Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 January 5

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January 5

deleted file retrieval program

Can anyone recommend a good, thorough freeware program for retrieving deleted files off of an HDD or memory stick? Thanks --VectorField (talk) 00:20, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Piriform's Recuva (pronounced \ri-ˈkə-vər\). Xenon54 02:12, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

PhotoRec, and for some types of files, Foremost. For NTFS, there's "ntfsundelete", part of ntfsprogs. --76.167.241.238 (talk) 02:59, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

And any recommendations for a good, thorough freeware program that does a full disk overwrite? (Fullstop suggested CCleaner, but only mentioned that it was good for securely deleting specific files.) Thanks, --VectorField (talk) 00:32, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Na i disagree.Photorec is nothing compared to "Recover my files" .If you google it you'll get a limited free version from their site so just do a torrent search for it and you'll get a full version with a keygen and believe me its helped me out a lot .I haven't tried it on my hard drive cause its quite huge but for memory sticks (even those upto 8GB ) it works perfectly and retrieve's file deleted over a month ago ,i'm still curious as to how it works!But rest assures you'll get your files back safely. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vineeth h (talk • contribs) 07:08, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

"Open" routers?

Does anyone know brands of internet routers that are "open", like in "open source software"? Using open standards and stuff like that? With the possibility to hack/modify the firmware, upgrade, etc... ? Thanks. SF007 (talk) 00:36, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Get a computer, put one of these on it, and then configure it as a router. Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 02:06, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Netgear's WGR614L is probably the only commercially available open-source router. It's based on Linux and has full compatibility with dd-wrt, tomato, etc. It is also possible to create custom firmware. Xenon54 02:09, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Well, OpenWrt supports like hundreds of commercial routers decently, so most routers are "open" in the sense that people have figured out how to modify the firmware and put open source software on it and stuff. --76.167.241.238 (talk) 03:06, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

The simplest thing is to find a really old, nasty PC - stick several ethernet adaptors into it and run Linux on it. Then you can hack and play to your heart's content. It doesn't even need a monitor and keyboard once you have it set up. I used an ancient 300MHz PC running SuSE 6.x as my router/gateway/email-server/firewall machine for years...it worked great - and I even had a small website up on it. SteveBaker (talk) 19:05, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Changing IP address

I believe my ISP changes my IP address everytime I restart my PC. I'd like to know if there is an easier way to change it (without restarting). The reason is that rapidshare tells me that my IP address is already downloading something when i'm not. Thank you. --AreDeeCue (talk) 11:00, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Most likely your IP changes every time you connect to your ISP. What you need to do is to disconnect and reconnect from your ISP without restarting. I can't tell you how, since I have no idea what OS your using, how you connect to your ISP, etc etc. BTW are you sure your public IP changes Nil Einne (talk) 11:05, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. I'm using vista and it's a adsl connection. Should I just disconnect the router and reconnect it? The IP address that rapidshare says is currently downloading changes so I assume that means my IP is changing. --AreDeeCue (talk) 11:30, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I use XP not Vista but I believe Vista also includes the application ipconfig: typing "ipconfig /renew" at the command line (or from the Run... dialog) should get a new IP address via DHCP.[1] --193.172.19.20 (talk) 12:47, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I've always done ipconfig /release first, then the ipconfig /renew Ched (talk) 14:46, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

We may need more information about your situation. ISP's modems / routers operate differently. I personally have cable and my cable modem forwards my public ip address to the computer that is connected to it, but i have a router to split my internet between 5 different computers, the way that this works is my router has a 'WAN" port. what this wan port does is request an ip address from my cable modem (instead of submitting one from the router as it is also my DHCP server). Then what my router does is submit an internal ip address to the computers in my local area network (Lan). In my case i have 2 different ip address types, A public ip address and LAN ip address. Only my public ip address can be seen from the outside world, my lan ip addresses can not be seen. Now, if i were to throw away my router and connect my computer directly to my cable modem my computer will then be assigned the public ip address and will request a new (or the same) one from the modem every time i restart my computer. Now i said that some IPS's modems / routers operate differently, what i mean is this; sometimes a modem will assign it's self the public ip address and then submit a different one to any computers trying to connect to it. If your computer is like my home network then you will need to go in to your router and (depending on your router) release and renew your ip address. If your computer connects directly to your modem then simply going to the start menu then type in the word "CMD" in the search option then hit enter will bring up a black window with some text in is, that is called the command prompt. My typing in the commands:" ipconfig /release " and " ipconfig /renew " (without the quotations) you can submit a request for a new ip address. But if you are simply looking for evidence that your ip address is changing then you can visit a website that will tell you.here is a link to a website that will tell you what your public ip address is. good luck. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.172.159.131 (talk) 16:31, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

