Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 June 1

= June 1 =

How to secure home Wifi
I have a Wifi b/g/n router broadcasting with a visible SSID and encrypted using WPA2. However, several times, I believe my neighbor (not sure which ones), have been able to connect to our Wifi network. How are they doing this? Are they using some sort of software to brute force my Wifi password?

If I make my home network broadcast in a hidden SSID, will this help?

Acceptable (talk) 01:15, 1 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Why do you believe your neighbor has been able to connect?
 * We can't really offer any sort of effective strategies for securing the network unless you explain what you think the security-hole is. If the neighbors know your network-name and WPA2 key, then squelching your SSID broadcast ("hiding" the SSID) adds no security.  And, if your neighbors are network engineering experts with unlimited time and money dedicated to breaking your network, and they are targeting your network using high-grade attacks, there's little that anyone can do to help you, no matter how you set security-settings.  But that's pretty unlikely; in fact, it's unlikely your neighbors have been able to connect if your WPA2 password is set up properly.
 * In the mean-time, you can read about best-practices for securing your WiFi router for normal residential use: Securing your 802.11n Wireless Network from Netgear (you can probably find similar results for other vendors); or for commercial wifi: Microsoft Technet on Wireless Deployment Best Practices.  Nimur (talk) 03:02, 1 June 2013 (UTC)


 * If they've managed to access your network, it's either through guessing your password, or using a security vulnerability in Wifi Protected Setup to trick your router into giving them the password. If it's the first, changing your password to something better will re-secure your network; if it's the second, you'll need to change the password and disable WPS -- and your router might not actually let you disable WPS. --Carnildo (talk) 03:09, 1 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Once I suspected a neighbor of hacking into my old router (I would notice a signifigant drop in speed or - usually - get kicked off the internet altogether.) I discovered a good strategy: whenever they would get on, I'd just reset/turn off then turn on my router. This would kick them off and allow me back on. Sometimes this would even go back and forth a couple of times! However in the end the problem eventually went away and hasn't come back since I got my new router. --Yellow1996 (talk) 23:00, 1 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Unless you have other evidence of hacking, this was probably a problem with the router itself that was fixed by rebooting. -- BenRG 20:12, 2 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Maybe, though it was in no particular pattern. Probably just because my router was old and needed replacing, though! --Yellow1996 (talk) 01:10, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

I have a monthly internet bandwidth cap per month. At the start of the month, the usage cycle resets. However, this past month, I received a call from my ISP saying that I have already reached 90% of my monthly bandwidth on the second day of this usage cycle. I have not changed my usage pattern from previous months and there is no way I could have downloaded/uploaded 90% of my monthly cap in just 2 days. Acceptable (talk) 01:13, 5 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Many WiFi routers have an option where you can only allow specific MAC addresses to access it. That means even if someone can get onto your network, if the MAC address of their device isn't on the whitelist, it's can't connect. --157.254.210.11 (talk) 18:20, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

3d glass etched sculpture cube maker?
I'm assuming (possibly incorrectly) that the process that produces these things (no spam intended, just googled around for pictures of them so people would know what I'm referring to) is computer controlled and somewhat analogous to 3d printing, thus I'm asking it on the computing desk. I've occasionally seen people gifted custom glass sculpture cubes as dissertation defense gifts (usually with a picture of their specific protein, particle, polymer, or other macromolecule) so there must be a way to custom manufacture them. So now for the actual question(s):
 * 1) Does anyone know if a service for custom printing these things exist?
 * 2) What kind of 3d data do they accept as input? I assume they support typical molecular coordinate files (or at least generic x,y,z coordinates).
 * 3) Is it possible to print them with a limited amount of color? Basically, simple two color shading would be nice.. I just want to outline a 3d surface in color, not actually fill the volume with color.
 * 4) What are these things actually called? "Glass etched 3d sculpture cube" is pretty hard to search for.

