Messages

126

Living Room / Laptops in the future

« on: April 01, 2008, 03:46 AM »

http://www.smashingm...esigns-and-concepts/

I especially like the portable server with 3X foldable screen. Probably heavy, but still nice.

127

Living Room / Free Alternatives to Silktide Sitescore

« on: March 22, 2008, 11:34 PM »

<a href="http://www.silktides.../portfolio/sitescore" title="Silktide Sitescore">Sitescore</a> is an online automated service that can check a webpage for various measures of quality and produce a report. Its owned by a UK company called Silktide that does web design and development. Some of the checks Sitescore does include validation, page loading times, accessibility checks, pagerank and several others. Unfortunately, the service closed down for a while and when it returned, it became a paid service called <a href="http://www.sitescoreenterprise.com" title="Sitescore Enterprise">Sitescore enterprise</a>.

Does anyone know a good free alternative to Sitescore? I currently use the <a href="http://validator.w3.org" title="W3C Validator">W3C validator</a>, but Sitescore used to do a lot more.

128

General Software Discussion / Re: USBDeview - Guaranteed eject of your USB drive

« on: March 22, 2008, 03:52 AM »

@icekin

Try with Unlocker (http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/) first to unlock any file/process handles and then eject the device.

-PhilB66 (March 21, 2008, 09:38 AM)

Is there a way to have a FARR shortcut that will automatically unlock using Unlocker and then eject the USB device?

Somehow, it doesn't quite work for me. I added the alias, but running the command after bringing up FARR does nothing.

-icekin (March 21, 2008, 08:52 AM)

Ok, this is a bit weird, but it seems that on my system USBDEVIEW actually lists the wrong drive letter for my usb portable. Did you check to see if this might be the case for you too?

I use USBDLM to manage drive letters, and my Cruzer micro drive is always assigned to G: but for some reason it's listed as K: in USBDEVIEW. So 'eject G' won't work whereas 'eject K' works although the drive is definitely assigned to G...

-TucknDar (March 21, 2008, 09:13 AM)

My problem is that I am not trying to eject a single drive, but a group of them. I use an external hard drive that had 5 partitions which are labelled drives G: to K:

In USBDeview, I can just locate the USB 2.0 Mass storage device and hit F9 eject. The FARR alias only allows me to eject a single drive and that too doesn't work My current solution has been to place a shortcut to USBDeView in my start menu, call it up with FARR each time, use the arrow keys to navigate to the device and then press F9.

129

General Software Discussion / Re: USBDeview - Guaranteed eject of your USB drive

« on: March 21, 2008, 08:59 AM »

You may also want to check USB Disk Ejector. Command line added for coolness.

-paulobrabo (March 21, 2008, 08:08 AM)

Nice program, but it doesn't stop the dreaded "The device cannot be stopped right now..." message from appearing on my computer. Haven't tried the command line options though.

130

General Software Discussion / Re: USBDeview - Guaranteed eject of your USB drive

« on: March 21, 2008, 08:52 AM »

thanks lanux! works!

-TucknDar (March 21, 2008, 02:00 AM)

Somehow, it doesn't quite work for me. I added the alias, but running the command after bringing up FARR does nothing.

I also noticed that USBDeView can eject any USB device, not just mass storage ones. Hitting disconnect all ended up disconnecting my usb tv tuner and mouse as well.

By the way, is there any way of reconnecting a device after ejecting it without having to pull it out of the USB port and replugging it back in?

131

General Software Discussion / USBDeview - Guaranteed eject of your USB drive

« on: March 20, 2008, 05:37 PM »

USBDeview is a tiny program from the fine coders at Nirsoft that displays all the devices that are currently connected on your USB ports. What I like about it is the flawless eject operation. No more seeing this window :

[attachthumb=#1][/attachthumb]

Here is the main window of the program which can be run in the background while showing the USB icon in the tray. Pressing F9 disconnects the USB device every time I've tried.
[attachthumb=#2][/attachthumb]

I wonder if its possible to write a FARR plugin that can automatically call up USBDeview in the background to eject a USB drive. For example, I bring up FARR and type "eject <USB Device>" to automatically disconnect the device. In fact, I don't mind even if USBdeview is not involved as long as I can eject the device without seeing thr first window above.

132

Living Room / Re: Homepage for about $100?

« on: March 20, 2008, 04:38 PM »

I recommend getting your hands on a CMS. Fastest way to go, especially with the way they are quite easy to use these days. I use Drupal, which has become a lot more user friendly these days. Version 6.1 is the latest, but I recommend version 5.7 instead because its been around longer and is more tested. There are also more add-ons for 5.7 since its been around for a while.

