A thread for boring computer questions.

dependency injection, virtual machine variables pointing to the config location, environment specific config files (see .net’s web.config and the transforms), configuration servers with an override for debug

the idea with a deployable app is that build, deploy, and run are different situations and the config is managed differently, but how true that is really depends on framework and platform.

but yeah the simplest is to have some way of knowing if the app is running locally and just saying “look at this location instead” and in every other environment it’s in the default spot

main thing to avoid is having all of the configuration for the environments in one file and checking something at runtime to determine which to use – just too much margin for error that someone clones a server config or something dumb and points things at the wrong env

can anyone recommend a good free PDF writer for Mac and PC? I've used CutePDF in the past....

what do you want to do?

if it's just a regular document open in whatever program, edit it and choose print then save to a pdf rather than send to printer. if you want to add to an existing pdf then the basics are all in preview (click the suitcase in the menu bar). is it something more complicated?

hey caek,

would like to mostly utilize an existing PDF document on a PC and edit the text on it easily without purchasing an adobe license. Something third party and free

recently started running windows 10 on a lenovo ideapad 110s, a netbook w/ 32 gigs of emmc storage space instead of a hard disk. that wasn't enough; shoulda spent more on storage. so by default, the machine came with little on it and there does not seem to be much i can get rid of to free up space. but the windows updater is trying to make a major update (to move me to the creators update, i think) that it is unable to complete without some gigs of free storage; removable storage is not enough to placate it.

i've never been a windows person and this is the first time i've used windows anyway, really, in like > 15 years. any dumb advice? if this becomes a problem then eventually i might just think about shelling out for expanded emmc storage, i don't really appear to need more given my computing situation, but this machine does customarily lack for it, the above problem aside.

xp pdfpen is not free, but it's the only thing i know in the gap between preview.app and acrobat

I used a free version of Tracker Software's PDF-XChange Editor to edit some PDFs a few months ago. It's not a great solution because if you do certain things like changing column widths it will put "Click to BUY NOW!" watermarks on the page, but editing text was OK. There was also some kind of work around for the Demo watermarks via printing to file I think. It was a bit of a faff though. I think it was something like Print to XPS, open file in Microsoft XPS Viewer, save to PDF/print to PDF. Depends if this is for long term use or just some one-off task, it'll do for the latter.

printing to XPS, and then converting to PDF has solved a handful of boring computer problems of mine!

my new computer came with a freeish version of foxitpdf, which wants you to upgrade to the pay version but does a lot when it's not upgraded - acrobat-level control over editing, and nice integration with word for print-to-pdf. seems to be quite nice, i would even think about paying for it if forced to.

xps hi I'm an IT person for a staff of 50-60 who regularly handles Windows migrations and I highly suspect 32gb is not going to be enough to both have Windows 10 installed and also update it to newer releases. Windows Update keeps your current OS (or large portions of it) in a backup for up to I think 30 days so you can revert back if necessary, so it's not just overwriting all of your data. This is good! But you're probably going to need more than 32gb.

yes that is the problem

sigh

it's so irritating that it won't use removable storage to do what it needs to do

32gb seems inconceivably low, but I guess some Windows 10 machines are basically targeting the tablet crowd specs-wise

can you just move most of your personal files or whatever is actually taking space to the external drive then back later?

that was my question - i hardly have anything stored on the thing anyway, and i did remove some bloatware apps and such when i first settled in. it routinely has 2-5 gigs free, depending on fluctuating cache usage. the rest is mostly windows stuff that as far as i know i can't reduce any further (but i don't really know the secrets of doing that on windows).

the premise seems to be cloud storage and lightweight network-reliant computing, yes - it was super super internet-friendly right out of the box, impressively so.

in essence my diagnosis is that nothing i've done has significantly affected the amount of free storage space, so they sold me a machine whose brand-new os' technical requirements prevent it from updating itself : /

Basically yeah. Seems a bit weird that you can even buy a windows machine with 32GB storage. What are you planning to use it for?

clear your web browser cache imo

I had a 32gb box under the TV and upon first windows 10 update it just fell over, emmc memory and all so really hardly even fit for purpose.

