Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 December 31

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December 31

Any modern dot matrix printers?

Just curious if there are any modern dot matrix (or daisy wheel) printers that are natively USB and will work with today's computers out of the box. --71.158.216.23 (talk) 02:29, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

They are out there. Businesses that need to print multipart forms, such as auto repair shops, use them. Here are some at Tiger Direct, at Office Depot, and at amazon.com. -- Tcncv (talk) 03:26, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Not sure if I'm allowed to promote any make/model etc, but I know in my work place we use multipart forms, and have a whole set of Tally Genicom 2348 - They work over parallel or USB with no problems. Currently set up with USB running through print servers. I think they do a whole other set of them as well. Hope you find what you are looking for! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.105.223.175 (talk) 22:17, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

OpenGL and GLSL book suggestions

Anyone have any? I've got C and C++ down, but haven't done anything with 3D graphics yet. 24.76.161.28 (talk) 06:57, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Save the money, take these tutorials: http://nehe.gamedev.net/. Later on you might want to read the "Red Book". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.187.125.220 (talk) 09:05, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Hey man , i just recently started opengl as well and i have some pretty good books. The above suggestion if the best becuase nehe's 48 tutorials are the best with excellent explanation but if you goto the site you'll have to download each tutorial separately but if you just google "nehe's pdf" you'll get all the tutorials in a pdf format which you can download in one go. Just google these other books and they should be more than enough to get you starting and finishing with open gl: -->The Red Book, The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL, And OPENGL SUPERBIBLE( THIS TRULY IS THE MASTER OF ALL OPENGL BOOKS)! You should find all these books if you just google it ,you'll get 'em via rapidshare or something like that. And if you don't leave your email id i'll mail 'em to you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.162.69.91 (talk) 11:08, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I've gotta second the suggestion for the "Red Book" (it has a red cover) - and the "Orange Book" (guess!) because they are both written and published by members of the OpenGL ARB (Architecture Review Board) who are the keepers of the OpenGL specification...hence these books are "right". They are also very approachable and teach the API in a logical order. The Red Book covers OpenGL and the Orange Book covers GLSL. The OpenGL Superbible...is OK. I didn't like it as much. AMazon links are: [1] and [2]. SteveBaker (talk) 22:40, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, they seem to be the general recommendations everywhere. I'll definitely pick them up, thanks. 24.76.161.28 (talk) 01:07, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Easily modifying a stylesheet with Javascript

I'd like to modify a CSS stylesheet with Javascript. Basically, I have a class named "hidden" that I'd like to add a "display: none;" attribute to. I don't want to do the standard getElementById or similar things because I'd like this modification to happen before the page loads (so things don't appear and then disappear). I don't want to have to have the display: none; automatically in the stylesheet from the beginning because the only way to get the elements to display again requires Javascript, so I want it to fail gracefully if Javascript is not enabled. Ideally I'd want something where I can say ("document.TheStyleSheet.Classes("hidden").style.display = 'none';") or something similar to that. Is this possible? Googling has not suggested anything other than potentially iterating through every part of .cssRules or .Rules (depending on browser, I imagine), and looking for properties, which is not really what I want if I can help it (seems slow and inefficient, not to mention unwieldy) so I thought I'd ask if someone else had another solution...

Or, put another way: is there a way to insert another line to a stylesheet with javascript? I could load an external stylesheet that has the class descriptor in it, but that also seems a little silly, though comparatively simple. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 15:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

In the end, I found loading the external stylesheet to be a not-too-clumsy solution to the problem. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 20:23, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Resolved

Why can't I do an Internet search on hkcmd.exe?

OK, this is f****ng weird. When I try to do a Google search on hkcmd.exe, I get the following error:

Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage

Most likely causes: You are not connected to the Internet. The website is encountering problems. There might be a typing error in the address.

However, if I do a search anything else, it works. In fact, when I do a search on hkcmd.ex (note I dropped the e), it works. If I add the e back, it fails. I've repeated these searches about a dozen or so times. It always fails on hkcmd.exe. Why?

