Topics

151

General Software Discussion / accurate log file of uptime - even if power turned off

« on: April 03, 2009, 02:52 PM »

Hi Folks,

  Most up-time measurement tools are for screen display, or for a network monitoring.  If you try to measure uptime on a local puter and put the info to a log file you have the problem of a BSOD or power-off that is a disorderly shutdown of the program.   They will have a start time but no end time, thus no total time.

  Thus one design would be to have a polling and update the end time every interval (e.g. a minute) and update the end time so that even in a power off .. the info is there -- "The puter was up from 12:00 to 5:00".  It would be nice if the report knew whether a Windows orderly shutdown was in process at the final polling, and marked the distinction, however that is a nicety. 

  An alternative would be to have the polling done by another puter on the network (e.g. a home computer shared behind the router) which presumably is on 24/7.

   My puter that is having the BSOD would use this, I would like to know how long it stays up (it can BSOD even when nothing is apparently happening, or it can stay happy through hard work).

   Do you know anything that exists for an accurate log of uptime -- that works even if the power is turned off ?

   If the log includes other information about activity, so much the better, however I am wondering if there is a program that covers the simple thing first.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

 

152

General Software Discussion / Uninstaller Roundup - Revo - Total - ZSoft & the less magnificent seven

« on: April 02, 2009, 12:13 PM »

Hi Folks,

On "System Restore Cleanup" cyberdiva is trying to avoid too many system restores ! .
So that leads to this uninstaller roundup, with the emphasis on 3 solid in-depth programs.

Revo Uninstaller, Total Uninstaller and ZSoft Uninstaller.

And 7 more down below.  Half of the 10 are freeware.  Ok, on recount there are 11, 6 free, but we can consider FARR a special case. From the System Restore thread :

Revo Uninstaller
http://www.revouninstaller.com/  (no forum)

is very good, far, far better than Windows Add/Remove (its a shell around Add/Remove, giving additional features and better searching.) And it is what I use, although I rarely uninstall.

If you ever need to have "closest to 100%" uninstallation then you go to :

Total Uninstall - powerful installation monitor and advanced uninstaller - $30
http://www.martau.com/tu.php
Forum
http://www.martau.com/forums/
Last Freeware Version
http://www.aplusfree...ies/util/uninst.html

And the third major player.

ZSoft - freeware
http://www.zsoft.dk/...x/software_details/4
Forum
http://forum.zsoft.dk/
Zsoft Uninstaller  (10/2007)
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=10333.0

Here are solid discussions of the three, with some other mentions.

http://forum.pirifor....php?showtopic=15858
Total Uninstall or Revo Uninstaller, Which is best (which should i keep) (Piriform Forums)

http://www.techsuppo...ram-un-installer.htm
Best Free Program Un-installer - Gizmo

http://www.lifehacke...ws_systems_on_the_g/
Clean Windows Systems on the Go with Revo Uninstaller Portable

http://www.lifehacke...ware_from_your_pc-2/
ZSoft Uninstaller Removes Crapware from Your PC

(Note the developer's informative comments at bottom, acknowledging lacks as well as new features. I'll chop 'em up.)

"Total Uninstall ... takes snapshots before and after ...the best way ... ZSoft Uninstaller can do this too ... Revo searches for leftovers .. the current version of ZSoft Uninstaller doesn't do this ...the newest beta ... does have this feature - search the desktop, start-menu, send-to menu, application data folder, 'application main folder', and registry for leftovers (if you tell it to)"

The problem with Total Uninstall (which I used awhile) and any before-and-after-snapshot style is that it can make the installation far more cumbersome.  Who wants to do that for anything but the most complicated installs ? (Maybe some sort of Visual Studio or Dreamweaver or a complicated virtual sandbox pseudo-defense system.)  Or an install that you really have doubts about.  (Does TU work very well in a simple no-snapshot mode ?  Dunno, there are a couple of reviews on onsite and here and there.) With Revo and ZSoft around for free .. most don't want to purchase a program that is only marginally better.  However, since you may only want a Total in specialty cases, the humoungous installs,  it might be good to at least have the last freeware Total version ready, or use ZSoft snapshot.

Note that ZSoft is used in both modes, so if he is truly enhancing his "clean-up after" mode, as in the comments above, ZSoft becomes a very interesting freeware alternative.  I haven't checked for any comparisons after his new release went the post-remove cleanup route.  Maybe in his forum there are some discussions.

In here I have included most of the dedicated Donationcoder uninstaller threads for a couple of years, but there are some goodies around 2005-2006, especially about Total Uninstaller.

