Recent Posts

801

Living Room / Re: Zip Drives revisited

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 31, 2016, 07:19 AM »

My First Pentium machine(a 500Mhz Pentium III) was supposed to be a server.  I got it as payment for a coding project.  It was a bit underpowered for a server but it made a nice workstation.  Anyway, it came with Lan hardware and a built in zip drive.  I never got around to buying another zip disk.  I just used the 100 MB that came with it.  It is too bad the disks were so expensive.  Every time I tried to psych myself up to buy a 250 MB zip disk I thought of other stuff I could really use for the money.

I only used it for quick and dirty file backup.  The capacity just wasn't high enough to back up my system.  Mainly source code file copy.  I don't remember it being bootable either.  That would have made a decent option for a rescue disk if so.


In fact I applied for a job at IOmega.  I remember the interviewer shoving disks in the thing to show me how it worked, before I got the PC with the drive.  Weird how things go.  I never thought there would come a time with floppy free PCs.  I just figured the capacity would increase.  But I guess it is a losing proposition to spin the media if you don't have to. 

802

General Software Discussion / Re: svchost /k netsvcs [Problem on Win.7]

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 29, 2016, 02:23 PM »

Do you know what it is running when svchost hogs the core?  Svchost is basically a loader to load and run a service.  When some service hogs the machine, like Windows Media Player scouring all your files looking for media files to share, it can show up as svchost.exe or as explorer opening and closing every file on the system.

Next time it hogs resources see which service is associated in task manager.

Also you can try backing up the registry(via restore point or dedicated registry backup tool,) then setting all your services at once to the Black Viper recommended settings.  You may get lucky.  That may smooth things out.

803

General Software Discussion / Re: svchost /k netsvcs [Problem on Win.7]

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 29, 2016, 01:30 PM »

I'll do a proper backup of this OS etc and then try installing the KB mentioned above.

-tomos (May 29, 2016, 12:05 PM)

Is there the possibility of restoring via a backup image to a state when the problem was in abeyance?  Myself, if I got it solved I think I would disable Windows Update service right then and there.

804

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 29, 2016, 01:15 PM »

Watering a fir tree in a downpour...a metaphor for what?

-IainB (May 28, 2016, 02:09 PM)

Heh.  In the condo park where I used to live one could often see the sprinklers running in a downpour.  After much criticism they made an effort to call someone in the control room to kill the sprinklers during a driving rain or tropical storm.  But I'm sure it was on an informal basis.  If the condo association board member in charge of grounds maintenance wasn't home to answer the phone the sprinklers ran until the timer expired.


But when it comes to government I can readily imagine them exhuming a corpse to execute a perpetrator killed without the proper jot or tittle.

805

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea : One Shot System Time Sync

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 29, 2016, 01:02 PM »

The Powershell version:

-4wd (May 28, 2016, 08:50 PM)

Thanks for the contribution. 

806

General Software Discussion / Re: Slimjet updated to 10.0.3.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 28, 2016, 11:10 AM »

Hmmm auto updating on my portable version does not seem to be fixed yet.

807

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 28, 2016, 09:48 AM »

Nouvelle Vague~ Bela Lugosi's Dead

-tomos (May 27, 2016, 03:47 PM)

Hmm, I thought being dead was how he made his living.

808

Skrommel's Software / Re: Desklock

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 27, 2016, 09:48 AM »

close the task manager all right, more is there any way to use desklock without the option to exit the own program , or have any way to run it without it appears in the system tray next to the clock ?

-renatorediesel (May 27, 2016, 09:41 AM)

You can change the source code.  On the download area the green A icon downloads the script source. To get the free AutoHotkey development installer and also help learning to use it see this site:

https://autohotkey.com/boards/index.php

Getting rid of the system tray icon is easy.  At the top of the .ahk file put the line
#NoTrayIcon

Unfortunately Skrommel, the author of those scripts, has been otherwise occupied for several years now.  But the reason source code is available is so that you may make needed changes for your own use.  See the "Ask For Help" forum on the AutoHotkey forums index.  Who knows?  After you fix a script or two to your liking you may start writing original utilities of your own in AHK.

