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1176

Living Room / Re: New Virus or ??

« Last post by Shades on May 06, 2015, 10:00 AM »

Are you certain the virus/malware/whatever didn't affect the restore point you want to revert to?

A botched install from a piece of software, an update that proves to be incompatible with your system...that are reasons to use system restore. Infection is not. At least in my book.

Creepy cobweb is the name showing in the screen. Are you sure that the application responsible for the mayhem uses the same name? A simple tool, such as Process Explorer gives much more insight into that which helps with a more fruitful combing through the registry. A lot of malware disables software such as Process Explorer from running after the malware infects a system. Because it is of such a help to the admin/end-user in charge of fixing the system.

What SeraphimLabs said is very solid advice. Use tools like JRT, ADWCleaner etc. to check for malware that MalwareBytes Anti-malware might have missed. Check if the system has a rootkit.If it has one of those, then system restore won't be of any help at all. Then you better start making backup of her data, thoroughly check if those files aren't infected, thoroughly wipe her hard disk and start re-installing (preferably from non-writable media, such as a DVD).

1177

General Software Discussion / Re: email client and a special feature

« Last post by Shades on May 05, 2015, 09:41 PM »

To my (limited) knowledge it is possible to start Thunderbird with a batch script where you can specify which profile it should open. These profiles must exist, you cannot create these on the fly.

skwire is also right, applications need command-line support before you can use them in a batch script. Never, ever expect this support and even if your application has command-line support, don't expect too much usable options/parameters to be included. Besides, the use of batch is dwindling and there is some push towards PowerShell for the persons that make use of the command-line. With good reason, PowerShell is much more powerful and allows you to access applications in ways batch scripts cannot even dream of.

There is nice freeware (Idera) around that enables you to make scripts yourself. It comes with auto-complete, descriptions of all commands and their parameters + working example scripts, a debugger and access to community where you can download scripts as well.

Whatever time you dedicate to PowerShell with this software, it will be time well spent.  

1178

General Software Discussion / Re: moving data from desktop to laptop

« Last post by Shades on May 05, 2015, 09:01 PM »

It might even be an idea to get a portable hard disk (roughly the same size as your internal; hard disk. Hook it up to the appropriate computer and start transferring data. This has the advantage that you have a (new) portable hard disk that can be very useful for other purposes (backup ?) after you are finished transferring data.

Although it shouldn't be difficult to get the crossover cable, setting up things always proved less than reliable when I went through that in the XP-era. Perhaps this has improved in the more modern versions of Windows. Never went through that anymore, because now I always have a spare switch (and some UTP cables) lying around for just this kind of problem. Always fast, always reliable and easy to setup.

Moving around a lot of data over wireless connections is never as fast as cables, so if you can get over that inconvenience, this whole ordeal is over in a (significantly) shorter amount of time.

1179

General Software Discussion / Re: Using a batch file to create a hyperlinked png or jpg image.

« Last post by Shades on April 23, 2015, 11:25 PM »

Too little info to go on, but I'll try anyway.

If Outlook is required, you better use PowerShell, which is more powerful and can access applications & servers installed on your system in ways batch scripts cannot even dream of.
But if that isn't the case, you could use batch script in combination with a command-line mailer (3rd party or what is included with Windows) and push out the messages that way. With batch scripts it is usually best to keep things as simple as possible.

There are even SMTP servers you run from the command line on your computer...but use those at your own peril. You don't want your IP address being blocked by organizations that patrol the internet for spammers.

Maintaining your own mail server is a job not for the faint of heart, because there are so many ways of doing it wrong. Better use the mail services provided by your ISP or mail host.
A command-line mailer can send mail through those services without problems, provided you use ports that aren't blocked. Most ISP's block port 25 by default to prevent unsanctioned SMTP traffic (a.k.a spam).

Find out how Outlook is sending your mail now (SMTP/IMAP/Exchange/whatever) and find a command-line mailer that can do the same. Use the settings from Outlook with the command-line mailer and you should be able to send mail just like Outlook does, only without Outlook. From here it should be relatively easy, as you already have the rest of the "building blocks".

1180

General Software Discussion / Re: The problem with text compare tools - similar, in database compare tools

« Last post by Shades on April 21, 2015, 07:41 AM »

The not free version of ExamDiff Pro will let you edit files directly. It also allows you to configure how "fine-grained" its output is. You can even adjust the colors it uses for this.

