Recent Posts

5101

Living Room / Re: Tipping - Why does this appear to be a "requirement"?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 13, 2010, 11:35 AM »

I definitely think removing tipping as an incentive with all of the crap they have to put up with would make for worse service.  It does need to be there as an incentive to do better (and a reward for those that do)- humans don't perform their best without such incentives in customer service- it's a proven fact.  However, when you can give perfect service and get zero for tip, that does indicate the something is broken...

-wraith808 (September 13, 2010, 11:24 AM)

Quite true, and if it happened frequently enough over an extended period of time - One might just be inclined to muster up enough audacity to grumble about it aloud...

5102

N.A.N.Y. 2010 / Re: NANY 2010 Final Release: Leap of Faith

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 13, 2010, 06:40 AM »

Cool, thanks, I'll have to grab the new one.

5103

Living Room / Re: Do virus scanners need to get stupid again?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 11, 2010, 10:54 AM »

Not to mention the insanely irresponsible shoot first and ask questions later policy many of the fringe/malware "Security" sites seem to have. Just Google anything.dll or.exe and many of them will surface.

There was a time these sites were (screened properly) helpful, but now... Hell last week I found several site that featured horrific warnings about the "deadly" Tclock virus...  ...Yeah that one. Unfortunately, being that it was Kazubon's build, I can't really do much...So I'll let it go for now.

These idiots actually had three (yeah that's right 3/three/III) pages of instructions on how to remove a program that consists of 2 binaries & a single registry key. WTF?

...Who do Ya trust? These days nobody - I'm even half tempted to think my own eyes might lie to me... 

5104

Developer's Corner / Re: vs2008 express vc++ has anyone gotten RegisterHotKey to use mouse?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 11, 2010, 10:34 AM »

Not sure exactly what you're after - Do you want/need to have a global system lever hot key registered? Or do you just want an application to look for/respond to A + B?

If it's application level you can use the below (snipped from an office project) in the message loop to get/capture/respond to keyboard or mouse events - combining them should be fairly straight forward.

Code: C++ [Select]

1. //-------------------------------------+++--> END of Case WM_SYSCOMMAND
2. //==================================================================================
3.         case WM_NOTIFY: {
4.                 LPNMLISTVIEW pnm = (LPNMLISTVIEW)lParam;
5.                 //------------------------------------------------------------------------------+++-->
6.                 if(((LPNMHDR)lParam)->code == LVN_KEYDOWN) { //======== Capture Key Strokes Here.  <<<
7.                         hListView = GetWindow(hWnd, GW_CHILD); //-> ListView Child Control Handle
8.                         LPNMLVKEYDOWN nmkey = (LPNMLVKEYDOWN)lParam;
9.                         switch(nmkey->wVKey) {
10.                           case VK_RETURN:
11.                                 if((int)SendMessage(hListView, LVM_GETNEXTITEM, -1, LVNI_SELECTED) != -1) {
12.                                         GetPartsOrderDetails(hListView, FALSE);  // Open Selected Order(s)
13.                                  }else{ //----------------------------------//--+++-->
14.                                         GetPartsOrderDetails(hListView, TRUE); // Give User Error Message
15.                                 } break;
16.                         }
17.                 }
18.                 //------------------------------------------------------------------------------+++-->
19.                 if(((LPNMHDR)lParam)->code == NM_DBLCLK) { //========= Capture Mouse Clicks Here.  <<<
20.                                 HWND hListView = GetWindow(hWnd, GW_CHILD); //-> ListView Child Control Handle
21.  
22.                         if((int)SendMessage(hListView, LVM_GETNEXTITEM, -1, LVNI_SELECTED) != -1) {
23.                                 GetPartsOrderDetails(hListView, FALSE);  // Open Selected Order(s)
24.                          }else{ //----------------------------------//--+++-->
25.                                 GetPartsOrderDetails(hListView, TRUE); // Give User Error Message
26.                         }
27.                  }
28.         } //------------------------------------------------+++--> END of Case WM_NOTIFY
29. //==================================================================================

Sorry I couldn't find a combo'ed example - I know I've done it somewhere - So it can't be too hard.

5105

Living Room / Re: Does Flash or java make websites suck?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 09, 2010, 07:50 PM »

(Perhaps it's best not, but) Part of me want's to say yes Sooooo badly...

 

5106

Living Room / Re: Does Flash or java make websites suck?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 09, 2010, 07:40 PM »

Um... Can I forward the above rant to the brass where I work so they stop bugging me about adding (read centering the page around) some silly-assed flash widget to the company website?

5107

General Software Discussion / Re: GlassPrompt 1.1

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 09, 2010, 06:28 PM »

A transparent Command Prompt - I have no idea what to do with it - But it's just to cool to not find a use for.

