Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2012 February 16

= February 16 =

pc software
mailmerge112.110.181.108 (talk) 03:49, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Is this a question, or an expletive? Having tried to get it to work, I suspect the latter ;-) AndyTheGrump (talk) 04:26, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * We have a mail merge article, if that helps. If it doesn't, please do come back and ask. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:08, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

How do I get my ISP to get me IPv6?
I was out of my apartment for 14 hours with the modem disconnected. I came back and reconnected; the IP remains the same. I would prefer to have some woodlander stop staying on my tail for whatever dope reason when he and I have better priorities elsewhere, and a good way to do so is to have IPv6. (The long alpha-numeric sequence would be harder to remember than the IPv4's numeric sequence anyways.)

Do I need different hardware? Do I need to do favors for Cox Communications? What does it take to switch to IPv6? Thanks. --70.179.174.101 (talk) 07:21, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * As was told to you last time you asked this question, this is unlikely to help with whatever you're trying to 'solve'. I suggest you read our articles on IPv6 and IPv4 and then preferably read some more in firther articles and hopefully don't come back as these should tell you why your idea is pointless. Note that in particularly that it won't help on wikipedia. The servers don't currently support IPv6 for anything (it was turned on for reading for testing once but never for editing AFAIK). And in any case, changing your IP doesn't help you when everyone recognises your style (as people here do since the 4 or so years you've been around). Edit: I see we never really told you it won't help Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 October 22. I got confused because I was thinking of saying it but ultimately did not bother. I see I also didn't mention this although perhaps you've been told at some other stage (seemingly not here Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 May 8) that if you find you need to keep changing IP to 'access various resources online' again, this likely suggests you're doing something you shouldn't be to cause you to lose access to said resources. Nil Einne (talk) 11:34, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
 * First please don't add a fact to a signed comment as it is confusing. Instead add it below the comment and sign your post. As for your request well since you asked, I was thinking of Special:Contributions/70.179.165.170 who was obviously you although it seems it was only ~1.5 years ago. However it looks to me like Special:Contributions/70.179.176.30 is you so that means you've definitely been here 2 years. And actually I get a nagging feeling that Special:Contributions/70.179.170.119, Special:Contributions/70.179.170.133, Special:Contributions/70.179.175.240 is you as well so it seems likely you have been here at least 4 years.Nil Einne (talk) 02:24, 17 February 2012 (UTC)


 * I'm a bit confused - you want to switch to IPv6 just because the address would be harder to remember? I can't imagine that would pose much of a problem to anyone interested in tracking your online activities (presumably, they would have a computer capable of storing your IP address).  Wouldn't it make more sense to use a public network, or a proxy? 130.88.73.65 (talk) 16:50, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Why doesn't Facebook have a 1-5 star rating system for apps anymore?
They don't appear to have a tech support to speak of. No toll-free phone #, no live chat, not even an email form that I can easily find (may as well be buried under Pike Peak.)

Also, their Facebook Questions (or simply "Questions") app seems to be moribund; no responses whatsoever. (However, in the first two months of releasing that app, there were responses aplenty for the questions I asked back then. Why isn't it so active now anyway?)

Without someone reliable to ask, here was the next best place. When apps do no good or are even suspicious, why can't we rate them like we used to? (It was better to have apps remain rateable.) --70.179.174.101 (talk) 07:59, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * All that Facebook has done and you're still asking? They do what gets them money. ¦ Reisio (talk) 17:48, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * How about a referenced answer instead of a snide cheap shot? This article seems to answer the "why" question.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:07, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Facebook is a for-profit business, like many others. Cheap shots aren't a factor. ¦ Reisio (talk) 18:11, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * For reasons I won't go in to, I have a lot of Facebook 'friends' (over 1000 I believe). So I checked out Facebook questions. I see a fair amound of activity, several answers a day (including for junky promotional questions from businesses) mostly from different people (well enough variety that it's not completely one or two oddballs keeping it alive) until about February 3rd when activity drops off completely. So I wouldn't exactly describe it as moribund. It's extremely unlikely the whole world (well my 1000 friends a significant number of which are in the US) suddenly stopped doing stuff with Facebook questions on February 3rd. What it does seem to be is 'broken' at least in terms of showing recent activity. To check, I just answered 2 less junky questions. Although my answers seem to be registered, neither show up under 'Your activity'.
 * The fact activity dropped off a lot since it was first started doesn't take a genuis to figure out. I consider it a fairly dumb feature, I already have. Even so, I started 1 question and participated in a few in the early days just for fun. I doubt I'm the only one like that. In fact there are almost definitely a lot of people who gave it a try or just used it because it was new and briefly fun and gave up on it when they found it boring. Sure, perhaps I could have been wrong and it would be the next big thing, but it seems this hasn't panned out. Some people are still using it, whether it's working well enough for FB to keep it I can't say.
 * Nil Einne (talk) 13:25, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

