Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 January 23

= January 23 =

What Windows tool is good for gathering bandwidth statistics?
I’ve rented a hosted dedicated server running Windows Server 2003 Web Edition for several years now. The server is mainly used as a web server (with Tomcat), but it’s also running e-mail (James) and SQL (MySQL) services. Starting sixteen days ago, the daily bandwidth usage skyrocketed according to the web hosting company, but the Tomcat log files don’t show a significant increase in HTTP bandwidth served. Furthermore, at the moment the network utilization shown on the Task Manager is low, so the super high bandwidth isn’t occurring all day. I suspect that maybe someone’s trying to hack the server using an attack that uses high bandwidth, but the attack isn’t going on all day. It would be very helpful to at least figure out which service is using up the bandwidth, so it would be very handy to be able to see the bandwidth over the course of a day broken down by how much of that bandwidth is going through each port. It would also be handy to see which remote IP address is using up the most bandwidth over the course of a day. Is there a more-or-less standard tool that would let me figure those two things out? I can’t find a tool built into Windows Server 2003 Web Edition that does what I need.

I happened to see a somewhat related thread above that mentions WireShark, so I’ve been reading some about that, thinking perhaps that would do what I need. But I’m concerned that for security reasons, my web hosting company might not be happy about me using a tool that puts the network card into promiscuous mode. Plus, I don’t have any need to see all the traffic passing through the network; I only need statistical information about packets that are addressed to my server. Since it sounds like there are ways of detecting a network card that’s in promiscuous mode, I’d prefer to not use a tool that uses promiscuous mode, to avoid any possibility of getting in trouble with the web hosting company. Red Act (talk) 01:50, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Wireshark only puts the adapter into promiscuous mode if you tell it to; if you tell it not to, it just captures all the packets to and from this specific MAC (and broadcast and multicast packets). Wireshark is built on pcap, and the page for that lists a number of monitoring tools that might be more suitable for your purpose than Wireshark. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 03:23, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Notebook stops in the welcome page
My notebook is not showing the accounts on the welcome page, you can move the mouse, but there is no windows account icons to click. When i try to boot in safe mode, the notebook shows those account icons and so i can enter in safe mode. I tried to disable some things in MSCONFIG to see if that helped, but that didnt helped my notebook. What can be the problem? 189.99.75.225 (talk) 03:48, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * What OS? Did this occur after you installed some new software?  (If so, try uninstalling the software while in safe mode.)  Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:48, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Windows xp 187.89.87.206 (talk) 00:51, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

The problem was the mouse, someway it was creating this problem.187.89.101.82 (talk) 22:14, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

