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Messages - BrokenNails [ switch to compact view ]

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1
http://www.bitsdujou...tware/listary-pro-2/

Pretty useful tool for enhancing open/save file dialogs. The free version is fairly functional - I upgraded to the Pro version as the license would let me use it at work. :)

2
Find And Run Robot / Re: One Alias - multiple search terms?
« on: July 13, 2009, 10:50 PM »
Sounds like an ideal solution. Appreciate the quick response!  :)

3
Find And Run Robot / One Alias - multiple search terms?
« on: July 13, 2009, 10:17 PM »
Hi,

Quick question - I have an alias to a url that I'd like to have show up in the search results when I type one of two words - let's say 'apple' and 'orange' for arguments sake.

If I make the Alias Group name "Apple Orange" then as I type 'apple' in the search box my alias will appear, but if I type 'orange' it doesn't.

If I add a regex match of "apple|orange" then typing 'orange' does match but only when completely typed ie typing 'orang' wouldn't cause my alias to be listed.

Short of adding "ora?n?g?e?" as my regex match, or having two different aliases (ie one for apple, one for orange), is it possible to have FARR search for partial matches within an Alias name similar to what it does for file name matching? eg a file called "Apple Orange.txt" will appear when I type 'oran'.

Thanks,
Jeff

4
General Software Discussion / Re: BeyondCompare 3 Released
« on: August 18, 2008, 12:10 AM »
I was on the fence about upgrading to v3 just for the in-pane editor (even if we are only talking $15).

But combine it with the DC discount and the resultant $9 upgrade fee somehow crosses that magical mental threshold from a discretionary purchase to a must have!  :)

Many thanks to Scooter Software and DC for putting this offer together.

5
Thanks guys. It's not a major issue (especially given the regex workaround) - I was mainly concerned that perhaps I'd misunderstood how to use FARR correctly!  :)

6
Find And Run Robot / Alias with a space in the name not working
« on: June 08, 2008, 03:09 AM »
I recently added a simple alias for my bank's website containing a name and a result (ie no regex).

I discovered that if the name I gave it (the alias) was only one word eg "Bank" then I could type part of that name eg "ban", FARR would show the bank alias in the dropdown, and would launch the website if I selected it.

If, however, the alias name had a space in it eg "Bank Online" then when I typed "ban", FARR would again show the alias in the dropdown but if I clicked it it would just expand what I'd typed to "Bank Online" but wouldn't actually launch the website.

I tried this with a number of other aliases and there was definitely a difference between aliases with a space (or multiple words I guess) in the name and those without.

NOTE: this is not the case if you add a regex to the alias. eg in the case above I could get "Bank Online" to work correctly if I simply added the regex pattern "bank online". Given the pattern was considered 'optional' I wonder if this is an issue or I'm using FARR incorrectly...?

7
I use Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.c.../products/trueimage/ and http://en.wikipedia....i/Acronis_True_Image) after a fresh Windows install so I can quickly revert to a clean system at some later date rather than going through the install process again.

It's wizard-based so it's not particularly difficult to use. Pretty much just run it, select the drive/partition you want to image, point it to the storage device (can be local or across a network), give the backup a name, select any compression/encryption options you want, and then hit Go.

Recovery is most easily done using a bootable CD that the program can create for you.

Edit - oops, just noticed the 'gratis' requirement. :-[ Obviously True Image doesn't fall into that category! You can occasionally pick up cheap/discounted older versions however...

8
Integrates nicely with FARR - just add your RoboForm directory to FARR and you can launch automatic logins directly - a massive timesaver at work where there are passwords for almost every system.  :Thmbsup:

I added the place my passcards are stored, and when I type donationcoder in and click the rpn file it launches RF as if i wanted to EDIT the passcard. Is that they way you meant, or is it possible to have FARR launch the site and RF login with the passcard?

Sorry 'bout the late reply - no doubt you've figured it out already, but if not:

You just need to go to RoboForm Options | Login Browser and check the box for "Default Action for RFP file (Passcard) is Login".

9
General Software Discussion / Re: The lazy user's guilt
« on: March 13, 2008, 04:35 AM »
I'm fairly certain that Nudel (the guy who produced the "Intro to Directory Opus" site) isn't in anyway affiliated with the makers of DOpus. He's just a mad keen user that wanted to "share the joy"!  :)

One can only imagine how many sales are a direct result of his efforts...

