Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 December 18

= December 18 =

Installing programs on my new Mac
I'm a bit confused. I just got a new Mac (long time PC user and good riddance). I've used macs at work and I remember that it was sometimes hard to get programs to work; that you sometimes had to do something further than just downloading, like dragging them into applications. Anyway, I wanted to watch a video. When I tried it told me I needed to get the flash player. Rather than trust the website it linked to, I went to Adobe.com and downloaded it. After it downloaded I installed it double clicked, agreed to the terms, used my password to allow it to install and eventually it said " "installation successful" So then I tried to watch some videos requiring flash (at more than one site) and they each say I need to install flash player (I though I just did). So then I went to finder and typed in "flash player". It shows Adobe Flash Player Install Manager" in utilities, and Flash Player in applications. So then I clicked on the one in applications and instead of opening any program it places an icon on my desktop of the player, and when I click on that I'm back in the install program. So it's not working when I try a video that uses it, and it appears to not really be installed. Like I said, I'm confused. P.S. On a PC I can get an em-dash using control+ hitting the dash in the numerical pad twice. How do I get an em dash using my keyboard on a mac? P.P.S. I am used to ctrl+c, ctrl+v, ctrl+x, Ctrl+z, but on the mac it's all command+ to copy, paste, cut, go back etc.--is there a way to switch it to control?--68.160.243.32 (talk) 04:55, 18 December 2010 (UTC)


 * First, the easy one: An Em-Dash on a Mac is Option+Shift+Hyphen. (An en-dash is just option-hyphen.) In general Mac has much easier shortcuts for special characters than a PC, but like all new things, they take a little while to learn. If you get totally lost, in most programs (but especially Finder), go to Edit > Special Characters, and you can find just about anything you're looking for. --Mr.98 (talk) 13:11, 18 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Now for the more complicated one. With Flash specifically, you probably have installed the program just fine. The installer program might still be on your desktop, but that isn't necessary. Try opening a video and seeing if that helps. Try going to YouTube and see if the videos are visible.
 * In general with applications, on a Mac the install project goes like this. First, you download the installer. It'll probably put it in Username/Downloads to begin with. The installer program will either be a file that opens up a little window that shows a picture of the icon and the Applications folder in it, or it will be a full "installer" program like you are used to on the PC. If the former, you just drag the icon into the Applications folder, and it is installed. If the latter, you run the install program like usual. Once you've run the installer, you can get rid of the DMG file or whatever it was that you originally downloaded. You run the installed application from the Applications directory. I apologize if this sounds very basic and obvious, but I'm just trying to make sure the basic software "paradigm" is clear, because it is a little different than PCs.
 * One thing that often trips new people up: DMG files mount a little "drive" in Finder that have the installation files on it. When you're done installing, you'll want to "eject" the drive (click on its little "eject" button or drag it to the trash), and delete the DMG file. I've known a lot of new users who get mixed up about which application icon is the "real" one (in Applications) and which one is the "install" one (in the mounted drive), and will not realize that the mounted drive is something that should be "ejected".
 * Feel free to post follow-up questions here. --Mr.98 (talk) 13:17, 18 December 2010 (UTC)


 * With flash specifically you may have an added issue - flash (on PC and Mac both) is both a free-standing application and a plug-in for web browsers. what you probably did (accidentally) by downloading the installer is installed the application itself but not the browser plug-ins.  I would go back to the original webpage and install flash through the browser - that's low-risk, and should guarantee that the plug-in gets installed correctly.  -- Ludwigs 2  13:32, 18 December 2010 (UTC)
 * No no no, spoon feeding is the right thing to do (and in my case required). Thanks for the info. It appears that I needed to restart for the flash player to work. After I left this post I downloaded Firefox and then flash videos were working, but not with Safari. So then I restarted Safari and they're working now. Regarding ejecting the dmg file, I just did that I think—I ejected the icons that were on my desktop. By the way, I got the em-dash in the preceding sentence following your instructions:-)  I have another question but I think I'll put it in a new section. Thanks again.--68.160.243.32 (talk) 16:25, 18 December 2010 (UTC)
 * To switch the modifier keys (command, control, alt, shift, and caps lock), You can go into System Preferences, click Keyboard, and you should see a button that says "modifier keys." This will let you switch them around as needed. (Useful if you're hooking up a Windows keyboard to your Mac) 206.131.39.6 (talk) 15:50, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

English Malayalam dictionary software
Where can i download the English Malayalam dictionary software as free --RAIJOHN (talk) 05:25, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

I need someone to neaten (code) my user page...
Ok, I'm not the best with coding, so I need help with my user page, I need the box that says Community Info moved to the top right, and the gallery which says my maps to the bottom left.

Any admins or users that could help me would be greatly thanked and appreciated! o, and please leave a message on my talk with the changes you made to make it work.

