My Windows XP Home Edition system was recently infected by the malware which replaces the background wallpaper with "Your System Is Infected!" and other verbiage, including the mispelled word "recommeded". It pops up messages asking you to get security software, and disables system programs like Task Manager, Command Prompt, etc. Anyway, I think I eventually fixed the system by a combination of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, and then when it didn't quite do the trick (maybe a little unfair to MBAM since it hadn't been updated in a couple of months), a System Restore (after booting into Safe Mode and logging into the Adminstrator account). All this was new to me; I'm not a Windows expert and hadn't even heard of System Restore before! I was really glad to find it.

However, I've been googling this kind of malware, and I see a lot of recommendations (including what seems to me to be overkill, like using 5 different antivirus programs, or using powerful programs that could potential screw up your system worse if you aren't careful) and no mention of using the System Restore feature, so I'm wondering if I'm missing something here. I realize that going back to a prior checkpoint may roll back your software installations or upgrades that were made since that time, but if you aren't worried about that, is there any problem with System Restore? It was very easy and convenient to use, so I'm wondering if there's a reason why it isn't one of the fist things to try. TresÁrboles (talk) 01:48, 14 January 2010 (UTC) Argh, I misspelled "misspelled" ... TresÁrboles (talk) 01:50, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Quite often System Restore won't work; some viruses now infect your restore files as well. It may or may not work. HalfShadow 03:16, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I assume you are not talking about restoring from a Restore Disc, that should be fool proof. (Unless the disc, supplied with the system is infected!). It is possible that the on HDD restore files could be infected. But if you restore to a point before the MalWare got in, it should work. See System Restore#Limitations & complications. If you have all your data files backed up then a HDD format and re-install of your O/S (operating system - XP), from the original DVD will almost certainly get rid of any malicious software on your C: or system drive. Though you will have to install any Service packs, patches, driver updates etc. I don't think that System Restore would help in tha case of the infection you had. (I had it too! and also used Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware) It's a bit more for when you have a driver that screws up your sytem or a HDD crash damages some O/S files.

• Good software to have is Ghost, which makes an 'image' file of your HDD or selected partition. If you get you PC clean, you make an image of it, and if it gets infected again, you write the image back to your PC and it will take it back to the exact state it in was when you made the image file. It is a good idea to keep data files separate from the system files (on another HDDentirely) as it's safer, IMHO, you can more easily replace the System files without worrying about your data.
• The idea of using "5 different antivirus programs" is likely because each has it strengths, and may pick up malware that the others miss. I use only AVG Anti-Virus Free, (which is FREE) and find it works quite well. Also ensure that your O/S updates are current, that will help keep malware out. (We ALL make speeling errors!)--220.101.28.25 (talk) 05:15, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, why do you say that System Restore wouldn't work? It certainly looks like it works; the background image (wallpaper) is back to normal, I'm not getting messages about infections, I can start and use utilities like Task Manager and Command Prompt now. One thing that I didn't mention above but which also works now is I can update MBAM without a "732 error". Also, I guess a symptom some people had, but I never experienced because I stopped using my browser (Firefox) until the problem was fixed, was that when browsing, they would get redirected. Well that isn't happening either. TresÁrboles (talk) 01:53, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Running multiple versions of antivirus software is a bad idea because it will hammer your performance, badly; every time you visit a website and your browser downloads the 70 files necessary to view that page, the 5 antivirus programs will compete to compare each file to all the virus signatures in its database ... it'll degrade your system performance a lot. My standard advice is to run 1 antivirus program and keep it updated; back up your data regularly onto an external USB hard disk; and set up your computer so there is one account with administrator privileges, which you use only to install trusted software; and one account with no administrator privileges, which is the account you will use for your ordinary computer use. This will greatly reduce the probability that malware will be able to compromise your system. Comet Tuttle (talk) 07:01, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think those articles/blogs I saw weren't talking about the always-on resident virus scanners that look at things while you work, but manually-running programs... but I see several users are debating this below... TresÁrboles (talk) 01:53, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

While it is sensible to only have one "on all the time" anti-virus program, you can use as many anti-malware scanners as you like. They do not cover the same ground so it is sensible to scan with more than one. In addition to Avast! on-all-the-time, I use Malwarebytes, Superantispyware, AdvancedSystemCare, Spybot Search & Destroy, and SpywareBlaster which works in a different way. Windows Defender is something I'm going to add (Edit - noo I'm not, its not merely a scanner). I also frequently use Ccleaner to remove the junk before scanning. 89.243.186.173 (talk) 10:34, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Silly me again. Should have distinguished between 'Scan & Clean' and 'Resident' Antivirus software. Definately not a good idea to have 5 resident programs simultaneously performing the same job(antivirus). Comet Tuttles' advice is very good, especially the bit about accounts, often forgotten about (& I'm talkin about me!) --220.101.28.25 (talk) 12:15, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You're wrong, 89! They will interfere with each other. One will prevent the other from disinfecting critical system files. You can install more than one anti-malware program. But you have to make sure that they're not running all the time, because they tend to keep an eye on the same files for modifications. One way to protect your computer without slowing it down is to create a non-administrative account, as Comet Turtle suggested. Another solution is to secure your browser. I use Internet Explorer with Privoxy. Privoxy blocks ads (which often hijack your computer) and filters many exploits. If you use Firefox, then install NoScript and Adblock Plus. If you download any files with a .exe, .com, .bat, .vbs, or .js extension from the internet, then scan them with an anti-virus program. Also disable VBA inside Microsoft Office and JavaScript inside Adobe Reader. Then, you'll be secure from 99.99% of viruses without slowing your computer down or having to deal with some electronic nanny that always gets in the way of things.

