6/21    Any recommendations for a file system I can access natively under
        Windows 2003 and Linux (Debian) with ownership, permissions, etc?
        Does this even exist?
        \_ FAT32 is probably the best you're gonna get.
        \_ I've seen NTFS modules for unix but they're usually listed as
           read-only.  I've never tried them out.  You want this on the same
           computer for dual-boot, right?
           \_ The NTFS drivers have occasional problems just reading directories
              correctly (ie, some files aren't visible from Unix).
           \_ The NTFS drivers have occasional problems just reading
              directories correctly (ie, some files aren't visible from Unix).
           \_ op's asking for one w/ ownership & perms, guys
              \_ they don't really exist, but we're being nice about it.
              \_ NTFS has ownerships and perms.  What's the problem if it can
                 be made to work under linux?
        \_ Unless you're specifically asking about it for dual-boot, you may
           have better luck just setting up a samba server with ACL support.
        \_ I once read about an ext2 FS driver for windows, but I can't say
           anything about reliability/quality.
           \_ Ext2fsd by Matt Wu or something, google it. RW access,
              semi-stable, use at your own risk...
              \_ Thanks, will try this.  (Yes, it's for dual boot.)  -John
                 \_ You're welcome - williamc

6/18    Does anybody have experience with setting up a small wiki server on
        a win2k machine (possibly using Cygwin)?

6/16    Well, I tried to install Fedora Linux 2 on my second hard drive so
        I could dual boot.  Linux works (I'm using it now) but XP no
        longer boots.  Hmmm... The file system and such is all still
        there, so it must just be that Linux messed up the boot sector
        trying to allow for dual boot.  I have a winXP CD and I can run
        rescue console and get access.  Does anyone know how to get it
        to fix the boot sector?  (In the old days of dos, it was "sys c:"
        now... I dunno)
        \_ fdisk /mbr. GRUB should have handled above. hmm...
        \_ Look at fedora2-related articles and discussions on slashdot.
           This seems to be a common problem and it has to do something
           with 2.6 kernels and such. BTW, I dual-boot XP and Fedora and
           I didn't have this problem after installing FC2.
           \_ Yeah, I've been reading the bugzilla report
              http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=115980
              I'm surprised such a big problem made it into the "stable"
              release.  Sheesh
              \_ Because they don't give a shit about your windows system.  If
                 MS had done the same thing the slashdot tinfoil hat crowd
                 would be screaming.
                 \_ MS does the same thing, all the time.
                    \_ So all the time 2k,xp, etc, will wipe out your linux
                       boot partition?

6/16    Trying to get XP onto a dual-boot laptop witout cd or floppy drive.
        Is there a way to get some sort of XP installer to net boot?  RIS
        is not an option.  Or does anyone know of any mini (<128mb) installer
        images for XP that will fit on/boot from a USB key?  -John
        \_ You could get a larger USB key.  You could get a USB CDROM.  You
           could do a PXE boot if your laptop supports that.  I don't think
           you can put the floppy boot images on a key, not because it won't
           boot them but because I don't think there's an option to do a net
           install like that.  I think the USB CDROM is the easiest thing to
           do.   Or maybe you could put the XP cd files on the HD on an NTFS
           or DOS partition, boot from floppy images on the cd key if your
           laptop supports booting from the key and then tell it to use the
           hd for the rest of the files.  The last thing I can think of is
           to move the hd to another machine, install to that HD, then move
           it back.
           \_ Well this is what I'm wondering--is there a decent way of
              making a PXE image out of an XP installer CD?  That's what I'm
              having a ton of trouble finding.  -John
              \_ I honestly don't know.  It's a really odd thing to do.  Why
                 not just go get a cheap usb cdrom?
                 \_ No such thing here.  I found this though:
                    http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder  -John
                    \_ No USB cdroms?  I've got one on my desk.  They exist.

6/11    A moment of silence, please.
        http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/11/five_years_ago
        \_ why is the death of a stupid dot-bomb interesting?

6/8     Where can I download the openAL drivers for Windows XP?

6/4     M$ Japan cancels development of True Fantasy Live Online:
        http://csua.org/u/7li (Wired)
        Rumor has it that the game featured a virtual version of Windows
        that never crashed and was invulnerable to malware, but testers
        refused the scenario as simply too unrealistic.
         \_ speaking of which:  my XP laptop crashes everytime it tries
           to access the CDrom after it has been running for a while.
           (so, i can restart and use the cd/dvd but if i've had it on
            for a while already and try, it is sure to crash).  It seems
            to happen whenever it spins up, even though i have disabled
            autoplay.  Any suggestions besides getting real os?
            \_ you could try booting knoppix to see if it works there.
               check out the ide controller settings. does it just lock up?
                \_ yeah, locks up, can't move mouse curser, suck.
            \_ heat problem?
               \_ why the correlation witht the DVD player?
                  \_ CD drives get really hot when they spin up.  Try using
                     the CD for a while, and then feel that part of the case.
                  \_ I was only guessing it is heat but it is kind of weird
                     that rebooting will 'fix' it.  If I'm right then it's
                     something weird like the heat causes some bits of on-board
                     cache or other non-ROM to get corrupted and rebooting
                     flushes/reloads that memory.  If it isn't heat, then it
                     is some driver bug with a memory leak that is corrupting
                     it's own memory space and maybe whatever else it can get
                     to nearby in the kernel.  I don't remember what execution
                     layer things like cd drivers run at in windows.  I
                     consider forgetting things like that a sign of good
                     mental health.

6/1     Heya Windows experts, I have a Windows 2000 box that I'd like
        all is't ports to be closed. I do not need it to be listening for
        any connections, and it's on an open WiFi network. Is there
        a way (whithout buying windows firewall software) to close
        all the ports on the Windows 2000 computer?
        \_ How about free firewall software like ZoneAlarm?  -John
           \_ Thanks, I didn't know that software was free.
              (Too bad Windows doesn't have an option to
                close all ports! ) --op
                \_ You'll get a good start on it by going through your
                   services (admin tools->services) and turning off
                   everything unnecessary.  On windows, the problem
                   is that a lot of different, potentially vulnerable
                   shit uses the rpc/dcom ports, so it's not the actual
                   udp/tcp ports themselves causing trouble.  -John
              \_ or try Kerio Personal Firewall 2.5.

5/27    Is there any way to get around the WinXP registration requirement,
        besides re-installing every now and then?  Has anyone tried this: set
        the CMOS date to Year 2010 or so, install XP, then set the date back to
        today.  Would that work?
        \_ Why don't you just get the corp edition and enter in a volume
           license key?
           \_ Won't that eat up one license count from my company?  How does
              volume licensing work?
              \_ So download a license generator and generate new keys.
        \_ There are real bona-fide cracks, but this is not the place for them
        \_ Install XP inside a vm, take a snapshot after the install, then
           revert when necessary (assumes you just want for testing purposes;
           if you actually want to use XP as your base OS, consider buying it).
           \_ Any free vm out there that runs on top of NT?  If I install XP
              inside a vm on top of NT, will the XP apps be able to use USB
              ports?  The reason I want to switch to XP is that I can't use the
              USB ports on my NT machine.
              \_ Free?  You pirated XP, why don't you pirate the VM, too?
                 \_ Because I don't have access to a legit copy of vm.
                    \_ Uh yeah... so why not pirate that, too?  You're already
                       asking how to violate the MS license.  Why not violate
                       the VM one as well?
           \_ And if you did buy XP Pro and don't want the hassle of
              activation, go the Corporate Ed. route.

5/26    Any suggestions for a shared whiteboard app?  That can run multicast
        on Windows or with Windows as a viewer?  From behind a NAT?  We have a
        Linux server that we can use to host it if that helps.
        \_ NetMeeting?
           \_ Oops.  Forgot that it's behind a NAT.  NM doesn't work.
              \_ Opens up a bunch of random high-number ports.  If can work
                 behind NAT if you are "calling" someone not NAT'ed.
                 I think there is some way of making it use a proxy.
        \_ I've used the whiteboard in MSN Messenger 6.x, and also in Yahoo!
           Messenger, but there may have been a Hello Kitty background.
           No idea about ports.
        \_ Virage makes something that does this. It costs big bucks.
        \_ eBeam, http://www.e-beam.com
        \_ Just as followup, I used a free implementation--drawboard:
           http://drawboard.sourceforge.net
           It's a bit rough, but was good enough.

5/24    I'd like to create a small (2 page) weekly newsletter that will be
        online and also printed out and distributed as PDF. Does anyone have
        recommendations for good-quality software that can achieve either or
        both of these goals? The only requirements are that it is easy to
        add/archive documents, and that it is converted to PDF without much
        effort. Thanks.
        \_ openoffice
                \_ I'd prefer something that didn't depend on a unix platform.
                   Thinking of the long term (~2 years from now), people that
                   take over publishing this newsletter probably won't know
                   anything but Windows or Mac. -op
                   \_ It runs on Windows. Actually I use it regularly and don't
                      have MS Office installed on any of my machines. When
                      sending at doc to one of my Office using coworkers I just
                      tell it to save as an Office file...
                   \_ Can't make PDF for free on windows, AFAIK. But you can
                      on OS X I hear. Acrobat can be, uh, acquired for Win.
                      Actually nevermind there is OpenOffice for Windows.
                      \_ WRONG, it does make PDF files on Windows without
                         installing anything else.
                         \_ you people are weird, I said "nevermind there is
                            openoffice for windows" and like 3 people after
                            that feel thay have to assert this fact.
                      \_ OS X has "Save as PDF" integrated into most editors.
                         Doesn't work too well with Open Office, however. Grr.
                   \_ Uh, there's OpenOffice for Windows too.  And as for
                      free PDF solutions on Windows... hello, GhostScript?
                      \_ I remember trying that GS thing before, it was pretty
                         crappy. Just a PITA. Maybe it's better now.
                         chindipy. Just a PITA. Maybe it's better now.
                         heh, i just saw this site: http://www.ps2pdf.com
                         \_ there isn't much to GhostScript.
                            1. Install a PostScript printer driver (e.g. the
                               free PostScript driver from Adobe)
                            2. Run GhostScript's ps2pdf script.
                            3. There is no step 3.
                            \_ PROFIT!
                            \_ I think I had to fiddle with some fonts and
                               that postscript driver shit and printing
                               to files is annoying. Obviously not a huge deal.
        \_ Do it in HTML and have Mozilla print to PDF.
        \_ http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator -dwc
        \_ OS X can print to PDF with ease. You said you wanted Mac or PC, and
           it's trivial with a Mac. File > Print > Save to PDF.
        \_ In the windows world there are much cheaper PDF deistillers than
           Adobe (like around 30 bucks).  They may not be quite as full
           featured, but for a small newsletter you don't need all those
           odds and ends.  You might wanna bite the bullet and spend the
           cash, it will be a lot easier for non geeks to use.

5/21    What is a good windows program for reducing the size (in
        pixels) of all the jpegs in a particular directory?  Irfanview
        does exactly this for an individual jpeg, but I have to do
        each one manually.  I would like to reduce the physical
        size of 1000 pictures to, say, 40% of original size, all
        in one, or even a few, keystrokes.
        \_ ImageMagick mogrify  (I don't know if it does windows)
        \_ I think the poster asked for a "windoz" program.  JPEG Resizer:
           http://software.virtualzone.de/resizer
           \_ Thanks!
        \_ Irfanview does this too.
           File > Batch > Set Advanced Options > Resize

5/18    Is there any Windows backup program which (1) Let's you do a full
        backup, (2) Monitors all filesystem changes as they occur, then (3)
        Does an incremental backup on only changed files?  I don't want it to
        have to scan my entire notebook data-partition for changes; changed
        files should already be flagged for backup by the monitoring daemon.
        I don't want some hacky program that only runs file listings on
        specific directories every couple minutes and checks file sizes/dates;
        I want something which hooks into the Windows filesystem and is aware
        of all writes as they happen.  Basically, this strategy minimizes hard
        drive wear, and should be faster.  Thanks.
        \_ Um, RAID + tape?
           \_ Notebook hard drive.  Sorry, should have been clearer.
              \_ You've got to be kidding.  You want all this and on a laptop
                 too?  How about a 24" screen that can fit in your pocket while
                 you're at it.
                 \_ The "hard" step is hooking into the Windows filesystem.
                    Apparently Sysinternals Filemon does this, but it doesn't
                    do backup.
        \_ If you buy an external Maxtor drive with "One Touch", it comes with
           a license for Dantz Retrospective Backup. The drive+sw is <$200.
           \_ Does Restrospect hook into the Windows filesystem like I
              described?
        \_ Eh, screw it.  I lookd up Restrospect Professional, and it lets
           you make a "Disaster Recovery CD", which you can boot on a hosed
           system and restore all the files (rather than a complete re-install
           of the OS and all the apps).  This to me is worth more than the
           low-level file monitoring.  FYI, the one that comes with the
           external hard drives is "Retrospect Express".  I'll let motd know
           how it is in several weeks. -op
           \_ hell, you could just use ghost images then
              \_ I didn't fully explain how the feature is neat.  Okay, with
                 Ghost, you gotta do the whole freakin partition every time.
                 Wih Retrospect, you can do incremental backups to your
                 heart's content.  Each incremental backup is fast.  If
                 your disk gets hosed, then *after* it got hosed, you can
                 create the CD.  The disk gets restored to when you last
                 incremented.  Get it?
        \_ You want a program that hooks deeply into windows and keeps a db of
           files *as they change* and then copies them to something else?  I
           wouldn't want anything hooked that deeply into windows.  Note how
           intrusive the anti-virus programs are.  That's what you're talking
           about but worse.
           \_ That sounds like a slightly modified log-based fs.  Not that
              evil a thing, really.  I think there's a freebsd implementation
              floating around, yes? -- ilyas
              \_ Not evil per se as a concept but look at how the perform in
                 the real world.  I really wouldn't want anything hooking that
                 deeply into a windows system if it wasn't absolutely required.
           \_ If it came out, I'd buy it ... if Windows were still fast.
              Assuming you always back up the registry, all the monitoring
              process is doing is collecting a list of all
              new/changed/deleted/moved files since the last incremental
              backup.  The copy step occurs daily. -op
        \_ Put your data on a linux box and mount the samba share from windows.
           THen, use rsync and snapshot backups.

5/15    http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~ilyas/problems/good_and_evil
        A classic theory problem cast in slightly theological terms. -- ilyas
        \_It's 2 in the morn. and i've had some sake, but this q. makes no
          sense to me.  Am i missing the definition of good and evil
          somewhere in there?
          \_ No.
        \_ Well in theological terms, anything that comes from Satan is of
           Satan and therefore evil.  All objects from Satan are evil.  No
           objects from Satan are good.  The correct answer in pseudo code is:
           while (getNextObjectFromSatan()) { print "Object is evil" }
        \_ Is this actually two questions? (1) a strategy for the man to be
           fooled about good objects no more than half the time, and (2)
           to "program a computer" to always be right?
           \_ No, you assume the man knows the strategy already, whatever it
              is, for S. -- ilyas
        \_ Once again, my problem with theory problems is figuring out
           what the heck they are talking about.
           \_ For this problem, substitute "ilyas" for "Satan", "theory
              problem" for "object", and "stupid" for "evil".  Then make
              ilyas' goal to convince you that the problems are good.
              The human wins when he realizes he's wasting his time.
                \- good one. if i were that witty, i'd have signed my post.
                   -- !sarcastic
                   \_ It would have detracted from the joke.  -tom
                      \_ Naturally.

5/11    How evil is this website? Find out here:
        http://homokaasu.org/gematriculator
        FWIW: http://www.yahoo.com is 51% evil. http://www.ibm.com is only 8% evil. Go Fig!
        \_ and http://csua.berkeley.edu is 19%.  That's one of 5 politburo members
        \_ http://www.microsoft.com is 71% good. Yeah!
        \_ http://www.microsoft.com is 71% good. Yeah! Beats even http://homokaasu.org
           itself. http://www.stanford.edu is 80% good, but http://www.berkeley.edu is 92%
           while whitehouse.gov is 50%-50% and http://google.com is 99% good.
           \_ No, it says whitehouse.gov is 77% good.
           \_ that's weird that google is 99% good.
           \_ But http://whitehouse.com is 78% good.  Bush is bad, bush is good.
              \_ Ha ha!
        \_ http://www.actionjav.com is 65% good.

5/10    I hope responses don't go too much out of control, but I'll risk
        it. How much do you think Bill Gates himself had to do with
        the way MS currently runs as a business (practices like unfair
        strategies, software bundling, buggy code, non-original ideas,
        etc.)?
        \_ I think the policies are set 100% from the top. M$ has been
           like this from the beginning.

5/5     Longhorn will need a 4-6 GHz dual core cpu, 1 TB disk, 2 GB Ram and
        a much better video card than you can currently get:
        http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1581842,00.asp
        [ why was this deleted? ]

5/4     Anyone know of a way to send SMS message to mobile phone in China
        for free, ie, via the web? thx.
        \_ Find the service provider of the person you're trying to SMS.
           Then go do a web search for web-based and e-mail SMS gateways
           for that provider.

