Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 January 15

= January 15 =

Dual Screen Wallpaper
I have a bunch of dual screen wallpapers but I dont know how to have those wallpapers stretch across both my monitors. Any ideas?? thanks!! --Zach 00:17, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * One method is to ensure that wallpaper is sized exactly to your combined resolution (crop/resize it with an image editor), then set it to Tile mode in the display properties. A much simpler way is to use a program like Ultramon, though it is commercial. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 00:26, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Or "center". Not sure how the algorithm works but it might be faster to "center" --⁪froth T 18:44, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * When on "center" the wallpaper is centered on each monitor, which is why it's not so useful with a multiple monitor setup. Tile lets wallpapers/patterns tile across monitors; when one uses a single, wide wallpaper in this mode, it goes across both. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk)

Chip sets
I just tried installing a game on a new machine, and it crashed during loading. When i sent for help the hepdesk responded The Intel 845/865 chipsets do not meet the minimum requirements to run the program. The program requires a card that supports hardware T&L (Transform and Lighting), and the Intel 845/865 chipsets do not have the required DirectX functionality necessary to run the game. Is this Purely Hardware, or is there some way i can fix it without going out and buying a new graphics card. --Omnipotence407 05:05, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * It's purely hardware. The Intel onboard video chipsets are not made for 3D gaming, or really any 3D applications; they're primarily 2D, and fairly minimal. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:15, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Dang, oh well, thanks anyways. Omnipotence407 15:11, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Cable TV on computer
Is it possible to watch cable TV on a computer? If so, what sort of adapter would be needed?

Thank you.

ChunkySoup 05:13, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * You need a TV tuner card. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:15, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * A tuner card is neccessary, but may not be sufficient. It will work with analog cable, but digital cable is encrypted and there are no tuner cards that can decrypt it. --Carnildo 22:47, 17 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Nvidia and ATI are apparently going to release CableCard devices for Vista (and only Vista, due to its happy DRM), but I have no idea when. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:58, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Why does publicfile hide files with spaces in them (in FTP)?
Why does publicfile, as described in, "skip names that contain tildes, spaces, or control characters"? There are plenty of useful filenames that contain spaces, and most FTP programs seem to handle them just fine. What is publicfile's reason for not serving them? grendel|khan 06:29, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
 * It's probably to prevent code injection vulnerabilities. Tilde is often used to represent the home directory, so it may expand that by default. I prefer Apache web server myself. --h2g2bob 19:14, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I suppose that's understandable... but spaces?! grendel|khan 05:22, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

portable hard disk
somebody please help me. I bought a 40 GB portable hard disk. i am not very knowledgeable about computer science so please please bear with me if my question seems silly. I connected the drive to the computer usb port. and the light provided in the disk glowed. and also an icon appeared in the taskbar. this is the icon that appears when a pendrive is inserted. when i right clicked it there was an option available as "safely remove hardware". i left it as it is. and i opened "my computer". before this i installed all the softwares present in the cd that came with the portable. also i installed "USB 2.0 DRIVE" from another cd. but inside the my computer i do not see the hard disk. when i insert pendrive an icon appears named as "removable drive" right? but when i insert this portable hard disk no separate drive appears. what shall i do? how do i open the portable hard disk and use it? please somebody help me. thank you very much. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.89.21.92 (talk) 07:51, 15 January 2007 (UTC).


 * You will have to partition and format the disc before use. --antilivedT 09:51, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Here's a link from the article on disk formatting that will tell you how to format the drive --Transfinite 18:48, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

ITANIUM PROCESSOR

 * 1) WHAT ARE THE 7 ADVANTAGES OF ITANIUM PROCESSOR OVER PENTIUM
 * 2) EXPLAIN IN ABOUT 10 LINES HOW SOFTWARE PIPELINING IS IMPLEMENTED IN ITANIUM PROCESSOR.
 * 3) EXPLAIN IN ABOUT 5 LINES HOW PREDICATION AND SPECULATIVE LOADING IS CARRIED OUT IN THE I.A -64 PROCESSOR.
 * 4) SCHEMATICS ON ITANIUM PROCESSOR —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 196.29.126.26 (talk) 10:31, 15 January 2007 (UTC).
 * lol--PiTHON 11:14, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
 * PLEASE DON'T WRITE ALL IN CAPS --h2g2bob 16:20, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
 * At least try to make it not sound like homework --⁪froth T 18:46, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
 * What class is this? =D This question just made my day. Yea, yea, I'm a wikidweeb. --Wirbelwind ヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:23, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Read the "how to ask a question" section before typing a question. The "Do your own homework" might come handy.... -- Kevin Z 02:25, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure that it's necessarily factually correct, but I just came across this. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by ButterChicken69 (talk • contribs) 22:07, 22 January 2007 (UTC).

