Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 January 7

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January 7

windows mouse

my mouse clicks really loud, how can i remap scroll wheel up/down to left/right click? thank you! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.18 (talk) 02:36, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

nm found answer (autohotkey) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.18 (talk) 04:09, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Printer button lock

I have a cat who insists on pushing the buttons on top of our printer, causing it to print a test page. Is there a way to lock the keys? The printer is a HP Laserjet 1320 PCL 6. Thanks --Omnipotence407 (talk) 02:51, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, the cheesy solution is to epoxy a hinged cover (plexiglass or similar) to the printer (a.k.a. a wikt:molly-guard). Hopefully your cat won't regard the cover as an interesting new toy. You can look up your printer model on http://www.hp.com/, and look through the resources there. You may just have to spend some time on the phone with HP support, though. --Phirazo 05:29, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Addendum - or you could leave the printer off when you're not using it, or only load it with paper when you're not using it. --Phirazo 05:46, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

make sure you load it with paper when you are using it. ;P Dureo (talk) 10:32, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Oh yeah, whoops. I wrote that late at night, my brain wasn't entirely on. --Phirazo 17:52, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps tape a thumb tack facing up next to the button? --Sean 12:58, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Sean, that is cruel! Cats are sacred. --Ouro (blah blah) 13:02, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I have five of them, so I come by my cruelty honestly. --Sean 17:44, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

How to unzip downloaded file RaWrite2

I moved the following question from the help desk to here. [1] Zenwhat (talk) 03:18, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

---

I am attempting to load a copy of Ubuntu 6.1 onto a Hard Drive that currently has only DOS 6.22 on the Drive. The BIOS does not load from the CD Drive.

I have downloaded RaWrite2 to a 3 1/2 floppy on a different computer. How do I unzip the RaWrite file?

I have not seen an answer to this question in the FAQ section. Have I asked this question in the correct forum? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Eaevansu (talk • contribs)

I don't see how RaWrite is relevant to installing Ubuntu, what are you trying to achieve with RaWrite? For the unzipping just use 7zip (free) or Winrar on the other machine (shareware) to extract it. If you want to install Ubuntu but unable to boot from CD in the BIOS, you can try this (do the Debian one, Ubuntu is based on Debian), or ask around on the forums. --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:20, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

It might be easier to just download the uncompressed executable. -- Diletante (talk) 17:15, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

You're meant to use the RaWrite program to write the raw "disc images" to blank floppies. --Kjoonlee 18:42, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

How many people read Wikipedia?

--203.78.9.149 (talk) 06:04, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Alexa says just over 8% of the people on the internet access Wikipedia. --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:11, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

You may be interested in Wikipedia:Statistics, which has all sorts of traffic and article statistics. --Phirazo 18:02, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Help .... eBay

On eBay, if someone puts up several items in one auction, how can you buy just one of those items? 138.217.145.45 (talk) 06:56, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Contact the seller and see if they will sell the items separately, otherwise, you'll probably have to buy them all if the seller lists them that way. Dureo (talk) 10:20, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Comcast DVR

I plan on turning off my Comcast service to my existing house as I am getting ready to tear it down and rebuild it, I have already turned off the other utilities, but I have some more episodes on the DVR to watch and I was wondering if I just take the box to the house I am staying in, will it work if i just plug the av hookups to the tv there? or does it need to be attached to the coax. I personally have no idea, so maybe someone here knows. Dureo (talk) 10:30, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

While I never tested this (and have since switched to Tivo, so I can't test it now), a quick way to find out is to disconnect the input from the DVR, then cycle the power on the DVR. — Lomn 14:30, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Make sure you own the DVR.. comcast leases my parents a DVR free as long as they keep paying the multiple-tuners fee, but we don't own it --f f r o t h 00:33, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay, hope someone sees this, I don't own it and plan on turning it in, just need about 2 weeks to finish up the shows that are on it, I cannot test it at the house there, as the electricity is already off :( kinda did the shut off backwards, I didn't want to go get it, and bring it here unless it would work(I live in a very urban area, and I am staying 30 miles from my house, and the turn in center is 35 miles from both sides[trianglish]) I'll just grab it and test it tomorrow. Dureo (talk) 09:52, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

If it is a Comcast Cable Box/DVR Combo, It will probably only work for the location (e.g. Residence) it is set up to work in. The best thing to do is call Comcast and tell them that you are moving and bringing your cable box with you, they will arrange to install service at you temporary place. --Christopher Kraus (talk) 16:55, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Cool toad

Hi, Can anyone give me some information about the email provider cool toad - are they reputable?

