Windows

1. Create a batch file named turnoff.bat on your desktop.
2. Open it and add the following line
   powershell (Add-Type '[DllImport("user32.dll")]^public static extern int PostMessage(int hWnd, int hMsg, int wParam, int lParam);' -Name a -Pas)::PostMessage(-1,0x0112,0xF170,2)
3. Save the batch file.
4. Run the file to turn off your screens.There will be a brief command-line window that pops up during execution.

Tested on Windows 10.

You sometimes want to check if a program that you've installed is doing anything funky. While you could install a full-blown packet analyser like WIreshark, sometimes, that is overkill. A quicker and handier option would be to just rely on good old netstat. Like so:

as well as

-b: displays the program name (executable)

-n: displays the IP address

-f: displays the resolved form of the IP address

On a fresh installation of Windows 10, I found that Youtube was working just fine, but other embedded videos on sites like Twitch and Reddit were not. I thought it had something to do with HTML5 or flash, but as it turns out, it was because I had chosen the wrong version of Windows during the installation process. Choosing Windows Professional N or, basically any N version, results in video issues primarily due to the lack of appropriate codec and DRM support. Even Netflix will very likely not play. This also affects all browsers.

I needed to install Windows and downloaded the 4.7GB Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft's website. Since I only had Linux machines at my disposal (and no DVD drives), I had to look to install the ISO on a pen drive. While the purists advocated that I use dd to accomplish this, I found that getting the USB to be bootable was something of a chore. So I looked for a friendlier solution and this is what I found for Kubuntu:

I remember, many, many years ago, finding a plugin for WinAMP that allowed (IIRC) easy looping of a section of an MP3. I wanted to do this again. Only this time, there was no WinAMP and I am a foobar2000 user.

New Windows 7 system: When I plugged in my headphones into the front audio jack, I immediately started hearing a buzzing and whistling noise in the earpiece. When I switched to the rear audio port, this noise went away. MP3s played clearly on both ports albeit with the buzzing noise in the background when using the front port.

I had an odd issue just now when using Gvim. Usually, backspacing when in insert mode (iwhen running the editor as an administrator.

Running a program in "privileged" mode (i.e., as an administrator) is as simple as pressing the START button, finding the program, right-clicking its name, and choosing Run as administrator. (You can similarly also choose to Run as different user, but to get this option, you'll need to press SHIFT before the right click.) This should bring up Windows' pop-up asking you to allow the program to be run as administrator where you click Yes and Robert is your uncle.

While transferring a file to a remote server is pretty easily done using PuTTY's sister program, pscp, sometimes one finds oneself to be too lazy to go through the steps required. Shouldn't it be possible to simply copy and paste the (text) file into a remote editor via PuTTY? It is and it works a peach. However, it does crack the shits every now and then complaining about the length of the clipboard (paste).