Understanding Qualcomm Snapdragon X

SILICON

By Will Fastie

Qualcomm is not accustomed to speaking directly to consumers, making technical details difficult to find.

Nevertheless, Qualcomm is now anxious to capture the hearts and minds of end users because its newest generation of processor, the Snapdragon X, is finding its way into many Copilot+ PCs.

Here are a few technical details to help you through this year’s holiday buying season.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.40.0, 2024-09-30).

Don’t forget to reboot

The other day I was trying to search for an app on my computer and the search ability wouldn’t work. Now I have already done the registry entry to disable web searching from the search box, but this was just flat out search not working at all. Rebooted and all was well.

Another person in the office had an issue the other day with a PDF software keeping a file open and not releasing it. Rebooted his PC and all was well.

Once upon a time we would often set up scripts or stored task sequences to reboot a server to ensure that there were not memory leaks. While I no longer do that, a good reboot will still clear out misbehaving software.

It clears out the memory including temporary data, reinitializes drivers and hardware devices and clears memory. So, don’t forget to reboot.

A note – my heart goes out to anyone impacted by Hurricane Helene.  Such images of destruction and lots of people needing help. It goes without saying that I’m sure scams surrounding the events will be coming into our inboxes soon. Only donate to reputable organizations.

MS-DEFCON 4: Dual-boot computers now safe to patch

By Susan Bradley

In the August updates, Microsoft introduced a bug that impacted Windows users who dual-booted into Windows and Linux.

At first it was thought the bug had not been fixed in the September updates, but upon further investigation, I learned that it had been addressed. Because it is now fixed, I find no reason to delay updates further and am therefore lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 4.

Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.39.1, 2024-09-24).

Jim’s Toolbox — So many nifty tools in one collection

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

By Deanna McElveen

There is nothing wrong with knowing of powerful commands to fix computers but not remembering the actual commands. That’s what tech notes and Google are for. But what if you didn’t have to look them up?

Cemil “Jim” Taşdemir has created Jim’s Toolbox. A collection of all the tools we like to use, but with easy launch buttons so there is nothing to remember!

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.39.0, 2024-09-23).
This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

My printer is offline!

BEN’S WORKSHOP

By Ben Myers

How often have you wondered why and how a networked printer has gone offline?

For more than a few years, I was confounded when I discovered that a client’s networked printer had gone offline. Usually, I would reinstall the printer drivers, and that would take care of it. Recently, a new client gave me a clear explanation of events leading to a printer’s going offline.

This is a networking problem, so I need to explain some networking concepts, principles, and software for reference later on.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.39.0, 2024-09-23).

Forces shaping the future: The courts at work

LEGAL BRIEF

By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

Three social factors shape the path of future development of technology: government rules, litigation, and consumer actions.

In last month’s Legal Brief, we reviewed how government rules and enforcement actions are being used to attempt to influence how technology will develop.

This time, we’ll look at how litigation — both private and governmental — is being used in attempts to influence the path of technological development.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.39.0, 2024-09-23).

How my Internet outage caused security problems

ON SECURITY

By Susan Bradley

I live in a city with electricity, high-speed Internet, and all the other customary modern conveniences.

In that same city dwell squirrels, birds (including beautiful hummingbirds), possums, kit foxes, bees, and too many others to mention. Although they’re lovely to have around, they are not necessarily the best of neighbors. Interaction with them doesn’t always work out, and sometimes that affects my technology — and even my security.

Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.39.0, 2024-09-23).

So how’s your battery?

Once upon a time, you could snap a dead battery out of the back of a laptop and replace it with a new one ordered online and be back up and running in nothing flat.  And then came the era of smaller, lighter and now it’s a matter of prying the back of a laptop off without breaking something in the process to see if it’s replaceable.

I have a Chromebook that I use to dabble in the Chrome ecosystem and suddenly it will not hold a charge or BE charged. So yes, I have a totally worthless cloud based laptop. Fortunately I didn’t pay much for it, but still it’s a bit annoying to now have a device that I will have to decide if I want to pry the back off or ewaste it.

Another laptop that I have at the office is annoying me in the battery department for a different reason. It’s relatively new. It’s a Lenovo based on the snapdragon chip and is supposed to have a really long life. But because we use it as more of an emergency device, it can sit in a drawer for weeks. When I go to use it, it’s totally dead and needs recharging a bit before it will even boot. Upon searching online, it appears others are having the same issue and hopefully updating the bios should do the trick.  Fingers cross.

What’s the most annoying thing you’ve had to deal with when it comes to batteries?