The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.
I'm interested in the sorts of research design used in IT for PhD students. You have to contribute something new, but say your research involves coding something - how do you evaluate it to show it is new? Do you show that no one has ever been able to write such a program before that does such and such? Or do you show that it does the same thing as another program, but using less disk space, or else what? I'm enrolled in a PhD in IT, but having trouble refining the topic, as I know how to program alright, but I haven't had much formal training in the discipline as it works in academia. Thanks in advance, IBE (talk) 10:47, 2 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
In general the way you show something is new, in academia, is to show that you are aware of the state of the art and its deficiencies and limits, and that your work is just beyond those. It's not unlike how it works on patents — "My product, product X, is meant to do A, B, and C. Products Y and Z can do limited versions of A and maybe C, but are deficient both because they don't combine these elements together, but also totally omit B, which is obviously a good idea." As for the exact form, or the exact state of the art you should be showing mastery of, that's what advisors and peers are supposed to be helping you with. Your advisor should be helping you figure out what is the level of originality you need to achieve for them to be happy (and thus sign off on the work) — whether you have to re-invent the wheel, or whether you just need to optimize it a little bit. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:24, 2 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If computer science counts as IT, the answer is that coding (as traditionally understood) isn't really a core part of the research process. It's an excellent idea to write code, as a sanity check and as a way to evaluate the practicality of one's ideas, but the products that people produce are generally more mathematical constructs than code (though it's possible to be both). You evaluate these constructs by the features they support, their simplicity, and sometimes even by their performance (as measured in big-O notation). Paul (Stansifer)17:16, 2 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It would also be a good idea to look at some previously defended dissertations at the same field and, if some are being defended nearby, to observe a defence or two. --Martynas Patasius (talk) 19:52, 2 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Code is not new. It never ever is new. It is like claiming a sentence is new. It just a collection of words other people have been using for many generations before you. What is (or may be) new is the algorithm that the code implements, just as a poem made with words may be new. So, the thesis is on the algorithm, not the code. The following is how I developed my PhD thesis, which was an algorithm, which I also implemented with code in two programming languages:
First, I had my idea. That was useless. Everyone has ideas. I had to check with experts (professors and researchers) to figure out what fields of research I was touching on. There were a lot of them. I had to read a lot of books and research papers and then I was interviewed by my PhD committee to ensure that I was competent in all of the fields my algorithm was based on.
Next, I had to write a survey paper. This was designed to do three things. It had to show that I had a complete understanding of all the algorithms and theories I was planning to use. It had to explain to anyone else who was going to read the paper how those algorithms and theories related to my goal. Finally, it had to explain exactly why I believe that my algorithm is worth working on. I had another interview with my PhD committee to prove that I knew my stuff and my algorithm was novel and new. That was a very hard interview because everyone on the committee has the goal of finding any fault of any kind in my plan. It is hard to defend against a large group that are all against you.
Finally, I had to write my thesis. My survey paper became the background (much shortened). Then, I explained the algorithm in detail. Then, I explained how it was implemented. Then, I explained how it would be tested - and more importantly, why those tests are the best and most valid tests. Just to be complete, I showed the results of the test - which must be good or the thesis wouldn't be published. So, that is a very short section. In the end, I explained different ways in which this algorithm would be beneficial to other areas of research. The last step is publishing that paper and defending it against attacks from the PhD committee.
Hopefully that helps. What you really need to do is discuss this with your committee. They know what they want and they could care less what my committee wanted. -- kainaw™20:18, 2 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks - these replies help a great deal. I know to ask my supervisors, but they are on holidays, and I also can't sit there chatting about how the discipline works in general in academia - and I always get good replies here. In fact, I come to Wikipedia when I'm at my wits' end, and it at least restores my sanity, so thankyou. Note that the stuff about my personal situation wasn't the exact question, just background to help focus the answers - the questions were as listed, and about the general situation, so you've given a lot of help. Any more info is much appreciated. IBE (talk) 08:45, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
rsync not working as expected
Hi, I was trying to consolidate several backup generations using rsync's hardlink ("--link-dest=") feature, to save some space.
And this is where everything breaks: I'm not getting any hardlinks, even though I know some files are identical (same md5sum).
Step 2, try #2:
rm -rf /newbackupdir/backup1/ # Clean everything up for a new attempt
rsync -aPv --link-dest=../backup0/ /oldbackupdir/backup1/ /newbackupdir/backup1/
I read somewhere that one should use relative path names for link-dest, but it doesn't help, either.
Step 2, try #3+4:
Repeat the above two steps with rsync -aPvc --link-dest=, as the file creation/modification times might be different between the backups, but the md5sums are the same for identical files between backup generations, and -c should switch from time/date-dependent to md5sum-dependent detection.
Same result though, no hardlinks. :-(
Step 2, try #5:
rm -rf /newbackupdir/backup1/ # Clean everything up for a new attempt
rsync -aPv --link-dest=../backup0/ /oldbackupdir/backup0/ /newbackupdir/backup1/
Intentionally copying the wrong (backup0 instead of backup1) source to the backup1 directory does create hardlinks.
The red, however, isn't red enough, and counter-intuitively for me resulting in a slightly purplish look where it should be white or gray, especially gray. Store's run out of the model, but I can still return it Great price though, and a rare matte. What should I do? 66.108.223.179 (talk) 20:39, 2 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Use a color management system to calibrate individual gains for red, blue, and green channels. If your laptop runs Windows, use the Windows Color System tool, already installed on your system. Additional technical documentation is available from Microsoft's WCS page. If you are running a different type of system, let us know and we can help you find another solution. Nimur (talk) 21:15, 2 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If everything looks purplish, that likely means you don't have enough green (or have too much blue and red). So, try adjusting those levels accordingly. Under Windows, Start + Control Panel + Display may have some settings for color adjustments, depending on the graphics card, driver, and OS level. There may also be an icon with a picture of the monitor, down by the volume control, etc., which might allow for color adjustments. StuRat (talk) 21:45, 2 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If no adjustments produce the right "red" color, it may be a hardware issue relating to your graphics card or monitor. It's often a tell-tale sign that something's not working right if either the red, green, or blue suddenly short out. I've had cables where the red was totally defunct and only blues and greens were coming through. --Mr.98 (talk) 01:30, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If the problem is with your laptop screen and a particular primary color isn't coming through, I would assume the problem is with a short in the internal video card or a lose connection. If you do some Googling for your notebook model with the keyword "Disassembly" you should be able to find a guide for accessing the video cable. Try wiggling it around while grounded with the computer on to see if the color comes back. If the problem is with an external monitor, do a similar wiggling thing for your VGA/HDMI cable. TheGrimme (talk) 16:07, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
January 3
Wikipedia-related blog aggregators
For the last few years, I've enjoyed keeping up with Wikipedia-related blogs at Open Wiki Blog Planet. I view it daily in my browser. However, for the last six months or so, the site has very irregularly updated - perhaps about once a month. I don't think this is a caching issue on my end. Does anyone know what the problem is with the site, or suggest any change I can try on my end? What alternative compendiums of WP blogs are there? I am already aware of Planet Wikimedia.-gadfium00:38, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Pop up blocker for specific site?
