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326
General Software Discussion / Re: Fastest/Easiest HDD to HDD transfer?
« Last post by 4wd on June 24, 2020, 10:16 PM »
  • Connect the drive,
  • clone the old drive to it using EASUS, AOMEI, etc partitioning software,
  • remove the old drive, install the new one,
  • boot the computer, if the new drive has the wrong or no drive letter, change it using Windows Drive Manager,
  • fire up the partitioning software again and resize the partition and create the second one,
  • reboot

Job done ... I've done this more times than I can remember, including 6 times within the last 2 months upgrading my own and friends drives.

Never had a problem with programs that have been cloned to the new drive, worst that has happened has been the drive letter is different, changing it to the correct one and rebooting has always fixed it.
Can always boot into Safe Mode at 4 to fix drive letters and repartition.
327
General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced
« Last post by 4wd on June 18, 2020, 06:49 PM »
A month or so ago I thought I'd re-enable the Insider update, (had it enabled a year or two ago), and almost immediately ran into the same problem I had previously on different hardware and after having reinstalled Win 10 a couple of times.

Micro-freezes, every few seconds the system, (or maybe just the mouse/keyboard input), would freeze for less than a second.

Oddly enough during regular use I hadn't really noticed it, as soon as I started playing a FPS game it became blindingly obvious.
Tried different things, eg. completely disable firewall just in case it's MS trying to phone home, unplug non-essential peripherals, kill any of my usual background programs, etc, etc - couldn't work it out.

In the end I just reverted to the release stream and the problem disappeared.

Second time it's happened, basically a completely new computer and still no idea what caused it.

Anyone had anything similar?
328
dnGrep - https://dngrep.github.io

dnGrep allows you to search across files with easy-to-read results. Search through text files, Word and Excel documents, PDFs, and archives using text, regular expression, XPath, and phonetic queries. dnGrep includes search-and-replace, whole-file preview, right-click search in File Explorer, and much more.

Features:
  • Search across text files, Word and Excel documents, and PDFs
  • Search for files in archives - zip, 7z, rar, jar, and many more
  • Search using text, regular expressions (regex), XPath, and phonetics
  • Many search filter options
  • Search-and-replace, including undo
  • Whole-file preview
  • Right-click to search in File Explorer
  • Move/copy/delete result files
  • Open line results in a custom editor, like Notepad++
  • Bookmark search patterns for later use
  • Try out complex searches in the Test window
  • Save search results
  • Light and Dark themes
  • Much more!

Just a note: The plugins for Word, Excel, and PDF are search only, no text replacement.
329
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by 4wd on June 10, 2020, 08:54 PM »
Does anybody have any recommendations for other "emergency kit" type things (minus fire extinguishers/med-kit/snow stuff)?
-Stephen66515 (June 10, 2020, 02:57 PM)

For the UK?

Decent walking shoes, a decent pocket knife/multitool, a couple of litres of water, and a basic understanding of which way is South.

Then walk East or West, the coast is less than 70 miles away no matter where you are and long before you've walked even 15 miles you'll be falling over a made road, fence, houses, MacDonald's, fish and chip shop, off-licence, etc.
 ;) :P
330
Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"
« Last post by 4wd on June 10, 2020, 12:52 AM »
The Un-Smartphone, open source rotary dial cell phone, (kits are available for the 3G version):

rotaryphone_4g_preview.png

  • Real, removable antenna with an SMA connector. Receptions is excellent, and if I really want to I could always attach a directional antenna.
  • When I want a phone I don't have to navigate through menus to get to the phone "application". That's bullshit.
  • If I want to call my husband, I can do so by pressing a single dedicated physical key which is dedicated to him. No menus. The point isn't to use the rotary dial every single time I want
    to make a call, which would get tiresome for daily use. The people I call most often are stored, and if I have to dial a new number or do something like set the volume, then I can use
    the fun and satisfying-to-use rotary dial.
  • Nearly instantaneous, high resolution display of signal strength and battery level. No signal metering lag, and my LED bargraph gives 10 increments of resolution instead of just 4.
  • The ePaper display is bistatic, meaning it doesn't take any energy to display a fixed message.
  • When I want to change something about the phone's behavior, I just do it.
  • The power switch is an actual slide switch. No holding down a stupid button to make it turn off and not being sure it really is turning off or what.

