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226

General Software Discussion / Re: CNET Download Installer Changes

« Last post by db90h on December 15, 2011, 04:45 AM »

Also, I have to add, I don't think the general public has truly been informed on the bundle issue (not CNET's case specifically, in general). I mean, it is worthy of a 60 Minutes type deal, really!

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General Software Discussion / Re: CNET Download Installer Changes

« Last post by db90h on December 15, 2011, 04:42 AM »

The net effect is going to be that, out of consumer demand, bundles get detected (as bundles, not necessary malware) by the security products -- because that's what USERS want. They want to know if what they are about to install is going to show them 5 different bundles, as my last freeware install did. Then, no matter how clever the tactics, the smart people will opt out. The gullible will get 'got' with ever increasingly deceitful methods, as (in my opinion) with the Comical Clean Water bundle: https://plus.google....07/posts/4kwG8NwQsCS

Of course, the only problem with this is that the security companies THEMSELVES almost all heavily use bundles, free scanners in some cases, or Bing toolbar for MS. So... bleh. Maybe a new product must be developed to detect Bundles, but that's the last thing we need, another 'filter' slowing everything down.

Moral decay ... makes it hard for the few that remain ethical. At some point even those will just 'give in' if this trend is not reversed immediately.

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Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by db90h on December 06, 2011, 05:30 PM »

...

229

Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by db90h on November 29, 2011, 01:43 PM »

I've had 1 Seagate drive go bad, and it did so with a SMART error about a week after I bought it. I took it to the Seagate service center, and they replaced it instantly.

-Renegade (November 29, 2011, 12:50 PM)

-1 for having a drive go bad, +1 for replacing it = 0 for me ;p.

You are lucky you have a Seagate Service center local enough to take anything to. The entire process of mailing in a warranty on things is so frustrating, I give up. Half the time they send back a refurb unit that has its own problems (at least with other things), so I usually just trash it [anything, e.g. my Nikon glasses lenses that developed an interior crack in 6 months]. Example: Samsung cell phone. Sent it in for replacement. Got back a unit even more defective with a scratch on the camera lens (thanks Samsung). I gave up at that time. Typical of my 'warranty' experiences.

It seems experiences vary. I should note that I've pretty much stuck the last few years to WD's cheap 'Green' line of drives. Perhaps the specific models involved make a difference, perhaps it is just luck. I don't know.

As for that WD model (the WD20EARS and WD20EARX), they provide good speed, good power savings, and are quiet as I've ever heard a 3.5" HDD be. Oh, and they are half the price ;p.

For 2.5" USB powered external drives I've always went with WD too, never had a failure - and have heard people whining about Seagate's, but never WDs.

Sadly, in benchmarks I saw at a site somewhere, the latest model of the WD MyPassport SE 1TB is not as fast as the Seagate FreeAgent UltraPortable 1.0TB (both USB 3.0), but the speed difference is negligible for me. Who knows how reliable that site was though. Since this is my backup drive, I prefer going with who I trust. I am not sure about the 1.5TB model of the Seagate FreeAgent UltraPortable, which holds the crown as the largest 2.5" self-powered HDD made to date.

These 2.5" models i mention are the ones that shot up in price a few days ago. What?!? Did I buy a few WD MyPassport SE 1TB's before they went up? Oh, yea, that's right, I did ;p. I saw (and mentioned here) these prices were not affected, so took action. It was a bet that paid off, for once. Probably end up making a whopping $50 (total of multiple sales) after eBay seller fees and taxes, but it gets me out of the house (to the post office ;p).

Example: Pre-HDD 'shortage' I bought WD MyPassport 1TB for $79 on sale. Normal price was $99 though. When all this happened they stayed at $99 for a month or so (with cheaper deals here and there, got one for $91), so I bought a few. Now they are $169-$199. Sadly, I didn't notice until one suddenly sold for $119 via Buy Now (I was about to give up), and I was like 'WTF?!?'. Then saw the prices changed, came and posted here.

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Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by db90h on November 29, 2011, 02:58 AM »

Doubtful it will affect that. The capacities of SSDs are still insufficient, and the HDD supply is still there. I've not seen out of stock anywhere, just much higher prices. It is more likely that system builders create systems with half the HDD storage space and/or increase the price of the system to reflect the increased HDD price. Many of the original 3.5" HDDs that shot up in price have dropped back down a *little*, and the fact that they continue to be regularly in stock at Amazon shows how available they are.

Now, my larger concern, to be honest, is hoping WD doesn't get hit too hard. Frankly, my experience has been that WDs go seemingly forever, but Seagate's have a much higher failure rate - not to mention are much louder. At least they have for me, in my limited test sets.

231

Finished Programs / Re: Finished Coding Snack: Separate .txt file at any specified punctuation mark

« Last post by db90h on November 29, 2011, 02:26 AM »

This is why GNU on Windows (or Cygwin as I use) is a good idea. The classic tools available on the linux command line can do almost anything you want regarding text file formatting, reformatting, or parsing. Of course, they go far beyond that, but if everyone learned the basics of linux shell scripting, which is now so easily applied to Windows, they could solve [their own] simple problems very easily. However, I suppose some people are better than others with scripting, I dunno. It is a bit unforgiving in syntax, and you do have to have 'that type' of mind.

