Recent Posts

451

General Software Discussion / Re: Kaspersky IS: How to optimize speed?

« Last post by MerleOne on March 15, 2010, 10:01 AM »

I forgot to mention I also tried VIPRE a year ago and that performance was the worst ever seen, despite their marketing claim to be the lightest on the market.  I had to stop scanning within archives and some other tweaks (lowering security) to get a decent speed.

452

General Software Discussion / Re: Kaspersky IS: How to optimize speed?

« Last post by MerleOne on March 15, 2010, 09:56 AM »

I had the same issue with another brand a while ago (CA Security Suite).  I switched to Avira Free, then to Rising Free, now in 2010 version (www.freerav.com).  Since then, when I have performance issue, I don't have to check the AV.

453

General Software Discussion / Re: Trying to remember an old game

« Last post by MerleOne on March 15, 2010, 09:52 AM »

JetPac (but that was on ZX Spectrum  )

454

Living Room / Re: Using XP System Restore Offline

« Last post by MerleOne on March 15, 2010, 07:39 AM »

Thanks, 4wd, I tend to believe so.  I have found something I'd like to try: exploring the C: disk, I found a \Recover folder that seems to contain a full windows as it was after factory installation, probably a Fujitsu Siemens procedure.  I have renamed the actual \windows\system32 folder and copied \recover\windows\system32 folder to the actual location (before it was renamed).

I have restarted ERD, and this time it accepts to see the recovery points.

I will try to launch one of the many recovery points available, and see what happens.  But before going any further, I'll try to make a full image, just to be on the safe side.

455

Living Room / Re: Using XP System Restore Offline

« Last post by MerleOne on March 15, 2010, 04:26 AM »

You mention that you can't boot to Safe Mode or Last Good Config but not whether you can boot to CLI or not.

If you can boot to CLI then you can use System Restore as given here.

-4wd (March 12, 2010, 03:45 PM)

I just tried to boot to CLI mode : "no go".  It freezes at the moment where the XP safe mode is displayed (white text on back screen) at the four corners of the screen, the pointer appears and it won't go further.

456

Living Room / Re: Using XP System Restore Offline

« Last post by MerleOne on March 14, 2010, 05:55 AM »

Thanks all,

The PC to repair is equipped with a set of recovery CDs.  A 1st one proposes a XP home installation, together with access to the recovery console, the 2nd one just installs a copy of Windows in another folder, c:\windows.0\.

If I want to perform an "installation in place", I guess I should use the 1st one.

457

Living Room / Re: Using XP System Restore Offline

« Last post by MerleOne on March 13, 2010, 03:07 AM »

Thanks all for your answers.  CLI is definitely something I must try.  I haven't thought before about it.  Regarding ERD, it's the legitimate one, freshly downloaded from MSFT by one of our sysadmin.

I omitted something : before trying ERD, I started to used UBCD4win and EZPCFix but this somehow corrupted the NTFS filesystem because at reboot, chkdsk was launched and spent quite some time correcting many errors, while before UBCD4win, chkdsk returned no error whatsoever.  Maybe the system has gone corrupt so that ERD cannot recognize it.

I'll try CLI next monday and will let you know.

458

Living Room / Using XP System Restore Offline

« Last post by MerleOne on March 12, 2010, 06:24 AM »

Hi,

I am trying to repair the XP machine of a friend : it boots OK but hangs at the moment where the user selection is supposed to appear.  Same thing in safe mode or when trying to restore the last working config.  I have checked with UBCD4Win that the filesystem is OK and the H/W seems functional.

Looking around, I found there is a Microsoft tool, formerly developed by Sysinternals, called ERD, that makes it possible, using a WIN PE boot CD, to restore previous configs saved with "XP System Restore".  I have an eval copy of version 5.0.  It boots OK, but refuses to go further since it detects XP Pro SP3, which is not supported in this version.  My friend is certain his PC is running XP Home SP3 and not Pro.

I have thus 2 questions :
- Is there a way to "trick" ERD 5.0 to make him see XP Home instead of XP Pro (since it is most probably a XP Home - my friend has the reinstallation CD provided with his Fujitsu Siemens tower, they are indeed XP Home)
- Do you know an equivalent tool, not Microsoft made, which would not have such limitations ?

Thanks !

459

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: PuranDefrag V7 now free for home use

« Last post by MerleOne on March 12, 2010, 01:59 AM »

...

I have noticed you keep up with defraggers and have posted for some time on Donn Edwards' defrag site. Since you keep up with this type of software, I would surely like to know if you have an opinion on the freeware Quicksys Disk Defrag? They have a portable version and it looks very nice, but I haven't benchmarked or done any direct comparisons to Puran Defrag.

-sajman99 (March 11, 2010, 02:12 PM)

Well observed !  I have indeed tried QuickSys Disk Defrag some time ago but it was merely just to see how it looked.  I don't think it sorts directories as Puran does, and I am not too sure about exclusions either.

Currently, I am using mostly SmartDefrag IOBit 1.40 for several reasons :
- file exclusion based on size (I chose 512 MB as a limit)
- fast
- sorts directories
- redefrags are usually quick

I use Puran for my System Disk and for the offline features, and for some removable media-like disks (such as TrueCrypt or SafeHouse containers).

