Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 April 29

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April 29

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What kind of files do Verizon phones(namely the enV) accept? --Randoman412 (talk) 01:01, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

If you are trying to put your music on your Verizon phone so you can listen to it, my experience is that Verizon locks their phones so you can only play music you purchase from their VCast music service. -- kainaw™ 02:17, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Are you able to put files on the MicroSD card using your computer and then put the card back into the phone, or does Verizon block that too? Perhaps there's a place that unlocks phones - in the UK, almost every town has at least one phone accessories store that can unlock a phone for £10 - £15 (most UK networks lock the handsets they sell to stop you using the phone on a rival's network). Astronaut (talk) 05:11, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

According to the Verizon FAQs, you might be able to play MP3s and WMA files. Depending the version of VCAST, you should be able to copy the files onto the MicroSD card using your computer and then put the card back into the phone. I got the impression the VCAST software might be quite complex, so perhaps this isn't something a small accessories store can unlock for you. Astronaut (talk) 05:28, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

You can copy files onto a card and put the card in the phone (I've done that). However, your phone will not recognize the files (regardless of format, wma, mp3, ogg...). In order to copy music from your computer, you have to purchase the "Music Essentials" pack from Verizon and have it copy music from your computer to your phone. No matter how you do it, you are going to pay Verizon to listen to the music you already own. As for unlocking the phones, there are many "howto" guides on the Internet for unlocking various Verizon phones and removing the music restrictions. -- kainaw™ 12:24, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, but i'm not looking to unlock a phone, i just want to know what files it accepts. Not just audio, but any kind of file. --Randoman412 (talk) 00:30, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Simple journal article formating? Easy LaTeX style creation?

Hi all,

I am trying to create a small online journal to which people submit articles. I'd like the articles to turn into pdfs with a fixed style-sheet. Just something simple but customizable, like a two-column scientific article with my journal's logo at the top. I figured LaTeX might be the best software to do this, but there seems to be no easy way to create new styles -- all the tutorials have those instructions buried deep within the "advanced" sections... I'm using LyX as a WYSIWYG editor.

Are there easy ways to create styles (is that the right word?) without reading scores of tutorials and hand-coding? Is LaTeX even the way to go?

Any help very much appreciated, — Sam 01:26, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Searching for on the fly pdf suggests some people are using PHP to do it. At least one person in the forums suggested giving a look at FPDF. Does this fit the bill? Kushal 01:49, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

I use PHP to create PDF reports. When creating a PDF report, you place everything on the page using an X/Y coordinate. So, you can make a template function that adds everything but the content. Then add your content and save the PDF. It is a bit of a pain to add every line of text, every box, every little picture, and every font style to the PDF. But, you only type it all up once. Then, you call the function thousands of times. -- kainaw™ 03:37, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Using Javascript to update textbox with another textbox

I have a bunch of textboxes on a page, and I want a user to be able to mass update them by entering a default value into the first one. Then, after entering this value, the rest of the textboxes would be updated with the value that is in that first textbox. Can someone tell me how to do this with javascript?

I used advice here: http://forums.asp.net/p/1024531/1393362.aspx to come up with something like User:Rajah/js

But, only the first textbox is updated with the new value.

Anybody have any ideas?

Thanks! --Rajah (talk) 02:24, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

First, JavaScript has to have some reasonable method for accessing the textboxes. I suggest giving each one an ID, such as "tb1", "tb2", "tb3"... and so on. Name the first one "tbdefault" if you like. If you did that, you can use the following function:

 function update_tbs(x)
 {
   var tb=document.getElementById("tb"+x);
   if(tb == null) return;
   tb.value = document.getElementById("tbdefault").value;
   update_tbs(x+1);
 }

Then, you can trigger this using the onchange function of the first textbox, as in:

 <input type='text' id='tbdefault' onchange='update_tbs(1)' value='' />

I hope you can see that all you are doing is getting each textbox in numerical order and copying the default value to it. -- kainaw™ 02:54, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, I implemented that and it works. I'm curious why my serial solution didn't work though. --Rajah (talk) 03:03, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

