Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 December 24

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December 24

cross-browser display issues... :(

My website (link, and please no comments about the quality, it's still in progress) is having some issues displaying properly in various browsers. In Firefox it displays fine :) . But it Google Chrome, the rounded corners do not display properly. I use the -moz-border-radius-20px thing; any idea why this doesn't work in Chrome (and how can I get it to work)? And another thing - the ad(s) don't display in Firefox and Chrome, but in IE, that's all that loads. I see that ad, it loads... And then it just says "loading" on the bottom bar, but it never loads anything but the ad. This happens in IE6, 7, and 8. Any ideas? flaminglawyer^c 05:20, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Addition: for the rounded corners thing, I'm not going to make a quarter-circle and put one in a cell in every corner. And forget I even said the IE thing. flaminglawyer^c 05:29, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Two issues: first off, google chrome by default works off font types from Macintosh. I would be willing to bet your font doesn't look right on Firefox Macintosh either. Second off, good web programmers use good tools, like Dreamweaver/Yahoo PageBuilder/whatever. Those templates are vitally important. Otherwise, you will get nowhere (especially if design is not your absolute fortee); trust me. `Magog the Ogre (talk) 07:32, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

What? I wasn't talking about fonts... I was talking about my rounded corners... Anyway, my site is in Arial. That's simple. So simple, there's no way it could mess up. None. At all. And I did say (and I quote): "[...] and please no comments about the quality, [...]" because I realized that I had a crappy site on my hands, but I didn't want any suggestions about it (which I knew I would get - it's the Reference Desk, after all). And you spelled forte wrong. flaminglawyer^c 07:52, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Alright, call me an idiot. Magog the Ogre (talk) 07:58, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Nah, I'll stick a fork in an apple. It's just as satisfying and equally pointless. flaminglawyer^c 08:25, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

The -moz thing means exactly that - it's a Mozilla-only thing, and only works on the Gecko engine (which Mozilla and Firefox use). Chrome uses WebKit. --grawity 11:54, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

The WebKit equivalent is -webkit-border-radius. Include both of them for it to work in Firefox/Safari/Chrome; they won't interfere with each other. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 12:29, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

That said, you should know none will work in Internet Explorer. — neuro^(talk) 14:04, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Sucks for them. They should have better taste in web browsers :) . flaminglawyer^c 18:48, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Fusk

What is the proper term (we don't have an article on fusking! So there is no way that is the correct term for it) for fusk, as per the first definition? Thanks! --71.98.7.22 (talk) 06:37, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Nevermind, fusk doesn't redirect to fusker. --71.98.7.22 (talk) 07:17, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Actually, fusk now does redirect to fusker (thanks to me). flaminglawyer^c 07:32, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Well thanks! --71.98.22.225 (talk) 23:54, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

expansion of QED

What is the expansion of QED as in the QED text editor? Jay (talk) 08:48, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

I'm told that it isn't an acronym, that it is in fact just meant to indicate that the product is 'what it says on the tin' if you like. — neuro^(talk) 12:50, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

"quick editor" (presumably Qick EDitor") according to Darwin, Stallman, and Van Dam & Rice.

Does that answer trip a deja vu? ;) -- Fullstop (talk) 14:56, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Wow! I vaguely remembered posting this question long back on (what I thought) reference desk but didn't know where to look. I didn't really check the talk page. I did go back now to the reference desk answered and unanswered archives of 2004 and didn't find an entry for QED, although I found an unrelated unanswered question of mine wrongly archived in the answered questions archive!

Stallman and Darwin refer to the same source I believe, Van Dam & Rice are password protected. So I'll go with Quick Editor.

And thanks for the fairy dusting. Jay (talk) 07:39, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

I'll go slap my dad. — neuro^(talk) 15:53, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

He suggested quod erat demonstrandum? I'd guess that the fact that the abbreviation of Quick EDitor matched the abbreviation QED, increased the attractiveness of the choice of name. The original poster asked about the expansion of QED as in the QED text editor, implying that s/he was aware of other products/companies that used QED in their names. In most of these, the expansion is not likely to be "quick editor". The disambiguation page may be of interest. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 09:16, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

If the coincidence was really the reason, it would make for a good entry in computer term etymologies, otherwise it'll go in as a plain acronymn. Jay (talk) 07:39, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Why did Bell Labs quit Multics?

On the talk page of Ken Thompson, an anonymous user has threatened and warned, relating to the factuality of line in the article where it says that Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie left the Multics project as it had become too complex for them. Why did Bell Labs actually leave the project ? Jay (talk) 08:54, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Bell labs says... "Over time, [Bell's] hope was replaced by frustration as the [Multics] group effort initially failed to produce an economically useful system. Bell Labs withdrew from the effort in 1969 ...