There are things you can do with cache, virtual memory, turning off some of the quick-start options, delete restore/update points that make a significant difference but nothing that won't still leave it a total pain in the arse long term.

xxp just ynow officework

delete microsoft office and use CLOUD OFFICE hah hah

bugger.
a friend just bought a 32Gb W10 machine.
i assumed that it would be fine for general web/cloud use.
they really cannot deal with windows updates ?
that seems rather mad given they are still massively available.

You can get it down to 25gb in system files iirc.

As long as you can operate with everything cloud stored it's doable, didn't suit my needs

Hi, I'm backing up my buddies computer with a 1.5 TB seagate backup plus HD. The comp is a 10.6.8 iMac but the external is only compatible with 10.9 or higher. Is it correct that I can use disk utility to reformat the external to make it compatible?

i can't think of a formatting reason why a drive that works on 10.9 wouldn't work on 10.6.8 other than ... hardware?

but if it is a format issue then yes use disk utility to format on the 10.6.8 mac and it will default to a sensible option for that version

it should work with any computer. the os requirement is for the Seagate software which you probably won't want to use. time machine or carbon copy cloner are gonna be what you want

yeah it was the seagate software that required the OS. Formatted it anyway via disk utility, my friend had used 950 GB of 1000 :-/ thanks!

im currently in the middle of the most drawn out, painful upgrade of my life.

a few weeks ago i spilled a cup of coffee down my desktop while reorganizing my room. kills it. the system is dead, won't turn on, etc. the power works but only one fan is getting it and it sounds like it is turning over. i took it apart and there was coffee on the motherboard, so i think, no prob, just get a new motherboard.

i go out and get a new motherboard. installing it the next day i realize it won't take my CPU. this board is LGA1151 and my CPU is LGA1150. my mistake was finding a board that supported an intel i5 chip, i didn't realize there were different generations, so i was trying to fit a gen 5 chip in a gen 6/7 board. of course while trying to get this to work i bend a bunch of pins ruining the board and my chances of returning it. whatever.

next trip to the store i am looking for a 1150 board and nobody fucking sells them. i bought a motherboard + cpu combo last year and now nobody carries motherboards with the 1150 sockets anymore. so i say fuck it i will just buy a new motherboard + cpu combo to make this easier. i get a i5 7500 7th generation with a nice motherboard. oh yeah this is gonna be a sweet upgrade, im thinking.

later that day i realize my ram doesn't fit this new board. ram i bought a year ago to go with the old new board. what the fuck. are they killing upgrade? i grew up in the 80s, i used to build 386/486 computers swapping parts, all that shit is a distant memory now. you have to buy new hardware. there is no way around it.

i look it up on the internet, i have to buy entirely new ram, and ram that is $10 a GB, which is way more pricey than it used to be when i bought it last time just a year ago. what choice do i have, now i am in the hole $400 and if i do not keep spending money on this i will never get my computer back.

today i got the memory in the mail. i plug it in, i hold my breath, the computer turns on. thank the lord. i login to windows 7. there is my wallpaper (Twin Peaks episode 8 a bomb test fyi) there is sound. hmmm... something's wrong, i can't login to the internet, in fact my LAN isn't recognized at all. i download some drivers and put them on a USB drive. my computer won't read it. then a message pops up:

Unsupported hardware: Your PC uses a processor that is designed for the latest version of Windows. Because the processor is not supported together with the Windows version that you are currently using, your system will miss important security updates. Please select the "learn more" link to address this situation.

no idea where the link goes because it opens a browser window that is useless because my LAN driver is not installed because Windows 7 will not work on a new CPU becauase FUFUSDUXFGSDFG ESDBFJIOTYGhsd rgdiriutgoges4rdifgcv

seriously fuck microsoft fuck computers rn

that's horrendous and stupid and bad

jebus, i didn't know things had gotten this bad in Windowsland

RAM prices have been insane the last 15 years or so - instead of continuously getting cheaper and better, the market fluctuates constantly (and suspiciously) according to rare earth mineral supply or whatever

that CPU/Windows 7 shit is bizarre

Microsoft just doesn't support newer hardware in old versions of Windows, because back porting sucks. tbh it's very obvious with Apple computers: they are the only hardware vendors, the hardware you buy is not guaranteed to run any OS version released before the version that comes bundled with it

Adam, I would bet (if they still do it this way) since you got a cpu/motherboard you qualify for an OEM Windows 10 license? might not be any cheaper than just getting Win 10, though.

