Revision as of 18:35, 4 July 2016

• Computing
• Entertainment
• Humanities
• Language
• Mathematics
• Science
• Miscellaneous
• Archives

• WP:RD/C

Main page: Help searching Misplaced Pages

How can I get my question answered?

• Select the section of the desk that best fits the general topic of your question (see the navigation column to the right).
• Post your question to only one section, providing a short header that gives the topic of your question.
• Type '~~~~' (that is, four tilde characters) at the end – this signs and dates your contribution so we know who wrote what and when.
• Don't post personal contact information – it will be removed. Any answers will be provided here.
• Please be as specific as possible, and include all relevant context – the usefulness of answers may depend on the context.
• Note:
  • We don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice.
  • We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate.
  • We don't do your homework for you, though we'll help you past the stuck point.
  • We don't conduct original research or provide a free source of ideas, but we'll help you find information you need.

How do I answer a question?

Main page: Misplaced Pages:Reference desk/Guidelines

• The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.

• Teahouse
• Help desk
• Village pump
• Help manual

June 28

Windows 10 upgrade assistant thingy

I can't seem to be able to find a working download link for the assistant that tells you whether or not some of your apps or drivers will work with W10. (I believe it even deletes them without your permission) I remember having uninstalled the annoying white Microsoft tray icon, though. When it comes to Windows Update, I only have the option for "Upgrade to Windows 10 Home". Any ideas? Even the hyperlinks to the- upgrade assistant are redirecting to upgrading-now-without-testing-before pages. The deadline is prompting me to upgrade, that and DX12. Don't really care about the privacy implications. Matt714 (talk) 10:00, 28 June 2016 (UTC)

Chances are that if you have find waiting until now you can as well stay with version 7 - or you'll find you're losing some usefull keyboard alternatives for mouse-clicking and contextual menus, and will want to disable some or the other to you superfluous services (Skype.. whatever); I did not find however that drivers and apps were affected: UI, and low-level tweaks only. Upgrades of other levels are routinely propagated to version 7 it seems. If you upgrade and want to keep a familiar touch and feel grab the custom setup when proceeding (I did not, had to haunt the system parameters for a while and I'm still at it sometimes). --Askedonty (talk) 10:38, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Picasa

File:Jaques Jarrige at work.jpg has no information in the Metadata section, except for

Software used = Picasa
Exif version = 2.2

Does this mean that someone uploaded an image to Picasa and edited it, and then someone (whether the uploader or someone else) downloaded the edited image from Picasa and uploaded it to Commons? Moreover, the image was uploaded this month, some while after Picasa was closed; do images edited in its replacement, Google Photos, include references to Picasa in their metadata? Someone's claiming that the image is a copyvio, and the near-total lack of metadata makes me more sympathetic toward that claim, but I want to make sure I'm understanding things correctly before I go any farther. Nyttend (talk) 21:07, 28 June 2016 (UTC)

PS, I've just found the image at and am about to delete it; the image in question is at the left end of the page, with him looking to the right (his left) while holding a string-like object with his ring-wearing hand, which is visible at far left. Nyttend (talk) 21:12, 28 June 2016 (UTC)

June 29

Median of medians - mutual recursion

Hello,

According to the wikipedia article, when we want to find the median of medians in the procedure pivot(list, left, right), we use mutual recursion to call select(list, left, right, n) procedure. Why don't we recurse on the procedure pivot() instead? Thanks, 212.179.21.194 (talk) 06:59, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

remove security device from network map

Hello,

I have a Swann DVR for some security cameras. When i go to the "Network" folder in windows, it shows up as an "Other Device" named "SWANN (IP Address)".

I would like to be able to connect to this device using its ip address, which i know, but NOT have it show up in the network map. Is this possible?

216.173.144.188 (talk) 13:21, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

Probably (maybe by telling it not to communicate over NetBIOS) but it doesn't make anything more secure. Any malicious agent with access to your LAN will just dump traffic and/or port scan the whole LAN to find out what's on it. --71.110.8.102 (talk) 17:14, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

The presumption here is that the LAN is safe against outside attackers generally. This is more a concern for someone with physical access, presuming they aren't keen enough to have software to do what you suggest.

