Recent Posts

5301

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Outpost 2009 – A lifetime license for 3 PCs for the price of a 1-year!

« Last post by 4wd on December 30, 2008, 05:49 PM »

Personally I won't be tempted (though it looks like a good deal if you want Outpost).

-Carol Haynes (December 29, 2008, 10:39 AM)

Unfortunately, I was tempted...........unfortunate in the regard that I now have slightly less money to spend 

However, I'm finding Outpost Security Suite to be rather good, the firewall rule creation is what swayed me to part with my not-so-hard-earned - it is very similar to PCTools Firewall, which I like.

It's unobtrusive, just popping up when a new program or suspect malware is detected.

And on the Settings->General page it says:

License Type:  Lifetime
Expires in:       Never

Overall, I'm happy, see-> 

I found a much simpler solution that I am happy with - buy a router with a hardware firewall and then just use Windows Firewall on each computer. Why slow down every machine you use by adding overly complex and bug ridden security software.

-Carol Haynes (December 29, 2008, 10:39 AM)

I also run a router with a SPI firewall but I also want to know what's trying to get out of my PC.

5302

Living Room / Re: Bad smells ... UPS recommendations ?

« Last post by 4wd on December 30, 2008, 02:54 PM »

It seems to have settled down now and I contacted APC customer support who said I should let it charge for 8 hours and if there is a problem get back to them.

-Carol Haynes (December 30, 2008, 01:01 PM)

That should be the normal thing to do for any UPS, charge before use - I'm surprised that the User Manual doesn't mention it.

5303

Living Room / Re: WinXP incredibly slow (and sometimes failing) login

« Last post by 4wd on December 29, 2008, 05:42 PM »

In any XP installation I do, I always do the following to speed up network browsing:

Network-Disable administrative shares, ($C, etc, etc):
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters]
"AutoShareWks"=dword:00000000
"AutoShareServer"=dword:00000000

Network-Disable restoring mapped network drives on logon:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider]
"RestoreConnection"=dword:00000000

Network-Disable automatic search for network folders and printers:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"NoNetCrawling"=dword:00000001

Network-Disable Look for Remote Tasks, (XP looks for Scheduled Tasks on any network PC you connect to - WHY?????):
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace\{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}]

I also do a few other network tweaks either applied via nlite or a file of reg tweaks.

Obviously, don't apply them unless you know what you're doing, (not directed at anyone just the usual boring disclaimer), and don't apply one if you don't want to disable that functionality.

EDIT: For some reason I had an extra line on the last reg tweak - silly me 

5304

General Software Discussion / Re: HowTo make Thunderbird re-send 100s of emails from different senders?

« Last post by 4wd on December 29, 2008, 05:08 PM »

Congrats on #300   

Thanx, congrats on 2500 

-you were right (both of you), this is the way to do it. 

All license keys have now been copied to gmail. Fast & easy. THANKS!! 

-Curt (December 29, 2008, 09:21 AM)

Good stuff - K.I.S.S. wins again 

5305

General Software Discussion / Re: HowTo make Thunderbird re-send 100s of emails from different senders?

« Last post by 4wd on December 28, 2008, 06:21 PM »

Regarding the original question of getting a ton of emails onto a GMail account from Thunderbird.

Couldn't you just enable IMAP on the GMail account, set up an IMAP account in Thunderbird for it and then just drag'n'drop the folders between accounts in Thunderbird ?

Just tried it here with a few emails and it worked fine.


Woohoo!!  300 posts, I'll be catching up to Darwin in no time 

5306

General Software Discussion / Re: MBR Backup & Restore

« Last post by 4wd on December 28, 2008, 04:48 PM »

I think it is silly to think that google search is a some kind of skill that needs to be reminded by someone else.

-kartal (December 28, 2008, 12:35 PM)

Whereas I do, simply because searching on Google is a skill.  I could put in the same words as someone else and end up with different results simply because of the order in which I entered them.

So if someone gives a link to a Google search result, I'll look at it simply because they might have thought to put something in the search that I didn't or wouldn't have thought of.

On the otherhand I actually did use google search to find a partition tool to use on my mac-windows boot. The tool ended up totally messing up partition mbr tables which ended costing me over couple hundred dollars because original Bootcamp expired and was  no longer usable so I needed to upgrade to Leopard. And this tool was from a reputable company like Paragon, called camptune. I did not do anything really, just put the cd into drive, boot and watch. Boommm, my hd was doomed. So again google search is not the best deal at all times.

Honestly, I you're going to screw around with the MBR or your partitions in general, backup the whole disk.

