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651

PBOL / Re: Progress Bars of Life BETA v2 - With Zenos Alarm

« Last post by dr_andus on December 23, 2013, 09:05 AM »

So, I uninstalled the beta and reinstalled the previous version, but that one won't run now either. It gives me the following messages: "EaccessViolation". And then a bunch of (6 or more) other "Access violation at address etc. etc." messages. Any idea how I can return to using the previous version? Cheers!

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PBOL / Re: Progress Bars of Life BETA v2 - With Zenos Alarm

« Last post by dr_andus on December 23, 2013, 08:50 AM »

Thanks Mouser, interesting idea. However, after I installed and ran the beta, the bars are no longer showing up, only the captions.

My set-up: full-sized dock at the bottom of the screen, all bars on one single row.

Win 7, 64-bit.

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N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: Fixed z-order for windows (keep z-order if a window is clicked)

« Last post by dr_andus on December 20, 2013, 09:18 AM »

especially on multi-monitor setups, it would be great if there was a way to click or work in application windows without having them jump in the foreground and covering up everything (on every monitor).

-David.P (December 20, 2013, 02:39 AM)

If I understand you correctly, I believe you can do this with Direct Folders (even the free version). Once you have DF installed and running, all you need to do is right-click on the close [X] icon of the window you want to keep on top, and it will stay on top. Do same to deactivate.

Edit:
For some reason they don't mention this feature on their homepage, but there is more info on it here. Elsewhere they even provide a link to an alternative solution, WinRoll (which I haven't tried yet).

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General Software Discussion / Re: In search of an alternative to InfoSelect ...

« Last post by dr_andus on December 18, 2013, 07:34 AM »

But my biggest complaint is that it is too . . . pretty?

-James-B (December 17, 2013, 07:16 AM)

Yeah, I actually had a similar problem with it. Somehow its skeuomorphism stands in the way of its functionality (despite the fact that it seems to be a very sophisticated software).

But the problem with these sorts of PIM and note-taking applications is that there is such a wide variety of user needs and software features and benefits that it takes a lot of careful analysis of one's needs and the software available to find the perfect match. E.g. there are ones that focus on capturing, or storing, or organising, or analysing notes, but few that can do all of those functions equally well.

E.g. if you want to store and organise notes, then there is the decision whether it should be a "tape", a hierarchical tree, a wiki, or some sort of a database interface. They all have their strengths and weaknesses.

And then there are the needs and computing skills of the user. Some software might turn out to be too basic, while others have too steep a learning curve.

There is a big difference between The Guide and OneNote, for instance. What functionality are you particularly looking for?

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Living Room / Re: Google Reader gone

« Last post by dr_andus on December 12, 2013, 05:03 PM »

I agree Inoreader is one of the best of the new breed of RSS readers. But I am wary simply on the basis that it lacks a business model. At first it was a one-man project, with no charge to users, then recently it was adopted as a project by the company the creator works for. But there's still no concrete plan to charge, just the notion that it will be "freemium" at some stage.

-johnk (July 06, 2013, 01:37 PM)

InoReader has now released a payment plan:

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PBOL / Re: Latest Progress Bars of Life - Version 1.09 - Nov 30, 2013

« Last post by dr_andus on December 05, 2013, 08:44 AM »

Suggestion: it would be nice to have an option to hide the border in PBOL, just like in DC... Every pixel counts 

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General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by dr_andus on December 04, 2013, 05:58 PM »

Thanks for all the advice. I admit I haven't done all the elimination tests yet, as I do need my 3rd monitor for my daily work, and this is the machine I need to use all day.

But I didn't realise I can just unistall CCC. I'll do that then, and see if there are any improvements.

As for the power supply, I don't really know how to tell whether it's adequate. I presume you are referring to the power supply inside the PC? It's a 3-year old Acer Aspire M7811.

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General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by dr_andus on December 04, 2013, 11:15 AM »

(see attachment in previous post)
Do you have the system set to auto-update, (default is 3am everyday)?

This isn't going to turn out to be something as simple as this all along is it? 

-4wd (November 27, 2013, 05:00 AM)

Actually it didn't, in the end. I turned off the auto-update a few days ago, but I had a recurrence today. This time however I managed to catch it in the act. I awoke the PC, and as it was coming back to life, I unwisely tried to move one software window from one monitor to the next (using Winsplit Revolution's CTRL+ALT+arrow hotkey) before it fully woke up. At this point all three screens went blank (the grey colour of my desktop) and stayed that way. I unplugged and replugged the  DisplayPort to VGA Video Adapter Converter, but it didn't make a difference. After a while suddenly the Windows login box popped up, which surprised me, as I didn't see any signs of rebooting.

