Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 April 16

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April 16

XP and Vista icon Flickering when shutting down

While in the process of shutting down, a desktop icon usually flickers a few times before the computer shuts down. Why does this happen and how does the computer determine which icon to flicker? Acceptable (talk) 02:36, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

The flickering is because as Windows shuts down it will keep changing the active window between each application as it closes it down and the desktop. Everytime the focus shifts back to the desktop it highlights the last icon you were on and when it goes to shut down the next application it will change the focus from the and unhighlighting the icon in the process. Because of this you get that flicker effect you're describing. Hope that helps to explain! ZX81 ^talk

To add on to that, a typical Windows system has at least 3-4 'hidden'/invisible active windows as programs shut down. My favorite has been a Microsoft 'should not see this' shutdown task that hung and displayed an 'End Process' prompt. Washii (talk) 02:29, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 Trial

Anyone know where I can download a Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP1 trial version --Melab±1 ☎ 03:30, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Although an unactivated version of Vista (any edition) will effectively function as a "trial" for 30 days, as far as I know Microsoft don't offer it as a download. The only download versions they do offer are the versions on MSDN or Technet (I've just checked and Home Premium is available on both), but you'd need a current subscription to either of those services to be able to access the downloads. ZX81 ^talk 04:15, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Use bittorrent to download a dell OME vista installation iso... that will install as a trail on any non-dell comp. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.30.106.235 (talk) 04:19, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

then look for serials or patches to make it non-trail. WIN! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 07:48, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

If you are downloading, might as well get one from the Pirate Bay. F (talk) 10:17, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Window (not screen) video capture

I think that a problem I'm having with a piece of software could be best described/illustrated to its support desk if I could capture 20-30 seconds of pseudo- (or maybe real) video of only its own window, not the whole screen. I know nothing about the available technology in this area, so -- where should I start? Don't omit the basics, like "what's the correct name of what I'm looking for?"

Thanks! --DaHorsesMouth (talk) 03:40, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Apparently it's called "screencasting software". See List of screencasting software. I have personally found HyperCam intuitive and easy to use. It allows you to select an area of the screen or window to record. Hope this helps. decltype (talk) 05:19, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Forwarding email

Hello,

I was just wondering; is there a way for people with aol.com email addresses to forward all their saved mail to another aol.com email address? I have a lot of saved mail, and don't want to have to go through all of it. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.16.93.243 (talk) 05:02, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Actually, I think this is what I want instead: I just made a new AIM screen name. But aol gave me a new email account too. I want to keep my old email account and delete the new one, while keeping the new screen name. How can I delete the new email account? 69.16.93.243 (talk) 05:09, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Do you really need to delete anything? Can you simply use the old e-mail account (ignoring the new one) and use the new screen name (ignoring the old one)? Certes (talk) 16:26, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Video Card problem

I was running a CHKDSK on a hard drive and I needed to use the monitor on another computer so I swapped the cable out.

When I plugged it back in I got no signal out. I then restarted (probably interrupting the CHKDSK). Still couldn't get signal to the monitor (even the BIOS screens).

I put the video card (X1950XT) in other computer, and it works fine.

I put another video card (HD3400) into the computer and I see the BIOS screens but when it boots Windows (XP and 7) the monitor says "out of range". I can boot Windows in safe mode. I think this may be a separate problem to the one with the X1950XT...

Thanks in advance --130.194.165.125 (talk) 06:54, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Try uninstalling the X1950XT and reinstalling it. And by uninstalling i mean going into device manager and delete it from the system. Then reinstall the drivers and the card and try again. Hopefully, this helps.  ;)  Buffered Input Output 12:58, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Is it possible in your testing that the fault was actually following the video cable? If you can - try another cable. SteveBaker (talk) 04:47, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

How to paste into Word without the font changing?

Hi there, everyone:

I've been using Word for as long as I can remember, but there's one thing that has always annoyed me that I haven't been able to solve: Using Word 2002, I have set a default font, but when I paste from other resources, it nearly always changes all Serif Fonts to Times New Roman and all Sans serif fonts to Ariel - neither of which is my default. Is there any way to avoid the irritating need to change the font back every time I paste something?

All the best --134.151.34.100 (talk) 14:31, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure about Word 2002, but in 2003, when you paste an icon representing the clipboard will pop-up. Click the icon and a menu will appear. Click Match Destination Formatting or Keep Text Only. Another way is to paste the text into a text editor (such as Notepad). This will lose the formatting. Then copy and paste the text from Notepad into Word. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 14:43, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

If I understand correctly: "Edit .. Paste Special .. Unformatted text" (you could also create a keystroke combination, but that's a bit more involved) — Ched :  ?  17:37, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Web-based game programming (not flash)

I am interested in developing gadgets (think widgets) for igoogle and similar sites, which use the common web stuff: html, css, javascript. Does anyone know of a good resource (tutorials, forum) geared toward game programming in javascript or other applicable language? (I know I could do it in flash, but I'm interested in the other alternatives.)

