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Hi,

Bits continues to go downhill. You mentioned Nico, but the forum monitor during Censorship City seems to be more Roger Thomasson.  I saw a post was put in by someone that they felt that a software company, Blumental, had been snarky with them on a request (not the exact words, but representing the tone).  It was no big deal, I considered it interesting, good to know but very possibly "perception" or a bad hair day.

Then you go back and the post has been liquidated (not even a notice of deletion for rules violation).  That poster will be put on "moderation" and will probably wash their hands of Bits, knowing the game.

This is rather sad, since Bits had been one of the more vibrant daily discussion places, and they do not seem to realize what it means to go the censorship milquetoast route.  

We see so many sell-outs and partials.  Uniblue type stuff. Remember Yelp had its scandals.  Now I simply can not trust BitsDuJour to have honest discussion.  I know they now will be very quick to black out any comments that will put their sale items in an unfavorable light. The key now seems to be commission and sales $, make the vendor happy, integrity out the window.  Remember, with Roboform we were actually just trying to point out that crippling an export function is quite dubious.

Anyway, Donationcoder stays as lively and friendly and forthright as ever.

Steven

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

PS.

In the forum, another poster had their post vanish, simply because it pointed out problems with the product. 
http://www.bitsdujour.com...w/ID=18444/#comments18458

Hi,

Incidentally, the "moderation" really looks to be Bits (Nico), not the vendor. It has extended to a forum wipe-out of the post above, to posting on the SoftPerfect RamDisk thread.  I see absolutely no indication that the vendor is given such authority.  They may kvetch to Nico, and vendors can vary in clout, but it really looks to be a Bits thing.

Steven

 Hi,

Since the Bits position is clear as mud, I placed this on the forum, below the earlier post, although I do not see it yet.

Siber-Roboform and the ethics of crippling an export function.
http://www.bitsdujour.com/view/id=18437/

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

Hi,

Here is the Donationcoder thread.
Roboform, crippling the export function and Bits Du Jour censorship
http://www.donationcoder....m/index.php?topic=32221.0

We were trying to figure out whether the censorship (which apparently increased as the "sale" sent on) was from Nico and Bits directly ...., or indirectly by giving control of the comments to the vendor.

Please let us know, and you might want to read the Donationcoder thread and give us the Bits view there or here.  The credibility of Bits, I believe, is taking quite a hit by the censorship, which looks to be far greater than anything previously in moderation mode.

Steven

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

Hi,

A backup feature would only be relevant as an export-import option if it came with a restore feature that is available externally.  It would have to lack encryption (which goes against the expected internal encryption) and it would have to have the layout available, although that might be puzzled out, if there was not encryption.  Generally a backup is simply a mirror of the existing data file, which is useless for export-->import.

Sounds like simply another diversion, smoke and mirrors, from the Roboform crew.

Steven

typo

Hi,

yes, I understand 40hz.  For that reason, I may try Keepass again, I load it up all the time but with blank data !

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

Here is my current post on Bits ! I do not know if it will get posted or not, due to the activation of the moderation queue.

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

Bits Du Jour - Roboform 2Go
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/roboform2go-v7/

====================
Hi,

Michelle, your answer is puzzling.

Basically,  I really do not think you understand the difference between a print function (designed to show you what data you have in a visual fashion on the screen or on a printed page) and a data export-->import function.   

There is simply no concern on a data export-->import function as to print formatting or being too long on a page, since it is raw data (cvs .html .txt .sql etc).  In many cases, the data is never viewed at all, it is simply used directly for import.

And many people using the export function ended up trying to reload earlier versions of Roboform in order to have the real function needed.

So, I put more information on this on a Donationcoder thread as well as in a post on the lightly-used Bits forum.  (Suggestion: highlight the fact of the forum far more clearly on the front Bits pages... bold, color etc.)

Michelle, it is true that you already gave me an answer of sorts from your tech support people.  So there is no need for me to ask them again, unless they plan to put in a proper export function.  From what you say, it is clear that Siber-Roboform simply has no plans to restore the full export function, which they had for many years.  And that was my question here.

