Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 May 8

Computing desk
< May 7	<< Apr | May | Jun >>	May 9 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

May 8

Mozilla Firefox: restoring sessions

Where does Mozilla Firefox save the information for restoring sessions if there's a crash?

And/or do you know another solution for this problem:
My Mozilla Firefox has recently crashed while I had several windows open at the same time. Next time I opened Firefox it asked me, as it should, whether I wanted to restore the session. I did. I don't remember some of the URLs of the pages I had opened, and I definitely want to get them. So it started "loading" the sites I had last been on (and some others I had been on a while ago)... and then stopped before finishing "loading" and just crashed. Hm. I tried over and over again, same result. It opens some sites, not always the same number, and that's it. I've tried deleting some of the sites in the few seconds before the crash, either the first page (i.e. the last I used before the original crash), some of the next pages to be opened, some of the next pages that would need to be opened if the program wouldn't crash--to no avail. I don't remember if I could reduce the number of pages to be opened at all (maybe at the beginning?), but at least by now I can't: I can close the windows while Firefox is loading the first pages, but then there's the crash, Firefox doesn't save the change, so that next time I open the program, it again opens all pages (incl. those whose windows I closed previously); I guess it just doesn't have time to "save" which windows I closed. Kind of a Groundhog Day feeling...

Thanks for any and all suggestions!! --Ibn Battuta (talk) 04:22, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

I think the session information is stored in sessionstore.js in the profile.

The default location for Firefox profiles in Windows is %appdata%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\.

But if Firefox crashes and you start it again, it should ask "Do you want to restore your pages?"

--grawity 12:56, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Browsing Internet using Adobe Acrobate Reader

I am just wondering, Will Adobe ever make Acrobat Reader a browser? It can be considered as a value add, and market opportunities are huge. :) --V4vijayakumar (talk) 07:55, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

I hope they won't. Unix philosophy tells, "do one thing and do it well." While Adobe Reader (not Acrobat Reader anymore) isn't the best PDF reader there, adding a web browser (with all the weight and security holes of a rendering engine) to it would make it a piece of ****. Besides, we already have Firefox, Opera, Safari, SeaMonkey... --grawity 12:45, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

There's no business incentive there. You can make money off PDF editors and Flash editors and HTML editors, but not off a browser. -- kainaw™ 16:48, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Well, Opera sold their browser for a while... Opera Mobile is moneyware too. --grawity 17:38, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Youtube

I have a problem with YouTube. Although almost every video works properly, there is the occasional one, such as this one, that just won't load, even though ones similar to the unloading ones work perfectly. How can I get the unworking ones to load? Interactive Fiction Expert/Talk to me 08:14, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Weird. Doesn't work for me either. - Akamad (talk) 08:18, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

It's possible that the video has been removed. I can't download it from this site either: [1]. - Akamad (talk) 08:26, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Works for me. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:04, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Not for me. Kushal (talk) 09:14, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Me neither. I have noticed though that sometimes the flv files from youtube download from an IP address, which can cause problems as some proxy servers block host IPs. Think outside the box 10:49, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Works for me just fine. I don't know what Antilived and I are doing right, though. Useight (talk) 15:15, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Works for me. But I've had the same problem. To start, just try restarting your browser. In a few cases that might help. Mastrchf (^t/_c) 21:58, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

"Works" for me - well sort of... got some stupid song from the Gamecube game Mario Party 5 and a fixed image of the game's cover art. Pretty pointless as a video if you ask me. Astronaut (talk) 13:10, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Fork bomb

:(){ :|:& };: How does that work? I don't know enough bash to figure it out... --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:03, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

It's equivalent to

bomb () {
 bomb | bomb &
}
bomb

The first 3 lines in my expanded version are a function definition. The function being defined is "bomb" and its content is "bomb | bomb &". After those 3 lines, "bomb" is now recognizable as a command word, on equal syntactical standing with the other built-in and external commands (cd, echo, ls, grep, etc.) If you've used shell aliases before, then you can think of a shell function as an alias with more sophisticated syntax.

The last line simply runs the new command that was just defined. And what does it do? It creates 2 background processes connected by a pipe, each of which then calls the function to create 2 more, and so on.

