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Not OK!!  It IS evil!!!

Man, I hate when focus is lost - and BTW, a window doesn't have to appear for it to steal focus.  Anytime another program causes the one you are currently using to LOSE focus - you know, where nothing appears but the title bar dims? - that is as bad as it gets.

I often have to use Dragon Naturally Speaking to input any large amount of text - my one arm stops working if I do a lot of keyboard work. And I can have Word open, dictating away - and suddenly the title bar dims and the dictation is going absolutely nowhere!!  If I am staring at the monitor I may notice it quickly.  If not, I may dictate a paragraph before realizing it is for nothing.  Plus, when using speech recognition you really have to get into a rhythm and speak fluidly - no choppy, hesitating speech - or the recognition quality goes down the tubes. Whenever this got really bad I would stop everything and go nuts on the PC until I found the offending application - then I would remove it while laughing maniacally! (Computers do this to us!)

Last time it was Windows Desktop Search - it was installed when I installed OneNote 2007 - OneNote needs WDS if you want to search for text in graphics.  I don't use WDS otherwise, so that went.

Other desktop searches occasionally go crazy and start indexing even when you don't have it scheduled to do so.

Process Tamer is the best weapon I've found thus far.

Jim

I don't see any errors on http://www.mogware.com/st...up/FileHamster/index.html - it is google's tracking script IINM (perhaps geotargetted?). Anyway I'd suggest posting it on the mogware forum.

Actually it appears that this HAS been reported there - even the same Line Number incurring the script error. Looks like Tuckndar also reported it.

Here's the link to the thread:  http://support.mogware.net/index.php?topic=100.0

And it appears that since it is not a critical error Mogware decided to leave it alone! That's not a good thing!

Thanks,

Jim

Don't know why you're not seeing this, nontroppo.  Sounds like justice is though.

Here's what it looks like:

I've been using MailBag Assistant by Fookes Software for years.  Probably the most versatile email archiver I've seen.  Here's a list of features from the web site:

    * Easy to use thanks to helpful wizards.
    * Handles the most popular message files.
    * No need to import e-mails to use them in Mailbag Assistant.
    * Handles native message files even if you no longer have the original e-mail program on your computer.
    * Enables you to easily share your correspondence with other Mailbag Assistant users.
    * Favorites menu to quickly reopen frequently used e-mail folders.
    * Message text is colored based on quote level.
    * Match tool selects all messages matching your criteria.
    * Filter tool shows only messages matching your criteria.
    * Search tools support Boolean operators, approximate matches, and Soundex matches.
    * Groups messages together meaningfully.
    * Sorts grid data when column header is clicked.
    * Saves e-mails into compressed message archives.
    * Stores and extracts e-mail attachments and HTML messages.
    * Exports e-mails as plain text, EML files, Web pages, and other formats based on customizable templates.
    * Extracts information like e-mail addresses and traffic statistics.
    * Provides built-in scripting language to automate tasks.
    * Integrated editor for scripts and templates, with syntax highlighting.

I will say that it is fast and offers searching in just about any way you could want.  You can tell it to find messages that match a certain set of parameters, extract all email addresses from those messages and then view them, print the list, store it in a file.  It carries the attachments with the messages - in the archive file.  I have been archiving my email messages with it in their compressed file format and also exporting all messages to EML files and zipping them up, then writing them to CD's - and now to DVD's.  (Mailbag Assistant doesn't burn anything to optical drives - I use Nero for that).  I need to make sure I have all email messages saved - can't afford to have a new version of my email program lose any past files, and restoring some email message stores from a regular compressed backup doesn't always work.

This is not a free program, though.  $39.95, so you really have to need it, IMO.

Fookes also sells Aid4Mail, a utility that will take all your email from most any email client and convert it to almost any other format.  When I decided to stop using Pocomail and switch back to Outlook the whole process took about 15 minutes for > 15,000 messages.  No preparatory work is needed.  Then I switched to Thunderbird 2 from Outlook and moved them all again.  Best part is it will maintain the same folder structure for you, which was a lifesaver for me.  This application has four versions: Standard, Professional, Forensic, and Enterprise.  If you will be converting to or from Outlook, though, you need the Professional version. Apparently there are not many other programs - if any - that will convert to and from Outlook because the PST file structure is so different from other mail apps.

