Topics

26

Living Room / production salt-water pwrd car

« on: December 09, 2014, 02:50 PM »

Purely aside from how way cool this car is, can you imagine a salt-water powered DC3 retro-airliner, or this NASA concept airliner, that guarantees if it crash-lands you won't be burned alive by all the spilled fuel?

27

General Software Discussion / how play Kindle for PC text-to-speech?

« on: December 06, 2014, 03:44 PM »

Is there a freebie way to get the free Kindle for PC to do text to speech?
Or a free app or freeware program to use with it?
I tried searching Google and can't seem to wade through all the ton of offers for tablet and handheld device reader apps to find anything.

28

General Software Discussion / ProcessTamer not self-starting on boot

« on: December 03, 2014, 05:45 PM »

I just installed ProcessTamer, and have high hopes for fewer BSODs and lock-ups.
I already set them to high priority, but why would I want to click on 'force high priority' for ProcessTamer and the 'front end' PT GUI themselves?

(edit)
Any idea why Process Tamer won't self-start in Win7?
I checked the box for it to start on boot and also entered my DC key, but it won't do that.

(edit)
My Norton Startup Manager says ProcessTamer is on its 'start on boot' list, but PTs 'front end' says it's not running at boot, and I have to manually click the Desktop icon to make its icon appear in System Tray.

(edit)
My Norton Startup Manager says ProcessTamer is on its 'start on boot' list, but PTs 'front end' says it's not running at boot, and I have to manually click the Desktop icon to make its icon appear in System Tray. My OS is Win 7 32-bit.
Nice program! Thmbsup

29

General Software Discussion / pdf to doc text converter?

« on: December 02, 2014, 05:32 PM »

I have an interior pdf document which contains indented paragraphs and some words italicized, with some text centered and some justified (straight right and left borders).
The original pdf is 1.18MB, and about 90K words.
I would like very much to convert it to MS Word 2003, saving the layout with all attributes as a pure text file.
Also if possible to drop out the 278 page numbers, but I could do that manually I suppose.
If I can get that far somehow, I know what to do with MS Word 2003 to turn it from that into an etext with dynamic clickable TOC (Table of Contents).
I found a different DC thread where someone suggested 'Free PDF to Word Online Converter'; it says it can handle up to a 10MB file, but when I used it, it only gave me a 1.4kb file and had only converted 4 pages.
Is there any freeware or free on-line way to do this?

30

General Software Discussion / Firefox wierd crash reporter behavior

« on: November 24, 2014, 08:33 PM »

My up-to-date Firefox Portable began giving me a Crash Reporter pop-up error window every time I close FF normally.
So I went to an older FF backup folder, a clone copy that's a few months out-of-date b/c I intended it that way, and started it instead as a test; and immediately after closing it normally, it also gave me a Crash Reporter pop-up error window.
That implies something external to FF Portable is going on, but what?

So then I went into my up-to-date version of FF Portable, and renamed crashreporter.exe to crashreporterDISABLED.exe, and restarted it, then closed normally, and this time no Crash Reporter pop-up window appeared.

31

General Software Discussion / 32bit vs 64bit question

« on: November 11, 2014, 05:54 PM »

This may be kind of a 'duh' question, but here goes;
If 32bit implies 32bits of data to do anything, and 64bit implies double that, then does that mean that a 64bit system will process exactly 2x as much data?
Wouldn't that make the computer run half as fast?

32

General Software Discussion / need duplicate word scanner

« on: October 18, 2014, 04:27 PM »

In Microsoft Word 2003, which I'm not terribly familiar with, is there any way -or app- to scan documents for duplicate words?
A way is needed to discover if any sentence is buried deep in the document, which uses the same descriptive word twice in an obviously redundant manner.
There would also be a need to exclude common words like 'the', 'and', 'of', and so on, and to choose if the search is case sensitive or not.
Or, if there is any other program, for instance Thunderbird Compose or whatever, which the document could be copied & pasted into, to accomplish the same goal.
Any help would be most gratefully appreciated.

