Recent Posts

176

General Software Discussion / Re: End of the line for VMware Workstation?

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 27, 2016, 08:40 PM »

The last time I used a Hypervisor or VirtualBox the host/guest integration wasn't very good.  That's fine if you're using them to have virtual more-or-less  headless servers.

But my typical use is for virtual workstations and  I use drag-n-drop and the shared clipboard extensively between the VMware host and guest.

177

General Software Discussion / Re: End of the line for VMware Workstation?

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 27, 2016, 02:10 PM »

Well, that's a shame.  It did become difficult to justify spending money on upgrades, but it's still a pretty amazing product.

178

General Software Discussion / Re: Agnitum (makers of Outpost Firewall and AV) has been acquired by Yandex

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 24, 2016, 02:25 PM »

I switched over to Webroot SecureAnywhere a while back before the recent Agnitum news.  It seems to work OK for me - as far as I can tell it gives a decent mix of protection without being too intrusive.   Ffor a couple of years I've gotten annual 5 device licenses at $30 from this link: http://www.webroot.c...me/affiliates/wsc-29  (an affiliate link, but not mine - I have no idea whose it is).

I'm also running lifetime licenses of MBAM and AdGuard.  AdGuard seems to have a perpetual $40 deal (even though the page claims the deal is ending in a few days) for lifetime licenses for 2 machines here:  https://stacksocial....ifetime-subscription

179

General Software Discussion / Re: Use a flash drive as memory in Windows XP?

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 22, 2016, 12:07 AM »

This just sets your flash drive as the location for the paging file.  I think it's likely that the flash drive will be a slower paging device than your hard drive.

180

General Software Discussion / Re: Give yourself at least another 26 unique hotkey combos with Microsoft's remapkey

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 19, 2016, 02:45 PM »

I just started reading this thread, even though I don't really use much in the way of hotkeys.  But this:

remapping the RightShift key to the CapsLock key

-IainB (January 16, 2016, 05:30 PM)

is brilliant. 

181

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Omikron: The Nomad Soul **FREE** from 15/01 -> 22/01

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 15, 2016, 08:30 PM »

The deal link doesn't seem to work for me.  Perhaps it's a regional thing (I'm in the USA).

It looks like the deal link goes to https://store.eu.square-enix.com/ then shortly redirects to https://store.na.square-enix.com/

After a bit of time a banner was displayed that let me know that you just purchase the game with a coupon code of "omikron" to get a 100% discount.

182

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 15, 2016, 10:59 AM »

I don't use Bitcoin, but I came across this article which has some pretty dire statements about it:

  - The resolution of the Bitcoin experiment

I don't know enough about the workings of Bitcoin to know if the article is a good one or not, but it sure sounds like he knows what he's talking about.  I'm interested in what you guys think.

183

General Software Discussion / Agnitum (makers of Outpost Firewall and AV) has been acquired by Yandex

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 09, 2016, 01:21 PM »

I no longer actively use Outpost Security Suite, but from other posts on DC I think there are probably quite a few around here who might be using it.

It appears that about a month ago it was announced that Agnitum has been acquired by Yandex, a large Russian Internet company (described sometimes as the "Russian Google"). As far as I know, there haven't been any clear announcement about what this might mean for the future of Outpost firewall, anti-virus, or security suite software.

Some forum threads from outpostfirewall.com:

     - http://www.outpostfi...;p=209622#post209622
     - http://www.outpostfi...-info-from-Wikipedia
     - http://www.outpostfi...p?28050-Agnitum-Sold
     

184

Living Room / Re: USB TV tuner for W8.0 Laptop?

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 02, 2016, 10:19 PM »

And as long as the tuner uses a standard BDA driver you can probably use whatever software you like to view the signal.

Of course, North America uses the ATSC standard but the requirements shouldn't be that much different.

-4wd (January 02, 2016, 03:34 AM)

Just to run this by you.  Does this gizmo fit the bill do you think?

http://www.newegg.co...9083AB3052-_-Product

Edit:  I am a bit paranoid as it mentions PAL but not ATSC.

-MilesAhead (January 02, 2016, 02:22 PM)

That's a DVB-T tuner - it won't work in the USA.

185

Living Room / Re: Movies you've seen lately

« Last post by mwb1100 on December 20, 2015, 04:30 PM »

The Good, the Bad, the Weird

-panzer (December 20, 2015, 12:40 AM)

Is that a movie  ?  Or just a comment on acrivity here  ?

-barney (December 20, 2015, 10:10 AM)

The Good, the Bad, the Weird

Sounds interesting.

