Messages

1

Finished Programs / Re: DONE - IDEA: launch apps on Fast User Switch (set vol., etc).

« on: May 04, 2005, 08:04 AM »

After a bit more testing, I realized that RunOnSwitch seems to work fine for me with other command lines; it just doesn't like devcon.exe, or devcon.exe doesn't like it, for some reason. Maybe there's some weird timing issue. I'll try adding a pause before running devcon.exe and see if that helps.

--EDIT--

No, that didn't help. It's perfectly bizarre, because when devcon reports that the mouse is enabled, the mouse is actually disabled, and when it reports the mouse is disabled, the mouse works. Yet when I use devcon to enable/disable the mouse in a normal command window, it works as expected. For some bizarre reason, using devcon with RunOnSwitch causes its effect to be 180 degrees out of phase with what it reports. Any idea why this might be happening?

2

Finished Programs / Re: DONE - IDEA: launch apps on Fast User Switch (set vol., etc).

« on: May 04, 2005, 07:44 AM »

db, thanks for coding this little gem. I'd like to report on a problem I seem to be having, however.

I have RunOnSwitch enabled for two accounts (call them A and B). A.ini looks like this:

Exec0=E:\WINDOWS\devcon.exe
Args0=disable "USB\Vid_04b4&Pid_0001"

and B.ini looks like this:

Exec0=E:\WINDOWS\devcon.exe
Args0=enable "USB\Vid_04b4&Pid_0001"

The ini for A is supposed to disable one of the mice attached to my system, while the ini for B is supposed to enable it.

The problem is that RunOnSwitch seems to get it backwards. When I switch from A to B, the mouse is disabled, and when I switch from B to A, it is enabled. I might understand the problem if the command line were a toggle, but it's not. I'm puzzled.

3

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: giant start menu

« on: May 02, 2005, 07:32 PM »

Two words: PowerPro, again. I know, it sounds like I'm a freakin' PR manager for it--which would be unusual, since it's freeware.

PowerPro can show a Start menu at the mouse position when you left-click, right-click, middle-click, whatever, on the desktop or anywhere else you choose. Another alternative is to show the Start menu when you simply "bump" the mouse against an edge of the screen.

I keep recommending this program because it really can do almost anything, in terms of interacting with the computer. But many people find it very complicated to set up, which is what keeps it from becoming a hit. If anyone is interested I can post a single-purpose PowerPro config file for the Start menu thing or any other thing, when I have spare time. Then someone can just overwrite the default config with the single-purpose one and instantly have the feature they want, with no effort. With a simple config, PowerPro only takes up a few hundred KB in memory.

4

Finished Programs / Re: DONE - IDEA: launch apps on Fast User Switch (set vol., etc).

« on: May 02, 2005, 07:17 PM »

Excellent! I can't wait to check it out.

5

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: mix CD ripper

« on: May 01, 2005, 07:21 AM »

I understand EAC (http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/) can rip a CD to a single WAV file that you can then encode with the program of your choice (including EAC), but I've never tried it myself. EAC is universally recognized as the best ripper in the world, and it's free, of course.

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Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: submit google searches

« on: May 01, 2005, 07:10 AM »

Why would you want to wreck Google's database?

7

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: change wallpaper at specific time - not timed intervals.

« on: May 01, 2005, 07:08 AM »

PowerPro http://powerpro.webeddie.com/ can do this. It has a function to change wallpaper, and you can schedule it for an arbitrary time of day. You can also schedule it to repeat at intervals.

8

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Program Linker (sort of)

« on: May 01, 2005, 07:02 AM »

With a little effort you could use PowerPro (http://powerpro.webeddie.com/) to do anything you want along those lines. It's by far the most versatile toolbar/macro utility out there, and it's freeware. You could create any number of program-specific toolbars, each with any number of buttons to do run simple macros or execute complicated scripts. A toolbar can be made to only appear when a certain program's window is frontmost, or it can be global, and there are many options for positioning a toolbar, such as on top of a program's title bar or in an exclusive area on an edge of the screen, like the Windows taskbar. Toolbar buttons can be text-only, icons, or bitmaps.

PowerPro is able to emulate both keystrokes and mouse actions, plus it has a huge number of built-in functions to do things like launch programs, run if-then-else scripts, read and write files, etc. The only thing it won't do for you is record a combination of keystrokes and mouse actions. It can record a series of keystrokes, but it can't record mouse actions--you have to specify them using commands like "leftclick" and "move x y". All the same, it's an incredibly powerful tool that greatly rewards you for the time you spend to learn how to use it.

9

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Coding for volume setting application -or- launch app on Fast User Switch

« on: April 30, 2005, 11:37 PM »

Maybe the guy who wrote this: http://perso.wanadoo...rDisplaySettings.htm could help with some information on how to monitor for fast user switches.

10

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Coding for system tray icon hide application.

« on: April 30, 2005, 09:55 AM »

Is your daughter sophisticated enough to edit Custom Notifications settings? If not, you could just set the Kerio tray icon to "Always hide" in her account. Or, if you're using Win XP Pro (not Home), you could hide the system tray completely in her account, using Group Policies. That would be a bit like using a rocket launcher to kill a fly, though.

11

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Coding for volume setting application

« on: April 30, 2005, 09:47 AM »

so there is no tool that lets you specify programs to run when a fast user switch takes place? that would seem very useful tool..

-mouser (April 30, 2005, 05:32 AM)

Yes, I agree. Personally, I would use it in combination with the command line tool devcon.exe to turn my little son's mouse on when switching to his account, and off when switching to mine. If his mouse is enabled at the same time as mine, it tends to make the mouse pointer drift....

12

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: icon - always on top - online/offline

« on: April 30, 2005, 09:43 AM »

Win XP itself (I don't know about earlier versions) has an option to display a tray icon whenever a specific network adapter is connected. I don't use dialup but I would guess it's there for PPP connections too. In the Network Connections window, right-click the desired connection; click Properties; click "Show icon in notification area when connected". I believe this tray icon ignores the "Hide when inactive" flag, so it's always visible when it should be. Of course, it's not much use if you never look at the tray. ;-)

13

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Coding for volume setting application

« on: April 30, 2005, 05:11 AM »

The problem is a commandline solution won't help when using Fast User Switching to switch between accounts that are already open. (I don't know if that's your usage pattern....)

14

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Force Maximize and Right Click Run Line

« on: April 30, 2005, 05:06 AM »

Second is a right click menu item that will open a simple window similar to the run window in XP. It would only have to appear as an option when an executable is right clicked in Explorer. This way when I want to run a program with special paramater I can just right click on it and choose the new dialog. There's probably a registery hack to do this but maybe not.

-Chyndonax (April 30, 2005, 01:45 AM)

Try ExecParm (http://www.mainsoft....r/Files/execparm.zip). It works.