4/30    My windows XP box has 512 meg memory and is only using about 300 of
        that, but it is still read/writing to pagefile.sys like mad.  Why?
        \_ presumably it is caching your file accesses, and evicting your
           "unused" application code from ram. i have 1GB on my winxp
           machine, so i just turn off swap altogether. kerneltrap had an
           ok discussion on this topic recently. it's about linux
           specifically, but the general concept applies to most os's
           these days: http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/3000
            \_ good info, tnx.  Too bad i can't set swapiness on XP the
               way they do on linux, but can you tell me how you turned
               it off?
               \_ it's under control panel | system | advanced settings
                  or something.

4/27    Is there a cmd line version of nm and ldd for windows?
        \_ you mean for ms dev studio? probably some command line options
           somewhere.

4/20    Has anybody ever been able to profile a labwindows program?  I'm
        leaking memory and Windows handles, and consuming 99% CPU.

4/16    Anyone use 'Speak Freely'.  For Unix or Windows?  What was your
        experience like?

4/14    Is there a way to set the window frame color of non-highlighted
        windows in fvwm2 without using FvwmTheme?  I can only find a color
        setting for "Hilighted" (focused) windows:
        Style "*" HilightBack #777700
        Style "*" HilightFore #cccccc

4/9     What browser do OS X users use? I use Safari but 3-4 of the sites I
        frequently visit have problems with it, so then I fall back to FireFox
        and as a last ditch effort, IE.
        \_ There's a way to enable the "Debug" menu in Safari. I forgot what
           it is but it's some XML preference. From there, you can switch
           your "User Agent".
           \_ Type the following in Terminal and restart Safari:
              defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1
        \_ I use mozilla because, despite the fact that it's much slower, it is
           also a lot more feature rich than Safari.
        \_ I had to juggle among the 4.  BTW, Safari beta was quite fast but
           since 1.0 it has become intolerably slower.  Mozilla/FF, however,
           behave rather strangely at times and often refuse to download
           images on the web page.  I also notice at lease one place where
           the current version of Safari version of safari is less compatible
           than earlier one: http://hotmail.com
        \_ windows and IE have no problem on any web pages.  if you can't
           beat em, join em!  windows/IE >>> non-windows/non-IE.
           \_ not totally true.  Since the windows updates last fall, IE
              on W2K and XP acts strangely with backslashes in some tags.
              But, since most website design targets Windows IE users, this
              doesn't show up much.
              \_ Exactly.  IE is the most popular and thus the best and that's
                 why everything is tested and works on it.  I'll bet those
                 few broken things don't work on other browers either.
                 \_ One HUGE place where windows IE out of the box sucks
                    is that it doesn't block popups by default. Other features
                    include Auto-Form Fill and Tabbed Browsing. Also, Safari
                    lets me hit back on pages that I visited that contained
                    forms, where WindowsIE won't let me. --mac/windows user.
                    \_ why would you want to block popups?  it's called
                       targetted advertising.  if you didn't want those
                       products you wouldn't be on those websites.  popups
                       are good!  they pay for the web.  IE has autoform fill
                       and had it long before mozilla.  safari didn't even
                       exist when IE had autoform fill.  tabs are for babies.
                       just open another window.  what is the point of tabs
                       when you're just getting more pages that your browser
                       can't read anyway?  while tabbing, mozilla will often
                       freeze the curernt window so you're not really getting
                       the multi tab features tabbing should provide.  and
                       lastly i dont know what your BACK problem is.  i can go
                       forwards/backwards through my history with no problem.
                       IE won the browser wars for a reason: it is superior to
                       the third party alternatives due to innovation and
                       leading the pack, not following it.
        \_ I use IE, even though M$ dropped support for it.
           \_ There are also Opera for Mac and a browser from the OmniGroup.
              Anyone used them at all?

4/3     I'm thinking about getting either vmware or vpc for windows in order
        reduce the number of test pc's we need in our lab at work. I'm mostly
        going to run Linux (RH/SuSE) and Win2K/XP in the virtual machine.
        Does anyone have experience with either of these products (how many
        vm's can I run at once, how fast are the emul. systems for network
        only access)? The main system running vmware/vpc will likely be a
        2x2.8 GHz P4 box with 1-2 GB Ram and WinXP Prof. (though we may want
        to run it on slower 2 GHz boxes as well). tia.

4/3
 18 threads,  571 lines, 119 replies,  31.7 lines/thread,   6.6 replies/thread
                              stddev:  63.3                10.6
        \_ Used vmware a couple of times to install various OSes. Make sure you
           have LOTS of RAM and a fast harddrive. It's very slow otherwise.
           Also, I've never figured out networking to my satisfaction.
           It tends to sometimes work and sometimes not work. The
           documentation is somewhat lacking. I suppose it's good for
           driver development, but I got somewhat tired of the speed issue
           and went back to a live machine. --williamc
        \_ using vmware and loving it.  I've got a linux server running as a
           guest OS; my host is a Windows Laptop.  VM memory takes up space in
           RAM, so you can only run as many VMs as you've got spare ram to
           allocate.  I was running two vms w/ 128 mb each and things were
           working fine (I've only got 512 total on my laptop).  I can testify
           that both the debian testing (net install) and the knoppix family
           (gnoppix, pollix, etc) have no problem running inside VMware.
           --darin
        (gnoppix, pollix, etc) have no problem running inside VMware. --darin
           \_ Do you know if vmware works with debian as the host os?
              I know it isn't officially "supported" but ... --brett
        \_ I installed XP as a guest OS on win2k box running on a p3-700.
           It took about 16 *hours* for XP to install.  Once it was running,
           it functioned but wasn't usable.  A faster cpu would've helped but
           it also beat the shit out of my 5400 rpm bog standard maxtor drive.
                \_ Thanks for the pointer. We will be using 10K or 15K RPM
                   UltraSCSI(?) 320 drives and might even consider using a
                   box with dual 3.06's and 2+ gb of ram (with 256 mb per
                   vm it sounds like I will be able to run 3-5 vm's with
        (gnoppix, pollix, etc) have no problem running inside VMware. --darin
           \_ does vmware work with debian as the host os? I know it isn't
              officially "supported" but I wonder if it works anyways --brett
              I know it isn't officially "supported" but ... --brett
                   reasonable performance).

3/30    My spankin' new Windows 2003 Server doesn't come with the wonderful
        "NT LM Security Support Provider" service, which is required by the
        Message Queueing service, which I need.  How do I install that
        service?  I don't see it anywhere under "Add or Remove Windows
        Components".  Thanks.
        \_ Get yourself a real server OS.
        \_ Call Microsoft. You paid for support.
        \_ ditto above.  don't expect community-style support when you
           use Microsoft product.  It's a cultural thing.
        \_ USE LINUX!  RIDE BIKE!
           \_ I don't know how this originated but this is the stupidest
              thing posted on the motd. Even if it was funny at one point,
              the same joke told 50 million times gets old.
              \_ ENJOY JOKE!
              \_ It's there for a reason.  It has a purpose.
                 \_ Whatever, Morpheus.
        \_ dont listen to these twinks, microsoft website has newsgroups
         found your answer in 10 seconds, but you must learn to google
        \_ Here's a nickel kid, get yourself a real computer.

3/28    How to connect 2 WinXP machines together to share files? I have
        them connected into a hub, and each has the same workgroup name,
        but they can't see each other. thanks.
        \_ How many times has it been brought up on motd that you don't
           start a question with "How to..."? I say this not because
           I'm trying to be an ass but because I'm embarrassed when I
           go to other countries and they make fun of how bad people's
           English is in this country. I'm even more embarrassed that I
           graduated from a supposedly world-class university where
           people lack command of the English language.
           \_ How to speak the English language?
              \_ Write everything in the form of a question requiring a boolean
                 answer, then append P.  You will be answered with #t or #f.
        \_ How to speaking Engrish goodlyness asking to question on motd?
        \_ start|run \\ipaddress\sharename -- network neighborhood is broken
        \_ WinXP has something called "Simple File Sharing", accessible through
           Windows Explorer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> View.  Generally
           turning it off resolves my sharing issues (and brings it to
           behave more like Win2K -- obGoogle for detailed info).

3/12    What's the simplest way to add a mutex to C function?  I understand
        threading issues, but something is munging data in my sockets, and I
        want to guarantee that only one thread is touching a certain array at
        a time.  TIA.
        \_ How nice.  Why don't you learn how to format instead of waiting
           for one of our poor OCD inflicted nerds to do it for you?
                                   \_ afflicted
        \_???? Shouldn't your thread library that you are using provide
          this functionality???
        \_ isn't there an API like win32 api if on windows?
           \_ I was hoping there was something quicker/easier-- no libraries,
              just... I don't know, OS?  How effective would incrementing
              decrementing my own static mutex be?
              \_ Well, unless you use OS calls for a mutex, it's not really a
                 mutex.  Are you thinking you can just use a static variable
                 and manage it yourself?  Which OS is this?
              \_ in some os's you could get by just exclusively opening
                 a file
        \_ some sort of Singleton class and have an being accessed field?

3/10    This is a bit obscure but hey who knows?  I'm trying to get an old
        dual p3 compaq-based 'serverworks' machine to run winxp.  The only
        problem is the serverwork's agp bridge doesn't work.  xp says it
        can't find enough resources for this which is something I've never
        seen before.  I tried turning off a few other devices, disabling the
        onboard vga and other bios stuff to no avail.  Anyone ever seen
        anything like this or have any other suggestions or tips?  Thanks!
        \_ commercial OS -> commercial support. Give M$ and/or compaq a call.
           It is legitimately licensed, right?

3/5     Anyone know what might have caused the below error and how I
        should go about fixing it?  --darin
        >df
        Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
        /dev/hda1            -502950272238         1         0  56% /
        \_ Your superblock table is screwed up.
                \_So how do I fix it?
                  \_ superblock is being duplicated every 2000 blocks or so,
                     so when you do fsck, manually use another superblock.
                     I've forgot the exact syntax nor exactly how many blocks
                     is superblock duplicated, but you can go from here.
        \_ fsck -b blocknumber
           Block 32 is usually an alternate superblock.
           Man fsck on your OS to make sure.

2/26    I just got a new laptop but it has no serial port. Are there USB or
        Parallel to serial adapters (I need a serial port for connecting
        to random hardware).
        \_ I would think Belkin would have something like that.
        \_ there are various USB/serial adapters and port replicators from
           a variety of manufacturers (e.g.
           http://www.targus.com/us/accessories_cables_hubs.asp) ... keep
           in mind that the parallel and serial ports are intended to be used
           for common peripherals such as printers and mice.  I'm not certain
           that they'd work for, say, attaching a serial debugger.
           \_ Thanks. I've seen websites selling noname brand versions of this
              for $20 but I think I'll just get the brand name.
        \_ Specifically, I'd like to be able to plug into Cisco boxes. The
           other random hardware is a "would be nice".

02/26   Microsoft Japan office Raided By Japan's Fair Trade Commission
        http://csua.org/u/66e  (bloomberg)
        \_ It's on slashdot.  Go post there if you care.
           \_ Not everyone on the motd reads /., and the story is still
              deeply satisfying.
              \_ Now that they know the story is there they can go there.

2/24    ...its been asked before, but.... anyone have a suggestion for
        a good data recovery program for windows? My girlfriend seems to
        have corrupted or deleted some crucial file. hopefully cheap or
        with a free demo or something.
        \_ http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/UK/welcome.htm
        \_ GetDataBack.  Worked a charm for me.  Otherwise find a friend
           who does security forensics and ask him if he'll run EnCase for
           you.  -John

2/23    With Comcast, when I ping remote hosts at a rate > 3 pings/sec, I
        experience up to 98% packet loss. The stupid regular windows ping
        program that can only send 1 ping /sec.  They say they don't
        support Linux. Could somebody recommend a Windows2000 program that
        can send multiple pings per second?
        \_ why would you want to ping faster?  see iperf in udp mode if
           you want to measure loss rates of IP.
        \_ pinging faster is just going to test their ICMP rate limiters, which
           obviously throw icmp data over a certain rate.  Keep the icmp rate
           low and you won't see the loss.  What're you trying to prove, that
           the rate limiter exists?
           \_ I'm trying to use mtr to determine the location of an outage.
              If it is limited to one ping per second, it takes far too long
              to collect enough useful statistics. Any suggestions for
              an mtr-like program that doesn't use ICMP?
              \- you know there is a tcp/udp "ping" or "echo" service. that
                 is what those lines in the inetd.conf file are. i would
                 try to help more but you are posting anonymously and using
                 windows. --psb
                 \_ wow, the penalties for posting anonymously are brutal!
                    you don't get psb's help without which the world will end
                    but at least you know *why* the world is ending.  thanks
                    for letting us know, partha!  you're the best!
                    \- when multiple anonymous people are posting it is
                       difficult to know if you are talking to one or
                       several people. hence the confusion of "is this
                       about windows or not?" if someone asks me to spell check
                       my walls, i ignore them. if i am asking someone for
                       help and they tell me to spellcheck my email, i probably
                       would. i might even help if you sign with a hash of your
                       login. there are a couple of leeches on soda i probably
                       would not help. --psb
                       \_ its your choice of course.  no one is trying to force
                          you to help anyone but your holier than thou thing
                          is done.  what exactly is a soda motd leech?  there
                          are some people here who know stuff, a lot who don't
                          and a whole lot who both provide answers and ask
                          questions.  this isn't a warez board.  there are no
                          leeches here.  is there an upload/download quota
                          like when i had a 300 baud modem calling dialup
                          bulletin boards?
                          \- there are a number of people who you never
                             see around except when the want consultation.
                             i am not saying you have to do me a favor
                             but you ought to make an effort to be part of
                             the community. also helping people is simpler
                             when it is "stateful" as i said before. if some-
                             body has some anonymous question about sex, i
                             understand. an anon question of this flavor seems
                             pointless. and people do email me for more
                             detailed info. some kinds of help just wastes
                             the helpers time to do via motd instead of
                             interactively via email. --psb
                 \_ I'm using linux. mtr does not run on windows.  I'm
                    looking for a windows program because I want to give
                    the comcast technician's supervisor an example of why
                    this is not a linux-specific issue. Can you recommend
                    a tcp/udp "ping" or "echo" linux program? --brett
                    \- use Net::Ping;
                       as a general note, using tcp ping is not a bad idea.
                       for example a sun that has crashed will probably
                       reply to icmp pings on the same subnet. i use a
                       really fast ping program to map classB sized networks
                       but it is pretty much customized and optimzied for
                       lblnet. if you have an interesting project i can
                       send you the codes but you have to mail me. --psb
                       \_ What percentage of internet nodes respond to
                          utp pings? tcp pings?
                          \_ unshielded twisted pair?
                             \- i mean between machines that are known
                                quantities ... this wont work if people
                                turn off the inetd echo service. i am just
                                sayin gif the point of the ping is to see
                                if the machine is up, icmp ping can be
                                misleading in the example i gave ... L1+a
                                a sun and icmp ping it from the same subnet
                                --psb
                    \_ grep echo /etc/services .

2/23    Sorry I missed the answer to this last week.  Reposting...
        What's up with these new "high-speed" or "optimized" or
        "pick your own buzzword" dial-ups?  Are they actually faster?
        Do they cache, compress, etc??
        \_ They compress uncompressed data (txt, html, etc.) and some may
           recompress jpegs to lower quality on the fly.  Depending on your
           type of usage, them may be signifigantly faster, or useless.  YMMV.
        \_ http://www.earthlink.net/accelerator/faq
           It is sad that the EarthLink web site seems to be slow.

2/20    Eight year old gets MCSE degree:
        http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040216/asp/bengal/story_2900904.asp
        Not only can he setup your website but he'll do it for a cookie.
        And you thought sysadmining was hard...
        \_ there is no such thing as "microsoft certified SOFTWARE engineer"
          he got duped, only "SYSTEMS engineer".
        \_ degree? I thought those were certificates
        \_ It's Windows. It's not supposed to be hard.

2/18    First exploit based on the win* src:
        http://www.securitytracker.com/alerts/2004/Feb/1009067.html
        \_ How does it execute arbitrary code?
           \_ can someone post a h4x0ring tutorial so this question can be
              answered?
        \_ I never used a p2p program before, but I am curious about this src
           thing and I downloaded mute.  Yet I can't get it to work.  Is the
           server down?  Which port should should I tell my fw to let thru?

2/16    This is sort of amusing:
        http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/2/15/71552/7795  -John

2/13    Anyone know where I can look at the leaked MS source code? google
        searches don't bring up stuff yet.
        \_ Use emule.  lots of fakes.  correct file size is 203.85MB
           NT source is 229.96MB.  Or you can try MUTE
           \_ and don't ever tell *anyone* you've ever looked at it or you
              could be tainting your career for life if you're involved in
              a programming career in any way.
              \_ Jesus, what shithole do you work at?
                 \_ In the united states where you can be sued for copyright
                    or patent infringement.  Which country do you work in
                    where it's ok to see someone else's stolen code and then
                    continue writing your own without a concern?
              \_ why? You think bill hasn't peeked at other ppl's source code?
                 \_ Nah , they'll afraid you might have been tainted by
                    the style.
                 \_ Of course they have.  Go read their 10Q.  They're being
                    sued by "over 30" people/companies for patent infringement
                    alone.  Yes, there *are* consequences to IP theft and the
                    "Bill did it first!" defense would be original in a court
                    of law but unlikely to succeed.

