Messages

51

General Software Discussion / Re: Family/Household Personal Information Organizer/Manager

« on: August 30, 2007, 04:41 PM »

Ok. Let me get an answer back on use of one of the forms, its copyrighted.

I could post a link to the page where the forms are, but the form itself is copyrighted. I've sent a note asking permission to use it.

52

General Software Discussion / Re: Family/Household Personal Information Organizer/Manager

« on: August 30, 2007, 03:59 PM »

mouser, what would the best way be to make it available to all?

53

General Software Discussion / Re: Family/Household Personal Information Organizer/Manager

« on: August 30, 2007, 02:52 PM »

Wow, this is timely.
I've just gone through this process of getting all stuff in order just in case.
I didn't find much online, it seems to fall under estate planning and people want money for their lists and to advise you.

I did find two guides that were pretty helpful.
Emergency Financial First Aid Kit and a Personal Disaster Preparedness Guide:
http://www.operation...dev/clst4.php?id=170

From my own poking around, I cobbled together a Personal Records guide. Its 14 pages (text, good sized type)and is a little redundant in some places, but I would be happy to share it.
Some of it is stuff I've grabbed off the net (freely available) and some of it is stuff I've thought of myself.

54

General Software Discussion / Re: RSS Reader?

« on: August 29, 2007, 03:11 PM »

Bloglines has released a beta redesign.
The new interface is cleaner and more streamlined.

You can get the beta here:
http://beta.bloglines.com

Some of the new features:

    * Customizable Start Page. Drag and drop any feed to your home page to quickly scan the titles of the feeds you'd be most interested in. This is especially useful for folks like me who subscribe to over 180 feeds.
    * Three Different Viewing Options. Scan headlines easily in Quick View, but the familiar Bloglines Full View is intact. A third 3-Pane View combines both the quick view and the full view features.
    * Drag and Drop Feed Management. It is easy to rearrange and organize your feeds by simply dragging the feed and dropping it in the desired location.

I'll give it another shot, one of the things that has bugged me about Bloglines is the clunky interface and no drag and drop.

55

General Software Discussion / Re: File vault for web site

« on: August 29, 2007, 02:27 PM »

sri, one of these may fit.

ALFTP
http://www.altools.n...abid/68/Default.aspx

This table is the ALFTP list.


And FTP Voyager is a good program.
It's shareware, and you pay by the year.
http://www.ftpvoyager.com/

56

Living Room / Re: download all updates for XP in one go?

« on: August 24, 2007, 02:12 PM »

ahh, was a bit confused there for a bit -
I think you mean you used Autostreamer for slipstreaming XP & SP2?

Autostreamer is right Tomos, I'm always getting the two confused.

I haven't used Autopatcher. I stick to Windiz or go to the Windows Update Catalog if there is something that needs to be downloaded quickly.

57

General Software Discussion / Re: RSS Reader?

« on: August 23, 2007, 03:45 PM »

I've been using NewsGator for about a month now.

http://www.newsgator...rOnline/Default.aspx

I like the layout, its easy to add feeds, it has a portable version and most of the usual RSS features.

58

Living Room / Re: download all updates for XP in one go?

« on: August 23, 2007, 02:06 PM »

how about that WindizUpdate firefox plugin/update?
http://windowsupdate.62nds.com/

havent used it myself but it featured in a thread here lately without any negativity

-tomos (August 23, 2007, 09:48 AM)

I've been using WinDiz for a few years with no problems. My understanding is that the downloads come directly from the Microsoft Update site - the WinDiz people sort out things like the Windows Genuine Advantage downloads and list updates in the critical, security, and driver areas.

Autopatcher I've never used for updates - I've used it to slipstream XP or XP SP1 with XP SP2.

nlite is good - it allows you to to create an (unattended, if you wish) Windows installation CD that leaves out any parts of Windows that you don't want installed, and it will include any updates and hotfixes that have been installed on your system to date.
There's an excellent tutorial here:
http://teamtutorials...dows-install-w-nlite
with links to update packs with .NET framework included and a link to a site with info on what not to take out. 

nlite doesn't download all in the updates in one go round though.

You can get all the downloads from the Microsoft Catalog Update:
http://v4.windowsupd...icrosoft.com/catalog
This is not Windows Update.
This is where you can download updates etc. for most Microsoft products that bypasses Windows Update.

and there's an article in Microsoft Support on:
"How to download updates and drivers from the Windows Update Catalog"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/323166

and last:
Microsoft Download Center: Help
http://www.microsoft...=en&content=help

59

Living Room / Re: Anyone any idea how to fix file assocations?

« on: August 07, 2007, 10:01 PM »

Thanks - yes I like Doug's site (and have for a long time). He is also very helpful on the MS forums and I have exchanged emails with him over the years.

