Jump to content

Ben Markson

Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    109

  • Joined

  • Donations

    0.00 USD 

  • Country

    United Kingdom

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Ben Markson

  1. Ben Markson
    If I just do "MSFN Windows XP" then there are no results from msfn.org If I do site:msfn.org "MSFN Windows XP" then there are lots of msfn.org results. Again, a mixture of correct and hacked results. A 'site' search seems to reveal the results that are otherwise hidden. Ben.
  2. Ben Markson
    I can get msfn results from google if I do a site:msfn.org search, I then get a mixture of correct results and the hacked results. So, there are results there but it's as if the Google crawler has been fed the hacked results. As I still can't find a way to arrive on one of these hacked pages I assume it's Google's own crawler that has been compromised. FWIW, this is https://msfn.org/robots.txt User-agent: * Allow: / Ben.
  3. Ben Markson
    If I do a Google site search with msfn.org then I get a bunch of adulterated search results. That is, some (but not all) of the search results appear in the Thai language. Which is interesting because it suggests Google's own web crawler/scraper has been persuaded to read a different web page. However, if I follow one of the links I always arrive in the correct place. I am never redirected. This is using standard Serpent and quad9 dns (9.9.9.9). I did briefly try Google's dns (8.8.8.8) but it made no difference. So, the only place I see any evidence of the hack is within Google's search results. I haven't found a way to actually arrive on one of the Thai pages. I haven't even been able to find the domain – so, kind of a useless hack really. Ben.
  4. Ben Markson
    There's my speed . . . 189.30 Mb\s. Which seems pretty clear. Your graph has a mysterious 20 MB but I don't know what that means. I actually find the meter more useful on slower downloads as it allows me to see the progress of a download while I focus on something else – the image I posted is the full size (and can be made much smaller) of the meter. The problem I have with system monitors is that they tend to take up huge amounts of space and want to show me all sorts of other measures besides just network activity. I'm going to stop wasting @roytam1 's bandwidth now. Ben. PS. And thanks for posting with proper forum images instead of imgur images that all show as "Content not viewable in your region" for me.
  5. Ben Markson
    For earlier OS . . . https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/netmeter.html 1.1.4 is/was for XP/2003/08/Vista/Windows7 Later version . . . http://metal-machine.de/readerror/netmeter-evo 2.2.0 is for Windows Vista or newer OS (64-bit only) It's stupidly light-weight and gives a simple real-time visual of network activity. This is a picture of downloading from o.rthost.win . . . there's more traffic shown but it's too small to see with the graph having just peeked at 189.30 Mb/s . . . it's not that usual to see such high bandwidth coming from the internet. Ben.
  6. Ben Markson
    I agree with @NotHereToPlayGames mine topped out at 188.26Mb/s (as recorded by Netmeter 1.1.4). This is using a 4G/5G mobile router where my best speed is around 250Mb/s. Ben.
  7. Ben Markson
    Here's a new mystery. This is using the latest SP52 v52.9.0 (2026-04-24) (32-bit). I'm in the process of testing a ZTE MC888A 5G router and you access it's UI from http://192.168.0.1/index.html – fine. However, if I do this from XP I get this error: ReferenceError: isErrorObject is not defined . . . http://192.168.0.1/service.js If I do it from W7, no error, no problem. This is using the exact same version of SP52 and the exact same profile on both computers. How can that happen? Solved: It was a dirty cache caused by sharing the same address as the wired router. Ben. (The UI does work using MyPal under XP so it's not something inherent to the XP OS)
  8. Ben Markson
    Serpent continues to get better but I still encounter the occasional site where the layout just won't render. Here's a good example: https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/ This makes a bit more sense: .umb-block-grid { --umb-block-grid--grid-columns: 0 !important; } . . . but it's still pretty messy. Can anybody see what is causing such a catastrophic layout failure? Ben
  9. Ben Markson
