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DNS Benchmark v2 Release 5 with Consultant License Guest:
If you own any earlier release of our DNS Benchmark you may immediately download its release #5 replacement. Running an earlier release will detect the new release and help you upgrade.
Although this release is cosmetic, appearance matters and affects ease of use. The biggest change, as seen in the image above, is that the DNS Benchmark now has a traditional Windows application menu to more fully expose its many features. This release is also "Consultant License Aware" and GRC will now issue a Consultant version when owners have previously purchased four "Personal Use" licenses. If you have previously purchased four DNSB licenses, or if you wish to upgrade your "Personal Use" license to Consultant, GRC's purchase process will direct you through that process.
/Steve. -
Be sure to checkout “Tips & Tricks” Dear Guest Visitor → Once you register and log-in please checkout the “Tips & Tricks” page for some very handy tips!
/Steve. -
BootAble – FreeDOS boot testing freeware
To obtain direct, low-level access to a system's mass storage drives, SpinRite runs under a GRC-customized version of FreeDOS which has been modified to add compatibility with all file systems. In order to run SpinRite it must first be possible to boot FreeDOS.
GRC's “BootAble” freeware allows anyone to easily create BIOS-bootable media in order to workout and confirm the details of getting a machine to boot FreeDOS through a BIOS. Once the means of doing that has been determined, the media created by SpinRite can be booted and run in the same way.
The participants here, who have taken the time to share their knowledge and experience, their successes and some frustrations with booting their computers into FreeDOS, have created a valuable knowledgebase which will benefit everyone who follows.
You may click on the image to the right to obtain your own copy of BootAble. Then use the knowledge and experience documented here to boot your computer(s) into FreeDOS. And please do not hesitate to ask questions – nowhere else can better answers be found.
(You may permanently close this reminder with the 'X' in the upper right.)
^Humou?r (AKA Recreation for Nerds Who Enjoy Levity!) Put it all here!
#1
danlock
danlock
#2
Paul F
Paul F
#4
Tazz
Tazz
#7
Barry Wallis
Barry Wallis
#9
danlock
danlock
It's probably similar to other words with identical meanings and different spellings, such as humor = humour
The Oxford English Dictionary, the ultimate source for all English words, says: "Math. is used as an abbreviation in written English in the U.K. but not in speech, the normal form being Maths".
More musings on nerd recreation and personal train-of-thought:
I'm American, but I often place punctuation marks outside the quotation marks because I got into that habit at a very young age when programming. If I put punctuation inside the quotation marks while coding, it's treated as a textual string rather than as an operator (as you all know, I'm sure). (In this case it was merely copypasta (copied and pasted) from another site and to pay respect to the OED, which, as a product of England, probably does it that way by default.)
That's probably also why I don't really have a problem with nested parenthesis (rather than the more frequently used in-print method, alternating parenthesis and square brackets [..(..[..]..)..], or whatever your preferred style guide indicates). I've noticed a lot of punctuation reduction in printed texts over the past 20 years. That might be another change resulting from this online world in which we now live.
The largest change seemed to begin around 1997-'98 when the "average human population" began to invade the internet, adding to positive and negative diversity of all kinds. It had formerly been a place where you could go and be pretty certain you were talking to other "smart people," among nearly all of whom there was a mutual respect of sorts. I'm sure most people reading this—who are not too young—will remember that with more alacrity than I can. That mutual respect-of-sorts has long since been tossed aside and allowed (or forced) to decay where it was discarded, a place on the Information Superhighway where the smoothness of the road gave way to potholes and bumpy rides, later shifting to exponentially increasing speeds and capacity with its underlying, variably pock-marked highway haunted by malware-marauders (malauders? malhawkers?*) and overlaid with advertisements, phishing bait of all types (each containing a nasty hook tied to a line with nearly infinite tensile strength), traffic diversions, and dead-ends that redirect the oblivious innumerable masses of packets/vehicklets down undesired pathways where they gain additional unwanted passengers (barnacles, leeches, etc.) and have less control over their packet-vehicles than they think, while still achieving transfer speeds high enough and ping times low enough that they don't notice the holes and gaps, misdirected pathways, and malware tunnels (or troll-guarded bridges) through or over which they've traveled before arriving at their destinations.
