Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2015 January 10

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January 10

Can't re-enable an app

Dear Wikipedians:

I use Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 and recently I have disabled a built-in app called T-memo version 2.0

When I tried to re-enable that app today I found that I cannot do it. The button that was supposed to say "Enable" still says "Disable" and is greyed out. So now the app is stuck in the "Disabled" section of apps. See screenshot below:

File:Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 screenshot 20150109.png

I was wondering if any of you have had similar experience and know how to fix it?

Thanks for all your help.

L33th4x0r (talk) 02:59, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

Internet only companies ?

I wonder if there are companies with no brick-and-mortar presence whatsoever. That is, no office, no production facility, etc. The French satire magazine attacked by Islamic Fundamentalists made me think of this. They could each work from home, and telecommute/teleconference, publish exclusively online, use an online payment system for their customers, rent remote servers and disk space, etc. So, the idea is that this would keep them safe from future terrorist attacks, while still allowing for freedom of the press. They would, of course, also use anonymous names and never give out phone numbers, addresses, or other personal info. StuRat (talk) 06:42, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

This is not really a computer question. A "company" is an incorporated business; to form one you have to meet the legal requirements of some state, country, or other jurisdiction; and that jurisdiction is going to want to be able to go after you if you fail to pay taxes or otherwise comply with their laws. It doesn't make sense that there would be places that would allow this to happen within requiring the participation of a known person with some sort of known physical location. (Of course it's possible that a company would evade the requirements by filing false information, but then it would be evading the law and unable to operate openly as Stu appears to be imagining.)

On the other hand, a non-incorporated type of business such as a partnership or sole proprietorship could operate in the manner described; but again it only makes sense if they're already trying to evade the law, because if they have a public presence, someone is going to want to enforce tax laws and such. With illegal businesses, though, it seems very likely that this goes on quite a lot. --65.94.50.4 (talk) 07:45, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

Stu, that is actually what I do, as a freelance translator/interpreter. I work from wherever there is an internet connection (I need contact with my clients and also access to my online dictionaries). I can work in a coffee shop, a restaurant, a pub, a park, or anywhere else I can get a phone reception where I can tether to my laptop, which can then connect to my work laptop which is always at home. I own a registered company in the UK. Nobody knows where I am at any given time (sometimes I don't even know :) ). As for what has been said above, when I am abroad (e.g. France, Germany, Austria, or whatever), I become exempt from paying UK taxes, despite the fact my company is registered in the UK (which means I don't have to pay taxes in the host country, as I am just viewed as a tourist in EU countries), and going abroad is actually part of my job, being a translator/interpreter. I don't do this on purpose, it's just part of my job. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 08:54, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

Thanks. I had a bigger business in mind though, with perhaps a dozen or more employees. StuRat (talk) 17:38, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

Most jurisdictions require companies to have a registered office, although as KageTora implies, that doesn't always have to be the place of business. Rojomoke (talk) 11:39, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

I've heard of political action committees in the US that have just a post office box, or perhaps list the address of an office, but there's some other business there. Is this legal ? If so, is this a special case for PACs, or is it legal for any business ? StuRat (talk) 17:38, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

Any registered company needs to have an address registered with the government (the DWP and HMRC in the UK), for tax purposes. This information, however, does not need to be shared with the general public (and the government will not share it, for confidentiality reasons). A PO Box is perfectly legal - this is why they exist - so nobody needs to know where your office is. As for listing the address of 'another company', this is legal if you are affiliated in some way - after all, you need to know the owner in order to get any mail. You may even be the owner, but just trading under a different name for that particular business. This is in the UK, though, so I can't speak for the US, but I doubt it's much different. As for the number of employees, even though I am the only one in my company - being a freelancer - there is a huge community of translators I work with, and we each give eachother work. When I give work to another translator, I can claim that on expenses as 'wages' when I do my tax assesmment every January... which reminds me... damn, only got three weeks left....KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 18:41, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

Firsly, I'm fairly sure at least one of the addresses registered with the government often has to be a physical address not a PO Box for a company (as mentioned by 65). This address may be where records are kept and can be viewed by appropriate parties which clearly isn't something that can happen at a PO Box. There may also be a mailing address which can be a PO Box. Note however it's possible in many or even most cases, neither of these address has to be where you conduct business, nor where you receive ordinary mail, in fact it may be the address of an accountant or similar. See for example the already linked above Registered office or [1] for an example in NZ. Also, I don't think it's correct that these addresses are necessarily kept confidential, open government and various other things (like possible public interest of these details), means they may be available for free or for a small fee. You can try searching for companies here for example [2] or [3] for info here in NZ. There is also some info here for some types of companies in parts of the UK [4] [5]. And here to find info on companies in the UK [6]. Note however, as many people have found out even when ordering from local companies, finding out a company name isn't always that easy even if you've made payments to them, although you may be able to use stuff like the directors name to help if you have a good idea what that may be. (The domain name is often useless provided the people were smart enough to have never leave identifying details.) Note also if you're not referring to a company but something else, as mention by 65, it may be you don't need a registered address. (Tax offices and similar may sometimes have an address, but they are generally less likely to provide such addresses.) Nil Einne (talk) 02:50, 11 January 2015 (UTC)

This depends on the jurisdiction and on the type of business...so there's not likely to be a simple answer.

You might be interested in an episode of the This American Life radio show called "When Patents Attack" (it actually comes in two parts) where they attempted to track down the owner of a particular patent. Their search ultimately lead them to the formal address of a business someplace out in a tiny town in North Texas - the large building is unusual in that nobody except a few cleaners and a guard or two works there. It comprises many, many offices - each with a name-plate on the door - and no larger than a broom closet, with no window, no furniture beyond a single desk, a chair and a landline telephone. These are the official places of business of thousands of companies that do not have an actual "real" office in the normal sense of such things.

