Computing desk
< April 29	<< Mar \| April \| May >>	May 1 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 30

Linux/X11: Make a specific key sticky

On linux using X11 GUI, how would I make a specific regular key sticky? NOT a modifier key, I want it to behave as if I was holding down a specific letter key. Using xdotool to just send keydown does not work as the key is released as soon as another key is pressed, I want the key held down continually no matter what else is going on on the machine. Solving this in hardware is not an option. 108.54.196.111 (talk) 05:03, 30 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

while looping xdotool seems to actually work but also seems like a kludge. Is there a better way? 108.54.196.111 (talk) 06:48, 30 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Look into xkbset [manual]. There's a sticky option there. WhoAteMyButter (📨_talk│📝^contribs) 05:57, 2 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

"Memory" problem in Windows 10

I work on my HP Pavilion every day. One day I inadvertently got an offer from the Operating System asking me if I wanted to decrease the number of instances of various actions that are stored by the OS. I chose NO, saying that no instances should be stored. As a result my life got complicated by a factor of at least 10. I have to enter my ID and my PW every time I open my email and there are many other inconveniences. How can I return to the status quo? Thank you, AboutFace 22 (talk) 23:53, 30 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Is edge clearing coookies when you shut down? Go to ... settings, privacy, and see what it does with cookies. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 11:05, 2 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Cookies are not preserved. I am always asked by different Internet websites to make sure the cookies are on. What shall I do? This has been a very long tradition for me. Thanks 107.191.1.90 (talk) 01:22, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

You might search for "Credential Manager". If you really want Windows to centrally manage your passwords (which will probably tie you into using Edge browser), this appears to be the part of the settings where you can enable it. This is separate from the matter of keeping cookies, which will come under "privacy" as Graeme B said.

Most browsers will have an option (in the browser's own settings) to remember and automate passwords for you, or indeed to ask which ones you would like to store. Edge probably integrates this with Credential Manager, that would be a typical Microsoft stunt.
Having cookies turned off altogether will annoy a lot of cookie-pushing websites: however, if cookies are set to clear when you close the browser, websites won't know or complain about that. You will be logged out of the website as a result of closing the browser, but you can log you back in again easily if you have set the browser to store the password. (When the browser stores it, it won't use a cookie to do so - websites use cookies to store your "session", that is, your logged-in status, not the password.)
It sounds like instead of doing that you simply want to set the privacy options to preserve all cookies forever, and stay permanently logged-in everywhere, for the convenience of it, which is your prerogative. I'm not sure if this has any practical downside. Despite my own best efforts to throw away cookies regularly, when I visit Bing Translator from a certain device it is obsessively determined to translate things into French, claiming that this is my preference, so it must have gone to great lengths find a way to remember this incorrect fact about me, and I'd rather not have any such cloying attempts at help.
Some people seem to experience bugs in Edge which prevent them from accepting and keeping cookies. Here is a Microsoft support thread about keeping cookies, which includes guidance on how to turn the option back on ("Don't Block Cookies"), assuming the browser is working properly and the option hasn't vanished. Card Zero (talk) 08:13, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Card Zero, thank you for valuable information. AboutFace 22 (talk) 16:53, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]