Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 March 9

= March 9 =

Windows 8 Operating System
I am a computer neophyte and need help regarding the windows 8 operating system. My old computer crashed forcing me to buy a new desktop. All the models I could find had the windows 8 system. My old computer had windows xp which suited me just fine for my limited use. The new windows 8 is too confusing for me. Can someone let me know if I can install the old windows xp system in my new desktop by buying the program cd and booting it up.? By doing this will it remove windows 8 and leave the replacement windows xp system? Thank You. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Joseph R Browning Sr. (talk • contribs) 02:45, 9 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Downgrading a new computer to an old OS version sometimes works. You may have to find drivers online and fit them properly so various parts including video can work properly. If the only bad thing about the new OS is its User interface then perhaps you should merely go back to the old system's look and feel, for example by the methods outlined here in PC World. Jim.henderson (talk) 02:59, 9 March 2013 (UTC)


 * However, avoiding the most recent version of Windows is a recipe for disaster. Install http://classicshell.sf.net/ and you can make Windows 8 function enough like Windows XP. ¦ Reisio (talk) 18:58, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Vacuum cleaner for keyboard/speaker grille
Can anyone recommend a quality yet affordable vacuum cleaner designed to clean a laptop, particularly around the keyboard and speaker grilles? All the ones I've looked up on Amazon don't get good reviews, and compressed air might not be a good option given that the particular shape/layout of my keys would make it difficult for it to be effective, not to mention wouldn't work for cleaning speakers. 70.55.108.19 (talk) 03:09, 9 March 2013 (UTC)


 * this one gets good reviews on amazon.com. --Guy Macon (talk) 03:37, 9 March 2013 (UTC)


 * For keyboards, I've had better luck turning them upside down and shaking vigorously, over a trash can, and maybe pushing the keys up and down as I do this. StuRat (talk) 04:24, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Subscription feed layout on YouTube - how do I change it back?
The Subscription feed on YouTube changed its layout. I liked the old one better. How do I change it back?

The old layout showed its videos about 5 to a row, with titles under them. Very recently, it changed to show a layout that I don't appreciate as much because I see less previews on the same screenspace than in the old layout. --70.179.161.230 (talk) 06:13, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Registry keys
I have to add the following to our new computer (Windows XP) registry at work;

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.010000] @="010000_auto_file" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\010000_auto_file] @="" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\010000_auto_file\shell] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\010000_auto_file\shell\edit] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\010000_auto_file\shell\edit\command] @="\"C:\\Program Files\\JGsoft\\EditPadPro6\\EditPadPro.exe\" \"%1\"" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\010000_auto_file\shell\open] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\010000_auto_file\shell\open\command]1 @="\"C:\\Program Files\\JGsoft\\EditPadPro6\\EditPadPro.exe\" \"%1\""

This is so that the files we retrieve will be automatically opened by EditPadPro when clicked on. Yes, we actually have people who can't figure out how to deal with an unassociated file. Now if it was the one set then not a problem but the 010000 is ddhhhh so I need to add the above for every minute of every day for thirty one days (44,640 entries). Looking at our old computer that is exactly what I did but there has to be a better way. So is there any way I can get the files to open without needing that many registry entries? CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 07:56, 9 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Export the registry key to a .reg file, and open in a text editor. (It might be in UTF-16). The format is fairly simple; you could write a program to produce all the keys needed. Either run the .reg file, or use regedit32   from the command line to import the whole set of keys. CS Miller (talk) 14:23, 10 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I guess I didn't explain myself clearly enough. I've got the 31 .reg files already and have imported them with regedit. Each file has the above 1,440 times. What I was looking for was a way to make less entries. For example could I use some sort of wildcard to replace the 010000, 020000, 020001 and so on? Right now when I open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT I can't scroll down past the 210000 - 212359 series. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 17:04, 10 March 2013 (UTC)


 * I don't know if wildcards in the file association is allowed or not. I take it you can't give the files an extension that is unique for this application?


 * No we can't. We transmit the weather, by modem, and they are returned to us with the extension. So if I send a weather observation on 11 March at 1741Z the file comes back as .111741. I assume that is so Environment Canada can store all the weather observations with unique names and extensions that make them easy to find. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 07:18, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

