Messages

126

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Release: Trout (audio player)

« on: September 17, 2018, 05:40 AM »

I have a request.

In past versions of Windows, Microsoft allowed the user to have a lot of control over the colors of their desktop theme, if they used classic themes. In Windows 10, however, Microsoft has taken the approach that they know best, when it comes to the colors of a user's desktop, limiting the control over colors they can use, and what they can use them for. The end result is something that isn't always pleasing to the eye...at least not mine.

I would like to have control over the highlight colors used in Trout, in order to eliminate the blue that is shown here, and make it look more like it did in my previous desktop themes.

Is there any way you can allow us to choose the 2 colors used for the text & background of selected or highlighted lines?

127

Living Room / Re: Warning: Do not download "Pip Cam" for Android

« on: September 16, 2018, 05:51 PM »

Have you clicked "Flag as inappropriate" yet? That app clearly violates Google's policies on monetization and ads:

"Ads associated with your app must not interfere with other apps, ads, or the operation of the device, including system or device buttons and ports. This includes overlays, companion functionality, and widgetized ad units. Ads must only be displayed within the app serving them. "

https://play.google....ads/ads/interfering/

128

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« on: September 07, 2018, 02:41 PM »

129

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: block the "Solitaire" game in Google's search results

« on: September 03, 2018, 06:27 PM »

And don't forget to block this one, too: https://www.google.c...aire/standalone.html

130

General Software Discussion / Re: How do I go about putting my software's source code into the public domain?

« on: August 26, 2018, 03:20 AM »

They only bought it for one reason. To have access to all of that code whenever they please.

-dmd7978 (August 19, 2018, 02:44 PM)

This is FUD and nothing else.

-Tuxman (August 19, 2018, 02:47 PM)

Yeah, they already have access to all that code whenever they please, and so does everyone else. It wouldn't make sense to buy it just for that.

If you saw a box with a sign that said "Free Candy", would you buy the box, just for the candy? Or would you just reach in and grab what you want, like everybody else? It's not like they can throw a lid on the box and keep it all for themselves, only. Open source is still open source, after all.

Think about this:

• You can learn some software development skills on Lynda (owned by Microsoft)
• You can use your skills to develop software in Visual Studio (owned by Microsoft)
• You can offer that software to the public in the Windows App Store (owned by Microsoft)
• You can make that software open source, hosted on Github (owned by Microsoft)
• You can use all of that to land yourself a job through LinkedIn (owned by Microsoft)

Do you now see how this all fits together?

131

Living Room / Re: Looking for smartphone

« on: July 24, 2018, 09:24 PM »

Battery life of the G6 doesn't seem as good as the G4, though, even though they are both 3000 mAh.

-app103 (July 24, 2018, 05:24 PM)

Apparently not available in the USA but the G6+ should be better with battery life, they use the more efficient Snapdragon 6 series SoC instead of the 4 series used in the G6 and G6 Play.

-4wd (July 24, 2018, 05:56 PM)

When I mentioned this to my father, he started going on about some 10K mAh phone he found listed somewhere (Oukitel K10000). When I went & looked it up, found out it takes 20 hrs to charge and doesn't work with any US carriers.  (No thanks, Dad!)

132

Living Room / Re: Looking for smartphone

« on: July 24, 2018, 05:24 PM »

I just bought a Moto G6, and I like it much better than the G3 or G4.

It's a bit more narrow than the G4, but doesn't seem to suffer from the most reported issue of the G4, namely the "ghost taps" which are annoying enough that I'll be shipping my G4 back for service, while it's still under warranty.

Not sure how well you can see it, but here's the G6 (left) and G4 (right), side by side, for size comparison, with almost identical protective cases. In the 3rd image, the G6 is on top of the G4, and you can see some of the G4 sticking out. It's not a huge size difference, like it was going from the G3 to G4, but if you are hoping for an even bigger screen than older models, it's not going to happen. As I stated before, the screen is actually smaller. You might perceive this as either a good thing or bad thing, depending on the size of your hands or pockets, or other factors. (one of my favorite games is ad free on the G3 and G6, because of screen size, crediting me with bonuses for viewing video ads, without actually showing the ads. You get stuck with video ads on the G4's larger screen, because the game treats it same as a tablet.)



Battery life of the G6 doesn't seem as good as the G4, though, even though they are both 3000 mAh. And you'll need extra USB-C chargers, as all your existing micro-USB will be useless with it.

