Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 July 15

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July 15

Just installed IE9. I have a serious problem with it that seems to make it useless for me.

I note that a "separate search box" has been deleted from IE9. I definitely want to use Bing, Youtube, Hulu and other search providers. When I had IE8 I found that Google had outdated useless results (a year old) and Bing had more recent results for an important recent search. I prefer to use as few toolbars as possible to preserve space for results. Am I limited to Google via its toolbar? Can't find from Microsoft on how to roll back to IE8.1archie99 (talk) 03:30, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

If you click the down arrow beside the little magnifying glass in the address bar, it'll pop down a list of recently visited sites and favorite sites. At the very bottom of that is a line with icons for all the different search providers you have available (think it's just Bing when IE9 is initially set up). In the bottom right corner is an "add" button to add new search providers. Then just click on which one you want to use. 75.155.138.12 (talk) 08:47, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

You can also set your home page to be your favorite search engine. That's what I do. That way, any time you open a new tab, you get that search engine. As for Google getting old results, that makes me wonder in Microsoft is intentionally using cached values for Google, to make it less useful and encourage people to move to their product (Bing). StuRat (talk) 18:22, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Defaul video player; detecting which is playing and changing it

How do I tell what program my imac is accessing to play mpgs and other videos when I click on them at a website? It's playing this tiny clip in the center of the screen and I know that at some point I was able to change my default player to something else but I don't know how and I recently reconfigured. So a few questions. How do I tell which program is running to play the clip (this is embedded on a website, not a clip I've downloaded that if I played, the menu at the top of the screen would show me the program) and how to I change the default program that playes these. I think what's playing them right now it quicktime, because I remember from a long time ago that when anything plays through quicktime it would open in that tiny screen, but I'm not sure. Thanks.--108.46.103.142 (talk) 04:16, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

When you click on them in a website, your browser is deciding how to handle them. You can look up how your browser handles a given file type in its Options or Preferences or whatever it calls the thing. Looie496 (talk) 05:35, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Registry cleaning

In short, is registry cleaning worth bothering with, and if so, which cleaner?

For old times' sake, I occasionally use an old computer with Win2k. For a long time it ran roughly as fast as my assistants' machine, with XP, which has more memory, and a far faster CPU. But I had to swap the latter with another, nominally identical (old) machine. This is a slug; my Win2k machine runs rings around it. And it's not just me: a friend in the same predicament says that her new old XP machine is a slug compared with its predecessor.

First I suspected the "antivirus" software. I really want to delete this, but I suppose I have a civic duty to run "antivirus" software as long as I'm running Windows; and I don't know of a significantly less annoying "antivirus" alternative.

Today I heard an acquaintance complaining about grotesque sluggishness in other (newer) Windows computers hereabouts. He'd run a registry cleaner on one, zapped over 300 pointless registry entries (from old versions of software, etc), and the machine thereupon booted and ran far faster, he said. Sounds promising!

However, the general thrust of the article "Registry cleaner" seems to be that "cleaning" your registry is about as good for your computer as chiropractic or homeopathy or moxibustion is for your body. Moreover, some googling for putatively independent information brings very dubious looking web pages, showing as " contest winners" laughably huge cardboard boxes.

Then again, the WP article "Registry cleaner" is feebly sourced....

So what's the straight dope on registry cleaning? If it has some value, is there a no-bull (no large cardboard box) GNU or similar program for the job?

(Please don't advise me to switch to Linux. It's excellent advice, which I've already taken. The Windows computer is for anyone who happens to be working with/for me, not for me. And these people seem oddly worried by anything other than Windows.) -- Hoary (talk) 06:47, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Contrary to the about comment by Hoary, chiropractic is a very effective treatment for some conditions. I know this is not a good place for a discussion of chiropractic but I cannot let that comment pass unchallenged. Wanderer57 (talk) 18:44, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Don't know nothing about cardboard boxes to clean the registry with, but as one who had moved away from Windows quite a while ago, I can tell you this much: yes, cleaning the registry will speed things up to some extent, depending on the individual machine, actually. Can't recommend any particular software for it, because back when I still had any flavour of Windows, I usually a) just installed stuff I really needed, and b) just reinstalled the OS once every few months. There's a c), I did a little bit of cleaning by hand (but just a little bit - just the keys related to apps running at start-up), but that's kind of marginal (but still able to speed thing up somewhat if you do it right). Cheers, Ouro (blah blah) 11:24, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Most registry cleaner programs are garbage that perform no useful function. To make it worse, many registry cleaner programs are front-ends for trojan horse programs.

