Recent Posts

1876

Android Apps / Re: Mouser Android Apps Updated 11/14/18

« Last post by mouser on November 14, 2018, 01:15 PM »

click on the widget title to change the settings.
Are you saying the new version messed with your widget colors that were different in a previous version?

1877

Living Room / Re: Funny Video: Multiplayer Flight Simulator Air Traffic Control Job

« Last post by mouser on November 14, 2018, 08:20 AM »

Another video by same guy doing ATC again:

1878

Living Room / Funny Video: Multiplayer Flight Simulator Air Traffic Control Job

« Last post by mouser on November 14, 2018, 08:03 AM »

Here's an example of one of those things that illustrates the incredibly amazing age we live in, and an example of exactly the kind of humor that makes me smile to the core of my being.
It's a multiplayer flight simulator (Flight Simulator X) where people can take on different roles, including as pilots and air traffic controllers, without rules and governed only by their own love of the protocols of the real world jobs they are performing.
They play around with the real lingo and rules, and put their own psychotic little twists on things. LOVE IT.

from https://www.metafilt...n-Flight-Simulator-X

1879

Android Apps / Mouser Android Apps Updated 11/14/18

« Last post by mouser on November 14, 2018, 06:41 AM »

I've updated most of my Android apps to allow for custom independent font scaling in portrait and landscape mode.  This can make a real difference in terms of readability on phones.
You can see all (10) of my android apps on the google play store here: https://play.google....id=DonationCoder.com

1880

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - Color Mixer

« Last post by mouser on November 14, 2018, 06:36 AM »

It's be nice to be able to provide the color values for 1st and 2nd color manually (as a #XXXXXX value) if desired.

1881

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 Promo Video

« Last post by mouser on November 13, 2018, 05:27 AM »

Pretty professional looking videos.. This wonderful site it talks about, if you could tell me how to contact them, it sounds like we could learn a lot from them, and they have the same name as us even 

1882

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - Windows App - Process Watcher

« Last post by mouser on November 12, 2018, 11:05 PM »

It HAS been interesting checking out the log of processes that are seen by the application.  Unlike a real-time log, you actually notice some surprises in this one -- of processes that run only occasionally in the background.  Support tools, update checkers, etc. for other programs, etc.

1883

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - Windows App - Process Watcher

« Last post by mouser on November 12, 2018, 03:37 PM »

The file format I will use is not decided yet, so I advise no one spend any time coding anything yet..
Even more importantly, the log file produced currently is just the log of processes seen, and is not the main log file that will be of any interest.. That is still to come.

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N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - Windows App - Process Watcher

« Last post by mouser on November 12, 2018, 04:28 AM »

Can you explain what feature you were interested in?

1885

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - StringSimilarity - Release

« Last post by mouser on November 11, 2018, 05:35 AM »

very nice 

1886

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - Windows App - Process Watcher

« Last post by mouser on November 11, 2018, 04:47 AM »

There are 2 kinds of files that this program will be writing -- those where speed and space is important and those where it is not.

These files are not speed/space sensitive because they only get written out occasionally.. So JSON is a reasonable choice.  I'll bit the bullet and make them fully json compliant.

Then there may be some files that are sensitive to speed and size, like cpu and memory use files which are updated very frequently.  For those I'll have to decide on some other format, or even use a proper database.

1887

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Batch Editor for URL and LNK Properties

« Last post by mouser on November 11, 2018, 04:04 AM »

It's definitely a great NANY 2019 release. 

1888

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - Windows App - Process Watcher

« Last post by mouser on November 10, 2018, 09:24 PM »

Also, I think that using a standard type log for this would make it useful, i.e. csv or tab-separated so that the data could be processed easily.

You are right, I'm open to suggestions.. If you look at the format I'm using now, it's basically JSON (though not 100% valid json since I don't properly escape the strings).  I do think I would like to save in a format that would make it easier for someone else write a GUI tool to browse history.

But first I have to figure out what kind of information I will be logging.  Right now both of these data files are just logging the occasional process entry so it's not that important.  But if I start to log performance data constantly for every running process then it will be important to use a data format that is compact.

1889

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Batch Editor for URL and LNK Properties

« Last post by mouser on November 10, 2018, 08:40 PM »

I hope you like it, some response at all would be nice.

don't get discouraged if a requester does not reply promptly.. there are 2 ways to think of this:
1. try to be like a zen samurai artist who creates things and does not care about whether they are used
2. or just wait patiently until eventually someone gives you thanks, even if it might be a year later

1890

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - Windows App - Process Watcher

« Last post by mouser on November 10, 2018, 06:28 PM »

Would it be feasible to (have an option to) reverse that, so that latest entries appear first?

No, because appending to the file is fast and reliable and the opposite is not true.

But I think the real solution here is eventually a nice (standalone) gui tool for more nicely viewing the contents of the file in a proper grid or something.  That will wait until I figure out the final kind of data to be saved.  But yeah, the solution to more pleasant viewing of the data gathered is a gui tool for it.

1891

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Batch Editor for URL and LNK Properties

« Last post by mouser on November 10, 2018, 01:15 AM »

Looking good 

1892

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - Windows App - Process Watcher

« Last post by mouser on November 10, 2018, 01:07 AM »

So here are some possibilities for where this program could go:

• Have it store data at regular interval on cpu and memory use of every running app.  So that you could look back at the last day/week/month and examine your computer activity in, say, 5 minute intervals.  I'm not sure how useful this would be.  Maybe add some additional tracking of what app had the foreground.  Add the ability to show some basic statistics about what how much you are using each application..Maybe useful for people interested in tracking how much time they use different applications.
• Do #1 above but also incorporate some automatic screenshotting.. Basically merge in functionality of my Automatic Screenshotter application.
• Add-in alert functionality, to trigger alerts when certain applications use more cpu or memory than some threshhold, much like my Process Piglet application.
• Add in priority manipulation and affinity control, much like my Process Tamer application.