2/12    Windows goes the way of HL2:
        http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040213/D80M46CO1.html

2/11    Are trademark and company names case sensitive?
        \_ In what regard?  Can you get sued if you sell something under the
           name coca-cola instead of the properly capitalized Coca-Cola?
           Hell yes. -dans
           \_ On the other hand, I think trademarks only apply to a field and
              are not a universal license to the word, so you could open a
              "Coca-Cola Auto Mechanics" or something.  You'd get sued but you
              would win if you had enough lawyers.
              \_ Yes, that is correct.  Trademark exists to protect consumers
                 from someone trying to fraudulently market a different market
                 using a similar name or logo.  For example, if you produced a
                 soft drink, and marketed it as Oca-Cola, using Coca-Cola's
                 signature red stripe or bottle (yes, they trademarked the
                 bottle), they could sue you into oblivion. -dans
              \_ Coca-Cola is a "famous trademark".  You cannot even use it
                 to name your auto repair shop, as of 1996:
                 http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/matters/matters-9904.html
           \_ What if I have a name first, then someone else comes along with
              a name in different capitalization and I cannot afford a (good)
              lawyer?
              \_ Are you two in the same field?  If so, you don't need a lot of
                 lawyers, as the case will be pretty cut-and-dry regardless of
                 capitalization.
           \_ I want to know when I register whether I should care about the
              capitalization, i.e. can I change the cases of certain letters
              later in product/website/doc etc and still claim they are
              mine without registering again.  -- op
              \_ I don't think it's a problem.  Microsoft was MicroSoft and
                 Micro Soft before that...
                 \_ Will Mike Rowe Soft work?
                    \_ You could trademark Mike Rowe Soft if it was not doing
                       business that competed with MS in any way.  Given their
                       diversification, that's getting harder to argue.
                       \_ Well my business would make innovative new computer
                          related products so that should be ok.
              \_ If the trademark name is fairly obscure, you can get away
                 with it. Present it as logo variations if the question comes
                 up. If you're trying to use a minor variation of someone
                 else's trademarked, there could be trouble.
                 \_ What about symbols and abbreviations?  Is 'and' == '&" ?
                    And plural vs. singular?  What is the rule of this game
                    anyhow?
              \_ Yes, but you should really talk to a lawyer.  Asking the motd
                 for legal advice is beyond idiotic.
        \_ Capitalization used to follow simple English rules until the dot-com
           era.
           \_ eMac, iMac, iPod, blame it on apple.  Actually isnt' there a
              conflict between eMac the computer and emacs the editor?
           \_ MadeUpFactoid: e.e. cummings moonlighted as an EE developing
              ARPAnet.
           \_ And don't forget punctuation marks, as in "Yahoo!".
        \_ There is a UNIX vs. Unix discussion.
        \_ I'm naming my company "SuperCo, Whose Stock I Recommend,".

2/10    New remote buffer overflow for Windows.  Patch available
        http://www.eeye.com/html/Research/Advisories/AD20040210.htm
        http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS04-007.asp

1/28    Any cookbook to setup WebDAV/Apache2 on Windows?
        \_ Why would you run the ultimate *nix application on windows?

1/14    1 Terabyte HD now available for ~$1200.  http://slashdot.org
        \_ And predictably the slashdorks are whining that 1TB is 2^40 bytes
           \_ that's a tebibyte!
                \_That's tebible.
        \_ it's not a single disk.  it's an array of disks.
           \_ now you can spend 3 days copying all your image files to a
                single drive.
                \_ imagine a beowolf cluster of these!

1/7     What's the WindowsXP version of winipcfg called?
        \_ ipconfig (command-line) ... if you want a GUI-based one, try:
           http://csua.org/u/5gn (microsoft.com)
           \_ Thanks! -op

12/30   WinXp gurus: under folder options there are "common tasks" items.
        Is there a way to get rid of all that except for the "details"
        sections?  Basically I want to keep the folder lists in detailed form
        but have a thumbnail on the left hand side for selected items.  Without
        all the junk of "common tasks".  I've been searching for Xp tips and
        can't seem to find anything.  Thanks.
        \_ I'm not sure what you mean, but have you tried "Use Windows
           classic folders", clicking OK, then clicking View ->
           Explorer Bar -> Folders?
           \_ Wrong answer, go back to MacOS or Linux. The answer is no,
              unless you hack the OS. Somehow the feature to create your
              own folder templates was destroyed going from Win2K to WinXP.

12/30   Can anyone recommend a digital image software that does good
        editing, organizing (putting them into albums) as well as
        archiving (e.g., burning CD-Rs, creating slideshows/VCDs) on Windows?
        Adobe Photo Album 2.0 is nice except it has really poor support
        for cd burners.  It doesn't even see my drive (a Samsung)
        although XP sees it no problem.  I also tried the free Kodak
        Easyshare, same problem.  Is there any imaging software that offers
        decent cd burner support?
        \_ use an online service if you're having so much trouble at home.
           they're all designed for technical illiterates.
           \_ Talking about being presumptuous.  I happen to be highly
              technically literate.  Like you never have problems with
              any kind of hardware.  And I didn't ask for a printing
              software, I asked for a good digital photo archive software.
              Perhaps you need to learn to be English literate first.
              \_ If you're such a genius, why can't you get your COTS to
                 work?  How hard could that be?  And yes, I have hardware
                 problems.  Unlike you, I also have solutions.  That is the
                 difference between me and the technical illiterate such as
                 yourself.  If you had checked online you'd see the services
                 provide both printing and storage.  But you were too smart
                 to check that, huh?
              \_ Why don't you just organize all the data in folders and
                 burn the compilation manually to the CD-R? What do the
                 above programs give you that you can't get from just
                 indexing stuff in explorer? With XP you can even thumbnail
                 them.
                 \_ I have been doing exactly that.  Just that as my
                    photo collection starts growing into the 1000s,
                    it's getting more difficult without the help of
                    some 3rd party software...
        \_ there is iView Prof, but it's $200 software ...
        \_ Microsoft Paint but this is only for experts...

12/29   WinXP users:  I installed HP recordnow and HP CD-writer drivers.  And
        now whenever Xp boots up it complains about these drivers being
        incompatible with Xp.  Anybody else seeing this?  Thanks.  Does Xp use
        its own internal CD writer drivers?  Thanks.
        \_ Probably installed the wrong drivers. HP is notoriously bad for
           supplying the wrong drivers with their hardware. You don't
           really need drivers for a CD-Recorder unless it's a weird one.
           \_ It really depends what type of interface the CD burner uses.
              The internal ATAPI burners don't required drivers, but the
              USB or parallel port interface burners do need proprietary
              driver.
              \_ That's no longer true. USB CD Burner is just an IDE ATAPI
                 drive stuck to a USB to IDE converter (the company
                 that I work for routinely disassembles these things
                 for research) , so unless the
                 USB to IDE interface is proprietary or weird the generic
                 mass storage USB driver in WinXP should work at least
                 for detection. As for parallel port, I've never seen
                 a CD Recorder that uses a parallel port. I've heard
                 of them but unless you are burning at very very low speeds
                 a parallel port CD Toaster wouldn't make much sense as a
                 buy. I also don't think HP produced a parallel port model
                 (at least not recently).

12/23  After I upgraded my computer to XP, images viewed under IE looked
       really bad.  Mozilla still loads them fine.  What could possiblely
       be causing this?
       \_ Thanks but I found the answer in the registry...
          HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Exploer\Main\UseHR
          needs to be set to 0.
          \_ What does that value mean?
             \_ http://csua.org/u/5cv
                If this value is defined to 1, IE will scale images if the
                Windows DPI setting (in Display Properties -> Settings ->
                Advanced) is set to higher than 96 DPI.
                Set the value to 0 to turn off IE scaling of images.

12/18   Real sues M$:
        http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/12/18/HNrealabuse_1.html

12/17   The little panda is named "Born in USA".  More videos of the cute
        little guy at this web site.
        http://www.sandiegozoo.org/videos/indexpanda.html

12/16   Firebird is great 95% of the time, but it sucks for 5% of websites
        (this is not good). Here's one example: just now I was trying to buy
        something on http://gateway.com... I fill out the form and hit submit and it
        says "Please select the user segment to which you belong"... when I
        fill out the form in IE, it works fine. I've had this happen on other
        sites as well... I see why IE users laugh at me... IE+googletoolbar
        is pretty good.
        \_ And then there are sites where IE consistently crashes, while
           firebird works fine.  That's why I use both.
           \_ IE almost never crashes.
              \_ My IE consistently crashes when visiting some sites,
                 both 5.5 and 6.0.
        \_ complain to the webmasters. tell them to use valid HTML.
           \_ i hate paying to do someone else's qa, but ya, i did that
              (this time) while filling out their customer survey card... i
              gave them a shitty score for "overall satisfaction" and told them
              how it is annoying to not be able to use my browser of choice.
              of course, they probably dont care.
       \_ most issue lies upon the javascript.  When I am in this
        situation, I am forced to use IE.  And... if you are in Asia,
        the chance is a lot higher than 5%.

12/15   On a home windows XP machine, how important is the user password?
        What are the ways that someone could log onto that windows box?
        I only know about MS's telnet server that I guess would allow it.
        What other crap could be enabled by default?
        \_ not too important. disable remote desktop and shares.

12/15   My laptop doesn't have the "windows" key and I run WinXP. How can I
        lock the desktop quickly since I can't do WINKEY-L ?
        \_ Winkey = Ctrl-Esc
           \_ Not exactly.  You can't chord with ctrl-esc.
        \_ Ctl-Alt-Del, enter.
           \_ this is what I was gonna suggest. the real question is how
              can you quickly clear the desktop (Winkey-D) or invoke the
              run dialog (Winkey-R) ??
              \_ For Windows-D:  There should be a Show Desktop icon in the
                 Quick Launch bar.  Drag a shortcut to your Start Menu.
                 Bind shortcut to Ctrl-Alt-whatever.
                 For Windows-R:  If you can find an .exe or file that
                 opens the Run dialog, then repeat as above.  Otherwise,
                 you're stuck with Ctrl-Escape -> Press 'R'.
                 \_ OH MY GOD!! I NEVER KNEW THESE KEYS EXISTED!!!!
                    THANK YOU!!
                    \_ motd, psycho windows user. psycho windows user, motd.
                       glad to introduce you. (heartofore pwu)
                       aka, p-triple-u
                       \_ hey, man! i knew that, and i don't even
                          like windows!  I am a psycho, however.
                       \_ pu^3, not to be confused with (pu)^3
        \_ Use RemapKey to map something else (e.g. right-alt) to the Windows
           key. http://www.dynawell.com/support/Reskit/win2k.asp
           \_ You do know that this 2K tool won't work for XP, right?
              \_ Uh, why wouldn't it?  The author's web page says it works for
                 Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, and XP.

2/12    Plug:  I had to recover an NTFS drive (yes I know, stfu already)
        with a fucked-up boot sector.  GetDataBack v2.22. worked like
        a charm, if anyone runs into a similar problem.  -John
        \_ Alternatively, if only the boot sector is munged and the rest of
           the disk is readable, you can use Bart's PE Builder and a Windows
           XP CD to create a bootable CD-ROM with NTFS read/write support.
           If you need only read-access, you can boot off of a DOS floppy and
           use NTFSDOS from sysinternals instead.

12/5    Anyone know of something like dummynet for Win2000/XP?  I've found
        a windows version of iptables, but all it allows is accept/deny.  I
        need something that I can use for traffic shaping.  Alternately, is
        there a reasonably cheap router that has good traffic shaping?
        \_ yermom is reasonably cheap, and accepts all shaped traffic,
           windows or no
           \_ Yeah, but I heard yermom was full-up till next month...

12/5    http://sandiegozoo.org/videos/indexpanda.html
        Pandas are such cute animals!  Check out the videos of the little
        one. :-)

11/20   What kind of Windows and Office were sold on the market between
        2/18/1995 and 12/15/2001? I'm asking because I'm filling out the
        M$ claim form and I don't want to put anything that is wrong, like
        adding WinXP or OfficeXP when it wasn't out in 12/15/01. Thanks.
        \_ I bought Windows 3.1 (retail ~$100), Word/Excel 6 (retail ~$120) both
           in early 1995.
           \_ are you sure about that?  Windows 95 was retailed at $80-$88
              at the time.  I remember this because it was the only legit
              MS copy I ever purchased, and I bought it at 10% of the retail
              price because my friend got it at for me at employer's
              discount.
                        -ashamed to admit that I once actually purchased M$
                         product.
        \_ 95,98,nt,2k, and maybe ME.  word95,97,2k and maybe others.
        \_ So you didn't actually buy any Windows or Office during that time
           but you're just filling out the form to get money from M$?  Cool!
        \_ xp was definitely out in 2001. my laptop from 11/2001 came with
           a copy preinstalled.

11/17   I just got MS California Standard Claim Form. I can list up to 5
        purchases without a proof of purchase. I can get $29 for Office,
        $5 for Word, $26 for Excel, $16 for Windows. What are the best
        combinations to put down?
        \_ umm, dude. do you have any recollection of something called
           basic arithmetic? and if you mean the best combination to lie
           about to prevent being caught (or some other weird shit),
           how the fuck should we know?
        \_ write to atterney general telling them that you prefer spend
           money on something else other than Microsoft product.  The
           current term of settlement is nothing more than another
           Microsoft's ploy to increase its buttom line.
           \_ uh, you get vouchers good for whatever software and a
              fairly liberal range of hardware, not just microsoft stuff.
        \_ I just got another claim form even though I already sent in
           mine weeks ago.  Looking forward to get $70+.  Incredibly,
           I still have all the receipts even though they are not
           required.
        \_ I didn't read the paper one but the online one said proof of
           purchase was required?

11/14   macboy here. I updated Office to 10.1.2, then had to update Entourage
        (?) to 10.1.4, then updated to 10.1.5. No crashes so far. BTW, this
        isn't my computer, I run Win2k, I'm helping out a friend who loves Macs
        but is more clueless than me.
        \_ try reversing the polarity.
        \_ if you vector the tachyon particles through the deflector grid array
           then surely the muon flux capacitor will align with the anti matter
           wave field.  Or maybe the entire universe will disappear.  I'm not
           sure.  Give it a try.
           \_ and if that doesn't work, read the man page, look at the source
              code, and recompile the kernel.

11/13   Anyone else get a California - Microsoft Settlement mail?
        what are you going to do about it?  (postal mail)
        \_ I already sent in my claim.  When will we get our money
           back?
           \_ how did they get all of our mailing addresses?
              \_ We are Microsoft.  All your info are belong to us!
              \_ That's what I'd like to know.
              \_ addresses are public info. stop being an ignorant paranoid.
        \_ Yes, and I plan to milk them for as much as I can. Is there
           somewhere we can look to find out more information about this
           settlement/suit?
        \_ You need proof you bought something in that time frame.  Your
           warez copy of office and win2k doesn't count.
           \_ It says you don't need a receipt.

11/10   Anyone have personal experience with the Creative Nomad Zen NX?
        The features says that it can be used as a hard drive.  What
        kind of interface do you get?  Does it show up as a drive in
        Windows explorer?  What kind of filesystems can you put on it?
        Is the USB 2.0 interface fast enough to run apps off it?
        \_ You can run apps off tape with the right driver.  That doesn't mean
           you'd want to.
        \_ I've used the Zen (not NX, but they are pretty similar). It
           doesn't show up as a drive in explorer, you have to use special
           software to access it (either Creative's software or 3rd party
           software called 'Notmad'). I don't think you can run applications
           through Creative's software, it may be possible with Notmad but
           I haven't tried it.

11/7    If you're looking for a good, monospaced programming font, check out
        http://www.tobias-jung.de/seekingprofont .  Mac, Windows, *nix.
        \_ This is new.  I didn't know there were font nerds.
           \_ Consider yourself lucky.  I knew a very hardcore font nerd in
              highschool.  his parents used to get him fonts for christmas.
              no joke.
              \_ Weird.  He go into publishing or the nuthouse?
           \_ Hey, a good font can make a day of coding *much* easier on the
              eyes, reduce mistakes, etc.
        \_ After looking at this, I still prefer Lucida Console on windows.
           Less vertical space.

