Messages

626

General Software Discussion / Re: Good google toolbar (for Firefox) alternative?

« on: December 24, 2009, 12:28 PM »

Try Googlebar Lite, I've been using it for a while now. I dumped Google Toolbar because it kept fcsking up the layout everytime I updated FF.

627

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: December 04, 2009, 12:46 PM »

Relatives!

628

Living Room / Re: Google Wants to Speed Up the Web: Launches Its Own DNS Service

« on: December 04, 2009, 12:59 AM »

OpenDNS founder David Ulevitch's take on Google DNS.


A comparison of access times for several countries, Google seems to be fastest for most non-US users.

629

fSekrit / Re: LATEST VERSION: fSekrit 1.40 shrinkwrapped!

« on: December 04, 2009, 12:40 AM »

I've never had the need to actually use fSekrit but it's such a cool utility that I keep upgrading! 

Thanks, f.

630

Living Room / Re: Post Your Funny Videos Here [NSFW]

« on: November 21, 2009, 02:04 PM »

http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=yr5MqAG2S84

Three bullets - STFU already!

631

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« on: November 08, 2009, 12:07 AM »

If you are happier with Win XP, that's fine, but eventually there is going to come a time when you will have to move on & leave XP behind.

Agreed.

632

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« on: November 07, 2009, 04:20 PM »

With due respect Innuendo, you have no idea about how much time and effort has gone into my current xp setup.

There's no great "new way" of doing things for me, I use 3rd party apps for doing most of my work anyway. With XP, I barely notice the OS - that's just how I like it. I tried Win7 for a short time to see if there was any significant advantage involved in jumping ship and in my opinion, there wasn't - neither in features nor in performance. I don't care about under the hood stuff if it doesn't translate into something real. Even if I hadn't had the small annoyances (and that's just what they were, small annoyances - things mostly ran fast, just like they do on my current setup) there wasn't anything that made it worth my while to go through the whole rigmarole of setting up a new OS. If I was the sort of person who did a clean install of my OS every x months, I would have switched in a heartbeat.

It's not my intention to trash Win7. And I'm not against learning new stuff and adapting, I just need a really good reason to do so.

PS: I disabled the visual effects because the video was playing choppy with the default settings.

633

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« on: November 07, 2009, 12:53 AM »

[Core2Duo - 4GB RAM - 512 MB video.]

I tried Win7 (x64) for a day. Installing my main programs went much quicker than anticipated, the Internet connection worked out of the box, almost everything else (including networking with an XP machine - the old way) did too. I loved the way Windows Update worked.

The system mostly felt light but there were a few random delays when I least expected them. I also encountered a BSOD (don't remember the details), I don't care for the Superbar or the new start menu, the only thing I really needed was the run command sitting at the bottom, which I couldn't drag there.

By nightfall I was questioning why it would be worth my while to choose Win7 over XP32, which works brilliantly. When I tried to play a particular 720p HD movie file (latest 64 bit drivers installed, all eyecandy disabled) the video was quite choppy. Other video files with even higher resolutions played just fine, though. Perhaps a video driver issue, but it was all the reason I needed to go back to XP. To be fair, the processor idled between 95-99% and the shutdown + startup times were WAY better than those on XP, some of it obviously on account of it being a clean install.

Bottomline: there was no wow factor to motivate me to break something that works so well and start from scratch.

Edit: http://technologizer...-users-on-windows-7/

634

General Software Discussion / Re: wanted: simple, stable bittorrent client for windows

« on: October 26, 2009, 12:56 AM »

+1 for utorrent. (Forgive me, tµxman!)
I run it in portable mode.

635

Living Room / Re: You have a computer backup plan.. but does it work?

« on: October 22, 2009, 01:28 AM »

Helpful stuff, mouser.  

+100 for the external USB drive recommendation. My primary HD got fried a few weeks back and I had to make do with a makeshift PC till I got the drive replaced and had the PSU, etc looked at. I have a newfound respect for anything 'portable' (hardware/software/online services), that reduces your dependence on your main machine.

636

General Software Discussion / Re: Google steals the Web

« on: October 08, 2009, 08:46 AM »

random comments of unknown others spray-painted on my fence, or the window of my business

Bwahaha! Somebody pull him out of his cave!

I like the concept - (no more signing up every time I want to say something, no more "We're Lifehacker - you can't just comment here, you need to qualify first!") - but how the hell will they moderate this monster? An easily abused system will not just be bad for the site owners, it'll hurt Google too... or will it?...

