Hello! I have a laptop that can connect to my TV so that I can see the screen and watch Internet TV. I use a wireless mouse to navigate from my couch. The problem I have is when I watch some full-screen videos, the player ignores all input and I must walk up to the laptop's keyboard and press ESC to access another video, change the channel, etc. I was wondering if anyone could write me a program so that when I right-click on my wireless mouse, the program "translates" the input and fires an ESC key event so that I can exit from full screen without getting up (and satisfying my laziness :) ). If it's C, I can compile the source on my side. If that's too much to ask, I would appreciate some pointer for writing the code myself (navegating the Windows API has been a disaster, and registering a global hook that can communicate with another application has been beyond my comprehension. My biggest problem has been after I load a dll with LoadLibrary() that has the hook function and a function that returns a boolean of whether the right-click has happened, I don't know how to tell my C program where the right-click-checking function is in the memory). Thank you! (Windows Vista 64-bit)--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 00:50, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You didn't mention what sort of mouse you have. I have the "Mouse" control panel here from a Microsoft IntelliPoint mouse, and it allows you to easily configure the right mouse button to be any text string, including just the ESC key. You may be able to download and install the IntelliPoint driver without even owning the mouse (YMMV). Comet Tuttle (talk) 01:16, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You could use Windows' onscreen keyboard [1], or you could write a Java AWT Robot program to do this. Nimur (talk) 03:46, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Or AutoHotkey - it seems to be designed for just this sort of thing. I've written several small programs like that with AutoHotkey. AJHW (talk) 12:21, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you so much for your responses. The IntelliPoint program worked great for me, but I will try the AutoHotKey in the future if I need more complicated keystrokes. A question about using a Java Robot: is it possible to have Java intercept input events (the mouse, in this case) even when the application's window does not have the focus? I've had this problem in the past, and I didn't know if there was a way around it.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 16:58, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, and I vaguely recall that our conclusion was that no, an AWT Robot can't intercept mouse events unless it already has focus. You could try some clever tricks, like keeping the robot focused, but forwarding events to the intended program; but in general this isn't really going to work very well. Other languages do allow you to intercept all system IO events, at the expense of guaranteeing enforcement of a security policy. Nimur (talk) 18:24, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! I had an Acer laptop up until a few weeks ago, when it crashed beyond repair. I rescued the data off it, but I had some files encrypted using this Acer utility (eData Security). I know the password... is there any way to decrypt the files? Thanks! ╟─TreasuryTag►without portfolio─╢ 08:52, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know the encryption algorithm, but if you can find someone else with an Acer laptop then the password should work on their machine. (I don't use the facility on my Acer, but I'm happy to test my claim for you if you have a not-too-confidential file, though it would not be wise to send your password over the internet). This website[2] claims to allow decryption on another computer, but I can't vouch for its safety or effectiveness. Dbfirs 08:31, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Is there a web design consensus (acceptable / irritating & to be avoided) on floating CSS sidebar menus that maintain their position as a user scrolls down a long page? I'm considering adding one to a site I'm designing, but can't recall ever seeing one "in the wild" as opposed to on CSS menu demo pages. This leads me to wonder if they're considered bad form and I just hadn't heard... 218.25.32.210 (talk) 09:13, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

[3]. Even the W3C uses elements that remain visible no matter how much the visitor scrolls: [4]. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 09:21, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If it matters, I consider it kind of irritating. I think you can trust your user to know the menu is at the top if they want it. But it's a matter of taste, ultimately. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:45, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you both. I appreciate the example links and the personal opinion. I guess I'll try and make it as unobtrusive as possible and see where we end up... 218.25.32.210 (talk) 01:19, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Note that those examples links are different things: the corner logo on the W3C page is just a fixed background image on the body element, while the menu on the Celestia page seems to be some kind of JavaScript hack (judging by the fact that it moves jerkily and that I had to enable JavaScript on that site to see it). What you seem to be talking about is an element with position:fixed (like the little floaty box you should see at the bottom left corner of this page), which is something different from either of those (and, I would say, infinitely preferable to JavaScript kluges). —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 18:03, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Could we remove the box? It's really annoying. Thanks, gENIUS101 22:17, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Fair enough. I've moved it to User:Ilmari Karonen/sandbox/floatybox instead. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 01:35, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My work blocks web access to a large number of sites, unfortunatly these include blogs. I have been using a service called "FeedMyInbox" to forward the rss feed to me as an email. This used to be a free service, but about a week ago I got notification that they were switching to a paid service. Does anybody know of a free service that would send rss feeds to an email adress. I have tried searching with google but I'm not really much good with that kind of thing.

Thanks Schpat 196.213.43.74 (talk) 11:14, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Try these two links for alternatives. I don't currently use this type of service, but thanks for the idea

http://www.feedmailer.net/

http://feedneed.typepad.com/feed_need/2008/10/how-to-send-an-rss-feed-to-your-email-account.html

- Bevo (talk) 00:14, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

I've asked a similar question before about this issue, but have not been able to get a solution, unfortunately. My problem is I have a folder moved from Vista to Ubuntu over my network. It still has Vista permissions on it, so my Ubuntu machine can't modify the folder (I actually just want to delete it), but my Vista machine can't delete the folder on Ubuntu because it doesn't have the Ubuntu permissions. I'm wondering if I can get Samba to allow all activity from my Vista machine (modifying and deleting folders, etc.) and yet still deny access from anyone else? Or at least, how can I get rid of this unsightly folder on my otherwise lovely clean desktop? A walkthrough would be wonderful because I'm still new-ish to Linux. TIA! --KageTora - (影虎) (A word...?) 11:35, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, if the folder has been copied over, it will not have "Vista permissions". It may have limited permissions on Ubuntu, and it may belong to a different user from your normal account, but its permissions are under Ubuntu's control. Open a terminal, navigate to the folder containing your folder, and do either of sudo chown -R `whoami` stubornfolder; chmod -R u+rwx stubornfolder (to make it yours and grant yourself all rights), or simply do sudo rm -r stubornfolder. sudo may ask for your password, depending on the configuration. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 12:44, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent! You are a genius! Successfully deleted! Thanks! --KageTora - (影虎) (A word...?) 13:38, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ok so I recently (well, 6 months ago) upgraded just about every component of a PC I bought in '07 that came with Windows XP, and now it's demanding to be re-activated. It claims I can do it online, but won't let me connect to the internet (I guess because it won't let me do anything until it's re-activated.) So I tried doing it over the phone but it was one of those weird "I'm a robot, read off some numbers to me" things, so even though it didn't work I figure it could just be because "3" sounds like "Z" or something. Should I go to the trouble of trying again, or is it impossible to reactivate Windows XP once you've changed the motherboard? Digger3000 (talk) 14:05, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's not impossible - it shouldn't be any different than trying to activate a completely different computer. —Akrabbim^talk 14:15, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If it's an OEM version of Windows (and it sounds like it is because you said it came with the PC), then you shouldn't be able to reactivate it. I'm afraid OEM licences are for the machine they're sold with and can't be transferred (unlike retail licences which can). From Microsoft's point of view changing the motherboard is basically creating a whole new computer (which is essentially what you've done) and when changing a motherboard on an OEM licence it should be changed by the original OEM manufacturer who should supply a compatible one (if not exactly the same) thus not breaking the EULA so it can be reactivated. You can read more here. Basically though you can ring Microsoft and ask them nicely, but they're not obligated to transfer it as it's not the same machine. Sorry. ZX81 ^talk 14:41, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't played a game on my PC since the days of Quake, MDK and Riven. Can anyone recommend a good game to get me back into it? I like Myst/Riven type adventures, also shoot-'em-ups, but I'm not too keen on war scanarios - I prefer puzzle solving or the odd worlds of MDK etc. 86.150.103.201 (talk) 15:40, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

For a point and click game in the same vein as Myst I recommend Syberia.

For First Person Shooters, it's harder to say. That genre has grown enormously since the days of Quake. Do you want squad-based survival horror? Try Left 4 Dead. Action Packed soldiering? Try Modern Warfare II. Creepy retro-future single-player? Bioshock. First Person puzzle game? Try Portal. And that's just for starters. APL (talk) 15:56, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, no games since the days of Quake? You missed out on a number of classics :) Sadly, adventures in the style of Myst and Riven have pretty much disappeared, but the AGS community is still pretty active...you can find a number of free adventure games on Big Blue Cup, the main AGS website. As far as firt-person shooters go, Half Life and Half Life 2 were pretty good (if you decide on getting Half Life 2, get the Orange Box, that way you'll also get Portal as a bonus - it's pretty short, not really a full game, but had extremely innovative and funny puzzle gameplay). My favourite Shooter in the last couple of years was Deus Ex - it's more of a hybrid of FPS and RPG gameplay, and it has the best storyline I've ever found in a game. If you don't mind the violence and occasional profanity, have a look at the GTA series - I'm still hooked on GTA San Andreas's early 90s nostalgia and open-world sandbox gameplay. -- Ferkelparade π 16:09, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, well, I thought I was too old to be playing them ... but an old nostalgia has crept over me. Never was a techie, so another related question from me - are games much better on a Gameboy/Nintendo/whatever the gizmo of choice is these days etc than a PC? Do they justify the cost? Or should I just stick with my PC? Thanks for all suggestions so far. I ought to add I'm female so the war scenario games don't do it for me though I did enjoy the sniper-scope in MDK with the mooning aliens. 86.150.103.201 (talk) 16:17, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, the main difference between PCs and consoles is that consoles are (in theory) hassle-free - you just put in the game disc and start playing without ever worrying about graphics drivers or hardware upgrades. The downside is that all consoles have a somewhat limited choice of games compared to whats's available for Windows PCs (still enough to keep you occupied for months, probably :) and that the controllers used by consoles take some getting used to and don't work too well for certain types of games (I can't play first person shooters or strategy games without a mouse, but that may just be me). All the games recommended by APL and me are already a couple of years old, so they will run on relatively modest hardware and probably not require you to spend huge sums on upgrading your PC -- Ferkelparade π 16:34, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

While the PC has "more" games, I'm not sure that's a selling point. The vast array of crap tends to hide the good stuff, and the best games of recent memory sometimes don't release for the PC or delay the PC release for weeks or months. I'd argue that between the Xbox and the PC, the Xbox has more variety in modern games. That said, if she hasn't been playing since Quake and Riven, she's got a long backlog of good games for the PC. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 16:49, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's not true that point and click adventure games have disappeared. They're a large market. Walk into a Best Buy and they'll have an entire shelf of them for PC! (It's just that shooter games have gotten larger.) Of course, only a certain percentage of those are worth playing, But that has always been true.

Try games by The Adventure Company. There are also a good number of adventure games for the DS. (Try Hotel Dusk) If those aren't "lighthearted" enough, The most recent Sam & Max game was in '07. That's not exactly point-and-click, but it's similar.

