Recent Posts

5451

General Software Discussion / Re: CCleaner Or Not?

« Last post by 4wd on September 23, 2008, 12:37 AM »

RevoUninstaller - It'll also try to remove any files or registry entries left by the program.

5452

Living Room / Re: What Sports Do You Participate In?

« Last post by 4wd on September 22, 2008, 07:40 PM »

None. It could kill me

-fenixproductions (September 22, 2008, 05:13 PM)

I'm with you!   

Who wants to die healthy?   

ie: things that get your heart rate up for sustained periods of time or spike your heart rate to it's max like in sprints.

-VideoInPicture (September 22, 2008, 06:23 PM)

Kind of like setting up a big quarry explosion and lighting the fuse.......only to realise you made it too short 

5453

Living Room / Re: News Article: Comcast Discloses Bandwidth Throttling Practices

« Last post by 4wd on September 22, 2008, 07:25 AM »

Welcome to Australia fellows, throttling is standard practice here - unless you're lucky enough to choose the right ISP

5454

General Software Discussion / Re: Please Help Me "Transition" to Internet Exploder...err Explorer

« Last post by 4wd on September 21, 2008, 07:38 PM »

THe "point" is that when companies allow employees to install programs on company-owned computers, the IT department spends more time cleaning/disinfecting machines than any other activity.

-J-Mac (September 19, 2008, 10:19 PM)

At which point they should admit that their preferred method of reactive maintenance is fundamentally flawed and they should start looking at something a bit more proactive, eg. DeepFreeze.

Of course, the only problem with that approach is that management might find they no longer need such a large IT department 

5455

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 -- ribbons for everyone!

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

I don't use Office so the only exposure to this Ribbon thing is that Raxco decided to install it on PerfectDisk2k8 and AFAICT it's just a waste of space.....

But if anyone running Office is interested, here is a free CustomUI Editor for it and some info on how to use it.

The EULA refers to the program ceasing to function after some date in 2006 but it installed and ran OK on my machine.  Plus the info page was last updated in 2008.

And free Office 2k7 classic menu addin.

5456

Living Room / Re: video players

« Last post by 4wd on September 21, 2008, 06:03 AM »

4wd: I wouldn't recommend MPC-HC.. I repeatedly found videos that wouldn't play in it, or would only have audio or stuff like that.

-jgpaiva (September 20, 2008, 01:00 PM)

I've used it for almost a year however I always have ffdshow installed for encoding anyway, so I set MPC-HC to use it for decoding.

Plus I rarely view anything other than MPEG2 or 4 - if it's some other format it gets deleted, (eg. Flash based crap), or if I really must keep it, (unlikely), then it gets transcoded to MPEG4 so it can play on my standalone.

I don't know what it is with the latest version, 1.1.604.0, but it just wouldn't last more than 20-30 mins on the internal codecs on my system.   1.1.0.0 however, runs fine on it's internal codecs.

5457

General Software Discussion / ASUS mobo dead

« Last post by 4wd on September 21, 2008, 04:22 AM »

An IDE channel will still run at the speed of the slowest device.

-Stoic Joker (September 20, 2008, 06:51 PM)

But since almost all late model writers are UDMA4 I don't see that as a problem.

And according to Wikipedia this is not correct for all modern host adapters, (not saying Wikipedia is correct but it does coincide with what I have previously found on other sites).

What you might run into though is the "one operation at a time" issue.

5458

General Software Discussion / Re: WipeOut... Useful tiny app.

« Last post by 4wd on September 20, 2008, 08:14 AM »

OK, two problems, doesn't seem to work on maximised windows either, (well, it's not doing anything here to Firefox other than putting a line where the window should've been moved to.

-4wd (September 20, 2008, 07:59 AM)

Weird. Works fine w/ maximized firefox here (winxpsp2 spanish)

-scancode (September 20, 2008, 08:04 AM)

XP SP3  and it's seems to be any maximised window it won't move, (DOpus, Firefox, Notepad2, etc).

mmm....must be running something that interferes with it.

Interesting, works if it's at the top but not right or bottom.

5459

General Software Discussion / Re: WipeOut... Useful tiny app.

« Last post by 4wd on September 20, 2008, 07:59 AM »

WipeOut is an application which moves obstructive windows to show you your desktop.

-scancode (September 20, 2008, 07:38 AM)

Good find!

Just one problem, it defaults to left side which is a bit annoying if that is where your taskbar is, (where mine is in other words).  Means you have to move the taskbar before you can configure WipeOut.

