Recent Posts

4651

Living Room / Re: build/upgrade or buy/build a new one?

« Last post by 4wd on October 19, 2010, 04:57 AM »

I came across this Solid State Drive from Intel, it's a 40GB size at $99. http://bit.ly/dwO4Fc

-Jammo the OrganizedFellow (October 18, 2010, 02:21 PM)

Dear God, that is a slow drive - try this one at the same price: Mushkin Enhanced MKNSSDCL40GB-DX

Uses the SandForce 1200 controller which is currently more stable than the newer SandForce 1500 but still blazingly fast compared to the Intel you found.

You can pick up SandForce 1200 powered SSDs at very reasonable prices these days, eg. AU$138 for 50GB A-RAM Ultra-II SSD (VERY reasonable for Australia).

If you wanted to upgrade your system, go for a Core i5/motherboard combo deal and 4GB of DDR3 RAM.  Add a decent size HDD, (1TB), because they are faster than what you have plus the above SSD.

Keep all the other components.

Sell your old DDR2 RAM, motherboard and CPU.

Another thing:

Do you really need BitLocker?  Truecrypt is free.
Do you really need XP Mode?   It's been generally found it's slower than running VirtualBox, VMWare, Parallels or VMLite.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Best Executable Compressor Programs

« Last post by 4wd on October 17, 2010, 07:52 PM »

Outpost Security Suite reports no virus and doesn't complain when I run it.  Output files are considered clean also.

JottiScan result

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General Software Discussion / Re: need to scan a map and then color it

« Last post by 4wd on October 16, 2010, 09:38 PM »

Damn!  I knew I should have patented my post

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Living Room / Re: Texting on the rise

« Last post by 4wd on October 16, 2010, 10:59 AM »

If you phone someone and talk to them, then you KNOW they got the message.

-Renegade (October 16, 2010, 10:36 AM)

You're more likely to go to voicemail and still not know whether they got the message

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Living Room / Re: Texting on the rise

« Last post by 4wd on October 16, 2010, 07:34 AM »

Wow

My current mobile plan offers me 3000 SMS per month...i usually breach this limit

-Stephen66515 (October 15, 2010, 11:46 PM)

3000?  per month?

Bl**dy 'ell!

If I had 3000 free SMS messages it would take me approximately 250 years to use them all - I'm not kidding, more than 1/month is a veritable indulgence.

My mobile is for mainly two things:
1) to receive calls;
2) it's got an alarm clock.

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General Software Discussion / Re: "Search Everything" with saved searches would be cool.

« Last post by 4wd on October 14, 2010, 05:21 PM »

We all know and love the Search Everything program.  It's awesome because it's super-fast, not bloated, and does the job well.  The one thing I'm missing from it is the ability to do some kind of saved searches.  For example, I'd like a one-click access to my main categories of files: music, videos, documents, etc.  It would be very beneficial to be able to save searches that are used a lot.

-superboyac (October 14, 2010, 12:40 PM)

Note, this is with Everything 1.2.1.451a.

Everything does have Saved Searches:
1) Type in your search terms and then hit Control+Shift+F.
2) Give it a name and then access it through: Search->Filters->.......

Addendum: Also, you can create a filter that is only a path, eg. ProgramData\, when you select that filter anything you type in the search box will restrict the search to that path.
That also works in reverse, eg. select the Picture filter, (default: Control+7), and then type in a path, eg. winsxs\.

For Everything, i often have to go into the preferences to turn drives on/off when I don't want them to be scanned.  Even though it's fast, it does take a while to index several drives with several terabytes of data.

Everything is always running here, so my database is always up to date - are you saying that you only run the program on demand so that it has to completely rescan all drives for changes?

EDIT: yksyks beat me to it

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Living Room / Re: if proxy connection works - who is blocking me: my ISP or the server?

« Last post by 4wd on October 13, 2010, 07:19 PM »

I think it's time to get out the incense and candles and I'll start praying to the god of the internet. One day, I know that this connection will work again - I just have to remain faithful and believe the Internet God will show mercy. Join withe me and let's pray together...

-nudone (October 13, 2010, 10:27 AM)

I think it would be more appropriate to intone: "OMMM.........", and then hit yourself in the head with a plank of wood.

