Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 January 12

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January 12

blurred (censored) image appearing un-blurred, personal information

I've come across an image on commons, it's basically a form of photo identification with a persons face and numbers on it, both of which have been blurred out, but when I opened it in GIMP I noticed that the image had been restored in the image preview (i.e. no blurring, so I could see clearly the face of the person, though it was too small to make out the text). Having opened the image the blurred parts once again looked blurred, but there is no indication of any layers other than the background, and this is a .jpg file so I wouldn't expect any. It's apparent though that GIMP has access to some extra data that was left over? before the image was saved, and anybody that wanted to could probably get at the info, so my question is two fold; how could the image layer behind the blurring possibly remain in a .jpg image, and why does this get through? This is just one example (albeit a dangerous example) of information being stored behind a layer in a .jpg but there could be hundreds more images that have the same loophole, if it's just as simple as saving a layered image as a .jpg. Forgive me for not wanting to specify the exact image, but I'd rather not give everyone access to this guys identity. 64.180.84.184 (talk) 02:01, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

First you should have an admin remove the file (but keep a copy so someone can figure this out). After that you could try to alter the image so the personal parts are indeed censored (on top of the blurring being applied), if you can; then we could all figure out what's going on. Otherwise I suppose you'd want to find and admin or three to take care of it; WP:RFAA. ¦ Reisio (talk) 02:06, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

What's going on is that a preview image is saved within the image as metadata, and it was made from an earlier (uncensored) version. This is a known flaw with a lot of image programs and has resulted in lots of information getting leaked out when people thought they were being clever and censoring it. It's easy enough to fix (open the image, select all, create new, copy and paste, save over the old file). But I agree that the file needs to be deleted entirely from Commons as well, because the preview is saved in the history as well. --Mr.98 (talk) 03:08, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

OK so it's just his picture that has been revealed, as the text is probably too small to see if it's just the preview. Good to know. Are there any commons admins floating around here? I'm not sure how to find one. 64.180.84.184 (talk) 03:34, 12 January 2011 (UTC) NM I found Reiso's link, thanks! 64.180.84.184 (talk) 03:35, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

I'd hit up irc://irc.freenode.net/wikimedia-commons ¦ Reisio (talk) 04:46, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Also I wonder if there's no easy way to check .jpgs for accurate previews, or to remove them completely. 64.180.84.184 (talk) 03:41, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

That's a problem for https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/ ¦ Reisio (talk) 04:46, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

skype

is there a way to search for contacts using the old skype search. the new one i cant find anyone. i accidentally deleted a contact yesterday now i cant find him again using the new search. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tommy35750 (talk • contribs) 04:02, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Is there such a laptop with a 22 inch screen?

I need a laptop (not at netbook) with a 22-inch screen. I have tried to find it, but without any luck so far.
I will occasionally use this laptop to view TV or Video, but first and foremost I need it as a computer. Therefore I want a higher screen resolution/image quality than the high-definition television 1080p standard.
Other wanted features are:

1. 4 GB RAM or more. (6GB would be nice to avoid most of the disk swapping).
2. At least 500GB harddrive.
3. Optical disc drive capable of reading and writing CD-RW, DVD±RW/DVD+R DL and preferably also Blu-ray Disc and Blu-ray Disc recordable.
4. 5 (or 6) USB 2.0 ports. (USB 3.0 would, of course, also be nice).
5. SDHC Card connection.
6. Integrated stereo speakers.
7. TRS (jack) connection for External speakers, Earphones and Microphone. (An additional 2.5mm jack connection for use with Mobile phone headsets would be a bonus).
8. 2 HDMI connections.
9. Enabled support for Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) (AV.link) through the HDMI. (To talk with set-top boxes, Television sets and PVRs).

Well, I have asked around for this, at local laptop retailers, but none have been able to provide.
Do you know of such a laptop currently available from somewhere? --46.15.71.199 (talk) 10:22, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Long sidetrack (unhelpful passage) collapsed.

