Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 December 7

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.

December 7

compiling python source code to an executable file

I am a beginner python programmer and I want to compile a source code file (with extension .py) to an executable file (.exe), can anyone tell me how to do it? Thanks in advance.--George (talk) 02:23, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

If you're on Windows, use Py2exe. It emits several files, so you might want to then make an installer with NSIS which yields a single exe file. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 02:30, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

And, for reference, if you were shipping for Linux you'd package your Python code in a package (DEB, RPM) that had dependencies on the Python system and any other packages you needed. I honestly don't know what you'd do on MacOS. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 02:33, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

You can also use cx_freeze (no article yet), as mentioned on Frets on Fire. --antilived^{T | C | G} 10:42, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Virus

Sir, When I scan my computer, and if it founds any virus, it has one option saying that to "move to quarantine" I just want to know that what is "quarantine" and if I move that virus to quarantine where does it go? and after then is my computer is safe from that virus? I am using Bitdefender Anti virus on my pc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arvindshivanand (talk • contribs) 06:42, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Quarantine means the infected file will be moved to a selected directory (very often within the subtree of the anti-virus application) and maybe renamed (its extension will be changed to signify that it's infected and/or to hide its real contents). Quarantine is a way of semi-protecting the PC from the virus within the file if the file is sensitive enough to care for because it contains any data important to you. Personally, I almost never choose to quarantine infected files - if they're repairable, try to repair them, if not, rather delete them if they don't contain sensitive data. Good luck! --Ouro (blah blah) 07:10, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

RTC modem - where RTC is...

Hello, dear Refdeskers! I have a quick question - in the phrase 'RTC modem', what does RTC stand for? Real time something? I am just not sure. No, a bit stumped rather ;) Thanks and cheers! --Ouro (blah blah) 07:06, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

RTC? It usually means Real Time Clock in the electronics field. --antilived^{T | C | G} 10:39, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

I know, I have thought of this already. But does 'real time clock modem' make sense? --Ouro (blah blah) 11:21, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Since when does marketing lingo have to make sense? Just look at "Blast Processing" or measuring power of consoles in bits. TheGreatZorko (talk) 11:41, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

And this refers to what? --Ouro (blah blah) 13:35, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

RTC can also stand for Real time computing or Real time control - I doubt either of those are it either. Is it perhaps just the manufacturer's name or something? SteveBaker (talk) 16:55, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

It seems to be used extensively in Europe (I found many search results in French and Spanish), and there were many pages that seemed to be comparing it to ADSL. Perhaps a cable modem of some type, but I could not find anything definitive. I also saw the term "real time communication" in my searching, but not in a clear enough context to make the leap to "yep, that's what it stands for." My gut feeling is that it wasn't a manufacturer name, but I'm pretty sure my gut fails WP:RS. --LarryMac | Talk 17:10, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

I can tell you that it's definitely not a manufacturer's name. The term is taken from an instruction manual of another device, where the RTC modem is used as a means of communication of the device with a computer terminal as opposed to a direct cable connection. The manual also suggests that this modem connection is a dial-up connection. LarryMac and SteveBaker, thanks for your input, guys... --Ouro (blah blah) 17:39, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Hunch 've just wikipedia'd over to fr.wiki where I saw that RTC can refer to fr:Réseau téléphonique commuté (and the manual was originally translated from French). Could it be that it denotes a telephone (phone-line) modem? My gut gives a slight nod. --Ouro (blah blah) 17:44, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

That fr article has an English link under "Autres langues", which points to Public switched telephone network (PSTN). In English then it should be "PSTN modem" which would be just a slightly awkward way to refer to a plain old phone line dialup modem. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 21:25, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

In my head, this fits, and Google returns a hit or two for 'PSTN modem'. Just now also I've done a search for 'RTC modem' only for French-language sites... looks promising this. --Ouro (blah blah) 07:24, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

Virus

Sir, I am usinf Bit defender anto virus 2008 i my pc. It has detected 19 viruses in my computer from which 3 have been deleted, but rest of are not deleted . What should I do delete those viruses. Iwant to know how to delete them. One more thing, that, if Anti virus detects some virus it has one option "move to quarantine" . What is "quarantine" and if move the virus in quarantine , is my computer is safe from that virus?

I will be waiting for ur response.

Arvind Kumar —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.161.45.160 (talk) 07:28, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

The quarantine question had been answered above. As for the viruses that had not been deleted, the question would be easier to answer if we knew what messages are you getting from Bit defender - why isn't he removing the viruses? What kinds of viruses are they? Sometimes specific patches or programmes are required in order to delete really malicious software. --Ouro (blah blah) 07:55, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

There is a possability that there are infected files that are currently in use, and cannot be closed. Restart the PC in Safe Mode by pressing F8 during boot, just before the first Windows loading screen appears, and chosing "safe mode" or "safe mode with networking". Run the virus scan within safe mode, and see if that removes the viruses. Before doing this however I would back up any particularly important documents just incase the virus scanner removes an important Windows file, although this is unlikely. If this fails to remove the viruses I suggest downloading a trial of Eset NOD32, which is a professional level virus scanner and generally regarded as the best virus scanner on the consumer market, and if that cannot remove your viruses then I have no idea what will.