If you liked first person games like quake, and you like puzzles, I do recommend Portal (video game). It's quite good. APL (talk) 16:44, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Half-Life 2 is one of the more rewarding recent games I've played—it sucks you in pretty good, and has an excellent balance of action and puzzle sequences, great plot pacing, clever innovations, etc. GTA: Vice City is a great way to try out a "sandbox" style game. I tend to go for games that came out a couple years ago—the prices are usually low, my not-totally-up-to-date system can usually handle them just fine, and it's easier to figure out which are the stinkers and which are really worth your time. Deus Ex is a bit older but I thought it was pretty enjoyable as well. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:39, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(ec)Games are *different* on a console vs. a PC. For certain genres, they may be better or worse (FPS games are usually better on a PC due to the enhanced precision of a mouse, but you may lose out on online matchmaking and co-op play that is more common on the console). RTS games are frequently harder to play on a console as well (though the Wii seems like it would work well, since the Wiimote can substitute for a mouse). And RPG type games are usually simplified for a console; on the other hand, any RPG released on both PC and console will likely be similarly simplified on the PC. That said, while the number of available controls is less on a console, it's easier to use them all due to the ergonomics of the controller, and game conventions are little more static, so it's often easier to translate your muscle memory across games. Shooting uses the trigger buttons, A (on an Xbox) is usually a movement related button (jump or roll), etc. While I still feel RPGs lose out from the reduced control set, action/adventure games which use less controls, but use them all frequently (e.g. Shadow Complex, Assassin's Creed and its sequel, Batman: Arkham Asylum) often benefit from the fact that all the controls are equally accessible.

Consoles provide a more consistent experience at a lower price; a PC capable of playing the most modern games will run at least twice what the console would, and is often less stable due to the array of hardware involved, but the graphics and load times can be much better in exchange. You'll have more options on a console too, particularly on a 360, less so on a Wii; the PS3 has some good exclusives, but far less games in general, and the multiplatform games released for it are usually better on the Xbox or PC. Porting to the PC adds enough of a test load that smaller game companies often don't bother.

I don't know of many Myst/Riven type games nowadays; on the other hand, most of my friends that appreciated that genre like the story driven games like Way of the Samurai. You might also like puzzle games like Braid. For FPS games, Left 4 Dead and its sequel are a good game to start on now; it encourages team play, and it works well on both console and PC (since zombies don't dodge much, the loss of precision with a console analog stick isn't a huge deal). —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 16:45, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Oooh I've just looked at the trailer for Half Life 2 - looks good, with those war of the world tripods. Syberia looks like my sort of thing too. Not too sure about all the GTAs - too much testosterone/violence for me maybe (I like messing things up, not people): I prefer aliens/weirdness to human opponents. Thx. (Sorry for the edit conflict thingy too) 86.150.103.201 (talk) 16:48, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Just a note: I wouldn't discount GTA IV based on the reputation of the franchise. While you can play it as a sandbox mafia game, it actually features a reasonably in-depth storyline; the main character is at least somewhat conflicted by the actions he takes, it's not just "I'm the best, so I kill everyone and take their stuff". I haven't finished it myself (only just unlocked the third island), but it's not a mindless violence type of game. Yes, when you do fight, it's people, so weigh that yourself, but there's more to it than killing people (there's a reason the game is the highest rated Xbox game of all time on Metacritic). Also, for a shooting game that isn't just shooting (and features more alien surrounding), I'll plug Mass Effect. It's a hybrid RPG/shooter (weighted in favor of RPG) that features a decent storyline and some pretty awesome settings and enemies. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 16:56, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"There's more to it than killing people". LOL. As I'm not into killing people, period, I'll give it a swerve, thanks! By the way, is there a single game with female characters without boobs the size of balloons? All that running around, they're in danger of giving themselves black eyes ... 86.150.103.201 (talk) 17:24, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Half-Life 2; the female character without boobs the size of balloons is a friend but not your character. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:45, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I lost interest in GTA games now that I can get my "driving around recklessly" fix from "Offroad Raptor Safari". (Buy here, Play Free on Facebook Here) APL (talk) 17:53, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Mass Effect (which I mentioned before) has a range of body types. The female version of the main character (you choose the gender) has what I'd guess are around a B cup (my ability to gauge exact cup size isn't great, but it's no larger than a C cup, and I'm pretty sure A cup is flatter), though it's hard to tell through armor. An example can be seen here (ignore the specific facial features, which are customizable). I think the human female NPC that serves as a potential romance target is a little larger, but I'm pretty sure she's still well below D cups. I should warn you though, Mass Effect does occasionally involve killing humans. I can only think of one main story quest where it's required (tracking down a lead, you have to fight through a bunch of thugs protecting a minor crime lord, and some of those thugs are human). That said, most of the combat will be against sentient machines, creepy plant creatures, and psionic insectoids. The fights against humanoid creatures are less common, and those are fairly evenly split between the various combat capable sentient races of the galaxy, meaning humans are less than 10% of your total foes. Aside from the quest I mentioned, I believe it is possible to avoid killing any humans in the rest of the game, through diplomacy and avoiding certain side-quests. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 17:57, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I liked Syberia, but I preferred Lego Indiana Jones, lots of puzzles and no blood (hides head in shame) :) Dmcq (talk) 17:17, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Er, ... there was no blood in Syberia.... APL (talk) 17:53, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I was just giving a reason I like it. I guess it's part of the reason I liked Syberia too. I think the Simpsons Hit and Run game based on Grand Theft Auto is about my violence limit and GTA itself is far above it. I'm, a wus by the standards of hard core gamers. Dmcq (talk) 21:48, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My admiration for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion knows no bounds. The female characters (you can play as several and alter faces, complexions, etc.) are not "Dolly Parton in zero gravity" boobed. Some killing of people, but mostly monsters and ghosts and such. Matt Deres (talk) 21:46, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm a 'bit' behind the times, But DOOM 3 for a shooter, and SPYCRAFT was a fun puzzle solver/adventure style game, though a bit dated now graphically, it's ~10 years old? Splinter Cell series is not a bad combination shooter/ 'adventure' style IMHO. The latest Lara Croft titles have at least (I'm told), toned down her 'assets' :-o. Too OLD! Never! Have fun!--220.101.28.25 (talk) 06:39, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

One problem with PC games is the never ending cycle of developers stretching the latest/fastest/best hardware to the absolute limit. In my experience it is not long before your bearly 1-year-old PC is incapable of playing new games without serious upgrades. On the other hand, consoles tend to be much more stable in their long-term specification. Astronaut (talk) 10:10, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You should try Unreal Tournament 2004 or Unreal Tournament 3 which have an assortment of soldiers, aliens and robots. I agree with Mass Effect although I found the controls a bit klunky and cumbersome. Call of Duty is just awesome - you should try it. You're never too old to play games! Sandman30s (talk) 14:53, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Actually try Machinarium. Adventure game, click on stuff, free Flash demo. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:06, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you like a combination of adventuring and at-your-own-pace shooting, I can't recommend Fallout 3 highly enough. Also, if you're thinking of taking up shooters, you will find that Team Fortress 2 is an excellent light-hearted FPS (with fairly modest requirements). It is probably worth noting that Modern Warfare II is controversial with some PC gamers as a result of some development choices, and that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare still has a very active online community. Brammers (talk) 11:40, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I was going to recommend Fallout 3, but I didn't think that would meet the questioner's standards because she specifically asked for no human-on-human violence. (It's not all humans, though! There's also mutants and giant ants!) Modern Warfare also fails that, obviously. (Team Fortress 2 might be ok, though. Still human-on-human but in hilarious cartoon rendering.) APL (talk) 15:31, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If I create a cone in OpenGL, it will point in the ${\displaystyle (0,0,1)}$ direction. I want to rotate it, so that it ends up pointing in the ${\displaystyle \mathbf {v} =(x,y,z)}$ direction. Then I have to rotate (a positive angle) around the ${\displaystyle (0,0,1)\times (x,y,z)=(-y,x,0)}$ axis. To this end, I introduce a new orthonormal basis in ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{3}}$: I set ${\displaystyle \mathbf {f} _{1}=(x,y,0)/norm}$, ${\displaystyle \mathbf {f} _{2}=(0,0,1)}$, and ${\displaystyle \mathbf {f} _{3}=(-y,x,0)/norm}$, where ${\displaystyle norm={\sqrt {x^{2}+y^{2}}}}$. Hence, the orthogonal basis transformation matrix is

${\displaystyle T={1 \over norm}{\begin{pmatrix}x&0&-y\\y&0&x\\0&norm&0\end{pmatrix}}}$.

In this basis, we need to rotate the angle ${\displaystyle \varphi =\arccos {{(\mathbf {e_{3}} ,\mathbf {v} )} \over {\|\mathbf {e_{3}} \|\|\mathbf {v} \|}}}$ around ${\displaystyle \mathbf {f} _{3}}$. Hence the linear tranformation matrix is

${\displaystyle A_{f}={\begin{pmatrix}1&0&0\\0&\cos(\varphi )&-\sin(\varphi )\\0&\sin(\varphi )&\cos(\varphi )\end{pmatrix}}}$

so that the matrix in the standard basis is

${\displaystyle A_{e}=TA_{f}T^{t}}$.

Before I tell OpenGL to render the cone, I multiply the model-view matrix by ${\displaystyle A_{e}^{'}}$, where ${\displaystyle A_{e}^{'}}$ is obtained from ${\displaystyle A_{e}}$ by first adding a zero row and then adding the column ${\displaystyle (0,0,0,1)}$. But it appears not to work quite as one would expect. Why? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Andreas Rejbrand (talk • contribs) 18:56, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The matrix ${\displaystyle A_{f}}$ above is a rotation around the first basis vector, not the third one. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 18:57, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

I have a Mac using OS X 10.4. I'd like to use the characters "barred small capital i" (U+ID7B, ᵻ) and "barred Latin upsilon" (U+1D7E, ᵾ), which I've heard are available on newer versions of Lucida Grande, but on my version they just show up as boxes. See this not so enlightening exchange that I had with John Wells:

Lazar said... I'm still waiting for barred small capital i and barred Latin upsilon.

John Wells said... Lazar, didn't you like the ᵻ (U+ID7B) I gave you yesterday? Or have you not got the current Lucida Grande font installed? The other one you ask for is ᵾ (U+1D7E).

Lazar said... Oh, I have an older version of Lucida Grande. I must look into that.

