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4076

General Software Discussion / Re: make USB port disabled or delayed enable on startup - any util do this?

« Last post by 4wd on December 01, 2011, 07:08 AM »

What if you use the disable USB port program via Task Scheduler on user logoff and enable on user logon?

Or use Microsoft' devcon command to disable/enable the specific device using Task Scheduler.

4077

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

« Last post by 4wd on December 01, 2011, 05:06 AM »

That site HAS to be a joke

-Carol Haynes (December 01, 2011, 03:38 AM)

Well, easy way to find out, he gives contact info for dealers in the UK - give one a ring

4078

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

« Last post by 4wd on November 30, 2011, 09:25 PM »

O_o WTF!!! ...That's completely insane. ...Wow! (you win )

-Stoic Joker (November 30, 2011, 09:13 PM)

Now extrapolate to the maximum length of 5m......that new car is looking a positive bargain now 

4079

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... universal download tracker

« Last post by 4wd on November 30, 2011, 09:10 PM »

Don't know what to tell you.  Maybe x64 is different. I'm on 32 bit. Believe me, there's a lot of stuff tracked on my machine. Stuff downloaded not even using http never mind a browser.

-MilesAhead (November 30, 2011, 08:54 PM)

Just tried it on my XP Pro 32bit machine - same thing.

Nothing shown in index.dat until I start using IE.

This leads me to believe that just monitoring index.dat would be next to useless unless you can enforce a policy of IE only on the monitored machine and even that would be no guarantee.

I still think URL Snooper, (or similar), is the only way you're going to catch everything.  You either have to monitor the network connection or monitor for every file change/creation and filter - either way will cause a hit of some kind.

edit: yeah, I think it's because the viewer is 32 bit. I just fired up my Vista64 system and it shows less than a dozen entries.  Folder redirection is keeping it from seeing all the index.dat files is my guess.

-MilesAhead (November 30, 2011, 08:54 PM)

The viewer seems to work fine here, if it shows everything that IE, (and IE x64), has done then it's looking at the right index.dat AFAICT - it just doesn't show what any other non-MS API calling program has done.

Also:

I've tried opening every index.dat on the system, (total of 18), and it shows the contents as either:

-4wd (November 30, 2011, 08:44 PM)

As a matter of interest, what browser are you using that is causing entries to appear?

4080

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... universal download tracker

« Last post by 4wd on November 30, 2011, 08:44 PM »

Not here, only shows what IE and those programs that use IE Core services have done - shows nothing done by Pale Moon, (optimised Firefox).  It has a total of three lines in it.

-4wd (November 30, 2011, 07:35 PM)

What flavor of windows are you running and what are you using to read the index.dat files?

I'm running Windows Seven and it logs everything I download.

-MilesAhead (November 30, 2011, 08:19 PM)

Win7HP x64 and that index.dat viewer you linked above.  I've tried opening every index.dat on the system, (total of 18), and it shows the contents as either:
a) empty,
b) a lot of non-URL stuff, or
c) the three lines I mentioned above, which are URL related but which I have never used in Pale Moon.



Everything shows the last change to an index.dat being over an hour ago and I've downloaded files and visited other websites since then.  If, on the other hand, I load up IE and visit a website, index.dat is updated immediately.

FileNotify and FileNotify2

I still think it uses directory change notification API. I don't see one for individual files.

I'm not sure if it uses the API for picking up directory changes since it installs its own service but it probably does.  You can specify a filter for a particular file in FileNotify2, (eg. index.dat), within a directory but I haven't used this particular function myself, (only used FileNotify - non .NET version).

4081

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

« Last post by 4wd on November 30, 2011, 08:19 PM »

If you ever need anything more robust check out ScreenConnect (http://www.screenconnect.com/).  I found them after using (and paying and arm and a leg) for LMI123 for years.  Much cheaper and I can run on my own server.

-Stac (November 30, 2011, 09:36 AM)

Wow! ...If $275 a seat is a deal...I'd hate to see what you were paying!

-Stoic Joker (November 30, 2011, 11:12 AM)

Still, it's cheaper than a USB cable.

4082

Living Room / Re: Three little words

« Last post by 4wd on November 30, 2011, 08:17 PM »

Me: Know it all.
Others: Fornicating Richard Cranium.

 

4083

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... universal download tracker

« Last post by 4wd on November 30, 2011, 07:35 PM »

That's what I thought.  Nope. I never use IE.  But stuff I downloaded in other browsers and not even using http is showing up.

-MilesAhead (November 30, 2011, 07:22 PM)

Not here, only shows what IE and those programs that use IE Core services have done - shows nothing done by Pale Moon, (optimised Firefox).  It has a total of three lines in it.

