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Does anyone here have experience from using an old computer, two or more network cards and running some linux firewall distribution ( http://en.wikipedia.org/w...ing/firewall_distribution )? If so, then I'd love to hear what you think the pros and cons of that compared to a regular software firewall are, since I'm thinking of putting such a "home made hardware firewall" together from various old computer parts.

jazper: thanks for confirming that.
nite_monkey: Yes, that would work for all IM systems that support offline messaging. ICQ also supports that. But I'd prefer some automatic solution.

Thinking some more about this, an automatic solution need at least these features:
1. IM system with support for offline messaging
2. IM system with support for plugins that can react to drag and drop of files
3. file host that supports "private drop spots" (password required to edit and download, but not to upload)
4. file host that support access to (uploading and downloading) private dropspots through external scripts or programs.

and as a bonus feature:
5. PGP encryption tool for encrypting/decrypting files before/after upload/download.

1, 2 & 5 seems to be available. I'm more unsure about 3 & 4.

hi jazper,
I didn't know about Share Folder in Messenger at all since I've actually never used Messenger so thanks for the info. This is what wikipedia says ( http://en.wikipedia.org/w...Messenger#Sharing_folders ) :

The Sharing Folder feature of Windows Live Messenger is an alternative to the "direct transfer" method of file distribution. When a user wants to deliver a file to another person on his or her contact list, the "sharing folder" window appears, which is an individualized representation of all previously shared items.

When files are added to the "sharing folder" for that particular person, the file will automatically be transferred to the corresponding computer when they are online. This means that the folder is literally "shared" between two computers. If a user deletes a file, for example, the file will also be deleted from the corresponding computer's shared folder.

Just to be sure, is this correct: when sending to an offline contact through this Share Folder functionality, nothing is sent to a third party (like a microsoft server). Instead, my local Messenger client puts sending the file on its todo list and later when the contact gets online, and the senders computer is still online, Messenger transfers the file automatically.

The fields of IM (instant messaging) and online file hosting seems to be buzzing with activity and new developments. I'd like to hear if there currently are any interesting ways to combine them. 

IM (instant messaging) is in itself often sufficient for sending files when both sender and recipient are online. But it would sometimes be useful to through the IM window initiate sending of files not to a contact's local computer but rather to some online hosted drop spot that the user has. Here's an example of what I'm looking for:

User A has user B in his IM contact list. B is currently offline. A drags and drops file X on B's name in the IM window. The file is then sent to a private drop spot online somewhere. When B logs on, he has a message saying X has been added to his private drop spot. B can click to download the file X to his local computer, or delete it or keep it in the drop spot.

With "private drop spot" I mean that only B can see and edit it and download from it. Others, maybe just approved others, can only upload to it. http://drop.io/ seems to be in the vicinity of what I have in mind for the online hosting part.

Possible extra feature that would be good: encryption through PGP (or some alternative) so that A's IM client encrypts the file utilizing B's public key before the file is uploaded to B's drop spot (as an extra privacy measure vs the online file host).

mwb1100, yes I know that but google still ranks the old site as no 1 so that's where I ended up. After writing about this here I hope I'll never make that mistake again. We'll see how that goes in six months or so

noblejoker: I think most of the programs in this giant list are focused on cataloging discs (CDs, DVDs) and folders by scanning their filesystems. It sounds like you need another type of database. Just a thought: I haven't tried the range of programs by Collectorz.com http://www.collectorz.com/music/ (commercial), but according to their site they support importing items through bar code scanning. Maybe that works for LP:s too?

I posted in the wrong forum section - can someone help me move this thread to the living room?

[Cat on a Dolphin]

The creator of such amazingly innovative physics driven online flash games as Egg Way, Stick Remover, Double Wires, Cat With Bow Golf and Adventure of Cat is back.

