Recent Posts

5501

fSekrit / A version of fSekrit to handle small binaries?

« Last post by 4wd on August 21, 2008, 11:32 PM »

Having just found the goodness that is fSekrit, (yeah - I'm kinda slow), I have a request.

I currently use fSekrit just for program serial number info, (I don't keep much of any other personal non-computer related on the computer), but some of the programs I have use more than just a serial number to legitimise the installation.

eg. Daemon Tools Pro Advanced uses small bits of the program code, (I think), as the keyfile - the program just won't work without it.  (BTW, prior to v4.11 these 'keyfiles' were ~400kB but are now in the area of 1-2kB.)

What I would like is a way to store these small bits of binary in fSekrit.

My idea is that if I drag'n'drop a keyfile onto fSekrit it will encode it using yenc, (or whatever - chosen just so I could describe it), and place an appropriately named icon in the fSekrit window.
When I need to use the keyfile, I drag the icon to the Desktop or wherever and fSekrit will deyenc(!?) it.

Optionally, if I drag a keyfile that actually contains text data, I would get a popup asking me how I wanted to save it, either just insert as text or as a yenc encoded binary.

An example is the cFosSpeed keyfile which contains lines of text that have name, address, license type, license data, serial number, etc in a file called key.cfosspeed so you just have to double click on it to have it accepted by the program.

Feasible?

I personally wouldn't mind if it was a separate program or having fSekrit operate in one mode or the other, (text/binary).

BTW, I know this is somewhat different than the way fSekrit currently operates in that it currently leaves nothing behind but I'd be happy having to wipe the file myself after I'd used it.

5502

General Software Discussion / Re: How to clone large HDDs?

« Last post by 4wd on August 21, 2008, 10:25 PM »

It should be noted with laptops that if you set a 'Harddrive password' in the BIOS, it's a good idea to remove it BEFORE you clone the drive.

-4wd (August 20, 2008, 07:54 PM)

Shouldn't be necessary - if you can boot the system and the disk password is entered, you'll be getting the right data. AFAIK, it's not like you're going to get scrambled data if you don't have an authenticated disk; you will simply be denied access to it. ATA disk passwords != full-disk encryption

-f0dder (August 21, 2008, 09:33 PM)

I didn't say it was but on my 5 year old Acer laptop if you specify a HD password in BIOS it locks that harddrive to that motherboard by way of the hardware IDs.

You would find that you could no longer boot the system and the data on the drive is no longer accessible by that laptop, (as normally installed), as you said.

The above caused a new motherboard AND harddrive to be installed under warranty in my laptop.

I had a HD Password set when the following happened.

The motherboard developed a fault, so it went in for repair.  They replaced the motherboard, only the laptop would now not boot because the drive and motherboard ID no longer matched for when the password was set.
So, not realising this (because I forgot to tell them and remove it - which I couldn't anyway because of the board fault), they replaced the drive as well.

Result: a new motherboard, drive and lost data.

I was just lucky that it was less than 7 days old and apart from installing a couple of apps I hadn't had much of a chance to fill the drive.

All in all, much easier to remove the password beforehand when cloning or doing a full image backup.

5503

General Software Discussion / Re: Strategies for international travellers regarding new US Customs seizure policy

« Last post by 4wd on August 21, 2008, 02:52 AM »

The problem is I store many passwords on my laptop - passwords and other confidential data in word/excel files that provide access to my email accounts and other sites. I'm afraid of this falling into the hands of the TSA people.

-BC5 (August 21, 2008, 01:00 AM)

I suggest you stop storing your passwords in Word/Excel and use something much better like fSekrit. Also, make sure you have a good passphrase. Even 1024-bit encryption would be practically useless without a good passphrase.

