Topics

651

Found Deals and Discounts / Power Desk 6 Pro, half prize until Friday

« on: March 14, 2007, 09:29 AM »

[After-after edit: at this link you can have PowerDesk 6 Pro at only $10, so the rest of this post is really of no matter!]

[After-edit: I checked the rebate giving link after I first uploaded this post, and it was O.K., but eight hours later now its not giving rebate anymore. Sorry! Here is the valid link from the e-mail: https://shop.avanque...amp;prefcurrency=GBP  - and it gives rebate ]

---
I've received an offer by e-mail from VCOM to buy Power Desk 6 Pro at £15, normally £30, $40, within 48 hours. You might have heard about Power Desk before, I haven't, so I'm not sure if this is a good offer or if it doesn't matter.

Features:

6 Powerful Utilities;

File Viewer
Open the right file the first time without having to guess which file is which. Get improved file preview options to view the contents of a file in a preview pane or as a thumbnail image. This is particularly useful for browsing files from digital cameras, whole directories of images, or MP3 players where you can even view by artist name, album title, or your own personal notations.

 
FTP
Access PowerDesk FTP in an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface that lets you view FTP sites as though they were ordinary folders.

 
Sync Manager
Compare and synchronise files - especially useful for those who work on files that are shared between two computers, but also for backup.

 
Size Manager™
Discover how hard drive space is being used. Efficiently manage storage space and identify the drive hogs.

 
Dialog Helper
Enhance File->Open and File->Save dialog boxes with: a list selection of previously opened files and folders; a file viewer pane that supports over 150 file formats; Dialog helper to resize the annoying fixed size dialogs

.
Archive Manager
Easily compress and expand files from over 30 popular compression formats. Look within many archives to see the entire list of files and selectively view the contents or extract selected files with a simple drag and drop operation.

 

File Finder
Forget where you saved that important file? No problem. With PowerDesk® Pro 6, you can quickly locate files through searches by almost any criteria with its powerful "search engine" type tool. Search by keyword, file type, size, or date range and see the "hits" displayed in a single-line reference. You can also search inside Zip files and archives, too!


Great File Management
After using PowerDesk for a few days, you'll be wondering how you lived without it! Windows Explorer can't do a fraction of what PowerDesk enables you to do! Here's just a few of the features of PowerDesk Pro:

Dual pane operation - Makes it so easy to drag and drop files between different folders and drives.

Layout Manager - Save complete layouts under single click icons or add these layout icons to your desktop, so PowerDesk starts up up exactly where you want it to!

Add Notes to Your Files! - With a right-click of the mouse, you can add notes to help organize your files. Displayed in a mouse-over window or details view, these notes can remind you of what's in a file without having to open it!

Customize Your File Folders with Color - Easily customize and prioritize your file folders with eight distinct colors.

File Info column - This feature prominently displays specific details about each file in the file pane viewer. MP3 files will show a song title and run time. Images will show the size and resolution. Word documents show the document title, etc.

MP3 Collection Management - Create and control playlist files for portable MP3 devices as well as multimedia applications, such as WinAmp or other MP3 devices. Use the randomize feature to ensure a complete play of the files in random order. Includes cool tools for MP3 users for playing previews of files, searching for files, as well as renaming and editing groups of files in a single action.

File Viewer - Want to open the right file the first time without having to guess and open multiple files? PowerDesk Pro 6 has improved file preview options, which allow users to view the contents of a file in a preview pane or as a thumbnail image. This is particularly useful for browsing files from digital cameras, whole directories of images, or MP3 players where you can even view by artist name, album title, or your own personal notations.

-VCOM

Normal prize verified to be £30 at Bluesquad

Do you know about this app and have a say on it?

652

General Software Discussion / If you plans to install Visual Studio ...

« on: March 13, 2007, 08:18 AM »

Bryan Miller made these fabulous tutorials on C# writing, and of course started out with the link to the program behind it all, Visual C# Express.

I read the System Requirements and was surprised big time (in fact you should read this page very carefully if you are planning to install Visual Studio, there are many issues and surprises):

Before installing, you must uninstall any previous Beta, CTP or Tech Preview versions of SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005, and the .NET Framework 2.0.

