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November 28

Possible to add WiFi "n" to PS3 via USB dongle?

Is it possible to add 802.11n WiFi to the Playstation 3 with one of those USB WiFi .11n dongles? I'm noticing streaming Netflix is having a hard time keeping up with HD shows over PS3's built-in "g" WiFi. --68.103.143.23 (talk) 00:20, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

You cannot install the driver for the wifi adapter in the PS3 OS. If you simply run Linux on your PS3 for some reason, you could install the driver there. The common method to get 802.11n is to get a bridge configured to talk "n" instead of "g" to your router. Then, connect the bridge via the wired ethernet into the back of the PS3. So, the PS3 will have 1GB speed to the bridge and the bridge will be limited to "n". -- kainaw™ 03:19, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

How fast is your Internet connection? It's just that 802.11g is 54Mb/s (although realistically you probably don't get more than 30Mb/s), but even the 30Mb/s is still likely to be faster than your Internet connection which is probably the limiting factor here. If it is then adding 802.11n (which I don't see is actually an option anyway) just wouldn't do any difference. The only other thing I can think of is that perhaps the HD video is encoded with more bandwidth than the PS3 can handle, but I don't know what it can/can't handle with regards to that, so it's just another possibility. ZX81 ^talk 03:45, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

The PS3 handles the HD codec just fine. I've watched 1080p movies on the PS3 and it doesn't glitch. -- kainaw™ 04:06, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm not doubting the codec won't work (original poster already verified that it does), but rather how high a bitrate for the video the PS3 can cope with. The higher the bitrate the more data it would have to process at once until the point it can't process anymore, but I honestly believe the problem is more to do with the Internet connectivity than the bitrate. ZX81 ^talk 04:32, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

How to create a new website

how to create a new website? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sureshsivam (talk • contribs) 02:10, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Learn HTML and create a website or use a WYSIWYG editor and create a website. -- kainaw™ 03:12, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

and after that get some hosting for the site, so people can actually visit it, see web host —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.55.75 (talk) 10:59, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Or, use Google Sites or one of the other free services, which don't give you as much flexibility, but are probably a better (and certainly cheaper) way for you to get started and see how much you want to take on. Tempshill (talk) 18:45, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

You might also like to register a domain name for your site SKYFUDREAMCLOUDS - TALK // CONTRIBUTIONS 23:26, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Cross-configure Ubuntu Server

My desktop computer's video card died today, and it has no onboard video. I'd like to convert it to a headless Ubuntu Server with SSH. I plan to buy a USB external dock for the hard drive and connect it to my laptop for the conversion. Is an installer available that will let me do this? If not, where can I learn how to install it manually? The desktop's CPU is a Pentium 4 (i386 architecture), and the laptop's is a Core 2 Duo (amd64 architecture), so if I use chroot with apt-get, I may need to use architecture emulation as well. NeonMerlin 03:19, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Best way would be to install the os through the laptop on the HD from the enclosure(make sure you get the 32bit, it should run on both computers). Then, when you are finished installing and you have ssh ready and you're sure it can boot up properly, you can move it to your headless comp. (tip, take the native(the one inside) hd out of the laptop, so the only hd the os knows about is the one in the enclosure). Though, i strongly suggest you get a crappy video card from somewhere, they're throwing them away these days(go to a local school, and ask the admin for some); it should help you diagnose problems like in BIOS, network problems(which you can't diagnose otherwise because the ssh won't work) and so on. 129.97.226.160 (talk) 07:47, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

files and their shortcuts

How can we keep the shortcut to files pointing to the same file even if it is moved to another place? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 113.199.159.177 (talk) 05:33, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

You didn't say what operating system you are using. Here's a couple of methods under Unix/Linux:

1) Add a new link pointing from the old location to the new one. Now you have a link pointing to a link pointing to the file, but it still works the same. I'm not sure if there's a limit on how many levels of links you can have.

2) Use relative directories containing logical file names. So, if the file is in $HOME/bin, and $HOME = /usr/adams, and you then change it to /usr/baker, then, as long as the link points to $HOME/bin (as opposed to /use/adams/bin), then it will follow the file to the new location automatically. StuRat (talk) 07:30, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

I am using windows xp —Preceding unsigned comment added by 113.199.174.230 (talk) 09:06, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

If you click on a shortcut where the target has moved, Windows will automatically look for the target. 121.72.215.173 (talk) 10:12, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Or right-click the shortcut, select "properties", and change the target in the dialog that appears. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 14:33, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Can I play these Games with This computer?

Dell Studio 1555:

• Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 2.13GHz, 1066Mhz, 3M L2 Cache
• RAM 4GB, DDR2, 800MHz
• 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570
• 500G 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive

Call of Duty World at War 1 and 2, Medieval: Total War 2, Battlefield: Modern Combat (newest one)and Grand Theft Auto 4? Thanks 99.240.194.178 (talk) 06:35, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Call of Duty: World at War#Development Medieval II: Total War Grand Theft Auto IV#Windows version Learn to search please kthx.121.72.215.173 (talk) 10:11, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

It would help to know the OS (Operating System) running on your PC. A version of Windows perhaps? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:04, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Here's a website that figures it out for you (with a java app). Can You Run It?. --Mark PEA (talk) 17:33, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Short answer: yes, but on low details, except for GTA4 (that thing is even worse than Crysis). --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:17, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Google mail SMS account verification

I've tried several times to create a google email account, and each time it has asked me for a phone number to "activate" the account via sms (see Gmail#Requirement_for_mobile_phone_number). I do not have a mobile phone, nor do I have any access whatsoever to mobile phones, and I cannot borrow someone elses phone because I live alone, don't work and have no friends. Is there a workaround or alternative? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.55.75 (talk) 11:11, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

I had genuinely considered offering to help earlier in the day when I first read this post (although don't live in the same country so don't know if that would work) but considering what I realised on WT:RD I've decided I definitely won't and in fact am quite glad I didn't. A word of advice, you may find in that when you make yourself a social outcast by your actions, this isn't an uncommon reaction. And I'm not surprised by your personal description. Nil Einne (talk) 06:48, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

What? You're saying you know the answer to my question but won't help because you have a personal grudge against me? That's circling very close to a personal attack. What exactly have I done to offend you? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.55.75 (talk) 10:59, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

SMS memory premature ejaculation

I love my SMS memory stick because there couldn't be an easier way to carry gigabytes in my pocket and to download them to anyone's computer. BUT recently I mangled all the files on the stick by pulling it out of the PC without clicking through the "Safely Remove Hardware" steps (in Vista). Can anyone tell me what is so difficult about making the OS write file(s) to the USB device properly which would eliminate the danger of premature ejaculation? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:02, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

It seems to me to be entirely possibly to make a USB pen drive which preserves all of the files, except for the one it's currently writing, when you yank it out. For that file, there's no solution to only having part of it copied, but the drive should at least be able to identify it as such by setting a "copy in progress" flag, which is not cleared until it is fully copied.

Now, for some applications you may want to have multiply files open at once, but I still think only one can be written to at a time, even in that case. Perhaps the other files could have a "file open" flag set, which is less serious than the "copy in progress" flag. In many cases such a file would still be usable.

Database operations are especially complex, as many tables need to be kept in sink and pulling the storage device out mid-update might mess that up. However, there are already software solutions in place for that, such as "transactions" which can be rolled back if incomplete.

The other solution is to make USB flash drives like CDs and DVDs, which can only be ejected when everything is OK. That features is a major source of annoyance for many, though, as they often say "file in use" even when nothing seems like it should be in use. So, I prefer the way they work now over that. StuRat (talk) 14:49, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

USB is slow. Users will get pissed if they have to wait for writes to the USB stick. So, it goes to a buffer. To ensure the buffer is cleared before you pull the stick, you must safely remove the stick. So, the way to fix it is to remove the buffer. I know how to do it in Linux, but not in Windows. -- kainaw™ 16:42, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Try right-click; Properties; Hardware; Properties; Policies; and turn off Write-Caching. --Phil Holmes (talk) 17:36, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

It is not quite trivial to ensure consistency even without caching. The problem is not the one file being written, the problem is that the structure of the file system itself is being modified, and may be in an inconsistent state. To ensure that this is consistent requires journaling or something similar, but that comes with an overhead in memory and performance. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 17:44, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Switching from Windows (Microsoft) to Mac (Apple)

Is it worth it doing (see the subject line for more info)?

Basically, my previous questions on here have got me thinking about this. At the same time my dad made the switch a yr ago (February, 2010) and he loves it. Plus, he had his troubles with Windows as well. Somehow he gets the new one since he uses it for his business as well and not for me. Unfortunately its hard for him and other/s to justified getting any additional/s ones since from what I gather that Macs can be expensive then Windows. At the same my mom and me each have accounts on his computer. At least have some familiarity with them as well. Also, my mom and twin sister have iPhones and do love them. Will be getting my 1st iPhone in a wk to a mo from now and can't wait for it. Before we always relied on Windows then Macs. Expect our 1st computer was mac, but it wasn't great experience. Have used mac in some of my schooling yrs as well and don't really remember it.

Believes thats it for now. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessicaabruno (talk • contribs) 18:17, 28 November 2009 (UTC) --Jessica A Bruno 18:26, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunately, without knowing much more about what you use your computer for, it's impossible for the Reference Desk to answer the common question of which is better. It is a very individual decision that has to do with your personal preference for the Windows interface vs. the Mac interface, your budget, and what applications you use on your computer, and which platform has a better version of these applications. Note that most iPhone users have PCs; you don't need a Mac for that. Tempshill (talk) 18:44, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanx for your answer to my question here. Basically, I really just use it for emailing and internet then anything else.--Jessica A Bruno 22:29, 28 November 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessicaabruno (talk • contribs)

Why would you need a new thousand-dollar computer to send e-mails and surf the Internet? E-mail was invented in the 1960s and the Internet in the 1970s. Any computer can do those things. Most of the issues with Windows mentioned in those simplistic Apple ads have been fixed with Windows 7, by the way. Maybe you could just upgrade to Windows 7, instead? If your hardware isn't up to the task, then put some new parts in. You are correct that Macs are expensive. But it's not just the initial purchase price. Every few years, Apple changes their products, forcing you to buy a brand-new system. In 2005, they switched from the PowerPC CPU to Intel. In 2001, they switched from the classic Mac OS to a new one (Mac OS X). The same happened in the early 1990s with the PowerPC transition. You better have deep pockets.--Drknkn (talk) 22:40, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

OP should read the above as a troll. Anybody using any type of computer will want to buy a "brand-new system" a couple of times a decade or so to keep up with the latest and greatest. (Hopefully this won't be true in the future, but is certainly is true now.) Apple (or anybody else) doesn't make you upgrade to the latest systems when they come out. You just won't be able to run the fastest/fanciest stuff on an older computer, no matter what type it is. If you really just need to do email and web browsing, a 5 year old Mac or 5 year old Windows machine will probably work equally well. Staecker (talk) 23:39, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

No. Actually, anyone who is a sucker and a noob would want to buy a new computer every five years. I have parts in my computer from the 1990s. I only upgrade what I need. I can run MS-DOS programs on my Windows installation, by the way. Have fun booting into your classic mode to run your old apps. Was that worth the $1000 Apple tax?--Drknkn (talk) 01:33, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Agreed that the above is just trolling. --Mr.98 (talk) 00:14, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Thoughtful comment. But where did I insult anyone? You and "Staecker" seem to be the ones who are calling names. So, you're obviously both ignorant immature trolls. You'd rather make your parents pay $1000-plus dollars for a new computer than answer their basic questions? What kind of son are you?--Drknkn (talk) 01:33, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

I think that's uncalled for. The OP has had her question answered, let's just leave it here. Thanks, 99.241.68.194 (talk) 04:29, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanx for your answer to my question here. Have to say your answer is interesting as well. At the same time I'm always looking for more answers to my question as well.--Jessica A Bruno 23:44, 28 November 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessicaabruno (talk • contribs)

I have found that people with less experience with computers do better with Macs. They are much more user-friendly than Windows systems—they "just work" 90% of the time. (That other 10% is mind-boggling difficult to resolve, though.) They can do almost all of the "business" functions you might want them to. There are a few programs that are Windows-only but most are cross-compatible. The hardware is more expensive, though, to be sure. On the other hand, if you consider your time valuable, I consider them to be a lot cheaper than Windows machines (to say the least of Linux machines), as you won't be worrying about viruses, spyware, or other things that plague Windows. My father switched to a Mac about two years ago and the number of "tech support" calls to me dropped to basically zero. I can't wait for my mother to switch. --Mr.98 (talk) 00:14, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Actually, people with little Windows experience do better with Macs. Macs are fine for many beginners, but they are also very popular among computer scientists and UNIX diehards like me. There is a real UNIX under the hood, and many highly useful if not necessary pointy-clicky-friendly open source applications are either pre-installed or easy to install. I'd also take some issue with claims about the price. If you buy comparable hardware, the Mac is not that expensive - as I found out 2002, looking for a good Laptop for Linux, but ending up with a TiBook, as it was cheaper than comparable models from Toshiba, IBM, and even Gateway. Apple does not cater for the low-end market, and you can get sufficiently powerful computers much below the price of Apple's entry level models. But if you compare like with like, there is no significant premium. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 01:08, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, I wasn't considering the high-end of the experience scale, just because it didn't seem relevant here.

OS X isn't real Unix, it's Mach with a Posix subsystem on top. Debian/Ubuntu could be ported to Cygwin too. Possibly this has been held up by issues of case sensitivity and the like, which are finally fixed in Cygwin 1.7. -- BenRG (talk) 20:38, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

If you really just use a computer for email and the web, then the advice some way above that any computer will do is pretty much right (although wrong in other ways). However, you might have trouble getting a decade-old computer to run the latest versions of Flash and so forth if these are necessary for you.

If you're concerned about malevolent software (what are often miscalled "viruses", etc), then some alternative to Windows is likely to be a bit of a relief, because writers of this software concentrate on Windows (thanks to its huge market share). That's not to say that you can't have a safe Windows setup or a vulnerable Mac (or other) setup.

If you prefer Mac OS X then it is no longer necessary to buy a Mac for the job; you (or a friend) can install it on various other computers (but certainly not any), resulting in what's called a "hackintosh". Apple will not be happy and will not give you any help.

