Recent Posts

451

Developer's Corner / Re: if(file_exists..) is Failing!

« Last post by Shades on April 08, 2019, 10:24 PM »

That is most likely a Linux server that hosts your website. As a backup for my locally running web server, I have a another domain hosted in a different continent. But access to that site is not managed by cPanel. In that web GUI interface it is pretty easy to alter access rights for files/folders. But with cPanel I don't know if you have the same functionality. If not, you could try to setup a Putty session to your web-server and use:

    CHMOD /R 775 /the.exact.folder.path.on.your.hosted.server.which.is.case.sensitive    (on a shared host server it can be a very different path than you expect from the onset) 

- CHMOD   name of the command to alter access rights of files and/or folders on Linux.
- /R           recursive. All sub folders below the folder you want to alter are altered as well.
- 775         That code indicates the root account has complete access.
                 The user groups you assign to this folder have complete access as well (the user group linked to the web server software is one of these groups).
                 All other users can read and execute files in the folder you select. This is a good value during development, but not if you serve your website to the public.

Afterwards you should change from 775 to 755 and check if your website still works as you intended. It should work and if it doesn't, revise your code until it does.

Be very careful with this line, it is very easy to open up your website too much and that is something you really don't want to do.

452

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Clipboard Help+Spell errors

« Last post by Shades on April 08, 2019, 09:35 PM »

While the 'Properties' screen of a file shows the attributes set for that file, that is not necessarily the way how that file is treated in day-to-day use. There is a tool SetACL Studio, (the company gives away a full license for that tool) that shows you how the access right for any file or folder are really managed by Windows. It also allows you to make adjustments and it is a much nicer interface than the default tools that Microsoft delivers with Windows.

It might be an update of Windows 10 that adjusted/resetted the ACL (Access Control List) for files/folders on your C:\ partition.

453

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Clipboard Help+Spell errors

« Last post by Shades on April 08, 2019, 07:01 AM »

Did you place it like:
  C:\(your.portable.CHS.instance)
or
  D:\(your.portable.CHS.instance)

In other words, the root folder on any of the partitions of the computer?

If so, Windows tries to protect you from yourself. It is better to create a folder structure like: C:\Portable\(your.portable.CHS.instance) and adjust the security rights of folder: C:\Portable (and its sub folders) by yourself. However, if you have a different partition than C:\ I would use that partition to create for example: D:\Portable\(your.portable.CHS.instance)

Windows gives you much less grief in any other partition than C:\ regarding file/folder access rights.

454

General Software Discussion / Re: Transfer.sh - Easy file sharing from the command line

« Last post by Shades on April 07, 2019, 07:32 PM »

NextCloud or similar software running on your own computers.

That works as well. Not difficult, but not as easy, of course. Still, an interesting learning experience to make it work and you can run this on a as-needed basis. Can communicate with Azure, AWS or other cloud services as well, if so desired.

455

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: GDPR Blocking (PHP Edition)

« Last post by Shades on April 06, 2019, 06:39 PM »

If I would not have added "(hopefully)" then yes, it would be serious.

But rest assured, I am very familiar with the unbridled apathy and lazyness of the general public at large and millennials in particular. Hence the addition.

456

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: GDPR Blocking (PHP Edition)

« Last post by Shades on April 06, 2019, 06:13 PM »

GeoLite2 is what you likely could use.

You could create a subdomain using cPanel and divert users from the GDPR countries to that subdomain where you make a simple page that explains why they are not allowed access. That gives you still an overview of how many visitors from GDPR countries wanted to visit your site and these visitors have an inkling of why access was denied and (hopefully) create so much outcry that politicians gladly take action to cut GDPR short before the internet becomes (too) divided. 

457

Developer's Corner / Re: Why Checking File Extensions in Array Misfires ?

« Last post by Shades on April 06, 2019, 05:57 PM »

Are you sure you uploaded a .mp4 file?  Did you check just the extension of that file to determine if that file is mp4 or did you check the actual content?

MP4 is a container, so it can hold video, multiple audio tracks, subtitles etc. It might be that some of the content in the .mp4 file you uploaded is sufficiently messed up for the database to not recognize the uploaded file as an .mp4 file. Because I can tell you already that .mp4 files are not created equally. That is not a MP4 problem alone, every container file format has this problem.

