Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 October 19

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[edit] October 19

[edit] MSN spaces question

Dear Wikipedians:

I was browsing through the MSN spaces of other people when I realized that I was logged into MSN as myself for the entire time. So I had to ask this question which nearly freaked me out:

Is there anyway for the owner of those MSN spaces I had browsed to know that I have been browsing their spaces, in other words, do MSN spaces keep logs of the email addresses of people who visited those spaces?

Regards,

129.97.252.233 02:38, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

  • They might, but if visitor data is collected, it's probably for use by the creator of the site, rather than the owners of the individual spaces. If you're uncomfortable, you might want to take a belated look at the site's privacy policy. - Mgm|(talk) 08:48, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
    • Thanks Mgm. I read their privacy policy, and it didn't say clearly if owners of individual spaces ever gets to see who visited their spaces. But what you said about creator of the site is certainly true, and I think that goes for almost every website in addition to MSN Spaces. At the very least the IP addresses are logged, like what's done on Wikipedia here. 129.97.252.233 13:42, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
  • You could simply register a space and see if you have the option. Unless you choose to reveal your identity to the owner, I doubt anyone but MSN employees can see that info. It would be a massive violation of privacy otherwise. To compare: at Lulu.com people can't see who visited their store either. - Mgm|(talk) 10:56, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Tagline diff

Hi. Do you know what caused this weird diff to happen? I was happy to find it because I thought it was something rare, but an editor suggested that "Eloquence reverted everyone's edits all the way back to 4 October, and the 'MediaWiki' software version that Wikipedia used at the time had a small bug and displayed the timestamp of the revision the page was reverted to." If that's the case, then I think there must be more diffs like those, and maybe this is a known bug. Do the contributors here have more information? A.Z. 03:00, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Some sort of database hiccup? For a while there was a bug on pages with long page histories where people would be fed revisions that may have been months or even years old. This probably isn't related to that, but it is a pretty good example of what a minor glitch in the database can cause.--VectorPotentialTalk 12:45, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
It's an edit to the MediaWiki namespace. This is used by the MediaWiki software to edit the site messages (for example, to change it into another language). Special:Allmessages lists them all. --h2g2bob (talk) 16:38, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
I believe the question was referring to the out of sequence edit from 2004 that comes after the revision from 2006. --VectorPotentialTalk 18:58, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
I see now, the timestamps are wrong. The glitch here is that the very first version of the page is revision number 101,116,266 while the second version of the page is revision number 8,731,840. Revisions should only get bigger with time, so I'm guessing someone's added the edit with the wrong date or wrong revision number. That shouldn't be possible, but Eloquence is (or perhaps used to be?) a developer (Erik Moeller on the list); so would have database access. --h2g2bob (talk) 02:23, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Running Windows Vista and XP on the same machine

I recently bought a Dell Latitude D620 laptop for school, which came with Windows Vista. However, there are programs that I run which would work better in Windows XP. I have tried the compatibility mode but that does not help matters.

What I am wondering is if I can divide up my hard drive and install WinXP on a separate partition, so that it does not interfere with Vista. I am told that this can be done with the XP CD, so that I do not have any conflicts with the process. I went to the Dell support site and found that I can get drivers for both XP and Vista for the hardware in my computer. Is this something that is possible, and would it work?

Thanks very much for your assistance, --Willy No1lakersfan (Talk - Contribs) 16:31, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

If you did it would be a major toll on the computer's resources. 130.126.67.144 16:41, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
No it wouldn't. It would only take up some extra disk space; big deal. It may be a while before Vista is ready for real-world usage, so installing XP is a good idea. I'd go ahead and try it. Friday (talk) 16:48, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
I Google searched your question (exactly as you typed it), and the first few links seem very relevant. I think, specifically that you want to go to this page: [1]. I applaud your efforts since I have heard absolutely nothing about Vista that makes me want to switch. Man It's So Loud In Here 16:56, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
Yes, you can easily do that, it's called dual-booting. It's not just windows, you can dual boot other OSs (I dual boot to distros of linux, for example.) I'm not sure exactly how you would go about doing it, but the XP and Vista CDs would be a good place to start. --Dave the Rave (DTR)talk 17:13, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
You could Partition your hard-drive and use a virtural machine to do that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.11.202.166 (talk) 18:54, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Doesn't a virtual machine mean that I am going to use more memory and resources? I think that dual-booting sounds like the best option, and as long as I can get XP drivers for all my hardware it sounds like the way to go., but I am open to more comments and suggestions. --Willy No1lakersfan (Talk - Contribs) 19:31, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Dual-booting is perfect for this sort of thing. If you partition your drive you could either install a custom bootloader (like GRUB), but the simplest way is probably just to configure your boot.ini file on your main windows installation. Search around the net for some guides, this is really something that is not all that hard to do, and pretty fun when it works. --Oskar 09:07, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Video Game Music

