Recent Posts

1026

General Software Discussion / Re: gateway ta6 laptop

« Last post by Shades on December 18, 2015, 06:41 PM »

If the limit is 2x1GByte RAM modules, that is the limit then. if it is old, it likely only supports the DDR2 notebook version of RAM modules. This is an old hardware format, which means they are expensive, because they aren't produced anymore. Second hand RAM is likely what you will end up with. If you think there is too much crap on the laptop, download all the drivers from the manufacturers website and store these on a pen drive, get the windows key from the bottom of your laptop (if that is still readable, else find a piece of software to retrieve your Windows key), find the installers and keys from the software you want to keep, backup whatever data you already put on the laptop and re-install.

Such a "fresh" start will make the laptop more enjoyable. You won't have to bother with finding ways to get rid of crap the previous owner installed, you can use the AV solution you like, etc. etc. My advice is always to put as much RAM in your new PC/Laptop as you are able to afford. Not only will you enjoy using the PC/Laptop longer, it will have more re-sale value (especially with laptops). So, find out which model of RAM your laptop uses from its manual and find two RAM sticks of 1 GBYte, the hardware in your laptop cannot handle any other RAM memory configuration. Buy something else and you have thrown good money out of the door. Don't think it will be easy to resell the wrong memory module configuration or expect to get a decent price. Remember, it is only expensive when you buy it... 

General advice:
If you want to know what the specifications of your laptop are, look at the site of the manufacturer or manual. In the manual, you usually find which type and model of RAM will work with your laptop. The manufacturer usually has support, where you can download drivers, updates, manuals etc. Other websites will do their best effort to have all this info available, but as long as there is a manufacturers support website, why bother going somewhere else.

1027

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

« Last post by Shades on December 13, 2015, 10:44 PM »

By using software such as DependencyWalker and ProcessMonitor (from SysInternals) you can find out what processes are started in the background while opening epCheck. You should try this with both epCheck folders to see the difference and from there you can deduce which process is the actual troublemaker.

Working with these tools might seem daunting at first, but both software packages come with a clear and easy to follow manual.

1028

N.A.N.Y. 2016 / Re: NANY 2016 :Window resize keys (grids combi 2x2 3x3 4x4 5x5)

« Last post by Shades on December 13, 2015, 06:56 PM »

My first impressions with this tool are that it works as advertised, claiming very little RAM and hardly any other resources. 

For reference, I tried it on a Windows Server 2012 R2 PC.

1029

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Shades on December 13, 2015, 12:48 PM »

@Stoic:
WMP is your media player of choice? Never would have guessed. As you are a biker I would surely thought that you would like the following player best: MPH (Media Player Hometheater)  but you decided to go for WiMP (Windows integrated Media Player)

More seriously, MPH has the look of Windows Media Player version 6.4 (Windows ME/Windows 2000 era), but comes with all the latest and greatest to play whatever video/audio you want. If you want lots of controls and options, PotPlayer and VideoLAN are good players as well. There are lots of other players, but as all my needs are met with this set I didn't look at any other players anymore.     

1030

Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS

« Last post by Shades on December 13, 2015, 12:27 PM »

@Tomos:
On youtube you can find a video of a modern big John Deere tractor getting humiliated by an old steam tractor in a tractor-pull. Respect your elders does sound true

1031

Living Room / Re: Merry Christmas 2015 (Feliz Navidad 2015)

« Last post by Shades on December 13, 2015, 12:26 PM »

Indeed early. Still:
Vrolijk Kerstfeest!

1032

General Software Discussion / Re: Low Audio Levels

« Last post by Shades on December 13, 2015, 12:11 PM »

I have noted something similar.

Usually I have the Windows audio device volume setting at 100% and adjust the volume setting in my media player according to my wishes. If the volume is turned down in the media player and the media player is closed the volume setting remains lower, while it appears all is maxed out in the volume control overview. This setting also survives a reboot in my case. Opening the media player again and adjusting the volume again to max is what helps. On my system Realtek HD driver 6.0.1.5859 is installed.

Do you have a plug-in/extension/add-on in your browser in which you have adjusted the volume? Streaming music player, perhaps?

