Topics

51

General Software Discussion / WSOD

« on: December 13, 2012, 03:18 PM »

anyone here have any experience with the 'White Screen of Death' phenomenon?

Running win7 x32 on my work laptop, I get random WSOD's throughout the day.  They seem to centre around office apps (excel, outlook) and the browser (IE, firefox,greenbrowser) and can last anywhere from 10 seconds to a total lockup.

Googling turns up plenty, though nothing of apparent value - most occurrences seem to be at boot, and no one seems to be able identify the cause or provide a definitive fix

I'd really like to solve this as it's really starting to piss me off

anyone?

52

Living Room / science meets art?

« on: October 15, 2012, 08:11 PM »

not sure whether or not this shouldn't have gone in the 'recommend a music video' thread, but I saw this on an RSS feed this morning

apparently there's a competition where students present their PHDs using 'interpretive dance' - Dance your PHD

53

DC Gamer Club / razer nostromo

« on: September 12, 2012, 02:05 AM »

anyone here use one of these beasties?

I've got the itch to get one and I don't know whether or not it's a worthwhile investment (help save me from myself!!)

I have a friend who uses one and he seems to like it, but the online reviews are mixed

FWIW I mostly play shooters (single player), but I'd like to think it would have uses beyond gaming

54

General Software Discussion / data recovery tool, [i]on a network drive[/i]

« on: August 30, 2012, 08:44 PM »

I'm pretty sure I know the answer already, but I'll ask anyway

A colleague made the unfortunate mistake of overwriting an important document that's stored on a (shared) network drive and we need to recover it if at all possible.

any idea's?

55

Post New Requests Here / time/activity tracking tool

« on: February 02, 2012, 05:09 PM »

this is less a request for a finished tool than it is for some input or discussion on how this might be done (a collaborative snack, if you will)

I have a requirement to track my activities during the day (I'm sure I'm not the only one), trouble is, my record keeping is undisciplined (at best) and I'm most assuredly not someone who can keep a diary or journal.

I have been using a little script that generates a simple popup every 5 minutes, allowing me to input a quick descriptive string of whatever it is I'm currently doing, which is then written to a log file. 

This works fine as far as it goes, but I now have a requirement to capture a little more info for some activity types, and I need to be able to record multiple concurrent jobs...

I've been working on a more sophisticated popup, but it's starting to become a bit more complicated than I was anticipating - basically it provides all the requisite detail for up to 3 tasks and with the output for each to be written as a separate entry in the log.  Trouble here is that I have no idea how to manage the analysis/processing of the logs, ie how to group the task entries together

I've also been wondering about the potential of using delimited strings (eg date/time - task 1 | task 2 | Task 3 | etc), but again analysing and/or processing the output could be problematic

I'm not ruling out an existing solution, if anyone knows one, but I've tried quite a few over the years (guilted into it by various posts banging on about GTD and productivity) and none of them do what I'm looking for (I suppose if they did I wouldn't be here now...)

so, over to you guys

56

General Software Discussion / handy security tool

« on: November 15, 2011, 05:59 PM »

saw this on Addictive Tips

if you're like me and you've been wondering just what all those service host processes were doing this may help - Service host Analyzer

Want to check which user application or Windows utility initiated a specific instance of svchost.exe process? The svchost is basically a small executable file that resides in system32 folder. It is a generic Windows host process that plays a vital role in keeping all the system and user initiated services stable. Since Task Manager doesn’t provide a detailed information on running instances of svchost executables, you may need Svchost Process Analyzer to analyze the services and applications that run multiple instances of svchost.exe and to identify all the svchost related malwares. It helps you prevent Windows from those malwares and viruses which create a fake svchost.exe file at different locations to exploit user’s access rights; it lists down all the running instances of svchost processes with detailed information, so that you can easily identify malware infected svchost.exe files.

disclaimer - I have nothing to do with the developer whatsoever, nor can I vouch for the efficacy of the app.  I posted it here simply because I figured the functionality may be of interest to others (as it was to me)

57

General Software Discussion / spidering search results from a website

« on: October 28, 2011, 01:03 AM »

I use the local library extensively and I want to be able to browse the catalogue off line, so I'm looking for some means of spidering or otherwise saving the output of whatever my search might be for further study.

