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November 13

Question about web searching

How can I do a web search where I can search for one term over multiple web sites? For example, how would I search for Wikipedia at cnn.com, ask.com, cbs.com...all in one search? 63.231.178.198 (talk) 02:24, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Well using Google you can specify multiple sites in the advanced search http://www.google.co.uk/advanced_search?q=example&hl=en . The advanced search is right beside the search button. Or you can use, for example, site:en.wikipedia.org reference desk. Lanfear's Bane | t 10:38, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

The Google Advanced Search page didn't correctly search multiple sites for me. But you can form your own Google search for multiple sites by using something like site:cnn.com OR site:ask.com OR site:cbs.com Wikipedia --Bavi H (talk) 02:37, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Are you asking for a metasearch engine? 69.228.171.150 (talk) 07:27, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

mobile phones for businesses and multiple people

many businesses use landline phones so a call would be received throughout the business's building. is it possible for businesses to go completely landline free and use multiple mobile phones that are connected to a single number? so if a customer calls a number, five staff mobile phones would ring and the first to answer would take the call. if this is not possible, why? wouldn't this completely eliminate the need for landline phones in most areas? (pricing aside) Bonusbox (talk) 02:42, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

It might be possible, but seems totally nuts for the following reasons:

1) Cell phone reception is often worse than land lines.

2) Cell phones are less reliable.

3) Cell phones can get lost.

4) Unlike land lines, most cell phone plans make you pay for incoming calls.

5) Cell phones don't last as long, needing to be replaced every few years.

So, considering that for these reasons just about nobody would want to do this, there may not be any cell phone company that actually offers this service.

Cell phones instead of land lines can make sense for businesses where there is no office or people are often out of the office, but not for a business where people all stay in the office. In that case, you might consider land lines with cordless phones, so people can still move around the office (but be aware than many cordless phones are not secure, so a cord phone should be used when security is needed). StuRat (talk) 11:54, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Note that paying for incoming calls using cell phones is, AFAIK, a US-only feature. --Phil Holmes (talk) 14:27, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

I'd say that was a good thing, but there may actually be an advantage to being charged for incoming calls, in that most telemarketers don't even try to call you on a cell phone, knowing that they will be greeted with even more than the usual hostility if they do. StuRat (talk) 14:40, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

It seems to me the cost telemarkets pay is likely to be a bigger disincentive then callee 'hostility'. I've definitely never heard of telemarkerters calling people here in NZ Nil Einne (talk) 06:44, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

If this hostility means you won't buy whatever crap they're selling, that's the biggest disincentive of all. StuRat (talk) 13:43, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, it's perfectly possible, and it's a service offered to businesses by most major developed-world telcos, and by third party providers too. In essence one outsources the company PABX into the telco cloud, which then reroutes calls (generally back over the PSTN) to individual phones, or to daughter PBXs at fixed sites (generally over ISDN). Such systems can thus reach branch offices, cellphones, employee's home phones, or to fixed phones that are directly connected to PBX equipment in a company's site. All modern PBX equipment either runs directly off an internal IP switch, or has a simple IP bridge card, so this enables enhanced service VoIP. Such systems make a lot of sense for companies that have a lot of motile people (sales-heavy companies, event organisers) or that have no premises (where everyone is either on-the-road or working from home). Typically an employee registers a given device as their current location, be that their home phone or their laptop-voip or their cell or the normal extension in their office, and the PBX makes calls to that extension ring at that location. Digital PBXs are very capable and feature laden, with support for any number of complex ringer groups, fallback ring groups, night service ring groups, and ring groups discriminated by calling and called phone number. You get all the same automated attendant, VPS, and voicemail capabilities whether the PBX is hosted or sitting in your office. D-PABX systems are beginning to migrate to running over IP rather than the POTS/ISDN PSTN, as IP affords enhanced services like directory and a unified messaging system (where texts, emails, and voice mails are all presented by the same system, over a range of interfaces from web to voice); in practice VoIP on mobile phones is still a bit crufty to be relied on for serious business use (and D-PABXs will fallback to PSTN). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 00:57, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Not quite what you were asking, but for a long while I had my desk phone forwarded to my mobile. It worked well for me, without disrupting others and made me more "available". However, it often annoyed my manager who was never quite sure if I was at my desk, in my car, or out at lunch :-) Astronaut (talk) 02:14, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Java Screenshot program

Resolved

Hello! I'm working on a Java program that sends periodic screenshots from one computer to another over the Internet. The problem I'm running into is the first screenshot comes through fine, but subsequent screenshots do not come through (that is, they are not displayed in the server-side GUI). Here's part of my code:

Server side:

while(true) {
            BufferedImage bi = ImageIO.read(in); //in == the socket's input stream
            if(bi != null) {
                label.setIcon(new ImageIcon(bi)); //label == a JLabel in a JFrame that displays the image
            }
        }

Client side:

final OutputStream o = s.getOutputStream(); //s == the socket
        Timer timer = new Timer();
        TimerTask task = new TimerTask() {
            public void run() {
                try {
                    ImageIO.write(rob.createScreenCapture(new Rectangle(800, 600)), "jpg", o); //rob == java.awt.Robot
                }
                catch(Exception ex) {
                    ex.printStackTrace();
                    System.exit(-1);
                }
            }
        };
        timer.schedule(task, 0, 1000);

I started without the Timer, and that didn't work. The Timer doesn't help, but obviously I only need it to update every 500-1000 ms or so. It still has some work (specifically changing the capture size for all displays). I think my problem is with the stream, which I don't really understand completely. Removing the "if != null" block results in a NullPointerException. I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thank you!--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 04:36, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

First of all, I hope this little program of yours isn't anything nefarious. It's not nice to spy on people's desktops, you know! I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume everything is kosher, but don't you try anything naughty, young man!

I was curious to what your problem was, so I created a similar program myself. I think the issue here is indeed the stream, and sending multiple images over the same stream. I noticed that while my client said it had sent something like five or six images, my server only reported having recieved one or two. This tells me that ImageIO can't properly tell when one image ends and another one starts, with the result that the formats gets all screwed up and nothing works. I fixed this by simply shutting down the socket after sending one image, and then starting a new one up to send the next one, and that fixed it good and proper.

By the way, why is the client sending stuff to the server? Usually it's the other way around, no? Or is it that you want to set up a server at home, and then you can put the client on temporary pcs to document what you're doing? Anyway, here's my source-code for the server (very, very quickly hacked together, don't expect a masterpiece of code):

ServerTest.java

import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;

public class ServerTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            ServerSocket server = new ServerSocket(4242); //Starting the server
            System.out.println("Listening");
            while(true) {
                Socket socket = server.accept();
                System.out.println("Found connection");
                new Thread(new Talker(socket)).run(); //Sending the the socket to a thread (this is a very primitive server)
            }
        } catch(Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

class Talker implements Runnable {
    
    Socket socket;
    static int n = 0;
    
    public Talker(Socket socket) {
        this.socket = socket;
    }
    
    public void run() {
        try {
            InputStream in = socket.getInputStream();
            BufferedImage image = ImageIO.read(in);
                
            if(image!=null) {
                System.out.println("Got image " + n);
                ImageIO.write(image, "jpg", new File("screenshot_" + n++ + ".jpg")); //Writing image to a file instead of GUI
            }
        } catch(Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
    
}

And here's the client (same caveats apply):

ClientTest.java

import java.awt.Rectangle;
import java.awt.Robot;
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;

public class ClientTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
     
            while(true) {
                //notice how new sockets are created and closed for each image
                //didn't have to computers in front of me, so I just did it using "localhost", but it shouldn't make a difference
                Socket socket = new Socket("localhost", 4242); 
                OutputStream out = socket.getOutputStream();
                Robot r = new Robot();
            
                System.out.println("Sending image");
                ImageIO.write(r.createScreenCapture(new Rectangle(800,600)), "jpg", out);
                socket.close();
                Thread.sleep(5000); //for apps this simple, I just use Thread.sleep() instead of Timer, no reason to get fancy
            }
        } catch(Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Creating and shutting down sockets all the time creates a little bit more overhead, but not much. Nothing today's fine modern machines and internet can't handle. Belisarius (talk) 22:10, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

BTW, just to emphasize that I made this very quickly, obviously you shouldn't put the "Robot r = new Robot()" inside the loop in the client. That's just stupid, and I realize that, but I couldn't be bothered to care all that much. Belisarius (talk) 22:12, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, Belisarius! Don't worry; I was creating this program as a way to give help to my computer-challenged parents when they need it. I was getting tired of "well, there's this window over here..." conversations, and Microsoft Remote Assistance wasn't working. My computer's the server (and I view the images) because I don't want to bother them with the port-opening/looking-up-their-IP stuff.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 22:59, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Aha, ok then :) If the built-in windows stuff isn't working, you may want to check out either some of the open souce VNC servers (which can a pain to set up) or something like GoToMyPC, which I hear is excellent. Good luck! Belisarius (talk) 23:13, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Small problem Looks like I've run into another problem. If I create a new socket for every image, the socket is bound to a different local port, and I can't force the new socket to use the same port again or I get a BindException since the TCP port is in a TIME_WAIT state. I tried enabling the SO_REUSEADDR option, but that didn't help. The TCP ports stay in TIME_WAIT too long to just reuse a group or ten ports or so (maybe if I used 1000, but that's too many ports to have waiting to timeout). Is there anyway I can remedy this?--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 00:47, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

TIME_WAIT is an inevitable consequence of closing a TCP socket, and creating (and destroying) a new socket once every second is a very bad idea - doing so is a common denial-of-service attack (making a server run out of socket slots, because they're all sitting in TIME_WAIT). You should certainly open the socket once at the beginning, send all your comms over it until it's done, and then kill it. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 01:21, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Okay, then how do I stream the BufferedImages of the screenshots from the client to the server reliably?--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 01:48, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

All right, fine, I fixed it so you only need one Socket. Stupid TIME_WAIT! The idea here is to not just send image after image, but instead, to first send a four byte integer that says how many bytes the image will be, and then send the image. On the other end, first we read the four byte integer to find out how big the image will be, then read that many bytes. That way we can know how long the images are and they don't "smush" together. It's trivial to convert between streams and byte arrays using java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream and java.io.ByteArrayInputStream. The code is slightly more complicated, but I've commented it as best I can. Here's my modified server (tested and it works great):

ServerTest.java

import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;

public class ServerTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            //Everything here is the same
            ServerSocket server = new ServerSocket(4242);
            System.out.println("Listening");
            while(true) {
                Socket socket = server.accept();
                System.out.println("Found connection");
                new Thread(new Talker(socket)).run();
            }
        } catch(Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

class Talker implements Runnable {
    
    Socket socket;
    static int n = 0;
    
    public Talker(Socket socket) {
        this.socket = socket;
    }
    
    public void run() {
        try {
            InputStream in = socket.getInputStream();
            
            while(true) {
                //Here, we first read the integer with the lenght that was sent first
                byte[] l = new byte[4]; //This array will store the integer in byte form
                int read = 0; //How many bytes that have been read from the stream
                
                //This kinda looks tricky, but it's not. It uses the InputStream function read(array, offset, length)
                //That function tries to read [length] bytes and store them in the array, starting at array[offset]
                //However, it doesn't guarantee that it will read [length] bytes, so this while-loop forces it to do that
                //The function returns the actual number of bytes read
                while(read < 4)
                    read += in.read(l, read, 4 - read);
                
                //And now we have the length
                int size = byteArrayToInt(l);
                
                System.out.println("Getting image " + n + ", length = " + size);
                
                //Array to store the image in
                byte[] image_array = new byte[size];
                read = 0;
                
                //Same idea here, only we're not reading 4 bytes, we're reading [size] bytes
                while(read < size) 
                    read += in.read(image_array, read, size-read);
                
                //And, tada! We have our image.
                BufferedImage image = ImageIO.read(new ByteArrayInputStream(image_array));
                
                //Which we can do whatever we want with, like write it to a file.
                ImageIO.write(image, "png", new File("screenshot_" + n++ + ".png"));
            }
        } catch(Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
    
    public static int byteArrayToInt(byte [] b) {
        return (b[0] << 24)
                + ((b[1] & 0xFF) << 16)
                + ((b[2] & 0xFF) << 8)
                + (b[3] & 0xFF);
    }
}

And here's our client:

ClientTest.java

import java.awt.Rectangle;
import java.awt.Robot;
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;

public class ClientTest {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            Socket socket = new Socket("localhost", 4242);
            OutputStream out = socket.getOutputStream();
            Robot r = new Robot();
                    
            while(true) {
                //First we make sure that ImageIO outputs the image into a byte array
                ByteArrayOutputStream b = new ByteArrayOutputStream(); 
                ImageIO.write(r.createScreenCapture(new Rectangle(800,600)), "png", b);
                byte[] ba = b.toByteArray(); //This byte-array now stores the image
                