-4wd (December 27, 2008, 04:13 AM)

             ^ should be 'if' of course but you get the idea 

Personally, I don't consider Paragon's partition tool as very good - it had, (more than a few years ago when I was using it), a nasty habit of creating non-standard tables.

And I'm not saying a Google search is the best deal at all times - however, it is the best deal if you want to know what's available and user's opinions simply because of the breadth of information you now have available.
Just as before HTTP was invented, newsgroups were the best place to ask/search (for) technical questions about software/hardware.

FWIW, I learnt back in the mid-90's that you should always image the drive before screwing with the partitions or RDB, (Rigid Disk Block - Amiga), while beta testing the then new OS3.5 - I lost an entire partition and all the data on it, (email db, etc, etc).

Didn't cost me anything except some annoyance and but you only really learn a lesson when what you trying to do fails AND you don't have adequate safeguards.

Nowadays, before I modify the MBR, partitions or re-install the OS I always image the entire disk because if I don't good old Murphy^w will step in and take over.

BTW, no offense to all the members on DC but I'm far too cynical to take any recommendation on DC or elsewhere as a blanket qualification that some software is 'good' - I will just add it to a list of software I might be compiling for a purpose but I will still try and find out as much as I can about it before using it.  It always comes down to: What works for you might not work for me.

5307

Living Room / Re: Bad smells ... UPS recommendations ?

« Last post by 4wd on December 28, 2008, 04:24 AM »

The cheapest I have found is £10.

Simple solution is to buy one Euro C14 male plug and put it onto a 4 gang extension cable. So long as the whole strip doesn't exceed 10Amps it will be fine.

-Carol Haynes (December 27, 2008, 07:05 PM)

Or just round up all the old AT PSUs, since they usually came with a cord to power the monitor off of a switched IEC socket on the PSU.

It's where I get them from - or wait until hard-rubbish week and go scrounging

5308

General Software Discussion / Re: MBR Backup & Restore

« Last post by 4wd on December 28, 2008, 03:59 AM »

Thanks a lot 4wd !  I had a bit of trouble getting MBRTool, the main site seems to have problems, but they had it on download.com.  In my case the Lenovo MBR is proprietary, non standard, because it can activate Lenovo Recovery Partition.

-MerleOne (December 28, 2008, 03:29 AM)

Yes, my Acer laptop, (XP), was the same - you push F11 or similar at boot to access the recovery program/partition.

However, since the laptop also came with a recovery CD that does exactly the same thing as the MBR version, I decided I'd rather have the extra HDD space for something more useful and deleted the recovery partition and installed a standard MBR.

I also created a XP install CD from the pre-installed system so I could reinstall XP without using the recovery CD which would wipe the entire HDD contents - not very friendly.

I want to install DriveClonePro 6 from Farstone which comes with an excellent optional instant recovery system, like Returnil or Rollback RX, except that it seems nicer so far.  So I want to be able to restore the original one.

Just an idea: If it was my laptop and a Recovery DVD was supplied I'd do the same thing I did with my Acer.  (However, I'm not sure whether a Vista DVD can be created from a pre-installed system.)

5309

General Software Discussion / Re: MBR Backup & Restore

« Last post by 4wd on December 27, 2008, 06:01 PM »

For 4wd, I agree Google is often a good place to start with, but I was looking for a real experience from DC readers, not just some pagerank data.

-MerleOne (December 27, 2008, 10:13 AM)

One of the reasons things are usually on the top of the PageRank is because people are willing to link to them, ie. for example, it's the best of it's kind.

Have you used that one before?

Google - first link.

-4wd (December 27, 2008, 04:13 AM)

-kartal (December 27, 2008, 12:33 PM)

I don't use any MBR only backup/restore software because the partition/disk backup/restore software I use always backs up the MBR and I can choose to just restore it if necessary.
Plus I consider the data on the drive more important than the MBR - loss of the MBR I can get around, loss of the data I can't.

The times I have screwed the MBR without a backup available, (I'll never learn), I've always fixed it using XP in Rescue Console mode.

Honestly, if you're going to screw around with the MBR or your partitions in general, backup the whole disk.

eg. The PING disk imager I mention here backs up the BIOS settings, the first few sectors, drive/partition geometry (I think) and drive data to separate files within a directory.

Raymond recently reviewed 5 Free Tools to Backup and Restore Master Boot Record (MBR)

-PhilB66 (December 27, 2008, 04:30 AM)

For 4wd, I agree Google is often a good place to start with, but I was looking for a real experience from DC readers, not just some pagerank data.

