Recent Posts

1451

Living Room / Re: GLaDOS explains fission and fusion for NASA's IRelevant Astronomy podcast

« Last post by Shades on February 27, 2014, 06:42 PM »

  

1452

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Shades on February 25, 2014, 04:03 PM »

Wolves do not deserve the stigma man has put on them. However, is this not just what happens every time when one species is too dominant? And isn't the same true when balance is restored?

Live and let live. That is the only way.

1453

Living Room / Re: The first Lotus motorcycle

« Last post by Shades on February 23, 2014, 09:59 AM »

@Stoic:
You are totally right. The website of Parker Brothers is very basic, but they have a project Neutron (which looks very much like the Tron bike) that apparently is able to do all of what you want, but with only text and a static picture of the bike...who could tell?

A Tron bike is a typical example of an object where function follows design. Beautiful uselessness.

1454

General Software Discussion / Re: The Best Security Suites (2013/2014)

« Last post by Shades on February 22, 2014, 11:42 AM »

There is an application called Zolt. Run XP with this application and see how it works out for you.

What it does is simple, it runs a service and adds an icon in the tray for easy enabling/disabling. As long as it is disabled, your computer will work normally. However, when enabled no-one is allowed to write to (any of) your hard disk(s) anymore. In essence, it turns a hard disk into a CD-ROM. The latest version of it that I could still find, was back in 2002(!) and it is still in my archive, so if you really want it I could PM it to you. For some reason, attaching it to this post seems impossible.

Try this software and be amazed about the type of sites you can visit without any chance of infection. At the time I tried it, I just had my 5 Mbit connection and a fresh XP installation. In those days it was bad in the Netherlands, the first time you would go on the net and immediately let your ant-virus software update itself, you would already infected by a(t least one) virus before that update was finished.

But with this software enabled not one virus was able to infect my system. To me this software looks like it disables write access at the Windows kernel level. I do remember though that 3 to 6 months after I downloaded this, I wanted to see if there were updates. The website of the creator just stated that he received a note from Microsoft, to stop development and distribution of the software immediately. Even (freeware) download sites didn't have links anymore.

This software comes with costs, though. Depending on how much software is installed in your XP installation that requires write access, your screen will be filled with Windows message boxes mentioning that: 'Application <insert name here> couldn't write to <insert folder here>.' in the best case scenario to application failures in the worst.

So only consider using this if you have no other option left than to keep running XP after the expiration date and don't mind clicking away Windows messages during the time this software is activated.

Or if you have a VM or clunker with XP you don't mind sacrificing, you might want to try it...or find out what makes it tick...or whatever.

Best see this as a last resort. The only serious consideration you should have in your mind is how to be able to upgrade to either a newer version of Windows or Linux. Please, give XP it's hard-earned and well-deserved rest.

1455

Living Room / Re: The first Lotus motorcycle

« Last post by Shades on February 22, 2014, 11:11 AM »

For the real thing (concept), look at this:

.

And a short explanation from Parker Brothers Choppers Inc. on how they plan to build the concept:

But the Lotus bike looks nice too 

1456

General Software Discussion / Re: Processing Delays!?

« Last post by Shades on February 19, 2014, 04:59 AM »

In both Process Explorer an Process Hacker, keep an eye out for the entry called 'Interrupts'.

This value should always be as low as possible, preferably not exceeding 1 to 2% even when doing a lot of reading/writing to disk. Because if it does, it is the first precursor of your drive failing. This is closely related for making Windows 'pause' without apparent reason.

1457

General Software Discussion / Re: PC Audio Enhancers

« Last post by Shades on February 16, 2014, 09:21 AM »

From the ones I heard, I liked Soundpimp the best. However it comes at a cost of 52 USD last time I checked.

DFX is also good, this one I am currently trialling. This one is a lot cheaper and its a simple interface works for me.

Now if you have lots of time and money on your hands: www.audiomulch.com

More time than money? Try these:  Sound amplification (superuser.com) scroll a bit down for the post that is marked as the answer. This post contains links to a website with very interesting software and commercial virtual cable software.  You could use this free/donationware alternative virtual cable software.

1458

General Software Discussion / Re: Photos that spontaneously change

« Last post by Shades on February 14, 2014, 07:18 AM »

Do the pictures that change color all start with the color white on the left side?

Had a similar problem before, where the image was shown correctly with IrfanView, but ff'ed up in all Microsoft related products for viewing images. That is because these use (part of) Internet Explorer to render the image on your screen.

What I did was to add a 1-pixel wide bevel of a color very close to white on the left side of the image and a small bit on top and bottom of the image. This fixed my problem, it might fix yours.

1459

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: VMware Valentine's Day Sale

« Last post by Shades on February 13, 2014, 04:29 PM »

Never found a version of VMware I could run portable. But for VirtualBox there is a piece of software that uses the installer to create a portable VirtualBox.

