Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 March 25

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[edit] March 25

[edit] Computer

Can I type something on my computer and print it onto a notebook? 68.193.147.179 01:08, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't quite understand, do you want to print it onto a piece of notebook paper and then put that in your notebook ? Or are you asking about moving data to a notebook computer ? StuRat 05:58, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
I want to print something directly onto my planner. 68.193.147.179 23:28, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
You mean like a Franklin Planner ? Standard printers can only handle paper within a certain range of thicknesses, so you would need to be able to remove a sheet of paper in that range from the planner, print on it, then put it back inside the planner. If you want the printing on the outside of the planner, some folders have clear pockets in the front, back, and/or spine for holding printed pages and labels. If your planner doesn't have this, you would need to jury-rig one. You could take a transparency, put the printed page under that, and tape down all 4 edges, for example. You might have to cut both down to size. There are special printers for printing on surfaces like vinyl, but those would cost thousands of dollars. Possibly a print shop, like Kinkos, might have such equipment. StuRat 01:03, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

There are such things as flat-bed printers. Think of these as your normal printers at home, but giant, with a head that passes up and down and up and down again - but in the case of a flat-bed printer, the heads (as usual) go left to right left to right, but the heads move across a plane flat surface (usually a few metres long). You would put your notebook on the surface and the printer would set its 'origin' at the corner of the place where you want it to print, and then they would load the image and send it to print.
Alternatively you can get it lasered on! You should call up an engraving or lasering company and ask them. It depends though, on what material or surface you want to laser onto, and the thing is you can't really do colour. But it can still be pretty neet though. And it's slightly risky - if there's any kind of mistake the only way to fix it is to cover it up with more laser. I suppose the same thing goes for printing.
Finally you should look at printing onto a sheet of vinyl, and then sticking the vinyl onto your notebook. My advice actually is to go to a sign company and ask them if you can buy a small off-cut of a nice metalic-type vinyl, maybe one that looks like brushed steel. Then cut it into an A4 or letter-sized sheet, and load it into your printer at home - most laser printers should be able to print onto it (and even try inkjet printers) and then stick that onto your notebook.
Good luck and let us know how it goes. Rfwoolf 19:47, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Form

Is there a way I can view a picture of a form, then type the answers right above the line? 68.193.147.179 01:09, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

A bitmap picture of a form can't generally be edited. I suppose you might be able to do this by importing a bitmap into a word processor and then adding text boxes on top of the form, but this would be rather sloppy, so I'd suggest getting an online form directly, if you can, or recreating an online version (type the form in) if you can't. StuRat 06:02, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
You'd need an image editor to do that - even MSPaint might let you get away with it - but you might look into something like Corel Draw -- even Photoshop could do it. Adobe Acrobat WRITER (the software that CREATES the acrobat files might also alow you to do that as an extra option). Short answer: Get image-editing software. And sure, you can try do that in Word (which doesn't EDIT the image, but merely allows you to create text boxes on top of it) will do the job, but it's not very ideal Rfwoolf 14:09, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Best way is the most low-tech solution I can think of: typewriter. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 11:04, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] System Restore 2

How do I remove all my old "system restore" dates in Windows XP Home? 68.193.147.179 01:17, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm assuming you want to do this to save disk space. There are two options that I know of (I have XP Pro but should work in Home as well). Go to System Restore, then choose settings and lower the percentage. The other is to go to right click on C drive --> Properties --> Disk Cleanup --> More Options and choose the clean up option for system restore, but be aware this deletes all but the last restore poin. - Akamad 01:58, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Browser Volume

Does anybody know of free software that will let you control the sound of an individual app?

I'm not much of an expert, but I think you'd have to mess with the registry or some other part of windows. I'm not sure, but I think that when a program wants to make a sound, it sends a message to windows which sends it to the sound card which sends it to your speakers, so you'd have to selectively interrupt the signal, and only windows would know which program it was coming from. --Chaffers 18:12, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
This isn't that easy to do with the audio interface from XP and earlier. Vista, however, has a completely redesigned audio stack that lets you do this right off the bat. --Alph Tech STUART 18:06, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] TV shows on the Internet

I've noticed that a lot of sites like Youtube, have episodes of TV shows. How exactly do people get the shows from the TV onto a computer so they can be uploaded? 71.218.42.144 02:11, 25 March 2007 (UTC)X

Most likely TV tuner or capture card. Splintercellguy 02:12, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Usually it's people cutting clips from their pirated, downloaded TV episodes. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.10.86.63 (talk) 22:36, 26 March 2007 (UTC).
Another way to add video clips is by recording the show off of your TV using a VCR. Then, transfer the video to a digital video device like a camcorder. Then upload the dv to your computer using firewire. Jtg920 (talk) 15:07, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Random Number Generator

Would it be possible to construct a random number generator in the following way: Create a 2 bit digital counter that counts sequentially from 00->11 and repeats, with a high clocking speed (10kHz would do it I assume), then at some random user-selected point in time (such as, at the push of an impulse button), the two bits are extracted, and a number from 0-3 is created using those bits? Would this number be somewhat random? Would the circuit favor some numbers over others?

