Messages

1

Living Room / Re: Show us the View Outside Your Window

« on: March 25, 2020, 02:07 AM »

Indeed it is.

2

Living Room / Re: Show us the View Outside Your Window

« on: March 24, 2020, 11:13 PM »

I kind of live in the middle of nowhere. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3

Living Room / Re: Gizmo's TechSupportAlert website needs our help

« on: July 04, 2018, 07:34 AM »

Hi everyone,

I'm one of the editors at Gizmo's. I've been a (very quiet) member here since 2007. My heartfelt thanks go out to every one of you for your caring and generosity.   

Rhiannon

4

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for VPN recommendation

« on: May 11, 2016, 10:30 PM »

You could check out the review of paid VPN's over at Gizmo's Freeware:
http://www.techsuppo...est-vpn-services.htm
It's the only review of paid software on the site, because a good free alternative couldn't be found.

Hope that helps.
Rhiannon
(disclosure: I'm one of the editors at Gizmo's)

5

Living Room / Re: 10th Anniversary - long time member check-in thread

« on: April 03, 2015, 10:26 PM »

Great to hear from you Rhiannon, and great to hear your still doing good work over at Gizmo's site (said it before, i'll say it again, one of the best sites out there).
I'm sorry to hear about the family members, that sounds awful..

-mouser (March 31, 2015, 05:37 PM)

Thanks mouser. It was my Mom, my Aunt and my Grandmother who died, my cousin and I are still standing. The houses are coming along really quickly. Almost faster than we ca keep up with. My latest task is counting how many electrical outlets there are, what kind they are, what sockets and switch plates they need and then rounding them up.

Life over at Gizmo's is busy, the site just keeps growing - sometimes when I think about all the people from around the world volunteering their time and talent it boggles my brain.
I don't know what goes on under under the hood of making the site work since I'm at the front end writing stuff, so I can only imagine the amount of work.

Congratulations on ten years to mouser and the rest of us.

Rhiannon

6

Living Room / Re: 10th Anniversary - long time member check-in thread

« on: March 31, 2015, 04:38 PM »

One of the things I wish for to celebrate the 10th anniversary of DonationCoder is to hear briefly from some of our long time olden-days members who have gone awol and haven't posted in a long time.

You don't have to say much of anything if you don't want to -- a simple "hello" would do, just so we could see your avatars and smile.

Even better would be if you gave us an update on your life, your hobbies, projects, etc.  No need to explain why you have moved on from DC -- just give a little hello for those of us who remember you fondly.

I really hope to see some posts here from our lost members -- it would make me very happy.

-mouser (March 05, 2015, 10:49 PM)

I've been here since 2007. I've never moved on from DC, it's always been close to my heart. The last six years I've been writing for Gizmo's Freeware (Tech Treats) and keeping up their Facebook and Google+ pages. I popped in to donate a few bucks, say hi, and say thanks for the kind words in the links section for Tech Support Alert. Gizmo sent out a post today mentioning the anniversary and stating quite wonderfully why we should support sites like this.
On a personal front, our family lost three members inside a year, and after years of building two straw bale houses on our own we found a contractor we love who is finishing them up for us. That's what happens when you get old and lose your job boss.
Warm wishes to all.....
Rhiannon

7

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Online Armor Premium Firewall for Free

« on: August 11, 2009, 11:02 AM »

this is a worthy offer by Gizmo. thanks for the heads-up, laughinglizard.

-lanux128 (August 11, 2009, 06:18 AM)

My pleasure. 

8

Found Deals and Discounts / Online Armor Premium Firewall for Free

« on: August 10, 2009, 11:44 PM »

Hello everyone,

I've been asked to pass this offer along to others so they can take advantage of it.

Here's the information from Gizmo's Freeware site:

Here's an offer from Tall Emu, the developers of Online Armor, that's exclusive to Gizmo Freeware readers.

Tall Emu is offering $39.95 off all its products for a three day period running from 12.01 AM Monday August 10 to 11.59 PM Wednesday August 12, 2009.  (All times are US Pacific Standard Time)

The $39.95 is not a cash back offer or refund: it is an immediate discount you can apply to any Tall Emu product and comes with full support.

