my Computer Quest: Operating system

Showing posts with label Operating system. Show all posts

28 March, 2018

Make App Disappear From Taskbar On Minimize

Screenshot showing Windows 8's ability to pin apps and show different wallpapers on different monitors, as well as displaying the new Explorer file browser interface, Task Manager, and multi-monitor taskbar (in "Duplicated on all taskbars" mode). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

28-March-2018

I wanted to completely hide an application after it is minimized. Hide() is not enough. [ShowInTaskbar = false] did the trick.

Well, I could say that I struggled a bit finding out what would really make the application disappear from the taskbar.

I used Hide(). Didn't work. I also tried Visible = false. Also did not work. I combined both, but still, it did not work. I combined both Hide() and Visible = false, and even then, I still did not see the job done. App icon still shows in the taskbar when it was minimized.

I should mention that I already have the application creating an icon in the System Tray as I have previously created a NotifyIcon to handle that. And what I am adding now is to minimize the window via code, which also requires the app icon to be not shown in the Taskbar.

I couldn't find many articles that provided help. What came up usually just mentioned Hide() or Visible, and some of the old stuff about adding a NotifyIcon function. I found one that did mention about making use of the property ShowInTaskbar. So I grabbed that one-liner code, tried it, and it worked!

So now my program is complete! Now I can hide an application after it is minimized. Thanks to ShowInTaskbar, I could declare it a holiday!

Till then!

[Late posting; drafted on 04-October-2017]

16 July, 2017

Remote data not accessible: Excel 2016

English: Illustration of subroutine in Microsoft Excel that reads the x-column, squares it, and writes the squares into the y-column. All proprietary Microsoft art work has been cropped to leave a generic spreadsheet (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Use of user-defined function in Microsoft Excel. All proprietary Microsoft art work has been cropped to leave a generic spreadsheet (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

16 July 2017, 10:20 PM

Remote data not accessible:
To access this data Excel needs to start another application. Some legitimate applications on your computer could be used maliciously to spread viruses or damage your computer. Only click Yes if you trust the source of theis workbook and you want to let the workbook start the application. Start application 'SV.EXE'? YES NO

I am working on PcVue data extraction using Excel 2016. That was the response thrown by Excel after I typed "=SV|DB!DATE" and pressed [Enter].

Of course, I clicked on YES, but then again, this is the result:

“Cannot run ‘SV.EXE’. The program or one of its components is damaged or missing.”

Beats me!

This is another one of those DDE nightmares, where the support for a legacy system is required even when already using Windows 10 64 bit and Excel 2016.

I searched for more articles using the string "remote data not accessible" and well, I got some from Technet, and some from Microsft forums, and some scattered Q&A here and there, even in StackOverflow. And I think the solution was derived from one of the Microsoft forums Q&A.

The advice is to make Excel run as Admin. So I did that. I modified the shortcut of Excel 2016 to make it execute, 'Run as administrator'.

And yes, it worked! I was able to extract data from PcVue iNexus 10/11.2 into Excel using DDE!

Then the C# program wouldn't still work, though.

But getting the idea from what I did to Excel, I looked for the compiled program, set it also to execute and 'Run as administrator', well, what do you know?

It also worked!

So while I cannot make use of DDE through Visual Studio's Ctrl+F5. I just do a build, set the compiled exe file's property to 'Run ad administrator', and voila! It would be working like a charm!

I hope this helps somebody working on the same legacy system, DDE, and still make it work.

Till then!

12 April, 2015

My Dying External HDD... revived – by Ubuntu Linux

Tux, the Linux penguin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

12-April-2015

In my years of computing, the volume of data that I have to keep grew lineary, sometimes exponentially, downloads here and there, documents piling up from transactions day in and day out. Naturally, an external HDD was required.

I bought a WD 1.5TB size, and it was immediately put to use.

It was big and heavy, and bulky, so when the remaining size in my internal HDD was enough to hold my daily space requirement, then the external HDD was disconnected and kept away.