Another option is Linux. According to legend, this is tremendously difficult to install, get used to, and run; if I said that it came installed ("preinstalled") on the dirt-cheap computer I'm contentedly running now, I might be accused of trolling, so I shall refrain from saying it. -- Hoary (talk) 04:56, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

(Re)Installing Linux is a lot easier than installing Windows IMO (although most people are shielded from the pain by buying prebuilt computers). Windows 7 removed many driver burdens but it's still nowhere near as easy to reinstate your old settings (mount my old home partition as /home in Linux and I'm done!). --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:13, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

(Nobody is going to accuse you of trolling for just stating how you feel about things in a reasonable way. We'll accuse you of trolling if you pepper your posts with insults and obvious non-sequiturs meant to provoke a response.) I know that a lot of people who already know how to use Linux find it pretty straightforward, but I think they on the whole underestimate the amount of skill it takes to use when something does not go right. I personally find Linux far too opaque for the casual computer user. Even my own forays into trying to install free software on the Unix aspects of my OS X machine have been overwhelmingly frustrating, and I am pretty savvy with computers. (Oh, to install this, you must first install these other programs, all of which require hours-long compilations from the source, which requires having the right version of the compiler, and nobody feels it necessary to spell out the specific steps necessary. And then, after all that, it still won't really work correctly, but if you want it to be different, then just become a computer programmer and fix it yourself, duh.) I really wouldn't recommend it to someone who just wants to have an "easy" computing experience. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:07, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

It should be mentioned that on an average linux desktop you never need to install anything from source. The package manager makes it possible to install and keep up-to-date the program you want and all its depencies without wandering to a project's homesite to download an installer. Eg ubuntu repositories have ~30,000 packages, all are digitally signed so you don't need to worry whether it's the real thing or something malicious. --194.197.235.240 (talk) 17:03, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

...and neither is it needed on the Mac. Install Fink, opt for apt-get, and nearly all of Debian is yours for a command line. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 18:12, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanx for all the latest responses to my question. All of them are interesting as well.--Jessica A Bruno 19:58, 29 November 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessicaabruno (talk • contribs)

November 29

.emacs and OS X

When I'm using Emacs from the terminal in OS X (10.6), where does its .emacs file live? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.75.107.228 (talk) 02:21, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

It can be at ~/.emacs, ~/.emacs.el, or ~/.emacs.d/init.el (for the ~, see home directory). See the Info node (emacs) Find Init (which should be available locally as well as online). Of course, you may not have one; OS X surely doesn't put one there for you, and Emacs won't unless you use its Customize feature or "Options → Save Options". --Tardis (talk) 08:35, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Monitor

Do they still make computers with CRT monitors? jc iindyysgvxc (my contributions) 04:21, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Note that no-one manufactures computers "with" monitors. A monitor is a separate device, although usually they SOLD "with" monitors. That would be like asking "do they still make DVD players with CRT TVs?" So if you're asking "do they still make CRT monitors?" then possibly, somewhere in the world. New CRT TV's are still being manufactured and sold, so I don't see why not monitors too. Zunaid●is there when you need him — now he needs you 06:21, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

I wouldn't be surprised if there are some military designs with them from years and years ago and a procurement order has only now been put out after loads of testing and paperwork for ruggedized CRT monitors and they are just about to be manufactured and delivered for the next twenty years at a hundred times the price of an LCD moitor. But apart from ancient designs where changing the paperwork would be just too much work I can't see any point. The space shuttle still runs on something pathetic with one megabyte of store I believe but it does the job and noone feels like replacing it. The Russians used to work till recently with just six kilobytes until they decided to upgrade and that probably caused one of their rockets to crash. Dmcq (talk) 09:25, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

This is a tangent, but as noted at Space Shuttle#Flight systems, the flight control computers' goal is fail-safe reliability, so it's not that "noone feels like replacing it", but that by now the software is probably close to bug-free, and it surely cost years and several million dollars to get there. Not worth tampering with a system that's close to the apex of reliability for software just so the astronauts can play MP3s on the flight control computers. Tempshill (talk) 16:58, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Zunaid seemingly hasn't seen the vast number of Apple iMac computers that are, to the end consumer, computers built into monitors. These have been around for maybe 10 years now - mostly in LCD format, but they start off being CRT (their eMac and their original iMac design). Many other firms do this as well - Sony Vaio have plenty like this. This is being a bit mean though, as Zunaid is right - the question is more 'are CRT monitors available new?' because most of the time the monitor itself is not part of the 'pc' per-se, it's just something sold bundled with it. The answer is - yes there are plenty of CRTs still available (at work so can't provide links but google search and you'll find 'em). 10:42, 29 November 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.221.133.226 (talk)

According to [1] 'Philips spokesman Joon Knapen said the CRT screens "are still made for a couple of emerging markets, but the volumes produced are very small."'. This was from about 3 days ago but of course is referring to Philips who are a high end brand and is likely primarily referring to TVs. [2] "Since April 2008, the exports of China’s CRT TVs and colorful tubes have been increased gradually compared to the same period of last year; especially the export achievement of upstream color kinescope enterprises represented by Rainbow and Beijing Matsushita, their export situation is gratifying with growth exceeded 20%. Currently, there are 20 manufacturers of CRT complete appliance in the world. 60% -70% of the CRT TVs are produced in China and over 80% of color picture tubes are manufactured in China too." Cathode ray tube#The future of CRT technology also has useful info too. While these are all largely referring to TVs, I don't see any reason to think there will be CRT TVs but no CRT monitors in other words 194.221 is definitely right. Of course non new monitors may also be refurbished if necessary and used too and I think this is quite common in the developing world. (In much of the developed world you can probably buy a good CRT for a very low price from auction sites and the like, e.g. I got a 19" Dell Triniton for about NZ$12 IIRC Nil Einne (talk) 23:36, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

What's the problem with DeviantArt?

This has been happening for quite some time now. Some times, when I'm viewing DeviantArt, viewing a picture takes me to a phishing or malware site instead. Luckily I spot this immediately and click the "back" button before the content even starts loading. On the next try, everything works fine. This happens once every few days or so. It happens only with DeviantArt, not with any other website. (I don't even go to any shady porn or Viagra sites advertised in spam, just reputable websites.) What's the problem with DeviantArt? Has it been hijacked somehow? JIP | Talk 11:22, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Probably there ad server is directing you to other sites and they get payed for it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.55.75 (talk) 11:24, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

If you press ALT + V in Internet Explorer and then go to Webpage Privacy Policy, you will be shown a list of sites that are posting content on Deviant Art. You can block these sites from doing certain things (like redirecting your browser) by pressing ALT + T and clicking on Internet Options, then Security, Restricted sites, Sites, and adding the malicious site to the list. I also use this technique to block Flash ads. I experienced a malicious redirect a while ago on the New York Times's web site. These ads are usually hosted on the advertiser's site and not the site you visit. So, the site you visit has no control over what they do. The ads are often web pages (not just images), so they can run JavaScripts and other dangerous things.--Drknkn (talk) 12:00, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

I would definitely report such instances to DeviantArt immediately, giving as much information as possible.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 16:16, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

If the redirects are coming from the ads, then that's a bit difficult. I don't pay attention to ads, so I don't know which ads are displayed on the page unless I am specifically trying to find out. And when I come back from a malicious redirect to the real DeviantArt site, the ad should already have been replaced by a legitimate ad, shouldn't it? JIP | Talk 16:42, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

You could disable JavaScript temporarily. In IE, you'd press ALT + T, then go to Internet Options --> Security --> Custom Level and scroll down to Scripting and disable "active scripting." Then, view the privacy report and block all sites except Deviant Art. Reload the page and repeat. Then, re-enable JavaScript. While you're in the security box, also disable "META REFRESH" under Miscellaneous. Most of the time, redirects are done via either JavaScript or a meta refresh.--Drknkn (talk) 20:44, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Any way to password protect an entire external hard drive?

It's just plug and play and not secure. Is there any way to password protect the entire drive conveniently? If you password protect a single folder containing all data on the drive, do you have to enter that password every time you add or change data on the volume? (Using Windows Vista)... --Damriteido (talk) 16:00, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

You can encrypt an entire drive using TrueCrypt, although it's probably better to just create a TrueCrypt volume on the drive as it allows the drive to still be used for other things. Or you could store your files you want protected in an .zip file and use its password protect function. As far as I know, most encrypt programs will remember your session and won't ask for the password for each data change, until you exit the program or dismount the volume. —Preceding unsigned comment added by .isika (talk • contribs) 16:08, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

I agree with .isika. BitLocker Drive Encryption and TrueCrypt are probably the articles you'll want to refer to. Tempshill (talk) 16:53, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

If you have Windows 7 Ultimate, then BitLocker To Go is the best way to go (no pun intended). While TrueCrypt wont allow you to open the encrypted partition on another computer without it being installed on that machine, BitLocker To Go adds a small program called BitLocker To Go Reader to the device. When it is plugged into a machine not running Windows 7, it allows you to use the files from the device after entering the password, while keeping the device read-only. 121.223.178.10 (talk) 10:52, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Other use of "Interstitial"

Hi, I've checked Interstitial webpage and searched the archive for keyword "interstitial", but I can't find what I'm looking for - a system I've seen years ago, of which I can't remember the name. It was a proxy/whitelist system that would offer an interstitial page when the user hit a non-whitelisted page, instead of an "access denied" error page. The interstitial told the user that proceeding to that page *will* be logged, and that if s/he intends to access it, it might be wise to fill out the comment box below (say, you're in a bank's trading department, and CNN reports that sex dot com is going to be bought by foo dot com - that would be a legitimate reason for a short visit to sex dot com, which would usually be blocked by default). Optionally, it could be configured not to let the user access the page until an administrator had reviewed the site and the comment - in that case, the URL and the comment were forwarded to a mailbox set up for that purpose. I don't even remember if that was some sort of plugin for Squid, or if it was a completely different piece of software altogether. :-( Does this sound familiar to someone? -- 78.43.93.25 (talk) 17:42, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

How to compile GNU stuff

Hello! How do I take the sources that I download from the GNU project and compile them so they'll run on my Windows Vista 64-bit computer? A lot of the Windows binaries I find only work on 32-bit machines, and I know nothing about compiling to be able to create a 64-bit executable myself. Thank you!--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 20:11, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

MinGW has a 64 bit version (although I don't know how mature it is). That'll give you a basic gcc-win64 toolchain which should be enough to get other stuff building. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 20:21, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Okay, MinGW-64 has given me some command-line executable compilers like g++, c++, and gcc, but I'm not sure what files I'm supposed to compile from open sources. I've downloaded the sources for MPlayer, for example, which contain a bunch of .c and .h files, but even the README isn't that clear on what to compile. Do I try to compile the whole directory? Is there a certain "main" file I should look for, pass it into the compiler, and that will take care of it?--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 21:35, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

For clarity, there's nothing stopping you running Windows x32 apps, including MPlayer and other MinGW compiled apps on any version of Windows x64 as all x64 versions of Windows including Windows XP x64, Windows Server 2003 x64, Windows Vista x64, Windows Server 2008 x64, Windows 7 x64, Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 (although it's an optional component there) and almost definitely Windows 8 (which is likely to be only available in x64 versions) include WoW64. While the app will be able to use more then 4GB and in some cases may be faster, this is not guaranteed particularly in cases like I describe later (IA64 versions of Windows are obviously a different case).

For a few things like drivers and perhaps which require very low level or complete interaction, you do need native x64 versions but that's obviously not the case here. I've been using Windows x64 since the XP days (late 2005 I think) and excluding drivers and things with them (including hardware monitoring or overclocking stuff, firewalls, CD mounting utilities and Acrobat) and on access antivirus software none of which is really a problem nowadays (except for the requirement for signed drivers on Vista x64 and Windows 7 x64 which can be turned off if really necessary), the only apps I've ever had problems with have been one which refuse to install (largely games) which also can happen on Vista x32 and two or so games (cheapish adventure games so not something you encounter a lot) which didn't work properly on Vista x64 which I think I never worked out whether because they didn't like Vista or didn't like x64.

Oh and I also know of a friend had problems with SolidWorks (2008 Student Edition) because of a variety of issues which I can't remember I think included strange stuff like the x64 version not running on Vista x64 but only XP x64, the x32 version not running on any x64 OSes or perhaps not without a patch; which I don't quite know the cause of but may be because of their activation/licensing modules or simply because they don't support the platform and therefore have decided to refuse to let you to run it in case it doesn't work. Even this is mostly fixed in the 2009 version I think and the 2008 version has patches, but the Student Editions can be behind the normal versions and they don't appear to support the Student Editions with patches.

Definitely I've never had any problems with any GNU apps I've tried including several of those in cygwin nor with MPlayer (which isn't a GNU app AFAIK even if it's released under the GPL) or VLC. AFAIK, things still aren't that good on the free software Windows x64 compiler front part of the reason I believe for the lack of Windows x64 builds for most of FLOSS software. You may be able to get it to work, but unless you know what you're doing I wouldn't recommend it.

You can get unofficial Windows x64 versions of some codecs and apps (e.g. Firefox) but you should bear in mind that for example for browsers you need x64 plugins which Windows are still somewhat unavailable (a Java plugin is finally available as of late last year, Flash is still not available AFAIK) and for DirectShow codecs you need a x64 media player or app to use them and you may not gain much of an advantage in terms of speed because many have a lot of coded low level optimisations which will need to be reimplemented before you really gain anything.

If you plan to regularly encode a lot of stuff and believe you will gain a speed version with x64 versions (hint: look for benchmarks or even if you want to use mplayer, try ffdshow, x264 or other DirectShows codecs and/or apps which you can find already compiled x64 versions for and use these to test, they by and large the same codecs mplayer uses internally) then it's obviously worth it. Or you have a lot of memory (over 4GB, presuming the app is large address aware and if it isn't it's probably easy to either ask someone or you yourself compile a x32 large address aware version rather then fool around with x64 version) and want to use it with the app ditto. And obviously if the app does have a Windows x64 version then you probably should use. But otherwise I somewhat doubt it's worth worrying about. (In the older days, I used to seek out all the unofficial x64 versions of apps I could find but I've somewhat given up on that.) In particularly, if you only want to use Mplayer as a player it's unlikely to be worth it.

Obviously it's up to you what you do, and if you still want to try it I won't try to further discourage you I'm just suggesting you think carefully about whether it's really worth your time since it doesn't sound like you know what you're doing (this is intended in a negative way, I don't either) and from my experience compiling open sources apps particularly those not natively for Windows on Windows can be tricky as you often have to manually seek out the libraries and then may have to do various things to get it to work or it may even just not worked if no one regularly compiles it on Windows and I'm guessing trying to do it for x64 is going to be even more annoying.

Nil Einne (talk) 23:04, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

MPlayer isn't GNU software (which is important, as GNU software tends to all be built the same way, but other projects can be more variable). In general you run the configure script, which chunters away for a bit and then emits a makefile, and you then typically run make and then make install. That all works because of autoconf (which makes the configure script, but which I think you don't need to run the build); autoconf tries to build a platform-neutral build system. But MinGW (or cygwin) for that matter aren't magical compatability layers that allow any Unix(ish) software to be built on Windows and run. They don't do anything for UI stuff, media stuff, and lots of other things that aren't within the (rather narrow) amibit of POSIX (and a few other things) that MinGW and Cygwin implement on Windows. For stuff like that, I'd check the site for the specific project; if they don't have a build for that platform, they probably don't have an official one. In that event I'd ask on the project's mailing list. And it's not at all a safe assumption to think that a C or C++ program will run faster if compiled to 64 bit rather than 32: the significant expansion of code, data, and stack size will (roughly) half the efficiency of the processor's cache; 64 bit applicatations really only makes sense if important parts of the code have been written to properly take advantage of it. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 23:34, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for your responses, Nil Einne and Finlay McWalter. In particular, it was mencoder, mplayer's sister project, that I was interested in. When I tried it on a 32-bit system, it worked fine, but as soon as I moved it over to my 64-bit system, it would become unresponsive. (I guess mencoder-32bit uses some low-level functions that are problematic on 64-bit systems, although, as you both noted, I generally do not have a problem with 32-bit programs.) I will use your advice to see if building it on my system makes it function properly.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 04:49, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

November 30

How the algorithm to fade from one image to another is implemented

Is it usually done by

1)For each pass in a loop depending on how quickly the fade is to be, completely replace every nth pixel of image1 with the corresponding pixel of image2 and decrease n so slightly more pixels will be replaced the next time around until all pixels have been replaced.

2)For each pass in a loop depending on how quickly the fade is to be, modify every single pixel value according to a calculated shift so every image1 pixel value transforms into its corresponding pixel2 value with many values belonging to neither image occurring during the transformation.

3)Something else I didn't think of.