The largest laptop screen size I've seen is 18.4". (I've checked for larger at various online retailers but was unable to find anything bigger) So right off, your exact specifications can't be met. The idea of lugging around a 22" laptop is interesting indeed! As is your linking of basic computing terms like "laptop" and "RAM" on a page which is frequented by people who are already knowledgeable in more advanced topics Dismas|(talk) 10:53, 12 January 2011 (UTC) I agree. I found some 2009 speculation about 22" laptops, but none seems to have materialized. Would it be an option to buy a "normal" laptop (my concept of "normal" is a 15" MacBook Pro, but I know I'm peculiar that way) and pair it with an external display and keyboard? Reasonable 22" LCD displays can be had for about 200 RCUs. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 13:32, 12 January 2011 (UTC) RCU? Regional Currency Unit? Dismas|(talk) 13:36, 12 January 2011 (UTC) Reasonable Currency Unit - anything roughly comparable to EUR, CAN$, US$, AUS$, SFR, GBP ... --Stephan Schulz (talk) 13:40, 12 January 2011 (UTC) @User:Dismas (timestamp 10:53): Please! Do not be too quick to draw your conclusions! There is at least one 20.1-inch laptop (HP Pavilion HDX "Dragon") and the fact that you could not find anyone above 18.4-inch kind of illustrates my problem (which is: There probably are more than one 22-inch laptops out there!, I just have not found them yet!). I take it that your calling this: "interesting indeed!" was meant to be sarcastic, but again: Please do not judge to hastily! "Lugging around" a 22-inch laptop may seem just as silly as dragging around a 240kg (530 punds) chair everywhere one goes, until you discover that the person in question maybe would not have been able to go anywhere, at all, without it! The ability to show things, from a computer screen, to senior citizens, where ever we meet, without them having to put on their reading glasses is sometimes not something interesting, but rather a minimum requirement. And even younger visually impaired people as well might want such a portable computer themselves — even if it is not quite as easy to put in a handbag as an iPad. About the linking of basic terms in front of the knowledgeable people here at the help desk: Many people that search for a 22-inch lapto "don't know anything" about computers. I linked those words to make this question understandable for them to. --(OP)46.15.71.199 (talk) 13:57, 12 January 2011 (UTC) I didn't mean to sound sarcastic by saying that a 22" laptop was interesting. I really do mean a 22" laptop would be interesting. Not only the lugging around of it but the actual existence of one as well. Dismas|(talk) 14:02, 12 January 2011 (UTC) @User:Stephan Schulz (timestamp 13:32): Technically it will work, but practically it is (almost) not. Carrying one 22-inch plus a power supply is cumbersome enough. Carrying a 22-inch, a 15-inch, a connection cable and two power supplies will, I feel, be too cumbersome. --(OP) 46.15.71.199 (talk) 14:32, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

The question still stands.
(Please keep in mind that the ref.desk is not a chatroom and skip the comments about how you feel about this or the eventual fact that you do not know of any such laptop either – unless they effectively helps find the answer to the question).
--(OP)46.15.71.199 (talk) 13:57, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

It is possible to treat an iMac (Intel-based) as a sort of laptop, albeit a heavy one. I have lugged around one of these for close to a year. There is even a carrying case for one of these things. Here. The weight is truly unbearable by day two. Bus stop (talk) 14:24, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

An iMac... That's an idea. Do you have the 20", 21.5", 24" or the 27" version?
Well, maybe they all will be of "unbearable" weight by day two ;-) --46.15.71.199 (talk) 15:02, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

This is the one that I dragged around. It is an older generation (white polycarbonate plastic) model. It has a 17 inch screen. It weighed 15 pounds. The newer ones (aluminum enclosure) probably weigh less (per square unit of screen space) and I believe they are available in larger size screens. They are probably going to be overly heavy for all but the most determined users. Bus stop (talk) 15:52, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Any all in one PC should be able to approximate a laptop of that size, though making sure it has Bluetooth built in will make things easier by using peripherals you can carry around without having to worry about the cable mess you would otherwise encounter. You can buy carrying cases for monitors which should also work for the all in one PC, and some even have pockets or straps for a keyboard and mouse (or trackpad). A cursory search does show me that the iMac is one of the lighter and thinner All in One PC's as well as being surprisingly reasonable in price. 206.131.39.6 (talk) 16:14, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Well I have a 17", incredibly lightweight Toshiba.... something or other. I'll google it. Oh wait, there's a sticker on my laptop. The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite L675. It's really It has 4GB RAM and upwards of 500 GB. It can use headphones, external speakers, and a headset. It can write CDs and I'm pretty sure it can write DVDs (not sure about Blu-Ray, but it might). It's got stereo speakers, too. I'm good with technology, but I'm better with software than hardware, so I don't know what your other specifications are.