Ultimately, you should ask "why will cleaning the registry speed up my computer?" Your computer's speed is determined by its hardware. If you notice that your computer is not meeting its peak performance specifically because unwanted programs are running, you should stop (or uninstall) those specific programs.

When you have many programs running, you are sharing your CPU and RAM with many programs. If you have unwanted programs that are running, turn them off; or disable them from starting when you boot your computer. You do not need any special tools: just know what programs have been installed, and disable (or uninstall) the ones you do not need. You can learn more about how programs auto-start in Microsoft Windows and how to configure which programs start on boot. Any legitimate "registry cleaner" program that provides a "speedup" is doing exactly these steps; but, by having software perform these steps for you, you are risking any of that program's side-effects or malware.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that "lots of clutter installed on the hard disk" slows your computer down; this is generally untrue. Modern computers are for the most part performance-agnostic with respect to the amount of data on the hard-disk. (Data on disk may cause minor variations in disk seek or file system performance, but this is not really what you experience when your computer is "running slowly.") The most critical factor that affects performance is the number of programs currently using CPU and RAM. Your Windows Registry, a utility that Windows uses to store and share data between programs and services, has essentially nothing to do with this performance. Nimur (talk) 15:32, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

There is something that many registry cleaners also do, which can improve performance dramatically. That is to edit the list of startup programs. These programs are started each time you log on. Unfortunately, when you install many programs, they insert the command to start up a background process every time you boot. One common function of these backgound programs is to check for updates. This sounds innocent, but if you have dozens of programs all checking for updates each time you log in, that will really slow things down. To me, the more appropriate behaviour is to only check for updates when you request a check (or perhaps when you start that specific program), so I disable all those. An exception is for updates to Windows, itself. StuRat (talk) 18:11, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Ccleaner is well thought of, and can also be used to control what starts up. I also sometimes use RegCleaner 4.3 by Jouni Vuorio, using the "do them all" option: never had any problems. Both free. 2.97.208.91 (talk) 21:18, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, all. I find Nimur and StuRat's comments particularly convincing. And it seems that Ccleaner and RegCleaner (semi-) automate, or streamline, some tasks that seem worthwhile even to non-believers in registry "cleaning", so I may well experiment with one or the other when I return to my Windows computer next week. Again, thank you all for your constructive and useful comments. -- Hoary (talk) 00:49, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Samsung Infuse 4G

Can anyone summarize the known pros and cons with the Samsung Infuse 4G and compare it to other phones of the same class on the market? Viriditas (talk) 09:27, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Yes. Anyone can do this. Just Google phone compare.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:44, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Where I am, it will be July 15, 2011 in a few minutes. Most of the information you refer to is out of date represents brief opinions from early adopters and does not have information from users who have used the phone for some time and have an educated opinion of it. Viriditas (talk) 10:00, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

I'm sorry, I don't know. However, I do note that Wikipedia (not a reliable source) says: The advertisement for the Samsung Infuse 4G is notable for depicting a woman screaming at the image of a tarantula spider on the phone, and a man beating the phone with his shoe. Itself unsourced, but if true, surely worth a couple of brownie points. The name isn't as good as "Boulder" (surely one of the all-time great names for a mobile phone) but far less horrible than "Commando" (which I'm contemplating, despite its name). Either way, I hope that you make a good choice. -- Hoary (talk) 10:23, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Someone Help Me Please My PRograms Arent Working!