Could be that there are only a few, in which case I'll just browse it, but it could also be that there are a few hundred (or thousand) if I'm doing very generic searches (their classification process leaves a bit to be desired )

I've used tools like HTTrack before, but I'm pretty sure they won't work with dynamically generated content like this

any suggestions?

58

Living Room / rogue hotkey assignment - looking for the culprit

« on: September 05, 2011, 11:12 PM »

I realise this is something of a 'how long is a piece of string' type question, but I'm hoping somebody here might be able to supply a clue as to the offending app

recently my middle button action in a browser (generally open link in new page/tab) has been hijacked, and for the life of me I can't work out who did it

'new' action on middle click is to send that application to the bottom of the stack, which is very annoying to say the least

I've checked all my settings and I've not installed anything that I can think of that might have had this effect, so I'm hoping that this might seem familiar to someone here

working with XP SP3 and a variety of browsers

any ideas?

59

Living Room / Clipart collections, and/or image converters

« on: August 30, 2011, 09:38 PM »

the support monster has visited again, and I have been asked to source some clipart for my mother-in-law

I figured that there would be plenty available online, and there is, but I have no interest in sourcing them one a time...

I did find a few bundles (notably the Open Clipart collection), however significant parts of what I found are in SVG format.  While this may not be an issue for a computer literate user, it will present significant issues for the lady in question.

so, 2 questions

does anyone know of a source of good (free?) clipart bundles
does anyone know of a utility that can process batch conversions from SVG to something else (PNG?).  I guess that the 'ultimate' (?) solution would be able to convert to wmf (or another format native to office), even if it needs to be done in a couple of steps

60

General Software Discussion / looking for a [i]single[/i] pane file manager

« on: August 23, 2011, 09:14 PM »

I normally use TotalCommander, but my (W7) netbook doesn't really have the available screenspace to use it comfortably, so I'm looking for a single pane FM to use instead

I have been using Explorer++ which I rather like, but I've found it to be pretty unstable (It routinely crashes if I try to move too quickly, or if I try and customise the toolbars, or or or).  I haven't had the opportunity to take this up with the developer, but a new version has recently been released that may resolve some of this.

Pending the outcome of either of those activities I'm looking for suggestions on possible alternatives (worth noting I have a longstanding dislike of windows explorer ). 

I do have some specific requirements, ie it must be tabbed, and it must have a customisable toolbar so that I can add common apps/tools (I tend to use my FM as something of a dashboard)

I'm guessing this is possibly a fairly narrow field as it's the opposite of the consensus with respect to 'modern' file managers, but I'd be interested to see whats out there and what your experiences/opinions (if any) are

61

Living Room / an interesting response to a trademeark infringement action

« on: August 17, 2011, 07:15 PM »

from slashdot this morning (apologies to those who've seen this, but I'm posting 'cos these things routinely get disgust here )

http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/08/17/1838230/Notch-Asks-For-Trial-By-Combat

Bethesda was apparently pursuing him because his latest game title uses a word contained in on of Bethesda's titles.

62

Living Room / how does your <insert device here> stack up?

« on: August 17, 2011, 07:09 PM »

this was posted on <url=http:\\tinyhacker.com)TinyHacker[/url] this morning



the march of progress is clearly relentless...

63

General Software Discussion / 'new' file manager - Elyse

« on: August 03, 2011, 09:12 PM »

apologies if this is not news to you

spotted this one a few weeks ago on addictive tips (it's since popped up in a few other places) and thought it may be of interest to some here (if a calendar based app (Nemo) can get some traction, who knows...)

