Messages

76

General Software Discussion / Pc Mag util. called "Cover Up" which runs screen saver in an Application Window

« on: February 09, 2007, 05:14 PM »

There's an interesting utility the magazine highlighted recently which basically acts as a "short term" protection for an existing open application window from onlookers.  It allows one to run a screensaver which support "preview" mode WITHIN an existing open window application. 

http://www.pcmag.com...,1895,2086208,00.asp

Possible uses is that you're currently working on a something in Quicken/financial app and you just need to step out for a little while but do not want to close down the application.  This allows one to protect the window content but still allow the use of the computer.  Once an app is "locked" the window can not be moved, closed, minimized or maximized.

Wouldn't the use of a screensaver's preview mode to an application window be a great idea if used in some of the utilites in Donationcoder such as DimSaver?  I mention DimSaver since I think it would be neat when running as batch file that runs a long time (such my compression archiving for backups) but you want to keep track of the screen messages as well as not having someone terminating it.

patrick

77

General Software Discussion / Re: How to clone large HDDs?

« on: January 29, 2007, 01:13 AM »

TeraByte Unlimited (http://www.bootitng.com) offers CopyWipe as free software.  This just performs whole drive copying to another or whole drive wiping to "shred" data so it is unrecoverable.  It comes in DOS or Windows version.

For copying options you can: 1. Scale size proportionally from the original to the larger drive; 2. Straight copy of used sectors; 3. Raw copy of both used and unused sectors.

A users manual is available so you can read about its features before downloading CopyWipe.  The manual also shows how to make a bootable disk / cd with CopyWipe on it.

I use BootItNG and Image for Windows also from TeraByte Unlimited for my imaging/cloning needs (paid version).  The company has a very active and knowledgeable technical forum.  The interface for their products may not be pretty but they get to the point, albeit technically oriented, does its job very well, and is not bloated with extra "features".

patrick

78

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Now it's Paragon for FREE!

« on: October 18, 2006, 01:52 AM »

Oshan,

The links from the original post are from vnunet.com and not the official website of Paragon Software.  I think the author in the vnunet article you are referring to got confused.

Here is the real link for Paragon Software to see the features of the software.  Again, I don't know if for this "special edition" if any features are unavailable.

http://www.paragon-software.com

79

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Now it's Paragon for FREE!

« on: October 16, 2006, 10:11 AM »

from my experience of acronis and norton and powerquest - i'd go for paragon. that's what i use and it's as a result of using the others.

-nudone (October 15, 2006, 05:10 PM)

Is Exact Image a stripped down version of Drive Backup? Or is Drive Backup the new Exact Image?
Are they still developing their products?
Do you know how much it will compress? For eg. 2.3gb?

Thanks.

-AdIyhc (October 15, 2006, 09:06 PM)

Imaging and Disk Copying are 2 different things.

Imaging a hard drive allows you to create a compressed image archive file(s) that you can copy/burn on another storage media.  In order to use it you have to restore the image to a hard drive.  Think of this as keeping a "snapshot state" of your hard drive at a particular point in time.  I think this what Paragon Exact Image does.

Disk Copying a hard drive allows you to do a sector for sector copy of that drive directly to another drive.  No intermediate images or reinstallations necessary as you can just put the copied to drive in your machine and boot up from it.  Typically this is used if you want clone a hard drive or upgrade your hard drive.  Think of this as a "hot swap" cloned copy.  I think this is what Paragon Drive Copy does.

Acronis True Image, and I think Norton Ghost, has both of these features integrated into one software package.  BootItNG and Image For Windows only support the imaging features.
Personally I use True Image and BootItNG depending on my needs and particularly they both have support for running off a bootable CD.

Paragon's offerings segments the features so you only buy what you need:
Exact Image - imaging
Drive Copy - disk copying
Drive Backup - both imaging and disk copying
Hard Disk Manager - both imaging and disk copying and partition management

Given this deal, for personal use, it's worth to download BOTH software (Exact Image and Drive Copy) to try them out.  From Paragon's website, I see that they both have some support for building a bootable cd to run their software, but I don't know if features have been stripped out for these "Special Editions".

patrick

80

Skrommel's Software / DimSaver being flagged by AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

« on: October 03, 2006, 08:20 PM »

Since today's update of the AVG Anti-Virus (Free edition) signatures (program version 7.1.407; virus base 268.12.12/462; 10/3/2006), it is flagging DimSaver.scr as the trojan PSW.Agent.CRB

I checked the file TrendMicro Housecall (web version) and it did not find anything, so I think it may be a false positive on AVG's part.

