Computers 'judge personality better than friends

What do your Facebook "likes" say about you?

Computers can be better at predicting our personality than our friends and family, an experiment with tens of thousands of volunteers has indicated.

By analysing "likes" on Facebook, a computer model deduced a person's character on five key traits better than brothers, mothers and even some partners.
The Cambridge team acknowledge that personality is more complex than this.
But they say the results show computers can outpace humans.
And the findings, in the journal PNAS, suggest some interesting associations - Facebook fans of Dr Who tend to be shy, while fans of Big Brother are conservative or conventional.
Digital footprint

The University of Cambridge and Stanford University researchers had already said that Facebook "likes" could be used to predict a raft of personal information including sexual orientation and political leaning.
In this study, they wanted to go a step further and pit man against machine to see which would perform better at making judgements about human character and personality.
Dr Youyou Wu and her colleagues ran the data of 70,520 willing Facebook users through their computer system, which linked "likes" to five core personality traits:

• agreeableness
• conscientiousness
• extraversion
• neuroticism
• openness
  

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"Friends and colleagues might only see us in a limited number of situations so they have less information to go on”

 

Dr Youyou Wu

The Facebook users completed a personality questionnaire and were asked to get their colleagues, friends and family to act as character witnesses by filling out a survey.

The researchers then compared all the results to see how the computer model fared in summing up a person's self-reported character.
Given enough "likes", the computers came closer to a person's self-reported personality than even their closest allies.
By looking at just 10 Facebook "likes", the computer was able to outperform a work colleague.
Analysing 70 "likes" let the machine rival a friend or flatmate.
Using 150 "likes", it trumped a family member, but not a partner - it took 300 likes to match or outdo their deductive power.
Given that the average Facebook user had about 227 "likes" on their profile, this was ample for a computer to go on, said Dr Wu - a visiting intern at Facebook and a PhD student at the University of Cambridge.
"It may seem surprising because people are generally good at judging personality.
"It's intuitive to think that people close to us know us very well, so it's even more impressive that computers are able to beat us at our game."
She said that people now spent a lot of time online, which gave computers the edge.
"Friends and colleagues might only see us in a limited number of situations, so they have less information to go on.
"Computers can access a lot of relevant information about us and have a huge memory capacity.
"And they can make judgements in a consistent, systematic way, whereas humans may be biased."
Alan Redman, a chartered psychologist with a specialist interest in personality and psychometrics, said advertising companies already used our digital footprints to build a picture of who we were.
And potential employers might want to check social media sites before seeing a candidate.
"We do need to be careful," he added.
"We have little control over the data that is being collected about us."

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Evolution: Why do we have lips?

Human beings are unusual in that our mouths are surrounded by hypersensitive, easily-hurt pink tissue – why?

Animals know the importance of kissing and making up after a fight, an audience will be told at a Scottish university.

They kind of flap around on the front of your face, get dried out and chapped in the winter, and occasionally get caught up between your teeth and mistaken for food. Seriously, what good are lips? Birds get on just fine without them, turtles' lips have hardened into beaks as well, and while most mammals have lips, we humans are in a class all our own having lips that are permanently turned outwards.
It turns out that lips are quite important; so important, even, that it seems worth the risk of having your bottom lip caught in between your chompers. Even though that can really hurt.
Using our lips to suck is one of the very first skills we have after we're born. In fact, it's so fundamental to our survival that it's known as a "primitive reflex"; we're born knowing how to suck and no learning is necessary. That's true for nearly all mammals.

Babies have an instinct to suck anything that brushes their lips (Thinkstock)

It's the sucking reflex combined with another primitive response, the rooting reflex, that allows infants to breastfeed. The rooting reflex works by turning the infant's head to face anything that strokes its mouth or cheek. As soon as something grazes the newborn's lips, the sucking reflex is activated. While the tongue then does a lot of the work, the lips are vital to maintain a tight seal so that the infant can swallow.
That means feeding, whether from breast or from bottle, is not a passive behaviour on the part of a newborn infant. It's more like a conversation, with each side doing his or her part in a dance elaborately choreographed by evolution. At the centre of that dance are the lips.

Read my lips

The lips are of course also important in the act of eating other foods, and in speech. In linguistics, the lips are two of many places of articulation, or spots in the mouth and throat that aid in blockage of air moving out from the lungs. Bring your two lips together and you can form the sounds p, b, and m. To make the sounds f or v, bring your lower lip to your upper teeth. To make a w sound, move the back of your tongue towards the roof of your mouth while also moving your lips closer together.
Speech is arguably a critical part of human life, but it's not quite as much fun as kissing. Kissing isn't universal, though it does pop up in some 90% of cultures. Darwin himself noted that there are cultures in which kissing is conspicuously absent. "We Europeans are so accustomed to kissing as a mark of affection that it might be thought to be innate in mankind," he wrote in The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals, "but this is not the case…[it is] unknown with the [Maori] New Zealanders, Tahitians, Papuans, Australians, Somals of Africa, and the Esquimaux [Eskimo]."

(Thinkstock)

If kissing isn't universal, it could still have its roots in biology, perhaps as a combination of inherited impulses and learned behaviour. For one thing, other species kiss as well. Chimpanzees do it in order to reconcile following a fight, and bonobos do it with some tongue as well.
In a 2008 issue of Scientific American Mind the writer Chip Walter argued, citing British zoologist Desmond Morris, that kissing may have originated from the primate behavior of pre-chewing food and passing it to the kids. Chimpanzee mothers, for example, are known to chew food and before swallowing they press their lips to the lips of their youngsters to allow the food to pass into their mouths. The pressing of lips may have then become a general means for relieving anxiety. Basic classical conditioning would suggest that by pairing lip stimulation with food, simply touching the lips would eventually trigger feelings of pleasure. Add to that the overabundance of nerve endings in the lips, and you have the recipe for ecstasy.

Lip service

Lips are exquisitely sensitive (if sometimes slimy) bits of tissue. The part of the brain responsible for detecting touch is called the somatosensory cortex, and is found on the top of the brain in an area called the postcentral gyrus. Touch sensations from all over the body get sent there to be processed, with each part of the body getting its own little sub-division along the postcentral gyrus, and the size reflects the density of receptors rather than the amount of skin available to touch. For example, the part devoted to sensations from the chest and stomach is fairly small. Meanwhile, the parts that process sensations from the hands and lips are enormous. Just as the hands are a central conduit with which we experience the world, so too are the lips.