Yes, but it's still not a true random time generator, as it depends on time. I've actually done a hardware random number generator that counts from 0 to 255 in this fashion using a PWM, which generates the seed number through this method and then uses that seed to generate a random number through software. And yes, the number is somewhat random, and I think is more random than purely using a seed. And no, the circuit doesn't favor some numbers over others that I know of. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 03:33, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
And I've used a similar method where I read the millionths of a second off the time string. I didn't rely on user selection, but instead relied on the processes running on the computer to supply random time intervals (at least in the millionths of a second range) between when the program needed random numbers. StuRat 05:49, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
This is a fine way to generate random numbers if the count frequency and the sampling frequency are absotively, posilutely, 100% not correlated. The catch is that in the real world, seemingly independent processes have an uncanny knack for becoming synchronized. The literature is full of failures of random number generators (that is, failures to be properly random) because there was some ridiculously subtle, never-suspected backchannel synchronization pathway which caused the sampler always to sample the counter at the same spot, or in the same pattern.
So if the counter were two hardware (not software or firmware) flip-flops, it was counting quite fast (why not megahertz?), and the switch pressed by the human strobed a hardware holding register (say, two more flip-flops). then yes, this would be about as random as any other source.
Atlant 18:55, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Me, I would never build a random number generator this way. If I was building a hardware random number generator, I'd use a noise source, not a counter.
If you have a random number generator you think is good (and no matter how sure you are that it "can't possibly" have any order to it), if you really want to be sure it's good you have to test it. One set of tests I know of for random number goodness is by the good professor Marsaglia. (Last time I tried, I don't think I could find any PRNG's that passed even half his tests.) —Steve Summit (talk) 14:58, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Scanning - I didn't anyone explain why a counter is not random. Assume you have 4 counts (00, 01, 10, 11) that repeat. They have a frequency of 10MHz. Assume the internal data bus has the same frequency (of course, I'm just making this up - but this is an example). Assume there are 4 devices on the bus. One is the mouse. When the user clicks the mouse, they select a "random" count. However, the counter is running in sync with the bus with the same count of 4 items. So, when the mouse gets the bus, the counter will alwasy be on the same number. This is an extreme example, but it shows how the internal hardware can sync up with a counter and cause it to favor one number over another. --Kainaw (talk) 16:12, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Well, no, because you're assuming here that each of the 4 items get an equal 1/4 of the clock cycles every second, which isn't true. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 17:11, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
It's true, Kainaw's one assumption might have been imperfect. But this doesn't mean that regularly sampling a regular clock will get you high-quality random numbers! The person who's trying to do this is making a million assumptions, all of which must be true in order for the sampled numbers to be truly random. —Steve Summit (talk) 18:02, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
For the record, your suggestion is basically a digital version of an analog random number generating machine created in the late 1930s by (a spinning wheel with a light that would flash when you hit a button, displaying a number). It was, in fact, the instance for which they created the first random number "tests" that people discuss up above! It is described, I think, on Maurice Kendall's page — he was the one who came up with it, and the first random number tests. --24.147.86.187 01:44, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Strange Problems

Hello... I'm not really sure where to go with this, so I thought I'd try here. For the past few weeks my computer has been slowing down immensely. I ran Ad Aware, Spybot, AVG, Kaspersky and ran memory checks, disk checks and defragged all of my drives. Nothing has worked.

I did however notice something strange that I think may be the cause. When I open up Task Manager and look at the processes the "System Idle Process" doesn't always equal the total CPU usage (-100% of course) Now, I realize that it can just be little innacuracies and rounding errors for just a percentage or two, but I'm talking HUGE differences, 50% or more sometimes. So I'm wondering, could my CPU not be getting enough voltage or something? I've never tried overclocking, but I was having problems with my power supply a while back, could that have something to do with it?

So yeah, normally I could just take care of something like this myself, but I don't even know what to search for on this... Everywhere else I've asked I've been ignored... Does anyone have any ideas? 64.112.218.232 03:27, 25 March 2007 (UTC) Koriar

I've never heard of anything like this. I doubt it is a source voltage problem, because chances are, if it was, then your computer wouldn't even function correctly. My first guess (although I'm really only guessing) is that there is something wrong with the actual crystal that determines the clock rate. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 03:37, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
System Idle Process = The amount of free CPU cycles you have, and thus if you don't have 100% (or something close to it), something else is using your computer is well. --antilivedT | C | G 03:39, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
From what I understood, he meant that the processes, including idle, add up to only about 50%. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 04:14, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Well, no, I mean like my idle processes and everything will add up to be 100 (though sometimes 99 or 101) but the processes other than idle processes will add up to, say 25% and the "cpu usage" part at the bottom and in the task bar will say something like 75%.
Oh, and also by voltage, I mean voltage for the CPU itself, my BIOS has options to change the voltages for overclocking purposes, but I'm scared to mess with them.
Koriar 04:35, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
No it shouldn't have anything to do with the voltage, please list the processes that ususally use the cpu on here. --antilivedT | C | G 04:50, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Well, it usually has rundll32.exe on there taking up a cycle or two, firefox and taskmgr when I'm on here, cvhost will pop in sometimes, csrss.exe will sometimes too. Other than that it's just whatever is running. Most of them are taking up just their normal amount of the CPU as far as I can tell, though Explorer.exe has been running a little high on the CPU lately though (hence the virus and spyware checks)Koriar 05:18, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I doubt if it's a hardware issue, I suspect that some piece of software, either malware or software with a bug, is causing the prob. If you have a boot disk, I suggest you boot from that to determine if the problem occurs when you boot from there, as well. You can also try booting in safe mode. If the problem does not occur in those cases, next try killing processes until you get down to the bare minimum and note when the problem goes away. This will hopefully allow you to identify the rogue process. If it's not something critical, you could just run without it. If it is important, you might want to reload that software, or possibly try another version. StuRat 05:44, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