Clearly there is some kind of statutory requirement for at least some classes of business to have a physical presence. In this case, the location of this building was clearly chosen because of the notoriously pro-patent-owner judges in that particular one-horse town - which seems to have an unusually large court building for such a tiny town and which gets most of it's income from raising taxes on the businesses in that building. In this case, it's clearly advantageous for a business to have an office where there is that kind of legal climate.

This suggests that (at least in US law), a company must sue over patent issues wherever it's "place of business" is...and therefore there has to be an actual "place". I doubt that's specific to patent law - so in all likelyhood, all US-based businesses need an actual physical location - even if it's no more than a broom closet with nobody actually working there.

You can stream the show here: [7]. SteveBaker (talk) 16:49, 11 January 2015 (UTC)

Thanks. Interesting stuff ! Although even that might be a target for terrorists, and I wouldn't want those janitors and guards to be put in harm's way. On the other hand, you could make it an intentional target, and have the military there, armed to the teeth, behind bulletproof walls, ready for anything that comes their way. StuRat (talk) 18:34, 11 January 2015 (UTC)

@StuRat: You might also find the article "COME WITH US IF YOU WANT TO LIVE : Among the apocalyptic libertarians of Silicon Valley" interesting. It was published in the January 15th issue of "Harper's". A little googling reveals some pdfs of the article of very dubious copyright status.

The article is about companies that entirely run themselves online, potentially with no human employees. APL (talk) 00:12, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

can I change the lines colors in Outlook (exactly the the way unread emails are bold)

Resolved

I think it's good that unread mail in outlook's list view is bold. I'd like to have "checked" email (where I put the checkmark) light-grey so I can easily ignore it.

obviously this is possible technically (as there is deep scripting etc, it would be possible to build a whole new interface) but I wonder if there are any easier ways to set shading (even individually, i.e. even if I have to right-click and shade the line somehow.)

What I'm referring to is similar to selecting a color-coding, but I would just like the whole line to be distinguishable (easily ignored) by being light-grey. Then I can ignore these lines visually but don't have to move them from where they are. (Basically the opposite of Bold for unread lines.) THanks!

91.120.14.30 (talk) 11:14, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

I actually found an exact solution, this is built-in functionality and really easy. I followed this:

http://blogs.office.com/2012/05/10/conditional-formatting-highlight-your-most-important-mails/

I'm leaving this here in case others search or something. 91.120.14.30 (talk) 11:44, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

x61 rattling woes

Hi,

Recently (maybe a few days ago), my NZXT x61 Kraken started making some kind of rather distracting rattling noise. According to preliminary online searches, it seems to be a relatively common occurrence, either for this model or others. I tried my best to get some decent audio and video proof, which I have attached to this message; audio has been augmented by 300 percent in Virtual Dub, though.

Playing around with AI Suite II, the BIOS, or CAM, did not fix the problem. I did update my BIOS since then, don't know if it could be related. There's way more options than in the past. (ASUS Rampage IV)

25% Fan Speed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp6XJGBO4nM&feature=youtu.be 100% Fan Speed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqoYQUziy7o&feature=youtu.be

Matt714 (talk) 16:43, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

You really needed to describe what that device does. It seems to be a liquid cooling system for a PC, I presume, with twin fans used to cool the liquid. Specs here: [8]. The obvious source of the noise is the fans.

1) Look carefully to see if anything is impinging on either fan blade as it moves. You can look for signs of damage to either the fan blades or housing that would show scraping had occurred. I've also had problems with PC power supply fans, that sometimes a wire touches the moving fan blade. Look for that.

2) It could also be a bad fan bearing ("nano bearings" sound small enough to wear out quickly). I'm guessing there's no option to turn off one fan ? If you can identify which fan is causing the noise, the possibility exists to just disable that fan, by disconnecting the power wires to that fan. Obviously it would be less effective this way, but still better than nothing (and one fan at 100% speed might be more effective than both fans at 25% speed).

3) I suppose the liquid pump could also cause noise, but that seems less likely, to me. Has any liquid leaked out ? If so, air bubbles inside could cause noise.

4) You can try returning the device as defective, depending on how long you've had it, and your warranty.

5) I've found removing the housing from a PC and aiming a real box fan at the works is far more effective at cooling, and less expensive, although you do have to put up with the noise and ugliness. StuRat (talk) 17:02, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

Sorry for not being exhaustive with the information. It's a water-cooling heatsink for CPUs; the full name is NZXT x61 Kraken.

I'm not very comfortable with computer hardware, but I tried blowing the interior with compressed air, thinking it was dust, but it did not fix the problem. I also checked the connections, nothing seems amiss. The problem only started a few days ago, around when I did a BIOS update. I have the software installed for the heatsink, and it does not allow the user to turn off either fan. Liquid has not leaked out as far that I am aware. I'm probably going to pursue the pact of the RMA, since it's supposed to be silent to begin with. Matt714 (talk) 19:06, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

I don't really understand "pursue the pact of the RMA". Does that mean looking into getting it repaired or replaced under warranty ? If so, do that first, as opening it up likely voids the warranty. If you do decide to open it up, unplug it first, and let it sit for a while just in case there's still a charge in the system. Jut disconnect or cut any wires going to that fan to disable it. You don't want to leave loose, live wires, so jam them each into a wire nut. Any hardware store will have those. You'll want rather small ones for these wires, but they might come in a variety pack. StuRat (talk) 20:03, 10 January 2015 (UTC)