1893

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - Windows App - Process Watcher

« Last post by mouser on November 09, 2018, 07:05 PM »

One thing I should emphasize in case it's not clear -- this program is designed to remember which applications it has seen running before, and only log when it sees a new program running (or when it detects a change to a process that it has seen before).  As such, it's most useful as a tool to have running always in the background, so you can see a nice list of every application that has been run on your computer, while still keeping the list manageable because it's not adding log entries every time it sees the same program.

1894

DcUpdater / Re: DC Updater not recognizing update available for Lucid Dream Inducer

« Last post by mouser on November 09, 2018, 02:54 AM »

Lucid Dream Inducer.. now there's a program of mine that I don't hear many people mentioning..

1895

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - Windows App - Process Watcher

« Last post by mouser on November 09, 2018, 01:35 AM »

If anyone wants to try a really early alpha:

• http://donationcoder...her_x64_portable.zip

What to know:

• It's portable
• It's 64-bit build only
• There is no GUI, just run it and you'll see any icon in the tray which you can use to exit.
• 2 files will be created in the directory when you run it (ProcessWatcher_HistoryData.dat, and ProcessWatcher_HistoryLog.txt); the former is the data file it will read and write on each run; the latter is the human-readable log file that is the bread-and-butter of the app.  This is the file you will want to look at to see if the program is useful to you.
• You are meant to just leave this app running always.  Restart it on reboot.  The log file will show you every time it sees a new process for the first time, or any time a process has changed (was updated, etc.).

Remember the real value of this app is in logging the first time it sees a new or changed process.  This can be useful if programs launch in the background, and never inform you.

By occasionally checking the ProcessWatcher_HistoryLog.txt you may discover some applications that are occasionally running, performing update checks and similar things in the background.

1896

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« Last post by mouser on November 08, 2018, 07:48 PM »

With car I am able to reach that goal too 

1897

Living Room / Re: Working on a DCTCG and found this resource

« Last post by mouser on November 07, 2018, 07:19 PM »

Wow.. Congratulations. 

I run 10ks fairly regularly, but I am nowhere near being able to run a half marathon 

1898

General Software Discussion / DonationCoder featured on list of "9 Safest Free Software Download Sites"

« Last post by mouser on November 07, 2018, 05:15 AM »

MakeUseOf.com featured us on "The 9 Safest Free Software Download Sites for Windows" 

Free software download sites can be dangerous. Visiting a bad site could end up with you smothered in fake download buttons and fake virus and malware warnings, which are usually malware in disguise... Donation Coder prides itself on providing free and clean software in exchange for nothing but donations.

https://www.makeuseo...ee-software-windows/

1899

N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: NANY 2019 - Windows App - Process Watcher

« Last post by mouser on November 07, 2018, 04:12 AM »

Right now I'm mostly refactoring code, and thinking what I could do with it..

The current version I'm working on simply watches all running processes -- and while I have code written to monitor cpu and memory use (code I use in my Process Tamer and Process Piglet apps) -- currently for the new I am working on a different focus.  The new app is just trying to keep a record of all processes it sees, and log each time it sees a new or changed process (application) running.

That is, the first time you run the app, every running process it sees will be "new" to it, and it will write out to it's log every file it has found running, and the information it can collect about it (process name, company, version, filedate, etc.).
So the first time you run it your log will show info on 100-200 processes.

But then it remembers having seen these processes running.. So over the course of the following months/years, it will only be adding to its log when it sees a new process run for the first time, OR an update of one of the existing processes (via changed file properties, or if you wish, a full file contents hash).

When it finds a new or changed process, it will write a report to the log file saying so and listing what has changed.

In this way, you are meant to leave this app running at all times on your pc, or a pc you are trying to troubleshoot or maintain.  And you can check the log at any time to see exactly when some process was updated or run for the first time.

It could be useful for people in identifying when a malware hit them, or what new program someone may have installed on a pc that they shouldn't have, etc.

Whether other people think this might be a useful tool, I'm not sure...




Later I may consider adding more functionality to the app for not just logging the first time it sees a new/changed process, but other things like you mention -- reports when apps use certain amounts of memory or cpu.  Or even a more elaborate process use tracking feature, which keeps track of how much time you have spent running each process (or how much cumulative cpu use processes have used over long times).

I'm focusing on keeping it as lean, fast, and resource friendly as possible, compiled in visual studio c++ with a 64bit build and the resident app having no gui, so it should not use noticable resources.

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N.A.N.Y. 2019 / NANY 2019 - Windows App - Process Watcher

« Last post by mouser on November 06, 2018, 01:34 PM »

Process Watcher - a bare bones minimal utility for watching and logging new and changed processes found running on your pc.

• PORTABLE version: https://www.donation...sWatcherPortable.zip
• INSTALLER version: https://www.donation...cessWatcherSetup.exe

Process Watcher is a tool that lives down in your system tray and logs when it sees a new or changed process running on your system.

This is a very early release of what will hopefully be a more elaborate tool, but as of now it has only one purpose: To log each time it sees a new running process, or sees a new version of a previously seen running process.
When it sees a changed process, it will log what has changed (file timestamps, size, exe properties/comments).

So this utility may be useful for those who are interested in seeing what processes run on their computer in the background, or logging when a program is silently updated, etc.

You can easily view the log from the system tray menu, or simply open it in any text editor.

NOTE: It is currently for 64-bit versions of windows only, though a 32-bit version could be built if desired.

NOTE 2: This version will by default set itself to autostart with windows when you run it.  You can change this by editing the ProcessWatcher.ini file.