This is a bit of a shot in the dark, but have you upgraded to Windows Media Player 11 recently? I did that a while back, and was having problems similar to what you describe. Once I finally twigged it was WMP11 causing it, I rolled back to WMP10, and all the problems went away. --Noodhoog 00:37, 29 March 2007 (UTC)
Nah, nothing like that... and I tried it on an old copy of Vista RC1 that I had as an option to boot to (on another partition) and it had the same effect. Though now that I'm thinking about it I did have a DRAM error preventing me from booting as roughly the last thing to happen before the slowdowns. (specifically the last thing to happen was me moving everything to a different case, as for some strange reason the board was grounding out... I think... seems to have solved it not starting up anyways.) Sooo, I'm pretty sure that eliminates software, any idea what I should try? I REALLY don't want to have to buy a new motherboard. :( Koriar 15:02, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] USB/Firewire PC Card reader?

Is there such thing as an external PC Card reader? --72.202.150.92 04:45, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Yep. See this google search result, first link has an external USB one. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 04:49, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Seems like these are made specifically for wireless cards. I need a more general purpose reader. --72.202.150.92 05:07, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
I use an external USB reader for SD, so I figured they'd be out there. Google "12 in 1 USB card reader", and they can be found for a reasonable price. Hope that helps. Baseballfan Talk 08:33, 25 March 2007 (UTC)


Assuming that you mean PC Card, previously known as PCMCIA (People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms) - it doesn't seem that there is a generic USB interface device. These guys say "There is no universal interface between a PCMCIA (PC Card or CardBus) slot and a USB port plug," although I can't say how definitive that particular site is. Based on the summary provided here, there might be more information in the video, but I can't view the actual content, and I can't find a transcript. --LarryMac 13:48, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the help. It looks like it's hard to make a USB to Cardbus (essentially a PCI slot) adaptor. Probably a bandwidth issue? --24.249.108.133 14:49, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
I'm not aware of any USB -> cardbus adaptors that exist. Would a PCI -> Cardbus adapter work? Those are cheap and readily available. ~Crazytales (Hasta la Pasta!) 02:44, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Computing information

I am currently studying IPT at high school and need information for an upcoming test. The Internet is very useful for this but I don't get to use it for very long at a time so I was wondering if there was somewhere on the web that has computing information that could be downloaded as a PDF file or something. Does anyone know of any such sites? Thanks, Mix Lord 06:13, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Try using the advanced google search, and under file format, select Adobe Acrobat PDF (or add " filetype:pdf" after your search). Baseballfan Talk 08:39, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
If you have a specific idea in mind you might want to try purchasing an ebook or something. There are a lot of subjects with huge documents if you really want to read a ton- the office graphics api is free-as-in-beer to download and is several hundred pages last I checked. You could read the major RFCs like 2616. Do you have a specific subject in mind? There's no way you could collect a significant amount of information on all computing subjects. Although you could try downloading the wikipedia database and importing it into a local mediawiki installation --frotht 16:16, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] My keyboard and mouse seem to have a mind of their own!

Occasionally, when I am typing, funny words, which were not typed by me, appear, and the mouse pointer will go haywire. The funny words appear to contain some sort of programming code. When it happens again, I will copy the funny words here. Is there any known virus or malware which causes this behaviour, or is it a hardware/software problem? And how do I fix it?

OK, here is an example of the funny words. o binary >> ik &echo get asd >> ik &echo bye >> ik &ftp -n -v -s:ik &del ik &asd &exit

Some questions we need to know: 1) What operating system are you using? 2) Are either your keyboard or mouse wireless or bluetooth or cordless etc? You might want to do a virus check, it could be spyware or something similar. You can monitor extra programs in Windows XP by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Escape -- but as always, the processes' that it shows running can be a bit confusing - most are usually normal processes - you could look for suspicious ones and just google them to see if they're possible spyware or malware Rfwoolf 11:59, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I am using Windows XP Home. My keyboard and mouse are not wireless, bluetooth or cordless. AVG did not find any viruses.

