Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 September 2

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September 2

Question (Hacking, legality, private_website)

Is it against the law to ask someone to hack a privite website somebody made?Accdude92 (talk) (sign) 01:10, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

I changed the title, as "question" is not indicative of the specific question posed, but feel free to change it to something else. I hope you don't mind. Bus stop (talk) 01:19, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia cannot give legal advice or opinions. But please use common sense. If it helps, think of the website as someone's house. Would you ask your friend to break in to the house? Xenon54 / talk / 01:41, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Not legal advice, but I believe that IT security consultants are sometimes hired to do Penetration tests. I imagine that their contracts are drawn up very carefully. APL (talk) 02:02, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

I was famous for those in high school.

Mothers, hide your daughters! <rimshot>218.25.32.210 (talk) 03:03, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, this is a good question, and can be answered without violating the legal opinions requirement of the Refdesk; but it depends on where you live. You would have to look up the hacking law where you live, where he lives, and possibly in all the jurisdictions in between (!) and see if there is an exception for invited "guests". Tempshill (talk) 05:44, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

In that case: the applicable (federal) law in the US is probably 18 USC 1030. Xenon54 / talk / 14:30, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

It's not entirely clear to me whether you're asking someone to hack your website, or someone else's website without permission. In the later case I would expect it would usually be against the law, if hacking is against the law Nil Einne (talk) 14:36, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Annoying browser issue

Hi. There's something that's been bugging me for years, and I wonder if there's anything I can do about it.

There are lots of webpages that, when they load, direct the cursor to some particular text box. What happens to me is this: I log out of my email account, and I'm redirected to some page, say the MSN homepage. As the page begins to load, I already know where I want to go next, so I start typing the next URL in the URL bar at the top of the browser. Then when the MSN webpage finishes loading, it snaps the cursor to the MSN search bar, often breaking into what I was typing, and if I'm going quickly, I hit [enter] end up with a page of search results for some clipped URL, e.g. "ipedia.org".

Is there anything I can do to override this "feature". I like to control where my typing cursor is, but I find that I can't. Any ideas? -GTBacchus^(talk) 09:33, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

In most cases, I believe, webmasters implement this "feature" (which often is very helpful, especially for login forms) using JavaScript and the (page) onLoad event. You can disable it by disabling JavaScript, but at a great cost, of course. No JavaScript will work. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 10:06, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, that's a higher price than I'm willing to pay. When I remember, I click the "home" button on my browser when leaving certain websites, because that (the Wikipedia front page) doesn't hijack my cursor. When I forget, though... it's kind of annoying. Thanks anyway. -GTBacchus^(talk) 10:59, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Firefox has an option to disable the setFocus() javascript method, described here. That description says it's a per-site setting. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 13:08, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

This is what I've been looking for. Thank you very much. Like one of the posters in that thread, I'd like to disable setFocus() so it never works on any website I ever visit. If programmers are so sloppy with this method that they don't first check to see if a user is already typing somewhere else, then they should have it taken away from them. However helpful it may be in some contexts, interrupting the user's typing for any reason is terrible. It can cause us to type passwords in fields where they're visible, for example - that's not cool. Thanks again! -GTBacchus^(talk) 17:45, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Do webkit browsers do something different ? - I too used to be immensely annoyed by this when on IE7, but haven't noticed recently (using a different browser) - it would certainly be possible to prevent focus change once typing has been registered as begun.. I'm unable to confirm this though. Well it seems to, try webkit based browser perhaps?83.100.250.79 (talk) 15:57, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Cheapest cell-phone/PDA with keyboard, mp3 player, UMTS and wi-fi

Which one is it?--Quest09 (talk) 11:25, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Depends on what country —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.99 (talk) 13:06, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

OK, if you know the answer for US and Europe...--Quest09 (talk) 16:19, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Europe is a country now? Prices vary widely between countries inside Europe, and will also vary depending on whether you already have a mobile subscription or want a phone that includes a subscription. Also, your current provider may also have some interesting deals, possibly depending on whether you are already free to switch contracts (ie, you've finished the minimum contract period) Unilynx (talk) 17:51, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Quest09, I'm afraid you won't get an unambiguous answer, as it depends on a whole host of factors, not limited to whether you're buying used or new, with or without a mobile phone contract, what country - not to mention that prices change daily. Your best bet is to visit several mobile phone shops in your area and ask for the cheapest phone they have with the capabilities you're after. You can also do some research on the internet, but the sheer number of possibilities will make this a long task. — QuantumEleven 12:51, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

