What is GPT (GUID Partition Table)?

Short for GUID Partition Table, GPT is a part of the EFI standard that defines the layout of the partition table on a hard drive. GPT is meant as a replacement to hard drives using a MBR partition table, which have a 2.20TB size limitation and extends upon UEFI. Using GPT a drive could support between 8 and 9.4 ZB depending on the sector size.

Quickly change case of text in Microsoft Word.

Highlight any text in Microsoft Word and press the shortcut key Shift + F3 to change the case of the highlighted text. Pressing this key once will uppercase all highlighted text, pressing the shortcut again will make the text all lowercase, and then pressing the shortcut again will give the text proper case. Use the online converter to convert your text to uppercase, lowercase, and many other modifications.

What is IA-32 (Intel Architecture 32)?

Short for Intel Architecture 32, IA-32 is a 32-bit processor architecture developed by Intel that moves computer processors from the 16-bit architecture of the early 286 computers to the 386 and later processors. This architecture was later replaced by IA-64.

What is ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)?

Short for Intel Comparative Microprocessor Performance, iCOMP is an overall rating that originally combined five benchmarks: CPUmark32, Norton SI-32, SPECint_base95, SPECfp_base95, and the Intel Media Benchmark that was released in 1992. iCOMP gives a user a better overall rating and comparison of computer processors.

Easily fix spots and other problems in photos.

Expensive programs such as Adobe Photoshop have a feature known as Content-Aware, which allows them to fix spots and other problems in a photo with little work. The free online service Webinpaint has the same capability and allows you to easily remove spots, blemishes, scratches, objects, and any other problems you may have in a picture. For example, in the below picture I start off with an image with four big air balloons and one small air balloon in the middle. I think the image would look better without this small balloon, so I draw over the balloon and then click the Inpaint button to remove the small balloon from the picture.

Individually remove page, search, or text in search bar

If you ever find yourself needing to delete an individual address, search, or other text from your address bar or other auto complete field use the keyboard shortcut key Shift + Del to delete any item individually. For example, in the below picture I typed computerhope into the address bar and was given several options. Pressing the down arrow once selects the first address and pressing Shift + Del will delete that first result.

What is Mission Control?

A feature on the Apple Mac OS X that gives an overview of what is currently running on the computer. At the top of Mission Control you'll see the Dashboard, Desktop, Full screen windows and any open application windows. The Mission Control is one of the easiest ways to switch between open applications.

How to disable or uninstall Java.

Java is not a required component for most computer users and with the recent security exploits discovered in Java and Oracle not rushing to fix many of the exploits any time soon many users may choose to disable or uninstall Java on their computer. This document will cover how to update Java, disable Java, and if needed uninstall Java on your computer. Further information on Java including an example Java applet can be found on our Java definition page.

Remove formatting in Word from any pasted text.

When copying text from another document or Internet web page and pasting it into Microsoft Word, Word will keep the formatting of the text. For example, if you were to copy the text on this page to a Word file, this text would remain bold, and this text would remain blue. To remove the formatting in Microsoft Word from any text highlight the text and press the shortcut key Ctrl + Spacebar. This will set the text to the default font, remove the formatting, and even remove links.

Increase and decrease the size of desktop icons

While on the Windows Vista or higher Desktop hold down the Ctrl key and scroll up and down using the wheel on your mouse. While scrolling up all the icons on the desktop will increase in size and while scrolling down all the icons will decrease in size.

What is autofit?

AutoFit is a feature in Microsoft Excel that automatically adjusts the width or height of a cell. Below are the steps on how to AutoFit cells in the different versions of Microsoft Excel.

What is sheet tab?

In Microsoft Excel, a sheet, sheet tab, or worksheet tab is the current worksheet that is being displayed. Every Excel file is capable of having multiple worksheets, and after opening an Excel file, you will see multiple sheet tabs as shown in the picture to the right. By default, you will have three sheet tabs "Sheet1" the default worksheet, "Sheet2", "Sheet3", and an additional tab that will allow you to add additional sheets to the Excel file.

What is sheet?

