Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2012 June 6

= June 6 =

Computer Novice Help Identifying Downloads
I am an older, disabled person doing my best to just survive using a computer. For some reason I found a CD among my 'computer stuff' named "nero8essentials" and "Linus 3 Essentials". I have no idea where/how I got this. In trying to search the web using Internet Explorer I somehow landed on Adobe website. It seemed to instruct me to download AdobeFlashX. (I checked my List of pre-installed software and found Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash.) I tried to download AdobeX and all sorts of things happened.....leaving me with the impression that the download was unsuccessfull. But then when I checked my "Downloads" I swear I saw Adobe Flash but when I clicked on its name (from the list of downloads) I think it was unavailable or similar phrase. Then, I tried to download Adobe FlashX for the second time and I received a message that computer could not run two versions of same download (words to that effect). I've lost time, I'm in physical pain and I now really only want to know if I 'hurt' my computer - because of the conflict between AdobeFlashX appearing on list of downloads but not accessible.

If this mean nothing to anyone - I will understand as my vocabulary is technically limited and I did not transcribe every darn message I rec'd. tonite (didn't think I'd need to.

Thank you GretchHass (talk) 04:14, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

You can get help debugging Microsoft Windows issues much more rapidly in a chat room, such as this one: http://webchat.freenode.net/?nick=GretchHass&channels=##windows. They can be raucous and messages can seem to zoom by, but if you explain your situation clearly, the more reliable chat room regulars will give you plenty of patient assistance. (Not that you won't get assistance here, it will just take incredibly longer). ¦ Reisio (talk) 05:22, 6 June 2012 (UTC)
 * If it was truly adobe.com, you should have little to be concerned about. It sounds like you might be possibly using a rather old version of Microsoft Windows, and for various reasons associated with that your attempt to install Adobe Flash 10 (X) has failed.


 * "Nero 8 essentials" is a reduced-functionality version of the Nero Multimedia Suite cd and dvd burning software. It probably came bundled with a DVD writer. "Linux 3 essentials" is a Linux operating system version of the same Nero tools. Neither of these is the latest version. You only need these if you burn DVDs or CDs, and you will not need the Linux version at all unless you plan to use that operating system.- gadfium 22:56, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Technological mind manipulation
There are available technologies used to control computers with minds, but are there available technological approaches used to control minds with computers? Is it possible? 117.5.13.6 (talk) 09:47, 6 June 2012 (UTC)


 * We can't even control our minds at all, we can control computers because we know how they work, we made them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.26.65.245 (talk) 12:35, 6 June 2012 (UTC)


 * It's called online advertising. --80.112.182.54 (talk) 15:05, 6 June 2012 (UTC)


 * See José Manuel Rodriguez Delgado. His method was relatively crude, but there's no reason that electrodes couldn't be used to stimulate the brain in a more controlled fashion with more complicated results.  It's pretty common to remote-control bugs by implanting electrodes and zapping them in a controlled manner .  Obviously, ethical issues exist for doing this to people. Buddy431 (talk) 00:47, 7 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Instead of electrodes, you can also use a strong, highly localized magnetic field to stimulate brain neurons. It's still rather crude, though. StuRat (talk) 01:55, 7 June 2012 (UTC)


 * It's not quite what you're asking about, but check out God helmet. Matt Deres (talk) 22:51, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

Hotmail Phishing?
Hi all.

I've had a hotmail account for going on 15 years. As of a couple of weeks ago, when I log in, I get this message: "Your account has been blocked. ... We'll ask you to provide us with a mobile phone number where we can send you a verification code and we'll add this phone number to your Windows Live profile for future use. After you enter the code, you can change your password and sign in."

No frickin' way am I going to add my cell-phone number. (The Internets already has more than enough to identify me, my car, and my Social Security number.)

