Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 October 30

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[edit] October 30

[edit] Apapapapache redux

How can you install Apache if you don't have a Network Domain, a Server Name, or an Administrator's Email Address? Vitriol 03:53, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

You could install it on a local network where you have sole control over those items.
Atlant 11:42, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
You can install it on any computer you administer. How people access it is another story. If it has a public IP on the Internet they people can always go to that IP, even if no domain names or whatever point to it. You can always sign up for a free dynamic DNS or static DNS service to have a subdomain pointed to your computer. And the email address is not important. --Spoon! 20:26, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
To add to what Spoon said, if you use your external IP(the IP provided by your ISP) as the ip address, you can use apache off of any computer. also, as a free dns server i would suggest http://no-ip.org Rabid9797 04:14, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Update AVG 7.5 free edition

Hello How I can save update of AVG 7.5 free edition in my hard drive folder .that i install after reinstalling my windows.i am using windows xp??? usman —Preceding unsigned comment added by Star33 2009 (talk • contribs) 04:25, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

If you go to http://free.grisoft.com/doc/update/us/frt/0 you can download the latest version. If you find a file like that you can copy it to somewhere else to save it, and reinstall later. Graeme Bartlett 02:38, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Under Windows XP, go to C:/Documents and settings/All users/Application Data/Grisoft/AVG/ I think the updates are there. if not try exploring through the all users folder a bit. HTH --Kushalt 21:07, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Blinking cursor in Firefox

My Firefox screwed up several months ago - a blinking cursor now appears at the page. It's like the one you'll see when editing pages, a blinking "|" in which FF won't smooth scroll properly. Can anyone help? --Howard the Duck 12:30, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

  • Turn off "Edit => Preferences => Advanced => General => Accessibility => Always use the cursor keys to navigate within pages". --Sean 14:32, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
    • YAY! Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! --Howard the Duck 14:34, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Computer memory

How do you explain the space-time tradeoff where computer memory and CPU power are concerned? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.31.53.168 (talk) 12:32, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

There isn't always a trade-off - but when there is, it's generally just that there are two ways to do things - one that is fast and needs a lot of memory - and another which is slow, but needs less memory.
For example - suppose you are writing a program to play chess. When it's the computers turn to play, you might need to look through all of the possible moves you can play - then all of the possible replies your opponent could make to those moves - then all of your possible replies...and so on for some number of moves into the future (lets say 6 moves into the future) - and as you generate all of these possibilities, you could just remember just the best outcome you've seen so far and throw the others away when you see that they aren't as good. When you are done looking - you play the best move you saw in all of your searching. Then your opponent play - and now it's your turn again. If you did what I just said - then you'll now have to calculate another 6 moves into the future - but if you had plenty of memory, you could have saved all of the possible outcomes of whatever move you selected last turn - and instead of having to figure them out all over again, you could just look at all of the possible outcomes of the move you made if followed by whatever your opponent played - and you'll only have to look two more moves into the future instead of calculating six moves ahead. You already have almost all of the work you need to figure out what to play this time without having to go and re-calculate all of it. So in this example, it's obviously better to store all of the last moves "thinking" rather than recalculating it.
In practice, you might not want to use all of that memory for storing future moves - maybe you need some of it for doing pretty graphics or something. In that case, you could choose to store maybe only half of your calculations from your last move and recalculate the other half each time. What you have here is a classic time/space trade-off - you can use as much or as little memory as you like, but the more you use, the faster your program will run. SteveBaker 04:24, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Which files should I back up?

This might be a newbie question but it might help those of us who don’t really understand the backing up process to use backup programs properly.

Which files, folders or programs is it essential for me to backup so that I can quickly and easily return my computer to an operating condition such as it is now in? Windows is a huge folder on my computer, it contains fonts and games and screensavers that I don’t want or need to backup because I can easily reinstall them off their original cds but it also contains updates and configuration files that tell my computer how I want it to look and to run. Someone once told me that the most important folder (aside from the registry and the driver files) on my computer was the system 32 folder, that within that folder is every bit of information on what I have changed or installed or updated or whatever and that by backing up that one folder, I am saving every bit of information that I would need to return my computer to the condition it is in now should I ever have to need to. Is this true? If it isn’t, what exactly should I be looking at to back up? I’d really appreciate some help.

