Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 August 6

= August 6 =

seeking identification of an icon
Previously on WP:RDC....

Does anyone know what program this icon is from?&mdash;msh210 &#x2120; 17:03, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't know but maybe if you crop it you can run it through tineye-- penubag  (talk) 18:31, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


 * What happens if you hover the mouse over it, or click on it (left or right)? Astronaut (talk) 23:24, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


 * No, the image is too small. You could try interpolating/scaling it but I don't know if that will help, I suspect TinEye just doesn't do that sort of thing Nil Einne (talk) 23:50, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

End of quotation from the archives.

I missed Astronaut's reply at the time, so am starting the conversation again. Clicking (single, double, right, left) does nothing, but hovering over it yields the tooltip "Managed by sk2000 at [IP address of a nearby machine, but not this one]:1347".&mdash;msh210 &#x2120; 23:08, 5 August 2009 (UTC)


 * It's Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition's client. We used to use it and I think that's version 8.0, but not sure on the exact version number. ZX81  talk  23:35, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks so much!&mdash;msh210 &#x2120; 15:41, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Congratulations, OP. Maybe we could rename the image if we have positively identified what it is. :) Kushal (talk) 17:58, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Or delete it. I don't think it serves the purposes of the encyclopedia much.&mdash;msh210 &#x2120; 21:56, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Rhemetic
What is today?


 * See our article today for a complete list. Tempshill (talk) 03:31, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Thursday (which isn't on that list). AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 15:47, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Copying iTunes playlists
I've just recently got a new external hard drive for my computer and copied my iTunes' stuff over to it but the playlists haven't been copied. How would I go about copying them over as well? Thanks for any help  83.37.186.149 (talk) 10:27, 6 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Did you copy all of your iTunes folder and all of its contents and selected the new location as your iTunes folder in the iTunes preferences? More details please. Kushal (talk) 14:06, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Microsoft SQL Server 2011 & Compatibility level 80
Our application is heavily dependent on legacy outer joins (the *= syntax) for which Microsoft dropped support with SQL Server 2005, requiring developers to use the ANSI standard "LEFT OUTER JOIN" syntax. They provided a compatibility switch, level 80, which we have been using since then. I have heard that support for this compatibility level will be dropped with the next release. I am looking for suggestions as to how I can get a definite answer. (I am not looking at this time for suggestions on how to port our code.) Matchups 15:33, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I found an MS contact offline who provided this information:


 * I got a chance to email a few Program Managers in the SQL Product Team.


 * The feedback I got: Based on the current deprecation policy we only support two major previous releases from a compat perspective. So based on this, SQL Server 2000 is not being planned for backward compatibility support in SQL 11.


 * Matchups 20:33, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Is there a program that gives convienent sort of bar charts analysing the size of each folder/subfolder?
I need a program that easily shows how much space is being used per folder, and Windows isn't good at doing that without having to look individually, it's too much hassle. any program that can do something like this?--IHABihat (talk) 16:37, 6 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Try windirstat, which shows a treemap; that turns out to be much more useful than a simple barchart at answering the question I guess you care about, "why is folder X so darn big?" -- Finlay McWalter • Talk


 * See also SequoiaView and Disk space analyzer for more options. Hope that helps. Kushal (talk) 17:56, 6 August 2009 (UTC)


 * I'll give my standard answer to this question: screw WinDirStat, SequoiaView etc. If you really want to see your folder sizes directly in the Windows Explorer interface, install FolderSize for Windows, change your Explorer view to "details" view, and enable the "Folder Size" column (and disable the "Size" column since you won't need it any more). Job done! No need to stuff around with 3rd party applications just to check your folder sizes, it's right in front of your eyes every time you open up My Computer and start browsing. Zunaid 18:19, 6 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Are you referring to this program from SourceForge? Mitch Ames (talk) 13:08, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
 * That's exactly it, and the screenshot shows exactly how it works in Explorer. You can also choose to display size dynamically so it automatically displays MB or GB when the file/folder size gets too big for kB to be useful. Zunaid 13:21, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

css / xml / word processing question
(Warning - fuzzy question - user may be the problem)