At least, you could have named a cheap one (perhaps not the cheapest) without contract. First I thought I would go with a Palm, but then I discovered that it had not wi-fi. Now I am clueless.--Quest09 (talk) 10:38, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

I don't think they come cheap. I suggest you look into Nokia Nseries. Knowing how much you are willing to spend will probably help as "cheap" is a bit subjective. Kushal (talk) 23:00, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Changing video resolution under programmatic control (C/C++) via Windows API

How can I change the video resolution, colour depth and refresh rate on Windows XP under programmatic control? I can change it manually from the control panel, but that involves multiple clicks, and everytime I change one (eg resolution) Windows keeps changing the others (eg from my preferred 16-bit colour to Microsoft's preferred 32-bit) unless I explicitly set them all. I'd like to write a small program (in C or C++, with MSVC 6) to make appropriate calls to the Windows API to set a specific combination. What API functions would I use for this? Mitch Ames (talk) 12:59, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Call EnumDisplaySettings to list those that are available, then ChangeDisplaySettings to make the change. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 13:04, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Great. Thanks. Mitch Ames (talk) 09:46, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

mobilephonebased learning

I have been asked to be partof a team of lecturers to develop training material for woodwork subjects,for use via mobile phones in the form of SMS and MMS . Iam due to make a presatation and participate in the first planning workshop for the project in one weeks` time .

iwould like to know information related to this concept of mobile phone based learning and if you can also relate this to web based education of the internet —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.210.184.136 (talk) 13:12, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

The first step is learning to spell. Any training material should be free of spells. --Quest09 (talk) 10:15, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

I would guess the first step would be to get lecturers who understand the pedagogical demands of teaching using mobile technologies. --Cameron Scott (talk) 10:34, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

using cassettes for data?

How can I set up a Win XP/Vista computer to load and save audio files onto a cassette recorder/player? I want to relive the way I used to store data in the 1980s on a contemporary computer? Save some of my modern documents on a cassette like the good ole days.--Sonjaaa (talk) 17:43, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

A modern PC doesn't have the built-in (ROM) software to read and write files on a cassette tape recorder, like an early '80s microcomputer did. It could be done by writing software to encode the file as audio (for instance using the Kansas City standard, which was what the early micros used) and play it to the sound card. Using the original 300 baud encoding, you could store about 128kB of binary data on a 60-minute cassette tape. The harder part would be to decode the data again when the cassette is played ... --FOo (talk) 08:15, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Note there are programs to do this on the linked page. Might need adaptation to meet your purposes though.F (talk) 12:44, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

I would have thought plugging the mic and headphone jacks from the cassette recorder into the sound card would be just fine, and sampling more than adequate i.e. sample the data. Most formats include timing marks of some kind, so sampling should not be any greater problem now than it was then. Probably harder to get hold of the blank cassette tapes! SimonTrew (talk) 01:12, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

If I click on the X in the upper right corner can I get my work back?

Sometimes I click on the X not realizing that when I thought I switched to a new page (with multiple rectangles at the bottom of the screen) I didn't, or when I didn't intend to switch to a new page the computer did it for me. For example, if I am calling up a web page at one particular library (Explorer), that page might be slow but when it does come up, that page replaces what I was looking at. Again, there are multiple rectangles at the bottom of the screen.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:12, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Not always (well not easily) - some applications will allow you to reopen a closed windows as they were last closed without saving as an option - though it's not a standard feature. Was it a particular application you were using?83.100.250.79 (talk) 18:30, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Just email, or perhaps a Wikipedia edit box.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:37, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Sometimes reloading the edit page with browser off-line or connection closed, restores from cache even the data you typed in edit-areas. -- Codicorumus  « msg 18:53, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm afraid I usually find that the edit area appears as it did before I did anything.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:21, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Oh, browser offline. That could work.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:21, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Some browsers are capable of reopening accidentally closed pages - even with the edit box contents still intact - if you are willing to change. Or if you are using IE (as I suspect) as I used to have the same problem - and don't want to change it might be an idea to request this feature.. As I understand it Windows 7 is complete- the MS programmers would probably appreciate something to do, as would their managers :)

83.100.250.79 (talk) 19:43, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

How to determine a website's service provider

Resolved

 – Answered to my satisfaction

I was taking a look at Wikipedia:Standard license violation letter. It brought a question into my head: How would one determine what service provider a website was with? Say I wanted to send a DMCA takedown, how'd I find out where to send it? In VERY ^{(sorry to shout)} plain English please. Imagine explaining to your Granny. I'm not that bad, but technical stuff will go over my head without a good explanation. Thanks, Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 19:53, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Use dnsstuff.com to perform a whois lookup, which should give you the owner of the domain (or occasionally a proxy, who can accept or forward legal documents). Or you can use alexa.com. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 19:56, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

