Messages

76

General Software Discussion / Trigger the Send function in a new email from command line

« on: September 03, 2016, 07:38 PM »

This is either so simple and right in front of me that i can;t see it or doesn't exist as needed.

In a batch script that uses the Outlook.exe ipm.note parameter, once the email is loaded and ready to send, how can i trigger the send function from within the script.  Everything works perfectly except for that last item.

I have a vbs version that CAN trigger the send (but so far cannot add the zipped attachment properly) which makes me think that there must be some method of activating SEND from the command line.  Currently, the completed email sits there waiting for me to press the Send button 

This was a handy "feature" during testing so I could see and correct errors and configurations But now that it works as desired I want it to immediately "Send" like the VBS version does.
Could I call a "SEND_EMAIL.VBS" script from inside the batch as a final command ? 

I am still trying to rewrite the whole thing as VBS but ran into issues getting the correct zip file attached to the pre-addressed email.  I have not given up on that yet though and it may be the best way.

77

General Software Discussion / Re: Desktop tool for programmatically removing URL's from PDF files

« on: August 26, 2016, 11:24 PM »

Thanks to all for the suggestions.  I am looking into both Dr. Andus and Shades links.  Surely one of them can do something this simple.   If not maybe one of the online tools has a desktop version.  The one i used PDF-du seems to but they sell every "piece" of their tool "A la Carte'.  It looks like DEBENU is a full suite and they even have a server version.  (Though this is not for a server OS, just a system with lots of storage).  And Shades offering comes from a company i have heard of and has been around for a log time.  so of course, it costs the most . 
Out of all of this, i hope i can find a permanent fix.  The one-time clean-up is necessary, but the full-time fix is to clean the files when they come in.  I hope his doesn't become a task that must be done on the file-server after the fact.  Much better as an add-in for Outlook so they get stripped clean before i have to deal with them.

Anyway, thanks for all the pointers.  I am kind of surprised that this hasn't ever happened to anyone else before. Or maybe it has just not to anyone who hangs out at DC.  AVAST told me that they have been getting a lot of calls from people running into this kind of thing so perhaps the scanning of embedded URL's against some sort of blacklist for websites is a more recent addition?

And before i forget, 4WD's idea is not so totally off the mark.  I just dont know how long it would take to do it that way.  I did see a few references to other people  sanitizing PDF's via printing them to a virtual PDF printer program such as BullZip.   I know for sure it it could be done 4WD is Script-King from everything he has ever sent me in the past.  This would be one of those "For (f) = 1 to 1 gazillion)... etc etc"  type runs.  Take each pdf, rename it slightly and print it to a new pdf file with the original filename and delete the renamed copy (or save it long enough to test a few and be sure the copy is really equal to the original), then move on the next.  Worst case, that may be my only way out.

With my luck, all of this will turn out to be caused by "False Positives" on an ever-changing Blacklist of URL sites . 

Which is why i would feel best if ALL Hidden URL's were removed.  I would prefer that any links go to exactly what people can see.  IF they choose to go to them anyway, by removing the ACTIVE part, it forces ADOBE to display that warning about "Being sure you know where this link is taking you" etc. At that point, i think i will have done as much as anyone could expect as to warning people to know where they are browsing to.

 

78

General Software Discussion / Re: Desktop tool for programmatically removing URL's from PDF files

« on: August 26, 2016, 10:37 AM »

He explained it very well, I thought.  Sometimes, people link the words http://www.google.com to http://www.malwareRus.com in PDFs.  He wants to strip out the links.

-wraith808 (August 25, 2016, 10:24 AM)

Thanks Wraith.  That is exactly the case.

Each employee gets submissions from hundreds of people every day.  These contain attachments with things like biographies, resumes, etc. all having multiple references to various material posted on the web.  There is no way anyone could check each submission for every link to be sure that each goes to where the TEXT says it does.  Due to some of the other comments here, I am going to provide the LONG version.

