Messages

76

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Live Sync Alternative?

« on: November 28, 2010, 12:14 PM »

Not a single response... Is MS really so indispensable?

OK, so what if I back off from freeware?

77

General Software Discussion / Windows Live Sync Alternative?

« on: November 24, 2010, 05:02 AM »

In the thread Synchronizing a few folders between two machines? I confessed that I'm using the Windows Live Sync. I'm still quite satisfied with it, but they are going to stop this service soon and replace it with Windows Live Mesh 2011. This service promises to be better, but it won't be available for Windows XP anymore. What a shame... I refrain from any comments.

So, at my 400th post here I'd like to ask this honorable community for advice about possible alternative. What I need:

1. Unattended bidirectional sync between pairs of folders on different machines (all Windows based — XP and Vista)
2. Resolving conflicts (when edited on both sides at the same time), either by report, dialog, or by automatic renaming of conflicting copies (WLS does the latter)
3. Working on LAN, and when not on the same LAN, automatically using internet without complicated VPN setup
4. No storage on dedicated servers or intermediate media, as this would slow down the process
5. Freeware

WLS does all this, and in addition it even allows remote access to files. After quite thorough research I'm still unable to find an adequate replacement. Is it really that unique?

Thanks in advance for any idea.

78

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea: Toggle Windows Mouse single/double click to open in Explorer

« on: November 04, 2010, 12:02 PM »

… The bad side-effect is that holding down shift and clicking doesn't select a row of stuff anymore.

-MilesAhead (November 03, 2010, 02:13 PM)

You can do this, just hover the mouse for about a half a second without moving above an item. This acts as clicking, so you can use the usual modifiers like Shift, Ctrl, or Shift-Ctrl for making contiguous and/or non-contiguous selections. It requires some practice, though. I'm using this setting for years, it's quite handy.

79

General Software Discussion / Re: "Search Everything" with saved searches would be cool.

« on: October 14, 2010, 04:51 PM »

@superboyac:

Try version 1.2.1.451a from theirs forum. It's labeled as alpha, but it stays like this for some 11 months, so it's probably the last version ever available. Anyway, it's quite stable, I'm using it for some time without any problems.

80

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Buzz Folders - Open/Save Dialog Box Extender ( + Free Version )

« on: October 14, 2010, 04:41 PM »

Yes, but the page says:

Free Version - Audio FX Mod
Version:   Buzz Folders Free v13.42
Update:   2nd October 2010

Compare it to the paid one:

Buzz Folders Classic - Try It Free
Version:   Buzz Folders Classic v14.07
Update:   12th October 2010

Tha't why I'm asking if it's discontinued.

The download page behaves strangely, indeed, but I was able to download the file using the button in the upper-right corner of the pop-up window, not the big one in the middle.
 

81

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Buzz Folders - Open/Save Dialog Box Extender ( + Free Version )

« on: October 14, 2010, 10:34 AM »

Was the free version discontinued? Can't find it anymore.

82

General Software Discussion / Re: Is QwikMark the smallest benchmark tool?

« on: August 02, 2010, 08:43 AM »

It's not a DNS issue, this works fine and gives the http://67.20.84.81 address, which is not accessible either. It might be accessible from within the US solely. Tried from within Slovakia and Czech Republic, both with "400 Bad Request" response. It's accessible via the http://www.hidemyass.com/ proxy, though.

83

General Software Discussion / Re: Synchronizing a few folders between two machines?

« on: July 31, 2010, 04:14 AM »

Taking the risk of being stoned by some here I have to confess that I'm for a long time quite happy with Windows Live Sync. Easy to setup and then you can forget about it, it just works as expected. If you fit in the limit of 20 folders of up to 20.000 files (if I recall correctly) and if you don't need any special features like filtering and exclusions, I can only recommend this. It's free. Works on LAN as well as internet, but the internet connection is needed to connect to the account database. If you're not connected at the moment, never mind, the sync takes place as soon as you plug in.

84

Living Room / Re: lap top cooling pad

« on: July 29, 2010, 09:59 AM »

I was quite skeptical about these devices, but my laptop, which I seldom switch off, was constantly overheated (Dell, of course), so I decided to give this a try. To my surprise the CPU temperature dropped down by 15 to 20 °C. This sure prolongs the motherboard life.

Besides, it contains 4-port USB hub with an external power supply, but can run without it, should you prefer. It's Belkin. I expect it could run by itself with its power supply solely, but I can't verify it at the moment, as I don't have the power supply with me.

85

General Software Discussion / Re: Aloha, free HTML5 Editor

« on: July 22, 2010, 04:20 PM »

Displays correct characters here both in Chrome and Opera (on Vista). The editing doesn't work in Opera, though. No surprise.

86

Find And Run Robot / Re: What hotkey(s) do *you* use to trigger FARR?

