Login with username and password (forgot your password?)

Why do you need the start menu? You can simply click the lower left corner, where the start button used to be, and you can type just as you would before. I don't know many people who navigated the menus rather than typing the entry name...At least users NOT on XP.

+10 - I haven't browsed the menu in years either. I always use the Win keys ... So Win, type, enter, use app. What changed exactly?

It's no wonder VCR's got such a bad rap for being hard to program...they didn't have start buttons. Maybe we should put start buttons on everything just so it magically becomes easy to use. Obviously life is too hard without a singular magical button that tells you where to begin. This paradigm must be preserved religiously, at all cost. I'm going to run down the street and have a Start Button tattooed on my ass ... That way - because some other idiotic tattoo might run the risk of being less bloody obvious - people will always know just where to start kicking me to death for being stupid enough to have a Start Button tattooed on my ass.

*Sigh* ...I'm thinking about going to live in a cave for a few years, and wait for the world to change.

I'm still trying to fathom the logic in skipping directly to a Start Button-less desktop just to have to go back to the thing you bypassed to get what you wanted. Are people really that enamored with their wallpaper?

Place shortcut to preferred desktop application(s) on Start Screen, Boot, Click/Touch, Done ... Why that so hard?

I should run down to the local tire store and pitch a fit because they have no steel banded wooden rims for my pickup...just to see if anyone there has enough sense to laugh at me.

[scared that something will suck up my time and stop me from releasing, and I'll end up with vapourware, and very embarassed]

This is kind of one of the reasons that I tend to just "Submit" an application rather than try to promise one... I'm always scared that something will suck up my time and stop me from releasing, and I'll end up with vapourware, and very embarassed.

I feel obligated to +1 this as that is precisely what I did ths trip.

FWIW - in most network situations I avoid using both those characters.

+1 

How far away from the house/WiFi router is the garage, and how strong is the siginal if you take a laptop into the garage now?

Have you considered using a powerline network between the house and garage? The TV could then be ethernet, and a WAP could be added for the laptops.

In Visual Studio with C# you can add comment documentation above a method very easily by using 3 slashes:

///

That depends on which version of VS you're using. For some reason three slashes will break your code in VS2005 (yes I still use it frequently). But I (am nutz and still) primarily work in pure Win32 API C++

Maybe it's the Win32 API C++?  Because the /// convention works for me in VS2005, and I've been using them religiously.  I didn't pay attention to the C++ code- it's mostly get in and get out without making a mess.

Now that is a good possibility, as I almost never use C#. I had one C# project that I was doing for the office but it hit the wall early last spring due to "Scope Conflicts" (e.g. Nobody could/would nail down exactly WTF'ing thing was supposed to do).

In Visual Studio with C# you can add comment documentation above a method very easily by using 3 slashes:

///

That depends on which version of VS you're using. For some reason three slashes will break your code in VS2005 (yes I still use it frequently). But I (am nutz and still) primarily work in pure Win32 API C++

[C]

My coding style is an ecclectic mixture of thing I picked up along the way. This is a side effect of being self taught, as thre was no one to force me to do things their "correct" way. However one thing that has proven handy is that in addition to commenting I always put a header comment above each function stating (in short) what it is/does.

This header is outlined with some manner of (basically lamed assed) ASCII "art" so for example:

Formatted for C with the GeSHI Syntax Highlighter [copy or print]
  //===========================================================
//--0000---------+++--> This Rewards Good Input With a Cookies:
BOOL isInputGood(int iPut) { //--0000----------------+++-->
    if(iPut) GiveCookie = TRUE;
   else GiveCookie = FALSE;

This allows me to do 2 things:

• Quickly skim through collapsed code looking at the right edge of the editor for the function I'm trying to find later.
• Know instantly at a glance how old the code/function as I periodically change the style of the header outline.

Random comment to say I don't like trackballs. : )

Me either, but for some people they are the ideal solution.

Unfortunately I'm not intimately familiar with these features as I've never actually used them. I just happened to know about them as they periodically come up when troubleshooting client issues. Several of the ease of access features can be enabled with a hotkey. So somebody pauses while typing and inadvertently holds the right magic button down to long, the feature gets enabled, and the fun ensues.