On another note, I'd like to add that since your system restore points may now be infected, you should delete them.--Drknkn (talk) 13:16, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have now installed NoScript. I have to point out that I didn't download any unknown .exe file or the like and run it willy-nilly! No, the malware was delivered through a link while using webbrowsing. Gone are the days when you would be safe from viruses as long as you didn't manually run anything fishy yourself; nowadays, Flash and Javascript are almost mandatory when browsing the web. I don't think I will be deleting my system restore points, especially since it looks like it helped, not hurt, as I explained above! TresÁrboles (talk) 01:53, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like you havnt read what I wrote. Or perhaps you do not comprehend that you have to command the scanners to do a scan, and that when they are not doing a scan they are off. 78.147.87.28 (talk) 19:42, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No. Spybot, Search & Destroy comes with the "Tea Timer" which supposedly protects your system from unwanted changes. It has been known to interfere with other anti-malware programs. Make sure you didn't install that when you installed Spybot. Windows Defender also monitors your system for changes. The same goes for Avast! I've never used Malware Bytes or Super-Anti Spyware, though. I have Spybot S&D, too -- mostly because I'm used to it and have been using it for ages. It's not terribly sophisticated, but I made sure not to install Tea Timer when the installer asked me. I also use Kaspersky. I chose Kaspersky because it's easy to turn off. I rarely use either program, in fact. They mostly just sit there. I can't remember the last time I got an infection, but I work on computers for a living, so I have to disinfect other computers often. I just check for suspicious activity in the Task Manager and look for new files that run at startup. It's pretty obvious when you get an infection. Your computer usually slows down and programs start acting up out of the blue. This is a vast oversimplification, of course, but I'd nevertheless encourage you to research how to manually diagnose and disinfect your computer. I've saved my customers quite a bit of time and money by simply deleting the files and registry keys in question by hand rather than waiting for some slow program to do it.--Drknkn (talk) 20:50, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, dahhh! Don't use tea-timer or Windows Defender. If you want to avoid using more than one on-all-the-time program, then do not start up more than one on-all-the-time program. I thought that would be very obvious? You would have to positively choose to start them up. 84.13.50.207 (talk) 18:51, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Actually I'd go a step further and state that you should not trust antivirus software to save you from all .exe, .com, .bat, .vbs, and .js programs. Antivirus software is useless against, for example, a Trojan horse that some guy just wrote yesterday and it hasn't been dealt with yet by the antivirus software vendors. Don't download and execute any of those unless it's from a trusted source. If you wanted to go even a step further, you could use virtualization software like VirtualBox and do all your "risky" computing activity in the VirtualBox. If it turns out you had downloaded a Trojan, just delete the whole box and create a new one, and you're instantly clean. (Of course, until you determine that you had downloaded a Trojan, the VirtualBox may remain compromised, converted into a zombie computer, hammering your internal network, sending out zombie e-mails, etc., until you realize what has been happening.) Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:09, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I upload any suspicious files to http://www.virustotal.com. That site will scan it with 50 different anti-virus scanners. Heuristics often catch new viruses. .bat, .vbs, and .js files are plain text, so I just look at them in notepad.--Drknkn (talk) 20:50, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The RSS to email forwarding service that I used to use has sudenly decided to become a paid service. Does anyone know of an easy to use RSS forwarding service. I've done some searching but I'm unfortunatly not very tech savy and I havn't come up with much yet.

Thanks 196.213.43.74 (talk) 06:40, 12 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

gmail has web clips, but I don't if you can forward or pull them out of gmail.--194.197.235.240 (talk) 10:11, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I plan to buy a single-slot (single width) NVidia GeForce GT 240 video card. I have a choice of: GDDR3 with 1GB of memory, or GDDR5 with 512MB of memory. (GDDR5 with 1GB does not seem to be available in a single slot version.) Which should I get?

I don't play many (if any) 3D games. It's mainly for desktop use, but I want to try some of the new 3D window managers (Compiz), and I want to try CUDA. Ariel. (talk) 11:11, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

For your needs, I do not think that you need more than 512 MB, so the faster GDDR5 memory may be the better choise. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 11:17, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you're programming with CUDA, do some analysis and estimate the maximum problem size you will be able to compute for a given size of RAM. I have a GTS 250 for CUDA development and a cluster of T10 C1060 for real work; depending on your algorithm, you can burn through 512 MB with very small 3D problems. So, which will be a bigger problem for you - latency to GPU memory or total size of GPU memory? This is a problem-specific answer. For my work (solving the wave equation and reverse time migrationred-linked? Geophysical migration is close...), total size of GPU memory is more of a limiting factor than GPU global memory latency/throughput, and I usually stall on data transfers between the CPU and GPU (which is the fault of the PCIe bus, not the RAM type). Nimur (talk) 14:56, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(I have to admit that I did not see part of CUDA in the question. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 16:10, 14 January 2010 (UTC))[reply]

Thanks! I was just going to play with CUDA, and learn about it. I have no specific problems I need to solve. Is there anything else more memory will help me with? I'm assuming 512MB is enough to do lots of things with CUDA? I was interested in trying out that CUDA cross compiler I heard of and running a program on the X86 and Nvidia at the same time. How much will the GDDR5 help with day to day 2D desktop usage? Ariel. (talk) 01:13, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, you can do quite a lot with 512 MB. Let me reiterate for emphasis, that if you are doing true volumetric 3D problems, you will use up memory much faster than you think (... roughly speaking, per the cube of the problem size); but you can get by with a 50x50x50 grid for a lot of fun experiments. As far as 2D and 3D desktop effects - by the time you have a G80 or T10 processor (which you must, to be CUDA compliant), you are so dramatically far beyond the performance requirements that you really shouldn't have to worry about most gaming/2D desktop related stuff. One thing I have noticed is that time-sharing the GPU (e.g. running a 3D desktop manager like Compiz or Beryl) while computing with CUDA is potentially a bad idea. Sometimes this has kernel-panicked (crashed) my Debian or Ubuntu system. Sometimes it has made running X, (3D desktop manager or not), totally impossible on my RedHat systems. Upgrading to the newest driver has sequentially improved stability since Ubuntu 9.04. I have had luck with the last driver (cudadriver_2.3_linux_64_190.18, on Ubuntu with 2.6.31-16-generic kernel); no system instability. If you have a 64bit system, you may have some unique issues compiling the NVIDIA kernel modules (or they may work flawlessly). Finally, watch out for the latest Ubuntus, which come default with GCC 4.4, which is not CUDA-2.3 compliant. You will need to install a GCC-4.3 or older compatible version. Officially, the Ubuntu 9.04 is the last supported version, and one of the Enterprise linuxes such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux is more "officially" preferred. Nimur (talk) 01:58, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry did you mean to say 'desktop/2D gaming' or '2D/3D desktop' or whatever instead of 'gaming/2D desktop' related stuff? Because a G240 while IMHO not bad, is definitely not something you would say you don't have to worry about it (I agree with the desktop POV however) if you are interested in modern 3D gaming which I appreciate the OP isn't (perhaps it's true on Linux since there are unfortunately fairly few modern 3D games for Linux so if you are gaming you're fairly limited in what's available) Nil Einne (talk) 11:58, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know - are 3D games these days requiring more than 1 GB of video RAM and a 2 GHz GPU with more than 128 streaming processors? What exactly are they rendering? I admit that the newest addition to my games collection is at least 5 or 6 years old and I'm unfortunately not up to speed on the very latest recommended specs. But the cards and systems that are specifically marketed for CUDA are far and away the highest performing NVIDIA hardware (4 GPUs and 16 GB of video RAM on my S1070); and any of the gamer cards that are CUDA compliant are at least in the top series. Nimur (talk) 14:55, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

'Require' is a strong word. Most (if not all) games have to be able to run on less than that because if they did not, they'd sell too few copies to make money. However, there are plenty of games (notably, the ones based on the latest Crysis engine) that can make productive use of more processing power than any currently available graphics card can deliver. So sure, you can run almost all games with less horsepower than that - but there are plenty that will look simply gorgeous if you do have it. So games don't "require" that much - but that doesn't mean that you don't want to buy that much. Also, the fancier your graphics card - the longer it'll be before it's so obsolete that you won't be able to find any games that can run on it! SteveBaker (talk) 02:35, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Note I didn't say require and indeed I don't know of any game that requires a card better then GT 240. However many games will definitely benefit from it as SB says. I personally believe that people are too nuts about graphics and the need for a good graphics card, particularly in the developed world but I still prefer adventure games in general, and think that any game that requires excellent graphics to be enjoyable is by definition not a good game so I'm not exactly a typical gamer (and I do use a 8600GT). Also I have a CRT monitor, so am perfectly happy with low resolutions like 1024x768 whereas given the proliferation of LCD monitors, most people want their native resolution which will often be 1600x1080 or probably even higher like 1920x1200.