It's insane to me you still have to pay money for Windows

maybe if they go further down the hardware route they’ll stop that

(my workplace has msdn licenses for developers and I do not, in fact, personally pay for windows)

Speaking of xpost avoiding the use of Seagate software, what's a good external hard-drive set-up (with and without system imaging) for Win 7? Was thinking of just=plug-in, no software, for saving music, docs etc. another one for occasional system images (vs. this ransomware I have heard tell of). The latter mandating software, yes?

mh thanks for the advice, i dont pay for windows either ;-)

ended up installing Windows 10, only to realize i had formatted my hard drive! i had selected the partition with my old Windows but apparently it deleted the entire drive. i spent an hour in abject terror that i had deleted my entire life's work, all my photos, all my video work, every song i ever recorded, etc. i loaded some recovery software and sweet jesus it found my formatted partition. currently using EaseUS Recovery software to bring my archives back from the dead. it is possible to save gigs of data even if you format over it for a new Windows install!

this will probably be the last time i ever do piecemeal upgrades tho. it is cheaper and faster to just buy a new machine. it was really weird to buy a new cpu and motherboard and have windows refuse to run wtf

by default i think windows does the "quick" format which is basically a fake wipe

How can I make my Win 10 laptop more like my phone, such that I can speak rather than type commands when I'd like to? This would be most helpful with Google -- the ability to bark my search than have to type it out. Thanks a lot.

so... i'm going to try to clear the space to be able to upgrade mah windows 10 (per above issue).

if i want to temporarily move some files, system things and application files and such, is there any good rule of thumb as to what i can move without disturbing anything, so that it can just be copied back afterward? i don't know my way around the standard system setup to be confident of what belongs where.

i’d start with your user directory, typically at c:\users\j. or whatever your username is. Some files you probably want to leave there, but anything in documents, music, other libraries can be moved

yeah i got that one covered, not much except a bigass dropbox folder (that won't get me all the way where i need to be deletion-wise)

Applications may well have config files stored elsewhere (AppData, Public Documents folders etc), if the update is not going to affect them (not sure how big an overhaul you are doing?) you're okay.

Otherwise it's probably safer to reinstall any apps you think will be lost in the update.

i'm only running a few that aren't preinstalled anyway. i wouldn't be surprised to have some of the preinstalled ones touched by the updater, most of it's MS stuff.

one idea is to run Disk Cleanup (Cortana Disk Cleanup > and you will find it), and select all the options including the 'Clean Up System Files' option.
Also, check the other tab 'More Options', as this is where you get access to clean up 'System Restore and Shadow Copies'.
Before hitting the Go button, W10 will advise as to how much space this will clear, so, if its not enough then i would not bother, and find something else to sort out.
Note : this is kinda risky, but not that much, as it does not affect anything other than backup/restore options.

also.
got to Settings > Apps > Sort by Size
you could be surprised as to which app is soaking up a lot of space.
i once when drunk installed 'Sonic Dash', and just found out its 2Gb!
now for my machine thats not too serious, but if on 32Gb, then thats definitely a goner.

so Window is doing this thing where my monitor shuts off if there is no activity but it doesn't take into account when i'm playing music. so i'll put on some music and then in 10 minutes the computer just goes to sleep. wtf.

also VLC now makes a chime every time a song starts to play. i can turn this off but Windows turns it back on. again, what the fuck, Windows?

Control Panel > Power Management (or something similar) should have separate power controls for monitor and hard disk. You can increase the amount of inactive time before the HD goes to sleep or even disable it. Maybe it's currently set to 10 minutes?

Dunno about the VLC thing though.

ty!