Image help
I would like to use the public domain panel of drawings from this newspaper article in an article I am writing. I use Paint.NET for cropping/cleanup. I want to get the cleanest copy of the image I can, which I could if I could download the image and then manipulate it with the program, but the newspaper image (see previous link) provides pdf and "JP2" (which I think is JPEG 2000). I don't have Adobe Professional, which I think would allow me to save it as a different file format and then I could import that into Paint.NET. When I tried the download option, nothing on my computer supported opening the JP2 format, and I'm not how I could import that either even if I could download. Using print screen I need to make the image far too low a resolution to capture the six panel image with the descriptive text legible. I thought maybe I'd break it into two three panel images but the resolution still sucks. The only way I could do it is to zoom in on each of the six panels and print screen from there, resulting in six images, and I don't want to use them in that way. So, can anyone tell me what I can do? Maybe some free program I can download that will accept the JP2 format and allow me to convert it to a file format Paint.NET will recognize?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:50, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * You can open the pdf version in GIMP, crop/edit it, and save it in any format you like. -- k a i n a w &trade; 04:08, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Imagemagick should convert JPEG2000 fine: convert foo.jp2 foo.png   -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 04:12, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Can't remember which version it is (I'm borrowing someone else's computer), but I have Adobe Acrobat Professional (I think version 9) on my computer. What about using Special:EmailUser/Nyttend to send me the file?  I'll be happy to try to help you when I get back to my computer late tomorrow.  Nyttend backup (talk) 06:47, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I do realise, BTW, that you can't attach images; but once I have your email address, I'll send you mine for you to be able to attach the image. Nyttend backup (talk) 06:48, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Okay. I've tried a few things none of which have worked. I tried downloading Imagemagick but the program downloaded without a wizard. Instead it had readme documents for various platforms which describe how to compile the program. Not a task I'm up to handling. I downloaded Gimp (which I'm keeping) but when I import the pdf (using "open location") with the URL of the PDF, the downloaded version doesn't have anywhere near the resolution that the image on the website does. In other words, if you use the "zoom box" on the Chronicling America site, you can get crisp resolution over one panel of the six panel image. When I try the same with either the pdf version download using adobe reader, or the GIMP import of the download, when I zoom the same way it pixelates, leading me to believe the pdf version they are allowing is fixed at a much lower resolution than the original. So I think downloading the JP2 is the only workable solution. Thanks for the offer Nyttend! However, as I said the pdf isn't viable. I'll try to figure something else out. Going to go try some JP2 google searches for a free program.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:42, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * For ImageMagick: What OS are you running on? If it is a Windows-based, all you really need is the executable, convert.exe, that comes with the download package. If you are on anything Unix-based (e.g. OS X or Linux), then yeah, welcome to free-software hell, you might as well ignore it because it'll take an entire day to compile even if you don't run into trouble compiling the secondary packages. (Am I bitter about this? Yes indeed.) --Mr.98 (talk) 15:10, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * On linux instead of compiling from source you'd use a package manager like the overwhelming majority does. I hope you haven't got all your info on linux from this study. --194.197.235.240 (talk) 15:24, 25 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Running Windows XP. I looked for an executable in the download but didn't see one (and already trashed the download and emptied the trash).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:55, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I have another issue. Now. When I click on the download JP2 it tries to open using Quicktime, and what I get is a screen opening with the Quicktime logo with a question mark overlayed. How do I make it so that the program I download to open the JP2 is the actual program that is used by my computer to attempt to open the JP2 when I download it from the Chronicling America site? (yes I know, I'm needy).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 15:55, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * One workaround is that instead of clicking the JP2 file, right-click it, choose "Open With", and then choose whatever app you want to use instead of the QuickTime player. (BTW, I use Irfanview for all graphics conversion needs and recommend it; it works with JPEG 2000 also.)  Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:47, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I tried but it doesn't give the option for "open with". Here's a screenshot.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 18:35, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * You need to download it to your computer first (select "Save Link As..." from the menu shown in your screenshot). Then open the folder you saved it to, right-click the file and select "Open With..." and then pick the program you want from the submenu.  —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 23:43, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Thank you all. With all the various help I received, not only did I learn a few things, but was able to download the file in its full version and upload it in high resolution glory, here. For closure, I was able to download and use Irfanview to recognize the JP2 and convert it to a format Paint.NET/Gimp both recognize. Thanks again.Fuhghettaboutit (talk) ---07:51, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Virus
1. What is a computer virus? 2. How can we build one? 3. What does an antivirus do to protect a pc from viruses? 4. How is a virus healed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chetanbasuray (talk • contribs) 06:51, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * It seems that you might want to read the computer virus article. The term "virus" is sometimes (incorrectly) used to describe any type of malicious computer software; really, to qualify as a virus, it needs to self-replicate.  You can design such a program using a programming language and a compiler.  Antivirus software uses numerous methods to prevent a virus infection - most commonly, the software has a database of known bad programs, and prevents the computer from downloading any file which contain those programs.  You'll find some information about repairing a computer from malware in the malware article.  Nimur (talk) 07:00, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * It seems that you might want to read the computer virus article. The term "virus" is sometimes (incorrectly) used to describe any type of malicious computer software; really, to qualify as a virus, it needs to self-replicate.  You can design such a program using a programming language and a compiler.  Antivirus software uses numerous methods to prevent a virus infection - most commonly, the software has a database of known bad programs, and prevents the computer from downloading any file which contain those programs.  You'll find some information about repairing a computer from malware in the malware article.  Nimur (talk) 07:00, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