Of course, having a programmer write you a custom solution is even better

232

Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by db90h on November 28, 2011, 08:13 PM »

And, now, finally, as I predicted, the price rapidly rose on external ultra-portable (USB powered) 2.5" drives. Prices skyrocketed today (maybe yesterday), some models nearly doubling in price overnight. I don't know why yesterday, but they did. I had been waiting for the speculators and retailers to 'notice' that, hey, these are hard drives too, made in the same places as all those drives marked up so high ;p.

While monitoring this, I have noticed one thing in particular: Amazon or eBay always carries the lowest price, many/most of the other *big* online retailers have jacked up the prices on all HDDs artificially, including these (now).

This applies to all brands, makes, and models.

I have also noticed that past a certain point (about 2x the original price), most consumers are simply refusing to buy. However, some will have no choice in the end if building Christmas PCs, though they may take cheaper options or go for less storage.

233

Screenshot Captor / Re: Feature Request: Standardize keyboard shortcuts to adhere to Windows standard

« Last post by db90h on November 28, 2011, 12:33 AM »

Figures there was a rationale, just thought I'd throw it out there ;p. I felt like an idiot when a user corrected me one time on taking screenshots, I'd been using SSC so long.

The ALT invoking the menu, or forcing the closure of a context menu, is one I often have taking screenshots on PCs without SSC, so I can see why you made the change. There is no good way to get around that either. Bad pick by Microsoft years ago I guess.

Carry on . SSC is my most used DC tool, it has just the right amount of editing capabilities, no BS, all the features I want and need.. I've never had cause to even try competitors. The new Windows Snip tool doesn't compare.

234

Screenshot Captor / Re: small file name length-related bug

« Last post by db90h on November 27, 2011, 11:59 PM »

He may have been reserving space for the folder name, and haphazardly picked MAX_PATH-100 as a limit on the file base name. Who knows.

Did you set out to find this bug looking for a buffer overflow, or accidentally?

235

Screenshot Captor / Feature Request: Standardize keyboard shortcuts to adhere to Windows standard

« Last post by db90h on November 27, 2011, 11:52 PM »

One thing --- you have thoroughly corrupted my memory ;p. In Windows, by default, Alt+PrtScr captures the current window. In Screenshot Captor, Alt+PrtScr captures the entire work-space (at least by default). Therefore, when I'm speaking to someone, I have to double check myself, as I am now used to Alt+PrtScr capturing the whole workspace.

Of course, making such a change now might upset existing users. That said, they might be supportive of it, new users would like it better, it would jive with traditional Windows tips and tricks, and existing users would adapt with a little time.

236

General Software Discussion / Re: Mike Halsey article on firmware upgrades/updates ...

« Last post by db90h on November 27, 2011, 11:31 PM »

You need to clearly indicate what type of firmware you are speaking of. In this case, I assume you are referring to PC BIOS updates. Unless there is a bug that is affecting you, I would advise not to worry with it, as they are barely even used beyond the bootup process anymore. It is not like it will make any difference in performance (though perhaps new options it offers could, theoretically). Review updates to see if any pertinent bugs have been fixed though, something that is very rare.

Most modern devices probably have a recovery copy of the firmware to boot from in case of corruption, making bricking of them near impossible, but who knows, I've not checked. The days of bricking things due to firmware updates are definitely going away at some point though, as we have enough extra storage capacity to safely perform updates by always having a reliable backup copy of the firmware to use in case the checksum on the new firmware fails at bootup. In other words, check to see if firmware is valid. If so, boot to it. If not, boot from recovery. On update, only update new firmware. Never touch bootstrap or recovery firmware copy. When we didn't have enough space to store an extra copy, this was an issue, but no such much anymore, at least for properly designed devices.

The above 'recovery firmware' is used by wireless routers and such, for instance, except their recovery firmwares provide only one role: Flashing a proper firmware onto the device.

237

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 Default Program command line switches?

« Last post by db90h on November 23, 2011, 11:54 PM »

Not that I know of. They simplified it, knocking that part right out.

238

General Software Discussion / Re: Wave? Good-bye!

« Last post by db90h on November 23, 2011, 09:27 PM »

Well, they announced its closing over a year in advance, so .... for better or worse, it is gone now. Many services still overlap. I suspect there will be more closings and mergers.

239

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 Default Program command line switches?

« Last post by db90h on November 23, 2011, 07:51 PM »

Note that I likely never will get around to it, so don't think I'm saying I'm up for this chore. I have too much on my plate with PECompact and PL, not to mention RegMerge, etc..

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General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 Default Program command line switches?

« Last post by db90h on November 23, 2011, 07:33 PM »

You mean shell file associations?  (the program associated with a file or protocol, as you indicate you edit). I clarify so people know what you are talking about.

I've long thought about such a piece of freeware, but never have coded it. It would be helpful in a variety of situations. Further, the coding of it would be relatively simple.

241

General Software Discussion / Re: Wave? Good-bye!

