Recent Posts

1626

Living Room / Re: How do you tag (or even organize) your files?

« Last post by Armando on January 19, 2008, 12:38 PM »

The companies funding has ceased!

-bardamu2000 (January 17, 2008, 05:55 PM)

Ooooops! I guess it's sad news.
On the other had, it could also mean more possibilities, less restrictions --> open source MIGHT be a very good alternative, especially for something like tagging. No proprietary format for your tags!

(Link to the tag2find post : http://blog.tag2find...the-future/#comments)

1627

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 18, 2008, 08:20 PM »

Thanks Lashiec!

mouser : writing "*.ini" in AMON setup --> Exclusions doesn't work. Is that what you did? am I doing something wrong?
And... are you currently using Outpost?

BTW, I retried IniReader : slowed down to 60, then 64s, and then 47s...  NO idea what changes to affect the numbers that much.

1628

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 18, 2008, 08:02 PM »

I think it might make sense to exclude all .ini from scanning.. risk is extremely low and might speed up system-wide stuff.

-mouser (January 18, 2008, 08:00 PM)

That's what I was thinking at first, but didn't have the guts to do it since I'm not a security expert (far from it). So I guess a simple *.ini in the exclusion space should do the trick...

1629

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 18, 2008, 07:49 PM »

Oh man.. That just proves that i have good reasons to hate antivirus software!

-jgpaiva (January 18, 2008, 07:33 PM)

they're kinda hard to love.

About adding gridmove and farr's directory to the exclusions, well.. Everyone knows that neither has viruses (and won't have in the future ). What I'm not sure about is if there are any chances of a virus that comes from other software crawling into any of those 2 dirs.

-jgpaiva (January 18, 2008, 07:33 PM)

I think that I'm willing to take that risk for now... It's just 2 ini. Not even the whole directory. And even if these two ini were infected or hijacked I wonder what they could do. Somebody knowledgeable could probably enlighten me about that one...

1630

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 18, 2008, 05:52 PM »

1) I reinstalled Comodo and completely ditched Defense+.
2) I excluded farr and gridmove's ini from NOD32's AMON

Numbers are looking MUCH better now with IniReader (although not as fast as without firewall + antivirus):

write : 33s
read : 22s


  So there's a way out for Comodo + NOD32 users. (I just wonder how big a lost or a security concern is the absence of Defense+...)


=======================

PS :

Previous numbers were :

1) With NOD32 + Comodo (no special changes to Defense+ etc.):

write : 743.32 sec
read : 28.6 sec

2) After Comodo's uninstallation :

write : 717.17 sec.
read : 21.12 sec

(NOD32 was clearly slowing things down, and uninstalling comodo did something.)

3) Same thing + most processes were shut down

708s
21s

4) NOD32 uninstalled, Comodo uninstalled :

write : 23.2s
read : 19.5s.

1631

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 18, 2008, 04:37 PM »

BTW, lashiec : how's avast ?

1632

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 18, 2008, 04:35 PM »

added some precisions to my last post.

1633

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 18, 2008, 04:30 PM »

if nod32 has that kind of impact on (read/)write operations

-Armando (January 18, 2008, 12:12 AM)

That isn't the problem, it only has impact on (read/)write INI operations, which isn't that anoying.

-jgpaiva (January 18, 2008, 04:52 AM)

Well, hopefully. But how can we be sure about that? If I didn't have farr's growing ini file (or you script) and performance issues where I expect speed, I would've probably never noticed. Ignorance is bliss...

Now, what i find strange is why does mouser's computer behave correctly with farr and nod32, and yours (armando), doesn't.

About comodo... I think that if it was causing delays too, maybe it has some kind of antivirus "feature" that was activated and sure wasn't needed.

-jgpaiva (January 18, 2008, 04:52 AM)

first, I think we should examine how big is mouser' ini file for farr. If you remember what I wrote, the farr "freeze" got more noticeable when my ini file got bigger (hence slower to write/read) -- I earlier said  that when my my history list was cut to approximately 1/10th of its current size, the "farr-freeze" was quite small : about 2s, but nothing like 6s.