(Thinkstock)

According to researcher Gordon Gallup, in cultures without kissing, "sex partners may blow in each other’s faces, lick, suck, or rub their partner’s face prior to intercourse." But the so-called "Eskimo kiss" isn't actually about rubbing noses, as early Arctic explorers thought, but about sniffing – exchanging scents. It's possible that the act of kissing could have come along as an enjoyable means for sniffing out possible romantic partners.
Gallup studied kissing behavior in a group who should know a thing or two about it: American college students. He and his colleagues found that one of the chief means through which college-aged women determined whether a partner was a good kisser was based upon chemical cues, taste and smell. And according to his research, college women said they were far less likely to have sex with a man unless they'd kissed him first. Whether humans indeed have pheromones, and whether we can even detect them if we do, kissing facilitates the sharing of body odours, which can relay a wealth of information regarding things like basic hygiene. In another survey conducted by Gallup, he asked "Have you ever found yourself attracted to someone, only to discover after kissing them for the first time that you were no longer interested?" Of the men he surveyed, 59% said yes, while 66% of the women agreed.
While his studies are quite obviously limited by focusing on American college students, when placed alongside the cross-cultural data and evidence from animal research, it seems reasonable to conclude that the close contact that kissing offers facilitates a good deal of sniffing. Whether we're aware of it or not, kissing may allow us to judge the potential suitability of those we desire.
And that’s why the occasional chapped lip, or mistaken bite of this hypersensitive part of the body, is all worth it.

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Obese lose up to eight years of life

Being severely obese can knock up to eight years off your life and cause decades of ill health, a report says.

The analysis showed being obese at a young age was more damaging to health and life expectancy.
The team, at McGill University in Canada, said heart problems and type 2 diabetes were major sources of disability and death.
Experts said people were frequently "ignorant" of the consequences of obesity.
The health problems caused by obesity are well known.
The report, in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, used a computer model to take those risks and calculate the impact of weight on life expectancy throughout life.
In comparison with 20 to 39-year-olds with a healthy weight, severely obese men of the same age lost 8.4 years of life and women lost 6.1.
Men also spent 18.8 more years living in poor health while women spent 19.1 in that state.
Moving up an age group to those in the forties and fifties, men lost 3.7 years and women 5.3 years to obesity.
Men and women in their sixties and seventies lost just one year of life to obesity, but still faced seven years in ill health.
'Clear pattern' Prof Steven Grover said: "Our computer modelling study shows that obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, and diabetes that will, on average, dramatically reduce an individual's life expectancy.
"The pattern is clear. The more an individual weighs and the younger their age, the greater the effect on their health, as they have many years ahead of them during which the increased health risks associated with obesity can negatively impact their lives."
Responding to the findings, Barbara Dinsdale, lifestyle manager for the charity Heart Research UK, said: "How many more wake-up calls do we need?
"This research study yet again supports the clear message that by becoming obese you not only take years off your life, but also life off your years in terms of experiencing more years in poor health rather than enjoying a happy, active and productive life."
"Whatever size you are, small, manageable but sustainable changes are the way forward for a happier, healthier and longer life, and reduced risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes."
Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: "People persist in thinking that fat is just fat and appear ignorant of the many diseases that a high body mass index triggers.
"If they were told that they could lose a leg or go blind from diabetes or develop life-threatening complications from other similar diseases, I am sure they would think hard and twice before piling on the pounds."

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Inactivity 'kills more than obesity'

A lack of exercise could be killing twice as many people as obesity in Europe, a 12-year study of more than 300,000 people suggests.

University of Cambridge researchers said about 676,000 deaths each year were down to inactivity, compared with 337,000 from carrying too much weight.
They concluded that getting everyone to do at least 20 minutes of brisk walking a day would have substantial benefits.
Experts said exercise was beneficial for people of any weight.
Obesity and inactivity often go hand in hand.
However, it is known that thin people have a higher risk of health problems if they are inactive. And obese people who exercise are in better health than those that do not.
The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, attempted to tease out the relative dangers of inactivity and obesity.
Obese v inactive Researchers followed 334,161 Europeans for 12 years. They assessed exercise levels and waistlines and recorded every death.
"The greatest risk [of an early death] was in those classed inactive, and that was consistent in normal weight, overweight and obese people," one of the researchers, Prof Ulf Ekelund told BBC News.
He said eliminating inactivity in Europe would cut mortality rates by nearly 7.5%, or 676,000 deaths, but eliminating obesity would cut rates by just 3.6%.
Prof Ekelund added: "But I don't think it's a case of one or the other. We should also strive to reduce obesity, but I do think physical activity needs to be recognised as a very important public health strategy."

Prof Ekelund, who is based in Norway, is into cross country skiing and clocks up at least five hours of vigorous exercise each week.
However, he says all it would need to transform health, is brisk walking.
"I think people need to consider their 24-hour day.
"Twenty minutes of physical activity, equivalent to a brisk walk, should be possible for most people to include on their way to or from work, or on lunch breaks, or in the evening instead of watching TV."
The diseases caused by inactivity and obesity were largely the same, such as cardiovascular disease. However, type 2 diabetes was more common with obesity.
Tackle both Commenting on the findings, Barbara Dinsdale, from the charity Heart Research UK, said: "This study once again reinforces the importance of being physically active, even when carrying excess weight.
"Changing your lifestyle is all good news for heart health, but physical activity is always easier to achieve and maintain without carrying the extra 'body baggage' of too much weight."
Prof John Ashton, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said changes were needed to make exercise easier.
"We need substantial investment in cycling infrastructure to make our streets safer.
"If more people cycled or walked to work or school, it would make a big difference in raising levels of physical activity."

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God Mode in Windows 8 - Essential tips

Many hardcore computer users might think themselves above learning new tricks, but there's always new things to learn that will help improve your skills. Our bet: you will find at least one useful thing here that you didn't know before.
Inspired and with the help of this AskReddit discussion, we’ve compiled some of the most handy computer tricks you might not be taking advantage of. Our ultimate goal is to help you become more productive by shaving valuable seconds off your workflow. Of course, you can always pass along these tips to your not-so-savvy friends and family members to help them become better PC users as well.