Personally, without a full export function, the program is not of interest to me. Since I may end up with 100 or 200 entries. In which every single one needs modification if I try to use my data anywhere but Roboform. This goes against all philosophies of system and data openness and transparency, and my control of the data I generate.  (Understanding that you need your master password to do any export anyway.)

Thanks for trying, Michelle, anyway.  I realize that software companies often put their public-front PR people in a difficult position, so there is no antagonism meant towards you at all.  

Steven

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

Since it is on a queue, I can not add a note saying that she (as PR-customer service) may not understand how trivial it is to have two alternate print-display outputs.

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

Hi cyberdiva,

I was not sure if there was one hit or two over the years, so probably one.  However, you are right that it seems they handled it pretty well, and there were no known heavy-duty repercussions.  Plus, I would expect they tightened their insides since then.  I started using them later.

Like you, I am using LastPass.  I find their interface and information very intuitive, helpful and unobstrusive, all at the same time. Conceptually I was ready to put them up against Keepass, but Keepass seems to make you do much more to actually place in, use and remember the pages properly.

Steven

Hi,

To show you the changes in Bits, this is the post on the current thread that was censored:

RoboForm2Go v7
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/roboform2go-v7/

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

Hi,

Danny -  Top Ten Reviews is not considered reliable, since their operation is based on trying to make commissions on sales. Free software and services are ignored.  As an example, LastPass is listed as at a minimum of $12 per year, but that is only the Premium service, many use the free service.

Siber - does this Roboform have a complete export facility of all the password data, including the full url ?

Steven

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

UPDATE:  After a long wait, possibly just their sleeping, this was approved, so we can watch for the Siber response.

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

Based on such a post being censored, it is clear that Bits Du Jour will now suppress flaws and factual corrections and ethical concerns.  btw, Siber's other main program is GoodSync.

Caveat emptor.

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

NET HISTORY

The About.com article by  Sandra Grauschopf was very helpful.

Mixed Reactions to Roboform's Version 7 Upgrade
http://contests.about.com...-to-version-7-upgrade.htm

Comment
"Version 6.9 allowed you to export your logins, passwords and URLs for import into other password applications but version 6.10 will not let you export the URL any more "

Lastpass explaining work-around
http://helpdesk.lastpass..../importing-from-roboform/

"Siber Systems has changed the export process in the newest version of Roboform - version 7 does not include the option to export your logins with the full site URL. Although you will still be able to export your passcards, they will not be imported to LastPass correctly. Without the full URL of the site, LastPass doesn't know where the login fields are, and autofill will likely be dysfunctional. In order to export with the full URL, you'll have to downgrade to version six."

Since LastPass is a competitor, they are being cordial and explaining this in a matter-of-fact way.  It is the customers and potential customers that tell Siber that with these types of shenanigans they can not be considered an ethical company.

Oh, here is the main part of the "explanation" from Siber for crippling the export.  They mangle the concepts of a print function and an export function to make excuses.

"There was a print list function in 6.9 that printed the entire login URL. Some users used this function as a quasi export function. We received numerous complaints from our users that the Print List function needed to improve, because when users printed their list of Logins, they wasted a ton of paper, and the formatting wasn't great because the login URLs were too long. So we changed the function from printing the full URL to printing the base URL. That's the only change we made. ....We made a change that was based on user feedback. We understand that not all users use our software the same exact way. It's one of the challenges of creating software. What is good for most users may not be good for all users. In this case the majority of our users like the changes, but we have not yet been able to satisfy all users."

Of course, if they wanted an option to print with a shorter url, it would have been trivially easy to give that as a configuration or run-time option.  So the above is all smoke and mirrors.  

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

btw... currently I use LastPass for passwords, aware that they had security hits a while back and happy to change if seems appropriate (they are very good on ease of use, they seem so far to be simpler in real world usage than Keepass, a major alternative.). And I do not use a sync program, not even Dropbox, I simply occasionally copy to the cloud, since most of my work is on one puter.

Steven

Hi Folks,

Siber Systems from Roboform has done some things that made former customers a bit unhappy, where they felt that the terms of the purchase and licensing was unilaterally changed.  We have discussed that here on some threads. This is not directly about any of that.

