Recent Posts

3951

General Software Discussion / Re: I Need DC Input

« Last post by 4wd on February 22, 2012, 02:10 AM »

OK, might have a slight hiccup.

Here's the info from Dev Manager:
Maxtor - Location 0 (Channel 1, Target 0, Lun 0)
Seagate - Location 0 (Channel 0, Target 0, Lun 0)
Optical Writer - Location 1 (Channel 1, Target 1, Lun 0)

The above might be indicating that the optical drive and the Maxtor are plugged into the same ATA/IDE port, (since you have only one, this is quite likely).  The problem is that the Maxtor appears to be set as the Master device on the cable, with the optical as the Slave.

Have to wait for the picture to be sure.

It's been a while since I played with ATA/IDE devices, so anyone, (40, SJ), know if the Slave device will still work if the Master is removed?
From what I've read it should still work, we can always go the 'suck it and see' route.

3952

General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« Last post by 4wd on February 22, 2012, 12:04 AM »

@Curt: If you're going to buy Win7 Home Premium, I'd recommend you get the Upgrade pack, (Amazon just used as price reference).  It doesn't cost much more than an OEM version but you get both x86 and x64 disks.

Use the ISO you downloaded from Digital River to install Win7 and enter the key from the Upgrade pack - doing it this way means you can install to a bare drive.  If you use the upgrade DVD then you need to have Windows installed beforehand so that it can verify that you are doing an upgrade.  There's no difference between the DVDs except for one small file, ei.cfg.

This is exactly the same way I install Windows 7 on my machine.

OEM Windows usually means that it's going to be used on a specific non-changing hardware configuration, so I've got no idea whether an OEM license would continue to work if you, say, change your motherboard to a DDR3 version.

I thought I might need xpmode myself, I have two pieces of software from 1999 that I use daily, but they are now running (almost perfectly - they had minor bugs in XP as well) with a normal (32bit) install on Win7 pro 64bit. (I presume they would work just fine on home 64bit version as well.)

-tomos (February 21, 2012, 05:58 AM)

I use the XPMode image via VMLite on a Win7HP x64 machine because I have one piece of software that won't run under any x64 version of Windows.

3953

Found Deals and Discounts / [EXPIRED] PDFZilla free for 20 days - Ends 14 March 2012

« Last post by 4wd on February 21, 2012, 10:49 PM »

Via OzBargain again:

PDFZilla is being given away free for 20 days, registration code is: AQ1W6F0ZN7Q9D85

PDFZilla Key Features

Convert PDF to Word
Convert PDF to Word with all text and Graphical data.
Convert PDF to RTF
Convert PDF to Rich Text Files. You can edit all text and graphic by Windows Wordpad.
Convert PDF to TXT
Convert PDF to plain text files. You can edit text by Notepad.
Convert PDF to Images
Convert PDF to BMP, JPG, GIF or TIF files.
Convert PDF to HTML
Convert PDF to HTML files and automatically generate the Index file.
Convert PDF to SWF
Convert PDF to Shockwave Flash Animation files which can be published on websites.
Page Selection
Convert all the pages, or partial pages of PDF file.
Easy to use software
Add a PDF File -> Select the Output File Format -> Click on Start Converting button, then just have a cup of coffee

Note for Win7/Vista users:

How To Activate on Win7/Vista: If you are not the Administrator User, Please run the program as Administrator: click on the icon by right mouse button, select "Run As Administrator", and then use the giveaway key to activate.

3954

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a "virtual scanner' software in one pass, outputting in PDF.

« Last post by 4wd on February 21, 2012, 07:36 PM »

There are lots of programs (some pay & some free) that install a PDF printer driver. Just print from inside the app of your choice & the output goes to a PDF file rather than to a physical printer.

-Innuendo (February 21, 2012, 06:30 PM)

But most of them output to PDF in the format they were given, ie. text document input->text PDF output, image input->image PDF output

I think what MerleOne wants is no matter what the input, the PDF will always contain just images - what PDF Image Printer, (not free and not cheap), does.

3955

General Software Discussion / Re: I Need DC Input

« Last post by 4wd on February 21, 2012, 04:06 AM »

Mum says she's willing to delve into the case if necessary, but I've just got to make sure we unplug the right drive!  

