Recent Posts

2351

General Software Discussion / Re: is it possible to easily build a GUI mockup?

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 09, 2015, 09:10 AM »

can't anyone do it for me and then help me modify it?

I tried 3-4 GUI creators without any luck

-kalos (March 08, 2015, 01:06 PM)

You could try the one that comes with AutoIt3.  If you install Scite4AutoIt3(and AutoIt3 of course) Koda Form Designer will be in the Tools menu.  It may not have all the splitters and objects some others have.  But for Buttons, Edit boxes etc.. it's easy to use.

https://www.autoitsc...pt-editor/downloads/
https://www.autoitsc...te/autoit/downloads/

2352

General Software Discussion / Re: is it possible to easily build a GUI mockup?

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 07, 2015, 07:41 AM »

Download Visual Studio Express or a free version of Borland's RAD Studio and create your mockup with it. You can easily add functionality if needed, in your language of choice, VB, C# or Delphi.

-Ath (March 07, 2015, 02:57 AM)

Do you have a link for Free Rad Studio?  I'm not having any luck finding the freebie. 

2353

General Software Discussion / Re: A first look at the Windows 10 universal app platform

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 06, 2015, 05:36 PM »

Just now I read this article:

http://infrastructur...plicity-empowerment/

which describes Windows 10 as

"Microsoft’s next big shift is to move all Windows users to a common, cloud-delivered operating system".

I am wondering if it wouldn't be better to remain with Windows 7 (which I use) or 8.1, because I don't want to use the cloud - period.

I want all my information and preferences to stay on my local device, f.e. I have disabled all syncing in Android and use Xprivacy so that apps do not have access to my private contacts etc. information.

-brahman (March 02, 2015, 11:52 PM)

The funny thing is the reason Microsoft existed in the first place was that people could use a computer on their desktop instead of just a dumb terminal.  The system administrator lost total control.  It seems we are going full circle.  I fear we are headed toward a fraction of a cent being tallied on your bill every time a Remote Procedure Call goes to the cloud for processing.  Kaching!!

2354

Living Room / Re: Leonard Nimoy, Dead at 83

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 06, 2015, 05:28 PM »

While some have to do it, I think that many want to do it.  Or, their needs have inflated because of the money that they made in their prime, and now that they aren't, they trade on their heyday.

-wraith808 (March 06, 2015, 05:14 PM)

With the NBA schedule I doubt if Havlicek showed any houses personally.  Perhaps on very big deals in the off season.  But he did this while a Celtic.  I guess they didn't pay the non super stars much back then.  He played more minutes than anyone when he was on the roster but had to have a side job.  It just seems funny.  Now the top  players get paid even if they are injured and can't play.  Back in the Bill Russell era most games weren't sold out.  At some point I guess it became fashionable for companies to buy up seasons tickets.  A regular schmuck like me couldn't attend anymore. 

2355

Living Room / Re: Leonard Nimoy, Dead at 83

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 06, 2015, 05:09 PM »

He was a man of many talents. He also opened an exotic pet shop in 1969 after his run on Star Trek. Its name? Leonard Nimoy's Pet Pad, of course! 

http://www.rowsdowr....p-he-opened-in-1969/

-Innuendo (March 06, 2015, 04:55 PM)

It's weird what some famous people have to do to make a buck.  When I was in high school the Celtics Player John Havlicek was my role model.  8 rings and still Celtics all time leading scorer.  I'm told he had a real estate agency all along.  Former Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan has a sporing goods store.

I'm sure Nimoy got some big paydays from the movies though.  At least I hope so.

2356

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 06, 2015, 09:24 AM »

Turn off Third Party Cookies in the Firefox options - I think I only ever came across one or two sites that wouldn't work unless it was enabled so it was easier just not to go to those sites.

Otherwise, Self-Destructing Cookies is probably good enough, turn on the Strict Cookie Policy and reduce the cookie kill time to something short.

