Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 July 29

= July 29 =

c#
I know the meaning of access modifiers applied to methods and variables, but what's the purpose of applying them to an entire class or struct? T.i.a. --217.194.34.103 (talk) 10:34, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Doing so affects the accessibility level of the class/struct. As class definitions can contain internal class definitions, you can control whether the inner classes are accessible from outside (and by means of "protected", whether they're accessible to subclasses of the outer class).  Likewise class definitions can be made accessible, or inaccessible, to code outside the same assembly. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 10:43, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * It's just another level of information hiding, which reduces complexity and makes dependencies easier to manage. --Sean 14:17, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Buying a new inxepensive Laptop to run windows xp
I dont play 3d games, I run things like eclipse or watch DVDs and can spend around 275 euros. Iam eyeing on new Low end laptops such as Acer Extensa 5235. Low end laptops like this come without operating system or with linux. It seems like drivers for windows xp can be found on the internet. Im not sure about the windows key (the one between alt and ctrl keys). Can you please how one can find out (online) if a particular model has windows key?. I am assuming that windows xp drivers are not a problem here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.99.136.3 (talk) 11:07, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Most laptops, even those that ship with Linux, still have a Windows key (because they're just shipping a standard keyboard). The Acer Extensa 5235 you cite is a good example - these photos show it does have one (the key is useful in Linux too). You can probably get XP drivers for all existing laptop hardware, but I wouldn't count on it (you'd need to select a specific laptop and check on support forums for it, to verify that someone has succeeded in getting XP working on it).  Your chief problem may be getting a Windows XP licence to use - they don't sell XP retail any more. You can downgrade a Windows 7 licence (but that's rather an expensive and convoluted process, for the simple needs you have), but mostly people buying XP now are getting a small footprint OEM XP licence preinstalled on their netbook. If I really wanted a small cheap XP laptop, I wouldn't buy a non-XP laptop and go through the bother and risk of somehow XP-ing it; I'd stick with one that shipped with XP.   An aside: given that you don't care about games, have you considered just sticking with the Linux install? If all you need is email/chat/web/media/office then it should be just fine. I'd dump the dumbed-down linux they tend to put on these things and put Ununtu Netbook edition on instead - if you're technical enough of a person to even know what a driver is, you're technical enough to install and use that fine. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 11:33, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Can't say I would recommend Ununtu Netbook edition myself. Never heard of anyone with positive experience of it. Nil Einne (talk) 11:37, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Iam happy to use "old" versions of windows such as XP, 2000 or even 95 because i hate newer versions and hate linux even more. For me, only the old windows versions are intuitive to use. Nice to know about the keys though —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.99.136.3 (talk) 11:56, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I feel the same way but using old versions of Windows really isn't practical anymore (especially Windows 95!). What I do is set the theme to "Windows Classic" which give new versions of Windows the old classic intuitive GUI instead of whatever fancy nonsense they've come up with and decided to force on the end user 82.43.88.151 (talk) 15:11, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Have you considered getting a used laptop? I was recently given three supposedly dead laptops and refurbished all of them, but the small ads are full of used kit and for €275 you could get something pretty good complete with Windows XP.  As for my three free laptops, all had a Windows XP Certificate of Authenticity on the bottom, so with the help of an OEM installation disk I repaired the Windows installations on all of them.  One also came with a full installation of Office Professional.  They're not fantastic performance, but certainly good enough for some internet surfing, general office stuff, and developing with Eclipse, though I haven't tested DVD playing on any of these laptops.  On one of the laptops (the one I'm using right now), I've since installed Fedora and Eclipse and that all works well.  Total outlay so far is just £5 for the OEM installation disk, but I could spend a little more: they could all do with more memory, one needs a new keyboard (~£15 from eBay), and none of the batteries is in top condition.  Astronaut (talk) 15:15, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

ok, I will also consider buying dead laptops. Iam not an hardware expert and my knowledge is small, especially when it comes to laptops. what do I look for when buying a dead one?. I assume graphic card should work properly and there should be no boxes or bands on screen. How do I ensure that motherboard is not dead?. Buying used laptops is also a good idea, im thinking anything above 1,2 Ghz would be sufficient. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.99.136.3 (talk) 08:21, 30 July 2010 (UTC)


 * With completely dead laptops you take your chances, but if its free, then nothing is lost except your time. As a general rule, a surprising amount can be replaced/repaired.  Exceptions are major chassis damage, broken screen or video "card" (usually on the motherboard and therefore non-replaceable), and other stuff well buried in the case or built in to the case's shape (such as the motherboard itself).  Cracked hinges can sometimes be tightened up; battery, keyboard, hard disk, battery and power supply can usually be replaced; replacement manuals and drivers can be download from the manufacturer's website.  With used but still working machines, it is reasonable to have higher expectations, but you might prefer to see it working before you buy.  Astronaut (talk) 17:14, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

