Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 February 16

= February 16 =

Internet Connection Problem
When I load a video on Youtube, the video stops loading after just a little bit. And when I try to play online on Modern Warfare 2 and Age of Empires 3 the game lags and connection interrupeds. This started for just a few days ago. All stoped work at the same time...Can anyone help me? --83.183.172.203 (talk) 06:49, 16 February 2010 (UTC)


 * To reduce the chances that its a malware infection I would use Ccleaner to clean out the junk, then do a series of scans using free software from Malwarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware, Avast, SpyBot, and others. Avast includes a boot-time scan which may be useful. If they will not download then you could download them via another computer. 78.147.202.148 (talk) 11:59, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

DDR2 RAM - PC2-6400 vs PC2-5300
I can see from the DDR2 SDRAM page that these two version differ in terms of 'peak transfer rate' and 'timings' but wondered if anybody could answer...which is 'quicker'/'better' for using products like Adobe Illustrator? I'm weary to assume that 'bigger number = better' as this is quite regularly not the case, particularly with computer-parts where they love to confuse your average Joe (particularly graphics card wise). Anyhoo any help more than appreciated. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 09:40, 16 February 2010 (UTC)
 * In this case, a bigger number does mean better performance - faster cycle times mean less latency and more transfers per second - as long as the motherboard supports PC2-6400. The obvious followup question is, are you certain your motherboard can handle the higher performance RAM?  If your motherboard doesn't support it, it will usually automatically scale back down to the lowest supported speed (so the system will still function, but without the performance boost).  Nimur (talk) 14:01, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

Cleaning Up iTunes Playlist
Besides it's huge 100MB updates, iTunes can be really inconvenient to use at times. Sure, when you play a song for the first time, iTunes adds this to the playlist and remembers the location of the file for you to play it next time, but when this has been changed, iTunes can't find the song. When you then find the song manually, you end up with two entries in you playlist for the same song, one which works and one which doesn't. Over time, you can end up with half a dozen or so (of each song). Is there any way to just get iTunes (and songbird, for that matter - it's exactly the same) to clear away all these deadlinks rather than me having to click on each link to see which one is the one that works? I've got so many of them I believe it would be faster and less hassle just to uninstall and then reinstall iTunes (or maybe skip the last bit as the size of the updates takes the mick). --  KageTora - (影虎)  ( A word...? )  14:16, 16 February 2010 (UTC)
 * File -> Show Duplicates will allow you to clean out your library faster. Also, if you have iTunes manage your music automatically, it will place all the files in a single folder (sorted by artist then album).  This should prevent the links in iTunes from becoming broken again in the future. Caltsar (talk) 15:19, 16 February 2010 (UTC)


 * You either are going to have to put your files in a standard place, or let iTunes manage their locations for you. If you are going to mix-and-match, iTunes is really not the best program for your MP3-playing needs. It is not meant to be a program that just plays an MP3 you have on the desktop that you then later move somewhere else. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:37, 16 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks Mr.98, but it's not just a problem of file management. I've recently deleted about 12GB of music (that I moved to another computer) and all of these songs still show up in the iTunes playlist. And thanks for the tip, Calstar, but 'show duplicates' shows about 99% of my iTunes playlist and still doesn't tell me which ones out of them are the broken links. Would it be possible to just delete the entire playlist with a single click or do I really have to go through each one? --  KageTora - (影虎)  ( A word...? )  16:26, 16 February 2010 (UTC)


 * [EDIT] It's OK, I've done it. Thanks.


 * Deleting a bunch of files from the filesystem is exactly a problem of file management. iTunes thinks of itself as keeping track of your files and where they are and whether they exist. So if you delete files off of the hard drive itself, without going through iTunes, it will get confused. Again, the easiest approach is either to let iTunes manage the files, and then you do everything from within iTunes (like deleting), or to use something other than iTunes. Otherwise this will be a continual issue, because it just goes against the file paradigm iTunes uses. (Which I don't necessarily think is great, mind you.) --Mr.98 (talk) 21:00, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