If it's either of the two I could think of, I'm betting it's #2 since #1 would probably appear spotty even if the resolution was sharp, but it (#2) sure seems like a lot of calculation looping through every pixel. Then again, I know computers are just very fast. 71.161.61.41 (talk) 00:10, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Normally, it is done by completely overlaying one image on top of another image. Then, through a loop, change the opacity of the top image until it is invisible and only the bottom image is visible. The end result is that the video output will average each pixel of both images together based on opacity of each image - but the user programming the fade isn't doing that. The person who programmed the video driver (or similar) does that part. -- kainaw™ 00:18, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, #2. What you're doing is generally linear interpolation (although there might be circumstances where you'd flatten the two ends of the line horizontally a bit, to give the effect a "soft landing"). Yes, it's a lot of bit shovelling, but you're right, modern CPUs are way fast. This process is generally called alpha blending (with you changing the alpha value to make the fade effect). Some very resource-constrained platforms to perform alpha blending using the #1 method you describe - Quake 2 did this (if you didn't have a decent video card) and called it "stipple alpha". -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 00:21, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

It's irrelevent how fast your CPU is - blending is best handled with shader code in the GPU. Linear interpolation happens at ungodly speeds in the GPU. In order to get a nice-looking cross-fade, you generally want to ramp the alpha of one image against the other with a smoothed off ramp - not a straight linear ramp. I generally use a sine-wave shape to vary the alpha over time. What that does is (a) look smoother because there is no abrupt onset and ending of the fading and (b) it gets over the 'confusing' part where the two images are roughly equally represented in less time...it just looks way better. SteveBaker (talk) 02:31, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Refilling an HP printer ink cartridge

I am very experienced in refilling black ink cartridges. All the instructions I've seen for refilling an HP45 cartridge say that you should make a hole underneath the cartridge, where it looks as if the original factory filling hole was. Is there any good reason not to ignore this and make the hole above the cartridge, where the ink is less likely to leak out and filling is so much easier? The Lexmark printer I previously used had cartridges where it was easy to remove the loose top and pour ink onto the sponge inside, but does the HP45 have - I speculate - some sort of siphon arrangement that requires an air tight seal? Without destroying a cartridge, does anyone know what the HP45 would look like if cut in half? 78.147.183.186 (talk) 00:55, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

One reason to fill that cartridge from the bottom is that you already have a hole there, rather than needing to drill one. Of course, leaking is possible in that location, but maybe that's why they put the hole on the bottom, to discourage home ink refills. StuRat (talk) 03:09, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Chatzilla DCC automation

I use Firefox with Chatzilla 0.9.85. On some channels, public DCC file servers accept requests with the syntax

!<server username> <filename>

Can I set up a script so that if I type a request with this syntax in Chatzilla, it will automatically accept any offer from that user to send a file with that name? Also, can I set one up so that if certain usernames (who are search bots) offer .txt.zip files, they will automatically be accepted and unzipped and their contents displayed in the chat tab? NeonMerlin 02:08, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Uniloc Patent

Does the Uniloc patent cover product activation in general or product activation with a key? Either both seem very broad to me and cover basic things that don't seem patentable. Although I can see a specific method of product activation using a key with a couple different protocol steps as patentable. --Melab±1 ☎ 02:10, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

You can read the patent here. SteveBaker (talk) 02:16, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Fractional bit of entropy from /dev/random

In Linux, is it possible to get less than one bit of entropy at a time from /dev/random, in the form of a bit whose probability of being 1 is something other than 0.5? (For example, one could then simulate a six-sided die using a first bit with probability 1/3 of 1 and 1 to 2 bits with probability 1/2 of 1, and then interpret 000 as 1, 001 as 2, 010 as 3, 011 as 4, 10 as 5 and 11 as 6.) NeonMerlin 02:54, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

I do not use Linux, but couldnt you just use /dev/random three times to get three bits, giving you eight different numbers with an equal probability? If the number obtained was seven or eight then re-do the proceedure. I recall it is possible to get a Guassian distribution for example by adding (I think) several instances of the more usual 0 to 1 probability function, due to the central limit theorem, and you should be able to do this with /dev/random as well. For example if you added /dev/random 100 times you would get a mean of 50 - cannot remember the formula for the standard deviation. 78.146.171.75 (talk) 11:18, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Disclaimer: I haven't the faintest idea how /dev/random/ works. However, I was under the impression that it behaves like a file. If so, reading individual bits would be impractical anyways. As 78.x.x.x indicates, a common algorithm is to use a modulo operation to obtain a number in the desired range, discarding outputs from the random number generator that would result in an uneven distribution. decltype (talk) 11:35, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

You cannot read "less than one bit" from /dev/random. Obviously, a bit is as small as it gets. Further, you will have difficulty reading less than a byte (8 bits). So, your best bet is to read one byte and mod by 6. That will randomly give you 0-5. Add one to the result to get 1-6. If your problem is that /dev/random is blocking, use /dev/urandom. It is slightly (very slightly) less random, but won't block. -- kainaw™ 13:14, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, but as noted above, it is important that you then discard outputs that result in an uneven distribution (252-255 inclusive). Otherwise your die will have a lower probability of getting a 5 or 6. decltype (talk) 13:24, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

The idea is to avoid wasting more entropy than is needed to generate the number, in cases where entropy is in short supply. The above method, if it's to be unbiased, will spend slightly more than 8 bits of entropy on average (since 252-255 will have to be rerolled), while a 6-sided die is theoretically (and on average by the method I suggested) only 2.585 bits. NeonMerlin 13:30, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

In that case, I would suggest generating multiple dice rolls from a single read of random bits, and buffer the results. To generate five rolls with regular six-sided dice, you can get away with thirteen bits, which is close to the optimal 12.925. If you can find a power of 6 that is closer to a power of two, you could do even better, but that would require a large number of bits and a lot of computation. Even generating three rolls from a byte would be an improvement (generate a number 0-215 and discard the rest). decltype (talk) 14:04, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Regarding SGML

I am working in a SGML file using EPIC editor software recently I have faced a problem while trying to print the document. It shows some error messages 1. some unrecogonized characters were present and 2. Invalid revision Bar point

I cant able to rectify this error if any one have solution for this are welcome to give their solutions.

Thanks and regards

DINESH KUMAR B —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dineshbkumar06 (talk • contribs) 04:14, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Where Do The Aquamacs .el Files Live?

Hi, I’m just getting started with Aquamacs on OS X 10.6 and I’m not sure where I’m supposed to add customizations. For example, I’m trying to install a markdown mode (http://jblevins.org/projects/markdown-mode/) but I don’t know where to put the actual .el file. Also, I’m just putting my .emacs files in my home directory. Is that the best place for it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.234.155.128 (talk) 04:31, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

PHP - database to form

For existing records in a database that are input via form, to allow an authorized user to edit those records, could I:

1. make an edit button run a query on that record's full database entry and return all current values
2. slide those values (& nulls or no datas) into the original data entry form as the default values
3. have this edit form trigger an UPDATE SET query

and be done with it? Is it really that simple? I'm wondering about records that have database values which have never been entered - so not nulls, just no data - how would they return in the query array, just empty fields? Does anyone see a problem with this? It seems a little too simple...218.25.32.210 (talk) 07:47, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

I was unable to understand your question. Could you perhaps include an example to make it clearer? --Sean 14:25, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

If I remember correct, different data types (different INPUT types, really) return differently depending on what happens if they are blank. So if it is a text string, you get a blank text string in your return array. But if it is, say, a checkbox, then you get NOTHING in the query array when you submit it empty, which means you have to then look for it to know that it was returned as blank. (That is, you don't get a variable with nothing in it — you get no variable. So you only see the variable when it has been positively checked.)

But other than that -- it's pretty straightforward, yes. You just have to make sure that you are careful about how the different datatypes return, and of course all of the different INPUT types have different ways of indicating default values (irritatingly enough). --Mr.98 (talk) 14:41, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

OP here. Sorry, sean. This was all back of the envelope so I didn't have any code to provide. Thanks, Mr. 98 - I'll keep a close eye on each input type's details, hadn't thought of that. 61.189.63.183 (talk) 23:05, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

C# abstract classes

In C#, is it possible to specify that a given nested class A inside an abstract class B is abstract, but that in non-abstract subclasses it must not be? Also, is it possible to specify that where said B.A implements IEnumerator<B>, the C.A inside any given subclass C must implement IEnumerator<C>? NeonMerlin 07:56, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Not as far as I know. Why would you possibly want to do either of those? Some reflection-based framework? « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 20:28, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Use phone as bluetooth repeater from laptop to headphones?

Can I configure my Samsung VICE R561 phone to serve as a repeater for music my laptop sends to my headphones over Bluetooth A2DP? The VICE itself supports A2DP, its application platform is J2ME, and I'd be willing to install third-party firmware if necessary as long as I can still use the phone functions that I consider to be core (talk, text, WAP, alarm clock, appointment calendar, camera, phone's own music player). NeonMerlin 10:16, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Is it good programming practice to use state variables?

I am only an amateur programmer. Currently I am writing a subroutine that checks that the data in a text file is in the right format when loaded into the program. For example I want to ensure that the command word "start" is followed by the command word "finish" exactly five lines later, and if not give an error message. Is it best practice just to have a variable that goes to a value of 1 when "start" is found, and then counts up every file line until it gets to 6 when "finish" should appear, or is there some better way to do it? There are other state variables as well. I'm thinking that state variables may be difficult to follow if I want to revise the program in the future, and perhaps lead to spaghetti code. Thanks. 78.146.171.75 (talk) 14:38, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

It's difficult (and often too subjective) to be so definative about what is good (or, perhaps, bad) practice, particularly in such an abstract circumstance. In some circumstances it may be best to have state implicit in the program structure (e.g. we can't get to this line unless we've already seen the start condition). In other cases it might be better to explicitly have a state machine. In general, when it comes to variables, states, and function names, I have a (rather whorfian) theory - if you can give things a sensible name (e.g. STATE_AWAIT_END_TOKEN, wait_for_next_line(), bPacketHeaderReceived) then you still understand your program, but when you define some thing that owes its existence to the exigencies of your specific implementation, where that variable means this-is-true-but-not-that-unless-something-else (where you can't give that condition a plain english definition), then your understanding of what you're coding may be slipping. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 15:06, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

I would say that state variables are a good concept. The implementation of "state" can range from great to terrible. Compare, for example, Entity Java Beans, which are basically persistent state variables; against Global variables in C or C++. In the first case, the persistent state is well managed by the programming language syntax, the runtime environment, and a lot of the abstractions are properly and completely handled. In the second case, global variables in C++ tend to result in a leaky abstraction because they don't enforce certain requirements (like thread consistency, concurrent access, locking, validity checking, scope, etc). So, while a state variable is probably a good thing in general, its implementation determines whether it is a good design choice for your particular problem. Nimur (talk) 15:41, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

It's good that you're thinking about these issues, but I wouldn't sweat the style/understandability of anything that can fit in just a few lines of code like what you're describing. Lexically scoped variables in short functions are usually obvious even without decent names. --Sean 18:06, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. I'm curious, would it be possible to write a program entirely as a giant state table, apart from where the program interfaces with other things? 89.242.99.245 (talk) 19:54, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

It is always possible in principle because computers are finite-state machines, but the resulting program may not fit in memory because the number of states tends to grow exponentially with the amount of storage the program would require if written normally. A gigabyte of RAM can be in any of 2^8589934592 different states. State tables are frequently used in practice, though, usually in machine-generated code or as a poor man's substitute for coroutines (which would be supported by all major programming languages in a sane world, but generally aren't in the real world). -- BenRG (talk) 20:38, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

You might be interested in Boost Statechart, which helps you model your program as an FSM. --Sean 20:53, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

System admin blocks access to C: drive

My system administrators at work have blocked access to the C: drive on my office computer. I can only save files on the network. As a result nothing is saved (cookies, passwords, MS Office customizations), it all disappears overnight and has to be laboriously reinput each morning. As you might imagine, this is incredibly annoying – and also bad for productivity. I've raised the issue with the IT department but to no avail. Is there any way for me to unblock this access? Thanks. --Bluegrouper (talk) 16:02, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

If you actually value your job I really wouldn't recommend trying to bypass the access restrictions. They've been put in place specifically and depending on your contract, trying to get past them could be seen as a breach of contract. It sounds very much like they don't want people customising the computers so in reality you're better off either not changing them back every day (which is the loss of productivity) and if there is something specific that would help you out, you're best off explaining that change rather than asking for complete access. Incidently, regarding only able to save files on the network, this is probably for backup purposes as the individual machines probably aren't backed up, but the network fileserver is. ZX81 ^talk 16:32, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Have a look at PortableApps and load up a USB stick. At the very least you can browse the internet with a saved personal history, passwords, cookies. 61.189.63.183 (talk) 23:07, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

All these settings should be saved to the network as a roaming user profile. If your I.T. dept. does not have you (and other users) properly set up, they are negligent in their duties. --Nricardo (talk) 02:02, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

It's probably a mandatory user profile (same link you gave) which is a read-only profile by design (to stop changes being made). ZX81 ^talk 02:15, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Google Earth

I lay out a path on Google Earth, do the whole mileage thing, and it all works great. But when I go to close out, I really need a way to save this (my plot is over 600 miles); I'm trying to plan out a major trip and need Google Earth to pull through for me. Thanks! Hubydane (talk) 16:42, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

You could try using some different software. Map24 is pretty good for this sort of thing. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 16:53, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

When you have your directions in the "Directions" window, just drag the direction name (e.g. "New York, NY to Niagara Falls, NY") with a little blue globe on it into the "Places" window, and it will save it there. Next time you want to view it, just click on it in the "Places" window. --Mr.98 (talk) 17:30, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

My apologies; I'm not actually doing a road trip. I'm kayaking a river, so I can't exactly do from point A to point B and get directions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hubydane (talk • contribs) 18:29, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Don't know about Google Earth (never used it), but in Google Maps, there's a "Link" button in the upper right which gives a URL which encodes all the complete state of the window when you click it. Perhaps there is something similar in Google Earth (not a "save" feature per se, but an email/link/send type option.) -- 128.104.112.95 (talk) 23:48, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

You could just copy the screen and paste it into paint, that's what I always do. then you can do anything you want with it and print it out easily. It helps if you copy it section by section and put them together afterward, then you get a closer zoom and more detail.148.197.114.158 (talk) 18:57, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

C question

I have a structure like that given below:

struct a			
{
 int **aP;
 int size;
};

void main()
{
 struct a* obj;
}

How do I access aP (and set its values) inside main, using variable obj? Please help. I've tried everything. Out of luck today.--117.196.129.72 (talk) 16:50, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

(*obj->aP)[i]

you'll have to allocate space for the structure and the array first of course. Does aP really need to be a pointer to a pointer?—eric 17:20, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Or obj->aP[j][i] or *obj->aP[j] depending on what you're trying to do. What is aP? -- BenRG (talk) 17:45, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

It appears that aP is "array of pointers". This would be better as a class (or a struct if you want to abuse structs) that required the size when you created the array of pointers and automatically declared/destroyed memory as required. But, you'd just be doing a lot of work to remake the already available vector of pointers. -- kainaw™ 20:29, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Opie said "C", not "C++". --Sean 21:01, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Only using 50%

On Windows 7 some programs only ever use 50% max cpu when they clearly need more, but Windows is apparently limiting them to only 50%. How can I let them use the full 100% ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.55.75 (talk) 17:33, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Most likely you have a dual-core CPU and the program is using 100% of one core and 0% of the other. Some programs may have a "number of threads" or "number of cores" option that you can set to 2 instead of 1. Otherwise, there's nothing you (or Windows) can do to make the program use the second core. -- BenRG (talk) 17:42, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

