Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 February 5

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February 5

Elysium MIDI Sequencer on the PC?

Is there any generative midi software similar to the wonderful Elysium (Mac) that will run on a PC? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.82.79.175 (talk) 01:24, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Although far from a complete answer, you can have a look at this previous RD question. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 08:38, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

nameserver questions

I'm setting up a nameserver using BIND along with Apache for server-ing. I've got 3 questions:

1. Can I set up BIND to point to itself? i.e., can I run BIND and Apache on the same machine?
2. How do I set up a second nameserver? Godaddy requires one plus a backup, which means two nameservers are required (1+1=2). I only have 1 IP address. What do I do about this?
3. Can I make Godaddy's nameserver settings point to an IP address instead of the standard "ns1.(example).com"? flaminglawyer 01:50, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

1. Yes you can run both BIND and Apache on the same machine, the two processes don't interact at all.
2. If you can get a second (Internet routable) IP address you could assign them to the same machine and have them both pointing to the same nameserver, although obviously this would defeat the redundancy that the 2nd nameserver is supposed to provide. Will Godaddy themselves provides either a master or slave DNS server?
3. Nameservers in domain records have to use DNS hostnames (ns1.domain.com etc) but you could always use something like DynDNS to create a virtual hostname, although if you have a domain already it might be just easier to set up ns1.domain.com in that domains DNS? (you can use the same domain for DNS, you just have to specify the IP/glue records at the point the nameservers are setup as well as the name - the process varies depending on the type of domain).

Hope this helps! ZX81 ^talk 15:12, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

There are also free secondary DNS servers, like [1]. MTM (talk) 15:23, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

HTTPS and Hotmail

When I log into Hotmail the login page is encrypted via HTTPS, but the page that displays the list of emails and the emails themselves are not. Does this mean that the email list and the email themselves are potentially readable by anybody between me and the hotmail web server? Thanks Middle Bug (talk) 14:30, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

If the message content was delivered by regular unencrypted HTTP then yes, potentially it's readable by someone between you and them. ZX81 ^talk

Yes, if transmitted using http your email is viewable by anyone between your computer and the server (and, potentially, someone who isn't directly between). You might check if Hotmail includes an option in user preferences to enable full-session SSL (https) encryption—some webmail services do. – 74  14:48, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

If every page were to be transferred by HTTPS, won't the page load very very slowly, if entire e-mails (and attachments) are to be encrypted? I would like to know the experience of anyone using a full-session SSL. Jay (talk) 15:41, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

It's more intensive for the server which I imagine is why Hotmail only do the login via SSL and obviously there's more work for the client computer to do, but I've personally found the speed difference on the client side with modern computers to be negligible (this is using an Exchange server with and without SSL). ZX81 ^talk 15:55, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

I use a VPN all the time and I have never noticed it to be a slowdown over unencrypted traffic. --140.247.242.231 (talk) 17:38, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Gmail allows permanent SSL. It doesn't feel any slower, but all that AJAX and prefetching probably help — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 18:28, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

The SSL overhead is slight, and any content encoding should (not sure) happen pre-ssl layer, so it won't be any larger. I don't think hotmail has a constant SSL mode. I don't think yahoo does either, but gmail does. Hotmail does encrypt your login credentials, but that doesn't help for session hijacking purposes. Best advice is to either tunnel the connection as best you can, or just make sure to log out when you're done (this will help with session hijacking, but not your other concerns). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shadowjams (talk • contribs) 10:27, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

Receiving a web-page through email

Is there any service where I can type an http address and receive the content of the page on my email? It may sound useless, but I need it sometimes to pass the filter of my proxy. Some legit pages are wrongly classified as 'racist' or 'violence' when they are only normal news about racism or violence. And no I have no way of changing the filter rules. Mr.K. (talk) 16:00, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Try webtomail.co.cc SN0WKITT3N 16:15, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Having problems installing Microsoft office communicator 2007

I bought it yesterday and whenever I try to enter product key it tells me:

The Microsoft Office Activation Assistant was unable to request your trial activation key. Please check your Internet connection and try again. If the error continues, go to www.microsoft.com/office/pctrial2007 to request a trial activation key. The Microsoft Office Activation Assistant was unable to launch your 2007 Microsoft Office release. Please re-enter your selection or open Microsoft Office from the directory. If the error continues, go to www.microsoft.com/office/pctrial2007 for additional information.

I am not sure how to install it from the directory and I can't seem to find any help on the aforementioned web page. It even told me the same thing when I downloaded the trial version from Microsoft. I figured I could just bypass the possible glitch on the disk and then add in my product key to that version, but that didn't work either. --Ghostexorcist (talk) 18:27, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

PC keeps restarting

What could be wrong with my PC? It keeps restarting whenever I open my computer, go to the C drive, or whenever I select something similar from a drop down list in, for example, a dialog box for saving or opening files. Whenever I do any of these something inside starts to make a loud "WHURRING" noise and then the PC just restarts. --RMFan1 (talk) 21:10, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

There are two primary sources of PC rebooting (and trillions of secondary sources - so you may have one that isn't a primary reason). The biggest reason is overheating. The computer gets too hot. You often hear the fans kick into high speed. And reboot. The other is power drain. Some device sucks too much power. The power supply can't keep up. Reboot. Overheating can be caused by many things - often a component that is breaking down. A device sucking too much power can be anything (nVidia video cards and Via bus controllers are notorious for this problem). So, it is impossible to say exactly what is wrong. The normal fix is to swap out parts one by one until you find the one that is bad. -- kainaw™ 21:17, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunately I experienced one of these secondary sources last week. My power supply seemed the problem so I changed it. Still experienced random rebooting. Exchanged network, graphics and sound cards - no difference. In the end it had to be the motherboard - and it was. Sandman30s (talk) 10:17, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