4Gb SDHC Card
Sorry if this is a waste of your valuable time folks but I have been in the habit of using either a 1 or 2 Gb SD Card for my digital camera and had no difficulty transferring pics to my PC via the onboard multi-card reader. But now that I have upgraded my camera to one with twice as many pixels capacity I have decided to also upgrade to a 4GB SDHC Card, and while it works fine in both my old and new cameras it can't be "seen" by my PC's onboard card reader. But when I put it into my USB multicard-reader and install that device into my PC, hey presto - it works. So I don't have an insuperable problem - I just don't get how the HC card can be seen by the PC as long as I first plug it into an intermediate device. BTW, I make no apologies for admitting I am far from being a techie. Thanks. 92.30.44.2 (talk) 14:18, 16 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Basically SDHC was an extension of the SD format. SDHC card readers (like your camera and USB card reader) are backwards compatible and can read SD cards as well as SDHC cards, but unfortunately SD card readers (your onboard PC) aren't forwards compatible and can only read SD cards. Also our article on Secure Digital has more information in the SD and SDHC compatibility issues section. Hope that helps to explain. ZX81  talk  14:22, 16 February 2010 (UTC)
 * In other words, the "intermediate device" is doing some format translation that your computer's built-in reader does not know how to do. The multi-reader then (probably) registers itself to Windows as a USB mass storage device, allowing the PC to access the file-system on the SDHC card without ever knowing what format translation has taken place.  USB is a complicated protocol - the apparent transparency of "plug-in-and-function-properly" is the feature that most users are familiar with.  In reality, a lot of digital translation is occurring with device drivers on the PC and firmware on the devices in order to make the "Universal Serial Bus" universally compatible.  You've just witnessed a breakdown of that system.  Nimur (talk) 16:52, 16 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks folks. Much appreciated. 92.30.140.229 (talk) 17:47, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

editing google chrome's extensions?
I have a simple extension installed in Google Chrome and I'd like to slightly modify its code. How can I do that? --Belchman (talk) 19:14, 16 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Just unzip it, modify, re-zip, re-install. ¦ Reisio (talk) 22:09, 16 February 2010 (UTC)


 * But I "installed" directly from Google Extensions, so I can't find the .zip file. --Belchman (talk) 22:26, 16 February 2010 (UTC)


 * To look at one that's already installed, go to your Chrome profile folder (vista or later: C:\Users\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data), and open the Default folder, then the Extensions folder. Hey, there's all your extensions! One of those folders is the one you want, already unpacked. Just edit whatever you want in there. Indeterminate (talk) 00:19, 17 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Thank you, man. --Belchman (talk) 14:10, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Firefox old history site folders will not delete - where is folder?
I have deleted all my history from Firefox. However, when I look at History View By Site I can still see lots of empty folders for the websites I once visited, even though every other View choice is blank. These folders are empty, but they are still there. I have tried every thing to get rid of them - I have tried every possible History deleting option from within Firefox itself. I have used Ccleaner. I have searched on Google - all the advice given was for old versions of Firefox, so does not apply to me.

Does anyone know what folder these folders will be in, so I can delete them manually? Or has anyone else had the same problem for version 3.5 or 3.6, and know how to get rid of them? I have just installed the latest version of Firefox, they are still there. Thanks 89.242.101.230 (talk) 20:12, 16 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Tools, Options, Privacy tab, click "clear you recent history." --Wonderley (talk) 00:52, 17 February 2010 (UTC)
 * I've already tried that and many things like it in version 3.5. Version 3.6 does not offer that option. 89.240.100.129 (talk) 11:46, 17 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Here's where to find your profile. The page also describes how to do other things, like which file contains your history, and how to create a new profile (and delete the old one). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Indeterminate (talk • contribs) 08:38, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, that link gave some clues although it did not address the problem specifically. I eventually found that the solution is to exit Firefox and rename or delete c:\documents and settings\username\application data\mozilla\firefox\profiles\random.default\places.sqlite (where username and random.default will vary). Upon restarting Firefox I found that the bookmarks were all there, presumably restored from the daily backup which Firefox seems to do, but the unwanted history items had gone. I suppose I will have to repeat this the next time I want to delete history. 89.240.100.129 (talk) 13:13, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Is my iPhone defective?
I just got an iPhone and am scared to touch it any more because either I am doing something wrong or it is defective. namely, I have to push the screen basically as hard as I can to get the color change feedback; Im afraid of breaking the glass screen! Is my pressure sensitive laye defective, or what is happening? Thank you. 92.229.12.171 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 22:23, 16 February 2010 (UTC).
 * I don't have an iPhone, but surely pressing the screen as hard as you can is a really bad thing to do (see Liquid crystal display - seventh bullet point). I only have to lightly touch my laptop's screen to see a colour change and the iPhones I have used have only required a light touch to make them work.  Astronaut (talk) 02:08, 17 February 2010 (UTC)
 * iPhone has a capacitive touch screen which does not respond to pressure but by the mere fact that your finger had a detectable capacitance. If you have to push the screen to register a touch, you have a defective iPhone or possibly a cheap iPhone knock-off that uses resistive touch screens. --antilivedT 03:05, 17 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Pardon my iPhone ignorance, but what is "Color change feedback"? Can you operate the onscreen buttons and do all the gestures? Or do you have to press as hard as you can to make anything work at all? APL (talk) 17:27, 17 February 2010 (UTC)