Problems schedualing Kazza with Task Schedualer

[Brian Frank 0]

I'm trying to setup KaZaA to run under XP with Task Schedualer.

Since I don't have a password for my account (I'm the only one using this PC anyway) I had to setup a separate account for the thing to run. It does "run"---as in it shows up in task manager, but the program will not actually start, and the memory usage is zero.

 

Why I want to do this? Well, I work 3rds, and would like to run the program from midnight to 6am since people gripe when they don't have a nice internet connection or can't get their e-mail quickly at home.

 

Anyone tried this and gotten it to work?

[Christianb 8]

Hi Alec,

As soon as I started reading the suggestion I knew it was you. I agree with everything you said right up until you recommended putting in the startup group. If you're going to share the computer with others you'd want to make your app as invisible and as fast as possible. I would add your application to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run so that others probably won't even know it's running. The other thing I'd recommend is that you either make your application invisible or a tray application. If you're using VB I would use a Sub_Main rather than a form and use the Windows API sleep command rather than a timer. I'd then do something like the following

Code:

Select Case Hour(Now)           Case 6 to 11                 Shell strKAZAA_PATH, vbMinimizedNoFocusEnd Select

 

Alec my guess is he can't program. I'll make you this application for $10 bucks if you don't know how to program. Do you want it hidden or to be system tray application? You can pre-pay via PayPal to Christian_Blackburn@Hotmail.com. I will send you your application with an installer and an options dialog ($10 bucks for the options dialog) if you want to be able to change the dates and times.

 

If you want some application samples you could try

www.Checkerz.net

www.KazaaControl.com (note this is for Kazaa 1.X not 2.X, although it may work with 2.X as well)

www.IPNotify.com

 

Good Luck,

Christian

[Brian Frank 0]

Woah! Lotsa info. Thanks.

 

And yeah, I'm no programmer. Don't have a VB editor. The closest thing I've done to actual programming is HTML.

I "wrote" a program in a class once, but the prof ended up doing most of the work. I didn't understand it all. I do know why they get paid bukoo bucks, however.

[Mr.Guvernment 0]

i hope your using kazza lite

[Brian Frank 0]

Yup. I am.

[Christianb 8]

Hi Brian and Mr Guv,

Have either of you tried both KaZaA Lite and Diet Kaza? I am curious which you though was better and when you did you evaluation?

Thanks,

Christian Blackburn

[Brian Frank 0]

Never heard of the latter. I have used Kazaa lite (actually presently using it), and it works great. It's the Kazaa program with adware/spyware removed.

[Christianb 8]

Hi Brian

Diet Kaza is the same thing (spyware free), but it also speeds up downloads a little, by choosing find more locations on a timed interval for each downloading item. However the version I have doesn't resume failed downloads, but 2.0 does. However I'm in no hurry to upgrade. I'm also trying to impliment this feature myself in a program I'm writing called KaZaA Control. However, it's only somewhat stable right now and so I haven't uploaded it to any files libraries yet. Also I don't have settings dialogs for all the options yet . I do however have enough of the auto-update engine working for it to detect an updated version, offer to download it, and initiate the file download dialog of IE.

Adios,

Christian

[Ali 0]

am i the only one who doesn't understand this language? :x (not going after programming anymore, sticking to good old pascal)

 

this Kazaa has been causing a lot of headaches for all service departments when ID10T user is sitting at the computer. they make a lot of PETMAC problems with the system.

is there anyway to write code to detect the kazaa program and kill it before it even start the installation? I will buy that one!!!

[Christianb 8]

Hi Ali,

There is a way to make it so that every time they start an .exe that matches the name of one of KaZaA's installation files it's close it. This would of course prevent the application from running until they renamed it. At which point you would have verify file size, modification date, and perhaps even CRC Values. The cheapest way would be to prevent them from visiting Kazaa.com and creating a security policy that prevents them from running kazaa.exe. I can write an .exe that'll close any process named Kazaa.exe or a program that'd close every .exe that matched the file size, and or date of the current Kazaa versions 1.72 - 2.02. This would take me more time than what I was offering Brian Frank. If you want me to verify the .crc values that could be done as well, though it would slow down the users's system noticibly the first time they ran an .exe that matched one of the flagged file sizes. I could even have it log attempts to run Kazaa.exe so certain employees could be asked not to run it. I presume you've already given a company-wide warning not to run file-sharing applications on your company's network. One of us would also need to create a system policy in the registry to prevent users from forcibly closing my memory resident application. If you're a network admin and or already know the exact location for these settings then it would be more time efficient for your to do it, otherwise I could research that feature of Windows and how to impliment it on different platforms. What operating systems would you need supported? How much are you looking to spend? Obviously, the more detailed the solution the more time consuming it would be and therefore the more it would cost to impliment. I could write a reasonable solution in a day. I'd do that for $160 bucks.

