Messages

1

Living Room / Re: If you ever get email from DonationCoder.com telling you to execute attachme

« on: June 29, 2005, 04:12 PM »

I have to admit, it's pretty clever.  Whoever made it assumed that 'donationcoder' was your ISP or some other email service provider, and for a large majority of people, that would be true.  But the whole 'donationcoder antivirus' just ruined it.

2

General Software Discussion / Re: For those who like all-in-one utils

« on: June 29, 2005, 02:24 PM »

Damn.  I thought I was going to be the first to plug this one.  You're too fast, mouser.

Anyway, I've encountered some bugs and such already (it's still in early beta, so that's expected) and I've sent an email off to the author.  I'll post the list of my findings here now:

--Bugs--
-Windows don't stay in the minimized windows list after closing and re-opening TC.
-Virtual desktop windows become 'stuck' and inaccessible to the user, though they can still be partially manipulated from the Desktops panel.  This may be application-specific as I'm having trouble duplicating it.
-'Free window' option does not work.
-Is the virtual clipboard even implemented yet?  I can't seem to do anything with it.

--Feature Requests--
-The option to have TC close to the system tray.
-The ability to 'minimize' notes (see ATNotes for an example).
-The ability to hide the control icons on each note (maybe have them accessible through a right-click context menu instead?)
-A detailed help file.

All of that aside, this program is awesome and has a lot of potential.  I hope the author will stop by and say hello here, but failing that, I hope he'll continue work on it.

3

Living Room / Re: DonationCoder.com Mascot needed

« on: June 28, 2005, 12:21 PM »

I can see it now.  A TV commercial--mouser with a budweiser girl on each arm, each wearing a donationcoder.com babydoll t-shirt.  "So, ladies, what's your favorite website?"  and then, in unison, "donationcoder.com!"

My kinda commercial.

4

Living Room / Re: What Programs Run In Your System Tray?

« on: June 24, 2005, 07:03 PM »

Here we go...

Cacheman
Netlimiter 2.0 alpha
M-Audio Revolution control panel
AntiVir
CPUIdle
StyleXP
BRS WebWeaver
BulletProof FTP Server
allSnap
ATNotes
CLCL
DialogMate
DoubleClickQuote
GhostIt
Process Tamer
Screenshot Captor
SpeedFan
SharpReader
Gaim
Foobar2000
Microsoft Antispyware
Audio Sliders
Directory Opus
Samurize

I should point out that I use GeoShell to hide half of those.

5

General Software Discussion / Re: control startup program times

« on: June 23, 2005, 11:55 PM »

I've got a batch file that runs at boot and prompts me for when and if I want to run my normal startup things.

6

Living Room / Re: Scott Hanselman's 2005 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List

« on: June 23, 2005, 11:53 PM »

That guy's head seems very oddly-shaped to me.

7

Living Room / Re: Scott Hanselman's 2005 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List

« on: June 23, 2005, 09:49 AM »

Good list of stuff.  Thanks for the link, mouser.

8

Screenshot Captor / Re: Bug report: Screenshot Captor stops Windows logoff

« on: June 22, 2005, 09:16 AM »

Well, I was having the same problem, and I'm not anymore.  Sounds like whatever you did worked.

9

General Software Discussion / Re: BeeNut

« on: June 20, 2005, 03:01 PM »

Indeed you can.  I don't use Trillian anymore, but in Gaim, you go to Tools, then Accounts.  Click Add, then choose IRC from the protocol box.  Then you fill in your screen name, an efnet server (irc.choopa.net, for example), your alias and any of the other options you want to set.  After that, connect with the accounts dialog, then in the main window, click buddies, join a chat, choose your IRC connection and enter #donationcoder in the channel box.  Easy, no?

10

General Software Discussion / Re: BeeNut

« on: June 20, 2005, 12:17 PM »

I can't speak for any others, but Gaim and Trillian both do.

11

General Software Discussion / Re: BeeNut

« on: June 20, 2005, 12:06 PM »

This type of software has become a dime a dozen.  Still, everyone should use something like this.  Personally, I use Gaim.  What do you think makes this one stand out above all the others like it?

12

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Spring-loaded folders!

« on: June 18, 2005, 07:17 PM »

It's also built into Directory Opus, which is also not free.  Not standalone either, but it's just one more reason to ditch explorer for a 3rd party replacement.

13

Best Firewall / Re: Outpost and WinXP SP2

« on: June 17, 2005, 10:10 PM »

Yeah, I've already sent one follow-up and they responded to that saying basically the same thing they said again in the email I got today.  So I suppose that this is twice now that my question has been sent to the developers. *sigh*

And yeah, I know that the router doesn't do anything about outbound traffic, but I think I'm pretty good at keeping that in check on my own.  I always keep an eye on what processes I'm running, and I look into anything that doesn't look right.  Inbound stuff is what I worry about--and given the trouble I have to go to to allow FTP clients to connect to my server over the router, I really doubt that someone could just bust in without my permission.

14

Mouser's Zone / Re: how i work on programs

« on: June 17, 2005, 06:27 PM »

Makes sense to me.  There's not much point in adding extra features to a program that has a crashing problem or what-have-you until the problem is fixed.  Then you can introduce new problems with new features and the cycle repeats.