app
It's my birthday in five days and i was looking for a neat app to do something cool on my facebook. A pal of mine had an app whereby he was able to edit the local newspaper and place his name as the headline and it appeared as if his birthday was actually national news. Anyway hope someone out there gets me. Just any neat app to announce my birthday please gimme a link. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.24.111.254 (talk) 14:16, 16 February 2012 (UTC) "Neat" is just too subjective. 190.60.93.218 (talk) 13:40, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Moving School Emails
Hello. At home, I move messages in my school email address from my inbox with an IMAP connection via Windows Live Mail. When I arrive at school next day and check my email on the Outlook Web Access interface, the messages are marked as read but not moved from my inbox. Is it possible to fix? There are solutions on Google but I find them incomprehensible. Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 18:11, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * To be clear, you want emails you have read in Windows Live Mail to be re/moved from Outlook Web Access' listing? ¦ Reisio (talk) 19:23, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Pretty much --Mayfare (talk) 20:15, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Probably looking for this preference pane: http://images.google.com/images?q=%22windows+live+mail%22+leave+copy&btnG=Search&sout=1 ¦ Reisio (talk) 22:38, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

I do not have the Delivery section of the pane. --Mayfare (talk) 03:11, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Google advanced search
Google seems to have abolished "advanced search" again. It used to be that on google.com, I could click on "advanced search". A few months ago, that disappeared, and I had to come here to this reference desk to find out that I could click on a funny icon with no label to get a menu from which I could choose "advanced search". As of today, that's gone. What are people supposed to do? Michael Hardy (talk) 20:35, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * I can still get to it at http://www.google.com/advanced_search - I have that page set as my default browser page. (you could also put a link to it in a desktop shortcut.)Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 20:48, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Thank you, Bubba. Michael Hardy (talk) 02:19, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Apparently although "advanced search" still exists, the main Google page doesn't link to it. Was there a decision to avoid advertising its existence? Michael Hardy (talk) 02:19, 18 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Maybe they want to discontinue this service, so, they don't advertise it. Anyway, I wish Google had some sort of wildcard character to truncate words, but you cannot have it all. 188.76.228.174 (talk) 14:34, 19 February 2012 (UTC)


 * I also wanted google to go beyond the 1000 result limit. 190.60.93.218 (talk) 13:50, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

blog quiz
Hello, a few years ago I had a blog on blogspot.com which had lots of entries. I have not update it for a good long time now. I have also forgot the pasword and got a new email address. However I would quite like to hang on to the content of the blog. Is there a way to download the whole thing (that is quicker than just copy & pasting each post individually)? Thank you. Anthony J Pintglass (talk) 20:36, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * HTTrack ¦ Reisio (talk) 20:50, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

What is the photo representing a video and can you block it?
If you want to watch a video, you might have a photo of something in that video, or something related to the video, with an arrow you can click on in the center to play the video.

On one site I go to, people put up videos. I asked their support people if there was a way for me not to see the photo that appears (with the arrow to play the video) without avoiding the site entirely, because I really like the site. It's just that some people put up offensive videos that don't actually violate that site's terms. The support person suggested having the browser block this. The site has an option to block actual photos (in most cases), which is good because those are offensive too sometimes.

I looked on Wikipedia for the correct terminology but didn't see it. Vchimpanzee ·  talk  ·  contributions  · 20:38, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * There are so many implementations, it would be rough. A lot of players have a playlist feature, in which you provide the path to a photo and to a video - you could fairly simply rewrite the page onload/etc. to remove the photo from the playlist. ¦ Reisio (talk) 20:53, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * What is the term for what I am trying to remove? Vchimpanzee ·  talk  ·  contributions  · 20:57, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * I think you're referring to the video thumbnail, or it could be called a preview frame, like the picture I just pasted off to the right. Many video players on the web have the arrow in the middle of the video thumbnail rather than below it as shown.  I think the website you contacted is talking about using a Web browser extension like Adblock Plus to block the thumbnails you dislike.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:07, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * There's nothing in the thumbnail article about this. I'll leave it to someone who knows what they are talking about to add it. Thanks, and I'll pass this information on to the appropriate people. The most offensive video did get removed for violating the site's standards, and so far the recent new additions seem tamer. Vchimpanzee ·  talk  ·  contributions  · 21:19, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Here is a sample of what produces what I am talking about:


