Posts by MidiMagic

Note that changing to a different operating system (e.g. linux) changes the system timing to the point where the real-time software either does not work at all, or gives the wrong timing.

Each real-time hardware application must be designed for the operating system it runs on. Installing a new operating system under it ruins its timing.

So stop suggesting different operating systems. Changing to any of them means replacing the software, and propbably the hardware.

I am "hanging on" because of the enormous expense to replace the hardware and software of my real-time system and the loss of my current data if I change.

Replacing the OS means replacing the computer. Replacing the computer means replacing the interface cards, because the new computers don't take these cards. The software will have to be replaced too. And my existing files becone useless, because the new software uses a different file format.

And if a security issue develops because I am still running XP on the internet, it is greedy Microsoft's fault.

Microsoft is greedy, because they want us to spend the money to upgrade, so they discontinue support to force that. But they are thinking of business users, not science or studio users with lots of real-time hardware and software that must be replaced if the OS changes.

It SHOULD be legal to copy discontinued software, since the copyright holder is being a dog in a manger for discontinuing it. The law sho0uld be changed to require this, so companies would not discontinue products.

This process of upgrade or die costs you a lot of extra tax money, as government have to upgrade or die too. This is wrongdoing by Microsoft.

Microsoft's main motive seems to be to take away what you already have, and force you to buy something different and relearn everything.

This is the problem with intellectual property. Too many judges favor the owners of intellectual property over others who come up with similar products or names. This is giving too many entities monopoly powers.

Nobody should be able to own any word that is in the dictionary.

I don't need a Rolex - real or fake. A Rolodex would be much more useful to me.

Yet the one kind of spam my spam filters never remove is offers for real or replica Rolex watches. I have absolutely no need of either. But they seem to have ways to get around the filtering. Pharmacy sites also get through too often, but not nearly as often as ads for fake watches.

How do I tell them that I have absolutely NO interest in owning a watch of any kind?

I asked where the prompts for whether or not to replace will appear, not how to make the command window appear. The user will have to answer each prompt with Y or N.

Also, I need a way to see the sizes and file creation dates of the two files before each prompt, so I know whther or not to answer Y or N. The Windows copy a single folder provides that, but xcopy does not.

Does it use the cmd window to ask about replacements, or does the Windows copy window apopear? The cmd window does not tell me the sizes or dates of the files.

Google are going to support XP fixes until but let Win die gracefully, windows 7 is far better and safer, not overly struc111n win 8 yet, but progress needs to go on (i still have a computer running win 3.11) so nostalic as well

If it hinders your work, it is not progress. Windows vista, 7, and 8 get in the way of doing your work. Why? So idiots can use them on stupidphones.

Nobody says you have to upgrade -- you are free to use that 20-year-old software and hardware if you wish.

Not if I can't get the hardware to run it on. They have repeatedly changed both the hardware and the software so that nobody can do a verifiable 20-year study anymore if it reauires any real-time data collected by a computer.

"progress" makes science impossible.

I got it to work, but I have to use the DOS screen. This means that I have to do the bacvkups myself, because others can't just click and do it.

The command is:

xcopy j:/*.* k: /e /q /-y

I do not have authority to install anything on the workstations.

There is a similar DOS function called xcopy that is installed. I will look into that.

Is there a way to make a call to it with a gui icon in XP?

Do you have scripts disabled in your security settings?

There is a reason. XP was the last Windows system that did not get in the way of your work.

Note that a few applications (not Word) will do this if a file is already open. It must save the old file before closing it to open the new one. MSpaint does this.

I want to copy a folder full of folders to a backup on another disk. But if a duplicate filename already exists on the other disk, I want Windows to prompt to ask whether or not to replace the file for each file separately.

Windows XP just gives me the option to replace all of the files or not copy the folder. Only if I copy only one folder will it prompt individual files. There are hundreds of folders in this structure, but less than 100 duplicate file names. But I don't know where the duplicates are, and do not know their filenames.

The problem is that I receive a lot of files submitted by students for grading. They are in a structure of subfolders named for the student name, all in a master folder on the assignment collecting system (which appears on my workstation as a drive). On each assignment due date, I want to copy the structure and files to identical folder structures of the work already received on two different hard disks. After I do this, I can click an icon to delete the files on the collection system but leave the structure. But there are always several cases where duplicate filenames arise, and I must manage each case separately.

• A. The student submitted two different assignments at different times using the same filename.

• A. The student modified the assignment file and submitted it again after I deleted the original.

• B. The student submitted the same file …

Virtual machines won't work with real-time software.

