Messages

101

General Software Discussion / Re: Replacement options desired: Resortlabs Task Commander "self-configuring menu"

« on: February 22, 2012, 02:08 AM »

I guess it is really difficult to capture what processes are started by the user rather than by other things?

102

General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« on: February 20, 2012, 10:08 AM »

The version of windows 7 I bought came with both CDs, one for 32 and one for 64 - so even if your pc needed 32, your win7 license could later be reinstalled as 64b on a new machine.

Not all packages in not all store come with both, though, so best to check

103

General Software Discussion / Re: I spy...with my little eye...on my hard drive...

« on: February 19, 2012, 10:35 AM »

For very simple file/content search i use total commander

For more advanced needs I have just recently got a project that needs me to search a lot in documents, so had that need again.

I tried archivarius but I struggled with the way it presents the results. I have to search several hundred times in a pot of documents to find date/price of purchase of something. Might be in a spreadsheet, might be in a pdf or a letter. I would have loved it if archivarius showed me just enough of the results that I didnt need to open the document. Also had a lot of stuff indexed I didnt want indexed, it's almost too good and sees too many things. Instead of spending the time to tweak the config, i went to look for something less powerful that would work out of the box for my needs

Right now I found docfetcher, http://docfetcher.so...ge.net/en/index.html , an open source beta tool. It does less document types and is more focused in searching through defined sets than all your documents, but it's quite useful. If it stays useful through this it will get my February project donation, else I'll go give archivarius another try.

104

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... several diagnostic tools

« on: February 18, 2012, 02:19 AM »

I found that getting network stuff like services access etc. was one area where 7 can be fiddly. Homegroup functionality for example can get in the way.

Things it could be:
- apache problems. Some file or certificate or some part of the config is unhappy with the machine change
- firewall/malware scanner problems
- tcpip configuration
- connectivity to mysql, either a config needs changing or the mysql user access settings
- interference with tools, sometimes these beautiful manufacturer support service tools are php/apache based. unlikely that they use the port you do, but worth a check
- i can probably keep thinking of more but hopefully won't need to

MS has a primitive network troubleshooter that should have a tool to check the setup for remote access
There should be a security event log in the event viewer (except I cannot see the network log here on mine) - should help you spot if it is one of the core windows features interfering or not. It might not be, so worth checking

"connection was reset" can mean either that something prevented you from connecting, or that your server request errored and died, so it might be worth checking the apache error log to eliminate that possibility. It might give you a good hint to look at the access log as well and see if your server receives the requests or not, that eliminates a lot of possibilities if we know which

105

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« on: February 17, 2012, 02:44 AM »

No, the image isn't for my order; it is a symbol for the Blessed Virgin.  Our web site is: http://www.sspx.org.

-BGM (February 16, 2012, 02:10 PM)

Welcome.
As a swiss native, I had a bit of a "hang on" moment when looking at that site... I remember all this. Had no idea there'd be US communities and all, but of course there would.

106

General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« on: February 17, 2012, 02:31 AM »

The normal price is $70 / €53 for a year,

-Curt (February 09, 2012, 02:25 AM)

Now with a 20% discount.

To redeem this amazing offer please use this coupon code: con20

Yearly Unlimited $55.96
Yearly for 3 PC's $79.96

-ReImage

-Curt (February 16, 2012, 11:22 AM)

If it does all these jobs it says, for a small office that is not a bad idea. but it's not that far from win7 upgrade price, no?

Looking at what it helpfully says for free, your main problem is windows search. That was my main problem on one of my machines. Nasty thing. And it is hard to uninstall, but can be disabled and its index minimised.

107

General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« on: February 17, 2012, 02:21 AM »

I bought the terabyte software because it is so highly recommended. Never managed to use it, it's got such strange hoops one has to jump though to run it and it seems you need to boot off a license floppy thingie. I gave up, should actually have asked for a refund. Never installed or manage to run it.

-iphigenie (February 11, 2012, 09:39 AM)

Do people even use floppies anymore?

-Innuendo (February 11, 2012, 10:57 AM)

probably it can burn a CD by now... But this messing with your boot, installing a boot manager and hocus pocus around the key, well, it put me off. But somehow it needs to install something at the book layer. Software seems well aware of other OSes from their website, but still...