It gets weirder. If I try to do the same searches using Yahoo, I get the same behavior. What is so special about hkcmd.exe that I cannot search on it? Does anyone else experience this behavior? Is it possible my work is somehow blocking this search? 216.239.234.196 (talk) 16:12, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

When i do a google / yahoo search on that file name it does something weird, it shows me a list of webpages that contain the word: hkcmd.exe. Weird isnt it?

heres a link to that odd page: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=ec4&q=hkcmd.exe&btnG=Search E smith2000 (talk) 17:01, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

That's expected behavior. The behavior I'm experiencing is that I don't get a list of webpages. IE gives me a a "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" error page. Firefox gives me a "The connection was reset" error and Opera just gives me a completely blank page. But if I change one letter, it works. It's bizarre. I'll update my virus checker and do a full scan. 216.239.234.196 (talk) 17:45, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

My first thought was that hkcmd was malware, as some viruses stop you from googling their filenames to evade detection. But according to this (which is the first site listed by that google search), hkcmd is a pretty important Intel program. Something to do with hotkeys for Intel multimedia devices. How odd. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 18:02, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I tried it on two other computers in our office and they all experience this strange behavior. So it must have something to do with our network. 216.239.234.196 (talk) 18:31, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I just uncovered another clue. When I did a search on hkcmd.ex (note the dropped e), I got a list of hits. I clicked on about 5 or 6 of the links and some (but not all) gave me the same "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" error page. I didn't think too much about this at first, but then I noticed a pattern. If the link has hkcmd.exe embedded anywhere in the URL, it fails. So, for example, www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process/hkcmd.exe.html doesn't work for me but www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/hkcmd/ does. This also sheds light on why all the search engines failed - because they all have hkcmd.exe embedded in their URLs. Now what's so special about hkcmd.exe I have no idea. 216.239.234.196 (talk) 18:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

looks like your office has some internet censorship going on there. hkcmd.exe works fine for me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 20:10, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Note that many malware do masquerade as legitimate system processes so this doesn't indicate it's definitely legitimate. Of course it's somewhat stupid to pretend to be a legitimate process then block people from searching which gives people a clue there's something up but many malware authors are stupid. I.E. If you do have concerns about this process I would do use one or more virus scanners to check your computer. The fact that several office computers may indicate it's some sort of screwed up internet filtering or it may indicate your whole office is infected Nil Einne (talk) 10:05, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

works for me at my school; firefox 2

---

Does anyone know what xwc7f8.exe is?

My co-worker's computer appears to be infected with one or more malware apps. I've run a virus checker, Ad-Aware and Windows Defender. I noticed in Task Manager that there's process named xwc7f8.exe. I did Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Live searches on this file and I did not get a single hit. Does anyone know what xwc7f8.exe is? 216.239.234.196 (talk) 16:22, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I don't know about that file, but you might want to download and run Process Explorer, which will be able to tell you a lot more about where that file is installed and what it's doing. --LarryMac | Talk 16:28, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

i suggest you check your registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Run

Check that for that file name, if it is there try deleting it, once deleted hit F5 to refresh, if it re-appears restart in safemode and try the same thing

E smith2000 (talk) 17:08, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately, her PC is running so slow it might take a while to do download Process Explorer. I end-tasked it. I noticed a new EXE named WWE6A.exe is now running. Is it possible that this virus/adware/whatever randomly renames itself? 216.239.234.196 (talk) 17:09, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes, that is a posibility, thats why i suggest you restart in safemode... or at least do a selective startup (i think thats what it's called)E smith2000 (talk) 17:13, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

It could be anti-virus software — I used to use a package that behaved just like that. Every time it started, it would pick a new random 6-alphanumeric-character name for the executable. From what I understand, it's supposed to be a defensive measure (against being disabled/killed by malware). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.49.19.42 (talk) 17:26, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I think it is the anti-virus software. We using Trend Micro OfficeScan. I just noticed I have a process with a somewhat similar name. Under Process Explorer, it says it's by Trend Micro Inc. 216.239.234.196 (talk) 18:27, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

key combo (like Alt-Tab) for next/prev window in TASKBAR ORDER?

Is there a key combo like that?