For some reason when I turned on my laptop computer it tried to run all of its programs with Notepad instead of how they run normally! Can someone help me how to reverse fix this problem My computer is a Windows 7 laptop computer it can turn on to desktop fine but then it starts to run or attempt to run its programs such as gadget bar with Notepad. I need this fix quickly Thanks in advanced 1.52.90.241 (talk) 14:08, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

It would seem as if the executables and shortcuts have become associated with Notepad, maybe because of some virus that replaced the .exe and .lnk extensions with .txt. I found these three posts from Yahoo answers [1] [2] [3] that might be of help. Still, that is only a theory; you should look for someone that can take a look at the computer to see what is going on specifically - frankie (talk) 14:44, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

No it doesnot seem to be a virus and all file extensions are kept It just seems that everyting is running with Notepad despite that. Maybe i just need to know how to change default file opening program from Notepad to standard how do I do that? 183.80.223.43 (talk) 15:00, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

For individual files you can right click on it, and then under "Open with" select "Choose program" (note there is a checkmark on the resulting window to make your selection permanent). For a list of all file types you need to go to "Folder Options" (open any folder and it should be somewhere on the menu on the top left; I'm not on 7 right now and I don't remember exactly), and once you're there go to the "File Types" tab, which lets you specify which action to take for each file type - frankie (talk) 15:29, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

There is no Open With option. I just want to restore program opening with their intended originals instead of with Notepads 1.52.42.117 (talk) 16:09, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

That's odd. Check this link [4]. I wouldn't recommend installing the program mentioned at the bottom, though (for no particular reason, it just seems that the last thing you need right now is to install another program that might or might not work, and the functionality is included in Windows) - frankie (talk) 16:42, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

It seems that the OP's problem isn't with file associations so much as .exe files not working correctly. A quick search for "exe files open in notepad" provided many results. This page may help, and MVPS is a reputable organization. --LarryMac | Talk 17:55, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Open the Control Panel, go to "Default Programs->Associate a file type or protocol with a specific program", and look at the list of associations you get -- this will tell you what program is set to open each file type. You ought not to see .exe in the list. Looie496 (talk) 18:09, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Remember that I am using Windows 7 not Vista they are both very different so I cannot find this "Default Programs" you speak of... 1.52.55.125 (talk) 03:43, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, it's inside the "Programs" part of the Control Panel. (This is Windows 7 I am referring to.) Looie496 (talk) 05:20, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Two things that might account for what you are seeing:

• The 'assoc' command has either removed or altered the file association for exe files. If you can open a command prompt, the command "assoc .exe=exefile" should restore exe files to their normal working. "help assoc" will tell you something about this command.
• Something (a virus/malware?) has renamed your programs to end with .txt; so for example "WinMail.exe" becomes "WinMail.exe.txt". Coupled with the option to "Hide extensions for known filetypes" in the Folder Options control panel, the program still looks like "WinMail.exe" in Windows Explorer except the icon might have changed to a sheet of lined paper. Astronaut (talk) 14:28, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Bridged Client Mode

Hello. I've set up "Bridged Client Mode" on an OpenWRT-firmware linksys WRT54GL router, to bridge it to my other Linksys (original firmware) router connected to the Internet. When I plug a wireless-disabled computer into one of the ethernet ports in the bridged client router, I can access my LAN and the Internet without any problems. However, it seems like my wireless devices don't connect to the bridged client router wirelessly. What do I need to do so that my wireless devices know to connect to the bridged client when the access point is weaker or out of reach? Thank you for your help.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 20:21, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Power on/off on a single USB 2.0 port?

Is there an application to turn power on and off repeatedly on a single USB 2.0 port while the computer is running? Is it even possible physically, or are all the power and ground leads of the USB ports hardwired to the computer power supply? The computer in question is a standard HP laptop under Windows. Thanks. --Dr Dima (talk) 21:03, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

As to physical possibility: the USB3.0 spec (and I believe 2.0) does allow "host initiated suspend" (section c.1.4.3); that's not quite the same as "off" (as the device can be told to wake from that state) but the intention is that the device draws as little power as possible in this mode. As for being completely off, that would strictly be a property of the host controller rather than of USB itself. Intel's UHCI document dodges the issue, but the EHCI document talks about an optional feature that EHCI-compliant host controllers can have - PPC (power port control); controllers which implement PPC have a per-port power control, and can completely depower that port (section 2.3.9 PORTSC and 2.2.4 HCCPARAMS). So the question remains as to whether, and how, Windows provides access to these functions. There is driver level support, but I can't see anywhere that this functionality is exposed to user mode programs - all the uses I can find of it is by the system's own power manager (so it can put USB devices to sleep when it's switching to a lower power mode, etc.). -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 22:33, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

