Recent Posts

2151

Living Room / Re: Interested in doing my own car maintenance.. Advice?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 23, 2015, 06:52 AM »

Then you can get away with it.. usually.

-MilesAhead (April 23, 2015, 05:43 AM)

LOL ...Usually.. 

Keeping you hand open so the ratchet hits first helps a bit on those odd occasions too. Alternatively I'm a huge fan of breaker bars as they nicely limit the amount of force that needs to be controlled.

-Stoic Joker (April 23, 2015, 06:27 AM)

With a cheater bar over the breaker bar. 
But part of the fun is setting your reflexes to react when the fastener starts to give.  You pull back just before knuckle contact.  At least I could do that when I was young.  Now all that touch is gone.  I'd rather type clumsily on the keyboard. 

2152

Living Room / Re: Interested in doing my own car maintenance.. Advice?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 23, 2015, 05:43 AM »

And if you can't get something wrong in that lot you ought to be doing your own maintenance

i estimate the likelyhood of me breaking something during each procedure at 5%.
unfortunately that puts me at about a 45% likelyhood of needing to have my car towed to a mechanic before i'm through.

-mouser (April 22, 2015, 08:15 PM)

Try to opt for the broken object not being a knuckle.  Beware of ratchets.  The "always pull a wrench, never push it" is a good rule of thumb until you develop some feel.  Then you can get away with it.. usually.  

2153

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Delete every N files, or keep only every N files

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 23, 2015, 05:29 AM »

Be aware that having a (1) directory with ~80,000 files in it will bring Explorer, and other tools looking at that file-list, to a crawl

-Ath (April 23, 2015, 01:59 AM)

It may have been easier to do a move of the Nths files to an outside folder on the same drive.  Then just delete the original folder and recreate it.  Not sure if AHK would be faster that way(depends how FileRemoveDir is implemented) but it would be fewer file operations until right at the end.  A Move on the same drive should be quite fast.

Edit:  It is difficult when dealing with a large number of objects with untested code.  For one thing, it's not trivial to set up a test case generating scads of fake data.  Nobody wants to do that unless they have a guinea pig PC lying around.  Plus it is very time consuming.  Perhaps a mechanism to lower the AHK task priority(I have never used SetBatchLines.  I'm not sure if it's designed for this situation) would help to make it more of a background task.

2154

General Software Discussion / Re: Text-To-Speech Freeware?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 22, 2015, 06:54 PM »

It was something really horrible, such as "Are you sure you don't want to install any crapware? Press OK to cancel."

-Deozaan (April 22, 2015, 01:25 AM)

The person who wrote that must be the same guy who does the wording for voter referendums.  You have to oppose the initiative by voting Yes or vote in favor of it by selecting No etc..   

2155

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

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 22, 2015, 06:06 PM »

more alarming than silly
 (see attachment in previous post)

-crabby3 (April 22, 2015, 05:57 PM)

It would have been funnier if he put on a pair of Frye Boots and stomped it until it died.  "Rebooting" it you might say.  That's the trouble with gun ownership.  The owner is tempted to use the weapon instead of laying the computer on a railroad track like a normal person. 

2156

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Delete every N files, or keep only every N files

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 22, 2015, 04:04 PM »

I used Skwires script to delete things.

-Deozaan (April 22, 2015, 11:15 AM)

When I last posted Skwire's script wasn't visible to me.  Sorry for the confusion. 

2157

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Delete every N files, or keep only every N files

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 22, 2015, 05:34 AM »

Thanks!

I'm letting it run now, keeping only every 6th file. It doesn't win any prizes for speed, but it does seem to be working as advertised. I'll let it run overnight so it can finish its thing and I'll report back later.

-Deozaan (April 22, 2015, 01:06 AM)

Even "compiled" it is run through an interpreter.  But the good thing is it is programmer coding efficient.  Meaning the file handling is so simple I could knock it off without making a mistake.  In C based I would have to use some variant of FindFirstFile FindNextFile which needs to be kept as a snippet or encapsulated in a class or wrapper once it works as desired.  Lots of little gotcha's when using the API calls directly. 

It might run a tad faster if compiled just because ahk would only be running the single script.  You may want to change it to output the filename it would keep to a result file to make sure it works as expected before inserting the actual delete line.

2158

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Delete every N files, or keep only every N files

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 21, 2015, 06:45 PM »

You could run this as a test to see what would happen.  I'm paranoid about doing file deletions.  But if you have a folder with no subfolders and that folder is backed up you should be ok.

This will just say how many it would delete per setting of the Modulus in the script
Also set PngFolder to the real folder. 

[Select]

#NoEnv
SendMode Input
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%
Total := 0
Deleted := 0
Modulus := 4 ; set this to every Nth file to save
Loop c:\PngFolder\*.png
{
   Total++
   if (! Mod(A_Index ,Modulus))
      continue
   Deleted++
}
MsgBox %Deleted% out of %Total% PNG files erased

2159

Html and CSS School / dfm2html

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 19, 2015, 10:28 AM »

http://www.dfm2html.com/

Not what you asked for.  It is more of a design tool using objects.  But I thought of it when you mentioned German Language.  I think German is the native language of the developers.

