Recent Posts

1851

Developer's Corner / Re: Apply changes in Registry immediately

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 05, 2015, 08:38 AM »

Hi MilesAhead,

Thank you.

I have very little experience in development; - I wouldn't know where to start creating a nice app like "MoveIt".
With your talent, I'm sure you could contribute a lot to Firefox and Firefox add-ons. I think you would enjoy it as well.

http://forums.mozill...g/viewforum.php?f=19

I wish you the very
 best.

-Yaron (July 04, 2015, 06:21 PM)

It might be fun to try one of my own.  I wonder how soon they are going to start this extension signing crap.  It destroyed a fun community of MaxThon extension writers when they did signing there.

1852

General Software Discussion / Re: Any ideas for an entry-level "how to use a mouse" tutorial?

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 04, 2015, 05:47 PM »

Just for grins I googled and this popped up.  Looks like very entry level.  Just to get her to click to do stuff.  I almost have the hang of it.  Maybe another hour of practice and I'll have it knocked.  

http://www.minimouse.us/

1853

Developer's Corner / Re: Apply changes in Registry immediately

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 04, 2015, 05:41 PM »

@MilesAhead,

Persistent as always. I'm truly grateful.

I think that "Components.interfaces.nsIWindowsRegKey" uses that API.

I posted the question here and Mike referred me to the SystemParametersInfo function.

So, the following code works:

-Yaron (July 04, 2015, 04:25 PM)

Thanks for posting how you solved it.  I tried a little JavaScript back around the year 2000. (Just struggled with beginner code.)  I am glad to see it has some serious capabilities. Very cool.

1854

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 04, 2015, 05:11 PM »

Could ProcessTamer have worked there?
Then you can have some cpu cycles left to fix it with?

-TaoPhoenix (July 04, 2015, 04:41 PM)

It wasn't CPU but HD hogging.  I mean it was bad.  Wait 30 seconds for an Explorer window to open.  Which reminds me.  Explorer drag and drop copy was dog slow until the kb fix or SP1.  I resorted to TeraCopy just to keep from gritting my teeth. The other annoyance was I could not get it to install SP1 come hell or high water.  I got so fed up I put Windows 7 on over it.

I had no complaints about Vista x64 other than it didn't have Windows 7 Superbar and there was no way to add it.  I really like the progressbar in the Taskbar Button.  Very cool.  Unfortunately the x64 Vista did not play well with W7 custom install.  It went on but the start menu and some other stuff was seriously messed around.  I restored Vista from an image and just kept it as it was until the end.

1855

Developer's Corner / Re: Apply changes in Registry immediately

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 04, 2015, 01:12 PM »

Hello MilesAhead,

Thanks again. I appreciate it.

The code I use does change the value in the registry; - it doesn't apply it immediately.
Your replies are very helpful. I'll wait a bit.

Best wishes.

-Yaron (July 03, 2015, 06:22 PM)

I found this API call that may be worth reading.

https://msdn.microso...SPPError=-2147217396

1856

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 04, 2015, 01:07 PM »

I've always been a Day One (or before) adopter of Microsoft OSes and historically speaking, their RTM releases are rock solid out of the box.

-Innuendo (July 04, 2015, 10:01 AM)

Perhaps the difference on Vista is due to the fact I bought HP "Media Center" towers.  The HD was totally hogged by Windows Media Player running mobsync.exe to test if every file in the system was a media file.  Also if you installed from retail media I am sure you were better off than buying a machine preloaded.  Between Norton AV and mobsync trying to take over the machine it was totally useless out of the box.  Later I got another tower running Vista x64 SP1 and it was fine.

Just for grins I compared the state of the system services of the SP1 machine to the system without a service pack after I was done tweaking.  All the settings were exactly the same except 2.  They fixed the usability quotiont quite a bit with the SP.

1857

Developer's Corner / Re: Apply changes in Registry immediately

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 03, 2015, 05:19 PM »

Hello my friend,

I hope you're doing well.

Thank you for this reply.
And also many thanks for "MoveIt" and "Process Counter"; - I use both frequently and really enjoy them.

I think there's a way to update the registry from a Firefox extension without using external applications.
So, I'd rather wait. Please don't consider this ungrateful.

Can you think of other good forums I can post this question? I'd appreciate that.

Have a great weekend.

-Yaron (July 03, 2015, 05:01 PM)

Glad you enjoy using MoveIt.  The only stuff I ever wrote for browser integration were DLLs using the old Netscape Plugin API.  I have never attempted a modern extension.  Now and then I consider trying to do a simple one.  But I have no clue what programming forums handle that type of thing.  I thought browsers, excluding ActiveX stuff, were precluded from effecting the host OS environment?  If you could call a Windows API I would try the one used by SysInternals sync.exe program.  The author gets Windows to flush file buffers to disk simply by locking the volume, then releasing the lock.  It flushes file buffers but I don't know if it will flush the registry to disk.