Get ready for Cat on a Dolphin
[attachimg=1]
You control a dolphin carrying a cat along a path from start to finish. Pressing left mouse button speeds up the dolphin, releasing the button slows down the dolphin and releases the cat from the dolphins back. That's all the controls. Here's the challenge: while in the water, the cat's air supply decreases. So you must release the cat at peak places so that so that the physics sends it on a trajectory upwards above the water. Next you must time the dolphins speed so that you catch the cat on its way down. This sounds simple but proves to be really tricky at times.

the air is running out! Toss the cat!
[attachimg=2]

Now catch it on the way down!
[attachimg=3]

This is the best game I have played in a long time. It's so simple yet has great gameplay and an incredible thrill to it due to the physics. You can really feel the cat hanging in mid-air for a second before plunging downwards. I also found myself yelling "NO!!" when I just missed the cat and laugh loudly and proudly when I succeded at a long toss catch. A game that gets you that engaged is bound to be good. 

Lusher wrote earlier in this thread that WDE is coming for TrueCrypt. Some more details from their site reveals that it should be released very soon. Very interesting!

TrueCrypt 5.0
Release scheduled for: January 2008
Windows system partition encryption with pre-boot authentication
Mac OS X version
GUI for Linux versions of TrueCrypt
Parallelized and pipelined read/write
and more.

http://www.truecrypt.org/future.php

thanks for the update Nod5,
how are you finding it - or have you had a chance to try out the update?

You used use the Advanced Disk Catalog before ?
How do they compare (if you have the time for a comment or two )

Sure. I still use Advanced Disk Catalog, since VVV still lack som basic features, like support for file type icons. But it is getting better and better. So I hope to migrate to it some time soon since it is steadily updated, open source and works in both windows and linux.

But finding some way to migrate the catalog and avoid the tedious task of manually entering all discs into VVV might prove to be a challenge.

I know the Advanced Disk Catalog hasnt been updated since 2004 & isnt available at it's website (I added a link for tucows) so that's obviously a factor...
[edit] major rewrite - I got Advanced Disk Catalog and Advanced FTP & Disc Cataolger confused - whodathunkit
I also see it's not on the exrended list will correct that ... [/edit]

Once every six months or so I go to the Advanced Disc Catalog site to see if there are any updates. When you google http://www.google.com/sea...h?q=advanced+disk+catalog then the first match is http://www.elcomsoft.com/adc.html . Clicking that takes me to a completely empty window and I have more than one time thought "that's it, they've pulled the plug on it!". A moment later I realize that it's my ad blocker that obstructs the page from showing  Yet I moment later I realize that I was fooled in the exact same way 6 months ago Anyway, naming a page adc.html is not smart design.

Tomos, VVV has been updated. You can paste this into the list:
Virtual Volumes View v0.8 http://vvvapp.sourceforge.net/ for Windows & Linux (Ubuntu) Freeware FOSS 2007-12-22
list of news in v0.8: http://sourceforge.net/fo...forum.php?forum_id=767473

A relatively unexplored category!  I'm thinking a must-have feature for a software like this would be to connect to an online repository and contribute or download specific recipes to the local database with ability to modify it further.

That would be incredibly useful! There are so many great foodblogs out there but no really easy way to do advanced searches across many of them. I get hungry just by thinking about how much more good food I could've eaten with such a tool at hand! 

Robert, great!  I guess the other obstacles on the "road to minimality" are things only mouser can do something about.

This skin is really slick.

One idea to make it even more minimal: add an option to make the "help" and "options" icons normally invisible but visible when the mouse pointer is held over them.

edit:
It could be even more minimal if there is some way to make the horizontal dividing lines between the input box and the match list and between the match list and status bar invisible. And remove the black border for the FARR window.

It would be really cool if it was possible to through the above and through transparency minimize the GUI so that it on launch only displays a blinking caret somewhere on the screen, waiting for input!  BTW, is there some way to make the caret itself more bold? I have set "Arial bold 14" for the input box and the caret looks a bit to thin in comparison to the typed characters.

