Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2015 January 4

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January 4

Credit Card Processing

Say I have a simple application to acts a cash register, on a desktop computer, and can receive credit cards via a usb swiper, how would I go about actually processing the cards, charging them, etc.? More clearly: what would I need to do this in the situation described, what services might I need to use, what info would I need (merchant accounts, etc.), and how would I get started doing this programmatically? I realize that's a lot, but I'm not looking for a full answer, just a few leads that can get me started - when I've looked this up, I'm not 100% sure what all I need to be looking for, so any direction would be helpful. Thank you:-)Phoenixia1177 (talk) 06:29, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

Merchant account has quite a bit of information. Or Google search for something like "small business credit card processing".--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:36, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

Phoenixia1177 BTW, it is very rare these days to run that kind of application from a desktop computer. I would recommend using a hosting service such as Godaddy or Google sites. Google was free last time I used it and Godaddy is free or very cheap. Those are just two there are many others and most of them already have various built in widgets for doing basic things like processing credit card info. Here are some links I found: http://basicblogtips.com/credit-card-processing-alternatives.html https://developers.google.com/wallet/instant-buy/ http://credit-card-processing-review.toptenreviews.com/google-checkouts-credit-card-processing.html --MadScientistX11 (talk) 18:50, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

Dear Phoenixia1177:

Ah, card acceptance! A confusing jungle of options.

I don't live in the US, so it's hard for me to advise you. Here's the best advice I can give anyway.

Your user page says you live in the state of Pennsylvania in the US and you manage a hotel. So you definitely want to accept Visa and MasterCard. Maybe also American Express, though I hear they charge higher "interchange fees" to merchants which accept their cards than Visa and MasterCard do. (Are there other types of credit cards which are issued overseas but not issued in the US? I dunno. Visa and MasterCard are pretty common in a variety of English-speaking countries.)

As for debit cards: It's good (but not crucial) for you to be able to connect to one of the classical debit interbank networks, such as Pulse, NYCE, MAC, Tyme, SHAZAM, or STAR. (You may only need to connect to one debit network, since many of them are interconnected with each other.) They charge lower fees than Visa Debit and MasterCard Debit do. See Debit card#United States.

So, what are your options? As I see it, you have three options.

• One option is an Android or iPhone card-acceptance app, plus (optionally) a mobile swiper doodad. It's easy to sign up. These tend to have zero monthly fee and high fees per swipe (about 3%). You can buy a swiper for $10. Since the monthly fees are so low, customer service may not be very good. If you run into problems with funds being held, it might be hard to get them released faster. These apps may not connect to the debit interbank networks at all.
• Another option is something PC-based like PayPal Virtual Terminal. You pay a monthly fee and get better customer service.
• A third option, and I think the most common choice of hotel owners, is to buy or rent a card-processing machine and to get a traditional merchant account. Highest monthly fees and lowest per-swipe fees. Signing up can be a big hassle. (They want to make sure that your hotel is in good financial shape, since they're in big trouble if you go bankrupt.) Many traditional merchant accounts are connected to one of the classical debit networks. Amad Ebrahimi of the Merchant Maverick website advises, "Negotiate yourself a good interchange-plus rate with a processor that doesn’t charge an early termination fee". I advise you to consider buying a card-processing machine upfront instead of paying higher monthly fees in order to get a "free" one. Nothing is ever truly free. :)

Regarding surcharging: Ever since the Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation was settled, it's been permissible for merchants in many states to charge customers a surcharge to help cover credit-card processing fees. I'm not sure whether or not this is allowed in Pennsylvania. I'm also not sure whether or not your guests will be annoyed or not.

How big is your hotel? How long has it been in business? Has it ever accepted credit cards before? How much money do you expect to be charging to credit cards per month?

