Recent Posts

7276

Living Room / Re: "Net Nanny" or other inappropriate content blocking programs

« Last post by wraith808 on June 13, 2012, 04:04 PM »

I use OpenDNS.  Set your router to use it instead of your ISP's DNS, password protect the router setup, and you are good to go.  You can create a free account and choose what categories to filter, and even do a bit of customizing the block page.  You could also just set her computer to use OpenDNS, however it is much easier and more secure at the router level.

If you need help, let me know and I can walk you through it. In the screenshot below, that is me, and my technologically savvy daughter on the OpenDNS block page.
 (see attachment in previous post)

-y0himba (June 06, 2012, 04:50 AM)

I love OpenDNS... the only think I don't like is that the list is crowd sourced.  So until a site is tagged, it's not blocked, and sometimes sites can be blocked that shouldn't necessarily be because of being mis-tagged.

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Living Room / Re: Where Is Cody? Here!

« Last post by wraith808 on June 13, 2012, 11:47 AM »

Sorry to hear the wife has had a hard time.  Glad she's home. 

-kunkel321 (June 13, 2012, 09:02 AM)

This. 

7278

Living Room / Re: If you are a LinkedIn user, then change your password pronto.

« Last post by wraith808 on June 07, 2012, 02:13 PM »

To my knowledge, this is the second time something like this has happened at LinkedIn. The last time was on 2010-12-14, when LinkedIn emailed members telling them to change their passwords.

-IainB (June 06, 2012, 05:02 PM)

IIRC, the first time was due to a gawker.com breach, and they were advising that as a precaution in case the same password was used on their site.

-daddydave (June 07, 2012, 08:48 AM)

This recollection is true.  And Linked In is the only social networking site that I've even seen as useful... so YMMV I guess...

7279

General Software Discussion / Re: EMDB: Eric's Movie Database

« Last post by wraith808 on June 07, 2012, 02:09 PM »

Wraith - surely you have read some of the 20 page threads in their forum arguing violently over whether certain crew members' middle initials should be included in the DVD profiles. Really obsessive folks there! I had clicked Yes to submit some of my episode profiles when I created them and the program prompted me to upload them to their database. You should have seen the nasty comments/PMs I received because I included info beyond what was on the DVD case! Of course I never submitted anything again!

-J-Mac (June 07, 2012, 06:52 AM)

Actually... no.  I've not frequented the forums at all.  I find most official forums to be full of nutjobs, so I try not to visit them. 

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General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... what version of .net a program is using

« Last post by wraith808 on June 07, 2012, 02:07 PM »

No, you will rarely need multiple versions of .NET for one program especially a small one- the only case where this comes into play if a program uses assemblies (DLLs) that have requisite earlier versions.  And this becomes less of an issue in later versions as they are inclusive, i.e. 3 or higher, and you just install the latest version of .NET.

That said- on to the most reliable method I know.  The question that comes closest to what you want is what version of CLR is required.  This is a very intensive way to find out the information, so it requires a developer or a very technical person.

Install the .NET SDK (if not installed).  You should have it installed if you have visual studio installed.
Run ILDASM and select the application.  If from visual studio, you can open the visual studio command prompt and run it easily.


Look at the Manifest Node.


There are two places you can look- in the application resources, there should be an indication of the .NET version.  You can also look for the windows assemblies to see the versions.  I've highlighted both below.


That should give you a pretty good indication of the highest version involved.

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General Software Discussion / Re: EMDB: Eric's Movie Database

« Last post by wraith808 on June 07, 2012, 06:28 AM »

I use DVD Profiler, and have been very happy with it.  I don't keep up as much with it now, but I'd still heartily recommend it even after its sale.  They are still using the model of lifetime updates, and they have great online features.

My DVD List (sadly out of date, but it gives you an idea of what you can output online)

Note: They've changed their website, and it sucks... they have the forum on top and the software at the bottom for some reason.  Just scroll down and you can see the content.

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General Software Discussion / Re: EMDB: Eric's Movie Database

« Last post by wraith808 on June 06, 2012, 09:52 AM »

It would be so easy to cut off spammers if the first post was vetted by mods.

-nosh (June 06, 2012, 02:03 AM)

This.  But I can't imagine the workload increase- would it be a lot, or not?

7283

Living Room / Re: Lost my father

« Last post by wraith808 on June 06, 2012, 09:47 AM »

Though words are woefully insufficient at a time like this, my condolences, Stoic.

