Category: Operating systems
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iOS: Make the screen darker than the darkest setting
If you’re like me, your iPhone doesn’t stray far from you at any time, and is on your nightstand during the night. If you’re like me, you might also enjoy reading or something like that before sleep. If you’re like me, you find the darkest setting on the iPhone screen to be a bit too…
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Change password in a remote desktop session
Most Windows users will be familiar with using Ctrl+Alt+Del to change their password on a local computer, and that works well for that purpose. However, that command is not forwarded to a computer to which you are connected remotely, as it triggers locally. So how, then, can we prompt a change of our password without waiting for it…
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Enabling or disabling the Switch User option
Some time ago, a user called in, saying that the Switch User option had suddenly disappeared. I connected to her computer, and sure enough, there was no Switch User option in either the Lock Screen or the Ctrl+Alt+Del-screen, and the option was greyed out in the Start Menu. Luckily, getting it back was easy enough. Here’s how: Start…
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Start Local Group Policy editor
Every now and again, I find that I need to have a look at, or even edit, the local group policies on a computer. To do this, we use a tool called Local Group Policy editor. Here’s how to start it: Open the run prompt, either by hitting “run” in the Start menu, or by…
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#TBT: Apt-get FTW or: How I learned to stop worrying and learned to love Ubuntu
This post originally ran in May 2008. I am reposting it now, as part of my throwback thursday project, to give some of my older quality posts some love. While I still like Linux and, as I have written about last year still use Linux, it is not my main working platform. I love technology and fiddling…
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Resolving error code 0x9c47 when installing Internet Explorer 11
A user called in, wanting help troubleshooting an installation of Internet Explorer 11 that repeatedly and persistently failed. The error code was the same, 0x9c47. The error code means that a Windows Update, KB2729094, could not be found on the computer. Because it is listed as a prerequisite for IE11, the installation failed. It did not matter one…
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Show week numbers in iOS calendar
Many places refer to week numbers, as well as dates. This makes it a bit annoying not to be able to check what week it is on your phone. Luckily, there is now a setting to enable displaying week numbers. Here’s how you activate it: Open Settings Go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars Scroll down to Week Numbers,…
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#TBT: A better Task Manager
This post originally ran in April 2008. I am reposting it now, as part of my throwback thursday project, to give some of my older quality posts some love. SysInternals Process Explorer is in common use the world around these days, and a tool I use a lot. Windows Task Manager is a decent enough tool,…