Jim

The single most used application on my PC - with the possible exception of Firefox or Thunderbird - is The Journal 4, which is - no surprise here: a journaling/writing application.  I do keep a regular journal with it, but I also do all blog writing in it - it can send articles to any blog you are using. Also, I keep numerous other specialized journals in it. E.g., every time I make any kind of configuration change on my PC, I log it into a PC Maintenance journal. I have about 7 years of data in that journal alone. Whenever I start experiencing a new problem I start performing searches and find anything I changed that could have had an impact and caused the problem.

I also write reviews and compose them in The Journal. It's basically my one, all-around writing/logging tool.   

Jim

I reboot this monster daily, and even with that I have had more BSOD's in the year and a half I've owned it than I did even with Windows for Workgroups 3.1 or Windows 95.  I am really growing to hate this machine.

I purchased this PC from Falcon Northwest last June - a Mach V, top of their line.  I did not want to go with a Dell or HP POS again - I wanted something with full, top line, retail components instead of the self-specked junk that the big manufacturers usually throw in their PC's. I would have built another myself, but I became disabled and have lost a lot of the use of my left arm - didn't want to try building my own because I didn't know if I could finish it. The Mach V gets rave reviews all over, for the most part. But this one started crashing about a week after I received it and has never gotten any better. Hard drives failed, memory failed, and now I am waiting on a new nVidia card because my GeForce 7900 GTX is throwing nv4_disp.dll crashes almost every day.  (A lot of users are suddenly seeing this - not sure why, but nVidia has no solutions for it other than replace the card).

Every time I get it all fixed up something else fails.  Can't win sometimes - no matter how good you buy.  And my old HP Pavilion Media Center PC and a Dell Dimension - one four years old and the other... gulp... 9 years old, are running perfectly!

Jim

Yeah, sorry - I misunderstood you.  But you're right - I did do a thorough search to see if that had happened, and I can find no trace of it.

Thanks!

Jim

Maybe it's an old version? Remember there was a change from DCUpdater to DCUppdater. I'm not sure if that would make a difference, but I suppose it's a possibility.

Nope - latest version.  (If you look at my first post it says "dcuppdater", with the two p's).

Jim

if it doesnt then its a clue that however its being invoked on startup is confusing it.

But supposedly Chameleon, other than monitoring for programs trying to add themselves to the Startup folder, just places approved programs IN the Startup folder and that should make the start the same as when I use the Start menu, right?

Not sure I understand the mechanics of this issue!

Jim

From the IE7 Toolbar there are two check boxes to turn off debugging.
Goto Tools-->Internet Options-->Advanced.
In the second group, "Browsing"

I think some of the MS tools, when installed, toggle them off.

In IE6 it can be done for the browser itself via IE Options>Advanced.  But when other programs use Internet Explorer within the application itself, I don't see anyway to disable it.

i never get any confirmation box after disabled them somewhere in the options, tried to install FileHamster but it needs .net craps.

is there any way to get debug box beside using FileHamster?

Yes, but this is definitely FileHamster. Confirmed. Just wish I could find a way to shut it down in there, or it might have to go.

Hey Mike,

Until I started really looking at it yesterday, I had no idea that it had all of the features that it does have.  It is, like many of the programs created by coders here at DC, and mouser in particular, so muted in its appearance that you would never know how powerful it is until you took a closer look at it.  In my opinion - and this is probably a very premature opinion as I haven't even begun to use it that much yet - SSCaptor appears to at least match SnagIt in its feature set, and possibly surpasses it in a number of ways.  Again though, the "home-grown" applications here at DC are so muted, so lacking in the usual overstated, four-color, screaming text effect advertising that is all too common with commercial software packages, that it is almost too easy to overlook just how great some of them really are.

(You can pay me later, mouser!!  )

I'm going to stick only with SSCaptor for a good long while and get some real use out of it.

Jim

I have my security settings in Internet Explorer 6 set at a level that is probably lower than it should be.  I just hate some of the warning messages and prompts that come with the higher stock settings.