33

General Software Discussion / virtual cat

« on: July 22, 2014, 04:45 AM »

Check it out--
http://www.pageplugins.com/generators/virtual_cat/

34

Living Room / Malwarebytes self-start problem

« on: July 10, 2014, 06:56 AM »

My box is an AMD 4400+ dual-core running Win7Pro 32-bit with 3GB ram, and it has all it can handle running Norton 360 Premium Edition, plus CryptoPrevent and one or two other anti-malware programs.
I also installed the paid version of Malwarebytes, but found that this overloaded the OS during web surfing so much that the OS began crashing with BSOD on a daily basis.
So I searched for and found how to click on the option for Malwarebytes not to auto-start with OS start-up.
That way, I could activate it as I felt it was needed and also run scans and updates, but keep it off and in reserve most of the time to avoid the BSOD.
I found that if after every BSOD I ran CCleaner and then created a new System Restore Point, my OS recovers consistently, but it's sort of a 'given' that this is pushing my luck and the OS can only take so many BSODs before it fails to reboot anyway, which fortunately hasn't happened in quite a long time now.

The problem is that even with Malwarebytes set to not auto-start with boot-up, it stays off for anywhere from 3 to 6 or 8 minutes, then self-starts anyway completely unnoticed by me and often causing system overload and a BSOD.

It's gotten to the point that I'm considering uninstalling Malwarebytes to keep it from doing that.
I like Malwarebytes, and don't want to do that, and was hoping for any suggestions before I pull the plug on it?

35

Non-Windows Software / Debian Tails OS question

« on: May 20, 2014, 11:24 PM »

I had been watching a 50-part Japanese historic video drama series at www.drama.net without a problem.
Then today, clicking on the next episode, as the web page came up in Firefox, it was blocked by anti-malware warnings that the actual feed was a known 'attack page'.
Out of curiosity, I tried the same thing in Chrome, which independently gave me very much the same warning.
Just for safety's sake, I ran Adwcleaner, JRT.ext (Junkware Removal Tool), Malwarebytes, and Hitman Pro scans and turned up clean.

My question is; what if I was to insert my Debian Tails OS disk and boot from that, and then try to watch the video drama on the 'attack page' with that.
That is, assuming that Debian Tails will enable me to even see the videos.

I seem to recall glib reassurances that it is supposed to be safe to run without any AV protection at all using something like Debian Tails; which actually sounds a bit suicidal.

Would I be endangering my computer by doing this?
At the moment, my default answer to my own question is 'Don't try it' as too risky.
If nothing else, what if something infected my mobo with a root kit or something?

Anyways, I'll be searching around for a different source of the drama series, which is known as 'Fuurin Kazan'.
Hope to hear back from someone.
And BTW, would any other bootable OS be more advisable instead of Debian Tails?
Or should I update my copy that is several months old?

Or what about using the basic TOR Vidalia Firefox browser (which BTW never allows me to watch any videos at all on its browser).

Thanks in advance for any advice.

36

General Software Discussion / clickable on-screen links in youtube vids >.<

« on: May 02, 2014, 10:11 PM »

[click here to see super whats-it] x       [click here for super whats-it #2]x

I am so sick of on-screen links partially blocking the view of videos on youtube, with a stupid little tiny 'x' to click on to make them go away.
Sometimes there are 6 of more of them; sometimes new ones keep popping up as soon as you make earlier ones go away by finding and clicking on the tiny little 'x's on random corners of each one.

In Firefox, is there an add-on to make them automatically go away, or not even show up?
Would some humanitarian code-writing genius be interested in creating one? (please 1000x)?

[click here to watch my super fantastic whats-it #3]x
        [click here to watch my new upgraded whats-it #4]x
                                      [click here to 'like' my channel on Faceplant]x

37

Living Room / Possible rootkit attack

« on: April 22, 2014, 10:15 PM »

I ran the newest update of TOR Vidalia, and it shows no control panel console, and no icon in the lower right corner when in operation; this gives me no way to change identities at will.
As a temporary 'fix', I uninstalled the newest version, and reinstalled the older one that gives me the control panel.
Then I have Firefox set up to connect through it, and keep Firefox updated instead.

38

Living Room / How is youtube tracking me?

« on: April 10, 2014, 08:18 AM »

I use Tor Vidalia and Adblock Plus with Firefox, and youtube keeps 'suggesting' videos to me similar to past videos.
I used to be able to block this, but something in my setup has changed and now I can't seem to block it anymore and wonder if anyone has any idea what to check? Thank you.

39

General Software Discussion / How link to pix in Tumblr?

« on: March 14, 2014, 11:46 PM »

All my browsers are unable to give me the ability to right-click on a picture in a Tumblr blog and grab a link to that one picture.
Other web sites can do this, or allow me to 'view image' in a new tab or same tab, but not on Tumblr.
Or can anyone tell me if there is a Donation Coder coding snack or other program that can do this, and what is a safe software host to download it from?

edit: found a 'tumblr ripper' (image downloader). tnx!