Video or audio files, well, binary file formats are stored in databases as a BLOB. You should limit BLOBs as much as you can get away with. These increase your database storage needs exponentially and it is data your database cannot look through...which is the whole point of using a database in the first place.

Also, the term 'upload' suggests that you use a web server in combination with your PHP installation. When making adjustments in your configuration to allow for .mp4 files, did you restart the web server as well?

458

Developer's Corner / Re: Sql Syntax Error

« Last post by Shades on April 06, 2019, 05:21 PM »

Here is the link to the SQL syntax for the SELECT command in MariaDB. That is the database software your error code says you are using.

[Select]

SELECT
    [ALL | DISTINCT | DISTINCTROW]
    [HIGH_PRIORITY]
    [STRAIGHT_JOIN]
    [SQL_SMALL_RESULT] [SQL_BIG_RESULT] [SQL_BUFFER_RESULT]
    [SQL_CACHE | SQL_NO_CACHE] [SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS]
    select_expr [, select_expr ...]
    [ FROM table_references
      [WHERE where_condition]
      [GROUP BY {col_name | expr | position} [ASC | DESC], ... [WITH ROLLUP]]
      [HAVING where_condition]
      [ORDER BY {col_name | expr | position} [ASC | DESC], ...]
      [LIMIT {[offset,] row_count | row_count OFFSET offset}]
      [PROCEDURE procedure_name(argument_list)]
      [INTO OUTFILE 'file_name' [CHARACTER SET charset_name] [export_options]


INTO DUMPFILE 'file_name' INTO var_name [, var_name] ]

      [[FOR UPDATE | LOCK IN SHARE MODE] [WAIT n | NOWAIT] ] ]


export_options:
    [{FIELDS | COLUMNS}
        [TERMINATED BY 'string']
        [[OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY 'char']
        [ESCAPED BY 'char']
    ]
    [LINES
        [STARTING BY 'string']
        [TERMINATED BY 'string']
    ]

By your own admission, you stated that you are not a programmer and that you starting to learn. No problem, in that case you should first check if your query works in a database client before you try to put it into PHP scripting. A database client usually has much more helpful ways to describe what is going wrong with your SQL query. on the MariaDB site, the use of HeidiSQL is recommended.

Your query:
SELECT * FROM browsing_histories WHERE username = ?

Doesn't seem it is properly terminated.
And is the question mark allowed as parameter content?
Or is the query treated as if you are looking for one or more user names that have the name '?' ?

Anyway, a database client could already have told you that. More extensive database clients often come with an option to see how long a query takes on the database you are connected to, which tables/indexes are consulted for that query, etc. Might not be useful information for you right now, but if your thing picks up and needs to scale, you will be very glad you have access to such tools.

Another tip: looking for optimizations to make your code faster? If there is any access to any type of database involved, check first how you can optimize your queries first. That is more often than not where you can gain a lot more. Fast code or slow code, both wait just as long for your database query to produce results...



Without access to your database, I just started up my XAMPP environment (which is useful for PHP script development on Windows) to connect to a MySQL database (PHPmyadmin) and show you how the query should be.

I cannot state enough the importance of using a database client first for checking database queries that need to be in code. Which in and of itself is already a sub-optimal practice (for applications that need to scale), but PHP, so who cares.

459

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Social Browsing History Website

« Last post by Shades on April 06, 2019, 04:46 PM »

Why would anyone go into that scheme? The person being followed gladly hands over that data for money, but what happens with that data after that?

But the person from who the data is collected, what would this person gain? Lots of money? Yeah, that only happens in your dreams. If you see how much money internet ads generate on the sites that host these ads, you would be amazed in a negative way.

Some people having an audience (because of the content they create) to which targeted ads can be shown on a regular basis, that is worth money. And if that sounds like the old model of TV/Cable, it is. For example: I don't have anything against watching relevant commercials from sponsors of Youtube channels I follow. Unsollicited commercials Youtube  bombards you with, I really dislike. That type of "commercial" thinking from channels made me stop owning a TV all together. Haven't seen public TV for years. I never even had a cable connection to cut.