I didn't realize you posted the JavaScript. I just looked at the forum link in the question. In your JavaScript, you don't need to change the innerHTML - just the value of the input fields. However, the solution I provided will allow you to easily add more and more text boxes without altering the script. -- kainaw™ 03:34, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Kainaw, why the recursion? Wouldn't this be cleaner:

function update_tbs() {
  var x=1,tb,defval=document.getElementById("tbdefault").value;
  while((tb=document.getElementById("tb"+x++))!=null) tb.value=defval;
}
<input type='text' id='tbdefault' onchange='update_tbs()' value='' />

(One could write the assignment, test, and increment on different lines if desired, but that would involve a relatively ugly while(true) {if(...) break; ...}.) --Tardis (talk) 14:53, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Of course, there are always many ways to solve any problem. Your preferred solution is based on your background. Mine is learning assembly/machine code as my first programming language 30 years ago. So, recursion comes to mind before iteration. -- kainaw™ 15:02, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

TIMTOWTDI, yes. But I'm still curious -- I've done assembly too, and jmp seems more natural to me than call, especially given that it's tail recursion. Perhaps you meant you worked on a Lisp machine? --Tardis (talk) 15:09, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Wasn't Lisp. I started on programming for huge flight simulators. The programs were very recursive from the initial programmers. It wasn't reasonable to change them much because the "programs" were not written on a disk somewhere. They were built on large circuit cards with logical circuits. After that, I learned C and proper programming on a real computer. But, I then went into the old-style programming on radars - again designing programs by placing logical circuits on large circuit boards. Because I've done so much recursion in circuit design, it is easier to do and it carries over into normal programming. As for Lisp - I never found it hard, probably because of my experience. ML was a bit of a pain because it was so limiting. However, I was able to figure out solutions to some of the "unsolvable' problems in our ML textbook when I finally went to college. -- kainaw™ 12:19, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

How to Connect to Proxy

Hi, someone has given me a list of proxies, but I have no idea how I'm meant to connect to them (and subsequently browse through them), does anyone have any suggestions? 58.164.53.144 (talk) 08:21, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Looks like an open proxy list. These are insecure machines that have been accidentally left open for the whole world to use. Lists like this are used by spammers and other unpleasant people, to make their activities hard to trace. If you're not one of those malicious actors, you have no use for that list. Having a list of insecure proxies is not equivalent to having permission to use them for your own advantage. Notice how the text accompanying the list makes no reference to that important concept of permission. The brief definition of "proxy" and list of their legitimate uses at the bottom is just a distraction. Spammers and their associates always put a thin layer of vaguely respectable language on top of their sleazy operations. I love the Compuserve reference. How long has it been since Compuserve was relevant? --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 10:04, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

That's not completely true. There are legitimate uses for proxies as well. For example, if you wish to check out a domain/site/service but aren't completely sure how much you should trust it before seeing what is there (or if you know you can't trust it, but need to see what's been posted out there publicly or something), a proxy (in this case an "anonymous proxy") can be a good way to check it out without simply handing out your IP address to the servers (e.g. for those who are paranoid about IPs being collected by unscrupulous admins for use in network attacks). While they can be abused (e.g. to circumvent a user ban), that does not mean every use is abusive.

Also, open proxies are not necessarily exploits of accidentally unsecured machines. For example, http://proxy.org/ lists web proxies that are very clearly designed for open use by web surfers. General purpose proxies can be both more convenient and extend to a wider range of services and applications.

