Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2017 December 28

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December 28

I have 2 questions about 2 different websites

1. Why is the Box office and Business button on the imdb's website on movie pages anymore? I would like to see a movie's filming dates? 2. Is this website in this link a reliable website where I can buy Xena merchandise because I emailed the person on link and it the mail address didn't work: http://www.alaska.net/~rlw/warriorhome.htm 50.68.252.153 (talk) 05:38, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

Regarding the IMDB, the buttons on their web site are their business. We don't know what they were thinking when they decided to have them. Filming dates are not something they routinely provide and I don't know any source for this information elsewhere. --76.69.117.217 (talk) 05:51, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

The link to this person's eBay auctions is also dead. I'd look somewhere else.OldTimeNESter (talk) 17:56, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

Problems with Windows 10

The other day I looked at the article Criticism of Windows 10 to see whether other people have the problems that I am having, and found none of them. So I made a list of them on the talk page, asking whether anybody can give references for these things so we can put them in the article (see my list). My talk page entry was immediately deleted by a certain person on the grounds that I was using the talk page as a forum. I protested that she didn't have the right to do that, and in the end took it to the Administrators' noticeboard. Someone there (see Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive972#Removal of a request on the Talk page of Criticism of Windows 10 suggested I bring up my request here. I'm not sure it's appropriate here, but I'm following his advice. Please Ping me if you answer! Eric Kvaalen (talk) 07:53, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

Hi.

You are in the right place.

However, correctly asking your question is an art. First, you should copy and paste your list here. Having people hunt for it reduces your chance of a getting reply. Second, you should filter out non-question items. For example, the following is not a question: "Windows 10 came with a Mail app that is a disaster. I won't bother saying what's wrong with it because of course you don't have to use it. I managed to get Windows Live Mail to work instead." Third, you should avoid linking to drama, such as ANI. It makes people dismiss your question as something with ulterior motivations.

Finally, you are in the weakest of the right places. As I told you, asking it in Microsoft Answers, TechNet Forum or Superuser.com is much more helpful. However, judging by your list, you are in serious need of technical support. That, and a good book about Windows 10 and its features. You could use some familiarity with new features of the operating system.

Best regards,
Codename Lisa (talk) 10:28, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

It turns out there are people like me in this Universe. I opened up this Computer Desk with a resolution to complain about Microsoft and Windows 10. This is one of them. I have Google browser on my desktop. I prefer Google. I click on the icon and Google browser shows up. I enter a web address in the top narrow window and click CR. I get a white screen with a few sentences. I give you an example when I tried to open The Wall Street Journal front page[1]. This is what I see.

• Hmmm...can’t reach this page
• Try this
• Make sure you’ve got the right web address: https://www.wsj.com
• Search for "https://www.wsj.com" on Bing
• Refresh the page

Of course it is a lie. IT IS A LIE. I click on this link now and get a bunch of various ads and links which I better avoid using, but the "https://www.wsj.com" is one of them and finally I get my newspaper after jumping through some hoops. Why does Microsoft do it? Because they make money on their own advertisement on Bing but not when the ads appear in Google. Is it a result of the fact that the Internet Fairness act has been repealed?

The problem when the whole computer freezes with overload by advertisements is simply an icing on this rotten cake. AboutFace 22 (talk) 21:02, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

This isn't the right place to complain about anything. The closes I can see in what you say would be to rephrase as why does your computer freeze when you do xyz. Dmcq (talk) 19:18, 29 December 2017 (UTC)

The problem is in your computer, not in Win10. First, 2Gb is quite low for Windows 10. I recommend 4 GB minimum. Second, your hard drive may be not in good shape. You should check it for errors. Third, you may have some malware installed. You should check your computer using an antivirus software. Ruslik_Zero 19:31, 29 December 2017 (UTC)

I find that 4GB is quite small - in my experience, it spends a lot of time swapping memory to HD with only 4GB. I would certainly go beyond 4GB. At least add 4GB to get to 6GB and at least 8GB will be better. Personally, I have a minimum of 16GB, but that is me. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:42, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

Do you have Defragmenter turned off? Have you defragmented recently? Fragmented files can significantly increase launch times and file retrieval time from the hard disk. To check your setting and run the defragmenter: Click Start button; scroll to Windows Administrative Tools and click it; click Defragment and Optimize Drives. My experience is that every time Win10 downloads and installs a really big update, as it did recently, Defragmenter must be run very soon after, apparently because many existing files are moved in fragmented fashion so that the update files can be installed unfragmented. Akld guy (talk) 00:46, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

@Eric Kvaalen: Pinging as you requested to ensure you don't miss the replies! You should better hope mw:Extension:StructuredDiscussions to be adopted on pages like this when it leaves beta and gets deployed in enwiki. It takes care of notifying users, you see! :) - - Kaartic ^{correct me, if i'm wrong} 12:49, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