Kind regards, —Unforgettableid (talk) 19:57, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

How long does a temporary ban last on a wiki website

Thank you. Venustar84 (talk) 00:04, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

What website? What ban? Your question is so vague as to be unanswerable. AndyTheGrump (talk) 00:30, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

It's all right there on your talk page, User talk:Venustar84. Either ask the administrator who imposed the ban, or appeal the ban to the community at WP:AN. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:41, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

But in either case, be sure to address the original issues, or you can expect to be ignored. Robert McClenon (talk) 01:46, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

It's not on wikipedia. It's on wikimoon.org Venustar84 (talk) 02:46, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

We have no control over wikimoon.org. Why did you think that two wikis with different domain names were related? Robert McClenon (talk) 02:48, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

@Robert McClenon: It's not too uncommon for people to associate other wikis with Wikipedia, especially since we have sister projects.

@Venustar84: Wikimoon is not associated with Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation, so I'm afraid you won't find much help here. Wikimoon should have its own policies on how blocks and bans work - you'll have to reach out to the editors or the administration there to answer your question. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 02:50, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

As Superhamster says, the same general answer applies to wikimoon as to Wikipedia: Ask the person or persons who imposed the ban. Robert McClenon (talk) 03:07, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Here is Wikimoon's block policy. It seems very informal and somewhat arbitrary. Here is also the block log for Wikimoon. So it seems that on that project that the duration varies widely. I can't speak for projects outside of the Wikimedia Foundation like Wikimoon. But, in general, it depends on whether you've been banned before and on the severity of the offense. For minor offenses (e.g., vandalism), it's usually 24 hours for the first block. They typically refer to these as "blocks" instead of a "ban." A ban typically denotes something permanent, although banned users are often allowed to return after several months or even years. A long-term ban usually requires community consensus on Wikimedia projects, and it's usually for more serious offenses (e.g., long-term vandalism, death threats, etc.). However, on less-formal wikis I've seen people banned permanently on the spot by just a single administrator. In any case, if you recognize your IP address or user name in that log, it will tell you the duration of the block. Maybe you could leave a message on your own talk page asking the administrator about it. I'm sure they would see it in the recent changes since it's such a small wiki. Unfortunately, they don't seem to support e-mail, so you will have to use a talk page.—Best Dog Ever (talk) 04:01, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Two questions related to Vagrant

I'm using the 64-bit edition of Windows 8. I'm considering installing Vagrant. Please answer each question in its own subsection. Thank you, —Unforgettableid (talk) 05:57, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

Installing Vagrant into a directory with spaces in its name

The installer asked me where it should install itself, and suggested "C:\HashiCorp\Vagrant". I don't know why it didn't suggest installing itself into either "C:\Program Files\Vagrant" or "C:\Program Files (x86)\Vagrant". Is there any disadvantage to installing Vagrant into a directory with spaces in its name? Regards, —Unforgettableid (talk) 05:57, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

Not to my knowledge. ☃ Unicodesnowman (talk) 16:08, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Dear @Unicodesnowman: Thank you for your answer. If I may ask: Have you ever tried installing it into such a directory? Alternatively, are you active in the Vagrant community and have never heard anything bad about the practice? Cheers, —Unforgettableid (talk) 04:45, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Vagrant versus VirtualBox

Really, I just want to install and use Ubuntu or Debian on this PC. Cygwin isn't ideal: operations such as "tar xzf" tend to be kind of slow inside Cygwin. I don't want to dual-boot: it's a shared PC, I don't want to force anyone else onto Linux, and I want Windows fast user switching to always be available. I'm familiar with VirtualBox; I've never actually used Vagrant. Plus, the VirtualBox Windows installer is 100% open-source; the same cannot be said of the Vagrant Windows installer. What would I lose if I simply installed plain old VirtualBox and downloaded a prebuilt virtual machine image from the Ubuntu website? Regards, —Unforgettableid (talk) 05:57, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