As for how to use them, the most common way is to enter the proxy address and port number in the connection settings of your OS, web browser, or other network application. For example, in Firefox 2.0 you can go to Edit -> Preferences -> Advances -> Network -> Settings... and enter one or more proxies for different services. Good luck! --Prestidigitator (talk) 17:26, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Look at the list mentioned above. I challenge you to find any scrap of evidence that even one of the listed proxies was set up intentionally for open access. There's no statement of permission from the owners of the machines, therefore using them is unethical. No exception for "good" intentions. It might as well be a list of homes of people who don't lock their doors at night, which you might interpret as an invitation to raid their refrigerator while they sleep. Do it and you're a jerk. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 22:34, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Woa woa woa, I'm not looking to screw anyone over or anything. I just want to get a proxy based in America so I can see the American version of a site (it changes depending on the user's location, which is determined by the user's IP, I want to connect through an American based proxy so that I don't keep seeing the Australian version). If these proxies have been unintentionally left open then I don't want to use them, does anyone know where I can get a list of legitimate open proxies? 58.164.53.144 (talk) 06:38, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

The http://proxy.org/ suggestion looks pretty respectable. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 07:13, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Apple Wireless Keyboard batteries

This is my second post here in less than a week... I have one of the latest apple wireless keyboards (though, the French version), and the battery life is absolutely useless. Looks nice, but useless. I'm using the newer nickel metal hydride ones in it. It cuts out after literally 30 seconds, even when I do try changing and recharging them, after two different manufacturers. The "low battery" warning comes so fast it is basically a signal that it's detected the keyboard. It won't let me reinstall the firmware, and I would rather stick to rechargeables, than keep buying new alkalines.Jayne smith (talk) 09:29, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps the normal operating voltage of your rechargeable batteries is down in the trip-range for the low-battery alarm? You know that NiCd and NiMH batteries have an open-circuit voltage that's more like 1.2 volts than the 1.6 volts you can expect from a fresh alkaline battery. We use an Apple wireless mouse and get "acceptable" life from a pair of ordinary alkaline batteries (not great, but acceptable).

Atlant (talk) 12:09, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

They do run at a lower voltage. I did search online where I found some dissatisfaction with battery life, but nothing as extreme as mine. I bit of tea was spilt on a few keys (woops), but surely that should cut out entire keys rather than make a battery run flat faster. I really don't mind changing and charging batteries frequently because I have two sets of batteries, but I would rather they run for longer than it takes me to replace them.Jayne smith (talk) 23:27, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Do you have a multimeter? Run it in series and measure the current the keyboard is drawing. Your tea might have shorted parts of the circuit. --antilived^{T | C | G} 08:30, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Good idea, thanks. That never crossed my mind. I don't exactly have a multimeter in my back pocket, but I get my hands on one. Can you tell whether it's short circuited or not by whether the keys work or not? Maybe if I left the keyboard on a radiator for a day or two, it might dry it out. If it works that way.Jayne smith (talk) 14:13, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Translation Wikipedia page

How can I translate a Wikipedia page into another language? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.52.91.70 (talk) 09:54, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Use a translator of course. Green t-shirt (talk) 12:26, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

See WP:Translation. Also, questions about Wikipedia should go on WP:Help Desk, not on the Ref Desk. Paragon12321 (talk) 21:43, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Do you wish to translate it or are you looking for the page in another language. Sorry if this tip sounds daft, but I had to ask and s.o. else told me that the languages in the sidebar box "lanugages" displays the languages the page is already available in and all you have to do is click on the language you are looking for and it will take you to the respective page. --Lisa4edit (talk) 02:51, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Botnetted?

How can I determine whether my home PC has been hijacked and is being used as a botnet (or bot?)? My internet access has been very slow, and in the past few days, no access. But my ADLS connection 'status' reports me connected, but with as much as 4 x more 'sent' data packets than received, even if I am not connected through my browser. So it seems that my computer is sending out so much of something I don't have any idea what it is, that it can't receive any data at all, and all attempts to access normal webpages (google, NYTimes, etc.), are frustrated. I have updated AVG, and have installed and used SPYBOT. The second computer connected through the same ADSL connection is not seemingly receiving so much more data than sending, but also not connecting through any browser, either Firefox or Explorer. Thanks if you can help me figure out how I diagnose the problem. (God, how I don't want to reinstall XP...) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.84.41.211 (talk) 10:58, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

