Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 July 1

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July 1

Computer beep when notebook is off

Notebook unplugged, battery out, yet the notebook beeps every hour or so? I have never heard of this so I am asking help here. Does the cmos battery give off some type of alarm or something to cause this? is this even possible? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ivtv (talk • contribs) 02:13, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

That's the tracking feature so they can find you. ···日本穣^? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe 20:33, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Is the computer situated near a smoke detector by any chance? The smoke detector could be signaling a low-battery condition. --Mathew5000 (talk) 23:53, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Player which can play with maximum Sound

Picture this - You're in a room with a group of friends, and you want to watch a movie on your Laptop. Problem is, you don't have any external speakers, and the headphones just won't do. So you've got this movie file which is just about audible. My question is, which player do you use in this situation ? Which player can give you the maximum sound on any media file ? I know VLC player is able to give a higher volume than Real Player or Windows Media player, but which player gives you the maximum ? Rkr1991 (talk) 10:27, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

You will most likely blow the speakers in the laptop if you turn the volume too high. Get some external speakers, preferably with amplification and externally powered - decent ones are about £20 or more. Astronaut (talk) 11:49, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

I think Rrk1991 is referring to a video or sound file that has been encoded with a very low sound volume, so that putting the volume to max everywhere would only produce, say, half of what the speakers are capable of. So I do not think there's any risk of blowing the speakers. I've been having this problem too, so I'd be interested in hearing some answers. decltype (talk) 11:55, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

In that sort of situation, I think Media Player Classic has settings in its options menu to boost the audio. (the "Normalize" setting might also work.) APL (talk) 13:12, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Yep, Decltype is spot on, that's the problem I'm referring to... I would love some answers...Rkr1991 (talk) 15:16, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

VLC lets you turn the volume up to 400%. Horselover Frost (talk) 14:04, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

<video>

Are there any webpages using this markup currently? —SpaceFlight89 (talk) 16:46, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Sure, here's one. --Sean 19:12, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks —SpaceFlight89 (talk) 07:46, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

intermittent monitor problem

My (HP) monitor is failing to display when I turn on the system. I can get it to recover by unplugging the power cord for a moment. What might be happening? Just curious. I have another monitor to replace it with when needed. --Halcatalyst (talk) 18:09, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

I don't know the problem, but I had an old crt monitor that did the same thing. It would take up to 5 mins to turn on some times. Turning it off and on again usually did the trick after a couple of times, as did banging it with my fist. Very curious to know what causes this too —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.128 (talk) 18:39, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Excel IF/AND problem

Right. I'm having one of "those days" and can't get my head around something.

I have a spreadsheet in which one cell is a university mark percentage (0-100%). Using an if/and statement, how could I have another cell display – in my case – the mark classification?

Example:

If the total is >70, the display will be "1st class"

but

If the total is >60 but <70 , the display will be "Upper second class"

but

If the total is >50 but <60 , the display will be "Lower second class"

but

If the total is >40 but <50 , the display will be "Third class"

but

If the total is <40, the display will be "Fail"

Thanks, I'm sure someone will nail this straight away – I'm just not in gear today! Fribbulus Xax (talk) 18:51, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

=IF(A1<40, "EPIC FAIL", IF(A1<50, "Third class", IF(A1<60, "Lower second class", IF(A1<70, "Upper second class", "1st class"))))

Just be careful in case they should be <= signs; your request wasn't specific about (for example) someone scoring exactly 60. -- Coneslayer (talk) 19:05, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Cheers, it works fine (with a bit of tinkering!). Fribbulus Xax (talk) 19:22, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Note that sometimes nested IFs have funny behavior (they seem to be bad with any kind of rounding?), and there is a maximum number of nestings you can do before it will just give up (however you can use multiple columns to extend it a bit). It's a pain that Excel doesn't, after all these years, have more flexible comparison operators for its functions (other than complicated nesting or slow/problematic VBA macros), but such is how it is... --98.217.14.211 (talk) 20:09, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Microsoft.com windows support

My hard disc crashed and I was told by a guy in a computing store that if I go to the microsoft windows website I can request a new installation disc and that this is free. Is this true? Where on the website can I find this? thanks in advance 79.191.22.69 (talk) 19:42, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

