Recent Posts

1801

DC Gamer Club / Re: Warning: Big Security Risk In Some Ubisoft PC Games

« Last post by Shades on July 30, 2012, 09:20 AM »

After reading the title I was thinking the required always-on connection to their servers... 

Hmm, come to think of it...that would be an extra vector of attack for virus writers. 

1802

General Software Discussion / Re: Ripping My DVD Collection

« Last post by Shades on July 28, 2012, 03:54 PM »

@superboyac:
The PC I use mainly, is an AMD64 3200+ single core that is 7 years old. The mainboard is an Asus K8N which is similar in age. Then it has a 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600 AGP videocard, a SATA2 320GB Seagate harddisk and 2Gigabyte of RAM...and guess what, it plays .mkv files just fine with a resolution of 1920x1080.

No hiccups whatsoever. I think it would be able to run Windows 7 (Aero-less) just fine as well. And I am planning to keep using it untill the hardware gods claim it for themselves.

1803

General Software Discussion / Re: Ripping My DVD Collection

« Last post by Shades on July 27, 2012, 08:41 PM »

Till now I have been very happy with MakeMKV and Handbrake. The default profile from Handbrake rips as far as I know in the .m4v format. From memory that format is associated with Apple hardware. But it plays fine on my PC with PotPlayer (portable) or KMPlayer or VLC with hardly any artefact.

A lot does depend on the player and the codecs that are included with it, though (with regards to the artefacts). From experience I can tell that you will get a mess when you have a shrinked DVD that you use as original source with Handbrake.

1804

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Shades on July 24, 2012, 11:04 AM »

@ Stoic Joker:
Schadenfreude (likely incorrectly written, because my German is very "rusty") is the word you are looking for.

As I understand German is the only language (brave enough) to have a word for what you just described.

1805

Site/Forum Features / Re: About the Basement (Soap Box) Section

« Last post by Shades on July 22, 2012, 10:55 AM »

Why, the suggestions from both cranioscopical and rgdot are just hypotethical... 

1806

Living Room / Re: new DVD "M-Disc" perfect for archive material

« Last post by Shades on July 20, 2012, 03:56 PM »

LG sends all their reject to this part of the world. A week after I burn a disc on my LG drive I am not sure if I can still read the disc in my drive...while it is working in others.
Lets just say that I am not a fan (and that would be the understatement of the year...globally!) 

1807

Living Room / Re: What's a good discussion forum for movie buffs?

« Last post by Shades on July 16, 2012, 05:48 PM »

With regards to your movie question, the sword fight I remember best is the one I saw in the movie Stardust...where the clashing of swords is in the rhythm of the background music.

Just so you know... 

1808

Living Room / Re: 50 Shades of Gray

« Last post by Shades on July 14, 2012, 02:31 PM »

Reminds me always of the following:

Spoiler

A sadist and a masochist meet.

"Hit me", says the masochist.

The sadist response?
"...No."

1809

Living Room / Re: 50 Shades of Gray

« Last post by Shades on July 14, 2012, 01:47 PM »

@Deozaan:
Gives the term 'Me luv you long time' a whole new meaning....

 

1810

Living Room / Re: This Is Your Brain On Sugar:Study in Rats Shows...

« Last post by Shades on June 25, 2012, 06:36 PM »

@IainB:
A reminder, the 70's are over....really!   

1811

General Software Discussion / Re: corrupt index (I think): how to fix?

« Last post by Shades on June 22, 2012, 01:21 PM »

I'm with Justice on the 'Bin it' part. Here's why.

One should never play with the internal power plugs while the PC is running! The same is true with the SATA plugs even when it says that drives are 'hot-swappable'. Because it is more than likely that the drive is 'hot-swappable', either the controller on your mother-board or your power-supply isn't.

If you note something is loose, turn your PC off (not standby, but off). Now it is time for loosening the connector completely and reconnecting it. Do the same for other connectors, you have the PC open now anyway. When done, close up the PC and put it back in its location. Any other way will f..k up perfectly good hardware for no other reason than your own laziness. If you really have that much cash to burn, take family/friends to a dinner in decent restaurant or give it to good cause...or me.

Here's another tip that will work out great for you:
When a PC has been transported (even over a small distance like 10 cm.) it is possible that (a) connector(s) got loose. Each and every time! I can't warn people enough about that. If I got 1000 USD for each time I solved a (hairy) situation with the solution above I could have stopped working for a living 5 years ago. People underestimate this problem in so many ways that it baffles me.

1812

Living Room / Re: Humour And A "Serious" Product - Opinions Needed

« Last post by Shades on June 20, 2012, 01:11 PM »

Depending on your market it could go wrong for you. If you try to sell it in the (more) religious parts of the USA for example, you might reconsider the name of your example application (the textual part of the screenshot on the intro page is OK, though). For an atheist, an agnostic or otherwise reasonable person your humor is harmless, I would say.

I remember reading a story on slashdot about how a BSD administrator was chased out of rural town she was just passing through. The reason? She wore a shirt with the BSD logo on it.  

A quote I heard on one of the doctor House episodes: "If you could reason with religious people, there wouldn't be religious people."

Personally, I found it kinda funny.


P.S.
With a name like helpinator, you might consider changing the current smilie figure with one that resembles Schwarzenegger?  

1813

General Software Discussion / Re: Checking Bad sector in HDD and ExtHDD

« Last post by Shades on June 18, 2012, 07:23 PM »

Microsoft's own CheckDisk should help you out with that. It is already included in every Windows version since Win 2000 (if not earlier).

If that one doesn't do it, there is an alternative called 'MHDD'. This is a tool for advanced users, so be warned! With that tool you have a lot of control, including marking bad sectors (so they will not be used anymore). However, to accomplish this it first has to "nuke" all the existing data in a way you will never get it back. MHDD I would recommend as last resort only.