                System.out.println("Sending image of length: " + ba.length);
                
                //First we send the length of the image, so the server knows how many bytes to read
                out.write(intToByteArray(ba.length)); 
                //Then we send the image itself
                out.write(ba);
                
                //And then we sleep (will work regardless of how long we sleep, i tested 500 ms too)
                Thread.sleep(5000);
            }
        } catch(Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
    
    public static byte[] intToByteArray(int value) {
        return new byte[] {
                (byte)(value >>> 24),
                (byte)(value >>> 16),
                (byte)(value >>> 8),
                (byte)value};
    }
}

And that, as they say, is that. Belisarius (talk) 17:15, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you very much, Belisarius. This works great! Plus, it has taught me a lot about how streams work, which was pretty fuzzy for me before.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 02:53, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Java websites

I'm looking for some examples of websites developed using Java (the source codes etc). A google search brings up a lot of Javascript stuff, but that's not what I'm looking for. I'd be very grateful if someone could provide a link to a website with examples/tutorials. 202.124.190.197 (talk) 05:25, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Apache Tomcat is a Java Servlet container (basically, a web server) which executes Java classes that extend on the Servlet base class definitions. Tomcat websites are written in Java, but they show up as HTML in the browser naturally. There is an extensive list of PoweredBy websites available at Tomcat's website. Some of those might even provide access to the site's Java source code. You can also try searching Google for terms like "tomcat tutorial", "tomcat java example", "tomcat example" for an idea of what is going on inside a Tomcat Java servlet. --hydrox (talk) 06:32, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Java with MYSQL or ORACLE

Hi, I am in need to access databases through Java.... Please tell me whether SQL will be best to be integrated with Java or else MySQL will be best to be integrated with Java.... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Atchays (talk • contribs) 05:54, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Definitely Oracle. It supports JDBC. You can also execute Java statements directly inside the DBMS along with PL/SQL. Oracle databases have their own Java virtual machine (the Oracle JVM). Oracle also makes a Java IDE (JDeveloper) that is free to download and that you can use to integrate Java with the database.--Drknkn (talk) 12:29, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

All the major databases support JDBC - MySQL [1], PostgreSQL [2], DB2 [3], Microsoft SQL Server [4], and even Cloudscape (or Derby) [5].... I can't think of any reason why Oracle would be "best" for somebody who is still learning basics of database programming; it is complicated and expensive. After the OP has great familiarity with database technologies, they can evaluate whether Oracle's commercial tools are worth their cost. I think the OP might want to read about SQL and database programming before going very far forward. SQL is the language for interacting and requesting data transactions from any database. MySQL is a specific database - it happens to be a common, free, open-source program that is fairly straightforward to set up. JDBC is a specific technology, including an API and a driver to connect to the database. It is not the only way that Java programs can access data out of a database. The official JDBC Database Access trail is a great tutorial for the novice Java database programmer. Nimur (talk) 14:45, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

He didn't ask what would be easiest. He asked what would work the best with Java. Read his question again. Oracle works better with Java than any of the other DBMSs for the reasons I gave. There are developer and trial versions of Oracle he can try, as well. He's a Java database developer, so I'd imagine that he doesn't mind actually learning something instead of using some childish, buggy DBMS like MySQL. Have you ever used either Oracle or MySQL, or did you look it up just now?--Drknkn (talk) 10:48, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I have. I would never recommend Oracle to anybody, let alone a novice. Nimur (talk) 14:42, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

This tutorial using netbeans might help the OP if they are a novice with Java and MySQL. BigDunc 17:22, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

USB device

I recently plugged in a 2 GB Kingston pendrive and a Seagate FreeAgent Go 320 GB portable hard disk (which belong to a friend) into my laptop's USB port. My laptop works on Windows Vista Home. The problem is that whenever I insert any of these two portable devices, the computer searches for the preconfigured driver folders for the driver software and then gives me a prompt that I do not have the driver software in my computer and that I have to use the installation cd that came along with the device to install the driver. I don't have any such installation cd and the same devices are working perfectly in my friend's laptop i.e. his laptop automatically installs the driver when I plug in the devices. The strange part is MY LAPTOP SUCCESSFULLY DETECTS A 40 GB PORTABLE DISK THAT I HAVE AND ALSO A KINGSTON 1 GB PENDRIVE THAT ALSO BELONGS TO ME. I have 1 GB RAM (I don't think this problem is realted to RAM since my 40GB and 1GB portable devices are working perfectly on it). Why is my laptop not installing the driver automatically for the 320 GB and the 2GB? What is the solution? Please help me with this problem...... Should I download the driver and install it? That may not be possible since I have only a dialup connection whose download speed does not go more than 2kbps and it's very frustrating to download anything more than 5 MB..... If it is small in size, please send me the link..... Should I be downloading USB 2.0 device driver? Please suggest me a solution...... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.246.57.2 (talk) 06:02, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, you should download the drivers when prompted and install them. While logged into an account that has admin rights. The two hard disks and the two pendrives may have different manufacturers (even though both pendrives are from Kingston), by the way, hence the differing reactions of your computer. Comet Tuttle (talk) 06:28, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

If you're using Vista, it should already have the USB 2.0 drivers. One suggestion is to make sure your laptop's chipset drivers are up to date. If you check the laptop manufacturer's support website, they should have those available. But to me it sounds like you might be having an issue with your USB driver stack. Try rebooting into Safe mode, open the Device manager, make sure "Show hidden devices" is checked, and right-click on every "USB Root Hub" and uninstall it. You can also delete anything that looks like it might be the driver for your pendrive and portable hard disk. When you reboot, Windows should automatically detect and reinstall these drivers, along with any other USB devices it finds. Indeterminate (talk) 08:19, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

WP Essay about not calling wikipedia "wiki"

I read a great essay regarding the use of the word "wiki" to mean "wikipedia" that someone here wrote. I can't seem to find it though, can you help? Thanks! Chris M. (talk) 13:57, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Not sure why you're asking here, but it's at WP:NOTWIKI. Algebraist 13:58, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Not sure why asking here is a problem, this is a reference desk after all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.89.85 (talk) 14:40, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, it didn't really fit in at the help desk, and I figured this would get more responses then the Misc. desk. Thanks a lot though! Chris M. (talk) 14:04, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

If it's about Wikipedia, it goes on the Help desk - what makes you think it wouldn't? (just curious.) Vimescarrot (talk) 14:31, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

This question works both ways. He's looking for a specific reference. APL (talk) 00:06, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I think this is better here. On the help desk people answering questions expect them to be things they know the answer to. We expect to have to go off and find references, so are ready and prepared to do so. This isn't a question that someone is likely to know the answer to off the top of their head, so it is better here. --Tango (talk) 02:59, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Xubuntu 9.10 hosed - can't get past login screen

Afternoon, folks.

I've been having a lot of trouble with my Xubuntu partition after I upgraded to 9.10 a couple of weeks ago. First, my touchpad stopped working (fixed with some odd command). Second, X soiled itself and died after I tried to install the nvidia drivers via the official Hardware Drivers wizard (fixed by sudo apt-get purging the nvidia packages, then deleting xorg.conf so it'd be replaced), but in the last couple of days, just when I thought I'd got it stable, it developed a new problem where I can't get past the login screen.

It was a bit temperamental after the nvidia drivers fix, but this suddenly started a couple of days ago for no apparent reason (I haven't changed anything anything for over a week). When I start my Xubuntu partition, it goes through the pretty sparkly lights effect, then gives me the user select box. I choose my name, then enter my password. It goes back to the sparkly lights for a second, but then Xfce seems to crash - I see a black screen with garbled text for a quarter second before Xfce restarts and puts me back at the user select screen. The cycle repeats until I give up and boot Windows (which is a pain in lectures since it takes about a thousand years to start up). I've googled around, and I found a forum thread or two and an Xfce bugzilla report about a similar issue, but no surefire solutions. One person suggested deleting ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/displays.xml. I don't have this exact file, but I do have one that seems to have the same content, but temporarily renaming it (by Ctrl+Alt+Fx-ing into another terminal screen) didn't make any difference.

Does anyone know how I might fix this?

Cheers, CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 14:00, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

I've seen similar trouble when using the Nvidia proprietary binary driver. The only solution I know of is to put up with periodic crashes, or to remove the proprietary driver (and use the less powerful, more stable open-source driver for Nvidia cards); and accept a performance/stability tradeoff. Nvidia has better support for CentOS, so if you're willing to switch out of Ubuntu/Debian, you might get better stability. The official line from Nvidia is: "Note that many Linux distributions provide their own packages of the NVIDIA Linux Graphics Driver in the distribution's native package management format. This may interact better with the rest of your distribution's framework, and you may want to use this rather than NVIDIA's official package." Unfortunate. Nimur (talk) 14:35, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

I guess when CaptainVindaloo says "the official Hardware Drivers wizard" he means the Canonical packaged versions, and you're right that these should be the most stable available (personally I've had no instability using their nvidia-nonfree on the last four or five iterations of Ubuntu). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 01:42, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Looking at /var/log/* is a good start. --194.197.235.240 (talk) 16:22, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

CaptainVindaloo, it seems from your question that at some point you installed the nvidia-nonfree driver from some other source (I guess direct from nvidia) then purged it, and then installed the canonical packaging of nvidia-nonfree instead. If that's the case I'd guess that somehow you may still have fragments of the old thing that apt/dpgk should have removed but hasn't. Clearly your system is mostly servicable, as clearly the X server is starting and running okay to run gdm, but the X server you run for your session is dying (perhaps when the it starts to use the desktop effects features). First I'd check /var/log/Xorg.*.log and /var/log/gdm/*.log If all else fails, login at the (text) console, kill the root gdm, and then manually start X (either as "X" or with "startx") and then xfce; if nothing else you'll see error messages in real time, and you'll be some way to knowing which stage of startup is triggering the barf. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 01:42, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the help, guys. Okay, a check of a the most recent log files brought up some interesting stuff: Xorg.0.log and a few others are still talking about nvidia drivers; :0-greeter.log (or whatever it's called - I ended up having to more *greeter.log to read it) is also showing a few interesting looking errors: "GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion 'src != NULL' failed", "WARNING **: You can only run one xsettings manager at a time; exiting", "WARNING **: Unable to start xsettings manager: Could not initialize xsettings manager", "Window manager warning: Failed to read saved session file [...]: No such file or directory." I also just tried Finlay's suggestion of stopping gdm, then starting X again. I used 'startxfce4'. When I ran it as root (sudo startxfce4), it seemed to work okay, even if it did use bits of GNOME in places, but when I ran it as myself (after stopping gdm again), it crashed again. There isn't much printed to the terminal, but it ends with:

[starts here, with timestamps etc]
(EE) open /dev/fb0: No such file or directory
xrdb: "Xft.hinting" on line 9 overrides entry on line 6
xrdb: "Xft.hintstyle" on line 11 overrides entry on line 7
xfce4-session: Unable to access file /home/[my username]/.ICEauthority: Permission denied

waiting for X server to shut down .error setting MTRR (base = 0xd0000000, size = 0x0ff00000, type = 1) Invalid argument (22)
ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log

To answer a few questions: I tried to install the nvidia drivers via the Hardware Drivers program in Applications -> System. I called it "the official Hardware Drivers wizard" because I couldn't remember exactly what it was called at the time. It seemed to run correctly at first, but next time I rebooted, it broke with the flickery screen problem that quite a few other people got (that is: stuck in text mode, but the screen was madly flickering, and half of the keys I pressed didn't register - as if X was repeatedly starting and crashing). Fixed by purging the nvidia drivers and nuking xorg.conf. I only tried it once.

Thanks for the help again. Suppose this all serves me right for early adopting and then messing about with drivers. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 17:22, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

HAHA! I am a genius! Well, no, I feel slightly thick for not thinking of trying this earlier; that file it complained about 'permission denied' when starting Xfce - .ICEauthority. It must have been messed up somehow - it wouldn't work even when I changed it's permissions. So, I tried renaming it to see if a fresh copy would be recreated. It worked - I'm typing this from the newly-fixed Xubuntu right now. Comparing the old copy with the new one, I can see there's quite a few garbage characters (showing up as <?> in more) in the old copy that aren't there in the new copy. I'll keep an eye on things, and come back if everything goes wrong again. Cheers for the help guys, I wouldn't have thought of this otherwise. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 11:59, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

What is wrong with this mIRC script please?

What is wrong with my script?

http://pastebin.com/m18cdc629

I type "!ID 9515" and it attempts the socket open, but the "on sockopen" never gets executed. why?!?