To elaborate a little further: whether a program can use multiple cores depends on how it is programmed. Many programs these days can seamlessly use multiple cores (games are pretty good at this, for example), but many cannot. Here is an article from a couple years back now that discusses how some programs can really make good of multi-core processors, while others cannot. It is primarily about going from 2 to 4 cores, but the basic concept is the same. Programming for multiple cores is not trivial, depending on the type of program it is—some are really amenable to having multiple threads working in parallel, but some are not. --Mr.98 (talk) 18:23, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Another possibility is that you are on a laptop and the CPU is limited by the power settings to 50% to conserve energy.F (talk) 03:28, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Another question regarding this

I (not the original OP!) have another question about this: I know that if you write an app that will consume as much CPU time as possible (e.g. by entering an infinite loop), it will only use 50 % of my CPU power (my CPU has two cores). However, when I read the indicators on the CPU usage Vista sidebar gadget I use, it says that Core #1 is used to 50 %, and Core #2 to 50 % as well. Shouldn't it be 100 % and 0 %? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 18:54, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

I'd question the accuracy of the sidebar gadget, because I'd also expect it to be 100% and 0% if it's only using one thread. It could be the gadget is just taking the total load and assuming it's shared across two processors although that's a pretty bad assumption if it is. The way to really check would be to look on Task Manager's "Performance" tab which will have a graph for each processor. Run your loop and see if only one of the processors greatly increases (I just tried a simple "do loop" in VB6 and on my quad cord only one processor increased as expected. ZX81 ^talk 19:10, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

It appears like the gadget is correct. See cores.png @ privat.rejbrand.se for a screenshot. I know that AlgoSim only use one thread for the factorization (because I wrote AlgoSim), and the CPU is almost not doing anything besides the factorization. Both cores were almost at zero before the factorization began. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 19:15, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

It's also possible that it is rebalancing the load between cores frequently enough that the split ends up being roughly 50/50. I'm more inclined to suspect a poorly written gadget though. There would be little to no benefit in rebalancing the task across cores, and you'd throw away cache every time you did so. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 19:17, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Posted that without noticing the response you made. Looks like my speculation was correct though. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 19:18, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

I would think whether a program uses 100% of one core or 50% of both will depend on how it is running at the time. If it's single threaded and running in a tight loop, then I would strongly expect it to use only one core and to consume 100% of the CPU of that core. However, if it yields in any way (a simple Sleep(1) would do this) then it will be rescheduled and will use both cores approximately equally. Perhaps that is what's being observed. --Phil Holmes (talk) 10:19, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Check that. I've got a quad core and an app that takes 25% of the total CPU (i.e. all of one core) in a tight loop and it doesn't max out one core - it's evenly distributed. Windows is obviously pre-emptively scheduling and distributing the load across the cores. --Phil Holmes (talk) 12:27, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes this behaviour is well known and can cause problems with some processor power saving features that turn off or limit one or more cores independently. You can of course set affinity (e.g in the task manager) but I'm not sure if this always works as it should and most people are not going to know how or bother (plus if the application is slightly multithreaded it's going to cause problems).

But for example AMD K10#Characteristics of the microarchitecture (the original Phenom's) had the ability to throttle cores independently but it was known to cause problems because applications would be switching between cores which had been throttled and which were going at full speed so that they would go significantly slower then they were supposed to because would be running on throttled cores half the time (or whatever). Alternatively they just couldn't throttle the cores but I think throttling then the process switching to the throttled core was the more common phenomon and it lead to people completely switching off AMD's Cool'n'quiet feature. This was removed in the Phenom II at least temporarily with the problems it caused usually given as the reason [3].

Similarly the Intel Core i7 and Core i5 processors are able to completely switch off cores if they aren't in use [4] which obviously wouldn't work if the process is switches between cores. Windows 7 changed this behaviour and also introduced core parking where processes are loaded onto one core if they can [5] and Microsoft even seem to have filed patents [6]. Not surprisingly that can cause problems as well and I've seen numerous discussion about turning it off.

Incidentally, that claims it doesn't work on AMD but I'm not sure of that. They seem to be reintroducing some sort of independent core power management at least for their Opterons (actually I'm not sure if it ever disappeared from there) and are discussing it in relation to Windows 7 e.g. [7] [8] (it appears to be a feature of the Istanbul which is similar in design to the Phenom II AFAIK e.g. [9]) and people discuss it in relation to AMD [10]. Perhaps the new ones are better and introduce a C6 state (although I'm not sure why C6 is necessary particularly for the "ideal core" tech, obviously for "core parking" AMD may or may not be better off without it) or perhaps the Tom's Hardware writer is simply misinformed or biased (it's not uncommon in my experience).

I guess the obvious question is whether anyone here is using Windows 7 (or Windows 2008 R2)? The OP was but wasn't referring to this issue. The screenshot looks like it was from Windows Vista to me but maybe the poster just changed their desktop because they preferred the Vista look.

Nil Einne (talk) 07:57, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for your explanation. Yes, the screenshot is from Windows Vista. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 16:35, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Internet Explorer has stopped working

It's the same thing that happened here [11] but on a web site. Now the web site is working fine, and Explorer is obviously working, except when I go to the one screen and I get the Geejo cursor and it looks foggy.

I had two activities going on and the other continued as normal. At the bottom of the screen there is a rectangle that says "Smallville - page 38 ..." which, if I click on it, leads me to the foggy screen. I come back here by clicking on the black rectangle that says "Editing Wikipedia:R ..."

I did make one mistake: on the screen with the Geejo cursor I got a pop-up message with the title of this topic and a place to click to shut down Explorer, and I would receive information on how to get the problem fixed. I didn't want to quit anything, so I clicked on the Red X in that pop-up. I should have left it because I could probably have gotten an answer. I'm ready to quit now (temporarily) and see what happens.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 22:21, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

I closed using Alt-F4 and I got a message saying I would be sent a solution to the problem if there was one. I did get something. It said "Address a problem with Flash Player". I'm reluctant to uninstall or install anything right now. I'll see if I can get by without doing it.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 22:27, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

I would disable any un-necessary add-ons by pressing ALT + T and selecting "Manage Add-ons." I've fixed this issue on other people's computers by disabling add-ons like the SSV Helper, Messenger, etc. You probably have a bunch of toolbars that you never use, too, right? If you do, then uninstall them from the Programs and Features dialog in the Control Panel. That's all I can say because all you provided for an explanation is a link to a thread that says "Geejo strikes again."--Drknkn (talk) 22:28, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, that thread provides a description of what happened to me. User:Geejo once had a signature that simulated a cursor that gets stuck.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 22:32, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't actually know what I'm not using. None of those look unimportant. Like I said, maybe the best thing to do is see if it happens again. Installing stuff scares me because I don't know if something might get messed up.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 22:35, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Is this one of the library computers you use, or is this on a computer you own? Could you explain what you mean by the "foggy screen"? Does this mean the window grays out and when you try clicking its "X" close-box, a message appears saying that the application is not responding? The workaround, VChimpanzee, is to use another browser for a while, like Firefox, Safari, Opera, or any of the other browsers in the world. There is something wrong with your computer setup, and the workaround is to try another browser. If this problem goes away, then keep using the new browser choice, and don't use IE anymore. Imagine how much nicer your life would be without this giant assortment of difficult-to-describe and difficult-to-diagnose annoyances. While I'm at it, I will remind you that you should switch away from Yahoo Mail, too. Comet Tuttle (talk) 06:33, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm not changing browsers or email, so please drop it :). You have to understand that 99 percent of the time it works fine, and I'm just trying to figure out what's going on. As it turned out, I did get an informative message on my computer, but I want to see if I can get by without it happening again rather than go through a change that would be more trouble than it's worth. Firefox is something I will never choose--it causes problems of its own, including the AT&T ad--but it's what I use at this one library while seeking to avoid possible problems with most web sites at home.

As for the email problem, it will frustrate me, yes, but I have to remember not to go to Yahoo email unless I don't intend to go back where I was. I usually keep one screen reserved for whatever I need to look up, or a "notepad" that I'm saving. But anytime I go to an email, I should expect to click "Inbox" rather than "back" to go to another one. I've made that little adjustment and, while occasionally frustrating, it works fine.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 23:23, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Again, I swear to God that I saw this exact problem on a customer's computer. I also want to repeat one more time that I fixed it by uninstalling all the toolbars on his computer and disabling the SSV helper add-on. Just look in the "Currently loaded add-ons" screen and disable everything except Java, Flash (AKA "Shockwave Flash" or something like that) and the PDF add-in. 99% of the add-ins in that screen didn't come with your browser, and you can always re-enable them! Even if the problem doesn't happen that often, you should disable the add-ons, anyway, because it will speed up the browser and make it more secure. These add-ons are often attacked by malicious web sites. An up-to-date Internet Explorer browser is very secure, but if it has an insecure plugin, hackers can use the plugin to hijack your browser!--Drknkn (talk) 11:59, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I looked under "Manage Add-ons" and got this list:

• Shockwave Flash Object
• Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper
• Windows Media Player
• Java Plug-In SSV Helper
• Show Norton Toolbar
• Norton Confidential
• Symantec Intrusion Prevention
• Yahoo Toolbar
• Yahoo Toolbar Helper

I noticed there were other categories. I found Bing and Yahoo under search providers and disabled Bing.

Accelerators were Blog with Windows Live, E-mail with Windows Live, Map with Live Search and Translate with Live Search. I don't use any of those but don't see anything about disabling them.

There was a fourth category which didn't have anything listed.

Regarding "Malicious web sites", at home I only intentionally go to four web sites plus three email addresses, and if the college library is closed on a weekend or on a holiday when everything is closed, I go to four newspaper web sites which CAN cause pop-up ads even though those are blocked. This is because I want to minimize potential problems, and I had a spyware problem at a library and the person in charge said if I had been at home (at the time I was too scared to get my own computer) it would have gotten into the computer, but the library's software stopped it.

I blame an ad for what happened when I asked the above question. I did say that when I closed the Internet I got a message to upgrade Flash, but unless it becomes a frequent problem, I'd like to avoid that for fear I'll cause new problems. I believe an ad messed up a library computer last week, but I was pleased that the solution did not shut down the Internet like it usually does. I was able to keep going.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 17:50, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Oh, one more thing. Go here [12] and click on Geejo's name and you can see what's happenng to me, or at least what would happen if the same thing happened on your computer.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 17:52, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Update: I got that Geejo cursor for about five seconds and then all was fine. I looked and found an hhgregg ad with snow falling. That could mean something, since I was never able to see what caused the problem Monday.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:36, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Another update: on a library computer this morning, I don't recall what the cursor did but that spinning circle with the name of the web site I was on never stopped. I tried going to another site and got a pop-up with the URL of the site followed by "is not available". Which wasn't true. I did notice a yellow triangle and a message about errors on the page at the bottom of the screen, and now that I recall, I could have clicked on that yellow triangle and found out what was wrong. I was still able to use the computer, however. Because I had several rectangles at the bottom of the screen.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:38, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

• Shockwave Flash Object: keep this
• Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper: keep this
• Windows Media Player: keep this
• Java Plug-In SSV Helper: disable this
• Show Norton Toolbar: disable this
• Norton Confidential: disable this
• Symantec Intrusion Prevention: disable this
• Yahoo Toolbar: disable and uninstall this
• Yahoo Toolbar Helper: disable and uninstall this

Uninstall everything from Yahoo! in the Programs and Features dialog. All you need is a browser to get to your Yahoo! e-mail (unless you use one of the local programs -- which you don't, right?) As for the accelerators, if you don't use them, disable them: ALT + T --> Internet Options --> Advanced --> Browsing --> Display Accelerator button on selection. Perhaps you should also tell Norton to leave your browser alone completely. Open up Norton's options and disable browser protection. Like I said above, IE is very secure, especially in Windows Vista and Windows 7. If you were using XP, I'd say otherwise, but it's safe to disable browser protection in this case.--Drknkn (talk) 00:02, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

My Internet provider has protection for my computer, and I was told to uninstall Norton to use it, but I was afraid to try. I felt confident enough to try this year, but Norton renewed my subscription before I had a chance not to. I'd really rather have protection. I've never had a virus or anything like that (that I know of), and Norton is doing its weekly scan right now. All it ever finds is cookies, but I feel better. I disabled the toolbar, but it tells me I'm at risk for phishing. So I enabled it again. You may feel secure, but I don't.

I like my Yahoo mail button. I can look at some of the things you say to disable, but I need that simple way to get to email. This is one reason I mainly use Yahoo at home.

That leaves the Java helper. Let's see what that does.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:10, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Caps lock function like typewriters?

The caps lock key on at least some typewriters locks into place and is released by pressing the shift key (or the caps lock key again). This was much superior to it staying on until caps lock is depressed again for a number of reasons. Is there any way to make a computer keyboard do this? I am using a Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110. I tried going to control panel → keyboard but there's nothing relevant in there.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 23:27, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

If I remember correctly, this functionality is actually implemented in Microsoft Windows, and activated by making a small change in the registry. Hopefully I am right, and that someone remembers the registry key and value to be modified. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 00:37, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Now I found a simpler solution, that works in Windows Vista (and probably XP too). Go to the "Regional settings" control panel applet, select the "Keyboard and Languages" tab, and then click the "Change keyboard layout" button. In the "Advanced Key Settings" tab in the new dialog box, select the "Press the SHIFT key" checkbox. (I do not have an English language copy of Windows, so the actual labels might differ.) --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 00:47, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

By the way, if you search Google for "typewriter caps lock windows" [13], the first match is [14], and the first link on this page leads to [15], where the solution is presented in a very clear way. Google is your friend! --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 01:00, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

It's ironic how many times I've said those exact same words to people and here I am being told the same thing. Sigh. Somehow, for this, I didn't think it would be a Google search away but obviously I was wrong. The link with explanations for Vista isn't really useful for XP which I'm running (it says you might have to do something different for XP but nothing I've tried work). In any event using my good friend, Google I've found the registry solution here. Thanks.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:08, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Note that on typewriters the caps lock key would stay depressed until released, while on a computer keyboard it doesn't have a depressed position, it pops right back up. Thus the need for a caps lock light to show the current status, since you can't just look at the button to see if it's up or down. (It always seemed odd to me that they put the light on the opposite side of the keyboard from the key, though.) StuRat (talk) 07:01, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Suspected Malware

Does anybody know what vu9aijpsq5rbd5w is? According to Auslogics StartUp Manager, it runs two instances of jre-6u13-windows.exe (Java) on start up, which then start two instances of internet explorer (even though I've uninstalled IE and Firefox to try and get rid of the thing). Whenever I try to stop IE via the task manager, jre-6u13-windows.exe restarts it; when I try to delete jre-6u13-windows.exe, it just comes back. I cannot uninstall Java via the add/remove software tool or the auslogics uninstall manager. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:42, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

That's definitely the behavior of an unwanted nasty. Google "Malwarebytes" and install it. It's a free & well-built app that should be able to handle getting rid of that thing. Please report back after trying it so we know if you've been successful or need further help! 218.25.32.210 (talk) 01:08, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I didn't do that, I ended up using eRecovery to wipe the drive. All's well now, except I need to reinstall Word 2007 before I can continue working. Oh well, I'll Google "Malwarebytes" for the future. Thanks! Crisco 1492 (talk) 00:46, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Wiped the drive? Damn. You used a chainsaw to cut your toenails! 218.25.32.210 (talk) 01:07, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, those toenails were breaking my clippers left right and centre! Rather get rid of them before they start growing inward. But I will get some better malware removal tools. AVG doesn't cut it for some things. Besides, it wasn't that bad. I backed up My Documents beforehand. Crisco 1492 (talk) 04:12, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

