Recent Posts

876

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 28, 2016, 10:03 AM »

I am surprised that IainB's list doesn't mention Opera, especially with Opera Turbo, and the (I have deleted the rest of the original post - it seems I was quoting an old, out of date page.) Anyway, the new Opera is fast.

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-Curt (April 28, 2016, 08:08 AM)

For grins I just tried Opera Portable.  I imported FF bookmarks.  But it seems Opera has abandoned the .adr format.  Now it has some nested script stuff. It used to be trivial to open bookmarks.adr and delete a couple of lines to get rid of the Bookmarks imported from Firefox folder and have the bookmarks overlay the Opera bookmarks.  All I had to do after that was place the bookmarks toolbar bookmarks on the toolbar by drag and drop.

Now I have no desire to delve any deeper.  I just rolled back my system to get rid of it.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 28, 2016, 09:58 AM »

Even weather forecasts aren’t safe from Windows 10 upgrade prompts | The Verge

Upgrade to Windows 10. You will upgrade to Windows 10. Upgrade to Windows 10 now. Upgrade to Windows 10 during a live TV broadcast. Upgrade to Windows 10. Just upgrade. Now.

-dr_andus (April 28, 2016, 08:51 AM)

I can see an astronaut on the moon.  One of his cylinders is empty.  He needs to switch to the full air tank.  He swipes his touch screen.  Up pops the message that he must now upgrade to Windows 10.  He is holding his breath.  After a few minutes the screen displays the message "Windows was not upgraded to version 10.  Rolling back."

He turns blue waiting for the reboot. 

878

General Software Discussion / Re: Cookies click driving me crazy

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 28, 2016, 07:26 AM »

...It's such a retarded thing that it could have come only from an international committee of bureaucrats.

-Mark0 (April 27, 2016, 03:31 PM)

It was even better than that. It came from an EU "Internet committee" of unelected bureaucrats. Experience indicates that such groups can usually be relied upon to produce the most moronic regulations.

-IainB (April 27, 2016, 06:54 PM)

The next one will be a required confirmation dialog every time you try to click OK.  Then when you click on the OK button on the confirmation dialog you will get another that says "Are you sure you're sure you really want to do this?"  With buttons, Yes, No, Maybe, I'll think it over pop up again in 10 seconds.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 28, 2016, 07:22 AM »

Increasingly, when FF slows to a crawl, I find myself impatiently switching to MS Edge, because it is just so fast and reliable (at the moment).

-IainB (April 27, 2016, 11:01 PM)

It is a shame.  On my system it is not even so much that it is slow as that it hangs incessantly just doing stuff like trying to scroll an already loaded page.  I keep dragging the mouse on the scroll control and watching as nothing happens.  Then I keep getting the dialog box about how the script is not responding.  It is next to unusable.  I guess I have to adapt to another browser soon.  I just got this one set up so that SAS quick scans come up clean.  It figures. 

880

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone using Blackbird?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 27, 2016, 06:08 PM »

Of course, restore to windows default is not necessarily the same thing as restore to what it had been before.

I'd recommend extreme caution as running this tool could arguably be a bit like sticking a screwdriver in amongst a bunch of live wires and trusting in the outcome. A black box approach.

-IainB (April 27, 2016, 05:05 PM)

It may be the type of thing to test with a prophylactic program running.  Several free ones I know of are:
ToolWiz TimeFreeze, RollbackRX Home, ToolWiz Time Machine.

These programs that use Shadow Services to redirect disk writes or other mechanisms should be tried out before you rely on them.  Like disk image backup programs, they can run great and reliably on one system and have big problems on another.

ToolWiz Time Freeze redirect all writes that would go to the system partition, to a buffer file.  On my system it works pretty well for some things.  But naturally on anything disk intensive it will bog badly.

I have RollbackRX Pro and ran the Home before that.  The rollback is very convenient but you cannot do some things while it is installed such as system image backups, defrag etc..  But on my system it works well for backing off installs of programs I want to get rid of pronto(along with restoring registry and other settings, system partition contents etc..)

