Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 April 21

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April 21

How come

When I download some files, when I look at the file name it seems to contain a bunch of "Squares" and other seemingly random characters? Vivio Testarossa^{Talk Who} 01:09, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

You're opening the file with the wrong program. What is the extension (file type) of the file you're trying to open? Useight (talk) 04:08, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Or, on the other hand, if this is when you're looking at the file's icon, perhaps it just saved like a temporary file, and you can just rename it. Useight (talk) 04:09, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Does the filename contain non-alphanumeric characters? There may be an encoding issue if the filename is in, say, Japanese, and your operating system isn't expecting it. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 04:23, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Can you give us a link to the files on the web? That way someone else can download it and check to see if the problem is isolated to you. - Akamad (talk) 10:07, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Gmail bug?

Hi

When I close my Gmail window in IE 7.0, hundreds of Gmail windows start popping up and the only way I can stop it is to restart my computer. My virus scanner doesn't detect anything. Does anyone have any advice or information about this?

Thanks

Aaadddaaammm (talk) 05:57, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

That does sound like a virus. Are you having the same problem with, say, Firefox? - Face 08:10, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Mozilla Thunderbird: resetting folder tree

Does anyone know how to reset my folder tree in Thunderbird to no longer show folders I have deleted in another mail client? Guroadrunner (talk) 06:00, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Could you give more information? Are you using an IMAP service? Kushal 11:28, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it utilizes an IMAP mail server.

To give more information, I deleted some folders in my account online within my university's online mail website. Thunderbird still shows the folders, though, and produces an error when I attempt to delete them off the list in my Thunderbird folder tree. I would like these folders that are now deleted to no longer be shown in Thunderbird. Guroadrunner (talk) 15:03, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Suspected spyware

Sorry for not searching, but my problem now with suspected spyware is quite urgent. I found that a web

http: //searchportal.information.com/sp/popup.mas/?epl=01560057R1UMXGYWVlEFDVFbC1VRBlIBVwJFUVgMAFxbVllZVFgCBVMBClwLBU9eDU5RFUhaD1IJERNdVhIECFBAUUBBCkUSFlFUDF1TPl8LB2cED1c_WAlYCEBHXFEbBQkODQRcBA1SCw9dBQFTA0QCZwwCDlUMXwZa

(Warning: don't really open it as I think it could be harmful; I put it here for reference)

It pops up in my IE window fairly regularly. Then I checked my c:/program files/ and I saw a folder called C:\Program Files\Conduit\Community Alerts with a .dll file called Alert.dll (I think this has been something that keeps on producing such weird stuff) but it's activated so I can't shift+delete it.

So my question is: as I suspect it's a kind of spyware (something that let ads pop up repeatedly), how can I remove it - like through de-activating the .dll file?--147.8.16.233 (talk) 08:22, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

No idea what "Community Alerts" is, but searchportal is definitely spyware designed to raise money on a pay-per-click basis. Don't click on any of the ads presented to you - it's only giving money to these scumbags. A google search reveals lots of forums discussing this spyware infection and how to get rid of it. You could try to remove it manually and you will probably do a better job of it yourself, but in my experience this kind of spyware is hard (but not impossible) to get rid of completely. Astronaut (talk) 09:16, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Before I have time to deal with it (I can't use the machine now)... how possible is it to use administration tool to stop the .dll (as a service)? I'm using Windows, btw.--147.8.16.233 (talk) 09:24, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Which version of Windows? If you really suspect Alert.dll, try to find out what is using it. If using Win 2000, XP, or Vista, the Task Manager lets you view running processes (and services in Vista). If the name is obvious, you can try stopping that program/service. The utility program msconfig.exe (maybe winconfig.exe on some Windows versions?) lets you control what is started when you reboot. Be careful though, some non-obvious names also appear and they are critical parts of Windows. Astronaut (talk) 09:42, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Try using process explorer to view running processes. Works in all windows above 3.1. xxx User:Hyper Girl 10:12, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

