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576
N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: cStatus a portable network scan and monitoring tool
« Last post by Shades on September 18, 2018, 02:11 PM »
For the time being I have enabled the telnet client that comes with Windows 10.  Using 'telnet 8.8.8.8 53' results in a blanked CLI box. The same happens when I use 'telnet 8.8.4.4 53', so I assume that behavior would be what one expects.

telnet8888.53.png
I did not have any issues browsing when a static IP address and only the 8.8.8.8 DNS server were configured (including the 'ipconfig /flushdns'), so I didn't expect any connection issue.

cstatus8888.53.png
Screenshot of cStatus 1.0.1.0 (with initial config file) that shows all packages to 8.8.8.8:53 are dropped.

cstatus8888.53_02.png
Screenshot of cStatus 1.0.1.0 that shows that packages to 8.8.4.4:53 do arrive.

cstatus8888.53_03.png
After restarting cStatus, the problem remains.

cstatus8888.53_04.png
Progress!!!  After another restart of cStatus and recreating the 8.8.8.8:53 entry, packages are not dropped anymore.

Spoiler
shades.systeminfo.png
Overview systeminfo, in case that helps.


** Edit:  added last screenshot + spoiler.
577
N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: cStatus a portable network scan and monitoring tool
« Last post by Shades on September 18, 2018, 06:26 AM »
I don't have telnet installed. And because of security risks with that protocol I'm not intending to do that either.

My workaround is fine with me. It was just weird enough of an error to mention it to you, so you could keep track of it in your internal bug tracker  :)
578
N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: cStatus a portable network scan and monitoring tool
« Last post by Shades on September 17, 2018, 07:17 PM »
About 8.8.8.8 port 53 I use it as a method to detect Internet access on several sites and never had a problem, I can't explain why you cannot do it!

Want to know something really "funny"?

8.8.8.8  is the secondary DNS server from Google. So I thought "let's try their primary DNS server", so configured: 8.8.4.4 port 53 which works like a charm. Retried their secondary DNS server again (for funsies) and you guessed it right. All (test) packages to that server are dropped.

Can't explain it either...but in any case, thank you for a tool that will come in handy when troubleshooting networking issues.
579
Living Room / Re: SmartPhone battery "hot swap" and charge info
« Last post by Shades on September 17, 2018, 04:05 PM »
As far as I know, any smart phone has circuitry build into itself that regulates the charging of the battery. Granted, some more feature-rich circuitry than others.

Wireless charging will require the battery to be connected in the phone and the phone in the charging field of the wireless charger device.

My phone has support for charging wireless, but never used it. Heck, I have used the original wired charger only once. I always slow-charge using an USB slot from my PC's. Haven't had to change a battery once in several Nokia (dumb and smart) phones, or Huawei phone or Kyocera phones (my current ones are both: Kyocera Brigadier). And on average I use a phone for 3 to 4 years. Had a daily driver Nokia 5530 for almost 6 years. Still had the original battery in its original shape and still lasted 4 to 5 days on a charge.

From the 6 phones I bought here in Paraguay, none of them needed a battery change. Slow-charging has been good to me, so I am not inclined to go and buy a wireless charging device, which are expensive here in the city. About 50 USD for a no-name brand is the cheapest one I could find.
580
Living Room / Re: EU to Stop Summer (or is it Winter) Time
« Last post by Shades on September 16, 2018, 05:20 PM »
Saw something about this a few months ago with the head of the EU bitching and moaning that there is no need for it and they the entire EU should be unified on the exact same time "to make trade easier" (Cause no company in the world has any idea how to trade with a country in a different timezone, apparently).

People wonder why the UK voted to leave, and countries like Italy are on the edge...it's for stupidity like this.  They want to do stuff simply for the hell of it, with no actual thought process involved lol.  Clocks going back/forwards is something everybody is fully used to.  It happens twice a year, and for the majority of us...has done for our entire lives... :-\

That is the comment of an uninformed someone who hasn't done automated transactions with countries in different time-zones. For those that do/did, they are fully aware of the headaches caused by time-zones.

An example: not sure if you are aware or not, but it is no secret that European countries have their energy grids interconnected. And that energy is distributed between countries at the exact moment that is needed. In an ideal world the energy grid contains as much energy as its demand. And this has to happen according to JIT (Just In Time) principle.

Communication between energy producing companies, energy distribution companies, energy selling companies and companies responsible for maintaining the grids the energy travels on is therefore essential. In a lot of countries, energy is handled by one company and that gives consumers the (very) false impression that it is simple. It is not, I can assure you. Not on a regional level, not on national level and most definitely not on international level.