No, not true. If you bought your computer new, your copy of Windows was sold to you by your computer manufacturer (maybe it was Dell, or HP, or Gateway, or Lenovo, or whoever). In the old days, the manufacturer would include Windows installation discs in the box when you bought the computer. More recently, they charge $10 for this "service", or sometimes they have disc images included on the hard disk, and you are supposed to have the foresight to burn the images to physical discs right when you get the computer. In any case, the place to get a Windows installation disc is your computer manufacturer. The cost should be low - when you bought your computer, part of what you paid for was your copy of Windows (licensed to be used on that particular computer), so all you're buying now is a disc with a copy of that version of Windows. You're not required to go spend $150 for a fresh new version or whatever. Tempshill (talk) 20:17, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Am I able to use someone else's burned disc with my product key? I mean, I've already paid for the license.79.191.22.69 (talk) 20:24, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Generally not. What Tempshill describes above is an OEM-specific restore disk, and that goes with your OEM Windows licence. If you have access to another computer of the same model (not just from the same manufacturer) then its restore disks should work. Otherwise you'll need to follow Tempshill's advice and get a disk from the manufacturer. 87.115.71.220 (talk) 20:58, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

I didn't say before that I have put in a new hard disc since. Does this change anything you have said? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.191.22.69 (talk) 21:19, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

I don't believe so. Large-scale changes to the hardware might make a system restore disk fail, changing the hard disk shouldn't. 87.115.71.220 (talk) 21:48, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Look at your computer case for a serial number. It's usually on a yellow sticker from Microsoft. Then, you can download a copy of Windows, burn it to a disk, and install Windows using the product key on the case. It's perfectly legal to do, even if you download a pirated copy, because the license is still valid.--WinRAR anodeeven (talk) 22:09, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

I certainly don't recommend this course of action because of the likelihood of trojans. Just call the manufacturer and see if they'll ship you the disc. It may even be free. Tempshill (talk) 22:19, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Trojans are found in keygens. If he already has a key, then how would he get a trojan? He wouldn't even run the keygen.--WinRAR anodeeven (talk) 22:21, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

If he gets a "pirated copy" there is a little issue. --194.197.235.36 (talk) 22:34, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Trojans can be found in any software, including key generators, disc images, and just about anything else which you can execute. In extreme cases, they can even be found in non-executable files, (like media files), and can only cause an infection if there is a security vulnerability in the system which accesses those files. Nimur (talk) 04:26, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I'm a computer repairman, I know. But, I also download a lot of warez, and 99.99% of the time, it's just the keygen (or crack). If you're worried about it, you can scan the download with a virus scanner, or just read the comments on the download site. Attaching viruses to PEs is pretty rare because the programmers usually add code to the program that will warn you if it's been tampered with. I know this from experience.--WinRAR anodeeven (talk) 05:31, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Rrrriiiight, because it's unheard of to crack the executable to avoid the selfcheck. Tempshill (talk) 06:28, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

I guess you're just too afraid to handle this kind of stuff. I, on the other hand, have complete confidence in my ability to detect viruses and disinfect my computer. I also have complete confidence in the OP, even though he's new to this. But, if you lack confidence in yourself, then there's nothing I can do to convince you.--WinRAR anodeeven (talk) 07:10, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

What you are calling "confidence", I call reckless blind faith, or wishful thinking. There are bad guys in this world who are slightly smarter than you, you know. Trojans or keyloggers embedded in a pirated version of Windows are not necessarily detectable by any of the software you have installed, especially if the trojan writer rolled his own. If you choose to put all your personal data at the mercy of an OS that you downloaded from a warez torrent — well, that's just foolhardy. Tempshill (talk) 19:14, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

No amount of expertise, experience, or L337 computer skillx0rz can allow you to look at a windows .exe file and know what it does. These files can contain megabytes of binary code - even if you open it with a hex editor and are proficient in reading machine code, it will take you hours to scan the entire file. Anodeeven, are you claiming that you can, via sheer force of will and expertise/experience, decipher the execution path of a large binary file? It's hard enough to follow execution paths if you have documented source-code, let alone if you are trying to reverse-engineer something. Merely "trusting" an executable is not a matter of skill; it is a risk, every time; you must trust the originator of the program. If you are willing to trust every pirated source on "the internet at large", then you are not instilling a lot of confidence in your own critical-thinking. Nimur (talk) 19:18, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Take it easy guys, thanks for all the responses lol