Topics

1

General Software Discussion / Synchronization software with tree view, moved files detection and size ignore

« on: October 06, 2023, 10:38 AM »

Hi forum,

I am looking for a synchronization tool with the above-mentioned features.

I would love to use FreeFileSync due to its unparalleled and simple user interface and incredible speed. Unfortunately, FreeFileSync does not allow to ignore file size when comparing files. GoodSync is also excellent, but does not allow ignoring file size either.

I have also tried Syncovery and Bestsync. With both, however, the user interface is unfortunately off-putting, and many features of FreeFileSync are missing.

So I'd be grateful for tips for synchronization tools that are as similar as possible to FreeFileSync, at the same time having all features mentioned in the subject.

FreeFileSync:


GoodSync:


Please don't take offense that this is a crosspost with Stack Exchange. I will notify each end if anything happens on the other.

2

General Software Discussion / Best 'no frills' clipboard history tool?

« on: May 28, 2019, 06:32 AM »

Hi Forum,

I am looking for the simplest possible application for managing clipboard history.

I only and solely need the two following features:

1) immediately paste the clipboard's content as unformatted text using a customizable keyboard shortcut
2) saving the last 10 to 20 clipboard entries as unformatted text (no images, no formatted text, no fancy frills, no search function, no cloud function etc.)

Thanks heaps for suggestions!

3

General Software Discussion / Text comparison tool with most robust similarity/moved block detection

« on: August 08, 2016, 09:01 AM »

Hi forum,

often I use text comparison tools, for example WinMerge, in order to compare two document versions, for example from different sources.

The problem is that the documents often originate from (different) OCR processes and are only slightly different mainly due to the OCR errors. Therefore, even if the contents of two original documents should be identical, WinMerge often does not recognize this and therefore marks the entire document (erroneously) as completely different.

Therefore my question is whether anyone knows of a text comparison tool that has a even more robust block similarity detection* than for example WinMerge has.

Thanks for hints
David.P
__
*) Examples for similarity/moved block detection:
Meld:

(also not good with OCR'ed files)

XDiff:

(could not find a not commercial version for Windows)

4

General Software Discussion / desktop divider / magnetic window border snapper tool - with draggable dividers?

« on: June 22, 2015, 09:55 AM »

Hi forum,

is there a good Windows desktop divider tool where you can live drag the divider (or, respectively, live drag adjoining window borders while keeping them snapped) in order to quickly adjust the window split ratio using the mouse?

Thanks for any tips
Cheers David.P

5

Find And Run Robot / Urgent -- new keyboard, hotkey not working: how do I activate FARR?

« on: May 18, 2015, 03:41 AM »

Hi forum,

is there a hidden/permanent hotkey that activates FARR when all else fails? Obviously I also have checked the "don't show tray icon" setting in FARR.

So how can I make the FARR window show up?

Thanks
David.P

6

General Software Discussion / Looking for a EXTREMELY basic Multi Clipboard software

« on: October 06, 2014, 03:22 AM »

Hi forum,

since ArsClip has evolved into a piece of bloatware of unimaginable proportions, and Ditto inexplicably seems to be unable to select list entries on a single click   -- are there any other Multi Clipboard tools that simply can do the following:

- provide a history of clipboard entries after clicking on the tray icon
- put the respective entry on the clipboard on SINGLE click
- provides a custom hotkey for "Paste as Unformatted Text"
- is compatible with mulitple monitors (i.e. don't pop up on the first monitor when the tray is on the second)

Thanks heaps already

Cheers David.P

7

General Software Discussion / Looking for a project time tracker/nag tool that keeps me writing billable notes

« on: August 08, 2014, 03:20 AM »

Hello forum,

I am looking for a very basic time tracking software that tracks time based on application windows title names.

I am usually only working on one or two projects at a time. Every project has its unique project number which turns up in the filename of each and every file assigned to the project.

Therefore, the software basically only should keep track how much time is spent in application windows that contain a project's number in their titlebar.

I already use a time tracking software like that which works really good. The only problem is, my current time tracking tool is working so silent in the background that I actually forget to write short descriptive texts that after like three weeks of working on Project A can be used for billing purposes.

Additionally, the software should be somewhat intelligent in the sense of noticing for example that if I have been working in a Word document related to Project A for one hour, and then spend like half an hour in the browser researching stuff (which actually might be saved in the project folder, again getting assigned filenames containing the project number), the software should ask me quickly whether this browser time was Project A related or not, including the possibility to assign a short descriptive text regarding what I have done in that last half-hour.

What I do not need is a full fledged procrastination suite with lots of analysis tools, or a large project time management software. I'd only like to track just that little bit better how much, and especially "what" actually I have been doing today in my projects A and B.