Unfortunately, (or perhaps not) AVAST can (and does) do exactly that.  On the system where all these submissions are stored I run a constant full-time scan on all the contents of the 5 TB Data drive.  This scan returns anywhere from a couple dozen to a couple hundred entries per day of files that are quarantined.  It took both myself and the AVAST techs some digging to understand why these pdf's were being removed at all as they are simply flagged as  pdf:UrlMal-inf [Trj] or some other Malware

It turned out that the PDF itself has no issues and is clean for use by anyone.  However, after some testing we discovered that the problem was tied to  the links contained within the pdf.  Even this was a mystery for a while as when typing in those links to check for problems, we found none.  The sites they went to were legit and had no reason to be marked as "malware".

After I came up with the idea of removing the "ACTIVE" portions of the links and discovered that once a pdf had these removed the same pdf would then test as clean,  It occurred to me that just as you can get "Spoofed" to a false link on a website, you could also get "spoofed" in a pdf if the embedded URL was NOT the same as the written URL.

Removing the "embedded" portion of the URL does not inconvenience anyone as adobe will recreate hyperlinks to any properly written URL anyway.  I don't have time to track down the Why and How anyone would do this and that is not a problem I need to deal with.  I just need the PDF's to stay available once they are filed for access.  To do this, they must pass through the AV scanners as clean.  To do that, they must not contain any links to sites that are blacklisted as being known "malware" hosts.

AVAST agrees with me that my solution would solve the problem.  Eventually i am looking for a way to head this issue off before it ends up on my desk by the hundreds.  An Outlook tool that would remove embedded links for all attachments would be preferable so that each employee would end up with only clean PDFs in the first place. 

At this point, though, I need a way to do it retroactively on thousands of archived documents.  My first thought was to ask for a way to disable the module of the Server Antivirus as it is not my place to be the "Guardian of the World" and the files themselves were safe.   But I don't want to be responsible for misdirecting someone with a hidden URL such that they click a document labelled   "Library_of_Congress_ #23Z3457231kb-N" and end up on "Malware-R-Us" instead if there I a way I could prevent it.

Since i had already found a way to fix the problem,  and the fix does not have any ill effects on the documents themselves, I am just looking for a way to automate the "cleaning" and make this my small contribution to a Safer Internet. 

To make practical, it must be done by a utility where i can set it to scan from A to Z and run 24/7 for as long as it takes to clean the entire 5 TB document Data drive and make sure that none of those stored documents contain any “hidden” redirects.  The good links will work as written anyway as the hidden links are all that will be removed.

79

General Software Discussion / Desktop tool for programmatically removing URL's from PDF files

« on: August 24, 2016, 05:53 PM »

Is anyone aware of a tool that can be run against a system full of stored pdf's to achieve this action?
I have seen several online sites that offer this and while they do work, there is no way i could manage to upload, scan, then download and rename thousands of files.

The problems are being caused by what are likely 'spoofed' URLs in the first place.  The written TEXT may say www.google.com but the embedded URL's take you to www.goggles.com or some other.  Normally, not a big deal, but our AV program is marking hundreds of these files every day as being possibly 'malicious' and quarantining them due to links associated with Malware of one type or another.  The pdf files are safe but the links are blacklisted.  And I have to assume that the embedded URL's "Might" really be misdirecting people to real malicious sites.

Either way, I ran a few of them through an online URL remover and the resulting document scans as clean which is all I need.  Even though all the written text for every URL's is still in place and can still be clicked as Adobe automatically links the written URL's anyway.  At least the files can be accessed.  When quarantined, they are not available to anyone

While I found a lot of advice on how to manually do this one file at a time using Acrobat, I have not found a single tool either for sale or free that can be run against an archive storage containing thousands of pdf files which is what must be done. 

If anyone has ever seen such a tool or know where i could check, the info would be appreciated.  Preferably this would be a tool that could be run at a desktop level without having to invoke Acrobat

 

80

General Software Discussion / Re: Script or tool to create HTML Signature for Outlook email

« on: August 24, 2016, 05:37 PM »

Thanks shades.  Went there.  Did that. 
I created the htm template and write the script anyway.  Works great!  But, i may never allow anyone else to have it.
And i sure dont want to be responsible for making al new employees' signature so..
It was a nice exercise.  I just thought this would be an easy fine.  Something that would allow creating a wysiwyg file that would display in a browser window as typed into a script.  Seems like that would be useful for webpage design i a larger way.

One thing for sure, it solves the 'blurry logo' problem.   Zoomed to 500% not even a small "zig" in the lines.

