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March 27

email on Surface RT

Earlier this month my daughter got a Surface RT. She says that there is an email program but it doesn't work with our ISP. Is there a way to get it to use our ISP? Or is there an email program she can download that will work with our ISP? Or is there a different server that will work with the Surface RT email program? (She doesn't want to use web-based email.) Bubba73 00:32, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

As to the first part of your question, seemingly "no". Most clients use Post Office Protocol (or sometimes IMAP) to access email on mail servers. For Surface RT, Microsoft says the mail app "doesn't support adding email accounts that use POP". Their only suggestion, bar webmail, is "look for an app" in their store that does do POP. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 00:44, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

Incidentally this eWeek story claims this particular deficiency is the cause of many Surface RT returns, and says that as of the start of this month "There are no third-party email apps that support POP". I can't actually find the darn App Store myself to search to see if that's true. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 00:50, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

The Windows Store. Bubba73 01:22, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

Actually the story doesn't say it is the cause. It says it likely is. In other words, they appear to be randomly speculating on the cause, with no actual evidence (it doesn't sound like they even asked one store if they had any returns for the reason). There could be plenty of other reasons for the returns, e.g. people not being aware of the lack of a proper desktop (since you can't install such apps other then Office), people not being aware it can't support x86 apps, people who find the tablet crap etc. BTW, I couldn't find any POP supporting clients in the Windows Store. As mentioned by the story you can set up a number of providers like Gmail and Outlook.com to download POP email from other providers. So one option is to use such a provider which also provides IMAP support for access to your mail (like Gmail) or perhaps Exchange Activesync (like Outlook.com I think). Nil Einne (talk) 01:55, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

IMAP has been popular and preferred over POP for a long time now - has she double-checked with her ISP that there is no IMAP server she can connect to? 38.111.64.107 (talk) 12:33, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

It seems not, see this. Bubba73 16:17, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Vimeo hosted video, access denial

Hi-- this self-proclaimed internet broadcaster uses Vimeo to host their videos. They claim half a million people watched the trailer to the current episode on Brampton.

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/62519592?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="760" height="427" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>

Is there any way to see even their channel, let alone the video? -- Zanimum (talk) 13:23, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

No. This appears to be a feature of Vimeo's 'PRO Membership': "As a Vimeo PRO member, your account and your videos are automatically hidden from Vimeo.com since PRO allows for commercial use." - Cucumber Mike (talk) 22:08, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

Darn it. Thanks! -- Zanimum (talk) 13:34, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

"SUMMER STORM"

hello Sir, Actually I want to know about the "summer storm" which occurs due to the increasing temperature.How it effects the networking field? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tanubapun (talk • contribs) 18:52, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

First let's consider the signal: High winds can blow down telephone lines where they are mounted on telephone poles. Lightning strikes from electrical storms can also damage them, and attached equipment, or even underground copper wires. Underground fiber optic technology is the safest way to connect your network to protect from storms. As for wireless technologies, lightning can also cause interference in those, and high winds can blow exterior antennae out of position.

Next let's consider electricity: Power is often interrupted and/or surges, due to storms. An uninterruptible power supply with surge protection should be used for critical systems, and at least a surge protector for non-critical systems.

For the most critical system, like the control room in a nuclear power plant, the facility should also be hardened against tornadoes, hurricanes, forest fires, and flooding, depending on location. Backup electrical generators may be needed for long-term power. StuRat (talk) 21:59, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

computer specifications

I'm trying to find out what would be the best sort of computer to get for the software I use, and apparently I want one that, among other things, has a good 'stack memory'? I have no idea what this is, though, or where to find out how different pieces of hardware compare. any help?

Kitutal (talk) 19:11, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

What kind of software is it, and where did you read about "stack memory"? I think there's no such thing. There are stacks, which are stored in memory, but there isn't a special kind of memory for stacks. -- BenRG (talk) 19:53, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

There are special registers and machine language operations that are specifically used for stack manipulations, so in principle there could be differences in their quality for different machines. But beyond that I cannot go. Looie496 (talk) 20:03, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

There is such as thing as "stack memory." Some microprocessors have it. However, I've never heard of it in x86 desktop processors (not saying it doesn't exist; I just don't know about it). (Addendum: I'm guessing whoever told you really meant for you to have a lot of RAM, but that's the best I can do without context.) --Wirbelwind(ヴィルヴェルヴィント) 21:51, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

I think they said I needed it alongside the RAM, I wasn't really paying attention. I guess it doesn't matter. Anyways, now I think I know what I want, just not where to get it. Anyone know where I might find an AMD FX-6350 CPU? none on their website or amazon, do they still sell them anywhere? Kitutal (talk) 22:07, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

'Still'? I'm not even sure they launched properly yet (although some sources claim they've been shipping in OEM computers since October). In any case it sounds like they're OEM only which may explain the difficulty finding them. Nil Einne (talk) 00:05, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

"Cache memory", maybe? -- BenRG (talk) 02:54, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

I thought that at first, but I don't think stacks are implemented in cache. --Wirbelwind(ヴィルヴェルヴィント) 04:13, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

I mean maybe the OP misheard "cache" as "stack", since this was apparently communicated orally. -- BenRG (talk) 05:25, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Any software running on a normal desktop processor won't need anything special for stack memory. A running program will use a part of it's allocated memory as a stack, but there isn't anything you need to worry about for that when selecting a computer. If your software gave you an error about being out of stack memory, you can probably assume that it was out of memory in general. That is usually a sign that you're asking the program to do more than it can handle, or it has run into a bug that causes it to eat through memory. Even if you only have a half gig of memory, your operating system will use a page-file to let the program use much, much more, but at the expense of performance.

If you let us know what software in particular you are interested in running we can help you decide what is needed. Since this is a reference desk, I suppose I should point out the best reference is probably the system requirements list for the software you want to run. 38.111.64.107 (talk) 12:17, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

March 28

Vorbis codec for VLAN

An easy question, I hope; I just haven't found anything online (or rather, I've found too many things).

WP only takes ogg audio format, correct? I cannot convert in VLAN, because I lack the codec. Any idea where I can find one?

Thanks — kwami (talk) 07:23, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

http://ffmpeg.org hosts FFMPEG, including a codec library and a command-line tool that can re-encode. Nimur (talk) 09:24, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll check it out. Can one of them be imported into VLAN? — kwami (talk) 18:57, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

If VLAN means VideoLAN, it already ships with Vorbis, so I think your problem must be something else. There's a lot of other transcoding software out there. If you want a GUI application for Windows, foobar2000 is pretty good, and also ships with Vorbis. -- BenRG (talk) 16:15, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

palindrome in a palindrome ?

Hi
does anyone know how to solve this pushdown automaton?
l={w contains a,b,c,n>1,w=R{w}|w^n}
Thank you.Exx8 (talk) 13:24, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Youtube - I can see but cannot hear

I'm having a problem with hearing youtube videos. My speakers are fine, and I can hear videos generally, but ones I access on youtube - complete silence. This has been happening now for about 2 weeks. I've tried everything I can think of; fiddled with every sound setting I know; looked on Help for similar problems, but all I see is a bunch of people with the same problem I have and nobody's getting any solutions.