NannySamdi--NannySamdi 15:50, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

What operating system, specifically, are you using? Is it Windows XP? The answer will be different for different versions of Windows, so that is important to know. --24.147.86.187 23:02, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
You should back up everything. See [1]. Morana 00:30, 31 October 2007 (UTC)


I'm using Windows XP home edition. And Morana, thank you for the advice but that is a lesson I already learned the hard way and I now install every program that gives me the option to another drive on my computer and those I must install on C drive, I make copies of onto disks. But Windows is too big to backup onto disk and it takes up way too much room on my D drive for it to be convenient or practical. Hence, my question. --NannySamdi 01:18, 31 October 2007 (UTC) NannySamdi —Preceding unsigned comment added by NannySamdi (talk • contribs) 01:04, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

These days external hard drives are very cheap. I recommend a cloning backup program like Drive Snapshot (Google for details) which costs about $50. This copies your entire disk, including any open files, in about an hour depending on size. So you can keep on working while the backup is running. Conventional (partial) backups are labor-intensive and in the past I seldom had the patience to do them. For one thing you have to decide which files to back up... EdJohnston 05:07, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
Many of the brand name external hard drives now include a backup app. --— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 10:46, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
  • I only back up content that is not replaceable -- stuff I've created, and music I've bought. Everything else is easier just to reinstall from scratch. --Sean 13:43, 31 October 2007 (UTC)


Thank you EdJohnston for your advice but I have already stated that I don't want to have to back up my full disk and why I don't want to and those reasons are just as valid today as they were two days ago when I asked my question. And Sean, the last time I reformated and had to reinstall everything, it took me almost a month to get my computer back to looking and acting the way I wanted it to, so reinstalling from scratch wasn't easier for me.

Can ANYBODY answer my question? Or is there even an answer to my question that doesn't involve complete backups and reinstalls??? Please? Somebody????--NannySamdi 19:56, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

You need to back up the contents of your "My Documents" folder. You also need to back up any documents that are stored elsewhere on the disk (usually somewhere in the "Program Files" folder). Application preferences can be stored either in a hidden folder that also contains your "My Documents" folder, or in the Windows folder, or in the Registry. At this point, it's probably easier to just back up everything than to try to be selective. --Carnildo 23:28, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] US internet environment

I was looking at availability and usage of broadband in the US compared to other countries and I was surprised to find the US is 19th in broadband usage in the world: [2], behind many other countries which have less internet penetration: [3]. According to the CIA, the US has 3.95 million internet hosts, Canada has 4.196 million internet hosts, the UK has 5.118 million internet hosts and China has 10.637 million internet hosts and Japan has 33.333 million internet hosts. Are these errors? If not, what explains this seemingly strange pattern?--Filll 16:34, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