it looks like you're being targetted by a worm that's trying to install a trojan. a reference i found on google, although it doesn't really help is: http://www.scriptalias.com/?p=79 . basically that random code you're seeing is a series of commands meant to be executed on your computer, and if it's working, then it's using those commands to force your computer to download a file and run it. i strongly suggest you enable your windows firewall (if it's disabled), update avg, do a full system scan, run windows update, all as soon as possible. information about a virus that you /may/ have can be found at http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/trojagentcba.html . if you know anyone who's good with fixing viruses and trojans and such, maybe you should have them take a look at your computer for you and figure out if you've been hit --64.0.112.5 12:39, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Yeah all is not looking too friendly. I'd try to stablise and secure your system: I'd physically disconnect from the net, shut down all suspicious programs (check your bottom-right systray for example), back up any extra special files (although this is your call, the situation may not warrant a full backup of your data), I'd make sure your firewalls is up and running good, do whatever scans you can, then reconnect to the net, see if you can update AVG, update your Windows - but while you're doing that perhaps start googling some of the processes you see in Ctrl + Shift + Escape (But this may or may not help identify the malware/virus).
Last resort is to back up all your data, format your system and re-install Windows. Then make sure you do a FULL Windows update. If you use mIRC, it may help to know that worms love targetting mIRC users, other p2p software can also help worms. If you can, if you're susceptible to worms and viruses, you should consider investing in a proper antivirus software, e.g. Norton Rfwoolf 13:24, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

AVG is a perfectly fine anti-virus program, and it's much faster than Norton, much cleaner, and takes up fewer system resources (and money). ST47Talk 13:31, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Actually, I'm inclined to agree, but, having used Norton Systemworks, it comes with it's own firewall which so far I've found very effective - and informs me of all types of attacks on my computer, especially when I'm on mIRC or a p2p (and yes I'm aware that it shows off a lot by displaying warnings for things that aren't really viruses, or overeacts to any attempts to connect). Nonetheless I find Norton to have features that AVG alone doesn't have. So let me rephrease: You may wish to acquire a package such as Norton that may include its own firewall. Rfwoolf 13:45, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Respondin to the questioner, perhaps your machine has been compromised via remote access? Splintercellguy 17:29, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

The text that you see indicates that the computer is attempting to download a file via FTP. Either the origin is a malware program or remote access. Remove the machine from public networks immediately. Run pretty much any antivirus you can find, including spyware, adware, worms, trojans, etc. You may want to preform a System Restore or reinstall the operating system. At the very least, use you firewall settings to block TCP and UDP ports 21, 25, 5801, and 5901. To prevent all FTP access, you may need to block all random high ports (1024-65535), which FTP uses to free port 21 for out-of-band communication. Good luck. 71.185.113.29 02:30, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Don't forget to install Windows Defender when you update, if you haven't already. --Alph Tech STUART 18:02, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

(de-indent) Random shot in the dark here, but are you using a wireless keyboard and mouse in an office or apartment? It's possible you're picking up another tenant's typing ad mousing. Trojan seems more likely though. ~Crazytales (Hasta la Pasta!) 02:47, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Dates in iPhoto

Hi. Using Apple's iPhoto (on Mac OS X), I've come across a number of photos which were taken with the camera's clock set incorrectly. I've since changed them, in iPhoto, to the correct date. My problem is that this only changes them in iPhoto's database, and not the date in the underlying EXIF data embedded in the photo. Now, I've found several scripts which can batch change EXIF data to a given date (or to add/subtract a given amount of time), but does anyone know of a way (I'm guessing AppleScript is most likely here...) of automatically batch copying the revised date and time set in iPhoto, to the EXIF of the actual photo file. Somebody must have had this problem before! Thanks in advance for any guidance. └ UkPaolo/talk┐ 11:38, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't know much about photo metadata and EXIF data and things, but if you're saying iPhoto independently stores a copy of the graphics file's original exif data, then one way to do it, based on my little knowledge is that you can download the demo of Apple's Aperture (photography software), for professional photographers. Import the photos into your Aperture library, change the metadata, and export them with the modified metadata. At Apple's download center (http://apple.com/downloads/macosx), you can probably find a script to do it for you if you like. If the script only does one file at a time (unlikely) create a workflow in Apple Automator (software), and you're set. I hope somebody who knows more finds you an easier way! *eek* :) I could be totally wrong and changing the metadata doesn't affect the EXIF data, or possibly EXIF if a form of metadata? I like the latter. Another thing you could do is that you can just highlight all the photos you want to modify, right click (or control click for a one-button mouse) and select "Batch Change...". On the pull down menu select "Date" and you're set! I hope I helped a little. [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 07:23, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
Thanks a lot for your input, Mac. Yes, I know about batch changing dates in iPhoto. The trouble is that changes to dates made in iPhoto's UI (including via "batch change") are only to the dates in iPhotos internal database. That is fine for organising the photos in iPhoto (they'll now have the correct date) but it doesn't change the date in the EXIF data. Thus if I open my photos in (eg) Picasa on Windows, they'll still have the wrong dates. Hence I'm trying to find a way to copy the dates specified in iPhoto, into the photo's embedded meta data. I will certainly take a look at Aperture, and Automator is a good point that I hadn't thought of (can't say I've every really used it...). Thanks again └ UkPaolo/talk┐ 11:28, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
Automator is rather easy, you just kind of "plug in" different scripts into each other so it's a multiscript program. If you go by Aperture, I think there is a checkbox or something, a special parameter or feature you have to do instead of just a normal export, but I could be wrong with that too. [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 15:53, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
EXIF data is near impossible to screw with. I've tried myself. There are a number of programs that'll allow you to VIEW the EXIF data, but rare among them are the ones that'll allow you to actually make changes to it. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 11:09, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Strange Problem with Internet Connection

