Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 April 25

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.

April 25

Downloading woes...(I need a good, free paint program but Internet Explorer won't let me!)

A couple of days ago I tried to download Paint.NET and I was given the message "<filename> (can't remember what it was exactly - it is the installer file) contains a virus and was deleted." I tried again but got the same result. So I thought to myself "Ok, I'll try another program..." so today, I tried GIMP. And the same result!! I seriously doubt both these programs come with viruses. I'm running IE9. Does anyone have a clue as to what is happening here? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! --Yellow1996 (talk) 01:48, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

I had no problem installing Gimp with Safari and Windows 7. You might try downloading Safari and using it, even though it's no longer being supported or updated for widdows. (I am using Safari now on a computer I bought April 1.) μηδείς (talk) 02:06, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Seriously? ¦ Reisio (talk) 15:54, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

As in, am I actually using Safari? Yes, it works fine and never glitches on me as IE does. Only time I use IE is to download with realplayer. I long for the days of early Netscape, it was wonderful. μηδείς (talk) 01:12, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Sounds like you have an overly strict virus scanner. For example, it might view anything with an unrecognized certificate as a potential virus. StuRat (talk) 02:25, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

My guess is you have some kind of badware installed, do a scan. ¦ Reisio (talk) 15:54, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

• Where are you trying to download them from? There are many sites that purport to offer downloads of free software but actually add nasty stuff to it. If you are trying to download from the official sites, that shouldn't happen, but you didn't say. Looie496 (talk) 16:58, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Windows usually comes with the Paint program. It is in the Accessories folder. If you want to use Paint.NET it has an official site (see our article), which is where you should load it from (keeping an eye out to make sure your are not fooled by adverts posing as download links). Astronaut (talk) 17:53, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Whoa! Thanks for such a large turnout! :) Now, I'll explain further. I am sure that I am downloading them from the official websites (as linked from their respective Wikipedia articles.) As for changing browsers, I'd like to avoid that if at all possible! ;) - as for the virus scanner I think StuRat is on to something. I have never had this problem before, and these are the only two things I have tried downlading since upgrading to AVG's 2013 edition (though I've been using AVG for years.) I think I'll check in AVG's settings and see if I can adjust them? I don't think I have any viruses but I'll try a scan if the settings thing doesn't work. And I probably should have mentioned that the only reason I am not using mspaint is because what I am doing requires transparent-background PNGs, which mspaint cannot do. I'll post back with the results. --Yellow1996 (talk) 22:35, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Ok, here's what happened: first, I tried to look in the settings for AVG. There wasn't anything obvious which could be causing the problem, so I just outright disabled the whole program. I then proceeded to try and download Paint.NET, with the exact same result as before. So I re-enabled and started a full computer scan. This - to my suprise - returned 8 viruses. I removed these and tried again, with the same result as before!!! So I'm beginning to think this is a problem with IE itself. I'm going to try and install Firefox and see if I can get it from there. Edit: Wonderful </sarcasm> - I can't download Firefox because it "contains a virus and was deleted". So it looks like the problem is IE won't let me download anything. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do now? --Yellow1996 (talk) 00:52, 26 April 2013 (UTC) and 00:59, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

You wouldn't need to "change" browsers. Just download it and use it that one time. μηδείς (talk) 15:37, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

Well, as I stated above, I cannot download anything. That includes new browsers. I'm at a complete loss. I just can't understand what could have happened! I guess I'll never be able to download anything ever again! Does anyone have any last suggestions? --Yellow1996 (talk) 00:01, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

Ok, I've finally gotten Paint.NET working! (with a workaround.) - I managed to get it by downloading the installer .zip on a different computer and then USB-sticking it to my other one. So, problem solved. At least until I need to download something again! Although I really don't get too many new programs anymore these days... Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions! :) --Yellow1996 (talk) 00:20, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

Can the CSS of a transcluded template be overridden?

I've tried {| style="font-size: 10pt before the transclusion but that didn't change anything. So, I was wondering, is it at all possible? -- Mentifisto 16:55, 25 April 2013 (UTC)