Thanks! 137.81.112.176 (talk) 16:04, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't mean to be rude, but maybe whatever you're doing, mIRC isn't the right tool for the job. You're essentially making a primitive implementation of the HTTP protocol in there, and that's something that should be relegated to the experts. If it isn't directly chat-related, maybe you should go with another language that has built-in implementations of HTTP to make stuff like this a little easier. Belisarius (talk) 22:27, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

It is directly chat related. With all due respect, in this case coding in a different language is not suitable for the task. 137.81.112.176 (talk) 21:13, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Additionally, there are many mIRC scripts which use sockets to retrieve information, so the use of this script is not out of the ordinary. 137.81.112.176 (talk) 21:18, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Noisy monitor

I have a Proview EM-170TFT all very nice except... every few (5, 10?) minutes it makes a sort of hissing sound - the sound is not connected and the volume is on zero. Kinda unimportant but also kinda driving me up the wall. Any solutions? Apart from taking it apart and de-soldering the speakers. Rich Farmbrough, 16:52, 13 November 2009 (UTC).

I assume this is a monitor with built-in speakers. Are you sure the noise comes from the speakers ? I can imagine a build-up of static electricity making a little hiss every so often, even in a monitor with no speakers. I had a TV with a different problem, the speakers would go to full volume all on their own. In that case, I did exactly what you said, I took it apart and disconnected the speaker wires, then used external speakers instead. StuRat (talk) 16:57, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes it's a definate "turn on turn off". Happens in screen saver mode too. Rich Farmbrough, 21:50, 13 November 2009 (UTC).

An electronics expert could tell us whether TFT monitors have a flyback transformer, which used to be a frequent culprit of whining and other extraneous noise, back in the CRT days. (The flyback transformer article just talks about CRTs and not TFTs & LCDs, so that's probably the answer right there.) Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:55, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

(ec) CRTs used to make all kinds of clicking noises (from high voltage relays closing) and buzzing from the transformer; especially if they were aging or if there was a borderline hardware failure. But, I have not ever seen any of that hardware on an LCD monitor; usually, the transformers and relays are not needed for anything except CRT tubes. It's possible that a power-save mode is using something similar to this. Alternatively, the backlight may be on its way out - those can sometimes hum (like a fluorescent bulb), due to introduced capacitances that can create resonances at audible frequencies. Nimur (talk) 22:28, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, it's like it does something which un-mutes teh speakers and plays this buzz-click over it. Always the same sound, about 1 1/2 seconds I estimate. Rich Farmbrough 12:51 14 November 2009 (UTC).

Is there a mobile phone near your monitor? Mobile phones periodically transmit powerful signals to re-synchronize with the base towers; these are often strong enough to couple in to speaker pre-amplifiers, which mix down the noise to audible frequencies and amplify them over the speaker. Nimur (talk) 14:51, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Simple ways of *measuring* the CPU frequency in ASM

I am interested in different ways of measuring the CPU frequency using only a very simple assembly routine. A few months ago I tryed the following code:

  push 100
  rdtsc
  mov ebx, eax
  call sleep
  rdtsc
  sub eax, ebx
  mov @Result, eax

It returns 1/10 (because we measure the number of cycles in 100 ms = 1/10 s) of the CPU frequency in Hz. However, it only works on some of my computers (all with Intel CPUs). Are there any better ways? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 18:32, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

The Time Stamp Counter, the instruction you're using, notes the significant limitations and increasing uselessness of that feature given the implementation of modern x86 microprocessors. Worse, depending on what that sleep function does, you're affecting the results while measuring them - because many modern CPUs will put themselves onto low-power (low clock frequency) rates when they think there's nothing going on. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 20:50, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I have read that. What other methods are there? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 20:54, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

This Intel app-note contains an example "frequency detection procedure" which uses the MPERF register (which is available on some machines). A use of this is also discussed at this Stack Overflow topic. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:29, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Is there no more naïve way that works on "all" CPUs? How did you do this ten-twenty (?) years ago, when these instructions were not available? Would it not be possible to write a simple loop that you know use a certain amount of clock cycles, and then use, e.g., Win32 API's GetTickCount before and after the loop? (Yes, I realize that you do need to loop for quite a while, perhaps a second, to get a good value.) --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 13:38, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Keep in mind that if there is any operating system present (even a trivial scheduler), your counter loop can be pre-empted without warning. You can't really know what results a preemptive scheduler will have on your naive algorithm - so your results can be orders of magnitude off from the true value. With today's linuxes and windowses and so forth, your naive algorithm will categorically fail. You might want to consider a different operating system such as QNX or eCos, if you need real-time information. Nimur (talk) 15:02, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I see. Thank you very much for your replies! I will investigate the MPERF approach further. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 15:14, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

but what Nimur misses is that even the best of schedulers can't give you the next ten minutes of idle time to go ahead and use in the next half of a second. In other words, it will only slow down execution, never speed it up beyond the metal. This means that by trying different spurts at random times, you can have a potentially good idea of the "maximum" speed of the CPU, assuming it is not under constant heavy load (so that you never get a true slice of it). Of course, your maximum could turn out to be of a much smaller window than the metal, deep inside a VM, etc. But you will never get a HIGHER maximum than the truth. Unless of course the VM lies about how time passes, and you rely on the "system" (ie VM) clock, which is slowed down artificially compared to the truth. But that's another story. The point is, if you are not inside of a VM, you will never "clock" the CPU faster than it is physically, only slower. By trying a few different attempts, you can figure out that over millisecond bursts at random times over 5 minutes, you have never gotten more work from the CPU than about a 500 MhZ Pentium III performs. Either the hardware is that slow, or you are getting that little of it. The one thing that's for sure, is that if those are your results, you are not on an idling 2.5 GhZ core2 duo. dig? 85.181.150.6 (talk) 18:31, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

The first google result for "measure frequency asm", btw, was [6], which covers everything you guys mentioned. The last post on there also mentions lmbench (from 1998), which apparently "runs some different loops and the processor's clock speed is the greatest common divisor of the execution frequencies of the various loops." Neat stuff. Indeterminate (talk) 09:03, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Viewing old Outlook Express files on new computer

My previous computer broke down and I have its HD as an external HD on my new computeer. There are some Outlook Express email files on the old HD that I want to look at. When I start Outlook Express (which I no longer use) on my new computer, there seems to be no obvious way to view the email files on the old HD. How can I view the email files on the old HD? I only want to view them, it does not matter about importing them etc. Thanks 78.147.22.100 (talk) 20:56, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Can you send yourself an e-mail and make the old Outlook Express e-mails an attachment ? I believe you can do that with Gmail. StuRat (talk) 22:37, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

What format are the files you're trying to read? And what email client/system are you using now? Between them Outlook and (its abjectly incompatible little brother) Outlook Express deal with DBX, OST, MSG, ELM, MBX, and PST file formats. Some of these can be read by other mail programs, some by converter programs, and some seemingly not even by the same program that allegedly created them. In the past, when all else has failed, I've used aid4mail - it's pretty cheap if you need it a lot, but rather expensive if you've just got this one job for it. I've had poor results using free/OS tools on several of these formats (PST being the worst). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 01:09, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Importing the old mail files is the way to go. If you used Outlook Express on the old computer, the HD should have some files on it with the .dbx extention (somewhere like <drive-letter>:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Identities\{<several-strings-of-hex>}\ with filenames inbox.dbx, drafts.dbx, outbox.dbx, etc.) Your new email client should be able to import these files. One exception I am aware of is that you cannot import directly into Microsoft Outlook - I had to go through Windows Mail first and then import into Outlook when I started using Vista. Astronaut (talk) 02:00, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

By default e-mails are stored in "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{random_uuid}\Microsoft\Outlook Express". This folder can be changed via Tools, Option, Maintenance, Store Folder to something under My Documents, for easier backup. After changing, the original folder can be deleted. See also: Microsoft knowledge base article 270670: How to back up and to restore Outlook Express data. One way to transfer the files to a new computer is to start Outlook Express on the new computer, which will cause it to create the directories etc, then copy all the files from the old computer to the above-mentioned location on the new computer. (I've recently transferred my data across to a new computer (in both cases using XP and Outlook Express so I know it is possible.) Mitch Ames (talk) 02:03, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Quite right Mitch. I now remember there there are two "identities" folders for each user. Only one of them has the .dbx files (the one under "Local Settings", IIRC). Astronaut (talk) 02:54, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I've found the dbx files by searching the whole disk. I've copied then from the old HD to the current HD. I shall do as Mitch Ames suggested. I altered the size of unreadable text above. 78.147.25.95 (talk) 21:31, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

external hard drive enclosure failure

How often do the enclosures fail? The hard drive itself is perfectly fine, and works like a dream in a new enclosure. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.89.85 (talk) 21:27, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

You're gone, and I shed no tears.

I don't have a reference for you, but anecdotally, I've probably seen 20 hard disk crashes at work and home over the years, but never an enclosure failure; the closest to a failure I have seen was an old SCSI external hard disk enclosure where one of the two 50-pin connectors (remember those?) got shoved inward to one side, so it was difficult to secure to the big SCSI cable. There's not a lot going on with an enclosure; no spinning parts or really moving parts at all. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:52, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

hmmm, that's really odd. I've had my second external hard drive fail today, and just like the one before the actual hard drive works fine in a new enclosure. Perhaps I'm somehow doing something to break them, although I can't think of what. Anyway, thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.89.85 (talk) 22:08, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Could it be they just weren't connected properly ? Some of those cables are damned near impossible to get connected properly. StuRat (talk) 22:35, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

When I am about to load the very last mission in Modern Warfare 2, when the progress bar has reached some 80 %, the program crashes and displays the following message:

create2DTexture(seal_soccom_lower_body_a_nml, 1024, 512, 0, 894720068) failed: 8007000e = Ran out of memory

Google tells me that this is a very common problem. But is there any known solution? --81.227.64.180 (talk) 22:13, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

I may be going out on a limb here, but, um, maybe get more memory ? StuRat (talk) 22:30, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Another option is to free up all the memory you can. I first reboot, then use the task manager and kill every other process (except the critical ones). I do that all the time. StuRat (talk) 22:32, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

The system requirements, on the box of the game, says that you should have at least 1 GB of RAM on Vista, which is my OS. I have 3 GB of RAM, so that should not be a problem. --81.227.64.180 (talk) 22:52, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

You really should contact Activision technical support. I don't know anything about the error here, but when it's talking about running out of memory, it may be talking about the memory on the video card. Is the video card to spec? Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:48, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, it is. In fact, I am able to run the game in the (big) LCD screen's native resolution with the best (i.e., most demanding) graphics settings, with no lag at all. --81.227.64.180 (talk) 00:18, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Nice. Try running the game again but change your settings to some lower resolution and lower texture quality settings, and then load the problematic mission again and see if it'll play. Also, what did Activision tech support suggest? Comet Tuttle (talk) 01:46, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Smacks of a memory leak issue. If tech support is beating about the bush, the best you can hope for is a patch. Running it in safe mode could help until you get past the bug, then load the game in normal mode again. Sandman30s (talk) 11:50, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

With a new game there is some expectation that things will occasionally break... I would bug tech support, and if it is truly common, I am sure they are working on a patch. In the meantime, I would try scaling back the graphics settings and loading that mission in particular. --Mr.98 (talk) 21:17, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

November 14

Diagnosing Inverter vs. Backlight Lamp

The backlight on my laptop monitor isn't working. From what I've been able to find, this is a fairly common problem that can be caused either by the power inverter or the actual florescent lamp. Both parts are pretty cheap on ebay, but I'm not sure I'm up to the task of replacing the lamp myself if that turns out to be the problem (apparently it's a difficult fix), so I'm trying to figure out if there's some way to tell from the symptoms which part is to blame before I start ordering things or taking things apart, instead of just bringing it in somewhere.

The problem started out gradually. Once in a while the backlight would suddenly quit while the computer was on. After a while it started going out more frequently, especially when the monitor had just been turned on after being off for a while. The screen would start out flickery, and then often go out. It got worse over a month or two until now when it gets turned on it stays lit for only a second or so before quitting. I've been using the computer with an external monitor since it became unusable. If anyone has any tips on making this diagnosis I would appreciate it. Rckrone (talk) 04:06, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Another possibility is that it's the wires going from the power supply to the backlight. Since those are in the part of the laptop that bends when it opens and closes, they will tend to fail. On my laptop, I have to open it an exact amount to get the backlight, any more or less and it goes black. I agree that laptops are far from being "user serviceable". So, that leaves you two options, as I see it:

1) Take it in for "professional" service.

2) Continue to use it with an external monitor, basically as a desktop computer. If you really need a laptop, buy a new one. StuRat (talk) 03:51, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Well if it's just the inverter I'll replace that myself. And if there's really no way to tell for sure that it's not the inverter, then I'll probably try that anyway (it's only $12). But if there is some way to tell that it's not the inverter then I'd prefer finding that out before I spend a lot of time messing around with it.