And that was bad. The storage time was quite long, so by the time I needed to use it again, errors came up. Of course, this was all in Windows.

I tried using chkdsk to fix the error, and with a 1.5TB size, the time it took to repairing entailed long hours, and I had to leave it running overnight, but in the morning, the repair was still not done.

I had to abort, and to some point in time, that helped.

Until Windows had to give up on the chkdsk repair. I mean, today, I tried doing another repair for a very important file that I need, it didn't go through.

So I booted up in Ubuntu Linux, and used GParted to fix and repair the external HDD, and that somehow went through. Most importantly, the drive appeared in the list, and when I clicked on it, the files were shown. Not all of it, but the one I needed, I found, and copied out.

As one forum commentator said, “Way to go!” Reverse-engineer a Windows program and use it in Linux to repair a disk that can't be repaired in Windows! Of course, he is referring to fsck, and another utility.

Anyway, my external HDD is still okay after all, only that it can be accessed through Ubuntu Linux, not through Windows.

I might stick with Ubuntu Linux more often. This article is written and posted using Ubuntu Linux.

Till then!

----------

How about cell repair in humans?

The passing away of my old desktop PC

Screenshot of the Welcome screen of Ubuntu Desktop 11.04 CD (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

12-April-2015

My old desktop PC died, officially. It was originally installed with Windows XP, but I tried to run in in Vista when the OS was released, then finally to Windows 7. Well, they all run okay, but to say the least, it was slow. And why not? It was an old PC that can only accommodate a maximum of 2GB RAM. 2 slots, that's all.

The longest time possible it was running Windows 7 OS, but when 14.04 Ubuntu was released, I thought, “Why not try and see if Ubuntu Linux will be better?”

I did just that. And it was on dual-boot mode. Windows 7 alongside Ubuntu Linux 14.04.

For some time, I run it that way, and one very stark difference is the speed. Windows 7 was slow, Ubuntu Linux was speedier. And they use the same hardware and all.

About 2 months back, I decided, I am not doing anything in Windows 7, or to say it more specifically, I cannot do anything in Windows 7 because I am simply waiting for a button click to get through, or complete.

Came the decision: Wipe out drive C:, and install Ubuntu Linux – only!

I did just that, and Ubuntu Linux installation started nicely. That was just about the time we were going to have dinner, so I left the old desktop PC alone while the installation was going on.

Afterwards, when I checked on the installation progress, I noticed that the lights on the PC were off. The power switch was still turned on, so I was wondering how it was turned off. I tried to press the power button, but no response. I had to open up the casing to check on what the problem could be.

No power. I did the standard troubleshooting steps, but there isn't anymore a response, like simply leaving the PC unpluged for a while and letting the stored charge be discharged, and upon plugging back in and turning the switch on would immediately turn the blower fan momentarily on, then off – well, none – nada!

A few more rounds of doing this, and with the night getting late, I had to retire, and to 'officially' retire the old desktop PC as well.

Good thing was that the secondary hard disk is still intact, and it is still in the PC today, but before the supposedly installation of Ubuntu Linux, I made it sure that all data was moved out of the primary disk, and all stored in the slave disk.

It has served me a long time, and it had its time. Computers don't live forever. And it picked a fine time to die, just when I thought of giving it a 'new life' with Ubuntu Linux...

Till then!

-----

Can humans live forever?

16 November, 2014

How to log USB transactions?

English: A Sandisk-brand USB thumb drive, SanDisk Cruzer Micro, 4GB. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

16-Nov-2014

I am looking at the possibility of logging USB thumb drive transactions, like copy to and fro, delete, format, etc. This, unfortunately, I cannot find anything on the world wide web.

Can anybody help me?

I don't even find it in CodeProject.com repository. Or maybe I am just not looking hard enough?

At any rate, I am curious how this works, if ever.

I need help. Anybody, if you know, or if you can direct me to some other articles that has the answer, please feel free to let me know.

Thank you!

my Computer Quest

28 March, 2018

Make App Disappear From Taskbar On Minimize