My computer starting acting up yesterday while I was on Yahoo. The internet seemed to shut down in a weird way because whenever I clicked a link or icon it would load half way and then the "stop" icon would flash (I am using Mozilla Firefox); the process is basically instantaneous and I can't even open the website. In Internet Explorer, however, it just comes up with a typical "Cannot find server." What I can't understand is the fact that I can use the internet connection for about 20 seconds to connect to sites once I start up; after that, it will just stop allowing me even open the site. I can apparently use most aspects of Wikipedia [It is set as my homepage] (I couldn't use anything but the main page yesterday) but nothing else. The computer has been a little slow in general, but I certainly didn't do anything to trigger it (to my knowledge).

Some details:

  • I am using a D-Link DFE-530TX+ PCI Adapter #2.
  • I have a Comcast (Broadband) Internet connection (We called them and they said it was a computer problem, which doesn't make much sense to me because I had a similar problem with another computer, although it was just slow and actually displayed a "cannot load website" screen)
  • It is a relatively old computer (About 2000 I think).
  • I have about 3.7 GB of Hard Drive space remaining, so it shouldn't be a space problem.
  • I used a program called WNSLookup and found this computer had a ping for about 0.05 ms with google.com, so I really don't think speed is the problem.
  • I just remembered that there are some other renters where I'm living, and they probably have computers/are using the internet. Could this be what is impacting the connection?

I was thinking it might be a router problem, but I really don't know. It's almost as if a firewall is somehow stopping the connection, but I don't have any firewalls up (Not even Windows Firewall).

Any help is very sincerely appreciated... I need this thing to work. (Sorry for not signing in, but I can't seem to access my page; it's Robinson0120.)

  • EDIT: When I tried to post this, it didn't load, so I tried to force it to open like I did before by holding the enter key; it worked for this page (probably because I have a connection established), but won't for others. I had to do the same for this edit post.
  • EDIT II: I just managed to open or two sites by holding down enter like I said earlier(I have to wait right until it says connecting, because it can then load sometimes), but it is difficult to actually get around them. Pictures are also not being displayed, probably because they are linked from another separate location.
it's often frustrating trying to diagnose people's computer problems over the internet, but a few easy suggestions do come to mind. you say your windows firewall is disabled; have you tried enabling it (and then rebooting, i suppose)? another idea is to open the network connections manager, right click your internet connection's icon, and go to Repair. if those two things fail to fix anything, your next step would be to determine the source of the problem. if multiple computers are having issues, then the problem is either coming from outside (router, ISP), or both computers are doing the same thing wrong (a pair of matching viruses? who knows). if you use a router, try connecting your computer directly to the internet through the modem, bypassing the router. if the problem is solved, your router is somehow causing the issue. if none of these things seem to help, hopefully somebody else will have some good ideas. wish i was there to help! --64.0.112.5 13:12, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
  • Suggestion: Try clearing your browser cache (your temporary internet files) Rfwoolf 14:06, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
  • Suggestion: I've had problems on comcast (now locally bought out by Time/Warner) before where I could communicate with other computers but it would appear DNS was totally messed up (especially after using Bittorrent) My only solution was to reboot the computer. You might take a look at a packet sniffer like Ethereal to see what packets are being delivered, etc. Or, if you don't want to try something that advanced, you could just try the ping command (ping www.google.com). Root4(one) 15:37, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Advice needed on my first software order!

After many months of trying to sell a copy of my customised software that I wrote, a client has said, "I'm ready to order your software for 3 PCs"
The problem is, I'm not sure on how I'm supposed to handle this transaction and what to do now!
Any advice would be appreciated.

Some little questions:
1] The client is overseas, so I am probably going to send him the software by post or download - but how do I send him licences, and how do I present these licenses?
2] Do I get him to sign a license agreement? If so what should it say or look like?
3] Who makes the first move: Does he pay me first or do I send my software first?
4] Here's how I think I should be handling the transaction: 1) I send him a pro-forma invoice outlining all the costs of the software, as well as a Terms and Conditions form. If he agrees to the terms he will sign the Terms and Conditions and fax it back to me. 2) I dispatch the software (by post or by download) and I will talk him through the installation process. Once installed, the software will be set to only work for a 3 day trial. 3) He must then make payment, and once I have received the money I will give him a code to unlock the software. Do you think that is okay?