10
General Software Discussion / Re: The lazy user's guilt
« on: March 12, 2008, 10:17 PM »
Warning! Rambling stream of consciousness ahead!  :o

For any non-trivial piece of software I can't emphasize enough what a good "feature tutorial" (video or static) can do for a user. I don't mean something along the lines of "And here's how you add a new task, here's how you delete a task, here's how you print, etc" - that's what help documentation is for. I'm talking about tutorials/demos which exist purely to show what cool things the application can do. Stuff that makes you think "Hey, that would be really useful! I need that software!", or "Wow, I didn't realise I could do that with it - I need to configure my instance to do that too!".

Directory Opus was a particularly good example - a bajillion features, only 1% of which most users get to experience "out of the box". Unless you've experienced other explorer replacements before you could be satisfied with the fact that you now have a tabbed interface and leave it at that. But then you read sites like this http://www.pretentiousname.com/opus/ which show you what "real world" tasks can be done with it, and demonstrate features you wouldn't have been aware of unless you'd trawled through the massive manual (yeah, good luck!).  ;D

The flash tutorials that many sites now offer are an incredibly useful tool in choosing software. Many times I've read a text description of a feature or a bulletpointed feature list and thought "Mmm, so what?", but watching a video tutorial demonstrating an actual, real life problem being solved turned the light bulb on above my head.

I too had AutoHotkey installed for a while and barely used it. I never could figure out what problem I wanted it to solve! It was only after I saw a couple of simple examples on lifehacker.com of (again) real world tasks being automated that I saw its benefit. Using those little scripts time and again finally got me in the habit of recognising opportunities for AHK's magic...  :)

I'm not sure if this post is on topic anymore (or if it ever was) but it kinda made sense in my head! I guess what I'm trying to say is that a lot of software appeals to me in the sense that it solves a particular problem for me (ie why I originally decided to get it), but that I don't then put in the time to investigate all the other things it can do unless 'someone' (web/blog post, video/static tutorial) demonstrates a feature in a real world setting that I can identify with ie solving a problem I face (possibly one I didn't know I had!).  ;D

11
General Software Discussion / Re: How many of you use encryption?
« on: February 01, 2008, 03:01 AM »
I use SyncBackSE to partly synchronize my Home and Work PCs via a USB HDD. On the USB HDD, I use encryption. So if my USB HDD gets stolen or lost, file contents are protected.

Compression with Encryption is part of SyncBackSE. The only limitation is that only file contents is protected, not file names, which can be still read normally.

Almost the same setup here except I use a USB thumbdrive on my keyring with TrueCrypt providing the encryption rather than SyncBackSE. I keep my important work and home files sync'd (using SyncBackSE) with the thumbdrive (inside a TrueCrypt encrypted volume) so (a) I have a backup if the worst happens, and (b) I can access work files at home or vice versa if the need arises. And everything is secure if I ever happen to lose my keys!

12
Official Announcements / Re: January 2008 Software Drawing Winners
« on: February 01, 2008, 02:54 AM »
I have to admit I'd completely forgotten about this contest since entering, and since I spend most of my time on this site browsing the General Software Discussion forums I failed to notice the prize drawing announcement.

It was only after my ISP sent me an email reminding users that their new spam tool was user-configurable that I checked my webmail and noticed a Donationcoder email marked as spam (for shame!). I wonder if the "You won" part of the subject line was what did it in....  ;D

Anyway, thanks heaps!  :Thmbsup:

13
General Software Discussion / Re: Top 3 programs you use
« on: August 28, 2007, 11:28 PM »
1. Directory Opus
2. AI RoboForm
3. Find and Run Robot

And Firefox!

14
1.  Sandboxie - I haven't even seen a false positive, much less any real malware since I started doing all my surfing in a sandbox.
Have you experienced any major slowdowns when browsing within Sandboxie? I found that whenever I had more than, say, two or three tabs open in Firefox I would be browsing fine and then suddenly, BAM, everything starts timing out and the only solution is to kill the current sandbox and restart it.
After further investigation I've discovered that Ad Muncher was causing the problem. I had tried disabling it in the past without effect - it seems you need to shut it down entirely!