I have never run anything on top of Windows (I like solid foundations), but I've run XP on top of Red Hat and CentOS in VirtualBox, and I'm running (though use it rarely) Ubuntu on top of OS-X in VirtualBox. If you install the non-free (but no-cost) Guest Additions and go full screen, the experience is very nearly native. Sorting out networking can be trial-and-error, but otherwise, it always worked fine for me. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 09:30, 31 December 2014 (UTC)

I regularly run Ubuntu VMs in VirtualBox on top of Windows and it works fine. The only glitch to note is to do with the user switching that you mention - switching users will disconnect your VMs from the network (and that includes connecting as the same user by remote desktop). Otherwise, it's been a pretty flawless experience for me, with the usual caveats re virtual machines, ie more RAM is better, faster disk is better, more CPU cores is better, in roughly that order. GoldenRing (talk) 10:10, 31 December 2014 (UTC)

Dear @GoldenRing: Thank you for your reply. Still, maybe I will use VirtualBox instead of Vagrant after all. About the glitch: Interesting. Have you reported this in the VirtualBox bugtracker? Cheers, —Unforgettableid (talk) 04:17, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

@Unforgettableid: It is discussed in the forums. It seems the limitation is fundamental to Windows (Windows 7 in this instance). When you log on as a different user, or by remote desktop, all the existing programs lose network connectivity. See eg [1]. GoldenRing (talk) 05:33, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Relocating 'Recycle Bin'

Hi friends,

Hope you are all well, had a lovely Christmas and a New Year party celebration.

I’m back from my holidays…

I have a question to ask: I would like to know if there is a possibility relocating the desktop’s ‘Recycle Bin’ icons folder to a RHDD (Removable Hard Disk Drive), so that every time I insert something in the desktop ‘Recycle Bin’ icons folder it goes straight to the RHDD. I don’t wish to create a ‘Recycle Bin’ icons folder manually in the RHDD then insert a 'shortcut icon in the desktop, I only wish to relocate the path location of the actual ‘Recycle Bin’ icons folder that is available in the desktop already.

Can anyone help me please?

(Russell.mo (talk) 07:38, 4 January 2015 (UTC))

Firstly, the recycle in isn't stored on the desktop. It's store on the root of each partition as a "$Recycle.Bin" directory (well on new versions of Windows, on older it had a different name but was still in the root). Even though it may look like you only have one recycle bin, in reality each partition if you have multiple has their own seperate recycle bin. The only thing stored on the desktop is a shortcut to the recycle bin in explorer. See Trash (computing)#Microsoft Windows. Anyway as for moving the recycle bin, I'm fairly sure it's not possible. The recycle bin in Windows simply isn't designed like that. See [2] for example. However Explorer replacements or even Explorer shell extensions may be able to make their own recycle bin which functions like that although it still wouldn't help with other programs which use the API or otherwise move stuff to the recycle bin. You could probably also find something which will move stuff to another partition after they are moved to the recycle bin. You could try turning the recycle bin directory in whatever partition you're referring to in to a NTFS symbolic link which works for many things but I suspect in this case it will just break stuff. Nil Einne (talk) 07:51, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

@Nil Einne: I thought and noticed some of the things you mentioned... I understand. Thanks. I'll read through the links you provded. -- (Russell.mo (talk) 08:01, 4 January 2015 (UTC))

Yes, it's all "smoke and mirrors". The recycle bin just reserves the space where the file is still stored, and makes it easier to put the links back to the original logical folder. The "deleted" file is still there in its original physical place; it's not actually moved to anywhere else. If you want files to be stored in a recycle bin on a different drive, you will need to move them to that drive before deleting them. The space on the original drive will then be marked as available, but you will no longer have the easy one-click option of restoring to the original folder. Dbfirs 09:09, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

I guess this cleared a few things. I'm actually saving files and folders on the Recycle Bin's folder based on the desktop, whenever I need to reuse a file I kind of drag and drop it in the Wallpaper, when no longer required I throw it in the Recycle Bin again. I think this is the reason why my C drive look s almost full... -- (Russell.mo (talk) 17:40, 4 January 2015 (UTC))

