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3376

General Software Discussion / Re: Easy Remote access to another PC?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 27, 2011, 11:25 AM »

(I got sidetracked while posting - but as Shades mentioned above)

While remote assistance/desktop is my all time favorite method, it does have one very important drawback. The user cannot see the screen while you are connected remotely ... So walking someone through something is not an option ... because you can't point at where what you're doing is.

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

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 27, 2011, 10:10 AM »

We've had techs brick a machine several time doing a firmware update to resolve an issue that had nothing to do with the firmware. So I'm in the if it ain't broke, don't fix it camp.

If there is some additional new functionality/capability - That You Need - Okay fine ... That's considered a fix (in my book). I updated my phone to the new WMP 7.5 when it came out because it contained new fixes/features that I had an interest in/use for. Conversely I have not upgraded the firmware for my main machines Mboard that would allow it to use a newer, faster CPU ... Because I have no intention what-so-ever of buying one. It just ain't faster enough than the one I have now to be worth the money/headaches/risk.

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Living Room / Re: In search of ... information/opinions on VHS to DVD converters

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 27, 2011, 09:55 AM »

Oh, yeah, I forgot to 'splain 'bout the VHS player:

• physically, it simply cannot be used where the LG is to be located
• decoratively, it definitely cannot be used where the LG is to be located (Baby Daughter (BD) has a whim of iron  )
• a 1TB NAS unit is under consideration for storage (see follow up)
• a DVD/Blue Ray player is a must (see follow up)

While I do not have a decorator's eye, BD does:  I can appreciate what she's done after the fact, but cannot plan things out the way she does, and she's adamant that player not be in the living room  .

-barney (November 27, 2011, 08:47 AM)

Hm... Okay, so you have some 80's era eyesore and no strategically convenient bit of nearby furnishing that it can go in/under/behind/etc. ...Damn. Okay... *Shrug* ...Thought I'd try.

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Living Room / Re: In search of ... information/opinions on VHS to DVD converters

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 27, 2011, 07:52 AM »

Regarding 4:3 and "conversion", just what exactly where you hoping/expecting to have "converted"? You can't change the aspect ratio without distorting the content or losing some of it (chop off the top and bottom). Neither one is desirable.

-JavaJones (November 27, 2011, 01:45 AM)

That's a clearer phrasing for where I was coming from earlier. Fancy software solutions are nice...If, they're necessary. But if he's already got a VHS player (which he said he did), then the simplest answer would almost have to involve just using it. This sounds like a job for a $3 splitter type solution that will allow the existing hardware to be used as intended to me.

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Living Room / Re: In search of ... information/opinions on VHS to DVD converters

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 25, 2011, 02:45 PM »

I just picked up a 55" LG.

-barney (November 24, 2011, 04:59 PM)

  Me too! ...Must be an epidemic. I don't get mine delivered till tomorrow  ; how you liking the "Magic Motion" (Harry Potter) remote??

Unfortunately, there's not a really convenient way to plug that VHS box into the new screen

-barney (November 24, 2011, 04:59 PM)

Is it a space/distance issue?? Seems like you should be able to get the VHS <-> LG55 connected using component video - They should both support it.

I'm assuming the TV should be able to hit damn near any resolution (for the price on these things it better...), My brother's 32" did when I had it connected to my computer for testing.

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Living Room / Re: Google scares me, I think.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 25, 2011, 12:51 PM »

Open web analytics[/url] and Piwik both are free and carry exact same features that are in offer from Google analytics.

-mahesh2k (November 25, 2011, 08:53 AM)

Do either of these run better (or just right...) on a Windows IIS server?

3382

General Software Discussion / Re: Outlook PST Repair Recommendations?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 25, 2011, 07:16 AM »

I had a PST file I'd been hanging onto for several years in the hopes that it could at some point be recovered (it's from the RAID 0 crash I had back when). So between curiosity and this thread, I decided to take another run at it.

Scanpst claimed (as it had before) that it had recovered 1,000+ items, but when I tried to do an import it accomplished nothing ... Which is why I'd given up on it back when. Granted I hadn't completely given up because I never deleted the file, but the project had beed shelved pending new information/options.

So... Just for the hell of it, I tried opening the PST (don't actually know why I never tried that before),  and Outlook mounted it next to my current personal folder. It was perfectly readable and I was able to copy over all of the mail, contacts, and events that it contained. Why Outlook would not just import it, I've not a clue. But I do at least now finally have it back after sitting on the burnt pst cornflake for almost 4 years.

The PST was from Outlook 2003, and I'm currently using Outlook 2007.

Thanks Ren!

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Living Room / Re: FUNNY~! Drinking Water DOES NOT Hydrate!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 23, 2011, 11:50 AM »

If people are actually sitting around waiting for the legislature to either confirm or deny that water is wet ... society is doomed.



Years ago we had a lake house with a well. The well was rather close to a lake that - due to a string of dry seasons - was in the process of drying up. Water quality, was not, "stellar"...