1858

Developer's Corner / Re: Apply changes in Registry immediately

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 03, 2015, 04:30 PM »

I don't know about from inside extension code.  But AutoIt3  has a function EnvUpdate().  Short of logging off, then back on, or restarting Explorer, it is the best I have found so far.  I usually call it 3 times with perhaps a 1/2 second pause between.

Or you can just download the program UpdateEnv from my page:
http://milesaheadsoftware.org/

1859

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 03, 2015, 03:20 PM »

From my point of view they should have released a device OS and dumbed it down for phones and tablets.  Released a Desktop OS only for desktops.  More happy customers all around.  But since hand held crap is expanding and desktop sales shrinking, the tail will wag the whole dog.

Time for me to start brushing up on vim editor.  I can see Linux back on my desktops(when I get some.)  

1860

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 03, 2015, 02:53 PM »

Something's bothering me, if they're only a month away, I'd hope it was rock solid! But it all still sounds like there are fundamental basic bugs going on!

Ps I wish Mark Russinovich was still on our side! He'd have a few useful things to say! But he's squirreled away into Microsoft now! : (

-TaoPhoenix (July 03, 2015, 02:13 PM)

To add to what App said, when buying a PC preloaded I tried to wait until at least SP1 was already on.  I didn't follow that policy with a Vista machine and it was almost unusable out of the box.  It took me months to tweak it into submission.  This is roughly equivalent to App's advice waiting 4 months.  By then there should be a bunch of fixes issued.  The disadvantage compared to preloaded is you have to install then hope things don't get all confused doing all those updates.  Hopefully there will be some means to install a slipstreamed iso image instead of updates from hell syndrome.

1861

Living Room / Anyone subscribed to BookBarbarian online service?

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 03, 2015, 02:42 PM »

BookBarbarian sounds like a giveaway site for eBooks.  But when I got the subscription confirmation it sounds more like Book of the Month Club where they just send you stuff and expect you to pay for it.  Anyone have experience with them?

1862

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for Software with this feature

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 03, 2015, 01:00 PM »

"Size" could be a potentially unreliable comparison, so I would recommend using "Content" instead.
What could be useful, therefore, would be to verify whether files in the source directory with identical name/extension to files in the target directory were actually identical in content (~size), and only overwrite/copy (one way or the other) if the content were different and perhaps depending on the date. I would use a file checksum comparison between the two.

-IainB (July 03, 2015, 04:33 AM)

I think there are likely duplicate file finders that would get rid of the unwanted sources by doing a hash if the sizes matched.  I just don't know the names of any.  The "keep both" case is kind of a pain.  I haven't looked at dupe file utilities to see exactly what features are available.

1863

Post New Requests Here / Re: Request: Power alt-tab

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 02, 2015, 06:34 PM »

I don't have exactly what you want.  But in your example you could Control right click on the dialog to make it Topmost.  Topmost Toggle also has Alt Tab visibility toggle.  But it only works on Windows that can have a Maximize Box.  It toggles PopUp Window/Toolbar window style.

You can get Topmost Toggle on my page of free Windows Downloads:
http://milesaheadsoftware.org

1864

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 02, 2015, 05:12 PM »

Build 10162 just released to fast ring

-Stoic Joker (July 02, 2015, 05:03 PM)

Instead of "fast ring" and "slow ring" they should have gone with "ring 0" most privileged, and "ring 3" user level code. 

1865

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 02, 2015, 04:58 PM »

Anyone else have problems with Windows Update saying "Downloading updates 0%" forever? Is the download so huge that an hour later it is still at 0%?

I finally managed to get my netbook to show some progress, but it interrupted itself and said it couldn't install some updates because some updates were being installed. Then it said it might help if I reboot. I rebooted, and Windows Update told me the same thing again, so this time I clicked retry and now it says "Preparing to install updates 35%" and has been "stuck" there for quite a while.

But my VM with Windows 10 is still at 0% and has been for about an hour.

EDIT: Just after I submitted this, I went to the VM and clicked around a bit and went back to Windows Update and it refreshed the screen and now it's saying 24%. So maybe it just sometimes has problems updating the progress bar or percentage/text while it's doing its thing.

-Deozaan (July 02, 2015, 04:30 PM)

Can you imagine the support calls every time there is an OS 10 update and 50,000 PCs and devices break on the same day?  The "free" OS might cost MS millions.  I never even liked putting on Service Packs.  So many times they just would not go on or would take a dozen attempts.  I tried to buy my PCs with at least SP 1 already on.  But you can't always wait for it.

1866

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for Software with this feature

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 02, 2015, 04:48 PM »

I *think* the requests in OP could be done with Syncovery (formerly SFFS - syncing & backup software).
Can check tomorrow on desktop.
Disadvantage is you would need to set it up a sync 'job'.

I'd love some kind of manual & very flexible copy/sync programme myself, where these things could be done on the fly, but I haven't really looked at any of the copy programmes out there...  I use Dopus as file manager & love it, but copy/move is limited at times I find.                                                

-tomos (July 02, 2015, 04:40 PM)

I was just looking at Dopus.  Since so many here love it I will run the trial and see if it grabs me.  The other approach, which may be a bit drastic, would be to find an open source file manager or copy program and add the feature.  But that could be a whole lot of work.  Especially if it needs a certain compiler that is not even installed etc..

