Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 April 24

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 24

MS Word footnote

How to insert more than one references in a single footnote in MS Word?

For example in Mellitus#Early_life, the first sentence "The medieval chronicler Bede described Mellitus as being of noble birth.[4][5]" has two references. If I write this sentence in Word, how can I insert those two references in a single footnote? --Reference Desker (talk) 03:58, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

You insert a footnote, you add the two references into it. Copy, paste. Have you tried it? It's about as easy as you can make it. Let us know if you run into difficulty with it. Word does not require you to have only one reference per footnote or anything that I could imagine would make this difficult. If you are asking about how to format two references properly, it will depend on the reference format you are using. --Mr.98 (talk) 12:25, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Disk Space

I have 320 GB harddisk. But on Windows XP it is showing less than 10 Gb in each of C:, D:,E: and F:, same is case in Windows 7. How do I get rest of my diskspace without reinstaling the systems ?  Jon Ascton  (talk) 04:26, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Well the most likely cause of low hard-disk space is a large volume of media installed on your computer - e.g. if you have downloaded a lot of movies/tv shows, have an extensive music collection, or lots of photos then you can soon start eating into 320gb. The other thing to note is that the size of your hard-disk 'listing' (i.e. the 320GB you mention) and the actual space you get are different due to, well, see the article Hard disk drive#Capacity measurements. Beyond that if it's not down to being genuinely used up then it may be a partition/disk issue. ny156uk (talk) 08:04, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

It's also possible that a large portion of the disk has not been allocated to any partition. In that case, the easiest thing to do is to allocate it to a new partition you create, say "G:". StuRat (talk) 08:10, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Windirstat is a application that will show what files take up the most place. Use it to find what's gobbling your disk. It's a free download from their website. General Rommel (talk) 09:41, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Dual monitor system

Resolved

I'm considering a new computer and I want a dual monitor system so I can extend the desktop. There are four video cards available: Nvidia GT 420, and ATI Radeon 5450, 5670, and 5870. I think these all have three outputs: DVI, VGA, and HDMI. I asked the salesperson if that would support two monitors, and they said yes - plug one into the DVI and the other into either VGA or HDMI. Will that give me the extended desktop (not just show the same thing on both screens)? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 05:43, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes. Although I expect many would only have dual outputs. Also I would be surprised if they really have VGA. Most likely they are dual DVI with a single converter supplied for HDMI and a single one for VGA. Nil Einne (talk) 06:03, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

"Number of plugs" is not identical to "maximum number of simultaneous video output streams." It is probable that the card supports 2 monitors at a time: simultaneously, VGA and one of either DVI or HDMI. So, read the specifications carefully. Nimur (talk) 14:53, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

The DVI outputs are "dual", but that just seems to double the throughput, not allow two monitors. I looked at the specs of the cards, but I couldn't tell. I'll try to post links to them. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 15:32, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

I expect more likely it supports both DVI-D and HDMI (and with an appropriate converter two DVI-D) simultaneously. As I said, I've never seen a modern card which doesn't support two DVI-D outputs and considering that is supported in I'm pretty sure all modern GPUs and the number of people wanting two digital outputs is by this stage probably higher then those wanting 1 digital and 1 analog, there's little reason why they wouldn't support it. It seems DVI+HDMI+VGA is more common then I thought [1], I guess with increasing popularity of HDMI it makes sense to include a HDMI plug instead of just a converter and with the smaller size it's possible to include a VGA so that is included. In fact, from a search I was reminded of an even bigger reason why the lack of 2 digital outputs is unlikely at least on the AMD/ATI side, Eyefinity. From our article on 5xxx and 6xxx AMD/ATI cards, it appears DVI-D, DVI-D/HDMI and VGA all simultaneously may also be supported although that doesn't mean they will work on the specified cards. (Definitely if your card has a DisplayPort and some combination of 2 total DVI or HDMI or 2 DisplayPorts and 1 DVI/HDMI then it should support 3 monitors.) Nil Einne (talk) 15:46, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Here is the link to the Nvidia card. On the specs tab it does say "multi monitor", so I hope that is what I want. On two of my computers I added in video cards that supported two monitors, to extend the desktop horizontally. It would be nice to not have to change video cards to do that. I'm not sure if the salesperson I chatted with actually understood that it would be two monitors, with different desktops. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 17:22, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

And the ATI card specs tab talks about "ATI Eyefinity", but it isn't clear to me that it extends the desktop they way I want. Well, looking at Eyefinity I guess it does. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 17:27, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

