Messages

26

General Software Discussion / Re: Make Firefox 3 load faster

« on: April 01, 2009, 12:58 PM »

Thanks.   

27

General Software Discussion / Re: Make Firefox 3 load faster

« on: April 01, 2009, 10:58 AM »

You can place a Sandboxie container on the ramdisk that will allow you to run FF in a sandox.

Personally, I take a different route. I use Returnil so that my entire system drive is effectively sandboxed. Same concept as the ramdisk - turn the machine off and you are right back to where you started from.

You have convinced me. I think I will try the portable FF on the ramdisk instead of just the profile. I just need to manually turn on the cache that the Portable FF turns off by default.

-edbro (March 31, 2009, 01:52 PM)

Thanks for the suggestions, edbro.  I've read very positive reviews of both products, but never thought of trying sandboxie in a ramdisk. 

Also didn't know portable FF turns off caching by default.  I think mine is caching (it has a cache folder which grows and shrinks over time).  How do you enable it, if it isn't?

This ram disk looks kind of good. Any opinions favourable or not?

-dantheman (March 31, 2009, 03:39 PM)

I did try the freebie from QSoft.  It's a basic ramdisk driver with a GUI.  You install it as you would any driver.  It does have an imaging component, but I couldn't get to work for me.  Although free, I prefer the commercial products for their flexibility, ease of use, and overall polish.

If money were no object, I'd probably either go for the RamDisk or RamDisk Plus from SuperSpeed, or DiskBoost from Everstrike. 

The difference?  RamDisk Plus and DiskBoost are much more flexible and have more features (i.e. you can create more than one ramdisk at a time, encrypt ramdisk content, password protect image files, etc.)

For a simple single ramdisk, FarStone is my choice. 

RamDisk and RamDisk Plus:  http://www.superspee.../desktop/ramdisk.php
DiskBoost:  http://www.everstrike.com/ramdisk/

28

General Software Discussion / Re: Make Firefox 3 load faster

« on: March 31, 2009, 01:33 PM »

Out of curiosity how many tabs do you usually have open when you open Firefox?

-Paul Keith (March 31, 2009, 07:19 AM)

Normally one (I built my own start page from which I navigate to my fav sites),  occasionally three to four (during the Add-ons update process), rarely eight to ten (when I need to invoke session restore).

I don't use a ram disk (yet) but I would think that initial page loads would not be affected. Subsequent page loads that use the cache would be able to access that cache faster, thus a faster page load.

I don't see the advantage of using Portable Firefox. I plan to implement this idea but I will put the FF profile in ram to see if it helps much.

-edbro (March 31, 2009, 10:06 AM)

Yes, page loads do get faster for the very reason edbro points out.

I use the portable version of Firefox because it's completely self-contained and hence easier to load the whole thing into my RAM disk.  Also, someday, I'd like to sandbox it within my RAM disk for security purposes (I haven't come across a way which would block it from accessing my system files (theoretically, speaking).  There are unidirectional USB firewalls which block traffic to a USB drive, but I haven't found any bi-directional ones yet.)

Suggestion: Give the portable a try with your RAM disk.  You'll still have your original browser(s) of choice (I do).  If it doesn't live up to your expectations, simply nuke the RAM disk (including the .img file) and everything will be gone completely. 

Portable Apps:  http://portableapps.com/

29

General Software Discussion / Re: Make Firefox 3 load faster

« on: March 31, 2009, 06:43 AM »

I've found a way to make Firefox 3 or 2 lightning fast without compromising security or tweaking it in any way.  It loads in under 15 seconds everytime.  I've christened it Shaolin RAMming.  It takes RAM disking, which fodder uses, a step further.  I create a RAM disk big enough to load the entire portable app edition of Firefox 3 and have it load up automatically at start up, where it stays for the duration of my session.

I've tried all the RAMdisk apps I could find out there, and settled on this very easy to use little number:  Virtual Hard Drive Pro 2 from FarStone ($29.95 (US)).  After installing it, I followed the directions for creating a RAM disk.  In my case, I chose 200 MB (out of 1.5 GB RAM).  Next, I downloaded and installed the portable app edition of Firefox 3 into my RAMdisk.  Why portable?  Because it's self-contained, and therefore won't be dragged down by having its cache, profiles, add-ons, etc, placed in various other locations on my hard drive.  With Firefox 3 portable installed and configured with a 85 MB cache, it takes up about 170 MB of my 200 MB RAMdisk (leaving me a generous 25 to 30 MB of breathing room).