Is there a word processor that allows the user to define headins/sub-headings/other styles as indirect labels, and then apply an external style sheet to the document.

eg At the level of understanding I'm at now I can create formatting styles for each heading, sub head heading etc. , but if I want to change the whole look (ie everything font, spacing, etc) it seems I need to either totally reformat the whole document, or change all the formatting styles to suit. (I'm aware that sub-headings can inherit properties from their parent headings).

I'm thinking of something like css for word processing. Please de-ignorantify me. Thanks! 83.100.250.79 (talk) 17:29, 6 August 2009 (UTC)


 * TeXmacs probably can do it, although I don't use it myself. It's worth a look while waiting for better informed answers. --91.145.88.63 (talk) 19:03, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * It possibly does, yes, from a brief read of the manual.83.100.250.79 (talk) 20:35, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Aren't you asking about CSS? It seems like you already know what this is.  There's no reason you can't use CSS and HTML; there are plenty of word-processing softwares that can save to HTML format.  Nimur (talk) 20:15, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * No I'm not asking about css, I'm asking about word processing software that supports the equivalent (or the same as) style sheets (out of the box). You're aware that a web page can be created with tags such as etc, and that the basic body can be used with different style sheets for a different look. I'm asking about the equivalent in a word processor.83.100.250.79 (talk) 20:35, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * A word processor that instrinscially works in html would/might make an obvious solution though...83.100.250.79 (talk) 20:37, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Just to clarify - I'm not really asking about a complex workaround/solution where I have to type complex markup into notepad etc. More so I was asking about such a thing as a supported feature for end users.83.100.250.79 (talk) 20:43, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually I think I've worked out that I can already do this.. (still experimenting) - please continue to answer if you have any hints...83.100.250.79 (talk) 21:10, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Adobe InDesign supports style sheets. They aren't written in CSS, though. Nor are they stored outside of the document. It also supports master pages. By the way, you can actually open HTML pages in Microsoft Word and save them back to HTML. It is not recommended, but it can be done without any tricks. Also, you can specify the type of heading in Word 2003 by going to Format --> Paragraph and clicking on "Outline Level." Upon styling, similar outline levels update.


 * XML in general can be styled with CSS. So, theoretically, you could save your document as XML from MS Word or Adobe Framemaker, create a CSS, apply the CSS to the XML, and open the XML in a web browser. It should display fine.--IndexOutOfBounds (talk) 21:25, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Does MS Word still make a mess of HTML saving - I seem to remember saving the text "this is a test" as HTML and word deciding that it needed about 4 pages of markup and meta information..
 * I've discovered that I could already make a 'master template' and save it, for later application to other documents (just not familiar enough with the software).


 * I don't use MS Word much, and haven't lately, but seem to recall that it has the option to style lines of text as "First-level header" etc., and then to pick whatever style you choose for "First-level header". Same with WordPerfect. YMMV.&mdash;msh210 &#x2120; 22:03, 6 August 2009 (UTC)


 * There are some follow on questions:

word processors using css, and other stuff
Following on from the above - are there any word processors that can input and convert css style sheets to their standard internal markup.

Also in a webpage I noticed this :

 

ie the css commented out - yet they still worked - ie changing them affected the page. Removing the comments made no difference. What's with the comments?83.100.250.79 (talk) 21:59, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * That's an oddity which (also applies to script by the way and) is put in place so that older browsers that don't know what to do with the style or script element don't display its contents.&mdash;msh210 &#x2120; 22:03, 6 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Right. The rendering webpage ignores the HTML comments when rendering CSS or scripts. It's only required for very old browsers. At this point I sort of think it is optional, though I don't really have hard facts on whether there are a lot of totally noncompliant browsers being used... --98.217.14.211 (talk) 01:19, 7 August 2009 (UTC)


