[deXter]

If you're executing from HKLM , you'll need to place the icon in the %UserProfile% path for that user. So for say a user called deXter, you should place the icon in C:\Documents and Settings\deXter

iexplore.exe "www.google.com" .. or whatever page you want to open. As such, there isn't any location where windows stores directly if a computer is docked or not. I guess the other way you can check for docking is to see if a particular hardware is present. If it is, then you'll know that the computer is docked.

PIII - 450 MHz nVidia RIVA TNT 16 MB AGP Sound Blaster 16 (ISA) 512 MB PC133 SDRAM 2 x 40 GB Seagate Barracuda PATA RAID 0 16X Sony DualLayer DVD±RW

This script takes advantage of the fact that a different hardware profile is loaded when a laptop is docked. Assuming profile #2 is loaded in the docked state.. @echo off setlocal for /f "Tokens=2*" %%a in ('reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\IDConfigDB" /V CurrentConfig^|FIND "REG_DWORD"') do (set /a profile=%%b) if %profile%==1 goto undocked if %profile%==2 goto docked goto EOF :undocked echo Computer isn't docked. goto EOF :docked echo Computer is docked. Launching programs... START SomeRandomProgram.exe :: Insert a 10 second delay : ping -n 10 127.0.0.1>NUL :: Starts Task Manager minimized START /MIN taskmgr.exe :EOF endlocal • I suggest you head over to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\IDConfigDB and confirm the value of CurrentConfig when the laptop is docked and make any changes to the script (if necessary). • There is no direct Sleep or Delay function in batch, but we can use the ping command to create a delay. Note that it's off by one second, so PING -n 10 actually causes a delay of 9 seconds • You can use the START command to launch applications. Type START /? in the Command Prompt to find out more ways to launch apps.

You've got the wrong syntax for SET. The correct syntax is: SET variable=string SET one=test SET two=program SET three=SomeWord%one%%two% echo %one% echo %two% echo %three%

Updated. The scroll-lock light will now turn on/off only when Ctrl+Alt is pressed and the mouse is moved over the trayicon. Sorry for the typo btw

This is getting out of hand. Someone's going and rating all my posts a 1 star. This isn't done. It's unjust, biased, and insulting to say the least. I take some time out to contribute something, and this is how I get treated? If this goes on, I'm afraid I won't be contributing to this forum again. Please, please do take a look at Camarade_Tux's suggestions or simply scrap the whole rating system as jcarle suggested. The way it's going at present, I'm only being discouraged from posting. It's doing more harm than good.

Bootable CD Wizard is what I use the most. I found it the most compatible and easiest to use. There's also EasyBoot, which is by far the easiest GUI based system I've come across. It supports mouse and multiple resolutions, and hasn't failed to boot on any of the systems so far. It's not free though. ($29.95).

How about allowing only mods/admins to rate a post? Chances are that people may senselessly give someone's (useful) post a 1 star rating just because they don't like them, like it happened to my post here. Surely, the mods would be more sensible. I for one feel that I'd rather have few posts with right ratings than many posts with biased/misjudged ratings. Edit: Darn it, they did it again! Who's the jerk who keeps rating my posts 1 * ?!

^ They insist on making such programs because there are (many) people like me who use them

I made a program just for that It's portable and works on all windows versions. NoRCoTI v1.1a • Place a 16x16 icon of the program in the current working directory. Alternatively, you may specify the full path of the icon as a comm- andline parameter. Don't forget to enclose the path in quotes! Eg: NoRCoTI.exe "C:\Program Files\Some Program\Program's Icon.ico" • Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+T if you want to exit NoRCoTI. Download: NORCOTI_v1.1.zip ( 191.59K )

Yes, there are! 3D-Analyze is one of them. I use it to play some of the newer games on my Intel onboard card that does't support hardware T&L, and it works fine! Sure, the game does run a bit slower, but if you reduce the resolution and other settings, the speed is quite playable. Get it from here.

Is there any particular reason why you choose to omit Opera? Surely you must have heard of it, considering you heard of Safari and Flock..

So MSFN finally decided to implement a (long overdue) post rating system! The question is how useful is this? Right now, I feel that the rating system is no more use than visual gratification. Sure, it does help skip those posts which are really long but don't contribute to the topic, but the post is still occupying space. The post still shows up in search results. I still end up reading the so-called uninformative posts and waste as much time. IMHO the following should be implemented to make the rating system (more) useful: • Search by Rating: The search page should have an option to show only those posts rated above x stars. • Hide all posts below x rating: While viewing a topic, this option will automatically hide all posts below a rating of say, 2 stars. (Slashdot and Digg have this system) • Comments: In addition to the stars, there could be an option to mark a post as "funny", "insightful", "informative", etc. (Same as Slashdot). If these changes are implemented, it'll become easier for everyone to weed out unwanted information and keep topics more organized.