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

With two recent Bits specials, I read up on Roboform issues and found out that, at a time that people were concerned about licensing changes, Siber changed the export function in 6.10 and 7.  Apparently their export function is "Print-to-HTML" and they shortened the url. Which would be fine as an "option" but since the "Print-to-HTML" is their export facility it acts to cripple the export.  ie. If another password program imports the HTML, you then have to change all the urls by hand. For this reason, you will find lots of discussion of Roboform customers actually trying to reload earlier versions of Roboform in order to have a proper export function.

And I asked about this on Bits and got a developer response that was unacceptable, and from that point on, Bits threw out two of my comments and placed my posts on moderation.  (I have purchased in the past many items with them and made many comments.) It really seems like Bits, which used to have a reputation of allowing tuff questions, is now going milquetoast "protectia" for clients.

Note also that there has been an increase of what seem to be shill and social media type "rah-rah" posts from a number of vendors. (I don't blame that on Bits directly but it has weakened the whole concept.)

On the Siber issue, I managed to place a post in the little-read Bits forum (if you can see it):

Bits Du Jour
Siber-Roboform and the ethics of crippling an export function.
http://www.bitsdujour.com/view/id=18437/

From this experience, my former enthusiasm for Bits has been greatly dampened.  Little reason to get involved in discussion (except for maybe the rare situation such as helping with Linkman discussion) and purchases now considered largely done.

Steven

Hi,

Eudora has an interesting technique of saving "embedded graphics" pictures and "attachments" (pictures, PDF, etc) in their own folders, and keeping the actual mail in a rather simple form in an .mbx file .. pointing to the two folders when necessary.  Architecturally, it makes some sense, although I think most mailers keep the pictures (in long string mode) inside the .mbx  file. This is one of the things addressed by conversion and import-export programs.

Now, I have a huge folder, mostly with lots of worthless .jpg, with my Eudora, going back many years, including all sorts of email forum nothings. 

However, about 1% of those (maybe 1000 .jpg) are related to a group of specific emails that I want to archive properly and separately. (Largely corroborative research, using .jpg made by Abbyy Screenshot reader of google and other book text online.)

So I want to read the actual mail of those limited folders with emails to be archived, find the lines like this:

Content-Disposition: inline; filename="file name.jpg
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="int_1.jpg"

(There may be one more for something like hybrid or multi-part.)

And then copy or move all the matching file names into their own special folders.
And I don't mind learning a script language to do this.

What is my tool of choice ?
 Autohotkey ? AutoIt ? Something else ?

Your expertise and thoughts appreciated.

Steven

Hi,

My recommendation :

Double Driver freeware for saving your drivers (can be helpful on an OS reinstall, especially the Ethernet driver and the screen driver.)  Of course, if you have a good early image install, this is less likely to be needed, but it is simple enough to save your files to an external disk (best) and/or a cloud place.

Double Driver
http://www.boozet.org/dd.htm

Many companies are problematic, or have little tricks on the back-end.

Deceitful trick by Driver Magician developer. - March 7, 2009
http://dottech.org/gotdreviews/5034

The Driver Genius product from Avanquest is simply not worth the money, and installing new drivers over working ones is always questionable.  My view .. maybe worth $5 or $10 or so to some as a paid program.  At least it probably does not have tricks, hopefully.  

Maybe as an FYI you might use some program to see how outdated such-and-such is.  Nothing automatic, always try to download from the manufacturer if you think it might actually make a difference, but don't rush to replace any functioning driver.

If someone has a recommended totally freeware, no-toolbar driver product that simply makes recommendations that you could think about installing from the manufacturers website, I would think about that for fun.  Much like I run those programs that tell me about all the updates to my installed programs.

Steven

Hi,

Many of you, like me, probably use Linkman as an all-purpose PIM and information repository, as well as bookmarks.  There is one behaviour I noticed that I want to discuss with the Donationcoder experts.

Linkman has a method of saving to backup files with extensions like .ba0, .ba1, etc.  And this is very helpful for giving you access to a recent copy in case of things like a crash.  You have flexibility as to the frequency of the saves, I choose about 10 minutes, not after every add.

What I find perplexing is that the main file .lmd often is behind the .ba_ files when you reopen Linkman after crashes (this can be a Windows forced reboot, or an occasional Linkman lockup) ... and maybe, at times,  even after exiting the program normally.

