Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 December 6

= December 6 =

What the Cluster spacecraft needed.
The Wikipedia article for the Cluster spacecraft shows the code that caused the Cluster spacecraft to self-destruct. I was wondering what needed to be added to this code so that it would work correctly.

What should have been added to the code? 169.231.13.100 (talk) 06:07, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Fun question to research, thanks! The assignment
 * needs to be replaced by
 * needs to be replaced by


 * This is the sort of thing that drove me batty in my decades of maintenance programming. The exact same possibility for overflow exists for the assignments to T_ALG.E_BV and T_ALG.E_BH, whatever the heck they happen to be. I bet in testing someone made an overflow happen on the first assignment, and fixed it without even looking what was happening in the very next line of code to what's obviously very similar data. I got this from, by the way. --jpgordon:==( o ) 06:41, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

There's something to be said for checking your work... Heck froze over (talk) 16:14, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Finding free images of Megawati Sukarnoputri
Hi! What would be a good resource for me to find free images of Megawati Sukarnoputri?

In particular I would like to find an image of her wearing a veil/hijab. But it must be freely licensed. I am asking so it can be used on the Acehnese Wikipedia. Thanks, WhisperToMe (talk) 15:05, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

I think Google Images (or something like that, I only heard about it a few times) has free pictures of most things. Heck froze over (talk) 16:13, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * An image found on Google images might be free to view, but probably will not be free to use. If the usage/license for the image is not clearly stated, you will need to contact the owner of the image to determine your usage options.  You might have better luck contacting the owner if you search with Flickr. TheGrimme (talk) 16:29, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm aware of that. I sorta remember Google having a collection of free liscense (is that what they're called?) pictures but can't remember what it was under. Heck froze over (talk) 19:19, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I think one would specify at http://www.google.com/advanced_image_search - Thanks for your help! Unfortunately I was unable to find free images of her this way. WhisperToMe (talk) 21:07, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Also, Wikipedia has a tool for requesting photographs for use on Wikipedia. Please read about Category:Wikipedia requested photographs and the |Requests page on WikiMedia.  TheGrimme (talk) 18:16, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your help! I placed the request on EN. I also would like to place a request on the Indonesian Wikipedia too.
 * WhisperToMe (talk) 21:07, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Firefox's elephant-like memory
Firefox (on Linux) remember lots of things typed into various webforms. This is often very useful. However, I once let a colleague login to a site using his own user ID, and now Firefox has remembered that as well and offers up his name as well as mine every time I log in. How can I selectively delete his name from Firefox's memory, while keeping my name remembered? After all, Firefox must store this info somewhere. Astronaut (talk) 15:56, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * There's not really any harm done if Firefor remembers his username, especially if you do. The main worrying factor would be if Firefox stores the password. I don't know of a way to selectively store cookies like the one you mentioned. Wouldn't it be of benefit to be able to remember your user ID at any given moment instead of relying on cookies to remember for you? Heck froze over (talk) 16:10, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Right click on the web page, select View Page Info. Select Security tab.  Select View Saved Passwords.  Remove the login credentials you want to eliminate.  (Try not to look at his password) TheGrimme (talk) 16:26, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * (ec) Firefox allows you to delete "history" (including form entries) for various time-periods. This is called Clear Recent History.  You can read about advanced options on the official Mozilla support page.  There are also ways to enter "private browsing mode," to avoid saving any history in the first place.  In the future, when a guest uses your system, you can specify this option.  Nimur (talk) 16:26, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Das good advice. ¦ Reisio (talk) 17:09, 6 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Easier than the above: click on the user name field, press down-arrow until your colleague's name is selected, press Delete. --Sean 19:52, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Also you could tell it to not save your information, and then people won't be able to log into your bank accounts. :p ¦ Reisio (talk) 20:35, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * If your bank doesn't specify that the password and probably username aren't to be saved, you probably should get a new bank. If your browser ignores requests from websites not to save the info without you having told it to do so, you probably should get a new browser. 11:48, 7 December 2011 (UTC)Nil Einne (talk)

