Recent Posts

1901

Post New Requests Here / Re: How to keep app from minimizing with Noclose

« Last post by Deozaan on March 25, 2017, 02:20 AM »

For anyone wondering, NoClose is a coding snack made by Skrommel back in the day--11 years ago!

1902

General Software Discussion / Re: LessPass password manager

« Last post by Deozaan on March 22, 2017, 05:41 PM »

Thanks!  That's the kind of info/criticism I was hoping for, as it seemed simple and sound to me.  Disappointing.

-wraith808 (March 22, 2017, 02:01 PM)

Agreed. Thanks, f0dder!

1903

General Software Discussion / Re: Multiple LastPass Vulnerabilities Discovered Recently

« Last post by Deozaan on March 22, 2017, 05:12 PM »

Would you care to expound on what, in your opinion, makes KeePass so great compared to the myriad other password managers out there?

-Deozaan (March 22, 2017, 01:22 AM)

Certified/audited, open source, offline.

More generally, it really doesn't require a technical analysis or knowing the technology insideout to have reached the point that storing things online is a risk, this is not even paranoia at all, I am hardly paranoid, it's a fact of life. Even a service with a perfect security record is waiting to be the next to fall.

-rgdot (March 22, 2017, 08:46 AM)

How do you handle logins from your various devices? Do you sync your password file somehow?

1904

General Software Discussion / Re: Multiple LastPass Vulnerabilities Discovered Recently

« Last post by Deozaan on March 22, 2017, 01:22 AM »

Yeah, to say multiple vulnerabilities in this case seems a little less than forthright, considering that I don't think that anyone would be exposed to both.

-wraith808 (March 21, 2017, 11:40 PM)

Just because they fixed it quickly doesn't mean it wasn't discovered recently.

And supposedly, even though the Chrome extension automatically updates, the vulnerable Firefox extension, even though it's older, is still the most widely used version (on Firefox, possibly). So it seems quite possible to me for someone to be exposed to both the Chrome and Firefox vulnerabilities if they haven't been keeping their software up to date.

KeePass or bust

-rgdot (March 21, 2017, 07:55 PM)

Would you care to expound on what, in your opinion, makes KeePass so great compared to the myriad other password managers out there?

1905

General Software Discussion / Re: LessPass password manager

« Last post by Deozaan on March 22, 2017, 01:22 AM »

This looks really useful!

I do have a few things holding me back from switching over to it right now:

I think that it is useful to store other things in my password manager that can't be generated, such as TOTP codes for 2FA. Or the answers to "security questions" that I've completely made up so they can't be "social engineered" out of me. So having some area where I can store "secure notes" would be nice.

Also, they allow you to customize some aspect of the password generation, such as whether to include special symbols or not, but I feel they probably need to allow some more control over that customization. Because some places have crazy restrictions on passwords, like, you must have at least one special symbol but only from a limit set of special characters, such as ~, $, and %. But something like & is not allowed and is considered invalid. As it is, if you're unlucky enough to generate a password that has the invalid special symbols, then you're out of luck with LessPass. Then again, maybe this can be resolved simply by increasing the counter to generate a bunch of them randomly until you finally get one that works.

I'd also like it more if there was an app (for Windows, not for phones) for it rather than having to access it in a browser. But maybe since it is open source it wouldn't be too much work to fork it and implement the code into my own desktop app.

1906

Living Room / Re: good Videos [short films] here :)

« Last post by Deozaan on March 21, 2017, 11:11 PM »

Today I came across this documentary style post mortem for Ludum Dare 37. The production values are fantastic, and I thought it was generally well done and humorous, too.

1907

General Software Discussion / Multiple LastPass Vulnerabilities Discovered Recently

« Last post by Deozaan on March 21, 2017, 07:48 PM »

I (mostly) stopped using LastPass a couple years ago for reasons unrelated to this, but it seems multiple password-leaking vulnerabilities (and other dangerous exploits) have been discovered recently:

LastPass works by storing your passwords in the cloud. It provides browser extensions that connect to your LastPass account and automatically fill out your saved login details when you surf to your favorite sites.

However, due to the discovered vulnerabilities, simply browsing a malicious website would be enough to hand over all your LastPass passphrases to strangers. The weak LastPass script uncovered by Ormandy could be exploited by tricking it into granting access to the manager's internal data. It can also be potentially abused to execute commands on the victim's computer – Ormandy demonstrated this by running calc.exe simply by opening a webpage.