OK, two problems, doesn't seem to work on maximised windows either, (well, it's not doing anything here to Firefox other than putting a line where the window should've been moved to.

5460

Living Room / Re: video players

« Last post by 4wd on September 20, 2008, 06:47 AM »

I'll second that jgpaiva - if it doesn't play anywhere else, it'll play in MPC! 

-CleverCat (September 20, 2008, 02:29 AM)

Used to use MPC but I found something better: MPC-HC

However I find that the latest build, (1.1.604.0), seems to have problems when playing back or maybe I'm having it conflict with something.

MPC-HC also has integrated codecs in a single binary ~2.10MB when UPX'd.

PS. I'd love to know what deranged person thought the newlook SourceForge would be a good idea.

5461

General Software Discussion / ASUS mobo dead

« Last post by 4wd on September 20, 2008, 06:16 AM »

Just curious if anyone else has come across behaviour like this?

...

The only way to recover the system is to turn off the computer, remove power completely and leave it long enough for all capacitors in the system to discharge. When it starts up again everything is fine.

Any ideas?

-Carol Haynes (September 20, 2008, 04:42 AM)

The only times I've had ImgBurn go toes up on me is when trying to:
1) write to poor quality discs.
2) write to a disc at too fast a speed.
3) some kind of ASPI layer conflict from other software.

In all the above, never has it required removing power from the system to fix.  If ImgBurn didn't want to exit then killing it with TaskManager let me open the drive, (I think anyway, it's been a while since ImgBurn has failed, 2+ months and 100+ discs).

However, I have had previous faults that cause the same kind of problem, (and in almost all cases that I remember), it was caused by an interface cable coming loose, (not necessarily for the burner).

Since upgrading my system, reinstalling the OS and using only TY DVD-Rs I've not had any problems at all with ImgBurn, (and it's the only thing I use).

It used to be that any kind of optical writer was to be positioned as the master on any IDE controller.  I don't know if that still holds true or not but I do know that if my BenQ DW1540 is not the master then I have pretty much no hope of writing a good disc, {was on the same bus with a Sony AW-G170A (Optiarc 7170) as master}.  My old NEC 3520 and 2500 were pretty iffy as slaves also.

Nowadays I have a Pioneer 212 (SATA) and the Sony AW-G170A (IDE), the Sony is on the only IDE bus as master with a 400GB HDD as slave.

You could try changing your IDE cabling so that you have the one DVD-DL as master on each bus with the HDDs as slave.

Have you checked the System Event Log?  You might find more info, (errors/warnings), in there.

5462

General Software Discussion / Re: Please Help Me "Transition" to Internet Exploder...err Explorer

« Last post by 4wd on September 19, 2008, 07:00 PM »

It is a matter of policy. I am not allowed to run executable that aren't installed on the computer by the IT department.

-tinjaw (September 19, 2008, 08:39 AM)

Now I understand, nothing more than "Do what I say not what I do" kind of thing.

Have you thought of putting up a website with nothing but things that actually demonstrates the insecurities of a standard IE installation and then innocently suggesting to other work people that they visit it.

Possibly after a few dozen toolbars have been installed they may get the point 

But then again....we are talking about a government department.....they never get the point......

5463

General Software Discussion / Re: Please Help Me "Transition" to Internet Exploder...err Explorer

« Last post by 4wd on September 19, 2008, 07:58 AM »

Are you able to use CDs?

-4wd (September 18, 2008, 06:07 PM)

That would still try to (auto) run as an exe file, wouldn't it?

-Darwin (September 18, 2008, 09:16 PM)

If you mean AutoRun, the semi-useless, auto-rootkit installing, rather pointless feature of Windows, then:
a) who in their right mind would have it enabled.
b) hold down the shift key if you can't disable it.
c) shoot the admin guys - it should never be enabled on a work related networked system IMHO.  Makes it far too easy to install unwanted programs/virii/rootkit/etc.

AFAIK, Portable Firefox on CD doesn't autorun anything, there's no autorun.inf file.  About the only difference between it and the USB flashdrive version is the .ini which either points temporary files to the users temp area on the HDD or sets the cache, history and whatever else so that nothing is written.

Actually, only a few days ago I saw a build/install of Firefox set up so that it didn't write anything at all to the host system but I can't remember where it was.

5464

General Software Discussion / Re: Please Help Me "Transition" to Internet Exploder...err Explorer

« Last post by 4wd on September 18, 2008, 06:07 PM »

Sorry but portable software is not an option for me. I cannot run anything from a USB stick on the work computers.

