Recent Posts

3726

General Software Discussion / Re: Another System Explorer

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 22, 2008, 08:37 AM »

Yes welcome mistercz - good to see you here.

Thanks for a great utility.

3727

General Software Discussion / Re: Another System Explorer

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 22, 2008, 08:36 AM »

Just a niggle (I still like this app a lot): even when sitting in the tray - ie without a window in the taskbar - System Explorer is cycling between 7 and 11% of my CPU.  This makes it comparable to Task Manager and certainly better than WinTasks Pro or Process Explorer, but be warned: like other such apps, there will be a price to be paid if you leave it running in your tray!

-Darwin (February 22, 2008, 07:50 AM)

Probably because you have history logging enabled (it seems to be by default). Go to the history Tab and at the bottom hit the settings tab to switch it off. See if that fixes the CPU usage.

On my system it uses around 2% CPU when logging.

It is also doing a lot of background monitoring all the time which is going to use some CPU.

3728

General Software Discussion / Another System Explorer

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 22, 2008, 04:47 AM »

TechRepublic/ZDNet today suggested a useful utility from http://systemexplorer.mistergroup.org/ called System Explorer.

It does a lot of things similar to apps like ShellEx and Process Explorer but has a few I haven't seen before.

• You can access services (and start stop etc) from a single tab.
• It has a history button that logs what your system is doing and you can take snapshots
• A list of open files and which apps has them open
• A list of network connections and related apps etc.
• An uninstaller with extra options

Here is a sample screenshot:



Small download and worth a look.

By the way it doesn't need installing just download and double click - options are store in an ini file in the same folder as the app.

3729

Living Room / Re: Disk encryption makes you safe? - think again!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 22, 2008, 04:00 AM »

Actually come to think of it pagefil is probably what I am thinking of (mea culpa).

if the feds come knocking down your door, you might very well not have time to pull your power plugs, let alone shutting down properly

If the feds come knocking at my door (in the UK) I will be more than a little surprised - though in this day and age I suppose nothing is impossible! 

3730

Living Room / Re: Disk encryption makes you safe? - think again!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 21, 2008, 07:41 PM »

There is a registry setting that wipes RAM when you power off as part of the power off sequence. Whether anything can then read between the lines (like wiped hard discs) is another matter though.

3731

General Software Discussion / Re: Free Microsoft Commercial Developer Tools

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 21, 2008, 04:12 AM »

Just to clarify: that quote is for software supplied to students under institution license scheme, not the free student giveaway scheme.

AIUI even then the license the ex-student is using doesn't die, it is just that your are outside licensing terms if you continue to use the product.

Some other companies supply software to students with expiring licenses so that the software actually becomes unusable without revalidation and a new license code.

3732

General Software Discussion / Re: Free Microsoft Commercial Developer Tools

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 20, 2008, 03:21 PM »

Seems to be personal/non-commercial but I couldn't see anything in the T&Cs that says the license dies with your student status.

MS have never done that in the past with academic discounted software (eg. Windows XP or Office XP/2003).

-Carol Haynes (February 20, 2008, 11:22 AM)

I'm pretty sure they have done with with both Visual Studio and Office2000, at least in .dk.

-f0dder (February 20, 2008, 01:27 PM)

I have bought numerous academic discounted MS products (Windows XP Pro, Office XP and 2003 and Visual Studio 6) and none have had a 'death on graduation' condition - or if they do it isn't enforced in any way. (Thats UK though)

3733

General Software Discussion / Re: Free Microsoft Commercial Developer Tools

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 20, 2008, 11:22 AM »

Is that with the usual clause they tend to use? Ie, no commercial projects, your license is revoked when you're no longer a student, etc.?

The Express Editions aren't super-handicapped, by the way, and iirc their licenses are pretty liberal. (And are for anybody, not just students).

-f0dder (February 19, 2008, 05:34 PM)

Seems to be personal/non-commercial but I couldn't see anything in the T&Cs that says the license dies with your student status.