From the write-up it seems like the most sophisticated open source tool I've seen for Web.  I haven't installed it yet.  I have been focused on getting Visual Studio installed properly.  But this tool looks pretty cool.

2160

Living Room / Re: Kingston USB 3.0 for ISO usage

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 19, 2015, 09:01 AM »

Speaking of shortcomings of USB 2-3 has anyone heard of actual USB 3.1 in the wild?  Or is it still something that only works in standards committee meetings?

2161

Living Room / Re: Kingston USB 3.0 for ISO usage

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2015, 04:35 PM »

Now I just need to create a legend which monkey signifies which software.

-MilesAhead (April 18, 2015, 06:43 AM)

If you use three you'll be completely free from evil. Also, since you'll be blind, deaf, and dumb you can sell off that laptop and relax.
 

-cranioscopical (April 18, 2015, 04:30 PM)

I can forget about multimedia programming at least.  

Edit:  I was tempted to get the Hello Kitty Sticker Sheets but they were $2.  I'm not made of money after all! 

2162

Living Room / Re: 5 Insane Devices for Monitoring Your Kids

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2015, 04:33 PM »

Now a suspicious person with a conspiracy-oriented outlook might wonder how many of these products are sending copies of all that data (and more) back to the manufacturers who can correlate all that juicy data to real people located at real home addresses due to warranty registrations and online ordering.

-Innuendo (April 18, 2015, 11:29 AM)

Even in the 1950s I knew the TV watched me as much a I watched it.  Every time I got a perfect picture on the rabbit ears as soon as I set down it went haywire.  Only when I got cable could I watch TV without jumping up every few seconds.

Unfortunately I think many would check off the Privacy Policy Agreement that says the guvmint can access all this data if a beer would be sent into the Living Room every time you uttered the phrase "while you are up!" in a clearly audible fashion.  There's freedom and then there is convenience. 

2163

Living Room / Re: Kingston USB 3.0 for ISO usage

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2015, 04:22 PM »

Waitaminnit....a fistful of flash drives each emblazoned with the image of a monkey? Hmmm....is Miles the origin point of the army of the 12 monkeys? <eyes Miles suspiciously>

-Innuendo (April 18, 2015, 11:21 AM)

It may be once I get 12 of them.  I keep telling you guys I'm a time traveler.  But people waste my time asking if I am from the past or the future.  In time travel, even at 1x, there is only the present.  Don't ask me how it works.  In the 1970s I was able to repair rear wheel drive automobiles that tended to traverse space in a very limited fashion.  I am not trained in temporal displacement engine  technology.  xaml is learning curve enough. 

2164

Living Room / Re: TV shows thread

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2015, 09:52 AM »

It's too dark. It's hard to see everything when 90% of shots are at night with no lights

-Renegade (April 18, 2015, 09:49 AM)

I hate it when that happens.  TV becomes a radio show.  All sound effects and dialog.  They should have started a tradition a long time ago of having a prompt dialog near the bottom of the screen like "the warehouse is dark but we added light so you can watch what happens" or whatever.  I don't know how many X-Files episodes went audio only on me. 

2165

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2015, 09:33 AM »

A new country just started in Europe

Starting is easier than staying, it would seem.  

2166

Living Room / Re: Kingston USB 3.0 for ISO usage

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2015, 06:43 AM »

@4wd thanks for the suggestion.  Cranioscopical suggested a kid's sticker instead of a label.  I'm lazy and it turns out Walmart will send 4 sheets of kid stickers(some stuff with monkeys or something) to the local FedEx Store for less than a buck.  Now I just need to create a legend which monkey signifies which software.    It may seem lazy but it is rapidly getting hot for dragging a bag in Miami.  The FedEx Store is right across the street from a MetroMover Station. 

@fodder I'm not sure how fast the install will read from these Kensingtons but sequential read of both a virgin stick and one after it has a lot of data on is around 100 MBs.  I added Blend from vstudio 2013 Pro and although it did no back flips I didn't fall asleep waiting. For $.50/GB that's ok. 

I'v owned various types of AData USB.  Some feel very light and flimsy, some rubbarized, some very rugged like the s102.  I don't know if it's luck but I don't remember one of them dying.  Maybe the rubbarized one as I had to squeeze it into a close space to plug it in.  One out of 10 or so seems pretty good.  Sandisk the first one I bought died which put me off the "sliding guts" design.  But you're right.  I just have to assume the worst.  I use the AData s102s for image backup as there's no other rational choice.  I can't lug WD Sata IIIs around in my bag. 

2167

Living Room / Kingston USB 3.0 for ISO usage

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 17, 2015, 08:43 AM »

I am starting to like Kingston USB 3.0 as a container for install media.  This 16 GB flash only writes at around 10 MBs but it reads pretty fast.  This makes it handy for install media.

At $8 a pop I find myself getting more of them.  I have one for Visual Studio 2013 Pro.  I just ordered another to use with Windows 7 Pro.  It also works pretty well as a bootable recovery for the Laptop.  I'm not sure how rugged it is.  But so far I haven't had any cause for concern.

