Recent Posts

2651

General Software Discussion / Re: myWOT uninstall

« Last post by 4wd on December 08, 2013, 05:13 AM »

http://www.howtogeek.com/104631/

2652

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by 4wd on December 08, 2013, 12:34 AM »

Just tried the Alt+double-click thing and I can confirm the delay hulkbuster gets - this happens across all my drives: HDD, SSD, Flash, and RAM - on a new Windows 8.1 Pro x64 install with very little in the way of programs.

An example:
Open a lister for K: (my RAM drive).
Alt+DC on a file and the Properties dialog opens immediately.
Close it and Alt+DC on another file/folder and there's almost a 10 second delay before the dialog opens.

Another example of Alt+DC seemingly impacting performance:
Open a lister for K:
Double-click on TEMP to enter the folder
Alt+DC on a file and the Properties dialog opens immediately.
Close it and return to the parent folder (K:) and then DC on TEMP again, there's a upwards of 5 seconds delay before it changes folder.  (There's no delay switching folders if Alt+DC isn't used.)

2653

General Software Discussion / Re: myWOT uninstall nightmare

« Last post by 4wd on December 08, 2013, 12:24 AM »

Wouldn't it just be a matter of using JavaScript to interrogate for the three hash values that are left behind in the browser config?

2654

General Software Discussion / Re: myWOT uninstall nightmare (and it's crapware)

« Last post by 4wd on December 07, 2013, 11:47 PM »

As for #1, there are lots of cases where uninstalling leaves behind trivial stuff that is not used for any purpose -- sometimes just because deleting it seems pointless, or because a reinstall should preserve the settings, etc.  Sometimes people freak out about such things.  I think in order to be upset or care, you'd really want to show that WOT is using this left over undeleted information for nefarious purposes.  I'm not saying someone shouldn't document how to clear this information or that i know whether or not it's being used, i'm just saying that just because info is left over after an uninstall is not in itself reason to freak out.

-mouser (December 07, 2013, 10:12 PM)

While good points, I think the fact that it leaves behind traces that allow you to be personally identifiable when you visit a web site and the developers haven't seen fit to tell anyone this, does not exactly instill a feeling of goodwill.

Consider the subject dropped by me ... don't want to end up with DC getting the red donut  

2655

General Software Discussion / Re: Laptop Lock only on Lid Close

« Last post by 4wd on December 07, 2013, 06:31 PM »

Uh OK, I found it though the Microsoft forums but it's also mentioned on various others, (SuperUser, eightforums, etc), and a couple of the users had checked it out, (for nasty stuff), and it came up OK.

Still, surprising MS hasn't thought to include this functionality.

2656

General Software Discussion / Re: Laptop Lock only on Lid Close

« Last post by 4wd on December 07, 2013, 03:55 PM »

You can also get a small program to do it from here: http://akhaliq.com/?p=198

2657

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Change (sub) folder(s) date based on newest/oldest file in the folder

« Last post by 4wd on December 07, 2013, 06:10 AM »

Just curious to know... any developments?

-dcwul62 (December 07, 2013, 02:23 AM)

Kind of on the back burner, no real developments since playing with a GUI other than you can drag'n'drop files/folders onto it.

I'm nothing if not an accomplished procrastinator ... just ask my wife 

Did you think of a name? Something like the "Ultimate Attribute Changer"   (UAC) 

I went with Attribute Mangler, as soon as you write Ultimate anything someone wants to surpass it.  Besides, if I get something wrong it will mangle.

Examples
a. a GUI that shows current dates (created/modified/last accessed) and preview of changes before applying
b. an easy way to synchronize dates after created, or modified, or last accessed
c. a randomize dates option: so, you can updated modified dates with randomized dates and times using  a certain period
d. add your update folderdates of course
e. add date-time (userdefined format) to filenames (not really a 'attribute changer'-thing, but maybe it can be added)
f. update modified dates after dates  or  dates/times  in filename  (a difficult one, I know, am not sure if it is possible, there are a lot of combinations)

Maybe also add
- option to simulate?
and/or
- log changes, so users can easily 'undo' changes

You keep adding things to the list, I have to keep modifying the GUI

* Donot know if it is possible at all *

You mean in SetFolDate?

Easy enough to add - although technically for recursion you'd have to start at the deepest level and work forward so the dates propagate correctly.  I'll have a look at it.