81

General Software Discussion / Re: Script or tool to create HTML Signature for Outlook email

« on: August 20, 2016, 03:09 PM »

i thought i might add this option if anyone here has a solution that would follow this method.  After spending the past hour on the phone with MS tech support, it is about the best option i can come up with.  To make it as "FOOL" -proof  as possible,  it needs to be an HTML template that would allow only the "text" fields to be edited.  Such a thing probably exists, most likely one could be created in excel if nowhere else, but i am hoping that there is a simpler method.  (though i admit nothing else i can think of has the ability to protect the content of fields in that manner)

Does such a tool exist that would allow creation of an HTML template where all the coding could be locked and leave only specific text fields editable?  If so, i could create the entire template including the link to the hi-def web-hosted logo so there is no chance of them getting anything but that one.  This would also solve the problem of color, font size, and logo placement position as everyone would be the same except for the text fields to make ti specific to their own email account.  Just fill in the blanks and click to generate the complete HTML code to be pasted into the Outlook Signature box.

This is essentially the same thing as these web services are offering except they only have a limited choice of layouts and I have already built the HTML for the exact layout we have to use.  Changing it is not an option.  Surely there is a way to handle this with some kind of pre-constructed template?  Something where the coding itself is locked and cannot be edited but the final result is a workable HTML file?

82

General Software Discussion / Re: Script or tool to create HTML Signature for Outlook email

« on: August 20, 2016, 12:31 PM »

Thanks to all.  The problem was the loss of quality in the logo image and i traced this back to when someone tried to create a standard signature for everyne using outlook to doso.  That person then created signatures for each user and sent out a Word doc with the results. 
The Users then copied and pasted theirs from that Word doc which resulted in their signature starting out with a reduced quality image which only got worse when viewed on various resolution screens.  The "simple-fix" was to change out the image they used with the original HiDef Graphic.  The correct and more permanent method using tempates in the Business control Center for Office 365 has been completely redesigned.
I am still trying to find the proper access to mail-flow to enter the area to create a master template for all company email accounts.  The "follow-through's" that are posted online are no longer applicable.

83

General Software Discussion / Script or tool to create HTML Signature for Outlook email

« on: August 19, 2016, 09:15 AM »

Has anyone ever run across a script that is made to create a "Business" HTML signature for Outlook with a company logo included?

I have looked for such a tool but not been able to find one that works as expected though that could be due to looking in all the wrong places.  One of the original problems was to get the company logo to a higher quality image that was provided when using cut and paste into the Outlook Signature box.   By taking my own and rewriting is line by ine using html and pulling the logo from the company website the result was a big improvement.

What I would like to find now is a way to let each person use a template to fill in things like their phone numbers, position titles, and so on into a template that would use this information to create the complete HTML code to use for the Outlook Signature.  I thought I would ask how others accomplish the same or if anyone knew of a ready made tool for doing this.

84

General Software Discussion / Re: A way to add indexing for mapped network drives to Windows 10 Home

« on: August 10, 2016, 12:27 PM »

who knows at this point. I cannot get any cooperation to test the theory.  I think it was caused by her staying connected to mapped drived while the system that held the drives was restarted.  Knowing her, she probably even had documents opened.
It was curiosity on my part as i have seen this happen to my own system once in a while and just wondered "Why"
I found a tool on WinAeroLibrary Tool
that describes the problem and a possible solution but it isn't worth the effort to test it on her.
 

When i get a chance, I may check it out for myself though.

85

General Software Discussion / Re: A way to add indexing for mapped network drives to Windows 10 Home

« on: August 06, 2016, 12:27 PM »

Maybe they have 4k HD with all the sports channels in a secret rec room or something?

-MilesAhead (August 06, 2016, 07:09 AM)

Go THAT!  And maybe some booze and maybe  "co-ed" environment?

Anyway, this is all coming from ONE 'particularly dense' worker that knows how to be the 'squeaky wheel' constantly.  Says she can't wait the extra 'minutes' it takes.  I wish i had recorded her saying that!  Would have made for great listening by company owners.
Problem is they don't care and just want the work done.  I had to agree that something was wrong even though I don't see it being worth spending hours to find out what.
The only reason i bothered is that occasionally I have seen the same thing.
Whatever it is, it always seems to 'fix itself' eventually.  But in her job, she does have to spend a lot of time looking up those docs.  So.. i have to be a 'nice guy' and try.

