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July 23

Graphical/Visual Programming Languages

Can I have some good, free general purpose graphical/visual programming languages for Windows that are used to develop programs in a fashion similar to the dataflow methodologies of LabVIEW/Lego Robolab or Quartz Composer (even thought Quartz Composer is used to develop animations and the like)? --Melab±1 ☎ 01:32, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

While I don't think this is really what you are looking for, it's something - Scratch 199.67.140.44 (talk) 12:56, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

There's a list at visual programming language with a number of free ones. --Sean 15:37, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

TaskManager

Why does "TaskManager has been disabled by Administrator" happen ? I think it is some virus mischief, and what is the remedy ?  Jon Ascton  (talk) 02:05, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Some files have automatically come up on my harddisk. When I try to delete them I can't. It says "Access Denied. Make sure the files are not write-protected or currently in use ". They are .dll. What should I do ?

It's Defense Center problem

If someone else administers the computer, that person might have disabled Task Manager. If it's your own computer and you didn't disable Task Manager, it's probably malware. Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing/Viruses has some suggestions. -- BenRG (talk) 04:43, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

It could be your system administrator, especially if this is at work or college. However, I've seen this exact message and it was some malware (that turned out to be rootkit based and very difficult to remove). Other symptoms were redirecting many Google search results to other sites, sometimes pornographic, with a very vague connection to the search term (about 1 in 3 times I would end up somewhere unexpected). Astronaut (talk) 10:08, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Accessing very lost pages.

How can you access on old page that does not have a cached copy on any search engine and is not on the Wayback Machine? jc iindyysgvxc (my contributions) 06:53, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Probably your best bet would be to try an contact the owner of the website, it's likely they will have a backup copy of their site somewhere and could email you the specific page if they're kind 82.43.90.93 (talk) 09:37, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

In many cases you simply cannot. The up-side of internet distribution is that it is incredibly easy to send a page around the world. The down-side is that often there is really only one permanent copy of it from which all distribution is based. The web has a nasty habit of being permanent when you'd rather it was ephemeral; ephemeral when you need it to be permanent. --Mr.98 (talk) 11:17, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Electronics for digital watch

I am not sure if I am posting this question in the right place, or even if the Reference Desk will be able to answer it. At the very least, I am hoping to be directed to a better forum for this sort of question.

I have seen many digital watches with very different physical appearance but seemingly identical behavior. To me, this constitutes strong evidence that the electronics in one were simply copied to make the others. Why such a variety (and I have seen a wide variety) of case and display designs for what is inside really the same watch is beyond me.

Let me tell you what I can remember offhand:

• The watch has stopwatch and alarm. From the time, pressing the "mode" button once gives you the stopwatch, twice gives you alarm set mode, three times gives you time set mode. If you go into stopwatch mode and use the stopwatch, though, pressing "mode" again will give you the time rather than going into alarm set mode. Similarly with alarm set mode: if you use this mode, then pressing "mode" will give you the time again (normal time display, that is) rather than putting you in time set mode.

• The watch can be set to 12- or 24- hour mode, but only in this funny way: in time set mode, set the hours. They will cycle thus:

   12 A, 1 A, 2 A, ..., 11 A, 12 P, 1 P, ..., 11 P, 0 H, 1 H, ..., 12 H, 13 H, ..., 23 H, and back to 12 A
   ^--- AM hours ----------^  ^--- PM hours -----^  ^--- 24-hour clock ----------------^

• • The above is, I think, more than anything else, is the defining characteristic of this chip design.

• The watch has date and day of the week, but no year. The calendar correctly allows for the lengths of the different months, except (I believe) for February of a leap year. (This is not really a defining characteristic, as other watches are often like this.) Besides the alarm, it also has, I believe, hourly chime.

Does this chip design have a name? Why is it so common? (It is really not a good design: too easy to go into time set mode by mistake.) Who invented it and when? (I think it's at least 20 years old now.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.35.97.35 (talk) 07:14, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes the design will have a name (or at least a product code) - chips are saleable to different watch manufacturers - so it's quite likely that different manufacturers bought the chip. I can't identify the chip though.77.86.82.77 (talk) 13:56, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

The question is a little historically obscure - if you don't get an answer here it may be worth contacting one of the many vintage LCD watch sites - these being collectable now there probably are some experts out there on the web.83.100.252.126 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 00:21, 24 July 2010 (UTC).

Go to your favorite department store, and go to the section with the cheap digital watches. Play with the watches. You will likely find some of these. 75.41.70.185 (talk) 03:38, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

As to why such a variety of case and display designs ...: it's because a watch is a fashion accessory as well as a timepiece. Mitch Ames (talk) 08:52, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

logs

do websites have to keep logs of visitors by law? or can they keep no logs at all —Preceding unsigned comment added by EIPI55563 (talk • contribs) 10:16, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

You might find the Telecommunications data retention article instructive; it talks about data retention by ISPs rather than by websites themselves. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 10:20, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

File destruction

I am looking for a (hopefully) open-source application that would produce something like Data erasure but only in the physical portion of one file. Tipically, something that produces now in Windows (Vista) what the kill command achieved in the old Norton Utilities package, many years ago. My web search has pointed me onto this site, which is not open-source, for sure. And that awful red color, it makes me wonder... Anyway, any suggestions welcome. Pallida  Mors 17:41, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Eraser 1230049-0012394-C (talk) 18:02, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

That's precisely what I was looking for. Thank you for your prompt answer!Pallida  Mors 18:18, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Back button difficulties

I asked the question last week so it's in the archives now at [1] on the Computing Reference Desk and [2] on the Village Pump.I'll find it later.

I have IE8 and Vista.

Sequence of events:

1. Turn on computer, sign in after it boots up, and click on blue e. 2. Click on Yahoo mail button at the top of the screen. 3. Sign in to email. 4. Go to my inbox. 5. Click on pointless email from Facebook, delete it. 6. Click on other pointless email and delete it. 7. Next email contains links. Click on one, opening new window. 8. Click on another, opening window where I am now. 9. Click on third link to very long Wikipedia page. 10. On very long page, click on section link. 11. Click on my contributions link from other page I clicked on. 12. Click on link to Reference desk. 13. Click on link to computing reference desk. 14. Click on link to ask a question, where I am now. 15. Send that question so as to prevent edit conflicts. I'll use a notepad to record the rest and type it here. 16. Edit where I have made errors.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 17:42, 23 July 2010 (UTC) 17. Go back to email, click on inbox. 18. Click on one which contains information I want to post on Wikipedia. 19. Click on "reply" so I can use it as a notepad to record more of my activities and delete what I post.. 20. Go back to my reference desk post, click on first article I intend to edit, which is short and unlikely to cause the problem. 21. Edit that article. 22. Sign in to a site unrelated to Wikipedia for which I clicked on a link. 23. Click on a link within that site. 24. Click on another link within that site. This site doesn't cause problems, so it's unlikely to be contributing to the problem. 25. Saved my Wikipedia edit by mistake, went back to fix it (at some point I clicked twice by mistake and got an edit conflict). 26. Clicked on my contributions, saw that no one had added to the Computing Reference desk. 27. Clicked on one article I added to for which my contribution was not the last (no apparent problem there). 28. Clicked on backALT-left, worked fine. 29. Clicked on Miscellaneous Reference Desk section to which I contributed. 30. Norton was scheduled to do a scan but couldn't because software is outdated; popup message unlikely to affect anything; new software has been scheduled to do scan an hour later. 31. Clicked on backALT-left, worked fine. 32. Clicked on history of article I contributed to. 33. Clicked on backALT-left but forward button disabled this time. 34. Clicked on backALT-left and was sent to history I just looked at ... well, THIS is interesting. 35. Clicked on backALT-left and was sent to article I just contributed to. 36. Clicked on backALT-left and was sent to that article's edit screen--or more precisely, "edit conflict" since somehow I clicked twice. 37. Clicked on back and went to a regular section edit screen. I need to change something anyway. 38. Saved that edit, edited lead section. 39. Clicked on backALT-left four times, ended up where I was before. 40. I should mention I clicked on links in a site unrelated to Wikipedia, but this probably had no effect on anything. 41. Clicked on backALT-left again and ended up at the top of the Computing Reference Desk (okay, after checking, that is where I was). 42. Clicked on "Skip to Bottom", lost forward button. 43. Edited to add these developments. I should add that all this will eventually go on Microsoft forums people have suggested. I have made an important discovery in the above list.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:16, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, but what actually is your question? I tried looking back in the archives/your contributions to what you might be referring to, but I gave up (someone else might be more successful though) and the link you gave in 10 doesn't have your name anywhere on it (searching for Vchimpanzee). Given the subject and what you've written, are you talking about not being able to use the "Back" browser button in Yahoo which I've seen you bring up many times before? (this from October 2009 is one example). Put simply if you're using the "new" Yahoo mail, the back button doesn't work due to how they've coded the site and there's nothing you can do to change that except switch to "Yahoo Mail Classic" or move to another email provider. Sorry I can't give you a better answer than that. ZX81 ^talk 18:21, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