Most of the '90s and until 2008-or-so were, for me, a more-confused SMEAR than Windows 10 will ever be. Come to think of it, every time in my life which has consisted of more than a few days or weeks that were similar to each other is like that. 2020, while different for most people (from what I've read), has not really been different for me from any year preceding it (after the first quarter of 1990) except for certain elements, such as how I didn't ride my bicycle as much during the summer as I usually do; it's my primary mode of transportation, so I've been overweight and relatively out-of-shape.
In chatrooms and on message boards like this, we tend to type things as we say them, making these places more a physical representation of spoken dialog(ue) than a collection of more-formal written messages, like BBSs or USENet, places that served a relatively tiny portion of all humans and were thus easier to moderate by Sysops and users (and whatever they used for moderation on CompuServe, GEnie, and the like).
Typing things as we say them can lead to problems (as I see it, though many probably don't) if we fail to use punctuation in the manner that so many "youngsters" do nowadays, since that leads to strings of run-on sentences and/or sentences with ambiguous meanings. You'd think they would have learned those basic elements of sentence construction as children, but I guess the digital elements of the world made a larger (or deeper and longer-lasting) impression on their brains than did the scholastic elements.
Another hypothesis: Maybe this is how the language is changing. The English language is always changing and evolving, making it an example of something for which the only constant is change. The speed at which this latest evolution of the language is occurring is yet another reason why the OED will probably be under constant revision for the foreseeable future.
There are certain words for which I typically prefer to use the UK spelling, something I think is a result of childhood reading and re-reading of many books and stories by Herbert George "H.G." Wells, Clive Staples "C.S." Lewis, and Jonathan Ronald Reuel "J.R.R." Tolkien, among others.
I even read some (I can't remember which!) of W. Shakespeare's plays (textbooks my mom had saved from University), something I'm glad I did then rather than later, because there was a LOT of sexual innuendo that went over my young head, with its childhood naiveté. I did not read those multiple times as I did the more modern English writings of the authors I listed previously. However, there are a lot of Shakespearean references and quotes in all of Star Trek, including many of the main actors, who were Shakespearean actors before acting in television (and motion picture) Sci-Fi collectively known as Star Trek.
You'll recall that one has not really experienced Shakespeare until one has heard it in the original Klingon.
The Oxford English Dictionary, the ultimate source for all English words, says: "Math. is used as an abbreviation in written English in the U.K. but not in speech, the normal form being Maths".
More musings on nerd recreation and personal train-of-thought:
I'm American, but I often place punctuation marks outside the quotation marks because I got into that habit at a very young age when programming. If I put punctuation inside the quotation marks while coding, it's treated as a textual string rather than as an operator (as you all know, I'm sure). (In this case it was merely copypasta (copied and pasted) from another site and to pay respect to the OED, which, as a product of England, probably does it that way by default.)
That's probably also why I don't really have a problem with nested parenthesis (rather than the more frequently used in-print method, alternating parenthesis and square brackets [..(..[..]..)..], or whatever your preferred style guide indicates). I've noticed a lot of punctuation reduction in printed texts over the past 20 years. That might be another change resulting from this online world in which we now live.
The largest change seemed to begin around 1997-'98 when the "average human population" began to invade the internet, adding to positive and negative diversity of all kinds. It had formerly been a place where you could go and be pretty certain you were talking to other "smart people," among nearly all of whom there was a mutual respect of sorts. I'm sure most people reading this—who are not too young—will remember that with more alacrity than I can. That mutual respect-of-sorts has long since been tossed aside and allowed (or forced) to decay where it was discarded, a place on the Information Superhighway where the smoothness of the road gave way to potholes and bumpy rides, later shifting to exponentially increasing speeds and capacity with its underlying, variably pock-marked highway haunted by malware-marauders (malauders? malhawkers?*) and overlaid with advertisements, phishing bait of all types (each containing a nasty hook tied to a line with nearly infinite tensile strength), traffic diversions, and dead-ends that redirect the oblivious innumerable masses of packets/vehicklets down undesired pathways where they gain additional unwanted passengers (barnacles, leeches, etc.) and have less control over their packet-vehicles than they think, while still achieving transfer speeds high enough and ping times low enough that they don't notice the holes and gaps, misdirected pathways, and malware tunnels (or troll-guarded bridges) through or over which they've traveled before arriving at their destinations.