The perfect gift for that crotchety old relative who either can't get to grips with technology or who complains that their smartphone does things that they didn't want without having touched it, (I mean you, dad :-\ ).

Designer's project page.
331
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by 4wd on June 09, 2020, 05:47 PM »
I picked it up when they had their range discounted on Amazon AU, (the 1200A, 1500A, and 2000A were $80, $90, and $100 respectively).

Set up an alert on 🐫^³
332
Living Room / Re: How to identify email address at the end of lines with RegEx?
« Last post by 4wd on June 08, 2020, 07:09 PM »
... I was sure that it wouldn't be enough in any case.

How can you say that?
😏
🤣
333
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by 4wd on June 08, 2020, 12:09 AM »
Picked up a portable car jump starter, (1500A peak), recently ... now I have to wait for the battery to die to test it.  In the meantime it can act as a portable battery pack with QC3.0.

Be interested to try this on my Landcruiser, only a 3.4l diesel but of the old indirect injection glow-plug variety, (20:1 compression ratio), not the more modern common rail direct injection versions ... unfortunately the battery doesn't want to die :-\

51fonDOPLBL._AC_SL1000_.jpg

Amazon [AU]

Also a set of Tronsmart Spunky Beat TWS earbuds

spunky-beat-true-wireless-bluetooth-earbuds.jpg
334
Living Room / Re: How to identify email address at the end of lines with RegEx?
« Last post by 4wd on June 07, 2020, 11:03 PM »
If would be helpful to know where this is going to be used, eg. in a spreadsheet, PowerShell, JavaScript, etc - there are system calls that could possibly do a better job of validating an email than a single RegEx although you still need to separate a suspected email address out of the input.

In PowerShell you could cast the assumed email address to the MailAddress type and let the system validate it, email addresses are no longer restricted to just ASCII characters.

eg. Valid email addresses:
johndoe@🚌.org
John.Doe@やる.net
[email protected]

Plain old ASCII valid email addresses:
John.Doe(Donationcoder)@nowhere.net
[email protected]
"John..Doe"@nowhere.net
"John. .Doe"@nowhere.net
"John@Doe"@nowhere.net

PS. The RegEx's given above fail the simplest email address: admin@localhost  ;)

Maybe you'd need to (roughly):
  • look for a @ within the last 256 characters of the line, (max length of the domain part is 255);
  • see if there are any pairs of quotes within the maximum allowed length of the local part, (64 chars), if there are you'd need to allow a lot more ASCII characters than you normally would, (eg. spaces, @);
  • if there is an odd number of quotes then check that the 'odd' ones are escaped (\\);
  • if there are no quotes in that 64 chars then take the chars at the first space backwards from the @;
  • pass what you have to the system for validation.

Probably a lot more needs to be done in there before you can be sure you pick up anything that might be an email address.
335
Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea: Task Manager "Lite"
« Last post by 4wd on May 16, 2020, 11:34 PM »
Save to a .ps1 file and run

Ha!  Spent 90 mins trying to get the output from Get-WmiObject into a ListView ... and gave up :-[

I was going for something using a GUI, still haven't quite worked out getting arrays into a ListView yet.
2020-05-17 14_32_24-PTM.png
336
Post New Requests Here / Re: Sort/organize mp3 files by bitrate, into folders
« Last post by 4wd on May 13, 2020, 09:02 PM »
Add the four lines needed to create the folder, and change the Remove-Item line to Move-Item.
337
General Software Discussion / Re: The best uninstaller
« Last post by 4wd on May 12, 2020, 06:26 AM »
Throwing another uninstaller into the mix: BCUninstaller - haven't used it, (I use Revo Pro Portable).

Bulk Crap Uninstaller (or BCUninstaller) is a free (as in speech) program uninstaller. It excels at removing large amounts of applications with minimal user input. It can clean up leftovers, detect orphaned applications, run uninstallers according to premade lists, and much more! Even though BCU was made with IT pros in mind, by default it is so straight-forward that anyone can use it.

BTW, Revo Uninstaller Pro is $8.25 on BjD for the next 19 hours.
339
Living Room / Re: How can I find the link of an embedded video file?
« Last post by 4wd on April 13, 2020, 10:22 PM »
Unfortunately the creator has not enabled the download feature ...

Doesn't answer what I said.