Blue Grey Wolf (talk) 10:34, 18 December 2010 (UTC)
 * You might be better off asking at the help desk instead, as although this is computing-related I think it's more about Wikipedia. But it's your choice. Chevy  monte  carlo  12:28, 18 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I've tried difference Is this what you wanted? 83.100.225.242 (talk) 18:11, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Computer in stand-by mode
Some computers go into stand-by mode if left unused for several hours. The hard drive stops spinning and the video card stops sending a signal to the monitor, making the screen go blank. Even the power-on light starts blinking. Touching the mouse or keyboard wakes the computer up, ready to continue immediately from the exact same state as it was in when it went to stand-by mode. My question is, what happens internally to the OS and the processes during the stand-by mode? Do they continue running, or does the processor freeze them, so that as far as they're concerned, the time during the stand-by mode never existed? J I P &#124; Talk 14:31, 18 December 2010 (UTC)


 * There are several degrees of sleepiness - see Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. In some the CPU and RAM are still powered, in others the system state is written off to a hard disk and the computer is essentially off. But even in "off" mode parts of the computer can be left as a watchdog to switch back on in response to certain stimuli - see Wake-on-LAN for an example. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 15:38, 18 December 2010 (UTC)


 * All of the sleep modes have in common that the CPU stops executing instructions, so indeed from the processes' perspective there is a time warp. Most operating systems will notify processes just before sleep mode starts and just after it ends. -- BenRG (talk) 18:21, 19 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I suppose it's a semantics issue, but some people probably refer to the CPU staying active while the screen goes blank and/or hard disk stops as "sleep mode", even if this isn't the official name. StuRat (talk) 05:16, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Mac alternatives to Quicktime?
After watching many videos in Quicktime, I've come to the conclusion that it... well... sucks. It opens videos in tiny windows all the time and gives no options for expanding them that I can see (I think it's limiting me to the best resolution, but I want the choice of watching it larger, even if it would be pixelated). It can't play all kinds of file formats and I just don't like the interface. I found a page at Apple.com that supposedly has "Windows Media Player for Mac OS X" but all it is is a program that allows Quicktime to play wmv file. Long story short, can someone please list a few other media players (must include video) that I might try on a mac? Thanks.--68.160.243.32 (talk) 16:33, 18 December 2010 (UTC)
 * try VLC (google it). -- Ludwigs 2  16:37, 18 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Quicktime on Snow Leopard allows you to resize the window dynamically (just grab the lower right corner, and drag), or to switch to fullscreen. But I do second the suggestion to look into VLC media player, which is both excellent and Free Software.   --Stephan Schulz (talk) 16:47, 18 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I have found VLC to be pretty buggy on a Mac in my attempts to use it over the years. It's pretty prone to crashing when seeking and other irritating things. Like much open source software, its programmers don't seem to care very much about making it truly work well on the Mac. I don't really consider it much of a Quicktime replacement; sometimes I'll use it to watch a single video (because it is good with subtitles, for example), but otherwise I have tried to just find ways to make Quicktime a little more useful.
 * There are actually two different Quicktime programs on modern Macs. There is Quicktime Player 7, and Quicktime Player 10. Quicktime Player 10 was in my opinion a step backwards and is not as good as 7. It is more limited in terms of interface and number of extensions it can handle. If you're using 10, try downloading 7. You can have both installed without any problems. If you have trouble with file formats, install Perian. It'll allow Quicktime 7 to basically read whatever you throw at it.
 * Both Quicktime 10 and 7, though, let you resize the window arbitrarily by dragging the lower-right corner of the window, though, or through the options in the "View" menu. --Mr.98 (talk) 19:53, 18 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Hmmm. VLC (currently Version 1.1.5 The Luggage (Intel 64bit))) has been very stable for me. I don't remember any crashes. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 20:08, 18 December 2010 (UTC)
 * I've downloaded VLC (and Perian just now for good measure). Thanks for the advice. Initially I did so as a browser add-on, but then realized that wasn't what was meant (I think) and downloaded the whole program. Question: how do I make it the default player, rather than Quicktime? Regarding resizing, I am telling you that quite a few videos I tried to look at with quicktime, had instead of the player the video opening as a frame inside of a larger page with no way to resize it. I have subsequently used it and it has provided an interface where I can, but this is something different. Maybe it's the website's frame and the reason I am seeing the quicktime icon come up because that is how my computer is accessing the video provided but it's the websites restriction I am seeing. I don't know.--68.160.243.32 (talk) 23:59, 18 December 2010 (UTC)
 * make default for a file type - see - http://wiki.videolan.org/How_to_make_VLC_the_default_player 83.100.225.242 (talk) 04:21, 19 December 2010 (UTC)
 * I think that VLC is unstable on all platforms. I haven't used it in a while (because of the instability) so it's possible they've fixed it in the mean time. Mplayer has the same universal video playing abilities and is much less buggy, but it lacks some of VLC's fancy features. -- BenRG (talk) 21:50, 20 December 2010 (UTC)
 * The last couple versions of VLC have worked quite well for me, and I think that for anything more than basic viewing, it's probably a better choice than Mplayer. Buddy431 (talk) 04:30, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Problem Losing Stored Usernames
After using Ccleaner, I find that Yahoo and other often-used sites don't recall my login username. What option do I need to untick to prevent this, and are there any more negative effects from unticking whatever it is?

Hope you can help.

Gurumaister (talk) 23:53, 18 December 2010 (UTC)


 * On the cleaner section(left hand tabs), on the application tab, on the browser in question, untick whichever one applies to you and the browser in question. That should solve the problem. General Rommel (talk) 08:13, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

There are several different options under my browser heading. Did you mean that I untick them all? Gurumaister (talk) 18:00, 19 December 2010 (UTC)