Topics

101

Living Room / screen pics to DonationCoder forum (trying zScreen)

« on: September 06, 2011, 08:15 AM »

Hi Folks,

I used to struggle with this picture thing to a forum a bit, especially if the pic was on my drive. 

On this thread :
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=27802.0

I tried zScreen,
http://code.google.com/p/zscreen/

A quite robust freeware, open source, which has built-in uploads to ImageShack and some alternatives. Note, it does use Net 2.0, most of us have that in the innards of our puters already.

The whole setup and learning was just a few minutes. And I was quite pleased. Very intuitive.

Now I know there are many alternatives, I tried Jing a while back. So far, for the basic cropped pic to a public website with the url immediately available without bureaucracy, zScreen is very impressive.   (A lot of times open source projects are sparse on interface and configuration, yet zScreen is very robust.)

Do we have a preference on .png vs. .jpg or anything else?

Do we have a preference as to the pic being on a remote server or being uploaded to the DonationCoder server.  I guess theoretically, given the right Donationcoder wording, the forum could automatically download such pictures with an automated bot, if we want to be sure of longer longevity. 

Or perhaps there is a way to make the transition manually when we do the pic.  However, that would only be if it were a DonationCoder preference to serve its own pancakes.

Shalom,
Steven

102

Found Deals and Discounts / Website Realizer on Bits du Jour today 8-29-2011

« on: August 29, 2011, 09:25 PM »

Hi,

Remember, Bits goes past midnite EST now, till 3AM.

Website Realizer
Create Websites With No Programming Skills
http://www.bitsdujou...re/website-realizer/

Fairly new no programming web site software, the people who use it
are happy, especially about support and such..  SiteSpinner, WeBuilder
and some others are better known.

The site of the product, built with the software.

Website Realizer 
http://www.websitere...lizer.com/index.html

Which has a crisp look and feel.

Anybody use it ?  Your thoughts ?

Steven

103

General Software Discussion / Flexible List (data) Management - ListPro and the Alternatives

« on: August 29, 2011, 06:26 PM »

Hi Folks,

In this thread we were discussing "flat-file" list management of serial #s.
   
Serial Key Storage for Windows
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=25868.0

TucknDar and I mentioned :

ListPro by Ilium
http://www.iliumsoft.com/listpro

And I realized that the reason I liked it for the purpose is that it is able to function:

*** not with the specialty of a task manager or a planner or project manager ..***

 but simply as a "FLEXIBLE LIST MANAGER" -- which is a type of flexible database function.

ie. It is strong on the database idea of quickly designing your own fields to meet the needs. And heads-up data entry.  I went back and looked at the traditional "ToDos" such as ToDoList of AbstractSpoon and TaskCoach and realized that they would have great difficulties in this type of flexible list management. They are really very different. They are "thinking" in their terms of dates and times and categories ... and have a hard time giving you a tabula rasa ... and building up many different types of lists.

The point is that field design, and placement, and sorting, in ListPro is flexible, powerful and extremely quick.

ListPro can do some minor calendar and reminder and planning and project functions, but if you really look for that, then the other programs are better, as are various PIM and Calendar paradigm programs.

So the question comes, is ListPro the leader of the pack ?  Short of the one alternative .. your own custom design with MySQL or Alpha5 or some some database project.  The database idea is fine if you want to tie tables together, but if you are not doing that, it could be slower and overkill and harder to establish and quick-launch.

So I wondered if some of the other List management software was similarly capable to ListPro.  
 (this is quick, local heads-down data entry, not web entry).

Quick To-Do (Capstralia) mentions flexible printing and
Swift To-Do (Dextronet-sometimes on Bits) came to mind
-------------

MyBase
MyLifeOrganized (these two may be two bulky)

Maybe InfoQube ?

================

Others like:

Priorganizer  
AgendaAtOnce - seem pre-designed too much for Task and PIM rather than for flexible list management.

With most, I tend to doubt that their design is as flexible and quick for dozens of lists.  
The point is you have to be able to end up with many totally different table designs.  
Without going through any hoops.

================

LISTPRO

Folder (multi-level .. by drag-and-drop)
  Lists (the individual designed tables)
    Items - (columns within the table .. with flexible and quick field creation and sorting within the Item.)
      Fields - String, Category, Number, Yes/No, Date. 3-State, Linked (hot link)
               - Notes fields

The category field functions as an auxiliary table where you quickly choose an existing category or create a new one.

===

The design idea is superb.  

You end up tweaking your list (data base) super-quick.  The list can be some type of todo or calender, or your accounts or expenses, or your books or the posts you plan to answer or just about anything.  You get a real confidence that you will design quickly, without headache, and data entry is fast.

It does work very nicely as a "ToDo" list when you design a table for that. (They have templates too.)

*** The one big lack is that the printing is only servicable.  ***

And one important point of lists is to print them out. You can landscape, but you can not quickly say .. print those eight fields.  It breaks the fields off to a second page on overflow.  Since you are able to use the scroll bar on data entry .. wide -- you can end up with long rows.

Flexible printing is a real need. Possibly the workaround is FinePrint or PriPrinter and making sure the 1st page is what you want and deleting the other when it is wide-field. 

================

LISTPRO MAJOR LIMITATION
1) Flexible Printing --> along with
2) Automated Printing - saving a print procedure of various lists.

(1) is the big lack.

LISTPRO MAJOR IMPROVEMENT
Tab structure would help, - giving another dimension to your overall view.

Also, no web forum, no immediate developer response.
Email goes to somebody who sends it to the developers.

================

So, are there any List management softwares that are similarly capable, with good printing ?

DATABASE
Short of database programs (or if you use a database, which one and why ?)

How about InfoQube and others that are unique ?