Can anyone suggest what I can do to hear youtube videos as well as see them?

Thanks. -- Jack of Oz 13:38, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Can we assume that you've tried everything at http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=58132 ? If so, and if you have (or can download) VLC Media Player, you could try this. If the streams work through VLC, that pretty much narrows it down to an issue with Flash on your browser. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 13:57, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Instruction 2 says "Adjust the volume control located in the lower left corner of the YouTube Video Player". I assume this refers to the screen I get when I access any utubular video. It has a microphone icon at the lower left of the screen. The only settings are Mute and Unmute. I cannot adjust the volume any other way. If I right click, I get a Settings tab, but it contains no options for volume control. So, how come I'm missing this adjustment capacity?

I have the most recent version of Adobe Flash. Would uninstalling and reinstalling it do any good? -- Jack of Oz 21:45, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

(Blush) Stop the presses. Problem solved. I'm too embarrassed to admit what I was overlooking. Thanks for your help. -- Jack of Oz 21:49, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Ok, now I'm intrigued... - Cucumber Mike (talk) 21:52, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

OK, I'm not too proud. Allow me to bare my soul for your delectation. When I hover over the microphone icon, there's a red scroll bar. Immediately to its right is the digital clock counting away the seconds. Because of that proximity, I misread that scroll bar as the same thing as the red scroll bar above, the one that shows how far into the video you're at, at any point in time. I spectacularly failed to notice that the top scroll bar has a circle thing that moves along but the bottom one has a bar that never moves unless pushed by the user. In fact, it didn't register with me that they were even different things. In my so-called mind, there was just the one scroll bar, and it had nothing to do with volume control.

I comfort myself with the assertion that I cannot possibly be the first person to have made this mistake. Which means I fail Samuel Beckett's dictum: "To be an artist is to fail as no others dare fail". But I have failed magnificently, and that shall be my solace any my consolation. (You may now all cease your pathetic sniggering and get on with what you're paid for.) -- Jack of Oz 22:22, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

What algorithm do browsers use to interpret HTML colors?

I understand that the standard system of Web colors is a hex number with each pair of digits corresponding to red, green, or blue, and that there's also a set of color names you can use, like "limegreen". But I've found that any string can be put into bgcolor="COLOR", and not all such strings are the same color. For example, "rainbow" is a shade of green and "chris" is red. The results seem consistent across browsers. How is the browser determining the corresponding color? ± Lenoxus (" *** ") 15:35, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Hmm, I didn't know that. Experimenting, it seems to work only on the body tag and only with bgcolor html attribute, not with a CSS background-color specification and not on another tag like a div. Further, it's not just picking out valid hex chars, and not the first few letters - it does seem to be some kind of summing algorithm. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:03, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Per below, it is picking only hex chars, but it's doing so in a way that confused my simple test. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:51, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

I did some digging through the Firefox source code, and the relevant code seems to be NS_LooseHexToRGB in gfx/src/nsColor.cpp, which says it implements the WHATWG recommendation rules for parsing a legacy color value. The significant part is that it trims first from the right (up to 8 chars for each of the 3 components) and then parses leftwards, pulling out upper and lower case hex chars. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:42, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

What ho! NS_ASSERTION in Gecko source-code? And all these years I had been taken in by the propaganda during the browser-wars, and the virulent rantings of pro-whatever-engine advocates, on the assumption that each rendering engine was somehow distinct! Only to discover, on closer inspection, that WebKit and Gecko are mostly the same source-code? At least I can rest assured knowing (speculating) that Internet Explorer's closed-source Trident uses a completely orthogonal code-base - after all, it would be unthinkable if NeXT had somehow hacked up COM+ for Unix, and even more unthinkable if that source-code were still in use today in major commercial and open-source web browsers... Nimur (talk) 14:35, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

NS stands for Netscape, which was the ancestor of Mozilla/Gecko as you may know. XPCOM was inspired partly by Microsoft's COM, but is used only in Gecko-based browsers and has no connection to NeXT. Nothing else that you wrote makes sense either. Were you confused about which layout engine is which? -- BenRG (talk) 17:40, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Like many non-acronyms, "NS" doesn't stand for anything. But portions of the source-code in question is identical to portions of the source code released as OpenSTEP (circa 1994), and it very probably inherits the "NS" from NeXTSTEP, which also has identical source-code... and existed in 1988, predating Netscape (which incorporated, coincidentally, circa 1994). I have no specific knowledge regarding whether that code was "copied" or "typed entirely separately by a different engineer at a different time, resulting in an identical sequence of characters." Nimur (talk) 19:17, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

There is a WorldWideWeb → libwww → Mosaic → Netscape code lineage, but the NS prefixed symbols didn't come from there. I can find no evidence that they (as opposed to other NS prefixed symbols) are used outside the Mozilla code base. The OpenStep spec, for example, does not define NS_ASSERTION, which is what spawned this strange subthread. Can you please link the alleged duplicate code directly? -- BenRG (talk) 16:07, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

For other striking examples of letters that don't stand for anything, NS also doesn't stand for NeXT/SUN, even though these corporations cooperated to create the library and API; for that matter, SUN Microsystems never stood for the Stanford University Network microterminals, even though that's what they originally were; the SPARC doesn't have anything to do with a collaboration between SUN/Xerox PARC; SRI hasn't been Stanford Research International since the 1970s, and even though Siri was invented there, her name has no connection with any acronym; similar-sounding non-acronym SGI merely acquired Silicon Graphics, Inc. but is a distinct company; and in case any conspiracy theorists want to bring oil companies into this, Esso, despite being marketed by the direct patrilineal descendent of Standard Oil, is just a meaningless but marketable brand name, and is not an acronym. GNU actually stands for "GNU is not Unix. COM+ stands for "Common Object Model and Microsoft Transaction Server." Nimur (talk) 19:43, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Half of this seems to be wrong as well. -- BenRG (talk) 16:07, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Thank you, Finlay McWalter and others! ± Lenoxus (" *** ") 22:42, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

How does bitcoin work?

