Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 June 22

= June 22 =

Firefox Icon
As can be seen here, my Firefox icon isn't showing. I tried re-installing Firefox, but that didn't help. Is there a way to get the Firefox symbol back? 74.15.136.219 (talk) 01:10, 22 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Unpin and repin? Bluefist  talk  01:12, 22 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately didn't work. 74.15.136.219 (talk) 01:33, 22 June 2011 (UTC)


 * What's that pic supposed to show ? (I was expecting a screen shot of your desktop with a non-standard Firefox startup icon.)  Maybe I don't understand the problem.  Is it one of these ? :


 * A) There is no longer any Firefox icon on your desktop.


 * B) There is a Firefox icon, but it's not the usual one.


 * C) Some other problem ? StuRat (talk) 01:30, 22 June 2011 (UTC)


 * The weird first icon is supposed to be a Firefox icon. For aesthetic and perfectionist reasons, it would be nice to have the regular icon. 74.15.136.219 (talk) 01:33, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

I’d ask http://webchat.freenode.net/?nick=w7pinIcoMIA&channels=##windows about it, but I’d be surprised if uninstalling Firefox, backing up your profile folder & deleting it, reinstalling Firefox and copying back your profile contents wouldn’t fix it. As tedious as that is, it’s fairly straightforward. ¦ Reisio (talk) 01:46, 22 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Couldn't you right-click on the icon, click on properties, and then change the icon back to what it's supposed to be? Even if it's windows icon caching problem, I think that would cause it to reset. APL (talk) 03:22, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

mouse single click e speaking software
I have installed e speaking voice softwre, i have used by giving some commands for example ,Mouse up ,mouse left ,..... but i do not know ,how to do single left  click by using voice command ,how can i import this command. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.152.12.109 (talk) 05:50, 22 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Have you downloaded and read the manual? Have you tried the online support pages, e.g. www.e-speaking.com/support.htm?--Shantavira|feed me 10:21, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

It'd be odd if you were having trouble with this one key and no other, but just FFR, software like AutoHotkey (win32) and AutoKey (also xdotool, xautomation, xmodmap [Unix]) can often fill gaps for things like this. ¦ Reisio (talk) 18:45, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Elite question
Elite (computer game) is a 3D spaceflight computer game from several decades ago. It features a massive galaxy, and travel between stars is done by using hyperspace jumps because the distance is supposedly too large to cover without them. My question is a technical one - does Elite, in theory, allow travelling between stars without the hyperdrive, or is there a separate "space bubble" for each star that can't be exceeded (or that goes on infinitely for an arbitrarily large distance)? What about Oolite (computer game), the free clone of the game? 212.68.15.66 (talk) 06:39, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * This is covered in the article - ships can carry enough fuel for a maximum of seven light years, which is enough to get between almost all of the stars within a galaxy. Warofdreams talk 09:39, 22 June 2011 (UTC)


