Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 July 16

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July 16

Online Subscription

What is the Histry of Online subscription? How does online subscription work? What are the advantages and disadvantages of Online subscription—Preceding unsigned comment added by Ooro (talk • contribs)

This history of online subscriptions began long ago when a bunch of kids did their own homework --L^augh! 10:28, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

firefox

where soes firefox keep my cookies? 09:37, 16 July 2007 (UTC)~

In the cookie jar, of course! Your cookies are stored in a file called cookies.txt which is stored in your profile. I assume that you want to manage and/or remove your cookies, and this option is available in Tools -- Options -- Privacy.

Additionally, Firefox can delete all personal information with every exit, or by pressing Control+Shift+Delete in Windows. Freedomlinux 13:02, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Outlook

I hate using MS products but sometimes I'm obliged to. Does anyone know how to export emails from Outlook Express 5 to Outlook 2000? There is an export option from Outlook Express that claims to do this, and the progress bar does its thing, but nothing appears in Outlook and it gives me no clue as to where to find those files. The import options in Outlook do not include Outlook Express. As usual, the help files are of no help at all.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:55, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

In my version of Outlook Express (version 6), going File -> Export -> Messages... brings up a notice that says "This will export messages from Outlook Express to Micosoft Outlook or Microsoft Exchange: OK / Cancel?". Otherwise I imagine that the export should be in the form of a single file, and all you need to do is find the file and ask Outlook to import it. Sorry if this isn't much of a help Rfwoolf 12:39, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Found it thanks. You have to find the "import internet mail" option.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:32, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Slave drive

Can someone provide a simple description of how to slave one drive to another? Like, what cables are needed, etc. Stuff I've found on tech sites skips the basics it seems... --Tothebarricades 10:11, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Its actually pretty simple. Connect both the drives to the same IDE cable and set the jumpers to designate one as master and the other as slave. Which two pins should be connected for master or slave should be given using a visual diagram on the drive as well as its casing. Just put the connectors on the pair of pins properly and things will be up and running. Or set both drives to cable select and things will be selected automatically. Remember, SATA drives do not need this setting. --soum ^talk 10:38, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Moto Ming A1200 Internet Browsing

I am having the Motorola phone Moto-ming. I am interested in browsing websites in that mobile. Even though I have Computer, I also want to browse pages in the small screen just to see how it looks. But, at present, mobile data plans are very costly. So, I want to know whether it would be possible to use the DSL connection which I use for my computer to browse in mobile. Is it possible first of all? Is it possible if I have bluetooth connection between the two? At present, I use USB connection and if I open the browser, it says it cant in USB mass storage mode. Wouldn't the browser open in bluetooth mode? Does it need any extra software or settings? Can I browse through USB itself if I make some settings? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.96.24.35 (talk • contribs) 03:41, July 16, 2007

• Usually to browse the internet through a phone while its connected to your pc you need some sort of application on your PC doing some emulating. ActiveSync handles this for windows based devices, but I'm unaware of anything for the Ming. I know to go the other direction (use phone's internet for your pc) via bluetooth you need to set up a Bluetooth Dial-Up Networking (DUN) pairing from the computer to the phone. The reverse might be possible, so see if you have some options available for that. If you're just looking to see what it might look like, see if the emulator does what you want. Good luck! -wizzard2k ^(C-T-D) 21:13, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Weird Add/Remove Program List

Yesterday I wanted to delete a program from my PC. I opened the Add/Remove Program List from my Control Panel and this is what awaited me:

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6069/addremoveprogramsxv5.jpg

What's up with this? It's got the logos of many programs wrong. And it doesn't have all of my installed softwares. How can I solve this? Running many Anti Spywares and Anti Viruses didn't work. Has anyone seen this before?

Thanks in advance. Hasanclk 10:55, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

I don't see anything in there that looks like it's wrong, just missing. I do however see something that looks like an illegal version of AVG. If they are wrong, it's probably a matter of some values being messed up in the registry, or something to that effect. Shouldn't be worth worrying about --L^augh! 11:02, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Illegal? Maybe copyright infringement for whoever distributed it, but it wouldn't be illegal for him. And anyway he already said that the icons are messed up, so it probably has nothing to do with avg --froth^t 12:27, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

If you use software you don't own, that's illegal. What you're saying is akin to saying that you can't be arrested for using a stolen car, as long as you didn't steal it (and yes, you can- knowingly receiving stolen property is a crime) --L^augh! 12:31, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

That's assuming s/he knows it. Anyway, it could be possible that AVG makes their own antispyware program. "Apple Software Update" however looks a little out of place. 68.39.174.238 16:07, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