Hi,
Can anyone explain me simply how does bitcoin work?Exx8 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 16:04, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

The best start is to read the intro to our article on the topic Bitcoin, and then to read the Bitcoin wiki FAQ ( although we don't link it in the article and the site seems to be down right now; google has a cache of it though) which is a good introduction. If you have questions after that, ask them. There are 3 or 4 distinct concepts going on so tackling each in turn is the best way to start. Shadowjams (talk) 16:11, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

A very short explanation for someone just trying to wrap one's head around the basics of it, as I understand it. To make sense of Bitcoin, first you need a slightly better-than-average understanding of what a currency is in the first place:

• All currencies can be considered representations of value. A dollar bill is just a piece of paper with writing on it, but because other people are willing to say it has value, I can use it as a currency and exchange it for something else of value (say, a piece of candy). The value of currency is not always stable — fifty years ago, I could have bought a lot more candy for a dollar than I could today. If everybody turned around tomorrow and said that the dollar has no value at all, then it would just be paper again.
• Most currencies are backed with something else. It used to be, for example, that a dollar's value was backed by a given amount of gold in a bank somewhere. (Currently, the US dollar is a fiat currency, backed only by the assertion that the US government says it has value.) Why gold? Because there is a limited amount of gold in the world, and it is difficult to get, and it is pretty stable as far as worldly objects go. For these reasons gold (and silver, and other precious metals) have long been the basis of currency regimes. If it turned out, tomorrow, that there was an unlimited amount of gold in the world, and it was easy for anyone to get it, gold would lose value very quickly, and be a bad choice for currency.
• OK, if you're with me so far... the idea behind Bitcoin is to use information as a means of backing a currency. The Bitcoins themselves are based on mathematical problems that are hard to solve. So the effort it takes your computer to solve these problems is equivalent to the effort it would take to mine gold. So the answers to the problems are more or less the backing of the currency. There are other aspects to it (e.g. it uses peer-to-peer networking as a means of exchanging and verifying the value of the information, instead of a central bank, and making sure that information isn't counted twice), but that's kind of the basics.
• So why should anyway value the answers to these mathematical problems? The same question can be asked for why you would value gold, or value pieces of paper with the word "dollar" written on them. They have value so long as people are willing to say they have value. If you have three Bitcoins, and someone is willing to give you something else for them, suddenly they are equivalent to any other form of "money" you can imagine.

So will Bitcoins retain value? Is investing in them a good idea? Can they really be used as an alternative to national currencies? Nobody really knows at this point; there are lots of opinions pro and con as to what the long-term prospects are. At the moment they seem to have value to some people, but that doesn't mean they will tomorrow. There are lots of questions by real economists about whether this can really work out. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:44, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

That's a good overview of the currency aspects. The technical aspects involve solving these core problems:

1. How do you stop people from spending the same money twice
2. How do you stop someone from spending someone else's money
3. How do you create money in the first place (in a way that inspires confidence)

One and two are easy (or easier) with physical currencies. When you give it away it's gone, and when you have it nobody else can give it away. The third is the reason we have banks, and more specifically central banks. Bitcoin addresses the first problem with what it calls a "block chain" which is essentially a giant transaction log of every bitcoin ever spent, and who currently owns it. The second is addressed through public key signatures, when you send money you do so by signing a transaction that says I give x bitcoins to y. Everyone else uses the block chain to make sure you own the bitcoins you're giving to y, and then checks the signatures to make sure only you signed the transaction. The third is done through "mining." Put simply, as the block chain gets created, people randomly are given coins (not actually randomly, it's more of a lottery and your odds are proportional to how much computing time you dedicate to mining).

Any one of these points, and some others along the way, have more technical pieces to them. Shadowjams (talk) 17:37, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Windows 7 problems

I recently upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7, and I found a few things that give me problems with it.

1) I use mIRC 6.2, which was released before even Windows Vista came out, because I like prefer it over more recent versions. As far as I know, user data from applications programmed to "recognize" it will put their data in C:\Users\<user>\AppData , but since 6.2 is pre-Vista, it still stores its data in C:\Program Files (x86)\mIRC (in my case, x86). Now, mIRC stores its logs within its subfolder, and when I recently went to find that folder, it was not there. Unhiding hidden + system folders did not help. However, I remembered that WinRAR could see hidden folders on my XP machine by default, so I browsed there with it, and voila, there it was. Why is Win7 completely hiding the logs folder from my view? Is it because it's not in the AppData folder?

2) Windows 7 changes (Windows/File) Explorer and file select/save dialogs in many ways that I do not like over XP. I use Tab all the time to navigate over various selections. For example, in XP, if you pressed Shift-Tab in the area where you would type in the file dialogs, it would go directly up to the file list (where I would then use the arrow keys or type in the beginning of the file name). In 7, it goes up to the "Date modified" column. Is there any way to change this back so that it goes directly to the file list?

3) Windows 7's search (bar) is useful in some places, but not in others. Is there a way to restore or emulate the way XP used to do its search? In addition, is there a way to remove the "Search programs and files" textarea from the Start Menu? (I used to browse the Start Menu with my keyboard, which is now impossible without hitting Shift-Tab first, small, I know)

4) Is there a way to restore the Favorites menu-bar item in 7? That's the way I used to use to primarily get around my system (again, keyboard and typing; in this case I would type Alt+A , then type the letter of the shortcut in my Favorites that I wanted to go to).

5) In XP, using Backspace would go up a directory. In 7, you need to do Alt+Up. Is there a way to change this back?

Thanks! -- 143.85.199.242 (talk) 16:33, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

1) I suspect the logs are really in the VirtualStore directory, and you will see them in Explorer if you look there. 2-5) Classic Shell can fix a lot of Vista/7 UI regressions, but I don't know whether it can fix the ones you mention. You can also use a program like AutoHotkey to set up convenient keystrokes to replace the missing built-in ones. -- BenRG (talk) 22:43, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Classic Shell will probably address most of these. (Disclaimer: I haven't used it myself.)

You can turn off and thus remove the Search completely from Windows 7 by using "Turn Windows features on or off" (in Control Panel, Programs and Features - or just run OptionalFeatures.exe). Mitch Ames (talk) 08:16, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Medieval Toal War (original)

How can I get another cd/dvd of this game??? I played mine so much I wore it out! It won't even load anymore... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.117.101.191 (talk) 18:34, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Getting a new disk: You can contact the company that made it (we didn't) and ask them (might work), or you can buy a new copy from Amazon or eBay.

BUT I'm pretty suspicious that you in fact could have "wore out" the CD/DVD, unless you physically damaged the media (e.g. scratched it). Disks don't really get "wore out" through repetitive usage. Disk drives might, though even there it seems pretty unlikely unless you are on ancient hardware. And there are other software-based reasons that software can fail. Unless you've physically damaged the disk (easy way to check: try it on another computer), pursue other avenues of figuring out what is wrong. --Mr.98 (talk) 03:40, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Unfortunately DVDs do wear out. See DVD rot. Most of the older DVDs that I rent have dead spots on them, despite a thorough clean before they go into the player.--Shantavira| 12:19, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

I'm curious about the risk of ultraviolet light damage. The DVD rot article only mentions it in the lead and doesn't say anything else. Viriditas (talk) 12:36, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

They decay, but that's not the same thing as wearing out. Wearing out implies there is a correlation between use and failure, as opposed, say, to just age and failure. I've never heard DVD rot ascribed to use, though I don't claim to be an expert on the phenomena. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:55, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Apparently you can also download games directly onto your computer now? might solve the problem of the CD getting damaged. My friend tells me that if you bought a CD and it broke, you're allowed to download a free copy from various 'piracy' websites, but I don't know whether there's any truth to that, might be better to just buy another copy. Or even do what I did when my Rome, Total War got damaged, buy a whole box-set of them, it was barely more than the cost of one CD. Kitutal (talk) 18:46, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

There is no such allowance in the law for downloading pirated versions if your original version broke, even if one considers that to be a totally just interpretation of things. (It's debatable, let's not debate it.) --Mr.98 (talk) 21:37, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

March 29

Software (preferably free or inexpensive) to remove someone from a personal video on my hard drive?

