welo

Seems my assumptions were wrong and you are still stuck with storing the data.

Maybe you should consider the scenario that I described above: Keep the data in a proper DB such as MySQL or SQLServer (isn't there a limited free edition?) and use MS Access as frontend only. Coding your own little app is a valid option, too, but it might be more flexible and efficient (considering work time) to stick with MS Access since I understand that you want to build your own queries and have some knowledge of this product but no programming skills.

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-...11-5065669.html

http://www.aspfree.com/c/a/Microsoft-Acces...t-End-to-MySQL/

MS Access actually has its strength as RAD (rapid application development) tool, but its db engine is limited and not fit for complex stuff. Of course you might end up with performance issues again if your queries or code is inefficient, but this is not necessarily related to Access but might happen with other programming languages, too.

Of course, if gtm2k offers his help as a skilled .NET developer you might end up with a nifty little program that does exactly what you need and provide good solution. Don't know if there are even reporting tools that are easy to handle like Access with similar or even better features.

welo

I guess OP is storing the data in mySQL and uses Access as an application frontend. Meaning Access queries the data from the mySQL database via ODBC.

I further assume that in this scenario Access should theoretically be able to handle the data since Access is only used to build the SQL queries, query the data from mySQL and then display it. Of course, depending on how exactly this is done Access might still be the bottleneck. If too much data handling logic resides in the 'client' (here: Access) the fastest database server will not help. If so, code and queries have to be optimized to move processing to the db server.

Example: If working with large datasets you usually limit the displayed data per page - this can either be done on the client - meaning fetch a large number of records from the db and then just display parts of it (bad!) or with support from the db, fetching only chunks of data. Often the db driver has to support this, too. I also don't know if maybe Access works better with MSSqlServer drivers when it comes to that.

welo

Sandboxie gets my vote.

Not free anymore...

Thanks for your reply. Had a quick look at Citrix Xenserver. I don't really get their current business model. Since XenServer is free, what features or tools are missing, or is it only support and training that they make money with?

welo

Glad it worked. Thanks for reporting back, always interesting to hear what the actual root of the problem was.

welo

Don't know much about CAD, but some about PDF. PDF uses Postscript, a complex 'programming language' to describe graphical documents. What moobie says makes perfect sense to me, there might be lines in the document that are maybe set to white color or to zero width or something similar.

AFAIK a PDF document only has one representation that does not differ between screen and print (as opposed to web pages or Word documents).

Maybe the printer driver causes those issues.

You probably have no possibility of changing the original CAD drawing, right? You could open the PDF document in Adobe Illustrator, which supports PDF and postscript files natively. The lines should show up there even if 'invisible' and you should be able to delete them. There is a trial version of Illustrator, however, it is a professional drawing program that is not that easy to handle...

welo

Open one up and look at the circuit, there are components connected to ground to get rid of any surge.

So "do surge protectors work without ground?" they might have some placebo effect!

Well, that makes sense to me. Thought that maybe they could redirect the surge in a capacitor or just cut the line in case of a surge... But I obviously don't know much about it and trust you on this one

welo

Try to convert them to a lower PDF version before printing.

Printer driver problem?

Printer hardware problem?

Printer memory problem?

Which program do you use for printing?

welo

Try leaving the system path variable untouched and create two batch files that will modify the path variable before starting the application. AFAIK the started process should inherit the modified environment variable. Should work very similar to Linux.

set path=d:\tmp;%PATH%;
c:\path\to\application\app.exe

welo

[...] All with 3 line plugs (ground) and good build quality.

If it doesn't have a ground it is worthless.

If your house doesn't have ground it does not make much difference, does it? (Other than being an indicator for good quality, at least in Thailand).

So the question probably is: do surge protectors work without ground?

welo

I do have Kaspersky running on my machine. I paused protection but it made no difference.

When I open a file the path InterDev takes to the file is \\tsclient\D on EntireNetwork\filename.asp

Might be related to the way the virtual machine allows access to your computer's harddisks or vice versa.

Backgound information: the virtual machine simulates a complete physical computer onto which Windows XP is installed. The virtual harddisk where the OS is installed is actually a single file (VirtualPC uses .vhd files) residing on your 'real' harddisk. Applications running inside the virtual machine only see the virtual hardware and hence the virtual harddrive, and have by design no access or 'knowledge' of Windows 7 and your 'real' C drive (or other partitions).

That said MS added a view features in the last version to allow a smoother integration of applications running inside the virtual machine with the host operating system (Windows 7) and named the whole thing 'XPMode'. For instance it is possible to access your 'real' harddisk (resp. the partitions) from within the virtual machine, that is from applications running under XPMode - technically this is achieved by using a terminal client running on Windows 7 to connect to a terminal server on the virtual machine - hence the name tsclient (ts for terminal server).

So what happens is that Interdev tries to access a file on your Windows 7 partition (aka the 'real' harddrive) and fails. AFAIK \\tsclient points to your Windows 7 filesystem (technically this uses a virtual network between the host and the vm, like a network share).

