Recent Posts

4026

General Software Discussion / Re: Scott Finnie unimpressed by NOD32 ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 14, 2007, 04:48 AM »

It was quite a while ago now - the last email I received before I unsubscribed. I couldn't see the point in subscribing to a newsletter that had a main focu on Mac - which is what he said it would be in the future.

4027

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: BruteKill hotkey

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 11, 2007, 07:11 PM »

A very simple solution is to use Shutdown from http://www.rjlsoftwa...re/utility/shutdown/ which is a simpler command line than the one built into Windows.

All you need to do is copy the exe file you downloaded to a folder somewhere (say C:\SHUTDOWN)

Create a file using Notepad called MYSHUTDOWN.bat with a single line in it, something like:

C:\SHUTDOWN\SHUTDOWN.EXE 4 FORCE

and save the file in your C:\SHUTDOWN folder

In the command line 4 forces a system restart and the option FORCE parameter makes Windows shutdown and running tasks/processes that don't shutdown properly.

Now create a shortcut to your MYSHUTDOWN.BAT folder (it can be in the C:\SHUTDOWN folder if you like) and in the shortcut properties choose the shortcut key you want to use to execute the shortcut.

The file is easily editable and you can use any shortcut you like.

I have attached a zip file that has all this setup as described. Just unpack it to C:\SHUTDOWN

I have setup CTRL + ALT + END as the force restart key - the MYSHUTDOWN and the shorcut properties are easily editable.

4028

General Software Discussion / Re: Maybe Vista doesn't suck?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 11, 2007, 06:45 PM »

Brilliant - cracking bug!!! Does anyone actually test filing system actions?

4029

General Software Discussion / Re: Is there a way to clean all windows drivers to allow for a change of motherb

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 11, 2007, 06:04 AM »

How about on the new system just go to the device manager and uninstall all drivers (only reboot after you have uninstalled all of them) and then restart and install the new driver set for the new setup? Don't install the HAL driver though (the one listed in Device Manager as 'Computer') as that can cause data corruption - there is a microsoft KB article on how to update the HAL driver correctly. (Sorry haven't time to find it at the moment as the only one I could find referred to Windows 2000).

4030

General Software Discussion / Re: Is there a way to clean all windows drivers to allow for a change of motherb

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 09, 2007, 04:54 PM »

Sometimes chipset drivers and HAL can cause problems in mobo moves - esp. if you move to different types of CPU and architecture.

Personally I haven't had good experiences of doing this and found it was better to reinstall a fresh copy.

Acronis TrueImage 9.1 Workstation (that's the corporate version not the home version) has an extra purchased addon called "Universal Restore" which is specifically designed to do this kind of restore (ie. restore a disk image to completely different hardware). AFAICT it does that by cleaning the system from drivers during the backup process.

4031

Mouser's Zone / Re: Mouser - a plea from your users!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 09, 2007, 04:49 PM »

It's up to Mouser - if he wants help he can ask 

4032

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Windows XP too good for Microsoft’s own good?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 09, 2007, 05:30 AM »

I know I was critical of MS for the automatic update debacle - but having thought about it I don't think what they did was that unreasonable. There were two issues:

• updates to windows automatic update software
• turning on automatic update

AIUI the first only occured when "Notify me of updates" was enabled (not if automatic update was actually switched off). Given that you have asked to be notified of updates there are only two options available to MS: only notify that automatic update has an update and not of other updates OR update automatic update so that it can inform you of updates to Windows that are available including security patches. MS chose the latter option and since the user has specified that they want to be notified of updates it doesn't seem unreasonable in the cold light of day that MS enable your system to do what you asked. Having said that I would have preferred a message saying "Automatic Updates needs to be updated, you will not see other updates until it is done" and leave it to the user to choose.

The second situation only occurs if you install Windows Live OneCare - and personally I think anyone who installs that bunch of crap as a security suite deserves to have automatic updates enabled as they are too stupid to understand how to check for themselves.

4033

Living Room / Re: Anyone know of software to remove station ident from TV recordings

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 08, 2007, 12:03 PM »

Thanks - yes I have been experimenting and it is quite impressive but I am finding it hard not to generate rather visible artefacts especially when there are large contrasts between frame background colours.

I'll keep trying.

Ironically the best results seem to be in very busy backgrounds - its plain colours that seem to stick out like a sore thumb.

4034

Living Room / Re: Anyone know of software to remove station ident from TV recordings

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 08, 2007, 10:53 AM »

Thanks - that looks interesting I will have a play with it.

My experience in the past with VirtualDub wasn't totally great - do you know off hand if the latest versions would allow for lossless processing except for the edited patch? Or does it reauthor the entire clip losing some quality?