Thus, it seems, Bell withdrew in April 1969 because (at that stage) Multics was deemed a white elephant. i.e. the considerations for withdrawal were merely economical. -- Fullstop (talk) 18:46, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

That was a useful link. Initially I had tried going to the bell labs website, got redirected to alcatel-lucent, and went to their history page which had nothing about Multics. Jay (talk) 10:39, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Anti-spyware

I use Norton 360. My one year subscription is up for renewal in a few days. I only go to the regular, popular internet site (youtube, wikipedia, BBC, a few blogs, nothing too dangerous). I only download recommended software updates, and dont' use explorer I use firefox. As a result, in the last year,my Norton 360 has found nothing. No Viruses, no spyware, no intrusion attempts. It is working fine, I emailed norton a few months ago and said, 'I've had this thing for 10 months and it's not found anything!'. They replied, 'yes, its working fine - your just not visiting any dangerous sites.' (They didn't say those word exactly but that what they meant). So my question is, should I renew my subscription? Would I be wasting my money? Would I be better off with one of the free anti spywares? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.165.239.250 (talk) 10:07, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Personally, I never use Anti-Virus software (I think they make my computer run more slowly), and it has always worked fine for me. Just make sure that you always download and install all security updates and use a firewall (e.g. Windows build-in firewall). --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 12:07, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

As an IT specialist, I must say that that is an utterly irresponsible thing to do, not just for yourself, but for everyone potentially on your contact list. Windows Firewall is awful too. Best ideas - grab Avira and Comodo. — neuro^(talk) 14:06, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Then, why have I never encountered any problems with any of my computers? Sheer luck? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 15:02, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Yep. Eating well is the best way to keep sickness at bay. The cardinal rule is of course, ... don't run as admin. -- Fullstop (talk) 14:08, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

It's been my experience that if you get rid of Norton 360, you'll probably notice an increase in speed. Neuro is right that Avira is a fine free alternative, my personal choice is AVG, and Avast is fine as well (if not a little more confusing). Firewall? ... I don't think that the Windows firewall is as bad as it used to be (since xp-sp2), but I agree that Comodo is better, and Zone Alarm is also popular. I personally tend to use my router firewall for most settings, but you should also have a software one running. Another good tool can be found at malwarebytes, it's NOT a replacement for your AV, but can remove some stubborn bugs that most AV programs can't. Best to all, and happy holidays Ched (talk) 15:01, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

If you want tight security and a faster computer, try using HIPS software like COMODO Firewall (no Antivirus or any other crap). It will give you a lot of prompts at first, but once you define enough rules its not annoying at all. --wj32 ^t/c 20:22, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Definitely ditch Norton 360. It's a waste of money. You can get MUCH better anti-virus software and firewalls for free. But as far as paid anti-virus programs go, NOD32 has always been excellent for me. And Comodo firewall is the way to go. --71.98.22.225 (talk) 23:58, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Delphi 2009 Resources

Does not the new Resource Manager in Delphi 2009 work? I am writing a multiline text edit control, and want to use some own cursors (*.cur and *.ani). I have added the cursors to the component's project (as cursors) via Project/Resources. In the code, I have added constant declarations such as

const
  crBlock = TCursor(11);

and then, in the component's Create constructor, I try

Screen.Cursors[crBlock] := LoadCursor(hInstance, 'ARBLOCK');

where ARBLOCK is the resource identifier of the cursor. However, the cursor cannot be used, and Windows' GetLastError reports ERROR_RESOURCE_TYPE_NOT_FOUND = 1813. What have I done wrong? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 11:49, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Loading custom cursors (and all sorts of resources) in a "normal" TForm works perfectly, but it does not work in my component. If I remeber correctly, in Delphi 7 one used to create a *.dcr (acronym for "Delphi Compiled/Component Resource"?) file and add {$R *.dcr} to the component's source code (right after implementation). The *.dcr file was probably created with the Image Editor shipped with the IDE. But in Delphi 2009 there is no Image Editor, only the Resource Manager. But I can't make it work... --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 13:21, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

After having studied all files generated by Delphi, I realized that the line {$R ProjectName.dres} solved my problems. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 16:42, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Resolved

Google word distance

Is there some way I can do the following Google searches ?

1) Find all pages containing "flagrant" and "foul" where the two words are in the same sentence.

2) ...where the two are within 10 words of each other.

I'd like to find both the phrase "flagrant foul" and sentences like "that foul was most the flagrant I've ever seen". However, I don't want to find a dictionary page with all the F words listed. This is just an example I pulled out of my head, but I often want to do this type of search. StuRat (talk) 15:46, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

http://www.google.com/advanced_search is as good as it gets. No 'near:10' keyword or anything like that.

