Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing
of the Wikipedia reference desk.
Main page: Help searching Wikipedia
How can I get my question answered?
- Select the section of the desk that best fits the general topic of your question (see the navigation column to the right).
- Post your question to only one section, providing a short header that gives the topic of your question.
- Type '~~~~' (that is, four tilde characters) at the end – this signs and dates your contribution so we know who wrote what and when.
- Don't post personal contact information – it will be removed. Any answers will be provided here.
- Please be as specific as possible, and include all relevant context – the usefulness of answers may depend on the context.
- Note:
- We don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice.
- We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate.
- We don't do your homework for you, though we'll help you past the stuck point.
- We don't conduct original research or provide a free source of ideas, but we'll help you find information you need.
How do I answer a question?
Main page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines
- The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.
November 12
[edit ]Effect of Expanding C: Drive in Windows 11
[edit ]This may not be so much a question as a possible observation about a solution to a problem. I have had a Dell Inspiron 3910 with 12 Gb of RAM since 2022, running Windows 11 since Windows 11 has been available. Until September 2025, it had 216 Gb of available solid-state storage for the C: drive. That would be 256 Gb of main storage, of which 216 Gb was available for the file system. That had initially given me satisfactory performance. I am not a gamer. My computer is a library and database box. In 2025, I noticed that I was occasionally getting alerts that I was running low on storage, and I would see that I had less than 10 Gb free on the C: drive. The free storage on the C: drive was being gradually eaten away from two directions. First, the amount of storage used by Windows 11 was gradually increasing. Second, the amount of data that I was keeping in my directories on the C: drive was gradually increasing. I also saw that the size of pagefile.sys would increase as the machine stayed up. It would initially be 12 Gb when I rebooted, and would gradually expand to 24 Gb or 28 Gb. Once I got a warning that the C: drive was full. I found some files that were duplicates of other files, and some files that could be offloaded to an external 4 Tb device. Then I restarted it, and it freed up more storage. The general pattern was that after a few days, it would either become storage-congested or become memory-congested, and I would restart it, and it would run well again for a while.
Then I asked Best Buy whether I could upgrade the solid-state C: drive, and the answer was that I could upgrade it from 256 Gb to 1024 Gb of storage. So it was upgraded to 929 Gb of storage for the file system. So far, so good. But what I have noticed is that I am no longer running into memory constraints. The memory is still 12 Gb. The pagefile.sys now is always 37 Gb, rather than between 12 Gb and 28 Gb. So my question is whether increasing the amount of storage has improved the ability of Windows 11 to manage the memory. Robert McClenon (talk) 22:29, 12 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- The short answer is yes. Your system apparently wants to use about 37 GB of memory. Since it has only 12 GB of real memory, it swaps some of the memory between the real memory and pagefile.sys, as needed. Previously there wasn't enough disk space to support a 37 GB pagefile.sys, which is why it was constantly struggling. Now that you have plenty of disk space, it can create a pagefile.sys file large enough to handle the memory usage of your system.
(削除) BTW, it is not ideal to have any amount of paging occurring between memory and pagefile.sys. Running a 37 GB working set on 12 GB of physical memory is a very poor configuration. Your system would run faster if you upgraded the memory as well. Ideally you'd want your memory to be large enough that you never need to swap. Apparently that would require 64 GB for your usage. But even getting 32 GB would probably improve things quite a bit by reducing the amount of swapping, even if it didn't completely eliminate it. (削除ここまで)ETA: I'm striking my second paragraph because I realized that I was assuming that the size of pagefile.sys represents the size of the system's working set. However I'm not sure if that's true or not, and don't have time right now to research it. CodeTalker (talk) 00:12, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]- Thank you, User:Code Talker - I think that another 4 Gb is the maximum RAM that I can add, because I think that I am architecturally limited to 16 Gb. Anyway, I have spent sixty years working with computers that did not have enough memory, and I think I will continue doing that as long as I am walking on the Earth. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:53, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- According to this Dell specification page, the Inspiron 3910 supports a maximum of 64 GB of memory (32 GB per slot). CodeTalker (talk) 01:57, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- Thank you, User:Code Talker - Okay. If I run into significant performance problems in the next one or two years, I will upgrade the primary memory rather than buying a new computer. However, as we said, it seems that I now have adequate secondary storage that is fast enough so that running at the speed of the storage is satisfactory. Interesting. There has never been "enough enough" memory and storage. I remember a question from my youth, "How is a scientific programmer like a real gas?" "Both take up the space available". Robert McClenon (talk) 20:20, 16 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- According to this Dell specification page, the Inspiron 3910 supports a maximum of 64 GB of memory (32 GB per slot). CodeTalker (talk) 01:57, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- Thank you, User:Code Talker - I think that another 4 Gb is the maximum RAM that I can add, because I think that I am architecturally limited to 16 Gb. Anyway, I have spent sixty years working with computers that did not have enough memory, and I think I will continue doing that as long as I am walking on the Earth. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:53, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
November 13
[edit ]Online copies of ABCs of IBM System Programming?
