Recent Posts

676

General Software Discussion / More Vista Fun and Games

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 28, 2007, 12:23 AM »

According to MaximumPC, Vista forces you to revalidate your installation if you change device drivers "too much":
http://www.maximumpc...n_time_to_fight_back

In other words, if you're a rampant upgrader -- always installing the latest video card driver, for instance -- Vista's piracy detection is triggered and it thinks you're trying to run it on a new, unlicensed workstation.  You then have to re-register Vista either by running the Wizard or calling Microsoft on the phone.

Luckily there appear to be workarounds (documented in the article), but honestly, Vista's security model is a little nuts and needs to be changed. 

Do Mac users suffer through this?  I know Apple is ape-shit paranoid about its ROMS, but do Macs care if you copy disk images around or reinstall OS X on an older Mac?

677

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: New release of my font manager called Cfont Pro

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 28, 2007, 12:06 AM »

How do I get 3.0?  The download.com link gives me 2.6.

678

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: New release of my font manager called Cfont Pro

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 27, 2007, 11:52 PM »

Okay, I posted a note on your forum.  But I can't include the offending font file, so I'll email it to ya.

As far as CFont can see, there's only the one font.  None of the combos (etc) show anything else.

679

Living Room / Re: Exoskeletal

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 27, 2007, 11:44 PM »

Heheh!  Thanks y'all.

The thought of setting up a web site or blog just fills me with "meh".  I like writing, I like coding, but somehow the whole webdesign thing eludes me... anything I do comes out looking like a 3rd grader's FaceBook page. 

I like coming here and posting my goofy little things since somebody else (mouser) does all the heavy lifting.  :-)

I've tried some blogging sites (stuck with Xanga the longest) but it requires more discipline than I have, frankly.  Maintaining a readership is work.  Plus there's a weird kind of sycophantic highschool vibe on bogging networks that bothers me... veryone expends effort trying to impress everyone else.  I see very little of that on DC, despite the fact there are some terrifyingly smart people around.

So I think I'll just stick with random drive-by postings here for a bit.

680

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: New release of my font manager called Cfont Pro

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 27, 2007, 11:31 PM »

Erm, maybe I'm not doing something right, but CFont's reporting 332 fonts installed, but only displaying *one*.  I literally just now installed it and was a bit confused.

Is this a RTFM manual thing? 

681

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Do this First.

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 27, 2007, 11:19 PM »

Another build, v1.2 and this time the version number in the titlebar is correct. :-)

I'm now getting only days and seconds in the countdown/up.     No hours or minutes.

-BigJim (October 27, 2007, 09:49 PM)

I really fixed it good this time, I promise.

Ref: Saving - I think that auto save with every entry would be the safest and easiest thing if you can do it. I love processes that help protect me from my worst enemy ... ME!

Agreed; I made it so.

Also...

- Minimizes to tray now;

- "Save" button has been trashed.  (But don't worry... I recycle);

- New optional "Due d" syntax where d is a numeric day, e.g. "Due 28".  If specified day is <= today it's interpreted as next month;

- New optional "Due d/m" syntax where d/m is the month/day desired, e.g. "12/31".

682

General Software Discussion / YzShadow - Drop shadows for all your windows

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 27, 2007, 10:19 PM »

Via Appaholic, Found a neat little freebie, YzShadow:
http://appaholic.wor...-window-for-windows/

Only takes up 8M RAM, and adds beautiful alpha-blended drop shadows to every window on your desktop.  Performance on low-end video cards can take a hit, but if you're jealous of the OS X desktop this is one step closer for Windows users.

Hint: The readme doesn't say so, but make sure you unzip "with folders" or the Language folder + files can't be found by the app, resulting in an impenetrable japanese error message.

683

Living Room / Re: dotNET compiler for LOLCODE

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 27, 2007, 09:08 PM »

Aieeeeeeeeeeee!

http://newyork.craig...h/cpg/460249817.html

684

Living Room / Re: Windows Install Date Thingie: I made it!

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 27, 2007, 07:12 PM »

Sure, send it on.  And I didn't take it as criticism, far from it.  Thanks for playing with my toys!

685

Living Room / Re: Windows Install Date Thingie: I made it!

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 27, 2007, 07:05 PM »

Ralf, how are you retrieving uptime?

-f0dder (October 27, 2007, 06:21 PM)

GetTickCount

Yes, I know: it rolls over every 49.3 days or something, and causes frog die-offs in Canada, and was blamed for the mass terror & hysteria at 11:59 on 1999, but it's the first thing I grabbed in the toolbox.