-MerleOne (December 27, 2008, 10:13 AM)

Then you would of noted that the second link on Google is the one PhilB66 mentions. 

5310

General Software Discussion / Re: MBR Backup & Restore

« Last post by 4wd on December 27, 2008, 04:13 AM »

Google - first link.

5311

Living Room / Re: What does it mean when unplugging the computer makes it forget the bios date?

« Last post by 4wd on December 27, 2008, 04:09 AM »

after seeing how badly my system got messed up after latest failed flashing attempt -- and only being able to recover it by luck, i think it would be really smart for everyone to order a spare pre-flashed bios chip for their pc ahead of time, for use in emergencies.

-mouser (December 26, 2008, 08:07 PM)

Or buy a motherboard that has a dual BIOS, ie. Gigabyte.  You can only update one, the other remains at the factory supplied version for recovery after a bad flash or other accident.

5312

Living Room / Re: What does it mean when unplugging the computer makes it forget the bios date?

« Last post by 4wd on December 26, 2008, 06:08 PM »

all if this started when i flashed the bios a couple months ago and totally incapacitated the machine, which could only be recovered by doing a crazy hotflash of the bios back to old version.

so i'm very hesitant to muck around with things too much more.

-mouser (December 26, 2008, 05:21 PM)

Hotflashing - I bet that was fun

If it were me, (and based on the new info of having been hotflashed), test after each step stopping when/if it works:

1) First try the obvious as Carol has said, total reset of the BIOS settings.  I'd add going into it on first boot and reset to Safe Defaults to see if the clock fires up.
2) Reflash the BIOS from DOS - boot from a DOS 6/7 floppy or flash drive and do it the old fashioned way from the CLI.  Just a mention here, you really should always flash the BIOS from DOS - there's just too many things going on in Windows to consider flashing reliably.
3) Remove the BIOS chip and then carefully reseat it back in again - this will wipe the contacts/pins and might clean up any suspect connection between the two - maybe it's not fully seated from it's previous removal.
4) If you had the equipment, (not many people do), I'd also consider removing the BIOS chip and programming using an (E)PROM/Flash programmer.

What was the motherboard?

5313

Living Room / Re: How will the Earth end?

« Last post by 4wd on December 26, 2008, 04:36 AM »

Just when this thread was seeming to go back on track, I'm back here to help stray it a bit more ... 

Nice trip/cruise, 4wd! 

-city_zen (December 25, 2008, 11:20 PM)

Thanks, there's still inside cabins available, feel free to come along - maybe we can get mouser to donate mugs for the first Antarctic DC meeting 

I hope you and your wife enjoy it. And I'm glad that those officials at the Brazilian Consulate were bored enough to grant you your visa in record time  Hopefully you'll enjoy the visit to the Iguazú Falls more than you think. Yes, it's just "gravity at work"  , but let me warn you that it's gravity at work BIG TIME:

Don't get me wrong, I like waterfalls.  It's just that I'd rather spend the time/money doing/seeing something I'm not likely to ever do/see again, eg. visiting Tristan da Cunha the most remote inhabited island on the planet - yeah I know, boring by some standards but definitely different.

By the way, sorry about those U$S 100 entrance fee. I didn't know that was applicable to Australians. Apparently they're stating with it on January 2009 

Yeah, lucky me - not your or your governments fault though, they're just doing it in retaliation to my government doing it.  Still, I'm generally better off than Americans when it comes to visa fees

From your cruise's brochure it seems that you'll be spending a whole day (Feb 8th) in Buenos Aires. I hope you are able (and willing) to get off the ship and do some tourism here. If those end up being your plans, just let me know and I'll be happy to help you. I'm sending you a PM with my info.

Thanks city_zen!

Oh, and about that "End of the Earth" thing ...

Fascinating that a thread entitled "How will the Earth end?" becomes a travelogue (and how appropriate;))

-Carol Haynes (December 24, 2008, 03:31 AM)

It is particularly appropriate since Antarctica has been called "The end of the Earth" many times (but maybe that's what you meant and I'm simply "over-explaining" it ...  )

Interesting, usually Australia gets referred to as the A**e End Of The Planet  - so metaphorically I guess I'm moving up in the world

5314

Living Room / Re: How will the Earth end?

« Last post by 4wd on December 24, 2008, 05:19 AM »

Fascinating that a thread entitled "How will the Earth end?" becomes a travelogue (and how appropriate;))

-Carol Haynes (December 24, 2008, 03:31 AM)

OK, to bring it back on track:

I wonder if the travel insurance covers the whole of Antartica spontaneously melting and the resultant tidal waves wiping out all mankind below an altitude of 6000 meters?