Sorry if this sounds stupid but I once heard a director say that he would "digitize that out" in regards to something he wanted to get rid of in a movie. I have a few personal videos on my hard drive that I'd like to completely remove one annoying person from. I don't see how this could be done but if a Hollywood director mentioned it I figure it must be a real editing technique. What software, free or inexpensive, will do that? Cowgirl174.65.24.110 (talk) 01:47, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Removing something from a video can be as "easy" as deleting every frame they are in, or as "hard" as trying to essentially digitally airbrush them out. Neither are actually easy unless you know what you are doing. If all you want to do is delete chunks of a video, Avidemux can do that. So can Quicktime Pro.

But if you want to do something more sophisticated, you're not going to find that easy at all, with free or not-free software. As someone who has done a lot of bitmap editing and some digital video editing (with professional, expensive software, to boot), I wouldn't dare try to do such a thing on a whim, unless you have months of your time to spare. --Mr.98 (talk) 03:36, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

The airbrushing technique would be perfect but I didn't know removing someone would be such a huge project. Thanks Mr. 98. Cowgirl174.65.24.110 (talk) 20:41, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Dictionary red line thing

Do you know that auto-dictionary we have in our browsers? The thing that redlines what's spelled wrong. I use Chrome and it stopped working. Just vanished. When I edit at enwp, it used to be there. That's a Chrome thing, right? Not a enwp thing?

So, my question is, where did it go and why, and how do I get it back? Many thanks, Anna Frodesiak (talk) 03:51, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

well, now that you mention it; mine vanished from my Chrome too, not that long ago. I checked the extentions installed, and it's still listed as installed and activated. I assumed it was something I had done, but maybe not. I miss it because I typo a lot. Gzuckier (talk) 04:17, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

I'm still getting it regularly, using Chrome version 25.0.1364.172 m, running on Windows 7 Home Premium. StuRat (talk) 04:52, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Anna, have you tried right-clicking with your mouse? You should get a menu option "Spell-checker options". Note, you have to be in edit mode to get the option. Make sure "Check the spelling of text fields" is checked, otherwise it won't work. Viriditas (talk) 05:04, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Gzuckier: Same with me. Mine vanished about 4 months ago I think. Chrome seems like the common denominator here.

StuRat: I'm running the same version as you, but with XP, so actually maybe it's that. I think I'll visit oldversions dot com or whatever it's called and get an old version.

Viriditas: I couldn't find the settings until you just told me now. All was on, but I turned stuff off and on again and still no luck.

All: I'll let you know if an old version gets the feature back. Thanks everyone. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 13:08, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

I still have it, running Chrome on a Mac. Just another datapoint. You probably ought to ask on the Chrome forum. Make sure to tell them what version of Chrome you are running (under "About") and what operating system version you are running. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:49, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Well, I assume I have a latest version of Chrome, autoupdate and all that. But I'm on Win7, with all the current updates etc both autoupdated and checked by hand. So it's not XP. Comcast ISP, if that makes a difference.

It's not the rightclicking, it's the constant scaning of the text box and underlining anything that looked wrong, so you could just eyeball your magnum opus and determine what if anything was bad. Half the time didn't even rightclick to get suggestions, since it was obvious how to fix that "indows" with the wiggly red line under it. That's gone now. Spelling and correcting spelling is a lot easier than proofreading. I figured maybe Google discontinued it. Didn't somebody figure out the average time to closing down of Google projects just the other week?Gzuckier (talk) 19:16, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Yes, it's the red squiggly that's gone. I also just got a message at: right-click-->spellchecker options-->Language settings...: ...Google Chrome is displayed in this language:...Spell check dictionary download failed...Please check with your network administrator to make sure that the firewall is not blocking downloads from Google servers...Retry The firewall excepts Chrome, so I guess Chrome doesn't have it anymore. Now I won't notice obvious typos. Pitty. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 23:10, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Spell-checker is built-in to Chrome, so nothing has been discontinued. Go to this link and follow the instructions, or copy and paste this into your browser: chrome://settings/languages and make sure Enable spell checking is clicked. That should solve your problem. Also make sure to read this. Viriditas (talk) 02:06, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

I did, but still get this:

Anna Frodesiak (talk) 11:11, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Try this. Viriditas (talk) 19:23, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Well, I see that the spelling thing was upgraded recently, so maybe its format has been changed or it's something that the firewall won't pass now. Gzuckier (talk) 04:16, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

Still no luck. I give up. Maybe it will fix itself. Thanks all. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 06:22, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

I just tried the wp editor in chrome (in fact, I'm using it now) and it only spellchecks paragraphs that I am actively editing. So right now, all the text above where I'm typing (the previous comments) isn't being redlined, but the text I am typing is. If I place the cursor in a paragraph above, it redlines it after a couple of inputs.

This appears to be a deliberate feature, but I don't know if it's a wp feature or a Chrome feature or what. I'm running Win7 and Chrome 25. gnfnrf (talk) 02:51, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

new website-forum

So how does one set up one of these online forum things? I have the domain name and hosting, but that's it, I hear you can download the basic site template for free from some place? then I just need to post it to my website address and modify it to suit?

Kitutal (talk) 18:41, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Googling "open source forum code" returned phpBB and 9 free & open source forum software solutions as the first two results. Hope this suits your needs. Sophus Bie 18:48, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Comparison of Internet forum software. If you have a control panel such as cPanel, there are likely “one click” installers for some. ¦ Reisio (talk) 20:28, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

I don't think I have cPanel, or any idea where to get it. As far as I can tell, my website hosting company site will only let me upload a completed website code to my domain name, or pay to use templates they provide, but I'm not sure, it's a rather annoying site to navigate. I do sort of want to give up and go somewhere else, but I suspect I would have to cancel all my plans and buy them again. Kitutal (talk) 01:11, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

See http://www.question2answer.org/install.php and http://www.osqa.net.

