Messages

76

DC Gamer Club / Re: GOG Connect - DRM-free access to your Steam library

« on: October 27, 2017, 12:09 AM »

A bunch of games on Gog Connect now (29 by my count).  I think they're up for about 6 days from now (Halloween or Nov 1), but that's only because the one game that I got a hit on said that.  For all I know there's a different deadline for different games.

  - https://www.gog.com/connect

Unsurprisingly this coincides with a big sale, too.

77

Post New Requests Here / Re: Needing a utility to search multiple programs at once

« on: October 20, 2017, 06:46 PM »

Windows Search is supposed to be this kind of universal API - it uses IFilter plug-ins to be able to index different types of content.  Several IFilters for common file types are installed by default, but applications are supposed to install their own in order to make their files universally searchable.  I don't know how often this happens.  I know that there are plug-ins for Office files and Adobe provides an IFilter for PDF.  Foxit even sells one for use on a server for $700! https://www.foxitsof...roducts/pdf-ifilter/

MS publishes APIs for using the Windows Search Service, so it's available to 3rd party apps. At least for Win7 and Vista - I'm pretty sure it's still there in Win10, but I don't follow that stuff too closely anymore, so it's possible that MS has removed it or moved on to some other fancy new API. I vaguely remember some 3rd party search utility (or maybe the search function of a 3rd party file manager) using the IFilter plug-ins to help with its searching (that might have been just a fancy way of saying it use the Windows Search Service to search).  But I can't remember what 3rd party program that was.

It's not the program I was thinking of (I pretty sure), but it turns out that PowerGrep takes advantage of IFilters: https://www.powergrep.com/ifilter.html


I'm not sure how successful Windows Search is - I'm sure an awful lot of people use it (perhaps without really realizing it) since it powers the native Windows Search widget on the desktop, but there are also a lot of articles explaining how to disable it so it doesn't bog down your system.  I can say that I personally rarely use it.

78

Found Deals and Discounts / 1 Year of SpiderOak One (1TB of storage) for $15

« on: October 16, 2017, 08:52 AM »

I have never used SpiderOak, but have seen it discussed here so I think there might be interest in this.

Humble is running a "Software Bundle 2" that has a 1 year license for SpiderOak One cloud backup with 1TB of storage in the $15 tier. The 1TB plan usually costs $12 per month.  So if you were looking at SpiderOak for backup, this might be a cheap way to get started. 

I don't know if this can be used to add a year to an existing plan.  The blurb says this about existing accounts: "License will overwrite any existing licenses during redemption and remaining credit will not be refunded".  So for people with existing accounts, I don't know if you can hang onto this license and activate it just before your existing one expires or if you have to activate it within some short period. But if you're on a month-to-month plan, this seems like a no brainer.

Note that if you purchase the $15 tier, you get a bunch of other software too, but none of it looked particularly interesting to me. Except maybe the Winx Media Trans which is part of the $1 tier.

The bundle is live for another 9 days from now:

  - https://www.humblebu...re/software-bundle-2

79

General Software Discussion / Re: New PDF editor: FlexiPDF from SoftMaker

« on: October 13, 2017, 07:10 PM »

OTOH Word 2016 inhaled the original .pdf and produced perfectly good results without FlexiPDF as an intermediary.

-cranioscopical (October 13, 2017, 06:21 PM)

Well son-of-a...  I'm still on Word 2013, but it imports PDFs, too.  I had no idea.

I don't have to convert PDFs to Word often, and the last time I did it involved trying out some software that installed some unwanted crap alongside - I hope I remember that Word already handles this the next time the need rolls around.

Thanks!

80

General Software Discussion / Re: New PDF editor: FlexiPDF from SoftMaker

« on: October 13, 2017, 02:10 PM »

FlexPDF is supposed to support export to MS word (though surprisingly it's not in the Ashampoo feature checklist  - it is mentioned in the Overview tab).

Has anyone tried this feature of Ashampoo PDF Pro/Softmaker FlexPDF?

81

General Software Discussion / Re: CCleaner contained malware for one month

« on: September 19, 2017, 01:42 PM »

TechCrunch

Although it would appear that, in this instance, the illegal payload was only successfully delivered to a small minority of users — and specifically to those using 32-bit Windows PCs.

-4wd (September 19, 2017, 01:16 AM)

That small minority is still more than 2 million people.

A million here, a million there, and pretty soon you're talking about a lot of computers.

82

DC Gamer Club / Re: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee free for the next 24 hours (Sept. 23, 2015)

« on: September 19, 2017, 01:24 PM »

Thanks for both heads ups!

And wouldn't you know it - it's free on Humble, too.  So take your pick.

83

Living Room / Re: 60 years. Am I now ALLOWED to be grumpy?

« on: September 08, 2017, 04:44 PM »

Happy Birthday!

84

Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS

« on: September 03, 2017, 03:43 PM »

Got myself a 15-degree knife sharpener

-mouser (September 03, 2017, 10:36 AM)

Let us know how well it works.  I've been thinking of getting a sharpening system, but I'd really prefer something that works easily rather than something that will get my knives straight-razor sharp, but only if I become some sort of skilled craftsman.