216.173.144.188 (talk) 17:47, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

What is your threat model? What are you hoping to accomplish by making the device not appear in the network map? --71.110.8.102 (talk) 18:07, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

I thought this was spelled out pretty well. What i hope to accomplish is to remove the device from the network map, to lessen the threat coming from someone who could gain physical access, but perhaps doesn't have the technical know-how to do ip scans and things of the like.

Does anyone know if my original question is possible? 216.173.144.188 (talk) 14:28, 30 June 2016 (UTC)

You could turn off "network discovery" on your computer, but it's pretty trivial to turn it back on.I doubt there is an easy way to do this in a "home network". You would probably need to put the swann behind a switch on a different subnetwork or something, from what I've seen "home routers" don't support multiple subnets. Doesn't your swann device have a password? Vespine (talk) 23:16, 30 June 2016 (UTC)

It does have a password. Hiding it from the network map alltogether is just a nice added measure... noone on any PC on the network would even know it exists to be accessed in that way. Perhaps subnetting is possible. 216.173.144.188 (talk) 12:55, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Phrase “autocomplete”, or rather: Automatic phrase continuation suggestions, application for Windows 7 ?

I seem to remember that in the early versions of Writer, the word processor in OpenOffice.org (and LibreOffice.org?), there was a “Phrase autocomplete”, or rather: an “Automatic phrase continuation suggestion feature”. I believe it used the last few hundred (or few thousand) words you had typed in, to make it's predictions.
I want this feture, for example in notepad.exe, as a typing aid to save time when typing in texts where some text strings (words and/or phrase parts), and variants of them, tend to be often repeated.
Q: Are there any free software (/shareware) solutions available today to do this in Windows 7 ?
--Seren-dipper (talk) 22:07, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

Notepad++ has a feature like this ("Auto-Completion" in the preferences), but it only suggests single words, and only words in the same document (regardless of recency). -- BenRG (talk) 04:46, 30 June 2016 (UTC)

@BenRG In most cases I will need the predictions to be based on at least all the other text files in the same folder, or folder tree, (not just the open document), but Notepad++ "Auto-complete" surely will be somewhat helpful (for typing the words in longer, single, text files), so thanks for the tip!, but it's not quite what I need.
--Seren-dipper (talk) 11:10, 30 June 2016 (UTC)

June 30

White-hat Gray-hat hacking

Suppose you've been wrongfully blocked from a social network for expressing legitimate political views -- is there any known technique by which you can unblock yourself against their will? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B (talk) 09:17, 30 June 2016 (UTC)

Unlike Misplaced Pages, twitter and most (all?) other social networks can block anyone for any reason or for no reason at all. Your question about block evasion is enough to get you kicked off of every major social network. Major websites generally have good enough security to stop you from doing what you want to do. Why not get your own web page where you can express any opinion you wish and where you can be the person doing the blocking? --Guy Macon (talk) 15:44, 30 June 2016 (UTC)

A word of advice: If you continue expressing your views, and confront everyone who doesn't agree with you or points out a mistake in your reasoning, you will most likely be blocked for being disruptive. ThePlatypusofDoom (Talk) 00:56, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

July 1

Why my laptop batterie does not work?

Hello,I have an HP Elite book and The battery does not work as usual I need to keep the charger connected to the PC or it will turn off

Regards Fathima — Preceding unsigned comment added by 183.83.53.90 (talk) 11:37, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

I've removed the link to your business, as it doesn't help others answer your question, and sure looks like you're actually intending to advertise that business. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 11:47, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Unfortunately, rechargeable batteries will lose their capacity over time. This process is sped up if the battery is exposed to lots of heat, and sadly that is exactly what happens in laptops. I don't know what happened to your specific battery, but if you've noticed that the length of time you can use the battery on one charge has slowly gotten smaller, leading to this situation where you now can barely use it, odds are that what i am explaining is what happened. If this is the case, your best bet is to look around for a replacement.

