The Windows and Windows Software Megathread

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NihilCredo: Jun 6, 2011; iram omni possibili modo preme:
plus una illa te diffamabit, quam multæ virtutes commendabunt

Both of those were tips that used to have some effect back in the XP days, when memory management wasn't nearly as efficient, particularly towards the end of its cycle when hardware picked up and huge RAM sizes became the norm.

Since I don't know whether Vista's management is closer to XP's or 7's (I skipped that one), I'm figuring it might be worth a try, since if there's no performance improvement it just takes a reboot to go back to the default configuration.

# ? Mar 12, 2012 09:27

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# ? May 24, 2024 17:37

kapinga: Oct 12, 2005; I am not a number

NihilCredo posted:

Both of those were tips that used to have some effect back in the XP days, when memory management wasn't nearly as efficient, particularly towards the end of its cycle when hardware picked up and huge RAM sizes became the norm.

Since I don't know whether Vista's management is closer to XP's or 7's (I skipped that one), I'm figuring it might be worth a try, since if there's no performance improvement it just takes a reboot to go back to the default configuration.

It's closer to 7. Vista is NT 6.0, "7" in NT 6.1. Although there were some under-the-hood changes made in 7, most of the big stuff was actually changed in Vista.

Toast Museum is right, don't mess with it. Maybe check that the page file is set to automatic, or at least 1/2 your page file, but I wouldn't do more than that.

# ? Mar 12, 2012 14:41

ndrake: Mar 29, 2002; You know, this is a damn fine cup of coffee.

This is probably a stupid question. I bought one of those student windows 7 upgrade licenses a few years ago. I never used it, but recently pulled it out. I had made a boot disc of the download, but MS servers won't let me activate the license because I'm now trying to perform a fresh install on a new computer. This is annoying. Is there a (legal) way around this? I realize I have an upgrade license, but I have a legal xp license and find it silly that I have to install xp and then "upgrade" install to 7. Is there a way to contact MS so that my licenses might mate and have a real, full windows 7 license offspring? Installing XP, updating, then installing 7 is so inefficient.

# ? Mar 12, 2012 15:37

Toast Museum: Dec 3, 2005; 30% Iron Chef

ndrake posted:

This is probably a stupid question. I bought one of those student windows 7 upgrade licenses a few years ago. I never used it, but recently pulled it out. I had made a boot disc of the download, but MS servers won't let me activate the license because I'm now trying to perform a fresh install on a new computer. This is annoying. Is there a (legal) way around this? I realize I have an upgrade license, but I have a legal xp license and find it silly that I have to install xp and then "upgrade" install to 7. Is there a way to contact MS so that my licenses might mate and have a real, full windows 7 license offspring? Installing XP, updating, then installing 7 is so inefficient.

Yeah, it's trivially easy to use an upgrade license for a clean install. Give me a second to dig it out of my post history.

Edit: instructions here

# ? Mar 12, 2012 15:41

ndrake: Mar 29, 2002; You know, this is a damn fine cup of coffee.

Toast Museum posted:

Yeah, it's trivially easy to use an upgrade license for a clean install. Give me a second to dig it out of my post history.

Edit: instructions here

Fantastic, thanks!

# ? Mar 12, 2012 15:52

Nintendo Kid: Aug 4, 2011; by Smythe

OneEightHundred posted:

Is there a way to get Vista to keep more stuff out of the pagefile? I'm running a game that's frequently stuttering as it loads/drops content and the stuttering ALWAYS corresponds with a page fault spike in perfmon, except I'm supposedly only at 68% physical used so I don't really get why it's hitting virtual memory so much in the first place.

The likely issue is something else is running that keeps getting paged out and then loaded back in, so if anything will help, it'd be trying to track down exactly what is paging out.

Also: are you running 64 bit Vista? Is the game 32 bit? If the game is 32 bit it may be hitting the limits of what it can address and starting to page from that, either from bad programming or something Windows does, and since it can't see the rest of your ram the fact that you have 32% free won't help.

# ? Mar 12, 2012 17:26

stubblyhead: Sep 13, 2007; That is treason, Johnny!; Fun Shoe

If your Technet subscription expires, does any software you've licensed through it expire as well? The subscription benefits page says that you get "access to full-version Microsoft software with no time or feature limits," but neither that nor the EULA explicitly says what happens to those licenses if your subscription goes away that I can tell.

# ? Mar 12, 2012 19:37

IT Guy: Jan 12, 2010; You people drink like you don't want to live!