—Wavelength (talk) 01:38, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Who is your host?! I haven't seen a system where you have to upload your site all at once since the 90s. That said, uploading forum software isn't that hard. Other than setting some directory permissions, and setting up the database, you should be able to do all the maintenance in the software. Dismas| 03:55, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Windows 7 Office activation

My father recently purchased a new computer, which came pre-installed with Windows 7. I helped him set it up. The most difficult part was setting up Microsoft Outlook. Setting up the POP/IMAP account was a doddle for me (but not for my father), but activating Microsoft Office had us both stumped. It said we had to sign into a Microsoft online account. My father didn't have one. So I set one up for him. Then it said the Microsoft online account had to be activated before it could be used, and apparently the activation e-mail was sent to the Microsoft account itself, creating a chicken-and-egg problem. In the end, I created a Microsoft online account for my father using his pre-existing e-mail address, which to the surprise of us both, worked. Is gaining access to Microsoft Office really so difficult these days? As I use Linux myself, I simply have to install the software and type my POP/IMAP account information. What is the proper procedure for activating a newly-bought Microsoft Office software these days? JIP | Talk 21:44, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Not an answer, but I've noticed when setting up an e-mail account at many sites they often want another e-mail address. They don't seem to have considered the case of those getting their first e-mail address. As for online registration, they don't seem to have considered the case of those without internet access. (For any type of secure system, I sure wouldn't want it to have internet access.) StuRat (talk) 21:56, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Microsoft products can be activated by phone. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 22:10, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

It says "Office activation (U.S. only)" so I don't think it's of any use to us. JIP | Talk 10:05, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

See How to contact a Microsoft Product Activation Center by telephone for step by step instructions which also mention picking your country/region or location nearest to you. Astronaut (talk) 16:21, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

Alternatives for Gmail

Hello,

I've been using Gmail for years, but their total disregard for their customers with every single "upgrade" is infuriating. What is your best alternative to Gmail and how can I effectively copy 1 GB of email without clogging the servers? I want to keep it all online. - 87.211.75.45 (talk) 23:25, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

It might be easier to keep the old emails on G-mail and just get the new ones on the new email system. StuRat (talk) 23:31, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

You can IMAP or POP download all of your mail; I don't think google lets you "checkout" or whatever their term for it is, your email, but you can effectively do it by downloading it into your preferred email client. The hard part would be getting it into your new provider's system. I don't know of any major webmail that provide that functionality. Forwarding thousands of messages is a bad idea for a number of reasons.

You could always switch to something else, and access your mail through an offline client, which would have your old emails, but only through the offline system. If you could find a provider that provided exchange based email you might be able to upload old emails into it... but again, most providers have their own internal way of storing emails, and I'm not aware of any standard to let you upload new emails in and have them incorporate them into their system, at least not among the large providers. If anyone knows of some please mention it. Shadowjams (talk) 02:20, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

To upload, you can again use IMAP. IMAP is essentially a network file share protocol; just drag and drop the emails in an IMAP client. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 02:35, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

That's a good point. But do providers restrict that in some way though? I could imagine them not wanting to make that regular practice. Shadowjams (talk) 03:19, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Generally it is restricted only by the sizes of your mailboxes. The special thing about Gmail from the beginning was its virtually unlimited mailbox size (and its nice AJAX interface). I don't know whether that's so special anymore, though. My personal approach is to use Gmail but do 90% of my e-mail via IMAP with a local e-mail client (Apple Mail, in this case, but you could use anything). When I'm doing work away from my personal computer I use the Gmail interface. IMAP keeps it all pretty much in sync; the only issue is that sometimes Apple and Gmail don't see eye to eye on my message flagging (flagging something in Gmail doesn't flag it in Mail, but flagging something in Mail usually flags it in Gmail). --Mr.98 (talk) 15:13, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

March 30

Creating printed or PDF version of Misplaced Pages pages using custom style sheet

When creating a printed or PDF version of a Misplaced Pages page, is there a way to override the default styles? I want to change the fonts, spacing and a few other things to my own preferences. Thanks. --173.49.9.57 (talk) 13:34, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

You could click "Printable Version" in the sidebar, change your browser's settings to use the fonts you want, and save as PDF using a browser extension. But keep the attribution notices intact. Pokajanje|Talk 20:38, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Using two workspaces in GNOME 3 and Cinnamon

I recently got a second monitor for free from my father, so I set my system to use two monitors simultaneously. I'm running Fedora 17 with GNOME 3 and Cinnamon. This works OK, but I noticed that everything happens on the first monitor (workspace) by default. Unless I manually drag windows to the second workspace, it isn't doing anything. The second workspace doesn't even have a panel. How can I make some programs open up their windows on the second workspace by default? Or how do I add a panel to the second workspace, so that all windows from programs I launch appear on the workspace where I clicked the panel? JIP | Talk 15:05, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

There are apparently some workarounds, but if I were you, I’d switch to Xfce with Compiz rather than wait for GNOME to un-betray its users to the point of providing all its previous functionality. ¦ Reisio (talk) 19:52, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

OK, thanks. However, I don't think it's worth the problem. I tried Compiz once, but it was apparent my graphics card didn't support it. As for GNOME betraying its users, I share your sentiment fully. It is only thanks to Cinnamon I'm still using GNOME. As far as I am aware even Linus Torvalds was critical of GNOME's recent developments. However, my brother-in-law has expressed interest in a second monitor, so I'm thinking of donating my older, smaller monitor to him and keeping the newer, bigger monitor my father gave me for my own use. JIP | Talk 19:56, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

What does a slow hard drive do slowly?

I feel stupid asking this, but I am considering buying this Samsung laptop but reviewers complain it has a slow hard drive. What exactly would happen slowly if your hard drive is slow? Does it take longer to save or recall files? Something else? Thanks. μηδείς (talk) 19:45, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

“take longer to save or recall files”

As compared to faster drives, yes. It says it has a 5400 rpm drive, which would be slower than a 7200 rpm one, and slower still than a solid state drive. You might not even notice it, however. The first comment I see on the drive being slow refers to an SSD, which means this person is already used to solid state drives and would obviously feel the “slowness” of older types of drives. If you’ve never used an SSD for internal storage, you probably will not notice the difference. ¦ Reisio (talk) 19:49, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Excellent, thanks. I am looking at an ASUS with even better stats and an SSD (which, no, I have never seen) the only drawback being it is 2" thick. μηδείς (talk) 19:58, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

One thing to note is that reading and writing to the hard disk occurs all the time, not just when you pick Save or Open in an application. Most hard drives have a hard drive light to tell you when it's being used, and you will notice that it flickers periodically pretty much all the time. Why so much hard drive access ? Well, it has to load all the programs off the hard drive, has to store temporary files there, say when transferring things to and from the Internet, and, if you run out of RAM, it even uses the hard drive for memory paging space. StuRat (talk) 23:41, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

My own understanding is that people reviewing things like hard drive speed are probably gamers and so forth - these types depend on the capacity of their computers a lot more than we do. I think it sounds like someone complaining his Ferrari has ordinary tyres, for example. If it is for general use, word processing etc., you might never notice these things. I notice my Windows laptop's slowness on startup, and nowadays, whenever I right click on a file, but not otherwise. IBE (talk) 10:43, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Thanks. I am looking at a gaming computer for other reason, I don't have a TV, I use my computer simultaneously often for various programs, with that causing occasional freeze-ups, I want a high-end screen and sound and a Blu-ray r/w DVD. I was going to get a Mac PowerBook, but they don't offer the 17.3" screen any more. And I want something that will be powerful enough that I won't regret not having gone bigger in two years.