The only other compare tool I have experience with is 'Beyond Compare', which is on par with Examdiff Pro regarding configuration (the versions I have from both programs are). Not sure about Beyond Compare's ability to recognize moved text blocks. All I know is that Mouser is a very(!) big fan of Beyond Compare.

1181

General Software Discussion / Re: Comodo Internet Security -- a cautionary tale?

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

An AV solution without real time shield is the open source 'ClamWin'. There are options to add real time scanning to it, if you want it. Because of its limited feature set it isn't represented in a lot of (neutral) AV comparison tests.

Here is one though. User satisfaction is on par with AVG users. The link also provides insights into what ClamWin does and doesn't do. This way you can decide if ClamWin is your cup of tea or not.

1182

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a very flexible timer

« Last post by Shades on April 10, 2015, 06:29 AM »

'Manic Timer' would be the first timer I would think of when you want a set-it-and-let-it-run timer. Keeps track of anything you do in your system and can create reports from that. Comes in both free and commercial versions.

1183

Html and CSS School / Re: HTML editor for beginners

« Last post by Shades on April 08, 2015, 09:59 AM »

Even the free HTML-Kit has a "preview pane"-like window which could be shown side-by-side with your html coding window. You have drag and click somewhat to make this happen every time, but you can set the refresh interval of the "preview pane" in its settings. If that is still a thing you want to have.

A decent text editor where you create the concept of the page you like to make and only when finished you'll do preview in the browser of your choice...is the better way to do things. Sure, at first you'll fail, perhaps even fail miserably. But you will proficient with HTML more quickly than when you keep staring at a preview pane to to see the result of each and every change. This is a time-consuming habit.

Same rules apply with CSS...especially when working with tricks to get the same look on different web-engines, you can fall in this trap.

1184

General Software Discussion / Re: Adventures in cleaning (my cranky) computer

« Last post by Shades on April 07, 2015, 09:27 PM »

Be wary of any registry cleaner. If you have a program that didn't make proper use of the registry, the registry cleaner could mark this as something to fix or remove. Result? Your application wouldn't work anymore.

Not all programs are written properly and registry cleaners have a notion to be over-zealous in getting the highest number of "errors" they need to fix. Once you hit the 'Fix all errors'-button, you could be going from a (reasonably) working system to making a recover attempt from a restore point or even re-installation of Windows in just a minute.

Personally, I haven't used a registry cleaner in years. Sorry for being harsh, but I am inclining to say that you deserve whatever misery you get into after a registry cleaning.

Your registry won't be much smaller or faster or stored more optimal on disk. Only that last item could make some (debatable) difference.

The best advice? Leave the registry alone. Better keep a tool that makes a snapshot of your system (including registry) running in the background when you install some new piece of software. Once you want to get rid of this software, use that same tool again to revert all changes this new piece of software made. This is the better way to keep your system lean and mean. I believe Comodo offers such a tool as (limited) freeware and commercially licensed.

1185

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

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

Although SSD's work fine with SATA2 ports, SSD's really start to work for you when you connect these to SATA3 (a.k.a 6g) ports on your mother board. And if your PC is older than 4 or 5 years, it is highly likely your motherboard doesn't have these SATA3 ports. RAM isn't backwards compatible. Your current mobo likely uses DDR2 RAM, your new mobo would use DDR3 RAM or better. Besides, your current RAM 'sticks' would slow down new RAM 'sticks' so significantly that you negate most, if not all, speed gains a new mobo gives you.

Unless you have a very custom build case, your case can handle mobo's build according to ATX standards.

 

1186

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

« Last post by Shades on April 05, 2015, 10:39 PM »

The value that is shown here in this overview from my own computer (idling, Firefox opened with 1 tab), this is already too high. Values like this shouldn't appear on idling PC's. If they do, it means there are one or more hardware issues cropping up. This PC is already 7 years old, but it is functioning well enough.

Values should be between 0.00 and 0.25 on an idling system. When doing lots of activities on your PC, this value should not go over 1.00 or at max 1.50. If you see higher values, your PC is encountering serious problems, resulting in a sluggish system at best...but you can wait for the BSOD's to appear soon. This, because your hardware won't (sufficiently) enable Windows anymore to read/write the data and info it requires to be a fully functional OS. This is not Windows fault, your degrading hardware is to blame.

Now, if you have such a system and it only runs 3 to 6 hours a day doing menial tasks only...you still will get some use out of it, hopefully for quite some time. But make no mistake, your hardware continues to degrade.