To answer the initial question (extended desktop), yes it can. In Windows 7, all you have to do is go to Screen Resolution in the control panel and where the monitors are labelled 1 and 2, drag them around whatever way you want and choose how to configure the screen which includes extending the desktop. Good luck General Rommel (talk) 00:19, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, that helps a lot. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:10, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Followup question: I'm planning to get a computer with one of these cards in a few days. I have two VGA monitors - Can I use a VGA/DVI adapter on one, for the DVI port? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:36, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes General Rommel (talk) 01:49, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank you. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 02:12, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

One more - looking at a photo of the back of the computer, even though the specs say they have one of those cards, they show ports in the case rather than a card in a slot. It says HDMI/VGA port (I see both). It doesn't say DVI, even though that is supposed to be on the video card. And since it says HDMI/VGA, I'm again wondering if it can actually run two monitors in extended desktop mode. Whoops - in addition to those ports, it does show the card in the slow with all three connectors. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 02:46, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

IP addresses

My AppleMacBookPro has taken to telling me occasionally "That another device is using your computers IP address, change one or the other". I am assuming that this refers to my iPhone or a new router. How do I change the IP address of either devices please, and why should I need to since this is a new problem?--85.211.214.249 (talk) 05:52, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

This occurs if two devices have been manually set to use the same IP address, or one is set to manually use an address in the DHCP pool, and that address has been handed out by DHCP to another device. However, I don't know how to configure networking on Macs/iDevices, so I'll leave it to others to assist you further. CS Miller (talk) 10:54, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

You may need to contact your network administrator. It's possible that your Mac is perfectly configured correctly, but that somebody else's device attached to the network is incorrectly configured. If that's the case, your network administrator can track down the responsible device and force them to fix their configuration. If it turns out your device is the misconfigured one, you can change your network settings by following these instructions: Changing your network settings. If you are the network administrator, make sure all your devices are using DHCP, with automatic addresses. Nimur (talk) 15:47, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks Nimur, will give it a try.--85.211.196.30 (talk) 16:30, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

What would cause this? Can sync Dropbox, download iTunes, but can't load webpages.

I clearly have a working internet connection; I can sync my Dropbox and search and purchase from iTunes, but I can't open webpages in a browser. Any ideas?

• Windows 7
• Firefox 4 or IE 9

Thanks! ike9898 (talk) 12:47, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Two possibilities come to mind: your web browsers are all set up to use a proxy server, which is configured incorrectly or is not working; or you may be on a network that is blocking HTTP network traffic (which is very unusual, but completely possible).

Check your proxy settings: (instructions for IE and Firefox). That's the most common solution. Nimur (talk) 14:26, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank you! I'll try your suggestions tonight. ike9898 (talk) 00:07, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

StarCraft II framerate issue

Resolved

I've been playing Wings of Liberty for a while and encounter some problems regarding framerate and heat. According to the StarCraft 2 article, the game itself has a problem with framerate, which is not locked in the menu, which may cause the GPU to overheat. I do not know if Blizzard has already patched it or not. My StarCraft version is v2.1.2.1631, running at custom medium settings. The framerate in the menu is around 50 fps, and in game is around 40. But when the in-game cinematics is running (the scene inside Hyperion where Raynor, Matt, and Tychus discuss), it even reaches 250+ FPS!!! My GPU load is 100% all of the time, and the computer's temp reaches 80 Celcius degree. I've been searching around but still cannot find the solutions. I have some questions about the game, as well as some technical concepts.

1. Enable Vertical Synchronization help me lock the cinematics framerate to 60 fps, but it also locks the in game fps to 30 (which is normally 40 -> 45). All I know is that when the framerate will be synchonized with the refresh rate if the framerate is too high. According to a post in some forum I found, if the framerate is less than the screen refresh rate (mine is 60 Hz), the V-SYNC option will lock framerate to 30, and if it is less than 30, the result is 15 and so on. I need a confirmation.
2. Does V-SYNC really limit the FPS (which means the video card is off-loaded), or it just ignore the redundant frames (which means the video card still works the same)?
3. Running high demanding games on a weak video card causes it to be fully loaded. The GPU continues to renders frames util cap framerate is met (often 60). Framerate lower than 60 indicates that the GPU is doing its best. But why do they overheat only when running SC2? Theoretically benchmark programs like 3DMark, which stretches GPU will make them overheat, too.
4. Do laptop CPU and GPU have seperate heat sinks? When all 4 cores of my CPU are fully loaded, the CPU temp is just 68 degree. But when all 4 cores are 40% loaded, but the GPU is at full load, the CPU temp even reaches 80 degree. It seems that they share the same heat sink.
5. Is there anything I can do to lock the framerate in the cinematics?