The worst imaginable pass phrase (eg, "this is my secret password") is many times more secure than an average single word password (eg, "god123"). And it's easier to remember.*

-http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000360.html

-Deozaan (August 21, 2008, 02:03 AM)

Yes, well the problem with that is that so many systems/programs put such arbitrary limits on the "password", (eg. 3-8 characters consisting of at least one character from at least 3 out of the 4 groups: lowercase, uppercase, number and symbol), that it makes picking an easily remembered "passphrase" a joke.

I used to have all my program serial numbers in a plain text file which was then encrypted using my PGP key, (which was 2048 bit and a passphrase of 25 odd characters).  Very secure but an exceeding PITA when I needed it and didn't have PGP handy   

Nowadays, just a self-extracting encrypted RAR executable - much more convenient and WinRAR's encryption is very strong.

Also, I picked up an imation Atom flashdrive.  Comes with software that lets you make an encrypted partition, if the wrong password is entered 3 times, (or was it 5?), it formats the drive.  If you are accessing the encrypted section and you unplug it, it automatically locks it again.  Even better, it's very, very small - smaller than a Type A USB plug.

But if you wanted to carry your data with you in a non-obvious way, I would suggest grabbing an 8GB MicroSD flash card - encrypt your data, put it on it, hide it - I very much doubt that they would be able to find it with a cursory search or even using the airport x-ray machines.  Don't carry the reader, otherwise they'll know what to look for - just buy a reader at your destination.

5504

General Software Discussion / Re: FIREFOX-PRIVACY PROBLEMS-HELP

« Last post by 4wd on August 21, 2008, 02:23 AM »

I don't wish to completely disable the 'Auto-Complete' feature. I want to be able to quickly access websites previously visited by me, instead of having to type the whole name, but I also don't want Firefox to show the contents of what I visited on that particular webpage in the Address bar.

-BC5 (August 21, 2008, 01:03 AM)

Tools->Options->Privacy

Tick "Always clear my private data when I close Firefox"

Hit the Select button next to it and tick "Saved Form and Search History", (un)tick anything else you want or don't want.

Then OK you way out.

Or, Tools->Options->Privacy and Untick "Remember what I enter in forms and search bar".

Should be one or the other - if I read you correctly, the thing you don't want it to clear is your Browsing History.

AFAIK, Firefox has always had the ability to do this, (at least from v1.2 IIRC), but it might have been reset by an update.

I think, however, that if you have a user/password saved for a site it will override that setting so you can log in without having to enter your details.

5505

General Software Discussion / Re: How to clone large HDDs?

« Last post by 4wd on August 20, 2008, 07:54 PM »

My Acer laptop HD (5 years old, IDE 40GB) is showing signs of wear. It seems to have problems reading some areas of the disk and gives me a "blue" screen followed with a major crash, at times. I have an 80GB IDE portable drive which I could swap (2 years old).

-PPLandry (August 20, 2008, 07:26 PM)

It should be noted with laptops that if you set a 'Harddrive password' in the BIOS, it's a good idea to remove it BEFORE you clone the drive.

You can then set it back AFTER you have installed the new drive.

The fact that some areas are not readable, will that cause problems with XXClone?

Or if there is no data in those areas, use a program that doesn't read them, eg. TrueImage NOT in Sector-by-Sector mode.

5506

General Software Discussion / Re: Software for use with scanner?

« Last post by 4wd on August 19, 2008, 07:54 PM »

For anyone interested in PaperPort, here's a site where you can get PaperPort v11 for ~US$53 and PaperPort Deluxe v8 for US$29.95 - both NEW.

Fresco Bookshop

There are some comments on CNet saying that PaperPort Deluxe v8 was better than the following v9 and v10.

Either way, it's a cheap alternative.

NOTE: Not affiliated, (I'm even in a completely different country ), just found while Googling around

5507

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone Know of a Multi-Monitor Simulator for Software Testing?

« Last post by 4wd on August 17, 2008, 07:26 PM »

Here's a hardware solution that doesn't require two monitors:

If your video card has two outputs and your monitor has two inputs you can enable dual monitors by plugging both outputs into your single monitor. Then just click the button on the monitor that switches what input to display.

