Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 October 24

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October 24

IPC Training and Certification in Elelctronics

What is IPC Training and Certification in Electronics and how is it helpful in the manufacturing industry? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Soldertraining (talk • contribs) 13:25, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

There are a great many meanings of IPC - http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/IPC - quite a few of which could have something to do with manufacturing industries. A little precision might generate an answer. Wymspen (talk) 13:38, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

However you probably mean IPC (electronics). Why don't you read that article and let us know if you have any specific questions. Rojomoke (talk) 14:27, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

Currency Converter website.

Any reliable source would be appreciated… 103.230.105.22 (talk) 19:44, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

Here is one run by the Canadian firm OANDA. Does that meet your needs? --Jayron32 20:13, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

You should define what you mean by reliable. Plenty of websites will do currency conversion with no attempt to falsify the exchange rates, but what does vary from site to site is how often they update those exchange rates. So, is once a day sufficient, or do you need more current info ? StuRat (talk) 20:36, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

Another is XE.com. But as others have said, it's not really clear what you're looking for that a simple internet search for 'currency conversion' or something similar won't find. I mean heck, even major internet search engines like Bing and Google do currency conversion themselves. Since we have articles on both of those websites, there should be (and appear to be) WP:reliable sources (according to the wikipedia definition) mentioning them, but also a lot of others. Probably includes some we don't have articles on yet, both because the articles haven't been created and because we require more than a brief mention for an article. If you want to actually convert currency both the earlier mentioned websites are associated with such service, as will many websites that you find in a search. But which one works for you will depend a lot on where you live, what currencies your trying to convert, what form the original and converted currency is going to be in, how much is involved etc. Nil Einne (talk) 04:36, 25 October 2016 (UTC)

Yes, note that you will pretty much never be able to convert currency at the spot price that you will find if you just look for a plain "quote". This price is a market average; brokers get their compensation from the bid-ask spread (usually just referred to as "the spread"). And since quotes vary among brokers and between different trades (for instance, brokers often will give a discount on large trades or to VIP customers), the only way to know what conversion rate you will actually get is to get a bid-ask quote directly from a broker. See our currency pair article for the general topic. --47.138.165.200 (talk) 08:59, 25 October 2016 (UTC)

A possible exception is when buying something at a small store using a foreign currency. A couple reasons:

1) They tend to just use an average exchange rate on small items, and not update it all that often, because they make their money on selling the item, not the exchange rate spread. Of course, this could mean you get better or worse than the actual exchange rate.

2) Sometimes they will offer a better-than-the-exchange-rate deal, to bring in new customers with that currency. For example, in a nation where haggling is common, they might give a special deal to people from another nation where customers don't haggle, since that means they pay more and waste less time. StuRat (talk) 12:58, 26 October 2016 (UTC)

Notification of encrypted files

I have a notification on my desktop page saying my files are encrypted and I don't know how to get rid of it and it is there every time turn on my computer How do I delete it — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.68.5.174 (talk) 22:08, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

If it lists a phone number to call to fix the problem, and they then want a credit card number, it's a scam. Your files aren't really encrypted. So, you can ignore the warnings. Hopefully somebody else can tell you how to get rid of them. StuRat (talk) 22:31, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

This is extremely misleading. In some versions of ransomware the files can and will be encrypted. See Cryptolocker.--WaltCip (talk)

This is either actual Ransomware or an imitation of it (which hopes you'll try to pay them off even though your computer isn't really locked). Ignore any appearance of the message being "official" or having been done by some Police Force or similar – locking someone's PC like this is always a criminal act by the locker. Trying to pay for unlocking isn't a good idea as often they won't anyway, and they will also exploit your payment data to rob you. Such malware can often be cleared by rebooting your computer (preferably in Safe mode) and updating and running all the anti-virus/malware programs you have in turn (one may not clear it, while another may). You may have to repeat this a few times as, if the particular malware is new, it may take an update or two before the appropriate countermeasure is disseminated by the security programs involvesd.

You may also find that the message only appears when you use one of your internet browsers, while another doesn't show it (I've had one like this twice in the past fortnight) – you can then more easily use an unaffected browser to search for and download more antivirus programs. You should also be able to visit the website of your Operating System provider (e.g. Microsoft Windows, and run a recent anti-malware application from it.

If none of this works, take your PC to a professional shop to deal with it. (You may have caught the virus from a "dubious" website, but don't be embarrased – they've seen it all and far worse many times before.)

Disclaimer: I have no particular IT expertise, I've merely had to deal with this sort of thing several times over the years, and so far have always been able to sort it out myself – If you're not confident, go straight to the professionals. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.27.88 (talk) 23:52, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

If you have really important and high value information on your computer, then yes, get in a professional. Hopefully though, this may be a bit of malware inserted by a Script-kiddie. They are amateurs and often can be easily defeated. Remove “Your personal files are encrypted” virus (Guide). In future, keep a backup of all your files (you need three copies before it is classed as a back-up and now with the cloud this is simple and inexpensive). Also, run all Windows on Virtual machines (running on Linux), so if this happens again, one can just wind-back to the point before the malware arrived. --Aspro (talk) 11:42, 25 October 2016 (UTC)