Messages

176

General Software Discussion / Re: Finally, a robust keyboard shortcut app!

« on: June 01, 2005, 09:35 PM »

Someome, please chime in and let me know that I'm not the only absentminded nut who has no use for a hotkey utility, because he can't remember all the damned hotkey combos?  Anyone?

177

General Software Discussion / Re: another antivirus comparison site

« on: June 01, 2005, 09:32 PM »

nod32 seems to come out on top

-mouser (June 01, 2005, 11:51 AM)

Depends which chart you look at.  KAV is generally tops in a lot of areas.

These comparisons also never figure in how badly the software slows down your system.

178

Living Room / Re: a better favorites manager?

« on: June 01, 2005, 09:27 PM »

I've used Powermarks (as mentioned above) for years.  It's a few bucks cheaper than Linkman (at $25), and does let you save notes for URLs.  Works with Mozilla, Netscape (don't know about Netscape 8 though), Opera, Firefox, MSIE, NetCaptor, and Maxthon (or at least used to work with MyIE2), and probably others.

The main thing I like about Powermarks is that its search is instantaneous.  I have several thousand URLs in my Powermarks file, yet if I enter a string to narrow down the list of matching URLs, the list is updated essentially instantly with every keystroke.  I have seen others that aren't nearly so quick.

Another one is LinkStash.  A long time ago, I worked with the LinkStash author on adding Powermarks-like search functionality.  I never really used it to see how well it works (shhhh...  don't tell.  ), but it may be worth checking out, as it's "only" $20.

179

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: auto move dialog boxes nearer to mouse cursor

« on: June 01, 2005, 09:30 AM »

Oh, believe me, you're not alone in being annoyed by those kinds of dialog boxes.  I have a list of computing peeves that has been in place (in my mind) for years.

I can't stand useless, cutesy sounds in applications, and I can't stand useless dialog boxes that can't be done away with, or forms that don't remember their size or position.

I used Push The Freakin' Button for awhile, but it's not really ideal.  I could live with Squeaky Mouse or whatever it is, if it existed today.  What reason would there be for development to stop?  (Besides the usual reasons.  Just wondering if I missed out on a secret here.)

180

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Hotkey controls for screen brightness.

« on: June 01, 2005, 06:05 AM »

Yeah I do, I guess I was just trying to think of a reason to use Gamma Panel...  

181

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Hotkey controls for screen brightness.

« on: May 31, 2005, 03:57 PM »

What a guy mouser is!  Yeah Gamma Panel seems like it would be great for 3D games, especially for people like me who can't stand how dark they sometimes are.

182

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Hotkey controls for screen brightness.

« on: May 30, 2005, 06:54 PM »

The Resident Googler strikes again!  I hunted him down and shot him an email (actually two emails, at two different addresses; hopefully only one made it).

Thanks for responding so quickly, Tomek!

Geektechnu, Tomek's email address is in his profile.  And it's one of the addresses I used. 

183

Living Room / Re: Ideas for thanking donators?

« on: May 30, 2005, 06:41 PM »

After thinking on it for a minute, I agree with the idea that inviting a friend to be a member devalues the act of donating.

184

Living Room / Re: Ideas for thanking donators?

« on: May 30, 2005, 02:38 PM »

I think an opt-in page of donators is a great idea.  What about listing names, and having the name link to each donator's forum profile?  That way, each donator could control what they want to say (why they donated, why the believe in the site, what makes them gassy, etc.), or they could link to a pic, their web site, or whatever.  Maybe it's too tacky though. 

185

Living Room / Re: Links Page - Best Freeware Development?

« on: May 30, 2005, 01:40 PM »

This could lead to some contention, but I'll bit hard on my tongue, or fingers, as it were.  

Nir Sofer is the best example I know of.

186

Living Room / Re: Memorial Day in US - a moment of thought for the foot soldiers in harms way

« on: May 30, 2005, 01:35 PM »

Whether or not they even think it's right, they're just doing their jobs, and have essentially no say in it.  I have a bunch of family in Iraq, or probably-soon-to-go, and it's been a tense time.  No prayers from me, but thoughts, definitely.

187

Living Room / Re: Avoid bad software versions by reading their forums

« on: May 30, 2005, 09:13 AM »

OMFG--they asked you how they could improve their support problem?  How about responding to customers who ask for help via email?  Sounds like a good start to me.  Or maybe fixing bugs without forcing users to pay for the bug fix in an upgrade?

Which may lead to another tip...  Sometimes it's telling if you send an email to support during your trial of the software, with an honest support question.

188

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Hotkey controls for screen brightness.

« on: May 30, 2005, 12:56 AM »

I can see why they designed GammaPanel that way, since it controls more than just brightness.

Could you use GammaPanel to create a series of hotkeys that increase/decrease brightness, but that are still easy to use and remember, such as Ctrl+Num0, Ctrl+Num1, Ctrl+Num2, and so on, or Ctrl+F1, Ctrl+F2, Ctrl+F3, and so on?  Not ideal for you I guess; I'm just trying to help.

189

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Hotkey controls for screen brightness.

« on: May 29, 2005, 07:17 PM »

Right on the page you linked to, it says:

Thanks to its hot-key feature, you don't even have to leave the game you're playing!

Is this incorrect?  The screen shot shows a hotkey feature.

190

Living Room / Re: Ideas for thanking donators?

« on: May 29, 2005, 07:16 PM »

Donating is like gift-giving; you should do so because you want to, not because you expect something in return, other than perhaps a very small bit of private recognition, which you do already (unfailingly).  Then again, I'm a weirdo; I often don't give gifts on birthdays and other pseudo-occasions, preferring to give gifts on random, unexpected days instead.  I don't like calendars running my life. 