MS have never done that in the past with academic discounted software (eg. Windows XP or Office XP/2003).

Some companies have done that but Adobe and MS aren't (IME) among them.

By the way for students in the EU not all establishments are listed but you can still register by getting an ISIC (International Student Identity Card) and choosing ISIC from the dropdown menu of establishments. OK it is a pain (costs £9 to get a card) but probably worth it if you want to learn Visual Studio 2005 or 2008 Pro or use Windows 2003 Server Standard Ed (yes please - that is going to be very useful to me at the mo).

Also as far as I can tell it isn't limited to one product either.

3734

Living Room / Re: Ring the bells!!! The HD Format war is OVER!!! Toshiba forfeits

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 20, 2008, 04:13 AM »

DVDs in the UK are generally reduced by 40%+ on the day of release if you buy online at the right shops. List price is usually £20 but I rarely see new DVDs over £12-£13 on the day of release and within six months they are often at under £8.

Doesn't esp. apply in the high street shops though.

It's stupid though that I can often buy titles earlier and cheaper (even including postage) from the US.

The EU has also made it illegal now for EU sellers to stock US imports of CDs - which is really annoying as most US titles are identical and about 50% of the EU price.

3735

Living Room / Re: Making a dream PC for cheap (as possible) - help anyone?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 20, 2008, 03:22 AM »

Sounds like server heaven - how about 4 dual core servers running concurrently ...

3736

Living Room / Re: Ring the bells!!! The HD Format war is OVER!!! Toshiba forfeits

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 19, 2008, 07:22 PM »

I'm not sure how less competition will make prices drop but we'll see how it goes.

-justice (February 19, 2008, 09:42 AM)

Economy of scale, the number of competing manufacturers of BR machines plus increased adoption will push the prices down. Heck you can buy Pioneer DL DVD burners now for under $30 - remember how much DVD-ROM drives were in the early days?

I'll just stay with DVD.

I feel the same, and lots of people around the internet seem to feel the same too. As far as I can see most people have no need to upgrade as the difference in sound and picture on most home systems is not worth the extra cost. Don't forget most people don't have a HiFi system that can distinguish between DVD quality sound and 128 bit MP3, and not everyone wants a room dominated by 60 inch monster TVs. Mine is a 32 inch CRT beast and to me that seemed ridiculously large when it arrived (and still dominates my main living space) and I have no intention shelling out for a new TV any time soon.

However, like VHS I think we will all be forces to BluRay within 3 years as the studios will stop producing standard DVD product. Try buying anything on VHS now - and VHS decks are getting pretty rare. Also as TVs need to be replaced it will become increasingly rare to have SCART sockets and RF inputs so older VHS and DVD equipment will not be usable with the new TVs (although I suppose some enterprising people will produce breakout box interfaces for a while).

My worry is how long will BluRay machines maintain backward compatibility with standard DVD format. There is no technical reason why that should not be maintained as long as the disc size remains constant but there is going to be money grabbing studio pressure to produce machines that will force people to go out and rebuild their libraries again!

3737

Living Room / Re: Cooking my PC: what NOT to do

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 19, 2008, 05:29 PM »

Wow - but do you need a house sized case for that? And does the weight bend your mobo?

3738

Living Room / Re: Cooking my PC: what NOT to do

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 19, 2008, 08:54 AM »

Try http://video.google....-7263668346151253701

and

http://video.google....79072&q=overheat

3739

Living Room / Re: tip: check your mouse before going to red alert.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 19, 2008, 08:53 AM »

Ask yourself a question ...

Does your laptop BSOD if you have a call on your cellphone normally or is it just when it is near the equipment?

If it is the latter it tends to suggest that at least over a short range it has an effect on electrical circuits - your brain is full of those!

3740

Living Room / Re: tip: check your mouse before going to red alert.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 19, 2008, 05:42 AM »

Just think what it does to your head then!