It's pretty much impossible to illegally download software without knowing about it. Anyway, Apple Software Update is probably for iTunes or Quicktime, although it's odd that they don't seem to have entries --L^augh! 16:37, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

I'm not suggesting that he swiped an installer for AVG, rather that someone else plagairized AVG's code and "wrote" their own antispyware program but forgot to remove all the traces. Antispyware is a field that seems rife with that sort of plagairizm, I know Spybot has an entire list of programs that have stolen its detections list or even the entire program. 68.39.174.238 16:02, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

What? It's called "super antispyware FREE edition" - it's FREE to download. I thought by "illegal" they meant that 'super' copied avg's code and rereleased it --froth^t 18:29, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Do you honestly think that crackers have never named something "Free Edition" because it's free...after you steal it? --L^augh! 12:25, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

• I don't really see a problem. The icons that are 'wrong' seem to be all the 'default' icons for installed programs. When you 'package' a program/software that you want to install on people's machines using the Windows Installer, if you don't specify an icon to show up on Add/Remove programs, then that is the normal icon that comes up. Perhaps I'm not seeing what you're seeing - I don't see a problem. Rfwoolf 12:35, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Maybe its something related to this story I read on slashdot? — Shinhan < talk > 12:02, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

::: Oh, come on. I downloaded the Free Edition of AVG from their official website to protect my system. And I also have the SUPER anti virus installed. The icons have been mixed up, and the list isn't showing SUPER anti virus at all. That is exactly my problem. Mixed up icons, and missing programs. Now even Windows Media Player 10 is messed up. It's showing VLC Media Player's icon. Oh, and today, this is the state of my Add/Remove List:

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4902/addremoveprogramsey5.png

This list of mpSSO, mplog, mpIWA what is it? I haven't seen anything like this before. And another thing. The Add/Remove panel isn't allowing me to uninstall or install programs. You know the Repair/Remove Button you see when you click on a software? Well, it isn't there anymore. Any ideas?

Hasanclk 12:19, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

To be quite honest with you, that photo DOES look messed up (the first one didn't), and very badly so. Only thing I could think of would be reinstalling, that's usually the only option when things get so badly f00x0rzed up. --L^augh! 12:25, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

-12V in motherboard

What is the purpose of -12V voltage in motherboard? -5V connection is already obsolete in todays PSU, but -12V is still present. Where is it used?

It used to be used for RS-232 and RS-423 serial line units. Modern systems often us an on-board charge pump to generate the trivial amount of current needed.

Atlant 15:01, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

To complement the answer above, the reason it's still present in modern motherboards is because PCI slots have one -12V pin. -5V died when all ISA slots were replaced by PCI (ISA has both -5V and -12V pins), and -12V will die when all PCI slots are replaced by PCI Express (which doesn't have any weird negative voltages). --cesarb 23:54, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

So if they both die, what replaces them? 68.39.174.238 16:02, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Like I said, charge pumps at (or near) the actual point of use.

Atlant 23:15, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

I mean, something has to connect the PSU to the systemboard, and if those two are no long there, what's left? 68.39.174.238 14:53, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

We are talking abuot minus voltages not plus. There are a lot of +12V, +5V, +3,3V lines in todays PSUS/Motherboards

Possible to obtain latest version of DX9 from 3rd party?

Where can I download the latest version of DirectX from without getting it from Microsoft? I need the latest version of DX9, as I don't have hardware compatible with DX10.

Just because your GPU doesn't natively support dx10 doesn't mean you can't install the API (vista requird) --froth^t 12:31, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Well, you cannot install the redistributable runtime API, because unlike DX9, there is not fallback software renderer included (well, technically, you can install and even use them, but almost all functions will throw an exception making them unusable). A reference software renderer is included only with the SDK. --soum ^talk 15:08, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Also, here's a binary that apparently doesn't require activation though I don't know if it'll install without WGA validation. And here's the ms page --froth^t 12:33, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

what is "moz-screenshot.jpg" ?

I have been trying to find out why some mysterious graphics seem to be appearing on my blog website. It is a img with the src attribute targetting an img called "moz-screenshot.jpg" in a place in my temporary folder. I have searched google.com, but the web is so littered with them that its hard to find a page that talks about it rather than pages that contain it. - if ya get me. Anyone know what this is about and how i can remove it? Is it a symptom of a much more scary virus? Anyone had the same problem? Thanks in advance.