809

General Software Discussion / Re: Slimjet updated to 10.0.2.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 27, 2016, 09:38 AM »

By the way, I am becoming grudgingly impressed with SlimJet:

-IainB (May 27, 2016, 08:58 AM)

For me it does have some minor frustrations.  Although it snaps open and appears responsive, I find that once a page is loaded there are strange delays when trying to vertical scroll.  Sometimes I drag the scroll bar thumb tab and it stubbornly remains at the current location for 10 or more seconds.  If I use the mouse wheel to scroll it does nothing at first, then does more than what I want so that I have to keep going by where I want to go instead of going right to it.

In some ways Netscape 6.x and dial-up with my USR 56K external modem was superior.  Other than file download speed that is.

810

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: [free] Start Menu 10 Pro

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 27, 2016, 09:30 AM »

I'm still trialling it, but I would suggest you give some thought to using Listary together with FARR instead of Start Menu 10, which looks to me rather like a waste of space from the blurb.
To escape the dreaded Metro-like interface aspects of Win10, I use the excellent Classic Start Menu anyway, and would have no need of Start Menu 10.

-IainB (May 27, 2016, 09:15 AM)

I tried Classic Shell(is that the same thing?) and I got some flaky behavior.  Mainly I use Start Menu 10 for shortcut search of stuff that is not used often.  And now and then I get a hit on the Recently Used programs panel.

I did FARR for a few years.  But one reason I got away from a dedicated launcher is that someone mentioned you can start typing in a folder and Windows will select the icon with the name.  That was most of what slowed me down.  Looking through a maze of icons trying to remember what the logo for the program was etc..

I use Everything Search for general file search.  I don't have much need for file content search.  But if I do I usually go with SearchMyFiles.

Mostly I have a start menu so that I can Winkey r to get the run line for stuff like shell:startup to open the user startup folder.  Stuff that is a pain if you cannot use the shell prefix to open it.

811

Found Deals and Discounts / [free] AnVir Task Manager Pro

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 27, 2016, 07:47 AM »

I am an occasional user of AnVir Task Manager Free.  It has a pretty nice UI for a TM replacement.  When I saw this Pro version free I figured may as well.

http://sharewareonsa...giveaway-coupon-sale

Basically just fill in your email address and what OS you regularly use and you get a download link.

Edit:  Ok I just installed it.  You get an email with name regkey to register the software.  What Pro has that Free does not is some doodads such as adding buttons to your windows(On Top, Min to Tray etc..) and info icons to the System Tray(cpu usage, disk usage etc..)

If you want to use those options then I guess you would set the program to start with Windows.  If you already have other utilities that do all those things then you may just want to launch it when you need to use a Task Manager.

812

Found Deals and Discounts / [free] Start Menu 10 Pro

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 27, 2016, 07:32 AM »

BTJ still has Start Menu 10 Pro for free

http://www.bitsdujou...in=today-100-percent

I am not sure what features Pro has over the Free version except for the user categories of folder sets.  I got a free Start Menu X Pro in the past and it was just too much work to set up my own categories.  I am going to take a look for a feature comparison chart.

But anyway, on my Windows 8.0 I found that having Start Menu 10 start with Windows and automatically skip Start Screen did not work for me.  I disabled autostart and load it with a delayed loader program I wrote(Delayed Cuts.)  I have the Desktop Tile in the top left of the Start Screen so all I have to do is hit Enter anyway.  No biggie.

Start Menu 10 does have a recently run programs panel that actually seems to put some recently run program there for reuse.  It can be handy for some stuff buried deep in the start menu.

I was using the free version but for nothing I could resist installing the pro.  There is no registration.  Whey you "purchase" it from BTJ you get a download link and four days to install it.  From what they say it will not install after that.  So get it into your backup image. 