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General Software Discussion / Re: need to scan a map and then color it

« Last post by 4wd on October 13, 2010, 03:04 AM »

I've downloaded some SVG maps from wikipedia - cant remember what I searched for but I suspect they'd be there for the individual States.

-tomos (October 13, 2010, 02:12 AM)

Blank Maps^w ?

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General Software Discussion / Re: need to scan a map and then color it

« Last post by 4wd on October 12, 2010, 11:07 PM »

If you want just an outline map showing the county lines you might like to check out the Libre Map Project, (USA State map link), it might save you the trouble of scanning.

I haven't fully explored the site but it may have more detailed maps showing things like cities, rivers, etc.

Or, using a scan of a state map, you should be able to overlay the state/county maps from Libre Maps to give you your lines.



You'll need an SVG viewer, Adobe has one that incorporates into IE, download it here.

You'll probably need to beef up the contrast on them.  The above is a county map, (Alabama IIRC), but there's also sub-county which might have more detail.

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Living Room / Re: if proxy connection works - who is blocking me: my ISP or the server?

« Last post by 4wd on October 12, 2010, 09:53 PM »

I just set up an account with 'Pingdom' and I believe they load my homepage every minute from a random server. Here are the first few results:

-timns (October 12, 2010, 12:30 PM)

You seriously need another host, my ping times are lower than the ones from the hosts country, and I'm on the other side of the planet:

C:\>ping 98.131.45.219

Pinging 98.131.45.219 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 98.131.45.219: bytes=32 time=288ms TTL=43
Reply from 98.131.45.219: bytes=32 time=330ms TTL=43
Reply from 98.131.45.219: bytes=32 time=492ms TTL=43
Reply from 98.131.45.219: bytes=32 time=541ms TTL=43

Ping statistics for 98.131.45.219:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 288ms, Maximum = 541ms, Average = 412ms

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Living Room / Re: Firefox Stability Issues

« Last post by 4wd on October 12, 2010, 01:56 AM »

Well, so far Minefield 4.0b8pre x86 seems to be running stable on my W7HP x64 machine - no CTDs, no Not Responding.

Long may it continue.

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Living Room / Re: Firefox Stability Issues

« Last post by 4wd on October 11, 2010, 10:54 PM »

I have heard something about Mozilla using an SQL database that fills up over time and causes issues like this. Don’t know if that is real or bs though.

-J-Mac (October 11, 2010, 10:20 PM)

CCleaner can optionally compact the SQL databases of Firefox if you let it.  Don't know if that will help you.
 (see attachment in previous post)

-4wd (October 11, 2010, 10:41 PM)

That can't be the problem as this machine is pretty new. Like 2 months old or so.

Thanks for the recommendation though. I'll keep it in my renegade mind.

-Renegade (October 11, 2010, 10:50 PM)

There's also:  VACUUM Places
Which is based on: Speedup Firefox with VACUUM

Might only work on 3.x though.

EDIT: Improved version here.

4663

Living Room / Re: Firefox Stability Issues

« Last post by 4wd on October 11, 2010, 10:41 PM »

I have heard something about Mozilla using an SQL database that fills up over time and causes issues like this. Don’t know if that is real or bs though.

-J-Mac (October 11, 2010, 10:20 PM)

CCleaner can optionally compact the SQL databases of Firefox if you let it.  Don't know if that will help you.

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Living Room / Re: Firefox Stability Issues

« Last post by 4wd on October 11, 2010, 08:44 PM »

Is this in windows 7 only or XP as well?

I ask cause I have had the 'not responding' problem with windows 7 but not XP.
Same extensions, same FF setup, same computer.

-cmpm (October 11, 2010, 10:20 AM)

W7HP x64 - I haven't run XP on this machine for 10 months or so.
I was using the x64 builds of Minefield and Flash but uninstalled x64 Flash to see if it made a difference, which it didn't.

Minefield 4.0b8pre x64 just CTDs, no reason, no crash data, even in Safe Mode - I'm beginning to suspect that it's interaction with another program or W7 update.  After all, if it was happening to a lot of people then I'm sure they'd be up to b9pre really fast.

I have yet to try Minefield 4.0b8pre x86 on either W7x64 or my other XPx86 based machine - I'll give it a go when I get home.