2658

General Software Discussion / Re: myWOT uninstall nightmare

« Last post by 4wd on December 06, 2013, 11:54 PM »

It won't allow 'delete' of the entries.
So what is the name of the file with all those entries and where is it located I wonder?

-bit (December 06, 2013, 11:49 PM)

Right-click on an entry and select Reset, when you restart Firefox/Seamonkey/Thunderbird/etc, it should be gone.

ie. It's reset to its default value, which in the case of an non-default entry is non-existence  

2659

General Software Discussion / Re: myWOT uninstall nightmare

« Last post by 4wd on December 06, 2013, 11:44 PM »

Having looked at the link @bit gave above and some of the comments regarding the addon, I have to wonder why:

You can even trust a company that:
a) Apparently continues to track you after you uninstall their software and don't tell you they are.
b) Allows results to be so skewed in the first place.
c) Wants you to sucker your friends into using their software, (more people to track?  I wonder ...), to counteract a sites rating.

Consider the negative reaction when Download Statusbar surreptitiously updated and went adware - the developer quickly reverted to the pre-adware version.

Yet people using WOT are OK with the software tracking their every web move?

Even when it's uninstalled?

I bet the myWOT site doesn't have a negative WOT rating nor is it likely to gain one considering the closed nature of the rating system.

2660

General Software Discussion / Re: myWOT uninstall nightmare

« Last post by 4wd on December 05, 2013, 09:30 PM »

Instead of uninstalling/reinstalling Firefox, you should be able to hold down a shift key while starting it and then choose to reset to defaults.

For hash number, think of it as similar to an MD5 checksum - it could be composed of alphanumeric or just numeric characters.  It's probably what they use to personally identify your computer.

2661

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by 4wd on December 05, 2013, 08:54 PM »

As the first comment said, it's just a peltier^w device - I've got a couple lying around here.

Considering you need around 3+ amps at 12V to drive them, exactly how much energy would you save by having everyone wear these instead of just having more efficient AC?

Be better to incorporate them into the office chairs and use the temperature differential between the office bums and ambient air to generate power^w to drive a couple of ceiling fans  

2662

Living Room / Re: Pebble...anybody got one?

« Last post by 4wd on December 05, 2013, 08:35 PM »

My friend has one, (got in on the Kickstarter), about the best thing I could say about it is you can have The Juggler^w playing on it  

2663

General Software Discussion / Re: How do you delete accounts you did not sign up for?

« Last post by 4wd on December 05, 2013, 05:01 PM »

gmail is terrible at this. if someone sets my email as *their* recovery address, gmail merrily sends me a congratulatory message (with an advice to disregard if it was not intentional). shouldn't they first send a verification code to the person who keyed-in my email as their recovery email?

-lanux128 (December 04, 2013, 10:21 PM)

Since I don't use recovery email addresses, does it tell you who you are a recovery address for?

Send them an email politely asking them to change it ...

Then you can get nasty if they don't do it. 

Just Delete Me

-bit (November 22, 2013, 02:30 AM)

Account Killer covers more accounts.

2664

Developer's Corner / Re: How are these AutoHotkey script protected?

« Last post by 4wd on December 05, 2013, 04:40 PM »

It looks as though some have discovered a way to prevent AutoIt from being decompiled.  (Although you are not allowed to talk about that on the AutoIt forum.)

-vbmark (December 05, 2013, 02:43 PM)

Not exactly true as shown in a recent post by Melba23:

Obfuscation (as practiced by Obfuscator and as demonstrated in the snippets posted above by the OP) has never and will never be a problem. All that is changed is the script itself.

Altering an already compiled exe to prevent decompilation is also not a problem - several threads have been allowed showing how this might be done. However, we are certainly not going to to give official blessing to anything which might act in such a manner - it is for the individual to test them and decide whether they are suitable. And as has been already been pointed out, mentioning decompilation is best avoided here - a good reason for the results of any such tests to remain private.

What is a problem is altering the AutoIt3.exe or Aut2Exe.exe executables - that is against the EULA.  

2665

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Daminion Basic 2.0.0.9 - gaotd

« Last post by 4wd on December 04, 2013, 05:32 PM »

It's quite a good program, I've been using the Server version to try and get my ~48000 photos/videos organised - just wish I could put in enough time to finish doing it 

2666

General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by 4wd on December 04, 2013, 05:23 PM »

+1 with Shades and SJ (who snuck in ahead of me).