I'll check the wires too. Thanks. Rckrone (talk) 05:35, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Try the inverter first since it's dirt cheap. When a backlight goes out, the screen will mostly likely have a pink hue first. If you have to replace the backlight, replace the whole LCD panel since most of them make getting to the ccfl tube a rather treacherous task. New 13" LCD panels can be found for about $120, and be sure to try to find the one for your model to ensure connections are all placed properly. If you aren't comfortable fiddling with lots of delicate connections and the puzzle that is laptop assembly, you are best off taking it to a professional. 206.131.39.6 (talk) 16:01, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Redundancy in volume knobs

So I've got a usual of three volume knobs my computer is using. There's Windows volume, speaker volume, and then the volume of the application in use. Is there a real functional difference between them all? Or is it just a meaningless redundancy? 69.77.250.210 (talk) 04:50, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes. Obviously one affects the volume for every application including the system volume, one affects the Windows or system volume only and the other affects the volume of the application only. Incidentally the main/speaker/whatever volume sets the limit, if you try to increase the volume of an individual component past this it will move the main volume panel. There are obvious reasons why you might want to adjust each volume individually (or even mute them) as well as the overall volume. For example earlier I was watching a recording from a satellite receiver which had a very low volume because the connection had come lose. I turned up the players volume to max and my speakers. However occasionally when I received messages on my Live Messenger it was very loud as was my system volume when I was doing something on my computer for a while. I could have turned down the Live Messenger and system volume to stop this (I wasn't watching for long and forgot about this so didn't do it). Incidentally if you have multiple applications runnign with sound, you will see multiple applications in the volume panel. (I presume we're talking Vista or Windows 7 here since Windows XP and earlier had different things.) You're welcome to test the various volume bars if you want to see how they work any more. Nil Einne (talk) 06:36, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

What do you mean by one of them setting the limit? From what I can tell, the different volumes just multiply (although I guess they may not be linear). --Tango (talk) 03:08, 15 November 2009 (UTC) Forget that, I understand. You are interpreting the question differently. I think the OP is referring to the volume control in the application itself, the volume control in the Window's system tray and the physical knob on the speakers themselves. --Tango (talk) 03:10, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Incidentally, I'm using Vista and had never seen that per-application volume control thing. That's really cool! --Tango (talk) 03:12, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

web site hosting

Just asking those of you out there who have your own personal website which provider you use. I'm interested in starting one myself and would like to get a few tips. Thanks! -- penubag  (talk) 06:41, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm using a Polish service related to onet.pl, however would love to finally set up my own server at home in 2010. Productwise I get 150 MB of web space, for which I pay about EUR 16 once every two years. They have a bandwidth limit, which I do not know, however, and have never exceeded. --Ouro (blah blah) 07:00, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I have seven web sites. I've tried using free hosting services, but they were unreliable and slow. Now, I only use paid hosting. GoDaddy is the cheapest I've used at $4.99 a month, but the GoDaddy servers seem to go down a lot. They're also slow and there isn't a toll-free support number. My favorite hosting company is Network Solutions, but they're expensive at $9.29 a month. I've never seen their servers go down and their technical support is excellent. I've also heard good things about Host Gator. They're cheaper than Network Solutions, but they're more expensive than GoDaddy. (They say that hosting is $4.95 a month, but that's only if you get it for three years or something like that.) They only offer Linux hosting. Linux hosting would work if you use PHP or Perl for your server-side scripting, but I use ASP.NET, so I always get a Windows package. If it has to be free, consider asking your ISP if they offer free hosting. If you're a student, ask your school, too. Those two options tend to be reliable, but they usually don't offer any server-side scripting (e.g., PHP, ASP.NET, etc.)--Drknkn (talk) 10:42, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Second that. About £30 a year is the cheapest you'll get good reliable hosting with facilities like databases. Plus a couple of extra quid for each web address you want to use. It isn't a lot of money and and if you have problems you can move it somewhere else and keep the name. How much do you value your own time? How much do you spend on a computer? How much do you even spend on electricity for your computer? Dmcq (talk) 12:51, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't spend that much time but would like to start to get more involved. Before I spend any money, I want to be sure that I will though. -- penubag  (talk) 22:57, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

What about nearlyfreespeech.net? (I've never used it.) -- BenRG (talk) 13:27, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Depending on the service you want, you might look at Storm (http://www.storminternet.co.uk/). I run 3 sites with them and I'm generally pretty happy. --Phil Holmes (talk) 13:39, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

bluehost.com and dreamhost.com are pretty popular for cheap hosting. I have used bluehost extensively and found them reliable, with very generous quotas (I never come close to hitting them), and good technical back-end (scripting, databases, decent tech support, easy creation of virtual domains, etc.). $10/mo. or so for hosting you don't have to worry about. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:30, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for all your suggestions. I think I want to go with free hosting, even if unreliable until I'm sure I can make a proper website. I'll definitely look into the others you guys mentioned after I feel I have the hang of it. Do any of you recommend any free hosting? -- penubag  (talk) 22:51, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I use a combination of Freehostia and Byethost. Freehostia has more downtime than Byethost, IMO, but Byethost redirects 404 (and maybe others) to what looks like a spam page, and has popups in their "panel". Thanks, gENIUS101 23:44, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Visual problem ATI card

When I play e.g. Crysis and Modern Warfare 2, visual problems appear. There are different problems with both games. After 1 h gameplay Modern warfare 2 my computer renders some textures blue, and the weapon in the hand gets invisible...With my old nVidia GeForce 8500 GT card everything worked fine, but when I put my new ATI Radeon HD4870 card in my computer, visual problems appear(texture problems). Here are my computer specs. ATI Radeon HD4870 512 MB, 3 GB RAM, 600 GB SATA, AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+. I have installed the latest driver and I have SP1, I have reinstalled Windows from scratch...I have tryed everything!!! What is the problem? --81.227.64.180 (talk) 13:44, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Many graphics cards do not support ECC memory. When they get warm (e.g. after an hour of gameplay), spurious thermal-related errors can cause single-bit-flips and similar data errors. These are usually non-permanent hardware malfunctions due to overheating, but they can also indicate more permanent damage. One option is to improve your cooling situation (running the computer in a colder environment, or improving its airflow into the case by adding fans). Alternately, you can investigate whether the spurious errors are caused by some other software effect. Nimur (talk) 14:59, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

A software called 'ASUS Smart Doctor' is included with my ATI card. In Smart Doctor it is possible to check the temperature of the GPU. And it always says 50/55 Celsius, even after 1 h Crysis, wich is really demanding for the GPU. And I do not think that this is more than the GPU can handle. Before I had another computer case, in which the graphics card barely could fit. Then I hade a lot more severe problems. After 1 h Crysis on that computer, the entire system crashed. When I shut down Crysis, miscoloured pixels appeard as a layer above the entire screen, and eventually I got the blue screen of death. I couldn't use the computer for days! --81.227.64.180 (talk) 15:29, 14 November 2009 (UTC) Sometimes it looks like a dead window, every object repeated. --81.227.64.180 (talk) 15:34, 14 November 2009 (UTC) Everytime Modern Warfare 2 crashes it stands "Create2DTexture(Different texture names)failed:8007000e = Ran out of memory", so everything are texture problems... --81.227.64.180 (talk) 17:56, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

You may solve the problem by underclocking the core clock/memory on the graphics card by ~%10 using RivaTuner or similar. Rjwilmsi 18:03, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Updating drivers in Ubuntu - difficult?

A comment a while ago from SteveBaker said that updating drivers in Ubuntu was very difficult. This is the only thing making me hesitate before adopting Ubuntu instead of Windows. But I've since read that SB uses a very old version of Linux. Is it difficult to update drivers in recent versions Ubuntu? If it is, could not an expert write a program to make it easier? 89.240.203.81 (talk) 14:23, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I've been using Ubuntu for five years, and with the exception of the video driver, I've never consciously changed, installed, or uninstalled a driver. Things just work. Almost all the drivers one needs are either part of the kernel or one of its associated modules, and are packaged by Canonical and distributed using their apt-based package system, such that one really doesn't ever worry about them. The only exception is, as I've said, the video driver, for which I use Canonical's repackaging of the non-free (that's non-free-software, but still costs-no-money) nVidia video driver. Installing that was simply clicking a couple of buttons, and it's kept up-to-date automatically. So my personal experience has certainly been that, to the trivial extent that I've ever had to think about drivers on Ubuntu, it's been considerably easier to manage them than on Windows. I think I have a fairly broad range of devices that "just worked" when plugged in - accelerated video, audio, usb storage devices, ipod, HP printer, canon scanner, no-name webcam, small-brand USB voip phone, DVD burners, keyboards, mice, PATA and SATA disks (and RAID cards for both), tape drives, and a generic (tesco's) usb<->memory card interface dodad. My only counsel would be to avoid an ATI video card, the drivers for which aren't very good. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 16:14, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Actually I did have one driver problem; using Netgear USB 802.11 adapters is a pain (one has to jump through hoops installing the windows driver inside the NDIS wrapper framework, a procedure for which one does have to pretty technical). The wireless adapters in laptops have never, however, caused me any issues. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 16:22, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, it depends on the wireless chipset - some of them have helped the Linux community make good drivers (Atheros), others haven't (Broadcom). I've downloaded and compiled CVS daily snapshots of drivers when the ones I was using were buggy... but I don't think I've done that in a couple years now. Anyway, in general, keeping your drivers updated is quite simple, and much easier than Windows. Indeterminate (talk) 09:10, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

In Windows, if all you want is the latest WHQL drivers that MS releases, they'll be automatically installed by Windows update if you've set it up properly. How is Ubuntu easier? Nil Einne (talk) 19:58, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Maybe SteveBaker doesn't know what he's talking about. --Belchman (talk) 20:54, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

If that's the case he usually fakes it pretty well. --Sean 22:19, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

That's why I said "maybe". --Belchman (talk) 15:00, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Any grammar checkers available for free?

The only thing that makes me cling to MS Word is its grammar checking. Is any available in a free wordprocessor or stand alone program please? Since detailed sets of AI grammar rules exist, then why hasnt anyone written a grammar checker? 89.240.203.81 (talk) 14:35, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

A grammar component for OpenOffice has been in development, but is not ready for release. Some plug-in extensions also exist, like LanguageTool, which has pre-set and extensible rulesets. Nimur (talk) 14:54, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Although this fails to address your question, I'd disrecommend using any sort of grammar checker. IMHO, the one in Word is more trouble than it's worth.--Leon (talk) 07:39, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Oh, absolutely, second that. Much better to read the text carefully yourself after a good night's sleep or let a knowledgeable friend read it for you than use any computer grammar checking software. --Ouro (blah blah) 07:11, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

I am a professional Technical Author and checking grammar in Word documents is a big part of my job! I would wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments about the Word grammar checker - I never use it and some of its suggestions I disagree with. The only useful thing is it highlights instances of 'which' that should be 'that', but if you've got to check the text manually anyway then you would pick that up. You can never beat a good proofreader, although never try and proofread something you have just written, as it's easy to miss things. As somebody else said, come back to it the next day or get somebody with good proofreading skills to check it (preferably the latter, as a fresh pair of eyes always tends to spot things you miss!). GaryReggae (talk) 12:52, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Linux Distros & Wi-Fi Compatibility

I've got Ubuntu 9.10 and am having no problem with it at all. However, I would like to put another distro on my computer as a dual-boot. I have tried some others, and am having trouble getting one that works with my wireless adapter. I am pretty sure (though possibly mistaken) that if Ubuntu has a compatible driver (which it does) then they all should, as they are all basically Linux. However, I have no way of knowing this without downloading each and every one and trying them out. Is there any way that I can find out which driver my Ubuntu distro is using so I can just download that and try it out on each new distro I try? --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 16:18, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

lsmod lists the modules (including kernel drivers) that are currently active. My Acer's onboard wireless is driven by the iwl3945 driver - unfortunately lsmod isn't very expansive about explaining what each module is, so you need to do some googling to know what's what. You can also do modprobe -l | grep wireless to list all the modules wireless modules available; very likely only one of those will appear in your lsmod output. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 16:31, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

In /sys/class/net/(your interface's name, eg eth0)/device/driver/module/drivers there's a directory name that contains the driver name. I feel there must be better ways to find it out but I don't know any. --194.197.235.240 (talk) 20:10, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

publishing an application

Dear Friends, From the early days of visual basic(and basic) i liked to make small but useful applications.Many of my applications are highly preferred in my organization where I work.Going further ahead, I like to make these applications available on the web.How can be that done in such a way that the end user can only input something and get the results on the web? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 113.199.163.218 (talk) 16:27, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm not really understanding what you mean by "that the end user can only input something and get the results on the web"? Are you asking about distributing an application in general on the web? Uploading it somewhere with a page describing it and what it does will help people find it (Google will eventually index the page if it is linked to from any other page). --Mr.98 (talk) 16:31, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

If you simply mean an application that takes its input from, and gives its output to, a user accessing it with a web browser, then that's simply a web application. There are innumerable frameworks for writing these; if you're familiar with Visual Basic already, then Visual Basic .NET is probably a straightforward parth for you to take. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 16:34, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

If you're hoping to port an existing windows-gui VB app to being a VB.NET web app, you'll probably find that quite a lot of rewriting is required. While the core-logic will move over pretty easily, the web's GUI paradigm (HTML/CSS/JS/DOM) operates really quite differently from the Windows GUI paradigm (windows/events/resources etc.) so the gui code (and really the interactive app's "main loop") will need to be rewritten. There may be bridge logics that people have written to fake a win-gui paradigm on webapps, to facilitate porting, but I couldn't easily find one for you. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 16:50, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I also started out with VB.NET. I later transitioned to the web using ASP.NET. You can create ASP.NET web pages using Visual Basic.NET inside Visual Studio or Visual Web Developer Express. The VB is converted into HTML, JS, and CSS and sent to the browser. If you're better with Visual Basic 6 or earlier, then you could also try regular ASP. It uses VBScript (or JavaScript if you prefer, but I digress).--Drknkn (talk) 14:27, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

speakers with no plugs, only bare wires?!