11/7    I have an XP installation that reboots itself before it finishes
        booting up, and I'd like to do a fresh install but it was cd-key'd
        by my old school and I don't know the key.  Is there a way to get
        the CD-key from the repair console or from a rescue disk?
        \_ that is why I hate XP.  This may sounds unproductive, but I would
           just reinstall Windows 2000 instead.  Same kernel, same File System
           thus, same OS.  Personally, I can live without those eye candies
                    \_ Yea, some military doctors says her some of her
                       wounds are unlikely to be caused by the Humvee crash.
                       She herself remembers nothing except that she was
                       treated well througout her captivity.
           and product activation "features."
        \_ Yes, there is.  Look for "XPKey".  It took me about 10 minutes to
           find both a working key extractor and a new key generator.  The
           key generator took about 2 hours to create a valid key on my
           ancient PIII.  The key extractor takes zero time to find and display
           your current key.  No, I won't give you my name or put copies in
           /tmp or anything like that.  google.
                                        \_ is this why MS wants to buy google?
           \_ How about an URL from google?
           \_ I'll sell you a full install CD (from Dell) for $60 obo, including
              the certificate of authenticity.
        \_ A little effort and you can find a copy of XP Corporate (same as
           Professional, except without activation).  That + XPKey will get you
           working without activation.  If you have a legal license of XP Pro,
           it is (IMO) an ethical solution.
           \_ Saving files off USENET isn't any effort.

10/24   I'm going to be getting a low-end IBM thinkpad that comes with Windows
        XP.  I know that XP is just one big spyware and so I'm thinking of
        installing windows 2000 on it.  Laptops tend to have customized
        drivers and such.  Anybody tried installing an off the shelf version
        of windows 2000 on an IBM laptop?  Any gotchas I need to know?
        \_ Just go to IBM's site and download all the drivers. Burn it on a
           CD, then install win2k. C'mon, it's not that hard to figure out...
        \_ one big spyware?  uhm ok.
        \_ you're going to be using Windows Update anyway, just use XP.
        \_ It's not as if you're going to have trouble with product activation
           on a notebook, where the hardware is fixed.
        \_ I did exactly this on a dell laptop, and sold the unopened, unbooted
           XP on ebay.  No problems so far (1 year).
           \_ what did you do with the cd key?  it's usually stuck to the
              bottom of the notebook on Dells
              \_ peeled it off (very carefully) with my fingernail and slapped
                 it on the plastic wrap around the install disc.
        \_ I had 2k on a Thinkpad x20 for a while.  I didn't like it.  There's
           nothing wrong with XP if you set it up right.  -John

10/23   Why does IE 6 for Windows still not support transluent PNG's?
        \_ Because it was developed by those weirdola commie freeware guys.
           \_ freware == commie ? Then why you are using FreeBSD?
        \_ Why does IE6 still have a nearly useless history system?  Why does
           it have noncompliant CSS support?  Microsoft just doesn't care
           anymore; they've already won the browser war as far as they're
           concerned.
           \_ They'll slack until the world catches up and passes them by and
              then they'll turn it on and get ugly again.

10/20   What is the new UCLINK gonna be? What OS? What software? What/When?
        \_ TRS-DOS, VSN.
        \_ Software: Communigate Pro, Stalker.
           Hardware: ~three front-end, two back end PC servers running Linux,
                     with NetApp for storage.
           Schedule: Primary implementation December/January, additional
                     features (including stuff like @Berkeley.EDU addresses)
                     over the next few months.      \
                        -tom                         \_ I kiss you!
           \_ Which Netapp boxes?  Connected via what?  smb?  nfs?  direct?
                \_ I don't currently have the technical details.  -tom
                   \_ Probably some POS 250 or something given how the rest
                      of it is being done.
                        -tom

10/17   From various reviews I've read it seems like Quicken used to be really
        good and at some point it started to suck. Lots of people seem to hate
        the 2004 version. I want to get a version that's fairly recent (not
        the 2004) and start using it on a regular basis. Can someone who has
        used it over the years comment on which version is best?
        \_ I use QuickBooks 5.0 and I'm happy with it. It's much nicer than
           Quicken (its sibling) but may be overkill for you.
        \_ I keep my money under my matress.
        \_ It's the AOL effect. AOL at one time was actually not too
           expensive and the features were pretty intuitive to use. Now,
           everything's jam packed into one screen with icons flying all
           over and the GUI simply sucks. It's a bloatware POS. I hope AOL
           goes out of busness.
           \_ They are.
        \_ I got Quicken 2003 for free.  It feels more cluttered than 2002.
           I just use Quicken to balance checking and saving accounts, so
           I can't comment on its downloading, stock tracking features.
           The last time I tried these features on an older version (2000?),
           they sucked, partly because it involves not just Intuit but also the
           The last time I tied these features on an older version (2000?),
           financial institutions.
        \_ It's missing some very obvious features that would vastliy improve
           it...  E.g. being able to customize the screens (to get rid of their
           ads, and remove some of the clutter), a better way to go through
           the options with tabs... (instead of having to go through the menus
           one by one), no good way to reduce the bloat of the file size...
           I'm using 2003 because in some way's it's useful, but actually
           liked 2002 better.  Afraid of 2004.  (what's up with the basic/
           deluxe/premier tiers?  Any use for getting the higher versions?)
        \_ One thing I like about 2003 vs 2002 is that it allows for
           they sucked, partly because it's not just Intuit but also the
           financial institutions.
           deluxe/premier tiers?  Any use for getting the higher versions?)
           very long memo field.

10/15   On Windows 2000, how do I stop the mouse from automatically moving
        to highlighted button of a popup window?
        \_ Control Panel -> Mouse.  Turn off "Snap to", Automatically move
           pointer to the default button in a dialog box.

10/15   Are there any Moz Firebird mirrors out there? on CSUA?
        \_ For which OS?
        \_ Windows build .7 is in /csua/tmp
                \_ did it work for you? the file seemed corrupted (WinXP)
                   \_ yeah didn't see any probs, and the md5s match.
        \_ They generally recommend starting out with a new profile for
           new releases.  Just wondering, what do people move over from
           their old one, other than their bookmarks? (is it easier to
           port the cookie lists/etc, or just nuke and start from scratch?)

10/10   Which OS will run best on a K6-2 400MHz, 128meg ram, 4gig hard
        drive laptop: NT4, Win2k, or WinXP? My software requires NTFS.
                \_ try double your ram
        \_ reply hazy ask again later
        \_ Someone says for machines with 128MB RAM or more, XP actually
           manages memory better than NT.  Don't know if it's true or not.
           I have Celeron 400 128MB RAM running NT, and I also wonder which
           of 95/98/ME/NT/2K/XP will have the best performance on such a
           machine.
        \_ probably nt4. i had a k6-2 350 with 128MB and xp was quite slow.
           2k was bearable, but not exactly speedy. it ran 98 a long time
           ago, and that ran pretty well. obviously, all else being equal,
           the os that does less bookkeeping and uses less memory is going
           to be faster.
        \_ Win98 with NTFS drivers off the net.
        \_ Probably NT4.  I certainly wouldn't run 2K or XP without >128 MB ram.

10/10   Any suggestions on how I should go about automating a backup of a
        directory in WinXP that is just out there on the net to a linux
        box behind a firewall?  No comments about how I shouldn't have the
        WinXP out there.  It'll be put behind a firewall eventually, but
        not an option at this point.  Thanks.
        \_ Maybe a script that just zips up the directory and ftps it
           to the linux box?
           \_ BZZZZT! NEXT!  -!op
        \_ CygWin & Rsync over SSH is how I've done it both Win-Unix
           and vice versa.  Initiate the SSH connection from the linux box.
           That ought to sort it nicely.  Might want to check whether it
           mucks with file permissions and timestamps and stuff, though. -John
        \_ wget if the xp server has a web server on it.  you can install some
           twinky little thing.  you could also use smbclient since you don't
           seem to care about security (from the samba packages).
           \_ It's because I care about security that I ask this question.
              I'd like to get the XP box behind a firewall, but that's not
              something I can do right at this moment for various reasons.
              I'll probably have to go with the cygwin method mentioned above,
              but I just thought I'd see if there are any other options with
              *relative* security.
                \_ Err, cygwin/rsync over ssh is nearly as secure as you're
                   going to get on a Windows box, assuming you do key-based
                   authentication and have a host firewall (macafee will do)
                   installed on the Windows box.  And like W2k, XP can be
                   locked down reasonably nicely in its own right (it's some
                   of the 'fluff' network services that cause most of its
                   security issues.)  Also, if you feel like running a
                   Windows-native SSHD, like TruSecure or something (although
                   why would you), have a look at rsyncd for Windows.  There's
                   an old-ish page here:
                    http://optics.ph.unimelb.edu.au/help/rsync  -John

10/1    Under XP, the status bar at the bottom of my IE keeps
        disappearing on its own. How can I stop it from doing this?
        \_ just a guess, but try opening a folder, selecting View | Status Bar,
           then doing Tools | Folder Options | Apply to all folders.
        \_right click the mouse on the task bar and select properties to change
          it.
          \_ OP said status bar, not task bar.

10/1    I'm installing WinXP for the first time on a test box just to see it.
        I'm not even done with the basic install and it's already doing all
        this automated 'dont worry, ill make that really important decision
        for you, you dumbass consumer!' shit.  I'm getting shivers....
        I'm doing it inside a virtual-pc so at least it can't fuck up anything
        too much.  I hope.
        \_ I've been using XP pro for a while now;  as a game and just-doing-
           superficial-type-work-box (writing docs and browsing) it has been
           pretty decent.  I don't trust it with anything important (all my
           storage and security and whatnot is on a couple of FreeBSD boxes)
           so the relationship is a happy one.  -John

10/1    sex.exe, can't get rid of it, can't find it on hd. how to get rid of?
        \_ Install woman.exe.
        \_ format, reinstall OS
        \_ Isn't that the NullSoft text editor?  Pretty harmless, isn't it?
           \_ it's more likely some virus, worm, or bomb.
              \_ http://www.nullsoft.com/free/sex
                 \_ foolish mortal.  nothing says his binary is the one from
                    your url.  also nothing says the binary at your url isn't
                    infected from another source or isn't a v/w/b also.  for
                    example, go check out the software versions the zonelabs
                    guys are using.  they're a software security outfit that
                    doesn't keep their own servers up to date.  why would you
                    expect any better from guys who wrote a text editor?  trust
                    no one!  stay alert!  keep your laser handy!

9/19    ATMs to run Windows:
        http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60497,00.html
        \_ I just love the new BART terminals that run NT, and seem to
           be out of order 75% of the time...
           \_ Does anyone know what system they use for the New York Subway?
              It seems to work incredibly well.
              \_ When I was in NY the last time, the fare was always $1
                 no matter which direction and how far away you. Obviously,
                 you don't need a terribly complicated ticket terminals for such
                 system.
                 \_ Believe me or not, Windows NT embedded.  I was in
                    New York when the subway ticket cost $1.50.  They have
                    raised the fare since then, though.
        \_ ATM's already do run windows...I saw a repairman fix one once
           and it was windows.
           \_ the article notes that by end of 2003, 12% of ATMs will be
              Windows; also says most ATMs today are OS/2
              \_ Yeah at teh Albertsons BofA ATM on mathilda runs oS/2
        \_ Arrr - nold for California Governor!
           \_ Avast Right-Wing Conspiracy!

9/11    Where does Windows/IE store the icons for things like "Refresh" and
        "Stop" on the menus?
        \_ Compiled into the executables?

9/6     I just installed XP (went fine) but the desktop doesn't have a
        My Computer icon. How can I get one on there? I can drag a
        shortcut of it, from the Start Menu, but how can I get an
        "original" one? Thanks.
        \_ there are a few quick things you can do to 2000-ify XP. One is
           to make the start button 2000ish. Right click, properties,
           "Classic". The other is to change to "Classic" style in the desktop
           setting (right click desktop, properties).
           \_ Another thing is to get to the System Properties menu,
              Advanced -> Performance Settings -> Adjust for best performance
              \_ It's amazing how after all these years MS -still- doesn't
                 get basic UI and -still- provides multiple and randomly
                 assigned paths to get the same functionality.  It's as if
                 they had some power struggle between different groups and
                 some higher up just said to do it both ways.  sheer lunacy.
                 \_ but unix gui's have been around for about as long and
                    are oh so much better...
                    \- the strength of unix is little details about how
                       \_ iow, you admit that unix has weaker gui's.
                          \- maybe. but gui's are lame for some things.
                             line a "gui find" would suck. does windows
                             have something comparable to find?
                       various tools work / evolved to work together well.
                       e.g. ls changing it's behavior when output isnt a
                       terminal but a pipe etc. what does msft do right?
                       \_ the issue is not what msft does right. it is
                          generally agreeable that msft has a better gui,
                          that's all i'm saying. windows apps also tend to
                          interact better, and are more consistent. while
                          i generally like unix more than windows, the whole
                          kde vs. gnome and qt vs. gtk thing is a major
                          turnoff. sure, choice can be good, but not that
                          kind of choice. we need one superior system, with
                          choice as in flexible themes, behavior, etc.
                          \_ osX!  Join us!
                          \_ comparing your gui to a slapped on after thought
                             gui for a text based system is hardly deserving
                             of great praise.  each new version they get a
                             change to do it right and for some unknown
                             reason refuse to improve.  *that* is MS's gui
                             problem.  "I'm better than that POS over there!"
                             is no defense for your own failings.
                 \_ there's nothing inherently wrong with multiple paths.
                    if i had a big living room or something, i might like to
                    have multiple remotes...why walk across the room when
                    i can reach for a closer one?
                    \_ Because it leads to user confusion and is harder to
                       teach and maintain.  These aren't physical location
                       paths for your physical convenience.  In that case, the
                       'best' path would be an entirely open room like a
                       warehouse but for other reasons we need rooms.  For
                       an UI we need clear and simple logical paths that
                       make sense.  If multiple paths make sense then one or
                       more are redundant and should be corrected.
        \_ right click on desktop and select properties. select the desktop
           tab. click on the customize desktop button. under the general tab,
           select the my computer desktop icon.
                \_ Perfect, thanks. -op
        \_ On the same note, is there a way to get rid of the damned dog when
           searching for files?
           \_ Click on the dog, and click on "turn off animated character".
           \_ shotgun.

9/4     Do MS/DOS systems crash?
        \_ Why wouldn't they?
           \_ I dont't know. Simplicity? I just don't remember having to
              reboot my DOS boxes back in the day. Maybe I'm forgetting.
              \_ Even my Commodore 64 has crashed before.
        \_ They can freeze when some program takes over (dos is only a program
           loader, not manager) and won't exit nicely.
        \_ that's "relative" because it was usually a 3rd party program
           you executed taht crashed. otherwise you could spend all day
           typing "dir" and "copy" and there would be no crashes.
            \_ good point.
        \_ DOS programs used to crash and burn all the time. No memory
           protection in the OS led to all sorts of chaos from stray memory
           writes.  This forced coders to fix most of their bad code.  Now
           they're not forced to be as careful, so they arent ...
           \_ Microsoft had entire legions of programmers who's sole
              job was to insert code into MS-DOS that would make Lotus123
              crash, so yes MS-DOS used to crash now and then
        \_ Heh.  MS/DOS has no VM.  Draw your own conclusions from there.
           -- ilyas
           \_ DOS itself *never* crashed.  It's only a program loader.
              \_ Well, two of VM's jobs are illusion of infinite memory and
                 address space isolation.  Without the OS providing the
                 latter, it is no wonder the programs run amok.  I can't say
                 it's the programs' fault either.
                 \_ It's the programs' fault.  They know the environment
                    they're being written for and should play nice.  The
                    fact is DOS didn't need isolation because it was intended
                    to only launch one program at a time which was given full
                    control of the system.  Anyone trying to run multiple
                    programs was waaaaay out of spec and got what they
                    were asking for.
        \_ in general, complex systems with dependencies have more points
           of failure. Take NASA for example. They have an extremely
           complex system, and adding sensors and monitors add even more
           complexity making the system more crash prone. A common way
           to get around it is using the TMR system (triple modular
           redundancy). However the voting system is not fault tolerant,
           so often there are redundant voters as well. But by adding
           even more redundancy you add on even more complexity, and
           modeling it is a nightmare. In short, there is only so much
           progress you can make by adding redundancies in the system,
           at which point your system will simply become more complex and
           more crash prone.                            -ucla cs student
           \_ they taught you all that in sk00l?  wow!

9/4     What happened to http://slashdot.org?
        \_ "Same thing that happened to Crystal Pepsi.  It sucked,
           so it went away"
           \_ Hey, I liked crystal Pepsi.
              \_ How do they make Pepsi One taste so much better than Diet
                 Pepsi? That one calorie sure packs a wallop.
                 \_ Hint: check the relative caffeine contents.

8/28    just got an email from admin@csua.berkeley.edu from oxooihui
        saying my account was going to expire, but there is no
        user oxooihui or admin@csua.berkeley.edu. is this legit?
        \_ hmm. had virus with attached zip file
           \_ it's self fulfilling.  run that on your windows box and it'll
              expire your account.
        \_ so you're that guy i've seen walking around with his head up his ass!
           \_ i've always wondered how one puts one's head up one's ass. i can
              barely visualize it.
              \_ i'm sorry you lack visualization skills. how can i help?
                 sorry, won't do *that*.
              \_ don't know about that one, but back in 10th grade (or its
                 equivalent), a classmate of mine did try to demonstrate
                 (in the classroom) how he can suck his own penis.  he failed,
                 but claimed that with a hard on, it would work.
                 \_ my friend once sent me a video of some french guy doing
                    just that. there was that 1-2 second span where it took
                    me to realize what i was seeing before i closed it. by that
                    time, it was permanently etched in my mind.

