Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 December 15

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December 15

Firefox (v3.6.13) : How do I open a new tab right next to the currently active one?

Resolved

I usually have 15 or more open tabs at a time in Firefox.
When I press <ctrl>+T then a new tab appears on the far right end of the tabbar.
I want my new (blank) tab to appear right next to the currently active tab instead.
How can I make this happen? --178.232.37.77 (talk) 01:05, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't know about Firefox, but in IE you can right click on the current tab, select "New tab" from the drop down menu, and the new tab will appear right next to the earlier one. --ReluctantPhilosopher (talk) 08:48, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

This addon claims to do what you want, although it isn't updated for newer versions of Firefox. You can follow this instructions to make it work, or you could try this addon which was recommended in the comments of the previous one as doing much of the same functionality. I also just found this 82.44.55.25 (talk) 10:15, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

@ Reluctant Philosopher - Just tried the: right-click > new tab... afraid it didn't work, the tab opened on the far right of the tab bar Darigan (talk) 11:09, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

That is strange, when I try it it works correctly. To be more accurate, it opens to the right of the 'tab group' that that tab is a part of. So, if you clicked two links (opening in new tab) from Tab1, they would open in Tab2 and Tab3 right next to Tab 1. Then, if you right-clicked on Tab1 and selected "New Tab," it would open a new Tab to the imediate right of Tab3. I'm using Version 8.6.7600. --ReluctantPhilosopher (talk) 14:06, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

@ ReluctantPhilosopher: I think Darigan is talking about Firefox(v3.6.13), while you (by "Version 8.6.7600") are still talking about InternetExplorer or some other browser perhaps?

Hey! Yes, I did mention in my original reply above that I was talking about Internet Explorer; I guess Darigan didn't notice that, hence the confusion :) --ReluctantPhilosopher (talk) 16:35, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you all! :-) Problem solved! --OP 14:28, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Hooray! --ReluctantPhilosopher (talk) 16:35, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

@Reluctant Philosopher - Yup, sorry about that - My post certainly could have done with a bit more clarity. The OP seems have worked it out now in any case. Darigan (talk) 17:10, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Printer Power On

Hello. How can I have my printer (HP C309g) turn on automatically when I send a print command? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 04:22, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, but I don't think you can. The user manuals doesn't suggest it supports Wake-on-LAN (I don't personally know of any printers that actually do) and likewise that'd only work with a wired connection, not wireless or USB. All it says is about the energy saving mode (which is on by default) which you can disable so that startup is quicker, but then you're using more power whilst "off" than you would otherwise. Sorry!  ZX81  ^talk 04:49, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

The Canon inkjet printers I've used over the past 5 or so years (in the Pixma IP4X00 line) have an option to be automatically turned off and on via the drivers in Windows. I don't know if the power usage is very different from when you push the button. Clearly anything which can respond to commands can't be truly off whether using Wake on LAN or something else. If the printer supports the One Watt Initiative and presuming any standby mode controlled via drivers is part of that, then the standby power should be relatively low although I'm not sure how much power printers normally use in standby mode anyway. Nil Einne (talk) 12:34, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

The way I handle it is to put the printer on the same power strip I use for the computer, so they both are turned on and off together. Yes, the printer does that annoying cleaning the printer head routine every time I boot my computer, but that's supposed to help to keep it from getting clogged. And yes, it also uses a trivial amount of power while in standby mode when I use my computer, but at least it's always ready when I want to do a print. StuRat (talk) 06:50, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

The problem with that is that

1. powering off an inkjet printer when it's not expecting it (i.e. via the switch on the power strip rather than the pushbutton on the printer) will not properly park the printer head, so you end up with a dried-up printer head when you don't print for a while, and
2. the act of cleaning a printer head involves dumping ink through the head, which is a waste of ink and
3. said wasted ink ends up in a sponge - excessive head cleaning may exceed its holding capacity, so you might end up with ink overflowing into parts of the printer where it absolutely shouldn't go.