Back when i first discovered 'everything' i thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread!  I wrote David at Voidtools  and begged him to find a way to get Windows Search to use his algorithms or just flat out replace windows search with 'Everything'.  He said it could not be done and i believe him   But i figured MS would eventually get better.

Instead, we got Cortana?   

Anyways, in the interim, my favorite search tool has become UltraSearch by JAM software. No particular reasons other than it had more of the specifics I use.  'Everything' probably has them as well but right now i have UltraSearch set to  CTRL+U hot key and just find it easier to access.  If you know of a better one i am always looking.

But.  For this problem, i need to find out what isn't working right in Windows and how to fix it.  The work being done must use the normal Windows "Search for" in top right corner of Explorer (or Word, Excel etc).

Even though I am 99% certain it is an indexing issue on that User's system, she has a valid complaint and I CAN find others with the same issues in a quick Google Search.
I just have to figure out WHY it happens in order to stop it. 

I already 'fixed' it once this past week but it came back when the system with the shared folder got the final windows 10 ANNIVERSARY UPDATE. 
I have several ideas as to what happened but it would be nice to get a confirmation of "Yes that happens when you...." .  Guaranteed to be something SHE did wrong.

Anyway, while i was at it, i thought i might find that there is now a way to switch off windows search and replace its function with a Better Tool. 
(Not for her, for ME!) 

86

General Software Discussion / Re: A way to add indexing for mapped network drives to Windows 10 Home

« on: August 05, 2016, 04:55 PM »

Looks like I asked a bad question?  If is a valid one unfortunately and can be checked on Google.  I am not the only one who has had problems like this and there are several 'fixes" offered

On our network the users have access to a shared folder on a file storage system.   That folder is mapped to a drive letter
(R:)  on the User's' systems.  If a User needs to find and open a file on the R: drive, it takes a LOT longer than it should. The only possible reason would be if the mapped network address is not in the indices (which it isn't).  The green "searching for that file" line just creeps across the screen taking up to 3 minutes to scan all 40K files.

The workstations all run Windows Home which offers no support for Offline files.  If it did, this solves the problem pretty quickly. I was able to look that fact up on the MS Sites.  But.  No solution is given for adding 40,000 filenames to the index on a workstation that is on the Windows HOME OS.

Utilities like Everything work great except for the fact that it isn't linked to the Windows index in any way and WORD, Excel , etc Are.  I agree that I can run Masterseeker or many other "External Utilities" to find a file instantly but the Users Need to be ale to do this from within WORD or other windows software as a component of the software not as an external utility

The really odd part is that this has not been a problem until maybe a few weeks .  Also, after some tinkering with settings, I was able to get things to work normally again but by then I had tried too many options to know which one may have worked.

Today, Windows 10 Update ran.  As soon as the system came back online, the problem is back again.
When working properly, if you open word and click the search option top right and type in a few letters you get results almost immediately.  When not working properly, you get a green bar that says 'searching" that takes what seems forever.

For a better explanation see https://www.google.c...ome..69i57.13655j0j8

87

General Software Discussion / A way to add indexing for mapped network drives to Windows 10 Home

« on: August 03, 2016, 04:42 PM »

This is probably one of those "can't be done" things but I have to ask.
I know there are multiple utilities like Master-seeker and Everything and Ultrasearch just to name a few that are excellent at this but none of them works native to windows in such a way that when a User needs to open a file stored on a mapped drive letter using a Windows program (Word, or most anything that offer so search for files to open) the "search" are "browse" function uses Windows Indexing and is so slow that the progress-bar looks like pouring Syrup on a Winter Morning.

I can use many utilities to find the same file almost instantaneous but the programs being used apparently can only deal with Native Indexing in Windows.

I need this to work on some systems that only have Windows 10 HOME.  No Sync/Offline file functions are not available (unless there is a patch I have not yet found).  I had read that adding the mapped drive to a library can force it be indexed but that option is not available for network drives.