That proposed lump of money I would get for my browser history, that transfer would be a one time deal. But how long is that data going to haunt you? A lot longer than once, The people buying that data will want their money's worth and as they have now control over their collection, that will be as long as they can get away with in every way they can get away with.

So, by all means go after your idea and find a doofus to sell it to. Just don't count on this doofus to join your scheme.
 

460

General Software Discussion / Re: Sign Up Sheets

« Last post by Shades on April 05, 2019, 11:25 AM »

Depending on the complexity of the system you want people to sign up for, would a standard CMS like WordPress, Joomla or Drupal not suffice? Most of them are easy enough to install on your own web server. And standard CMS installations without or barely any 3rd party plugins are quite safe (and easy to upgrade in case new versions and/or security upgrades come out). 

461

General Software Discussion / Re: could not click out

« Last post by Shades on April 04, 2019, 10:14 PM »

You are aware that there are scripts running next to any giving website that can be made to look like they originate from the website you are currently watching. Can be something you picked up from another website.

Ads without exit button? That is fishy, whichever way you look at it.

Anyway, best to scrub your system with anti-malware tools such as: Junkware Removal Tool (jrt for short), rkill, ADW cleaner, UnHackMe. In your case ADW cleaner should not be necessary, because you are already running MalwareBytes. The others are an addition and only do their work when you activate them, so no real-time protection. Both look spartan and will terminate all other running processes, so make sure you save whatever you are doing first before running jrt or rkill. Often jrt and rkill find what MalwarBytes misses and vice versa.

You can also use the Glasswire Monitor software for free (this limits the functionality) for personal use. That is a pretty nice looking tool to see if your computer is putting out traffic that is not legit. It does this in a very graphic way, that makes it quite clear what is going on your computer that is network related, even for the lay person.

Then there is UnhackMe. I got it some 6 months ago as a giveaway for free and it is very thorough, but the buttons look weird and the standard GUI layout rules are not followed at all. And there is also the badly translated English. But if you can put yourself over that, it does work. Even though it takes it sweet time to do so. it also requires user interaction during the scan and removal process.

But after you run these tools (and a reboot), you can be pretty sure your system is clean enough to surf again (but with a bit more caution hopefully). I'm not familiar with the Norton AV software, haven't touched that software with a ten foot pole for many, many years now. I like the unobtrusiveness of free BitDefender AV software, but with common sense, Windows Firewall and Windows Defender you can be just as safe, except you don't lose a lot of your computers resources in the process. The free versions from Avast and Avira have become real hogs and are spewing almost continuously adverts in your screen to buy their full fledged products and subscriptions and services and the kitchen sink. Practically as irritating as having a virus on your system.

462

Post New Requests Here / Re: Batch file to move files (less than total size) from A to B

« Last post by Shades on April 02, 2019, 11:57 AM »

A 3rd party file manager like Directory Opus shows you the size of the files you selected.

Don't take this the wrong way, but here's a taught. With the amount of file management you need to do, it might be useful to start looking into one of those. Spend the cash and automatize what you can within that software. You have a GUI to work with, In case of Directory Opus, also an extensive manual, the batch scripts you already have can be implemented as a new button in DO and while your automation is busy, you'll have a progress bar to see how far along you are.

Windows Explorer (in any version of Windows) is not a good fit when you need to manage lots of files. It works more or less for tiny to small file-sets. But it is a time sink and RSI inducer when you try to use it with big file-sets. So falling back to scripting appears the next best thing to do. And it is.

However, you seem to be depending with regards to scripting batch files, so it might be handier for you to start considering 3rd party file managers, like: Directory Opus, Total Commander, XYplorer, xplorer2, Double Commander, Free Commander, Altap Salamander, etc. (this is a list of managers I tried and is in order of my preference).

Look here for a list of 26 3rd party file managers. The fact that there are so many, indicates that Windows Explorer is flawed (deeply).

While scripting is an excellent idea for menial file management tasks, you must either learn (and practice) scripting or get a tool for the job. That way, it is much easier to execute your ideas on how you want your files to be managed the moment you have a new idea about how to do that.