*I derive malhawkers from malware + jayhawkers, the latter a term used during the US Civil War, described here:
In chatrooms and on message boards like this, we tend to type things as we say them, making these places more a physical representation of spoken dialog(ue) than a collection of more-formal written messages, like BBSs or USENet, places that served a relatively tiny portion of all humans and were thus easier to moderate by Sysops and users (and whatever they used for moderation on CompuServe, GEnie, and the like).
Typing things as we say them can lead to problems (as I see it, though many probably don't) if we fail to use punctuation in the manner that so many "youngsters" do nowadays, since that leads to strings of run-on sentences and/or sentences with ambiguous meanings. You'd think they would have learned those basic elements of sentence construction as children, but I guess the digital elements of the world made a larger (or deeper and longer-lasting) impression on their brains than did the scholastic elements.
Another hypothesis: Maybe this is how the language is changing. The English language is always changing and evolving, making it an example of something for which the only constant is change. The speed at which this latest evolution of the language is occurring is yet another reason why the OED will probably be under constant revision for the foreseeable future.
There are certain words for which I typically prefer to use the UK spelling, something I think is a result of childhood reading and re-reading of many books and stories by Herbert George "H.G." Wells, Clive Staples "C.S." Lewis, and Jonathan Ronald Reuel "J.R.R." Tolkien, among others.
I even read some (I can't remember which!) of W. Shakespeare's plays (textbooks my mom had saved from University), something I'm glad I did then rather than later, because there was a LOT of sexual innuendo that went over my young head, with its childhood naiveté. I did not read those multiple times as I did the more modern English writings of the authors I listed previously. However, there are a lot of Shakespearean references and quotes in all of Star Trek, including many of the main actors, who were Shakespearean actors before acting in television (and motion picture) Sci-Fi collectively known as Star Trek.
You'll recall that one has not really experienced Shakespeare until one has heard it in the original Klingon.
#11
Barry Wallis
Barry Wallis
#12
danlock
danlock
Relaxing as I go with Frankie to Hollywood, way back in the '80s when I was smart.
#14
PHoganDive
PHoganDive
This is not new, but can be amusing for a bit...
blueballfixed.ytmnd.com
Blue Ball Machine (fixed)
The original domain had been deleted, so I decided to create a new YTMND with the old domain.
blueballfixed.ytmnd.com
#15
danlock
danlock
#16
P
PHolder
P
PHolder
More like that @danlock
en.wikipedia.org
I am fond of the one from 1990.
April Fools' Day Request for Comments - Wikipedia
I am fond of the one from 1990.
#17
danlock
danlock
#18
danlock
danlock
#19
danlock
danlock
OK, one more for now... for all new PC owners! NEVER MOVE YOUR PC WITHOUT GOOD REASON! and "DON'T worry much about viruses. They're dying down now." hehe. This guy knows his stuff! "seen it all and done it all"
(Some DOS stuff removed to reduce message length.)
(Some DOS stuff removed to reduce message length.)
Code:
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º º
º GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR NEW PC º
º º
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I have been programming for twenty years on all sorts of computers,
but the PC is my favorite. I've seen it all (almost), and done it all
(almost) and I'd like to take this opportunity to help those of you who have
just purchased your first PC. I am going to give you a few do's and don'ts
- feel free to disagree, but at least I'll give you some interesting ideas
to think about. First of all, if you have not yet purchased a PC, please
follow the following RULES OF PC PURCHASE:
1. If you can, buy at least a 286 or 386.
(Why? Because the older 8086 PC's are
just TOO SLOW!)
2. Get the biggest hard disk you can afford.
(Why? Because they fill up with good
software much faster than you would expect.)
3. Get a color monitor, preferably VGA.
(Why? Because I like color, of course,
and have three monochrome monitors
sitting unused in my closet!)
4. Make sure one of your floppies is 5 1/4 inch
size (that's the standard size).
Now that you have your PC up and running, here are the things
to do:
1. FOCUS YOUR INTERESTS. Try to figure out why you got a PC and what you
want to do with it. Are you interested in writing, music, art, programming
or what. Come on, you must be interested in something! A PC can be used
for virtually anything. It is even good for teaching your child to read
(Reader Rabbit, Amy's Primer). Focus, focus, focus.