I have an Imac and I use the latest version of Firefox with pop-up blocker on but it only works sometimes. Some pop-ups continue to... pop up and especially ones from one site. Is there a way to target popups if you know a part of the URL? Alternatively, is there a Firefox add-on or other program that will be more effective? In the scheme of things, it's a minor annoyance, but enough of one that I'm asking.--108.46.103.88 (talk) 01:03, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And if you create yourself an account to edit from you shouldn't be bothered by these sort of annoyances. It's easy and free. --jjron (talk) 12:03, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
When you provide three IPs that trace to destinations near one another, it actually makes it easier to triangulate your location. A username has no geolocation unless one is given. Even then, the one given can be completely false. -- kainaw™21:08, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Kainaw is right. We know your approximate age, we know your sex, and we can geolocate you to a specific area. Your IP's are not "random" enough to hide your identity; the more info you give me the easier it is to find you. If the IPs would geolocate to places all over the world it would be even easier; certain countries do not respect the rights of their citizens and it would be quite easy to trace you even without computer skills by using social engineering and a bit of bribery. If you want to be anonymous on the internet there is 1 good trick: avoid using it. Von Restorff (talk) 01:30, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Um, no. First of all, I didn't want to run afoul of WP:POINT, so I stopped after four IPs. One of them belongs to a pool of IPs used nationwide for mobile devices (UMTS), geolocation info for that one can't be more specific than "Germany". This is basically a huge NAT array (used due the IP v4 shortage, and most users not needing a public IP on their mobile device).
Also, some of the IPs don't "belong" to me, either (though I have permission from their owners to use them) and are not even in the same city, and I could have picked a US or UK IP as well to confuse you, or used Tor. While tracking me may seem easy to you, think about this: Without me admitting the use of all these IPs above, you would have had no proof of them being the same user, only a suspicion, e.g. see the mention of "fist" in Morse code (especially if I had used them to edit elsewhere, not in this thread). Plus, they're all dynamic IPs.
With a username, once it has been de-anonymized, your complete edit history becomes known, in a way that it can be proven, not just guessed/assumed. Which is not something you want w/r/t previous/future employers, law enforcement (esp. in the kind of countries you mentioned above), or even your neighbo(u)rs... -- 88.67.154.4 (talk) 09:33, 4 January 2012 (UTC) PS: Von Restorff, you're younger than me, but let's keep WP:OUTING in mind and stop here. ;-)[reply]
Well essentially, you are just trolling now. If you wanted to hide, like someone said before, don't use the internet. There is always a way to track IP's. It's not that hard for me or you to really. If you want to carry on changing IP's or using someone else's IP, then you carry on. It's no skin off anybodies nose here. Mrlittleirish10:03, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
@Mr X.: if you want to we can continue this discussion on my talkpage, that is probably a better place.
@Mr little irish: I know your intentions are good but relax mate, he is not trolling, he just believes some misconceptions about anonymity on the internet. Von Restorff (talk) 10:08, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not trolling, we're just drifting off-topic from my original question (hence the <small>). As per Von Restorff's suggestion, we're moving it to his talk page. -- 88.67.154.4 (talk) 14:59, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
MySQL5 password brute force
I have Extreme GPU Bruteforcer and with 3000 PasswordsInThread and 512 streamprocessors and both min and max length 8 chars I get about 300.00M p/s. How can I improve this without spending money?
Is there better software out there (sorry, I do not own a Macintosh, but I am willing to install a Linux distro)?
My firefox (v9) has developed an annoying habit (since around v4). It works fine for about 8 seconds, then seems to freeze for 3 seconds. The content of the page doesn't seem to matter, as while I type this, it is freezing on and off (resulting in half a sentence suddenly appearing). I can be scrolling up or down the reference desks, and it will freeze, then suddenly jump to wherever it was I would have been. It's very annoying and for this reason I prefer to use Opera, however, firefox does have some features I like to use once in a while. I believe it might have something to do with constantly checking for updates to addons. Is it possible to get firefox to just check for these addons once a day? I mean, if there was no update 5 seconds ago, I doubt there'd be one now. It only happens with Firefox and nothing else. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK)17:01, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
... and if it is a plugin, try disabling them one at a time until you find the culprit. You can disable Firefox updates completely by unchecking the boxes in Tools > Options --> Advanced --> Updates. Dbfirs20:42, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have my FF updates disabled (for reasons of poor internet access), but I do update manually. Perhaps I should have written "you can disable Firefox addon updates by unchecking the addon box". Dbfirs08:31, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, you're probably right. Firefox doesn't check for updates that often, even if it has dozens of addons. What else in Firefox could be causing the problem? I suppose it could be one particular addon, possibly downloaded from an unapproved site. Perhaps it would be worthwhile trying Help --> Restart with add-ons disabled. (Sorry, I've just noticed that you suggested exactly that above)Dbfirs08:18, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Mercury (element)
Your article on mercury states the following:
A heavy, silvery d-block element, mercury is the only metal that is liquid at standard conditions for temperature and pressure; the only other element that is liquid under these conditions is bromine, and metals such as caesium, francium, gallium, and rubidium melt just above room temperature. With a freezing point of −38.83 °C and boiling point of 356.73 °C, mercury has one of the narrowest ranges of its liquid state of any metal.[1][2][3]
Elements are in the liquid state when their temperature is between the freezing and boiling point. Maybe you're unfamiliar with the celsius scale? Room temperature is usually around 25°C, which is between the freezing- and boiling- points of pure mercury. Mercury will freeze into a solid metal if you make the temperature very much colder - around −38 °C, which is much colder than your household refrigerator or freezer (but not as cold as, say, some parts of Antarctica in winter; or some biology-lab freezer equipment; and certainly not as cold as a vacuum freezer apparatus in a low temperature physics lab). Nimur (talk) 17:24, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(EC) In the same way that water is a liquid at room temperature, and its freezing point is 0°C. Its freezing point and its state at room temperature are unrelated. In any case, this is a question for the science desk, not the computer desk. Feel free to re-post it over there to get some more detailed answers. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK)17:25, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
MySQL fuzzy select field name