It is not the password that is being remembered; just the usernames. And it is nothing to do with banking either. My employer has a number of internal websites, each has their own user/password combo. Unfortunately, when my various site usernames were created, they each have small variations in the way the username is constructed (one is my usual network login, another is the same but with uppercase, another is 3 letters from my first name and 3 from my last name, and so on). It is quite useful that Firefox stores these for me, usefully associated with the correct site. Anyway, pressing the delete key worked for me and Firefox has now forgotten my colleagues names; thanks Sean. Astronaut (talk) 12:26, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Remote Desktop Connection
I am trying to connect to a Windows 7 32-bit computer (desktop) via Remote Desktop Connection from a Windows 7 64-bit computer (desktop). Everything works fine, except for the sound. With all volume controls at maximum on both computers, the remote computers sound is only just audible (at first, I thought there was no sound at all). All local sounds on the Windows 7 64-bit computer work normally; beeps, music, etc, it's just the sound coming via Remote Desktop Connection which is low. I can't see any way to increase the sound, since all controls are already at full.

The problem must be with the Windows 7 64-bit computer, because I have connected to the Windows 7 32-bit computer and a Windows XP 32-bit computer from the Windows 7 64-bit computer with the same sound problem. And if I connect the other way via Remote Desktop Connection to the Windows 7 64-bit computer from the Windows 7 32-bit computer with exactly the same settings the sound works normally, so my settings are correct. And when I used a different Windows 7 64-bit computer (a laptop) to connect to the same Windows 7 32-bit computer (desktop), the sound works at normal levels. I have also tried connecting using 2XClient and experienced exactly the same problem. So the problem cannot be with the Windows 7 32-bit computer. I am completely at a loss for what the cause of this might be, and I can't find anything online to help. Some extra information about the set-up;


 * All computers are using Network Level Authentication for Remote Desktop Connection. I've tried the unsecured connection type and it made no difference
 * I've enabled all the relevant sound settings on all computers
 * The local resources audio settings in Remote Desktop Connection are set to "Play on this computer". I've tried "Play on remote computer" which makes sound come from the Windows 7 32-bit computers speakers, which is not what I want
 * None of the Windows 7 computers have any micosoft updates or service packs installed. Automatic update is turned off
 * "Allow audio and video playback redirection" is set to "enabled" in local group policy editor. I've tried it as "disabled", "enabled" and "not configured" and none of the options seem to make any difference
 * My current settings work perfectly when connecting from a laptop running Windows 7 64-bit. The problem seems to be with the Windows 7 64-bit desktop

Thanks for any help 82.43.90.142 (talk) 19:25, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * You've probably checked this but W7 has per application volume control. Your master volume might be set to full, but maybe remote desktop is turned down? Vespine (talk) 21:58, 8 December 2011 (UTC)
 * No, that is set correctly. There doesn't seem to be a way to increase Remote Desktop Connection volume control without also increasing the master volume control, so the only way I can hear any sound from Remote Desktop Connection is to have everything at full, but then a beep on the local computer nearly explodes my headphones. 82.43.90.142 (talk) 02:20, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Deluge of spamming users on a wiki
Hi - I'm helping out with another wiki (http://www.lgbthistoryuk.org/wiki/). The rules are that you have to be a registered user to add or update articles. Recently there have been a very large number of user accounts being created, which are then used to create articles with inappropriate links to external sites, some of which seem to contain malware. Any recommendations as to how to stop this happening? Any suggestions welcome --rossb (talk) 20:34, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * It's spam, something Wikipedia itself has to deal with all the time. There's a short guide available here about dealing with spam. The most effective way to stop it would be to disable account creation and only allow approved accounts. There's a MediaWiki extension for this here. You could also try making them confirm an email address before being able to edit, but spammers usually have loads of email addresses so that might not be very effective. If you're unwilling to do that (like Wikipedia is) then you could use the edit filter and SpamBlacklist to try and filter spam-like posts 82.43.90.142 (talk) 21:23, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * At The Test Wiki, we use the above-linked AbuseFilter extenstion. (For the same reason - we suddenly got flooded with Spambots.) The rule is something like, which essentially stops all users from adding any external links to mainspace if that user has less than ten edits. It's been very effective. Avic ennasis  @ 00:57, 11 Kislev 5772 / 00:57, 7 December 2011 (UTC)