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826

General Software Discussion / Re: Invalid database

« Last post by Shades on January 26, 2017, 10:24 AM »

Then you will have to fall back to software similar to this: http://www.accessfilerepair.net/

Access is know to corrupt easily as it uses by default a single file containing all database logic you added and the data you put into it. Single point of failure if you will. This makes it also easy to create a backup. But as you don't have a backup, I must assume that your access database isn't of much value to you.

In that case, isn't it an option to start over from scratch? And make backups afterwards?

827

Living Room / Re: Text editor - macro - multiple regex find and replaces

« Last post by Shades on January 25, 2017, 06:17 PM »

11 times the size ?!?

Impressive!

Think I found out about this editor 2 years ago. And although its interface looks a bit busy to me, it is a capable text editor.

828

Living Room / Re: Text editor - macro - multiple regex find and replaces

« Last post by Shades on January 25, 2017, 09:49 AM »

Another piece of software you could try: RJ TextEd

It is offered as freeware and looks to have a simple enough macro recorder. Looks like this editor has a lot of extra options, besides text-editing. I have used to search-replace content in really big text files and it does this very, very well.

829

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Can I get some opinions on this -- CCSIO Benchmark?

« Last post by Shades on January 21, 2017, 11:39 PM »

While using a different computer in my LAN to re-encode files on my work system I thought to look at your software. While there isn't something inside that would generate spectacular results (Samsung EVO 850 SSD 120GByte in combination with a bog standard Seagate Baracuda 1 TByte on a Core2Duo PC of at least 8 years old running Windows Server 2012 R2), I just thought to have a peek.

The files to encode were stored on the 1 TByte disk, so I started the test on the SSD. Shouldn't be too big of a deal as the PC with files wasn't doing anything else (no tasks in the background, no websites open...it wasn't doing anything else than serving files from a different disk than the one being tested. After looking at the test results, I wanted to check (on the LAN PC itself) how far along the re-encoding progressed. Everything failed during/after the test. Share settings didn't change, ACL on files/folder didn't change, yet it wasn't possible to write anything anymore.

Must say that the software looks great and is responsive. The rest of the system remained responsive too during the time it took to complete the test. The version I tested doesn't have any way of storing the test results, making it little more than a informative exercise. With little to say, I didn't take the time to respond and kinda forgot about this thread   

Now I see screenshots showing me that there are options to store generated results, which is great. That makes this tool much more useful to keep track of performance over time. Or in different systems. Or both.

Still, that doesn't remedy the fact regarding the boring results my system is capable of generating, so I won't bore you with those.

830

General Software Discussion / Re: Input user data to complete URL using only HTML

« Last post by Shades on January 19, 2017, 06:58 PM »

Us poor Yanks only get
 INAUGURATION DAY! 

-questorfla (January 19, 2017, 11:06 AM)

Za vashe zdorov’ye!  or should I say:   ваше здоровье?

Yep...to the basement we go! 

831

General Software Discussion / Re: Download manager

« Last post by Shades on January 19, 2017, 06:50 PM »

+1 for the FireFox plugin 'DownThemAll'

832

Living Room / Re: Faster computer?

« Last post by Shades on January 14, 2017, 01:45 PM »

Most web-sites are optimized for the webkit render engine (used by Chrome and its derivatives). Internet Explorer uses a different engine to render content in a browser. This could be the base on which you perceive your speed gains.

By taking absolute measurements (benchmark software, stopwatch) you have facts supporting your statement that your computer works and boots faster. Not just perception and/or wishful thinking.

To clarify: most people don't even notice when overall speed gains of a computer are 5% or less. Between 6% and 10% of overall speed gains, some people start to notice. Almost anyone notices overall speed gains above 10%.

Problem is that it can be quite difficult to get to the double digits in overall speed gains. If you haven't done so already, installing your operating system on a SSD hard disk will make your system boot and work much(!) faster. The next step is to replace/expand the RAM modules in your computer to the max amount of modules you can place in it and by making sure those modules are working at the maximum speed that is supported by your motherboard.