Anyway I have no doubt that people using GPGPU can have some pretty massive requirements but this doesn't of course mean that a GT 240 is considered good enough that you don't have to worry about the card if you're in to gaming particularly if you don't intended to upgrade in a year. I would say a GT 240 is at best a mid range card when it comes to modern normal 3D gaming. For the more casual stuff like Sims 3, Spore, and particularly the indie or budget/small development team games of course the GT 240 would be plenty.

The requirements in the gaming world are somewhat different from the GPGPU world. Generally speaking for a question like the OPs relating to the GPU RAM the answer would definitely be get the faster RAM rather then more RAM because you're much more likely to get a benefit from the faster RAM. Also while quad-SLI or quad-crossfire is popular among a small minority of gamers (and many gamers would probably like, if you were giving to it to them for free), I personally and many other gamers would prefer a better/faster single GPU card rather then either a multiple GPU card or multiple GPU set up (even one which is theoretically slightly faster) because while SLI and crossfire are resonably well supported particularly in the high end games, you're still far from guaranteed to get close to double the performance with two GPU. Note that in a multiple GPU setup for gaming, all content is duplicated as well, so if you have 4 cards with a total of 16GB ram, you only have the equivalent of 4GB of GPU RAM (which is still an excessive amount for gaming).

Finally while I don't really pay that much attention to the high end GPU world, I believe the fastest current cards (perhaps until Nvidia launched the GeForce 300 series, their fastest card is the GTX 295 and it's probably fair to say they're fairly far behind at the moment) are the Radeon 5970s [1]. And while Crysis (and perhaps other games using the engine) is perhaps the only game where you're like to actually see much of a current benefit from that compared to some 'slower' cards [2] [3] particularly if you aren't using 2560x1600, we're talking about a card that's a very far cry from the GT 240, (note that this concurs with what I had expected, for gaming the DDR3 is a bad idea) [4] [5] [6] gives you an idea of where that sits. Note that for computer gaming, many people consider a ~30 FPS (average) around the minimum you want for decent gaming, ideally higher since this is an average.

Anyway since the OP isn't interested in gaming, this is mostly OT so I made it small but since the issue came up, I felt it important to point out that a GT 240 definitely would often not be considered ' so dramatically far beyond the performance requirements that you really shouldn't have to worry'

P.S. Note that some cards/vendors may specify GDDR3 when they really mean DDR3. According to [7] GDDR3 is supported but it wouldn't surprise me if many may choose to use DDR3 or GDDR5 not GDDR3.

Nil Einne (talk) 07:25, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I am trying to mail merge fields into several text boxes, but I want to advance the record in each one - however, I cannot put the <<NextRecord>> command in a text box, because Word does not allow it. Is there some other way around this? Or is there some VBA code I could use? Any help is appreciated! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.24.155.28 (talk) 14:08, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Will a php script written in php4 or even older php versions still work on a modern server? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.124 (talk) 18:32, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It depends on many factors. PHP5 is mostly back-compatible, but there was a major change to the Zend engine. Mostly, this affected behind-the-scenes performance, but that may have subtle effects on "weird" things. I specifically remember trouble with the GD library which is commonly used for graphics and images (e.g. if you have a thumbnail generator script, you may have to tweak or rewrite it). Take a look at the PHP 5.0.0 changelog and this important document, Migrating from PHP 4 to PHP 5. Watch for subtle changes in any of your custom configuration scripts if they refer to specific engine/PHP language levels. Nimur (talk) 20:28, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I often hear Function keys referred to as "PFX" where X equals the number. I know that F means function but what did the P stand for? I've been told the "P" is a bit of IBM jargon but I haven't been able to find anyone who knows that the P ever stood for. Thanks, Dismas|^(talk) 20:06, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

IBM 3270 calls them "Programmed Function Keys". -- Coneslayer (talk) 20:12, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Back on my IBM Personal System/2 (the real PS2), I recall that these were actually labeled with a "PF" on the keyboard. They were also on the left hand side of the keyboard, not across the top. Many of them had software-specific labels as well, e.g. "copy" "paste" and "spell-check" which were designed to directly map on to Microsoft Edit or some other console-mode word processor. (I believe it may even have been called Word, but it's been some 20 years since I used that program...) The closest image I can find on the web is this Japanese IBM PS/2 keyboard, which has both F-keys and PF-keys; but mine was a US version. Nimur (talk) 20:31, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Correction - I think it was pfs:Write, not Word. This doesn't appear to have ever been a Microsoft product... Nimur (talk) 20:39, 14 January 2010 (UTC) [reply]

Thanks all! Dismas|^(talk) 07:39, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've found lots of research lab references to neural network integrated circuits but no references to actual chips out on the market for sale. Where can I find neural network chips that are available for purchase? --71.100.14.125 (talk) 22:17, 14 January 2010 (UTC) [reply]

Is this one of any interest? I have no particular knowledge here; I just googled "neural network" chip and then clicked "Shopping" at the top of the resulting Google page. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:41, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You can implement a neural network on an FPGA. Those are widely available and can be much cheaper than the special-purpose chip linked above. Nimur (talk) 04:49, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My question is about Adobe Photoshop and its handling of alpha channels of PNG files. If I load an RGB graphics file that has an alpha channel, like a TGA or PSD file, then Photoshop's "Channels" tab shows the channels "RGB", "Red", "Green", "Blue", and "Alpha 1", as expected. When I save this file as a PNG and then load the PNG into Photoshop, the "Alpha 1" channel doesn't exist anymore under the "Channels" tab. The transparent areas of the bitmap are still shown as transparent, but there is no alpha channel in the Channels tab for me to edit. How do I get to the alpha channel in Photoshop? (Pre-emptive notes: This behavior has been observed both in Photoshop CS2 and CS4. I need to do this in Photoshop, not the GIMP or any other graphics utility. I've tried using the SuperPNG plugin instead of the PNG plugin that comes with Photoshop, and there's no change in the behavior of Photoshop.) Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:40, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Followup question in case I was not clear enough above: Is there a way to make it do what I want (store alpha channel information in a separate channel as listed under the "Channels" tab)? Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:56, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Reading our Portable Network Graphics article, I am just coming to learn that PNG files actually have numerous options for storing transparency information. Unfortunately, while alpha channels are a valid option according to the PNG specification, they don't seem to be the standard and are not commonly supported in a lot of graphics tools. Instead, a palette-ized "special pixel code", representing transparency, is more common. It would seem that the default library that Photoshop uses does not support saving PNG files with complete Alpha Channel transparency, opting instead for one of these palette-ized variants. I haven't found a workaround. Nimur (talk) 02:28, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That's so weird! I'm deeply confused by Nimur's response. I work in computer graphics - we use transparency in PNG all the time - it's our primary archive format for texture maps - I've been doing that for well over 10 years and I've never once had problems in either Photoshop or GIMP!! If Nimur wasn't someone I trust, I'd call "bullshit"...but I'm not going to do that. I think that all of this weirdness that you refer to must result from using palletized PNG. When you palletize an image, you lose quality - and the quality loss in alpha is (evidently) dramatic. We never use the palleted version of PNG - so I'm pretty sure that if you save them as full color then there is only one way that alpha is stored and it always works just fine - even with the stock Photoshop loader. Older versions of Internet Explorer have trouble displaying transparent PNG - perhaps that's what's confusing you?