I have 30 fields named diag1, diag2, diag3, diag4... I want to get a list of rows in which any of those fields have the value '410'. I know this will not work: select * from er where 'diag%'='410'. Is there a way to fuzzy-select all the fields at once? -- kainaw™18:22, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think there's a way to use wildcards in your field names (with the exception of the * column wildcard). I think you will have to just make a very large query of it ("where diag1='410' OR diag2='410' OR ..."), which is pretty easy to generate, no? --Mr.98 (talk) 19:39, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I can't think of a way to do it with a single query. Possibly in a program/script of some type, using a "SHOW COLUMNS FROM <table name>" statement to start with. --LarryMac | Talk20:20, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have considered using a show columns subquery, but I don't think it is possible to use the results of that subquery as a field name, only as a value. -- kainaw™20:24, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This may not be an option for you, but it would be nice to adjust the schema to better fit the data. If you have a large number of things that you want to treat uniformly, it's probably best to represent them as rows rather than columns: create a new 'Diag' table that contains two columns, a key into the original table, and a value representing whatever the diag columns contained, and fill it with 30 (or however many) rows per row in the original table. Then, the number of diags wouldn't be built into the schema, and you can simply query that table to find something with the value '410' and join on whatever other information you need. Paul (Stansifer)21:13, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Trust me... If I were the one who created this database (which is read only), I wouldn't have had a table structure like this. I also wouldn't have used "ADYEAR" and "ADMONTH" to be the year and month values, but "ADDAY" to be the day of the week (completing omitting the day of the month). -- kainaw™21:16, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Well, for MySQL 5.0 and higher, this should get you the list of the column names:
select *
from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
where TABLE_NAME = 'Foo'
and COLUMNS like 'diag%'
Hello. How do software developers keep track of the number of PCs on which a program with a specific serial key is installed, especially if your PC crashes and you have to re-install the program? If a license on your PC is 1-user and your PC crashes, how does the software company know that you are not installing the program on a second PC? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 23:01, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
On a Windows 7 system, an external drive started acting strangely. I started a disc scan. At first it was counting through files rapidly, then it started going very slowly. I decided to stop the scan and reformat the external HD (a Seagate). Now properties shows all of the HD used and when I try to format, it says "you do not have sufficient rights to perform this operation". I have only one user account and it has administrator rights. How can I reformat the external HD? Bubba73You talkin' to me?03:21, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I think something has gone wrong with the drive. Now it isn't even showing up under "Computer". Yesterday my daughter said that it was making a noise, I said that it was just spinning up. If I unplug it and plug it back in, I get the normal USB sounds, but it doesn't show up. If I reboot it doesn't show up, the light on it keeps flashing, and there are some sounds like it is trying to connect a USB device but can't (two sounds at the same pitch). Bubba73You talkin' to me?04:25, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Your daughter was probably right. Well, I hope you still have your files! Luckily external drives are cheap nowadays. If I understand it correctly the drive is empty and you did not lose any files, is that correct? If so, its probably best to buy a new harddrive instead of trying to get this thing to work. Western Digital, Seagate, and Maxtor are all decent brands if you want to buy one. Von Restorff (talk) 04:36, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It had a lot of files on it, but I use it for a backup. I have my primary computer which has an external HD and this external HD is on my secondary computer. I have a batch file that copies my important files from the primary HD to: the primary external HD, the secondary computer HD, and the secondary external HD. A day or two ago, I noticed that the batch file was taking a lot longer than it should. Today the batch file would get only part of the way through, when there was an error 23 scanning the destination directory. Then it got worse. So, that combined with my daughter noticing a different noise, and the fact that now the computer doesn't even see it (except for the USB beeps), it must have died. And I think it was less than a year old. Bubba73You talkin' to me?05:30, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Seagate has two methods to get a HD replaced under warranty: (1) send it back and they will send a replacement, (2) pay $10 and they will ship a replacement second day and that includes a mailing label to send back the bad one. I selected #2, since it would cost me nearly $10 to send the old one anyway, and this way I get a replacement quickly.
On the phone to Seagate Customer Support, I had to confirm that I would not use the replacement for any terrorist activities! It seems to me that a terrorist might either lie to Seagate Customer Support about that or either just go to the store and get a new one. Bubba73You talkin' to me?00:08, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You obviously know very little about terrorists; their code of honor would prevent them from ever telling a lie or hurting another human being. Von Restorff (talk) 00:45, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It also seems unlikely to me that a terrorist would be calling up to get a replacement, since you have to send in the old one, and there is a possibility of Seagate discovering terrorist's files on the returned unit. Bubba73You talkin' to me?02:33, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Clicking scroll wheel to go to full-screen mode?
Resolved
I just installed Batman: Arkham City on my computer, and some of the moves in the game require one to push in the scroll wheel on the mouse (not scroll with it, but push it in as if pushing a button). Whenever I do this, however, the screen flashes back for a second. Sometimes I get the desired result as well, as if the push had been successful, and other times I don't. When I do it several times in succession, the game will go from full-screen to windowed mode, as if I had pressed alt-enter. I'm using a Logitech wireless mouse with left and right buttons plus a clickable scroll wheel (nothing fancy). Any idea what's going on here? Help is greatly appreciated--thanks! Meelar(talk)04:16, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Try the button R. If that does not work the easiest fix is probably to remap the controls in the options-controls screen in the main menu. Use a different button. Von Restorff (talk) 04:26, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
How to select proper PSU for my PC with new GPU card upgrade
Hi guys, I have Intel pentiumD3Ghz CPU, 2GB RAM,1HDD,1DVD,965Mobo,300Watts local PSU. The APC UPS of mine can provide load upto 390W. The software tool of UPS tells me the power consumption of my PC(PC alone plugged in, all other devices are removed from UPS while doing this test) is 113W at Idle and 170W at 100% CPU (+/- 5watts). I think this reading is somewhat equivalent to kill-a-watt meter reading.
Watts consumed by PC = 100% CPU(Using App) + 100% HDD(fileCopy) + 100% DVD(read/write test) = 175W MAX
I plan to buy HD 6870/GTX560ti which may eat 150W/175W (Max).
So as per my calculation(Max),
Watts Consumed by GPU(max) = 175W (for GTX 560ti) / 150W (for HD 6870) ( As per Spec)
So total power(max) = (CPU+RAM+mobo+DVD+HDD) + GPU
= 175W + 175W = 345W for GTX 560ti
= 175W + 150W = 320W for HD6870.
I dont use cooling fan\chasis fan. And these cards are not Overclocked versions. Hence I dont have idea of buying any cooling systems. Also the DVD drive isn't going to run all the time.
So as per my calculation, the required SMPS rating (PSU) I should go for either of two cards is 400Watts. This should be sufficient Am I correct?.
This is again for my configuration only.
But in recommended spec in websites and reviews say 500W min is required. Why is that?. Even in some GPU reviews, I had seen like using kill-a-watt meter, total PC consumed power with GTX560ti as GPU is 365W Maximum. Then why still Nvidia\Radeon suggest to buy 500W with 2x75W on PCIe cable as min PSU spec?....
All I know is that these cards do expect above 35A in +12V rail. So is it because PSUs with 500W and above should only be capable of delivering that much current in +12v line?.
Or is this a market strategy?.
Now can anybody suggest me what rating I should choose here?..Your help can help me choose right one.