When I checked Reliability History, it said "Windows Logon Application stopped working." The ACEEEvent log was full of all kinds of ATI and CCC.exe errors, as usual.

I think I have figured out two things here:

1) The problem does seem to point to the ATI graphics card (and possibly the adapter for the 3rd monitor); and

2) there doesn't seem to be an actual complete reboot involved!! I don't hear all the usual reboot noises (fan etc.), it just seems to restart Windows somehow and asks me to log back on. Could this be possible?

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PBOL / Re: Latest Progress Bars of Life - Version 1.09 - Nov 30, 2013

« Last post by dr_andus on December 02, 2013, 09:06 AM »

ps. Progress Bars of Life falls into the group of programs I have written that may actually have 0 users.

-mouser (November 30, 2013, 04:36 PM)

Here's another use case...

I have set it up for my trail running events next year, it can keep me focused on my training . I really like it, could even get me out of trouble in terms of birthdays and anniversaries

660

PBOL / Re: Latest Progress Bars of Life - Version 1.09 - Nov 30, 2013

« Last post by dr_andus on November 30, 2013, 05:19 PM »

I've only just started using it today, but it's a keeper! At the moment the examples in the app and in the screenshots are oriented towards personal use. I'd suggest to add a couple of project management type examples. That might help people realise how useful this could be as a way to motivate oneself by visualising the vanishing of time and the approach of a big scary deadline (though projected mortality date is a step too far for me personally).

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PBOL / Re: Latest Progress Bars of Life - Version 1.09 - Nov 30, 2013

« Last post by dr_andus on November 30, 2013, 11:35 AM »

Thanks, Mouser, great stuff! Only just discovered this one today. Is there any way to display it over Desktop Coral?

Edit: Ignore my question. I just realised that it works as a DC in its own right.

662

General Software Discussion / Re: Table/S'sheet: cells can be dragged up down w/out moving rows (Exist?)

« Last post by dr_andus on November 29, 2013, 10:54 AM »

Does something like this exist ? (or would it make a good NANY idea?)

a spreasheet or table, where I can move the individual cells up or down *without* moving the row the cell is in.

-tomos (November 29, 2013, 07:22 AM)

TreeSheets can do something like that but with keyboard shortcuts, not the mouse (as far as I know).

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Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: New program: FileSearchy Beta - Quick file search utility (freeware)

« Last post by dr_andus on November 28, 2013, 08:28 AM »

Do you find the ranking in DocFetcher really useful?

-Cashper (November 28, 2013, 07:24 AM)

I have only just looked at it today. It doesn't seem to be all that accurate, as I get radically different (i.e. more relevant) results when I search my PDF library for the same search term with PDF-Xchange Viewer Pro. So it's not so much about the way DocFetcher does it. It's more about the idea of being able to sort the results by relevance (even Copernic Desktop Search doesn't seem to be able to do that) by clicking on a column. PDF-Xchange Viewer Pro doesn't seem to be able to rank by relevance either.

P.S. Agent Ransack doesn't seem to have a relevance ranking either, though it compensates for it somewhat by only showing the relevant paragraphs, which is kind of clever, and by making it easy to move from one document to the next using the arrows.

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Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: New program: FileSearchy Beta - Quick file search utility (freeware)

« Last post by dr_andus on November 28, 2013, 06:32 AM »

Nice. Thanks for posting this. I like the relevance bar. However, I miss the ability to rank the search results by relevance (the way it's possible in DocFetcher for instance). I need to search for terms in the contents of 1300 PDF files (ebooks and articles), and going through e.g. 500 results is time-consuming.

665

General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by dr_andus on November 27, 2013, 01:02 PM »

It seems that a couple of months ago, Windows did something that switched both my PC and my wife's to auto-update. That setting had previously been turned off (because it's evil), but it got turned back on somehow.

-CWuestefeld (November 27, 2013, 12:44 PM)

Interesting. That would explain why it hasn't bothered me before (I bought this PC 3 yrs ago, which is when I would have set the auto-update settings to "download updates but let me choose") and make me look less of an amateur (which I nonetheless still am).

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General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by dr_andus on November 27, 2013, 06:35 AM »

Don't turn in the badge yet... If anything, this was a very helpful discussion. I got a lot less dust in my PC for a start.  Not to mention all the updated drivers and software. Many thanks for all the help. (I did change the settings, so I'll wait and see if the reboots stop as well.)

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General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by dr_andus on November 27, 2013, 05:23 AM »

Do you have the system set to auto-update, (default is 3am everyday)?

This isn't going to turn out to be something as simple as this all along is it? 