In Europe it is so that European consumers are allowed to buy their energy from any provider in Europe. Because that concept results in the most honest energy market where energy companies mostly compete on price, but also in uptime and secondary services. All to the benefit of every European consumer. Concepts like that are a good thing in the long run.

Unfortunately, energy comes in different forms. Natural gas is the most problematic one. In the Netherlands it is so that you need to pay your energy bills on a monthly basis. But each year energy companies review the consumption of energy and sometimes that results in the consumer having to pay extra, and sometimes the consumer gets money back. The consumer must pay for industry agreed upon caloric value for each cubic meter of gas they burn. Sometimes more amounts of cubic meters of gas are required to have the same burn, sometimes less. The caloric value of gas is never constant because of a lot of different external influences (temperature, quality and humidity are the main ones). And those differences will be reviewed/recalculated on a yearly basis.

Lots of European countries must import their gas from Russia, which means that gas must travel to quite some countries and time-zones before it arrives at consumers. Gas distribution companies and grid companies therefore need to be finely attuned to each other on a international level. Supply and demand is therefore always in a "fluid" state, but still must match the supply==demand rule for the grid itself. Automatization of international systems is therefore essential and you'll need proper communication about the correct amounts of energy arriving at the intended locations on time.

All that text above only describes a small part of the energy market in Europe, but there are much more and very different markets which would also benefit greatly from the lack of time-zones.

Unfortunately, there is more that makes time-zones a royal pain in the behind. Some countries want to apply their time-zone "perfectly", which results in time-zone differences that are not an hour, but only one or more parts of an hour.

And then there is still the difference between the moments when a country applies the DST change. In Europe it is common that countries use the seasonal changes to apply DST changes. The United States, for example, uses the equinoxes to apply DST. On average there are 3 weeks between an equinox and a seasonal change. So in that intermediate 3 week period time-zones are a really big mess and an absolute headache for internationally operating companies. Add to all this time-zone misery the fact that not all countries use the same calendar and the clusterf.ck that is time-zones is finally complete.

Another example: here in Paraguay it is the president who decides the days to apply the DST changes. If he/she would decide that today a DST change and tomorrow the other DST change must be applied, than it will happen that way. Now it is not as extreme like that, but Paraguay is not the only country that does this. Still, this random selection means that for about 2 months in the whole year I cannot use any internet time server for keeping my computers in sync. Let alone doing any automated time-based tasks that require me to connect to any country outside Paraguay.

With that kind of randomness, you might as well not use DST at all. But sure, for those that live and work in one and the same time-zone, they bitch and moan about getting rid of time-zones, because its just a small adjustment in your alarm-clock/microwave/oven etc. Those that have to work around the true implications of the clusterf.ck that is time-zones know better.
581
N.A.N.Y. 2019 / Re: cStatus a portable network scan and monitoring tool
« Last post by Shades on September 14, 2018, 03:01 PM »
In the default configuration there is a link that checks Google DNS server 8.8.8.8 at port 53. 'tracert 8.8.8.8' shows me that there are 11 hops between my system and the Google DNS server.
So I can connect to the DNS server.

When I configure that DNS server as the only one in my static IP address configuration (and 'ipconfig /flushdns'), I can surf without issues.
So port 53 isn't blocked on their or my end.

However, both cStatus 1.0.0.0 and 1.0.1.0 fail to connect to this Google DNS server.

Adjusting my IP configuration from static to dynamic (and 'ipconfig /flushdns' again), same results.
Disabling the Windows firewall, just in case, same results.
Configuring a different DNS server entry in cStatus: 208.67.222.222 (OpenDNS) TCP ping port 53, everything works perfectly.

Why is the Google DNS server so problematic?

Even if there is no clear answer to that question, you might want to change the default DNS server entry from Google to OpenDNS.
That would leave a better first impression of your software, which is very nice.
582
General Software Discussion / Re: Big Data tools
« Last post by Shades on September 14, 2018, 11:02 AM »
RJ TextEd

Is freeware, multi-lingual and the website says it is allowed to be used in commercial environments too. Donations are accepted. This text editor has support for regex and I tested (previous versions of) the software with 2GByte log files and search/replace actions in those files were fast on a 7 year old PC (16GB RAM, i5 CPU (3th generation, 3.5GHz)).

