Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 May 27

= May 27 =

issues watching fullscreen hulu with dual monitors
I'm trying to watch a movie with the "full screen" setting on hulu. I have a dual monitor set up running vista off a laptop. The video will display full screen as long as the browser is the active window: as soon as I make any other window active the video returns to default resolution. pretty frustrating. Anything I can do short of watching it via links of more dubious legality? --Shaggorama (talk) 02:25, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Depending on your operating system, you can use xmouse with auto-raise disabled. For example, on Windows XP, you can use the TweakUI powertoy to enable X-Mouse behavior with auto-raise disabled.  This can give focus to other windows without clicking on them; (in technical terms, this means that the Hulu browser window will never receive a message that it has been de-focused), and you can provide keyboard input to the other windows on the other monitor.  This is sort of a clumsy workaround but I have used it for a variety of similar tasks.  If you are on Mac OS X or one of the *nixes, you can enable X Mouse behavior, but I'm not sure it will yield the same result.  Nimur (talk) 03:02, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Wow...so I couldn't have picked a better time to have posted this question. Crazy coincidence, the DAY AFTER my OP, Hulu released the beta of their desktop app. Because it's a separate app, I can throw it up fullscreen on my alternate monitor super easily, and its a pretty sleek way to navigate hulu either way. I totally recommend it. --Shaggorama (talk) 02:22, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

I got a "configuration settings file"
When I open it as a notepad, it contains the following text in three lines:


 * [.ShellClassInfo]
 * IconFile=%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll
 * IconIndex=121

What does this mean? Thanks.--63.227.51.66 (talk) 05:41, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * This is a  file which specifies the icon to display for a folder. In this case the icon is stored at index 121 in shell32.dll's resources. --wj32 t/c 07:54, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

OpenVPN tunnel...
Hi all.

I try to run OpenVPN with a Linux server and a windows client in bridged mode. The bridge itself works, I can access every computer in the "real" LAN from outside. But one thing does not work: Windows still routes web and other non-172.16.1.XXX traffic through the public WiFi network, despite  being set in server.conf according to the OpenVPN FAQ. My configs are server, client, ifconfig server (eth0 and tap1 are bridged to br0) and ipconfig client. Any idea what I forgot or did wrong?

Thanks,HardDisk (talk) 10:13, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I knew someone with a similar problem, but I don't recall (never was party to) all the technical details. It was resolved by using two different brands and set-ups of NICs for the incoming and outgoing traffic.Apparently identical NICs caused confusion for the system, despite the settings. Is this any help? KoolerStill (talk) 09:09, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

Xbox 360 Issues (can't access 'game' sites from desk
I have the '2 red rings of death' problem with my 360. My understanding is that this is an overheating issue - i've cleared to ensure that the area is well ventilated but still have issues. The xbox is out of warranty (a few months over a year old) and i'm loathe to pay a repair-bill price (I assume this will be quite a lot). I understand there are way to fix this issue (and aware of the invalidating warranty etc.). My questions is... As I say I can't access gaming-sites which is where i'd normally go to find this out so any help/guidance would be greatly appreciated. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 13:35, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * A) How difficult is the manual-fix
 * B) Has anyone been through this fix and run into any issues/got any tips


