Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 March 15

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[edit] March 15

[edit] Adding Windows98 to a Vista Computer?

I'm kinda considering getting an eMachines T5082 computer this weekend (on sale) for a friend. However, the reviews I read said that, while the computer is a good value, it basically sucks with Vista (which is installed on the computer).

So I was wondering if it's possible to install and run Windows98 without deleting Vista, in case we later decide that Vista ain't so bad after all. I understand that Vista will take up a lot of room on the hard drive, but that's not an issue, as I doubt that she needs a lot of storage.

I've got the '98 installation software disk, so that's not a problem. I'm somewhat computer literate, so a complete neophyte, but I can follow directions, if kept to words not exceeding two syllables. Bunthorne 02:45, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Why would you want to install 98? Nothing works on it anymore. Install XP instead, and it should have an option to creating a separate partition in the setup. -Wooty Woot? contribs 02:51, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

I guess I have to admit, I'm a cheapskate. And I don't have an XP disk, but do have the 98. And the only programs we would use (for the near term) are the ones we now use with Win98 Bunthorne 03:14, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Wooty, *ahem*, this user still successfully contributes using Windows 98 SE. --Ouro (blah blah) 06:19, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Agree. Lots of things still 'work' on 98 SE (lots dont-- but thats another matter)--SlipperyHippo 07:30, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
An important app I had trouble with is Adobe Illustrator, which refused to work, but other than that, not really. --Ouro (blah blah) 09:08, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Plug and play? --frotht 12:08, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Okay, I'll grant that. --Ouro (blah blah) 13:03, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

In my case At the moment, its not (generally) my apps that dont work, its aspects of 98 SE itself that dont work--SlipperyHippo 15:03, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

What do you have in mind? --Ouro (blah blah) 18:42, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Plug & Pray, noetworking, etc! --SlipperyHippo 21:06, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

Parallel installation of Win98 and WinVista isn't easy if you need to install 98 after Vista. Probably your best bet is to install 98 on a second hard drive, then set the BIOS to boot from the second drive. It's easy enough for a computer geek to do, but there's enough variation between computers that I can't give you step-by-step directions. --Carnildo 21:11, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] DEADBEEF

Has anyone ever cracked the classic "example" md5 hash md5:DEADBEEFDEADBEEFDEADBEEFDEADBEEF? What hashes to that? --frotht 02:46, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

An infinite number of strings will hash to that (assuming md5 hashes evenly). Our article on Pikachu will hash to it, assuming you tack on an appropriate string. --TotoBaggins 03:08, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
OK yeah I understand that but what's the smallest string that will hash to that? Anyone trying to figure out a string that hashes to that would go from small to large so naturally they'd stop at the smallest --frotht 03:11, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
It's mindnumbingly hard to find out what hashes to a random md5 hash. You can find collisions using a birthday attack, but to find a value that will actually hash to a given value (assuming you can't find it in a dictionary) you have to do a pure brute-force attack. That is, start looping through from 0 to 2^128 (or even more). And 2^128 is a big-ass number (340282366920938463463374607431768211456, if you're curious). Oskar 11:34, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
OK but it seems like something like this must have been run at some point by a supercomputer or distributed computing project. I mean you at least have a chance of the original string being like 10 characters or less and being completely crackable. But apparently nothing like this has been done --frotht 12:08, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Well, that's the thing, even with a supercomputer, it would take years and years (if not decades or centuries) to find it, so it's just not worth it. I mean, again, the chance of a random string (of whatever length) having that hash is 1 in 340282366920938463463374607431768211456. Meaning that it is possible that the string you're searching for is something like 101011 which would take not long to find, but it would almost certainly be something much longer. That probability that it would be a string under ten characters would be 1 in 288230376151711744 (that is, 2^128/128^10, assuming the standard ascii set). That's a helluva small chance, and remember that there are buttloads of 10 charater strings (about 1180591620717411303424 of them). This is why modern encryption works, all numbers are insanely big.
(and yes, I like to compute big numbers using maxima, they look really cool ;) Oskar 17:25, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Surprisingly, people often find better things to do with expensive super computers than brute force a novelty MD5 hash... -- mattb @ 2007-03-15T20:52Z
To give you an idea of how long it would take, my home computer can test five million candidate strings a second. On average, it would take 1078289752455631808069607 years for my computer to find a string that hashes to a given value, or about 71885983497042 times longer than the universe has been around. Supercomputers are faster than regular computers, but not by that much. --Carnildo 21:21, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
You could look it up on one of the rainbow tables, it might be there. --h2g2bob 09:48, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Deleted on Microsoft Word 2003

