Mike: Citrix is overkill, a VPN would be simpler.

I do tech support for a couple of dos based programs.
We tell users to install them stand alone on NT platforms.
They go and tell their tech support they want more users to interface with the program.
Their tech support Copies, not installing, the program onto a citrix network, and allows multiple users into the UI and that kills teh DBF files.
Then they call us with "your program ate our data"
And we respond with "Did ou make a back up on a 3.5" floppy like the UI told you to everytime you exited the program?"
Of course they didn't.
So their data is hosed.
I mention if they had been using our webbasesd product, they could have multiple users in the data, and they accuse me of trying to sell them the other product.
/like I get a comission.
//seriously, I have little pity for anyone using dos based software nowadays.
///screw them. I give them the best support I can, but when you hose your own data, don't come crying to me.

Hello,

I am in the process of redesigning my company's website. I was wondering if anyone here knew how to do flash or annimation. I just want to so something with my logo just to fancy up my website. I can export my logo into pretty much any format but I have no idea what extension to use or how to even do flash or annimation. Could someone please either explain or point me into the right direction online to find information on how to do this? I thank you in advance.

GoofingOff - I don't have any pointers for animation or Flash but I wanted to make sure you are aware that you still have problems with overlapping text on most of your pages.

GoofingOff:

Yea, I can't help you with that either, but you may wish to change the font on the bottom of the page. Your "Vision" and "Mission Statement" paragraphs are fairly difficult to read. The same goes for the text on your buttons. Good luck to you though!

When I open up the report from my Anti-virus (Panda 2010), I notice an "alarming" number of connection attempts. But I find that without exception, every single one of them is coming from my own IP (not the generic IP either, but the actual IP that my computer uses on the net). Panda identifies probably 10 connections every day from my own IP to my computer as needing to be firewalled.

Where is the fail? A program on my machine spoofing my address to download malware? My anti-virus? Will every connection attempt come from my IP, just because of how the tubes and trucks that carry the internets to my house work?

TehNacho:

How is your computer connected to the internet?
I'm not familiar with "generic" and "actual" IPs - does that mean you're behind a router doing NAT, i.e. the router box has the "actual" (extrenal) IP and assigns a "generic" (=local?) one to your PC?

Or is your PC directly connected via modem and has two IPs (modem and network card)?


Oh, and you aren't running one of those proxies for Iran or something, right?

The Voice of Doom: TehNacho:

How is your computer connected to the internet?
I'm not familiar with "generic" and "actual" IPs - does that mean you're behind a router doing NAT, i.e. the router box has the "actual" (extrenal) IP and assigns a "generic" (=local?) one to your PC?

Or is your PC directly connected via modem and has two IPs (modem and network card)?

Oh, and you aren't running one of those proxies for Iran or something, right?

When I go to "whatsmyIP" or when I log in to Hamachi (and these connection attempts are not happening when I start Hamachi) I get an IP in the 5.XXX.XXX.XXX range. When I go to a game on a LAN, or in IP config, I get something in the 198.162.X.XXX range, as pretty much every computer I have ever used gets in its own LAN.

The computer is connected to a switch, which is connected to a router, which is connected to a modem, which is connected to the wall.

TehNacho
When I go to "whatsmyIP" or when I log in to Hamachi (and these connection attempts are not happening when I start Hamachi) I get an IP in the 5.XXX.XXX.XXX range

And that's *exactly* the IP Panda complains about?
I just read across Hamachi's wikipedia page - could it be a different 5.* address, used by some other Hamachi user?

Or maybe your computer is sending out broadcasts via Hamachi to all 5.* computers and thus will get a connection attempt from itself since it's part of "all 5.*"?

I remember seeing Windows PCs constantly broadcasting some stuff (having never looked into it, I always guessed that it was most likely SMB related, like trying to find other computers in the same workgroup).
I guess some games might also use broadcasts to find other players on the same LAN which would be all the other Hamachi users as I understand it.

To see what's really going on - for example, if your computer is sending out broadcasts and receiving them - you'll have some network monitoring software.
Btw: did Panda mention the port(s) the connection attempts were going to?