Let me ask a Follow Up question:

Am I right in assuming that if you have an SSD your programs and operating system would be stored on it, while files you don't access that often would go on the hard drive? Would the mechanics of this basically be the same as dealing with a partitioned disk? The SSD article is hard to parse, and the applications section doesn't clearly answer to me what I want. I am assuming I would normally run everything of the SSD and essentially use the hard drive as an onboard external hard drive. And would the SSD communicate with the HD automatically, so that, say I were playing Sim City loaded on the SSD, and had saved a game onto the hard drive, would the computer know how to find it and use it without me dragging it back on the SSD? Thanks for the help. μηδείς (talk) 17:11, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Most laptops have only one bay to accommodate a disk drive, so if you have an SSD you won't have a hard disk. As you'll note from looking at prices, SSDs have much lower storage than hard drives of the same price. On a desktop or server machine, where there is more physical room, it's common to have an SSD for the OS, applications, and some user files, and have bulky stuff like music and movies on a hard drive. You can get a hybrid drive, which incorporates a flash and hard drive in the same enclosure (and appears as the same logical device); some attempt to organise what's held in the fast flash memory vs the slower hard disk storage by themselves. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 17:37, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

The ASUS model I am looking at has "Hard Drive: 120GB SSD + 1TB 5400rpm HDD". I assume this counts as a hybrid drive? Reading that article it would seem the SSD works as the cache? If that is the case, does it mean one cannot, as one would in windows 7, go to the "computer" heading under the start menu, open it up, and drag objects between different partitions? In other words, can you or do you decide which drive files go under, or does the computer do that for you? Or am I totally off base? μηδείς (talk) 18:54, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

It sounds like a hybrid drive, but absent a datasheet from Asus themselves (not just details from some Amazon reseller) I don't know for sure. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 19:13, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Let's say it is a hybrid. (I can't otherwise imagine what it would mean to say there's a 120 SSD and a 1TB HDD) Again, how would that work from a user perspective? Is it like a cache/memory system where programs and cache memory will be on the SSD and downloaded files will go on the Disk, without my decision? Or will it work like a partitioned system? I did just place the order for this ASUS. Thanks again for the help. μηδείς (talk) 19:23, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

To me, this sounds like it really has two independent drives, a 120GB SSD and a separate 1TB hard disk. In that case, the two will show up as two devices. How you organize them depends on your OS. I don't know a lot about windows, but typically, one would be associated with C:, and one with another drive letter. Typically, your OS files would live on the SSD at C:. Under a UNIX, I would have the OS live on the SSD (mounted as the root file system, "/") and mount the large disk somewhere under /home1 to use for large static files (movies, music, photos) and backups. "120 GB should be enough for anybody" (tm) ;-). I have a 256 GB SSD in my MacBook Pro, and no mechanical disk anymore. I highly recommend this if you travel - the SSD is a lot more robust, uses less energy, and is totally silent. The only drawback is price... --Stephan Schulz (talk) 20:03, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Well, thanks. These have been excellent answers. At this point it's a mere matter of curiosity, since I decided on and bought the model I wanted for other reasons. I know how to deal with different drives, and except for my movie and music files I certainly don't need more than about 100GB. If the computer comes before this thread expires I'll update. μηδείς (talk) 20:19, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Smartphone

Apologies if I've asked this before, I've been thinking about this for over a year and I really can't recall if I have or not.

Is there a smartphone (or operating system) that will support where I can write and run a program on the phone in the field? Ideally basic, but perl, python, even javascript would do.

My previous phone ran Windows CE and NSBasic ran on it. The new version for Windows 8(?) needs to be desktop compiled and downloaded, and the newer windoiws won't run the old NSBasic apparently. -- SGBailey (talk) 20:16, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Scripting Layer for Android works very nicely, and supports a variety of languages. I can't say editing program text with a phone keyboard is much fun, but apart from that it's just what you need. One thing you need to make sure is that the specific phone you're buying allows loading apps from untrusted sources (as you load the APK files from the Google Code repository, not from the Google Play store). Most Android devices allow this (also called sideloading) but a few are locked down by the phone company and don't. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:47, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

As to practical matter of storage. On my Nexus 7, the SL4A app itself (which provides the basic framework, script browser and editor, and access to the existing Android shell) uses 2.6MB. The Python (cpython 2.6) system is another 5.3MB. That's really very modest (Plants vs. Zombies is, for example, 79MB). -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:57, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Thx -- SGBailey (talk) 21:41, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Trouble with Blender

I'm working on an urgent Blender project that's due on Tuesday. I constructed a rig for the body, only to find that Armature Deform - with Automatic Weights had no effect whatsoever. In Pose Mode moving the bones had no effect on the body. So I deleted the whole armature and started over again (twice), but I forget to delete the old rig, and now it seems to be undeletable. You can get the 10 MB blend file at filedropper.com/groundhog. Is there anyway to get that critter animated? The boss is really going to be unhappy if this isn't in on time. Pokajanje|Talk 20:56, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

So, your cheap-skate boss is using free software, and is going to get annoyed if you struggle on the climbing the steep-learning-curve to learn Blender (which is brilliant)? Or any similar but propriety 3D computer graphics software. Find a better company to work for! - seriously! --Aspro (talk) 22:40, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

"The best answers directly address what the questioner asked..." Additionally, I'm kind of stuck in this position. Pokajanje|Talk 22:44, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

You might as well ask “how can I become an expert over-night.” That question too can be asked. Would you not agree, that if it could be answered – we could all become experts over-night? Yes, I can agree your stuck, but that is a rod your creating for yourself. --Aspro (talk) 22:57, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

P.S. Pointy-haired Boss's often-underestimate the tasks that they give subordinates to do. If he didn't hire you as an expert in 3D computer graphics software then he should arrange for you to receive proper training. Me thinks, he asks to much and you should not be having to post on Misplaced Pages in an effort to satisfy his ill-grasped demands. You are making a rod for your own back. If by magic you pull this off by Tuesday he will expect even more miracles from you. It's life.--Aspro (talk) 23:14, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

I am asking for help to fix one problem, after which I should easily be able to do the rest. I do not want cynicism. If you are not going to help me or add otherwise useful (repeat, useful) commentary on the situation, then you have no reason to post. Pokajanje|Talk 01:07, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Aspro, WTF? You're not being helpful here. If you don't know the answer, just keep it under your hat. The OP is asking a really specific technical question and you're basically mocking him and his situation. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:20, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

I'd like to help, but have never used Blender. However, is there a way to go back further than the armature ? All the way back to the beginning, if necessary ? Once you get past this problem, I suggest constant saving of each version, after each small change, so you can more easily go back to the last safe point. StuRat (talk) 03:00, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

There's nowhere near enough time. It took me weeks to get to this point. Anyway, I figured out how to delete the old rig, and I managed to find that there's a "Generate" button that needs to be clicked under the Armature object data settings, but no order of clicking that button and the aforementioned Armature Deform - With Automatic Weights seems to work. The problem has been solved. I don't know what I was doing wrong, but fiddling with it long enough made it work. Pokajanje|Talk 03:05, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Glad it worked out. I don't have enough experience animating with Blender to be helpful, but my suggestion was going to be to look for the old rig under the Outliner, which is where things like that typically hide. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:23, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Any Google+ experts around?

