Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 April 28

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 28

Protecting illustrations from Acrobat OCR

When I perform OCR in Adobe Acrobat Professional and choose Formatted Text & Graphics for output, part of an illustration will sometimes be recognized as text or white space. How can I mark off an illustration and tell Acrobat not to OCR it when it's doing the rest of the page? NeonMerlin 00:22, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Oh crap

I just received this message on my browser (FF): http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/241/ohshatoe2.jpg

Which is almost exactly the same as this: Image:Winantivirus.png

Ironically about a week ago I had read the WinFixer article here. Before pressing any of the buttons I shut off my internet and then pressed the Cancel button, although I am still very worried. I did what the WinFixer article had directed me to, but am I safe? Please re-assure, I don't want to suddenly find my computer going haywire. --TV-VCR watch 04:25, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Err, you're not in any danger. That article is pretty poor. It seems that WinFixer either utilizes some exploit in IE to install itself, or just tricks the user into downloading it. So long as you didn't download and execute it, you're not at risk. I'm not aware of any major code execution exploit in the latest Firefox release, and certainly not any that are in the wild... -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 04:30, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Things like that generally don't cause your PC to go haywire, just become slower and pop up windows like that. Before you do anything, make sure it was from malware on your PC instead of a popup. Since you're on FF, chances of it being a popup aren't good, especially if you use AdBlock and filtersets. If you don't, I recommend you install those right away, as they will help not only keep malware off your PC, but also make your internet experience much more enjoyable (I actually forgot that banner ads existed on the internet until I got my Wii, and even then it took me like five minutes before I realized what the hell they were doing there). After that, (assuming you're using Windows XP or Vista, chances of this happening on Linux or OSX are extremely low), download and install Spybot Search and Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html) and Hijack This (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php). Run Spybot S&D. It will probably bring up a lot of stuff, check it over before you delete it, as they are occasionally false positives. If it says you cannot remove the program, or it comes back, then you get into the dirty stuff.

!!WARNING!! Before you do any of this, you should back up your media, and make sure you have a windows install disk, as you CAN mess up your PC with this. Be prepared to have to format and start over. First, you need to turn off system restore, as this WILL keep the virus around. Go into your system restore settings, and choose to disable it. !!WARNING!! This WILL destroy all your previous system restore checkpoints, so if you mess up after this point, you're reinstalling. Turn your PC off and boot into Safe Mode. In safe mode, run Spybot S&D. After it's done scanning and cleaning, run Hijack This. CAREFULLY delete entries. If you don't know what you're doing, post the Hijack This log to people that do (most forums will request this, I believe HT has a forum you can use). These entries are mostly GOOD things, or even necessary. Delete the malware entries (or whatever ones the forums tell you to delete), close and restart. Should work after that. Again though, if you don't know what you're doing, be sure to request help, and be sure to ALWAYS archive your data before messing with your registry or anything delicate. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 04:44, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Err. If that message was due to spyware already on your computer: worry (and get rid of it). If that message was just from a website trying to trick you into downloading WinFixer, as it looks like, don't worry. At all. Just ignore it, never visit the crap filled site again, and live on. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 04:46, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, sorry, don't mean to make you panic. Like I said (Probably should've put more emphasis on it), you're probably OK. I still recommend downloading Spybot-S&D and HT though, they are very useful. Also, download Adaware. Run lavasoft's Adaware and Spybot-S&D every few days and your PC will be among the cleanest a Windows computer can be and still be connected to the internet. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 04:55, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

If you use Firefox and/or are clever about things, you don't need to run an adware check every couple of days. Heck, since reinstalling Windows a couple months ago, I haven't even installed a single security program. Things have never been faster. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 18:54, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

That's only a confirm box - very easy to do in JavaScript. There is no risk - any web page can make an alert box pop up like this. See this w3schools page for an example of this in action (together with the code which goes on the web page). I use the NoScript extension, which blocks JavaScript. --h2g2bob 05:19, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

I personally would never block my javascript use, just maybe for certain sites. You probably shouldn't mess with that if you don't know what you're doing, since you might lose features on some sites, like Wikipedia for instance! I love my monobook.js. :) [Mαc Δαvιs] ❖ 12:05, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

