Take a read of this article I wrote on strange pointer values. Ignore the bit on the various values if you are not interested in the strange pointer values and work your way down to "What can you do to prevent the cause of these problems?" where you will find a list of things to check that can cause spurious failures. The link to that article comes from the blog, which contains other hints and tips.

Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/rsi.html

Chris Losinger wrote:

i looked at Software Verification but found it unusable because it requires you to build with the dynamically-linked CRT (which none of my stuff does) before it can do any memory validation.

You are mistaken about Memory Validator. Memory Validator has been capable of detecting memory leaks in statically linked code for some time. I think I've found the text on the Memory Validator feature list that gave the wrong impression. That will be removed today.

Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/rsi.html

_Mem. Validator is good and has many features, however it did not catch all my leaks and does not attach itself to services very easily. Mem validator is a bit hard to use at first. _If Memory Validator is not catching all your leaks, please contact us, as I know that it attaches to your program earlier than GlowCode can attach, and thus sees all your program's allocations. If you have found a bug in allocation detection then we will fix it for you.

I have yet to see a situation where we are not detecting leaks correctly. Usually it is a data collection/data display configuration setting that is not enabled.

It is very frustrating that you are having problems with Memory Validator, and have not contacted us to test our customer support. Please contact us and we can help you. Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/rsi.html__

Jeremy Pullicino wrote: The product does live up to most of what it promises - I really like the way you could learn how to use the program in beginner, intermediate and advanced mode. Thank you. We added this in response to user requests. It was up, running and debugging within minuites and had little impact on my applications. Thank you. However, I did click on a feature (some memory view .. I forgot), and i got a crash screen (detected by mem validator). We've recently fixed a variety of bugs, and implemented new features for a customer. I notice that you have not contacted us describing the bug. If you had, we probably could have got you a bug fix within a day or so (our fastest bug turnaround is 4 hours, slowest is 1.5 weeks). There was a button whcih would enable me to copy the error report, however, the dialog was crashed also. Thats just bad luck, when an app is crashed you've no idea whats been messed with, and the button uses the clipboard functions and getting the dialog up uses the C++ heap, so there is plenty of scope for it to go wrong at this point. The head of the testing labs liked the product very much, but thinks it might be too complicated for the testers since we are only interested in them detecting that a leak exists, nothing more. I'm confused, as this is trivial to with Memory Validator. Just start your app, run it until completion. Memory Validator shows you leaked memory in the leaked colour (default is yellow). What could be easier?

You can also run it from the command line, so you can embed the entire process in a script so your testers don't even need to point and click on anything in Memory Validator.

Please contact me at support@softwareverify.com, I'll be happy to write new tutorials covering any topics your testers require. Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/rsi.html

I'm cowering behind my desk right now. :-) Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/rsi.html

Hello All, Software Verification is pleased to announce that we have 3 tools in BETA. The tools are:

• Thread Validator for Win32 applications.
• Coverage Validator for Win32 applications.
• Java Thread Validator for Java applications using Java 2 JVMs.

If you would like to be involved in the beta test, please visit http://www.softwareverify.com Regards Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/rsi.html

Cool, Shame that:- a) there is no snow in East Anglia, the highest place being a massive 350 ft above sea level, and many settelments below (yes, below) sea level. b) I gave up skateboarding about 16 years ago, due to knee injuries. Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/rsi.html

I was browsing newsgroup comp.os.ms-windows.programming.win32 and found this wonderful thread posting, which I've reproduced in full below. Enjoy. In my work I sometimes have to contact Microsoft by phone. After doing so several times recently, I sent them this complaint: --- begin --- URL:http://www.microsoft.com/australia/ LANG:English (United States) LOC:AU BR: windows 98/ msie 5.5/en-us Subject: No more Vivaldi, please I'm tired of hearing the same Vivaldi piece when I ring and I'm put on hold. Please change the record! David --- end --- (I think it's the Four Seasons, which they've had on repeat play since the first time I rang them, which could be 5 years ago or longer). This was their response: --- begin --- Hello David, Thank you for contacting us at Microsoft.com Customer Support. We appreciate the time you spent in writing to us about your concern. We are very sorry but we need more information about your inquiry. Please send us another email and restate your question in a different manner. Let us know exactly what you did step-by-step, and where the process failed. The more specific details you include, the better our chances will be of understanding and resolving your problem. Thank you for your patience. Sincerely, Pamela Microsoft.com Customer Support --- end --- Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/rsi.html

I hope I'm not repeating anything, but has anyone seen Microsoft Linux yet? :-) Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com RSI Info: http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/rsi.html