881

General Software Discussion / reduce extension button delay on startup?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 27, 2016, 05:54 PM »

Anyone know a trick to reduce the extension button delay on startup?  I have FF set to open about:blank and have Fast Dial as New Tab page.  But when I start FF it hangs for a few seconds as the extensions display their buttons in the AddOn Bar.  While this is going on FF will not open a new tab with a url.  It is like it is frozen for a few seconds.

This really bogs down my system startup routine.
Even after all the buttons show, pressing the Fast Dial button gets no reaction for a couple of seconds.  I don't remember FF being this lame.  Seems to be really clunky in versions over 30.  The version number changes so fast it is hard to remember where things started to go wrong.

882

Living Room / Re: Custom dice for board games, etc.

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 27, 2016, 11:39 AM »

I could just go with white dice with a single (but unique) color on each face.

-Deozaan (April 26, 2016, 11:38 PM)

If you're willing to use stickers, why not just get some medium - to any - size labels, print what you want on them (including face/background color), and then trim them to size for the die face.

-Stoic Joker (April 27, 2016, 11:26 AM)

That sounds suspiciously like cheating to me man.



Heh heh.  The request made me think of Cosmic Wimpout

883

General Software Discussion / Re: Opera browser now comes with baked-in VPN

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 26, 2016, 07:00 AM »

Any VPN I ever tried on the college WiFi just did not function.  Apparently they know what it is and how to thwart it.  I haven't tried at a cafe or similar establishment.  I don't quite get why they do what they do here at school.  You can upload to a cloud service through your browser, but FTP using an FTP client such as FileZilla will not connect.  So it cannot be to save bandwidth.  Perhaps it is because vanilla FTP is insecure.  I am just guessing though.

But I doubt the VPN would establish just because it is wrapped in Opera.  At least not on this WiFi at MDC.

884

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 25, 2016, 05:39 PM »

@panzer, I realize you are not selling the kindle books.  But I am a bit lost.  The one free to the end of the week looks interesting.  But I have a choice of two buttons.  The second button I am familiar with.. the quickie buy with one click button.  But the first button seems to funnel me into subscribing to a $9/month service to read kindle books online.  So how do I get the $0.00 kindle book without getting the $9/month service?

I have never purchased any audio books so I am a bit naive.  My experience with audio books is from the public library.  And those were physical standard audio CDs. 

885

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 25, 2016, 01:51 PM »

I have been reading books on Time Travel to pass the time lately.  I am about 2/3 of the way through this one.  Kind of fun.  The old "book within a book" bit with time travel thrown in.

886

General Software Discussion / Re: Homeland Security warns Windows PC users to uninstall Quicktime

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 22, 2016, 12:25 PM »

The thing to do used to be use Quicktime Alternative.  But I see they changed the name to QT Lite and the last version, 4.10 was released in 2010.  In such a case I would recommend trying various players that come with their own local libraries for QuickTime playback.

You can find a bunch here:
http://www.videohelp.com/

Also there are many video forums.  I haven't messed with video in almost 4 years so my info is obsolete.  There is a database on that site where you can specify what formats you want the player to handle and it brings up all matches.

887

Living Room / Re: Twist Tie alternative?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 21, 2016, 04:35 PM »

Something I just saw in the local $2 shop, (for $2.49 ):

Soft coated wire tie, cut it to length, ~4mm in diameter:
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-4wd (April 20, 2016, 01:42 AM)

Just a note with a different kind I got that looks like the same...Be careful with it as if it is like some I purchased the metal wire from the inside part can start showing from each side occasionally.

-hamradio (April 21, 2016, 11:28 AM)

Thanks for the tip.  Next time I am in DollarTree store I will look for the twisty tie spool.  Supposedly they have a cutter hanging off the spool, come with a refill, and are a buck.  It is just a matter if it is in stock at the particular store.  Ordering for pickup in store online there's always some minimum order.  I don't really need to carry around four of them. 

It will be such a relief when I get a place to have things like a closet and a junk drawer. 

888

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 20, 2016, 04:42 PM »

^Bizarro Firewall kills Start Menu behavior has now been confirmed on four different machines at that location.

-Stoic Joker (April 19, 2016, 12:34 PM)

You should report that in Windows Feedback so that it can be fixed!