 * (this appears in a box like what I am typing right now)[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li63vdLVkPI[/youtube] The result is here. Vchimpanzee ·  talk  ·  contributions  · 21:46, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * I went back to the most offensive page to post a great quote about censorship I found on Wikipedia and found white space where all the thumbnails were. Then my Internet got very, very slow. Then the thumbnails appeared, finally. I thought something had been done, but I can now see a justification for blocking thumbnails. Vchimpanzee ·  talk  ·  contributions  · 22:37, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

If these are youtube videos or similar, disabling the Adobe Flash Player plugin will remove the preview pictures, but will also make the videos unplayable as well. 82.45.62.107 (talk) 21:03, 18 February 2012 (UTC)
 * I have no interest in these anyway. Thanks. Vchimpanzee ·  talk  ·  contributions  · 15:46, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Bash commands in Linux
How do you:

1-numerate a list? For example, you type dir and then you want to remove some specific element with rn

2-make a backup from dir a to dir b? Verifying what was deleted in the source directory to delete it in the target too.

3-make pages for showing a long list (in windows it was the option dir /p). Ib30 (talk) 22:41, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure I 100% understand what you're asking, but here's some things:


 * First, not all of these commands are truly bash commands. cp and ls are separate commands for example. cd is built into bash. But practically speaking, it's fine to think of them as the same for now.


 * To do a directory listing you use the ls command. It has various options you can read by typing man ls. If you want to filter which lines are displayed you can use grep to do that.


 * To copy a directory you'll usually want to use cp and probably the -R or -a flags. Read the man page there with man cp.


 * 3: use -l flag with ls, so ls -l. Let me know if this answer your questions. Shadowjams (talk) 23:01, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Doesn't  in Linux work the opposite way of   in Windows? Linux lists files in short form, in pages, by default, whereas Windows lists them in long form, one file per line, by default.  J I P  &#124; Talk 23:05, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Oh yeah, I just checked again. /p will pause it on each page. There's no equivalent flag with ls that I know, but you can use  to do more or less ( pun! ) the same. Shadowjams (talk) 23:18, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Notes about 2: I don't want to copy files. I want to backup them, which is different, since it implies deleting files from the source directory and not copying files that are already there. Ib30 (talk) 23:10, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Since when does backing up files imply deleting them from the source directory? J I P  &#124; Talk 23:13, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
 * What JIP said. If you want to move them use mv. You probably should read the man pages on all of these because you can screw stuff up if you're not careful. Shadowjams (talk) 23:16, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Sorry, my mistake. I meant verify deleted in the source directory and then delete in the target as well. This is different from copying. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ib30 (talk • contribs) 23:19, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm sorry, I don't understand. Shadowjams (talk) 23:26, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Backups are not just copies of the source directory. They also update the target directory. Imagine directory a with files 1,2,3 and directory b with files 1,2,3. After a while a/1 gets deleted. A command "backup a b" should delete file 1 in directory b. The commands cd and mv do not do that. Ib30 (talk) 23:32, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * I interpret the OP as meaning that the backup should be an updated version of the source, including deleting files from the backup that were deleted in the source directory. Since this is Linux, rsync is a must-read. Does this answer your question, Ib30? --NorwegianBluetalk 23:20, 16 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Yes, that is. Thanxs.


 * Regarding the list of files. Imagine that after ls you get a huge list of files like 76947487593754first.pdf and so. You want to refer to one of this, without typing the whole name, which is the better approach? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ib30 (talk • contribs) 23:26, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Type in 769 and then press [TAB], bash will complete to the first different character in the filenames in the current directory, for example, if there was a 76947487593753first.pdf file, it would complete to 7694748759375 . CS Miller (talk) 07:11, 17 February 2012 (UTC)
 * For number 1 you can make a numbered listing with ls|cat -n
 * Then you can select your number with grep " number " (that's a tab after the number), then you can change the number ast the front to a delete command and execute. I have also used the sort options on ls, and then tail or head the list to get a range, or the tail of a head to get one entry. eg   gets the 59th file name. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:14, 17 February 2012 (UTC)


 * ls | head -59|tail -1 gets you the 58th file name, not the 59th. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.8.66.12 (talk) 11:56, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

How to remove TI-Nspire CAS Student Software completely
I installed a trial version of the TI-Nspire CAS Student Software on my Mac last month and it has now expired. How can I remove all files that were installed by the trial software (i.e., license files, serial number, etc.)? I want it completely off of my computer. --Melab±1 &#9742; 22:57, 16 February 2012 (UTC)