That only produces domain contact details, which are fairly easy to get, normally. At the bottom end of the WP page I linked it gves a letter to send to the service provider if the domain owner is nonresponsive or doesn't co-operate. How would one identify which service provider that might be? Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 20:09, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

That's a bit harder, because "service provider" can mean one of three things. For a small website it's the hosting company. For a medium sized website it's the colo facility. And for a large company (a real whopper like Yahoo) its the trunk network supplier. For the first ones, put the domain into dnsstuff's traceroute window, then look and see what the last reply is - it'll often identify as a machine at a hosting company like Serverconfig, Rackspace, or Dreamhost. For the second kind, you need to backtrack a bit in that whois listing, although often only one or two machines. For example, if we traceroute sfgate.com (the San Francisco Chronicle) the second last machine is identified as belonging to savvis.net, which turns out to be Savvis Inc., the Chronicle's hosting provider. You'd probably see something like that (but having to backtrack a bit more, perhaps) for an bigger company. For the biggest (google, yahoo, microsoft) the traffic will jump straight from a trunk telecoms provider like level3 or at&t straight to the final company network. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 20:21, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, that's very helpful. Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 20:23, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Finlay's answer seems totally correct to me. It might help to understand the term "peering", which is the internet engineering technical term for connecting two "equally large" networks. Neither network is the "host" or "client", rather they are "peers", and they connect using Border Gateway Protocol. Since neither is the "host" in such an internet connection, it is not possible to call either the "internet service provider" - rather, by virtue of both being large networks, and connected, they are forming part of the internet. Nimur (talk) 05:37, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

USB over ethernet, or other soultion that will work as a window service.

I would like to be able to do the following: I would like to run the server-end of a particular software application that we use on a virtual machine inside VMware ESXi server, but I have a problem. The licensing for the software uses a dongle attached to the USB. While VMware Workstation has support for USB devices passing through from the host machine to a guest OS this is not possible on ESXi or (as far as I know) any of the other server VMware products. A solution to this problem was suggested to me which was to purchase an Ethernet attached USB hub. The server VM could then connect to the USB dongle over the local network. I purchased a hub (unknown Chinese brand) for this purpose and attached it to the network and I was able to connect to it remotely (although that was from a VMware Workstation guest OS and not within ESXi server, as I have not yet set that up), but another problem remains. The client software for the hub, which attaches to the USB device over Ethernet, runs as an interactive application that minimizes to a tray application. This means that a user must log-in and activate the connection on the server. I was wondering whether anybody knows whether a similar device exists (I know that Belkin and Digi make similar products) which allows the Ethernet connections to be made by running a Windows service and so does not require an interactive login. I also understand that there are also several software products which allow the USB remote connections over Ethernet, by forwarding a USB device from one machine to another, and thus require software installation on two computers; but I would like to know whether any of these software solutions run the client end of the software as a Windows service.

So to summarise, how can I connect to a USB device from within an ESXi guest using a method which does not require a user-login? I have already left a similar message to this on the VMware forums, but if anyone has any ideas as to a better (perhaps USB device related) discussion board upon which this question could could be placed I would be more than grateful. Thanks. 87.194.131.188 (talk) 22:41, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Manipulating the console in Python...

There's a bunch of programs on UNIX-platforms that don't just use the console as a means for displaying stuff printed out to the standard output or standard error, but actually do really nice things on it, like showing progress-bars and updating numbers on it without necessarily printing a whole new line (like how wget shows a nice little progress-bar, for instance).

How do you do that in Python? I know about ncurses, but that's more for if you want to create like a whole pseudo-gui in the terminal, isn't it? That's not what I want, I just want the ability to small dynamic little updates to the last line of the console. Any help would be appriciated. 90.233.149.220 (talk) 23:56, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Curses is built on termcap/terminfo, and the python curses implementation allows access to that (which just lets you do basic stuff like cursor movements and colours in a terminal independent way). This example may be helpful. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 00:05, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Ahh, that little recipe seems to do exactly what I want. Thanks! 90.233.133.166 (talk) 01:04, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

If you just want to update the last line then you don't need curses. ASCII code 13 ('\r') will send the cursor back to the beginning of the current line and ASCII code 8 ('\b') will send it back one character position. This will work even in environments where curses isn't available, like the Windows console. The only tricky part is that you may need to flush the standard output buffer because some C libraries only flush it when they see '\n'. -- BenRG (talk) 11:18, 3 September 2009 (UTC)