A sales monkey (for a water softener company) calls me to offer a "free" (Yeah, Right...) water quality test. After much back and forth while she tried everything to get me to bite ... She said there wasn't any way that I as a consumer could really know what the current water quality was. I said: Really?!? I got a glass of it in my hand right now and it's f***ing green... Now I don't think I really need a lab kit to tell me that sucks...Now do I?!?

She hung up.

3384

Living Room / Re: Need Advice on a TV...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 23, 2011, 11:32 AM »

the only DVD player we had was/is built into the old TV that will be getting hauled off this Saturday

-Stoic Joker (November 23, 2011, 06:57 AM)

But for something like $40 or $50 you'll have a plain DVD player, with hdmi output, so that shouldn't be much of an issue

-Ath (November 23, 2011, 09:11 AM)

Quite true ... Except for the not thinking of it part. If i had thought of it before, I could have tried to get them to throw one in with the TV (it's a bit late to try that now). Being retarded is an issue...That I apparently need to address at some point.

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Living Room / Re: Need Advice on a TV...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 23, 2011, 06:57 AM »

For now it'll be fairly basic Just have satellite box->TV ... And probably a network connection. No surround sound, players etc. I may (down the line) sprint for a surround sound system depending on how well the TV's built in speakers work in the (mt house) real world ... As I find myself frequently wanting to boost the vocals because I can't make out what people are saying.

...Sadly I did not even think of the fact that the only DVD player we had was/is built into the old TV that will be getting hauled off this Saturday when the new one is delivered. #! ... I'm getting old. 

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Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 22, 2011, 05:45 PM »

Many of the SOHO/SMB class multifunction printers have 80+GB HDDs in them these days because of all the network services, address books, and stored job (Print On Demand) features they have.

I usually get a batch of printer replacement drives from Newegg on a regular basis, but this last time...Zoiks! I could only get one at a time (I usually get 5 - 10), and the price had more than doubled ($42 to $87) since the last order a month or so ago. I'd usually get free shipping ... Ha! ... Not this time.

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Living Room / Re: Need Advice on a TV...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 22, 2011, 11:55 AM »

Hmmm... I was just thinkin'... If you expand the old saying, how are you supposed to understand "smart idiot box"?

-Renegade (November 22, 2011, 09:23 AM)

Well, I've pondered this question for some time now, and I feel the it would probably be best for society as a whole if that question was never (ever) answered...

 

How's the new TV anyways? Like it?

-Renegade (November 22, 2011, 09:23 AM)

I won't know util Saturday when it's delivered.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Special File Recovery Software

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 21, 2011, 06:15 PM »

I've used GetDataBack on a 1TB HDD, (partition table went south), which had multi-GB video files.  It recovered every single file.

-4wd (November 21, 2011, 05:22 PM)

It's been a hands down favorite of mine for years.

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Living Room / Re: Need Advice on a TV...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 21, 2011, 02:44 PM »

I'm with ya. That's why I went for just a reasonably bright TV that could (at least) be connected to something on my network that I could (tweak to death/as necessary) send video from. Instead of expecting the TV to "keep up" with whatever goes on in the future.

Chances are I'll probably never use any of it. 

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Living Room / Re: Mac platform reaches 15-year high with 5% worldwide market share

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 21, 2011, 02:33 PM »

That still leaves them well behind this group: 16% of Cell Phones Have Poop on Them

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Living Room / Re: Need Advice on a TV...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 20, 2011, 02:40 PM »

Well, gotta wait for delivery next Saturday (long story) ... But the wife & I just picked up one of these (for about $1,400):
LG 55" LED 1080p 55LV5500

It got some funny assed Harry Potter looking 6 button remote, but after playing with it in the store it's kinda nice. It's like a mouse you can point with and the cursor moves around the screen. WiFi supposedly comes with it, but it's got an RJ45 jack so I'll just hard-wire the damn thing ('cause I can ... and it ain't exactly portable anyhow).

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Living Room / Re: Need Advice on a TV...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 20, 2011, 08:58 AM »

Cool, thanks guys. I had tried Googling, but kept running into articles that either had no date ( ), or were over a year old ... And my brother keeps claiming that Plasma screens need to be "Re-Charged" every (six-ish) few years. *Shrug* It didn't make sense to me...But it also outside my skill-set. But...

Given that Plasma has much higher power consumption, I think I'll aim for the LED/LCD (over the CCFL/LCD) for much the same reason ... Assuming I can find one that is fully back lit (don't recall the correct term) as apposed to the edge lit ones in my price range.

Which still leaves the internet/DLNA question. The last thing I need is another computer ... So if I can get the TV on the wire and just pitch it a movie from my (current) comp (or one of the existing servers) that would be fine. The question is: Does the TV need anything specific to be "future friendly"? Or is all the "work" handled by the server software that the TV pulls from?

JJ's spot on about the surfing from/typing URL with remote part ... That ain't gonna happen. I'm just looking for the option to play a downloaded movie over the network so I don't have to screw with burning (and storing) disks. I don't know if the qualifies as a dumb TV or not, but I'm hoping that there is a balance point I can hit.

