Thanks - it's a start! AND? The feeling of a "job well-done" imo, thusfar @ least??

Is going GREAT w/ Gwen Stefani's/NoDoubt's "'KEEP ON DANCIN'", which I am listening to, now as I write this in reply to you (lol, in celebration - even getting some ideas on doing more w/ it too...)

----------

I actually have an idea (bigger idea) for this, @ this stage... believe-it-or-not:

... & that is that this very program is the base engine that will come w/ the package, & more, for more security online & YET WITH BETTER SPEED TO GO WITH IT, which HOSTS files can & DO give you, both of!

(Updating it (the program itself, OR, regular HOSTS files updates) either ftp &/or an HTTP GET, done via a trayicon resident system (this program, actually, why not? It's pretty light, & F A S T too))

For:

• Checking for updated HOSTS files, updated bi-weekly @ least usually, to keep you safe(r) online...

• Then, downloading them (IF present server side, indicating update is ready for D/L etc.)

• Plus, lastly, installing the newly updated HOSTS file downloaded, or the program itself (vs. spyware/virus/spam/trojans/rootkits (et al), for you <- sight unseen/transparently (it's a fairly fast operation on a single file))!

(... @ that point, imo, the "big hassles" then mostly would be fielding questions via email & taking + making requests etc. et al @ that point))

----------

... I am going to call it "The Achilles Shield" Copyright APK - Alexander Peter Kowalski 06/01/2008 to present:



... & like in the photo above?

"It's GOT YOUR BACK!'...

Something 'catchy' is needed (or, catchier)... I dunno? How about a slogan like "You can't get burned if you don't go into the kitchen!" <-The very basic principal it works on in fact - sayeth 'The Armored Saint'... lol, I dunno!

(You've gotta start somewhere, & w/out goals + dreams, what's the point, right? I've got the foundation @ this point I think... rest is up to me!)

E.G./I.E -> In myself making it as USER-FRIENDLY & simple to manage by end-users, as is possible, w/ as much help as possible in the program, itself (Via rightclick popup menus on controls, which will bring up individual msgbox's/ShowMessage/Application.MessageBox, etc. et al)

As to performance? After last night's/this a.m.'s algorithmic breakthrough?? Which was a performance breakthru on its SLOWEST part (normalizations): 100-1000x the speed of the former engine & that was faster than the one I posted here (all work though)...

Heh, I can do NO better than short of doing another charactermode/DOS/Console tty type, or, using straight inlined asm dumps (assembler code inlined vs. the Object Pascal in there now).

So, that way, for the user-> each control the user sees, or, actually uses, has its own HELP system - more detailed (than floating tooltips alone).

----------

Anyways/Anyhow:

I ran it by some friends who understand this stuff & it'd be trivial to setup imo & theirs too, PLUS, they liked the idea... 1 server, & the app itself running resident would field the intake & distribution of the file to its default location (%windir%\system32\drivers\etc by default) via HTTP Get, FTP, or even webservices...

Professionally? Just about 16 yrs. now - mostly DB apps (MIS/IS/IT coding, "steady-eddy bread & butter" end of this field for coders, always work)...

Maybe 18 yrs. total time though (since Win16/Windows 3.1), from the "halcyon days of yore", in academia (far before that though, in character mode/tty console mode type apps on *NIX's &/or IBM midranges + VAX VMS too, etc. from my roots in this "art & science" in the 1980's).

Windows IS the best though... the tools are BETTER (well, Delphi has KYLIX which is Delphi for Linux - put it THIS way: I could take a GOOD 95% of this code, & put it right into KYLIX in LINUX? AND IT'D WORK, instantly, or be a SUPER-SHORT port!)

---------------------------------
ON TIME IN THIS FIELD, OVERALL:
---------------------------------

I got lucky a few times in this field (my job which happens to be a hobby/interest of mine too luckily)!

E.G. (over the past 12 yrs. now) -> I had a share of success in the shareware/freeware area (lol, lookup "APK 3dFx Tuning Engine 2000++" on GOOGLE images, which began life in 1997 - 2002, it was one of my early efforts, for example:



(Also making it into mags like Windows Magazine (for normal users, others as well, not just this trade mag - even newspapers, & books etc. et al), + more "techie" ones, like Windows-NT Magazine (forerunner of today's "Windows IT Pro" 1996 Oct. issue page 83 review by Mr. John Enck - albeit, for commercial wares this time))...

