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Everything posted by j7n
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My Browser Builds (Part 5)
j7n replied to roytam1's topic in Browsers working on Older NT-Family OSes
I found a website that runs Windows 3.11 inside the web browser. It seems to be a DosBox in JavaScript and not a remote desktop. Jesus. On my computer it is unusable in New Moon. pieter.com -
The backround on my screen is almost black 18,18,18 in Opera (Opium). I think reduction of contrast on webpages is the result of people using new monitors set up to compete with the daytime sun. They won't turn them down at night. So webpages or browsers do it for them. The button that says "member" is white (247,250,249). Such stray elements make everything around hard to see and the dark mode a non-starter for me. The "member won the day" frame is almost unreadable. I can appreciate the limited viewing angle of a flat screen for cases like this. I tilt my head and can read it again, lol. I've adjusted my monitor all the way down, for the other monitor the backlight can't be modulated so it must be kept bright.
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I think the limit is 64 GB which is more than everyone will ever need, lol. Windows 2003 works flawlessly with it, especially considering how web browsers today are broken up into multiple processes. Each process can use about 1.7 GB. That is not enough for giant, bloated games. With the /3GB switch they can use more, but that can cause instability when the system portion (1GB) is too small. A problem arises with direct memory access to the PCI bus, which have to be in the low memory. I recall that WinXP had one or two built-in drivers that were not safe.
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I have 8 GB of RAM in my main computer. I've reached the limit only on a few occasions when I did something stupid like simultaneously opening a big game (3.5G), and a web browser (1.5G) with a long uptime, plus everything else. One of the programs just says that it is out of memory like in days before swap files, and you can correct the situation (close the web browser) and continue as normal. On WinXP/2003 you get an exclamation mark in the systray when memory is almost full. My other computer has 20 GB of RAM and I couldn't even figure out how to fill it up to fully test it. I paid for it maybe 25 or 30, so I decided how cool would it be just give win2003 so much. In the end I launched many copies of IrfanView. If there is something that Microsoft has added, it maybe is present in Windows 10 or 11 only. Usually people bring up debug information for a BSOD to justify the existence of a paging file. But most people can't read that or have anybody to ask to read it for them. They say that the paging file wouldn't be used if enough RAM was available, but it cleary is used.
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I think I installed it via the device manager (add new hardware) where it can also be uninstalled. With the parameter UsePAE, a disk of 5 gigs was automatically created (/MAXMEM=3072 out of 8G), disregarding the value DiskSizeM. The rdutil.exe didn't work right. That is supposed to create a compressed disk image and restore it on boot, but my disk was always corrupted when I tried that. I was able to add swap file to this disk later without "building" it into the image. If your sofware relies on a directory T:\TEMP being there, you can create it somehow. The builder and the CMD file that adds it is some additional service that is not strictly needed. It was absent from the package I got.
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My Browser Builds (Part 5)
j7n replied to roytam1's topic in Browsers working on Older NT-Family OSes
More like when you throw a fast processor at the problem. On a slow computer many websites go into an infinite loop until the prompt to stop the script comes up. -
My Browser Builds (Part 5)
j7n replied to roytam1's topic in Browsers working on Older NT-Family OSes
More like when you throw a fast processor at the problem. On a slow computer many websites go into an infinite loop until the prompt to stop the script comes up. -
You need a swap file if your memory gets close to being full, which with modern bloated applications it probably will. I'd say with 8 GB you might not. But it depends on what you do with the PC. I belong to the school of thought that the paging file belongs in the past when memory was scarce. I would never put a paging file on an SSD to save it from wear. There is a Gavotte RamDisk that can be put in high PAE RAM. I had some experience trying to use it. The option to load a formatted partition from the registry would become corrupted after shutdown. I could only use it in the default mode where it automaticaly fills with a FAT32 file system. It seems that Windows likes to use the swap file a lot when minimizing big applications. There was a pause and mechanical squeal. File copy speed to the ram disk was not as fast as expected. There seemed to be a considerable overhead. I would try to install Server 2003 with normal PAE memory. There are only a few older drivers that don't work, most notably from Creative Labs and likely some older multimedia cards. If you have bad drivers, you can revert to the crippled behaviour of WinXP with the /MAXMEM switch in boot-ini.
