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September 4

CPU/RAM question

So i was recommended to look at the performance monitor on Windows 7 (64 bit). I have no idea what i'm actually looking at here. Any tips? I was trying to figure out if my system ideally needs more ram or a better processor. I also looked at the Windows Experience Index, which puts my system at:

Processor: 5
Memory (RAM): 7.1
Graphics: 4.3
Gaming graphics: 4.5
Primary hard disk: 5.9

I use it for gaming a bit, which is where i have the odd problem. It does everything else just fine. Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 08:19, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

How much RAM do you have a the moment? As far as I recall, the WIE measures the RAM speed, and doesn't give much weight to the amount (so long as it is sufficient to run Windows). It also depends a little on what games you intend to play, some will be heavily graphics limited (e.g. many FPS games), some RAM limited (e.g. turn based strategy games), and some CPU limited (e.g. RTS games), so different upgrades will help different games. Actually telling us you current specs is likely to be more useful than the WIE. Anoher question would be how much difference changing graphics options makes to how the games run, you may be better off changing your video card, rather than either of the opitions you gave. Or your computer might just be getting on a bit, and benefit from reinsalling windows (after ensuring everything is backed up first of course) MChesterMC (talk) 08:55, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Without much detailed info on me at the moment, i know it currently has 6GB of DDR3 Ram. I'm not sure about the processor. I got it january/february 2012, so it's not ancient, it just struggles to keep up with some RTS and FPS games (Minecraft and Anno 2070) very well (even with graphics at bare minimum). I could give more detailed specs later if necessary. Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 10:14, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Assuming you're using Windows 7, hit the Start Button, highlight "computer", then right-click and select "Properties". Look down the page that appears for the row "Processor", and tell us what is listed there. Also, if you can, click "Device Manager" in the top-left of that window, then doubleclick the item that says "Display adapters", and tell us that as well. That will help us determine your major components. -- 140.202.10.134 (talk) 15:43, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Acer Asprire 5349

Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU B800 @ 1.50GHz 1.50 GHz

Also looked into the "display adaptors" properties but there was very little there interesting (unless you can be more specific about which section i should post up here?).

Is this any use? Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 17:19, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Without looking at the actual specs (since I'm at work, and can't look it up easily), that sounds like a CPU problem. Minecraft in particular is infamous for thrashing the CPU, and RTS games tend to have high CPU usage due to the large number of units moving simultaneously. 6GB of RAM should be enough. But I agree with StuRat's suggestion below. MChesterMC (talk) 09:24, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I suggest you use Start + Control Panel + Desktop Gadgets + CPU Meter. Then use your computer in the usual way until it slows to a crawl, then tell us which of the meters is near 100%. That will tell us where the problem is. StuRat (talk) 06:43, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

My RAM meter stays steady at 20-40%, but CPU fluctuates wildly and hits the high 80s when gaming. I also get a lot of frame skips gaming. Does that narrow it down? Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 18:01, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, we can definitely eliminate low RAM as the problem. I'm not sure if it's the CPU, though, since you say it never makes it into the 90's. So, what's left ? Maybe your internet connection speed, if these are online games ? StuRat (talk) 23:04, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

We still don't know anything about your video card. There is another way of figuring it out rather than using the device manager. Right-click your desktop and select "Screen resolution...". From there, click the "Advanced settings" link. There should be an "Adapter" tab that tells what sort of video adapter you have. Also, have you tried turning down the graphics settings in your games? I don't have a name (talk) 12:42, 6 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The graphics settings can't go any lower on Minecraft or Anno 2070. Minecraft is almost completely unplayable as there are too many frame skips. Anno 2070 gets them too, but not as badly. I'll post up the info for adapters later. Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email)' 14:49, 6 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Chip Type: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family

DAC Type: Internal

Adapter String: Intel(R) HD Graphics

Bios Information: Intel Video BIOS

Total available graphics memory: 1760 MB

Dedicated video memory: 128 MB

System video memory: 0 MB

Shared sytem memory: 1632 MB

Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 17:24, 6 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm... above you mention that the computer is an "Acer Asprire 5349" which is a Laptop - so I think its very unlikely you'll be able to upgrade either CPU or Graphics Card. Sorry, davidprior ^t/_c 18:49, 7 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That's a shame, but thanks a lot for the responses ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 12:40, 9 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

How do I see all my questions in the reference desk on Wikipedia?

