Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 February 27

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February 27

Typo redirect in Firefox

Hello. I was attempting to correct a typo in the Firefox address bar and accidentally overtyped the entire URL with the single letter "s" and pressed enter. I was surprised when I was taken to craigslist.org. I intentionally repeated the action, careful not to select any of the drop-down history items and received the same results. I have visited the craigslist a couple of times in the past, but have never intentionally downloaded anything from there. Is it possible that the site installed something without my knowledge? I took a look at my Firefox add-ons and didn't see anything suspicious. Does anyone else get similar results? Any idea why this behaves this way? Thanks. -- Tcncv (talk) 02:27, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I tried to replicate that just know but didn't quite succeed. Instead, I was taken to a list of Google hits for "s", the first of which -- for some strange (and I'd cynically guess paid-for) reason -- was Craig's List. The resemblance to your result doesn't seem coincidental. Doing the same for the not-quite randomly selected string "tcncv" takes me not to Google instead to some outfit called "twincitiesnightclubs.com". How does it work for you? -- Hoary (talk) 02:35, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

(e/c) Nope, you didn't download anything. Typing in something in the address bar is like doing an "I'm feeling lucky" search on Google. It does a google search for the term (or letter) and takes you to the first result. In this case, the first result in a google search for "s" is craigslist. flaminglawyer 02:37, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. Is there any way to disable this behavior? I tried changing search engines (I chose Wikipedia) and even removed the search box from the right side of the toolbar, but I still get the same result. It's not a big deal, but I prefer not to have an application that redirects typos to the highest bidder. -- Tcncv (talk) 02:59, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Use about:config to set keyword.enabled to "false" (or change keyword.URL to your preferred search). – 74  03:10, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Excellent. Thank you. -- Tcncv (talk) 03:38, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Just as an aside, this is an excellent feature! It makes typing in websites much faster. If you want to go to amazon, just type "amazon", if you want to go to wikipedia, just type "wikipedia" (although that takes you to the international portal). It's WAAAAY cool once you start using it regularly. For instance, has this situation ever happened to you: "Ohh, I want to go to Reddit! Wait, what is it? reddit.net? reddit.org? reddit.us? reddit.com?", and then you have to land on a bunch of domain-squatters sites, giving them ad impressions and stuff. No need to, just type "reddit"! Another example: "I'm thinking of applying to Brandeis University! Let's go to their website! How's it spelled again? Brandyce? Brandice? Brandeis? And is it brandeisuniversity.edu, brandeis.edu, brandies.com, brandyceuniversity.com, brandice.edu, brandyce.org?" etc, etc. No need to worry, type in any of those spellings, and it takes you right there.

Seriously, it's a great feature once you start to use it. And it's not like Google is involved every time you type something in to the address-bar, if you type in a regular ol' URL, it'll just go there. It only activates when you type in a normal human-language word or phrase. I don't even bookmark stuff anymore, I just use that + the awesomebar. Give it a shot, I bet you'll love it! Belisarius (talk) 06:39, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Mac Voice recording software

I;m doing voice overs for a school film project. Unfortunately, no one likes me and I have to do all the voices. Is there any voice software out there with a wide variety of effects, options etc. Preferred for mac. --69.127.64.183 (talk) 03:20, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Most Macs nowadays come with a mic pre-installed, and GarageBand pre-installed. Those are all you need. Or, if you hate Garageband, there might be an Audacity version for Mac (I'm not sure, though). flaminglawyer 03:55, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

indeed available for macs...http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/--Cerejota (talk) 04:19, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Installing 2nd hard drive

My XP machine bit the dust, but I'm fairly certain my SATA hard drive is okay (fingers crossed). I've now got a Vista machine and want to hook up my old hard drive to access some files. Is this just a matter of hooking up the power and data cables, then doing something in the BIOS or control panel somewhere? Do I need to buy a data cable or is it in there? Clarityfiend (talk) 06:41, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

It seems so. SATA cable could be taken from XP machine. Usually adding an another HDD does not requires any changes in BIOS, so drive could be just plugged in. -Yyy (talk) 08:13, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

You are fortunate that it is SATA; if it was IDE, you'd likely have to alter some jumpers. Useight (talk) 17:15, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Interact with an X session remotely

Hey all,

Say I have a desktop computer running some variety of UNIX (probably in practice going to be GNU/Linux) and X. A user has an X session open through the normal method (startx executed locally). Assuming I have root access to this computer, is there any way to control this X session (for example, running a program the graphical component of which would then appear within X, say to control MPlayer on my desktop from another computer on the network) using a command-line tool like SSH?