One thing I have noticed though since going back to Minefield 3.7a5pre is that it is dog-slow in comparison, a lot of times going into Not Responding for up to a minute.  It never used to do this which is what makes me think a software problem somewhere.  But then again, when I installed W7x64 I pretty much went straight to x64 builds of Firefox/Minefield so I'm not actually sure I ever ran Minefield 3.7a5pre x86 on this W7x64 machine.

EDIT: Just installed it on my XP-Pro x86 Aspire One and it works fine.

4665

Living Room / Re: if proxy connection works - who is blocking me: my ISP or the server?

« Last post by 4wd on October 11, 2010, 08:26 PM »

I want to let you know that our system administrators reviewed your traceroute logs and explained that they are absolutely normal, there is nothing strange. They explained that for other networks (ourside of our office) it is normal to have time outs after our MLSes, right after this line:
OH-MLS1-609.Te-9-2.opentransfer.com (98.130.213.18) [AS32392 {Ecommerce}]
That's why please re-check this issue from your side once again, make sure that there are no problems in your network, contact your ISP to investigate it from their side as well.

-timns (October 11, 2010, 11:00 AM)

It always makes me glad that they refer to themselves as 'administrators', (which has connotations more towards management), if they were technicians I'd be ashamed - plus they wouldn't last 10 minutes in a real job.

Honestly, does that really explain why it works from Australia?

EDIT: Then again, every dog and his man seems to think they're a technician these days: eg. Hair Technician.

Sorry if you refer to yourself as a System Administrator.  

4666

General Software Discussion / Re: Help needed to alter partitions

« Last post by 4wd on October 11, 2010, 09:57 AM »

I frequently use 3rd party software (like Paragon HDM) to recover said space because its wasted existence annoys me.

-Stoic Joker (October 11, 2010, 06:41 AM)

Drives me nuts as well 

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General Software Discussion / Re: Help needed to alter partitions

« Last post by 4wd on October 11, 2010, 06:11 AM »

For 40 MB of disk space I wouldn't touch it. It could be your bios setup program or some other booting program in a hidden partition.  If it was 40 GB that's another matter.

-MilesAhead (October 11, 2010, 12:28 AM)

Dammit!  If I paid for that 40MB I'm going to make sure I use it  

Although, as Carol says, normally it would only be around 8MB.

I would have thought that if it was any kind of BIOS setup/Boot program then it would show up as either a known, unknown or hidden not Unallocated as it does.

Personally, I'd wipe out the Recovery partition and grab that space as well - but hey, I'm greedy

@kyrathaba: I would however, recommend you divide your HDD into a System and Data partition and store all your data, (My Docs, etc), on the Data partition.

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Living Room / Re: Firefox Stability Issues

« Last post by 4wd on October 10, 2010, 11:43 PM »

Back again - I don't know what they've done in Minefield 4.0b8pre x64 but no matter what I do it just CTDs, even after wiping every trace of it and reinstalling.  Crashes a few seconds after running it.

So I've gone back to Minefield 3.7a5pre which has always been stable, (well, at least on my previous XPx86 OS).

4669

General Software Discussion / Re: Help needed to alter partitions

« Last post by 4wd on October 10, 2010, 10:04 PM »

First things first: perform a full HDD backup using imaging software.  Here's a list of some free ones if you haven't any: Free Hard Disk Backup/Restore & Imaging/Cloning Utilities

Step-by-step instructions for Easeus are here.  What you're doing is Case 2 followed by Case 3 for the Recovery partition, then just Case 2 for the C: partition.

Recovery partition:
1) Resize, (increase), the Recovery partition by dragging its left side as far left as it will go, (take note of how much free space it says to the left before resizing),
2) Resize, (decrease), the Recovery partition by dragging its right side 40MB to the left, (or actually the amount you noted in the previous step).

This will 'move' the unallocated 40MB between the Recovery and C: partition, so now:
3) Resize, (increase), the C: partition by dragging its left side as far left as it will go.

This will incorporate the unallocated space into C:, at this point click Apply to accept and perform the changes.

Just a note: In their examples they are extending or reducing the partitions in the opposite directions you want.

Then Reboot to test if it works.

4670

General Software Discussion / Re: Quickest way to copy files from a surface-damaged HDD

« Last post by 4wd on October 09, 2010, 10:09 PM »

Sadly, since it was my system drive with my pagefile on it, it had a habit of freezing up my entire PC while trying to fix broken sectors, but I think that is technically unavoidable.