With regards to quarantine this is incase an infected file is needed for the continued operation of software or the operating system, so it can be put back allowing the user to back up his data, even if the file is infected. TheGreatZorko (talk) 10:39, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Moving location of My Documents and the like

I recently shifted back to Windows XP after using Vista (nothing wrong with the OS, just my soundcards drivers under the OS) and had moved Documents, and Music (the Vista names for My Documents) to another drive. This was trivial and involved right clicking on the Documents icon and chosing a different location for it. Now back on XP Windows insists my My Documents folder must be located at C:/Documents and settings/<name>/My Documents, and right clicking on the folder doesn't seem to work. How do I move the location of My Documents to where they are now? (That being F:/Music and F:/Documents) TheGreatZorko (talk) 11:02, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

See [1]]. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 11:22, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Oh hey that button wasn't there before. It's exactly like Vista! Does this work with My Music as well? I'm not on my home PC at the moment and this PC doesn't have a My Music folder. Hell I'm not even sure it has a sound card.TheGreatZorko (talk) 11:36, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

It should work with the 'special' folders witin My Documents too. I always use this button as I prefer to store my files on a separate partition as it saves all the hassle of oving them every time Windoze decides it needs reinstalling. 62.249.220.179 (talk) 14:08, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Re: Unicode composition ...

This should really be a follow-on response to an existing question titled "Unicode composition ...", in which I wanted to respond to who- ever suggested that I look into "Google Code Search" by saying that doing so didn't really help me, but I couldn't figure out how to respond to existing questions on the "Reference desk" (some help on which would be greatly appreciated :-) - which probably makes me seem pretty stupid, but I should explain that I'm still quite "dim", having not fully recovered from a massive brain hemorrhage a few years ago.

So, for the same reason, my original question still stands:

If the normalization standard says, regarding composing after decomposition: "[the last starter] L is replaced by the composite L-C.then C is removed", wouldn't doing so leave me where I started, with just "L"?

Am I missing something? what, then, does the above statement actually mean? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.105.122.191 (talk) 12:14, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Symbain for Pc--Linux for mobiles

Any idea if there is a live boot symbian version for PC??would it be faster than windows?How about any of other free open source fully loaded OS for Mobiles?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.240.72 (talk) 13:55, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

I don't know if it helps, but according to this article, Symbian Operating System is a proprietary (Symbian OS does not seem to be open source.) operating system that runs only on ARM processors (Symbian OS does not seem to be designed for desktop/notebook computers). Does your PC have an ARM processor? --Kushal^t 17:41, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Firefox URL bar

Suddenly the url bar is not reflecting the page I am visiting (eg http://en.wikipedia.org ). How do I re-set it to do so please? On the left end it has a google G; on the right end it has a magnifying glass. - Kittybrewster ☎ 15:07, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

That is the search engine bar, not the URL/Address bar. It shows whatever you last searched for. -- kainaw™ 15:15, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Where is my URL bar? - Kittybrewster ☎ 15:16, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

It is difficult to say. Have you tried closing Firefox and re-opening it? It is possible a javascript hid it if you didn't purposely hide it. -- kainaw™ 15:18, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Right click in the blank space of your navigation bar, choose 'Customize', look for something called 'location', drag it up to your navigation bar. --Elliskev 15:19, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Brilliant. Thank you. - Kittybrewster ☎ 15:26, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

quick and straightforward path to a small-scale ecommerce site selling PDFs?

Problem: I have a relatively small-scale e-commerce site that I started as a student at my University. I sell publications that are saved to PDF files that people can buy one at a time, or buy subscriptions and see everything on the site until their subscription expires. Unfortunately, I am no longer a student (graduated) and the rules prohibit me from using the University servers anymore, because making money off this site is no longer consistent with my educational experience as a business student (since I am technically no longer a student).

Request: I do not have a lot of money and the site doesn't really generate outrageous revenue, but I'd like to keep it going. I went to the bank got my business name setup and all that stuff, but they told me I need to give them the webserver address and site and URL with a privacy statement and a bunch of other stuff. I already have a few subscription customers, and I'd like to keep things going without disrupting their existing subscriptions.

I'm wondering, is there a pre-fab turnkey solution that will work for me? I've looked at some "small business DIY ecommerce" type sites, but all of them seem to assume the merchant is selling and shipping some kind of product. All I am selling is the right to download and print PDFs, either "one at a time" or with a timed subscription that expires at a specific duration.

TIA for any infos. NoClutter (talk) 20:02, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like what you need is a web hosting provider. They come in all shapes and sizes; I'd suggest comparing and perhaps getting quotes from several providers to see which one might fit your (current and future) needs best. Word of mouth, so conveniently available online these days, may be useful in determining which providers are the most reliable and easiest to work with, provided of course that you always take it with the grain of salt it deserves. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 04:15, 8 December 2007 (UTC)