Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 November 23

= November 23 =

Remote desktop
I have a computer running Windows 7 which I want to connect to via remote desktop. I've set it up and everything works well, except for when I restart the computer. After restarting, I cannot connect to it or even see it in network discovery until I log into it with the account password. It is like the computer doesn't activate the network card until it has logged in. But this means I have to keep a physical screen and keyboard attached to it all the time, which I do not want. I want to be able to turn it on and log in via remote desktop, with no physical screen or keyboard needed. I know it is possible to change a setting to enable the network to start before logging in, because I've done it before on a different computer. But after an hour of searching google and the ref desk archives for my old questions on this, I cannot find the answer. 82.43.90.142 (talk) 00:39, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
 * I know that this isn't answering your question per se, but why do you need to keep a physical screen and keyboard attached? Can't you just make it auto-login with whatever username/password you would login in with? Not the best security practice but if the computer has no screen or keyboard it may not be a big risk to casual passers by and without full disk encryption the computer is always going to be vunerable to anyone dedicated enough. Presuming the problem is really as you suggest this will ensure the network works after a restart and you can later login in remotely if you desire. In fact, unless you really don't want it to login except when you choose, this sounds even better since after a restart you don't have to fluff around with logging in remotely but any background apps etc will start (even if there are no background apps of importance it does mean the restart/login will be more likely to be mostly completed by the time you login remotely). Nil Einne (talk) 02:40, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
 * That works! Thank you 82.43.90.142 (talk) 10:40, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Telling Windows what part of my screen to use
Hello! I recently dropped my laptop. I caught it before it hit the ground with full force, and it works fine. The only part that received damage was the screen. There is a near perfect rectangle all the way to the left of the screen that does work; it is solid white. It spans the entire vertical length of the screen and about 150 pixels horizontally. Is there a way I can tell the Windows 7 OS to only paint to the quadrant of the screen that is functional? I've basically just been resizing my open windows to the dimensions of the functioning part of the screen, but it would be nice if I could trick the OS into thinking the screen is only as large as the part that still works. Thank you.--el Aprel (facta-facienda) 03:43, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Not sure about that, but another suggestion is to use an external monitor, assuming your laptop has a connection for one. I use one on my laptop, now that the screen is damaged. StuRat (talk) 03:50, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

I don't know a really good way, but you could use something like MaxTo to make it easier. The last completely free version that was released that I know of is up at http://reisio.com/temp/MaxToSetup-2009-3-1.exe. You can also get a few versions from http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://www.maxto.net/download. ¦ Reisio (talk) 04:13, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Maybe, just maybe, the internal cable between the motherboard and the screen might have come loose. If you don't find a software solution and can't use an external monitor, it might be worth trying a repair before disposing of it, though it would involve downloading the service manual and following the instructions to the letter to take the laptop apart.  Astronaut (talk) 04:19, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * A screen repair is well worth checking the prices on- though looking through the service manual is key, it's just too easy to break the stupid clips they put on the things instead of real metal fasteners.

Server won't stay shutdown
I have a Dell Poweredge server with CentOS installed. When I want to shut it down, usually because I got fed up with the noisy fans, I can choose shutdown from the menu or type shutdown -h now in a terminal window. It goes through the shutdown process, but this server seems very reluctant to stay shutdown and after a brief (one second?) power off it starts right back up again. Even if I press and hold the power button, I get the same thing unless I let go of the power button at just the right time; and I shouldn't really have to fiddle with the power button anyway. This is probably a useful feature in a large company server room, but is damn annoying in my spare bedroom. I'm sure it didn't used to do this, so something must have changed. What can I do to make my server stay shutdown? Astronaut (talk) 04:27, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Sounds like getting into the BIOS to see if there's anything relevant there could be the first order of business. If it will only turn off when the power switch is used in a certain manner, could it be a problem with the switch itself? If you've got a spare case around, you could try hooking up the switch from that to the pins on the server mobo. Failing that, there's always the various software suspend and sleep modes. Nevard (talk) 12:08, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Try shutdown -P now instead of -h
 * -P explicitly requests a powerdown; -h requests a "halt", the meaning of which is system dependent (I think it's often a function of an ACPI BIOS setting). -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 12:27, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Answer 1: try turning off all the power-saving stuff in the BIOS settings. Answer 2: Why not just pull the plug out?  Chzz  ► 03:56, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