8/27    This is a question for Imaging gurus.  I have a few JPEG
        files which I'm not able to view on my PC.  However, I am
        able to view the thumbnail of the pic in Windows Explorer
        in XP.  When I try to load it in 'xv' on unix I get the
        following errors.  The image is located at /csua/tmp/photo18.jpg.
        Is there any way to fix these JPEG errors?  Thanks for any
        help. -  madhav
        - Corrupt JPEG data: Premature end of data segment
        - Invalid JPEG file structure: two SOI markers
        \_ Opera and mspaint display it just fine.  Save as a different
           format maybe.  "SOI" = start of image.  -John
           \_ Thanks.  I tried on my work PC (W2K) and it seems to open the
              image fine without any problems in Netscape 7.1, IE 6, MS Paint,
              and MS Photo Editor. -madhav
        \_ Where did the image come from?  If it is from a digital camera,
           it is likely that they did a "smaller+regular" image trick.
           Basically they stored a smaller version of the image at
           the front to allow faster preview inside the camera.  Maybe
           "xv" just does not handle this case?  (Sounds like John's
           assumption of having "two Start Of Image" may back this up.)
           \_ The image came from my Sony Mavica CD-200 digital camera.
              What is weird is that not all pictures have this problem, only
              1 in 25-30. -madhav
           \_ I did a bit of digging, and apparently some jpeg file formats
              like SPIFF use SOI markers to indicate that the following
              information is format-specific.  Some decoders don't understand
              the tags which follow the additional markers, and just look
              at the SOI bits themselves.  Page for SPIFF is at
              http://netghost.narod.ru/gff/graphics/summary/spiff.htm
              What's the picture of?  -John
              \_ The picture is of the valley as seen from Jungfraujoch(highest
                 train station in Europe approx. 11500 feet) in
                 Switzerland. -madhav

8/23    There are a lot of software that help you write outlines.
        I, however, don't think in the outline mode.  I tend to draw
        "mind bubble" during the brainstorming phase.  Is there any software,
        commerical/open source that can help me to draw them on a computer?
        Is there a proper term for "mind bubble" so i can look up on Google?
        \_ you will have to do some legwork on your own:
           http://tinyurl.com/7tic
        \_ brain storming
        \_ ["engrish" drivel deleted] fuck you...when someone speaks
           broken english it usually just means they speak another
           language better than you
           \_ i know too many people who were born and raised and went to
              college in other countries, including china, who can write
              and speak in clear, correct english to agree with your point
              of view.  I am Amercian, yet i can speak Chinese.  it has
              been my observation that alot of the chinese poeple in
              technical fields whose english sucks are bad communicaters
              in either language(much like their american counterparts.)
              and before you start flaming, i was not the person who
              posted the "engrish" post you're responding to.
              \_ Thank you.  I want also point out that communication has
                many fronts.  A bad writer (like me) does not necessarily mean
                he can not communicate verbally.
                   --OP (asking for brain storming software and didn't expect
                         the thread became a debate in English)
           \_ I'll bet you would defend that school administrator who fired a
              few dozen teachers who couldn't pass the same test he himself
              couldn't pass after 3 or 4 tries.  His excuse?  He was foreign
              born, although he'd been here for 20+ adult years.  And no, I
              seriously doubt foreign geeks communicate in their native tongue
              better than American geeks communicate in English.  lah!
              \_ Administrators aren't teachers.  They have a different skill
                 set.  Did you ever think of that?
                 \_ hah!  I knew you were the type.  He is required by law to
                    pass the test.  He is *supposed* to be more edjumakated
                    than the teachers he was firing.  Maybe the teachers were
                    foreign born so it's unfair to ask someone teaching 12th
                    grade to pass a 10th grade test.  Ever think of that?
                 \_ You have to have a teaching credential to get an
        \_ I find paper and pencil best.  Programs get you all distracted by how
           to draw bubbles/linkages, etc.
                    administrative (teaching) credential. those who can, do.
                    those who can't teach. those who can't teach, administer.
                    \_ Hey!  Stop bringing facts into this!  No fair!
        \_ I find paper and pencil best.  Programs get you all distracted by
           how to draw bubbles/linkages, etc.

8/21    http://www.microsoft.com running Linux
        http://www.netcraft.com
        http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=74&e=6&u=/cmp/13100775
        \_ they have been using akamai services for DNS and some web traffic
           for quite a while. dunno why this story was just now written since
           it's old news.
           \_ Because most tech journalists suck even more than other
              journalists

8/20    windows 2000 gurus please help.  I had a crash recently and now I
        can't log into the system.  It get stuck in "Loading Personal Settings"
        and doing ctrl+alt+del doesn't do anything.  Safe mode booting does
        work and lets me log in.  How do I fix this?  Is there a way to
        temporarily disable all those daemons that get loaded at startup
        so that real boot becomes more like safe boot?  Thanks!
        \_ Start->Run->msconfig
           I'll assume you're smart enough to take it from there
           \_ msconfig is not available for Windows 2000; it's only available
              for Win98, ME, and I think XP.  For 2000, try:
                http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
           \_ try http://www.xteq.com x-setup
              \_ xteq is really good for other things, too.

8/19    so i have a process which i put in cron which had an infinite loop
        generating errors.  These errors were taken by cron and mailed to
        me.  When it got to about 750 megs worth of mesg. procmail brought
        my box to a halt (loads of 26 and rising). Unable to type on the
        command line for the crazy swapping, i was forced to powercycle the
        server.  Now, Here's my question:  shouldn't sendmail/procmail or
        the OS or something have some sort of a mechanism that caps a
        runaway process like this so that i am at least able to get enough
        system resources to figure out what the hogging process is and kill
        it? -phuqm
        \_ i know the postfix mta has a "max mailbox size" setting,
           i have no idea what sendmail uses. - danh
        \_ No.
            \_ really, so you think it is reasonable program/OS design on
                a multi-user OS for an unpriveleged user to be able to
                easily bring the system to its knees? i mean, i always
                thought that was one of the reasons truely multi user OSes
                (i.e. unix) wher superior to Windows.  I could always just
                kill some run away process and a bad piece of software
                didn't bring down my whole box. But, i'm beginning to think
                the windows folks are right and it IS just a matter of more
                bad software being written_for/run_on windows.
                (even if the bad software is MS office) -phuqm
                \_ You could kill the process.  It would just take a long time.
                   the way to deal with this is with resource limits.
                   And the  traditional windows problem is much different,
                   this isn't the OS hanging or the scheduler not scheduling
                   your shell, it is a problem of the VM system thrashing
                   because you working set is significantly larger than
                   physical memory.  --jwm
         \_ Lottery scheduler with extra tokens for interactive processess!

8/15    Why did the writer of the MSblast worm wrote it to screw up everything
        on the infected machine?  If the worm isn't as intrusive, I think many
        people will be happy to ignore it intentionally and let their infected
        machines take part in attacking the MS web site tomorrow.
        \_ what--were you never 14?
        \_ I guess he got low grades on "worm coding" in school?

8/13    Is there a security patch against the Blaster Worm for NT Workstation?
        All I see on the MS web site are patches for NT Server, NT TSE, and
        versions of 2k / XP / Server 2003, but not NT Workstation.  Thanks.
        \_ yes, just delete winnt/system32/msblaster.exe
           \_ I don't think it's that easy, since that program
              was constantly being called upon by some key in
              the registry. At least in XP it was.
              \_ I don't think NT is vulnerable.  XP != NT.  Try the
                 fixblast.exe from symantec.  I used it last night on
                 my dad's computer successfully.  Firewalls.
                 \_ But the MS web page says NT is affected.  It says the only
                    Windoze not affected is ME.  See http://csua.org/u/3xl
                    \_ I didn't see NT fixes at MS.  Dunno.  Anyway, get the
                       fixblast.exe from symantec, apply patches, and chill.

8/11    I recently installed XP on my laptop, and it's been fine for the
        past few days. STarting today though, I get an error during
        boottime saying Windows can't open up the file TFTP2396, and
        it prompts me to give it a program to open it up with. I hit
        cancel, and then about 10 minutes later the "WinNT Authority"
        hits me with a dialog box saying it has to shut down the machine
        in 60 seconds (and then starts counting down). Anyone have any
        ideas what's going on? Thanks.
        \_ http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?date=2003-08-11
                \_ Cool, thanks a lot.
        \_ Learn to use a firewall and turn off unnecessary services.
           What version of XP are you using, Pro?
                \_ wouldn't this be caught by anti-virus programs?
                  \_ do even drugs catch mutated viruses? have to keep
                    updating after new viruses appear
        \_ And while you're at it, use ad-aware every so often in addition to
           keeping your anti-virus software updated.
        \_ So many stupid suggestions so far. Solution is to not use WinXP.
           \_ LINUX RULEZ!  *BSD IS DEAD!  RIDE BIKE!  D00DE!1   Isn't that
              what you meant to say?
              \_ don't you think maybe your zealous hatred of linux is just
                 as useless and silly as the linux crowd's zealous hatred
                 for windows you're mocking?
                 \_ erm.. where do you see "hatred of linux" in the previous
                    post?  can we get a reading comprehension requirement
                    for motd posting? --scotsman

8/7     Any recommendations for data recovery software? I need to get
        a few files from a broken NTFS hard drive running windows xp home.
        Cheaper is better.
        \_ there's free shit on the net.  google.
        \_ tiramisu for NTFS can be found , fits on a floppy.
        \_ http://www.diydatarecovery.nl $70.  I've used their FAT
           version, and it did a very decent job.
        \_ Drive Rescue.  Used to be freeware, but now is not.  You can still
           download a freeware version from:
           http://www.absolutefreesoftware.co.uk/freeware_general_utilities.htm

7/30    Suppose you got an illegal copy of Windows XP, found out that some
        features don't work, and bought a legal copy. How you you re-enter
        those registration codes that you needed during the OS installation
        phase? Thanks.
        \_ http://www.labmice.net/WindowsXP/articles/changeID.htm
        \_ haha, you really mean you just got a new reg code...

7/13    Check http://slashdot.org and http://drudgreport.com regularly--then you won't have to
        check the MOTD.
        \_ Yeah let's all agree not to post any links unless its to donkeypr0n
           \_ I didn't say stop posting, I was just giving friendly advice.
        \_ In the meantime, and assuming you have more of a life than the rest
           of us, just visit the motd, and we'll keep posting best-ofs.

7/06    My windows 98 laptop restarts when i tell it to shutdown.
        It keeps doing it.  Upgrading to a different OS is not something
        i want to do right now.  Any ideas on how i can fix it?

7/5     I want to delete my C: partition and expand my D: partition
        on a Windoze box using Partition Magic. I tried doing this once
        but I couldn't figure out how to turn D: into bootable (essentially
        turning it into the C: partition). Anyone
        have done this or have pointers on how to do this? In other words,
        I want to turn partition 1 into partition 0 after deleting partition
        0.
        \_ I haven't played with PM for 3 years so this isn't everything you
           need to know but for starters, you'll need to tag partition 1 as
           'active'.  You'll also need the boot up files at the start of the
           disk.  Which files varies with each version of Microsoft Windows.
           If you had said which version instead of being a kewl Slashdotting
           MS basher, I could've given you more details.  Less religion = more
           information.  --MS Lovin' *NIX Guru
        \_ Why? It sounds like you are halfway into a disaster. What problem
           are you _really_ trying to solve? if windoze annoys you switch to a
           better, free OS.
           \_ Better?  There aren't any 'better' free OS's.  If there were,
              MS would be gone already.  There *are* no cost up front OS's
              that are harder to use, install, and configure.
                 \_ more secure and stable as well
                    \_ More secure and stable?  Both are chock full of holes
                       right out of the box.  My linux boxes crash way more
                       often than my windows boxes.  Gotta love seeing the
                       kernel dump trying to handle a simple nfs request.  Oh
                       yeah, it must be that I suck and LINUX RULES!
                 \_ MS is still here not due to their software quality.
                    They are here because of unlawful monopolistic business
                    practices.  For me, Linux is more efficient and more
                    fun.  Wait 10 years, Microsoft will not be a monopoly
                    any more.  Similar to IBM, there were cheaper
                    alternatives to their products. Using a free OS is like
                    going to college: spend time now learning to do usefull
                    things, and use what you've learned for years.
                    \_ If they weren't better in the first place they could
                       not have established a monopoly.
        \_ Would you ask a rock to swim?
        \_ Why not delete D and expand the C partition and boot from it?

7/2     Ugh!  I am seeing lots of CMD.EXE and net.exe processes on my w2k PC.
        Has it been commpromised?
        \_ nimda?  Run netstat -an to see where all your connections are
           going.
        \_ nimda?  Run netstat -an to see where all your connections are going.
           \_ Crap my netstat got deleted.  Replaced.  Ugh!  I think they are
              using my computer to launch DoS port 445 attacks.
        \_ try one of the freebie/demo virus scanners.

7/1     What's a .pif file?
        \_ http://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+a+pif+file
           \_ brilliant!

6/21    I was looking for xlock or at least a version of software that
        will run something like the galaxy mode of the xlock/xscreensaver
        on a windows 2k machine.  I've googled and checked both cygwin and
        http://gnu.org, but I haven't been able to turn up anything terribly useful.
        Does anyone know if/where I can this?  TIA.
        \_ install vmware, linux and exceed.
           \_ insanity.  just recompile the xlock for cygwin.  and the last I
              checked, vmware wasn't freeware so you can't "just install it".
        \_ You don't want xlock.  It was written by a convicted child molestor
           and former VP of Disney.
           \_ how about xlockmore ?
           \_ He's not a convicted child molestor.  Even if he was, so what?
              You're a child molestor and we don't mind you around here.

6/21    I have a new computer with Red Hat 8 pre-installed.  I want
        to partition it and install Windows XP.  But I'm a newbie
        with partitioning and GRUB.  I figure it would be more time
        efficient to have an "expert" do it for me, and to learn
        by watching, rather than to struggle with it all weekend.
        If you are in or around LA/OC and have some free time this
        weekend and want to help me out, send me an email.  I'll
        take you out to lunch or pay you a little $$ for your time. -asb
        \_ before you have an "expert" do anything, you might want to
           backup your original install with norton ghost or similar.
           you can also get vmware to run xp in, but I don't know how
           good the performance would be.
           \_ vmware isn't freeware.
              \_ When you're right, you're right. You might also like to
                 point out that Ghost and Windows XP aren't free either.
                 Some things are worth paying for, though. For example,
                 with VMWare you can run windows and linux (or freebsd)
                 simultaneously. And if you're still in school, you can
                 get the cheaper academic version.
                 \_ vmware: $299.  ghost: $29.  xp: already paid for as part
                    of most computer purchases, cost to end user is roughly
                    $99.  In this case, the op already has xp so we'll assume
                    it was purchased.  BTW, ghost is not required to do a full
                    drive backup.  dd will do it without the bells and
                    whistles.  I'm right when I'm right and all other times.
                    \_ well, op never asked about free or cheap versions of
                       s/w. academic vmware is less than 50%, and you can buy
                       ghost/nortonworks for cheap on ebay/craigslist. must
                       also add that dual-booting SUCKS.
                       \_ ok, true he never said for free, but it's still a
                          mega overkill to use vmware just to avoid figuring
                          out how to partition and dual boot.
                       \_ Why does dual-booting suck??
                          \_ Self evident to anyone who uses a computer for any
                             serious length of time each day.
                                \_ Thanks for the useful answer.
                                   \_ proof: obvious!  now just smash the
                                      chalk into the board a few times, and
                                      the theorem is proven.
        \_ there are both freeware and cheap commercial products such as
           partition magic that will easily let you repartition how you like.

6/20    anyone have a good reference on the advantages of nonblocking io?
        some guy i'm talking to is insisting that blocking w/ select is better
        than nonblocking. he says "if your IO is nonblocking, you're going
        to use 100% CPU." ?!!@?$#
        \_ http://tangentsoft.net/wskfaq/articles/io-strategies.html
        \_ kqueue!
        \_ Don't you have to use select/poll with both blocking and
           non-blocking fd's in order to know when you can read/write
           to the fd? How can one be better than the other?
           to the fd? How can one be better than the other? -!*nix hacker
           \_ if you use read or write on a blocking fd then those system
              calls will block too. That's the difference.
                \_ I'm confused. If I select/poll on an fd and select/poll
                   tells me that the fd is ready for reading/writing can't
                   I read/write the fd without it blocking? What is the
                   advantage of making the fd non-blocking?
                   \_ When data can't be read or written from the non-blocking
                      fd, the read/write system calls simply return instead of
                      "blocking" (I thought it was clear from the name
                      "non-blocking"). Why would you want to do that? You can
                      manage multiple I/O streams from a single process
                      without having to use threads. In fact, some people
                      argue that servers that use non-blocking IO tend to be
                      faster than either multithreaded or forking servers.
        \_ It allows var/ dev/ to interlace with the kernel so that daemons
           arent locked.