-4wd (November 27, 2013, 05:00 AM)

Thanks!    You were right. Having said that, nowhere does it say that you also give them the permission to restart your PC. I usually have quite a few applications open with work-in-progress, so I don't like the idea of those being shut down. But can MS still do the updates while the PC is not actually running?

In any case, many thanks for educating me about the Reliability Monitor and the Event Viewer. It helped me discover that there are some problems with either my ATI card, or with CCC, or with .NET Framework (or with all of them). In fact in the last 24 hrs I've received 12 SideBySide errors, which also seems to be .NET related. But I have just been sent a .NET 4.5.1 update, so hopefully that will fix things. Cheerio...

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General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by dr_andus on November 27, 2013, 04:54 AM »

I may have spoken too soon, as after having put it to sleep last night, this morning when I woke the PC, it was in a rebooted state, asking me to log on.

Now there is one (to me) curious aspect to this: how can a PC reboot itself while it is sleeping? I don't hear any noise whatsoever... No fans, no disks, nothing. Or does it happen while it's pretending to go to sleep? Granted, the time it is taking to go to sleep has gotten longer in recent weeks, and it can take from 30 sec up to a minute.

Here is the second curious thing. When I checked the Reliability Monitor this morning, it told me I had 27 Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 updates, security updates, and application reconfigurations between 03:08 and 03:25. Now, both me and my PC were fast asleep then. So, how could it have been doing all these installations during that time? Could it be then Microsoft that has rebooted my machine overnight to finish the update?

If so, I'd really like to (un)check some box somewhere to make it ask me first before it reboots my PC...

669

General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by dr_andus on November 26, 2013, 08:41 AM »

I'd just realised that there was a stupid option in Catalyst Control Center (CCC) that says "Allow Web content," which hid the links to "Check for driver updates." It turned out that I didn't have the latest driver, so I downloaded the installer.

It took well over an hour to install everything. It installed the new driver, removed .NET 4.0 and installed .NET 4.5, MS Visual C++ 2012 x86, and a new version of AMD CCC.

But the error reports in the ACEEventLog continue, looking very similar to the ones above.

How worried should I be about these? The original automatic re-boot problem seems to have stopped, and all 3 of my monitors work fine. This is not affecting my work currently in any way.

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General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by dr_andus on November 26, 2013, 07:22 AM »

I don't know that anybody hates Bonjour more than I do, but I can't see it doing this. So I'd stay focused on the video angle for now.

-Stoic Joker (November 26, 2013, 07:02 AM)

I have disabled Bonjour (using WinPatrol Pro), but the ATI errors keep happening. They seem to be more varied now, but they all seem to have something to do with Catalyst Control Center. E.g.

Exception <UpdateJumpLists>: A valid active Window is needed to update the Taskbar
 Exception  Called by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Dashboard.DBFavouritesSectionVMController::DoSetTree 

Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Branding\BrandingResourcesNet4.dll' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
Error      Called by: System.RuntimeTypeHandle::CreateInstance

Failed to retrieve Fuel shared caste
 Error      Called by: ATI.ACE.CCC.Implementation.CCC_Main::CCCNewThreadBegin     

Could not find Type [ATI.ACE.CLI.AIB.TutorialInfoCentre.Tutorial.Dashboard.DB_TutorialInfoCentre] from [CLI.AIB.TutorialInfoCentre.Tutorial.Dashboard] in assembly [CLI.AIB.TutorialInfoCentre.Tutorial.Dashboard]
 Error      Called by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Client.Shared.Private.BaseCaste::ProcessAspects   

Exception <Load>: Could not load file or assembly 'CLI.AIB.TutorialInfoCentre.Tutorial.Dashboard' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
 Exception  Called by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Component.Client.Shared.Private.BaseCaste::LoadAspects     

Failed to subscrive to HKCU;software\wow6432node\ati\ace\settings\aem
 Error      Called by: System.Threading.ExecutionContext::runTryCode       

FAILED: ADL.ADL.ADL_DFP_AllowOnlyCETimings_Get
 Error      Called by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Aspect.DeviceDFP.Graphics.Runtime.RT_DeviceDFP::NotifyeeValueUpdated                         

IDEMDeviceDFP2Settings_0812.GetDFP2ITCFlag failed with status 7
 Error      Called by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Aspect.DeviceDFP.Graphics.Runtime.RT_DeviceDFP::NotifyeeValueUpdated

iDEMDeviceDFP2Settings.GetDFP2DVIReduceBlankingInfo failed with status 7
 Error      Called by: ATI.ACE.CLI.Aspect.DeviceDFP.Graphics.Runtime.RT_DeviceDFP::NotifyeeValueUpdated     

These all occured within a minute or two (and the list goes on).

