Messages

11301

General Software Discussion / Re: WINRAR free this sunday 30th July 2006

« on: July 30, 2006, 11:09 AM »

I got the reg page & got a mail with as app says confusing directions\lack of same
and a link for the download which doesnt work today sofar,
AND it doesnt say if the download-link is good after today...

(says i get two attempts at downloading, be lucky if i get any at this rate )

11302

General Software Discussion / Re: Good programs for helping you manage what programs start with windows?

« on: July 24, 2006, 04:51 AM »

or
http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html

WinPatrol (free version)

very easy & you can keep an eye on various other things as well

11303

Living Room / Re: Free blog hosting for members at DonationCoder - might be a good idea?

« on: July 20, 2006, 11:56 AM »

Well, I respectfully disagree. 

Blogging should be independent and personal, strictly, and also no strings attached, no restrictions imposed. Blogging is fun only when it's simultaneously personal (or private) and interactive, IMO.

-Mobysaurus (July 20, 2006, 10:12 AM)

Point taken,
its not that I really prefer the mixed bloggers idea, its just that I know I get an idea once in a while, it then takes time to mature,    and more time to get written, which means I wouldnt get to post so often
and I wouldnt want that to mean that people just dont get to read the stuff

but your idea would probably get around that-

1. Allow a member to submit a RSS feed to his own profile (should be from his own blog, by default)

2. He will then have the option to "Display an extract of my latest blog entry on the Forum" or "Keep other members up-to-date about my blog"

11304

Living Room / Re: Free blog hosting for members at DonationCoder - might be a good idea?

« on: July 20, 2006, 08:33 AM »

now a question for the bloggers.
i am going to try to figure out a way to have both options, so blogger can choose, but in general do people think they would rather each of their completely independent blog with their own custom look, or be different bloggers on a single blog.

i am guessing the former; the real advantage of the latter is that if you had 20 bloggers who only posted once a week you would still have a lively vibrant page that visitors might grow to enjoy and visit.  wheras if you each have your own individual blog, you might get lost in the crowd.  on the other hand, im assuming most of you will want to have your own blog which you can use for your own circles.  maybe we can find a way to do both..

-mouser (July 20, 2006, 06:35 AM)

for myself, I was thinking of the latter (different bloggers on a single blog), but maybe as you say both would be possible, or people could choose, or they could overlap?
 - someone could choose "the best of" (or simply the more suitable stuff from) the individual blogs to go into a mixed one?

or as mouser suggests above:
"it might be fun though to have a page where the most recent post from all dc blogs would be shown, like our our previous blog columns."

11305

Living Room / Re: Free blog hosting for members at DonationCoder - might be a good idea?

« on: July 20, 2006, 06:26 AM »

yaaaaaaay

11306

Living Room / Re: Free blog hosting for members at DonationCoder - might be a good idea?

« on: July 20, 2006, 06:14 AM »

I've started writing stuff lately (I dont know ... just happened out of the blue) and would love to have it here at this wonderful website instead of, well, instead of anywhere else!
I've got to confess that I haven't even read hardly any blogs myself, except when they're linked to from somewhere

my feeling is that these would be people's blogs and could be about whatever people wanted, politics included.  it would just be a little service that dc could do for donating members.

it might be fun though to have a page where the most recent post from all dc blogs would be shown, like our our previous blog columns.

-mouser (June 27, 2006, 07:35 PM)

For example:
I'm not really a political being, (or maybe I'm being too narrow in my understanding of the word) but I wrote something lately inspired by the "morality debate"  in the Why is so much software cracked?* thread, and somehow felt it just didnt fit in there  -  yeah, it needed a blog!

What I'm saying is: I think it would be great to have Blogs here, and about all\any subjects (any  ?! - I guess someone would keep an eye on them?)
I think they'd end up being to a large extent related directly or indirectly to software\computers\ (oh, also living & working with same\life\etc...back to all\any subjects )

* https://www.donation...x.php?topic=3831.120

11307

General Software Discussion / Re: Poster Printer - free (open source)

« on: July 20, 2006, 02:16 AM »

I got to print stuff often that's bigger than A4, - using Freehand - you can "Tile" the image and dictate the overlap.
  At god knows what price you're probably not going to get Freehand just for that

But, what I do then is - use a medical scalpel and one of those cutting mats (in\correct name??) and you can crop edges very accurately.
I use it for photos too, can't trust a guillotine for really fine work ...

11308

General Software Discussion / Re: BufferZone and other virtual machine like safe program executors

« on: July 19, 2006, 09:35 AM »

has anyone tried runasadmin
that is  RunAsAdmin Explorer Shim

available from Sourceforge
https://sourceforge..../projects/runasadmin

I tried it myself a while back & had some problems with my machine, but i was pretty sure afterwards they were to do with something else.

As far as I remember everything runs as a user (?- NOT as administrator) unless you dictate otherwise, but think there were various options\settings.

