Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 August 30

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August 30

Add-ons

My firefox has been slowing down and crashing as of late, so I disabled all the add-ons to see if the problem was with the browser itself. It runs fine without the add-ons, so now I have the task of trying to track down which add-on(s) is responsible for slowing down my browser. I have 40+ add-ons, so how do I go about narrowing it down? 24.189.87.160 (talk) 06:41, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Add 20 of them back in and see how that goes. Then if ok add half of whats left, if bad remove half of what's there. Etc -- SGBailey (talk) 08:31, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

The good old divide and conquer algorithm. 213.122.35.55 (talk) 08:42, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Hebrew font identification

Can anyone help me in identifying the Hebrew font used here? It says רבי מורתי and I think it could be an italic variant... Thanks! ╟─TreasuryTag►senator─╢ 09:46, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Seems to be partially influenced by Rashi script, but as to the specific font used, I have no idea... AnonMoos (talk) 03:17, 1 September 2010 (UTC)

VB.net

when we creat a project then we want to devloped a setup for it project. How many step invovles to make a project run setup to the help of VB.net? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Manojjnp2010 (talk • contribs) 10:15, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

I'm having trouble figuring out what you are asking. Are you asking for how many steps it takes to make an Installer application for a given VB.Net project? I seem to recall that VB.Net has a pretty automated system from creating a "package" that can self-install (and if need be download the appropriate VB.Net runtimes, make registry changes, etc.) that can be as little as one step if your installation is very simple (e.g. just making sure it ends up in a directory and that they have the VB.Net runtimes). --Mr.98 (talk) 15:35, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Compare code

Is anyone aware of a tool I could use to compare the source code of two websites. I am doing a bit of research on phishing sites and have came across a fake site, how could I compare the code that is on the fake with with the real site. I suppose I could do it by just scrolling through it but it is a mass of code and wonder is there an easier way thanks Mo ainm~Talk 17:28, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Download them both with wget and run diff on the directories containing the downloads. --Sean 17:51, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Use fc.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 18:09, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Notepad ++ can do this. Paste the different source codes you wish to compare into separate tabs, then go "Plugins -> Compare -> Compare" or "Alt + D" 1230049-0012394-C (talk) 19:00, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks all, I used Notepadd ++ seemed the handiest. Mo ainm~Talk 19:07, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

High x16 PCIe 2.0 Slot-Count Barebone System

Hi.

   My current computer is a Tyan FT72B7015 (B7015F72V2R) Barebone System with the following components installed in it.

• two Intel Xeon Six-Core X5680 3.33GHz/12MB/130W Processors
• eighteen units of Kingston 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 ECC CL9 2R RDIMM x4 with Thermal Sensor (KVR1333D3D3R9S-8G)
• four nVidia Tesla M2070 6GB GPU Computing Modules
• two Kingston SSDNow V+ 512GB 2.5” SATA II SSD (SNVP325-S2/512GB), in a RAID 1 Array
• Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition
• Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2 Workstation Edition

   The Tyan FT72B7015 (B7015F72V2R) Barebone System has only eight x16 PCIe 2.0 Slots spaced one slot apart from each other, due to which I'm only able to add a maximum of another four nVidia Tesla M2070 6GB GPU Computing Modules. I'm wondering whether there are any barebone-system(s) currently available which provide atleast ten (preferably twelve or more) x16 PCIe 2.0 slots spaced one slot apart from each other. It would also be very good if the current RAM (Kingston Part No. KVR1333D3D3R9S-8G) and Intel Xeon Six-Core X5680 3.33GHz Processors could be reused on the new barebone-system.

   All help and information is appreciated. Rocketshiporion 17:25, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

country ip masking

Is there, and/or will there ever be any way to mask your IP and fool a server into thinking you are from somewhere else without directing your entire data stream through a proxy? Is it even theoretically possible to make a server believe you are from some place, and yet not be limited to the bandwidth restrictions that inherently arise through using a proxy? Thanks. 174.114.145.144 (talk) 18:59, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

It isn't hard. Just use VPN. It is similar to a proxy, but not identical. For example, if I want to access IEEE or ACM papers, I can do it for free if I VPN to one university I have an account with (since they are an engineering school). If I want access to medical journals, I can do it for foree if I VPN to a different (medical) university. My computer's actual IP address doesn't change, but the servers (such as the ACM journal server) thinks that my IP is different. I am, in a sense, using the VPN as a proxy. So, get VPN access to a network in a different country and servers will think you are from that network. -- kainaw™ 19:22, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Yes, that's definitely viable; but a VPN is basically a trust-worthy proxy with whom you have an encrypted connection. So you're still technically proxying. You can also use a proxy without encryption, if you so desire. I think the distinction is whether "proxy" is being used as a generic conceptual term, or in reference to specific protocols like SOCKS. Nimur (talk) 21:53, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

In any case, it doesn't sound to me like this is what the OP cares about. The OP doesn't seem to care about security or privacy. They just don't want to be limited to the bandwidth a proxy provides. However there's nothing inherently bandwidth limiting about a proxy. If you pay for a commercial proxy service with a bandwidth promise there's no reason that's going to be more expensive then using a VPN, it could even be cheaper. Clearly you should have no expectations of a public/open proxy or perhaps not even intended to be public/open one.