-https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/21/lastpass_vulnerabilities/

Even though I no longer use LastPass for new passwords, my account still has many old passwords I haven't updated in a while, and I have kept the extension installed because of that, since it seems to work more reliably than the extension for the password manager I switched to. So maybe it's time for me to fully ditch LastPass.

1908

General Software Discussion / Re: When testing untrustworthy software, remember virtual machines can be escaped

« Last post by Deozaan on March 20, 2017, 01:09 PM »

That's why I always test untrustworthy software on Amazon instances. Let them deal with the malware.

(I don't actually do that.)

1909

General Software Discussion / Re: XYplorer is not responding.

« Last post by Deozaan on March 18, 2017, 02:44 PM »

Deo, I think you can split it into something more descriptive, and DonL can follow if he wishes.  Thanks for your efforts on this.

-wraith808 (March 18, 2017, 01:40 PM)

The discussion of XYplorer has now been moved to its own thread.

1910

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Explorer now has banner ads

« Last post by Deozaan on March 18, 2017, 02:42 PM »

Discussion about XYplorer (and especially regarding issues about it locking up) has been moved to this thread:

XYplorer is not responding

1911

General Software Discussion / Re: Re: XYplorer is not responding.

« Last post by Deozaan on March 18, 2017, 01:00 PM »

I also bought a lifetime license without first testing XYplorer, because it was so highly recommended here.

Have you tested the latest version (17.70)? This thing is evolving and, contrary to some others , it's usually getting faster with each release.

-DonL (March 18, 2017, 04:37 AM)

I just launched XYplorer to check which version I had and immediately upon starting it, it was "Not Responding" for about 10 seconds. It's version 17.70.0200.

FWIW, I also just tried closing it and restarting it to see if it would lock up every time I started it up, and that doesn't seem to be the case. It's responsive now on further attempts.

One thing I believe that wraith808 and I have in common is we both use Keybase, which has what may be considered a networked drive. But Windows Explorer never locks up for me on the "This PC" screen while waiting for a response from that, and I rarely actually ever access that drive, and have certainly never attempted to access it in XYplorer (other than it showing up in the list of drives on the This PC screen).

Aside: Maybe this discussion should be split off into a separate thread so as not to derail from the original topic.

1912

Developer's Corner / Re: Do you use a good office chair when programming?

« Last post by Deozaan on March 17, 2017, 11:31 PM »

My main office chair has the same problem as yours Deo..  Except i ended up ripping all that fake peeling leather off and now it looks ok again

-mouser (March 17, 2017, 07:59 PM)

Well, my old chair didn't fare that well once the faux-leather started coming off:



Thankfully my current one seems to be lasting much longer, even if the faux-leather hasn't.

Lesson learned: I'll never go for a faux-leather chair again.

1913

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Exclusive Giveaway for DonationCoder - HD Video Converter Factory Pro

« Last post by Deozaan on March 17, 2017, 11:21 PM »

Thanks for that info 4wd.

I think it would have been better if Tronista had simply linked to a current giveaway rather than posting the serial here, but it doesn't bother me so much knowing that it is (or was, before it ended) a legitimate giveaway

1914

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Exclusive Giveaway for DonationCoder - HD Video Converter Factory Pro

« Last post by Deozaan on March 17, 2017, 05:46 PM »

Agreed. Most of this thread seems sketchy to me.

I'd much prefer if someone from WonderFox Soft made an account and clearly stated who they were and how they were affiliated with WonderSoft, and then was free to make promotional discounts/giveaways in the appropriate places of the forums.

As it is, I see no (verifiable) indication that this is an officially sanctioned giveaway. As far as I can tell, this is a random warez serial posted by a random person on the internet.

1915

Skwire Empire / Re: Release: SFV Ninja (Simple File Verification application)

« Last post by Deozaan on March 17, 2017, 04:45 PM »

I have two folders, say named Folder A and Folder B.
They're stored under different paths and have different names. Inside are other nested folders and files, which have the same general directory structure, but may or may not all match. What I'm trying to find out is exactly what's there and what's not, and for the ones that have same filename and patch, whether they're indeed the exact same files.

-Cocoa (March 16, 2017, 04:04 AM)

The fact that SFV Ninja stores relative paths instead of absolute paths lets you accomplish what you want:

• Use SFV Ninja to create a checksum file for Folder A.
• Save the resulting checksum file in Folder A.
• Move the checksum file (or copy it) to Folder B.
• Open the checksum file with SFV Ninja and have it verify the checksums.