Thermopyle posted:

I use Evernote and Toodledo. Works awesome.

I have copies of every website I've found interesting, photos of anything I've found interesting, notes, and pdfs all archived in Evernote for the past several years.

They have a great web interface, and great clients for Windows and Android (and other platforms that I haven't used it on.)

Toodledo is a website for tracking tasks.

Man, I absolutely love Evernote. It works so much better for me than OneNote.

# ? Mar 12, 2012 19:55

AlexDeGruven: Jun 29, 2007; Watch me pull my dongle out of this tiny box

stubblyhead posted:

If your Technet subscription expires, does any software you've licensed through it expire as well? The subscription benefits page says that you get "access to full-version Microsoft software with no time or feature limits," but neither that nor the EULA explicitly says what happens to those licenses if your subscription goes away that I can tell.

My TechNet expired over a year ago, and I was able to reactivate without issue when I rebuilt my computer last month.

# ? Mar 12, 2012 20:20

Xenomorph: Jun 13, 2001

IT Guy posted:

Man, I absolutely love Evernote. It works so much better for me than OneNote.

Evernote is kinda lovely.

I use it on Mac OS X, Windows, and iOS.

On Mac OS X, I guess it is sorta OK. You hit "New note", type a title, hit Tab, start typing a note.

On Windows, you hit "New note and it drops you in the message body. You have to click back to type title for the note. Not a huge deal, but why would they make the Mac & Windows clients inconsistent like that in the first place???

On iOS, Evernote is a nightmare. Formatting is screwed up, extra carriage returns are randomly entered, extra spaces are added to ends of each line every time you save, viewing the note and editing the note are two completely different screens. Even though it is a "universal" app, the interface is different depending on if you load it on iPhone/iPod or iPad. Load it on iPhone/iPod, you have a "Favorites" folder where you can bookmark important notes. Load the SAME .app file on iPad and there is NO Favorites folder.
Putting in a note where it thinks some text you typed should be a hyperlink is a one-way change. You cannot change that hyperlink, ever. You have to delete it completely and re-type it.
Previous versions for iOS would double-space ALL notes, really loving with the formatting.
The current version adds "predictive note titles", which means your new notes get RANDOM titles, based on things like location or other factors that are completely out of your control.

I can't even copy & paste my notes out of Evernote into other programs, since the formatting is always hosed. I have to email notes to myself, as that is the only way to get them back to close to a normal formatting.

I have over 1,000 notes in Evernote, and I've been using it for years.

# ? Mar 12, 2012 21:43

IT Guy: Jan 12, 2010; You people drink like you don't want to live!

Xenomorph posted:

Evernote is kinda lovely.

I use it on Mac OS X, Windows, and iOS.

On Mac OS X, I guess it is sorta OK. You hit "New note", type a title, hit Tab, start typing a note.

On Windows, you hit "New note and it drops you in the message body. You have to click back to type title for the note. Not a huge deal, but why would they make the Mac & Windows clients inconsistent like that in the first place???

On iOS, Evernote is a nightmare. Formatting is screwed up, extra carriage returns are randomly entered, extra spaces are added to ends of each line every time you save, viewing the note and editing the note are two completely different screens. Even though it is a "universal" app, the interface is different depending on if you load it on iPhone/iPod or iPad. Load it on iPhone/iPod, you have a "Favorites" folder where you can bookmark important notes. Load the SAME .app file on iPad and there is NO Favorites folder.
Putting in a note where it thinks some text you typed should be a hyperlink is a one-way change. You cannot change that hyperlink, ever. You have to delete it completely and re-type it.
Previous versions for iOS would double-space ALL notes, really loving with the formatting.
The current version adds "predictive note titles", which means your new notes get RANDOM titles, based on things like location or other factors that are completely out of your control.

I can't even copy & paste my notes out of Evernote into other programs, since the formatting is always hosed. I have to email notes to myself, as that is the only way to get them back to close to a normal formatting.

I have over 1,000 notes in Evernote, and I've been using it for years.

My only comparison has been Microsoft OneNote. Can you recommend alternatives?

# ? Mar 12, 2012 21:49

Thermopyle: Jul 1, 2003; ...the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. �Bertrand Russell

Xenomorph posted:

Evernote is kinda lovely.

The Android app is amazing. One of the best apps on Android. I use the web interface, Windows client, and Android client. It's like archivist/note-taker heaven.

I've got a little over 5000 notes!

IT Guy posted:

My only comparison has been Microsoft OneNote. Can you recommend alternatives?

