Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread

[Padma]

Old DOS/Windows programs that don't understand the 'long filename' technology are supported by a "translator" in Windows. Long names are truncated to six characters, followed by a tilde, followed by a number. Usually, it is "~1", but if there are multiple files/folders that would be identical when truncated to six chars, additional numbers are used, as needed, e.g., FILENA~1, FILENA~2, etc.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Aha.

A question about licensing and stuff: Suppose your business download an innocuous-looking program. The EULA says you cannot sue if it goes wrong. But it turns out the program is a trojan which overwrites all your files (and their backups when they attach the external hard drive) and puts your business back a few days. Would this void the EULA and allow you to sue?
Just wondering Thanks

 

[lndm]

Hmmm,

So I take my car to the car wash. There's a sign that says "all care but no responsibility taken". The attendant picks up a tyre lever and scratches my paintwork from boot to bonnet.

Of course I'd take it up with him and if that got me nowhere,
I'd go higher. I'd have the law on my side.

Software laws are a little less mature than that but in this country, and Canada I suspect (...you guys are a Commonwealth country, aren't you?...) there is a thing called Common Law, which is basically a way that allows common sense to carry weight in a legal sense.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

So, similar to non-arbitration agreements: "You cannot sue us if you sign this, blah blah"

I havent actually seen something like this go to court and go through without settlement, so I dont think there is a precedent, at least in the US. (I may be wrong tho)
You may be able to sue on different grounds though -- If the trojan at any time uses electronic communications, which it had to to be downloaded, and the program containing the trojan misrepresents itself -fraud-, then the whole thing is a case of wire fraud which is a federal crime. No EULA is gonna save them then.

And honestly, have you ever looked at a EULA? Most of them are chock-full of things that wouldnt be upheld even by the most corrupt of courts.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Thanks.

Is it true, for security, you can put the ext3 filesystem onto an external drive, dual-boot Windows and Linux, and if someone swiped your external they probably wouldn't have any idea what to do with it?

 

[Zelig]

Is it true, for security, you can put the ext3 filesystem onto an external drive, dual-boot Windows and Linux, and if someone swiped your external they probably wouldn't have any idea what to do with it?

No, if someone is stealing it for the hardware, they'll just format it, if someone is stealing it for identity theft, they'll check what file system it is.

Security through obscurity is generally not useful.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

All right thank you. (I don't have anything to hide anyways. All that identify thieves would find is a load of Tom Petty pictures and Civ IV savegames.)

 

[lndm]

'Security through obscurity', depends really on who you're trying to hide things from I guess. If you're trying to hide something from an identity thief then by using ext3, you're assuming they're dumb when they probably aren't. If you assume they're smart and you're creative, there's a chance you'd win. Of course if you've downloaded a jewellery catalogue for arguments sake and want to keep it a surprise, you may only need to remove it from your desktop to hide it. For many people the desktop may as well be the Earth when people used to think it was flat, and dared not venture to the end of it in case they fell off (just J/K ).

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Thanks.

Why would it happen, that when you play an MP3, you get a blue screen saying something about IRQL_NOT_EQUAL_OR_LESS and something about a device driver? Only happened once but noticed the audio skips a tiny bit. makes me nervous. The crash dump is mysteriously not there, although logging's enabled.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Where can I find a version of VBRUN300.dll that is compatible with windows vista?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Thanks.

Why would it happen, that when you play an MP3, you get a blue screen saying something about IRQL_NOT_EQUAL_OR_LESS and something about a device driver? Only happened once but noticed the audio skips a tiny bit. makes me nervous. The crash dump is mysteriously not there, although logging's enabled.

Depends on the driver. Its extremely likely that it was a coincidence though.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Hasn't happened since. hopefully one-time thing.

Should you only worry about a BSOD if it happens intermediately with the same message?

Also, why is the Firefox spellchecker broken? No red squiggly lines.
EDIT: Odd, seems like the dictionary didn't get downloaded right.

 

[Till]

How about these?

@aimee, you know how when you change resolution there's a box that asks 'Are you sure?' ? If you wait a few seconds without saying yes you'll revert to the old resolution. It's designed so you won't get stuck somewhere without a working screen, like you almost found out

WRT the game, either the path does not comply to DOS standard short file names or the space in Program Files is causing issues. Putting the game directory directly under c:\ would be the simplest solution.

Even after installing the debugging symbols for Vista, i still couldn't extract anything useful from the dumpfile. I'm afraid i'll have to admit defeat for now.

 

[Zelig]

Should you only worry about a BSOD if it happens intermediately with the same message?

BSOD's should happen basically never.

If you're getting them, either you did something wrong, or your hardware is broken.

 

[lndm]

Even after installing the debugging symbols for Vista, i still couldn't extract anything useful from the dumpfile. I'm afraid i'll have to admit defeat for now.

Thanks for trying

I'm looking ATM at the possibility that the processor is running in 64 bit mode with compatibility mode to handle 32 bit Vista (I read about this once a couple of years ago). I'm trying to find out how to check for (or force) legacy 32 bit mode.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

What happens if you unplug a hard drive while in use? Assume that you don't get electrocuted from it. (Also, isn't that called hot-plugging?)

 

[lndm]

Windows will typically hang and no, you won't get electrocuted but you may risk damaging the drive.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Thanks.

Not a question but something I wanted to share:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/202413-29-worst-build-screw

I used to work in a pc repair shop, one of the biggest blunders I was involved in happened at this shop. I had just finished the burn in process on a pc I had just built. The burn in was a program we had that tested the pc for stability for 48 hours. I noticed the temps were a little high so i opened the case up to make sure all the fans were on. Now mind you im ina pc repair/building shop. We have canned air, cleaning spray, thermal paste all within arms reach. So i open her up to check the fans and notice a blob of dust on the cpu heatsink. So i reach over and grab what i thought was the canned air. Wrong! It was the highly flamable cleaning spray. Needless to say that pc went up like the hindenburg.

 

[Turner]

What happens if you unplug a hard drive while in use? Assume that you don't get electrocuted from it. (Also, isn't that called hot-plugging?)

In hot swapping the hardware needs to be specifically set up for that. I know from personal experience that unplugging a sata drive from a laptop too early causes it to become unusable without reformatting and reloading.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Ah, I must of misunderstood the wiki article.

Question: Am I stubborn for refusing to turn off the antivirus for installing ANY program? IMO, that's one of the worst things that can be done, who's to say the program's not a virus?