Since Windows Vista/7 the volume control has become too over-engineered for simple audio set-ups. The level of of control you have is nice when you have the audio-setup to match. But in my experience most people use the standard audio ports and are confused by the audio support that comes with most video cards, USB headphones, camera's and what not. If I got a nickel each time someone asked me to fix their audio settings I would be well off by now.

There is room for improvement in this part of computing. IndieVolume and CheVolume are the only pieces of software I know of that give you much more control back over the volume settings.     

1033

N.A.N.Y. 2016 / Re: NANY 2016 Pledge: PINCode Grapher

« Last post by Shades on December 13, 2015, 10:26 AM »

While substituting the name of a number with the name of an animal is a nice idea, there might be a problem. Names of numbers often start with the same letter, so there could be some confusion.

I would like to suggest the following:
0        1         2  3  4  5  6  7  8          9
pause do(low) re mi fa so la ti do(high) (yeah) - for pop/rock fans
pause do(low) re mi fa so la ti do(high) (yoh!) - for rap fans
pause do(low) re mi fa so la ti do(high) (yeha) - for country fans

The silliness could help you remember as well.

1034

General Software Discussion / Re: What is Runtime Broker, and Why is it working so pathetically bad?

« Last post by Shades on December 13, 2015, 10:05 AM »

I have Windows 10 32-bit installed on my Netbook. It runs like molasses, but so did/does Windows XP/7 and pretty much every Linux distro I've tried on it.

-Deozaan (December 11, 2015, 05:59 PM)

The only common denominator in your endevours is the hardware you run each OS on. With that in mind, it is very likely that your hard disk is a very big contributor to the slowness.

-Shades (December 11, 2015, 07:51 PM)

I put an SSD in there about a year ago. It's still awfully slow.

-Deozaan (December 12, 2015, 12:42 AM)

Usually you can get software that measures the speed of a SSD from its manufacturer. You should check the read/write speeds of that SSD in the netbook and preferably in another computer you own. If there is a big difference, it is quite safe to assume that the SATA controller in the netbook is not functioning as it is supposed to. While repairable, costs of parts and labor will quickly go over the price of a new netbook. Exchanging the mainboard of the netbook with another one is also an option.

@Curt:
Depending on the version of Windows you used to upgrade to Windows 10, you might have access to security policy manager (Windows key + R and type: secpol.msc). If you do, you can make an additional rule in 'Software Restriction Policies' (Path or Hash) for the file that you don't want (any type of user account in) Windows to execute.

Be careful with this, you could mess things up if you are overzealous.

4wd's solution is the more elegant solution, but if you are in a pinch, the solution above might prove useful until you find a more elegant one. 

1035

General Software Discussion / Re: Email Remover - An Auto-Responder Loop Solution

« Last post by Shades on December 13, 2015, 09:11 AM »

About not having an Exchange Server: ignorance==bliss

Now I am not familiar with the software from Network Solutions, but do run my own Postfix mail server on a "headless" Linux machine (with Webmin) for years. Before that vPOP3 (Windows) and even then it was already easy to delete mail directly on the server. That left with me the impression that all mail server software makers have this functionality built-in.

Postfix is a mature and battle hardened mail server with lots(!) of options to configure if you want to. Making a policy to get rid of such messages is no problem. There are a lot of add-ons that make the creation of such a policy much easier if you are not a fan of command-line configuration.   

1036

General Software Discussion / Re: What is Runtime Broker, and Why is it working so pathetically bad?

« Last post by Shades on December 11, 2015, 07:51 PM »

I have Windows 10 32-bit installed on my Netbook. It runs like molasses, but so did/does Windows XP/7 and pretty much every Linux distro I've tried on it.

-Deozaan (December 11, 2015, 05:59 PM)

The only common denominator in your endevours is the hardware you run each OS on. With that in mind, it is very likely that your hard disk is a very big contributor to the slowness. Check your HD to see if it aligned properly. Don't use Windows to check for this, better use 3rd party software like Minitool's Partition Wizard (available as both freeware and commercial). But there are more free and commercial software packages similar in function as PW.

Check each partition on that HD for this, because I have noted on several occasions (anecdotal, I know) that it isn't certain that every partition is actually aligned. Aligning is very intense and can take very long to complete, so make sure your computer is deprived from electricity during this procedure.