 * MS Word works with "templates" (saved with the .dot extension). When you open a new document,it uses Normal.dot, the default template. If Word is what you're using, you can make a new template that matches your requirements, then import your document into that template. Just make up a sample page with the features you want. Save it as a template (File menu). That saves the formatting but not the text. Then open that template and import the old document onto it. Or, of course, use it for writing new documents in that style. - KoolerStill (talk) 10:02, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks 83.100.250.79 (talk) 10:40, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Blackberry Storm camera problems
I am having trouble with my Blackberry phone. When I click the side button to take a picture, it does not consistently work. It will focus and center the picture, but it will not take the snap shot. Instead, I have to use the center touch screen button to take the picture. Is this a common problem? How can it be resolved??--98.109.60.26 (talk) 18:22, 6 August 2009 (UTC) Moved from Misc desk. Fribbler (talk) 19:37, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

php flat files
I've written a very simple php guestbook script (when I say written, I've mean stolen bits of code from all over the place and hacked them together) which uses one txt file to store all the comments. What are the possible problems with using a flat file system like this? If there are a lot of people posting comments at the same time could there be corruption of the files contents? Or does php have a built in safeguard for this? Many thanks /  /  19:54, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Primarily the issues are maintenance and performance once the single flat file becomes very large. If you don't care about this, it's not a really major issue.  You can always manually archive the system, if you so desire.  Nimur (talk) 20:14, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * If PHP does automatically lock the file (which I don't believe it does), two users at the same time wouldn't be able to save the content. If at all possible, you should use a database software like SQL (MySql is pretty good) for multiple entries at the same time. Thanks. AHRtbA== Talk 20:22, 6 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Use flock. You need a strategy of what to do if getting the lock fails - whether sleep-and-retry or report-error is best for you depends on your application - the "tinymountain" commenter at that page has a sleep-and-retry script. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:12, 6 August 2009 (UTC)


 * There's nothing inherently wrong with a flat file if you're using something like flock and are prepared to deal with file access collisions. A more advanced database lets you obviously do a lot more (like be able to retrieve specific records easier, and sort them, and etc.) but for a guestbook, a flat file is fine. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 01:07, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

OpenDNS
I was wondering if using OpenDNS really gives you a faster internet connection and a more secure connection. On a side note I saw a few posts about uninstalling Anti-Virus and how they required special apps, to clear the registry. I used Revo Uninstaller to uninstall AVG and it got rid of everything. It's a general uninstaller so its good for more then just one thing. You can find alot of useful freeware at Gizmos TechSupportAlert, for doing various jobs like this. 66.133.202.209 (talk) 22:10, 6 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Speed: they claim it's faster than your own ISP's DNS (the Wikipedia OpenDNS article cites this claim to a forum, the very opposite of a reliable source), but even if that's true for you, it'll only help with domain lookups (not machine lookups, which always go to the domain's own DNS server). You don't do enough domain lookups for that to make much of a difference. Beyond that it will have no effect whatever. Security: they have an anti-phishing blacklist, but you get that from firefox or google toolbar or yahoo toolbar (I don't know about IE). And I don't see why you'd trust a company that you have no relationship with to provide you DNS, when you're already paying your ISP for the same service. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:21, 6 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Wow thanks for the fast reply. Guess there is no real benefit for an average computer user like me. 66.133.202.209 (talk) 22:38, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I think you'd only be likely to find openDNS of a significant benefit if your own ISP had particularly slow DNS servers. Rjwilmsi 23:16, 7 August 2009 (UTC)


 * OpenDNS provides particular service meant to interfere with phishing, for instance, and they might be faster if more people use them and so their DNS caches are more useful than your ISP's. They might also be useful to get around DNS redirection for non-existent sites, although they do that themselves by default.  (Your ISP's opt-out might be entirely useless, for instance.)  --Tardis (talk) 17:49, 12 August 2009 (UTC)