Messages

5676

Living Room / Re: Overcoming email checking addiction

« on: May 20, 2006, 04:10 PM »

I have said that I could never be suicidal...never...I mean, who would check my email?

5677

General Software Discussion / Re: Is there an AV App that Doesn't Eventually Become Bloatware?

« on: May 20, 2006, 11:53 AM »

I'll tell you what I use on my old pc.

First I'll tell you a bit about it's specs so you will be able to understand my dire need to keep the software bloat-free..

Pentium 1, 233mhz
64 mb RAM
Windows ME
CD drive that doesn't read data cd's any more (couldn't install anything that comes on CD)

and now for the name of the only antivirus I would consider for that machine:

AVG Free   

It's light, doesn't cause weird problems, doesn't cause blue screens, doesn't cause the system to lock up if a rar file icon is on my screen, doesn't add 10 minutes to startup time...and it's free!

Switching from McAfee to AVG made my system run faster, more stable, and require a reboot much less often. I went from rebooting every 4 hours, which is typical for most Windows ME machines, to uptimes of over a month. Installing AVG on that machine was one of the smartest things I ever did.

The pay version contains a firewall, which is not what I wanted for the older pc.

Another thing you should know about the free vs. pay version: free version will NOT allow you to exclude files or folders. If it finds something it doesn't like, it will eat it, no matter what it is or how you feel about it. I have had it eat a programming project or 2.  
If you want the ability to exclude files, you have to pay.

You are also only allowed to have 1 copy of the free version installed, no matter how many pc's you own. So if you own more than 1 computer and love this product as much as I do, you'll have to buy it for the additional pc(s).

I use the pay version on my super-duper brand new pc and the free one on the old pc.
I am very happy with both, although I don't use the firewall that is included with the pay one, so I can't rate that part.

If there will be any bloat added to this product, it will most likely be added to the pay version and not the free version. Grisoft has recently acquired Ewido, an anti-spyware company, and plans on adding it to their product line. I don't know if it will be stand alone or added to a future version of their pay antivirus product.

5678

Accessibility Game Contest / Accessibility tips for developers

« on: May 20, 2006, 11:10 AM »

Sooner or later mouser is going to put something here in this section of the forum and this post will make perfect sense.


This is a great page for developers that want to make their software more friendly to those with disabilities. Tons of things to think about that you might not have thought about before.

Accessible Toolkit Checklist

a few related to games:

Gaming with a visual disability
Improving Game Accessibility


This is an especially great page, and a great site. Don't let this page be the only thing you look at here.

Guidelines for developing accessible games

5679

Living Room / Re: Thread for time-wasting flash games.

« on: May 20, 2006, 10:46 AM »

so many unusual fun flash games to challenge...so little time 

http://homokaasu.org...gasgames/default.gas

warning: the site and its games are pretty weird.

5680

Living Room / Re: A Partial (new) Mission Statement Idea for DonationCoder?

« on: May 20, 2006, 10:16 AM »

I think you already know we are going to do that whether it's officially part of this site's mission or not. 

That is our nature...we are the helpful bunch that never sends people away with a box full of SOL if we can avoid it.

And we aren't afraid to say what we think about a particular software...good or bad.

I'll even tell you what is bad about my own software when it deserves it. 

And I enjoy sharing my treasures I have found. Why should good software be a guarded secret?

You can count this digital packrat in. 

5681

General Software Discussion / Re: WANTING to know if process tamer can be programmed for 98

« on: May 20, 2006, 06:43 AM »

The problem with Windows 98 isn't really cpu usage. I have run 9x at 100% cpu for 3 years straight...from boot-up to shutdown, running like that for days or even weeks at a time. (probably longer, but I didn't really pay attention to it before 3 years ago).

The 2 things that are the problem with windows 95/98/ME is RAM and user/GDI resources.

No matter how much RAM you have, 9x will eat it all, want more, and slow down. I have found it actually behaves better if you have less ram....better, but slower.