I used to have a computer like that. The only solution I could find was to just nuke everything from orbit. If your computer's infected, all the files probably are too. If you want to keep them, you'll be able to retain text files (albeit with minimal formatting) but you can't do images. Copy/paste (important, don't attach them) the contents of the text file in an e-mail to yourself. Then you can just format the drive, get a new XP CD (pirated is cheaper) and hope for the best. Ziggy Sawdust 15:53, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Maybe Windows is downloading updates in the background? --grawity 16:27, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

By the way, Ziggy, your signature is bigger than your not very helpful answer.

It is sad that people have to resort to unauthorized copying when they own a computer with an operating system with a valid license. Kushal (talk) 16:29, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

If you do decide to reinstall Windows, make sure you pull out the network cable first and don't plug it back in until you've completed the installation and enabled the internet connection firewall to deny all incoming connection attempts. There was a study some years ago that measured the average survival time of an unpatched, un-firewalled Windows XP installation before it was infected at about 20 minutes. It's probably shorter now. (If your ADSL modem is already acting as a firewall this isn't quite as critical, but it still can't hurt.) Also remember to run Windows Update and install anti-virus software before even thinking about, say, browsing the web. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 18:12, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Wow! The standard answer to this kind of thing seems to be "reinstall Windows" or "dump Windows". Whatever happened to "investigate your running system to see what's going on" first? There is a lot you can do before you take the drastic step of deleteing all your data, reformatting the disk and reinstalling an OS. For example, you could take a look at running processes with the task manager or Process Explorer and shut down anything running astray. Temporarily turn off automatic updates to elimiate that possibility. You could run msconfig to find out what programs, services and system tray items start up. You could use a tool to look for rootkits. How about running a network monitoring tool? To be honest, reinstalling the OS is the option of last resort. Astronaut (talk) 18:47, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

I had the same problem. Plus some processes were hogging resources. (E.g. I couldn't up the virtual memory fast enough to keep up.) I installed uniblue process scanner and can now tell what the stuff in my taskmanager is actually up to and kill processes that hog resources without doing anything. It may not be your cup of tea to do that manually. I like knowing what "Hal" is up to. Lisa4edit (talk) 21:27, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, the problem is that, if the original poster's guess is correct, an intruder has effectively taken at least partial control of his computer. Sure, you might be able to use a rootkit remover to detect and disable the rootkit, but that'll only work if the rootkit doesn't detect and disable the rootkit remover first. And even if the removal seems to have worked, there's no way to be sure the intruder hasn't left an undetected back door in place that might allow them to gain access again later. So, sure, if all you care about is saving your bandwidth, by all means poke around with the process manager or download a rootkit remover and see if the problem goes away. But if you actually want to make your computer secure, so that you can be reasonably sure it isn't e.g. logging your keystrokes when you visit your bank's website, the only way to be sure is to wipe out everything that could be infected and reinstall from sources that are known to be clean. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 04:30, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Microsoft Excel formula

In Microsoft Excel, I have column "S" which contains marks obtained in an exam. Based on the range in which the mark falls, I want to assign grades A, B, C, etc. into column "T". What formula should I use to do this? Thank you! -T. Banumathi (talk) 12:19, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Does this help? Kushal 12:42, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

I would use the VLOOKUP function. First, create a table with the lowest mark for each grade in the first column (in ascending order) and the corresponding grade letter in the second column, so it might look like this:

0	E
20	D
40	C
60	B
80	A

This table can be in the same worksheet or in a different worksheet - up to you. If this table is in cells A1:B5, for example, then the formula =VLOOKUP(S1,A1:B5,2,TRUE) in cell T1 will return the grade corresponding to the score in cell S1 - so a value of 45 in S1 will give C in T1. For more information use Excel Help or see this tutorial page. Gandalf61 (talk) 12:49, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Excel User Defined Formula