15
1.  Sandboxie - I haven't even seen a false positive, much less any real malware since I started doing all my surfing in a sandbox.
Have you experienced any major slowdowns when browsing within Sandboxie? I found that whenever I had more than, say, two or three tabs open in Firefox I would be browsing fine and then suddenly, BAM, everything starts timing out and the only solution is to kill the current sandbox and restart it.

It was almost like once the browser had more than a few concurrent connections going Sandboxie would just choke and not be able to recover.

It could well be a system related issue though as Sandboxie worked fine for about 3 or 4 months before this problem cropped up a month back. I have, however, reinstalled Windows since and yet experienced the problem again immediately.

16
I used to use dbPowerAmp all the time too, but i've been disapointed with the latest version so i looked for an alternative and found Switch. Convert anything to anything very simply, i like it and it's free. The "plus" version offers a command-line ability that should very interesting with Drag n Drop Robot.
Hmmm, I haven't had any problems with dbPowerAmp myself. Does Switch have 'right click -> convert' integration into explorer?

Also, i was looking for a nice alternative to Winamp and discovered XMPlay (thanks to *i don't remember who* on this forum) and i love it. You should try it.
Winamp may have had a stay of execution courtesy of jgpaiva's tip on how to get the global hotkeys working. That said, I might just give XMPlay a try and see what I'm missing. Thanks for the recommendations.

But AutoHotkey is "on the cusp"?!  ;-)
Heh, what can I say? :) I've only been using it for a couple of months and haven't yet developed a dependency on it. Still, I can see how it might be able to solve one of my more annoying work related problems (just have to find the time to do it) and if that's successful it'll most likely cross the "love and couldn't do without" threshold!

17
Integrates nicely with FARR - just add your RoboForm directory to FARR and you can launch automatic logins directly - a massive timesaver at work where there are passwords for almost every system.

ooh, cool tip!

Yeah, a nice side effect of RoboForm storing every login as a separate file. We've got umpteen portals/shared spaces/etc at work and it's so much easier to just fire them all off using FARR without having to worry about logins.

18
(and one that actually supports the media buttons on my keyboard)
Are you sure you haven't got the "global hotkeys" disabled? I think those are disabled by default (go figure!).
Just go to options -> preferences -> global hotkeys and check "enabled" ;)

Well blow me down - a simple click of the checkbox and she's off and running! Much appreciated!  ;D

19
Great thread. Thought I'd add my 5c given I post so infrequently yet get so much out of others' posts.


Apps I love and couldn't do without:

Directory Opus - explorer replacement. The first thing that gets installed. So much tweakability it makes my brain hurt (in a good way!). With the latest version I shelled out for the USB license as I can't go without DOpus when using someone else's machine.  :-*

RoboForm - password 'enterer'. Wonderful app! Saves having to remember passwords for web sites you only visit every few months, as well as automatically filling out form information when signing up for sites. Plus you can securely store any textual information you like (license keys, etc). Integrates nicely with FARR - just add your RoboForm directory to FARR and you can launch automatic logins directly - a massive timesaver at work where there are passwords for almost every system.  :Thmbsup:


Apps on the cusp of "love and couldn't do without":

AutoHotkey - hotkey util. The more I use it the more I like it. I've only just started to delve into it a bit more over the past couple of months but it seems that everything I think I'd like it to do...it can!

Find and Run Robot - launch util. Only started using this in the last couple of weeks but what a time saver. I used to leave a lot of documents open on my machine so I could access them regularly but with FARR I can free up that RAM by just launching them when needed. I can launch FARR, key in the doc alias, and load the doc in only slightly more time than it would have taken to locate the open doc on the desktop and swap to it.  :)

Firefox - browser. Tabbed browsing brought me to this and I've never gone back. I try to keep the number of extensions/addons to a minimum as my work machine has a limited profile space but it's nice to have so much customisability packed into such a regularly used tool.

Foxit Reader - pdf reader. Every time I load a pdf at work through Adobe Reader I'm reminded why I use Foxit at home. Sloooooooow versus snappy!

Paintshop Pro - image editor. Never got the hang of Photoshop and the price is prohibitive anyway. PSPro hits a nice middle ground between feature-rich and simple to use.

Taskbar Shuffle - let's you manipulate you apps on the taskbar/system tray through drag and drop. You know some people just have to have their email client leftmost on the taskbar, right?  ;D


Apps I like (a lot), and always install, but am open to the possibility that there might be better alternatives out there:

Ad Muncher - ad blocker. A bit of a carryover from my dialup days. Not sure if it's absolutely necessary these days but I feel a bit lonely if I don't see the little cow icon in my system tray munching away...  :)

Azureus - bittorrent client. Can't say I've tried any other clients but I've had no reason to as this does everything I want out of the 'box'.

Beyond Compare - file/directory comparison util. Doesn't get used with any regularity but every couple of weeks I find a need for it and it "just works".

Copernic Desktop Search - desktop Search app. On my work machine I'm using this constantly to churn through massive email archives. I struggle to imagine how I got by without such a tool a couple of years back. I tried Copernic on the recommendation of a work colleague and as it did everything I needed I stuck with it and never tried anything else. One day I plan on trialling some of the other big players but till then Copernic will do me just fine.

DBPowerAmp - audio converter. Nice explorer integration and plenty of plugins. I'm sure there are a lot of other equally good (or better) apps out there that do the same thing, but DBPowerAmp just hides away until I decide to right-click a file and convert it.

Easy CDDA Extractor - CD ripper. My version must be more than five years old but it's simple and reliable which is all I really need when it comes to ripping audio CDs. I'm certain there are fancier apps out there with a massive list of features but I guess I don't miss what I don't know!

File Box Extender - tweaks Open/Save dialogs to have a favourites list. Saves me a bunch of time when saving email attachments, etc. Also, being able to click a directory in Explorer (or DOpus) and having an Open/Save dialog 'jump' to it is plenty useful.

FreeDownload Manager - download manager. Replaced Star Downloader a few months back and wouldn't consider going back. I like the fact that when it detects a potential download you can click cancel and use Firefox/IE's internal download mechanism if need be.

Genie Backup - backup utility. I've got a fairly solid backup regime in place and GB is the tool I've settled on. Very easy to setup a schedule and from then on it's a one-click affair.

PSPad - text editor. I needed something better than Notepad but I don't remember why I settled on this. It's free, so I'm sure that was a factor, but the whole tabbed interface and various plugins make it a regularly used app.

TrayIt - allows apps to be minimised to the system tray. Sometimes I want to keep something open but not take up any space in the taskbar. TrayIt solves that problem.

Winamp - media player. Has stuck around since I first discovered mp3s many moons ago. Think I tried Foobar once but couldn't figure out an easy way to change the volume! I'm fairly certain I could find a nice 'light' mp3 player out there (and one that actually supports the media buttons on my keyboard) but till then tradition dictates I stick with Winamp!  ;)

ZipGenius - zip util. Used IZArc for a while but settled on ZG as it had a nice 'feel' and the developer responded promptly to a couple of requests I made.


Hmmm, that turned into a bit of a ramble really and probably didn't point out many apps that people on this forum weren't aware of already. Still, comments, etc welcome!

20
Wow! I downloaded a trial of Notezilla about a week ago and have been tinkering around with it since (impressed!). And now I win it! Thanks mouser! Thanks Gautam!  ;D

21
I'm not sure which was better - the delight in discovering that Zaine's excellent list had received a major update or the surprise to click on a thread on a software website and spot a pic of one of NZ's favourite sons Chris Cairns!  ;D

22
General Software Discussion / Re: Detect network computer boot?
« on: August 07, 2006, 05:33 PM »
Thanks f0dder. I figured I'd have to write the app myself, but it can't hurt to check if there's something off the shelf first...  :)

23
General Software Discussion / Detect network computer boot?
« on: August 07, 2006, 03:54 AM »
I'm looking for any software/tools that will allow my computer to 'sense' that a particular PC on my home network has just booted and that will then trigger a particular script/app to run (in my case, copy the latest daily backup over to that machine).

Anybody know of something that does this?

Thanks,
Jeff

24
Thanks for the heads up f0dder.

Wasn't planning on getting it - mainly just annoyed that a US$70 offer is tantalisingly close (it's a download - don't even need shipping), yet in my country I had to pay ~US$200 for v9... >:(

25
Does anyone know if this deal can be taken up by non-US residents? Their site asks for a billing address and restricts the country field to United States and requires a state to be entered.

Pity, because I quite like PSP (using v9 currently).

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