Thanking you for any advice

~The one-man show software developer. 138.130.19.123 13:47, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

  • I think that this scheme is perfect and it would gurantee both of the client and developer their rights. Go on with it.
Thanks. I've encountered a company on the web that wants payment upfront (in the tens of thousands of dollars) before it will ship the software.
  • I'm planning on using a derivative of this EULA: here 138.130.19.123

Just curious, what does your software do and how did you market it ? StuRat 17:22, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Hi, I'd prefer to say not too much about what it does, but I can tell you that it does something in the stockmarketing industry. I did my marketing by push (pushing) by emailing and contacting various stockbrokers. The interest I got was pretty decent, and I got a few requests for quotes, but nothing ever translated into an order. Then months later I was asked for a quote by someone that was interested months earlier, and a few weeks later he emailed me to say he wanted to order. This will be the first deal I'm ever doing as a custom-developer, so if there's any advice it would be greatly appreciated. 138.130.19.123
One suggestion is to give a demo version away for free. You could either offer a reduced function version or a full function version that expires after a demo period. Hopefully once they use the program they will decide they can't live without it. I wouldn't be too concerned about the price if selling to stockbrokers, as the price isn't likely to be the deciding factor on a purchase. You should also work with customers to improve the customer interface, as the interface which programmers think is ideal is seldom the same thing the customers want. StuRat 00:37, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] PS3 wireless internet connection

I have tried two wireless boxes (Wanadoo 9730 & Netgear DG834G) both of which have a decent signal, the Wanadoo box had at worst 15% and best 35% and Netgear had at worst 80% and best 97%. The PS3 eventually linked up to the Wanadoo box, originally, and I downloaded a game. It seemed to be working fine, I then went on Motorstorm and tried to play online, it connected and said that an update must be installed, I did this, and at first attempt it reached around 10% before the error message came up and second time around 25%. The error message is "80710102" something about a DNS error. I do not know what this means, and how to fix it!
Whilst playing games offline the message keeps popping up in the corner, and when trying to connect Call of Duty to the internet it said "authentication failed". I do not know why any of this is happening, is it overloading of the servers due to it being a new release?
I am in the UK and on a machine bought in the UK. The wireless routers, I have tried each on their own (i.e. only one plugged in) and both plugged in, neither will work. I used the easy settings and it configured the IP etc. for me. I know the connection is configured correctly, as I have been on the internet from it, but the games are not playing online, and I am repeatedly being signed out. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks, Asics talk Editor review! 14:20, 25 March 2007 (UTC) I thought I better say that the Netgear is not connected to any other computers (with or without wires) and the Wanadoo box is connected to 2 other computers (both wirelessly). Asics talk Editor review! 16:10, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I am not an expert, but I would suggest hooking your PS3 using a wired connection and see if it works.
  1. If it still won't work, it most likely has a manufacturing defect and I would look at the warrenty to see how to get a replacement.
  2. if the PS3 works with a wired connection and not a wireless one, see how many computers your router can handle. Also, you may be receiving interference form another wireless router with the same name, brand, etc. Try enabling encryption to your router. This should filter out interfering systems.

Again, this is what I would try. I am not an expert!!!!J.delanoy 15:32, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Advice about my LT

Hello all, I had few questions about my LT and I hope u could help
(*) How can I make the battery last longer(and I mean its life time not time till it discharges)
(*) I sometimes feel that the touch pad doesnt respond to the clicks, what can I do?
(*) The screen may sometimes look like it refreshes with a little flash, whats the problem?
Thanks a lot .
NB: Its DELL Inspron 6400

  • Well, I'm familiar with a Dell Inspiron 9200, so let's see ... I don't know about the battery. With the touch pad, do you mean when you click on the buttons by the touch pad or do you mean the touchpad itself? The buttons sometimes may not work if you don't depress them in the middle of the button, like if you try press them from the corner. As for the touchpad itself, go into your control panel and find it, and see what you can change in the settings that may help. As for your screen problem, please can you clarify a bit what you mean by it refreshing with a little flash? In your display settings, you can try adjusting the refresh rates to about say 60 hertz, and as for the dpi it should be about 96. Rfwoolf 15:03, 25 March 2007 (UTC)


Thx alot for the advice, I adjusted the touchpad settings and its much better now. I found that the refresh rate is already 60 hertz and the i guess i found 96 dpi too small for me :D. By the refresh with a little flash i mean when sometimes u r working on many things and the computer is slow, if u try to refresh, the screen would look like its being repainted again. Thats what happens but faster and it gives a little white flash. This just started occuring lately, it hasnt been always this way. Thanks again.

I also found 95dpi too small for me - but I was picking up display problems especially on images. Here we have an excellent LCD screen that displays images all funny - especially the Wikipedia logo in the top-left of the browser - that was a prime example. Another hectic problem was certain programs would look terribly funny - with text getting cut off because it runs off the window, and all sorts of nonsense- but as soon as I adjusted to 96dpi it was all solved. The Dell website told me to do that - so I suggest you google "Support + Dell", and go to their website and specify your model number and go through the display troubleshooter etc. I did that, and with the 96dpi thing, it said you can increase the fonts of the titles on windows by right-clicking your desktop, then clicking Display, and then clicking on Appearance, and at the bottom where it says Font-size, click "Large Fonts". ... but then again, you don't seem to be complaining about funny images. Rfwoolf 16:44, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Incidentally, you cannot actually change the DPI setting for a TFT monitor as you can with many CRTs. Doing so (if possible) will only enable some software scaling. Pixels on modern LCD monitors are physically realized by individual TFTs, something that cannot be changed (as opposed to the possibility of playing with electron beam deflection in CRTs). You really should never use non-default display settings with an LCD, since the result of doing so will be obviously poor image quality (assuming, of course, that the defaults were set correctly in the first place). -- mattb @ 2007-03-25T22:49Z

[edit] Encrypted DVDs on Linux?

