Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 April 27

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 27

Floating Windows logo screen saver

So you know that floating logo XP uses as a screen saver? How do I replace the Windows logo with another image but still have it act the same? I'd like an image of my choice to float around in the same way as the default Windows logo does now. Ideas? 69.180.160.77 (talk) 00:36, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

A (rather convoluted) Google search led me to Any Logo Screensaver Creator and WG Screen Saver Creator. You can find a number of other options on cnet. – 74  02:58, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Removing write access to previously mounted partition: Ubuntu

I have accessed my NTFS partition in Ubuntu and suspect that it's caused Windows XP to lose theme settings and messed up IE toolbars on separate occasions. A check for bad sectors on the hard drive turned up nothing, but Windows's indexes contained an error after the latter incident. I remember granting automatic access to the NTFS partition, so I'm wondering how to remove that privilege. Thanks. Imagine Reason (talk) 01:32, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Edit /etc/fstab, find the entry with a type of ntfs and change the 'rw' signifier in the options string to 'ro' (or if there is no 'rw' present then add ',ro' to the end). You can then umount and mount the partition again or just reboot. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Fstab for more information. Truthforitsownsake (talk) 13:34, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

PostgreSQL: Use transactions to suspend constraint checking?

In PostgreSQL, if a transaction contains an update that violates a constraint followed by one that rectifies the violation, can constraint checking be suspended until the entire transaction's end state is reached? NeonMerlin 05:56, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

See the doco and (many) caveats for "SET CONSTRAINTS". --Sean 12:35, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Fixing magnetized hard drive from working partition

My friend, messing about with a Neodymium magnet in an rather stupid way (if you must know, he was testing the magnetic switch that detects whether the screen is shut or not), has managed to apparently corrupt the hard drive of his MacBook, and OS X now refuses to load (instead, it hangs at the screen with the Apple logo and the loading sign). Booting OS X in verbose mode gives me the error message "disk0s2: I/O error", which sounds pretty serious. Fortunately, he had it Boot Camped, with Windows XP on the other partition, which works fine. Is there any way to CHKDSK or fsck the Mac OS partition from either the Windows XP partition, or on boot (i.e. before loading Mac OS)? Or is the hard-drive just ruined, and he should just try to salvage what he can off it? Laïka 13:07, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

All signs point to the drive being totally fsked (if you'll excuse the pun) because of how powerful the magnet was. 212.219.8.233 (talk) 13:22, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

If you're getting I/O errors, in my experience it usually means a hardware error. But my experience is mostly with Linux, not OS X. To recover his OS X files from Windows, see this [1]. I would pull everything important off the OS X partition and reinstall OS X. If you're lucky, that'll fix it. It might be time to get a new drive, though. Indeterminate (talk) 05:01, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Linux context sensitive layout optimization

Somebody might remember the context sensitive layout question a while back. I made a program that allows to have context sensitive layouts on Linux (available at http://cslh.sourceforge.net but with a quality warning). In addition to what was described in that question I added the possibility to bind not only single characters to buttons but character sequences too (ie pressing the 'z' key and then the 'a' key could result in 'that'), but it didn't make the optimization problem any easier, so I need help. If somebody here has a godlike "I can see a graph" vision, now it would good time to share it. If not, to get you on (or maybe off, I don't know :( ) the track, I'll give out some of my initial thinking. Let's assume the keyboard has only 26 (a-z) buttons. Let's forget all that home row, finger roll, and avoiding same finger repetition stuff layout fanatics like to talk about. Let's also forget about the "context" in context sensitive layout, instead just assigning varying length button press sequences to character sequences . Notice that this starts to sound a bit like Huffman encoding. If we then consider the human memory is limited, we need to put some restrictions on what is allowed, maybe so that the maximum character sequence length that can result from a button press sequence is X, and there must at maximum A character sequences that result from a button press sequence of length 2, B that result from a button press sequence of length 3, and so on. For a sane layout, all the single characters a-z must be typeable within Y button presses. Given a lot of sample English texts, what should be used to optimize that? --194.197.235.70 (talk) 19:36, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

It sounds like you're working on a sort of predictive text input system somewhat similar to T9. Also see if the description for pinyin abbreviation input method sounds interesting; the article doesn't describe it very much, but it's pretty neat. Indeterminate (talk) 04:56, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

It also sounds, sort of, like Microsoft Word's "AutoCorrect" feature (but you're doing it for the entire system, if I get you right). Jørgen (talk) 12:58, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Master's Thesis No 85 need copy and Info:

Violet Houser, Thesis for her Master's Degree,(MA) Business Education, 1955. For use in providing information to the public in connection with the anniversary of the "Town of North Kansas City " celebration of November 12, 1912 and "December, 24 1924 when the Town of North Kansas City became the City of North Kansas City". ? Copy of the Thesis currently available? ? Violet Houser, author, alive, deceased, information would be helpful.