-Deozaan (August 16, 2008, 01:11 PM)

Another idea: Most gfx cards have composite/SVideo out of some kind, plug it in to a TV

Another idea: Plug the composite/SVideo out into the input of your TV tuner card.

IIRC, the drivers will allow you use the TV as a second monitor, but you might be required to set your normal monitor to the same resolution as the TV output, (used to be 800x600 or 1024x768 - before HDTVs anyway).

5508

General Software Discussion / Re: Your most used SPECIAL programs

« Last post by 4wd on August 17, 2008, 07:16 PM »

Hope I'm not off-topic, but I saw at the top the mention of Bulk Image Downloader. Does anyone know of a freeware version that is similar? I already use FastStone Image Viewer which does everything BUT bulk image downloading.

-siouxdax (August 15, 2008, 02:14 PM)

If you use FireFox you could give BatchDownload a try.

5509

General Software Discussion / Re: What would your ideal Operating System be like?

« Last post by 4wd on August 17, 2008, 07:00 PM »

4. All applications install in their own unique single directory. One application per directory. Each new version installs to a new directory. It would also be nice to establish a formal version numbering system. Something like nn.ss.pppp where nn is version; ss is service pack or minor version; and pppp is patch level. (Ex: Wumpus V01.02.0003 = version 1, revision 2, patch level 3)

-40hz (August 17, 2008, 05:29 PM)

AFAIAC, version, revision and patch level are completely arbitrary conventions - when does a programmer decide it's no longer a patch but a revision, no longer a revision but a major version change, etc.
I've seen programs that jump version numbers because programmers decided the patch number was getting too high, (don't ask, long time ago).

My optimum version numbering system would be a lot simpler, (although it results in a longer number), and requires no input from the programmer, (the compiler does it automatically):

YYYYMMDDHHMMSS - Universal Time Format based on GMT, no allowance for time zone.  Easily read by anyone and the added benefit of knowing exactly when it was compiled - assuming the clock is set right.
But even if it isn't, subsequent versions are always a steadily increasing number, (unless they're written by a temporal agnostic), and it directly relates to other things on the computer, eg. from a programmers perspective, in what backup they're likely to find what version if they want to go back and look at something.

I'm sure that the programmers among you will tell me it's complete rubbish but from my perspective as a user, (and extremely far between and minor writer of extremely small and very specific, purpose orientated C programs for my own use), it makes more sense.

WARNING: Shades read no further at the risk of a Cloanto attack!

Either that or go back to the simpler but easily understandable Amiga version system:

$VER: Programname version.revision (dd.m.yy) author

Which was to appear in all programs, scripts, etc, and was readable either by using the CLI command 'version' or by simply looking at the program in an editor, (hex for binary, text for script, etc).

PS:

BTW Congrats on the 100th post!

-Darwin

Ta Darwin.  I've posted more on DC than any other forum - spend way too much time reading the other ones

5510

General Software Discussion / Re: Any virtual printer for .doc or .rtf?

« Last post by 4wd on August 14, 2008, 09:29 PM »

But, if you have MS Office installed you'll have a "Microsoft XPS Document Writer" and/or a "Microsoft Office Document Image Writer" that may handle things better than your PDF virtual printer.  Or you can get the XPS Writer and Viewer from http://www.microsoft...hdc/xps/viewxps.mspx.

-mwb1100 (August 14, 2008, 09:05 PM)

It also seems to be installed with XP SP3 since I don't have Office installed, (and never will), and it's there.

Mind you, I don't know if it works since I can't view them 

5511

General Software Discussion / Re: What would your ideal Operating System be like?

« Last post by 4wd on August 14, 2008, 08:17 PM »

QNX Neutrino RTOS - Back in my Amiga days I still remember the demo disk they had, a complete RTOS, GUI interface and web browser on a single bootable 1.44MB floppy.