If there is a utility that can make windows treat the mapped drive like a local drive that is the only thing I can think of to get the Windows index to include it.  The Mapped drive has many thousand documents on it that have to be used in various programs.  Currently, unless the user navigates to the 3rd sub-level where the file they want is located before they begin the search it can take up to 3-4 minutes or even longer to search for a specific filename to pop-up

88

General Software Discussion / Re: Two color outline text-font or style for Windows

« on: July 24, 2016, 10:55 AM »

Thanks and i might give them a try.  The only reason i wanted one to try is for a specific use of creating what would be best called a "Title Bar" for an image.  The end result has to be a png file but as it has to be typewritten to create to start with, if i had a two-color or Outline font it would have saved a step or two to be able to just "Type" in black with gold outline or other two color combination.  The "Add fill color first" method is about the simplest i can find but it isn't perfect.   The oddest thing is i could swear that there used to be font that worked this way and i found a few other people who agreed.  But it was so long ago - maybe Windows 95    that no one is sure it ever existed.
Since the titles are seldom more than 5 words it isn't worth learning a new graphics program to get the effect.  The worst part is that WORD offers all the options in "Word Art" but getting the results exported to a png file are next to impossible.  And worst of all, when you do this following the exact method MS gives, the results when pasted to MS Paint are far from dependable and usually have multiple 'artifacts' that ruin the image.

My final answer to it was to use WORD to do the "title", then use "PickPic" screen-capture in "region" mode to cut out the title created and save it as a PNG file. 
This probably still wont help with BGINFO if you want to be able to select a two color font for the program to use.  Some of the links i posted above seemed to indicate that there is a way to create your own TTF font with a multicolor aspect but i have not tried any of them yet.

In the event that it may be of use, the link to PickPic is above.  I have found it to be a surprisingly versatile utility and it took the place of the updated SNIP from MS in my screen capture toolbox as it seemed to already have every feature i could possible ask for.    Please be sure to post back if you do find something that works for the multicolor fonts though

89

General Software Discussion / Re: Two color outline text-font or style for Windows

« on: July 20, 2016, 11:41 AM »

I found part of the solution (for me anyway)and my daughter got me started on the rest.  In the end, it was a perfect fit for my needs.  Your mileage may vary!

First step:  Download the fonts from HERE or a similar location.  It is important that the font be a sealed outline with no breaks on the border.  Click to install the TTF font into Windows.

Next step open MSPaint (Or your favorite graphics program) MS Paint is easy and is technically what I needed anyway.  Paint.net and a few other Freebies do have the ability to do this natively but the methods are too complicated for my simple needs.

Open a box of the size you need to type your text.  It can be a full page or whatever size you like.   Pick you Inside color for the text.  I was after a gold Outline on Blue  so I filled the whole box in Blue.

Darn   I shudda looked harder! I found some hints that it might be possible for real. See HERE )


Set the Font to one of the Outline fonts you chose to download.
Set the #1 color to the outline color you want to use.

Pick the TEXT option, set a text box that fills the page, and type away.
when completed.  change the #1 color to white and Fill the area outside your text with the paint bucket.  Select the area with the text, crop it.

Viola'!

All of  this is done with settings on opaque.
I am 100% sure that there is a less difficult method of doing this.
WORD can do it Native also with WORD ART settings.  But in the end, i needed my text to be converted to a PNG anyway, starting with Paint just made more sense,


PS: The attachment is low quality and something I typed up in less than a minute including the fills and all.  It is also reduced in size to make the upload faster .  I just wanted to prove that it could be done easily when necessary. 

I still find it hard to believe that it is not possible to manage an outlined two color font but.. Probably can't be  done?
Or Maybe it CAN? See HERE

DARN!  Tons of hints here as well

Still looks like you have to build it yourself if you want a true Windows TTF version.

90

General Software Discussion / Two color outline text-font or style for Windows

« on: July 15, 2016, 11:08 AM »

Is there such a typeface or font style or even a font itself that would have the ability to be used as a regular typing font with a way to display as each letter outlined in a second color?  I am sure this option is available on high end graphics programs such as Corel but I was looking for a Windows-based font that could be installed and used by any Windows software while typing large sections of text.