In addition, don't forget that Comodo too is/was a big slowing factor. not only Comodo tremendously affected GridMove + farr's ini file loading, but it impacted the operations of the IniReader too (writing/reading were a bit slower with Comodo than without it). Without Comodo, the ini reading/writing is quicker (MUCH quicker in farr + GridMove's case = 4-6x  faster in farr's case, 50-60x faster in GridMove's case). So NOD32 "just" added (tremendously...) to a slowdown/freeze that was already present. (And, in other words, since I don,t think mouser uses Comodo, it'S normal that he doesn't experience the same freeze)

Obviously (if you look at my earlier figures) NOD32 definitely seems to have more effect than Comodo on IniReader's read/write performance -- compared to farr or GridMove's ini read/write performance. Most probably because comodo and NOD32 don't affect the reading/writing in the same way. If I understnad well IniReader multiplies read/write operations by 10000, while in farr or GridMove's it's (I guess) only 1  read/write  operation once in a while (every 6 triggering for farr, every manual script reload for GridMove), and NOD32 is probably active analyzing the read/write process for the whole time it lasts (in IniReader the read/write takes proportionnally longer and longer  since the ini file grows byone line every cycle). Comodo might just be "affecting" the  reading/writing at the begining or end of the series of read/write... how... I don't have the slightest idea.

When I tried disabling Comodo's "defense+" features, it didn't seem to have any effect. I'll have to reinstall it though to double check.

So now I'm stuck with two problems : NOD32 + Comodo. Comodo I didn't buy, so, oh well. I might just try something else. as for NOD32, it's another story... AVAST??? Lashiec seems to get descent numbers.

Armando, try lurking for a while at NOD32's forums to see if there are similar complaints on this. btw, what is your PC's  memory size?

-lanux128 (January 18, 2008, 07:12 AM)

And be sure to report what it seems like a bug to ESET, so they can code a fix or give some insight about what's going on.

-Lashiec (January 18, 2008, 12:13 PM)

We shall do that 

Edit : added some precisions.

1634

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by Armando on January 18, 2008, 04:14 PM »

Keep on posting, Darwin; your words are worth it! 

-Curt (January 17, 2008, 05:00 PM)

The weren't always. But Darwin's posts have been steadily evolving.

-tinjaw (January 17, 2008, 07:50 PM)

Actually, I thought they were better at the beginning, unperverted and innocent little unicellular organisms, as pure as spring water...

1635

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 18, 2008, 12:12 AM »

yeaaaaaah! I'm not alone! 
Actually, that's kind of sad as I was expecting you to give me the secret of perfect nod32 performance... 
oh well.
I don't really feel like spending more money on another antivirus, but if nod32 has that kind of impact on (read/)write operations, hummmm.... Time to re-evaluate.... again.  Or find a way to configure nod32 so that it behaves properly (seems improbable with v.2.x). Which version have you registered? (I going to bed now... I really have to, but I'll follow that tomorrow afternoon.)

Now I'm stuck with two problematic apps : Comodo + NOD32. 

1636

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 11:48 PM »

It behaves normally when I disable Files Scan on "Open"  and "Create" (AMON-->Detection Setup -->Files - Scan On). Now, I'm not sure if that's a good idea...

1637

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 11:39 PM »

Well, I'm not asleep... yet. I couldn't resist reinstalling NOD32 and see.**  Well, it still does the same thing. I've tried disabling the heuristics (AMON setup --> Options --> Heuristics), but to no avail. The only thing that seems to work is disabling AMON completely, which seems, well, unreasonable. I might be missing something, somewhere... Are you able to run João's program on your system with satisfying results?


** Edit : which reminds me, yet, again, of that joke :

A computer salesman, a hardware engineer, and a software engineer are driving...
A computer salesman, a hardware engineer, and a software engineer are driving in a car together. Suddenly the right rear tire blows out, and the car rolls to a stop. The three men get out to investigate.