The Voice of Doom: TehNacho
When I go to "whatsmyIP" or when I log in to Hamachi (and these connection attempts are not happening when I start Hamachi) I get an IP in the 5.XXX.XXX.XXX range

And that's *exactly* the IP Panda complains about?
I just read across Hamachi's wikipedia page - could it be a different 5.* address, used by some other Hamachi user?

Or maybe your computer is sending out broadcasts via Hamachi to all 5.* computers and thus will get a connection attempt from itself since it's part of "all 5.*"?

I remember seeing Windows PCs constantly broadcasting some stuff (having never looked into it, I always guessed that it was most likely SMB related, like trying to find other computers in the same workgroup).
I guess some games might also use broadcasts to find other players on the same LAN which would be all the other Hamachi users as I understand it.

To see what's really going on - for example, if your computer is sending out broadcasts and receiving them - you'll have some network monitoring software.
Btw: did Panda mention the port(s) the connection attempts were going to?

Each connection attempt shows only my IP, and at random times that as far as I can tell, are not when Hamachi is powered on.

Panda does not specify the port, only that the connection attempt was blocked by my firewall.

As far as networking software, the only stuff that I can think of would be VirtualBox (but this is happening when it's powered own), Hamachi (also happening when powered down), Windows Live Messenger, Firefox, and the NVidia Networking suite (I haven't dicked around with any settings, so maybe by default there is a behavior that could cause this?)

Could I get some advice on Windows 7? I have RC1, runs better then XP Pro on this older machine to my surprise.

I would like to take advantage of the pre-order deal, but I'm not sure what to get. From what it looks like I would be best off with Win 7 Pro.

Is there any reason to get Ultimate over Professional? I don't need the bitlocker tech, or 35 language options.

I now have a 4 port usb hub... inside of a NES controller.

If I had a steady hand and a dremel tool, I'd have an AWESOME 4 port usb hub, inside of an NES controller.

It is really hard to use a razor knife and kentucky windage to cut holes for usb ports. The end result was ok though, at least the thing works... Now I need to learn how to solder so that I can do;

THIS (SFW) (new window)

Thanks guys for your help. I am actually doing a redesign and you can see the difference in my first stab at designing a website to my current version.

Old version http://www.profitandlasvegas.com
New Version http://www.profitandlasvegas.com/indextest.html

Please let me know if the fonts and such are better on the new version and if it is easier to read. I have had a lot of comments that some of my fonts were very hard to read. It's weird to me because on my desiging program, it all looks good to me. I have heard that Firefox makes my site look totally different for some reason. I can't figure out how to make it look the same on FF as IE.

GoofingOff
Old version http://www.profitandlasvegas.com
New Version http://www.profitandlasvegas.com/indextest.html

Please let me know if the fonts and such are better on the new version and if it is easier to read. I have had a lot of comments that some of my fonts were very hard to read. It's weird to me because on my desiging program, it all looks good to me

Two points:

1.
General advice, didn't check what fonts you're using:
If you're using written text, don't use some obscure, fancy font.
If the visitors don't have a particular font installed, their browsers will select whatever they think might be a good replacement or have set as default font.
A good practice is to define fallback fonts:
"If you don't have 'Times' installed, at least substitute it with another font that also has serifs".

2.
If you're using images with text, don't scale them.
Rescaled text looks usually like crap.
That means:

a) If you make an image with text and if you need it in a different size, don't use your graphic programs's "resize" function to do so.
Create a new image in the different size and write the text using the appropriate font size (e.g. write in 12px font on a 200x200 image instead of writing in 24px on a 400x400 image and resizing it to 200x200).

b) for the same reason:
don't let the browser do the resizing/rescaling if there's text involved.
Don't do what you're doing with the big 1500x900 logo in the center of your new indextest (which looks crappy for that exact reason):

<img src="P&LVB Logo Final - Transparent.png" id="Image3" alt="Profit and Las Vegas Bookkeeping, LLC" align="top" border="0" style="width:470px;height:225px;">

Just use a 470x225 image if that's the size you need instead of having the browser rescale the 1500x900 one.