Thanks, --124.181.141.227 (talk) 11:34, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Freaky mobile phone/pc question

Short and sweet: I'm sure we've all heard on this or another occasion that an amplified speaker can produce strange sounds when a mobile phone is near it and somebody is calling, picking up the signal. So, should this mobile phone be lying near a PC, could such signals (is this properly termed a carrier signal?) cause the PC to hang? Ideas welcome. Have a nice day now. Cheers, Ouro (blah blah) 13:12, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I can't back this up but my answer is absolutely not. Equazcion •✗/C • 13:44, 7 Jan 2008 (UTC)

In theory, your PC (at least if built by a major company) was tested for electromagnetic compatibility as part of the process of gaining regulatory certification (by a conformance testing house such as TUV, UL, etc.) and this testing explicitly includes testing for susceptibility to interference by mobile phones ("radiated immunity"). But the test only assumes a certain minimum distance between the PC and the phone and a certain configuration of the PC. If the phone is closer than expected or you've added additional gadgets to the PC (via, say the USB port), you might create a configuration that is susceptible to interference.

Atlant (talk) 15:03, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

My PC (as all my previous machines) is custom built by myself, kept with open case, basing on an old IBM machine (you can have a glance, I have a photo on my user page). The mobile phone usually lies 1 m (3 feet) away, tops. Thanks. --Ouro (blah blah) 15:06, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

That may explain it. One of the things you've given up by going home-built is all the effort that goes into making sure a factory-built PC won't crash because of your mobile.

Atlant (talk) 15:09, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't believe PCs built over here are given all that effort though --Ouro (blah blah) 15:14, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

The PC itself doesn't matter. Its individual components would've been tested (motherboard, power supply, etc) for EM interference, as would your mobile phone. 3 feet is plenty. I've never heard of EM interference from electronic devices causing any malfunction of computer hardware in the 15 years I've been involved in PC tech. If your PC locked up, it was not because of your mobile phone. Equazcion •✗/C • 15:11, 7 Jan 2008 (UTC)

Ah, thanks, Equazcion. --Ouro (blah blah) 15:20, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

It is the PC "as a whole" that is certified, although EMC was considered with every component and sub-assembly that was designed.

Atlant (talk) 16:36, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

• All PC cases must be FCC class B certified for home use, class A certified for office use in US. The components inside does not matter. If you use a class B case, your PC is class B certified. NYCDA (talk) 16:44, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

If you believe that what goes inside doesn't matter, you've obviously never had to design or certify any of this stuff; I have. In fact, the guy from TUV just spent several days in my lab with his three big racks full of certification equipment and his huge Yagi antenna.

Atlant (talk) 22:57, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Sound like an FCCin nightmare!--TreeSmiler (talk) 02:13, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Motorola KRZR

I have a Motorola KRZR (the 1st edition, I guess), and when I delete .mp3 ringtones from my Sound file on the phone, it still leaves the ringtone on the list when I am searching for a specific ringtone to add to a contact. Also, only a few of the ringtones I actually have on my phone are showing up in said list. Is there a way to reset all ringtones, including clearing this list? The Master Reset selection didn't do this. EWHS (talk) 14:14, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Edit: KRZR is model K1m EWHS (talk) 14:17, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Small confusion

Is Google Earth the same as the satellite imagery on Google maps or Maps generally? Or is there a difference (Ignoring one is a programme and the other isn't as such)? Simply south (talk) 15:14, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

They use the same Imagery from Digital Globe & Terrametrics. --Obsolete.fax (talk) 16:23, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

However, there are places where you can zoom in to see more detail in Earth than you're allowed in Maps. jeffjon (talk) 18:20, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Do you have any examples? —Steve Summit (talk) 22:53, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Imposition/Pagination in DTP software

Hello. I have a 130,000 word document in Word which I want to resize to A5 and print out double-sided on a normal printer preparatory to cutting the pages in half and wire-binding. This requires a level of imposition that Word doesn't seem able to cope with, as I need to reorder the pages 1,4,3,2 in a landscape format...

