Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2014 February 5

= February 5 =

Network security
Are Internet-connected devices (PCs, tablets, phones) any more vulnerable to hacking or intrusion from people connected to the same WiFi network or local wired network than they are to hacking from anywhere else on the Internet? I am talking about hacking through the network, not the direct interception of wireless traffic. Please ignore the issue of interception of wireless signals. 86.130.66.8 (talk) 12:56, 5 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Two key things here. At least with IPv4, most people with home connections only have a single IP and use a router with NAPT to provide support for multiple computers which only receive a private IP so are not uniquely addressable on the internet. Some people may manually forward of use UPNP or other methods to forward some ports to specific computers. But even in this case and with all the various flaws and features in routers, a computer behind a NAPT router is still generally far less accessible than one which is assigned a public IP, everything else being equal. (The exception may be those who use or misuse DMZ.) In particular, software which isn't designed to attempt to bypass NAPT routers including services which may be on by default will often not be accessible.
 * Now having a good firewall will provide the same level and more. Which leads me to my second point. The setup of most external home firewalls and networks means that traffic within the local network generally mostly bypasses the external firewall where it exists. Similarly some OSes provide lower default software firewall security settings for home or other trusted local networks than they do for the internet or untrusted local networks. For example, OS file sharing may often only be enabled over the local network by default, so even if your computer is uniquely addressable and this isn't blocked by any external firewall, this often won't work over the internet by default. I think even some people with understanding of network security may intentionally choose lower security settings on the local network if they sufficiently trust whoever they allow on their network.
 * All of these add up to there often being less protection for internet connected devices PCs over the local network then there is from the internet.
 * While these could apply to tablets and phones to, it's probably a lot less applicable. For example, people rarely want to share files from their phones or tablets in the same way so these don't usually have any sort of OS network file sharing or similar stuff. In fact, for battery life as much as other reasons, they are far less likely to have network servers on by default. And they often don't have any real distinction between 'internet' and 'local network' in security settings. And note that a phone or tablet connecting to the internet via the mobile data connection may or may not receive a public IP depending on the network provider.
 * Nil Einne (talk) 14:51, 5 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your full answer and for the time and trouble that you have taken. 86.130.66.8 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 22:44, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Can't play movies on Linux
I recently tried to play my collection of Monty Python DVDs, which I bought as a boxed set, on Xine on Fedora Linux, but all that happened was that I saw the copyright message at the start, and then got an error message that the content can't be played because it's encrypted. I paid good money for the DVDs and bought them fully legally. The fact that I'm using Linux instead of Windows shouldn't come into this. I have installed the packages,  ,   and  , but the movies still won't play. I feel like the entertainment industry is doing its utmost to keep me from actually viewing the content I bought fully legally. How can I actually view the DVDs on Xine on Fedora Linux? J I P &#124; Talk 19:20, 5 February 2014 (UTC)


 * You almost certainly lack libdvdcss. Instructions for installing that for Fedora (which I haven't personally tried) are here and for Ubuntu (which I have, and which work fine) are here. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 19:50, 5 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you! I have now installed  and  . I'll try watching the DVDs some time later this week (it's almost 10 PM here in Finland now and I'm getting ready to go to sleep).  J I P  &#124; Talk 19:55, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

apps and Google Drive
I have a file on Google Drive with the .tex file extension. When I right-click on it I am invited to choose among several items, one of which is "Open with". Then one of the options is Google Drive Viewer, which gives me a message saying "No preview available". So I choose "Manage apps" and several Google apps are listed. So instead I choose "Connect more apps" and I get a long list of apps that Google is aware of and presumably will let me download. But I want to open it with an app that I ALREADY have on my computer and that is not on the list I'm shown. So three questions: Michael Hardy (talk) 23:53, 5 February 2014 (UTC)
 * How can I view this with an app that I already have?
 * Does the bolded sentence above exceed the ability of Google personnel to understand?
 * Is there some way to communicate with someone responsible for the way Google Drive works?


 * In response to your third question, no. It is notoriously difficult to get in contact with an actual human at Google. --Carnildo (talk) 03:37, 6 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Google Drive is designed to run entirely on the web, and so the apps Google is showing you are web apps that run online, in your browser. It is normal and intended behaviour for Google Drive not to know anything about the apps on your computer. If you want to open the document with an offline app on your computer, you need to download the .tex file, bringing a copy of it from Google Drive onto your computer. Does that help? —Noiratsi (talk) 09:12, 6 February 2014 (UTC)


 * However it may be possible to treat google drive in a way similar to a network/local disk - by googling "mount google drive" I found, there may be similar solutions for other operating systems. 193.35.254.226 (talk) 20:32, 6 February 2014 (UTC)


 * That's a very good point which I hadn't thought of! For Mac and Windows, Google themselves provide the app to let you 'mount' your Google Drive so that apps on your computer can see and edit the files. It's available here. Once that app is installed, you can use your computer's file explorer to browse to and open files from your Google Drive as if they were files on your own computer. —Noiratsi (talk) 10:33, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

Thank you, Carnildo, Noiratsi, and whoever... Michael Hardy (talk) 21:30, 7 February 2014 (UTC)


 * A .tex file is a simple ascii text file, and any basic text editor will be able to open and edit it. Looie496 (talk) 18:18, 10 February 2014 (UTC)