When you drag a file to the recycle bin, nothing moves. The process is exactly the same as clicking delete, but all that happens is that the file details are stored in a file called "Recycle bin", whilst the file stays exactly where it was. If you are dragging files, why not create a folder on your removable drive with a shortcut on the desktop, then you can use this folder in exactly the way you have been using the recycle bin. You will notice a difference in the time it takes for big files because in this arrangement the contents of the file are actually moved from one drive to the other when you drag. Dbfirs 21:32, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Yeah, that's when the "$Recycle.Bin" folders come into action... I get what you are saying... There is no other option rather than what you mentioned to make the use of Recycle Bin. Thanks. I'll create a shortcut in the desktop and insert the original in the RHDD, and probably have to watch out for the bigger files, not to insert it in the recycle bin...

Thank you both

Resolved

Call of Duty 'game controlling issue'

Hello!

I recently received a gift of a game called ‘Call of Duty Modern Warefare 1 & 2’ without a setup file. The game functions alright, I failed to connect my playstation ‘plug n play’ controller. The game(s) seem to not possess the option of selecting different controllers nor does the plug and play option of the controller functions. Is there a possibility setting up the playstation ‘plug n play’ controller manually?

(Russell.mo (talk) 07:42, 4 January 2015 (UTC))

Building a package on Linux

I tried to build the newest version of the hid-atari-retrobit package on Fedora 20 Linux, but I got this error message:

make -C /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build M=$PWD modules
make: *** /lib/modules/3.16.2-201.fc20.x86_64/build: No such file or directory.  Stop.
make: *** [all] Error 2

Can anyone help? JIP | Talk 07:48, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Never mind, it turned out I had to install the kernel development package first. JIP | Talk 17:04, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

USB Pen Drive issue

I have an 8 GB ‘USB pen drive’ which display the ‘format disk’ window every time I plug it in. When formatted, which takes a long time, well it fails to format the USB pen drive’. I am able to ‘safely remove’ the ‘USB pen drive’ by ‘right clicking’ from the ‘notification bar’ based on the bottom right hand side of the monitor screen. If I replug and cancel the formatting option ‘window’ that appears straight after replugging, it displays ‘Removable Disk (U)’ or ‘RAW (U)’ whatever it feels like whenever it is replugged in the ‘My Computer’ window. How can this issue be fixed? I tried everything possible but failed after utter trying.

Reason of this porblamatic cause: Once I was formatting the ‘USB pen drive’, everything froze in the Monitor screen. I thought the cause was the ‘USB pen drive’ therefor I manually unplugged it while it was formatting. The display screen was still frozen but started functioning after (5/6 seconds later) the ‘USB pen drive’ was unplugged. I replugged to reformat it then the same thing occurred, it froze again. I unplugged and replugged a few times while it was formatting as it kept on freezing and now it doesn't format any more, doesn't mount either…

Note: I have formatted several times but it doesn’t format, I tried the 'MS Dos' style format and it doesn’t work, I tried mounting, changed the drive letter as defined in the internet while I was trying to fix it; basically I tried everything and I still don’t wish to give up, and I need help… When I ‘click’ the ‘Start’ menu from the bottom left hand side bar of the monitor screen, I type ‘Computer Management’ and press ‘enter’, thereafter the ‘Computer Management’ window appears. I ‘click’ the ‘Disk Management’ option from the ‘left pane’, all the information appears on the ‘middle pane’, I review the ‘U’ drive’s information available in the ‘bottom middle pane’, it says, ‘7.45GB RAW Healthy (Primary Partation)’ and possess diagonal lines in the box where it says.

I need help in fixing it so that it starts functioning. Any ideas?