Caveats:
- Regex I haven't played with, so how well/functional the support is I can't tell.
- Haven't tested with log files bigger than 2GByte, so if 20GByte log files can be processed, I can't tell.
583
General Software Discussion / Re: Et Tu, CCleaner!
« Last post by Shades on September 11, 2018, 06:18 AM »
System Ninja is a replacement for CCleaner. Last  time I tried it, the interface was much more spartan than CCleaner's, but feature-wise it is very similar.

By default it is also more thorough than CCleaner (in default setting). Be advised though, that thoroughness can sometimes be a double-edged sword. And if you pony up the cash, it also comes in portable format, the free version only comes as an installer.
584
Coding Snack Guidelines / Re: Simple logon-logoff timekeeper
« Last post by Shades on September 08, 2018, 06:32 PM »
There is a free, feature-limited version available of ManicTime available. After you install that software it keeps track of all the windows that you have open and how much time they are active. All without any extra action on your part. At the end of the day you get a graphical timeline overview with the total times of each activated window specified. You can export that overview into a CSV file that can be read and/or processed with Excel.

I would suggest to try out the free version to see if its time tracking capabilities fit with your request. If you do like it, you can get the commercially licensed version with a lot more functionality, like getting weekly/monthly reports etc.  When you really like it, you can even ask your company to purchase their server software. then they can generate whatever kind of reports about every computer/user that has ManicTime installed. That should make the creation of bills much easier, smoother and faster for them and their customer(s) demanding the graphics you produce.

Just a content user, no further affiliation of any kind.
585
General Software Discussion / Re: Ophcrack Failed to find my password on Windows 10
« Last post by Shades on September 06, 2018, 05:19 PM »
I always used the 'Offline NT Passwords & Registry editor' to reset the admin password. Still works with Windows 10. Caveat: that was one of the earlier Windows 10 builds at the time. And it didn't have any file system encryption enabled anywhere. That last bit is important, because if you have that Windows functionality enabled somewhere on the disk (or the whole disk), accessing the encrypted data will be next to impossible.
586
Besides all of the above, MongoDB is intended more for document management.  The strength of NoSQL databases lies also in their ability to have nodes (read: separate computers) for reading/storing data at speed. All of that does not indicate that it even can (or should) be used as "portable" solution.

SQL Lite is indeed a good option. MySQL has a lot of free tools to manage that database. Even web-based it that tickles your fancy. There is a tool called: XAMPP which you can use in a portable sense to create a full blown web development environment. there is a tool in it that allows you to start/stop each individual section of that environment separately (Apache, MySQL, PHP and Python). So you could only start the database from it and you could use the command line to create databases and users. Or use the included PHPMyAdmin web interface (which requires you to enable Apache only for as long as you need it to). And if manually starting MySQL sounds like a bit of a drag, the start/stop tool also allows you to enable it as a self starting service too.

XAMPP is an archive of about 75MByte (7-zip) to download and if you extract it in a root folder (for example:  C:\xampp) than you don't need to do anything to make MySQL work. If you don't want to use the root folder, there is an executable batch script in that archive that shows you the steps to reconfigure it for any desirable storage location.

If your tool becomes popular you might want the extra features of a more mature database, which can be easily implemented on (cloud-based) web servers as well. In that case MySQL is a decent bet. Quite a feature set, smallish resource footprint, a lot of free (web-based) management tools and lots of code examples on how to work with it programmatically in whatever language.
587
Some tools have WinPCap as a hard-coded requirement, I'm afraid.

However, If you get the latest version of a tool called WireShark, it will automatically install a modern version of WinPCap if it detects that it is missing from your system. Modern installers of WinPCap do not require you to misconfigure your Windows installation, opening it up for any form of attack available since Windows 98.
588
Sounds like the DonationCoder forum needs to be expanded with a new board: Nostalgia

Sure love the images shared, the good old days...
589
General Software Discussion / Re: Gridinsoft Antimalware's reputation?
« Last post by Shades on August 25, 2018, 01:32 PM »
Good Anti-malware checkers/removers are:
- JRT (also known as Junkware Removal Tool)
- RKill
- ADWCleaner

All these tools are available through site: www.bleepingcomputer.com

Never heard of Gridinsoft...and I'm too lazy to google for that name. Software companies I have never heard of, especially regarding anti-malware or anti-virus software, I don't trust too much. Now that is not to say this company isn't legit. Just that it hasn't earned my trust.