Up until this point, the restarts caused by the auto-update have appeared to be masking the real problem - which seems to be the winlogon.exe process crashing.  Once that happens the system restarts the process if it can, (AFAIK).

2667

General Software Discussion / Re: Does anyone know of a software that can record file modification times?

« Last post by 4wd on December 04, 2013, 02:52 AM »

File Watcher Utilities - (Windows, Linux, MacOS)

Run as GUI, Console, and Windows Service.

Description

File system/directory monitoring utilities with loggin and task processing support (can execute files or make a WCF service call). Multiple configuration options. Source code libraries can be used to create a custom file system monitor.

Sample output with just default logging options:

Code: Text [Select]

1. [4/12/2013 7:44:15 PM] [Info] Application started.
2. [12/4/2013 7:45:49 PM] [Info] Daemon 'Watch K' is starting.
3. [12/4/2013 7:45:49 PM] [Info] Daemon 'Watch K' is started.
4. [12/4/2013 7:45:56 PM] [Info] File or folder changed 'K:\temp'.
5. [12/4/2013 7:45:59 PM] [Info] File or folder created 'K:\fwatcher.xml'.
6. [12/4/2013 7:45:59 PM] [Info] File or folder changed 'K:\fwatcher.xml'.
7. [12/4/2013 7:46:01 PM] [Info] File or folder created 'K:\temp\fwatcher.xml'.
8. [12/4/2013 7:46:01 PM] [Info] File or folder changed 'K:\temp'.
9. [12/4/2013 7:46:01 PM] [Info] File or folder changed 'K:\temp\fwatcher.xml'.
10. [12/4/2013 7:46:06 PM] [Info] File or folder created 'K:\temp\WPDNSE\fwatcher.log'.
11. [12/4/2013 7:46:06 PM] [Info] File or folder changed 'K:\temp\WPDNSE'.
12. [12/4/2013 7:46:06 PM] [Info] File or folder changed 'K:\temp\WPDNSE\fwatcher.log'.
13. [12/4/2013 7:46:22 PM] [Info] File or folder changed 'K:\temp\fwatcher.xml'.
14. [12/4/2013 7:46:22 PM] [Info] File or folder changed 'K:\temp\fwatcher.xml'.
15. [12/4/2013 7:46:22 PM] [Info] File or folder changed 'K:\temp\fwatcher.xml'.
16. [12/4/2013 7:47:57 PM] [Info] Daemon 'Watch K' is stopped.
17. [12/4/2013 7:47:58 PM] [Info] All processes have exited.
18. [12/4/2013 7:50:51 PM] [Info] Application stopped.

2668

Developer's Corner / Re: How are these AutoHotkey script protected?

« Last post by 4wd on December 02, 2013, 08:50 PM »

Sorry, my bad - it just happened the first couple I got were UPX'd.

2669

Developer's Corner / Re: How are these AutoHotkey script protected?

« Last post by 4wd on December 02, 2013, 08:11 PM »

Looks like they've been compressed with UPX, (usually an option when compiling both AutoHK and AutoIT).

Generally, now on DC for any scripts we write in AutoHK/AutoIT we don't compress with UPX after compiling due to the number of false positives given by AV software, (see here).

AV tends to regard almost anything packed with UPX as "possibly nasty" but here, I'll let mouser explain: mouser's pet peeve

[Oooppss! That was his anti-AutoIT pet peeve - oh well, holds true for his other ones ]

2670

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by 4wd on December 02, 2013, 06:51 PM »

I think I would have phrased the Amazon Delivery by Drone question in the FAQ as "is this for f***ing real?" versus just asking if it was science fiction...

http://www.amazon.com/b?ref_=tsm_1_tw_s_amzn_mx3eqp&node=8037720011

-vrgrrl (December 02, 2013, 12:53 PM)

Me too ... But I think they're just trying to get people used to having things buzzing overhead so that the ones with cameras don't stand out so much.

-Stoic Joker (December 02, 2013, 03:58 PM)

Meanwhile, in a cave somewhere:

"What a fantastic delivery system!  Program a coord, send it on its way, wait for the earth-shattering kaboom.  Who's not going to accept a parcel from Amazon?"