SteveBaker (talk) 03:34, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Let me clarify my poorly worded explanation. First of all, for the record, I love PNG. They are among the most versatile tool for web-based imagery, and suitable for photo-quality or diagram-style images, they preserve text - etc. They have numerous benefits. Most importantly, their transparency support is spectacular (discounting the old browser versions Steve mentioned). But what I am surprised to discover is that most PNG transparency is not performed by storing a separate alpha channel. It seems that in my version of Photoshop (Photoshop 7, albeit a little old), it is not even an option to store a complete alpha channel for a PNG. So, if you are exporting a PNG file with transparent pixels, Photoshop is always palette-izing it. From Comet Tuttle's description, it seems that this is the case in even newer Photoshop CS 2 and 4.

This is very unfortunate, because you lose the complete 8-bit/256-level transparency capability; and you lose some of your total dynamic range in the rest of the color channels. This is further complicated by the compression that PNG applies. If Steve or anyone else does know of a way to export PNG from Photoshop with full alpha channel (e.g. a true 32-bit per pixel, RGBa scheme)), by all means please post a link or a description. Nimur (talk) 03:47, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Addendum - since this is the reference desk, let me link to the official PNG Specification: tRNS Transparency vs. Alpha Channel transparency. Clearly the superior quality of a separate alpha channel is counterbalanced against the superior compression capability of tRNS. The introduction to transparency discusses technical details. There is also support for both pre- and non-premultiplied alpha. I don't know why a professional image editing suite like Photoshop would not provide an option to control this detail - it's something a professional image editor would care about. Nimur (talk) 04:02, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Further experimentation is showing even more complexity. My best guess is that Photoshop zeros out any pixel with 0 alpha, before exporting to PNG and compressing. I've been experimenting with an alpha channel on Liz Phair, starting with an original, creating an alpha channel, ranging from 0.0 to 1.0, in Photoshop and exporting as a PNG with transparency, and then after re-loading that result into Photoshop or GIMP, I attempt to reconstruct the original by re-setting the alpha to 1.0 every pixel - but although some pixels are restored, it doesn't reconstruct everything. Clearly, there's a mess of lossy compression, block coding, alpha pre-multiplication, and inter-channel compression, etc., that is beyond the simple approximation of separate channels for each color and alpha. Short of a bitmap format or totally lossless compression, I think this is as good as it gets. Nimur (talk) 04:36, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There is a Photoshop plugin from 2007 called SuperPNG from 2007, and another plugin called PNGOUT, both of which purport to improve PNG compatibility from the built-in Adobe solution, and the latter specifically states that it can be configured to write PNGs with 24-bit color with an 8-bit alpha channel. But this is slightly beside the point — what has baffled me is why Photoshop doesn't load any variety of PNG, no matter how it stores transparency, and stores the transparency information as an alpha channel, to support the standard workflow that Photoshop artists are accustomed to. I have not found a PNG file yet that Photoshop (for Windows, CS2 and CS4, anyway) loads and displays an alpha channel for. Comet Tuttle (talk) 05:56, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In LaTeX, is there any way to apply \textstyle to some region (say an entire \align), or to the entire document? 128.237.251.92 (talk) 22:43, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You can use \DeclareMathSizes, but that applies only to the entire document and changes only the size of symbols, not other things like limits placement. I don't know of a way to extend \textstyle's reach, sorry. --Tardis (talk) 16:28, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Define a new command that combines the \align with the \textstyle. Taemyr (talk) 08:51, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, a \begin{align} block may need multiple \textstyle declarations within it, because their scope is limited (there's no "toplevel" inside the align where you could put it). You'd have to do some really clever redefinition so that things like & within your command/environment generated their own \textstyles. By contrast (and as an extension to my original answer), you can put an entire \begin{aligned} (from amsmath) under the domain of a \textstyle, but that's somewhat different. --Tardis (talk) 16:49, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

At random intervals during computer use, certain spammy webpages open such as www.drastic news.com and www.medic tales.com (I've broken the URLs so they're not registered by spiders). I'm running up-to-date Avast antivirus and Adaware anti-malware programs with frequent scans but neither have been able to resolve this issue. Is there any way I can trace from what program the command to open a webpage originates? The pages open in Firefox, which is my system default, so it's not IE related. As a workaround, stopping Firefox from stealing focus when a webpage loads, would also suffice. ----Seans Potato Business 02:52, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Install Microsoft Security Essentials. Ariel. (talk) 04:31, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I would run a Windows Defender search. Windows Defender is probably installed on your computer. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 14:29, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Try doing a series of different scans, such as those by Malwarebytes, Superantispyware, AdvancedSystemCare, Spybot Search & Destroy, to see if they detect something. Clean the computer with Ccleaner before doing a scan. If that does not cure it, find a forum that studies HijackThis reports.

89.243.221.49 (talk) 23:52, 15 January 2010 (UTC) I've had the same problem, reformated the hard disk drive and reinstalled windows, yet it still happens and it's always on the default browser, either IE or Firefox.[reply]

i need to draw dfd for BMC REMEDY User tool.any help thanks in advance —Preceding unsigned comment added by Priyankaranigmail (talk • contribs) 06:37, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

? 220.101.28.25 (talk) 14:01, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm going to guess that DFD means Data flow diagram. The article has some general information on creating such. I'm not personally familiar with BMC Remedy except by name. --LarryMac | Talk 14:06, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I would like to be able to click on any image and have all related web-pages come up. Is there any search engine or software (preferably free) which can do this, perhaps by image analysis? Clicking on images or copying and pasting image URL's usually yields poor results.Trevor Loughlin (talk) 14:45, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Have you used TinEye? -- kainaw™ 15:43, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have, but all TinEye does is match the exact picture - every pixel must be the same or it will come up with nothing. There's no attempt at image analysis. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:49, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That's not true -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:40, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I stand corrected and thank you! I didn't read the FAQ. I was thrown off by the message that Tineye gave me after I uploaded a picture that it was unable to find any results for: "TinEye looks for the specific image you uploaded, not the content of the image. TinEye cannot identify people or objects in an image." Still true, but the ambiguity of the wording led me to the wrong conclusion. Sorry. Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:32, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I can't begin to tell you how many photos of Claudia Schiffer I had to look through before I found an example this clear (the last 2 on the 2nd page of TinEye's search are particularly impressive). It's a terrible job, but someone has to do it. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 23:47, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think there are any search engines that can do what you want if you mean that they analyze the image for content and make sense of it and look for other content. Google Images can do very basic things like looking for "related" images that are defined by the fact of the textual content that surrounds them being similar to other images, and it can restrict images by virtue of their size and even color, but that's about it. We are not really at the state where you can take an image and tell a computer "what's in this" and have it give reliably correct results, unless the possibilities of what could be in the image are very constrained. You could probably make something that could spot dogs in an image, for example, and if the possibilities were only dogs and people and cats. But to make something that could figure out what any given animal was just from a photo would require not only some very savvy visual analysis abilities, but basically some kind of pretty smart artificial intelligence to make sense of it. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:17, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That said, here is a short blurb from April 2008 about Google's efforts in this area. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:39, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Images in Wikipedia don't show up in my computer. I tried Internet Explorer and Firefox. There are no pictures showing up either I login or logout. I have no problems viewing pictures on other website except Wikipedia. I used to be able to view all pictures in Wikipedia. But all of sudden, they all disappear a couple of weeks ago. Eminslw (talk) 04:20, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This link and this link may be of use to you. I hope this helps. JW..[ T..C ] 06:26, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ugh, using Yahoo Answers links to answer Ref Desk questions? Very bad form, and not helpful, considering no one on there seemed to know what was going on. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:07, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What does it tell you if you go to a link like this: [8] ? --Mr.98 (talk) 16:08, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I was not aware of the fact that it is "very bad form". I'll try to be helpful next time, though. JW..[ T..C ] 23:08, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I want to give an Ubuntu installation a Windows 7-like look. I've found a theme called "Who Needs Windows 7 ?" but couldn't figure out how to apply it. Can someone help? --173.49.78.246 (talk) 14:31, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Emerald Theme Manager instructions from the official website explain how. Make sure you actually have Compiz Fusion installed, per these Ubuntu instructions. Nimur (talk) 15:04, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Some java programs I have used have put themselves on the list of installed programs - (ie the same place JRE,MS Office,IE7 etc appear) - when trying to uninstall them this fails - and it seems that they cannot be removed from the list.