I've deleted some files. I checked the running processes and I found that a couple of exe's are simply "fake files". For example, when I have a normal windows system file called svchost.exe, I could see (by sorting by name) some svch0st.exe's. Then I just used msconfig, stopped activating them on startup, and shift deleted the most obvious fake files. Then I could delete Alert.dll by one click, and there's no more popping up! That was successful, but I wonder if there are any remaining files.--147.8.16.254 (talk) 08:13, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

A full system scan in safe mode using a good anti-spyware program should help. Kushal 11:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Good anti spyware programs include Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware, both are free and work with each other, and chances are will be able to remove your annoying infection. To stop this happening in the future you could try running an alternative web browser such as Firefox or Opera web browser TheGreatZorko (talk) 13:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Over 4GB on fat32

I'm trying to download a 4.3GB file on utorrent but my drive is fat32, which limits to 4GB. What can i do, short of reformatting the drive to NTFS which I can't do? Thanks everyone! xxx User:Hyper Girl 10:09, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

I assume compression is no good because it is already pretty well compressed and you would need to put it somewhere first before you compressed it anyway. Try to find something that has a greater capacity, for example an 8GB iPod Nano, or an 8GB SD card, or another (external?) hard disk formatted ntfs/ext3. Or find a torrent that supplies the data in smaller chunks - I'm assuming this is a DVD video which rarely contain one title (single .vob file) of 4.3GB. Astronaut (talk) 10:37, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Yeah they are DVD iso files, in total there is about 30GB of it. The SD card is a good idea, I have one for my camera and I'd only need to buy a USB thing to attach it. They are pretty slow though. Thanks for your help. xxx User:Hyper Girl 10:41, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

(personal attack by User:Green_t-shirt removed)

Stupid why? Are you assuming this is a pirated movie or something? There's nothing to imply this is not a legitimate and legal file transfer, so shouldn't we assume the best, answer a simple how-to question, and let the poster worry about any ethical dilemmas (s)he might not be sharing with us?

Anyway, most torrent programs allow you to go in and say which individual files in the torrent you would like to download (though it it not always obvious how to do this; try different tabs, a properties window for the torrent, etc.). Some even allow you to control things at the level of individual file chunks (I believe Azureus does, for example). Depending on the application, you may have to download a few files/chunks, then remove the torrent and re-load it. It might be a pain in the butt, but downloading a few files or chunks from the torrent at a time should work if you are desperate. If you've downloaded files in pieces, you'll have to find another application to piece them together again when you are ready, though that shouldn't be too difficult. --Prestidigitator (talk) 16:31, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

That Green t-shirt guy isn't very friendly, in case you didn't notice. I believe you can use Partition Magic to make a NTFS partition out of an existing partition without any loss of data. It can also convert FAT to NTFS without loss of data as well. I'd still back-up anything important, however. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 17:27, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Windows XP comes with a FAT -> NTFS inplace converter. --antilived^{T | C | G} 22:05, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Wow! I pop out for a few hours and someone calls me "stupid". Too bad they've been blocked for such abuse. Anyway, Hyper Girl specifically said moving to NTFS was not an option, though she didn't say why. But, perhaps the OS doesn't support NTFS, maybe it's not her computer, maybe there's no spare unallocated space on the disk into which the partition could be expanded. Astronaut (talk) 00:20, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

XP re-reinstall

Fed up with Vista, i wanted my good XP Pro back. I got the install disk to install XP on my iMac via Boot Camp. When I went through that whole process, XP told me this "Missing File <Windows Root.\system32\hal.dll Please reinstall." So I did reinstall, and it still doesn't work. Please help me get XP working again, I want to play Team Fortress 2! --Randoman412 (talk) 13:05, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

The Microsoft team did not spend years of research and development for you to install their operating system on a rival company's computer. Green t-shirt (talk) 15:55, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

But Apple DID spend a lot of effort making their Macs with EFI work with Windows with Bootcamp. Is you XP disc a full retail disc or an OEM one like the ones that come with computers and laptops? And did you use bootcamp to do ALL the partitioning? This says that you need to use Bootcamp to delete the Windows partition, then repartition the Windows drive, then install XP. --antilived^{T | C | G} 22:03, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

I erased the Boot Camp Partition, made a new one, re-re-reinstalled XP, but it still doesn't work. It gives me that error message mentioned above. --Randoman412 (talk) 00:04, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

