Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

June 29

Random Article

Is there any way I could find out how many people click on random article in a given day?

There are ways, but they are disabled (at least on Wikipedia) because they take up a huge amount of computing power. Daniel (‽) 21:00, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Anonymous webmail

Anyone know a good free anonymous webmail (pseudonymous actually)? Normally I'd just use tor, but suppose I want to set up my grandmother with a way to send emails that doesn't reveal her IP-- what would I use? --Wouldbewebmaster 00:57, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't know of any off the top of my head, however, revealing her IP Address should not be much of an issue. At least, it's never caused me any problems. --SXT40 05:59, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Gmail doesn't give out IP addresses? JoshHolloway 15:21, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

It does, in a "Received" header. --TotoBaggins 19:18, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Thats what Anonymous remailers are used for. But why should your grandma be so worried about hiding her IP? — Shinhan < talk > 13:55, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

HushMail should do the trick for you... 200.35.168.129 18:30, 3 July 2007 (UTC) Ag for MemTech

Help with MIDI...

I use a special digital piano that allows me to take songs from MIDI files (or MIDI songs, one of those) and play them on my piano. However, I'm not sure whether my files/songs are MIDI or not. After reading the this the only notable characteristic I found to discover whether a file/song was a "MIDI" file was if it had an extenstion at the end called

    .mid

For example: BeethovenVirus-banya.mid

But, none of my songs or files have the .mid extenstion! Do I add it at the end and it BECOMES MIDI compatible or is there another way? Are iTunes songs MIDI files? If not then can iTunes songs become MIDI compatible? Thank you for your help!- USer:ECH3LON

Changing a filename will not change the content of the file. For example, if I open up MS Word and type "I love the Beastie Boys" in it and save it as beastieboys.doc (the proper file extension) and then I change the name to beastieboys.mp3, it will not suddenly turn into some Beastie Boys MP3 song. Similarly, changing paulrevere.mp3 to paulrevere.doc will not suddenly turn it into a Word document with the lyrics to the song. So, the song MUST be a real midi file regardless of the name.

iTunes is not MIDI format. It is not possible to easily convert them to MIDI because iTunes uses a (compressed) digital representation of the waveform of the song. MIDI uses an note-by-note sequence on for each channel (or instrument). Converting waveforms into notes usually requires a human. It is the same as trying to convert an audio CD to sheet music. -- Kainaw^(what?) 01:33, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

There is software to convert MP3 files to MIDI files [1], but I cannot vouch for the quality of the output. Likewise, there might also be software to convert AAC (which I believe is the file format for songs purchased on iTunes) to MIDI, but once again, I don't know how well they work. - Akamad 01:40, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

I used a lot of those Wave-to-MIDI converters in the past and they were terrible. However, I can see why a lot of work has been put into them in the last 10 years. Many of the programs say "converts audio to MP3 so you can use it as a ringtone on your cell phone!" Now that most cell phones play MP3s, I wonder if they'll continue trying to improve wave to MIDI converters. -- Kainaw^(what?) 01:49, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

There are many uses for MIDI beyond cell phone ring tones! It is an ultra-compressed format, and can be used to control musical instruments and sound effects for live performance, studio remastering, and a wide variety of other tools. It can enable swift archiving, identification, and classification of musical style and performance. Though most MIDI at this time does not accurately reproduce the subtle nuances of a performance, ongoing research is always happening to further develop the state of the art. See computer music or sound synthesis for a very rough overview. In summary, yes - "they" will be working on WAV to MIDI converters for the foreseeable future...Nimur 05:09, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

to test a tile

I've created a pretty fractal image which tiles (in fact I think it would look good as upholstery). I'd like to print some test sheets with repetition, but I don't know how, short of stitching together several copies into a bigger image. Any ideas? I'm using MacOS and my printer is a HP PSC 1410 (inkjet). —Tamfang 04:20, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Make a simple web page that uses the image as the background, ie:

<html><body background='yourimage.jpg'>hello</body><html>

Then, open that page in your web browser. The image will be tiled in the background. -- Kainaw^(what?) 11:58, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Backgrounds don't print, at least by default (and I can't find where to change that). —Tamfang 22:27, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

I had to turn it on - File then Page Setup then Print Background Images. Every web browser on every operating system puts it in a different place. -- Kainaw^(what?) 01:27, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

If you have The GIMP, then you can automatically tile an image any number of times by going Filters>Map>Tile. I'd imagine most Photoshop/Photoshop-clones would have such a feature. Laïka 09:13, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, that worked. —Tamfang 17:43, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Knoppix in English

I really like Knoppix, but don't speak German. Is there a recommended English language equivalent (as true to the original as possible) to this LINUX variant ? StuRat 04:46, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

What features are you hoping to replicate? (First of all, I thought there are English Knoppixes... I recall using one a few years ago but it may have been discontinued). If you just want a live CD distribution, note that the new Ubuntu installation discs can dually-function as a live-cd (run Linux without formatting or installing). Is there some other feature you want that is particular to Knoppix? Nimur 05:16, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

I do want a live CD version. Also, I'm using Yahoo/AT&T DSL and Knoppix is the only distro so far that could figure it out and go online without asking me all sorts of questions I can't answer, like the I/P address of my POP3 server. StuRat 16:39, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

To get an IP adress, just use ping on your email server, like "ping mail.internet.com" and it will show the IP adress. — Shinhan < talk > 14:03, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Knoppix in english! Enjoy! --SXT40 05:56, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Well, that leads to the same download pages as the German site... However there's always a -DE and an -EN version offered. Plus Knoppix is always multilingual, so - according to the cheatcodes - you just start with knoppix lang=us to choose English with a US keyboard (the -DE version has a German keyboard at this point, type Shift-0 to get the "="). --Dapeteばか 10:46, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. The distro I have of Knoppix is on read-only DVD, so what file do I change and how do I change it to get it to boot in English ? StuRat 16:39, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Well, as you said, it's a read-only DVD... You might have some trouble changing files, however, you merely need to type the cheatcode above, at the boot prompt, to launch into english. Also, you have the option of downloading and burning the most recent english DVD, but, I'd probably just use the cheatcodes... --SXT40 18:49, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

multiple IE is opening automatically

Hi, when opening IE, immediately IE is getting opened, pls help me with solution IT's windows XP, IE 7.0. have scanned thru Trend Mirco internet security 2007. removed spyware also even though the same problem persists...

Try this. Click Tools -> Manage Addons -> Enable or Disable Add-ons. Go through and disable whichever add-ons you don't trust. Obviously you can trust addons from Microsoft, Adobe, etc. but if in doubt just disable. Also try doing a run of Spybot Search & Destroy Rfwoolf 16:45, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Which RAM to choose for laptop ?

Hi,

I have an Acer TravelMate 3260 laptop with 512mb RAM. It has one more RAM slot free. I am confused whether to buy 1gb or 512mb for that one slot. The manual says that the laptop is "Dual channel capable". The existing 512mb stick is 566mhz DDR2 RAM. I was told that if I insert a 1gb stick in that slot, I won't be able to take the advantage of Dual Channel. So I have two options - 1) Insert a 512mb stick in the empty slot, making total RAM 1gb and enabling dual channel 2) Insert a 1gb stick in the empty slot, making total RAM 1.5gb but not using dual channel

So the question is - does the advantage of increased speed in 1gb dual channel outweigh the advantage of increased quantity of 1.5gb ? What should I go for, in the laptop ? RohanDhruva 12:52, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

You should definately go for the other 512mb stick. if you go with the asymmetrical option there's a chance your memory controller won't support it (or won't be as stable) --froth^t 15:16, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Definitely match your ram. Another 512MB DDR2 566 (double check the speed, see next quote) is the way to go, unless you want to buy two 1GB DDR2 SoDIMMs. According to Acer, "Up to 4 GB2 of DDR2 533/667 MHz dual-channel support delivers multitasking performance for work that involves multi-threaded applications. [2]" -wizzard2k ^(C-T-D) 15:20, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Another important thing to keep in mind is that you will probably need to buy smaller, laptop sized memory modules, not the full sized sticks that desktops use --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 16:04, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for all the help :) I will buy a matched 512mb RAM stick, the smaller sized one.. RohanDhruva 06:20, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

VLC player

My vlc player used to be able to play multiple videos at the same time, now every time I open a new video, it closes the one already playing. Any idea what settings I need to change to get it back to the way it used to work?--VectorPotential^Talk 16:49, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

• See [VLC Wiki]. --h2g2bob (talk) 23:24, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Adobe Updater

Hello. I installed the Adobe Reader 8.1 update from Adobe Updater. Adobe Updater placed an Adobe Reader 8 icon on my desktop. Why doesn't Adobe Updater recognize the fact that I have the Adobe Reader 8 icon in my Unused Desktop Shortcuts folder on my desktop? My Desktop Cleanup Wizard has something to do with the Unused Desktop Shortcuts folder on my desktop. Thanks in advance. --Mayfare 20:08, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Trash adobe and get foxit http://www.foxitsoftware.com/downloads/ smaller,works better most the most that u need is free. try it you'll like it!ray81aplRay81apl 21:00, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Um, anyway. Why doesn't Updater recognize it? Because it was not coded to recognize it. As simple as that. Should it have been coded to do so? Probably. Does it really matter? Not much. If you want to get rid of a shortcut on your desktop just drop it in the Recycle Bin. --Fastfission 23:21, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

fat to ntfs

How can I convert my 2GIG flash drive from FAT to NTFS ?Ray81apl 20:49, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Here's an MSDN blog posting about it. - Akamad 00:29, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Disk Recovery Software

I accidentally deleted some photos on a Secure Digital (SD) memory card. From what I understand, on a hard drive, I could use some kind of software to restore it. Is this possible on flash-based storage?