Springpad? (I like EN more)

# ? Mar 13, 2012 00:36

hirvox: Sep 8, 2009

Xenomorph posted:

Evernote is kinda lovely.

My main complaint about EverNote is that it's useless without a stable network connection. Say.. in a foreign conference center with an overwhelmed Wifi.

OneNote lets you keep working and syncs when it can.

# ? Mar 13, 2012 06:58

IAmKale: Jun 7, 2007; やらないか; Fun Shoe

Is there a good, cheap alternative to Fireworks? I used it a lot in school back when it was still a Macromedia product but I haven't used it since Adobe bought it. Paint.NET has been working alright as a replacement up until now, but I'm starting to get annoyed by the lack of things like rotate and editable text without hunting down third-party plugins.

# ? Mar 13, 2012 07:09

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

Karthe posted:

Is there a good, cheap alternative to Fireworks? I used it a lot in school back when it was still a Macromedia product but I haven't used it since Adobe bought it. Paint.NET has been working alright as a replacement up until now, but I'm starting to get annoyed by the lack of things like rotate and editable text without hunting down third-party plugins.

If you've been getting by on Paint.NET so far (which seems a bit :psyduck:

seen as to what Fireworks was made for), GIMP should work just fine.

# ? Mar 13, 2012 08:37

Ninja Dan: Jun 28, 2005; Barn door's open!

I'm running into a problem that I'm curious if anyone here has seen before, google searches have been largely fruitless. I have a windows XP SP3 machine that won't open services.msc. When I try to launch it, it crashes and prompts to send an error report and in the application log I get event ID 1000, which according to google doesn't explain much. The problem persists after reboot. Here is more info from the event log:

code:

The description for Event ID ( 1000 ) in Source ( Microsoft Management Console ) cannot be
 found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL
 files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= 
flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following 
information is part of the event: mmc.exe, 5.2.3790.4136, mshtml.dll, 8.0.6001.19046, 
0023c268.

Any insight is greatly appreciated. At this point I'm running an SFC scan, but other suggestions are welcome.

# ? Mar 13, 2012 16:22

IAmKale: Jun 7, 2007; やらないか; Fun Shoe

Flipperwaldt posted:

If you've been getting by on Paint.NET so far (which seems a bit seen as to what Fireworks was made for), GIMP should work just fine.

Paint.NET isn't perfect, but it's usable and free so I kinda just stuck it out. I've also tried GIMP, but its three-window UI was just too awkward for me; it's finally getting a single-window mode when 2.8 comes out, though, so I guess I'll wait and give it a try.

And I'm not against paying for a solution, I just wanted to see what my options were before I resigned myself to paying the $300 for a copy of Fireworks :v:

# ? Mar 13, 2012 16:23

nexus6: Sep 2, 2011; If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes

Karthe posted:

Paint.NET isn't perfect, but it's usable and free so I kinda just stuck it out. I've also tried GIMP, but its three-window UI was just too awkward for me; it's finally getting a single-window mode when 2.8 comes out, though, so I guess I'll wait and give it a try.

I've been waiting for 2.8 for about a year now, I'm sticking with Paint.NET

# ? Mar 13, 2012 17:11

Ninja Dan: Jun 28, 2005; Barn door's open!

Ninja Dan posted:

I'm running into a problem that I'm curious if anyone here has seen before, google searches have been largely fruitless. I have a windows XP SP3 machine that won't open services.msc. When I try to launch it, it crashes and prompts to send an error report and in the application log I get event ID 1000, which according to google doesn't explain much. The problem persists after reboot. Here is more info from the event log:
code:
The description for Event ID ( 1000 ) in Source ( Microsoft Management Console ) cannot be
 found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL
 files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= 
flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following 
information is part of the event: mmc.exe, 5.2.3790.4136, mshtml.dll, 8.0.6001.19046, 
0023c268.
Any insight is greatly appreciated. At this point I'm running an SFC scan, but other suggestions are welcome.

SFC scan and reboot appears to have fixed this issue. Which would mark the first time SFC scan has fixed anything for me, ever. :v:

# ? Mar 13, 2012 17:18

Thermopyle: Jul 1, 2003; ...the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. �Bertrand Russell

hirvox posted:

My main complaint about EverNote is that it's useless without a stable network connection. Say.. in a foreign conference center with an overwhelmed Wifi.

OneNote lets you keep working and syncs when it can.

Hmm?

I just disabled my network connection and Evernote worked fine.

