Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with software and computers

Looking for good system monitoring / task scheduling software

Nothing — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:09:28 -0800

Looking for good system monitoring / task scheduling software to run on Windows for server monitoring as well as running custom scripts for keeping track application specific metrics. Right now I am using a hand-rolled solution which runs scripts and updates logs / sends emails on output. It's nice because it is easy to add new custom tasks and metrics, but I am looking to migrate the functionality into something a little more robust, possibly with the ability to keep track of tasks running on multiple machines, etc.

Make it speak English!

crazylegs — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:35:47 -0800

Just downloaded Play65 but it isn't in English! Help! I want to play backgammon online for money. I just downloaded some online backgammon software called 'Play65'. When I open it on my computer it is written in a language I don't recognize, possibly Hebrew? How do I make it into English?

Little text manipulation help?

yesno — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:54:34 -0800

I need some help repairing some text files. I don't really understand regular expressions and so on enough. I have two badly formed mbox files.

One is missing the "From " indicator that a new message is about to begin. Instead, there's a "From: ." I need this second "From: " to stay there, as without it the messages all show up as having no sender when I import them into any client. Thus, I need a way to add a "From " to the line above each line where a "From: " occurs. As far as I know the "From " is just some mailer daemon's email that I don't really care about.

The second is the same, but the messages also show up has having a bad date. Currently, there is a field labeled along the lines of "Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 1:11 PM." Properly mbox files seem to look like "Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 12:53:22 -0600." While just changing "sent" to "date" fix that, or do I need some really good regexing?

Multi-track looper software?

fizzzzzzzzzzzy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:58:36 -0800

I'm looking for some sort of multi-track looper software. Something I could use during a live performance to record and play along to multiple tracks. Ideally, it would be a way for me to play all the parts of a song by myself in a single performance. Example of how it might work: I play a drum part and record it into the computer so that it keeps repeating that drum part along to pre-set time signature and tempo. As it loops back, I lay down guitar, keyboard and bass. When the verse comes in, I stop the guitar and keyboard part from playing with a quick tap of the keyboard. When the chorus starts, I bring them back. And on and on until the end of the song.

Bonus - if effects can be applied to the tracks in the middle of the song.

Don't Know Much About Mainframes, So I'm Intrigued...

mhh5 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:54:09 -0800

What is a modern mainframe computer? IANAP So I randomly overheard some discussions about modern mainframe computing... and with all the "cloud computing" hype.. I'm sorta wondering what people mean nowadays when they say they work on a "mainframe" and what the most common work on mainframes is currently? Am I mistaken in thinking that mainframes mostly run nearly-obsolete COBOL programs for ancient financial systems? I assume so... so where can I brush up on what the "latest" is in mainframe software? Is there a vibrant mainframe developer community out there...? I assume it's all IBM -- but are there other developers for mainframe software?

Printing an Excel file

jujube — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:30:23 -0800

Excel filter: How do I print a specific column on every printed page without having to physically insert the column to the beginning of every page? I have an Excel datasheet, with names as column 1, with other information filled in. When I look at my spreadsheet on my computer, I typically "freeze" the 1st column so that I can always see the name as my left-most column. How do I do the same thing when I print the worksheet? For example, if my data runs for 2-3 or more pages, how do I set up the print job so that column 1 with the names will print again as the left most column on page 2, left most column on page 3, etc.?
Thanks!

How does one play back 2-channel video?

Artifice_Eternity — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:27:02 -0800

It's becoming increasingly common in the art world to see various forms of multi-channel video: works or installations in which video plays back on more than 1 screen at a time. If I wanted to create a 2-channel video piece, what technical means would be available to me to play back both video channels in sync with each other? Creating 2 synced videos is not a problem for me. I would edit each video separately, but working with a common soundtrack. The mystery is how to play them back together. Anyone know how this is typically done?

I imagine there may be a computer-based solution. Many computers will now support 2 displays; perhaps the right software would be able to send a separate feed to each video output. But I don't know what that software would be, or even what file format would be involved. Perhaps 2 separate conventional files played simultaneously? Or 1 file with a double-wide aspect ratio, split in half down the middle? (If the latter, how the hell would I produce such a file?) Hive mind, clue me in if you can.

Mobile software for the mobile traveller?

zaebiz — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:30:18 -0800

What applications/software for your mobile device did you find useful/essential for travelling? I will be travelling initially around Europe and then who knows.... I have an iMate JasJam phone running Windows Mobile 6 but would acquire another device if this will be more suitable for running useful applications.