When you apply these steps to any computer, you will have those double digit overall speed gains. Usually for much less money than buying a new computer. There still some gains to have by keeping your data and operating system separated and upgrading your SATA2 hard disk for a new/bigger SATA3 model (if supported by your computer). If your computer doesn't have the fastest processor it can support, you still have options there to get quite some speed gains too.

The steps above will make your computer faster, in factual and absolute sense.

At any given time you buy a new (consumer) computer, it is always best to fit the fastest supported processor (with complete feature-set!) on it. The other elements you can get rather easily in parts/aftermarket if you need to spread those purchases over time. If you have a budget that does allow all purchases at once, do so. With such a new computer it will take a lot longer before the wish to upgrade appears again in your mind.

If you pass such a computer on to a partner or (one of) your kid(s), he/she won't complain. Or if you want to sell it, resale value is much higher for a well-treated secondhand computer that already has all the fastest parts from the beginning.

833

Living Room / Re: Hardware and software for quality youtube podcasting (for boardgaming)?

« Last post by Shades on January 14, 2017, 10:58 AM »

Quality microphones do make a lot of difference. Having a dedicated room that you can adjust/alter for audio-recording (fully carpetted floor already prevents quite some echoes from voices in this room. But you can do more to the side walls and roof to eliminate the rest. As a bonus, this prevents noises from the outside coming into this room.

For each of those microphones, you will need a solid stand to hang them from. Preferably these stands allow the microphone(s) to "travel", so you can adjust accordingly when setting up a game with elaborate pieces. That, or a person keeping a microphone close to you, outside the view of the camera. By all means, if you plan to use more than one microphone, keep the recordings each on a separate audio track.

Get one or more decent cameras. It would be helpful if you can hang and stabilize these from those microphone stands, if you want have different angles while setting up/playing games.

The youtube show 'TableTop', part of the 'Geek and Sundry' channel, does a marvelous job with audio and video, angles and lighting. This show is done by a professional crew and it shows.

Personally, I think it is best to adjust the lights in such a manner that the camera(s) just need to record and not apply any compensation/adjustment options that are baked into their software. Diffuse light is your friend. Any editing you need to do is done best in software such as LightWorks.

Not sure if your use-case allows you to use LightWorks for free. It isn't the easiest software to work with, but it is used in a lot of Hollywood productions, so it delivers after you get the hang of it. By keeping all audio and video feeds on separate tracks, you can mix-n-match the feeds to make the best quality video-presentation you can...with regards to production value.

834

General Software Discussion / Re: Passworded gatekeeper for websites

« Last post by Shades on January 13, 2017, 01:29 AM »

[bit of a rant]

SquareSpace Hosting

-questorfla (January 12, 2017, 09:01 PM)

After taking a look at SquareSpace, I understand your headache. Having a bit of knowledge about building websites is most of the time more of a hindrance than a boon with these kinds of "web-site builders". The resulting web-site is like the 13th in a dozen web-sites ('13 in een dozijn' for those that know Dutch), where only the quality of the first image makes or breaks the web-site.

Here in Paraguay the quality of the power grid and internet varies a lot, depending on where your office/home is located. Most of the time it works, which give some people the impression that sites created with such "web-site builders" are a good idea. Because of problems in either grid or network often results in inaccessible or worse, partially accessible web-sites, I have already had the "pleasure" to reconstruct several Wix-based web-sites in Joomla on a domain hosted by more reliable Paraguayan ISPs (at least they know when to fire up power generators to continue their services).
[/bit of a rant]

After "playing" a while with the Joomla v3.5 CMS in combination with Gantry 5, you have much more options regarding layout, it also adapts to the resolution of the device you use to watch your public web-site and you can use drag-n-drop to change the layout.

The final kicker? Joomla enables by default its login module, so your public website can have username/password fields with login button on one or more or all pages of your public website. This would cover the demands of management and enables you o keep track who logs in. Each logged in user generates its own unique session ID, something you can use to your benefit as well.