These characters show up fine on the computers at my university using Vista, but on my Macbook, they don't. How do I go about getting them? Do I need to buy Leopard or Snow Leopard? --Lazar Taxon (talk) 23:29, 20 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I know this will seem like a dodge, but you're probably better off asking on the language desk. In my experience the only people who really know about linguist-related computing are other linguists (I say this having worked with one linguist on a computing task once, and finding out there was a whole crazy world of "how do we type these crazy characters" that went well beyond the standard character sets). --Mr.98 (talk) 13:27, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting question - I never thought that extended characters could be font related. I can't talk for Macs since I use Windows 7, but doing some tests on Microsoft Word it seems that weird characters are supported by all fonts. I'm not sure if it is font support or at some point there is a cut-off and it extends less common fonts into a system font that supports characters beyond ASCII. You should investigate unicode support for your Mac - see if there is a setup somewhere that allows you to change the default code page being used. AFAIK UTF8 (unicode) and variants like UTF8-AL32 support all languages and major characters (unless you happen to speak Klingon). Sandman30s (talk) 14:32, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Note on your last point, many unicode fonts do however lack support for less common real world languages. Take a look at Help:Multilingual support (Indic) for example. Windows 7 & Vista are a lot better then Windows XP, but still lack the Burmese character set. Also for extinct languages, e.g. Gothic alphabet or Help:Fonts (we helped someone with this here once). [5] may also be of interest. Of course in some cases even if the fonts are there, the OS or browser may not handle Complex text layout properly, necessary for some languages. Nil Einne (talk) 14:34, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you don't mind any font, there may be a free font available which supports them. Usually I believe, the OS or browser will automatically use an alternative font if necessary so it should show up fine if you have at least one font. If you want Lucida Grande, I'm not sure if there's much we can do. Presuming your computer is up to date, it may not be possible. It's fairly common that fonts are not updated and you need a newer version of the OS or program to get the latest version. And scalable fonts are held to be copyrightable in the US [6] so you're not going to get help violating copyright here. And Lucida Grande is almost definitely copyrighted. P.S. If you know John C. Wells, could you see if we could get some other free photos of him? Currently we have a decent one from 1991 albeit black and white and one from 2008 which is okay but fairly in profile and with a mic which some may find distracting as it was taken while giving a talk Commons:Category:John Wells. Nil Einne (talk) 14:47, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How can a program be made to start automatically when you start the computer in windows? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 113.199.170.77 (talk) 12:53, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Create a shortcut to the program in the Autostart folder in the Start Menu. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 13:07, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In Windows XP (and earlier) the folder is called Startup. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 13:17, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have some CSV files of my bank statements over serveral months, and have downloaded them into an OpenOffice spreadsheet successfully. They include a column of money paid out and another column of money paid in. I would like to be able to manually decide which of many categories these various individual amounts should be in (eg insurance, petrol, salary, electricity bill, and many more) so that I can total each of them over a year. What would be the easiest and quickest way of doing this please? Just copying them item by item to various columns would take a long time.

Does anyone know (without guessing) if Grisbi or Gnucash could do the same thing more easily? I have never used any accounting or bookeeping software before. Thanks. 92.24.85.238 (talk) 14:15, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Make another column for type, fill in the type for each entry, sort by type, then sum each section. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 14:43, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, although I almost added above that I would like to preserve the date order. Is there any way of doing it that retains the date order? 92.24.85.238 (talk) 14:50, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes — fill in the "type" column as above, with each row having one cell saying "petrol", "insurance", etc., and then sort it by date; and then to see the summary of where you spent your money, see our article Pivot table; in OpenOffice it is called a "DataPilot". Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:00, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I've found that the freeware Easy Cash Manager can do the above and import CSV files. (The overpowering green colour can be changed to battleship grey or blue). Minor quibble: no running total, would like choice of more columns. I tried Grisbi but could not get it to work, and the manual is only in French. 92.29.31.202 (talk) 17:40, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Gnucash can do it easily. Don't know about .csv though, I use .ofx files from my bank and Gnucash seems to import those without problems. --antilived^{T | C | G} 23:55, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have tried Gnucash and the advantage to me is that you only have to classify each different description from the bank statements, rather than doing it for each different payment payment. On the other hand it has a lot of stuff about share dealing which I have no need for. 92.29.81.16 (talk) 11:15, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

An antivirus program recently detected a trojan - "Alureon" - the warning appeared when looking at e-mail (web based) in a browser - the trojan appeared to located in the browsers temp. directory.

Question: I can understand a web page downloading many unwanted things (but actually activating them is another thing), but what about a web based e-mail program (using ajax)- given that I didn't get any instructions to start an .exe or activeX, or similar - does this mean the trojan wasn't activated. If it could have been activated without me actually opening anything other than the email - how? Thanks.87.102.67.84 (talk) 16:07, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You're probably okay; downloading a Trojan without activating it is usually harmless. The webmail site or your browser may have cached the attachment locally in preparation for downloading, but that doesn't mean they ran it. If there is a flaw in the browser (e.g. the recent zero day exploits against IE6, and to a lesser extent IE7/8), it might be exploited to activate the Trojan (in which case it's not properly a Trojan; a Trojan by definition requires the user to activate it). You should make sure your browser is up to date with the latest patches, if it isn't, or if you're running IE of some flavor (for which the known exploits have not had a patch released yet), you should run a full system scan with your regular virus checker and, if possible, one other checker (you don't need a second live scanner, but a second opinion system scan would be a good idea). —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 22:26, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

One unusual thing that happened was a memory access error from adobe reader when I shut the system down (never happened before) - this makes me suspicious of noise on the system - maybe something like a buffer overflow exploit messing up memory. Enough to make me reinstall.

However if my suspicions are true - it's not clear to me how using just html and javascript such a thing could (overflow) have been done. I thought I understood that modern OS's just didn't allow memory writes outside a sandboxed area set aside. It's possible that the adobe error had nothing to do with it. Any clues?87.102.67.84 (talk) 00:06, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Assuming there was a JS exploit, they don't need to infect the OS itself immediately. If they can break the JS interpreter, they can just request the OS write a file and start a program; any program can do this unless that privilege is explicitly removed. The browser is designed to not start programs without user interaction, but if the browser itself was compromised, it can do anything you can do (although it can't take admin privileges on Linux or Vista or later machine unless the OS itself has an unpatched vulnerability). Even without admin privileges though, it can write to your user directory, create registry entries specific to your login, etc. Admin privileges are needed to hide itself from virus scanners well, but they aren't required to listen to keystrokes, operate a covert server on your machine, and run most programs. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 15:58, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why when running DOS, Win 95 98 or ME in a virtual machine does it always use 50% of hosts cpu when idle, whereas running Win 2000, XP, Vista or 7 in a virtual machine uses very little of the host cpu when idle? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.83 (talk) 16:45, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not familiar with this behavior (I've only used VMs in the past five years or so, and usually with XP or more recent OSes), but I can provide a theory. The high CPU OSes you mention are all OSes that provide some level of direct access to the hardware by random programs. Simple actions like polling for I/O must be intercepted, interpreted and then passed along to the safe interface used by the host OS. In a more modern OS that shares the aversion to direct hardware access, you can recognize and rewrite the API calls on load to point to the VM manager's functions that pass them to the host OS. On an older OS, the lack of an API means you need to examine every memory access to see if it's trying to access "special" addresses associated with hardware under the old OS. There's no marking to tell you ahead of time that the address is special, so you're stuck with dynamic interpretation on the fly.

Again, this is a theory. I'm a CS major, and I worked with people on the VM team at Microsoft, but I'm not an expert; take this as the likely explanation, but don't rely on it to land on the moon, pass a test, etc. :-) —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 22:17, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

One additional note: The 50% really means 100% of one core, it's not some magic number. The VM is completely occupying a single CPU, and you have a dual core (or hyperthreaded) machine. The VM tells the guest OS that there is only one processor, so as to maintain performance for the host OS and other programs competing for CPU. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 22:20, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The real reason is because those operating systems don't make use of the hlt instruction and instead place the CPU in an idle loop. There are third-party utilities available that can make those operating systems utilize the instruction. 96.226.235.46 (talk) 02:10, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, duh. I'm an idiot. I think I read about that ages ago on The Old New Thing, but had completely forgotten. Yes, that's likely the cause of a lot of the difference. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 15:52, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

For those interested in why Windows 95 didn't use hlt, even though it was an available feature: The Old New Thing: Hardware backwards compatibility —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 19:30, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I am working on a Gateway 300S LTD and when I plug it in and push the power. THe power button flashes on then goes out and won't come on again unless I pull the plug, then plug it back in. But it does the same thing. What could be wrong with it —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.31.162.62 (talk) 18:07, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Many things could cause this. Make sure all cables between PC power supply and Motherboard are plugged in & in the correct sockets. CPU correctly inserted in socket. RAM SIMMS installed correctly. CPU cooling fan operation is ESSENTIAL, check cable. Why are you 'working' on the PC? Has it been faulty in any other way?
ps. Please sign your message. Type ~~~~ or use the 'sign' button. --220.101.28.25 (talk) 20:56, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Presuming this is a desktop with an ATX power supply. Remove the PS connector from the motherboard and jump 16 (green) to 15 (black)— the PS should turn on. If the PS comes on, then remove all the memory and plug-in boards from the motherboard, connect the PS and see what happens. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 13:18, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What's the known lifespan of an e-Ink display? Does it only work for so many on-off cycles or so many years? What happens when they stop working? Does it go light/dark/or freeze the last image? --70.167.58.6 (talk) 18:53, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The manufacturer does not give it a lifespan. It is electronic, so it will eventually wear out. It is also pixel-based. There are a bunch of little capsules (like pixels) that can be one color or a different color (black/white is normal). The color changes based on the charge behind the capsule. It is possible for a capsule to break through force - such as slamming the display with a hammer. I see the circuit behind the crystal as the point of failure. I expect that when it begins to fail, you will see lines where it is always white or always black - very similar to what an LCD display looks like as it begins to fail. -- kainaw™ 22:03, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'd suspect, based on what I know of the technology, that the lifecycle would be measured primarily in on-off cycles. On the other hand, I suspect the screen itself won't be the main point of failure in these devices; damage due to accidents and poor care, combined with the relatively short useful life of the built-in batteries are likely to off it before the screen has been used enough to suffer wear from mere pixel cycling. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 22:08, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Now that I think about it... Being off for an extremely long time will likely cause the charged "ink" to lose some charge. Being on puts a charge near the ink, so it will tend to work properly. Being off places the positive/negative charged ink near each other. I see it similar to tossing bunch of magnets in a drawer. If left for an extremely long time, some won't work as well. However, we are talking about long after the circuit to charge/discharge the ink has worn out. -- kainaw™ 22:19, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think the charge is chemical (eg think of charged surfactant like molecules (eg oleyl trimethyl ammonium) embedded in a polymer with the counter ion (eg Cl-) being soluble - slightly different in practice) - so loss of charge as such wouldn't be a problem. Excluding the damage to wires already mentioned above, I'd expect degradation of the polymer to be one problem - eg especially under uv light or in radical rich enviroments (eg a sunny california, outdoors and in the smog) - a glass cover would stop most of this. Simple things like the charged particles starting to stick together (agglomeration) would reduce effectiveness over time, which is not beyond the bounds of possibility. Thickening of the carrier liquid (again uv light) could slow or eventually stop response. Beyond that there is much I can think of - they may be very long lasting - I couldn't find any much data either.87.102.67.84 (talk) 23:20, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

