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Latest Forum Posts
It was driving me madIt was driving me mad. My laptop would sporadically run at 100% CPU utilization and lock up. It defied all attempts at analysis as the PC was seized and I couldn't do anything. Only a hard reboot was possible, but on rebooting the problem was gone.
Eventually I solved it with a superb little utility called Process Tamer, written by "Mouser" over at Donation Coder. Process Tamer is a monitor that watches the CPU utilization of all running processes. Once the usage of a single process gets above a certain level (by default 70%) Process Tamer reduces the usage by lowering the process priority.
It's a simple idea and Process Tamer implements it immaculately. With Process Tamer installed, the next time the problem occurred on my laptop it didn't totally lock up but rather just ran very slowly. This allowed me to do a quick diagnosis. The problem turned out to be simple but non-obvious. Two programs, Diskeeper and X1, had been accidentally scheduled to start at the same time and were getting into an embrace of death. It was unexpected, as these two normally peacefully co-exist. Simply re-scheduling the programs to start at different times solved the problem.
I couldn't have solved the problem as easily without Process Tamer. However Process Tamer has much broader application than just this kind of problem.
It's a great tool for preventing any one program from hogging your processor. Every user has experienced the situation where their PC has been slowed down to the point of being unusable, by a background program such as a desktop search program, that starts and takes all the resources. Process Tamer will stop that from ever happening again.
I was so impressed with Process Tamer that I've permanently installed it on my laptop. It takes only around 6MB of memory space and its own CPU usage is so low I could barely measure it.
Process Tamer is available for free from the Donation Coder site. They use a novel licensing system: you have to register to get a free license key which allows you to download any number of programs on the site. This key lasts six months after which you must return to the site to download another free license key. After a year you are given a permanent license. Alternatively, you can make a once-up donation of any size and get a permanent key straight away. It's a clever and ethical way to encourage users to recognize the work done by freeware authors and I support it fully. I donated generously and I hope you do too.
Our daily Blog
This page spotlights the most interesting posts collected from our forum every day.
Console: a great CMD.exe replacement application?I tested this one out a few months ago and it was MAJORLY buggy. I don't know if it has improved much since September. Just be warned. I was planning on doing a review on this one at some point and this is from my notes I made for the review. All of these issues could be fixed in the current version, I don't know. At that time, this was my observations:
To be fair, I'll post the good stuff too:
Combining settings, it is possible to get the illusion of typing directly onto your desktop, or the output of a console application right on your desktop. |
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Password-protect external HD (USB)?As some of you noticed in https://www.donation...index.php?topic=7068, I'm currently looking for an external HD. Is there a way to password-protect the content? Like that I would need to enter a password before Windows is able to really access the drive after I reconnect it? It doesn't have to be CIA-proof (although that's never bad ), I'm just considering putting a backup HD in the hands (or drawer) of a friend or neighbor (in case my flat burns down to the ground) and don't want him to read all of my files.Continue reading the discussion to see what readers suggest.. |
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JAlbum v7 Released - One of the Best Web Photo Album Creators (free)JAlbum is one of the very best web photo album creator programs. Version 7 was just released (history) and has some major improvements to the user interface, which is packed with options. I've used JAlbum in the past and it's a great program with tons of different web skins that effect how your photo album looks and behaves. Some people prefer server-based photo album software, for which there are also some good free scripts (Gallery is the big kid on the block here). But many people prefer to have the pages generated on their local pc and then uploaded. JAlbum is like that. All pages are generated statically for you and you just upload the results (or let the program upload them for you). ps. It's called JAlbum because it's written in Java - works on windows/mac/*nix. http://jalbum.net/ |
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Sorting ContestI remember this earlier post by KenR about comparing sorting algorithms. I found another site that does the same. Check out this Sorting Contest. Nice thing is you can click one button to start all sorting routines similtaneously.
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evoca - empower your voiceevoca is a free service that lets you create and share your voice/audio. You can directly hit the record button on their site, start speaking in your mic and once done, hit the stop button. Now you can embed this audio in your site/blog or e-mail it to others. You can also upload an existing mp3 from your computer or dial a phone number (not sure if it's toll-free or not) and leave your message. http://www.evoca.com/ Recording time for a free account is limited to 60 minutes. Here's a small audio I created: http://www.evoca.com...ording.jsp?rid=40170 Have a microphone? Why not leave a short hello to DonationCoder? Record your voice and leave the links here. |
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QuickSoundSwitchintroducing QuickSoundSwitch... a nice freeware with command-line support, no need to install.. QuickSoundSwitch is a small System Tray tool, which allows you to switch the default sound device with only one click. |
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), I'm just considering putting a backup HD in the hands (or drawer) of a friend or neighbor (in case my flat burns down to the ground) and don't want him to read all of my files.
Record your voice and leave the links here. 