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General Software Discussion / "Delayed Write Failed" — on FIVE computers at a time?
« on: September 05, 2014, 12:40 AM »
After a while I'm here again, this time with an urgent plea for help. On some of my computers and on my friends', too, began appearing the following problem these days:

After a long period of idle (usually overnight) the system crashes with several error messages "Delayed write failed..." The files involved are usually $Mft and C:\Windows\system32\config, but random others as well.

In this situation always stop working USB and the network card. Sometimes there's possible to perform a standard restart, sometimes a hard reset is necessary. The disk can be repaired using chkdsk with relatively no harm.

The computers are quite different, hardware-wise and software-wise, one of them even has an SSD. Needless to say the disks are in a perfect state, I even replaced two of them, but to no avail. This happened last night on three computers again. Some are in the same LAN, one is completely away.

I am now pretty sure it is not a hardware failure. As for the software, the only common things are that they all use Windows XP SP3 (but different language versions), and they all use BitDefender Free Edition. There are no others substantial similarities.

I spent a lot of time reading different forums, but the only outcome of this was that I'm not alone. No solution whatsoever, though. I read about some virus, but could that be true? I used MalwareBytes and Kaspersky's TDSSkiller for additional scanning, but they found nothing. I also heard rumors that MS put something in theirs latest updates to force XP users to upgrade, but I'm very skeptic regarding such conspiracy theories.

Anyone? This forum is my last resort. Please...

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General Software Discussion / USB Disk Ejector
« on: November 19, 2011, 03:26 AM »
This freeware app was mentioned many times here, but instead of resurrecting old threads I'm starting a new one.

There's a brand new version with many improvements. I especially like the option to remove the media and quit the program immediately.

Enjoy!

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General Software Discussion / Windows Live Sync Alternative?
« on: November 24, 2010, 05:02 AM »
In the thread Synchronizing a few folders between two machines? I confessed that I'm using the Windows Live Sync. I'm still quite satisfied with it, but they are going to stop this service soon and replace it with Windows Live Mesh 2011. This service promises to be better, but it won't be available for Windows XP anymore. What a shame... I refrain from any comments.

So, at my 400th post here I'd like to ask this honorable community for advice about possible alternative. What I need:

1. Unattended bidirectional sync between pairs of folders on different machines (all Windows based — XP and Vista)
2. Resolving conflicts (when edited on both sides at the same time), either by report, dialog, or by automatic renaming of conflicting copies (WLS does the latter)
3. Working on LAN, and when not on the same LAN, automatically using internet without complicated VPN setup
4. No storage on dedicated servers or intermediate media, as this would slow down the process
5. Freeware

WLS does all this, and in addition it even allows remote access to files. After quite thorough research I'm still unable to find an adequate replacement. Is it really that unique?

Thanks in advance for any idea.

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Living Room / Betamax (a VoIP company) — a large-scale fraud?
« on: June 13, 2009, 12:44 PM »
Since I praised the VoipBuster (one of the Betamax clones) some time ago here, I feel obliged to post an apology and a warning now.

I was quite satisfied with the service until recently. All of a sudden any attempt to make any call ends up with a "General Error (CODE:33) / The other party ended the call due to an unknown error". This happened simultaneously on two accounts. One of them was in use for a some time without any change. The other was okay until I topped it up.

I searched the web for an explanantion and all I was able to find is the result that the Betamax company turned to nothing but a large-scale scam. There are hundreds of affected users of different Betamax clients in quite similar situation. They all have the same experience: there's never any response from Betamax, be it by e-mail, mail or fax.

For details see for example:

http://www.tipsity.com/forum/voip-and-telephony/unable-use-justvoip-%2526amp%3B-nonoh-services
http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?q5=betamax&q1=ALL&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0&submit2=Search
http://saunderslog.com/2008/01/23/betamax-voip-accused-of-fraud/

It is still possible that some kind of technical problem is involved, but it seems more and more unlikely. I'd be happy to post an errata here. So, if you're one of the Betamax clone users, my advice is to use your credit while possible, and never top it up again.

I consider the following just a coincidence, but since Friday the Avira antivirus reports VoipBuster.exe as it "Contains a recognition pattern of the (harmful) BDS/Backdoor.Gen back-door program". I think this is just another false positive of Avira, though. I contacted Avira and submitted the file, but so far no response either.

Anyone else here?

EDIT: The VopiBuster forum is inaccessible since this morning. Doesn't add to trustworthiness...

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Living Room / SSD File System Recommendations
« on: May 08, 2009, 06:01 AM »
Recently I got my wife an Acer Aspire One notebook with WinXP, 1 GB RAM and 16 GB SSD. It's surprisingly nice little machine, especially with regard to its price (I got it for free when buying a lawn mower).

It was pre-installed and I'm surprised it has FAT32 file system. I've read many diverse and divergent articles, but it seems that converting to NTFS would be a good idea to speed it up a bit. But what about the cluster size? The only thing those articles seem to agree is that it's quite critical value for an SSD, but they don't give any unambiguous answer.

Does anyone here have any experience or piece of advice? Thanks in advance.

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