-CleverCat (February 21, 2012, 01:59 AM)

OK, now that's easy

ATA drive (Maxtor):


ATA data cable:


Molex power connector:


The molex power plug will be plugged into the point on the drive I've put a red star under.  Unplug the power connector and the Maxtor is history, (figuratively speaking).
They can be a tight fit, so you may need to wiggle it a little to get it to unplug.

Make sure you have disconnected power to the computer, (turn off at power point or unplug power cable at the back).
Watch you don't knock the crap out of something when the molex plug unplugs, (due to hand moving backwards on release).

Plug the molex connector back in when you've finished installing to the Seagate, note the plug is polarised you can only plug it in one way - needless to say, make sure the power is off when you do it.

The Seagate will have a data cable that looks like this, (well, it might not be red):


Is it possible to take the side off of your computer and take a picture with a camera?
I just want to check the arrangement of the drives on the cables before you do anything, (PM it to me if you prefer).

Also, if you could go into Device Manager, (Disk drives and DVD/CD-ROM drives), and get the Location information for each drive including optical.

For example:


I need the info outlined in red to get an idea of how your drives are arranged on the cable(s).

3956

General Software Discussion / Re: I Need DC Input

« Last post by 4wd on February 20, 2012, 06:03 AM »

Hit the Delete key at the POST screen to get into the BIOS, (you may need to be rather quick depending on how fast your computer boots).

Then you want: Integrated Peripherals->Onboard IDE Controller

Setting it to Disabled should render the Maxtor hidden from Windows.  F10 to Save the settings and exit.

NOTE: Your machine will now be non-bootable until you either re-enable the IDE interface or install Win7 on the Seagate.

So goes the theory, I have seen Windows identify drives even though the controller was supposedly 'disabled' in BIOS - it's why I prefer to unplug the drive.

If you boot from the Win7 install disk and it only shows the Seagate drive to install to, then it should be OK.

Once you have Win7 installed on the Seagate, you can go into the BIOS again and re-enable the IDE controller.

Under the BIOS Advanced Setup->Hard Disk Drives you'll be able to set which drive you want to boot by default.

WARNING: As with everything: make a backup, make sure it works, don't attempt this if you're not at all confident with playing around in the BIOS.

The BIOS does have a 'Get out of Jail free' card if you do screw up.  Hitting F9 will load the BIOS defaults which should return you to a system capable of booting off your Maxtor, (remember to hit F10 to save).

Also note, if this is your only computer in the house then us friendly people can't render assistance if machine doesn't boot

3957

General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« Last post by 4wd on February 20, 2012, 04:26 AM »

I was just hoping it would be possible to add more slots - notice the spelling, o not u.

-Curt (February 20, 2012, 03:17 AM)

 

You've got a mini-tower case which means you're stuck with mATX motherboards, (unless you change the case), so you'll normally have only two RAM slots.

Now 8GB of DDR2, (2x4GB), is not cheap, (just to use Newegg for comparison), eg. Newegg 2x4GB from US$134

It would be cheaper to change the motherboard and get 8GB of DDR3, (2x4GB).
eg.
MSI G41M-P23 LGA 775 @ US$50
Team Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM @ US$34

You save US$50 over buying DDR2 if you change the motherboard and RAM.

NOTE: Most mATX motherboard specifications quote maximum supported RAM as being 4GB or 8GB - this might just be due to larger capacity modules not being available when they were made.  They may take 16GB in 2x8GB modules but you'd have to ask the manufacturer.

3958

General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« Last post by 4wd on February 20, 2012, 12:47 AM »

Can a clever man install more than 4GB? I believe W7 Home Premium can handle 16GB?

-Curt (February 19, 2012, 06:48 AM)

Use SIW or something and tell us what motherboard is in it, (there was a choice of motherboards for that model) ?
Also, how many RAM modules are currently installed ?

Secondly, I would run for a while with just 4GB to see if a RAM upgrade is absolutely necessary, (remember you'll gain 512-768MB because of x64).  Since DDR2 is more expensive than DDR3 you might be better off saving pennies for a CPU/motherboard/RAM upgrade a few months on.  You can also still get Socket 775 boards that take DDR3 and they are reasonably cheap, (eg. Asus P5G41T-M-LX3 DDR3 @ AU$59).

This is the same sort of query superboyac had in another thread.

I wouldn't get your hopes up though, manufacturers tend to mATX boards for mid-range PCs, as such they only normally have 2 RAM slots.

3959

General Software Discussion / Re: I Need DC Input

« Last post by 4wd on February 19, 2012, 05:42 AM »

What's your motherboard make/model ?