186

Living Room / Re: Game developer laments gaming industry marketing/psychological warfare

« Last post by mwb1100 on December 14, 2015, 04:13 PM »

I am so glad that free-to-play/freemium/in-app-purchase gaming model pissed me off right from the start so that I just never started down that path.

Then again, I'm not a big time game player, so it was pretty easy for me.

187

Screenshot Captor / Re: SOLVED: Windows 10 OneDrive hijacks PrintScreen hotkey.

« Last post by mwb1100 on December 08, 2015, 11:59 PM »

It's practically criminal that Windows doesn't/can't provide some sort of central, OS supported management of hotkeys.  Sometimes it's nearly impossible (or actually impossible) to figure out why a key isn't doing what you expect when it has been hijacked by some application.

188

Coding Snacks / Re: backup(restore) files in a printed paper

« Last post by mwb1100 on December 06, 2015, 07:22 PM »

See this thread from way back:  https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=10216.0

Interestingly, even though it's a discussion largely about PaperBack, I didn't seen an actual link to PaperBack itself - just a link to a page (now defunct) talking about it and presumably providing a link.

189

DC Gamer Club / Re: GOG.com's mystery gifts return

« Last post by mwb1100 on December 02, 2015, 09:16 PM »

The whole "Mystery Game" thing reminds me of when my grandson went with me to a novelty store and insisted on spending his $20 on a mystery grab bag no matter how much I tried to explain that he should consider only the stuff that he wants (he's normally pretty stingy and thinks carefully before parting with his money).

But he let himself get sucked in, and was so disappointed - to the point of anger - when he opened the bag up at home and found it loaded with a bunch of junk that he had no interest in.

190

DC Gamer Club / Re: GOG.com's mystery gifts return

« Last post by mwb1100 on December 02, 2015, 02:36 PM »

Did anyone find out last time if you got to find out what it was before deciding to keep it or gift it to someone else?

-Deozaan (December 02, 2015, 11:22 AM)

I don't know if you found out before the purchase was completed, but you can purchase as a gift and if you want to keep it just redeem the gift code yourself.

Also, I believe that if you made such a purchase and decided your didn't want the game and preferred to gift it, customer service was pretty good about doing the work to remove the game from your library and issue a gift code. 

Update - I hadn't thought of this drawback to opting for a gift code:

Public Service Announcement: Be warned, if you buy the Mystery Game as a gift, there is no guarantee that you won't get a game you already own. This has been standard practice in GOG sales for a while now. Basically the computer picks the game at time of purchase, and when you buy a gift code, it assumes that anything goes.

-http://www.gog.com/forum/general/big_winter_sale_mystery_games/page1

When not buying a gift code,  GOG will filter out games that are already in your library (I guess).

Also, this forum thread has a list of games being offered in the "Mystery Game" purchase: http://www.gog.com/f..._mystery_games/page1

191

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: GOTD XYPlorer Pro 15.90 [free]

« Last post by mwb1100 on November 07, 2015, 12:09 PM »

Keep in mind that there's a free version of XY that gets updated periodically: http://www.xyplorer.com/free.php

Of course it doesn't have all the features of Pro, but the ones it has are probably enough for many folks.

192

General Software Discussion / Re: SpiderOak Unlimited Space

« Last post by mwb1100 on November 05, 2015, 09:28 AM »

So advertising a service as "unlimited" is OK; but trying to see if it really is unlimited is not?

-eleman (November 05, 2015, 06:40 AM)

They are changing their policy - it was unlimited, now it won't be and they won't advertise it as such (at least that how I read things).

This change is obviously irritating and inconvenient for people who were taking advantage of large amounts of space, but I don't see anything deceptive about it. In fact they're being quite upfront about it. They offered unlimited storage, found they couldn't sustain it and have changed their policy as  result.

193

Living Room / Re: Wonderful Argument: Jar Jar Binks Was a Brilliant Sith Manipulator

« Last post by mwb1100 on November 03, 2015, 05:03 PM »

After watching Episode I when it came out, I had assumed that Jar Jars' role in the Ep II and III would take on an arc similar to The Mule from Asimov's Foundation series. In that series the Mule was a powerful telepath who infiltrated the First Foundation by disguising himself as the Clown, Magnifico Giganticus, in order to learn the location of the Second Foundation.

Or something like that.  Anyway, I was sure that Jar Jar would have a similar role in the Lucas-verse.  As this guy puts forth, perhaps fan hatred prevented that scenario from panning out?

194

DC Gamer Club / Re: Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes!