The biggest problem is the user/GDI resources. If you have ever run the little resource meter that comes with 9x and let it sit in your tray, you would know what I was talking about.

It starts off nice & green when you boot up and the more things you run, the lower the level of green goes...then it turns yellow...then it turns red and you get a low resource warning. The only thing you can do when you get that warning is start closing things in a hurry till you get back to green again. If you don't, you will end up with windows freezing on you and you will have to hit the reset.

Sometimes closing just about everything you have open isn't enough and the green doesn't return and you have to reboot to get things back to normal. This is just the way 9x is and there isn't much you can do to get the green back once this happens, if it doesn't want to play nice.

What makes this go red?

Every window you have open uses resources. Every picture on your screen uses resources...every icon, every sound, every open file, screensavers, wallpaper, installed fonts, etc.

if you want to make the problem less, you have to use less.

1. Don't use desktop wallpaper.

2. Don't display desktop icons. use the start menu.

3. In Explorer (My Computer) use list view or show details instead of using icon view or thumbnails.

4. Do not install fonts you do not need to use on a regular basis. If you want to use a special font for something, you can keep it in a folder and click to open it and minimize it. As long as it is open, it will appear in your font list in the program you are using. Then close it when you are done.

5. Do not use a screensaver...turn your monitor off when not in use, instead...or use power management to turn it off for you. (you will save money on electricity and extend the life of your monitor too)

6. Try not to have many windows open at the same time...especially browser windows. Try to use a browser with tabs if you can, and keep the tabs to a minimum.

7. Try to run simple programs that do one thing...only what you need them for. It is better to use Notepad to make a .txt file than MS Word. Better to use Windows Picture Viewer to just look at an image than Photoshop.

8. Reduce the number of programs that load at startup. If you will not be using Quicktime or RealPlayer, they don't need to load at startup and be sitting in your tray and waste valuable resources.

9. Do regular spyware and virus scans...this kind of garbage that sneaks onto your pc can ruin your day by stealing all your pc's resources...and other even worse things.

10. And if you need to do many things at once that are similar, then get a program that will do all of them combined. Like instead of running AIM, Yahoo, MSN, ICQ, IRC, etc all at the same time..use a program like Trillian that can access them all at the same time. 1 program that does the work of many and uses less resources to do it than running them all. (DON'T use GAIM...it uses GTK and GTK does NOT play well with 9x and will cause any software with an IE based browser object to crash...except IE  )

11. Experiment with different software. Some software that does the same thing can be better than another. Like your antivirus. Norton's & McAfee use a lot of resources to keep you safe. AVG will keep you safe and use less. The same is true with other software too.

Most of all, be observant. Your pc is your friend and will tell you when it doesn't like something or when you are doing something wrong before you get an error...you just have to pay attention for the little things and respond kindly with what will make your pc happy.


This page has a good explanation of the user/GDI problem if you want a simple technical explanation:  http://www2.whidbey....am/Window_memory.htm

5682

General Software Discussion / Re: How does he do that?

« on: May 19, 2006, 11:56 PM »

You want to know what is inside the flash file? The script? I will only post it if mouser says it's ok.

5683

Dr.Windows / Re: Dr.Windows Dialogs - Add Yours!

« on: May 18, 2006, 02:37 PM »

Since you are having fun with messages from the 'mind of your pc' I thought I'd share this little gem I have had for awhile:

This is a little something a friend of mine made for another friend.

Karen is the woman mentioned in this little program. Her mother was getting cranky about Karen using her pc, claiming she was "breaking it" by using software other than IE.

The guy that made this for her said to put a shortcut to it in the startup folder on her mom's pc and go home, which she did.

We didn't see Karen online for a few weeks after that. Her mom doesn't have a sense of humor.

The file is safe, scanned multiple times with various antivirus products for any nasties, and given a clean bill of health by all of them.

5684

Living Room / Re: World's worst pop-up dialogs

« on: May 18, 2006, 11:39 AM »

My 3 favorites from my collection.
These are real...didn't doctor these in any way.