If so, what programs would work?

It depends. If the files were just deleted, that usually means they've just been removed from the user's file system, and possibly not already overwritten. If they've been overwritten, i'm unsure, although I'd imagine the nature of flash storage makes it nearly impossible or impossible to recover, that half of my answer is talking out of my ass --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 00:32, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

I too thought that recovering files from flash storage would be impossible, but apparently not, have a look at this page this page. - Akamad 00:35, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

I do recall seeing at least one probably freeware program that would do what you want, so try searching on google. 80.3.43.181 11:47, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

PhotoRec. --cesarb 13:00, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

June 30

Advice for firewall users

Why doesn't software documentation ever seem to explain how and why a program uses the Internet does, so that a user knows how to respond to a firewall alert? It could be something like this:

This program will attempt to connect to the Internet to:

• Check for and download automatic updates on startup.
• Open Web Help in your Web browser when you select it from the menu or press Ctrl-Alt-F1.
• Open links in documents when clicked.

Other functionality of the program will not be affected if a firewall blocks this access or you do not have an Internet connection. This program should not attempt to:

• Accept incoming connections.
• Connect to an IP address other than 123.45.67.89 without going through your Web browser.
• Use a protocol other than TCP/IP.

NeonMerlin 00:51, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Because software documentation is written by poorly-paid college kids :). Splintercellguy 01:06, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Because any software you're likely to actually read the documentation on is usually something boxed you'd buy at a software store and therefore not suspect as doing anything suspicious. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 01:13, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Decaying images? Madness?

Hi there. I had this lovely high resolution portrait as my desktop wallpaper. A few months ago it seemed really clear and beautiful, but now it seems slightly grainy and kind of a bit more compressed looking. Am I just seeing things or is the image being damaged somehow? It seems to be hapening to other pictures on my laptop. I'm using Windows XP, with plenty of memory and disk space and I dont run any strange programs or image editing stuff, nor have I fiddled with any settings or anything. Anyone know whats going on? Thanks! Name | Talk 03:18, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Oops! its me! Tree Kittens | Talk 03:23, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps it's time to clean your computer monitor? :) --inks^T 04:34, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Hehe! It really isn't that. It is strange though - the image started off crisp and clear, but now it looks much more compressed. Does anyone know a mechanism for this? I haven't changed the file at all, and there has been no change to it's size or "last modified" date. Mysterious... Tree Kittens 05:47, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Change of screen resolution?

Perhaps your screen is becoming 'old' or losing its sharpness/colour brightness/correction. I know there are LCD-setting gizmos that you can buy to calibrate your monitor's colours. It may be that the pixels have got themselves away from the standard you set and need 'resetting' (or something). See (http://www.amazon.com/Pantone-MEU103-Eye-One-Display-2/dp/customer-reviews/B000CR78CO) this product for example. Users seem to suggest that the monitor loses quality after a while and needs re-calibrating...No idea if this is true but there you go. ny156uk 23:44, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Microsoft Frontpage used to recompress and *overwrite* jpeg images when it was just ordered to *open* them and in the process destroyed many pictures all over the world. Maybe you are a victim.

Hmm, ok thanks for those answers everyone. I haven't changed my screen resolution or image display settings. It's possible that my laptop screen has decayed, but it seems to show other images just fine. As the above poster suggests - it is almost as if the image has been compressed and overwritten a few times. It's just got that look. Strange. Maybe I've just got more and more used to it and familiarity has bred contempt... Anyway, it isn't important really. I shall do an experiment - I'll burn some images onto a cd so I can compare them after a while to ones I use as wallpaper. Thanks a lot for your help guys Tree Kittens 03:13, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Separating audio from video in WMM

How do you separate audio from video in Windows Movie Maker? Every time I expand the video to show the audio track, and then edit the audio, the video disappears. Basically, I want to run Video Y's audio track over Video X's video, discarding Video Y's video (I can do this) and discarding only Video X's audio (which I can't do). This is the XP SP2 version of WMM. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 04:37, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps you could try VirtualDub for this particular usage, instead of Windows Movie Maker? Dubbing in VirtualDub is so easy, it's in the application name. It's also a fairly powerful tool for other purposes. Nimur 16:51, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Laptops being placed upside-down

I find my laptop gets REALLY hot on the bottom when i'm running some games, this is made worse by the fact that my table is matted. The laptop's mysteriously turned off for no reason a few times and i suspect that overheating may have something to do with it.

Since i don't actually use the laptop's screen or keyboard (i have an external screen and keyboard plugged in), i figured i could just place my laptop up-side down, so the bottom (which is what usually gets really hot) of the machine is facing up, and the screen half of the laptop is actually on the bottom.

I found this helped a lot, the bottom of the laptop (now the top) is no longer so hot to touch, the fans haven't been so loud, and i haven't had any more cases of the computer suddenly dying on me.

However, someone pointed out to me that leaving the laptop upside-down while it's on may be bad. I can't really imagine what the problem would be, but i'd like some second opinions just to be sure.

Is it bad for me to keep my laptop upside down (screen-side down) on my table while it's on?

Not too sure about the upside thing, but another option to keep the bottom cool is to elevate the laptop from its four corners. - Akamad 05:35, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, i'm looking to buy a laptop stand where the laptop is held up only by its edges, so the middle part of the bottom can air. Haven't found one yet. I'm a bit relunctant to try and elevate the corners using something like books, because i just know i'm going to end up knocking it over at some point.

You could just get one of the dozens of laptop cooling pads (pieces of plastic to put your laptop on that have fans inside them). I know people that have them, and they work very well. They're usually made to have the laptop in your lap, so they do a good job of cooling it off.--_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 08:18, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

There was a time when hard disks were designed to operate with the drive spindle vertical, and the right way up. This was because the weight of the spindle and platters was supported by a ball bearing, thus fixing its vertical alignment. There was no corresponding bearing at the top of the spindle, so turning the drive upside down during normal running had some unwelcome effects as the spindle shifted in its sleeve bearings controlling horizontal alignment. Things have improved over the years, and the size of hard disks has shrunk to such an extent that there is no longer space for the end ball bearing, a single bearing being sufficient to control horizontal and vertical alignment. If you prefer to keep the laptop the right way up, leave the screen open a bit - it's surprising how much heat escapes through the keyboard.86.137.79.237 09:40, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

My main concern with leaving it upside down would actually be the stress being put on the monitor. Most laptops are rather flimsy like that, I wouldn't be surprised if putting a laptop upside down could crack the screen. CDs/DVDs might also be a problem, but I doubt it would be nearly as bad. --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 09:48, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

It may make it easier to read the new signature fad on the Reference Desk... Nimur 17:01, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

As someone mentioned earlier, it could cause problems with the hard disc. I know the classic rule that if you put your hard discs upside down you increase the risk of hard drive failure or read/write errors. Over time I assume this isn't a major issue any more, but I'm sure the theory still exists: it is not best practice for your hard drive to be upside down. I recommend against it. If you value your laptop and it's expensive, make a plan to keep it uprite, or at the most on its side. Rfwoolf 18:44, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

I see, thanks for the advice everyone.

java programming

hallo am a learner on programming using java language. my main purpose for learning is to be a ble to be able to transmit data and for security puposes encrypt the data. I have not been able to come up with a workable encrypting and decrypting programs. Would you please give me say a sample java program to encrypt the following information and a separate java program to decrypt it"Read a four digit integer in an input dialog box and encripted as follows: replace each digit by the sum of that digit plus seven modulus ten, swap the first digit with the third digit and swap the second digit by the fourth and print the encrypted data." Regards!

Sounds like you've got a pretty good description on what you're supposed to do to encrypt the data, you aren't going to need any type of industry standard encryption. Check out the Javadocs for the appropriate objects for modifying string objects. Sun also has a pretty good Tutorial too. -- JSBillings 14:42, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

With all due respect, I hope that the information you plan to encrypt is not extremely important, (you self-identify as a novice; you may not notice a security flaw, which may be subtle). In light of this, perhaps you should consider using some of the ready-to-use Java tools for encryption, such as Secure Sockets and the Java Security APIs. Nimur 16:55, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

... unless this is a homework assignment ... Nimur 16:58, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

converting a macromedia flash projector .exe to swf

hi!

does anyone know a solution to extract a embedded .swf from a macromedia flash projector .exe?

thanks,84.56.57.48 20:44, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

weird .mid file

hi again!

some two years ago i created a .mid file on the cellphone of a buddy (some sony ericsson stuff). the mid file plays fine on all cellphones i have, but not on my computer. in file it identifies as:

marco@debian:~$ file dani.mid
dani.mid: Standard MIDI data (format 1) using 11 tracks at 1/192

vlc and xmms refuse to play it :(

does anyone know how to convert/play it?