If I think about it, basically I would need the tool to do two things, additionally to just tracking window titles.

It would need to ask me questions like:

This afternoon, you have spent 4.7 hours in your project A's documents. Do you want to write a short descriptive text what you have been doing?

and

The last two hours, you have been working in your project A's documents, but you also have spent 50 minutes in the browser, mainly on the website "Archive.org". Do you want to write a short descriptive text what you have been doing?

Thanks very much already for any suggestions
Regards David.P

8

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Fixed z-order for windows (keep z-order if a window is clicked)

« on: December 20, 2013, 02:39 AM »

Hi forum,

especially on multi-monitor setups, it would be great if there was a way to click or work in application windows without having them jump in the foreground and covering up everything (on every monitor).

File manager spanning three monitors that covers up everything else on all monitors every time you quickly want to look something up, or quickly change a folder, scroll position, or similar (click to enlarge)

It would be amazing if someone could think of a way to code an utility that could provide this feature. TXmouse by Andy Polyakov actually (sort of) does it, however not with all applications (anymore), and with some unwanted side-effects like automatic window activation on mouse hover.

As with TXmouse, if you actually do want to change the window z-order (and bring a window to the front), you simply click on the respective windws's titlebar.

I've described it in detail over at the Actualtools.com forum, so please bear with me posting a link to the respective discussion:
Fixed Z-Order, don't change z-order if a window is clicked

Regards David.P

9

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: Project Time Tracking based on windows titles -- but with "grace period"

« on: May 20, 2012, 06:17 AM »

Hi forum,

I have used Rayflectar's Project Timers for many years in order to automatically track the time I spend for certain projects, and it has been working incredibly well.

Project Timers simply monitors all current windows titles. If the title of an active window matches a custom substring AND if there is activity in that window, the respective time will be added to the project associated with that substring:



There is only one problem for me that leads to inaccuracies: for example, if I am working in a Microsoft Word document where the title contains "project abc", Project Timers will monitor the time spent in that window and add it to Project abc's time sheet - so far so good.

If however I open any dialog in Word (for example a Format, Insert or Find dialog), Project Timers will think that I am no longer working on "project abc" (because these dialogs will not have "project abc" in their window title), and it will stop the clock of that project, where actually I am still working in that project:



Same goes for quick web searches or the like, where you return to your project window (having the tile "project abc") after a few minutes. Project Timers also in this case will stop as soon as you leave your main work window, and you loose the time spent for that quick web search related to your project.

One possibility to work around this and get somewhat better accuracy of the time measurements would be to introduce a "grace period" where the current projects time keeps running for a custom period of time even after you have left one of the projects windows (for example by opening a program dialog, or doing a web search). As soon as the project window is re-entered, the respective project's time should of course start running again, even if the grace period had expired in the meantime.

Possibly, the grace period time should only be added to the respective project's time sheet if you actually return to one of the project's own windows (having the projects substring in its titlebar) during the grace period. This would prevent that a grace period's worth of time would be added to your project every time when you were actually switching to another project (or leaving your computer altogether).

Unfortunately, Project Timers doesn't have a setting for such a custom grace period. What's more, I have tried to contact the creator of Project Timers, Thomas Anagnostou, but with no success (all his mail addresses I could find are disfunctional).

Thus I think that I am prepared to donate if somebody could re-create a tool that works like Project Timers, but additionally has that adjustable "grace period" when a project window is left.

Regards
David

10

General Software Discussion / Change Folder Icon Color from context menu

« on: May 09, 2012, 04:53 AM »

Hi forum,

I have been searching my ass off looking for a simple replacement for iColorfolder (because it doesn't work in Windows 7).

But I could not find ANY alternative that was free and actually did work!

I have tried all tools suggested here:
http://alternativeto...tware/folder-marker/

Either they were not free, did not work at all (crashed), or would not allow to simply have like seven colors or so to choose from in the context menu (like below with the "Folder Colorizer" tool that would be great if it actually worked reliably which it however doesn't):



Thanks already for any other software hints
Cheers David.P

11

Find And Run Robot / Include Windows 7 Start Button Search Results in FARR?

« on: April 19, 2012, 09:21 AM »

Hi mouser & forum,

is it possible for FARR to include the results of the Windows 7 Start Button/Start Menu search? (at least the ones that are in some way Windows/Control Panel related)

For example, if I start to type "Window M....." into the Start Button search box, Windows 7 gives me "change window colors and metrics" (which accidentally is exactly what I was looking for;)

So, can FARR do this as well? -- in order for not having to use FARR and the Start Button search box if looking for things where you are not sure if it might be a program, setting, control panel or whatever.

Thanks already
Cheers David.P

12

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: Move dialog boxes to the center of the (correct) monitor

« on: April 06, 2011, 04:43 AM »

... or where the parent application is (make that an option).

This would be great for multi-monitor-systems where dialog boxes for some reason can always pop up on the wrong monitor.

DialogMove does a good job in this sense, already (see discussion here) -- however DialogMove can't be restricted in order to not additionaly move all dialogs under the mouse pointer (because the latter actually is what it is SUPPOSED to do).

Therefore it would be great to have a little tool that could move dialogs similar as DialogMove does, but ONLY when dialogs pop up on the wrong monitor (or when they come up on the correct monitor, but not centered).

Recapitulating: The IDEA is, popups and dialogs should only be moved (to the center of the monitor where the mouse pointer is OR where the parent application is, possibly make that an option) when they are either a) on the wrong monitor or b) on the correct monitor, but not centered (on the monitor).

Thanks HEAPS already,
Cheers David.P

13

General Software Discussion / Make all Dialog Boxes and Browser Popups come up where the Cursor is

« on: March 30, 2011, 11:45 AM »

Hi forum,

using a triple monitor setup (with Nvidia graphics card), I was wondering whether there is a tool that makes popup windows - like dialogs and the like - appear always on the screen where the mouse pointer is (or alternatively, where the main application is).

Thanks already for any hints anyone might have,

Cheers David.P

14

General Software Discussion / Software idea for speed reading/skimming text by color-coding important keywords

« on: November 08, 2010, 08:23 AM »

Hi forum,

I read a LOT on the Internet every day -- like blogs, news, forums etc.

Very often however, I'd simply like to get the basic idea of the contents e.g. of a (long) blog or news text, but can't be bothered to read my way through the entire length of it in the first place.

Therefore I wish there was a software (or online service) that could do the following:

• 1)   Rank and list the most frequently used keywords in any (selected) amount of text.
• 2)   Remove small and common words from the ranking/list, and only keep like a dozen important keywords from the text.
• 3)   Finally, apply different text highlighter colors to the respective occurrences of those text keywords.

Almost all of this already can be done semi-manually by using Wordcounter, Firefox and Googlebar Lite.

Wordcounter does 1) and 2):


and Googlebar Lite:


does 3):


Here's an example of what an article looks like with the highlights applied.

Although that might be a bit too much color (maybe like 5 to 7 colors and respective keywords would be good for a start), I am quite convinced that this would be a great way of quickly ploughing through the masses of text that one comes across during a typical day, and where it would be nice to get a basic idea of it's contents first -- before maybe going through some of it in somewhat more depth.

Well anyway, it would be GREAT if this idea could be made into a Firefox extension (or something) that automatically applies steps 1) through 3) to any amount of text that for example has been selected on a web page....

Thanks heaps already for comments or further ideas that anyone might have regarding this idea,

Cheers David.P

15

Best Dialog Extender / How to stop pulling my hair over "Recent Folders" never working system-wide?

« on: September 30, 2010, 05:07 AM »

Hi forum,

I must have been trying to get rid of this incredible annoyance like for a decade, however still without any lasting success.

It probably is about a hundred times a day that I have to work the ghastly, awkward way inside those infamous OPEN/SAVE DIALOG BOXES of diverse applications from something like

• F:/Dispensable/Irrelevant/Annoying/Invalid/Deleted/TEMP

all the way to my respective current project folder which is of course

• D:/Projects/A-F/Customers/John-Doe-2010-08

(for example).

I think I've tried nearly every Dialog Box Extender on the market but to date did not find one that simply can keep track of say the last THREE ƃuıƃƃıɹɟ folders that I have been using in whatever way, like for example having visited them in Directory Opus, or having opened or saved a file in them from whatever program's pǝuɯɐp open/save dialog box.

Sorry for the graphic language, I just can't believe that it doesn't seem possible to get rid of this ridiculously persistent issue

Thanks HEAPS already for any effectual ideas

Cheers David.P

PS: System is XP, Applications for example Acrobat, Visio, Word, Thunderbird and many others

16

Find And Run Robot / Never show tray icon and/or taskbar button

« on: August 15, 2010, 07:30 AM »

Hi all,

unfortunately, I can't seem to get any of the above...

That means, in my case FARR insists to show both a taskbar button (always) and a tray icon (if the FARR window is present).

Possibly this could be caused by the utility "Tray Wizard" that I use to keep tray clutter to a minimum. Unfortunately, Tray Wizard re-draws all tray icons every time an additional icon appears or disappears. This is (at least visually) disturbing.

Thus, is there a way to tell FARR to NEVER EVER show either a tray icon or a taskbar button....?

Thanks,
Cheers David.P

17

General Software Discussion / FBx eXtender's 'Click switch file box folder feature' - can this be done in AHK?