How do I see all my questions in the reference desk on Wikipedia? This applies to the whole world. 78.156.109.166 (talk) 18:15, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This is a little tricky because you're an IP address. If you were registered, then you could just search your username in the archives page and it would bring up all the threads (though not completely useful if you happen to answer other people's questions in addition to asking your own!) The issue here is that you probably have a dynamic IP address (it's always changing) so, clicking on Special:Contributions/78.156.109.166, you could scroll through to see all the questions you had asked with that particular IP address. Or, you could go to Wikipedia:Reference Desk/Archive and go to the search bar on that page and search "78.156.109.166"; but, once again, this will only find threads that you had contributed to under that one address. If your IP doesn't change (static) then either of those methods would find all your questions. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 01:17, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I have an user: Pubserv (talk). 78.156.109.166 (talk) 08:38, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Okay - then go to Wikipedia:Reference Desk/Archive. On the page, there's a search bar; search "Pubserv" and all the threads you've participated in while logged into that account should show up. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 02:05, 6 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

mIRC

What does the "m" mean? This applies to the whole world. 78.156.109.166 (talk) 19:19, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Khaled has always said that it could mean moo or Mu (an in-joke, it means 'nothing').[1] No-one really knows. Nanonic (talk) 20:39, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

New Virus

I have a H.P. laptop that I have been operating daily for years, with no problems. Yesterday it started to have problems. It will not see the shortcuts, that I have been using all these years. It pops up in the lower right corner a Norton message "Auto Protect is processing security risk Suspicious.Cloud.7.EP." I assume this is a virus. I am suspecious it has affected the operation of the laptop. I ran Virus Scan with no viruses showing. Is this a harmful virus and how do I get rid of it so my shortcuts will operate correctly. Seems like there was also another message that said something to the effect of a Run100.dll not operating correctly. How do I replace it? Perhaps my shortcuts will operate correctly then again.--Doug Coldwell (talk) 19:21, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Get a decent antivirus. I've cleaned computers of trojans and viruses for many friends and family members. Norton was on quite a few and is useless. It's also quite difficult to remove in a lot of cases and bulky. That's not to say that you have a virus, but prevention is better than cure. Personally i'm running Avast! and Winpatrol at all times and do monthly scans with Malwarebytes and Spybot S&D. Take a trip to CNET and read some reviews for the top rated antivirus products. The free ones are pretty good and score very well in most tests, while Norton spends their money on advertising by comparison. Good luck ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 20:13, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I second Jenova's notion of getting another AV program. Personally, I suggest AVG... I've used it for many years with only one problem. However, there are some people that just don't like AVG; and to those people I would suggest Ad-Aware. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 01:20, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I recently switched from AVG Free after 5+ years of reliable protection. I got tired of each version bugging me to upgrade or install their crappy toolbar. I like Avast!, and it blocked a malicious link for me just yesterday (my first since i installed it). I'm very happy with it. Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 08:51, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Strange as I've never once been prompted to install any toolbars etc... the one problem I did encounter is documented right here in the ref desk archives, sometime in April for those interested. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 02:08, 6 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

When you install it it asks if you want their toolbar, which slows your internet speed down, redirects your searches, and changes your homepage. It is difficult to remove and uninstalling does not revert these setting changes. So there's a lot of complaints on their forums because of it. Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 08:50, 6 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That's strange, because when I had to reinstall AVG (due to the aforementioned problem) the toolbar disappeared, and I didn't notice any change in internet speed (though it may just have been subtle); but that's just my experience with it. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 02:59, 7 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

'Yellow' I think you meant AVG (software), "AVG" links to a disambiguation page. I'd also suggest trying Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. (I see Jenova20 has suggested it already, but there's the link) --220 of ^Borg 13:21, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah - thanks for catching that. I meant to check the link but didn't; I'll be more careful next time! ;) --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 02:08, 6 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A simple search reveals that "Suspicious.Cloud.7.EP" is indeed a trojan which adds your machine a botnet and downloads additional malware. A good anti-virus product should be able to remove it. However, it uses techniques which can hide it from Windows and make it resistant to removal attempts, or make you think it has gone, only to come back at the next reboot. This page has detailed manual removal instructions if you fancy giving that a go. Astronaut (talk) 19:08, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Although it's good advice you gave, i'd be very wary of any site which recommends installing 8 different products to clean up one trojan. That's an accident waiting to happen and could create some serious conflicts, even from reliable vendors. Thanks ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 08:58, 6 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Lorem Ipsum for computer code?