81

Post New Requests Here / Re: "Write on Screen" Tool

« on: August 17, 2006, 12:25 PM »

Hi Peter,

Although it does not fulfill all of what you are looking for, ZoomIt allows you to draw freeform on the screen with your mouse.  An undocumented feature is that if you press the "Shift" key while drawing with the mouse it draws straight lines (no arrowheads though).

http://www.sysintern...tilities/ZoomIt.html

patrick

82

General Software Discussion / Re: ideas for perfect backup/sync software

« on: July 28, 2006, 10:52 PM »

The only thing with CDP I'm not sure about is how they handle open files especially databases. 

urlwolf - I, too, use syncbackse

83

General Software Discussion / Re: ideas for perfect backup/sync software

« on: July 28, 2006, 10:44 PM »

urlwolf,

I think your requirements lists fall into the software category of "continuous data protection"
See the following article to get an overview of it's definition:
http://www.infostor....mp;ARTICLE_ID=239640

I've been doing some research on CDP for the past week and the most reasonably priced ones for personal use seem to be
1.  IBM's Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files (http://www-306.ibm.c...ous-data-protection/)
It can be purchased for $35 via online download only from IBM; and Digital River through OfficeMax, Staples, and Circuit City Stores website.

2.  Stardock's Keepsafe (http://www.stardock....m/products/keepsafe/)
It can be purchased for $30.

I'm thinking of using one of the above for my sister-in-law's medical practice (RAID 1 being setup and now trying to think about a "set it and forget it" backup solution) and for my own use. So anyone out there with experience on these products I'd appreciate thgouhts and comments.

patrick

84

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Encryption software

« on: May 21, 2006, 12:30 PM »

For individual file encryption via explorer shell integration:
1.  http://hotpixel.net/software.html
BFACS (Blowfish Advanced CS) -  I currently use this on my portable USB key and can integrate via explorer shell.  You do not need to be an admin user to install this.  Only thing this lacks is capability to create a password protected self extracting / decrypting executables.  Free.

2.  http://7-zip.org
You can also use 7-zip to compress and encrypt via 256-AES algorithm in the default 7-zip format.  The file manager can be integrated to explorer shell.  One good thing is that you can create a password protected self extracting / decrypting executable so you do not need to have 7-zip installed to decrypt.  Free.

3. http://www.cryptomat...file2file/index.html
File2File is strictly "run" from explorer shell menu.  Can create password protected self decrypting executables.  Free.  I used to use this utility for my encryption needs until I switched over to the BFACS, 7-zip, and fsekrit "triple play" solution.

4. TrueCrypt is also good but it is not a file by file utility as you requested on the original posting.  It creates an encrypted "partition"/"drive" and whatever files are in it are encrypted.  Must have admin rights to machine you install this on.  Free.

5. http://www.steganos.com
For a purchased solution you can try Steganos Security Suite.

patrick

85

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Password Protect CD/DVD

« on: April 24, 2006, 09:38 AM »

With regards to Truecrypt, I THINK (not sure) that running it even in "traveller's mode" (portable) you would still need admin access on the computer you are running it from since windows requires it for running the drivers.

86

General Software Discussion / Re: Privacy solution for external USB drive?

« on: April 22, 2006, 04:11 PM »

Jeff,

I just remembered something I tried a few months ago.  It's a utility that came with a usb key I purchased (Swissbit/Victorinox).  The utility is called TravelItEasy which is a rebranded of the software from Cososys.  I looked real good - it creates a hidden partition on the USB key which you can / can;t see depending whether you typed in the correct password in the utility.
Anyway. I so wanted to use this but that particular utility only works for a specific brand of usb key.  I think it looks either at the USB serial number or the USB controller it uses.

So, I went to Cososys.com site to try out their versions of LockItEasy and CarryItEasy but was not able to get it to work properly on my other usb key.  Did not try too hard cause it was around that time I saw Blowfish Advanced CS.  So you may have better luck trying out LockItEasy.

Ooops, before I posted this message I looked quickly at their website.  You need admin rights to the computer. in order to use their software.

Let us know which utility you end up using.

pat

87

General Software Discussion / Re: Privacy solution for external USB drive?

« on: April 21, 2006, 01:21 PM »

You can try out BlowFish Advanced CS
http://www.hotpixel.net/software.html

Multiple algorithms, secure delete/wipe,
settings stored in .ini file, folder support, and
rename files support.

But the most interesting features I think are:
1. View Files - Does not alter actual file because it decrypts in a user defiend temp directory and wipes it upon exit.
2. Work With Files - decrypt, run and work in associated app, and then re-encrypt after exiting associated app.  No need to re-enter password for re-encryption.

It is these 2 features that make BFACS the utility tool I use for encrypting files/folders on my portable USB drives.

It does not have the option to hide files.  However, you can change the file attributes yourself and tell BFACS not to alter file attributes.

patrick

88

Best Text Editor / Re: thanks for Notepad2 !!

« on: March 02, 2006, 09:40 AM »

What a timely topic.  I was googling around last nite to see references to Notepad2 and found out a couple of people have updated Notepad2 from the source code, although the official package has not been updated in awhile.  Updates were mainly related to support for Ruby.

Site 1: http://mel.melaxis.com/devblog/2005/09/03/improved-ruby-syntax-highlighting-for-notepad2/

Site 2: http://wesnerm.blogs.com/net_undocumented/2005/07/notepad2_with_r.html

I've been using Notepad2 for a few years and recently Notepad++ (looks like v 3.5 to be released in a few days) and like them both.