91

General Software Discussion / Re: How to increase the "hang time" for secondary menu pop-outs

« on: July 12, 2016, 02:09 AM »

Thanks Edvard.  ALL of them look like excellent prospects
Like you I would wonder about Citrix ?? BUT
who Knows what might work where MS is concerned.
I thought i remembered a registry setting for a lot of little things like this.
what is puzzling me the most is that I have a gut feeling that this is being caused by one of the recent add-ins I loaded.
Unfortunately there are far too many to back out of.  Of the three systems i work on, it seems they are all just as bad but i could be wrong

OMG!! I swear you may be a Lifesaver.  That very first one was so obvious it was uncanny.  Here I thought I was losing my touch.  My setting was ZERO!  They even commented that ZERO would be as fast as it could ever get!  Normal being 400 and suggested up to 600.

I opted to stay at 400 for now but that was an immediately obvious difference.  You can bet I wont lose that "Tip"! 
My hat is of to you and i thank you for the rapid response wit the right "medicine"
 

92

General Software Discussion / How to increase the "hang time" for secondary menu pop-outs

« on: July 12, 2016, 01:02 AM »

Is there a specific setting for the time-delay to keep the secondary pop-out menu in focus.  The one that opens when you chose a selection from the the primary right-click option menu?  This is more of an annoyance than a real problem.  But it seems it used to be more "forgiving" of a wandering cursor. 

As an example,  when I right click desktop, select New, get the pop-put menu for "new what?":  Before I can move the pointer to File or folder or whatever I want, the secondary menu closes.  I have tried a firm Click on New as well as directly sliding across with no click to the pop-out menu but either way, I almost always end up with the pop-out window closing before i can make it to my choice.  So I have to go back and click NEW again often several times to beat the closing pop-out menu to choose which "new item" I want. 

This is just an example of one optio (New) but every secondary menu like that seems to close far to soon, much faster than it used to.  Or else "I" am getting much slower <also a good possibility>

I just wondered if there was a setting somewhere that controlled the time allowed to click the final option in the secondary pop-out menus.  I am tempted to try the settings under mouse in control panel but thought there might be a more specific timer somewhere?  I seem to have the same problem regardless of which system I am using but most of them have all the same software and OS. Windows 10 X64

93

General Software Discussion / Re: Adding text in Objects to images??

« on: July 02, 2016, 02:33 PM »

Have you looked at ImageMagick and/or GraphicsMagick?  I think either or both of them can do what you want.

94

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« on: July 01, 2016, 05:33 PM »

This might have been answered somewhere in the thread, but I'm in a little predicament here...

Made the switch from 7 to 10 and it's just about the best upgrade I've ever done... however over the weekend I accidentally shorted a USB port and now I am getting many BSODs, random ones at that. I want to do a clean install of Windows 10 but have no idea how to get an installer without purchasing Windows 10 outright. I remember reading something about using my old Windows 7 key to get an installer?

-Asudem (June 24, 2016, 09:42 PM)

Just happened to see this floating through and wish you luck.  Inmost systems I have dealt with lately the USB ports are daisy chained.  Shorting one shorted all for a given controller.  Desktops with 2 usb2 and 2 usb 3 I lost bioth usb2 at the same time when one shorted . 
But the worst part is that the 5 Vdc  is a common lead for all USB ports in that area. I had to unplug the cables going to the bad port to get the USB 3 ports to work properly.  I would think it likely the BSOD's could be from an erratic or low voltage issue if you have not completely disconnected the shorted port from the system.  I agree with Shades on that point 100%

Did not read enough to know if this is laptop or desktop?  But I can tell you that there are other ways to install Win10 even if you have no USB and no CD/DVD etc.  Do you have an SD Chip slot?

Anyway, depending on how long you have had 10 installed, MS may have already recorded the licensing.  I have been successful in loading  Win10 from an ESD image with no license at all.  As soon as it connected to the web, it authenticated itself with MS servers.
I usually do not even leave the original UEFI bios intact opting for the Legacy instead but taking that route is different for every system.  Something not advised unless you are into playing with places best not messed with.

If you haven't already figured it out, give me a shout and I may be able to help.   I had to convert close to 80 old windows 7/windows 8/window 8.1 laptops and desktops here at the office when 10 first came out.  Some of them I would have bet money would never run on Win10 at all but they all did

95

General Software Discussion / Re: Does this exist and if not can someone write it up?

