Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 February 19

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February 19

List of English Words

I'm writing a program that needs to recognize when words are spelled correctly, so I need a list of english words, including plurals, conjugations, common proper nouns, etc, but not foreign words or acronyms. Do you have any suggestions? Black Carrot (talk) 00:27, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

You could extract this data from the English Wiktionary. I have done so in my application AlgoSim. If you install it, you will find a UTF-8 plain-text file <Program Files>\AlgoSim\data\english (yes, with no extension) with all English words, one per row, and each row has the format <Word><U+0009><Class><U+0009><Definition>. However, all acronyms are present, so you need to ignore all rows with Class=Initialism or Class=Acronym. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 00:36, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Try using Aspell. It's kinda like Word's Spellcheck without Word. It can run standalone, or be integrated into certain applications (I know that Notepad++ supports it out of the box). Hmmwhatsthisdo (talk) 05:38, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

I recently needed a long list of English words. I found This Page on Sourceforge to be very helpful. Ultimately I went with the ISpell list found on that page. (Note : I was not making a spellchecker, so I can't speak to the list's suitability for that purpose.) I hope this helps.APL (talk) 05:57, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

You can google for the SOWPODS list which is the official Scrabble player's list of English words. It includes plurals but not proper nouns. Other lists with proper nouns might not include plurals so you can combine them. Sandman30s (talk) 08:36, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Look at the Moby Project. 75.62.109.146 (talk) 05:01, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Google Search Results

Is it possible to see where a particular site appears in a search result without manually sifting through pages?

eg.

say I want to find instances of example.com in google search results for "example". I want to know how high up on the list the site ranks, but I don't want to manually find it?

How can I do this?

Thanks in advance,

PerfectProposal 00:57, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

I suppose you could write a script to automatically get results from Google and count where your search phrase occurs. I am not a programmer, though. --Ouro (blah blah) 07:52, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

SERP Rank does the trick, if you give a URL and search term. There's others, that actually give your results on multiple search engines, but I forget where they are. -- Zanimum (talk) 19:09, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

chemistry

50g of sugar added to 450g of water.What is the percentage of sugar in the solution? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Agnesdelatorre (talk • contribs) 03:27, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Divide the solvent by the solution: In this case, 50 grams of sugar divided by (450 grams of water plus 50 grams of sugar). 50/500=.10 or 10% - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ ^τ _¢ 04:08, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

This question would be better asked at the WP:RDS Nil Einne (talk) 13:18, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Percentage by weight or by volume? SteveBaker (talk) 04:05, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Wherever it was asked, it should have got a {{dyoh}} rather than an answer. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 13:44, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Converting svg to swf

I'm looking to convert some svg files off wikipedia into Flash swf files (and eventually fla files) so that I can edit them in (my opinion) a more comfortable vector editor. I have tried to use the converter available at sourceforge (svg2swf), and got a nice blank white square as a result. Does anybody know of, or have an svg to swf converter that they have gotten good results with? The file is File:Canada_Ontario_location_map.svg. - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ ^τ _¢ 03:37, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Adobe Illustrator can export SWF files (File → Export or File → Save for Web). If you'd like a vector .fla file, instead, then you would need to export the SVG from Illustrator as a .ai file. The process of importing .ai files was improved considerably in Flash CS3. Previous versions of Flash seemed to mess with them a little.--Drknkn (talk) 04:31, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

You can fix the .svg file and then svg2swf will give you what you wanted. Comment out the path elements at line 43, 1467 and 1903; all three are invalid because they don't have the required 'd' attribute.86.178.150.150 (talk) 15:26, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

Nice, and I can even do it with the demo. I have Flash MX so I use another converter to change it from swf to fla. - ʄɭoʏɗiaɲ ^τ _¢ 07:34, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Windows Explorer launches on startup

Recently, whenever I load up my netbook, Windows Explorer is launched. Is it possible to determine why this is? I know that's what happens when I crash Explorer, so maybe Explorer is crashing on startup. As a side, when I load My Computer, I get an error message about Windows Live not being enabled. How do I get rid of these issues? Mxvxnyxvxn (talk) 05:07, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

By "Windows Explorer", do you mean the base process, or a window? If it's a window, look for multiple instances of explorer.exe in Msconfig & your system's startup folders. Hmmwhatsthisdo (talk) 05:40, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Ok, I shot down a bunch of random start processes. It seems to be working... Thanks! But what about this Windows Live Messenger? I haven't changed any settings to my knowledge.Mxvxnyxvxn (talk) 06:38, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

laptop keyboard

i fucked my laptop keyboard and would want to know if there is a way to buy a spare one or something like that. i got an hp dv6000 series laptop, and while attempting to clean the keyboard keys got a few of them off the board but getting them back turned out to be a nightmare since if you do a little more pressure than needed the whole thing fucks up and the key wont plug in as it should, so im wondering if its easy and technically possible to buy a spare keyboard and replace it MYSELF? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.83.239.7 (talk • contribs) 10:43, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Yes you can. Using Google products (shopping) and searching for "dv6000 keyboard" (without quotes) came back with loads of results so obtaining one shouldn't be too hard. To fit it just see a guide here which has lots of photos and step-by-step instructions. ZX81 ^talk 13:31, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