Cheers

4035

General Software Discussion / Re: Implementing Leopard features for Vista?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 08, 2007, 10:48 AM »

I used to use Powerquest's V2iProtector (which was their corporate imaging solution and image compatible with Drive Image). Unfortunately is was discontinued when Symantec bought out Powerquest. V2iP had a similar setup in that there was a low level service that monitored disk activity to speed up incremental image creation. It wasn't 100% there by the time the product was ditched but it was a similar idea to what you describe.

TM sounds interesting and a neat solution (assuming it works consistently and doesn't get screwed up when something else in the system goes wrong). I get the impression that a combination of incremental and differential backups using something like Acronis TrueImage (there are plenty of other apps that could probably do this too such as Genie Backup Manager if you want to monitor very specific or multiple file/folder sets) would effectively give the same rollback function. You can use the built in scheduler in TrueImage to specify hourly incremental backups and only retain 24 increments so that the oldest is dumped after day 1 on a rolling program. You can also specify a daily differential backup which would act as a daily rollup of all the increments - and again only retain 7 old differential images. Periodically you would need to start with a new base image - but I'd guess TM would need to occasionally move day 0 too otherwise the system would fill up within a few weeks.

4036

Living Room / Anyone know of software to remove station ident from TV recordings

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 08, 2007, 08:44 AM »

I record programs from TV fairly regularly and then burn them to DVDs with ads removed, nice menu system and printed labels. One of the irritations are the station idents that are common these days. Does anyone know of any software that can automatically clean off station idents frame by frame?

The task is too laborious to do manually but it strikes me that using a photoshop healing brush type technique it could be automated.

OK it would not be perfect but it would better than a lot of the garish and intrusive logos that are used. It would also allow the removal of on screen messages about what comes next etc.

4037

General Software Discussion / Re: Implementing Leopard features for Vista?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 08, 2007, 07:19 AM »

So to get something close to Time machine, one needs to mount drives for each snapshot (TM does hourly (24), then daily (~29), then weekly (...) snapshots). I suspect one will run out of drive letters before long?

-nontroppo (November 08, 2007, 05:46 AM)

I suspect one will run out of disc space on a Mac if it does hourly snapshots - Apple aren't exactly generous with their supplied hard discs anyway.

Seriously though there is no reason why you couldn't do hourly snapshots with Acronis TrueImage - and periodically mount and index the images.

I am not quiote sure what TM indexes consist of - are they really like a desktop search of document contents or is it just file names? If it is indexing 24 snapshots a day it must make a huge performance hit both in terms of CPU usage and disc space usage !!!

Maybe my other idea with FileHamster (or another file versioning utility like Adobes Version Cue) would be a better approach on windows. If you set it to watch whole drives then you can say keep only the n most recent revisions of files and then every file is instantly version controlled over the number of revisions you require. If you have a decent desktop search tool like Copernic then all of those revisions would also be continuously updated in the index and it would all be pretty transparent.

If you just want a system to be able to roll back just set up a scheduled incremental or differential imaging pattern but there is no real need to keep the contents indexed on system files etc.

4038

General Software Discussion / Re: Small program i could run to restart a stubborn service?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 08, 2007, 04:16 AM »

Ah - I didn't know you could do that with the net command - useful

4039

General Software Discussion / Re: Implementing Leopard features for Vista?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 08, 2007, 04:14 AM »

Yes if you mount numerous increments you get the complete drive for each increment under a different drive letter at the point that the increment was made.

If you use something like X1 or Exalead it should be possible to index your files in each increment just once (but make sure each increment is allocated a different drive letter) - then the increment doesn't need to be mounted to search the image - obviously it will need to be mounted if you actually want to view the files but that just involves a right click on the increment file and select mount from the menu.

4040

General Software Discussion / Re: Small program i could run to restart a stubborn service?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 07, 2007, 06:31 PM »

The problem with a single batch file is that it is difficult to establish when the service has stopped so that you can restart it.

If you simply have a batch file that says:

SC STOP service
SC START service

the second command will probably fail if the service doesn't respond quickly to the STOP command.

There doesn't seem to be an easy way to establish when the service has actually stopped short of:

SC QUERY service > textfile.txt

and then use a little program to read the value following the STATE and loop until it is set to the stopped value.

For someone who is quick witted with AutoHotKey programming this would probably be a simple task to do.

4041

General Software Discussion / Re: Implementing Leopard features for Vista?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 07, 2007, 05:30 PM »

Acronis TrueImage uses VSS and allows incremental images to be built and 'mounted' into the filesystem as virtual drives (you can assign the drive letter). Those drives can be read only or opened as writable dives. I see no reason why they should not be indexed too using your favourite desktop search engine and/or Locate32 so that multiple versions of files can be accessed.