-Deozaan (March 16, 2017, 09:40 AM)

That's what I thought would be the steps, except when I created the checksum file and moved it to the other folder, then selected "Load checksum file" -> "Verify All", all I got was the program re-verifying all the files in the initial folder that the checksum was created from. I also tried "Scan folder for checksum file and load" and got the same result.

-Cocoa (March 17, 2017, 05:18 AM)

That shouldn't happen if you follow my instructions to save the checksum in Folder A. Since the paths are relative, it should verify the checksums for the current folder, which will be Folder B after you copy/move the file.

I also forgot to say that after you've copied/moved the file, you should clear the list, and then add Folder B to the list using the "Add folders to list" option before loading/verifying the checksum file. This will show you which files don't exist in Folder A, since they won't have any checksums saved in the checksum file.

1916

General Software Discussion / Re: Re: XYplorer is not responding.

« Last post by Deozaan on March 17, 2017, 04:38 PM »

Weird that nobody in my forum reports this. And I'm sure they would. They are merciless.

-DonL (March 17, 2017, 04:16 PM)

Maybe they (any others who experience something like this) are all noobs like me who try out XYplorer but aren't emotionally invested in it and can't be bothered to create a forum account and post about it and instead just go back to what they prefer when XYplorer misbehaves.

1917

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Deozaan on March 17, 2017, 04:36 PM »

I must say, I really hate this update process.  Continually, I have to hard reboot my daughter's machine because she's on a wireless adapter on her desktop (though her laptop doesn't have the same problem- go figure).  It will just be on a screen with the chasing dots, and stay there.  One time, I tried to just let it go because she was out of town- after days, it was still there.  But I hard reboot it (sometimes once, sometimes twice after it goes through it again), and then it says restoring old installation.

-wraith808 (March 17, 2017, 03:43 PM)

I've found on a laptop I have that it will occasionally get stuck on the spinning dots screen after an update. A solution that almost always clears things up for me is to shut down, remove all USB devices from the machine (the only one I have in this machine is a wireless mouse dongle), and boot it up. The machine boots up relatively quickly and then I can plug in the USB devices again, and all is well until the next update breaks it.

But I spend most of my time in Linux on that machine, so it tends to go a while between Windows Updates.

1918

Developer's Corner / Re: Do you use a good office chair when programming?

« Last post by Deozaan on March 17, 2017, 04:08 PM »

I got a no name (Flash Furniture) one from amazon (https://www.amazon.c.../product/B012JJ2EEY/), mostly because the ability to roll the arms back meant I didn't have to have an extra stool for when I use my guitar.  It's been pretty good, and compares well to all of the $350 or less chairs that I've used.  I think that in order to get a better chair, you have to spend more than I'm willing to...

-wraith808 (March 17, 2017, 09:26 AM)

How long have you had it and how well has the material held up?

My last major chair purchase was about $150 IIRC for a nice "professional/executive" chair probably in 2008 or so. I decided to pay a bit extra for a 3-year extended warranty because the warranty was so cheap. A couple years later, all the faux-leather started cracking and peeling off. So shortly before the warranty expired, I was able to get a replacement--a similarly priced model--for free. And I'm glad I did because the damaged chair started deteriorating quickly. But the replacement, too, started to fall apart after about 3 years. It's been a longer, slower process. But they both leave lots of little black "droppings" all over the carpet, which sometimes even stick to the backside of my clothing.

Here's what my most recent chair looks like now after owning it for about 6 years:



With a close up shot of near the top of the backrest:



And here's a small sampling of the little "droppings" that I have to vacuum up all the time:






EDIT: I just realized I posted about the initial purchase of my "nice" chair in this very thread:

My two crappy metal chairs with fabric covered cardboard (or some kind of manufactured wood) both broke last month within weeks of each other. So I just bought a decent office chair for about $150, but strangely enough I can't find any information or pictures of it online.

It's an executive style chair made out of what is probably fake leather. It has massage motors in the lower and upper back. Seems pretty comfortable to me. It's a lot better than my previous chairs.

-Deozaan (June 15, 2008, 10:41 AM)

1919

General Software Discussion / Re: Re: XYplorer is not responding.

« Last post by Deozaan on March 17, 2017, 01:42 PM »

Could it be that a sleeping hard disk wakes up? This can take some seconds, and usually you hear some kind of yawning noise.

