Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 June 28

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June 28

.logs

Is it ok to delete all .log files on a computer? Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 03:03, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I've been deleting them for years without any problems. The same is true of .tmp, .temp, .~, and .old files. That's in Windows XP. I've also heard that you can delete anything in the /tmp folder in Linux.--Hello. I'm new here, but I'm sure I can help out. (talk) 08:57, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

yes and while you're at it you can also delete files in /var/log (leaving the directory structure intact!), /tmp, and anything with a .tmp extension --Yousifnet (talk) 09:55, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Google searching

The search string: "peel away another layer and go mad" yeilds one result. I would like to read the rest of the text. How can I do that? ----Seans Potato Business 10:59, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. Can you clarify what you intend by 'the rest of the text'? Algebraist 11:05, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I tried clicking on the link but it returned an error when the page loaded.. otherwise I'd imagine you would need to click through the flash presentation..

It looks like you need someone with expertise in searching flash sites for text..87.102.86.73 (talk) 11:32, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

To search the flash presentation you'd need to have the .fla file that the .swf was made from, and open it in a program like Adobe Flash. Another option is to get a swf decompiler and make a fla file from the swf. JessicaN10248 15:30, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Just download the .swf file and run strings on it. (Try something like -n 8 to filter out most of the noise.) I just did, and got what seems to be the full text. It starts:

"Maybe you think I'm crazy, huh?

Well what would you do if you woke up to find blood everywhere...

and your children missing?"

—Ilmari Karonen (talk) 17:37, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Average life time of a cell phone

For how many months does a average cell phone is being used? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.96.31.21 (talk) 12:14, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

According to this article, four years. Xenon54 12:39, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

That's the average length of time a phone will keep working for, which is not quite the same thing. Algebraist 12:41, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Not particularly representative I know, but I used my previous phone for 2 and a half years, my sister has had her phone for at least 3 years, my mother's phone is over 5 years old, but I have a friend who changes his phone at least every year. Judging by the amount of phones and other electronic waste that goes into landfill, I think my family keeps their phones much longer than average. Astronaut (talk) 12:47, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I have an old cell phone from the 80s. I can't use it or anything because it has no sim card slot and the radio waves modern phones use are different now, but it still lights up and beeps when you turn it on. Phones are designed to last indefinitely with proper care and not dropping it on the floor or letting it fall into water, but of course with use they may fail over time. For example the phone's RF sensitivity will degrade, much like a microwave will take longer than usual to heat up your food the older it gets. If you mean how long do most people actually hold on to their cell phones for, then around 2 years, as people see them as devices that are going to get damaged and will need to be replaced in time. However, for the manufacturers, building a cell phone that will last years is unprofitable. JessicaN10248 16:13, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I have an N-gage QD from 18-09-2004 (build date) and that still works. Although the vibrate function has worn down and I have to enter loudspeaker mode if I want to hear anything in my phone conversations, and yes I frequently drop it, accidentally throw it at stuff, (throw it onto bed, bounces into wall, etc.)89.241.206.191 (talk) 20:39, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

My guess is people often simply buy a new phone rather then replace the batteries particularly when it's a cheap phone since the cost of replacement batteries often makes it seem not really worth it. Also, I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect phones never to be dropped Nil Einne (talk) 07:49, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Thunderbird set up

Thoroughly fed up with Orange France's email offering I should like to switch to Thunderbird. But I have some problems I will appreciate help to solve: 1. Can I set up my 5 email addresses in Thunderbird ? 2. How can I find out my Incoming Server PoP or IMAP ? 3. Also my Incoming Server's name ? 4. Then the name given me by the provider (Orange) ? Don't suggest I ask Orange (unless that is the only way) since it is extremely unlikely that Orange will respond this century.86.197.150.145 (talk) 12:52, 28 June 2008 (UTC)DT

1. is a definite yes, Thunderbird can handle any number of accounts. All the other data you'll need to get from Orange, unfortunately. It should be on their website, but I don't read French and there doesn't seem to be an English version. If Orange is really that bad, though, perhaps you should consider switching email provider altogether. Algebraist 13:02, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Not every email service provider has POP and IMAP servers. Google only recently added IMAP to GMail. If Orange France does have a POP or IMAP server, they could name it anything they like, such as pop.orange.fr, pop3.orange.com, mail.svc.orange.net.fr... You could spend all day guessing at the name of the server, but it is much easier to just search their website. For instance, you can Google "imap site:orange.com" to see if imap is mentioned anywhere on their website. -- kainaw™ 23:20, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Many thanks, I was afraid you'd tell me to go to Orange. And, yes it probably is better to switch to another provider. I was just hoping there might be an easier way.....86.197.169.113 (talk) 13:14, 29 June 2008 (UTC)DT

Well, you don't have to call them. The details are all on the support section of their site. The existing information sould be in the settings of your current email software.

Of course it's all in French, but you could try this link - especially the section: configurer sous Thunderbird or this link (which is one of the sub Thunderbird specific help pages).

Side note: I had a lot of difficulty selecting links that still worked when put on this page. The complex scripting and redirection used by Orange.fr kept getting in the way and sending me back to the main support page. If this happens, click on "mail" under the Internet column on the left to reveal a list of what you want help on, then click on the "configurer mes boîtes aux lettres".