It might be possible to disable the IDE interface via BIOS, (normally an option), which would hopefully render the Maxtor hidden from the Windows installer.

3960

General Software Discussion / Re: I Need DC Input

« Last post by 4wd on February 19, 2012, 04:03 AM »

I would recommend that you remove/unplug the Maxtor before installing Win7 on the Seagate, this will prevent the system from non-booting when you eventually use the Maxtor for something else.

If you install Win7 to the Seagate while the Maxtor is plugged in, the installer will see the existing bootable HDD, (Maxtor), and add an entry to it's boot menu,  When you remove the Maxtor, (or format it to install another OS), the bootable info, (MBR, etc), will be destroyed leaving you with a non-booting system.

If you install Win7 with the Maxtor unplugged then the installer will create a new boot menu, (MBR or GPT), on the Seagate.

If you then want to switch between systems you can use the BIOS Boot Menu key, (usually Escape, F12 or F11 - depends on motherboard), which is normally displayed next to the 'Press DEL to enter BIOS' message on the POST screen, this will allow you to choose which drive you want to boot off.

Or you can add an entry to boot menu on the Seagate, (after plugging in the Maxtor), using EasyBCD, (free version link near the bottom).

3961

General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« Last post by 4wd on February 19, 2012, 03:37 AM »

My machine is not up to it, because Microsoft's tester said my PC is 32-bits only.

-Curt (February 18, 2012, 06:56 AM)

Is it still the Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo Pi 2680 - E01 you mention here ?

If so, then it can run 64 bit - all Intel Core 2 CPUs can.

If you're running a 32bit OS then Microsoft tester will report 32bit upgrade.

However, for a new install which is what you should be doing, then you have x86 or x64 - you don't have a hardware limitation.

You're only limitation is how hard you want to hang on to esoteric x86 programs

If it's the system you mention in the other post, you'll also gain another 512-768MB of usable RAM by going x64.

3962

Post New Requests Here / Re: [REQ] Disable sleep/hibernation one time to drain battery

« Last post by 4wd on February 19, 2012, 03:20 AM »

Well, it seems to first hibernate, and then on wake up it works...

-vevola (February 18, 2012, 09:13 AM)

What OS are you using?
What is the Power Scheme before you run it, (Control Panel->Power Options) ?
What is the Power Scheme after you run it ?

Always On or High Performance does not normally allow Sleep, Standby or Hibernate unless the Power Scheme has been changed by the user, (you should make a copy and change that instead).

Also... should I be running it *twice*? I'm not sure I understand your earlier post with the two screenshots...

-vevola (February 18, 2012, 09:13 AM)

Updated:
20120112 - Running it a second time reverts to the original power scheme and clears the RunOnce\pmt key.
20120120 - Outputs results into a window.

-4wd (January 05, 2012, 10:02 PM)

That's what the Revert in the output window signifies, Revert=Yes means it's being run for the second time and is setting the Power Scheme to it's original setting prior to the first time PMT was run, it also clears the RunOnce registry entry.

3963

General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« Last post by 4wd on February 18, 2012, 02:59 AM »

-I have of course thought about upgrading. But Microsoft's tester tells me my PC isn't quite up to it.

-Curt (February 17, 2012, 08:49 AM)

Seriously?

If I can run Windows 7 on a Acer Netbook, (N270 Atom, 1.5GB RAM, 60GB HDD), then you must have a Pentium II

Honestly, if you can get drivers for Win7, (the Vista ones will work), then upgrade - you can even try it for free for 120 days.  Download the ISO from Digital River, (Microsoft sells through them), and just don't enter a serial number, you get 30 days free and you can re-arm three times for another 90.

Image your drive just in case, (for some inexplicable reason), Win7 really hates your computer.

3964

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... several diagnostic tools

« Last post by 4wd on February 18, 2012, 02:50 AM »

'K.  I have that.  Just figured there'd be some new kid on the block. 

Floppy?  You might be as old as me  .  Although I do have a USB 3.5" floppy drive, I don't know that I could find diskettes for it  .

Now all that's left is the security issue  .

-barney (February 18, 2012, 12:10 AM)

Win7 has a memory tester, it's also available on the installation DVD, IIRC.

3965

General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« Last post by 4wd on February 17, 2012, 04:05 AM »

If it does all these jobs it says, for a small office that is not a bad idea. but it's not that far from win7 upgrade price, no?