I don't know of any canned code that just monitors one file.  But I haven't searched that hard yet.

FileNotify and FileNotify2

4084

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... universal download tracker

« Last post by 4wd on November 30, 2011, 06:59 PM »

Just looking at index.dat kind of restricts you to IE only doesn't it?

I wonder if you could do it using the SDK of Everything ?

Since it already monitors all file changes across the whole computer, (except removables and non-NTFS), if you set a filter for the extensions you want and have your program just log new file creations via Everything' SDK.  The only thing you miss out on would be originating website.

Filtering, originating website - doesn't URL Snooper already do most of this ?
Since it uses WinPcap it's not restricted to a browser.

I'm sure mouser would be amenable to enhancing URL Snooper to include missing functions given the right incentive   or  

4085

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

« Last post by 4wd on November 27, 2011, 11:30 PM »

I wasn't going to chime into this thread since it seemed barney was after a kind of one-shot device, (sorry if I'm wrong), but the video/sync problem you mention hasn't affected me out of the 50 or so transfers I've done because I spent a lot of time looking for software that didn't do it - the only one I found out of all the freeware I tried and quite a few payware was iuVCR, (or the updated iuVCS), as I mentioned here, (I still use the same transfer methodology).

I've yet to have this software give me sync problems, I have had no audio problems, (as in silence), due to me not selecting the right input   but that's it.

-4wd (November 27, 2011, 08:14 PM)

Oh ! Thanks. I'll that out.

-Armando (November 27, 2011, 09:12 PM)

I'm not saying it'll work for you but since I tried capturing analogue video the same way using each different program, (eg. close extraneous programs, turn off W7 Aero when using Win7, don't play games - really hard not to do when the machine is sitting there 'idle' , turn off screensaver, etc), it was the only program that just happily recorded everything without me having to fool around in Vegas re-syncing the audio/video.  Most recordings I did were under XP it should be noted but the same applies.

Default sync settings as follows:





Normally capture to HuffyYUV encoding, (ffdshow), and 48kHz PCM stereo - CPU has minimal work to do.




About the only trouble I have is making sure I have the correct audio input selected and I was actually plugged into the input I thought I was.
iuVCS can also get a little cranky if you try to start a second recording after finishing the first, not a problem for me - I just restart the program.  iuVCS is still technically beta software, I have to say that while it's layout is fine, finding the right area which contains the setting I want can be a little confusing at times.

While I understand why I could get sync problems using the setup I do, (separate capture card and audio input, ergo different signal paths), I have wondered why the USB devices can suffer from sync problems since both signals are digitised in the same blackbox and sent over the USB cable to be encoded.  Unless there is some inherent delay in the hardware they use or the drivers - why is it so?

4086

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

« Last post by 4wd on November 27, 2011, 08:14 PM »

The one I did today with the Diamond VC500 was converted properly, but... with a small sound/video sync problem. This won't be hard to fix with a video editing software (I'll either move the sound track slightly OR "compress" it a tad). But be warned : this is a common problem.

-Armando (November 27, 2011, 05:08 PM)

I wasn't going to chime into this thread since it seemed barney was after a kind of one-shot device, (sorry if I'm wrong), but the video/sync problem you mention hasn't affected me out of the 50 or so transfers I've done because I spent a lot of time looking for software that didn't do it - the only one I found out of all the freeware I tried and quite a few payware was iuVCR, (or the updated iuVCS), as I mentioned here, (I still use the same transfer methodology).

I've yet to have this software give me sync problems, I have had no audio problems, (as in silence), due to me not selecting the right input  but that's it.

4087

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: New Humble Bundle: Introversion

« Last post by 4wd on November 23, 2011, 04:25 AM »

Stop it!  Just STOP IT PLEASE! 

How am I ever going to save my for the Steam end of year sellathon if you people keep tempting me this way ?

4088

General Software Discussion / Re: Special File Recovery Software

« Last post by 4wd on November 23, 2011, 04:17 AM »

It would be interesting to see if using PhotoRec and a identifier for the DVB transport stream could recover it.

Plus it's something that can be tried without laying money on the line.

I might give it a go with the same 6.5GB ISO and see what happens.

Well, it's only been running for 18 minutes, (with currently over an hour to go), but PhotoRec has managed to recover ~26GB of files including two DVB-T MPG format files of 6.32GB and 10.2GB.  Both files seem to be complete and are playable - pretty impressive so far considering those two files must have been deleted at least a week ago.