This question has been brought up so many times, it's very surprising the OP still has not managed to explain the problem clearly and succinctly. As ZX81 has mentioned, your "back button" may be disabled because the Yahoo Mail is using Javascript to disable it. Either switch email providers, disable JavaScript, or put up with the "feature." Nimur (talk) 18:28, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Adding to my own post (you'd only written up to 16 when I first wrote my reply and got an edit conflict), anytime you click a new link you will always lose all your "forward" history, that's just how it works. Back/forward are a sequence of pages, but they're only valid for moving between themselves. Once you start visiting other pages by clicking anything other than back/forward then you've changed the sequence and the buttons will start to use the new sequence. Hope this is of some help. Sorry if I'm still not understanding your question, but there just doesn't seem to be any sort of question statement anywhere in what you wrote. ZX81 ^talk 18:30, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

VChimpanzee: please read Wikipedia:Reference desk/How to ask a software question, and rephrase your question. Clearly, your current approach(es) reposting the same problem are not working - we don't know how to answer you, because you have not properly stated your problem. Nimur (talk) 18:36, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

44. Clicked on another article I intend to edit.

45. Edited article.

46. Discovered typo after I already saved edit.

47. Fixed it.

48. Checked to see if Wikipedia had an article on one topic mentioned in my edit; it didn't.

49. Clicked on backALT-left until I reached the article I edited with the mention of a redirect under the title; I had typed a name which resulted in a redirect, and the last time I clicked the forward button was gone.

50. No, wait. I got an edit screen for the article. I have said before if the forward button disappears, the back button will give me what the forward button would have.

51. Added the new developments. No, this is not Yahoo. They told me it was Javascript and couldn't be fixed. This is Wikipedia and if you look carefully, you'll see the nature of a possible bug in the history function which I discovered because I made this list. One of these days I'll copy this list on a Microsoft forum. Let me go to Deepwater Horizon oil spill now and see if I find the other problem.

53. Edited twice to reformat.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:36, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

VChimpanzee, I really appreciate that you are being meticulous, but this is way too much for us to follow, because you have not told us: At what step did something unexpected occur; what exactly occurred; and what was the behavior that you had thought would occur? Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:02, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm getting to that. Here are the remaining steps.

54. Clicked on my contribution history

55. Clicked on article I contributed to where mine was not the last edit, found nothing wrong

56. Clicked on backALT-left

57. Clicked on next page of contribution history

58. Found "You have new Messages" and clicked on "last change"

59. Clicked on talk page of person who sent me new message

60. Edited that person's talk page

61. Clicked on link to Deepwater Horizon oil spill

62. Discovered no link to Bonnie and clicked on section edit link for "Short-term efforts"

63. Clicked on preview

64. Discovering red link, clicked on "Tropical Storm Bonnie (2010)" which showed up thanks to Ajax when I typed in the search box

65. Having been redirected, improved the redirect

66. Clicked on backALT-left until I reached article that I changed redirect to; now that it redirects to a section, forward button has disappeared

67. Norton is scanning but popup is unlikely to cause a problem

68. Clicked on backALT-left until I reached edit screen for Deepwater Horizon article again, sent

69. Found grammatical problem in same section I didn't like, edited, sent

70. Found a reference problem in the same section, edited, sent

71. Forgot to check entire reference, sent

72. Clicked on history of that article

73. Compared selected versions to see what vandalism had been done

74. Clicked on backALT-left, repeated step 73 for another edit

75. Clicked on backALT-left twice, the second time I ended upthe computer scrolled down to the section I edited and the forward button disappeared

76. Clicked on backALT-left several more times but even though the computer scrolled down to the section, the forward button did not disappear

77. Repeated step 76

78. Clicked on backALT-left again

79. Clicked on backALT-left again

80. Clicked on backALT-left again, scrolled down to section, forward button has not disappeared again

81. Clicked on backALT-left and ended up on the talk page, went to my contributions from there

82. Clicked on page 2 and then continued to work my way back until I found what I was looking for; clicked on backALT-left several times but forward button disappeared before I had done anything other than click on back

83. Went back to the reference desk and added these final steps. A possible IE8 glitch that I can now report on the Microsoft forums I have been told about took place in #33, #34 and #49 and #50. In steps #75 and #82 I had the problem I've been trying to get the answer to so many times on the computing referecne desk and when I can figure out how to explain it I can report it on the Microsoft forums,but I've seen this with long emails before IE8.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:43, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

This is it. If anyone can figure out what I should tell the Microsoft forums, I'd appreciate it. But I don't know how to explain it any better than this.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:49, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I tried reproducing some of your steps and of course didn't see the forward-history disappear as you sometimes see, as you mentioned - if I understand correctly - in step 33. Certainly this is a situation where directly observing you would be much easier than trying to get a list of steps as above. A few times you mention the page scrolling down. Is this as expected, or no? I keep wondering whether there is something wrong with the keyboard of the library computer you are using; if the computer thinks you're holding down the space bar or the Ctrl key or the Enter key, or many others, then unexpected, inexplicable behavior like this will occur for sure. Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:15, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

No, I'm at home. And I'm pretty sure I'm not doing anything strange. I am holding down the ALT key and pressing the left arrow when I say I'm clicking on Back. And ALT and right arrow for forward. I fixed some numbers. Somehow I must have made a typo and didn't notice, and I forgot that it takes two steps to completely reproduce the problem. I think I state it's the computer that does the scrolling down when that happens, and that may be important. The steps in #75 and *82 are not specific to IE8 since I've seen the problem at libraries.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:26, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I quit recording my steps, but I clicked on "Back" several times working my way back through the edits here and the forward button disappeared several times.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:28, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

News flash! I saw the problem that Vchimpanzee has been talking about for so long! Hallelujah! Using IE8 under XP, I edited WP:SANDBOX, clicked a link to Mamluk, clicked a link to Levant, hit alt-left-arrow, and went to Mamluk as expected, but the Forward button icon turned gray rather than blue, indicating there was no forward-history; then when I went Back (unsure whether it was clicking or alt-left-arrowing) I ended up at Levant! I'll try to get a better repro history; I failed to reproduce it in 2 subsequent attempts. Vchimpanzee, this is a wild guess, but I would wager that the problem involves the use of the alt-arrow keys, because the Alt key does other things; maybe you could try clicking the Back and Forward icons for a while instead of the alt-arrow combinations, and see if you see this problem again. Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:58, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Well, this is interesting. Maybe all this discussion finally got some results. Thanks. The ALT key solution is just one way to keep me from using the mouse so much. I don't have a lot of room to move around and it's just easier. I bought too small a table and it would mean banging into the keyboard all the time.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:10, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I queried the Technical Village Pump asking if Wikipedia's use of AJAX might be interfering with IE8's alt-arrow navigation; this is just a stab at the question; I still don't have a reliable repro case. Vchimpanzee, did you say that you also see this problem sometimes purely within the Yahoo website (without any Wikipedia windows or tabs open) as well? Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:19, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I was told when I asked Yahoo that it's Javascript and it's working the way they intended, which is not logical to me. I should mention if it is using the ALT key that's a habit I won't be breaking. I do it without thinking, just as I don't even think of it at libraries where I can move the mouse freely. although other shortcuts like ALT-S when submitting I gave up when I got a mouse pad, which didn't come with the machine. The table I bought was too rough for the mouse to work well on it, and that's how I got started using the shortcuts.