My friend gave me a Transformers DVD as a gift. But I'm unable to play it on my Fedora Core 5 Linux system as it's encrypted. Neither xine or totem can play it. I've tried to install VLC, but it fails because of missing dependencies. I already seem to have those dependencies, but I can't make yum understand it. Is there any other DVD player for Linux? JIP | Talk 16:12, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Do you have LIBDVDCSS installed? Duomillia 18:21, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Yes, I compiled it from the source code. I think I have version 2.0.8. xine and totem still say they can't open the DVD because it's encrypted. JIP | Talk 18:31, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
Just install VLC media player [edit: I posted too quickly -- here is a link describing installation of VLC on FC5]. Droud 20:50, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
mplayer can do dvds I think. I prefer it to Totem in general. Looks like yum knows about it too. Johnnykimble 20:59, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

MPlayer downloaded and started successfully, but I am unable to actually play anything, because it can't find a VIDIX driver. My computer uses an ATI Radeon 9200 PRO card, if it's of any help. JIP | Talk 06:07, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

This time I was able to install VLC. When I start the GUI up from the Applications menu, none of the controls do anything. I tried starting "vlc dvd://" on the command line. The first time, I was successfully able to get to the DVD's episode selection screen. Actually trying to play an episode crashed VLC. Subsequent attempts crash VLC straight away. Here is the debug information it gives me:

VLC media player 0.8.5 Janus
[00000289] main dialogs provider error: no dialogs provider module matched "any"[00000286] skins2 interface error: no suitable dialogs provider found (hint: compile the wxWidgets plugin, and make sure it is loaded properly)
[00000286] skins2 interface: skin: VLC 0.8.5 Default Skin  author: aLtgLasS
libdvdnav: Using dvdnav version 0.2.0cvs from http://dvd.sf.net
libdvdread: Using libdvdcss version 1.2.9 for DVD access
libdvdnav: DVD Title: TRANFORMERS_VOL2
libdvdnav: DVD Serial Number: 3C98628C___MVB__
libdvdnav: DVD Title (Alternative):
libdvdnav: Unable to find map file '/home/joona/.dvdnav/TRANFORMERS_VOL2.map'
libdvdnav: DVD disk reports itself with Region mask 0x00fd0000. Regions: 2

libdvdread: Attempting to retrieve all CSS keys
libdvdread: This can take a _long_ time, please be patient

libdvdread: Get key for /VIDEO_TS/VIDEO_TS.VOB at 0x0000012d
libdvdread: Elapsed time 0
libdvdread: Get key for /VIDEO_TS/VTS_01_0.VOB at 0x00000192
libdvdread: Elapsed time 0
libdvdread: Get key for /VIDEO_TS/VTS_01_1.VOB at 0x00005e89
libdvdread: Elapsed time 0
libdvdread: Get key for /VIDEO_TS/VTS_02_0.VOB at 0x00005eda
libdvdread: Elapsed time 0
libdvdread: Get key for /VIDEO_TS/VTS_02_1.VOB at 0x00005f27
libdvdread: Elapsed time 0
libdvdread: Get key for /VIDEO_TS/VTS_03_0.VOB at 0x00005f60
libdvdread: Elapsed time 0
libdvdread: Get key for /VIDEO_TS/VTS_03_1.VOB at 0x00005fad
libdvdread: Elapsed time 0
libdvdread: Get key for /VIDEO_TS/VTS_04_0.VOB at 0x001f4dad
libdvdread: Elapsed time 0
libdvdread: Get key for /VIDEO_TS/VTS_04_1.VOB at 0x001f4dfa
libdvdread: Elapsed time 0
libdvdread: Found 4 VTS's
libdvdread: Elapsed time 0
[00000401] a52 decoder: A/52 channels:2 samplerate:48000 bitrate:192000
[00000402] main audio output error: couldn't find a filter for the conversion
[00000402] main audio output error: couldn't set an input pipeline
Segmentation fault

JIP | Talk 06:15, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, running "vlc --no-audio dvd://" allows me to successfully play the DVD. But there's no sound! The Transformers experience just isn't complete! JIP | Talk 06:19, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
You might need a codec or something for the audio, however odd that is. Splintercellguy 15:30, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Turns out that Xine can indeed play the DVD, with sound even, once I installed every codec I could think of. JIP | Talk 05:00, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sony Walkman with Mac OS X and iTunes