December 1

Laptop screen light when unplugged, running vista and HP laptop

How do I get the same level of screen light when I unplug my laptop from the power to go on battery? Otherwise it's too harsh on the eyes.--4crassandchmp (talk) 01:49, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Change the power settings in control panel. F (talk) 03:26, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Many laptops have a means to adjust the brightness. On mine, I can hold the Fn key and press the up or down arrows to adjust it; but that change is only temporary and it reverts to the default set in the power settings at the next restart. Astronaut (talk) 03:32, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

For HP in particular, right-click on the battery icon in the tray in the bottom-right corner of the screen, click on "Power Options" and then "Create a Power Plan." That way, you can use that plan most of the time but still have the system-suggested plans that conserve battery life if you need to conserve power.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 04:52, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Floppy disks

1. Why have floppy disks ultimately been retired?

2. How do 3 1/2 disks carry more data than 5 1/4 disks if they are smaller? jc iindyysgvxc (my contributions) 09:30, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

1. The average 3 ½-inch disk only holds 1.44 MB. They made an ED (extra-density) model that held 2.88 MB. But that's still far below the 4 GB common to USB flash drives. You can purchase a 4 GB model for as little as $10 on Newegg. Further, "floppies" are much slower than USB flash drives. They spin at 300 RPM with a transfer rate of 45 KBps. Compare that to 24 MBps for the fastest USB flash drives. Further, USB flash drives are easier to carry and more durable. I've never seen a USB flash drive become corrupt -- and I've washed them on accident.
2. The 3 ½-inch mini-disks had more sectors on the outer tracks than the inner ones. The 5 ¼-inch disks had the same number of sectors per track.
3. FYI: we called the 3 ½-inch models "mini-disks" and the 5 ¼-inch models "floppies" because the floppies flop around and the mini-disks are stiff.--Drknkn (talk) 09:43, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I've never heard the 3 ½-inch floppies referred to as mini disks before. I'm not saying I doubt it was used by you and whoever you hanged around or perhaps even most people where you live with but I think it's important to emphasise it was likely a rare name. I've never heard of it and yes I was around in the 5 ¼ world until now (and do remember getting Windows 95 on 3 ½ floppy disc). It isn't for example mentioned in our article nor can I find anything from a quick Google or Bing. Obviously it may seem a bit odd to refer to something stiff like a 3 ½-inch floppy disc as a floppy but the name stuck for various reasons and in fact in the post 5 ¼ floppy world if someone was referring to a floppy disc (or drive) without specifying the type they'd almost definitely mean the 3 ½ variety. Of course calling them mini disks may also result in confusion with Sony's MiniDisc although the data variety of that was an abject failure. (Also a minor nitpick, floppies were already mostly dead 3+ years ago or so when the most you'll get for $10 was perhaps a 1 GB. The point still stands even if we consider 1 GB or heck 128mb. I did come across a 32mb USB flash drive once which advertised the number of floppies it could take, that practice quickly died out) Nil Einne (talk) 12:20, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Curious anecdote: in South Africa the 5¼ inch discs were called floppies and the 3½ inch ones were called stiffies. I always wondered why (overseas) computer magazines insisted on calling stiffies floppies and creating unnecessary confusion. "3½ floppy" seemed so unintuitive. Zunaid●for your great great grand-daughter 12:42, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

The word "stiffy" was already in use. --Sean 12:48, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

"Floppy" was never intended to refer to the case. It refers to the disk. In both the 5¼ and 3½ sizes, the disk is floppy. If you rip the hard case off a 3½, you will find a very floppy disk inside. -- kainaw™ 13:28, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Of course the even older 8 inch floppies were even floppier. I always used two hands to hold the disk flat while inserting one of those. 75.41.110.200 (talk) 16:49, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I guess it's time for the obligatory joke (from some Sierra adventure game although I've seen it doing the rounds elsewhere and so it may not have originated from there) about customers who think the instructions to remove the disc from the folder means they should remove the actual magentic disc from the plastic case rather then the paper/plastic folder they are contained in (we're referring to 5¼ primarily of course or perhaps older floppies) Nil Einne (talk) 07:11, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

1) Why have floppy disks ultimately been retired? - Nobody is buying them anymore. Money is king. When you want to store data for backup purposes, you use a CD or DVD-ROM - when you want to send data between computers, you use the Internet and for small amounts of handy, portable data, you use a thumb drive. Because you can download free stuff off of the Internet - we don't even have computer magazines with floppy disks taped to the front cover anymore. The Internet doomed the floppy - the eraseable/rewritable CD-ROM was the death knell - and the thumb-drive the final nail in the coffin. Why on earth would you want something as unreliable and low-capacity as a floppy?

I was on the team at Philips Research labs that produced the world's first ever CD-ROM drive (and the first ever CD-ROM - which was a demonstration of an interactive dictionary). The 5.25" floppy was still king and we were in serious competition with the floppy manufacturers. But 600Mbytes versus 1.2Mbytes really sealed the deal with software makers - I remember having a copy of a package called "Arts and Letters" that came on 40 3,5" floppy disks! Installing that was beyond ridiculous.

2) How do 3 1/2 disks carry more data than 5 1/4 disks if they are smaller? - The disk heads are smaller and the hard shell and the metal center spool improve head alignment allowing you to pack more tracks in per inch of media. The metal shutter helps to keep dust and fingerprints off of the disk - so you can pack more data in with less risk. It's just a natural technological advancement. You could (in theory) build a 5.25" floppy with much more capacity than a 3.5" one - but at the time that this technology became possible, there was more interest in going smaller and flatter to fit them into laptops than in getting more capacity when hard drives were becoming cheap.

What makes a 'floppy' floppy is that the flexible disk bends around the read/write head to get close mechanical contact - just like the tape in an audio or video cassette is pushed against and around the head. In a 'hard' drive, the platters are stiff and so the head has to be very carefully engineered to 'fly' very close to the media in order to get good contact. (If one track on a hard drive was as wide as a 4 lane highway - the head would be as big as a jumbo jet and would be flying about a foot above the road with it's wheels up! A human skin cell would be as big as a VW bug on the same scale!) But for cheap dismountable magnetic media, you can't engineer the tolerances that closely - so forcing the head to physically touch the disk (to the point of bending it) was the only way to get a good magnetic signal.

SteveBaker (talk) 04:05, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Just wanna say I freakin' love it when SteveBaker gets 20min free to come rattle off some killer stories like this. My RefDesk hero, bar none. 218.25.32.210 (talk) 07:36, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

IIRC, there wasn't much call for laptops back in the late '80s/early '90s when 3½'s mostly replaced 5¼'s. (At any rate a 3½ with the shell is thicker than a 5¼ was). I think the bigger issue was being "pocketable" - 3½'s were almost the perfect size to stash in a shirt pocket. Combined with the hard case and shutter, it was a lot easier and safer to cart around a 3½ for "sneakernet". BTW, where I was the 5¼'s were "disks" and the 3½'s were "diskettes" (portmanteau of disk and cassette, I figure). "Floppy" could refer to both, though. -- 128.104.112.95 (talk) 23:41, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't think the internet or CDs/DVDs did much to make floppy disks obsolete, as neither really provided the same capabilities as a floppy (a pocket-sized media that you could easily read from or write to on any computer). Thumb/pen/USB flash drives do pretty much do everything a floppy did, only better. One exception is that write-protect switches are rare on the newer devices, while they were universal on floppies. Another is that floppies may last for more read/write cycles. StuRat (talk) 06:54, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Disc drive not recognised

Hello,

My disc drive is no longer recognised in Windows XP; if I put a CD or DVD in there it doesn't show up in "My computer". I looked in the device manager and there's a yellow exclamation mark next to [slimtype dvdrw ssw-8015S] and says:

“ Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

Click Troubleshoot to start the troubleshooter for this device

”

I attempted to rollback the drivers and update them but that didn't work. I tried to find the drivers on the manufacturer's website but they weren't there. If I uninstall the corrupt drivers will windows automatically find suitable drivers for me, as suggested here? Or will I be worse off? Or do you have any other suitable solutions? Many Thanks Drogonov 12:18, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Uninstalling the drivers is unlikely to cause harm. However the problem you're having may not be caused by drivers so this may not help but of course it doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Nil Einne (talk) 12:23, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

You'll certainloy not be worse off, and IMO you'll absolutely need to clear out the borked configuration before you can startbto mend it. So yes, delete away and see what the new hardware wizard can do. --Tagishsimon (talk) 12:31, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Using a pendrive with a PDA?

I've bought a PDA that runs PalmOS, version 4 I think. It has a USB port. Would it be possible to plug a pendrive into it, and access the pendrive directly from the PDA? The socket on the PDA is small format so some conversion or adapter cable would be needed, which should not be too difficult to get. Thanks. 78.147.2.230 (talk) 12:29, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

If the USB port is a USB On-The-Go port, then you can do it. F (talk) 23:09, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

To expand on that a little - the USB system has 'hosts' and 'slaves'. Generally, you can only connect a host to a slave - not a host to another host or a slave to another slave. Hence, you can plug your camera (a slave) into your PC (a host) - and you can plug a mouse (another slave) into your PC - but you can't plug the mouse into your camera because that's a slave-to-slave connection. Generally, it's very clear what devices are hosts (PC's, basically) and what are slaves (more or less everything that's not a PC) - but some of the more recent devices can intelligently switch from being a host to being a slave depending on what they're being connected up to - that is the "On-the-go" thing that User:F is talking about. A PDA is an example of a device that might be an on-the-go device. But it's far from certain. The fact that it has a small-format connector suggests that it probably isn't. SteveBaker (talk) 03:42, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Is this possible?

I was at my local best buy, and there was someone (who btw was not a best buy employee) who had hacked into the computer, and was able to freely use it. I doubt this person was in the store at the time.Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 14:08, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, if you're telling us that this happened, it most likely is possible. ╟─TreasuryTag►inspectorate─╢ 14:18, 1 December 2009 (UTC

Ok but how?Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 14:21, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

From my experience, stores often have very simple passwords like 1234 or the name of the store/location. The password is more of a discouragement than actual security as their staff need to easily be able to demo a computer to a customer without having to remember complicated passwords. ZX81 ^talk 14:57, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Also, if the floor model is open for users to play with, a user might be able to install some network-accessible tool, and later access the machine remotely. They may have used a root kit or installed some other security compromising software - there are a lot of possibilities if they ever had physical access to the machine. I can't see why anyone would want to hijack a floor-model computer - there is little or zero valuable personal information; the machine may be new, but it can't be very high-performance (compared to, say, a university research cluster); it's unlikely to have a great network connection; etc. It's probably an act of boredom of a young computer enthusiast. Nimur (talk) 14:59, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

But they are doing it remotely...Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 15:04, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Can this be done on a mac? Is it illegal?Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 15:08, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

This can be done on any platform with a variety of tools (VNC seems to be one of the more popular ones). The legality is questionable when you don't have permission from the owner of the machine, though floor models are expected to be abused and some stores automatically reinstall the OS every night. I doubt any harm came from this situation. 206.131.39.6 (talk) 16:34, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Are floor models connected to the intenet? Are you sure this wasn't just a demonstration program? 75.41.110.200 (talk) 16:45, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

VNC is a popular tool for remote control, yes, as is Windows Remote Desktop for Windows machines (although the screen and keyboard and mouse get locked out during a WRD session); and there are several web-based services where people actually pay $10 per month or something to enable the remote control of their computers from elsewhere on the Internet. As for whether it's illegal, in the United States it's illegal, yes, if it's unauthorized; this link lists six parts of US federal law related to "computer intrusion". I believe that the crime is merely "accessing" a computer that you have not been given permission (explicit or implicit) to access. I imagine that what you saw might have been another Best Buy employee elsewhere in the store using VNC to control the other computers in the store, (a) because he now doesn't have to walk over to this computer to do something; and (b) because it's cool. It also might be a Best Buy IT guy at some other Best Buy location. Tempshill (talk) 16:54, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I doubt it was a best buy employee as the person was typing "I like porn" and etc, as if i was.Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 18:03, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

It sounds like a very simple hack - you go to the store - act like you're going to buy a PC - ask the designated sales dweeb if you can try it out. When he gets distracted (eg by your friend who is in on the act who demands to be shown something else) - you swiftly download and install whatever junk you want (VNC is certainly a good candidate) - set it going, then walk out of the store while the salesdroid is still talking to your friend. Even if the machine isn't on the Internet - you could easily slip a thumb-drive into the USB port without anyone noticing and infect it with god-knows-what. But I wouldn't put it past an employee of the store to do that - it's a spectacularly boring job - some of them are smart kids who need a vacation job who are more than capable of such a simple hack - and certainly there are many reports of those "Geek Squad" guys being caught doing terrible things with customer's computers - I wouldn't trust one of them further than I could throw them! So this is altogether not a surprising thing. SteveBaker (talk) 03:33, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

There was of course other things if you don't require to be able to view the desktop. E.g. Back Orifice was famous back in the Windows 9x days. BO2k may work on Vista and Windows 7 [16]. Here in NZ, you wouldn't necessarily even have to ask someone anything. For example with Dick Smith (retailer), there are sometimes demo computers you can use on the shop floor which sometimes aren't locked. These do often seem to be protected and I'm not sure if they all access to most of the internet or there are restrictive policies on what sites you can access (you can usually use the store online catalog and I believe it's accessed via the internet so there must be some internet access and I think I've access my e-mail before). Nowadays these often seem to be locked more often then they used to be, so you may need to ask an employee although if you say you want to look at the catalog then they're not likely to hang around. They could of course set up a rather limited account to make it difficult to do something like this or a have a good external firewall but most probably don't bother (although it's not something I've tried). Having said many may be behind NAT devices making it somewhat difficult if you don't have access to the intranet. Nil Einne (talk) 07:00, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I looked and the was nothing unusual installed on the computer. I looked in all the folders desktop, applications, etc. Nothing there. How are they doing this with nothing there?Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 18:04, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Notification Settings For Facebook

Is it possible on Facebook to set it so that notifications of what everyone else is doing do not appear on my Facebook page for all to see? It would be nice to keep certain acquaintances separate, if you know what I mean (work vs people who post LOLcats, for example). --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 15:19, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

It's pretty easy to create a "friend list" that has more stringent privacy settings. E.g., you'd create a group of all "work" people, and then make it so that they couldn't see what is posted to your wall. But that's about as fine-grained as it gets with Facebook. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:44, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

(ec) In the same vein, I'd like to be able to group my friends separately, too, so 'family' goes into one bucket, 'friends and work' into a separate bucket, and the two don't know about each other, separate Walls for me, etc. Tempshill (talk) 16:45, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure if I understood your question correctly, but maybe Facebook purity will help you with annoying info some people post (like LOLcats :) Also there is option to hide users from main page - you can find the 'hide' button in top right corner of each message. Lukipuk (talk) 00:18, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Right, thanks for that. However, being a script, that would only be useful for people with the script, i.e. it would only stop me from seeing all the useless garbage that people post, and not everyone else who visits the page. Thanks anyway. --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 02:07, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

People can either see your wall and post to it, or can't see your wall and can't post to it. The things they can see on your wall is either everything or nothing, it can't be only things from some people. If you don't want peopel seeing something on your wall, you have to block them from the wall altogether. 75.181.170.7 (talk) 19:55, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Right, so basically, what you're all saying is, you open a Facebook account, and LOLcats and everything else that is really important to everyone you know (but not to you) is visible to everyone else you know, including bosses and potential future employers, and there is no way whatsoever of using Facebook as a serious networking tool? Great. --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 00:15, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

[Clarification]: What I want is to be the only person who can write on my wall. I want to set it so that only things I put up (and no-one else) can be seen by anyone who visits. Is this at all possible? --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 02:10, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

You could always create two accounts - one you tell your family & friends and where LOLcats are welcome; the other you keep exclusively for work and maintain a strict no LOLcats policy. Astronaut (talk) 14:12, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

To prevent other from posting on your wall, go to Settings > Privacy Settings. Click on Profile. Look for Posts by Friends and adjust to your needs. I think, however, that you may be confusing your Wall (visible to your friends) with your Feeds, which contain info about your friends, but are visible to only their friends not yours (unless you are mutual friends). The Profile settings page also allows you to view your profile through a friend's eyes, which may be helpful in letting you see the diff. between Feeds and Walls.--Nricardo (talk) 03:04, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Computer itself

How long does it last?