460

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by MerleOne on March 11, 2010, 02:13 PM »

I've never seen that.  Do you have "Lock Volume Exclusive Access" checked in
Tools=>Settings=>Write   (It's in the cluster of settings on the left hand side.)
...

-MilesAhead (March 10, 2010, 03:09 PM)

Yes, I do, and also the option below (ignore mounted filesystems).

461

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by MerleOne on March 10, 2010, 10:38 AM »

Imgburn is indeed a great tool, but I'd like to know why, in some cases, when burning an iso file, it takes up to 10 minutes in the "creating threads" phase before starting to burn anything (XP Home SP2).

462

General Software Discussion / Re: How to encrypt a USB drive without admin rights?

« Last post by MerleOne on March 10, 2010, 06:28 AM »

Have you tried to recover a file using Easeus Data Recovery Wizard or equivalent ? I am asking because I used a similar tool once, and just a scan of a recovery tool was able to make "invisible" files appear.

463

General Software Discussion / Re: How to encrypt a USB drive without admin rights?

« Last post by MerleOne on March 09, 2010, 06:41 AM »

AFAIK TC Explorer needs admin rights as well.
...

-wurst (March 09, 2010, 06:38 AM)

Yes if you want all features (mount container as a virtual drive), no if you just use the explorer itself.

464

General Software Discussion / Re: looking for program to convert wav or mp3 to .omg (sony Atrac3)

« Last post by MerleOne on March 09, 2010, 06:39 AM »

Its strange but there doesnt seem to be a good program to convert wav or mp3 to .omg (sony Atrac3) and then put it on a netmd external device (minidisk player).    I have looked in several forums and the advice was that The sony "Sonic Stage" program was rubbish and Beat jam not much better but there doesnt seem to be a less bloated simpler alternative.  am I wrong? I did read that some people have had success with using nero to convert and simple burner to put it on the player but simple burner wont install on my machine.

-delwoode (March 09, 2010, 03:36 AM)

The 4.2 version of Sonic Stage was far from being rubbish.  But it's a heavy install.   You may also try Sony MD Simple Burner, which is much lighter.  It only accept CD as input, but you may take your mp3, create a virtual audio CD from them, mount this virtual CD and have MD Simple Burner handle it as input.  It has worked for me in the past.

465

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by MerleOne on March 05, 2010, 03:09 AM »

Holy Rube Goldberg, Batman! OK Go does it again.

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (March 03, 2010, 01:23 AM)

Wow !

466

General Software Discussion / Re: Recommend anti-spyware, please?

« Last post by MerleOne on February 27, 2010, 02:32 PM »

I vote for MalwareBytes too, SuperAntiSpyware is nice but scans are taking ages.

467

General Software Discussion / Re: UltraSearch: a competitor to Everything?

« Last post by MerleOne on February 25, 2010, 09:54 AM »

Reminds me SearchGT, but free !

468

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« Last post by MerleOne on February 25, 2010, 01:39 AM »

Thanks !  I'll report here is I find something.

469

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« Last post by MerleOne on February 24, 2010, 10:33 AM »

Just a question : is it possible to search for instance all pdf files within a folder that contain both 'abcded' and 'ghijk' words, but not necessarily one after another.

470

General Software Discussion / Re: How to encrypt a USB drive without admin rights?

« Last post by MerleOne on February 22, 2010, 02:18 AM »

And, as I said earlier, Safehouse Explorer also proposes container encryption without admin rights.  The only trick I know is to get the full application, not the installer, which tries to install a driver.

471

General Software Discussion / Re: How to encrypt a USB drive without admin rights?

« Last post by MerleOne on February 19, 2010, 09:44 AM »

Which means it'll leave residue behind - might as well go for AxCrypt - free + opensource.

-f0dder (February 19, 2010, 08:43 AM)

AFAIK, AxCrypt encrypts file by file, while SHE creates a container accessible through the application. If you have admin rights, you may install a driver (that can be removed from Add/Remove Panel) that turns the mounted container into a virtual with a letter.

472

General Software Discussion / Re: How to encrypt a USB drive without admin rights?

« Last post by MerleOne on February 19, 2010, 08:36 AM »

I think Safehouse Explorer from Safehouse software works without Admin rights.  A bit more limited (you cannot edit files from the container, you have to extract them on the Desktop for instance) but it works.  I like their products a lot.  Oh, and it's free.  The full Safehouse suite is payware.

473

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: MultiFind Pro 1.7 - file search utility

« Last post by MerleOne on February 16, 2010, 06:29 AM »

Hi,

Wasn't it on GAOTD in 2008, October 14th or 15th ?

474

General Software Discussion / Re: Mass checksum checker

« Last post by MerleOne on February 16, 2010, 06:10 AM »

I'd go for CDCheck, it's perfect for mass CRC/MD5 (creation and verify).  See : http://www.kvipu.com/CDCheck/

475

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Faster boots combining hibernate and restart (Boot Snooze)

« Last post by MerleOne on February 15, 2010, 01:19 AM »

Hmm, this whole discussion is going haywire (?)...