From Windows ME while trying to move a file:

an error I got while trying to play a CD (you need to be psychic to understand this one):

and my very favorite of all...from AOL 5.0 back in 1999:

5685

Living Room / Re: Animal Sounds In different languages

« on: May 17, 2006, 02:14 PM »

They are wrong about the Italian bird noises being "chip". It's "cip" ...which phonetically matches the English, "cheep".

5686

Living Room / Re: Skype users: beware

« on: May 17, 2006, 09:40 AM »

The logical extension is that if a virus writer applies copyright to his code (and writes it in the US) then provided he is not stealing or doing something positively illegal then no one should have any form of redress ???

-Carol Haynes (May 17, 2006, 03:43 AM)

Technically, they are covered by copyright automatically in the US even if they don't register or provide a copyright notice of any sort. As soon as it is offered to the public they are automatically covered until 70 years after their death.

Under current law, works are covered whether or not a copyright notice is attached and whether or not the work is registered.

-http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Copyright

EULA is a double edged sword. In some cases you are damned if you do and damned if you don't violate it.

I have been heavily involved rather recently with an issue pertaining to reverse engineering someone else's abandoned software in an effort to save a huge online chat community with millions of users from extinction.

They relied upon said software in order to build & run this community. Some have suggested reversing the software and modding it to keep it working. We decided against this approach and would rather create our own software as a replacement, even though it would be much easier to modify the original .exe. Unfortunately, most of the research into the protocols used by said software was done by those that have reversed parts of it. This is a sticky situation for the developers on the new client/server and we have had to toss out any valuable information gained by the work of reversers.

Our temporary solution is to replace/modify a file on the user's pc that isn't covered by any type of copyright in order to keep the original, unmodified software working...the system's hosts file. I was even the one that had to do the research to find out if it was legal to remove Microsoft's copyright notice from a Windows hosts file, for the creation of the first hosts patch installer. (it is if you are replacing the original file with a *nix hosts file, which is the same file without the copyright notice)

We are very serious about not violating the EULA in this case, as we will most likely end up getting sued by the RIAA any way for keeping a chat community, similar to what is found on IRC, alive. All we want is the ability to gather and express our rights to free speech in the manner in which we have become accustomed to doing so, which unfortunately is with a proprietary protocol. If we violate some EULA in the process, we will surely lose and end up being sued by more than one party, namely the original developers of the software and the RIAA, and all our work will have been in vain. (it's a P2P application)

What makes things even harder is the fact that the original developer wasn't very good with issuing patches to correct flaws and exploits that were discovered, back before he abandoned the whole thing.
We have had to create our own patches all along to protect ourselves and our chat community and those that don't even run or have ever even heard of the software. And some of them were rather nasty flaws that could be easily exploited to take over the pc's of millions users in one shot and run any code you choose.

Patching the flaws ourselves could be considered a breech of the EULA, if you really stop & think about it...but think of what could have happened if we didn't. We could have ended up with a few million zombie pc's attacking everyone and spreading malware, spam, etc.

5687

Developer's Corner / Re: The Change Function: Why some technology ventures fail?

« on: May 16, 2006, 11:58 AM »

Like my dad said...
Necessity is the mother of invention...
and laziness is it's father.

If you can come up with something lazy people need in order to be more lazy (and yes, we are ALL lazy at heart), and it doesn't require work to use it to be lazier than they already are (it would defeat the purpose if it required work), then it will be successful.

Or if the laziness payoff GREATLY exceeds the work it takes to use it or learn to use it.

laziness payoff - work = new technology's odds of success

And don't forget the cost factor...every $ represents work, too....you had to work to earn it.

Consider the automobile...much less work than walking and carrying your stuff from point A to point B...and much less work than caring for a horse. It was destined to become a success. 


The only other way past the above rule would be to sell your idea to big business and convince them that they need it and that it will save or earn them money, and then rely upon them to force the rest of the world to learn it and use it.