ADDENDUM: After 2.5 hours it's recovered 6481 files, (txt, jpg, mpg, avi, javascript, png, gif, mp3, ogg and more), over 40GB of data.
It didn't pick out the test file I put on there, (DVD video ISO), possibly because the file identifiers it uses couldn't precisely match a specific signature - unlike the two big MPGs, which were actually DVB-T transport streams, (.ts).  I probably could have specified a custom signature but frankly, if it can recover the two large files, (which was the primary query: large file recovery), I mentioned above at over a week or so since deletion and having had data written to the drive in the meantime......

I give it: 2 tums up   

4089

General Software Discussion / Re: Special File Recovery Software

« Last post by 4wd on November 22, 2011, 06:07 PM »

Edited : with GetDataBack, I see the deleted file, but size is 0 and it seems unrecoverable.

-MerleOne (November 22, 2011, 06:51 AM)

Hmm, you're right.  The files I originally recovered were all below 4GB but I would have thought they'd realise that NTFS could have over a 4GB filesize.

I just tested a ~6.5GB ISO on a external 640GB USB3 drive, same result as you - it was recovered with 0 filesize.

I'm now trying it with the Systemic file system damage option...this will take a while, ~1.5 hours, but hopefully it will trace through the linking in the file blocks and come up with something - I'll let you know in a couple of hours.

One other factor, (may be relevant, may not), my original recovery was using an internal SATA connected drive.  I might see if that makes a difference.

Re: R-Studio, I can't comment on how effective it will be since I don't own it but maybe it would be a good idea to email them first, (and Runtime Systems also), asking specifically whether their software will recover a deleted 8GB file and whether they'll refund your money if it proves not to - at least that way you'll have an 'in writing' response from the company if it doesn't work.  Though some companies can still be a.......s about these things.

Addendum: A little searching turned up a couple of items, this post on the Sysinternals forum and this question on Superuser which pointed to it, (answer 2 used PhotoRec for a 4GB recovery - who knows, it might be able to do the job).

Short of it is, if the file's fragmented you might not be very lucky and with a multi-GB file this is probably going to be truer more often than not.

A suggestion, some DVB recording programs allow for the cutting of the recording into 1 or 2GB blocks, (to compensate for FAT limits), perhaps your software can do the same - this should make any accidental deletion a lot more recoverable.

ADDENDUM 2: You'll have to strike GetDataBack off your list, I couldn't even find the deleted 6.5GB file after its rather exhaustive analysis search of the filesystem.  That kind of restricts it to 4GB max I guess.

4090

General Software Discussion / Re: Special File Recovery Software

« Last post by 4wd on November 22, 2011, 05:18 AM »

GetDataBack looks very good. I see there are 2 separate versions - NTFS and FAT.

-IainB (November 21, 2011, 06:01 PM)

R-Studio is another that is on par with GetDataBack and like it, it comes in two flavours for FAT and NTFS - actually it comes in a lot more flavours.

For US$50 you can have either the FAT/Ext2-4 or NTFS/Ext2-4 version, or for US$80 it'll do the lot, (including Mac filesystems), for local drives.

Demo mode will let you recover files up to 64kB.

4091

General Software Discussion / Re: Special File Recovery Software

« Last post by 4wd on November 21, 2011, 05:22 PM »

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

Not quite the same scenario as you, deletion versus partition error, but it did also recover a LOT of deleted files off the same partition - I had to then sort through what was current and what was past 

Only catch is, it isn't free, (and at US$79 it's not cheap).  During it's Demo period it will do everything the full version will do EXCEPT recover your files.  It does tell you if they are recoverable, then you can purchase a license and copy them without scanning the drive again.

However, it's possibly one of the best programs I've ever used for recovery - far better than any of the free alternatives.

4092

Living Room / Re: Can anyone help - win 7 x64 driver issue

« Last post by 4wd on November 20, 2011, 07:06 PM »

You could try Driver Pack Solution - I've used it to install/update some old hardware in my machine, (TV card), and it worked OK.

It gives you a list of drivers it contains updates for or that need installing but you can choose which ones you actually want it to do.

If nothing else, I've found it good for identifying the specific hardware.

4093

Living Room / Re: where to find user login logs?

« Last post by 4wd on November 19, 2011, 07:52 PM »

If you want something a little more detailed, (eg. with logon/logoff reasons), then you could try a little filtering of the Windows Security Event log as detailed here: Tracking user logons and logoffs with Event Viewer (about a quarter way down the page)



EDIT: Just noticed what you said about the Event log only giving an SID, however in my Security log it gives the name as well.



Addendum: A program I knew I'd seen before but forgotten about: Event Log Explorer Free for personal use up to 3 computers, just register to get your license key.



You can set up a filter and then save it for use later.

4094

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

« Last post by 4wd on November 19, 2011, 06:46 PM »

Bottom line is I think getting a "dumb TV" with a "smart computer" attached to it is going to give you way more long-term flexibility and capability than any other option.