686

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Do this First.

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 27, 2007, 06:56 PM »

Okay, maintenance build here... v1.1

Fixes:
- Date/time calculations no longer use Reverse Hungarian Notation, resulting in greater accuracy (I fixed them);

- Addressed cosmetic issues on XP whilst running with default "Balloon Animal" theme.

New Stuff:
- Using the notation "Due +d" where d is a number-of-days (e.g. "Due +45") offset now automagically calculates the date and sticks it in there for you;

- Now plays MP3 files.  Really!  Just drop one on there and double-click the icon.  But shoot, it did that before... oh well.

If I overrun the deadline I'm going to either drop the task or reschedule, so negative time doesn't make much sense.  Ideally, I'd like Due d to be interpreted as "due that day of this month, next month if d<today" and similarly for Due d/m.

-JennyB (October 27, 2007, 03:23 PM)

I'll leave the "past due" stuff as-is for now, unless you object.  Something about seeing clocks run backwards makes me happy.

I'll add the "Due d" and "Due d/m" stuff in the next release.

1. In my trial, the countdown timer is reading one hour too many although the count up from past due is OK.

-BigJim (October 27, 2007, 01:17 PM)

Feexed!  See above.

2. It would be handy if it could minimize to the Task Bar instead of only being able to minimize or close.

I'll do that too in the next build.

3. Incorporating a pop-up alarm of some kind might be a fun thing.

I thought about that, and still might do it, but... the I got the feeling from JennyB that there's not a tremendous sense of urgency about these tasks, that this was intended as a kind of an automated agenda.  If the stuff goes past due, it just gets rescheduled.

But I might do it anyway -- I'm finding I kind of like this wee thingie for my own use. :-)

BTW: It seems to save on close. So what's the need/purpose of the "Save" button?

Since this is the kind of thing that might run continuously in the background, it'd be a shame to lose your latest task twiddlings should the computer crash.  I *could* alter things so that every time the user adds/edits/removes a task the stuff gets saved... what do you think?

BTW2: A cool icon would be fun, too. DC member "ak_" seems to have a flair for this. See his File Nanny submission.

Just sent a message to ak_ pleading for help.  Thanks for the pointer!

UPDATE: Just noticed; the .exe titlebar still says "v1.0" but it's really 1.1.  D'oh!

687

Living Room / Re: Windows Install Date Thingie: I made it!

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 27, 2007, 06:02 PM »

Holy mother of dog!  That's impressive.  Beats my mail server (see attached).

And what on earth were you doing installing Windows at 6 in the morning?  Unless you were up all night trashing it, that's just unnatural...

688

Living Room / Exoskeletal

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 27, 2007, 05:41 PM »

Halloween draws ever nigher, its hot breath stinking of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Twix.  Try to hide, but it's no use: even the local grocery store has sprouted displays of ghosts & witches, all taunting you with hollow plastic eyes. 

So why should this place be any different?

I hereby offer a Halloween story for your amusement.  It's something I wrote back in 2001, an exercise in dissecting a dream and nailing it to paper, in the hopes it would give respite.  Alas, the dream lives yet, but now I also have this cursed story.  Perhaps by sharing it, the burden will be lessened...

I give you: EXOSKELETAL!

689

Living Room / Re: Windows Install Date Thingie: I made it!

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 27, 2007, 03:20 PM »

so where exactly is this program getting its information? I installed my windows os this year, and it said I installed it in 2005

-nite_monkey (October 27, 2007, 03:14 PM)

Check the original post -- the registry key holding the data is described there.

Dunno why yours is reporting something different.  What OS are you running?  Vista?

If you want, fire up rededit.exe and look at the InstallDate key.  What's it say?

690

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Do this First.

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 26, 2007, 06:51 PM »

I wrote you a little something, try it out and let me know if it's close to what you want.

It's called "To Do Or Die" and it's a quickie task manager with links to your documents.

Installation:
Create a new folder and unpack the zip file there. 

Operation:
Run the executable.  Once it's up, you can drag any kind of Windows-recognized document file into the main window.  Drop the file(s) there, and it'll create an entry for each.  There's a maximum of 10 items (sorry).  After you drag at least one file, you can:

- Double click the file's icon to launch it;
- Double click the file's description to edit;
- Use the up/down buttons to change priority;
- Use the "Remove" button to get it gone.