I have set "settings > interface > extra results hotkey" for CTRL + # (where # is a digit) to "launch and stay open". Likewise CTRL + left click launches a the clicked match and keeps FARR open. I want the same functionality for CTRL + enter/return. I use enter/return all the time to launch the first match. Every now and then I want to launch that first match, or use the navkeys to move down the list of matches, and keep FARR open without using the digit keys. I prefer CTRL + enter since my hands always find those keys without looking. Not so for the digit keys. Maybe others with similarly wired hands will appreciate this feature too.

If this is already possible please help he set that up. Otherwise, consider this a feature request.

Hi trw,
I don't have time to write it myself right now but here's a sketch for what I think would accomplish what you're after:
An autohotkey script that (1) changes the external USB device to default, (2) runs your qwave command, (3) changes the default device back to whatever it was. Autohotkey scripts for changing default device are available in this thread "Audio output device manager" http://www.donationcoder....um/index.php?topic=8218.0 . Maybe you see how to put steps (1)-(3) together based on that info?

Nice find indeed!

Since the Sysinternals apps are covered by http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/ I've so far just clicked the download link for any Sysinternal update, then select "open" (not save), wait for winrar, 7-zip etc to open and then extract all files to the relevant program folder. It all takes less than 20 seconds. But I'll give this auto-updater a go.

Hey I just got a related idea: maybe someone should make a "helper script" for the filehippo update checker. The script would monitor a specific folder (c:\uc for example) for updates and silently installs them when found. So users just save all updates (.exe, .zip ...) through update checker to that folder and the script does the rest. The script would need some (regularly updated) list of command line switches for the installer files.

re: CD-r destruction. The microwave solution sounds risky to say the least. Which non-micro mode of CD destruction do you think is best? I wrap the disc in a newspaper, hold it inside a plastic bag and then bend the wrapped disc until it breaks twice. The bag prevents small shards of the disc from falling on the floor. This works but would be tiresome if I needed to destroy many discs since some are tough to break. I wonder if there is some handy tool (some wrench perhaps) that does a better job at CD destruction (with less strain and more rapidly). Any ideas?

[edit:]

If you do full-disk encryption on linux, make sure to use encrypted swap too... having /boot unencrypted (as it needs to) isn't a security issue. I've used root-encrypted linux with slackware and loop-AES for several years, works like a charm.

Very late reply: I had to re-checked the step by step guide and it seems that only the 100MB boot partition is unencrypted. Everything else, including swap, is encrypted.
 
Armando #24: great if they add support for keyfiles. Most practical would be if you could have two ways to unlock the encrypted installation once you have created it: either through a keyfile (for everyday use) or through a strong password (in case the flash drive with the keyfile is lost).

edit: when I now read the links Armando supplied I saw that my wish above already is on the todo list since this is listed under use cases: "Pitti normally uses a keyfile on an USB stick for booting his laptop and only uses the very long and complicated passphrase as a fallback. When booting, he is asked to insert the USB key or enter the passphrase."

I have also tested Truecrypt for some time. Great application!

During the last couple of weeks I have tried whole disk encryption (WDE) on my Ubuntu laptop. I carry it around all the time and have work related documents on it so WDE  seemed like the best thing to aim for. On the truecrypt forum (temporarily down at the moment it seems) there was a thread on a built in WDE option in Ubuntu (on the alternative install CD). Or almost WDE since there is a small unencrypted boot-partition. From reading that truecrypt thread I got the impression that it is still very secure given a proper password. So far my testinstallation has worked flawlessly. I enter the password at startup - that's all. Here is a step by step guide that was linked to from that truecrypt forum thread: http://users.piuha.net/ma.../ubuntu/en/cryptolvm.html

Cuffy,
the system with .notes and .txt files for different purposes is a smart idea! When I have more time I'll try to mimic something like that in filenoter, by optionally letting it have a couple of different tags (and a couple of different corresponding context menu entries, again completely optional).

Wiiiiindy,
I use the save command in http://yubnub.org for that. Enter save _____ where ____ is your URL and yubnub returns a link that your can right click, choose save as and download the file. It's quick and you need not install any application. (edit: the last part of the previous sentence was missing in the original post)

If you use FARR, you can do it through "yn save _____"

Cuffy,

Tested per your request and everything works as planned.