Questions (from quite complete ignorance):

• Why are they appearing on the list at all - surely they run within Java - which is already on the list - is this done automatically, or is it the programmers decision.
• Is this a common problem with java - or is it more likely the fault of the person who made the app?

(examples "TugaTurtle" http://bagotricks.com/projects/tugaturtle/ , "Drunk" http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~sbj/examples/Java-applications/Drunk/ ) I'm sure I've run java programs that haven't done this, and "drunk" only uses java.awt.*; java.awt.event.*; javax.swing.*; java.util.*; , with no heavy code used - ?? Shortfatlad (talk) 16:24, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Programs appear in that list when they are added to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall. You type regedit in the Run box to get to the keys. I'm not familiar with those Java apps you refer to, but I've never had an issue uninstalling other Java Apps from that list. They've all been well-known apps, though, like IntelliJ IDEA. I have had issue with programs written in C++ (e.g., MS Office 2007). I have also had issues with uninstallation when old files from previous versions of the program in question have been left behind. That confuses the installer sometimes. The Windows installer can also become corrupt for one reason or another, meaning you have to repair it by downloading the installer from Microsoft's web site. But, if I had to guess, I would say that it's probably the programmer's fault in this case.

To install a program in Windows, you usually download a .exe file from the software maker. This .exe often extracts a .msi file from itself and then executes the .msi using this command: msiexec /I and then the name of the .msi file. That's how programs are usually installed in Windows. If you want to uninstall it, the command is msiexec /X and then the .msi file. .msi files are usually stored in the C:\WINDOWS\installer folder after they have been installed.--Drknkn (talk) 17:10, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

ok I found the programs in the registry (using find "tuga turtle" etc) - couldn't find C:\WINDOWS\installer

Both were .jnlp files - eventually found this [9] and got them to go away by deleting them in the cache as described (system>control panel>java>etc)

Can I assume it was the fault of the programmers and not java-web-start itself? (quick search reveals some possible bugs simialar to this)

Maybe someone could suggest a .jnlp program that should uninstall correctly so I could check it?Shortfatlad (talk) 18:52, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

C:\WINDOWS\Installer is hidden. You have to enter the path (e.g. in Win+R, cmd.exe, an explorer window, etc.). --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 18:59, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks - found it - the java programs don't appear to be appearing in there - can't find them anyway ?

Can it be that although the programs are added to the registry (and so I suppose appear in "installed programs" - there is actually no uninstaller program since they are really just .java applications that run in jre? Thus the correct way to completely remove them is via controlpanel>java ? (and hence not a bug at all?) Shortfatlad (talk) 19:10, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

While I'm here - another question - realplayer seems to get confused (I assume it's realplayer since the problem seemed to start when I first started using it) about what files are in use - basically it 'randomly' will refuse to release files - thus I can't move or delete them... Two questions:

• Using the cmd.exe (after closing explorer) method to delete them works - question - will this cause problems in the long term?
• Is there a way to find out what program/thing the file/OS thinks is using the file currently - ie when a file is in use by another program - where is that info stored - and is it accessible?

ThanksShortfatlad (talk) 19:17, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You might find Handle helpful. Or follow the link on that page to Process Explorer, both by the fine people at Sysinternals. –RHolton≡– 21:23, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes - I've downloaded and am trying process explorer - it does seem to correctly find which programs are using files. I'll keep it on hand for the next time the problem occurs. Thanks.Shortfatlad (talk) 23:21, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In firefox, I want a way to automatically open every new item in an rss feed into a new tab. How could this be done? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.124 (talk) 18:21, 16 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe you can right-click the rss feed and select "Open all in tabs" in the drop-down menu...? 24.189.90.68 (talk) 00:16, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sure but it needs to be automatic, ie doesn't need me to click anything once it's set up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.124 (talk) 11:11, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Have you looked on Mozilla's website to see if anyone's come up with an add-on to do this? --TammyMoet (talk) 19:13, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, and I checked userscripts.org too in case someone had written a greasemonkey script for this, but no luck ;_; —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.124 (talk) 19:22, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Would it be possible to write a greasemonkey script that could do this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.83 (talk) 13:50, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How do I add a date to the xp toolbar bottom right? I cannot get the upright line to hover over the top edge of the bar; it remains an arrow. Kittybrewster ☎ 09:05, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Right-click on the taskbar, and uncheck "Lock taskbar" (or whatever it is called in the English version of XP). --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 12:57, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's "Lock the Taskbar". Pretty close though, Andreas. Thanks, gENIUS101 18:48, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have some hidden folders in a file on my computer. I always accessed them by searching by enabling the hidden folder option. Now whenever I click the search button on the toolbar, nothing happens. The search options do not appear on the side of the screen as they normally do. What is the problem? I use windows xp. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.71.54.159 (talk) 13:04, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure why your search options aren't appearing, but you can also access hidden folders by going to the control panel, to "folder options" (in classic view) and picking "show hidden files and folders" in the advanced section of the "view" tab. Rckrone (talk) 20:59, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm trying to find a program that splits (and maybe joins) .flv files without encoding the entire thing (is this possible) - so far the options I've found require me to re-encode the entire stream - when I think it only needs to tidy the ends (create new key frames at the beginning?) and update meta-data? Will pay, (not house prices though), at a pinch can use the command line - but would need someway of finding the frame or time to sub-second accuracy.

When I say flv I almost certainly mean H264/AAC encoded files. Just to clarify I'm looking for something that can split flv without the image degradation associated with de-encoding/encoding. Shortfatlad (talk) 14:11, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

avidemux --kv7sW9bIr8 (talk) 14:20, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I tried that before - but kept getting the message - "H264 detected.. if the file uses B frames... use a different method y/n" then beyond that got errors if I selected the optional method or not - either failure to insert a key frame at the beginning (giving 'LSD' type effects), or timing messed up/no sound.

it does very nearly work though...

(The generic software "ultra video splitter"/"allok video splitter" does work, but the seek method is so simplistic that it makes editing near impossible.)