I've still got the OS CD, (IIRC - a 5cm disc!),  they gave out at one of the last Amiga shows around here somewhere.

Canada hasn't had a meltdown yet

I like their Microsoft analogy 

The QNX operating system is a micro-kernel operating system, which means it consists of a relatively small base of code. "Take a string of Christmas lights," said Darrin Shewchuk, head of communications with Kanata, Ont.-based QNX Software Systems Ltd. "Remember the old style of Christmas lights where you had a big long string and if one bulb burned out the whole thing burned out and you had to go through each one and find out which single bulb failed? That's Microsoft."

PS: Woohoo! Only 1 post to go!

5512

General Software Discussion / Re: Any virtual printer for .doc or .rtf?

« Last post by 4wd on August 14, 2008, 07:56 PM »

I usually just save the web page in it's entirety first in Firefox, (which preserves all the formatting), then use Kompozer to remove everything I don't want including ads, scripts, etc, etc.

Then just print the edited web page to PDF from Firefox using novaPDF Lite v5 Desktop, (was a Give-Away-Of-The-Day).

I would think that using a WYSIWYG html editor on the original content would be easier than trying to edit interpreted .doc output of a web page.

Plus it doesn't cost anything, (if you use a free PDF printer) 

BTW, you can actually skip a step by just using Kompozer to view the web site, edit to how you want and then Save or Print for a local copy.

Just don't select Publish - the original site owner might have a heart attack if he's forgotten to set his permissions correctly 

5513

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: PC Tools Free Offers. Get them now!!!

« Last post by 4wd on August 07, 2008, 02:56 AM »

I have a 5 PC license to PC Tools Internet Security for all the (working) computers in the house. If you run it on a solid system that doesn't have previous issues, it runs great.

-wreckedcarzz (August 04, 2008, 10:13 PM)

I'll agree with this, I've never had PCTools software cause any problems at all on my systems, (both the firewall and the AV).

But I have had problems with other programs, notably ZA(Pro) and Comodo causing massive slowdowns of the whole system.

5514

General Software Discussion / Re: Opera and google. Incompatible as ever

« Last post by 4wd on August 06, 2008, 10:35 PM »

Is thunderbird indexed? (i.e. searching full text is immediate, no matter how large your inbox is).

-urlwolf (August 04, 2008, 03:26 AM)

No indexing is done - just use the search field.  Or use some Desktop Search program that supports Thunderbird.

Actually, slightly wrong, Thunderbird does 'find as you type' - select an inbox and then start typing in the search field, results will start being filtered after about a second.

I know where I put things or where I can find what I'm looking for so I rarely have to resort to a search of any kind, (regarding local environment and PC anyway) - once every couple of weeks if I'm unlucky.

Can you press a shortcut and get an 'send email' window in thunderbird even if you are in FF?

It sounds more like you want an integrated solution, (ala Opera), therefore give SeaMonkey a go.

5515

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: PC Tools Free Offers. Get them now!!!

« Last post by 4wd on August 04, 2008, 06:42 AM »

PCTools Firewall Plus is free, not for a 12 month period, not even for a 1 month period.....it's just FREE.

I've been running it for quite a few months, it's up to version 4 BTW.

It's low on resources, (currently using less than 6MB on my system and 0% CPU according to TaskManager), rule creation is far easier/better than Comodo.

Yes, it fails some leaktests but I'm using it for access control not testing for leaks.

The only thing I have to say against it is that access requesters are a little slow to popup.

5516

General Software Discussion / Re: Opera and google. Incompatible as ever

« Last post by 4wd on August 04, 2008, 02:41 AM »

I use Thunderbird for my emails, using both POP3 and IMAP gmail accounts, (I have 5 or so).

Haven't had a problem and Thunderbird uses plain text mbox format for its databases so if you have to, you can always read them in a text editor.

Actually, more precisely, I use Portable Thunderbird - so I can just copy the whole directory onto another device, (flash, HD, PC), to use it.