Inquiry by James R. Rich, member of the North Kansas City Historical Society. Any information would be appreciated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.229.47.4 (talk) 20:06, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Per Ref Desk policy (see the infobox at the top of the page!), I've removed your contact information for your own protection. Sorry, you're gonna have to check back here for an answer. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 20:24, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

It seems to be in the archives of Truman State University's Pickler Memorial Library, presumably the institution that awarded the MA. Their catalogue lists:

85
Houser, Violet
A Teaching Unit on the Industrial Development, History, and Commercial Aspects of North Kansas City, Missouri
1955 

On the catalogue webpage they have an email address for contacts, so writing there would probably be the best move. You will probably be able to view the thesis in person at the library or it might be possible to arrange an inter-library loan.[2] --Maltelauridsbrigge (talk) 16:18, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

PC help.

everytime i give my PC a tough job to do it reboots. Like copy a cd or dvd and if the dvd or cd has a scratch the machine reboots and acts as if it's really struggling. What could be the problem and do i need to buy anything. Also if the dvd has many files and i open it in thumbnail view it reboots or brings the "windows explorer has experienced a problem...send don't send report " error message ...Please if you know what's up holla. By the way the problem just started recently...it's a P4, 3.2ghz, 1 gb ram. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.220.225.251 (talk) 21:50, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

The first thing I would check is whether your computer's cooling works properly, because it sounds like your problems appear whenever things start to heat up -- and when an optical disc spins up, that certainly produces extra heat. Are all the fans inside the computer turning properly? Is there excessive dust build-up in there? Just replacing a faulty fan and using an air duster to clear things up may solve the problem. And, of course, with a Windows machine, reinstalling the operating system often fixes problems like this. How long has it been since the current operating system was installed? -- Captain Disdain (talk) 21:57, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

A good way to diagnose a heat problem is to remove the case and point an external fan at the innards. If this solves the problem, then you know heat was the issue. StuRat (talk) 13:30, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Another thing that makes a PC struggle is having to do a lot of page swapping, into a very large swap file and/or on a very full hard disk. 1Gb is borderline enough for an XP box expected to do large copying jobs or screen displays (like multiple thumbnails) if you have integrated video. Go to Control Panel - System - Advanced - Performance settings. Choose the Advanced tab, virtual memory. Change to User-managed,and type in 50 Mb for minimum and 1000 Mb for maximum. Save it. Reboot the machine. This will kill the automatic paging file, which might be as big as 3Gb if you've never killed it before. Every few weeks you can change between Windows management and User management, thus keeping it always small. (Also turn off automatic updates and "quick launch" options for everything, as they waste memory the machine is better off using for what you are actually trying to do right now).KoolerStill (talk) 09:05, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

XP System Restore won't work, possible Conficker infection

Resolved

Case concluded. Unlikely any infections remain. Registry might be a bit weirded out but that's it. Malicious modification of system file appears to have been resolved. Software to prevent future infections is now in place. Case concluded as successful.

Bear with me, this is a long one and I'm not the most knowledgeable about computers. Sometime yesterday I started getting popups warning me that my computer was infected and recommending I purchase Spyware Protect 2009. I actually used the article here as a reference and deleted two "sysguard" files, stopping the popups. I assumed that this was Conficker-related, but I am not entirely sure; a free program I ran stated I did not have Conficker, so I gave no thought to it.
Today, I noticed a small error on my Internet Explorer browser: the small symbol on the left side of the browsing tabs remained the default IE logo, and did not change to the symbol of whatever site I was on (Wikipedia's symbol not appearing right away as usual caught my eye). Thinking it related to yesterday's virus attack, I tried to use the System Restore function. I get as far as the page showing which restore point I have selected and displaying the disclaimers about the process, but when I click Next to allow the restore to proceed, nothing happens. I've tried waiting for an hour, clicking it repeatedly, restarting my computer (5 times now), but it won't work. When I last tried it, a notice popped up saying System Restore could not protect my computer. I know my computer's infected, there are dozens of errors on my browser now, and now certain webpages are showing bright red headings saying "Too many errors and faults WERE found in your system. Possibly that IT WAS THE RESULT of virus attack.YOU MUST scan your system." I'm running the free edition of AVG in the hopes that will work, but the scan won't be complete for another hour at least (a whole scan takes 2 hours for my computer); it's currently picked up 8 threats.
Anyway, I've got no where else to turn. I don't want to have to reset the whole thing to factory condition because I've unfortunately never made a separate backup disc. Is there any way for me to get System Restore to work, and if not, is there a simple way to confirm I have Conficker and remove it if present? -- Commdor {Talk} 22:29, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