I am a bit confused about the name

\\tsclient\D on EntireNetwork\filename.asp

'D on EntireNetwork' probably points to the D partition (Windows 7), not sure why the weird name.

Possible reasons for this error (just brainstorming here):

• InterDev cannot write on networks shares hence does not work with XPMode's method of accessing your Windows 7 filesystem
  
• a permission or configuration problem in XPMode's automatically created file shares
  

I assume the file you want to access is located in the root directory on your D partition?

Can you confirm that and if some of what I wrote makes sense to you, can you give feedback and provide more details on your InterDev setup and your project setup, especially where your project files are.

garyh is correct about the directory name changes from XP to Vista/Win7 and the 'virtual store' that allows backwards compatibility with older applications. However, AFAIK this only applies to applications running in Windows 7 directly, not in XPMode since they are actually running in Windows XP inside the virtual machine.

Applications running in Windows XP mode do not have compatibility issues as they are actually running inside a Windows XP virtual machine and redirected using RDP to the Windows 7 host. (wikipedia)

welo

Might be another application accessing the file at the same time InterDev wants to write to it.

Do you have any antivirus or security software with real-time component installed on your virtual machine?

welo

Only 2 brands of surge protected outlet strip you should consider purchasing, Belkin or Wanpro.

Everything else is sh!te.

PS. I have only seen Belkin at Carrefour and only seen Wanpro at certain HomePro outlets.

Found Belkin outlet strips at Pantip Plaza (Bangkok) yesterday starting at 2xx THB for 3 outlets up to 1300 THB for 8(?) outlets. Surge capacity increased with number of outlets. Two different series, the cheaper one white and the most expensive outlet brownish, and surge capacity and security 'features' increasing with number of outlets and price. All with 3 line plugs (ground) and good build quality.

welo

The problem being 'glued' to one application only, meaning switching the application will 'fix' the problem and switching back brings back the problem, indeed indicates a software problem (bug, virus, whatever).

However, even then you should make absolutely sure that the problem is not a faulty keyboard, sometimes the randomness of the problem might fool you into thinking you can see a pattern where none is. Since it should be easy to replace the keyboard (or connect a USB keyboard on a laptop) I agree with the other posters to check this (just to make sure). It depends a bit on your analyzing skills (and experience) whether you can rely on your first assumption or not.

At the same time you could check for a virus or malware infection...

Do you have any antivirus product installed?

Hitman Pro is a very fast virus and malware scanner, and Malwarebytes is one of the best malware scanners. Eset offers a free online scanner. These are good solutions to get a 2nd opinion if you already have a antivirus product installed.

If not, you could also go with a full antivirus solution that includes a real-time shield/guard and other features. Try ESET NOD32 which offers a 60 day trial period. Avira is a very good free antivirus product (for non-commercial use). Of course there are many other good commercial products (Kaspersky, Norton, etc).

Hitman Pro Installer

Malwarebytes Installer

Eset NOD32 Free Online Scanner | Trial Version

Avira Antivirus Installer

I recommend working the list top down.

welo

You should get a more detailed cause of the BSOD, google or use this guide here.

How did you try to share the drive? You could try to access the built-in administrative share.

welo

I had two laptops repaired at Pantip BKK - repair shops are on the 4th level - one where the screen needed to be replaced, and just yesterday I had a problem with the graphics processor (GPU) fixed.

Replacing the screen costed 3300 Baht for a 15.4", including the LCD panel itself plus work time. The panel is good quality with viewing characteristics comparable to the original one (contrast, brightness, viewing angle) but not a major brand name (like Samsung, LG, or whatever - unfortunately I don't remember the brand name). 17" might be significantly more expansive, don't really know.

Of course there are shops at Pantip who don't play fair, I had a higher quote with a lot of blabla for the same panel when I asked at a lower level right after coming out of a Compaq service center.

I can't give you advice on which panels are OK and which not, but the shop assured me that the quality is like the original and it worked out for me.

However, I had some troubles with the laptop afterwards (not related to the screen) and I am not sure they didn't pull a game on me - however, I can't be sure at all and this is why I won't talk about it in more detail.

My recommendations for bringing in a laptop for repair:

• remove the battery
  
• have them write down the serial number of the harddisk, dvd drive and memory. A good shop will do this anyway. You might keep the harddisk with you if it contains sensitive data. Of course you could remove and keep DVD drive and memory, too, but this might seem a bit harsh. I personally take pictures of all accessible components since stickers can be replaced. Of course this requires a bit of knowledge how to access and remove those parts.
  
• Most shops will also take note whether you handed in a bag, charger or other additional equipment.
  

The 2nd time (just yesterday) I actually had a really good experience with a different shop where I had bought a 2nd hand laptop for our neighbors just 4 months ago. It turned out that this model was shipped with a NVIDIA graphics controller that was known to cause problems (Geforce Go 7200, bad soldering from factory combined with bad heating system in the laptop - this is actually a problem with several Geforce GPUs).

