Category Archives: Computer Questions and Answers

Questions and answers on a broad range of computer related topics

Q. Can I use images from Google Images on my website?

Copyright and you: To start with, all images (photographic, moving picture, painted, sculpted or drawn) and texts (books, song lyrics) – are covered by national and international copyright law. This is automatic as soon as the image is created. Copyright … Continue reading

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Q. I am being offered some used software for sale. Is this legitimate?

In most cases, used software can be sold if it is no longer needed – but there are some strict requirements for it to be legal.  The reason for this is that you don’t purchase software outright, you purchase a … Continue reading

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Q. I have received an email – how can I tell if it is spam?

Mass-Email marketers work on the theory that it costs next to nothing to send a million emails, so if only one in 100,000 people is unwary enough to reply or act on their spam, then they are making money.  Unfortunately, … Continue reading

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Q. My USB memory stick won’t let me save a 4.2 GB file?

You are finding that individual files larger than 3.99 GB are failing when you copy them to a USB memory stick (or a camera memory card, or an external hard drive). The simple answer is that the memory stick is … Continue reading

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Q. Someone knows my IP address and email. Can they hack my computer?

You don’t get hacked just because someone knows your IP address – you get hacked if your machine has malware on it or if you have left services open to the public or if someone has obtained the username and … Continue reading

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Q. I have a file on my Mac that won’t open the correct program

What type of file is it? Most files have a file name with a three or four letter extension which tells the machine what program it belongs to. For example, a .XLSX file is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet file. This … Continue reading

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Q. Can I upgrade the processor or the graphics card in my laptop?

The short answer is No. The longer answer is that many laptops have the CPU soldered into the motherboard. Even where the CPU is socketed, the motherboard chipset and BIOS would have to specifically support the new CPU, and laptop … Continue reading

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Q. Where can I get free music?

Copyright and you: To start with, all music is covered by national and international copyright law which covers the music composition, the lyrics, and the recorded performance. Copyright covers the creator’s Right to control how their work is Copied, and … Continue reading

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Q. How do I install a 3TB or larger hard drive?

The largest new desktop SATA hard drives on the market have capacities of 3 TB and 4 TB. This is great for storage, not so great for older machines because it goes beyond what SATA interfaces on older (mid 2011 … Continue reading

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Q. How do I install RAM in a PC Notebook?

The RAM memory in most notebook computers is user-upgradeable. Almost all notebook machines use SODIMMs (Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Modules). Part of the trick is to discover where the memory modules are located in a notebook machine. The best … Continue reading

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Q. What memory fits my Apple Xserve server?

Model/ Identifier CPU/ Speed/ Screen/ Date/ Designation RAM Type & Speed Maximum RAM Hard Drive/ SSD XServe G4RackMac1,1 G4 1.0 GHz (4 RAM sockets Mid 2002, M8627LL/A ) DDR-266 DIMM 2 GB (4x512MB) 3.5″ PATA hard drive XServe G4/DPRackMac1,1 G4 1.0 … Continue reading

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Q. How do I set up a website? Is it free?

To create a website, you will need to know a few basics about how Web (HTML) pages work, or use a website service or blogging service that gives you templates and allows you to create a web site just by … Continue reading

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Q. How do I clone my Windows 7 drive to a new hard drive?

For this solution, we are assuming that you have a bootable Windows 7 installation on your working C: drive, and that you want to put a newer/faster/larger drive in as a new C: drive with the same Windows and programs.  … Continue reading

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Q. How do I install RAM in a Mac?

Memory in most Macintoshes is user-upgradeable. The bottom of this post has links to the Apple instructions for specific models.  Here are general instructions for installation on modern Macs. In machines with SODIMMs, there are two main ways to insert … Continue reading

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Q. How to set up a new external hard drive on a Mac?

A. When you plug in a new external hard drive to a Mac, it will either be formatted for Windows (in which case you may have trouble writing to it from the Mac) or it will be unformatted. An internal … Continue reading

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