Messages

126

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: AirObic/ Aerobic Vertical mouse - first impressions

« on: August 24, 2008, 05:45 PM »

Another alternative is the Evoluent Vertical mouse(http://www.evoluent.com/).  I have one left hand and one right hand (so I can switch it up between work and home).  I like them, but working on my posture has helped way more than the veritcal mouse (please forget about finding that perfect chair, YOU have to have correct posture not your chair). 

How you hold your shoulders directly affects your wrists.  The book that's helped me the most in this area is "8 Steps to a Pain Free Back," which is $16 on Amazon.  (http://www.amazon.co...219617750&sr=1-1)  My back, shoulder, and wrist pain has been reduced drastically using the methods in this book... $16 very well spent.  For those of you who like getting something for nothing, here is a youtube video of a seminar Esther (the author) gave at Google (http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=-yYJ4hEYudE).

Obviously poor posture is not the cause of all pain.  Vertical mice are nice, but they will not correct pain caused by poor posture. 

Kevin

127

General Software Discussion / Re: Carbonite Online Backup

« on: August 16, 2008, 09:11 AM »

I've been using Carbonite for a couple months.  No major problems.  Two things I dislike though they are not deal breakers for me:

1. Can't see backup status in any other file manager other than windows explorer
2. No way to set options on files backed up.  Make sure to go through your backed up directories and make sure every file you want is backed up!  Movie files are one type that are not backed up by default. 

But, I am using carbonite mostly for my pictures, not all of my data. Also Carbonite has claimed that there will be an update to their program "soon."  Don't know when soon is however.  I gave them my suggestions, we'll see what happens.

You can find this elsewhere on the internet but here is a list of file extensions not backed up.

 The following folders are excluded from Carbonite backups:

    "%WINDIR%\*",
        "%TEMP%\*",
        "%TMP%\*",
    "\Recycler\*",
    "\Recycle Bin\*",
    "\System Volume Information\*",
    "\MSOCache\*",
        "\I386\*",
        "\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\*", // skipped because most of this is system configuration stuff
        "\Documents and Settings\*\Cookies\*",
    "\Documents and Settings\*\Local Settings\History\*",
    "\Documents and Settings\*\Local Settings\Temp*",
    "\Documents and Settings\*\NetHood\*",
    "\Documents and Settings\*\PrintHood\*",
    "\Documents and Settings\*\History\*",
    "\Documents and Settings\*\NTUSER.DAT",
        "\Documents and Settings\*\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\*\Cache\*",
        "\Documents and Settings\*\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile\cache*",
        "\Documents and Settings\*\Application Data\Microsoft\CryptnetUrlCache\*",
        "\Documents and Settings\*\Application Data\Yahoo! Desktop Search\*",
        "\Documents and Settings\*\Application Data\Google\Google Desktop\*",
        "\Documents and Settings\*\Application Data\Microsoft Help\*",
        "\Documents and Settings\*\Application Data\Carbonite\*",
        "\Program Files\Carbonite\Carbonite Backup\*",
    "\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Clipart\*",

The following file types are excluded from Carbonite backups:

    .113; .$$$; .$DB; .ABF; .ABK; .AFM; .ANI; .ANN; .BAC; .BAK; .BCK; .BCM;
.BDB; .BDF; .BKF; .BKP; .BMK; .BSC; .CAB; .CF1; .CHM; .CHQ; .CHW; .CNT;
.COM; .CPL; .CPL; .CUR; .DEV; .DFONT; .DLL; .DMP; .DRV; .DRV; .DVD; .EOT;
.EVT; .EXE; .FFA; .FFL; .FFO; .FFX; .FNT; .FON; .FTG; .FTS; .FXP; .GID; .GRP;
.HLP; .HXI; .HXQ; .HXR; .HXS; .ICO; .IDB; .IDX; .ILK; .IMG; .INF; .INI; .INS; .IPF;
.ISO; .ISP; .ITS; .JAR; .JSE; .KBD; .KEXT; .KEY; .LEX; .LIB; .LNK; .LOG; .LWFN;
.MSC; .MSI; .MSM; .MSP; .MST; .NCB; .NT; .OBJ; .OBS; .OCX; .OLD; .OST; .OTF;
.OTF; .PCH; .PF; .PFA; .PFB; .PFM; .PLIST; .PNF; .POL; .PREF; .PRF; .PRG; .PRN;
.PWL; .RDB; .REG; .REG; .RLL; .ROX; .SBR; .SCF; .SCR; .SDB; .SHB; .SUIT; .SWF;
.SWP; .SYS; .SYS; .THEME; .TMP; .TMS; .TTC; .TTF; .TTF; .V2I; .VBE; .VGA; .VGD;
.VHD; .VMC; .VMDK; .VMSD; .VMSN; .VMX; .VXD; .VXD; .WIN; .WPK;