I just did a lot of work and by mistake closed the file without saving. It didn't freeze, I just closed it without looking and clicked "No" when it asked me whether I wanted to save too quickly. Is there any way to recover the information I lost? Thanks, Sashafklein 02:49, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

By default, Word should have the auto-recovery function enabled. So it should save copies every 10 minutes or so. Have a look at this Microsoft support page. Hope that helps. - Akamad 07:44, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Can someone recommend me a graphics card?

I'm about to buy my first gaming-quality PC, and as I've never been a PC gamer in the past, I'm looking for advice on graphics cards. My shop's list is here -- http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/default.php?cPath=26&page=1&sort=3a -- could anyone recommend me whichever card is the nicest for under $200? I'd really appreciate it. Cheers. __Eni —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.10.86.63 (talk) 05:33, 15 March 2007 (UTC).

Hi, I'm in Aus too and recently made the same choice. Read this advice from an australian forum. Before you part with your cash, i'd recommend stretch your video card budget to $250 and get a 7600GT, you won't regret it. Vespine 05:50, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Sorry to hijack the question, but I've been wondering about getting a video card myself. How about X1300? They seem decent and support a lot of things while being relatively cheap? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 06:07, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
I'd recommend the 7600GT as well. I had to upgrade after my 6600 was not cutting it for Test Drive Unlimited. Bought the 7600GT this week and wow - turned on all settings at 1280x1024 with AAx4... and the game runs and looks better than the xbox equivalent. Apparently the 7600GS is not far behind if you want to save a third of the price. Sandman30s 07:55, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Creating Passwords

Is there any way in which i can put a password to a folder. Example whenever i double click on a private folder, it should prompt me to type a password and then only accessing the contents is possible. Can i do this in windows XP? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 61.95.191.49 (talk) 08:01, 15 March 2007 (UTC).

Encrypting the folder will do most of what you want. —EncMstr 08:20, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Use a archiving tool like Winzip and enter a password. Then your files will be compressed (saves space) and encrypted. Think outside the box 09:22, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Make sure you don't put anything in your zip that's also outside the zip or you're vulnerable to a known plaintext attack --frotht 12:05, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Programming in excel

I have a pretty advanced knowledge of MS Excel but i dont understand how to use the VB part of it. Any websites that may help me? Preferably something with tutorials. Zain Ebrahim 12:16, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

In my experience it is best to have some idea of what you want to do in it first -- it is easier to figure out how to accomplish as task with VBScript than it is to describe generally how to program in VBScript. --140.247.248.149 16:35, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Record a macro of you doing something then review the code. This way you get to see some structure/setup. Also www.mrexcel.com (think that's the address) is a brilliant place for finding people with skills to help. I self-taught myself this way and whilst I had the help of colleagues around me when required it was a good start. A good understanding of basic programming language will help (such as for-loops, case-statements etc.). ny156uk 18:13, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hyperlinks in Word

I'm trying to build hyperlinks in Microsoft Word 2003, so I type text, right click on it, and hyperlink it to a page. It then displays the text I hyperlinked as something like: "{HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_War_of_Independence}". If I right click it and click "Select Hyperlink" it turns into a blue link with the actual text I wrote. If I then save and close the file, however, when I reopen it, all the hyperlinks are again displayed in that technical way I quoted. a) How do I make it so that the hyperlinks automatically display as the text I typed and b) how do I make it stay that way when I close the file. Thanks, Sashafklein 13:40, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

You'd probably need to do some heavy-duty programming with visual basic macros. --h2g2bob 09:42, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] EULAs in Office 2007

Could someone tell me what volume licences count as, for the purposes of the EULA in Microsoft Office 2007, FFP, OEM, or MLK? Thanks. - Рэдхот(t • c • e) 15:37, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] PC Rebuild

Hi,

I have an old SK43G shuttle computer that I want to upgrade. Basically I would like to build a whole new dual core Intel, dual dvi etc system....for high end design rendering. If I bought the components for this system, but took out the hard drive of the shuttle pc (it is running XP - don't want Vista yet) would this work with the new components if I had the drivers etc ? I have a lot of software and systems in place on my old system, which means I just want to increase the performance, but this is not viable with minor component changes since the systme is now quite old. Many thanks in advance. Warhead. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.60.27.98 (talk) 17:03, 15 March 2007 (UTC).