Boot thingies and partition level changes break machines. I am not doing this BEFORE I have made a backup copy.

Oh wait, I'm installing this so I can do a backup copy.

Ah, well, let me install some other backup tool first then...

And years later I remind myself how I bought this software untested and never got around to using it, and feel cheated.

108

Living Room / Re: Show us a photo of your mutt or other creatures..

« on: February 17, 2012, 02:14 AM »

awesome dogs

109

General Software Discussion / Re: Any way to automate news compilation (rss feeds, websites, etc.) daily?

« on: February 17, 2012, 02:12 AM »

Just had a quick look in my curation link list. This is a bit strange since it needs an app/software then generates a page, but it's not far from your description http://www.genieo.com/

110

General Software Discussion / Re: Any way to automate news compilation (rss feeds, websites, etc.) daily?

« on: February 17, 2012, 01:50 AM »

Feedly feels a bit like what you describe, but I'm sure you've seen it

I used java client blogbridge for a while, and while it is not a browser, it does have a mode that has that "one paper" feel a bit.

111

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Calibre - e-Book (Personal Library/Document) Management - Mini-Review

« on: February 17, 2012, 12:54 AM »

Calibre does make its own tree and it organises it in folders by author.
I find it makes it hard for finding the files via other tools and programs. I think it's so it can arrange its meta data files etc. but it is a very annoying choice especially around ebooks or electronic documents (and alas so common)

I use Calibre nonetheless and donated last year to it to (never got a thank you email, though, so won't be all that in a hurry to redonate) but that aspect makes me a)hesitate to put all metadata in since i might lose it on move and b)think that one day I'll find an alternative that is more open to playing well with others and move.

I dislike software that decides it is the only one you use to manage something

112

General Software Discussion / Re: Betanews.com - What was once a great site, is no longer

« on: February 13, 2012, 02:04 PM »

I do like the "saved list" you can do on fileforum that then sends you email on new versions of software. It's hard work to pay attention to all you own, and not every developer sends notifications (grrr!) to their customer list.

Not sure where I'll get that if developers move off betanews

113

Living Room / Re: May I Have A Download Please?

« on: February 13, 2012, 02:00 PM »

I am a card carryin' FSF and FSFE and read Stallman's political notes rss feed to hear of what abuse happens anywhere in the world. He watches a lot.

He's an idealist of the hippie variety, but I agree with him on an awful lot of things. I wonder what that makes me? And where he might have once appeared to have cried wolf and exagerated, this year he looks awfully prescient, so we might as well at the very least hear the questions even if we dont agree with all the answers. Cause not enough people are asking those questions.

When it comes to books and media, I only buy open and I try to only use free software or software done by small independent developers - I believe small devs won't just casually cripple their customers.

114

General Software Discussion / Re: InfoQube rocks as a CRM

« on: February 13, 2012, 04:41 AM »

and that makes me want to try IQ again

115

General Software Discussion / Re: InfoQube rocks as a CRM

« on: February 13, 2012, 04:40 AM »

Thanks urlwolf !

Interestingly, the very first application of IQ, was exactly that, CRM.

If you have a web site where customers can register, IQ can connect to the web-site server database and import new contacts / updates.

Yes, 2-way sync with Google services (Calendar, Contacts and Tasks) is coming soon (all I/O is fully working now). And then onto your mobile devices.

-PPLandry (February 12, 2012, 07:20 PM)

Just a quick note of warning - I don't use gmail as a main email but I do try to sync with it and I have recently had some major upset and annoyances with gmail contact sync. Maybe I can avoid annoyances for you and your testers:

- right now all the G+ circle contacts are sent by google over the gmail contact api. This is really bad for people sync'ing with phone or outlook. They are contact with no information and just 1 name, the G+ handle. No information anywhere (like a URL or tag) to identify where they came from and that they are G+ circle people. Google doesn't connect them with the contact if you also has the person as a contact, so you also end up with duplicates. Hopefully there is a way via the API to limit, but if you don't use G+ you might miss it.
- somehow with the recent gmail update, it lost the format awareness so that on sync what was earlier sent as firstname lastname was now sent as lastname, firstname - without some kind of indication for the sync tools. result? 3000 duplicates. Not sure what it means for people developing sync but might be useful to know

I tested and the above has fooled plaxo, funambol, and a couple other tools. It has fooled Gist too but at least Gist filed them as low value to i's easy to find them and clean up.