And I have to rejoin the real world now. I actually got very little done today but I've got other things to do that don't involve computers.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:30, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

The reason the back button doesn't work on yahoo mail is because you always stay on the same page, but that page is dynamic, its content is changed using javascript, so it appears like you are going to another page. A good example is Wikipedia's live preview feature: the traditional preview reloads the page with the preview, the live preview gets the preview in the background and inserts it into the page. Yahoo mail does something similar. It is possible to make the back-forward buttons work with this too (gmail does it), but Yahoo's programmers were apparently too lazy to do it. -- Nx / talk 08:25, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

That part Yahoo told me about. This isn't about that.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 17:19, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

I haven't gotten any answers so far from Microsoft's forum. One person said to reinstall IE8. That's not going to happen. The is a minor yet annoying glitch, but reinstallation is too much trouble and could mean more problems. The people on that forum had real problems.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 17:50, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

torrent

do any other torrent sites beside the pirate bay actually work anymore? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomjohnson357 (talk • contribs) 18:19, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes, loads. Try isohunt.com 82.43.90.93 (talk) 18:27, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

It's not a matter of "sites" working; it's whether a particular torrent tracker is alive, and also whether and seeders remain on that particular torrent. There are hundreds of millions of active torrents at any given time, and many hundreds of thousands of valid live trackers. Torrents are by their nature decentralized, so it's impossible to provide a complete list of active ones. Here's an incomplete list: public trackers. Websites like PirateBay aggregate lists of trackers, including a subset of trackers that they host on their own servers; but any particular tracker may be alive or dead at any given time. Nimur (talk) 18:32, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

what are some sites that sill host torrents like the the pirate bay does? sites like isohunt.com dont anymore. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomjohnson357 (talk • contribs) 18:38, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Well, if you look at the isohunt.com, it is pretty clear that they have changed their policy in order to try and comply with US copyright law. The Pirate Bay has notoriously flouted such laws and repeatedly changed jurisdictions as a means to evade them. --Mr.98 (talk) 21:35, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

My understanding from a quick look at the page and also searches is only US users are affect by the filtering. So use a non US-proxy, even Tor mostly/sometimes (if you end up with filtered results try again in 1 minute), should help you get around any filtering if that concerns you. Note that isohunt has never AFAIK been a tracker (if that's what you mean by 'host torrents') they've always primarily functioned as a search engine for torrents tracked on other sites (although they do have/host a copy of the torrent file, usually with all trackers they're aware of). Even isohunt 'releases' which I believe are only a small minority of what they index don't use isohunt as a tracker AFAIK, they are just things people personally uploaded (and first released?) on isohunt.

BTW, beyond the existing the questionable ethics of downloading whatever it is you are downloading that is filtered (although I'm not suggesting their filters are perfect) which perhaps SB will stick a word in; be aware if the US courts (or isohunt themselves) determine the filters are not effective because most Americans are circumventing them they may either punish isohunt more or force the filters for everyone, in other words your risk making things worse for others who don't live in countries that have required such measures.

Nil Einne (talk) 05:55, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

ok, and what are some other sites like The Pirate Bay —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomjohnson357 (talk • contribs) 00:56, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

whats tor? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomjohnson357 (talk • contribs) 19:23, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

It allows a certain degree of anonymity as you browse the world wide web. See Tor (anonymity network) for a fuller treatment. Kushal (talk) 01:24, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Although the primary purpose for Tor here is to get around the filtering. I presume the filtering is by IP so if you get an exit node that isn't in the US you should get the non filtered version. From a quick test, it appears to work (well I don't seem to end up on the lite version and can see things I presume filtered) although I don't live in the US and can't be bothered finding a US proxy so have no idea what it's like for Americans anyway. I should mention it's obviously possible the Isohunt webmasters could choose to filter all Tor exit nodes if they are concerned about Tor being used to circumvent filtering for Americans. Nil Einne (talk) 07:42, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

IBM

The IBM article states: "The company which became IBM was founded in 1896 as the Tabulating Machine Company by Herman Hollerith, in Broome County, New York (Endicott, New York or Binghamton, New York), where it still maintains very limited operations." I looked at the Tabulating machine article but it gives no indication that the tabulating machine is still used today in "very limited operations". What exactly is meant by this? 82.43.90.93 (talk) 19:01, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

The name of the company used to be "Tabulating Machine Company". It maintains limited operations in Broome County, NY. -- kainaw™ 19:03, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) "where" means a place, in this case Broome County, NY. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 19:03, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

"It" refers to "IBM", which still has (among other things) its payroll processing center in Endicott. "Tabulating Machine Company" no longer exists. I have disambiguated this detail in the article. Nimur (talk) 20:27, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Thin Client issue driving me nuts

I'd like to re-use an old PII-333 as thin client. I have a FreeNX server that I would like to connect to. Up to now, I was using the NX client software from "fat" clients (both Linux and Windows) to connect to the server, and this works just fine.

What's driving me nuts, is finding a suitable stripped-down Linux distribution. I've tried PXES, Cult, and ThinStation, neither seem to work the way I want them to work.

What I need is:

• localization (non-US keyboard layouts)
• basic LPR printing (I have a functioning LPRng config file that I'd like to re-use)
• X-server
• NX client
• some sort of minimalist window manager for the NX login screen
• a mechanism that fires up the X-server, window manager and NX login screen right after the boot-up process has finished
• SSH access so I can log in remotely to change/update files.

If you're not familiar with FreeNX/NX client, just assume "Windows Terminal Server" instead of "FreeNX" and "rdesktop" instead of "NX client", the problem remains the same.

Given the availability of such complex solutions like ThinStation, I'm surprised there's no FAQ for a seemingly simple approach like mine. Or maybe I'm looking in the wrong places? -- 78.43.71.155 (talk) 19:29, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

July 24

Power Supply Failing?

Hey guys, i've been having some computer issues lately and i thought it wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion. The past couple of days its been running a lot slower than it normally does and it would randomly shut off. Music would sometimes stutter when playing and so would the windows start up sound & just be generally slow all around.

I think im pretty experienced with computers at this stage (always more to learn though) so i rarely get viruses anymore. I scanned using AviraAntivir & Checked for spyware using super antispyware and it came up with nothing. I can't find any strange processes running either. So I'm fairly sure its not that. I don't have a spare XP CD lying around and my burner isnt working (died ages ago never bothered to buy a new one) so i can't really burn one and i can't get someone else to burn one or borrow one untill monday but i really need to be able to use my computer before then to study for something comming up.