The time being lost by writing down your idea, making the request here at DC, waiting for a response and then testing the response, could have been spend on learning how to script or doing the job with a 3rd party file manager.

On a side note: I was not aware of the existence from Multi Commander. I am taking a look at it and am pleased. The fact that is portable, scores high with me, the Directory Opus 4 "look" (Amiga home computers owners know what I'm about) scores high too and you can edit these buttons extensively, but also the main menu and context menu as well. I start to think it should take the place xplorer2 in my list...maybe even one higher.

463

Living Room / Re: accessory DVD & usb port for laptop?

« Last post by Shades on April 02, 2019, 06:37 AM »

Whatever I have on DVD, like video, I ripped those and ended up up with <name.of.video>.iso files that contain everything on the DVD. Windows 10 can mount those easy, but it won't play them. 3rd party media players (freeware) such as VideoLAN (aka VLC), PotPlayer and MPC all do a much better job than any version of Windows media player did. These media players know how to work with *.iso files, so no problem there.

Installation disks can also be stored as *.iso files. Windows 10 can mount these and installing the software in those files with ease. With a set of portable hard disks (none of them permanently connected, only when needed and stored securely) I have a pretty reliable backup system (for home use). Well, it hasn't failed me in 9 years and I cannot say the same about some of the DVDs I burned. As I have sunk quite some money into that collection, I find it wasteful to throw them out. But I haven't read any DVD of that collection for years.

I only keep a reader around, because hardware suppliers provide installation DVDs or CDs with original drivers. Once that "tradition" stops and manufacturers provide a thumb drive/pen drive with their hardware, I'll drop that one too. Think I have some 30 DVD burners "rusting" away in the storage depot. Maybe I should sacrifice those and find a way to get the laser out of them just to play with as an hardware hobby project or something. There should also be a similar amount of 3.5" floppy drives as well.

464

General Software Discussion / Re: Text Expander for Windows

« Last post by Shades on March 31, 2019, 09:48 PM »

Ethervane Echo from DC member Tranglos comes to mind. But I'm pretty sure it is not actively maintained. The domain where you used to be able to download from is not there anymore.

PhraseExpander - pretty pricey commercial software, but there is a freeware version for personal use.
WordExpander - looks to be freeware
Breevy - commercially licensed
FastKeys - commercially licensed

465

Living Room / Re: accessory DVD & usb port for laptop?

« Last post by Shades on March 31, 2019, 09:28 PM »

Who still uses DVDs?  Let it be known, I have a collection of over 2000 DVDs (burners and originals) and I can't be bothered to use them. Pen Drives are so much more convenient, available in much bigger storage capacities, faster, usually more reliable (in case of burned DVDs) and by now cheaper.

For old style magnetic media, like tapes I can still see uses. Still very hard to beat with regards for price/performance per GByte of stored information. But DVDs? Its just not worth it. I can buy here in the capital 1TByte portable hard disks from Seagate for 30 USD. With DVD's you must make lists of what is stored where, you need to verify if burned DVDs still work after a year or so, you must store DVDs Preferably in a location without lights and a constant temperature else they fade/rot away.

While portable hard disks are not a good long term storage plan either, they sure do last longer than burned DVDs. Original DVDs use much better material for their storage layer, which is then protected by one or two optically invisible layers. That makes them much more robust than burn DVDs, which use a much worse material (so the laser inside the burner doesn't have to be too strong). Protection layers are usually not included, because legally the strength of a laser for public use is very limited. So the material in the storage layer does rot away pretty easily, making the data unreadable.

Nowadays I only have one DVD reader available to copy the drivers from any device I purchase onto a portable hard disk (I always keep those as an archive, just so I know there are drivers to fall back to). And that is literally the only reason.

Ok, on topic: Mouser is correct, you will be needing a USB hub device that comes with its own power supply. Although the laser in a burner is weak, it does draw quite some power when writing to a DVD. You also have to take into account that it is very important that the engine spinning the DVD that is being burned runs at the same RPMs during the writing. You really should not depend on the power of the USB ports on your laptop to provide the power to spin the DVD and the laser. Any hiccup there and you can throw away the DVD. No, even burning DVDs with the slowest setting can fail easily when you only depend on the power supply from your laptop.