40

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: multi-stage password

« on: March 07, 2014, 02:54 PM »

Normally, you engage an encryption program like TrueCrypt or ScramDisk, and you type in 'one' password or passphrase.
This proposes what might be termed a 'shell program' or 'front end', that sets up either one of two things;
1) that two or more copies of TrueCrypt, ScramDisk, or whatever, open side by side in 'parallel',
2) that two or more copies of TrueCrypt, ScramDisk, or whatever, open one after another in 'series'.

Thus, you start 'shell', and it automatically opens one copy of TrueCrypt, and you type in a passphrase.
TrueCrypt, operating in 'shell mode', receives the first password, unlocks, and reports back to 'shell'.
'Shell' thereupon opens number 2 copy of TrueCrypt, and you enter a second password.
TrueCrypt #2 unlocks, and reports back to 'shell'.
'Shell' confirms sequential entry of passwords, and unlocks.

The above is a clumsily worded description.
The idea is, you combine multiple instances of TrueCrypt, ScramDisk, or whatever, into a Multi-encryption shell-unit, unifying them into something that basically requires multiple passwords to unlock.

Thus, complexity is compounded, but unlocking is simplified by x-units of passwords entered either in parallel or series mode.

41

General Software Discussion / Veoh crapware - its Web Player installs stealth virus

« on: February 08, 2014, 05:56 PM »

At this location: download Veoh Player.
I'm in the US, and if I visit without a proxie, it says 'Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to www.softologic.com', and 'softologic download gkcmr'.
If I use a proxie to go to the download page, then it offers the download.
Upon downloading, if I scan it with malwarebytes, it says there is a PUP, or 'Potentially Unwanted Program' (i.e. actually, it qualifies as a 'virus' in my book), so I told it to delete the PUP and the Veoh Player download disappeared.

If I go to CNET and download it from there, scans come back 'clean', but when I prepare to install, it tells me that using normal install I 'agree' to allow the installation of some offbeat search engine, change my home page in IE, Firefox, and Chrome, and prevent changing back of my home page.
I didn't have to scan further, I just deleted it.

So what's the deal? Why am I being blocked from accessing the Veoh Player from America?
Is there a 'clean' version of the Veoh Player download that isn't infested with a PUP?

42

General Software Discussion / need freeware .vob to MP4 converter

« on: January 03, 2014, 01:51 PM »

This is for uploading some approx 1 hour 45 minute Public Domain educational lectures to DailyMotion that are each currently about 4.3GB in size and .vob format, with each video actually consisting of multiple sub-files of audio and video.
DailyMotion says it accepts Format: mp4 (H264), mov, wmv, avi.
I tried to read up on mp4 (H264), didn't learn much, and ended up just focusing on 'plain vanilla' unadorned MP4 as a possible method.

I first tried converting to .wmv using freeware 'Prism Video File Converter', and before my pc finally locked up after a 5 or 6 hour run, it had increased the file size from 4.3GB to an unmanagable 6+GB, so I don't need .wmv format b/c it wouldn't be burnable to regular DVD disks.
When I tried 'Prism' again to go for a different format, it told me it was a 'paid feature', so I bugged out of that.

I also see DailyMotion has a nifty-looking beta Mass Uploader based on Adobe Air that allows pause and resume functions and 'offline' uploads; but its 'fine print' agreement had a lot of scary talk about giving 'third parties' various liberties and I wonder what's the general concensus about doing that?

I'm also open to suggestions whether I should consider .mov or .avi format instead of mp4, but would still need a good freeware bug-free program to do it.

43

General Software Discussion / dual 6800 GS w/256MB ram vs. (1) GeForce GTS 450?

« on: January 02, 2014, 03:34 AM »

Older mobo.
I have (1) 6800 GS w/256 ram, and someone is offering to give me two of their older vid cards, a 6800 w/256 ram, and a GeForce GTS 450.

If they are the same maker and general specs, I propose to run the two 6800GS/256MB video cards in dual-mode using the bus bar, that jumper link thingie, and see what happens.
Or if they are slightly dissimilar specs somehow, what will that do? or not do?

Or, should I just pop in the GeForce GTS 450?

Assuming the dual mode 6800 option works, which would be faster, that or the GTS 450?

44

Living Room / Facebook D.O.A.