84.56.57.48 20:49, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

...I didn't know it was possible to play MIDI files with VLC, and XMMS can only do it with a special plugin. Are you sure you can play other MIDI files? —Keenan Pepper 21:25, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

yes, i can play ordinary cellphone ringtones and normal midi files with xmms. 84.56.48.3 06:51, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

July 1

RAM compatibility

Hi, my computer mainboard support up to DDR333/PC2700 RAM (using sis650 chipset) . Can it use DDR400/PC3200 and run it at 166MHz (the speed of ddr333/pc2700) i.e. underclock without any crash or instability ? Rockvee 03:02, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes. --antilived^{T | C | G} 03:45, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. That was my first feeling. I saw some computer store sell same brand same sized RAM which pc2700 has a higher price tag than pc3200. Are they trying to trick us or what?Rockvee 03:56, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Yea it's kinda illogical but the PC2700 may be better made (using better chips etc.) than the cheapest PC3200 ones, or just to trick people for their "incompatibility". --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:02, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

OK. Just to make sure, can I use PC2700 and PC3200 at the same time? Rockvee 04:15, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes you can use them both at the same time, at their lowest common speed (in this case PC2700). If you want Dual-channel you'll need same capacity sticks though. --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:28, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Ok thank you very much Antilived :D Rockvee 04:34, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Can a .pdf file be infested with a virus?

I got an email from some spammer with an attached .pdf file. I didn't open the file, of course, but I was wondering if there have been cases of .pdf files being infested with virii? Corvus cornix 03:14, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

PDF files can run some scripts. There had been PDF worms using embedded visual basic scripts. Here it is said that Acrobat Reader is not vulnerable because it cannot run embedded files. -- ReyBrujo 03:31, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

So then if I had opened the attachment and pdf reader got started, there would not have been a problem? Corvus cornix 03:48, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

It seems that spammers are using PDF instead of images to have their spam contents (usually trying to pump up the price of some odd stock)

Unable to access Modem config page from behind M0n0wall

I've just set up a M0n0wall server for routing and traffic shaping and it seems to run well. I have a modem/router to my ADSL that's at 192.168.0.1, which connects to the WAN port on my M0n0wall server and my computer connected to the LAN port side. I can go online from my computer, but I just can't access my modem's config page. I can ping it, but otherwise it just times out if I tried to HTTP or telnet into it. Also, I can't set my computer to static IP address anymore, no matter what IP I put for the gateway (tried both M0n0wall and modem's address). Can anyone help me? I'm quite new at these network stuff. --antilived^{T | C | G} 03:50, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Turn off the client and you can ping it as easy as a pie. AW 02:28, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Huh? What client? And I can ping it no problem anyways, it's just that I can't HTTP into it. --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:23, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

OK, it's just a joke. I'm not sure if I can help, anyway. To solve the problem, you should give more details about your modem (product, manufacturer, revision...). Have you changed the default password of your modem? See this list for pass of each type of modem. As you say, you couldn't telnet or http it. Now the only way is to reset the modem, reconfig and remember not to tick the line "Prevent access to 192.168.0.1". Hope this help. AW 08:39, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

No I can HTTP into my modem no problem when I'm directly connected to it, but I can't do it if it goes through my M0n0wall server. --antilived^{T | C | G} 11:45, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

OK I've solved it myself: I turned on the half-bridge mode on my modem so my m0n0wall box have the external IP and then I can access the modem's configuration page if the "Block LAN traffic on WAN port" setting on M0n0wall is not set. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:24, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Youtube Burning

Hello. Anybody happen to know how to burn a Youtube video on to a blank DVD? Thank-you!Jk31213 04:00, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Have a look at this page. It downloads the file, you'll need an FLV player to view the video (such as VLC media player). - Akamad 04:12, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

After you download it to an FLV, you can use the SUPER video converter to convert it to VOB format and burn it to a DVD. I think that would work, although I'm not entirely sure. --ParakeetSong 08:19, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Total video converter is another suggestion for conversion. AW 02:08, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Microsoft Word Problem! Please Help!

Hi I'm using Microsoft Word 2003 and this problem seems to be getting out of hand. Whenever I try to copy a picture and paste it in a document, instead of the picture appearing a white box occurs. I tried copying different pictures and the picture doesn't appear in the document. Furthermore, when I copy a chunk of text with pictures in between from a website and paste it in word, only the text shows, the image part shows stuff like "<IMG.." or something similar to that. Even if I download documents with image added in, the image does not display but only that small tag

Anybody help?? I need to paste this picture in the file for my coursework!

Some things to try in the meantime:

In Word, try zooming out, and waiting a few seconds

Try clearing your internet cache (Temporary Internet Files). In Internet Explorer 7.0 , click Tools -> Delete Browsing History... Then next to "Temporary Internet Files" click "Delete Files"

Rfwoolf 13:16, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Instead of "copy paste", try saving the picture to your computer, and then use the Insert Picture (in the Insert menu). This may help. Nimur 17:22, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, I recommend using the Insert process. Corvus cornix 18:59, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Maybe the problem comes from your firewall. Try changing the default from "high" or "medium" to "low". I'm not sure this can help. If it doesn't work, get advice from this. AW 02:39, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Noo! I tried inserting and what I get is a blank picture with borders around it! Right clicking it to format it doesn't work! The button "Format picture" is not visible when I right-click! What do I do?! I just re-installed it and when I paste a picture into word document, this is what I get {INCLUDEPICTURE "http://office.microsoft.com/global/images/default.aspx?assetid=ZA100741741033"\* MERGEFORMATINET} Does it mean anything? Please help me fix it :(!

That URL is not for the photo, at least not directly. That tells the webserver to go out and retrieve a specific file with "asset ID" ZA1007.... You need to get the actual JPEG file onto your computer, and then insert it into your Word doc. --LarryMac | Talk 20:35, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

July 2

calculator

what is best calculator?--71.185.140.185 00:09, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Stonehenge. It was calculating stuff back around 3100BC and it still works - even without batteries! -- Kainaw^(what?) 01:29, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Why stonehenge is the best calculator? I'm not sure what you mean. I assume the IP asked about electronic calculator. AW 02:41, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

I think Kainaw was making a joke ... (JosephASpadaro 03:37, 2 July 2007 (UTC))

And a fairly discredited joke at that - modern consensus seems to be that Stonehenge could not be used for predictive astronomy, especially in light of the total lack of evidence for mathematical and astronomical understanding by the early inhabitants of Salisbury... (though surely this topic will be debated in archaeological circles for many more centuries). Nimur 07:14, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

I'm guessing the OP is asking about electronic/handheld calculators. I have always been a fan of the HP-49 series calculators since I am partial towards Reverse Polish notation . (I had used a 48 for a while, but ended up buying a 49 for my own). And it seems they have released a new HP50 model that I haven't seen yet. On the other hand, there are some who prefer the Texas Instruments models (which are generally better for schools).--GTPoompt(talk) 12:25, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

The Human Brain, I use it all the time. --Chris ^g 12:30, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

"Don't forget, your mind only simulates logic." —Glen C Perkins (gperkins@netcom.com, 1991-95), quoted by Tamfang 05:16, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

From my own experience so far, I would say a TI-86.

Windows Media Player DRM

I'm currently having problems with WMDRM (shockingly!). I was advised by the Microsoft KB to delete all the DRM-related files in order to reset it. I followed the instructions exactly, but now it won't recieve any DRM licences (before it was just one specific file). I'm on Vista so I can't uninstall WMP, so does anyone have any possible solutions (searching Microsoft KB got nothing - it seems positive that "resetting" it can't fail). The Microsoft individualisation page also doesn't help - ^Estoy_Aquí^{(t • c • e)} 12:13, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Political boundary shape files

Does anyone know where I can get free or low cost shape files describing the political boundaries of every country on Earth at ~1 km scale? Preferably the boundaries should be not more than a few years old and easily exportable to lat/long pairs for the application I have in mind. Dragons flight 20:11, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

My Favorites

Hello. In Internet Explorer 6, how can I bookmark a website into a shortcut folder by clicking on the Favorites menu bar --> Add to Favorites...? The shortcut folder does not appear. Thanks in advance. --Mayfare 21:09, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

• If you just want to show the favorits bar, press CTRL+I. You can also drag the favicon from next to the URL in internet explorer into any folder or even to your desktop. -wizzard2k ^(C-T-D) 20:00, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

July 3

Macintosh boot process

Hello, i just want to know how in the world an iMac boots up. It's running Mac OS X and is connected to a domain network. Can aqnyone tell me how?