How to remove the password from a pdf
I have a few password protected pdf files that I want to remove the passwords from. I have the passwords. I can read these files and print them, but there is no longer any reason for them to remain protected and I'm tired of looking up passwords whenever I want to open one. I already tried printing them to a pdf creator. I don't understand why that didn't work, but it didn't. Any other ideas? 69.208.0.74 (talk) 07:21, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Download PDFSharp. Create a tool based on the following code:


 * The newly written PDF will contain all of the same contents but will not be password locked. I use this technique quite frequently. 124.214.131.55 (talk) 07:41, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * pdftk can do this. The command line would be something like pdftk [protected pdf name] input_pw [password] output [unprotected pdf name]. -- BenRG (talk) 00:33, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

difference between html server componemts and asp.net server components
difference between html server componemts and asp.net server components .can i use the html server components in a asp.net web applications ?


 * HTML components are sent directly to the browser as is. ASP.NET components are converted into HTML by the server, then sent to the browser. So, no matter what component you use, they'll all end up as HTML in the end. You can mix them up. It doesn't matter.--Drknkn (talk) 18:39, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Pascal prob.
Tryin to manipulate pascal and u can helpme tanks thanks

this is the question insertion sort in a chained linear list of n elements can be formulated as follows: power p: = 1 to n-1 1 = CONSIDER the sorted list formed by the first p elements 2 = delete the P +1 th element 3 = insert this sublist has its proper place without creating a new link 4 = write the sorted list

and this is my code

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.49.88.34 (talk) 13:06, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * And what is your question? Marnanel (talk) 15:19, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * The Reference desk/How to ask a software question tutorial may provide the OP with useful guidelines. With this question and source code in its present form, it is unlikely anyone here will be able to give you a meaningful answer.  Nimur (talk) 07:04, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

the programme doesn't work !it doesn't show the complete final list —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.49.88.34 (talk) 08:10, 24 January 2010 (UTC)


 * That still isn't a question. Marnanel (talk) 17:47, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
 * The question is clear isn't it - what is the bug - (my weak french and 'hate' of pascal prevents me from giving a definative answer), there's no dead for whatever character trait you are displaying :)87.102.67.84 (talk) 17:44, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Have you tried using a debugger in a pascal IDE - maybe something like free pascal / lazarus. Free Pascal, Lazarus (software)
 * I think it's worth asking - have you tried testing the program in parts? ie test the individual subroutines for correct behaviour? Also do you know if steps 1 to 3 have worked correctly? 87.102.67.84 (talk) 17:44, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

program remember
Some trail programs allow say 30 days of use then stop working a demand payment. If the program is uninstalled, then reinstalled it still remembers that the 30 days have been used. Obviously the uninstall process isn't a complete clear of all changes; something remains in the windows system. I want to clear this "remember" information to ensure the system is cleared of ALL traces of the previously installed program. How? Many thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.83 (talk) 15:38, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * It no doubt varies program by program. Usually such things are hidden in the Registry, but exactly where that info is stored, is probably different for each program. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:02, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * They deliberately leave Registry entries and small files in different places to prevent what you are proposing to do. In theory, you could edit (or restore a backup of) your registry, and delete any small data files, but you will need to find out where they all reside.  Formatting your hard drive and reinstalling your operating system is a very drastic solution to your problem.    D b f i r s   08:44, 24 January 2010 (UTC)