General Tricks

Windows hidden "god mode" folder Windows offers a centralized Control Panel for all of the OS settings, which makes it easy for users to tweak everything from desktop background to setting up a VPN. To enter this mode, create a new folder with this exact name (copy and paste it): God Mode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. The folder icon will change to a Control Panel-style icon, and you will be able to jump in and change all kinds of settings. Note: Don't try this on Windows Vista 64-bit as it's known to cause a reboot loop.

Use Problem Steps Recorder This handy tool automatically records any mouse clicks and takes screenshots for you. If you need tech assistance with your computer, go to Run by typing Windows + R, and then type "psr." Use the tool and by the time you are finished, you can send this information, neatly compiled automatically, to the person helping you with the issue. It will make the process of finding the problem much easier for them, which means you will be able to get your system up and running faster.
Find/Delete large files wasting space A handy tool called WinDirStat (Windows Directory Statistics) can be used to easily find which files and folders are taking up the most space on your drive. From there, you can delete them and open up a ton of storage space.

Reduce the number of programs running at startup If your PC is taking too long to boot, it’s probably because you have far too many programs running at startup. Reducing this is easy, it will make your PC launch noticeably faster and lighter upon first load. To change the items running at startup, go to Run using the hotkey Windows key + R, and type "msconfig." A small window will appear (see the screenshot below), select the Startup tab. From here you will be able to turn off many startup programs, which can shave several seconds (or minutes) off your boot time. (Note Windows 8 has moved this functionality to the Task Manager). Try to make sure you research what you are turning off as some processes might be needed by third party programs or drivers you have installed.

Cloud backup important files If you’re working on a critical paper for school, work, or any other major project, make sure you are backing up the file not just locally. You can use services like Dropbox, Google Drive, or any of the other popular cloud storage solution which will do the legwork for you on the background. Of course, you can also throw the files on a thumb drive or external HDD just to be safe but backing up to the cloud can be done seamlessly which is twice the advantage.

Typing Tricks

Delete an entire word Instead of deleting a single letter, pressing CTRL + BKSP will delete the entire word behind the cursor. This makes deleting text quicker if you screw up a whole word.
Move Cursor to beginning of the next or previous word Moving the cursor around manually while typing is a great way to make your work take longer than it needs to. To speed of the process, move the cursor around with keyboard shortcuts. To move it to the beginning of the previous word, use CTRL + Left Arrow. To move it to the beginning of the next word, use CTRL + Right Arrow. In OS X you can accomplish the same using the Option key.
Making sub and superscript text If you need to make sub or superscript text (think exponents for superscript), press CTRL + = for subscript and CTRL + SHIFT + = for superscript.
Paste plain text of what was copied When you copy text from any source, programs will usually copy any formatting that comes with it. To paste this as plain text, press CTRL + Shift + V instead of the standard CTRL + V, and the system will paste unformatted text.
Note that many programs follow this parameter (Chrome, Firefox, etc.) but not all, particularly Microsoft programs like Word or Outlook. For those there's a few alternatives that go beyond copying and pasting in Notepad: 1) CTRL + ALT + V will show a 'paste special' dialog box. 2) CTRL + Spacebar will remove formatting in already pasted text. 3) Download Puretext and choose a hotkey to always paste plain text with it.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Copy only active window to clipboard Normally, the Print Screen key copies the entire display (or two displays if you got them), ALT + Print Screen only copies the currently active window to the clipboard. Whether taking a screenshot to diagnose a problem, or just because you want to show something to a friend, this will come in handy.
Fix those little mistakes Did you know you can undo almost any action? CTRL + Z is the ultimate hot key, and for sure you knew about it already, however note that undo doesn’t just apply to typing. If you accidentally delete or move a file, you can hit CTRL + Z to bring it right back to where it was. In Chrome and Firefox you can also undo closing a tab using CTRL + SHIFT + T.
Cycle through open windows Pressing ALT+TAB allows you to cycle through currently open windows. This makes switching back and forth between running processes quick and painless. If you want a more stylish method of cycling through open programs, Windows + TAB will do the job for you.
Interrupt all processes CTRL + ALT + Delete is one of the most common PC shortcuts, and one almost everyone is familiar with. The important thing to note is that it interrupts all processes, including the one that is bogging down your system, which can mean the difference between needing to restart or not.

Close the current program Typing ALT + F4 will close the program that is running. This is useful as it saves you time mousing over the "X" and clicking. People will often use this as a joke, telling you to press ALT + F4 to fix a problem. Don’t fall for it unless you want to close what you are doing.
Minimize all windows Sometimes you have a bunch of stuff running, and you want it all to go away so you can get to the desktop. Simply pressing Windows + D will minimize everything you have up, which will save you some time pressing the minimize button for each window. It should be noted that Windows + M offers similar functionality, but there is no undoing, so Windows + D is the more favorable approach.
Open the task manager directly If you want to bypass the interrupt that happens when pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL and jump right to the task manager, typing CTRL + Shift + ESC launches it directly.
Close the current window/tab Stick of moving all the way to that X button? Press CTRL + W and the current window will close. (Don’t do it now, or you will miss the rest of the tricks!)
Bring up the system information window This is so much quicker than digging this out the traditional way... Just press Windows + Pause/Break and the System Information panel will be ready to go. This might be the only use for the Pause/Break key you will ever find, so enjoy it!

Better multiple monitor control There are several useful keyboard shortcuts for controlling open windows on multiple monitors. Pressing the Windows Key + Arrow Keys will cause a window to quickly snap to each side of either monitor. Alternatively, hitting Shift + Windows Key + Arrows will cause the window to jump to the other monitor. Lastly, pressing Windows + P will allow you to quickly set up a second display or projector.

Web Browsing Tricks

Automatically add www. and .com to a URL You can shave off a couple of seconds typing in a URL by simply click CTRL + Enter after you type the name of the site. Need .net instead of .com, press CTRL + Shift + Enter instead.

