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Hardware & drivers

Drivers

What is a driver? — A hardware/device driver is something that allows your computer to use devices that are attached to it.

Other topic groups

Keyboard — Keyboard layouts, cursor blinking, keyboard accessibility...
Mouse — Left-handed, speed and sensitivity, touchpad clicking and scrolling...

Troubleshooting hardware problems

Bluetooth problems — Troubleshoot problems with connecting your Bluetooth device.

Resolve problems with wireless connections — Troubleshoot your connection to a wireless network.

Screen problems — Troubleshoot screen and graphics problems.

The sound is broken on my computer! — Troubleshoot problems like having no sound or having poor sound quality.

Printing

Printing — Learn about printing and using the more advanced features of your printer.

Clearing a paper jam — How you clear a paper jam will depend on the make and model of printer that you have.

Set the default printer — Pick the printer that you use most often.

Set up a local printer — Set up a printer that is connected to your computer.

Power and batteries

I want the computer to turn off when I press the power button — Look in System Settings ▸ Power for the option to change this.

Power settings — Suspend, energy savings, screen dimming...

What happens when I suspend/hibernate the computer? — Suspend sends it to sleep; hibernate saves your files but completely switches off the power.

Why does it say my battery is broken? — Your battery is probably not broken; it's more likely that it's just old.

Why does my computer turn off when I close the lid? — Laptops go to sleep when you close the lid, in order to save power.

Why won't my computer turn back on after I sent it to sleep? — Some computer hardware causes problems with suspend/hibernate.

Bluetooth

Connect your computer to another Bluetooth device — Pair Bluetooth devices.

Remove a connection between Bluetooth devices — Remove a device from the list of Bluetooth devices.

Send a file to another Bluetooth device — Share files between Bluetooth-enabled devices, like your computer and your phone.

Turn Bluetooth on or off — Enable or disable the Bluetooth device on your computer.

Why can't I connect my Bluetooth device? — The adapter could be turned off or doesn't have drivers, or Bluetooth might be disabled or blocked.

Hard disks and other storage devices

Check how much disk space is left — With Disk Usage Analyzer or System Monitor.

Check your hard disk for problems — You can test your hard disk for problems to make sure that it's healthy.

Manage volumes and partitions — Understand what volumes and partitions are and use the disk utility application.

Test the performance of your hard disk — You can run benchmarks on your hard disk to check how fast it is.

Wipe everything off a removable disk — Remove all of the files and folders from an external hard disk or USB flash drive by formatting it.

Smart cards and fingerprint readers

Log in with a fingerprint — You can log in to your system using a supported fingerprint scanner.

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