Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 October 20

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October 20

Restoring Firefox to an earlier configuration

I downloaded a file from a Russian site from a client, and now I have a Russian-language toolbar. How can I undo this (and any other unseen) unwanted change? I'm on ver. 24.0 and Windows Vista Home. Clarityfiend (talk) 13:44, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Never mind. I figured it out. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:40, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

If the Russian web-site managed to install a toolbar on your browser without your consent, who knows what else they installed? OsmanRF34 (talk) 23:10, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

Internet slowdown in US?

Is there a general slowdown on the internet in the US? Yesterday and today many things are a lot slower than they usually are. I do a speed test at my ISP and it is normal, but when I go to DSL Reports and check some, ping times are 400-850ms instead of the usual 30-60ms. Download speeds are 90-95% slower than normal. Sometimes upload speeds are normal, sometimes they are slow. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 14:54, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Not that I'm aware of. StuRat (talk) 16:33, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

I just tested again. Comcast is my ISP. When I go to http://speedtest.comcast.net/ and try Washington, DC, I get 3.47 Mb/s down and 0.31MB/s up. That is what I'm supposed to be getting down, but is a slow up. But when I go to DSLReports and go to the same server, I got 287Kb/s down and 38KB/s up. More than 10x slower down and close to 10x slower up. And everything else is slow (except the measurements to the site above). Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 16:42, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Do you have a docsis 2 or 3 modem? I think they're doing something with their system (Comcast, that is), about 4 weeks ago, mine started slowing down- now it disconnects around 8 times an hour (for about 2 minutes, then goes back up). I have friends who had similar- every time I talked to them, they'd give me different excuses, finally, I got one of them to level with me and tell me that my it's my modem and she'd get them to send me a new one (you can actually get the newer version if you have the old one on your own, there's a page on their site that you can fill out to get it.) At any rate, I don't know if any of this relates to you, but it seems to be a Comcast issue in my area, so maybe it is elsewhere (obviously, I have no citations or anything for any of this).Phoenixia1177 (talk) 16:48, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

I do have that type of modem but I have the economy service. I just tested again (on another computer here) and the ping time was 892ms, 475Kbs download, 29 KB/s upload - all around 10x slower than they should be.

A few months ago I was having the same type of problem with frequent drops but coming back in 2 minutes. I had an old modem (owned by me). I replaced it with the new one, but still had the problem. They came here and replaced the amplified splitter with a regular splitter and the problem went away. But as of yesterday, everything is very slow, except the measurements on their speed test site. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 16:54, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

If I reboot my cable modem, it goes back to normal speed for a while but then gets slow again. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 06:16, 21 October 2013 (UTC)

Other explanations - Could your ISP be throttling your speed due to overuse (or some other reason)? Is it possibly you have software hogging your connection (Like a trojan or virus)? Thanks ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 12:20, 23 October 2013 (UTC)

keyboard shortcuts for accented characters not working in Word (Office Professional Plus 2010)

Hi, until yesterday, I could type ctrl+' followed by an e and would get an accented French e. Today it's not working and I don't know what I've changed. Can you help me restore it? *Thank you*!174.88.9.74 (talk) 15:34, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Picture of a stoat after VLC plays a film

Hi, so my uncle is terrified of stoats, and I want to play a trick on him this Halloween, the idea is that we're going to watch a scary movie, and then what I want to happen is that after VLC plays the film I want it to automatically show him a picture of a stoat. I was thinking it would be fine if I set the desktop background to a picture of a stoat but then when VLC stops playing it stays at the size of the screen or the size of the video, is there a way to get it to minimise or close once it has finished showing the film? I can't wait to see my uncles face once he sees the stoat! Horatio Snickers (talk) 16:29, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

You might want to do what I did to my Dad. I put the pic up on his PC screen, then let it go to screen saver. As soon as he came back and moved the mouse, he got the scary pic. StuRat (talk) 16:31, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

You could create a playlist in VLC consisting of the movie followed by the picture.  Card Zero  (talk) 19:21, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

How could he be terrified of stoats? They look like ferret meerkat hybrids! If he's terriefied of images of stoats then he must be scared of similar looking toys (logically)? Depending on budget you may be able to pick up something very similar at a pet store and scare him with it (stick it in his bed or shoe, etc). Good luck! ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 10:08, 22 October 2013 (UTC)

I once played the role of a stoat in my school's stage production of Toad of Toad Hall. I don't think I looked very scary. My mum still loved me. HiLo48 (talk) 10:15, 22 October 2013 (UTC)

She's biased HiLo, she has to love you ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 10:19, 22 October 2013 (UTC)

Everything suggested above would probably work nicely; I personally would probably go with Card Zero's suggestion of making a playlist which includes the movie followed by your scary stoat picture. ;) --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 00:17, 23 October 2013 (UTC)