@Akld guy, if your suggestion about defragmenting was aimed at me, then NO, my disks are all 0% fragmented. AboutFace 22 (talk) 16:26, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

This is Eric again. I will answer here to all the above. First of all (to Codename Lisa) the person who advised me to put my question here said I should make it much shorter. So I just put a link to my list instead of listing all the problems again. And my question was not "How can I solve these probllems", (though I wouldn't mind someone telling me if he or she knows how to solve one or more of these problems), my question was do other people have these problems and if so what can we use as sources to modify the Criticism of Windows 10 article! I think it's really bad on the part of Microsoft to give us such a rotten Mail app with Windows 10. It would do things like committing suicide (disappearing from my tasks) when I was in the middle of writing a letter! (I had closed my laptop to take a train, and when I woke it up that Mail app was closed and my letter had vanished.) I had used Windows Live Mail in the past, and they sent me an e-mail saying it would no longer work with Hotmail. Which after a year or two of suffering with the Windows 10 app I discovered was a lie – you just have to configure the mail server in Windows Live Mail a bit differently! Finally Lisa, the reason I linked to "ANI" was that I didn't think putting this question here was the right thing to do, so I was giving my excuse for doing it.

Oh, and Lisa, as to me being in serious need of technical support, I mentioned that I have had these problems from Day One. It's not due to viruses or something. (Maybe some of the problems are due to the McAfee that came with the computer, but only part of the problems.) And what do I need to study the new features for? I just want to use my laptop for Internet browsing, text processing, mail, and spreadsheets. As I would do decades ago with Windows 3 just fine.

Now, Ruslik0, I don't know whether you were writing for me or for AboutFace 22. I'm the one who has only 2 Gibibytes of RAM. I once had a computer with 4, but otherwise I've always had 2 or less. (Much less in the olden days!) And the versions of Windows I had then worked better. Bubba73, I don't see why I should have a lot of RAM when I'm not doing anything in particular. It's as though they've made Windows much less efficient. I'd be surprised if my hard drive has errors. As I have said, I've had these problems form the very beginning of using this computer. Same thing for malware. (Note added later: I've just tried checking my disk for errors and I immediately get a message that says "You don't need to scan this drive. We haven't found any errors on this drive. You can still scan this drive if you want.")

Akld guy, I never turned off any defragmenter. But of course a fragmented disk wouldn't be the explanation for why I had these problems when I first got this computer and put Windows 10 on it. My disk is mostly empty. Anyway, I've just checked the way you suggested, and it says my partitions are 0% or 1% fragmented, and "scheduled optimization" is "on", with frequency "weekly".

And Kaartic, thanks for Pinging me. No one else did.

Eric Kvaalen (talk) 20:32, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

Windows 10 will run with 2GB but even Microsoft recommends 4GB. You say that the old versions of Windows worked better. having more RAM will help a Windows 10 computer.

Here are two YouTube videos.

• video 1
• video 2

The first one compares 4, 8, and 16 GB. Sometimes extra RAM makes essentially no difference but sometimes it makes a huge difference. It recommends 8GB. The second video discusses it, but I haven't watched the whole thing. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 21:14, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

The complaint list has indicators that RAM isn't the problem here. On similar hardware, Windows 10 is faster than Windows 7 (but slower than Windows 8); that's a fact. Furthermore, the complaint list mentions high CPU and disk I/O traffic. While the I/O traffic by System can be attributed to paging, high CPU usage and high disk I/O by other processes cannot be alleviated by more RAM.

In addition, the complaint list says the system sometimes comes to full halt; the Start menu does not open smoothly and File Explorer doesn't launch reasonably fast. And the context menu doesn't appear on command either. All of this point either software bloat or malware infection. Even on a system with the minimum hardware requirements, Windows responds smoothly. Finall, the Alt Tab complaint is very suspicious; it either means something has hijacked it or Eric is running a very old version of Windows 10 (maybe a beta version).

Also, there are other things to consider: The user in question delays coming here; when he comes here, he is not actively watching the thread for an answer; he'd rather talk back than cooperate in solving the problem. Therefore, I am not ruling out that this whole hoopla is just for throwing mud at Windows 10. Mind you, I am not saying I am against it. I am saying Wikipedia is not a battleground.

Best regards,
Codename Lisa (talk) 09:50, 31 December 2017 (UTC)

@Bubba73: Thanks. The first video concludes, "If you're using your computer just for gaming, 8GB is the best option. Hoever, if you're doing a lot of video editing, converting, file compressing and such, you should definitely get 16 GB RAM." Well, I don't do any of that! The second one is about whether 8 or 16 is needed for gaming. Well, I don't play games either. So I didn't bother to listen to the other 19 minutes.

@Codename Lisa: I'm glad to see someone (you) agrees with me that low RAM can't explain many of my problems. See Talk:Criticism of Windows 10 where someone else suggested that, and my reply. I was using Windows 7 with 2G of RAM from 2011 to 2014, and did not have the kinds of problems I'm having now.