Seven more with solid reps:

farruninstall - FarrUninstall plugin for Find and Run Robot
http://code.google.com/p/farruninstall/
FARR Uninstall Plug
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=9246.0

MyUninstaller - Nirsoft (freeware)
http://www.nirsoft.n.../utils/myuninst.html
My Uninstaller - Donationcoder 2008/02
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=12406.0    
Remove Item In "Add/Remove Programs" 03/2009
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=17637.0

Absolute Uninstaller - Glarysoft - freeware
http://www.glarysoft...bsolute-uninstaller/

Safarp - Open Source - Freeware (2005) - lite, fast
http://wistinga.online.fr/safarp/
Forum - http://wistinga.sourceforge.net/forums/  some activity 2007-2008

Advanced Uninstaller Pro - $40
http://www.innovativ...ninstaller/index.htm
Forum
http://www.innovativ...7f4f&showforum=4

Your Uninstaller - $40 (bundle deal some like)
http://www.ursoftwar...product/uninstaller/
Your Unistaller 2008 just released.
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=11254.0

Uninstall Tool - $25
http://www.crystalid..._page&name=utool

Smarty Uninstaller - $20
http://www.winnertweak.com/uninstaller/

================================================================

As I rethought this, I made my own decision (sort of a recommendation).  Everyone should consider having two programs handy.  One like Revo for the basic uninstall situation.  Revo is the unqualified leader, ZSoft is just trying now to be right there in the mix, and a bunch of others are definitely very good, with their own style and advantages, if you are using them and happy -- clap your hands. You can stick with them fine.  Even Windows Add/Remove alone is .. usually .. sometimes .. ok.  Most of this is not mission critical.

And in the back holster we have the snapshot program. 
Which generally is either :
 
  Total Uninstall $30
  Total Uninstall Last Free Version
  ZSoft

(Putting aside some possible techie possibilities that are less automated like RegShot, that might be helpful, at least for visibility.  And  probably for some people the two programs will be one.  ZSoft being the only one, perhaps, with both snapshot for the toughies .. and post-dinner cleanup for the regular .. a feature which many like .. and also free.)

You may use this snapshot install-uninstall once every few months, or never, but when you get that humoungous program that you are taking on a demo, or that problematic program that you want to try out .. the one that is known to leave hundreds of registry entries and little .dlls everywhere .. then you load up TU or ZSoft !

So we have successfully bifurcated the uninstalling suggestions !

Shalom,
Steven Avery

153

General Software Discussion / corralling the underlying url and redirection history (blocking google spam ads)

« on: April 02, 2009, 04:15 AM »

Hi Folks,

  I'm involved in a little project to see to what extent scamware google ads "clean your registry now, or your vegetable soup will boil over" can be blocked.  mozillaZine has an interest in that and one of the Firefox extension folks who carries the ads is helping.  Remember overseas the ads are different and apparently ad-carrying folks have Google TOS that limit how aggressively they can review and initiate actions, thus they rely on outside assistance (please block A,B,C). However they can block resulting domains, theoretically, on a block list. (Perhaps this was first set up so a person did not have to see a competitors ads on their page, it can be used for all-purpose integrity reasons.)  Once a solid list is set up, it is easy to pass it around or even post it on a web-page. 

   For legal niceties you might want to be a bit less aggressive in the wording of a public page (that excellent rogueware spyware site http://www.spywarewa...gue_anti-spyware.htm had to tiptoe at times) however there should be no difficulties simply setting up a list saying "we find these ads dubious".

   Incidentally using WOT (web of trust) which has a Firefox extension is of some corroborative help -- they miss a lot, however in this type of software sale site false positives seem to be very few.  (Perhaps some freeware/shareware sites get blocked that are actually reasonable, but vendor-sale ad sites that are blocked seem to always be real scamware, shamware, rogueware.  I don't use them as a primary source, that is always my own checking .. there are families of sham and scam products ..  but as occasional corroboration.  To be clear though I have not seen any Snapfiles or FreewareGenius types of sites given WOT disapproval).

   Most companies fall pretty clearly on one side of the good/bad equation but of course there are a few exceptions, and you have to wonder if you should be concerned much outside software shams.

  Now, the issue.

  There seems to be a few that get around the block, perhaps by a redirection scheme, or there could be other reasons. So the first thought I had was to look more closely at the long googleclick URL that is directly on the page, also perhaps the resulting redirections. 

  For the first, what is the best method to get that underlying URL to the clipboard (simplest to use). Or if there is any difficulty there, it would show up in the other attempt .. following the full redirection history after the click with some sort of logging history file created by a monitor program.

  Any tool recommendations ?

