Recent Posts

1076

Living Room / Re: Ad Industry Attacks Firefox

« Last post by Shades on October 08, 2015, 09:42 PM »

And then there is this new development...or a more direct link. At first glance, it looks reasonable for the end consumer. But it will have more nasty side effects if you think about it.

1077

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Shades on October 04, 2015, 01:42 PM »

As I have hardly added interesting stuff to this thread...let me make up for that with this set of links:

Aviador wallet - Supercharged wallet with style.
Drivebot - How To Turn Your Smartphone into an All-Seeing, All-Knowing Mechanic for Your Car.
BottleLoft - Leaves your beer hanging out to dry?
Keecker - Turns your house into a multimedia station...and can act as a security device as well.
Add-e - Turns any bicycle into an electric one. You might want to translate this page, if German isn't your "thing".
Holographic smartphone - Do I need to say more?
ARAIG - And if holographic imagery doesn't do it for you, this device will stimulate your other senses in 3D.
Dolfi - In case you soiled yourself over the previous two links, use this (for your delicates).

1078

General Software Discussion / Re: HDMI signal drops and reconnects (Mac) - DC plz help!!1

« Last post by Shades on October 04, 2015, 11:36 AM »

My switch device comment was made in the hope that you didn't have to spent time and/or money on (a) converter(s).

There are 6 versions of the HDMI protocol and, generally speaking, it isn't hard for me to imagine that if you connect a device that sends out data using HDMI 2.0 to a device that only supports HDMI 1.1, there might be some unexpected idiosyncratic behavior on either the HDMI 2.0 device or the HDMI 1.1 device. Although backwards compatibility is implied, that does not make this necessarily true for every use case in combination with different hardware from different brands.

The answer from the other forum makes actually a lot of sense. In the days of PS/2 keyboards and mouses, you needed a special kind of KVM switch that maintained those connections, even if you selected another computer. Reconnecting to a PS/2 port after the computer was turned on and expecting everything to work was not a given and could even cause the reconnected computer to freeze.

Why the history lesson? Simply to indicate that these kind of problems are not unheard of and are actually of all era's. While the area's of application vary significantly, the (idea behind the) solution is practically the same.

1079

Living Room / Re: default typing language in win8

« Last post by Shades on October 04, 2015, 06:24 AM »

There is even software that changes the color of cursor when you switch between languages for Windows. For the life of me, I can't remember its name anymore and searching for this only resulted in a lot links on how to do this VIM and other Linux software. Kalos, maybe this is a good idea for a coding snack...

Now I found this Aml Maple.

1080

General Software Discussion / Re: HDMI signal drops and reconnects (Mac) - DC plz help!!1

« Last post by Shades on October 03, 2015, 08:34 AM »

First some generics regarding cables:
Keeping cables as short as possible is always a good strategy. After all, the longer any cable is, the more chance you have it picks up interference.
After that, keep cables that carry mains separated from cables that carry data (again, interference).
Make sure that cables aren't strained in any way, internal shielding becomes compromised and generates a lot of interference on these strains in the best case scenario. Worst case scenario is a potential fire hazard.

Over-provisioning a cable might be a good thing too. if your devices have an output of a certain resolution at a certain frequency, it is a good thing to use a cable between these devices that supports certain resolution+n and certain frequency+n.

About your situation:
From your description I gather that the Mac is the problem. It gets confused when a device is connected on its HDMI port that doesn't want the signal.

If possible, swap the TV and the monitor on the Mac. Does this change the behavior?
Check for irregular behavior between versions of HDMI standards (Wikipedia). After all, there are only 6 of those standards by now. So you might need to replace the HDMI cable anyway to better match the HDMI version(s) your devices are using.

1081

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Auslogics Disk Defrag Pro [free]

« Last post by Shades on September 30, 2015, 08:34 PM »

The pro version likely checks where files should be located for optimum performance during the defrag, while the free version just defrags.

Isn't there more info about the feature-set that applied by default between these two versions?