To compensate - hopefully - I do have the Spywareblaster site blacklist updated and loaded at all times, and I am running NOD32 2.7 from Eset, but I still get warnings from some testing sites that IE is configured in an unsafe manner.

A few of the most annoying "security" features that IE blows my way when configured safely are the script debugging warnings and prompt to start a debugger, and the always so popular Mixed content warning.  You know, the one that tells you the site you are trying to go to has both secure and insecure content?  And it will not allow you to navigate there until you click saying it is OK and that you are an ignorant, non-security-minded oaf?  Well I have those all turned off in IE6's advanced settings.  Which is a risk I happily take - I don't feel that I need Microsoft, of all entities, minding my security for me.

However most applications that invoke IE as part of their standard operation still show these pain-in-the-rear-end dialogs, requiring me to act in order to let them run.  Most apps that invoke IE continually show the mixed content warning.  And FileHamster - a program which I really like and would consider purchasing the Plus version - pops up the script error dialog asking if I want to continue running scripts on the page.  And it gives me an option to... ugh... debug the script.  No, No, No!!  I NEVER want to debug a script! That will invariably open that dreaded (by me, at least)  MS MDM service - the Machine Debugging Manager service.  Once started, that service will simply not let go - ever - until I go into Services and manually stop it. But then it can be started at any time by other scripts, other applications. And it can really mess with programs that you don't want it to mess with. Anything it perceives as buggy will get a good going over to see if it needs to be debugged - MDM does not like to sit around idle all day, and it will get into trouble if given the opportunity.

Which is why I usually have the service disabled. I manually set it in Properties as Disabled.  But requesting something to be debugged overrides my setting and starts it right back up.  So, why would I ask it to debug something ever again, you might ask? When that dialog opens - the one that FileHamster causes to be opened - if it is behind something else when it opens and it tries to take focus but the very moment it does I am pounding away on the keyboard, typing into another program altogether - and it sees a key click on the Enter key as permission to go ahead and debug away....

Well that's usually how it gets started again - at least that's what I suspect.  Or it could be a little trick that Microsoft has played on me many times in the past:  It sends me a critical update and when it is installed it goes around and checks some of my settings and, yes, it changes them to what the Microsoft programmer thinks is best for my own - and the rest of the Internet world's own - good!

I guess I don't even have to say how much I HATE THAT!!  Sorry....  but does anyone here know a way to truly disable those IE warning dialogs in programs that invoke IE?  If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you would share!

Thanks.

Jim

superboyac,

I did install SQL Notes, but then when Pierre suggested I download a later beta about a week or so after that, I tried but it wouldn't install. I think Pierre posted again that I have to pluck some of the files from the newer beta and replace the ones in my already-installed beta.  Something like that - I'll have to read that post again.

I just didn't get around to doing that. Not that it's difficult or anything; I was just super busy at the time, and ... hmmm...  I guess I just got lazy after that and didn't think to go back and do that.

Let me take another look at the SQL Notes thread and maybe try again.

One thing - I am a "needy" user if there ever was one.  I NEED some kind of documentation to reference when I need to - which is always too often! Some things are just completely intuitive to me - usually the complicated stuff. And then I choke on the simple stuff! Don't ask why. Because I'm Irish? Old and decrepit? Because I have raised too many kids? It's just one of those universal truths! 

Jim

keep in mind the pdf is exactly the same (but perhaps a bit older) than the .chm help file included with every install of screenshot captor.

True, but the Help+Manual software you features here once is, oh... like a $399 program for the Standard version, and $599 for the Pro!!  So how would one make the CHM file into a PDF file?

Printing a CHM file is NOT something anyone wants to do!

Jim

Even weirder - I just exited DCUpdate and started it again from the Start>All Programs menu but this time I clicked on the link in the Start>All Programs>Startup folder and all shows fine there also.  Then again, since it has already been opened today with the correct programs showing it probably will stay that way until I reboot Windows again, right?

Jim

Starting it from Start>All Programs shows all that it should.  So it appears that only when Chameleon Startup Manager starts it - which is really just making sure that same shortcut is in the Start Menu>Startup folder - it does not show all DC programs. Weird!