This RAMdisk application saves a disk image of your RAMdisk to any location you specify on whatever persistent storage medium you choose...automatically.  Using the same disk imaging technology which apps like Acronis and ShadowProtect use, Virtual Hard Drive Pro 2 can be configured to take disk images of the contents of your RAMdrive either at regular user-specified intervals or just once upon shutdown.  I chose the once upon shutdown option because I reboot my computer on a daily basis and don't mind losing a new bookmark or two if something goes wrong. 

Since Virtual Hard Drive Pro 2 allows me to specify where to save this disk image, I chose my USB drive.  In essence, I've completely bypassed my hard drive altogether.  The disk image of my RAMdisk is saved to my USB drive upon shutdown (automatically).  When I reboot, it is taken from my USB drive and reloaded into my RAMdisk (again, automatically).  This cycle repeats itself without user intervention every time I start up or shut down my computer.  I've been using this technique for about a year now without a single major disaster.  Once or twice, when my machine locked up, I lost the contents of my RAMdisk, but then I simply reloaded yesterday's image file (saved to my USB drive). I lost a new bookmark or two, maybe one new add-on.

My results: Firefox 3 loads in under 15 seconds, runs eerily silent (no hard drive access noise or slowdown), and since it bypasses my hard drive completely, it saves that much wear and tear.  All automatically.  If an outage occurs, I simply recreate the RAMdisk and reload the image file from my USB drive (I also make a backup copy of it elsewhere on my hard drive).  This technique works for any portable app, btw.  The amount of available system RAM on your machine is the only limit.

(My system: Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (HT), 1.5 GB RAM, Windows XP Home, 180 GB SATA HD.  Virtual Hard Drive 2 Pro (presently discounted down to $20 US): http://www.farstone....rtual-hard-drive.htm) 

30

Found Deals and Discounts / Rohos Logon Key PRO & Rohos Disk Encryption PRO (Bits Du Jour on 03/31/09)

« on: March 24, 2009, 02:28 AM »

Haven't used either yet (have any of you?), but when Bits Du Jour sponsored the Rohos Disk Encryption PRO discount a while back, it interested me enough to check it out.  I liked what I saw, and when they announced that a combo deal was in the making (in response to BDJ visitor request), I decided to wait.  Well, it's a comin' up.

On Bits Du Jour: http://www.bitsdujou...isk-rohos-logon-key/
Rohos website: http://www.rohos.com/

31

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: 1 free PageFour license (and one only)

« on: March 19, 2009, 07:27 AM »

The people there are very nice, and I'm sure if you e-mailed them and told them the situation, they'd be willing to give it to you if possible.  Worth a try IMO if you were thinking about pulling the trigger.  I'm really enjoying it, personally.

-wraith808 (December 02, 1973, 10:25 PM)

Great suggestion, wraith808.  I contacted them, explained the situation, and now am a licensed user of Benubird Pro.   

32

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: 1 free PageFour license (and one only)

« on: March 18, 2009, 01:58 PM »

thanks for the info gpetrant

sounds like the indexing is a very important aspect ... makes it v.expensive, as you say: without that 70% off!
So when you import something - does that create a link to the original, and, (pro version) index the contents
or does it actually make a copy of imported file in the database?
Must make for a very big database either way though - do you bother with incremental backups or does the programme itself have any sort of backup system?
I've been using dropbox for backing up my IQ (SQLNotes) database (it saves revisions but only saves the difference to the file) - it's under 30mb but before dropbox I was making a few backups per day and managed to have a lot of gigabytes of backup before I noticed. Havent had to restore the dropbox revisions so not sure how dependable it is for this ..

