Recent Posts

2026

General Software Discussion / Re: additional mouse option for synaptics driver

« Last post by Shades on May 27, 2011, 10:53 PM »

If the mousepad on your laptop does not support multi-touch, I would think that your request will be impossible. I have worked with MSI laptops (X600 (laptop priced in netbook range, as such a very good deal)) and these have a multi-touch mousepad. After installing Windows 7 Ultimate on them, a driver still needed to be installed to support multi-touch.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the following to be true: Windows 8 will support multi-touch by default, Windows 7/Vista will require drivers and XP or lower....well, forget it.

2027

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Faster boots combining hibernate and restart (Boot Snooze)

« Last post by Shades on May 26, 2011, 11:47 PM »

I think that Boot Snooze is about the most misunderstood app I've written.

-skwire (May 26, 2011, 02:04 PM)

That's the thing that relaxes one's footware, right?

-cranioscopical (May 26, 2011, 06:17 PM)

 
And I was thinking that its meaning is: kicking with a "sleepy" foot...

2028

Living Room / Re: Strange phone problem - can anyone help?

« Last post by Shades on May 23, 2011, 06:43 PM »

You use to have a 'pulse/tone'-switch on telephones/base-stations. Don't know if DECT phones still have those as I didn't use a landline for years now. But if it has one, you could try to set the switch in a different position.

My father used his telephone with rotating disc (pulse) on the Dutch phone grid till he passed away last year. Most neighborhood switch stations still accept those pulse phones and convert their signal to tone.

Given this I think it is highly likely that your neighborhood switch is also still accepting those signals. If there is still such a switch it never hurts to try.

2029

General Software Discussion / Re: looking for a program to close other program in a batch

« Last post by Shades on May 22, 2011, 02:14 PM »

1 - Open a command shell
2 - In this window use 'sc' to find out the names of the services you want to turn off
3 - Either in this window or in the normal Windows GUI, create a .bat file
4 - In this file for each of the services you want to stop, fill in the following:
     NET STOP <service name>
5 - Create a shortcut to this file to your desktop or wherever you want to store it

When the time comes to play a game/see a movie/whatever, use the shortcut or execute the .bat file, which will work always. If you have only one version of Windows in your LAN/set of computers, you can copy this file without problems to each system and it will work as well.

When you need to enable the turned-off services, see the previous mentioned steps and replace step 4 with:
NET START <service name>

If you run multiple versions of Windows, check for each version the services you want to stop and just add them to the previously created files.

Nothing more to it, this solution works always in every version of Windows, from now till kingdom come (darn, one day too late... ).

2030

Living Room / Re: DHCPV6 Server for Windows 7

« Last post by Shades on May 21, 2011, 11:55 PM »

Saw your problem and wanted to see if your problem only occurs on Win7, but I can (happily?) report that XP SPIII returns the following error:

Could not start the Dibbler - a DHCPv6 server service on Local Computer.
Error 1075: The dependency service does not exist or has been marked for deletion.

After seeing that error, I would suggest to use a tool that checks for (static and dynamic) dependencies like 'Dependency Walker' (freeware, portable, runs on XP and higher).

On my system DW said that the msjava.dll was missing in the dibbler folder. Got that one from the net and used the Dependency Walker again.
Now the following error was returned by DW:
Warning: At least one module has an unresolved import due to a missing export function in a delay-load dependent module.
and the icon from 'mpr.dll' is colored red(-dish).

Hope it helps.

Alas, my brain starts to succumb heavily to the charms of the (mighty) mistress called sleep. However, I think that with DW you'll get a better idea of why the service is failing.

2031

Living Room / Re: Force USB Drives to use Drive Letter X

« Last post by Shades on May 20, 2011, 06:00 PM »

This link has a lot of tips and code that is supposed to accomplish the task you have in mind.

The link above also mentions the use of the SUBST command, which might be a solution for you as well.

Found one link more regarding: 'Reassigning drive letters automatically'.

Hope it helps.

***EDIT***
This link discusses a useful trick making use of standard Windows functionality.

2032

Living Room / Re: Wooden Horse Art

« Last post by Shades on May 16, 2011, 11:01 PM »

At least you can without problems cross deep(er) rivers with these horses...

2033

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by Shades on May 16, 2011, 05:42 PM »

That festival is the perfect example from a waste of time, money and effort.

Many dictator would spend a fortune to get the skill of the ones rigging it and for the media covering up.

Utterly pointless drivel TV.

2034

Living Room / Re: Batteries charged?...Away we go!!!

« Last post by Shades on May 16, 2011, 11:08 AM »

@40hz:
Then we have something in common, regarding to the accident I mean. In my situation replace the pickup truck for a truck that was carrying 30.000 liters of milk. Luckily seconds before impact I saw the accident coming so I lay my head and as much of my body against the steering wheel for damage control. My neck did not get a "full" whiplash, but was also not the same after-wards.
But hey, when my neck gets warm I don't have any troubles falling asleep.