Sim & SD cards are inserted from the outside, into a little slide out tray on the top edge of the phone, rather than having to take the back off the phone to install them. And despite what is advertised, it does support SD cards over 128G (I have a 256G in mine). The cards seem to be located away from the battery, unlike previous models. Perhaps this will help ensure that the heat from battery, during charging, won't knock them out, which is something else I experienced frequently with the G4 and only occasionally with the G3.

It works well with thicker protective cases, and you'll probably want one of those rather than a thinner case, because the glass on the back that covers the camera sticks out far enough that if the case is too thin or you use it without a case, that glass will hit the table when you set the phone down.

I got the Amazon Prime version, so double clicking the power button activates Alexa, rather than turning the camera on. But like previous Moto G models, making a chopping motion still turns on the flash light, and twisting turns on the camera.

Would I recommend this phone? Absolutely! I still feel it's the best phone available in this price range, and affordable enough to get one, unlocked.

133

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Simple EML viewer

« on: June 20, 2018, 06:23 PM »

Advantage of using TC/DC is that you can install a variety of plugins to view a lot of different files quickly without the need to open another program.

-Lintalist (June 20, 2018, 03:25 PM)

Two disadvantages for me would be

1. You probably can't copy text from the previews, and I would need to be able to do that.
2. I really don't like any of the 3rd party file managers I have tried, which includes Total Commander, Directory Opus, XYplorer, and a few others.

It is not a common problem that I would come across files I can't open and need to go find an app that can do it. In fact, it's quite rare, actually. I think my biggest problem these days is when I am sent an attachment that I have to actually go through the trouble of downloading and viewing externally, because I can't use the quickviewer in Zendesk or open it in a browser tab. (most of my work is done in a browser, these days)

134

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Simple EML viewer

« on: June 20, 2018, 01:47 PM »

here's another one, just in case...

MailViewer

-Target (April 09, 2013, 05:02 PM)

That one is nice & simple. I'll hold on to it. Thanks! 

135

General Software Discussion / Ghostery Tries to Comply With GDPR, but Ends Up Violating GDPR in the Process

« on: May 31, 2018, 02:43 AM »

The company behind Ghostery, a privacy-focused browser and an ad-blocking browser extension,  has apologized for a technical error that occurred last Friday when its staff was sending out GDPR-themed notification emails.

According to numerous user reports, Ghostery sent out emails that exposed the addresses of other users.

The emails were sent to batches of 500 users at the same time, and every user in each batch was able to see the email addresses of the other users.

https://www.bleeping...gdpr-in-the-process/

136

General Software Discussion / Re: Best sites to hire a coder/programmer for a one-time job?

« on: May 30, 2018, 12:57 PM »

Also, if you are going to keep running XP, you should probably make yourself very familiar with this section of the MSFN forum: https://msfn.org/boa...forum/34-windows-xp/

137

General Software Discussion / Re: Best sites to hire a coder/programmer for a one-time job?

« on: May 30, 2018, 12:39 PM »

Have you tried doing any of the following?

Go here: http://w2k.flxsrv.org/wlu/wluen.htm

Click on Manual Install in the sidebar.

Make the settings in the search panel match these and download the file shown.



Install it.

Then head here to download and install "Update for WES09 and POSReady 2009 (KB4019276) "

Once you have done all this, it should reduce the number of security errors you see when visiting websites. Oh, and don't use IE, because the version of IE you have in XP was never updated to support TLS 1.1 & 1.2, so even with this patch, IE probably still won't work very well. But this should help Chrome/Chromium-based browsers.

138

Non-Windows Software / Re: Wanted - Free (or cheap) wifi calling app for Android

« on: May 21, 2018, 04:40 PM »

Idle offtopic wish: That the at-sign did actually signal you in some way on this forum...  it would definitely be a help to bring people into a conversation or signal the person.

-wraith808 (May 21, 2018, 04:09 PM)

It's become somewhat of a habit for me to do that, due to using a Discourse forum at work. (but I still hate Discourse and prefer SMF)

Maybe mouser can add a plugin for mentions?

139

Non-Windows Software / Re: Wanted - Free (or cheap) wifi calling app for Android

« on: May 21, 2018, 03:42 PM »

Thanks @Deozaan

Had to follow this, but I got it working! (required a 3rd phone to test it) 

So, now I have a mobile phone and a fake landline.

I'll hold off on Twilio for now, since this works.

140

Non-Windows Software / Re: Wanted - Free (or cheap) wifi calling app for Android

« on: May 20, 2018, 10:37 PM »

CSIPSimple from the Play Store and a number from a VoIP provider, I use Twilio.