Here are some videocasts to get you started on installing Drupal and getting it up and running: http://dudertown.com/

If you can state the kind of features that you are looking to have on your website (without revealing too much of your business idea) I can suggest which modules to use or maybe a different CMS more suited to the job.

133

Living Room / Re: The MacBook Air is So Thin…

« on: March 17, 2008, 08:15 AM »

It is slower, has a relatively small hard disc, a slow hard disk (4200 rpm IIRC) and has hardly any ports to attach things to it (no optical drive, no ethernet connection, only one USB connector - so you can't even attach a mobile exteral drive that needs 2 USB sockets to draw power).

-Carol Haynes (March 13, 2008, 12:23 PM)

I could accept no optical drive and maybe (just maybe) even the rationale behind a single USB port, but there is no way removing the ethernet connection makes any sense to me. Wireless internet is nice, but its latency is way too high and I generally find it far more unreliable compared to a wired LAN connection.

Sadly, many people will rush forward to buy this new toy, simply because its an Apple. How does Steve Jobs do it time and again?

134

Official Announcements / Re: The site is now back online (March 6th, 2008)

« on: March 07, 2008, 03:49 AM »

I think this will soon become one of the longest threads on this forum...I'm absolutely over the moon that DC is back online. Hearty thanks to Gothi[c] and everyone else involved for bringing back the site and forum.

I also noticed that there was much more increased activity in the IRC channel over the last few days and hopefully that will continue. While forums are great, its nice to have live online discussions once in a while.

135

Living Room / Re: Hi I am a software addict, I need extra gb's, can anyone help my problem?

« on: February 27, 2008, 10:00 PM »

Get an old computer. I have a laptop lying around with a 5GB hard disk. I use it regularly. Then, when I get back to using my main computer, 60GB seems like a lot. It also teaches me to only install apps I need. I test them out and then quickly decide to keep them or remove them.

Other things you can try :

1) Remove hotfix uninstall information. If you had not had problems in a while, just remove this to save some space.

2) Turn off system restore. Disk Imaging is way better.

3) Delete leftovers from older installations. Lots of programs leave behind user settings and other files even after uninstall. Unless you plan to reinstall again in the future, you can delete the user settings.

136

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Definr.com plugin

« on: February 25, 2008, 06:52 PM »

I created a folder called Definr inside plugins and then extracted the files into that folder before exiting and restarting FARR. I got the following error.

[attachimg=#1][/attachimg]

[attachimg=#2][/attachimg]

137

General Software Discussion / Re: Quizo QTTabbar

« on: February 16, 2008, 02:31 AM »

I noticed that

1) QtTabBar slows down the time taken to open Windows Explorer a bit. Usually, when I press Windows Key + E, Explorer jumps out instantly, nearly as fast as notepad.

2) QTTabBar does not work if you open 'My Computer' and then open the tree view on the left pane to enter Windows Explorer mode. You have to open Windows Explorer directly to enable QTTabBar.

-icekin (September 18, 2007, 11:28 PM)

I just tried out the new version. QTTabBar is now as fast as opening Windows Explorer and much faster than any file manager on my system, including Total Commander. Of course, the difference is openiong time is only a few milliseconds, but its worth mentioning.

138

Living Room / Re: Free Polo Shirt From Microsoft for answering Vista quiz

« on: February 15, 2008, 03:24 PM »

Forgot to mention that you need a MSN Passport as well at the end (i.e. Hotmail/ MSN) to claim your shirt.

139

Living Room / Free Polo Shirt From Microsoft for answering Vista quiz

« on: February 15, 2008, 05:09 AM »

In its latest attempt to promote Vista, MS Australia has made a 10 question quiz that visitors can answer to get a free polo shirt. Questions in the quiz require visitors to answer whether each statement is a fact or fiction.

E.g. Windows Vista faces significant compatibility issues with hardware devices. Fact or Fiction?

Correct Answer (According to MS) : Fiction, because Vista supports over 2.2 millions devices upon release.

Actual Reality: There are no vista drivers for several older devices.

I think you get the idea. Never mind the shirt, its worth doing the quiz just for a good laugh.

http://www.microsoft...vistafacts/fact.aspx

And users need to have silverlight installed on their computers to try out the quiz.

140

General Software Discussion / Re: ScanFS: an alternative to locate? Free indexer, file previews and other niceties

« on: February 10, 2008, 06:58 AM »

Hoping someone writes a FARR plugin for this one too.