Unfortunately the one area that isn't fixed on his site is file associations for music files - all the fixes are just registry files to restore the default settings for specific file types.

The only other thing I can think of that might work is in Explorer or My Computer, navigate to a file of the type you want to change.
Right click on it - click on "Open With" - navigate to the program you want to open the file with - check the little box that says something like "always open this type of file with this program" and then click ok.

This works on the 9x systems, don't know about 2000. Seems to work in Vista.

(I know that's really basic Carol but I didn't see you mention it, so I thought I'd throw it out there)

60

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you use any Desktop Theme Software on Windows?

« on: August 07, 2007, 01:34 PM »

I've used Litestep off and on for about 3 years, and it seems most of the eye candy comes from skinning the modules, not a universal litestep theme engine.

Ah, I am newly educated. I didn't know it wasn't a theme engine.

The only other program I'm aware of that does this is Style XP.
Its shareware.
http://www.tgtsoft.com/prod_sxp.php

61

Living Room / Re: Anyone any idea how to fix file assocations?

« on: August 07, 2007, 01:14 PM »

I've used Doug Knox's site (a Microsoft MVP) to straighten out some messed up file associations.

Here's his Windows® XP File Association Fixes page:

http://www.dougknox....om/xp/file_assoc.htm

Many other tips, fixes and utilities on his site.
Its a gem of a site - I've used it for years.
http://www.dougknox.com/

62

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you use any Desktop Theme Software on Windows?

« on: August 05, 2007, 02:36 PM »

I've been using Window Blinds on and off for years - sometimes I get tired of it and don't use it.

I've used .msstyles for quite a while.

My favorite place to get them is here:
http://topstyles.net/
Most of the styles are Mac based and pretty calm - not much color or punch which can be very nice.
Most of the packages there include a Visual Style, which most skinning sites call .msstyles.
They also have Linux styles.

Wincustomize is another good source. I think they are affiliated with Stardock.
http://www.wincustomize.com/

A few other sources I like:

Skinbase is a great site:
http://www.skinbase....g/Skins/msstyles/135

Customize.org
http://customize.org/

GUI Championships has some great stuff:
http://www.guichamps.com/

Last, but not least, there's a program called Litestep that functions similar to Window Blinds. I haven't used it but its very popular and there a lot of themes out there for it.
http://lsdev.org/e10...links_page/links.php


Nice Litestep theme sample here:
http://customize.org...itestep/themes/32640

63

Living Room / Re: Article: A Woman's Primer for Building Her Own Computer

« on: August 01, 2007, 10:41 PM »

nah, building your own computer can be enjoyed more in that, you can pick out the exact parts you want, and end up making a computer that is several times better than one you buy that is pre-built.

I think you're right on target there nite_monkey.

I've spent the last few days comparing the two.
I used the specs from a Dell desktop mid range setup (as much as they will give you) and compared them to similar components from newegg.com.

I chose Dell because they use decent hardware in their machines for the most part. Usually nothing proprietary, and often what I would call solid but low range components. You can usually replace anything on a Dell desktop and some laptops with the same thing from several manufacturers.

The conclusion I came to after running a few figures is that if you built a computer using the same type of parts that Dell does, you come out roughly even to somewhat more expensive since the price of memory and processors tends to go up and down and the quality of the hardware is unknown - that figures in the price considerably.
As I don't have manufacturers on Dell components, I was comparing things like a 250 watt power supply that's in a Dell to a decent one of the same wattage.

So why build a computer? It started out with me replacing hardware when it would die. If you have a computer long enough every single component on it will go out eventually. I started replacing and upgrading. Then I started building them from the hardware I wanted. Then friends wanted me to build them because it was less expensive. Before I knew it several systems had gone out the door and I got to enjoying that rush when you've put a system together and you turn the power button on for the first time and everything powers up smooth as silk.
Then you get to play with the software! Best of both worlds.

I've been thinking of upgrading and wanted to see how buying a computer compared to building or upgrading, which is why I've been looking.

I've decided to upgrade because I can put together a system with the best hardware (yeah, I'm picky) with bigger, better, faster, more features for not much more than the mid-range Dell.
That was if I putting together a whole system, which I'm not.

Dell's are good computers - but I would never have a 250 watt power supply in my computer. Like nite_monkey says, you end up with a computer that is several times better than one pre-built. (unless of course you are buying a computer from alienware or custom built)

Hardware compatibility is not much of an issue these days, the vendors decided to play nice apparently.

I'm not a guy, and I'm not much of a gamer, though it is useful to be able to go anywhere that sells or repairs computers and be able to discern with a few questions whether they are competent or not.

I buy online but I have friends in other states, and when their computers go down, I look up computer repair places in their local yellow pages and start making phone calls. 

I would guess its like you coders - you have your own vocabulary, and it can't be faked. You either know it, or you don't; it quickly becomes obvious either way.