Your thoughts appreciated.

Steven

104

General Software Discussion / backup software - file-by-file sets

« on: August 27, 2011, 08:56 PM »

Hi Folks,

This study was originally on a Living Room discussion:
What Happened to Genie Backup Manager?
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=27713.0

=================

Agree on Backup4All, they make FBackup too, which I think is their other-branded free version, last I checked. Good solid company.  The difference is here: http://www.fbackup.com/compare/ FBackup is only servicable, you will probably want to go to a Backup4All version if you like in the long run. They also have Backup2all.

Agree on Cobian.  If I remember, he does one thing on incremental backups a bit differently, so read up in that case.  Issues may involve stuff like empty folders. (Which may not apply as much if you define full backup sets).

And don't ferget Easeus.  A Chinese company, yet surprisingly visible at times and now in the backup realm, with free versions, Giveawayoftheday, etc.  For straight file backup I would give them a try.  This one may have originally been image oriented, but it looks sensible on file-by-file sets.

If I remember, Syncback can work very well as a backup as well as synchronization, so it may be up there also.

Some of these even have active forums, and generally the free version is going to be quite hefty (Cobian is all free).

Caution, generally either do these backups in native format or easy-read like .zip.  If they are real proprietary, without a native alternative, I would avoid the company. When you have a terabyte backup disk, you can do your own occasional delete and compression is far less a need.

And I remember some other Chinese company was doing something with Genie's Backup software, I think that was Titan. It was all vague and mysterious a couple of years back, I would consider it a non-issue. (CORRECTION: this may be the GFI-Titan situation, and may be unrelated to Genie)

Since we have at least three-four excellent alternatives out there. Plus a dozen or two more for consideration, mostly shareware, yet I have tried to give the ones with the best "sense" above, all the companies but Easeus were given above by other posters.

Remember too, that some software that you think of as image (ugh, I consider a disk crash a warning to reinstall that Op System from scratch and only do images from shortly after Op Sys install) may also have decent file-by-file modes.  Paragon and Macrium (oops, these have file and folder mode only in paid) etc.  Or they may allow viewing and file-by-file restore from the image. However I think generally you will get a crisper feel from a program that was designed for backup sets.

===================================

File-by-file set backup (not image, cloud possibilities not examined)

Easeus - http://www.todo-back...-backup-software.htm (free is hefty, webforum)
Cobian - http://www.educ.umu....ian/cobianbackup.htm  (100% free - webforum)

Free Version is not as strong.
Backup4ALL - http://www.backup4all.com/ (forum) - FBackup - http://www.fbackup.com/ (forum)
Syncback - http://www.2brightsp...re/freeware-hub.html (free lacks many features)

Add-ons: looking at reviews.  All basically free.

German companies
Personal Backup - http://personal-back...home.de/index-e.html (free, nice look, no forum)
Backup Maker - http://tinyurl.com/44ytevg  (free version= no comm use, forum)
ZDBackup - http://www.z-dbackup.com/backup.html (free=no comm use, no forum, confirm if translated)
Ace Backup - http://www.acebackup.com/   (fully free, web forum) (proprietary or "as is" native)

Cautions
Comodo - http://www.backup.comodo.com/ (beware of toolbars, gimmicks - has webforum)

If you are not already happy with a paid version, probably one of the 4 to 6x fully free are going to be fine, but which one ?  

Backup4all, especially on a special, however, should always be considered. Keep in mind that there are a number of competent $50 programs (not listed here). Backup4all is simply friendly and well-known in our neck of the woods, working with the shareware and freeware folks , and with specials and various pricing products.

These have not all been checked on issues like :

proprietary format (and super-large zip files)
compression and non-compression alternative
scheduling,
set flexibility,
backup media,
cloud possibility,
ease-of-use,
validation,
incremental-differential,
unicode,
restore capability
VSS - copying open files
system file capabilities
stability
warning messages, logs
network capability
support  
etc.  

Proprietary format, VSS, stability and validation are the most intrinsic to the safe backup process.

Do your due diligence on the features and program on which you focus.  You find something special, or a deal-breaker, share here.

On free programs that are limited you have to check also about file size limitations. e.g. DFIncBackup Home, a decent program not included, has a 8 Gig zip file size limit (formerly 2 Gigs). Also single huge zip files have sometimes caused headaches, (report: Comodo).  Nicest is the alternative to do native format or a zip-type that does not do huge files.

===================================

Open Source - Areca gets by far the most mention with the group above

Areca - http://www.areca-backup.org/
JaBack - http://www.hiteksoft...e.com/jaba/index.htm
backupPC - http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Bonkey - http://sites.google....ite/thebackupmonkey/ (cloud specialist)
Delta Copy - http://www.aboutmyip...MyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp (Windows front end to rsync)

Open Source - Enterprise oriented
zmanda - http://amanda.zmanda.com/ (community-enterprise)
bacula - http://www.bacula.org/en/
NasBackup - http://www.nasbackup...om/wiki/Introduction

Portable
Toucan - http://portableapps....pps/utilities/toucan

===================================

Forums for main group + Areca

Backup4all - http://www.backup4all.com/forum/
FBackup =- http://www.fbackup.com/forum/
Easeus - http://forum.easeus....m/viewforum.php?f=14
Cobian - http://www.cobiansoft.com/forum/
Syncback - http://2brightsparks.com/bb/
Ace Backup - http://www.acebit.co...um/viewforum.php?f=8
Backup Maker - https://www.ascomp.d...ndex.php?showforum=2
Comodo - https://forums.comod...modo-backup-cb-b5.0/
Areca - http://sourceforge.n...rojects/areca/forums

===================================

Here is a suggestion.
A comparative review of Backup4All-FBackup .. Cobian .. Easeus .. Syncback.
(Maybe there is a good review out there, or at least a nice help, like from Gizmo.)