(I should probably add it might not be the best powersupply. After my old antec one failed after 3 or 4 years, i went in to buy another antec one but the guy didnt have the one i wanted in stock. He managed to get me to buy any old one... some brand i never heard of .. "master" or something. It didnt concern me much at the time because i was more concerned about getting my computer to turn back on again, i made sure if there were any problems with it i'd be able to bring it back. (This was about a year ago) (All my other components are quality but are getting abit old 3-4 years but theyre all quality names intel...seagate..corsair..gigabyte)) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.181.80.198 (talk) 03:52, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

So, does it sound like the powersupply or do you guys have any other ideas? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.181.80.198 (talk) 03:45, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

A failing power supply can cause your computer to restart, but would never make your computer run slowly. By restarting, do you mean it displays a blue screen and then restarts, or just restarts without a blue flash or anything? If you right-click on My Computer and choose Properties --> Advanced --> Startup and Recovery and uncheck "Automatically restart" it should show you a blue screen when it restarts next time. If there is no blue screen, then my guess is that it's a power-supply issue. If there is a blue screen, tell us what it says.

As for running slowly, I bet that you have some programs starting automatically that don't need to. If you go to Start --> Run... --> msconfig --> Startup you will see many of the third-party programs that start automatically. Google them to see which ones you can shut down.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 04:06, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Stuttering audio and overall slowness makes me first think that you're low on RAM, possibly due to some new software you have installed. To check current RAM usage, start the Windows Task Manager with ctrl-alt-del, then click the "Performance" tab. Are you almost out of memory? Comet Tuttle (talk) 04:31, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

I keep my services and program start ups rather clean. It wasnt always this slow before so i doubt it was this, its just in the past couple of days. I reduced program startups and such to what i need for it to just run though. It doesnt bluescreen. It just turns off then back on and shows the bios screen like it normally would when turning on.

Not low on ram, i have a healthy reserve of a physical 2gb according to task manager and more in page file.I've also checked all the fans and connections and cleaned out any dust i could find. It's not overheating the temperatures are fine and its a rather good case and cooling setup.Thanks for all the ideas thus far guys. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.181.80.198 (talk) 04:39, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

I have seen failing daughter cards (e.g., NICs, graphics cards, etc.) both slow a computer down and cause it to restart. The slowness comes from CPU utilization via IRQs. The process named "System" sometimes shows high CPU utilization or the task manager's performance tab shows high CPU utilization. Inside the task manager, under "Performance," if you go to View --> Show kernel times, it will tell you how much CPU time is taken up by the kernel. Since hardware interfaces with the kernel, high kernel CPU usage can be an indication of a failing daughter card. Another indication may be question marks placed next to devices in the device manager (Start --> Run... --> devmgmt.msc).--Best Dog Ever (talk) 06:03, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Could still be malware, perhaps hidden from the OS (including Task Manager) by a rootkit. Astronaut (talk) 12:08, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

XBox 360 data storage

Was it a real Xbox 360 hard disk?

Or was it a hard disk like this?

My son needed a hard drive to store game data from his XBox 360 games, so I lent him mine. I just tried to back up my digital photos onto it, and it appears to have been reformatted. Is this a standard feature of the XBox? Is the data recoverable, or lost forever? Hemoroid Agastordoff (talk) 15:00, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm slightly confused. The official Xbox 360 hard disks are from Microsoft and they look like this. The unit clips onto the side of the Xbox. Inside the sealed case there's a 2.5" hard disk. Did you lend him this type of hard disk? If so, moving it to another Xbox does not reformat the drive. A regular hard disk (see the bottom photo to the right) can't be attached to an Xbox unless maybe you're using some sort of hardware hack. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:47, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

The hard drive I had was an external type in it's own case, which connects to the XBox though a USB port. It had been connected to my computer's USB port. Hemoroid Agastordoff (talk) 16:59, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

The Xbox360 does appear to support USB mass storage devices such as USB hard drives [3] [4] Xbox 360 accessories#USB Storage Devices including for game profiles and the like since April this year. It seems standard that it will remove content if isn't already set up for the Xbox 360 but per the screen shot in the first link and simple logic, it should have warned your son of this. Some recovery may be possible, it depends somewhat how lucky you are and whether a copy of filesystem can be found. Nil Einne (talk) 07:36, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

It might be possible to salvage the data on the hard drive with a program like Recuva 82.43.90.93 (talk) 21:39, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

July 25

Laptop not booting every time

I have a HP dv5 laptop that's seen about one year of use now and for quite a while I have been having a problem booting up. It will usually take a couple of tries, when turned on, the splash screen appears, after this, sometimes the grub menu will load if is booting correctly, otherwise the screen just stays blank and it hangs there (no beep sequence). I don't know if it's just wishfull thinking but it does seem to boot more easily when it has only been hibernated as opposed to turning it off completely, and loading the BIOS and simply going to Exit>Saving changes seems to yield better results. As I said, thats probably just wishfull thinking. Especially since some googling suggested that it's probably a hardware related problem.. Any ideas? Benjamint 01:19, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

You didn't mention what OS(s) you're running.--mboverload@ 01:32, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Vista Benjamint 06:24, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Use the Vista CD to repair the startup procedure. Any particular reason you're using Grub? --mboverload@ 05:47, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

My first ever computer was a Windows 3.1 portable "lunchbox" computer (similar to the one in this pic but bigger, less advanced and with a garish orange monochrome screen) which I bough for £1 at a jumble sale. At first I thought it didn't work because when I turned it on always froze at the start of the boot sequence, exactly like the problem you're having. Presumably the sellers thought this too which is why they sold it so cheep (although it was way outdated even then and wasn't worth more then £1 anyway). Long story short, I discovered that quickly turning it on then off before turning it on for a second time made it boot normally. I have no idea why it did this, I only know that unless you did the special on then off then on again trick, the thing simply would not boot. 82.43.90.93 (talk) 10:41, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Free spreadsheet with nameable cells

I'm looking for a spreadsheet where the columns are easily sortable. This means that the normal convention of refering to cells by their row and column position will not work. Therefore, are there any free spreadsheets where the cells are named instead? Thanks 92.29.122.159 (talk) 12:35, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

The usual way of creating a spreadsheet where the columns are easily sortable is to give each column the name you want in its first row; so A1 contains the word "First Name", B1 contains "Middle Name", C1 contains "Last Name", etc.. When you sort the columns, you do so by row 1; and you make sure not to include row 1 in any other sorting or manipulation you perform. A spreadsheet without row and column position notation sounds like an awful idea, to be honest. If you could describe what exactly it is you are looking to do, we might be able to help further within the constraints of Excel and OpenOffice Calc. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:16, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

A spreadsheet without numbers sounds a lot like a functional programming language to me. From what I understand, finance institutions are known for growing huge, unwieldy spreadsheets, and then (sometimes) switching to doing everything in a language like ML instead, so it's not an unknown connection. Paul (Stansifer) 04:49, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

"A spreadsheet without numbers sounds a lot like a functional programming language to me" More simply, I would think of it as a hashtable or a relational database (but by "spreadsheet" , people generally mean a certain type of MS Excel-like interface, rather than the underlying data structure). Apokrif (talk) 11:05, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

I think Quantrix and the other spreadsheets linked from that article do not use the row/column naming convention. I would like to be able to sort any column, not just the first one. 92.15.0.178 (talk) 20:23, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Reducing file size of PDFs

Can anyone recommend some free software to reduce the file size of PDFs please? Including changing from colour to monochrome. Thanks 92.29.122.159 (talk) 12:40, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Have you tried just compressing them? WinRAR, 7zip can do this 82.43.90.93 (talk) 13:26, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

If you don't want to compress them, you could just recreate them by printing the page to something like Cute PDF Writer (free), but this isn't an elegant solution, especially if there are many pages. (ADOBE have editing software but you probably have to pay for it.) Dbfirs 16:22, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Question (Quick Response Code)