The tools mentioned in this post and the website itself, they have earned my trust.
590
Living Room / Re: Movies you've seen lately
« Last post by Shades on August 23, 2018, 11:20 AM »
Tomb Raider (2018) is nothing special, story-wise. Acting is solid, but not great. Yet it has decent production value. The reason why I became much more positive about Tomb Raider (2018) was that I saw the latest Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie afterwards. Then you realize very quickly that Tomb Raider (2018) is a much better movie reboot than the previous garbage that Jolie starred in.

Before Tomb Raider (2018) I had never seen any of the Tomb Raider movies. Only played the first installment of the game series on PlayStation 1 (yes, I'm old) and attending a press meeting about the game, organized by the European distributor in a range of caves about 150 km from home, including a model with all the "features" of the character in the first game, dressed in similar fashion.

Tomb Raider as a game series didn't catch my fancy after playing through the first installment. And the movies did not peek an interest either. Angelina Jolie is not that good an actress or that pretty in my book.

As I have some free time as I am recovering from a motorcycle accident that busted up my left leg quite seriously, I thought to see the Tomb Raider movies. Not the best of ideas. But Tomb Raider (2018) is not nearly as bad as its previous movie.
591
Living Room / Re: Movies you've seen lately
« Last post by Shades on August 23, 2018, 10:54 AM »
The movie Upgrade was very entertaining indeed. Still, 5 stars (out of a maximum of of five) is in my point of view too much. 3.5 to 4 stars would be better. Story line and acting was solid, but not great. However, how the movie was shot, that was very well done. Which is why I'm hovering between 3.5 to 4 stars.

Having said the above, as a SciFi fan, you definitely should see Upgrade. It won't disappoint.
592
General Software Discussion / Re: Where is Win 10 hiding background pictures?
« Last post by Shades on August 14, 2018, 08:33 PM »
You can use irfanview just fine in "portable mode". For years I use an archive from the irfanview folder on every computer in my control. Always worked from Windows XP till Windows 10, including the Server editions. Now I do not use/store settings with it, but you could try to store yours in the irfanview folder itself. Create a new archive from that folder and store that archive in a safe place. When you need it again, just extract the archive in the desired location and you can continue working as if nothing happened within a few seconds.

My personal software repository for portable apps is almost 12GByte in size and consists of tools that were made available as portable app by their creators or made portable by myself, using a piece of software called: Cameo.

Doing things this way, it is possible for me to rebuild a Windows system from scratch in about 2 hours (with spinning disk HD's), barely any other configuration required. 
593
Coding Snacks / Re: Custom WinPE build
« Last post by Shades on August 08, 2018, 11:22 AM »
The link to Lakka. It is still a http website, in case your chrome browser starts to whine about that.
594
You also need to check the user rights for the folder you wish to create the new sub-folders into. 'Run as administrator' functionality, as well as UAC, have a different impact in comparison between Windows 7 and 10. Windows 10 protects a lot of folders on the C:\ partition, more harshly then Windows 7 does. Windows 10 also gives me the impression that it protects more folders in this way than Windows 7 does.

It might be an option to add your user account to the list of users that is allowed to read and write in the desired folder (right-click on that folder, select Properties and go to tab Security to add your user account).

Something else to consider: The first (local) user account that you create in Windows is usually associated with two standard Windows user groups, called 'Users' and 'Administrators'. When accessing any folder on that computer, Windows will check what user and user group rights are configured at that folder. Windows will always default to the most restricted access to that folder, if a user is part of multiple user groups. This behavior is preferable for your own security.

Removing the associated user group 'Users' from your user account would help Windows making up its mind on how much access rights it should grant to your user account for any folder. Doing this on a single user PC is not a security problem. With a multi-user system it could be. When another user executes some malware which takes a peek at user group associations for all (local) accounts to find out which ones to target (first). 
595
Coding Snacks / Re: Custom WinPE build
« Last post by Shades on August 07, 2018, 01:43 PM »
It seems to me that he's running games.  In a console cabinet.  Which means he's probably running one of those book sized machines.
Yes, on a system with 16GB of memory (as it seems) and a quad-core, if that won't perform properly, what else will?... As said, I think he's hunting for ghosts. Overclocking, or selecting a higher frequency CPU, will add more bang than running Win PE with all it's limitations.

Even on a 16 GB machine, windows processes can interfere and make your gaming experience less than optimal.  If he can get this out of the way as a possible impediment, and then move on to doing things with the hardware if necessary, I'd see it as a useful step, personally.

And that is more often caused by I/O interrupts that make the processor "hick-up". A reason is usually a sub-optimal hardware mix, no matter how over provisioned.