Someone's set up a fake page - looks like part of an ongoing attack on me probably by another editor here (possibly a banned one). I've reported it to Google but would like to get the police on this, which they can't do at the moment as they don't have the information they need. Thanks. Dougweller (talk) 21:44, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Turns out I have a fake YouTube account also with gay porn. Dougweller (talk) 21:45, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Do you feel inclined to give us these links, it would be easier for us to then, to look for patterns, sources and things.--Aspro (talk) 21:54, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

It's fairly easy to find the accounts from a simple search. Nil Einne (talk) 23:49, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

I don't mean to be rude, but I"m not really sure what you are asking us to do here. What information do they need that you can't provide? Mingmingla (talk) 21:59, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Look, it reads to me, that this editors has got the hebe-jebbies and hasn’t yet had time to stand back and look at this in cold analytical terms. In that state, knowing the right question to ask is difficult. Yet, surly we (most of us) can make contact with s/he's underlying issue. Use your intuition.--Aspro (talk) 22:09, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

I can't speak for the OP but my guess is it may be more complicated then that. I'm guessing in many jurisdictions, if an adult reports someone has been setting up fake accounts to impersonate and defame them but without other info or anything to push the harassment case into an area of concern (like a threat of violence), the police will tell them there's not much they can (or will) do although the person should report it to the providers involved. You could probably try and take legal action yourself but that's likely to be costly. If you are able to determine more details, in particular gather some evidence of who the person doing it is, they may more inclined to look in to the case. However gathering this evidence without a court order may be difficult or even impossible, it depends significantly on how careful the person behind it is. If there is evidence, someone with experience in the sites is most likely to be able to find it. Even if you can't gather any evidence of who's behind it, better documentation of what's going on is more likely to convince the police to look in to it. Nil Einne (talk) 00:00, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

What do you mean when you say you have a fake account? RudolfRed (talk) 22:05, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Think s/he mean an account has been created that could be mistaken by others as originating and pertaining to him or her. If this has been 'intentionally' done by someone else, then this is a fake account.--Aspro (talk) 22:17, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Sounds to me like someone is impersonating him on-line with malicious intent. This is unfortunately common. I don't think the police can do anything unless there are 1. Clear and legitimate threats of harm against you as a result the impersonation, and 2. You (or the police, through warrants) are able to trace the identity the real-life owner of the fake account. If it is simply your WP reputation you are concerned about, I don't think you have much recourse...but if it is tied to your real life identity, and it is causing you distress, you will probably need to get a lawyer if Google/YouTube do not remove the account. Ditch ∝ 00:41, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

If you want it taken down, first contact Google. They have official procedures for this. Second, if you want to go further, contact a lawyer and look into suing (many will consult with you for free if they are contingency based). They can advise you on everything else as well. Shadowjams (talk) 04:12, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Note that the OP already reported it to Google. Nil Einne (talk) 05:37, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Thanks all. The pages are still up - when this was done to my FB account they were gone within an hour after my complaint. I don't have the heebie-jeebies, just a desire for revenge (and to get Google to move faster in the future), especially if it's the Misplaced Pages editor who wrote an article in Examiner.com attacking me or one of the banned editors trying to get at me (one of them has created a sock to deny it). I guess at the moment it's Google I'll have to sue. If it's still up on Tuesday when law offices open, I'll look into it. No one should have to put up with something like this on a major internet site. Dougweller (talk) 06:38, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Hope you can get it down soon but I'd have to say having seen one of my uncles waste money on suing a newspaper for quite damaging lies and getting derisory compensation that going to the law isn't something I'd bother with unless totally and absolutely necessary. Personally I wouldn't even bother going to one of those reputation fixer outfits over something online but I guess other people are more worried about the internet. Dmcq (talk) 11:49, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

re-indent to break wall of text, @DougIf the imposter is claiming details more than just your name, such as using an actual picture of you as a profile, or biographical details like where you live, work, education, place of birth, etc (stuff that is beyond the scope of mere coincidence)...or if he/she is directly taunting you with the fake accounts, through e-mail or other communication...then you might have a stronger case. But if the imposter is simply usurping your first and last name, and the Google results associated with it, I could see how this would become complicated. There are ~40 people with the name Douglas Weller in the U.S. and I'm sure that number grows when you include people outside the U.S.. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that even though we know what's going on here, Google doesn't know that you are you, and the burden of proving that you are you in this case might be more complicated than simply registering a complaint with them. Also, I'm not sure what good a lawyer can do other than take your money. Maybe you need to find the equivalent of an Internet P.I. to see if you can find out who this person really is? Ditch ∝ 15:25, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

They are using a lot of accurate details, a few inaccurate ones. I found the links to Google to complain about impersonation and sent them the photo ID they want. What's more interesting is that the fake Google+ profile ranks higher in a search than the real one, and that the Metapedia attack biography is up around the top, which seems odd. Dougweller (talk) 16:36, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

My three cents: 1. I would be proud of being bashed at Metapedia. 2. There seems to be a legit, gay Doug Weller in Australia who hit the news in relation to homosexual adoption. 3. It's amazing that Facebook managed to delete a fake profile so fast. Note: why do you believe a Wiki banned user did that all? OsmanRF34 (talk) 00:01, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

March 31

Basic word processor

Is there a modern word processor available? I know the obvious answer is a Mac or PC. But I am looking for something for my elderly parents, and they are intimidated by all the "bells & whistles" of a modern PC. I need something bare-bones where they can create, edit and save simple files (home budget, recipes, write letters, etc.). Also needs to be print capable. They do not need to get on-line. Just as an aside, my Dad has had a couple of mild strokes, and he gets confused with the system updates and pop-ups pre-loaded on off-the-shelf PCs...for instance, they bought a basic PC but it came pre-loaded with antivirus software, and even though they're not on the Internet, it kept prompting him to update the antivirus, and then of course the update failed, and it kept happening. He ultimately got frustrated and returned it...so you maybe can see what I am dealing with. I want them to be happy, but I running into an insurmountable learning curve with them over how the old word processors worked vs. a modern PC. Any ideas? Ditch ∝ 00:11, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Perhaps an electronic typewriter would be sufficient.

—Wavelength (talk) 00:18, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Well, on a Windows PC, Notepad is a rather basic editor without anything fancy.

Basically you just need to set the PC up for them. I suggest the following:

1) The oldest version of Windows you can find. Windows 7 and 8 are both easy to find in stores now. Windows 7 is a lot easier to use than 8.

2) No internet connection (no cable).

3) Remove any anti-virus programs from it.

4) Disable any automatic update settings.

5) Get a laser mouse and keyboard with wires. (Wireless devices can be lost, need batteries, and can go out of range.)

6) Set up folders on the Desktop for each of the things they do, like Recipes, Budget, Letters, etc. You can put sub-folders in each, like "Chicken recipes". Take all the crap on the Desktop they don't use, and put it in a new folder called "Crap we don't use", or something like that. (You could also delete it, but I feel safer keeping it.)

7) Also put a shortcut to every program they need, like Notepad, on the Desktop. (For the budget, a spreadsheet program would be ideal, but it might be too steep of a learning curve for your dad, so just have him use the Calculator and Notepad.)

8) If they don't need color, a black-and-white laser printer is the way to go. Color laser printers cost a lot more, and cheaper color ink-jet printers need constant replacement of ink cartridges. Set the printer up for them so it's all set to print.