Or some similar list.

===================================

Gizmo
Best Free Backup Program (2008-2011) - excellent comments
http://www.techsuppo...-free-backup-program
More free backup software
http://www.techsuppo...ndations-reviews.htm

Ghacks - Free Backup Software – Best Windows Backup Software Programs (2009)
http://www.ghacks.ne...p-software-programs/

Free Data Backup & Restore Software Programs Reviews
http://www.isoftware...re-programs-reviews/

FreewareGenius and DonationCoder I have not find any one super-spot yet.

=======================================

My summary view :

Freebies
Cobian - good yet unusual, almost quirky reputation, many really happy users, some give up
Easeus - worthy of a try at file-by-file, may be a bit feature slim on file-by-file

Areca - good techie try

The four German companies are little known, and seem to be generally high-quality and free.

Personal Backup
Backup Maker
ZDBackup
Ace Backup

$ 30-50
Backup4all - reliable, friendly, $ version with specials, many of us may have licenses

Skipping the other $50 paid programs, since they probably generally do not beat Backup4all.
One worthy paid competitor is Syncback Pro.

======================

FBackup - slim on free
Syncback - slim on free
Comodo - pass (not so much because of this software, but the Comodo tude)

======================

Shalom,
Steven Avery

105

General Software Discussion / editor or wp (on disk) to give rtf code for web forums

« on: August 27, 2011, 02:33 PM »

Hi Folks,

Sometimes I post on a forum whose editor lost its color formatting capability.  Yet it still reads the formatting code properly (bold, italics underline, color, size, maybe font .. color and bold and italics are what I mostly use). So I can go to another forum, prepare a post, change it with the toggle mode to code-level and then copy that code over.  

However, I would rather do it in an editor on disk.  Is that easy in Atlantis or Abiword or RightNote or TreeDbNotes or KeyNote or OpenOffice or this or that ? Or perhaps a code editor ?  Something nice and light.  I may end up using this to save a copy as well, as forums vary on archiving, per google and crashing threads.

Sometimes I compose in Eudora, it would compose and usually cut-and-paste nicely (forums vary some) the rtf formatted text (which won't work for my problem forum, it needs the underlying code). And the Eudora "view source" level seems to be for incoming mail and too cluttered. And while Eudora has decent search, I would rather archive in a special folder-smart thing.

So far, I looked in RightNote, but did not see a "view source" type of button. I could write the developer, I was quite impressed with the bar and help layouts overall.

Your thoughts appreciated.

=================

Oh, it should be able to take my pics from Abbyy Screenshot Reader, that are passed through the clipboard.

=================

Shalom,
Steven

106

General Software Discussion / calling programs from a web page

« on: August 17, 2011, 09:42 AM »

Hi Folks,

Here is a question about browser environment utility in calling programs on your disk, other than any built-in stuff like email using :mailto .

Browser security by default limits access to the disk.
So eg. if you have a url like:

C:\Program Files\TaskCoach\taskcoach.exe

Placed in a browser bar, it will ask you if you want to save or cancel the file, it will not run the file.
However, on your own system, with your own decisions this is a bit of overkill.

e.g. if you had a Linkshelf, Symbaloo, Netvibes or your own custom web-page, you can not, by default, open the program. (Or go to, focus on, the program already opened.) You can of course use the Start Menu or the Desktop or Linkman. However, a web page has advantages, grouping things together, little notes, etc. .. possibly this advantage exists in some specialty program launchers, but that involves a special install, training and a customization. If you have multiple PCs using the same general c:\program files locations, a web page would work for all of them). 

Now I was researching this for work, since some programs these days will take mini-computer apps and run them inside a browser, and thus you can have decent PC integration with programs running off a totally different system (e.g. iSeries RPG-Open Access apps, maybe a Linux box with Oracle, or Magic Software running on various platforms). Once you bypass the security limitation you can call your word processing program for that customer, or any other program. (Generally it will be a one-way call, but that is sufficient.)  This local integration is on top of the web integration of Google maps and docs etc.  One of the advantages of these programs working as an RIA, rich internet apps.

So, after a little discussion, I saw that it is not so difficult, but slightly techie to bypass those limitations.  This is an example of what I found:

=============================================

Your default email program opens from a browser with the mailto: protocol.
More involved interaction, to work with the security controls on browser limitations to local files, probably involves:

Register protocol
http://kb.mozillazin...rg/Register_protocol

@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Application\\program.exe\" \"%1\""

Registering an Application to a URL Protocol
http://msdn.microsof...14%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

=============================================

Do our techies here work with this, or something similar, to use a web page as the front end to their programs.

Your thoughts and insights appreciated.

Thanks.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

107

General Software Discussion / Browser CPU - the Firefox perplexity - Chrome threading architecture

« on: July 20, 2011, 05:52 AM »

Hi Folks,

First, I still like Firefox immensely, the extension capability is so good that a smart extension choice goes a long way.  

Firefox separated out the processes on extensions to a separate plugin-container.exe . I think that means that if an extension goes haywire .. you can kill the process (or it can kill itself) and your Firefox windows stay up.

However usually the problem with Firefox is in the firefox.exe CPU.  Which can quickly be in th 30-70% range of CPU, with a few dozen windows open.  (These are not flash-y type pages, normal stuff, Forums, and Groupons and google books.)

Chrome uses a different architecture, I think each window open gets a thread under the windows OS as you see in task manager.  That is nice (especially if you could see what the thread is doing) for killing one aberrant CPU window, it also is Task Manager clutter.  An interesting approach.