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Living Room / Re: Moving up to ESET NOD32 v5

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 19, 2011, 04:09 PM »

That's why malicious software seldomly says "hi, I'm malicious-software.exe".

-Tuxman (November 19, 2011, 01:44 PM)

Hm... (Let's Experiment) Hi, I'm Malicious Software:

3394

Living Room / Need Advice on a TV...

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 19, 2011, 11:25 AM »

Greetings
    While historically I have stayed as far away from the multimedia stuff (focused on business systems), the wife is pondering a new TV. Which means I need to ponder a new TV also. Given the amount of new technologies that are now involved in TVs, I'm ...(due to avoiding the multimedia stuff)... basically in the dumber than a box of shit category. 

    So... I think that the LEDs are ahead of (better than?) the LCD, but haven't a clue where Plasma fits into the mix. I'm assuming that since we buy a TV once every decade (or so...), that now would be the time to get something "Internet Enabled" which brings up the whole (media-tastic) DLNA capability/compatibility/? ... That I'm about to drop myself into the middle of.

   Can anyone give me a thumbnail sketch of what I should be looking for/avoiding/trying to make sure is/isn't there/missing, etc.

Thank you,

Spastic Joker

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Living Room / Re: Moving up to ESET NOD32 v5

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 19, 2011, 09:50 AM »

Firewalls do, "firewalls" don't. Phrasing is important here!
These "suits" are just like the "Windows Firewall": Not very sophisticated packet filtering, but no firewall functionality at all.

-Tuxman (November 18, 2011, 06:44 PM)

Perhapps, but the functionality available in a high-end, full zoot commercial firewall isn't necessary for an end user. Sure if you have publically hosted services that get thousands of hits an hour the full on SPI/Traffic shaping/etc., etc. shenanigans are all necessary & good. But that's not the case with a typical end user.

Most sheeple just need something to sit at the edge of their machine that will say no to (basically all) incoming connection requests, because they don't want to waste time typing/remembering anything more complicated than their dogs name for a password. And the Windows firewall does this just fine (end of need).

Outbound "filtering"? ...I've never seen giving end users choices end well. They either shoot themselves in the foot blocking something necessary, or get eaten alive by something that's trying to get out. The object is to prevent hostile code from getting on the box in the first place. And one of the simplest (processor time free) methods of doing that is to use DNS filtering ...(like OpenDNS).. Which is done at the network border, and does a suprisingly good job of keeping folks away from those infected banner farm servers.

Best way to avoid getting killed in battle, is to avoid battles. 

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Living Room / Re: Moving up to ESET NOD32 v5

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 18, 2011, 06:34 PM »

Why exactly does a printer driver demand access to the internet?

-Tuxman (November 18, 2011, 06:29 PM)

They don't; but it's a network printer ... and as usual the firewall doesn't make that kind of distinction.

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Living Room / Re: Moving up to ESET NOD32 v5

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 18, 2011, 06:32 PM »

So are "personal firewalls" or "suites" IMO.

-Tuxman (November 18, 2011, 06:19 PM)

I'm no fan of software firewalls either, so I'll give you that. Unless one is dealing with a road warriors laptop, in which case something basic (like the Windows built in firewall) works just fine. Any other time firewalling should be done (by hardware) at the network border only.

Most of what a firewall purports to do is already covered by the "Turn off unused services" part of the 80-20 rule of information security. (e.g. There's no point in blocking a closed port)

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Living Room / Re: Moving up to ESET NOD32 v5

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 18, 2011, 06:24 PM »

I have seen many computers now running Norton, MacAfee, NOD32 suite, Avast Internet Security, AVG suite that have been infected and actually most of them were pretty open to attack because the users didn't know how to respond whan a pop-up says do you want to allow SVCHOST to access the internet etc.. Users either say  yes to everything or they say no to everything.

-Carol Haynes (November 18, 2011, 06:16 PM)

B~I~N~G~O!  

Our sales manager blew himself out of the water, just last week doing exactly that. (He thought he could "handle" an install by his-self...) Customer had a copy of I'm-On-Mc(crack)Afee and the firewall asked of app X couled access the internet ... He said clicked no. The app in question was the printer driver install he was in the process of running.

It was a 70 mile round trip (the next day) for me to go rescue is his ass.

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Living Room / Re: Moving up to ESET NOD32 v5

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 18, 2011, 06:16 PM »

... and MSE did not find malware, so you have none?

-Tuxman (November 18, 2011, 05:10 PM)

Between that and the occasional spot checks with a variety of other utilities, yes. The key is in reduced permissions ... If the user doesn't have permission to break the machine, then neither does the bugg. It's Just. That. Simple.

Anything else is just a waste of processor time.

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Living Room / Re: Moving up to ESET NOD32 v5

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 18, 2011, 05:07 PM »

Because MSE is not reliable. Lame heuristics, questionable "security status", niot really flexible, average detection rate.

-Tuxman (November 18, 2011, 04:56 PM)

And you base this assertion on what size test group? I've got a total of 100 machines, that have been running in various locations, for about 2 years now.