Network traffic and reading/writing data to a hard disk (internal or external) or pendrive are common to cause 'Interrupt' spikes. Such equipment that you regard as fast will cause hardly any spikes at all, while slow equipment will cause much bigger spikes than you would expect. 

The 'Interrupt' value is the first indicator that things aren't running as smoothly as they should be.

When you have determined that networking is the cause of the 'Interrupt' spikes:
If by any chance you have a spare network card laying around (100Mbit/sec or faster) you could build that into your PC, disable the onboard network in your BIOS and start using your PC again. It is quite possible that this action eliminates one or more causes that make the 'Interrupt' value spike and you would have a much more functional PC again. Even if you don't have a spare one, new ones cost between 5 USD and 10 USD here in Paraguay (so should be cheaper in the US).

When you have determined that the reading/writing on HD is the cause of the 'Interrupt' spikes:
Eliminating or reducing spikes is much more tricky here. For example If you used your computer and HD's with Windows XP before and you upgraded to this installation to Windows 7, you might have an unaligned hard disk. Simply stated:
when this is the case, every read/write action on your PC is practically done twice. Partition manager software (MiniTool has an excellent piece of freeware) can identify and fix this for you. Aligning is a very intense operation and will take hours, perhaps even a full day, and if things fail you are in serious trouble (so make backups first if you do this). However, after your HD's are successfully aligned you will be very glad you did this.

However if you installed Windows 7 from scratch, this aligning is already done and the point of the paragraph above is moot. In that case it is more likely that the part of the Nvidia chip-set responsible for the actual reading/writing on your HD's isn't working properly anymore. You can get a SATA controller that fits in one of your mobo's PCI-E connectors, connect your HD's to that controller and disable this part of your BIOS. This won't be that cheap and is more of a 'hail Mary' than anything else.

More often than not, it is cheaper and/or less of a headache to get a new mobo and RAM, move your SATA HD's (no IDE connectors on new mobo's anymore) and video card to the new PC and re-install Windows.

1187

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

« Last post by Shades on April 05, 2015, 04:53 PM »

Sounds like an old motherboard to me. I used to have A8N-Pro ones, but these boards use the Nvidia chip-set and I hate to break it to you, these don't last long. I am convinced that the reason why your system is behaving oddly when connecting multiple HD's using different technologies gives you problems is, plain and simple, the quirks of a dying Nvidia chip-set.

Of all the boards I run, none of them have Nvidia chip-sets anymore. My experiences at that time may not be relevant anymore for new boards that have Nvidia chip-sets, but I was so appalled by the problems I encountered, you won't see me buy any mobo with their chip-sets ever again. At least 5 years ago I phased out Nvidia. I still have 3 Asus A8V (10+ years old and based on VIA chip-set) in use 24/7 and those are still going strong.

I do like Nvidia video cards though.

1188

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

« Last post by Shades on April 05, 2015, 01:45 AM »

It isn't my style of music and that is the only thing bad thing I can say about this guy.

With a talent like his, why does the US even put up with a Justin Bieber and consorts? This is awesome and I don't even like his style of music (too close to country for my taste). He reminds me a bit of John Denver (my mother did like his music).

1189

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

« Last post by Shades on April 05, 2015, 01:22 AM »

Read this thread (2nd post) on the Microsoft Community forums. It states that when you enable the Windows services associated with the creation of restore points, your PC should make one RP once a week or when Windows detects that a (big) change occurs on your computer. Automagically...

1190

General Software Discussion / Re: Best VM Creation Solution

« Last post by Shades on April 05, 2015, 01:12 AM »

I would attempt to make a dump of the entire database. The software I mentioned before also allows you to do such a thing. Then I would create a new database, preferably on a different DB server and import this dump into it, again with the already mentioned software. A different DB on the same DB server is an option too.

With these actions you have checked that your data (including its structure) can be restored successfully. Don't underestimate the importance of this. Make the time for it, because you don't want to do this the moment the proverbial sh!t hits the fan. There is a bonus, you have now a second DB running and with that you can experiment to improve access times.

It may not be as easy as using 3rd party software to create database dumps, the software that accompanies the database is usually most reliable when generating and importing these dumps.

1191

General Software Discussion / Re: Best VM Creation Solution

« Last post by Shades on April 04, 2015, 02:48 PM »

You have several options for virtualization. If your needs are small and basic: VirtualBox/VMWare Player will do. You will need to re-install your server inside either of these solutions.
VMWare has software that could convert your current server into a virtual one, which can be used in VMWare only. If this software is able to convert your real server into a virtual one, make sure to test it first extensively before giving up the real server though.