Now here's a question: can it launch a transparent administrator command prompt? Seems like I fought with something like that awhile back - I'll send you the code I ended up with if you like.

5108

General Software Discussion / Re: What HTML5 can do -- cool site

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 09, 2010, 07:07 AM »

little wheel just keeps spinning round and round...

-Gwen7 (September 08, 2010, 05:35 PM)

I had the same problem with Firefox, which it allegedly supports.

It actually just kind of depressed me thinking about how much has changed since then.

-Deozaan (September 08, 2010, 10:51 PM)

Me too, so I'm kinda glad it didn't load.

5109

General Software Discussion / Re: Yet another application tapping into the "cloud" market.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 09, 2010, 06:49 AM »

Is there a way to see the programming language without having to ask the authors themselves?  Is there some way to just analyze the files to see what they are written in?  It sounds like Delphi and C++ are usually pretty zippy.

-superboyac (September 08, 2010, 02:38 PM)

There are a medley of purpose built tools for this, but just as a Quick-N-Dirty do anywhere:

Most anything written with Borland/Delphi/whatever-there-name-is-now can be spotted by just looking at the interface. The default (dev suite) icons, dialogs, toolbars, etc. are frequently used and can be easily spotted.

Look in program's directory, the .dll's (and their icons) can be a dead give away as to which compiler/language it was written in.

The size of the binary can also be a tell tail sign.

Open the binary with notepad and look at how the code flows. You will quickly spot patterns that can clue you into it origin.

5110

General Software Discussion / Re: Yet another application tapping into the "cloud" market.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 09, 2010, 06:37 AM »

I even ask them sometimes if they are annoyed, and they say whatever.

-superboyac (September 08, 2010, 07:48 PM)

...and that is why the term Sheeple was coined.

Keep the faith man, you are not alone.

5111

General Software Discussion / Re: Yet another application tapping into the "cloud" market.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 08, 2010, 06:28 AM »

To be honest, I'm on the edge of caving myself. The IMS I did for our production department is lightning fast and less than 300Kb ... However, it took me a bloody year to write the damn thing.

5112

General Software Discussion / Re: Yet another application tapping into the "cloud" market.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 07, 2010, 10:10 AM »

Why is this?  What is going on?  If those other programs are slower, why do people keep using it?  I've asked this question before, and the response I've gotten is something like, "Well, it depends on the programmer.  Java and .net can be just as fast as C++ if it's done right."  Now I'm willing to believe that, but why do I usually see otherwise?

-superboyac (September 07, 2010, 08:54 AM)

Speed of development and $$$ - Sure Pure Win32 (which I work in) is fast at runtime, but the development time is much longer. With .NET (MFC and the other RAD/OOP tricks) very little time is spent coding the UI because everything is basically drop-in. With C++, you gotta manually code every single line of the UI code yourself. If the objective it to rush something to market ($$$) Pure Win32/API C++ is a no-no.

I'm not really sure on the Java front. Only reason (that I know of) to use it for an app is to make something cross platform quickly. I'd guess being that Java runs virtualized it's doomed to lag a bit behind native code for execution speed.

5113

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 - Backup Verification Utility

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 03, 2010, 06:43 AM »

Hm... Backup verification with Emailed report... Portable is nice, but if it could be run as a service (install/uninstall from commandline) that would be handy.

5114

Living Room / Re: tc1100 tablet pc dies before i've even set it up

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 03, 2010, 06:31 AM »

I've always been a pencil & paper fan; then I flush out and digitise my notes when I get back to the office. The LE1700 looks cool, but 3.3lbs?

*Shrug* ...Might not be too bad come to think of it. I've got the sales manager's HP Mini netbook sitting on my desk now, and it's ok at 2.4-2.6-ish. The tablet style will have better balance so it could actually be better.

5115

General Software Discussion / Re: Stupid question time, "Any way to *prevent* crapware loading on new box?"

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 03, 2010, 05:38 AM »

a Dell business machine that it doesn't come loaded with crapware?

-tomos (September 03, 2010, 04:09 AM)

Yes, but it depends on your definition of "CrapWare"...

The business machines allow you to configure a machine without any AV software (McAfee & Norton being the biggest crapware offenders). The Dell support software crap is still there but it's not that hard to disable/remove - Other than that it's just Windows.

I'm replacing a network today, and have a batch of Precision T1500s to unbox. I'll make a note of what (if anything) is on them as they're supposed to have been delivered "clean".

5116

Living Room / Re: tc1100 tablet pc dies before i've even set it up

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 02, 2010, 01:46 PM »

<Yoda> Cheaply forth you must go with spares!

-Stoic Joker (September 02, 2010, 07:15 AM)

I would have thought:

Cheaply forth you go, spares you have!

