LangList: Should you trust a hard drive after a major error?

Tough question. No easy answers. But there are lots of ways you can diagnose a suddenly disruptive drive.

Fred Langa with money-saving advice to fix (or accept!) a problem we’ve all encountered.

Out this  morning in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.6.0.

Fred Langa: How do I unfreeze my laptop? I’ve pressed ctrl-shift-del but it did not work

You’d be surprised how few people know that they may need to take the battery out… if they can…

More words of classic wisdom from Fred Langa on his web site.

LangaList: Three somewhat unusual, but interesting, reader queries

Fred Langa’s back in the groove. This week he tackles three strange reader questions:

• Getting rid of unnecessary language files
• When you plug a smartphone into a PC, they used to act like dumb flash drives. Now they don’t. Why?
• Is a drive heavier, by a tiny amount when it’s full?

Fascinating stuff about fentograms and MTP.

In the new AskWoody Plus Newsletter issue 16.5.0 – out this morning.

Fred Langa: Use Google’s new Password Checker extension for Chrome to see if your passwords have been compromised

Fred’s at it again. His latest Langa.com article talks about a new Chrome extension that specifically checks to see if the password you’re entering has been compromised.

It’s different from the compromised-email-address checking sites because it looks at passwords.

Interesting product. I just added Password Checkup to my Chrome box of tools.

Langalist: Unraveling Win10’s file ‘permissions’ issues

Can’t get at your own data? There’s a reason why. Several possible reasons, actually, and Fred Langa steps you through their solutions.

Think you had problems with file lockouts in Win7? It takes Win10 to really mess things up.

See the latest Langalist in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.4.0, out to Plus members early this morning.

Langalist: Five different ways to fix airplane mode malfunctions

Win10’s Airplane mode sometimes becomes entirely unresponsive — effectively blocking all your wireless activity! Among the better fixes: a new one-click, instant reset for all your network adapters!

Plus: A quick look at some of the new energy-use monitors in Win10’s Task Manager.

See Fred Langa’s latest Langalist in issue 16.2.0 of the AskWoody Plus Newsletter

Fred Langa: AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.1.0 LangaList — Windows activation keys, Rescuing a dying hard drive, Best free Office alternatives

Fred’s back with the best LangaList in years. And, yes, the denizens of AskWoody land use lots of alternatives to Office.

Check out the latest LangaList and let us know what you think right here.