Considering the cost of a computer and what it takes to become computer literate, do you think the majority of us would own one, or even know how to use one, had we not been forced to at some point either by our jobs or by schools? (I said 'majority' because I know there are some real sickos out there that would have done it any way just for fun. )

5688

Developer's Corner / Free icons for developers

« on: May 13, 2006, 03:33 AM »

I came across a great site today that has an immense collection of free, quality icon images that developers can use in their projects. The Silk collection is really cool!

They are published with a Creative Commons license, so as long as you give the guy credit and include a link to his site in your about box, you are free to use them any way you wish in your projects, including making derivative works of them.

They are in .png format but they can be easily converted to .bmp or .ico.

How can you go wrong?

FamFamFam's icon collection

5689

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Batch download lyrics for your mp3 songs in your library to the ID3 tag

« on: May 12, 2006, 08:13 AM »

There is a plugin for Winamp that I have been using for years called Lyrc. It fetches the lyrics from the Lyrc database when the song starts playing...displays the page in the Now Playing window in Winamp 5 or the mini-browser in Winamp 2.

It's available for a few other players too...and open source.

Nice thing about this, is that it's a user built database. If they don't have the lyrics for something, you can do a google search, find them, and then submit them yourself right from within Winamp. The more people use it the better it gets.

Another nice thing about it is that it's not just limited to mp3...this will display lyrics for CD's you play too. It's all based on what you see in the playlist window for the track playing.

http://lyrc.com.ar

5690

General Software Discussion / Re: Vote for your favorite software programs of the year!

« on: May 11, 2006, 06:16 PM »

here ya go

5691

General Software Discussion / Re: MS Virtual Server 2005 free !!

« on: May 11, 2006, 07:32 AM »

I don't think this is only a result of pressure from VMware. I think this is also a result of the Intel Macs. One of the reasons why Microsoft bought VPC was to make money selling Windows to Mac users. Unlike VMware, there was a Mac version of VPC, at the time they bought it. If they can now sell Mac users a copy of Windows without selling a copy of VPC along with it, they are going to lose money on their VPC investment.

Giving it away, even for a limited time (I don't mean trial) makes good business sense in the long run. If they can get more people to try it by offering it for free, they can hope to gain loyal users that may pay in the future for newer versions.

This could be one of those 'here today-gone tomorrow' offers, if it is the full version, and it does what all the hype says it can. Which means, if you want it you better jump on it now.

5692

Living Room / Re: Do you Suffer from Computer Anger Management - How do you handle it?

« on: May 05, 2006, 09:44 PM »

Now there's a challenge for someone... re-create whip the worker but with damage like the computer smasher!

Yeah baby. 

-Rover (May 05, 2006, 09:09 PM)

Can we beat him with a Syntax Stick™?

5693

Living Room / Re: Do you Suffer from Computer Anger Management - How do you handle it?

« on: May 05, 2006, 02:02 PM »

In my chatroom we had a sort of joke going on related to programming frustration...It's kind of an ad for a ficticious product we all wished existed...and if I could manufacture it I would be a very wealthy woman:

Programming project misbehaving?
Unexplainable errors?
Hit it with a Syntax Stick™!
That's right...for only $19.95 you can own a Syntax Stick™ and beat that program into submission and show it who is boss. Act now and we'll throw in a Spelling Stick™ for half price. Very handy for beating the typos out of your keyboard.

5694

Living Room / Re: Do you Suffer from Computer Anger Management - How do you handle it?

« on: May 04, 2006, 12:20 PM »

Well, I don't have any anger management tips for programmers, as I don't get angry when I get frustrated...I cry instead....and become even more frustrated and can't think clearly.

The idea of doing coding snacks is a good one...I usually will stop and do something else like graphics, code a web page, go make a cup of tea, clean my house.

When I come back I generally can think better and solve whatever was the problem, or at least think clearly enough to be able to make some sort of progress.

I am not a programming pro...still pretty much a newbie and the frustration sometimes gets bad enough that I wonder what I even like about programming and why I even try.

I can fully understand why my dad gave it up and why he says he hates computers. If you are not coding because you love it and are just doing it for the money, you can't keep at it. Sooner or later you will crack and give up.