Depending on your hardware, the boot sequence is quite different. For PowerPC iMacs, they used an Open Firmware boot method, which then bootstrapped the system into the MacOSX kernel (and prior OSs as well). For Intel iMacs, they use an EFI to start the bootloader. Those differences aside, ones the system has loaded a kernel, the system starts up much like any other Unix variant, checking and mounting disks, starting services and eventually bringing up a user interface. -- JSBillings 16:03, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

See the Apple developer documentation for more gory details. Speaker to Lampposts 06:58, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Driver Problems

Hello, My computer has always been equipped with an integrated ethernet controller (Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC) and a HP wireless connection (Wireless LAN PCI 802.11 a/b/g WN5401A). I know that these both worked when I bought the computer. Now I actually want to use the wireless, I find that the devices both have the following error in the Device Manager: "This device cannot start. (Code 10)". I have been through the useless troubleshooter, (I run XP SP2 by the way), reinstalling both drivers and installing the latest updates. This has not worked. I cannot take out the ethernet and then plug in back in as it is on the motherboard. Any ideas? --203.129.50.212 01:24, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Since no-one has answered for a day I might as well say the obvious; use Linux. Rarely a network problem with that OS. No need to manually install drivers because that is done automatically during installation of the system. Provided there is a (good) driver, that is, and that is still the biggest Linux problem, but if your system is not too new and has fairly run-of-the-mill components (such as Realtek ethernet controllers) there shouldn't be a problem there. Same for software - you instantly get a shitload of programs on your system, meaning you rarely need to install anything else after you've installed the system, but then when you do, that might be problematic. I'd say, give it a try. At least you'll be able to get on the network/internet with that, even if you do nothing else with it. DirkvdM 09:20, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Hard Disk Formatting

Would anyone know how to completely format the hard drive without using window? Or if not, provide a site which does.72.139.86.79 02:19, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

XP recovery console, GPartEd, Linux System Rescue CD, etc. Splintercellguy 02:33, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Also might help to know what file system you want to format the disk to. Since (I believe) GParted and other Linux-based utilities probably can't format the disk to NTFS. - Akamad 08:00, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

You can format to NTFS with parted (and therefore Gparted or Qtparted) if you have libntfs and/or ntfsprog installed (forgot which one). --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:21, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

"... without using window". Do you means without using msWindows or without using windows (ie a gui)? Either way, you could do that with msDOS, using the command 'format C:', or whatever drive/partition you want to format. Beware, though, msWindows and msDOS annoyingly use different letters for the same partition, so check that you're formatting the right one. I'd advise using Linux, such as a live cd, but while you're at it you might as well install it on your system as a backup when msWindows crashes (again). You might even switch to it. :) DirkvdM 09:10, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Should I take this threat seriously?

Alright, I've been getting cyber-stalked a bit over the past week or so, and on our last IM conversation, he mentioned that he had an application on his computer that could shut me down, he didn't elaborate.

Today, I asked him to explain, and here's our conversation:

[13:26] krileymoto: My good man
[13:27] reaper29622: Better than you know. ..!.,
[13:27] reaper29622: You do realizze that I'm serious, right?
[13:27] krileymoto: Of course you are
[13:27] reaper29622: But you don't believe it.
[13:28] reaper29622: lol
[13:28] krileymoto: Of course I do!
[13:28] krileymoto: I take your concerns and comments very seriously
[13:28] reaper29622: Bullshit. LOL
[13:28] reaper29622: My 'Nuker' program was confiscated, but not before i made a copy of it.
[13:29] reaper29622: It can fry anything connected to your phone lines, cable line and ethernet lines.
[13:29] reaper29622: You think a hard drive is expensive?
[13:30] krileymoto: hmmn
[13:30] reaper29622: Try having to replace anything electrical or electronic because you couldn't unplug it all in 1/10 of a second. ..!.,
[13:30] reaper29622: and that includes Lightbulbs and outlets. lol.
[13:30] krileymoto: speakers?
[13:30] krileymoto: I've got some really sweet speakers
[13:30] krileymoto: I got em for a really good deal too
[13:30] reaper29622: anything connected to a power source that is connected to an ooutlet or light socket.
[13:31] krileymoto: So like, my fan
[13:31] krileymoto: you could kill my fan
[13:31] krileymoto: And my dead grandma's lamp
[13:31] reaper29622: I could kill more than that, if you're leaning too close to your computer monitor. LMFAO!
[13:31] krileymoto: What about my fridge?
[13:31] krileymoto: We seriously just got a new one
[13:31] krileymoto: could you kill that, too?
[13:32] reaper29622: lol. You think I'm joking. LOL
[13:32] krileymoto: No, I'm just curious, how does that shit work?
[13:32] krileymoto: I mean, I'm trying to think about it
[13:32] krileymoto: and it's like
[13:32] krileymoto: Phone lines, and ethernet lines, and power lines
[13:32] krileymoto: how could you tap into my fucking power lines?
[13:33] reaper29622: Don't have to. LOL
[13:33] krileymoto: Yeah you would, that's all my fan's plugged into
[13:33] reaper29622: But then again, the power companies are ineterlinked through the internet. LOL
[13:33] krileymoto: Oh, of course
[13:33] reaper29622: 'interlinked'
[13:33] krileymoto: you're going to hack the power companies
[13:33] krileymoto: and have them fry our shit
[13:33] reaper29622: Not hard. lol.

My question is, is this dude just screwing with me, or if not, what should I do?

I'm a little bit worried.

75.71.2.93 19:51, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

• Don't be. That sort of hoax has been around for as long as online chatting. -wizzard2k ^(C-T-D) 19:54, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Let me put it to you this way. That guy has as much a chance of actually making any of that happen as I do of sticking a hose up my ass, getting in a cessna, attaching the hose to the outside, and flying to the moon on the power of my own gas. And then landing, finding out the moon is actually made of cheese, and starting the world's finest dairy by slowly dismantling the moon. To be quite honest with you, you're at risk of far worse things happening by running Microsoft Windows and connecting to the Internet than you are talking to that joker --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 00:48, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

One thing you could do is stop talking to him! Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 20:21, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

The threat this person is making in that message may or may not be real, but what you can't tell is whether this is someone who knows where you live, and my just be crazy to come over and blow your fridge up while you aren't home. Doesn't IM have a feature to block users? That's what I'd be doing. Vespine 00:31, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Why are you feeding into this? You are giving him exactly what he wants. In other words, you're enabling this. (JosephASpadaro 01:09, 4 July 2007 (UTC))

Life is full of idiots and jerks; avoid them when you have the option to. Anyway, no, he can't do any of what he is claiming to — phone lines don't work that way. --24.147.86.187 01:30, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Dare him to "DO IT!" 68.162.57.164 02:24, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

My bet is that you could probebly get this guy arrested, he's breaking some kind of cyber theat law and it not that hard for a cop to trace an IM chat name. But for saftys sake don't dare him to do it, these guys are nuts. --Chris ^g 02:54, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Do NOT do that. It's an online chat.. you shouldn't take it any more seriously than seeing someone threaten the fourth wall on TV. rm off-topic political commentary On a more related note, you can be confident of your complete anonymity if you're going over a IM network (like AIM or MSN) instead of P2P, you don't use your nick for anything identifiable on the internet, and if you haven't given him any personally identifiable information. So even if he did have that impossible program he would have no way of using it on you in particular --froth^t 03:48, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

That was a masterpiece :| Read it here - it sha'nt die! --froth^t 05:46, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Hello one google seach top of the list [3] that is how easy it is to find a place to trace an im nickname or emial. Preety Scary isn't it? --Chris ^g 06:16, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Macintosh problems

I'm using a Mac right now, and it's fucking weird. Does an Apple keyboard have a "print screen" key? 'Cause I can't find one.

The damn browser also says, "NOTE: Your browser is not unicode compliant, which can make it difficult to edit pages with non-Latin characters. To work around this problem, non-ASCII characters will appear in the edit box below as hexadecimal codes."

Also, the Mac Internet Explorer browser keeps shutting down rather than show an "edit conflict" page. I think a Wikipedia developer should try to fix that problem. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.250.39.226 (talk • contribs) 20:07, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Internet Explorer for Mac is known to incorrectly mangle some Unicode characters, so MediaWiki has special code to detect it and use a workaround (as explained on that warning message). Also, no web page should be able to make your browser shut down; if your browser is shutting down when you open a page, it's a bug on your browser, not on the page. Try using a more recent browser. --cesarb 23:21, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Internet Explorer for Mac has not been updated since 2003 or so. Don't use it. Use Safari or Firefox or really anything else instead.

No, there is no print-screen key. Are you trying to make a screenshot of the window? If so, to take a picture of the whole screen, press ⌘-Shift-3. To take a picture of part of the screen, press ⌘-Shift-4, then drag to select the area you want in the picture (which is an awesome way to take pictures of the screen — you can be very specific, saves a lot of time cropping.) To take a picture of a window, a menu, the menu bar, or the Dock, press ⌘-Shift-4, then press the Space bar. Move the pointer over the area you want so that it's highlighted, then click. To drag to select the area instead, press the Space bar again. To cancel, press Escape. In all cases it will create PNG files of your selected areas on the desktop (Picture 1.png, Picture 2.png, etc.) It's way more rockin' than the old Print Screen/Alt-Print Screen on Windows.