The Trackball does sound like a good option to me too.

Doesn't Windows detect when an UPS is connected, (via USB) ?

And if so, might there not be an setting you can change under Advanced Power Options to determine what action to take rather than utilise APCs limited software.

Sure does, that's all I've ever used. The bundled UPS software is usually to bloated and ugly to look at, so I've always just let windows handle the UPS's time to sleep/shutdown battery level events.

Have you tried using either the ClickLock or Mouse Keys features that are built into Windows? The combination should handle much of what your asking for.

The shortcut to the Windows Ease of Access Center is Win + U. Mouse Keys can be accessed directly from there and ClickLock is on the Activities tabe of the Mouse Properties dialog (which is accessable from the Ease of Access Center).

IIRC XP has both of these options available as well.

If I did alot of repairs on printers, I would be interested.

+1

But our tech staff ain't gonna like it if I use this tool on our networked printers

Yes, but like any tool it depends on what you do with it. Honestly I'm not really sure how common/popular (stored print job) .PRN files are. But if one had a complex-ish print job with lots of requirements that had to be configured frequently. Then doing it once and printing it to a reusable Print job file would be a handy and acceptable (e.g. no flaming admin heads) usage of the program. Granted outside of testing done on/for pWidget I've never done it before ...(*Shrug*)... But Google seems to imply that it is a popular practice.

Actually the primary purpose for pWidget was to interact with/make adjustments to locally attached (USB/Parallel port) printers. Which is why it uses the installed driver to access the device. So pWidget will work on any (laser) printer either locally attached or network accessible if there is a (PCL) driver installed for it. This was/is Page Countster's weakness as it can only access networked printers via their IP. Now parallel printers can be accessed via LPTx to send a script ... But USB (Unilaterally pSychotic Bus) leave everyone stranded with a "virtual port" that can only be directly access by virtually nothing. So this brilliant technology now requires that:

• The tech to track down someone from IT (which can take up to an hour because IT people tend to be busy, and hate printers).
• Administrative rights to create a (temporary) printer share on the workstation (highly frowned upon by IT folks on large networks).
• Someone to remember how to capture a printer port so it behaves like a LPTx hard port.
• Someone to properly unwind said configuration after the fact so errors and eyebrows don't get raised going forward.

This can be an agonizing amount of time for what should be a 2 second operation. We've actually had techs need to reschedule a second visit on many occasions just to resolve these type of issues.

Not a flop just a smaller audience of potential users

I know - That's kinda what I meant - It's an excruciatingly specialized/narrow focus utility. 

[attachthumb=1]
Guess this one's a flop.

I just came across this in a newsletter today.  Thought it would bring a little light to the subject....or not.  lol

Consumer Reports makes case for Windows 7 PCs
Windows 7 may be the better choice as a PC operating system on new systems than the just-released Windows 8, Consumer Reports magazine said this week.

http://www.pcworld.com/ar...se-for-windows-7-pcs.html

Comments for the article were rather a rather sad lot of "experts" recommending that secure boot be turned off/removed/banned from existence. I'm sure malware authors world wide are giggling their asses off watching that bit of (mindblowingly stupid) advice spread across the land. As if it really that hard to switch the boot order for a diagnostic boot.

Anybody remember the (good old...) Win9x days when people called in constantly with "unbootable systems" because they left a blank CD in the drive? ...Bout the 3rd time you got that call from client X you switched the boot order on their machine to skip the optical drive...didn't ya? Now the diagnostic CD you put in won't boot... What's changed exactly?

Another favorite of mine is to reflexively encrypt everything. Recovery disk time ... Oh wait the drive is encrypted so it's pointless to boot externally as the data will still be unaccessible. Which means we need a boot menu why? 

A year or so ago there was panic in the industry about a new breed of virus that could actually infect the hardware. People screamed about wanting the hardware protected properly (...the new version of properly that is).

Well now they have exactly that.

And they're pissed off about it.

That's like wanting a glass of water, getting a drink, and then protesting the merciless killing of your thirst.

[never]

fSekrit

Me too - but it's not for everyone, since it's just a dumb notepad with encryption support - specifically, it doesn't (and never will) do form auto-filling nor any of all that, by design.