So I have two medium bookshelf speakers that only have the +/- leads in them ... I never bought speakers by themselves before -- usually you know, when I get them they have things like a jack or a plug or other reasonable things. So I apparently need something like an "amplifier" -- but why do they all cost so much? I pretty just need a connection from a headphone/aux jack into the speakers, so any recommendations would be nice. John Riemann Soong (talk) 18:34, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

You can get the appropriate TRS connector from an electronics supplier like Radio Spares (RS), Radio Shack, or Maplins. You common the two ground connectors (the cables for each speaker that aren't coloured, or are colored black or white or blue) to the sleeve element inside the connector, and the remaining two (one from each speaker) to the tip and ring terminals respectively (all the order does is change which is "left" and "right"). Carefully solder the whole thing and you're done. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:15, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

You might find that this connection to the headphone/aux jack does not give you the volume that you were expecting, and this is when you need an amplifier of some kind, but any old amplifier with an aux input and speaker output will do the job. People often throw these out if they are fitted in an old radio set or an old record deck etc. The wires to the speakers can be any old wire (as long as it is not too thin and long), but take care not to short the output. Dbfirs 22:47, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

John, directly wiring the aux jack into the speakers will probably result in a very weak sound. You're probably thinking of "desktop" speakers with built-in amplifiers that plug right into their source with no problem, but that doesn't seem to be what you bought. APL (talk) 00:01, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

The sound will presumably be the same as what you get through headphones (that don't have batteries). Imagine putting headphones on your desk and trying to listen to something through them - it's not going to work! --Tango (talk) 03:17, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Buy an old amplifier or receiver on craigslist or from a garage sale. You can probably find a fairly nice one for 20 bucks or less. 69.228.171.150 (talk) 11:18, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Or see if you can send back the speakers and get the type you intended to get - that way you don't have to do any soldering. --Tango (talk) 11:21, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't think connecting up an amplifier requires any soldering... --antilived^{T | C | G} 01:18, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

It does if your speakers only have bare wires. You need to solder a connector onto them. --Tango (talk) 01:33, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Nah, many (most?) amps have connectors on them that take bare wires. I don't know what that kind of socket is called, but it either pinches the wires in some sort of spring-loaded clip fashion, or it screws down on them. Either way, no soldering required. APL (talk) 16:58, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

I would say definitely most. In fact I've only ever come across a few amplifiers that have something else and IIRC even that could still accept bare wires. In fact I think someof the screw down ones are the kind that can also function as a socket Nil Einne (talk) 13:37, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

bittorrent client help

ok guys i use bitcomet as my bittorret client. i previously had a netgear router that i had to port forward because it was blocking bitcomet. i just bought a belkin router and i had to do the same thing with it. im thinking of changing bittorrent clients since i cant access my wireless printer since when i port forward i hav to set a static ip which messes up the connection to the printer. just wondering if anyone knows if utorrent is blocked by routers like how bitcomet is.--Uponneeds99 (talk) 18:42, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

ahhh i figured it out; im using a wireless router and a corded router. its the corded router thats blocking bitcomet, doh. stupid d-link. the corded router itself must be blocking p2p stuff...--Uponneeds99 (talk) 19:35, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

use utorrent —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.89.85 (talk) 19:51, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

uTorrent can work fine without a static IP. It just doesn't always have optimal incoming connections without one, if that makes a difference to you. I'm not sure about BitComet. —Akrabbim^talk 02:39, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

A script language for doing things with blocks of text?

Is there such a thing please? Specifically I would like to be able to replace a few strings in text-fileA (taking the replacement strings directly from the user). Then insert the text from file A adjacent to each block of text in text-fileB with appropriate page breaks, then send file B to the printer. 78.147.25.95 (talk) 21:24, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I can't think of a scripting or programming language (bah, no distinction) that couldn't do that; text processing and string manipulation is pretty much basic for every language. sed, python, perl, turbo pascal..., anything will do that. How you want to implement that "directly from the user" thing is important; if you want a nice GUI then perl and python are obvious options. But couldn't you just use a text editor's "search and replace" function? -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:31, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

The important thing is, is there anything that could do it easily and compactly without pages and pages of code please? I'm beginning to think Rebol. 78.147.25.95 (talk) 21:35, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

All of the above. Rebol is, despite the endless din of those who abuse this page to promote it, not that special. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:00, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Word processors will commonly include this facility for form letters. No coding needed. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:01, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

What about the classic languages that I dimly remember - like awk and others? 78.147.25.95 (talk) 22:26, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Regular expressions are best suited for text manipulation, and most modern languages -- Java, Visual Basic, C++, Perl (etc.) support them. They're essentially a simple language for text manipulation and you embed them inside a program written in another language.--Drknkn (talk) 22:46, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I understand that this may not be a scripting language, but it should work. It's in Visual Basic.NET. I don't mind if you don't use it. It wasn't much of a problem for me to put it together, anyway. I created a new Windows form application in Visual Studio and double-clicked on the form. I could have also created a console application if I didn't want a GUI. If you use it, make sure that you have a file named input.txt in the same folder as the .exe. All it does right now is replace any Ts with Fs:

Imports System.IO

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim _file As New Printing.PrintDocument
        Using (_file)
            AddHandler _file.PrintPage, AddressOf Me.PrintPageHandler
            _file.Print()
        End Using
    End Sub

    Private Sub PrintPageHandler(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal args As Printing.PrintPageEventArgs)
        Dim _sr As New StreamReader("input.txt")
        Dim _sw As New StreamWriter("output.txt")
        Dim _txt As String

        If _sr.Peek <> -1 Then
            _txt += _sr.ReadLine
        End If
        _sr.Close()

        _txt = _txt.Replace("t", "f")

        _sw.Write(_txt)
        _sw.Close()

        Dim _font As New Font("Microsoft San Serif", 10)
        args.Graphics.DrawString(_txt, New Font(_font, FontStyle.Regular), Brushes.Black, 50, 50)
    End Sub
End Class

--Drknkn (talk) 23:40, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

I'll write what you want to do in perl super fast... but you need to be more clear about what you want to do. Shadowjams (talk) 10:40, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you very much for your kind offer. For all the things marked (*) I would like to be offered the choice of choosing a file as input or typing the text into a text box(es) myself. I would like to be able to click on a 'button' on my desktop or program menu to start the program. Then I choose which 'boilerplate' text I want to use (*). Then choose which content I want to replace the "gaps" in the boilerplate text with (*). Then get the addresses to send the resulting letters to (*), including saving these addresses to a file if needed. Then adding page breaks and sending the text to the printer (with the option of printing one or two copies - one for sending, one for filing), and saving copies of the resulting letters to file. The point of this is to be able to do something quickly and without requiring the various minor decisions and thinking-load and waiting time that using a word proccessor would entail. If it takes 10 minutes with a word processor then I would put it off until I've got time to concentrate, which might be days of delay. If it takes one minute with this then I'd do it right away. Thanks. 84.13.173.43 (talk) 11:37, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't think you can make forms in Perl. I already made a program that does half of what you ask above. It's in Visual Basic. If you want, I can soup it up, put it into a form, compile it into an .exe, and upload it for you to download. You'd need the .NET Framework installed to run it, and that's about the only drawback. That's assuming you're using Windows. (Which you are, right?) It's either that, or using mail merge. I know that mail merge is built into MS Office and automates form mailings. But, a custom program might actually be a little more intuitive, ironically.--Drknkn (talk) 14:22, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Your not going to be able to do what you want with a scripting language. They are, by definition, sequential languages that do not work by "clicking buttons." You can still achieve the same result, but you'll be typing in a lot of prompts for manual input. Perl would work if used in an .hta file on a computer with Perl compiled. To be honest, it sounds like you need to use an object oriented language if you want buttons and forms and such. However, those languages are compiled languages and require an expensive program to compile them; except for Java. You can usually find a cheap/free Java compiler and it would allow you to do exactly what you want and use regular expressions as suggested above. I think that's the best way for you to go. However, if you don't mind typing entire file paths and not actually "seeing" the program on your screen, then VBScript would be the way to go.TParis00ap (talk) 14:36, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, Microsoft has free compilers and IDEs for several .NET languages at htttp://microsoft.com/express. Thanks, gENIUS101 16:06, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Good call. I forgot about that.--TParis00ap (talk) 16:15, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Ahem ahem, your definition of a scripting language is weird. Eg perl can be object oriented and can do guis. It has bindings for quite a many graphics libraries. For example gtk, which is about as portable as java for your average concerns. --194.197.235.240 (talk) 15:04, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, your right, a few scripting languages like Perl, VBScript, and Javascript can be object oriented. Generally they are sequential though. I still think Java is going to suit him best though. VBScript and Javascript need the HTTP application engine and I am not a strong Perl user but I think you either need to run it on Unix or have a Perl engine install on a Windows system.--TParis00ap (talk) 15:32, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Domain registry

So... what's the cheapest place to register a domain? (sorry, this is the first time that I try to register a domain so I have no idea). --Belchman (talk) 23:10, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Depends on what TLD you want to use. There are cheap TLDs (German avg. prices: .de 12 euros/yr, .com 24 euros/yr) and not that cheap or simply ridiculously expensive (.mobi). 93.104.53.57 (talk) 03:00, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Are you trying to just register a domain (e.g. just reserve the name "yourdomain.com") or are you also looking for hosting+domain (e.g. being able to actually upload a site at "yourdomain.com")? Godaddy has pretty cheap domains ($11/yr for .com, $10/yr for .org or .net, $1/yr fr .info), though there are probably cheaper domain registrars out there. If you are looking for hosting, many cheap hosting companies come with a free domain if you buy hosting with them (see the links earlier on this page about web hosting). --Mr.98 (talk) 03:08, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I'd like to know both, thanks. --Belchman (talk) 10:44, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Check out the discussion earlier on the page, it goes into some possibilities for hosting. After figuring out what you want to do for hosting, then figure out your domain registrar—again, knowing that many hosting companies will throw the domain name in for cheap or even free if you are buying pay hosting. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:37, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

24euros / yr is not a good rate at all. At least not nowadays. APL (talk) 03:57, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. Even 12 euros ($17 USD) a year is pretty expensive by US standards for just a domain name! --Mr.98 (talk) 15:37, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Upon calculation I decided not to reveal how much I pay for one of my domains. For another one (.net) I have to give EUR 8/year. --Ouro (blah blah) 07:13, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

November 15

Dual-core optimized software player for 1080p movies

Hi all,

does anyone know a player software able to play .ts 1080p HDTV movies? VLC eats up 50% CPU load (as it's single-core-only) and so the video stutters.