You can try running the computer with the case off and a fan blowing on it to see if overheating is the problem. StuRat (talk) 05:22, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

To add to StuRat's advice, take a can of compressed air and use it to clean the inside of your computer (my removing the accumulated dust); see if that brings any improvement. If not, you can take your computer completely apart, and reassemble it piece by piece: first only the motherboard, power supply, hard drive, graphics card (if your motherboard doesn't have integrated graphics). See if it runs without rebooting. Now add another component, and test again. It's a slow method, but probably your best bet for identifying the culprit. — QuantumEleven 11:51, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

I strongly suspect it is PC over heating. The free software, PC Wizard, at http://www.cpuid.com/ can help determine that. That software can show you your processors temperature and you can see how hot the processor gets. I think my PC over heats at around 80 degrees if I remember right. Does your processor have a heatsink on it? I'd be shocked if it doesn't. Make sure the heatsink is making good contact with the processor. You may have to add some grease that is used for connecting the two and transferring heat. A small tube is available at Radio Shack for less that $5. If the heat sink and processor did get pulled apart and put back, there is a good chance you have to add grease.

Does the processor have it's own fan? Make sure it is working. That whurring noise you hear may be that fan kicking in. Maybe it's bearings are bad. PC Wizard also give you fan info. Processor fans are also pretty inexpensive. Some times the processor does NOT have it's own fan, but has a piece of plastic that diverts the air pulled from a fan on the back of the PC from off the processor. If the processor does NOT have it's own fan just above the processor, It probably is supposed to have one. If it has one, make sure that piece of plastic is in place. --Wonderley (talk) 02:10, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Web really slow

So I have one PC cabled to the modem, which also broadcasts the signal to two laptops. For several months all was fine; the PC (Vista Home Premium) got a slightly faster connection than the laptops. Now, the PC's internet connection slows down to a crawl. It's got a connection, but a very, very slow one. The laptops are fine, so it's not the supply. It just happened so fast - and not straight after I changed any settings. As a precaution, I'm running full virus scans. Any other ideas? - Jarry1250 ^{(t, c)} 21:21, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Spyware scans in addition to virus scans. Does Vista have a "boot in safe mode with networking"? That might let you see how the connection is without a lot of things starting up at boot time. Also, try a bootable CD of some type, e.g. gOS which will let you run a browser and verify that it's not a problem with the router/modem. --LarryMac | Talk 21:26, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Update: in short, it's got worse, to a point of having no connection at all. The router doesn't list the computer among its list of attached devices, yet if I plug the same wire into one of the laptops and turn off wireless, I can still access the net. This leads me to believe that the problem is with the port on the back of the computer, and I will probably order a USB-Ethernet converter later today. - Jarry1250 ^{(t, c)} 10:47, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Your going down the right path for debugging. But, I'd also look at Device Manager and Event Viewer for error messages. That's under (Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Computer Management), Then there is Device Manager and Event Viewer - System. --Wonderley (talk) 02:28, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Problem installing Linux

I have recently been trying to install Xubuntu 7.04 on my laptop and while the first steps on the text installer work fine I have been getting troubles when I reach the partitioning part; the installer prompts me to choose and option to partition and I have chosen "Resize IDE1 Master...", then it asks me for how much space to partition but when I fill that and go ahead, the screen changes to start the partition but the partition process never moves from 0% until an error screen appears which reads "Resize Operation Failure. An error ocurred while writing the changes to the storage devices. The resize operation is aborted." I have clicked continue and it takes me to a new screen that lists my partition settings and which gives me two options; a) Undo changes to partition, b) Finish Partition and continue. I know b) sounds like the logical option but if there was an error I don't want to go ahead and found out I messed it up. Does any know why this could be happening and/or how can I fix it? Any info is appreciated. Thanks! PabloClark (talk) 23:25, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

A resize (to a larger size) may only work if you have unallocated space available to add to the partition. Is this the case or has all disk space already been allocated to partitions ? StuRat (talk) 05:19, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

This is the first time I have partitioned the hard drive and it should have enough space available, however, I will double check that. Is there any other things that might cause that error to occur? Thanks! PabloClark (talk) 01:01, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Maybe there is an issue with the units on the amount of space you typed in ? Perhaps it was asking for the number of GB and you typed in the number of MB, for example. What value did you type in ? StuRat (talk) 09:25, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Can you get to a console from the installer (through some menu or by pressing ctrl-alt-f1 or some other f key)? It's likely there's a more verbose error message in somewhere, at least on my 8.10 there are some logs in /var/log/installer/. --194.197.235.61 (talk) 09:45, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

I will try to look for those logs. Now that you mentioned that StuRat, I think I might suspect what the problem is. I typed in 27 GB (that is 44% of PC HD, and 44% is also that amount of HD already occupied in my PC) which is the minimum it allows me; is that amount in typing in is the amount in giving to Xubuntu or the amount I am keeping for Windows? PabloClark (talk) 15:48, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

From the behavior that sounds like the amount it's keeping for Windows, although that certainly seems backwards from how I'd expect it to work. Another thought is that you may have a hardware problem with the hard disk. Perhaps it can't write the allocation info to the portion of the disk where that info is stored. Try running SCANDISK. StuRat (talk) 22:57, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Ok, I will try that. Thanks for the help! PabloClark (talk) 01:47, 9 February 2009 (UTC)