Great!

Thanks for the links. I already use FoxitReader and completely agree with you on the bloatedness of Adobe Reader. I will check out the defrag app.

Glad to be of help. All is well in Sweden too, though we haven't had any snow yet around here which is disappointing. Hopefully that will change soon. See you around in the donationcoder forum!

Cuffy,
Great that it's working. 

As you can see there are entries for both 32 bit and 64 bit systems.

Ok, when I google that I see that that is probably how Win XP 64bit always deals with compatible 32bit applications and the registry. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896459 So no problem I hope.

Yes, running filenoter.exe directly toggles the registry entries on/off and thus toggles the context menu entry. Just to be sure that things are working as they should, can you test it and say if all of the registry entries you listed are toggled on/off (created/removed) as they should, even the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\... ones?

The append feature appends the txt extension each time it's applied so if I use filenoter on myphoto.jpg.txt it adds another txt extension to make it myphoto.jpg.txt.txt, which might just be handy as a clue that some sort of action was applied to that file more than once.

Well it rather creates a new file "myphoto.jpg.txt.txt", right? The original "myphoto.jpg.txt" is still there. And I'm afraid that any notes you entered in "myphoto.jpg.txt" aren't carried over to ""myphoto.jpg.txt.txt" and so on. So it would often be more practical to create "myphoto.jpg.txt" and then later just double click that to open and edit it. I can see the use of creating a track record by adding new files each time so to say, though I must humbly admit that I didn't make that possibility intentionally.

It's interesting that you use textfiles in this way because I've myself done the same thing for some time, specifically by keeping reading notes related to .pdf files in .txt files with similar names. I've never used a script for it exactly like this before though. For my notes, I've so far used a special ending tag. So for example "aaa.pdf" could have notes in "aaa.pdf--NOTE.txt". Using a special tag makes it easy to later do searches on all and only the note files by including the tag in the search phrase. I've now added that as an optional feature for filenoter.exe . The latest version (attached in FileNoter_071208b.zip, MD5 72926293ddeb8a350f59423ee6ddf0d8) creates a .ini file the first time it is run through the context menu entry. Open that .ini and add a tag value if you want filenoter.exe to use such a tag. Though keep in mind that filenoter.exe won't recognize the old note files (without tags) after that. If you don't want it, use the old version (or use the new and ignore the .ini file since there's no other difference between the versions).

Yeah, I intend to test Win XP 64bit some day, I just haven't had time to yet. But some day...

Hi again Cuffy,
Yes, I was too quick putting in the "C:\program" path, which is the standard path here in Sweden. "C:\program files" is standard in english versions of Windows. But "C:\program" sounds so international, that's why I keep forgetting that it is not. Sorry about that. Run filenote_remove.reg to remove the registry entry with the "C:\program" path.

Let me know if filenoter.exe works as it should for you.

On appending the extension: Yes, for "aaa.doc" FileNoter creates "aaa.doc.txt", not "aaa.txt". Two reasons for that: it was simpler to code and it avoids problems when several files have the same name but different extensions. Example: If I have "aaa.doc" & "aaa.pdf", which one would "aaa.txt" be a filenote for?

That said, I can change filenoter to make "aaa.txt" instead of "aaa.doc.txt" if you prefer that - just say so. But then the .doc and .pdf in the example will have to share one .txt filenote.

Finally, I really hope that I will also be busy installing operating systems (or whatever we use in the future) when I'm 74 years old.

[edit:]

Hi Cuffy,
I agree with AndyM. What you request (if I understand it correctly that is) can be done through a script plus a .reg file.