A sheet is another name for a single piece of paper or a hard copy.

What is Windows Mobility Center?

The Windows Mobility Center is a location within Microsoft Windows that allows a laptop or other mobile user quick access to the most common mobile features. As can be seen in the below picture, this laptop can adjust the brightness, volume, battery, wireless, external displays and sync options. Depending on your hardware and your computer manufacture more or fewer tiles may be shown.

What is chroot?

The term chroot refers to a process of creating a virtualized environment in a Unix operating system, separating it from the main operating system and directory structure. This process essentially generates a confined space, with its own root directory, to run software programs. Because this virtual environment runs in its own root directory, separated from the main operating system's root directory, any software program run in this environment can only access files within its own directory tree. It cannot access files outside of that directory tree. This confined virtual environment is often called a "chroot jail".

What is NFC?

Short for Near Field Communication, NFC is a set of standards developed primarily for smartphones and other similar electronic devices, allowing two way communication between the devices. The range of NFC is very short, usually only an inch (few centimeters) or less. The NFC standards are defined by the NFC Forum, formed in 2004 by Nokia, Philips, and Sony. Today, there are over 160 members of the NFC Forum.

What is Penetration?

In telecommunications, penetration can mean the act of trying to circumvent, or break through, a security barrier, like a firewall or encryption. Sometimes called a hacker, a person attempts to penetrate the barrier using various methods, including finding weaknesses in the security, a brute force attack in an attempt to discover the password to unlock the security, or even repeated access attempts in hopes of causing the security system to fail due to being overwhelmed (sometimes called a Denial-of-service, or DDoS, attack).

What is tuneup?

For a computer, a tuneup refers to improving the performance of the computer by way of several processes. These processes can include the removal of temporary computer files (also called temp files), uninstalling computer programs that are not needed or necessary for proper operation of the computer, fixing computer errors, cleaning up the system registry to remove invalid application and file links, and more.

What is verbose mode?

Verbose mode is an option available in many computer operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux that provides additional details as to what the computer is doing and what drivers and software it is loading during startup. This level of detail can be very helpful for troubleshooting problems with hardware or software, if errors are occurring during startup or after the operating system has loaded.

What is Windows CardSpace?

Windows CardSpace was developed by Microsoft as a software program for the Identity Metasystem. CardSpace was used to create digital identities for users, storing some personal information about them that could be requested and accessed by websites or other software applications. Users had the ability to create their own personal card as well, utilizing up to 14 fields to store information. When users' information, or identity, was requested, the CardSpace UI would appear, looking somewhat like a business card or Outlook Contact, displaying various pieces of information pertaining to the individual user. The user can select which card to make available to the website or application, which then results in that website or application contacting the issuer of the identity to get a digitally signed XML token. This token would then contain the information being requested about the user.

What is dual-channel memory?

Alternatively referred to as Multi-channel memory, Dual-channel memory is the DDR, DDR2, or DDR3 chipset on the motherboard that provides the memory with two memory channels instead of one. The dual-channel platform helps alleviate bottlenecks that can occur by having one controller handle the reading and writing while the other controller prepares the next access and prevents any type of delay.

What is a Duron?

The Duron processor was manufactured and released by AMD on June 19, 2000. It was a lower cost processor, providing an alternative to AMD's Athlon processors. It was also released as a competitor to Intel's Celeron processor. AMD discontinued the Duron in 2004 and introduced a new processor as a replacement, called the Sempron.