I tried shutdown -P now and it disabled connections to the server but didn't powerdown. I'll take a look at the BIOS and anything to do with ACPI in the BIOS or CentOS. The reason for preferring not to mess with the power button or pulling the plug, is I run it without keyboard or monitor in the spare room. I use my (Windows) laptop to remotely connect to it using SSH or xrdp and would prefer being able to power off from the comfort of my armchair without having to walk down the hall to the spare room. Messing with the power button or plug is also guess work - I have no idea what critical operation it is currently doing unless I drag my monitor into the spare room with me. Astronaut (talk) 12:45, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

CAD help
I need some help in finding a specific length in the attached image. I need the distance of the center of the circle (point near center and radius marked in red) from the corner or edge closest to the observer in the image. It is 0.88 from the center line which is in the y-axis. I need the dimension in the x-axis. The image is from the book Technical Graphics Communication by Gary R. Bertoline. Image: http://i44.tinypic.com/rwosas.jpg

Thanks. --175.110.237.118 (talk) 17:51, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * The arc with radius 1.44 appears tangent to the back edge, which is 5 units from the front edge. From that I get 5 - 1.44 = 3.56 for the distance from the front edge to the center point.  Is that what you are looking for?  --  Tom N (tcncv) talk/contrib 21:37, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Yes, that seems to work. Thanks a lot mate. --175.110.237.118 (talk) 08:39, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Java: Password storage and retrieval
I am learning to program in java. And my first project is to make a program that is capable of scheduling a YouTube upload. As far as i can tell this hasnt been done before so i figured it would be a good project to jump start my java learning. This project introduces me to 3 new fields: GUIs, Java, and password storage.

My question here today relates to proper/accepted handling of passwords in java.

At first i stored the passwords in clear text in the AppData folder of my windows 7 machine. But i quickly learned how to encrypt the data and i have been using that since.

What i am asking is... Does my program handle password storage in a secure & accepted manor?

Downloadable at http://code.google.com/p/ytuscheduler/

– Elliott (Talk|Cont)   20:33, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * If I understand your code correctly (it's not very readable; you didn't ask for general comments on the code, so I'm biting my tongue) what you're doing is, rather than rather than store the password in a plaintext file, you're storing it in an encrypted file, and the key to that in a plaintext file (the compiled java .class file). That's no more secure. For entirely non-interactive tasks that need to store passwords the cleanest way is simply OS level file protection. If a program needs access to a secret (and not a hash of the secret, or a token that gets someone else to manipulate the secret on their behalf) then anyone who can run that program (locally) can see the secret. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 22:13, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * If you have some pointers on my code feel free to express them. As for the key, yes part of it is being stored in clear text in the source. But part of it is being pulled via a system variable(user.home). My thinking here was that the key would change depending on the system its being ran on. I am not sure how to make a key that changes on every system without changing every time the program is ran. – Elliott (Talk|Cont)   22:46, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * As you've got a GUI, your safest to not store the password in the file system at all, but to prompt the user for it at startup and forget it as soon as you're through with it. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 22:20, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * The user can choose to store the password or not. But if they choose to not store the password then the scheduling part will not work. – Elliott (Talk|Cont)   22:46, 23 November 2011 (UTC)


 * I strongly suggest storing the Youtube login cookies (if possible) instead. MER-C 10:43, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

unzip a 7 G B
I have downloaded a software of size 7 G B ,computer shows it is of type winrar zip archive, WIN RAR can not able to unzip it and i get an error message as " unexpected end of archieve".I think win rar has limit up to 4 G.B .which software i can use to open it.Is their any free software --119.152.37.249 (talk) 21:54, 23 November 2011 (UTC)tpf
 * According to this page, the maximum file and/or archive size is much much more than 7GB. As that page notes, you must be using NTFS to store any file that is larger than 4GB.  If you are sure your file system can handle the 7GB file, then you should check that your download is complete and not corrupted.  -- LarryMac  | Talk  22:02, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

There are also various unrar utilities out there, with various levels of support. When in doubt try to use something from the RAR creators, RARLAB. ¦ Reisio (talk) 00:24, 24 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Try 7zip. It's open-source. I suspect that the download has been corrupted though. Try to check if the file size matches. Either redownload or resume download using the partial file.--  Obsidi ♠ n   Soul   06:17, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Mayhaps the OP had unbeknownst downloaded an ISO file? What is the actual file extension? --Ouro (blah blah) 06:59, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

If you're hitting a limit at around 4 GB it's undoubtedly because either the program or more likely the filesystem you're using is limited to 4GB files (FAT32 is the most obvious of these). It's probably due to you working on a FAT32 filesystem. Shadowjams (talk) 07:08, 24 November 2011 (UTC)