Resolved

What is this and what is one meant to do with it? 82.43.90.93 (talk) 13:30, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

It's a QR Code. It encodes some information, and what you'd use it for depends on the information. I don't know the Google chart API very well, but in this case it looks like its encoding a URL (in this specific case, the URL of an executable file) as a QR Code. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 13:37, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

And indeed you can paste the URL of a QR Code (or upload the image of one) into this online app and it decodes it for you. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 13:39, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Thanks 82.43.90.93 (talk) 13:41, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Here's the QR code on the Google Code download page it came from. If you hover over the image it explains it's a "File download URL". Presumably, the QR codes seen on Google Code download pages are meant to be photographed and decoded by mobile phones to download files. --Bavi H (talk) 00:46, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Hi, I've changed the title of your post from "Question" to "Question (Quick Response Code)", so that it is more meaningful.

wget

Is there a way to make wget download all the html files first when mirroring a site, before downloading the images? 82.43.90.93 (talk) 17:04, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

I'd run it twice: the first time using --reject gif,png,jpg,jpeg so that it doesn't download files with these extensions, and the second time using --no-clobber so it doesn't redownload files it got the first time. —Korath (Talk) 17:31, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

"Joining" graphic files

Seems simple in concept: say I have 8 JPEGs and want to join 1.jpg through 4.jpg horizontally, then "add a new row" by joining 5-8 below them. I have searched for software (preferably command-line) that will perform this, without luck so far. I'm not looking for fancy algorithms involving stitching, but simply want to produce one large graphic canvas by joining a variety of smaller files horizontally. Any recommendations? I prefer command-line because ideally I'll be automating this as much as possible. Thanks, Riggr Mortis (talk) 21:44, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm almost certain that ImageMagick's "montage" feature will do this (although it might need three calls) from the command line. I'll check the exact syntax momentarily. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:46, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Ha, I just landed on ImageMagick as well.[5] Seems my Google-Fu was not up to snuff last time around. There's a bit of a learning curve there so if there are any other (single-purpose) options around I'm still ears. Riggr Mortis (talk) 21:55, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

ImageMagick is very powerful, but the documentation for it can be a bit daunting. I didn't find the main doc very useful, but that pointed me at this which is just the ticket. Accordingly I think you need to say:

             montage -tile 4x -geometry +1+1 *.jpg OUTPUT.jpg

or

             montage -tile 4x -geometry +1+1 1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg 4.jpg 5.jpg 6.jpg 7.jpg 8.jpg OUTPUT.jpg

The tile option puts them into rows of 4, the geometry option puts a single pixel between them horizontally and vertically (I think if they're all the same size, and you give +0+0 as the geometry, then you'll get a perfect tile). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:01, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Works perfectly. I was wondering about the simplest way to avoid specifying every file name. Wildcards work; "tile*.jpg", but I'm not clear yet if that will "sort" them in the proper numerical sequence (likely not; perhaps if the filename numbers are zero-padded it might). I don't see anything yet in the page you linked that provides for this sort of logic. With potentially a few hundred small files, I wonder if I would have to create the command line in Excel... :-) Hopefully not. Thanks, Riggr Mortis (talk) 22:13, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

If you were using Linux (etc.) you'd just say montage -tile 4x -geometry +1+1 `ls *.jpg | sort` OUTPUT.jpg (and specify whatever arguments you needed to to sort to get the ordering you wanted). I don't know what you'd do on the CMD.EXE command line to get the same (and last time I did serious scripting on Windows, which was a long time ago, there were horrible limitations as to the maximum length of command line arguments, even if you built them with a script). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:30, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Actually ls has its own sort options, which are probably better than using an external sort, but as it seems you're using Windows, that's probably cold comfort, so I'll not rub in any further salt. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:34, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Made it this far, but stumped by the file input order. I have 180 images named sequentially, "000.jpg". It processed the first half of them in order, apparently by coincidence, because the bottom half runs into trouble. There's got to be a way... yes, in "DOS", or in the program itself. You can pipe input on the command line I believe, but I'm not sure if it would work in this context. Riggr Mortis (talk) 23:47, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Never mind, it may just work. My file numbering (dealing with a jig-saw puzzle) appears to be the problem. Riggr Mortis (talk) 00:06, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

For the record, the wildcard "*.jpg" works fine regarding sort order. My preferred naming convention was "00-00.jpg" (row, column), and that worked. Either Windows provides the filenames to the program in standard sort order, or the program sorts them. Thanks for your help. Riggr Mortis (talk) 00:28, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

For the (same?) record, Windows does have rudimentary shell scripting these days; the for command should be able to help you with sorting if the default doesn't work. Type "help for" at the command line to see the options. (Writing this on Vista but it should be in WinXP as well. Probably not in pre-NT, though.) Jørgen (talk) 15:30, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

July 26

Rackmount Voltage Transformer

   I am seeking a voltage transformer with the following characteristics. Does anyone know of a suitable product?

1. Converts voltage from 110V-120V to 220V-240V and vice versa.
   The option of stepping-up or stepping-down should ideally be selectable via a switch, lever or button, and the output-voltage should be selectable by using a knob.
2. Is rackmountable, and preferably consumes no more than six units of rackspace.

   Thank you to everyone in advance.

It is more common to buy individual power supplies for each rack-mountable system that can accept either 110 or 220 V. Some require flipping a switch, while others automatically detect and compensate. Alternately, you could buy a rack-mount UPS. See, for example, this KIN-1000APRM that can accept either 110 or 220 input and can output either. Nimur (talk) 04:31, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

I currently live in Singapore (which is a high-line country), and I have three machines/appliances in my rack with their own individual 230V Power Supply Units, as well as one Uninterruptible Power System. My specific intent is to be able to continue using my rack equipment without replacing the individual PSUs or the UPS when moving to a low-line country such as the United States or Canada. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rocketshiporion (talk • contribs) 04:43, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Check the nameplates on your other equipment; a LOT of gear from the past 10 years or so is compatible with either 240 or 120 (if you are talking about computer gear the odds are VERY good). --144.191.148.3 (talk) 14:49, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

0db level

http://i26.tinypic.com/vp956a.jpg where is the volume knob position for the 0db level here? on my knob its not marked what db levels it represents so its not quite obvious to me how much to turn it up to get to the 0db level thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.26.241.251 (talk) 10:07, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

I can't say exactly but it should be just below +4dB (anticlockwise), however volume controls (which are usually rotary potentiometers - at least this one almost certainly is) - can be either:

• Potentiometer#Linear_taper_potentiometer "linear pots"
• Potentiometer#Logarithmic_potentiometer "log pots"

It's more likely to be a log pot for an audio thing. I would guess somewhere between 3 and 4 O'clock.

If you have the instructions for the device it might give more clues in the tech specs.