Computer memory history

Computer hard drive history Year Event 1837 Charles Babbage first purposed the Analytical Engine, which was the first computer to use punch cards as memory and a way to program the computer. 1932 Gustav Tauschek develops drum memory. 1942 John Atanasoff successfully tests the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) which was the first computer to use regenerative capacitor drum memory. 1946 Freddie Williams applies for a patent on his cathode-ray tube (CRT) storing device on December 11, 1946. The device that later became known as the Williams tube or more appropriately the the Williams-Kilburn tube. The tube stored only stored 128 40-bit words and is the first practical form of random-access memory. 1946 Jan Rajchman begins his work on developing the Selectron tube that was capable of storing 256 bits. Because of the popularity of magnetic core memory at the time, the Selectron tube was never put into mass production. 1947 Freddie Williams memory system known as the Williams-Kilburn tube is now in working order. 1947 Frederick Viehe files a series of some of the first patents relating to magnetic-core memory. Others who helped with the development of magnetic-core memory and magnetic drum memory include An Wang, Ken Olsen and Jay Forrester. 1949 Jay Forrester and other researchers comes up with the idea of using magnetic-core memory in the Whirlwind computer. 1950 The United States Government receives the UNIVAC 1101 or ERA 1101. This computer is considered to be the first computer that was capable of storing and running a program from memory. 1951 Jay Forrester applies for a patent for magnetic-core memory, an early type of random access memory (RAM) May 11, 1951. 1952 In his master's thesis, Dudley Allen Buck describes Ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM) that was not developed until the 1980's and early 1990's. 1953 In July 1953 a core memory expansion is added to the ENIAC. 1955 Konrad Zuse completes the Z22, the seventh computer model and first computer that used magnetic storage memory. 1955 MIT introduces the Whirlwind machine on March 8, 1955, a revolutionary computer that was the first digital computer with magnetic core RAM. 1955 An Wang is issued U.S. patent #2,708,722 on May 17, 1955 for then invention of the magnetic "Pulse Transfer Controlling Device", which made made magnetic core memory a reality. 1955 Bell Labs introduces its first transistor

computer. Transistors are faster, smaller and create less heat than traditional vacuum tubs, making these computers more reliable and efficient. 1964 John Schmidt designs a 64-bit MOS p-channel Static RAM while at Fairchild. 1964 Kenneth Olsen is issued U.S. patent #3,161,861 on December 15, 1964 for Magnetic core memory. 1968 On June 4, 1968 Dr. Robert Dennard at the IBM T.J. Watson Research center is granted U.S. patent #3,387,286 describing a one-transistor DRAM cell. DRAM will later replace magnetic core memory in computers. 1969 Charles Sie publishes a dissertation at Iowa State University where he described and demonstrated Phase-change memory (PRAM). Although PRAM has still never been commercially practical, it is still being developed at companies like Samsung. 1969 Intel releases its first product, the 3101 Schottky TTL bipolar 64-bit static random-access memory (SRAM). In the same year Intel released the 3301 Schottky bipolar 1024-bit read-only memory (ROM). 1970 Intel releases its first commercially available DRAM, the Intel 1103 in October 1970. Capable of storing 1024 bytes or 1KB of memory. 1971 While at Intel, Dov Frohman invents and patents (#3,660,819) the EPROM. 1974 While at Intel, Federico Faggin at Intel is granted patent #3,821,715 on June 28, 1974 that describes a memory system for a multichip digital computer. 1978 George Perlegos with Intel develops the Intel 2816, the first EEPROM. 1983 Wang Laboratories creates the single in-line memory module (SIMM). 1993 Samsung introduces the KM48SL2000 synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) and quickly becomes an industry standard. 1984 Fujio Masuoka invents flash memory. 1996 DDR SDRAM begins being sold. 1999 RDRAM becomes available for computers. 2003 DDR2 SDRAM begins being sold. 2003 XDR DRAM begins being sold. 2007 DDR3 SDRAM begins being sold June 2007.

How can I close multiple tasks in Task Manager

Unfortunately, the Windows Task Manager does have any shortcut keys or other methods of selecting multiple tasks at once to close. However, using the Windows taskkill command will allow you to close multiple programs at once. For example, let's assume a program has froze, or another problem with the computer caused the same program to be opened multiple times. Follow the below steps to close the program from the command line without having to reboot the computer.

What is borderless printing?

Alternatively referred to as full-bleed printing, borderless printing is a printing technique that makes a printer print an image without any margin or other border. This type of printing is especially useful when you're printing a photo but don't want a border, printing an image that requires multiple sheets of paper for a single image (e.g. billboard or larger photo), or printing a template that needs a full page.