Reg. blocking toolbars: how long before Google/whoever comes up with a solution that isn't browser-based?

637

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm tired of being told.

« on: September 30, 2009, 03:33 AM »

+1 for Malwarebytes. It sorted out a nasty rootkit infection for me just two days back. 

Truecrypt wouldn't mount anything and I'd get the message "The maximum number of secrets that may be stored in a single system has been exceeded." - hilarious stuff (if it isn't happening to you.)

</ot>


I like the idea of constantly pitting these guys against each other... keeps them on  their toes and minimizes the chances of bogus players getting by as legit.

638

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you touch-type or hunt-and-peck?

« on: September 20, 2009, 04:01 AM »

I took Scancode's threat seriously and decided to give touch-typing another shot (I had given it a half-hearted try, long back, for exactly two days before boredom did me in.) This attempt seems to have been way more successful and I can tell I'll be coming out on the other side - I've learnt the character placement and though my speed is beyond pathetic, I've decided to abandon hunt and peck for good. Got myself this monster mentioned by mouser in the keyboard discussion for added incentive  .

I have a question for the accomplished keyboarders here - which finger do you use to strike backspace? The Internets are divided on this, with a lot of people preferring the ring finger to the pinkie and some even using the middle.

Lastly, a big thanks to Lanux for starting this topic!  

639

General Software Discussion / Re: 'Everything' is one FAST file search engine

« on: September 16, 2009, 02:16 PM »

It has filters!!   Hallelujah! ... to be implemented. 

640

General Software Discussion / Re: 'Everything' is one FAST file search engine

« on: September 16, 2009, 05:23 AM »

I found a link to v.1.2.1.413b on their forum. This beta hasn't been announced officially.

It has at least one useful new feature - a "run frequency" column that lets you display more commonly used files/folders first. An item's run frequency is incremented whenever it is launched and can also be set manually.

641

General Software Discussion / Re: Cyclic Redundancy Error on CD/DVD

« on: September 14, 2009, 08:24 AM »

The only thing that's worked for me, and worked surprisingly well at that, is polishing the disks with brasso. I've had a success rate of around 75%. Software can only do so much if your disk is truly effed up.

642

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a URL auto-change/manipulate program for numeric values.

« on: August 30, 2009, 01:00 PM »

You're welcome. 

643

Living Room / Re: Show us a photo of your mutt or other creatures..

« on: August 30, 2009, 02:24 AM »

He's a doll! 

My vote goes to pic#4, though I love them all.

644

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a URL auto-change/manipulate program for numeric values.

« on: August 30, 2009, 02:11 AM »

Try the Browse Images extension for Firefox.

645

Living Room / Re: Watch it shred!

« on: August 25, 2009, 04:15 AM »

They shredded a torpedo!!     

Nice find, Josh.

646

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: August 14, 2009, 09:56 AM »

But not all of those kiddies have the patience to memorize ASCII or fire up charmap!

647

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: August 14, 2009, 03:00 AM »

The uber-retarded T9 predictive text thingie - atleast the version on my Nokia. I have to keep teaching it the same words over and over because of its limited memory for storing custom words, it has the most bizarre words inbuilt, no editing functionality - all in all a total CITAG! 

648

General Software Discussion / Re: An app to manage 'open device with' boxes

« on: July 27, 2009, 09:45 AM »

Thanks, lanux. I'll take a look.

649

Living Room / Re: Show us a photo of your mutt or other creatures..

« on: July 27, 2009, 04:50 AM »

Here is the pic of lovebird in my house, i set him free sometimes.

-mahesh2k (July 27, 2009, 04:33 AM)

Ha ha! Too cute! I had a couple of lovebirds as a kid - the chubby one (male) would get totally bullied by the female. And at night when he would finally get some peace he'd perch on his little swing and rock himself to sleep!
Had to give them away coz I was allergic...  

BTW, I missed Marvin above - I suppose there's a photo of him in the dictionary next to the entry for 'awesome.'

IQ, I hope your cat gets better!
  

650

General Software Discussion / An app to manage 'open device with' boxes

« on: July 27, 2009, 02:33 AM »

Is there a program that'll let me have control over these boxes? XP has always been whimsical, in my experience, when it comes to these things.



For instance, in the screenshot above there's no check box for 'always open with'.