Jim

makes me very happy to read this.  Especially the part about how you read the pdf manual.. took a long time to write that big help file, it's nice to know someone has looked at it 

ehh, where is the pdf manual ?
am i having one of those blind it's right in front of me days 

Tom,

I'll have to look for it again.  I just downloaded it yesterday and can't find it again already!

Mouser - you have hidden it pretty well.  There are other threads where you provide a link to it, but they are all wrong!  And I had difficulty opening the file in Firefox when I finally found it.  Don't know if it is a problem with my Adobe Acrobat plug-in in Firefox or if the file is just placed improperly for downloading - if that is even possible!

I managed to get it with the Firefox Downloader extension - the sneaky way!

I'll post back when I find it again Tom.

Jim

PS - On second thought, try downloading from the link I just attached. Mouser - if you prefer not to have this here please remove it - only after Tomos downloads it!

All paid versions and all better at some things than the others, but none that seem to do it all well.
Someday I'll find that perfect note-taker!

Would you care to share what are the relative weaknesses of each of these 3 ?

No time for me to compose a mini-review right now, but here are some of the things I like (or don't really like) in these three programs:

Evernote:

•   Great search capabilities, but not exactly intuitive, at least I don't feel it is.
•   No tables or spreadsheet capabilities - they claim you can drag & drop tables and spreadsheets into a note but I have had mixed success. I guess it depends on the complexity of the table or spreadsheet.
•   It does support about as many categories as you could ever want, but no tagging. The explanation from users on their forum is that Evernote's search powers are so good and that tags basically suck anyway. Matter of opinion, I imagine; I don't have to have tags but I do like them.
•   The "endless tape" format is pretty cool when you start using it, and can be useful if you have the time to play, but at times, if I'm in a hurry, the "tape" format can drive me nuts!
•   A weird thing here - they have built-in icons that you can assign to categories. Many users at their forum have been clamoring for years for them to allow adding your own icons, but they say that would be too difficult. I don't quite get that. Besides, you cannot see the icons on your notes - they don't show there. Only on the category list itself. I don't get that either! Either support category icons, or don't. This in-between position is pointless, IMO.

OneNote 2007:

•   Probably the one I use the most, but mainly just for clipping from the web or any application
•   I don't like using it much if I am writing a note. Maybe it's the individual text boxes - or "note containers", as MS calls them -that it creates each time I start typing. Not a problem with it - mainly just a personal preference.
•   The odd file format that results from clipping - I don't know what in the heck it is but it usually cannot be used to paste into other applications. That really annoys me.
•   If I want to mail a note from OneNote 2007 it attaches a proprietary file to the message and a link to download OneNote 2007.  I hate this!! If I'm sending a note to someone I want them to be able to read it - right away.  Not show them an advertisement for another Microsoft product! Alternatively you can have it add an attachment that will open a browser window. But it asks first if you want it to open in your default browser. Mine is Firefox and if I click "Yes" it instead opens another instance of Thunderbird - no idea why! Then it switches and opens an Internet Explorer window. Too much trouble to view a note if you ask me. But if you are using it solely for your own use and never plan to send a note to anyone you won't have to deal with that.
•   Good tagging support, but you cannot add your own - something that can defeat the purpose of icons, which IMO is to allow finding notes at a glance due to instantly recognizable icons. Being heavily involved with the PPC/Windows Mobile platform for five years I came to appreciate category icons. I always created my own from client companies' logos. Then if I looked at the calendar I could see where I would be traveling to and whom I would be meeting with in any upcoming week by just glancing at the icons on my calendar page. So I prefer that if a developer has category icons as a feature they should always allow users to create and use their own.