 

1082

Developer's Corner / Re: Ethics in Technology

« Last post by Shades on September 30, 2015, 08:26 PM »

From what I've heard on the radio here, this was broadly speaking about smaller cars being both affordable, and able to pass the tests, because smaller diesel cars are not so efficient nor as clean as bigger ones

-tomos (September 29, 2015, 03:20 PM)

There is also noise pollution.  These diesel autos generally have very poor acceleration from a standing start, such as a stop light.  To counteract that the automatic transmission is set to wind out in first gear to get the heap moving.  Listening to that ruins my day.

-MilesAhead (September 30, 2015, 06:57 AM)

Never understood why the US hates diesel that much. When you need torque on a combustible engine, there isn't much that beats diesel. And even in the 90's-2000's the diesel cars I have driven (in the Netherlands) were certainly no slouch. Even with accelerating from the red traffic lights. And it didn't matter which brand, the Opels (which operates under the Chevrolet name in the US), Peugots, Renault, Fiat, Mercedes, Toyota and Nissan cars I either owned or drove on a daily basis...all of them performed as good or better than a gasoline car.

Diesel is also a lot cheaper per liter at the gas station (no gallons!) compared with gasoline, lasts a lot longer consumption-wise and maintenance-wise diesel engines need yearly intervals, while gasoline engines require maintenance every 6 months or so. If you are a gearhead, you might have fun doing (most of) the maintenance yourself. But if you are not, the recurring maintenance bills are a burden.

Also, in the Netherlands, as soon as you travel more than 15 kilometers a day by car, it is/was economically stupid to drive a gasoline car, because of monthly ownership taxes and road taxes in combination with fuel prices (also taxed differently than gasoline).

Then again, European car brands makes very good diesel engines ('price/performance'-factor), Japanese diesel engines aren't bad either and stick-shift remains the popular choice in the EU. Besides, nowadays there is so much padding applied in cars to "hide" any engine noise in and out the car.

If I ever buy a car (with an Internal Combustion Engine) again, it must be a diesel. But what I really want is electric cars to come down in price, mainly because I have had it with the financial burdens caused by ICE problems, their maintenance requirements etc. Getting rid of the noise and the fumes ICE produce is a most welcome bonus for me as well.

1083

Living Room / Re: Possible rootkit attack

« Last post by Shades on September 27, 2015, 09:38 PM »

Replacing the battery won't help with any rootkit.

It will help with strange time-related issues in Windows and...if your PC acts the same as mine, you won't have to fill in the time/date/whatever other boot preferences you have in your BIOS, each time your computer shuts down because of a power failure (complete power cuts, insufficient power on the three phases, only power on one phase, etc).

Rootkits can hide themselves in hardware (such as BIOS of your motherboard or hard disk). The really nasty ones do not have a problem with that. And in those cases you'd immediately start decommission the affected hardware, for your own sake, as the hardware cannot be trusted at all after it has been infected.

Now, this won't happen that quickly when you don't visit (Russian) bride sites, where you find lots of pictures and/or videos of those brides naked and being "field-tested" in ways that should never leave anyone's imagination or more traditional manners, while they whisper sensually the latest key-codes/serials of the latest software to your...eh screen. 

1084

General Software Discussion / Re: clock synch problem

« Last post by Shades on September 27, 2015, 08:20 AM »

If your clock is off by that much each passing day, you might be replacing the CMOS battery on your motherboard. These are not expensive , very available and easy to replace, even if you don't/won't do computer hardware repair. Because of previous posts in different threads on this forum, I know you have an older system and batteries on motherboards usually last between 3 to 5 years. 

Once you have done that, also check the regional settings to see if your computer is in the correct time-zone. That can also cause unexpected hour jumps. Especially when you are in a time zone that uses one system for DST and the (MS) server that verifies your clock using another DST system. This is always messy around May and October of each year.

For example: the US uses DST and apply this when each celestial equinox occurs. Most of the other countries that use DST, use the end of seasons as the moment to apply DST. There is usually a two/three week difference between those DST events.

Although this doesn't seem like a big deal for most people, it is a major source of headache for programmers that actually need to apply this properly in applications. Kind of a 'Damned if you do, damned if you don't'-deal, while being in a 'between a rock and a hard place'-kinda situation.

