Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 February 4

= February 4 =

Receiving and sending emails from one account
Is the following set up for my mail server possible? I have a mail (IMAP) account bamse@example.com which should receive e-mails directed to bamse@example.com and to admin@example.com so that I can read all mails in one place. However if I reply to an email, I would like it to look as if bamse or admin replied depending on where the original (incoming) email was sent to. Is this a task for the MUA or the MTA? If it matters, I am using postfix/dovecot/sylpheed. bamse (talk) 00:10, 4 February 2013 (UTC)


 * The MUA; "From:" is just a field in the email headers. I have several email accounts that end up in one, and Thunderbird's "From" dropdown lets me set the sender (and, optionally, the sending SMTP) lets me select which account replies. Occasionally I mess up and reply from the wrong account (which confuses the recipient, but works okay regardless). -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 00:30, 4 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the reply. But is there an automatic way without dropdown? bamse (talk) 20:49, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

May I install and use LibreOffice v4.0 alogside v3.5 under Windows7(64-bit) ?
I have noticed that many software packages automatically uninstalls older versions when you install a newer one (or sometimes the versions just crash and interfere with each other in unpleasant ways). I would like to keep the old LibreOffice v3.5 on the same desktop and user account alongside the continuously updated latest edition of v.4… without them interfering with each other. The PC in question has Windows7 Ultimate 64-bit and 16GB RAM. (I will probably keep LibreOffice v3.5 until the new version reaches v4.5 and then presumably repeat the process with v5… alongside v4.5). Is it possible to do this? --89.9.203.15 (talk) 02:18, 4 February 2013 (UTC)


 * The version 4 installer definitely seeks out version 3.5 installs to remove, but if you simply temporarily move the version 3.5 install from the  directory during the version 4 installation, and then move it back, neither installation seems the wiser. You’d probably want to backup the Start menu shortcuts between actions as well. Another approach would be using the portable version for 3.5 (there doesn’t seem to be one for version 4 yet). ¦ Reisio (talk) 05:14, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

That sounds promising Thank you! :-) But what exactly did you mean by: «[...] neither installation seems the wiser.» Did you try to run: alongside:  ? Or:  alongside:  ? Or did you just take a look at the installer or something? (I want to avoid having to reinstall 3.5 so the 3.5-portable solution is not attractive). --(OP)89.9.203.252 (talk) 18:29, 6 February 2013 (UTC)


 * I ran  (the generic multiple choice launcher) and then (from that launcher) the word processor for both. They reported the expected version information from the   menu. I’m afraid that is the limit of my interest. :) If you backup the local data (not sure where LibreOffice for win32 keeps it), there should be no risk of having to reconfigure anything should it all go awry. People at http://webchat.freenode.net/?nick=monsieur89&channels=#libreoffice would probably have more information on any of it. ¦ Reisio (talk) 00:11, 7 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Thank You! :-) --(OP)89.9.203.252 (talk) 02:42, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

Windows programming questions
The following came up at work last week. In Windows C# or Managed C++, is it possible to know:
 * 1) If the current process is running with administrator privileges, and
 * 2) If the "Net.TCP Port Sharing Service" is running? J I P  &#124; Talk 05:18, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * stackoverflow.com is a good place for questions about c# nonsense  ferret  13:04, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * and here is discussion about your question 1 -  nonsense  ferret  13:06, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Thanks to Stackoverflow, I was able to find the answer to question #1. Point #2 in the provided link is important - my purpose here is specifically to find out if the actual process has administrator privileges, not simply if the user who ran the process has them. Question #2 still remains unanswered, but I'll probably post a question to Stackoverflow later. J I P  &#124; Talk 18:53, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