From what I gather is it lasts up to 10 years. Could it last up 2 more years after the 10 years?

Believe thats it for now. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessicaabruno (talk • contribs) 15:54, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Depending on a lot of factors, computers lifetimes have a huge range. If you are willing to repair or replace some parts (which may require a little bit of technical know-how), you can further extend the life of a computer "indefinitely", replacing any part that fails. Laptop computers are more difficult to repair, because many of their components are integrated tightly and are not "user serviceable". I have several computers that have lasted more than ten years, but not all of their internal parts are the same as the day they arrived. The system I am working on now is a hybrid consisting of parts ranging from 6 months to 8 years old. Nimur (talk) 16:11, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I found several unsourced references to an average lifespan of 3 to 5 years, but as long as you're willing to put up with "old" technology, you can certainly keep a computer running much longer than that. I own an old Apple II that still works well even 30 years after it was built, but my personal refresh cycle seems to be around 5 years. 206.131.39.6 (talk) 16:52, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I suspect those "average lifespan" figures are time to replacement, not time to death. No computer I've bought since 1994 has ever died due to hardware failure (and the only one that died after 1990 was just a head crash; replacing the hard disk would have kept it serviceable). Several of them are still booted up infrequently (usually to recover some old file). After the first year, the fans and hard disks, being moving parts, are the primary sources of failure. A dead fan doesn't constitute a dead computer in most cases (especially with thermal controls in modern machines that shut down if they overheat), and a dead hard disk is a minor impediment to the technically inclined (assuming you use backups or data mirroring). —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 17:09, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanx for all of your answers to my question here. All of them are interesting.--Jessica A Bruno 20:45, 1 December 2009 (UTC) --Jessica A Bruno 20:47, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Failure rates for things with moving parts are dramatically higher than for things that don't move. That's why 206's Apple ][ and my own TRS-80 Model I are still running - they didn't need active cooling - so no fans, they didn't have hard disks (and often no floppy disks either) - so there are no moving parts to break and if you're lucky, they can last many decades. However, things that move will inevitably wear out eventually. A 10 year old PC can generally be kept going by replacing fans, power supplies and disk drives - while the technology gets outdated, it's generally possible to find replacements for things like that. I think though that it's important to mention the Ship of Theseus paradox: I have not bought a new PC in 16 years - however, every single part of my "16 year old PC" has been replaced at some time during those 16 years - and I have a very modern setup (64bit quad-core Linux system with nVidia 280 graphics and 16Gbytes of RAM). I'm on my third or fourth case - probably on my 5th or 6th motherboard and CPU - certainly on at least my 8th power supply - probably my 10th graphics card - I'm pretty sure this is my fourth keyboard and probably at least my 30th mouse! It's just possible that the power cord is 16 years old - but I'm quite sure that nothing else is! At no time have I gone out and bought a new PC though. In that sense, a PC could reasonably be said to last indefinitely. SteveBaker (talk) 03:21, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

So about the only thing left to replace is the operator. Hopefully you can be replaced by a younger and more efficient model. :-) StuRat (talk) 06:38, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanx for your answer, Steve. Interesting for sure.--Jessica A Bruno 23:15, 2 December 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessicaabruno (talk • contribs)

Broken Fan Frying Power Supply

Hello all. My computer is broken. A couple weeks ago the rear case fan started making grinding noises. I turned the computer off and cleaned the fan, and it stopped grinding until yesterday night. I shut off the computer, intending to fix it in the morning. However, after cleaning the fan a second time, the computer will not start at all. The rear case fan whirrs like a car trying to start, no lights come on at all. So I unplugged the fan, and now nothing works. I haven't tested the power supply (the most likely cause), but I would like to know if the grinding fan could have shorted something out, either on the power supply or the motherboard.

System Specs: Emachines T5010 Desktop 1GB RAM Windows XP Home SP3

Thanks.  Buffered Input Output 16:36, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

The grinding noise is most likely dodgy bearings in the fan assembly. It's unlikely that the fan has caused a short; but it does sound as if your PSU is borked. Bad luck. --Tagishsimon (talk) 17:03, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Only if it was massively out of position. If you're getting no lights at all, it's more likely the ineffective fan caused the PSU to overheat and die. Alternatively, you might have done some damage during the cleaning. I'd highly recommend replacing the PSU; at this point it's a fire hazard, and the cost of replacement is low enough that it's not worth that risk. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 17:04, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, now a next question; if I plugged the SATA hard drive into my other desktop, would the BIOS try to boot from the Windows XP on that hard drive? The other tower is running Puppy Linux and for good reason; it cannot run XP (not enough memory).  Buffered Input Output 20:33, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

The system BIOS is usually configured to identify a particular port (a specific IDE or SATA port) as the boot disk. If you plug your drive into a second port and make sure your Linux disk is still set as the boot drive (which should be the case) you should have no problem. If you don't know how to check your system BIOS, I'd say just try plugging in the second drive, see if it boots the correct disk (it probably will), and if it doesn't, unplug it and check the internet for instructions for your specific BIOS. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 22:39, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

internet cold damage

I have a device similar to this for my internets. It lives in the porch which gets just as cold as outside during the winter, which is very cold like cold enough for frost and snow. Will it be ok, or might it break in the cold? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.66.170.111 (talk) 16:50, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Frequent temperature changes across the dew/frost point may result in water damage to the modem. There should be an operating temperature range printed on modem so if you go above or below that range, it would be best to move it. 206.131.39.6 (talk) 16:57, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

It's also possible that it might suffer some damage due to uneven warping of the component materials (the plastic frame, the motherboard, etc.). Aside from that, barring extreme cold (below zero Fahrenheit) most solid state circuitry (such as that found in most DSL/cable modems) isn't particularly affected by low temperatures since they lack moving parts. Anything with fans or a hard drive is at greater risk. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 17:01, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

That's not true - lots of non-moving electronic components have minimum operating temperatures - I just surfed around and it seems that most Intel processors (for example) have a minimum operating temperature of 5 degC ([17])- and a minimum storage temperature of -10 degC. Most other silicon-based electronics will have similar restrictions. So it's highly likely that your modem will stop working when the temperature gets around freezing - and it could be permanently damaged in a cold snap. The electronics will be generating some heat while they are working hard - which may be what's saving you right now - but it seems very 'iffy' to me. Suppose there was a power outage during the night? The power goes off - the device stops keeping itself warm for a couple of hours - and you have a dead modem on your hands.

One classic trick for erasing a forgotten password stored on some kinds electronic device is to put it into a ziplok baggie and stick it into your freezer to take it down below it's minimum operating temperature (but NOT below minimum storage temp) - this will very often cause the onboard memory to forget whatever it was supposed to remember. (This is a trick used by car radio thieves to get around the password feature that some up-market car stereos have.) Clearly this is what you're doing with your modem - so it's highly likely that leaving it out there during cold weather is going to be a problem sooner or later. SteveBaker (talk) 03:06, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

If you still have the manual kicking around, usually there is a page in the back (or very front) which lists the technical specification, including acceptable temperatures for operation and storage. (Usually phrased something like "4 °C to 50 °C, noncondensing"). If you don't have a manual, you might be able to find one online with a Google search. (Something like "<device name> <manufacturer> <model number> manual" usually does the trick.) -- 128.104.112.95 (talk) 23:29, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

CD drive disappears

On my laptop, I just tried to access the CD drive to play a CD-ROM-based game, and it didn't work. The disc was scratched, and , thinking that might have something to do with it, I tried with a different disk in much better condition. It seems that my CD drive does not appear in the "My Computer" section of the computer, nor can it be accessed using its usual path (E:\). I have not tried to access my CD drive for a couple of months, so don't know how long this problem has persisted. Does anybody know what could have caused this?

System specification

(I'm not sure which of these will be useful, if any, so I'm listing everything)

• OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (Service Pack 1)
• Hardware: Compaq Presario V6500 Notebook PC
• Processor: AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-58 1.90 GHz
• RAM: 2.0 GB
• System type: 32-bit

Thank you in advance, Dendodge _T\^C 21:11, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Answered before, see original discussion. It didn't apply to his situation (there are many reasons it could go wrong), but you should try the steps from the links there first. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 22:36, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. I just tried the links, and they didn't work. I guess I'll have to take my laptop into the nice repair shop in town. They're better equipped to fix it than I am. Dendodge _T\^C 23:45, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Using BitTorrent

I've read the article, and I've had a look around the BitTorrent website. But I still have several questions. 1) What proportion of downloads are illegal? 2) If I use BitTorrent and only download legal material, what are the chances of me being mistaken by lawyers etc (I've read about their blackmail-like deals - "pay us £300 now or we take you to court") for one of the illegal downloaders? It appears that it loads material onto my computer, called 'seeding', like a sort of super-"cookie"-from-hell, and presumably it would download things from my computer without me giving explicit permssion. 3) Does this mean that it looks around my computer and downloads anything it likes, including confiodential and private material? 4) Where is the material downloaded onto my computer put? 5) If its in a folder couldnt I just delete it if I wanted to? I like to keep my computer clean - I hate "cookies" - signing up for BitTorrent seems like agreeing to be infected witrh a disease. 89.242.99.195 (talk) 21:33, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

1. Exact numbers aren't known, and you'd need to specify whether you mean total number or percentage of global bandwidth consumed. There are a number of estimates on the latter, which I've seen ranging from 30%-90%.

2.

A. Nearly non-existent. A torrent is associated with a particular file (or files). Figuring out which IPs are in the swarm for a particular file is easy, so media companies should be able to easily identify which torrents are illegal and confine their warnings to the individuals in that particular swarm. They don't look at your IP directly and see if there is BitTorrent-like traffic emanating from it, they just ask the tracker and it tells them which IPs are seeding a particular file. The risk of being sued for legal use of BitTorrent is roughly equivalent to the risk of being sued because you gave someone a funny look.

B. BitTorrent is different from general file sharing programs, in that it is purely a file transfer protocol. Other file sharing programs combine indexing with transfer, so they can accidentally share files you didn't mean to share. BitTorrent only downloads and shares those files which you explicitly request (by loading a .torrent file). During the download and after it finishes, it shares those pieces of the file which you have already acquired to help everyone get the file faster, but it doesn't offer anything but that file.

3. As above, none of the standard BitTorrent clients will do this. That is a risk with file-sharing programs like Kazaa, but BitTorrent is a transfer protocol; file sharing is handled through websites which host the .torrent files.

4. Wherever you tell it to go. Some clients put everything in one directory (which you set in their configuration), others ask for a destination each time you start a download. The files may not show up immediately; until the client has acquired some data,

5. The .torrent file is usually put in a temporary folder; you need to keep it until the download is complete. Depending on the client, deletion of the .torrent after you stop seeding is either automatic or an optional behavior. .torrents are very small though, so even if you don't delete them, they shouldn't occupy a measuable amount of space. No legitimate BitTorrent client adds cookies of any sort, and while the client isn't running, it's no different than the calculator program your computer ships with; that is, it has no effect whatsoever. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 22:29, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

(ec)

1. As it's decentralised, and most of the people running trackers won't benefit from keeping statistics (indeed, might incriminate themselves if they did so) that's probably anyone's guess. I'd say "the great majority", but that's just my guess.
2. There should be no change whatever, but many reports suggest the lawyers (and the companies they use to perform these kinds of analysis) aren't terribly accurate. Again it's really anyone's guess (not least because those companies aren't at all forthcoming about their methods). I don't understand what you mean about super-cookies-from-hell ; properly configured any p2p client should share only what you allow, and those reports you've heard on the internet about people's private docs being available over filesharing services are all because those people haven't carefully configured their clients.
3. It depends on your client; it's usually somewhere obvious like "my torrents", or the client makes you specify when you start a download.
4. Again, I don't understand what cookie you mean. Note that your activities on a p2p network can be tracked fairly easily by any member of that network you connect to, without cookies or whatever - p2p networks are intrinsically promiscuous.

In general p2p networks work by talking to dozens of utter strangers; you can't really expect any privacy for what goes on in a p2p network. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:33, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

PDFs

I have a PDF that contains both text and images. I want to get rid of the images while preserving the text. How can I do this for free? If it's pertinent, I use Ubuntu 9.10. Lucas Brown 22:59, 1 December 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lucas Brown 42 (talk • contribs)

Well, you could select the entire document and copy it into a simple text editor. Since the editor wouldn't support the images, they'd be discarded. There are some other tools that would do this programmatically, but I haven't used them in ages; I'd suggest a "man -k" and look for "pdf". —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 23:04, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

pdftk can get the text out of a PDF file... but it's really not much better/different than select all > copy > paste into Notepad or whatever. --Mr.98 (talk) 23:41, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

It should be noted that some PDF documents do not contain machine-readable text metadata. If your document lacks this data, you won't be able to "select all" as has been described above. For this case, you might want to read about optical character recognition. Nimur (talk) 23:50, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

If it's a properly structured document (and not the "just a whacking great image" type that Nimur describes) then Inkscape will let you edit the page and delete the images. But you won't regain the space they occupied (this isn't a word-processing document), and you'll generally find that each line of text (and often each word) is a separate text object, making reflowing the document hideously laborious. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 23:56, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

How to reconfigure my router

My router just stopped working for apparently no reason. I asked my ISP for help, they told me if the trouble's with my router I should refer to the maker of my router, which I did. I contacted Linksys, they told me that the warranty ran out on my model (WRT54G version 8), so it's no longer eligible for free tech support. They told me that they would give me steps on how to reconfigure my router, as long as I ponied up some cash first. So I'm like screw it, I'll look elsewhere where people can help me out without asking me to pay up for ONE-TIME help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.47.139.29 (talk) 23:25, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Assuming you can remember the admin user and password, go to http://192.168.1.1/ and access the router's settings. There, you should have the ability to check the router's settings against those provided by your ISP, and/or reset the router. As you can obviously access the internet, visit your ISP's website to get the correct router settings from them. Astronaut (talk) 23:43, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

And if you can't remember the admin user and password, or you want to really reset everything back to default, there's a little reset button you can push (usually with a paperclip) that takes everything back to factory condition. Given that you (24.47.139.29) can't connect anyway, you don't lose much by trying this. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 00:59, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

First, are you sure that the router is the issue? That is, can you connect to the internet directly through the cable/DSL connection without it? I would check that first, to make sure the router is the issue. If you're sure it is the router, first make sure you've gone through the manual's troubleshooting procedures. In general, computer troubleshooting is just a process of eliminating possibilities (is the router the problem? does it work if you connect with an ethernet cable directly to it? can you reset the router?) until you find the part that is causing the problem. It may be the case that it's something you can't fix (e.g., hardware failure), but getting to that stage tells you a lot. --Mr.98 (talk) 23:52, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, obviously I can connect without it or I wouldn't be here. The problem started out with me just not being able to connect wirelessly, but about a couple hours ago I also stopped being able to connect even with the cable, so right now I am connected to the internet directly through my modem. Anyway, I followed Astronaut's advice, my wireless network has magically disappeared, and now I cannot connect to 192.168.1.1, so I can't configure the settings on my router from there. And I did all of that before even finding out that I have a reset button, something that the geniuses at my ISP and Linksys never told me. I couldn't find my own manual that came with my router, all I have is the CD-ROM, so now I have to read the PDF and figure out where to go from here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.47.139.29 (talk) 00:24, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Don't assume anything is "obvious" to us (how do we know you are connected at your home computer and not just at a friend's?)... we know nothing other than what you tell us.

