▒▓█ Software

HOW TO POWER OFF OR RESTART ANDROID PHONE WITHOUT TOUCHING HARDWARE BUTTONS

HOW TO POWER OFF OR RESTART ANDROID PHONE WITHOUT TOUCHING HARDWARE BUTTONS

Say you would like to extend life cycle of your hardware power button and want to turn off/restart your device without touching mechanics. Unfortunately most of smartphones don’t offer such functionality out of the box. However there is an easy way to make things rollin'. Problem can be solved by installing [Power Menu] , very small application. It is a simple tool which just works, do expected thing and moreover contains no bloat at all.
ENDEAVOUR OS ▀ LINUX FROM NETHERLANDS

ENDEAVOUR OS ▀ LINUX FROM NETHERLANDS

Recently i had [some frustrations] with Manjaro Linux. Most notable for me were: not so good compatibility with Windows 7 [dual booting is working, but after Manjaro updated, Windows 7 stopped working for some reason]. some problems with Nvidia drivers strange power management system not properly working keyboard backlit on Dell laptop So, i went to [DistroWatch] and instantly noticed [EndeavourOS] , which was already among popular distributions and rapidly climbing to the top.
FIXING SLOW STARTUP OF APPLICATIONS IN MANJARO XFCE

FIXING SLOW STARTUP OF APPLICATIONS IN MANJARO XFCE

Right after installing [Manjaro Linux] i run into weird issue. Most of needed applications like Firefox and Thunderbird take around 10 seconds or so just to startup. Such behavior on NVME drive is unacceptable at all. Problem was in a serious [bug in gnome desktop] , despite the fact that i’m running XFCE desk. Workaround for GTK-based desktops is to run following commmands in terminal: sudo pacman -Rdd xdg-desktop-portal-gnome sudo pacman -S xdg-desktop-portal-gtk Imagery by spacedrone808
SWITCHING TO LINUX TO KEEP UP WITH MODERN TECHNOLOGIES

SWITCHING TO LINUX TO KEEP UP WITH MODERN TECHNOLOGIES

Recently, I’ve decided to install Linux for web development to make sure that i’m not missing something in terms of modern features and technologies. I chose [Manjaro] with [XFCE] desktop. However, all multimedia works are staying on Windows 7. I still can’t find proper replacement for Vegas Pro and many other tools i use in my daily workflow. [Modern web is working] , [security is updated] , so i don’t see any reason to ditch it in favor of something more fancy.
ESSENTIAL VSCODE SHORTCUTS TO SPEED UP YOUR WORKFLOW DRAMATICALLY

ESSENTIAL VSCODE SHORTCUTS TO SPEED UP YOUR WORKFLOW DRAMATICALLY

UPDATED ON: 2024-02-17 Here is a small list of mandatory keystrokes, which significantly speed up working process! NAVIGATION [CTRL]+[K]+[O] ► open folder [CTRL]+[K]+[F] ► close folder [after release K and CTRL] [ALT]+[L]+[O] ► open in browser [CTRL]+[W] ► close current tab [CTRL]+[K]+[W] ► close all tabs [ALT]+[1]/[2]/[3] ► fast-switch to diffrenet tabs [CTRL]+[1]/[2] ► fast-switch between panels [CTRL]+[] ► split screen / two panels [CTRL]+[G]+[NUMBER] ► jump to appointed line [CTRL]+[ALT]+[RIGHT]/[LEFT] ► move tab to opposite panel and back
RENOISE EFFECTS LIST AND VARIOUS TRACKER TIPS

RENOISE EFFECTS LIST AND VARIOUS TRACKER TIPS

UPDATED ON: 2023-09-20 Version: 0.5 Considered Renoise version is 3.4.x. Just a small collection of important things to remember. Will be nice if stash come in handy to someone. ▒ GENERAL SETTINGS [-] GUI effects and animation [+] More compatible GFX updates [48] Limit frame rate [-] View multiple patterns continuously [+] Single click to create new points [hold Shift to select] [-8dB] Track headroom ▲ BACK TO TOP
DELL PRECISION 7520 AND LENOVO X1 CARBON GEN5 RECEIVED ANOTHER BIOS UPDATES