Now I wonder why CPU goes so haywire in Firefox (memory usage can also go very high, like 500K .. but that can be reduced with Cleanmem and is not much of a problem anyway).  CPU usage will slow the system tremendously.

However, isn't the internet architecture supposed be stateless .. nothing is really supposed to be happening with open windows .. they are just "there".

btw, Opera does not seem to have any severe memory or CPU problems in my usage, however it is in only moderate use .  It is my #2 browser (e.g I like how it handles PDFs internally, which is good for bookmarks) and very fine, it is just that the wide-ranging extensions do not exist.  It also seems to be a bit less Linkman friendly (sometimes the focus is not there for Linkman on the current window) which for me is a factor.  Firefox is super-friendly to Linkman.

Granted, one way of getting around the Firefox problem is to close lots of windows.  Or simply kill and start fresh with a new session.  However, I do wish it were more CPU friendly.

As an example .. today it was just at some high-CPU (50+). I killed it and allowed it to restore the windows with session manager (usually I start fresh) but it is still at 30 .. quite high.  Now I will go in close.   

btw, I have the feeling that certain sites might be especially CPU unfriendly.  scribd .. a book reading site, I suspect.  If there was a debug-type utility that analyzed the Firefox CPU (and memory too if possible) that might be nice.

Your thoughts ?

btw .. All this is on my XP puter.  
Perhaps switching to my Windows 7 puter for main work would help.

Steven Avery

108

General Software Discussion / Avira - chases Uniblue affiliate scareware $

« on: June 15, 2011, 02:45 AM »

Hi Folks,

Many of use have used the Avira anti-virus for some years.  Some new changes make the
question more  who to replace them with, Avast, ESet or somebody else.

================================

The details are on the Avira forum :

[Off-topic] Uniblue scareware ads (hello Uniblue, goodbye Avira)
https://forum.avira....&threadID=131604

[Off-topic] Registry Booster 2011 email from Avira
https://forum.avira....mp;highlight=uniblue

[Off-topic] My shop is no longer recommending Avira
https://forum.avira....mp;highlight=uniblue

[Off-topic] Avira and Uniblue?
https://forum.avira....mp;highlight=uniblue

###Avira’s partnership with Uniblue###
https://forum.avira....mp;highlight=uniblue

================================

Wilders has a good discussion.

Avira Software Has Gone To The Dark Side
http://www.wildersse...wthread.php?t=301198

================================

More at Web of Trust, Calendar of Updates, Security Garden, Softpedia, and more.

================================

This support post from a couple of months ago is an ironic nutshell.

TR Dropper.Gen ; TR Crypt TPM gen Need Help Please - April, 2011
https://forum.avira....mp;highlight=uniblue

... i think i downloaded this files SpeedUpMyPC , registry booster and driver scanner from uniblue i scan the computer using that and found many problem and then i fix all.

... I really dunno what you supposedly "fixed" with the programs from Uniblue, but this may have corrupted your system to the point where we can no longer recover the integrity of the system. ....

================================

Shalom,
Steven Avery

109

Found Deals and Discounts / 1 Sale a Day - OfficeWork Multimedia - PagePlus, Roxio Burn, Digital TV

« on: March 14, 2011, 12:29 PM »

Hi Folks,

Software is unusual on this site.

Any comments on the bundle ?

Syncables Desktop, PagePlus Essentials, Roxio Burn, Digital TV for PC 2 & Imagic 5 Kit + $10 eMusic Gift Card!
http://1saleaday.com/

"The OfficeWork Multimedia Essentials Software Bundle gives you all the tools you'll need to create print projects, edit photos, record shows, and more! Need to sync two computers? Syncables Desktop allows you to transfer data from one computer to another and easily sync all your files, media and browser bookmarks. Edit your photos and images with STOIK Imagic 5, which offers a powerful combination of photo album, organizer, media viewer, and image editor.

But that’s not all. With Digital TV for PC 2, you can watch and record your favorite shows right on your computer. PagePlus Essentials offers a wide range of templates and designs to let you produce amazing brochures, pamphlets, calendars, cards and other documents. And last but not least, Roxio Burn Software enables you to effectively record files onto different optical discs. A bonus $10 eMusic gift card comes included."

Your price turns out to be $10.

CompUSA sells this bundle for $30 in their stores.

OfficeWork Multimedia Essentials Software Pack - Syncables Desktop, PagePlus Essentials, Roxio Burn, Digital TV for PC 2 and Imagic 5
http://www.compusa.c...947&sku=O26-0015

Shalom,
Steven Avery

110

General Software Discussion / setup alternatives on blogger and wordpress

« on: September 04, 2010, 04:21 PM »

Hi Folks,

In this thread I really want here a little discussion of the basic alternatives on blogger and wordpress, both of which seem to have excellent blogging facilities.  There are dozens of worthwhile alternatives, they may be mentioned, however it seems the prominence of the big two is justified by features, simplicity, etc. so they will be the primary focus for simple "get-up-and-running-and-share-away".

Earlier we were discussing setting up server environments on your PC, however it seems these two can be set up in 3 different ways.

1) running on the web, hosted by wordpress or blogger  (www.yourname.wordpress.com www.yourname.blogger.com)
2) running on the web, hosted by your own url
3) running on your local (pseudo)-server, uploaded to your own url (or hosted on your pc as server)

Offhand I am not sure what the advantages to 3 might be .. unless there was some intensive stuff going on where a local connection is faster. Or, more simply (3) is simply for "set-up" then upload to your (2)?  .. then continue from there with web management ?  Rather than ask your web host to do the install ? Which simplicity will vary from host to host. I'm a little perplexed.