Ok, on-topic again:
I wonder how far you could get on a battery charge. As the construction does not have (too) much weight to push around, my guesstimate would be 2 or 3 miles?

2035

Living Room / A real bicycle that you can grow?...from nylon?

« Last post by Shades on May 14, 2011, 07:12 PM »

More for the mechanically inclined:

A link to a bicycle that is 'grown' instead of constructed.

2036

Living Room / Batteries charged?...Away we go!!!

« Last post by Shades on May 14, 2011, 07:03 PM »

This post is for the mechanically inclined:

Here is a link to a battery charged vehicle.
And these particular batteries you can buy already in the (better) hardware store, which do not require much in recharging time and and are switched within seconds! 

2037

Living Room / Re: Anyone here using a standing desk?

« Last post by Shades on May 11, 2011, 06:26 PM »

If that was one sitting I should be "precious" instead of president!  

2038

Living Room / Re: PORTAL 2 AVAILABLE NOW FOR PRE-ORDER

« Last post by Shades on May 11, 2011, 06:25 PM »

@Carol:
Stamina makes up for experience? 

2039

Living Room / Re: Anyone here using a standing desk?

« Last post by Shades on May 11, 2011, 04:16 PM »

I watched the trilogy in the cinema, the extended trilogy on DVD (twice) and the extended trilogy on BluRay...Where do I fit in? 

2040

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 Power Users Guide.pdf

« Last post by Shades on May 09, 2011, 10:51 PM »

For a free book, one should not complain...but I don't know if it is just me, the layout from the book is either done by a 12-year-old who's hobby is puzzles or something. 

Clear and concise it isn't, because of that I didn't get too far so I could have missed out on some real "treasures".

2041

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: [Freeware] TimeClue - a simple time reminder that fades the desktop

« Last post by Shades on May 09, 2011, 04:06 PM »

TimeClue is designed to help you develop a habit of resting your eyes every 15 minutes (recommended for heavy computer users).

-musetips (May 08, 2011, 04:36 AM)

Rest them how? Whenever my dad said he was resting his eyes that meant he was taking a nap.

A nap every 15 minutes seems like a good way to live a stress-free life of unemployment.

-Deozaan (May 09, 2011, 12:44 AM)

But not when you are a tester in a mattress factory 

2042

Living Room / Re: Save Stargate Universe

« Last post by Shades on May 07, 2011, 01:16 PM »

@worstje:
Yep, it was the one where a girl visits a house. That episode grabs your attention and makes you look twice at any angel statue afterwards.   

2043

Developer's Corner / Re: C# : Object Lifetime is Not (entirely) Determined by Scope ?

« Last post by Shades on May 07, 2011, 12:40 AM »

42 is the answer :-)

...as far as I know (and after any HGTG quote you can take that as literally as you like it  )


Sorry, lack of sleep makes me "melig" which is Dutch for: rambling (in a positive way)

2044

Living Room / Re: Save Stargate Universe

« Last post by Shades on May 06, 2011, 11:55 PM »

The strangeness was what I meant with 'off the beaten path'.

I also enjoyed Farscape immensely, that show improved a lot during its seasons. Make sure you also see the 'PeaceKeeper's wars' episodes from that series (and I have to admit that there is something about Claudia Black that kept me glued to the screen).

FireFly is/was also amazingly good.

A couple of weeks ago I saw an episode from Doctor Who (the latest series) about statues that were actually aliens...and that was a freakingly good episode! So if there are more of those I am inclined to follow that series as well.

2045

Living Room / Re: Can Download Sites Be Held Responsible for the Software They List?

« Last post by Shades on May 06, 2011, 11:50 PM »

Sue everybody for having ears to (being forced to) listen to rap. 

2046

Living Room / Re: Save Stargate Universe

« Last post by Shades on May 06, 2011, 01:00 PM »

Lexx is a bit too much off the beaten path for most. But hey, I like shows where someone plays the cowardly weasel right. Andromeda has also a good one.

2047

Living Room / Re: After PSN. Who's next?

« Last post by Shades on May 05, 2011, 05:27 PM »

The article is enlightening. Still, I can not help but think that people start to use common terms or something that is is closely related to them...making the attack that much easier than the suggested years it takes to crack it.

Seriously limiting the amount of logins per time interval and "penalty boxes" are key to the suggestions made in the article. But those are also good to implement in current applied protection schemes.

2048

Living Room / Re: Save Stargate Universe

« Last post by Shades on May 05, 2011, 05:08 PM »

Season 2 improved quite a lot in storyline and acting. So count me in.

2049

General Software Discussion / Re: Brilliantly Simple Programs, that's what I'm looking for

« Last post by Shades on May 04, 2011, 06:22 PM »

PathSync. Simple, small and solid.

2050

Living Room / Re: Congratz to the US Military Forces!

« Last post by Shades on May 04, 2011, 04:52 PM »

Great comment, worstje. +1

The only relief you get from the 'eye for an eye' sentiment...is your money filling the pockets from weapon sellers.

Politics are not the main ingredient from DC. And I for one am happy about that.