Access times in a database can be affected by a lot of things. And what I have noticed with testing MS-SQL (2012) against Oracle (10g &11g & 12c) (each just using the most basic functionality) is that MS-SQL is slower. Sometimes significantly slower when you have created indexes that are filled by the DB software in a not so efficient way. To get that right, you need to have a deep insight in how MS-SQL does this and after you have fixed this yourself you'll need to be on the lookout for the DB not to mess it up again when it maintains these indexes. In this regard, Oracle is much more efficient and you see that back in improved access times. 

So, if your DB relies a lot on indexes, getting these filled and maintained properly requires you to spend time keeping them in shape. Reducing the amount of indexes might help, but that usually leads to database (re-)design. Good database design is harder than it looks. Finding the balance between storing data into the database and getting this data into your application as fast as possible can be tricky.

There is software included with the MS-SQL Server 2012 Express installer, that shows you where the time is spent when you make a query against the database. I must say that this software is more intuitive than the software that comes with Oracle databases.

You can install this software by downloading the 1GByte+ MS-SQL 2012 Express installer and follow the installation instructions. You'll need to mark first that you want to install the complete package and after a while you are presented with an option screen where you disable whatever functionality you don't need. I just mention this, because it might be confusing at first.

It could be that this functionality is already available in MS-SQL 2008 Express. The only experience I have is with the MS-SQL 2012 database.

Anyway, the overview provided by this functionality will give you a clear insight in how to improve access times in your database. If the sole purpose of this exercise is to improve access times, that would be the first place I would look, instead of spending time to virtualize your whole setup and hope that this will bring the improvements you seek.

1192

General Software Discussion / Re: mapping_data_source::init error: file not found

« Last post by Shades on April 03, 2015, 11:44 AM »

What is the reason of (brutally) terminating Ditto in the first place?

Software like 'Process Governor' or 'Process Tamer' would help closing any application gently, before its memory consumption or CPU consumption becomes too much for your liking.

Best practices regarding RAM consumption by an application is a whole different warzone discussion.

Debugging batch scripts involves a lot of handwork, especially when such scripts get a bit more complicated.
Fodder's suggestion is very helpful, it is best to type 'cmd' in the search box of your start menu. Perhaps it would even be better to run the 'cmd.exe' application in administration mode. Navigate to the batch script inside this CMD shell and run the script:

@echo off
taskkill.exe /im ditto.exe /f
PAUSE
start y:\Dittoprg64\Ditto.exe

When the PAUSE command is executed in the script you will see the result of the taskkill command you have executed. It the result shows one or more error messages, you can use the key combination CTRL + C to terminate the execution of this batch script (this won't close the CMS shell). Starting the Ditto application before fixing the error message is of no use and can even damage the data that is stored in that application. But you already managed to find that out the hard way.

It is very important to give an application time to close itself properly, so it can save files and data it was working with to allow it to function correctly the next time the application is started. The '/f' parameter of the taskkill command doesn't give any time at all to the application to terminate itself. Therefore it is only to be used as last resort.

For example, if Ditto consumes too much RAM for your liking, proper use of the taskkill command would be:

taskkill.exe /fi "Memusage gt 500000" /im ditto.exe         (this kills Ditto if it uses more than 500MByte of RAM)


Replace the taskkill line in your own script with the line above and use the built-in scheduler of Windows to execute the adjusted batch script on an interval (once per hour, once per day etc.) and Ditto will be properly terminated and restarted automatically, only when it is running out of your optimal settings.

Managing multiple applications in this way is a very time consuming task and there are specific tools here already available on the DC forum that make this a lot easier.

[joke (or not?)]
  You are always allowed to use the '/f' parameter like this: taskkill.exe /im excel.exe /f
[/joke]

Follow the link above for more explanation about this command (including some simple examples).

It also looks like you use a non-standard drive and folder setup in this particular Windows setup.

The reported error mentions that it cannot find a file, so that leads to to the following questions:
Y:\ - this is a network drive? And even if it isn't, are you sure you have enough user rights to access this drive and its contents?
Dittoprg64\ - Are you sure you have enough user rights to access this folder and its contents?

1193

General Software Discussion / Re: Best SQL Express DB backup Software (SQL Express 2008)

« Last post by Shades on March 30, 2015, 12:39 AM »

The backups may not br good...or are they not good?