Gantry is also available for WordPress and Drupal too, in case you disdain Joomla. Once you get your head around Gantry, you will find it is easy to create web-sites at least as capable as those generated/offered by those "web-site builders". And with a hint of effort you can do a lot more in every aspect.

Again, by applying a CMS you have more options to secure things, users can have their own landing page, administration options aplenty and management can get on-demand or automatically generated reports about users, web-site activities and more.

[and a bit more ranting]
This is a positive review of SquareSpace: https://www.websitet.../squarespace-review/
Here is an overview how it stacks up against other "website-builders":  http://www.websitebu...quarespace-vs-jimdo/  or in a table overview

From what I saw there is that you can only go 2 layers deep. That is a serious limitation, which makes it a solution for very small businesses or "one-person shops". They also state you have unlimited bandwidth...which sounds like an overbooked shared server solution. What rate of overbooking your site is subject to, that is unclear from what I read on their website. Mind you, this doesn't have to be a problem, I just think it is better to know if and what limitations are imposed on the hosting plan I purchase.
[/and a bit more ranting]

835

General Software Discussion / Re: Passworded gatekeeper for websites

« Last post by Shades on January 12, 2017, 06:53 PM »

Come to think of it:  why not use a subdomain for your main website and put a wiki at that subdomain?

After they login, users can get their tailor-made set of links, there are a lot of possibilities to monitor users and their activities. You also have a lot of options how your users are able to see or edit content from the wiki.

See this for a nice example of a wiki: BlueSpice. Their feature-list. Free and commercial license available.

You could download their free version an play with it on a test webserver to have an even better idea of what it can do. I did last week and I am impressed. The dashboard overview will please Management and make life of contributors and admin(s) easier too.

When I started I inherited a mediawiki installation. The editor that comes with this wiki software, is spartan and requires you to know wiki syntax by heart, before you can do something useful with it. For most, working with this wiki software is punishment. But with 12 years of data in it, I'm not allowed to change anytime soon. However, last week I was so fed up with it and discovered BlueSpice by accident.

The editor is a huge improvement and with the dashboard mediawiki software becomes much more useful and informative.

To be clear, no affiliation of any kind exists, just very happy with this mediawiki extension/upgrade. 

[edit] added fanboy bit

836

General Software Discussion / Re: Passworded gatekeeper for websites

« Last post by Shades on January 11, 2017, 09:29 PM »

Nope, it doesn't. From the description I understood that it is limited to around 40, which isn't a too drastically high number...if there aren't much changes in the workforce.

From previous requests I gathered that there is hardly ever IT budget to procure something else than home-made solutions.

837

General Software Discussion / Re: Passworded gatekeeper for websites

« Last post by Shades on January 11, 2017, 07:25 PM »

If you run your company website on your premise, it is likely you have a static IP. If you also run a DNS server, you can easily create an unlimited amount of sub-domains. With Linux, Apache webserver and an instance of BIND (DNS) you can relatively easy create:

http://user1.<your company site>.com
http://user2.<your company site>.com
http://user3.<your company site>.com
etc., etc

Each subdomain can have static or dynamically generated content page, tailored for each user. If that sounds like too much hassle maintenance-wise, you could consider using a static page generator, which generates a static page (per user) only when necessary.

Apache (or other web server software) allows you to password protect those static pages on each subdomain. You could use your current on-premise authorization solution to feed Apache with the correct username/password combo. Users logging in on their personal subdomain (something they do not forget that easily) using their credentials provided by your company, should make it rather easy for your users to work remotely.

Another idea is to use OPNsense and pfSense (router/firewall software (both open source, donations welcome)) that comes default with everything you need to run a cyber cafe. It can take authorization from different sources too. And allows for (real-time) monitoring what users are doing once they connect. Normally you use cyber cafe software the other way around, but when using it in opposite direction, it covers most of what management wants.

A VPN server (also part of OPNsense and pfSense) also allows for user-based redirecting to content intended for that particular user.

Easiness will depend greatly on what you already have (on-premise) and how well it can be integrated.

