Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2006 November 3

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November 3

Windows 95/98 internet options

Hello, I've recently been setting up some older computers for a school and seem to have run into a reoccuring problem. Most easily put, the internet settings will not save when the computers are rebooted. This has become a problem because they are currently set to A) the incorrect homepage, and B) to use an unneccisary proxy server. I can easily change the settings to the correct homepage and uncheck the "Use a proxy server" box, however, when the computer is restarted these settings revert to their old selections. I have tried going through the registry, deleting any keys of the old homepage and proxy server, but even these keys revert back to their original state. Do you have any idea why internet options would not save? Thank you.

Does this MSDN article describe your problem? KB314645 Splintercellguy 06:10, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, that is my problem exactly. However, the work around the article describes requires me to change the default user's settings. These computers have a lot of accounts on them, is there an easy way to determine which one is the default?

As the article says, the default user is logged in if you hit cancel at the login screen. Superm401 - Talk 20:31, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

CD-RW Versus CD RW

Could someone please explain to me the actual differences between the two and the advantages and/or disadvantages of one over the other? Thank You.

There is no such thing as a CD RW, do you mean DVD? For DVDs, DVD-RW and DVD RW basically differ in the way the data is recorded. Splintercellguy 06:13, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

My apologies, yes I did mean DVD-R/DVD R. Can both discs be used in the same burn drive?

You should probably check the data sheets or manual of the burner in question. Newer burners probably support more than one rewritable DVD format. --Kjoonlee 10:42, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I think Optical disc recorder#Compatibility has some useful info. --Kjoonlee 10:44, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

DVD-R's are compatible with about 93% of all DVD Players and most DVD-ROMs. I produce a broadcast and these are the only DVD format that we use. Some of our broadcast stations have complained about DVD Rs. DVD Rs are compatible with about 79% of all DVD Players and most DVD-ROMs. Dhudson4god 19:50, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

You might also want to check the DVD burner's write speed for each format. My DVD burner can burn DVD R discs faster than it can burn DVD-Rs, for example. Philbert^2.71828 14:12, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

frost wire not working

i have frost wire i am having a problem with my fire wall when i go to log on it never gets past the trying to connect i have already tried your ideas on working around fire walls. i have tried turning off the fire wall for microsoft but that has not worked. please help very frustrated customer

Hi, it would be helpful for us to know if you have a router or a similar networking device. There is a possiblity of a hardware firewall blocking Frostwire's listening port. Ronaldh 13:29, 3 November 2006 (UTC) Thank all of you very much. My question is answered!

USB drive mounting problems in Fedora Core 5

I have Fedora Core 5 running on my computer, and recently I have found that it works rather bizarrely when it comes to mounting filesystems on USB drives, such as a memory card reader, or memory sticks. When I physically plug the drive in, the system recognises it and somehow automagically mounts it at /media/SOMETHING, where SOMETHING is a name that is probably somehow read from the drive itself. It's always in upper case too. I can then access the drive through /media/SOMETHING as normal. Unmounting the drive isn't as easy - umount /media/SOMETHING gives me an error that it isn't found in /etc/mtab and I'm not root. Becoming root and trying umount /media/SOMETHING again solves the problem. After unmounting, the mount point directory disappears. At no time when the drive is mounted does it appear anywhere in /etc/fstab, /etc/mtab, the output of mount, or in any graphical drive management program. What strange magic is the system using to mount the drive? It must be configured somewhere, but where? How can I set it up so that mount and other drive management programs can see the drive? And how can I set it up so that I can unmount it as a normal user? JIP | Talk 12:45, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps it's automount. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 13:41, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

NTFS & Linux

When I was able to run my live Ubuntu CD, linux could not mount the HDs. Is this because they are NTFS formatted? --Username132 (talk) 23:30, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

While it is possible to read an NTFS file system from Linux, I know of no safe way to write to one. It is possible if you don't mind the risk of trashing the NTFS drive. If all you want is read access, mount with a normal mount command, but add the "ro" for "read only", such as /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows ntfs users,owner,ro,umask=000 0 0 --Kainaw ^(talk) 23:44, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

There is a (perpetually "experimental") NTFS-write module for Linux - http://www.linux-ntfs.org/ As Kainaw says, it's a bit risky; an ro mount should work fine. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:52, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Well all my drives are formatted with NTFS - I have enough spare capacity to shift all the data from one drive at a time - how do I then format the drive with a file system that both Win and Linux can read? A right kaffufle... --Username132 (talk) 01:48, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