-4wd (March 06, 2015, 08:59 AM)

Thanks for the tips. 

2357

General Software Discussion / Re: ReRun 2.5.7.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 06, 2015, 08:45 AM »

One thing that I should note.  If you have ShowNotRunningOnly=True in the .ini file settings, which is the default, if a program of the same name as the one you closed is running, such as another copy of Firefox or chrome, the button will never show in the list.  This is because the ProcessExists() function just checks for the exe name as in firefox.exe.

If you run multiple copies of ff or any other program and want them to show on the Button Panel try quitting ReRun and editing the .ini file.  Set ShowNotRunningOnly=False or =0.  Then they should be added to the list as soon as they become the active window.

Another note.  The program should run with the Button Panel closed unless you are using it to launch.  While the Button Panel is showing the active window detection loop is suspended.  That's one reason why it closes as soon as a Button is Pressed.

Please let me know if you notice a bug.  

2358

General Software Discussion / Re: ReRun 2.5.7.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 06, 2015, 08:33 AM »

A more subtle bug fix.  Thanks again to cranioscopical for pointing it out.

First post updated.

2359

Living Room / Re: Movie Title from info fragments

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 06, 2015, 08:14 AM »

I can't help you with the name of the film but since a car seems to play a large part in it you could try looking at the IMCDb.

Internet Movie Cars Database

There is ~433 pages of movies/TV shows that have a Cadillac - if you could narrow down the model it will reduce the list somewhat.

-4wd (November 29, 2014, 02:45 AM)

It turns out the film was Lost Highway as I thought.  Good to know my memory isn't totally shot. 
Wikipedia went into the auto mechanic subplot as well as the part about the musician.  Most other descriptions just had the musician part.

2360

Developer's Corner / Re: Announcing .NET 2015 - .NET as Open Source, .NET on Mac and Linux

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 06, 2015, 07:51 AM »

Not really..

First of all "promise" is legal wording and is legally binding, and this particular promise is not retractable for any other reason than you participating in a patent case against Microsoft. The only way to stop this promise to be valid for future .NET versions is for Microsoft to not make those future versions to begin with.

Second, in contract law the term "termination" means that both parties are released from their obligations to effect and to receive future performances. Any claim for compensation of past performances needs to be made before the contract is terminated. In this case the termination is "automatic", making any arrangement before it takes effect impossible.

-rkarman (March 05, 2015, 10:49 PM)

Hmm, if I ever decide to get married I just may hit you up to draft the pre-nup.    

2361

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 06, 2015, 07:49 AM »

Self-Destructing Cookies[/url] - Works after you've left a site.

-4wd (March 05, 2015, 06:48 PM)

For a time I used ToolWiz Time Freeze mainly for browsing protection.  The scheme(in case anyone reading is not familiar with it) is to use Shadow Services to redirect system partition disk writes to a cache file.  Upon reboot the cache is erased and the system partition is as it was.  But it occurred to me that while I was browsing, the tracking cookies where still tracking.

Is there a good preventive that doesn't hobble the browsing experience?

2362

General Software Discussion / Re: ReRun 2.5.6.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 06, 2015, 07:41 AM »

ReRun 2.5.6.0  a bug fix release for a regression introduced in 2.5.5.0.  Please update to the latest by downloading from the link in the first post.

Thanks cranioscopical for catching the error.   

2363

General Software Discussion / Re: ReRun 2.5.5.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 05, 2015, 05:11 PM »

First post updated.  Added 'R' icon placeholder for empty button positions as cranioscopical suggested. 

2364

General Software Discussion / Re: ReRun 2.5.4.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 05, 2015, 04:47 PM »

Well, in that case you can go and… oh, you mean for the icon

-cranioscopical (March 05, 2015, 02:41 PM)

I hope i wasn't sideways.  Ouch.  

Please try this and see if it's an improvement.