6/20    Will http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux+Win9x+Grub-HOWTO/proc.html
        \_ make enough room on your drive for windows xp
           install windows xp in that partition.  google
           for how to make grub boot linux and windows.
        work for installing Windows XP with Linux already installed?
        Or is http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux+Windows-HOWTO/index.html
        better to follow?
        \_ Why would you want to dual boot a server OS and a desktop OS?
           Linux is a server.  Why would you ever shut off your server??
                \_ Not using Linux as a server. -op
            \_ Yeah whatever. GNU/Linux does both well. But I'd suggest
               having the server be on one machine and the desktop on the
               other. They you don't have to reboot the server.
               \_ Linux?  As a desktop?  You enjoy suffering?  I wonder.  If
                  someone enjoys suffering is it really suffering and does it
                  not instead become pleasure?  Actually, Linux does neither
                  well, but I'll grant it does both.  Just not well.
        \_ On a similar note, has anybody besides me had problems reading
           a windows xp partition in linux? The windows directory shows up
           but it's empty.
           \_ I've heard NTFS support is a little shaky outside of the Samba
              world.  I mount a read-only NTFS partition under FreeBSD and
              there are some folders that just don't show up.
        \_ Use VMWare.

6/20    Will http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux+Win9x+Grub-HOWTO/proc.html
        work for installing Windows XP with Linux already installed?
        Or is http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux+Windows-HOWTO/index.html
        better to follow?
        \_ Why would you want to dual boot a server OS and a desktop OS?
           Linux is a server.  Why would you ever shut off your server??
                \_ Not using Linux as a server. -op
            \_ Yeah whatever. GNU/Linux does both well. But I'd suggest
               having the server be on one machine and the desktop on the
               other. They you don't have to reboot the server.
        \_ On a similar note, has anybody besides me had problems reading
           a windows xp partition in linux? The windows directory shows up
           but it's empty.
           \_ I've heard NTFS support is a little shaky outside of the Samba
              world.  I mount a read-only NTFS partition under FreeBSD and
              there are some folders that just don't show up.
        \_ Use VMWare.

6/3     What are the advantages/disadvantages of XP vs. Windows 2000?
        \_ xp is purtier.
           \_ but spies on you and your hardware config.
              \_ ooh. so they know out about my Geforce 9800 with special
                 porn subprocessor.
                 \_ and when you swap out a CDROM drive the night before
                    your paper's due it refuses to boot.

6/3     If I get a Windows XP and Office XP installation CD from
        someone else, will I be able to install it on my computer?  Will
        it absolutely not work due to licensing issues, or will it
        work in some cases (maybe depending on the type of license)?
        Or is the only way to get Windows XP to buy it?
        \_ All that matters is the serial number. There's a number of them
           that are google'able, but most of them won't allow you to install
           the SP1 patch bundle since the bundle checks for these common #'s
                \_ What's the SP1 patch bundle?
                   \_ Basically a 130MB bundle of all their patches
             \_ I have some big long number, along with the copy of the
                installation CD.  So if I have this number, I can install it
                and it won't stop working after 30 days or something?  Some
                people I've talked to are certain that I would have to
                contact Microsoft via internet to active XP and that
                Microsoft will know that the particular license was
                already installed on another computer, and so that it
                won't let me install/activate.  Is this not true?
                \_ Maybe it's just the CD I had, but I never had to activate
                   it via Microsoft. And I've set Windows Update to
                   auto-download the latest patches without issues. This was
                   when I used the stock serial number everyone else in the
                   world was using, and when I generated one via a keygen.
                   And you can use XP w/o serial number for 30 days, but
                   after, you neither need to call M$ or activate via website
                   or insert your serial number when prompted.
                        \_ So what happens after 30 days?
                           \_ Not sure. Never tried. I assume it just won't
                              let you log in.
                \_ There are two versions.  One is retail and another is
                   OEM-like.  With retail, you will need to activate it
                   either thru internet or phone.  With the OEM-like one,
                   you'll just need the serial number.  If you use the
                   googled serial, MS will refuse to install SP1 on it.
                        \_ How important is SP1?
                           \_ Not very except for Java Runtime. Used to be
                              XP automatically d/l's it for you, but M$ removed
                              that feature, only to put it into SP1. However,
                              they removed it from there too (currently you
                              can only get SP1a (identical to SP1 minus Java)).
                              I'm sure you can find the original SP1 somewhere,
                              or you can use Sun's Java runtime, which runs
                              dog slow on XP.
                        \_ What's OEM stand for?
                           \_ Original Equipment Manufacturer. Think software
                              that comes with computers... the CD plus some
                              flimpsy manual. No fancy box.

6/3     To the person who asked about laptops on wall, go to http://cnet.com and
        click on Notebooks.  I like my Fujitsu S series with 13.3" screen.
        If you don't mind Dell, the D600/D500 don't look bad.  Toshiba and
        Compaq(HP) are also fine, but I would read user reviews on the
        particular models you're interested in.
        \_ why didn't you jsut wall this? or email it to the person since you
           know who it is.
           \_ With all the "personalities" in my work, social, and net
              lives, it's nice to be able to keep a low profile where one can.

5/22    When I was learning the basics of the network, I have always thought
        that one IP address per NIC card.  For machine that has multiple
        NIC, it is essentially a router... But the other day, my company's
        system admin just done something i don't quite understand: he
        assigned multiple IP to a computer (running windozes) which only
        have one NIC.  Can someone explain to me how does that work?
        Thanks
        \_ They're just aliases.  The NIC can listen for and respond to
           multiple IPs.  Most modern OS's can do this.  No magic.
           \_ or it can be multiple virtual sub-ints..
              \_ this is where i don't understand... where can I find out
                 more?
                 \_ 'man ifconfig' is a place to start.  -John
                 \_ STFW
        \_ Given that you have multiple web sites which resolve to
           different IPs in your subnet, you could host them all on one
           Windows computer, assigning one NIC the different IPs of your
           web sites.  (this is just one way to do it ...)

5/14    BSOD in a Beemer:
        http://aardvark.co.nz/daily/2003/n051301.shtml
        http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/13May2003_biz12.html
        \_ As much as I hate M$, there's nothing in the articles that say the
           Beemer involved runs Windoze.
           \_ BMW's more up-market 7-series range uses a computer system
              called i-drive which has Microsoft's WindowsCE at its core.
              \_ the car that had the problem is an older BMW 520.. next years
                 5series will have iDrive too, however the only place WinCE is
                 used in iDrive is the display mechanism / gui mechanism which
                 most likely would barely touch the engine controls and things
                 like windows... etc. I would hardly say that counts as
                 "at its core."
              \_ Yeah I saw that, but the vehicle involved was a 520.
                 \_ I think that the 5 series and 7 series use the
                    same computer system.
                    \_ Perhaps you're referring to the old 7-series? The current
                       5-series is a five or six year old design while the
                       current 7-series is a brand new redesign.
                       \_ next year's 5-series will have the current 7-series
                          computer system.  be afraid.
              \_ While I don't remember anything about BSODs, there is a guy
                 who put videos online of his 740's win ce-based
                 computer system malfunctioning in a variety of situations.
                 \_ early release versions of iDrive firmware had problems.
                    a guy I know with a 745iL said after a couple updates it
                    finally works fine. this seems to be typical for newer cars
                    with fancy onboard computers. even my 2000 audi's computer
                    had annoying glitches at first.

5/13    How can I open up a Windows Metafile? I want to export one
        as a jpeg or eps. Thx.

5/7     "Microsoft Plans Toilets With Web Access "
        http://csua.org/u/e60
        Now, who wants to use a keyboard that has been touched by a thousand
        other people while they wiped their butts and genitals?
        \_ Only a thousand?
        \_ This is a question you may not want to address to motd users.
        \_ Well, you used the lab computers, didn't you?
           \_ Oh no!  And I was eating my sandwich with bare hands too!
           \_ Yeah I always used gloves if you used it before me.
        \_ This was on the motd almost a week ago.
           \_ yes, although there was no explicit mention of genitals the
              first time.
        \_ Great, more shitty products.
        \_ I'd hate to be in there when the server crashed.

4/27    What's the difference between Windows ME and XP?  Is XP really
        more stable?
        \_ ME is Win 95/98. XP is NT.
        \_ Much. Yes.
        \_ Just pirate a Windows 2000 and use it.  Win2k has the same kernel
           as WinXP, same file system as XP, none of that product
           activation non-sense.
           \_ Just pirate XP Corp. and you get the all that plus the bug fixes,
              etc. from XP.
                \_ Speaking of which.  What is XP's advantage over Win2k
                   anyway? All I know is that XP eats more system's
                   resources, and I don't know what is the advantage of it
                   \_ Nothing.  If you have to run Windows, run 2k.
        \_ 95/98/ME is to NT/2k/XP as Linux is to *BSD/OSF1/IRIX/Solaris/etc.
           Not only is XP more stable but it has a real kernel, real FS, and
           several other things 95/98/me doesn't but you'd want to have.
           \_ "You're a loony"
              \_ Ya whatever.  I've used all of these systems.
                 \_ you jus implied that irix is "better" than Linux.. or
                    whatever.. umm no.
                    \_ hey clueless wonder, you have any idea how much stuff
                       Linux has 'borrowed' from that 'lesser' OS, Irix?  go
                       learn something and come back.  Linux can't even be
                       fully upgraded without hours of downtime.  It's
                       ridiculous.  Irix?  A command or two and reboot to the
                       new kernel.  Linux would be a much better OS if they
                       'borrowed' even more of Irix.  Why do I even have to
                       tell you this?  I know!  It's because you've got about
                       30 seconds of SGI time under your belt.
                       \_ actually I worked for SGI and also supported SGI's
                          for several years. I know them well and would
                          actually say they rank about even in terms of
                          stability. Probably know more about Irix than you
                          attended Berkeley (god, admission standars are just
                          but this argument is pointless now. Irix does have
                          some strengths but overall isn't much better than
                          Linux. As for upgrades? Linux kernel upgrades happen
                          much faster and cleaner than Irix and is much more
                          tunable. inst is also worse than rpm and has fewer
                          overrides and tends to screw its pkg db.
                          \_ You're either lying or insane.  Nothing is easier
                             than an Irix upgrade.  Irix also has about 10
                             gazillion more tunables than Linux and you get to
                             them all through a single tool.  What did you do
                             at SGI?  Wash the outside of the cases and mop
                             floors?  That doesn't count.
                       \_ i don't know what you're doing with your linux boxes
                          but mine don't need any downtime at all. the longest
                          is a single reboot. no downtime at all.
                          \_ Oh yeah?  Let's see you upgrade from Redhat 6.x to
                             7.x or higher without downtime.  Or 7.x to 8.x,
                             etc.  Can't be done without lengthy downtime.
                             \_ Debian! apt-get install upgrade kernel
                                and reboot. Ah hour my ass. 2 minutes.
                                \_ Debian aint redhat.  The world uses redhat.
                          \_Okay, you dumbass jerk-offs. Stop bashing OSes.
                          I expect more from people who supposedly attend or
                          attended Berkeley (god, admission standards are just
                          not up to snuff) Next thing you know we're going to
                          have a fucking vi vs. emacs war. This is 2003, not
                          1996. MS and Linux have won. Time to move on.
                            \_ ED!
                            \_ When you learn to format to the motd standard,
                               you'll have taken step 1 on the path to true
                               motd enlightenment where you'll have earned the
                               right to call others dumbass jerk-offs and make
                               noises about the standards at Cal.  Until then
                               stick your head in a pig you dumbass jerkoff.  I
                               expect more from someone who supposedly attended
                               or attends Berkeley (god, admission standards
                               are just not up to snuff).  Ms & Linux have won?
                               What fantasy land are you living in?  The war
                               continues daily.  Idiot.

4/23    What's a good program that can split 1 mpg into 2 or concat 2 into 1?
        \_ mplayer has something to do this, I think, but I've never used it.
        \_ head/tail and cat
        \_ QuickTime Pro.
        \_ tail/head and cat  (and free unlike QTpro)
           \_ this is a horrible method.  You'll end up with files that have
              bad headers and that aren't cut on frame boundaries.  It /may/
              work in some players if you're lucky, but you shouldn't rely on
              it.  Use a tool designed for this sort of thing.  If you're
              using Windows, use Tmpgenc http://www.tmpgenc.net.  It's
              the best free (as in beer) MPEG1 encoder around, and it has
              splicing tools. --jameslin
              \_ Nonsense.  I only use GPL OSS or nothing.
              \_ HA, HA!  You got trolled!
                 \_ I guess, but there really are people who try to join
                    MPEG files by directly concatenating the files together.
                    --jameslin
                    \_ He wasn't trolled.  It was a joke.  He was self-trolled.
                       Not my fault.  --tail/head/cat guy
        \_ dd

4/14    I need to write a script to run under DOS (yes, I know it sucks)
        and I need it to stop a program that can only be terminated by
        hitting Control-C. How can I give that to the script as a
        command? Thanks.
        \_ try installing cygwin (cygwin.com ?) and use their "ps" and
           "kill" functions?
        \_ Is it a true DOS platform, or a DOS window in a windows environment?
                \_ a DOS window in Windows      -op
        \_ You could write a vb function that runs your script and sends key
           strokes to the window.  though you'll have to write code to get the
           handle to the window.
        \_ Or put a timer in your program that you wrote that exits after
           10 seconds.
        \_ what are you smoking, DOS is not a multithreaded environment
        \_ grab one of the freebie or shareware keyboard/macro programs off
           the net.  Since you're in windowed dos you can get away with a
           stunt like this.  There is also 4Dos which can probably do what
           you need.  It's a command shell replacement for command/cmd.  You
           can also install perl and then use the plist and pkill and other
           stuff MS provides in some freebie package.  If you give more
           details you'll get better answers.

4/10    Is there any x-earth like application that can run on non-root
        windows?
        \_ Yeah, "xearth -noroot"  man xearth
           \_ thanks... sorry about that.  need to upgrade xearth
           \_ ok, I am trying to dump xearth into my desktop's (windowmaker)
                background. -noroot can only open another windows.
                \- hello, does anyone run xrmap? anyone know where to find
                   the glag/national anthem etc files? ok tnx --psb
                   the flag/national anthem etc files? ok tnx --psb

4/8     Can anybody recommend a free NetZero-type dialup whose software
        will allow me to dial in from a Linux box? Note I am temporarily
        unable to mount a windows emulator.
        \_ you're kidding, right.

3/24    I dd's an entire windows disk (it had 4 partitions) to a file, and
        now I'd like to mount the image. What's the best way?

3/20    On Windows 2000 and FreeBSD, what are some accurate ways for me to find
        out what the machines are made up of; i.e. number of CPU's, speed of
        each CPU, RAM, motherboard, etc.  I know about the "General" tab for
        System on a Windows system, but don't know how accurate they are.  And,
        any ideas and/or URL's with information on how I can attach a process
        to a specified CPU in Windows 2000 and FreeBSD?  Thanks.
        \_ dmesg on FreeBSD will probably be accurate, at least for what the
           kernel can identify.
           \_ See also /var/run/dmesg.boot, in case the boot messages have
              scrolled out of the dmesg buffer.
        \_ There are numerous freebie cpu id progs on the net.  You might try
           google for "cpuid" and you'll find (big shock) the 'cpuid' program.
           Some versions will give you all the other info you want also.

3/20    Damn IE 6 on XP. I have a nice Google toolbar. I have their normal
        fwd/back/reload etc. toolbar. I want to put them both on the same
        line, so I unlock the toolbars, move them how I want them, lock
        them again. Then an hour later, it magically changes back. Ideas?
        How can I make it stay the way I want it?
        \_ Did you have more than one IE window open at the time?
           \_ No, it'll do it even with a single window. It's like I have
              a gremlin that changes all the settings back at several
              random times throughout the day.
              \_ XP is buggy like that. I have several directories that I've
                 set up columns in a specific way in Explorer. An hour later,
                 one of those directories will always revert back to default.
                 Of course, when I reinstalled XP, the problem went away.
                 \_ I've only had the computer a week; it came with XP.  -- op
        \_ Reboot your computer.  Open one IE window.  Make your changes.
           Reboot.
        \_ Your first mistake: IE.  Your second mistake: XP.
        \_ Not just XP, on my Win2000 Server, my IE 6 always reverts back
           to medium size font even though I chose "smaller" font size.