So for example you could use the discount to get:

    * The superb $39.95 Online Armor Premium firewall for free or
    * A $49.95 two year license to Online Armor Premium firewall for $10 or
    * The full $59.95 online Armor ++ Security Suite for $20 or
    * Any other Tall Emu product at a $39.95 discount

Here's the link for more information:

Online Armor Premium Firewall for Free

I tested this out and all went smoothly. I got my license key about ten seconds after I ordered.

In the interest of full disclosure, I've been a member here at donationcoder for a few years, and I also write a bit for Gizmo which keeps me pretty busy.
For anyone who may not know, Gizmo's site a evaluates freeware and makes recommendations on the top picks. All the categories are maintained by volunteer editors. There are no ads at all. Everything is done by people donating time and talent.
Ok, now you now you aren't being lured in by an evil empire marketing scheme, if you're interested, wander on over.

I'm no security expert, but I've been running the free version of Online Armor for some time. For what its worth, its highly rated at matousec.

9

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your mouse of choice?

« on: March 05, 2009, 09:40 PM »

I love my Logitech TrackMan wheel mouse.
My other mouse is a Logitech MX 400.

10

General Software Discussion / Re: Postbox - a new Mozilla-based email client

« on: February 19, 2009, 06:12 PM »

Eudora will sort by name, and within names it sorts by date, so you have an alphabetical list of email that is sorted by name and date.
(I hope that made sense)

-laughinglizard (February 17, 2009, 09:57 PM)

not only makes sense, I've wished for it on many occasions

EDIT:-
TBird does actually sort by chosen column AND by date but you cant choose the second column by which you would like to sort

-tomos (February 18, 2009, 04:06 AM)

I didn't know that about TBird, thanks for telling me.
Postbox may do something, they have a lot of people asking for that feature. So far they've been responsive to requests for features, recently adding a vertical view for email.
I haven't tried the Mozilla version of Eudora yet so I don't know if it will sort the way Eudora does. They've been working on keeping Eudora's features on top of a TBird engine.

11

General Software Discussion / Re: Postbox - a new Mozilla-based email client

« on: February 17, 2009, 09:59 PM »

Take a look at Spicebird. A very promising newcomer to the email scene.

I started a separate thread over here:

https://www.donation....msg151414#msg151414

-40hz (February 17, 2009, 12:56 PM)

I've tried Spicebird, its very promising.

12

General Software Discussion / Re: Postbox - a new Mozilla-based email client

« on: February 17, 2009, 09:57 PM »

.. it doesn't sort like Eudora. = )

-laughinglizard (February 16, 2009, 05:05 PM)

I'm curious - how does/did Eudora sort?

-tomos (February 17, 2009, 02:27 AM)

Eudora sorts email using consecutive criteria.
For example, if I click on the Who (who the email is from) heading, Eudora will sort the mail alphabetically but it will also sort by another criteria if I want, such as Replied To or New Mail.
What shows up is all the email that's been replied to will be sorted alphabetically and grouped together at the top. Then read email will be alphabetically sorted and grouped under the email that's been replied to. Any New Email is sorted alphabetically and grouped at the bottom of the list.
In other words, it groups all the emails together by criteria, consecutively, instead of being able to sort by one criteria only.
Most email programs will alphabetize email by name only. Then if you click on Date, it re-sorts them by Date.
Eudora will sort by name, and within names it sorts by date, so you have an alphabetical list of email that is sorted by name and date.
(I hope that made sense)
Other programs will sort by name, then if you sort by date, it sorts only by date. It sorts one or the other, but won't sort by date and then by name so email is sorted by both criteria.
I hope that makes sense.

13

General Software Discussion / Re: Postbox - a new Mozilla-based email client

« on: February 16, 2009, 05:05 PM »

Before I'll test I have to ask:
does it allow you to reply below quoted e-mail or above?

"Conversation views" screenshot gives me bad feelings about the second possibility.

I will try that app but I think I am TheBat! addicted already Also an interface might be "too Mac" for me (judging from screenshots).

