Difference between revisions of "Talk:1479: Troubleshooting"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Most likely he is on a laptop with an NVidia gpu which in recent driver versions often believe something is connected to the VGA port when this is not the case. The desktop will then think this area is valid, and allow windows to be opened there, in fact it is likely to be opened there because that part of the desktop is clean for windows and looks optimal for placing a new one. At least that is what has been happening to me for the last few months until I forced the VGA port off rather than wait for NVidia to fix their drivers or rolling them back to versions that would misrender recent games (both Windows and Linux drivers did this).[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.98|108.162.254.98]] 15:41, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
 
Most likely he is on a laptop with an NVidia gpu which in recent driver versions often believe something is connected to the VGA port when this is not the case. The desktop will then think this area is valid, and allow windows to be opened there, in fact it is likely to be opened there because that part of the desktop is clean for windows and looks optimal for placing a new one. At least that is what has been happening to me for the last few months until I forced the VGA port off rather than wait for NVidia to fix their drivers or rolling them back to versions that would misrender recent games (both Windows and Linux drivers did this).[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.98|108.162.254.98]] 15:41, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
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There is a problem with the explanation. The question "Why is that even possible?" does not refer to the fix as implied in the explanation but to why is it possible for windows to open outside the screen in the first place. [[User:Mgh|Mgh]] ([[User talk:Mgh|talk]]) 16:17, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Revision as of 16:17, 28 January 2015

You could also move the off-scrren window back in view by Alt+Space, M to initiate window move, then press any arrow key and your mouse will then be able to move the window back into view. 108.162.249.223 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

As a matter of fact this is a common problem if you often use a dual screen setup with a laptop when you use it on the move without the second screen. If you just want to close the windows, a Esc on a alert windows or alt+F4 (or your system equivalent)will usually solve this problem. For resizeable windows, Windows offers the Win+left/right combination to move a window to specific parts of the screen. I don7t think you really need to change the resolution for this all the time, it's clearly overkill. Meneldal (talk) 06:40, 28 January 2015 (UTC)meneldal

On a dual screen setup you can use 'Win key + Shift + Left/Right key' to shift the window left or right between monitors. --Pudder (talk) 09:37, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
Note that the Win-left/right and Win-Shift-left/right key combinations are only supported in Windows 7 or later versions. 173.245.55.27 13:17, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Yes, I'm also familiar with this kind of thing (the strip, I mean, not specifically the last comment). The general form is that a casual (or even expert!) user expects something from the interface but some historic programmer (of UI or application) has caused the 'obvious' continuity to fail, either by ommission (e.g. checking the placement bounds of a popover window) or by being too clever in some manner. The 'stupid knowledge expert' has encountered the problem enough times to: a) find a common root to the issues, and b) stumble upon a solution. (Like the "unstick the Windows-key flag" solution to suddenly getting Run dialogues, Explorer windows and sudden minimising-all to Desktop, seemingly randomly.) 141.101.99.120 08:29, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

It amazes me how many people assume Microsoft Windows. If you aren't using MS-Windows, the key combinations suggested in the discussion so far are useless. If you are using the X Window System, you might also be seeing a system modal dialog instead of an application modal dialog, in which case, you won't be able anything but talk to that window. (System modal dialogs are usually used for very transient things like popup menus.) Using X, the "cleanup" behavior also depends on the window manager, and neither X or the window manager are part of the operating system (that abomination is now pretty much just an MS-Windows thing). --Divad27182 (talk) 10:39, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

People tend to assume Windows because in the majority of cases that assumption is correct. In the minority of cases where the user isn't on Windows, those asking the question nearly always mention the fact in their question, or direct their question at an OS-specific topic/forum/website. --Pudder (talk) 11:21, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
Mac OS X also uses a baked-in window manager. There are a bunch of apps on OS X that brand themselves as `alternative WMs', but they're usually just a contrived way of tiling windows across the screen somehow (using the built-in WM). Wanting to use a proper tiling WM was what originally drove me to GNU/Linux, long live i3wm! Anyway, this comic could possibly be construed as being related to xkcd.com/934/, which complains about browsers implementing internal WMs in the alt-text. 141.101.99.103 11:45, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
I think the first option (ALT-SPACE to access the window menu, M for the move option, arrow key, mouse movement) has a near-equivalent in pretty much any OS. 173.245.55.27 13:21, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Someone competent in web programming, please write an explanation of the title text Nyq (talk) 13:58, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

If I'm not mistaken (and I'm not an expert), a Chrome App is some sort of program (eg Flash based) that runs in the normal "browser space" - the area where you normally see web pages, and which can use Chrome features and controls. A Chrome Extension is a a program which runs in the background and can act on the browser space or the browser itself (eg open your downloads folder in a new tab with one click of a button). Extensions can also use Chrome features and controls. Sound about right? Jarod997 (talk) 14:34, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Most likely he is on a laptop with an NVidia gpu which in recent driver versions often believe something is connected to the VGA port when this is not the case. The desktop will then think this area is valid, and allow windows to be opened there, in fact it is likely to be opened there because that part of the desktop is clean for windows and looks optimal for placing a new one. At least that is what has been happening to me for the last few months until I forced the VGA port off rather than wait for NVidia to fix their drivers or rolling them back to versions that would misrender recent games (both Windows and Linux drivers did this).108.162.254.98 15:41, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

There is a problem with the explanation. The question "Why is that even possible?" does not refer to the fix as implied in the explanation but to why is it possible for windows to open outside the screen in the first place. Mgh (talk) 16:17, 28 January 2015 (UTC)