They have a new beta out i might give it a go - just got DSL\broadband\cable whatever you call it & find it a bit scary being simply connected all the time

11309

General Software Discussion / Re: Browsers, Bookmarks, & synching

« on: July 18, 2006, 10:51 AM »

hi y'all
thanks for the various tips

I've tried:
BookmarkBuddy which was very much what i had in mind, but i found i really had to struggle with the bookmark "management" system. I started getting used to it but found the idea of paying $29 or whatever for it difficult cause of that.

then tried Bookmax but it must have been having a bad day cause it couldnt import my bookmarks in Opera OR in Netscape\FF formats.

so I am just starting with linkagogo, and, considering it always seems to be a major struggle for me to start with new sware\computer stuff, it has been a very painless start-up !

ta agin for the help
tom

11310

Living Room / Re: My girlfriend says I am just being paranoid

« on: July 13, 2006, 07:36 AM »

........ do you think we'd get away with the American version: "garbage", or how about "trash" ??

wOOPs! 
I'd better be careful, I know Bush & his missis are over here in Germany as I write 

11311

Living Room / Re: Anyone know any good free font sites

« on: July 12, 2006, 02:34 AM »

thats an interesting query from nudone above whether any of these fonts can be used comercially.

I've had stuff - illustrations - published (in fairly obscure archaeological journals &, well, books nobody reads )
Mostly the fonts have been dictated to me, but sometimes I get a free hand 

I just checked the links i gave above (post #19) & they are free for commercial use

Does anyone know about the commercial aspect of all ~ or any of these other free fonts ??

11312

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: warn if IE has been running for too long

« on: July 06, 2006, 08:20 AM »

I use Avant (which uses Explorer) to look at saved .mht files.
I close it afterwards.

A couple times I've noticed this:
Some time later (hours, days?) when closing down computer a window has popped up, saying its closing Avant.

Just an idle observation which I havent really tested - dont know if thats ie that keeps running secretly or Avant.
Last time after closing Avant, I checked in Proccess Explorer but couldnt see it.
Havent closed down though since. !!

 as I say, "Just an idle observation" - if I notice it again I could always use your script

11313

Living Room / Re: Anyone know any good free font sites

« on: July 06, 2006, 07:54 AM »

heres a short list i like:

http://www.alvit.de/...-free-official-fonts

and
http://www.alvit.de/...ense-free-pixelfonts

(They are what he calls "serious" fonts  so it depends what you need!)

11314

Living Room / Re: OpenOffice user - can you do me a favour please ...

« on: July 04, 2006, 08:57 AM »

ach, no need, Mouser, Carol,
just keep on answering my questions as usual !! 

11315

Living Room / Re: OpenOffice user - can you do me a favour please ...

« on: July 04, 2006, 08:49 AM »

I zipped it again in case
tom

11316

General Software Discussion / Browsers, Bookmarks, & synching

« on: June 28, 2006, 05:37 AM »

what with imperfect browsers and so on
I end up using (at the moment and depending on requirements etc.)

Opera
Firefox
Avant (I.E.)


I wondering does this exist, (or could it?!!):

A (portable?) programme that you can save your bookmarks to , say with a universal hotkey, or from the context menu.
Then you dont have to be thinking, now where did i save that.

Or maybe something that can import bookmarks from diff browsers, synch them, and export them or save them in format for import back to browser

I know theres online stuff & I've only tried delicious with FF, but if youre working on a different computer & you dont have the plugin installed its a pain I found.
Maybe I'm just being too impatient (or not understanding ...)

What do you people out there use?

11317

Living Room / Re: Recommendations for good external hard drive solutions?

« on: June 22, 2006, 09:42 AM »

Hi
as someone desperately trying to get to grips with all these new types of connections, brand names, PATA ATA & SATA, IDE & SCSI, etc.        i throw out a plea for help


What I want are 2 things:

a backup drive that i might backup everything to once a week & keep off the premises
 &
another drive simply to have more space to work with and do more regular smaller backups to.

I dont fully understand these racks - are they external, internal or can they be either?
Okay, looking at the link in the DC backupguide for mobile external racks there seems to be both on offer there at directron.com
Do they then work with all HDs?

If they internal do you need extra fans? Likewise with external?

this ones a bit out of my price range but looks good!   
http://www.sabiostorage.com/   

From Review:
Racks come in two pieces, and inner tray and an outer rack. Hard drives are mounted in the trays, while the outer racks get installed in your computer case.

So you gotta first have space in your computer, then you need to buy:
Rack
Trays
Drives

does usb2 do for internal removable drives or do you need something more exotic!
I read (somewhere here I think) that firewire isnt so good.


Has anyone used the Maxtor one touch II (Retrospect) backup software?

sorry for barraging ye with questions
thanks for any help
tom

11318

General Software Discussion / Re: programmes that use little system resources.

« on: June 12, 2006, 01:41 AM »

hey, thanks everyone for all the help & advice

I'm downloading stuff as I write.
I have the Atlantis nova, def. have a Acrobat 5 on disk somewhere. Using processexp myself, (didnt realise no taskmanager in 98)
Going to try the Offbyone browser, wont have to worry bout flashblock with that! Reckon its fine for a beginner

Happy to get the links for portable stuff - Floppy office has an email client as well, super!
anyone know what portablepolyedit.sfx.exe is? found something in Russian bout it ...