Define names and use them in Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel allows any cell to to have a defined name, which makes creating and pointing to that cell a lot easier. For example, in a traditional formula you may subtract the value in cell A1 from B1 by using the formula =sum(A1-B1) in cell C1. However refrencing these cells and using them in a formula could be made easier by defining the name of cells C1 and B1. For example, cell A1 could be named "total" and cell B1 could be named "tax", which means the same formula in C1 could be =sum(total-tax) to get the total.

Enter the same text into multiple Excel cells at once

In Microsoft Excel, you can enter the same data or text into multiple cells at once using the below simple steps. Highlight all the cells that you want to have the same text.

Automate your work with Autohotkey

Autohotkey is a free and powerful tool that allows you to automate almost anything on your Windows computer in any program. Computer Hope uses this tool daily to help answer common questions asked in e-mail quickly and perform other common repetitive tasks. If you do anything daily that requires you to repeat the same actions, we highly recommend using this tool. This page demonstrates some of this programs capabilities.

What is autohotkey?

AutoHotkey is a fantastic free and open source Microsoft Windows tool that allows you to create macros, scripts, and automate frequently performed tasks on your computer. For example, Computer Hope uses this tool daily to help answer common questions asked in e-mail quickly and perform other common repetitive tasks. Below are just a few examples of what AutoHotkey is capable of doing.

What is dictation mode?

Dictation mode is a mode available in certain types of software (such as Microsoft Word) which enables a user to speak to a computer. The computer will create text from the speech and enter it as text into the software. Most software dictation modes can improve their accuracy with repeated use and/or training by each specific user.

What is ECU (Electronic Control Unit)?

Short for Electronic Control Unit, the ECU, is a name given to a device that controls one or more electrical systems in a vehicle. It operates much like the BIOS does in a computer. The ECU provides instructions for various electrical systems, instructing them on what to do and how to operate.

What is embedded Java?

Embedded Java is a set of Java technologies that are used to program embedded systems, such as printers, mobile phones, GPS receivers, and medical imaging equipment. It also supports desktop and server platforms like x86, x64, and more on many different operating systems.

What is cookie poisoning?

Cookie poisoning is a process in which an unauthorized person changes the content within a user's cookie file in order to gain access to sensitive information that may be stored in the cookie or on the server for the web site that the user is browsing.

What is external link?

Although the definition of an external link may vary from site to site or from person to person. Generally, an external link is any link that goes to a different domain (e.g., example.com to someplace.com) is considered an external link to computerhope.com. However, different situations can cause a link to be thought of as internal instead. This can happen when the site has various subdomains or directories that host different sites on that domain (e.g., a site that hosts numerous blogs or homepages, or business sites). For example, the site someplace.com could have different blog subdomains like cooking.someplace.com, autorepair.someplace.com, etc.

What is cHTML?

cHTML stands for compact HTML and is a version of HTML used for small devices such as cellular phones or PDAs and only supports a subset of the HTML language. Features such as tables, image maps, font styles/variations, background colors, background images, frames, and style sheets are not supported. In cHTML, basic operations are performed by a combination of four buttons rather than via cursor movement, which is one reason why a number of features (like image maps) are not supported.

What is cookies.txt?

The cookies.txt file is the file that is used to store a user's cookies in certain web browsers, notably Netscape and older versions of Firefox. This file is typically in the user profile for the application.

What is dead code?

Dead code in programming is code that is part of a program and gets executed, but the results are never used by any other part of the program. This results in unnecessary processing, since the code does not perform a task that is used.

What is darknet?

Darknet is a private P2P file sharing network in which only trusted peers make connections. This is usually done with ports or protocols that are not typically used. The sharing is anonymous, as IP addresses are not shared publicly. Darknets are often thought of to be associated with illegal activities or other activities where the users would not want government and/or other involvments.

What is Boot menu?

When a computer is starting up, a user can access the boot menu by pressing one of several keyboard keys, including Esc, F10 or F12, depending on the manufacturer of the computer or motherboard. The specific key to press is usually specified on the computer's startup screen. The boot menu allows a user to select what device to load an operating system or application from as the computer is booting.