-tomos (March 18, 2009, 11:24 AM)

Concerning the indexing feature: the search facility in askSam standard is very decent for small database users such as home users, writers, hobbyists, etc, whereas askSam pro's indexing is ideal for larger database users such as small business owners, developers, etc.  I only purchased the pro because the discount was too good to miss.

askSam makes copies of the original when importing docs.  My needs are very modest so the size of my database is still very manageable.  It doesn't have its own fully featured backup system, but does 'pack' your files on demand into backup archives (optimized for space and indexed searches).  I don't rely on that feature much, however.  I use Genie Backup Manager Pro on a scheduled basis instead.  (Haven't tried dropbox.  Where can I take a peek at it, and what's your opinion of it as a backup manager?)

Without the discount, I might have been tempted to get the standard, and if I found that I needed the pro features later on, I would've considered purchasing the upgrade ($139 US).

I'm actually using BenuBird Pro for the same sort of thing as askSam.  Any idea of what advantages askSam has over Benubird Pro?   (BTW, that link is to the current discount for members.  It was supposed to end yesterday, but you can try it and see if it still works)

-wraith808 (March 18, 2009, 12:00 PM)

I was all ready to slap down my $50 for Benubird Pro, but being the scatter brain that I am, waited till the last day (March 17) without taking into account the time difference between NA and Europe (so when I tried to purchase it last night, the Donation Coder discount no longer showed up upon check-out).  I don't know if askSam has any killer advantage over Benubird Pro; perhaps the breadth of things you can stuff into it and the templates/wizards with which to organize them, making it a PIM, Address Book, Email archiver, Personal Journal, Cataloger, etc, all rolled into one.  (If the Benubird Pro discount ever comes around again, I wouldn't be surprised if I purchased it.  I really like Benubird's interface and PDF handling abilities.) 

33

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: 1 free PageFour license (and one only)

« on: March 18, 2009, 09:39 AM »

What attracted me was its open format.

-gpetrant (March 17, 2009, 09:18 AM)

any chance you could tell us a bit more there
Is it a chuck everything in there and search programme 
It's hard to get a decent idea of it from it's home page and I hate having to look at videos (will do at some stage if there's no other choice but now not a great time)
ah they do have a list of features page (hidden in a drop-down list ) but that's not very helpful either.
https://www.asksam.c...;b=askSam%20Features...

It would be great if you could give us even a vague idea of how it can be used

-tomos (March 17, 2009, 10:13 AM)

Yes, it's a chuck everything in there and search program (a lot like my apartment and girlfriend's purse).  It's a user friendly wizard-driven database which accepts almost everything but the kitchen sink: MS Office docs, PDFs, pictures, text files, emails, etc.  Its search facility reminds me a lot of Archivarius in function: fast once indexed. 

It's the perfect database for someone who has no inclination to code or to organize all his/her docs into neat categorized folders like normal people do.  For instance, as a writer, I have different document formats scattered and strewn all over my hard drive.  Using an askSam wizard, I can import them all without disturbing the sublime beauty of my disorder.  Now centralized in a searchable database, they're at my fingertips. 

Another use: again using askSam's import wizard, I imported all my email.  I can now empty all my OE folders (yes, they're backed up, but they're not very convenient to access in their archived format, plus the fact I hate OE's search facility), and should I need to retrieve an old message, it's as simple as calling up askSam, and do an Archivarius-like search.

Draw backs: I don't think askSam would be suitable as a back-end for a desktop/web app, although the pro version does ship with an ActiveX control which you can use in your VB/ASP app (but I mean, really, with a name like askSam, what enterprise database programmer would take it seriously?).  Also, the undiscounted price is prohibitive, imo.  In fact, I don't think I would've shelled out for the pro version without the hefty 70% discount (now expired, I think) flagged earlier in this forum.

Summation: It's a Jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none database for the rest of us.  I like it a lot for that reason.  Hope this was helpful.   

34

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: 1 free PageFour license (and one only)

« on: March 17, 2009, 09:18 AM »

You might want to look at askSam :

https://www.asksam.com/brochure.asp

-40hz

I recently purchased the latest edition at a discount (flagged earlier in this forum).  What attracted me was its open format.  I'm a note/text file/document scatterer, and although I don't mind doing some database programming as needed, I don't find Access, MySQL, etc, conducive to the kind of flexibility I want in a down and dirty ready-to-use database.  So far, askSam gets a thumbs up from me. 

35

General Software Discussion / Re: eBook Reader alternate to Acrobat?