-Microsoft

Remove .NET 2.0 ?? Is this really necessary? I mean: .NET Framework has been and will be updated for localized languages (here: Danish), but Visual Studio will never be updated for any other languages than the top 5 largest languages. Well, Microsoft says it is necessary to remove .NET 2.0 and they say it several times, so I guess it is so, but I just thought you might want to know if you plans to install Visual Studio and learn this C#.

653

General Software Discussion / Whats the name of somethingHACKsomething ?

« on: March 11, 2007, 06:49 PM »

On my old PC I had a little program that I used to enter any programfile that would have an icon I didn't like. I would change the icon, and this app could put it back inside without destroying the program. I have no recall as to where I found this app, or what the name was, except "somethingHACK" or "HACKsomething" or "somethingHACKsomething" or was it HACKER instead of HACK"?? Of course you already have recognized the program, so please tell me the right name!

654

General Software Discussion / Can you upgrade, inspite a broken installer?

« on: March 08, 2007, 08:34 AM »

By now the hole DC world must know that I have upgraded from Win2K to XP Home (OEM; no disc), but the sad fact is that this have been such a disappointing to me. From the very beginning at February the 24'th there has been more errors than I had during the previous five years with Win2K - and that system was not too stable, I thought.

Now it has gone completely mad: the Windows Installer is broken. I can't even update! Of course I rushed to the store, but there was a reason I had it so cheap; they know next to nothing about IT - (but they will sell you a washing mascine or a blender) - and will only promise to send it to the head quarter's mechanics. They, on the other hand, may be clever on the subject, but I became nervous about the hole situation and was thinking that I could use the occasion to upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro.

But then the question is if such an installment also will fail, due to the "old" broken XP Home installer, or if the new XP Pro installer may / will 'take over' and install as normal?? What is your opinion on this??

655

Found Deals and Discounts / Be a SPAMfighter (Outlook/Express)

« on: March 07, 2007, 02:31 PM »

Sorry, I couldn't get the link to work
Forth and back... here it is: http://dr.bluehornet...BF7AF8C151615668E165

Uniblue has made an offer for 'me' to buy a copy of their "buisness-partner"s SPAMfighter Pro at a $10 cut-down. Offer ends with March. I and some 3 million other users think SPAMfighter may be THE best anti-spammer. SPAMfighter does not filter based on simple phrases or "trigger" words; it allows any content you may want it to..

I hope this link is right for you too: [no; that didn't work..] I guess, this thread has been for nothing. http://dr.bluehornet...BF7AF8C151615668E165


Compare FREE and PRO:

Free Spam Filter for Outlook and Outlook Express

SPAMfighter has partnered up with Microsoft to build the strongest, safest, and most effective anti spam tool on the market. If you use Outlook, Outlook Express or Windows Mail and you want to get rid of spam, just install SPAMfighter. And if you use it at home, it's 100% free for the first month.

Whenever new mail arrives, it will automatically be tested by SPAMfighter, and if it's spam, it will be moved to your spam folder. If you receive a spam mail that is not detected, click a single button, and the spam mail is removed from the rest of the 2.964.577 SPAMfighters in 214 countries/areas in seconds.

SPAMfighter Standard is 100% free for private use

Award winning spam blocking technology
Protects against "phishing", identity theft, and other email fraud
Used by more than one million happy users around the World
Protects all the email accounts on your PC
Unique language filtering tool that empowers you to stop emails written in specific languages
Unique picture filter that can recognize spam which is sent as a picture
Automatic "real mail" protection - means no lost business mails!
Blacklist domains and emails
Spam Abuse Reporting with one click
Automatic Whitelist management
Privacy Guaranteed - we don't see any of your email
Does not filter based on simple phrases or "trigger" words. Allows any content

Language support: English, German, Spanish, Chinese, French, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Suomi, Russian, Bulgarian, Portuguese, Japanse and Danish

656

General Software Discussion / Where do I get Copy To .. and Move To .., and more?