[edit ]I've added all 13 volumes of ABCs of IBM z/OS System Programming to z/OS#References; I'd like to add the older versions of ABCs of IBM System Programming' to MVS and possibly OS/390, but I prefer using editions that are freely available online. Does anybody have relevant URLs? -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 14:05, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- This link gives the OS/390 volumes 1, 3, 4 and 5. -- Verbarson talk edits 17:01, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- It shows no files available to display. I'm looking for copies that are freely available. -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 19:23, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- It shows me four volumes, whether I'm logged in or not. You need to register (free) to actually read them. Are you looking for downloadable files instead? -- Verbarson talk edits 20:05, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- I'm looking for files that are not behind a registration wall. -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 20:30, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- It shows me four volumes, whether I'm logged in or not. You need to register (free) to actually read them. Are you looking for downloadable files instead? -- Verbarson talk edits 20:05, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- It shows no files available to display. I'm looking for copies that are freely available. -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 19:23, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
Microsoft PowerShell
[edit ]Where are language files on PowerShell? Green Wave (talk) 14:41, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- Per this (which looks reasonably trustworthy) [1] 'Get-InstalledLanguage' should tell you what you have installed. It seems to for me, though I've only got one installed. There's also commands to install and uninstall shown.AndyTheGrump (talk) 15:00, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- Ok, but if I want to send corrections for language files, what can I do? Green Wave (talk) 15:10, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- Send corrections to Microsoft? Presumably contact them, though I doubt they'll take much notice, unless you can convince them it is something very significant. AndyTheGrump (talk) 15:15, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- Ok, but if I want to send corrections for language files, what can I do? Green Wave (talk) 15:10, 13 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
November 15
[edit ] in random places
[edit ]If I browse Facebook, I see  randomly in the middle of discussions, in places where I can't think of anything that's missing. For example, I saw someone write a comment that includes this string:
Legally, you can’t  say you weren’t warned.  But if your goal is to get people to drive safely, tell them clearly what you want them to do. 
What causes these characters to appear randomly in so many places? Specials (Unicode block) doesn't say anything useful. I'm using a HP Pavilion laptop bought just last year — not some older device that can't support a wide range of Unicode characters — and I saw them just as frequently when using the computer before this one. Nyttend (talk) 19:10, 15 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- A related issue shows just square boxes for me when looking at the Tagalog language, one of the most spoken languages of the Philippines. JuniperChill (talk) 19:39, 15 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- For the original question, I'm guessing the problem is not that Nyttend's computer can't display the character that Facebook is trying to send, but rather that Facebook can't send — perhaps because Unicode can't even represent — the character that Facebook is trying to send. —scs (talk) 12:45, 16 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- If Unicode can't represent a character, how could the character be entered into Facebook in the first place? -- Verbarson talk edits 18:13, 16 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- As an aficionado of Unicode, your comment is heartwarming — it sounds as if you believe that Unicode is 100% universal, that all computers use it and only it, that if a character doesn't exist in Unicode, it might as well not exist. But, in fact, Unicode is a comparatively recent development, and there are still plenty of other ways of representing characters, plenty of which are still in use, and capable of representing characters that (horrors!) aren't in Unicode, meaning that when a transliteration to Unicode is attempted, some kind of replacement character, such as , must be substituted. —scs (talk) 19:38, 16 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- Which is exactly why I asked the question - out of ignorance, rather than scepticism. Thank you for answering. (I am glad to have warmed your heart!) -- Verbarson talk edits 20:57, 16 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- I constantly see this character in