216.173.144.188 (talk) 12:59, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

It could also be that the charger is broken, if it runs directly off wall power, versus off the battery being charged by wall power. StuRat (talk) 17:43, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

I think Stu means the internal circuitry controlling charging, since the Switched-mode power supply external charger is clearly operating correctly if it reliably runs your laptop when connected. Dbfirs 11:21, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

Correct. StuRat (talk) 15:25, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

Mathematica's pricing model

Mathematica has a license price for industry that costs thousands, and a home license for some hundred. What makes people pay x times more? Couldn't people just buy a home license and compete professionally against those honest people who paid thousands for their licenses? --Hofhof (talk) 17:37, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Is the home license version identical ? Typically home software versions can't be used on as many workstations and/or have limited functionality. StuRat (talk) 17:41, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Here is the breakdown between the two versions and here is an FAQ about the differences. Looking at the differences, I suppose there's not much keeping a business from buying the home edition so long as they register it to an individual and pay with a non-corporate credit card or the like. clpo13_(talk) 18:46, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Yes, until they find out and sue you. The answer is the same as the answer to the general question: "Couldn't people just do illegal activity X and compete professionally against those honest people who obeyed the law?" --71.110.8.102 (talk) 19:06, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

I wonder if the home edition marks the output somehow, but cannot image how.

The part of having to find you and sue you makes the pricing model kind of awkward. They created an enticing loophole. I suppose they did the math and the scheme turns profitable to them though. After all they have Mathematica.--Hofhof (talk) 12:19, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

We have an article on software licensing audit, explaining how businesses verify that they are complying with license requirements. In many cases, such an audit is mandatorily enforced by external authorities like governments or representatives of the business financiers and investors. In other words, it is difficult to cheat - at least, on a large scale. Nimur (talk) 14:18, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

If I were to use the home edition to design something that I then sell on Shapeways, it's not obvious how they could detect my transgression through "marked output". (But I haven't bought it, because that's my most likely use.) —Tamfang (talk) 01:01, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

The answer is simple. Mathematica program is a tool like a nail gun. If you work in the industry, you would (or your company would) pay thousands of dollars for that tool and it would be tax deductible as a work tool. If you instead buy a home edition of that tool, then you cannot claim tax deductibility and can be charge with violation of licence. If you work in the industry, you would be paid thousands of dollars in earnings and you would be able to afford that tool. 110.22.20.252 (talk) 23:05, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

The real problem with Mathematica is not that you have to pay $2745 for a work tool but that you can ONLY install it on one machine even though only one person is using it. So you cannot install it on one machine at work and one laptop at home even if you are the only person using it. It is a per machine licence and not a per user licence which kinda sucks. 110.22.20.252 (talk) 23:14, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

Additionally, software licenses frequently come with "support" so that a professional license probably includes better support and more of it. Part of what made M$ so successful is their software support model which most enterprise companies in the world, including the one I work for, are willing to pay a premium to take part in. Vespine (talk) 04:10, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

WinRAR

I’m wishing to use WinRAR. I know how to Add to __________ and Extract Files…, Extract Here, Extract to __________, by 'right clicking' the mouse. What I’d like to know, when you drag n drop 'files and or folders' out of the WinRAR 'folder window', it saves the content(s) to another location first as it opens up a 'processing window', that’s if it’s a large volume - from what I recall...

1. Where does it open up and saves first? – Definitely somewhere in the “User Folder” from what I recall.
2. Can I delete the stuff from point (1) – reason for asking, as I recall, sometimes I cancel some big files and or folders, due to it taking a long time to complete...