« on: June 30, 2016, 11:26 PM »

Even if I dont have the slightest idea how to use what you posted

-questorfla (June 30, 2016, 10:38 PM)

Download archive, extract, run program 

It'll keep displaying keys, (and the Tooltip will get bigger), until you hit Escape, then it terminates.  For what you want there is no need to have something running all the time.

Anyway, do I need to Download AutoIT also?

Nope, it's just there for people to peruse - it's not my source, I just modified it.

-4wd (June 30, 2016, 11:04 PM)

Gotacha and thanks
I zipped over to Mouser's updated link tto all of Skrommels stuff and probably download 40 before I realized that they probably dont work on Win 10
'sigh'

The Good Ole' Days!

SEE!!!! I told ya if 4WD did it, he would have to do it better 

Just like Focusless Input, it is ALSO stuck to my moiuses feet.  But yours.... More like saran wrap   REALLLLLY tight.  And yep, every mistake I make is there to haunt me

ARGH!!    Can't shake it off!  Even says {enter} can you get rid of that too ?  BUT.  Once again, a perfect tool for the need.  Uh  maybe a right click to kill button? 

DUH!    "...........as  soon as you hit Escape the program terminates, ..........  "
Missed that one.   

96

General Software Discussion / Re: Does this exist and if not can someone write it up?

« on: June 30, 2016, 10:38 PM »

An4wd 4WD.  I saved you for last.  Because you never let it be said that it could not be done and done better.  Even if I dont have the slightest idea how to use what you posted    I will though
if it is more of that 'focusless' stuff, I am all-IN  for that@!!  Like BlackMagic.  That little sheet of carbon paper is STILL stuck to my shoe and folowing me around typing as I type.  I see every mistake TWICE now.  Hmmmm.......
Anyway, do I need to Download AutoIT also?  I see that you edited lines in the hundreds but only see lines to 23 in your post.  It's been a long day and isn't even Friday yet.

THANKS to everyone here for taking an interest and making a contribution to the Quest.

97

General Software Discussion / Re: Does this exist and if not can someone write it up?

« on: June 30, 2016, 10:31 PM »

This feature already was built into the CP/M based Zilog Z80 CPU home-built computer I owned (not built though) about 30 years ago (I still have it, not sure if the floppies still are readable to make it boot). And I found it to be a very useful feature!

-Ath (June 30, 2016, 05:48 AM)

OK, ATH, You got me on that one, I have never seen what you speak of.  BUT,  I DO remember well having a Keyboard that had a small LCD window at the top that DID show exactly what the user was typing.  It was "back in the day" when the batteries in the keyboard dwere there just to power this tiny display windows.  Everything else was wired to the PS2 plug.  Or maybe even before PS2.?? A LONG time ago regardless.

I was serius going to tell her to turn on the TEXT to SPEECH until I figured it would SAY a lowercase "e" just like an UPPERCASE "E":   

98

General Software Discussion / Re: Does this exist and if not can someone write it up?

« on: June 30, 2016, 10:25 PM »

Skrommel also made an app a long time ago that is similar to this, called ShowOff:

Described here:
https://www.donation...ndex.php?topic=792.0

Note that the download link is wrong, it's now on this page: https://www.donation...re/Skrommel/#ShowOff

-mouser (June 30, 2016, 08:46 AM)

Glad you saw that Mouser.  I found the same links.  And was SO disappointed when I clicked and found they were "deadlinks"
I had not gotten around to sending a note yet but the post was SO long ago.  Was it 2008 or before that even.  2005?
I Found it on  a Google Search though.  So somewhere "Out There" in Google-Land there is still a Search page sending people to the wrong place.  I wonder if here is a way to refresh old links for every Google Hit?
Thanks much fr the new URLs.  I am going to test that one too.  Sometimes OLD tools are the BEST tools.

99

General Software Discussion / Re: Does this exist and if not can someone write it up?

« on: June 30, 2016, 10:18 PM »

I have been locked out in two/three situation, although I can swear that I was correct still I was left swearing against the site.

I found one solution and created another one.