What I do in that case, if I remember the problem, is go to the backup files in Total Commander, see which is the biggest ( ba0 ) and then rename the .lmd file to .aaa (or anything) and rename the .ba0 file to .lmd .  Thus I have data that is up-to-date.

However, this seems strange to me, that the .lmd file gets so far behind. That it is not updated at the time of the saves. I've discussed this a bit with Thomas from Linkman, without succeeding in getting him to agree that this is unusual.  Now there may be a problem updating the .lmd file which is in memory, that is a techie question. However, do a test, sometimes I think the problem even exists on normal "exits" (at least it has seemed that way to me), where there is not a memory issue.

So your experiences and perspective is welcome. 
Am I missing something ? Is there something that should be improved ?

Thanks.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

Hi,

When I work with pictures, often small sections from books, I really want them to be translatable to the web with a minimum of muss and fuss.  

My goal .. take a picture to the clipboard (Abbyy Screenshot Reader) .. place them inline by pasting .. (e.g. to a Eudora or another editor) and somehow get them to web output with a minimum of fuss.

Here is an example of two pics that went to Blogger this way, from an inline pic from Eudora, sent out as an email:

Erasmus and the heavenly witnesses
http://purebible.blogspot...d-heavenly-witnesses.html

Of course, if necessary, once the pic is in Blogger or Wordpress or CMS..theoretically I could modify the size in an editor, maybe, like Windows Live Writer.

Anyway, I am looking for this type of easy picture --> web output in general, whether it involves an email forum, a web forum, a blog (like here), a CMS system, or a webpage.  

Do you always work with pics by saving to a file and then importing ?  (e.g. as an attachment).

Please share your best ways of getting many simple small pics "to the web" .. in a manner where it is in your own articles, as above.

Thanks.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

Hi,

More recent attempt .. about 3 months back ..I picked up one of those English mag DVDs with about 3 or 4 recent Linux installs.  I tried them on 2 different puters.  They always got a glitch before the install was finished, sometimes with all sorts of scrolling text junque.

The only thing I remember was that the nature of the glitch varied by the Linux flavor.

Occasionally I try to burn a Linux install myself  Then I don't usually get as far as I did with the DVDs above.

Steven

Hi,

Has anybody tested the creation of urls that can be accessed using linkman ?

Steven

HI,

Yes it is supposed to. By putting a box for each item (not a nice listing of jobs with pages that you can easily move, delete etc). However, it did not even put out the multiple boxes  on my my attempt.  This probably could be resolved, but it is not on the comfort zone of the competition, so I let it pass.

Steve

Hi,

The coupon still seems fine a few hours a. However the program seems lean. It does not seem to show a queue of jobs, unless I am missing something..

Steven

Hi,

Any comparisons of CleverPrint with PriPrinter and Fineprint ?

This is around $10 which is a good deal.
$10 more for 2 years of upgrades, probably worth it, if it is in the league of the other two.

Steven

Thanks.

I really like your software (have the pro edition) and I can't find the original rules.  I thought I remembered something about a Facebook +1 being a part of the contest, so I passed. However, I may have been mistaken. I really feel like that whole +1 thing is an abomination, especially when incentive based.  Just want to let you know.  However, if I am confusing contests or something ... oops .. apologies.

ADDED
ok, my error, you only encouraged the facebook thing, it wasn't required, just a comment was required. (And a good pct of the comments were substantive.) All in all it was done reasonably well. I just got diverted .

Also, suggestion:
 you should put the deadline on the announcements, even in the subject line. To help with the "I'll do it tomorrow" syndrome. e.g.
"Hard Disk Sentinel Professional: 25 Lifetime Licenses - entries through June 1, 2012"

Also, I wasn't so sure if it was meant more for newbies who didn't have a license, or if we should use the license on our other puters (I didn't remember the license status offhand, how many pcs are covered), or if we are well covered we should give it away or what. Next time around, if you do similar... you know, like a special donationcoder something ... please put a little sidenote about all that.