I mean like, in this picture, key combos for:

• Next window in taskbar order (ie in this picture pressed once it would switch to the "XDMCP..." window)
• Prev window in taskbar order (ie in this picture pressed once it would switch to the "Novell..." window; pressed again to the "exceed..." window; pressed again to the "Exploring..." window)

Thanks! 94.27.239.144 (talk) 16:56, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

That looks like Windows 98. We may need some more information. E smith2000 (talk) 17:11, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

no no that's not my computer at all, it was just an example. I just want to do something like press alt-tab twice, to move two to the right in the taskbar (instead of getting back to the same window, which is what would happen if I really pressed alt-tab twice -- or if I held alt while pressing ta twice, I would get to the second-most-recent window). what I want is to move one button to the left or the right in the taskbar.

Do you get what I'm asking? to give you an example: if you have five windows open, look at your taskbar, on the very bottom of your screen. Let's say the third button is pressed. I would like to be able to get to the second (to the left of the depressed one) or the fourth (to the right of the depressed one). What can I press to achieve this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.27.239.144 (talk) 17:51, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

No, I don't think that there's a keyboard combo for that. There might be some third-party tool that can do this, I'm not sure. 216.239.234.196 (talk) 18:07, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I am not really sure what you are talking about or hope to accomplish but if you hold down Alt + shift then hit Tab it will move to the left instead of the right. E smith2000 (talk) 18:14, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I think this might be helpful... Taskbar Shuffle, Also, holding down alt and hitting Esc will simply go through the list... might also be useful information E smith2000 (talk) 18:24, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

how can you guys not understand what i'm talking about!!! look at the taskbar at the bottom of your screen. Those are your running programs. Click the one immediately to the right of the one that is active. Now: how do I do this with a keyboard combo? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.27.239.144 (talk) 19:37, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I think i know what you are talking about, you want to be able to switch to a different program that is running without having to click on the button on the taskbar. There is a key combo that will do this for you. Alt + Tab will switch to the next open program, but if you keep holding down alt and only hit Tab it will show you a small dialog in the middle of the screen that you can choose from. If you dont want that dialog to be shown then sipmly holding down Alt + Esc will switch you to the next program, then the next one, then the next one untill you reach the end of the running programs, then it will switch you back to the beginning. E smith2000 (talk) 20:46, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

No, there is a difference. Alt+Tab doesn't necessarily cycle applications in the same order that they appear in the Taskbar. The Taskbar lists applications in the order in which they were launched. Alt+Tab it seems is MRU. 216.239.234.196 (talk) 20:56, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

And alt+esc? E smith2000 (talk) 20:58, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

94.27.239.144, stop being stupid. You are talking about Alt Esc (or Alt Shift Esc) 64.172.159.131 (talk) 23:55, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

(To clarify with everyone else, Alt+Tab and Alt+Esc work based on the order of the icons in the Alt+Tab pop-up window. This is the same as the order of the windows stacked on the screen from top to bottom, except minimized windows also have a place in this "stacked" order, even though you can't see them.

• Alt+Esc: moves the top window to the bottom.
• Alt+Shift+Esc: moves the bottom window to the top.
• Alt+Tab: moves the second window to the top, etc.

The original poster wants shortcut keys that work based on the order of the buttons in the taskbar. The order of the buttons in the taskbar is usually different from the order of the icons in the Alt+Tab pop-up window.)

Not exactly what you want, but here's the closest thing I've found in Windows XP: Win+Tab will focus on the second taskbar button, then you can use Win+Tab again or use the arrow keys to focus the taskbar button you want, and then press Enter or Space to activate it. --Bavi H (talk) 04:34, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Auto Refresh

I was just wondering if there was a way that i can have this page reloading every few minutes? (or i can be notified if it changes) E smith2000 (talk) 19:00, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