I have access to all the DTP software a man could want, Quark, Illustrator, Acrobat, but I can't find the answer... any ideas?

Thanks 80.229.160.127 (talk) 18:41, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Try searching on The Word MVP Site. There some commercial applications such as Clickbook and Fineprint that will automate the process. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 21:16, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Reinstall Kubuntu from CD without reformatting

My laptop can't currently get past GRUB stage 2 when booting from the hard drive. Its Kubuntu 7.10 installation previously worked just fine. Although I could fsck the hard drive when booting from CD (didn't help), the installation CD said it couldn't install to the partition I'd been using (which was ext3) without reformatting it first. How can I repair or redo the installation from a CD without reformatting or repartitioning the drive? (I can burn a different CD if necessary.) NeonMerlin 19:09, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I would use Knoppix to boot into Linux, mount the drive, backup whatever files you need, then fdisk/format/reinstall. It appears that there is something wrong with the drive - though it is possible that it is only a bad config of some sort. If it is a bad drive, you'll be wasting days and days trying to get it to work and end up losing your data. -- kainaw™ 19:49, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I should have pointed out that Knoppix may also be used to poke around the Kubuntu drive and see if anything looks bad that you can fix. -- kainaw™ 19:51, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

computer help

Hello I've been having computer problems for quite sometime. I am a middle-aged woman with no computer experience who acquired a new notebook approx 1yr ago. I purchased a wireless router, antivirus software and used i-tunes because I didn't want a virus with the music I downloaded...but about 3 months into my computer usage my problems began and all the reformatting in the world hasn't "cleaned" my computer to this day. As a matter of fact, several modems and even routers later, and something connectionwise appears to be an issue...if this is even possible, or just in my head. I can't quite search for information because my search answers are "tainted"...I get the run-a-round. My boyfriend has no idea what I'm talking about, and everyone swears a computer is fine once you have reformatted and reinstalled Windows...? So If you agree, fine. But if you have any idea about what could be an area for me to check out, I would greatly appreciate it. Like, someone on-line I can connect to who can see my computer and look around for things and recognize them as viruses, or a bad registry issue. Yes, I have discussed this with HP, but there is a language barrier problem. So, if you have any reccommendations of areas for me to search next, please let me know. Thankyou. Christine redington (talk) 20:18, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

The main problem with helping is that I cannot tell what the problem is. The only issue you mention is "something connectionwise". What? It doesn't connect? Data connection is slow? Blue smoke comes out the back and it makes a hissing noise? -- kainaw™ 20:21, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Christine, before we can help we do need to know what the problem is. Answer these questions for us: What are you trying to do? And what happens when you try to do it? Equazcion •✗/C • 20:24, 7 Jan 2008 (UTC)

Equazcion, I believe this is a problem of Cross-site scripting. Do you think it is recommendable to ask Christine to migrate to Mozilla Firefox? I am pretty sure she can do it because she installed iTunes, right? I inferred this from the "tainted" search results [most probably Google search results] she is getting. What do you think?

Christine, please remember to make sure that you back up 'everything important before you wipe your hard disk clean, if you decide to do that. I really hope you don't have to do it. Kushal^t 00:38, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

computer help

I'm sorry for rambling. What is a sub-system? and is this anything a generic laptop user like me would have to deal with?Christine redington (talk) 20:45, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

"sub-system" can mean many different things. Please, start from the beginning. What are you trying to do? Let's start with that. Equazcion •✗/C • 20:48, 7 Jan 2008 (UTC)

Generically, it just means some part of a system. I'm not aware of any more specific meaning that should be important to you. Obviously your internet works well enough for you to use Wikipedia, so what exactly is the problem you're having? The questions asked above are good ones. And yes- completely wiping and reinstalling your operating system should reset your computer to a healthy state, barring an actual hardware problem. Friday (talk) 20:50, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Backing up iTunes on an external hard drive.