« on: March 05, 2007, 08:32 AM »

Someone may have noticed that I have lost my old Win2K machine and have had to buy a new with XP Home and Internet Explorer 7. Working with this Operating System I realize there are several features from my previous setup that I now am missing. I have managed to find some of them: Open With .., Copy Path, Send To .., Convert To .., Copy as Text, Copy as HTML, but Windows are still a few nice features short: Copy To .., Move To .., are the two I miss the most for the moment, but there are others I can't remember right now, and I can't remember where I found them back then. Do you know where to get at least these two options, Copy To .., and Move To .., and about other nice right-click options to add to Explorer or Internet Explorer??

657

General Software Discussion / How to edit .xpi, and with what?

« on: March 03, 2007, 07:54 PM »

It was fun to realize that I somehow had managed to change the Firefox extension "IE View Lite" into a "Edit in Frontpage" version. It made me high, and for a while I was thinking silly thoughts about my skills   

Now I'm back to the ground, I think. My version of "ViewMyCurrency" stopped working, and an update from the author's site just made it even worse, so I removed it and tried to install an old stable version from Mozilla. It is for 1.5 and below only, but someone wrote "Download and save to desktop. Open xpi and change max version in install rdf to 2.0.0.1. Voila!", and that sounded easy, I said to myself.

"Open xpi"... hmm... with what?

This is what this xpi will lok like, if you open it with Notepad:



- and in Wordpad:



It may look a lot better in CopyWriter, but the right margen tells this is not the right way either, I would say - but then again, who am I to say anything but I don't know:



So, my big question to you is: How to edit a .xpi file?  - and with what?

658

General Software Discussion / Any app to auto-replace Notepad ??

« on: February 28, 2007, 03:39 PM »

For five years or so, I have been using Metapad, and think it is fine. Now my old PC with Windows 2000 is dead, and I am looking for a replacement for Notepad for my new PC with XP Home. When I read what I did many years ago, when installing Metapad, my stomack gets uneasy and my heart pumps extra hard: did I really do all this, just to replace Notepad, back then? And now, using XP, it has gotten even more difficult! :

[28] - Windows XP

Q:  How do I replace notepad under Windows XP?

A:  System File Protection is in full effect.

You can try the following to get around System File Protection. Be very quick or XP will replace the file and it won't work. Make sure you don't have the WinXP CD-ROM in your drive!

Copy metapad renamed as Notepad.exe to the clipboard.
Go to C:\WINDOWS\System32\dllcache (NB: in XP SP2 this has changed to C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386)
Paste the file there.
Go to C:\WINDOWS\System32 (using Backspace)
Paste the file there.
QUICKLY! Go back to C:\WINDOWS (another Backspace) and paste the file there.
If you have done this correctly, a message should pop up saying that a bad version of a Windows System file has been installed. Make sure you select 'Keep this file' or a similar option. If it doesn't work, keep trying, because it will. Just do the three pastes very fast.

A variation on the method above follows (submitted by Samutz):

I found another way to replace notepad with metapad that doesn't require you to work too fast. I made a copy of metapad.exe called notepad.exe, then made a batch file with the following commands:

    copy /-y notepad.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\dllcache
    copy /-y notepad.exe C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386
    copy /-y notepad.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32
    copy /-y notepad.exe C:\WINDOWS
   
Then I saved it as copy.bat and ran it. It prompts for overwrite for each file, but all you have to hit is Y and Enter a few times. I find it much easier than trying to flip through folders as fast as I can to paste it before Windows replaces it.

- for now, this is too confusing to me!

I know there are many editors to replace Notepad, but someone must have written some kind of auto-replacement feature as well??? 

  Speak up, please!

659

General Software Discussion / Outlook and my new XP

« on: February 27, 2007, 09:30 AM »

[Headline and post changed because of confusion about correct names]

I made a terrible mistake last Friday   and had to buy a new PC Saturday morning   

But it has been more than 3 years since I last tried to install Office 2003, so now I'm confused - I cannot remember what I did almost 4 years ago. Please forgive me in advance; I might ask a lot (more) of beginner's questions in the time to come!