And also keep in mind the idea of BillP of WinPatrol. Where he occasionally lets licenses be very inexpensive, a couple of dollars.  (Not necessarily in a contest, but how to work these things is always a puzzle, since you want some limitations, either contest style or total number of license, and/or total number of licenses per user, etc.) That from BillP is one idea that helps keeps the participants focused... but it aint actually a freebie, which is the fun fun fun part.

Steven

Hi,

My understanding is that CintaNotes has bold and background highlighting, but lacks most RTF ? And does not take images.

Images is a special aspect, and often I use Abbyy Screenshot Reader to get the text out of the images anyway (since that often needs hand-tweaking, I would not trust any auto-OCR, as may be in Evernote or Onenote).  So I can find good uses without images.

The lack of RTF would make it non-functional for personal notes that really are highlight oriented (e.g. ToDo type of stuff). You need to have the color to match and grab attention.

However, I could see Cintanotes being helpful for specific needs, a "quote repository" comes to mind, since I run into many quotes in research (a good number every day) that would be nice to keyword and text save.  Yet even there, quotes tend to have italics of some importance, such as when a quote references a book title, so that lack (if it is a lack) could be frustrating. When I go to "get" the quote, I generally want the full real thing.

I know the developer Alex is trying to upgrade some of these aspects, but I am not sure what qualifies where, in terms of future upgrades. Anyway, I generally do not get a program for future functionality, but for what it does today.

Could those who find CintaNotes especially helpful in a vertical way, with the limitations mentioned, give some ideas how they find it most useful ?

If you give some solid compelling examples, I will ask the developer for an extension of the big $5 discount for the DC thinkers and plodders .

Interestingly, after all this heavy thinking, I see that CollectyCut (one of the alternatives mentioned in the other threads) actually advertises itself specifically as being quote oriented and has a similar look. However, overall, CintaNotes may well have some edges, not just price, but in the current features and ongoing development with forum, etc.  I should see if Zotero is a happy fit as well. The idea of simply an easy-use quote repository is appealing.

Steven

Hi,

This fixed itself after a couple of days. 

Steven

Hi,

Today my Linkshelf account vanished.  And the "Forgot Password" function does not recognize the user name or email account.

I have been using Xerpi more, partly because of uncertainty about who is Linkshelf, also more flexibility in design.  However, I would prefer not to lose my Linkshelf info.

Any thoughts ?  I am doing a bit with WhoIs to try to contact .. somebody.

Anybody else have an account that is .. or is not .. having problems ?

Steven  

Hi,

On Notesholder, the tabbed categories looks very nice, but I do not not see any attachment to specific Windows, like your utility program opened.  That is a big part of my sticky use, potentially, to keep an ongoing note for each program.  When it opens, the note comes up and says hi.

Steven

Hi,

The last week, I have been comparing various notes and sticky programs, Ubernote, Internote, WebNote, QuotePad (CintaNotes copycat), NoteZilla, Stickies, with the idea of being more net oriented where sensible (e.g. Ubernote so far beats Zoho and Springnote on ease of use and comfortable and quick editing, even if weaker in page overviews).

CintaNotes looked very good in some ways, except that it was in between everything. If I remember it did not have a sticky aspect AND it did not have an RTF editing aspect.  (Just colors for a note, stuff like that.)  Also, it did not have an elegant notebook (perhaps explorer-style) page system, as mentioned above, more like a heap.

It is very possible that I am missing something in these lacks. I'd like to have a good reason to give it a go, so please let me know where it shines, and what I am missing above.

Incidentally, on web-page stickies, Internotes is winning, despite its primitive editing.  It is smart about domains, while Stickies and NoteZilla are dumbos, working with the Windows function for open windows (fergot the name offhand). However they are very good for desktop and attaching to a program, just not a web-page.

Thanks.

Steven

Hi,

Even though the deadline is technically passed, the sale (up to 2 per person) is active as of a few minutes ago.  I wasn't even sure what is my existing license (from 2009, they are lifetime) in terms of numbers of puters, transferable, etc.  I think this makes me in good stead if I install on secondary puters, or maybe a gift to a friend, or maybe a donation to a fine software, or something.

Incidentally, I have become a big fan of WinPatrol + Chameleon Startup Manager.  I consider the 2 as complementary.

Steven