2. USE A SURGE SUPPRESSOR. Go ahead, I know you are almost broke after
buying that 220 Megabyte hard disk, but GET A SURGE SUPPRESSOR BEFORE
YOU TURN IT ON! The very first night I put together my first PC,
there was a huge thunder and lightning storm. My house wiring took
a direct hit while my $3500 investment was on for the very first time!
A surge suppressor saved my bacon by turning off automatically. After
30 minutes it mysteriously went back on by itself, and my PC was undamaged.
3. TRY DESKTOP PUBLISHING & A WORD PROCESSOR. Remember using a typewriter?
One tiny mistake and you had to retype the whole page! Now, with any
simple word processor, you can correct your errors before you print the
first copy. And if you write a lot of letters, it's great to have an
automatic file of all the letters you wrote on your hard disk, complete
with addresses. Desktop publishing is also a terrific advance, and
with inexpensive products like Publish It! or First Publisher, it is
also easy to get started. Perhaps you have an idea for your own
newsletter?
4.TRY LOTUS 123 OR ANOTHER SIMILAR SPREADSHEET. The PC became so incredibly
popular because of Lotus (and Word Processing). Though I personally am
bored to tears by spreadsheets, fifty million users can't be wrong,
so give it a try.
5.TRY THE BASIC INTERPRETER YOU GOT WITH YOUR MACHINE. Basic, or the GWBASIC
you probably got free with your clone, is an easy and surprisingly powerful
language (GW stands for Gee Whiz!). Even if you plan to buy most
of your software, you will understand your PC much better if you write a
few simple BASIC programs of your own. If you find you like BASIC, you
may eventually want to move up to QuickBasic or Turbo Basic, which
run about $69.95 and allow you to compile your Basic Programs to true
EXE files, just like the professional programs you buy.
6.LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT DOS. The Disk Operating System you got with your
machine is also a powerful language, and you should run, not walk, to
your nearest bookstore and buy the slimmest book you can find about DOS.
7.GET A HARD DISK & LEARN TO ORGANIZE IT. If you already have a PC without
a Hard Disk, you have already experienced the incredible frustration
of computing from only one or two floppies. Get a Hard Disk, 40 Megabyte
minimum. It shouldn't cost much more than $300. Right now, there is
a mail-order bargain on the Seagate 65 Meg RLL Drive. You will need
an RLL Controller, but the disk is only $260 and built like a tank.
(See Computer Shopper).
8. GET THE NORTON UTILITIES. This bag of tricks and techniques will more
than pay for itself with Quick Unerase, which will allow you to easily
recover those files you deleted by mistake.
9. BACKUP IRREPLACEABLE FILES TO FLOPPY DISKS. If you are writing the
great American Novel, copy your work once a week to a floppy and stash
it in a safe place. It only takes a second, and imagine how you
would feel if the only copy on your hard disk somehow became
unreadable. I leave the question of full hard disk backups completely
up to you. If you have a lot of important files on your hard disk
it may be advisable, even if it takes 60 or more floppies. Fastback Plus
or DSBackup can ease the task. I don't personally backup, but I have
three machines (one 386, one 286 and one old 8086) and each has copies
of my most important files. They are all surge protected, and the
chance of three simultaneuos hard disk disasters is only 1 in 47,000,000.
(Approximately).
10. BUY A DOZEN SHAREWARE PROGRAMS FOR $1.99 EACH, AND REGISTER AT LEAST ONE.
Shareware is an interesting and inexpensive way to experience a broad
range of software. It is a unique marketing concept - try before you
buy. You will help keep it alive, and more good shareware coming, if
you register the shareware you like and continue to use. You will
absolutely need a simple ASCII Editor to use your PC properly.
Without a simple editor, even changing your AUTOEXEC.BAT file
is a real chore. QEDIT is nice. Put PROMPT $P $G in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file RIGHT NOW if it isn't already there. It
identifies directory names when you change directories.