    system/;dtSearch*;Intermediate *;VMWare*;Virtual PC*;Virtual Machine*

Additionally, music and video files are excluded during free trial subscriptions of Carbonite, and files larger than 4GB must be selected manually. (Right-click the file and select Back this up from the Carbonite context menu to select it for backup.)

128

General Software Discussion / Re: What's a good memorization software?

« on: July 13, 2008, 10:48 AM »

Along the same lines as Mnemosyne, Anki http://ichi2.net/anki/  I think one is based on the other, not sure which way.  Anki has a few more ways to display content (pictures, sound files, etc).  I tried both, they both work well.

Kevin

129

Find And Run Robot / Re: stalls during 'search history'

« on: July 10, 2008, 05:43 AM »

For what it's worth, I've noticed an increased hanging while trying to show history items after installing AVG Antivirus.  Dont know if it's related though.

Kevin

130

Living Room / Re: Running an external command from with Microsoft Word?

« on: May 27, 2008, 11:04 AM »

Yeah, we set security to low.  I know it sounds silly and naive but we arent concerned about security in this case... but, it appears that you cant get word to correctly launch hyperlinks with commandline parameters.  We couldnt even get the file to launch if you have the parameters in the link.

Kevin

131

Living Room / Re: Running an external command from with Microsoft Word?

« on: May 27, 2008, 09:52 AM »

What about commandline arguments?  Like try to open an excel document with some commandline options... I couldnt get that to work.

Kevin

132

Living Room / Re: Why do children love CAPS LOCK?

« on: May 27, 2008, 08:05 AM »

Cant understand the kids using caps lock... but I use caps lock every day.  It makes drafting a lot easier. 

Kevin

133

Living Room / Re: Supercharge Your Camera with Open-Source CHDK Firmware

« on: April 04, 2008, 06:33 PM »

I looked at this, I dont have any cameras that support the firmware, then got looking at HDR... wow!  I found this freeware program and have been trying it all afternoon.  qtpfsgui

Kevin

134

General Software Discussion / Re: mp3 Audio OUTPUT volume normalizer? Any such thing?

« on: March 27, 2008, 05:40 AM »

Quintessential Media Player (QMP, www.quinnware.com) has a feature called replaygain that does this sort of thing.  QMP is not the only player that uses this, I just know it because I use it.  dbPowerAmp music converter will process files and put replaygain tags on them. 

In short, search for stuff on replaygain.  I've used it on ogg, wma, mp3... it's just a tag your music player has to be able to read.

Kevin

135

General Review Discussion / Re: Best spreadsheet

« on: March 08, 2008, 08:06 AM »

Relatively new to the scene: Resolver http://www.resolversystems.com/  a slightly different outlook on spreadsheet programs.

Kevin

136

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: timns' Sudoku

« on: February 07, 2008, 10:53 AM »

If you check out www.djape.net you can see a bunch (takes a little looking though).  I think that guy has a program that generates the Samarai version, but he doesnt provide it.  Also, he makes sudoku X puzzles where the diagonals have to obey the rules....

Kevin

137

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: timns' Sudoku

« on: February 07, 2008, 06:08 AM »

Cool!  Any chance of generating Samurai sudokus?