9) If their vision isn't so good, pick a lower screen resolution and get a larger screen. StuRat (talk) 00:31, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

• Just a thought. If all they want to do is word processing and a little bit of surfing, plus emails etc. Then you could over-write their Windows Operating system with the Ubuntu OS . You can easily set this up, so that if they have problems, you can use your home computer to get into their system and remotely sort it out for them – with out leaving your home. . It makes life simple.--Aspro (talk) 00:34, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

P.S. Nor do you need anti-virus apps – that's mainly a microsoft problem--Aspro (talk) 00:38, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

I like all of the suggestions, but especially the ability to be able to access their computer remotely and "resolve" annoying issues is a GREAT idea. That way they could have Internet even thought they don't think they'd use it, but I think they would like email if they gave it a chance. I think that might be the way to go. Thanks! Ditch ∝ 00:46, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Very wise. They might be old folk but they brought you up. They will be able to grasp email if email's are explained to them bit by bit and then ….-'Wow “we can now exchange emails with old aunt Maude who ran off with a GI to outer Mongolia at the end of WW2 etc.. Emails can open up their world again when they find they are just a @ from all their friends and relatives. Just need to find one or two of their old friends (or grand children) that are contactable on email, lead them by rote and they will be away. They will soon be saying “Ditch ∝ why don't you email us more often?”.--Aspro (talk) 01:17, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

My elderly father learned to use email and got in contact with all his old cronies that way. He even found an old high school girlfriend and took her to his 50th reunion. One thing he never quite got the hang of, though, was that you can send a one sentence e-mail. He kept thinking "Only one sentence, that's a waste of postage !". Unfortunately, this meant he would write a novel in each e-mail (with a 50/50 chance the computer would freeze up over the week it took him to write it), and he often lost the whole thing.

One thing to beware of, though, access to the internet means scammers have access to him. My dad fell for the one where you supposedly get a free laptop by completing several "offers". He ended up paying hundreds of dollars for nutritional supplements he didn't want, from a company who refused to cancel his subscription, and he never got a free laptop, of course. To prevent this, you might want to use the whitelist system, where he can only receive emails from those on the list. StuRat (talk) 02:02, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

A one-sentence e-mail message reminds me of "End of message".

—Wavelength (talk) 02:40, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

On the opposite end of the spectrum is my father, who had his first computer bought for him by my brother when my father was in his 70s, who writes rather short emails. He doesn't like typing and keeps things brief. Sometimes too brief though because they leave me wondering how he got from point A of the story to point B. Dismas| 02:49, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Think this is very much on topic when it comes to keyboards and male preferences. One friend has an elderly relative (male yet again) who not only has a wonderful and neat hand written script but through years of writing with a fountain pen, finds his mind/hand coordination is more fluent when writing with a pen. In other words, he does not get on well with a keyboard as it brakes his concentration when hunting the keyboard for the right letters and punctuation marks. The problem was solved: He now writes his letter out in long hand and scans them. The only hiccup, is the he sometimes uses full colour and too high a resolution, resulting in ignominious file sizes. Having said that, he likes sending scans from the local news paper, family photos and other stuff. It has had other bonuses, in that he has been able to send over scans of letters from officialdom, spammers, etc., that has left him baffled. That saves this friend from round trip of 120 miles just to look at these letters. Simply thinking, that if they can't get the hang of cutting and pasting then there is no point in trying to get them doing something more advanced -is down to our own misconceived ideas. When you show them something that suits them, they pick it up like lightning.Aspro (talk) 18:33, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

That, I think, is very wise advice as well. Rule of untended consequences, right? In the same way my Dad can't get over the pop-ups that tell him to "update" or whatever (even though I tell him over and over just to ignore them and hit "cancel"), he might also be gullible to all the "advances" in spamming that have evolved in the last 10-15 years since he retired and "left" the technological world (back when we all had bulky black Nokia cell phones, and text messaging was just really starting). I imagine when our parents get older, that it is like when we were 16 and got our driver's licenses. At some point you have to let go and trust the individual to make their own judgments, hoping that our own example will provide guidance, while always still dreading the late-night phone call that there has been a wreck. My Dad used to be able to do everything...he was. well, my Dad. Now it's different. God, I feel old. It's an amazing and scary world we live in. But that's life right? I feel much better now :) Ditch ∝ 02:46, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

BTW, there are computer services specifically set up for the elderly, like these: , , but I can't vouch for either, never having tried them. For example, I don't know if they can prevent other software from popping up windows telling you to upgrade (heck, they might even do so themselves). StuRat (talk) 03:10, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

I think you might be surprised at how well they get on with computers if they find they can use something like skype to talk to their children and grandchildren. Dmcq (talk) 11:55, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

• Older PCs can still be obtained from eBay and thrift shops. If you know what you're doing, you should be able to take any PC from the late 80s or newer and install Windows 3.1 (legal copies of Windows 3.1 appear to go for about $30 on eBay and Amazon), which would probably achieve what you're wanting to achieve. Do beware that Windows 3.1 came on floppy disks (some copies were on 5.25s, some copies came on 3.5s), so if you choose to install it on a modern computer you're going to have to either install a floppy drive or you're going to have to find some way to get it onto some sort of media compatible with the newer machine, but for what they want to use it for, any inexpensive piece of crap from the late 90s/early 2000s (which would likely have a 3.5 FDD already installed) should suffice. PCHS-NJROTC 22:13, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Router

Why would my router keep switching itself off? Any ideas please?85.211.138.47 (talk) 06:33, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

My first guess would be some sort of power saving feature. Could you tell us what the model of the router is? That might help. Dismas| 07:47, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

It is a Belkin Model No:F5D8635-4 v185.211.138.47 (talk) 10:37, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Power-saving would not make sense in a wireless router. The user manual does not discuss this in the Troubleshooting section, or mention anything related as far as I can see, so I think you are reduced to calling Tech Support. You might try resetting to factory defaults first (p. 56 of the manual), but there is no special reason to think that will work. Looie496 (talk) 15:22, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

• If your router came with your internet service you might want to contact your provider and ask for a new one. I have had Belkin routers replaced twice at no expense to me over the last half-a-dozen years. μηδείς (talk) 19:46, 31 March 2013 (UTC)
  • I had a 2wire routers replaced twice by what was then called Embarq, the process was damn near painless. Make sure it's not a problem with the electrical outlet. If it's not an ISP issued router, you may still be able to get it replaced through the manufacturer's warranty, or if it's out of warranty but you happened to pay for it with an American Express card, through Extended Warranty offered by AMEX (same applies to any card company that offers a similar benefit). PCHS-NJROTC 21:39, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

TurboTax Tune

I remember TurboTax had a MIDI-sounding tune that played on startup back in the late 90s or early 2000s, but I can't find it anywhere on the internet. Does anyone know anything about it or where on the internet it can be found? 184.7.157.90 (talk) 20:51, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

April 1

Skinning a cat

How many ways are there to skin a cat? --Carnildo (talk) 09:50, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

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