Have a great time - sounds like great fun. Try and be brave about the waterfall!

Thanks Carol, maybe we'll come and annoy you in 2010 when we're back in the U.K 

5315

Living Room / Re: How will the Earth end?

« Last post by 4wd on December 23, 2008, 09:28 PM »

[Going way OT]
We're flying Buenos Aires to Lima on a extreme whistle-stop tour of Peru before catching an Antartic cruise ship at Santiago.
[/Going way OT]

-4wd (December 21, 2008, 04:10 AM)

[Staying way OT]
Hey! How long will you stay in BA? Drop by and say hi while you're here if you want 
[/Staying way OT]

-city_zen (December 23, 2008, 10:15 AM)

It was just going to be overnight, (and only 3km away from Ezeiza - fly in 1100, leave 0930 next day and for that privilege I get to pay for a US$100 visa on arrival - you may be able to pick up on the fact I'm not particularly thrilled with that idea), but unfortunately my passport came back with it's Brazilian Visa in an unheard of 6 working days, (they say a minimum of 10 working days......if you're lucky), and that was Melbourne->Canberra->Melbourne......they must have been bored.

So my wife has now decided she must go to see Iguazu, (personally I'm not bothered, it's just a waterfall....I've seen waterfalls before, no doubt I'll see them again), so it'll possibly end up being: fly in to EZE, transfer to AEP, fly to IGR, stay 2 nights and watch gravity at work, fly to AEP, stay o/n at EZE and then out the next day.

The cruise ship stops at BA on the way back up to Rio but I don't know whether we'll be getting off for the day, (I don't even know if the on-arrival-visa at EZE will allow me to do multiple entry to Argentina).

Attached is the cruise info, (for Santiago -> Rio but you can also do Santiago -> BA for US$400 less).

5316

General Software Discussion / Re: The OS that won't die!

« Last post by 4wd on December 22, 2008, 07:14 PM »

what does "slipstream" mean?

-superboyac (December 22, 2008, 06:46 PM)

It's just buzz word speak for integrating a service pack into a OS distribution media.  Means you don't have to install the OS and then install the service pack.

Slipstream SP3 into XP install CD
Slipstream SP1 into Vista DVD

5317

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a bootable Linux drive imager...

« Last post by 4wd on December 22, 2008, 12:53 AM »

In that case:

SelfImage: http://selfimage.excelcia.org/

-40hz (December 21, 2008, 04:06 PM)

Thanks for the suggestions 40hz but I also looked at SelfImage, the problem with that is it requires Windows.

So to get the use of one program I'd have to create a minimal BartPE which would still end up being well over 100MB in size, (the Aspire One has no ODD or even HDD, so the space would have to come from the 2GB flash) - rather a bit of overkill for something as simple, (relatively speaking), as a drive imaging program.

I was almost about to use either Damn Small Linux or PuppyLinux and end up with a fully functioning OS with applications as a side product but in the midst of all the chaff I found PING (Partimage Is Not Ghost).

Hopefully this will be exactly what I'm after.

Thanks once again for the suggestions, I probably should have been a bit more specific in my initial question or just asked for a freeware replacement for the DOS version of Ghost, (the version I have doesn't seem to support Linux filesystems).

EDIT: Typical!  As soon as I find a suitable program, (which works rather well), someone comes out with a program for the Aspire One - Acer Aspire One Backup.

5318

Living Room / Re: How will the Earth end?

« Last post by 4wd on December 21, 2008, 04:10 AM »

Where is your plane landing, if I may boldly ask?

-Shades (December 21, 2008, 01:21 AM)

[Going way OT]
We're flying Buenos Aires to Lima on a extreme whistle-stop tour of Peru before catching an Antartic cruise ship at Santiago.
[/Going way OT]

Damnit!   Just spent the better part of the afternoon reading all those old BLAZEMONGER posts.....
Now I'll have to see if I can get Amiga Forever running on the Aspire One.....the ultimate portable Amiga 

5319

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a bootable Linux drive imager...

« Last post by 4wd on December 21, 2008, 04:01 AM »

Try ClonezillaLive. It can be run from either a CD or flash drive.

-40hz (December 21, 2008, 12:38 AM)

I did think of that but according to the FAQ it doesn't do compression which kind of makes it a bit hard trying to squeeze two images on to a 2GB flash drive.

ie. The current XP install takes approx 939MB but compresses to under 500MB, the Linpus installation is even bigger and I want to get it into the remaining space on the flash drive.

This is why I referenced AIR, it can do GZIP and BZIP compression.

5320

Living Room / Re: What's the best way to sell old electronics?

