Messages

51

Living Room / Re: underage drinking problem

« on: April 06, 2006, 05:13 PM »

Hahaha, nice

52

Living Room / Re: remember that cool video with the even cooler game?

« on: April 06, 2006, 05:12 PM »

Wow--that gets hard fast.   

Thanks, it's very interesting!   

53

General Software Discussion / Re: what kind of keyboard you use?

« on: April 06, 2006, 01:03 PM »

No offense meant to wasker, but those interested in programs like

I Hate This Key.

-wasker (April 06, 2006, 10:39 AM)

could complete [most of] the same tasks (for free) with AHK.

For instance, I'm enjoying this implementation to get rid of erroneous F1 presses.

Further inspection shows that it has some good features.  MS Natural Keyboard users should especially take note of



to avoid manual registry changes.

edit: Took a closer look, changes in bold-face.

54

Site/Forum Features / Re: Ads On The Website - Everyone Read In Please - UPDATED!

« on: April 05, 2006, 12:29 PM »

Allow me to rephrase:

Will just looking at the ads inter-mingled with DC stuff benefit the site at all?

That is, I probably won't click on any--is there a benefit to setting "ads" to 100%?

55

Site/Forum Features / Re: Ads On The Website - Everyone Read In Please - UPDATED!

« on: April 05, 2006, 12:19 PM »

Will just _looking_ at a lot of ads benefit the site?

I rarely buy things from ads, but I don't mind loading them.

56

What's the Best? / Re: Tray Management Utility

« on: April 05, 2006, 12:10 PM »

I would love to see more pages like this!

But I disagree with the 'Con' listed for PS Tray Factory.  In fact, Hotkeys can be bound to Windows keys, but are not by neccessity.  Here is a screenshot of mine--tied to Ctrl+Shift+X:



The only con I've experienced is that it can be difficult to arrange icons within PS' menu.

Cheers!

57

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Windows system tray clock replacement

« on: April 05, 2006, 11:04 AM »

For those interested in analog clocks:

I used ClocX for several months with the tray clock hidden.  It sat Always-On-Top in the lower-right corner, but allowed transparency on hover and could be clicked through.  It also came with a huge variety of skins (my favorite was Cappuccino).

I craved a calendar, though, and thus switched just this past weekend to Analog Clock.  It replaces the system tray clock and has a very responsive calendar on hover.  The linked website also has good screenshots, something ClocX is lacking.

Both are good utilities and I urge you to try them.

58

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Duplicate files in a single click

« on: April 05, 2006, 10:32 AM »

I'll have to give that Create .bak a try.

I've traditionally held Ctrl (easy to hit--it's in the corner) and dragged the file/folder.  This forces a Copy.

Additionally, Shift forces Move, while Alt forces Shortcut.

These are all very handy to know.

59

Unfinished Requests / Re: request : delay F1 key

« on: April 05, 2006, 10:29 AM »

Based largely on Skrommel's work above, this is my implementation:

[Select]

; Delays the F1 key
$F1::
Loop,20
{
  Sleep,50
  GetKeyState,state,F1,P
  If state=U
  {
    Send,{Esc}
    Return
  }
}
Send,{F1}
Return

The biggest change functionally is that Escape is sent in the case that F1 is not held down for the full duration.

60

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: remap extra keyboard keys for other tasks

« on: April 05, 2006, 05:49 AM »

Just gave it another try.

Through MS's software, I mapped the keys to something I wouldn't use (Media Track Fwd/Back), then opened up AHK again.  I found them coming through under SC169 and SC16A (fwd and back, respectively).  Then the [simple!] .ahk script

[Select]

SC16A::LButton
SC169::RButton

fixed it!

I think that the Back and Fwd commands were deep in the system, so AHK couldn't intercept them.  Changing MS' software to execute a shallower command then allowed AHK to do its magic.

Incidently, from the AHK page, it sounds like they would advocate completely uninstalling Microsoft's software and just using their's to execute all the required commands using these SC codes.  Not a half-bad idea, actually.  Maybe I'll do that some lazy morning.

Thanks for your assistance!
noth(a)nk.you

61

General Software Discussion / Re: How necessary is a software firewall?