3/20    http://www.techsunite.org/news/techind/offshoring1.cfm
        drop CS while you can!
        \_ We got too many h1b visas out there to make offshoring
           really viable. If you want to solve of the problems
           first cut down on the immigrants. We earlier immigrants
           don't need the competition.
           \_ Sink or swim, white boy!
                \_ Guess who built this country.
                   \_ uh, immigrants?
        \_ Coders of America Unite!
           \_ Yeah, why don't you join a union, start a lobby, and buy
              some politicians to get anti-competitive laws passed?
              the irony of watching a bunch of cs-libertarian-dickheads
              turn to these methods would be priceless.
              \_ I thought geeks were Gore voters...that is,
                 stereotypically.
                 \_ uh...do you read the motd?  most people here are
                    either to the left of Gore or to the right of
                    Bush.
                    \_ that's what makes it so exciting!
                 \_ Of course!  Without Gore inventing the internet, there
                    wouldn't have been a dot-com boom and we wouldn't have been
                    getting six-figure salaries for monkey-coding.
                    \_ some of us earn it.  also your 6 figs is nothing next
                       to the hundreds of millions or even billions that
                       many ceo's have gotten for killing companies.
              \_ So, since you don't like all those cs-libertarian-dickheads,
                 how would you describe YOUR political leanings?

2/28    Is there a way to tell whether an XP already installed on a machine is
        the checked build or the release build?  I just installed XP from an
        MSDN CD labeled "Windows XP Professional Checked/Debug Build", but
        after that everything looks just the same as the regular XP.  I was
        expecting some version string somewhere will mention "Checked Build".
        Thanks.  --- yuen
        \_ Run "ver" at the command line.  Do you get:
           Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
           \_ Yes.  Both my release build machine and my supposedly checked
              build machine display this same string.  What should it say if
              it's a checked build?  --- yuen
           \_ try "winver" at the command line.
              \_ Yes!  It does show "(Debug)" at the end.  Thanks!  -- yuen

2/27    To whoever was asking about virtual desktop software for windows: At
        my old job I got really used to Reflection's Virtual Desktop but my
        new job doesn't have it. It's a tiny, standalone utility so I found
        it pretty easily online... search for rvd.exe.

2/27    13823 files on a brand new w2k machine with no other software
        installed.  I remember copying dos from floppy to floppy using one
        drive and had to do 26 disk swaps to get all the files....
        \_ Uh, my copy of DOS 6 is only about 3 or 4 floppies.
        \_ Did you count all the hidden files?
           \_ There were only 1 or 2 which http://sys.com put on for me after a few
              more swaps.
        \_ DOS 3.2 -- 2 LD 5.25" floppies.
        \_ DOS 1.1 -- 1 360k floppy.
        \_ MacOS 1.0 -- 1 400k floppy. 127k used, 273k free.

2/26    Win32 question.  I find myself often having to email the full path
        of an MS Word to my co-workers.  Is there an easy way to create a macro
        or something like that to automatically copy the full file path to
        the clipboard?  Currently most of our docs contain the "filename /p"
        field near the top and that works OK.  But that's not appropriate for
        all docs and it's a pain to keep doing an update on it everytime
        the filename changes.  (The filename changes on every rev.)  Also, is
        there a way to do the same thing from a Windows Explorer window?
        Thanks.
        \_ Huh?  From a dos shell?  What?
        \_ I'm not sure what you're saying, but you there's an option
           in Tools|Folder Options|View that will display the full
           directory path in the address bar.
        \_ for the second part, install the "Send To" powertoy from the
           Windows 95 PowerToys set. http://csua.org/u/a12 [microsoft.com]
           It will add an item to your Send To... context menu that allows
           you conveniently to copy the full path to one or more files.
           (It works with later versions of Windows too.)

2/25    So I've heard of a couple windows programs now that allow you to
        sort of maintain several "virtual desktops"... can anyone recomend
        a good one? ... oh, it also has to play well with Exceed. Thanks.
        \_ I can tell you that one called Virtual Desktop only works "OK".
           In particular, it can't deal with PowerPoint.  I wasn't satisfied
           with it and now I'm not using it.  --PeterM
        \_ I have tried the really old version of VERN and recently
           Multi-Desktop and also MultiDesk of ATI.  I like Multi-Desktop more
           since it is really compact and that they also have the shortcut keys
           to switch between windows.
        \_ Norton's worked really well a few years back.
        \_ I always loved the one in Reflection X, but it isn't worth
           installing the whole suite for just that.

2/21    Microsoft bought Connectix. This is the ONLY thing that they
        should be forbid from doing: buying their competition.
        Bye, Bye Virtual PC. Maybe the open source folks will replace it.
        \_ Well there is Boochs. And the MacBU has promised to continue
           developing it. M$ might be many things but it isn't stupid,
           when people are willing to fork over $s M$ is smart enough
           to keep selling (ex. Office X).
            \_ Office X doesn't threaten the MS desktop monopoly.
               These os "emulators" like VirtualPC, VMWare, wine, etc all do.
        \_ Microsoft bought apple too.
           \_ I believe you misspelled "bought shares of apple."
        \_ If MS wasn't allowed to buy their competition they wouldn't have
           any products.  You'd be hard pressed to think of something MS
           wrote in house which wasn't based on something they bought or
           outright stole from some small company.
           \_ Bob
              \_ I'm torn between saying, "you got me there" and "Bob isn't
                 a product".  Then again, maybe they stole that too.  There
                 were a lot of dotcoms with shitty product ideas.

2/17    Does WinME or Win2K Home Ed require less CPU power and memory?  Thanks.
        \_ cpu/memory?  That's the basis of your OS decision?  ME is a flaming
           pile of goose dung.  Use 2k.  There was never a reason for ME to
           ship except maybe MS's bottom line.
           \_ Yeah.  I'm setting up a PC for my wife, and all she does is
              running Excel and checking her Outlook mail in a browser over a
              modem.  Any non-Windoze OS is out of the question.  So it all
              comes down to which Windoze launches Excel faster and which one
              opens a huge .xls file faster, which I think translates to which
              Windoze leaves more free memory and CPU cycles behind.  The only
              other requirement is USB support because I need it to talk to a
              digicam, otherwise I'll just go 95.  Come to think of it, maybe
              98 is my best bet.
              \_ Except that opening excel really fast, and then crashing five
                 minutes before your wife goes to whack the Save button
                 probably would be suboptimal.  Go with 2K.  Any PC made in
                 the last TWO YEARS is fast enough (TM).  RAM is dirt cheap.
                 Drop a gig of RAM in and never worry about it again. -dans
        \_ The go with win2k people are right. but if you really want to debate
           two OS's, you should debate Win98SE vs. Win2k. WinME really was a
           total piece of shit. Some people still prefer Win98 to Win2k for
           some odd reason. Maybe they just never needed to upgrade because 98
           runs just fine.

           DO NOT RUN Windows Millenium!!!

           \_ I had dual boot w2k/w98 for more than 2 years when I realised
              I hadn't booted 98 in a year.  Poof!  Single boot 2k.
           \_ Thanks for the info!  I didn't know ME is a worse POS than the
              other Win's.
           \_ Agreed.  I have WinME on my HP Pavilion, and it blows (but the
              geniuses at HP haven't gotten around to building drivers for
              Win2k).  I run Win98 at my labs because it's cheaper and a
              lot more stable.  --erikred
        \_ I just ran NT for the 1st time since 2000.  Wow.  It is faster on
           an old K6-2-300 than W2K on a P1000.  NT was designed to run WELL
           in 32MB Ram.  Win98 seems to like things starting 128MB.
        \_ there is no such thing as Win2K Home Edition.  Are you thinking
           of Win2K Professional or WinXP Home?
           \_ W2k only means W2k Pro.  No one ever said anything about the
              bogus "home" edition of that jonny-come-lately slower version of
              W2k with the toyish GUI.
              \_There are at least four versions of Win2k. For whatever reason,
              my experience has been that Win2K Server runs a bit better than
              Pro if you don't install all the server crap. Very strange, but
              I attribute it to MS weirdness.
        \_ Yea, last time my friend bought Windows ME to play some PC games,
           it crashes a few minutes after it comes up, everytime, even with a
           clean install.  His computer runs linux and older versions of windows
           just fine.  He got so mad he threw his copy down the dumpster.

2/14    Is there a way to telnet TO a Windows 2000 machine?  I am running
        Advanced Server, and I'd rather do my Cygwin compiles on another
        machine, since compiling renders the machine useless to keyboard
        or mouse input.  Is there some service I need to activate, or is
        that only possible on installation?
        \_ install exceed and turn on the telnetd.
        \_ Alternate to telnet, it takes some doing, but you can run sshd
        \_ Get Linux!
        \_ yes.
           on cygwin, or run rsync as a daemon.  --scotsman
           \_ It's ass.  win2k has no concept of terms.
        \_ http://www.google.com/search?q=windows+2000+telnet+server
                \_ I have 4 other linux machines, but we're only halfway
                   switched to CVS, thus we use SourceSafe.  Also, the
                   lead on my current project is a Cygwin/Windows guy.
                   The built in Telnet server disallows telnets from
                   linux boxes.  I'll check for a free win-server.
                   \_ you can run openssh sshd on cygwin you know.
                   \_ What do you mean about the native telnetd disallows
                      telnet from linux???  Nonsense.

2/7     What was the outcome of the "can a Dell XP CD be installed on
        another machine if the first was never booted?" thread?
        \_ someone was saying it was not possible with 2000. so they were
           guessing it wouldn't be possible with XP. I will probaby
           try it this weekend anyway, otherwise suck it up and buy xp.
           \_ I don't want to buy XP.  I want to SELL it.  Any takers?
              -mjm
              \_ are you selling a dell version or a normal version? and
                 how much do you want?
                 \_ I have two Dell versions.  Neither computer was ever
                    booted into XP.  $80 each?  mail me your best offer
                    -mjm
                    \_ You have to wonder whether those copies are
                       transferrable, install on non-Dell systems,
                       and/or haven't been "Dell-branded" in other ways.
                       And, isn't the Certificate of Authenticity usually
                       glued to the Dell system itself?
                       \_ The stickers come off.  I put them on the CDROM
                          package.  It should be transferable, given tha
                          I've never booted.  You should be able to call
                          MS and demand a transfer if you've got the
                          certificate of authenticity.
                          I've never booted nor agreed to any licensing
                          issues.  If it doesn't work for you, and MS
                          won't transfer the license, I'll tear up the
                          check.
        \_ Sell it on amazon for about $130. Heck, if you're reading this,
           mail mjm, buy it for $80, and make a quick $50...
        \_ I'm not sure about amazon but Microsoft is known for making trouble
           for people who try to resell their software. People who try to
           do this on eBay get their auctions stopped.
           \_ true, which is why i recommended amazon. ebay/half.com pledge
              allegiance to microsoft and france.

2/6     Can somebody tell me about installing/upgrading to WinXP?
        I deal with MS as little as possible but it's for a friend who
        refuses any alternative.  There are 2 computers, both w/ Win98.
        I want to do a clean install on both-- will XP let me use
        any old Win98 product key to install, and will it let me reformat
        beforehand?  I'm not sure he has his old keys.  Thanks
        \_ If you wipe you cant do an upgrade.
        \_ You cannot use a Win98 product key to install XP.  Go out
           and buy XP.  Actually, buy one for each computer.  Mr. Bill
           needs your love.  On install, XP will give you an option
           for reformatting disk.
           \_ I plan to buy an upgrade version of XP-- will my win98
              product key allow me to install that upgrade version of
              XP on a formatted disk?
              \_ I believe you need a Win98 CD to install on a formatted disk.
                 (never asks you for a product key for an older MS product)
        \_ Actually if you have a blank HDD and a win98 CD, that's all you
           need to install an upgrade version of XP.  I've installed several
           copies of XP upgrade using the same 98 CD.
        \_ my sysadmin at work gave me an unused copy of xp to install at
           home that came with a dell system (i think they are using that
           system with linux now). I want to install it on my home computer
           on a totally new hard drive. will this work or will the windows
           xp somehow figure out that it's not running on a dell? (the
           xp cd has dell logos all over it and says "only for distribution
           with a new dell system"). - !op
           \_ I'd also like to know how this works.  If you could try it,
              please tell me your results.   -mjm
              \_If you have a copy of XP you need a CD key. Each cd key can
              only be used once for each machine. If you change machines you
              will need to call up Microsoft to get a new key. If the version
              of XP that came with the Dell is a full version or upgrade then
              you can install it. If it is an OEM version then most likely it
              will not work unless you mess around with files on the CDs.
              The reason for this
              is that XP need to be activated. I've had instances where clients
              have bought XP, installed it, activated it, and then reinstalled
              on the same machine and the activation not reworking. It's a pain
              in the ass and all it does is annoy people who try to use the
              software in a legitimate fashion. People who are going
              to pirate it
              just stick in a corporate key they can get from the multitude of
              warez sites and bypass activation altogether... All in all it's
              a pretty stupid concept, but it does prevent the casual user from
              being a pirate and keeps MSFT's margins way up. And that's all
              MS is trying to do anyway.

2/5     I'm trying to make a 16GB partition on an 80GB IDE disc for win98
        via windows fdisk.  I did this a month ago on the same hardware.
        Now, it seems to either take over all 80GB of the disk or be
        limited to 10GB, with no option in between. Any ideas how I could
        have done this last month?  The only thing that is different is
        the addition of a non-bootable PCI scsi card for my scanner.
        \_ Could be a bad setting in BIOS.  Look at how it describes the
           disk, and whether it's using LBA or some such, or not.
        \_ I just answered my own question: use 20% to specify the size
           instead of 16000MB. Gosh, ain't M$ software smart.
        \_ hey, what's the best way to partition a 160GB hard drive?
                \_ How do you plan to use it?
                   \_ windows xp home machine. applications, games, data
                      storage, maybe some music/video editing.
                        \_ I don't know, maybe 4 x 40GB partitions?
                           \_ i guess my real question is, how bad is it
                              to have 1 huge partition and why?
                                \_ 1 huge partition is often the way to go
                                   on client machines.  The only drawback is
                                   that if you have to reinstall Windows, it's
                                   easier if you have the Windows crap on
                                   its own partition.  I would advise against
                                   partitioning unless there's something
                                   specific you're trying to accomplish. -tom
                                        \_ Don't you mean "when" you have to
                                           reinstall windows.
           \_ 5 GB windows, 35 GB apps/games, 120 GB porn.

1/26    is there a way to make debian's "dpkg" give more width for the
        name field, so I can read the entire name-string?
        ie: %dpkg -l "*modules*"
        ||/ Name                   Version                Description
        +++-======================-======================-==================
        ii  kernel-pcmcia-modules- 2.4.18-5               Mainstream PCMCIA m
        ii  kernel-pcmcia-modules- 2.4.18-5               Mainstream PCMCIA m
        pn  kernel-pcmcia-modules- <none>                 (no description ava
        \_ Use the source, Luke!
           \_ who are you?  you always post the same response "USE
              THE SOURCE, LUKE, I AM YOUR FUCKING NERD FATHER
              RICHARD STALLMAN AND WRITE PYTHON PORN ABOUT MY IMAGINARY
              FURRY GIRLFRIEND."  fuck off and die.
              \_ These are not the nerds we're looking for.  Move along.
             \_ It wouldn't be the first time. I was hoping there was
                a way already built into the software?
        \_ environment var: COLUMNS=132
           \_ christ-o-mighty!  stop giving out man page answers.  they'll
              never learn anything like that!
                \_ I got the answer from the Debian FAQ, and I'm actually
                   the "op" answering my own question in case anybody else
                   was curious.

1/17    Is it possible (advisable) to upgrade from Windows 98 SE to
        Windows XP?  Win2k?  Is there a way to safely convert a FAT32 FS
        to NTFS?
        \_ w2k and I assume wxp have a converter for f32->ntfs.  I've always
           found that doing an MS 'upgrade' leaves you with a broken fucked up
           system and in the long run you're better off with a fresh install
           if you're going to be using it or care about the person who is.
        \_ incredibly bad 'advice' about using fat32 instead of ntfs deleted
           due to extreme stupdiity.
           \_ Whatever. For a single user system for the average person's
              games, internet, taxes, and office there's no need for NTFS.
              FAT32 is faster. Just run defrag now and then and back up
              important shit, which u would do anyway. Also, FAT32 is needed
              for dual-booting win9x and better for dual booting with Linux.
              \_How is it better for dual booting Linux? You can read NTFS
                in Linux now and vice versa in WinNT variants. FAT32 is i
                more prone to error and its performance is definitely
                not faster than NTFS on modern computers. And why would
                you still want to run WIn9x after installing 2k/XP?
                Most games run fine now on those OSes, and
                unless you like running old legacy applications there
                is really no need to run 16 bit Windows. If you need it to
                run DOS then I guess it makes sense.

1/9     I started a new job and all the computers here use Windows XP. I've
        never used it before and I vaguely remember people talking about how
        it 'spies' on you etc. Anything I should watch out for or settings
        I should change?
        \_ Check the archives.  There was a decent article posted some time
           ago that you might find helpful/informative.        -mice
        \_ Nyet. Is good for you and USA. Helps stamp out terrorist, drug
           dealer, and child pornography too.
           \_ You're an idiot.  By trivialising real issues you are actually
              hurting the cause of freedom in this country.  Please STFU.
              \_ You forgot to add "get a job."
              \_ You are a poo-poo head.

