Tag Archives: windows

The ‘X Character Finder’ Crapfest

So, Java, huh?

It’s not so bad, actually.

As a first language, Java is okay – especially when it is taught right (inside joke there).

Anyway, hot on the heels (somewhat cold, actually), of the Windows Shutdown Crapfest, comes the X Character Finder crapfest, courtesy of yours truly.

First, a little background to this – at Uni I’m doing a subject called programming and problem solving. It involves Java.

Our first assignment was to calculate some variable. Or something. Anyway – one of the things we had to do was find out if the user’s name had the ‘x’ character in it – in either upper or lower case.

This is what I managed to come up with – I’ve commented the code so you understand what it does. I’ve also used Pastie to embed the code, because this is the one time WordPress has failed me. Right, everything seems to be failing hard on me tonight, so I’ve just linked the Pastie… 🙁

If you don’t really get what’s going on, I wouldn’t worry. Here’s the english explanation: Get a username. Count the letters in that username. Look at the first character – if it’s an X or an x, then we have an x in the username. If it’s not an X or an x, then we look at the next character in the username, and perform the same “Is it an X or and x check” again. We keep doing this until we either find an X, or we’ve run out of characters in the username. If you just want to know why this is the X Character Finder crapfest, well, it’s just because I’m re-inventing the wheel here, man – there’s a heaps easier way to find if a particular word/string has a particular character in it, and that’s via use of methods.

The real code that I submitted looks like this. Thanks again to Pastie. 🙂

See? Much easier.

This was the X Character Finder Crapfest, brought to you by Benny Ling.

Comments below.

Windows 2000 Source Code

Several days ago, two files containing Microsoft source code began circulating on the Internet. One contains a majority of the NT4 source code: this is not discussed here. The other contains a fraction of the Windows 2000 source code, reportedly about 15% of the total. This includes some networking code including winsock and inet; as well as some shell code. Some other familiar items include the event log, and some of the default screensavers.

There has been some speculation that while the bulk of the source is genuine, some of the comments have been tampered with to embarrass Microsoft. This is difficult to disprove, but I find it implausible. The embarrassing comments occur on thousands of lines, in realistic places. Furthermore, if someone had done that, it would have been easy to make the comments far more incriminating.

In the struggle to meet deadlines, I think pretty much all programmers have put in comments they might later regret, including swearwords and acerbic comments about other code or requirements. Also, any conscientious coder will put in prominent comments warning others about the trickier parts of the code. Comments like “UGLY TERRIBLE HACK” tend to indicate good code rather than bad: in bad code ugly terrible hacks are considered par for the course. It would therefore be both hypocritical and meaningless to go through the comments looking for embarrassments. But also fun, so let’s go.

via We Are Morons: a quick look at the Win2k source || kuro5hin.org.

Legally get Windows 7 for free (or at a discount)

With many people wondering what the Windows 7 pricing will be and whether it will cost less, the same, or more than Vista, there are some ways you can legally get Windows 7 at a discount or even for free when the final version is ready later this year.

via Students: How to get Windows 7 legally at a discount or free.

Students only, I’m afraid. Keyword is legally here, people.

Summary of options:

  1. New computer. Well, duh.
  2. MSDNAA. Well, duh.
  3. Microsoft Dreamspark – your school has to be on the list, though.
  4. Don’t bother – you’re not in the US, Canada or Europe are you?

Dear Reader, Meet Protego.

Protego is the name I’ve given to my new Pee Cee. There’s a bit of a story behind this one, so bear with me.

So first up, we have the story of actually buying the thing. Originally, Protego was an server somewhere in Melbourne, when management had an “oh crap, we’re the largest Apple reseller in the world and we have too many PCs on hand” moment. Thus, the PC Clearance Sale was born.

I managed to obtain a copy of this catalogue through the usual official channels (that’s the email system, folks), and at the time, was looking for a cheap gaming machine to get my game on. My Steam account was filled up with games that I couldn’t play because the system requirements were too high for any machine that I had in my possession. Games like TF2, Left 4 Dead, CS:Source, and even Portal struggled on any hardware that I had, and only CS:Source even ran on my paltry GMA 950 MacBook… What I needed was a cheap gaming rig. I wasn’t prepared to fork out hundreds of dollars, though – the PC I bought had to be able to handle the games I wanted to play, while having a lifespan of a couple of years.

In any case, I managed to find a computer that suited me – an ex-server, something with a little grunt behind it, but also plenty of expansion options. If you’re interested, Protego is actually an IBM eServer xSeries server, the 8485 variant of the 206m models. It came with a 3.0GHz Pentium 4 CPU (with Hyper Threading),  2x1GB ECC DDR2 PC2-4200 RAM, as well as 2x80GB SATA HDDs.

Now obviously I’m going to be using a machine like this for gaming, and I don’t think the inbuilt ATi ES1000 graphics with 16MB ram are going to cut it. Luckily for me, an XFX 8400GS (w/ 256MB RAM) was also in the PC Clearance Sale – I managed to nab that as well. I put in my order for all the parts, and I was set. Or so I thought…

Elation turned to disappointment when the machine arrived at my location. I opened it up to find that it only had a physical 8x PCIe slot – not a 16x one, which most graphics cards take. Even more unfortunately, it wasn’t an open-ended slot either – the 8400GS that arrived with it was, unsurprisingly, a physical 16x card. Some research had to be done on my part.

The Problem - that piece of plastic needs to be removed.

The Problem - that piece of plastic needs to be removed. Also, dusty case is dusty.

Continue Reading →

32 Reasons why PCs are Better than Macs

While having one company controlling both the hardware and operating system undoubtedly has its advantages, it also leaves Mac fans with all their eggs in one titanium-clad basket. Apple could, for example, decide to drop Mac OS X at any time – not entirely out of the question now that Intel-based Macs are perfectly capable of running Windows.

via 32 Reasons why PCs are Better than Macs – Features – PC Authority.