... is there a third party solution?

Use Google, best you're going to get without giving us:
a) the URL;
b) the account details to access it so we can see what works.
340
VideoProc 3.5 is available for free atm here.

Fill in the 6 question survey to the right and you'll also receive their new video editor for free when it's available.
341
General Software Discussion / Re: youtube downloader?
« Last post by 4wd on March 31, 2020, 04:33 AM »
I found this 'rotating galaxy' video,
4K Galaxy, Nebula Motion Background ,Milky Way, Free Video Background,
but it's rotating the wrong way (as countless comments point out). I searched duckduckgo on how to do it in avidemux; all I can find out is that -apparently- my later avidemux v.2.7.5 no longer has a 'reverse video' filter function/option, whereas earlier versions do.

From StackExchange:

Code: Text [Select]
  1. ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf reverse reversed.mp4

Take note:
This filter buffers the entire clip. For larger files, segment the file, reverse each segment and then concat the reversed segments.

FYI

Or:
1) Download an earlier release of AVIDemux.
2) Openshot can do it.

Of course then the background is running in reverse.
342
Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?
« Last post by 4wd on March 30, 2020, 06:31 AM »
Simply search on the title and either borrow the book or add yourself to the wait list.

Just a PSA about this:

The Open Library, (Archive.org), has removed the wait list for all books during the current pandemic.
343
Living Room / Re: How can I find the link of an embedded video file?
« Last post by 4wd on March 29, 2020, 08:48 PM »
Any hint?

Sure, it'll be streamed using HLS or MPEG-DASH protocol.

Ask the creator to enable offline download for mobile devices.
344
A lot of free virtual tours available if you're trapped in an elevator or something, the list is courtesy of OzBargain:

Free Virtual Tours / Live Cams of Popular Museums / Zoos Around the World

Which was courtesy of HUKD.

Do some virtual traveling.
345
General Software Discussion / Re: Dancing Ants
« Last post by 4wd on March 25, 2020, 07:01 AM »
Perhaps Masque Solitaire Antics:
https://www.old-game...que-solitaire-antics

FYI
346
DC Gamer Club / Just Cause 3, Far Cry 5, Far Cry 5: New Dawn discounts
« Last post by 4wd on March 24, 2020, 06:51 PM »
Three games that I own, have played, and think are very good:

[Steam] Just Cause 3 AU$3.44 - Very Positive Reviews
Just Cause 3 XXL Edition AU$5.84

The Mediterranean republic of Medici is suffering under the brutal control of General Di Ravello, a dictator with an insatiable appetite for power. Enter Rico Rodriguez, a man on a mission to destroy the General’s hold on power by any means necessary. With over 400 square miles of complete freedom from sky to seabed and a huge arsenal of weaponry, gadgets and vehicles, prepare to unleash chaos in the most creative and explosive ways you can imagine.

[GamersGate] Far Cry 5 AU$19.11 - Activates on UPlay, (you need to link your account)

Welcome to Hope County, Montana, land of the free and the brave but also home to a fanatical doomsday cult known as the Project at Eden’s Gate. Stand up to cult leader Joseph Seed, and his siblings, the Heralds, to spark the fires of resistance and liberate the besieged community.

[GamersGate] Far Cry 5: New Dawn AU$23.10 - Activates on UPlay, (you need to link your account)

Dive into a transformed vibrant post-apocalyptic Hope County, Montana, 17 years after a global nuclear catastrophe.
Join fellow survivors and lead the fight against the dangerous new threat the Highwaymen, and their ruthless leaders The Twins, as they seek to take over the last remaining resources.
347
General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a Mass Mailer
« Last post by 4wd on March 20, 2020, 04:57 AM »
Possibly something simple like this:

