All about Drive letters and drive names..

In the Windows world, drives can be identified by their names (such as "Windows7_OS") and their drive letters (such as "C:"). The important thing to remember is that Windows really only cares about the drive letter. That has to be unique; you can't have two drives labeled E: on the same computer.

The name, on the other hand, is just for convenience. Windows displays it and lets you edit it, but the OS doesn't use it when selecting which drive to access. That's why you can have two or more drives with the exact same name without confusing Windows.

Just for clarity, I'm using the word drive here to mean not a physical drive but a partition. Of course, if a physical drive has only one partition, it's effectively the same thing.

The drive letter plays an important role in telling Windows where to look. A file in C:\Users probably isn't also in D:\Users. The drive letter standard, with the colon (:), dates back to before DOS.

By default, in Windows (and in DOS before it), the boot drive is C:. Other drives, whether they're internal, external, optical, or additional partitions, get other letters, usually in the order they were assigned: D:, E:, and so on.

What about drives A: and B:? Their absence is a historical relic. Those letters were originally set aside for floppy drives.

Changing a drive letter can cause problems. For instance, if you've got a shortcut that points to a program installed on E:\, and you change drive E: to F:, the shortcut will not work.

To change a drive letter, click Start or go to Windows 8's Search charm. Type partitions (don't miss that s), and select Create and format hard disk partitions.

In the resulting Disk Management program, right-click the drive or partition you want to change, and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.

In the next dialog box, click Change.

This brings up yet another dialog box. Select an available drive letter and click OK.

A message box will pop up, warning you about the problems I discussed above. What you do here is up to you.

On the other hand, changing a drive name is safe and easy. In Windows 7 or Vista, click Start>Computer. In Windows 8, open File Explorer, and in the left pane, find and select This PC.

Once there, either press F2, or right-click and select Rename.

That's all there is to it.

What to do before I (or anybody) works on your computer

Your computer contains important information, much of it private. The people who will repair it may need to alter Windows, which generally requires access to your password-protected administrator account. They're probably honest, but you can't count on that. And even if they're honest, they may still wipe your hard drive out of necessity or incompetence.

But with the right precautions, taking your PC on a service trip shouldn't result in a disaster.

Put important files in the cloud: If you plan to work while the PC is in the shop, make sure that the files you need for your current projects are in the folder for your Dropbox, OneDrive, or other cloud-based storage account. That way, the files will be easily accessible on another computer. And any changes you make to those files on that other computer will be synced to your real PC automatically when you get it back.

Backup: Next, create an image backup of your hard drive or SSD. That way, if the professionals wipe your hard drive and reinstall Windows from scratch, you can restore all of your data files. And if they really mess things up, you can restore Windows to the way you had it set up before you sent it to them.

But be warned: If they had a good reason for reinstalling, restoring everything from the image backup could restore the problem that caused the necessity for repair in the first place. Check with the repair people to see if they think this is a good idea.

I recommend you use EASEUS Todo Backup Free and an external hard drive for the backup.

Protect sensitive files: You probably have files that you don't want people to see. These include bank and credit card statements, tax forms, or anything that might embarrass you.

You should either encrypt these files or remove them securely. (You do, after all, have them backed up.)

Make your PC accessible: The repair people will probably need to boot your PC. Rather than giving them the password on a piece of paper, disable Windows' logon password.

Don't assume they know the problem: Yes, you told them what was wrong on the phone, but that doesn't mean the message got to the right people. Write a detailed description of your problem.

Save the file in the Start menu's Startup folder, which you can do by entering the path %appdata%\microsoft\windows\start menu\programs\startup\ into the File Name field. That way, the file will load automatically when you boot.

Then print the file and tape the hard copy to the body of your computer.

OnePlus Invite, Tonight only

If you know what it is, and know what the invite is for, let me know by midnight.  One left that I would like to give to a lucky OnePlus fan.  This post is truly for the geeky tech people who are into their phones, specifically cyanogenMod.

Please Backup, a dead hard drive is your worst nightmare

In the past two weeks I have had to deal with 5 dead hard drives.  Consider yourselves warned.  When the hard drive drives it is almost impossible to get your data back, so please, no matter how you do it, back up!  CD's, DVD's, flash drives, external hard drives, Network attached storage, the cloud, any will do and all will save your backside when your hard drive goes!