Edit: I wish it came in more than one color.  I find myself putting a rubber band on to distinguish the contents.  I tried a web search for computer related decals or stickers.  But I didn't find anything useful for sticking on the side of the drive.  Printable labels might be fine if I was at home with my own printer.  But for something I can just stick on I didn't see anything good.

2168

Html and CSS School / Re: HTML editor for beginners

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 16, 2015, 01:09 PM »

Nobody has mentioned PsPad.  It is free.  Does syntax highlighting.  Comes with Tidy for html.  It does Find in Files.  Does preview in an IE compatible pane.  Plus it has templates for various html and other files.  I found if I allowed Tidy to wrap lines I was able to see what was going on.

Since it isn't a code generator you don't get the clutter like when you use html editor from Sea Monkey(back when I used it they just called it Netscape.)

If you intend to do stuff mainly with html and css it may be a good way to go.  The other thing it has going for it is small size and portability.  Also you can add commands to the menu.

Edit:  I think you need to add a plugin to get the Find in Files feature.  But it's straightforward.  Also it does spell checking for plain text files.

2169

Post New Requests Here / Re: "IDEA" RECURSE A DRIVE TREE REMOVING WRITE PROTECTION LIKE EMPTY FOLDER REMOVERS

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 16, 2015, 10:40 AM »

This utility may be worth a look:
http://www.nirsoft.n...lk_file_changer.html

2170

Post New Requests Here / Re: "IDEA" RECURSE A DRIVE TREE REMOVING WRITE PROTECTION LIKE EMPTY FOLDER REMOVERS

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 16, 2015, 10:37 AM »

I think your only hope of doing this with check boxes is to find a file manager with the feature.  You should be able to remove read only attribute on all files on a drive from the command line using an administrator command prompt.  Just CD to the root as in
CD \ <enter>
attrib -r *.* /S <enter>

But obviously I'm not going to test it on my system since there's a couple hundred thousand files to mess with if something goes wrong. 

If you have more than one partition in the command prompt just enter the drive letter
with a colon to change drives
f: <enter>
to go to drive f  etc..

2171

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

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 16, 2015, 10:18 AM »

Nope, didn't have to open my wallet for him. In fact, we got back more than twice as much as we did last year.

-app103 (April 16, 2015, 12:46 AM)

That's one thing that's always befuddled me... people are happy to get back a lot of money.  It's your own money that you gave the government interest free for a year.  My perfect world is when I'm at $0 owed or returned.

-wraith808 (April 16, 2015, 09:44 AM)

If you can believe it, back in the 70s and 80s if you didn't file a Tax Return and the govt. owed you money(like you left it there for a couple of years) when you did file, they paid it with 5% interest for the extra time they had it.  Of course back then I think savings accounts were paying over 4% interest.  I think some people got wise to it and were just not taking their deduction(claiming 0) and using it like a savings plan.  After a few years the guvmint quit paying the interest.  It's too bad.  In fact I think I still have tax deductions I never got back.  I asked my former employer for the info but I guess they are only required to keep it a certain number of years.  I bet if I owed them money they wouldn't throw away the records. 

2172

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 16, 2015, 06:44 AM »

...Not From Aliens Parkes Observatory Clarifies Radio Signal Bursts Come From Kitchen Microwave

-Arizona Hot (April 16, 2015, 01:14 AM)

"Oops!"
 

-TaoPhoenix (April 16, 2015, 01:25 AM)

But does it brown? 

2173

General Software Discussion / ComSysApp broken??

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 15, 2015, 03:45 PM »

Edit:  This Laptop has always been funky when it comes to Restore Points.  It seems to be exacerbated by vstudio 2013 install.  But my online searches seem to come up with nothing very positive for fix except reinstall.

I ran sfc  /scannow and all it found was some Explorer Frame stuff.  Which I suspect was left over from a File Explorer modification utility.

It's frustrating because I watched an MS online vid how to use Blend.  Looks like there's quite a bit of engineering sunk into it.  But this Laptop may not be the best platform to try it out.

In any case I have the disc image and license.  I can always put it on when I get a desktop.  Or maybe I'll get lucky and this machine will stabilize.  The one thing I did learn was disabling Fast Start on the Laptop seemed to cut the hang time when running Restore Points from 20 min => fovever  to about 5 minutes.

I did see some google hits about vstudio causing ComSysApp failures but they were nearly all XP and IIS related.  Oh well.  That's one frustration of large IDEs.  You may spend 2 days to get them on only to find you can't really use them to the full measure. 

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

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 15, 2015, 07:18 AM »

Next time you do somehow manage to get someone that knows what they are doing, get their name!

-app103 (April 15, 2015, 02:57 AM)

And if you have a chance to give feedback, mention their name!

-x16wda (April 15, 2015, 05:36 AM)

If you get a really good tech ask the person where to send an "atta boy" or whatever they call a glowing positive feedback these days.  Perhaps an email or fax.  A few of those hanging on the bulletin board and the management tends to treat the tech better. 

2175

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 15, 2015, 05:25 AM »

Tokyo Boy

-bit (April 15, 2015, 12:56 AM)

This was a fun flick.