If you reset the router, it won't be named whatever it was named before, it will probably be named "linksys" and just be an open wireless network. You should probably try to connect to it via the cable, and then try 192.168.1.1. But yes... read the manual. They usually easy to find online if you don't have a hardcopy. The manual explains how to use the reset button (usually involves turning it off, waiting a little while, then holding it down for awhile, then waiting awhile). --Mr.98 (talk) 01:44, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Why would he need to "wait a while"? It simply needs to be off for a split second. Then, he can plug it back in and the reset will be complete.--Drknkn (talk) 02:26, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

"Resetting" the router refers to holding the reset button to erase all the settings back to the factory defaults. For a few routers I'm familiar with, you must leave the router on and hold the reset button for several seconds to properly start the factory reset. "Restarting" or "rebooting" the router can be done by turning the power switch off and on, or by unplugging the power cable and plugging it back in, and only takes a second. --Bavi H (talk) 03:16, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Actually, if the router is off, then waiting does nothing because it's not doing anything while it's off. The memory is cleared almost instantly once the power is removed. And you look at the lights for clues to when you can do anything, whether you hold the reset button or plug it in. And you shouldn't waste any time waiting a magic number of seconds.--Drknkn (talk) 03:52, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

(Just to clarify, I used the word "reset" to refer to the factory reset procedure and the word "restart" to mean turning the router off and on, two different things. I agree with you, to use the reset button, you should leave the power switch on, as I said above, but you must hold the reset button several seconds (refer to the router manual for a more precise number) to start the factory reset. This is to prevent accidental erasure. I also agree, to restart the router, you don't need to count out a large number of seconds before turning it back on. But you also don't want to flip it off and on as fast as possible. I usually ask people to turn the router off for "a second", like I wrote above, then turn it back on.) --Bavi H (talk) 05:48, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Also, unplugging anything is what is known as a hard reset.--Drknkn (talk) 04:05, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

(However you use the word "reset", it's important to make sure the other person understands you. If you ask someone to reset their router, and they find the button labelled "reset" and hold it, it will erase all the settings. So when talking about routers, I reserve the word "reset" for the reset button factory reset procedure. To restart the router, I usually ask someone to "turn your router off and on" or when there's no power switch to "unplug the power cable and plug it back in".) --Bavi H (talk) 05:48, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Reconnect the router to the modem. Now, which lights are glowing on the front of the router, and which aren't? Which lights are glowing on the modem? Also try unplugging your modem (not just the router) and then plugging it back in. That'll get your ISP's server's attention. What happens when you run ipconfig?--Drknkn (talk) 02:26, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I tried all that, minus disconnecting my modem, because disconnecting my router (for a previous problem) is what got me into this mess in the first place, so now I'm a bit paranoid about disconnecting my modem, and have something go wrong with that as well. Oh yeah, and my wireless network was called "linksys", I never gave it a name, so now there is no open network available. I try running ipconfig, some command prompt-like window shows up for a second then disappears. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.47.139.29 (talk) 03:17, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

You first type cmd in the run box and then ipconfig inside cmd. I have a Linksys router. Whenever I connect my modem to the router, I have to unplug my modem and plug it back in again to get my ISP to recognize the new MAC address. The same goes when connect directly to the Internet. Also, maybe you should type the command like this: ipconfig /all > ipconfig.txt. Then open up the ipconfig.txt file and post the contents here. BTW: I am Network+ certified and I see nothing with our recommendations we've given you so far. But if you won't even plug the modem into the router, then there's no point in running the ipconfig command.--Drknkn (talk) 03:46, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Did all that, still nothing. And here's my ipconfig:

Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : <redacted>
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : 
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-15-C5-B1-3C-BA
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.101
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
        DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 167.206.254.2
                                            167.206.254.1
        Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, December 01, 2009 11:26:17 PM
        Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, December 02, 2009 11:26:17 PM


Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-18-DE-21-EC-08

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.47.139.29 (talk) 05:28, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

If that's the output from ipconfig after you connect your modem to the router, then it looks like the router has assigned you a local IP address of 192.168.1.101, so the wired connection to the router should work. The default gateway (192.168.1.1) is your router. My guess is that you need to unplug your modem and plug it back in again, if you can't access the internet with the router connected. And you still can't connect to 192.168.1.1 through your browser? Try pinging it in cmd: ping 192.168.1.1. You should receive a reply instead of a "Request timed out" message.--Drknkn (talk) 05:41, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

And the lights that come on when I connect my router are the WLAN lights and one of the ethernet ports. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.47.139.29 (talk) 05:38, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Wow, that worked. Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it! You helped a whole lot more than those idiots at tech support. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.189.90.68 (talk) 06:17, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

You're welcome. :) --Drknkn (talk) 06:28, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

December 2

rundll

Can you change the rundll without reinstalling windows? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.31.162.62 (talk • contribs)

Yes, you can change it, e.g. by using a hex editor in another OS on the computer. But almost all changes you do to it, will make Windows malfunction. Exactly what do you mean by "change"? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 01:11, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

It's just a file (albeit a system one), so you can certainly change it. But why would you want to? If you think it's infected with a virus, you need a more thorough clean than just changing this file. And if you're simply worried because you see lots of "rundll" instances in the Windows task manager, that's not necessarily an indication of a problem (lots of things use rundll to work, most of them benign). If you're worried about the safety and security of your system, a virus and spyware scan is in order. If you're getting crashes in rundll, they're probably really crashes in some program that's just using rundll. And if rundll appears implicated in your system being entirely non-operational, it may be time for a restore to a safe restore point. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 01:15, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Rundll

Can you change the rundll on a computer. I got rid of some viruses but the rundll is still looking for them and I don't want to reinstall if I don't really have to —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.31.162.62 (talk) 01:11, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

OK. You most likely do not want to change the system component rundll32.exe. Perhaps the unwanted software is located in autostart? Run msconfig and see if you find anything. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 01:15, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Briefcase Blues

I'm using a briefcase as a simple way to back up my documents and pictures onto my iPod. Should be pretty simple, right? It all works fine for the Pictures folder, as well as a third folder, but the Documents folder just doesn't work. Nothing appears under its status (as in "up-to-date" or "needs updating"), and when I click "Update this item," only the "Please wait while Briefcase checks your files" window opens up briefly, then disappears. I try "Update all items," but apparently 2 gigabytes isn't enough memory to handle it all. I could go through and manually update the items within, but it doesn't let me update the subfolders, saying I should update the parent folder. This leaves me unable to back up anything I created after having made the Briefcase. What should I do?--The Ninth Bright Shiner 01:13, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Briefcase has a spotty reputation for doing weird things (but not as spotty as Roaming Profiles, another of MS's not-quite-good synchronisation solutions). Personally I wouldn't trust briefcase, but instead use rsync. rsync works the same way (at least for a one-way sync, like you're doing) and is generally extremely reliable and weirdism free. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 02:14, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Sounds good, I'll look into it. Thanks! But one more problem...how should I dispose of radioactive waste the old Briefcase file? Just delete it...right? I don't want it to voraciously claim any more of my files, not after the Calgary pictures incident...--The Ninth Bright Shiner 02:27, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Contextual search

Is there any search engine that can make contextual searches, i.e. intersect the set of results with the set of pages on a particular topic? I just tried the Google search "rings in GAP", because I want to find out more about rings as they are used in GAP. But most of the matches are irrelevant, not about mathematics at all. It would be nice with a search syntax like "rings in GAP topic:mathematics", so that all returned pages are (likely) about mathematics. It would also be good if you could restrict the matches to be case-sensitive, so that only "GAP" is matched, and not e.g. "gap". --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 01:20, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

This page from Google tells you how to get more out of your search, but doesn't say how to get the results you describe. Astronaut (talk) 13:49, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Over at Bing, they provide a different set of controls and advanced search options. Astronaut (talk) 14:01, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Easiest way to copy short clips from a DVD

I want to copy short clips from a DVD to an avi or mp4. Technologically speaking, what's the quickest and easiest way to do this? (using WinXP :( ) --Alecmconroy (talk) 03:33, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict)You need to first rip & decrypt the DVD onto your hard drive before you can do anything with the DVD. Try DVD Decrypter. If you are questioning the legality of this, it is not illegal to decrypt and rip the DVD if you do not utilize the decrypted data for commercial profit (that's piracy). DVDs are licensed for private home viewing; this is a different form of private home viewing.  Buffered Input Output 12:28, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

The DMCA (in the USA) makes it pretty clear that using the above method is illegal, and the media companies seem to agree. As I'm hoping not to start a debate about this very hot topic, I personally like to think ripping DVDs for personal use falls under the Fair Use exception. This may or may not hold up in court. I don't know of any cases where this was argued, but if there are any it would bring more merit to my views as well as the views of many consumers. Unfortunately circumventing the DRM using DVD Decrypter and other similar programs is the only way of doing what you want to do... aside from videotaping your TV screen :P Caltsar (talk) 20:14, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

They will never find out unless you're dumb and tell them, or start selling or distributing your decrypted dvds —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.55.75 (talk) 20:34, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Interestingly enough, shortly after posting here I read something about a guy in Denmark who turned himself in for doing just that. I'm hoping this sets some precedent for the US laws to be set right in the near future. Caltsar (talk) 15:53, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

The legal question is separate from the technical one. The easiest technical way is to use something like HandBrake, which makes ripping DVD chapters really easy. --Mr.98 (talk) 21:03, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

SIGHUP udevd on new USB device

Sometimes when I connect a USB storage device to my ubuntu laptop, udev doesn't acknowledge it nor does it mount manually, even though the device shows up in /dev/disk/by-id just fine. The only way I know of to fix this is to send SIGHUP to udevd. Is there any way I can have a SIGHUP sent automatically when I plug in a USB device? NeonMerlin 12:25, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

A hacky fix (rather than actually fixing whatever is causing your problem) would be to watch /dev/disk/by-id with inotify and SIGHUP whenever that sees a change. inotify has a nice utility which makes it useful from shellscripts - I'd guess you'd just do (in pseudo shellscript) something like:

  while true:
    inotifywait /dev/disk/by-id
    kill -HUP $udev_pid

I can confirm that inotify does indeed work inside /dev. You may benefit from a sleep 1 between the inotifywait and the kill, to make sure the kernel has everything up before forcing udev to look at it. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 14:31, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

What are normal CPU and motherboard temperatures?

My second-hand old computer has five fans in it, including the CPU fan and the power-unit fan. In other words its got three case fans. It is very noisy. I've disconnected one of the case fans, and I'm wondering if I could disconnect one or two more without harm, to reduce the noise. My previous old computer only had a power-unit fan and a CPU fan as far as I recall, and worked OK. The current temperatures are Motherboard 34 degrees C, CPU 27 or 28 degrees C, HDD 26 degrees C, fanin0 2812rpm, and fanin1 3125rpm. As its winter with the central heating off the room temperature is only 19 degrees C. Are the computer temperatures good? Would disconnecting one or two more case fans be advisable? Thanks 89.242.106.49 (talk) 13:59, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I'd normally be reluctant to disable fans, but those temps seem quite low. You might also want to consider other noise reduction strategies, like placing the computer in a compartment of a wooden shelf (should be open in the back to allow cooling). If you don't have such a compartment, you could make something like that yourself out of Styrofoam sheets. StuRat (talk) 06:22, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

What computer systems are bank accounts located on?

I've been wanting to ask this question for a long time. Bank accounts must nowadays physically exist on some sort of computer systems. But what sort? They must be pretty incredibly reliable, otherwise people would get very upset when a computer failure causes them to lose money. How does it actually work? JIP | Talk 20:20, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Traditionally most would be on mainframes. Eg the IBM mainframe. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:04, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I know that the ATMs for the Nationwide Building Society run XP. I once had one BSOD on me while I was making a withdrawal.--80.176.225.249 (talk) 23:54, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

NCR ATMs all used to run OS/2; I believe a lot of current ones run Windows 2000. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 00:35, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

I believe many nowadays may use Windows XP editions#Windows XP Embedded not Windows 2k, but I'm not sure. Others may use Windows CE. These things tend to have a long lifecycle so it's difficult to say, Windows XP Embedded or CE or some other version of Windows Embedded (including Vista Embedded) is obviously what Microsoft would suggest [18] but it doesn't mean they're using it. [19] [20] [21] [22]. Windows 2k and even some version of 9x has been used in the past I believe. Nil Einne (talk) 03:35, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Tandem Computers was a big supplier for bank back-office equipment, because they had a lot of technology for seamless failover. That behaviour was subsequently adopted by the post-mainframe suppliers (IBM, Sun, HP, SGI, and latterly by Microsoft) whose equipment dominates now (using essentially what they sell as internet servers). The traffic volumes really aren't that high (when compared with things like World of Warcraft or Google), and the database is readily shardable. Electronic banking still works, at a procedural level, pretty much like manual banking (with paper ledgers) - there is no need for a constantly consistent global state, as they perform a reconciliation at the close of business. So they have a bunch of logically and physically separate machines doing redundant transaction logging (so they can always replay the day after hours to rebuild a consistent view), and they run multiple failover groups (at multiple geographically distinct sites, with multiple redundant connections between them). While Sun et al hardware is both very reliable and fault-tolerant, the real redundancy comes from having lots of everything, and lots of wires between them all keeping everyone up to date. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 00:35, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Whitney National Bank uses IBM's i OS for its core systems - this story has a lot of detail[23]. The National Bank of Greece apparently uses z/OS and OS/390[24] which run on IBM mainframes. If you search IT news sites you'll find a lot of stories about what banks are buying and using. IBM mainframes with IBM operating systems seem very common. --Pleasantman (talk) 12:54, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

PS3 60GB & PS3 slim 120GB hard drive swap.

I have an original 60GB PS3 and a new 120GB PS3 slim. I successfully backed up my 60GB data using the Backup tool in the PS3 System menu to a large USB thumb drive. I swapped hard drives and the old PS3 powered up fine. It said that the drive contained a different system and needed to be wiped. So it wiped the drive and then restored the backup from the thumb drive. The "fat" PS3 works great and I have about 112GB of storage now.

However, when I put the 60GB drive into the PS3 slim, it will start up, but says that it can't find any system files. It asks that I hold down the start and select buttons to restart the system. I do that and it brings me back to the same warning. I thought it would go through the same auto format procedure, but it's isn't. I can't get to the XMB to format the internal drive. Any ideas how to fix? --70.167.58.6 (talk) 22:41, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

I found the answer here [[25]] --70.167.58.6 (talk) 15:52, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

December 3

How to prevent automatic re-directing on a website?