This is what I hate about Microsoft's "make it obsolete fast" methods. Many people need stuff that works over many years with real-time software and the corresponding hardware needed to do a real-time operation.

It's time to require software and hardware to not change quickly, and to be available for 20 years, so 20-year scientific studies are not ruined by the failure of equipment.

We had this ability during the MS-DOS era, because the hardware was fairly constant, and the operating system changes were backward compatible. But when Windows appeared, this compatibility went out with the trash.

I also need the old scientific version of MSpaint, not the new "artistic" version that is useless.

Irf you have Office 2003 amd also another later version of Office, and get that "update needs to complete" error, start Excel 2003 once the update downloads and tries to install. The error goes away..

Here is the real issue. I just read it in a book on stage lighting. The console for ligting must be designed to get out of the way of the task of lighting the stage.

XP is properly designed. It gets out of the way of doing the work needed.

Vista, 7, and 8 get in the way of doing the work. The fancy shell and the mouseovers get in the way. It tales longer to start an application.

More reasons:

• Requires a newer version of the operating system, which requires replacing the computer.

• Requires a newer version of the operating system, which requires giving up software and hardware your work depends on.

• Requires more disk space, which other upgrades have eaten up.

• Requires a newer version of the operating system, which requires a stupidphone, because it won't work with a desktop.

"In the Start screen (the one with all the icons) the icon in the lower-left corner is named "Desktop". when you click that your computer will look just like Windows 7, but without the Start menu in the taskbar. In that window you can easily switch between applications just like you do now with XP, and you can do the same thing with windows 7."

It did not do that for me.

And I can't use ny legacy software with 7. They took out support for the devices I need.

"If I bought a new Car, but I forgot how to unlock and open the Door, I cannot drive the Car to work. If Billions of commercial Users have to be 'retrained' in order to keep on doing today what they have been doing 'til yesterday, all Those Employers have a great big problem, a time problem as well as a huge financial problem."

If they keep moving the door locks to weird positions on the car (such as under the headlights) each time you have the car serviced, the idiot who desgined the car should be fired.

The way Microsoft keeps changing the software, it is like having to change to a different kind of vehicle to be able to travel, the way our application soiftware and peripheral devices are left behind by Microsoft.

The next upgrade will require us to replace our cars with trolleys. The following one will require us to replace those …

Looking like XP is not enough. It has to work with my legacy software just like XP.

I used the desktop. No taskbar.

No tasklbar when an application is open.

Waste of time using start, desktop, then selecting an ap to switch.

Cell phones are timewasters, and so is 8.

I fixed it by uninstalling Spybot and using different security software. It was causing other troubles too.

The F12 key might aslo be the culprit.

One thing I have noticed is that sometimes the margins are modified by the printer you choose, because the printer cannot use the margins you want.

This depends on whether or not the storage space the files originally occupied was reused. If new files were written on the same "sectors," the old material is forever gone.

Windows 7 is weird.

That is the large icons version. You can set the taskbar settings by right clicking on the taskbar.

I used to teach a computer class that used a software "grader" to read the finished project files. It was unable to find some of the features in the project if OpenOffice was used (and even if 2007 had been used instead of 2010).

XP does not get in your way.

Vista and 7 get in your way with aqnnoying features that waste your time.

8 is the only version of Windows that is worse than CP-M. It is designed to waste your time.

Some overlooked possibilities:

Power saver mode - turns off the screen lamp when you have not keyboarded or moused within a set time (e.g. while watching a long video?).

Power saver sleep mode - puts the laptop into sleep mode after not being moused or keyboarded for a set time. Hit the power save button or the spacebar (exact key depends on manufacturer) to restart normal operation without a reboot.

The lamp is failing. There is a cold cathode flurorescent lamp in the back of your screen. They do go bad and need replacing after about 6500 starts. The pwoer saver mode makes the lamp fail earlier by using up more starts.

They might be sending each other (especially the opposing party) emails with unexplained links in them.

Or a search engine bot might be following the same few links that were saved by a few MPs again and again.

When I opened this, I was thinking of the MPs in the US - military police.

If you have a wireless mouse, sometimes a weak battery can cause it to move without your intent.

Also, if two comnputers are close enough together and have the same wireless mouse with the same settings, the mice can interfere with each other.

I saw this happen az few years ago where two mail servers were each configured to send copies of all incoming mail to the other server.

I would get rid of the program that requires mp3.

Windows in a nutshell:

With XP, you can get your work done quickly. It seldom gets in your way.

With anything later, the operating system hinders you by making you wait or click multiply. These operating systems are big timewasters.