Moz often means "mozilla" — it is often used in CSS for things which are supported only by Firefox. As for why it is on your blog -- hard to say. Where on your blog? In a post, in a comment, in the layout? What sort of blog software is it? Do you host it yourself or is it a shared host (e.g. blogger.com)? --24.147.86.187 15:58, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your response. In answer to your question: My blog is the Wordpress application which I installed on my own Linux Apache MySQL 5 PHP 5 server. I am using the 'WordPress Default 1.6' Theme. I also have the following plugins installed: Akismet, First RSS, Hello Dolly, Photopress, Search Everything, Side RSS, the_excerpt Reloaded, Watermark for Photopress. All plugins are activated apart from: Akismet, Hello Dolly and Watermark for Photopress. The weird moz-screenshot.jpg has appeared on only a couple of blog posts. It appears within the code that displays 'the authors content ' and not in any comments and not any other 'visitor provided content'. It is invisible in Firefox, but shows up in IE. I definately did not insert the graphic into the blog knowingly. As you can see from a search on Google (http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=moz-screenshot.jpg), many websites are infected with it, but a search for it on Symantecs virus website yeilds nothing.

I'm guessing it is not a virus. In most cases it seems to be attempting to access a nonexistant file in the temporary directory on the home computer — it has no potential for spreading itself by doing that, that I can see. But I'm not sure what is causing it. My guess is that it is just some sort of common mistake or software bug. --24.147.86.187 13:56, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Is this true?

Isn't the third line of the "temporary variable swap" also un-pipelineable? --froth^t 16:53, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

The CPU can use register renaming to avoid that problem. --cesarb 23:45, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Changing permissions on a read only filesystem

I'm trying to recover files on an old powermac g4. I'm trying to recover my old home folder and copy it to a memory key, but when i try to change its permissions so the usuer "ubuntu" (liveCD default user) can read it i get the message "chown: changing ownership of 'Users': Read only filesystem". Sudo doesn't do it. And I don't have X, only the command line. Any help is appreciated!

Read only filesystem indicates that your files are on a filesystem ubuntu can't write to- I assume the filesystem OSX uses. You'll have to copy the files somehow, not move them --L^augh! 17:00, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

I am trying to copy them - the cp command does that right?

Yes, cp will copy. Also, you can avoid chown by creating a user that has the same UID/GID of the files. Then, that will be the owner of the files. -- Kainaw^(what?) 17:07, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

The owner of the files is "Ryan". Just make a user called Ryan?

No the UID is an integer separate from the name --froth^t 18:26, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

ls -n will list the UID/GID instead of the username/groupname. It doesn't matter what the names are. The UID/GID in /etc/passwd and /etc/group must match up. -- Kainaw^(what?) 18:30, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

It's much easier to simply copy the files to a read-write portion of the filesystem (/tmp?) that you have access to and then chown the copied files to yourself, then copy back to the memory key.

Just copy it as root. --Spoon! 23:22, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

He said sudo doesn't work --froth^t 17:01, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Are you doing sudo cp or are you trying to sudo chown? Have you tried sudo cp? Can you like open a text file or something on the drive and read it? --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:28, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Hard disk size

I am trying to purchase an encasement or whatever it is called to allow me to attach my notebook hard drive to my pc via USB. The only problem is one I was looking at says it is for a 2.5" hard disk and I don't know the size of mine. I am using an Acer ASpire 3102 notebook. Christopher

It is almost certainly a 2.5" drive, since that is what most current notebook size computers use. Since you have to take it out to put into the drive enclosure anyway, why not just open up the computer and look? --LarryMac | Talk 17:44, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

I did take it out and there was nothing on it to say what size it is, and I know the most obvious thing to do is to measure it but I didn't know WHAT to measure exactly. Thanks for the response though. Christopher

The inches refer to the width of the hard drive (though as width reduces, other dimensions do as well). Most desktops use the 3.5" drives, laptops 2.5" drives, digital audio players 1.8" drives, and digital cameras 1" drives. Game consoles and DVRs vary between 2.5" and 3.5" drives. So, if you compare with a desktop drive, if the notebook drive is smaller, then with more than 99% probability it is a 2.5" drive. --soum ^talk 14:53, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Just to add to above, if its a laptop, its got a 2.5" drive. Very few are made with the 3.5" interface because its larger (surprise!) and consumes more power. Also, 3.5" hard drives are at least ~3/4" thick, and that would take up valuable real estate in the laptop. Laptops either hide the hard drive under the keyboard, or the cd drive, which would rule out the space necessary for a full drive. -wizzard2k ^(C-T-D) 15:20, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

And to add even more, the various measurements being given actually refer to the size of the platters within the drive, so a 2.5" unit might actually measure a bit more in width. --LarryMac | Talk 15:27, 17 July 2007 (UTC)