A website was created using a service, Moodle. However, the service provider was later switched to WetPaint. But, whenever the administrator tries to view the new website on their laptop they are unable to, and all that shows up is a generic 'demo page' for Moodle. The new website works fine on all other computers. Deleting cookies and setting firefox to alert you when re-directs take place haven't fixed this. The same thing happens with IE. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.234.239.245 (talk) 00:38, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Do you mean "view the new website" that you are going to yourwebsite.com and it is going to the wrong place? If so, and you have set up the DNS correctly, then it probably means that whatever local DNS server your computer is connecting to is just not updated, and probably will in a day or two. Sometimes this kind of thing takes a day or so to percolate through the system. But how long has it been? --Mr.98 (talk) 03:14, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

On the laptop, go to Start --> Run... --> cmd --> ipconfig /flushdns. Then, try again. The DNS Helper Service caches DNS resolutions, which can become out of date. If that doesn't work, then try typing net stop "DNS Client".--Drknkn (talk) 03:37, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Maximized embedded flash video minimizes when I click elsewhere

I have a dual-screen setup (Windows 7, GeForce 9600 GT with 2 BenQ 16:9 monitors if that matters...) and I like to use the right screen for video.

Unfortunately, when I go full-screen on many embedded video clips (like ones on CNBC.com - which uses Adobe Flash Player 10 in Google Chrome)on one monitor, then click anywhere on the other monitor, the video goes back to it's original size.

It would be nice if I could watch a video like that full-screen on one monitor, while surfing the internet on the other. Any ideas?NByz (talk) 02:24, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't have a solution, but can offer a work-around. I had a similar problem using full-screen mode on one screen of a two-screen setup. My solution was to simulate full-screen mode by dragging the corner of the window off the edge of the screen. This is easiest if the screen layout is offset, like so:

+-----+
|     |+-----+
|     ||     |
+-----+|     |
       +-----+

I have CRT monitors, so I can also adjust the horizontal and vertical scaling and panning, so that I don't see the window edges. With most LCD monitors you lose this ability, unfortunately, so you might have to settle for leaving two adjacent sides of the window still showing. StuRat (talk) 06:11, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

How people look up information

I am trying to find statistics on how people look up information - by library, internet, buying books etc. In other words how people try to find information to answer something. I can't think of a way to phrase the search query or find to find any relevant statistics. I am writing a paper and need to substantiate the claim that people prefer to use Wikipedia, search engines, google, online databases etc as opposed to going to a library for their information retrieval needs. I know this is true.. but I need statistics to back it up. And don't know how to find them. Thanks for any help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Baalhammon (talk • contribs) 03:26, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

You can search for prior research using Google Scholar. Surely somebody has collected statistics on exactly what you are working on. Some helpful search terms might include "information retrieval" or "information systems". I found Interaction with Texts: Information Retrieval as Information-Seeking Behavior, which has some helpful conceptual overviews and may lead you to exactly what you're looking for. Nimur (talk) 04:31, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

I appreciate the heads up - but I already have a conceptual understanding of the topic, I need hard statistics. I wouldn't be posting here unless I already looked using those keywords - what comes up is exactly what you linked to, theoretical papers. I need statistics that demonstrate how many users use Wikipedia, search engines, online databases, other web 2.0 technologies versus library visits. I think its obvious to most people that this is true.. but without the data I can't make the claim in good conscience. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Baalhammon (talk • contribs) 05:53, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

The reason people don't go to the library is that it requires a trip. However, there are other sources of info at home that might offer more competition for the internet; like dictionaries, the Bible, medical texts, and even asking a family member. Are you including these ways to "find stuff out" ? StuRat (talk) 06:02, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Remastering an MP3

OK, so I have a Shirley Temple song on my playlist. Since it was a bit messed up (i.e. audio levels, static, etc.), up to how much extent can it be restored or remastered using software? Blake Gripling (talk) 06:43, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

There's a lot of audio editing software that can remove static and let you adjust levels. Audacity is free and may do the job, but for more demanding work there are many commercial packages too, such as Adobe Audition. See also List of free software for audio, Category:Digital audio workstation software. You'll have to experiment to see how well it can be fixed, as this will depend on the type of noise and how badly it is degraded. --Pleasantman (talk) 13:02, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

return

In a function in C, one uses return value to return a value back to main. What happens when there is no value following return? Does it return nothing or all the values?

for example:

main()
 ...
void printfunction(char file[])
 ...
  printf("\n\nThe file reversed:\n");
  for(count2=0;count2<=count;count2++)
    printf("%c",original[count-count2]);

  return;
}

-- penubag  (talk) 09:10, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

As the declaration of the function says, it returns a void - i.e. nothing. If you were to try to use the return value:

    retval = printfunction(filname);

then you would get a compile error. --Phil Holmes (talk) 09:39, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

If the return type of a function is void, it does not return a value, and the only valid return-statement is on the form return;. Otherwise, the return-statement must contain an expression convertible to the function's return type. In any case, the function main shall have a return type of int. If your program does not match these requirements, anything can happen. decltype (talk) 09:43, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Ahh, I see. So it has the same effect as return void or not having anything?-- penubag  (talk) 10:08, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Well yes, except that "return void;" is not valid. So for a function with void return type, "return;" simply ends execution of that function and returns to the calling function. decltype (talk) 10:29, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

It may be worth saying that you don't need to put a return at the end of a void function; if you simply hit the end of the function body (the last }) you'll exit the function just fine. You use return in a void function when you want to exit it other than at the end (which some, but not all, programmers think is a bad thing: see for example [26]). (You can also return early from a function that returns a value; you must supply each return statement with a value, though they need not be the same.) --Tardis (talk) 16:13, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

From what I can remember, main() is legal in pre-ANSI C, but not necessarily in ANSI C. int main() is legal in both, void main() is illegal in both. ("Illegal" meaning "causes undefined behaviour", meaning it might work all perfectly under some particular operating system, but there's nothing whatsoever guaranteeing it won't make the entire computer explode under another operating system.) main() has three standard return values: 0, EXIT_SUCCESS and EXIT_FAILURE, of which the first two mean the same thing. Any other return value is implementation-dependent. Falling off main() without returning anything counts as returning 0, but main() is the only function guaranteed to do that. For any other function returning anything other than void, falling off the function without returning anything causes undefined behaviour. JIP | Talk 20:56, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

What does "all the values" mean? Also, it's not at all the question you were asking, but it's probably important: your array original probably has length count. Yet the first time through the loop what you try to print is original[count], which is a bad thing. --Tardis (talk) 16:13, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Symbols, colors, fonts won't copy into email

I'm reposting this question from Vchimpanzee, who asked some follow-up questions after the thread was archived. I've added a question to VChimpanzee for more detailed info. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 15:55, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Referring back to this question:[27]

I now find myself unable to copy and paste this information into emails. Is this something new in Internet Explorer 8?

I do recall warnings that I was telling the computer to do something unsafe and that was stopped, but I hardly see where just the symbols would cause a problem. I do remember video or something else moving and I was told don't use Explorer. I stay away from Firefox and use plain text when possible, but copying the symbols manually is such a pain. Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:43, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

No. The problem is not IE8. Probably, your email client is set to using just plain text. If you switch to using html, it should work (at least sort-of-work). See E-mail#Plain_text_and_HTML. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 21:14, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure what that means. I just go to the web site of the email service and sign in (#Webmail in the above article). It doesn't seem to matter what computer or what address, but there is a problem with this now.

I'd rather do plain text but sometimes don't because copying the symbols is a pain.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:28, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Update: while I couldn't see the text with the symbols and fonts, it did go through.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:47, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

To get a more specific answer, it would be helpful if you stated which email client you use, or, if you use a webmail service, which service you use (gmail, yahoo etc). It would also be helpful if you provided a link to a web page with contents that you want to copy and paste into your email. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 15:55, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Fun Ti 83 Calculator programs

What are some cool TI 83 calculator programs?Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 18:03, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

• [28]. --Michael White^T·C 18:36, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

ticalc.org is the most comprehensive site to find programs. I remember playing a multiplayer Bomberman type game back in high school. I think it required MirageOS which can be a little tricky to work with. Caltsar (talk) 18:39, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Wonderful Special Effects on Wordpress

Just have a look at this wordpress blog. See the wonderful "snowfall". How can I do same on my own wordpress ?

 Jon Ascton  (talk) 18:11, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

The first google hit for "Template:Websearch" answers the question, but unless your blog is about falling snowflakes I'd file this under "blink tag". --Sean 18:59, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Like this http://www.sjbaker.org ? Well, go to [29] - copy the javascript from that paste into your own web page right below the BODY tag at the top of the file. Then find the place where it says "var snowsrc=" ...and delete the URL and change it to just "snow.gif". Then make a small GIF image of a snowflake (or just a white circle - like I did) with a transparent background and place that into a file in the same directory as your web page...and you're done! (If you're feeling super-lazy, you can steal http://www.sjbaker.org/snow.gif - which I hereby release under the GFDL and Creative commons yadda yadda yadda (yes, it's a 16x16 pixel white circle, created with all of my very best, professional graphics skills so it's a valuable contribution to society...enjoy!) SteveBaker (talk) 19:14, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

(Revised: I made a spinning snowflake - it's even more annoying than the circles!) SteveBaker (talk) 20:17, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Function templates with Microsoft cl.exe compiler

With the following lines of code:

template <class T>
T max(T x, T y)
{
    return (x > y) ? x : y;
};

For the line T max(T x, T y), I get the error c2027 stating "use of undefined type 'T'." I've tried putting "typename" in front of all possible permutations of the Ts on that line, but to no avail. What format does the Microsoft compiler require for function templates? 20.137.18.50 (talk) 19:52, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Why School and Library Computers Don't Suffer Often from Viruses

Why do the computers at schools and libraries don't suffer from viruses and malware as much as personal computers despite their high traffic? All of these public computers I have used erase everything stored on the computer when rebooted; could this be one of the reasons? Would setting up a personal computer like this (one that erases everything when shutdown) effectively eliminate all malware/viruses? 128.84.178.36 (talk) 20:04, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Not all, no. If you get infected while logged in and then create some documents which also become infected, and send them via e-mail, or whatever, you'd still be propagating the malware. The hard disk wipe does help a lot, though. When the hard disk gets wiped at the end of a session, the malware gets wiped, too. Trouble with doing this on your home PC would be that you could no longer change its configurations, add programs, store any documents locally. Tempshill (talk) 20:10, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Most malware these days isn't viruses, and mostly gets onto machines because someone let them (they fell for a scam and downloaded and ran something they shouldn't, or ran some program emailed to them under a deceptive guise). Machines set up as kiosks generally take some simple security measures with this in mind:

• the ordinary user is an unprivileged account (and not an admin), and that account has its abilities heavily curtailed using the system security policy
• the administrator is a professional, and is hopefully either very experienced or pretty well qualified
• anti-virus and anti-spyware software are kept up to date
• there usually isn't an email client (or it's disabled); users use webmail (which is generally less likely to transmit malware effectively to the machine).

So, for the merely incompetent users such a machine mostly gets, these sensible security measures are mostly sufficient. They do the blank-and-restore thing as an additional protection, and for protection against local users with malicious intent. For a single-user home machine, blank-and-restore is overkill, and if you're technical enough to set that up properly, you're technical enough not to get malware in the first place. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 20:13, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

(ec) Another major reason they are probably not often infected is their rigorous policy that users do not log in with accounts that have administrator rights, so system files can't get infected. Most home and small business users just blindly use admin accounts all the time. Tempshill (talk) 20:15, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

This is the crux of the difference between almost all home run computers, and computers that follow basic security guidelines. A current version of Windows with the latest security patches and a properly restricted user account is resistant to almost all viruses/malware. Antivirus tools are little more than a safety net for haphazard users with too much privilege on the system. It cannot be stressed enough, if you want to stop problems before they start, give users only enough privilege to log in and do exactly what they need to do. Also, one more comment about the flush-at-reboot approach, this is obviously more final (especially if you boot up from unwritable CD or DVD and the hard drive is completely wiped) and it doesn't have to be impractical. There are "live CD" boot images for many major operating systems that are easy to obtain, can be customized, and include a lot of features. If the original question was asked with the intention of building a more robust computer for, say, a less computer fluent family member that won't require constant support to remove malware and correct configuration mixups, this may be a good approach to take. --Jmeden2000 (talk) 21:18, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

How can I tell what Bluetooth profile a USB dongle supports

I found a USB Bluetooth adapter behind my desk. How can I tell what class and profile it supports? There's no manufacturer name. --70.167.58.6 (talk) 20:13, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

If you plug it into a Linux machine and type lsusb it will show you the device's manufacturer and model number, give you something to put into Google to find info on the device. I think in Windows there's something similar in the DeviceManager (I'll get back to you on that). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 20:17, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, the Windows Device Manager (on 7 at least) has lots of USB properties for installed devices, but none reports the useful info that lsusb does. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 20:29, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Right-click any device and select properties. From this page select the details tab and then just scroll through the "Property" choices to find the information you want. The most useful ones are "Hardware Ids", "Bus relations" and "Device Instance Path" (which between them will tell you the manufacturer/model (if it's actually saved in the USB hardware) and Googling the Device ID will usually give you more information. ZX81 ^talk 20:51, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

CSS "tabs"/indents

So I'm trying to make a page that looks something like this:

January 1	Something Exciting Goes Here. Here is some more information.
February 5	Something Exciting Goes Here. Here is some more information.
May 3	Something Exciting Goes Here. Here is some more information.

...and so on. Except, I'd like (for a variety of reasons), to do it without tables. Is there any way to get this kind of tab-like behavior? Indents don't seem to help much, because I can't separate the date and first line. Putting a margin-right on the date doesn't work because the lengths of any individual date can vary (e.g. "May 5" is fewer characters than "February 5" and so it looks incorrect). In Microsoft Word, this would be accomplished with tabs, but I don't see any obvious CSS equivalents.

Any thoughts? --Mr.98 (talk) 21:06, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Make each date block a float:left div, each of the right "column" another float:left div, and do a clear:left between the row. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:08, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Like this:

January 1

Here is some
information.

January 2

Here is some
more information.

January 3

Here is yet
more information.

Of course in practice you'd use CSS classes and a stylesheet (which I can't readily do on Wikipedia), making your html very simple.-- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:12, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

domain cloaking, etc.

I run a page at a URL like http://myuniversity.edu/dept/ . It is hosted by the university in question. Unfortunately the university's IT department is pretty backwards and the web options are pretty artificially constrained. I would like to have the hosting provided by a commercial host, like bluehost.com or dreamhost.com or whatever. The problem is, I need the URL to look the same (it still needs to be http://myuniversity.edu/dept/) and it needs to be seamless (that is, if you go to myuniversity.edu/dept/aspecificpage.html, it would have to work correctly and still appear to be at myuniversity.edu).

What specifically would the university IT people have to do in order to make the .edu domain point to the commercial host servers? How technically difficult would this be (especially considering that ONLY the "/dept/" directory would point to these servers—the rest of the university's pages would obviously still be hosted on university servers)? This is normally consider "domain cloaking", I believe, but I don't really know how it works on the back-end, or how it would work in the case of a single directory on a domain (and not the whole domain).

Does anyone know what this would involve? Goofy half-solutions (e.g. loading all the pages via AJAX or something) are not really acceptable possibilities. --Mr.98 (talk) 21:11, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Copying URLs to clipboard

I would like to be able to highlight some text on a webpage (oer just indicate the whole page) and have all the explicit URLs there copied to my clipboard while the rest of the text is ignored: is there any quick way to do this please rather than copying each URL individually? I only want to copy the visible URLs, I do not want to copy any weblinks.

Second question, is there any quicker way to copy an URL to the clipboard other than highlighting it, right clicking, and choosing 'copy' from the menu? 89.242.105.246 (talk) 21:19, 3 December 2009 (UTC)