@Algebraist: Why should there be an English version? There's rarely an "English version" when you try to order something in a parisian bar, unless of course you start off speaking in French :-))

Astronaut (talk) 13:31, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

laptop style keyboard

I'm trying to search on the internet for laptop style keboards - the low profile ones.. but can't seem to come up with a keyword that gets the right results - eg I either get all the keyboards in the world, or all the laptops in the world.. (I also don't think I want a built in 'mouse' thingy)

Any ideas? or maybe someone could recommend one, or a manufacturer..?87.102.86.73 (talk) 16:45, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Try a google search for "compact keyboard". -- Tcncv (talk) 17:09, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

It's still turning up a lot of unwanted stuff - especially numeric keypad-less units that still have long travel keys.87.102.86.73 (talk) 18:04, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, if you can't find whatyou're looking for in the above results, you might try searching for "low profile keyboard" and "104 key", or some combination of those terms. -- Tcncv (talk) 18:53, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Still not really working as a seach term - seems some manufacturers thing 'low profile' is anything thinner than 4".. However your terms did throw up a usefull site - in fact so much fun I list it here http://web.mit.edu/atic/www/tools/keyboards.html - now I realise I really want a keyboard with a trackball which is much easier to search for.

Thanks very much then, and if anyone has any further links to unusual or alternative keyboards feel free to post them below. thanks.87.102.86.73 (talk) 19:09, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

You might try this one, or, if you're looking for something on the unusual side, the flexible keyboard. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 16:53, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Apple makes a nice "full width" but otherwise laptop-like wired keyboard; they also sell a wireless (Bluetooth) keyboard that exactly duplicates their laptop key layout.

Atlant (talk) 17:03, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

The Apple Wireless Keyboard it is quite surprising how effortless it is to type on. It's also expensive.78.149.63.101 (talk) 11:23, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure that USD79.00 is expensive for a wireless keyboard, but it sure is a sweet keyboard; I'd recommend it highly.

Atlant (talk)

C# Coding Help

I'm using AutoWikiBrowser to add a parameter to a WikiProject Banner. I'm stuck in the code and was hoping someone here could help me out? Here's what's happening: AWB will look at a talkpage for a specific template. We'll use {{WP India}} for this example. AWB will look for {{WP India}} and replace it with {{WP India|image-needed=yes}}. Simple enough, right? Here's where I'm getting stuck: there can also be extra parameters in a WikiProject banner. |class=Start/Stub/C/B/A/FA/ect. |importance=Top/High/Mid/Low, and other things like |attention=yes.

• What I need is for AWB to see any form of {{WP India}} and place |image-needed=yes right at the very end of the banner.
  • IE FIND:{{WP India|class=start|importance=Mid|attention=yes|workgroup23=yes}} —> REPLACE:{{WP India|class=start|importance=Mid|attention=yes|workgroup23=yes|image-needed=yes}}

For those not familiar with AWB modules this page may be helpful. Can this be done? Thanks for your time! §hep • ¡Talk to me! 22:38, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Does the image-needed parameter have to be at the end of the template? Could you just find {{WP India and replace it with {{WP India|image-needed=yes ? They render the same, but I might be missing something. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 23:04, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Ya, it has to be at the end. Just for asthetics pretty much. §hep • ¡Talk to me! 00:59, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

It doesn't have to be at the end; so if noone has any ideas I can do that. I just think it would look cleaner if it was put at the end. §hep • ¡Talk to me! 01:15, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Responding to really old Usenet posts, deleting responses

I pondered this a little last April Fool's Day, but didn't. I found a post from 1982 mentioning smileys for the first time, and that it would be a good idea to put a colon and...well, you know. I was tempted to reply using the Google archive, say it sounded like a good idea, and saying I suspected it could catch on. :-)

Now, I didn't (though if I did it would be an interesting lesson in how everything on the 'Net stays on the 'Net) but if I had, would there have been some way to erase themessage? Is Usenet ( whatever the precursor was) like message boards where admins exist to remove stuff, or is it on forever? It appears from your article that there were admins wbut they were more at the local IP level, and things had to be reported to them, and so posts can't be removed once made, except *possibly* with a moderated group. (That's the main reason i didn't post a reply, I didn't want that embarrassment. Plus, it's really wrong to reopen closed threads, esecpally restarting ones that old!)

P.S.: I didn't post a link to the Usenet post for the very reason that someone else might be tempted to reply to something that old if it wa that eaasy.209.244.30.221 (talk) 23:26, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

There is such thing as a usenet Cancel message, but their reliability is spotty. It's my understanding that some servers prefer to ignore cancel messages in favor of archiving everything. I believe Google is one of the servers that does not honor cancels, so I wouldn't put much stock in cancel messages at all as a way to destroy evidence. APL (talk) 05:32, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Google obeys no archive requests (X-No-Archive) in the message (i.e. it will only keep it for a few days [1]) and it also allows users to remove messages posted with a reply-to e-mail they still have access to and request a removal otherwise if it's their message [2] Nil Einne (talk) 08:29, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

The rule of thumb is, of course, that if you post anything to any public part of the internet, you have to expect that it's going to be there forever. You may be able to remove it, but you really can't count on it. Ever. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 13:07, 29 June 2008 (UTC)