(Anyway, it is not "weird", it is just that you aren't used to it yet, and as a consequence don't know the hot-keys and don't realize you are using a very obsolete browser.) --24.147.86.187 01:40, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

php (or other) as a "standalone web-app"

Recently someone asked about running PHP on his home computer. Furthering that question, I would like to "pre-package" a php site so a prospective customer can run the entire application off a CDROM (obviating the need for an internet connection). Is this possible? How many different ways can it be done? (e.g., using knoppix? using windows xp?)

Also, how many other programming environments (assuming PHP is one of them) support this kind of "standalone web-app" deployment style? (NOTE: assume that the target machine is NOT already running a web-server such as IIS or Apache). NoClutter 20:11, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Well you could put something like phpdev on the CDROM and then in the web root folder have all your scripts. This would work on Windows and installs PHP, Apache and a MySQL server (as well as optional FTP). However, PHP or Apache or MySQL (especially MySQL) *may* need to write to the directory in which the service is located - which on a CD-ROM it could not do. A work-around would be a cheap USB Pen which could hold the contents. JoshHolloway 22:20, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

It is not easy to do, unfortunately — there is no other way that I know of to do this sort of thing other than running it as a local server after first setting it up as a regular server. IMHO if someone had a super-easy way of doing this it would make them a lot of money — something that could basically "emulate" a locally run server but without all of the hassle of actually installing a full web server (and all of the unpredictability of installing it on different systems). Adobe had a program they were developing that would do something like that, I think, but I can't remember what it's name was (something with a J?). --24.147.86.187 22:32, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

OK, I remembered what it was called: Adobe Apollo. Not sure if that does exactly what we're talking about but I remember it looking somewhat similar when I wanted to do something similar awhile back. --24.147.86.187 01:27, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Both NetBeans and Eclipse (software) have versions with integrated web servers. These tools are normally used by programmers for developing web applications (among other software). However, I have seen increasing usage of Eclipse as a deployed client software package (usually with the specific application operating as either a plugin, a customization, or a special user-interface within the program). It would not be too difficult to set up Eclipse with a PHP server; then, the user could load it up in the background. You could develop a "console" to control settings, and then run your PHP or more advanced Java web application in that environment; and most impressively, they could even use their own web-browser to access localhost. Naturally you should understand what you are doing before you deploy this system because handing a user an unmodified web-server sounds like a potential security risk to their computer; your design should account for that possibility. Nimur 03:32, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

In fact, here's the Eclipse PHP Development Tools, which is sort of a miniature LAMP server in a can (...not quite LAMP, since it doesn't require linux and does not appear to include MySQL by default, but with a bit of work you could add it). Nimur 03:35, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

If your customer is comfortable with a non-graphical interface, just drop apache and mysql and run pure php with a bash script frontend or something. Use xml databases --froth^t 05:48, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

dreamweaver MX feature

I seem to remember a feature of Dreamweaver MX that allowed you to specify "templates" or "snippets" with fill-in-the-blank content. For example:

   Hello @@@firstname@@@ @@@lastname@@@,
   
   Your account is @@@numdays@@@ days overdue. Please attend to this immediately.
   Thank you.
   
   Sincerely, @@@agentname@@@.

I also seem to remember that the "triple at-sign" was the method for specifying the variables. Does anyone know the name of this Dreamweaver feature? Also, a link to the documentation for it would be most appreciated. Thanks for any help you have. NoClutter 20:48, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Mult-mode or single mode optic fibre?

I know this is more networking than computing.

I have been asked weather the optic fibre cabling in a campus area network is multi-mode or single-mode. It has been installed for over 10 years.

I assume it is multi-mode - because generally you would only install single-mode for long-haul telecommunications? Point is, the cablng isn't labelled and I've no as built docos or test results to look at - so how do I tell?

Equipment connected to it is standard LAN switches with both internal optic fibre ports or external media converters depending upon location, when it was installed, if there was a budget.... What I'd really like (rather than just a straight out answer) is a pointer to a good reference source for optic fibre. Google threw me to a couple of sites which were too broad and hand-wavy. Garrie 22:05, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

• Its probably not Single-mode optical fiber, but Multi-mode optical fiber as you suggested. Some simple google searches on the part numbers of your media converters should tell you that. The port adapters for your switches might also tell you, but you may have to pull them out to see, and that may not be an option. Unless you're building a backbone, you're probably not using single-mode. Also, the labeling on the fiber jacket often tells you what it is. Usually its marked every foot or meter with the start of text (which repeats every set interval). -wizzard2k ^(C-T-D) 22:57, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

  Also, if one of the switches is a managed switch, you might be able to find out the model of the port adapters without pulling them out. --cesarb 23:00, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

OK, so reverse-engineering from installed equipment is the easiest option for a PC-support person such as myself, rather than for a cable installer who would be able to "just tell" from the cable itself. Media converters / adapters / optic fibre ports will be designed for either single mode or multi mode and the product information should tell me which one it's for. Thanks.Garrie 23:07, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Checking a computer battery

My computer failed to turn on and I have reason to believe that the battery might be the problem. I have an "amnometer/ohmometer/voltometer/multi-meter" at my disposal (not sure what it is called) and I want to find out if the battery is working properly. The battery is specifically a VGP-BPS2A 11.1V/4400mAh lithium-ion rechargable battery pack made by Sony. Someone told me I needed to find some specs on the battery, but I couldn't find any and don't know which specs I need. What do I need to do to tell if it is working properly? (i.e. it has about X voltage or X resistance when I put the multi-meter across it) I am sorry that my knowledge of electronics is limited, but thanks in advance for any help. 71.226.56.79 23:15, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

• Set your multimeter to a range of around 20V (DC current, not AC), and if it reads anything close to 11.1V (the specs are right there in the string you gave!), your battery is good. If its low (around half or less) then you should probably replace it, or look into why it wasn't recharging. Most computers will start, but produce an error (Checksum error, or battery failure etc) when the battery is low, so that might not be the cause of your issue. Good luck! -wizzard2k ^(C-T-D) 23:22, 3 July 2007 (UTC)
  • Thanks for that! But It just occured to me I don't know where to place the, ...er "diodes/pointy voltage measurement things" The battery has 6 pin holes (? not sure of name) with two longer slits at the ends and four thiner slits in between those. 71.226.56.79 23:28, 3 July 2007 (UTC)
    • (edit) nevermind. Sorry if anyone was looking for the answer. I improvised by sticking two metal slits in the pin holes. Battery is reading something like 0.8 .Its probably good and dead. sigh... Thanks wizzard2k. 71.226.56.79 23:58, 3 July 2007 (UTC)
• There's a small possibility the problem is in the charger/AC adapter. Is it plugged in? To a live outlet? Is its light glowing (showing current is passing through the AC adapter)? If not, the charger might be bad. I found that Circuit City would let me "buy" a new charger, and if that didn't fix the issue, they'd let me return it for a full refund. Very nice of them.

• If the charger's lights are glowing, is the "charging" light on the computer glowing or blinking as it should be? If it isn't, and if the computer is completely "dead" (no lights, no sound or hard drive noise when you press the start button), something else inside might be fried. Sounds like major service -- hope it's under warranty! :-). I have a very old machine, used for backup purposes, whose battery has been dead for years -- not worth buying a new one. It still starts and runs fine so long as it's plugged into AC. So your trouble might not be the battery itself. GL! Unimaginative Username 02:24, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

I once had a laptop that would not boot due to the battery. If the battery was removed, the laptop would start up OK when powered from the mains. GB 01:24, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

I'm the question poster on a different computer now. Yeah, it's the battery. Came up at .8 V on the multi-meter and dropped. I checked the charger and it was fine. I had a previous problem where my battery was out of place and my computer could not turn on even if I took it out, nor did any of the lights turn on. Symptoms were the same this time around so I figured it was the case. thanks for the help! Sifaka ^talk 06:34, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

July 4

Webpage question

I am trying to design a webpage for a company and I need, if you can send me, the code for finding the most visited pages(links) in my webpage. Thank you! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.31.127.100 (talk • contribs) 08:00, 4 July 2007.