Let me know what you think and if you'd like to view some sample applications or my resume.

Thanks,

Christian Blackburn

[Ali 0]

the problem is not the computers that we have at work anymore (i disable their internet access from the router and ask them to remove Kazza ) that works, but i have no idea how to make these big mouth customers to understand why their system is a P4 3.06 Ghz and 1234123412 GIGs of Ram and HDD and it's running slower than their Pentuim 90Mhz.

 

You may not believe it when the customer stands there and swers at me for 15 Min because he says he has "bought a system so he could download music".

 

may be somebody could come up with a virus or something that gets rid of Kazaa and we let our customers know "you can't use Kazza with our computers or you pay the price and take the responsibility for all the crap that happens after that!"

 

Quote:

I can write an .exe that'll close any process named Kazaa.exe or a program that'd close every .exe that matched the file size, and or date of the current Kazaa versions 1.72 - 2.02.

 

 

such a file has to run on startup, or it could be integerated in form of a windows XP service. That is not a bad idea. mmmmmm....... I'm thinking Evil thoughts! >

 

do you think i could put that on customer's computers?

[Christianb 8]

Hi Ali,

Legally you could put it on their computers if you put it on them before you sold it to them. Also I'm pretty sure you'd have to include it in the fine print of your customer service agreement. However, disabling the single most popular piece of software for the windows platform doesn't strike me as a winning business practice. You'll just have to explain to them that they need to close Kazaa and that just because the window isn't visible doesn't mean it isn't running. If you want a program that'll detect and close Kazaa and or remove it from startup, or uninstall it altogether that's fine, those are quite easy. Also yes I can make this application run at startup from the registry and I can also make it invisible and formless so it doesn't show up when you press alt+tab. I'm pretty sure it could also be made to run as a service.

 

Let me know if you're still interested. If not no big deal.

An application that would either remove KaZaA from startup or uninstall it would be considerably less expensive/time consuming. The problem is some users have add-on applications like Diet KaZa or KaZaA Lite that may take over the startup of Kazaa so I could write an application that would remove kazaa from startup, but if some other application is in startup and that's starting Kazaa those application would need to be supported too!

 

I could write an application that autoruns when they insert a CD and gives them the option of closing Kazaa, removing kazaa from startup, and or uninstalling it via three radio buttons. The primary time consumer with that would be making sure it works with all versions of Kazaa, Kazaa Lite, and Diet Kaza (asuming that you want that latter two supported).

 

Let's call each of those features 15 dollars:

-Giving users the option to Close Kazaa on demand (without any kind of file name, date, size, CRC verification)

 

-Giving users the option to uninstall Kazaa

 

-Giving users the option to remove it from startup

 

Adding support for Kazaa Lite to any feature 15 more dollars per feature.

Same applies for Diet Kazaa $15 more.

 

Christian Blackburn

[Ali 0]

I will seriously talk to Goron, the owner of the company (MDG computers Canada, www.mdg.ca), that could be a good solution. It will be a drag if he is going to be cheap, because we have a lot of problems with this application.

I'll probably let you know for sure by the end of this week.

 

they have to either change their service policy or do something like this software to all of our computers that come with windows pre-installed.

 

Thank you very much.

[Christianb 8]

Hi Ali,

Sounds good. Let me know how it goes. So you're from Canada eh? I used to live in the Seattle area and my parents would take my sister and I on vacation in Vancouver and Alberta from time to time. My favorite thing in Canada is Buchart Gardens, the likes of which I have yet to find an equal.

Thanks,

Christian Blackburn

[Ali 0]

Hi Christianb

 

It seems like these Canadian owned companies are going to stay small as always. I talked to Goron and it seemed like he wouldn't trust me. Well, his logic is that more software will create more software problems. He asked me to write something up in form of a notice and if it seemed appropriate he will include that document with the new systems.

I hate writing, that's the thing. Just to make a long story short i have to look for an English teacher instead of a computer programmer!

(Don’t you hate it when the guy talks to you like you are his son! ;( )

 

I really appreciate your help and respond. i wish i knew as much as you know about programming. i gave it up in grade 12.

 

 

Quote:

So you're from Canada eh?

 

I'm a Canadian citizen but I’m still an immigrant. I don't like some ways of this country, or maybe I’m just disappointed in the ways of the world. so many years and i have not found my place in the world yet.

