AstroSkipper

First of all, thanks for your feedback! System Error 3, also known as "The system cannot find the path specified," usually means the program can't locate the file or directory it's trying to access. Getting this error means you did unfortunately something wrong. Did you read my instructions carefully? After unpacking the archive file, you have to call first the ytBATCH.bat file located in the main programme folder. Then, you are asked to either setup ytBATCH for Windows XP to your programme folder of your system or to the location where you have unpacked the archive. All further processing is done by the script. Read this here: For a deeper, more technical explanation, read the post Setting up ytBATCH for Windows XP. And the scan result of the Window.exe file is as always a false positive. This file is used by me for sizing and positioning CMD windows and totally harmless. Long story short, delete your unpacked folder completely and do all once again! After unpacking again, solely and exclusively call up the file ytBATCH.bat file located in the main programme directory. And use ytBATCH for Windows XP 1.6! It is better than version 1.5 since it is more up to date.

ytBATCH for Windows XP was developed by me primarily as a YouTube downloader. I have preset its configuration files for this purpose and configured it by default so that users with weaker hardware can also use it. Those using much more powerful hardware should adapt the two configuration files yt-dlp.conf and youtube-dl.conf in the cfg folder to their needs. I was recently asked whether ytBATCH for Windows XP can also be used to download video or audio files on other platforms. This should be possible, as yt-dlp and youtube-dl support different websites and platforms by default. However, new, additional configuration files must be created for these and provided with command line options that are compatible with these services. When doing so, it is very important that the currently active config files always have to be named yt-dlp.conf and youtube-dl.conf. In any case, I would personally like to hear about your experiences with ytBATCH for Windows XP. Furthermore, I have expressed the assumption that my downloader also works under other, older operating systems such as Windows Vista or Windows 7, which I am looking forward to receiving confirmation of. In any case, developers who don't earn a cent with their programmes live at least from the feedback of their users.

I use Process Hacker for many years. It shows only one VTHash.exe process whose window entry is disabled though. I also had sometimes two processes in Process Hacker if I forgot to close the previously opened one.

@genieautravail The behaviour of your compiled VTHash.exe file reminds me of executables I have compiled in the past with the "invisible on startup" option. Perhaps, you can check your chosen options for compilation. Just an idea.

Since this shortcut works perfectly, it is very unlikely that a background programme could be the cause. I have even closed Min2Tray from my ProxHTTPSProxy programme, but this has had no effect. Apart from that, it only minimises windows and does not hide them. Otherwise, no other window manager is running in the background here. If I understand you correctly, then calling VTHash.exe by double-clicking works for you under Windiws XP. Is that correct?

Thanks for this information! I made a shortcut with the command line option --prefs. This is indeed working. Clicking onto the VTHash.exe file does not work in my system.

ytBATCH for Windows XP has been updated and is now available in version 1.6. All changes I have made and the download link can be found here: Greetings, AstroSkipper

Yep. But as I already mentioned, my new code does not use this command any longer but instead yt-dlp --version respectively youtube-dl --version as a basis. All further processing, you will see in my upcoming release ytBATCH for Windows XP 1.6.

Clicking onto the vthash.exe file as described in the readme file. And it doesn't matter whether doing that from an Explorer or Total Commander window. The window is always hidden and inaccessable. Process Hacker can see its proccess, the window item is disabled, though.

I am an old member of MSFN too with 4k+ postings , and I have never given any advice without a well-founded reason. Long story short, absolutely no trust in Kaspersky and especially in their definition updates. And this will be the case forever. The reasons for that can be read in all its detail in this thread.

FYI and for the cause research, if the programme has been called, and the window is not accessible, it appears the moment you open an Explorer window, very strange.

@genieautravail Your release VT Hash Check 1.67 for Windows XP is running fine here. But one thing is not working as described in the readme file. When clicking the main executable, the window is supposed to be opened to reach its settings. The programme opens, and I can see it in the task manager but its window is inaccessable. I can only reach the settings when performing a hash check. I don't think that was the intention. Or did I miss something? And BTW, the option SSL/TLS has of course to be enabled to establish a connection to VirusTotal.