« on: August 06, 2010, 02:16 AM »

I'm really hooked on the "Click switch file box folder" feature of FileBox eXtender.

However, FileBox eXtender a) is buggy (crashes Dopus all the time, creates problems with the z-order of windows, etc.), and b) is discontinued.

This is why I was wondering whether it would be possible/difficult to re-build that click switch file box folder feature of FileBXtender in AutoHotkey?

That feature makes every application's Open/Save file box automatically switch to the same folder that is open in Windows Explorer (or Dopus, for example) -- as soon as you click on the respective Dopus or Explorer window.

Unfortunately, at the moment I have no idea how to code this in AutoHotkey (although I've done quite a bit of AHK coding).

Thanks already for any ideas,
Cheers David.P

18

General Software Discussion / How to use Google to collect specific text snippets?

« on: May 28, 2010, 05:28 AM »

Hi Forum,

ok, this might be getting a little tricky....

Does anyone know whether there is a way to get text excerpts from Google -- using something like a regular expression or advanced search syntax?

For example, I'd like to get all text snippets from Google (or from Google's cache) that start with a certain sequence of words, and end with another sequence of words.

The following type of search syntax doesn't work, unfortunately, when starting sequence and end sequence are further than a few words apart: "once upon a time * and they all lived happily ever after".

And even if that syntax wood work, it would of course only yield links to pages that contain both starting sequence and end sequence, but not the actual text between, and including, starting sequence and end sequence...

Any ideas.......?

Cheers David.P

19

General Software Discussion / Popup Translator Shootout?

« on: May 27, 2010, 03:37 AM »

Hi forum,

I just stumbled upon a few amazing online/text popup translator tools like Lingoes, Google Translate Client, StarDict and Dictionary.NET.

At the moment, I'm totally overwhelmed that tools like these have existed for some time without me having noticed  

I'm still far from being able to tell which of these tools might be the best (probably there are even more such tools out there..)

Thus, maybe someone else is already closer to make a conclusion, or a little shootout, between the most popular -- or the most advanced -- (popup) translator tools?

Thanks already
Cheers David.P

20

General Software Discussion / How to remove ">>>" characters from mail and rewrap mail text?

« on: April 21, 2010, 06:05 AM »

Hi forum,

quite simply put: how can I convert this:

> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur
> adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor
> incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
> Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud
> exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip
> ex ea commodo consequat.

> > Duis aute irure
> > dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse
> > cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.
> > Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non
> > proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt
> > mollit anim id est laborum.

......back to this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

I thought there must be zillions of Thunderbird addons or other freeware products that can do this -- however I can't find any! Not even NotePad++ with it's powerful TextFX function seems to be able to do it (out of the box)!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhrg!

Help!

Thanks already and
Cheers David.P

21

General Software Discussion / How to share file access between two applications?

« on: December 08, 2008, 08:17 AM »

Hi Forum,

on two PC's on the network I run a (the same) application. That app uses a config sort of file which is updated from time to time, either from the first PC, or from the other.

That file is located on a network drive, so access from each of the two apps is no problem. However, if the file is in use by the app on one PC, the other PC can't read that file (because it's locked), let alone write to it.

What I was wondering, is there any solution to that problem? I mean, like a software that somehow simulates a file that two apps can access at the same time (...or something)?

Thanks already,

Cheers David.P

22

General Software Discussion / How to make a local copy of an ancient Web forum?

« on: November 19, 2008, 11:27 AM »

Hi Forum,

there is this stone-age Web forum by the L&H company that has ceased to exist already like a decade ago:

http://support.lhsl..../dragon/webdisc.nsf/

It is still operative but it is to be feared that the current site owner is simply going to shut the forum down pretty soon as he has done with other similar forums.

Therefore it would be great to find a way how to make a local copy of all that forum's threads in some way.

I have already tried Adobe Acrobat  and WebsitePacker (this is great, makes *.CHM files out of an entire site).

However both take ages and download literally Gigabytes of stuff because these tools are too stupid not to click on each and every link (especially the "Collapse" and "Expand" links next to every thread ). Therefore, every single posting sort of gets downloaded like a dozen times instead only once, and it would take days, create hundreds of thousands of files and use up dozens of Gigabytes to download everything.

Any more ideas how I could actually rip that entire forum to one compact file or directory structure?

Thanks heaps already,
David.P

23

General Software Discussion / Compare text files and keep only the DIFFERENT lines?

« on: November 12, 2008, 03:00 PM »

Hi forum,

there's a lot of possibilities to compare text files and keep only the matching lines of both files (you can even do that in MS Word).

However, if I had two text files and wanted to extract the lines that are different in the two files -- how would I go about to do that....?

Thanks heaps already,

Cheers David.P