Jump to address bar There are a number of ways to jump right to the address bar from anywhere in browser. Pressing CTRL + L, F6, and ALT + D all accomplish this goal.
Bring back a closed tab We covered this already, but it's super useful. Accidentally closed a tab? Simply press CTRL + Shift + T to reopen the most recently closed tab and get back to what you were doing.
Use private browsing The uses for not having cookies and history saved are obvious for certain activities, you know, like shopping for gifts on a shared computer (of course!). Pressing CTRL + Shift + N will launch a new private in Chrome, CTRL + Shift + P will do it in Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Cycle through open tabs Pressing CTRL + TAB while in a browser will flip between each one. This can be much faster than moving the mouse and clicking on a tab. CTRL + NUM (1, 2, 3, 4, n..) will also take you to certain tab in that numeric order.

File Management Tricks

Rename a file quickly Right-clicking and selecting rename is not very efficient. Instead, simply press F2 while a file is selected to change its name. To alter the name of another file, type TAB without deselecting the current file.
Rename files sequentially in Windows You actually don’t need to download any programs to perform a batch file rename in Windows. Instead, you can select all the files you want to change, right-click the first one in the list, select rename (or use F2), and type in the name. This will automatically change all the other files with the same root name with a suffix: (1), (2), and so on.

Select multiple files using the keyboard To select a bunch of files using your keyboard, you can press Shift + down arrow to select a single file or Shift + Page Down to select a large group of files at one time.

Security Tips

Run programs on an infected PC Often times, malware will prevent a computer from running certain programs. Changing the name of the .exe file can often override this. If that doesn’t work, changing the extension to .com is another useful alternative, and the program will still be able to run in spite of the extension change.
Read installers Even major programs can install toolbars and other unwanted pieces of software during installation. Take a few seconds to read each step to make sure you are not agreeing to install something other than the program you were actually seeking. Far too often people just push next over and over, and end up with a browser covered in various search bars that just aren't needed. In the worst of scenarios, these can have nefarious intentions.
Lock your computer if you get up Sick of your "friends" going onto your computer at work or home and posting things on your Facebook/Twitter page on your behalf? It’s certainly an annoyance, but an easy one to prevent. Windows + L will lock your system right away, requiring a password (if you've set one) to log in again.

Program-Specific Tricks

Photoshop: Drag the marquee without losing the ability to size it The marquee tool is, at its most basic level, designed for selecting a part of an image. It’s used constantly in Photoshop, and there is a handy trick many users miss. While dragging it around, you can press space, which will allow you to size it while moving it. This saves time by letting your perform two key functions at the same time.
Steam: Move games to another drive or partition By default, Steam installs all games to the same HDD or partition, but what happens if that fills up? The solution: download Steamtool Library Manager. It makes it easy to move games to another hard drive without messing with the functionality of Steam.

VLC: Fix unsynced audio and subtitles In the popular media player VLC, if your audio loses sync with the video or subtitles, there is an easy way to fix this. Simply pressing J or K will move the audio forward or backwards. Similarly, to sync the subtitles you can press H or G.

The combination of using these tips and tricks on a daily basis will most certainly make your computer life much more enjoyable, or at least more practical.

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The Best Computer Tips and Tricks: Data Security

Disable Remote Registry Editing

Only you should be editing your Windows registry, so make sure this service is disabled by clicking Start, Run, and then typing "services.msc." Scroll down to Remote Registry and make sure the service is stopped, and then set it to either manual or disable.

Lock It Down

It's always a good idea to lock your PC if strangers are nearby and you step away for a few minutes. Just press Windows key+L to lock your PC. Alternatively, you can set your screensaver (via the Screensaver tab in Display Settings under Control Panel) to require a password if it's deactivated by checking the box in "Settings" that says "On resume, password protect."

Prevent Phishing Attacks

Protect yourself from identity theft and phishing attacks by using the the latest versions of Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera. These browsers include protection that double-checks URLs against a blacklist, and will notify you if you're about to visit a known phishing site.

Keep Your Software Up to Date

Hackers and crackers love to take advantage of exploits found in software, which causes the developers to release a patch to plug up the holes. Therefore, it's imperative you not only enable Windows Update but also download the latest version of any software on your system, especially your Web browser and antivirus program.

Be Wary of P2P Files

Virus makers love peer-to-peer file-sharing services. They name their virus "Angelina Jolie Wallpapers" or something similar and upload it. Then millions of people download it, launch it, and wonder why their computers are infested with viruses. Download with caution, and always use antivirus software. If you need an effective, free antivirus solution, we recommend AVG Free.

Wipe the Drive Before Donating Your Old Computer

If you are getting rid of a hard drive and want to render all or some of its data unrecoverable, you have two options. You can download Eraser to securely wipe any file or folder, and you can use Darik's Boot and Nuke SE (DBAN) to write over the entire drive. To use DBAN, download it and burn it as an ISO disc, then boot from it. It will provide you with instructions on the welcome screen.

Encrypt Sensitive Files

If you want to encrypt sensitive data, you can buy a portable USB drive with built-in encryption like the CMS ABS-Secure Encrypted Backup System, but if you just want to protect a specific folder or group of files, we recommend Truecrypt, which is free. It encrypts a custom-sized volume with 256-bit AES encryption, so it's extremely secure.

Verify Your Backups

Many people have a "set it and forget it" mindset when it comes to backups. Even after you establish a regimen, however, it's critical that you check the target folders periodically to ensure the proper files are being backed up. If not, re-configure your backup routine to make sure it's working properly.

Back Up Your Data

You must back up your data, period. If you have the means, we highly recommend an external USB drive like the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus. If you already have an extra drive in your system—but just need some good backup software—try the free version of 2BrightSpark's Syncback, which is sublimely easy to configure.

Turn Off Your PC During Lightning Storms

Even surge protectors can be overwhelmed during electrical storms, and we've seen the results first-hand—fried motherboards, processors, hard drives and power supplies. If you're experiencing a heavy-duty electrical storm, take our advice and unplug your computer from the wall socket—just in case. And buy a laptop to use until the crisis passes.

Enable S.M.A.R.T for Your Hard Drives

S.M.A.R.T (self-monitoring analysis and reporting technology) allows your drive to report whether it's about to fail, which can give you a heads-up to replace it. All the modern hard drives have it—go into your PC's BIOS (press Del or F2/F10 during bootup) and enable it.

Enable Extension Viewing

By default, Windows hides file extensions, and virus-makers exploit this feature by giving their executable program names like Popularsong.exe, which appears as a harmless audio file if you have extensions hidden. To enable extension viewing, open any folder and click Tools, Folder Options, and uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types."