Anyone know of a way to create dummy code? Something like Lorem Ipsum, but for different programming languages? I just need something that looks like different programming code (C, Python, C+, Java, etc) but doesn't contain any runnable code. --208.185.21.102 (talk) 20:54, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You could try hacker typer, just press some keys and copy the code out. It's a joke site, but produces "code like" output. Might be suitable for what you are after. Vespine (talk) 22:59, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That's not code like, that's code - it's the source of groups.c, part of the Linux kernel. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:34, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Also IIRC you can change the language that hacker typer is using... like C/C++/Python etc. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 01:21, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a small program I wrote a long time ago that finds the 1000th prime number, in a few languages:

#!/usr/bin/python3
from math import sqrt, ceil

primes = [2]
number = 3

def check(number):
    for x in range(2, int(ceil(sqrt(number)))+1):
        if not number % x:
            return False
    return True

if __name__ == "__main__":
    while len(primes) < 1001:
        if check(number):
            print("{} is a prime number.\r".format(number), end="")
            primes.append(number)
        number += 1
    print("\n{} is the 1000th prime number!".format(primes[999]))

in C:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <stdbool.h>

bool check(int number) {
    for (int x = 2; x < (int) ceil(sqrt(number)) + 1; x++) {
        if (number % x == 0) {
            return false;
        }
    }
    return true;
}

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    int num = 3;
    int i = 1;
    int *primes = malloc(1 * sizeof(int));
    primes[0] = 2;
    while (i < 1000) {
        if (check(num)) {
            printf("%d is a prime number.\r", num);
            primes = (int*) realloc(primes, (i+1) * sizeof(int));
            primes[i++] = num;
        }
        num++;
    }
    printf("\n%d is the 1000th prime number!\n", primes[999]);
    free(primes); primes = NULL;
    return 0;
}

in Perl:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use constant {True => 1, False => 0, None => undef};
use POSIX qw(sqrt ceil);

my @primes = (); push @primes, 2;
my $number = 2;

sub check {
    my $num = shift;
    for (my $x = 2; $x < int(ceil(sqrt($num)) + 1); $x += 1) {
        return False if ($num % $x eq 0);
    }
    return True;
}

while (scalar @primes < 1000) {
    if (check $number) {
        push @primes, $number;
        print "$number is a prime number.\r";
    }
    $number++;
}
print "\n$primes[999] is the 1000th prime number!\n";

in Java:

import java.lang.Math;
import java.util.*;

public class Java {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List primes = new ArrayList();
        primes.add(2);
        int number = 3;
        while (primes.size() < 1000) {
            if (check(number)) {
                primes.add(number);
                System.out.print(number + " is a prime number.\r");
            }
            number += 1;
        }
        System.out.print("\n" + primes.get(999) + " is the 1000th prime number!\n");
    }

    public static boolean check(int number) {
        for (int i = 2; i < Math.ceil(Math.sqrt(number)) + 1; i++) {
            if (number % i == 0) {
                return false;
            }
        }
        return true;
    }
}

→Σ σ ς. (Sigma) 23:28, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for all the samples. I really like the stair step paragraph indention used in the Mass Effect 2 hacking sequences [2]. Does it look like any real language? --208.185.21.102 (talk) 20:09, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The next time you want code samples try RosettaCode it's quite amazing the languages it does support. 190.60.93.218 (talk) 17:26, 6 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That's terrific for short bits of code! Thank you. Sometimes I want something longer. Still haven't found a perfect solution... like Lorem Ipsum for source code. --208.185.21.102 (talk) 00:29, 7 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Just find a longer task and you will find longer code. 190.60.93.218 (talk) 17:54, 9 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

SQL query

I've got an SQL database table containing information about wireless networks. I want to select all rows with a non-unique ESSID. Is it possible to do this in SQL, and if so, how? --Carnildo (talk) 21:22, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

My SQL is poor, but this (with table and data, so we're talking about the same thing) does what I think you want:

CREATE TABLE wifi (essid    VARCHAR(30),
                   location VARCHAR(30),
                   note     VARCHAR(30));

INSERT INTO wifi VALUES
 ('office',  'Frankfurt',       'my office'),
 ('homenet', 'Essen',           'fins home'),
 ('office',  'Llanddewi Brefi', 'head office'),
 ('foonet',  'Cleveland, OH',   'hotel in cleveland'),
 ('barnet',  'Oakland, CA',     'moms house'),
 ('foonet',  'unknown',         'oops'),
 ('office',  'Tokyo',           'asahi networks');

SELECT * FROM wifi WHERE essid IN
  ( SELECT essid from wifi GROUP BY essid HAVING count(*)>1 )
  ORDER BY essid;

That works okay for me in Sqlite3 -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 22:20, 4 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. --Carnildo (talk) 22:39, 5 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 September 4

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