I am a beginner at VBA in Excel but I want to try to create a UDF that allows me to just call upon the formula USERARRAY instead of writing out the following expression:

(INDIRECT(ADDRESS(2,COLUMN(),,,"Table of Data")):INDIRECT((ADDRESS(353,COLUMN(),,,"Table of Data"))))

I have tried the following VBA code however the debugger stops at the first instance of Column stating that "Sub or Function not Defined":

Function USERARRAY(User As String)
'Returns an column from the table of data as an array based on the column or row of the cell the formula is in.
 If (User = Column) Then
   USERARRAY = INDIRECT(Address(2, Column(), , , "Table of Data")): INDIRECT ((Address(353, Column(), , , "Table of Data")))
 Else
   USERARRAY = INDIRECT(Address(2, Row(), , , "Table of Data")): INDIRECT ((Address(353, Row(), , , "Table of Data")))
 End If
End Function

What am I doing wrong? --AMorris (talk)●(contribs) 13:04, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

This is a bit of a guess, but in the IF statement, it looks like you are using "Column" as something other than a function. I think that might be causing the error. --LarryMac | Talk 13:29, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, but I'm not following this UDF at all. Then again I have not done much with UDFs. However, I suspect you mean "ActiveCell.Column" instead of "Column". Also, In the debugger, hovering over variables and seeing their values can help a lot. I would also recomend the books by John Walkenbach - http://www.j-walk.com/. I have his Power Programming with VBA book and it's awesome. Hope it helps. --Wonderley (talk) 22:54, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

That's probably because I don't know how to use VBA. I just assumed that you can put in normal excel formulae into VBA but maybe not. I'll explain what I want it to do for the User = Column part. I want it to return an array in the form 'Table of Data'!C2:C353 where C is the column that the cell is in in its sheet. Similarly, for the Else clause, I wanted it to return an array of the form 'Table of Data'!R2:R353 where R is the row the cell is in (sort of to transpose a fill down into a fill across) . To do this in normal excel formulae as above makes the formulae look very ugly and hard to follow so I thought I'd make my own formula that made it quite simple. But I am also worried that this might make the calculation of the formula take a lot longer on a spreadsheet that is already quite calculation intensive (the sheet in question takes about 10 secs to calculate). --AMorris (talk)●(contribs) 09:41, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Are "Worms" compatible with Windows VISTA?

Hey, I was thinking about bringing some of the good all days back by buying a few of the games in the computer game-series "worms".

However, some of these games are old, meant for WINDOWS 95/98 and shud probably work fine on Windows xp too, but I have windows VISTA...

Anyone have any idea if these games will work on my Windows vista computer?

the games in question, that i'm thinking of buying, are :

- Worms 2 - Worms Armageddon - Worms World party

Other system-requirements shoudlnt be a problem, im only worried about the vista and whether it is compatible with the games.

Thank you :)

Krikkert7 (talk) 13:18, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Last time I tried to run Worms Armageddon on Vista (with the XP patch), it crashed often and had horrible graphical errors. I ended up emulating XP just to be able to play it. I figure you might have to do the same. There was simply no other way I could do it, but maybe you'll get lucky. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 13:35, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Worms 2 works on my vista laptop. Worms Armageddon, however, doesn't work. That said: I didn't try tinkering with it: I just put Worms 2 on my laptop and Armageddon on my XP desktop (with the XP patch). There may be some sort of workaround. Fribbler (talk) 15:11, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Could be useful: [1] and the parent site [2]. I can confirm the original Worms (the DOS one, the one that's actually fun) is highly unlikely work on a computer that was built beyond the era of the Pentium II and you'll need to emulate it using, say, DOSBox. x42bn6 Talk Mess 17:06, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Tempus Fugit