7284

Developer's Corner / Re: Visual Studio 11 Express to only build Metro apps

« Last post by wraith808 on June 05, 2012, 06:51 PM »

You're right. I need to rephrase my opinion then. I think certain features are so essential nowadays that they should be in VS Professional, most importantly Code Coverage.

-phitsc (June 05, 2012, 04:07 PM)

That I can get on board with.  The target for professional should be small VARs- hobbyists are just an added spectrum of support.  For these VARs, some of the pseudo-enterprise features are quite important.

7285

Developer's Corner / Re: Visual Studio 11 Express to only build Metro apps

« Last post by wraith808 on June 05, 2012, 10:47 AM »

The target audience for their higher end compilers is not the general public, but enterprises.  They also come with other things other than just the compiler, so while I don't like it, I understand it.  I do agree that Pro should be less, however.  Perhaps not sub-$100 (though I wouldn't complain), but $200-$300 would be nice.

7286

Living Room / Re: A judge with programming experience, maybe there is hope?

« Last post by wraith808 on June 03, 2012, 06:33 PM »

Yet another reason why the judicial system sucks.  You look at it from the positive - and it is.  But from the negative, what would have happened if another judge had received the case.  Courtrooms as fiefdoms... bah.  I need not to get started on that particular rant.

7287

Living Room / Re: Does OpenDNS or GoogleDNS slow down your access? Private DNS server???

« Last post by wraith808 on June 02, 2012, 11:10 AM »

It seems like specifically he's talking about overseas use.  My lookups are actually faster and the speed has noticeably increased since I switched.  It would seem that there needs to be such an option for overseas use, i.e. if google would put DNS servers also in the UK or there was an alternative to OpenDNS that operated out of the UK/Europe.

7288

Living Room / Re: Fedora/Microsoft - Embrace, Extend, Assimiliate

« Last post by wraith808 on June 01, 2012, 06:07 PM »

So no...it's not exactly up to the manufacturer not to implement it if they plan on shipping machines with Windows pre-installed (OEM) - or if they want to even have Windows on an ARM based device.

-40hz (June 01, 2012, 04:21 PM)

I didn't think it was up to the manufacturer not to implement it- just to make it easily able to be disabled.  And I (personally) don't see the arm requirement as that big of a dealbreaker as the ARM devices will be portable devices (most likely) where that isn't as big of a deal, at least IMO.

If the system ships with a UEFI-compatible OS, system firmware must be implemented as UEFI and it must be able to achieve UEFI boot mode by default. Such a system may also support fallback to legacy BIOS boot on systems with OS which do not support UEFI, but only if the user selects that option in a pre-boot firmware user interface. Legacy option ROMs also may not be loaded by default.
"Explicit User Action" means that end user (or in case of enterprise customer, the IT pro) must manually access the pre-boot firmware configuration screen and change the setting. It may not ship in the BIOS mode by default and programmatic methods which can be attacked by malware are not acceptable.

So it has to have it enabled (which I'd assume it would be if you're shipping a system with Windows installed), and not automatically fall back.  Still doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

I don't think that Windows 8 will boot in such an environment from what I've read.  So you have to accept it for using Microsoft's OS du jour, but not for any other OS.

* wraith808 shrugs

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Living Room / Re: Fedora/Microsoft - Embrace, Extend, Assimiliate

« Last post by wraith808 on June 01, 2012, 04:14 PM »

Since it's circa 2011, I wonder if (a) something's changed or (b) it's just been forgotten in interim? Either is likely possible...

7290

Living Room / Re: Just Had a Baby Girl~!

« Last post by wraith808 on June 01, 2012, 12:46 PM »

Congrats!

7291

Living Room / Re: Fedora/Microsoft - Embrace, Extend, Assimiliate

« Last post by wraith808 on June 01, 2012, 12:21 PM »

The problem isn't how much or who pays for it. The problem is that UEFI drives a wedge down the middle of what was formerly an open hardware ecosystem. Now there are "Windows PCs" and "non-Windows PCs" on the hardware level. Microsoft has used its numbers to effectively get its own proprietary hardware platform (like Apple) without actually having to manufacture it. Which is the best of all possible worlds in that they can control a huge segment of the mobo/CPU market without having to "own" anything. A very handy argument to make when accused of anticompetitive business practices in the USA.

This could, of course, be easily eliminated as a problem if all the PC manufacturers would include a simple mechanism (a switch on the back of the case or a jumper on the mobo) to turn off UEFI without having to go through heroics. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting to see that happen. I'm sure there will be some purely token hand wringing and breast beating on the part of certain manufacturers (Dell et al.) over this. But nothing of substance will emerge from it.