-iphigenie (February 17, 2012, 02:31 AM)

+1 this, a Win7 OEM DVD (x86 or x64) can be had for AU$93 here, you get physical media and it will last longer than a year.

It will also fix Curts Vista OS problem

3966

General Software Discussion / Re: Zentimo/USB Safely Remove - Are they needed anymore?

« Last post by 4wd on February 16, 2012, 10:00 PM »

Giveawayoftheday became GiveawayofTHATday. They still gave you a free piece of software that was not able to be upgraded, but it was wrapped in a proprietary installer that only allowed you to install that piece of software on the day it was given away.

-Innuendo (February 12, 2012, 11:36 AM)

There are very easy ways around that you know.

Choosing Rubles gives one a 50% discount off of $33.10 to leave one with a net price of $16.55, which just happens to be charged in US dollars to your credit card (I don't know why) saving you the expense of foreign transaction fees as well.

Either they've fixed it or you get a better deal not being in Australia, the values I get are straight conversions from US dollars.



In fact, after trawling through a mix of Billable and Other currencies, they are all roughly direct conversions from the US price.

3967

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« Last post by 4wd on February 15, 2012, 10:21 PM »

Another brainwave, (yes, that is scary), you'll still need two monitors but in theory you can stream your Desktop, (and whatever is on it), in real-time using VLC with an input URL of screen://, see here.
Then run another instance of VLC, with its output window on the other monitor, to receive the stream, see here, with a Video Transformation filter of Flip Horizontally, (--transform-type=hflip).

You also may be able to use a single monitor if you only want to flip a window by using the VLC screen-(left,right,height,width) options specifying the windows location on the Desktop, then use the other half of the Desktop for the playback window.  Something that could be semi-automated using AHK or AutoIT to grab the window coordinates and pass them as VLC parameters.

Someone more knowledgeable with VLC may be able to help, (I don't use it).

Or this VH Screen Capture Driver and use VLC for the video transform and output, (input stream VHScrCap://).

3968

Living Room / Re: Best USB/Bootable recovery and "utility" tools

« Last post by 4wd on February 15, 2012, 07:14 PM »

Another useful tool that you might have seen and that is partly related is the ZALMAN ZM VE200 SATA hard drive caddy.

-absoblogginlutely (February 15, 2012, 06:39 AM)

Well, there goes some of my birthday money 

Just ordered the Zalman ZM-VE300 USB3 version - I'm thinking a nice reasonably cheap SSD, (probably a HDD until I see cheap SSD).

Curse you absoblogginlutely 



But thanks for mentioning it 

3969

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« Last post by 4wd on February 15, 2012, 07:04 PM »

Mirrorimage seems slow, or anyway not fast enough on my PC for painting usage.

-insert_nick (February 15, 2012, 07:36 AM)

Given that there is source code, perhaps it's possible to recode to use DirectX instead of the GDI interface, I would think that would give it a boost.
But then, is the slowdown in the source window polling or the output?

Thank you very much, 4wd: you're an amazing software discoverer!

   Thanks, it's all about how you hold your tongue while typing in search terms.

3970

Living Room / Re: Win 7 Bootable VHD as a viable alternative to OS backup image?

« Last post by 4wd on February 15, 2012, 06:39 PM »

One thing that immediately leaps out at me is now you have all your eggs in one basket.

ie. Instead of maybe just suffering a filesystem aberration on a single system 4kB file that is, possibly, easily fixable, you could now suffer it on a multi-GB file where a single corruption will render the whole thing useless.

Bootable VHD, (barring VM work which doesn't affect the host system), is more suited to transient OS booting, eg. boot into a temporary repair OS to fix your main OS, IMO.

That being said, VHD is a great alternative to OS image backup because if you nuke your system OS you can fire up a VM on another machine using your backup VHD and be up and running in a few minutes.

3971

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« Last post by 4wd on February 15, 2012, 06:48 AM »

Another one to try: Mirrorimage
You need dual monitors for this one.

MirrorImage is a cool program that will view any window in a x flipped mirror view, for use in AutoCue systems or any display that requires a mirror image. The best use is to just type in the windows title of the window you wish to use in the text input box, then hit start. A new window will appear with the contents flipped. You can resize the window in real time or maximize it, but you must always have the source window on top.
The best way to use this is to place the source window on screen #1, (if you have dual display) and place the new mirrored window on display #2, which would be your TVOUT display as a secondary display , but not a clone of the desktop.
To swap between two source windows, just hit the LEFT mouse button in the output mirror window.