But (in my experience), word proximity does carry weight in Google indices, so a search for fragrant +foul should give you decent hits after you've skipped all the dictionaries. (Indeed, when I tried that, no dictionaries appeared).

Have a good Christmas. -- Fullstop (talk) 16:10, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

You confused "flagrant" with "fragrant". But, using your example, I did find this match which lists both "fragrant" and "foul", but never in the same sentence: [1]. StuRat (talk) 16:20, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Ah, foully fragrant flagrance. ;) Have you tried flagrantly +foul? While that might seem odd, Google is adverb savvy, so you might get better results that way. -- Fullstop (talk) 17:06, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

I know that the asterisk (*) does some level or proximity; but I don't know how far it allows or if there is any way to customize it. Try searching for (with quotes): "flagrant * foul" or "foul * flagrant". --71.141.107.171 (talk) 22:12, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Google verification

Is there a way I can get Google to check to see that the pages it finds still contain the words I searched for ? The prob is that Google often returns pages that contained the search terms previously, but no longer do. StuRat (talk) 15:55, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

What you're asking for is a means to tell Google that the cache is stale. There is no such facility that I know of, but visiting a hit does cause Google to (slightly) increase the re-index priority of that page. -- Fullstop (talk) 16:14, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Virus

AVG thinks a file on my computer is a virus but its not. Either way, how can I run my program? I selected to ignore the warning it gave and take no action but AVG has locked it and it wont run. What do I need to do to run the program? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 16:44, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Well, ditch AVG for starters (due to incidents like this, and ones which it misses, too). Get Avira, install, and you're away. If avira throws up a false positive, you can simply choose to ignore it, it won't lock the file from access. — neuro^(talk) 17:30, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks I'll give it a go. Out of interest is there any way to run false positives under AVG? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 17:46, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

I wouldn't know, I've not been running it for the past few years because I'm not silly enough ;) — neuro^(talk) 18:31, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

<- First let me say that I've found Neuro to be an EXTREMELY knowledgeable tech. And to be honest, I haven't run Avira for about 2 years. The questions about the false positive though. I've had to add some of my tools (password blankers, WGA removal tools, keyloggers, etc.) to the ignore list. Assuming that you are running the new version 8.x ... go to tools ... advanced settings and add your exception to the PUP's. One other note in defense of AVG: at one time (ver. 7.0) they did not have the best detection rate - that improved with 7.5, and improved GREATLY with 8.0. 8.0 also now detects spyware as well as viruses - a plus in my opinion. Either way .. you ARE using and AV, .. that's a good thing. Both Avira and AVG have pros and cons ... both are good ... free ... protection. Tools ... advanced settings ... add program to PUP Ched (talk) 22:06, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks everyone! I've got Avira installed and all is working ok, plus the computer runs faster now as AVG must have been doing lots of background crap that slowed things down. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 23:59, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Overheating laptop while encoding DVD

My laptop suddenly shuts off when I burning encoding AVI files to be burned onto a DVD. Will changing my power saving mode to a less-energy consuming mode and hence, lowering my CPU clockspeed prevent my computer from heating up as much? Obviously it will take longer to encode. Acceptable (talk) 19:52, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

no. get better heat sink fan, put in cool place. CPU will still get hot. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 21:36, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Since it's a laptop, make sure you've got good air circulation around it, and that you're not blocking any of the vents. Try propping it up on something so that air can circulate underneath it. --Carnildo (talk) 22:20, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Also, if you can set the software to burn at a slower speed, this may cause the device to generate heat at a slower rate which can be dissipated without overheating. Even better yet, plug into to an external DVD burner. StuRat (talk) 04:31, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

I seem to be a Digg Popularity Jinx. Why?

I can't even get the viral video Here It Goes Again by OK Go to hit Digg's front page

I've submitted stories NUMEROUS times in hopes of making them popular on Digg. (Okay, some of them weren't so serious.) However, I knew something had to be really wrong when I tried to submit the original video of Here It Goes Again.

The viral video has over 42,000,000 hits on YouTube and yet, it does not achieve "popularity" (i.e. a front-page appearance) on Digg.com. Why? Was it because I submitted it? Whereas conversational delivery may depend on one's vocal intonation, body gestures, vocal pauses, eye contact, and other finer nuances of socializing, none of this applies when one submits a story on Digg.

I was surprised that no one submitted this viral treadmill dancing video long ago, so I decided to take the initiative.