Recommendations for making Venn diagrams?

tnygard — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:50:03 -0800

Does anyone have software recommendations for making Venn diagrams? Especially complicated ones? Hi all, I have a set of data that I want to make a Venn diagram for, and I was hoping that you might have software recommendations for doing so.

My data is complicated and has several variables. (It shows how the agricultural sector of the American economy breaks down into grains, fibers, vegetables, etc. as well as where these products end up, such as bread products, pasta, etc.) I am not sure if I will make one big diagram with many circles (perhaps 20) or several smaller diagrams.

Ideally I will need something that can:

* Make the circles different sizes to indicate quantity.
* Control the colors of circles.
* Show different degrees of overlapping circles.
* Include many circles -- not just 3.
* Add labels.
* Produces attractive output that is potentially publishable.

I am happy to pay for a software package. But free software is nice.

Thanks in advance for your tips!

Looking for a great customer management/scheduling solution for a growing IT company

titans13 — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 08:30:27 -0800

My company is looking for a comprehensive package to manage our IT company, which has grown 1000% over the past 4.5 years. I believe we have outgrown our existing solution. It has to be scalable, user friendly, integrate with Quickbooks, ideally would integrate with Kaseya, and generally be a very full solution. Honestly, Autotask is the best thing we have found, but it is not an option as we cannot host it ourself. Outsourcing all client data to another company means we are beholden to that company for life and that is not an option. We tested Commit but the web interface just wasn't robust. The program itself was very functional, but the interface would lead one to believe that it was intended for smaller shops so we are going to stay away from it. All suggestions and critiques are welcome.

Please help a novice do a software demo

Valuev — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:44:30 -0800

I have to do a demo of a content management system. I was never completely proficient with the tool to begin with, and I haven't used it for two years. I'm not a programmer. I've never done a software demo before. And I have only the weekend to prepare. I need your help. I've been asked to give a demo of a content management system for a client who might be interested in buying and repurposing it. We developed it for another client about four years ago, but it hasn't been in use for about two years. The original developer left, and our remaining technical people don't have the presentation skills(or the language skills) needed to competently deliver the demo to this particular client... so I'm the lucky bastard who gets to do it.

I was only a user of this tool, not a developer, and I have zero technical insight into the thing. To top it off, I've never done a software demo before. I've sat through a few so I know basically what should happen, but without any real in-depth technical knowledge of the tool I'm not really sure how to approach this, or even where to start.

So I guess my question is simply: how do I do this? The good news is, the people I'll be demoing this for aren't highly technical either, and don't have any real knowledge of CMS tools, so hopefully they're not expecting perfection. But any tips or advice I could get on how not to make a total idiot of myself would be greatly appreciated.

Learning Ruby on Rails 2.0?

BoldStepDesign — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:02:51 -0800

Foreword: No ruby background aside from basic tutorials. Here's the deal. I've tired the Agile Web Dev (2nd edition) book for rails, very out of date. I need to learn something. I want to learn ruby on Rails. I've gone through the Rails guide on creating a rails blog (http://guides.rubyonrails.org/getting_started_with_rails.html). So, rather then buy it now (3rd edition of book as beta) or just wait, I want to get on the fast track to learn rails 2.2 (soon to be release 2.3) . Basically I'm looking for a online resource super cheap or free that provides quality information relating to rails and ruby. Help and suggestions welcome

HD-DVD/Blu Ray software for PC?

Dr-Baa — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:38:12 -0800

What PC software is out there for playing HD-DVDs and Blu Ray discs? I have a HD-DVD / Blu Ray combo drive in my PC. I've been using Cyberlink Power DVD 8 to play both my HD-DVDs and Blu Ray discs, but it's not ideal. The software is bloated and wonky, and recently quit outputting audio. There must be something else out there, right?

I'm just looking for a software based movie player that will play both disc formats without a hassle. I'm not interested in ripping them to my computer.

How can I tile windows in OS X

creeront — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:42:11 -0800

How can I easily tile my windows in OS X like I do in MS Windows? I want to easily and quickly tile my windows in OS X (especially word documents so I can read them side by side) like I do in MS Windows. In Windows, I use Winsplit Revolution and right clicking on the taskbar and hitting 'tile vertically'. Is there any way to do this?

