Messages

51

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: SquidGirlCleaner: open source superseded update (re)mover - testers wanted!

« on: August 16, 2019, 02:55 PM »

OK, thank you for letting me know the results

Hmm I don't know if it's an effect of the summer vacation or if I should have tried to scare people a bit less, but only 2 answers in 2 days seems a bit low. I also didn't expect the testers to have such clean systems already xD

52

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: SquidGirlCleaner: open source superseded update (re)mover - testers wanted!

« on: August 16, 2019, 12:56 AM »

Hmm while re-reading my own code, I noticed a bug in one of the functions (regread): while attempting to optimize it after debugging it, I went a bit overzealous and removed the line that set the "Value" variable, which would have been used if we tried to read the data from any registry value with 1 or more spaces in its name.

However none of the registry values we need to read has any, which is why it has no effect on the outcome of the script, so that alone is not worth publishing an updated version for. Still, it will be fixed in the "final" version.

Edit: found another minor bug: if the script was called by double clicking it instead of from an already opened command prompt, the script's window closes at the end, while it should stay open and pause to let the user read the statistics.
Again, it doesn't seem worth publishing an update yet, but will be fixed.

53

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: SquidGirlCleaner: open source superseded update (re)mover - testers wanted!

« on: August 15, 2019, 11:41 AM »

That's not much. Was your system installed recently? Do you perhaps not have MS Office on it? Or maybe you used another cleaning tool already which may have removed most of the unneeded updates?

54

DC Member Programs and Projects / SquidGirlCleaner: open source superseded update (re)mover - testers wanted!

« on: August 14, 2019, 04:59 PM »

Hello there

As some of you may be aware, Windows' "C:\Windows\Installer" folder tends to grow increasingly larger as time passes and more updates get applied to programs which rely on Windows Installer — especially if you've had the same version of Microsoft Office for a few years and let Windows Update do its thing automatically.
There are various solutions to this problem such as:

• reinstalling the system from scratch: huh, overkill much?
• completely uninstalling the big programs/software suites that had multiple updates in the past, and reinstalling them (if still needed) with only the latest, current patches: while less overkill than a complete system reinstall, it's still not a very practical solution
• moving the folder to a different drive and making a hard link to it: may not always be feasible, especially if you have a laptop with no room to add another internal storage drive… also, while that's kind of clever, it's only a workaround that doesn't really address the main problem
• using a dedicated cleaning tool such as PatchCleaner: IMHO, that appears to be the best option

However, some people may have trust issues with PatchCleaner because it is closed source.

So, since I was curious about how that worked, I tried to figure out how to identify superseded patches and started to script my own, open source (it's a .bat file, not obfuscated) solution that should give similar results — albeit with a much less sexy interface and less options, but the more suspicious people can actually inspect the code!

A few words of caution, though:

• I've only tested it on a few computers so far, all running the same version of Windows (7)
• while I've not noticed any issue after using my script to "clean up" those (again very few) computers I did test it on, and had no problem applying the august 2019 security updates for MS Office 2010/2013 on them, I cannot tell for sure if there won't be issues later on
• I'm not even a programmer, which I guess increases the probability for this script to not be extremely reliable ^^'

This is why I need testers, preferably technically inclined ones for now, so that if my script causes an issue, they're more likely to be able to clearly explain it and maybe even solve it by themselves.

With that being said, the script is in the attachment.

Feel free to reply with any constructive criticism!

55

General Software Discussion / Re: Image editor with a zoom reticle?

« on: July 25, 2019, 11:44 AM »

That could work, especially with Windows' "mouse keys" feature to help with moving the cursor a single pixel at a time. Thanks for the suggestion!

56

General Software Discussion / Image editor with a zoom reticle?

« on: July 25, 2019, 05:46 AM »

Hey there,

I've been wondering if there is any image editor out there (or maybe a plug-in for an existing image editor), preferably freeware, where the user can press or hold a key to activate a zoom reticle over a very localized area.