 * You are covered under warrenty. Call XBox support and find your way to a person, tell them you have 2 red rings.  They may ask for some basic troubleshooting, but they'll give you a UPS label and you'll send it off to texas (minus the HD, any controllers, the power brick, and anything else but the box).  In 2 to 3 weeks (closer to 2), you'll get it back.  It's free for that issue up to three years. 206.131.39.6 (talk) 14:07, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * And be persistent about it if (unlikely but who knows) you are stonewalled. 3 years for RROD problems.  Tempshill (talk) 15:54, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Additionally, the E74 error is the same thing. You will be covered for 3 years.  Assuming you haven't opened your xbox you should be able to file a claim.  If the 360 is refurb, you'll need to contact phone support.  If you bought the 360, go to xbox.com and you should be able to file a warrenty claim on the site with no hassle. 206.131.39.6 (talk) 19:54, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Hi - thanks for the info people. When I got to xbox.com/support (or whatever the address is) and register it only mentions the 3-lights/rings being included in the warranty extension not 2-rings/lights. Will I still be able to get the fix with it only being 2-lights on? Anybody know if this differs in the UK? The site suggests that if it is 3-lights there's a no problem fix (you send the machine in as detailed above) but doesn't mention that for 2-rings. ny156uk (talk) 19:59, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * If it's 2 red lights, it indicates overheating and not a total hardware failure. Make sure there's plenty of room for hot air to escape and that it's not sucking up its own exhaust (sometimes entertainment center cabinets can be particularly nasty to cooling electronics.  This error should be recoverable and does not indicate a total hardware failure.  You may need to put your console in a place where it gets better ventilation though (a hard flat surface with a clear place for hot air to escape and a clear area for it to suck in cool air from the top, bottom, and sides.) 206.131.39.6 (talk) 20:55, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * If it's an overheating issue then it should only overheat after it's been on a bit - is this the case- here's a few things to check


 * see if the fans are still working.
 * check for blockages - likely if you have a cat...
 * Also do you get an error code - what is it - one possibility (if it says overheating) is a broken thermistor - the heat sensor - the error code should reveal all to a knowledgeable person.77.86.10.194 (talk) 23:48, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

iPhone/iTunes
Hi. Some questions about getting music onto an iPhone.

I have 2 windows XP laptops, let's call them "1" and "2" at the risk of being conventional, both with iTunes installed and both with music files.

Q1) I synched my new iPhone to laptop 1, which has a larger library of songs. At the end of the synch, only about 5% of the songs had successfully transferred. I received some kind of failure message. I guess the song files need to be in a particular directory on the laptop hard drive. Which directory should I move them into?

Q2) Rather unhappy with that, I then tried to synch the phone with laptop 2. It grumpily said it would only synch with one version of iTunes... allowing me the "option" (!) of replacing the 5% of songs from laptop 1 with an unknown % of songs from laptop 2. This was annoying and I declined.

Advice for getting all the songs onto the phone (and onto one laptop - number 2 would be better) gratefully appreciated. Go gently with me - I'm far from being a techy. As you can probably tell. Thanks. --Dweller (talk) 15:56, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * In itunes, go to "dwellers iPhone" tab. check the box saying "manage the songs and music manually". you're done. HardDisk (talk) 18:18, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks. That helps with Q2 (which I now realise was an implied question)! So how do I manually "find" the music on my laptops and move it onto my iPhone? --Dweller (talk) 10:21, 28 May 2009 (UTC)
 * The "easy" way is to select "consolidate library" from the File -> Library menu (at least that where it is on OS X). That will make a copy of all your library's music in the %MUSIC_DIR%/iTunes/iTunes Music/ folder. The problem is that you'll have two copies of your files in the same drive.
 * What you can also do is to view each music file's properties in the inspector (right click and select "Get info" or type Ctrl+I), and browse to each file, and copy it somewhere. This may or may not be painful, depending on the amount of files you have... Tito xd (?!? - cool stuff) 23:59, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

Number Formatting in Excel 2007
I'm trying to make an invoice for a client, and for some reason my bank account number is showing up without the first two digits, which are '00'. How can I get an eight digit number starting with two zeros to show up as an eight digit number starting with two zeros rather than a half-arsed six digit number with no zeros before it? --KageTora - (영호 (影虎)) (talk) 17:54, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Right click on cell(s), choose "format cells", choose "Custom" and enter 00000000 in the box, press OK. (some people prefer to enter numbers like this with a ' sign first, which forces text formatting, an inferior solution in my opinion). Jørgen (talk) 18:05, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Perfect! Perfect! Thanks! That worked! It also made me think that people like '007' wouldn't be able to even put their names in an Excel document, as it would just appear as '7'. :) Thanks! --KageTora - (영호 (影虎)) (talk) 18:10, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