Reliability History also tells me that I had a "critical event" yesterday: Video hardware error.

In the meantime I'd cleaned out the dust from the PC, using a fine brush  , but that didn't seem to make a difference.
           

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General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by dr_andus on November 25, 2013, 06:48 PM »

Aside from what Target mentioned, (trying Safe Mode), I'd be tempted to remove iTunes, the ATI drivers, and the .NET Framework.
Optional: Use Driver Sweeper to remove any trace of the ATI graphics drivers and the .NET Cleanup Tool.

Then reinstall .NET and the latest ATI drivers for the card and see how that goes for a while.

As before: Do a BACKUP before you do the above.

-4wd (November 25, 2013, 06:19 PM)

Wow, that sounds like a massive job.    I think I'll start with the dusting...

But many thanks for all the advice. I'll have to go and sort this out step-by-step. It will take a while...

672

General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by dr_andus on November 25, 2013, 05:42 PM »

These events are happening one minute before the ATI driver has a hernia.  Can you check to see if that trend is followed with prior events, (the sample on the captures is rather small) ?

-4wd (November 25, 2013, 04:28 PM)

No. That seems to have been just a coincidence. But the ATI driver does seem to be crashing a lot then. It has given me 21 events only today (and I'm only counting the events occurring at different times, as I had 13 events at 23:29:40 alone), even though I haven't noticed anything unusual happening.

But I still need to clean the dust, if this could have something to do with overheating.

BTW, when I click on Event Log Online Help, I get the following message:



Then it takes me to an MS website which says "Results for: Microsoft Product: .NET Framework; Version: 2.0.50727.4927; Event ID: 0; Event Source: ACEEventLogSource; No results were found for your query."

So what has the .NET Framework got to do with all this (ATI driver crashes)?

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General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by dr_andus on November 25, 2013, 07:32 AM »

Look at the Event Logs

-4wd (November 24, 2013, 06:13 PM)

Thanks for that. I found two unusual events (see screenshots below).

Firstly, in the ECEEventLog (whatever that is), for the last 5 days I have 743 events, and they all seem to relate to  ATI.ACE.CLI.Aspect.DeviceDFP.Graphics.Runtime.RT_DeviceDFP, which seems to point to my ATI Radeon graphics card. Is that bad?



Secondly, under Administrative Events, I have 2374 errors (out of 2,445 errors in total) for the last 7 days, produced by Apple's Bonjour Service. I imagine this is for syncing with iCloud (which I don't really use), and checking whether I have the latest iTunes (which I don't really use). Is this something bad enough that it would be better for me to block this somehow?

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General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 11 screen stretches like taffy

« Last post by dr_andus on November 25, 2013, 04:34 AM »

Mine doesn't stretch, but I'm unhappy about the quality of the font rendering. I only use IE11 for checking email on an MS Office Outlook Web Access page, but on my 1920x1080 and 1680x1050 screens the font looks noticeably worse (skinnier, less legible, uglier). It's tiny at 100% zoom, still small at 125%, but too big at 150%. One could of course do a custom zoom, but that takes 4 steps and can't be saved!

One would have thought that MS would at least make sure that their own service looked good in their own browser...

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General Software Discussion / Re: How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

« Last post by dr_andus on November 24, 2013, 05:53 PM »

If the user isn't much of a gamer, then there really isn't much of a load on the card at runtime.

-Stoic Joker (November 24, 2013, 09:25 AM)

No, I'm not. I don't do any heavy-duty image or video processing either. It's mostly just typing away, though I can have many different software running at the same time.

But at start up (or wake) the machine will need to rapidly switch display modes several times...so if it's doing this for 3 monitors, it could make for just enough of a load spike to trip up the card.

-Stoic Joker (November 24, 2013, 09:25 AM)

I did notice when I plugged in the 3rd monitor with the DisplayPort VGA Adapter for the first time that my PC became a bit less snappy. But I was willing to trade the deterioration in performance for having a 3rd monitor.

And yes, it is usually at start-up or wake when the Adapter would fail and I would need to plug it in and out. My guess is that it happens maybe 3-5% of the time, so not often enough to really make me want to buy a different make or look for another solution.

Otherwise my specs are: MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1, Intel Core i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80GHz, 8.0GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series, Adapter RAM 1.00 GB

Hmm, more intermittent faults ... time for the Shotgun approach?  

-4wd (November 24, 2013, 04:54 PM)

...which is...? (sorry, you'd need to spell it out for me, I'm not much of a hardware guy either...)