Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2020 February 11

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February 11

Webcam

I can't find the webcam driver so I can disable it, I've looked everywhere in device manager --Thegooduser Life Begins With a Smile :) 🍁 01:19, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

You can always put a piece of opaque tape over the camera. --69.159.8.46 (talk) 07:34, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

What operating system are you using? In Windows 10 go into Settings > Privacy, then under "App permissions" in the side bar select Camera, which will present you with various options. This won't prevent someone hacking into your webcam and the quickest and simplest way to disable it is to tape over it as 8.46 suggests. A sticky dot label is neater and easily removed.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:08, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

Updates on MS Office

Often, when I start up Outlook or launch Access or some other Microsoft Office program, I get the prompt that updates are ready to install. These require that I shut down Word and Excel if I have had them up, and so I often wait a while. My first question is: Approximately how often does Microsoft issue these updates? My second question is: Is there any way that I can be notified if the updates are urgent, or whether there is any harm done in waiting until I restart the computer?

Any other comments on these updates will be useful. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:38, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

Robert McClenon is this on Windows or on MacOS ? Microsoft generally follows a monthly schedule and releases updates on the first Tuesday of the month colloquially referred to as Patch Tuesday. Urgent updates are released in between. How often you use your computer/applications (and it thus has the opportunity to check) can influence how quickly you are notified by them after those release. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 11:55, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

On Windows 10. My apology for leaving that out. Thank you for the link to Patch Tuesday, which will next be on Fat Tuesday. Robert McClenon (talk) 14:44, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

Folder Customization

I just noticed that when I click on the Properties of a folder in Windows 10, there is a Customize tab that allows me to optimize the folder for General items, Documents, Pictures, Music, or Videos. What is the effect of this option? What does it do that might improve or worsen the performance of my computer? Does this (which has to do with the dimensionality of the files) affect how the files are stored, or retrieved, or what? Robert McClenon (talk) 01:38, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

There's an option to change the look of the icon, you do so at your own risk. --Thegooduser Life Begins With a Smile :) 🍁 01:52, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

It only affects the way the way the folder contents are displayed depending on the type of files in that folder. It won't affect performance unless you choose, for example, to display all your photos as thumbnails which could take a while. If you don't like the way it chooses to display folder contents you can always change it back again. Personally I prefer all my folders to be displayed in exactly the same way, a simple list with the most recent at the top.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:20, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

mobile carrier vs MVNO

It looks like I can get mobile phone service through an MVNO much cheaper than directly from the carrier. The wiki articles about MVNOs are not very informative. Is there a reasonable explanation of the disadvantages? Things I can think of:

• Deprioritization of data speed at times of congestion: I don't mind this and don't use much data.
• Lack of access to roaming - maybe this matters. I'm in the San Francisco bay area which has good coverage in general, but it could be annoying to be out in the boonies and have my phone not work because the MVNO doesn't have agreements with the local carriers.
• Deprioritization of voice and text -- is this likely to be an issue, where the carrier's plan can get a call or text through in a non-roaming area, but the MVNO's plan can't? This is separate from data.

Thanks -- 2601:648:8202:96B0:0:0:0:7AC0 (talk) 21:14, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

One issue is problem resolution. If you have a problem and need support to solve it, the reseller will have to refer the issue to the carrier, which will take more time, and potential loss of information and communications between carrier and person with problem. Resellers may also handle international calls through lower quality paths. Overall there are likely to be more outages as more complexity exists in the whole system. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 23:36, 11 February 2020 (UTC)

Hmm, thanks, those are reasonable points, though I haven't had many technical problems with carriers, and the mvno's will presumably handle their own billing probs. International calls won't be an issue since I almost never make them. They are stupidly expensive through the carriers anyway, while very cheap or free through the mvno's. Outages are potentially more of an issue. 2601:648:8202:96B0:0:0:0:7AC0 (talk) 01:29, 12 February 2020 (UTC)