The solution below is tested and working for me. You can make it yourself in these steps:

1. create the folder C:\program\FileNote (some other folder name/path is ok if and only if you change the path in the .reg and .ahk files below accordingly)
2. open notepad, copy and paste the code below into it, save as filenote.ahk

[copy or print]
#SingleInstance ignore
IfNotExist, %1%
 exitapp
IfExist, %1%.txt
 run, notepad "%1%.txt"
else
{
 FileAppend,, %1%.txt
 run, notepad "%1%.txt"
}
sleep 3000

3. install autohotkey (autohotkey.com), run Ahk2Exe.exe in the folder C:\Program\AutoHotkey\Compiler. In it, navigate to filenote.ahk and compile it into filenote.exe.
4. put filenote.exe in folder C:\program\FileNote
5. open notepad, copy and paste the code below into it, save as filenote.reg

[copy or print]
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\FileNote]
@="FileNote"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\FileNote\command]
@="C:\\Program\\FileNote\\FileNote.exe \"%L\""

6. doubleclick filenote.reg to import it to the registry, creating the context menu FileNote entry

to later remove it, do these steps:
R1. delete folder C:\program\FileNote and its files
R2. open notepad, copy and paste the code below into it, save as filenote_remove.reg

[copy or print]
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\FileNote]
@="FileNote"

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\FileNote\command]
@="C:\\Program\\FileNote\\FileNote.exe \"%L\""

R3. doubleclick filenote_remove.reg to remove the FileNote context menu entry from the registry

For convenience, I have attached filenote.reg , filenote_remove.reg , filenote.ahk and a compiled filenote.exe (MD5 7e0a8ca8bb7519a00f5596630969f1fd ) in filenote.zip .

If you use filenote.exe and filenote.reg from the .zip, you only need to do steps 1,4 & 6.


note: if you select multiple files and then trigger the FileNote context menu entry, FileNote.exe still only opens a .txt file for the specific file you right clicked. However, if you select very many files (perhaps accidentally select all files in a folder) and then choose FileNote in the context menu, then the FileNote.exe program might freeze and .txt files might be created and opened for more than one file. I don't know how to solve that problem completely without having FileNote.exe running permanently.

edit: I should also add that I only use Win XP 32bit myself and so can't testdrive it in a 64bit OS. So tell me if it works as it should.


edit2: on second thought it's simpler to do all of this in autohotkey. Also on second thought, since MoonSoft and the original freeware program still exists ( http://www.moonsoftware.com/freeware.asp ) it is more sensible to name this script something slightly different. So here's "FileNoter". Again, only tested in Win XP 32bit.

Create it yourself:
B1. open notepad, copy and paste the code below into it, save as filenoter.ahk

[copy or print]
;-- filenoter by Nod5
;-- search donationcoder.com forum for more info
#SingleInstance ignore
if 1 != context_initiated_filenoter
 goto do_reg

IfNotExist, %2%
 exitapp
IfExist, %2%.txt
 run, notepad "%2%.txt"
else
{
 FileAppend,, %2%.txt
 run, notepad "%2%.txt"
}
sleep 3000
exitapp

do_reg:
RegRead, xreg, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\FileNoter
if ErrorLevel = 1 ;-- no such registry entry found, so create it
{
RegWrite, REG_SZ, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\FileNoter,,FileNoter
RegWrite, REG_SZ, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\FileNoter\command,,%A_ScriptFullPath% "context_initiated_filenoter" "`%L"
msgbox, FileNoter context menu entry created`nusing path %A_ScriptFullPath%
}
else if xreg = FileNoter
{
RegDelete, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shell\FileNoter
msgbox, FileNoter context menu entry removed
}
exitapp

B2. install autohotkey (autohotkey.com), run Ahk2Exe.exe in the folder C:\Program\AutoHotkey\Compiler. In Ahk2Exe, navigate to filenoter.ahk and compile it into filenoter.exe .
B3. doubleclick filenoter.exe to automatically add/remove the context menu entry. (This puts the current path to filenoter.exe in the registry so repeat B3 if you move filenoter.exe ).

Alternatively, use filenoter.exe (MD5 be2f73f8c60237c6bbe72ae3b1e78216 ) in the attached filenoter.zip and only do step B3.