-Deozaan (April 19, 2016, 11:56 PM)

Fixed?  MS don't do no stinkin' fixing.  They just issue another OS with a higher number.

889

Living Room / Re: Twist Tie alternative?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 20, 2016, 07:47 AM »

Something I just saw in the local $2 shop, (for $2.49 ):

-4wd (April 20, 2016, 01:42 AM)

Thanks.  I'll have to check out some of the dollar stores in town.

890

General Software Discussion / Re: Right click selected text and jump to location in regedit (or similar)

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 19, 2016, 03:36 PM »

   Edit:  One fly in the ointment.  There is no means to run a utility such as NirSoft DriveLetterView elevated from WSCC(trying to delete a letter without elevation produces the "you do not have sufficient privilege... yadda yadda" in W8.0.)  This makes it hit and miss to launch WSCC in hopes of launching NirSoft and other utilities.  NirLauncher has a run with options button to run each utility as administrator.  I sent a feature request from the WSCC web site to add a means to run the selected utility elevated via hotkey.  I hope it is adopted because I love the way this wrapper gui is organized.

Speaking of handy Guis I ran across Windows System Control Center  It comes in installer, portable, and portableapps-ized versions.  Back in 2008 Lanux posted about it here:  https://www.donation....msg138801#msg138801

I did the installer.  A nice feature is the update button.  It checks all the utilities for new releases and gets them if the current one is outdated.  I like that part the most.  Looks well thought-out.

891

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AData s102 256GB USB 3.0 flash drive $94.99

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 19, 2016, 08:44 AM »

Lexar S75 256GB USB3.0 for US$49.99 (Free shipping if USA, US$5.23 for Australia for example).

-4wd (April 19, 2016, 07:50 AM)

Looks like a nice deal.  But I swore I would never buy a "sliding guts" design again.  First one broke.  Second one almost broke my thumb every time I inserted it.  I like the solid body type like s102 AData.

But it is nice to see storage coming down in price.  I notice the bare 3 1/2" HD I used to buy like WD Black 1 TB Sata III are back down around the price they were when I bought them, if not lower.  Seems like the HD price gouging is over for the time being. 

892

General Software Discussion / Re: Homeland Security warns Windows PC users to uninstall Quicktime

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 19, 2016, 06:55 AM »

I don't fight that needless battle. 

-wraith808 (April 18, 2016, 07:47 PM)

Ditto. Which is why I don't own any iDevices.

-Deozaan (April 18, 2016, 08:25 PM)

I must say my mom loved to watch iClaudius.  Myself, I only employ the iDivide and iConquer techniques when iDebugging. 

893

Living Room / Re: Twist Tie alternative?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 19, 2016, 06:49 AM »

memory wire

-4wd (April 18, 2016, 11:13 PM)

Seems a simpler way to adjust to various sizes I must say.

894

Living Room / Re: Twist Tie alternative?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2016, 05:57 PM »

I was thinking if there exists or could be made a set that did not touch the ear at all.  But was positioned near the ear and had a wave guide to project the sound into the ear canal.  They are probably already out there somewhere.

-MilesAhead (April 18, 2016, 06:55 AM)

I couldn't help but remember this. A friend of mine had one in the 80's, back in high school, before anyone had even heard of the Sony Walkman.

http://www.theatlant...e-the-terror/279474/

-app103 (April 18, 2016, 04:34 PM)

I wonder if anyone has done research on this stuff?  Like effects of prolonged usage.  I don't know if I'd want my bone o vibrate for hours at a time.  Especially the ones that sit near the temple.  Anything that goes near that trigeminal nerve makes me nervous.  I was thinking more like a speaker or the end of a wave guide that hovered near the ear canal opening without touching.  Then you would still get ambient sound and not need to pull the earbud out when someone talks to you.  But it is likely more feasible cost wise to do it with the vibration.

895

General Software Discussion / Re: Right click selected text and jump to location in regedit (or similar)

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2016, 12:47 PM »

Also take a look at this one.  It comes in both x86 and x64 exes.  2014 is the latest so it should know about Windows 8 etc..

http://www.sordum.or...try-key-jumper-v1-1/

Edit:  It figures I already had the 2013 version on my machine.    Updated to the latest.  This sounds like what you want.  Select a reg key text and hit a hotkey to open regedit there.