About the Future of IT industry
I want to know about the future oppurtunities for IT students all over the worldAnudeep574 (talk) 17:55, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Middle Mouse Button on Laptop Missing
I have a game - Codename: Panzers Cold War - which requires a middle mouse button so I can view the battlefield. However, I am using a laptop which has no middle mouse button. The 'control options' section only gives me the options of 'middle mouse button' or 'CTRL + middle mouse button' (can't see the point of that). Is there an alternative key that can be used instead of the missing middle mouse button? --KageTora - (영호 (影虎)) (talk) 21:41, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Clicking both left and right buttons at the same time normally does it. Check the mouse options (in control panel) to see if you can press a modifier key when clicking to simulate a middle click (eg: On my Ubuntu, I can right click by Ctrl+Click and middle click by Ctrl+Alt+Click). --h2g2bob (talk) 23:06, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Blogs showing up in searches
I have a few things I want to write up, about which there isn't a lot of information on the internet. If I put them up as posts in Blogger, are they likely to turn up in Google searches performed by people who look for just the right terms? I have no interest in "promoting" the items I post, I just want them to be seen by people who happen to be looking for answers to the very narrow topics I want to write about. Or is it really necessary to have some 'inbound' links to the post for it to show up in searches? (p.s. I'm talking about regular searches, not 'blog searches') ike9898 (talk) 21:43, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * They will probably show up if, as you say, your readers input the right search terms. However, you may want to add your blog's URL to Google Search just to make sure. --KageTora - (영호 (影虎)) (talk) 21:50, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * You might also want to have a look at Google webmaster tools. It allows you to see your site as 'Google' does. PrinzPH (talk) 15:58, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Freezing after right-click
When i right click on an icon on the desktop or in a folder, the process freezes and i have to restart or close windows explorer. This has only recently started happening in the past couple of days, and i am unsure as to how i can stop it. I am using Windows Vista (32bit). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.177.122.65 (talk) 22:54, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Have you got a dead network drive mounted? Graeme Bartlett (talk) 07:28, 28 May 2009 (UTC)
 * No 86.177.121.39 (talk) 18:48, 28 May 2009 (UTC)
 * One possibility, although not the only one, is that you have installed a bad "context menu handler". This is a program that adds an item to the right-click menu. I assume that you don't want to start editing your Windows registry, so the next best thing is a program called ShellExView . On the page I just linked to there is another link called "Right-click is slow or weird behavior caused by context menu handlers". Follow that link to find out how to use ShellExView to disable the context menu handlers one by one to see if that fixes your problem. --Heron (talk) 19:12, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

Pascal trivia?
Hello, can any experts tell me - what this program should do - ie is the behaviour defined under standard pascal behaviour, or are the results possibly compiler specific???

a:=4; case a of 4:begin writeln ('4'); a:=a-1; end; 3:writeln ('3','!'); else writeln ('not 4 or 3!'); end; writeln (a);

(obviously I've omitted the beginings and ends of the program, and the var declarations, hopefully that is obvious).

Should the case a=3 execute after a=4, or not, I half expected it to do so? Thanks in advance.77.86.10.194 (talk) 23:40, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Of course, you could write a compiler that handles it any way to like, but I think the normal behaviour is to only execute the "4" case; I belive that the compiler already has decided on what case to use when the "4" case is executed, so no more case can be considered. This is also the case in the Delphi 2009 compiler. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 23:51, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Pascal demands that only the "4" case is executed. Depending on the Pascal version, "otherwise" may be required instead of "else". PrimeHunter (talk) 00:11, 28 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks, the documentation I've got wasn't 100% clear, though I got the impression that only one would go, though the docs also suggest that some pascals (Turbo pascal maybe?) allow:

case x of 5:do whatever 1..10:do something (as well?) end; —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.86.10.194 (talk) 02:21, 28 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I suppose it depends on your compiler, but all the Pascals I have used do not support "fall through" like C does, and there is no Pascal equivalent to the "break" statement in C. I expect the code to execute the case where a=4 only, and therefore it will print "4" and then print " 3" on the next line (due to the final writeln) using whatever the default output format is for the data type of a.  The cases where a=3 or "otherwise" (not "else") will not be executed.  Astronaut (talk) 16:17, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks.