Messages

6501

General Software Discussion / Re: How to disable Flash from caching to disk?

« on: January 09, 2010, 05:34 AM »

@doctorfrog: You write "...flash doesn't know that trick".
Well, it seems to work for .SWF files - that's flash - right? But I just realised that I am using a FF plugin that invokes an alternative Flash player called "FlowPlayer". Maybe that's why?

6502

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Updated: GooglePlus - View Google search results in FARR as you type

« on: January 08, 2010, 07:23 PM »

@s.newave: Thanks for the explanation and the suggestions.
I should explain that I use GDS because it is the most efficient and effective desktop search tool that I have come across (including the short-lived AltaVista desktop product) and:
(a) it indexes all my desktop documents (a mandatory requirement);
(b) it indexes my Outlook email - when I am obliged to use Outlook (a mandatory requirement);
(c) it integrates its search with Gmail (a mandatory requirement);
(d) it integrates its index across all my disparate computer desktops (a mandatory requirement).

For these and other reasons it is leagues ahead of other search tools, including Windows Search and the constipated Microsoft Windows indexing that is necessitated by that.

Thus Everything and Phitsc are not really suitable candidates for my search tools.

6503

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: FARR Plugin: TimeZone [Update version 1.2.1]

« on: January 08, 2010, 06:34 PM »

@dortom: Thanks for your suggestion, but I don't think that's it.
I Login to access my "Personal World Clock" - i.e., the one I have configured/set up.
The FARR plugin does not Login to it. The plugin just accesses timeanddate.com.
In any event, my Personal World Clock is currently configured to show A.M./P.M., though I have previously tried it with 24-hour display.

I have also changed the plugin display from 12 to 24-hour, but it makes no difference  - it's still 12 hours out on some timezones, including my "home" zone (New Zealand), which is GMT+12hrs.

6504

Living Room / Re: How can we *share* Donationcoder.com better in 2010?

« on: January 08, 2010, 08:52 AM »

You could do worse than use the Holden VBM (Value-Based Marketing) methodology to systematically analyse your market and define how you need to go about building a Strategic Marketing Plan. No stone would be left unturned.
If it's good enough for IBM and EDS Corp., it could be good enough for any organisation.

6505

General Software Discussion / Re: On the Aesthetics of Outliners, Pims, and Personal Knowledge Applications

« on: January 08, 2010, 08:34 AM »

I'm not so sure that "aesthetics" has anything to do with information management.
In any event, I have yet to find anything that currently comes close to the information management capability and flexibility nor the ergonomics of Lotus Agenda (never mind the aesthetics) - and I have been looking quite hard.

6506

General Software Discussion / Re: How to disable Flash from caching to disk?

« on: January 08, 2010, 07:33 AM »

I hate to have to say this, but my 8-year old daughter Lily showed me the workaround to this problem a few weeks back.
"What you do daddy is you press the play button, then pause it, and you can see the red line keep growing whilst it is paused, so that when you play it again it's behind the red line."

She's right. It works. The caching takes place in advance of your playing the video. No stuttering video now!

6507

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Updated: GooglePlus - View Google search results in FARR as you type

« on: January 08, 2010, 06:40 AM »

I had been looking at the FARR plugin "GoogleSuggest", and someone suggested (no pun intended) that I try GooglePlus out.
So I installed it just now, and it runs fine and I think it's a great plugin.

However, I would like the option to be able to feed my search parameters through to Google Desktop and so search my local hard drive.
Is there some way I could do this?

6508

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: FARR Plugin: TimeZone [Update version 1.2.1]

« on: January 08, 2010, 06:24 AM »

Hmmm. I installed this plugin today, and it comes up with the times OK in [E HH:mm Country-City] format, but some timezones seem to be 12 hours short - i.e., when it should be 23:55hrs the display is 11:55 (that's A.M., not P.M.).

I have used "The Personal World Clock" at timeanddate.com for a few years now, and that always displays these timezones correctly, so the problem would seem to be elsewhere - e.g., (I guess) in the plugin's interpretation of the time.

Any ideas?

6509

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: New C# FARR Plugin: FARRGoogleSuggest

« on: January 07, 2010, 09:54 PM »

@lanux128: Thanks. I shall try the GooglePlus plugin, as you suggest.

6510

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: New C# FARR Plugin: FARRGoogleSuggest

« on: January 07, 2010, 05:59 PM »

I installed this today. It crashes every time I use it and I have to kill/restart FARR, so I have now uninstalled it.
What a pity! Looks like it has potential!

Is there a dcupdater for this?

6511

Site/Forum Features / Re: Updated threads in bold rather than with 'new' label

« on: December 25, 2009, 02:56 PM »

Is this mod only for discussions in this forum?
If so, then I can't really see the point of the modification, because readability seems quite good:
(a) Newly-posted discussion topics always come up with a fresh title.
(b) Subsequent comments to an existing post are always preceded by "Re:"

(You can see this at https://www.donation....com/forum/index.php )

Could you define which view of the discussion forum you think would have improved readability with whatever mod you have in mind? It is not clear to me which view you might be referring to nor what the effect of the mod would be.

6512

Site/Forum Features / Re: Updated threads in bold rather than with 'new' label

« on: December 24, 2009, 06:06 PM »

I'm not sure I need this. I don't usually the DC forum from the forum pages but via Google Reader.
In Google Reader, every post (in all threads) shows up as an "unread" item as per the attached screenshot:

6513

General Software Discussion / Re: Must-have Windows Programs

« on: December 24, 2009, 05:08 AM »

@f0dder: I have only 2 words to say to you: "Carpe diem".

6514

General Software Discussion / Re: Must-have Windows Programs

« on: December 23, 2009, 09:56 PM »

Yes, is there some way of attaching or moving this discussion to the Software I Love" thread - or vice versa?
I can feel myself getting all teary-eyed over Ashton-Tate's Framework IV for DOS already.     

6515

What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?

« on: December 22, 2009, 07:50 AM »

@Bamse: Yes, you are quite right, of course. I am always in a hurry to install and try something out, so I am likely to "let my guard down long enough to get suckered" by these pernicious cons.

That's a good point about ZoneAlarm too. Why use ZoneAlarm instead of the Windows Firewall now anyway?
I've recently dumped Avast! in favour of MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) and it works just fine.

6516

What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?

« on: December 22, 2009, 01:06 AM »

@Bamse:

Actually there is nothing strange going on IainB.

That depends on your definition of "strange". From my perspective, it is just shonky - classic sharp practice. It's a form of spamming-by-freeware. Where you see this sort of practice, all parties involved are tarred with the same brush. If you accept it, then you condone it by default, which merely encourages the practice. What's needed is to discourage the practice. I do that by voting with my feet and avoiding anything further to do with the software that bundles the eBay Trojan, or the ASK.com bar, or any other crapware - and I recommend that all software users do the same. Eventually the message should get through.

@sajman99:

...indicating you did something wrong

No, I did not interpret it that way at all. I realised that I had let my guard down long enough to get suckered by this pernicious con.

6517

What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?

« on: December 21, 2009, 07:29 AM »

@sajman99:
I was annoyed by the Trojan and the ASK.com bar. I am also annoyed that I let my guard down long enough to get suckered by this pernicious con.
As far as I am aware, both the Trojan and the ASK.com bar got past me without my positively accepting them, and that is why I wrote:

The Trojan is bad enough, but the ASK.com deliberately forced and silent install really annoys me.

(I guess that's why they call them "Trojan" - it's a deliberate trick to slip an enemy's army past the unsuspecting guards, as per the mythical story of the Trojans' wooden horse.)

I still have the install file (name FFSetup220.zip), and yes, it was from the official virus site - erm, sorry, I meant "official software site" - for Format Factory - i.e., http://pcfreetime.com/

I could always be mistaken, of course, but I have no desire to repeat the install just to find out whether I was mistaken and thereby run the risk that I might have to clean up the mess all over again. If you'd like me to send the file to you, then you would be welcome to install it yourself and see. As they say, "Nullius in verbo".

Such a test would be academic in any event. There are two principles in play here - honesty and integrity. Both principles have been broken - if they have ever been upheld - by the Format Factory site webmasters and by ASK.com.
A WHOIS of pcfreetime.com gives the following information:
Registrant:
    junhao
    Road QiuJiang 1488nong No.11  Room1304
    ShangHai, -- 200070
    CN

    Domain name: PCFREETIME.COM
    Administrative Contact: junhao, chen

A WHOIS of ask.com gives the following information:
Registrant:
        DNS Manager
        Ask.com
        555 12th Street Suite 500
         Oakland CA 94607
        US
         +1.5109857400 Fax: +1.5109857507

6518

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: A powerful free video & audio converter

« on: December 19, 2009, 08:37 PM »

Thanks sajman99.
I went to that What's Best thread, and ended up downloading and installing FormatFactory.
If you go there, you will see that I have posted a warning about FormatFactory.

WARNING!!! Virus/Trojan/Adware alert with FormatFactory!

6519

What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?

« on: December 19, 2009, 07:59 PM »

WARNING!!! Virus/Trojan/Adware alert with FormatFactory!    

I just installed FormatFactory v2.20 (install file name FFSetup220.zip).
As the proggy was installing, my MS Security Essentials caught and quarantined a Trojan Notifier:
                   TrojanClicker:Win32/Yabector.B

It was in file:C:\Temp\nsw95.tmp\eBay.exe
Interestingly, this indicates that MSSE had not detected the Trojan in the install file - even though it had inspected it on download - but only after the install file had been expanded into C:\Temp

Then ZoneAlarm reported that askchecker.exe was requesting access to the Internet. I blocked it.
ZoneAlarm then reported other ask-related proggies requesting access, and I blocked them too.

Process Explorer showed that Ask-related processes were running and had been loaded from C:\temp.

When I checked C:\Temp, I saw all sorts of Ask-related excrement - folders and files, including a file called ASKSUTBLOG (no file extension) size 451.7Kb. The latter was the install log of Ask Toolbar.msi.
The log file shows that ASK had installed and propogated itself all over the place - including C:\Program Files and my Firefox and Chrome browsers (as toolbars).

From the above, it is clear that the Trojan and the Ask Toolbar.msi must have been bundled in the FormatFactory install file.
The Trojan is bad enough, but the ASK.com deliberately forced and silent install really annoys me. The fact that the FormatFactory developers have deliberately buried these parasites in their program's install file - without warning or option for the user - annoys me even more. I now already dislike the FormatFactory product without even having tried it, and could not recommend it without major caveats.
                    

I used RevoUninstaller to expunge ASK.com from my laptop. This is the 2nd or third time this year that I have had to remove ASK.com from my and other peoples' PCs. It takes time to do that, and it's a waste of my time. More annoyance.

Question: Does anyone know how it might be possible to block the Trojan and the ASK.com adware before it gets through the gates?    
Update:

• The file FFSetup220.zip file size exceeded the limit for uploading to Virus Total (so it could not be checked).
• After clearing ASK.com out, I tried Format Factory out once only and can state that it seems to work OK, but it does not appear to have any better/different compression than IWiSoft video converter - which appears to be trouble free, unlike Format Factory.

6520

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: New FARR Plugin: FCalc

« on: December 19, 2009, 07:55 AM »

@d4ni: Thanks. I installed CZB pack a while back, had some probs and deinstalled it.
FCalc is just nice and simple, and it works OK.

6521

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: A powerful free video & audio converter

« on: December 19, 2009, 01:28 AM »

Thought I might mention my experience here:
I installed iWisoft Free Video Converter v1.2 today and it seems to work a treat. Is pretty fast.
I had wanted to compress an MP4 video into a smaller file/format, but everything the Converter produced seemed to be a lot bigger in file size. Quality of the output video seemed to be good in all cases (converted to 4 different formats) that I tried - which is not so in several other freeware converters that I have tried.

Can anyone here point me to something that can compress MP4 significantly with minimal loss of sound/audio quality?

6522

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: New FARR Plugin: FCalc

« on: December 11, 2009, 11:25 PM »

I just installed this. Thanks mouser!
Seems like a very nice calculator.

6523

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Show Unread Posts

« on: November 25, 2009, 06:55 AM »

The most efficient way I could figure for doing this was to subscribe to Donation Coder in my Google Reader.
That way, the unread posts then all obligingly pop up for me to skim over or view as I see fit. If I spot one that I want to read, then I can either read it in Google Reader, or (maybe better) click on it and that takes me to the whole discussion thread in the DC discussion forum. (That's exactly what I did before I made this comment.)

I don't want to read all DC forum comments, and I use Google Reader to enable me to to quickly see which are the new unread comments for any given discussion and which are new discussion posts.

6524

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« on: November 19, 2009, 05:08 PM »

A Peek at MSRT November Threat Reports - here.
By continuing to include new variants of the existing threat families, the MSRT has removed malware from more than 1.5 million machines three days after its release on 10 November.  This month we’ve also added Win32/FakeVimes and Win32/PrivacyCenter to the MSRT detection and have removed these new rogues from more than 110,000 machines.

I just emailed the feedback bit (above post) to MS at their MSE website. They probably don't need the feedback. Whilst I was there I saw the above (quoted). Read the rest of it at the link - it makes for pretty interesting reading. There's also on that site a link to Windows 7 consumer security software providers

That lists all the well-know anti-virus apps, including Avast!, AVG, etc.

6525

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« on: November 19, 2009, 04:41 PM »

Re: Updates to Microsoft Security Essentials virus profiles
If you are running this anti-virus proggy, then you will probably have seen in the "Update" tab of its control window that it says:

"Microsoft Security Essentials updates your virus & spyware definitions automatically to help protect your computer"

I read a Lifehacker post yesterday about how someone had written a proggy to force MSE to update its virus profiles on a regular basis. That would seem to be a redundant app. They apparently thought that MSE only updated with MS Update, and that if you had not got MS Update on auto, then your virus profiles would not get updated. That looks like a wrong assumption, as MSE seems to persistently attempt auto-update (if connected to the internet) if its virus profiles are >24 hours old. If it has not been able to connect to the internet and update, then after >24 hrs elapsed, it's systray icon goes a reddish-brown colour (normally, it is green) and if you open the control window there is more of the reddish-brown colour and it says its virus profiles need updating, so you can reconnect to the internet and then press the "Update" button to force an immediate update.

Feedback so far: I have only good things to say about MS with their MSE. I have had it running for a while now, and it is fuss-free and has cleaned out 5 bits of malware that Avast! had not found (as reported above). The only fault I could find in it is that it occasionally overloads the CPU, but then it does not seem to insist on taking foreground priority in the queue so, though the CPU might briefly overheat, there are no appreciable delays in the foreground response time.