If an absolute bare-bones Windows installation is what you after, you should look at how musicians set up their Windows-based studio. Those persons have a much better understanding of what hardware combinations work and all the services/functionality you must strip from Windows that create these processor "hick-ups". Normally you barely notice interruptions in the flow of information that your eyes/ears receive from the computer, but when the soul purpose is to record the best quality sound without any interruption from either hardware or software, you install only the bare minimum of extra software and strip all surplus from that computer.

Persons that have such a computer usually keep it out of any network, disable all Windows updates and won't patch any software unless absolutely necessary, as such a state is difficult and often expensive to attain.
Which is why it is often easier to not use Windows. A Raspberry Pi computer is much more limited in hardware capabilities, but it is hardware that has proven to work very well together. Then there are special Linux-based operating systems for it. Hardware and software that work in tandem.

After taking a brief look at Launchbox and Kalla, my personal preference would be Kalla, because of its cleaner, deceivingly simpler look. While Launchbox appears to have more expansion options, Kalla works with PC's, Mac's and raspberry Pi or similar devices. If looked at pure gaming experience, I think both systems are pretty evenly matched.

Hirens BootCD is under new management and made a new PE disc based on Windows 10. This can be easily adjusted to your needs. I created a bootable pendrive, then added my whole portable apps collection to it (about 12GByte) and 70% of those worked right out of the gate. With looking/applying missing dependencies that is now up to 90%. Just to indicate that adding, but also removing tools/apps, is quite simple with this boot CD. The Hirens BootCD is also only half the size (1.3GByte) than the Bob.Omb's Modified Win10PE boot CD (2.6GByte), while both have very similar feature sets and functionality.
596
Coding Snacks / Re: Custom WinPE build
« Last post by Shades on August 06, 2018, 06:09 PM »
It must be Windows? If emulation of games is the only thing required, I think you can get much more quickly a linux-based bootable environment where you can select the type of emulator (Amiga, MegaDrive, SNES, etc.) and then use the emulator software to look for the ROM you want to play.

This is a LifeHacker link with instructions on how to create such a system with Lakka.

Another simple (but time-consuming) way to attack this problem is to create the PE environment that did work for you onto a pendrive, strip that one from all the apps/tools you don't think you need and recreate an iso file from what remains. A tool called: Folder2Iso could be of help.

Or get a Raspberry Pi device (about 30 USD) and use the emulation station software with it. This works also with Linux and Windows machines, but those kinda  defeat the whole purpose.

In any case, what you want has been done already and can be attained for a relatively small amount of money and a bit of (hobbying) time. There are worse ways to spend a Saturday :)
597
General Software Discussion / Re: Et Tu, CCleaner!
« Last post by Shades on August 06, 2018, 02:07 PM »
System Ninja is an alternative. But keep in mind that it is more aggressive in cleaning up. While I myself have not experienced any troubles with it, others have. Or, at least they claim to have.

Then again, I must add that 90% of all the tools that I use are "portable". Most of the tools that do not have such a mode as an option, can either be gotten from sites such as portableapps.com or winpenpack. and if you strike out there, you can use a tool like 'Cameo' to create a (semi-)portable version of the tool.

CCleaner won't be able to affect the workings of such applications and the same is true for System Ninja. All of the above is mentioned just to clarify that results may vary on your system.

On topic:
At least it is still nice to read that companies still listen to the reactions of their users.
598
insufficient user rights? Inside the folder where kalos tries to create the new empty subfolders, I mean. That seems to me the first thing to be looked at. Windows 10 is more strict about that kind of thing than Windows 7 is.
599
General Software Discussion / Re: Need a WinPE USB or ISO tool to load Ext HDD.
« Last post by Shades on August 03, 2018, 03:43 PM »
Are 4Tbyte disks even supported in XP?

Also, the BIOS or UEFI system in your computer might have a limitation of only supporting drives that are 2TByte or smaller. In that case you must look for a tool from the hard disk manufacturer to enable the remaining part of the storage capacity. Still, even with such a tool you won't be able to create partitions bigger than 2TByte.
600
Living Room / Re: DonationCoder website under ddos attack this morning
« Last post by Shades on July 27, 2018, 11:30 AM »
Some NL sites I frequently visit were also unreachable a week or so ago. After research from a tech site that got hit, it appears that someone paid about 40 euro's to have a stress test website attack several domains for a day. No questions asked by the stress test website to see if the person paying for the stress test had anything to do with the requested domains...they just take the money and do their thing. The guy who paid for it was eventually caught, because he started to provoke/brag to one of the admins of the tech site through IRC.
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