Edit: I'm kinda' getting it.  I think it is much better than blanks.  Plus the R's make it look like a Brand or something.  It's easy to do since the icon is in the exe anyway.  

But let me know if you think it's too gaRish.  

Edit2:  I'm going to go ahead and upload.  I think it looks much better.  Thanks for the suggestion. 

2365

General Software Discussion / Re: ReRun 2.5.4.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 05, 2015, 12:21 PM »

Sounds good to me!
Is it worth sticking a constant placeholder icon where a slot is disabled, so there's a difference between disabled and unused?

-cranioscopical (March 05, 2015, 12:15 PM)

Do you have anything in mind?  I'm open to suggestions. 

2366

General Software Discussion / Re: ReRun 2.5.3.0 Beta

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 05, 2015, 11:04 AM »

This gets more to the purpose of restarting an accidentally closed program.

-MilesAhead (March 04, 2015, 05:48 PM)

It's a better idea, I think.

With 2540 I get some blank buttons in unexpected slots. Is this what you meant by "The buttons tend to move around a bit."?

At the moment, starting from the right, top, I have 4 blanks, 1 icon, 1 blank, 2 icons.

-cranioscopical (March 05, 2015, 10:28 AM)

Yes.  It's sort of scatter shot in appearance.  As I create the buttons I check if the exe path exists, the icon and tooltip loaded ok, and if the program is running.  If any of those disqualifies it I just mark it disabled.  I tried keeping the buttons together by decoupling the loop.  But it's too tightly coupled in other places.  Kind of spaghetti code.

Plus with this scheme what will show up will vary depending on what is running.  There will always be a few things detected that aren't useful, like Windows Scripting Host.  But I figure with 32 buttons chances are the program or two you close and want back will be pulled into the net.

2367

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MiniTool Partition Wizard PRO - do we need a mini review of this software?

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 05, 2015, 10:56 AM »

The real problem with writing reviews of software like this -- is that you really need some descent familiarity with the main alternatives -- it's simply pointless for someone who hasn't used other partition tools to review just one.  And given how rarely people use partition tools, it's not something that most people have much experience with.

-mouser (March 05, 2015, 10:47 AM)

Plus the fact that not everyone has a bench with 2 or 3 "guinea pig" machines to try them on.  You have to expect the possibility the PC may not boot after the test. 

2368

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MiniTool Partition Wizard PRO - do we need a mini review of this software?

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 05, 2015, 10:24 AM »

Last May they gave away the Pro version 8 someplace.  I don't really need it either.  The free bootable CD is quite powerful.  I guess I installed the Pro because it was free and had GPT support.  This Windows 8.0 Laptop is GPT and that makes me paranoid.  Not because it isn't better but because my MBR experience is now obsoleted.  

I don't remember where I got it though.  On the W8 W7 and Vista forums I am on they recommend it highly.  (The posters who regularly reconfigure their partition setups.)

If it is spam at least it seems to be for a product that works.  

Edit: after search I see they had v. 9 Pro on GOTD Feb. 15.  But I have no day to day need for it or I would have noticed. 

2369

General Software Discussion / Re: ReRun 2.5.4.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 05, 2015, 08:29 AM »

v. 2.5.4.0     Added .ini file option ShowNotRunningOnly.  The default is True. When
               this option is True, Buttons for programs will only be shown if the program
               is not currently running.  This is the behavior I had in mind when I started.
               To use the old behavior quit ReRun and edit the .ini file.  Set
               ShowNotRunningOnly=False or =0.

               Note that if you open the ReRun Button Panel right after closing a program's
               window, the process may still be hidden in memory as it shuts down.  Closing
               the Button Panel and opening again should produce the expected results.

The new version is available on my site.  See first post for the link.

2370

General Software Discussion / Re: Why won't my laptop run Firefox?

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 05, 2015, 05:41 AM »

If nothing else, if the hw is good you could do a complete wipe and install and at least have a running Laptop with a clean OS on it.