do the proxy dance —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 18:11, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

music software

could you recommend a free software to play music instruments(like piano,flutr etc.) onxp operating system. Earlier I had play it which i played in windows 98. It is not working in XP. Please help thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.43.147.135 (talk) 12:27, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Are you talking about software like this? BigDunc^Talk 15:07, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

You are probably looking for a MIDI (SMF) creator/editor/player. Do you want to connect a MIDI keyboard (like "piano keys") to your computer, or do you just want to use your QWERTY keyboard to play? Actually, I have been experimenting a bit with MIDI programming lately and have created an extremely small (and never really completed) utility found here. It is most likely insufficient for your needs, but may be fun to play with for a while. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 17:27, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

RCA Composite vs. VGA Video

Hello everyone and happy New Year! I’m seeking a bit of assistance with the video setup for a PC utilizing a projector. Here’s my questions:

Should I run my PC’s video signal through the A/V receiver (via RCA Composite cables), which would then be linked to the projector via the receiver's Video Out cable to the receiver (again via RCA Composite cables).

Or should I run the PC’s video signal directly to the projector via the standard VGA cable?

I’m looking for the best video quality with ease of use. I could foresee my team members finding the receiver control to be the easiest to use (one unit controls A/V). But on the other hand, the VGA might be the best video quality (meaning that my team members would have to tweak both the receiver – for audio – and the projector – for video).

THANKS!

Rangermike (talk) 15:11, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I would absolutely use the VGA cable instead of the RCA composite cables. The video quality is going to be a lot better; you're not going to get a high-definition video image with the composite cables... supposing, of course, that the projector supports HD, and that the video material is in HD. But even if that's not the case, the VGA cable is still going to give a better quality image. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 15:34, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks Captain, I appreciate the info. Rangermike (talk) 19:07, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

But why not try it both ways and compare ? The only reason I can see not to do so is if you don't have all the cables needed. StuRat (talk) 18:24, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I do not have all of the cables needed to test both methods. I was leaning VGA and that's the route I'll take. I can post an update when I'm finished with the install. For now, I'll mark this resolved. Rangermike (talk) 19:07, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Resolved

Is there a given character in a specified font?

The character ∯, U+222F, SURFACE INTEGRAL, exists in Arial Unicode MS, but not in Courier New (just an example). How can I figure this out in my Win32 application? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 17:34, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps I can use the GetFontUnicodeRanges function? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 17:51, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Resolved

new computer causing problems.