« on: December 29, 2013, 05:36 AM »

Facebook 'dead and buried'
“What we’ve learned from working with 16-18 year olds in the UK is that Facebook is not just on the slide, it is basically dead and buried.”

Gee, does that mean all the 'like us on Facebook' pop-ups will finally start to go away?

45

General Software Discussion / 'logging off' & 'shutting down'

« on: December 26, 2013, 11:46 PM »

When I go to shut down my Win7, first it displays something like 'logging off' and then it says 'shutting down'.
Is it 'reporting' (i.e. 'phoning home' to Microsoft or somewhere) when it 'logs off'?

46

Living Room / 'gallows engineering' expression?

« on: December 21, 2013, 01:42 PM »

'gallows engineering' is the nearest I can get to what I can't remember.
There is an expression which encapsulates the phenomenon whereby companies use cheaper engineering designs or procedures in critical applications...
...and they only improve or correct substandard designs after someone dies.
It's something more like 'gallows engineering' or something, but not that.
'coffin engineering' doesn't quite sound like it either.
'necrotic engineering'? Nope, that isn't it.
'necro-engineering'. Catchy, but still not right, or is it?
Does anyone know the expression I'm trying to hint at, please?

47

General Software Discussion / myWOT uninstall nightmare

« on: December 05, 2013, 08:55 PM »

myWOT is 'my Web of Trust'.
If you install it, you can use it to selectively block websites, and benefit from data of other myWOT users to block others as well.
IOW, it's a glorified whitelist/blacklist add-on.

After installing on both Firefox and Seamonkey, I eventually concluded I could do the job just as well myself, and decided to uninstall it.
No problem with Firefox; just go to add-ons, find it, click uninstall, done...or so I thought.

I couldn't find how to locate and uninstall it from Seamonkey, so I ran a keyword Google on how to do this, and came up with this post, warning me that myWOT is itself a reputed snake-in-the-grass about allowing itself to be uninstalled.
Worst, myWOT reputedly persists in tracking you after it is 'uninstalled'.

Here is a quote from that person's warning about not using myWOT:
"Dear MyWot, what you are doing is tracking users after they "opt-out". This is malicious behaviour to say the least... and sure a privacy threat, weakening Firefox's privacy.

Therefore people: be aware that you'll need to remove about 250+ entries from your "about:config" section... or even better: for a complete uninstall of the MyWot Addon... open the "prefs.js" file with notepad and remove ALL lines that include "weboftrust" AND "mywot". Be sure not to miss the 3 hash numbers. When you're done cleaning all that from your browser, open up your clean little Firefox and breathe fresh air again."

Okay, well, I'm guess I'm not breathing the 'fresh air' yet.
Because according to his report, myWOT really isn't 'uninstalled' from Firefox yet, and I have no idea where to even look to do so in Seamonkey.

Does anybody please have any suggestion how to find and uninstall myWOT from both Firefox and Seamonkey, and be sure it really will be totally uninstalled?

48

Found Deals and Discounts / e-book how-to - looking for MS Word & etc.

« on: November 25, 2013, 04:06 AM »

Are older versions of MS Word available as legal free downloads?
If so, where can I find a legit MS Word download freebie from a safe site?
Tnx.

49

General Software Discussion / IE 11 screen stretches instead of scrolls

« on: November 24, 2013, 07:25 PM »

It doesn't scroll, it acts like a big sheet of taffy.

50

Mini-Reviews by Members / water-soaked electronics solutions

« on: September 27, 2013, 10:28 AM »

If you accidentally spill water on your mobile device and it goes dead, there are several ways to deal with the problem.
First, here's an article citing the use of a bag of rice.
It also cites using a special absorbent packet called Bheestie Revive pack, which at $18 a whack seems expensive, but can possibly absorb the water from your device.

I wanted to mention my own method, used on non-waterproof but only 'water-resistant' watches.
Every time I get a bottle of vitamin supplements that contains a little pack of gel absorbant, I save it in a zip-lock baggie.
Over time, I end up with quite a few of these.
Interestingly, once they've absorbed their allotment of moisture, they can be revived.
Just put them on a tray in the oven and bake them at a low heat for a few hours.
With this method they can be reused all over again an unlimited number of times.

Last but not least, if you limit yourself to drinking only purified water, pure H2O doesn't conduct electricity, so if you spill some of that on your device there's a chance it won't short it out, unless the water picks up impurities inside the device itself (which admittedly is possible), and you can just let it air out with a fan (not a heater) aimed at it for a few hours or a day or two, or use the above method.