Messages

926

General Software Discussion / Re: A question about DRM

« on: July 10, 2007, 11:55 AM »

So PaladinMJ, I'd urge you to call up Direct2Drive, complain vehemently that their copy protection is abridging your fair use rights, cancel your subscription (if any) and demand a refund. They'll probably come back with some blather about a license agreement or terms of service you agreed to when signing up for the site. Don't back down. You can tell them that these "clickwrap" agreements have never been held up in court (they haven't) and that recent federal court rulings have shown that one-sided, take-it-or-leave-it terms of service agreements are "contracts of adhesion" and are therefore legally unenforceable (which is also true). If you don't get satisfaction, call your credit card company and see if it's not too late to reverse the charges.

-Jimdoria (July 05, 2007, 03:04 PM)

I don't know about around the world or even here in the U.S., but it sounds to my untrained ear like a valid case for a class action suit against DRM.  If only I knew how to make a strong case for it, it would definitely be worth talking to a class action lawyer about.

927

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: New Books Cheaper

« on: July 10, 2007, 04:09 AM »

Using a quick search on AddAll.com as mentioned in a post here, I found it at Amazon for 24.95.  Shipping made the cost just over $28 (for my location); but the book was ~$25.  Not sure that 10% off is actually accurate, but it does sound like you got a decent deal overall.

928

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Compact AutoRunner v1.0 - Small, compact, customizable cd autorun menu!

« on: July 10, 2007, 04:01 AM »

Man, I could really have used this last year.  I guess I will have to revive that project and give this a go.v

929

DcUpdater / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - DcUpdater - 1.12.05 - JUN 30, 2007

« on: July 09, 2007, 10:57 AM »

Mouser, one other request.  The updater uses proxy settings, but I can't get my company to give me the site:port info.  They keep saying to use the http: proxy address.  Is there any easy way to support this?

930

General Software Discussion / Re: links collector

« on: July 08, 2007, 03:05 PM »

I see what you mean.  Still, isn't there a way to choose href from link "on click" or something like that?

931

General Software Discussion / Re: links collector

« on: July 08, 2007, 10:27 AM »

If you are only asking about links, why not parse out only the <a> tags?  The anchor tags have to exist with the correct URL for it to link to another page, so that could quickly and easily filter out everything else.  The only problem that would need to be figured out is if someone posted it in plain text without a link.

The logical expression for the filter would be:  Find <a, then find href=, then return the url.  Match this to the mask and place it in xxxx file.

Unfortunately I don't know any coding for that beyond the code for the links in the html, but I hope that helps.

932

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: AcroLiminator 0.1 Beta

« on: July 08, 2007, 10:20 AM »

Excellent idea to remove them too.  Told the wife about it and she is excited to use it...Once she has her computer back up and running.  I will to, of course, but this sounds like one of her dream programs that she never thought to look for.

933

General Software Discussion / Re: Any FastStone fans out there?

« on: July 08, 2007, 10:06 AM »

Yes, well, I never had that handicap. 

I almost always make self-extracting files (SFX) and/or zip for compatibility since work has a site license for WinZip, but I never liked it much.  Don't really know why, just found SFX much easier to work with than WinZip's self-extractor.  The fact that ALZip extracts all these formats and can create several of them is just a huge bonus for me.  For me, the SFX creation and the zip format are the deal breakers, and when ALZip can do that much more cheaply then WinRAR or WinZip, I am sold.  Now if only I could convince the company of that 

I am just curious when or even if, it will support 7z creation.  Renegade, do you have any insight to that?

934

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: AcroLiminator 0.1 Beta

« on: July 08, 2007, 09:53 AM »

I am not sure if the converter is worth putting your time into right now, maybe more for a future option in the program.  The user input is what I think would be most useful right now.  It is funny the timing of this, since my wife is reformatting her computer anyway due to a rootkit issue she is having.  Anyway, I am certain she will love to have this program when she brings her computer back online.