(Russell.mo (talk) 08:04, 4 January 2015 (UTC))

Does the issue affect other thumb drives that you plug into the same port? If not, then it's probably a hardware problem with the thumb drive. Does the issue happen if you plug it into a different computer? If not, then the drive is probably fine and it's some other issue with the USB port or OS.—Best Dog Ever (talk) 12:23, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

@Best Dog Ever: I'm guessing that it could be a hardware problem. Everything else you mentioned, tested and is on the positive side. Any idea how to mitigate the hardware issue? -- (Russell.mo (talk) 17:29, 4 January 2015 (UTC))

It might be just a bad connection, so I suppose you could try taking it apart carefully, but if the problem is in the write or control circuitry then it's probably not worth repairing because a replacement costs very little. Dbfirs 20:38, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

I've heard of people resoldering on the USB connector for bad thumb drives. (Here are some tutorials covering that that you can try, assuming that's the problem.) If the board itself is bad, then most repair shops will just remove the flash-memory chips and connect them to another drive for data recovery. However, since you're not trying to recover the data and since it's only an 8 GB drive, then I would just buy another one. They're only about $5.—Best Dog Ever (talk) 21:28, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

You guys are right, it is not worth repairing, right now, as I bought another RDD. Its just, its the first USB drive I bought when I entered this third world country to save datas, during poverty. In other words, I have intimate connection with it (lol). Thanks for the info guys, I'll try to fix it when I get the time, and or might keep it as a show piece. -- (Russell.mo (talk) 04:40, 5 January 2015 (UTC))

Win7Pro Windows explorer view

I am running Win7Pro. I have 2 nominally identical usb data sticks (32GB).

When viewed in windows explorer (in "Details" mode), one has columns

Name Date modified Type Size

the other has columns

Name Type Total size Space free

The former just lists folders and files in order The latter insists on grouping the root directory into types of file.

How do I stop the latter doing this and make it like the first stick. (I have at some point in the past formatted the second stick as FAT32, which is the same property that the first unreformatted stick claims.)

-- SGBailey (talk) 11:51, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

I've manually changed the column titles back to the normal selection (unsure whether it will remain like that as yet) but it still groups things with a little "heading" in the list of files. That in particular is what I want to stop. -- SGBailey (talk) 11:56, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Right-click in a blank area of the folder and choose Group by → (None).—Best Dog Ever (talk) 12:11, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Thanks. For some reason I had to select none twice. The first time it didn't stick and reverted to "Name". -- SGBailey (talk) 17:11, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

SecureZIP Uninstall Error

In response to the discussion above about a problem with SecureZIP, I tried to uninstall SecureZip for Windows, which would be necessary to replace it with 7-Zip. It says: "Error opening installation log file. Please verify that the specified log file location exists and is writeable." What should I do next, short of calling a technician? Where is the file at which I should look? Robert McClenon (talk) 17:46, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

A web search for the error message turned up KB2564571, and while it's quite old (2011), I would nevertheless try killing and restarting Explorer as it suggests, and if that doesn't work (or you don't know how to do it), rebooting. If rebooting doesn't work, you may be in trouble. I don't think you need to uninstall it at all, though. I'm sure there's a way to turn off the email encryption feature. -- BenRG (talk) 19:34, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

On the uninstaller issue, it's probably trying to create a file in the %TEMP% directory, and it may not have sufficient privileges or the directory may not exist. Try running the uninstall program as administrator. If that doesn't work, there may be a command-line option for the uninstaller that tells it not to create a log file - assuming it's called "uninstall.exe", try uninstall /silent or uninstall /?. Tevildo (talk) 21:06, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

Has the installation log file been deleted? Possibly the uninstall routine looks there to see what files and registry entries to delete. You could try reinstalling it to recreate the file, then uninstall. Dbfirs 21:19, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

I've had good results with the free version of Revo Uninstaller, which tries several progressively more aggressive methods of uninstalling a program. -- Finlay McWalterᚠTalk 23:22, 4 January 2015 (UTC)

I was doing the uninstall as administrator. I will try the other suggestions made. By the way, I can't find a way to turn off the automatic zipping of attachments. I would still also appreciate any suggestions there. Robert McClenon (talk) 21:41, 6 January 2015 (UTC)