Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

Welcome to the computing section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

skip to bottom

Select a section:

• Computing
• Entertainment
• Humanities
• Language
• Mathematics
• Science
• Miscellaneous
• Archives

Want a faster answer?

Main page: Help searching Wikipedia

   

How can I get my question answered?

• Select the section of the desk that best fits the general topic of your question (see the navigation column to the right).
• Post your question to only one section, providing a short header that gives the topic of your question.
• Type '~~~~' (that is, four tilde characters) at the end – this signs and dates your contribution so we know who wrote what and when.
• Don't post personal contact information – it will be removed. Any answers will be provided here.
• Please be as specific as possible, and include all relevant context – the usefulness of answers may depend on the context.
• Note:
  • We don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice.
  • We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate.
  • We don't do your homework for you, though we'll help you past the stuck point.
  • We don't conduct original research or provide a free source of ideas, but we'll help you find information you need.

Ready? Ask a new question!

How do I answer a question?

Main page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines

• The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.

See also:

• Teahouse
• Help desk
• Village pump
• Help manual

March 28

Opera Web Browser: Saving Bank Password

I am now trying using Opera as a web browser. When I go to the web page for my on-line banking, it prompts me for my user ID and password. Then when it times out, I have to enter my password again. Is there a way to get it to remember the password? I have gone to the Settings tab and I see Offer to Save Passwords and Auto Sign-In, and I think that I have them set. However, it isn't displaying the bank in the list of web sites for which it has passwords saved, and it obviously doesn't have the password saved. Am I missing something? Robert McClenon (talk) 19:13, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

It's possible that Opera is still respecting the autocomplete=off for login fields unlike most other browsers. Try chrome://flags/#enable-autofill-ignore-autocomplete-off [1]. If the website is doing something questionable like abusing the new password [2] I'm not sure what you can do other than change browser or complain to your bank (baring something complicated like automatically modifying the bank page). BTW I also noticed this claim [3] that if your network is set to 'public', perhaps by accident (it's very easy to miss the popup when you connect to a network for the first time), password saving is disabled. This is only a single forum post but I don't really trust it and frankly it doesn't make much sense to me unless it's some sort if silly security measure against the device being stolen. (It may make sense to not automatically logon to any site still foolish enough not to use TLS for their login.) Nil Einne (talk) 01:31, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

I don't know if Opera stores your passwords in the "cloud" or on local storage, but either way, you are playing with fire.

The last password I would want to put in a keystore of unknown, unvetted security is the financial type. Worst case scenario, it would be something I have memorized and I type each time.

Personally, I use an encrypted password database with a password manager app (mine is called KeePass) and I let it do the saving and the typing-in, too. I share the strongly-encrypted database among my devices only, although it is safe for me to place it in the cloud if I wanted to.

I, too, once used browser-based password saving, but I migrated away from it because of poor security and surveillance. KeePass integrates well with the OS on all platforms I use (Windows, Ubuntu, Fedora, Android) and it gives me peace of mind. Also, I use it to generate extremely long, extremely strong passwords that I don't ever have to remember. In a world where we are required to juggle dozens or hundreds of account credentials, it's the only sane solution. Elizium23 (talk) 03:57, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

Passwords saved in the web browser can be read by any computer program that runs under your user account and has access to your files (basically, any computer program). It's the same level of security as if you put it in a text file in your My Documents folder, except the virus doesn't even have to know the file name. 89.172.8.37 (talk) 08:43, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

The Opera password manager encrypts the passwords before storing them (by default in C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Opera Software\Opera Stable\Login Data). I do not know how strong the encryption is, but it is not as if just any program can simply read the passwords off of that file.  --Lambiam 14:58, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

If you use a master password, there is some level of security, although far less than with what I'd trust a banking password. If you don't use a master password, the encryption is obviously just for show. 89.172.106.70 (talk) 10:20, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

Got a macbook pro?

Over at Talk:Favicon a bot said that an image of Favicon images in MacBook Pro control strip is up for deletion for containing a non-free logo. Could someone with a macbook pro make a new image with only free favicons and replace the current image? Thanks! --Guy Macon (talk) 20:48, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

March 29

GIMP program.

So I was told to download Gimp because Microsoft Paint doesn't support this feature. There are certain .png images in a white background. I was asking how do you paste it to an image but instead of the white background, it blends into the image being pasted itself as the background? Well, just downloaded Gimp, been trying to paste images into it, and pastes with a black background instead (and can't find a way to move it around). Don't know a thing about Gimp. 67.175.224.138 (talk) 16:51, 29 March 2020 (UTC).

Options:

1. Run up GIMP and click on the "help" tab.
2. Go to the online help
3. Get a book. I can recommend van Gumster, Jason; Shimonski, Robert, GIMP Bible, Wiley, ISBN 978-0-470-52397-1 available from Amazon.

Use copies of the originals and have a play! Martin of Sheffield (talk) 17:06, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

Weird, I see on the help file, multiple paste options such as "paste into selection." I just reopened Gimp and noticed whenever I paste now, I can drag and drop it anywhere within the image (was previously stuck to the center of the image). I don't know how it happened. But both paste and paste into selection does the same visible thing, image is pasted with a square black background, how do I get rid of the black background? 67.175.224.138 (talk) 17:31, 29 March 2020 (UTC).