 * An easier way would be to set up a small virtual environment just for using the program (e.g. with VMWare). You could then wipe and restore the virtual environment after 30 days. --Mr.98 (talk) 17:00, 24 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes, a much neater solution! I've never used VMWare.  Does it create its own copy of the Registry .dat files?    D b f i r s   07:50, 27 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Indeed. Some programs even go to the extreme of hiding data in an used sector of the HDD, sector 32 being a common one (used by Macrovision Safecast for example used by numerous Adobe products among other things). I didn't include any links because I couldn't find a safe one (most discuss how to remove specific copy protections). In such a case, even formatting and reinstalling often won't be enough since much software won't touch that part of the HDD. Something like Darik's Boot and Nuke will do of course. Nil Einne (talk) 09:06, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

Networking question : What layer in the osi model does a server work with
What layer in the osi model does a server work with? I would guess Session and application, but does it know anything about the other layers.--Dbjohn (talk) 16:18, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * It would depend on the type of the server (e.g., DNS, application, etc.). I think that application servers and web servers are unfamiliar with the details of the lower layers. The operating system would handle breaking up the data into packets and resolving addresses (with the aid of other servers and routers, of course). The application server would simply perform method calls using the operating system's networking API. It does not care how those methods work. It only calls them and the OS knows the individual instructions within those methods.--Drknkn (talk) 18:36, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * It's worth noting that a lot of modern "Web 2.0" servers are streaming multimedia over proprietary protocols (RTMP comes to mind). So, the server software must be aware of at least OSI layers 4 through 7 (since it's probably spewing out UDP packets with custom payloads).  Most other stuff on the "web" uses TCP and HTTP, allowing the server software to only care about Layers 6 and 7.  Nimur (talk) 20:08, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * None of the cited examples use a network protocol that follows the OSI model, these are all TCP/IP based systems.

need new monitor - what happened to full screens?
Currently wide screen monitors are cheaper than the full screen computer monitors. Not only that, some stores don't stock monitors with a 4:3 aspect ratio. My own 19" acer monitor died recently and I'm using a ViewSonic widescreen TV/monitor as a makeshift screen. Using this monitor there are a couple of things that bother me.  1) some programs force the screen resolution to 800x600, 1024x768, etc.  meaning it looks stretched on this widescreen.  2) this monitor does not have a way to adjust aspect ratio.  Sure, I can adjust adjust the desktop resolution to make things proportional, but that ONLY works for the desktop.  Yes Widescreen is how human eyes naturally see the world and its good for watching movies, but its really bad for games and programs built for 4:3 (i.e. anything older than two years). Of the wide screen monitors out there, are there kinds that can switch between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios?  Preferably something that can automatically adjust aspect ratio based on the input resolution. &mdash; Kjammer   &#8962;  21:39, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Many video cards let you choose how to handle scaling when displaying a resolution lower than the LCD resolution. For instance, my nVidia driver lets me choose between "Use nVidia scaling", "Use nVidia scaling with preserved aspect ratio", "use the LCDs built-in scaling", and "do not scale". --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 21:49, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I think you are either out of date or confused as to how programs handle wide-screen monitors these days. Every game I run that has a 4:3 aspect ratio just puts black bars on the side—it does not warp the image. They are far more flexible than you think they are. I have a wide-screen monitor and a wide-screen laptop and have no problem at all playing older games on it. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:22, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Don't have a widescreen monitor either, but I know some (can't recall brand) have a button on them to switch between 16:9(wide) & 4:3(normal) ratio. Some games allow you to select wide screen as well as 'standard' resolution/ratios, without any bars or distortion. --220.101.28.25 (talk) 23:42, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Mr.98, your video drivers may be fancier than mine &mdash; my games don't do that; Warcraft 3 is an example of a game that just stretches wide to fit my monitor. Kjammer, I agree, it drives me nuts, too, that my local large-chain electronics store seems to stock 95% 1080p resolution monitors, which is just lame.  I have started to buy monitors from Newegg or other online electronics retailers, but this seems to be some sort of wave of the future, unfortunately.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:44, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree, if you send a non-widescreen image to a monitor, by default it'll stretch it UNLESS: A) The video driver is set to add the black bars/keep the normal proportions (as mentioned above NVIDIA cards can do this, but it's not on by default) or B) The monitor is set to diable scaling/streching in it's options, but then it'll also introduce lines above and below too (a 1024x768 image on a 1920x1200 monitor would result in a smaller squarer image in the middle of the widescreen monitor with black borders all around). ZX81  talk  00:21, 24 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Mr.98, I'm sure you mean well, but your post comes across to me as being pompous and arrogent. Just because you don't have a problem, doesn't mean you are right. Not all computers are created equal.  I don't know about nVidia, but ATI cards do have the "maintain aspect ratio" option, but it is dependant on the kind of monitor being used.  This works for brand name DVI monitors but it doesn't work with analog signals (VGA).  Kjammer, if you have an ATI card with DVI-out, get a widescreen monitor with DVI-in, and find the appropriate settings in the Catalyst Control Center.  Or if you're lucky to find an affordable 4:3 screen in working order, go for it!  137.229.82.44 (talk) 19:58, 24 January 2010 (UTC)