I've had the laptop since mid-October and I really like it. It gets a little slow sometimes, but I think that's because I have a tonof documents on my hard drive and I keep several browsers open at once. This problem's easily fixable by plugging a 2+ gig plash drive into the USB port and doing something called Windows Ready Boost. Anyways, hope this helps! --- c y m r u . l a s s ^{(talk me, stalk me)} 16:21, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm confused by the belief if a 22" laptop existed it would probably be hard to find.

A simple search for 'largest laptop' finds this relatively recent Yahoo answers thread which mentions 'hp pavilion hdx' and links to [1] about the Dell XPS XPS M2010. There are plenty of other discussions about these laptops from the same search e.g. [2]. From what I can tell, these are no longer sold new. Definitely the Dell website suggests the Dell one isn't. The HP website doesn't really say but the specs are rather dated suggesting it isn't and [3] is also suggestive. That may be why you can't find this in stores selling new laptops, i.e. it doesn't really meet your 'currently available' criterion. This perhaps also gives some idea of the market potential/success for such laptops (i.e. why it's so hard to find a 22" one).

Of course a search for '20" laptop' also finds plenty of discussions on both these laptops.

It's possible there's some super secret 22" mass-market (meaning something made to be sold to the general public, it's possible someone designed a 22" laptop for a customer on request) laptop that no one has ever heard of before and can't be easily found from searches, but I find this unlikely. As the relative ease with which discussions concerning the aforementioned 20"/20.1" laptops can be found attests, people naturally tend to be interested in such things so tend to discuss them even if they would never want one themselves. From a companies POV if you are making such an esoteric device it probably also helps if people know about it. (The plenty of discussions speculating on rumours of a 22" laptop shows the interest in discussion on a 22" laptop in particular.)

BTW that second ref mentions [4] the 'lenovo thinkpad w700ds' a dual screen laptop, also no longer available. However if you are interested in dual screen laptops a simple search for 'dual screen laptop' finds [5] and possibly others (didn't look in to results enough). Again no sign of super secret laptops.

Nil Einne (talk) 23:45, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

BTW similar to the above question have you considered the possibility of a touchscreen desktop? Something like [6] or [7] perhaps. Perhaps this will reduce the need for keyboards in some instances. I have no experience with how well these travel and how usable they are without keyboards or mice however. Nil Einne (talk) 00:05, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Despite the lack of popularity in doing so, you can assemble your own laptop from separate components. ¦ Reisio (talk) 18:02, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Firefox not saving cookies

Is there anything that would make Firefox not save cookies all of a sudden? This started happening to me a few days ago, and it's getting irritating because it will not allow me to remain logged into Wikipedia at this computer. (And before you ask, Firefox is presently not configured to delete cookies on close here.) —Jeremy ^{(v^_^v Hyper Combo K.O.!)} 11:16, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Any response? —Jeremy ^{(v^_^v Hyper Combo K.O.!)} 04:30, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

What do you see when you go to Tools --> Options --> Privacy? Specifically, what is selected next to "Firefox will" and what is selected under "Accept cookies from sites"?--Best Dog Ever (talk) 04:40, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Use custom settings; Accept cookies from sites and keep them until they expire. —Jeremy ^{(v^_^v Hyper Combo K.O.!)} 05:22, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Try deleting your cookies and then logging in again.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 07:48, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

No such luck; it's still deleting cookies as it closes. —Jeremy ^{(v^_^v Hyper Combo K.O.!)} 07:58, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps you have enabled private browsing? --Tardis (talk) 21:19, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

I have not. —Jeremy ^{(v^_^v Hyper Combo K.O.!)} 22:24, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm confused by the question and follow up response; is Firefox not saving cookies at all, or just deleting them when you close the program? If the latter, check these settings 82.44.55.25 (talk) 22:50, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Firefox is deleting them when I close the program, and, as I noted up top, is doing it in spite of the fact I have it set to not delete cookies on session close. (If it weren't saving cookies short-term, I couldn't log in to Wikipedia.) —Jeremy ^{(v^_^v Hyper Combo K.O.!)} 05:35, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

I don't think it's a problem of cookies. I select private browsing and when I close Firefox I delete everything, checking everything except Site Preference at the Setting for Clearing History, but I can remain logged in. Try to uninstall Firefox and re-install it. If it doesn't work, it might be an OS problem or something else. Did you update something lately? Oda Mari (talk) 06:45, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

No; I only just started to experience this problem within the past week just before the obligatory WinXP update. I'll take your suggestion, though, as soon as it is feasible for me. —Jeremy ^{(v^_^v Hyper Combo K.O.!)} 20:20, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

Works! Danke! —Jeremy ^{(v^_^v Hyper Combo K.O.!)} 04:01, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

tor

i cant get the Flash player to work. Any help?