How can I use my Sony Walkman NW-E002 on my iMac, preferably with iTunes? Thanks! --Fadders 18:28, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Sony does not list any Mac OS software for your device, so if a new drive does not appear on your desktop when you plug the MP3 player in (like a USB thumb drive), you're out of luck. Droud 20:55, 25 March 2007 (UTC)
The best way to check is to just plug it in and see if it works. [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 07:11, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
I hate to be a third party pooper, but it's been my unfortunate experience that Sony and Macs don't get along. At all. (Digital cameras, of couse, are another story entirely.) Cernen Xanthine Katrena 11:11, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Integrated graphics

i know integrated graphics are never Good but are they ever decent? particularly the newest integrated gpu's like the nvidia geforce 6150 (normal SE or LE) or the intel graphics media accelerated x3000 ok. i know they are not as good as dedicated but will they be able to play modern games like supreme commander or oblivion at a playable level. thanks Beckboyanch 22:16, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Intel integrated GPUs are no good for games and are really only able to run Beryl and provide 2-d video acceleration. ATI and nvidia ones with shared memory (turbocache, hypermemory, etc) can play some games in really low settings, but definitely not Oblivion.--Frenchman113 on wheels! 01:34, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
Yes forget integrated or "light/mobile" cards for modern games. To give you an example, my "7300 Go" on my laptop benchmarks at half the speed of my old 5700 ultra. It struggles even with optimized engines such as unreal 99 although it runs fine with unreal 2k4 strangely enough. But forget it with Oblivion or Test Drive Unlimited - unplayable. The minimum card you need just for playability on modern games is a midrange card like the 7600GS or nothing lower than the 7300GT. To my horror, I just found out that 7600GT is not really supported with the upcoming DirectX-10, so it seems we have to have deep pockets just for PC's to keep up with modern consoles. Sandman30s 14:43, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
Nothing on the market other than the Geforce 8800 series supports DirectX 10. --antilivedT | C | G 08:22, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
Until very recently, all "integrated graphics" chips did not have hardware transform & lighting, a basic requirement for any gaming card. Withouth hardware T&L, your CPU must do all the heavy lifting -- essentially software rendering. --24.249.108.133 14:53, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fax

I've got a scanner, a document, an internet connection (non-dialup), and Windows XP. With these materials, is it possible to construct something that will send a fax? If not, is there anything that would make it possible that I could get hold of quickly? Black Carrot 22:57, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

All you need is some software to convert the image to a FAX format and send it. StuRat 00:26, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

If by fax you simply want to email your document to someone (so there is no fax machine anywhere printing out your document) then the answer ends here: Scan it and email it. But if by fax, you mean that a fax machine has to print it out, then the only way to do that is ultimately via a telephone line. You can either do that by going to an actual fax machine and start the fax transmission, OR you can look for a fax service on the internet - where you provide your document in a specified format (e.g. JPEG) and their computers will dial up on a telephone, connect to the target fax machine, and using their software will transmit the document as a fax. So the short answer is the only way to send a fax with your equipment (including an internet connection, but excluding your own telephone line) is to use an internet fax service. Rfwoolf 11:43, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm assuming, however, that you can hook a phone line up to your computer, in which case you only need the software to convert the image and send it via dialup. I seem to recall a piece of software named Ring Central Fax, but can't vouch for it. StuRat 13:49, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
Windows XP has a Fax Service I believe. Splintercellguy 15:29, 26 March 2007 (UTC)
Yes you just need a goold ol' fashioned modem. --antilivedT | C | G 08:21, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
Don't computers still have built-in modems ? Or have they started dropping this feature on new PCs ? StuRat 11:07, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
efax might have what your looking for efaxthey give you a # that people can fax to and it comes out in your email inbox and a software that lets you fax from the computer and will come out there fax machine --Nerdd 12:57, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Laptop video card problems

Yes, I know this probably isn't the right place to ask this, but I'll ask it anyways. When I started up my laptop this morning, a white screen showed up with a couple of black marks on the screen. A small image can be seen on the top-right part of this screen. I don't know if this has to do with the video card, the LCD display, or just the fact that my laptop has broken. Either way, since I have no other resources, I desperately need your help. If you can't give me solutions on how to fix it, then give me links to websites explaining the troubleshooting. Thank you. 76.199.85.142 23:49, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Edit:By the way I have a Toshiba 1405 series.

I don't have an answer for you, but this is the right place to ask. StuRat 00:21, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Well like the things you touched on - you need to find out if this is a) A video card problem, b) a software problem, or c) a screen problem. Does your screen show ANYTHING else? Does it improve after a moment and allow you to get into your operating system? And when exactly does the problem start: does anything show properly BEFORE the problem, or, does the computer turn on and the very first thing it shows is the problem? Also what does the image look like? If none of those things suggest anything, your laptop servicer will probably unscrew your laptop shell and check 1) The light tube that lights up from the bottom of your laptop screen to see if it is damaged/broken/ununiform, then 2) check the connection whenre your laptop screen connects to the soundcard - it may be loose/dirty/broken/etc.
If for example it's your SCREEN that's the problem, then we can assume that your operating system is still working normally and that your graphics card is working normally - so if for example you can hear yourself logging into windows, playing an mp3, and clicking start and shutting down - then you know the problem lies NOT in the operating system or software. Next, if there is a change in what is displayed when you turn your computer on - things like fuziness, various colours that change, or different unknown data, or if the problem appears and then changes, or starts out fine and then changes, then you can begin to assume that it is a video card problem. Remember, more information helps! Rfwoolf 11:56, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

A photograph of this anomaly would be MOST awesome in diagnosing the problem; as it stands, it sounds like a cracked/busted LCD (ouchers). Cernen Xanthine Katrena 11:12, 31 March 2007 (UTC)