15

Best Firewall / Re: Outpost and WinXP SP2

« on: June 17, 2005, 06:25 PM »

More info about Agnitum's support (or lack thereof).  I got an email today, 9 days after the original support ticket was started, saying that my question had been passed to the developers.

...

Ho-kay.

I think I may just do without a software firewall for a while too.  I figure making it through my router would be tough enough for most malicious people.

16

Living Room / Re: Adding New Software Authors to the Site

« on: June 16, 2005, 11:36 PM »

I've been looking forward to this.  Everything seems to be moving along quite smoothly, so I think this is a good time as well.  I hope you'll continue to write new programs and update current ones, but I think you should dedicate your time more toward reviews and other maintenance and let some other coders take the spotlight for a while.

So, I guess the real question is how to convince authors to join up.  I imagine you'll want to target other freeware coders.  You should have a clear outline of what services you plan to offer to authors--web hosting and their own forum for each program, I suppose.  Plus, the benefit of having a like-minded community should also be enticing.  Everyone here is pretty good about helping with betas and such.  You might want to mention that banding together will help take the strain off their own webhosting bill.  You should also try and work out exactly how the donation system is going to work with multiple authors and explain that to them.

I'll let you know if I come up with anything else.

17

Image Manager Shootout / Re: Idea for this week, 6/20/05: Graphics Viewers

« on: June 16, 2005, 11:27 PM »

I typically use Irfanview, but I've found lately that Directory Opus' built-in viewer is quite nice for this, and it's nice to not have to open another program.  Still, Irfanview's batch conversion (with PNGOut) is really nice to have.

What features do you think are absolutely necessary for a graphics viewer?  Personally, I don't need to be able to play movies and music in one--I have other software for that--but it seems like most of them try to do that for you.  Being able to save/convert is really nice too.

18

Best Firewall / Re: Outpost and WinXP SP2

« on: June 15, 2005, 11:43 PM »

I'm starting to get BSODs while running Outpost now (none otherwise).  I recently switched from Win2k Pro to WinXP Pro, and had no problems before, both with the installation and use.  After scouring Agnitum's forums and seeing a dozen or so threads about BSODs, I'm starting to question the wisdom of purchasing Outpost (discounted or otherwise).  It doesn't seem like the underlying problem, whatever that may be, is being worked on by the developers... or if it is, it's just not being fixed.  I certainly don't want to use the integrated Windows firewall, and I don't really want to switch back to Sygate, but I'm not being left with many choices...

19

Best Firewall / Re: Outpost and WinXP SP2

« on: June 15, 2005, 01:43 AM »

Although it seems plausible, I have a hard time believing that they don't know anything about the problem.  The info I gave them in response to their questions pretty much told them I was using a non-standard directory to install it to.  Surely they would have said something about it if they thought that was the problem.

20

Best Firewall / Re: Outpost and WinXP SP2

« on: June 14, 2005, 09:49 PM »

No BSODs for me yet.  Actually, I just managed to get it working again.  The only thing I did differently on this install was send it to the default directory (I have a hard drive I use solely for 3rd-party software, but I went ahead and used C: this time).  I assume that was what the problem was, but that seems like a pretty silly thing to cause such a large problem.

21

Best Firewall / Re: Outpost and WinXP SP2

« on: June 14, 2005, 04:29 PM »

mouser: I'll look at their forums.  And yeah, I've cleanly uninstalled and reinstalled several times now.

jeffk: I'm not sure of the build number I'm using... I've tried both 2.5 and 2.7 though.

22

Best Firewall / Outpost and WinXP SP2

« on: June 14, 2005, 01:36 PM »

Have any of you tried installing Outpost on WinXP SP2?  I get an error message saying the service is damaged or some such BS every time I try.  I've already contacted support about it, and they assure me that they're working on it, but it's been almost a week now and I'm getting impatient and feeling vulnerable without a firewall.  Have any of you encountered this problem before?  If so, have you found a workaround for it?

23

Living Room / Re: anyone recommend freeware cd/dvd burning soft?

« on: June 12, 2005, 12:06 AM »

There is a freeware version of it.  For other options, you could try here: http://www.freewareh...Ds/CD_Burners_t.html

24

Living Room / Re: Upgrade cycles — How often is too often?

« on: June 10, 2005, 12:13 PM »

I'm not completely sure about all of the others, but on the FTP server review, we did take upgrades into account on making our decision.  But that's not the deciding factor, as you pointed out, in choosing software.  The biggest question is 'do I need it enough right now to pay $x for it?'  I think the same should apply to updates--'do I need these new features enough to pay $y for them?'  Hence the whole 'pro-rating' thing in my previous post.

25

Living Room / Re: Upgrade cycles — How often is too often?

« on: June 10, 2005, 02:13 AM »

Too often is when mouser updates a program 3 times in one evening. :p

Seriously, I don't like the idea of time-limited OR version-limited licensing periods.  I think that, ideally, the developer should price the product so that he can afford to accept a one-time payment.  If that's not feasible, then version-limited is the next best thing.  But I don't mean just changing some colors around between versions--if I'm gonna pay again, the developer needs to make me WANT to pay again, just like he did the first time around.

There's probably a better way to do it than just repeating the charge.  As Scott mentioned, a reduced cost for upgrades is a good idea.  That seems pretty fair to me.  Generally speaking, the core functionality isn't going to change from version to version, so since I've already paid for that, why not just charge for the new features?  The price could vary based on how much has changed between versions.