1085

Living Room / Re: Preloaded spyware, courtesy Lenovo

« Last post by Shades on September 25, 2015, 06:27 PM »

With the amount of tracking and spyware that comes with new versions of Windows itself and the additional spyware the manufacturer decides to put on your laptop...how is this different than running an older version of Windows?

The net result is actually the same!

The only thing you don't know with an older version of Windows is who actually collects the info from your computer. With a new PC you know at least it is Microsoft and the manufacturer/selected partners. But if that is some sort of reassurance. As long as I can make my own PC's, I will. The headache of pre-fabricated PC's really isn't worth it, in my point of view.

1086

Living Room / Re: Movies you've seen lately

« Last post by Shades on September 23, 2015, 06:58 PM »

Anyway I watched the Limitless pilot.  It was interesting.  Often the pilot is good even if the series isn't.

-MilesAhead (September 23, 2015, 06:59 AM)

Have you ever seen the unaired pilot of The Big Bang Theory?

It's unaired for a reason...

I saw recently the pilot of 'Lucifer'. That was an interesting one in my book. Can go either way, though.

1087

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MS Office 2013 US$9.95 Corporate/Enterprise Home Use Program - Mini-Review

« Last post by Shades on September 20, 2015, 08:30 AM »

For consumers the cloud could be seen as an option. For companies I fear there are legal issues...depending on the nature of work the company does, of course.

If you work for a company that delivers services for other companies which require you to sign contracts allowing you to open their files containing their trade secrets...storing those in the cloud consciously or unconsciously isn't smart. When (not if) things go wrong, the company you work for will get into legal disputes over which party in the whole cloud endeavor is to blame. Costly disputes...easily nullifying whatever financial gains you think you are making by going cloud, instead of doing things properly yourself.

The extra dependency on a decently functioning internet connection for the business hours your company keeps is also quickly forgotten (and the extra costs that business ISP accounts entail). You aren't considering this, but having such connections is not a given in large parts of this planet either.

In my book there are a lot of hidden costs behind a workflow that isn't nearly as beneficial as cloud companies present them to be. And legal issues make things more "cloudy".

Then again, if it works for you...it works for you.

1088

General Software Discussion / Re: Deleting Recovery Partition and Merging to C drive

« Last post by Shades on September 12, 2015, 05:47 PM »

Method 2.
Disable hibernation.

Method 3.

The Windows OS's being used in these pages may be a bit different than the one you are currently running. However, these methods are practically the same for any of the Windows OS's, so that shouldn't hold you back.

And, in case you are want to know more about method 1, the link explains very basically the concept of how to allocate free space from one partition to another. There is also a hint about moving partitions. The software used at the link is from Aomei, but you don't have to worry, software from other vendors looks and feels practically the same. Personal favorite for this kind of task is MiniTool, but there are many alternatives.

1089

General Software Discussion / Re: Deleting Recovery Partition and Merging to C drive

« Last post by Shades on September 11, 2015, 01:16 PM »

Increasing the size of your C:\ partition can be done...by sacrificing the recovery partition (the one of 9.18GByte).

So if you decide you can live without that, there are 3 ways to go:
1.) Moving all partitions to the end of your hard disk, so the free space gained is now next to the C:\ partition and you can simply extend the C:\ partition.
2.) use the empty space to create a new partition and move the pagefile.sys file there.
3.) use the empty space to mount it with the C:\ partition. NTFS allows for this.


Method 1 is tricky, time-consuming and make sure you have sufficient grid power for as long as this action will take. Also, all this time you cannot use your computer.
Method 2 is easy and the least time-consuming. It would help to configure the page file to have a start size of 8GByte and and end size of 8GByte. That way it won't fragment and the remaining free space on that new partition remains sufficient in size. Enjoy the free space on C:\! Even more space can be gained when you remove the hibernation file by disabling that functionality, but that is something you won't like to do.
Method 3 isn't difficult either, but could be considered intermediate, because of the concepts the user needs to grasp.

1090

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Tips

« Last post by Shades on September 11, 2015, 07:40 AM »

Are you obligated to use 'HomeGroup' in Windows 10?

I would sure hope not, the 15% drop in network speed is never worth the "ease" Microsoft envisioned when creating a LAN network in your home (or small office)!   