The point being: while helping my users via remote control, I often want to take screenshots of a specific window to document the issues they're having, however I can't exactly do that with Alt+Printscreen due to the active window on my end being the remote control software's.
So what I do is take screenshots of my whole monitor, which I then have to crop as I want to show only the relevant window(s).

However, I'm a bit of a maniac when it comes to cropping, and as much as possible, I want to avoid having a few lines of pixels that aren't part of the window showing on the edges, or the window's picture to have missing pixels — yeah, I should probably take some kind of medication for that ^^'.

So I use the zoom feature from whichever picture editor I have at hand, so I can see the individual pixels while making my rectangular selection, but then the whole picture is zoomed in and unless it's actually quite small, I can't see both the top left and bottom right corner at the same time, which is annoying.

Thus the idea of a zoom reticle which could be activated and deactivated with a keypress (or by holding a key).

I did try using Windows' magnifying glass, but its zoom is blurry and not "pixel perfect" — I guess they wanted it to have some kind of antialiasing.

Does anyone know of an image editor which includes that feature, or has/could have a plug-in which does that?

Failing that, maybe an alternate magnifying glass software which could be enabled and disabled from the keyboard (so I don't need to move the mouse to disable it), and if possible would even allow slowing the mouse movement when it's active? Obviously, it should allow to see exactly where the mouse cursor is.

If not, then I guess that could be a coding snack…

57

General Software Discussion / Re: Best reliable freeware download sites?

« on: July 25, 2019, 05:02 AM »

Alright then, if French language isn't an issue, there's http://gratilog.net

58

General Software Discussion / Re: Best reliable freeware download sites?

« on: July 25, 2019, 02:14 AM »

Do sites in languages other than english qualify?

59

General Software Discussion / Re: VLC player has critical security flaw - July 23, 2019 - UPDATED

« on: July 24, 2019, 01:21 AM »

It's only concerning if you play files from untrusted sources, though.

60

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Possible Malware Debug - HW laptop back-light detector

« on: July 16, 2019, 09:45 AM »

Which laptop model is it?

Are the BIOS and Intel Management Engine Firmware (if applicable) up to date?

61

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: NANY 2014 Release - Spews

« on: July 03, 2019, 10:49 AM »

Hey there .o/

I just added a second monitor to my work PC and noticed something which I'd call a minor aesthetic issue.

My main monitor  has a resolution of 1920x1200 while the second one is 1600x1200.

The issue is, it seems that (and looking at "<Spews' folder here>\~images\wallpaper.bmp" pretty much confirms it), the wallpaper is generated only according to the definition of the main monitor.
Thus when it is applied to the secondary monitor, it isn't scaled or centred properly.

Would it be possible to make it so that Spews generates a bigger picture to be displayed on both monitors at once, kind of like Wallpaper Welder does ?

62

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

« on: May 20, 2019, 01:48 PM »

Not sure about cows, but pigs, probably, at least if this source is reliable.

63

General Software Discussion / Re: Easy file sharing from the Linux command line

« on: April 22, 2019, 01:45 AM »

Hi. How about good old FTP?

You could just start ftpdmin on the Windows machine, and connect to it using your command line ftp client from the headless Linux.

64

General Software Discussion / Re: I know this has been done but not sure where to find it quickly.

« on: April 17, 2019, 04:43 AM »

I'd use FreeFileSync. See how it looks : https://freefilesync.org/screenshots.php

65

Screenshot Captor / Re: Imageshack upload no longer working

« on: March 19, 2019, 11:15 AM »

Any alternate service suggestions?

-steveorg (March 19, 2019, 09:11 AM)

From what I've seen so far, imgur seems to work alright most of the time and doesn't ask for money.

66

General Software Discussion / Re: youtube downloader?

« on: March 18, 2019, 07:23 AM »

I've recently discovered 4K Video Downloader, which isn't a browser add-on, but it seems a decent and simple downloader app:

https://www.4kdownload.com/

-Deozaan (March 17, 2019, 09:32 PM)

I've used it for a while but got annoyed by the ads trying to get me to buy the full version.

Then I discovered Free Download Manager which has no ads and mostly does the job (though it seems to be limited to 1080p even when a 1440p version of the video is available).