838

General Software Discussion / Re: So, what are you now using instead of Outpost?

« Last post by Shades on January 09, 2017, 08:29 PM »

The firewall that comes with Windows is a decent product. Although I can understand if someone wouldn't be too fond of the "workflow" imposed by its interface. On this forum alternative GUI's are mentioned for this firewall, that should make it easier to use (by 4wd, if memory serves). Make such a bundle work, combine it with Windows Defender and add a hint of common sense, that should keep you already pretty safe. Use an online virus and scanner and malware scanner on a regular schedule too for piece of mind.

Tuxman is quite right about AV software wasting more CPU cycles than they are worth.

I do all of the above, while being covered by OPNsense router software, which comes with a good firewall too and allows for much more filtering of network traffic. It runs on a 9 year old dual core Athlon PC with 2GByte of RAM and 2 network cards, but it can run on much less powerful hardware if the amount of computers that make use of its functionalities is low). Besides the occasional donation and the consumed energy of the box it runs on, it is free and awesome!

Using it can be as easy or difficult as you want to make it. Meaning that the setup wizard makes things easy, but you can also go and tinker with its vast amount of settings yourself. It all depends on what you want to do with it. Yes, I'm a fanboy.

Nowadays I am much more worried about malware than computer viruses. Granted, I haven't visited the "bowels" of the internet for years, which helps reducing risk a lot too.

 

839

DC Gamer Club / Re: Fallout 3 (GOTYE) on Windows 10 Pro.

« Last post by Shades on December 25, 2016, 08:08 AM »

Get a tool like 'Process Monitor' (part of the Sysinternals Suite) or 'Dependency Walker' to keep track of what your system is doing when you try to start Fallout 3. Both tools are freely available and both can be used as a portable tool. These will give you a lot more insight about which files are opened by the fallout launcher and where things go wrong.

At least I get the impression from your error description that the fallout launcher gets "confused" on Windows 10 about where to look for files it requires to start the game.

840

General Software Discussion / Re: PC won't copy home recorded audio disk to HD

« Last post by Shades on December 24, 2016, 10:34 AM »

You can also rip those music files in .wav format, which is lossless. This requires a lot more storage space, but you can convert these .wav files to the lossy MP3 format or .flac (lossless) or .ogg (lossless).

The amount of effort you should put into this, heavily depends on the quality of the audio on the CD(s) you want to rip. By that I mean the sound quality, not the content quality. Commercial CDs used to be marked with an indicator that told you how the music was recorded (Analog or Digital), how it was remastered (Analog or Digital) and how it put to the medium you hold in your hand. Those kind of CDs are usually worth the extra effort to rip properly to any of the lossless formats.

However, if you have a CD from unknown origin and looking like it was "produced" from home, chances are it was created from badly sourced music. Ripping that kind of CD will result in poor quality music files, no matter how much effort you put in. In effect you are ripping a song that has been converted from a previously ripped song. In those cases you'd better buy the song the artist again in the music file format you want. The audio quality will be noticeably better and likely less time-consuming.

Ripping a CD, which has a lot of scratches on it, will prove to be a headache. That could make the ripping process really slow and that is still the best case scenario. Most of the time parts of the song will be skipped and you'll end up with music files that you really don't want to listen to. A waste of time and storage space. It is not for nothing that services like Spotify are popular...all the digital "goodness" for the effort it takes to pay their monthly fee.   

841

General Software Discussion / Re: Send MSG to a different user having different IP address.

« Last post by Shades on December 17, 2016, 12:32 PM »

Very simply stated: the things the article refers to (after a very quick glance) are only usable in a LAN. This is a network environment where you can have all the control you want, as it is the network you have built at your home. Things change drastically when you make use of the internet, your ISP severely limits what you can (un)conscientiously do there. And rightly so, if a continuously working internet is the goal.

Unless you plan to throw a direct line to the intended destination, such as a cable, a rental line (if there are still phone companies in your region that have those) or WiMax antenna/receiver system (requires a municipal and/or state radio license) you will never create a LAN environment between your place and the other location. Only if there is an unobstructed view between your place and the other location you could try to set up a WiFi system with high quality directional antennas and try if you can cover the distance that way. Covering 5 kilometers will still be tricky and fickle with WiFi at best. WiMax is way better in that regard.