One very good thing about knowing something about the insides of your computer, is that when something goes out, you can get another one and put it in. You don't have to take it to a shop or get another one. You can get a bigger/better/faster replacement. Saves lots of money. Everything inside that case is replaceable. Including the case.

64

General Software Discussion / Re: XP or Vista user — take the poll!

« on: July 24, 2007, 03:54 PM »

The biggest problem with the coming webapps approach is that huge numbers of people have no access to high speed internet. It's OK if you live in inner-city Japan or France where high speed access (30-100Gbs broadband) is common enough to be endemic - but in other countries (including the US and UK) high speed connections are not nearly so common or even available. The US is apparently even worse in rural areas where there are still large communities depending on dial-up (I read a recent article on this but can't remember where I found it).

I don't know the numbers either Carol, but I'm one of those people who live in a rural area. Most of the state I live in is rural.
Outside of the larger cities, dial-up is the norm, and 56k is norm for many other areas.

Get a little (and I mean a little) farther out and your access speed drops to around 19kbps.

Up until quite recently (in the last year) there were no alternatives. No cable, no wireless, and the phone company basically said "not in your lifetime" when  asked about 56k dial up.

Satellite internet became available about a year ago for most areas of the state I live in. Most people don't have it because the initial set-up is pretty high and the monthly fee is around $50.00US for the cheapest plan. People are poor and scattered - the population density in the county I live in is 1.3 people per square mile. The county is huge in square miles, and the majority of people live in a few areas, but you can find people living in just about every nook and cranny around.

Its about the same on most of this corner of the continent. There tend to be metropolitan centers surrounded by mostly rural land.

My two issues with web apps are one, you have to be connected to use them, and two, having casual acquaintance with people from all over the planet via a group I belong to, I know that some of these people pay for the connections by the minute. Not the norm, but some do.
Internet access can be very expensive in other parts of the world.

And, call me an old curmudgeon (can women be curmudgeons?) but I don't like my data to live anywhere but on my hard drive.
The more social sites like myspace that pop-up, the more I want anonymity. Internet+anonymity = oxymoron, but I give it my best shot. You won't find me on Facebook.

65

General Software Discussion / Re: XP or Vista user — take the poll!

« on: July 23, 2007, 06:59 PM »

whatever, i would assume there'll be some funky ways of using virtual operating systems by then so things might be a bit blurry.

Lots of dual booting XP/Vista going on, and since Microsoft released Virtual PC for free a lot of people are running XP inside Vista using Virtual PC.
You need a legit copy of XP to install it.

66

General Software Discussion / Re: XP or Vista user — take the poll!

« on: July 23, 2007, 06:50 PM »

I've been using Vista for a while. Oddly enough, I like it. 

From the Windows versions I've used (3.1 through the 9x core to XP to Vista) I think Vista is the most well executed.

If I used my computer for work or production I don't think I would switch.

67

General Software Discussion / Re: Seeking opinions about combination antivirus/firewall products

« on: July 17, 2007, 10:14 PM »

Interestingly, and perhaps not surprising, most of the suites dont do so well, with the exception of Kaspersky and Ghost  Anyway gives you more to look at and to think about before parting with the hard earned $$$$s

One I don't remember seeing mentioned is Blink.
Its made by eEye Digital Security.
Personal Edition is free for download, its a "security suite" and it got decent reviews last I heard.
http://www.eeye.com/html/index.html

I gave it shot, but it was a little resource heavy for me, and its so "noisy" its annoying. By noisy I mean its always asking you things.

And, if you get on their mailing list somehow, you have to go through a lot of trouble to get off. None of their emails contain an unsubscribe link.

Just tossing this one out there in case it fits for someone.

68

General Software Discussion / Re: Seeking opinions about combination antivirus/firewall products

« on: July 17, 2007, 10:04 PM »

NOD32 certainly has a good reputation. But you're talking about NOD32 the AV, not about the new ESET (beta) suite... Right?

Right.
Its the anti-virus.
The version I have (2.7) says it has "Threat Sense Technology".
It says it detects viruses, Trojans, Worms, Adware, Spyware, Phishing, and Active Rootkits.

I'm not sure about the rootkits, I'm never sure about rootkits, and I don't test all the other stuff.
I do however trust Gizmo's recommendations - they've proven reliable over quite a bit of time, and his testing is impeccable as far as I can tell.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/

I have Mailwasher, so any mail that's spam or has attachments (funny how the two usually appear together ) gets deleted off the server.

I don't use IE even for MS updates, I use Windiz instead (non -IE browsers only) - they get their updates from MS but weed out unneeded, er, features.
http://windowsupdate.62nds.com/

I use Firefox and use the User Agent Switcher extension to identify my browser as Firefox running on Linux.