« on: April 04, 2006, 08:21 PM »

I just like the [sense of] privacy from my ZoneAlarm--that a program has to go through me to get access to the outside.  Most of the time, I'm not so sure that I want things to have access, so they are blocked.

Another configuration option I like in ZoneAlarm is the ability to "kill" processes.  That is, whenever an .exe is found running, it is immediately stopped.  I haven't used this in a while, but I recall that it was quite useful when I did.

62

Developer's Corner / My chair.

« on: April 04, 2006, 08:11 PM »

After taking a job that meant I would spend long hours on the phone, I opted for a decent chair.

Went to Sam's, came up with this one (~$110 in-store):



It's more of a budget pick, but it works alright.  My major gripe is that the arms are too wide to fit under the desk (dorm furniture) and cannot be removed.

If you don't plan on leaning way back, I'd suggest one of those exercise balls.  They're cheap (~$10) and are supposed to strengthen your back, balance.  I used one of the 65cm balls over about six months (it squeezed under the desk!), but I have also worked with a woman who had used a larger variety for a couple of years.  What's more, they take up very little space in storage.  These could be purchased at any self-respecting sports shop.

63

General Software Discussion / Re: what kind of keyboard you use?

« on: April 04, 2006, 07:28 PM »

taichimaster knows what's up.

Microsoft Natural Ergo Keyboard 4000 

-taichimaster (March 30, 2006, 12:51 AM)

64

General Software Discussion / Re: Review of File Renamers — let's make a list

« on: April 04, 2006, 07:24 PM »

AbteriX mentioned the utility I use,

Renamer 6.0 Final

- F -

Albert Bertilsson - www.albert.nu

-AbteriX (April 02, 2006, 08:36 AM)

It's very much freeware, light, and fast.  Plus, after using it for a few years, I've never wanted it to do something more than it already does.

I highly recommend it.

65

General Software Discussion / Re: Foxit Reader (fast pdf reader alternative)

« on: April 04, 2006, 12:33 AM »

I have the answer.

I exclusively use Adobe's Acrobat Reader, and I am not at all concerned about the load time.  The reason?  PDF Speedup.

It's freeware, you can get it here (about half-way down the page).  It works by preventing features you wouldn't use (customizable) from loading. 

The only problem (small!) is a nag screen when you close the program (which you only need to run once).

Check it out!
noth(a)nk.you

66

Living Room / Re: for the dual monitor dudes

« on: March 31, 2006, 06:56 PM »

Some of those wallpapers are pretty neat--thanks!

67

General Software Discussion / Re: Why subscription-models for software suck

« on: March 29, 2006, 02:23 PM »

what happens if you are with an ISP that uses dynamic IPs ???

-Carol Haynes (March 29, 2006, 01:26 PM)

They might accept any IPs from the range your original ISP holds.  At least, that seems to be the smartest of the stupid ways to do it (the alternative being login-based).

68

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: GMail (Google Mail) backup

« on: March 29, 2006, 01:47 PM »

For those who (like me) thought this thread was about backing things up to GMail, here's a nifty program to do just that: Gmail Drive.

It allows access to GMail through My Computer and is very handy to back up files >10MB.  I haven't figured out if it's possible to back up the e-mails, though.

69

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: remap extra keyboard keys for other tasks

« on: March 22, 2006, 06:55 PM »

No, still getting just the LButton.
Interestingly, I get LButton for both the Back and Forward buttons.  Is that of some significance?

70

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: remap extra keyboard keys for other tasks

« on: March 22, 2006, 06:36 PM »

Thanks a lot for your help, jgpaiva--it's close.

The scrolling wasn't working.  Ctrl was still down when AHK executed the Wheel commands, so (if anybody's interested) I changed it to

[Select]

^WheelDown::Send {^Up}{WheelDown}
^WheelUp::Send {^Up}{WheelUp}

Now it works pretty well, reverting back to the default behavior only when trying to scroll past the limits of the page (perhaps some timing issue?)

On the L/Rbuttons, though, I'm running into more trouble.