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Common computer problems you can fix yourself

Computers always act up at the worst times. You're in the middle of a major report or playing your best game ever and -- pffft.
Often, users get so frustrated that they needlessly go out and buy a new computer or pay for a computer repair. With a cool head and a little know-how, however, it's easy to fix the most common computer problems. In fact, the solutions I recommend below are free.

1. Speed up a sluggish PC

Computers slow down over time -- that's normal.
If your PC is fairly new and it's slow, remove the pre-installed programs, or bloatware, that came with it. PC Decrapifier will remove trial programs and other junk in a snap.
To give an older PC a speed boost, break out the CCleaner. This tool looks through Windows, Web browsers and other third-party programs for unwanted clutter and gets rid of it. CCleaner can also scan and fix errors in Windows' registry. Just make sure you allow it to backup the registry before making changes.
Grab Duplicate Cleaner to remove duplicate files that might be clogging up the system. But, limit your file hunt to the Documents area of your computer. You don't want to accidentally delete important system files.
In your cleaning process, you might find programs you no longer need. Windows' built-in uninstaller has a tendency to leave fragments scattered around your hard drive. You can remove those fragments efficiently with Revo Uninstaller.

2. The Blue Screen of Death

Thankfully, Windows' dreaded "Blue Screen of Death" is getting to be a rare event, but it still occurs. When it does, it isn't very helpful in helping you hunt down the problem.
The problem can often be traced to bad memory modules. Memory is cheap and buying extra RAM capacity is usually worth it for the performance boost. You can find out what kind of memory your computer takes with this scanner.
It's not difficult to remove and install memory modules. You'll find video tutorials at all the major online memory stores.
Just remember to ground yourself when you open your computer. You don't want to fry sensitive electronics with static electricity.

3. The zombie spyware plague

A message pops up on your screen repeatedly, telling you to buy a security program. It happens so often that you can't get any work done.
Your gut tells you that this is a rip-off, and your gut is correct. The message is adware that found its way on to your system, probably through an online ad for a "free" security scan you clicked on.
If you do download - and often pay for - the security program, you'll end up with fraudware. No matter how many times you run the program it will always find the same problems and keep trying to get more money out of you.
Before you buy any security software, make sure it's real. Use this site to stay current on fake antivirus programs.
Once you have fraudware, running a real antivirus program probably won't help. To stop the pop-ups, you must run an anti-spyware program. There are a number of good ones -- I'd start with Ad-Aware. You can find that by downloading it from Filehippo or download3000.

4. SD card stuck in CD/DVD slot

This is one for the Mac people. If you're distracted or pre-occupied, it's annoyingly easy to shove an SD camera card into an iMac's superdrive. The two slots are right next to each other on the right side of the computer.
You don't have to take the machine apart or ship it to a service center. The fix is easy. Cut an L-shape out of cardboard to use as a fishing hook. Slide it in and pull out the SD card. Watch this video to see how it's done.

5. Network issues

If your wireless network is dead, your router, cable or DSL modem probably crashed. It happens. Reboot the gadgets by unplugging them for 30 seconds, then plugging them back in. That usually solves the problem.
If your signal is weak or the connection is slow or drops out, there are a few tricks you can try to improve your home Wi-Fi, such as the beer-can antenna booster. I made a fun video to show you exactly how to make your own. Watch it now.

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How to solve windows problems yourself

How to solve the 10 most common tech support problems yourself

Whether you’re dealing with your dad’s decade-old computer or your own custom-built gaming rig, troubleshooting PC problems is a part of everyday life. Before you make that $50 support call, though, try your hand at homebrew tech support. We spoke to some of the best support reps in the business about the most common problems they fix—and how you can do it yourself.

Try this first

I know it sounds like a no-brainer, but before you do anything else, restart your computer. Matthew Petrie of Falcon Northwest technical support says that most of his customers solve their problems with this simple step. “This long-standing maxim can work wonders,” says Petrie.

Regularly checking for operating system updates is important, because forgetting to do so could significantly impair your PC’s performance.

While you’re at it, make sure that your operating system is fully updated by running Windows Update. Neglecting updates could deprive you of important bug and performance fixes.
If you’re having problems with a peripheral, try switching it on and off. If that doesn’t work, try disconnecting and reconnecting the device. As a last resort, download the latest drivers and perform a full reinstall.

My computer is too slow: Causes and Solutions

The first step to fixing a slow computer is to verify that your machine is the actual source of the problem. Videos that seem to buffer forever, and websites that take ages to load, may not be your computer’s fault. Geek Squad agent Derek Meister claims that many people mistakenly identify a slow system as the problem when “it’s actually not the computer, [but] their broadband connection.” See “Downloads are taking forever” below for instructions on how to use Speedtest.net to diagnose a slow connection.
If the problem is your PC, check whether you have plenty of free space on the hard drive holding your operating system. Windows needs room to create files while your system is running. If your hard drive is maxed out, performance suffers. Now is the perfect time to clear some space.

If your computer’s operating system resides on an overstuffed C: drive, clearing out some space could boost OS performance.

Microsoft’s System Configuration tool is your next-best bet for tackling slow performance. Many applications launch automatically when your machine boots up, which can stretch out boot time—especially on older, slower PCs. Make a habit of trimming the startup items. Open the tool by pressing Windows-R, typing msconfig, and pressing the Enter key.
Checking the Startup Item and Manufacturer columns is the best way to figure out which potential performance-killers you can safely disable. Avoid messing with any of the services and programs that have Microsoft Corporation listed as the manufacturer. Items such as AdobeAAMUpdater, Google Update, Pando Media Booster, Spotify, and Steam Client Bootstrapper are all fair game. Regardless, err on the side of caution: If you’re not sure what the program or service does, don’t disable it.

Windows’ System Configuration Tool lets you disable programs and services that automatically start when you boot your computer.

Once you’ve made all your changes, click OK and restart the computer. It should boot up quicker and feel noticeably faster.

Downloads are taking forever: Causes and Solutions

Speedtest.net is your best friend when you're having connectivity problems. Run a speed test to see what your download and upload speeds are—ideally they should be at least 50 percent of your Internet service provider’s advertised speeds, with a ping under 100 milliseconds.
If the speeds seem solid, make sure that you aren’t inadvertently downloading or uploading anything. Many torrent downloading programs run in the background and minimize into the system tray instead of the taskbar.