No Windows 9, straight to 10

You're probably familiar with the argument, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Well, Juliet may not have cared about the name of things, but Microsoft does, which is why you'll never see a Windows 9. Instead, Microsoft today skipped a number and announced Windows 10, the OS formerly known as Threshold and the successor to Windows 8/8.1.

"Windows 10 will be our most comprehensive platform ever," Windows head Terry Myerson said during a press event with a small gathering of reporters in San Francisco. "It wouldn't be right to call it Windows 9."

You're probably familiar with the argument, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Well, Juliet may not have cared about the name of things, but Microsoft does, which is why you'll never see a Windows 9. Instead, Microsoft today skipped a number and announced Windows 10, the OS formerly known as Threshold and the successor to Windows 8/8.1.

"Windows 10 will be our most comprehensive platform ever," Windows head Terry Myerson said during a press event with a small gathering of reporters in San Francisco. "It wouldn't be right to call it Windows 9."

Windows 10 preview video

According to Recode, Windows 10 is designed to run on a wide range of devices with screen sizes running the gamut from four inches all the up to 80 inches. Microsoft will have a single application platform with one integrated Store to deliver Windows experiences across all those devices.

In order to serve all those devices, Windows 10 was built from the ground up for a "mobile-first, cloud-first world," Myerson added, according to TechRadar.

Reports from around the web say Windows 10 looks a bit like Windows 7. It has a hybrid Start menu that combines Windows 7-era features with Windows 8 style tiles, The Seattle Times reports. However, Microsoft isn't viewing Windows 10 as just a rehash of previous versions. Part of the reason for the Windows 10 name is because it represents the "first step of a whole new generation of Windows," Myerson said.

The focus right now is on the enterprise, and towards that end, the first priority of the OS is to make sure it's familiar for business users coming from Windows 7 or Windows 8 so they can hop right in and be productive. Microsoft's second priority is "modern management" of lots of computers.

So, what about that Modern UI that caused such a fuss with power users? It's gone in Windows 10, Endgadget reports. In place of the Modern UI are Live Tiles integrated into the right side of the Start menu on the Desktop. On the left side are pinned and frequent apps.

There's also a refreshed taskbar with a new "task view" that presents all of your running apps. Windows 10 allows you to tile up to four apps on the same screen.

Other goodies include a beefed up command prompt that allows you to use keyboard shortcuts, along with copy and paste, and a Charms Bar that may or may not make it into the final cut.

Microsoft is planning to issue a Technical Preview of Windows 10 next week, with a launch of the OS by spring 2015. We'll have a more in-depth look once all the information is out, as well as hands-on impressions once we get a copy to play with.

Apple Patches 'Shellshock' on OS X

Apple overnight released a patch for Mac OS X users susceptible to the Shellshock bug.

"We have patched the Bash vulnerability for OX X Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks," a company spokesman confirmed to PCMag.

Mac owners can find more details and a link to the download online.

The flaw impacts Bash, a widely used command interpreter also implemented in Apple's Mac OS X. If exploited, hackers can gain complete control over a targeted system.

Discovered last week, the bug has been likened to Heartbleed, which made headlines earlier this year. But unlike Heartbleed, which affected only a specific version of OpenSSL, the Shellshock flaw has been creeping into old devices for more than two decades.

Apple acted quickly, assuring most customers that they could breathe easy.

"The vast majority of OS X users are not at risk," a spokesman said last week. "With OS X, systems are safe by default and not exposed to remote exploits of bash unless users configure advanced UNIX services."

Last night, Cupertino released software updates for all users—from the most novice to those advanced enough to run UNIX.

According to the Akamai administrator who first disclosed the vulnerability, Shellshock is present in most versions of Bash, from 1.13 to 4.3, and is based on how Bash handles environment variables.

But despite the Web-based panic, there is actually no pressing need to fix the flaw, according to security expert Robert Graham, who said primary servers are probably not vulnerable.

Users are encouraged to scan the network for things like Telnet, FTP, and old versions of Apache. "Anything that responds is probably an old device needing a bash patch," Graham said last week. "And, since most of them can't be patched, you are likely screwed."