And of course in the meantime, you can plug any old USB keyboard into your laptop and use it instead of the built-in one. SteveBaker (talk) 04:03, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Chrome (browser) Flashblock Privacy thing

I just downloaded Chrome to replace an old version of Navigator that is becoming obsolete. I also have Safari and Firefox and I use different browsers for different things. In the past I have always installed AdBlock and FlashBlock, but just now, on Chrome, when I went to add the plug in (or whatever) I got a message that said basically "Are you sure you want to add this? Flashblock will have access to all your private data on all websites." Can someone explain to me what this means? Is it just an IP address sort of thing? Or does it mean that someone somewhere can get all my facebook info and passwords and bank account info or something? I am totally naive so don't play with me :( Also I have a Mac w/ Snow Leopard. Saudade7 11:39, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

If I understand correctly you are installing the Flashblock plugin into Chrome? If so, then it will have access to whatever Chrome let's it have access to. Since to do it's job, it sounds like it needs to have access to all websites then yes, potentially it could log all information including passwords, bank account info etc if it was designed to do that. Depending on how well your browser and OS limits it and whether they have any bugs then potentially it would have access to all info on your computer including private files. And even if the plugin itself is not malicious, if it has certain bugs then these potentially could be exploited in various ways but third party websites.

However you should be aware that this is generally true of all plugins and all software. Running executables is always risky unless the source code is available and you review it or it's been reviewed by someone you trust, then you have to trust that the developers are not up to something fishy. Okay if it's a popular program someone may have noticed if it's doing odd things but ultimately you still need to trust someone. You're using Chrome, I presume that means you trust Google (okay Chrome is open source and widely reviews so trusting Google is perhaps not so important), if you have FlashBlock then you must have Flash so I presume that means you trust Adobe. And if you're using Mac Os X then you must trust Apple.

Note that while modern OSes will generally limit what the software can do, so for example they may not be able to write to many files, they often do have wider read access and if they have read access and network access they could potentially transfer any private info in this files (as well as any info they gather themselves). Plugins may have access to most of what the the software does that the plugin hooks in to.

Nil Einne (talk) 13:04, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Yes, it is possible a rogue plugin could be developed to steal your private info and maybe Google are wise to warn people of the potential danger. But it sounds like an unnecessarily scary message to me. Is it possible that Google have made it that way to discourage people from installing ad/flash blocking plugins and therefore blocking Google's primary(?) source of revenue? Astronaut (talk) 17:05, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Thanks Nil Einne and Astronaut. Somehow it is comforting to know that I am already compromised, and I thought that maybe it was a scare tactic re: ad revenue. But your messages have given me the courage to just install the damned thing. I don't have any dark secrets or money anyway. Thanks!! Saudade7 19:18, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Hiding "Hidden formatting" in Word 2003

Resolved

Sometimes I turn on "show hidden formatting" by using the ¶ button in Microsoft Word. And when I'm done, I push it again and the hidden formatting goes back to being hidden. However, I am now in a position where it won't go away, even after logging off and back on; I've also tried deleting my normal.dot. Any suggestions? If it makes a difference, I am using remote desktop to access a shared server. Ma^t_chups 14:02, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Have you tried the shortcut Ctrl+( ?

It is possible that the document actually contains the characters ¶, ·, etc.

--Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 18:40, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Have you tried displaying the document on another computer (or in the Microsoft Word viewer)?

Have you tried to repair the Microsoft Office System installation?

What happens if you print the document, save it as a PDF, or copy a part of it to WordPad?--Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 18:47, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Have you looked at Word's settings? You can choose to always (Swedish: alltid) display some formatting charcaters, such as ¶. See this (Swedish) screenshot of Word 2007. Make sure that all checkboxes are unchecked.--Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 18:59, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Thanks--this was it. Ma^t_chups 04:22, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Internet security blockage

For my project work, I'm trying to access https://spdbv.vital-it.ch/ but my internet says the website is blocked. I changed the settings for internet security but I still can't access the website. Please help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.68.120.162 (talk) 18:19, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

It appears that your browser is blocking it because the security certificate doesn't match the site. The certificate is for www.vital-it.ch instead of spdbv.vital-it.ch. This is a relatively minor issue, but you'll have to judge for yourself if that's close enough for you to consider it "secure".

If the mismatch doesn't bother you, your browser should allow you to bypass it. Firefox allows you to click "I understand the risks" and then "Add exception".

If you use Internet Explorer and not Firefox, perhaps someone else can tell you the procedure. APL (talk) 21:36, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Video editing software, open source or at least free?