MassBlatter.ps1
Code: PowerShell [Select]
  1. $SmtpServer = "smtp.domain.com"
  2. $SmtpPort = 25              # If it's required
  3. $User = "admin"             # If it's required
  4. $Password = "password"      # If it's required
  5. $ReplyTo = "[email protected]"
  6. $Subject = "Panic Now, Avoid The Rush!"
  7. $HtmlBody = ".\panic.html"
  8. $Embed = ".\KC.jpg" # You can add more, just comma separate them, insert
  9.                     # CID tags in HTML as appropriate
  10. $Attachments = ".\file1.zip,.\file2.doc"
  11.  
  12. # Import email addresses from .CSV file
  13. $Users = Import-Csv emails.csv
  14.  
  15. # Send email to each address in the list
  16. Foreach ($User in $Users) {
  17.   $ToAddress = $User.Email
  18.  
  19.   $blatArgs = "-server $($SmtpServer) -port $($SmtpPort) -u $($User) -pw $($Password) -to $($ToAddress) `
  20.               -replyto $($ReplyTo) -subject `"$($Subject)`" -bodyF $($HtmlBody) -html -embed $($Embed) `
  21.               -attach $($Attachments)"
  22.  
  23.   Write-Host "Sending notification to $Name ($ToAddress)" -ForegroundColor Yellow
  24.  
  25.   Start-Process -FilePath .\Blat.exe -ArgumentList $blatArgs -WorkingDirectory . -Wait
  26.  
  27.   Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 500
  28. }

Where, (for example):

emails.csv
Code: Text [Select]

panic.html
Code: Text [Select]
  1. Dear Client,
  2.  
  3. As you know in this trying time of crazy weather, stupid governments,
  4. and incessant bickering relatives, we have now learnt that Nature
  5. is out to eliminate us with a virus for all the wrong we have done to the planet.
  6.  
  7. Having looked at this problem logically we have determined that there is really only one coarse of action:
  8.  
  9. <img src="cid:KC.jpg">
  10.  
  11. Yours Sincerely,
  12.  
  13. Fin Dusinpub

Image as in my post above.

Put MassBlatter.ps1, Blat.exe, panic.html, emails.csv, and any image referenced in the same folder then run the PoSh script, (after editing naturally).

NOTE: I hardly need to point out to you that the ramifications of a plain text user/password - if the server doesn't require them, omit the -u, -pw parameters from the arguments.  Same with the SMTP port - not required, omit it.

DISCLAIMER: Haven't tested it since I don't have access to a SMTP server but the script ran through my test list and printed out the right command parameters ... I'm sure you'd be able to test it locally ;)

PS. WTF do they want a fancy font for?  It's supposed to be serious not an invitation.

PPS. Haven't taken into account spaces in filenames, just don't do it.
348
It's written in Rust, you can install and compile on Windows (or even compile it under WSL - Windows Subsystem for Linux) ... try the attached.

I suppose this is rather late, but just tried without WSL and it compiled and ran fine in my limited testing.

I know, I attached a Windows compiled version to my post - the mention of WSL was just in case someone felt like going that way, (eg. keep it all under the WSL subsystem as a Linux program rather than install compilers, etc into their Windows environment to get it).
349
General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a Mass Mailer
« Last post by 4wd on March 19, 2020, 07:29 PM »
Blat would be fine if I had a month to play with and learn it. But this - of course - is a @*$^$%%# firedrill.

Basic use here

eg. You could have a HTML file as follows:

panic.html
Code: Text [Select]
  1. Dear Client,
  2.  
  3. As you know in this trying time of crazy weather, stupid governments,
  4. and incessant bickering relatives, we have now learnt that Nature
  5. is out to eliminate us with a virus for all the wrong we have done to the planet.
  6.  
  7. Having looked at this problem logically we have determined that there is really
  8. only one coarse of action:
  9.  
  10. <img src="cid:KC.jpg">
  11.  
  12. Yours Sincerely,
  13.  
  14. Fin Dusinpub

Using the image attached to this post, the command would be, (assuming image is located at D:\junk):

Code: Text [Select]
  1. blat.exe -server smtp.myserver.org -u admin -pw password -to [email protected] -replyto [email protected] -subject "Panic Now, Avoid The Rush!" -bodyF "panic.html" -html -embed "D:\junk\KC.jpg"

If you have the list of clients in a CSV/text file, etc then the command can be wrapped in a DOS command file or PowerShell (for CSV) script and have it send an email to each address, one every 500ms or so.

Limitation of Blat is it doesn't do SSL to the SMTP server but if it's your server then maybe you can get around that.

So goes the theory anyway  :)
350
Mirin Software has a program that can clone supported programs, CloneApp.

https://www.mirinsoft.com/ms-apps

Haven't tried it since I find it easier to just copy out the 'users' folder before a reinstall, then copy back folders for any reinstalled programs.
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