IP addresses and 3G
I understand that if I access the internet from a home computer behind a router, the address visible to the outside world (e.g. the one logged by webservers) is the router's (WAN) ip, i.e. any computer on the LAN would appear the same in the server logs of say facebook.com. But how about accessing the internet from mobile devices via 3G (or similar technology)? Which device sets the ip address in this case, the mobile device itself, some local access point or some central device at the mobile service provider? Sorry if I used incorrect terminology or if this question does not make sense. bamse (talk) 10:34, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * It will undoubtedly be your cell-phone provider who's operating an interface to the internet. Others can get specific about details... but think about it this way... various technologies bring the data from your device (phone) to the end-point (wikipedia), and inbetween a lot of different protocols may be involved in relaying that data. 3G refers to the connection between your phone and the cell phone tower. After it hits the tower it probably goes through a fiber optic line to a switching center were it goes to the cell phone company's internet interface, and then out like any other packet. In practical terms, they probably aggregate thousands of internet connections through fewer IP addresses, much in the way a router at your local starbucks works. Shadowjams (talk) 10:43, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks. So that would be one or a couple of locations per (medium sized European) country then!? bamse (talk) 11:17, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * I'd assume there's thousands... I don't know what the ratio is... maybe someone else can help with that. Are you asking about how many IPs to mobile phone users? Or about how many switching centers? I don't have any idea the exact distribution. But I'm pretty sure they consolidate as much data traffic as they can. Look at Microcell and the other cellphone tower related articles. But all that input they take is fed through physical connections (maybe microwave in remote areas) into a major backbone. And at that point it's anyone's guess. They route voice traffic the same way. Once it hits the backbone it's on their internal network until it hits some public IP and that's what the website sees. It'll be within a range the provider owns, which in the case of a major provider like AT&T or BT, would probably be hundreds of thousands of IPs. Shadowjams (talk) 12:23, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, perhaps thousands of IP addresses, but many of those would probably be at the same geolocation, no? I am mostly interested in this in order to make sense of server logs/google analytics output. bamse (talk) 16:32, 9 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Just to clarify your original assumption, the web-visible IP address for your home computer is assigned by your Internet provider. This may be a unique address specifically assigned to the router in your house, but with some providers it can be a temporary one that changes every time you log on.    D b f i r s   12:38, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Note that there's no guarantee you'll get a public IP address assigned to your router or modem. Some ISPs for a variety of reasons may use an internal network with NAPT and only provide a private IP, instead of assigning a public IP address to the modem or router. This has been going on for years and is only likely to get more common as IPv4 address exhaustion hits, particularly in the Asia Pacific region where it seems most acute and internal networks have probably been most common. In response to the original question, some providers do assign a public IP to the 3G device (modem or phone). Others will use an internal network (and therefore only provide a private IP). Using an internal network with NAPT is more common here then it is for fixed line connections but my no means is it universal. It often depends on your APN settings, e.g. . Of course, again IPv4 address exhaustion is only likely to accelerate the trend towards using an internal network with NAPT (and other transition mechanisms). Nil Einne (talk) 19:23, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

looking for a good editor
Hi all, I've used Xcode for editing, and it has one simple feature I now want to use all the time. You write as a directive "#pragma mark - Some info here" and the "Some info here" is automatically added to a little list of contents. The list does not appear in the text. You just click on an icon at the top of the screen, and a list of all these headings appears in a dropdown list. You click on the one you want, and the cursor jumps to that point. Nothing else is affected. Last night I downloaded about 10 text "outliners", apparently with this feature, but they all do the same useless thing. They set up the headings as if they were different pages. In Xcode, you click the heading in the drop list, but you can also scroll freely. The drop list is just an automatically generated list of bookmarks. The ones I downloaded can display the whole page if you like, but if you click a bookmark, it won't jump to that section - it will display the content for that heading only, in other words, with the surrounding text removed. I know I can add bookmarks using gedit, but it won't set up a list of bookmarks in a drop list, and neither will it store the bookmarks for future use. I just want the simple Xcode-style list generator, but for Windows. It's for my Phd lit review, so I just want to list separate topics so I can file away a set of comments on each one under a given heading, as in "#pragma mark - General overview of the topic" etc. Can anyone help? IBE (talk) 18:35, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Emacs, of course, runs everywhere and does everything &mdash; or can be made to do so. The closest thing I know in vanilla Emacs to what you want is M-x occur, which will produce a list of all matches for a regexp and allow you to jump to any of them (or step through them in sequence).  There are also things like bookmark+ that will automatically create bookmarks from various things (some of which are searches for patterns) and save them.  --Tardis (talk) 19:57, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Duster costs
Duster cans cost $15CDN approx. I thought of taking an old gas tank like propane, tapping in a valve or two, filling it with Desiccant, and then filling it at a gas station. Thoughts?--Canoe1967 (talk) 20:06, 9 March 2013 (UTC)


 * How about just getting a small electrical air compressor ? They are a bit loud, but you could treat it like using a vacuum cleaner, and pop on your ear protection when you use it.  Those which have an attached tank can also be used without running the motor, until the tank is emptied too much.  The initial cost might be higher, but it should save you money in the long run. StuRat (talk) 20:25, 9 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Also, wet/dry vacuum cleaners often have a "blow" option. You might want a small, dedicated wet/dry vac, so it won't blow dust out from a previous usage as a vac. StuRat (talk) 20:27, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Compressed air is usually to moist I am told and vacuums have static build-up. That is why dusters are used for dusting CMOS circuit boards. The others are fine for TTL circuits.--Canoe1967 (talk) 21:16, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * if you check out maybe Canada Tire, also el cheapo tool places like Harbor Freight in the US, you can usually find for a few bucks adapters that screw on to old propane tanks and provide a filler valve (like a tire), a pressure guage, a hose and maybe a choice of nozzles, air chucks, etc. If they don't have a blower nozzle, usually the same places have a set of nozzles etc. for another few bucks. Work well for me. So, you fill them up at the service station or whatever and haul them home. But..... as your seem to suspect, the compressed air from a service station is full of water. I haven't tried to open the tanks and add dessicator, but the same cheapo hardware stores do carry in line dessicator/filters of various sizes and types. That end of things I haven't poked into yet. Gzuckier (talk) 02:19, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

How do I block an account in Office/Outlook.com?
A family member is sending me harassing e-mails. How do I block them in Outlook 2013 or Outlook.com? I can't seem to find the option. I see options for Junk e-mail, but this isn't junk e-mail. I just want to no longer see their harassing e-mails. How do I block them? Is this even possible? I'm desperate. Please help me. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 23:21, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * On Outlook.com just add them to your Blocked Sender list (Options -> Safe and Blocked Senders). In Outlook 2013 you can create a rule to delete inbound email from that email address. Nanonic (talk) 00:14, 10 March 2013 (UTC)
 * And technically it is Junk email, as Junk email is loosely defined as 'email you don't want, from people you don't want to speak to about things you're not interested in' Nanonic (talk) 00:16, 10 March 2013 (UTC)