The salesman says, "time to buy a new car!"

The hardware engineer says, "well, first let's try swapping the front and rear tires - and see if that fixes it."

The software engineer says, "let's just try driving the car again, and see if the problem goes away by itself."

1638

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 10:59 PM »

You might just go to nod32 options and disable some optional hueristics and see if that solves it

-mouser (January 17, 2008, 09:07 PM)

Yes... I shall do that. too late for the installation part though...  I was just fed up and felt like being radical...

but it would be interesting to hear if it was really comodo causing the problem with FARR.

-mouser (January 17, 2008, 09:07 PM)

farr is now behaving completely normally. So after reinstalling NOD and adjusting its parameters, I shall reinstall comodo and see what I can do to alleviate the slowdown problem. (I'd be sad if I had to get rid of comodo... It was pretty good, all things considered... well almost.)

1639

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 10:54 PM »

After 2h of testing, monitoring, etc. well... NOD32 is the guilty one!!!!!!! I had deactivated it, etc. but it wasn't enough and it's only after complete uninstallation that IniReader gave me my first normal results : write : 23.2s, read : 19.5s. Now you're talking.

The weirdest whing is that the NOD32 service didn't show ANY activity or anything, even in process monitor. The stupidest thing is that I waited and waited before uninstalling it, even if I my intuition told me otherwise. 

Now WHAT.  I wonder what I can do about this NOD32 thing. Maybe I'll just reinstall it and see what happens.

Anyway... To be continued -- I have to wake up in a few hours so I shall get some sleep. Damn antiviruses and firewalls.

1640

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 08:50 PM »

Thanks for all the help guys! 

@lashiec : how do you suggest I use process monitor for that particular case... Just normally, with the registry, process and file activity turned on ?

@mouser : I don't think I have any other anti-whatever installed. Just Comodo and NOD32. So next step involves uninstalling NOD32, completely.

BTW, i just rechecked and farr now writes its ini in less than 2s. the strange thing is that it wasn't when I last tried, after uninstalling comodo. That's just plain weird and annoyingly incoherent (well, for my brain, at the moment).

1641

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 08:01 PM »

ooohhhh. Sorry lashiec. I (mis)understood "task manager".
Ok, yes, I'll do that, since process explorer or windows' task manager don't say much (or enough) in that context.

@jgpaiva : you said the ini file created by IniReader was supposed to be 127kb. Mine is 173kb. 

(And : yes, I might just create another thread...)

1642

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 07:43 PM »

Perhaps it would be a good idea to run Process Monitor while you run João's program?

-Lashiec (January 17, 2008, 07:39 PM)

Well, I did : cpu usage for system.exe varies between 35% and 39% [edit : for the whole writing phase]

BTW, new figures after uninstalling comodo :

write : 717.17 sec.
read : 21.12 sec

So uninstalling comodo seems like it did something (-7s for reading!!!). But not enough for the writing part...

1643

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 07:33 PM »

12 f****** minutes to write that file?! Something is really wrong there.

-Lashiec (January 17, 2008, 07:18 PM)

No kidding.

(edited my previous post)

1644

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 07:31 PM »

I forgot to mention that the peaking process (35-39%) during the (ini) file writing phase (using your script, jgpaiva) is the system.exe process. I don't know if that gives any clues...

Ok, so that explains the problem with farr. Curiously, it doesn't explain the problem with gridmove, as it only READS in the section that causes you problems, and the read times you posted look pretty average.

-jgpaiva (January 17, 2008, 06:14 PM)

i know, strange.

Regarding the fix for the slow read times, maybe you should open a new thread?

-jgpaiva (January 17, 2008, 06:14 PM)

You mean... a thread about my problem with GridMove ini file, or in general?