AWStats is one of the tools used for analyzing server logs. It can give you A LOT of data about visitors to your website and "most visited pages" are just one of its options. If you are using Shared web hosting service ask your hosting technical support about this. — Shinhan < talk > 08:20, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Google Analytics is also an option. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 10:31, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Or - just look at your log files. As you stated, you are currently designing the page. So, I would expect that you have no visits yet. -- Kainaw^(what?) 13:10, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Drive-detection problems

Last night I had problems with the detection of drives during post that I can not attribute to one specific part of the system. This morning everything started without a glitch, but now I'm afraid to shut down my computer (tonight) if I don't know what the cause was because I couldn't start an operating system last night, so any tips in the next 10 hours would be very welcome. I installed a new motherboard last week, so I suspect the problem to lie there.
The first problem was that post didn't 'see' the hard disk on which my two current operating systems (Suse 10.2 and WinXP Pro) reside. First I tried another IDE cable, but that didn't help. Then I disconnected the two sata drives, in case the 6 drives were drawing too much power, but that didn't help either. Then I tried swapping to the other IDE channel, but still no luck. So the problem is to do neither with the cable nor with the channel.
When I disconnected the other drive on the same same channel the 'main' drive (still master) was recognised, but when I tried to boot the system, what started was the grub of a previous installation (don't remember on which drive). Luckily, this selection contained a reference to a previous Suse installation on the same partition as the current one, so I tried that, but that didn't work either. I doubt if this last problem is related to the first, first because it seems more os- or boot-related, while the former is to do with the hardware or bios and also because I've had a similar problem over a year ago, possibly with the same Suse-installation (or was it grub-related, I now wonder).

channel 0 master	dvd-drive	dvd	160	160	250
channel 0 slave	120	120	250	-	-
channel 1 master	160	160	dvd	dvd	dvd
channel 1 slave	250	-	120	120	120
-     means no drive attached there 160     means that drive was not detected

The table to the right shows an overview of the various combinations I tried. I named the hd's after their capacity in GB.
Some additional notes:
When only one of the two drives (160 or 250) is connected to the cable, post is very slow, taking about a minute, while normally it takes only about 10 seconds.
I changed the jumpers where needed, so that's not it.
The detection problems were fairly consistent, but not entirely. At one point all 4 drives were detected, but behind the 250 drive appeared some 'garbled' info, that is, I couldn't make heads or tails of it and then it was gone. I only remember seeing several zeroes.
Oh, there was one glitch during boot this morning - floppy disk fail. That was new, but at least it didn't affect the rest of the boot.
Any thoughts? DirkvdM 08:58, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

This may seem really far out there, but while you've got the machine open, inspect it for leaking capacitors. They were very common in the last couple of years, and can cause all kinds of strange problems. --Mdwyer 09:11, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

And also can you just set all your IDE drives into Cable Select mode to eliminate the possibility of assigning 2 Master or 2 Slave drives on one channel?--antilived^{T | C | G} 10:59, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Like I said, I made sure I had the jumpers placed correctly. Still, if I get the same problem again I might try that, maybe that will circumvent the problem, but it's no solution.

About the leaking capacitors, I didn't see any, although I only looked at one side (I'm not going to unhook everything to inspect the back side of the mb). DirkvdM 12:07, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

I used to have the same incompatibility between my old CD-RW and my new DVD-ROM which I thought was on CS already and was absolutely baffled is well. My CD-RW would have some random characters behind its name during POST and not detected anywhere else is well. Then as the last resort I changed both to CS mode and voilà, it's very likely it's a basic error like these when everything else doesn't work. --antilived^{T | C | G} 02:28, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Update: I 'accidentally' restarted the system and all drives were detected again and the system booted, albeit through the old grub, as I described above. Why doesn't the new grub start? I believe I saw during installation that it was installed on a different drive, which is weird. Also, I don't see how these problems could be related, but if they pop up at the same time that would be too big a coincidence, wouldn't it? DirkvdM 12:07, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

How about you update your BIOS / firmware, make sure you have the latest drivers for everything, etc. Rfwoolf 15:05, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

The BIOS firmware is the latest version, I believe; version 3.1 from late feb 2007 and the mb is not a very recent model, so any serious problems should have been resolved in that version. Anyway, the live update works only via msWindows, and that won't start right now (working on that, though). DirkvdM 18:56, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Probably isn't related to your problems, but enable SMART on the BIOS (for some unknown reason, this is never enabled by default on the BIOS, even though it can be really helpful) and reboot. If you get a SMART warning message from your BIOS, it might point to a cause (for instance, one of the disks might be having problems spinning up). If you don't get a warning message, you could disable it again, but I would leave it enabled (and install a monitoring daemon on all the operating systems you use). --cesarb 20:56, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

I think I've found the solution. Like I said, I had checked all the connections and cables, but I missed one. Power. The two drives that had problems alternatingly were both on the same cable. So I used another and the problem (which had resurfaced) was gone. What gave it away was that the drives were cold and I know that a drive with the IDE cable disconnected but the power cable still connected still gets hot. This one didn't. So I hope I've solved it now. 80.126.178.133 17:19, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Instant messenger with internet forum structure

This lacked a separate header, so I gave it one. DirkvdM 14:09, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

What is the name of the instant messanger which uses some of the structure of internet forums?

What do you mean by "internet forum structure"? There are many different internet forums. They have many different structures. So, you appear to be referring to one in particular, but forgot to mention which one it is. -- Kainaw^(what?) 11:55, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Influence of domain name on Google rankings

Does anybody know:

Does simply having a searchterm in my domain name automatically increase my google ranking?
Example: if my domain name is www.widgets2go.com and people search for "widgets" does my site automatically get a high ranking? Rfwoolf 13:45, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

See...http://www.iprcom.com/papers/pagerank/ I haven't read much of it (just quick browse through) but I suspect that whilst not automatically meaning a 'high' ranking it will probably increase certain aspects. My understanding is that a very large emphasis of google's ranking is based on being linked-to by many other sites and that if those sites are linked to by many others then that adds weighting (in essence meaning that the bigger the site that links to you the more google take that to mean you are what users are looking for). ny156uk 17:39, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

xbox 360 dvd capacity

see also Talk:Xbox 360 # 7GB or 8.5GB DVD Capacity

The xbox360 article currently states that the capacity for games of the xbox360 dvd drive is only 7GB despite it being a dual layer (12x) dvd-rom drive - which should mean 8.5 GB.

Can this info be in error, as the 1.5gb difference seems difficult to explain. Or is there an explanation anyone could give ?(preferably no guesses)

There seems to be a website that claims 7gb but without explanation - can someone set me (us) strait on this thanks.213.249.232.111 21:14, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

See GD-ROM, it's entirely possible that MS uses a proprietary format similar to GDROM's philosophy. Actually, knowing MS, I'd be surprised if they *weren't* --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 21:19, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

the drive as far as I know is a 'standard dvd drive though'? - are you suggesting a non-copyable format to prevent piracy - I could understand that ? Do xbox 360 games not come on DVD logoed discs???213.249.232.111 21:41, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

A dual-layer DVD's capacity is 8.5GB, which is 7.9GiB so it COULD be a truncated version of this. --antilived^{T | C | G} 23:11, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Inputting sound through a SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card

I want to play music from my sat receiver or tape player through my computer. I have plugged the L/R output leads into the inputs for my Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card. However, I can hear exactly zilch! I have set every volume control I can find to max and tried every imaginable setting for my audio card through control panel-sounds and audio devices to no avail. Any thoughts would be most welcome, please. TerriersFan 23:37, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Do you have an on-board sound card that might be the input device? The volume control to use is line-in, plus the master. Can you hear anything else from the sound card - eg playing a wave file on the computer? When you plug in the cord make sure you use the correct input (line-in) as there are a number of other input ports that will do nothing as they are digital. Other things that will stop it are the lack of a driver, but that will probably cut the sound all together. GB 01:22, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for these thoughts. I have the Audigy accessed from the front panel of the computer and there are a series of sound sockets at the rear of the machine, which also include input sockets, and where I plug the leads to my external speakers. I can play all the usual files, including wave format, just fine but I just don't seem to be able to get any sound from the various line-in ports. TerriersFan 22:28, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

July 5

Which phone is a better buy?

Which phone should I get, the LG kg225 or the LG U310? Is the U310 a decent mp3 phone? Can I put files from my computer onto it and use them as ringtones? Do I need a need a cable to transfer music or can I do it via wireless connection? --203.51.134.89 08:49, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Building a simple computer

I recently read this article (the June 29th entry), and I'm interested in building something similar. I have no knowledge of binary logic or anything of the like, so I was hoping someone could point me in the direction of what I need to read about in order to understand how to make something like this. Thanks in advance. Imaninjapirate^{talk to me} 15:15, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

You will want to know binary logic as well as electronics. What you will be doing is replacing the logical circuits with other devices. I have done similar work with marbles and water. Marbles were difficult - depended on gravity and kept getting clogged. Plumbing was much easier. It is very simple to make a plumbing "circuitry". The only one that took some time was the creation of a water capacitor. Then, I was able to make anything I wanted. Add a small fish-tank pump and I could demonstrate to the students how all the logical circuitry worked. -- Kainaw^(what?) 15:20, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

