Topics

1

General Software Discussion / Kindlebility: Send web articles to your Kindle with one click

« on: May 14, 2011, 04:49 PM »

I just found this yesterday and thought it's awesome. It's a bookmarklet that automagically sends the main article of the web page you're browsing to your Kindle ... with exactly ONE click

Check it out!

Kindlebility home page

2

General Software Discussion / Microsoft Search Server 2010 Express: a (free) hidden gem?

« on: April 30, 2011, 07:10 PM »

A quick search in the forum returned no results about this Microsoft product. I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet here, so I decided to post about it.

Search Server 2010 Express is a standalone search server which is free and easy to deploy. It delivers powerful, web-style search across your corporate intranet sites quickly, easily, and for free. It can search all your content sources, including SharePoint sites, file shares (some file types require additional filters, see below), websites, Exchange Public Folders, and third party repositories.

Quote from Microsoft:

Microsoft Search Server 2010 Express is an enterprise search solution that is free to download, simple and flexible to configure, and powerful enough to meet your needs.

Full description of features: Microsoft Search Server Express

A feature comparison matrix of SS 2010 Express with its predecessor, Search Server 2008 Express, and also with Sharepoint Server 2010: Microsoft Search Server Express: Compare

And a couple of screenshots:






Search Server 2010 Express can be downloaded for free from this page: Download details: Microsoft Search Server 2010 Express
Software and hardware requirements are listed there too.


To complete this post, let me list some additional resources about SS 2010 Express:

• An article comparing it favorably with (the also free) Sharepoint Foundation 2010: The Hidden Gem: Search Server 2010 Express (yeah, I "borrowed" my post's title from theirs )
• A step by step installation guide: Microsoft Search Server 2010 Express Part 1: Installation 101 | StoverEffect
• Another installation guide: 2010 Express Setup - Composite C1 Developer
• A guide to configure the PDF iFilter with SS 2010 Express: How to configure PDF iFilter for SharePoint Server 2010 or Search Server 2010 - CodeProject (PDF files are not indexed by default, hence the need for this)

So, is it really free? Surprisingly, yes. Of course you need a properly licensed Windows Server 2008 SP2 or Server 2008 R2 to install it on, plus the hardware requirements are hefty, but the software itself is completely free.

So far I have only found one caveat, which is only relevant if you decide to install SS 2010 Express on a domain controller.
There are two modes for installing Search Server 2010 Express:

• Complete – allows you to specify a SQL Server installation
• Stand-alone – automatically installs and configures an instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express (which is also free)

Of course, the second alternative is the easier (and cheaper!) one. BUT, when you install SS 2010 Express on a domain controller, only the first option is available, which means you already have to have a running SQL Server for SS 2010 Express to use it as its database engine.

All in all, a great free product for LAN search, which should be better known.

3

General Software Discussion / Avira gets "Product of the Year" award from AV-Comparatives

« on: December 18, 2008, 09:47 PM »

Avira's Antivir has finally managed to snatch the AV-Comparatives' "Product of the Year" award from ESET's NOD32 / ESS. ESET had won the award in 2006 and 2007 and came a close second this year.

4

Site/Forum Features / Forum feature suggestion: Necromancer alert (very old threads resurrected)

« on: December 10, 2008, 10:54 PM »

Here's a feature that I think would be useful: show a warning/sign/whatever when a certain post in a thread is published more than 6 months/1 year after the previous post in the thread, i.e. when the thread has been "resurrected" by a(n unwitting?) Necromancer 
So you notice more clearly that there has been a biiiiiig gap in between posts.

I'm not sure if it can be done, but I decided to throw out the idea nonetheless.

What do you think?

5

Developer's Corner / Install and use multiple versions of Internet Explorer

« on: November 24, 2008, 07:39 PM »

Maybe this Internet Explorer Collection has been mentioned before in the forum, but a quick search didn't turn out anything, so I decided to post it. I guess it'll be very convenient for web developers and designers
I haven't tried it myself, so I can't comment on its features or about whether it "works as advertised"
Also, this is clearly NOT official and I'm not sure about Microsoft's stance on it

Internet Explorer Collection package install contain different versions of Internet Explorer. Just download the package, select the version of IE you want to install and its all good.
You can use any version of IE simultaneously (among the selected version during installation)

www.tothepc.com/archives/install-use-multiple-versions-of-internet-explorer

6

DC Website Help and Extras / Member Map not working? Or is it just me?

« on: October 22, 2008, 10:41 PM »

I've just realized that the Member Map isn't working for me anymore (blank, empty page). I'm sure it did work (for me) a week or two ago. For the record, I haven't made any radical changes in my PC, OS, browser (Firefox 3.0.3) or anything like that. Plus, I've tried using the IE rendering engine on it, via the IETab extension, and it wouldn't load either. The only "suspect" I have left may be the Flash Player which was recently updated to version 10. But I (think I) was running a v.10 beta before, and I could use the Member Map without problems.
Does anyone else have any kind of trouble with it? 

7

General Software Discussion / Battle of the Free Online Storages

« on: October 12, 2008, 07:01 PM »

I was searching the forum for the latest info and reviews of free online storage services. I found a couple of recent topics on the subject (SpiderOak offers 10Gb free online data backup account with promo code, Six Free Online Storage Services). I wonder if anyone has further information about these services. How's the user experience, limits you may find when using it, support, etc.

While googling this subject, I also found a very interesting post at This Could Be Living: Battle of the Free Online Storages, which includes a comparative chart and mini reviews of 13 such services.

P.S.: I'm not sure if "General software Discussion" is the right place for this topic, feel free to move it if it should go somewhere else