Yes, I know about VNC - it won't work very well for my purposes as the computer I'm hoping to RC from is a tiny EEE PC that doesn't even have X.

Thanks a lot, Aseld ^talk 12:02, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

VideoLAN has a simple http server that allows you to control it remotely. 87.114.16.126 (talk) 12:25, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Many applications which make sense to "remote control" support some option for doing so. MPlayer, for instance, can accept commands from a "file" (which, in Linux, includes named pipes, etc.) with the "-input" command line option. Here's an example of MPlayer remote control; you can modify it to run as a command-line app, or just manually send commands to the input. – 74  16:57, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Okay, thank you. --Aseld ^talk 22:50, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I take it the answer to my original question is no? --Aseld ^talk 23:53, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Does this thread answer your original question? – 74  00:34, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Perfectly and one hundred percent. Thank you very much! --Aseld ^talk 00:39, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

DLL error

i am having a problem while installing a software it is showing me a DFORMD.DLL error.

can you kindly help —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.95.140.188 (talk) 13:07, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

What software are you installing? When do you get this error? What is the exact text of the error message? What type of computer and operating system are you working with? --LarryMac | Talk 13:31, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi Larry, software --minitab.exe When-- At installation Message--the dformd.dll could not be found, reinstalling the application mey resolve the issue OS--Windows XP service pack 3 Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.95.140.188 (talk) 14:23, 27 February 2009 (UTC) Anybody ???please help —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.122.36.6 (talk) 15:01, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunately, the only thing that turned up in my research related to attempting to install a "crack" for Minitab. If you have the appropriate licensing from the publisher, they seem to have a thorough support section on [their website]. --LarryMac | Talk 17:12, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Hello. You can scan your .DLL files once using 'Scannow' option using the Win-XP CD. It will probably solve the problem by repairing the corrupt DLL File. Anirban16chatterjee (talk) 17:42, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

How to put an upper limit on the size of webpage a browser will load?

Sometimes I find that as a result of surfing or googling my computer is downloading a huge webpage - usually a blog page, which may include several video files for example. This takes over the computer and makes it unusable for ten or twenty minutes - the red X to stop downloading does not work, the computer more or less freezes while the blogbloat page downloads. Only way to stop it is pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and losing all open browser windows. Does any briowser allow you to specify an upper limit to the size of webpage loaded - so that it automatically stops loading when this limit is reached please? 78.149.170.123 (talk) 14:11, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I'll be surprised if there is such a thing, but you might be interested in FlashBlock, which stops Flash videos from loading until you click on them. --Sean 15:01, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Can you give the URL of such a page? Or, if you are (understandably) reluctant to go looking, the domain name of a site that has such pages? -- Hoary (talk) 15:05, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I have looked but cannot find any in my History, perhaps because that page is not recorded when I press cntrl-alt-del. You may find one if you search for a popular subject that involves pictures - so try something involving celebrities for example. The problem is made much worse by some bloggers apparantly archiving several pages onto one huge one. Try googling for Celebrity Blog Archive for example - although I would prefer not to get in that trap again. 89.241.154.51 (talk) 21:09, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

Large pics are usually what takes my computer down. However, by the time you realize there's a problem it's too late to stop it. This is part of the much larger problem of apps not being smart enough to figure out that the object they are trying to load will exceed the available memory. They should refuse, or at least warn you, in such cases. One workaround option is to use a browser like Firefox, which can restore your tabs/windows to their previous states when it's next restarted (except for some Flash games and such). StuRat (talk) 15:57, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Side note... The web browser on the PSP will warn you if the page won't fit in memory and offer to show it in "memory save mode". -- kainaw™ 16:13, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

The HTTP specification supports "Range" headers, which can be used to limit the size of HTTP responses (though not all servers support them). You might be able to add such a header to your browser's default request. However, in my experience webpages are quite cancel-able, either with the 'X' or by hitting the 'stop' or 'back' button (now conveniently located on keyboards and mice). If your current browser doesn't behave reasonably I'd suggest switching to a better alternative. – 74  17:29, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