Otherwise I wouldn't have posted this question and would be running Portable Firefox. 

-tinjaw (September 18, 2008, 03:35 PM)

Are you able to use CDs?

How about a portable version on a credit card sized CD(RW)?

5465

Living Room / Re: You might want to skip the whole Blu-Ray generation

« Last post by 4wd on September 18, 2008, 03:13 AM »

I would think that a few VMWare/VirtualPC/VirtualBox OS images on a HDD would be a more space efficient method rather than cluttering up your place with lot's of archaic hardware, (what am I saying ).

-4wd (September 17, 2008, 07:18 PM)

Assuming that Virtual Disc formats don't change and the software indefinitely supports old operating systems! What is going to happen when new versions of Windows/Linux etc. drop support for PATA and ATAPI devices - will VMWare etc. keep supporting them forever? Doubt it very much!

-Carol Haynes (September 17, 2008, 07:45 PM)

I just said on a HDD, not that it was PATA/SATA/SCSI/Fibre Channel/etc but personally I would use SCSI if it's that much of an issue, (AFAIK, all recent invocations of SCSI are still backward compatible with the original SCSI spec requiring only an adapter to connect to a current host - the drives are also more robust than normal HDDs).

And logically, if you are going to keep a HDD with Virtual systems you would install a base OS on it along with the Virtual Host software.  eg. Ubuntu with VirtualBox plus your virtual systems.
So it doesn't matter if later versions of [insert virtual host here] don't understand earlier virtual drive formats.

For that matter, just partition the HDD, install a boot manager and as many OS's as you want.  Then you can just image it from one HDD to the next when keeping up with interfaces becomes too much.

5466

Living Room / Re: You might want to skip the whole Blu-Ray generation

« Last post by 4wd on September 17, 2008, 07:18 PM »

(4wd: holographic crystals! at the least dilithium wouldn't react with antimatter)

-zridling (September 15, 2008, 06:37 AM)

The technology exists for holographic crystals, (just a modified version of holographic disks).

Regarding using dilithium, it won't react with anti-matter as long as it's energised.  So if you happen to leave it lying on a bench in an anti-matter universe.....POOF!....there goes your data.

That's why one shouldn't use obscure formats, and especially if they're closed.
Could be handy to keep a few old machines (like old laptops) still running old software, just in case...

-Armando (September 15, 2008, 11:56 AM)

I would think that a few VMWare/VirtualPC/VirtualBox OS images on a HDD would be a more space efficient method rather than cluttering up your place with lot's of archaic hardware, (what am I saying ).

5467

General Software Discussion / Re: Easy remote access to my home pc?

« Last post by 4wd on September 16, 2008, 01:32 AM »

Thanks, I have a dyndns.org account set up keeping track of my IP. How will it know when I change, for example, if I change ISPs or move to a different geographical location?

-Deozaan (September 15, 2008, 10:57 PM)

You need to run a client on your PC that modifies the dyndns.org redirection setting when your IP changes OR if you're running through a modem/router it might be sufficiently intelligent, (eg. Zyxel Prestige 660), such that you can get it to do it.

And thanks to 4wd for the easy to follow process. I think the only hitch here is I don't necessarily want to password protect my user account on this PC, but obviously I don't want anybody to be able to login from anywhere.

No problem.  Unfortunately to be able to use RDP you have to specify a password on an account.  There are a few things you can do to minimise the likelihood of someone causing havoc via Remote Desktop.

Depending on your firewall/NAT/router setup you may be able to restrict access to a set range of IPs.
Choose a decent passphrase, (not password), and use the Autologin feature of TweakUI to log in locally.
Use an account with limited permissions, (not admin).
You can change the port from the default 3389 to something different, (eg. 64825), making it harder to find.
Restrict Remote Desktop connections to a VPN, (see here for a portable client).

You might need to add in the name of the user who is allowed to connect remotely under RDP.  To do so, on the server PC go to My Computer->Properties->Remote->Select Remote Users and add the username in, (from step 1 above).

-4wd (September 15, 2008, 06:24 PM)

Is that the login credentials for the server or is that the User account name for the client pc? For instance, if I'm at the university and they have weird user accounts like building names and room numbers, do I need to allow all the possible accounts I might be on when trying to remote, or just the 1 server account?

For the server, the same one you did here:

1) On the PC that you want to control, (henceforth called the "server"), create an administrator account and give it a password.

eg.
The server is called MyPC.
The account you created above is called George.