896

General Software Discussion / Re: Right click selected text and jump to location in regedit (or similar)

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2016, 12:18 PM »

The one I use and simplest is RegJump from SysInternals.  Just paste the registry key as param after regjump on the command line.

I am sure there are guis for it and other interfaces.  Some use regjump.exe and some do it themselves.  If you search regjump you should find a bunch.

Edit: On the SysInternals one see the thread on the forum if using a 64 bit OS
http://forum.sysinte...stem_topic19649.html

Nir Sofer pops up again.  I have his RegScanner utility also.  If you download NirLauncher 9 times out of 10 the quirky utility you need will be in there. 

897

Living Room / Re: anyone else getting DNS error for easeus.com?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2016, 12:09 PM »

It is software that is able to talk to hardware on a low level, possibly creating a mess that the IT department can spend hours to fix. Especially in the hands of a user accessing the network through an account that is not meant to do this kind of tasks.

Looking from that angle I can understand the IT department. Still, if the purpose of visiting that website is research, than the block is a bit of a draconian move on their part.

-Shades (April 18, 2016, 11:06 AM)

I can see being paranoid on the wired school PCs.  But I don't know why it is blocked on WiFi.  I don't know how the WiFi is bridged to the network.  Maybe the modem is just shunted in so that they use the wired network settings for everything minimizing the work load.  Still you would think they would let you set the time on your own PC via an atomic clock on internet.  Even that is blocked.

898

Living Room / Re: Twist Tie alternative?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2016, 12:05 PM »

"bone conduction" earphones

-mwb1100 (April 18, 2016, 11:29 AM)

Thanks for the heads up. 

899

Living Room / Re: anyone else getting DNS error for easeus.com?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2016, 09:22 AM »

They do seem to be using DNS to block certain sites.  For example IsItUp returns dns of makemkv.com in 63 ms but nslookup shows a time-out after 2 seconds.  I can see where MakeMKV might be thought to be used to copy movies but what easeus.com has to do with copyright infirngement I have no clue.

900

Living Room / Re: Twist Tie alternative?

« Last post by MilesAhead on April 18, 2016, 06:55 AM »

Just because I hate it when a bud falls out and I could get them for $8 I bought these JVC Earclip Buds

-MilesAhead (April 17, 2016, 08:46 PM)

My husband loves that style because of how well they stay put in his ears. I think the pairs I bought for him from CVS were like $3.99 or $4.99, in-store.

Personally, I won't even try them because they still plug into your ears, which means they will make my ears itch like crazy. Plus they don't look like they would be too comfortable for someone that wears glasses.

I prefer the old school kind with the headband, that can sit over the ears (or in front of them, if I also need to hear what is going on around me).

-app103 (April 17, 2016, 09:28 PM)

The worst decision I made afa earphones was to purchase a Sony over the h

Just because I hate it when a bud falls out and I could get them for $8 I bought these JVC Earclip Buds

-MilesAhead (April 17, 2016, 08:46 PM)

My husband loves that style because of how well they stay put in his ears. I think the pairs I bought for him from CVS were like $3.99 or $4.99, in-store.

Personally, I won't even try them because they still plug into your ears, which means they will make my ears itch like crazy. Plus they don't look like they would be too comfortable for someone that wears glasses.

I prefer the old school kind with the headband, that can sit over the ears (or in front of them, if I also need to hear what is going on around me).

-app103 (April 17, 2016, 09:28 PM)

The worst decision I made afa earphones was to purchase a Sony over the ear set of phones for $100.  The sound was great.  But my father did not feel the Florida heat.  When it got to 95F I had to beg him to put the A/C on.  So the headset stayed folded up in the pouch.  Plus they tended to get way slimy with ear wax.  On the ear is much better.  I was thinking if there exists or could be made a set that did not touch the ear at all.  But was positioned near the ear and had a wave guide to project the sound into the ear canal.  They are probably already out there somewhere.