11. TRY SOME ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PROGRAMS TO PEEK INTO THE FUTURE
OF COMPUTING. You have probably heard about Expert Systems, that
follow rules-of-thumb to give advice like a human expert, but
through Shareware you can also try one yourself. Other areas are
Natural Language Programs, that respond to your english language
sentences, and Neural Networks that mimic the thought process of the
human brain. Many can be experienced at low cost through shareware,
or though the miracle of Modems and Bulletin Boards. Or you could
select one of the three very special packages we'll introduce you
to at the end of this Tutorial. Each package is usually $99.95,
but is offered here for only $59.95.
12. AFTER YOU ARE FAIRLY COMFORTABLE WITH DOS, TRY WINDOWS 3.0.
Windows 3.0 is a GUI or Graphical User Interface. It requires
the use of a Mouse, because you operate Windows by pointing and
clicking with the Mouse. It also requires a serious 286 or 386
computer with VGA and plenty of hard disk space. Windows alone
wants about 5 Meg of your hard drive geography.
Although most of what you want to do on a computer does not
require Windows, you should eventually try it, because it
probably represents the future of PC Computing.
THINGS YOU SHOULD TRY TO AVOID
DON'T:
Move your PC without very good reason. It can destroy the
programs on your hard disk.
Get any weird programs that mess with your hard disk if you
havn't had a problem!
Make millions of directories within directories.
Keep your hard disk almost full.
Worry about OS/2 - it is a dead issue for home users.
Leave your machine on all the time.
Worry if you can't learn to program in C, Lisp or Prolog.
Write COBOL on a PC.
Worry much about Viruses. They are dying down now.
Load your machine so full of TSR's at start-up that it gets confused.
Open your computer unless you absolutely have to.
Upgrade to a 386 if you have a fast 286.
Upgrade at all - buy another machine. Two is nice.
Try to to turn your PC into a MAC - buy a MAC.
Don't overload your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
Don't type FORMAT C: unless you really mean it!
if you get hopelessly confused, just BOOT!
(turn your computer OFF and back ON, or
press CTRL-ALT-DEL simultaneously).
LIST.COM, included on this disk, should be installed
in the Root Directory of your PC. It is better than
the type command. To use it, just type LIST followed
by the text file name you want to read. When you
EXIT the Main Menu from AITUTOR, try typing
LIST CATALOG.TXT to read a selection from our AI Catalog.
Serious DOS mistakes:
typing FORMAT C: (erases your whole C: Drive)
not backing up critical files to floppy disks
typing DEL *.* in your ROOT (deletes all root files)
pouring coffee in your keyboard. (keyboards prefer water).
(C) 1991 Thinking Software, Inc.
#20
danlock
danlock
#21
danlock
danlock
#23
danlock
danlock
#24
danlock
danlock
#25
TheCaptain989
TheCaptain989
#26
rfrazier
rfrazier
I've only skimmed this thread, but I'll throw in my 2 cents:
1) Sign on a print shop wall: You can have your order GOOD, FAST, or CHEAP - choose two. (Think about it.)
2) Another sign on a print shop wall: Rates: Normal - $ 50 / hr, If you watch - $ 65 / hr, If you help - $ 75 / hr
3) Sign in the break room of a tech repair shop: "Customer Complaint Form" Enter your complaint in the BOX provided: --> <-- (box is about 1/8" wide)
4) Another sign in the break room of a tech repair shop: "Technician's Federal Tax Form" (blank) Enter your name, (blank) Enter your ID, (blank) How much money did you make?, Please send it in.
May your bits be stable and your interfaces be fast. Ron
1) Sign on a print shop wall: You can have your order GOOD, FAST, or CHEAP - choose two. (Think about it.)
2) Another sign on a print shop wall: Rates: Normal - $ 50 / hr, If you watch - $ 65 / hr, If you help - $ 75 / hr
3) Sign in the break room of a tech repair shop: "Customer Complaint Form" Enter your complaint in the BOX provided: --> <-- (box is about 1/8" wide)
4) Another sign in the break room of a tech repair shop: "Technician's Federal Tax Form" (blank) Enter your name, (blank) Enter your ID, (blank) How much money did you make?, Please send it in.
May your bits be stable and your interfaces be fast.
Ron
#27
Barry Wallis
Barry Wallis
#28
Dave
Dave
#29
danlock
danlock