Like if i were to go on youtube it wont work. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tommy35750 (talk • contribs) 12:03, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

You will have to provide some more information as to how you are accessing Tor. The most common cause of this problem is that many browser plugins that make it easier to access Tor (such as Torbutton for Firefox) automatically disable Flash and other plugins by default because they can possibly leak your IP address. If you use one of those plugins, check its options and turn the option to disable other plugins off. Xenon54 (talk) 12:41, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

W3C suggestion box

Is there an official suggestions form for web standards in w3c's web site? נו, טוב (talk) 12:58, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

See this. As an individual, they would like you to help with translating their documents and promoting their standards, but there is little (if any) interest in your input. -- kainaw™ 13:25, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

You're more than decade late. Smallman12q (talk) 18:15, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

5stars

5stars — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mahmoud thalji (talk • contribs) 15:13, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

You may be looking for our article Five star, which is a "disambiguation page" containing links to many Wikipedia articles related to the concept of having five stars. On the other hand, if you intend with the above missive to award the Computing Reference Desk five stars out of five, we appreciate your rating and would ask you to tell your friends. Cheers! Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:55, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Control-shift-J in chrome?

So what's the little interface I see at the bottom of the screen when I press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+J in Chrome? (Not Ctrl+J, which brings up downloads, but Ctrl+⇧ Shift+J.) My interest has been caught. It looks like somethig having to do with the source code of a page? Any help is appreciated. Thanks! --- c y m r u . l a s s ^{(talk me, stalk me)} 16:34, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

It's the web developer window, which has a bunch of tabs for different views of a running webpage that would be of interest to website authors trying to debug or optimise how their page works when viewed in Chrome. Firefox users have a similar thing if they install the Firebug (web development) extension. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 16:43, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Running through the tabs left->right, there's:

• elements: an HTML explorer, which shows the CSS markup that applies to a given tag
• resources: shows files (and stuff) that have been loaded in order to render the page (images, stylesheets, javascript source files, etc.)
• network: shows a log of recent HTTP transactions - this shows how the resources were loaded, and for AJAX pages shows the transactions that the page makes back to the server
• scripts: shows the javascript scripts active on the page, and allows a website developer to debug scripts (place breakpoints, step through code, examine variables)
• timeline: shows a nifty timeline/GANTT-chart like view of what's going on when a page is loaded and rendered (allowing you to profile slowdowns in the site - is it due to slow network traffic, slow scripts, etc.)
• profiles: a profiler that shows where, in more detail, the execution time is spent. You'd use that if viewing the timeline didn't give you enough of an idea of where your code was spending all its time
• audits: a tool that analyses a given web page and reports on whether it's making good use of certain web and server features; these can be good suggestions for improving the performance of a website
• console: the console shows messages printed by javacript programs and errors reported when processing a webpage

All of this stuff is excellent info for web developers, and pretty much useless scary stuff for everyone else. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 16:53, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! I get all curious and excited when I see shiny new pieces of code and I can't help asking --- c y m r u . l a s s ^{(talk me, stalk me)} 16:56, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Two users simultaneously using one computer

Here's the situation: in my household, there is only one PC, a laptop running Windows Vista Home Premium, that has enough system resources (2 GB) that can adequately surf the internet, watch videos, etc. Problem is two people need to use that laptop for work. We've been switching turns for a while now, but it gets quite irritating having to wait for the other person to finish. We also have an extra monitor, keyboard, and mouse from older, non-working computers. I'm wondering if there's a way to "share" the laptop between the two of us such that one can use the actual laptop to work while the other uses the extra connected monitor, mouse, and keyboard. Unfortunately, it's not a simple matter of extending the desktop and then using something like TeamPlayer to create another mouse pointer, because only one window can be in focus at a time. I've heard using virtual machines like VMware might work, but I don't know how to make each machine use different mice/keyboards (or if I have enough resources to run memory-intensive applications while running a virtual machine)... Also, would using VirtualBox work instead of VMware?