I don't see how I can have software bloat or malware infection. I have only installed a few things like Firefox, VLC, and LibreOffice, and these problems started immediately when I installed Windows 10 on this new (at the time) computer. It had McAfee preinstalled as well (free for a couple months I think).

I am not running an "old version of Windows 10"! I get all the updates.

I did ask people to Ping me when they answered, and no one did except one guy who was nice enough to Ping me even though he didn't have anything to add to the discussion! I do have a life, other than arguing about Windows 10 after all. I admit that I didn't come here to solve my computer problems. I came here on the recommendation of someone at the Administrators' noticeboard in order to pursue my question of whether other people have these problems, and if so do we have some references.

Eric Kvaalen (talk) 12:53, 1 January 2018 (UTC)

Hello again.

You wrote: "I don't see how I can have software bloat". Well, you said it yourself. Earlier, you wrote: "I've noticed using the Task Manager that it loads all kinds of things that I never use". What you are describing in this sentence is called "software bloat", i.e. unwanted software being on your system.

Alright, let's see if I can help you.

First thing, first: Please tell us the full version number of your Windows 10. To get it, open the Run... dialog box (⊞ Win R) and issue a winver command. The first top two lines of black text should read like this:

Microsoft Windows
Version 1703 (OS Build 15063.786)

In your case the second line may say something different. That's the info that I need.

Second, please open Task Manager, go to the Startup tab, disable everything you see there, and restart your system. Then, tell us the result. Maybe you lose functionality; maybe not. Also, the name of the make and model of your laptop would help lot.

Best regards,
Codename Lisa (talk) 14:07, 1 January 2018 (UTC)

@Codename Lisa: See lower down. Eric Kvaalen (talk) 15:59, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

Nevertheless, Windows runs better with 4GB than it does with 2GB and better with 8GB than with 4GB. Memory sticks of 2GB are so small that they are useless to me. I give them away. I'd send you some for free if I still had some. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 16:38, 1 January 2018 (UTC)

One thing - if you have the 32-bit version, 4GB is the maximum. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 19:22, 1 January 2018 (UTC)

Thanks, Bubba73 and Lisa. Bubba, my computer is 64-bit. (Which I think is the reason I can't run a lot of old programs...)

Lisa, I just restarted my computer because it was behaving real bad, so now it's all right. The things in Startup of Task Manager are:

1. OneDrive
2. Realtek HD Audio Manager
3. Skype
4. SpotifyWebHelper
5. SrvMod
6. Windows Defender notification icon

I'm sure I can get rid of OneDrive, but I think I would rather have Skype start up, and the others I don't know whether they're needed or not. I have no idea what they do.

Anyway, the version number which you asked for is 1709 (OS Build 16299.125). Why do different people have different versions if the updates are automatic?

When you said software bloat, I thought you meant that I had installed too much stuff. If you're talking about stuff that Windows 10 gives me by default, then that's what I call a legitimate thing to criticize.

Eric Kvaalen (talk) 17:29, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

Hi.

That's very strange to say the least. You seem to have a well-updated system and there are not many startup programs, yet you are suffering severe peformance problems and abberent behavior? I wish I could get a crack at examining your system up close.

As for this question: "Why do different people have different versions if the updates are automatic?" Different people may be on different servicing branches, e.g. CB, CBB, or LTSB. Also, some systems may not meet the requirements for major updates. For example, very old and very slow systems won't get Fall Creators update. But your system seems to have passed the eligibility test. That means you must have a fast responsive system like all my systems. Like I said, I love to examine your system up close and find out why you don't.

As for things that you don't use but get run: Press ⊞ Win X and select "Apps and Features". Then uninstall everything you don't use. (You mentioned Twitter.) Oh, and by the way, Microsoft Store has its own automatic update mechanism that you disable. I have done so mayself. Every month I have nearly 38 updates. I manually do 20 or so of them only. Things that I don't use (and are integrated into Windows) never get updated, like Xbox, Xbox Game bar, Groove Music, Movies and TV, Voice Recorder, Paint 3D.

Best regards,
Codename Lisa (talk) 07:39, 4 January 2018 (UTC)

Regarding IMDB

Is there a way I can contact the people who run the IMDB? 50.68.252.153 (talk) 09:22, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

Have you tried http://www.imdb.com/helpdesk/contact ? --Phil Holmes (talk) 10:11, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

In Wikia, searching all pages that are in two categories

In a Wikia website like http://disney.wikia.com/ , is there any way to search all pages that are simultaneously in two categories? --Daniel Carrero (talk) 22:14, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

Search for a random string that doesn't have a result. Click on the Advanced link to the right-hand side of the page. In the revealed area, click the Sections you wish to search in. LongHairedFop (talk) 14:14, 29 December 2017 (UTC)