When pressing those keys in programs without "Back" support (e.g. Notepad and AHK), AHK reports:

[Select]

A4  038 d 1.30 Alt
25  14B h d 0.00 Left
01  000 i d 0.00 LButton
25  14B h u 0.00 Left
01  000 i u 0.00 LButton
A4  038 u 0.00 Alt

and it works beautifully.

But in those programs with back support (e.g. Firefox and Explorer), AHK reports:

[Select]

01  000 d 4.68 LButton
01  000 u 0.10 LButton

and the programs respond as though they were given the Back or Forward commands.

I'm thinking that the Back/Fwd commands might have some deeper hook into the OS?

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
noth(a)nk.you

71

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Toggle the "Function Lock" key on after boot.

« on: March 22, 2006, 01:47 PM »

My MS Natural Ergo 4000 defaults to 'On' after a reboot.

If you're interested in more Natural keyboards, give this one a try--it's pretty nice.  I got mine from Amazon (purchase by Sat for $41.29 after rebate).

(And, if you're interested, I just made a new topic requesting some functionality changes here.)

72

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: remap extra keyboard keys for other tasks

« on: March 22, 2006, 01:33 PM »

This is probably a quick thing to do in AHK, but I have not yet learned all the necessary commands so I'd really enjoy some help.  On to the task!

I own a MS Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboard (stolen picture, click to zoom):

The bundled software does not allow many changes, so I was thinking that I could use AHK to alter the functionality of a few things.  In particular, the zoom slider (in the middle) and the back/forward keys (at the bottom).

Firstly, the slider.  From AHK's Key History view (which is only showing the key strokes), I believe it works by sending Ctrl+Scroll wheel up/down every ~.1s or so.  Since zoom is not very useful to me, I'd prefer this combination be mapped to just the scroll wheel up/down.  Is this doable?

Secondly, the back/fwd keys.  My mouse is already equipped with such buttons so the keyboard is redundant.  Instead, I'd like these keys to map to left/right mouse buttons (a throwback to my lappy).  Again with AHK, I see these keys are mapped to Alt+Left/Right in the following way: Alt d, Left d, Left u, Alt u--but all sequenced without delay.  The problem I'm running in to with coding is translating this to the analogous mousing.  That is, I'd like to be able to hold down the back/fwd keys and drag files/folders.  Is this doable?
 

(This is more useful than it sounds.)

I've found that the mouse can be moved around more freely when the fingers are loose, so using the alternate hand to control the buttons makes repetitive mousing a breeze.  E.g. big file operations, simple Flash games, AutoCAD, etc.

I should also like to note that my mouse uses RightAlt+L/R, so there shouldn't be a conflict there if the script just recognizes LeftAlt. 
Thanks for reading, any help you can provide would be most appreciated.

Cheers,
noth(a)nk.you

P.S. Thanks for tolerating my playing with the spoiler tag!

73

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: prevent idle mode app

« on: March 22, 2006, 12:32 PM »

For this task I really like a program called Caffeine.

It works by sending/simulating a left-shift up event every 59 seconds--pretty innocuous if you ask me.

The icon sits in the system tray and can be easily toggled on/off by double-clicking.

74

LaunchBar Commander / Re: Similar apps for collecting ideas thread

« on: March 06, 2006, 04:32 AM »

I've been using PS Soft's Hot Launch (http://www.pssoftlab.com/pshl_info.phtml) for a few weeks now--it's a welcome change from the bulky Quicklaunch bar.

It's definitely worth checking out.  If I could add subfolders automatically, I would probably never switch to anything else.

As it is, though, I'm very much looking forward to trying mouser's release.

Quick screenshot below (I hope!):

75

Post New Requests Here / Re: Trigger on Mouse Hover

« on: January 26, 2006, 12:55 AM »

I found a utility to accomplish the end goal, AMPsoft Screen Saver Control [http://www.ampsoft.net/utilities/ScreenSaverControl.php].  It allows triggers from tray icon, hotkey, or command-line for screensaver and monitor power off.

Also, AMP WinOFF [http://www.ampsoft.net/utilities/WinOFF.php] has a bunch of options for shutdown-related tasks.