 

I really like the people here. They are really nice and try to help others, and they make you feel comfortable. Especially with the multiculturalism society it is very easy to live here.

 

Don’t come here during winter though! It gets freezing!

[Christianb 8]

Hi Ali,

Thanks for the reply. No problem about KaZaA. So you said you used to program and or took a class in High School? On what programming language? My guess is it was something cryptic and that's why you didn't stick with it. Perhaps it was C++ or something . Okay now I know I just offended somone, but oh well. I think C++ is syntactically butt ugly and I'm not afraid to admit it .

 

As for Canadian companies staying small, I guess I would have to agree. The only company that I ever recall coming from Canada and suceeding in the US was Future Shop and for some silly reason we kicked them out of the country .

 

Too bad too, because that's one less competitor, although I think Best Buy has finally surpassed their excellence .

 

As for the weather in Canada, I can guarantee that I would never visit there during the winter without being paid .

Cheers Amigo,

Christian

[Ali 0]

I started with Turbo Pascal 7, which wasn't bad at all. i was almost moving to C but we moved to Canada. I was studying programming languages on my own and there are a lot of resources in Iran. In Canada... well, i should say the education system stinks when it comes to high school and the level of studies. What i studied in grade 8 they see for the first time in grade 11 or 12.

 

They work with Turing (a crappy windows based programming language!). The only reason they use it is because it is developed by U of Toronto and they pay a very little money for the license ($70 CAD if anybody else wants to buy it, I think it is a good punishment to make students use this software).

 

I started experimenting with hardware components and guess what; I took coop for a semester and they hired me as a service technician. This is what I do anyways, fixing friends computers. I’m pretty happy with the job, and I’m planning to go for computer or electronic engineering.

[Christianb 8]

Hi Ali,

Too bad you weren't able to keep up with Turbo Pascal. Not only was pascal a highly regarded language, but today so is it's offspring Borland Delphi. Delphi is able to compile some of the fastest .exes out there. Of course assembly and PowerBasic both have Delphi beat in terms of performance, but both definetly lag behind in terms of the time it takes to create a decent application. Delphi more often than not creates fasters .exes than MS C++. It also creates standalone .exes a feature that almost no other programming languages offer today. I know people think that their MS C++ apps are standalone, but in reality they aren't, because they require MSVCRT.dll. I think Borland C++ is able to create a standalone .exe and I'm sure there are a number of freeware tools that can do that. Also PowerBasic can create a standalone .exe, but everything written Java, Visual Basic, CA Realizer, C# and all the other .net languages all require runtimes. Also Delphi can be used to create linux applications as well. The linux version of Delphi is called Kylix. You may be aware of all of this, but I thought I'd mention it any ways.

 

I also agree with you that it's extremely lame that children aren't taught HTML by 4th grade and programming by 6th. I can only wonder how good my programming skills would be if I had learned to program before I was 18!

 

However, parents can make a huge difference in that regards, because they can pay and send their kids off to community college to master a marketable skill early on in life.

 

Man that sucks that you had to learn that podunk programming language. I've never even heard of Turing. I can only assume it sucks or simply was just never marketted effectively.

 

Is turing GNU or actual commercial software? It may be that we don't have that language in the United States, do any companies actually use it? Are there jobs available for it?

 

 

Well Adios Amigo,

Christian

[Ali 0]

see for yourself!

http://www.holtsoft.com/turing/

[Christianb 8]

Hi Ali,

I looked at a few of their syntax examples and their graphicals application winners and I for one don't think much of the language. If those are the best creations that application is capable of I for one am scared . Although I do realize that those are programmer's first projects. What school would really be stupid enough to use a proprietary language to teach the principles of those that are readily accepted? (aside from your's that is?). I hope they don't sell very many copies, although based on their description I'm sure many know-nothing corporate buyers have bought a copy or two.

Cheers,

Christian

[Ali 0]

Quote:

... What school would really be stupid enough to use a proprietary language to teach the principles of those that are readily accepted? (aside from your's that is?). ...

That whould be the entire Board of Education in Ontario!!! :x
anybody goes to highschool here will probably have to study that junk!

this programming language has no future. it will never catch up to anything. i have rather use Fox Pro!

[Christianb 8]

Hi Ali,

That's funny Fox Pro is decidedly unpopular . If you have unix you could learn kylix open edition that'd be pascal based? I'm also sure you could pick up an old copy of Delphi for Peanuts.

Well good luck in life whether or not you decide to give programming another try,

Christian