(hint: being able to scale one source image from thumbnail to billboard size is why people tend to design logos in a vector graphics format like SVG and then maybe export it to e.g. a .jpg of the needed size if they don't want or can't use the .svg itself - I'm not sure what browser versions currently ship with SVG support built-in.)

I got the blue screen of death on my xp box. Cant even do safe mode. 0x00000050 which I think means registry error, cause the memory sticks are good (they work in other boxes). Was wondering if the right thing to do is make a boot disk and run chkdsk and go from there. I dont have a XP CD, system never came with one.

GoofingOff: Please let me know if the fonts and such are better on the new version and if it is easier to read.

This is what I see.

None of the fonts are hard to read, you just have text overlapping in several places.

The Voice of Doom Thank you so much for your advice. I will work on that. I do have a program where I can make logos, pictures, etc. and make them whatever size I need them to be. I had no idea that resizing them on the screen would change their quality. Thank you so much for your advice. I will make those changes.

Benny Hill You kept telling me that I had overlapping so I checked out my site with IE and FF to see if the different browsers made my site look different and had overlapping. THank you so much for sending me a print screen of what you see. That is VERY helpful. I don't understand why it looks like that for you. Can you please tell me what browser you are using? Also, do you have a small screen size (monitor)? I don't understand why you keep seeing overlapping and no matter how hard I try, I can't make it look like it does for you. I will work on respacing as that is what appears to be the problem. THank you again for your help. I really appreciate it. You have no idea how helpful you guys have been to me.

GoofingOff
I don't understand why it looks like that for you. Can you please tell me what browser you are using? Also, do you have a small screen size (monitor)? I don't understand why you keep seeing overlapping and no matter how hard I try, I can't make it look like it does for you

The screenshot shows Firefox, but chances are that he isn't using Linux.
That's what I get:




/used an old version of Mozilla Seamonkey on Linux for the screenshots
You might want to go back a bit in this thread; I remember writing what's the most likely problem:
font sizes being displayed differently on different operating systems combined with using fixed-size DIVs or DIVs with absolute positioning basically: using "x=123 y=456" instead of "next to xyz" to position elements).
=> If a system displays a font bigger than yours, the (fixed) space might not be enough for the text and the text will overflow onto a neighboring element - which won't "move" to make room if it was positioned absolute with coordinates (x,y).


It's a shame that they scrapped the English translation of SELFHTML, the best tutorial/reference for HTML, CSS, Javascript&Co that I know: it also has some neat examples (source) about positioning in CSS.



Anyway, back to my point about font sizes - that's what the page looks like if I tell my browser to reduce the font size:

http://browsershots.org/

is a very nice website where you can submit your URL and it'll take screenshots of your page in a ridiculous amount of browsers to see what it'll look like for people using different OS's, Browser versions, etc..

GoofingOff: I had no idea that resizing them on the screen would change their quality.

This is a good example of why I suggested you hire a professional when you Boobiesed about your site here in the forum. There are going to be a LOT of things you don't know. Things that are pretty important (such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization)) to things that won't be so important for your site (like compressing CSS and Javascript to improve page load times).

Please don't take that as a snark (I know, that goes against everything Fark stands for) - if you and I were sitting at a bar having a beer and I told you I was thinking about starting my own business and I was going to do all of the accounting stuff myself (S-corp paperwork, payroll taxes, etc.), wouldn't you tell me you didn't think that was a good idea?

As I said before, if this was a personal website I wouldn't recommend hiring a professional - I think it's great you want to do this yourself and you're willing to learn. However, this is for your business and that means it's important that it looks good, works right and can be found by various search engines.

GoofingOff: Can you please tell me what browser you are using? Also, do you have a small screen size (monitor)?

I'm using Firefox 3.0.11 on Kubuntu 9.04. The screen shot I posted earlier was taken with a resolution of 1280 x 1024 on a 19 inch monitor.

