What does Office Application Start Do? OSA.exe

[Christianb 8]

Hi Gang,

I have removed an OSA.exe from my startup. I recall in the past having problems with office without it, but currently everything seems to be working fine. This isn't that stupid program that searches for Office documents when you're system is idle is it?

Thanks,

Christian Blackburn

[Christianb 8]

Hi Alec,

Thanks for the info. I removed this application from my system's startup routine since it's just going to slow things down. Sure it'll slow down the execution of office application's but I don't really run them all that frequently so it's not a very big deal to me .

Thanks Again for the Help,

Christian

[Christianb 8]

Hi Alec,

I really don't recall helping you all that much. I certainly remember writing you quite a few long post though and recommending InnoSetup. In fact it seems like you have helped me quite a few times more. Although I gotta admit, most of the time it's you and I that are helping someone else . Speaking of Open Source Dev tools I tried XBasic, which is supposed to be one of the closest things to Visual Basic in the open source world. Well it's not a VB clone really, it's a basic clone, and you can create a UI using wxWindows objects (like Java, only there's more supported platforms, it isn' web based, and it's an open-source alternative). I was rather disapointed. I hate case-sensitivity, and a lack of syntax highlighting to let you know whether or not you're on the right track. The cool thing about XBasic is that your source code can be compiled to work on Win32 and Unix. The IDE is the same for both platforms (mediocre ). The problem is that the Win32 version of XBasic compiles to a wxWindows .exe which means that the compiled .exe is about like Java: slow, and consists of non-standard controls (controls proprietary to the window-ing environment). I also took a little bit of a look at Delphi and PowerBasic. Believe it or not PowerBasic is even faster than Delphi! That's something alright, but Delphi is significantly easier to use, cheaper, and more integrated between code and UI design. Not to mention you can actually find a job using Delphi .

So Long Buddy,

Christian

[Christianb 8]

Hi Alec,

Thanks for the quick reply. I need to fix my YahooPops setup. For some reason it's not working right now. I had 0.40 and it quit working after some change was made to yahoo. The SourceForge project messageboards said that 0.39 was working, so I reinstalled that and it still isn't working. So I will have to try again later. Basically the two guys who wrote it are on vacation together and the project isn't being maintained while they're gone. YahooPops emulates a POP3 server for Yahoo Mail accounts via the System Tray. Typically I only check for e-mail using Outlook Express and since my NT Compatible account forwards to MyPurchases@Yahoo.com (designed for junk mail and receipts resulting from online purchases!) I haven't been checking my messageboard replies a lot lately . I don't like using web mail interfaces, because they're slow and lack a considerable ammount of functionality. I wish someone would make a good web mail service in Java. CNET just came out with a new junk mail free (well almost) service I wonder if it uses Java rather than HTML.

 

That's funny that your unemployed right now. I am too. I'm sorry to hear that . Enjoy it while you can though.

 

 

Can you recommend a good Delphi book or a series of Delphi books that are considered to be the best?

 

As for Delphi vs PowerBasic. Yes I'm pretty darn sure it was faster. The smallest compiled .exe you can create in Delphi 6 that includes a form is about 256KB. In PowerBasic it's about 8KB! So yes, I think it's faster. The apps practically flash onto the screen. They even have a text editor clone that started up microscopically faster than notepad! It's hard to be faster than Notepad! Course Notepad isn't a Delphi app either.

 

On the PowerBasic website there are tons of examples of compiled applications with source code. Since you know C++ I think you'd get a lot more out of PowerBasic than I could since my Windows API knowledge is accordingly lacking. I do know a considerable ammount of Windows API for a VB programmer, but that doesn't mean squat compared to the average C++ developer .

 

There were probably three sample apps I really liked one of the was called PB Mine, and is a minesweaper clone, the guy who wrote it dedicated it to his deceased father, who hopefully didn't die working with mines. Nonetheless, I sure think it's a sweat gesture for him to have written a program in his honor.

 

The biggest disadvantages of PowerBasic are:

#1: No user base: no stores carry their product, and there almost aren't any open source projects in it

 

#2: The UI development tool isn't integrated into the Coding Environment, in fact it's a separate product altogether.

 

#3: The coding environment is 200 dollars and it's another 100 if you want the UI Dev tool.

 

#4: There is no trial or demo version (aside from a version 3 dos compiler, and the windows version is 7.0!). They just want you to buy it and they give you a 30 day money back guarantee. Personally, I consider that a high risk evaluation, the kind that an unemployed person probably isn't going to take part in . However on the bright side they do host a number of freeware UI editing tools and have links to alternative UI creation tools from a variety of vendors.

 

 

You might like XBasic, I will probably play with that more and I'm joining the open source project to make my own edits. I'm going to remove the Case-Sensitivity of the language as much as possible. I don't know C so I can't mess with the compiler so I was thinking I'd just have the text editor fix the source automatically once a user moves to the next line like VB does. The other things I hated about XBasic were:

#1: that the menu bar didn't document the keyboard shortcuts.

 

#2: the menu bar is all lower-case and not all of the menu items have hotkeys

 

#3: the menu bar's hotkeys don't work if you maximize the program, but once you return it to it's medial state they work fine. Go Figure!

 

#4: the application will never start maximized and when you do maximize it the keyboard shortcuts don't work.

 

#5: the console (basically the immediate window, except you can prompt users too, kinda cool really) starts up on top of the main program rather than behind it or in a specific portion the work area. Instead of having it's own place it simply blocks a good portion of the screen.

 

#6: the online help is pitiful.

 

#7: there isn't a category at PlanetSource.com for XBasic

 

#8: okay I'll quit, but you should give it a try some time and see if you like it or would get a kick out of working on it with me.

 

Project Page:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/xbasic

 

Yahoo Group (not unlike phpBB that we're using right now with NT Compatible, course phpBB is ten times better, but heh who's counting 1, 2, 3, 4..... ):

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xbasic/

 

Also here are all the bugs I wrote:

13 or 14 I think! It's not my fault that there's a lot of room for improvment.

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=1657&atid=101657

 

So long buddy I gotta get cracking,

Christian Blackburn