2671

Living Room / Re: Network/website problem 1+1+1=0. Seeking a solution.

« Last post by 4wd on November 30, 2013, 10:25 PM »

Just tried it. It's still slow but it's not broken UK newspaper loads much faster.

-cranioscopical (November 30, 2013, 10:18 PM)

OK, I've set up a transparent proxy on a VPS in Canada - I'll send you config details for Firefox, Chrome, and IE and you can see how you go.

For me it loads faster than if I go direct, might have to start using it myself  

EDIT: Info sent, providing you get the settings correct you should appear to be in downtown Toronto if you go here: whatsmyip

2672

Living Room / Re: Network/website problem 1+1+1=0. Seeking a solution.

« Last post by 4wd on November 30, 2013, 08:57 PM »

I had another idea that might help narrow it down a little, what happens if you use an online HTTP proxy to load the site?

eg. kproxy

2673

General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by 4wd on November 30, 2013, 07:07 PM »

Also IIRC it reports in UTC so the disparity should match your time zone offset.

-Stoic Joker (November 26, 2013, 07:02 AM)

Just had another look at uptime and it is reporting in the local timezone, (even though it can't identify it):



But as I was matching up times trying to see the discrepancies I noticed the filter I made wasn't giving system boot events  

NOTE: This is for Windows 7.

Anyway, the new improved filter:
Sources: EventLog, Kernel-Boot, Kernel-BootDiagnostics, Kernel-General, Kernel-Power, Power-Troubleshooter,USER32
Event IDs: 1,12,13,41,42,109,1073,1074,6008
Event Level: Critical, Error, Warning, Information

The Event IDs were picked out of my Event Log from power events, etc - some Event IDs mean more than one thing depending on the source, eg. Event ID 1
Source: Kernel-General = System time has changed
Source: Power-Troubleshooter = The system has resumed from Sleep

You could refine the xml so that certain Event IDs only pertain to specific sources but I didn't see enough clashes to warrant the effort, (on my machine anyway).

Short list of what the Event IDs are, (pertaining to startup/shutdown):

Event ID	Event Type	Event Source	Event
1	INFORMATION	Power-Troubleshooter	The system has resumed from Sleep
12	INFORMATION	Kernel-General	The operating system started at system time
13	INFORMATION	Kernel-General	The operating system is shutting down at system time
41	CRITICAL	Kernel-Power	The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first.
42	INFORMATION	Kernel-Power	The system is entering sleep.
109	INFORMATION	Kernel-Power	The kernel power manager has initiated a shutdown transition.
1073	WARNING	USER32	The attempt by user <user> to restart/shutdown computer <computername> failed
1074	INFORMATION	USER32	The process <processname> has initiated the power off of computer <computername> on behalf of user <user> for the following reason: ...
6008	ERROR	EventLog	The previous system shutdown at <time> on ‎<date> was unexpected.

If I find any more I'll add them.

Added: Event ID 6008

Also, over on p0w3rsh3ll there's a PowerShell script to retrieve the reboot history of Win7, (and Win 2008 R2), computers.  Providing you have the same login credentials on other computers on the network, it can get those too.

I've attached it below, you'd need to modify it to accept parameters or edit to add in other computer names, (hey, I'm lazy), as it'll just do the localhost if you currently run it.

2674

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is my Firefox searching for updates when aut. updating not is enabled?

« Last post by 4wd on November 28, 2013, 04:37 PM »

Has it been replaced by app.update?

-Curt (November 28, 2013, 07:57 AM)

Yes, app.update.* - see here.

Check:
app.update.auto
app.update.enabled
app.update.silent

And remember, there's also:
extensions.update.enabled

Which is set from the Add-ons Manager:

2675

General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by 4wd on November 27, 2013, 05:53 AM »

But can MS still do the updates while the PC is not actually running?

-dr_andus (November 27, 2013, 05:23 AM)

The auto-update creates a task that'll wake the computer to do the update check, and restart it to complete installation of any updates if required.

If you don't want it to do it, select one of the 3 other options - as you can see I just have it set to notify me of any updates.

Time to turn in my tech badge, too much over-thinking ...

However, I did manage to resurrect a DELL XPS730 by replacing some motherboard capacitors in the last day or so ... so maybe I'll keep my badge