« Last post by 4wd on December 20, 2008, 11:56 PM »

Honestly, I just want to get rid of this stuff.

-superboyac (December 20, 2008, 11:20 PM)

If that's the case, you could try FreeCycle, if you're not fussed about getting some money for it.

5321

General Software Discussion / Looking for a bootable Linux drive imager...

« Last post by 4wd on December 20, 2008, 10:53 PM »

Does anyone know of a bootable Linux image that does nothing but backup/restore drive images?

ie. A minimal Linux kernel that boots into AIR for example.

I succumbed to buying an Aspire One, (8GB SSD model but it was cheap!), and I'd like a easy way to swap between OS's using a 2GB flash drive.

It came with Linpus Lite, I've since installed a minimal XP Pro, but after setting them both up the way I want I'd like to be able to image both systems to a 2GB flash drive and then restore whichever as needs require.

When I've saved up enough money I'll probably stick a 1.8" HDD in it but until then.......

So, any ideas?

TIA

5322

Living Room / Re: How will the Earth end?

« Last post by 4wd on December 20, 2008, 06:45 PM »

@ allen:
Well, I think there is still an old student chemical box in the attic somewhere...so you won't mind me setting up a new corporation called: Parasol over here?

-Shades (December 20, 2008, 11:14 AM)

Ah, perhaps the best solution to please Carol and allen is: cannibals.
For Carol the dwindling numbers of human kind should sound excellent while allen gets his fantasy fulfilled (pun intended) 

2-4-5 Trioxin anyone?  Then you'll end up with zombies and cannibals fulfilling both Shades' and allen's wishes 

@ Carol Haynes:
Mostly I agree with you, but after my continent switch I have to admit to some of the points Deozaan makes as well.
Brazil, it is a beautiful country with ingenuous people. They adapted a car engine to run on petrol, diesel and alcohol.

That's IT!  They've just made themselves enemies of the Global Oil Conglomerate.....prepare to be sludged to death!  (Me? Cynical and conspiracy nut?...................NAH!)

You Shades, will personally come under the scrutiny of the BLAZEMONGER Inc "Customer Service" Department.............(takes you back, don't it ).

It's a good idea though, now if only, (according to news reports and documentaries), they didn't spend so much time trying to delete the Amazon rain forest and the many creatures and (used to be) many tribes that lived within.

On the border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay lies a place called Iguazu. The link leads to the Wikipedia page dedicated to this place but forgets to mention the fact that there is also a huge installation there to generate electricity that powers Paraguay and big parts of Brazil and Argentina.

Speaking of which, wave up to the sky as I fly over Paraguay on Jan 15, Shades.  Even better, sit on your roof and flash a torch skywards, then tell me on which side of the plane to sit 

5323

Living Room / Re: How will the Earth end?

« Last post by 4wd on December 19, 2008, 02:52 AM »

Heaven help us all when the oil runs out ... that is when WWI and WWII will look like local skirmishes!

-Carol Haynes (December 18, 2008, 03:36 AM)

I just wish they'd hurry up and get on with it.........then I can go back to sleep 



Wake me when the world is over...........................and not a second before!

5324

Living Room / Re: Please help me build my new computer, DC!

« Last post by 4wd on December 19, 2008, 02:46 AM »

2) HDD - Like many here I find I have to side with Seagate on this one.  I use the 7200.11 series and find them perfect for my needs.  My problem with WD is that they always made my systems sound like they belong on a runway.  In a datacenter that may not be bad, at home...

-steeladept (December 18, 2008, 05:54 PM)

Interesting, over the last two years or so I've found the exact opposite: Seagate are loud, suck power and run hot; Western Digital are quiet, use less power and run cooler.

Samsung is on par with WD but even quieter.

Most of my friends won't touch Seagate any more and any I have have been relegated to external cases where they're usually not turned on or given to family members who needed a quick capacity upgrade.

5325

Living Room / Re: How will the Earth end?

« Last post by 4wd on December 17, 2008, 06:14 AM »

The only way nature could balance out on this planet is to arbitrarily wipe out 90%of human beings  but even then there would be enough remaining idiots who didn't get the message and just proceed as if they were kids let loose in a candy store.

But of course you're not one of the "90%" are you, being smarter than the rest of us idiots?
Because you're too enlightened to be wiped out with the other virii.

-Cpilot (December 16, 2008, 11:46 PM)

Actually, I wouldn't care either way........at least any problems I had would be over

And did I at any point name any one, any race, any creed, any religion as being idiots ?

I don't count myself in either camp simply because I just don't care enough to consider it worthwhile.