So, when you went for a cheap ink jet printer, using its power pushbutton is the only safe, cheap and environmentally friendly way. -- 78.43.71.155 (talk) 21:33, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

The power button on the HP Deskjet 3420 would light up (if unlit earlier) when I send a print command. Does HP currently assume that my new printer (C309g) is always on standby? --Mayfare (talk) 02:22, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Browser problems

some problem seems to be occurring in the working of internet explorer and google crome web browsers on my computer. what could be the possible problem? what should i do to set it right?117.204.7.110 (talk) 09:00, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

As per the header message of this page, I've given your question a seperate title to distinguish it from the preceeding unrelated question Nil Einne (talk) 12:34, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

And what exactly are the problems ? StuRat (talk) 05:38, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

bginfo

at first it seems to work even if I'm connected in remote desktop, but if I close the rdp connection with X button and then I reopen it with the same user, the desktop looses all the text I had added. T.I.A. --217.194.34.103 (talk) 09:02, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

difficulty in setting path

I have installed python25 and and pygame ,on window xp .In the tutorial of pygame, I have found some code for setting the path as

set PATH=%PATH%;c:\python24\
cd "\Program Files\Pygame-Docs\examples"
python chimp.py

but I have windows xp on derive D and i want to load bitmap image chimp.bmp which is in D:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\pygame\examples\data ,i have tried to set path in autoexec.bat file as, set PATH=%Path%:D:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\pygame\examples in autoexec.bat and by us

Example

ing

   
Monkey = os.path.join("data","chimp.bmp")

in pythan shell and

   
Monkey_surface = pygame.image.load(monkey)

but we will get error message .also i can not under stand why in command prompt python chimp.py is used.please guide me for the correct code. — Preceding unsigned comment added by True path finder (talk • contribs) 11:51, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

I've fixed the text layout for you. CS Miller (talk) 13:15, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't do Windows, so this is just a guess. Identifiers in Python are case-sensitive. You wrote upper-case Monkey for the path and lower case monkey in the load command. If that is not the cause, it would help to report (copy&paste) the full error message. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 14:36, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

it is not the just case of uper case or lower case, I have tried it with different ways. I want to understand the command , Python chimp.py

For your path command in autoexec, you probably want to point to the base python directory, so just "D:\python25" should be sufficient. As far as why you type "python chimp.py" on the command line - "python" is the command that tells Windows to run the python interpreter. "chimp.py" is the paramater that is passed to the python interpreter telling it what program you'd like to run. --LarryMac | Talk 15:07, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

The PATH variable is a list of directories where the command shell looks for the command you type, in this case, "python". It looks in the directories in order from left to right. In the original example, if there was a python.exe somewhere in the PATH before the first line added to it, then that python.exe will run; otherwise c:\python24\python.exe will run. The Python interpreter (python.exe) then reads its command-line arguments (in this case, chimp.py) and looks for a script by that name in the current directory; it doesn't use the PATH. Likewise, most other things that take a pathname as an argument, such as pygame.image.load, don't use the PATH. Does that help? -- BenRG (talk) 22:19, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

I want to explain more my diffulty in setting path.Window XP is installed on derive D: and command written on autoexec.bat file or as

 set PATH = D:\Python25
cd D:\Pytyhon25\Lib\site-packages\pygame\examples

d:
python chimp.py

whenever i restart the computer, and on the command prompt in windows i can see as D:\Document and setting \Administrator> .But when on c:\ i run the command autoexec.bat and then it run well , and chimp.py runs and closin this it changes to D:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\pygame\examples ,then after this writing cd data and chimp.bmp will alo run ,is it means that autoexec.bat file is not run on restarting computer. And after running autoexec.bat file manualy on command prompt,and I want to understand this,and want to write correct code,please help me — Preceding unsigned comment added by True path finder (talk • contribs) 02:22, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

Windows Live Messenger suddenly stopped working?

Every time I try logging in, I get the following message:

We can't sign you in to Windows Live Messenger Your contact list is not available right now, please try again later. Get more information...

Error code: 84cc0020.