Kevin

138

General Software Discussion / Re: Are you testing XP SP3 RC ??

« on: December 03, 2007, 09:13 PM »

This won't be objective by any means, but SP3 seems to make XP less sluggish... more like an initial install before you muck everything up by installing antivirus/firewall, and other always-running programs.   I have't had a crash yet (3 days). 

Like I said, not objective... but I like SP3 so far.

Kevin

139

Find And Run Robot / FARR and OpenOffice 2.3

« on: October 07, 2007, 11:47 AM »

Just installed OpenOffice 2.3 yesterday and noticed that while I have Calc running and focussed (haven't tried with anything else) FARR is noticeably slower to activate.  I'm running WinXP SP2 and FARR 2.00.129.  Does anyone else observe this?

Kevin

140

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR v2.00.140 ALPHA PREVIEW Release - Aug 15, 2007

« on: August 20, 2007, 06:12 PM »

Thanks!  That works!

Kevin

141

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR v2.00.140 ALPHA PREVIEW Release - Aug 15, 2007

« on: August 20, 2007, 04:09 PM »

Ahhhh... you're assuming I am connected to the internet (complicated story, but a bad assumption). 

There is nowhere to download these plugins?  I found klipkeeper...

Kevin

142

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR v2.00.140 ALPHA PREVIEW Release - Aug 15, 2007

« on: August 20, 2007, 09:58 AM »

I just downloaded the latest preview version and I'm having a hard time making the plug-ins work.  There are folders for each plugin but they just have two files in them and no dlls... sorry, I'm probably missing something stupid!

Kevin

143

General Software Discussion / Re: Photo panorama creation

« on: August 05, 2007, 11:48 AM »

I just downloaded hugin yesterday and enblend and panotools are included.  I didn't find autopano though...

I am very impressed by the quality and sophistication of hugin/panotools, but I think I will run my panoramas through autostitch first, because it is sooooo easy!

Kevin

144

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: KlipKeeper (A FARR2 Plugin by hamradio)

« on: July 24, 2007, 04:40 PM »

The more I think about it, the main reason I never really use clipboard extenders is because they lack a stack option.  Most of the time I want to copy some things, then paste them in some order.  LIFO, FIFO, the option would be nice.  Normal extenders make this tedious by always having to chose which clip you want.  But, if you could copy a bunch of clips, then paste, paste, paste, no re-selecting, no pop-up menus once you got started... this would be awesome. 

Sorry, just thinking to myself out loud...

Kevin

145

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: KlipKeeper (A FARR2 Plugin by hamradio)

« on: July 23, 2007, 04:48 PM »

This is awesome, thanks!

Feature requests:

1. record a timestamp (it would be really neat if you could search by timestamp and display it in the FARR main window)
2. Export saved clips to file
3. Picture support (don't know how you would display it... but it would be neat!)

Also, don't forget to check out jgpaiva's link to another thread about clipboard managers for other ideas.  In particular, the stack feature would be nice... don't know how this would operate "within" FARR, but a stack would come in so handy.

I also like the idea of a paste in last opened window command.

Kevin

146

General Software Discussion / Re: Excel formula help?

« on: June 28, 2007, 03:27 PM »

I don't know if this will help you or not... check out this website

http://www.officeart..._microsoft_excel.htm

Read all three ways and note the pitfalls of each!

Also, there is the formula CONCATENATE which combines pieces of text.  char(13), char(12) are carriage return and formfeed, char(10) is linefeed.

Kevin

147

Living Room / Re: Keep your Back Healthy While you Work

« on: April 12, 2007, 04:51 PM »

I posted about this in another thread about wrist pain and mice, but I can't find that thread!