And that I have used successfully on several computers. Hence my favorite would be VirtualBox. VMware is a solid experience though, especially when not using the VMware Player. That product is not bad at all, but forget (re-)configuring network settings in VMware VM's.

VMware Workstation is a tad expensive for my taste. Even with the 20% off, to be honest.

1460

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by Shades on February 11, 2014, 08:50 PM »

If you enjoy movies about a group of thieves pulling of impossible "jobs", then you sure are going to love The art of Steal. Although the IMDB score isn't bad, I think it deserves more. Anyway, have fun watching this one...

1461

Living Room / Re: Show us a photo of your mutt or other creatures..

« Last post by Shades on February 10, 2014, 07:00 PM »

The dogs are Alaska Malamut? My brother had one. Lovely animal, two pale blue eyes and couldn't bark for the life of her. Howling like a wolf was not a problem though. People were always immediately afraid when they laid eyes on her and I have never met a friendlier dog than her.

Beautiful race of dogs. Keep em close to the arctic circles though, because if you don't you'll be cleaning up the hair they shed on an hourly basis more or less. 

1462

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« Last post by Shades on February 10, 2014, 06:52 PM »

I would have guessed the bike was a Vincent HRD Series. Then again I don't know my bikes that well. My English teacher is a proud collector of bikes manufactured between 1910-1930 (or thereabout). He also restores them in his free times and several newspaper articles have been written about him. On the day the school is open for anybody to see what professions you can study for, he would always put one of his collection there and would ride it for a bit as well.

These bikes don't have the performance of modern bikes (I don't mean they are slow), but sure make up for it with style. 

1463

Living Room / Re: tip: check your mouse before going to red alert.

« Last post by Shades on February 08, 2014, 08:49 PM »

There can still be problems with the cable between a wired USB mouse and the port it is connected to. I have a Logitech multi-button mouse that works fine when the cable is a certain position, unfortunately that position appears to shift. Never found a replacement cable here in PY. People have given me older, cheaper brand mouses and the Logitech mouse cable contains more inner wires than the cheapo's do.

What also can be a problem is the USB port that is being used by the mouse. Even if there is nothing wrong with the mouse, its cable or the physical USB port it is connected to, then still there can be problem with Windows not being able to properly communicate with the USB device. While the device would work fine on the USB port right next to it.

Extremely irritating, I can tell you that much. I have a headless server here that has no problem with any USB device I connect to it, except the keyboard. that one will only work in one of the 8 USB ports on the back which are difficult to reach. The device is detected, Windows reports that the appropriate software is successfully installed...and that is it. Do not expect to be able to type anything. I exchanged keyboards (different models, different brands), but to no avail. So I hooked up an old PS2 clunker and all is dandy.

One would assume that the USB standard is around long enough for Windows to not behave so "stubborn" as it sometimes does. Ah well.... 

1464

General Software Discussion / Re: Continuing with XP

« Last post by Shades on February 06, 2014, 07:34 AM »

I can tell you that it will not be a pleasant experience to run XP as a guest Operating System in a virtual machine on any host PC with only 2GByte of RAM. Although both guest and host should be able to run decently when each is assigned 1 GByte of RAM, they usually don't in the best of cases. Virtual Machines become way more useful when the host PC has 4GByte of RAM (or more) and the guest is assigned 2GByte.

Unless you have an SSD drive with decent amount of storage capacity in your netbook, you will find that performance from both the guest and the host will suffer greatly as well.

Sorry to be so negative to you (and your wife), but these are fair warnings and I thought it best if you received them ahead of time.

As for Linux to be used a s a desktop, I have been playing with Linux Mint 16 (Cinnamon) and I must say that this was a very pleasant experience right out of the box. Support for my movies and music was right there, read and write documents of all different sorts, surf on the internet without problem, etc. The user interface was also user friendly.

Now I must say that this was done in a virtual machine on my non-WiFi Windows 7 desktop which has only 2 GByte of RAM. Although Mint was never slow I noted that Mint could have been much more responsive if properly installed. Unfortunately my desktop PC became very unstable, resulting in lots of 'Blue Screens Of Death' (BSOD) errors. Hopefully now you see why I warned you previously.

I agree with Mouser, migrating to Windows 7 isn't hard when it comes to the user experience. Microsoft offered (free) software that can check if the netbook from your wife (and the software that is installed on it) will be able to run on Windows 7. Likely they still have similar software but I assume the target Windows version will be 8 nowadays. Anyway, that software could still help you with identifying where the problematic points of migration will be when you choose to upgrade to Windows 7.

  

1465

Living Room / Re: Satya Nadella becomes Microsoft's new CEO - will things change?