There is an Extension for Firefox that will reload a page every so often. Reload every.--droptone (talk) 20:59, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps you are also referring to your watchlist? You'll have to click the "watch" tab at the top of the page first... also, you could try the RD history DaRkAgE7_[Talk] 21:08, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes, the watchlist is a good tool, but i would need to have that list auto refresh aswell. E smith2000 (talk) 21:16, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Just FYI, you can subscribe to any article using RSS, so that any changes to the article show up in your RSS-reader. Just open the history for any page and click the little RSS icon that appears in the address-bar. I actually find it much more convenient than using your watchlist, especially if you don't follow that many articles or you read your feed-reader obsessively. Belisarius (talk) 16:32, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Resolved

question

The file was also on my hard drive. I've deleted the file from the floppy disk and hard drive but it appears again every time the floppy drive activates, I've removed the disk and deleted it from the hard drive and it still doesn't go. There is nothing in process explorer doing this, I've terminated every process one by one, some crashed the computer, but by elimination not one thing in process explorer is doing this. Please help. I've tried anti-virus, combofix, icesword, everything. 66.63.184.3 (talk) 18:57, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I found this. It says to delete the autorun.inf file in the root of your drive. You have to show hidden files, first (Tools --> Folder Options... --> View).

A virus doesn't need a .exe file to run. It can load itself into memory using a DLL or OCX file. That's why it's so important to look in your Windows and Windows\system32 folders for new DLL and .exe files. You have to show details first from the View menu and then sort the contents by clicking on the header for creation date. You may have to delete them in Safe Mode, or even from the Recovery Console because they may be in use.--Djnghfg (talk) 00:59, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Sounds like a virus, i suggest you restart in safe mode, and remove those files. E smith2000 (talk) 19:12, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Theres a command for the command prompt called "net" use that with "start' and 'stop" you can kill prossesss, 'net start' to see whats running. 'net stop Internet Explorer" to stop programs like internet explorerE smith2000 (talk) 20:16, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

No. Net start and net stop are for services. To kill a process from the command line, you type taskkill /f /im and then the file name. Taskkill is a command that comes with Windows XP Professional, and not XP Home. To see what programs he has running, he'd type tasklist /svc. This lists both processes and the services they're "hosting."--Djnghfg (talk) 00:59, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Take a look at this page; they recommened Malwarebytes, but in the comments some people indicated that simply removing the autorun.inf files has been a quick solution. --LarryMac | Talk 19:28, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Here is what i would do, (i am not recommending this, jsut what i would do). I would restart the computer in to linux using a live CD. Then i would back up any files that i find important, then i would reformat the hard drive, then i would shutdown the computer and restart it with a windows XP installation disk and i would proceed with reinstalling windows E smith2000 (talk) 20:17, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

A virus that uses floppy disks to spread? Wow, how old is the virus?... Get Process Explorer and see which processes have handles to the floppy disk. Deleting autorun.inf isn't all. You need to get rid of the virus. --wj32 ^t/c 01:25, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Network discovery conundrum

So... I'm using a public internet connection on my Vista machine running the Windows OneCare firewall. Onecare reports that network discovery is off because I'm on a public network. When I click on Network (in the start menu) I can see a bunch of other PC's connected to the same router, which makes me think network discovery is on. When I go into the Network and Sharing Center it says Network Discovery is on. So my question is, and I'm assuming other computers can see my computer in their list of network places, how to I turn off network discovery for good? Or any other way of making my PC not show up. Thanks in advance, DaRkAgE7_[Talk] 20:48, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Zone Alarm is a good program that can do that (its another firewall). As for network discovery, it does not affect how you see the network, it only affects how others see you on the network. If you are really concerned about your computer while in a public place heres something that you can do (i do this sometimes) Get a linux live CD, boot in to that and use that to explore the internet while at a public place. the good and bad things about doing this is that everytime you restart all your data is lost, if someone hacks your computer they will see a linux OS running. If they manage to mess something up simply restarting will fix it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by E smith2000 (talk • contribs) 21:15, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

selling PDFs on the web

Someone I know wants to know the best way to set up a site whereby they would sell PDFs on the web. One possibility of course is just having them get the payment via PayPal, and then they e-mail the PDF to the person in question. But is there a better, easier way? --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:00, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

I suggest that you use ebay, its an established website that will protect both the seller and the buyer.E smith2000 (talk) 23:26, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Ebay would be a good choice if everyone wanting to buy the PDF files were a member. 64.172.159.131 (talk) 23:53, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

The PDFs will be sold through the main website. What I'm asking about is a good site to use as a way of automating the processing of receiving transactions and sending the PDFs themselves. Fraud is a not an especially high concern here—we're talking about PDFs, not stereos. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 03:11, 1 January 2009 (UTC)