Can someone help me please? -- Apostle (talk) 18:32, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

These files are saved in the temp folder, usually accessible on Windows by typing %temp% into a file explorer window. The exact location is C:\Users\<your name>\AppData\Local\Temp on Windows 7. These files are safe to delete, though some may be locked by running processes and can be deleted after a restart. (more info: ) clpo13_(talk) 18:39, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Okay thanks. -- Apostle (talk) 11:36, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

What do you guys suggest I do? E.g., save files and folders in a WinRAR folder, drag n drop whatever I wish to use, to another folder whenever I wish to use it, then drag n drop it back into the WinRAR folder... - Is this even a good method/way to keep files appropriately/in small measuers...? -- Apostle (talk) 11:36, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

Probably not. It depends what you actually want to achieve. Disk (and other storage) space is generally cheap (to most people), and zipping things up to save room smacks of desperation. A 3Tb hard drive is around $100; few users have files that will fill that. Another cheap sorage option is writing to blu-ray disks, which can store 25Gb for around $1 each - lots of PCs already have a BD-writer; if not, those can be bought for about $50. Or maybe you have DVD-R, which store 4.7Gb.

There are some reasons why people zip up files - conveniently packaging lots of stuff into one single file, and such. But the question really is, why do you want to zip things in the first place? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.20.193.222 (talk) 14:15, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

Agreed. In my experience, files get put into RAR and ZIP archives to make them easier to upload/download, either across the net or onto some kind of storage medium. The amount of compression on stuff like JPGs and most video files is quite small anyway as they're essentially pre-compressed. In fact, I've sometimes found that zipping actually increases the total files size. Matt Deres (talk) 17:37, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

Okay. Now I know why I should use it for... Thank you both. Regards. -- Apostle (talk) 18:28, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

July 2

Windows Media Player

I possess wmploc.dll file. How do I activate it? - Step by step guide sought please. -- Apostle (talk) 19:03, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

See Dynamic-link library. It is not possible for you to activate a .dll file, because as the article says, "It is not possible to directly execute a DLL, since it requires an EXE for the operating system to load it through an entry point..." Akld guy (talk) 21:12, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

Did you download it from one of those web sites that offers free downloads of DLL files, in the hope of using it to solve some problem? If so, what was the original problem? Don't ever use those sites. -- BenRG (talk) 23:53, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

Okay, thanks guys. -- Apostle (talk) 04:59, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

This is where I downloaded from. Let me know how to achieve this software, along with the desktop and its icons please, if possible. Regards. -- Apostle (talk) 04:59, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

When I tried downloading the file from that site, it displayed the message "copy file in Windows/system 32 and replace it!" at the bottom of the browser, so that (i.e. copy the file wmploc.dll to C:\windows\system32, replacing the version that is currently there) is presumably what you need to do. However, be aware that a DLL is essentially executable code, so (as BenRG warns) there is a risk of viruses or other malware if you do this. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 11:02, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

Windows Media Player should run the dll automatically if you replaced the old dll that it formerly used. Dbfirs 11:13, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

Can't copy and replace it. My PC is being mean as usual. -- Apostle (talk) 18:19, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

Are you logged on with administrator privileges? Dbfirs 09:30, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

I’m the administrator, well, it’s what I believe. After the first re-installation, I only created a Login account, that’s all. -- Apostle (talk) 18:33, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

July 3

Copy and Replace

What does the entitled ‘’feature’’ do?

a) Copy’s/adds whatever that is not there - reason for asking because I recall something in Win XP that does this.

b) Deletes the old file and replaces it with the new one

Apostle (talk) 18:35, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

If you try to copy or move a file to a place where there is already a file of that name, you will be warned and asked whether you want to replace the existing file. If you choose to do so, the existing file is not deleted but is simply overwritten. There is no need to delete data before writing the new data - the process of overwriting erases every trace of what already existed. Your question was a bit unclear but I think that was what you were driving at. Akld guy (talk) 19:59, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

Just to clarify, I'm assuming bite size will remain the same for the file and the location volume you are overwriting on, right? It won't add extra because its being overwritten...? Are you aware of the indexing issue? -- Apostle (talk) 18:35, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