USB hubs with separate power supply should have enough consistent power for burning DVDs. Is there a DVD reader in the laptop you have? If so, use that reader to check if the burned DVD was done correctly. You will be surprised (in a bad way) how much burn DVDs can only be read properly in the DVD unit that did the burning.

Buying a USB bracket and separate DVD burner device to create your own portable DVD burner, that can be a not so great experience. Lots of burner devices do not burn so well when connected through USB. Firmware from USB brackets and DVD burner units are know to create conflicts. That way of creating your own portable DVD burner can be a total crap shoot.

Really, so much headache for so little storage capacity per DVD, why even bother when there are so many better alternatives available for similar prices (per stored GByte) or cheaper... 

466

General Software Discussion / Re: cross-browser bookmark flexibility

« Last post by Shades on March 31, 2019, 10:37 AM »

For each of your browsers, the bookmarks are backed up as a HTML file, usually with a simple structure. Therefore it should be possible to merge those files into one. And there appears to be a tool for it.

After the merger you might have a need for an extension to clean out possible double entries (or empty ones).

Or look on this page (raymond.cc) for 5 more alternatives. Although the information seems not to be that recent anymore, it could still be useful for your intends and purposes.

467

General Software Discussion / Re: Listing the unused

« Last post by Shades on March 30, 2019, 01:55 PM »

As a general rule:
Nothing beats the flexibility of the command line.

Also, for menial tasks like this, user interaction is what you don't want. Better do that by script, so you don't have to waste time clicking on things that a script would do much faster and more precise. And you could see this as the beginning of a script that helps you keeping your laptop neat and tidy automatically, so you don't have to worry too much about it.

Piece of mind or having yet another maintenance task where you must click away at lists and lists of files to keep, to store on different media or throw away.

468

General Software Discussion / Re: What kind of software to use for storing lots of information?

« Last post by Shades on March 30, 2019, 12:33 PM »

Databases are good at this sort of thing. And these come in all sizes and shapes. Free and commercial.

These do require you to think of a structure for your characters, structures for locations, etc. Later when all that info is stored, you can use JOIN's, indexes and such to create the whole picture. That is what you have to do with relational database server software and the SQL query language. Free/open source database software you could opt to use: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle Express (10GByte limit), Microsoft SQL Server Express (10GByte limit). That are the most common ones and you can find lots(!) of information and tutorials for these and are available for most, if not all operating systems. Does your data exceeds the limit of either Oracle or Microsoft over time? Then it will be time to fork over pretty serious cash for the Microsoft product or get bound over a barrel with Oracle. But if you don't, their products are pretty nice and relatively easy to work with.

There are also a different form of database, generally known as NoSQL database software. These are great for collecting data in a less structured way. These are more often than not open source and have a community version available. Also enterprise versions, but these can be just as expensive as Microsoft/Oracle products. These often do impose limits on the operating systems they run on and you'll get better support on Linux or Mac then on Windows. The included client software support for Windows is usually sparse/spartan and 3rd party products that allow you to work properly is costly. Databases to consider here: MongoDB, Cassandra, CouchBase.

What will be a major pain though, getting the data from your Excel, sheets and EverNote into any of the database of your choosing.

Some 10 years ago I inherited a MediaWiki installation and I am maintaining it ever since. In my opinion it is great for making documents that don't require much alterations afterwards, such as manuals. But for keeping track of data, not so much. Not sure if is just MediaWiki, but the interface that comes standard with it is horrible. Unless you are are very well versed in the syntax of MediaWik, it is workable. If you're not, you might even call the interface disgustingly bad to downright evil.


Relational databases scale pretty well, NoSQL databases scale very well.

469

Skwire Empire / Re: Release: SFV Ninja (Simple File Verification application)

« Last post by Shades on March 28, 2019, 10:18 PM »

If the file name is too long, are you sure the error message comes from SFV? Or is it a error message generated by Windows and its NTFS file system?

When it is the latter, there is only one thing to do and that is shorten your filenames. Because every piece of (Windows) software in existence (that reads or writes data to a drive), must comply with the filesystem from Windows and its limitations.