It sounds like a faulty disk? Are you running a self made slipstreamed disk or something? hal.dll is the hardware application layer file, and is very important in the running of windows, and either the disk is corrupted in such a way that only that file is missing, or the disk never had it on in the first place. Try getting an alternative Windows XP disk, your licence key should work fine with it, as long as its an XP Pro disk. TheGreatZorko (talk) 12:58, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

"No more fuzzy channels"

I went and got several CECB (TV digital to analog converter boxes) and, sure enough, I have no more fuzzy channels. Unfortunately, I instead have channels that freeze up, have macroblocking, drop audio, etc., which is worse than the fuzzy channels were. I'm using the Zenith DTT900 converter boxes with the old TV "rabbit ears". The problem, of course, is that the signal those antennae get was fine for analog TV, but not for digital. So, what to do about it ? I don't want anything that requires a monthly payment, like cable or satellite TV, as that ends up costing far more in the long run. I don't believe we're allowed to put antennae on top of roofs here, but can put them in our attics. An omnidirectional antenna is one way to go, another option would be many directional antennae, each pointed toward another station's source. There's also something called a "smart antenna", which I don't quite understand from our article. Is that an antenna that gets feedback from the converter box, and moves itself to get the signal better when it's weak ? My current box doesn't accept a smart antenna input, but I can trade in for ones that do have this, if I knew what it was and how much it helped. I'm in Detroit and want to get the following stations:

Analog   Digital
------   -------
2        2-1
4        4-1,4-2
7        7-1,7-2,7-3
9        (None->Canadian)
20       20-1,20-2
32       (None->Canadian)
38       38-1,38-2
50       50-1
56       56-1,56-2,56-3
62       62-1
66       ?

The worst stations are 38-1 and 38-2, which are low power stations in Detroit. I can't get those much at all. Most of the other channels I get most, but not all, of the time. Including computers with TV tuners, we have 5 TVs in the house, each of which need to get the signal twice, once for the converter box and once for direct analog TV, so the signal needs to be strong enough to be split 10 ways. What does everyone recommend ? StuRat (talk) 14:42, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

You need to get the antenna high, and with as much gain as you can. An antenna with a preamplifier right next to it can over come some loss in the cable, and may be enough to make it watchable. The VHF low band channels will mean that you need a big antenna. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:46, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

A big omnidirection antenna ? StuRat (talk) 02:45, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Don't split the signal ten ways, or if you must, use amplifying splitters. --Carnildo (talk) 21:43, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Go here for the website that will help you find the type and direction of antenna that will work best for your location. 199.67.138.84 (talk) 13:35, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Now, a related question. Rather than running wires all over the house, is there a way I can amplify the signals at the big antenna, then broadcast them on the same frequency, so my rabbit ears around the house can pick them up ? Obviously the FCC wouldn't want me broadcasting at high energy levels, but if it's just enough for the house to get, would that be OK ? StuRat (talk) 02:45, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

That's basically what the antenna amplifier suggested by Graeme Bartlett does, except the amplified signal is sent to the TVs through a cable, avoiding any interference issues (both within and outside the house). Also note that you don't have to split the signal 10 ways if you use converters with an analog pass-through feature. Another option, if you already bought the converters and don't want to get new ones (though you could always try selling the old ones on eBay) would be to install A/B switches (the kind you'd normally use to switch your TV between cable and antenna input) instead of splitters in front of the converters. You'd have to flip the switch whenever you want to switch from a digital channel to an analog one or vice versa, but the advantage over a splitter is that an A/B switch causes no signal loss. (Sigh... it's redlink day today, I see. Oh well, here's some quick Google hits: [1], [2], [3].) —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 13:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, just the antenna amplifier would mean wires running all over the house, which is what I'm trying to avoid, if at all possible. I'd like a converter box with analog passthrough, but they don't seem to be available in my area. I was considering waiting for the MaxMedia MMDTVB03, and ordering it on the Internet, but it appears to have been a total scam. They took money and coupons for them, kept saying production was delayed, then eventually cancelled the orders, refunded the cash, but kept the value of the $40 US government coupons. After that I'm rather reluctant to buy any online. Also, the analog passthrough is essentially just an internal antenna splitter, anyway, so I don't see the diff. Getting up to switch an A/B box every time I flip channels also seems like too much work for me. StuRat (talk) 13:52, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

object oriented programming with c++

1) We declare the static data member in class and outside the class we have to define the static data member. I want to ask if we can only declaire the static data member but not define then which effect are seen in program.