1091

General Software Discussion / Re: Deleting Recovery Partition and Merging to C drive

« Last post by Shades on September 11, 2015, 07:23 AM »

My Dell laptop came with Win8, got auto updated to 8.1 and now to 10. 
Now I find that there are 3/4 recovery partition on my hdd. I assume they are for 8, 8.1 and 10.

[ Invalid Attachment ]

I want to delete those partitions and merge the space into C: partition. I have made USB recovery of Win10.
I googled for help on it and downloaded "EaseUS Partition Master" and "AOMEI Partition Assistant".

Before I start deleting and merging, my query is "Has anyone have similar experience ?"
Any advise on it is valuable for me at this stage.

Regards,

Anand

-anandcoral (September 10, 2015, 10:55 AM)

To me, these partitions look way too small to be recovery partitions. Better investigate what is on these partitions first, before you create problems.

An easy tool to investigate what content is stored on those partitions is: EASSOS Partition Guru.

It is a small installer and comes in both freeware and commercial versions. The freeware one is fine for investigating.

This software has an explorer-like tool to look inside partitions, even if those do not have a drive letter or are hidden. And if you encounter files on those partitions that are associated with installed applications you can view those normally. Which makes investigating a breeze. The freeware version even allows you to copy files to different partitions or devices.

When you install Windows normally, besides the C:\ partition another small partition is created in front of the C:\ partition that contains all the required boot information. Lose this partition and you lose the ability to boot Windows at all! From that moment you will need to boot from your Windows installation media and see if the repair function can restore this or not.

Common size of this boot partition is 100MByte on a standard hard disk (with spinning platter(s)), and 350MByte on a SSD hard disk. All recovery partitions I have encountered so far, always have been several gigabytes in size. Usually between 4 and 10 GByte, depending on how much trial crap the manufacturer has included in their standard Windows installation. As the MS Windows installation files themselves are around 3GByte in size, drivers for the hardware take up the rest of the minimum recovery partition size of 4GByte.

The Windows disk manager isn't that capable in showing you what the actual purpose is of an partition. You will need more specialist tools for that. The earlier mentioned Partition Guru software is just one of those tools, MiniTool Partition Wizard is another (also comes in both freeware and commercial versions). In any case, what the Windows drive management software appears to mark as recovery partition doesn't have to be recovery partition in reality. The last partition in your screenshot, the one of 9.18GByte, that is the recovery partition of the manufacturer of your PC.

1092

Living Room / Re: John McAfee 2016?!? Yep. :)

« Last post by Shades on September 09, 2015, 08:04 PM »

Compared with Donald Trump, I think McAfee is just as capable. Whether that is a good or bad thing, I'll leave up to you.

Spoiler

Actually Donald Trump is the lesser option. Because anyone with brain cells likes to laugh at Trump, while anyone likes to laugh with McAfee...

1093

General Software Discussion / Re: 2 My documents folders, deleted one, both gone! How to recover files?

« Last post by Shades on September 07, 2015, 06:09 AM »

NTFS supports junctions. Junctions are a link to folder in a different location than you currently are.

For most intends and purposes Junctions can be very helpful with saving storage space, as now you have one location where files are stored, with more than one way of accessing these files.

However, if you don't know you are working with junctions ('My Documents' folder is a junction) you have a problem and it appears data is gone from 2 folders. But rest assured, you have thrown the files from just one location.



A decent file manager (Directory Opus in the example image) indicates if you are working with a junction or folder.

Whatever you do, do not restore the files you want to retrieve back into the folder where they came from! If you do, you are seriously sabotaging your recovery attempt!

Preferably use a different location in a different partition on the same hard disk, if you have more than one partition. If you don't, restore your files to a portable hard disk or pen drive. This way you significantly increase your chances of retrieving files you lost.

Recuva is indeed decent software for retrieval. TestDisk is another capable piece of software, but its interface might be daunting. UndeleteNTFS is  very capable, but comes with a quite hefty price tag.