Elyse is a tag based file manager.  Seems like it would be particular interest to those working with significant media collections, or possibly for project workers

From the homepage

Elyse is a file management system which solves the major problem with traditional methods of managing large numbers files on computers: paths and folders. Storing files in Elyse eliminates the need to decide precisely where to store a file, or to subsequently find where it was stored. Any logical method of grouping and arranging files can be used. In short, you the user are given the power to impose your own logic, and change your mind as often you like with just a few clicks.
[/quote]

64

Living Room / what are the merits and limitations of the different types of flash memory?

« on: July 19, 2011, 12:46 AM »

Like most everyone these days I have a handful of USB drives that I use for all sorts of things, however I just bought a netbook to do a bit of stuff on and I was wondering why I couldn't use an SD card instead of my usual key.

I assume the internals are pretty much the same as USB keys, but the SD cards form factor is a bit more user friendly (it goes in the slot, out of harms way)

What I don't know is if there are any limitations on using these things like a 'normal' drive.  It doesn't seem logical to me that there would be, but then what do I know

I've had a hunt around and I don't seem to be able to find anything that discusses the relative merits of the different types of removable flash memory, though of course having said that, the first thing you guys will do is google the answer straight away 

Anyone able to shed some light on the subject (don't limit yourselves just to SD cards and/or USB keys either)
 

65

Living Room / favourite hardware hacking resources

« on: May 19, 2011, 11:57 PM »

The inkjet thread got me thinking about this and a quick search indicates it hasn't been mentioned here before.

Does anyone have any favoured sites or resources on this?

(that's hacking as in modifying or re-purposing, nothing nefarious here )

66

Living Room / Don't hit the switch - interesting toy

« on: May 16, 2011, 07:35 PM »

from hack a day - Don't Hit That Switch

67

General Software Discussion / email troubles

« on: May 12, 2011, 11:02 PM »

hoping someone here may be able to assist with an issue we've just started experiencing at home

intermittent emails are 'hanging' the receive process, ie when an offending email is encountered the process hangs and we cannot download any further messages.

Happens on both PC's at our house (XP SP3 with outlook express, and Vista with windows mail, and now Live Mail).

Stopping and restarting has no effect.

Messages are accessible via webmail, but there is nothing untoward in them that I can see.

None of the messages are large (we're stuck with dialup so anything much more than a meg gets deleted out of hand), and there does not appear to be any consistency between the offenders - the senders, sizes, etc all vary (in fact we received one message from a particular sender fine, but the next one - 24hrs later - failed)

I've checked all the settings (nothing has been changed) and as far as I can see everything should be fine. Beyond this I have no idea how to even begin troubleshooting this

Any ideas?

68

DC Gamer Club / looking for some suggestions

« on: May 10, 2011, 12:35 AM »

for some games for my mother in law 

preferably puzzle or platform/side scrolling games, and nothing to difficult (this is for a person who can't remember a 5 character password from one day to the next)

scrollers should be run and jump or run and jump and shoot (no space games)

oh, and they need to run happily on Win7 X64...

I suspect the old Monkey Island series could be a contender (anyone know?), but this is way outside of my normal gaming preferences so I have no idea

69

General Software Discussion / Excel 2007 workbook bloat - potential fix?

« on: April 07, 2011, 07:47 PM »

It appears that inexplicable bloat in Excel workbooks is a reasonably common issue, so my experiences with this phenomenon may be useful to others

A shared workbook had blown out in size considerably for no reason that I could see (ie from 4M to 33M)

I had already gone through and removed as much unnecessary formatting as I could (it's a shared resource) but it made no difference

Googling didn't turn up anything particularly useful (the main fix seems to be removing unnecessary formatting, which I'd already done), but it did remind me that office 2007 files are zipped xml bundles.

When I opened the (zip) file, I found 2 worksheets were considerably larger than the others (one was 180M and the other was 89M).  AHA! says I

I went back into Excel and MOVED the sheets out, saved, then checked the size, and...no change

I went back into the bundle and found that the bloat had moved to the next sheets (WTF?), so instead of sheet26 being 180M, now sheet25 was 180M.