The simple fact of email posting to the blog, even pics and stuff (testing needed to see if inline .jpg will work on both, an important question), seems to tremendously simplify the actual blog posts. I played with the Wordpress editor and was not impressed, so Eudora, or an alternative if it words better, comes to play. Of course you have to go online for comment moderation, dashboard tweaking and stuff like that.

One major first question is simple .. in initial days, is there any disadvantage in starting with the wordpress or blogger link ? Are they special efforts or costs or difficulty when you later try to port the blog en toto over to your own domain ?  Should you try from day one to have your domain as the host ?  And, if you start with their hosting, should you first set up your host with a URL redirection to where you might think you go later, so that you have a permanent path ? I know there is a possibility of a fee when you transfer stuff out, like with forums, $50 or so would not be a big hurt, but I really wonder about all this.

Also I am thinking about the best way to handle the issue of unusual name or topic blogs, one account or multiple accounts.  Clearly you could set up one account and have multiple blogger blogs (not sure about wordpress, presumably so). Another alternative seems to be to set up a gmail account [email protected] and the blog with the corresponding name ..e.g myunusualblog .. and then have gmail keep a copy of the mail and send one down to your home inbox too. This way you have nice coordinated control, blog by blog (I will likely end up with about 3, on related yet distinct Bible topics) .. where you sign in to the gmail accounts, one by one, and see the blog activity when not home, and simply filter properly at home.  Make sense ?  

Note: It would be nice if gmail had a url method to pass the user name and password, but that might be asking a bit. Then the url would go right into linkshelf.  

However in my proposed method the gmail username wll be the blog name anyway, making it fairly simple even if the three blogs are distinct.  The only significant loss is that a "blogger" looking at "your blogs", a nice feature, does not see them all together.  Your thoughts ?

I'm not sure if all this is sensible, feel free to drift afield, and share away.  I'll hopefully invite you to my new blog or two tomorrow, to compare and share.

(One glitch already, I set up a blogger account under the wrong name, deleted it hoping to set it up under the right name, freezing the name as unavailable, I am asking about that on blogger forum.)

Thanks.

Steven Avery
Queens, NY

111

General Software Discussion / sharing archive research email - URL capability - CMS ? web forum-email group ?

« on: July 05, 2010, 08:03 AM »

Hi Folks,

Trying to explain the goal. You have a large email correspondence that is research, not public because it is raw form, discussion, etc.  

The two (or more) people are always searching their email folders for the best methods of study and checking. However, that does not allow a simple URL to access email-by-email.  (Maybe there is some Mailbox program that does something here, making each email to a file, I am using Eudora with the .mbx format.) You are always referring to subject and date, or cutting-and-pasting.  A bit clunky.

You can put the emails into a Yahoogroups or Google groups.  The big difficulty (beyond some privacy concerns, wanting this to be unseen by non-members, but at least Yahoogroups, probably Google also, seems to be pretty good on private groups) is that inline pictures are handled very awkwardly, if at all.  They go through to the receipients, but not to the forum post online (in google they are morphed to .jpg attachments, YG simply strips them, dunno about any other forum alternatives).

Possibly there is a private blog idea that would work (cut-and-past) or you set up your own website with a CMS (content management system).  The quick and easy CMS is possibly the solution, but it has to allow a quick and easy cut-and-paste, including the pics .. then you can Linkman keyword the urls.

Similarly, possibly a private VBulletin (or one of the other forums) section would do the job.  Would this be as good as a CMS ?  Dunno.  I have a VBulletin forum, but have not tried this yet, one problem is that you are not really trying to create a forum thread, so each email would become its own thread.  You normally do not think of web forums in that manner, that might only be a rethinking issue.

Anybody using something that they think would do this no muss, no fuss.  Assume a quantity of about 1000 emails to be archived !   As I wrote this up, I realized I should try the VBulletin method, and see if the inline pics take and if it works good.  

Shalom,
Steven Avery

112

General Software Discussion / offline archiving with keyword integration (Linkman request)

« on: July 02, 2010, 09:36 AM »

Hi Folks,

Heavy bookmark users know how important are user defined keywords.  Powermarks and now Linkman have built their base on this feature, very nicely.

However sometimes you bookmark a page, assign keywords and then move on.

Problem:
Three months later you go back and the page is gone. 
You check archive.org, google cache, nothing.

Solution : 
Automated download of bookmarked pages with associated cross-referencing. (Each page requested creates one folder, since it may have multiple files.) The creation of a new bookmark that points to the spot on disk.

Now the page is online, you can bring it up, you lose nothing for researching, and you even know the date when the page was there and the URL at the time.

Probably .. nobody yet has this download and bookmark-keyword integration refined.  So I am trying to open up the idea to Linkman for consideration. 

Firefox has a download page facility that .. if the API allows a piggy-back .. should be sufficient.

File
Save Page As - And then you choose from

Web Page, complete
Web Page, HTML only
Text Files
All Files

Although clearly more sophisticated possibilities might exist, through dedicated offline browsers, my quick test of the above was very successful.

Your thoughts ?

Shalom,
Steven Avery

113

Found Deals and Discounts / Linkman Pro - Bits Du Jour - Friday 6/25/10

« on: June 25, 2010, 05:52 PM »

Hi Folks,

Not sure of all the details, since I have a license about a year or two old for version 7. However it probably makes sense to do this deal tonight, since it gives 36-months of upgrades, and $15 is a very minor support for a program that is my #1 research and writing assistant.

Ok, my existing license does go to 8 (which I have not downloaded) .. however if I end up with two extra licenses available for $20 AND the 36-month is a significant extension over current (likely) then it sounds good.  I can give a license to a friend if I have too many, that seems to be acceptable per the discussion at Bits.