That's why noscript lets you whitelist a website easily. Right click the noscript icon, click the button to "Allow wikipedia.org", and you're good. I like it personally; keeps Java, Javascript, and Flash crap from bothering me. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 18:54, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Question about this computer font style? older computers used it

What is it called when you make large letters out of capitalized letters? a capital "A" is made by using the capital A to make the shape of an 'A'

there must be some program out there to generate these automatically??

if this doesnt remove whitespace, the A, B would look like:

     A       BBBB
   A  A      B   B 
  AAAAAA     BBBBB
 A      A    B    B
 A      A    BBBBB

whats this called? thanks —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Bradz1234 (talk • contribs) 04:46, 28 April 2007 (UTC).

ASCII art? -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 04:53, 28 April 2007 (UTC) And "Figlet" can generate these--71.195.124.101 15:10, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

If you know Perl, the Text::Banner module will do this for you. --TotoBaggins 02:51, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

The unix tool figlet will do this for you. If you want to waste a few hours, type in "fortune|figlet" --Oskar 04:15, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Why can two anti-spyware programs happily co-exist on the same computer...

...but two anti-virus programs, if installed together, will lead to endless conflict? --Kaypoh 06:43, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

likely because, one, anti-spyware programs typically are ran once, and then turned off, whereas antivirus are running constantly, and because anti-viruses try to modify things that set the other one off. Why would you want more than one anti-virus though? If you need that level of security, you're probably better off using a more secure OS, such as a Live CD -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 06:53, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

DDR2 backwards compatibility?

I know DDR2 isn't backwards compatible with DDR, but if I plug a 1066 DIMM into an 800 slot, will I have any problems other than the RAM being slower than it could be? I somehow missed this, even though I must've checked over the parts for this PC a dozen times =/ Should be an easy question, thanks -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 06:57, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

It would work perfectly fine. --antilived^{T | C | G} 07:57, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

That's what I thought, thanks -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 08:23, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Unless the BIOS gets confused... --cesarb 00:40, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

It will a) work fine and b) probably live longer than it would have done anyway, if a component is graded to run at 1066mhz and you only ever push 800mhz at it, it work get too hot or worked up. This is also true for the other way round, hence over clocking tends to reduce the lifetime of a component.

Percent encoding of forward slash in Firefox gives 404 error in Wikipedia

I have a Firefox keyword search bookmark set up so that when I type 'wpgo pagename', it will bring me to the corresponding Wikipedia page, e.g. 'wpgo User:Harryboyles' brings me to my userpage. However this doesn't work for subpages. Firefox converts the forward slash to %2F, which then causes Wikipedia to give a 404 error. I filed a Bugzilla request (bug 9204) but Brion said that it was a low level 'feature' in Apache and couldn't be fixed from them. Is there a way to make Firefox pass the forward slash as normal? Harryboyles 08:26, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

I have a similar feature in Opera and I've just tried it and it works fine with /s. This indicates that it is Firefox's doing rather than an Apache feature. I wouldn't know how to get Firefox to do what you want though, sorry, though you could code a workaround if you so required (and had the knowledge). JoshHolloway 08:45, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Use the Go search box:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s

as a keyword bookmark. This comes by default as keyword "wp". It uses the search with the Go button. Works for me with slashes and everything else. --h2g2bob 11:42, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Now why didn't I think of that! I guess I'm used to typing the exact address in the address bar so I assumed it would carry over. The answer was staring at me all along. This is mighty helpful. Thanks! Harryboyles 11:55, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Hiding my ip address

Hi, im looking for the safest and most reliable way to hide my real ip address. How would i go around doing this? just software? or more than that? THNX for any help. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by I.scheme.a.lot (talk • contribs) 10:33, 28 April 2007 (UTC).

The easiest way is to not use the Internet. Your IP address is fundamental to doing anything on the Internet -- how else would a web server know where to send you a web page without an address? It's like asking: "how can I send and receive letters without telling other people my home address?" —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.49.243.244 (talk) 10:43, 28 April 2007 (UTC).