However, once done you will notice a speed increase. Defragging afterwards with a tool such as Auslogics Defrag (free and commercial) can add more of a speed increase. The tools that come with Windows 7 and up are quite good at what they do, so most don't bother to look further. Still, 3rd party tools do have a valid reason for existing.

When you use Linux on the HD, the defragging should not be necessary as the file systems Ext2 and Ext3 (most common ones) do not fragment files as much as the NTFS file system from Windows does. Caused by different mentality during the design of these file systems mainly.

Anyhow, that still leaves the uncertainty of (the partitions of) your HD not being aligned. Simply stated: this negatively affects any OS more or less in equal amounts.

Most netbooks come with a SATA interface, so if the above sounds as too much work, clone the HD onto an SSD (completely!) and see the netbook making strides you didn't take it could...ever...going downhill...with gusting wind in its back...eating icecream!    

1037

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Shades on December 08, 2015, 06:13 AM »

@Stoic:
Do you use the same editions of Windows in your office and home before you upgraded these Windows installations to Windows 10?
If not, (for example: at home you used Windows 7 Home and in your Office Win 8.1 Enterprise) then that could be the reason, as MS tends to use (very) different mindsets between different editions of Windows.

1038

Living Room / Re: CAT5 splitter?

« Last post by Shades on December 04, 2015, 07:30 AM »

If we are pedantic...

1000Base-T uses indeed all 8 wires in CAT-5, CAT-5e, CAT-6 and CAT-7 types of cable.
1000Base-TX again uses only 4 wires of CAT-6 type cable.

That is according to the defined standards of the IEEE (1000BASE-T) and the Telecommunications Industry Association (1000BASE-TX). Word to the wise, reading the IEEE pdf from the first link will make you know much more than you ever wanted to about UTP cables...

If that isn't already confusing enough...marketing departments deemed it wise to add TX to the names from (some of) their NICs, while those only support the 1000Base-T standard.

1039

Living Room / Re: CAT5 splitter?

« Last post by Shades on December 03, 2015, 05:58 PM »

Aren't you gaining a lot of interference this way?

Because any wire that carries an electric signal will act as a antenna. And the internal wires of a cat 5 cable are pretty densely twisted...which is done on purpose, as there are only 4 wires that carry signals while the other 4 act as "dummies", catching as much external interference as possible, so the signal carrying wires have a better chance of getting their signals through.

1040

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by Shades on November 29, 2015, 07:04 PM »

The only explanation for these is that some AI from the future created this cybernetic human and sent them back in time to make people cry:

-mouser (November 23, 2015, 09:49 PM)

The song 'Someone like you' is a great song with the ability to move you. Her rendition of that song in the Royal Albert Hall is even better still.

Ooops...Tomos already made the same comment, sorry about that. 

1041

N.A.N.Y. 2015 / Re: NANY 2015 Release - Splat (Simple Program Launching and Termination)

« Last post by Shades on November 29, 2015, 06:41 PM »

The PDF's have a very positive tone and explain how to use the application with text and images (I do know the Dutch language ).

'Computer idee' isn't the most technical magazine out there, but it is read by a lot of enthusiasts, so if there isn't already a lot of traffic coming from the Netherlands, expect it soon.

If there could be an option to make Splat support multiple languages, it would be an even greater hit. If that is an option, then it isn't a problem for me to do the Dutch translation. 

1042

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

« Last post by Shades on November 29, 2015, 04:17 AM »

This is an amazing card trick:

1043

Living Room / Re: Smart agents like Cortana will replace the web browser

« Last post by Shades on November 27, 2015, 05:34 AM »

There is one difference though. Siri/Cortana do not mind to be upgraded...

1044

General Software Discussion / Re: Alert on File/Folder Access

« Last post by Shades on November 26, 2015, 08:47 AM »

For inspiration... 
http://leelusoft.altervista.org/watch-4-folder.html
https://blogs.manageengine.com/it-security/eventloganalyzer/2012/06/20/object-access-auditing-simplified-find-the-who-what-where-when-of-file-folder-access.html
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771070.aspx
http://venussoftcorporation.blogspot.com/2010/05/thefolderspy.html
https://directorymonitor.com/
http://trackfolderchanges.codeplex.com/
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/folder_changes_view.html
http://www.isdecisions.com/products/fileaudit/file-folder-access-alert.htm

1045

General Software Discussion / Re: active extension filter for archive drive

« Last post by Shades on November 25, 2015, 06:11 AM »

- If the 4TByte disc is in a Windows PC and shared on the network, an easy solution would be to run a piece of software called 'Belvedere' on it (AHK script turned into an executable, according to its github page). You could use this with the Windows Task scheduler to clean up the 4TByte disk at regular intervals.

