Replies

The OS and the programs are all in the primary partition, as you said the registry almost mandates it (splitting would keep the partition image of the OS quite small, but also can create problems with new installs, updates and thinkering)

Although I could format the drive in XP _SP2_ to the full capacity without a problem, I am kind of wary as the BIOS (can not get a update for this special OEM version motherboard) lists it as 136 GB, as during the initial setup w/o the service pack (I have XP Home Setup CD and the freeware SP2 update CD) . Is this calling for trouble ? If yes, would this be a reason not to use a large extented partition but set up smaller primaries ? Or doesn’t it matter because the sound solution would have been to buy 2 x HD <=130 GB ?

Thank you for the reply. The _local_ backup is a duplicate of the ‘real’ backup which is done with a network added storage and, for the really important stuff, additionally with read-only DVDs. Additionally I use it as a convenient duplicate place to store of all the patches and downloaded updates needed for a full re-install of XP and all programs.

Viking thank you too. I switched to Sygate. I can not remember the freeware version of ZoneAlarm Free giving away much information or offering many setup options. When asking for permission it shows only “svchost”, but not the invoking service. Which is as a blantant security flaw as the svchost concept to start with. If I block svchost as whole, I can not access the internet anymore (I guess it is the missing DHCP service)

svchost.exe, PID
668 DcomLaunch, TermService
744 RpcSs
780 AudioSrv, CryptSvc, Dhcp, EventSystem, Iprip, lanmanworkstation, Netman, RasMan,
SENS, SharedAccess, ShellHWDetection, TapiSrv, Themes, winmgmt, wuauserv
904 Dnscache

joeperez, thank you for tackling this one. What is the hash value of your svchost ? Dates can be stamped and sizes finetuned to an certain extent. As for installing software: Yes, always thinkering a bit. Will look into the event logs, but IMO they are not easy to read. I had discarded booting into safe mode, but rethinking it would help to exclude other contamination.

Klaus, I will not argue regarding the execution speed, but I do not quite see how I would be able to reorganize the add-in within this long string without making a lot of mistakes. Additionally but not stated yet, the arguments are not necessarely set.

Klaus, I will not argue regarding the execution speed, but I do not quite see how I would be able to reorganize the add-in within this long string without making a lot of mistakes. Additionally but not stated yet, the arguments are not necessarely set.

HansV, jscher2000, Andrew77: Thank you very much. You really helped me over this stumbling block. I most probably will go with the IsNumeric/Cint, for my purposes/level XML is a bit beyond. Thanks again.

HansV, jscher2000, Andrew77: Thank you very much. You really helped me over this stumbling block. I most probably will go with the IsNumeric/Cint, for my purposes/level XML is a bit beyond. Thanks again.

Additionally, if this workbook contains (or did contain) VBA modules, it might have leftovers of the developing stages. Download the CodeCleaner utility at http://www.bmsltd.ie/MVP/Default.htm%5B/url%5D to get rid of it.

Edited Mar 13th 2004 to update link

I thought the term was user defined function (UDF). I thank you for your time.

Additionally: The demo subroutine is a bit silly, but I can not post my real task, the DOS executable is copyrighted by the corporation I work for. And it has much more bells and whistles. But I am pretty sure these features are not the cause, because the simple example here does not work either.

Charlotte, this VBA function IS an array function which I intend to call from within the worksheet. I return the values to a worksheet range, not to another function, like LINEST or similar Excel functions. If I define the function as Variant it will not compile, complaining that it can not assign/coerce because I employed an user defined type. Its a Catch22 situation.

Thank you for tackling this one.

I can not see how to _return_ the content of my array defined as user defined type to the calling worksheet cells containing the user defined array function. Whew. This example is only a simplification of what I am trying to do. Using Excel as interface I write a input file to a old DOS program, wait for the results (as asynchronous process), open the result file, parse it and return the information to Excel. I could do this as a Sub, but, for several reasons, I want/need this as a function. It runs more or less nicely (250 milliseconds response time on my PC). But it is not totally stable, especially on one PC. Further I really would like to put the output file into a cell (2 kB, it fits for Excel 97), because of documentation. I know, making a DLL out of the source would be faster in the long run, but this is not an option for now.

Private Type IntLngStr
  Test As Integer
  CharNum As Long
  MyTestString As String
End Type
  
Private arrArray() As IntLngStr
  
  
Function cseStrDemo3(strToRepeat As String)
  'Function cseStrDemo3(strToRepeat As String) as IntLngStr 'does not work, either
  
  'Purpose: Example work-around for the 255 char limit for 'mixed' arrays
  
  'Att: Array function, hence ctrl+shift+enter prefix as reminder
  '     Uses array arrArray of user defined type IntLngStr
  
  'Status: Does not even compile. Error message:
  '        "Can't assign or coerce array of fixed-length string or
  '        user defined type to Variant"
  '        If function defined as IntLngStr too, then type mismatch
  
  
  Dim i As Integer, strTemp As String
  ReDim arrArray(1 To 25)

  For i = 1 To 25
    strTemp = strTemp & strToRepeat
    With arrArray(i)
      .Test = i
      .CharNum = Len(strTemp)
      'MsgBox .CharNum 'testing only
      .MyTestString = strTemp
    End With
  Next i
  'Return values
  cseStrDemo3 = arrArray 'does not work
End Function
    

Perhaps this can help you: http://www.cpearson.com/excel/DateTimeEntry.htm%5B/url%5D

Perhaps of use. Do not know whether this works for Excel XP too, as it is leftover from pre 97 versions.
http://j-walk.com/ss/excel/tips/tip82.htm%5B/url%5D