Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 January 28

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January 28

Return HDrive to a "virgin state"

I remember being in a computer lab once that employed quite a clever tactic for the public terminals. The user would log in with an assigned username, and then when the user logged off, the *entire* hard drive would be wiped away and over-written with a fresh copy of the operating system (windows) as if it had just been installed the first time (default configuration). Every user who logged in was shielded from anything put on the comp by any previous users. This was a way to get rid of all unwanted stuff installed by the user or otherwise.

How can I do this on my home computer? I'd like to install a 'default config' and then do a rollback everytime I log off. I've seen some pre-packaged stuff, but it is all half-assed and bloatware. Is there a 'freeware' way to do this? Not against programming it myself if necessary, cause it seems like a great idea. Also, does this strategy have a name? NoClutter 01:03, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Restoring a hardrive's virginity requires something like a virginity pill. I have a card I got on eBay that simply writes all changes to a scratch pad so that they can be deleted at the end of a session either manually or programmatically. Its most likely what is going on since nuking 250 gig hardrive takes a little time. 71.100.10.48 01:42, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

How about making a kernel driver that sandboxes everything that runs under your account? Like Sandboxie? --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 02:29, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

The name for what you want is disk cloning, often referred to as Ghosting. Ghost is not free, but there are links to numerous programs in the former article and one of them may be what you want.-gadfium 03:41, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

In an environment where you're worried about the contents of the hard drive after a user has been on the system, software solutions are not the best solution. The hardware device mentioned above would be much more successful in this scenario. Droud 04:47, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

A program that does something similar to what you want is called "DeepFreeze". Here is the site. They have a trial version, apparently. It essentially forbids most changes from affecting the C-Drive, but it may (or may not) require a lan type thingy. User:Logical2u_Talk 20:09, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Roaming profile and restriced priviledges to the system drive? That seems the easiest and natively supported option to me... --antilived^{T | C | G} 11:02, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Permanent Drive letter in Windows XP

Is there a way to set up a USB hard drive so it is always guaranteed to get the same drive letter no matter what computer you attach it to? It's annoying when links and shortcuts dont work and get 'resolved' into an incorrect location just because a particular computer I'm using is already using the Drive letter I had been using before. This would be a huge annoyance-buster if it is possible. NoClutter 01:15, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

These two pages seem to show how it's done. http://www.experts-exchange.com/Storage/Q_21628818.html and http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1676&page=9 . Hope it works. - Akamad 02:01, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

CSS rollover buttons

I have a series of buttons on top of each other in a side navigation bar. I would like to simulate a javascript rollover, but with CSS. The buttons are images and I would like the button to change from the first image to the second image when my mouse if on top of it. What would the CSS and HTML codes neccessary to achieve this? Thank you. Jamesino 03:31, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Computing#Webpage_Help. What was wrong there? Can you post at least of a skeleton of the CSS/HTML you have tried, if you've tried any? -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 03:41, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I got it now. Thank you very much =) Jamesino 19:12, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Java equivalent of Perl's HTTP::Request?

I'm writing a small Java bit which needs to POST some information to a web script and catch the result. Here's the Perl I want to port to Java.

my $req = HTTP::Request->new(
 POST => $self->{base_uri}."/relay.php/${method}"
);
$req->content_type('application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
foreach my $param (@params) {
 push @p, "param${count}=${param}";
 $count++;
}
$req->content(join('&', @p));
my $result = $self->{ua}->request( $req );

Is there some small piece of Java I could use? Something in the standard toolkit? Something I don't need to import 500k of JARs or write a whole library of my own for? grendel|khan 04:54, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Probably something in URLConnection or something like that. --Spoon! 08:23, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I see that HttpURLConnection.setRequestMethod(java.lang.String) might come in handy here. Thanks! grendel|khan 08:33, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Chalkboard drawing animation

It would be really cool if a program is available that could generate animations of chalkboard drawings being drawn based on user-inputs. In the event that one does not exist or cannot be found, how can this be done in Flash? I would really like to do this some way. Just unicode characters are okay too. Any way this could be done (especially if on Mac OS X :) ) would be much appreciated! (I posted this today, however I found it halfway up the page and assumed somebody accidently moved it) X [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 05:50, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

See my answer, half way up... 68.39.174.238 19:03, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't think I can find anything based on that! [Mαc Δαvιs] X (How's my driving?) ❖ 04:17, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Converting audio tapes

How hard is it to convert audio cassettes to DVDs (I have XP Media Center Edition 2002)? Does it require any special software/hardware? The quality doesn't have to be great - adequate is fine. Clarityfiend 07:53, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I would suggest Audacity for all your recording needs. If you're looking to burn DVD Audio discs, you'll need a piece of software like Nero Burning ROM to burn it properly. Droud 14:23, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

It's probably better to burn to a CD - then you can play it on your CD players too!

1. Use a headphones cable with a jack at both ends (I forget the technical name). Plug one end into your computer's sound card's microphone (mic) port (pink); and the other end into your cassette player's headphone jack.
2. Use Audacity to record the audio. Audacity will probably begin to struggle after half an hour to an hour of audio depending on your PC - it will run slow, but just be patient and it'll be fine. Save this file as a .wav file of good quality. 60 minutes of audio at CD quality will be 500 MiB of hard drive space.
3. Use your favourite CD burning tool, like Nero Burning ROM or K3B and select audio CD. Drag-n-drop the .wav file.
4. Burn CD and you're done.

--h2g2bob 13:43, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Oops, I meant CDs. Thanks for the info. Clarityfiend 20:48, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

What is a mouse pad

I read in an old computer palmphet about something called a "mouse pad". What is a mouse pad and why would a mouse need a pad to work? 58.157.241.42 08:07, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Mousepad --Spoon! 08:14, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

software

software characteristics

This is not a question. Droud 14:25, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

ROFL! (sorry, it was just too funny). --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 22:49, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Read software or suitly emphazi your question. TERdON 14:26, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

zOmG deunt bite teh no0biez!!1eleventyone --froth^T 17:39, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

ip addresses

My computer is networked with 2 other computers wich share the same ip address and the same internet service internet explorer if i was to use my free 6 month trial aol 9.0 disk and use aol would my ip address change?if so how often? will it happen more than once? and will my computer still be networked with the others?--Crocadog 13:48, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

AOL uses dial-up networking, and you'd most likely have quite a bit of trouble sharing it in the first place. If you did manage to share it, the external IP of your network would change every time you reconnected. Droud 14:26, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

And dial up shared with 3 computers would not be fast...--Ryan 15:01, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

And IE is not an ISP. --Tardis 20:47, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Desktops icons help

On one account on my computer, I deleted unused icons because that account was mostly used for playing games, so I moved most of the icons that were unneeded like MS word, etc into a folder on the desktop. But now on the other accounts, those icons just dissappeared. How can I get them back? 67.169.56.188 18:29, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Those icons were likely stored in the "All Users" folder. Basically when you put an icon on the desktop, it can be for that user only (Common), or for every user (Less common). I suggest going to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop and moving the icons you want to back on all accounts there. After a log off and back on, they should reappear. 68.39.174.238 19:06, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

CSS rollover vs Javascript rollover

What are the pros and cons of CSS rollover buttons vs Javascript rollover buttons? For example, which one loads faster, which one is more supported by browser, etc... Thanks. Jamesino 19:13, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

In my experience IE sometimes has difficulties with CSS rollovers though it can generally support them. In my current project I have javascript rollovers which only implement if the browser is explorer for this reason, but I only did that after it became clear that IE was giving me flack. But other than that, CSS rollovers are pretty good and all modern browsers that I have tested on seem to accept them. Javascript rollovers should be a bit more supported in general, simply because javascript support is better in general, but all of the current versions of major browsers can do both, to my knowledge. I've never noticed any speed difference. --24.147.86.187 21:02, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

IE doesn't pay attention to a lot of CSS hover events. There is a very common script called csshover.htc that fixes this. Google and you'll find a lot of sites that have a copy of it and instructions for including it in your CSS. Once you do that, you'll be able to use CSS rollovers for most browsers. If you use javascript rollovers, you run into a problem with javascript compatability and the new trend of disabling javascript. --Kainaw ^(talk) 03:07, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Odd Flash incompatibility?

I have created a little Flash movie which works fine when I view it with Safari, Firefox on OS X, and Internet Explorer on Win XP. But in Firefox on Win XP (same computer I tested it with IE) none of the text objects load correctly. The font isn't obscure, it's Arial. What could be causing this? Note again that it loads fine in IE on the Win XP machine, but not Firefox. (Firefox v.2) Thoughts? Work-arounds? --24.147.86.187 21:02, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

What do you mean by "isn't obsure, it's Arial"? --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 22:52, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

They mean the font that the text is in is Arial (a standard font on Windows machines), not some bizarre obscure font which the user may not have installed. Have you tried embedding it anyway? — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 00:11, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Doesn't Flash embed it automatically? In any case, I can give it a try... --24.147.86.187 22:47, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Cheats, hints, anything for the game "Drift: When Worlds Collide"?

Cheats, hints, anything for the game "Drift: When Worlds Collide"?

Any level skipping cheat or anything else would be helpful. Especially how to get past level 10. Thanks! Trying to get past the level today! 71.85.0.61 18:05, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I can't look it up from here but have you tried www.gamefaqs.com?? I generally find if there is a cheat for a game it's likely to be there. Vespine 03:22, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't think it's out yet --froth^T 06:06, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

JSON Encapsulation.

I have a Java object, which may be a String, an int, a Map or an array, and I want to turn it into a JSON string. I've looked at some JSON libraries, but they all seem to center around parsing JSON strings into internal Java representations, which isn't what I want. I want it to construct a JSON string out of an arbitrary Java object. How can I do this? The Perl objToJson() method in the JSON package does exactly what I need. But this toJSON() method, for instance, chokes if I pass it a String which isn't already JSON-formatted. I end up in a chicken-and-egg situation. Do I have to write my own JSON library at this point? grendel|khan 00:40, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Ah, SOJO's JsonSerializer does the trick. Excellent. grendel|khan 05:25, 29 January 2007 (UTC)