116

Best E-mail Client / Re: E-mail client recommendations

« on: February 13, 2012, 04:20 AM »

I liked Opera M2 for its "one box, virtual folders for on the fly classification" approach, but it would get slow after a certain size (i have years of email) and didn't support tags the way I would like. I need to revisit it though as there are many new versions since I last used it.

-iphigenie (January 04, 2012, 09:51 AM)

You should definitely revisit it. In the latest versions of Opera, the mail client is operating much faster with a large mailbase. The email database loads independently -after- Opera has started, so browser startup itself is a lot better with a lot of mail.

I also really like Postbox, especially as gmail is my primary email provider. Postbox's gmail support integration is by far the best I've seen.

-allen (January 04, 2012, 03:32 PM)

I did, and you're right! It is much faster, it now also has more flexibility around tags, and it also allows to look at the imap mailboxes with folders, the traditional way, should you want to move things at the server level (incidentally that fixes another annoyance I had with M2, that when you moved an email on the server you ended up with duplicate copies in M2)

I also really like Postbox, especially as gmail is my primary email provider. Postbox's gmail support integration is by far the best I've seen.

-allen (January 04, 2012, 03:32 PM)

Postbox has some nice touches that make it very efficient for every day email. It's only weakness is weakness on the contact front. I can easily live with a todo list or calendar that is not linked to my email, but contact information is something one needs when dealing with email. I'm looking into using memotoo/funambol synchronisation for thunderbird with postbox, will see how it goes

(a warning on things like funambol, memotoo, gist, nimble, plaxo sync etc.: add things one at a time, prepare for a lot of manual sync/clean duplicates and data/sync/clean duplicates and data cycles - less each time. Also, be very very careful sync'ing contact with gmail 1)if you have ever imported in the past a list into gmail, you'll get duplicates and b)it now adds all your G+ circles as contacts, and they get sync'd too. my phone is full of one-word contacts, grrr!)

117

General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« on: February 11, 2012, 09:39 AM »

looks a bit step for me but the 3 year license looks better.

this is an image software that i highly recomend: http://www.terabyteu...imited.com/index.htm  (now nice bundle 40% with bootit too)

-flamerz (February 09, 2012, 03:41 AM)

I bought the terabyte software because it is so highly recommended. Never managed to use it, it's got such strange hoops one has to jump though to run it and it seems you need to boot off a license floppy thingie. I gave up, should actually have asked for a refund. Never installed or manage to run it.

118

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Hard Disk Sentinel PRO - Mini-Review

« on: February 05, 2012, 02:29 PM »

It gives a lot better overview than the generic SMART monitors out there.
Nice to know that my 8 months old disk is stil at 100% everywhere. Must check other machines

119

Living Room / Re: Main hard drive in my PC died today suddenly

« on: February 02, 2012, 06:55 AM »

I have a thing for storage and backups
- use a combination of online sync/storage systems for backup - synchredible (game settings) and spideroak (others) mostly
- have 2 usb drives where (some) things are regularly sync'd and other irregularly
- have a nas where the same things are syn'd
- have genie timeline backing up selected files to either usb drive (laptop) or the NAS (desktops)

all these backups create a duplicate/version mess, but it's unlikely i'll lose a photo or document I know I want.
and yet I know that when a computer will get stolen or a drive will die, there will still be things I realise I should have backed up, or hadnt backed up a while. EIther things I forgot to add to backups, had waited to long to sync, or key files/settings I didnt realise were somewhere (eg: once made a custom object bar skin... still rue that loss as a valuable lesson)

Considered once making a site which would be a database of "whats important to back up" for all software and games... too much work but would be valuable But it would be a hugely valuable plus for a backup software to have shareable scripts/configs that set where key data is for each software and OS.

120

General Software Discussion / Re: A call to all game design afficionados. Framework for making simple games?