2) Can we define the member function of class first and then static data member?

3) Can we call the static data member with object.

You will get a linker error when you try to link the application from your source files/object files/libraries. You can define the member functions and static data members in any order you want, or even in separate compilation units (non-header source files) if you really wish. Not sure what your third question is asking; you cannot "call" a data member at all (though you can call methods on a data member if it is an object or pointer-to-object type, including 'operator()' if that's what you mean by "calling" it). You can access a static data member from any member functions, including constructors, static member functions, and non-static member functions (also from global methods, code belonging to other classes, and anywhere else if you obey the usual member access control restrictions--just be careful of initialization order). --Prestidigitator (talk) 16:44, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

I think the OP was referring to a member function as a "member", which is true, and that s/he meant is the following code legal:

struct Foo {
 static void func() {}  // you can't reference "this" in here
};

int main() {
 Foo *f = new Foo;
 f->func(); // same as Foo::func()
}

, where you call a static function and use the object only for compile-time resolution; the answer is yes. Also, (pedantry alert), you can declare a static data member and not define it as long as you never reference it (I think; I don't have a compiler or the standard handy). --Sean 00:02, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

pmd (file format)

Hi! I need to open .pmd files, but couldn't figure out how. What software can I use? A friend of mine said it's Adobe Pagemaker file format, but what about open-source analogues? 89.146.76.70 (talk) 19:30, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Filext.com says that it is likely a PageMaker file. I don't know of any open-source equivalents, though. Xenon54 10:39, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

The open source equivalent of Pagemaker is supposed to be Scribus, though I've never used it. However it cannot read Pagemaker file formats.

I might be wrong but I think you're going to need to locate a copy of InDesign (Pagemaker's successor) that you could use to open and manipulate the file. I believe there is a 30 day trial you can get from Adobe's website. If it is a long-term project, you'll need to either purchase a copy of InDesign or re-create the files from scratch in Scribus. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 14:39, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Windows XP Hibernate Mode

I recently started putting my PC into hibernate mode at night in an effort to save energy, save the planet, and save myself from being so hot when I'm trying to sleep. Only the thing is, I'll put it into hibernate mode when I go to sleep, and when I wake up, it will be back on again. So what would cause my computer to spontaneously come out of hibernation? Digger3000 (talk) 21:08, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Somebody moved the mouse? Anyway, I turn mine off at night. Saves even more energy and gives it a rest, too. Useight (talk) 21:51, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Do you have a TV card that can turn on the computer for a recording? Also some Ethernet cards can power up the computer if something interesting has happened. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:09, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Hibernate mode saves the contents of RAM to disk, writes a bit to the boot sector signifying that it is in hibernate mode, then turns the power completely off. Anything that could force the computer to turn on from hard off can cause it to 'wake up' from hibernate. (As a side note, hibernate literally powers off the hardware, exactly the same as going to 'shut down', so it uses no more power than a complete power off. You can even turn the computer off at the breaker, and it will 'wake up' from hibernate just fine. When you turn the computer back on, it goes through the exact same hardware bootup as from complete 'shut down', and when it starts loading from the hard drive, the Windows bootloader sees the 'I was hibernating' flag, and instead of doing a cold boot, it restores from the hibernation file. You can see this file in your root directory as "hiberfil.sys", and it should be the same size as the amount of physical RAM you have.) A couple of options are that your computer has a 'scheduled turn on' set in the BIOS that would cause it to turn on at a certain time every day; or you have a 'Wake on LAN' or 'Wake on Ring' set up to the point that it can turn the entire system on. One bit of diagnostics is to do a complete 'shut down' at night, and see if it has turned itself back on in the morning. If not, then it is possible that it is not really shutting off when you enter hibernation. 71.193.207.217 (talk) 22:12, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Do you have an USB-keyboard? Disabling it from waking the computer up somewhere on the control panel, can't remember where, worked for me. --212.149.216.233 (talk) 12:15, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