« Last post by Shades on February 05, 2014, 07:34 PM »

For the last 6 months I have been working with Windows Server 2012 and until now my feelings are very positive. Some time ago there was repeatedly a Windows 8 laptop on my desk. The owner kept asking if I could configure access and install new items, because he couldn't work with it. My experiences with Windows 8 were definitely not positive...at all.

In another (Dutch) forum I was burned down because I stated that the people behind Windows Server understand the direction in which the Windows OS as a whole should be be going, while the consumer guys should not be allowed out of the asylum. Likely it was the last part that did the burning. 

Finally, my point is coming...apparently Satya Nadella was at the head of the Server division, so for me his ascension to the throne feels like good news and fills me with hope that Windows will change faster for the better. Not a fanboy here, my network is a mix of Windows and Linux. And it will take a pig, flying through hell with a snowball frozen to its snout, before I will be without my Linux servers. 

My network is a mixed environment of Windows and Linux.

1466

General Software Discussion / Re: Rambooster. Junk?

« Last post by Shades on February 05, 2014, 07:04 PM »

There are some use cases that could benefit from the use of a RAM disk. But those hardly apply to the most common uses of computers. As mwb1100 already stated: practically all software applications with RAM in their name should be avoided. The moment you really do have a need for software applications regarding RAM, that will feel almost like a moment of clarity. Until then, just don't. 

1467

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

« Last post by Shades on February 01, 2014, 04:33 PM »

@40hz:

Spoiler

So your blues guitar GF likes singers with inflatable breasts?

Sounds like too much of a "niche" to me... 

1468

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Help is NO HELP

« Last post by Shades on February 01, 2014, 09:40 AM »

Use a piece of software called Process Explorer, you can download it for free from the Microsoft website.
This software will show you all that is going on in your computer, making it easy to identify which process(es) claim a lot of CPU. If you don't know the name of the process, research on the net will show you solutions rather easy and quickly.

1469

Living Room / Re: Programming/Coder humor

« Last post by Shades on January 30, 2014, 06:32 PM »

Isn't the most expensive/exquisite coffee not made of coffee beans that have been through the complete digestive channels of some rodent?

With its logo in mind, wouldn't that make Java the language to produce similar code?   

1470

General Software Discussion / Re: Group two windows so they get focus together. Possible?

« Last post by Shades on January 30, 2014, 06:11 AM »

Don't underestimate the foulness also known as Excel....(when using it in automated solutions).

And I have also noticed differences when running an application in a user account that is member of the Administrators group and running an application with 'Run as Administrator' or run the application in the Administrator accountt itself.

This might look the same but it really isn't. You will have a bigger chance of success running (experimental) applications in the Administrator account itself than in another way (with Windows 7 and up).

1471

Living Room / Re: Google sells Motorola to Lenovo for $3bn

« Last post by Shades on January 30, 2014, 06:01 AM »

Why? Doesn't LG make those Nexus phones?

1472

General Software Discussion / Re: Application Database Software

« Last post by Shades on January 25, 2014, 04:33 PM »

Powershell scripts already exist for this. Any version of Windows more modern than Windows XP comes standard with Powershell. And you can download it freely from Microsoft for XP as well.

http://gallery.techn...f-Installed-c47393ed

With the link above you should be able to download a script that retrieves this list for you, storing this list into a .csv file. Most modern databases can import the content from this kind of files either directly or with a little extra work.

Play a bit with the script, get it to retrieve all the information you are still missing.

1473

Non-Windows Software / Re: ArsTechnica article on next-gen filesystems: Bitrot and Atomic COWs

« Last post by Shades on January 22, 2014, 08:18 PM »

Very interesting article indeed. 

Sure wish I had the time to play with this some more (as there are now several 150GByte Oracle databases "running loose" in my computer setup...)

1474

Living Room / Re: Hard Drive Brand Reliability Data

« Last post by Shades on January 21, 2014, 08:51 PM »

That graph matches with my experiences over here in Paraguay, South America. Between 500GByte and 1TByte Seagate drives are really bad, anything between 1 and 3 TByte is bad as well. However, the 500GByte, the 1 TByte and 3 TByte models perform well. Over here it is so bad that I don't even want a Seagate drive with an even number for storage capacity, even if you gave me the drive + money for free. The headache, misery and loss of time just isn't worth it.

Unfortunately, Seagate (and Samsung, if you count portable drives) is the only brand you can buy here directly. All other brands one needs to be ordered online and the extra shipping costs are prohibitive.  

1475

General Software Discussion / Re: Question for Linux Gurus - Ubuntu - Mouse & Network Problems

« Last post by Shades on January 21, 2014, 06:19 PM »

BIOS/UEFI have options nowadays to boot with no USB device support, partial USB device support (default=allows you to boou from USB devices and have a keyboard, but not much else) or full USB device support. This is done to keep the time to boot as low as possible, while still supporting the essentials in case one needs to do low-level repair jobs.

I would check for this setting first, at least.