Edit: I found the comparison chart

813

General Software Discussion / Re: Slimjet updated to 10.0.2.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 26, 2016, 05:15 PM »

This is really strange.  Yesterday I was experimenting enabling and disabling SlimJet to delete cache files on program close.  Now the setting is gone!  I have been combing the settings for at least an hour.  It just ain't there today.  Talk about weird.

I guess I will just set CCleaner to clear the cache manually.

814

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: blogcpp: Static blogging in C++17

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 26, 2016, 04:25 PM »

seems like a new a approach to drew attention to your threads)))

-annajst (May 26, 2016, 09:14 AM)

What was your search term? 

-Tuxman (May 26, 2016, 09:38 AM)

Putz?      It seems like half the Yiddish slang terms I remember from stand-up comics mean penis or something related.  They sound cooler than the medical term though.  But what do I know? I'm just a schmuck. 

815

Skrommel's Software / Re: Desklock

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 26, 2016, 01:02 PM »

I do not know how you could keep the user from killing it via Task Manager or any number of free kill utilities.

816

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea : One Shot System Time Sync

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 26, 2016, 07:09 AM »

Damn that is a handy site, never heard of it before.

-Stoic Joker (May 26, 2016, 06:52 AM)

Me either.  I googled "exact time" and it came up high in the results.  I still can't believe that for a long while I fooled around with that stupid Gui Windows time set thing on the clock.  Man is that an annoying way to try to set the time!  By the time you mess around with the little up arrows the time has gone by.  Much easier to use "time" on the command line. 

817

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea : One Shot System Time Sync

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 25, 2016, 03:55 PM »

Thanks skwire. 

I got bogged down trying to run the htpdate command as administrator to avoid typing the stuff in.  Then I did a .cmd file for the same reason.  I finally remembered I could simply go into the compatibility tab for the compiled program and set it to run as admin..

At least now I can click an icon in the taskbar.  It sounds a chime as clue something is happening.  By the time the icon departs the system tray the time display should change.

Code: Autohotkey [Select]

1. SoundPlay *64
2. RunWait,htpdate www.timeanddate.com set,,Hide
3. Exit

For grins after running it I use the Time.is website to get a read sync and tell me how close my clock is to standard.  All the variances have been within a second so far.  Better than typing in the time in a prompt adding on a few seconds. 

818

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea : One Shot System Time Sync

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 25, 2016, 12:30 PM »

Edit: apparently there is a Linux utility called htpdate that gets the time from the headers of web pages specifically for use when ntp port 123 is blocked.  I looked around but could not find any Windows port of it less than 10 years old.

-MilesAhead (May 25, 2016, 07:23 AM)

Ten years old is fine if they still work, eh?  Did you try any of them?

-skwire (May 25, 2016, 12:04 PM)

I found a recend win32 version here:
http://www.rkeene.or...el/htp/win32/stable/

It seems to work ok from and admin command prompt.  I downloaded the exe with the highest version number, and scanned it with VirusTotal.  Then I renamed it to simply htpdate.

For those interested this command line worked for me:
htpdate www.timeanddate.com  set

Then I go on the wb to
Time.is
and it tells me how close my clock is to the time server.

I guess I can do an ahk to run it without showing the command prompt.

819

General Software Discussion / Re: Slimjet updated to 10.0.2.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 25, 2016, 10:32 AM »

Well, I have now downloaded and installed SlimJet v10.0.2.0 into my "C:\UTIL\" directory (not a "C:\Programs..." folder) and set it's Cache to a RAMdisk folder..
It Synced all my Chrome/Chromium extensions - took some time to do that, but nothing exceptional.
Hmm. After playing about with it for a while, I have to say that I like the differences/improvements of SlimJet over Google Chrome Canary and Chromium.

-IainB (May 25, 2016, 10:02 AM)

I am glad you like it.  I don't know why it took me so long to set it as default when FF started down the slippery slope to useless.    It is a pleasure to see the browser window come up only a few seconds after launch.  So many these days take over 30 seconds to display a window frame and even then they may not accept input for another 30.