Shalom,
Steven Avery

154

General Software Discussion / System Restore Cleanup

« on: April 01, 2009, 08:15 AM »

Hi Folks,

As this informed community knows, one of the biggest wastes of space is a gazillion system restore points, whether done as the almost-daily "System Checkpoint" , or special points set up by install programs, so you often end up with 2-3 or more a day.

Even though my 140Gb disk is only 40% used, I figgered it was time to clean up, I knew the trick of reducing the % allocation.  Looking at the XP stuff I got a couple of surprises.  Before I reduced the 12% (18Gb..ugh) I noticed that was 90 days, maybe 150 restore points !   And I only want a couple.  Normally I had heard of reducing to 5% or so, but it was clear that 1% should be a good try.  And even that .. left about 20 days of restores ! .  What was perplexing was that 0% , the 200 mb minimum, resulted in the same number of points, none were taken away !? ... hmmmm

Anyway, then I wanted the 15+ Gibabytes to show up .. somewhere.  I tried Auslogics Disk Defrag, but the numbers were unchanged. Same with WinDirStat, and their numbers agree with XP Computer Management.  So either .. the Restore Points were not picked up as disk space, or it needs a reboot to wake up the numbers.  That is where I am now.  I'll report back after the reboot, it would seem strange that these programs would not consider System Restore space as used space, if that is the case.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

155

General Software Discussion / making bookmarks pointing to your disc files

« on: March 30, 2009, 08:45 AM »

Hi Folks,

This may be a simple, trivial question.

Some programs give you this format in the web browser, pointing to your disk file.
Belarc ends up giving you an entry like this (and you can change the target folder in config).

file:///C:/Program%20Files/Belarc/Advisor/System/tmp/(Precision380).html

Which can then be immediately bookmarked for future local reference.  What if you have a folder with a bunch of files and you want to 'convert' them to this format.  You could get the path to the clipboard, and then add "file:///" to the front but that would be a bit cumbersome.  Or, conceivably, you could have your file manager like Total Commander try to open all the .jpg and .gif and such in the browser, temporarily, rather than IrfanView, so they could be bookmarked from there.  And maybe Total Commander or Dopus or this and that have a feature or plug-in to accomplish this.

What method do you find the best to bookmark multiple disc files?

I just started using Jing to make simple pics quickly accessible here or on other web forums or to friends, the pic can also be Linkman-bookmarked right away and I am quite satisfied with that for new captures.  (99% of the time I simply want to specify the window-size and have the ability to add my own text and choose the file type.)

How about disc files in general ?
What method is best for bookmarking for easy bookmark-browser access ?

(e.g. Once bookmarked, you have the keywords to find, then Firefox can open up an extension or Irfanview or whatever to view the .jpg and .gif and .bmp.  Html is of course natural. And more.)

Shalom,
Steven Avery

156

Found Deals and Discounts / TK8 Backup Professional - Bits Du Jour on Tuesday 03/24/2009

« on: March 23, 2009, 02:19 AM »

Hi Folks,

As discussed in this thread, which is a good place to discuss product comparisons.

https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=14800.0
Is 'TK8 Backup Professional' recommendable?

Shalom,
Steven

157

General Software Discussion / Google front-ends and toolbars - limit search domains

« on: March 16, 2009, 08:43 AM »

Hi Folks,

One thing that I would like from Google searches that I do not have is not too complicated.  A front-end that is designed to digest my multi-search needs.

e.g. Let's say I am searching on some new software, I would like to be able to limit the search to a number of domains, like DonationCoder, Lifehackers, Wilders, Snapfiles, MajorGeeks, Fileforum, Freewaregenius and maybe another 5 or 10 other domains.  (And often a review or discussion in one of those will link to other good discussions.) Afaik, there is no direct way to do that in Google (you can ask for one domain) however a front-end could conceivably do this. Even if it adds a couple of seconds, no problemo, a really focused search.  Remember and name my lists, let me add a new domain quickly when needed, and fly.

There are probably many other similar "front-end" enhancements that could come to mind (the built-in Boolean in Google is quite powerful but even that might sometimes use a front-end, or even "save-searches" options).  This one about domains I will use as an example.  (Note: All this does not mean that I will not also do the "full search" .. that is how you find new gems, yet often you want to cut right to the quick.)

============================

Sidenote: I got an email today from the very well-respected xplorer² where he specifically mentions a toolbar.

"google beater!! Naturally it will make your internet searches more convenient but that's not all. It will help you make sense of the search results with keyword highlighting and in-page searches. And it is also giving you access to all your online e-mail accounts (hotmail, yahoo, gmail etc) with a single click!"

However I am not sure if there is much there of great help, look forward to giving it a try.