935

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: AcroLiminator 0.1 Beta

« on: July 08, 2007, 09:30 AM »

This is an AWESOME idea!  Half the time, I don't even know what some of these mean (guess I don't text enough ).  And don't even get me started on my Wife.  She hates acronyms so bad it is not even funny.  She can't remember what any of them mean and that is why she failed out of Information Sciences in college (or at least that is what she believes - I don't know since I didn't know her then).

My questions to you are:

1) Can you make this go both ways.  For example, can you write "Be right back" and it will substitute brb?  I don't know if this would help anyone, but it does seem like a natural extension of this program to help teach some of these substitutes.

2) Can it include user defined acronyms?  While I can see a good start and project for this to be included, you would never get all acronyms, especially industry specific ones.  Along with this, perhaps you can create a web site where they can be submitted for inclusion in the program itself.

3) I can't remember, but I know there was a third question...I will post again when I remember it. 

936

Find And Run Robot / Re: An idea for FARR "with this file do.." type actions

« on: July 07, 2007, 05:21 PM »

Maybe I am missing the point, but why would something like this be required to be on the same line?  If it works without the arguments, it would still work on a command line.  If you were using FARR from a non-CLI, then you can have it open (or show) in a subfield on the interface.  If you wanted to continue this for CLI, you can have those map directly to switches.  Or am I way off here?

937

General Software Discussion / Re: Any FastStone fans out there?

« on: July 07, 2007, 05:03 PM »

For the original question, I'm a bit more of an ALSee fan.

But don't think that I'm not just a tad bias.

-Renegade (July 06, 2007, 11:49 AM)

I am not as biased as you, but I too prefer the ALTools selections.  It is that "evil" ALZip that got me stuck on ALTools line of products...Nice work. 

938

General Software Discussion / Re: Anybody use FileHippo Update Checker?

« on: July 07, 2007, 04:13 PM »

I use it too.  I haven't found any issues with it, other than what would be expected...If the software is not in the database, they don't check to see if it has an update.  (I know, this could be considered a "duh" statement, but many people don't think about what is needed behind the scenes to accomplish this type of program, so they assume it works for all software.)

939

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: CPU monitor that plays sound according to activity

« on: July 04, 2007, 05:25 PM »

Yes, put it to music that we can blast if we want, and we will immediately know when the process is done (unless it jumps up and down like most I use).  That way we can use the PC to play musical chairs 

Seriously, though, I can imagine several uses of this.

940

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Requesting good alias files

« on: July 04, 2007, 01:18 PM »

If anyone knows of useful commandline tools, they can make very good subjects of an alias pack.  As would any group of related internet searches.

-mouser (July 04, 2007, 02:46 AM)

I don't know if this is already in there or not, but PSTools from Systernals (now part of Microsoft) is an extremely useful set of CLI tools.

941

Living Room / Re: Wine Ratings Are For Suckers: Fun Article

« on: July 04, 2007, 11:44 AM »

I agree for the most part but, I have been turned on to some pretty good wines by reading reviews.

-edbro (July 03, 2007, 05:34 PM)

I can understand that.  I personally like going on wine tasting tours so that is how I find them.  If the reviews work for you, great.  I just don't find them worth my time.

942

Living Room / Re: Wine Ratings Are For Suckers: Fun Article

« on: July 03, 2007, 03:42 PM »

I, personally, rarely rely on anything from critics.  They are usually either paid one way or another for their comments (credibility issues), or they don't know what they are talking about.  It is rare you find one that is worth the time to listen to, and you have to wade through so much garbage, it is even more rare that they are worth finding.  This is for nearly any product, not just wine. 

That said, one of the first suggestions I ever heard from a winery is "Forget what people tell you about wines or that this goes with that.  I will tell you some guidelines most people find useful for choosing a wine, but in the end, it is what YOU like."  Ever since, I have found that the cheaper white wines are my taste, and it saves me money.  What more could I ask for from wine?