You generally want some headroom but from my experience most manufacturers strongly overestimate how much power you will need as you've concluded yourself. This reduces the risk of problems. This is partially because of 12V rail problems but with modern ATX 2.0x PSUs this isn't really an issue. The far bigger problem is likely all those of cheap, crappy PSUs which suffer from false advertising and can't reliably deliver what they advertise. Even in those parts of the developed world where there are strong consumer protections laws regarding false advertising and product quality, from my experience computers PSUs is one are which still tends to fall thru the cracks. Remember from GPU manufacturer POV, the number of customers they are going to lose is small. The fact that people are getting seriously oversized PSUs and particularly before the 80Plus standard became withspread were likely wasting power by doing so, isn't their concern. Product failures and product problems because people are using some crappy PSU which claims 500W but can't even reliably deliver 350W is not something thay want. Generally those who know what they are doing ignore the manufacturers recommendations for video card PSUs anyway knowing them to be often seriously inflated, and knowing not to touch crappy PSUs with a barge pole due to the risk it will take out the whole computer (which incidentally violates the ATX standard). Nil Einne (talk)
"Normal" TRS connector on the left, iPhone TRRS connector in the middle If it's just for listening to music, you can get a simple splitter for about £1 – [1]. However you'll lose the functionality of the iPhone headphones' microphone, as the iPhone jack is a TRRS connector (middle in photo) whereas the splitter will only be a TRS (left in photo). The audio will still sound the same (like when you plug in "normal" headphones to an iPhone) but you won't be able to use the mic. matt (talk) 15:51, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Hi,
i had a doubt on topic Face detection. Whether it involves matching the faces? Is it possible to find out a person from a group of people? If a input photo is given, whether it possible to find correct person? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.211.60.17 (talk) 09:59, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I think you are asking if there are any shortcuts other than directly comparing the face with every face in your database. I believe there are, such as measuring various dimensions and ratios on the face, and using those to pare down the database to only a few which match those parameters. A side-by-side comparison can then be done with those. StuRat (talk) 16:44, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
C# cannot convert from char[] to string
I'm working in a windows application using forms, I only have a label on it which I'm using for output.
publicForm1(){InitializeComponent();char[]x={'i','u'};label1.Text=x.ToString();// Both these assignments gave the same resultlabel1.Text=Convert.ToString(x);}
Possibly you could just assign the array to the label attribute? label1.Text = x; Just guessing, not being a C# programmer... --CiaPan (talk) 14:41, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
In C# and Java, and some other languages, String objects are immutable, so they are not directly interchangeable with character arrays. You need to use a String construction function for such purposes. This is detailed in the remarks section of the official C# String reference. Nimur (talk) 16:18, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The Convert class has many uses, including converting many primitive types and some object types into Strings. However, those uses do not include conversion from char[] to String. This is explained in the remarks section of the documentation. The problem is that an array of characters does not contain the necessary character encoding information to create a String object. If you are hoping to treat strings and character arrays as identical objects, C# String object is not suitable. In pure C, you can use char[] as a string (not as a String object though - that entity doesn't even exist in C). C# is not the same as C. Nimur (talk) 18:23, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Delete facebook
My name is Roxanne Sellers and I am with Gulf Islands National Seashore and we are asking to please delete this facebook site it is not an offical site. Any questions please call <redacted> or email me at <redacted>
A piece of advise for Ms. Sellers. I'd suggest embracing the page instead of asking for it to be deleted. You can most likely post whatever you want on it, thereby somewhat controlling the direction you want it to go (assuming here it would be to promote tourism and education), so why not post links to websites of local hotels, restaurants, schools, marinas, fishing clubs, etc ...and share those posts on the other community pages in your area? Long story short: In this day and age, people are going to create websites and social media pages about the people, places and things they are interested in. There is not much you can do about it...so it's best to just work with it instead of against it. Plus using Facebook is a free form of advertising , and I guarantee that more people are looking at their Facebook feed on a daily basis than the "official website" of Gulf Islands National Seashore. Quinn➳WINDY20:21, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And here's a good article discussing the difference between Facebook community/business pages. I realize that the GINS is not exactly a business, but still might be informative. Quinn➳WINDY20:30, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Just to clarify - Ms Sellers might be encouraged to "post whatever you want ... promote tourism ... [advertising] ..." on any Facebook page (subject to FB's terms and conditions of course), but not on Wikipedia. Mitch Ames (talk) 09:38, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Multithreaded Apartment in Visual Basic Application
I am writing an application with Visual Basic 2010 Express. The application has a COM reference to a DLL, and everything works fine as a single threaded application. However, I want to break the application into two threads, one for the GUI and one which actually does the work. Both threads need to make calls to the COM reference. When I set up a multithreaded application, I receive this error message: "Unable to cast COM object of type 'Sync Framework Managed Class' to interface type 'Sync Framework COM Interop Class'. This operation failed because the QueryInterface call on the COM component for the interface with IID '{73EA794F-1251-4466-A19C-DAEAF5BDBD04}' failed due to the following error: No such interface supported (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80004002 (E_NOINTERFACE))." which according to here (third heading) means I need to use a multithreaded apartment model. Can anyone point me in the right direction on how to do that? I've read Microsoft's pages on that (starting here) but I can't figure out how to make it happen. anonymous649422:11, 4 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed, you'll need a multithreaded apartment model. Google "multithreaded apartment model visual basic 2010"; you'll find info written by people who understand this stuff a lot better than I do. On page 2 of this explanation you'll find a code sample (read the comments!). Von Restorff (talk) 12:22, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
January 5
Computers that degrade with age
We've all had them: computers that run ok and then within a year or two they start getting slower or overheating.
Why?
Common answers to this question that I've heard over the years:
"too much stuff" clearly not true since most times the hard drive with the operating system is less than 50% full and usually defrags once a week.
"too much in the registry" seems more plausible, in my case I have >300 installed programs even with constantly uninstalling things I don't need. But.. most people have a lot fewer than this, and as if just 300 entries would make a difference on modern hardware. Even if the OS did a linear search through the registry it wouldn't add much.. correct me if I'm wrong.
"Dust", means the fans have to do more work to keep it cool. Sound logic but too many times I've checked and they've been cleanish.
Formatting and defragging makes a difference, sure, but you never quite get as fast as when the computer was new.
Why? Does the processor or the RAM slow down over time? Does the hardware literally just degrade over time?