It is likely System Restore will be of little use here. The restore points may have already been infected and System Restore can only help so much even if the restore points were good. In this case, malware on your computer appears to have disabled it. System Restore should be disabled when removing malware anyways; please check to make sure it is disabled before moving forward with the following clean-up instructions. Spyware Protect 2009 is a rogue that Conficker does distribute. However such rogues can be encountered by accident online through regular web browsing. Under no conditions should you offer up your credit card details to the rogue! There have been cases of people being forced to cancel their credit cards because they were charged $30-60 every hour! The notices in web pages may be indicative of an active rootkit or Trojan. Adware could also be used to this purpose. Scans with Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and SUPERAntiSpyware are needed immediately! Please tell us if you encounter redirection while attempting to visit security-related sites. Please post the Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and SUPERAntiSpyware logs here after both finish scanning. (Update both then run full scans with both; one at a time; they may ask you to reboot to remove malware) AVG Free stopped being that effective after version 8.0 (In my opinion; it lost anti-rootkit!) so remove what you can with it but dump it and replace it with avast! or Avira AntiVir afterwards. You should quarantine any threats that AVG Free detects and give us the list of items before installing avast! or Avira as all items in the AVG quarantine area are lost after is uninstallation. Note that AVG Free has suffered false positives in the past so do be alert. I cannot determine if Conficker is on your machine. Rogueware can come from many sources. Also, for the purposes of cleaning up your computer and because we do not exactly what is on it yet, consider not using it for any online banking and such for the moment. Good luck.--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 00:42, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

By the way, I'm not saying you aren't infected with any viruses, but if you get websites saying things to you like Too many errors and faults WERE found in your system. Possibly that IT WAS THE RESULT of virus attack.YOU MUST scan your system — these warnings are fake. They are trying to get you to click on them to pay for some service, or to download some malware. Tempshill (talk) 05:05, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

The user is infected (See the logs)--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 13:38, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Malware on user's system is removed. Case concluded as successful. [Note: There is isn't really a way to know a system is 100% clean of infections unless it has been newly reformatted]--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 02:28, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

m4b help..

I have just purchased a HUGE audio book from Itunes, it is 3 x 2hrs in length and now I cant do anything with it other than play it back on my computer.

The plan was to put it on CD and mp3s for my car and travel... I tried some kind of "m4a" converter but it keeps saying that it is all "protected".. what can I do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.148.202.217 (talk) 23:33, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Sorry the audio book appears to be DRM protected.--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 00:47, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

FairPlay#Circumventing FairPlay F (talk) 06:03, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

I don't use it, but didn't iTunes just make a big publicity push about how all their stuff was now free of DRM? APL (talk) 13:54, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

They have refunded me my money...("as a one off")...this one was not DRM free however. Very silly for an audiobook! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.13.87.142 (talk) 15:32, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Closed source freeware OS

Are there any operating systems that are closed source and proprietary but free? --Melab±1 ☎ 23:52, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

I doubt you'll find it useful for anything, but WinPE is closed source, proprietary, and free. Made by microsoft. Take a look at some of the OSes in List of operating systems if you're looking for more; I don't know of any others. Indeterminate (talk) 04:23, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Mac OS 7.5.5 is available for download from Apple. Of course, it only runs on Old World Mac hardware. --76.167.241.45 (talk) 05:11, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Old versions of the Mac system software were freely available at the time of release. It wasn't until around version 6 or 7 that Apple started branding it as a separate product (called Mac OS); before that upgrading your system software was like (these days) getting a firmware upgrade for your router or a new driver for your video card. A lot of operating systems that are bound to proprietary hardware use a similar model. Comparison of operating systems lists some others. It doesn't seem to list anything that's closed source, free of charge, and runs on x86 boxes. WinPE seems to be available only to people running a licensed copy of Windows (there's an online validation process before you can download), so I'm not sure it counts either. (If the requirement is only that some people can get it for free then any OS would qualify—Microsoft gives free Windows licenses to students, for example.) -- BenRG (talk) 12:23, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

The trouble is that most of the operating systems that are closed source and proprietary (with the notable exception of Windows) are pretty much tied to a particular piece of hardware that's sold by the same manufacturer who wrote the operating system. Hence, for example, I believe that Silicon Graphics IRIX is "free" (ie you don't have to pay extra to get it when you buy one of their computers) - but since it only runs on Silicon Graphics hardware (which costs a small fortune) - and the hardware is basically worthless without IRIX - it's hardly relevant. The same thing is probably true of IBM mainframe operating systems and such. If you're asking about proprietary-but-free for PC's - then I don't know of any. SteveBaker (talk) 05:44, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Some social site about documents or source codes

Can people give me some social sites that are about posting documents or source codes? I'm trying to find one that I can't remember but telling me some of the sites I asked for might jog my memory. --Melab±1 ☎ —Preceding undated comment added 23:57, 27 April 2009 (UTC).

Pastebin? "Collaborative debugging tool" — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 09:41, 28 April 2009 (UTC)