(Note: I'm trying to talk to Outertech to expand into a download-offline feature as well, combining the existing Linkman integration. Just the last few days I started to share with them some ideas. The idea would be to never lose the material even when the url goes defunct.  Archive.org helps sometimes, laboriously but omits many or most links, including forums.

Linkman Pro (2 Computer License)
The Ultimate Bookmark Manager!
http://www.bitsdujou...oftware/linkman-pro/

Shalom,
Steven Avery

114

Found Deals and Discounts / Chameleon Startup Manager - Bits du Jour today May 25 2010

« on: May 25, 2010, 01:32 PM »

Hi Folks,

Evgeni always does a good job on support on this forum and is good on licensing.  We have some earlier threads on this program, generally excellent and, to be complete, with some lacks (e.g. not as comprehensive in startup locations as e.g. WinPatrol, something which I believe Evgeni is addressing step by step. His is more an interface and user-control program, WinPatrol specializes more in the security aspect, they can be complementary). 

Very nice interface, and Evgeni seems to be always improving the program.  Keep in mind that he has a separate Task Manager program. (However for me Startup is a bigger need, a good Startup program is always excellent.)

Bits-Du-Jour
http://www.bitsdujou...eon-startup-manager/

The free program is also pretty good, yet with the Bits discount today may be a good day to buy. There is easily enough there to justify the $15.
http://www.chameleon...ows-startup-manager/

Shalom,
Steven Avery

115

General Software Discussion / RTF --> HTML editor

« on: March 30, 2010, 09:39 PM »

Hi Folks,

As part of my molasses Wamp server and Website Baker and MySQL and Alpha5 and Navicat  and this and that project I realize I need to do some straight HTML coding.  I am a programmer of sorts (RPG on iSeries mostly) so theoretically all that is cake.  In practice .. well. we shall see.

I saw the HTMLPro special today on Bits .. and I know we have lots of other editors mentioned.  Decisions, decisions. While it is not the most advanced, I see that the HTMLPro is sweet in the color coding and formatting dept, good for beginner-intermediates.  

Now I really have one simple kindergarten question to start.

A lot of the material I bring into the editor will already have format from an email or forum, maybe RTF.  Color, height, bold, italics (conceivably fonts, but not important).  I know some webforums will take the paste and hold the formatting very nicely.  (Not an issue here because we are Plain Sam.)  And with an on/off toggle for the mode.

So I want my HTML editor to receive such RTF paste input without intermediate steps, or minimal.  Do they all do that ? None ?  How about HTMLPro ? (I tried a quick test and did not see how.) What would they call it ?

Any help appreciated, since I am considering the big $18 purchase.  If you want to mention the many excellent editor products fine, although we could bump up one of the editor threads for that.

Any help appreciated.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

116

Found Deals and Discounts / BootIt Next Generation (BING) on Bits Du Jour - Sat - 03/27/2010

« on: March 27, 2010, 05:31 PM »

Hi Folks,

Good product, inexpensive, in a realm where mistakes can be costly.

BootIt Next Generation
http://www.bitsdujou...otit-next-generation

Our 2006 Thread when discount
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=5721.0

Wilders Thread (2008)
http://www.wildersse...wthread.php?t=225464

There rep is excellent support, I do not think they have forums.

Shalom,
Steven

117

General Software Discussion / Chameleon Task Manager

« on: March 20, 2010, 06:24 AM »

Hi Folks,

Evgeni mentioned his new Task Manager in one of the Startup thread discussions.  Nice program, again in a crowded field (DTask Manager, AnVir and others).  Clearly CTM is, like CSM, a very nice program. We can get into comparison later.  CTM is in beta.

Right now....
Two questions/thoughts for Evgeni.

I really do not want my Task Manager programs to tell me with Pop-ups about Priority situations and options since that is usually being handled by Process Tamer (or Process Lasso, or something else).  Unless there is some compelling reason.  So we need an option to turn off those (relatively unobstrusive) popups that allow me to make priority changes. (You don't do anything automatically with priorities, I gather.)  Maybe I could make them 0% transparency, yet that is not really a solution.  

Also .. you automatically took over the Windows Task Manager status.  That is a no-no, you have to ask.  I put it back, by the uncheck mark. No matter how excellent other programs are, I reserve that for DTaskManager.  Others might reserve that for WTM.  One reason is .. minimal resource usage on loading, which often is a factor in crunch times. Your task manager has to be very simple to be loaded and active.  At other times, on demand, you want a far more involved task manager. So my recommendation .. no automatic taking of WTM status.

Generally .. very nice program, more later.  I could have emailed this to you, however CTM can use a DonationCoder thread for discussion.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

118

General Software Discussion / my server life - setting up a local server

« on: March 15, 2010, 12:26 PM »

Hi Folks,

For development of a website I gather that setting up a local server is the proper way to go.  Develop at home, then mirror to the site with FTP. So I started with Xampp and hit a snag in trying to start MySQL.  (Maybe password related, maybe not, can show discussion later.) Rather than hassle too much, I then went with Wamp (my research did not place one above the other) and the servers turned on very nicely (after a little puzzling as to where to put the install).  Whew.

Then, for database development (I have a custom web-research-related app I would like to do, allowing real-time modifications by two or three people) I am playing with Navicat (Free), rather than simply PhpMyAdmin, and I am reasonably pleased.  It looks like it really may allow quick and proper database design, even if does not give a full end-user environment like my semi-beloved Alpha Five and other alternatives. Since it affects my real work, I may be playing with the pricier WinDev and Magic trials as well. (They have good iSeries integration.)  So I was pleased with everybodies fav PhpMyAdmin - but only for limited direct control -  and Navicat for database design.  Although there are good competitors for Navicat it looks like very likely a keeper.  Sweet. (I do not mind the cost when I go to Pro.)