Yes, hardware does degrade over time, but this is not the reason performance of most Windows desktops degrade with age. The reason is that the Windows operating system and the humans controlling it do not clean up after themselves properly. Scandisk, defrag and reinstall; the computer will perform as quickly as when you just bought it. Von Restorff (talk) 06:38, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Is it really just updates? I can kind of see how a few hundred mb of extra code could become really inefficient. Does Windows just have a terrible way of implementing the updates or something? Benjamint06:44, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, Windows Update is terrible, but this problem does not have much to do with updates. It has to do with the fact that the Windows operating system and the humans controlling it do not clean up after themselves properly. E.g.: uninstalling an application does not remove it 100%, defragmentation occurs, the register gets polluted, logfiles accumulate et cetera. Lets say Mr. X moves out his parents basement when he is 18 and rents his own house. At first he works very efficiently, but because he does not like cleaning his house gradually becomes messier and messier. Stuff is hard to find, hidden under piles of trash. This affects his work efficiency. By cleaning his house (reinstalling Windows) he can improve his performance temporarily; but because of his messy habits it will inevitably become a mess again. Some operating systems are much better in cleaning up after themselves, and their performance degrades much slower. Von Restorff (talk) 06:47, 5 January 2012 (UTC) p.s. Overheating is usually caused by dust accumulating in places that are hard to reach. p.p.s. Almost no one defrags once a week, unfortunately. p.p.p.s. Your register contains a lot more than 300 entries![reply]
I do! I run disk clean-up after closing my browser (every time), defrag at least once a week, and run chkdsk at least once a month. I also have most styling and smoothing nonsense disabled. My OS (XP/SP3) GUI looks 20 years out of date (really clunky), but this old and fairly crappy PC runs as fast as it possibly can. I've also enabled file indexing. This speeds up disk searches, but without chkdsking, I think would get messy due to the shoddy implementation of the files system. "Tag it and chuck it in". Or, NTFS as it is properly called. fredgandt07:16, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Indexing will speed up searches, but it may slow down the PC when you change indexed files (like documents). Depending on how often you search, relative to how often you update files, indexing may not be an efficient way of speeding up your system. Mitch Ames (talk) 09:32, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting observation. In fact I found it did slow things down at first, but has sped things up since being enabled longer. I think it improved after the first chkdsk after enabling. My biggest issue is very small hard drive (and old) of only 40gb and hardly any ram of 512mb. Reworking my bios helped too. The computer is second hand, and had the primary boot device set as its (wait for it) floppy drive! Yes folks, a floppy drive. So everything it did, it checked the floppy first. It wasn't fun. I need to upgrade so badly fredgandt09:50, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
As far as a list of computer components that physically degrade and affect performance... dust accumulation is big, cause it will make processors/videocards step down their speeds to cool off more frequently, and hard drives will over time have sectors go bad. The hard drive replaces these with spares, so to speak (all drives have more capacity than "used" because they swap out bad blocks with new fresh ones when they detect they're getting bad), and eventually that can cause fragmentation that defrag won't fix. Much less practically relevant unless you're overclocking, is that there's electron drift that can happen deep within processors, especially those that operate over temperature. I don't know the physics behind it, and I've never seen this effect on a CPU, but I have seen deep errors on a GPU, which had been overheating. It manifests in particular ways.
But as others have said, overwhelmingly it is the accumulation of process that run in the background that you never need, corruption of files (not sure how much this happens anymore), and possibly viruses or other things (you'd be amazed how little defrag matters unless it's just gotten out of control) that lead to the "slow down" people experience on old computers. I find that a full reinstall from the factor disc will make 5 year old computers seem almost new for most people's tasks. Or even better, reinstall from scratch, apply all the updates, install the few programs that you know you will always use, and then use Norton Ghost or some similar program to backup the image. Then, if it starts running slow, you can start fresh with less time invested. Shadowjams (talk) 02:23, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Of course, if you reinstall the O/S, you will lose everything you've done on the PC, including all data and programs you've loaded since, and all updates. So, this isn't a very practical option for most. (You could copy all those things first, then reinstall them, but then it would slow down again.)
Another factor slowing down computers is bloatware. The same computer which could run a word processor just fine when it only spelled-checked at the end might not be able to handle spell-checking each word as it's typed in, as any current version would do. StuRat (talk) 20:34, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Does Video card affect video playback performance?
Will a better graphic card improve video playback performance when watching movies on VLC media player? Or is movie playback sort of like an HDMI cable where it either works or it doesn't. In other words, if the video playback is choppy/laggy, could a poor graphic card be responsible? Acceptable (talk) 07:33, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that is possible (especially with HD), although it is rare. I am running a program called Extreme GPU Bruteforcer at this moment, which means my videocard has a lot of work to do. If I watch a HD video in VLC while running the bruteforcer I can see it lagging. If you have an old computer make it lag and try to find the bottleneck: is the CPU usage 100%? Is there free RAM left? Et cetera. Von Restorff (talk) 07:37, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Essentially, I have a NVIDIA GT 540M with Optimus technology. Optimus automatically switches between the dsicrete NVIDIA card and the onboard integrated Intel GPU. Most of the time, video playback is pretty good, but there are occasional blips here and there when I play 1080p video. If this is the level of performance I can expect from my discrete card, then I'm fine with it. But if it's a problem with Optimus not switching to my discrete card, then I would like to find a way to switch to the discrete card when watching video. Acceptable (talk) 07:48, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Open the "NVIDIA Control Panel" from your start menu. On the lefthand side, under "Select a task...", open the "3D Settings" tree, and select "Manage 3D Settings". Now on the righthand panel, click the "Program Settings" tab. Under "1. Select a program...", click "Add", navigate to your VLC directory and select "vlc.exe". Under "2. Select the preferred graphics...", choose "High-performance NVIDIA processor", then (VERY IMPORTANT) click "Apply" in the bottom right. Von Restorff (talk) 07:58, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, but I've tried that already. It's almost like as if the card just ignores those options. I did some research online and found this to be a common problem. Apparently the NVIDIA card runs through the Intel IPG and so both card have to be on at the same time in order to work. I went into BIOS and it won't even let me turn off the discrete card; apparently I have to download an unlocked BIOS or something. Acceptable (talk) 17:36, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
What's the best way to restore a computer to its factory state?
I would like to pass off a used laptop of mine with Windows 7 to a younger sibling. Before doing so, I would like to erase all of my personal files and restore it to the original factory state that it came in when I first got the computer. I know erased data can be recovered with software, but since it's a sibling, I'm not worried about loss of personal information or something. What is the best way for me to do this? The computer is a Dell Studio 15, I think I may have the restore CD that came with the laptop. But if I do not, what are the steps that I should take to formatting my computer, but still ensuring that Windows 7 works afterwards? Thanks. Acceptable (talk) 07:51, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
http://pastebin.com/FEnN9EXt For files that are not acceptable to see for younger siblings you may want to use a file shredder. Does your computer has a recovery partition? Try to find the CD first, if that does not work reboot the computer and bash F8, maybe it gives you the option to press a button to go back to factory settings. If not check your startmenu, maybe there is an option to restore factory settings there. If all else fails read this.Von Restorff (talk) 08:01, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'm pretty sure that unless your younger sibling is a computer wizz of epic skill (and is thus able to read the hard drive without the files being filed), simply reinstalling the OS will clean as it installs. The result will be a computer with nothing but an OS. Then fresh install all the drivers etc and ancillary programs (photoshop or whatever). fredgandt09:40, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks! When using pastebin, do I need any of the Windows 7 OS CD's? Or will the computer still maintain the installed OS when it goes through the steps mentioned in the pastebin link? Acceptable (talk) 17:40, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You are very welcome. The pastebin link describes 2 different procedures; line 1-29 is the best option, and you do not need any CDs for that. Von Restorff (talk) 00:16, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Both. To add to complications, if you use the VPN in country B to perform illegal activity in Country C, you are also subject to the laws of country C. -- kainaw™16:23, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It may be a good workaround to ask a person living in a country with different laws to perform an action which is illegal for you to do. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, I am probably wrong, this is not legal advice, it is probably illegal advice, do not listen to me or you will be eaten by a shark. Von Restorff (talk) 12:39, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Website prices
Say I want to create a website that will allow for video and picture uploading and sharing as well as discussion forums. Suppose I expect to have around 2000 members, and that the largest use of memory would be the video uploading with, lets say, 500 people uploading 500Mb each over the course of the first 2 years. Roughly how much would such a site as this cost to set up and run over those two years?