What is the definition of "Internet Host" that you are using. If it is "Internet Service Provider", the countries that still depend primarily on dial-up connections will have the most because it is cheap to set up a dial-in center. About 10 years ago, the U.S. had many small dial-up companies. Many were BBS hosts that converted to ISPs. Now, most of them are out of business or turned into resellers for a larger company. -- kainaw™ 17:02, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
It's also worth asking what is defined as 'broadband' in differing countries, as historically some UK ISP's have listed any connection over 64k as broadband. Foxhill 17:25, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
Somewhere I've read an article about a pattern that applies here: the first version of some idea is successful enough to make the company (or country) that invented it look like a leader. A thriving community is built around that first-generation product or service. As the second or third generation is developed, the original innovator is stuck spending a lot of resources on maintaining the existing deployment and trying to convince loyal old customers to upgrade by making their transition as smooth as possible. Meanwhile, competitors (who stayed out of the early stuff) enter the field, but with the benefit of hindsight, they're able to avoid some of the mistakes that the pioneers made, and are still suffering from because any fundamental change would upset a significant number of people. The old leader lags behind, compelled by backward compatibility to keep doing things that don't make sense. Explains dialup Internet access and the electoral college. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 17:42, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
Why is this surprising? America has the most backwards broadband laws in the world. Telecom monopolies are enforced by sympathetic local governments. ISPs charge outrageous prices for ludicrous service contracts. Big business is unwilling to commit to laying down real fiber/copper to anything but dense city areas without government subsidies. I'm surprised that you're surpised. Do you seriously think that the entire world puts up with the kind of crap that Americans put up with from their cable/cell/internet providers? --ffroth 18:48, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
And the moral of the story is, you cannot have a good enough broadband connection that you cannot complain about. --antilivedT | C | G 19:12, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
There are some historical reasons too. For example - when the Internet really started to take off in the UK local phone calls were not free (maybe they still aren't - I'm not sure) - this made using a modem to sit online for hours at a time ruinously expensive. Hence cable broadband got popular fast. Here in the US, local calls are free - so if you don't need the high speed, using a modem is still the cheapest option. SteveBaker 21:34, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
Free local phone calls? You'll have free healthcare next! (goes off into a corner to contemplate the size of his phone bill) Algebraist 21:42, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
Paul Krugman had an interesting article about US broadband issues earlier this year. Check it out (requires free registration). Depressing. --24.147.86.187 22:59, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
Annnd see here for the registration. --ffroth 23:21, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
Oh wow I remember that article- IIRC it was linked from slashdot and everyone was mocking the author for thinking that internet service can "come with wifi" :P --ffroth 20:39, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

A great column. And confirms what I noticed. Interesting...--Filll 23:13, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Internet Explorer Error

Normally I use firefox but today I ot to a website tat causes firefox to cras. So I used Internet explorer to et to tat pae but I couldnt becase I ot an error: Tis file does not ave a proram associated wit it for performin tis action. Create an association in te forlder options control panel. I tried reinstallin te explorer from tat add/remove prorams but I still ave tis problem. Also, dont mock my spellin because its due to four of my broken keyboard keys. 24.250.139.137 17:47, 30 October 2007 (UTC)anonymous

It would help if you can tell us the name of the file that IE is complaining about. Or the address of the website in question. That said, I'm leery of any site that wants to invoke a program on my computer, you need to be absolutely sure it's a trustworthy site. --LarryMac | Talk 18:23, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
Te web site is at: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5197. It is not just te embedded video tat is not workin. It is every proram tat I try to run on IE, notin is workin and I cant even o to a pae by typin te address in te address bar and ten pressin return. All I et is tat popup error rmessae. 24.250.139.137 19:06, 30 October 2007 (UTC)anonymous
Works fine for me in IE7. Also Sibel Edmonds knows how serious her gag order is (very, very), and I doubt she would be stupid enough to publicly proclaim that she'll reveal state secrets if any news agency asks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Froth (talk • contribs) 19:35, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
I know it works ok on IE for most everyone, but my IE is seriously corrupted and I dont know ow to fix it. 24.250.139.137 19:43, 30 October 2007 (UTC)anonymous
The site displays fine for me on Firefox 2.0.0.8. --antilivedT | C | G 07:29, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
Wen I click te view te video online link firefox oes into an infinite loop for a couple of seconds and ten crases. Anyway ow am I supposed to turn in my fasfa application witout usin internet explorer? All I et is tat error messae. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.139.137 (talk) 11:27, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
I file FAFSA every year with Firefox. You do not need to use IE. -- kainaw™ 13:43, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

I am not insulting you or anything and I understand your messages but one question, are some keys (g and h) not working on your keyboard? While this is not a problem here, I would suggest that you look into the matter. --Kushalt 13:01, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Monobook language

What is the language used for the monobook.js pages? Where could one learn it? --θnce θn this island Speak 23:26, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Monobook.js seems to be Javascript. Javascript tutorials are everywhere on the internet WikiY Talk 23:44, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Monobook.js is in javascript. See Wikipedia:WikiProject User scripts. --h2g2bob (talk) 04:08, 3 November 2007 (UTC)