The ramdisk cache sounds like a good idea.  The browser loads fast enough that there is no need to copy the whole shooting match to the ramdisk.  On system shutdown just dump it instead of bothering to delete.  Out of curiosity which ramdisk are you using?

Edit:  I have been running this for a couple of days using SoftPerfect free Ramdisk.  I discard the contents at shutdown.  Also I set SlimJet to delete the cache on close.  So far all seems smooth. 

820

General Software Discussion / Re: Slimjet updated to 10.0.2.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 25, 2016, 08:21 AM »

Apparently one of the things updated it the broken auto update feature.
See link in first post to manually download.

821

General Software Discussion / Re: Slimjet updated to 10.0.1.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 25, 2016, 07:59 AM »

I rather liked SJ's "Stop eye irritation with automatic web page color inverting". It'd be worth trying for that alone, in my case.

-IainB (May 24, 2016, 11:24 PM)

I just tried it out.  I was disappointed.  I was using the FF ColorToggle extension for those cases when the page text is blurry or there was not enough contrast to easily read text off a certain background.  I just tried SJ auto color inversion on the pages that happened to be open.  Out of 4 pages only one had text easy to read.  On the other three pages the text color was too dim.  It seems like a good idea but not a good implementation.  Edit: I did notice a chrome extension called "care your eyes" that looked more versatile though. 

822

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea : One Shot System Time Sync

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 25, 2016, 07:23 AM »

For computername you can try a server on the local network and hopefully get one that hasn't got an exceptionally paranoid firewall.

-4wd (May 25, 2016, 05:42 AM)

Something must have happened when they installed new equipment or something.  Logging into my web site control panel used to work fine over the WiFi.  Now I have to get on one of the wired machines to log in.  Fortunately my site is pretty stable now.  I do not have to update it often.

Edit: apparently there is a Linux utility called htpdate that gets the time from the headers of web pages specifically for use when ntp port 123 is blocked.  I looked around but could not find any Windows port of it less than 10 years old.

823

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea : One Shot System Time Sync

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 25, 2016, 07:15 AM »

Just to be sure, did you try Cmdtime from here?:  http://www.softshape...download/cmdtime.zip

I've used it for years but, as you said, it might be blocked.  If that doesn't work, I'll see what I can put together.

-skwire (May 24, 2016, 06:59 PM)

I don't think I can get there from here.  All servers I try return either "cannot reach the time server" or "permission denied."

It is not the end of the world if I have to type the time command into a command prompt.  But if you made something that looked good that would be preferable.   

824

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea : One Shot System Time Sync

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 24, 2016, 05:57 PM »

I believe I already tried TimeSync and several others similar.  It seems that anything that goes to any of the atomic clocks is blocked by the WiFi routers here at the college.  Even Windows own time service generates an error no matter which time server I select.

I did try a snippet from one of the IE object scripts in AHK.  It did return the time as a string.. but in 12 hour format with no GUI.  It was just there to service some other program by periodically fetching the exact time.  I think the reason it was not blocked was that it just made a call to www.timeanddate.com rather than one of the atomic time serers.

I know I could wrestle with it and come up with something.  But especially in AHK my Guis are  lacking in spiff factor. 

825

General Software Discussion / Re: Slimjet updated to 10.0.1.0

« Last post by MilesAhead on May 24, 2016, 05:48 PM »

Do the current frustrations with Firefox extend to its forks, like SeaMonkey and Pale Moon?

-rjbull (May 24, 2016, 04:39 PM)

It has been awhile since I messed with Pale Moon.  I do still have Cyberfox x64 installed and up to date.  It does not display the recurrent problems that plague the 64 bit FF.  Also it seems a bit steadier in its behavior.  But to rival SlimJet load times I think you would need to run FF portable out of a ram disk.  If you open your browser and leave it running then that is not much of an issue.  If you like Firefox I think Cyberfox is definitely worth a try.  It runs most FF AddOns.  It hasn't really torqued me off or I would have uninstalled it long ago. 

I keep my FF 32 bit since it is all configured and there are a few sites that do not play well with chrome or already have the cookie I need or whatnot.