Why does it only have four Diggs right now? Where did I go wrong? --Let Us Update Special:Ancientpages. 19:04, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

42,000,000 hits? It may be considered old and boring by now -- with that many hits, all of Digg has probably already seen it. --Carnildo (talk) 22:23, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Now it's 42.5 million. The view-counter keeps climbing fast, and users still comment every 30 minutes on average. Moreover, I've watched it numerous times and still won't get bored by it. I'd say it's still very much as popular as it was when the vid first went viral. Perhaps the title and message summary needed to be made a certain way? If so, what way? --Let Us Update Special:Ancientpages. 11:16, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

It's just not new or novel - I saw this video AT LEAST 4 months ago. Sites like Digg want new stuff that not too many of their readership have seen yet. The mere fact that 42 million people have seen it means that it's a big yawn for most people. There is absolutely nothing you can do to resurrect it. It's over. SteveBaker (talk) 01:59, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Ouch. Steve said that with a crushing finality. Sorry OP, I guess you're gonna have to go look for something else that will be the next big thing. --71.98.22.225 (talk) 06:00, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Indeed I have the idea I saw it on TV (probably news0 a while back Nil Einne (talk) 10:31, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Why did a new modem not fix the problem?

Monday I had been online only a few minutes when I couldn't get into some web sites, and then I couldn't get into any.

On one occasion when I lost the Internet, a call to tech support was answered with a message that the phone company had been having lots of problems. I didn't get the same message yesterday, but it had been quite windy.

The tech support person suggested my problem might be a 15-foot cord. I told the installer in August where I wanted to put the computer, and the nearest phone jack required a 15-foot cord, or however long it was. The tech support person said the modem could go anywhere and I could get a longer cord to connect it to the computer, but from the modem to the phone jack could only be 10 feet.

I decided to try this, since the installer gave me a bunch of extra stuff. In fact, due to my inability to effectively communicate, an earlier call to tech support resulted in my getting a new modem sent to me. The old modem was supposedly fine. But I decided to hook up the new one. The cord to the phone jack was shorter and sturdier. The cord from the modem to the computer turned out to be long enough. I also noticed what could have been a problem: the power cord for the old modem had a chair leg sitting on it! I used that one anyway because it never seemed to have any problems. Even though it was as flimsy as a twist-tie on a bread loaf.

The Internet came right back and worked fine for an hour or so! I had to sign up again for the Internet (or maybe I didn't). Somehow what I did may have brought the Internet back. And maybe it was something the phone company had fixed and then something else went wrong.

I did notice the power light on the modem blinking, which it wasn't supposed to. Not for long, though. Just in case, I later switched to the power cord that came with the new modem. When the Internet went out, I called tech support again and was told they were so busy they might not be able to get someone to come to my house until the next day (possibly another hint of outside trouble). I later tried switching back to the old modem, and that helped very briefly. Or it was a coincidence. I know I was seeing one or two brand new pages with updated information.

I have some evidence the problem was on the outside. There's a page I was sent to once where I'm supposed to see green if the Internet is working and red if it isn't. Under "USB" the long, complicated number was red. The other two numbers were green during the final hours, but one was red at one point.

One thing I forgot about was unplugging my modem, turning off the computer, turning on the computer, and plugging the modem back in (when weather was a problem before, people were told to do that even though the outside problem had supposedly been fixed) . They always tell you that when you call tech support, before a real person ever answers the phone. It worked! I had done all the various things that are supposed to help fix the problem earlier, but I feel certain the problem was on the outside. It can't all be coincidence.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 22:30, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

I knew I'd forget something. The reason I returned to using the old modem. Although the Internet seemed to be working fine for that hour or so, the light which blinks in an irregular pattern never seemed to be on at all on the new one. The one which, if I see a page is slow to load, comes on at the precise time the page finally loads.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 22:37, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Drive letter

How can I change the drive letter of one of my portable hard drives? Currently it's K: and I want it F: Thanks for ur help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 22:34, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

My Computer > Manage > Disk Management > Select drive > Right click on bottom bar > Click "Change drive letter and paths". :) — neuro^(talk) 22:41, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

awesome! thanks. will the letter be remember on different computers or will i have to change it each time?

The drive letter is assigned locally, in other words each computer will assign it separately, so you will have to do it each time. — neuro^(talk) 22:46, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

ok. bit of a shame as some of the computers i'm on don't have admin rights, ah well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 22:57, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

One option which I think would work is choose something like N which is hopefully not in use by anything and then find a way to use all the other letters to Windows gives N. E.g. map network drives, use "subst" Nil Einne (talk) 11:44, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Nah it needs to be F: but I found a cool way to do it on computers without admin rights by putting a usb flash drive in first that takes the letter e: and then the hdd is given F: —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 22:30, 29 December 2008 (UTC)