I think Mr Morden can help with this. Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk

Nuts, it wasn't all meant to come out bold! Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk

William E. Kempf wrote: STRONG and EM are standard tags specified by the W3C. See here. As far as I know MS had nothing to do with the adoption of these tags, and the recommendation to use them instead of and is made by the W3C, not by MS I totally agree with this. In a previous life I was involved in the design and implemention of a multimedia authoring suite(*) that supported HTML and (draft spec)XML and (draft spec)CSS, as a subset of what the whole tool could do. STRONG and EM were the W3C recommendations. When I write HTML I tend to use B and I because they are more convenient. Microsoft did recommend a whole slew of tags, as did Netscape, but as far as I can remember these were not part of that, from either Microsoft or Netscape. (*)The authoring suite never made it market - when Netscape gave their source away the competitive advantage was lost (cost of entry to competitors was significantly lowered), and the project died. Cheers Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk

1984. First programming job: 19 years old, whilst studying electronics, I wrote and sold my first computer game (for the C64, in assembly language). My first game I wrote for a bet, but it never got sold (it was a copy of a commerical game on the Spectrum, but the Managing Director of the company didn't like hippies and wouldn't buy it - even though the rest of his team wanted to buy it). The guy I had the bet with never gave me the £10, but did buy me some beer. 1987. First non self-employed job: 23 years old, 18 games later, I had an electronics degree, didn't want to cut my hair, wear a suit, or stop wearing goth clothes, so I went to work for a computer games company. I didn't have a job interview - I'd already written code for them and it was "when you finish your degree, if you don't want an ordinary job, we'll hire you", so I joined them. I'm 36 now, I haven't cut my hair since May 1990, and although I like goth music, I don't dress exclusively in black or wear pointy boots. I no longer code exclusively in assembly, although if assembly is required, I am the guy that does it :-) Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk

Hi Andreas, "Vote against software patents in Europe" I was told recently that software patents in Europe have been accepted. I'd like to see software patents made null and void, or if not, made to be valid for a 2 year timespan, as software advances so much more rapidly than other fields. 25 years? If you think about when the concept of a patent was invented and the speed of technological change, then the 25 year time span must be lowered. Regards Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk

Klaus Probst wrote: None of them have the infrastructure or command/control know-how to effectively maintain them as a deterrent (as the US/NATO and the Soviet Bloc did during the cold war). ...they're fighting over a worthless piece of land and they feel they can play in the big leagues. I think they'll find out it takes more than just big armies and big guns to be truly big countries. Thats quite an interesting take on the situation, shame the media don't report like that. Why is Kashmir worthless? Does it have no strategic value, no mineral deposits, or religious significance, or something else? Is it really a straight land grab battle? I'd always assumed there must be something more to it than that. Most people need a reason to fight and die, just saying 'this is ours', usually is not enough (which is why Britain, France, Russia, and others lost in Afghanistan). Cheers Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk

Hmmm, First the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan, if Pakistan drops a nuke on India, I wonder how many more Buddhist monuments will get hit? I was listening to a travller on the radio this evening, who had camped nearby the monuments in Afghanistan, and said how peaceful that part of the world was, and he couldn't beleive that some had blown those enormous statues up, for a misinterpretation of a 1400 year old script, and of course the statues predate the script in the first place. Disclaimer: Yes I'm concerned about people dying, etc. No one ever talks about the historical monuments that are here today, Taliban'd tomorrow. Oh well. Sigh, was wonderful walking around the green fens this evening. Its a depressing thought that more people may be going to war. Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk

I'll buy that for a dollar, or in normal language, I concur. Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk

Quite an interesting business. I bet they spend an enormous amount of time convincing skeptical people what they can offer works. I'd wager a lot of the work they do is very interesting stuff. Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk

Now don't lose your head Mr Morden. Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk

Big John wrote: Who are you? Someone that is frustrated by most of the people that live in the same world that I do. Or failing that :-), same village I do :-) Why do I need a bigger house, a faster car, better job, than the people next door? Why does my government support this oppressive regime, and yet undermines that oppressive regime? What do you want? World peace - And no DUH! DUH! DUH! music, or techno to those that don't understand how oppresive that music is. Sorry, World Peace is such a cliche, but even to live amongst others and not have to put up with their poor taste in music, courtesy of a lower volume control would be a start! Why are you here? Buddha sent me. Stephen Kellett -- Memory Validator. Faster Leak Detection, Better Analysis. http://www.softwareverify.com http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk