Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2012 February 29

= February 29 =

MP3 player
My mp3 player does not work anymore, so I bought a new one (this type). It's basically the same than the one I had, both are X-view, both have the same buttons and use, but the new one has 4 GB instead of 2. But there's a problem. If I turned off the old one, when I turned it on again it was still at the song I last played; there are hundreds of songs so it took months to reach back the begining and repeat the songs (so, I could load the MP3 with songs just once and it was never repetitive... well, it was, but with months between each repeat, who notices?). But the new one does not do this: when I turn it off, and turn it on later, it's back at the first song. Sure, I could scroll manually to the one I last heard, but who would want to scroll hundreds of times? (I can not even keep the button pressed, that just goes fast forward inside the song, not advancing though several songs). Perhaps I could load just a dozen of songs each day and change them, but that would be so uncomfortable, and which would be the point of having 4 GB of space then?

I know that MP3 players are capable to remember the last song: the last I had, and the previous one, both could, and I see no reason why would such a feature be removed from new models. Is there a way to configure or "fix" this machine, or should I go back to the place where I bought it and request my money back? Cambalachero (talk) 00:20, 29 February 2012 (UTC)


 * I'd say take it back where you bought it. If they can show you how to get it to behave properly, keep it.  If not, get your money back. StuRat (talk) 01:19, 29 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Agreed. As an alternative, most MP3 players have a "random" or "shuffle" function that will avoid starting at the beginning every time.    D b f i r s   07:51, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Can't hit enter after typing URL in Firefox
I could always type in a web site address and hit enter to go there, but for the last month or so (around when Firefox upgraded), this has no longer worked. Now I have to hit the little arrow which appears on the right side of the type-in window. I'm running Firefox 10.0.2 on Windows XP SP3. Is there a way to enable enter again ? StuRat (talk) 01:16, 29 February 2012 (UTC)


 * First thing to try: disable all add-ons. Googling for firefox url enter suggests at least an antivirus extension causes that. 88.112.59.31 (talk) 07:17, 29 February 2012 (UTC)


 * How do I disable add-ons ? StuRat (talk) 21:13, 29 February 2012 (UTC)


 * At first, run in safe mode which disables all addons. That should allow you to confirm that it's an addon that's to blame. Assuming things work normally in safe mode but not in normal operation, you need to figure out which addon is to blame.  One simply goes into the addons pane (tools->addons) and selectively disables suspect addons. Unfortunately each disable or reenable requires a restart of the browser, so it can be an irksome business if you have a lot of addons. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 21:18, 29 February 2012 (UTC)


 * It still works for me. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 14:01, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks all. StuRat (talk) 20:05, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

PDF document not opening properly in PDF Complete
Yesterday, I scanned a paper document with a Xerox scanner, which sent the resulting scan to my work e-mail as a PDF document. My work computer runs Windows 7, and uses PDF Complete as its document viewer. This viewer had trouble opening the PDF document: it froze up the computer for minutes, taking over 1 gigabyte of memory. When the document finally opened, it just showed the pictures, not any text. The exact same document opens fine on my father's computer, which runs Windows Vista and uses Adobe Acrobat, and on my home computer, which runs Fedora 14 Linux and uses Evince. What could be the reason that the document doesn't open properly on my work computer? J I P &#124; Talk 07:11, 29 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Must be a version incompatibility or bug in PDF complete. Is there any reason you're not using Adobe Reader on your Win7 machine? It's free, updates regularly, and the format was invented by Adobe... Sandman30s (talk) 08:17, 29 February 2012 (UTC)
 * PDF Complete came pre-installed on my work computer, it was not I who installed it. I work in software development, systems administration and maintenance is another department. That's the only reason. J I P  &#124; Talk 20:53, 29 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Open it in Acrobat, save it as a new PDF. I suspect it's a bug in the PDF format as implemented by the scanner — a not uncommon occurrence. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:02, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Windows 7 and some Firefox issues
At work we've been recently migrated to Windows 7. I have some problems with it as compared to our previous OS, Vista.

1) One of the ways I personally used the Start Menu in Vista (and XP at home) was that I would name a shortcut, for example, "Winamp", and pin it to the Start Menu, hit the Windows key on the keyboard, then hit "W", which would immediately open up my "Winamp" shortcut. Vista's (default, but changeable) and 7's behavior when typing "W" just types it in the "Search programs and files" field. Is there a way to either restore the classic Start Menu without modifying the system (remember, I'm at work), or disable the "Search programs and files" field so my "Win -> W" shortcut will work? The option to switch to a classic Start Menu seems to be gone from 7.

2) Ever since XP, multiple windows would collapse into a single button. When you clicked the button, both XP and Vista would bring up a vertical column of long rectangles (the best way I can describe it >_>) displaying all the open windows. 7 instead displays a horizontal row with a thumbnail of what the window is. How do I restore the vertical column behavior?