...& it was & still is, a commercially sold server-class products by SuperSpeed.com (certified MS partner etc.), that went to MS-TechEd 2000-2002, yrs. in a row, as a finalist in the hardest category (SQLServer performance enhancement)...

HOWEVER - It was the research on creative uses of ramdisks, in an article for they, which was the key to that... For they + CENATEK (on the hardware side of ramdisks) & upping the performance of their SuperCache II product line by up to 40% via altering & reparameterizing the mathematics of their block device driver for DISK level caching (not filesystem) engines...

----------

Funny part is, the other day, I was reading how SUN Microsystems are going towards RAMDISKS/RAMDRIVES!

(Via FlashRAM, bad move imo, writes & cell damage over short periods on those - not good for DB writes & multiuser imo, but...) in their servers, seeing HUGE database performance boosts (reads-wise, it's even good on FLASH, but writes...? Better on TRUE SSD like mine, or a GigaByte IRAM, by far)

& you see MS using Flash "ramdisks" in attempts to speed up VISTA too... will wonders never cease!



(Which is WHY I use a Solid-State CENATEK RocketDrive: 2gb, 1gb=pagefile.sys page/swap file area, 1gb=%temp/tmp% ops, webpage caching, db tables locations, project build code area location (great for this, compilers do TONS of file access is why, no slowdown on writes on TRUE SSD's like this one, vs. say, FLASH), logging from OS + apps, %comspec% location, & more)...

* Since 2002, running strong - NO moving parts to 'burnout', like std. HDD's - far before that via softwares on DOS (ramdisk.sys in config.sys etc. circa 1991 onwards roughly ->), ramdisk.sys on Windows NT 3.51-2000, & I even built a front-end reparameterizer in freeware (+ redid the base MS DDK one a BIT better & eventually EEC Systems/SuperSpeed.com's SuperDisk (mirroring back to HDD ramdisk driver) - which is why CENATEK initially considered me a competitor, lol, too, plus for work I did for EEC Systems/SuperSpeed.com!))

Between THAT device above & Dual WD Raptor "X"'s in RAID 0 (for security of data's sake) # 10,000 rpm & 32mb of buffer between them, ride on this (a Promise SuperTrak Ex-8350 128mb ECC Ram Caching RAID controller for PCI-Express)



Giving me an 'untouchable disk subsystem', especially for WRITES (compilers &/or DB access mostly)... the slowest part of your system, doesn't HAVE to be that slow, because of devices like these & when the slowest part of your rigs aren't as slow, your whole system isn't as slow.

-----

Ah, that's stuff? Hey - It IS * THE * "FuN" stuff, as far as I am concerned... doing the stuff I am REALLY interested in doing, is THAT level of work (R&D etc. et al)!

(Those wares are still doing well, too, from it, circa 1995-2002 roughly also - was some fun, but, it's work @ the same time too).

Sounds like that which I do professionally MOSTLY nowadays on-the-job:

(I.E./E.G.-> ASP. NET stuff, mostly, lots of Access, VB & Delphi in all of their forms since 16 bit!)



** GOOD LUCK - keep @ it, do it RIGHT, every step of the way, & be PROUD of your work.. after all: IT'S YOURS!

(Also - nice to know you are into coding too, & if you did not KNOW it? Sepulchre here (another member) is also)...

APK

P.S.=> Now, it's a rendition of a Beatle's classic (albeit by the great Elton John), via "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"!

Mainly because one of my NEW "programmatic-flowers" has germinated (per the line in the tune about "drift past the flowers, that grow so incredibly high")...

(See... I doubt this one will get me into the "newspaper taxis appearing on the shore" this time (as others of my wares have over time in the past, about 7-10x or so in print etc. et al))

I say this, because:

• I am not as "into" making the mags-trade rags anymore & have NOT been in years (been there, done that &, it's work too)...

• Mainly though, also because what THIS tool is used for, is "not for the masses" imo & THAT is what you generally need for those places of that nature to pick up on your app most times...

(IMO, it's just not a tool that most folks will/would use, or understand, @ least, as this is about HOST files, & what they CAN & DO, do for you, for the good of things IP/Online (both for speed AND security!))

*** Still - She's getting there, or, lol, is @ least @ the "budding" (prototype/alpha) stage, & time to "pretty it up" now most likely is all, once my pal Jack reviews it... apk

__________________
"I'm Reese: Sgt. TechComVN38416, assigned to protect you - You've been TARGETTED FOR TERMINATION!"