DELL PRECISION 7520 AND LENOVO X1 CARBON GEN5 RECEIVED ANOTHER BIOS UPDATES

Fastest Windows 7 laptops are still on the edge. Dell & Lenovo ’ve made some enhancements to address following security vulnerabilities: * CVE-2022-38087 * CVE-2022-40982 * CVE-2022-37343 * CVE-2022-44611 * CVE-2022-27879 * CVE-2022-38083 * CVE-2022-43505 * CVE-2023-28005 * CVE-2022-36763 * CVE-2022-36764 * CVE-2022-36765 [Dell Precision 7520] ► Firmware version 1.31.0 [take a note that model 7510 was bumped also] [direct link] [Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen5] ► Firmware version 1.59 [applied to models 20HQ, 20HR, 20K3 and 20K4] [direct link] Nice to see that such older platforms are still maintained.
COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF THE MOST IMPORTANT RENOISE SHORTCUTS

COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF THE MOST IMPORTANT RENOISE SHORTCUTS

UPDATED ON: 2023-09-20 List of shortcuts, which i frequently use in my work-flow. Text version for offline surfing can be grabbed [here] . Official list of shortcuts can be found [on Renoise site] . ▒ MODIFICATORS [SHIFT] ► track [ALT] ► block [selection] [CTRL]+[SHIFT] ► column [ALT]+[SHIFT] ► group [CTRL] ► pattern ▒ GENERAL [ALT]+[ENTER] ► toggle real fullscreen [CTRL]+[N] ► new song [CTRL]+[S] ► save song [CTRL]+[SHIFT]+[S] ► save track as [CTRL]+[O] ► open song [CTRL]+[,] ► open preferences
SECURE YOURSELF FROM AUTORUN VIRUSES

SECURE YOURSELF FROM AUTORUN VIRUSES

UPDATED ON: 2023-08-24 This is a short clipping from [Complete tweaking guide for Windows 7] article. First of all you need to terminate autorun feature for housewives to limit auto-start of unwanted applications and viruses. I prefer fully manual control what’s starting and what is not. To complete this tuning like a boss do the following on all external flash devices you have. Format your Flash/HDD storage using NTFS file system Take a note that modern smartphones can’t read such storage devices.
IS IT HARD TO RUN WINDOWS 7 IN 2023? NAH, NOT AT ALL!

IS IT HARD TO RUN WINDOWS 7 IN 2023? NAH, NOT AT ALL!

Looking back to previous couple of years and taking into perspective generic non-computer life it is quite amazing what people are capable of. I’m talking about amount of rave and chaotic mess they can produce. Artificial difficulties, overcomplicated situations, meaningless and moronic wars, you name it. Taking into account above mentioned things it’s really easy to handle such “problem” as running Windows 7 in modern age. Despite the fact that there are plenty of people around who are mumbling about Windows 7 obsolescense and bla-bla-bla.
WINDOWS 7 X64 EXECUTES FIREFOX 117 NIGHTLY VERSION WITHOUT ANY ISSUES

WINDOWS 7 X64 EXECUTES FIREFOX 117 NIGHTLY VERSION WITHOUT ANY ISSUES

UPDATED ON: 2023-08-23 Despite [previous statement] regarding Windows 7 EOL status after version 115 current nightly alpha binary [v117] works just fine. Installer threw generic mambo-jambo that program can’t work in Windows 7 environment and then artificially blocks installation. How generic & dumb. Workaround is just unzip exe-package with [7-zip] and execute browser from unpacked Core folder. FIREFOX 117 ABOUT WINDOW Right after installation software immediately begins to whine about inability to update.
HOW TO CHANGE GUI LANGUAGE IN PHOTOSHOP TO ENGLISH