-fenixproductions (February 11, 2009, 08:40 PM)

You can set it to quote above reply, below reply, or select the quote.
Tools/Account Settings/Composition and Addressing.
You can uncheck the HTML box there as well and it should revert to text messages.

I don't like the mail sorting options.
I'm still looking for an email client that sorts mail like Eudora - the original, not the one Mozilla's working on.

I've been using the beta versions as they are released, the one before the most recent (when they went public) hung up one day when I clicked on it in the taskbar.
When I restarted it, all my email was gone.

Pro's: it imported all my settings from Eudora but it changed the ports of my Gmail account.
It indexes messages in a heartbeat. I like that combined with the search capabilities.
I like the ability to archive messages combined with the indexing, it make searching much easier.
I know Thunderbird has an archive feature, as does gmail - but neither have the indexing capabilities.
I love the To-Do feature.

Con's: still in beta so a bit buggy, and it doesn't sort like Eudora. = )

14

General Software Discussion / Re: DeviantArt or WinCustomize Wallpaper Rotator

« on: December 22, 2008, 09:09 PM »

You might look into Caledos - it supports folders. If you categorize your images by type in folders it would work.

Caledos Wallpaper Changer

15

General Software Discussion / Re: Battle of the Free Online Storages

« on: November 05, 2008, 02:22 AM »

I've been looking into this for a week or two and trying out a few of them..........I've been using Jungle Disk with Amazon S3 for some time, and it works fine for me, but for some reason I'm driven to play around with the others. 
(that along with an external hard drive have me feeling reasonable safe)
There are other interfaces available for S3, but I'm not aware of any others that do automatic backup.
FWIW, Jungle Disk was purchased by Rackspace, and though its not clear as yet what they plan to do, it looks like they are thinking of offering storage in both places.

I've also been using Windows Sky Drive:
Windows Sky Drive
It has 5 GB free storage.
I have a few things stored on there and the interface is easy, but if you want drag and drop you need to use IE.

Windows Live Mesh looks interesting:
Windows Live Mesh

After poking around, the biggest difference I noticed was that some offer file synchronization across one or more computers, some offer storage only and files are backed up manually, and some offer storage and back up, or storage, backup, and synchronization.

Most of them are accessible from anywhere, though some of the free ones limit you to one computer. Some of them will only allow certain types of files to be uploaded.

Dropbox has 2GB and is very easy to use:
Dropbox
I have a handful of invitations if anyone wants one.
Dropbox stores their files at Amazon S3.

Syncplicity just came out of beta - I've been using it off and on. It hogs a lot of bandwidth.
Sugarsync has plans starting at $2.49/mo. US and will put your photos into gorgeous photo albums (so they say).

Most of the services allow files to be shared or kept private.

I'm leery of Wuala as they seem to store bits and pieces data on the computers of the people who join.
Maybe its secure but the very idea of my data being scattered about on other people's computers gives me the chills.

Lifehacker has a good and recent comparison chart of online storage, and there are several more mentioned in the comments.

16

Living Room / Re: Flash Toy of the Week: How Well Can you Differentiate Colors?

« on: October 08, 2008, 01:46 PM »

Type of monitor might have some impact on a score.......I scored 0, using an LCD monitor.

17

General Software Discussion / Re: Maintain window size and position

« on: April 26, 2008, 01:21 PM »

I've used these two applications from time to time - the links are to reviews of both programs at Freeware Genius. Freeware Genius gives a pretty thorough review of what the products do.

One of them may fit your needs....

Sizer
http://www.freewareg...om/2007/11/12/sizer/

ResizeEnable
http://www.freewareg...w-with-resizeenable/

18

Living Room / Re: Do you collect anything?

« on: April 08, 2008, 03:44 PM »

I am a recovering book collector.. expensive habit 

-mouser (April 08, 2008, 09:06 AM)

I'm a digital packrat. I collect information about all sorts of things, I don't seem to be capable of focusing on one area. Probably because I'm interested in more things than I could learn about in several lifetimes.

Along the lines of Tinjaw, I collect information managers. Something to manage all the bits of stuff on my hard drive. I've been using Scrapbook, and I like it, but now Evernote has come along as an online option and I'm back to waffling again.
All the others are successfully collecting digital dust in folders on my hard drive.