Often 0dB is the maximum (unattenuated) volume - as an analogy +4dB is volume 11 , when volume 10 = 0dB . 87.102.43.171 (talk) 21:54, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

turn off wireless

If I got a laptop with wireless inside it, can I completely disable all wireless signals from it without physically opening the machine up and removing the wireless component? Does simply "disable hardware" in control panel shut it off (I mean absolutely fully shut off, as in cut all power to the wireless component, not just saying it's off but it still might transmitting random signals) 82.43.90.93 (talk) 10:58, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Many laptops have a manual switch that turns off all wireless communication. If yours has, then this is the simple way, but if not then "disable hardware" should work (though I haven't tested this). Dbfirs 12:22, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear in the question, I know there are switches to turn it off, but does it actually really turn it off? Because every laptop I've seen will still report the status of the wireless component when disabled, it's version numbers, manufacturer name etc so there must be communication between the computer and the wireless component, thus the wireless component must still be receiving power, so might still be emitting signals even if they're gibberish and not accessible by other computers. 82.43.90.93 (talk) 12:58, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Such a manual "kill-switch" could shut power off to the radio, or to the entire wireless controller peripheral unit (including the radio and its controller). It's more likely that it shuts off power to the RF circuit, rather than the entire peripheral, so your computer can still talk to the wireless card (though it will not be possible to send data, or even to override the analog kill-switch and turn the RF circuit back on, in most cases). So, a laptop with one of these "external" switches is probably safer if you need to guarantee the radio is actually, physically off (and not just in in a "no-data" software mode). Even if that is the case, your laptop may be transmitting RF power at other bands, in the form of EMI noise - so if you really want to be technical, you need to specify an acceptable power-level at all frequencies below which you consider the device to be "silent". If you were to plot the spectrum of a laptop's emissions, you would typically see some noise at around 60Hz from its power supply unit; some noise at around 20 to 100 MHz from its display; more noise around 300 - 1000 MHz from its digital interconnects, disk drive, memory bus; noise at the memory- and CPU- speed, and a big burst of power (probably much more power than any of the previous noise) at the 2.4GHz band (or other bands) if you are using wireless radios like 802.11, BlueTooth, or a wireless mobile broadband system. Most of those components are not intentionally transmitting RF power; and for the most part, the signal levels are very low; but if you need to guarantee that your laptop is not transmitting anything, be sure to consider non-WiFi interference. Nimur (talk) 16:31, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

'any' and 'in' keywords in sql

what's the difference? t.i.a. --217.194.34.103 (talk) 13:50, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

This explains it. --Sean 14:08, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

According to this in practical terms they differ primarily in how they work with negation (e.g. NOT IN vs. <>ANY return different results). --Mr.98 (talk) 14:09, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Exporting Java Project so it can run without eclipse

I've tried exporting it as a runnable jar file, and it runs fine except for one thing. I have some images in the src folder that, when the project is run in eclipse, appear on screen correctly, but when it's from the jar, they don't display at all. Am i supposed to export as a jar, and if not, what do i export it as? KyuubiSeal (talk) 20:02, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Try putting the resources outside of the JAR. Unfortunately, this is a widely-known problem with few desireable workarounds. In general, it is not possible to deploy your resources inside the JAR unless you use some programmatic trickery. The Java ClassLoader that the JAR execution environment uses is not able to load anything except Java classes from the JAR it is in. There are ways to overcome this: IBM Java's OneJAR is (in my opinion, a hack-y) workaround that actually replaces the Java Classloader with a more sophisticated one that can parse JAR files for resources. Or, you can use an "install script" to unpack the JAR resources to regular files (or perform this action manually). If you are worried about tearing out your JVM's classloader and using the OneJAR classloader, (this can do some very strange things to your Java program...), then your alternative is to deploy your application as a JAR file for the program, and unpack a separate resource directory (or JAR file) for the resources. Here is a good tutorial: How to extract Java resources from JAR and zip archives, from JavaWorld. Nimur (talk) 20:24, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Ok, i tried making a second jar in the same directory as the first, but it didn't work. If i put it in just a normal folder, it seems to work fine though. Can i just leave it as a normal folder then? KyuubiSeal (talk) 21:02, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes you may, unless you want to go to great lengths to prevent users from accessing or changing your resources. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with deploying your Java program with a resources folder in this way - in fact, it makes it easier to modify, if your users want to modify icons and images. Many commercial softwares try to make such modification difficult or impossible, by managing the resource directory in a more complicated way. If you want to stuff those resources (images, audio, and so on) inside a JAR (or encrypted JAR), you would need to modify your code. Every place you are using a java.io.File (including implicitly, when you use many of the default Swing or AWT functions to load an image), you would need to replace that with a more generic "Resource Loading" function that chooses to load either as files out of a folder-tree, or as Resources out of a JAR or other resource deployment scheme. If your code is not already managed this way, such a modification might get ugly; the IBM loader I linked above "streamlines" the code modification process, but it is not seamless and can require a lot of effort to handle corner-cases. Nimur (talk) 21:14, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Oh good, since the images i'm using are just placeholders till i find something not that pixel-y, it's convenient i can modify them easily. Thanks for the help! KyuubiSeal (talk) 21:20, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps I don't understand the problem you and Nimur are discussing, but surely one can load resources using java.lang.Class.getResourceAsStream()? The following works fine for me (loading foo.jpg which is stored inside the JAR).

Loader.java
example of how to load resources from JAR, example of how not to write nice AWT programs
package fin; import java.awt.*; import javax.imageio.*; import java.io.*; public class Loader extends Frame { static Image image; public static final void main(String [] args){ InputStream s = Loader.class.getResourceAsStream("foo.jpg"); try { Loader.image = ImageIO.read(s); Loader me = new Loader(); me.setBounds(100,100,600,600); me.show(); } catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); } } public void paint(Graphics g){ g.drawImage(Loader.image,0,0,null); } public void update(Graphics g){ paint(g); } }

or am I missing the point entirely? -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:34, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes exactly - that is the correct way to obtain the resource out of a JAR. But if the original code did not use that method, (i.e. if it loaded File objects), then the OP needs to go in and manually modify every single resource load. Finlay's code will work whether the resources are in a directory tree inside- or outside- the JAR (as long as it is on the class-loader's path). But if the designer want to package a resource-JAR inside of an executable JAR, they need a more sophisticated ClassLoader that understands how to handle that, like the IBM solution. (I didn't explain that point very well before - most applications will not need that alternate class-loader approach). Nimur (talk) 22:59, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

If the designer wants to put JARs inside JARs (and bashing them over the head with something doesn't dissuade them) we can get the resource by calling getResourceAsStream() for that inner JAR, using that to construct a ZipInputStream, searching for the desired entry within that, and then loading from there. So the main() of above becomes:

JARs within JARs
this is like Inception, only less predicable
public static final void main(String [] args){ InputStream s = Loader.class.getResourceAsStream("resources.jar"); ZipInputStream zip = new ZipInputStream(s); try { do{ ZipEntry z_entry = zip.getNextEntry(); if (z_entry==null) break; // resource not found if (z_entry.getName().equals("stuff/foo.jpg")){ Loader.image = ImageIO.read(zip); Loader me = new Loader(); me.setBounds(100,100,600,600); me.show(); break; // we found what we came for } } while (true); } catch (IOException e) { System.out.println(e); } }

This sucks a bit, as we mostly need to transit the list for resource each load (unless we're clever). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 00:16, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

I agree - in a perfect world, you would never need to put a JAR inside another JAR. Strictly from the technical viewpoint, you can unpack the JAR and place its contents in the root of the top-level JAR container. However, there is at least one use-case I can think of: when licensing of a third-party library forbids un-JAR'ing or repackaging its contents. Your options are to deploy it as a separate file or not to use it. But this doesn't preclude storing the unmodified JAR inside your own JAR - giving the seamless appearance of a single file to the end-user, without violating any license about unpacking or modifying the third-party code. Finlay's second example-code is essentially performing 95% of the functionality of the OneJAR library (using much less code of course) for loading resources. However, I think there can be trouble with his approach if trying to execute code loaded from any Java Classes that were loaded by his internal me loader. (There are now two ClassLoader environments - one at the top level of the JVM, and one as an instantiated object). This is why the OneJAR tool is sort of messy and clunky (and much longer than Finlay's sample code). If only loading images and resources, and NOT classes, this is a non-issue. Nimur (talk) 20:05, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

July 27

Data Lost After Restore?