The MSG/NetSend commands are usually blocked by ISPs, because those have been used for transferring viruses and malware. Remember that the internet was built in an era where only a few institutions could afford the computers and hardware needed for communicating with other similar institutions. I mean to say that there was hardly any need for built-in security in those days. All tools described in the article still consider that level of trust to be valid in this day and age, where everyone and their grandmother is trying to make monetary gain from everything you dare to connect to the internet (your computing resources (botnet), your bank/credit-card info (identity theft) or blackmail (ransomware)). And that's just FaceBook 


 

842

General Software Discussion / Re: Send MSG to a different user having different IP address.

« Last post by Shades on December 16, 2016, 08:37 PM »

For SMS:
http://afreesms.com/freesms/  for free sms. Other than being practically the first search result I have no knowledge/experience/whatever with this service.

There are several messengers out there. Skype allows for free messages (including video) to other Skype users. And that goes worldwide, I speak out of experience. Skype is not alone, Practically all messengers allow you to send messages for free to other users of their software. And all will notify the receiver in the tray (on a computer) or message hub of some kind on a smart phone (Android/iOS/WindowsPhone). If there is a client available for the operating system your phone is using, you can communicate.

Google HangOut, Facebook Messenger are a couple of alternatives for Skype. There are many more. Communication between different clients won't work. For example: An attempt to send a Skype message to a person that only has Facebook Messenger, that will always be in vain. This applies to all of these messaging services. For Windows I know of 2 pieces of software 'Pidgin' and 'Trillian' that are able to pull partial intercommunication off, but most of the companies behind the messaging services are actively trying to block this.

The XMPP messaging protocol (also called Jabber) is the most open messaging protocol I know of. And there is actually some nice (and free) server software available. I personally like (and use) OpenFire. If your internet provider allows for it (see the restrictions for the service you buy from them), you could set this server up and communication can commence through browser alone.

It would be handy, if you and the person you try to communicate with, have static IP addresses. Which is hardly ever the case with standard residential internet connections, unless you have a domain registered. There are ways to get a semi-permanent IP address/sub-domain (with limitations) for free, but this post is already getting long.

It cannot get less generic without detailed step-by-step explanation on how you want to communicate, what type of notifications should be used and on which devices all of this needs to be available on. Until then, your easiest and safest bet would be to have both you and the person you want to communicate with, use the exact same same messaging service on whatever devices you need this on. Then look each other up through this messaging software and create the connection between yourselves. Of course, both of you need to keep this software running 24/7, if you need/want that type of communication.

843

Living Room / Re: Movies you've seen lately

« Last post by Shades on December 14, 2016, 06:20 PM »

Dr. Strange

A new theater opened here in Asuncion a few months back, but hadn't time earlier to visit. Saw there this movie in 3D with excellent projector and audio. The 'LSD-inspired' scenes really worked for me in that theater. Plot-wise the movie isn't spectacular and a bit predictable, but it is well executed. I recommend to see this one in a better quality cinema, seeing it at home won't do it justice.

844

Living Room / Re: This post may, or may not serve a purpose.

« Last post by Shades on December 14, 2016, 03:47 PM »

Lorem ipsum...but then in plain English?

845

General Software Discussion / Re: alternative to filehamster?

« Last post by Shades on December 14, 2016, 03:43 PM »

Git, Mercurial or even SVN should be used when versioning is necessary. For SVN you have TurtoiseSVN, that hooks into Windows explorer. By simply right-clicking on a file you can add/remove/update/commit (with comment) into the (project) repository. If memory serves me right it also allows you to do diffs between versions as well.

SVN is an old system, Git and Mercurial are much more modern and more actively developed. All of these systems are free.