A good speed test should give you an accurate assessment of your ping, download speed, and upload speed.

Check your network hardware. Updates for network cards aren’t all that common, but if your card’s manufacturer offers a newer driver, download it. Resetting your router and modem can help with connection problems, too. Most routers and modems have reset buttons, but pulling the power cable for a second or two can do the same thing. Don’t cut the power for much longer, or the hardware may reset itself to factory defaults.
Still having problems? Call your ISP, which can tell you whether the problem is on your end. As a last-ditch measure, the ISP could reset the master connection to your home.

My machine keeps restarting

Hardware problems are hard to diagnose and solve. First, confirm that you aren’t just getting the latest wave of Windows updates, which can automatically restart your computer during installation. Then work on updating all of your critical system drivers. Your graphics card, motherboard, and network card drivers are crucial.
“Sometimes it can be viruses, sometimes it can be adware, sometimes it can be overheating, and sometimes it can be something as simple as making sure your video card is updated,” Geek Squad’s Meister says.
Is your computer making weird noises? If you’re lucky all you’ll need to do is give the machine a thorough cleaning. Modern computers have safeguards that shut down the system if a component is overheating, which can be the cause of frequent restarts when you’re running resource-intensive programs or video games.

Pop-up ads are appearing on my desktop

If you’re not running your Web browser and are still getting pop-up ads on your desktop, you’ve most likely installed adware—a program that displays unwanted ads. Although benevolent adware exists, most of the time adware is up to no good. Getting rid of it isn't easy. “There’s a ton of little system-utility tools out there that promise to clean up everything, with names like PC Speed-up, PC Speed Pro, PC Speedifier,” Geek Squad’s Meister says. “A lot of times those programs are not going to do much. Some programs will work, others are snake oil.”

Avoid downloading programs that offer to speed up your PC or clean up your registry. Instead, use a trustworthy adware scanner like the free version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware tool.

Running a full scan with credible antivirus software is your first step. If that program doesn’t find and remove the adware, turn to Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free, a great utility for removing all types of malware. Just make sure to disable your standard antivirus software before running it.
“Multiple antivirus programs working at the same time will often result in problems,” Falcon Northwest’s Petrie says. “You only want one active, real-time antivirus scanner installed, but it doesn’t hurt to run an additional ‘on demand’ virus or malware scanner.”
Searching online for the name of the advertised product can sometimes yield solutions from fellow victims. If all else fails, there’s always the nuclear option: a complete system reinstall. It might take a long time, but it’s the only surefire way to remove adware or spyware. Remember to back up all your personal files.

Google doesn’t look right

Browser hijackers are a particularly nasty breed of malware. Such programs take over your Web browser and can stealthily redirect your Google searches and other queries to fake pages meant to steal your personal information or to further infect your system.
Running a real-time antivirus utility is the best way to stay safe. If your browser has already been hijacked, uninstall the browser and use your antivirus program in conjunction with Malwarebytes to remove the intruder.

How to solve windows connectivity problems

Spotty wireless connections can be a puzzler. Is it your computer? Your router? Your ISP? Try a few things before calling your Internet service provider.

Windows Network Diagnostics may not always solve your problem, but it will usually point you in the right direction.

Confirm that your computer is within range of your wireless router. Weak signals mean weak connections. Next, make sure your PC’s wireless card has the latest drivers. Try letting Windows troubleshoot for you by right-clicking the Wi-Fi icon in the taskbar and selecting Troubleshoot problems.

I keep seeing ‘There is a problem with this website’s security certificate’

Sometimes the biggest problems have the easiest fixes. According to support technicians, the lion’s share of issues are due to an incorrect system clock.

The problem is probably with your computer.

Website security certificates sync up with your computer’s clock. Old computers in particular run the risk of having a dead CMOS battery—the watch battery in your computer that keeps its system clock ticking. Click the clock in the system tray and select Change date and time settings to correct any issues.

My printer won’t print: Solutions

Let’s assume that your printer’s drivers are up-to-date, and that it has enough paper and ink or toner to print. Try turning the printer off and on. Unplug the printer and plug it back in. Check your printer’s print queue by looking for the printer icon in the system tray and double-clicking it. The print queue shows you the status of each job as well as the general status of your printer.

The print queue is your best bet for troubleshooting printer problems—just make sure that ‘Use Printer Offline’ isn’t selected.

Ensure that ‘Use Printer Offline’ isn’t checked. Sometimes, printing while your printer is turned off can cause Windows to set your printer to work offline, and that can stall jobs sent later.

I can’t open email attachments: What to do?

If you have ever encountered an attachment that you couldn’t open, it was probably because you didn’t have the software necessary to view the file.

If you don’t have Adobe Reader or another PDF-compatible program, you won’t be able to open that TPS report.

The usual suspect is the .pdf file, for which you can download a free PDF reader. If your problem involves a different file format, a quick search on the attachment’s file extension (the three letters after the period in the filename) should tell you what type of program you need. If the attachment lacks a file extension (which might happen if it was renamed), adding it back should set things right.

My favorite program isn’t working on my new PC: Solutions

Before you call tech support, make sure that the software you’re trying to run is compatible with your operating system. Older software might not function on Windows 8, and an app created for Mac OS X definitely won’t run on your Windows PC. A 32-bit program might run on your 64-bit operating system, but it doesn’t work the other way around.

Not all file types work on Windows. For example, files that have the .app extension run exclusively on Mac OS X.

If an online game balks, you might be missing the required plug-ins—Java and Flash are the usual culprits. Most browsers will alert you to install these items if necessary.

When to throw in the towel

Falcon Northwest’s Petrie recommends connecting with tech support for “any problems that you aren’t comfortable addressing personally.” When in doubt, it’s better to steer clear of voiding a warranty or potentially damaging your system. “Being aware of your own skill set and limitations is important,” says Petrie, because “it’s often easy to make matters worse.” If you think the problem is too complicated, call up a more knowledgeable friend, or bite the bullet and work with a professional tech support service.

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Can you live with half a brain?

(SPL)

A few extreme cases show that people can be missing large chunks of their brains with no significant ill-effect – why? Tom Stafford explains what it tells us about the true nature of our grey matter.

Not only are our personalities not quite as special as we might think, recent animal research tells us that personality is not even something unique to humans.