Does anyone know about sites that host video game soundtracks? All I can find are MIDIs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dr. Poret (talk • contribs) 16:38, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Videogame soundtracks are copyrighted works. Have you tried searching iTunes or Amazon? --24.249.108.133 17:16, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
Kingdom Hearts Insider and Galbadia Hotel are great VG music sites. I'll trust you to use your own conscience with them :) -- -- DatRoot 18:08, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
Most older games used MIDI or some other note-by-note format ("Trackers") because they didn't have the CPU power to play MP3's and they didn't have the memory space to store large enough chunks of audio in an uncompressed format. Hence, authentic (older) video game sound tracks are often to be found in those formats. (By "older" - I'm thinking of Nintendo64-ish or earlier). There are other advantages to those formats for games - it's a lot easier to speed them up and slow them down without making them go out of tune for example - you can also get more variation by using the same note info by using different instrument sounds, tempos and mixes. SteveBaker 19:26, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
It's quite probably illegal but if you check emuparadise.org, it has a section devoted to video game soundtracks. Alternatively, if wanting the music off a game on either XBOX, PS2 or their newer counterparts you could record the music with the use of an optical cable and a MiniDisc or some other sort of digital recording. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mix Lord (talk • contribs) 04:33, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Over the Air HD antenna confusion

I went to go buy an indoor antenna for my HD TV (I'm living in the USA, btw). And I was very confused by the array of models to choose from. They all seem to emphasize old analog VHF and UHF reception, with barely a word about HDTV (except for a tiny logo in the corner). I thought all HDTV off air signals were UHF. Do I still need those goofy rabbit ears and giant hoop for HD reception? I was looking for a model that is sleek and compact and won't be an eyesore. --24.249.108.133 17:10, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

You might find this site useful. --LarryMac | Talk 17:14, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
Digital TV is broadcast in the same VHF and UHF ranges as analog TV. According to this FAQ, most digital channels happen to be UHF, but it's not required. antennaweb.org lets you enter your address and see an list of what over-the-air channels (analog and digital) are available in your area. It will tell you which are VHF and UHF. Help Choosing the Correct HDTV Antenna gives some tips for using this list to choose an antenna. --Bavi H 16:31, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] ActiveX Office Online Clipart

Ok, when I access online clipart for my school (I am a network technician) it requires me to install a .dll file into windows using activex. As soon as i install it it works. However, after i log off and log back in as another login name it requires me to do the same thing over again. And if i login as myself again i cannot copy the clipart anymore and it dosent come up with activeX anymore. I cannot go and login to each name our network has (over 30,000) and manually install the activeX and i cannot leave the computer on all the time. Is there anyone here who could tell me how to solve such a problem? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.11.202.166 (talk) 18:53, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How to make Windows XP Volume Control show recording & playback devices at the same time

In Windows XP, how do you make Volume Control show sliders for both playback & recording devices at the same time? I can do that on one computer I use but not on another. —64.236.170.228 19:47, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

You need to open Windows mixer. It has independent controls for all types of signal —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.109.246.205 (talk) 10:40, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
When I open my volume control and go to Options -> Properties it lets me choose a few 'recording' controls on the 'Playback' view, eg Microphone, Line-in. -- DatRoot 21:08, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Copying a DVD

Hello! I made a DVD+R using an LG VHS + DVD player/writer. When I put the finalized DVD in my computer and explore it with Windows Vista, I can see all the files on the DVD. If I copy these files to my hard drive, put in a blank DVD+R, and copy all the files to the blank DVD, will it play in a regular DVD+R player? (My computer's CD drive can write on DVD+Rs.) Thanks!--El aprendelenguas 20:54, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

If the files you see have extensions like IFO, VOB, and BUP then you should have no problem doing just that. Man It's So Loud In Here 21:08, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
Copy the disk image - there will probably be an option to do this in your DVD burning software. This makes sure it's an exact copy. This is a good idea because the DVD video format specifies more than just the files on the disk; but also the filesystem (UDF). --h2g2bob (talk) 23:58, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for both your replies!--El aprendelenguas 18:55, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What's the proper name for a "general warp map"?

what's the general term for this?
what's the general term for this?

What is the proper English language technical term for general non-affine warps such as is done to poor Mona, right. (I appreciate this specific effect is called "twirl"; I'm asked what the generic name for the whole class of such operations). For some reason I've got it into my head that they're called "general warp maps", but I think the book I got that from was translated from Spanish, as googling for shows it's not a term in much if any currency. So what this this whole class of operation properly called in English, and do we have an article about it? Thanks. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:10, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Distortion? —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 07:05, 20 October 2007 (UTC)
See also Image warping --Oskar 08:58, 20 October 2007 (UTC)