    Sorry to resurrect this again but I think the yt-dlp4vlc script has an error. I think the probe function is incorrect . . . 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")) . . . should be . . . 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")) . . . notice the brackets around the first 'or' pair. Bit marginal but without those brackets any http url will return true. Ben.
  10. Ben Markson
    For anyone struggling to navigate their way through this long thread and who just want some basic instructions getting the yt-dlp4vlc thing to work... This is with VLC 3.0.23.0 Firstly, I had to install the yt-dlp4vlc script in C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\playlist as a basic text file called youtube.luac (renaming the original youtube.luac out of the way). . . there may be a way of configuring VLC to use yt-dlp4vlc[.luac?] but don't ask me how. Next up yt-dlp.exe running on XP. This one from October last year is working for me. . . https://github.com/nicolaasjan/yt-dlp/releases/download/2025.10.29.063241/yt-dlp_x86_winXP.exe . . .which goes into C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC renamed to yt-dlp.exe That just leaves hidecon.exe (found in bin.x86-32) which also goes into C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC http://code.kliu.org/misc/hidecon/hidecon-1.2.2-redist.7z With that I was good to go. Ben.
  11. Ben Markson
    Using: basilisk52-g4.8.win32-git-20260117-3219d2d-uxp-aace8fa8c0-xpmod.7z Crash report: AppName: basilisk.exe AppVer: 4.8.7.8956 ModName: mozglue.dll ModVer: 4.8.7.8956 Offset: 0000fba6 After several crashes while using eBay I've gone back to: basilisk52-g4.8.win32-git-20260110-3219d2d-uxp-3e9ca11775-xpmod.7z Ben.
  12. Ben Markson
    The 153 error relates to the referrer header – Google have decided that when embedding a video you can't block it any more. It's worth noting that when these useless error codes appear that you can right-click ... copy debug info ... paste that info somewhere you can read it, and then look towards the bottom for: "debug_error" The 153 error will reveal itself as: "embedder.identity.missing.referrer" which is the clue that it is caused by a missing referrer header. Ben.
  13. Ben Markson
    Instead of View Wireless Networks... Connect, you can use the Add button under the list of Preferred networks on the Wireless Networks Connection Properties. That route gives you a lot more options to play with. Also, while the link is working (using your RealTek install disc) you should be able to view and make a note of the connection properties which you may then be able to apply manually. Ben.
  14. Ben Markson
    I have a Phillips SNB5600 Wireless USB Adapter. It's nothing special. I don't think I have ever 'installed' it as such. When I plug it in it appears in Network Connections with Status: Not Connected. Before I can do anything useful I have to start the Wireless Zero Configuration service. NET START WZCSVC Now when I right-click the Wireless Network Connection entry in Network Connections... View Available Wireless Networks. I see a list of any nearby wireless networks. What happens next depends on what you're trying to do. Ben.
  15. Ben Markson
    Okay, I'm way down a very strange rabbit hole now. I use an ancient copy of AdBlock Plus (v2.9.1). Using the latest Serpent, if I go to to https://forums.digitalspy.com with this filter active: ||fonts.googleapis.com^ it crashes. Inactive it doesn't crash. The older Serpent is unaffected. Ben.
  16. Ben Markson
    I've given up and gone back to basilisk52-g4.8.win32-git-20250712-3219d2d-uxp-b9ebe5b259-xpmod.7z I've now encountered an insta-crash visiting https://forums.digitalspy.com so I'm thinking something's just not right. Ben.
  17. Ben Markson
    Nice idea... :where is working fine, so it's not that. My gut says that hidden="" makes no sense and that it should be hidden="true" but everything is so javascript driven and dynamic that it's hard to tell if what the inspector shows is reliable. Ben.
  18. Ben Markson
    I'm observing this for a FRITZ!Box 7530 running FRITZ!OS: 8.02 – which is insanely difficult to debug as it comprises screens that are constantly being rendered using javascript in real time. I'm not sure how to properly explain this but here goes... using Serpent v52.9.0 (2025-07-09) (32-bit) this works: <article class="page-blocks"> <div class="page-blocks__block" :hide="isMeshClient || isIpClient" hidden=""> <----- <div class="text-block"> <div class="text-block__container"> <p :show="hwf.isBox"> The table shows all of the network devices connected with the FRITZ!Box via LAN or Wi-Fi, as well as VPN connections to the home network that were established by FRITZ!Box users and apps (such as MyFRITZ!App, FRITZ!VPN). All of the devices in the home network are connected in a computer network and can exchange data, images, music, and videos with each other. Network devices in the home network can also be reached from the internet through port sharing.