I am running Windows XP and recently restored my C: drive from a Norton Ghost backup image. Unfortunately I forgot to backup several important files on the C: drive which were created after the backup image. Are they now irrevocably lost, or is there some way to retrieve them? Any help appreciated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Callerman (talk • contribs) 01:23, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

They are probably gone, gone, gone. You can try an undelete utility but I would not expect it to work, given the way disk imaging works. --Mr.98 (talk) 02:16, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

A typical undelete utility (such as Recuva) won't work because there will be no record of the files in the restored filesystem metadata. But I think Norton Ghost only copies used clusters, in which case it's just possible that some or all of the file data survives in the unused clusters. PhotoRec might turn something up. If these are text files or word processing files and you can remember key phrases, you might have some luck searching the raw disk contents for those phrases. One program that can search raw disks is HxD (not that it's necessarily the best, I just happen to have used it for this purpose in the past). Finally, there are various computer forensics tools that might help, but I don't know anything about them. I think they're rather expensive. -- BenRG (talk) 04:06, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

I would immediately cease use of the drive to maximize the chances that the information is still in existence. There are advanced techniques that can be applied at the magnetic parity level for non-filesystem recovery. At that point, though, it is a question of how valuable the data is --- as such recovery services can run in the thousands of dollars (US). I have had much success with Drive Savers --rocketrye12 ^{talk/contribs} 09:38, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

How to remove a hacker from an iphone 3GS

How do i remove a hacker from my iphine 3GS and keep them out? Ladeyangl (talk) 03:30, 27 July 2010 (UTC) someone is hacking my iphone editting my pictures posting them my msms emails ims diary online. It is awful and vety embarrassing. I hv no computer and i am on disability so i need to be able to use this. Please find what specific steps i need to take what product to buy or who i should contact. Apple att and the police havent been helpful. Thank you. You are very welcome to email me. Ladeyangl (talk) 03:30, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Apple doesn't have to help you. They might've sold the device, but if it's out of warranty they don't have to help you at all. I would say consider backing up your data and resetting the phone. Chevymontecarlo - alt 05:43, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Changing your password to the online diary might do the trick. Or possibly disabling mobile uploads/downloads on that service. If you can provide the service's name, we could look into it. To clarify, is the phone in your possession? --rocketrye12 ^{talk/contribs} 09:35, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Spaceward SuperNova

Is it a program like Photoshop or is it a program on Supernova, a 16-bit minicomputer formerly made by the Data General Corporation? Or is it a chromokey used by television stations?
119.12.117.103 (talk) 04:17, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

You'll have to be a bit more specific in your question but this may be of use. --rocketrye12 ^{talk/contribs} 09:33, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Problems reading CDs

For some time now the my PC has had occasional problems reading CDs. The CD drive doesn't have a drawer, but instead has a slot in which you poke the CD. Usually the CD spins a few times and Windows Vista pops up a window asking what you want done with the music/data/blank disk. However, with some disks the drive just hunts around for a minute or so before ejecting it without explanation. Usually, I find that rotating the disk and trying again solves the problem, though there is the odd disk which just refuses to play at all. The problem appears to be restricted to this PC (ie. the disks play quite OK in other devices). One interesting thing is I have noticed the problem is more common with newer CDs. So, is my CD drive at fault and is there some way I can see an error message to help me find out what the actual problem is? Is my CD drive more sensitive than usual, perhaps due to its slot design? Or has there been some changes in CD manufacturing in the last few years that might reduce the quality of CDs (particularly music CDs)? Astronaut (talk) 06:24, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Is this a new problem? In other words, did it read CDs fine in the past but now has problems? If so, it's obvious to me that the CD drive is dusty inside. It's very common. CD drives are very unreliable. Try blowing into the slot with compressed air. There are also cleaning CDs (i.e., CDs you put into the drive that supposedly clean it, although I have never tried them and I doubt that they work). If those solutions don't work, then you should replace the drive. The cheapest new drives cost about $20.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 07:35, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

CD/DVD readers/writers don't last, I've never had one working like new for over 3 years. Luckily, they're so cheap that you should rather just replace yours for a DVD writer which you can probably find for $20. These things are as cheap and common as kettles and toasters, and last just as long (probably designed like that on purpose). Sandman30s (talk) 11:08, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm surprised you both say CD/DVD drives are unreliable and don't last. Every other drive I've has has lasted at least as long as the PC. Anyway, it is just an annoyance at the moment. The problem would be getting a replacement slot-loading drive to fit inside my Dell laptop. I would have to get it from Dell and I bet they're not $20 now it is out of warranty. Astronaut (talk) 12:52, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, but I agree with them too. The fact you can put them back in again and it might work does suggest it's the drive that's having the problem. Although it's possible to get a bad batch of CDs, that'd be limited to just the pack you bought, another pack should work without any issues and from what you've described it suggests to me it's multiple CDs by multiple manufacturers? Optical drives don't last forever though and largely this is because they have fast moving components and the lifespan of objects with moving components is largely defined by however long those components work. Because you have a slot I assume it's not really covered and therefore more dust could get in? Because it can read the CDs after a few tries I'd go with what Best Dog Ever said about trying to clean the drive, but if that fails I can't see any option except for replacement. It's unfortunate that it uses non standard parts, although Dell should be still able to give you a price. Sadly I doubt it'll be anywhere near $20 though. ZX81 ^talk 13:29, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

About a decade ago, I stopped taking CD drives apart because they became so cheap and it's such a pain. Here is what is involved: [6]. What model of Dell is this? I doubt that you have to buy a slot-loading drive. I'll have to look up pictures of the case to know for sure, though.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 16:21, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

OK you didn't say it was for a Dell laptop, you said PC. AFAIK you don't have to buy a Dell specific one, you can buy anything and slot it in there. But you're right, laptop components do cost more than PC components. If it's really that big a problem to replace, it might be worthwhile to investigate making (ISO) images from your disks on another computer, then mounting them on your laptop. Sometimes, and this is weird, I find that copying all the files from a DVD works rather than trying to install directly from the drive, which spins up and spins down all the time during installation and this tends to get less reliable as the drive gets older. So weirdly enough, you might be able to make images from that same 'faulty' drive (some software uses more reliable DMA methods to read disks) but have a problem installing from it. Sandman30s (talk) 19:10, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Very Serious Virues Problem

I am just hit with a terrible virues/malware problem. Almost any program I run, I get a awakard popup saying this or this .dll or .exe or is trying to sent your credit-card info to remote host etc. What should I do ? 12:49, 27 July 2010 (UTC)-- Jon Ascton  (talk) 12:52, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Are you sure this is actually a virus? Perhaps it is scareware encouraging you to buy a (fake) virus/malware scanner for $$$. Astronaut (talk) 12:57, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, Astro. That's just what it is. I was almost going to add this. I wish I could show you screenshot etc. but even mspaint isn't working due to it. Almsot every program I hit, I get a window saying this .dll etc is trying to steal info, and then a so-called security tool shows up (a sort of adv. as you said). It also shows as a red and blue shield icons in status bar (tool-tip shows only "7486986564"). What's the solution ? -- Jon Ascton  (talk) 13:10, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Can you download and run Malwarebytes? Exxolon (talk) 13:51, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Are you sure that will help and not increase the trouble ! Because sometime back I tried something called STOPZILLA that I now doubt is the root of all evil !

Malwarebytes is a reputable program that is designed to eradicate bogus and harmful software - I've used it myself. Exxolon (talk) 14:20, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Make sure to download Malwarebytes from its official site, malwarebytes.org. If this fails, I advise saving your important data to another drive (and planning to gingerly treat those documents like poison in the future) and reformatting your hard disk and starting from scratch; see this FAQ. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:58, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

To be on the safe side you might consider reinstalling Windows from the original CDs (or the recovery partition on your computer if they didn't give you CDs). Make sure, of course, to backup everything, and don't run anything that you've backed up until you've reinstalled the new computer, updated, and installed an anti-virus program. Rather than fighting hidden infections, it's sometimes quicker to just reinstall the OS. Shadowjams (talk) 18:23, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

How could he be sure that the malware will not be just copied to and from the backup onto his HD again? 92.29.116.34 (talk) 22:36, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Excel "Find" function in VBA oddness

I'm trying to write a small code snippet to find the column number of a cell which corresponds to a date. I'm using the "Cells.Find" function and feeding it a formatted string to find.