-40hz (June 01, 2012, 11:34 AM)

(via NeoWin circa 2011)

• UEFI allows firmware to implement a security policy
  
• Secured boot is a UEFI protocol not a Windows 8 feature
  
• UEFI secured boot is part of Windows 8 secured boot architecture
  
• If desired, Windows 8 utilizes secured boot to ensure that the pre-OS environment is secure
  
• Secured boot doesn’t “lock out” operating system loaders, but is is a policy that allows firmware to validate authenticity of components
  
• OEMs have the ability to customize their firmware to meet the needs of their customers by customizing the level of certificate and policy management on their platform
  
• Microsoft does not mandate or control the settings on PC firmware that control or enable secured boot from any operating system other than Windows
  

So that would seem to leave it up to the manufacturer- and some have already done this.  Or have things changed appreciably since this was released?

7292

Living Room / Re: Fedora/Microsoft - Embrace, Extend, Assimiliate

« Last post by wraith808 on June 01, 2012, 10:25 AM »

I'm going to regret this, I'm sure...

It's a payment to Verisign for the vendor to be able to sign the binaries, right?  Sort of like with SSL?  Or am I misunderstanding something?

If I'm not, so Fedora pays Verisign, and signs their binaries- where does the user come into this?

I understand from the point that people compile their own kernels and such so this is problematic in terms of running your own compiled version of Linux on your own machine which seems bad- but the article says something about "Red Hat users face service fee to run Fedora on Windows 8 machines", but that doesn't seem it at all... or am I misunderstanding?

7293

DC Gamer Club / A Deal on a Trade

« Last post by wraith808 on May 31, 2012, 09:04 AM »

From the Humble Introversion Bundle, I have a key that redeems for Crayon Physics Deluxe, Aquaria, and Dungeons of Dredmor.  The only one I don't have is Dungeons of Dredmor, so if I redeem, the other two licenses get wasted.   DoD, however, is on Steam for $2.49 on sale until June 2nd.  If someone wants to do a trade, i.e. you get DoD and I give you the key for the other three in exchange, it's a good way to get three good games for $2.49.  Let me know if there are any takers.

7294

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Charity?

« Last post by wraith808 on May 31, 2012, 09:01 AM »

Considering your software in particular, Renegade, you might definitely want to check which local schools have a music program.  I think there's definitely a synergy there, though you'd have to do a bit of leg/phone/email- work.

7295

Developer's Corner / Re: Visual Studio 11 Express to only build Metro apps

« Last post by wraith808 on May 26, 2012, 11:56 AM »

WPF is not a dead technology (and they haven't said that it is or that they're dropping support, at least as far as I know).  Silverlight, yes.  But WPF?  Source?  And as far as I know you can't create services and such with just Metro coding either.

7296

Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by wraith808 on May 26, 2012, 11:54 AM »

^ Sorry... I wasn't trying to be argumentative- trying to discuss on a discussion forum.  Some people do believe that 'theft' is the right word, and I wanted to have a conversation.  Then the response.  Pah... close to giving up on discussing anything.

7297

Developer's Corner / Re: Visual Studio 11 Express to only build Metro apps

« Last post by wraith808 on May 25, 2012, 12:55 PM »

It's even larger than that.  The Windows SDK will no longer build .NET apps.

from http://msdn.microsof...rdware/hh852363.aspx

The Windows SDK no longer ships with a complete command-line build environment. The Windows SDK now requires a compiler and build environment to be installed separately. If you require a complete development environment, including compilers and a build environment, Microsoft Visual Studio 11 Beta is available for download.

Though I like VS, I use other products, i.e. SlickEdit that hook into the SDK to build- I've even built apps completely with Notepad++ and the SDK... especially services.  This is shutting them out in the cold to be able to build.

7298

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: [Gamersgate] Spring Sales (Up to 80% off)

« Last post by wraith808 on May 24, 2012, 10:43 PM »

I just looked at their screenshots in the press kit of their client- it appears to be a custom web browser wrapped around the GG site?!?

VOID

VOID Press Kit

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Living Room / Re: Is Linux just a hobby?

« Last post by wraith808 on May 24, 2012, 10:38 PM »

^ Above that was said to be theft (and never answered), and then you dovetailed on the conversation with your comments, which was the reason for the question.

7300

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: [Gamersgate] Spring Sales (Up to 80% off)

« Last post by wraith808 on May 24, 2012, 03:53 PM »

A note about GG.. they seem to be taking a note from Gamefly, Impulse, and Steam- they're releasing a client next week...