Thanks (+)H3N-Protein\Chemist-CO2(-) 13:24, 1 June 2013 (UTC)


 * It's sub-surface laser engraving (SSLE) -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 13:29, 1 June 2013 (UTC)


 * You might also find it described as "3D crystal laser engraving". -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 13:31, 1 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Looking online at some vendors, some want DXF format files (which they convert themselves to a point cloud format suitable for their engraver), and some will accept pointcloud data file formats like PCD (which presumably the post-process to convert to the coordinate system and file format used by their specific engraver). Most vendors seem to be in the naff memento and grotty corporate gewgaw market (rather than scientific or technical imaging) so many will take real objects which they digitise and convert themselves - if you plan on generating a pointcloud yourself, from scientific data, you should talk to whatever vendor you pick and see what they specifically want. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 13:42, 1 June 2013 (UTC)


 * and you should talk to them about the constraints of the process - they're surely limited to a given depth into the block (e.g this engraver will do up to 300x300x80mm), you'll have to know what density of points is optimal for visibility, and there may be geometric limitations on the data (whether you have total arbitrary control, or whether you're limited to surfaces). -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 13:54, 1 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Now that I know what they're called I actually managed to find a service that actually specializes in scientific themed laser engraving. (+)H3N-Protein\Chemist-CO2(-) 01:40, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

XP reactivation weirdness on clone hard drive
Dear Wikipedians:

I have four installations of activated Windows XP SP2 on my hard drive. After hard drive cloning, three installations remain activated, but the fourth installation requires re-activation. The only difference that I know of is that the fourth installation has been used by me heavily as a "sandbox" for installing new, untested Windows software so that in case something screws up (such as the said software being a piece of malware that injects advertisement code into Windows), I can easily reformat the partition and install a fresh copy of Windows without affecting my personal settings and data. Therefore this fourth installation has been exposed to the Internet far, far longer than the other three installations. My suspicion is that somewhere along the way a Microsoft update was downloaded and installed that started to impose Draconian rules in maintaining WGA, to the point where even a hard drive change counted as "significant hardware change" that required re-activation. Whereas the other three installations do not have this update installed and therefore tolerated not only a hard drive change but also an increase in RAM from 500 MB to 2GB. I think this is really unfair.

I am wondering if anyone has any insight as to any specific Windows update(s) that might contain the said changes so that I can uninstall it to revert my sandbox installation back to a more tolerant state.

Thanks,

216.58.82.243 (talk) 17:54, 1 June 2013 (UTC)

SMS spoofing on Google Voice
Someone has been sending nonsense text messages from my Google Voice number to my contacts. How can I get it to stop? 65.92.229.41 (talk) 18:54, 1 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Is it specifically spam messages, or just nonsense? If it's spam, then you could report it to the authorities (as reccomended here.) Or, you could just contact Google themselves and report the issue. --Yellow1996 (talk) 22:54, 1 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Odd text messages that seem as though someone is reading my conversations with my contacts, because it responds to my recipients with very odd answers and requests that makes them question my sanity before I assure them it's not me. One text message even told someone to call me when I never requested a phone call. It's like someone is playing a prank on me. I will contact Google about it. 65.92.229.41 (talk) 01:32, 2 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Wow that must get annoying! I sure hope Google can sort things out for you. Good luck! --Yellow1996 (talk) 17:17, 2 June 2013 (UTC)


 * I recommend changing your Google password immediately. 209.131.76.183 (talk) 12:23, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

BBC News online slide shows won't page past second slide prefix:Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives
BBC News presents thematic slide shows like this. I can only ever see the first two slides, even though if I click the 'next' arrow I will see subsequent captions. (Google Chrome, Windows 7.) What's going on? Hayttom 19:42, 1 June 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hayttom (talk • contribs)
 * Dunno. I just tried it in Chrome on Windows 7, and it works for me.  It looks like that function uses JavaScript, maybe Flash, and cookies -- have you done any special things with your Chrome? Looie496 (talk) 20:23, 1 June 2013 (UTC)
 * Does clicking "Start slideshow" or "Hide captions" at the bottom do anything? HueSatLum 19:54, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

Syncing new mini iPad
How do I sync the photos on my iPad 2 onto my wife's new iPad Mini please?85.211.151.84 (talk) 21:07, 1 June 2013 (UTC)


 * Perhaps the easiest way is to create a shared photo stream and invite your wife to view it. She will be able to browse your shared photos on her iPad and you can easily add new photos to share later.  Nimur (talk) 01:33, 2 June 2013 (UTC)