, more security features, and—conveniently—graphics and mouse cursors. We’ve seen newer PCs that ship with UEFI still refer to it as the “BIOS” to avoid confusing people who are used to a traditional PC BIOS. Even if your PC uses the term “BIOS”, modern PCs you buy today almost certainly ship with UEFI firmware instead of a BIOS. What Is a BIOS? RELATED ARTICLE What Does a PC’s BIOS Do, and When Should I Use It? BIOS is short for Basic Input-Output system . It’s low-level software that resides in a chip on your computer’s motherboard. The BIOS loads when your computer starts up, and the BIOS is responsible for waking ...

How to Install Python on Windows by Jason Fitzpatrick on May 17th, 2017 Python doesn’t come prepackaged with Windows, but that doesn’t mean Windows users won’t find the flexible programming language useful. It’s not quite a simple as installing the newest version however, so let’s make sure you get the right tools for the task at hand. First released in 1991, Python is a popular high-level programming language used for general purpose programming. Thanks to a design philosophy that emphasizes readability it has long been a favorite of hobby coders and serious programmers alike. Not only is it an easy language (comparatively speaking, that is) to pick up but you’ll find thousands of projects online that require you have Python installed to use the program. Which Version Do You Need? Unfortunately, there was a significant update to Python several years ago that created a big split between Python versions. This can make things a bit confusing to newcome...

How to Open and Browse ZIP Files on macOS Without Unarchiving Them by Justin Pot on June 8th, 2017 What’s up with ZIP files on macOS? Anyone coming from Windows, which opens ZIP files as though they were a folder, might feel confused about the way their new Mac handles things. When you open a ZIP file on macOS, the contents are automatically unarchived to a new folder. Many Mac users prefer this functionality, which gets the archive file out of the way quickly so you can get to the files you want. But if you miss the way Windows works, you’ve got a few options to open and edit archive files, without uncompressing them first. Here are the two best free options we could find. Dr. Unarchiver: Straightforward ZIP, RAR, and Other Archive Management If you want a simple program for opening and browsing ZIP files, Dr. Unarchiver is a simple option from security company Trend Micro. A free download from the Mac App Store that supports ZIP, RAR, 7z and many more fi...

What to Do If Your RAM Isn’t Detected By Your PC by Michael Crider on June 9th, 2017 RAM is one of the most essential parts of your desktop computer, and it’s also one of the quickest and easiest parts to upgrade. Modern RAM modules are incredibly simple to use, so it’s rare that something goes wrong in installation…but then when something does go wrong, it gets frustrating quickly. If your computer or operating system doesn’t recognize the RAM you’re using, here’s what you need to do to find the problem. Step One: Check The Seating On a desktop, installing RAM is simple : fold back both the clips on the RAM slot, then insert the stick firmly straight down. The pressure from your insertion should force both clips to snap back into a locked position with an audible “click,” but sometimes it does require you to snap them back down on the DIMM manually. If the DIMM isn’t exactly perpendicular to the slot and the motherboard, or the clips can’t be completely sn...

How to Use Wireshark to Capture, Filter and Inspect Packets by Chris Hoffman on June 14th, 2017 Wireshark, a network analysis tool formerly known as Ethereal, captures packets in real time and display them in human-readable format. Wireshark includes filters, color coding, and other features that let you dig deep into network traffic and inspect individual packets. This tutorial will get you up to speed with the basics of capturing packets, filtering them, and inspecting them. You can use Wireshark to inspect a suspicious program’s network traffic, analyze the traffic flow on your network, or troubleshoot network problems. Getting Wireshark You can download Wireshark for Windows or macOS from  its official website . If you’re using Linux or another UNIX-like system, you’ll probably find Wireshark in its package repositories. For example, if you’re using Ubuntu, you’ll find Wireshark in the Ubuntu Software Center. Just a quick warning: Many organi...