Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 March 29

= March 29 =

Software (preferably free or inexpensive) to remove someone from a personal video on my hard drive?
Sorry if this sounds stupid but I once heard a director say that he would "digitize that out" in regards to something he wanted to get rid of in a movie. I have a few personal videos on my hard drive that I'd like to completely remove one annoying person from. I don't see how this could be done but if a Hollywood director mentioned it I figure it must be a real editing technique. What software, free or inexpensive, will do that? Cowgirl174.65.24.110 (talk) 01:47, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Removing something from a video can be as "easy" as deleting every frame they are in, or as "hard" as trying to essentially digitally airbrush them out. Neither are actually easy unless you know what you are doing. If all you want to do is delete chunks of a video, Avidemux can do that. So can Quicktime Pro.
 * But if you want to do something more sophisticated, you're not going to find that easy at all, with free or not-free software. As someone who has done a lot of bitmap editing and some digital video editing (with professional, expensive software, to boot), I wouldn't dare try to do such a thing on a whim, unless you have months of your time to spare. --Mr.98 (talk) 03:36, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

The airbrushing technique would be perfect but I didn't know removing someone would be such a huge project. Thanks Mr. 98. Cowgirl174.65.24.110 (talk) 20:41, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Dictionary red line thing
Do you know that auto-dictionary we have in our browsers? The thing that redlines what's spelled wrong. I use Chrome and it stopped working. Just vanished. When I edit at enwp, it used to be there. That's a Chrome thing, right? Not a enwp thing?

So, my question is, where did it go and why, and how do I get it back? Many thanks, Anna Frodesiak (talk) 03:51, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * well, now that you mention it; mine vanished from my Chrome too, not that long ago. I checked the extentions installed, and it's still listed as installed and activated. I assumed it was something I had done, but maybe not. I miss it because I typo a lot. Gzuckier (talk) 04:17, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * I'm still getting it regularly, using Chrome version 25.0.1364.172 m, running on Windows 7 Home Premium. StuRat (talk) 04:52, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Anna, have you tried right-clicking with your mouse? You should get a menu option "Spell-checker options". Note, you have to be in edit mode to get the option. Make sure "Check the spelling of text fields" is checked, otherwise it won't work. Viriditas (talk) 05:04, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Gzuckier: Same with me. Mine vanished about 4 months ago I think. Chrome seems like the common denominator here.


 * StuRat: I'm running the same version as you, but with XP, so actually maybe it's that. I think I'll visit oldversions dot com or whatever it's called and get an old version.


 * Viriditas: I couldn't find the settings until you just told me now. All was on, but I turned stuff off and on again and still no luck.


 * All: I'll let you know if an old version gets the feature back. Thanks everyone. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 13:08, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * I still have it, running Chrome on a Mac. Just another datapoint. You probably ought to ask on the Chrome forum. Make sure to tell them what version of Chrome you are running (under "About") and what operating system version you are running. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:49, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Well, I assume I have a latest version of Chrome, autoupdate and all that. But I'm on Win7, with all the current updates etc both autoupdated and checked by hand. So it's not XP. Comcast ISP, if that makes a difference.
 * It's not the rightclicking, it's the constant scaning of the text box and underlining anything that looked wrong, so you could just eyeball your magnum opus and determine what if anything was bad. Half the time didn't even rightclick to get suggestions, since it was obvious how to fix that "indows" with the wiggly red line under it. That's gone now. Spelling and correcting spelling is a lot easier than proofreading. I figured maybe Google discontinued it. Didn't somebody figure out the average time to closing down of Google projects just the other week?Gzuckier (talk) 19:16, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, it's the red squiggly that's gone. I also just got a message at: right-click-->spellchecker options-->Language settings...:  The firewall excepts Chrome, so I guess Chrome doesn't have it anymore. Now I won't notice obvious typos. Pitty. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 23:10, 29 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Spell-checker is built-in to Chrome, so nothing has been discontinued. Go to this link and follow the instructions, or copy and paste this into your browser: chrome://settings/languages and make sure Enable spell checking is clicked.  That should solve your problem.  Also make sure to read this. Viriditas (talk) 02:06, 30 March 2013 (UTC)


 * I did, but still get this:


 * Anna Frodesiak (talk) 11:11, 30 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Try this. Viriditas (talk) 19:23, 30 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Well, I see that the spelling thing was upgraded recently, so maybe its format has been changed or it's something that the firewall won't pass now.  Gzuckier (talk) 04:16, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

Still no luck. I give up. Maybe it will fix itself. Thanks all. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 06:22, 1 April 2013 (UTC)
 * I just tried the wp editor in chrome (in fact, I'm using it now) and it only spellchecks paragraphs that I am actively editing. So right now, all the text above where I'm typing (the previous comments) isn't being redlined, but the text I am typing is.  If I place the cursor in a paragraph above, it redlines it after a couple of inputs.
 * This appears to be a deliberate feature, but I don't know if it's a wp feature or a Chrome feature or what. I'm running Win7 and Chrome 25. gnfnrf (talk) 02:51, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

new website-forum
So how does one set up one of these online forum things? I have the domain name and hosting, but that's it, I hear you can download the basic site template for free from some place? then I just need to post it to my website address and modify it to suit?