Hey all,I got a new assembled computer 'bout a month ago.The specs are as follows: Intel DG43NB classic series motherboard(released in january 2008),Intel Quad Core processor( 2.4GHz),2.5GB DDR2 RAM, nVidia 9800GT (512MB) graphics card,Windows XP with service pack 3,DirectX 9.0c installed,SATA 500GB Hard Disk. Now the problem is that i used to play this game called trackmania(which is a racing game mainly for online play) for quite some time on my last computer which had an ATI Radeon 200 series graphics card and all was well. But after i got the new comp. and i started playing trackmania and had everything set to high and played well but soon saw that within half an hour to an hour of gameplay all of a sudden the entire colouring on the screen would go haywire and it would give me really weird colours instead of the normal colours and then after about a minute of the colouring going all wrong the screen would completely freeze and then i would be forced to reboot.Now this was like a week after i bought it.So i thought maybe there's something wrong with the game(which was impossible because i was playing it on a weaker machine for the last two years) even then i re-downloaded the setup file and installed it again. The same problem occured again. Then i thought MAYBE the graphics card drivers got corrupted so i uninstalled all the drivers, did a fresh download from nvidia's site and reinstalled everything and then tried the game- THE SAME PROBLEM AGAIN OCCURED. Then i just download RivaTuner (which is basically a monitoring software for nvidia graphics cards made by nvidia and www.guru3d.com, and tried increasing the fan speed to 70% and then monitored the temperature, and saw that it stayed in the 40-49 degree range,which is quite low. So all in all there's no problem with any of the obvious software .And nowadays the dis-colouring problem has started occuring within 10-15 minutes after i start playing.So i'd really like to know whats wrong with my computer and why its giving me such a problem. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vineeth h (talk • contribs) 17:38, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I wonder if it could be an issue of the motherboard overheating (instead of the graphics card) ? Take the case off the computer and point a window fan at it the innards, and see if this makes a difference. This isn't the cure, of course, just a way to diagnose the problem. If that's it, you will need a better computer fan or fans, better heat sinks, etc. StuRat (talk) 18:34, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I think it's perfectly possible that there is a bug in the game. If the game is several years old then it can't have been tested against your graphics card - and it's quite possible that there is something about your graphics card that makes it crap out like this. If the game has a web site - you might go and look to see if there are any patches out for it. I wouldn't suspect hardware or driver issues unless you see other software with the same sorts of symptoms. SteveBaker (talk) 18:57, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Hey again sturat,I have 3 fans in it.one for the processor ,another for the graphics card and one in general .But i still tried out your suggestion , the problem still occured. And remember the suggestion you had made for unique feature in my paint? The converting everything to black and white. I did it and it works perfectly fine! And steve, yes there is a patch which was released in november and i've already tried installing the patch but still the problem occurs. And i've tried the same game on my dad's laptop which had 9600GT and it worked perfectly fine.So maybe it is the problem with the graphics card itself ain't it? So i was thinking 'bout getting it replaced but i just wanted to really find out if it was a problem with the card or with something else. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vineeth h (talk • contribs) 07:04, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

OK, so you've eliminated overheating as the culprit. Next you might want to swap graphics cards with your Dad's computer (and update drivers accordingly) and see if the problem goes with the card.

As for your version of PAINT, that sounds cool, can I get a copy ? StuRat (talk) 15:30, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

ISO file

I tried to add vista to my new hard drive as discussed above but I can't seem to burn the ISO file to the DVD as an image. When I inserted the blank DVD, I was asked if I wanted to burn data, files or video. I chose video and went to the video imaging window for burning a DVD. When I tried to add the file, it said that it is not a supported file type. What can I do? 90.221.241.97 (talk) 19:44, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

You need to use a "burning program" (such as Nero), and then open, the iso file, then burn. this burns all the files, including the boot sectors, to the disk rather than just burning the one ISO file to the disk. Hope this help. Ched (talk) 20:00, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I use this [2] on Windows. Ubuntu comes with .iso burning applications. I think most of the other Linux distros do as well. Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 20:10, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I recommend CDBurnerXP for Windows; despite the name it does DVDs as well. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 20:44, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I use CDBurnerXP on my server at work as well. And, as a side note, the ISO Recorder Powertoy doesn't work with DVD images on Windows XP Washii (talk) 05:02, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Imgburn is also good, especially since you're trying to burn an iso file. Gunrun (talk) 09:01, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Comparing laptops based on specific technical factors

Hello, I would be grateful if you could help me with the following problem :

I have been asked to do an investigation on 2 Laptops, one with a hard drive, and one with solid state storage. Each laptop must have 32gb of storage at least, and they should be compared on the following :

Battery Life How robust the backing storage is Access speed of the backing storage (ms)

If you could help me with this, I'd be Very grateful!

Thanks, S.Taylor. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.236.242.192 (talk)

Poor Upload Speeds On Broadband

We have a shared internet connection in our private student accommodation block. It consists of network points in every bedroom (much like many hotel rooms). The internet connection is, to say the least, unreliable. When I did one of those DSL speed tests online, it showed a download speed of 1329kbps but an upload of: wait for it....1kpbs. I'm guessing this is the source of it's unreliability. If it works, it works quite well, but sometimes Google won't even come up. Is there anything I can do to up the upload speed (I'm guessing not but it;s worth a try)? Fribbler (talk) 21:52, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm having this problem too. My specifics are documented here. Its prevalence has declined in the past few months, but I still have troubles with it occasionally. flaminglawyer^c 23:12, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I'd bet good money that someone is running a torrent progeram, and hasn't capped their upload. Most torrent programs can totally max out the upload speed of a network, if you allow them to, which will result in slow download too. Gunrun (talk) 08:59, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Free video editing software

