Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2018 May 25

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May 25

400 Bad Request

Sometimes when I am trying to browse a particular on-line newspaper web page using a Samsung Galaxy 7J, I get the error message:

400 Bad Request

Request Header or Cookie Too Large

nginx

I see that an HTTP 400 is an apparent client error, and I agree that the error is on my Samsung, because I can view the page just fine using a Dell with Windows 10. (Once upon a time, there was a common saying among IT people, when I was one, to any of various errors on small computing devices, which was "Get a Real Computer", and getting a real computer does avoid the problem.) Restarting the Samsung doesn't solve the problem, but sometimes a few hours does. Does anyone have any insight as to whether this can be avoided or worked around? Robert McClenon (talk) 03:09, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

• That stinks of a browser, not OS or hardware, problem. Which browser do you use? Does clearing its cookies solve the problem at least temporarily?

Also, is the URL causing that error message mobile-specific (i.e. on the "mobile version" of the website, which should in an ideal world differ from the desktop version only in graphical elements, but probably does not)? Tigraan^{Click here to contact me} 09:16, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

The URLs that are causing the error are also available on a real computer. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:44, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

I am using Chrome (the mobile version) as my browser. How do I clear cookies on mobile Chrome? Robert McClenon (talk) 02:13, 26 May 2018 (UTC)

Tap the 3 dots, tap settings, tap security, tap clear browsing history. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.193.149.75 (talk) 18:28, 26 May 2018 (UTC)

I got to Settings and I don't see Security. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:44, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

I tried Privacy, which allows me to clear cookies, and that does work. Thank you. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:04, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

The Dog Who Digs Search Software

On earlier versions of Windows, in particular on XP, there was a search thingy that would search the contents of the C: drive and display a dog digging, and it would search for a string or boolean combination of strings. Is there a version of this, or another essentially equivalent software tool, available for Windows 10? For that matter, if I really can do a full-text search of all files in a directory on my C: drive or a flash E: drive without buying something extra, that would be even better, but I assume I am supposed to pay for it.

Other suggestions for search software are still welcome.

Robert McClenon (talk) 03:26, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

I highly recommend FileLocator Pro. There's a free "lite" version, which itself is quite good, and may or may not be enough for your needs, but personally I think the extra features of the Pro version are well worth paying for. You can try the Pro version free for 30 days. 14.2.224.5 (talk) 05:41, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Is there some trick to installing it? Do I need to turn off my anti-virus software? Robert McClenon (talk) 03:12, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

I've never had any problems installing it on Windows 7, but I've not tried it on 10. It's probably best to contact their support people. You can try the portable version (under "Other Downloads" at the bottom of the Downloads page) without having Admin rights or needing to install it. Other than Explorer integration, the portable version offers the same functionality. 14.2.224.5 (talk) 23:32, 29 May 2018 (UTC)

I just installed it on Windows 10 without problems. (Windows Defender is running, but there is no third-party anti-virus installed.) 106.68.252.192 (talk) 13:28, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

Personally, I use Super Finder XT (when I want a GUI) or grep under Cygwin. I've found the inbuilt Windows 10 search to be very unreliable (the index isn't always updated). --TrogWoolley (talk) 10:50, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

I have never been able to get the Windows 10 search to find text for me. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:45, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

See my question below. I installed Super Finder XT. How do I enter the search parameters? Robert McClenon (talk) 03:12, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

(EC) If you just type whatever text you want to find in the search bar and it's an indexed location, it should just work most of the time. (I.E. the limitations of Windows indexed searching aside, your experience of it never working is not normal.)

As sort of indicated by TrogWoolley, Since Windows Vista, the built in search tool has been designed around the assumption you allow indexing of whatever you want to search especially for full content searches. So if you haven't allowed indexing of the location you're trying to 'full text search' this may be the issue. While it is possible to do a content search in non indexed locations (but it isn't the default, you need to enable it under advanced options after searching), personally I've found it's simply not advisable. Even with simple file name etc searches, I've found non indexed locations are very annoying to search. To be fair, I tend to have lots of data and even other tools can be annoying to use but I do strongly suggest you use indexing if you want to search file contents.

As TrogWoolley said, the index isn't always perfect although when it works it's likely to be far faster. Maybe one key limitation is that IMO the way even content Windows knows has been updated or new but not yet re-/indexed is handled is IMO poor and doesn't make it clear to the end user that they may be missing stuff for this reason.

Also I said 'file contents' rather than full text search. The Windows indexed search is obviously not a simple full text search. Notably it will only index the file contents of file types it's set up to index. See [1] for example. On the flip side, it does understand files like DocX, PDF etc where a simple pure text search will fail although I'm not suggesting this is only something Windows search does or you need indexing to do this. (It's possible to add Ifilter plugins to support file types Indexing Service.) Other than the design around indexing, perhaps another key change is that IIRC pre Windows Vista Windows would index/search file contents of files it didn't think it understood as if they were simple text whereas modern Windows will not.

Nil Einne (talk) 03:26, 28 May 2018 (UTC)