BTW, I just tried reloading, closing, rerunning, etc. GridMove, and the problem is pretty much GONE (or at least, attenuated) : the process reaches 33% for about 1sec and the whole initialisation takes about 3-4s, which seems pretty acceptable (compared to my previous 1.5 min).  But maybe is it not optimal, compared to somebody else's computer

I suspect part of the problem was Comodo's (v3) fault, since I've now uninstalled it completely -- unfortunately, at that point comodo's guilt  is a mere hypothesis. To verify and legitimate my allegations, I'd have to reinstall Comodo and see what happens (I'll do that later).


But farr still stalls for 6s.   

Have you noticed other programs taking too long to write files? How about moving stuff from that disk to another and back?

-jgpaiva (January 17, 2008, 06:14 PM)

Not really... But then, I probably just didn't notice -- I'm usually pretty attentive though.

OK :

- copying a 90Mb file from one partition to another takes about 4sec.

- copying a 846mb directory (with 12 big archives and 9 different folders inside) from one partition to another takes 48s

- copying 2x900mb image file  from my external usb drive to my internal HD : 33s for 1st file,  37s for 2nd one.

- saving an 8mb Word file from scratch is 1-2s.

- copying a 600 pages Word document (445 505 words, 8mb)  to the clipboard takes about 3-4s. Pasting it back in a new Word document takes about 4s too. Saving the document to the hard drive takes less than 2s.


These numbers seem pretty normal to me... Aren't they ??

What else could I try?

Uninstall NOD32 ???

1645

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 06:04 PM »

write : 743.32 sec
read : 28.6 sec

(computer specs : laptop, core duo 1.8ghz, 2GB RAM)

Pretty bad. So somethings really wrong. I Tried disabling Comodo completely, shut down my antivirus. Nothing. I even suspected my ram. Removed a stick, etc. Nothing.

Next step : uninstall comodo completely and see what happens.

Does somebody know why it could be writing so sllllooooowwwly (eating a lot of CPU power) but reading normally (although slower than lashiec...  ) ????

1646

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 02:12 PM »

BTW : when I was testing farr's freeze, I disabled antivirus + firewall + a bunch of other things.... So I don't think it was that.

Anyway, I'll see

(PS : just in case, I also tried stopping my antivirus and firewall -- they don't seem to be guilty of anything here.

-Armando (January 16, 2008, 05:29 PM)

1647

Find And Run Robot / Re: [Bug report?] farr - short freeze every 6 launch/close

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 02:08 PM »

Hummm. Nice deduction jpaiva. I wouldn't be surprised too if both problems are related. 
 I'll run your script and see...

1648

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 01:51 PM »

These entries about using the scratchpad came out in google :
http://www.sqlnotes....abid/58/Default.aspx
http://www.sqlnotes....e/posts/Default.aspx

M: Double-click on a field in the properties pane now displays that field as a column in the scratchpad (same as Ecco)

M: Can now open multiple scratchpad and search results grids at the same time. Shift-click on the grid toolbar to open a new one. Right-click on tab to move to a different tab group to see them side by side.

Soo, you see : it even seems that you can have multiple scratchpad.    I just learned that, tried it, but can't seem to achieve the desired results...

1649

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 01:39 PM »

However I'll be off-line for a few days.

-PPLandry (January 16, 2008, 11:46 PM)

We're going to beautiful Quebec city for a few days.

-PPLandry (January 16, 2008, 11:46 PM)

It's been a while since I've been there. I used to have friends in Quebec, but now they're all in Montreal... So... 

1650

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by Armando on January 17, 2008, 01:34 PM »

What is the Scratch Pad for and does it function any differently from any other grid?

-superboyac (January 17, 2008, 12:38 AM)

This is how I use the scratch pad :

1- I use it for preliminary data gathering.

2- But, mostly, when I want to have an quick idea of "which field is populated with what data", or "what data is populating this particular field", I open the property pane, double click on a field, and the scratchpad automatically updates itself and shows what item contains data pertaining to that field. it might have other uses I don't know about.