If you don't know, you should test the created backup by importing it on a different SQL2008 Express DB server (a VM is helpful in this case) and test the data being served up by the new SQL DB.
Assuming you have an application that works with this exported data, you could use the same application to verify the data coming from the new DB.

Don't trust a backup you make, verify that it works...else you won't have made a backup at all. It won't matter if you make a backup using 3rd party software or the integrated tools from MS itself. Never trust the message saying "Backup successfully completed". You will be burnt if you won't verify by importing the data again. I have seen the aftermath of others failing miserably with this years ago and you won't see me make their mistakes ever again.

Once you have such a test setup and backup strategy, you will be better prepared for any mishap that is waiting for you. If you do not verify your backups, you have not made backups. Can't say this often enough. 

Making a copy of an existing dump you created earlier isn't much of a safety net either. The NTFS file system (or FAT32 or EXT2 or EXT3 or EXT4 or HFS) can't be trusted 100%. Especially folks that use the MS default file size notation of KB/MB/GB are fooled into thinking that copies  of a file are the same. This notation introduces rounding and that can (and shall) be fatal. I use the byte size notation in directory opus as first indicator to see if there are file size differences. And I have seen these occur. And I have lost control files from Oracle database, simply because of a 1 byte difference in file size.   

For most intends and purposes any of the main file systems are more than adequate, but 100% reliable they aren't.

 

1194

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: I have put a "share with facebook" type thing on the pages (temporarily?)..

« Last post by Shades on March 28, 2015, 09:03 PM »

OK, This was nagging by me...for several notable reasons:

1. DonationCoder.com is currently running in 2002 mode.  Yes a lot of people here hate Facebook and Twitter and Google+ and any sort of social media...but even those who do cannot honestly say that they are not a fantastic way to get attention for a website/project.

-Stephen66515 (March 28, 2015, 06:24 PM)

Not all people are of the opinion that the "2015 internet" is better than than the "2002 internet". Better looking? Sure! Faster? Yes! Easier? Yep! More useful?  
The thing is: by making sharing too easy, everybody starts doing this and will become noise on the receiving end. More eyeballs will see it, I am sure of that. But if this results in youtube-style comments on postings on the DC forum, then what has been accomplished here?

 

2. This actually proves my point about mouser always hating change.  Ay time there is an experiment on the site, or something that could work fantastically well...It is always lead with "I will not be keeping this" "I hate this" blah blah blah...mouser...it's 2015...This is the norm.

-Stephen66515 (March 28, 2015, 06:24 PM)

Ah, the sheeple argument...

Think about it this way...On average, people on Facebook have around 300-500 friends...so...if one person reads something on DC right now...unless they can be bothered going through the rigmarole of Copying the URL, going to Facebook/Twitter, pasting it (or shortening it first on Twitter) then posting it...they are simply not going to share it...but with the buttons that are currently on DC now (After I bugged you enough for you to add them!), it is a simple 2 click procedure.  You know how many people use these buttons?  Do you know how many more hits website get because they have sharing functions?  You probably don't because you have an intense hatred for change and future-proofing.  1 person clicking share, could potentially reach 500 friends...if 2 people also share from their friends (going on the basis of 500 average friends) - that is a reach of 1500 people...from one person clicking 2 buttons...which...I am sorry...but at the moment, DC simply doesn't get that kind of coverage because people just are not going to go through the shit of copy/pasting links every 5 minutes if there are a good few topics they feel their friends may like!

-Stephen66515 (March 28, 2015, 06:24 PM)

Easier to generate more noise. Some people have work to do and like to come home to visit, look at an/or discuss vetted content, instead of the wading garbage being served to you by FB etc. While the amount of crap being shoveled by FB is impressive and it would be actually interesting to see/touch/play with the hardware that is doing the shit-shoveling...but it is still shit-shoveling we're talking about here.

"Personally I find it too much in your face distracting"

Yeah, Because you live in 2002 and don't accept change.

-Stephen66515 (March 28, 2015, 06:24 PM)

The bar is not shown in the same visual style as the DC forum and the color makes it stick out. Some are bothered by that, some don't. Ever since I put my first steps on the internet I have become very adept at ignoring content without use to me. This bar falls in that same category.

"I'm open to adding some very subtle extra button somewhere that pops up a menu"

You mean like the one that used to be on DC...the one that nobody used?  Oh yeah...they didn't use it because it was VERY SUBTLE and NOBODY KNEW IT WAS THERE!  

