The noob thread.

I thought it might be helpful to have a thread to ask quick noob tech questions, since I get a lot of them that are hard to google for and aren't worth making their own thread over.

So I will kick it off with two questions.

• I just switched to Firefox because Safari was starting to give me trouble loading some pages. How do I select the bookmarks on my Bookmarks Bar, from the keyboard? e.g. with Safari, selecting CMD + 1 selects the first bookmark; but on Firefox, this only selects the first tab.

• What the hell do those other gears on automatic transmissions mean? I know that D means "drive," but what about 2, 3, or L?

[quote591563f4a2="ilanbg"]• I just switched to Firefox because Safari was starting to give me trouble loading some pages. How do I select the bookmarks on my Bookmarks Bar, from the keyboard? e.g. with Safari, selecting CMD + 1 selects the first bookmark; but on Firefox, this only selects the first tab.[/quote591563f4a2]
I don't think this is possible with stock FF, but there might be an extension (add-on) to do it.

[quote591563f4a2="ilanbg"]• What the hell do those other gears on automatic transmissions mean? I know that D means "drive," but what about 2, 3, or L?[/quote591563f4a2]
LOL, are you serious? They represent 2nd, 3rd, and L (1st) gear, locking the transmission into that gear for when you need the extra torque or engine braking.

i've always wondered when you ctrl alt delete, and go to the processes tab..you can right click and go and "set priority". Whats the point of this?

[quote5db72299f4="akalic"]i've always wondered when you ctrl alt delete, and go to the processes tab..you can right click and go and "set priority". Whats the point of this?[/quote5db72299f4]
All multi-tasking operating systems, including Windows, schedule CPU time for every process based upon their priority. Normal-priority processes get a roughly equal share of CPU time. If you have a long-running task and you wish to minimize the impact on system performance, you can lower its priority so that it gets less CPU time, causing it to run slower/longer and leaving more CPU for the other processes. Conversely if you set a task to a higher priority, it will get more CPU resources and execute faster or be more responsive, at the expense of slowing down the other processes on the system.

Most home users don't have to be concerned with it. Applications can also adjust their priority. Some CD/DVD burning apps, for instance, have an option to increase their priority on slower systems or with older burners to help improve burn reliability, but that's typically not needed anymore with modern systems and burners that have buffer underrun protection.

D- you are the Technical Guru!

I think this is just a "Ask dmorris anything" thread more than anything...

[quote63297b7ccf="samz465"]I think this is just a "Ask dmorris anything" thread more than anything...[/quote63297b7ccf]

We can't slide anything past you

^ lawl

My car shakes when I break and then feels like I'm sliding on ice. Within a minute my ABS light goes on and all is fine.

What's the deal?

Yes, I'm taking it to a mechanic tonight, but solve that Professor Morris!

Shaking and pulsation when you brake is generally a sign of a warped rotor (common with front disc brakes). Have you ever had your brake pads replaced? Normally when they replace your pads, they'll check your rotors and turn them on a lathe as necessary to flatten them out. After awhile, though, they can't remove any more metal and you have to replace the whole rotor.

That may cause the ABS light too, I don't know. On my Sequoia, if I let the brake fluid get low (common when you're nearing brake service time, because the thinner pads require more brake fluid to operate which reduces the reservoir level), then my traction control lights (and possibly my ABS light as well) comes on to tell me those features are disabled. They require a certain level (or pressure) of brake fluid to operate reliably, so check your fluid level and top it off to MAX. But definitely get your rotors turned.

Someone needs to smack some sense into you, dmorris.


Yeahhh...

The shaking doesn't necessarily mean rotors. Usually it does, but the first subtle shaking is your prime indication that your pads are shot and you are about to start eating into your rotors. The first time you feel this, take a more defensive approach to driving, keeping your distance from the car in front of you, and anticipating when you are going to need to slow down or stop. By doing this, you give yourself more time to brake, thus allowing you to apply minimum pressure to do so.

Get to a garage asap and get your pads replaced, because if you eat into your rotors, your brake job will either double (if your rotors can be resurfaced) or triple + if your rotors need replacing.

I brought it in and they said it sounds like an ABS malfunction. I need to bring it in tomorrow for diagnostics.

[quote4467a74bf9="bballp6699"]My car shakes when I break and then feels like I'm sliding on ice. Within a minute my ABS light goes on and all is fine.

What's the deal?

Yes, I'm taking it to a mechanic tonight, but solve that Professor Morris![/quote4467a74bf9]

I'm having the exact same problem. Hoping to get the car checked out this weekend, and I'll report back.

Okay, I've finally given up on my .Macurl==http://=http:///url account, the new interface has way too many problems. So I'm switching to Gmail.

This will be a total noob question (hence the thread), but I've never actually used Gmail extensively, so

Is it possible to create mailboxes in Gmail? Like, if I want to save a group of emails together, any easy way to do this? Or do I have to use labels?

EDIT Based on what I've been able to figure out, I'm assuming labels are the closest equivalent?

labels, then archive; then use google's search built into gmail...

Cool, that's what I figured. Thanks.