« on: March 06, 2009, 08:21 AM »

Foxit rules, dude: http://www.download....2079_4-10313206.html

36

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« on: February 28, 2009, 09:24 AM »

This should keep you busy for awhile. It's pretty much my entire collection, except for ones recently collected and not uploaded yet.

Just keep clicking the images or refreshing the page to see a new random one.

It's not possible to link to individual images, so if you find one that you like and want to share, you'll have to save it and upload it.

http://appstrapps.co...randompics/index.php

WARNING: Some may be NSFW

-app103 (February 11, 2009, 03:31 AM)

I...ah...I just viewed a sample of app103's photogallery, and...and...please give me a minute to compose myself...and I saw...a demon rabbit. *does the sign of the cross, Celtic style* It was the most god-awful thing I've ever seen in my life...white, pure white, like the devil's Coffee-Mate^©.  2 years, 2 years of intensive psychotherapy was demolished in 5 seconds.  Its piercing eyes looked straight through me, and it...it, I swear, it spoke to me (with a voice like Pennywise the Clown's in Stephen King's It): 'You're not coding your way out of this one, sonny boy!  I'm comin' for ya.  You know the rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail?  I eat sissy rabbits like that for breakfast!  Alive too!  Yep, I'm comin' for ya, sonny boy!'  Wha...what kind of website is this?  No, really, please be honest.  umm...would you guys mind if I ask my uncle Freddy to perform an exorcism on DC?  Would you do that much for me?   

Based on my memory after taking a couple of Xanax with 1/2 cup of Vodka (as prescribed by my psychiatrist for anxiety attacks, parties, and productivity workshops):

Demon Rabbit from Hell

"Oh yes, we all float - and when you're down here with us, you'll float too!" - Pennywise from Stephen King's It

37

Living Room / Re: Meme time! Five Things People Don't Know About Me

« on: February 26, 2009, 02:21 AM »

1.  I'm a poet.

2.  I've lived with chronic Dysthymia (low grade depression) with episodes of Major Depression most of my adult life.   

3.  I'm a North American Indian (Ojibwe).

4.  I like to code whenever I'm not horny.  In fact, I just completed my first VB 4 'hello world' program this past week.  I'm pretty proud of that accomplishment. It took me over 10 years to complete.  (Don't know where I found the time, tbh.)

5.  I...umm...well...oh god, this is a hard one...I have had an erotic fixation on...Martha Stewart.  There, I said it!  When she went to prison, I had to book off sick for her entire stay because of...well...my obsessive fantasizing about being her cellmate...toweling her off after showers, giving her stress-relieving erotic massages with my Erotic Almond Massage Oil, etc.  It left me too exhausted to do anything else.  (I'm not proud of that fact, and I don't encourage any of you youngsters out there to try this at home.)

(umm...are we allowed to say 'horny' and 'erotic' in the forums?  What about 'Erotic Almond Massage Oil'?  )

38

Living Room / Re: Please tallk me off the ledge... Intervention needed!

« on: February 06, 2009, 07:50 PM »

I never listen to the rational part of my brain.  For the last two decades it has never told me a single thing I wanted to hear.  Not one.  I won't bore you with the details of how it wrecked prom night for me back in '87.  Suffice it to say she married the guy who said 'golly, I'd love to have kids with you.  No, I don't need to think about it.  My VW Beetle is out back, let's go before I get too drunk.'  Well, from that day forward, I put my rational brain in the doghouse.  So, in summary, Darwin, listen to your other brain.  You're young and got your whole life in front of you.  Don't make the same mistake I did.  Tha...that's all I have to say right now...I...I'm starting to get emotional over my lost youth again...

39

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Acronis True Image 11 Home for US$ 9.99

« on: January 29, 2009, 06:27 AM »

Love Acronis 11 (and prior).  First rate disaster recovery software for the home user with a typical setup (read: one OS on one hard drive with one or two partitions).  For more complex setups, I'm a ShadowProtect Desktop man.  Not nearly as feature rich, but boy does it make up for it in speed and flexibility.  Its tight integration with VMware Workstation made it even more attractive to me.

ShadowProtectDesktop

40

Living Room / Re: Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 drives failing at alrming rate?