I really want to play this game, but also do not want to fry or roast my video card. A dead laptop video card would mean, including but not limited to, a motherboard replacement. Thanks for any helpful information. -- Livy the pixie (talk) 15:53, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Don't worry about this, the 'GPU frying' issue was fixed with beta patch 1 in February 2010, long before the game even came out. (I can't find the official patch notes right now, possibly because the relevant page is currently down and doesn't have a Google cache, but I found this copy on wikia. The article needs to be updated. (Any volunteers? I can't be arsed right now, especially after a long futile search for the official patch notes.)

(1.) The information about V-Sync you found is almost correct, but not quite ... for example, if your refresh rate is set to 60 Hz and your GPU is rendering slightly slower than 30 Hz, you'll probably get a frame rate of 20, not 15 ... I won't explain the details here as in practice it's more complicated anyways, but I guess for the purposes of answering your questions it suffices to say that enabling V-Sync restricts performance, sometimes severely so.

(2.) Yes it really limits the work the GPU will do.

(3.) "But why do they overheat only when running SC2?"

It's actually common for insufficiently cooled GPUs to overheat when playing demanding games. Usually the game or system will crash before permanent damage is done, but apparently some combinations of rendering instructions are more dangerous than others and in the SC2 beta, a particularly pathological case (on certain GPUs) bit particularly many unsuspecting victims at the same time. Note that there are many different ways in which a GPU can be taxed (e.g. 3DMark does different things with it than SC2's menu screens).

(4.) Could be, depends on your machine.

(5.) I haven't researched this, but apparently there is a way to cap the frame rate by editing variables.txt. Note that in the menus, frame rate is capped anyway (since the beta patch 1 fix was implemented)!

TL;DR: To maximise your enjoyment of the game, you'll probably want to leave V-Sync off and stop worrying about your hot, but not dying notebook. 188.118.245.52 (talk) 21:04, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for your answer. For the V-Sync, i guess the screen refresh rate must be a multiplication of the sync framerate (if the sync rate is 20 fps and the refresh rate is 60 Hz, the screen refreshes 3 times to display a single frame, right?). Having 30 FPS in Resident Evil 5 is fully playable, but it is really annoying in StarCraft II. I am relieve to disable it now. -- Livy the pixie (talk) 02:34, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure if "sync (frame)rate" is the correct technical term but basically you've got the right idea.

Aside: I'm hesitant to make simplifications that would allow me to explain V-Sync simply and succinctly, because after many years of playing and making games I've become too fascinated with the topic to risk implying even the slightest misconception about the topic. There are such wonderful subtleties: The term V-Sync comes from CRT monitors but has slightly different implications in the above context; LCDs don't really need to be refreshed but still are generally updated at regular intervals; a game appearing to run at a solid 30 Hz isn't actually completely "locked" to that frequency; even which of SC2's two full-screen modes one selects makes a difference in how exactly V-sync works ... I better stop now before I end up giving a lecture on the intricacies of how exactly, once upon a time, changing your monitor refresh rate could potentially allow you to perform longer jumps in Q3A ;)

In short, the screen is updated at regular intervals, but it takes the computer a slightly different, slightly unpredictable time to render each frame. So when the rendering of a new frame is delayed until the previous one has been fully sent off to the display, the frame rate is related to the refresh rate by a factor that is an integer, but can change from frame to frame. So in practice, it's sort of almost, but not quite an integer factor :) The result is that the transmission of "fully formed" frames eliminates tearing (which doesn't always imply that turning V-Sync off will introduce tearing ...), while the delays increase lag and the quantisation of the aforementioned factor increases jerkyness/stutter. 188.118.245.52 (talk) 08:50, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Furmark is known for stressing video cards to the extent some manufacturers have coded it in to drivers to reduce performance if they detect it running. Nil Einne (talk) 07:12, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Interesting! I've read about drivers drivers detecting benchmarks in order to cheat and produce more favourable measurements, but this is news to me, thanks for sharing! I'm frequently annoyed to no end by Apple insisting on providing their own graphics drivers (at a glacial pace, making me wait years until I can use new OpenGL standards on my Mac) instead of allowing graphics card vendors to provide their own updates, but at least that should protect me from such dickery :) 188.118.245.52 (talk) 08:50, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Rooting my own tablet?!