# ? Mar 13, 2012 19:43

Mak0rz: Aug 2, 2008; 😎🐗🚬

Is there any way to change window color when using the Windows 7 Basic theme?

# ? Mar 13, 2012 23:53

Nintendo Kid: Aug 4, 2011; by Smythe

Mak0rz posted:

Is there any way to change window color when using the Windows 7 Basic theme?

Third party shell replacements/hacks.

# ? Mar 14, 2012 00:07

baka kaba: Jul 19, 2003; PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

nexus6 posted:

I've been waiting for 2.8 for about a year now, I'm sticking with Paint.NET

Yeah it's completely ridiculous that single-window mode still doesn't exist in the 21st century, but on the other hand Paint.NET is too basic and was horrendously slow with large images last time I used it

Also you can get a student version of Photoshop for $199 if you're eligible, if you are looking to pay for something. I hear Fireworks is good for web design (?) but is there any reason to prefer it otherwise?

# ? Mar 14, 2012 00:46

IAmKale: Jun 7, 2007; やらないか; Fun Shoe

baka kaba posted:

I hear Fireworks is good for web design (?) but is there any reason to prefer it otherwise?

I just preferred Fireworks' workflow to Photoshop's. The tools felt more intuitive, and I was doing a lot more web design back then so I benefited the most from its pixel-editing capabilities. What I want most of all now is an image editor that will let me edit text after I've placed it on the screen :argh:

# ? Mar 14, 2012 04:01

AnimalChin: Feb 1, 2006

http://www.shsc.info/UsefulWindowsSoftware (from the OP) is a dead link.

Is there another good resource goons like?

# ? Mar 14, 2012 04:08

Mak0rz: Aug 2, 2008; 😎🐗🚬

AnimalChin posted:

http://www.shsc.info/UsefulWindowsSoftware (from the OP) is a dead link.

Is there another good resource goons like?

http://alternativeto.net/

# ? Mar 14, 2012 05:08

hirvox: Sep 8, 2009

Thermopyle posted:

I just disabled my network connection and Evernote worked fine.

Were you using the iOS version?

# ? Mar 14, 2012 07:05

NihilCredo: Jun 6, 2011; iram omni possibili modo preme:
plus una illa te diffamabit, quam multæ virtutes commendabunt

AnimalChin posted:

http://www.shsc.info/UsefulWindowsSoftware (from the OP) is a dead link.

Is there another good resource goons like?

My Bible:

http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/934274-freeware-alternative-list/

# ? Mar 14, 2012 07:18

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

Karthe posted:

I just preferred Fireworks' workflow to Photoshop's. The tools felt more intuitive, and I was doing a lot more web design back then so I benefited the most from its pixel-editing capabilities. What I want most of all now is an image editor that will let me edit text after I've placed it on the screen

You could give Artweaver free edition a shot. I didn't mention it earlier, because you mentioned rotating stuff and you can't rotate a selection in it. Now I've found out, you can copy something to a new layer and rotate the layer. It has editable text. It has a single window interface

and it feels a bit like a crippled photoshop.

It might miss other things; I don't know how to draw a rectangle with it or how to edit the brushes to a non aliased pixel brush for example. So, depending on what functions you used in Paint.NET, it might be an upgrade or a sidegrade.

# ? Mar 14, 2012 14:40

Thermopyle: Jul 1, 2003; ...the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. �Bertrand Russell

hirvox posted:

Were you using the iOS version?

No. I assumed we were taking about the windows version because, well, this thread.

FWIW, the Android version works without a network connection.

# ? Mar 14, 2012 16:36

IAmKale: Jun 7, 2007; やらないか; Fun Shoe

Flipperwaldt posted:

You could give Artweaver free edition a shot. I didn't mention it earlier, because you mentioned rotating stuff and you can't rotate a selection in it. Now I've found out, you can copy something to a new layer and rotate the layer. It has editable text. It has a single window interface and it feels a bit like a crippled photoshop.

Thanks for the suggestion. I gave it a try and you're right, it feels very much like Photoshop-lite. I don't much care for its myriad brush options, and like you said it doesn't feel like it's tailored for the kind of raster editing I'd want to do.

I think I found what I was looking for, though - a program called StylePix feels very much inspired by Fireworks back when it was a Macromedia product. Editable text, easy rotate, layer selection just by clicking on an element on the layer, and hell, it even has the same element alignment tools that I first saw in the new version of Visual Studio. I think I've finally found a replacement for Paint.NET.