I made a fresh copy and this time I COPIED the offending sheets out, then went back into the bundle and DELETED the offenders, saved, then checked the size.

This time the file had come back to a more reasonable 4M, so I re-opened it with the intention of copying the deleted sheets back in.

On opening the file Excel threw up a 'this file is corrupted, do you want to repair' message to which I answered yes. After letting it do it's stuff I saved and went to copy the deleted sheets in only to discover that Excel had automagically reinstated them!!

I've done as much testing as I can (the workbook contains data only, no additional functionality) and as far as I can see no data was lost to the exercise, and the aforementioned bloat is now gone (woohoo...)

I can't vouchsafe this method, however it seems to have worked in this instance.  YMMV, so if you're going to use it I would suggest you make a copy of your file(s)  first, then confirm the results yourself before you replace your originals.
   

70

Living Room / unboxing videos

« on: April 05, 2011, 05:47 PM »

I can't believe people actually go to the trouble of actually doing this stuff, but I saw this on how-to-geek this morning

unboxing videos

as it happens, it pretty much sums up how I feel about ewetube

Edited to correct spelling misteak in the subject line

71

Living Room / Ever wondered what happens to all the old hardware when you move office

« on: March 19, 2011, 04:26 AM »

this might be a clue (is your old office in here?)

Eerie world of abandoned computers

72

Living Room / USB hubs - does anything like this exist?

« on: December 29, 2010, 12:03 AM »

sorry about the stupid title, but this seems like a logical piece of hardware but I don't seem to be able to find anything like it

I routinely work remotely using a laptop, however laptops generally don't have anywhere near enough USB ports for all the bit's and pieces I use so I use a hub (OK so far).  Trouble with this setup is that it gets pretty untidy

what I want to be able to do is plug in my keyboard, mouse, printer, USB key, RNA token, phone (modem), and external drive and switch them between the laptop and home PC so I'm wondering if there is a hub (7 ports minimum, preferably 10) that works like a KVM switch, ie where I can switch between 2 different inputs (the laptop or my own PC).

To complicate things further, I use a 2.5" 500G external drive that requires a reasonable power supply (it uses 2 ports on the docking station) so ideally the hub needs to be able to provide sufficient power to run the drive...

this seems like a reasonable piece of hardware (and I'm sure I'm not the only one that's had this experience), but I've googled for this several times and come up dry.  I suppose I'd be prepared to pay a reasonable amount for something that is well regarded (I have tried numerous no-name hubs and there is almost always one or two ports that don't work reliably)

Anyone got any idea's?
 

73

Living Room / iPod - tell me why I should buy one

« on: November 16, 2010, 10:56 PM »

I'm looking at replacing my old mp3 player and have been looking around for potential candidates

let me state up front that I am (or at least have been) staunchly against anything apple.

I've never had an Apple device so I may well be missing out on something, but if I am I've yet to hear about it.  I don't buy into the whole fashion/image thing, and it's extremely unlikely that I'll ever use iTunes (I'd much rather buy a cd).

Trouble is the Apple machine has been so successful/pervasive/infectious that it's almost impossible to buy anything else. 

I had a whip around the local retailers at lunch and while I can buy an iPod anywhere, there is a serious dearth of alternatives.

Given that my options seem to be very limited, I'm looking to the apple users here to convince me why I should buy an iPod instead of an alternative (if I can find one...).

I'm already grinding my teeth in anticipation...

74

Living Room / if you had just one wish

« on: October 06, 2010, 06:05 PM »

Steve Jobs wish

75

Living Room / sarcopaths unite!

« on: July 26, 2010, 06:24 PM »

from the WTF department, found this on slashdot this morning - Open Sarcasm

seems there's a proprietry character (or at least an application that inserts that character) to denote sarcasm in text (SarcMark), and now an 'open source' alternative

'cos we really needed it....

Personally i count myself as something of a connoisseur and I can't decide whether this is bleeding edge sarcasm, or completely redundant (but YMMV...)