- There is also the option to use 'Belvedere' on every user PC that could pump only the desired data to the 4TByte disc at scheduled intervals. You would need to tell every user that they are not allowed to make backups themselves anymore.

A combination of the two is also a possibility of course.

To my knowledge your network isn't making use of AD, just a Workgroup. Still, you could lock down the shared folder(s) on the 4TByte disc (only a specific Windows user account or Windows user group is able to write) and create a specific Windows account on each user PC that can be used to execute 'Belvedere' with the task scheduler.

Perhaps you can manage this whole task with the Windows task scheduler alone. 'Belvedere' does make automated file management easier. It's GPL and last updated in 2012. Then again, how much development can you put in this piece of software without adding bells and whistles that are not part of its scope. But if you are worried, on the github page you can get the source script, which you can alter as you see fit.

1046

Skwire Empire / Re: Release: sWeather (tray-based weather app)

« Last post by Shades on November 24, 2015, 05:09 PM »

From earlier news posts I gathered that the state of current (US owned/operated) weather satellites is dire as they are old and failing. From that post I also understood that no-one is willing or able to spring for new ones.

So, for once, it could be possible that Yahoo isn't to blame for the rubbish data they provide 

1047

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Shades on November 24, 2015, 05:02 PM »

People hopefully know that you can throw out certificates you don't like/need/want (if you have admin access).

As admin or 'rub as admin', open the start menu or Alt-R. Then, in the 'Run' window type: mmc

You will get a new window that allows you to create a link to certain administrative part you would like to have easy access to.
In that window you can select the certificate manager.

Select that and enable access to System and User sections of the cert manager.

After that another window will open showing you all the certificate stores from both the user account and system itself. A root certificate is usually found in the 'root certificate' store and/or 'intermediate root certificate' store. Once found, it is simply select and delete. This has immediate effect, but if you feel better doing a reboot.

However, in general you should be wary removing any type of certificate, as they can have serious consequences for your general computing experience.

But if by any chance you lose the ability to use (some) software that came with your Dell customer PC, don't fret and look for alternatives. You'll be better off in the long run anyway. For Dell servers it is more problematic. Then again, professionals use those and they already know the above and should be able to work around this problem anyway (in case they depend on (some) Dell software to run the server).

I must add that I like/setup my Windows and Linux servers to be as "bare" as possible (regarding software). Heck, I don't mind removing case plates on all sides if I think that serves me better. Now I do understand that this mindset belongs to a tiny minority that wants function over form. And I am proud to belong    (hence you won't ever see me own any Apple device that puts form over function)

1048

General Software Discussion / Re: stickies Notezilla memoboard as full-blown personal note system

« Last post by Shades on November 16, 2015, 09:10 AM »

If monthly recurring fees aren't a problem, you could also consider using a system as Jira.

Although it is intended to be a software issue ticket system, you can use it for a lot of different purposes too. You can create projects in Jira, each with their own workflow if you want, works fine in a browser and there are open source/commercial additions that make it really easy to use on a computer/tablet/phablet. Dragging and dropping notes into it is no problem. User access/authorization is very extensive (if you want it to be), workflows too (if you so desire). Searching through issues, notes, comments, descriptions, labels, user(s), user groups etc. is easy. And you can store search queries into filters. User audit trails are covered too.
 
For a relatively small monthly fee (for small companies) you don't even have to run the Jira server yourselves and you have access to a "well-stocked" store to add whatever functionality you are missing. Even has it own API's to easily add/remove things in automated ways.

The only downside I see with Jira is your RTF requirement. Jira does work work with Markup, but I am not sure about RTF. Perhaps you can find that in their store.

I am familiar with their issue tracker, but they have more collaboration products and if these are in the same quality league as their issue tracker, than you should definitely consider the products of this company.

1049

General Software Discussion / Re: stickies Notezilla memoboard as full-blown personal note system

« Last post by Shades on November 15, 2015, 05:48 PM »

Sorry to be late to the party....but couldn't a kanban system be (mis-)used for your purposes?