============================

Oh, one other point.  The biggest lack in my browser searches is the inability to have two or three "Find"s active at one time, each one with their own button, able to move back and forth without a retyping.  It would be a natural Firefox extension -- yet does not seem to exist, I asked over in that realm once.  Anybody have any thoughts ?  I really like the Firefox-Linkman-Powermarks incremental-letter search (any duplicate of that on Opera or Chrome ?) sitting down in the bar at bottom in Firefox, never needing a ctrl-f.  Excellent, simple design.  However there is plenty of room there, why not two or three "Find" fields ?

============================

Feel free to break out these last two sections into their own thread, if they are of solid interest.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

158

General Software Discussion / Tool to monitor in background & report on memory needs and other tweaks

« on: March 12, 2009, 02:45 AM »

Hi Folks,

We know of various programs like Process Tamer and Process Lasso adjust settings.  (Process Tamer is a great.)

What I really want now is a utility that just tells me how bad is the need for new memory (or other possible upgrades or tweaks might come to play).  e.g. At work I noted that a heavily used XP system only had 512 KB.  Oops. That was a no-brainer and we quickly bumped it up to 2 Gigabytes. (Yes, we could consider 4 Gb in some situations, with most addressable.)  The user was quite happy.  (The network guy is less aware of this stuff.)

Yet some cases might be less clear.  Example: a 1 Gigabyte XP-system that does not have the heavyweight memory usage programs (in my case Firefox, Eudora, Linkman).  Perhaps an upgrade to 2-Gb would be a big improvement, perhaps not.

So a utility that looks historically at things like Page File usage might indicate whether there was lots of need, especially for more memory. If there is a lot of swapping .. upgrade the memory.

Looking around, I don't see a utility quite in that alley.

The newish freeware CS Fire Monitor from PCWinTech :

http://www.pcwintech.com/node/146
CS Fire Monitor - System Monitoring Tool v.3.0.1

Is an example of a reporting tool that might be close, yet it looks like it does not specially focus on memory and upgrade questions, although it includes memory analysis.  More importantly, it looks to be more of a snapshot than an historical reporting tool.  (Although I have not yet loaded it, it was one of the more interesting analysis tools that have little mention so far here on DC so feel free to comment.)

What I want is something that I can load on a system, stick in the startup folder, and come back a week later and meanwhile be totally unobtrusive.  And will give good, helpful info when I get back there.

Any suggestions ?

Shalom,
Steven Avery

159

General Software Discussion / Win Patrol Plus (Bits Du Jour- Fri) Chameleon Startup Manager, Startup Organizer

« on: March 11, 2009, 10:29 AM »

Hi Folks,

WinPatrol Plus discount on Friday - I placed this on the found sales and discounts.  However here we could compare these three products and any others that are of similar quality.  Let's mostly pass by the freebies, especially those that are not actively developed and supported or products that are not as hefty and stable, even if good products.

WinPatrol Plus on Bits Du Jour - Friday  2/13/09 - $14.95
http://www.bitsdujou...ware/winpatrol-plus/

Personally I think a good startup manager is one of the utilities that are worth a small investment -- over freeware.
(WinPatrol also has a decent free version, possibly the best of the freeware alternatives.)  A good startup organizer gives a firewall visibility type of help, may have some HIPS (Win Patrol Plus may have the most) and it can help with the startup issues like multiple startup configurations and startup delays -- and also just plain visibility, what starts where, programs and services.  Two of these three products add more extra features, although many of us may handle those through other software like a task manager or a HIPS program.  A good solid alarm (this new program will start up next time .. allow or rollback) is almost indispensable. In my experience the firewall products have not been strong on this protection .. although theoretically they should have such a user help.

The three that I like most are:

Startup Organizer - Metaproducts ($25 .. formerly DC discount 02/2008)
http://www.metaprodu...tartup_Organizer.htm
Support Forum - Mild activity
http://www.metaprodu...orums_Post.asp?id=14

Chameleon Startup Manager ($24.95 - 40% DC Discount = $15 ) No forum
http://www.neosoft-t...-startup-manager.htm
Free, Standard and Pro versions.

WinPatrol Plus - BillP Studios - no forum, nice blog and FAQ
http://www.winpatrol.com/
Free and Pro versions

In my limited experience:

Startup Organizer is the simplest, is well-organized and easy to understand and is very reliable.

Chameleon has more features.  Note some design similarity to SO.

Win Patrol Plus also is feature-rich - perhaps with a wider variety and stronger malware awareness

There are another couple of dozen alternatives and some reasonable freeware. For most uses I recommend having one of the above. ...   I started with Startup Organizer years ago so I tend to be sympathetic, yet the other two may have passed it by some.  All three have gotten almost uniformly good mention on DonationCoder.  The techies may have a preference for programs like Autoruns with the Sysinternals heritage, however the emphasis here I hope to be more simplicity and clarity and moderate-tech usability .