This is a relatively small problem I'm having with my Windows XP, but maybe someone can figure it out. When I turn on my computer, it displays the correct time (I have clocks everywhere, including one that syncs by radio, so I'm sure it is correct), but as I use the computer more and more the time starts slowly going more and more ahead until it is about 10 minutes off after about 3 hours of using the computer. I then reset the clock while refering to my (oddly much more accurate) antique pocket watch and marvel at the failure of a clock that should be 100 years more advanced. What could be causing this discrepancy? Could it be my CPU failing at long last? 206.252.74.48 (talk) 13:44, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

In Date and Time Properties -> Internet Time, is automatic sync enabled? if yes, what server is selected? --grawity 16:19, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

I've noticed that the clocks on computers are often wildly innacurate. I suspect that your clock is being adjusted automaticaly via the Internet at statup, then drifts from there. The good news is, a pathetic clock doesn't mean that your CPU is failing, and only seems to be a minor annoyance. StuRat (talk) 16:56, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

I do have internet time enabled and working, but it only sets the time when I start up. It has always only set the time during start-up and worked fine the past 3 years, only now does it drift off (and always forwards). The drift is also consistant from day to day, as if my minutes have mysteriously become slightly shorter by a set amount. That's what makes me think that something is running faster than it is supposed to be, which isn't a problem, just a mystery to me. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 17:26, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

That's odd, because XP is supposed to be able to correct for just such clock drift based on the time updates from the internet. Have you double-checked that, when you click "Synchronize now" on the internet time tab, it really succeeds? —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 17:32, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Anyway, if XP's built-in NTP client isn't doing the job for you, you could always try installing the real thing. it might not help if the problem is somewhere else, but it could be worth a try. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 17:37, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Caveat- I'm not sure if this applies to XP. PCs have a battery backed hardware clock with it's own crystal. The hardware clock is usually reasonably accurate. At startup, the operating systems reads the hardware clock, then keeps a software clock using an interrupt based timer. This time can and usually does drift for a variety of reasons. There are various utilities to reset the software clock, either to the hardware clock or to an external time server.

TI-BASIC, learning languages, and et cetera.

Over the course of the last 2 years, I've gained complete mastery of TI-BASIC. And I'd like to know if there is a similar language which I can use on the computer. I know there's BASIC, but I don't know where to get a BASIC console for download. Visual Basic? DOS?

If you're interested in a DOS version of BASIC, you can get MS-DOS QBasic that was included on the Windows 95 CD-ROM as follows:

1. Go to CD-ROM Extras for Microsoft Windows 95 Upgrade.
2. Download olddos.exe from the bottom of that page.
3. Create a temporary folder and put olddos.exe into it.
4. Run olddos.exe and it will extract several files.
5. You only need to keep the files QBASIC.EXE and QBASIC.HLP. You should delete all the other files, as they're likely incompatible with newer versions of Windows and could cause problems.

This download doesn't include the games gorilla.bas and nibbles.bas that were included in earlier versions of Windows or DOS. Wikipedia's Gorillas article has a link to a qbasic.com download page where they're available. However, it looks like both will require modification to the timing algorithm to work on my modern Windows XP computer. --Bavi H (talk) 02:14, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Secondly, is there a Java applet or something I can download/access online that can run/view/edit TI-BASIC programs (.8xp extension) that I've uploaded from my TI-84? It would be much easier to write TI programs on a computer...

Thankfully, Ziggy Sawdust 16:27, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

PS. Since I know so damn much about TI-BASIC, is there any way I could lend my expertise? It's a pretty obscure language but there seems to be little literature regarding it. I can't exactly write an instruction manual in a Wikipedia page, so...? Ziggy Sawdust 16:30, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

How about this link or some of the others in the sites linked at TI-BASIC#External links? Astronaut (talk) 19:00, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

You could write something for the WikiBooks project. And you really should take a look at the guidelines at Wikipedia:Signature. --LarryMac | Talk 20:11, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Enabling Åero on windows vista home basic