HOW TO CHANGE GUI LANGUAGE IN PHOTOSHOP TO ENGLISH

This can be done by changing application’s language locale to English. But what if you have only one non-English language in GUI preferences? The solution is surprisingly simple. Close Photoshop if it is already running Find following file: tw10428.dat Standard location: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop YOUR-VERSION\Locales\YOUR-LANGUAGE\Support Files\ In case of Photoshop 2020 file is named: tw10428_Photoshop_ru_RU.dat Rename it into something like: tw10428.dat.bak Ta-da! Start software and enjoy! Imagery by spacedrone808
BRING BACK NORMAL HEIGHT TO TABS IN FIREFOX 115

BRING BACK NORMAL HEIGHT TO TABS IN FIREFOX 115

I bet most of Firefox oldschool users hated the recent “changes” in terms of overall browser design. Rounded childish like-chrome corners, foolish restriction on what can be configured and so on. And now they crippled the look of browser tabs: to waste your workspace and spoil the design, just take a look at this: MODERN “NORMAL” STYLE LEGACY NORMAL STYLE SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON I suppose that such “changes” were made in favor to touchscreen devices.
HOW TO MINIMIZE LAPTOP POWER CONSUMPTION

HOW TO MINIMIZE LAPTOP POWER CONSUMPTION

Say you need to run on a laptop battery vintage or simply non-demanding applications for an extremely long time. Here is a little breakdown of mandatory things to do: turn off in BIOS unneeded devices like camera, sd-card reader, fingerprint scanner, gsm-modem, wifi, bt or whatever you are not using turn on power saving features like various C-power states turn off hyper-threading and hi-core count [if you have such ability] lower screen brightness to acceptable level check my [quick] and [comprehensive] optimization FAQs get rid of [unneeded services and bloat applications] Also you can use core parking utility [Park Control] , but in this mini-guide i’ll show you how to set power related things up via internal Windows 7 tools.
HOW TO SET PROPER COLOR FOR CURSOR AND COMMENTS IN VSCODE EDITOR

HOW TO SET PROPER COLOR FOR CURSOR AND COMMENTS IN VSCODE EDITOR

UPDATED ON: 2023-12-02 The main reason i’ve decided to write this note is indistinct default color mappings and inability to solve issue simply using GUI of software. In main configuration file: settings.json add following lines: "workbench.colorCustomizations": { "editorCursor.foreground": "#ff0000", "terminalCursor.foreground": "#02ED3D", "editorLineNumber.activeForeground": "#ff0000", "editor.lineHighlightBackground": "#016119", "editor.lineHighlightBorder": "#02ED3D", "terminal.foreground": "#02ed3d" }, To set custom color for GREY comments drop in these lines: "editor.tokenColorCustomizations": { "conmments": "#ff006f" } To fast access configuration file press:
HOW TO RUN LATEST VS CODE IN WINDOWS 7 X64

HOW TO RUN LATEST VS CODE IN WINDOWS 7 X64

UPDATED ON: 2024-02-26 v1.81.1 is a more recent version, which can be executed without any efforts v1.87 is a hacked [FINAL version] for Windows 7 x64 So, Windows 7 users are pretty safe at this point despite artificial restrictions of big corps. Usually i’m not feeling so delightful regarding microsoft modern programs, but this one is pretty good. And of course they tried to artificially cripple it under “obsolete” Windows 7.
VxKex ▀ WINDOWS 7 KERNEL EXTENSIONS TO RUN WINDOWS 8+ SOFTWARE

VxKex ▀ WINDOWS 7 KERNEL EXTENSIONS TO RUN WINDOWS 8+ SOFTWARE

Extended kernel project allows you to run some Windows 8+ applications on Windows 7. LATEST ALPHA BUILDS Click right mouse button to select executable properties and then switch to VxKex tab: Then cross your fingers and try to launch desired application. Warning! Software is in very early alpha stage, so miracles almost never happen. However very basic applications can be executed. Imagery by spacedrone808
HOW TO RUN NODE.JS 18.18 LTS ON OBSOLETE WINDOWS 7