AM-Notebook:

•   This one is my personal favorite for writing notes.
•   Tables and spreadsheets are built-in and handled nicely. Calculations, formulae, & advanced expressions in the spreadsheets.
•   Full rich text, extensive formatting options, clips & templates; I like how it handles these better than the others - once again, mostly personal preference.
•   Alarm clock and reminders, tabbed interface, excellent search facility, encrypted notes, link or bookmark between notes, create a new note using clipboard contents
•   ToDo's, built-in calendar feature to schedule tasks/notes, contacts, install to USB flash drive
•   And a big plus in my opinion: an active user forum w/good developer participation.
•   Big drawback -- no web clipping/screen clipping feature. For that I have to use one of the other apps. Also, a smaller drawback - no category icons.
•   Bigger drawback yet - no category support at all... Aarrgh!  I use the folder structure as a kind of ersatz categorization tool, but that's just crappy. Lack of categories of any kind is definitely a large miss, IMO.

As I said, a lot of the pluses and minuses are simply my own personal preference.  Many love OneNote 2007 for its ease of use.  Likewise with Evernote for its power searching and cross-categorization.  (Search more than one category together to narrow down and pinpoint specific results. - its single best feature IMO).  I just prefer AM-Notebook because it's easy to use, looks great, has an easy-to-reach developer who is very supportive, and to me it's kind of like having a mini (VERY mini!) office suite always open in my tray, and a mini PIM at the same time.

Now I'm sure that fans of the others will start shooting at me, but as I said, I have paid versions of all three of those (And a few others as well - I'm a note freak!), and I like them all for different things.  Just stating my personal reasons for liking one more overall than the others!  So I will refuse to argue with anyone looking for a "Notes" fight!!      

Jim

No problem! I'll have to check MonkeyPirateTidyWiki out for myself (though I'm awash in notetakers already  )

You and me both!  Some started out as a free version but then offered me upgrade options too good to pass up!  E.g., I currently have the following three open all the time:  OneNote 2007, Evernote 2.2, and AM-Notebook.  All paid versions and all better at some things than the others, but none that seem to do it all well.

Someday I'll find that perfect note-taker!

Jim

Mouser:

Sorry for the non-informative post, but after using Screenshot Captor a few isolated times over the last few months, I decided to get the PDF manual and read up on everything it can do. All I can really say is that it blew me completely away! I had no clue just how powerful this application truly is!  Where do you get off creating such a program that blows all others like it out of the water?!

I've used SnagIt for a few years - I think since Version 5 or 6 - and since Version 8 was released I have had a lot of difficulties with it.  Techsmith's initial installer package for V. 8 was really wrecked and I don't know if my PC ever fully recovered from the resultant Windows Side-by-Side issues it caused.  (MS had released an auto-update in April of last year which caused this same problem for many developers who, rather than create new installer packages with MS Installer 3.0 when it was released, just took their existing MS Installer 2.X packages and imported them into V. 3.0 - big mistake with disastrous results for many users who installed with these packages).

I eventually got SnagIt working again after much repair, but lately it has had periods where it simply will not start. It's supposed to start with Windows and the correct processes show as running, but the app itself won't appear at all and worse - won't capture! Sometimes an immediate reboot helps, but mostly it doesn't. No errors show up in the Event Viewer nor in SnagIt's log file, so fixing the problem is not easy because you can't easily diagnose what's happening. I did discover - purely through trial and error - that placing SnagIt on the Windows XP Data Execution Prevention Exclusion list helped to reduce this behavior but it still occurs more often than not after a regular reboot of Windows.

Anyway, all that on SnagIt was just to lead up to me deciding to take SnagIt out of the Startup config and going full-bore with Screenshot Captor.  And since I had never really read up on Screenshot Captor, but had only used it occasionally when SnagIt was giving me problems, I took one good look at the interface window and Preferences dialog and knew I had a lot of reading to do so I could effectively use this program. And that's when the "Wows" started flowing from me uncontrollably!  Heck, my wife even came into my office to see "...what's wrong..." as she kept hearing Wow after Wow coming from there. I am certain it will take me some time to comprehend all the features and get used to the object handling features in particular, but do it I shall.  Because it's there, and I'm sure it will bring another wave of Wows when I master it!

So I just thought I would stop in here and comment.

Thanks!

Jim

OK - weird topic title, I admit!  But...

I am seeing two different windows of DCUpdater at different times on my PC and, while I know my machine sometimes has a strange sense of humor, I cannot figure out what it is doing this time.