1) On MyPC go to My Computer->Properties->Remote->Select Remote Users
2) Click Add
3) Type George and click Check Names
4) The computer will change the entry to MyPC\George.  If the computer can't find that user it will prompt you to correct the information or remove the user.
5) You can then just OK out.

5468

Living Room / Re: The Office of the Future: Can you exercise and work at the same time?

« Last post by 4wd on September 15, 2008, 09:40 PM »

And also why we seldom put MDs in charge of anything!

-40hz (September 15, 2008, 11:55 AM)

Unfortunately I wish it also held true for managers - they rarely have any grasp of what is happening or required in the field. 

At least that's what seemed to be the norm in my previous life as a technician.

5469

Living Room / Re: Packard Bell iMedia 3054 - PSU cable ???

« Last post by 4wd on September 15, 2008, 08:16 PM »

It isn't a molex 12v connector - it is the round centre pin type (the sort of thing you often find on consumer devices where you plug in the power adaptor). I suspect it is to provide power to the speakers that came with the PC.

-Carol Haynes (September 15, 2008, 07:13 PM)

No need to suspect - it is for powering the speakers, as I mention at the end of my post.  The reference to molex connectors was only to indicate that some PSUs provide a DC power outlet for powering other things, eg. HDDs.

The PSU cable supplied with the machin has a mains plug for the wall socket and a length of cable into what looks like a sealed junction box. Out of the junction box come two identical power cables with standard connectors. One for the monitor, one for the computer. I presume that rather than use a PSU with a standard power input socket and an output socket to daisy chain the monitor they are effectively providing the power to the monitor by simply splitting the mains lead.

They generally no longer make PSUs with both a AC inlet and outlet because it was a bad idea in the first place.  Actually the real reason is probably because they could not guarantee what some people would plug into them, eg. electric kettle.

If this is the case I am a bit nonplussed why a short car journey should kill the PSU altogether.

Without knowing the initial fault symptoms and your mention in your initial post that it failed to power on when you plugged it in, I only mentioned that it could be the PSU.

Now that you have provided more info, the possibilities are, (in no particular order):

1) Intermittent short either from the motherboard to ground or between tracks/leads on the motherboard.
2) Fractured solder connection, (usually around a component lead), dry joint or cracked pcb trace.
3) Board/RAM/CPU not plugged in correctly, ie. not fully and securely inserted.
4) Switchmode PSUs will die, it's a fact that can't be changed and it is generally due to one thing only, High ESR (Effective Series Resistance) in the electrolytic capacitors.  You can either spend the time repairing it, (as I've done on a couple), or try another ATX PSU.
5) Faulty CPU/RAM/HDD/etc.
6) You facing East-West on a North-South ley line 
7) Practically anything.

The fact that it would POST without the DVD and then plugging it in caused it to not POST is suggestive of insufficient PSU power output at load.

Also, if the CPU HS/FAN was that filthy you can probably bet the the interior of the PSU is as bad if not worse, which would only serve to shorten it's life.

Personally, given the age of the machine, it's symptoms of intermittently failing to start, RAM errors, etc - the first thing I'd be trying is a known working ATX PSU.

Also, BIOS readings for voltages cannot be relied upon.  The only correct way is a DMM while the PSU is under it's normal operating load.

5470

General Software Discussion / Re: Easy remote access to my home pc?

« Last post by 4wd on September 15, 2008, 06:24 PM »

How would I know the IP of the server PC?

-Deozaan (September 15, 2008, 11:17 AM)

Download and run IP2 on the server.  It will give you the LAN and WAN IP of the PC.

If you notice that the WAN IP changes every so often, (depends on IP expiry time set by ISP), then you'll need to do what mediaguy says above.

BTW, I think I forgot a step.

You might need to add in the name of the user who is allowed to connect remotely under RDP.  To do so, on the server PC go to My Computer->Properties->Remote->Select Remote Users and add the username in, (from step 1 above).

By default, the owner of the PC already has Remote Access, ie. the first user you created while installing XP, (who'll have admin priveleges).  Since all my PCs have the same initial user I haven't had to add any users to RDP.

Also, when you log in via RDP the server PC will drop back to the Welcome screen, (I'm assuming single user XP setup here), any programs running will continue in the background.

5471

Living Room / Re: Packard Bell iMedia 3054 - PSU cable ???

« Last post by 4wd on September 15, 2008, 05:57 PM »

Trying to fix a computer. The PSU looks like a standard ATX PSU with the usual male 'kettle' connector on the back and the connector on the mobo says ATX connector.