Mouser, you know me, and you know I will be straight up honest with you...You need to accept change...DC is 10 years old...but stop acting like everything is still as it were back then...it is 2015...accept change or be left behind in the dust...DC needs to incorporate all that is good, and accept that having an in-your-face popup, that could potentially mean DC gets a HUGE increase in traffic (Or at least a huge amount of potential towards free advertising).

-Stephen66515 (March 28, 2015, 06:24 PM)

Some spit-balling here: if you must have these buttons, I would update the profile pages here at DC and have check boxes (default enabled/disabled/cookie) close to the 'Post' button that way it is easy to share your own posts on a forum thread and if you have nothing to add to the thread you could add buttons to the first post. Or make a DC share button that shares automatically with the 'socials', according to the configuration on your own profile page. That way you could get rid of the bar, but not give up on the sharing functionality...for those that care at least.

1195

Living Room / Re: TV shows thread

« Last post by Shades on March 28, 2015, 06:25 PM »

Continuing where Stoic Joker left off, 'The Walking Dead' and 'Z Nation' are very enjoyable zombie TV-shows as well. Both are very different. TWD is already around for 5 seasons and none of these are bad. Z finished its 1st season and is much(!) more tongue-in-cheek.

'Helix' is also a very enjoyable. A lot of series from SyFy are. From them also comes a sci-fi mini-series, called 'Ascencion', which is very well done. Know as little as possible about this mini-series as possible for full enjoyment, though. 

1196

Coding Snacks / Re: Is there any way of 'saving' file associations?

« Last post by Shades on March 25, 2015, 09:22 PM »

A search on the DC forum resulted in this N.A.N.Y entry. And it is my guess that it will help you out, especially with your preference of using portable software. Of course, this tool is portable as well. 

1197

Living Room / Re: Interested in doing my own car maintenance.. Advice?

« Last post by Shades on March 24, 2015, 02:08 AM »

It also makes looking up information inside the books a bit tricky.

1198

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Shades on March 24, 2015, 01:37 AM »

@tomos:
[bad joke]
Schadenfreude...you sound a bit like a grammar n*z*, just now. Then again, when someone does do some 'Schaden' to a word, I have a hard time believing that a grammar n*z* gets much 'freude' from correcting it 
[/bad joke] 

1199

General Software Discussion / Re: how can I do this in excel?

« Last post by Shades on March 24, 2015, 01:22 AM »

In the other thread, as Ath already noticed, I mention that many people perceive Excel to be the hammer to "nail" the problem. Although this may initially work, I can tell you now already that this solution won't scale well, if at all. Just open 25 instances of Excel at the same time...I have seen the result of that on a computer with 64 Xeon processors and 64GByte of RAM. A system that has proven to be capable of doing really heavy calculations on huge sets of data with our software, suddenly became so slow that we were called in the middle of the night by the (very upset) board of directors of the company that owned this computer for some serious "grilling".

Since then, there is one mantra. Excel is never, ever a solution. Entering Excel in any automated business process and you won't have to wait until you get burned by that decision. Excel eats so much resources, it is by far the biggest offender in the Office suite...Microsoft should be ashamed of letting such garbage loose on the public. Yet the public yearns for more crap to be bolted on that pile of sh*t.

An approach of generating an Excel file automatically after being triggered or after the interval of your choice is far better and something quite easy to do in already pre-existing solutions such as a CMS.

1200

General Software Discussion / Re: links of files of a web server

« Last post by Shades on March 22, 2015, 11:34 PM »

Any reasonably modern computer has sufficient resources to run the requisites of most, if not all, CMS's. Heck, if the amount of users that make use of these requisites is low, even older systems (Pentium 4 class) won't have problems. On Windows you have a lot of choice. XAMPP is one of those solutions. But there are many more and have been discussed previously on the boards here.

When you run such a solution you will have a working Apache web server, a MySQL database server and PHP. These are the building blocks which most CMS's need to function. After that is done, find the CMS you like on this website.

In my experiences with XAMPP I always liked that by default all is stored in the main folder XAMPP. You usually install it in C:\XAMMP or extract it in such a location (yes, it can be used as a portable app too).

The one thing you should remember though, is that the computer running XAMPP isn't too exposed to the internet. Solutions such as XAMPP are meant for testing and developing and should not be used in a production environment. At least not with their default settings enabled. To my knowledge any of these solutions come with instructions to make them safe for a production environment. 

Yes, all of the above will require you to study, but you will be glad that you did in the long run.