Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2012 May 9

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May 9

Do virtual machines have virtual hardware serial IDs?

It would seem that if they did, that would open the risk of people creating virtual machines exactly like the ones on which they activated their activation keys for proprietary software. Do they? If so, how (not do, I'm not naive enough to think the geniuses haven't prevented what I'm suggesting) do they figure out something that only real, physical hardware can do so people can't just run copies on virtual machine perfect clones of a physical machine on which one license was activated? 69.243.220.115 (talk) 00:05, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

There are a number of ways, including hardware keys and simple judicious human (not mere key-based) validation. I dare say most companies consider this hassle to be more trouble than unlicensed use itself, which is why without voluntarily attaching a virtual machine to a network, most software is aware of almost nothing at all. ¦ Reisio (talk) 02:07, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Some software periodically "calls home" to a company server to report that it is running and activated etc. With the proliferation of computers 'always online' this is becoming increasingly common, its been used by windows for a long time and I believe Adobe software does this too. If said company stars getting dozens of hits all from the "same" piece of software reporting that it's running on the "same" hardware, then the jig is up. Vespine (talk) 04:36, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Adobe does make use of phoning home in their Creative Suite line. That's mostly the reason why most workarounds that attempt to circumvent this involve modifying the hosts file. Blake Gripling (talk) 07:14, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

1. Dongles. 2. Virtualization software only supports a small set of emulated hardware devices, which are unlikely to match the hardware of a real machine. 3. Traditionally the x86 CPUID instruction was not virtualizable, so you couldn't make a CPU claim to be a different CPU without expensive dynamic recompilation. I guess this has probably changed with the new Intel and AMD virtualization support. 4. Most businesses are lawful neutral or lawful evil. The threat of a lawsuit is enough to keep them in line even without any technological enforcement. Corporate-wide license servers are for their convenience—it's the easiest way to keep track of how many licenses they're actually using. -- BenRG (talk) 00:27, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

iPhone volume

Since I am partially deaf I wonder if there is an app to increase the volume on an iPhone. I have one called "Vol.Set" but is barely makes any difference. Don't mention hearing aids, I've got those too !--85.211.154.241 (talk) 10:57, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Are you using headphones? If so different, better headphones are likely to make more difference than anything else. The white 'earbuds' you get with the iPhone are a little weak, especially in noisy environments or for those with reduced hearing. This article may give you a start in choosing a pair. I would probably recommend a full-size pair that you can wear over any hearing aids that you use, although they are traditionally more expensive than other types. Also, I hate to ask this of you, but I just need to check - have you turned up the volume as far as it will go using the hardware buttons? Finally, from the research I have done, it seems that the 'volume boosting' apps need you to jailbreak your phone, and even then opinion is split over whether they actually work. Some people say that they cannot increase volume over the previous maximum, and some say that they don't work at all. Hence I recommend a pair of decent 'cans'. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 12:47, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Agreed. The limit on the volume of an iPhone is likely because it can't produce louder sounds without becoming distorted and/or damaging the equipment. What you need is an external amplifier, which will require a power source (batteries). A good pair of noise canceling headphones may be what you need, and rechargeable batteries are important, as you will go through batteries quickly otherwise. StuRat (talk) 16:48, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

"Dong" sound when networking icon is loaded

Hello there, today I have noticed that networking icon in taskbar creates a "dong" sound when it is loaded. Though It's a matter of 1 second process, but I want to disable it anyway. I checked the sounds option but could not locate anything unusual. How can I disable it? thanks in advance--180.234.62.141 (talk) 12:24, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Can you tell us which Operating system you use? (For example this might be Windows XP, Vista or 7, Mac OS or Ubuntu among others). - Cucumber Mike (talk) 12:49, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

• The problem is solved. After using Microsoft fix it 50229, the problem goes away. I am using W7 Ultimate 64 bit edition.--180.234.63.237 (talk) 07:05, 10 May 2012 (UTC)

BibTeX: treat URL field as newline-delimited group?

In BibTeX, is there a command-line option I can add to have separate lines in the url= field treated as separate URLs, in order to work around a Mendeley export bug? NeonMerlin 22:26, 9 May 2012 (UTC)