1814

General Software Discussion / Re: From ZDnet writer - Final Thoughts on Windows 8: A Design Disaster

« Last post by Shades on June 17, 2012, 02:58 PM »

To me it is amazing that Microsoft with their (intellectual and financial) resources, is not able to sustain two different versions of Window management in their Operating System environment.

Yes, that design by committee thing that MS does I see as huge deficiency in their capabilities. Apple's GUI was build by "dictator" Jobs and there is something to say for that.

[rant]
The thought of having to use touch-based devices makes my stomach turn. Mainly because I absolutely hate(!!!) people touching my LCD screen when they think they have to point something out to me. Besides that, I will not downgrade to a tablet when I can have a desktop PC.

For me it is difficult to grasp why anyone wants one. So you can take it anywhere and (only) consume content? And pay monthly fees for that besides the fee you pay for your ISP connection (which data transfer speed trumps the speed of your mobile device)? And do the consuming in any position you like?
All of the above sound (financially) unhealthy to me, it is not for nothing you have ergonomic chairs, desks, keyboards and the like.

Which is why you should use the different parts in your house for their intended purpose only. No electronics in the room where I sleep, for example. I know we (me and the missus) sleep better because of that. Same with the kitchen, you cook, eat and have dinner conversation about how the day went with wife and kids, an "electronic" recipe is not allowed there (after all, the kitchen is the area where most accidents happen and I don't see a good reason to introduce expensive gadgets to those odds).

Old-fashioned I am sure, but it actually will save you a lot of headaches by not being always connected.  
[/rant]  

1815

Living Room / Re: Ads in Skype

« Last post by Shades on June 17, 2012, 08:31 AM »

@nudone:
Same trick as the US Navy pulled in WWII (Navaho Indians were used as radio operators, because their language is hard to decipher).

Ah well, it sounds like security through obscurity...   

1816

Living Room / Re: World's first 'tax' on Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7

« Last post by Shades on June 15, 2012, 05:11 PM »

Actually, this could be the start of a dangerous precedent. Because if Kogan has problems with IE7 then they will have problems (albeit less) with IE8 as well. And that is the highest IE available on XP. So people that cannot upgrade to a more modern OS are effectively blocked. If you cannot afford the upgrade, likely you will not have the money for the extra added tax either.

From what I heard, IE9 is not so bad anymore. I wouldn't know though, as I will not touch IE with a ten foot pole if I can help it! 

1817

Living Room / Re: Ads in Skype

« Last post by Shades on June 15, 2012, 02:56 PM »

The ones who use Skype for video conferencing?

1818

Living Room / Re: Soccer, Football, Fussball, etc.

« Last post by Shades on June 14, 2012, 09:06 AM »

Just because Denmark lost against Portugal the Dutch team still has a chance...if they win with two or more goals difference from Portugal and Germany wins from Denmark.

Oh, how the "mighty" have fallen....

(First, I am Dutch and yes, I hate soccer...but I hate the talk about the losing Dutch team in countries all over the world even more)

1819

General Software Discussion / Re: Some errors on Defrag and issue with copying to USB

« Last post by Shades on June 12, 2012, 07:49 AM »

It also never hurts to check if the cable between your hard disk and your motherboard is properly connected (on both ends!).

This normally means to turn off your PC completely, open the case and fully disconnect both connectors on the hard disk and the connector on your motherboard. make sure there is no dust or other dirt on the connectors and reconnect. Turn on your PC again and see if your problems went away.

Likely you have a SATA type hard disk and that standard uses a very "flimsy" way of connecting.

If your problems still persist, try another (new) power supply. It is possible that your power supply is barely able to supply your system of sufficient juice. A power supply does wear down over time, even on electrical grids that are very stable. If your grid is not stable, your power supply's demise will come sooner than later.

1820

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Generate sequential serial numbers

« Last post by Shades on June 12, 2012, 07:21 AM »

@skwire:
You just made his homework...

1821

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Shades on June 12, 2012, 07:19 AM »

...but otherwise looking very "healthy" 

1822

General Software Discussion / Re: which programming language is most powerful in automating/interacting with MS Wi

« Last post by Shades on June 08, 2012, 12:34 PM »

Don't go for PowerShell. it is indeed awesome to stuff with in the background without (too much) user interaction. That is where PS really shines. If you still want to go the PS way you can download an IDE for PowerShell from DevFarm software (both a free and a pay version).

I used the free version for a pet project of mine and it made my life quite a lot easier. Having said that, the PS environment is not the most user friendly i.e. you have to get used to it.

Hence I would concur with previous posters, think about AutoIt and AHK first before considering PowerShell.

1823

Living Room / Re: Lost my father

« Last post by Shades on June 06, 2012, 03:28 PM »

Time heals all wounds...yeah well, it doesn't do anything about the scars these wounds leave behind.

My condolences as well, Stoic Joker.

I already went through the experience of losing both parents, so enjoy the time you can spend with your remaining parent.

1824

Living Room / Re: Open Source Ecology

« Last post by Shades on June 03, 2012, 02:58 PM »

Glad you are a back (for a bit), 40hz 

1825

General Software Discussion / Re: which programming/scripting language has the largest number of functions?

« Last post by Shades on June 03, 2012, 01:56 PM »

Cameyo isn't that great. Although for your eye the app you have 'Cameyo'ed' stores everything in the same location, it does create a VOS folder in your user's data folder with a lot of info in there. Understandable, as it will make functioning of 'cameyo'ed' applications a lot easier. However, don't be completely "fooled" by the concept that everything is really stored in one folder only.

Don't know about other, similar to Cameyo applications, so no comment there.

4wd's post above is spot on, that is the best way to go.