How much of our brain do we actually need? A number of stories have appeared in the news in recent months about people with chunks of their brains missing or damaged. These cases tell a story about the mind that goes deeper than their initial shock factor. It isn't just that we don't understand how the brain works, but that we may be thinking about it in the entirely wrong way.
Earlier this year, a case was reported of a woman who is missing her cerebellum, a distinct structure found at the back of the brain. By some estimates the human cerebellum contains half the brain cells you have. This isn't just brain damage – the whole structure is absent. Yet this woman lives a normal life; she graduated from school, got married and had a kid following an uneventful pregnancy and birth. A pretty standard biography for a 24-year-old.
The woman wasn't completely unaffected – she had suffered from uncertain, clumsy, movements her whole life. But the surprise is how she moves at all, missing a part of the brain that is so fundamental it evolved with the first vertebrates. The sharks that swam when dinosaurs walked the Earth had cerebellums.

(SPL)

This case points to a sad fact about brain science. We don't often shout about it, but there are large gaps in even our basic understanding of the brain. We can't agree on the function of even some of the most important brain regions, such as the cerebellum. Rare cases such as this show up that ignorance. Every so often someone walks into a hospital and their brain scan reveals the startling differences we can have inside our heads. Startling differences which may have only small observable effects on our behaviour.
Part of the problem may be our way of thinking. It is natural to see the brain as a piece of naturally selected technology, and in human technology there is often a one-to-one mapping between structure and function. If I have a toaster, the heat is provided by the heating element, the time is controlled by the timer and the popping up is driven by a spring. The case of the missing cerebellum reveals there is no such simple scheme for the brain. Although we love to talk about the brain region for vision, for hunger or for love, there are no such brain regions, because the brain isn't technology where any function is governed by just one part.

(Thinkstock)

Take another recent case, that of a man who was found to have a tapeworm in his brain. Over four years it burrowed "from one side to the other", causing a variety of problems such as seizures, memory problems and weird smell sensations. Sounds to me like he got off lightly for having a living thing move through his brain. If the brain worked like most designed technology this wouldn't be possible. If a worm burrowed from one side of your phone to the other, the gadget would die. Indeed, when an early electromechanical computer malfunctioned in the 1940s, an investigation revealed the problem: a moth trapped in a relay – the first actual case of a computer bug being found.
Part of the explanation for the brain's apparent resilience is its 'plasticity' – an ability to adapt its structure based on experience. But another clue comes from a concept advocated by Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Gerald Edelman. He noticed that biological functions are often supported by multiple structures – single physical features are coded for by multiple genes, for example, so that knocking out any single gene can't prevent that feature from developing apparently normally. He called the ability of multiple different structures to support a single function 'degeneracy'.
And so it is with the brain. The important functions our brain carries out are not farmed out to single distinct brain regions, but instead supported by multiple regions, often in similar but slightly different ways. If one structure breaks down, the others can pick up the slack.

(Thinkstock)

This helps explain why cognitive neuroscientists have such problems working out what different brain regions do. If you try and understand brain areas using a simple one-function-per-region and one-region-per-function rule you'll never be able to design the experiments needed to unpick the degenerate tangle of structure and function.
The cerebellum is most famous for controlling precise movements, but other areas of the brain such as the basal ganglia and the motor cortex are also intimately involved in moving our bodies. Asking what unique thing each area does may be the wrong question, when they are all contributing to the same thing. Memory is another example of an essential biological function which seems to be supported by multiple brain systems. If you bump into someone you've met once before, you might remember that they have a reputation for being nice, remember a specific incident of them being nice, or just retrieve a vague positive feeling about them – all forms of memory which tell you to trust this person, and all supported by different brain areas doing the same job in a slightly different way.
Edelman and his colleague, Joseph Gally, called degeneracy a "ubiquitous biological property ... a feature of complexity", claiming it was an inevitable outcome of natural selection. It explains both why unusual brain conditions are not as catastrophic as they might be, and also why scientists find the brain so confounding to try and understand.

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Why are most people right handed?

Right-handed people are dominant worldwide – but why?

Higher rates of obesity and ill-health have been found in shift workers than the general population

We humans don’t typically agree on all that much, but there is at least one thing that an impressive amount of us accept: which hand is easiest to control. If you use one hand for writing, you probably use the same one for eating as well, and most of us – around 85% of our species – prefer our right hands. In fact, "there has never been any report of a human population in which left-handed individuals predominate", according to archaeologist Natalie Uomini at the University of Liverpool in the UK.
Lateralisation of limb use – that is, a bias towards one side or the other – usually begins in the brain. We know that some tasks are largely controlled by brain activity in the left hemisphere, while the right hemisphere governs other tasks. Confusingly, there is some crossing of nerves between the body and the brain, which means it’s actually the left side of the brain that has more control over the right side of the body and vice versa. In other words, the brain’s left hemisphere helps control the operation of the right hand, eye, leg and so on.

(Gisela Giardino/Flick/CC BY-SA 2.0)

Some argue that this division of neurological labour has been a feature of animals for half a billion years. Perhaps it evolved because it is more efficient to allow the two hemispheres to carry out different computations at the same time. The left side of the brain, for instance, might have evolved to carry out routine operations – things like foraging for food – while the right side was kept free to detect and react rapidly to unexpected challenges in the environment – an approaching predator, for instance. This can be seen in various fish, toads and birds, which are all more likely to attack prey seen in the right eye.
So it is possible (though hard to prove) that as our hominin ancestors began walking on two legs rather than four, freeing up their hands to perform new tasks like making tools, they were predisposed to begin using those hands differently. Or, as cognitive scientist Stephanie Braccini and colleagues put it in a Journal of Human Evolution study, "a strengthening of individual asymmetry [may have] started as soon as early hominins assumed a habitual upright posture during tool use or foraging".

In support of the idea, Braccini and her colleagues’ looked at handedness in chimpanzees, and found that when the apes stand on all fours, they displayed no real hand preferences. It was only when forced to assume an upright stance that a lateral preference emerged – although individual chimps in the study were equally likely to be left-handed as right-handed.
Evidently, then, something else was needed to push early humans from a lateral preference in general to the extremely high levels of right-handedness we see today.