I've searched on Google and have found a bunch of software that claim to do this, most of which are proprietary, including Windows MultiPoint Server, Userful (but it's Linux-only, unfortunately), and BeTwin VS. I downloaded the trial version for BeTwin VS, but it didn't seem to work (the laptop would crash BSoD style for unknown reasons after installation). So... does anyone have suggestions on how this goal would be accomplished? I would like to avoid having to buy things to get this to work. Thank you in advance, 151.198.251.165 (talk) 19:06, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

What you want is commonly called a "mutiseat" system. BeTwin works on Vista. I don't think MultiPoint will work for you because I've only seen it set up as a thin-client system, not a multiseat system. -- kainaw™ 19:30, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Yes, I've tried the Vista version of BeTwin (which is what they called BeTwin VS). Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, the laptop would sometimes crash after running the Configuration Wizard. I might give it another try later if I have time. Thanks, 151.198.251.165 (talk) 20:12, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

You can get an entire additional computer for $100. You can get a competitive one for $400. You can switch to Linux. :) ¦ Reisio (talk) 21:10, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

It sounds like you're planning on attaching a monitor to the laptop's video-out socket. But for your two-user scheme to work, regardless of what software you use, the laptop's display adapter needs to be able to able to send a different signal to both screens (the laptop's own and the external one). The video chips used for laptops mostly don't support that: they allow the same signal to be sent to both (or to one or other) but usually not a different picture. That's unlike mid-range (and above) adapters for desktop machines, which routinely support dual-screen operation (and the software discussed above uses the same two-different-pictures capability that one-desktop-over-two-displays dual-screen feature needs). Some of the high-end adapters for fancy laptops do support dual-screen: if yours isn't one of them, I think you'd idea isn't viable. If you can tell us the specific model of the laptop (and ideally the model of the graphics chip, as reported in Vista's display properties screen) then we can look it up to see if it can handle it. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 21:25, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Laptop is a Gateway MT6821, with a "Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family." Is that what you're looking for? 151.198.251.165 (talk) 22:10, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

Gateway's info for that laptop says it has a GMA 950 video adapter. The feature you'll need is what Intel call "dual independent display"; this is featured by the chipset, but seems to need some additional stuff as well. Gateway explicitly lists other Intel based laptops as having DID; it doesn't list yours as having it. But frankly both Intel's and Gateway's pages aren't very clear on the matter. Try plugging one of those other monitors of yours into the machine (and probably rebooting, just be be sure). If that model does support DID, you should see both monitors in the Vista Display control panel applet, with the option to stretch the desktop over both (rather than just clone it). If it doesn't offer that (with the latest display driver) then you may be out of luck. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 22:47, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

I can successfully "extend" the desktop over to the other monitor. 151.198.251.165 (talk) 23:41, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

It's one thing to 'extend' it, but I think what you're asking is for 2 computers, but only one doing all the work i.e. 2 computers running on one. Even if you extend it, you hve to find something that allows you to select a specific keyboard and mouse on a external monitor and the laptop keyboard and trackpad on the laptop screen. General Rommel (talk) 00:09, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Well, yes, therein lies my problem. 151.198.251.165 (talk) 00:29, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Our article, Multiseat configuration, lists hardware and software requirements. It is much easier to set this configuration up on Linux than on Windows. Here are instructions for Ubuntu MultiSeatX. Once booted into Ubuntu, you could each virtualize a Windows operating system if you need Windows software. Nimur (talk) 01:49, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Archiving webpages for wikipedia

Specifics - the page COMSA contains many dead links to www.comsa.com as the company changed its name/redesigned its webpage etc. Is there a way I can get an archive version of these pages? Second question - is there a way I can mark webpages in wikipedia so that they are hopefully archived automatically ? if not how can I request archiving etc?Sf5xeplus (talk) 19:25, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

The remarkable Internet Archive, which is at archive.org, may have archived versions of the website. There is no mechanism for Wikipedia to mirror websites, no. Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:34, 12 January 2011 (UTC)

You can request WebCite archive pages for you. This doesn't involve wikipedia nor is it automatic (i.e. you need to submit every link) but these are accepted on wikipedia and you can add them to refs as an archive yourself. For the later part you should probably ask at the WP:Help desk Nil Einne (talk) 20:18, 12 January 2011 (UTC)