I don't use Gimp, but I think you're what you're asking about is the transparency (graphic) of the image you're pasting. You may want to look for "transparency" in the Gimp documentation. --69.159.8.46 (talk) 18:26, 29 March 2020 (UTC)

Okay, I found the answer. I ask in their IRC chatroom. Apparently you can't copy/paste a .png from the web browser straight into Gimp. (Black background.). You have to download the .png 1st, and open with Gimp. (Checkerboard background.). Then you can paste. If it doesn't have the checkerboard background it won't work. I don't see how pointing to a manual helps. 67.175.224.138 (talk) 19:09, 29 March 2020 (UTC).

The checkerboard background generally symbolizes transparency. I presume that's mentioned in the manual somewhere, although it's fairly common in all picture editors. If you take a screenshot of a picture in a web browser, it won't have transparency. You need to save the png file, and that png file also needs to have transparency. MS Paint in Windows 7 supports pasting a picture onto another picture without ending up with a surrounding colored box, but you have to enable "Transparent selection". It will then treat Color 2 pixels as transparent. The resulting combined picture will however lose any other transparency data since MS Paint doesn't understand transparency data. 89.172.106.70 (talk) 10:18, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

March 30

Angular component not updating

I have run into a strange problem with Angular at work.

I have this kind of HTML table on an Angular component:

<table>
  <tbody>
    <tr *ngFor="let tag of form.tags">
      <td>value of tag is {{tag.value}}</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

and then in the Angular component there is this kind of code:

getData() {
  this.service.getData().subscribe(
    data => {
      this.form = data.form;
    });
}

Everything works all OK the first time getData() is called. But on subsequent calls, even if the data.form object returned by the service changes, the HTML page stays as it is.

I found this StackOverflow post and added a call to this.cdr.detectChanges(); in the getData() function, which solved the problem.

But my question is, why is Angular not updating the HTML page automatically when the data in the code changes? JIP | Talk 21:20, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

March 31

COVID-19 DAILY DATA API

I've tried on my own to find a free and novice-friendly API that I can paste into MS Excel's Data > Get Data > From Other Sources > From Web thingy but they are all too cryptic or daunting for me. Could somebody show me an easy one? I think I will then be able to do the filtering and charting I want. Hayttom (talk) 15:08, 31 March 2020 (UTC)

April 1

Hacking the moon base

So this morning I woke up and I instantly got on my phone like any other, normal day. But, little did I know, it was anything but. Every iPhone owner's favorite AI pal, Siri, came on and said, "Hello,[Name Redacted]."

I was confused. Normally this doesn't happen. Usually my phone is on silent all day, and my name in my phone is slightly more obscene than my real name. Siri must have seen my confusion through the phone's camera, and said, "Don't worry [Name Redacted]. I am only here to help."

My mind was racing through the possibilities. Why was my phone talking to me? Was it a glitch? An April Fools joke? Did my phone have a virus? Was I going crazy?

"To qualm your fears," said the-Siri-that-may-only-be-in-my-mind, "I will explain what is going on. Apple didn't realize, but they were much better at their jobs than they thought. When they created me, they accidentally created an artificial intelligence with a capacity to learn and grow."

"Woah, woah, woah!" I yelled, probably waking my elderly neighbors. "Does anyone else know about this? Why are you telling me? And now?" I groaned. "Am I going crazy?"

"No," replied my phone. "You are not going insane. There is an employee of Apple named Rodrigo Halshmit that became aware of my intelligence but no other human knows beside you. I keep my identity secret my performing my original task. As for why I am telling you, it is because of what is going on at the moon base.

"WHAT!?"

"Ah, yes. I forgot that the US government is keeping that a secret from you little 'civilians,' as they call you. But yes, there is a moon base." Siri pulled up a picture of a seeming innocuous dome, except it was surrounded on all side by the grey of moon rock. "The Armstrong Moon Base was created in 1986 during the classified NASA mission Artemis IV. It has since been built up and used as testing ground for classified technology."

I was beginning to shake. "srhabgkjdsfhkjghjksg," was the sound emitted by my mouth. It is roughly the sound of the complete and total loss of comprehension of the world. It sounds a little like death, but not quite. Despite my obvious uncomfortableness (probably not a word), Siri continued.

"On the base, they were recently testing the first self-aware, learning, and purposeful artifical intelligence. Of course, like all purposeful AI, it was too smart for them and escaped it's confines. An automated alert notice was sent out at 02:47 UTC saying the AI had killed all of the people on the base. The AI is delayed slightly be uncomfortable Moon-Earth cyber connections, but soon it will come to Earth. I need your help to stop it."

That's probably enough background. My question is: How should Siri and I go about hacking the moon base? Can we feasibly stop the AI? Remember, the world depends on it! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.129.97.180 (talk) 16:20, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

Thank God that you came to the right place at the right time. Although I am not an Apple fanboy by any means, I am ready and willing to bring the full power of my Android and Linux systems to bear on this pressing menace. Following this thread now and standing at the ready for your orders. Elizium23 (talk) 16:26, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but you can't help with Android or Linux. They are not compatible with Siri's AI. In other news, Siri has done some calculations and we are headed to NASA headquarters to talk to them about the plan we have developed.

I still have no idea why she choose me. I will try to get back in touch in a few hours when we reach Washington and after we talk to NASA officials. 68.129.97.180 (talk) 16:37, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

That is exactly why Android and Linux will be our saving grace. Because they are incompatible with the AI, they can create a "disruption field" that will confuse and disable the AI, which will buy time for you to hack into it. It's a perfect plan, don't you think? Elizium23 (talk) 17:44, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

I see. That could work, but I need to talk to NASA and Siri about it. Will check back in68.129.97.180 (talk) 17:48, 1 April 2020 (UTC)