The file system in Windows has a rigid limit and there is nothing you can do about that, unless you happen to work for Microsoft, fixing this limitation in their Windows file system. But if you are not an employee, then there is nothing you can do.

470

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Batch file to move 'next' xx folders from A to B

« Last post by Shades on March 28, 2019, 10:07 PM »

Why 10?

Does that imply any type of user interaction (for selection criteria input)?

Is the other root folder (receiving folder) located on the same computer or a different one in your LAN?  Or is it located on a WAN/cloud?

In case of different computers, a recursive copy to root folder B and afterwards remove the copied folders from root folder A is preferable. Not only faster, but also safer.

If no user interaction is required or desired, why do the folders exist in root folder A and why aren't they directly created/moved to root folder B to begin with? Such a use case seems like a file handling problem with one step too many.

471

General Software Discussion / Re: Screen change detector

« Last post by Shades on March 27, 2019, 08:42 AM »

The PayToClick software you use, from the description you gave I understand that this is browser-based (extension).

Perhaps would this be of use:  tab-notifier

It is a generic notifier that pops up a message balloon on your desktop when things change on a website you have configured to be notified about. Its description states that it still works if the browser is minimized.

472

General Software Discussion / Re: Screen change detector

« Last post by Shades on March 27, 2019, 08:31 AM »

Once you go with a dual monitor setup, you will not want to be without such a setup anymore. Introduced to such a setup at work, I recreated such a setup even at home. Preferably you'll go for 2 monitors that are the same, or at least with the same resolution. But that is not necessary to be useful. At home I bought a new but smaller and really cheap one and even that works out very well for what I am using my home system for. I work on my main, bigger one and keep track of events on the smaller one.

You will be more productive, or at least actively engaged with the tasks you are doing on a system with a dual monitor setup. Some here in the forum have a triple monitor setup or even more. Don't dismiss such a setup for yourself either, after having the dual monitor setup, you'll might have thought of a use case for a 3rd monitor. 

473

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Driver Booster 6 giveaway (Christmas Day only)

« Last post by Shades on March 24, 2019, 07:22 AM »

Can I use Driver Booster 6 to add all the drivers when I install a new Win7 operating system?

-EdwardFlamy (March 23, 2019, 06:29 PM)

For now, I would assume yes. As long as the database that Driver Booster uses has valid links to the drivers you need for Windows 7.

However, don't expect that situation to last long anymore.Windows 7 is very near to "being put out to pasture" by Microsoft and driver support will become sketchy after that happens. You can get all the drivers you'll need for your Windows 7 computer yourself and either store them in a safe location or create a new installer DVD or pendrive with all these drivers already included.

That will have your driver needs covered, but you Windows 7 system won't be getting any security updates anymore and that is of much greater concern than not having the latest drivers. Don't use that system anymore for doing anything online that requires your credit card for example. From that moment on, it is wise to not connect that Windows 7 system to the internet at all anymore, if safety is of any concern to you. And if that Windows 7 system is part of a home network with several (Windows) computers, then the Windows 7 pc can be used to enter your network and attack your other computers too.

Security wise, it is better to migrate that Windows 7 system to Windows 10 (to have Microsoft support again) or find an alternative (supported) operating system for that system. Linux Mint or Ubuntu are decent Linux distributions for which you can expect support now and in the future. Or live a little and use a lesser known distribution to increase up your computer skills.

474

DC Gamer Club / Re: Stadia Google

« Last post by Shades on March 21, 2019, 09:03 AM »

And maybe the thought of extra business renting consumers their online stuff/entertainment/presence will provide the push to have much better internet service throughout the whole Unites States.

Which would act as an example for the other ISP/Telecom businesses over the world....

Like a herd of sheep being marched to go down the rabbit hole, chanting "#progress", "#new", "#shiny" etc. as we go.

Hmmm, that was a bit dark.

475

Living Room / Re: Is there a way to ping a remote desktop?

« Last post by Shades on March 21, 2019, 08:51 AM »

There is software that mimics moving the mouse, so when in a remote session, it won't go lock itself:

Caffeine       Jiggler