WordPress or CushyCMS  or another .. maybe soon (unless WebsiteBaker cuts all the mustard and I decide against a blog or CMS mentality).  

Then WebsiteBaker, which looks like fun.  However I hit a snag on the install which I placed here.
wb crashes at installation
http://www.websiteba...p/topic,15100.0.html
It may also be password or something. Some of this stuff is a bit squirrelly.

Oh, one other discussion.  Which apps really give a decent front-end look-and-feel without too much learn and burn ?  I have not taken Navicat far enough to see what it looks like yet .. however it does not look like a real front-end, probably expecting you to do that in HTML, PHP etc.  Alpha Five will do it, at a cost, maybe $500 or so..oops. Is there a mid-point ?  A neat looking MYSQL "application" that the enduser almost feels he is at home running an app ? (Again, maybe Navicat does this, maybe Sqlyog, maybe some others, maybe the big boys.) Suggestions which way to go ?  I really like the idea of not developing the front-end look and feel by hand-code and I prefer a one-tool approach.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

119

General Software Discussion / tree-style notes - TreeDBNotes - Keynote-NF - AllMyNotes Organizer and more

« on: March 06, 2010, 06:29 AM »

Hi Folks,

We have had incredible threads on note-taking concepts as a whole.

Here I would like to limit the discussion to the basic motif - a tree-style (often with tabs) note program.
Three come to mind.

Keynotes-NF (Free, Open Source)
TreeDBNotes  (Free and Pro)
AllMyNotes Orgranizer  (Free and Deluxe)

Keynotes-NF is the open source followup to Keynote, when I use TreeDBNotes I must admit the interface is rather a bit more pleasant (a real factor in note programs) and AllMyNotes Organizer looks like the new kid on the block, with a DC discount and perhaps the most active development ?

I'm sure there are probably 5-10 other similars worthy of consideration, lets not include them other than en passant notice .. unless they are overall really right there in the mix, with their own advantages.

Some of the issues to consider.

Interface
Search strength and speed and utility
Portability, integration with web in any shape, manner and form
Licensing on USB-Work-Office puter with 1 license at a time
Import-Export
Database facilities - some user defined fields
Note and a source URL logically connected (not just urls in a note) - e.g. consider this for a research database
   (this is a pseudo-bookmark facility, if a note program could be linked with a linkman type of program, even better)
Cost
Support (forum, developer response)
Solidity, Backup
Attachments and pictures

(Add 10 more here)

I would like to personally make my decision for the next couple of years, right now I am toggling back and forth from Keynote to TreeDBNotes and the BitsDuJour and DC discounts for AllMyNotes caught my notice, leading to the post .

Shalom,
Steven Avery

120

General Software Discussion / Firefox - new window - can you remember the google search you opened with

« on: September 24, 2009, 09:49 AM »

Hi Folks,

Yes, I know I could ask in FF land, however let's try here first. A bit more out-of-the-box.

I open a new window in Google (usually I have the setting as a background opening) and 30 minute later I go to the window to search for ... what was in the google search.  However I forgot which search it was ! hmmm .  Any extensions or tricks to overcome this ?  Keep that search somewhere .. e.g. in the Find: bar when the window returns or a special little view area.

Another big FF need, the wonderful little "Find" box on the bottom bar.  I want two or three of them, so I can toggle searches without retyping and remembering as I go over pages.  Once I asked in FF land and got mostly blank stares, yet I think this would be 10x more effective that the fancy stuff they do in search land.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

121

Living Room / DonationCoder loading funny in Firefox - colors missing - proportions strange

« on: July 16, 2009, 06:29 PM »

Hi Folks,

This happens to me sometimes, and can even be after a reboot, so it does not seem to be memory related.

Here is a pic.



Any ideas why ?  It is annoying, although everything functions ok, and I can go to Opera if I want to see normal.

Shalom,
Steven

122

Found Deals and Discounts / Kirby Alarm Pro - Bits Du Jour 7-13-08

« on: July 13, 2009, 02:52 PM »

Hi Folks,

Kirby Alarm Pro
http://www.bitsdujou...are/kirby-alarm-pro/

Never used this, and .. other software that overlaps is in use (System Scheduler, Rainlendar) and the Vue Calendar thing also sounded great ..

however a number of users seem to wax poetic.

And he has got a rather excellent-looking forum.

Kirby Software Forum - Kirby Alarm
http://www.kirbyfoot.../index.php?board=2.0

So is this one of those "get it for $10 and shake it out later .. can't miss" types of softwares ?

Shalom,
Steven

123

General Software Discussion / security - is malware prevention missing a basic tool ?

« on: July 02, 2009, 07:23 PM »

Hi Folks,

 A lot of times when there is a malware problem (on your puter or fixing somebody elses) you have an idea where it came from, a lot of times you don't.  If you don't, you have a recipe for a future disaster.

 Malwarebytes is probably the leader in finding out info these days, SuperAntiSpyware second.  Kewl.

  One thing they (any company) never seem to want to study is the DATES of the files of the problems. They are not shown to you, they are not in the log, they are nowhere to be found (afaik, there could be exceptions).  And once you delete the problems, all trace is gone except in backups.

  Now Windows does a pretty good job documenting the date and time of when a file appears (granted the malware could try to adjust that, similarly you could have a guardian to prevent the 'adjustment'.  The malware could also fudge the issue some if it is the type that replicates and deletes, however what I am sharing will apply in MOST cases.)

  So if you had two things :

1) The ORIGINAL PUTER DATE of the problem issues (I'm not sure if that extends to registry entries, whether they log .. or could be easily logged .. in that manner).  On files Windows keeps a couple of dates, sometimes the names are confusing, but the original "onboard" date is one of them.