The obvious solution would be to format the drive as FAT32. Both Linux and Windows will do this. You need a spare partition, and this might be hard to get on an already-formatted drive.--Silvaran 02:35, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Captive NTFS? It taints the OS with a proprietary driver, but blarblar. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 02:38, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

leave a message on my talk page if you need it and don't have NT :o --froth^{T C} 19:07, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

Is Captive NTFS easy to install? I'm interested in Suse and Ubuntu but I read of problems that people are having with Captive NTFS and both these distributions. I'm a Linux beginner and don't really want additional headaches from experimental software. If you agree, I suggest that I can;

a) shift the data from one drive to a spare drive

b) reformat the empty drive using the Disk Management utility available in Windows

c) shift the data back to the drive

d) repeat from a) on each drive and then finally on the spare drive (five total)

Then my drives will be in FAT32 and all will be well in the world? --Username132 (talk) 13:04, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't know how well Linux would run on a FAT32 partition. For sure, it would miss the benefits of a journaled file system. The only drives that need to be in FAT 32 are the ones you want to share between Linux and Windoze. And it's fairly easy to relocate your Linux home directory to a FAT32 drive. But some more options: (i) Puppy Linux reads and writes to NTFS out of the box; (ii) it might be far less trouble to go the other way and enable Windows to read and write to ext2 using the Ext2 Installable File System for Windows. If you look around, there is a registry hack for Windows allowing you to relocate Documents & Settings to a different drive/directory. If you would like to try to make Ubuntu talk nice with NTFS, here is a how-to. --Marbux 22:23, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Will I be able to reformat my drives in Windows for ext2/3? I'd like to have my drives prepared before I start to install Linux. Since that means reformatting them all, I guess ext2/3 is the way. Will that software you mentioned (thanks) allow only to read/write files on such drives, or will it let me format in ext2 or 3? --Username132 (talk) 13:50, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Windows won't format them with ext2/3, and that tool doesn't support it. Your best bet is just to do it with Linux, using a LiveCD or the likes. Ubuntu and other distros tend to come with nice GUI partitioning tools in their installers, based on GNU Parted and ntfsprogs (allowing them to resize NTFS partitions). You can probably do it with Cygwin or using some partitioning tool that I don't know of, but the Linux CDs work just as well. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 16:59, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

If the computer in question has USB, go buy a 1GB USB key for $20USD. Ubuntu can read the NFTS drives and you can keep any writable files on the USB key. This does not solve all possible problems, but it does solve a large subset of your problems. -Arch dude 01:08, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll take that under advisement... ;) --Username132 (talk) 13:04, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Pasting emails into Word - hard returns appear

If I paste the text of an email from my mail client into Word, I find that every line in the Word document has a hard return at the end of it. This is a pain, because I have to go through the document, laboriously remove the hard returns and close up the lines. I don't understand why this is happening, since there were no hard returns in the original email - the text just wrapped. Any ideas? --Richardrj ^{talk email} 14:30, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

It happens often. There are a few remedies: a) Depending on the email client, you may be able to save the email as a format that can be opened by word in a more rich text format. b) You can download an email cleanup program that will instantly clean up all the weird idiosyncrasies associated with converting email text to WP text, and leave you with a nice piece of neat text. c) You can run the 'Edit, Replace' function in Word, using the characters ^l for the hard line return, and replacing them with a space. NOTE: if you don't want one big nasty paragraph, before you run that s/r, run one that changes two line breaks together: ^l^l to two paragraph marks: ^p^p. Anchoress 16:26, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Clarification:

1. ^l = [shift6] the letter l (for line)
2. ^p = [shift6] the letter p (for paragraph)

--Anchoress 16:28, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks a million Anchoress. Is there anything you don't know about Word? :-) --Richardrj ^{talk email} 18:19, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

A few things :wink:. Anchoress 18:37, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

BTW HERE'S the program I use to clean up really messy emails. Anchoress 18:39, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

PDF Files

How could I turn a 50 page plain text file into a 100 page PDF file? Or just convert plain text into PDF file?

PDFCreator --Kjoonlee 15:32, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I wonder why you would want to do this, as the resulting PDF file will be much larger and harder to use than the text file. StuRat 20:42, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

One benefit is the fact that the layout gets fixed and finalised for everyone. This isn't normally a benefit when you deal with files, but if you want people to print the content, it can be nicer for everybody to have the same page numbers. --Kjoonlee 05:21, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

So, How can I change a word file into a PDF file?