As Kainaw notes, conventional computers are digital binary computers based on logic gates - if you can implement devices that do the same as AND gates, OR gates, etc., and elements like flip flops then you can combine them (in just the same manner as they are combined in electronic circuits) to make simple machines that can add numbers together. Getting enough of these together to do more complex calcuations requires a seriously large space (something akin to a difference engine) and getting a proper computer (which has input, output, and stored-program control) is likely to turn out to be gigantic (like an analytical engine). Category:Early computers has some early electro-mechanical computers (some of which used the stepper mechanisms found in telephone exchanges). It's much more achievable to build an application-specific device (stuff like adding machines or things for generating log tables), but of course your thing can only do one job. You could eschew digital (discrete state) operation altogether, and go down the analog route, making something like the MONIAC Computer. The real problem you'll find with all computing and calculating devices that aren't built from integrated circuitry is robustness and reliability - it's one thing to build a computer from bits of wood and ball bearings, but getting it to work reliably (without getting stuck or having something snap or work loose) over the thousands of repetitions that are needed to do constructive work. You'll find lots of weird mechanical computers in science museums around the world (the one in Boston has a tinkertoy one, London's science museum has a finely crafted brass difference engine) but they almost never run them, for fear they'll fall apart or get gummed up. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 15:38, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Excel goal seek

I find I am using "Goal seek" quite a bit (on Win XP with Excel 2002). I would like to put it on a toolbar so I can just click a button rather than playing with the drop down menus. When I select Customize, it appears that the function "Goal seek" is not available in the list of commands. Am I just not seeing it or is it missing? If it is missing, how can I go about creating a button to do this? Thanks. -- SGBailey 16:15, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Improving PC performance

I would like to improve the performance of my PC. It is a Pentium 4 with 2.4 GHz and 480 MB of RAM, running on Windows XP. I usually have three major programs running -- AIM, Firefox, and Ruckus. With these three programs, my computer tends to run slowly. I was wondering what methods I could use to reduce the lag. I recall a conversation with a friend saying that 32 MB of RAM is devoted to some kind of video capacity (which is why it's 480, not 512) and that there was a way to free this up. Also, I don't have any major non-essential programs that run on startup. I've scrubbed occasionally with Spybot/Ad-Aware/CCleaner. Are there any suggestions to get my computer running smoother, until I can get a new computer down the road? If you need any further detail, let me know. —Erik (talk • contrib) - 18:35, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Fire up task manager. (ctrl-alt-delete). Don't shut anything down, but keep it open while you work as you usually do and check out the readings, in 3 areas: percentage of CPU time, memory usage, and networking. I find I can manage all three by setting it so that it gives the icon over in the right hand end of the status bar which shows a live display of % of cpu usage, while simultaneously keeping the networking window of the task manager open so that I can see what the network traffic is like, and down in the right hand corner what the memory usage is. if the memory usage is significantly more than your 480 meg much of the time, then you will benefit from more memory. If you spend a lot of time sitting waiting for something to come in on the network, then that's your bottleneck. And if you find yourself tied up while the cpu is buzzing along at 100%, then of course something in there is tying you up. Gzuckier 18:55, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Thank you very much. I'm at work now; I'll do this when I get home and see if I can't return with follow-up questions. —Erik (talk • contrib) - 18:59, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

1- if your computer is slowing down from three programs, it's almost certainly firefox being a memory hog (I love firefox, but it does that all the time). 2- I don't know what the heck Ruckus is, but if your PC is running slow after replacing firefox with something else, you might just need to use a lighter OS, although my PC mostly ran fine with the exact same setup (although I had a video card, which you don't, that shouldn't be a problem), you could try something like a Mini Linux distro on it. --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 19:01, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Forget memory hogging apps- 480Mb is way too low to run Windows and do anything useful with it. Add another gig and see what that gets you. Friday (talk) 19:28, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Vista, maybe. XP should run fine with 128MB, let alone 480 --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 20:26, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Well, according to Windows XP, the minimum "recommended" is 128 Mb. And Microsoft is notoriously optimistic in their recommendations. I suppose it depends. If, somehow, his investigation reveals that he's not running low on memory, more may not help. Friday (talk) 20:33, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Along the lines of checking for resource-hog processes, Process Explorer is a great tool and does many things the task manager doesn't. For example, you can see a history of each processes CPU usage, investigate private vs shared memory load, etc. It's a must-have for diagnostics like this --Jmeden2000 20:38, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

I have never used Ruckus Network, but it seems to be an advertisement-supported peer-to-peer application. That may be sucking up a lot of ram, network, and even processor power. Nimur 21:06, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Looks like I need more RAM -- it's constantly at 440-450, and I'm not even using Ruckus at the moment. Anyone got any suggested sites to guide me in adding RAM? I haven't gone through the process before. —Erik (talk • contrib) - 10:55, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Well depends on how much you paid for your Pentium 4 2.4Ghz machine (it could be the once top-of-the-line RDRAM version or the more common later DDR RAM version) you can either acquire another stick of 512MB RDRAM with lots of hassle and money or 512MB DDR400 RAM quite easily, respectively. Also, consider using lighter alternatives of Windows XP, such as Xubuntu. Ruckus may not run but for AIM and Firefox it is perfectly adequate. --antilived^{T | C | G} 11:38, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Windows Media Player

Hello. I have Windows Media Player Version 11.0.5721.5145. I've set the ripping option to never rip an audio CD when I insert one. Yet, although the ripping option still displays "never" under Rip--> when CD is insterted, the program continues to begin the ripping process. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there a patch of which I am not aware? I use Windows Media Player all the time to play my audio CDs, and it's really a nuisense that the rip feature keeps activating. Does anyone know of a way to fix this so I may still use Windows Media Player to play my CDs and only rip them when I give the command? Thanks!--El aprendelenguas 21:33, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

One for the academics (endnote question)

Why does the newer versions of endnote such as Endnote X - create a seperate folder of files besides the library - what's it for? do I need to sent people that with the library? --Fredrick day 22:03, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

July 6

Amplifier Volume Control

Don't know if this has much to do with computers but I have a 5.1 channel JVC amplifier that's about 3 years old, and recently I've been having trouble with the volume control. At times, the volume level of the amplifier will increase for no reason, sometimes just a few notches, and sometimes right up to maximum volume. Does anyone know what would cause this and how it could be fixed? Thanks Mix Lord 01:43, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

BSOD/black screen error

One of my computers was displaying a BSOD with the message IQRL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. A quick Google told me that it was either hardware or software (great...!) I removed the wireless network adaptor and modem from the PCI slots, which stopped the BSOD but now it will only boot to a black screen with the text "We are sorry but Windows could not start..." Anyone had this before/know what to do? Also, if this helps, the computer idles at about 40-45^oC, which I'm not sure is healthy or not (It's a 2.66Ghz Celeron, 768 MB ram, on-board graphics) Thanks for any help! Jackacon 08:59, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

As your Google search already revealed, it can be almost anything. I'd start with memtest86+ to see if it's memory. Your Windows installation has probably corrupted itself; perhaps some of the recovery options might help, but I'd ask someone with more Windows experience (but please test the memory with memtest86/memtest86+ first). Your CPU temperature seems normal to me, mine usually is around 41°C. --cesarb 09:47, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

By itself that 0xA error is probably the most unhelpful of all Bug Check Codes. I keep a link handy to Interpreting Bug Check Codes, because the hexadecimal numbers also on the screen really can help. One time I found it was telling me it was a ide controller error, and the problem was fixed by removing the retaining screw in the laptop's optical drive. That's just how random this error can be. Start at that msdn website, or post the hex parameters it gives you here. -wizzard2k ^(C-T-D) 16:34, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Weird Image

Before an image is loaded or if its broken, there is a strange image an the top right of the square where the image would have been. Whats the image called?

Wikiman232 15:16, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

• I believe it's called a "placeholder". Atleast, that's what I call it. Bart133 ^{(t) (c)} 21:54, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

File transfer

I have a friend who wishes to send me a 15mb .mpeg file from a videophone. How can they sent it to me? They have a very slow internet..wont load on photobucket and of course most email services have attatchment limits. We also tried archiving it and splitting into small pieces but they wont send either..

anyone any ideas? would help a great deal. We also tried file upload sites but that also is very slow and eventually errors.

88.104.15.207 15:20, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

You could try using the File Transfer feature in several Instant Messenger protocols, such as AIM or Jabber. -- JSBillings 15:42, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

That'd be slower than uploading to photobucket or email, really. I suggest putting it on a CD and posting it. Say he has 56kb internet, he'll realistically get about 1kbps upstream. My calculations say that'll take about 4 and a half hours if using all available upstream. Most dialup will disconnect after two hours and allow the user to reconnect - so the file will never be successfully sent. JoshHolloway 17:47, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Or, alternatively, you could split it into a multi-part RAR file ([using Winrar). Then, even if it times out or you only get to send a few of the files, eventually it'll all successfully be sent over. JoshHolloway 17:47, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

I have personally found it very nice to use the DCC Send function in a chat program called "mIRC" (http://www.mirc.com)....

The nice thing is it works great on dialup connections, and if for whatever reason the connection is lost, it allows the reciever to "resume download" if the sender sends it again :)

good luck.