The "Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" ($13 on Amazon when I bought it) has helped relieve my pain tremendously.  If you read the reviews and go to the author's site it sounds a bit sensationalist since it seems to heal anything and everything.  The idea, however, is fairly sound.  While I did have a couple of experiences where I was in extreme pain and massage relieved the pain in under ten minutes, I found the overall concept the most rewarding.  Instead of concentrating on relieving single pains here and there, I learned that pain is usually caused from somewhere else and even trigger point massage won't relieve some of it!  Pre Christmas 2006 I was having severe pain up and down my body.  I'm in my mid-20s so this is slightly worrisome.  I tried trigger point massage and it wasn't working (despite it helping earlier). 

One night I was flipping the trigger point workbook and noticed it said that uneven hips can cause all kinds of back and leg pain.  So I tried to see if my hips were uneven... they were.  I straightened them out (no massage).  My back started to relax within about 15 minutes.  Since then, I have concentrated on posture a lot more and my pain, all over my body, has reduced SIGNIFICANTLY.  I found that I was holding my hips uneven and twisting my upper body!  Trigger point massage helps, don't get me wrong, but the workbook's description of how pain in one place is tied to other areas of the body makes the $13 spent more than worth it.  It's cheap, it's effective.

One word of warning... don't expect results unless you're willing to work on it.  You have to learn your body.  I bought the book almost one year ago now and am just starting to understand things (though I don't read the book much anymore).

Sensentionalism aside, all I can say is try it, it did help me. 

Kevin

148

General Software Discussion / Re: ctrl + tab (first in, first out history) for excel sheets?

« on: April 01, 2007, 12:30 PM »

Add-ins aren't the same as personal.xls... personal.xls is a workbook that (though not intuitive to create!) is opened every time excel is run and usually remains hidden.  I've heard various pros and cons, but never really paid much attention since I usually make add-ins as well. 

However, as I've stated before, anyone who uses excel ought to invest some time in VBA!  It took 10 minutes or less to write the functions I wrote and there are so many times vba has made my work easier... even if it took 3 hours to do a ten second job!

One comment... why ctrl-alt-tab?  Why not ctrl-shift-tab?  Most of the programs that I've seen that use ctrl-tab add shift to go background.  But, since it's in vba, it's easily customizable! 

Kevin

149

General Software Discussion / Re: ctrl + tab (first in, first out history) for excel sheets?

« on: March 31, 2007, 02:07 PM »

Try the code below.  If it works as you want, I'll tell you how to get it to be present whenever you start excel (it's not intuitive and I don't know it off the top of my head... it involves making a personal.xls file and putting the following code in the workbook code module in an event function... if this works I'll step through that!)

Instructions:
- Open the Excel document you want to switch with ctrl-tab
- Press Alt-F11 to bring up the VBA window
- Click "Insert -> Module"
- Copy and paste the code below into the new module (it should be activated as soon as it's opened)
- Put the mouse cursor in the SetHotkey function (click anywhere in that section of code)
- Press F5 (this runs that function and sets ctrl tab to be a hotkey)
- Go back out to the main Excel window... and press... ctrl-tab....

Code: Visual Basic [Select]

1. Sub SetHotKey()
2.     Application.OnKey "^{TAB}", "SwitchSheet"
3.  
4. End Sub
5.  
6.  
7. Sub SwitchSheet()
8.    
9.     lngCurSheet = ActiveSheet.Index
10.    
11.     If lngCurSheet = ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets.Count Then
12.         Worksheets(1).Activate
13.     Else
14.         Worksheets(lngCurSheet + 1).Activate
15.     End If
16. End Sub

150

General Software Discussion / Re: join operations with excel tables (free?)

« on: March 17, 2007, 09:27 PM »

Honestly, this is the perfect time to learn VBA: you have a somewhat simple task to perform!  VBA is useful for everything from performing batch operations on cells, to full-fledge programs.  At work we use excel for storing data (yes, not the best format!) and I've done a fair amount of coding for VBA.  If you have to do the same thing more than 5 times it's worth writing a script for it! 

The power of VBA notwithstanding, I am still amazed at the limitations of Excel and VBA.  Every once in a while I run into something small and it just amazes me. 

If you use excel a lot, I'd seriously recommend learning VBA... it will save LOTS of time and headache in the long run!

Kevin