Dear Wikipedians:

I understand how, if I get an android smartphone, I may have to root it to get more functionality because I got the smartphone as part of a contract with a telecom company, sometimes the smartphone even comes for free as part of the contract, therefore I understand the need of the telecom company to impose some control over my phone since I do not truly own my phone. And thus the need to root it, which is actually a breach of contract.

But rooting my own tablet??!! Gimme a break. I spend ~$400 of my hard earned money to purchase a tablet from Future Shop (no telecom companies, no third parties, no one else is involved, I spend money and Future Shop gives me the merchandise, plain and simple) and yet the manufacturer won't even give me root control over my tablet? And since when did single-user Linux systems come without root power for the user? I mean when I install Slackware on my own computer, the first thing Slackware asks me is to set up the root password, I then choose to setup another ordinary user account which I use most of the time to prevent myself from accidentally harming the system, but that is entirely up to me, I may choose to run my Linux always as root if I so choose. So why does Android, which is a Linux distro from Google, remove root power from me? And how do they even do that, wouldn't Android ask me to setup the root password while I'm installing it into the tablet?

I am really confused.

76.68.7.242 (talk) 17:01, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

There is only one tablet on the market, which is the Apple iPad. The source of your confusion is thinking that the other offerings have anything to do with a tablet. Specifically, Googles ays that you can't dig around, because you're running smartphone software -- you are not really working on a tablet -- and may not look behind the curtain. A related RIM review: http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/rim-blackberry-playbook-unfinished-unusable-534 . I don't own an iPad and have no affiliation with anyone, I just have basic understanding of the marketplace and technology. 94.27.242.110 (talk) 18:00, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

...I guess Comparison of tablet PCs needs an update, then? :p ¦ Reisio (talk) 19:18, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes, all but the third row (Apple iPad) should be removed. 94.27.217.110 (talk) 01:10, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

You probably should also ask Google why they made a tablet oriented version of Android only to then help vendors use it on smartphones. And it's somewhat unclear to me how something can be a smartphone when it can't actually connect to any mobile phone network. BTW, AFAIK Apple lets you dig around or looking behind the curtain even less with the iPad so it's also not entirely clear the connection between digging around and working on a tablet that you allege is the root behind this tablet/non-tablet dichotomy. Nil Einne (talk) 06:57, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

I know it's resolved, but... Honeycomb is not "smartphone software". --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 07:11, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes that's what I meant Nil Einne (talk) 07:14, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

"Rooting", incidentally, means something rather different for embedded devices like these than just giving you the root password. These type of devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) boot off a flash memory part (the bootloader) which then boots the rest of the system. That bootloader typically verifies that the OS image is cryptographically signed, and frequently that OS in turn verifies that applications are also signed. "Rooting" means to change that bootloader to one that doesn't make that check, which in turn allows you to install a modified OS image which doesn't check applications. Android is Linux based, but in many ways it's quite divergent from a conventional Linux install you might run on a desktop. In particular, the login environment, and the program loader, is entirely different - I don't think the concept of "user" (super or not) particularly applies in the same way it does in say Ubuntu. Some Android platforms are quite cooperative to those power users who want to switch the bootloader (they figure if you're smart enough to know what a bootloader does, you're smart enough to take the responsibility for what software you run); some are less cooperative, and some actively try to prevent it (I'll see if I can dig up the list I saw). Beyond that, the choice is yours - if you want full control over a device then you need to only buy those devices that provide that (and write to the suppliers of the others telling them why they failed to get your business). While maybe the most visible, this is far from the only place where you're deprived of the ability to run whatever software you want on devices you own outright - the diagnostic software in your car (which freezes small repairers out of the market), the firmware in your printer (which refuses to accept refilled ink cartridges), games consoles (which will only run games for which the console manufacturer has been paid to approve), and the firmware in your DVD player (which enforces region lockout and unskippable ads). Your frustration at this is the motivating factor of the GPL, and (in these particular cases, where GPL-based software like Android is still not giving you all the control you feel you've paid for) GPLv3 - see Tivoization. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 18:03, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks soooooooooo much for your well crafted response. I guess my rage have blinded me to the obvious fact: that OEM-dictator electronics have been with us since long before the advent of the media tablets. The media tablets are simply the latest incarnations of this abomination. I have written the whole diatribe at the beginning without realizing that my cousin's PlayStation 3 is staring me right in the face. And unlike the media tablets which could still be rooted, so far there has been no way to crack PlayStation 3's copyright hardware. So all my dilemmas dissolve away. Now I am increasingly appreciative of just how much my old desktop PCs matter to me: for they enshrine the sacred principles of freedom and is my final haven. But I also pray for the day of the downfall of Sony, Apple, and all the oppressive electronic regimes out there, to be replaced by GNU and FSF and nothing but. 76.68.7.242 (talk) 20:04, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