« on: January 30, 2012, 04:33 PM »

I dont have the links handy but there are entire libraries of free reusable game art and assets both for 2d and 3d out there

121

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Revo Uninstaller Pro at Bits Du Jour

« on: January 28, 2012, 01:40 PM »

Last time I remember an uninstaller doing anything useful was early versions of Cleansweep... Looooong time ago

-iphigenie (January 28, 2012, 04:42 AM)

QuarterDeck. Now THERE was a company. (I tbhink I've still got an installation CD for CleanSweep, up in the attic. One day, it might be worth a few pennies. Or not.   )

-oblivion (January 28, 2012, 09:59 AM)

I do too, just in case I install windows 98 somewhere again... or something

I have a big binder with almost all the CDs of software I used, with license codes. I alas threw away the OS/2 related ones a while back and an old Solaris (not really alas, it is clutter) and most floppies but I have a lot of old CDs and even my original 1996 wincommander floppy
I do throw away driver CDs though, once i dont have the hardware anymore, so I am not totally hopeless.

It's like a trip down memory lane. Ulead, Allaire, Macromedia, Starfish...

122

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Revo Uninstaller Pro at Bits Du Jour

« on: January 28, 2012, 04:42 AM »

Does it really work - i had the ashampoo one back then and it did nothing much even if you had logged everything etc.

Last time I remember an uninstaller doing anything useful was early versions of Cleansweep... Looooong time ago

123

Living Room / Re: Looking for password "scheme" suggestions

« on: January 28, 2012, 04:35 AM »

I have oscillated between different systems at different times

System 1:
use a different email address for each site (i own a domain) and one of a set of 4-5 standard passwords. Easier for me to re-guess what email i would have used (or look at the confirmation email I saved, if push comes to shove).
technically if one site gets compromised and the passwords found, there's no risk that an automated tool be able to get access to other sites but a human going through it by hand just might.
Weakness: sites that want an username, not an email, usually without special characters and often of limited length. Can't be unique and memorable with that.

Scheme 2 - when i cant tweak the username
Passwords usually based on a book title or lyric - in one word or compressed (eg: "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever" could create tcotctu9494) - actually one of my most used ones is based on a book that I never read but meant to read for a while, that i dont even own, but has a memorable title. Particularly good if the site has a question/reminder note field to give yourself a prompt.
Old phone numbers you still remember but which are long dead are also wonderful passwords and can always be re-found in an address book or old card later on.

Scheme 3 - lately i just let lastpass generate and store passwords for me for most sites except key ones which I just need to remember whether i have lastpass available or not

I also have the additional constraint that it needs to avoid keys that change between UK, US and Swiss keyboards - zy especially move around a lot, so does @ and slashes etc. - if your fingers know the password better than your head, it can entrap you when travelling (the french keyboard is a horror, for example - A is elsewhere, and all numbers need shift)

PS: Sites that allow a prompt are great for that, you can give a hint that helps you.
I figured out my fathers passwords thanks to prompts - the prompt was "grosse tete" (big head) so I tried his name and nickname, then, duh! mine. Gee thanks dad! Not very secure even though he usually added parts of my birthdate...

124

General Software Discussion / Re: A call to all game design afficionados. Framework for making simple games?

« on: January 27, 2012, 04:41 PM »

Well I have a pile of links for that..
aditionally to the 3 already mentioned:
microsofts free (on the pc, its 80 points on the xbox) Kodu gathered a lot of praise http://fuse.microsoft.com/page/kodu
there's the classic alice http://www.alice.org/ (but thats 3d)
and mit's scratch http://scratch.mit.edu/
flixel on the open source flash/actionscript front http://flixel.org/

more commercial there's html5 Construct http://www.scirra.com/
sludge http://opensludge.sourceforge.net/

there are also quite a few nice toolkits/engines if you know a language, but the list is too long unless you select your poison

125

Developer's Corner / Re: The most insane review of Visual Studio 2010 I've ever read...

« on: January 27, 2012, 04:16 PM »

I was just amused until that line

As a PC gamer, it's nice to see Microsoft skipping the Xbox 360 for once and shipping a PC exclusive

I'm still laughing now