-4wd (May 20, 2018, 08:05 PM)

Can you tell me a little more about the Twilio side of things? Exactly what do I need to sign up for or buy, and roughly how much would it all cost (monthly, yearly?)

141

Non-Windows Software / Re: Wanted - Free (or cheap) wifi calling app for Android

« on: May 20, 2018, 07:38 PM »

This article on How-to-geek, might prove to be useful as well.

-Shades (May 20, 2018, 06:16 PM)

From the first line of the article:

If you’re on a carrier that supports it,

Which means your phone has to have existing service, and a number, which this phone doesn't have.

Basically, any of those apps will let you make calls over Wi-Fi, but they won’t use your actual phone number, nor will they call out to a traditional phone in most cases. Instead, you’ll actually place calls from account to account; for example, if you use Facebook Messenger, you actually just “call” the person on their Facebook account instead of putting in a phone number. The same goes for free Skype accounts, though you can pay money to call normal phone numbers.

That's not what I need. I want to make & receive real phone calls, with a real phone number. I don't want instant messaging. And Skype makes you prepay for minute credits, which is required for making/receiving normal calls. If you run out in the middle of a call, you get cut off.

Google Hangouts and Voice are other exceptions—they essentially work together to make calls. You’ll need a Google Voice number, as well as the Hangouts Dialer to make calls, in which case you should be able to call out to any traditional phone number. The problem will come when you want to receive calls using these tools—you’ll have to do quite a bit of extra setup for that.

But they don't explain the setup process or link to any instructions.

@Deozaan, how do you receive normal phone calls without a number for Google Voice to forward your calls to? And how do you make normal phone calls without cell service that it can use its minutes for? How do you call a business? Or how do you receive calls from your doctor?

From the Google Voice app page:

Keep in mind:
• Google Voice is currently only available in the US
• All calls made using Google Voice for Android use the standard minutes from your cell phone plan
• Calls are placed through a US-based Google Voice access number, which may incur costs (e.g. when traveling internationally)

142

Non-Windows Software / Wanted - Free (or cheap) wifi calling app for Android

« on: May 20, 2018, 02:28 AM »

I purchased a new mobile phone and moved my sim card to it, so that I can use the T-Mobile service I am paying for, with the new phone.

But I still have my old mobile phone (Moto G3), now without any sort of carrier, service, or phone number that would allow me to make or receive calls on it.

What I am looking for is an Android app/service that would give that phone a new life, with a new number and allow making/receiving real phone calls over wifi only, without the need for the phone to be attached to a traditional non-wifi carrier. It would be used for US calls, only, no international usage.

What I don't want is a service that will require me to pay per minute or buy an allotment of minutes in advance, or require me to view ads or complete offers to earn credits that can be spent to make/receive calls. (I don't have time for that nonsense). I also am not looking for texting, video calls, text chatting, or any other frills (if the service comes with it, fine, but I don't need it and won't use it). I just need voice calling. I also don't want something that would require others to have and use the same app, in order to "call" me. (there's no shortage of apps that can do that, including Facebook, Skype, and a bunch of others) I also do not want ads on my lock screen or unexpected ad popups.

I don't mind paying a cheap fee, around $20 to $30 per year, but am against paying anything much more than that, as I don't expect to use it very much.

Basically, I am looking to turn the old phone into something that has a phone number that only works at home or if I am somewhere where I can connect to some sort of wifi, including free wifi.

Google Voice is out, since your phone has to have an existing phone number to set it up on your phone, and all incoming calls would get forwarded to that number, rather than to my currently numberless phone, and all outgoing calls would require an existing carrier to provide the voice minutes that would be used. Since this phone is no longer connected to a traditional carrier, I can't do that.

143

Developer's Corner / Re: Quickly developed web application or slowly developed actual application?

« on: April 24, 2018, 10:57 PM »

It may depend heavily on how committed you are to supporting your app.

Do you plan on maintaining the hosting and availability of your web app for 10+ years? If not, perhaps a desktop app would be better in terms of availability, since it wouldn't depend on you to continue to host it. Once in the hands of the end user, they could keep and use it indefinitely, long after you have lost interest in the project.

I suppose the best of both would be to distribute the JS, so that it could be run locally, bearing in mind that the end user may not wish to use the browser of your choice, which could present its own problems, in terms of support. But that could be solved by embedding it into the browser of your choice, forcing the user to comply, and thereby eliminating most support complaints.