Actually, you can send and receive letters without telling people your home address. Just use a post office box, and if desired I guess have a friend or courier take your mail to and from the post office. NeonMerlin 16:59, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

The issue with PO boxes is that you're shifting your trust relationship elsewhere. You trust the Post Office to know your identity, and you trust the courier or friend to deliver your mail. It's the same with the Internet -- if you're using proxy servers or anonymous remailers, your IP address still isn't hidden, it's just masked behind the proxy or the remailer. You just simply trust the proxy or the remailer instead of the server you directly connect to. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.49.243.244 (talk) 01:02, 29 April 2007 (UTC).

See dynamic IP, proxy server, and anonymous remailer. Dynamic IPs work by changing your IP a lot, proxy servers work by using a third party to put information through instead of kind of "direct" to you, and anonymous remailers work by emailing an email to a, well, proxy server, and then they anonymously remail your email. [Mαc Δαvιs] ❖ 10:48, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Note that if you use an anonymous proxy (e.g. Tor (anonymity network)) many sites, like Wikipedia, will already be set up to block you, knowing that such sites are easily abused by vandals. --24.147.86.187 11:26, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Here's another thing to think about: what's your goal? Is it to keep your IP address private, or to keep people from figuring out what you're doing? If the latter, then you may want to look into encryption; https whenever possible (for example, you can navigate en: with the URL scheme https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Main_Page although I think cross-project links send you back to unsecured), PGP for email, SSH instead of telnet, SFTP instead of ftp, and so on. As far as the former, dynamic IP's and proxies are your best bet to a certain extent, but at a certain point, you have to trust someone who will be able to track you back to your initial IP. –Pakman044 03:21, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

You could get a friend to download webpages a few at a time from their PC, put them on a usb stick and bring them round? just a thought. :) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Phillip.upson (talk • contribs) 16:26, 3 May 2007 (UTC).

Internet radio

How do I use Sam Broadcaster to put an internet radio on my friends website? --Candy-Panda 10:50, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

You'll need to rent a SHOUTcast or IceCast server to stream to. Google found this as the first result, though I'm sure you can find cheaper. I also note that you're in Australia (from your userpage) so you may want to search for a host in Australia itself to make the connection better (smaller ping).

Once you have got the host, you'll need to configure SAM to do this. Look around the help forums and/or the SAM help interface to do this :). JoshHolloway 11:36, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Okay thank you! :) --Candy-Panda 11:58, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

OR you could serve it yourself by installing SHOUTcast server. 99% uptime and high bandwidth recommended :) Shinhan 13:25, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

VLC will also work, although it doesn't have quite the bells and whistles of shoutcast, as well as it's a bit more user-unfriendly. But there isn't the 20 user limit I've heard with shoutcast...although your machine may start to cry after it gets beat to a pulp with too may clients! –Pakman044 03:10, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Music making program

Does anyone know a free user-friendly program that lets you make music without the use of music instruments? --Candy-Panda 12:09, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't know any, but it would help others if you specified an operating system first... --saxsux 12:59, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

How about GarageBand for Macs or Adobe Audition for Windows? JoshHolloway 13:11, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

ACID Music Express, from Sony, for Windows, is free to download from their website. --LarryMac 15:10, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

If you feel up to learning a bit of code, try LillyPond. It has a feature that will output midi. Foxjwill 03:08, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

ExpressCard and USB

There's mention that ExpressCard can use a USB 2.0 interface somehow. I don't quite understand what this entails. Does this mean that there exists an adapter that can take an ExpressCard and plugs into a USB 2.0 port and will then optimally run? What does this entail, exactly? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.49.243.244 (talk) 15:01, 28 April 2007 (UTC).

It means that the device has the hardware to talk to a USB 2.0 controller, so there shouldn't be any dongle or adapter :). Splintercellguy 15:26, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

It means that the ExpressCard receptacle (the "slot" you put it in) is connected to your computer both over the computer's PCI-express bus and over a USB 2 connection. Unlike cardbus there is no controller chip between that slot and either of those busses - the connector just passes through both sets of wires to the card (pinout table). The ExpressCard device can talk either PCI-E or USB2, depending on the needs of its designers; the computer has to know how to talk either. The data rate on USB2 is a lot lower than PCI-E, and an ExpressCard that only talks lines will only be able to talk at USB speeds, and is in effect just a standard USB component with a funny form factor and a different connector. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 16:03, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

This implies that if a device solely uses the USB interface, one can easily wire up a ExpressCard to USB2 adapter for devices which have no ExpressCard capabilities, but if an ExpressCard device uses PCIe and you have no ExpressCard capabilities, you're screwed. Is that correct?