-DonL (March 17, 2017, 09:37 AM)

I don't think that's the cause in my case. Unless it could be caused by any sleeping drive, even one I'm not trying to access. I spend most of my time working with and using files on my 5TB D drive. Most programs that I use read/write to that drive. That's where I'd have XYplorer open to browse my file system probably 95% of the time, so it's unlikely it would be sleeping while I'm actively using my PC. But XYplorer would almost always be "Not Responding" for several seconds, like in the 10-20(+?) second range. Long enough that I'd get too impatient waiting for it and just open Windows Explorer to do what I needed to do.

Then, if I remembered, I'd check XYplorer again to see if it had finally started responding, and usually it would. But it may have taken me another 10-30+ seconds to open Windows Explorer, navigate to the proper directory, and perform whatever operation(s) before I'd check XYplorer again, which is why I'm not really sure how long the lockups last.

1920

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Deozaan on March 17, 2017, 01:32 PM »

Microsoft is also starting to roll out delta updates, which should make updating in the future easier as well. Resulting in smaller downloads/patches if you've kept up to date.

-Deozaan (March 16, 2017, 09:38 AM)

But only after you've updated to the Creators edition, due in April... (afaik)

-Ath (March 17, 2017, 06:59 AM)

Yes, kind of. Here's my understanding of it:

This week they started rolling out an early part of delta updates. So if you are completely up to date as of today then you should start benefiting from delta updates for the smaller updates (the cumulative updates that change the OS Build number, I think). Starting with the Creators Update, due next month as you said, the delta updates will be introduced to the "big" updates (the ones where the version number changes) as well, and Microsoft will be incorporating the delta update model into more and more of the Windows Update process as time goes on. But this means the Creators Update itself doesn't benefit from delta updates, and the full thing will need to be downloaded to install it.

Source:
http://www.zdnet.com...ws-update-surprises/

1921

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Exclusive Giveaway for DonationCoder - HD Video Converter Factory Pro

« Last post by Deozaan on March 17, 2017, 01:17 PM »

(Serial active till Mar 17th, 2017)

-Tronista (March 17, 2017, 01:05 AM)

That's today.

1922

Skwire Empire / Re: Release: SFV Ninja (Simple File Verification application)

« Last post by Deozaan on March 16, 2017, 09:40 AM »

I have two folders, say named Folder A and Folder B.
They're stored under different paths and have different names. Inside are other nested folders and files, which have the same general directory structure, but may or may not all match. What I'm trying to find out is exactly what's there and what's not, and for the ones that have same filename and patch, whether they're indeed the exact same files.

-Cocoa (March 16, 2017, 04:04 AM)

The fact that SFV Ninja stores relative paths instead of absolute paths lets you accomplish what you want:

• Use SFV Ninja to create a checksum file for Folder A.
• Save the resulting checksum file in Folder A.
• Move the checksum file (or copy it) to Folder B.
• Open the checksum file with SFV Ninja and have it verify the checksums.

That said, it sounds like what you actually want is a diff program, such as WinMerge.

1923

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by Deozaan on March 16, 2017, 09:38 AM »

Microsoft is also starting to roll out delta updates, which should make updating in the future easier as well. Resulting in smaller downloads/patches if you've kept up to date.

1924

General Software Discussion / Re: Re: XYplorer is not responding.

« Last post by Deozaan on March 15, 2017, 03:17 PM »

But maybe it's time to re-evaluate XYplorer and see what all the hubbub is about.

-Deozaan (March 13, 2017, 04:14 PM)

Nope. I still can't do XYplorer. It frequently locks up on me for several seconds at a time.

-Deozaan (March 14, 2017, 09:20 PM)

odd,
and you dont have the same problem with other file managers?

-tomos (March 15, 2017, 05:09 AM)

Correct.

That's not to say that Windows Explorer never hangs or crashes. But it's pretty rare. Whereas with XYplorer it would be "Not Responding" for several seconds pretty much every time I came back to it after not using it for a few minutes.

1925

General Software Discussion / Re: Re: XYplorer is not responding.

« Last post by Deozaan on March 15, 2017, 01:47 AM »

That sounds like a familiar problem, which usually happens when you access folders on your LAN. Is that the case?

-Shades (March 15, 2017, 01:28 AM)

Nope. Just trying to browse my internal hard drives.