I never intend to own a laptop, tabglet, or smartphone. Why? I hate battery powered stuff that always quits on you when you are busy, and totally fails within a year. So why must I be saddled with operating systems designed for stupidphones? I want efficiency, not featurism.

And give me back the original MSpaint. The new version is designed for the liberal arts artist, not the guy who needs technical drawings. It is useless.

Windows 8 is the least useful operating system I ever used. MS-Dos beats it in usefulness.

What I can do in one mouse click in XP takes up to 30 seconds to accomplish in 8. No thankls It is the biggest timewaster ever.

A postscript:

Windows 2.0 and Windows 8 are the only operating systems I have ever seen that are less useful than MS-Dos.

I can now tell you why XP refuses to die.

With XP, you can get your work done. XP does not get in your way.

With Vista, 7, and 8, the operating system gets in your way, hindering your ability to do your work. This text box editor on this page also hinders you, by not obeying the standard keypad meanings.

With XP, I can have several applications open and switch to the one I want instantly using the taskbar. With Vista or 7, I have to wait for the stupid menu to pop up before I can switch. And on 8, I still have not figured out how to GET to the taskbar (if it exists).

Many times when I use Vista or 7, something I didn't want pops up and covers the thing I wanted to use. Then I waste time mousing around to get rid of the thing I didn't want so I can use what I wanted. I HATE MOUSEOVER POP UPS! They are the chief timewasters in computing. That's why I don't come here as often as I used to.

The MSpaint program supplied with Vista and later was designed for fancy art, not for the techincal drawings I need to use it for. I can't use it. I have been pirating copies of the XP MSpaint onto flash drives so I can get work done on newer computers I am forced to use.

8 seems to be designed by a crybaby with a cell …

I am sticking with XP because I would have to replace all of my equipment if I changed.

7 is harder to use, and it gets in the way.

Upgrades should be banned. The Robots film was right.

Ban mouseovers. They are not accessible. They cause problems with people who have dyslexia.

I can't upgrade because it would mean an expensive replacement of all of my equipment and much of my real-time software.

I hate this upgrade frenzay because it usually requires people using real-time software (and sometimes hardware) to replace everything each time the operating system changes. Microsoft should be required to pay for it.

Microsoft's idea of an "improvement" is not my idea of an improvement. All they care about is money from making people upgrade. But the new versions are hard to use.

Never let a programmer decide what is easy to use. He will design it so it is easy for him to use, but harder for you to use.

I hate mouseovers and I hate multiple levels of menus.

The problem with 7 and 8 is that they are made for stupid smartphones instead of desktops.

The real problem is that anyone with real-world hardware attached to the computer is a slave to the operating system it was produced for. An upgrade to the operating system usually means the expensive equipment does not work anymore. In many cases, the company cannot make it work with the new operating system because the system timing does not allow it. So they either come out with a totally new version of the hardware or go out of business. In some cases, they must replace the hardware card, because the new comnputers don't have the old interface slots.

When we had MS-DOS, the same equipment worked on all versions from the original to MS-DOS 6.2. There were no real changes in the timing of the system iteself. The biggest proiblem I ever had with an OS upgrade back then was when an upgrade from DOS 2.4 to DOS 3.0 caused the DBase III software to refuse to run. The addition of folders (then called directories) to the disk directory erased the software copy protection key DBase used without permission from Microsoft.

When Windows 2.0, 3.0, and 3.1 appeared, some older hardware worked only when Windows had not yet been started after a boot. Other hardware needed Windows to be running. Thus, we were sometimes rebooting the computer when we switched applications.

With the advent of Windows 95 and later, DOS was not really DOS anymore. The timing was Windows timing, even if DOS was on the screen. So the old …

I may not have the exact term.

It's where a temporary IP number is generated each time you log in, so your real IP number is kiept secret.

In other words, make it compatible with an old PC that has only an 800 X 600 VGA screen:
- No big images
- No combined widths larger than 800px.

We're going back to the 1990s.

Another possibility is an alternate link to a reduced size page at the TOP of the page.

1. Get what you want to print on the screen.
2. Hit Ctrl+PrintScreen
3. Open MSPaint
4. Paste.
5. Either use Print Setup and Print, or save the file as a .jpg file and then print that.

It's the same noise you here when the MC at a gathering carries the mike in front of the PA loudspeaker. Acoustic FeeeEEEEEEdback.

The mic must be where it cannot hear the speakers.

Unless the cameras feed only the local server, I'd connect a router to the internet connection, then plug both switches, and the local server, into the router.