Shortfatlad (talk) 15:13, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Are there any other options?Shortfatlad (talk) 16:13, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

AVS Video Remaker, however the free version limits the video time to 5 mins --kv7sW9bIr8 (talk) 16:35, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I tried that before, but I tried again just in case - 50% of the time it works, but the other 50% of the time produces totally garbled output (+other problems). Front end is quite nice though.Shortfatlad (talk) 17:23, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Lots of people want to chop .flv files - the first person to make available something - hopefully freeware - will have a huge demand. The format conversion programmes I've tried are very poor. Since several video players can play flv files, I'm wondering what is so difficult about editing them. 92.29.80.215 (talk) 16:42, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I would guess (from some failed edits I've seen) that one problem is reconstructing the frames at the 'cut ends' amongst other things - though I'm don't know enough to know why this is problematic for flv when windows movie maker has done it for wmv for many years..Shortfatlad (talk) 17:34, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Every modern video editing program can do flv. If it's fucking up you've obviously got some weird ass flv file encoded in a shitty way or perhaps not even a normal flv just using flv as a container

Is there any easy way to make my own screensavers? And would it be possible to have moving 'wallpaper'? I use Windows XP; but soon I am also going to be using Ubuntu. Thanks. 92.29.80.215 (talk) 16:06, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You can make screensavers in any programming language with a decent compilator for the Windows platform, because a *.scr file is actually a *.exe file with an odd extension. When the application starts, you simply have to check the command-line flags to determine wheather to start the screensaver, open the settings dialog box, or create a preview of the screensaver. I have made several screensavers in Delphi, for example. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 16:40, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I made a screensaver in Visual Basic: [10]. I think VB apps will run in Ubuntu since it includes Mono. As for a moving wall paper, just use an animated GIF. You could also use Active Desktop, which is essentially a web page on your desktop. You could embed a flash movie into that.--Drknkn (talk) 16:42, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, although as I am only familar with GWBasic that looks too difficult for me. 92.29.80.215 (talk) 18:39, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe you could try Screensaver Factory. There are a bunch of other applications out there for making screen savers, although the screen saver probably wouldn't work in Ubuntu. Yes, VB is very different from GWBasic, so I don't blame you.--Drknkn (talk) 18:44, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks again, although I was hoping to do some kinetic art like a cellular automata, not really a slide-show. 92.29.80.215 (talk) 20:56, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I was typing when a window opened up to aks me if i wanted to play a cd in media player or itunes or whatever, but my typing somehow inadvertantly selected media player. Now every music cd opens in media player.

Since, as we all know, windows media player is an annoying pile of toss, how do i change the settings so it just asks me what programme to use like it used to? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.67.39.49 (talk) 16:18, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

More than one way - select a file of the type you used using right click - then select "open with" - then pick your program from the list - AND - check the box that says - "always use the selected program to open this type of file". Done.

Or. Open your preferred media player and open the options or preferences box - you need to find the bit which says "file associations" or similar. Then check the boxes you want.Shortfatlad (talk) 16:32, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Very similar for dvd/cd drives - again more than one way - see [11] seems to cover most methods.Shortfatlad (talk) 16:37, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

On Windows XP right click your cd drive and select properties, then go to the autoplay tab and change the settings. On Vista or Win 7 go to the control panel, then click hardware and sound, then autoplay and change the settings --kv7sW9bIr8 (talk) 16:57, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Cheers guys. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.67.39.49 (talk) 01:04, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Would it be correct in calling the LHC Computing Grid as a supercomputer?--Seraphiel (talk) 17:23, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Any help, anyone?--Seraphiel (talk) 18:12, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hold on.. I think it's a borderline case - from what I read the system is primarily used for storing massive amounts of data, but not so much performing calculations (though their still is a lot of that), which is what most people think of when we say "supercomputer" - it probably could be reconfigured into a respectable cluster - see [12] (first 2 para) also news news - this makes me think of describing it as a "cloud supercomputer".. no idea if I just coined a new term.

The other article is Grid computing which explains the hair-splitting differences. I don't think their would be any real issue with calling it a supercomputer

...CERN (said sic) that its Tier-0 computing center runs on about 30,000 CPUs and houses about 5 PB (5 million GB) of disk storage and 16 PB of tape storage. [13]

, it's just not a conventional one like a cray.Shortfatlad (talk) 18:22, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm...interesting..Maybe I'm safer not to call it one then, since it is a borderline case.--Seraphiel (talk) 18:51, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hello all. I have a Dell Latitude D630 with Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, which has a speed of ~2.20Ghz. My laptop's graphics card is a "Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family"; device ID 2A02 and 2A03. I am looking to possibly purchase this program. I need some help figuring out if my computer could run the program. The website recommends the following system requirements (which I have partially checked):

• Pentium4 2.26GHz or higher (see question below)
• 512MB of system memory ( Yes)
• At least 128MB of dedicated video memory ( Not sure...Where do I find if I have this?)
• 256-bit video memory bus -or- a high speed 128-bit video memory bus ( Not sure...Where do I find if I have this?)
• 8 or more pixel shader units ( Not sure...Where do I find if I have this?)

With the processor, would my 2.20Ghz processor be able to run the program, given the recommended requirement is a 2.26Ghz? I don't really know how much of a difference 0.06Ghz makes.

Thanks in advance for any help you provide. Ks0stm ^(T•C•G) 20:08, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, you will. (If you have Windows XP or later.) The CPU frequency is only mentioned at the recommended requirements list. In addition, Pentium 4 is old. Your Core 2 Duo is faster. But if this indeed is a GPU and CPU intensive application, it will probably run more smoothly on a (powerful) stationary computer. But it will probably run quite well on your laptop too. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 20:35, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think that this will not work. Your CPU speed may be enough, but the Intel 965 Express is about the lowest end video chip you can get. It lacks the pixel shaders necessary to do what you need, and probably the ram.

But don't take my word for it. Download this program to scan video card's capabilities. Make a note of the physical memory, and the shader processors. (You need either more than 8 "unified" or more than 8 "PP"), and finally make a note of the Direct X version. That software needs a video chip that is comparable with 9.0c. APL (talk) 04:16, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I have to agree. I focused only on the CPU (due to the headline). In general, mobile GPUs are not good, and this is probably more low-end than most GPUs. I would not dare to say that the app will not work, but if it does start, animation and rendering may be very slow. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 08:22, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, I downloaded the program, and it came out with 384MB graphics memory and Direct X 9.0c, but a grand total of 0 VP and 0 PP. And therefore, a new question: What would I have to do to upgrade my computer to be able to handle the program, and what is a rough estimate of what it might cost? Ks0stm ^(T•C•G) 20:42, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I lost my mobile phone over the weekend and now find that I've no alarm to get me up for work tomorrow morning. Is there a way I can set my PC to wake me in the morning. I'm using windows 7 but can find any alarm clock app. Thanks. Stanstaple (talk) 20:55, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Any respectable music player - for example, Winamp - should have an alarm clock function built-in or available as a plugin. Obviously you would need to leave your lappy on for it to work. If you have an iPod, it might also have a built-in alarm clock, depending on how new it is (my 5G nano does). As a last resort, you can try searching websites such as download.com. Xenon54 / talk / 21:29, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There are probably a lot of desktop gadgets that you can use. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 23:03, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Not the same as activating a new product. What does the user get out of using this? Apparantly it replaces your old Windows product key with a new one. http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/selfhelp/XPPkuinst.aspx?displaylang=en&sGuid=7b567a9d-8e31-4c2c-b039-6ea2cf0c9cf4 Wouldnt the old product key be just as good? I can see that Microsoft gets to check if you have authentic software, but what is the advantage to the user if the old product key was OK and legitimate? 92.29.80.215 (talk) 21:04, 17 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You only need to use the tool if you have reason to do so (i.e. a wrong/non genuine key was input and you now need to enter a new one). If your product key is working fine then there's no reason to use it. ZX81 ^talk 04:15, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This seems like a kind of a dumb question, but I can't work it out. My friend has a website set up with a domain name set up pointing to it. I've bought two more domains, and I just want them to redirect to his site. Is there some simple way I can whois the site, and find out what nameservers to use? Do I need his registrar login too, or can I just do this myself? 202.10.88.75 (talk) 03:04, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

All you need is the IP address of his server, and you can point your DNS names to that IP. You don't need anything from his DNS registrar at all.