How do I enable the aero under vista home basic? Along with breaking the eula, of course.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bobatnet (talk • contribs) 19:05, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Install Vista Home Premium. --Carnildo (talk) 20:16, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Aero is one of the things "sacrificed" so that Vista Home Basic can run on machines with smaller memory and to keep the cost down. If you now want Aero, make sure your PC has enough memory (1MB at an absolute minimum, acceptable with 2MB), before splashing out on an upgrade to Home Premium. Astronaut (talk) 23:13, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't want to put words in your mouth. It is a trivial issue. Dear OP, in Astronaut's response, please read by replacing the word MB with GB. Kushal (talk) 02:03, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Oops!! Kushal is absolutely right. Aero needs 1GB at an absolute minimum, acceptable with 2GB. Sorry for any confusion. Astronaut (talk) 03:00, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

I think the OP just wants to somehow install Aero on top of his Vista Home Basic, without having to upgrade to Premium. Since this would be piracy (which the Refdesk does not condone), your best bet would be searching the web forums. If anyone has managed to make a work around by now it should be easily found. Zunaid©® 08:41, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

If you're looking for a particular feature implemented in Vista Aero, or just want the pretty, try searching sites such as Lifehacker or HowTo Geek which sometimes mention utilities which do the job of Aero (or at least, bits of it). --Kateshortforbob 20:31, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

As far as I understand, all the components needed for the look and feel of Aero is available in Windows Vista. I don't have a Windows Vista computer. Aero irritated all but one of the Windows Vista computers I have played with, causing the owners to switch to the "Classic" GUI. Is the Aero overhead worth the trouble? Kushal (talk) 12:59, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

ssh by email

Does this exist: A system where my email inbox is a terminal, so for example I send an email with ' ls ' in the subject line to an email address, and the other computer emails me back an email with the directory contents in the text, etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.110.174.74 (talk) 19:58, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

It would be easy to implement, but would be slow and insecure. The big problem with this is that there is no security on email - emails are generally not encrypted, so are vulnerable to both man in the middle attacks; and message forgery attacks. With that said, it is possible to perform an action based on the content of an email - bug reports for Debian can be filed by sending an email in a specific format to an email address, for example. --h2g2bob (talk) 22:20, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Follow up, what if I wanted to create a website where I can access a terminal (eg www.mywebsite.net/~terminal) and log into a computer(possibly emulated on the server) from any internet connection? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.110.174.74 (talk) 01:10, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Web-based SSH (and telnet and remote desktop) is common. There are many choices you can download or purchase. You don't have to create it yourself. -- kainaw™ 01:21, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Web-based SSH clients are no different from other SSH clients on your own computer, except that they are embedded in web pages. They still run locally on your computer and then have to connect over the network to port 22 on the remote server using the regular SSH protocol. So this is not what the OP wants. --Spoon! (talk) 02:54, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Um what no. I've been playing around with this sort of thing since around 2002.. :D\=< (talk) 01:04, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

A google search for "web-based shell" turns up lots of results. --Spoon! (talk) 02:56, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

I once implemented a system where I could send a text message from my phone to my computer and it would execute it and send me the output. Google SMS is more useful to me now, though. --Sean 11:39, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

White Border around Publisher document

How do I get rid of the white border around a Publisher file? It only shows up when printing the document —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mbowers97 (talk • contribs) 20:10, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Most printers can't cover the entire page so it leaves a margin. --Random832 (contribs) 20:18, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Correct. Check the printer documentation— there should be a specification for a printable area. Some printers may have an expanded print area. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 21:06, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

What internet connection speed is required for using youtube?