2) A decent log .. not just the event viewer, but a real log-file of web-pages, downloads, java loads, .exe and .dll file creations, stuff like that.

You would be able to backtrack and get a good fix on the original source.  And log files are "no big deal" .. 100 or 1000 entries a day or so is simply nothing in terms of computer processing.  

And note: until there is more .. actually the windows file dates gives you a pretty decent defacto log today, simply by searching on the date and time.

Then #3

And most of this could checking be automated !  Then a little program could fish out what happened right before the file install.  So it is a lot easier than even looking at the famous "event viewer".  A lot of time you would then look at the data and have an "aha" moment, or at least find a likely culprit or benign cause.

Why do I mention this ?  I fished out the data for a false positive from Emsi very easily in that way (I could link to the threads).  First I checked the suspect file date itself, then I searched on Locate32 (I think that is what I used, maybe Total Commander did not have that date search handy, or maybe vica versa) by the file dates to see what was new at the time of the suspect.  And I found out that a potential "keylogger" was simply part of a respected task manager package that I had installed that gave me the .dll.  And a phone call to the developer put all the dots together, very simple.  (Emsi showed no interest at all in this method of discovery .. none .. zilch. ) Yet if I did not have the dates available, very unlikely that I would have found anything.  

(Well, later I discovered McAfee also had a second lead, far less exacting, one that helped confirm my research. The file was documented as coming from the task manager package -- on a page where they show what was involved in the installs, surprisingly nice from McAfee).    For the afficianados, the Convar "PC Inspectpor Task Manager" program used a Dart library component .. one that had been used in an earlier version a decade ago by a parental-control keylogger .. such is the sad state of modern malware analysis. In fact Emsi had previously been informed about this false positive of this .dll on an earlier thread, but their bureaucrcatic methodology was in the way.  

The malware industry does not like to revamp their thinking very easily .. heuristics and all ...  they are an entrenched and somewhat stagnant crew, at least in some ways.  

Your thoughts on this 'new paradigm' possibility for discovering the malware sources ?  It is actually all quite trivial on a technical level, mostly it simply needs a bit of coordinated action.  Basically, it seems like an important component, a very simple and strong weapon, is simply ignored in the malware prevention world. (When was the last time you heard a security vendor, or even a Wilder's techie, recommending to check the file date and match it against the files on your system ? )

The simplest aspect of this could be implemented very simply.  Here is the file(s) in question .. here are any installs at that time.  At the very least, you would start with things like .. this .dll or this .sys links to this .exe and these files, they were installed at the same time.  The more overarching log defense structure is the higher level recommendation.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

124

Living Room / windows up - unspecified - determining the source.

« on: July 01, 2009, 08:33 PM »

Hi Folks,

  When there is a message up in a window, and you do not know the program source, and it
does not tell you, is there a way to really determine ?  Short of killing processes and seeing
when it goes away ?

Shalom,
Steven

125

General Software Discussion / fully-free software for biz - the lists !

« on: June 28, 2009, 02:01 PM »

Hi Folks,

The thread started here:

fully free software utilities for biz use
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=18813.0

And that is the best place for most of the side-threads.  
Here is the list updated, now in sections, there were problems in page size before.

Below is also fine for suggestions and questions, once I get the first group of posts in,
with the new groupings.

Here are the groupings for now !  
(Do we have URL direct to post ?)

===================================================================

OFFICE - NOTES - PIM  & TO-DO & CALENDAR & REMINDER - EMAIL

WINDOWS UTILITIES
INSTALLER - UNINSTALLERS SCREEN CAPTURE - CLIPBOARD  CLEANERS - SCHEDULING - MEMORY ZIP - UTILITY SUITE  
PASSWORD REVEALERS - ICONS - DESKTOP - TRAY - GRAPHICS

DISK FILE MANAGEMENT
FILE MANAGERS, EXPLORER, DISK SPACE, DUPS, SEARCH, COMPARE DEFRAG

BACKUP - COPY

FTP & REMOTE ACCESS

SECURITY - FIREWALL, ANTI-VIRUS & MALWARE, HIPS

WINDOWS UTILITIES
STARTUP -   SHUTDOWN & RESTART -
PROCESS & TASK MANAGER  & TERMINATION

DATABASE DEVELOPMENT

OP SYS -
REGISTRY COMPACT, DEFRAG, BACKUP - PAGEFILE - UNIDENTIFIED DEVICES - DRIVER BACKUP
EVENT VIEWER & LOG FILES - analysis & real-time

SYSTEM UTILITIES - BOOT DISK, RESCUE, PARTITION, DATA RECOVERY-UNDELETE

IMAGE EDITING AND VIEWING -- PDF UTILITIES - PRINTING UTILITIES

BIZ APPS Accounting - Inventory - Time Tracking

NETWORK ADMINISTRATION - NETWORK TRAFFIC - TCP/IP

BIZ-WARE - what you are most likely needing to purchase (SECURITY)

WINDOWS SHELL

SOFTWARE INVENTORY - VERSION UPDATES - SYSINFO -HARDWARE DIAGNOSTICS

EDITORS - NOTEPAD REPLACEMENTS - PROGRAMMER/DEVELOPER EDITORS

WEB BROWSING - Research - Activities - Recreation

HOME (OFFICE) SERVER
SCRIPTING / MACRO / PROGRAMMING TOOLS

CD - DVD

MISCELLANEOUS AND NOTES-DISCUSSION
DONATIONCODER - PROLIFIC PACKAGES - ABANDONWARE

==================================================

PAGE 2

RESOURCE LIST  

FREEWARE PACKAGES WHICH NEED EULA AND/OR AUTHOR CHECK

ONLINE TECH RESOURCES

=====================================================================

Shalom,
Steven