3741

Living Room / Re: Cooking my PC: what NOT to do

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 17, 2008, 06:44 PM »

There are lots of stress tests out there that do a good job of this.

SiSoft's Sandra is a benchmarking kit (there is a free version) which includes a soak test function that does things like max out memory IO, maxout the CPU, does GPU intensive tests and also floating point unit soak tests.

If you have an nVidia graphics card there is a soaktest built into the nVidia Control Panel.

You could also try http://www.majorgeek...mk_III_smp_d121.html which works from a floppy

3742

Living Room / Re: tip: check your mouse before going to red alert.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 17, 2008, 06:20 PM »

Same thing happened to me recently - drove me mad until I looked and pulled out about an ounce of fluff !!

On a related note does anyone else have an issue with mice where the scroll wheel seems to behave erratically? For example sometimes when I start to scroll a window with the mouse wheel it doesn't stop jittering about after I have finished (and it even affects other windows) until I tap the wheel again.

I have tried 4 different mice, with different drivers and on different machines and get this problem randomly with them all and on all systems. Is it me being ham fisted or is this a common problem?

3743

Living Room / Re: Cooking my PC: what NOT to do

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 17, 2008, 07:09 AM »

What are you using a fan for ... if someone else is paying (thank your dad profusely) why didn't you got for water cooling - now that is cool and quiet! I hope your new case has all the flashing lights and looks super cool - how about a photo?

3744

General Software Discussion / Re: "Interrupts" - killing my CPU!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 16, 2008, 01:55 PM »

That's very strange - I used to use Sygate on my old Athlon XP 1600 and it used to idle at < 1% (usually registering 0%).

Something is screwed up if Sygate ever even spikes at 20% CPU !

3745

General Software Discussion / Re: "Interrupts" - killing my CPU!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 16, 2008, 10:42 AM »

80% idle is normal ??? Is that 20% for your Firewall - if so what the heck are you using?

3746

Living Room / Re: Internet Explorer doesn't report it is running on Windows ???

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 15, 2008, 04:15 AM »

I've posted the solution there but it is 'waiting approval'

3747

General Software Discussion / Re: Locate32 crashing a lot

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 14, 2008, 05:35 PM »

Try using ShellExView - you can disable as many as you like instantly and re-enable them again piecemeal to see what is causing the problem.

3748

Living Room / Re: advice needed: weird lockup/freeze (process/dll/disk/cache?? issue in explorer)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 14, 2008, 01:48 PM »

Use ShellEXView to disable every shell extension that wasn't included with Windows and then see if the problem persists.

You can re-enable shell stuff again bit by bit to track down the one causing issues - but sometimes they can be problems with interactions between shell extensions and they are a real begger to track down.

I had a siuation a couple of years ago where simply the presence of one shell extension stopped another one functioning properly - everything was fine if either extension was disabled but the two together ...

3749

Living Room / Re: Internet Explorer doesn't report it is running on Windows ???

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 14, 2008, 04:52 AM »

Solved the problem.

Check http://support.micro...oft.com/?kbid=817144

I used the registry method (4) to delete the user agent info from the registry and that seems to have fixed it!

For some reason the registry had an extra value in that field:

[Select]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform]
"MathPlayer 2.10b"=""

I have got MathPlayer installed (as part of MathType for publishing mathematical equations on webpages - which is the full version of Equation Editor supplied with MS Office). I don't know what that key does but removing it certainly solves the problem of accessing the BBC downloads and Windows Update.

Cheers

3750

Living Room / Re: Internet Explorer doesn't report it is running on Windows ???

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 14, 2008, 04:06 AM »

I don't think this is anything to do with the user agent field - I have changed it in the registry and also tried the AdMuncher approach but both of them yield no help at all - Windows Update still thinks this is a Mac.

There are a load of pages at MSKB that relate to a problem with Windows 98 when WU thought W98 was a Mac and it turned out a number of DLLs needed to be reregistered - but I can't find anything relating to Windows XP.