 * You can still find professional 'old' monitors on sites like B&H. Certain professionals still need them, apparently. Navigate to monitors and, on the left, select "standard" monitors. Mxvxnyxvxn (talk) 20:17, 25 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes try an office supplier - 4:3 is still common - just not for the 'consumer products' side of the market.87.102.67.84 (talk) 17:47, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

SATA Drive not recognized
I have a computer with 2 hard drives, one IDE drive and one SATA drive. I installed a kind of old version of Windows XP (without a slipstreamed SATA driver) in the IDE drive and now I have a fully working Windows XP, however, the SATA drive is not recognized, neither by the OS, neither (apparently) by the BIOS.

What's the problem?

Thanks in advance. 85.244.155.144 (talk) 22:19, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Hm &mdash; if it really isn't showing up in the BIOS screen then the problem is of course irrelevant to your OS. First you need to see that thing in the BIOS.  Switch the SATA drive to a different physical SATA connector on the motherboard; or disconnect the IDE drive and see if the SATA drive starts showing up; or try a different SATA cable.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:45, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm not testing right now, but I'm almost sure the computer booted from the SATA disk the last time I tried without the IDE one. Actually, the former operating system was installed on the SATA drive. Perhaps the board recognizes it and I didn't notice. Or can the IDE disk be causing some problem? 85.244.155.144 (talk) 23:57, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Just to confirm, did you have both drives working with your previous operating system? Or is the IDE drive a new addition? If it's a new addition it might be that your motherboard supports an IDE emulation mode for SATA disks (which is what you are using) but that only works as long as you don't have something plugged into the IDE ports. If this is the case you'd need to into the BIOS and either turn off the SATA->IDE emulation (so it is truely seen as SATA and IDE) or experiment with the different physical ports. Bewarned that changing these options may result in Windows no longer booting due to the "boot drive" having changed physical location and you'd either need to reinstall again or edit the boot.ini file with another boot disc. ZX81  talk  00:18, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I had both drives, however, since there was valuable information in the SATA drive and the OS was malfunctioning, I preferred to install the new operating system in the IDE drive. 85.244.155.144 (talk) 11:07, 24 January 2010 (UTC)


 * FWIW, I have a couple of SATA 3.0 Gb/s disks on my elderly (SATA 1.5 Gb/s) motherboard, and neither disk is recognized by the BIOS when I first power on the system. I have to push the reset button after it's been on for a few seconds, and then it sees the disks.  Worth trying if you haven't already.  -- Coneslayer (talk) 17:03, 25 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Although 3.0 Gb/s disks are in theory backwards compatible, some SATA 1.5 Gb/s have problems with them for reasons I can't remember. Some drives have a jumper you can use to limit the disk to 1.5 Gb/s, the OP may want to look into this Nil Einne (talk) 09:07, 28 January 2010 (UTC)