However as others have pointed out, if the server is smart enough, there's no real way to get around the fact that the server has to see the IP of the proxy at all times, so all the data has to go to the proxy/VPN/whatever then sent on to you so you will ultimately be limited to what bandwidth is available to the VPN/proxy.

In fact a VPN is potentially worse in this case for the OP. I know from experience it's difficult to set up Windows to use different connections for different servers. This means you're going to have all your data going thorough the VPN, as long as you're connected (you can use a different computer or a VM of course), something you may not want and which are of course more likely to create bandwidth problems.

Okay it may be possible to set up if there's a defined subset of IPs you want to be able to access or if the VPN it set up in such a way that it will only grant access to such a subset but even so with a proxy it's IMHO far easier. Just set up one browser to use the proxy, and use that when you want to be proxied, and everything else just goes thorough your normal connection.

Most proxy setups like SOCKS do limit what you can do, e.g. may not be suitable for P2P but again it doesn't sound like this is a problem for the OP. Their only problem/concern appears to be the bandwidth issues.

To put it a different way, if your problem is bandwidth, you need to look for a service, be it proxy or VPN that meets your bandwidth requirements. (If your problem is a proxy isn't working for your app or you care about privacy/security or whatever that's a different matter.)

Nil Einne (talk) 09:35, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks Nil Einne, you've actually explained exactly my problem. Services like Hotspot Shield "work" for my purposes, I'm not really that worried about security/encryption, but paying for bandwidth is always a problem, and at the speeds that HSS operates at there are a lot of things I can't do. The trend now on the internet seems to be much more restrictive to people living in other countries around the world, but I guess there is no easy solution. 174.114.145.144 (talk) 21:03, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Dear 174.114.145.144, let me reword your question: Is it possible to receive a reply to a letter you sent off with a deliberately false sender's address on it? See if you can give yourself the answer for that question, and your original question should be answered as well. -- 78.43.71.155 (talk) 19:24, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

You don't have to use a "false" return-address: you can proxy paper mail as well. You just need a trusted agent to do this for you, while maintaining anonymity: e.g., a Post Office box. Like a SOCKS proxy, if the post-office decided to betray your trust, they (the Post Office, or the SOCKS proxy) have the necessary information to make your identity public to a sender; but because you trust that the proxy will not do this, anonymity is guaranteed. You can additionally encrypt your data, so that even if the Post Office (or the proxy server) decides to snoop your mail, the contents are meaningless to them. And you can encrypt the data-path between you and the proxy as well. Nimur (talk) 21:01, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Some servers only check your location when you first connect, issue you a cookie, and assume all subsequent requests from your browser are from the same location. Clearing cookies and using a proxy, then switching to your standard connection might be enough to fool it into thinking you're connecting from the proxys location for the entire session. 1230049-0012394-C (talk) 19:43, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the answers! I'll see if there's some way I can access VPN. 174.114.145.144 (talk) 21:35, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

usb peripheral switch

I have a "usb peripheral switch". What exactly does it do? It looks like a hub, but apparently it's sort of the reverse? 82.44.55.25 (talk) 20:11, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps it allows you to plug a single set of peripherals into the device, and then switch which computer they are connected to.

Similar to a KVM Switch. APL (talk) 21:07, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Arcade Fire's Wilderness Downtown

Any ideas why I can't get this working in Chrome, using any address? Aaronite (talk) 21:05, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

It could be that the developer of the site did not program it so it would work under any browser. Why not try it with Internet explorer?Sir Stupidity (talk) 00:58, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

I should have been more clear: it was designed specifically for Chrome, and shouldn't work, at least not well, in other browsers. At any rate, it works now. Don't know why. Aaronite (talk) 02:55, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Hard Drive

I plugged one of my external hard drives into the computer (via usb) and immediately it started making access noises like it was being read/written to. I've disabled the windows search indexer, and anti-virus, yet it makes access noises the moment it's plugged in. I checked with Process Explorer and nothing is showing as reading or writing to the drive. More strange is that even once I "safely ejected hardware" on it, it was STILL making these noises until I unplugged it from the power. The noises it's making sound perfectly normal access noises like if I was copying a large file over or something, it's not weird grinding noises like if it was failing. I can access every file and everything is working as it should. Also it's only happening on this drive. Any ideas what might be wrong? 82.44.55.25 (talk) 22:13, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Did this happen when you used it for the first timeSir Stupidity (talk) 01:02, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

I've had the drive for a few months, yesterday was the first time it's done this 82.44.55.25 (talk) 10:03, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Try restarting Windows. If it still does the same thing try it on a different computer to see if it does it there as well. Report the outcomes. --jjron (talk) 15:39, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

I've restarted the computer and it's still happening. I tested the drive on my other computer (Windows XP) and it doesn't happen, so that at least narrows it down to being something going on with my Windows 7 computer. 82.44.55.25 (talk) 19:20, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Interesting. You could try it on a different Windows 7 computer, just for the sake of it - see if it's an issue with Win7 or just your Win7. If it's troubling you, you could try backing up everything off the disk, reformat it (perhaps using a different computer where it doesn't have this problem, and do a full format, not just a quick format), and then try it again. Maybe someone else has a better suggestion though. --jjron (talk) 07:44, 2 September 2010 (UTC)