Right now I am thinking of getting broadband and I want to know what speed my connection has to be to be able to download most videos (from youtube) faster than they are played. By videos I mean those such as this one http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oGEvP-roSHY (just random elfen lied video, i am neither spanish nor from the uk) or maybe videos of a slightly better quality. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.139.130 (talk) 20:13, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

My sister's 1Mb connection is fine for watching YouTube. Just watch out for the phrase "up to x MB" - most connections don't achieve the maximum advertised speed unless you live really close to the telephone exchange (for example, my connection was advertised as "one price for up to 8MB" but I usually achieve 2.8MB, apparently because I live over 5 km from the exchange) Astronaut (talk) 22:53, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

It doesn't really have much to do with how far you are. .froth. (talk) 01:13, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Hey that's not absolutely correct! DSL speed (mostly broadband is dsl) tends to fall when exchange is more than 3 km down. Bobatnet (talk) 04:17, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

YouTube videos seem to be 330 kilobits per second, according to my calculations. So any internet connection faster than that should be fine. --Bavi H (talk) 01:02, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Unlike google video (google video originally didn't do this) and a number of other sites that only buffers 5 secods at a time (realplayer when I last used it also was like this), youtube and only one other site I know of, videojug, can let you buffer the entire thing. I watched a lot of youtube videos on my iphone and it usually downloads faster than videos are played on its default non-wifi connection and I found there's really not that much good stuff on youtube that you need to be downloading it like crazy fast for. With a site that buffers properly like youtube you don't need to worry about downloading them faster. William Ortiz (talk) 01:52, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't think there is a minimum required speed. However, the slower the connection, the longer you will have to wait (preferably with playback paused) for the whole video to load. Kushal (talk) 13:03, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

If ATSC is the HD version of NTSC, what is the HD version PAL called?

The subject pretty much sums it up: If ATSC is the HD/digital version of NTSC, what is the HD/digital version PAL called? --70.167.58.6 (talk) 21:33, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Look at Analog television and Digital television. BTW. If you can use your computer to play DVDs it doesn't matter what format they are. --Lisa4edit (talk) 21:47, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Check out ATSC_Standards#Other_systems if you haven't already ... DVB-T seems to be analogous to PAL . Boomshanka (talk) 22:02, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Directory/filestructure under XP

Could anyone point me to an easy way to install my own file structure under XP without reading an "Ecyclopedia Microsoftia". Currently the highest level in Windows Explorer are what use to be "My documents" (Renamed to "Bill Gates trash" because that's all it ever contains) and some empty subfolders for pictures, music and some such. My real structure starts from C:/ (root) and goes to the various business directories and a directory for private stuff. That's what I'd like to be my main structure. I have no problem with there being some file that the defaults, advertisers and hackers can shuffle their stuff to and from somewhere. I just don't want that to be the main file structure. Someone an idea. --Lisa4edit (talk) 21:41, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Right click on your desktop and choose New, Shortcut. Type c:\windows\explorer.exe /e, /root, c:\. --Bavi H (talk) 00:40, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

THANKS!!! I could hug you !!! Such a relief! --Lisa4edit (talk) 02:44, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Computer speed question

I'm a big fan of the game Supreme Commander and it's stand-alone expansion pack, but the problem is that my machine is too slow. The recommended requirements on the article suggest 3 Ghz, will that even be enough? If you've ever played the game: If I had a large map with the largest amount of units available for each player, what sort of speed and RAM would I need to be able to run something like that smoothly? A lot, one would assume? A decent estimate would be great, and/or informing me of any other factors involved would be great too. Thanks in advance. ScarianCall me Pat! 22:25, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

If you were in the US this would be more difficult, but in the U.K. they have internet cafes. If you can find one that can give you a good deal on a couple of hours, you can see how it works on their machine. You can even shop around till you've found a machine that's similar to the configuration you're looking for. Sometimes stores that sell games or computers will also have a machine set aside somewhere for demonstrations, but that's rarer. Definitely better than blowing a lot on upgrades only to have your game freeze up on you. --Lisa4edit (talk) 03:01, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

You really should get a dual core processor to run Supreme Commander. The game will run fine on a single core at about 3GHZ untill you reach about 100 units (which you will) at which point the game will slow to a crawl. You'll also want at least 1GB of ram, although 2 is better212.219.8.231 (talk) 12:33, 30 April 2008 (UTC)