-JavaJones (November 19, 2011, 04:58 PM)

+1 here.  Maximum flexibility with potentially minimum outlay - after all, a smart HTPC/computer is likely to outlive what it's attached to simply because it can be upgraded both in software and hardware.

But if you really don't want to deal with an HTPC, don't want to spend the extra money, don't have space in your AV space, etc. for one, then I guess try to get as much of that stuff built-in as possible.

Not sure about that, having recently purchased a WDTV Live for AU$58 and with it being the size of a couple of 3.5" HDDs stacked together, can play almost anything and has an alternative firmware available, (WDLXTV) - if you can't find space for that in your system you have other problems, (eg. air flow).

A decent dumb TV plus even something like the WDTV Live will provide you with DLNA and internet media access, (YouTube, SkyNews, etc), a dedicated HTPC will give you the same access to the internet as your computer and play a lot more.

The only thing I will say about the TV is make sure you have enough inputs and then add a couple more

4095

General Software Discussion / Re: Quick review: Windows 7 Firewall Control (free version)

« Last post by 4wd on November 11, 2011, 08:05 PM »

Windows Firewall Control (Free and Paid)

-majoMO (November 11, 2011, 08:18 AM)

Excellent!  This is the one I remember reading about months ago but could only ever find W7FC when searching.

Downloaded, tried and about to donate for the paid version.

The next version, due any day now, promises to be even better.

Thank you MajoMO!

4096

General Software Discussion / Re: Experts opinion on very odd Camera -> Card -> File Copy corruptions

« Last post by 4wd on November 11, 2011, 07:57 PM »

As a suggestion, why not try a couple of other recovery programs?

eg. PhotoRec and Restoration

Who knows, between them all you might recover almost everything intact.

Or, using the different programs might recover enough partials so that complete photos can be stitched together.

4097

Living Room / Re: Products designed to fail, a documentary

« Last post by 4wd on November 11, 2011, 01:38 AM »

Asrock US based company but taiwani manufactured motherboards, fails in 1 year. I found CMOS battery ending after every 6 months on this board also USB ports die in 1-2 years.

-mahesh2k (November 11, 2011, 01:09 AM)

Well, that's a complete 180 degrees from what I've found.  I have two AsRock motherboards that haven't given any problem since new, that's 3+ years - a friend has another with the same story.

After Gigabyte, they'd be my next choice depending on features/price required.

4098

General Software Discussion / Re: Quick review: Windows 7 Firewall Control (free version)

« Last post by 4wd on November 10, 2011, 05:31 PM »

A couple more things:

W7FC has a portable version which allows you to carry it around on a flash drive and it will store configs for each machine it's plugged into, which I currently use.

The free version allows limited control over programs, eg. it's either blocked or it isn't, (for either Incoming, Outgoing or both), whereas using the Windows Firewall Control Panel will allow you to restrict programs to a network.  The paid version will also allow finer network control.

Also, IIRC, W7FC is more of a filter, it inserts itself between the program wanting communication and the Windows Firewall.  As a result any settings it makes are no longer valid if it's not running, ie. if you block a program with W7FC it won't be blocked if W7FC is not running.

This implies it isn't a GUI/frontend for the built-in firewall but a completely separate entity otherwise any rules in created would be seen within Windows Firewall Control Panel.

BTW, if you're interested in the paid version and you don't live in the USA you might find it's cheaper to buy it in US$ anyway because the share*it! exchange rates are skewed that way - at least they are for AU$.

4099

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 7 is out

« Last post by 4wd on November 10, 2011, 01:06 AM »

I've just swapped over to Pale Moon v7.01 - maybe it's just me but it does feel faster than Firefox.

The migration of settings was completely painless too, (it uses a separate program to copy them), everything was there when I fired it up.



NOTE: This is not an ad - it just looks like it

Addendum: I just realised, (yeah, I'm a bit slow), Pale Moon adds an extension:

Pale Moon Status Bar - Which you can use to display the progress of page loads and downloads.  While not as fully featured as Download Statusbar, it's a lot less intrusive than the default Firefox item.

4100

General Software Discussion / Re: Pendrive not prompting me to choose an action!!!???

« Last post by 4wd on November 07, 2011, 04:32 PM »

Autorun for removable drives is disabled in XP onwards - Microsoft rolled out an update about March, KB971029.

The reason was to stop viruses being spread via autorun.inf.

You're using USB Safely Remove - are you sure you haven't set it to automatically explore inserted media?



EDIT: Sorry, I've misread your post - you want to know why you're not getting the prompt for an Action.

What OS are you running?
Have you tried it on another computer and does it do the same thing?

Also, try this tool from Microsoft: AutoPlay Repair (Only good for 2003 and XP)