Probably, though watch out: XP will freak out and probably make you buy a new copy because you've changed the hardware so drastically, unless you call MS and act like someone clueless who had their son upgrade the computer or something and demand new activation. Your software should still work. -Wooty Woot? contribs 18:41, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
You might be able to avoid the XP activation mess if you put the hard drive, CD-ROM, and network card from the old computer in the new computer. --Carnildo 19:43, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
Mmm, doubt it. It'll detect a new motherboard, and know it's been significantly changed. I've had to reactivate from changnig motherboards before. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 19:55, 16 March 2007 (UTC)
A simple motherboard swap isn't enough to do it. XP tracks ten factors to determine if it's on the same computer as before. If the network card has changed, then six of the ten factors must be the same for the computer to be the same. But if the network card hasn't changed, then only four factors are needed -- and "network card, hard drive size, hard drive serial number, CD-ROM drive" makes four factors. --Carnildo 23:15, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] VAIO

What is the best VAIO laptop from Sony? 68.193.147.179 17:17, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Like a lot of things, it depends on what you need? Home, work, gaming? Splintercellguy 18:21, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Gaming. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.193.147.179 (talk) 19:46, 15 March 2007 (UTC).
Easy answer, then, is the most expensive one you can afford. --Russoc4 20:09, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Hi I'm a very happy owner of a VAIO but I use it for music production, I am a gamer as well but I have a desktop for that, I can't honestly recommend the VAIO for gaming. It's not a gaming rig, look at the video and screen specs, in particular the maximum resolutions leave a little to be desired. If I was going laptop for gaming, I'd actually be looking at dell xps, even though I'm not a fan of dell laptops for any other purpose, the xps is a laptop with a purpose. Vespine 21:47, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Pick the one with the best video/graphics card & RAM. Ideally plenty of hard-drive too. A wireless internet card will help if you plan on playing online. If it is purely for gaming you may be well served to try find sites that 'exclude' add on software packages that can drive up the cost (like MS Office). I would suggest getting an external mouse myself (if you havent' already thought of it) I try to play some games on my laptop and without a mouse the best games are hard to play. ny156uk 21:48, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Internet Explorer Name

I have two questions regarding the name of Internet Explorer:

  1. Is Internet Explorer 6 named "Windows Internet Explorer 6" or "Microsoft Internet Explorer 6".
  2. Is Internet Explorer 7 named "Windows Internet Explorer 7" or "Microsoft Internet Explorer 7".

Thanks! -68.193.147.179 18:08, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

IE6 was Microsoft IE6. IE7 is Windows IE7. They renamed it. --140.247.251.13 18:11, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Thanks! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.193.147.179 (talk) 19:47, 15 March 2007 (UTC).

[edit] vim: "bufdo" and "redir" not playing well together?

i thought i was being efficient when i asked vim to spit the names of all the active buffers to a temporary file with the following:

   :redir >> c:/temp.txt | bufdo echo expand("%:p") | :redir END

Unfortunately, only the name of the last buffer is there when i inspect the contents of the temp file. No matter how many buffers are active, only a single entry ever shows up inside the file. Anyone know why the command wouldn't work as expected? Anyone know an alternative way to get the desired output into a file? (gvim 7.0 on windows XP). NoClutter 19:07, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spell Check

Where on Microsoft.com can I download MS Word 2007 Spelling/Grammar Checker? 68.193.147.179 21:10, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Full versions of Microsoft Word should install with the grammar/spelling check. If this is not the case you can try installing them by inputting the office-CD and trying to reinstall with additional features. To spell check the document you usually have to press F7. If you highlight a word and press shift-F7 then you should be presented with 'alternatives' for that word (thesaurus). Sorry other than this i'm not sure how else to help ny156uk 21:45, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How do I change the logo in the topleft corner?

I've seen it done on some userpages with Image:Bouncywikilogo.gif.

How can I do it on my own userpage? I think it has to do with my monobook.css, as I have tried editing it, but now it just shows nothing there at all. Thanks. --Ķĩřβȳ♥ŤįɱéØ 23:37, 15 March 2007 (UTC) Done. Thanks! --Ķĩřβȳ♥ŤįɱéØ 04:14, 16 March 2007 (UTC)