Microsoft Exchange Hates Me

Zeker — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:15:45 -0800

We have Microsoft Outlook set to send emails via a POP3 service, but our old Exchange 5.5 server keeps trying to take over when we don't want it to. First the setup:

Our company's Exchange 5.5 server is having too many issues shaking hands with other email servers and has been blacklisted too many times, so we're deciding to take it down and set all our employees on POP3 mail, managed with Outlook (some on 2k2(xp), others on 2000) as a client.

We can't get rid of Exchange 100% as of now (though we will eventually) since a lot of our employees rely on the Global Address contacts, and some use the calendar for scheduling meetings and such. Until we devise a method for scheduling meetings/reminders and possibly keeping a centralized contacts list sans Exchange, we'll get rid of it. But as of now, this is the setup:

~Exchange 5.5 with internet email services disabled (but internal email enabled).
~100+ employees on Outlook 2000-XP(2002?)
~Outlook is set to retrieve internal mail and global contacts via Exchange
~Outlook is also set to send/receive POP3 mail as the primary send/receive source
~User's *.PST file is saved offsite their machine into another server
~Some OFFSITE employees were deleted from Exchange's Global Address list and placed instead on the user's local Contacts list. So all contacts in the local Contacts lists are offsite people.
~Our POP3 service provider allows us to keep the same domain name (***@company.com) on our POP3 that our Exchange server uses.

Now the problem:

Exchange is giving us hell by constantly trying to intervene on how the mail is sent. Even though we set Outlook to use POP3 as the primary send/receive account, AND even though we disabled the internet mail service on Exchange, Exchange tries to take over and send the email like a disgruntled mother-in-law, resulting in an "undeliverable" message from Exchange.

Now we realize that the Global Address list contains headers within the contacts that pertain to Exchange that would override our settings... but the local Contacts lists -created by yours truly- only contain the contact name and email address, and theoretically should not contain any exchange headers or reason for exchange to intercept our POP3's precious assignment.

Outlook 2002(xp) has an auto suggest feature that whimsically fills in the name of the contact you're typing. So the user is typing in Nancy (for example) and auto suggest returns "Nancy (e-mail)". Yay? Not so fast. Double click that entry and you find that it's got EXCHANGE all over the headers. So I deleted the auto-suggest cache file (*.nk2) from the user's local profile and the problem has disappeared. I can tell because auto suggest now gives us "Nancy (nancy@company.com)" instead of "Nancy (email)". So this issue is fixed... but only on people using Outlook XP(2002?).

I still have a ton of people on Outlook 2000 with a similar issue. This is a weird beast. There is no cache file I can delete (*.nk2) from what I know. Say we want to send something to Nancy again. We click the "To:..." button which brings us to our contacts selection screen. We go to the local contacts list, add Nancy, click ok, and now we're back at the main message screen, the "To:" field displaying "Nancy (email)". A double-click on this field takes me directly to the contact editor, which shows her name and email address correctly with no Exchange headers to be found. All good, right? But if I hit "Send" I get an "Undeliverable!" message with EXCHANGE ALL OVER IT OH GOD!!...

Now, we try again. We open up a new message, hit the "To:..." button. Get ready, this one's weird.... we go to the local Contacts list, select Nancy and hit the "To ->" button to add her as a recipient. If we double click her name in the "Recipients" box, (you ready for this?) instead of taking me to the contact editor like it did on the main message window, we see a window with bloody EXCHANGE all over the place, scrawled everywhere like blood in a
damned murder scene! I have NO IDEA where outlook is getting this info from or how to erase it.

Now, if I manually type in the recipient's email (nancy@company.com), POP3 happily does its thing without molestation. I really need help. If anybody can offer help and rescue me from a company lynching, it would be greatly appreciated.

Make this Mac interesting to kids!

amanda — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:04:46 -0800

My husband lucked in to a free iMac and we'd like to set it up for our neice who is 11. Can you help us trick it out? We haven't done much investigating into what is currently on the machine but we're pretty sure that if it has any software on it that it'll be office related which would be really boring for an 11-year-old!

We don't know her super well as she's the stepdaughter of my sister-in-law and fairly new to our family. She seems in to the typical tween girl stuff -- princesses, magical stuff, Disney -- but is also pretty smart and inquisitive.

We have a small budget to put into it but, of course, great resources for free games -- fun and/or educational -- would be ideal.