Portable hard disk
somebody please help me. i bought a 40GB portable hard disk. a cd came along with it. i installed all the softwares which were included in the cd and then i also installed "USB 2.0 DRIVE" software from another cd. i do not know much about computers so please bear with me if the question is silly. i inserted the cable of the portable hard disk into the usb slot given in the cpu. an icon appeared in the taskbar. it was the same icon that we get when a pendrive is inserted into the slot. when i right clicked it there was an option saying "safely remove hardware". i left it as it is. now i opened "my computer" but there was no separate icon there indicating the portable hard disk. it appears even in device manager list but it does not appear in my computer just like the pendrive which appears as "removable disk". please somebody say a solution. how do i open the disk and use it. thank you for your help. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.89.20.32 (talk) 12:29, 15 January 2007 (UTC).


 * This occassionally happens when you've got many drives/partitions/network drives "using up" a lot of drive letters and Windows can't "find" an appropriate drive letter to assign to your removable disk. I assume you've got Windows XP (I've only used Pro so I hope Windows XP Home Edition has the same options I'm about to take you through). First, plug in your drive and wait till its detected (i.e. that "safely remove" icon appears in the task bar). Now right-click on My Computer then click on "Manage". In the left pane there should be an item called "Disk Management", click it. Now in the right pane you should see all your physical drives/partitions, one of which is your portable hard drive. Right-click on it and choose the option that says "Change/Assign drive letter" or something like that. Choose a new drive letter for your disk (make SURE it's not one that is already used by any other drives in "My Computer"!!!). It might pop up a warning about changing drive letters blah blah blah. I assume you're using the drive for data storage and aren't actually installing programs on it? In this case ignore the warning and click OK. Your new drive should now pop up in My Computer (hit F5 in the My Computer screen if it doesn't). If it still doesn't appear (which sometimes happens) you can manually browse to it in the address bar by e.g entering X:\ (if your new drive letter is X). The bad news is you may have to do this procedure every single time you plug your drive in. Cheers! Please post back to let us know if this solves the problem.  Zun aid  ©  ®  12:49, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * You can also use Tweakui (official Microsoft software), go to My Computer within Tweakui, and see if the letters are checked, since unchecked ones won't be used by Windows. This can help elimited the above problem, I believe. --Wirbelwind ヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:19, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Dvipdfmx (latex) error: Object reference with key "page.i" is in use.
When trying to run dvipdfmx on my dvi-file I get the following error: "" However I don't get the error when running dvipdfm. Anyone know what's wrong? --Alf 15:00, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Malicious form of Microsoft copy protection...?
I have 6 copies of Windows XP for each of the 6 computers on my Ethernet network. Whenever I install a copy by accident on a different computer after a crash or some other problem the computer that the copy was on originally crashes with a “Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM – You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM. Select “r” at the first screen to start repair.” The repair process always fails and instead of starting the system goes into an endless reboot cycle following display of the welcome screen. This happens only if both computers are connected via the Ethernet no matter what else is tried such as booting under “last known good configuration” or reinstalling Windows using a different name for the system root subdirectory. I am beginning to suspect that this is a malicious form of Microsoft copy protection since no warning is given so that you can reinstall the correct copy before access to the files on the computer of the original installation is permanently prevented – can’t even access them by putting the hardrive in another machine; in most cases the connected added hard drive can not be detected under Windows at the hardware level. Anyone have a solution or more information? -- 71.100.10.48 17:09, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Definitely nothing to do with M$ protection, though I'm not a fan of M$. The SYSTEM file is corrupt, and you need to make it uncorrupt. Can you not replace the SYSTEM file at the Recovery Console? Splintercellguy 19:09, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * The system file is part of the registry hives, you can't just replace it. Have you tried booting off the cd and doing a repair? Not the recovery console repair, the repair that comes up *after* the license agreement? Or try this.  You should be able to see the hard drive from another computer, if you go to disk management do you see the hard drive? Are you sure its detecting in the bios? If it detects in the bios and it shows up in disk management as unknown partition then you most likely have some sort of drive overlay installed like norton ghost. If it wont detect in the bios by just moving it, then its most likely a jumper setting; on WD drives setting the jumper to master will make the drive not detect at all if its the only drive on the ide chain, it has to be set to "single" and vice-versa.  On most dell bioses any unused sata/ide ports are disabled in the bios so the only way to get new hardware to detect is to turn the ports back on etc... Lots of issues can arise that I'd need more information the specific problems to tell you what to do. You said "install a copy after a crash or some other problem", most likely the computer itself has a problem such as bad ram, failing hard drive, etc.. that is causing the original bluescreens and the subsequent crashing. I would test the hard drive and ram, either by going to the hard drive manufacturers website and getting the utility, or just get the ultimate boot cd which has multiple HD/Ram testers. These are pretty accurate and if they show a problem then you know you need to replace the HD/Ram. As for the other hardware it can be a bit more tricky to find whats failing. Also if your repair cd's have service pack 2 on them, you can stop the "endless reboot cycle" by hitting F8 before windows loads to get the options screen to pop up (don't let it auto pop up the options screen after a reboot, it wont show the same options) in this list with service pack 2 theres an option that says "disable automatic restart on system failure", so whatever bluescreen is causing the reboot will stay on the screen and you could then research that.--PiTHON 21:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * The hardrive is found by the bios but there is no access to the harddrive under XP. All you get is the instruction to boot from the CD. Sometime but not often booting from the CD gives you access to the \Windows systemroot subdirectory but more often as in this case the designated systemroot is not \windows but c:\. In either case the copy command will not copy the system bak file. Sometimes reinstalling Windows from the CD into another subdirectory allows you to access and copy some files and documents from the previous installation to another hardrive but in most cases if reinstall finds a partition it shows it as unknown and will then require you to delete it or reformat it prior to reinstallation and even though it shows creating a new partition in the unpartitioned space selecting this option give no response. Sometime if the hardrive is removed it can be accessed using another computer and a program called Active@filerecovery but sometimes even this program fails to find the drive. Ask me questions and I'll try to answer everyone. 71.100.10.48 06:20, 16 January 2007 (UTC)