(SPL)

We know roughly when that change occurred from experiments in which researchers made their own versions of ancient stone tools using either their left or right hands to chip – or knap – the tool into shape, before comparing them with the tools made by early hominins. Doing so suggests there is only limited evidence that hominin toolmakers working more than 2 million years ago were primarily right-handed.
However, stone tools that were made some 1.5 million years ago in Koobi Fora, Kenya, by two ancient human species – Homo habilis and Homo erectus – do show some evidence of species-wide right-handedness. And by the time a species called Homo heidelbergensis had appeared, perhaps around 600,000 years ago, there was a clear right-handed preference in prehistoric societies. Wear on the preserved teeth of Homo heidelbergensis, for instance, suggest that food was usually brought to the mouth with the right hand.

This tells us when that shift occurred, but not why. Some have argued that it all comes down to language. Just as most people are right-handed – a trait, remember, controlled by the left side of the brain – so do most people do the bulk of their linguistic processing in their brain’s left hemisphere. Indeed, this left-brained specialisation for language is even more common than right-handedness – which might suggest that as the left hemisphere evolved for language, the preference for the right hand may have intensified simply as a side effect. This is called the Homo loquens hypothesis: lateralisation in general was driven by the evolution of an upright, bipedal stance, while the rightward preference was driven, some time later, by the evolution of language.
Right-handedness, then, may simply be an accidental by-product of the way most of our brains are wired up. But proving the hypothesis is difficult, or even impossible, since it would ideally involve running neurological tests on our long-dead ancestors. The truth is we'll probably never quite know what the sequence of events was that led our species to lean so overwhelmingly on the right sides of our bodies and the left sides of our brains.
As for the left-handers out there? Take heart! According to a 1977 paper in the journal Psychological Bulletin, "there is remarkably little evidence for any association of left-handedness with deficit, as has often been suggested". In fact, some research shows that left-handed folks might even have an easier time recovering from brain damage. And their left hand seems to have the advantage of surprise in a fight, which means they can be better at combat sports. All of which suggests there are advantages to breaking from the norm.

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Did you know? - Things you should know right now!

1. This is how sperm whales sleep.

Discovery Channel video.
2. This is how double decker buses are tested.

Bus tilt testing video.
3. This is what Mars would look like if it still had water.

Article from The Atlantic.
4. This is how zoologists weigh tiny birds.

The bird is a java sparrow and it's being weighed at Chester Zoo in England.
5. This is how Amazon ships bubble wrap.

Order some for yourself.
6. This is how pineapples grow.

If you love pineapples, here are some more "mind-boggling" facts.
7. This is how Google does "street view" in the Arctic.

This is the Canadian Arctic. It's also sometimes done by foot.
8. This is what we'd see if Saturn was as close as the Moon.

More planets.
9. This is how snow is cleared off train tracks in Alaska.

These things have been around for awhile.
10. This is how wood chips are unloaded from trucks.

Video of this in action.
11. This is the first alligator with a prosthetic tail.

The alligator's name is "Mr. Stubbs."
12. This is how a Protestant and Catholic couple were buried since neither could be buried in the other Church's graveyard.

The gravesite is in the Netherlands.
13. This is the Super Bowl confetti shaped like the Lombardi trophy.

According to The Onion, the confetti was "made entirely from shredded concussion studies."
Image: Getty
14. This is what Mt. Rushmore was supposed to look like.

This scale model shows the level of detail they wanted. Too bad they ran into some serious funding troubles.
15. This is how the elevator works in St. Louis' Gateway Arch.

Video of someone riding up the elevator.
Image: National Park Service
16. This is how a starfish eats an anchovy.

Video of a starfish eating.
Image: Flickr user Elton Lin
17. This is what 20 minutes of fireworks being set off at once looks like.

It was a big mistake. It happened in San Diego in 2012.
18. This is the inside of an Amazon warehouse.

The warehouse is in Wales.
19. This is tonic water under a blacklight.

Here's how to make glow in the dark drinks.
20. This is what Barbie would look like with normal proportions.

The Vice President of Design at Mattel, Kimberly Culmone, recently said, “Barbie was never designed to be realistic.” That obviously didn't go over well.
21. This is what Justin Bieber wore to meet the Prime Minister of Canada.

Justin Bieber explaining himself.
22. This is what it looks like when kayaking through ice.

Here's some advice about winter kayaking.
23. This is the world's largest living cat.

It's actually a liger named Hercules and weights 922 pounds.
24. This is the largest K'nex ball machine.

Video of the machine in action.
25. This is several tons of manure being dumped in front of the French parliament.

The gifting happened in January 2014 and was obviously a symbol of protest.
26. This is algae causing the water of Bondi Beach to turn red.

Caused by a rare algae bloom in 2012.
27. This is how fish are fed at an aquarium.

At the Harbin Pole Aquarium.
Image: Getty
28. This is what decades of nuclear testing did to a desert in Nevada.

The history of the Nevada Test Site (NTS).
29. This is what a penny looks like after being on Mars for over a year.

The penny is being carried by the Mars Rover Curiosity.
30. This is the tombstone symbol used for atheist U.S. veterans.

The National Cemetery Administration actually offers many different symbols for religious denominations.
31. This is what happens when a train does a "burnout."

The brakes are applied but the engine didn't get the signal.
32. This is the correct way to cut limes.

At least according to that box. Of course there are other correct ways.
33. This is the "sand" at Ireland's coral beach in Carraroe.

The coral pieces can get fairly large.
34. This is how much bigger Disneyworld is than Disneyland.

Here's a side-by-side visual comparison of a few of the more famous attractions.
35. This is what the signature "line" looks like on checks.

It's called microprinting and can be found on U.S. currency as well.
36. This is a "snake worm" called an Amphisbaena.

Video of the thing in action.
37. This is Vancouver's "The Sun" becoming "The Moon!"

From July 21st, 1969.
38. This is what a road clearing looks like after huge snowfalls.

This is how Japan dealt with clearing the road.
39. The name FedEx Express seems just a bit duplicative.

FedEx used to be Federal Express, which means this is comically close to Federal Express Express. Between this and the "arrow," FedEx really wants to stress how fast they are.
40. This is what it looks like when a walrus falls asleep on a submarine.

Apparently walruses are the "world's most unusual snoozers."
41. This is someone who should get a DUI.

Also Nickelback lullabies exist if you weren't aware.

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