Someone once told me that a real programmer is about 70% control freak. Frustration is a sign of not being in control and as a control freak you are not going to like it or handle it very well. But if you can manage to get past it and solve whatever problem was causing the frustration, you get a high that is unlike any drug in the world...and usually the high you get is in direct proportion to the amount of frustration you feel. The greater the frustration, the greater the high once the problem is solved....and that's why you love it so much and are a programmer.

5695

General Software Discussion / Re: Best Executable Compressor Programs

« on: April 30, 2006, 01:37 AM »

if you were using this protector back in the old days you'd definintely see a difference in speed. i guess we all take advantage of the fact that new processor speeds all but hides these overactive protectors.

-seedling (February 20, 2006, 03:37 PM)

And how long ago were these 'old days'? I am concerned about this as I have one of those older, slower, low ram pc's and I wouldn't want to slow things down any more than it already is, considering that I won't release any software that isn't suitable for use on that pc.

I care about those that are stuck with old crap and can't afford the latest & greatest. I don't want to cheat them. Someone has to remember them...they are still out there, and they still have the need for software, and it wasn't long ago that I was among them with nothing but a P1, 233mhz, 64mb ram, running WinME as my one & only pc. (less than 6 months ago, and I was stuck on it for more than 2 years)

I am also concerned not about the one compressed app, but what kind of performance issues one would have if they ran numerous compressed apps at the same time on a pc like that. If it could cause a problem, I don't want to contribute to it by compressing mine.

5696

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Undo "Restore all items" in Recycle bin

« on: April 29, 2006, 11:49 AM »

If you put a shortcut to the recycle bin on your quicklaunch, and get into the habit of emptying from right clicking that shortcut, there isn't a 'restore' to click by accident. 

5697

Post New Requests Here / Re: DONE: Organize the Taskbar, organize the System Tray

« on: April 27, 2006, 01:48 PM »

I just tried Taskbar++ and I think it's awsome...just what I wanted.

Having to hold down the alt key means that you won't be moving taskbar buttons by mistake...and having to wait a sec or 2 means that if you didn't intend to activate it, you have time to do whatever you did hold the alt key down for....such as to create a special character with an alt code...and you just happen to have the cursor over the taskbar by mistake.

Patience dude...moving them is better than not moving them at all, in my opinion.

I haven't had a prob with the redraw, but then again, this pc is pretty fast so I don't even notice it.

5698

Post New Requests Here / Re: DONE: Organize the Taskbar, organize the System Tray

« on: April 27, 2006, 01:07 PM »

You know, I was just about to suggest something similar. I would love something that will allow me to drag & drop a taskbar button from a running app to a new position....on the taskbar itself.

I won't remember to open some window from my tray to do it, so it has to act like a taskbar feature. This Taskbar++ looks just like what I wanted.

I keep my taskbar on the side too...but the right side and on autohide (it's HUGE!). It's more mentally ergonomic to have your start button on the same side as you keep your mouse.

5699

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Command-line tool to move dir contents to existing subdirs

« on: April 25, 2006, 11:16 PM »

As someone that recently manually sorted 30G of songs by artist, and then by album, while merging the contents of 2 pc's to a 3rd pc, I really could have used a tool like this myself...and I know plenty more would have a use for it too.

Maybe I will wait and see how this goes before attempting to merge the 2 graphics collections.

Great idea, Cavalcader!

5700

Living Room / Re: Unprotected Wireless Lans?

« on: April 24, 2006, 02:49 PM »

Жуть какая, нихрена не понимаю, но оч хочу золотой ключик от каморки папы Карло....  . Целую, Ваша на веки . Птичка, которая на проводе.

-IVOLGA (April 24, 2006, 01:08 PM)

which translates to...

"Horror what, нихрена I do not understand, but оч I want gold ключик from a closet of daddy Karlo..... The whole, yours on веки. A birdy, which on a wire. "

I used the same translator

I think that means they are in love with Cody? A marriage proposal, maybe?