I initially installed DCUpdater several months ago - I don't remember exactly when -and I have it configured to start with Windows using Chameleon Startup Manager.  When DCUpdater starts with the system and I view the window by right-clicking on the tray icon and then "Show Updater", most of the installed programs are not listed in the Installed Packages window, but are listed in the Available for Installation window.  If I then minimize that window - thus closing it to the tray - and immediately open DCUpdater again in FARR, all of my programs show correctly!

The obvious explanation is that I have two separate installations of DCUpdater installed, of course.  Yet both Chameleon Startup Manager and FARR are showing the same exact path:  C:\Program Files\DcUpdater\DcUppdater.exe.  And both are also showing identical paths to the same Startup folder entry:  C:\Documents and Settings\[My Username]\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\dcuppdater.LNK

I searched through my C: Drive with DOpus's search facility using the term "dcup*dater.exe" just to see if I somehow had the older version hiding somewhere - the one with only one "p" - or the latest version spelling - with two "p"'s.  Nope - only the one instance exists.

So how can DCUpdater show the incorrect info upon starting the first time, and then show the correct info when I re-open it?

Thanks for any help with this.

Jim

I used Stroke It for several months and it does seem to be very good - and IIRC, it's free.  I removed it last year, and I don't remember all the specifics involved but I was having interface issues and a lot of difficulties with my PC display in general and was trying to diagnose several issues.  And besides Stroke It I had a number of other programs, like many of the Stardock applications, installed and it was near impossible to determine what was going wrong, so I had to uninstall all and start over again.

In the end it turned out to be a WindowBlinds beta version that was the culprit - it's drivers were driving just about everything else on my machine crazy.  And I just never got around to installing Stroke It again.  I'll have to download it and give it another try.

(BTW, Another program that DID cause me some problems was one that offers to autofill text systemwide - can't remember the name offhand but it was recommended highly by Gizmo - on his list of apps.  One unannounced "feature" was that it overwrote a number of Windows hotkeys, including Windows+S.  That's the screen-clipping hotkey for OneNote.  This program made it activate the "suspend" or "sleep" feature.  Every time I tried to clip a piece of the screen with Windows+S I instead blacked out my monitors and my PC went to sleep!!  Arrgghhh!)

Jim

PS:  The program that changes some Windows Hotkeys was PhaseExpress - finally remembered!

[is]

Not a bad choice at all, DBC.  I use BackUp4All also, along with SFFS and FileHamster.  I love FileHamster for its ease and the fact that it just works so well - I will most likely purchase a Pro license shortly.

Do you know if there's a trial for the Pro version, Jim? It seems that only the free version can be downloaded. (I'll probably still try it anyway, still need to find a real-time-backup-on-change-with-versioning solution).

Actually they call it FileHamster +Plus.  Here's a link: http://www.mogware.com/filehamster/upgrade/  Maybe you only see this after installing the free version?  I'm not certain.  It has some added features, like better support of external drives & network shares. Plus they claim there will be no further development on the free version; all future development/features will only be available to Plus users.

My real reason would be to help ensure the future of the application by supporting the developers.  I like to do that for free apps if possible.  It helps to keep them around for all!

Of the remaining two, I would make the same choice that you did.  BackUp4All is excellent.  I'll leave it at that...

Backup4All is excellent, despite of all I've said about it here Having tested nearly all of the backup apps discused on DC, I'm staying with Backup4All. It even saved my a** recently when the manufacturer of my NAS device sent me a beta version of their firmware, which corrupted every file copied onto the device (added 1 byte in front of every file!), and Backup4All complained immediately when it noticed something dicey was happening to its catalog files. It does have a number of quirks, and it's not the optimal backup tool in the ideal Platonic sense, but I'm just about convinved it's the optimal backup tool available today.

What can I say?  I have had to write for help a few times already and I've gotten very quick and helpful replies from Adrian at BackUp4All.  Great product and service.  I recommend it to anyone.

Thanks!

Jim

Assuming not too much time has passed, you might consider using System Restore to get Windows straightened out.

I mentioned that above -- I prefer not to use it if possible as I would lose too much else in the way of configuration changes I've made.  If it were a selective restore it would be great.  But it's not.   

Thanks.

Jim