same here, new HP with vista. hibernate, a couple of minutes later it's back on. then it waits and hibernates. then it's on again. i can hear the fan and/or drive going on and off all night. one of these days i'll see if it does it when it's not plugged in to the internet. but i suspect it might have something to do with indexing or something, whether explicit for searching, or something hidden inside windows. if you fire up the task manager and watch the graph of cpu activity, in windows you can see all sorts of odd things going on in cyclic fashion. Gzuckier (talk) 18:16, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

That's odd. I haven't used hibernate a whole lot, but I've never had this happen the times I have. Ideally, your computer should be completely shut off. It should use no power - you could unplug it and it would still resume your session on return (assuming you've plugged it back in again). The way hibernate works is that it saves the current state of your desktop to the hard drive. When it wakes up, it retrieves that information, loads it into the RAM, and continues. (Standby saves the state directly to the RAM and keeps Windows loaded, skipping that step and allowing for faster wakeup, but it also requires electricity to maintain the information on the RAM. Information is "engraved" onto a hard drive, in a sense, so it needs no electricity to stay there.) It sounds to me that your computer was never fully able to hibernate; if it really is at the point of not using any electricity, there should be nothing that could wake it up except the power button. Even a keyboard - that would only wake it up in standby. Think of it this way: In hibernation, your computer is shut down. Completely. It just knows what to do when it boots back up. I know this sounds ridiculous, but is it at all possible that you bumped the power button? From the way you wrote your question, it seems as though your computer is fairly close to your bed. As for the others saying their computer "cycles" (and your problem with not fully hibernating), that seems like an odd software issue, or possibly a hardware problem (although unlikely). All indexing or any other activity should be terminated when the hibernate process is initiated. Like I said, it's essentially shutting down. There might be a program trying to prevent the system from shutting down, or maybe Windows is just malfunctioning. I'm not sure what could cause this "cycling" (although it does sound like a software issue to me), but I am sure there could be a multitude of possibilities. I would contact a professional - it's probably impossible to tell for sure without a look at the computer itself. Unfortunately, it's probably very expensive, so I'd keep doing research first. Also, if you have a computer savvy friend or family member, I'd have them look at it. You never know, it might be a simple fix that you shouldn't waste money on having examined. But if all else fails, I'm sure a professional could sort it out. Definitely search online help forums (etc.) first, though. Chances are, someone's had a similar problem, fixed it, and documented their process for doing so.

Full Hard Drive Backup

Is there any way I can make a full backup of my hard drive to another hard drive? I've tried copying files, but Windows XP locks a lot of files so they can't be read. I'd also like to copy the boot sector, master boot record, and all that kind of stuff. William Ortiz (talk) 21:27, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Ghost works very well. Sandman30s (talk) 21:48, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

If you´re just copying between harddrives, dd (Unix) on any Linux LiveCD will work just as well, for free. --antilived^{T | C | G} 21:54, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

A couple examples for backup using dd can be found here. / edg ☺ ☭ 22:09, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

I'll join in with recommending dd. the basic command is dd if=/dev/hd0 of=/dev/hd1 where hd0 and hd1 are the designations of the hard drives you're transferring from and to, respectively. edg's link contains more detailed information. - SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 04:09, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

On http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881 it says, "Some earlier programs that were not written for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or for Microsoft Windows 2000 may exhibit slow performance after you convert the FAT32 file system to NTFS. This issue does not occur on a clean partition of NTFS." Now I don't have unix or linux. Is there a way to use Ghost or something where it can transfer stuff over so it's like there's now a clean partition and NTFS doesn't go slow for older programs? William Ortiz (talk) 05:17, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

That only applies to when you have converted a FAT partition into NTFS partition. A full hard drive backup, by definition, creates a bit-to-bit mirror to your current drive, so that's not something you would expect a backup utility would do. --antilived^{T | C | G} 11:50, 22 April 2008 (UTC)