Does Outlook (the icon "Indbakke - Microsoft...") really take up all this silly space when it should be minimized to the Notification Area? On my old Win2K it would always minimize to 'sys-tray' - without the use of any third party program.



Beginner's question, number one:
How do I make Outlook minimize to Sys-tray / Notification Area - without the use of any 3'rd party app?

660

General Software Discussion / global warming vs. local cooling

« on: February 20, 2007, 01:31 PM »

An extremely easy and very political correct way of saving energy has emerged from Uniblue: LocalCooling (XP only). Install the free program and save energy! According to the company it is quite a lot of energy 'we' are waisting.

Download the 100% Free LocalCooling Application and it automatically optimizes your PC's power consumption by using a more effective power save mode. You will be able to see your savings in real-time translated to more evironmental terms such as how many trees and gallons of oil you have saved.

Our goal is to introduce 100,000,000 PC users into the Local Cooling community. If just 100 million of us optimize the efficiency of our computers’ energy consumption, we could prevent over 300 billion kg of CO2 gas emissions, equivalent to over 1.8 billion gallons of oil, in just the first year alone.

LocalCooling.com is a non-commercial website and is not a selling platform. It is malware free, carries no advertising, political content or bias in any way. It has been developed specifically to help in the fight against global warming; to demonstrate that individuals can take action and make a real difference to an issue of global importance. By joining the LocalCooling.com Community, PC users can work together to bring about a positive, noticeable change to the future of our planet.

   

Direct download link - Beta version:

661

General Software Discussion / Any 'print as printerfriendly page' automatizer?

« on: February 17, 2007, 03:52 PM »

Some years ago I had no Internet connection, and spend a lot of time at the local library's public PC. Every time I came across something interesting I would hit Print, but very often the printed page would be missing the right margen with some text. A few sites have this 'view printerfriendly page' option, but only a few. I soon began to copy and paste the wanted text into Word, but it was and is a timeconsuming detour.

Now I am thinking that there must be some easier way to do this. They develop programs that can do almost anything, so maybe they also have developped some program that will let you hit 'print' and have ALL the text printed inside the margens.

Do you know of any such quick 'print as printerfriendly page' automatizer?

662

General Software Discussion / Clipboard a la Clipmarks?

« on: February 10, 2007, 01:08 PM »

I came across the add-on for Firefox and Internet Explorer, Clipmarks, and was fascinated: this clipping tool is smart! I have installed it, but not yet tried it, because of the "register before use"-demand. I fear that the service may be all about getting my e-mail address and tracking what's attaching my interest on the net..??

3: Selecting the piece(s) you want to clip
While in clip mode, when you move your mouse around the page you will see orange lines surround pieces of the page.



When the orange lines surround a piece of the page you want, click inside the lines to clip that piece. You'll see the area turn green and say "Clipped".



You can clip as many pieces of the page as you like. You can even clip from multiple pages and save it all in one clipmark (more on that here).

I'll think it can be done even smarter, but it already is smart. The problem, as I see it, is that this is all layed out to be some community sharing feature (so they can get many addresses and tracks..??). Maybe I can choose to save the clip on my PC, they give a hint that this is possible, but it certainly is not a feature they are promoting. But if I'm not into sharing my clips on some Internet community, why then would I register?

But I would very much like the features from Clipmarks to be on my PC - without the 'community' part... Could this be a new task for the authors at DC??

Did you try Clipmarks, and have a say about it??

663

General Software Discussion / DC Toolbar...

« on: February 10, 2007, 04:44 AM »

Where to find a safe customize-able toolbar with whistles, bells and the lot?

I have been heavily warned about my toolbar from Conduit. The case should be that though it is offering what I want, it also seems to be offering what I don't want: false results, adds and so on. I don't use it for searching, but why accept the threat? It does seem to be spying on me to some minor degree, because whenever I write in IE's search box, the words will display in Conduit's search box as well. But so far I have not bothered to see if it is transmitting my queries.

Do you know of a "safe customize-able toolbar with whistles, bells and the lot?"

Or could this even be a new (big) job for the authors at Donationcoder? A DC toolbar? What do you think of it, mouser: Do you have a need for a better and safer toolbar, or am I the only one?