Not really. You'd only buy an expresscard if you already had an expresscard slot. Making some mad adapter so you could wire usb2-only expresscards to a real usb2 port is pointless - you'd just buy a real USB device instead. The fact that expresscard supports USB2 is purely for the convenience of cheap expresscard device implementers; unless you're planning on building laptop or expresscard hardware yourself, the fact that expresscard happens to work with usb2 internally is a technical detail that an end user can safely ignore. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:29, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Can you recommend a group discussion website?

Hey there wikifolks, I'm looking for a group discussion website to set up a uh... discussion group. I was thinking of just using Google Groups but I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for alternatives? (it has to be free and online and has to allow private group discussions). Something which would allow some kind of visual mapping of member clusters would be ideal. Thanks very much for any suggestions! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.109.127.72 (talk) 20:41, 28 April 2007 (UTC).

You didn't really need to add the question 3 times. See internet forum, it has a few links that might help. I'm not really big on internet-forums so couldn't suggest, sorry. ny156uk 21:20, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

well, I didnt do it deliberately and it didnt hurt anyone... I've no idea why it repeated. The internet forum page is not very helpful. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.111.75.92 (talk) 14:09, 29 April 2007 (UTC).

Can WinXP be installed on a laptop with a Turion 64 X2?

I have a bit of trouble finding out if XP can be installed on what is supposedly a 64-bit motherboard. Can anyone tell me? Specifically, this computer: http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10086139&catid=22496&atab=3&logon=&langid=EN

Thanks! Richardmtl 22:10, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Sure can! Windows XP Professional x64 Edition was designed to run on 64-bit x86 CPUs. —Mitaphane _?|! 22:59, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

No need even for that (and really, you don't want it; 64-bit XP has driver issues). Turion 64s and other 64-bit AMD processors work just as well with 32-bit operating systems and applications. Just install normal ol' XP and it will work as expected. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 02:27, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the info. I was talking about regular XP, not the 64-bit edition. Are there any potential problems/performance issues if I were to remove the Vista that comes with this system if I don't like it, and install XP? Any special drivers needed, or lost/reduced functionality that I can expect? Thanks again! Richardmtl 14:42, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Might I ask why you want to run XP specifically? If the PC is x64, I'm personally not familiar at all with 64-bit systems, but i'd take the above persons word that 32-bit OS works fine on 64-bit architecture, not being backwards compatible would be very stupid. If you just don't want to run Vista, you could try Ubuntu, I believe it comes in an x64 flavor. And no, uninstalling Vista shouldn't have any ill effects. Most equipment is standard to the point where most modern OS (OSX, XP, Linux etc.) should be able to recognize it and PlugNPlay it. The only reduced or lost functionality is the features you're losing from Vista. So yeah, nothing lost at all, although your computer might run a lil fast! -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 14:52, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Uhhh, gross generalizations. XP should run fine though; the Pavilions only switched to Vista recently and I'm fairly certain the same (or nearly same) models were sold with XP before, so there should be drivers available. No guarantees, though. If you can contact HP customer service somehow and ask them, it would probably be optimal. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 08:19, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Gross generalizations about what? I haven't run into an OS that has needed any real setup to get hardware working in a long time -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 06:03, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

That doesn't mean that all hardware is 'PlugNPlay' or 'standard', which it isn't. The multitude of different drivers that any of these modern OSs (besides possible OS X) support is crazy; most hardware is not completely standardized. Laptops use especially odd hardware, and can have serious issues when an OS lacks vendor support. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 21:03, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, CC, that's the kind of info I was looking for. I wanted to know, in case anyone's curious, because if I don't like Vista, I'm not afraid to dump it, but I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't have trouble installing XP. Thanks for all the help! Richardmtl 13:18, 30 April 2007 (UTC)