Your thoughts ?  
Anybody ready to write up a start-up shoot-out ?

Shalom,
Steven Avery

160

Found Deals and Discounts / WinPatrol Plus on Bits Du Jour - Friday 2/13/09

« on: March 11, 2009, 10:17 AM »

Hi Folks,

Definitely a quality software.

WinPatrol Plus on Bits Du Jour - Friday  2/13/09 - $14.95  (why not $15 )
http://www.bitsdujou...ware/winpatrol-plus/

Personally I think a good startup manager is one of the utilities that are worth a small investment over freeware.
WinPatrol has a decent free version.

The three that I like most are:

Startup Organizer - Metaproducts ($25 .. formerly DC discount 02/2008)
http://www.metaprodu...tartup_Organizer.htm
Support Forum - Mild activity
http://www.metaprodu...orums_Post.asp?id=14

Chameleon Startup Manager ($24.95 - 40% DC Discount = $15 ) No forum
http://www.neosoft-t...-startup-manager.htm

WinPatrol Plus - BillP Studios - no forum, nice blog and FAQ
http://www.winpatrol.com/

In my limited experience:

Startup Organizer is the simplest, is well-organized and easy to understand and is very reliable.
Chameleon has more features.  Note some design similarity to SO.
Win Patrol Plus also is feature-rich - perhaps with a wider variety and stronger malware awareness

There are another couple of dozen alternatives and some reasonable freeware, for most uses I recommend having one of the above.

Perhaps a separate thread in the discussion forum focusing mostly on the three.  I started with Startup Organizer years ago, so I tend to be sympathetic, yet the other two may have passed it by some.

Look for the thread in the General Discussion Forum. I'll bring this whole post over, more or less.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

161

Living Room / adding memory to my Dell Precision 380

« on: March 09, 2009, 04:26 PM »

Hi Folks,

I just realized (sometimes I'm a little slow) that my Dell Precision 380 only has one Gigabyte of memory, and Eudora, Firefox and Linkman crash that out to smithareens (swap out anyone) -- before the eye blinks -- with the XP op sys. Even before Web development and database stuff that wants to be loaded and worked on.

So I want to expand the memory, some questions arise.

Even if I buy a hotter machine, and this becomes #2, I can see memory worth about $100, for better usage for the next year or two. This sys is 3 Gigahertz Pentium 4 and 160 gig disk.

Dell has an interesting auto-scan upgrade tool, but it gets bogged down thinking of Vista, and forgets to offer memory.  It offers me disk and a faster video card, yet does not think memory, even after giving a notification that more memory often helps performance ! 

Then I got one of their chat-meisters.  He says that the system will address 8Gb for applications, while another had said no.  Who is right ?   

1) Should I do it myself ?  I know it is fairly simple, and I've done it once or twice, but still .. if I can buy the memory local, installed cheapo, is that better, safer ?  Or definitely just buy on the Net and install myself.  (GeekSquad at BestBuys would charge $40 for the install, and the BestBuy memory might be a smidgen more than the net, so that is an example of too much extra.)  However what if I only pay $10-20 more, schlepping the puter to Joe Memory a mile away. 

2) Should I go for 4 Gigabyes instead of 2 ?  Supposedly the 4th gig is not addressed.  The extra cost is about $40, but that third gigabtye might come in real handy I think.  So far, I figger, go for 4, your thoughts ?  (This morphed into a question of 8 vs. 4, since the price is lower, see below.)

3) If only 4-gig is used, then I wonder .. does it really matter if I dual-channel (4 1-gigabtyes versus 2 2-gigabtyes). They talk of better performance, but probably just a smidgen and you lock yourself into a max of 4.

If I go 8 gigabtyes all channels are filled, and if it is cheap enough, I may do that, if it is confirmed that it helps over 4gig on a busy system.

4) Do you have a favorite store ?  Memorystock came up with a fine page for my puter, so right now they are in the lead if I buy on the Net.  This was pretty impressive.

http://www.memorysto...nWorkstation380.html
Memory Upgrade for Dell Precision Workstation 380 Computer

However Dell was just as cheap, maybe cheaper.
Only $21 for 2-gig units ! Wow.   So there we go.  Home-install.

Ok, so far I am going non-ECC, (non-parity) since that is what I have now, Dell even recommended it sort of.  And the techies seem to indicate that memory parity is more for the server-delicate mentality.  Makes sense to me.  Also I am not too concerned about the brand name.

Your thoughts ?