Limiting internet time for teenagers

roshy — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:05:49 -0800

My teenage cousin is staying up too late on the internet and my aunt has asked me to help her limit how much time she is spending on it. It is very similar to this question which has come before. But I'm looking for a software solution. Now obviously any kind of program is NO SUBSTITUTE for parental supervision. Just to get that out of the way. I can't reasonably have any effect on my aunt's parenting style. She lives with the kid-- I'm just housesitting with her next week.

While I am there, my aunt has asked me to try limit my 14 year old cousin's internet time. It isn't the internet that is a problem-- it is the fact she is staying up past midnight chatting to her friends on msn and myspace. She's not getting up in the morning in time for school and is constantly late. My aunt is a single parent who tends to do late and early morning shifts so she's struggling to set appropriate time constraints/boundaries.

I'm coldhearted so I recommended unplugging the modem and taking it away but I don't think my aunt wants to set herself up for that battle. I tried to show her how to change permissions on the router using the other computer in her room, but she's unable to really grasp it. I think an automated program limiting internet access would be helpful as it is something that my aunt would not have any direct control over. If my cousin has a tantrum over her limited internet access, my aunt has no option to fold under the pressure. My cousin can't handle computers beyond internet explorer so I'm reasonably sure she would not be able to circumvent this. And if she did, well, at least she finally learnt something useful on the computer.

What I imagine would be best is software on the computer that would block the internet connection after 9:30 or some other arbitrary time on a weekday, and could possibly be controlled over the network using the other computer in the house. Does anything like this exist?

Thank you for any assistance.

Easiest way to move files and programs?

JoanArkham — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 08:30:20 -0800

What is the easiest, most foolproof way to move files and programs from an old PC computer (XP) to a new one (presumably Vista, sigh). I've looked through the archives and nothing quite answers my question. I don't want to move the hard drive itself (or mess with hardware in any way) and I only have one monitor so I don't think I can hook the two computers together. Or am I missing something obvious?

The files I need to transfer are mostly music and photos. I also have outdated copies of Adobe CS (from back before they even called it that) and MS Office that I can't afford to upgrade...I am assuming they will still work with Vista, although I might be wrong. (Also, the need to keep old programs is why I'm sticking to PC, I have considered the Mac option!)

Am I so hopeless that I should just pay someone to do it? I used to be fairly handy with computers but my skillz are about 10 years out of date, I think.

I am looking for a simple timeclock/timecard replacement software.

Davaal — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:42:01 -0800

I'm a tech for a school district. One of my high schools was hit by lightning. The computer that my faculty uses to clock in every day (a windows 95 machine) died. I need a replacement ASAP. I don't know if weather had anything to do with the machine going down or not. I do know that the HD clicks grinds when powered up and it isn't being recognized in BIOS. I've built them a new PC and was ready to install the software for them, but no one knows what software they were running. I've contacted our helpdesk, software procurement, etc. The software is so old that no one remembers what it was. I seem to recall it was some sort of Microsoft Access DB called Logman. Googling hasn't provided any answers. I've decided to download some free software and hack it to my needs. I found phptimeclock and timetrex. Timetrex requires me to import users from the command line :-/, which is not something I can explain to our database specialist. PHPtimesheet is simple, but there are features I need which I don't have the time to code myself - i have other schools to get ready and the start of the year is approaching.

I need it to be a simple login because my users are not tech-savvy. 1-click logins are great. I also need the ability to clock everyone out at one time. This is the important feature phptimeclock is missing.

Any suggestions? PM me if you have a solution that you don't want to release to general pub.

How can I create a social networking site?

lukeklein — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:39:51 -0800

How can I create a social networking site? I am in Southern California (Inland Empire/Orange County) and interested in building a social networking/message board/blog site along the lines of Sermo or Metafilter that isn't really about customizable media and meeting friends, as much as it is for people within a certain specialty, let's say the veterinary community, to share their ideas about their expertise with peers, receive newsletters relevant to their work, and ask for their peers' opinions or advice. I've come across several names like Elgg and Drupal, but I don't have the technical expertise to even recognize them as potential solutions to my problem!

Are their any open source programs and/or software firms that specialize in developing these types of platforms? Do I even need to go to a large firm, or is an individual software developer sufficient? How did the guy that created Facebook do what he did?