.... I use JC&MB Quicknote http://www.quicknote.de/quicknoteen.php and enable "Focusless input".

-anandcoral (June 30, 2016, 04:30 AM)

ANAND.  I think you hit a HomeRUn on this one!
"Focusless Input"  Who made up that term>?  If I had used that to search google I woner if I could have found more like it ?
Kind of like "Pointless Questioning"  ??   BUT     The thing works!  And hat Lady from the other day is the first one I am going to put this one on.

It took me a while to figure out all the "one letter" shortcuts but WOW!  It actually does work!  I mean it does exactly what I asked for. ( and lots more I wonder if I can remove the parts that take out the dog and the one that does the laundry?   Reminds me when people wrote those tiny "All-in-Wonder" programs  Like I Wonder who wrote this description about "focusless input"  I thought you were kidding.>?  BUT
After some experimenting (I never read manuals     )

I got the small box it opens shrunk down to one line and now..              everythign I type be it NAME or PASSWORD  or >>?? Whatever. it STAYS on the page no matter where I go.  !!
It's Like a piece of  carbon paper stuck to my shoe>  Perfect!       I hate the pool-table green color but I bet that can be changed.  This is as close as I can imagine anything being to exactly what I described.

My point and purpose was to get something that works exactly like "Asteriskey" before it got such a bad rep and before "THEY" fixed things to where it wont work any more. 
But this does and she wont ned to copy anything she just needs confirmation of what she is typing.  So part two is not even needed.  Before I put this on someone I need to play with it a little but even now, as I am typing this post, I see it echoing me over on the side.  Letter for letter  Pretty COOL!  It is a little annoying that if I back up and erase it doesn't   so  my typos are "memorialized" forver.
But she only need 8 characters and if one of them IS a Typo      that would be WHY her password isn't working
GENIUS!

FREAKY SIDE NOTE!!>> that odd green color.  I knew I had seen it before.  The Exact Program that is that User's Problem,  the lady who started all this.   Her program she was locked out of  ( an Antique Database program at that!)  ALSO uses that EXACT shade of green for their login page !!  Weird!
I just saw this and I swear they are a Color Twin!   

100

General Software Discussion / Re: Does this exist and if not can someone write it up?

« on: June 30, 2016, 01:26 AM »

I agree!  BUT  When I got multiple calls from frustrated employees where they had kept trying until they was locked out (which requires me to do a compete reset of their password) I started thinking just how hard could it be to do something about the stupid ASS-terisks.  It isn't like we have to share one work station among 15 employees these days.  Not many times when you would have an audience looking over your shoulder.  Although I am sure it happens.  That is why I am suggesting an option that COULD be used if you know you are NOT being "watched".  Just like the current password "eyeball" used by most major companies.

Using a hotkey to activate it when needed, it would allow a user to make SURE that the system was entering what they typed (or what they THINK typed) since they cannot confirm it except by entering it and seeing if it allows entry ...Or not.  If not... Well.  Then what?  Try-try- again apparently.  And believe me, I have had times when I KNOW I entered my password only to be told it was not correct.
By the third try , I really am not sure any more WHAT my password was or IS.

I like and use LastPass myself but.. Even LastPass has a password.  Most of these problems I feel are from typos, capslock, numlock or other keyboard entry errors.  But without a way to Know?  Who knows?

I firmly believe this is why MS finally started offering the "All Seeing EYE-con" on the password line.  The first time I saw that thing, I had no idea what it did.  It ought to be a LAW that if a program has a password it should offer a way for the User to see what is hidden behind the dots if they WANT to just to rule out a real typo from a "Who changed my password" event.  This does not make sense from a security standpoint as the problem is not that someone is trying to guess my password.  If it cant tell that it is ME trying to guess what the computer thinks I meant to type.

If typing it into notepad then pasting to the password field works  (and it does!), then the ability to do the same thing with less effort SHOULD work as well.  That is all I am trying to do.   Open notepad, type into notepad, copy what was typed into clipboard, paste clipboard contents to the waiting password field and click enter while knowing for sure what was put behind the "dots".  If I could get really good and "add" the password "EYEBALL" effect to any password field that would be the ultimate fix.

It would be MORE secure as I could be SURE of times that my password really HAS been changed and I did not do it.