2a) Collapsing windows into a single button displayed how many windows were collapsed into that button. 7 does not seem to...?

3) Is there any way to disable the ability to drag items around your taskbar? It seems like it would be helpful but to me it's just annoying, especially if I accidentally move it when trying to restore/maximize a window.

4) Pressing Alt-Tab and then holding Alt for a second or two has a very unusual behavior. It will either bring the window the mouse happens to be over into view ("peeking" [a term I pulled from Windows 7's button in the systray] at the desktop if it happens to not be maximized), or switch to the next window "in line" even though I'm still holding Alt. How do I restore the original behavior?

5) When you right-click a button in the taskbar, there is always an option to close all the windows if there are multiple. 7 changes it so that the option to close all windows appears ABOVE all the buttons, whereas previous versions of the OS appeared a few pixels to the right of wherever your mouse pointer was (very small, but very annoying). Reversion to previous behavior possible?

Other problems I would ask at a Firefox help forum, but it couldn't hurt to ask here:

6) With the 7 migration came an upgrade from 3.x to 10.x. When you have lots of tabs open and close them with a middle mouse click, 3.x and previous would close the tab and resize the other tabs to "fill the void" in the tabs "bar". 10.x closes the tab, but does not resize the other tabs until you move the mouse away from the tabs bar. Again, any way to restore the previous behavior?

7) Is there a way to disable the orange "Firefox bar" in the upper-lefthand corner without extensions?

8) By default (it seems), the tabs appear in what was previously the menu bar's location. I have gotten them back to their original spot, but is there a way to move the bookmarks-and-address bar (the navigation toolbar) up to where the tabs were by default?

9) 3.x and previous had the Addons open up in another, small window. Firefox 10.x opens it up in a tab. Any way to restore the window behavior?\

EDIT: Gave unique numbers as per suggestion below.

Thanks! -- 143.85.199.242 (talk) 19:44, 29 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Regarding the orange firefox bar - do you mean you want a regular menu bar, rather than the menus being inside that orange thing? If so, simply check options->menu_bar. Incidentally, if you give the questions unique numbers, it's easier for someone to answer one part. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 19:59, 29 February 2012 (UTC)


 * I don't want a normal menu bar. Surprisingly, I have no need for any of the items held within; I use alternate methods (such as keyboard shortcuts). When I want to do is remove the orange bar completely, as it is also useless to me. -- 143.85.199.242 (talk) 20:21, 29 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Question 2: Right click on the desktop. Choose Properties.  Use some 'theme' (don't remember what Microsoft precisely calls them at the moment and I'm on a Mac) that isn't the default.  It will change some of the other bells and whistles though.  So maybe someone else has a better solution that doesn't change as much.  Dismas |(talk) 21:03, 29 February 2012 (UTC)


 * Re #1, you could install Classic Shell (though I'm not completely sure it does what you want) or you could install AutoHotkey and bind combos like Win+W to run things like Winamp (which is what I do). #2 and #4 don't happen to me, possibly because I use the "Windows classic" theme or because I disable almost everything in the Visual Effects tab of the Performance Options dialog. I don't think there's a way to get rid of both the menu bar and the orange Firefox thingy without addons, but there are addons that do it. -- BenRG (talk) 00:31, 1 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Re #2a: Look at the square. If there's more than one window, it will actually look like a stack of squares.  The number of squares in the stack is the number of windows, though I think it won't stack higher than 3.  Re #6:  Why do you want the old behavior?  If the tabs resize instantly, the close buttons become moving targets.  Is there some reason you want it to resize immediately? Re: #8: View -> Toolbar -> (uncheck) Tabs on Top, then right click on the menu bar and uncheck "Menu Bar". Re #9: Try dragging the tab out of the window.  This won't change the default, but unless you use it regularly, that's less important.  -- N  Y  Kevin  @070, i.e. 00:41, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Leap day issues?
I noticed a few minutes ago that a file I scanned from my printer to a memory card had the date modified/created as "3/1/2012 5:21 AM" despite the fact my computer's clock shows the date and time being mid-afternoon on February 29. Figuring the printer had just forgotten about leap year I reset the printer's date to 2/29/2012 with the correct time, but ever since then whenever I try to scan something the printer restarts itself. The printer is a Lexmark S400 Series. Is this error perhaps caused by the printer somehow being incompatible with leap days, and if so why would Lexmark (or any other manufacturer of an electronic device) make them incompatible with leap days to the point where the device ceases to function when the date and time is set to February 29, even if that is the correct date? Thanks in advance, Ks0stm  (T•C•G•E) 21:48, 29 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Well, upon further investigation the error appears to have been a lovely coincidence of changing multiple settings at once...I also changed the size setting I was using and I got it to finally work by resetting it to auto-detect size with the date still on leap day, so this seems resolved. Ks0stm  (T•C•G•E) 22:02, 29 February 2012 (UTC)