Which makes it harder to exploit, and is part of what I like about it. Simple elegant solutions are hard to find.

Personally I'm pissed at the Mayans for completely screwing up this Apocalypse. This epic failure of an Apocalypse has coincided with - and completely overshadowed - my wife and I's 21st wedding anniversary...and I have not gotten any cake as it wasn't ordered due to the preemptive scheduling of the (now obviously failed) end of the world.

This is a completely unacceptable manner in which to schedule the destruction of an entire planet, and to the Mayans I would just like to say thanks for nothing and fuck you.

Eliminate the shipping costs by (instantly-ish) remotely "printing" replacement parts at the customer's location. Holy shit man ... That's got potential!

Not if the customer can't legally print a spare part because the 3D printer could conceivably be used to make contraband such as pirated cars and guns.

The customer wouldn't. They would just 'expose' their printer/access to it publically, in an HP ePrint fashion. Leaving Tech Support a point of access to "send" the new part (printing instructions) after the 'appropriate charges' had been made.


Now as far as he big brother movement that wishes to cripple the device...well that's just stupid. and impossible. The technology is what the technology is, and any control circuitry can be circumvented. If they (yes the infamous classic SiFi them) wish to piss ther fortunes down the drain trying to prevent gasoline from being flamable ... Then I say let them squander their wealth all the way down into the Darwinian gutter.

My father once said that locks only keep honest people out. And that quite simply is the only real truth to any of this sillyness. If I have a skill, and a need ... Then I will damn well combine them into whatever manner of have I can muster. because the is the predatory nature of our species. Anyone that can't grasp that is a food animal.

"I don't like Windows 8" is a perfectly acceptable position. "Windows 8 can't do something Windows 7 can" absolutely FALSE every time.

Bing! 

+1

Update: I may have been wrong, he might not be an opportunistic troll. He might be a complete idiot. He's ranting because windows 8 didn't come with a windows key sticker sticker on the bottom of the laptop and there's no control panel icon on the desktop.

Damn Straight! I can't count the number of machines I've seen that had missing or unreadable COA labels. But MS hardware keying the OS so it'll just install without bothering folks with a secret code ... Those bastards!  

...Did anyone think to ask why it took the guy to think of the word 'Recovery'? (Hay call me crazy, but...) Since it's been called a recovery disk for over a decade now?


I'm voting Complete Idiot on this one.  

Eliminate the shipping costs by (instantly-ish) remotely "printing" replacement parts at the customer's location. Holy shit man ... That's got potential!

Finished the video and am still completely unimpressed. The guy is whining about aspects of every touch based interface ever designed and blaming it on Windows 8. Which is a total load of crap.

Lack if UI consistency? Bull Shit. If it's on the screen it's click-able there is no fluffy decorations. Now Apple's iWorld? Absolute Zero consistency in control design let alone application design. They just let the artsy fartsy crowd go flat out ape shit creating anything that looked like anything that did anything.

The start button is and has always been tied to the Windows key ... That's why it not a standard 102 key keyboard. And the Windows key still does exactly what it always did even on a (Surface) tablet. So what's with all the simpering and whining?

Hey couldn't find Control Panel. Really?!? I usually just hit the Win key, type control and (hit enter) am there. Vista/7/8 ...Still works the same way. Unless you're either being intentionally obtuse, grew up in a cave.

OMFG How does anybody close an application?!?!? Derp! Alt + F4 ... Just like since the (9x) beginning of friggin time.


He should have skipped trying to be funny and just stuck to making a concise point ... at least the video would have been a much shorter waste of time.

Okay 10 minutes in and this really just sounds like a bunch of verbal shenanigans. The guy's biggest complaint  so far is basically that he is to stupid to use a touch interface. Seriously?!? Who in their right mind would confuse swipe with cursor movement by trying to touch-pad a touch screen?? The cursor jumps to where ever you put your finger ... Which is exactly how all of them work. If he wants to attach that aspect of user interaction then Droid and iWord suck just as bad if you're intent on being a clumsy assed obtuse retard.

(It's the end of the world as we know it~) I~Feel~Fine~...

I'm predicting particularly nasty anal probes for you~! Infidel!

Why... Is that song stuck in you head now too.  ... I've been bouncing between that and U2's It's a beautiful day.