943

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Einstein Puzzle 2.0 by Flowix Games

« on: July 03, 2007, 03:27 PM »

Agreed.  It is a great game that I got my wife addicted to and now I have to fight for the computer 

944

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Shortcut to color scheme change for use with battery run

« on: July 02, 2007, 05:40 AM »

If it works, perhaps you would be willing to share for the rest who have not figured it out yet?  Or like me who have not switched yet, but will be forced to in the future.  Just a thought...

945

General Software Discussion / Re: Excalibur 32-bit

« on: July 01, 2007, 08:32 AM »

I still don't think RPN is more logic - you have to break down expressions into fragments with RPN. HP probably just wrote that blurb because it's easier to do RPN than a complex expression evaluator

-f0dder (July 01, 2007, 04:30 AM)

I agree...And the idea of the RPN saving keystrokes is rubbish as well.  After each number you hit enter, then after the operator you hit enter.  So for 2 + 2 = 4 you end up with 6 keystrokes vs. 4 w/ a standard calculator.  Now for a much more complex equation, you still hit the enter after each keystroke, and unless you have a great many nested sub-equations requiring several Parentheses in a row, then you really loose keystrokes.  Even in those situations it is not as much a savings as you are led to believe.

Another point to argue is the more natural method as taught in school on paper.  I don't know what school(s) they are talking about, but I know a simple algebraic calculator allows me to enter the equation EXACTLY like I was taught in school.

The only "advantage" I can see is seeing the intermediate steps, but even this is trivially completed with a standard algebraic calculator.

So back to the original question - Why RPN?

946

General Software Discussion / Re: Ultra Explorer; I am impressed!

« on: June 29, 2007, 03:32 PM »

Do you mean Open New Tab? From memory, I could open as many Tabs as I wanted? Or have I missed something?

-Perry Mowbray (June 28, 2007, 11:28 PM)

or do they not mean like dual-pane, like Total Commander style ?

-tomos (June 29, 2007, 09:11 AM)

To answer a few questions -

No, not in tabs, I mean multiple panes, like mtexplorer.  Like Curt said, it is somewhat similar to dual-pane (Total Commander, Norton Commander, Free Commander, et. al.), but with more panes.  Actually mtexplorer allows as many as you would like.  It starts as 4 panes, but I configured it to 6 just to see if it would.  It did, however when I started using it, instead of just configuring it, it would lock up then shut down.  I changed the configuration back to default and had the same issues.  I love the idea and it did exactly what I wanted, but it had problems on my system.  The only thing I would have liked to add is a tree-view as well, but that is minor and (in fact) may even have been possible.  When I had issues, I didn't really continue to find out.  I am looking for something like that but without the issues I had.

This really made me realize how much mtexplorer is exactly what I was looking for, and maybe I should try to contact the developer    Thanks for helping me realize this...

947

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: [Official Release] Returnil Virtual System 2007

« on: June 28, 2007, 07:24 PM »

Sounds good.  Guess I will have to try it out...

948

General Software Discussion / Re: Ultra Explorer; I am impressed!

« on: June 28, 2007, 07:22 PM »

Yeah, that is the one I liked the idea of, but wasn't stable on my system for some reason...It kept shutting down when I would try to move files.

949

Developer's Corner / Re: Docoto Defense - DonationCoder.com Game in Development

« on: June 28, 2007, 07:04 PM »

Nope, right order.  Though I look at them all at once and I still like them in the same order best (4, 1, 2, 3)...well, 1 & 2 pretty much tie right behind 4 in my opinion.

950

General Software Discussion / Re: Ultra Explorer; I am impressed!

« on: June 28, 2007, 07:01 PM »

Okay Curt, maybe I just didn't figure it out yet, but do you know of any way to make UltraExplorer a multipane environment.  I know there are several out there that do dualpane, but I can't seem to find any good, stable software out there that does multipane.