Is there a way to rip songs from interactive CDs? I've got a few CDs that automatically load up some Flash crap and play that way. I want to be able to get the songs onto my computer though.

Wait, when did we get the see more [tag] links?

I'm finally getting a new computer and
I am
so
excited!


/yes, you did need to know that.
/carry on

i'm having some weird computer issues. I've come to think it has to be either processor or motherboard.

it is a windows 7 x64 box currently, but i had similar problems with Vista Ultimate before this. the box has been freezing up and bluescreening, but more often it just freezes, requiring a hard reboot. for a while it would run, sometimes an hour, sometimes a week without freezing, seemingly no pattern to it. I tried updating all drivers, tried a clean Win7 install, tried different hard drives, everything i could think of.

now the computer won't boot at all. well, it'll try, it'll load Win7, about 40% of the time, but just freeze up after some time. generally it'll fail to load, and go to the Windows Startup Repair thing, but it'll freeze up there too.

I've tried to boot from a USB Ubuntu live disk, and it freezes up during boot after i make the selection for language and that i just want to boot the live disk. the status bar will move for a few, then freeze.

I also tried a LiveCD of PCLinuxOS, but it freezes the same way.

I've tried all combinations of removing absolutely every peice connected down to just mobo ram and even tried booting to the live disks with no HD or add on video card.

memtest has been run from the Ubuntu live USB successfully for 15 hours with no errors.

I have also been able to boot to a Hiren's Boot CD to run a few diagnostics, and everything is coming up fine, except one CPU diagnostic failed to load, but the CPU tests came back "passed" in every other program.

Holy crap, am I writing a book? I guess I just need someone to confirm with me that it's probably mobo/processor, since, well what else could it be?

AesopRock_00: I've tried all combinations of removing absolutely every peice connected down to just mobo ram and even tried booting to the live disks with no HD or add on video card.

Is anything overheating? Are the power supply voltages stable?

discount sushi: Is there any reason to get Ultimate over Professional? I don't need the bitlocker tech, or 35 language options.

I can't think of any compelling reason to get Professional, let alone Ultimate. Unless you want to join a domain or use remote desktop a lot. Home Premium will have everything else.

FuturePastNow: Is anything overheating? Are the power supply voltages stable?

nothing is overheating, all fans running properly. CPU temp stays around 40C.

I'm unsure how to check power supply voltages without equipment i don't have, but might have access to at work.

Mike: Replace the power supply, there's probably a dud capacitor in it.

There could be a bad capacitor on the motherboard, too.

Mike
...and power supply is cheaper than mobo or cpu, which are the only two things you haven't swapped, right?

Depends, my current computer's cheapo Asrock mobo was about 45 EUR or so while my last PSU must have been around 80 EUR.

The new CPU that was the reason for buying a new mobo in the first place on the other hand.. ;)

good call guys, i hadn't thought to swap out the power supply. that'll be a little cheaper than replacing the mobo/proc.

though i can't afford it right now, i've been looking at upgrading my board and processor anyways, i was just hoping i could do it on my own schedule instead of having to do it now since the computer just won't work.

also, any experience i've had with blown capacitors on a mobo would cause it to not boot at all. can you blow a motherboard capacitor and still partially function?

AesopRock_00: also, any experience i've had with blown capacitors on a mobo would cause it to not boot at all. can you blow a motherboard capacitor and still partially function?

Absolutely. My old computer died slowly. First its PCI slots failed one at a time. Then a little instability. Took about a year from the first cap bulging to where it wouldn't boot anymore.

Hey- dumb question...

A friend of mine has a Dell E510. It's a few years old and rather than push him to buy a new computer, we're going to see if we can't get another year out of the one he's got.

The thing of it is is that about a month ago his CPU fan (the E510 has a single 120mm fan connected to the front of the chassis, blowing cool air through the heatsink, it's a BTX form factor if I'm not mistaken, ram at the top, etc., ect) started throttling up after about 45 minutes of use.

Given the age of the machine, I figured maybe his thermal paste was getting dry. I removed the old paste and applied new paste, and he claims that the fan still throttles up, but not the same way as before. He claims that when he visits a video heavy website, such as youtube, the fan still throttles up while he is at the site, and then throttles down when he leaves the site.