Ultimately you'll probably have to make some sacrifices to get decent functionality with low resource use these days. For example using Wordpad for all document editing - very basic, but hey it works! If this is acceptable then all should be well. Otherwise tell 'em to spend just a couple hundred bucks and upgrade.

-JavaJones (June 09, 2006, 06:34 PM)

True for ya!

Yeah, re-Office, i find it very slow - use wordprocessers very little myself but its always nice to find smaller faster programmes no matter how much memoryetc. you have. (I find myself struggling at times with 512)
thanks all again,
tom

11319

General Software Discussion / Re: programmes that use little system resources.

« on: June 09, 2006, 06:08 AM »

thanks!

I downloading Atlantis, looks good!

Also:
I forgot to ask about an email client??!!

11320

General Software Discussion / programmes that use little system resources.

« on: June 09, 2006, 05:02 AM »

hi
I'm trying to help someone with an ancient computer (64MB ram, dont know bout processer, Win98)
Well, they're learning to type at the moment using some note programme, but also want to go in internet.

What I'm looking for is recommendations for programmes (preferably free ) that use little system resources.

Came out with AVGantivirus after reading this thread:
https://www.donation...40.msg25840#msg25840

am using foxitreader for PDFs -
Wondering if its better in general to use "portable" software - eg if using Firefox, would portable version be leaner?

With browsers was thinking K-Meleon might be lighter than FF. Opera is bigger programme size but i guess that doesnt mean much?

also wondering about "writing" software. Openoffice is very slow to start on my computer i find, but it might be better if I just installed the write part. Then theres Abiword. Any othr ideas there ?

Will prob just start trying things out but would be very happy to hear any recomendations
thanks
tom

11321

Living Room / Re: Photoshop Tutorials

« on: June 06, 2006, 09:41 AM »

heres a link for Select Edges FREE plugin which is great for sharpening fotos where you want to keep noise levels down (I use it on almost all fotos, its esp good if you have noisy camera or want to enlarge foto)
I'm using an old version of pshop (5.5), so it may not be necessary in newer versions(?)

the image is selected between 0% (flat areas/colour) and 100% (edges) and you then sharpen as you like it.

http://www.reindeerg...d=201&Itemid=147

11322

General Software Discussion / special virtual desktop wanted

« on: May 26, 2006, 09:20 AM »

Hi y'all

what I want to have~do are a selection of desktops with different shortcut icons on each

say

1 Graphics, Photo
2 Tools
3 Notes, Office stuff

ideally maybe to be able to change them with a hotkey

I've downloaded a couple of Virtual Desktopmanagers(?) but they seem to concentrate on people with 20 programmes open at the same time and each desktop shows progs from a particular group in the taskbar.
I think these programmes can possibly do what i want but the're complicated (Virtualdesktop) or Forums in German (Dexpot)
Just found VirDsktop forum so will try post there as well

But i wondering for what i want is there a) a way, or b) software anyone can recommend
thanks,
tom

11323

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Uninstallers (a very short look at what I've tried!)

« on: May 26, 2006, 03:17 AM »

has anyone tried out MyUninstaller
www.nirsoft.net
which doesent need to be installed and is free
Ive just installed it (well, opened it...) but havent used it yet & probably wouldnt know anyways (how good it is!)

Gives a huge amount of info about installed progs,
after reading above will prob close other programmes before trying it
 can let you know if anything noticably exotic happens

11324

Living Room / Re: Anyone actually use rewriteable media?

« on: May 04, 2006, 03:41 AM »

I'm actually using CDRWs     Well amongst others!

Im interested to hear how other people backup stuff cause Ive learnt to use computers myself & at times can be plain ignorant of, oh well, lots !! - I'll tell you my situation:

I work on maybe 100 drawings at a time, ends up being a lot more files cause as I correct them I save as a new file.
These I back up on a couple of disks of which I try to keep at least one fairly current copy "off the premises" (you never know ..)

I use nero (express I think its called - Im not at home now so cant check) Its the simple interface anyways (came with the burner)
I either simply click on make "datei Disk" (literally "file" - its in german) & it updates\synchronises data on disk with equivalent on harddisk. 
Or I save contents (nero) file after burning & open that for next backup.
I dont know how trustworthy these are, esp. the second option.
Every now & again I copy disk to regular CD for "snapshot".

Are there other options?
Software, hardware ??
as I usually work on the one computer Ive never gotten a USB stick - are they fairly dependable ? - could be an option for "current work". (in the past Ive used a zip drive, I guess stick is just much more convenient version of  same).
I usually have finished jobs or "jobs on a break" on DVD or CD anyways.

The CDRWs I use are Octron (ancient by now) & intensto & I dont have many - (keep reusing them (!)) mostly without problems - if there is a problem i just use a different disk for that backup  & format the problem one (~ 45seconds b.t.w.)

thanks for any advice tips links etc, tom