For browsing, Portable Firefox does all I need - IE is not even installed, (courtesy of nlite).

There's also SeaMonkey, (if you need your browser and email as one app), and its portable version.

There's also the Pocket K-Meleon browser.

5517

General Software Discussion / Re: SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards results!

« Last post by 4wd on August 02, 2008, 04:49 AM »

How on earth does XBMC win in the "gamers" section? It's a media player, chrissake :-s

-f0dder (August 02, 2008, 02:29 AM)

It says "Best Project for gamers" - personally I can't think of a better project for console gamers than turning a console into something useful 

It's either turn it into a media player or a wheelchock 

5518

General Software Discussion / Re: BeyondCompare 3 Released

« Last post by 4wd on July 31, 2008, 11:15 PM »

I was lucky enough to win a license for BC2 the month after I joined up at DC.   Thank you again mouser

Even though I effectively obtained the program free, Scooter Software were still good enough to offer me a $15 upgrade discount.....and then I couldn't decide whether to get the Standard or Pro version of BC3.

Ended up with the Pro version and I'm glad I did since I've been using the Alignment Override a fair bit recently, (although I thought I'd mainly get the Pro for the merging facility).

BTW, in case you don't know there was a recent update to BC2.

5519

General Software Discussion / Re: Paragon Partition Manager 2005 or Easeus Partition Manager for Windows XP Pro

« Last post by 4wd on July 23, 2008, 05:36 AM »

When I restored this Acronis Image to a 250gb, I could not get it to boot. I tried things like Fdisk /MBR as I thought perhaps the boot sector may be at a slightly different location for a 250gb but to no avail.

-patteo (July 23, 2008, 12:03 AM)

It might be different with earlier versions of True Image, (I only used from v9 on I think), but when you restore a bootable partition it normally asks if you want to restore the partition or the MBR.

I haven't had any problems restoring bootable partitions to HDs of different sizes.

Also, what you probably wanted to do was to boot into Recovery Mode off of an XP CD, (assuming XP is what you were using), and run BOOTCFG /scan to locate all Windows installations and then BOOTCFG /add to add them into boot.ini so ntldr can boot it.

So I did the next most logical thing was to use the Acronis True Image 7 Clone disk command to clone my 160gb to a 250gb and this time the cloning worked flawlessly.

To tell the truth, I usually completely forget TI has a clone option and usually just backup/restore to another drive.

So my conclusion is that Acronis True Images is useful only to restore to a harddisk of the same size. If it differs in size, the use the clone command.

Any differing Acronis experience any one ?

As per above, I haven't had a problem restoring to different size HDs, although I am using TI v11 currently.  I also always use the 'Restore disks and partitions' option not 'Sector by sector restore of disks and partitions'.

5520

General Software Discussion / Re: Paragon Partition Manager 2005 or Easeus Partition Manager for Windows XP Pro

« Last post by 4wd on July 21, 2008, 06:37 PM »

I used to use Paragon Partition Manager all the time, (at least 4+ years ago), but it always seemed to create a partition table that MS chkdsk found was faulty even though the machine worked fine.  I switched to Acronis Disk Director and never had a problem.

Not saying that Paragon PM isn't a good program, just my experience at that time.

There's also the completely free GNU Parted and Ranish Partition Manager.  Both offline managers, (as opposed to Acronis and Paragon which can do some operations from within Windows), which IMO probably means there's less to go wrong since there's no OS interfering with them.

If you were going to go the free way, GNU Parted is probably the partition manager of choice.

5521

General Software Discussion / Re: How to prevent Win+S from sending the system to sleep?

« Last post by 4wd on July 21, 2008, 06:24 PM »

From the testimonials on this thread, I think it must be related to some software sri has running.

-jgpaiva (July 21, 2008, 04:52 PM)

And it should be easy to track down since it's happening on both XP and Vista.