We have an article, see E Ink, and the company website is www.eink.com 220.101.28.25 (talk) 11:50, 22 January 2010 (UTC)Bold text[reply]

So would the display get damaged if frozen or left in a very hot car? --70.167.58.6 (talk) 23:04, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

From the eInk website :

 Environmental
   Operating Temperature Range:        0º—50º C
   Storage Temperature Range:        -25º—70º C 

APL (talk) 23:38, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

Hello! Consider the following code snippet:

//Thread 1 extends Thread
InputStream in;
byte[] bytes = new byte[100];
//... in is initialized properly, but may or may not contain bytes yet
try{
in.read(bytes);
}
catch(IOException e) {
//ignore
}
catch(InterruptedException e)
{
//do something
}


//Thread 2
Thread_1 toInterrupt = new Thread_1();
toInterrupt.start();
//...
toInterrupt.interrupt();

If Thread_1 is interrupted while it is blocking waiting to read at in.read(), will an InterruptedException be thrown, and execution will switch from in.read() to code in the catch{} block? This is probably an easy question, but I'm just not sure if the method to interrupt must throw a checked InterrruptedException (like Thread.sleep()) for the interrupt to work properly. Thank you!--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 23:10, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, if the timing is right and Thread 2 executes the interrupt() call during a period when Thread 1 is still blocking on the read, then control for Thread 1 will transfer to the catch block, because an InterruptedException was received. (Thread 2 will continue marching along, unless you intentionally wait for some response or notification from Thread 1). in.read() is a blocking method. If it is interrupted, the behavior of the InputStream will depend on the instantiated class type of InputStream. You may or may not lose bytes as a result of this - again, check carefully whether the exact InputStream you instantiated is declared thread safe. (In other words, whether an interrupted read() operation guarantees some kind of rollback mechanism). If you're using one of the Sun implementations, thread-safety and behavior for I/O is defined in the javadoc. Also, note that Thread.interrupt() documents behavior if the java.nio InterruptibleChannel API is in use. ("If this thread is blocked in an I/O operation upon an interruptible channel then the channel will be closed, the thread's interrupt status will be set, and the thread will receive a ClosedByInterruptException.") For other cases, you may have to check with the sourcecode of the InputStream or unit-test it. This article from a Java developer news site discusses some finer details. Nimur (talk) 23:33, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the quick response, Nimur! Exactly what I needed to know.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 00:13, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Nonsense. Read does not declare InterruptedException. It will throw an InterruptedIOException instead. You can treat it specially if you put the InterruptedIOException catch block before the IOException catch block. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.226.1.7 (talk) 01:45, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ah. I think this is true. The InputStream may be implemented by a class which does throw that exception, but the way this code is written, it must be treated as a generic InputStream (irrespective of its additional capabilities at runtime). As the IP pointed out, the specific type of IOException that could be thrown is an InterruptedIOException. My mistake - I spoke too soon! Nimur (talk) 03:06, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Easier to answer than the reverse question. I was surprised to see an Amazon reviewer from Yemen, although I do not know if they were based there. Are there any countries where the internet has not spread to? And is there a list anywhere of the proportion of the population using the internet for various countries? Thanks. 78.147.245.100 (talk) 12:10, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

See List of countries by number of Internet users and http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm for some info. Nanonic (talk) 13:02, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Internet in North Korea may also be of interest Nil Einne (talk) 14:00, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There are certainly internet websites hosted in North Korea, and there is internet infrastructure there. The extent to which it is freely available is debatable, but there is absolutely physical network connectivity. There are also internal data and voice networks which are not connected to the globally-administered network system with global IPs assigned by ICANN and its collaborators. At this point, it's worth making a critical definition: "the" internet is just the largest interconnected network. There are dozens of other large networks - some even using identical IP-based technology - which are not connected to "the" internet. Nimur (talk) 18:55, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Nimur: could you give a couple examples of such a large network which is not connect to The Internet? Enquiring minds want to know! (I'm assuming you are not just talking about large company or university intranets, right?) DaHorsesMouth (talk) 01:31, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Large intranets are not really independent, because they use globally valid IP addresses and rely on the outside internet infrastructure for connectivity. NIPRNet has some connection to the Internet - however, its network infrastructure is entirely redundant to the civilian internet (it does not rely on any routers that constitute The Internet to get data from point A to point B). SIPRNet comes to mind as one entirely redundant internet that specifically does not connect to the globally addressable internet. How big is it? Where is it? You'll never know... But seriously, this is used for many in-country and out-of-country data connections, including things as diverse and benign as emails, telephone calls, and web sites, as well as things that we can only speculate about. Small regional and local independent and unconnected SIPRNets almost certainly also exist, but the likelihood that we will ever hear about them in public is close to zero. JWICS claims to be "worldwide." Surely other large organizations with sensitive networks, both inside and outside the United States, have similar systems. To some extent, any large LAN with more than one internetworked subnet can be called an internet, provided that it has a globally managed IP scheme, at least one or two routers (especially if they are peering using a border gateway protocol), and a unified domain name service which can be entirely unrelated to "the internet" DNS scheme. Nimur (talk) 02:54, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I get it -- thanks! DaHorsesMouth (talk) 21:36, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have been trying to print some work out from my computer, but all the colours are coming out rather different to they are on screen, mostly rather paler than I had wanted, but also dramatically bright, particularly the browns which look orange instead. At the same time, the print quality is rather bad, but the printer is pouring so much ink onto the page that the paper has been bent out of shape. And the margin on one side has gone, the pictures go right to the edge, where there is a row of smudgy triangles, presumably something to do with the way the ink moves back and forth over the paper. Is there any way of fixing all of this rather soon, such that I can get everything printed out nicely?

148.197.115.54 (talk) 12:12, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm guessing you have an inkjet printer— the manufacturer and model would really help to evaluate the issues. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 12:51, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Apparently it's a Canon Pixma printer. 148.197.115.54 (talk) 14:17, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You may be able to find an option on the printer menu to clean the print head - try that. Or go to the Cannon website and see if they say anything about your problems and how to fix them. 92.29.31.202 (talk) 17:33, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Pixma is a series of several printers. Try searching for Canon Pixma smudge or check http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/ ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 03:39, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I am not a fan of Microsoft, but. Microsoft Office 2000 is 128mb in size, OpenOffice is 401mb. Internet Explorer is 4.7mb, Mozilla Firefox is 26.4mb. Why the huge difference in sizes? I've heard it said that Internet Explorer is smaller because it is integrated into Windows, but I should'nt think it makes that much of a difference. 92.29.31.202 (talk) 13:56, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Um why are you comparing a 10 year old version of Office to (I presume) a modern version of OpenOffice? Also it's not clear to me where these sizes are coming from. I have the IE8 download for Windows XP x32 on my computer. It's 16.5mb. I also have the download for Firefox 3.5.3, it's 7.5 mb. Of course such sizes are not particularly useful since it depends on things like optional components, compression used etc. Are you referring to RAM usage when running? If so it'll vary depending on a number of factors. For example, what component of Office? For the browser, did you just open it with a single window, no tabs and no page open? P.S. The integration can make a big difference because the various components can make up for a substanial proportion of the size or memory usage. For example, if I could program, I could surely design a special version of Firefox with a download size of say 250k and memory usage of a few mb even with many windows open but it requires the 'Firefox support component' which is always running and is an additional download of say 10 mb with memory usage in the hundreds of mb with lots of windows open. Would you say this special Firefox is 'less bloated' then the normal Firefox? P.S. I hope you're not considering a version if IE older then IE8 considering what buggy POS they tend to be, particularly IE6 or older. Before someone says IE8 is the same, that may be partially true, but ignores the may point which is that however bad IE8 may be, IE7 and particularly IE6 and older are far worse Nil Einne (talk) 14:06, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The size is the size of the program. MS Office 2000 is the only one I've got. Internet Explorer is version 8. Now I think of it Firefox may include the size of some plugins, but I recall the plugins were small in size. Let us not let hysteria triumph over an objective consideration of the facts. 92.29.31.202 (talk) 15:30, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Keep in mind, OpenOffice and Firefox ship not just their executables, but all their support code in one package. By contrast, many elements of IE are common controls in the operating system; you paid the cost for them when you installed the OS in the first place. IE8 is less tightly integrated, but in older versions of IE, IE was just the menu bar and frame encapsulating an instance of the HTML rendering DLL that shipped with the OS, so you couldn't get an exact "size" of IE. Beyond that, we've reached the point where even small flash based hard drives are 32 GB in size or larger. A difference of a couple hundred meg is very little; most people only use a dozen programs or so, so even if you "wasted" 200 MB a pop (and keep in mind, the software may be providing additional features with the space used), you'd still only use up an extra 2.4 GB. My home machine has 1.7 TB of storage space, and maybe 10% of that is programs (and most of that is games, not productivity programs). If Firefox used five times the space I'd still consider the features to be worth it. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 15:44, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My Firefox version 3.5.6 is 17M. I don't have a single size for OpenOffice because you can download each part you want separately. The core that is always needed is 220M. After that, the word processor is 73K, the spreadsheet is 61K, and the presentation program is 58K. If I download everything, I'll never get to 401M. -- kainaw™ 14:48, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean the word processor is 73M, the spreadsheet is 61M and the presentation program is 58M? Nil Einne (talk) 14:54, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

According to the download packages, each one is K. I double-checked because I couldn't see it being so small, but it says K. I figure you are downloading them in the core and then doing nothing more than downloading a launcher for each one with the separate packages. Rather stupid way to do it in my opinion. -- kainaw™ 15:13, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In defense of the OpenOffice design philosophy, here's the Technology Overview - Component Interoperability whitepaper. Kainaw correctly points out that the ~50 kilobyte packages are separate launchers - formally, these are the "Application Layer." On account of the nature of modern digital documents, there is a System Abstraction Layer below this - effectively there's no difference between the software which runs the spreadsheet or the word processor, except for the user interface toolbars. This is necessary - what would you do if you had to open a document which contained a chart or table? You need the software subroutines which handle those components. Similarly, if you had a chart or spreadsheet with lots of text in one cell - that would be handled by the Text Processing routine. So, you need the entire core (technically, though, there are two sub-sets of the System Abstraction Layer, you can install separately). Nimur (talk) 23:42, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