Thanks 93.104.53.57 (talk) 02:53, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

MythTV can 1080p. I don't know what they use for playing videos. It may be built into the entire package. -- kainaw™ 02:58, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

The problem is not playing the 1080p. The problem is taking advantage of the GPU and the second core, which VLC can't. 93.104.53.57 (talk) 05:44, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

HD decoders really need graphics accelerators. 69.228.171.150 (talk) 11:19, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Exactly. Do you know one which does? If it's for pay or for free, doesn't matter. 93.104.53.57 (talk) 13:49, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

If you google "multicore video decoding" you can find instructions for how to make Mplayer do it. It's not easy, though—the software is not natively built to do it at this point. --Mr.98 (talk) 13:54, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm assuming you have Windows (Linux would report 100% usage if 1 core is fully utlised). What graphics card do you have? Do you have the latest drivers and everything? Does Windows Media Player play it well? --antilived^{T | C | G} 01:16, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Doesn't CoreAVC do multicore decoding? Also if you have an 8xxx series, or above Nvidia card (Including the GTX series) or ATI HDXxxx series graphics card or above then getting something like the ffdshow codec set and Media Player Classic, or any other Directshow compatible media player should let you decode video on the graphics card, which should be faster than CPU. Gunrun (talk) 09:15, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Inner class polymorphism in Java

In Java, if a subclass overrides an inner class that it inherits from the parent, must the new inner class extend the parent's inner class? That is, if class Car contains class Car.Wheel and class Ferrari extends Car, must Ferrari.Wheel extend Car.Wheel? NeonMerlin 15:03, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

The result of creating and compiling the minimal example outlined by you suggests that the answer is no. decltype (talk) 07:14, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

The answer is yes. Unless you explicitly say Ferrari.Wheel extends Car.Wheel, then the two classes will have no relationship at all (except for having the same name within their class, but that only affects static binding like what kind of thing "new Wheel()" creates in a given class, and not the dynamic binding that "polymorphism" refers to). For example:

public class Car {
    class Wheel {
        void spin() {
            System.err.println("Car.Wheel.spin()");
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Ferrari().spinWheel();
    }
}

class Ferrari extends Car {
    class Wheel
        extends Car.Wheel
    {
        void spin() {
            super.spin();
            System.err.println("Ferrari.Wheel.spin()");
        }
    }
    void spinWheel() {
        new Wheel().spin();
    }

}

If you omit line 15 above, then Ferrari.Wheel's superclass will be Object, and therefore line 18 will fail to compile. --Sean 14:27, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Apologies! I totally missed the part about overriding a function in the base inner class. Which is ridiculous considering the section heading. I basically answered a question nobody asked. decltype (talk) 14:50, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

information system

got any good suggestion about information system?? i need information system that support manufacturing and production business function... i hope the one u suggest me is the best choice of all... but if got more suggestion also can.. just post it on here.. i will compare it... pls tell me the reason y u say it's good also ya... wait for your reply o...^^ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.132.94.186 (talk) 15:45, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Could you explain what kind of information system you need? Do you need an accounting system? Do you need an inventory system? Do you need online ordering? Do you need a type of computer or terminal? Information system is pretty ambiguous, if you could be more detailed about what you are looking for we could help better.--TParis00ap (talk) 16:27, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

php

Will is be outdated soon? Will servers still offer it's use? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.89.85 (talk) 17:38, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I am not a PHP developer myself, but I would be very surprised if it would become outdated in any near future. It is very popular. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 17:51, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I presume the huge number of websites currently relying on PHP (and you're looking at one now) would keep it around for yonks, even if new and better languages came out. - Jarry1250 ^{[Humorous? Discuss.]} 17:54, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

There is no reason to suspect it is going away anytime soon. --Mr.98 (talk) 18:41, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

logos

dear sir / madam hopenice day for u ,,m i want have all logos on : 1 -trade marks / vols.1 through 10 edited by david e, carter 2- design elements , vol .2 , vol ,3&4 by richard&mies hora 3-designing corporate identity programs for small corporations by david e, carter 4- world of logotypes , vols 1,11,&111 by al cooper 5- designing corporate symbols by david e, carter 6- best financial advertising vol1,2,3 , & 4 david e, carter 7- letterheads vols 1.2.3.4.5.&6 ( the international annuals of letterhead design by david e, carter 8- the abc of typography 9- designing corporate symols 10- encyclopedia of airbrush.3 volumes —Preceding unsigned comment added by MANAL77 (talk • contribs) 18:10, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm afraid that there's unlikely to be any way for us to get you the contents of the many books you are referencing. Googling some of them (e.g. "world of logotypes") comes up with online versions. The rest will have to be located elsewhere—Amazon.com, ebay, abesbooks, etc. Some look very much out of print and may be hard to find outside of specialized libraries. --Mr.98 (talk) 18:44, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

romaji

Resolved

How can I type in full width romaji on a normal English keyboard? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.89.85 (talk) 22:15, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

The normal way is to create a new keyboard mapping for the desired characters. The easier way is to just use the Japanese IME. Switch the Input Mode to Fullwidth Alphanumerics and ｔｙｐｅ　ａｗａｙ．．． 220.233.133.226 (talk) 22:41, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Awesome, but I don't know how to change to Japanese IME, could you tell me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.89.85 (talk) 22:54, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Have you previously installed the Japanese IME? Below are brief instructions for Vista; XP and Win7 are very similar, but slightly different:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Open Regional and Language Options
3. Click on the Keyboards and Languages tab
4. Click Change keyboards button
5. Click Add button and choose Japanese
6. Click OK
7. Click the Language Bar tab
8. Ensure that Language Bar is set to Floating On Desktop or Docked in the taskbar

The Japanese IME should be installed and is accessible. Now you can change the input mode as follows:

1. Click on the language bar either on the desktop or docked in the taskbar; change it to Japanese
2. Click on the Input Mode button that probably says あ or A; change it to 全角英数 (Fullwidth Alphanumericas).

Ｔｈｅｎ　ｙｏｕ　ｃａｎ　ｔｙｐｅ　ｌｉｋｅ　ｔｈｉｓ，　ｆｏｒ　ｗｈａｔｅｖｅｒ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｒｅａｓｏｎｓ　ａｒｅ，　ｗｉｔｈ　ｔｈｅ　ｓａｍｅ　ｋｅｙｓ　ａｓ　ｙｏｕ　ｎｏｒｍａｌｌｙ　ｄｏ． To return to normal letters, change the Input Mode to A or just change the IME back to English or whatever your default is. You can probably find better instructions with pictures if you do a web search. 220.233.133.226 (talk) 23:16, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, I did every you said up to the Language Bar part. I can't find the Language Bar —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.89.85 (talk) 23:24, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Ah never mind I found it. Thanks for the help!!

Facebook a pay site?

Lately I've received a rash of requests to join causes on Facebook in order to protest FB becoming a pay site. I've been unable to find anything about this in the news. Is this a rumor that goes around every so often that I'm just catching a wave of lately or am I missing something in my news searches? Dismas|^(talk) 22:59, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

That's right, it's an untrue meme that circles around continually. Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:21, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Looks like it just a rumor, at the moment. There are good economic reasons to think that Facebook could, at some point, become a pay site—it has no other obvious business model and even if a huge percentage of users left it, it would still be making big bucks from even modest fees. (It would, of course, mark the end of its ubiquity—something else would come and take the crown away from it. But that is bound to happen eventually, as the MySpace people have no doubt learned.) --Mr.98 (talk) 23:23, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

For the record, I disagree with most of what you just wrote. Comet Tuttle (talk) 03:39, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

One argument against subscription-fees is that the utility of a social-network decreases dramatically faster than linearly proportional to the number of nodes removed (thanks to graph connectivity). Numerous sociology books and papers have studied this effect: see (e.g.) Social network analysis by Stanley Wasserman; The cohesiveness of blocks in social networks: Node connectivity and conditional density; (pay close attention to things like "conditional density" - that is to say, if 10% of your friends dropped out because of the pay service, you might fail a critical density metric and collapse the network very dramatically). I'm sure that somebody at Facebook (who has a Ph.D.) studies these scholarly details and translates them into profit-risk analysis. Nimur (talk) 15:18, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, as I said, it would be the end of its ubiquity. I think it would be the last-ditch attempt to recover funds from a dying company. Unfortunately, .com sites with no business models tend to become a game of hot potato—the whole game is building up a user base and selling it off to someone else, with the hope that you're not the one left with the site and the large user base but no business model. Facebook's business model so far has been to attempt to dip into potential advertising profits, but whether that actually will translate into the profits necessary to keep such a site up and running in the long term, I am skeptical. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:24, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Friends Reunited tried to run as a paid site, with near-disastrous results. It is now free again, and desperately trying to make up lost ground against Facebook et al. The messages Dismas refers to sound very similar to the sort of stuff that used to circulate on Instant messaging systems: ICQ wants to start charging! If you send this message to all your friends they won't do it! AndrewWTaylor (talk) 16:49, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

True enough, though it's worth noting that Facebook has currently some twenty times more users than Friends United did at its peak (300 million v. 15 million). Scale matters, here: if even a very small 1% of Facebook's users paid some small fee per month or year for an "enhanced" experience, that is still three million paid users—quite a considerable number. --Mr.98 (talk) 23:17, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

I think a key point is what you mentioned in your second/last sentence but didn't mentioned earlier. It's possible this may work if they are only charging for an "enhanced" experience (which I wouldn't consider a pay site although wouldn't consider a truly free site either) but people can get by fine without paying ("free" games with microtransactions have had some success for example as do I believe various forums etc and also some stuff like photo sites, Yahoo email etc). I personally think it's difficult to imagine this working if you need to pay to use the site which I personally and I suspect others thought you were referring to earlier. Nil Einne (talk) 07:45, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, good for you! --Mr.98 (talk) 16:24, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

The basic-site-free-pay-for-added-extras model is often known as Freemium and our article on it says "Facebook is considering adopting the freemium model according to Yuri Milner, the CEO of DST, a Facebook investor." (it's referenced, but I can't access at the moment). --Kateshortforbob _talk 15:35, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Oops, did this get archived while I was writing, or am I just really unobservant? Oh well...--Kateshortforbob _talk 15:36, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

November 16

Quantum microprocessor

As an imaginative student, I have followed the development of quantum computers. I know that they are in service in some institutions, and or research. But what is taking so long for Intel and the other companies to develop a quantum microprocessor chip being used in PCs, laptops, etc.? Also, can quantum technology be used for data storage? data transfer? If it doesn't cause too much trouble, please respond to my talk page. Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by LastLived (talk • contribs) 03:08, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

If you're interested in an answer you'll look here. Answers are put on the reference desk for other people besides the original poster. The reason quantum computers are taking a long time to develop is that it is a very hard problem. It'll probably take as long as fusion reactors which still aren't in a production phase. The main reason is the problem of decoherence and there's a sectiion about that on the quantum computer page. Dmcq (talk) 03:25, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

The problem is that the qubits used for the computation have to be kept in perfect thermodynamic isolation from the environment for the whole time needed for the computation. That's hard, perhaps impossible. Nothing like a real quantum computer has ever been successfully built anywhere, even as a research prototype. There have been a few claims to "factor 15 using Shor's algorithm", but I think those are mainly publicity stunts.

In theory, quantum computers could displace classical computers entirely because you can run classical algorithms on a quantum CPU attached by a quantum bus to quantum RAM, a quantum hard drive, and a quantum networking card connected to the quantum Internet. In practice, I seriously doubt that will ever be economical because it's so much easier to engineer reliable classical hardware. The known quantum algorithms wouldn't be of much use to a typical person anyway. -- BenRG (talk) 11:40, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

BenRG's final sentence is the point you should focus on. Quantum computers won't make everything magically faster; they're interesting and important because they could compute things that simply cannot^* be computed now, which we're obviously doing just fine without. If they are ever made practical, the most likely scenario is that at some point you'll just have a quantum computer peripheral for when you need to break into the NSA. --Sean 14:48, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Droid vs Blackberry Bold 9700

I use the cell phone for texting, calling people, surfing the internet briefly, using Facebook and using the turn-turn directions offered on my AT&T Blackberry Curve. There are no other features or apps I necessarily use or need. However, I am going to upgrade soon. Which phone would be better for me?--Reticuli88 (talk) 14:02, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

It sounds like you're happy with what you've got, and I assume the newer Blackberry is similar to the one you've got now, so it probably makes the most sense for you. The biggest difference in your daily experience of it will probably be the physical keyboard on the Blackberry versus the virtual keyboard on the Droid. People have strong opinions on both sides of that question. Oops, didn't look hard enough. --Sean 14:50, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

The Droid has a physical keyboard. If you're happy with your Blackberry, there's no sense in finding a new OS you are unfamiliar with. Both are capable of doing what you want, so any recommendation would be a matter of opinion. Try store models out and see what you like the feel of best. I personally hate the Droid's keyboard so I wouldn't pick it, but I also know people who absolutely love the feel of its keys. 206.131.39.6 (talk) 19:08, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you guys! I'm sticking with the Blackberry! --Reticuli88 (talk) 13:24, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

As (almost) always, there is a (vaguely) relevant xkcd strip. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 13:27, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Web design news sites

Hi, does anyone know a regularly-updated news site or blog on web design? Where can I find info on web design, new web browser releases, tips and tricks of HTML/CSS, pointers to basic scripting (be it server-side or client-side), and so on? I'm thinking along the lines of Groklaw/OSNews/Linux Weekly News/etc. Thanks. --Kjoonlee 15:19, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ has much about how not to design web sites. But little in the way of code - all more strategic. -- SGBailey (talk) 15:34, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

I have found A List Apart to be pretty useful at times. --Mr.98 (talk) 01:48, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

No... the absolutely best thing for webdesign is Script and Style. It's like the Digg of webdesign. They have about 10 entries per day. 129.97.226.160 (talk) 21:43, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Virgin Media broadband downtime

Is Virgin Media broadband in the London area down right now? Is there a way I can check online, like a status page or something? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 22:10, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

The status page is at http://status.virginmedia.com/ if there are no problems listed for your area, check the daily update page. Nanonic (talk) 22:31, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! Could I ask one more favor, under the boardband tab on that page, is the circle red for you? It's red for me, so I guess that shows there's a problem, but could you confirm? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 22:37, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes it's red for me, however I used to be a virgin customer and would check that page daily and that little icon NEVER went green. I notice from the regional selection dropdown that there are outages in N6 and KT4 at the moment in the London area. Nanonic (talk) 22:57, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

November 17

Keep browsing private from network administrator?