Since I live outside of BKK I made it back to BKK only this week, but the shop was kind enough to do the repair under warranty (spare parts on my costs). The shop is kind of family run and is both 2nd hand dealer and repair shop. Nok, who is doing the repairs speaks good english and is a nice guy! I asked to watch him doing the repair since I am a software guy and the whole soldering stuff is like magic to me, and he did a great job, never seen somebody taking a laptop apart that quick.

The soldering and re-heating did take quite some time (and serious, concentrated work), and luckily the chip itself was not damaged and the laptop is working again. Let's see for how long since it will probably overheat again in the future, but Nok said the technique he is using gives good long-term success rates.

He said usually he charges 2500 THB for this work, and an additional 1000 THB for replacing the graphics chip if it is broken. I guess the prices reflect the special equipment he has, since a simple soldering iron is not enough to do that job.

The shop is Bios.com, website is www.biosthailand.com (thai only). The shop is located on the 4th level in the 2nd hand section. The section is 4125-A9 but not that easy to find since the shops there are small and simple and don't have huge neon-light signs. Send me a PM if you want the telephone number. They have a 2nd office on the 5th level (even harder to find) where Nok is working most of the time.

welo

That KB971033 update could be uninstalled as well.

Really, this was not possible with previous updates to WGA AFAIK.

welo

I am using a Single Quad Core with 8 GB Ram and mdadm Software RAID to host 5 VMs so in my case it is saving me for Hardware Cost. Since the DB load is not that high as such the performance is as good as a Dedicated Server. VMWare is installed on Ubuntu Server and most of the Guest OS are Linux based.

Another site has ESXi 4 hosting a Terminal Server and again performance is very good. If u are using Microsoft OS for Guest VMs, u have to pay for license feeas such there is no cost saving.

It is easy to move the VMs from one server to another in case of a server failure. If u r using VMotion it will be very easy to move running virtual machines from one physical server to another. This feature is free in XenServer from Citrix, which is also a very nice product.

I guess it is all about easing maintenance, is it. If the load allows it you could probably configure most applications to share one system environment (same OS), but considering maintenance and also availability and risk maintenance, that is probably a bad idea. But how far do you take that idea, do you keep servers and services together (namely web server and database) or do you split them up on separate vms so you are more flexible moving them around. Of course this is always depending on that particular scenario, but I would be interested in your personal experience and usage patterns you developed so far.

welo

Hurray, kill that old b?!@$!!!

What could this little Austria have on the news that would endanger anything in Thailand?

I often wonder whether those 'blocks' occur deliberately or rather accidentally due to technical problems (overload, misconfiguration, etc). I mean why would w3.mict.go.th never load?

welo

I am using VMware ESXi and VMWare Server both has snapshots features. Since Databases are running and automated scheduled DB backups are also active but I do make manual copies on seperate location.

What are the use-cases scenarios for VMware (in your case)? I wondered whether it is common practice nowadays to setup servers with virtual machines for ease of maintenance. Neglecting the license costs for software, is the performance drawback really small enough to follow that strategy. Especially if database servers are involved?

And nobody here using shadowing software yet for their home PC or for workstations in a company? The first use-case that comes to my mind would be internet cafes or other PCs with public access. But I am still wondering whether setup and handling is straight forward enough to make this kind of software usable on a everyday basis (e.g. to test software) and if its to be favored to e.g. Windows System Restore.

welo

After this call its been fine ever since,I can only assume that TOT will only change it if you tell them you need it. The contract promises 512 KB international,you maybe lucky and get 375 KBs

Really? I doubt that the put international bandwidth guarantees in the contract.

I might give them a ring though, it's worth a try.

welo

My PC (Windows 7 64bit, Core Duo 2 2.1Ghz) shows about 5% better results for Chrome (4.0) compared to both Firefox 3.5.7 and 3.6 (both 32bit) on speedtest.net.

I always thought speedtest.net opens only 1 connection to measure bandwidth. Now that Crushdepth brings up the issue I am questioning my own assumption. Why I think only 1? Because using torrents or download managers I usually can max out my 2MBit connection internationally, but with speedtest.net not. Still, speedtest might just use viewer connections, not necessarily only 1.

Totster, since your IE performs similarly badly as FF I'd rather rule out Firefox issues.

I also doubt it's a Javascript issue - if so, I'd consider that a flaw in speedtest.net's code which shouldn't reflect differences in JS performance.

Beggar's explanation seems very reasonable. Now that you made everybody dizzy with your speed results you HAVE TO try changing those settings

welo

and/or this http://www.thumbalizr.com/

So the big question for me is if there is a significant speed drop in Firefox that affects daily 'work'.

Taking totster's statement on Youtube performance into account, it seems yes.

Do you guys mind taking another speedtest website - just to rule out that the differences are due to the code in speedtest.net's benchmark.

http://speedtest.adslthailand.com/

welo