Main question .. 4 gigs is probably much better than 2, right ?
Does 8 gig help at all ? 
Should I just put it in myself.  Carefully, delicately, not while eating.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

162

Found Deals and Discounts / Bits - ActMask - Drive Encryption - problems in encyption claims

« on: May 10, 2008, 07:40 AM »

Hi Folks,

ActMask has a product on Bits Du Jour today.

Drive Encryption - Protect Your Removable Media!
http://www.bitsdujou...e/driver-encryption/

The posts by Keith Anderson have brought into question whether the product actually encypts the drive, or just the FAT.

The developer, Thomas Lee, has already acknowledged:
"The DriveEncryption encrypts the File Allocation Table for FAT format drive only."

This alone would be enough to deep-six the product, if it is not clearly indicated on the website.
Keith then reports he then found the same problem on the NTSF volume.
Kudos to Keith for doing extra homework.

Strange.  Why would an encryption product actually encrypt the FAT and not the drive ?  Why risk a stable of products on one that doesn't do what is advertised ?

Notice pidgin English in a company with a San Diego addy.
"Almost support all kind of Removable, Fixed, USB storage drive and Memory Card"
"It has ability to encrypt for each Logistic Disk"

Did a software middleman in San Diego get fooled by some Chinese (or others with limited English) software developers ?

Should we recommend to Nick to withdraw this Bits ? 

Your thoughts ?

Shalom,
Steven

163

General Software Discussion / Schedulers - Automatize, JIT, Smooth Program, Advanced, Hi-Base

« on: May 03, 2008, 03:34 PM »

Hi Folks,

Looking for a scheduler, fun to use, reasonably versatile.
Almost no reviews on the Net.

Ok, granted I could probably use various scripting language tools.
What if you want a dedicated simple scheduler that is more robust
than what comes with XP ?

Here is what I have found, before loading any, have you used any of these ?
Or recommend another.

======================================
Freeware

Automatize
http://argentesoftwa...Automatize%201.6.0.4

JIT Scheduler
http://www.gibinsoft...gipoutils/scheduler/

*** UPDATE 8-23-2011 Web of Trust has negatives about Gibin Software ***

Smooth Program Scheduler
http://www.xemico.com/scheduler/

======================================
Shareware

Advanced Task Scheduler - $40
http://www.advscheduler.com/index.html

Hi-Base Task Scheduler - $30
http://www.dbf2002.com/scheduler/

======================================

Shalom,
Steven

164

Found Deals and Discounts / Easeus Partition Manager - Bits Du Jour

« on: May 02, 2008, 05:42 AM »

Hi Folks,

Today on Bits Du Jour.  $15 down from $30.  A Chinese company that is often on Giveaway of the Day, apparently one of the better ones (GAOTD is uneven). If the product is good I would prefer to simply Bite it from Du Jour.  It has not been easy to determine the expertise of the company.

The website in general, and for this product, looks professional.
http://www.partition-tool.com/
As does the forum.
http://www.easeus.com/forum/

Any thoughts ?  I saw there may be a 2005 Paragon Partition Manager that might be a freebie alternative. And all sorts of techie alternatives, which would be nice to learn, but even if I techify I would like to use one friendly GUI alternative as well.  If this is the most modern, GUI, solid, inexpensive-ware product, better than any freewares, then the $15 is attractive.

Anybody have any experience with this one ?  I am unconcerned about Vista, the main idea is to set up Linux partitions on an existing Windows XP puter, and/or have software that works below the XP interface and works with the partitions.  My understanding, minimal, is that partition philosophy is a bit different when the system starts with XP and works from XP and when it starts directly on the lower puter level.  Perhaps a good product can work either way consistently ?

Shalom,
Steven

165

Image Manager Shootout / Xnview vs. IrfanView - integrity issue examined

« on: April 23, 2008, 09:29 AM »

Hi Folks,

Here is an issue to consider.

From Irfanview, strong words, and this is part of their regular blurb.

http://www.irfanview...ain_what_is_engl.htm
IrfanView is trying to create new and/or interesting features in its own way, unlike some other graphic viewers, whose whole "creativity" is based on feature cloning, stealing of ideas and whole dialogs from ACDSee and/or IrfanView! (for example: XnView has been stealing/cloning features and whole dialogs from IrfanView, for 7+ years).

Assuming true, we could look at this in a number of ways.

"Stick with Irfanview, they do the real research and concept pioneering. And avoid flagrant copying products. Integrity first."

Or

"Irfanview is being petulant and acrimonious without real cause, just improve your product and move on, with gazillions of users product feature cloning is expected and fine. And Irfanview did not give any examples."