</p> </div> </div> </div> : </article> -----> :where([hidden], [print-only]) { display: none !important; } After (2025-07-09) the display: none is not being applied. This causes page areas to be shown that should be hidden. As this is all javascript driven it's very difficult to assign a specific cause to any effect. Obviously, it's not the display: none itself but maybe something to do with the :where() pseudo-class? Or is it the :hide="isMeshClient || isIpClient" hidden="" stuff? Or <article>? As Serpent's inspector doesn't seem to like javascript driven html and only displays the initial state of the web page, I've gained this much insight using an up-to-date version of Firefox, this means I can only inspect the display: none being applied when it's working. There are no errors being logged. Would anyone like to hazard an explanation. Ben.
  19. Ben Markson
    I have a lot more run-ins with Cloudflare than I do Anubis. Both of them can get stuck in an infinite validation loop. Cloudflare can get insanely aggressive, it will quite happily lock your browser into an irretrievable Loop of Death (who would write code like that?). At least Anubis can easily be stopped. I think the thing I object to the most is that they focus on the way a browser looks rather than what it is actually doing. In civil society this is characterised as profiling rather than being intelligence led. All that will happen is that the bots will better disguise themselves and their behaviour will go unchecked. Ben.
  20. Ben Markson
    It's Cloudflare, Jim, but not as we know it. Anubis is another clunky piece of software developed by people who believe that only selected browsers are allowed to use the internet. It seems to be predicated on the idea that any non-conformant browser must be evil. Ironically, https://forums.mozillazine.org/ are using the exact same thing. Ben.
  21. Ben Markson
    If I go anywhere near this website ... instant crash. https://www.theweatheroutlook.com Same happens in safe mode. Ben.
  22. Ben Markson
    Thanks for the links. I'm afraid my choices are mainly down to a lack of skill. Creating a VM for XP wasn't my first objective. I wanted an OS that when necessity demands can run a truly up to date browser. I'm not a particular fan of Linux (I find its UI both incomplete and inconsistent) but I hate the newer incarnations of Windows. I think Linux Mint is probably the path of least resistance. It runs the latest Firefox browser. It also runs legacy browsers such as Basilisk and Firefox 52. As an after thought I wondered if it could run Windows XP. VirtualBox 7 is the default install under Mint's Software Manager (again, path of least resistance when you don't really know what you're doing). Outside running games (not a great concern for me) I'm really pleased. I have Office XP (including Outlook) running, I have an ancient version of Coral running. All things that run fine under XP but have become some kind of insane, cloud-based, mess under today's Windows. Ben.
  23. Ben Markson
    I went around in circles with VHD too. To get started I needed to get the Macrium Reflect image into a VHD file to do the restore. In the end I used Windows 7, which has good support for VHD files, to create and populate the VHD. I'm doing this on what was a W7 machine, now dual booting with Linus Mint 22. Ben.
  24. Ben Markson
    Thanks for the suggestion but I was interested in people's opinions about VMs. To be honest I'm surprised that there are not more people interested in using a VM for running XP. Oh well, Ben.
  25. Ben Markson
    All to aware that my, circa 2008, machine running Windows XP must eventually die I decided to have a play with VirtualBox 7 running under Linux Mint. While its not been a wholly trivial experience I was amazed that I was eventually able to restore a Macrium Reflect image of my current machine into a VM. To all intents and purposes it looks and works identically to the original. The main difficulties I encountered were with the set up of USB and VHD storage devices which I still find a bit clunky (this is using the Guest Additions add-on). There is a single shortcoming. VirtualBox 7 doesn't support 3D Acceleration for XP. So, for example, flash works fine but WebGL is hopelessly slow. What VM software are others using for XP? Ben.
×
×
  • Create New...