On my Mac, MS Office 2004 is 524 MB, OpenOffice is 345MB. I would count these as being pretty much in the same range. Firefox is 50MB, Safari is 102MB. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:43, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That's actually a good illustration of my point: On a Mac, the OS doesn't ship with the support DLLs Microsoft can rely on in Windows (for example, the Edit and RichEdit controls), so the program has to include them in the installer, so you see the cost of MS Office more accurately. That said, my point about hard disk space being infinite stands; the only way you run out of space on a home machine nowadays is media files (video in particular); programs really don't enter in to the equation. —ShadowRanger ^(talk|stalk) 15:48, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

OpenOffice includes the Java Runtime, which increases the file size. Also, OpenOffice is significantly slower than Microsoft Office because OpenOffice is written in Java and MS Office is written in C++.--Drknkn (talk) 18:29, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

^{[citation needed]}! That's a very harsh statement - do you have a benchmark or dataset to back that claim up? What exactly runs slower in OpenOffice? And is it because the implementation is in Java? Unless you can verify this, you should avoid making the claim. Nimur (talk) 02:10, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Be careful when measuring the speed of MS Office - if you are thinking about the time it takes to load, you need to make sure you don't have it loading most of it at startup (I'm not sure what the default is now, but it always used to default to loading at startup). If it is loading at startup then obviously it won't take long to load when you actually click the icon. (If you use Office all the time, then you may want it to load at startup, otherwise you should stop it (Start->Run->"msconfig"). --Tango (talk) 02:58, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

On my Mac, incidentally, both Office and OO.org take about the same time to load up, but OO.org is noticeably slower, almost impossible to use on a regular basis. --Mr.98 (talk) 23:19, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This isn't the place I originally read about it, but here is one comparison. It is common knowledge that programs that run inside a virtual machine and that are compiled into bytecode run slower and startup slower than programs compiled into native code. It'd be the same if MS Office were written in .NET and compiled into MSIL. So I'm not picking on Java.--Drknkn (talk) 09:53, 26 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Is it possible to create a .htaccess file that redirects while keeping the original URL displayed in the browser's address bar, even across filenames? 202.10.91.153 (talk) 16:50, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm afraid not, any redirect will literally redirect them and the browser will show the new URL. The only way to do what you want is to have an HTML page on the server using a frame or iframe to point to the "real" site. ZX81 ^talk 17:09, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) Yes, at least as long as the URL you're redirecting to is on your site. What you want is what Apache calls an "internal redirect" (as opposed to an actual HTTP redirect). With mod_rewrite, you accomplish that by not using the "R" flag in your RewriteRule (and making sure that the redirect target is not a full URL, or at least not one pointing to another site).

If you have both mod_redirect and mod_proxy installed, you can also use the "P" flag to issue an "internal redirect" to an URL on another site, at least sort of: what Apache does in this case is act as a proxy server, fetching the content of the URL from the other server and sending it back to the user as if it had come from your site instead. Ask yourself twice if this is really what you want to do, though: usually, it's not. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 17:13, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Good information, but those really strain the definition of "redirect". --Sean 19:07, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I think it works pretty good if you don't know it is called "mod_rewrite," which isn't exactly intuitive regarding what is going on. That's basically what a redirect is if you want the URL to stay the same in the title bar—not a real redirect, but a rewrite. --Mr.98 (talk) 23:30, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Many years ago I was told that a CD would outlive a CD player if played constantly 24/7. Is this true? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.83 (talk) 17:59, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with the statement, but can't find a reference for the expected life of a CD in our compact disc article. (Anyone feel like remedying this?) Even a recordable CD, though, which is expected to experience disc rot way before a regular (non-recordable) CD, is expected to last from 20 to 100 years, according to the compact disc article. By contrast, I don't think a CD player could be expected to run for 20 years continuously without breaking. Again, though, I have no actual reference to cite. This situation is the reverse of a record player, where the vinyl record becomes scratched as the needle scrapes across the pits; a CD player only physically touches the CD on the inside rim, where there's no data stored. The data is read "touchessly" via a laser that just reflects off the CD's surface, so there's little opportunity for the CD to get scratched or degraded like a vinyl record in a record player is. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:05, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Makes sense to me. CD players have moving parts—moving parts break down pretty quick. The CD in the CD player is not doing anything but rotating—reading data off of it causes no wear. CDs do certainly "die" after awhile but it's not from being used in the player. They can, of course, get damaged when being put into a player, or being outside of the player. But once they are in, nothing really happens to them. --Mr.98 (talk) 23:52, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(ec w/autosigning bot) My mic sucks, and I'm waiting for my new one to arrive. In lieu of my voice, is there any way to make windows built-in TTS feature speak for me through a driver or something? Like if I type in something then play it it will play in Counter-Strike Source. This is more curiosity if something like this exists and not really life-or-death.  Buffered Input Output 20:41, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.128.100.221 (talk) 21:19, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think you'll have to elaborate on your question before we can answer it. Is Model Mayhem a particular website? If it's returning an HTTP 404 error, either you are accessing resources which don't exist, or the site administrator is derelict in their duties. Maybe you can contact the responsible party. As far as Model Mayhem (the Wikipedia article), we don't have one by that name - it is technically redlinked, not 404'ed. The technical distinction is that the resource is returned with an HTTP 200 code, but the Wiki software has no wiki content to deliver under that name. Nimur (talk) 23:35, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps he means this website, but it seems to be functioning normally from where I am. So far as I can tell, anyway. APL (talk) 23:41, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(ec)Are you referring to the website itself being down, or the article that has not been written? In the case of the website it could be any of the reasons stated in the 404 article, or perhaps a mistyped address. I hope this helps. JW..[ T..C ] 23:46, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

At what color subsample does Blu-Ray movies use? Is it 4:2:0 like DVD or higher quality 4:2:2 or 4:4:4? --70.167.58.6 (talk) 23:46, 22 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This forum says 4:2:2 Finlay McWalter • Talk 01:09, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

For the graphics (that's menus and stuff) Blu-ray Disc Format, 2.B Audio Visual Application Format Specifications for BD-ROM says those graphics are 8-bit palletised looking into an rgb8+8+8 CLUT. Finlay McWalter • Talk 01:13, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I’ve rented a hosted dedicated server running Windows Server 2003 Web Edition for several years now. The server is mainly used as a web server (with Tomcat), but it’s also running e-mail (James) and SQL (MySQL) services. Starting sixteen days ago, the daily bandwidth usage skyrocketed according to the web hosting company, but the Tomcat log files don’t show a significant increase in HTTP bandwidth served. Furthermore, at the moment the network utilization shown on the Task Manager is low, so the super high bandwidth isn’t occurring all day. I suspect that maybe someone’s trying to hack the server using an attack that uses high bandwidth, but the attack isn’t going on all day. It would be very helpful to at least figure out which service is using up the bandwidth, so it would be very handy to be able to see the bandwidth over the course of a day broken down by how much of that bandwidth is going through each port. It would also be handy to see which remote IP address is using up the most bandwidth over the course of a day. Is there a more-or-less standard tool that would let me figure those two things out? I can’t find a tool built into Windows Server 2003 Web Edition that does what I need.

I happened to see a somewhat related thread above that mentions WireShark, so I’ve been reading some about that, thinking perhaps that would do what I need. But I’m concerned that for security reasons, my web hosting company might not be happy about me using a tool that puts the network card into promiscuous mode. Plus, I don’t have any need to see all the traffic passing through the network; I only need statistical information about packets that are addressed to my server. Since it sounds like there are ways of detecting a network card that’s in promiscuous mode, I’d prefer to not use a tool that uses promiscuous mode, to avoid any possibility of getting in trouble with the web hosting company. Red Act (talk) 01:50, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wireshark only puts the adapter into promiscuous mode if you tell it to; if you tell it not to, it just captures all the packets to and from this specific MAC (and broadcast and multicast packets). Wireshark is built on pcap, and the page for that lists a number of monitoring tools that might be more suitable for your purpose than Wireshark. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 03:23, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My notebook is not showing the accounts on the welcome page, you can move the mouse, but there is no windows account icons to click. When i try to boot in safe mode, the notebook shows those account icons and so i can enter in safe mode. I tried to disable some things in MSCONFIG to see if that helped, but that didnt helped my notebook. What can be the problem? 189.99.75.225 (talk) 03:48, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What OS? Did this occur after you installed some new software? (If so, try uninstalling the software while in safe mode.) Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:48, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Windows xp 187.89.87.206 (talk) 00:51, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I would like to use the public domain panel of drawings from this newspaper article in an article I am writing. I use Paint.NET for cropping/cleanup. I want to get the cleanest copy of the image I can, which I could if I could download the image and then manipulate it with the program, but the newspaper image (see previous link) provides pdf and "JP2" (which I think is JPEG 2000). I don't have Adobe Professional, which I think would allow me to save it as a different file format and then I could import that into Paint.NET. When I tried the download option, nothing on my computer supported opening the JP2 format, and I'm not how I could import that either even if I could download. Using print screen I need to make the image far too low a resolution to capture the six panel image with the descriptive text legible. I thought maybe I'd break it into two three panel images but the resolution still sucks. The only way I could do it is to zoom in on each of the six panels and print screen from there, resulting in six images, and I don't want to use them in that way. So, can anyone tell me what I can do? Maybe some free program I can download that will accept the JP2 format and allow me to convert it to a file format Paint.NET will recognize?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:50, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You can open the pdf version in GIMP, crop/edit it, and save it in any format you like. -- kainaw™ 04:08, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Imagemagick should convert JPEG2000 fine: convert foo.jp2 foo.png -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 04:12, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Can't remember which version it is (I'm borrowing someone else's computer), but I have Adobe Acrobat Professional (I think version 9) on my computer. What about using Special:EmailUser/Nyttend to send me the file? I'll be happy to try to help you when I get back to my computer late tomorrow. Nyttend backup (talk) 06:47, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I do realise, BTW, that you can't attach images; but once I have your email address, I'll send you mine for you to be able to attach the image. Nyttend backup (talk) 06:48, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Okay. I've tried a few things none of which have worked. I tried downloading Imagemagick but the program downloaded without a wizard. Instead it had readme documents for various platforms which describe how to compile the program. Not a task I'm up to handling. I downloaded Gimp (which I'm keeping) but when I import the pdf (using "open location") with the URL of the PDF, the downloaded version doesn't have anywhere near the resolution that the image on the website does. In other words, if you use the "zoom box" on the Chronicling America site, you can get crisp resolution over one panel of the six panel image. When I try the same with either the pdf version download using adobe reader, or the GIMP import of the download, when I zoom the same way it pixelates, leading me to believe the pdf version they are allowing is fixed at a much lower resolution than the original. So I think downloading the JP2 is the only workable solution. Thanks for the offer Nyttend! However, as I said the pdf isn't viable. I'll try to figure something else out. Going to go try some JP2 google searches for a free program.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:42, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