1094

General Software Discussion / Re: Readon HD 7310 Blurred text with overall faded look

« Last post by Shades on September 05, 2015, 01:59 PM »

In my case I understand the sentiment of both sides. I have a Radeon 4670 (Sapphire) and that is a very reliable card, supports 2 monitors with different resolutions using the latest AMD driver that is intended for that card even in Windows 2012. I love this card. Before this card I always had ATI cards and these were great as well for their day.

However, I did upgrade to a newer Radeon HD 6450 (XFX) with the 15.6 version of the AMD driver and it doesn't properly support 2 monitors. Not in Windows 7, not in Windows 8, not in Windows 2012. I don't dare to try the new 15.8 beta driver as exchanging drivers is much more of a headache than it used to be. Compared with Nvidia's offerings on the low-end scale...the Nvidia's just work (like the old school ATI's and early AMD's did).

This last AMD card sure tempered my love and lust for the latest AMD graphic card offerings. I still think there isn't much wrong with the hardware itself, but the drivers (software) are a piece of sh.t. Now I don't know if the drivers are as problematic when they are combined with the high-end AMD cards, but I sure as hell won't spent a pile of money to find that out.

Unless AMD gets their drivers in order for their cards in every price range, my 15 year stint with ATI/AMD will end and my next video card will be a Nvidia. 

1095

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Shades on September 02, 2015, 08:26 PM »

^I like my DVDs; they're not electronic and have no moving parts and are not likely to suddenly go DOA and lose all my backup data.
But I also like the mini-pc; unitized & modular, little to go wrong, portable, relatively inexpensive (not counting peripherals) and easy to replace with a functional up-to-date unit (unless it no longer handles an older OS).

-bit (September 01, 2015, 03:49 AM)

Since I live in Paraguay I have noticed that the hardware you can buy for PC's is of lesser quality. Manufacturers do not send their best products to the South-American market. This is very clear with DVD players and burners. I wish I was kidding, but when you burn a dvd here it is not a given that the same burner is able to read it next week...and strangely enough after 6 months the section that gave read problems before, moved on the disc.

This happens with original discs as well. Alignment and calibration varies because of shoddier build quality, temperature and humidity.

The whole system is so unreliable that in the store room more than 20 different dvd burners are lying there without a job. Whenever I need to restore a backup I had burned to disc I take 4 or 5 of them and try if the backup is retrievable with that set of drives. 

A stark contrast with hooking up an portable hard disk enclosure and start working right away at speeds DVD's only can dream about. And with hard disk prices as they are, DVD's barely beat the price/storage-capacity ratio of the hard disk.

Just sayin'. 

1096

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Shades on August 31, 2015, 12:51 AM »

For the OS that is usually not a problem (with an enclosure that supports the burner you want and has support for USB 2.0 or better).

How your preferred burner software handles such devices, that is another matter. Again, it shouldn't be a problem, especially when you use updated versions of your burner software. But if you happen to like an old(er) version, there might be an issue. Don't expect these devices to be as fast to burn DVD's or BD's than the ones you put in a proper PC case. Information throughput of USB 2.0 ports looks like a lot in theory, but in practice rarely achievable. USB 3.0 devices can handle a lot more information throughput in comparison, but the USB standard isn't known to sustain information throughput for longer periods of time.

If you would get a new PC, you might want to consider converting whatever CD/DVD/BD collection you have to portable hard disks. In the end that is cheaper, consumes a lot less storage space and it is seriously faster than burning CDs/DVDs/BDs. These portable hard disks will definitely work with, well, any type of PC.   

1097

General Software Discussion / Re: 'create Restore Point' question

« Last post by Shades on August 29, 2015, 02:52 PM »

If the PC is a bit older, you might even want to clean off the old heat conducting paste that is always put between the CPU and the CPU cooler. And re-apply a fresh (thin!) layer.

Actually, I have seen videos of people complaining about Intel putting a cheap heat paste between the top of the actual processor die and the aluminum plate that is intended for the paste between the CPU and the CPU cooler. And replacing that cheap Intel paste with decent paste.