Storage requirement is in the ballpark of 500 people * 500 Mbit = 30 GB.. add 10 GB for system. Traffic demand 1,4 Gbit/month. Prices depend on country and ISP. It can be everything from a shell account, virtual server, or co-location. Electron9 (talk) 16:37, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This is a rather difficult thing to estimate. Bandwidth is quite important when estimating cost, along with storage redundancy. Technically you could host the site with an existing computer you have on your existing internet connection for free. I would suggest discussing this in web hosting community, such as http://www.WebHostingTalk.com . TheGrimme (talk) 16:31, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
To answer your question directly, the answer is "Ø" for capital "Ø", and "ø" for lower case "ø". I often write web pages by hand, and type these characters as if they were part of the official spellings of the words involved. --NorwegianBluetalk23:10, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You can also simply use the characters Ø and ø. This will "just work" on any modern browser. If you want to be very sure, you can specify that your HTML page should be interpreted in Unicode by adding the character-set id to the page header: the official specification for HTML Document Representation Specifying the character encoding is very verbose. There a several standard ways to do so:
Instruct your server to prepend the HTTP meta headerContent-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8. If you don't know how to do so, use one of the options below.
Include this in your HTML document head: <META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
Use (and comply with the specifications for) XHTML, and include an encoding="UTF-8" tag in your document header
The old-fashioned "Ø" character entity reference codes are still valid (in HTML 4.01), but you should use a more modern technique. More detail at Character encodings in HTML. To put it succinctly, if a web-browser or rendering engine can interpret the entity-code, it can also (almost certainly) interpret the unicode; but the reciprocal is not always true. Nimur (talk) 23:46, 5 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
How do I install "F22 Lightning II" on my W7 system?
I tried to install a 16-year-old game that I did not manage to beat back in the day, over 10 years ago. Now, I get a pop-up that says "16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem" on the top bar, and "F:\INSTALL.EXE - This system does not support fullscreen mode. Choose 'close' to terminate the application."
Is there a way around this? I'm not trying to play an 8-track on an iPod because it's still an optical form of media. Thanks for helping me to get this game going again. --70.179.174.101 (talk) 14:25, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I did, and it says "Insufficient Extended Memory Available." I'm attempting to install a game on a system made 11 years later. Nothing should be "insufficient" at this point, so how do I take care of that? --70.179.174.101 (talk) 00:41, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Did you figure out how to mount drives? Dosbox is a bit weird. For more detailed information on how you can configure DOSbox, please read the 60 Seconds Guide to DOSBox. Did you mount a drive with the driveletter C? Someone wrote: "The error message is quite misleading, the problem is as simple as that the installer needs a drive c: mounted.....". If it still does not work read this and that. Von Restorff (talk) 01:20, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The three-letter sequence "com" is rather special in Windows. See COM file. Therefore, Windows doesn't like having folders with that end in "com", especially ones ending in ".com". -- kainaw™16:24, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That is not true. I think you mean CON; because it is possible to create a folder called COM. It is also possible to create a folder called random.com. CON is a reserved name since the days of DOS and cannot be used as a name for folders or files. Other reserved names are: PRN, AUX, NUL, LPT1, COM1. Von Restorff (talk) 16:25, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That is Windows version-dependent. In Windows 7, I know you can make a folder like "mycoolwebsite.com". On a Windows 2000 box, on multiple Windows XP boxes, and a Windows 98 box, I found that it wouldn't allow such folders. On a different Windows 2000 box, it was allowed, but IIS wouldn't recognize it. On yet another Windows XP box, it was allowed and IIS would work with it. So, I believe it is an issue what was fixed during the transition from Windowx XP to Windows Vista. Since there are still a lot of old Windows machines running around, I assumed the question was correct and the user is having trouble making a folder ending in ".com". -- kainaw™16:41, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I second Von Restorff. As far as I can remember, Windows has always allowed folders named (and, more generally, ending in) 'com', but, of course not, 'CON'. I just tried in (1) Windows 95 and (2) Windows 95 with the shell update, and both accept folders named 'COM' and 'example.com'. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 17:22, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
In Windows 98 SE, XP, and Vista it is possible to create a folder called COM and it is also possible to create a folder called RANDOM.COM. I strongly dislike Windows 2000 and IIS so I am not going to test that claim. There is an email hoax about this. I found some info from Microsoft. CON, COM1, COM2, COM3 and COM4 are impossible to use. Von Restorff (talk) 17:46, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I cannot test it as I do not have any Windows machines at all anymore. Many years ago, we inherited some Windows machines from a webhosting company. I noticed that all of their hosts were in folders with names like "somesite.web" instead of "somesite.com". It was a workaround for the problem with .com folders. Because there are no domains named .con, I know it was .com that was the problem way back then. After seeing the hoax email, it is now more likely that the questioner is asking about CON instead of COM. -- kainaw™18:22, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I am guessing that their reason for naming those folders like that had to do with IIS, not the OS. I have never seen a Microsoft OS that was disallowing using COM or RANDOM.COM as a filename AFAIK. I spent a minute googling but I was unable to find sources that confirm that using COM or RANDOM.COM in a filename is a problem for IIS but that is not unlikely because everything is a problem for IIS; IIS sucks. Von Restorff (talk) 19:03, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Our CMS created folders named after the hostname of a site since 1998... I can assure you that folders ending in '.com' have been perfectly acceptable from NT4 up to and including Windows 7, and that the Win9x versions didn't mind either. But IIS has a history of having never actually understood paths, see CVE-1999-0154,0229,0233,0253,0278 and more... [1] - i can image them having gone overboard later and blocking way too much. Unilynx (talk) 19:23, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
While I can't speak specifically about IIS, I have encountered a limitation related to the mention in the KB article above when trying to delete one or more files that originated from a FreeBSD system (but were copied to an NTFS volume) with such a reserved name (I think possibly LPT1 and COM1). It's impossible to do with Explorer and needs to use special syntax with the command line, see [2][3]. (This is for Windows XP but I encountered the same issue on Windows 7.) Nil Einne (talk) 03:07, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Table of Contents Greasemonkey userscript
So I threw together this userscript (where "threw together" equals shamelessly stolen from another, more comprehensive userscript), but tbh I haven't got a real clue of HTML.