For ImageMagick: What OS are you running on? If it is a Windows-based, all you really need is the executable, convert.exe, that comes with the download package. If you are on anything Unix-based (e.g. OS X or Linux), then yeah, welcome to free-software hell, you might as well ignore it because it'll take an entire day to compile even if you don't run into trouble compiling the secondary packages. (Am I bitter about this? Yes indeed.) --Mr.98 (talk) 15:10, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

On linux instead of compiling from source you'd use a package manager like the overwhelming majority does. I hope you haven't got all your info on linux from this study. --194.197.235.240 (talk) 15:24, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Running Windows XP. I looked for an executable in the download but didn't see one (and already trashed the download and emptied the trash).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:55, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have another issue. Now. When I click on the download JP2 it tries to open using Quicktime, and what I get is a screen opening with the Quicktime logo with a question mark overlayed. How do I make it so that the program I download to open the JP2 is the actual program that is used by my computer to attempt to open the JP2 when I download it from the Chronicling America site? (yes I know, I'm needy).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:55, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

One workaround is that instead of clicking the JP2 file, right-click it, choose "Open With", and then choose whatever app you want to use instead of the QuickTime player. (BTW, I use Irfanview for all graphics conversion needs and recommend it; it works with JPEG 2000 also.) Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:47, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I tried but it doesn't give the option for "open with". Here's a screenshot.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 18:35, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You need to download it to your computer first (select "Save Link As..." from the menu shown in your screenshot). Then open the folder you saved it to, right-click the file and select "Open With..." and then pick the program you want from the submenu. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 23:43, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you all. With all the various help I received, not only did I learn a few things, but was able to download the file in its full version and upload it in high resolution glory, here. For closure, I was able to download and use Irfanview to recognize the JP2 and convert it to a format Paint.NET/Gimp both recognize. Thanks again.Fuhghettaboutit (talk) ---07:51, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

1. What is a computer virus? 2. How can we build one? 3. What does an antivirus do to protect a pc from viruses? 4. How is a virus healed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chetanbasuray (talk • contribs) 06:51, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Please do your own homework.

Welcome to the Wikipedia Reference Desk. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misinterpretation, but it is our aim here not to do people's homework for them, but to merely aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn nearly as much as doing it yourself. Please attempt to solve the problem or answer the question yourself first. If you need help with a specific part of your homework, feel free to tell us where you are stuck and ask for help. If you need help grasping the concept of a problem, by all means let us know.

It seems that you might want to read the computer virus article. The term "virus" is sometimes (incorrectly) used to describe any type of malicious computer software; really, to qualify as a virus, it needs to self-replicate. You can design such a program using a programming language and a compiler. Antivirus software uses numerous methods to prevent a virus infection - most commonly, the software has a database of known bad programs, and prevents the computer from downloading any file which contain those programs. You'll find some information about repairing a computer from malware in the malware article. Nimur (talk) 07:00, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have a few password protected pdf files that I want to remove the passwords from. I have the passwords. I can read these files and print them, but there is no longer any reason for them to remain protected and I'm tired of looking up passwords whenever I want to open one. I already tried printing them to a pdf creator. I don't understand why that didn't work, but it didn't. Any other ideas? 69.208.0.74 (talk) 07:21, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Download PDFSharp. Create a tool based on the following code:

static void Unlock(String filename, String password)
{
	PdfDocument document = PdfReader.Open(filename, password, PdfDocumentOpenMode.ReadOnly);
	document.Save(filename);
}

The newly written PDF will contain all of the same contents but will not be password locked. I use this technique quite frequently. 124.214.131.55 (talk) 07:41, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

difference between html server componemts and asp.net server components .can i use the html server components in a asp.net web applications ?

HTML components are sent directly to the browser as is. ASP.NET components are converted into HTML by the server, then sent to the browser. So, no matter what component you use, they'll all end up as HTML in the end. You can mix them up. It doesn't matter.--Drknkn (talk) 18:39, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Tryin to manipulate pascal and u can helpme tanks thanks

this is the question insertion sort in a chained linear list of n elements can be formulated as follows: power p: = 1 to n-1 1 = CONSIDER the sorted list formed by the first p elements 2 = delete the P +1 th element 3 = insert this sublist has its proper place without creating a new link 4 = write the sorted list

and this is my code

program EMD;

TYPE
Typeelem = INTEGER;
Pointeur = ^Maillon;

Maillon = RECORD
Val : Typeelem;
Suiv : Pointeur
END;

{ Définition des variables }
VAR
Tete : Pointeur;
p,q,L,nouveau:pointeur;
pos:integer;
{ Définition des opérations du modèle sur les listes linéaires chaînées }

PROCEDURE Allouer ( VAR P : Pointeur ) ;
BEGIN NEW(P) END;

PROCEDURE Affval(P : Pointeur; Val : Typeelem );
BEGIN P^.Val := Val END;

FUNCTION Valeur (P : Pointeur) : Typeelem;
BEGIN Valeur := P^.Val END;

FUNCTION Suivant( P : Pointeur) : Pointeur;
BEGIN Suivant := P^.Suiv END;

PROCEDURE Affadr( P, Q : Pointeur ) ;
BEGIN P^.Suiv := Q END;

{ Module de création d'une liste linéaire chaînée à partir de N nombres lus se trouvant sur un fichier TEXT }

PROCEDURE Creer (VAR L : Pointeur );
VAR
I, N : Integer;
Nbr : Typeelem;
P, Q : Pointeur;
BEGIN
WRITE('Nombre d''éléments de la liste à créer : ');
READLN(N);
write('values are:)');
READLN(Nbr);
Allouer(P);
Affval(P, nbr);
L := P;
FOR I := 1 To N-1 Do
BEGIN
READLN( Nbr);
Allouer(Q);
Affval(Q, Nbr) ;
Affadr(P, Q) ;
P := Q ;
L:=p;


END;
Affadr(L , NIL);
END;
procedure recherche_s_l(var L:pointeur;var pos:integer);
var q,p:pointeur;

trouv:boolean;
begin
pos:=0;
p:=L;
{trouv:=false;}

while suivant(p) <> nil do begin if valeur(p)> valeur(suivant(p))then begin p:=suivant(p);
pos:=pos+1;
Q:=p;
end
else begin
q:= nil;
{ trouv:=true; }
L:=q;

readln;
end

end
end;

procedure acces_pos(var L:pointeur; var pos:integer);
var nouveau1:pointeur;
i: integer;
begin
i:=1;

nouveau1:=L;
while (nouveau1<>nil ) do begin
{ nouveau:=suivant(nouveau); }
nouveau1:=nouveau1^.suiv ;
i:=i+1;
if ((i= pos) and (nouveau1<>nil ))then nouveau := suivant(nouveau1) ;

{ if suivant(nouveau)=nil then writeln('maillon n''existe pas');}
end



{nouveau:=nil; }
{ if suivant(nouveau)=nil then writeln('maillon n''existe pas');}
END;
{ Affichage des éléments de la liste }

PROCEDURE Lister (L : Pointeur );
VAR
P : Pointeur;
BEGIN
P := L;
WHILE P <> NIL do
BEGIN
WRITELN(Valeur(P)) ;
P := Suivant(P)
END;
END;

procedure insertion(var L:pointeur;var nouveau:pointeur);
var courant: pointeur;{pointeur local servant a parcourir la iste}
begin courant:=L;
writeln('hello from insertion');
readln;
while (suivant(courant)<>(nil ))and (((valeur(nouveau)))<((valeur(courant)))) do BEGIN courant:=suivant(courant);
if valeur(courant) > valeur(nouveau) then begin
affadr(courant,nouveau);
courant:=nouveau;
affadr(suivant(courant),nouveau);
{suivant(courant):= nouveau;}
L:=courant;
{lister(L); }
end
END

end;


{le programme P}

begin


creer(L);
READLN;
repeat
recherche_s_l(L,pos);

{ lister(L);}
acces_pos(L,pos);

insertion(L,nouveau);

lister(L);
L:=L^.suiv;
readln;
until L=nil
end.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.49.88.34 (talk) 13:06, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

And what is your question? Marnanel (talk) 15:19, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Wikipedia:Reference desk/How to ask a software question tutorial may provide the OP with useful guidelines. With this question and source code in its present form, it is unlikely anyone here will be able to give you a meaningful answer. Nimur (talk) 07:04, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

the programme doesn't work !it doesn't show the complete final list —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.49.88.34 (talk) 08:10, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That still isn't a question. Marnanel (talk) 17:47, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Some trail programs allow say 30 days of use then stop working a demand payment. If the program is uninstalled, then reinstalled it still remembers that the 30 days have been used. Obviously the uninstall process isn't a complete clear of all changes; something remains in the windows system. I want to clear this "remember" information to ensure the system is cleared of ALL traces of the previously installed program. How? Many thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.83 (talk) 15:38, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It no doubt varies program by program. Usually such things are hidden in the Registry, but exactly where that info is stored, is probably different for each program. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:02, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

They deliberately leave Registry entries and small files in different places to prevent what you are proposing to do. In theory, you could edit (or restore a backup of) your registry, and delete any small data files, but you will need to find out where they all reside. Formatting your hard drive and reinstalling your operating system is a very drastic solution to your problem. Dbfirs 08:44, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

An easier way would be to set up a small virtual environment just for using the program (e.g. with VMWare). You could then wipe and restore the virtual environment after 30 days. --Mr.98 (talk) 17:00, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What layer in the osi model does a server work with? I would guess Session and application, but does it know anything about the other layers.--Dbjohn (talk) 16:18, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It would depend on the type of the server (e.g., DNS, application, etc.). I think that application servers and web servers are unfamiliar with the details of the lower layers. The operating system would handle breaking up the data into packets and resolving addresses (with the aid of other servers and routers, of course). The application server would simply perform method calls using the operating system's networking API. It does not care how those methods work. It only calls them and the OS knows the individual instructions within those methods.--Drknkn (talk) 18:36, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's worth noting that a lot of modern "Web 2.0" servers are streaming multimedia over proprietary protocols (RTMP comes to mind). So, the server software must be aware of at least OSI layers 4 through 7 (since it's probably spewing out UDP packets with custom payloads). Most other stuff on the "web" uses TCP and HTTP, allowing the server software to only care about Layers 6 and 7. Nimur (talk) 20:08, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

None of the cited examples use a network protocol that follows the OSI model, these are all TCP/IP based systems.