For examples, I'm thinking of:

• this crossword gadget
• and this color-shifting game (really, anything by LabPixies)

Bencejoful (talk) 17:07, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

You might be interested in some of the standards-based madness at chromeexperiments.com. --Sean 18:32, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Well, there are two components here. One is general javascript programming. The other is game programming. You can do game programming in any language—the key things that are different are that Javascript sets some pretty hard constraints on how you deal with graphics, what kinds of operations can be performed efficiently, and a lot of other things relating to how Javascript specifically interacts both with HTML and CSS as well as with the browser.

So if it were me, I'd first focus on Javascript in general. Build a simple Tic-Tac-Toe game using HTML tables, for example. Get a feel for the syntax and etc. From there, pick a somewhat more complicated project (say, checkers). Keep working up. As you get more familiarity with the language and the logic of games, when you look at things on the labpixies site and elsewhere you will be able to somewhat easily figure out how it must be done (e.g. the Google gravity code on the chromeexperiments page probably carves up the page elements into individual objects, then has some nice physics-like coding to deal with falling bodies, then goes through a timer loop moving each element according to the physics model, etc. — it's no doubt a lot harder than that in practice, but in terms of structurally breaking down the logic into its components, it is easy once you have some small association with the various elements at play in such a model). --98.217.14.211 (talk) 21:23, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

For 2D graphics in JavaScript, you need to look at the "<canvas>" extension. It's supported natively on every browser on the planet...except Internet Explorer. There is a plugin (courtesy of Google) for IE that solves that - although it's kinda slow. I wrote http://www.fmbaker.com/samegame/ using canvas - and I've been working on a 'god-game' "The Foot of God" http://www.sjbaker.org/tfog/ (think "Populous") using it and although that's FAR from finished, the graphics are close to working (sometimes you have to hit "reload" after you reach the page - I have a problem with preloading images). You can find documentation on "<canvas>" here: https://developer.mozilla.org/En/HTML:Canvas

For 3D - there is work in progress on adding OpenGL graphics to JavaScript too (there are hints in the canvas document about how they'll add it)...that would be a wonderous and beautiful thing and could well be a Flash-killer.

SteveBaker (talk) 04:00, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Outlook 2007 and too-big images

I seem to always have size problems in Outlook 2007 when pasting, or inserting, a small JPG or PNG file directly into a message — that is, as part of the message, visible in the window, and not simply a file attachment. Outlook always scales the picture larger. It appears to always scale it to 133% of its original size. Trouble is, the picture "Size" dialog box (reached at Picture Tools->Format->(Size button in the ribbon)) claims the scale is currently at 100%, and there is some text claiming an "Original Size:", measured in inches; both claims are shameless, bald-faced lies. If I order Outlook to scale the picture down to 75% then it appears to be pixel-perfect, as I want.

Does anyone know what the problem is here? Why does Outlook want my pictures to look larger? Tempshill (talk) 19:44, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

I have an idea - I get the same problem. My screen resolution is 96 dpi (right click desktop > properties > settings > Advanced) but when I paste images that are 72 dpi they will look too big. If I save the image with a resolution of 96 dpi, it will look right in all Office 2007 programs. /Christian

iPod Volume boosting

Heya all,

ages ago there was a way to boost the volume of a 5.5G 80GB iPod video by opening the firmware with a Hex editor and swap two bytes. Anyone remember this hack and if it'll run on recent firmware?

Thanks, HardDisk (talk) 22:27, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

PS: Yes, I know software solution exist, but they all simply set the "Amplify" flag in the iTunesDB to max. for each song...

reformatting vista on acer aspire 6920-6968 using backup dvds

i made backup factory defualt dvds for my acer aspire 6920-6968. it uses windows vista home premium edition. want to reformat it, so i was wondering if it is alright if i reformat in the normal way or if there is a special way i have to, though i would prefer doing it the normal way. i do not have a windows vista cd.--Extra101 (talk) 22:51, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

also, I see that my laptop has a seperate partition of 140 GB that isn't being used; i dont want that, i want all my hard drive space usable, so how would i merge that space with the 144 GB that i am currently using (my laptop has 320 GB space).--Extra101 (talk) 23:14, 16 April 2009 (UTC)