To use the "due date" feature: Simply edit an entry's description and place the magic word "Due" on a line by itself (see screenshot).  After the word "Due" type a space and then the actual due date + time for the entry.  Use any date format you're comfortable with... 10/31/2007 works as well as Oct 31, 2007. 

Including a time component (e.g. "10/31/2007 8:00 PM") automatically displays remaining hrs/min/seconds until time's up.  Past-due items display their time in red.

All settings are stored in an .ini file created alongside the app.  It's plain text.  You can edit the .ini file directly to twiddle the data, if you like.  Settings are saved automatically when you exit the program, or can be force-saved via the "Save" button.

If you want it to start automatically with Windows, create a shortcut and drag it into your Windows "Startup" folder.

Known issues:
So far, the only thing I know of is a slight cosmetic problem should you be using the standard XP "rounded" theme.  I have mine set to "classic" and didn't notice until I ran it on a test machine.  :-)  It's no biggie, and if it bothers you I'll fix it.

Thanks,
Ralf

691

General Software Discussion / Re: Avoid: Jriver Media Center, if you believe in your right of free speech

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 26, 2007, 03:17 PM »

For those interested, this was my reply to the thread: http://yabb.jriver.c....msg294085#msg294085

-KenR (October 26, 2007, 02:54 PM)

Am I mistaken, or when he "looked at your posts" was he seeing the stuff the moderators DIDN'T axe?

As far as the whole "free speech" thing goes, on corporate/private systems anything can be deleted for any reason, without explanation.  It's their servers & resources, so they can do anything they please.

But it's not SMART.  One person's thoughtful/emotional message can be read by others as a senseless frothing rant.  Squelching comments because they're "too negative" or "don't contribute anything" is a slippery slope that leads to user distrust. 

My take on this specific situation is that the moderators' intentions are pure, but they are paranoid about protecting their reputation & company.  By deleting all that they find offensive they present a squeaky-clean image on their forums, but forget that the internet is a very big place.  Unhappy customers will post elsewhere (like, here) and google sees all. 

Ultimately their activites will backfire.  It looks like it's already started...

692

Living Room / Re: Windows Install Date Thingie: I made it!

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 26, 2007, 02:59 PM »

could it be modified to include how long the machine has been running?

i.e. without being rebooted.

-nudone (October 26, 2007, 02:51 PM)

Bing!  Your request has been granted.

693

Living Room / Re: Windows Install Date Thingie: I made it!

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 26, 2007, 02:40 PM »

Actually, systeminfo|find /i "install date" is nicer.

And in my original post above, I incorrectly described what's stored in the InstallDate key.  It's actually an offset (in seconds) from midnight on 1/1/1970.  My app reports the value correctly; I just described it wrong.

And I have a terrifyingly old Windows machine here (my mailserver) that I've run the thingie on... I'll post its results after awhile and see how many people believe it.  :-)

694

Living Room / Windows Install Date Thingie: I made it!

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 26, 2007, 11:26 AM »

Ever wonder when your copy of Windows was installed?  Me neither.

But, today I was poking around in the registry and stumbled across this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\InstallDate

Which is a dword value holding the number of seconds since that fateful day you reinstalled windows last.
(Actually, an offset from 12 midnight, 1/1/1970.)

So naturally I had to write a little applet to pull the value and display it in an easy-to-read format.  As a bonus, you get a real-time update, for those of us with compulsive disorders.

Please download your copy today, and report back the oldest living Windows installation.  The winner will get a hearty thumbs-up and a stern reminder to knock-on-wood.

Thanks,
Ralf

PS... Is there a forum better suited for posting goofy self-written goodies like this?  If so, feel free to move it, forum gods.

UPDATE #1: Edited the reg key for accuracy.  D'oh!
UPDATE #2: Edited description of what the dword stores.  Feh.
UPDATE #3: New 1.1 version has Windows uptime display.

695

Living Room / Re: Clever Programmerisms

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 26, 2007, 08:54 AM »

"What is this talk of 'release'? Klingons do not make software 'releases'. Our software 'escapes' leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality assurance people in its wake!"

-- Unknown Klingon Programmer

696

Living Room / Re: dotNET compiler for LOLCODE

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 26, 2007, 08:51 AM »

Brilliant! But a bit worrisome... somebody SOMEplace is gonna put LOLCODE on their resume.