Currently wide screen monitors are cheaper than the full screen computer monitors. Not only that, some stores don't stock monitors with a 4:3 aspect ratio. My own 19" acer monitor died recently and I'm using a ViewSonic widescreen TV/monitor as a makeshift screen. Using this monitor there are a couple of things that bother me. 1) some programs force the screen resolution to 800x600, 1024x768, etc. meaning it looks stretched on this widescreen. 2) this monitor does not have a way to adjust aspect ratio. Sure, I can adjust adjust the desktop resolution to make things proportional, but that ONLY works for the desktop. Yes Widescreen is how human eyes naturally see the world and its good for watching movies, but its really bad for games and programs built for 4:3 (i.e. anything older than two years). Of the wide screen monitors out there, are there kinds that can switch between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios? Preferably something that can automatically adjust aspect ratio based on the input resolution. — Kjammer  ⌂ 21:39, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Many video cards let you choose how to handle scaling when displaying a resolution lower than the LCD resolution. For instance, my nVidia driver lets me choose between "Use nVidia scaling", "Use nVidia scaling with preserved aspect ratio", "use the LCDs built-in scaling", and "do not scale". --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 21:49, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think you are either out of date or confused as to how programs handle wide-screen monitors these days. Every game I run that has a 4:3 aspect ratio just puts black bars on the side—it does not warp the image. They are far more flexible than you think they are. I have a wide-screen monitor and a wide-screen laptop and have no problem at all playing older games on it. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:22, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Don't have a widescreen monitor either, but I know some (can't recall brand) have a button on them to switch between 16:9(wide) & 4:3(normal) ratio. Some games allow you to select wide screen as well as 'standard' resolution/ratios, without any bars or distortion. --220.101.28.25 (talk) 23:42, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Mr.98, your video drivers may be fancier than mine — my games don't do that; Warcraft 3 is an example of a game that just stretches wide to fit my monitor. Kjammer, I agree, it drives me nuts, too, that my local large-chain electronics store seems to stock 95% 1080p resolution monitors, which is just lame. I have started to buy monitors from Newegg or other online electronics retailers, but this seems to be some sort of wave of the future, unfortunately. Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:44, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, if you send a non-widescreen image to a monitor, by default it'll stretch it UNLESS: A) The video driver is set to add the black bars/keep the normal proportions (as mentioned above NVIDIA cards can do this, but it's not on by default) or B) The monitor is set to diable scaling/streching in it's options, but then it'll also introduce lines above and below too (a 1024x768 image on a 1920x1200 monitor would result in a smaller squarer image in the middle of the widescreen monitor with black borders all around). ZX81 ^talk 00:21, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Mr.98, I'm sure you mean well, but your post comes across to me as being pompous and arrogent. Just because you don't have a problem, doesn't mean you are right. Not all computers are created equal. I don't know about nVidia, but ATI cards do have the "maintain aspect ratio" option, but it is dependant on the kind of monitor being used. This works for brand name DVI monitors but it doesn't work with analog signals (VGA). Kjammer, if you have an ATI card with DVI-out, get a widescreen monitor with DVI-in, and find the appropriate settings in the Catalyst Control Center. Or if you're lucky to find an affordable 4:3 screen in working order, go for it! 137.229.82.44 (talk) 19:58, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have a computer with 2 hard drives, one IDE drive and one SATA drive. I installed a kind of old version of Windows XP (without a slipstreamed SATA driver) in the IDE drive and now I have a fully working Windows XP, however, the SATA drive is not recognized, neither by the OS, neither (apparently) by the BIOS.

What's the problem?

Thanks in advance. 85.244.155.144 (talk) 22:19, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hm — if it really isn't showing up in the BIOS screen then the problem is of course irrelevant to your OS. First you need to see that thing in the BIOS. Switch the SATA drive to a different physical SATA connector on the motherboard; or disconnect the IDE drive and see if the SATA drive starts showing up; or try a different SATA cable. Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:45, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not testing right now, but I'm almost sure the computer booted from the SATA disk the last time I tried without the IDE one. Actually, the former operating system was installed on the SATA drive. Perhaps the board recognizes it and I didn't notice. Or can the IDE disk be causing some problem? 85.244.155.144 (talk) 23:57, 23 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Just to confirm, did you have both drives working with your previous operating system? Or is the IDE drive a new addition? If it's a new addition it might be that your motherboard supports an IDE emulation mode for SATA disks (which is what you are using) but that only works as long as you don't have something plugged into the IDE ports. If this is the case you'd need to into the BIOS and either turn off the SATA->IDE emulation (so it is truely seen as SATA and IDE) or experiment with the different physical ports. Bewarned that changing these options may result in Windows no longer booting due to the "boot drive" having changed physical location and you'd either need to reinstall again or edit the boot.ini file with another boot disc. ZX81 ^talk 00:18, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I had both drives, however, since there was valuable information in the SATA drive and the OS was malfunctioning, I preferred to install the new operating system in the IDE drive. 85.244.155.144 (talk) 11:07, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

FWIW, I have a couple of SATA 3.0 Gb/s disks on my elderly (SATA 1.5 Gb/s) motherboard, and neither disk is recognized by the BIOS when I first power on the system. I have to push the reset button after it's been on for a few seconds, and then it sees the disks. Worth trying if you haven't already. -- Coneslayer (talk) 17:03, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Does standard HTML provide, or are there plans to expand it to provide, a number-entry field with spin buttons, equivalent to the .NET Framework's System.Windows.Forms.NumericUpDown or Java's javax.swing.JSpinner? NeonMerlin 02:19, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No. You can do it with Javascript but there is no standard control for it. (If you Google, "Javascript spinner control" you get a bunch of pretty straightforward ones.) --Mr.98 (talk) 05:42, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have a set of speakers with the sort of cords that plug into a computer sound cord. My tv/dvd only has rca inputs. Can I connect them using some sort of adapter? I found one review saying the speakers were good except they cannot be connected to a tv easily. Is there hope for me, or should I give up and just use them with my computer? Calliopejen1 (talk) 04:27, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If your TV only has RCA inputs, you can't connect that to a speaker. Your TV needs outputs. If it does have RCA outputs, you can buy an RCA-to-3.5mm adapter cable for anywhere from $5 to $15. This cable may be called an "A/V-to-Stereo" cable, an "RCA-to-Stereo", "RCA-to-1/8 inch", or "RCA-to-3.5mm" cable. Here's one from Amazon, and a similar one with a male 3.5mm connection. Do these look like they would plug in to the input/output combination you need? Nimur (talk) 04:36, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The [ http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Adapter-Rca-Mini-phone-Stereo/dp/B000A3GPIS first one] looks good, but my speakers have three of the speaker cord things (black, green, and orange). Is there a cable for that? I'm so helpless because I don't know cord vocabulary. Calliopejen1 (talk) 04:43, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe you can photograph the back of the TV or DVD player; and the speakers, with cord(s). Do you need help uploading images? If there's a black/green/orange set of cables, usually this is a 5.1 system or a subwoofer connection - you'll need a source device (like a DVD player or Blu-Ray player) that supports surround sound to connect everything, but you can use the Green for just standard 2-way stereo. But I'm confused - I was under the impression you said the speakers plug into a "computer sound cord" (i.e., like a headphone jack - a 3.5mm stereo cable). Can you clearly describe or upload an image of how many speakers you have, how many cables they connect to, and what jacks you have available on the TV or DVD? Nimur (talk) 05:36, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, sorry for the confusion.... My TV has three holes. They take cords that look like this (I think these are RCA cords). My speakers are these and have three cords that look like this. I read somewhere on the internet that these plugs go into a sound card, so that's why I wrote that... They do plug into computer but I only have one speaker jack on my computer. When I plug the speakers into my computer, the black one makes the sound go to the back speakers, the orange one makes it go to the center speaker, and the green one makes it go to the front speakers. Calliopejen1 (talk) 15:01, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The first image is of RCA connectors, the second is of TRS connectors and is probably the 3.5 mm version. You can get adapters at most big box stores. The Creative Inspire T6100 is a surround sound system— to fully use them, you need a system that has outputs for front, center and surround.

What model and brand is your TV? What are the labels on the RCA connectors? ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:55, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My TV is an older Sylvania, I don't know what model. The labels on the RCA jacks are just L and R. I have two DVD players. (I could just hook the speakers straight to the DVD, because I don't need surround sound for normal TV.) They each have L, R, and coaxial RCA jacks. One also has an HDMI jack. Any thoughts? Calliopejen1 (talk) 17:31, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

So, if you want to have surround-sound, you'll need to get a DVD player which actually outputs 5.1 (i.e., has the electronics and software to generate separate signals for each speaker). In the meantime, you can do a few things. First, as I mentioned before, you can use the green cable only (which connects to the two front speakers) and one of the adapters linked above. This will produce sound, but most of your speakers will have no signal and will essentially be "off." Or, you can get an adapter like this, ($13), which "fakes" a 5.1 setup by feeding the single stereo signal from your DVD player to all of your speakers. This isn't really generating the full effect of surround sound, but it will make sound come out of all speakers. Is this what you're looking for? Nimur (talk) 04:30, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

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Sir now i am lossed my both legs, that's Why i need this type jobs for high earn To join my artifitial legs.

Sir need your great response as soon as Possible.

THANKING YOU. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nirmalbaba (talk • contribs) 05:17, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Tarak. This is the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk. We're able to help answer your questions related to technology problems and computer-related issues. But, we're staffed by volunteers; we're working on a non-profit encyclopedia. It's possible that somebody who reads this desk may know of online job opportunities, but in general this isn't a great place to post job-seeking requests. Have you tried searching the web for data entry jobs? There are lots of commercial job-finding websites which are better equipped to help you find a job you're qualified for. There are also non-profit and government organizations that can help you specifically, whether you need medical care, financial aid, or job/occupational advice/placement, because you are handicapped. Here are some organizations which might help:

• National Institute for the Orthopaedically Handicapped (NIOH), Calcutta - Rehabilitation services including occupational therapy
• Disability India - information on facilities and benefits
• Centre for Services and Information On Disability (CSID), Dhaka, Bangladesh

Further contact information, including address and telephone numbers, are available in the links I provided. Good luck with your situation. Nimur (talk) 05:57, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That was a nice response Nimur, I hope that it helps him Regards,--85.210.90.232 (talk) 12:28, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

is there any concept of grid is in php as like asp.net data grid ?if not , then what we can used for the same in php . —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rahjos4 (talk • contribs) 09:57, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There is no built-in functionality for this, but you can use PHP to build up a datagrid-like control. Google "datagrid php" and you'll find lots of code that others have used to do just this. E.g. phpGrid looks pretty snazzy and straightforward, though I haven't used it personally. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:34, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm trying to use Wireshark but I keep getting the error The capture session could not be initiated (failed to set hardware filter to promiscuous mode). Please check that "\Device\NPF_{30841233-ED1D-4C6E-9CF1-440DB4D01588}" is the proper interface.