Also if you want versioning of files that are indexable and searchable why not just use something like FileHamster to keep versioned copies. Your desktop search tool would then potentially include all versions and be continuously updated. You could then use FileHamster to revert to the desired copy as required.

OK it isn't the same as Leopard function but if I understand what you are both writing it would be functionally equivalent or at least a simple and servicable solution. The only thing that would need to be thought about is the amount of disk space required and potential system hit if you want to apply version control to more than just your data files. Is there any real point in going beyond data files anyway - just keep them separated from your system partition and use incremental or differential backups to maintain backward system mobility.

4042

General Software Discussion / Re: split PDF files - context menu program?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 07, 2007, 12:27 PM »

I take it that the PDF Explorer and PDF Shell Tools are two distinct products? I did look at the website, I swear! Anyway, Carol, do you also use PDF Explorer? I use Archivarius, Endnote and PaperPort (the latter very minimally) and wonder if PDF Explorer is an advance over any/a combination of these? With the Canadian dollar so strong at the moment the price might even be acceptable...

-Darwin (November 07, 2007, 11:44 AM)

Yes they are two separate products.

I have tried PDF Explorer but I haven't really used it enough to say I know it well. I'm afraid the price put me off somewhat.

I keep thinking Shell Tools might be worth having - but again the price is a bit steep.

Perhaps we should see if he'll do a discount for DC ?

4043

General Software Discussion / Re: split PDF files - context menu program?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 07, 2007, 11:13 AM »

Follow up ...

Just checked latest build of PDF Shell Tools again and you can split/combine/extract pages from PDF files very easily.

It does allow you to extract pages (up to the whole document) for password protected files too and produces an unprotected version of the PDF file. (So much for tamper proof DRM in PDF files.) Just use PDF Merge/Rearrange ... but only specify one file and then click Go. It asks for an output file and the resulting file is the same as the one you started with (except book marks are removed) just unlocked.

Even easier - right click on a locked PDF file and select "Password Security ..." from the submenu and click on "No security". Check that the backup option at the bottom is set the way you want and then click GO. A new PDF, identical to the original (including bookmarks etc) except that it is unlocked, is produced and the original backed up (if specified).

By the way the splitting and combining of PDFs has lots of options and you can specify an exact list of pages sets which are extracted to separate files or combined into a single file - whatever you want.

4044

Living Room / Re: Wedgie-Proof Underwear!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 07, 2007, 08:44 AM »

LOL - simple solution 'go without' .... ooo er missus 

4045

Living Room / Re: Genuinely stupid laws - that still APPLY !!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 07, 2007, 08:41 AM »

It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27%)

"Senator?  Senator?  *sigh*  We'll count that as a 'Nay'."

-Ralf Maximus (November 07, 2007, 08:39 AM)

That was the BBC headline example - but it does make you wonder how it would be enforced? Would your corpse be tried and then sentenced to life in prison, or maybe you get the life penalty (electric chair in reverse).

4046

Living Room / Re: Genuinely stupid laws - that still APPLY !!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 07, 2007, 08:40 AM »

We still have the odd petrol station that is 'service only' - but living in the middle of nowhere if it is raining they are just as likely to stay indoors and let you get on with it. We even have one local station that doesn't take cheques or plastic - so you either pay in cash or they send you a bill at the end of the month

4047

Living Room / Genuinely stupid laws - that still APPLY !!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 07, 2007, 06:27 AM »

This had me rolling about ...

http://news.bbc.co.u.../1/hi/uk/7081038.stm

I want to know how Indonesia enforce their law ?

4048

General Software Discussion / Re: split PDF files - context menu program?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 07, 2007, 05:14 AM »

Have you tried PDF Shell Tools: http://homepage.onid...pdfe/shelltools.html

It isn't free or cheap (40 Euros) but it does work well and there is a free fully functional trial version. Each time a new version/update comes out you can trial it again. I think have even been able to manipulate password protected files (IIRC) - its been a while.

The developer is responsive when you have any problems (I found a bug early on and he fixed it very quickly).

PDF Explorer is also a good product (same site) but at 60 Euros I think it is a little pricey for home use.

4049

General Software Discussion / Re: ESET Smart Security

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 06, 2007, 10:58 AM »

Try this page then - https://secure.eset....o.uk/forms/trial.asp

It doesn't seem to be on the main site. I only found this after a tortuous bunch of links via the UK shop and the UK version of the website.

4050

General Software Discussion / Re: ESET Smart Security

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 06, 2007, 09:58 AM »

Free trials are on the download page at http://www.eset.com/download/index.php

I read their site and upgrading from NOD32 is probably possible - but I wish they would learn to speak English on their website instead of pure Geek!

I presume this is the (UK) page but it isn't totally clear to me ...

https://secure.eset....r/migratelicence.asp

Personally I am sticking with NOD32