Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2015 February 3

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.

February 3

What made Google buy? VirusTotal?

So as it looks like, it's just a DB of viruses. What makes this company special enought to be bought by Google? Couldn't Google have developed this thing in-house? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.4.155.2 (talk) 00:16, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

My guess is purchasing the virus and clean executable dataset for use in Google Chrome's download cloud antivirus (it has a pretty good one), as well as Google Safe Browsing. Talent may also be a factor, however my guess is their acquisition was mostly for the data. ☃ Unicodesnowman (talk) 08:50, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

Certainly Google could have amassed this data themselves, but buying this company may well have been a cheaper and faster way to get there. They are also buying the income from whatever other businesses were purchasing this data from VirusTotal...and that may be a worthwhile reason. Sometimes businesses will buy other companies just to prevent their competitors from doing so.

SteveBaker (talk) 16:17, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

Web designing Software

What software is similar to MS FrontPage, where you don't need to use the HTML codes to create a webpage(s), but can view the page source code if wished? -- (Russell.mo (talk) 19:37, 3 February 2015 (UTC))

You can look at List_of_HTML_editors. Ruslik_Zero 19:54, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

It sounds like you're looking for an editor with a WYSIWYG interface. There is a list at Comparison of HTML editors which says which programs offer such an option. Dismas|^(talk) 19:54, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

I don't have clue peeps. The lists you two gave, it came across like a cave language (lol). All I know i.e. I used MSfrontPage when I was young, I am in a Third World country, I can buy any kind of software I want here, a cousin of mine gave me Sublime Text 3 which looked like the page source coding section and advised not to buy Adobe Dreamweaver (what he mentioned as 'crap', and I have not found a better alternative of this). I have never ever made a webpage which went live, in my life. I did however, create an MS Webpage kind of thing when I was young, but it never went live... It was for fun. I'm new to the whole web designing thing... I want to buy a software that has the MSfrontPage qualities and the sublime Text 3 qualities, a software that is functional, has anything and everything desirable, that I can start learning. Whatever you guys recommend to learn, I will be using those softwares for at least about 20 years (including its upgrades). Any suggestions? -- (Russell.mo (talk) 08:32, 4 February 2015 (UTC))

I quite like KompoZer --TrogWoolley (talk) 14:47, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

I'll review it. Thank you -- (Russell.mo (talk) 21:42, 4 February 2015 (UTC))

I've reviewed it TrogWoolley, not bad, a bit similar to what I need, the rating of the software itself seem to be bad though. -- (Russell.mo (talk) 18:52, 6 February 2015 (UTC))

Shots.com

Does anybody know how to create an account at the entitled website, from PC? I can't seem to find a way... -- (Russell.mo (talk) 19:39, 3 February 2015 (UTC))

There doesn't seem to be a way to create an account through a computer. It seems that the only way to do it is through the app. That makes sense since the company is completely based on the apps. Dismas|^(talk) 19:52, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

I understand. Thank you. -- (Russell.mo (talk) 08:04, 4 February 2015 (UTC))

Nokia Model 103

I have the entitled Nokia phone; I kind of forgot the 'security lock code' which I personally modified before forgetting it. Does anybody know how I can unlock it without taking it to the shop? They are asking a fixing fee of 2,000. I have ordered a USB connection charger port, with the hope that I can fix it with that, but I need some help from you guys/girls to guide me the correct path/route in what software I should use to mitigate… -- (Russell.mo (talk) 19:43, 3 February 2015 (UTC))

Isn't this situation what the PUC is used for? Also, a quick google points towards this online article, but I seem to recall older Nokia user manuals described in detail how to reset to factory condition. WegianWarrior (talk) 09:13, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

PUC is for the SIM's PIN, not the screen saver lock PIN. I think Russell is asking for the latter. If it is the SIM PIN, phone your network operator for the PUC, then enter the SIM code incorrectly three times; the phone will ask for the PUC, and possibly a new SIM-code. LongHairedFop (talk) 12:56, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

It is a second hand phone, I didn't receive any manuals. I tried the 12345 so many times, words won't explain it. That's why I sought help from you guys. It is unlocked btw; the 12345 in the factory reset option done it... Thank you thank you thank you friends . -- (Russell.mo (talk) 14:34, 4 February 2015 (UTC))

Resolved

Best way to get the latest version of a web page?

What is the best way to be absolutely sure to get the latest version of a web page, bypassing any possible caches? I know I can just telnet to the web site and directly issue a HTTP GET command, but is even that guaranteed to always get the latest version? JIP | Talk 20:25, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

The general solution to this problem is to use a cryptographically valid digital signature and/or to encrypt the data from its point of origin. If the data is not signed and/or encrypted, you cannot strongly assert that it hasn't been tampered with - and in this case, proxying and caching are a simple form of tampering. See, e.g., tamper-evident technology. Nimur (talk) 21:28, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

I don't think that's correct. The signature protects the content of the message so you know it hasn't been tampered with, but caching doesn't change the content. --65.94.50.4 (talk) 22:27, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

The content can be timestamped. The signature then provides assurance that the (recently-timestamped) content is current. By itself, this is not sufficient to guarantee that the content is the most current - which would require bidirectional communication. The client would have to inform the host which version it has received, and the host would have to assert that version is correct; and the integrity of the bidirectional traffic needs to be assured (with a signature). Nimur (talk) 00:27, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

And the reply from the host would have to incorporate the query, so you'd know it wasn't itself coming from the cache. Yes, I think these additional requirements might suffice. --65.94.50.4 (talk) 23:41, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

At a minimum, you need to set a cache-control HTTP header in the GET request. Without this, a proxy between the client and the real web server may server a cached version. This is the case for sites behind a CDN, and for sites which use their own caching proxy - e.g. Wikipedia, where anons are served pages from a Squid proxy and not (necessarily) the up-to-date version from an actual Apache server. -- Finlay McWalterᚠTalk 21:40, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

Note that the proxy could also be a transparent proxy run by your ISP or similar, of which the web server (and possibly even you) have little or no control over. Nil Einne (talk) 14:00, 7 February 2015 (UTC)

The wget program fetches web-pages, and most embedded content, it can also follow links to fetch linked pages, recursively. It has a cache-control option, and can send arbitrary HTTP requests to the server. LongHairedFop (talk) 12:53, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

Assuming you are using Windows, Shift+F5 Justin15w (talk) 16:51, 6 February 2015 (UTC)