In my experience it isn't that they can't be canceled, but that, by the time you get the idea that it needs to be canceled (say due to the browser slowing to a crawl), it's already too late to save the session. Thus the need for an automated method of checking the size of a downloading page and stopping it BEFORE all available memory has already been used up. StuRat (talk) 21:38, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I wonder if it is possible to change the priorities in windows or explorer (very very hazy idea of what is involved) so that the computer always responds to user commands, and never, as happens now, ignores user commands as its too busy loading a webpage? 89.241.154.51 (talk) 21:09, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

I wish it were possible to do that, but I'm rather skeptical. StuRat (talk) 19:37, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Sounds to me like your computer is a little bit dated. If it's easily possible to add some RAM to your machine it might improve the performance in those cases significantly.204.16.236.254 (talk) 00:20, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Cannot install Yahoo messenger

I tried multiple times but this error message always appeared at the end of the installing process: "This Application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may this fix this problem".

Please give instructions how to fix this problem? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.0.38.87 (talk) 15:13, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps try installing it in Safe Mode? Useight (talk) 17:03, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Your computer is rejecting terrible software is all. Use Pidgin instead. --71.98.7.73 (talk) 17:55, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Pidgin isn't without its faults, either. There's nothing wrong with suggesting alternatives for the OP, but saying that his/her computer is rejecting "terrible software" sounds like nothing more than an opinion, unless you have solid proof to back it up. --Whip it! ^{Now whip it good!} 05:39, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

WHY ISN'T MY .MKV CONVERTING PROPERLY?!?!!!!!!!!11@@!

I have an .mkv of My Neighbor Totoro. I want to stream it to my Xbox to enjoy a delightful cinematic experience, but Xbox doesn't natively support .mkv, only .avi and .wmv. I want to convert the movie to AVI so i can watch it. I tried using Avidemux to re-encode the movie using Xvid and I converted the audio to AAC, then saved in the the AVI container format. IT STILL WON'T WORK WHEN I TRY TO STREAM IT VIA MY XBOX, IT TELLS ME I HAVE AN UNSUPPORTED CODEC/FILE (I'm a bit frustrated at this point)!!What am I doing wrong? --71.98.7.73 (talk) 17:53, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

MKV is just a container format; the video (and audio) is encoded in one of a large number of codecs. Your MKV file is encoded in a codec that Avidemux doesn't know. So if you encoded it yourself (e.g. from a DVD) then what you're doing wrong is encoding it with the wrong codec, and you should experiment with your encoding application's settings. If you didn't encode it yourself then you should delete the file and go buy it on DVD. 87.114.16.126 (talk) 17:59, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Try Handbrake —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 19:26, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't have an answer to your question, but I would like to point out that people would be happier to help you if you didn't PUT STRINGS OF CAPITAL LETTERS FOLLOWED BY RANDOM SYMBOLS!!!""$%^&***()//>??! in your header - it's considered impolite, and is frowned upon by many. Note that the codec you use to change it from MKV to AVI has an effect on how well it can be read - try using different codecs and see if any of those work. Dendodge Talk^Contribs 19:35, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

I would like to offer my sincerest pardons for the "STRINGS OF CAPITAL LETTERS FOLLOWED BY RANDOM SYMBOLS!!""$%^&***()//>??!" in my header. Thanks to the people who posted a reply. From the responses, I've gathered that I'm SOL unless I can just mess around with the re-encoding options and get lucky. And actually, I didn't encode it in the first place because I downloaded it from the interwebs. Thanks again, I'll just search for a different torrent hosting an .avi of the movie. --71.117.46.229 (talk) 20:54, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

error message on football website

I load up Swansea FC website and open the SwansWorld link. I log in and try to open the Match Highlights link. I can open the page but get an error message at the bottom of the screen. I select a match and click Play. It open sup a new page and says Now Playing but there is no picture or sound. Can you explain why this happens and offer a remedy?Silverlining99 (talk) 19:48, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

In cases like this, it's usually useful to provide us with the error message in question. It probably happens because something isn't working right on the website (hence the error message). Or, possibly, because you need to install a plugin, which is probably mentioned in the error message, if this is the case. I checked out the section of the site myself, and it seemed to work, but of course I'm not a subscriber, and it's possible that we're not seeing the same things at all. In any case, I did see and hear a promotional video play in the "Match Highlights" section. That may simply mean that they fixed the problem with the site. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 10:22, 28 February 2009 (UTC)