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Filenotes for Downloading Amnesiacs

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patteo:
Hi Patteo,
Here's a suggestion - use Surfulater. Grab whatever content from the page into a new Surfulater article, add some notes then download the file and use Article | Attach File... This stores the file in the Surfulater database so you can even delete it from your PC if you want.

What you finish up with is a link to the original site, detailed information on the product including the complete web page if you want and the download file, all neatly put together in one convenient place. Then just click on the file to open it.

-nevf (March 09, 2006, 01:58 PM)
--- End quote ---

An initial concern of mine was the Surfulator data file getting too big as some downloads can be massive.

However, most downloads are just a couple of megabytes and I think that should not pose a problem for most people.

In addition, Surfulater allows you to create multiple databases. So what I have done is just create another one called downloads.

Perhaps Neville could consider adding another command and an Toolbar Icon called Insert Link to File so that we have the option to not place the actual file within the Surfulater database itself.

I thought another neat way would have been to allow me to drag a file into Surfulater and it would then become part of the Surfulater data file or at least create a link to where the file was dragged from. But that did not work. It launch the file instead.

patteo:
There's a solution www.filenotes.com

But it does have some problems with a 3rd party file detection service it uses that conflicts with some software I use.

But it can still be used effectively without this file detection service although with some incovenience.

.....
As a result, I now use the program without the file detection service.

-patteo (March 09, 2006, 08:54 AM)
--- End quote ---

Just an update:

I have had some wonderful help from www.filenotes.com forum which provided me with a work around to the file detection service that I had to disable. TW (I think he must be the administrator) provided me with another working file detection system that did not conflict with my other programs.

Basically the file detection service prompts me to enter details into a dialog box when it detects that I have download or saved a file into a monitored directory. Works like a dream.

I must say their file annotation methodology with automatic prompting allows a lot more details (including hotlinks if a url is also included) to be captured and associated with any files, more so than the descript.ion method used by DOPUS or the ADS method used by xplorer2 which is quite restrictive (I think only 255 characters in the case of ADS)

For those who like to capture a url (I use Copy URL + firefox extension https://addons.mozilla.org/quicksearch.php?q=copy+url+%2B&section=A&application=firefox) which makes the process very easy to capture web details plus the url.

By the way - there is another associated thread on file labelling in this forum at
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=2256.msg18616#msg18616

longrun:
I, too, use Explorer Notes from PC Mag. Unfortunately it's no longer free and has a ~255 character limit, but if you use Explorer to drag a file or files to a new location the descriptions will move, too (if you want). I also use PowerDesk, which allows you to enter descriptions for files (supposedly for folder, too, but I can't get that to work. This holds longer descriptions than Explorer Notes but I believe the notes don't transfer if you move a file. There's a free version of PowerDesk; not sure if this supports notes (but the paid version is well worth the price).

wanderer:
I admit to being a download junkie. I save the webpage for the program as an MHT file and zip it with the program in my spare drive. With the right name I can find programs and the authors details from years ago.



yan4.2.exe becomes a zip file containing;

yankeeclipper.exe,yankeeclipper.mht and sometimes yankeeclipper.txt  containing passwords and sometimes my own review.

Works for me.

----

Additional note from brotherS: What MHT is: http://www.sycory.com/mht_quick_saver.htm

skywalka:
Another step you can take to keep your PC clean when testing out downloaded software is to install it in a sandbox. You can do this for free with sandboxie and it works, most of the time...

http://www.sandboxie.com/

It's freeware, though the author does accept donations. Good user forum that is frequented by the author (tzuk) as well.

ADDED IN EDIT: note that the apps original purpose was to sandbox IE, hence sandboxie. It also works with Maxthon and has the added benefit of being able to sandbox ANY application and can be used to install apps into a sandbox.
-Darwin (March 09, 2006, 02:47 PM)
--- End quote ---

I thought SandBoxIE was a dream come true.  I just tried my first install with a simple application http://reg.imageshack.us/content.php?page=quickload & it didn't work.  How much success do you get when installing programs into the sandbox?

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