Note, these programs might not have been written with Vista/7's WDDM in mind probably more for the old GDI way of doing things, ie. XP and prior.

Then again, you do get source code with this one and maybe one of our DC super-coders can convince it to work on Vista/7 if it doesn't

3972

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« Last post by 4wd on February 15, 2012, 05:55 AM »

Can you tell us what it's for?

eg. If it's to display text mirror-imaged you might have more luck looking for autocue or teleprompter software.  Google

Here's something to try: Image Mirror

This application displays a mirror image of the pc screen in real-time. It's useful to draw symmetric images on pc screen.
But this software has no capability to draw pictures. You must use an anothor software to draw pictures besides this software. (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Microsoft Paint, etc...)

3973

General Software Discussion / Re: Is is possible to flip the display in real time?

« Last post by 4wd on February 15, 2012, 05:28 AM »

AMD also offer the option, as does Intel integrated gfx, (well it does on my old netbook).

AMD CCC tray icon right-click menu

Do you mean, it needs a second monitor for the feature to work?

-insert_nick (February 15, 2012, 05:14 AM)

No, he means that you can flip each monitor connected to the card individually - it's not all or nothing.

As per screenshot, each item marked AMD Radeon HD6800 Series is one output connected to a possible monitor, each has it's own setting irrespective of the others.

EDIT: Although, after having tried it, (and the attendant reversed mousing), it's actually 180deg rotation not flipping.

3974

Post New Requests Here / Re: Thunderbird attachment processing

« Last post by 4wd on February 14, 2012, 10:00 PM »

Squashed a couple of really stupid bugs in the AutoIT script and added optional second parameter.  See above.

3975

Post New Requests Here / Re: Thunderbird attachment processing

« Last post by 4wd on February 14, 2012, 06:07 AM »

You could use the FiltaQuilla addon to add filter actions such as Save Attachments To, Detach Attachments To and Run File.

Then set a Message Filter to:
1) Match Subject/Body/etc
2) Save Attachment To <some dir>
3) Run File rename.cmd,attachment.txt

All you need to do then is knock up a command file to do the rename or a simple AHK or AutoIT script.

Here's a AutoIT script that'll take a single argument and change the filename to YYYYMMDDhhmmss.txt

eg. RenFile.exe U:\temp\attachment.txt

Code: AutoIt [Select]

1. #Region ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI ****
2. #AutoIt3Wrapper_UseUpx=n
3. #AutoIt3Wrapper_Res_requestedExecutionLevel=asInvoker
4. #EndRegion ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI ****
5.  
6. ; RenFile.exe <filename> [new filename, no path, no extension]
7. ; eg.
8. ; RenFile.exe file1.txt                 <- new file called 20120215143523.txt
9. ; RenFile.exe file1.tmp file2         <- new file called file2.tmp
10.  
11. If $CmdLine[0] = 0 Then Exit
12.  
13. $path = ''
14. $ext = ''
15. If StringInStr($CmdLine[1], '\') > 0 Then
16.         $path = StringMid($CmdLine[1], 1, StringInStr($CmdLine[1], '\', 0, -1))
17. EndIf
18. $ext = StringMid($CmdLine[1], StringInStr($CmdLine[1], '.', 0, -1))
19. If $CmdLine[0] = 1 Then
20.         $newName = $path & @YEAR & @MON & @MDAY & @HOUR & @MIN & @SEC & $ext
21. Else
22.         $newName = $path & StringStripWS($CmdLine[2], 7) & $ext
23. EndIf
24. If FileMove($CmdLine[1], $newName) < 1 Then
25.         MsgBox(48, 'RenFile', 'Failed to rename: ' & $CmdLine[1])
26. EndIf

Source and compiled executable attached.

You should be able to set a Message Filter similar to:


So the theory goes

UPDATE: RenFile.exe will take an optional extra argument which will be the filename to rename the file to, (filename only sans extension, no path input).  No second argument will default it to YYYYMMDDhhmmss.<ext>

It retains the extension of the file passed in the first argument, so no need to add an extension to the optional second argument.

So you could change the Run File action in the message filter to, (using example above):

Run File: RenFile.exe,U:\temp\attachment.txt,@DATE@

This should rename the saved attachment to match the date string of the message.