Example: The reason why Fried Babelfish was released as a desktop app was to force the end user to use Krishean's script from round 2 of our little game, locally, in Internet Explorer, otherwise the script wouldn't work. And no matter how you tell the user to only use it in IE, there would always be those that would try in another browser and complain that it didn't work or would just contact you with an IE bashing rant. This solved the first 2 problems and cut down on the amount of IE bashing we had to put up with. (the version released for NANY 2009 was a much later round of the game, using Google's translation API, rather than the original Babelfish scraper script that Krishean initially wrote)

144

Developer's Corner / Re: Guide To GIT (Git Magic)

« on: April 24, 2018, 09:57 PM »

Amazon says it has a publication date of April 5, 2010.

https://www.amazon.c...-Lynn/dp/1451523343/

145

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder 2018 Fundraiser

« on: April 24, 2018, 06:25 PM »

146

General Software Discussion / Re: Does anyone here actually use the Microsoft Store?

« on: April 16, 2018, 10:55 PM »

I think I only have 2 apps from there, one of which is a freeware video downloader for Netflix, the other is the Fitbit app for Windows.

147

General Software Discussion / Re: Search program clock on your desktop. With the weather. As in Android

« on: March 13, 2018, 07:20 AM »

There is a desktop bar that contains all the widgets in your collection, which is what is showing in your screenshot. You need to open the widgets from there, to display it on the desktop like I have them. Then you can close that toolbar so that it stays in the tray as just an icon. The open widgets will remain on the desktop, unless you close the whole widgets application or the individual widgets.

Attached to this post you will find my fixed weather widget. Keep a backup of the zip file, after extracting it, in case you should need it in the future. Then just click the extracted widget to open it.

Unless you have changed the widget engine's default settings, it will ask if you want to move it to your collection. The answer is yes, move it, overwrite the original existing widget, whatever it wants. Once the non-working widget has been replaced with this one, you should be good to go.

One note about this. I only replaced an old dead yahoo.com URL in the original widget code with one from weather.com that works. The weather widget will occasionally crash if/when it receives bad feed data from weather.com, which is something I have not fixed (and do not plan to).

I am not sure which clock you are referring to, since there are 2 on my screen.

The analog clock is the Carmino Vector clock, a stand alone application (not a Yahoo widget) from here: http://www.crossgl.com/vcl_clocks.htm

The digital clock is my own DClock project (also not a Yahoo Widget), which you can find here: http://appsapps.info/dclock2.php

As far as RAM is concerned, I can't really say. It couldn't be all that much for just the weather widget, though, since I have used the whole collection you see in my screenshot, plus a ton more stuff, on an older Pentium 4 PC with 1GB of RAM. (the Yahoo Widgets engine and all widgets were written for XP era computers, which were typically single core and usually 2GB of RAM, or less)

148

Living Room / Re: How to check xlsx files for malicious macros or virus

« on: March 03, 2018, 09:33 AM »

Use a disposable Google account and upload it there, to open in Google Sheets. You can view it there, without any sort of Excel specific macros causing potential problems to your system.  And even if it does cause a problem, it would likely be limited to that specific Google account (not your machine), which would be a throw away account, just for that very reason.

149

General Software Discussion / Re: Search program clock on your desktop. With the weather. As in Android

« on: March 03, 2018, 09:11 AM »

For CPU temperature, I don't have a good desktop widget for that. I am using Speedfan, which does have a tray icon.

For weather, CPU load, memory, wifi, battery, calendar, and trash bin, I am using the old Yahoo Widgets. Whereas you may be able to find an installer for the base engine application, the actual widgets to use with it may be difficult to find, and some, like the weather widget, near impossible to find one that actually still works.

If you like anything you see in this screenshot, let me know and I'll see what I can do to give you more info, or a source to acquire them, if necessary.

For the weather widget, I may be the only source for the one shown on my desktop, that actually works, since I had to decompile it and fix it myself.



Weather widget in compact view:

150

Living Room / Re: Peculiar windows problem

« on: February 21, 2018, 12:14 AM »

Tip of the Day: Never use Facebook as an indicator of the health of your PC or browser.

Facebook has been known to experiment with stuff, and for it to go horribly wrong, disabling functionality of various parts of their site.

They roll out changes, both good and bad, to a limited audience, so the changes may affect some accounts and not others, or some accounts under certain conditions, browsers, OS's, or combinations of things.

If you want to know if something is wrong with your PC or your browser, use other sites (more than one, in more than one browser) that actually care enough about user experience to not test crap on their live production servers, because if you let yourself become a victim of Facebook's code experiments, you will be driven completely mad, for no good reason.