 * The 7 light years gets you a few stars over; to get across the galaxy you have to make dozens of jumps (with refuelling between each jump). But as the article notes, the procedural generation for stars does put some outside normal hyperspace range (not that it matters, because all these procedurally generated places are as dull as one another). But that's not the OP's question - it's whether one can travel between stars without the hyperdrive; whether one can just head off in normal space (normal space travel doesn't require fuel) and eventually end up at another star (if you left your Acorn Electron turned on for 20,000 years). I believe the answer is no. I've seen back-engineered code purporting to match Elite's logic and it only flipped the "which star system we're in" indicator in response to the Jump operation. And secondly there's no meaningful correlation between the 2d coordinate system used in the galaxy map and the 3d coordinate system used in the gameplay; so one can't meaningfully head in the direction of Reidquat, because even if the coordinate systems did mesh there's no way of knowing what direction that would be.  I don't know about later Elite games or things like Oolite - they all appear to have added more features.  The one time in classic Elite when you can end up (in the galactic map) outside a star system is when you misjump and end up in WitchSpace (typically without enough fuel to jump anywhere), but then the Thargoids blast you to bits and it's back to the saved game. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 10:19, 22 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Thank you. Actually, in Oolite you can also be intercepted in witch space, but luckily they added (I think) a feature which may cause a random passing ship to notice you... In any case, seeing that Elite was very limited in memory and acording to the developers in several documentaries they worked very hard to remove unnecessary computation and memory requirements, having all the stars "coexist" seems unlikely as they would certainly be a rather superfluous feature. 212.68.15.66 (talk) 11:57, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Does anyone know how this works in the sequel, Frontier: Elite II? J I P &#124; Talk 19:24, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Simplified Chinese Music Notation software
Where can I find or purchased the Simplified Chinese Music Notation software for computer that I can put in the Chinese song lyrics and guitar chords.Simonsimon123 (talk) 13:45, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm not 100% certain of this, but Finale Notepad is a pretty feature rich sheet music editor. It's not free, but my recollection from when I last used it was that it supported wider character sets than most sheet music programs. i kan reed (talk) 17:37, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Be pretty easy with LilyPond (frontends available). If you don't know how to type any Chinese, I'm not sure what will help you, it'll be tedious. If you do know, you shouldn't need the help of the music typesetter. ¦ Reisio (talk) 18:42, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Having trouble with my computer
I just did a system restore to fight a stupid viris and now my programs don't work except a few. Any program I try to run brings up the open with window and most of my programs are not in there. Thank God Firefox is or I couldn't ask for help. Please what do I do to fix this? PS it dosnt matter if i use the desktop shortcut or try to run the exe direct. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.125.133.231 (talk) 17:38, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * If you reinstall Windows, you normally have to reinstall all your programs, too. Have you done this? --Phil Holmes (talk) 17:58, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Is a system restore the same thing as re-installing windows? Googlemeister (talk) 18:19, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * No it is not. It rolls back the registry and program files to a previous state, removing any system changes along the way.  All your documents and similar files are retained, but replaces things that viruses can use to control the system with a specific previous version.  i kan reed (talk) 18:31, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * So the OP must have restored to an early point before most of the software was installed. The software will still be there, but its registry entries will be missing.  In theory, these could be re-written with a registry editor, but it's not a task I would like to attempt!  I think re-installation is the only easy option, unless a more recent restore point is still available.    D b f i r s   20:35, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't think so. It sounds like the OP's programs are gone.  The program files folder is an exploitable point for viruses, so it gets rolled back.  i kan reed (talk) 20:36, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * But then why wasn't his Firefox taken out? Googlemeister (talk) 21:11, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I was working on the assumption that "system restore" might well be a reinstallation of the initial system as delivered, using the "restore system to its original state" manufacturer-delivered rollback solutions. --Phil Holmes (talk) 21:22, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Assuming the OP has a Windows system, Firefox would probably not be on the initial system as delivered. Googlemeister (talk) 21:24, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Yes I have windows and no I only did system restore for 3 days ago. I had this coputer for a year. So what do I need to do to fix this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.125.133.231 (talk) 22:35, 22 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Was the virus something that plagued you with warnings about all kinds of weird system errors and potential hardware faults, in an effort to get you to buy some fixer program? Did it also replace your desktop background with a plain colour and make all your document disappear?  That particular variety of scareware is well known for also hiding your stuff, including the program names in the start menu.  Astronaut (talk) 12:48, 23 June 2011 (UTC)
 * With the above, if that virus hid an important dll file, that might cause something like this to happen. Googlemeister (talk) 12:58, 23 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Generally it sounds like the OP has malware along the lines of Windows 7 Recovery/Restore. It hides all your start menu programs (it actually hides the whole c drive). The result is that there are no programs you can launch from the start menu. This describes the problem . If this is what's happening post back and there are some resources that can help. RxS (talk) 13:43, 23 June 2011 (UTC)
 * By the way, if this is what's going on this page has some detail about how to recover the start menu shortcuts RxS (talk) 14:13, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Kenya WiFi Security
I am going to be travelling to Kenya for a few months and will be using mainly internet cafes to access my email, facebook account and other web services. I am worried about my laptop being stolen so I have already backed up and erased all personal files. Is it safer to remove all cookies from my web browser so that I have to re-enter the passwords and account name every time I log into my email or to just leave my accounts logged in? On one hand, if my laptop gets stolen, the thief will not have access to my accounts, but if I enter my password everytime I log in, will hackers be able to sniff out my password if the WiFi connection is unsecure? Acceptable (talk) 18:03, 22 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Even if the WiFi in some hotel or bar or whatever was itself secure, you have no way of trusting that the hotel's wired network is secure, or indeed that the upstream connections beyond it are either. At the very minimum you should make sure that you're doing stuff over an https connection. But if it were me I'd get a VPN service like StrongVPN and only connect (for doing anything worthwhile at least) over that. Personally I wouldn't be comfortable with things that claim to clear all the confidential information; I'd use whole disk encryption as well. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 18:18, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Router logbook
Are WIFI routers supposed to have a kind of logbook? Or do they only show the current users logged? Wikiweek (talk) 22:23, 22 June 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm afraid it'll depend completely on the access point make/model and the firmware it's running. Most consumer ones will simply show the MAC address of all connected devices and not much else, some will also show websites currently being visited and other current connections details, but some will literally show nothing at all.  ZX81    talk  23:01, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * And a tech-savvy operator of a router could enable it to log all traffic that goes through it.--el Aprel (facta-facienda) 01:38, 23 June 2011 (UTC)
 * If it's supported by the device...  ZX81    talk  02:23, 23 June 2011 (UTC)
 * True. I included that statement because it seemed that the OP might be concerned about their privacy (which is non-existent) over an unknown WIFI network.--el Aprel (facta-facienda) 21:55, 23 June 2011 (UTC)