1/8     I'm really tempted to buy a powerbook.  The design and the OS is
        what I like.  But I'm worried about the small things.  I know that
        there's MS office, so no problem there.  But what about:
        1. sharing info on floppy with a PC?
           \_ get a USB disk drive.
        2. ability to use network printers with winNT print servers?
           \_ NT supports mac clients if your IT staff can figure it out
        3. some basic interop with winNT domains?
                \_ A1. use Samba/NFS/AFP, or record a CD-R.
                   A2/A3. install Services for Macintosh onto the NT server.
                   lots of info at http://www.macwindows.com/jaguar.html
        \_ I use a powerbook at work in a Windows environment, and have
           had zero trouble printing to networked printers or accessing
           NT shares.  If you really need a floppy drive, just get a USB
           one.
        \_ if you are so concerned about 4 PC functions, then why not get
           a damn PC. But PB don't have floppy drives. And Why
           would you when you have UNIX and nfs and samba and everything.
           \_ I have access to high end laser printers (color and BW) at work.
              I regularly print personal stuff.  What if I need to bring in
              the powerbook to print something?  I may not be able to email
              the files to a PC and print because of the lack of specific
              application.
                \_ OS X allows you print to a PDF from any application.
                \_ high-end printers support appletalk. Don't worry, OS X
                   has the unix and pc-interoperability. Also, i was wrong,
                   the PB has an external floppy drive option.
           \_ Sneakernet. --dim

1/7     Has anybody had any luck reselling an unopened, unused,
        forced-down-your-throat copy of WinXP?  It came with a Dell that
        is now happily running FreeBSD, and never, even once, booted into
        WinXP.  I tried to sell it on Ebay/Half.com, but it was removed by
        the admins after MS complained.
        \_ try craigslist?
        \_ http://page.auctions.shopping.yahoo.com/auction/71508803?aucview=0x23
           Yahoo doesn't mind.
        \_ Get your money back from M$  http://www.linuxmall.com/refund
        \_ That sucks. Why the f*** should MS care?
                \_ microsoft got 40 billion in the bank by being the meanest
                   nastiest dudes on the block, they're not going to
                   stop now
                        \_ Right, so fight back, and demand a refund per
                           the End User License Agreement (EULA)
                           Call Dell, dude.
                                \_ has anyone seen the new dell "dude"?
                                   he's dull as hell.
                                   \_ as opposed to the old dell 'dude'?
                                      *boggle*

12/24   Is there a decent firewall package for Windows XP?  The built in
        firewall (XP Pro) doesn't seem to have the ability to do simple
        things like 'Only allow packets coming from these IP's...'.
        Alternatively, is there an interface to the built in firewall that
        is designed for non-morons?  Yes, yes, I know using a Windows box
        for firewalling is laughable.  I have an XP box on an open network,
        and I would like to put SOME measure of protection on it.
        \_ are you looking for something to protect 1 machine (yours) or
           something to act as a gateway for your office/company? for just
           1 machine you can't do much better than ZoneAlarm http://www.zonelabs.com
           -shac
           \_ One machine.  I'll check out ZoneAlarm.  Thanks. -OP
              \_ Hope you dont play any games on that machine...
                 \_ Why not?  I've used zone alarm for a long time and use the
                    same machine for games.  It isn't an issue.  Stop trying
                    to FUD a good product.
                    \_ Why don't we leave it to the sodan game designers to
                       judge.
        \_ What do you need? Is a $50 linksys sufficient? That's what I did
           (even though I only have 1 PC).
           \_ Yeah, I was thinking software based, but, now that you mention
              it, a $50 linksys may suffice.  Model number?  That said, if
              others have suggestions, please speak up.  I'd like to know
              what other options may be available. -OP
              \_ Go to amazon check out what they have from linksys and
                 netgear. i got the MR814 (wireless) for $45 after rebate.
                 like i said before, i'm using it as a hardware based
                 "ZoneAlarm".
        \_ zone alarm is free.  the 'pro' version costs some trivial amount
           like $30 or $40 or something.
           \_ hi sky!
                \_ No.  I'm not sky.  I'm a astisfied user of the zone alarm
        \_ Winxp pro comes with a firewall.  Turn it on.
           \_ read the post again... he says he's using it.
                   software.  I couldn't pick sky out of a 2 person line up.
        \_ Kerio Personal Firewall. http://www.kerio.com

12/19   I just hit this bug: open Calculator in NT, switch to scientific mode,
        press ( = ) =, crash.  Happens every time.
        \_ NT4?  What do you want, a cookie?
           \_ Yes, NT4.  It doesn't happen on my 2k and XP machines.
        \_ NT?  So what?  So you're telling us they fixed a bug in the
           NT4.0 calculator in 2k/xp?  Jeus Christ!  This crap stays on the
           NT4.0 calculator in 2k/xp?  Jesus Christ!  This crap stays on the
           motd while interesting things get censored.  Fucking ridiculous.
           \_ Yes, indeed.  The motd Propriety Censorship Daemon is tireless
              and patient.  I wish someone would take the time to figure out
              who it is so we can campaign to get his ass sorried.  =)

12/12   Another w2k question; when I try to join a w2k svr (sp2) to an
        existing domain, it kept on giving me 'The network location could not
        be reached' error message. This is even though I can ping the PDC,
        I can browse the content of it, etc etc. Any clues? Thx in advance.
        \_ PDC is sp2?  Same subnet?  Got WINS setup correctly?
        \_ probably a wins problem.. or if using active directory, dns
           problem..
        \_ Fixed it. Server was pointing to the wrong WINS and the PDC was
           running low on RPC (it was a sub-par machine). Thx all!

12/12   In w2k, when I go to START->DOCUMENTS there is a "my document"
        icon also. At my work w2k machine, there's also a small right
        arrow on the right hand side where I can move my mouse over and
        it'll bring up all the contents of "my document".  But, at my
        own home machine, it's just an icon, there's no right arrow.
        So I click it and it bring up file explorer.  How do I get the
        right arrow to appear?  I don't like popping up new file explorer
        windows just to get to my documents.  Sorry for the lengthy
        description, UI problems are a mouthful to describe.  Thanks.
        \_ Start Menu > Settings > Taskbar & Start Menu > Advanced >
           Expand My Documents

12/8    Has anyone been able to get sound working when running DOS 6.22
        under VMWare?  I want to play old DOS games and having no sound
        sucks.  thx.  --sky
        \_ I know there is a windows program that emulates an old sound
           blaster so old dos games can use sound, maybe oyu can hunt that
           down and use it?
           \_ VDMSound? http://ntvdm.cjb.net
              \_ sweet.  I will try that.  thx  --sky
                 \_ It works great!  --sky
        \_ Maybe http://dosbox.zophar.net Doesn't do protected mode tho.
        \_ there are several dos emulators around.  Which game?
           \_ old DOS adventure games.  VDMSound seems to work with
              them all.  --sky
              \_ which ones? (just curious)
                 \_ space quest, king's quest, monkey island, maniac mansion
                    \_ for the LucasArts games, you should use ScummVM instead.
                       http://scummvm.sourceforge.net

12/6    I read the articles on Xp and its connections to microsoft computers.
        I'm not upgrading.  However, I'm worried about my windows 2000 box.
        I couldn't find references to w2k doing the same thing.  Is anybody
        aware of w2k phoning home and sending your computer's info to MS?
        \_ read up more on what is sent and such.. basically, there is no way
           for microsoft to know anything about you other than a serial # and
           your name.. you can even give them a bogus name. of the info sent
           to them they can olny guess that your graphics card is one of 100
           different ones.. you have btwn 128-256MB memory.. you have one of
           100 different network interfaces.. there are several papers
           written by independant parties about it... -shac
           \_ for now.  Who's to say the next auto-update brought over by
              windows update won't bring more intrusive feedback to M$.
              \_ Silly rabbit--surely you've turned off auto-update, right?
        \_ Some tweaks for WinXP, including steps to disable some
           of Microsoft's data collection methods:
           http://tibit.com/technote/winxp.html

12/5    Anybody used VMware for linux? What did you think of it?
        \_ works great, i run win2k in it. haven't gotten
           it to work with esd yet but i haven't tried very hard.
                \_ What's esd?
                   \_ It's what your mom whispers in my ear when i do her, son.
                      \_ Damn it, Dad, go home.  You're drunk.
                \_ enlightenment sound daemon, you can pipe sound
                   out of the windows inside of vmware through
                   /dev/esddsp, or so i hear, i haven't
                   been able to make it work yet
        \_ I ran it on FreeBSD.  It was dirt slow with Win2k (plenty of
           memory allocated.)  -John
            \_ on what type/speed computer? is "dirt slow" slower than
               a pentium1, or a 486? I'm buying a new machine with the
               intention of running linux everyday. How fast of a machine
               to I need to buy to have windows95 running inside vmware
               seem as fast as a pentium 133?
        \_ I thought it was a pain in the ass.  With 5 computers at my desk
           it was easier to just install whatever I wanted on whatever.
                \_ do you jest? How big a hassle is it to have 5 computers
                   at your desk?
        \_ happily on my 800 mhz p3 thinkpad, giving it about 256 MB.
           use the non-persistent disk option and leave edited files in linux
           (accessed over virtual net share).  watch win2k never rot out
           because you discard the changes from 98% of sessions while friends
           running it native have to reinstall periodically for stability.

12/4    Anybody recommend upgrading to windows XP?  I heard it has a lot of
        security features and so liberating software is harder.
        I content-liberate nearly all my apps like office/adobe/etc.  I'd
        like to continue doing so. So is Xp the right OS for that?  Thanks.
        \_ http://www.hevanet.com/peace/microsoft.htm
           An interesting, seemingly well researched article about XP.
        \_ my xp box seems happy with content-liberated sw. of course, the
           copy of xp is also content-liberated, so maybe it's especially
           tolerant.
        \_ windows XP's default media player will not pay divx's properly,
           even tried using playa after installing the divx codec.  The
           file will play for about 30 secs and then wmp or playa just dies.
           2k has it working just fine.
        \_ Stick to 2k. The only thing that XP has over 2k is the poorly
           executed candy coated ui. If you really want a candy coated ui,
           just buy a mac.
           \_ What xp has over 2k is that multiple windows sessions can be
              running simultaneously, so you don't have to shut down all
              your apps to change to a diff user. -win2k user
              (also, mac's gui is far inferior to windows)
              \_ nice throwaway troll.  biyotch.
              \_ So how often have you used the switch user feature of
                 xp? BTW, it doesn't quite work as well as M$ makes it
                 seem (ex1. don't switch users while burning a cd unless
                 you want a coaster. ex2. sometimes network transfers
                 will abort when you switch)
                 And as far as the Mac UI is concerned, I never said
                 that it was better than windows, I just said that if
                 you wanted a better candy coated ui get a mac.
        \_ ob RUN L1NUX! RIDE BIKE!
           \- have you tcpdumped an XP machine? it seems to do a lot of
              phonehome/"bigbrother" stuff. --psb
                \_ And this is a surprise to you?
                   \_ no, but it makes installing XP less palatable -!psb
        \_ Have you considered XP with something like ZoneAlarm installed
           to block outbound traffic? -ausman
        \_ XP = nicer gui features and cleartype font display. but you have
           to be careful with updating online and shit. -anotherwin2kuser

12/4    I have an old serial trackball I'd like to use on my laptop--I've seen
        serial->usb converters, but none of them say they work with mice.
        Can I use a converter like this on win XP?
        \_ shell out the 2 bucks and try it.
           \_ It's 10 bucks plus shipping and I'm thinking of doing that.  I
              thought I'd check here first.

11/29   Hello. Is there software to make my PC with a tuner card act as
        a settop box like Tivo? I just found Frivo on sourceforge. anything
        else? -ali
        \_ Ati's tuner card comes with some sort of sw package.
           More like a mere vcr than a tivo, though.
        \_ for Windows: http://www.showshifter.com
                        http://www.snapstream.com
           however, all software currently available is still completely
           outclassed by a real TiVo.
        \_ as said above the ati cards come w/ software, and ever stuff
           that integrates w/ http://tvguide.com to help you select the channel
           and time for the shows you want.. for linux try
           http://freevo.sourceforge.net -shac

11/13   does anybody know how i can get cygwin and windows 2000 to share
        clipboard information ?
        \_ RTFM.
        \_ die you self righteous fuck.  how do i do it?
          \_ FOAD, you self righteous ass-biscuit.  How do I do it?
            \_ Amen, brother.
            \_ blah blah blah.  Whining little bitch, read the manual.
               I did.  Everyone else did.  What makes you so fucking special
               that the simplest things should be spoon fed to you?  This
               isn't your momma's tit.  Go do some work and report back.
            \_ Read the fucking CSUA charter, dumbass.  It's not about anyone
               being obligated to service your fat, lazy, ignorant ass.  Show
               that you have an iota of intelligence and initiative if you
               really want help.

11/9    What are some good programs for encrypting files in WinXP?  Someone
        mentioned PGPdisk recently; is there anything better (cheaper, just
        as strong, just as trustworthy)?
        \_ gnupg on cygwin?
        \_ deltree is closely related to philgp.

11/7    "Microsoft Memo: How Not To Torpedo Linux"
        http://csua.org/u/4fe
        Is that memo intentional leak?

11/2    Anyone use good OCR software for Windows or Linux?  If so, please list
        it here.  Thanks.
        \_ if you know any good OCR for CHinese for Linux, list here please

        1/2 the pay, 2/3 the workday, and with soul intact. And I could
        chase after 18 year old coeds. thanks.
        \_ rank the following: pay, job satisfaction (which would give you
           more job satisfaction), work-life balance, job security
        \_ I returned to a campus job and found it tough to adjust because
           everything is so slow and everybody seems so lazy.
        \_ a couple days ago, watching a movie on Bravo, they said:
           "You're watching 'The Godfather', presented by Microsoft"
        \_ MSR has some stellar people on board, and is one of the best
           places in industry to pursue independent research (i.e. they
           like their employees to publish, you have little pressure to
           do research that contributes to the bottom line, reasonable hours
           by Microsoft standards) ... it's also a prestigious place to be.
                \_ yeah it's the BEST research company cuz all the Lucent
                   IBM Xerox laid off researcher needed a job so they went to
           \_ (1) $40 BILLION CASH (2) MONOPOLY.
                   MS. In another word MS acquired the research team, just
                   like the way they acquired 80% of the game companies.
                   \_ I heard that M$ stole a bunch of Sun and Adobe employees
           It's fairly silly to blame Microsoft for "stealing" or "acquiring"_/
           employees. What, you think these brilliant people you admire
           for their research accomplishments are merely robotic sheep who
           placidly accept Microsoft's offer when their old companies go
           tits-up? The people I know there, and there are many, went there
           having lots of other offers but thought MSR had the best
           intellectual environment.
        \_ What makes you think MS will still be around in their current form
           in the long term?
           \_ (1) $40 BILLION CASH RESERVES (2) MONOPOLY.
              \_ 1) cant live forever on even that much cash once 2) their
                 monopoly goes tits up.  I give it 5 years, tops.
                 \_ So you are saying youre shorting their stock?
                    They could lose $1 BILLION every quarter and still
                    be around 10 years. In 10 years though, their bank
                    interest, license-fees and upgrade-fees will make
                    their cash position even stronger. And after awhile
                    they wont have to increase their "microsoft research"
                    spending anymore because they will own all the
                    industry researchers.
           \_ what makes you think the US will still be around in its current
              form in the long term?
              \_ President Bill Gates would have made the US a wholely-owned
                 subsidiary of Micro$oft by then.
                 \_ I know you're joking but I sometimes see people who say and
                    mean things like this who don't understand the *vast*
                    size difference between the federal government or even any
                    state governmeny and the largest corporations on the
                    planet.  Taxation yields greater income than profit with
                    less effort.
        \_ Okay, serious answer now.  My impression is that MSR has a lot of
           good people in certain areas, but are not absolutely top notch in
           every field.  Also, rumor is MSR is becoming more product oriented.
           They don't make life absolutely difficult for pure theoreticians,
           but some sort of involvement with product groups is highly
           encouraged.  With that being said, it's still one of the best
           industry research labs around.  Indeed with all the other big names
           crumbling one after the other, they seem to be the only ones still
           breathing.  Yeah sure, you'll be joining the "darkside," but hey,
           the same can be said about being American.  It's not so bad once
           the scar from the chip implant heals.  -- alice
        \_ M$ just does this to try to legitimize themselves. It's
           not worth as much as it should be.

10/16   What's the difference between the way win98 does threads vs.
        NT/2k/XP?
        Win98 doesn't seem to have a real threading system or something.  Test
        code on Win98 runs "jerky" but the same on the more advanced versions
        runs smoothly and handles threads as I'd expect.
        \_ I thought Win98 has preemptive threading for Windows apps while
           Win3.1x doesn't.  (Don't know about Win95.)
        \_ They both have preemptive multitasking but NT is just better.
           I think 9x has 16 bit code in the kernel and stuff.

10/17   Llamasoft, makers of furry games.  (And tempest 2000)
        http:\\http://www.llamasoft.co.uk
        \_ Have you just never used a web browser before or do Windows
           browsers just let you use back slashes?
           \_ windows browsers let you use backslashes.  now you know.