-4wd (September 02, 2010, 07:57 AM)

But that lacks the sense of urgency that the word must adds, and everything Yoda said was incredibly important... (hehe)

5117

Living Room / Re: tc1100 tablet pc dies before i've even set it up

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 02, 2010, 07:15 AM »

Go forth cheaply, and with spare parts...

<Yoda> Cheaply forth you must go with spares!

5118

Living Room / Re: Why do we always wait for apple's stuff before making a i[blank]-killer??

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 01, 2010, 03:22 PM »

What's ridiculous is that so often Apple bides it's time and THEN releases a ______-killer piece of heardware that then A. becomes the market leader and the gold standard in that segment and B. (and FAR more annoyingly) almost immediately becomes generally "recognized" as the "first" such product in the segment! There WERE mp3 players before the iPod, there WERE tablets LONG before the iPad, there WERE smartphones (possibly even touchscreen smartphones?) before the iPhone, and there WERE computers before the Mac, etc.

-Darwin (September 01, 2010, 02:07 PM)

...and the one that really takes the cake is the 30+ year old 1/8" stereo jack that suddenly got renamed to an iPhone plug.

5119

Living Room / Re: tc1100 tablet pc dies before i've even set it up

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 01, 2010, 12:01 PM »

I've found that shotguns work wonderfully for that type of "repair".

 

5120

General Software Discussion / Re: Yet another application tapping into the "cloud" market.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 01, 2010, 10:18 AM »

I hate to be one of those "good ol days" curmudgeons, but seriously, I think people are comically afraid of peacefulness...what you're calling boredom I'm calling peaceful times.  People just have a hard time not doing anything and just thinking or relaxing.

-superboyac (September 01, 2010, 09:25 AM)

Actually I used the term boredom to be sarcastic, so we are indeed on the same page there. And at 45 I've already resigned myself to becoming a curmudgeon as the inevitability has become rather clear. I'm Okay with it.

5121

General Software Discussion / Re: Yet another application tapping into the "cloud" market.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 01, 2010, 09:10 AM »

Okay hating technology was a bit broad, maybe it more just the (down the marketing toilet) direction it's going these days. I like computers, and still enjoy working on/with them, but... The whole cell phone/PDA/Epal dependency just irks the hell outa me. Why is it that all of a sudden nobody is allowed to be considered Kewl unless they've got enough electronic gizmos strapped on that they could pass for  :)ing Batman? I-just-don't-get-it...and I'm not sure I want to.

Why the hell do we suddenly seem to need to be entertained/directed/informed/connected every second of every waking minute? Are we that afraid of being lonely? Boredom wasn't really fatal...last time I checked.

5122

General Software Discussion / Re: Yet another application tapping into the "cloud" market.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 01, 2010, 08:00 AM »

While I have to admit I've been enjoying this roll you've been on, I've just got to ask... Are you having an I was born in the wrong century/hate technology moment?

5123

Living Room / Re: List the crappiest websites you know here. (warning: potentially NSFW)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on September 01, 2010, 07:54 AM »

ps: did you know their domain name used to be ExpertSexChange.com? (emphasis mine)

-Gothi[c] (September 01, 2010, 07:25 AM)

...Because nobody wants to have their winky modified by an amature.

5124

Living Room / Re: Google PowerMeter: One step closer to the Google Toilet

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 31, 2010, 04:00 PM »

They had one of those Conserve Energy/Green Earth campaigns in our town a few years back. Conned everybody into buying a bunch of (big ticket) appliances etc. so they could "Save Money" (total crock of shit that was).

Power companies profits started to dip due to so many folks conserving energy ... so they raised the rates to compensate - now the bills are almost twice as high as they were before we started to (conserve...) "Save Money" (Yeah, for them).

5125

General Software Discussion / Re: 27 Good Reasons to Love Linux

« Last post by Stoic Joker on August 31, 2010, 03:00 PM »

Yes, doing something for one's self is the best way to learn, but when it's been done thousands of times over, why spend the time googling when someone very well might already have that answer?

-Josh (August 31, 2010, 01:40 PM)

But when that someone has had to answer that same question thousands of times over, just because everyone wants their hands held, of course they get frustrated.

-Eóin (August 31, 2010, 02:08 PM)

That transcends all OS's - I have to grit my teeth every time I go to troubleshoot a network only to find that once again some clown has borked DNS on a Windows domain. It's incredibly simple to setup properly - but gets screwed-up constantly by folks what don't RTFM. *Shrug* Never-the-less, I will persist in answering the question for the 9,000 time - or 10,000 (as needed) ... if only in an attempt to minimize the times I must walk into the aftermath.

Any well defined question deserves a clear answer.