It also allows you to change the bandwidth it uses for downloading on the fly, which may be useful if you have somewhat slow Internet access and decide you'd want to watch some streaming while you've already started a download.

Now since then I got fibre optics internet access at home, and don't need to limit my bandwidth usage any more, I've mostly switched to Youtube-DLG (a minimalistic GUI for youtube-dl), which doesn't seem to allow changing the bandwidth on the fly, but does download 1440p videos when available.

67

Living Room / Re: How to automatically generate reports based on xls files?

« on: February 18, 2019, 03:59 PM »

Hi there .o/

I suppose you could convert the .xls file to a .csv and then make use of a tool like textql, though it's not part of Windows.

68

Living Room / Re: Review Pendrive Microdrive usb 3.0 128 GB

« on: February 15, 2019, 11:29 AM »

P.D. I am expecting to receive pendrives of 256 GB for 3.47 euros....

-Contro (February 15, 2019, 04:35 AM)

Sounds too good to be true, you're likely to get a drive with significantly smaller capacity, but a hacked firmware that reports more storage than actually is usable.

I wouldn't even bother buying it, but if you do, I'd recommend filling it and checking all the files' integrity afterwards.

69

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019: TextWorx - Universal Text Manipulator

« on: February 06, 2019, 03:50 PM »

Hi there.

You may try to identify that process when it's running using, from the command line:
tasklist /fi "windowtitle eq Stopwatch"

It should give you the actual process name, which you'd then be able to find in the task manager, from where you should have the opportunity to open the file's location (using the right click menu on the process).

Whether or not it matches the "notepad.exe" or "charmap.exe" name, we'll still have some sort of clue. ( → If it doesn't, then maybe there is a registry entry somewhere that points to it, similar to how typing "pbrush" executes MSPaint on Windows 7, even though the actual executable's name is mspaint.exe and there is no such file as pbrush.exe on a default Windows 7 install… it's just there as some kind of compatibility setting.)

70

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: NANY 2013 Release: Customizable Remote Administration Panel (CRAP)

« on: January 11, 2019, 01:51 AM »

Alright, that makes sense.

I wonder if the load times increase that much when using a SSD?

71

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: NANY 2013 Release: Customizable Remote Administration Panel (CRAP)

« on: January 10, 2019, 05:07 AM »

Hi there :]

I only tested the beta you PMed me a link to a little for now as I'm home this week, but it seems to be working fine.

I would have preferred if the user could actually link to the .exe (or a .dll), and also be able to chose which icon to select when there are several inside of it (just like when modifying a shortcut from Windows), instead of just automatically extracting the first icon, but it's still an improvement over the previous versions where any icon had to already be extracted somewhere

72

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: NANY 2013 Release: Customizable Remote Administration Panel (CRAP)

« on: December 07, 2018, 07:24 AM »

Up!

Would it be possible to make it so that, when creating a new button, the icon can be retrieved from / linked directly to an .EXE or .DLL file (like in Windows shorcuts) ?

73

Living Room / Re: New SSd in an aging PC

« on: November 23, 2018, 06:16 AM »

Hey, I have the same CPU in my home computer ... though it's closer to 7 years old now that I think of it.

Anyway, how large is your Steam library? If you can fit it on a SSD, you'd certainly see improvements in the game loading/updating times too. I mean, it's probably OK to only keep your OS and most other programs on the SSD, but if you can benefit from the speed increase also for other demanding tasks, why not?

74

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: [NANY 2019] - unnamed Wallpaper Tool - [suggestions welcome]

« on: November 14, 2018, 05:34 AM »

Hi .o/

I'm surprised that noone has answered to this yet. Anyway, here are a few suggestions for the program's name :

- Send Wallpaper To
- Wallpaper Action
- Wallpaper Toolkit
- With Wallpaper Do

75

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - Color Mixer

« on: November 14, 2018, 05:13 AM »

Hi .o/

I guess the issue isn't as much about the numbers as it is about the use of the term "Mix percentage".
Maybe a different wording such as maybe "mix proportions", "mix balance" or other that doesn't imply increments of 1/100 would be better