1050

Living Room / Re: Is Excel the most dangerous software in the world?

« Last post by Shades on November 14, 2015, 09:17 AM »

Is Excel the most dangerous software in the world?
Well, whilst calling it the most dangerous software might be stretching it a bit, it could certainly be argued from a historical perspective that they had the potential to be "dangerous" and sometimes had actually proven to be so in fact.
My experience has been that Excel and Access have generally been the de facto financial black holes for a great deal of labour costs, where often non-IT personnel had spent many hours inventively developing one-off or prototype spreadsheet models and access database applications as business solutions to do often quite clever and useful things that simply could not have been done (at the time) in a timely or cost-effective manner using IT otherwise. Often these one-off solutions were tweaked to the stage where they could become so useful that they were commercially indispensable, and might even form a large part of the core legacy solutions for an enterprise.

A great strength of Excel and Access lies in their "tweakability" by the user - the extent of user control. That is also their Achilles Heel - there is a profound scope for human error in developing the logic and formulae in the models/applications, and that is why, from the perspective of stochastic and accounting accuracy, the models need to be independently audited and verified, but certainty in that regard (that all errors have been identified and fixed) is something that was and remains notoriously extremely difficult to achieve - despite the growth of things like spreadsheet auditing tools.

However, having worked on complex models such as ITEM (the UK Independent Treasury Econometric Model) and climate models of the North Sea, I would recommend skepticism towards any plea of incompetence - the "Oh dear, there was an error in the [insert name of scam] financial model" argument. These people aren't necessarily the fools they might have us believe.
For example, in "JPMorgan’s model had not captured this at all...".
Yeah, right.

-IainB (November 12, 2015, 05:03 AM)

I completely agree with your last paragraph.

**** rant alert ****
Sounds like you never had the "pleasure" of turning a solution created by such an "inventive" person into a system that actually scales. While those tools might provide a solution for a small company, never think that these work on a bigger scale like MS wants you to believe these tools do. Then again, I am of the opinion that whoever (or whomever) made Access should be taken behind the shed to be dealt with. That alone would be a huge improvement in any gene pool.

Those "inventive" people are allowed to make very(!!!) bad methods of handling whatever data/calculations they are involved with. Methods that would have been ridiculed by any IT pro. Every choice you make when using or creating software has significant consequences later on. Think of the "inventive" person as a butcher and the IT pro as a surgeon. You state that they can do the same job, just because both know how to carve meat?

Excel is also such a "success" story. Most people use it by only having one instance open. In this way I really can't blame you for mistaking it to be a useful tool. However, I work with software that really has to shift lots of data and using this data to calculate/generate much more data. There are many ways to get data into and out of this system. Excel is one of those. Customers use consultants that have the same fondness for Excel as most people seem to have.

All is still nice and dandy at this point. Unfortunately, consultants hardly work together, especially when they are not working in the same area of expertise. Because of the size of the customers and the myriad of disciplines they are active in, they use lots of consultants. The software I work with runs on any version of a Windows PC. From a workstation/single server to big beasts. One customer actually has a Windows system with 64 (multi-core) processors.

This customer was happy using our software system as it performed better as expected, while shifting their data and calculating/generating data. And then came the consultants with their Excel based input. Suddenly that beast of a system ran slower than a 486 PC by taking the input of all that Excel based input at the same time. It doesn't matter how much "horsepower" or RAM you put into a Windows based server...just run 20 instances of Excel at the same time. Doesn't matter which version of Excel or how complicated the Excel file being opened by that Excel instance is. Just open 20 instances.

Excel consumes a shameful amount of resources that messes up the way how Windows handles the available resources. Before I could prove to that customer that Excel was the only software to blame, levels of stress were at unhealthy levels to say the least.

My point is that for serious work Excel and Access are not alternatives and should not even be considered as such by anyone with a mind for IT. Now I fully understand that my comments won't change the opinion of most people and that they keep seeing Excel as the benevolent Dr. Jekyll. While IT pro's, which do need to work with lots of data, see Excel for its true nature, a brutally butchering Mr. Hyde.

Let's just say that it requires a lot of surgical skill to fix the butchering, no matter how "inventive" the butcher thinks he/she is.