-MilesAhead (March 04, 2015, 09:19 AM)

I'd not be so hasty to do this unless there is a recovery option available (alternatively, clone the existing drive and keep that or the source drive safe somewhere for future reference) -- if the OS that's on there is or "inherits" from an OEM install, there may be OEM-specific files that having access to later may make one's life easier.

I agree that determining the key via the likes of ProduKey as suggested is a good idea.

-ewemoa (March 05, 2015, 03:57 AM)

Also try here:
http://www.dell.com/...roducts/?app=drivers

I didn't see Z600 listed.  Autodetect if you can browse there may pick it up though.
If you have an external drive you can always make an image with Macrium Reflect.  You can mount the image in Explorer to access files later.. if you can find what you want in the pile. 

2371

General Software Discussion / Re: ReRun 2.5.3.0 Beta

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 04, 2015, 05:48 PM »

Changing one line of code when the Button Panel opens I think I have this much closer to how I envisaged it.  Now a Button for a detected program will not be displayed if the program is running.  The program info will still be saved to file as before.  This has the effect that when you start ReRun before opening the programs that were running when you closed ReRun(such as by shutting down or logging off) the Buttons for the programs running then will be displayed.

A bit wordy but say you have Notepad, Firefox and PCalc running.  Pressing F9 to display the Button Panel should not display any of them that are already running.  Close PCalc, then open the Button Panel.  It's button should be there.  This gets more to the purpose of restarting an accidentally closed program.

The buttons tend to move around a bit.  It may take a little getting used to.  But I think this is much more useful than the way it functioned previously.

If anyone would like to try it please feel free to download the attachment.  I haven't updated the readme yet.  For any who don't know just unzip to any empty folder and run ReRunSetup.exe.  It just extracts either a 32 or 64 bit version of ReRun depending on your OS.  You may have to set the Compatibility Mode to Run As Administrator on W8.

2372

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 04, 2015, 04:39 PM »

(see attachment in previous post)The number of the beast. Does this mean that Deozaan is more evil.

-Arizona Hot (March 04, 2015, 01:53 PM)

Heh.  A lot of cab companies here in Miami have phone numbers like 444-4444(so the drunks can just keep jabbing one finger I suppose.)  I've also seen 777-7777.  But I haven't seen a cab with 666-6666 on its side. 

2373

Living Room / Re: Super Annoying Freezing Mouse (and Keyboard) - can ANYONE help, PLEASE!?

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 04, 2015, 04:37 PM »

My suggestion is to delete the driver for the mouse that is currently connected and reboot.  Let plug and play reinstall it.

-MilesAhead (March 04, 2015, 09:12 AM)

I did that for a minimum of 20 tiems! As I wrote I tried EVERYTHING (I am NOT a PC Noob);only my English isn't good enough.
I do repair people's PCs in my spare time, but this bloody problem I never came across & NOBODY seems to ahve a cure, so I
tried to post it here, hoping that someone might have a solution.

But thanks buddy anyways. And yesss, Miles IS the KING!!!!!!! 

-IQLover (March 04, 2015, 03:27 PM)

I hate it when that happens.  I don't know that much about computer hardware.  I studied a bit when learning assembler but that was back in the days of ISA bus and edge triggered interrupts.  I haven't kept up.  I hate intermittent problems.  Hope you track it down. 

2374

Living Room / Re: Is anyone doing this Bing Rewards thing?

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 04, 2015, 01:37 PM »

Sounds about right.  Thanks

2375

General Software Discussion / Re: Beware of download sites

« Last post by MilesAhead on March 04, 2015, 10:35 AM »

As far as the saying "Don't believe anything you read and half of what you see." goes, it is totally false now too. You can't believe anything you hear and only at most 10% of what you see. Or can you trust any photos etc on the internet?

-grandpastan (March 04, 2015, 10:10 AM)

Or, as Chico Marx said in Duck Soup

"Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"