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What are good software products for editing keyboard layouts? I am currently looking for one that can make them for Windows 64-bit. Microsoft in its infinite wisdom has made keyboard layout in NT a DLL, which has some implications. An old layout for x86 does not work anymore. It can actually include program code, which can do anything, or refuse to load if it checks a license. Programs are usually limited in what formats they can load and output. They may have a native project format that is neither KBD nor DLL. I have the following candidates: "Tastatūras Pianists" part of localization packages "Tildes Birojs" or "WinLogs". Works under Windows 98 and Windows 2000/XP. Produces layouts only for the active system (either in KBD or DLL format). Can import layouts from a file to set up a new system. Can visually edit a dead key layer and, with some trickery, separate layers for Shift and Caps Lock simply by dragging symbols onto keys. The interface language can be set to English when the application is installed. Does not need to be kept running. Does not work under x64. "KbdEdit" requires an expensive license. Works under Windows NT x86 and x64. Has a steeper learning curve. The dead key layer is apparently only editable in a list format. Opens more advanced options. Without a license, produces a bloated, crippled DLL, which requires the service to be kept running and displays a nag screen. The layout does not work under the System login on the welcome screen. EDIT: I have found "Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator" This program is free. It can take an existing DLL from NT x86 or x64 as a base and generate new DLLs for three architectures at the same time: x86, x64 and ia64 (Itanium). This can be used to strip down KbdEdit created DLLs and make them freely usable, or transfer them between architectures. The dead key editor is still in a list format. Symbols can be typed or pasted from an external character map, which this program doesn't include. The installation can be done with the following registry entries: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layouts\b0020426] "Layout File"="kbdx1062.dll" "Layout Text"="Normal" "Layout Id"="00e0" Where 0426 is the language, b002 is a unique ID within the language, and 00e0 is a unique ID within all available layouts. (around 0xcd on Windows 2022, and around 0xaf on Windows 2008 R2). Windows 2022 requires a reboot to show new layouts. I've read reports about them being unusable for others.
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List of Microsoft Agent-powered programs
j7n replied to WadmodderShalton's topic in Software Hangout
"Speaking Clock". It featured two assistants called Checkers and Max. It also included a speaking calculator. If you dragged the assistants they said, "I kinda liked it. Please do it again." -
My Browser Builds (Part 5)
j7n replied to roytam1's topic in Browsers working on Older NT-Family OSes
Old is not synonymous with retro. Retro is something made today in the style of the past. The word is usually associated with motion backwards. Maybe if Reactos actually got released, you could call that retro. -
The process count is around 90. But memory use is a proxy for the process count. This is where the memory goes. It's quite annoying to open the normal Task Manager and see the long list. I frequently look through that list to unalive a program and notice any new processes to investigate. But now it is full of services that are each in a separate process. It is true that you need to needed to tweak past OS's too. Then computers became faster and we stopped most of the debloating. The situation gets progressively worse with bloat and privacy. There is some new smart Unicode sorting algorithm. I thought I had lost a file beginning with the letter Y. Turns out it was sorted with the letter I (capital eye). I think it is associated with the locale "Latvia". We don't have the letter "Y" in the alphabet. So someone had the smart idea to put it in there. I think this didn't exist in Windows Seven. In a technical context this is nonsense. This reminds me of the numerical sorting from WinXP. There is also the restriction on creation on file associations simply in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. It doesn't work and an Open With dialog always pops up. Has a workaround been found to restore the previous behavior? It is sometimes necessary to put multiple programs on the context menu, a viewer, and editor, a CLI converter. I was able to add Take Ownership the normal way on the * extension (all files) and Directory.
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Can't you use Shift-Delete or right-click on the recycling bin and disable it? I always put My Computer in the corner and the recycle bin, even though I don't use the latter.
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7+ Taskbar Tweaker is essential. I've now configured the taskbar to look like Windows 2000. I have muscle memory to go for the Show Desktop button on the toolbar to the left instead of near the clock. Disabled all button dragging, and disabled pinning. Dragging is too easy to do accidentally. Somehow on my Windows 2008 computer a window somehow rarely still gets pinned. Once a week or so. Well, I installed Server, which is clean of the main Apps by default. No Cortana, etc. But there are still unnecessary SystemApps that have augmented the shell. If I hide the search bar to give more room, SearchApp still runs. There is a new tiny character map (WinKey+Period), which is always running. And of course Settings, the analogue of which have been deleted from the Control Panel. For the Settings alone, I need to keep Metro-enabling services. Now RAM use is down to 900 MB.