What I'd like to add to this script is an additional TOC entry for a #top hook, ideally so that this new link becomes the first "section" link in the TOC. Could anyone please clue me in on how to go about this? --213.196.192.243 (talk) 17:29, 6 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
January 7
Is redstone Turing complete?
I heard someone claim that redstone circuitry in Minecraft is actually Turing complete. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about Turing completeness (or, indeed, redstone) to actually verify this. Could someone more knowledgeable than I confirm/deny this? Thanks! 24.247.162.139 (talk) 01:21, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have seen some pretty clever uses of redstone circuitry in Minecraft — adders, RAM, GPUs, etc. I haven't seen anything that would make me think you couldn't make a Turing complete computer using just redstone circuitry, except for physical limitations — there are limits as to how long the circuitry can travel, if I remember (e.g. one chunk or something like that) and still remain in Minecraft's awareness (which puts an upper limit on processor size, memory possibilities, etc.). If you can't theoretically expand it infinitely, then it's not technically Turing complete, I don't believe. But I think that's the only real limitation. --Mr.98 (talk) 01:39, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If you can make a NAND gate (or a NOR gate, or NOT and AND or OR, or...), you can make anything. Since you can propagate signals indefinitely in Minecraft with redstone repeaters, Redstone is Turing complete. In fact (if I remember correctly, which is dodgy, since it's not my specialty), in the real world, pretty much everything is made of NAND gates, because they're the natural thing to make with transistors (with the exception of DRAM, which uses capacitors). Paul (Stansifer)02:05, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes (at least at a logical level) that's true - one can build a whole CPU from False and NAND (NAND logic), False and NOR (NOR logic) or just implies by itself (implies logic). This great article shows a bunch of logic gates build in CMOS transistors, with the non-elementary gates shown as the composite of elementary ones. In practice I'm not sure designers (tricksy fellows that they are) don't find clever ways to build more complex functions from transistors that don't decompose so obviously into NAND or NOR logic; Wikipedia's own coverage of the implementation of logic gates and higher digital functions is patchy at best. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk12:38, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Redstone (with a few other kinds of Minecraft blocks, particularly switches) can be used to construct the full suite of logic gates (see redstone circuits-logic gates on the Minecraft wiki) - as that includes a NAND and NOR you can build either NAND logic or NOR logic (and as there's an implies gate, implies-logic, my fave) to build anything you want. This guy built an 8-bit CPU (I think following the programme of TECS). So, to answer your question: redstone with switches is Turing complete; I don't think redstone by itself can do anything interesting. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk12:28, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Forcing internet access to require a user name and password (Win XP and DSL modem)
I have a relatively modern DSL modem (provided by my ISP at a rather insulting rental fee) connected to a Windows XP computer using an ethernet cable. When I first set up the internet connection this modem enables in Windows, I selected Connect using a broadband connection that requires a user name and password as opposed to Connect using a broadband connection that is always on (the latter is described as not requiring the user to sign in and is the configuration I've generally encountered on computers at work and at other people's houses). This created a connection that, when opened, prompts for a user name and password as expected and only connects to the internet once those pieces of information have been provided.
However, I recently noticed that any software programmed to connect to the net (e.g., web browsers, any program that can check for updates, etc.) is able to do so even when the connection I created isn't active. A local area connection is present under Network Connections in addition to the internet connection I manually created; it appears to be active as soon as Windows starts and its record of bytes transferred clearly reflects internet activity.
Given this configuration, is there a clean way I can set up my network situation such that the computer is only connected to the internet when the user has signed into the manually-created internet connection? Simply disabling the local area connection predictably prevents the internet connection I created from working and googling this particular problem has proven fruitless (google seems quite keen on providing me with results pertaining to complete internet dysfunction, which is pretty much the exact opposite of this situation). Additionally, the modem's configuration page doesn't appear to contain any settings relevant to this.
What are you trying to achieve by doing this? Control over who can access the internet (e.g. kids)? When they use it? Where they can visit? Von Restorff (talk) 03:45, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It's not a matter of who can access the internet (the computer's mine and I've saved the password in the connection settings anyway, so a cat could connect to the internet if it knew how to work a mouse), but rather what can access the internet. I prefer to know when it's possible for programs installed on my computer to check for updates online, as many (Flash, Java, Adobe Reader, SolidWorks, etc.) tend to do so unprompted. Besides the issue of security, this also makes it easier to ensure I'm under my ISP's bandwidth cap each month.
I used the desired configuration I've described above in the past with an older DSL modem that connected using a USB port, so I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be possible to duplicate the arrangement with a modem that connects via ethernet; I merely haven't been able to get it to work thus far. Hiram J. Hackenbacker (talk) 15:13, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Win 7 flaky on system resume
I have a new Asus laptop running 64 bit Win 7. The whole thing is less than two weeks old and it's a relatively good unit, above the cheap end of the spectrum, with Core i7, 8GB RAM, etc. A problem I have noticed is that when I resume from sleep or hibernation the computer has a funny tendency to crash within about three minutes of the resume (not immediately mind you). And I mean a major crash, in that I have to do a hard boot, with the system becoming entirely unresponsive, even cntl-alt-del etc elicits no response.
OK, so analysing this I'm noticing two trends. One is that if I manage to have to the whole thing set up exactly the same as it was when I hibernated it doesn't seem to crash, and I mean things like power, mouse, wireless USB broadband connection, external drives either plugged in or not - if you change one of them either way while the thing's hibernating it's almost as if it gets confused on the resume. The other thing is that it always crashes while using Firefox, but that could just be that that tends to be the first thing I access on a resume.
Any ideas? As yet it has never crashed in any other circumstances. Is it just flakiness of Win 7 (I haven't used it extensively before, but I'm not entirely impressed with it)? --124.184.191.230 (talk) 03:45, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. Model appears to be N53SV-SX788V (interestingly not the model I ordered, but the all specs were right and it's actually a slightly dearer unit). Have run all the required Windows updates, but haven't updated the drivers (I generally don't do so unless there's problems), so might give that a try. Nah, no BSOD, just totally freezes - oh, but the freeze happens in stages, like first it won't reload a webpage even though I can switch from tab to tab, then it won't switch tabs, then the browser freezes totally not highlighting links etc, then I can't switch to a different application, then the mouse itself freezes over about the course of two minutes. Was just wondering if anyone else had seen this with Win 7 in general. --124.184.191.230 (talk) 05:06, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Strange "WUDFHost.exe" process - Please help
In investigating a problem with unexpected high disk I/O activities, I discovered that a WUDFHost.exe process is running on my machine under the LOCAL SERVICE user. The strange thing is, from Windows Task Manager, I cannot view its properties, nor does "Open File Location" open the folder that contains it (assuming that the image is C:\Windows\System32\WUDFHost.exe, not something malicious pretending to be it.) I also tried Process Explorer. It could not report the file path of the image either. What gives?