I believe this practice is called 'delidding', which is usually done by over-clockers. Example youtube videos:

Edit: added another youtube video

1098

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Shades on August 28, 2015, 08:59 AM »

Fanless Mini PC HTPC Intel Pentium J2850 Quad Core 2.41GHz Micro PC Barebone - ebay $150 USD w/$50 s&h
My comment: It's a Pentium, quad-core, 2.41GHz.
One (empty) ram slot (probably doubles the total cost including a separately purchased 4GB ram stick).
Spec sheet beneath picture gives more details:
-supports Win 7 & 8, up to 256GB SSD HD, & etc.
I wonder if this means it will not accept my external 200GB EIDE HD, or 500GB & 750GB SATA HDs?

edit: 'Compatible with Win 7 & 8' implies 'incompatible w/Win 10 & etc'.

-bit (August 26, 2015, 11:25 PM)

Even though it is a "small" PC, put in as much RAM as you can afford (8GByte or 16GByte) as that will extend its useful product life significantly. The problem is that your EIDE hard disk cannot be connected to this main board at all. Actually, EIDE isn't supported on any new mother boards for several years now.

Your SATA hard disks could be connected and would work if these didn't have too much storage capacity for the onboard SATA controller. Also, it is highly likely your SATA hard disks are 3,5" models. This model requires a lot more power to operate than the 2.5" model. In other words, your hard disks are too big in size (both physically and in capacity) and too power consuming. The power supply that comes with this device isn't able to cope with those power requirements.

Low power devices always sacrifice (a lot of) capability to get those low power numbers.

You should buy the biggest SSD hard disk this board supports, again to extend the product's life.

If you do all of this, you will be very pleasantly surprised about this device for a long time to come. However, it won't be cheap to buy. It will be quite cheap to run.

Or buy a cheap PC case with power supply, transfer your old main board into this case, including your EIDE hard disk. Sell it / donate it / use it as a NAS server (you should get decent power supply if you do this).

Add new main board with new processor and DDR3/DDR4 RAM to your old PC case. A decent Asus main board with decent Intel i5 processor and 8GByte of DDR3 RAM will set you back around 300 USD here in Paraguay. And in the U.S. hardware is cheaper anyway. You can still use your SATA hard disks on this new main board, the onboard SATA controller can slow down to SATA 1 speeds if your SATA hard disks are SATA 1 models (which is very likely in an old PC as yours is).
 
If you can do the labor and hunting for deals on computer parts yourself, building is usually the cheapest option to buy, but not necessarily cheapest to run. And if not, you'll pay for the labor someone else did in getting parts and assembling them for you.

While I do understand why someone buys an off-the-shelf PC for home use, you won't see me do that. I (still) like to build my own machines from scratch. Mainly because I don't want to be stuck with a sub-par PC that someone else deemed good enough. And that is even more true for laptops, if you talk about sub-par computing (but that is a rant for another day).

1099

General Software Discussion / Re: Friendly Face of Death (Windows 10)!

« Last post by Shades on August 27, 2015, 09:24 AM »

@Curt:
Former BSOD screens did/do display the reason and error code of what happened to cause the BSOD. In that sense, these BSOD's were/are not useless.

However, that info was/is presented in an unclear way and gone way too soon for most to identify where the reason and error code were/are shown.

1100

Developer's Corner / Re: XML If-Els

« Last post by Shades on August 21, 2015, 11:50 PM »

Would something like this not be easier?

Code: Text [Select]

1. <Element>
2.     <if>
3.         <conditions>
4.             <condition var="TotalWeightMin" operator="&gt;">136000</condition>
5.             <condition var="TotalWeightMax" operator="&lt;">140001</condition>
6.         </conditions>
7.         <statements>
8.             <V1>
9.                 <valueV1>139</valueV1>
10.             </V1>
11.         </statements>
12.     </if>
13. </Element>

Caveat: The stories of my experience with XML can written on the head of one pin.

The W3schools web site says that it is preferable to use conditional statements in a XLST file that is linked to the XML file you are trying to create.

What I do know is that if you want to do more serious work with XML files, you will need a decent XML editor that also allows for debugging. XML Studio is such an editor, but it doesn't come cheap. Perhaps their trial version works long enough for you to grok this type of functionality in XML.

Sorry, can't be of much more help...if all of the above was even helpful at all.