The places I wander are pretty pedestrian, and my idea of something approaching p*rn (now don't laugh, ok?) is seeing a new Seasonic Power Supply come out of the box or some new OCZ high performance memory.

69

General Software Discussion / Re: Seeking opinions about combination antivirus/firewall products

« on: July 17, 2007, 06:36 PM »

Nowif I go back to NOD32, I won't have any spy ware detector or firewall. This is where I need some opinions...

Nod has been expanding its repertoire quite a bit.
Gizmo has it listed as one of the best all in one type programs that is paid software.
I've been running it for some time now, with the Windows Firewall as the only other security program.
On the other hand, I am behind a router.

Nod doesn't seem to make my system take any performance hits or slow it down.
I've tried several other firewalls, zero day programs and anti-virus at one time or another, and NOD is the one that performs the best so far.
Kaspersky really slowed my system down.

This is what NOD has in its structure at the moment:

C:\Users\islanddreams\Documents\nod.JPG

70

General Software Discussion / Re: RSS Reader?

« on: July 13, 2007, 08:23 PM »

Meanwhile, I came across a site which seems to cover some of these scripts (among other stuff) as well:
http://www.makeuseof...e-reader-tools-tips/

Oh, thanks alxwz, that's a good site. I snagged Colourful List View, I like colours to sort.

The Mac OS X theme is nice and clean. If you use Firefox you'll need to add the Stylish extension.

71

General Software Discussion / Re: RSS Reader?

« on: July 12, 2007, 10:19 PM »

laughinglizard, could you please explain which scripts you use? Might be useful for others as well.

Sure.
I don't use all of them, I'm passing along the ones I know about in case anyone finds them useful.

I use two Greasemonkey Scripts, one is Jasper's Google Reader subscribe http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/2571 and the other is Cleaning up Google's Left Nav http://userstyles.org/styles/1959 (its at userstyles but its available as a greasemonkey script there).

The rest are listed and reviewed and Lifehacker, so I'll give links.

The only one I use is Better GReader, though there are some other great scripts that include search and integrate Reader with GMail.

Better GReader: http://tinyurl.com/2z8lsd

Google Reader Notifier: http://tinyurl.com/yptk87

Google Reader Custom Search: http://tinyurl.com/285hx4 (greasemonkey script)

Integrate Google Reader with Gmail via Greasemonkey http://tinyurl.com/2gt2bu

Hack Attack: Getting good with Google Reader http://tinyurl.com/38cuf4
This is a good post on keyboard shortcuts, tweaks, and downloads.

I've used tinyurl links because the links at Lifehacker are long, if you have any trouble with them let me know.

Google Reader is a good reader, but these make it a lot easier to live with. Especially the ability to change skins and clean up the left nav bar.

72

General Software Discussion / Re: Is the Windows start menu dead?

« on: July 12, 2007, 09:42 PM »

laughinglizard , do you hold anything against .NET 3.0 ?? 

-Curt (July 11, 2007, 07:25 PM)

Nah, not me, I added that so that people on dial up would know it might be a looooong download.
When I was on dial-up I didn't like surprises like that, but then my usual speed was 19.9 kpbs.
 

73

General Software Discussion / Re: Is the Windows start menu dead?

« on: July 11, 2007, 07:19 PM »

I tend to use Direct Access and Quick Launch, and sometimes the Vista Start Menu.

Lately I've been wondering about some of the launchers out there. Other than Direct Access, I haven't used any.

One of them, Launchy,http://www.launchy.net/, gets a lot of good feedback.

Another one called Skylight looks like it has some promise, but its in beta and needs Microsoft .NET 3.0 Framework, which it will download along with the program.
http://www.osx-e.com...tions/_skylight.html

74

General Software Discussion / Re: RSS Reader?

« on: July 08, 2007, 08:23 PM »

After having gone through several online RSS readers, I find I've been adding everything to my Yahoo Start Page. Its a little like PageFlakes. I also use Google Reader with a few scripts that make it more pleasant to work with.

Some of the other online readers I thought were pretty good are:

Blog Bridge
http://www.blogbridge.com/

News Alloy:
http://www.newsalloy.com/

and Awasu:
http://www.awasu.com/
(a newsreader on steroids)

75

General Software Discussion / Re: Detecting RootKits

« on: July 08, 2007, 04:05 PM »

I use IceSword myself.

There's a good site with information and discussion about rootkits here:
http://www.antirootkit.com/index.htm

They have a pretty good roundup of Rootkit Detection & Removal Software software, including the name, publisher, OS, the Cost/Rating and the Version.

http://www.antirootk...m/software/index.htm

They have a similar list for Rootkit Prevention Software at the bottom of the page.

I've used Cyberhawk since early beta and think its a good product but recently started using NOD32. They added several security features I like, and, are Gizmo's number one (not free) choice.