Recent Posts

826

Post New Requests Here / Idea: hotkey to disable/enable nic

« Last post by techidave on February 11, 2009, 07:00 AM »

Been searching for something that will let me disable or enable the nic on either vista or xp.  I could press a couple of keys like ctrl+shift+n and then it would to check the current status of the nic and then perform the appropriate action to turn it off or on.

I know I could just right click the 2 little monitors and choose disable or enable but that isn't what I want.  It would be nice if it could only be run under administrative user.

Most of the programs I have found have been for wireless nics but I need one for a desktop connected via a cable.

827

Living Room / Re: xp reports that my floppy disc needs formatted error

« Last post by techidave on February 02, 2009, 05:52 AM »

Hmm, looks like I found a piece of software that should be able to read floppies that show the feared message. Even HP seems to host a low-level tool for floppies. Both are not free, but the software from the first link has a trial period of 30 days or 100 runs.

-Shades (February 01, 2009, 11:04 PM)

IMHO, this software probably won't work for me. It seems the Embird software is for an embroidery machine that will convert to different embroidery formats.  The Hp software is for SCSI floppy devices.  I have a couple of old servers that have SCSI hard drives but don't know about the floppies on them.  I could fire them up and see if it would work.

828

Living Room / Re: xp reports that my floppy disc needs formatted error

« Last post by techidave on February 01, 2009, 10:34 PM »

Thanks for the reply Shades.  Since I am the computer guru for the local school district, people come to me for answers to their problems.  This is one problem I have never found a good answer for.     Usually I think, they only do one copy and unfortunately... it is on the floppy disk.  Personally I hardly ever use a floppy anymore.  I would rather take my chances with the hard drive failing. 

I usually do try it in another computer but without luck.  I should setup a Win98 computer for these cases.

Go lower than windows...hmmm its been a while since I did stuff in DOS.

829

Living Room / xp reports that my floppy disc needs formatted error

« Last post by techidave on February 01, 2009, 07:58 PM »

I am sure everyone has come across this problem at one time or another.  You put a floppy disc in the drive and then get that dreaded error, " the disk is not formatted would you like to format it now".  I have been scouring the net looking for answers, software, etc as well as searching here on the dc forum.

Is there any tried and true method for recovering the data?  Some recommend using a Win98 machine to read it but I haven't had much luck with that either.

Inquiring minds wanna know 

P.S.  I am fully aware of the danger in using floppies to store important data on.  But its hard to get users to convert to flash drives or cds.

830

Living Room / Re: Cleaning Inside the Case

« Last post by techidave on January 31, 2009, 09:13 PM »

Nod5, any online site for that?

-Paul Keith (January 31, 2009, 12:23 AM)

try Metrovac

831

Living Room / Re: Cleaning Inside the Case

« Last post by techidave on January 30, 2009, 11:59 AM »

I use a vacum sweeper by putting the hose in the blow side and not the suction side.  works pretty good and don't have to worry about moisture in the cans of air.

832

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea: Create shortcut location chooser

« Last post by techidave on January 26, 2009, 05:52 AM »

Thanks Skrommel, what an awesome app!  I just tried it last night when I wanted to add a shortcut to my startup folder.

833

Living Room / Re: puzzled by applications that pop up on the taskbar but do not produce a window

« Last post by techidave on January 26, 2009, 05:49 AM »

I have an application that does that.  I right click on the tab on the taskbar and choose maximize.  It opens like it should.  It doesn't always do it either.

834

Find And Run Robot / Re: moving farr to another computer

« Last post by techidave on January 25, 2009, 05:50 AM »

are they stored there in xp as well?

835

Find And Run Robot / moving farr to another computer

« Last post by techidave on January 24, 2009, 09:26 PM »

I just upgraded my home computer to Vista and so I installed FARR.  I then copied my old FARR folder from the Program Files in hopes htat my alias and plugins would be there.

Is there an easy way to do this without downloading and reinstalling them?  Perhaps a backup and restore feature could be added to FARR and the other dc software??

Since I work from muiltiple computers, it would be nice if there was an easy way to have the same stuff on all of them.

836

General Software Discussion / Re: create fill in the blank in PowerPoint

« Last post by techidave on January 22, 2009, 05:54 AM »

at this point in time, I do not want to create a flash based quiz.  But its nice to know about.  I have been using Katy's method and it now works wonderfully.  I just create a text box at the bottom of the slide, type my word in it, drag it up to where i want it and then go to custom animations and create the order in which they come in.

Simple, easy, and free.  Wjhat more could one ask for 

837

Finished Programs / Re: tv_out: a shortcut for quickly turning extended desktop on/off

« Last post by techidave on January 19, 2009, 05:43 AM »

I am going to add the hotkey, I just forgot that I am able to do that.  Don't really use that option but may have to start using it more.