You just choose PDFCreator as your printer, and print to it. --Kjoonlee 13:05, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

You can also open the word file in OpenOffice, which can export as pdf. Also, last time I used office 2006 it could export as PDF, so if you can get a hold of that, you'll be dandy. 85.194.2.251 17:12, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

User Account Drama

I have Windows XP, and i've had problems with my user accounts. It seems that each one of my user accounts screws up eventually, and they all screw up in the same way. My last user account I had, i accidently shut the power off to my computer while I was on it, now whenever I log onto it my screen goes black as soon as it is done starting up. I can get into it fine on safe mode, but i don't know what the problem is or if there is anything i can do about it. I am sick of creating new user accounts every time and moving all my files and folders over. Anyways, if you know the answer that would be great, if you need more info, i'll be happy to answer. Croat Canuck Go Leafs Go 16:21, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

It sounds like it's not using a fault-tolerant system for dealing with open files. I suggest you back up all your files frequently, then do a restore whenever this happens. In this case, the only thing lost should be changes since the last backup. StuRat 20:37, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I have tried a system restore many times, but that doesn't do it either... I'm not too worried about losing the files, because even after it happens I can still get the files out of it. Croat Canuck Go Leafs Go 22:34, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm talking about system files, specifically those that store info on your user account. It appears that these files are corrupted if you don't shut down properly. If your backups included copies of those system files, then a restore should fix the problem. Make sure the "Include system files" box is checked when you do a backup, and that the backup includes the systems directory. StuRat 02:42, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm not familiar with where Windows XP keeps it's systems files, but, in Windows 98 they are mostly in the root directory ("\") or in "\Windows\System" on the boot drive (usually "C:"). To find them on your system, try creating a new user profile with a unique name, then doing a find for all files containing that text. To be sure you get all the system files, though, it's probably a good idea to back up the entire boot disk. StuRat 14:51, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Can I edit a cookie?

When I registered at a new website, I got the dialog box asking if I wanted to have Windows remember my login. I clicked no, and now I regret it. What can I do about it? Anchoress 16:51, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi, have you tried logging out and logging back in? Hmm.. I think there are extensions for Firefox that let you edit your stored cookies, but I haven't tried them. --Kjoonlee 17:08, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I have. I've also shut down and restarted. I'm using IE. Thanks for the reply. Anchoress 17:13, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

If it's really being stored as a cookie, I guess you can try deleting it. Go into Tools, Options, "Temporary internet file" settings, and View files. You can spot individual cookies there. (Tested with a Korean version of Windows, so YMMV.) Or I guess you can try editing the preferences at the new website, if it lets you do that. --Kjoonlee 17:51, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I suspect it is not a cookie that is involved, but rather IE remembering the login for you. Firefox will store logins and passwords for you, but they are not cookies, as I can delete all my cookies, and it still remembers my logins. With Firefox, you can view the full list of stored logins/passwords, but have no idea if IE lets you do the same thing (it certainly SHOULD!). Madmath789 18:03, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

OK guys, thanks for the further info. I'll fiddle with it. Anchoress 18:06, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Ah... Tools, Options, "Content" (Fourth tab from the left), Autocomplete. --Kjoonlee 18:19, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Oh sweet. You rule the skool! Thanks, happy Friday. Anchoress 18:27, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Mail Merge

How do I perform a MS word mail merge file —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.23.96.2 (talk • contribs)

It's simple, but it would be a very long set of instructions. It'd just be easier for you to read up on mail merges thru the MSWord Help, give it a try, and post specific questions/problems. On another note, you've got the shortest IP address I've ever seen! Anchoress 19:49, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Me too! X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve) 23:55, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Java: Server socket handoff between two processes

I have a server socket-based application written in Java. When it terminates, I want it to pick a client to take over the server responsibility. The port is the same, so I need a way to unbind the current server from the listening port, and have the new process bind to it. This is a fairly simple task, but there's a race condition in the hand-off--what if a client tries to connect in between the unbind and bind when no one is actually bound to the listening port? Is there a way to do this, and if so, can it be done in Java (nio)? --Silvaran 20:53, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I don't believe there's a way to do this in Java; sorry. In all OSes that I know, processes can only "share" filehandles (and sockets, etc.) via fork(), which isn't supported in Java (at least, not in the default API; the JVM might survive you calling fork() in a C extension). Perhaps you can have some assistant process handle the sockets (possibly with forking), or else just wait to open the server socket in the same process that is going to care for it later. --Tardis 06:10, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Laptop Screen

Is there any way that I can use the screen on my laptop as the screen for a desktop PC? Could I just use the screen on the laptop as the output for another computer, or is this not possible? Thanks, --86.139.127.29 22:15, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

You can't do it directly, since there's no way to connect the output of the desktop PC's video card to the laptop screen's input. What you can do, however, is run a VNC server on the desktop and connect to it from the laptop, assuming that both computers are networked. -- AJR | Talk 00:10, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Can you use the screen in an iMac as a screen for another PC? --86.139.127.29 09:10, 4 November 2006 (UTC)