Kitutal (talk) 18:41, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Googling "open source forum code" returned phpBB and 9 free & open source forum software solutions as the first two results. Hope this suits your needs.    Sophus Bie  (talk) 18:48, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Comparison of Internet forum software. If you have a control panel such as cPanel, there are likely “one click” installers for some. ¦ Reisio (talk) 20:28, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * I don't think I have cPanel, or any idea where to get it. As far as I can tell, my website hosting company site will only let me upload a completed website code to my domain name, or pay to use templates they provide, but I'm not sure, it's a rather annoying site to navigate. I do sort of want to give up and go somewhere else, but I suspect I would have to cancel all my plans and buy them again. Kitutal (talk) 01:11, 30 March 2013 (UTC)


 * See http://www.question2answer.org/install.php and http://www.osqa.net.
 * —Wavelength (talk) 01:38, 30 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Who is your host?! I haven't seen a system where you have to upload your site all at once since the 90s. That said, uploading forum software isn't that hard. Other than setting some directory permissions, and setting up the database, you should be able to do all the maintenance in the software. Dismas |(talk) 03:55, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

Windows 7 Office activation
My father recently purchased a new computer, which came pre-installed with Windows 7. I helped him set it up. The most difficult part was setting up Microsoft Outlook. Setting up the POP/IMAP account was a doddle for me (but not for my father), but activating Microsoft Office had us both stumped. It said we had to sign into a Microsoft online account. My father didn't have one. So I set one up for him. Then it said the Microsoft online account had to be activated before it could be used, and apparently the activation e-mail was sent to the Microsoft account itself, creating a chicken-and-egg problem. In the end, I created a Microsoft online account for my father using his pre-existing e-mail address, which to the surprise of us both, worked. Is gaining access to Microsoft Office really so difficult these days? As I use Linux myself, I simply have to install the software and type my POP/IMAP account information. What is the proper procedure for activating a newly-bought Microsoft Office software these days? J I P &#124; Talk 21:44, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Not an answer, but I've noticed when setting up an e-mail account at many sites they often want another e-mail address. They don't seem to have considered the case of those getting their first e-mail address.  As for online registration, they don't seem to have considered the case of those without internet access.  (For any type of secure system, I sure wouldn't want it to have internet access.) StuRat (talk) 21:56, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Microsoft products can be activated by phone. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 22:10, 29 March 2013 (UTC)
 * It says "Office activation (U.S. only)" so I don't think it's of any use to us. J I P  &#124; Talk 10:05, 30 March 2013 (UTC)


 * See How to contact a Microsoft Product Activation Center by telephone for step by step instructions which also mention picking your country/region or location nearest to you. Astronaut (talk) 16:21, 3 April 2013 (UTC)

Alternatives for Gmail
Hello,

I've been using Gmail for years, but their total disregard for their customers with every single "upgrade" is infuriating. What is your best alternative to Gmail and how can I effectively copy 1 GB of email without clogging the servers? I want to keep it all online. - 87.211.75.45 (talk) 23:25, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * It might be easier to keep the old emails on G-mail and just get the new ones on the new email system. StuRat (talk) 23:31, 29 March 2013 (UTC)


 * You can IMAP or POP download all of your mail; I don't think google lets you "checkout" or whatever their term for it is, your email, but you can effectively do it by downloading it into your preferred email client. The hard part would be getting it into your new provider's system. I don't know of any major webmail that provide that functionality. Forwarding thousands of messages is a bad idea for a number of reasons.


 * You could always switch to something else, and access your mail through an offline client, which would have your old emails, but only through the offline system. If you could find a provider that provided exchange based email you might be able to upload old emails into it... but again, most providers have their own internal way of storing emails, and I'm not aware of any standard to let you upload new emails in and have them incorporate them into their system, at least not among the large providers. If anyone knows of some please mention it. Shadowjams (talk) 02:20, 30 March 2013 (UTC)


 * To upload, you can again use IMAP. IMAP is essentially a network file share protocol; just drag and drop the emails in an IMAP client. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 02:35, 30 March 2013 (UTC)


 * That's a good point. But do providers restrict that in some way though? I could imagine them not wanting to make that regular practice. Shadowjams (talk) 03:19, 30 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Generally it is restricted only by the sizes of your mailboxes. The special thing about Gmail from the beginning was its virtually unlimited mailbox size (and its nice AJAX interface). I don't know whether that's so special anymore, though. My personal approach is to use Gmail but do 90% of my e-mail via IMAP with a local e-mail client (Apple Mail, in this case, but you could use anything). When I'm doing work away from my personal computer I use the Gmail interface. IMAP keeps it all pretty much in sync; the only issue is that sometimes Apple and Gmail don't see eye to eye on my message flagging (flagging something in Gmail doesn't flag it in Mail, but flagging something in Mail usually flags it in Gmail). --Mr.98 (talk) 15:13, 30 March 2013 (UTC)