# ? Mar 14, 2012 17:31

Flipperwaldt: Nov 11, 2011; Won't somebody think of the starving hamsters in China?

Karthe posted:

I think I found what I was looking for, though - a program called StylePix feels very much inspired by Fireworks back when it was a Macromedia product. Editable text, easy rotate, layer selection just by clicking on an element on the layer, and hell, it even has the same element alignment tools that I first saw in the new version of Visual Studio. I think I've finally found a replacement for Paint.NET.

That... looks pretty good actually. Portable and all. I'll have to check this out myself, if for nothing else than to add it to the catalog of software to recommend. All the alternatives so far have been a bit poo poo in some way or another.

At this point, I'm thinking there must be something seriously wrong with it or I would have heard of it before

I really hope I'm wrong about that.

EDIT It's really, really, really good!! Doesn't even nag you to upgrade to the pro version or anything. Lightweight, much better than Paint.NET in that respect. And lots of useful features. It's a keeper!

Flipperwaldt fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Mar 14, 2012

# ? Mar 14, 2012 17:56

c0burn: Sep 2, 2003; The KKKing

AnimalChin posted:

http://www.shsc.info/UsefulWindowsSoftware (from the OP) is a dead link.

Is there another good resource goons like?

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ScottHanselmans2011UltimateDeveloperAndPowerUsersToolListForWindows.aspx

# ? Mar 14, 2012 22:10

Gromit: Aug 15, 2000; I am an oppressed White Male, Asian women wont serve me! Save me Campbell Newman!!!!!!!

I don't know if anyone really cares any more, but I moved the data recovery wiki that used to be at shsc.info/DataRecovery to http://data.steveshouse.org
Right now it's just a quick and dirty paste of the old data, pretty much. I plan to make something better and more up-to-date in the near future, though. And better-looking.

# ? Mar 15, 2012 00:47

IT Guy: Jan 12, 2010; You people drink like you don't want to live!

Gromit posted:

I don't know if anyone really cares any more, but I moved the data recovery wiki that used to be at shsc.info/DataRecovery to http://data.steveshouse.org
Right now it's just a quick and dirty paste of the old data, pretty much. I plan to make something better and more up-to-date in the near future, though. And better-looking.

I definitely care, this sounds awesome. The old write up was amazing, I can't wait for the revised version, especially from someone like you who specializes in the field.

# ? Mar 15, 2012 01:33

Craptacular!: Jul 9, 2001; Fuck the DH

Every since I installed the new NVidia drivers, my screen flashes when I load/unload a Flash video ala YouTube (so the screen flashes when the page loads, and then again when I browse elsewhere).

Help?

# ? Mar 15, 2012 05:08

Red_Fred: Oct 21, 2010; Fallen Rib

I have a quick question about making a batch file to rename some files.

I have to scan a bunch of files for my job. They need to be renamed to 'Scanned As At [DATE][Number]'. I played around with the ren function to get this to work but ultimately could not. The files come from the scanner as seemingly random numbers E.g. "3526346.pdf" & "3526347.pdf" should be renamed to "Scanned As At 16-03-12.pdf" & "Scanned As At 16-03-12 (1).pdf".

An awesome bonus would be if they could then be put in to a folder with the same name, but multiples just in the same folder.

Is this possible?

# ? Mar 16, 2012 02:36

baka kaba: Jul 19, 2003; PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

Never used it, but I bet Bulk Rename Utility could do that for you (probably with Auto Date set to Creation, and this guy's suggestion for setting Prevent Duplicates to add a number suffix)

# ? Mar 16, 2012 03:12

MutantBlue: Jun 8, 2001

Red_Fred posted:

I have a quick question about making a batch file to rename some files.

...

Is this possible?

You could ask in the PowerShell Megathread. There's probably a simple way to do that.

# ? Mar 16, 2012 04:42

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# ? May 24, 2024 17:37

Red_Fred: Oct 21, 2010; Fallen Rib

baka kaba posted:

Never used it, but I bet Bulk Rename Utility could do that for you (probably with Auto Date set to Creation, and this guy's suggestion for setting Prevent Duplicates to add a number suffix)

Well I was thinking a batch file would be much faster as I can do it manually with no problem so an app might make the process slower. Thanks though.

MutantBlue posted:

You could ask in the PowerShell Megathread. There's probably a simple way to do that.

Cross posted my question there. Thanks.

# ? Mar 16, 2012 05:16

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Windows and Windows Software Megathread

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