 * You could replace if you had a registry backup lying around. Splintercellguy 04:27, 17 January 2007 (UTC)


 * When you reinstall Windows (As it sounds like you're talking about), are you installing over top of the old one? If so, I suspect the programs, modifications, Windows updates, etc. are doing a very good jib confusing the registry. 68.39.174.238 15:12, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

trial programs
How can i reinstall a time expired trial program so that i can run it again?

or

Easily reprogram it to lengthen the trial? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Omnipotence407 (talk • contribs) 20:14, 15 January 2007 (UTC).


 * With some programs you may be able to use it by changing the clock back to a time when you were allowed to use it, in some other cases you may be able to change the registry too, with some programs you just have to install it again and the timer starts again. I think these are all pretty rare though, especially in modern software. In a lot of cases now there's not much you can do, once the trial period is up it's up, unless you get a cracked version. --Kiltman67 20:34, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * With most modern programs, as Kiltman said, there is no "easy" answer. Most programs will not allow you to do it at all. A few require significant registry editing, or changing the BIOS clock, which is not a good idea. If you are familiar with a resource editor, you can sometimes edit the trial period checking within the exe -- although you'll have to be very familiar with HEX. Some people also decompile the exe's into assembly and edit the trial period within the exe (this is a practice often used for cracking software keys). Keep in mind you could easily get in legal trouble for this, and that this advice is for educational use only. P3net 21:30, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Here's where it's handy to have multiple computers, just download it on the next one. StuRat 22:17, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
 * How about running it inside Sandboxie, deleting the sandbox after it expires, and installing it again, and deleting the sandbox, and so on... --wj32 talk 01:41, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
 * IIRC, that doesn't work... I think that Sandboxie still keeps track of that... I'll try it out later. P3net 02:12, 16 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Install the application with Total Uninstall so that you can uninstall it when the time trial is up "totally," allowing you to re-install it again with the clock being reset. You could try Total Installing the application again, then uninstall it and re-install it to start over the clock. I haven't tried it though. X [' Mac Davis '] ( DESK | How's my driving? ) 21:38, 16 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Total Uninstall sounds cool, but I believe some sites also keep track off all downloads and record your info, so they know if you attempt a second download and refuse to allow it. StuRat 21:42, 17 January 2007 (UTC)


 * There's a "Licenses" key in the registry where this info is usually kept, just delete that. --⁪froth T 02:53, 17 January 2007 (UTC)


 * You could run it inside a virtual machine. Many virtual machine programs allow you to save "snapshots" and "revert" to them later, etc. You can keep a clean copy of a virtual machine with no trial programs installed, and revert to it each time. --Spoon! 08:31, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Just pay the registration fee, or use a different program. That would be the best thing to do, rather than trying to circumvent the developer's programmed limit. -- Kesh
 * that's the idea and also called trial for the same reason. If you did not have the time to test it in the given time period for whatever reason. Wait that you do have the time, contact the company directly, explain the situation and I am sure they will provide you with a new trial key. I assume that the product is not cheap and at least $100 as full-version. If it is less, buy it or don't buy it and check reviews and ask at related online communities like forums what they think about the product. --roy&lt;sac&gt; Talk! .oOo. 12:05, 17 January 2007 (UTC)


