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You're kidding... OK, looking closely, you're not 

How did I miss that? I've spent a year thinking that she was an Asian - Korean/Japanese/Chinese model!

Zaine, I can't find anything concrete about OpenOffice.org 3! Do you have a link that you could post?

Added in edit: Sorry, that should read: "...anything concrete about what's coming in OpenOffice.org 3...". While I'm editing, I can't find any info about a time frame for release, either!

I've been avoiding mentioning masu's avatar for getting on for a year now - you've opened the floodgates, mimiihu! She's breathtaking - who is she, masu?

Thanks Arjen. Very interesting. While the comparison chart that is in the pdf is clear enough, it's not clear (to this non-Dutch speaker) what the author is saying about what I presume to be Vista's new searching capabilities and SearchSpy... Can you enlighten us about the reviewer's comments on those? SearchSpy looks interesting (if unfortunately named!).

This looks kind of interesting - has anyone tried it (yeah, I know, I'll probably break down and install it myself )?

I happen to have the latest build of Star Office 8 (based on OpenOffice.org) installed on my notebook so created a Flash file from a 72 slide Powerpoint presentation using both Flashspring and Impress. The Flashspring version is half the size of the StarOffice one, was created much more quickly, appears to be of the same quality, AND seems more feature rich (you are given play, forward and reverse buttons in the presentation that are lacking in the OpenOffice file. Finally, StarOffice loaded my cpu and rendered my computer unusable for several stretches of  more than a minute while the file was being generated, with Flashspring I was able to keep using my computer with no discernible "hit" to performance. One thing related to this: I had to try to export the file three times from StarOffice and I could not select a filename because keyboard input took FOREVER. I typed the name of the file into the dialogue and then waited over 30 seconds for the first letter to appear, three minutes later the complete filename still hadn't finished rendering. So, the Star/OpenOffice implementation is free but far from user friendly. There are still several hours to snag a free copy and I say go for it!

Thanks Patteo - I missed this one today. I have giveawayoftheday set up as part of a group in Maxthon but went to bed early last night and forgot to check this morning. This is SWEET!

Hi tomos,

works like a charm for me on XP Pro Sp-2!

Doh! And I just paid the $9.99... The extra $2 must be a tax on my stupidity for not paying attention to the newsletter.

Unfortunately, development (at least that reaches the public!) is moribund on both RegDefend and AppDefend (which comprise the GhostSecurity Suite). AppDefend has been in beta for over a year and is buggy. The developer appears to have dropped off the face of the earth; his complete absence from the forums associated with his applications is a frequent topic of discussion there, as is the lack of updates to GhostSecurity.

This is a pity because I really like both apps...

Here's what mouser had to say about his vision for Context Menu Commander:

To clarify something:

while it would be nice to also add the ability to customize OTHER context menu extensions, such tools do exist (see spj'd post for a great list), the main job of ContextMenu Commander is to let you CREATE NEW Custom context menu extensions, and provide a single customization point for a bunch of plugin context menus.

That is, ContextMenu commander will not be for cleaning up your existing menus.

The link to the ContextMenu Commander thread from an earlier post in this thread) takes you to a good source of context menu apps to try out. I like MMM+ a lot (have it running all the time) and PC Mags' ContextEdit is a must have... PC Mag also does Context Menu Plus, which is a quite different application but might be of interest as well. I actually find ContextEdit to be easier to use - it's more intuitive to me.

Like nudone, I've been holding off commenting on Comodo. I uninstalled the ZA Pro trial from my "backup" notebook (older machine that I intend to use in the event of hardware failure on my main notebook) and installed Comodo on it, which has been brilliant. Case in point: connecting the backup machine to our home network (with my wife's XP Home box and my XP Pro main box) worked well with no s/w firewall installed on the Win2k machine but proved impossible with ZA Free installed - I could find not way to configure ZA Free to connect. I have ZA Pro on my XP Pro machine so enabled the trial of ZA Pro on the Win2k machine and it connected immediately. I was trying to decide if connecting the backup machine to the home network was critical enough to justify purchasing another license for ZA Pro but decided to look for alternatives, at which point I discovered Comodo. After uninstalling ZA, I loaded Comodo and rebooted. On startup, the notebook connected to the home network without difficulty (I had to configure Comodo to do it, but there was nothing strenous involved - no heavy lifting!). Anyway, I'm going to leave my backup notebook running and connected to the home network and see if I can replicate nudone's problems. If I can't, I'll be seriously considering switching to Comodo when my ZA Pro subscription runs out.

The Wealthy Barber has been spouting this kind of advice for Canadians since 1989 (oh that I had heeded that advice...).