Hi all,

Is there a way to browse the web from within my company's network while keeping my browsing habits from my network's administrator? Are there services that can encrypt your requests and encrypt the response, perhaps?

Thanks, Sam 01:54, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Try a web proxy, like https://www.letmesurf.co.uk/. There's also an http://www.letmesurf.co.uk/, but make sure whatever proxy you use has an s after the HTTP, as that encrypts everything. These web proxies are better than regular proxies, because they hide the URL you're visiting. You could also use a regular SOCKS or HTTPS proxy to browse encrypted to an HTTP web proxy site like Let me Surf. If they have key loggers installed, then you'd need to hide what you type by typing the letters out of order. For example, Google.com could be typed backwards and you could use your arrow keys to move to the left after each letter. You could also try to confuse them by browsing to each site's IP address instead of the URL, after converting the IP to binary 0s and 1s and then pasting the binary into your address bar. Browsers understand binary IPs, but humans have a really hard time with them.--Drknkn (talk) 02:12, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Tor would also do what you want. It has some additional assumptions you want to check on, and the fact you were using it would be apparent to anyone looking at outgoing traffic on a detailed level (although basic HTTP filters wouldn't know what the traffic was).

Another way would be to login to a home computer and browse from there. Windows Remote Desktop would be ideal for this. VNC would work too, but native it is unencrypted so you would want to tunnel the vnc protocol using an encrypted protocol. If the link was encrypted, anyone looking at it would only see the link to the home machine.

None of this would help if the actual machine it's coming from is under the eavsedropper's control.

Obviously if this behavior violates the employer's terms of service, you shouldn't do it. But this information is pertinent to other unprotected network connections, like wifi hotspots. Shadowjams (talk) 02:20, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

It depends what your administrator has done to prevent you. It may not be possible to use Remote Desktop if your admin has banned that. It may not be possible to use any other protocol, since your admin could have potentially banned all except web browsing. If they've done this, they could use a proxy themselves to see all the traffic you pass. It's even possible for them to intercept https (normally secure) traffic by spoofing the certificate for the site you're visiting and fixing your browser so that it accepts the spoofed certificate. So, depending on how much effort your admin has gone to, the possible answer is no. If your job is important to you, it would be wise to stick to the rules concerning accessing the web. --Phil Holmes (talk) 10:36, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I was going to say nearly as much as Mr. Holmes but it seems he said it all. Your network administrator will see you using proxy servers or TOR. Although they may not know what you are doing, they will get suspicious. Best to just follow the rules at work.--TParis00ap (talk) 20:43, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

You could use a cell card in a laptop or a modern cell phone (iPhone, Android, etc) to do your personal browsing (during your lunch break, right?). That's the only way I could think you'd avoid suspicion... unless they use CCTV to monitor employees. That does cost money though. 206.131.39.6 (talk) 21:27, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Very strange web domain

I noticed that §.com is (apparently) a valid web domain. I did not think that this was possible (i.e. characters not within the English Alphabet/base 10 numbers/'-')? --Joe^Talk_Work 03:51, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

See Internationalized domain name. -- kainaw™ 04:01, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Wow. Interesting. Thanks for the quick reply. --Joe^Talk_Work 05:35, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Free small biz website design/host site?

Office Live is free. Is there any similar free site? Intuit's Homestead charges $60 a year. I need only extremely simple site for an elderly person who knits once in a while, so it's a very low volume "business." Thanks. Imagine Reason (talk) 15:56, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Are they just trying to sell knitted items occasionally? Might I recommend using something like Etsy instead? It is a lot easier than hosting your own website, and also has the benefit of being something that people might actually stumble across while looking for craft items. It is not strictly free (there is a 20 cent charge to list items, and they take 3.5% of each sale), but it is a LOT easier and more reliable and has more exposure than hosting your own free site will be. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:20, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Redirect I/O error messages from a Linux Ctrl-Alt-Fkey console

A minute ago in Kubuntu, when I pressed Ctrl-Alt-F1, I kept getting a message about once per second, "Buffer I/O error on device sdh1, logical block 3", preceded by a number in square brackets. I pressed Ctrl-Alt-F2 to open another console so that these messages would stop interfering with my attempts to fix the problem from the command line. But they would always output to whichever console actually had the screen. How do I stop this and make them always output to, say, the Ctrl-Alt-F1 console? (I know how to redirect error output from a program when invoking it, but this was clearly from a program that was already running.) NeonMerlin 16:27, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

See man rsyslog.conf. --194.197.235.240 (talk) 18:09, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Online Image Editor w/Brushed Edges Effect

Does anyone know of an online image editor that can give a brushed edges effect? There is some free software you can get for Mac that does it very well, but my Mac cable is broken so I'm stuck with Vista for the moment and would like to do some editing while I wait for my new cable to arrive. All I need is the brushed edges effect, as I can do most else (and can't be bothered doing this particular effect with GIMP). --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) 18:38, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I can't remember where, but I've seen an online version of Photoshop in a very slim down version. You might try the adobe site.--TParis00ap (talk) 20:32, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried [7]? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 21:08, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

... or [8]? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 21:12, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Excellent! SumoPaint has a brush I could use! Thanks! --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) 21:43, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

You could also try http://www.splashup.com - their interface is much like photoshop's and free -- penubag  (talk) 21:57, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Internet connection monitor

Resolved

Is there any program that will monitor my actual computers connection to the internet and tell me of any times when the connection is lost?

Windows will do that. Just go to network connections -> right mouse click the network adapter -> click properties -> click "Show connection in status bar".--TParis00ap (talk) 20:34, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Yeah but I can't sit at the computer all day looking at the status bar. I want something that'll monitor it constantly and log any loss of internet connection. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.55.114 (talk) 21:51, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

You could set up a VBScript and use Windows Scheduled tasks to run it. This script would use the XMLHTTP object in VBScript to try to access google and if it fails, you can use CDOSYS.sys to send an email but you'd have to find an open SMTP server to relay it for you. If you lost a network connection, how are you supposed to get notified other than by sitting at your computer? Or are you looking to store it in a log? If so, like I said, you could use the XMLHTTP object in VBScript to constantly check google and then if it ever fails use the filysystemobject to append the end of a log file.--TParis00ap (talk) 21:59, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you but I don't understand about scripts. I just want a simple program that will monitor the connection and log when it loses it's connection to the internet —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.55.114 (talk) 23:40, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I think pingplotter is what you want. (Me too; I use a DSL connection occasionally which drops out for a minute or longer every so often; I've yet to figure it out & I'm never using it when tech support people are available. It's been going on for years :( --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:48, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

This is perfect thank you!

cannot connect to wireless network

Hello wikipedians my new housemate cannot connect to the wireless network at my house. He has windows XP on his laptop. He has connected to my house's wireless network and receives excellent signal strength. When he opens up internet explorer he can't surf the web. I pressed diagnose connection problems and the following message was the result: 'Windows cannot connect to the internet using HTTP HTTPS or FTP. This is probably caused by the firewall settings on this computer. Check the firewall settings for the HTTP port (80) HTTPs port (443) and FTP port (21). You might need to contact your ISP or manufacturer of your firewall software.' I tried disabling his firewall but still couldn't connect to the internet. Any suggestions? Thanks RichYPE (talk) 19:51, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Did you check to make sure that he did not have a proxy configured? Also, is your Wifi configured to only allow any certain MAC addresses? Can he get to the internet on other wireless connections? You can try uninstalling/reinstalling the TCP Protocol (Remove/add it from Network Connections -> right mouse click on the adapter -> properties) but that will only help if the problem is if it is corrupted - I've only had that ever happen once. Did you try pinging google from a command prompt? Try pinging an ip address. Did you verify he is picking up a gateway and DNS server from your router?--TParis00ap (talk) 20:31, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I would recommend as a first step opening a command prompt and typing ipconfig. Check the IP address - if it start 169.254 then you don't have a connection to the wireless network and probably need to sort out something like the security sessions. Any other IP address - probable OK and try typing "ping www.google.com" in the command prompt. --Phil Holmes (talk) 14:14, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

html remote save php

I'm trying to create a webpage where I can input a URL to a form, then the page will grab the html of the URL and save it along with all images. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.55.114 (talk) 20:33, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Use the php function called fopen and then use the php filesystem object to save the file. Piece of cake. Of course, you'll have to read the source and pick each image out then use fopen in a loop to save them. Also, for the images, you'll have to save it in binary form, if you don't specifically save as binary - it won't work.--TParis00ap (talk) 20:36, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

thanks!

Some hosts disable the ability to fopen() remote URLs, make sure your allows it or you run it on your own PHP installation. --antilived^{T | C | G} 23:35, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure if you are doing this just to learn, but if it were me, I would use the php snoopy class to parse the pages for URLs. It makes life a lot easier. --Mr.98 (talk) 02:32, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

I would use a system call to wget to save the whole page. Much easier than attempting to rewrite wget in PHP. -- kainaw™ 04:17, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

My Vista laptop has a default Administrator account with blank password?!

I am concerned about the weak network settings of my computers. I am a student on a student home network with a desktop and a laptop. I followed this tutorial for Cain (software) and was able to "hack" into my laptop using username 'Administrator" with a blank password. I did not follow the instructions to install Abel onto my laptop. I went to my laptop and to the user accounts via Control Panel. I want to give the Administrator account a password but a) it does not appear in the list of user accounts and b) it is not possible to create the account (with a password) because the computer complains it already exists. How can I fix this security flaw? ----Seans Potato Business 23:15, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Hi Sean! Try this one: Click on Start > Run >> Type in "Control userpasswords2" and hit enter. "Control userpasswords2". This seems to be a good first resource. http://wiki.ljackson.us/Control_Userpasswords2 Any other questions? Please feel free to reply. :) Kushal (talk) 00:58, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Hi. Thanks for the reply, but unfortunately this solution seems to suffer the same problem - the account is apparently hidden. It does not appear in the list of accounts (despite the fact that my account (the only account shown and the only account that I myself set up on the machine) is a member of the group 'Administrators'). If I click on the 'advanced' tab and then the 'advanced' button under 'Advanced user management', I get something telling me I can't use this "snap in" because I only have Vista Home Premium. ----Seans Potato Business 01:32, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Windows generally renames the root Admin account to whatever you set when you setup Vista. It can be accessed via "Administrator" or your user account. The admin account is likily the primary account you use. Just add a password to your primary account and that should fix the problem. Ie, let's say your running Vista set up and it says "What is your name" and you type "Bob" -> then Bob is not the exact same account as "Administrator" is. Same SSID and everything. If you go to the registry and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList that lists every profile on your computer. You'll notice there will not be an "Administrator". As I said, this is because the SSID (each folder under profile list) is the same for both "Administrator" and "Bob". DISCLAIMER: I am not certified in anything (not A++ especially) so I am giving this a 95% certainty rating on my scale of "things I think I know but I could be wrong."--TParis00ap (talk) 03:07, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

I think you have a meaning-altering typo: "not" should have been "now" in the post above. I think the description above does not apply to all versions of Windows (specifically not to the server editions), but it looks accurate for the "Home"-branded Windows editions. Nimur (talk) 04:46, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

(From personal experience administering my wife's Compaq laptop, with pre-installed Vista...) In Windows Vista Home Basic, there is a separate Administrator account which is disabled. It can be enabled by a user who has administrator privileges (which the initial user after first run will have) by the user running a Command Prompt "as administrator" then typing "net user administrator /active:yes". The default password is empty, so if you enable the account, it would be wise to set a password.
(From personal experience installing XP on my own PC...) Windows XP (SP2, SP3) has a separate Administrator account which is enabled by default with an empty passord. It is not visible on the "welcome screen" or the "user accounts" control panel if there exists another user in the Admin group, however it becomes visible if it is the only user in the Admin group. However (I believe) that it is always visible in Computer Management, Local Users and Groups (which is not available in Vista Home Basic). When XP is installed, it prompts for at least one user (other than Administrator) who becomes a member of the Administrators group. However good practice is to use the real Administrator to do actual administration and make the normal users NOT administrators, to reduce the risk of malware. If you're using the "Welcome Screen" you can log in as Administrator even if it is not visible, by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the "classic" login prompt. Mitch Ames (talk) 06:11, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

The SSIDs are different according to CAIN. Also, I was able to login with username: Administrator and password [blank] despite the fact that I set a password for my personal account. --Seans Potato Business 12:13, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

The solution to the problem on Vista is to run CMD as administrator and type Net user Administrator [password] (replacing [password] with your chosen password). On XP, it's the same except it's probably not necessary to context-click > run CMD as administrator, provided the user already has administrator privileges. --Seans Potato Business 12:16, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

I think, in Windows XP/Vista/7, if the Administrator account has a blank password its network access is disabled. It can only be compromised by physical access to the machine.