« on: January 14, 2009, 06:52 AM »

Hang on  ohmy I'm not actually storing any of my backups off-site! I've got about 6 external harddrives full of backups all lined up on a shelf. Not too bright...

Darwin, if I may share an easy solution to your dilemma.  Please be patient as I fumble for the right words, but this is what I do:  I leave an external hard drive laying on the nightstand in my bed computer room.  Whenever I entert...umm...share my love of computing with a computer geekess, they always ask about it when they see it for the first time (women have an insatiable curiosity).  I give them my canned response 'it contains very sensitive material that could seriously damage my career, and so I keep it on my nightstand where I can see it at all times.'  Now, as well as being insatiably curious, they love a challenge.  The next morning, I break up with her terminate our mutually beneficial platonic friendship as I leave, and ask her to lock up before she goes.  At that point, she's mad as hell and that external hard drive represents everything a woman could want for revenge purposes, so she takes it with her.  To date, I have 6 external drives spread out across Canada, 5 in the US, and 1 in Mexico (I think.  Is Tijuana in Mexico?  Anybody?).  All contain redundant backups using BLOWFISH encryption, and all are safely offsite as we speak.  You're probably asking how I intend to get any of them back?  See, that's the beauty of it: I don't know yet, but I have plenty of time to think of a way in the meantime.  Like my mom used to always say: 'Einstein didn't come up with Relativity overnight.  He slept on it first.'   

(To any youngsters reading this: please do not try this at home.  Timing is everything.  I once shared this technique with a really close friend.  Unfortunately, during the break-up phase, he lingered a little too long afterward.  He...he was struck in the head by his own external hard drive.  Poor bast guy hasn't been the same since.)      

41

Living Room / Re: Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 drives failing at alrming rate?

« on: January 14, 2009, 12:13 AM »

My info is that the problem(s) resides mainly with their 7200.11 series drives.  The 7200.10 seem solid.  I've been using two of their SATA 300 7200.10 (320 GB each) for over a year now, and am very satisfied with their performance.  Plus a 5 year warranty makes them even more attractive.

Related to this topic: the one and greater TB drives are a natural progression, but are they not headed for extinction in the consumer market?  I know that so-called 'cloud computing' is a bit over-hyped, but for pennies a month, I can store GBs of stuff on Amazon's hard drives through their S3 service.  The beauty of that solution: I don't need anything bigger than a 500 Gig drive to easily accommodate all my software as well as most frequently accessed data.  The rest (especially redundant backups) can be warehoused off site (which is advantageous because a physical catastrophe like fire, flooding, or theft, could wipe out all your backups if they reside at the same location). 

(The important stuff (like porn 'research data') I keep locally, of course.   )   

42

Living Room / Re: Apologies

« on: November 14, 2008, 11:35 AM »

Oh ya?  Well here's a pic of my sis: 

Quite the stunner isn't she?  Well eat your hearts out, gentlemen...you snooze, you lose.  Some lucky guy in Des Moines, Iowa, will be waking up with a big smile on his face tomorrow.  All for writing me a file conversion script.  Maybe next time you'll take me a little more seriously.  (Oh, and btw, the doctor said said her facial hair will eventually disappear as the final stage of her hormone therapy concludes.  She used to be my brother.)

43

Living Room / Re: Apologies

« on: November 10, 2008, 10:06 PM »

umm...people, I hate to break up the party, but my soul and my sister's body are on the line here.  I don't think a lecherous musketeer winking at me in a highly suggestive and obscene manner (cool animation, btw  ), nor a t-shirt with a demon cat from hell on it, is gonna help me much.  If one of you has a sister and would like to swap, let's talk.  There's no reason why two mature adults couldn't come to some sort of arrangement to the mutual benefit of both.  If your sister is...umm...'challenged' in the looks department, quantity is acceptable as a form of compensation (2 sisters and a hamster for mine, for example).  Sorry, but I cannot accept computer parts or used software.  I got burnt when I tried to activate a copy of Windows XP Pro from some guy in Russia.  My sister won't let me forget that sorry little episode to this day.