664

Site/Forum Features / Firefox ruining DC setup

« on: February 08, 2007, 09:28 AM »

When I visit DC, using Internet Explorer 6, the pages will look nice and orderly, as I would expect them to. But when I use Firefox 2 the pages are ugly to look at!

Is it just some new extension of mine, or is it your set-up?

665

General Software Discussion / Pay by instalments at Aha-Soft

« on: February 06, 2007, 10:14 AM »

I am not sure if this is new to Internet software purchasing, but it is new to me.

AHA-SOFT has just launched the option to pay by instalments. If the price is $50, you'll have to pay $5 per month in a year, $60, making it 20% of interest. Any bankier will tell you that 20% pro anno is a good investment (but not too expensive). If you'll like to pay in euro, €, their interest will grow, as Aha-Soft is offering 1 $ = 1 € - when in fact the same apps (here IconLover) are offered at normal instant payment for €40 = $50, and €50 = $60.

Regular IconLover price: $49.95 or 40.00 EUR.

Aha-Soft offers a new service: buy software in installments. You can
pay a small amount every month for a year and start using the software
today.

You can register our popular product IconLover at the official
Aha-Soft website for $5.00.

To do this, proceed to the order page
http://www.aha-soft....ver/down-payment.htm

-Aha-Soft

Well, if one are to buy an expensive program I can see the need for instalments. Otherwise...

666

General Software Discussion / Have an opinion on DefenseWall HIPPS??

« on: February 03, 2007, 02:44 PM »

I'm having a hard time figuring out what to think about SoftSphere's DefenseWall HIPS (Host Intrusion Prevention System), which will be 'Todays Offer' on Monday at Bits du Jour.

DefenseWall HIPS divides all applications into 'Trusted' and 'Untrusted' groups. Untrusted applications are launched with limited rights to modification of critical system parameters, and only in the virtual zone that is specially allocated for them, thus separating them from trusted applications. In the case of penetration by malicious software via one of the untrusted applications (web browsers etc), it cannot harm your system and may be closed with just one click!

-SoftSphere

Build-in untrusted applications list:
Internet Explorer, Outlook, Outlook Express, Opera, Mozilla, FireFox, SeaMonkey, AOL Explorer, Netscape, Maxthon, Avant, Slim browser, K-Meleon, NetCaptor, ICQ, ICQ Light, Yahoo IM, AOL IM, AIM PRO, Trillian, Google Talk, Miranda IM, QIP, mIRC, eMule, Azureus, BitComet, BitTorrent, Peer2Mail, BitTornado, LimeWire, StrongDC, uTorrent, The Bat!, Eudora, PocoMail, IncrediMail.

Have you tried or heard about this program, and have a say?
Normal price is $29 - will you recommend it at $10 > $20 ??

667

General Software Discussion / 1.3 GB deleted, but not deleted, so where are they?

« on: January 27, 2007, 06:15 AM »

I was curious, and ran Photorec_win, in order to restore some files. But to my surprise it stopped after 15% and said I had no more free disk space - (I was not yet aware that Photorec must restore to another partition / disk only) - it had already restored 1.3 GB!! I inspected the restored files, and deleted the lot, but Win2K ran out of air and somehow didn't perform the delete process the right way, because even though the 1.3 GB has been removed from the folder and from the bin, they are still 'somewhere' around, and is strangeling my PC, because I have no free  space left.

Any idea as to where these 1.3 GB might be, and how to delete them (again)??
 

668

General Software Discussion / Are any icon editor & manager decent priced?

« on: January 18, 2007, 05:23 PM »

For some time I've been looking for an icon editor & manager. I've found many, but none that was both cheap and good. Of course I've found some very fine apps, but they were too expensive for me; $30 for an editor, and $40 - 60 for the combination, editor and manager.

But of course there must be at least one that I don't know of... ?
Do you know of any fine icon editor & manager, reasonable priced (or free)? 

I am driving Win2K

 

669

General Software Discussion / How to remove shortcuts in IE & Explorer toolbars?