I'm going to try replacing the fan next... but if that doesn't work, what else could it be?

TehNacho: He claims that when he visits a video heavy website, such as youtube, the fan still throttles up while he is at the site, and then throttles down when he leaves the site.

Isn't that what it is supposed to do?

FuturePastNow: TehNacho: He claims that when he visits a video heavy website, such as youtube, the fan still throttles up while he is at the site, and then throttles down when he leaves the site.

Isn't that what it is supposed to do?

He has had it for a few years, and never noticed it being that loud. I've heard it throttled up and it sounds too loud to me... it's farkin' LOUD when it goes all the way up.

Mike: Fan going nuts on Youtube etc: try upgrading to the latest Flash 10 first. There were some CPU-hogging issues in Flash 9; some people run into it on Fark because of our ads, actually...

Yeah, that's probably not the root cause of the problem, it's more likely a failing fan, but every little bit helps, and if not, it's because I'm drunk and in the middle of New England on vacation :)

Had not thought about upgrading flash, but I will look into that when he brings it in.

Mike: I'm drunk and in the middle of New England on vacation :)

Swing up to VT for a growler.

Thenk you all so much for your help. Sorry I have not been on here in a while. But I did want to come back to this forum and specifically thank Benny Hill and The Voice of Doom. You both were very helpful to me and I will take both of your advice and have the changes fixed.

Benny Hill you mentioned to me that I should have a professional do this since there is more to building a site like SEO stuff, etc. Actually, there is a woman that I know really well that teaches SEO and how all that works. The reason I am trying to build this site is because I am trying to learn the whole thing from the ins and outs. Then...to take your advice, I have a client of mine that does build websites for a living. Once I am finished, he and I worked out a deal to do some trade work and he is going to go through and fix anything that I messed up. I just really wanted to be able to create the site as best as I could without the assistance of the people that are going to be taking it over anyways when I am finished. I know Fark has a lot of people that are computer guys in some fashion or another and knew that I would be able to get someone to help me. I really appreciate both Benny Hill and The Voice of Doom for all your help. You guys have been extremely helpful. Which that too....goes against pretty much everything Fark stands for. Thanks guys...if you ever come to Las Vegas, hit me up. I am able to get comps to most of the shows here in town and I can show you a really good time without it costing you a dime! We all have talents and connections. I happen to have a lot of resources to get comps to most of the cool stuff that people usually have to pay for. So please, please, do not feel bad about not calling or wrting to me. I would be honored to do so as a thanks for you guys taking the time to help me.

GoofingOff - having a mutually beneficial plan like that with your client is an excellent thing. And knowing the woman who can help you with SEO is also very handy :-) Anyway, good luck with it! I hope you enjoy the learning experience and that the site brings you plenty of business :-)

Sim Tree: Trying to get the case off of an old machine, but it won't slide off the little track it has. I unscrewed the two screws holding it on, so there shouldn't be any resistance except friction. Did I miss something, or is it stuck? If stuck, how do I unstick it without breaking anything?

got a model number for the PC/case? or at least the brand? some cases have 'buttons' you need to push or certain ways to slide.

I have a folder. A folder with 200,000 like-named jpegs that'd I'd like to put into separate folders (say, 1000 images to a folder) so they can be browsed with Windows Explorer without Explorer freezing up for 30 minutes every time I click something.

Linux is an option.

Help?

No_47: A folder with 200,000 like-named jpegs...

Can you be more specific on the "like-named" part? I mean, are they like-named because they are timestamps like this:

20090708032000.jpeg
20090708032500.jpeg
20090708033000.jpeg
...

Or are they "like-named" like this:

betty_on_top.jpeg
betty_doggy.jpeg
betty_teacher_outfit.jpeg
michelle_dominatrix.jpeg
...

Obviously the first set would be a lot easier to manipulate than the second one.

I'll go as far as to say it's probably not possible to sort them by filename. That'd be easy.