^ Pretty much the way I have set up things. I also take additional precautions such as using Sandboxes and Virtual Machines to execute suspicious or potentially unsafe files, reducing the privileges of entry point programs such as browsers and chat programs, using Windows only in a Limited User Account and finally, keeping the OS and all its software up-to-date

What then? I dunno about Jeremy, but I don't need any because I just follow safe computing habits

Thanks for that batch code man, I'm suffering the same problem with this ridiculous svchost.exe taking up over 60,000K, seemingly doing nothing. I tried out this file as you suggested, and believe I've found the renegade service to be 'SysMan' aka 'Superfetch'.IRONICALLY, in Process Explorer, it explains that the service "Maintains and improves system performance over time". Good job there Vista.. there's no point having a 2 Gig RAM laptop if rubbish like this keeps taking it all up! Anyway, what would your advice be now? Just disable that SysMan thing and see if it works? I'm not sure if it would make long-term system performance suffer as a result, though.. guess I could just always shut down instead of putting the comp to sleep. It just seems a pain in the neck for an svchost process to be taking up such an amount of RAM, when it has so little to do.. Superfetch is *supposed* to use so much RAM. Don't be worried about it, SuperFetch will release memory to other apps if they require it. It's just making sure that your idle RAM isn't going to waste - the idea is that SuperFetch preloads code/data into your free physical RAM so that when a program requires it, the data will be readily available in the RAM and your PC won't have to waste time loading it from the HDD. This generally translates to improved performance. So yes, even though its using a lot of RAM, it's a good thing. Btw, Welcome to the MSFN community and I hope you enjoy your stay here!

Works really bad... Not only my opinion... Best software products for virtualization I ever used are one from VMWare. - WMWare Workstation - the best choice; - VMWare Player - free. If you thinking not possible to config the VM on VMWare Player - you are wrong: there are many tools to manage virtual disks for VMWare. Some allows even VM config edition (like MakeVM: ask google). If you thinkig about guest OS 'tools' - you know where you can get them VirtualBox is not *that* bad, I mean sure, it's not comparable to VMware but it's atleast a much better option than Microsoft VPC. Did you try the new VirtualBox (v1.4.0)? It supports RDP, clipboard sync, raw disk access, shared folders, better mouse pointer integration and can even natively boot off VMware images! VirtualBox is also constantly being developed - new versions are out almost every month with more features and improvements. But the most strongest point VirtualBox has over others is unmatched performance. Now VMware Player was designed primarily as a platform for virtual appliances. Compared to regular VMs, it comes off as quite limited in features. Sure, you can make your own VMX with third party tools, but its certainly not a full-fledged alternative! I mean, if VMP serves your purpose and you don't really need the advanced features offered by a regular VM, then its well and good. But as a programmer and hardcore beta-tester, for me there's no other option than VMware Workstation. I require almost all the features VMware Workstation offers.

Why don't you try VirtualBox? It's free, open source, has more features and is much faster than VPC!

Thanks Synapse and Tarun for your explanations. About this part, technically speaking, Malware could alter any sort of filter system, so how does it make the HOSTS file any different? My point is, in this case, we aren't concerned about filtering outgoing traffic, but incoming traffic, right? Besides, one could use CACLS to make the hosts file read only, instead of the traditional ATTRIB method. I know, it's not foolproof, but if you use it with a properly configured Limited User Account, it's practically secure. For that matter, when using a LUA, there are very little chances that a system might get infected in the first place.. Edit: I just enquired in the Firefox IRC, and they say that Firefox does cache DNS entries by default. Just because those preferences aren't set by default doesn't mean that the feature doesn't exist. The browser assumes default values internally. You can see it for yourself in here : http://lxr.mozilla.org/mozilla/source/netw...ervice2.cpp#301 This means that it when you're browsing a site, it shouldn't have to lookup the HOSTS file every time a request is made. It'll lookup only ONCE when the TTL expires, which is once a minute by default. Anyways, this needs some practical testing. I'll do a comparison test of site load times- with and without the DNS service and with and without HOSTS filtering to measure the exact impact of these various combinations. Edit(2): Just found the confirmation I needed: Opera does indeed cache DNS entries http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic...#comment2077157

Yep, the "Thumb Drive" really cracks me up.... I wish I had one of those. jaclaz Me too! Me three! That'll really go well with my "palm top" and "lap top".

There are sites mentioning DNS caching in IE and Firefox. I also asked a moderator in the Opera IRC chatroom and he confirmed that Opera does cache DNS entries. I'm also in the process of getting a written confirmation for the same. What are your sources for that? Or if it's your own reasoning, could you please clarify it further? Thanks.

HOSTS file based blocking isn't such a bad option that I would tell someone to "avoid at all costs". Blocking with a HOSTS file does have its advantages - like hassle free installation and system-wide filtering. Using a HOSTS file with eDexter or nohttpd overcomes the problems of slow-down and broken pages. -- As for the DNS Client Service, it isn't as essential as Microsoft wants you to think. It's only essential if you're part of a domain. There won't be any (significant) slowdown of the net if it's disabled, since all browsers have built-in DNS caching independent of the Windows' DNS client service. The reason why it's recommended to disable the DNS client when using a large HOSTS file is that it may slow down the computer as the DNS service loads the entire contents of existing HOSTS file into the DNS cache. Also, there are programs like FastCache and TreeWalk DNS, which imho, work much better than the windows service.

Just use an Ad blocker? I recommend Ad Muncher. It's not free, but it's the *best* ad blocker there ever is. The other option is to use a HOSTS file (I recommend MVPS), along with eDexter or nohttpd. Don't forget to disable the DNS client service otherwise a large hosts file may slow down your net!

I call it a "pen drive" for daily usage because that's what everyone here calls it. I get blank stares/pauses if I were to refer to it as a flash drive, which is how I call them while writing articles.