Problem has persisted for three days so does not appear to be temporary. I can sign in through Windows Messenger and eBuddy, but I want the full functionality of WLM. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.189.217.198 (talk) 13:23, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

For me this is the first Bing and Google search result for '84cc0020' [1]. This is the second for Bing [2] and the second for Google [3] Nil Einne (talk) 15:31, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

You could try re-installing Messenger, as it may be missing important files.Sboy365 (talk) 08:06, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Flash drives and SD drives

I recently purchased a miniSD card and observed it to be about half the size of a US postage stamp, despite featuring 16G of storage capacity. If that's so, why are flash drives so big -- just to make them more keychainable and less lose-able? It seems that the entire memory of the flash drive can be stored in the male metal docking piece. DRosenbach ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 16:36, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

And indeed one can buy such a thing (e.g. this). -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 17:18, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

One element to consider is the form factor - the smaller a thing is, the easier it is to lose. Hell, I've got a standard-sized 4GB Flash Drive, and I can't tell you how many times it's gone through the wash. UltraExactZZ ^Said ~ Did 17:27, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Ultraexactzz, I take it the data survives? AndyTheGrump (talk) 17:32, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Every time, so far. (Knocks wood) UltraExactZZ ^Said ~ Did 17:41, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

"...why are flash drives so big..."? I suspect that 'bigness' is in the age of the beholder. The real question is how did we manage to make them so small so quickly? You might want to look into the history of mass storage devices, e.g. here: History of hard disk drives. Presumably there is a limit on just how much data you can cram into a given volume, but we don't seem to have arrived there yet.

Bigger flash drives may contain cheaper components or higher performance components. They may be more ruggedized or it may simply be a design decision to prevent the flash drive from being easily lost. Whatever reason the manufacture chose for the size, shape, or build of the flash drive, I have seen so much variety in what you can buy that you can probably find one for whatever specific requirements you have. I personally carry a flash drive that's barely bigger than the USB connector in my wallet, but I also have a big (in size and capacity) "high performance" flash drive I keep in my laptop bag or bring with me when I anticipate needing to move more than the 4GB or free space I leave on my little drive. 206.131.39.6 (talk) 18:08, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Besides the fact that larger size may be a little cheaper, faster, and less prone to overheating, large size is usually just to make it easy to handle and harder to lose. Indeed, there are so many flash drives that are made as small as possible, and some even do not have the metal case around the USB plug which makes them as small and flat as memory cards for cameras. Roberto75780 (talk) 02:54, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

I think we are running up against the practical small limit for a hand-held device. They become too hard to handle, easy to drop, and easy to break if they become too small. If you've ever worked with those tiny screws used on eyeglasses, for example, you probably noticed that they are more difficult to deal with than an average sized screw. Of course, there's no reason why they can't just jam more and more memory into the standard sized flash drives (as long as the architecture allows it). StuRat (talk) 05:35, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

There's not really much advantage to going below "keychain size" for something that plugs into a full sized computer.

But if you do need tiny you can get them. Google for "World's Smallest Flash Drive" and you'll find a bunch of them. Some of them are as thin as an SD card (getting them into the usb port is tricky. Without the outer shell of the plug it fits upside down, but doesn't work that way.) APL (talk) 00:58, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Ping

In the context of ping, what is jitter? 82.44.55.25 (talk) 19:18, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Jitter#Packet_jitter_in_computer_networks. --Sean 19:27, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Laptop freezes occasionally: What is going on?

I have a one-year-old HP Pavilion laptop PC running Windows 7 in 64-bit mode. Periodically, it freezes up for 10-20 seconds every 10 minutes or so. During this time, I can't click on any links, type any new text, open or close windows, etc. Eventually, everything starts acting normally again. This happens whether on battery or AC power. I am not trying to play a DVD or run any graphic-intensive programs when this symptom occurs. Is there some type of system monitor that might be able to tell me what is hanging up, and better yet, how to stop this from happening? --Thomprod (talk) 19:26, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

You should seek real-time help: irc://irc.freenode.net/windows ¦ Reisio (talk) 20:47, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

It would be useful to know what happens if you do ctrl-alt-del while it is frozen. Looie496 (talk) 23:53, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Have you checked the process monitor to see if something is eating up the cpu cycles?Smallman12q (talk) 00:47, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

This is entirely anecdotal but when I've hard hard drive trouble this kind of thing has happened, on a Mac. Basically sometimes on a hard drive I had, whenever it was doing certain types of read/write cycles it would take a few seconds to figure out where it was or what was going on. This would translate into the computer waiting for a reply on certain types of processes that usually run in the background without any difficulty. The basic symptoms were the same — total freezing and non-responsiveness that would mysteriously fix up. One thing you might try, just as a test, is a full hard drive scan for bad sectors and so forth. --Mr.98 (talk) 00:54, 16 December 2010 (UTC)