5522

General Software Discussion / Re: How to prevent Win+S from sending the system to sleep?

« Last post by 4wd on July 20, 2008, 09:37 PM »

On both Windows XP and Vista, pressing Windows+S key stores the session into memory (not sure if it is standby/sleep or hibernate) and resumes when the system is restarted. How do I prevent this? I don't want Win+S key to do anything to do w/ power management.

Thanks in advance.

-sri (July 20, 2008, 09:08 PM)

That doesn't seem to be one of the standard listed Windows key shortcuts, (Shortcuts - not saying it's a complete list).

On mine it opens up Stickies and I don't think the author would have grabbed an existing standard Windows shortcut.

Are you sure it's not your keyboard driver, (if using 3rd party kb - I've got a Logitech G15), or some software you're running that is mapping the key combination?

Does it do it in Safe Mode?   If not, then it's definitely a driver or software.

Also, normally power management by way of keyboard is usually handled by dedicated keys: power, sleep and wakeup, (at least on all the keyboards I've seen).

EDIT: Just had a look at Microsoft's site, they use 'Windows + S' for toggling CAPS Lock on their Natural keyboard.

5523

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Whole Disk Encryption Just Wishful Thinking?

« Last post by 4wd on July 20, 2008, 08:26 PM »

It's nasty stuff.

Also, if (serious) law enforcement is coming after you, they have ways to move your computer without turning it off - basically attaching an UPS on the go, doing some wire cutting etc.

-f0dder (July 20, 2008, 05:19 PM)

That's why one of my HDs is actually a disguised thermite charge.....the moment anyone tries to access using the magic word, ('dir'), it ignites and slags the whole computer  

5524

General Software Discussion / Re: Put Vista to sleep and wake it up on a schedule?

« Last post by 4wd on July 20, 2008, 08:20 PM »

I would like to be able to have the computer sleep over night and during the parts of the day when neither of us are at home, but have it wake itself up so it is available for printing and media streaming when she is at home.  Any ideas on how to make this work?

-cthorpe (July 20, 2008, 01:26 AM)

Can't you have it set to Wake On LAN?

You'll need to set your BIOS and any firewall/router/NAT to allow the packet to work.

Here's a free program that can wake a computer up WOL 1.03.  She can have a shortcut on her desktop to call it to wake your computer before doing any printing/etc.

Otherwise, Wikipedia also has quite a few resources listed.

And then just have it go to sleep after a period of inactivity.

5525

General Software Discussion / Re: Which free burning software can you recommend?

« Last post by 4wd on July 20, 2008, 07:48 PM »

To me, if it can't burn multi-session CDs/DVDs then it's not *proper* burning software. I regularly backup my photos or new versions of software onto multi-session DVDs. There is only Nero that I find does a reliable job of this.

-Fedorov (July 20, 2008, 06:28 PM)

I found that I only used multisession discs about 10 years ago - I then found out how unreliable multisession is....the hard way.

These days if I seriously wanted have the kind of chop'n'change facility that multisession gives you, I wouldn't consider using anything other than DVD-RAM discs.  They're specifically designed for this kind of use and are natively supported by XP and above, (they just appear as a removable HD to the system).

DVD-RAM has write-cycles in the vicinity of 100000 times, (compared to 1000 for CD/DVD-+RW), extremely efficient error recovery and it verifies as it writes in hardware, (although this can be bypassed to speed up writing).  Sure the discs cost a bit more but you get the benefit of increased data security.

And considering you can get drives that read/write them for AU$30 it's a no-brainer.

But I find a flashdrive so much easier  

Amazes me in some of these "which is best " threads that people recommend ImgBurn or ConvertXtoDVD. ImgBurn is fantastic at what it does, burning image files like ISO's. ConvertXtoDVD is fantastic at converting movie files to DVD format and burning them for you.
NEITHER of them can burn a multi-session data CD/DVD.

It's usually because the original poster didn't give enough info on what they wanted it for.