Private Function pFindColPos(sText As Variant) As Long

Dim lResult As Range, oRg As Range

Set oRg = Cells.Find(What:=sText, _
                     LookIn:=xlFormulas, _
                     LookAt:=xlWhole, _ 
                     SearchOrder:=xlByRows, _ 
                     SearchDirection:=xlNext, _
                     MatchCase:=False)

If Not oRg Is Nothing Then lResult = oRg

pFindColPos = lResult

Set oRg = Nothing

End Function

Public Function NextMonday() As Date

Dim D As Integer
Dim N As Date

D = Weekday(Now)
N = Now() + (9 - D)

NextMonday = N

End Function

Private Sub Worksheet_Activate()

RelevantDate = CStr(Format(NextMonday, "dd/mm/yyyy"))

Col = pFindColPos(RelevantDate)

Application.Goto Range(Col), True

End Sub

"pFindColPos" is trying to find the cell matching the input string, and return the range. "NextMonday" returns the date of the next Monday as of today. The final idea is simply to Goto that cell.

Now, the worksheet column headers appear to have values like "29-Dec-08" but clicking on the cell and looking at the formula bar shows the real value is "08/12/2008", i.e. they are formatted. I don't think it matters, but the dates are text aligned vertically.

01-Dec-08	08-Dec-08	15-Dec-08	22-Dec-08	29-Dec-08

Now here's the weird thing. If I run a Find on "08/12/2008", it works. If I then record a macro whilst running the same Find, and use the code from the resulting macro (which I did, it's used in "pFindColPos") it doesn't find anything. Does anyone have any idea what's going on here? Rixxin (talk) 16:05, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

This is probably not the right thing, but it sounds like the cell's format type is Date type (hence the 29-Dec-08 autoformatting), and you are searching for a string. I suspect that is confusing Excel in one of the situations (Excel is very persnickety about date fields). Have you tried it after explicitly saying that those columns/rows are String fields? --Mr.98 (talk) 21:38, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Screensize

I have a 15" monitor. Sometimes when I view sites like this the text gives me problem. You see the body of text is wider than my screen and inorder to read the complete line I have to move the mouse to-and-fro on the horizontal bar, which is rather troublesome. Is there any setting in my browser itself (IE) that can fit the text-body to my screen's physical width so that I could read it without much botheration ? -- Jon Ascton  (talk) 19:08, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

In IE8 you can go to Page, Text Size and set it to smaller or snmallest, but seriously, why squint and struggle with that monitor when (second hand) 17" is so cheap? Sandman30s (talk) 19:15, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Folk can always make a web page wider than your monitor. IE does automatically reformat text to fit the window width available UNLESS the web page itself says not to. I don't think that there is a "ignore the web page formatting" option, though on wikipedia you may be able to do something with style sheets. One think I do occasionally is copy the text and paste it into notepad with word wrap on. -- SGBailey (talk) 19:49, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Glancing at the page, the width is set to a minimum because of the image bar at the top. By not loading images, it is possible to only see text and get word-wrapping to work. -- kainaw™ 19:58, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

I don't know if this is available in IE6, but in many browsers (and some other applications), you can expand and shrink the presentation by holding down the Ctrl key and rolling the scroll wheel on the mouse. There are likely menu options to do the same. The layout stays the same, but you might be able to shrink the presentation to fit the screen with it still being readable. Press Ctrl-0 (Ctrl-zero) to restore the normal size. -- Tom N (tcncv) talk/contrib 20:20, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

"I don't think that there is a "ignore the web page formatting" option" — in Firefox you can have stylesheets either be ignored or have custom stylesheets that override existing settings. Presumably a Greasemonkey script could also be devised that checked for maximum widths? I don't really know. I suspect anything one does here will be a bit clunky if ones minimum resolution is 800x600 or whatever this seems to be (that particular site is only 900 pixels wide, which is pretty moderate by web standards).--Mr.98 (talk) 21:57, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Here are some ideas:

• If you have Internet Explorer 8, you might dig into the Developer Tools, find the problematic page element and set it its width to "auto" or something like that. But you might have to learn about CSS and HTML to be able to usefully explore the web page elements.

• You might look for bookmarklets that solve formatting problems or annoyances. For example, Bookmarklets for Zapping Annoyances has a bookmarklet called "zap style sheets" that removes style sheets. However, on the page Jon provided as an example, the page elements have inline style attributes that specify the width, so it doesn't solve the problem for that page.

• Internet Explorer lets you specify a user style sheet. This will add to the existing page style, it doesn't completely turn it off. (Unless you use a style sheet with a lot of !important rules -- a special override flag -- for everything you want to override.) However, to use this option, you have to make your own CSS style sheet or find one that solves your problem. If you want to try it out, save the following text into a block.css file:

 * { display: block !important; width: 100% !important; }
 img, td, th { width: auto !important; }

Then go to Tools, Internet Options, click the Accessibility button, check the "Format documents using my style sheet" box and browse to the block.css file you made.

You can search for user style sheet to find other possible style sheets you can use. Or you can learn more about CSS and HTML to try making your own.

• (I know another web browser isn't a solution you asked for, but Opera has a Fit-to-Width option that forces text to fit into the browser width so you don't have to scroll horizontally. Opera also has some user style sheets to choose from, instead of forcing you make or find your own user style sheet. If you ever want to play around with another web browser in the future, you might consider trying those features out.)

--Bavi H (talk) 03:39, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

July 28

2D or 3D Animation software for AVCHD high definition partially simulated rock video?

I have three questions regarding Sony's AVCHD software that comes with their HDD based high definition video camera,recording in the AVCHD format. The first one is that the Sony PMB software plays O.K. on my dual core computer, a few years old now and with a very average graphics card for the time-maybe a bit of motion blur occasionally-but perfect on a stand alone Blu-Ray player, which I do not own yet, (and won't until an HD television comes out with the dynamic range and colour gamut of CRT) but the only player that works independently of PMB, which will not recognise Blu-Ray (apparently windows XP knows nothing about Blu-ray drives) is AVS4YOU but this is jerky even when played on the main internal hard drive of my computer, from the old DVD drive (before it was replaced) or anything else. The PMB software has a "convert to AVCHD" option, but seems to only allow a write to disk-and I can only write to the Blu-Ray using Cyberlink. Cyberlink recommends an upgrade to my graphics card. I suppose I could write to a AVCHD to DVD and then copy back to Blu-Ray, but the whole point of a Blu-Ray drive was not to have to break up HD files to fit on the limited space on DVD. So why can PMB (even with an average graphics card) do what stand-alone players can't? My second question is are there any programs that would let me electronically paint in fine detail individual frames lifted from original footage from my camera for 2D animation/alteration and then create a full HD animation in AVCHD format, also are there any reasonably priced photo-realistic 3D animation programs that could do the same, and by photo-realistic I mean good enough to render human faces convincingly given multi-angle photographs or possibly even laser scans? Also, if I bought an array of cheap web-cams and plugged them into my computer, or a cluster of computers, lets say a ten by ten 2D matrix, effectively creating a synthetic aperture with vertical and horizontal parallax, would future technology allow these images to be turned into moving HD holographic films? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.1.80.1 (talk) 05:33, 28 July 2010 (UTC)