Just to be sufficiently clear, the features I am looking to enable on this site are:

Newsletters from the admin and notable writers of the industry
Anonymous polling of veterinarians' (members') opinions in current and relevant topics
blogs
Message boards
POSSIBLY a feature that allows individual vets to create friends lists of other vets they meet at conventions and locally, to facilitate their networking abilities.

If anyone here can direct me to someone that can work with me, I would be eternally grateful.

LaTex Book Templates?

tesseract420 — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:39:06 -0800

Where can I find LaTex book templates? It's relatively easy to find templates for an academic thesis, or a long manuscript. But these are pretty bare-bones. Where can I find a nice template for narrative fiction?

Finding the number of the beast

southof40 — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 21:40:56 -0800

Anyone know of a tool to automatically extract 'Product Keys' from Microsoft Products installed on your machine ? Sometime ago we bought a 'Developer' copy of SQL Server. It turns out that in agreeing to buy this we gave Microsoft the right to audit every machine in the company (or at least that's what they're saying and frankly it's easier to assume they're correct than otherwise).

Part of what they want to know is Product Keys for some categories of software.

It would be nice to have a tool which extracts product keys automatically - is there such a thing ?

.. and for anyone else offered a 'Developer' copy think about whether the discount involved is worth the time required for this sort of nonsense - if I'd understood what was buried in the EULA my answer would have been an unequivocal no !

WordPerfect help!

keeblerte6 — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 10:51:57 -0800

Need help with foreign language spellcheck dictionaries in wordperfectx3 I have recently installed WordPerfect X3 on my new computer. I type both in English and in Spanish. Although I can alter the keyboard language input to be able to type in different characters, I cannot get WordPerfect to recognize the Spanish text. Furthermore, the WordPerfect spellchecker only has an english word list, so every word that I write in Spanish is underlined with the red 'mispelled' line. The program tells me that the file WT13ES.lex or .mor contains the word list that will enable the WordPerfect spellchecker to recognize and correct the foreign text. The file is not located on any of my installation disks. I would like to find and download this file online but have been unable to find it thus far. Does anyone know of a site that has this wordlist (or any spanish spellcheck dictionary for WordPerfect X3) available for download?

How can I run my one-man software business from abroad?

csugden — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 13:45:04 -0800

How can I continue to operate my one-man software business while out of the country for 3 months? I've been preparing a piece of software which I'm almost ready to start selling. But I'm planning on going away on a long study trip abroad this summer, from late May to early September. This has been planned for a long time, and it's fixed. So how can I keep an eye on my business and make necessary changes?

I don't want to wait until I get back to launch. But I also don't want to be unable to update my website or do customer service or patch my code. I think I have a few options:
1. Internet cafes. Not fond of this idea because of security concerns, as I would want to be able to check on my sales and so on.
2. Home connection. I'll be staying with a host family (I'm going to France), and I have no idea whether they'll have the net and I don't want to be an annoying guest by hogging their net!
3. Public wifi. I would have to take my own laptop, but all my files are on it so I may have to do this anyway. Plus, I don't know whether there will be any hotspots where I'm going.
4. Get someone else to look after it while I'm away.

What do you think? If it was just email there wouldn't be a problem. I just don't want to find out there's a bug that really needs to be fixed and I can't do it for three months!

Opinions gratefully received. Thanks, Chris.

What should I install on my granfather's new computer?

yeara — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 01:05:42 -0800

I just got my grandfather a new computer. How can I make that computer useful and fun? I just got my grandfather a dual core computer. His old computer was a celeron with windows 98 and was full of malware and viruses. He has had a computer for 6 years, which he uses for email, basic digita photography, word processing and accessing his bank accounts online.

My grandfather cannot see very well, and has very hard time with computer screen. Because of that - he's slow with his mouse and reactions on the screen and has hard time understanding complicated visual information.

I want to get some computer games. I'm looking for suggestions - they must be pretty straight forward, without too many complicated visual options. Turn based if strategic, no time limit otherwise. No fast reactions and simple interface. I'm also looking for 3d enverionemnts he can explore to enjoy the full processing power of his computer - but without fast monsters of foes. Also, malware-free card games from the net are most appericiated. I could not find any.

I also want his new computer to be intresting, amazing and useful. So far I thought of the following options:
- Shortcuts to online tv stations
- Shortcuts to online encylopedia
- Copying music, movies and tv shows to his machine
- Installed anti virus and firewall, picasa for photography.

What else can I install to wow him and makle his computer experience better?