I have iTunes 7.5 and I'm getting an external hard drive shortly (because my Macbook's hard drive died recently - definitely need to back things up from now on) and I was wondering how I would go about backing up my music (as well as information such as ratings, playcounts etc) onto the hard drive. I have looked at various websites but they either talk about playing the music directly from the hard drive - I just want to back it up, I'll still keep my music on my Macbook or talk about copying the "iTunes music" folder. My music is not situated there - I just have it in the "Music" folder. Would I have to move it to the" iTunes music" folder or can I keep it where it is? Help is appreciated! -- Stacey _{talk to me} 21:16, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

If you're just backing it up, just copy the whole Music folder a to the hard drive. If you wanted to restore from the backup, you'd just copy it back in place. Inside that folder is everything iTunes needs to find your music again. The "iTunes library" file (in the Music folder) is the one that tells iTunes where all your music is and what ratings they have, I believe. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 00:50, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

That's right, I've done this a few times, transferring iTunes music collections between computers and whatnot. It's surprisingly simple. Just copy the iTunes library folder, and paste it onto the external drive. To restore the back copy and paste it back to the same location -- pretty much what the previous user described. Equazcion •✗/C • 06:39, 8 Jan 2008 (UTC)

Okay cool, thank you :) -- Stacey _{talk to me} 19:28, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Webcam help

I have a webcam, Microsoft XV3000 (external, see the link below), and I was wondering if there was any way to save the file being recorded without pressing the stop/save button. I've come to the conclusion, by typing shutdown -s -t 10 into the run prompt, that the software (LifeCam) does not save by termination. Can anyone help me? PS. I've got to turn the computer off with the -s -t 1000, because I want to monitor my cat's attempts to get out after I've turned in for the night. PPS. I've read <90% of the virtual help. Thanks bunches!!!!! Yamakiri^→Г_C← 01-7-2008 • 21:22:22

Ipod File Format Question

I want to buy an Ipod and am just double checking what I found in an article here on Wikipedia, to make sure my files will play. My files are all in MPEG or AAC formats; a sixth generation Ipod classic with play both of these, yes? The Ipod article says so but an Ipod is too expensive for me without getting confirmation it'll work. Thanks! DoomsDay349 23:43, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

It will when you install Rockbox on it, which you will because:

• Itunes music store is pretty terrible and covered in millions of gallons of black, sticky DRM, and the sync features are messy, and itunes is the most bloated, disgusting media player ever created and should never touch a windows machine since the windows version is written so badly
• The built-in ipod firmware is ugly and counterintuitive, and doesn't support open codecs/containers like Vorbis/ogg and FLAC.
• You can play DOOM and chess and game boy games with rockbox

But on its own, yes, the ipod firmware will play aac in mpeg4, as well as MP3 --f f r o t h 00:29, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

sadly your classic won't work with Rockbox at the moment, have a look at the Rockbox homepage [2]. If you run linux you can use gtkpod instead of itunes, but you're stuck with the ipod firmware (which I don't think is that bad in terms of useability) 163.1.148.158 (talk) 00:36, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

The answer is YES your iPod should play those file types just fine. I think you can ignore all of the above; it doesn't really try to directly answer your question at all and is pretty much the opinion of one dedicated anti-Apple user. (froth—the question was direct enough, why complicate it with your own concerns? that's not really helpful. who cares if you don't like the interface? did anybody ask about iTunes? DOOM and chess? wtf?) --24.147.86.187 (talk) 00:55, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Indeed. For an opposing viewpoint (though at risk of starting a debate which the RD's are allegedly not for): I love my iPod, and its interface is among the most beautifully intuitive I've ever used. Simple, consistent, yet fully functional. Nor has ITMS's minimal DRM ever gotten in my way.

(However, I had never heard of Rockbox and am intrigued to learn of it, so thanks for the tip.) —Steve Summit (talk) 01:33, 8 January 2008 (UTC)