When checking for a yt-dlp update, the command yt-dlp -U always gave an error messsge but never performed an update under Windows XP. Recently, this message no longer appears, and yt-dlp is updated directly to a version that is not XP-compatible. Since this command wasn't a big hit under Windows XP anyway, I've now programmed the yt-dlp update check to be squeaky clean. In the upcoming release 1.6, a clean version check will be carried out as it is already performed by the youtube-dl update module. The direct updater has also been modified accordingly. No more youtube-dl -U or yt-dlp -U commands.

Due to a recent change in @nicolaasjan's yt-dlp release, I had to change the update module for the YouTube downloaders in my release ytBATCH for Windows XP 1.5. Additionally, I modified both config files youtube-dl.conf and yt-dlp.conf to download YouTube videos with a resolution 480p and the h264 codec at maximum combined with the audio codec mp4a for all Windows XP users on old, weak hardware like me , and to embed subtitles. These config files can of course be edited by the user to use higher codecs and resolutions at any time. ytBATCH for Windows XP 1.6 will be released soon.

First of all, thanks! About that stuff, all has been said here. There is nothing to argue anymore. The facts are crystal clear. And common sense should not be disregarded. Yes, of course! Besides all the facts, zero trust in this programme! And it doesn't matter which version. BTW, I have tested it long, long time ago. But the way this programme lived its own life was unacceptable. I only allow programmes to do what I have authorised and set up. So after a short time, I deleted everything related to this programme and deep-cleaned my partition. And from today's perspective, that was a very wise decision.

That's why I wrote: Which means that it doesn't matter at all. The actual question is: What's the point of a report on an old version without a version number of a programme that does not stand for security anyways? Everyone can answer this question for themselves. And if a manufacturer wants to pull the plug, then a few posts in some thread won't change anything. One should evaluate things in life realistically.

BTW, I wanted to write about VirusTotal in my thread "Antimalware, firewall, and other security programs for Windows XP working in 2023 and hopefully beyond" soon anyway. I'll give your mod due consideration there as well.

Thanks for your mod! I have never used this programme before. Thus, I have just installed it. What I don't like is to be forced to enter an API key at programme start (Winja doesn't do that) , but displaying the results directly in the programme without having to open the browser is great . Thanks again for restoring XP-compatibility!

Here are the important lines (3579 - 3605) from the tun.c file inside the source code of OpenVPN v2.3.18: static const IP_INTERFACE_INFO * get_interface_info_list (struct gc_arena *gc) { ULONG size = 0; IP_INTERFACE_INFO *ii = NULL; DWORD status; if ((status = GetInterfaceInfo (NULL, &size)) != ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER) { msg (M_INFO, "GetInterfaceInfo #1 failed (status=%u) : %s", (unsigned int)status, strerror_win32 (status, gc)); } else { ii = (PIP_INTERFACE_INFO) gc_malloc (size, false, gc); if ((status = GetInterfaceInfo (ii, &size)) == NO_ERROR) return ii; else { msg (M_INFO, "GetInterfaceInfo #2 failed (status=%u) : %s", (unsigned int)status, strerror_win32 (status, gc)); } } return ii; } I assume the mentioned bug won't appear there. When using this OpenVPN version, you can check the connection logs and then you will see whether there is such a bug or not.

Look at its source code, and you will definitely know!

In your quoted link, there is provided an explanation and a solution in terms of this bug. Here is a quote from this topic: When looking into the download package, this bug fix seems to have already been implemented. Your question about Windows Server 2003 has been answered there, too.

Status reports on programmes without a version number, for whatever reason, are generally useless. It either doesn't help to call it an "ancient version". The lack of information and meaning remains in any case.

I always do this with Total Commander.