Does anybody know of any free (in the monetary sense - it doesn't have to be freely-licensed) software which will allow me to edit videos like I would pictures - i.e. put them inside each other, apply filters to specific sections, etc.? I ahve a computer with XP and one with Vista, but I prefer the Vista one. Dendodge Talk^Contribs 22:16, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

WAX is a free video editor and what about Windows Movie Maker seen as you are using windows. BigDunc^Talk 22:51, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

On the whole it is a lot harder to modify videos in comparison with photos. There are only a few free software packages that do anything close to this, most of them are a real pain to set up and take a huge amount of time to learn how to use. There a few entries in the Category:Free video software that are relevant to your request—what you are looking for is a non-linear editor. At the moment the free offerings in this area are pretty paltry, in part because the real community of video editors already use high-end stuff that the free ones don't come close to approximating for the most part, and the YouTube kiddos just use Windows Movie Maker. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:47, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

VirtualDub is good for that sort of thing, if you know what you're doing. — neuro^(talk) 00:33, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Here's more lists, some out of date[3][4][5]. Sadly Avid no longer provide a free version and Jahshaka remains vaporware. I've used ZS4[6] which is perhaps the most powerful but takes some time to get to grips with the interface. Windows Media Maker in XP SP2 and Vista is good for simple tasks, but doesn't provide the support for compositing, images in images, effects on parts of images, etc, that seems to be required. --Maltelauridsbrigge (talk) 10:50, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Maltelauridsbrigge is probably referring to Windows Movie Maker, not "Windows Media Maker", right? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 18:11, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Why Freebsd (over Linux)

Hello. I been searching many forum to find out, "why use freebsd instead of linux". This question is more an opinion question. I am an linux newbie and always liked the idea of linux. But I am thinking of using Freebsd because of the security and "ports. But. Why use Freebsd??? My wish is to find out the reason to use freebsd and if it worth using instead of linux.

Thanks :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.243.235.218 (talk) 22:43, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

What are you going to be using it for? Desktop systems are generally better with Linux because there's more software available. --Carnildo (talk) 23:00, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I want to use it mainly for desktop but i still don't know how to install Gnome —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.243.235.218 (talk) 23:20, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Just go with Ubuntu. It has GNOME pre-installed. Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 23:51, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

I tried Ubuntu. But I was looking to try Freebsd. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.243.235.218 (talk) 23:52, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Ubuntu is horrible. FreeBSD is so much more agile and versatile. — neuro^(talk) 00:23, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

And why's that? :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.243.235.218 (talk) 00:36, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

I can't really explain it, you have to try it to see. — neuro^(talk) 00:46, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Okay. but I read the Freebsd handbook about installing Gnome, but it is not working for me. What's wrong?. Any newbie guides?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.243.235.218 (talk) 00:50, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Well, I use NetBSD, but I know that there is a BSD distro that comes with GNOME preinstalled. One moment. — neuro^(talk) 01:56, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm a Linux guy and I've run various BSD's over the years - but if I'm honest there isn't much difference. ALL of the tools and ALL of the windowing systems and nearly all of the drivers are IDENTICAL between BSD and Linux. The kernel is different - but the API for the kernels are just about identical and the performance difference is patchy to say the least - it depends on what you're doing. Sitting in front of your PC doing whatever you do with it - your user experience is near as dammit the same - you're really unlikely to notice - pick something that installs the stuff you want easily. SteveBaker (talk) 02:35, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm using Mandriva Linux now. Is there any reason to switch to FreeBSd?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.243.235.218 (talk) 02:45, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

In my very limited experience, one difference I've encountered between Linux and FreeBSD is that Sun does not provide a Java distribution for FreeBSD (though they do for Linux). This may not be too much of a problem today because there seem to be various third-party groups who have worked to produce a Java distribution for FreeBSD, but I recall a period of some frustration four or five years ago trying to get Java working on a FreeBSD machine. —Bkell (talk) 07:18, 6 January 2009 (UTC)