The only really tricky part is the fact that bash allows ":" to be used as a function name, where some other shells require more reasonable names. x(){x|x&};x would work on a wider variety of shells, but the colons make look so much more scary. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 10:56, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Ahhh so that's what the colon's for. I thought the colon had some special meaning in bash which I didn't know. --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:08, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

If you haven't done anything silly like define a function named ":", then the command ":" is the same as /bin/true - a noop which always succeeds. It's sometimes used to write infinite loops, as in while :; do something ; done. That's not a bash feature either; it's in all the shells of the Bourne/POSIX family. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 11:05, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Image printer device driver

I'm looking for a good image printer device driver, i.e. a device driver which behaves as if it were a printer, and outputs numbered raster images for each page of the document being printed. I'm using Windows XP. I tried ImagePrinter (sourceforge), but the output was not good enough for my needs. The vector graphics of the document was messed up rather badly, lines were missing etc. Anti-aliasing is needed. Any recommendations? Thanks. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 15:17, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

PSP Help please

Every time I try to upload images or videos to my PSP, it gives me the usual "There are no images. You can import images from a PS3 or PC." runaround, and when I plug it into my computer, it shows all the images, in the image folder, in JPEG or GIF. I am using the most recent firmware, and a Windows 2000 computer. Hpwever, the music which I have uploaded displays and works perfectly. Could anyone help me as to why it won't display the pics? User:Radman622 16:13, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Trying to recall but it's just not clicking...

Where, under Windows XP, do you go to change whether you use a single click or a double click on an icon to open/run an application ? StuRat (talk) 16:26, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm translating from the Norwegian menu items here, what appears in quotes is a translation, but I hope you'll find it even if the translation isn't exact. Open any folder, then select "Tools" (item next to "Help") | "Folder alternatives" | "General", then (radio button) "Single click to open an element". --NorwegianBlue ^talk 16:46, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Two ways (leading to the same place):

• Control Panel -> Folder Options -> General -> Click items as follows
• open a folder -> Tools -> Folder Options -> General -> Click items as follows

--grawity 16:48, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Yes, that does it, thanks to both of you ! StuRat (talk) 17:11, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Desktop motherboard with on-board modem AND wireless capabilities

Dear Wikipedians:

Do you know of any desktop computer motherboards with on-board modem AND wireless capabilities?

And does anyone know if an eSATA hard drive (notice it's external) can be used as the ONLY hard drive for a computer system? (In other words, can I boot WinXP and Linux off of an eSATA hard drive?) And how much effort would it take for me to plug an internal SATA drive into an eSATA port?

Thanks,

76.68.9.49 (talk) 19:49, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

I know of laptops that have onboard wireless, modem, and LAN. I haven't seen that in a desktop motherboard. As for booting from eSATA, that is dependent on the BIOS. For example, the BIOS in my old computer will ONLY boot from IDE or Floppy. In the computer I currently use, I can boot from IDE, Floppy, or a PCI disk controller. In the computer I'm putting together right now, I can boot from any IDE, SATA, Network, or USB device. -- kainaw™ 20:43, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

You can certainly get motherboards with ethernet and wireless capabilities, but I haven't seen any with built-in modems for a good while. 206.126.163.20 (talk) 21:53, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Could you give me any links to motherboards with ethernet and wireless capabilities? Thanks. 76.68.9.49 (talk) 22:34, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Just search Newegg for 'wifi' under the motherboards section.141.190.32.72 (talk) 23:00, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I found it. But now I think that getting one of those USB wireless adapter and plug it into a cheap all-in-one motherboard is more economical. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.12.199.167 (talk) 00:56, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

Google Toolbar Find

Hello. After I installed the Norton Internet Security 2008 90-day free trial (the only antivirus protection that I have installed), my Google Toolbar find bar is completely grey when I click on the Find icon or when I type Ctrl+F. How can I fix this? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 23:24, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Uninstall Norton. Walk away slowly, don't show it fear. (In all seriousness, avoid Norton. Use Kaspersky, AVG, or something else). 206.126.163.20 (talk) 00:25, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

For the love of God, don't use Norton. It's absolutely abysmal. Use Avira AntiVir, 100% leak protection and catches just about anything thrown at it. asenine ^{say what?} 07:11, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

And for some reason it is the most popular antivirus software. Guess that's the power of advertising. 118.90.102.125 (talk) 11:27, 13 May 2008 (UTC)