141

General Software Discussion / Re: FTP Client that can process multiple threads in background

« on: February 04, 2008, 06:49 AM »

After a discussion on the DC IRC channel, I was pointed to <a href="http://www.ftpvoyager.com">FTP Voyager</a>. Its made by Rhinosoft, the same guys who make <a href="http://www.serv-u.com">Serv-U FTP Server</a>. Its an excellent FTP client and able to process multiple threads in the background, much like I wanted. However, as f0dder explained, typing commands directly over the terminal is much faster, so in the end I think I will stick with my current solution of TC and putty.

And FTP Voyager costs too much for just an FTP client.

142

General Software Discussion / Virtual Disc Drive (CD/DVD) that can read all disc image formats

« on: February 02, 2008, 06:05 PM »

I was a long time user of Daemon Tools, but about 6 months ago I switched to PowerISO when someone send me a .daa file, which was a propreitary file format. Last week, I got my hands on a uif file, which can only be opened by Magic ISO, so I got a trial copy to do the job.

I don't enjoy having multiple tools that do the same job no better than each other. I wish companies would stop making more propreitary formats or that people would stop using them. For my part, I always use .iso or .cue, not even .nrg

Is there a single ultimate virtual drive program that can handle every CD Image file format, propreitary or otherwise?

143

General Software Discussion / Re: FTP Client that can process multiple threads in background

« on: February 02, 2008, 07:49 AM »

How do I create a new directory on the remote server? I currently have to create a directory on my local disk, then copy it over. I would also like to be able to copy files and folders from one folder on the server to another.

Also, are any of the FTP clients able to zip and unzip archives through the graphical interface? Currently, I have to use the $tar -zvf command through terminal. I also find that several operations like deleting an entire directory are much faster through command line.

For e.g. rm -r <directory_name> takes about 5 seconds to delete a huge directory

On a FTP client, deleting a directory takes a few minutes at least. Any reason why?

144

General Software Discussion / FTP Client that can process multiple threads in background

« on: February 01, 2008, 08:17 PM »

I am currently using Total Commander for my FTP Client. Its best feature is that I can send any File transfer operation to the background and then go onto to do another one. I prefer this way to using queues, which almost all FTP clients already support.

If I wish to perform multiple file transfer operations in most FTP clients (e.g. FileZilla), I need to open a new window and connect to the server for each one. I would like an FTP client that can perform Total Commander's send to background feature without opening a new window each time.

My current solution has been to use Total Commander for the file transfers and then do more advanced file operations using a terminal connection via putty.

145

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« on: January 31, 2008, 06:50 AM »

jgpaiva, why don't you point icekin to your AllSnap mini-review.

-lanux128 (January 30, 2008, 11:20 PM)

Thanks, but I already use Pitaschio which can do the same thing as Allsnap, among other things.

146

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your boot time?

« on: January 31, 2008, 03:06 AM »

Boots in 40 seconds, but ready to use in 90. My start up programs load fast.

147

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« on: January 30, 2008, 03:48 AM »

You can now add/remove exceptions through the Tray menu, and following the instructions

-jgpaiva (January 29, 2008, 10:01 AM)

That was fast! Many thanks for the prompt response to a request.

148

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: drag window to edge automatically resizes it

« on: January 29, 2008, 07:37 AM »

I would like Gridmove to ignore / exclude some applications that I list. For example, I extensively use VBA with small custom UserForms, and when I move them around, they sometimes end-up being increased and moved with Gridmove, which I want to avoid in this case.

-ppass (December 10, 2007, 05:20 PM)

I recently encountered a similar problem with my Miranda Open Window. I would like to excude certain Window classes from Gridmove as well.

149

Living Room / Re: 18 Undiscovered Websites Every Gamer Should Know

« on: January 26, 2008, 03:25 AM »

Here is a <a href="http://forums.tigsou...ndex.php?topic=887.0">list of the best freeware games of 2007</a> that I found sometime ago. I am a fan of quality freeware games, here are 2 sites I have on my Feeds List:

<a href="http://playthisthing.com/">Play This Thing</a> - Blog that reviews freeware games, one per day

<a href="http://www.gamehippo.com">Gamehippo</a> - Large site that reviews freeware games. Also has a very active forum.

150

Living Room / Re: Home Backup Protection

« on: January 25, 2008, 03:16 AM »

Quote: "Many customers are buying one for each side of the bed..."

Soon, we'll have the his & hers bedside gun collection, complete in a whole set of colours, followed by increasing numbers of couples shooting each other in bed to settle late night arguments.