« Last post by db90h on November 23, 2011, 07:01 PM »

Myself, I never heard of it until now ;o

242

General Software Discussion / Re: Wave? Good-bye!

« Last post by db90h on November 23, 2011, 05:41 PM »

previous updated [notification]

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General Software Discussion / Re: Wave? Good-bye!

« Last post by db90h on November 23, 2011, 05:34 PM »

At least they notified you. Some services and companies die without warning, all while taking in money from new customers. I can cite one right now. It is quite obvious, with the forum having spam 44+ days old.. but they continue to take on new long term customers, while leaving promises of new developments long unfulfilled, and ignoring user comments. Either they work a week and take a vacation for at least 44 days, or they are going under. Google is the one who may be putting them under though, as it has added the features that made this company once unique. It is hard to speak without mentioning names, but I am speaking of a real time analytics service. Now, maybe they are alive and well, but they don't seem like it to me. I could be wrong. The problem may simply be not starting small. When you start 'big', with employees and overhead, you've got big revenue expectations. Of course, it is all relative, but the correlation is what I speak of -- your overhead is related to your revenue demands (obviously). Being a one man show, I may be shortening my life with all the stress, but I sure am not taking on extra overhead, as I don't have the capital to risk.

This cleanup of projects is necessary, I believe. While those who rely on them are sadly left 'out in the cold', some needed removal. The reasons vary from overlapping newer services, or no longer having a developer maintaining the project or lab feature. Some lab features have gone so stagnant that they are becoming out of date. That said, I find many extremely useful, and hope that Google encourages new developers to pick up existing lab projects when one developer loses interest. You see, at Google, software engineers are allotted some time to work on whatever project they choose or invent. I believe many of the lab projects are born of this. However, some later die because of a change in interest by the developer.

Now that I've been so nice to Google, let me say that Google is far from perfect (who is?). Their Chromebooks are vastly over-priced, and they seem to underestimate the wide array of uses people and businesses have for PCs. Still, they continue to innovate, and are literally making money on every person they can bring onto the internet.

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MEWLO Web Framework / Re: OLD - Unfinished Web project: YUMPS

« Last post by db90h on November 23, 2011, 12:52 AM »

The best part of such a framework is that once embedded into sites, you could charge for customizations. There is real potential here. I stated this a long time ago, but figured I'd say it again.

245

Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by db90h on November 22, 2011, 05:18 PM »

Sure, it will change... though don't forget a 3.5" standard ole HDD is in your DVR too ;p. It won't only be a corporate thing .. at least not for the next decade. By then, maybe, as SSDs surpass them in value.

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Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by db90h on November 22, 2011, 04:57 PM »

Ok, to respond more to your concerns .. again, in a hurry.. but:

If this is only for 6 months, that's cool.  But I don't think so.  I think the hard drive industry is going to be hit hard by the cloud storage and the tablet evolution.

What do you think backs the storage for all those clouds? Massive numbers of traditional 3.5" HDDs in server farms ....

247

Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by db90h on November 22, 2011, 04:48 PM »

I read all your stuff, thank you, it's very good information.  Please don't be offended if I keep harping about things, it's just a discussion.

-superboyac (November 22, 2011, 04:37 PM)

I tend to offend other people, so don't worry about me ;p.

You pose some interesting questions in the bigger picture, and I need to read it more to give a full response. I am too busy right now, typing this real fast to get back to work. However, I will say this: Remember that while there is certainly a growing market desire for tablets and other such devices, the PC (with keyboard and mouse input) remains the most efficient method to produce, and that is not likely to change anytime soon. Not only produce, but also consume in many cases. The business segment alone is no small segment, so also keep that in mind. Even simple things end users do are faster to do on a traditional PC with mouse and keyboard.

SSDs will eventually overtake HDDs and the price will start to rise, but that day is far away due to their inferior capacity and cost per MB ratio at this time.

I'll be back and respond to your full comments if I can.

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Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by db90h on November 22, 2011, 04:27 PM »

updated last post (notification).. please read through my older posts, I went through this in great detail.

249

Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by db90h on November 22, 2011, 03:44 PM »

One thing to remember is that some retailers immediately jacked up prices too, I mean the DAY of the news, when they had plenty of stock, and the distributors they buy from had plenty of stock.

Example:

Before occurrence of flooding this drive sold for $69 at Amazon.com /w free shipping.

Now
Amazon.com is currently selling WD20EARS for $174 /w free shipping (highest yet, I've been monitoring)
Tigerdirect.com is current selling WD20EARS for $209.99 + extra shipping (been that high for a while, they even tried higher iirc)

There is STILL plenty of stock in the supply chain. However, I do expect prices to be artificially inflated for 6 months or so.

250

Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by db90h on November 22, 2011, 03:31 PM »

My guess (and it's just a guess) is that if there's been a spike in demand it's due to panic buying and/or speculation.

-mwb1100 (November 22, 2011, 03:09 PM)

I went through all this.. please read posts before. There would be NO SUPPLY SHORTAGE if there were not speculators, retailers holding inventory waiting for price stabilization, and panic'd buying. If none of this was in the news, nothing would have ever happened.