I use Windows XP on my old, beloved but weak Pentium 4 computer. I therefore prefer another approach since the PowerShell reacts very slowly on this machine: -- YouTube Link Resolver for VLC with Separate Video and Audio URLs -- Place this script in VLC's lua/playlist directory function probe() -- Check if the input is a YouTube link return vlc.access == "http" or vlc.access == "https" and (string.match(vlc.path, "youtube%.com") or string.match(vlc.path, "youtu%.be")) end function parse() -- Construct the full YouTube URL local youtube_url = vlc.access .. "://" .. vlc.path -- Path to yt-dlp executable (modify as needed) local yt_dlp_path = 'yt-dlp.exe' -- Start cmd hidden and ... local cmd_hidden = 'hidecon cmd /c &' -- Construct the command to get the direct video and audio URLs local cmd = string.format( '%s %s -g "%s"', cmd_hidden, yt_dlp_path, youtube_url ) -- Execute yt-dlp to get the direct video and audio URLs local handle = io.popen(cmd) -- Read video URL (first line) local video_url = handle:read("*l") -- Read audio URL (second line) local audio_url = handle:read("*l") handle:close() -- Trim any whitespace video_url = video_url and video_url:gsub("^%s+", ""):gsub("%s+$", "") or "" audio_url = audio_url and audio_url:gsub("^%s+", ""):gsub("%s+$", "") or "" -- Log the resolved URLs vlc.msg.info("[YouTube Resolver] Original URL: " .. youtube_url) vlc.msg.info("[YouTube Resolver] Video URL: " .. video_url) if audio_url and audio_url ~= "" then vlc.msg.info("[YouTube Resolver] Audio URL: " .. audio_url) return { { path = video_url, name = vlc.path .. " (Video)", options = { -- Add audio URL as input option ":input-slave=" .. audio_url } } } else vlc.msg.warn("[YouTube Resolver] No separate audio URL found. Playing single URL with both video and audio.") return { { path = video_url, name = vlc.path .. " (Video + Audio)" } } end end The tool I use is hidecon and is very fast. You can get it here: http://code.kliu.org/misc/hidecon/

For all who don't want to use nircmd.exe from Nirsoft, I created alternative code using native PowerShell: -- YouTube Link Resolver for VLC with Separate Video and Audio URLs -- Place this script in VLC's lua/playlist directory function probe() -- Check if the input is a YouTube link return vlc.access == "http" or vlc.access == "https" and (string.match(vlc.path, "youtube%.com") or string.match(vlc.path, "youtu%.be")) end function parse() -- Construct the full YouTube URL local youtube_url = vlc.access .. "://" .. vlc.path -- Path to yt-dlp executable (modify as needed) local yt_dlp_path = 'yt-dlp.exe' -- Start cmd hidden and ... local cmd_hidden = 'PowerShell.exe -windowstyle hidden cmd /c &' -- Construct the command to get the direct video and audio URLs local cmd = string.format( '%s %s -g "%s"', cmd_hidden, yt_dlp_path, youtube_url ) -- Execute yt-dlp to get the direct video and audio URLs local handle = io.popen(cmd) -- Read video URL (first line) local video_url = handle:read("*l") -- Read audio URL (second line) local audio_url = handle:read("*l") handle:close() -- Trim any whitespace video_url = video_url and video_url:gsub("^%s+", ""):gsub("%s+$", "") or "" audio_url = audio_url and audio_url:gsub("^%s+", ""):gsub("%s+$", "") or "" -- Log the resolved URLs vlc.msg.info("[YouTube Resolver] Original URL: " .. youtube_url) vlc.msg.info("[YouTube Resolver] Video URL: " .. video_url) if audio_url and audio_url ~= "" then vlc.msg.info("[YouTube Resolver] Audio URL: " .. audio_url) return { { path = video_url, name = vlc.path .. " (Video)", options = { -- Add audio URL as input option ":input-slave=" .. audio_url } } } else vlc.msg.warn("[YouTube Resolver] No separate audio URL found. Playing single URL with both video and audio.") return { { path = video_url, name = vlc.path .. " (Video + Audio)" } } end end If directly placing the yt-dlp.exe file into the VLC main programme folder where the vlc.exe file is located, you do not need to specify the complete path of yt-dlp. The advantage is that once compiled the lua file to a luac file, you can use it in any VLC programme directory without any customization.