-worstje (October 09, 2010, 09:07 PM)

You turn your pagefile off if you have enough RAM that it won't cause too much of an impact -or- you use a PE, (or seperate OS), to recover your files.

I'd especially recommend at least a PE for recovering files on the system partition - you can then be reasonably sure nothing is being written to the drive you're trying to recover off, (Windows does an awful lot of housekeeping writes to your system drive).

PE = Pre-installed Environment: see BartPE or Winbuilder for probably the two most well known projects.

4671

Living Room / Re: Email Security

« Last post by 4wd on October 09, 2010, 06:54 PM »

There's a problem though... Remembering all the passwords and accounts. You can rely on your browser, but you're linked to 1 computer.

-Renegade (October 09, 2010, 06:49 PM)

I do rely on my browser, more specifically Firefox because it's the only browser, (well I haven't tried Opera lately), that allows you to encrypt your logins with a master passphrase.

Then it's just a matter of using either: Firefox Sync, PortableFirefox or carrying the relevant signon files on a flash drive.

EDIT: Digressing a little more away from the original topic, for those sites that ask standardised security questions - answer truthfully....with a twist

%96 4@CC64E 2?DH6C 2AA=:65 H:E9 #~%`b @C #~%cf \ G6CJ D:>A=6 3FE 2=D@ G6CJ 67764E:G6 7@C E9:D <:?5 @7 E9:?8] ¹

Firefox addon - Quick ROT Ciphers

1. The correct answer applied with ROT13 or ROT47 - very simple but also very effective for this kind of thing.

4672

Living Room / Re: Email Security

« Last post by 4wd on October 09, 2010, 06:39 PM »

Yeah, and extremely silly - especially if they require you to fill this info. I always choose "mother's maiden name" and fill in "byggemand bob" - which is obviously not her maiden name.

-f0dder (October 09, 2010, 04:55 PM)

I always choose "Name of your first pet?" and put "never had one"

Also, I use multiple email address - for "I don't give a sh!t about about" forums (for lurking for info), I use the one GMail account accessed by IMAP, (because I'm not particularly insterested in anything other than headers).  Too much spam and I just drop it and create another.

Another for purely financial transactions, (ebay/paypal/etc), and a few more besides, (7 at last count), which are used depending on what interest I have in the site.

I used to use SpamMotel which let you create perpetual email addresses that forwarded to your real email account.  No limit on addresses, do one per forum and when you started getting spam from a particular email you knew which forum had been compromised.

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Living Room / Re: if proxy connection works - who is blocking me: my ISP or the server?

« Last post by 4wd on October 08, 2010, 07:13 AM »

From Renegades list, it looks like Ecommerce have a server problem.

As a temporary work around, you could try Hotspot Shield, (free VPN), that will save the trouble of continually working through an online proxy site.

PS: Here's the comic strip in case you were interested

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Living Room / Re: if proxy connection works - who is blocking me: my ISP or the server?

« Last post by 4wd on October 08, 2010, 06:59 AM »

i'm thinking there is something higher up that he isn't aware of - i've been blocked because someone has decided my FTP access was illegal or something.

-nudone (October 08, 2010, 06:53 AM)

The fact that sites on the same server are unavailable to you seems highly suggestive of you being blocked or filtered by whoever hosts the server at the 2nd last hop:

21   232 ms   233 ms   232 ms  OH-MLS1-609.Te-9-2.opentransfer.com [98.130.213.18]

Do other sites at the same host stop at the same point?

Oh yeah, since you have access to someone who has access to the server, can he check the server logs and see if your attempted connects appear?

4675

Living Room / Re: if proxy connection works - who is blocking me: my ISP or the server?

« Last post by 4wd on October 08, 2010, 06:48 AM »

I find that ISP DNS services are VERY often poor.

-Renegade (October 08, 2010, 06:41 AM)

That's why I gave in and run my own DNS server now.  Haven't had a DNS problem since running it - apart from forgetting that the machine it's hosted on was turned off once or twice.

@nudone
From the tracert you posted, it almost seems like your IP is blocked at the remote end.  Since you're getting resolved IP addresses right up until the last hop that kind of implies the DNS servers are working.

Where's f0dder when you want him