It's not really Google that attempts to take root away from you, AIUI, but the phone vendor, the people who actually install it onto the phone, and this is of course because they don't want to deal with support for people who break their installs. If you're worried about rooting, just make an exact backup beforehand and you can always revert back — some rooting software even does this by default. ¦ Reisio (talk) 19:18, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Resolved

Virus questions

My computer got a Trojan horse virus yesterday from a video of a television episode I was watching online. I ran a scan of AVG (software), and it found this before I had to stop the scan (if I let the scan run past about 60% completion, my computer crashes):

File	Infection	Result
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe (3640)	Trojan horse Agent_r.XJ	Deleted
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe (2228)	Trojan horse Agent_r.XJ	Deleted
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe (1596)	Trojan horse Agent_r.XJ	Deleted
C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe (3380)	Trojan horse Agent_r.XJ	Deleted
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe (3640):\memory_001b0000	Trojan horse Agent_r.XJ	Infected
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe (2228):\memory_001b0000	Trojan horse Agent_r.XJ	Infected
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe (1596):\memory_001a0000	Trojan horse Agent_r.XJ	Infected
C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe (3640):\memory_001a0000	Trojan horse Agent_r.XJ	Infected

In addition, if I am running an Internet browser at the time of the scan, it detects that it is infected as well.

This leads me to have a few questions:

1. Can I remove this virus myself without damaging my computer, and if so how? If not, what needs to be done to remove the virus? AVG doesn't seem to be doing anything to it other than detecting it, and I already unsuccessfully tried a system restore to before I know I got the virus.
2. Just in case I end up losing files, is it safe to connect an external hard drive and transfer over the "My Documents" folder while my computer still works reasonably well, or will this risk the external hard drive becoming infected as well?
3. If I load Linux onto a bootable CD, can I boot up my computer using that as a way to bypass the virus affecting windows and thus still have use of my computer? If so, how do I go about doing this?

Thanks, (from iPod) Ks0stm ^(T•C•G) 17:37, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Those files are (very) important, so you can't just delete them - an anti-virus program has to "heal" them (by undoing the changes the virus did). If AVG won't do it, you need to find something that will. Some people swear by Ultimate Boot CD for Windows; I've no personal experience with it, because I've never had a virus. It's probably safe to copy files to an external disk (because boot-sector virusses are mostly a thing of the past) but remember that files like Word documents themselves may contain virusses, so you're not clear until everything has passed a virus check on a trustworthy machine. Yes, you can boot Linux off a CD without risk; the Ubuntu linux download page has a detailed how-to. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 18:19, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

I doubt that those executable files need "healing". It's fashionable right now for malware to run in the address space of a standard system process to make it harder to kill from Task Manager, etc. This happens at runtime, not by modifying the file on disk. The actual malware program has some other name and quits at startup after starting threads in other processes. You can still find it if you look at a list of software that runs at startup. It might also be in the list of AppInit_DLLs. HijackThis is a good program for finding this kind of thing.

Incredibly (to me), I can't find any description of "Agent_r" on AVG's web site, or anywhere else. All I find is random people trying to get rid of it, and random other people offer random advice, with no apparent knowledge of what the thing is. This is incredibly irresponsible on AVG's part, or maybe I just don't know where to look. I did find this, about AVG falsely reporting ZoneAlarm as a variant of "Agent_r". I would not be at all surprised if your "Agent_r" is also a false positive.

In the absence of any information, all I can suggest is posting a HijackThis log here, or trying TDSSKiller, as suggested by some random people on other random Internet threads. Does "Agent_r.XJ" belong to the family "Rootkit.Win32.TDSS"? Who knows?

If you don't mind the hassle, it would almost certainly work to copy your documents to an external drive and reformat and reinstall everything. The only thing I'd be concerned about there is AutoRun; be sure to disable it on the pristine system before you plug the backup drive in. It's true that Microsoft Word documents can be infected with malware, as can PDFs or JPEGs or many other formats if you happen to be running a viewer with an unpatched vulnerability, but (a) I doubt that this malware is going to infect any of those formats (because very little, if any, malware does so), and (b) even if it does, you can avoid the vulnerabilities by using up-to-date versions of the applications.