Edit: Or find something on Sourceforge and request the feature be added.

1867

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

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 02, 2015, 12:31 PM »

Just a silly thought...

The "save" button in most software shows a floppy disk icon.

When was the last time you used a floppy disk?

-Renegade (July 02, 2015, 12:01 PM)

In the early 2000nds I had a Pentium III machine still had a 3 1/2" floppy.  I can remember some little Dos bootable utilities the only way I could get them to work once I no longer had a real floppy drive was to use a virtual floppy to create an image and then manipulate that onto a USB stick.  After messing around with that a bit I just gave up.

1868

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for Software with this feature

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 02, 2015, 05:50 AM »

Here is an example of moving a file of same name into a folder that already has a file with the same name, but the two files have a different size.  Windows 7 already determined that they have different sizes.  This is the reason why I believe it should be possible for a programmer to create a program with such a filter.

-ednja (July 01, 2015, 05:52 PM)

The trouble with coding that is you have to handle all the other cases.  Which means you have to write a file/move/copy utility from scratch.  There are already a ton of file managers for Windows.  I would search out one with the desired feature.  First place I would look is here:

http://www.techsuppo...ree-file-manager.htm

Be sure to read the user comments as they often suggest file managers that are not very well known yet.  Often they are free.

Edit: Also see xyplorer name collission handling on move:

http://www.xyplorer.com/whatsnew.php

1869

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 01, 2015, 11:24 AM »

Build 10159

-MilesAhead (July 01, 2015, 09:57 AM)

Bit late on that news ... Scroll ^up^ to 7:45 this morning.

-Stoic Joker (July 01, 2015, 11:09 AM)

That can happen without coffee. 

1870

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 01, 2015, 09:57 AM »

Build 10159

1871

General Software Discussion / Re: Free Task Manager total resources for multiple instances?

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 01, 2015, 09:30 AM »

For Process Hacker, you must hover the mouse pointer on the systray icon of the program for some seconds, and that's show up the window, unfortunately only in this windows the process are grouped.

-DK2IT (July 01, 2015, 09:23 AM)

Thanks.  I see it now.  

Edit:  btw your script works. 

[Select]

@echo off
set /a total=0
for /f "tokens=5 delims=," %%a in ('tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq %1*" /FO CSV /NH') do set /a total+=%%a
echo %total%MB
set total=

1872

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 01, 2015, 09:14 AM »

Since one of our lab machines won't upgrade from 10130 (failed 3 times), I'm experimenting with this now:
http://www.zdnet.com...upgrade-into-an-iso/

Fairly quick and easy way to create a current ISO.

-Stoic Joker (July 01, 2015, 08:44 AM)

Yeah, on TenForums that tool has been around for quite some time.  It sucks an iso out of the erd mess.  I ran it once and it worked.  What kills me on this laptop is doing stuff in a VM with all the file clutter when you first try to update or whatever, stuff barely runs.  Once I can clean out all the rubbish and defrag the VM and the host OS file system, then stuff is slow but at least it doesn't crash or stutter.  But it's too painful to really do anything.

A Windows 7 Vista or Linux a little bit different story.  The VMs run well enough to try them out a bit.  The HD in this is only a Sata II so that tends to make VMs slog. 

1873

General Software Discussion / Re: Free Task Manager total resources for multiple instances?

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 01, 2015, 09:09 AM »

If you get an error from running a posh script, just read the given message to solved that issue.
If you ask for help, give details what and how you do things and which error you get, best, copy there & paste here.
I just found my crystal bowl broken, sorry  



 

-AbteriX (July 01, 2015, 09:05 AM)

I already mentioned twice there was no error message.  This is not worth spending more time on.  Thanks for the input.

1874

General Software Discussion / Re: Free Task Manager total resources for multiple instances?

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 01, 2015, 09:07 AM »

Well, you can try to get something similar with tasklist and an AWK for windows or similar (like advanced calculation using FOR command).
For task manager, try Process Hacker, work quite well.

-DK2IT (July 01, 2015, 09:01 AM)

I have the latest process hacker. I don't see any utility to total the memory usage for process instances.

1875

General Software Discussion / Re: Free Task Manager total resources for multiple instances?

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 01, 2015, 08:55 AM »

First time also I have got several error with PowerShell and this script  
If I remember well, you must enable some authorization, and when you launch by commandline you must enter the FULL path of the script.

-DK2IT (July 01, 2015, 08:38 AM)

I changed the setting to unrestricted.  But as I mentioned before, running the script the cursor just goes back to the prompt. No error no nothing.  I have no intention of doing stuff with Powershell so it is not really worth delving into it. In fact I should probably change the setting back to block scripts.

I am just surprised no task manager clone I tried does this.  I wonder if Linux top command does.  Most likely it did a decade ago.