HOW TO RUN NODE.JS 18.18 LTS ON OBSOLETE WINDOWS 7

UPDATED ON: 2023-11-27 Node.js dropped Windows 7 “support” rigth after [version number 13] .What a load of sh#t. Today i’ll tell you how to overcome this nonsense and run latest LTS version [Node.JS 18.8] without any problems. More newer versions may work also. I’ll leave you some room for experiments. First of all you need to download zipped version of software, not msi one. node-v18.18.2-win-x64.7z or node-v18.18.2-win-x64.zip Unpack archive in any folder on drive C.
ELIMINATE SCREEN TEARING ON INTEL HD GRAPHICS IN WINDOWS 7 ENVIRONMENT

ELIMINATE SCREEN TEARING ON INTEL HD GRAPHICS IN WINDOWS 7 ENVIRONMENT

In my newly purchased [Lenovo X1 Carbon] i run into screen tearing issues during web or local video playback with classic windows theme turned on. GOOD EXAMPLE OF SCREEN TEARING PHENOMENON I messed around with different video driver settings, under the hood browser parameters, fine-tuning other various tweaks without any changes for good. To my surprise solution was pretty straightforward. JUST TURN ON AERO THEME TO SAVE YOUR EV▓NING! Aero interface is rendered by Desktop Windows Manager [DWM].
INTERACTIVE SEARCH ENGINE MAP

INTERACTIVE SEARCH ENGINE MAP

Independent UK-based search engine [Mojeek] brought to us [convenient and very detailed map] of various search engines and crawlers. Project was inspired by [Internet map resource] . ►SEARCH ENGINE MAP◄ Imagery by spacedrone808
UGLY MOZILLA DECIDED TO DROP WINDOWS 7 SUPPORT FOR FIREFOX IN LATE 2024

UGLY MOZILLA DECIDED TO DROP WINDOWS 7 SUPPORT FOR FIREFOX IN LATE 2024

Despite the fact that current Firefox market share of Windows 7 users is around 13% Mozilla confirms to [drop Windows 7 support in 2024] . Actually i don’t really understand their bold move and why they are dropping Windows 7 and keeping support for example for Android 7.1 which stopped receiving updates more than five years ago. As you may know i’m using Android 8.0 on my websurfer phone and yeah, it is running latest Firefox forks easily.
CHROME v117 CAN BE EXECUTED IN WINDOWS 7 ▀ WHAT'S NEXT?

CHROME v117 CAN BE EXECUTED IN WINDOWS 7 ▀ WHAT'S NEXT?

UPDATED ON: 2023-08-01 Chromium v117 [already ported] to Windows 7 Although I’m completely uninterested in google browser and it’s siblings you have to know that there is a way to run current chromium version in Windows 7 environment, despite of all [mumblings] that 109 is the very last version to run on Windows 7. Backported version of chromium 112 called [CatsXP] available at your disposal. Also, there are [other solutions] on how to run version 110 and most recent 109 build intended for Windows Server 2012.
HOW TO RUN 16-BIT APPLICATIONS IN WINDOWS 7 X64

HOW TO RUN 16-BIT APPLICATIONS IN WINDOWS 7 X64

As you may already know, there is no official ability to execute old 16-bit software in 64-bit operating systems. So if you have favorite Windows 3.x applications such stupid restriction was a complete bummer. But only until today! At least for me. WinVDM will resolve your frustration. For providing such valuable information thanks goes out to [NeonFloppy website] . ► WINVDM @ GITHUB Unpack archive anywhere, execute INSTALL with admin privileges and you are good to go After installation working state could be checked by [Windows 3.
HOW TO FLASH ROOTED ANDROID 8 ON SONY XPERIA XZ1 COMPACT IN WINDOWS 7 ENVIRONMENT