Am I being Phished? Or do I just just need to put in some random cell-phone number to get my hotmail access back? --Shirt58 (talk) 14:51, 6 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Well, are you sure it's Hotmail? Double-check the URL. If it's really Hotmail (and not a random e-mail), then it's likely two-factor authentication, which many e-mail providers are now moving towards because they drastically increase account security. (Hotmail began implementing it a year ago, though I thought it was optional; perhaps something went wrong with your account — e.g. someone actually did try to hack it — and they've decided that you need to upgrade your security. Or maybe you're just accessing it from a new machine, which sometimes triggers various sites requiring this sort of information; Facebook in particular now requires it for unusual logins.)
 * Putting in a random phone number won't work — they will text you a code and you will need it to log in. The goal here is that if someone hacked your password from a different computer, they wouldn't actually be able to access your e-mail account unless they ALSO had your cell phone, which is unlikely. I use two-factor authentication with my Gmail account, though it is optional there. It adds a hassle, but your e-mail address is the skeleton key to your identity — once someone is in that, they can do all manners of nasty things, including getting into pretty much any site that you used that e-mail address to register with. This blog post explains the real value of two-factor authentication. Yes, it is sort of a hassle... but a lot less of a hassle than having your e-mail compromised, which is increasingly common.
 * Again, this assumes that it's really Hotmail that's doing this, but it doesn't sound unlikely to me that they might start that. If they start asking for your bank account information, then it's a scam, obviously... --Mr.98 (talk) 15:04, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Cooperating
I am looking for a simple (easy to operate, easy to set up, ideally free) system which allows to share files and perhaps other information among a small group of people. Requirements are: A typical scenario could be: User A uploads some image files and pdf or text documents to the server. User B views these files, ideally without downloading them to her computer first, i.e. on the server. Would be good if there were some editing functions as well such as delete/copy/move files or edit text documents. Any suggestions on what to use for such a setup? bamse (talk) 15:02, 6 June 2012 (UTC)
 * 1) should run on a linux server
 * 2) should be accessible from windows, linux (perhaps even mac)
 * 3) should be usable by people with relatively little computer literacy
 * 4) revision control is not necessary


 * Google Docs has lots of document-sharing, cross-platform options. Dropbox is another common way to accomplish this sort of thing. Both of these are pretty dead-easy to use. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:18, 6 June 2012 (UTC)


 * If you want to operate the server yourself, how about MediaWiki, the software that runs Wikipedia? You can set up your own private wiki, the software installation procedure is fairly straightforward.  Nimur (talk) 15:25, 6 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks for all suggestions. Will have to check out google docs (apparently soon to be google drive) which I have used only occasionally so far. I used dropbox only for backups as single user so far and to share single files, but indeed I could share whole directories with it. Don't know much about mediawiki, but it seems too powerful for this simple task. bamse (talk) 20:58, 6 June 2012 (UTC)


 * I've used DropBox a lot to share lots o' files, including with non-tech savvy people. The main problem is that the non-tech savvy (and sometimes the tech savvy), drag the files out of the DropBox directory onto their desktops (or flash drives, or wherever). The problem is, that actually moves it out of the DropBox folder and deletes it for everyone else. It's not irreversible (deleted files are stored in a backup for a month, and the interface is pretty easy to use if you want to restore one), but it is kind of a pain. My experience has been that the very non-tech savvy somehow cannot keep this straight and this is a recurrent issue. I wish there were ways to say, "please make the default 'drag' action a copy and not a move" in DropBox (for other people), or at least being able to "lock" shared files in some way so they can't be overwritten or deleted accidentally. If you could do that, it would be pretty ideal. As it is, it works, but not quite as seamlessly as I'd like. --Mr.98 (talk) 00:59, 7 June 2012 (UTC)


 * The standard approach is to set up your Linux machine to be a Samba server. Looie496 (talk) 23:51, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

How are the list of suggested pages (articles) for Help:Books generated?
On the page Help:Books, it says "After selecting a few articles, you can click on "Suggest pages" and you will be presented with a list of articles that are related to your selection."

What are the technical details as to how are the list of suggested pages/articles generated? Is it using link structure? bag of words models? Is it deterministic? non-deterministic?

Thank you. --Rajah (talk) 15:10, 6 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Here's the latest source-code that's running on Wikipedia: the Collection extension suggest feature. The authors of that code publish a Google Group and frequent an IRC channel, so you can contact them directly; their documentation does not provide a high-level overview of the "suggest" feature, but the code is commented.  You could request that they add a highlights summary of the feature to the extension's documentation.  From my (very superficial) reading of the source-code, it appears to generate a list of linked articles, weighted by their frequency of appearance; and then cross-reference those articles against a manually-generated "blacklist" of articles that should not be included in a "suggestions for related articles" query.  Nimur (talk) 15:53, 6 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Cool, thanks! --Rajah (talk) 13:52, 8 June 2012 (UTC)