One potential issue, which you may or may not actually experience, is related to DNS-based virtual hosts. Some servers are configured to verify that the DNS-name matches the expected DNS name. This is called Name-Based Virtual Hosting. Personally, I think it's a bad idea. But, some people like it (either for "security reasons" or to allow multiple sites to be hosted on the same IP address). If your friend's site is configured this way, you need to add or allow the virtual host for your DNS names, on the server configuration. Here are instructions for Apache 2.x. Nimur (talk) 03:45, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Although name based hosting does offer some mild security because it's harder to "stumble" across it, the main reason is simply because in most cases there just aren't enough IPv4 IP addresses available for every site to have a unique IP. You can read more about that at IPv4 address exhaustion ZX81 ^talk 04:13, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Consider a domain built around or incorporating, say, a Windows Server 2003 file server. Is it possible to construct a permissions matrix such that users are able to write files in subdirectories, but are unable to create new folders/subdirectories? If so, pointers to exactly which permissions options should be checked would be welcome. thanks --Tagishsimon (talk) 14:51, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm trying to connect an x86 machine (XP) via a wireless connection to a usb printer connected to a x64 (win7) machine. - for printing.

The problem is that I get to the add a printer part - and the computer says that it doesn't have the correct drivers.. (on the x86 machine). Going on the x64 machine I see that it says it only has x64 drivers installer for the printer, and suggests adding x86 for older computers connected to it on the network. So far so good - that's what I need.

However I can't find x86 drivers - the option given is to browse the x86 folder - but I have no idea what I'm looking for. If I try any driver updates the computer just installs the x64 driver again and gives no option to add x86 drivers.

The machine is a HP PSC 1400 type. On HP's website there I can't find "drivers" just a 70MB program that installs a "HP Imaging and scanning solution"

(Note the network etc all is fine, and the system used to work before until the x64 windows 7 machine replaced a x86 XP machine)

Can someone tell me what file I'm actually looking for (the x86 HP PSC 1400 driver) - so I can search for it, or suggest what else to do. Thanks.87.102.67.84 (talk) 16:16, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

On the Win7 box: right click on the printer icon and select Printer properties > Sharing > Additional drivers. Is there a check box for x86? If so, check it and select OK. Browse to the driver install and see if you can install it. This loads the driver so that it can be pushed to an x86 box when it tries to use the share.

Otherwise try installing the printer on the x86 box using LPT1 so that the driver is in place, then install it using the share. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 17:23, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

First paragraph - I got stuck at Browse to the driver install

I got to the check box - and ticked it - it then came up with a dialog in which the only option seemed to be to browse the hard disk for it (there was another option to select a driver from a list - but my printer wasn't on that.) - the problem is that I have no idea what file I am looking for - I guess it's not called "HP PSC driver for x86" :) , it likely isn't actually on the computer anyway.

On HP's site there are various downloads, Windows 7 won't accept the x86 software package on the x64 machine, so I can't get a driver that way. On that site there doesn't seem to be anything like a descreet driver - just 700MB software suites that include everything.

I tried using windows update, but it won't install an additional x86 driver - just thinks I want the x64 type. no options given.

I can probably try to install a driver directly onto the x86 XP machine- but again I don't have the driver, and HP doesn't seem to give one - just the option of the massive software suites with a driver somewhere within - maybe if I install that I could find the driver, copy it, and dump the bloat? Any clues as to what the file will be?87.102.67.84 (talk) 17:53, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I wonder if I carry the x86 machine over to the printer and plug it directly into the USB would it automatically install the drivers? 87.102.67.84 (talk) 18:10, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see a 1400, but there is a 1410. From http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=441115 you can select then XP then "HP Officejet and PSC Basic Driver". And your sneakernet idea just might work. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 18:16, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes 1410 (or 14xx series) (or as HP's software calls it the 4200 series) - this has to be one of the most uninspiring experiences of my life - the fully featured HP software refuses to detect the printer on the network - despite the fact that I can see it on the network. If I try direct connection the software fails to do anything. Plug and play fails to find drivers via windows update. If I run the software, and connect to the printer later it decides to work.! Actually being connected to the printer when running the setup seems to be a problem for it despite it telling me that is exactly what I must do. :)

I still haven't got a .inf file for the x64 machine, but at least it works.87.102.67.84 (talk) 21:01, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