I've tried with Belkin N1 Wireless USB Adapter and D-link DWL-G122 on Windows 7 and Windows XP. How can I solve this problem? Thank you! :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.83 (talk) 15:23, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You're trying to set the ethernet adapter to promiscuous mode and its driver is saying it can't. Promiscuous mode is rarely supported by wireless ethernet adapters (and is meaningless when the connection is encrypted) and usually doesn't work with modern wired network equipment (even the cheapest hubs really work like switches and don't send all traffic to each port). So you need to set the capture session to not use promiscuous mode. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 15:28, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Note that even if a wireless driver claims to support promiscuous mode, it may be lying. My Belkin USB 802.11g adapter (with the Microsoft Win7 64 bit driver) accepts a request to go into promiscuous mode, but you still only see traffic for the same machine (and broadcast stuff). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 16:21, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

kismet (program) could be of interest. home page --91.145.88.228 (talk) 16:24, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

See the Comparison of open source wireless drivers#Driver capabilities for a list of open-source drivers that support monitor mode (virtually all of them do). That page only lists drivers for Linux and BSD, though; not Windows. --128.97.245.117 (talk) 01:14, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You might never get this working in Windows. The driver framework for Windows will crash if you succeed in putting a wireless device in promiscuous mode. I would suggest to try Kismet on a linux-based OS, as then you'll be able to use promiscuous mode as you wish. NeoThermic (talk) 11:18, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

To which precision could the value stored on older British credit cards? --84.61.165.65 (talk) 19:32, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure I understand the question. AFAIK, credit cards do not store values on them. However the account to which they are attached produces statements accurate to 1 penny (0.01 GBP). I'm not sure what the banks' computers do about daily interest which is probably calculated to more precision - no idea what though - likely to differ from bank to bank. -- SGBailey (talk) 21:55, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Interest usually isn't paid daily. It may be compounded daily, but it will be paid monthly or annually. --Tango (talk) 02:50, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As I understand it, they do the calculation daily based on the balance in the account each day - so yes computed. But to what resolution do they store the result? They certainly don't put 8 decimal places on a statement, but they may well store the balance to that accuracy. -- SGBailey (talk) 15:46, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What does "4G Network" mean? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.249.193.88 (talk) 22:42, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It probably means the next (forthcoming) generation of cellular telephony and data services and equipment - see the 4G article. -- 22:45, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

I have some CSV records of my bank accounts, or checking accounts in American-English. The CSV files have the fields of a record delimited by commas. ",," would be an empty field. Is anything available (preferably easy to use and quick to learn by the non-programmer please) that could look through all the records, and for example where it finds an entry for "567.89" in the seventh field, will put the text string "mortgage" in the empty third field? Something to insert an empty field in the right place would be useful too. Thanks. Update: I have found and installed CSVed dot exe, but I do not think it can find in field X and place in field Y. 89.242.94.72 (talk) 23:53, 24 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

OpenOffice.org has a spreadsheet application similar to excel called Calc which can do all sorts of fancy things to CSV files. Doesn't sound like it would be too hard to work out how to do it, you might even be able to do it with the find and replace tool. Vespine (talk) 00:23, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Depending on how many distinct substitution cases you have, a spreadsheet such as in OpenOffice will enable you to use a series of nested IF statements in column Y, acting on values on column X. So, in cells in column Y one might write:

=IF(X3=567.89,"Mortgage",if(X3=100,"Cash withdrawal",if(X3=123,"Very large pizza","Not sure what this is"))) --Tagishsimon (talk) 00:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(Note that Excel will do the same thing, if you have it.) --Mr.98 (talk) 01:20, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What's the etymology of the name for software wizards? I can't find any sources with Google, and our article on the subject doesn't help me either. Nyttend (talk) 02:00, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You might find our article on expert systems helpful. I would guess that the term "wizard" predates its use in software, meaning any (human) individual who is a subject-matter expert. The rise of expert systems and knowledge-based systems was motivated by a desire to encapsulate the human knowledge of such experts in software form - a sort of special-purpose, domain-specific artificial intelligence. In the early 1970s and 1980s, these sorts of ideas were really impressive, novel concepts - an expert system computer software could provide information to the user in full English sentences! It could guide the user through very complex tasks! It'd almost be like having a real human present to do the hand-holding. I'd guess that this is the source of the terminology - software that fulfils the role of the office 'wiz'. The Wiktionary entry, wikt:wizard has an etymology, but not for the specific meaning of a talented, non-magical individual. Nimur (talk) 02:20, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

According to the OED, the meaning "wise man", etc, is the original, from which the magician meaning is derived. Warofdreams talk 15:58, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It might be from British WW2 slang perhaps. 89.242.40.192 (talk) 12:47, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have a telephone address book in excel.I want to have a program which records the calls made by me and sorts the address book entries in such a way that the most frequently dialed numbers are always at the top.Is there any idea? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 113.199.164.48 (talk) 02:11, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Do you use your computer to make phone calls? If not, you'll need some way to synchronize your telephone system with your computer. A lot of smart phones can do this sort of thing. I'm not aware of any smart-phone synch software which can analyze voice call logs, but it seems like it might be a feature in at least some systems. Nimur (talk) 02:24, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In addition to Nimur's idea, you might be able to enter in data from your phone bill every month if they itemize your calls. If you can get your data into the computer in a uniform way, then we could help you work with that data to itemize your list. But ultimately you're going to have to get the data into the computer. Shadowjams (talk) 02:51, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there, can anyone point me in the direction of where to go to find a list of graphics cards that would fit a HP G60 laptop computer, as I am thinking of upgrading to a better one than the one that came with it. Alos, in the UK, how much are these things usually? --KageTora - (影虎) (A word...?) 09:45, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Laptops and notebook computers rarely have modular graphics cards. It looks like the HP G60 is no exception. So, it's probably not possible to upgrade the graphics without replacing the entire motherboard (e.g. essentially replacing the entire computer). Nimur (talk) 09:52, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

lemme start from the begining.

I installed xp on my pc but i installed it on drive D: So D was my local disk. On Drive c i put movies and my own stuff. Then i installed windows 7 on my pc just last night. I installed it on that same drive D; and it created a windows old folder on that drive. Now i later deleted it after installing windows 7. Now windows 7 has renamed drive D to local disc C: and the initial drive C has disappeared all my movies and music are all gone. In fact that partition has vanished. So what can i do to get my old drive c: —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.49.88.34 (talk) 11:20, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If the partition has been deleted and then overwritten with the new operating system, there's no way to recover the data. The "C:\Windows.old" folder might have contained your files, but it's unlikely since your files and Windows XP weren't on the same drive letter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.83 (talk) 11:42, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Try going into Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management and then click on Storage/Disk Management. With any luck the partition is still there and you just need to Right-Click it and "Change Drive Letter" (and add a drive letter) and then you'll be able to access it. Either way you'll be able to see the partition table though so that'll explain what has happened. ZX81 ^talk 13:29, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It is rather alarming that Windows 7 would decide that by deleting the old OS, you no longer want what is on another partition. Were there any extra questions like "Are you sure you want to remove/overwrite this partition?" Astronaut (talk) 18:43, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Whenever i try to delete a particular mp4 video file the dialog box says "this action cannot be completed as the file is open in another program ".As there are no programs running is there a way to delete the file? Shraktu (talk) 12:07, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

First, you should make sure there really are no processes accessing the file. You can use Process Explorer[7] to do this, just press CTRL+F and enter a portion of the file name. Depending on which process is holding the file, you can just kill it from Process Explorer and proceed to delete the file.All this assuming you're running Windows decltype (talk) 12:21, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've tried that and also tried after restarting the computer but still can't delete the file. Is there any other way?Shraktu (talk) 12:42, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've noticed that sometimes OSes try to "preview" media files and whatever process is involved in previewing it (e.g. as a thumbnail or icon or whatever) sometimes seems to crash or hang mid-way, leaving the file open. In such a case deleting it through DOS is probably the best way, after rebooting. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:39, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Try this —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kv7sW9bIr8 (talk • contribs) 17:17, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

Some Intel architectures have special instructions/optimizations that greatly accelerate virtualization tasks; is the intel Atom architecture one of them? (this is not homework). Thanks! 84.153.196.92 (talk) 13:31, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It depends on exactly which Atom processor you're looking at... see Intel's list of processors supporting VT. -- Coneslayer (talk) 13:44, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the links! Unfortunately, my processor (n280) is one of the ones that doesn't. Oh well.. 82.113.106.95 (talk) 14:14, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

For some background, the Atom was designed to be an ultra-low-power laptop/mobile processor. The inclusion of virtualization on some new models suggests that Intel aims to target the same ultra-low-power technology towards the server market. Here is a blog reporting on Microsoft Research's efforts toward that goal. Nimur (talk) 17:17, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

--20.137.18.50 (talk) 16:34, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, but it's like asking "how long is a piece of string?". There are many websites which give different results based on what you click on, what time of day it is, what a particular Lava Lamp is up to, so the answer is essentially "infinitely big". --Sean 16:46, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How about this: what is the estimated cumulative size of the storage capacity of all the computing devices which comprise the Internet? That would at least be an upper bound.20.137.18.50 (talk) 16:48, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Except, of course, that not all internet content is ever stored anywhere - how do you want to count the size of dynamic content? Total hard-drive space is not actually an upper-bound for that. Nimur (talk) 16:58, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Fair enough, not including dynamic content.20.137.18.50 (talk) 17:01, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Google estimates that the portions of the internet they index are 5 trillion megabytes in size. This was in 2005, but is probably as accurate as any modern guess, and almost certainly much larger now. 206.131.39.6 (talk) 17:10, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 20.137.18.50 (talk) 17:13, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If I may ask, "5 trillion megabytes" thats 5 million million megabytes? 5 x 10¹⁸ bytes? Which could easily be x 4 by now, 20x10¹⁸ bytes, 20 exabytes? Is that correct?--220.101.28.25 (talk) 18:08, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

when were the satalite photos taken?Accdude92 (talk to me!) 17:07, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

They're taken, and updated, on a continuing basis. There are plenty of places where the image is 5 years old or older, but sometimes they update much more frequently. I don't believe that they say when any specific image was taken. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 17:12, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Would the year they copyrighted the images be some of guide? Chevymontecarlo (talk) 17:13, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe, maybe not. A typical screen of Google Earth shows a fusion of several images (sometimes many) - they're very skilled at blending images together. So that alone means there's a range of dates possible for a given screen. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 17:35, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I was surprised to see that the answer to this pretty obvious question was not in our very long Google Earth article, according to my skimming. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:37, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you use the Google Earth client (not the web-based version), there is an option to enable overlays that explicitly render boxes and text around each source image. This makes it clear when they are mixing/blending images - you can see multiple images used to generate same viewable area. Nimur (talk) 17:55, 25 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Since downforeveryoneorjustme.com seems to be down, what other similar services are there?