-Carol Haynes (September 15, 2008, 11:25 AM)

I presume you mean the standard IEC C14 chassis mount plug.

Strangely the PSU has a 12v DC output externally (which I have never seen before) and the cables for the PSU connect into a Y connector (which I presume is so that you can plug two devices into one power socket).

Quite a few enthusiast PSUs have a molex connector on the rear of the PSU so you can power up a HDD without having to carry around a separate PSU or open up the PC.

I have the computer at home and forgot the Y connector from the client. I plugged in a standard 'kettle' cable and get nothing (it was powering on before). I am going to get the Y connector to try again.

Anyone have any experience of the strange PB set ups? Have I f*****d up the PSU by using a standard cable?

Can't say that I have, (always construct my own), any chance of a picture of the PSU with its cables, (and a ruler alongside to tell what type it is: ATX, FlexATX, etc) ?

Could be that the PSU was already stuffed.  I believe it's a no-no to fool around with what is a global standard power input so the power cable should be standard.

What was its original fault?

It does beg the question though why does PB use a nonstandard arrangement like this with standard connectors?

Dell do did the same thing - they use standard ATX PSUs and then swap the pins around in the standard motherboard ATX plug.  They can do this because they make their own motherboards so can use a non-standard ATX plug layout.
They do it to try and lock the customer in to their servicing system thereby generating even more revenue, (kind of like the printer and ink tank thing). 
You can buy adapters that will let you use a standard ATX PSU on a Dell motherboard, works out a LOT cheaper than buying a Dell PSU.

EDIT: After doing the Google thing, approx halfway down the page:

from Packard Bell:

Although ATX power supplies conform to various specification guidelines, there is not, unfortunately, a standard ATX power supply. To find a suitable replacement power supply for your machine, we would recommend that you have the following information to hand when making your purchase:

- You will require a PSU with a 24-pin ATX connector, SATA power connectors, and a 4-pin 12V motherboard connector
- Make a note of the wattage of your existing PSU
- Make a note of the external dimensions of your existing power supply
- Be aware that your PSU has a power connector for speakers. Most PSUs do not have this, so you may need to purchase a separate power supply for your speakers.

So it looks as if PB use standard ATX PSUs with just the added provision of powering your external speakers, (the 12V socket).

Also, it seems, that thread mentions that Dell no longer use propriety PSU wiring.

5472

General Software Discussion / Re: Easy remote access to my home pc?

« Last post by 4wd on September 15, 2008, 07:44 AM »

So can someone give a quick and easy tutorial on how to set up Remote Desktop from within XP Pro and how to access it from another computer?

-Deozaan (September 15, 2008, 12:19 AM)

1) On the PC that you want to control, (henceforth called the "server"), create an administrator account and give it a password.
2) On the server, My Computer->Properties->Remote->Tick "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer" under Remote Desktop, then OK out.
3) Ensure that port 3389 is able to get through any firewall/router on both PCs and that if you use NAT that port 3389 is forwarded to the server PC.
4) On a client PC, Start->Accessories->Remote Desktop Connection and type in the IP of the server PC.
5) If everything is forwarded OK and is able to get through your firewalls then you'll get a window/screen open where you input the user/password you specified in step 1.

You might not need to actually create a admin account on the server, a normal user account will probably suffice as long as you don't want to do anything that requires admin privileges.

You can fine tune your Remote Desktop connection by clicking the Option button when you run Remote Desktop Connection.

You can also access the server PC through a web browser, (ala VNC), if you enable Remote Desktop Web Connection.

Edited for clarity.

5473

General Software Discussion / Re: dpc latency checker: interesting if you plan to do serious Audio/video

« Last post by 4wd on September 14, 2008, 06:31 AM »

Update: I have not found the culprit after disabling most of the devices that I could disable. I'm stuck. I wonder if dpc is reliable. If it is, then XP is really bad for real-time stuff, my hardware is not out of this world (dell 1720).

-urlwolf (September 14, 2008, 06:00 AM)

Surely the best way is to try and play clips in the encoding you want to test with?

eg. x264, MPEG4, etc

5474

Living Room / Re: You might want to skip the whole Blu-Ray generation

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

Dang it!!  I'm still waiting for holographic crystals!!

5475

Living Room / Re: Hard Drive electrical failure... trash it?

« Last post by 4wd on September 11, 2008, 12:05 AM »

That mantra would be: 'oops' or 'ohoh' (clinical studies still have not lead to a decisive answer on that one) 

-Shades (September 10, 2008, 11:42 PM)

I think I read that study but the most used mantras were another pair of four letter words