But now that you have the driver installed, you should be able to browse the network for the printer, double click on it and it should use the installed driver. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 22:49, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes it does do that. I was hoping that I'd be able to find a suitable set of files to copy over to the x64 machine for it to keep in case I need to connect another, but I didn't find anything. I still find it slightly annoying that I have (yet another) program showing up on my installed list - just to get a driver, but it's better than 10m of usb cable.87.102.67.84 (talk) 23:33, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What I really don't understand is how the installer fails to find the printer on the network when told to do so - it shows up pretty clearly for me in controlpanel>printers - I wonder where it's looking?87.102.67.84 (talk) 23:37, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I need a program that can record every connection through my internet connection, where the requests were going, the sites being browsed etc etc basically any activity through my internet connection it can show. Any suggestions for programs that can do this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.83 (talk) 17:19, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wireshark. You need some knowledge of networking and protocols to interpret the traces. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 17:24, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You may be able to snoop on the history of the ingoing and outgoing connections via your router's web browser interface. Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:23, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Also look at Ethereal --Phil Holmes (talk) 09:21, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wireshark is the new name for Ethereal. -- Coneslayer (talk) 18:34, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I spend too much of my life going to the window that I keep my Hotmail open in and pressing refresh (occasionally I get important emails that need immediate attention) I'm starting to get a bit OCD over it. Is there some way of getting instant alerts for this? The Hotmail pages have left me merely confused. Changing my email address isn't really practical for me, as I'm self-employed almost-instinct 18:24, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Such a thing is generally called a "notifier" - if you search Google for "hotmail notifier" you'll find a bunch, both free-standing and built into the browser. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 18:40, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps not really useful to you I know, but there are a lot of tools like this for gmail in particular. It's also quite easy to get a gmail address and have all of your hotmail forwarded to that address. This would allow you to use (in my opinion) a far superior e-mail client, still easily get e-mail from your old address, have a fancy new and (again, in my opinion) more professional sounding e-mail address, and you can use many of the organizational features in gmail including some of their notification tools. </faux sales pitch> Chris M. (talk) 18:46, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You could get a gmail account and set up your hotmail account to forward emails to it. Then install the google toolbar, which has a little notifier on it to tell you if you have new email. I use this method myself because it's a hassle to log into one of my email addresses. I think Finlay's method might be a simpler option though! (Edit conflict, just saw Chris post the same message). Seraphim♥ 18:48, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Also if you get a phone that supports pushmail (what, no article?) you can get a little "beep" in your phone whenever you get mail, at least with Gmail (my iPhone can do this, but I found it amazingly annoying and turned it off after one day...) Jørgen (talk) 19:10, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think if you get your hotmail via Windows Live Mail rather than web based you can change the settings to give an alert (like messenger) when a new message come in. Check - you can get it to play a sound when new messages arrive - in "options">"general", There is supposed to be a way to get it to send a message to a mobile phone as well if you get new mail. Alternatively have you tried searching for "hotmail automatic alerts" - there seem to be many programs that will monitor one or many e-mail accounts for new messages and alert you eg [14] I've no idea which if any can be recommended. 87.102.67.84 (talk) 20:16, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for all these suggestions. I tried out the final one, using Windows Live Mail. The mail notifications are not absolutely instant, but you can set how often it checks for new mail - so I set it for every one minute. The forwarding to Gmail idea wasn't an option as Hotmail can only be forwarded to other Microsoft mail accounts. Unlike most people on the planet, I don't like Gmail (which I also have an account with) anyway. Before I downloaded Windows Live Mail, it didn't occur to me that it would also want to download ten years' worth of mail- that took a while! The final result is that when I get new mail, the Mail icon in the bottom right hand corner gets overlaid with an envelope and my computer beeps. Thank you everyone! almost-instinct 10:33, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Is there a way to prepend gksu to an action I perform with the GNOME GUI? Right now, for example, I would like to select all the files and folders in a particular folder, right-click, and choose "Properties", but would like sudo invoked so I can set the permissions how I want. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:01, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In the general case, nautilus-actions might be able to help you. I think "Properties" is kind of hardwired, though, so you might be out of luck if you want to gksu it (though I haven't checked for sure). Marnanel (talk) 14:53, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm running XP SP3, with the most current version of Windows Media Player (11.0.5.etc). WMV files play correctly, but nothing else does. MPGs show in very stilted fashion (like one frame for every two-three seconds). AVIs seem to play normally, but when I click the seek bar to "fast forward", the player shuts off completely. It's difficult to say for certain, but I believe the behaviour started since installing DivX. This is a new machine, but I've installed DivX and used it with WMP numerous times before without anything like this. So far as I can tell, I'm up-to-date with everything. Any suggestions? Right now I'm using VLC for playback, but I'd prefer to get WMP running again. Matt Deres (talk) 23:13, 18 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

FFDShow, an open source codec/directshow utility for Windows, is much more stable than DivX. When FFDShow is installed, it can play DivX videos in Windows Media Player or other video players. The root cause of your playback problem(s) is difficult to diagnose from the information you provided; but it could be related to incompatability between DivX and your new graphics adapter. To some extent, DivX and other packages use hardware acceleration for video decompression; if your new machine is failing with the same software that worked on an older machine, I would suspect something related to hardware overlays or video drivers. As far as a solution, I would just switch to FFdshow. Nimur (talk) 03:45, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I need a wireless router that's longer range than most consumer type routers. I need to cover 3 floors of an older home...not super concerned with speed though. I can't run cables through the walls etc...it's been harder to find than I thought...ideas? 69.180.160.77 (talk) 05:25, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Google wireless-g repeater. Comet Tuttle (talk) 05:38, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

where do i find last logon date and time in yahoo mail —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ismail pcs (talk • contribs) 09:40, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I came up empty after a couple of minutes' time in the help section, suggesting that Yahoo Mail does not have a feature letting you see this information. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:37, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with you and as far as I know it's not possible to view the last logged in time on Yahoo (or Hotmail for that matter). It's probably not any help, but Gmail does offer this feature. ZX81 ^talk 17:54, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I write graphics programs in BASIC using SCREEN 12 mode which gives a display size 640x480 pix and 16 colours. I would like to change the palette colours, for example to a 16-step grey scale, by POKE'ing bytes into the palette address. (There is a PALETTE command but I have not succeeded in using it to get what I want.) Can anyone tell me the address where the palette is stored? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 12:07, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It is not stored in memory but in VGA registers, so you would need OUT instructions, or whatever they are called in Basic. (If not OUT try PORT or something.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.35.160.133 (talk) 13:13, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The part of the VGA you need to OUT to is called the DAC (Digital Analog Converter). It has 256 byte-triplets for the red-green-blue values of the max. 256 vga colors. Technical details here: [[15]]. Btw, PALETTE should work too, I think. 195.35.160.133 (talk) 13:25, 19 January 2010 (UTC) Martin.[reply]

My graphics programs written in Borland Turbo BASIC worked on every PC until I used Vista Home Premium. This OS refuses to show VGA graphics and warns "This system does not support full screen graphics". A) What can I do? B) Is the article Video Graphics Array wrong to say VGA is (as of 2009) the lowest common denominator that all PC graphics hardware supports" ? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 12:09, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect your hardware supports VGA, but Vista won't allow direct hardware access to VGA. 195.35.160.133 (talk) 13:15, 19 January 2010 (UTC) Martin.[reply]

(A) Have you tried setting the properties of your compiled app such that Vista thinks it has to run it in Windows 95 Compatibility Mode? (B) I put a fact-tag on that sentence in the article because it is unreferenced. I have no evidence but would suspect that all graphics boards in current production support at least 640x480, 256-color Super VGA, or even 800x600; I would be quite shocked to find a current graphics board that doesn't support those two. Alternatively, it might be wrong if a demented hobbyist somewhere is still making EGA graphics boards. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:32, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

is JSP a Servlet?

Assuming you mean JavaServer Pages then "Architecturally, JSP may be viewed as a high-level abstraction of Java servlets." (from the article).87.102.67.84 (talk) 13:35, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What is it? Kittybrewster ☎ 15:39, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It usually refers to a search engine of software cracking tools—used for pirating software, games, etc. The cracks are programs that modify the original program in order to eliminate its copy-protection schemes. I suspect they have gotten a lot less necessary for pirating these days, as it has become more common to just download the entire, cracked program available via torrent websites. But back in the day, you could borrow a disc from a friend, download the crack (usually a very small file), and use that to install it, even if there were copy-protection schemes. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:56, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You may be thinking of Astalavista.box.sk, but I can't say that I recommend it. Make sure you've got good virus protection. APL (talk) 16:49, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I found it by searching for terrapin ftp which led me to the word "crack" and I couldn't see the connection. Kittybrewster ☎ 17:33, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Nowadays crack engines are full of viruses, adware, etc. The days of cracking your own software are pretty bygone at this point. --Mr.98 (talk) 17:52, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Finding cracks via google is easy

Does anyone know how to change the contact details for the Serpentine Gallery?

I have been trying and cannot get my head round it?

The correct address is:

Kensington Gardens London W2 3XA

NOT

Queensborough Terrace, Paddington,

Please help???? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Serpentine gallery press dept (talk • contribs) 18:16, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There is no contact information in Serpentine Gallery. It appears that you are concerned about the coordinates. They are not based on an address. It is the latitude and longitude of the gallery. Many mapping services will show an address when you give it a lat/lon coordinate. That address may be wrong - but it has nothing to do with Wikipedia. -- kainaw™ 18:21, 19 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]