I've set up a poll on the GemX forum solicting opinions about the direction that should be taken with TNP, which can be accessed here, if you are a TNP user and have an opinion on the subject. Note that I am seeking suggestions as to how to strengthen the poll as some visitors have commented that the options aren't worded clearly...

Note, too, that the second post is from GemX's lead developer and architect, so they are monitoring the forum and paying attention to users' opinions. They claim to offer second to none support, and I've seen and experienced nothing to make me feel otherwise!

[bloatware]

Another big software company is paying US customers to use their software: Norton Antivirus 2007 3-user pack. They're paying 9$ (given as a Visa debit card). Ends December 9.

NOTE: This is just a public service announcement. I'm in Canada and can't take advantage of these deals  , so don't shoot me if you are reading this from a non-US locale - we're in the same boat! Also, I am not endorsing Norton - I think it's bloatware.

Livin' large, eh Carol?!

Note: I e-mailed the author of COA2 (Neil Rubenking) about COA2 and XP and he replied that it isn't listed as compatible because XP wasn't released when COA2 was designed and tested. However, he notes that it works fine for him under XP.

OK, now I'm interested (installing now). When Carol is enthusiastic about an application, it's definitely worth a look.

Here's a screencap of the startup screen (click to enlarge):

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If you live in USA, you can get Kaspersky AV free and get a $40 rebate ! They're actually paying you to use their software...

like he won't eat up his fishy like a good pussy cat if he is sad

Ha ha - I never made the connection: Mouser as an action verb, God! I can be thick sometimes (particularly as I've been looking at the avatar for getting on for 18 months...). I always thought of mouser as a mouse, not a catcher of mice!

Hi Chris,

Ummm..., er...., ah... Enhanced File Dialog "Enhance(s) your common file dialogs with additional features, including most recently used folders, shortcuts, sorting options, custom sizing, text shortcuts, grid lines, and more! " As far as I can tell, it doesn't even have a website devoted to it - I cribbed the above from the history file.

What I like best about it is that it resizes my dialogs and makes the places bar much more useful - something that none of the other dialog extenders that I have tried do. It gives you the same flexibility that the Office 2003 (and XP?) places bar provides and enables it in all dialog boxes. You can set the app to ignore specific applications (Scansoft/Nuance's PDF Converter must be ignored for example as the zdplus.exe component crashes when EFD modifies its dialogs) and you can force EFD to hook into other processes that aren't automaticlly enhanced, Foxit Reader for example. The recent folders and recent files are nicely implemented as well - links on the places bar. All in all, I like it because it is configureable.

Here's a screenshot of my Notepad "save as" dialog:

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Thought I'd posted about this in the past (but can find no evidence that I did...). Has anyone else tried Stardock's Enhanced File Dialog? It's currently only available as part of the Object Desktop Suite BUT it is an excellent dialog extender - and I have actually purchased licenses for four others, File-Ex, XfilesDialog, DirectFolders and Places Bar Wizard. The last works with Office apps and runs nicely alongside EFD. This is desireable because EFD does not work with Office dialogs.

I've written to Stardock encouraging them to consider releasing a stand-alone version - I can't see myself renewing my Object Desktop subscription (I flirted with WindowBlinds for a stretch but returned to my Windows Classic minimalist desktop after a few months) and I'd like to continue to benefit from ongoing development work on EFD. I *hope* they will consider my request. Anyway, just wondered if I am the only one that thinks that it's great!

Mike

PS Direct Folders is great - have it installed on my second notebook while File-Ex is on a third! I like XfilesDialog a lot but don't have anywhere to run it at the moment!

Looks like PC Mag has gotten into the act with StartEase (though it appears that their utility is more along the lines of AppRocket and looks REALLY similar to Guillotine)...

PS just noticed that Colibri isn't in the list, either.

18 - dead average!

Hmmm... I"m out of my depth here BUT it seems to me that the OP was suggesting that programs be placed in a bin (cache?) for about 60 seconds BEFORE shutting down as normal. That would give you time to go "Oh my gosh! I didn't mean to close AutoCAD!" and retrieve it from the bin before it goes through its normal shutdown sequence. If implemented like this, I can't see how this would lead to a memory leak? If I understand it correctly, the bin would be a GUI that displays links to programs that are in a 60 second queue for normal shutdown - so that essentially all that is being done is that a 60 second delay is being put on the shutdown of apps. This could work, from an end-user's perspective if the option of ignoring some apps (webbrowsers for example) was part of it...

Hmmm.... I sort of agree with Chris on this one. I love the idea of the list, but don't use it much because one is spoiled for choice! As Chris notes, the list is useful for identifying a class of freeware apps (and linking to them) but falls down a bit because there are categories with more than 10 choices and nothing to distinguish between them (feature comparisons and so on). It's not that I don't like/appreciate the list, I just find it hard to use.