posts and comments by many real-life friends in the US and Australia, and I'm in a couple of thematic groups full of people whom I'll never meet (including one with people worldwide) where it appears frequently, so either it's a problem with some class of computers or smartphones, or it's a problem with Facebook in general. Nyttend (talk) 21:20, 16 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- Which is exactly why I asked the question - out of ignorance, rather than scepticism. Thank you for answering. (I am glad to have warmed your heart!) -- Verbarson talk edits 20:57, 16 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- As an aficionado of Unicode, your comment is heartwarming — it sounds as if you believe that Unicode is 100% universal, that all computers use it and only it, that if a character doesn't exist in Unicode, it might as well not exist. But, in fact, Unicode is a comparatively recent development, and there are still plenty of other ways of representing characters, plenty of which are still in use, and capable of representing characters that (horrors!) aren't in Unicode, meaning that when a transliteration to Unicode is attempted, some kind of replacement character, such as , must be substituted. —scs (talk) 19:38, 16 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- If Unicode can't represent a character, how could the character be entered into Facebook in the first place? -- Verbarson talk edits 18:13, 16 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- See OBJECT REPLACEMENT CHARACTER (sorry for SHOUTING but that it is what it is called) and google "facebook obj". Perhaps an emoji recently added to Unicode that your device does not support. ~2025-34413-92 (talk) 14:42, 18 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- Not to put to fine a point on it, but there are two replacement characters in Unicode:
- U+FFFC  Object Replacement Character
- U+FFFD � Replacement Character
- It's the second of these, �, that's often used by a browser or other text renderer to indicate an emoji or other glyph that it doesn't know how to display.
- But this question is asking about the first one, . Different story. As I said earlier, I believe that  indicates a character that Facebook doesn't know how to send.
- (Googling "facebook obj" suggests that lots of people are confusing these two. Lots of people are saying that seeing  probably means that a browser doesn't support a character, but I believe that's false. Rather, it's seeing � that typically means that your browser doesn't support a character.  is more mysterious.) —scs (talk) 14:59, 18 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- It may not be "Facebook doesn't know how to send", but rather "Facebook smells a rat, and rather cautiously refuses to send". Facebook, like any website with user-generated content, has to contend with users maliciously using homoglyphs (e.g. to evade filters, or impersonate names, companies, or domain-names). So it may be that Facebook has seen characters (or character sequences) that it feels it doesn't trust (perhaps from a whitelist, or blacklist, or perhaps from whatever AI-powered heuristic hocus-pocus is powering it this week) and is redacting the characters it doesn't like. As a slight mea culpa, it's putting in the U+FFFC (to say "I changed something here"). Perfectly innocent sequences might fall into this, depending on how they were created. These might, for example, come from some encoding of the many kinds of space or the many kinds of dash (especially if cut-and-paste from another program, like MS Word). -- Finlay McWalter ··–·Talk 18:04, 18 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- Not to put to fine a point on it, but there are two replacement characters in Unicode:
November 20
[edit ]Is there a way to look for a YouTube ad for a product (rather than waiting for it to appear by chance)?
[edit ]Thanks . Apokrif (talk) 23:04, 20 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- If you have "personalized ads" turned on, YouTube ads for a product are more likely to be served up after having performed Google searches for the product (and, I presume, also having clicked on some of the relevant links). ‐‐Lambiam 10:38, 21 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- I know but it doesn't answer my question :-) Apokrif (talk) 11:13, 21 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- This page shows some ads from Google, but I see no youtube: https://myadcenter.google.com/u/0/history . This one is supposed to show you YouTube ads: https://adstransparency.google.com/?platform=YOUTUBE but I see nothing. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:59, 21 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- @Apokrif There is a search bar at the top of every Youtube page. Shantavira|feed me 09:00, 22 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]
- For me, searching Luton Express, the first result is an ad. If you dont have premium, you may get an ad to watch the ad. JuniperChill (talk) 09:13, 22 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]