I've looked through Category:Free application software, and I can't find any video editing software, along the lines of Premiere or Windows Movie Maker. Is there anything along these lines? I especially need something that can speed footage up. -- Zanimum (talk) 19:01, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

VideoLAN, famous for the VLC video player, is working on one: VLMC. It's not available yet. -- Coneslayer (talk) 19:13, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

pitivi, kdenlive, cinefx, diva, kino, avidemux, lives, cinepaint, cinelerra ¦ Reisio (talk) 22:17, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

The category you want is Category:Free video software. Be warned that depending on your operating system, the options can be kind of feeble, depending on what you want it to do. All of them involve considerable difficulty in installation in my experience. I looked into some kind of FinalCut replacement about two years ago that would work on OS X, found nothing that really fit the bill good enough to be worth learning how to use, alas. --Mr.98 (talk) 00:01, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

In retrospect, I should have specified the Windows operating system... I've already investigated most of the programs in the Free video software category, and they all were useless or Linux. (I've debated getting Linux, but it's a big switch.) Avidemux does solve the speed-up bit, so at least one of the things is covered. Thanks! -- Zanimum (talk) 15:52, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Okay, Avidemux actually doesn't do the trick, the feature's just for converting amongst PAL/NTSC/etc. Anyone know how to speed up video? -- Zanimum (talk) 18:45, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

I have used Adobe Premiere for this purpose. Sorry it's not free. Maybe you can borrow (or even rent) some time on a friend's computer at work or something. Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:23, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Zwei-Stein isn't on the list. It's not the easiest software to use, but it is free.[1] Also, Windows Movie Maker[2] is free, though not open-source. --Normansmithy (talk) 12:32, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

Are links to news articles truly anonymous?

Often I wish to link to some archived or recent news story at a site like the New York Times. If I am logged in at such a site, the html link to the story may end with 40 alphanumeric characters, far more than would be needed to uniquely identify the story. Is there likely to be encrypted therein the IP address I used if I accessed the story anonymously, or the user id or email if I accessed it while logged in to the site? If I were more certain that someone could not decrypt the long alpha string and identify me,I would provide more useful links as references in articles or in response to Ref Desk questions. Edison (talk) 19:12, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

I don't know, but using a proxy would remove the risk. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.89.27 (talk) 13:29, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

The obvious thing to do is strip out those parameters and test if the link still works without them, before you post the url. If it works, then post the link without the parameters. And yes, the parameters often are the equivalent of a session cookie. Someone who clicks on one can even end up logged in as you, depending on the site. This was a problem with Amazon urls for a while, and maybe still is. 75.62.109.146 (talk) 02:43, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

For most sites you can simply strip out the identifying tags...Smallman12q (talk) 14:28, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Does there exist a simulator for the game of 8 ball pool?

Hello, having recently taken to the game of 8-ball pool, I am inquisitive as to the possibility of potting the eight-ball directly from the break (the first shot in the game). Does there exist any computer program which could be used to decide whether this is possible? --T.M.M. Dowd (talk) 19:57, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

I can tell you that I've seen it happen, but I don't have a reference at hand. --LarryMac | Talk 20:15, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

I don't have a simulation at hand, but Googling "8-ball sunk break" yields many web pages about this. 63.164.47.229 (talk) 22:39, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

And you can put it into YouTube for videos of it. There's even a helpful tutorial. --Mr.98 (talk) 00:41, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

I would be surprised if a pool simulator would do a good job of reproducing that. The case where there are a lot of balls in actual contact is an especially tricky case for realtime dynamics software and because the 'break' shot is pretty chaotic anyway, they can get away with that. SteveBaker (talk) 03:59, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

My family used to have an old DOS game called Virtual Pool. You could play several different games of pool on it, and one of the features was that you could turn on ball "tracking" (or whatever they called it) that would show you as you aimed where all of the pool balls would go. This probably isn't particularly useful to you, but it's just a thought that if you find a pool simulator, check to see if it has this option. Many probably do (although you might have to use a cheat to turn it on). 24.247.163.175 (talk) 03:00, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

adobe reader

I upgraded to adobe 9.3, but 9.1.2 is still on my computer. Can I delete 9.1.2 to free up space —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.106.57.127 (talk) 20:20, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

If it's in a separate location, yes. Use the "Add/Remove Programs" Control Panel (assuming you are using some version of Windows). I'm a little surprised that the 9.3 installer didn't overwrite the 9.1.2 version, but if you've got both listed in "Add/Remove Programs", yes, feel free to delete the earlier one. 63.164.47.229 (talk) 23:08, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Trojan removal

Today when I connected my iPod to my PC, my AVG antivirus (free edition) detected "Trojan horse Downloader.Agent2.EJC". It does not remove it. What free software can i use to remove the mentioned virus? Thanks.--119.155.20.24 (talk) 20:35, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Try using ComboFix or google for an app called Noob Killer. It's likely to be one of them autorun worms. Blake Gripling (talk) 06:50, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Blender Grass Texturing

I am making grass with a plane with "hair particles". Then I want the grass to have one texture and the ground anotherone. How can I do that? --83.183.172.203 (talk) 21:18, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

My son has done some of that (check it out: http://oliverbaker.org/portfolio/school/TownviewCustomLogo.png and the background image at http://oliverbaker.org/HamperBall/ ) - you can find his contact info at http://oliverbaker.org - tell him I sent you - he's usually pretty helpful. SteveBaker (talk) 03:49, 20 February 2010 (UTC)