« on: June 22, 2010, 12:55 PM »

Pause on the desktop machine, double-tap on Control on the notebook, despite those old problems with TapTap, described almost two years ago here.

87

General Software Discussion / Re: Popup Translator Shootout?

« on: May 29, 2010, 04:52 PM »

The same here. The 1st and 3rd options work well, the 2nd one does nothing. (Tried in Opera, Notepad, MS Word.)

88

Living Room / Re: A really cool modern visual illusion

« on: May 07, 2010, 12:05 PM »

Not really "modern", but definitely cool. (Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1590) Just couldn't resist sharing this.



Source: Futility Closet (worth browsing, by the way)

89

General Software Discussion / Re: Advice on keyboard shortcuts.

« on: April 23, 2010, 02:04 PM »

The KeyScrambler is most probably the culprit. There's no reason for not registering the Ctrl-E in HotkeyP, for example. I've just verified it, you can enter it either directly (by pressing Ctrl and E keys together), or typing E only and clicking the Ctrl checkbox then. If neither of these methods works I'm afraid you're lost with all programs of this type.

90

General Software Discussion / Re: Advice on keyboard shortcuts.

« on: April 21, 2010, 09:20 AM »

I'm using HotkeyP successfully on desktop PC (WinXP), Dell notebook (Vista) and Acer Aspire One notebook (WinXP). No problems at all with any key combinations including multimedia keys, that's why I recommended it.

Just give it a try and let us know what might cause a problem with your keyboard. You can't spoil anything.

91

General Software Discussion / Re: Advice on keyboard shortcuts.

« on: April 21, 2010, 08:27 AM »

If you're looking for something quite powerful, light on resources, but without any eye candy, then HotkeyP is the solution.

92

General Software Discussion / Re: DuckDuckGo - new search engine

« on: April 15, 2010, 01:03 AM »

... something about the way results are presented makes me feel like i have to do a little too much scrolling.

-mouser (April 14, 2010, 09:23 PM)

Try to set in the settings Width to "wide" and Size to "small".

93

Living Room / Re: usb hard drive problems

« on: April 12, 2010, 10:21 AM »

If your disk has really physically damaged sectors, I managed to recover several USB disks using the DRevitalize utility. Not freeware, but the demo did the job. You have to be patient, though...

94

General Software Discussion / Re: Opera 10

« on: April 01, 2010, 05:53 PM »

Despite I said good bye to Opera some time ago I still gave it another try when 10.51 appeared. What a surprise--the form autocomplete is still not there! I tried the "OpS -- Opera input suggestion" user JavaScript which I used for years, but it doesn't work with the new versions.

After long and almost desperate googling I managed to dig this modification of the script, and it seems to be working. You can download it here. Definitely worth a try (both the script and the new Opera itself).

By the way, would someone here be able to modify it not to be case-sensitive?

95

Post New Requests Here / Re: keyboard toggle app

« on: April 01, 2010, 01:48 PM »

Kid-Key-Lock (freeware) or Pro-Key-Lock (commercial).

96

General Software Discussion / Re: How long is 'temporary'?

« on: March 29, 2010, 04:06 AM »

Another utility for TEMP cleaning (and more): EraseTemp.

However, I'm for years using manual way to cleanse both TEMP folders--using ZTreeWin I just prune both of them, instructing ZTree to keep files that report "Access denied" or "Sharing violation" errors. So far no side effects of any kind (on WinXP and Vista).

97

General Software Discussion / Re: Double click tabbar to maximize?

« on: March 18, 2010, 07:36 AM »

Double-click its title bar. This 20 years old trick (since Windows 3.0) works for all standard Windows applications.

98

What's the Best? / Re: Best file archiver/compresser

« on: March 18, 2010, 03:37 AM »

Rar is indeed the archiver of choice for software pirates.

-Innuendo (March 17, 2010, 08:01 PM)

I was unaware of this... I wonder why?

-Darwin (March 17, 2010, 11:20 PM)

The reason is probably the RAR's option to encrypt not only the contents, but also the folder structure and filenames, so without the password you can't see anything. In an encrypted ZIP archive you can see the filenames inside, although you can't decrypt them. This might be an important option not only for software pirates.

99

DcUpdater / Re: Crash on XP Pro SP3

« on: March 10, 2010, 10:46 AM »

The same here. I never switch my PC off and every couple of days I find DcUpdater crashed in the morning with the standard Windows dialog. So far this never happened when started manually. How could I help?

(Win XP Pro, SP3, permanent ADSL connection)

100

General Software Discussion / Re: Bartels Media paranoia

« on: February 11, 2010, 11:53 AM »

I had exactly the same experience. When I mentioned in my forum post the TapTap utility, because I suspected it of interfering with PhraseExpress, the sentence was immediately deleted and I received a ubiquitous reply that they cannot help me if I am using "third party programs". This attitude surely repelled many customers.