697

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Single Sigon For My Windows-based Laptop

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 26, 2007, 08:32 AM »

Shoot, dude, I can't keep bluetooth connections solid even when I'm sitting here next to the antenna.  The signal strength bounces up and down and disconnects/reconnects almost at random.  I experimented for a time with a bluetooth wireless headset, thinking it would be a better solution than the wired mic I was using at the time... I ditched it after three days.

It could be that my office is an especially noisy RF environment -- I wouldn't be surprised.  There's enough equipment packed in here that it's always the warmest room in da house.  :-)

Here's a thought: pick up one of those cheap RFID experimenter's kits and stick a chip in your wallet.  From what I understand the implementation is blindingly easy, as it's a simple "there/not there" kind of detection, instead of negotiating link speeds & transmitting data.  The computer senses the chip via its RFID antenna, reports the RFID number via an API, and proximity would be easy to detect.

Plus, you get to play with some cool new technology and learn skills towards the goal of conquoring the world.

As to the password part, mmmmaybe there's a way to tie it all together with a biometrics security module?  I know this isn't strictly a biometrics application, but much of the requirements are the same: store a password and when the user *does something* fire off the password.  The *does something* is usually a fingerprint or voiceprint, but it could just as easily be a card-swipe or (ahem) input from an RFID.  There are quite a few biometrics security packages out there, mostly having to do with Windows login, but I imagine the ones with an SDK would lend themselves to experimentation.

Now I am intrigued... off to do some googling!

UPDATE: Found a few things that may be relevant.

Two open source "password safe" applications that say they store passwords for most major apps, and can be trained.  One is standalone, and can be run from a USB key:

http://keepass.info/index.html
http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/

Secondly, here's a link to the RFID experimenter's kit I was thinking of:

http://www.trossenro...ys-Set.aspx?af=ag734

However, it's more expensive than I remembered, $99.  Ouch.  And because it's got a big goofy antenna mounted to an external pcb dangling from the end of a USB cable, it wouldn't be a very elegant laptop solution.

I've been rethinking the bluetooth thing... perhaps for your app simply detecting the device would be enough.  I don't know anything about bluetooth APIs but the motorola apps I played with treated the thing like a serial modem, with all the overhead of negotiating a signal, detecting baud rate, etc.  Maybe there's a simple "is twinned bluetooth device around?" kind of alternative mechanism?  I have no idea.

But if you get a password-safe solution working, then all you'd have to do is write a small tray applet that monitors for your bluetooth/whatever event, and when it detects the event, either:

1. Activate the Windows "lock desktop" feature (or even "activate screensaver" and password-protect that);

2. If the desktop's locked, send CTRL-ALT-DEL to the desktop, look for the "enter password" window class/title/handle of the password-saver dialog and jam the master password in there.

BTW, I asked on your behalf, and Rube Goldberg says he's *not* helping with this project.

698

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a Profile Desktops

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 26, 2007, 08:18 AM »

Let me take a stab at it, as I *think* I understand what psionics is requesting...

Similar to the way every Windows user gets their own desktop & start button, this would be an easy way to swap desktop layouts.  Users could define "work", "play", "media playback" (etc) profiles and activate them whenever the computer's role needs to change.

All without setting up separate user accounts or using that dreadful "fast user switching" feature in Windows.

Am I close?

699

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: A simple program to reset the bad sector list in NTFS MFT.

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 25, 2007, 08:58 PM »

Most of the time you WANT the bad sector list as-is, since backups are usually restored to the same volume that generated them.  You are right -- it would be nice if, during the "restore" process, it asked about including the table or rebuilding it from scratch.

I use  Acronis 9.1 and one option I've never examined is "Clone Disk" which is intended to copy the contents of one drive to another verbatim.  I wonder if Acronis treats that differently than a backup/restore operation, and skips the bad sector list?

700

Living Room / Re: Leech Attacks

« Last post by Ralf Maximus on October 25, 2007, 03:37 PM »

Isn't it possible that it's someone who likes the site and the discussion but isn't very talkative or doesn't feel like they have much to contribute to discussions, but still loves reading other people posts, and just wanted to give you a thanks?

-mouser (October 25, 2007, 01:54 PM)

Just curious: Is there any mechanism within SMF for detecting lurkers?  Like statistics for their account showing how many pages read even if they never post, that sort of thing?  I assume there's a cookie or something that shows them as "logged in" -- otherwise they'd be tracked as anonymous visitors, maybe IP address only... right?

If that's the case then it'd be possible to separate the friendly lurkers from the one-time spam posts.