 * To expand a little on the suggestion by Kesh to use a different program, in many cases you can find an open source program that does what a commercial program does. Wikipedia's "List of..." and "Comparison of..." articles can be good places to find several programs that fill a specific need. For example: List of text editors, Comparison of text editors, Comparison of WAMPs, List of web browsers; see: Category:Lists of software and Category:Software comparisons. You can also look up Wikipedia's article on the program you have now, and see if the article lists competing programs. Or you could re-phrase your question here as: "Is there a free alternative to program"? --Teratornis 22:47, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

It's possible to "trick" some older trial programs by changing the Windows clock to a time before the evaluation period has expired. However, almost every trial program nowadays instead checks the BIOS clock (not to be confused with the system clock, which has a very different role). The BIOS clock cannot be changed through Windows, but it can be changed through the BIOS settings before the OS loads.

Occasionally, a trial program will contact a remote server on the internet to get the current date, thus bypassing the user's clock. In such a case, you would need to trick the software into requesting the time from your own computer rather than the remote server by any of several methods, depending on exactly how the software requested the information.

Advanced users (crackers) use special programs called debuggers to change the code of trial software (usually in assembly). The process involves finding then removing or modifying the instuctions which check to see if the trial period has expired. Professional (or otherwise "serious") crackers sometimes create and distribute special utilities which automatically "patch" a specific trial program, removing the limiting features. These utilities are commonly called "trial cracks", and, though widely available on the internet, are illegal and in many cases contain viruses. --Nwhitehair 01:36, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Two computer problems; IE and Outlook
I am having two problems, which cropped up at the same time (doubt they are related). First, with Internet Explorer: For an unrelated reason, on two recent occasions I allowed YahooIM to install an update, and both times it rendered my YahooIM unusable, which necessitated uninstalling and reinstalling from my source files. Here's the problem: since the second re-installation, when I use the address bar in IE to go to a particular URL (user typed or copied and pasted) and the URL doesn't work, it takes me to Yahoo Search. How do I turn that off? BTW I don't have a yahoo toolbar, my homepage isn't yahoo, etc. I have a google toolbar.

And second. I send out a lot of emails from the drafts folder of Outlook - not Outlook Express (because I send a bunch of copies (solicited, business-to-business, not spam)) at the same time. I've been doing this for months with no problem. For some weird reason, all of a sudden, copies of emails sent from the 'drafts' folder are not being saved into my 'Sent Items' folder. All other emails are. If it matters, my .pst file is currently almost half a gig, but I've never heard of Outlook operating differently because of .pst size.

Anyone have any ideas as to how to fix this? BTW v/v the Outlook problem; I did change some of the advanced settings in my Tools, Options menu, but I looked carefully through them and I don't see how any of them could have resulted in this. Also BTW, I'm running MSOffice2000 on top of NT4.0 and IE 7.x 6.x I think, and I'm not interested in upgrading my OS or changing browsers, TYVM. Thanks in advance. Anchoress 22:26, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * The first problem should be easy, I think IE has Yahoo set to the default search engine. In IE7, this is changed by going to Tools>Internet Option then finding the listing for the default search engine and changing it. I'm not so sure on the Outlook problem. Mitaphane talk 04:06, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Regrettably, I was wrong about my IE version. I know I have the most recent v. NT supports, but the option under the menu you suggested doesn't seem to exist. Any other ideas? Anchoress 22:58, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately, I only have IE7 now so I can't poke around in IE6 to see where it was buried (I'm a FireFox convert so I rarely use IE these days). I pulled this off of Google searching for "default search engine IE6" I hope it may be of some use Mitaphane talk 05:22, 18 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Thank you, I will check it. And I think the second (Outlook) question is closed, now. When I restarted my computer (which I only do once a month or so), it was fixed, and I think my problem was just an Outlook preference change that was in limbo until the restart. Anchoress 00:52, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Program to click a link
I'm looking for a program to repetidly click a link. I would need it to run either within Firefox or under the Macintosh OS. Thanks in advance. IsaactheNPOVfanatic 00:05, 16 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Not sure what you're trying to accomplish, but what about code that reloads periodically to what the link links to? --Wirbelwind ヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:13, 16 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Try javascript:

function doAgain { settimeout("window.location = 'http://test.com';", 2000); doAgain; } doAgain;
 * --⁪froth T 22:46, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

If you just want a program to repeatedly click a spot on the screen, I suggest XUmouse. The site where you would normally go to download seems to be down today: [torrez.org/projects/xumouse.shtml], does anybody know of another good site to download this ? StuRat 21:29, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

However, please first read the article on Click fraud. -Arch dude 23:38, 19 January 2007 (UTC)