Thanking you for your sensitivity and consideration in this matter, I remain,

Glenn Petrant

44

Living Room / Re: Apologies

« on: November 03, 2008, 07:39 AM »

She's a diagnosed nymphomaniac and a dead ringer for Scarlett Johansson.  Her idea of romance is shouting 'You.  Bedroom.  Now!'  She owns a Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7) gaming rig loaded with 'educational' movies and a library of first person shooters & real time strategy games.  She's self-supporting, enjoys long walks on the beach, and is a proud 'naturist' around the house.  But...well, I guess she isn't for everybody; so, anyone else?   

45

Living Room / Re: Apologies

« on: November 03, 2008, 05:30 AM »

 

46

Living Room / Re: Apologies

« on: November 03, 2008, 04:38 AM »

You guys are seriously sick.  I've never fit in so fast (anywhere) in all my life.  (umm...is there a way to get out or is it, like, you know, a pact with the devil sort of deal?  I have an unmarried sister.  Can I trade her for my soul?  If I throw in a discount coupon for Windows Vista Ultimate and a McHappy Meal?   )

47

Living Room / Re: Apologies

« on: October 31, 2008, 12:20 AM »

I'm staying.  I read each of your warm and thoughtful comments (a hearty thank you), and perhaps I would be cheating myself out of an opportunity to express my inner geek in community with other (inner or outer) geeks.  My manly charisma could take a serious hit if I'm ever caught here, but hey, who says I have to tell anybody I belong to Donation Coder?  I mean, Firefox has some excellent add-ons that'll switch my screen if I'm ever caught browsing the site.  Plus I can erase all my tracks just like I do for...umm...'educational' sites.  (Education is the foundation of good mental health, so I need lots of it.)

On a serious note: as you've probably concluded by now, remaining serious is a serious challenge for me, and I could be a corrupting influence.  But if you guys are willing to risk it, then so am I.  I'll take a more watch and learn approach, focusing on what drew me here in the first place: the chicks crafting and sharing information/recommendations on useful quality software.  So again, thank you for your warm comments.

Glenn Petrant

48

Living Room / Apologies

« on: October 29, 2008, 12:46 PM »

I have obviously offended some members of Donation Coder with my admittedly very warped sense of humour.  It was not my intent to offend anyone, but I have, and I apologize for having done so.

To Deozaan:  I don't even know you, and nowhere in my post are you referenced, directly or indirectly, so I'm puzzled by your conclusion that I'm treating you like an idiot.  But thanks a lot for querying me for clarification first or giving me the opportunity to make amends for my offense (by editing my post and/or offering an apology) before resorting to muffling my thread.

I am resigning my membership, but not in anger or protest.  Web groups, clubs, and forums, are a lot like people: they have their own distinctive characters, personalities, and overall sense of humour.  I have mine, which I wouldn't change for the world, and therefore accept that I won't (nor shouldn't) fit in everywhere.  For the short time that I was a member of DC, I've come to regard both your in-house applications as well as your discounts for top quality software by commercial developers, as first class.  I sincerely wish DC and its members continued success, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend your site to anyone interested in programming or who'd like to belong to a community of others who enjoy developing/using great software.

Thanks,

Glenn Petrant

49

Living Room / Why do so many fruits and vegetables look like human genitalia?

« on: October 28, 2008, 08:53 PM »

I would deeply appreciate having my question taken seriously and treated with sensitivity.  I...umm...I find certain fruits and vegetables very erotic.  So much so, that I've been banned from 3 major supermarkets in my home community last year.  One of them said that I, and I quote, 'fondled their melons in a lewd and lascivious manner unbefitting the dignity under which they've always conducted commerce in this family oriented community.'  Now where do these guys get off humiliating a fellow human being with a genuine medical condition called CUP (chronic untreated priapism), who likes to check his melons before making a purchasing decision?  Please discuss.  I mean, is that fascist or what?  Can any of you guys relate?  Have you never wondered why God (or mother nature) put a cleft in fuzzy peaches, but not in apples, oranges, or grapes? 

50

Living Room / Re: One answered question before you died

« on: October 08, 2008, 03:04 AM »

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

'Oooohhh, I love it!' when it makes contact with my girlfriend's (bare) bottom.   

(Sorry for cheating by asking a self-answering question.  A dirty one too.  Hey, if God can self-create, well...and there's no one dirtier than God.  He's the one who made us with dirty parts and dirty minds.)