HOW TO FLASH ROOTED ANDROID 8 ON SONY XPERIA XZ1 COMPACT IN WINDOWS 7 ENVIRONMENT

UPDATED ON: 2023-04-20 Important update, substantial refactoring, many errors fixed ▒ PREFACE WORDS Following instruction is dedicated to flashing stock Android 8.0 firmware for Russian region, but almost all information can be applied to USA or any other region firmware. So, no restrictions here. Remember that all commands and programs should be executed with admin privileges and your account must have administrator rights! If something goes wrong for some reason be sure to check [TROUBLESHOOTING] section!
FIREFOX TO SUPPORT WINDOWS 7 AT LEAST TILL AUTUMN 2024

FIREFOX TO SUPPORT WINDOWS 7 AT LEAST TILL AUTUMN 2024

UPDATED ON: 2024-01-01 Good news, everyone! Count me as professor Farnsworth from [Rick and Morty] . Mike Kaply, current Mozilla employee [reported] on bug-tracking forum the following: We will not be ending support for Windows 7 / Windows 8 before the release of the Firefox 115 ESR, so the Firefox 115 ESR will support Windows 7 / Windows 8 at least until 3Q 2024. First 115 version of software will be released on July 4, 2023.
HOW TO EXPAND LIST OF SUPPORTED ADDONS IN ANDROID FIREFOX

HOW TO EXPAND LIST OF SUPPORTED ADDONS IN ANDROID FIREFOX

UPDATED ON: 2023-08-31 Not long ago i’ve already mentioned about privacy-hardened [Mull browser] . Very nice Android browser, but have one serious downside: limited amount of supported addons. Yes, i like desktop convenience on the go! To enable additional addons in mobile Firefox browser you’ll need to sideload custom addon collection tied to mozilla account. It’s astonishing fact how they like to implement overcomplicated stuff! To create your own collection you’ll need Firefox account, but i’ll not bother to spent time on such dumb efforts.
MODERN SOFTWARE FORCED TO WORK IN WINDOWS 7

MODERN SOFTWARE FORCED TO WORK IN WINDOWS 7

UPDATED ON: 2024-02-26 Section is in constant under construction, so check back in a while for new goodies Here i’ll accumulate list of modern applications, which were forced to work in Windows 7 environment. WEB SURFING [FIREFOX] ► [v122] ► hacked version [SUPERMIUM] ► [v121] ► degoogled version of chrome browser [CATSXP] ► [v121] ► chinese modern version of chrome browser [may contain telemetry] MULTIMED▓A [BLENDER] ► [up to v4.
NICE TO SEE WINDOWS SERVER 2008 R2 UPDATES KEEP ON GOING

NICE TO SEE WINDOWS SERVER 2008 R2 UPDATES KEEP ON GOING

Observing [february Windows updates] @ Ghacks we can clearly see that Windows Server 2008 R2 is still maintained. …author of [Simplix updater] reported that POS ESU updates will be back-ported to non-server Windows 7 distribution and included in his monthly patcher. So, future usage of Windows 7 is 100% safeguarded. Stay sharp for more “obsolete” Windows 7 news! Imagery by spacedrone808
MULL ▀ PROBABLY THE LAST SANE BROWSER FOR ANDROID

MULL ▀ PROBABLY THE LAST SANE BROWSER FOR ANDROID

It looks like that i found replacement for [Fenec F-Droid] browser, for real. I’m not completely satisfied with not fully removed telemetry, shady stubs and other fishy things presented by Fennec. That is why i begin to investigate the problem and discovered [Mull browser] . Main features of it: DOESN’T DIAL BACK NEITHER TO GOOGLE NOR TO MOZILLA [and that’s a complete steal] based around hardened version of user.js [main FireFox configuration file] frequently updated [keeps up with original Firefox releases] mascot of Mull is rather awful [but who cares?
NORTON COMMANDER COLOR SCHEME FOR FAR MANAGER

NORTON COMMANDER COLOR SCHEME FOR FAR MANAGER

FAR Manger is orthodox file manager written in C++. I am using it as file management tool from early childhood. Application is impressively fast in terms of speed due to it’s text-based nature and highly optimized routines. File operations like copy and move are waaaay faster than default windows explorer can deliver. Advanced batch processing and automation tools make file management a breath. Think that software have some similarities with text editor [Vim] .

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