Of course, I'm only guessing about all of this, because AVG has not seen fit to give me any information. -- BenRG (talk) 05:43, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

AVG may be failing to fix all the infected files because they're in-use (and thus unwritable) at the time of its scan. It is possible to boot in to safe mode and let AVG work there, affording it less competition for the files in question. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 18:22, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

What I would do in your position is to actually remove your hard disk, buy a new, bigger hard disk, install Windows and all your applications on it, and then to reduce the likelihood this will happen in the future, I would make sure to create a user account with no administrator rights and would use that account habitually. (This makes it harder for malware to infect your system in the future.) Then I would connect the old hard disk, scan it with at least two types of anti-malware software in an attempt to disinfect it, and move your important documents over to the new hard disk as needed. While carefully treating the old hard disk like poison. See Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing/Viruses for more details on this method. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:21, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

No, that's silly. Upgrade your hard drive if you want a larger hard drive. Treat your old drive like a collection of stuff from your old house, some of which you should throw away.

I would be less annoyed by all this if a malware product called "Agent_r" actually existed. No program except AVG detects something called "Agent_r". It's a name invented by AVG to refer to god knows what. The only concrete information about its identity that I've found in a web search is two distinct reports of false positives (one of which I linked above). Everything else is an echo chamber of meaningless guesses from end users. If AVG were a responsible vendor, it would provide information about the threat—how it spreads, what servers it contacts, common file names and file sizes, etc.—and without that, I simply don't believe in it. People need to stop trusting the antivirus products. There is no industry or government body checking the quality of their work. There is ample evidence that they do a bad job, like the frequent false alarms, frequent failure to detect real threats, and incompetent programming. There is no incentive for them to improve; on the contrary, they benefit from a certain rate of false positives and successful malware attacks, because it keeps people scared. Use AVG if you must, but please don't trust it. If you run a virus scan with products A and B and A detects a virus and B doesn't, don't assume that B is the one that made the mistake. -- BenRG (talk) 20:13, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

According to http://www.google.com/search?q="Agent_r.XJ" this is an AKA for Alureon, which means you will be better off backing up your personal data, reinstalling the OS, and ensuring any binaries in your personal data are clean before utilizing them again (IIRC eset's online scanner can detect it) ...or just switch to Linux. You can remove Alureon and whatever you think it installed, but you can never know everything that was altered without a fresh system install (or enormous list of checksums) to compare to. Additionally, trojans are not viruses, viruses are not trojans, and while you certainly could have acquired malware by visiting a shady website, particularly with an insecure and/or old browser, it probably wasn't the video itself.
http://ubergeek.tv/article.php?pid=54 ¦ Reisio (talk) 21:22, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Seems your OS almost corrupted. What can you do now, either to log in via safe mode or unplug the hard disk and let in be scanned by another PC. By the way, if do you need to install new OS, ensure you will make at least 2 partitions, 1 for OS & 1 for your personal documents. This would help if you do need to re-install the new OS as it will delete the primary partition only. One more thing, use a license antivirus instead of free trial antivirus for better result and protection.

XML regular expressions syntax

I'm reading XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition and have a trouble with a mixture of formal definitions and ordinary, every-day English. First the definition comes:

A normal character is any XML character that is not a metacharacter. (...)

[10] Char  ::= [^.\?*+()|#x5B#x5D]

and then the comment appears:

Note that a ·normal character· can be represented either as itself, or with a character reference.

How should I understand that? If authors put a special emphasis on the possibility of representing ·normal characters· with character references then I expect that such representation for metacharacters is not allowed. Am I right at this point?

And if I am, what are the implications, if a character reference specifies a code point of a metacharacter, say asterisk, as in 'a*'?

1. Is this expression simply invalid?
2. Or rather the reference becomes a normal character of the expression (and it works as 'a\*' with asterisk escaped)?
3. Something else?

CiaPan (talk) 21:49, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Save chats

Is there a way to save messenger's chats in gmail automatically? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.46.129.81 (talk) 23:06, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

Messenger? As in AOL Instant Messenger? Or the Gmail chat app within Gmail? If the latter, go to Settings > Chat > Save Chat History. Dismas|^(talk) 00:46, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

I am using windows live messenger 2011 and I really want to use googletalk, but none of my friends have a gmail account. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.75.219.64 (talk) 03:36, 25 April 2011 (UTC)