If XnView takes whole dialogs (I have not researched this further) that is very tacky, and I would consider that a big negative, as it is not only clone copying but plagiarism, unethical if not illegal.

Here XnView was defended.

http://www.download....2192_4-10127223.html
re: Alleged Stolen Elements - XnView vs IrfanView
by: adesigninteractive on 05-Dec-2007 10:14:20 AM
"Please identify these stolen items. As a long time user of both IrfanView, and XnView, I see no legitimate evidence in XnView which might support your allegations. the archaic IrfanView GUI is nothing like that of XnView. I recognize elements which may be inspired by ACDSee, where the author has implemented a Lowest Common Denominator of preferred features-- but this trend is pervasive in virtually every software category; in every dynamic. I believe you owe it, not to XnView development, but to the imaging software end-user to explain yourself."

I don't have an answer, however when we use software, integrity issues are very significant.  (As another example, I try not to use sites that have advertisements for rogue products, or if the ads are from Google, I try to do what is appropriate, such as informing the site.)

It does seem clear that XnView implements features not in IrfanView, (apparently their tab implementation is one) and does some features in a superior manner, so the issue becomes complex. e.g. It is possible that XnView would implement a feature, at first, using the Irfanview dialog and then at leisure change the wording.

Anyway, while considering this in terms of my own use, I figgered it really should be part of this thread.  I was a little surprised at the sharpness of the Irfanview words, there does not seem to be any notice or discussion on the XnView site. The IrfanView website is nicely done, the author, from Bosnia, introduces himself well and links to lots of good software, I do not think his forum discusses this.  The XnView site is also nice, less personal, and does have a forum where users discuss many things, including features they would like to see, that may be in Irfanview.

Your thoughts ?

Shalom,
Steven

166

General Software Discussion / FTP Client - freeware with scheduler

« on: April 10, 2008, 08:54 AM »

Hi Folks,

  Do you have a good FTP Client that is freeware and that has a built-in scheduler ?  Granted
there are cmd-line and Windows Scheduler methods.  However I would prefer an integrated simple
solution for files that I share at work and home and here and there.  I would like to make sure
I don't have to save manually to USB drive or to my free Net storage area (DriveHQ, which is
FTP-friendly).  By scheduling once an hour when the program is up, I can make sure the current
file is available wherever I am just by having the program running in the background. The important
files might be about 15 megs, not too large, notes and bookmarks and PIM type of stuff.

   Seems like FileZilla doesn't have scheduling, just a queue (On my test it also seemed to drop
a couple of times, it did restart in the right place but I did not see an auto-reconnect feature,
is it there ?).  I saw an earlier version of Auto FTP Manager (3) on one of the Brit magazines,
that is one idea, one thread indicated pro versions of CuteFTP and WSTP are good on this,
but that is pro versions.  FlashFXP as well, good but not free.  Apparently Total Commander
would need some special scheduling stuff. 

   Keep in mind that an auto-reconnect feature in the midst of a download should be part
of this solution.  Another issue is the degree of security (do I want and need SFTP, do
people really try to intercept a generic FTP download from a cable connection to a web
storage area) and the WebDav possibility.

   Right now Fresh FTP looks good as a possibility, but my email code is slow arriving
so I have not tested it.  Not mentioned much in the forums on the net, yet looks interesting.
I always check DonationCoder, Snapfiles and FileForum, maybe CNet and a little extra-Google
before working with a new software.

   Any references or suggestions ?  And add any additional thoughts.  I would also use
this for a larger daily or weekly web backup of all critical files.

   Also if any of you are techies on FTP on the iSeries (AS/400) minicomputer and wouldn't
mind sharing some expertise and brainstorming, please contact me on that as well.  Thanks.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

167

General Software Discussion / Incomplete Backups - Avoiding and Handling

« on: April 01, 2008, 06:24 PM »

Hi Folks,

   A large multi-gig backup on a large dicey disk (e.g. prone to bsod) may not complete.  It would then be helpful to restore have you got, and keep moving from there on the next pass (perhaps skipping over a folder if there is an indication of disk problems, or trying to copy the folder, but let's assume the bsod is something like memory or driver related).

   What software programs take this into account well ?  e.g. Would be easy to restore what was done.  I noticed that Backup4All wants to put everything into a .zip file and then that file will likely be corrupted on the bsod, and their restore system is looking for files that are written at the end as well.

   So is this a factor that should be carefully considered in delicate backups ?  One obvious solution is a non-compress mode, yet apparently that is not in all of these packages. 

   What is best in this regard ?  And am I right in thinking that this is a largely overlooked part of backup comparisons. 