« on: January 07, 2007, 07:03 PM »

How does one remove such a thing (a no-thing..) as a dead / blank shortcut from the toolbars in IE & Explorer??

670

Living Room / Sherlock Holmes and Texefex

« on: January 01, 2007, 07:53 AM »

" Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip. After a good dinner and a bottle of wine, they retire for the night, and go to sleep.


Some hours later, Holmes wakes up and nudges his faithful friend:
- "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."

"I see millions and millions of stars, Holmes" replies Watson.

"And what do you deduce from that?"

Watson ponders for a minute.

"Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe. What does it tell you, Holmes?"

Holmes is silent for a moment. "Watson, you idiot!" he says. "Someone has stolen our tent!"
 


---

The program is Texefex from Blacksun and is $20

Happy New Year! 

671

General Software Discussion / Hide icons from desktop

« on: January 01, 2007, 04:46 AM »

Happy New Year! 

...  - in Denmark it is rain and storm right now ... 

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On this thread I was recommended Wallmaster and Iconoid in order to hide the icons from my desktop. My problem is that Wallmaster will also disable right-click menu on the desktop, and (on my PC) Iconoid is not tyrannical enough - the icons will display for a second hundred of times a day.

I can make the icons disappear, by tweaking Windows, but this too will prevent right-click menu on desktop.

Do you know of a good free program to hide the icons from the desktop - which will not prevent right-click menu?
I use Windows 2000 Pro.

672

General Software Discussion / Not free, but free, X-Setup

« on: December 20, 2006, 09:38 AM »

For a month I have been trying out X-Setup, "The mother of all tweaker".

I very much like the way I can tweak my old Win2K in any way I want. The program never said anything about "This is a trial - you have nn days left", no, but if I asked, it would answer: "you are within trial period". Period!

I tweaked this and that - 1900 tweaks it will offer for Windows, they say (not 1900 for YOUR Win, but some for 95, some for 98, some for ME, some for 2000, some for XP, and some for Vista) - and when four weeks had passed, I started thinking about buying the program, because I would not want all these new settings to go away. Well, of course the trial expired when I had no money, and I thought "Now I will have to tweak all these settings once more, when I get some money and buy the program" - but to my big surprise all the settings were saved!


The people behind X-Setup are fine engineers, but poor merchants. You can use this program for a full month, and tweak your Windows big time, and then remove the program and keep the new settings!
- and later install a new version and tweak even more!

It is not even expensive; $15 + VAT is a very fine price. 

The all new 9 BETA is still a little buggy, but otherwise ready for Vista.

673

General Software Discussion / CustomBar

« on: December 12, 2006, 03:50 PM »

I've found a new old program that I like a lot; CustomBar. A 18 pixels toolbar, placed down low (see pic) in full width.


"One little bar can control your music player, display system information, generate menus of shortcuts to your applications, provide quick access to online resources such as search engines, and much more."

However, some features are missing: There is no tooltip on mouseover - what program is behind the right most icon, at the picture? There is no context menu on right click - not at the toolbar and not at the icons. And it will only support WinAmp media player, not my RealPlayer or WMP. And there is no version 1.1 yet, even though it was 'pre-announced' in January. So maybe this little twenty dollar LizardSoft could-be-great-program will never be finished.

DO YOU KNOW of any program like this?

674

Living Room / Any full clipboard master?

« on: December 05, 2006, 06:32 PM »

So many will offer a clipboard tool that will save text and bitmaps only. But I need a clipboard that will save the lot (and maybe use all of my RAM), so I can copy many pictures, and text, files or whatever, and later paste in whatever order i like.

Do you know of such a program? 

I run Win2K.

675

LaunchBar Commander / bug - tiny but a bug

« on: December 02, 2006, 10:41 AM »

Cleaning up my Win2K I removed LaunchBar Commander from the machine. Trying to understand some other program's hotkeys I pressed Ctrl+Shift+X and received this little pop-up:

[1: Click or Shift Pastes - RightClick or Ctrl Closes ]
LaunchBarCommander



I imagine such a text must come from LaunchBar Commander, but it is no longer on my PC. Can I heale this hotkey and remove any other leftovers from the program?