838

Living Room / Re: DonationCoder.com - Complaints, Problems, and Rooms for Improvement

« Last post by techidave on January 18, 2009, 04:01 PM »

Your right tomos, they are in order.  If you scroll down the page, they are not.  But when you click a link at the top of the page it should take you to it.  I guess I thought they should be in alphabetical order there as well.

Does his page have links to all of this programs??

839

Finished Programs / Re: tv_out: a shortcut for quickly turning extended desktop on/off

« Last post by techidave on January 18, 2009, 06:47 AM »

I think I will try option #1 and see what happens.  I like hotkeys but most non techies prefer the icon, at least the ones that I know.

Thanks for fixing the msgbox-bug, I was getting that also.

840

Finished Programs / Re: tv_out: a shortcut for quickly turning extended desktop on/off

« Last post by techidave on January 17, 2009, 07:11 PM »

Nod, is there anyway you can add a keyboard hotkey to this? 

841

Living Room / Re: reporting group policies

« Last post by techidave on January 17, 2009, 02:45 PM »

not yet, my understanding is it won't work on workgroup computers like it does on domain computers.  But I haven't tried it yet either.  I will try to give it a go later on.

842

Living Room / Re: DonationCoder.com - Complaints, Problems, and Rooms for Improvement

« Last post by techidave on January 17, 2009, 07:02 AM »

I don't know how many programs Skrommel has on his page but I find it very slow to find what I want and it takes a while to fully load.  If it has a way to alphabetize it or to group them to find them easier? 

His little apps are great but I don't know an easier way to post them either.

843

General Software Discussion / Re: calendar software - free

« Last post by techidave on January 17, 2009, 06:56 AM »

While calimanjaro is easy to use out of the box, it has some limits that I feel I need.  I wish there was a way to make the boxes bigger so it would hold more text which could be accomplished by adjusting the margins.  The only way to adjust the font size is when you print but that waste a lot of paper. 

I guess I will look at my Lightning extension for Thunderbird in more detail to see how it handles stuff.  Or look at Jim's recommendations a little closer.

844

Finished Programs / Re: tv_out: a shortcut for quickly turning extended desktop on/off

« Last post by techidave on January 16, 2009, 02:51 PM »

Great utiltiy Nod5!    I have been trying it out the past couple of days and find it is really slick.    I wish I had seen this when you first posted it, it could have save me a bunch of headaches with some of my non techie teachers and their projectors.

845

Living Room / Re: Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 drives failing at alrming rate?

« Last post by techidave on January 15, 2009, 08:48 AM »

I almost ordered one of the 7200.11 hard drives last week.  I'm glad I didn't.

846

Living Room / reporting group policies

« Last post by techidave on January 14, 2009, 11:17 AM »

I am looking for a program that will look at the polices on the local computer and then make a nice report showing the ones that have been "enabled" or "disabled".  That way I can compare policies between computers.

most of the group policy reporters software are made to be run from the server on a network.  I can do this but it only shows me the policies that have been set from the server.

i would like something that would only be run on a desktop using XP Pro.  I have been playing around with the command "gpresult" but it doesn't return anything useful.   

Surely it wouldn't be too dificult for a program to be written that would pull or poll this informatin, would it?

847

Living Room / Re: How does one keep multiple computers sync?

« Last post by techidave on January 12, 2009, 08:22 AM »

not sure how I missed that thread tomos.  I did search the forum here but probably didn't use the right words.  It has lots of links to check out.

Fred, i had forgotten about briefcase.  Thanks for the reminder but I am not sure it will apply here.

848

Living Room / How does one keep multiple computers sync?

« Last post by techidave on January 11, 2009, 10:12 PM »

Since I work in multiple locations on a daily basis with each location having its own desktop computer.  I also have a home desktop and laptop plus a work laptop.  I like to have the same programs, (FARR and some other AHK stuff), firefox extensions plus any other downloads I deem important.

Its driving me crazy 

The easiest answer I fear would be to reduce the number of computers but I do like not lugging the laptop plus the desktops are more customizable as far as hardware goes.  I do have the capabilities to switch my work laptop to one that uses a docking station and put the dock in each building.  This would also allow me to have 2 monitors in all 3 places instead of just one.

Hmmmm, did I just answer my own question? 

P.S.  I thought I posted this a few minutes ago but could never find any sign of a post.

849

General Software Discussion / Re: calendar software - free

« Last post by techidave on January 11, 2009, 09:24 PM »

I did try ReminderFox, simple but don't see a way to print off a monthly view, only a list of events. 

I am trying calimanjaro, it is simple and easy and seems to work out of the box ok.  I haven't tried printing yet.

I am downloading ReminderCube now, at 21 meg, it seems rather large for a calendar type program.

850

General Software Discussion / Re: calendar software - free

« Last post by techidave on January 11, 2009, 08:01 PM »

I haven't found what I am looking for yet. Not sure if a HTML calendar is the answer or not.  Any free ones to recommend?