Starcraft 2 not working
I really seem to be hung up more in unpacking and playing computer games than editing, but I decided to utilize the Ref Desk to fix my own problems. Does anyone here (hopefully a Starcraft fan) know how to authorize your Battle.net account for Starcraft 2? It's the one thing that's stopping me from playing it. Thank you, Buggie111 (talk) 14:41, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
 * You need to type the authentication key that came with the game into battle.net. You should've been prompted to do this in the installation process, but if not just log in and go to manage games/add or upgrade a game. Algebraist 14:46, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * It's a very aggravating and confusing process, but not difficult. When the program tells you about the issue it will offer to pop up a web-browser and take you to authorizing web page.
 * Then it'll force you to make a battlenet account. Be sure to give your real email address, because now you have to 'activate' the battlenet account by checking your email and clicking the link they send you.  Then you have to "Add a game" to your battle net account, and type in the magic number printed on the sleeve the disk was in.  (I dunno how it works with a download copy.)
 * Then ... it should work. Go back to he game and log into your battlenet account.
 * Frankly, this is the sort of thing that makes me root for the bootleggers, pirates, and crackers. They may be the bad guys, butThey never make their "users" jump through these many hoops. APL (talk) 19:27, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
 * For the record, they never make Starcraft 2, either. Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:02, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * There are free and open-source strategy games, like those listed in our list of open-source video games. This way, you don't have to rely on commercial services and put up with their licensing and DRM trouble; but you're also not violating any legal or ethical rules about piracy.  Nimur (talk) 21:27, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Relying on the open source community for ones entertainment is, though, a fairly losing proposition on the whole, in my opinion. Better to lobby the commercial companies to not rely on DRM, especially since it is ineffective for the most part anyway. But we are getting quite off topic. --Mr.98 (talk) 00:49, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

Whiteboard missing from Windows Live Messenger version 2009
Dear Wikipedians:

Windows Live Messenger 2009 says it comes with whiteboard. However, when I launch a conversation with one of my MSN body, I go to "Activities" on the menu bar and I see only "Request Remote Assistance" under it, there is no mention of "Whiteboard" or "Application Sharing". I am wondering what is going on? Why is whiteboard missing from the menu even though it comes with Messenger 2009?

Thanks for all your help.

70.31.153.123 (talk) 17:16, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Do you use Windows 7? According to this post, the whiteboard is not available on that operating system. -- Kateshortforbob talk  09:04, 30 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Bingo, that is exactly what I figured out yesterday. It seems that whiteboard is not compatible with Vista or 7. Whiteboard will only run between XP systems. What a #@!*! Thanks for all your help Kateshortforbob. 174.88.34.147 (talk) 16:22, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

Virtual office
How do I create a virtual office? Dr. Gervasse Soma Pillay PHD —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gervsomp (talk • contribs) 17:57, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * We have an article, virtual office, that probably answers your question. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:23, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * "Virtual office" is sort of a buzz-word for an interactive website. You can spend as much or as little effort as you like making your web presence.  Some companies provide voice conferencing, live chat, and other interactive features accessible through the web.  The more features you have, the more expensive it will be.  You can create an efficient and effective web presence for little or no money, though, and if you want, you can call it your "virtual office."  Nimur (talk) 20:31, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Google quirk
Why might a Google search give a Wikipedia article as the first hit when a) the article does not contain one of the search terms and b) some lower ranked hits contain all five of them?

The search was for: little night music dvorak sondheim

The top article was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Little_Night_Music

When I use Dvorák (with the accent) in the search instead of Dvorak, the Wikipedia article is no longer at the top.

Thanks. Wanderer57 (talk) 19:40, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Google favors Wikipedia and your query contained the searchable title "little night music" specifically in that order and at the beginning of your query. -- k a i n a w &trade; 19:43, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Note that if you definitely want a word in the search results, you should use the + in front. e.g. try 'little night music +dvorak sondheim' Nil Einne (talk) 20:15, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Google Syntax Cheat-Sheet, from google.com. Other web-search engines may use similar syntax.  Keep in mind that Google's search queries are processed in a complicated and heuristic way to take into account things like "trending", context-, location- or user-specific assumptions about desired results. So, it is never really possible to guarantee exactly how Google's technology will parse your keywords.  Loosely speaking, their proprietary algorithm will first categorize your query; and then it will run one or more context-specific searches.  For example, Google may determine that your query is related to music; so it runs the "music search subroutine".  It may also decide that your query might be about Czech or even in the Czech language (espcially if you use a non-ASCII character like á, so it may run a location-specific search subroutine that prioritizes content from or about Czech Republic or in the Czech language.  Google may make any number of unstated assumptions based on your keywords, and thus submit your query to unexpected content-specific algorithms that can all return different results; these results are aggregated, sorted, and merged into what appears to you as a single "result page".  Take a look, for example, at "Context-Aware Query Classification" out of Microsoft Research (Microsoft Bing researchers are more willing to publish research than Google search engineers... but it's fundamentally the same technology in both companies). Nimur (talk) 20:38, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
 * (ec) Google has a very clever algorithm for finding results that does far more than just see if the keywords are in the article. In particular, it looks at what pages people link to using those words. It also looks at how often sites are linked to and Wikipedia is linked to ridiculously often. The idea is that if lots of people found the site useful enough to link to it then you'll probably find it useful too. --Tango (talk) 20:42, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks to all. It's amazing just how much is going on in one search.  Wanderer57 (talk) 16:02, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, most of the work is already done before you run the search. They have a giant index of sites with all the pagerank (that's what the cleverness is called) information stored in it and just look your search up in the index. --Tango (talk) 18:00, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
 * According to Google's cached result page, the word "dvorak" appears only on links to the the Wikipedia article. Words on links to a page counts for a great deal in Google's eyes.  (Which may be why the Wikipedia article on X is so often the top result for X; people like to make a word or phrase in the sentence they're writing link to the Wikipedia article on the subject, rather than interrupt the flow to explain it.)  Paul (Stansifer) 19:05, 30 July 2010 (UTC)