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Is there a gentle way of stopping background Metro apps other than removing the exe file? Like is there a service responsible for launching them? I took ownership and renamed StartMenuExperienceHost.exe and SearchApp.exe. I think whoever launches them is now trying to find those files again and again. The Start menu is a pathetic shadow of the real thing and takes a few dozen MB of RAM. There is no need for it with Classic Shell. A fresh install is not so bad speed-wise. Still starts up with 1 GB of RAM used. Now there are no proceses of Edge, of which there were half a dozen or more on the existing installation. The first message I got was that "the administrator" had enabled required disagnostics sent to Microsoft. I wonder how they have disabled control over certain services such as Windows Defender Firewall. They seem to still be stoppable in the registry. Some things cannot be taken ownership of by the Administrator.
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I don't see how this offer provides value to an individual consumer. To him it might look similar to the technical support scams. I wouldn't install their updates or Defender if I was paid $30. They take up disk space, are known to sometimes bring anti-features. The exception being something that is actually useful for interoperability, like new SSL certificates (forced upon us by other companies) or a new USB generation, or another technology that happens to be refinement stage about now like the Vulkan thing. But these probably won't be made as part of "security" support.
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Yes, I switched to another cable to get an L-connector. It works fine in AHCI mode, which I would try to use anyway. Something is very suboptimal in the "translation" stage. I opened the disk in WinHex and it was obviously laggy when dragging the scrollbar, and the read speed in HDTune was only 3 MB/s. I've since put 3 Windows on it.
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I resist installing NET Framework, and only use at most version 2, which comes with NT6. More and more software is built in NET these days. In the past it was mostly enthusiast programs like nLite, CueTools or gaming mods. This is the driver that came up first in my search and is about the same size as another from 2013, so nothing is lost to bloat. I see that there is nothing of value in that control panel. I do not believe that driver upgrades are necessary and don't do them in general. Usually older drivers are smaller. No need for such language. Many people on this forum seek answers about old computers and software. Look, there is an XP and Win98 section. I have two PCs on Intel 7 series and they work fine without bloated software.
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What is the copy "Mode" listbox with entries for Wimboot and Compress. I don't see a help-file that describes them. I can see that some would enable compression, which is much extra work for the computer, and that the default choice is blank. And they have traffic signal indicators. It's a big lousy that the latest version is x64 and requires NT6, meaning I can't launch it from an XP boot CD to install Windows 10. I must first install Windows 7 to use it.
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I have read mixed opinions about the mode of the disk controller. The prevailing thought is it makes no or very little difference in practice outside of synthetic tests. The IDE compatibility mode came first and works with more software. But here I have a computer with an Intel H77 PCH (Intel DH77KC) with a Western Digital WDS120G1G0A-00SS50. It is connected to a SATA 6G port. When the computer is in IDE mode set in BIOS, the speed to this memory drive is about 3 MB/s (three megabytes). In AHCI mode it is normal over 100 MB/s. When I saw this, I though the drive was broken. Another SSD is connected to a SATA 3 gigabit port and works normally. I can't swap them now to further investigate because of tight cable management.
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I only install updates that are known to be useful. There is a sheer volume of them, and I don't trust them. I heard there was one that slowed down the computer for Spectre and Meltdown, but I don't know which one is it. Installing KB4490628 and KB4474419-v3 allowed the driver to load. The control panel extension (Gfxv2_0.exe) still crashes, but it is not immediately required. It is a NET Framework program. I could have looked for an older display driver, but I wanted to understand this problem in case it comes up again. There is a Windows Root Certificate Authority from 2010 and signature from 2020. I remember there was a protest about driver signing, and it died very quickly.
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I am trying to install the display driver for Intel Graphics on Ivy Bridge. It is a new version 15.33.53.5161 for Windows 10. But apparently also supports Win NT 6.1. This driver appears to be signed with a new certificate, and is not recognized. After installing a few possibly related SSL updates and running the certificate updater for Windows XP (I do not know of an updater for Windows 7), the certificate is recognized while installing. But not when the device driver needs to be started. Is there a "legit" way of getting past this? Most sites link to this new driver. Certificates keep coming up again and again as a waste of time.
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ZIP downloads now ramp up to over 6 MB/s. The browser might have a smaller receive window (socket buffer). I remember not long ago the normal speed was 400 kB/s, which was of course better than nothing, and at most you needed a 1 meg old driver file or something like that. And very slow to initialize, as if they had to spin up a disk in the headquarters. Young members of Reddit suddenly couldn't download Windows because Archive Org was the only place they were willing to go. It was hillarious. As if the Cloud had dissipated.