If you're asking with the idea of controlling something (like flashing a light or turning on a motor) using a USB port, there are better ways of doing this. Typically one would use a USB - connected microcontroller board like an Arduino to do the electrical part, and drive it with a simple program on the PC, which sends it commands over the USB port. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 22:33, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Yup, that's exactly the idea: I need to drive a LED (total cost with a matching resistor: 32 cents) without having to pay $30 for a microcontroller board, LOL. Can this be done? --Dr Dima (talk) 01:17, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

It seems unlikely you need anything complex enough to cost $30. A cheap 8 pin, 8 bit MCU like a PIC or something I'm guessing should be able to handle it. You'll need a way to program it, you could use something like a serial programmable PICAXE. Of course if you still have a serial port you could potentially just use that presuming you're not trying a high power LED (and perhaps a white or blue LED since I'm not sure if the voltage of the serial port is high enough). It's possible to make very cheap LIRC devices which function off the serial port and work in a somewhat similar way (although flashing the LED at a much higher rate). Nil Einne (talk) 13:39, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

I guess you could adapt this heinous hack to your purposes. But stuff like this makes sense only if you want to hack stuff from next to nothing on principle, or if your time is very cheap indeed. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 14:23, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

A while ago on this desk, someone (unfortunately I don't remember who) suggested this hack to a similar question: take a keyboard and use the NumLock, CapsLock, or ScrollLock as your led, and toggle them programmatically on your computer. This can be done in just one line of code in, e.g., Java:

java.awt.Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().setLockingKeyState(java.awt.event.KeyEvent.VK_CAPS_LOCK, true);
//or false to turn off. Use VK_CAPS_LOCK, VK_NUM_LOCK, and/or VK_SCROLL_LOCK

This would be much easier than dealing with the low levels of the USB interface, although it might not be a completely satisfactory solution for you.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 03:18, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Age of my computer?

I'm using a second hand WinXP computer that is a few years old, but works very well for my needs as I never do anything computationally intense. Is there any way to tell via software, and without taking it to bits, how old it is? 2.97.208.91 (talk) 21:24, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Run Speccy, and under the motherboard section it should state the date AvrillirvA (talk) 21:47, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, the WinXP instalation date is given as 2005, the BIOS date is 2004. 92.24.138.48 (talk) 15:33, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Steam problems

recently, my computer underwent a regularly-scheduled update, but now Steam won't start. A Steam connection error box appears stating that "you either are not connected to the internet, or your internet connection is not configured correctly for Steam." I know I have my internet connected and Steam has worked perfectly for over a year up to now.

Steam will start in offline mode, but for some reason I cannot play any of my games in offline mode, not even ones like Half Life which aren't Internet-based.

The only other notable fact, when starting up an Updating bar appears, but does not even start filling up. After a few minutes, the 'correction error' screen appears.

I am currently at a college, so I do not have access to the router. Is there a solution to the problem that does not require a router? 163.1.151.174 (talk) 22:31, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps the college's network admins have recently taken steps to block the ports necessary for Steam to work properly. These are described here, with a note at the bottom about colleges blocking it. It's possible that they've done so inadvertently: perhaps they had allowed the traffic, but have updated their router firmware and have lost their customisations, returning it to a more strict default. Either way, the college network admin people are the ones to talk to. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 22:43, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Another option is that you have some local personal firewall (like Zonealarm or McAfee) which is blocking the same ports; you need to add exceptions to that to allow the outgoing steam connections. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 22:43, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Just adding about the offline mode, it doesn't quite work the way you would think it should: It's part of their anti-piracy techniques and it's actually preparing a game so that it can be used temporarily offline in the future and you have to actually have an Internet connection to do this. As far as I know there's no way to "force" a game into offline mode as it needs confirmation from the Steam servers first (and it's only temporary because the next time you go "online" it will wipe the offline configuration).  ZX81  ^talk 00:14, 16 July 2011 (UTC)