BWHAHAHAHAHA!

You’re kidding, right? Apple? Drop OSX?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Read the full list for more lulz like that. Seriously – only a couple of their points are valid, anyway.

7 Links I Know You’ll Enjoy

Continuing with the theme somewhat, here are 7 links I know you’ll enjoy. I’ve put them here for your satisfaction, but really, they’re just here so I can get them out of my webbrowser and make room for more news that I missed out on. I’m under 2000 RSS items (I started at 4000), so progress is being made! Enjoy.

So, in the list we have:

  • Dynomighty Mighty Wallets
    These things rock. I already own a tri-fold dot-matrix wallet which gets questioned frequently in public, and to stand out more, I’m going to get some more. They make great gifts, but really – if the Australian dollar wasn’t so sucky at the moment, I’d buy them in  a heartbeat. They’ll have to wait, however.
  • Glow Grafitti
    I’m no grafitti artist, but glow in the dark spray paint? That’s like any childhood dream! I found this on the internet – thanks Boing Boing Gadgets – a while ago, lost the link, but then found it again, so here it is for posterity. There’s probably nothing cooler than glow in the dark grafitti. Again – a little exxy at $59 a can, and when you convert that into Aussie dollars, well, it hurts.
  • Uma Doodlebook Frame
    A tradition photo frame (read: non-digital) with a twist – you can create your own borders simply by drawing them. It’s got 80 pages, so you can create up to 80 custom borders for any of your pictures. Again, how cool is that? I rekon I’ll just stick one photo in it, and then use it as a scratchpad for notes and stuff.
  • iTunes Music Store – the web version
    Yeah – again, props to df.net for this one – this one’s cool. It’s essentially a webbrowser-based version of the iTunes store. It’s a pretty good rendition of the actual store, but you need to open itunes to buy stuff from it anyway, so yeah. Handy if you don’t have iTunes on your current computer, or need to browse something quickly at the library or whatever.
  • Windows Shutdown Crapfest
    I had no idea Windows developement was this convoluted. It’s actually amazing that they manage to ship products at all, considering that they’re “the left hand cannot see what the right hand is doing” approach with regards to all their code. No wonder Vista was so bad – here’s to Windows 7, the start (hopefully) of a new era in Microsoft computing.

Update – here’s your seventh link, folks.

  • Palm, Google, and Apple

    Unlike Siegler, I think the large number of recent Apple employees now working at Palm on the Pre suggests that the relationship between the two companies is cold — ice cold. What I heard last month at Macworld Expo is that Palm has a standing offer for engineers at Apple to jump ship, with a starting salary of 1.5 times their current Apple salary.

When you’re done perusing the links – give us your comments below, yeah?

W32.Koobface.A : Virus Solution and Removal

Systems Affected: Windows – AllHow to Remove W32.Koobface.A:

1. Temporarily Disable System Restore (Windows Me/XP). [how to]

2. Update the virus definitions.

3. Reboot computer in SafeMode [how to]

4. Run a full system scan and clean/delete all infected file(s)

5. Delete/Modify any values added to the registry. [how to edit registry]

Navigate to and delete the following registry entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run\”systray” = “c:\windows\mstre6.exe”

6. Exit registry editor and restart the computer.

7. In order to make sure that threat is completely eliminated from your computer, carry out a full scan of your computer using AntiVirus and Antispyware Software. Another way to delete the virus using various Antivirus Program without the need to install can be done with Online Virus Scanner.

via W32.Koobface.A : Virus Solution and Removal.

Sick of Koobface? I’m sick of your annoying Wall posts, too…

For all those Windows users out there.

Srsly, just get a Mac. I’m not kidding.

Google Chrome is AWESOME!

If you don’t know what Google Chrome is, either your feed reader is broken (and you need to recompile it from scratch), or you live under a rock. Those are the options.

I’m hoping that more people will be interested in this than DosBox…

If you’re running Windows as your OS of choice, and haven’t tried out Chrome yet, I urge you to do so at google.com/chrome – hit this link.

Otherwise, if you’re running Linux or OSX as your OS of choice, read on…

I’ve found the Google Chrome – Platform Specific Build Instructions here.

Mac (I didn’t go to the trouble to go and compile it. I have no need.)

Windows (bear in mind that while they do provide binary versions of the Chrome Beta for Windows, there is no reason to stop you from download the source and compiling it yourself.)

Linux (Hardcore *nix fans will no doubt love watching the Chrome source scroll past their screen – you geeks 😛 )

Now, some extra info:

  • Google Chrome is strictly a BETA at this stage. The version number is 0.2, so make of that what you will.
  • Chrome renders webpages with the WebKit rendering engine – along with Safari. By contrast, Firefox uses the Gecko rendering engine.
  • Technically, you’re allowed to ignore the EULA if you compile the source code yourself. (via Ars Technica)
  • It’s fast. Faster than Firefox. Javascript is especially so – Lightboxes are instantaneous.

There is one feature I like particularly; the ability to give sane error messages. Take, for example, the message that you get when you type in a wrong URL into the address bar. Compare the message that you get with Chrome:

…to the one that greets you in Firefox. Which of the two would you be more likely to understand? (Granted, if you’re reading this website you can probably understand them both, but still!)

It’s the little things like that that will make the difference – everyday users are supposed to be able to USE things. Not have a masters in computer science just to operate their webbrowser. Okay, so that last commend was a little harsh – but you get the picture, usability is damned important! Chrome even provides you with a Google search (haha) to help you. I love Google. I love Chrome.

Now, if only they had a Mac version – from my initial impressions in a Windows VM, I’d easily use it over Firefox.