846

Living Room / Re: Monitors - Resources - Recommendations

« Last post by Shades on December 08, 2016, 06:07 AM »

2x Samsung 17" and 1x Sony 17" LCD 4:3 monitors still in service after 11 years. Also 1x LG 21" 16:9 in service for 9 years. In my deposit, there is a graveyard of other LG's and Acer LCD monitors in various sizes, need to keep them around for parts.

I think it is safe to assume that Indiana has a better electrical grid and power distribution than Paraguay. So if monitors can last here in PY, an upper tier monitor should last as long in the US. Whether it still produces the image quality Innuendo expects, you'll have to ask him. Only mention this, because I do notice that the Sony isn't as bright as it used to be.

847

General Software Discussion / Re: TED Notepad, version 6.1.1.beta released

« Last post by Shades on December 06, 2016, 08:56 PM »

For those times of handling big files I use 'RJ Texted' (the portable version). However, the user interface of that editor will scar(e) you, if you would compare it with TED Notepad. 

848

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Paragon Hard Disk Manager Pro 50% off at BDJ

« Last post by Shades on December 05, 2016, 09:01 AM »

VMware used to have software that converts your physical system to a virtual one. And they offered it for free. I remember using it successfully to convert my own XP machine this way. At the time they also offered software to convert a virtual system to a physical system too.

As I am too lazy to look, I assume VMware still offers these software packages. Not sure if it would still be freeware though. In any case, if doing such conversions is your goal, it is usually a safe(r) bet to use the software from VMware to convert to a VMware virtual machine. After all, VMware knows its own software best...

Oracle's VirtualBox software doesn't have this option as far as I know (again, to lazy to look myself). Perhaps QuEmu supports conversion too.

849

General Software Discussion / Re: cursor over image makes image blank out...why?

« Last post by Shades on December 04, 2016, 03:18 PM »

To me it sounds like you are using a browser, with particular add-on installed, that makes this happen. Add-on specifically intended for web-design might be configured in such a way that you see information about the image instead of the image when hovering over an image. Helpful for a web-designer, not so much for a user interested in only the content.

Unless you give us much more specific details about what you were doing and with what, every comment/suggestion/possible cause you read in this thread will be like trying to hit a flying bat in a pitch dark room...

850

Developer's Corner / Re: Recommendations for where to get SSL Certificates?

« Last post by Shades on December 01, 2016, 07:48 AM »

A year is a common period to use for (re-)verification purposes. So I am under the impression that you will be hard-pressed to find deals that last longer. Not all operating systems handle longer lasting certificates equally, can't find the link right now.

For an overview of (free) SSL certificate providers:  https://www.sslshopper.com/article-free-ssl-certificates-from-a-free-certificate-authority.html

Thawte offers 1-year, 2-year and 3-year deals for SSL certificates: https://www.thawte.com/ssl/.

For in-house webservices that are only used by in-house computers, you can deploy your own self-signed certificates (including the CA certificate). Not only cost these nothing, these can also last 10 years. And as you are in control of the CA certificate, you or your users won't be bothered by continuous browser verification requests either. But for this to work, you must be in complete control of all your in-house computer systems. To my understanding, Stoic Joker is (one of) the sysadmins at the company he works for, so that could be somewhat of an option for him.

In my duties as sysadmin I do make use of self-signed certification, mainly to verify if the software I help to create can encrypt/decrypt EDI/XML/JSON type messages transferred by our own services, web services and even Exchange 2007 - 2016 server without any user interaction. And for in-house use, this works well.

Besides HTTP/SSL isn't that safe to begin with: http://www.howtogeek.com/182425/5-serious-problems-with-https-and-ssl-security-on-the-web/ or https://www.schrauger.com/the-story-of-how-wosign-gave-me-an-ssl-certificate-for-github-com. If the big names can make such "hiccups" with certification, I suddenly feel less queasy about generating and using my own.

Years ago I saw an infographic somewhere that indicated there aren't more than 5 certificate providers globally. All the companies that offer certificates are either subsidiaries or reselling. Which was a bit unsettling then. I don't think this situation has improved much in this current day and age, though I probably should delve into this again someday.