Windows 8
Is Windows 8 supposed to be buggy? Apps crash all the time. Clover345 (talk) 18:21, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Which apps? which version of Windows 8? - I've been using Windows 8 Pro for a few months without any particular problems. nonsense  ferret  18:32, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Internet explorer crashes alot on It and sometimes Windows doesn't restart properly after a windows update, forcing me to manually turn it off and on again. I'm using windows 8 pro. 90.214.102.253 (talk) 18:51, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Well, I don't suppose your question was really a question - I have had an issue when I installed a third-party application to Windows 8, which automatically installed a browser add-on - this add-on managed to crash IE10 every time it opened until I removed it. That was pretty annoying, but I couldn't blame MS for that issue - worth checking whether it is any better when you run "iexplore -extoff" from the run dialog (WndsKey-R)
 * I've not had this problem re not restarting. I have noticed that it has restarted twice sometimes to install windows updates, which made me wonder why - but restart/startup time is a lot faster than Win7 so I'm happy with the upgrade.  My computer sometimes does not go to sleep properly, but my best guess is that this is a hardware issue - at least that is how I'm trying to justify expenditure on a new MB/CPU :)
 * I am not much fond of IE - prefer firefox and its lovely ad blocker plugin :) Some security bloggers recommend having more than one browser and keeping one for 'safe' urls where you wish to remain logged in (like WP/FB etc) and another for unfamiliar links and sites - I think that is wise advice. nonsense  ferret  19:42, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I've found startup/shutdown faster but restarts are slow. Apparently this is because there's something in Windows 8 that skips non essential startup processes so it boots faster but on restart, it just boots everything. 90.214.102.253 (talk) 19:48, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

Notifications in Android
Could someone please clarify (or direct me to an appropriate article) how Android notifications work? I have an RSS reader, which is set to sync every couple hours and show a notification in the status bar when new articles are available. It all works marvelously well, until I reboot the phone. After that, I may not see a notification for days, but as soon as I explicitly launch the RSS reader the notifications start working just fine again. I've had similar problems with the notifications from other software as well. Any thoughts?—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); February 4, 2013; 20:26 (UTC)


 * An app has to be running for it to generate a notification. If it isn't generating notifications, it probably isn't running. Apps like RSS readers, which periodically poll for events, will often schedule an an "alarm" (like asking for a wakeup call). Others (which need to listen for some kind of event) run all the time in the background as a service. Either way, such an application will typically set itself up to be executed briefly when the system boots (it specifies that in its manifest, and has a handler which responds to the BOOT_COMPLETED event). During that handler it either creates the service or schedules the periodic alarm to wake itself up to do its periodic task.  It looks like something is preventing that BOOT_COMPLETED message from starting apps in question. A virgin Android system should handle those properly.  I'd guess that you have installed some kind of "boot manager" or "boot optimiser" which, in an attempt to make your device boot quicker and to avoid greedy programs autostarting and wasting memory on stuff you don't need, is also blocking the apps you do want to autostart, like your RSS reader. It's to that program you should turn your attention. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 22:12, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Nope, no boot optimizers or managers. Guess it's a developer's fault then. Thanks for such a detailed response!—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); February 4, 2013; 22:24 (UTC)
 * Programs like Elixir can show you what's running in the background. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 22:28, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

Has math knowledge become less important in IT?
Since there are more libraries, software developers can rely on a black box approach to complex mathematic calculations and be more ignorant about math. OsmanRF34 (talk) 23:58, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I think they are teaching it less at the school levels since the advent of calculators. I learned how to read a slide rule and calculate cube roots on paper. I doubt those are still taught. Since vernier calipers and micrometers became digital few can read the older ones any more either.--Canoe1967 (talk) 00:09, 5 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Very little of mathematics involves calculation. There is a portion of computer science that is directly related to numerical calculation.  But there is far more work in computing and programming that depend on actual mathematical knowledge - concepts like formal analysis of difficult problems; or formally proving correctness; or general intuition related to quantitative problems.  More than ever, human knowledge of mathematics is very important, because calculation is so easily performed by the computer.
 * Perhaps you will find Dr. Professor Dijkstra's writings more convincing than my mere opinion: EWD732 (The Teachability of Mathematical Thinking); EWD1277; or nearly anything else in the archive. Nimur (talk) 00:20, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I think there are programmers and there are programmers - there seem to be great number of software development professionals who manage to carve out a career for themselves in the industry with very little apparent understanding of mathematics. There is an impression that this is compounded somewhat by Higher Education establishments which produce computer science graduates who are not required to do much maths, nor indeed much programming.  I think the industry finds many of these somewhat unprepared for the day-to-day work required.  That said, the production of business applications is becoming distinctly 'paint-by-numbers' in approach, aided by the high quality of development environments and frameworks available.  There will always be a place for the most talented of coders however, the Dijkstras of this world (who arguably are computer scientists rather than programmers), which I would say have exactly the sort of analytical skills that give them a great capability and interest in matters mathematical, and perhaps tend to command the highest remuneration levels. nonsense  ferret  00:37, 5 February 2013 (UTC)  If you have access to an academic library you might well be able to get a copy of this journal edition entitled "Why CS Students Need Math"   nonsense  ferret  00:48, 5 February 2013 (UTC)