And books, oh I love books. I don't think I have too many at the moment, but that would be because I discovered that Powell's bookstore will buy your books. You get store credit for them, which is ok with me.

I donate books to my local library for the collection or the book sale. The town and the library aren't all that large, so I make sure to contribute.

As for the rest...........its an ongoing process of uncluttering and simplifying.
Errrrrr, that doesn't apply to software.

19

General Software Discussion / Re: Fireday - Blog Reviews New Firefox Extensions Every Friday - Nice Archive

« on: January 16, 2008, 07:58 PM »

Anyone know any other firefox extension review blogs/sites?

A couple............

mashable's Firefox God
http://mashable.com/...7/08/29/firefox-god/


I want a Firefox Extension to ...
200+ extremely useful firefox extensions that save time and effort.
http://www.econsulta...extension/index.html

Firefox Hacker:
http://www.firefoxhacker.com/

20

General Software Discussion / Re: My Stupid Windows Question for the Day!

« on: December 24, 2007, 05:19 PM »

Oh well. Enhanced Dialog is working pretty well otherwise. A few weird things but they may be caused by Windows XP Pro. I'm not sure. Like even though I have all dialogs set to show in Detailed mode, many still open in the List mode, and some in Thumbnails mode. Also, About every other time I open a dialog it shows the files in reverse alpha order. Arrgggh! Is that likely to be Enhanced Dialog? Or does WinXP do that? Like, all are in alpha-ascending order when downloading something. Then the next time I download they are listed in alpha-descending!

TweakUI has a section where you can customize the dialog boxes. You can add and remove anything you like. It always showed up the way I set it up, but I didn't make changes to the views.

There's an excellent overview of XP here that covers most of what TweakUI can do here:

<a href="http://lifehacker.co...-tweakui-309787.php/">Lifehacker Customize Windows XP with TweakUI</a>

21

General Software Discussion / Re: Best free firewall for Windows?

« on: November 30, 2007, 01:59 PM »

Well, sygate was indeed the best firewall i ever used for windows. RIP. I'd recommend anyone to try and find a copy of it.

-Gothi[c] (November 07, 2006, 12:50 AM)

You can find Sygate 5.0 to 5.6.2808 here:

http://www.oldversio...program.php?n=sygate

22

General Software Discussion / Re: Virtual Desktop suggestions?

« on: November 22, 2007, 06:10 PM »

I've dug up another one, its called Multi Screen Emulator for Windows.

http://www.sicomponents.com/msew.html



Its ok, much like the one that comes with Object Desktop from Stardock.
It has a few fatal flaws for me to use it - you can't move the bar around, your only choice of position is one of the four corners of your screen.
The other is that it shows several blank, numbered desktops in addition to the ones you use.

23

Living Room / Re: DonationCoder.com Yearly Fundraiser for 2007 - Advice Requested Please

« on: November 18, 2007, 10:44 PM »

I think Darwin has an excellent point about forums and contests.

Maybe having a membership drive to attract new members, with some reward/prize/whatever for randomly chosen people who donate again would work.

That puts the focus on not only on new members, but rewarding repeat donors.
I like the idea of rewarding both groups - new members and current members.
Just my .02 centavos...........

24

General Software Discussion / Re: Virtual Desktop suggestions?

« on: November 06, 2007, 07:28 PM »

there is a similar discussions here..
• Need Virtual Desktop software recommendations

also check out this mini-review by Edvard..
• Virtual Window Managers

or mouser's favourite: VirtuaWin
• my favorite free (open source even) virtual desktop tool

-lanux128 (November 06, 2007, 01:05 AM)

oh boy oh boy (rubbing hands together) now I have lots of programs to play with.  Thanks all!

25

General Software Discussion / Re: Virtual Desktop suggestions?

« on: November 05, 2007, 11:10 PM »

Dexpot got a lot of rave reviews on DC about a year ago.

-Darwin (November 05, 2007, 09:22 PM)

Thanks Darwin, I've downloaded it and will give it a whirl tomorrow.
The Stardock one is ok, but its slow on switching windows on my system.