Managing photos on iPhone and ipad

This ought to be really straightforward but I'm completely stuck and reading forum posts, I don't think I'm the only one. I have an iPhone 5 and an iPad. The phone storage is full. I have photos on there that I want to keep. The iPad has spare storage capacity. How do I get the photos onto the iPad and make sure they are stored there, so that I can then delete them from the phone? I have Bluetooth and airdrop enabled on both. The iPad doesn't appear in the phone's AirDrop for some reason. Would particularly appreciate advice from someone who also has an iPhone and iPad and does this regularly. 81.97.236.216 (talk) 19:19, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

I'm guessing you do not sync your 2 devices to the same itunes? It would be pretty easy to sync your photos into itunes and then out onto your ipad. That's how I do it. 04:05, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

Also, the most basic troubleshooting, do you have wifi AND Bluetooth enabled on both devices? I believe airdrop relies on both so if you don't have Bluetooth enabled on both devices, airdrop won't work. Vespine (talk) 05:53, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

July 4

Unix program head

Head is a unix program that shows the first n lines of a text file. But I want is to ignore the first 5 lines of a text file and show all the other lines in the text file. I cannot make head and tail to work the way I want (pun intended). Please help. 175.45.116.105 (talk) 00:21, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

tail -n +6 foo.txt --Tagishsimon (talk) 00:38, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

Bot program

Hello if anyone wanna help me then please write a program for me to make a bot. NepaliKeto62 02:45, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

People have already written numerous automation libraries for Mediawiki that can be used to make bots if you have a bit of programming knowledge. Look at Misplaced Pages:Creating a bot. There are also programs for semi-automated editing. And nothing personal, but the Reference Desk is intended for non-Misplaced Pages-related questions. If you have additional questions, you'll probably get more attention at the Teahouse or help desk. See also Misplaced Pages:Questions. --71.110.8.102 (talk) 05:18, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

30-day buffering on a CAPTCHA

Trying to submit a question to https://answers.usgs.gov, I made a mistake with the CAPTCHA, and the system told me here was a problem with your form submission. Please wait 2592000 seconds and try again 86,400 seconds equals a day; 2,592,000 is a full thirty days. If we ignore unintentional typos and matters unknowable to outsiders (internal politics, webmaster's desire to reduce contact emails, etc.), why would anyone require you to wait a full month between CAPTCHA failures? Also, what's the term I'm looking for, the term that denotes the waiting period imposed between attempts to solve a CAPTCHA or a password? Finally, the text of my question appears below; it's basically for my own sake (so I can re-attempt to contact them in the future), so you can ignore it.

Thanks! Nyttend (talk) 12:33, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

"rate limiting" -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 12:50, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

I can't think of any good reason. Rate limiting (on an IP or login-cookie) basis goes some way to limiting brute force attempts by bots (e.g. ones with a low but non-zero probability of solving the CAPTCHA scheme) - but these can always delete cookies and shift IP addresses - but that only makes sense with timeouts of the order of a few seconds. I think the software has been misconfigured. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 13:20, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

KiCad problem

I gave KiCad a spin but the interface icons are too small for me, to the point of making the whole program unusable. Is this a bug in KiCad? Or did I misconfigure it somehow? Or is this sort of minimalist look just fashionable in the electronic design automation industry? Crudiv1 (talk) 13:58, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

That screenshot resolution is very high. If you didn't upscale it for some reason, and it doesn't look upscaled, you should bear in mind if you're using a 4K 24" inch monitor or something that support for such high PPI monitors can be quite variable. To me, the screeshot looks like it would be fine, if used on a more normal PPI monitor viewed from normal viewing distances (both of which are unlikely but the point stands). Notably, cross-platform APIs may have poor support if they were mostly designed for one platform and just do the same thing on other platforms and no one even bothered to deal with PPI issues. I don't know what OS you're using but since you shouldn't need pixel level accuracy for KiCad you may be able to find someway to fix it albeit with an uglier looking program. Nil Einne (talk) 16:01, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

• Pages automatically checked for accidental language links
• Misplaced Pages help forums
• Misplaced Pages reference desk