I know that, but why can't Windows Task Manager and Process Explorer report the file location of its image? I tried other services running under the LOCAL SERVICE user; both tools could report the file locations of their images. What worries me is the possibility that the WUDFHost.exe process was not started like the process normally would be but was some malicious software made to look like WUDFHost.exe. --173.49.11.117 (talk) 14:34, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
My prediction is that it is not infected, but if you are worried here is a simple way to check if I am right or not. Browse to the folder where WUDFHost.exe is located. Make a copy of that file on your desktop. Scan the copy using http://virusscan.jotti.org/ or http://www.virustotal.com/Von Restorff (talk) 14:58, 7 January 2012 (UTC) p.s. I assume you are using a proper virusscanner and firewall (e.g. ESET Smart Security). If you combine ESET with malwarebytes and hijackthis and adblock plus you are pretty safe. Do you want more safety? Try something like Sandboxie and noscript to make browsing more secure. But if you really care about safety and security the only option is to stop using Windows.[reply]
Thanks, but where the image of the WUDFHost.exe process actually comes from is what I can't figure out. It should be C:\Windows\System32\WUDFHost.exe, but how do I confirm that the process is really running that binary? --173.49.11.117 (talk) 15:54, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Hmmm, I am not sure. Do you have a file called WUDFHost.exe in any folder other than C:\Windows\System32\ ??? If not, stop the process and restart it. Process Monitor v2.96 is always nice to have. BTW earlier I forgot to mention that you can probably use the System File Checker to check if your version of WUDFHost.exe is legit. Von Restorff (talk) 16:05, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That works, and its shows that path name as the expected one. Still not sure why right-clicking on it and selecting Properties won't show anything. Thanks. --173.49.11.117 (talk) 17:09, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This is related to the problem that prompted my question about WUDFHost.exe. It seems that at times SearchIndexer.exe & SearchProtocolHost.exe are keeping my computer's hard drive busy. (Not 100% sure that they are the culprits, but I came to the conclusion from what I saw in Window's Reliability and Performance Monitor). When that happens, it would take quite some time for disk activity to die down.
Is that normal? How do you deal with it? (I tried lowering the priorities of the processes but was denied). I think the problem started recently, although I could be mistaken (I didn't observer/notice it in the past.) The only recent changes to the computer is installation of some Microsoft updates and software that came with a printer.
Check your update log. Is there anything in there related to the Windows Search indexer? TBH I personally prefer to disable Windows built-in search because I never need it and it slows my computer down; but I am weird. Von Restorff (talk) 16:00, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oversized display area for hidden systray icons
For a few days, my computer (running Windows 7) has repeatedly displayed the hidden icons of the systray, when I clicked to have them displayed, in an oversized display area which almost filled half the screen; it's just a white area, at the upper left top of which the 3 or so icons are displayed A few times I've managed to re-shrink that area by clicking into its midst--with each click, the area can get a little smaller, as if one line of a text gets deleted, then the next etc. At the end, it's back to its normal size close to the systray. Very odd.
Windows sometimes picks up bizarre behaviour. Have you tried shutting down and restarting? That often fixes minor niggles like this. --jjron (talk) 13:09, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Really good virtual reality
Something like that, but in a video game
How good should be a picture for the complete illusion of reality? Is it possible to achieve such a quality, so no one can see the difference between the 3d-image and a real window to the street?
Extremely good. No, that is not yet possible. Outside the Fovea centralis our vision sucks. Human eye reception is measured in resolution rather than pixels. However, it is possible to loosely translate resolution to pixels. As an example, through a series of calculations based on field of view variables, Roger Clark of Clark Vision estimates the human eye to have the resolution equivalent of 576 megapixels, or 576 million pixels (1 megapixel equals 1 million pixels). True color is probably enough (at least 16,777,216 color variations). The human eye is popularly believed to be capable of discriminating among as many as ten million colors. I think the question about polygons is impossible to answer. XKCDVon Restorff (talk) 13:17, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Polygons are a measure of complexity of a scene. You can get a pretty realistic representation of the Bonneville Salt Flats with just one polygon (okay, texture resolution would be a problem, and it's also not perfectly flat). Other aspects of graphics systems have effects on how many polygons you need to produce a realistic result, such as normal mapping. And it's possible to do computer graphics without polygons at all; raytracers will happily render spheres for you that don't have edges, no matter how close you examine them. They're slow, though.
There are some other problems to overcome. I don't think any monitor exists that can match the gamut of the human eye. Monitors have a far smaller range of brightness than the eye can see, and even if you can fool most forms of depth perception, I don't think you'll ever be able to fool the sense of accomodation without physically placing objects different distances from the eye. Paul (Stansifer)14:41, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oh it's a false alarm. It's a software "upgrade". For example, if you type something that doesn't exist as the title of an article, such as "76e373dfs", then previously you got a search screen, which you will no doubt remember, where you could set the particular Wikipedia spaces you wanted to search in. Now you get a gray bar which presents this possibility as one among several. --Epipelagic (talk) 15:12, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
When I perform a Google search, I expect to get a couple of (irrelevant) sponsored links at the top, with a yellow background. Fine. A friend of mine has a new Windows 7 laptop, and Firefox, and whenever she performs a Google search, whatever the subject, she has to scroll through a whole page of sponsored ads before she gets to the real results. And because there is a whole page of them, I mean like ten or twelve ads, she not surprisingly thinks she is getting irrelevant results. I've never come across this before, Google help seems to have nothing on this, and I cannot find a relevant setting among the search options. Does anyone know what is going on? Thanks.--Shantavira|feed me17:56, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'm learning how to program in C++ and I had a question about how exactly to properly write destructors.
Lets say I have a very simple class that looks something like this:
classSomeClass{private:vector<int>some_list;}
That is, the class has a vector in it because it needs to stuff with lists. Now, If I don't write a destructor for this class and instead just use the implicit or default destructor (or whatever it's called), it's going to automatically destroy that vector, right? Like, I don't have to worry about it, right?
But in the case I'm facing right now, I have to write my own explicit destructor, because it needs to do some other clean-up in addition to the class-variables. But in that case, how do I destroy some_list? It wasn't dynamically allocated, so I can't type "delete some_list" (right?). Is it automatically destroyed, even if I write my own destructor?
Also, another quick question while were on the subject of vectors: if I delete a vector (either by typing "delete some_vector" or it being destroyed in an implicit destructor or whatever), will all the objects in that vector be destroyed also? Or do I have to destroy those manually?
Resolved
Facebook community pages may incorporate content from Wikipedia— such use complies with Wikipedia policies on reuse of content. We at Wikipedia have no control over how the content is included nor can we help to remove it. Facebook does have a topic on Community pages and profile connections on their Help Center. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:13, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
fredgandt 09:50, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
Von Restorff (talk) 10:11, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