« Last post by mwb1100 on October 30, 2015, 09:36 AM »

When I heard about this game I immediately thought of this scene from Archer:

Absolutely hilarious

195

General Software Discussion / Re: SpiderOak Unlimited Space

« Last post by mwb1100 on October 29, 2015, 05:26 PM »

Perhaps a bit steep compared to the $60 CrashPlan charges

-Jibz (October 29, 2015, 01:30 AM)

Note that the $60 CrashPlan plan is for one computer. If you need support for more than one computer the cost of the plan is $149, same as the SpiderOak offer which supports multiple devices (afaik).

196

General Software Discussion / Re: Unique Solution to Pirates

« Last post by mwb1100 on October 24, 2015, 06:26 PM »

I agree with Mouser - it's fine as long as the bad behavior on crack detection doesn't destroy data.  But if I were the developer, instead of being a smart aleck  in my email response, I'd simply ask the person to provide registration details for support.  Was it Directory Opus that would display a message box with a cryptic error message that just had a number when it detected a cracked version was running, so when people would ask how to solve that error they could be asked to register the software?

And game developers also try to have fun with this kind of thing:

6 Hilarious Ways Game Designers Are Screwing Over Pirates
5 Hilarious Ways Game Designers Are Messing With Pirates

197

Living Room / Re: strong micro usb cable

« Last post by mwb1100 on October 19, 2015, 11:11 PM »

Monoprice cables are supposed to have a lifetime warranty, and I'm in the process of RMAing one right now that has had the cable jacket separate from the micro connector.  I'll try to remember to post how well the RMA process goes.

Update for anyone who cares (13 Oct 2015): Monoprice replied to my RMA request with the information that the cable is out of stock and isn't expected to be back in stock until 25 Dec 2015(!).  They gave the options of getting store credit or waiting.  I opted to just wait even though that seems to be a long time for getting an item like that back in stock.

-mwb1100 (October 10, 2015, 01:51 PM)

Final update: after saying they wouldn't have replacements in until Christmas (at which point they offered store credit as an alternative), I received my warranty replacement today (19 Oct 2015).  I didn't have to send back the broken one, so I give Monoprice's warranty service for this cheap cable an A rating.

198

Living Room / Re: Patch your Flash! Version 19.0.0.226 (October 16, 2015)

« Last post by mwb1100 on October 17, 2015, 04:11 PM »

I mainly do archaeological illustration -- including some maps, with site locations, etc. (here's an older example).

-tomos (October 17, 2015, 12:34 PM)

A bit off topic, but it looks like it must be an interesting job!  The example you posted reads a bit like a map from a Tolkein book (probably because I don't know a lick of Gaelic):

  - Bóthar Mór
  - Lin Mór
  - Lough Atalia
  - The Green
  - Suckeen Bogs
  - Struthán Muire

199

Developer's Corner / Re: Resources for learning git?

« Last post by mwb1100 on October 13, 2015, 12:49 PM »

I get my Windows git from nuwen's MinGW package: http://nuwen.net/mingw.html


Stephan Lavavej builds the package himself with the MinGW compiler he builds himself.  The MinGW distro includes some other Unix-y tools compiled for native Win32.  See the website for details.

A nice aspect of the package is that you just unzip it and put it on your path - nothing else is involved in the install.

One possible drawback is that it supports x64 only - both as a host for the tools and as the target for whatever you might build with the compiler.  He considers x86 obsolete.

200

Living Room / Re: strong micro usb cable

« Last post by mwb1100 on October 10, 2015, 01:51 PM »

And more to the point of the thread - I've gone in a different direction with my USB cable purchases.  I get inexpensive cables that are cheap enough to have many replacements in a drawer ready to go. I probably lose more cables than have them go bad on me.

I get the 'Premium USB' cables from Monoprice.  They aren't the cheapest, but they're inexpensive enough - about $3 for the 6 ft length - to have spares and I like that they're lightweight and flexible (which may be the opposite of what you're looking for). The drawback to Monoprice is they haven't gotten on the bandwagon of offering some sort of free shipping deal.  I've gotten used to free shipping for most of my purchases.

Monoprice cables are supposed to have a lifetime warranty, and I'm in the process of RMAing one right now that has had the cable jacket separate from the micro connector.  I'll try to remember to post how well the RMA process goes.

Update for anyone who cares (13 Oct 2015): Monoprice replied to my RMA request with the information that the cable is out of stock and isn't expected to be back in stock until 25 Dec 2015(!).  They gave the options of getting store credit or waiting.  I opted to just wait even though that seems to be a long time for getting an item like that back in stock.