71.221.45.1 17:50, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

N 95 syncronisation with the lap top

I have a N 95 Nokia mobile. The earlier models of Nokia had a unique feature for storing personal information regarding Personal access codes and passwords like the wallet. Where is this feature in the Nokia 95 series? How to synchronize the information with the laptop? How to transfer data from Pre existing Nokia 6600 to N95 mobile phone? For compatibility? Garb wire 16:04, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Function overloading in 'c' (copied from help desk)

in 'c' language scanf and printf acts as a function overloading how? 61.2.231.58 17:00, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Reposted here. RJaguar3 | u | t 17:19, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Quick Networking/IP Address Question!

I am making a network diagram for a small business. If I set up some computers with different IP addresses (in mostly windows XP), can i set them with different numbers in the third "octet" like so:

192.168.0.101 192.168.0.102 192.168.0.103 192.168.10.101 192.168.10.102

and have the same "network name" and still be able to communicate/share files/etc?

OR

would it be better if i just did this to show divisions in the location of the computers:

192.168.0.101 192.168.0.102 192.168.0.103 192.168.0.111 192.168.0.112

? I just want to know. We basically have a setup where some computers are located in an office, and others in a different area, and it would be nice to logically divide the ip addresses and call the computers "Office 101", "Office 102", "Office 103".... and then "Retail 101", "Retail 102", etc.

please lend me a few helpful opinions :)

71.221.45.1 17:38, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Since you are statically assigning IP addresses, the names don't matter as I seriously doubt you're setting up a DNS server. However, I would go into the hosts file and map the names to the IP addresses, such as "office101 192.168.0.101". Then, you won't have to memorize the IP addresses. As for the choice between subnets of 0 and 10, anything under 192.168 is available. Do as you please. You'll just need to adjust the netmask accordingly so the computers know to look on the local network. -- Kainaw^(what?) 17:45, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Right, ill be simple here. i dont know alot about subnets/masks/gateways and all of that stuff to be honest. what i want to do is just go into the network setup dialogues that windows xp already has... where it asks for the name of the pc, its ip address, and then the name of the network. can i set up the names and the ip addresses there as i want them? :)

71.221.45.1 17:54, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

You can, but you will not guarantee any connectivity. For example, if I tell you that your name is Bob and your number is 12, that is fine. Now, I tell someone else that his name is Steve and his number is 10. That is fine. Finally, I ask you what Steve's number is - you don't know. You need some sort of DNS service, or you need to explicitly tell everyone what everyone's name/number combination is. If the absolute only thing you want to do is share files, use Windows file sharing for it. Right-click on "My Computer" and set each computer up with a unique name and the same host network name. Then, when you go to Network Neighborhood, you'll see all the computers and you can share with them without much of a headache. -- Kainaw^(what?) 18:09, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Thats exactly what i plan to do! i will use the same "network name" and different computer names, but will changing the third octet instead of the fourth hurt? i guess thats as clear as my question can get. :)

71.221.45.1 18:28, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

As I said, it can cause problems if your netmask is not set up correctly. If you want to avoid problems, ensure you have basic knowledge of IP address, netmask, domain name, and DNS. -- Kainaw^(what?) 18:37, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Removing images from hacked Windows installation

Hi. At my place of work, a co-worker recently reformatted our computers and put a fresh installation of Windows XP on them. It was probably a good idea, but this co-worker used some stranged hacked version of XP that is lighter and quicker, and has a Vista look-and-feel to it. It's generally fine, but there are some images that appear during startup that we would really like to get rid of. I've searched the computers high and low to find the image files in question and delete them, but they seem to be well-hidden. (The co-worker who did the installation has conveniently moved across the country, and didn't know how to remove the images when I asked him.)

So, where in the computer's settings can I control the images that appear on the screen while Windows is booting up? Where are those files stored, and how can I change them for more appropriate images? Thanks in advance for any advice. -GTBacchus^(talk) 18:31, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

...Are you sure it's XP? Sounds more ilke a fresh install of some linux distro to me. If it is XP, we probably won't help you with hacked/pirated software, sorry. That would be illegal, and we just can't do that --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 18:38, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Whoa. I'm not trying to hack Windows, I'm trying to fix the problem caused by a hacked version. I work in a school, and certain boot-up images are inappropriate, y'know? Can you give me a hint? Do we have to buy new installations of Windows to get rid of two lousy images? -GTBacchus^(talk) 18:56, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes - you need to install Windows. A "hacked" version of Windows should have never ever made it onto one of your machines in the first place. -- Kainaw^(what?) 18:59, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

I agree it never should have been installed, but it's done now. I'm trying to do damage control. I guess we'll just need to buy it from Microsoft. -GTBacchus^(talk) 20:33, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Basically, yes. We cannot help you with hacked OS. If these had been installed *afterwards*, we could probably help you to remove them, but given that it seems to have come with the install disk, we can't help you, since it's an illegal copy of Windows. You could consider something like Edubuntu, a free OS, instead of Windows, although Linux will not run any proprietary applications (although it can still do things like internet, web browsing, HTML and programming things like python just fine, if your students need them) --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 19:51, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

I respect the suggestion of switching to a free OS, but this is an environment where a lot of serious non-computer people have to use the machine regularly, and we aren't trying to add to their stress by making them learn a new OS. Thanks anyway. -GTBacchus^(talk) 20:33, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Uh... it takes almost no effort to learn to use *buntu for basic things like you probably are in a school. Little more than it does sitting down at a friend's slightly differently configured windows box, and definitely no more than switching between different versions of linux --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 20:36, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Tell that to the Spanish teacher when she's freaking out because grades are due tomorrow, she's just trying to print something off the internet for a student, and suddenly everything looks different. See how effective "it takes almost no effort to learn to use *buntu for basic things..." is at helping her. -GTBacchus^(talk) 20:40, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Uh, I don't really see how having to go buy a new copy of Windows is faster, but at the same time I don't know what "everything" is looking different. It's not like other computer systems randomly move things around just because they can --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 21:16, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Sigh, the OS police are on it again. GT, are the images shown on the boot screen (usually says Windows XP with the little green loading bar) or afterward? -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 21:18, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Another quicker yet networking question.

Okay, so I also have two routers... one is the main one which recieves the DSL modem into the "WAN/INTERNET" port, and the other is a 4 port router which also has the "WAN/INTERNET" port. my question is, can i take a line from the main router and plug it into the WAN port of the second router? This would leave me with 4 open ports for 4 PCs to plug into....

OR.... do i have to use a regular port, which would allow me 3 open ports for PC's?

71.221.45.1 18:34, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

• You can daisy chain routers like that, just keep in mind some things might not work properly when trying to traverse two firewalls. Basic stuff like internet, email, chat and connecting to games should work, but anything that tries to use a computer for a server or P2P might have difficulty. -wizzard2k ^(C-T-D) 21:01, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

.MOV

hello,

ok i have a digital camera that takes videos in .mov format. my question is how do i convert them into a format that is "accepted" by an iPod video (5th gen.) and aswell a format that is accepted by Windows (XP) Movie Maker? please could it be in "for dummies" language

thanks, --62.136.64.253 19:25, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

• If I remember correctly, you can open .mov files in Windows Movie Maker. iTunes should accept .mov files. .mov is an Apple file format. Bart133 ^{(t) (c)} 21:52, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Query on MS Excel

I presently have a 512 MB RAM in my Laptop I want to upgrade it to 1GB Ram. How to go about it?

In MS Excel How do we convert the text file with non-adjacent rows into coloumnar format? 20:00, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

This will depend on your laptop. In general, if you don't know, it's better to take it to a shop and let them handle it instead of messing up your computer. --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 20:24, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Does Blackle really save significant amounts of energy?

The site Blackle.com claims to save energy because it uses a rather dark interface, with a mostly black background instead of white. It says that it takes much less energy to display the screen, so that if large numbers of people use Blackle as a search engine (behind the interface, it's using Google, hence the play on Google's name), the world would save a lot of energy.

I'm kind of skeptical but I don't really know. Pixels displaying black are not off, so energy is still being used to create the black color--but perhaps less? Also, there's a number of posts here and there that say this is only true for CRT monitors, not the LCD kind that are becoming the norm.

Can you give a definitive answer? Thanks for looking into it.Rmcfarlin001 20:26, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

They're either joking, or morons. Ignoring the fact that black on white is probably better on the eyes, you are correct- as long as the monitor is on, it is using power. I highly doubt it's saving any power at all, for the same reason that using less powerful programs doesn't make your CPU use less power. They'd be much better off trying to make a more EFFICIENT interface, so people can spend less time online, or by selling discount LCDs or so on --_ʇuǝɯɯoɔɐqǝɟ 20:32, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

How can I connect both of these computers to the Internet?

My cousin has two computers that run on Windows. He uses Verizon DSL and a Westell 6100 modem. He has succeeded in connecting one of his computers to the Internet. He also wants to connect his second computer to the Internet. However, a tech support guy from Verizon said that that was not possible because the Westell 6100 modem only supports 1 computer. He said that my cousin has to purchase a router.

My cousin is very reluctant to purchase a router. Is there any inexpensive way he can connect both of his computers to the Internet?

Yes, it's called a router. Seriously. You can buy a basic ethernet router/switch for under $30 [4]. Donald Hosek 22:09, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

I checked some stores in the neighborhood and routers were more than $60.