   Perhaps they could journal a type of restore/continue point, that probably is in some packages, so if you know of that, share. However that would not be as bulletproof as saving files in the same structure and layout (no compression, maybe 10 times larger) as on the disk.

  Thoughts ?

Shalom,
Steven Avery

168

Found Deals and Discounts / PowerCmd on Bits du Jour

« on: March 25, 2008, 09:24 AM »

Hi Folks,

PowerCmd - $9.95 today
Bits Du Jour Today
http://www.bitsdujou...m/software/powercmd/
 
There is a thread with a little discussion of these programs here.
https://www.donation...topic=12010.msg99824

This price is reasonable $9.95, and there may not be an equal freeware.

Any thoughts from users ? 
This does show up on GAOTD sometimes, too.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

169

Found Deals and Discounts / Greenprint today on Bits Du Jour

« on: March 17, 2008, 06:41 PM »

Hi Folks,

Fineprint is one of the indispensibles, I use the free version with
the small blurb-ad line and maybe a couple of restrictions that
I barely notice. 

Greenprint looks new, designed to compete with Fineprint.

Does it have any advantages ?  Disadvantages ?
Fundamental differences ?

Inquiring minds .. yes .. they do want to know.

Shalom,
Steven

170

Found Deals and Discounts / Easy-Hide-IP today on Bits Du Jour

« on: March 11, 2008, 07:06 PM »

Hi Folks,

Easy-Hide-IP is one of the Bits Du Jour Today, at half-price, under $10.

http://www.easy-hide-ip.com/
http://www.bitsdujou...ftware/easy-hide-ip/

Folks use proxies and such for lots of reasons, and have different
requests. Anonymous browsing, and anonymous email to a forum,
come to mind .. while relative speed might be a big factor, maybe not. 
Perhaps the need is an IP from a particular area, or changing IP's,
or not-changing.

Some people want a more complete untraceability than others and
for some folks the issue is getting around political barriers, such as
censorship.  Or concerns about various types of persecution and
repression, current and potential.  It could be something as unusual
as a teacher concerned about their job if speaking publicly of their
creationary views.

Thus it is hard to look at any of this as "one size fits all". 

From my reading, it is very hard to generalize about various
IP-hiding and proxy software and servers .  Though I noticed
that while some stuff is free, a lot is say $25-50 a year.  I've
never used one so it is a bit of a mysterious area.

To someone uninformed (myself) this one looks like it might give
you an ease-of-use front-end without much difficulty with some
options.

What do our experts say about Easy-Hide-IP ?  Does it have a niche ?
Perhaps fairly new, claims a lifetime license for small $, and it looks
like a nice interface .  Will it help the light anonymous user ?  Say the
person bounced from the DonationCoder forum who wants to post  .
J/k Mouser !

Any thoughts ?

Shalom,
Steven

171

Found Deals and Discounts / Bits Du Jour and GAOTD one-day deals

« on: January 26, 2008, 06:28 AM »

Many of watch Bits Du Jour and Giveaway of the Day.  I especially like Bits,
the other day I purchased Backup4All from Bits, and I have been finding a product every two weeks or so that I consider a good purchase choice. On Giveaway I enjoy the discussions with all the references to this freeware and that shareware, and why the current giveaway is so schlocky (with some notable exceptions).

Since those are all short-term one-day giveaways (Bits we know a few days in advance) can we stick all their "Deals and Discounts" on a "One-Day Deals and Discounts" separate section, next to this one, so that they don't flood this thread from its more long-term discounts ?

If this post should be on a different forum on DonationCoder, move it along :-).  However it would be good to be seen here, since a lot of us check this thread most frequently, not wanting to miss a solid deal !

Shalom,
Steven

172

Found Deals and Discounts / Automise Lite - 70% off - Bits Du Jour

« on: December 10, 2007, 03:46 AM »

Hi Folks,

Automise Lite on sale at 70% off today.

Automise (not Lite) was given some nice references here on a Bits Du Jour discount a year ago.
https://www.donation...?topic=6313.msg44917

The feature matrix is at:
http://www.automise....-feature-matrix.aspx

At $15 instead of $50, the Lite version may be good for many.
Our users may want to help explain more their current usage and status.

Granted the earlier discount was even more intense however they were trying to break into the marketplace and visibility (there is even a webpage somewhere with hourly sales and discussion of discount startup and impulse buying philosophy !) so that was likely a one-timer.   That does not negate the niceness of the current 70% off.

The current discount is one of the nice "Bits" -

"I can handle that, apparently it's a good niche product,
inexpensive enough to try to fit it into my mix".

Shalom,
Steven Avery

PS.
Oh, I also made a little comment on Bits about "SpyEraser" today.