Also, keep in mind, you can hack Windows XP/Vista/7 passwords with a Linux-based bootable CD. So your machine is never really secure physically, but can be secure on the net.

November 18

Virteal microscope

I have download virtal microscope 6.2.2 .But I could not install it ,which programme is used to install it . --True path finder (talk) 00:17, 18 November 2009 (UTC)mks

2wire gateway/DSL modem "Excessive sessions warning"

My antivirus subscripton just expired two days ago so Norton has ceased to protect my computer. When I was browsing Facebook, I got this message titled "Excessive sessions warning" saying "Your 2701HG-S Gateway has intercepted your web page request to provide you with this important message. The following devices on your network are using a large number of simultaneous Internet sessions:

Admin-PC

The most likely cause of this issue is a ~blaster~ type virus which has infected the device. It is strongly recommended that the devices above be scanned for potential viruses.

Note that a large number of sessions may occasionally be the result of application software or gaming software installed on the device. If you believe this is the case, click the ~Do not show me excessive session warnings in the future~ to disable this feature.

To access the requested Web page that was intercepted, please close all browser windows and then restart your Web browser software.

If you continue to see this page after closing all open Web browser windows, restart your computer." I maintain a zero tolerance policy for botnets/maicious use, so the device will be formatted, but I was wondering if anyone could indentify what exactly it is that's causing this using this HiJackThis log. PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 03:58, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 10:50:03 PM, on 11/17/2009
Platform: Windows Vista SP1 (WinNT 6.00.1905)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.6001.18828)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Windows\system32\taskeng.exe
C:\Windows\system32\Dwm.exe
C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
C:\Windows\System32\igfxtray.exe
C:\Windows\System32\hkcmd.exe
C:\Windows\System32\igfxpers.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Power Saver\TPwrMain.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\SmoothView\SmoothView.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\FlashCards\TCrdMain.exe
C:\Program Files\Apoint2K\Apoint.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\ConfigFree\NDSTray.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Utilities\KeNotify.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
C:\Program Files\Google\Google Desktop Search\GoogleDesktop.exe
C:\Windows\RtHDVCpl.exe
C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\RUBotted\TMRUBottedTray.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\TOSCDSPD\TOSCDSPD.exe
C:\Windows\system32\igfxsrvc.exe
C:\Users\David Morris\AppData\Local\Google\Update\1.2.183.13\GoogleCrashHandler.exe
C:\Program Files\Apoint2K\ApMsgFwd.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\ConfigFree\CFSwMgr.exe
C:\Program Files\Apoint2K\Apntex.exe
C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash\FlashUtil10c.exe
C:\Windows\system32\wuauclt.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Windows\system32\Taskmgr.exe
C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe
C:\Windows\system32\SearchFilterHost.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://www.toshibadirect.com/dpdstart
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = Preserve
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.myembarq.com/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://www.toshibadirect.com/dpdstart
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant = 
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch = 
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName = 
O1 - Hosts: ::1 localhost
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {1E8A6170-7264-4D0F-BEAE-D42A53123C75} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\coShared\Browser\1.5\NppBho.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Helper - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} - C:\Program Files\Google\Google Toolbar\GoogleToolbar_32.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Notifier BHO - {AF69DE43-7D58-4638-B6FA-CE66B5AD205D} - C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbarNotifier\5.2.4204.1700\swg.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Dictionary Compression sdch - {C84D72FE-E17D-4195-BB24-76C02E2E7C4E} - C:\Program Files\Google\Google Toolbar\Component\fastsearch_B7C5AC242193BB3E.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Show Norton Toolbar - {90222687-F593-4738-B738-FBEE9C7B26DF} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\coShared\Browser\1.5\UIBHO.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Google Toolbar - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - C:\Program Files\Google\Google Toolbar\GoogleToolbar_32.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IgfxTray] C:\Windows\system32\igfxtray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HotKeysCmds] C:\Windows\system32\hkcmd.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Persistence] C:\Windows\system32\igfxpers.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TPwrMain] %ProgramFiles%\TOSHIBA\Power Saver\TPwrMain.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SmoothView] %ProgramFiles%\Toshiba\SmoothView\SmoothView.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [00TCrdMain] %ProgramFiles%\TOSHIBA\FlashCards\TCrdMain.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Apoint] C:\Program Files\Apoint2K\Apoint.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [jswtrayutil] "C:\Program Files\Jumpstart\jswtrayutil.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Defender] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe -hide
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ITSecMng] %ProgramFiles%\TOSHIBA\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\ItSecMng.exe /START
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NDSTray.exe] NDSTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HWSetup] \HWSetup.exe hwSetUP
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SVPWUTIL] C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\Utilities\SVPWUTIL.exe SVPwUTIL
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [KeNotify] C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\Utilities\KeNotify.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Google Desktop Search] "C:\Program Files\Google\Google Desktop Search\GoogleDesktop.exe" /startup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RtHDVCpl] RtHDVCpl.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Symantec PIF AlertEng] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\PIF\{B8E1DD85-8582-4c61-B58F-2F227FCA9A08}\PIFSvc.exe" /a /m "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\PIF\{B8E1DD85-8582-4c61-B58F-2F227FCA9A08}\AlertEng.dll"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TMRUBottedTray] "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\RUBotted\TMRUBottedTray.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [WindowsWelcomeCenter] rundll32.exe oobefldr.dll,ShowWelcomeCenter
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [TOSCDSPD] C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\TOSCDSPD\TOSCDSPD.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Google Update] "C:\Users\David Morris\AppData\Local\Google\Update\GoogleUpdate.exe" /c
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [WindowsWelcomeCenter] rundll32.exe oobefldr.dll,ShowWelcomeCenter (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: Send to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: S&end to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL
O13 - Gopher Prefix: 
O16 - DPF: {9C23D886-43CB-43DE-B2DB-112A68D7E10A} (MySpace Uploader Control) - http://lads.myspace.com/upload/MySpaceUploader2.cab
O16 - DPF: {E2883E8F-472F-4FB0-9522-AC9BF37916A7} - http://platformdl.adobe.com/NOS/getPlusPlus/1.6/gp.cab
O20 - AppInit_DLLs: C:\PROGRA~1\Google\GOOGLE~1\GOEC62~1.DLL
O23 - Service: Agere Modem Call Progress Audio (AgereModemAudio) - Agere Systems - C:\Windows\system32\agrsmsvc.exe
O23 - Service: ccEvtMgr - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSvcHst.exe
O23 - Service: ccSetMgr - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSvcHst.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Lic NetConnect service (CLTNetCnService) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSvcHst.exe
O23 - Service: COM Host (comHost) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\VAScanner\comHost.exe
O23 - Service: ConfigFree Service - TOSHIBA CORPORATION - C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\ConfigFree\CFSvcs.exe
O23 - Service: GameConsoleService - WildTangent, Inc. - C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA Games\TOSHIBA Game Console\GameConsoleService.exe
O23 - Service: GoogleDesktopManager - Google - C:\Program Files\Google\Google Desktop Search\GoogleDesktop.exe
O23 - Service: Google Software Updater (gusvc) - Google - C:\Program Files\Google\Common\Google Updater\GoogleUpdaterService.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\1150\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: Jumpstart Wifi Protected Setup (jswpsapi) - Atheros Communications, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Jumpstart\jswpsapi.exe
O23 - Service: LiveUpdate - Symantec Corporation - C:\PROGRA~1\Symantec\LIVEUP~1\LUCOMS~1.EXE
O23 - Service: LiveUpdate Notice Service Ex (LiveUpdate Notice Ex) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSvcHst.exe
O23 - Service: LiveUpdate Notice Service - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\PIF\{B8E1DD85-8582-4c61-B58F-2F227FCA9A08}\PIFSvc.exe
O23 - Service: pinger - Unknown owner - C:\Toshiba\IVP\ISM\pinger.exe
O23 - Service: Trend Micro RUBotted Service (RUBotted) - Trend Micro Inc. - C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\RUBotted\TMRUBotted.exe
O23 - Service: Swupdtmr - Unknown owner - c:\Toshiba\IVP\swupdate\swupdtmr.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Core LC - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\CCPD-LC\symlcsvc.exe
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA Navi Support Service (TNaviSrv) - TOSHIBA Corporation - C:\Program Files\Toshiba\TOSHIBA DVD PLAYER\TNaviSrv.exe
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA Optical Disc Drive Service (TODDSrv) - TOSHIBA Corporation - C:\Windows\system32\TODDSrv.exe
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA Power Saver (TosCoSrv) - TOSHIBA Corporation - C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Power Saver\TosCoSrv.exe
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA Bluetooth Service - TOSHIBA CORPORATION - C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Bluetooth Toshiba Stack\TosBtSrv.exe
O23 - Service: TOSHIBA SMART Log Service - TOSHIBA Corporation - C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\SMARTLogService\TosIPCSrv.exe
O23 - Service: Ulead Burning Helper (UleadBurningHelper) - Ulead Systems, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ulead Systems\DVD\ULCDRSvr.exe

--
End of file - 10143 bytes

71.54.238.131 (talk) 03:59, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

I hid your lengthy and unformatted HijackThis log.

Unless Symantec has changed it's policy, Norton should continue to protect your PC with an expired subscription (you can see it running in the HijackThis log). The subscription just ensures you continue to get regular updates of new virus patterns. Astronaut (talk) 04:48, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't see anything of obvious concern in the log, but of course most malware is good at hiding. However are you sure you have malware? "Excessive sessions warning" sounds like the sort of thing P2P programs are liable to cause as well (and a Google search finds numerous discussions [9]). Although I don't see any running in the log, perhaps you closed them, which BTW if you did do is a bad idea, if you are having problems and seeking help you should leave your computer as is when it has the problems if you are going to provide logs to help diagnose the problem. Nil Einne (talk) 07:36, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Locally run web applications

What applications are you aware of that, like POPFile, run on a user's machine, but have a web interface as their primary UI? 173.75.150.14 (talk) 05:11, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Taken literally, the most common is probably a help file that ships with the application as an .htm or .html file. Double-click it to read it with the browser. I see this a lot. Comet Tuttle (talk) 06:20, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Any file run as ".hta" will run as a web application. But you can also install Apache on any unix system or IIS on a windows system with the appropriate free database and language engines and effectively run any website or web-based application from your computer for no cost.--TParis00ap (talk) 13:16, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

iPhone on a PHS network

I'm thinking of buying an unlocked iPhone to use instead of the shitty one they gave me here with Willcom (a PHS provider, i.e. not GSM/3G) and I'm wondering if a phone has to be specifically designed to work on PHS? I've never heard anything to suggest that, but I just want to make sure as I don't want to buy it only to have it not work! Thanks! 124.154.253.31 (talk) 05:33, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes if you want to use the phone on a PHS network, you will need a phone which is compatible with the PHS network which the iPhone is not. The same as if you want to use a phone with a CDMA2000 network (which is 3G but the iPhone is not compatible with as it is UMTS/W-CDMA only) or whatever. In some cases you also need to consider what frequencies are supported (perhaps not with PHS) Nil Einne (talk) 07:24, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Net access

How can I prevent a single application from gaining internet access, without actually unplugging the computer from the internet and disrupting everything else? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.55.114 (talk) 13:14, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Are you running Windows? You can configure the application to be blocked by the Windows Firewall in Windows XP/Vista/7.--TParis00ap (talk) 13:20, 18 November 2009 (UTC)