Speaking of gifts, it seems I have a gift for drifting off topic! 

OK, if anything, an opt-in page that lists donators would be cool.

191

Best Virtual Machine Tool / Re: A Gift from VMWare

« on: May 28, 2005, 08:38 PM »

Yeah, I made a point of finding that answer (it's really just one answer; the two FAQ articles say basically the same thing).  If I didn't find one, I would've done whatever I had to in search of an answer! 

The volume is changed when the guest OS starts, and when it shuts down.

192

Best Virtual Machine Tool / Re: A Gift from VMWare

« on: May 28, 2005, 04:45 PM »

One cool thing is that if you don't use NAT or DHCP (inside VMware Workstation), those extra services are automatically disabled on the host.  You have to disable all the NAT/DHCP stuff though, of course.

Should start a new thread probably.  I hate doing that though.

One word of warning to people who might happen to be using headphones while launching a guest OS in VMware Workstation:

TAKE THE HEADPHONES OFF FIRST!

Yes, it really does deserve that much emphasis.  I found out the hard way that the guest OS changes the host volume by default (unfortunately for me, it made the volume go up quite drastcially).  These articles explain how to prevent this from happening:

http://www.vmware.co..._adp.php?p_faqid=980
http://www.vmware.co..._adp.php?p_faqid=853

193

Best Virtual Machine Tool / Re: A Gift from VMWare

« on: May 28, 2005, 04:43 PM »

i have used bridged networking relaibly since i have a router and it works quite well.  showing icons in tray for connections is not related to vmware but just a generic windows settings regarding showing active connections; i have that turned off.

-mouser (May 28, 2005, 03:01 PM)

I use a router, too, but I have the IP and all that configured manually (rather than using DHCP), for a little extra security.  This kind of rules out bridging, unless I want the router having extra (usually unused) IP addresses available.  Duh...  No it doesn't.  I finally figured out how to do it.  I had to simply realise that from the router's point of view, VMware was just another computer on the LAN.  Cool! 

The tray icon thing is a per-connection option; I have it disabled for my main internet connection, but it's on by default for any new ones (as I found out upon installing VMware).

194

Best Virtual Machine Tool / Re: A Gift from VMWare

« on: May 28, 2005, 02:52 PM »

Thanks again, mouser!  (I really hope you're not sick of me saying that.)

Anyone else getting a kick out of using VMware?  I am transitioning from Virtual PC.  I find VMware Workstation 5.0 somewhat harder to use than Virtual PC (at least at first), but it provides more flexibility and more options.

The main thing that confused me was the networking setup.  With Virtual PC, I never had to worry about bridging, DHCP, or NAT.  And I wasn't too pleased to see VMware Workstation add two new connections (complete with tray icons) to my system upon install.  I removed them almost immediately, which probably made my life more difficult when it came time to get a guest OS to connect out (you know, when you need to install literally 50 or more updates to Windows 2000?).  I ended up using VMnet8 with NAT and DHCP.  I find it odd that I have to do this manually whenever I add a new guest (since bridging is the default).

Good stuff.

Edit:  I was being serious with that comment.  VMware is really cool!  I LOVE the multiple snapshot feature, and all the networking options.  I hated Virtual PC's one-snapshot-only restriction.  I constantly had to decide if I wanted to blow away a known-good snapshot...  And VMware Workstation's documentation is great.

195

Best Virtual Machine Tool / Re: A Gift from VMWare

« on: May 25, 2005, 09:59 PM »

Any word from VMWare on these complimentary copies?  (Not that I'm impatient or anything.)

196

Living Room / Re: Avoid bad software versions by reading their forums

« on: May 25, 2005, 09:55 PM »

This is a generally good idea, but people need to keep in mind that a lot of forums are moderated, whether the forum is hosted by the author directly, or by a "third-party" host.  I have seen negative posts deleted and edited many times, and users lambasted for posting honest (but negative) constructive criticism.

197

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Dim rest of desktop/windows, except for focused window

« on: May 25, 2005, 04:02 PM »

I ran WinFocus, and it wasn't what I expected.  I thought the "brightness" of background windows would change, not the opacity.  OK, I have no idea how that would be done, but they're still two different things.

I found using WinFocus unbearable.  My graphics performance (not surprisingly) decreased tremendously, and figuring out what was what became extremely difficult.  I'd see a couple of task bar buttons, and a couple tray icons (apparently, the ones that redraw themselves) but not the rest.  It was difficult to tell which window was on top of another, and therefore difficult to tell what would happen if I clicked in a certain place.  Basically, everything about the system was a usability nightmare.

I'm not trying to be negative, but opinions were requested.  Bear in mind that I have always hated translucency in Windows XP, have never used it, and never will.  And of course, I'm not the one who requested this application. 

198

Find And Run Robot / Re: Bug or feature?

« on: May 25, 2005, 11:34 AM »

I just noticed this behavior myself.  And I almost didn't read this thread, given its totally vague subject line.

199

Find And Run Robot / Find and Run launches with SFN - Opera problems

« on: May 25, 2005, 01:19 AM »

Running WinXP here and F&R 1.05.12.  When I run Opera 8.0 normally, I don't get prompted to set it as the default browser.  When I run the Opera desktop shortcut via F&R, I do get prompted.  I figured out the reason: F&R launches applications using SFN, rather than LFN.

I can duplicate the issue from an ordinary command line: If I run c:\progra~1\opera\opera.exe, Opera gets confused.

No doubt Opera shouldn't be confused by this, but is there some reason F&R uses SFN, or any way around it?

200

The Form Letter Machine / Re: ps. regarding use for donationcoder.com emails

« on: May 24, 2005, 12:43 PM »

Sounds like it might also be helpful when compiling support requests.