85

Living Room / Re: Any native english speakers?

« on: August 30, 2017, 05:26 PM »

The paragraph says that *some* doctors have an "absolute confidentiality" policy, but *most* doctors have a policy that allows them to report when there's a danger to society.  So I would answer the question with "Cannot say" because the text says that some doctors will not report under any conditions, and therefore you cannot say what an arbitrary doctor would do.

86

General Software Discussion / Re: Automated ftp uploads

« on: August 29, 2017, 03:45 PM »

I haven't tried these, but in the options dialog there are a couple of items that should work together to get what you want:

1) in "Basic Capturing | Capture Options" you can specify Auto Capture Timer Options to take a screen shot every 5 minutes
2) in "Basic Capturing | Post-Capture Options" you can specify commands to run after a capture in the "Post Capture Commandline Tools to Run" area; put your FTP command in there.

87

Living Room / Re: I need more english knowledge

« on: August 15, 2017, 03:50 PM »

Wow - that's a pretty unusual CAPTCHA.  I can't believe that whoever implemented or thought it up didn't consider that people who aren't native English speakers would have significant trouble.  I've spoken English my whole life and it took me a bit of thinking to realize what they were looking for.  First to understand the question, then to realize "dexpot" --> "depot".

Still I think it's better then some of the unreadable "hidden letters" CAPTCHAs I've come across. Even the term "CAPTCHA" is hideous - someone please tell me there's a better (but still widely accepted) term.

88

General Software Discussion / Re: The Ghost Process

« on: August 15, 2017, 03:42 AM »

I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but you mention that your computer has two Asus R7 240 AMD/Radeon graphics adapters and that you are also using the motherboard's integrated graphics (Intel).  However, your process list file show a bunch of NVIDIA processes.  As others have noted, graphics driver packages often bundle a ton of functionality, including virtual desktop features.  you might wnat to consider ununstalling the NVIDIA stuff since you don't have an NVIDA adapter anyway.

89

DC Gamer Club / Re: Deadlight free on GOG for the next 2 days

« on: August 14, 2017, 04:39 PM »

Yeah - that's why I don't go for the pinata kind of thing thing myself.  If you want to take a flyer for $3 there's not much harm, but I'm not usually a fan of buying a mystery item (or for paying for a pre-release).

You have to wonder a little about the guy a couple posts down from the one you linked to who complained that of his 4 pinatas, none resulted in a game he wanted and all of those games were on sale for less than the cost of the pinata.

There's that saying about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results... (I suppose he could have bought all 4 pinatas at once, but why would someone do that if they cared about the money?).

90

General Software Discussion / Re: The Ghost Process

« on: August 14, 2017, 04:20 PM »

Don't seems to be desktops.exe from systernals. Why ? the three points only apply to the first desktop of the four desktops from systernals app.

-Contro (August 14, 2017, 01:39 PM)

So you have 3 virtual desktops controlled by some unknown software (that puts the 3 dots at the bottom of the screen to select the active desktop) and one of those desktops is another set of four desktops provided by the SysInternals desktops.exe app?

91

DC Gamer Club / Re: Deadlight free on GOG for the next 2 days

« on: August 14, 2017, 12:25 PM »

There's also a "Pinata" sale going on.  I think you get random offers when you 'hit the pinata'.  Or something.  I haven't bothered to figure it out yet.

-mwb1100 (August 14, 2017, 12:20 PM)

The Pinata sale is different than i thought.  You buy a pinata for $3 and that gets you a mystery game that sells normally on GOG for at least $6.  But you don't know which game it'll be when you cough up the $3.

     https://support.gog....9-Pinata-Madness-FAQ

I'm not a big fan of this kind of thing, but maybe some people find it fun.

edit:  I should also mention that they have a big, regular sale going on, too.  It's not just the pinata gimmick.

92

DC Gamer Club / Deadlight free on GOG for the next 2 days

« on: August 14, 2017, 12:20 PM »

Free on GOG for the next 43 hours or so: Deadlight.  Some sort of zombie game.

     https://www.gog.com/...dlight_directors_cut

There's also a "Pinata" sale going on.  I think you get random offers when you 'hit the pinata'.  Or something.  I haven't bothered to figure it out yet.

93

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: WinPatrol Ultimate Bundle up to 85% off--July 8th & 9th

« on: July 25, 2017, 04:20 PM »

I think it should also be mentioned that a few years ago the original author of WinPatrol (Bill Pytlovany) sold the business to Bret Lowry/Ruiware who has continued to honor the lifetime licenses people bought from before that transition.

94

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Humble Software Bundle $534 worth of awesome software, by Corel, Sound Forge,etc

« on: June 22, 2017, 05:44 PM »

Note: I'm not sure if this Soda PDF V9 is a perpetual license [without upgrades beyond current V9 version] or  "yearly" type license. I have used Soda PDF V7 and never upgraded.
When SODA PDF V8 came out, online end users complained that Soda PDF had become a 1 year "subscription" model/type license, requiring renewal every year. So I never updated my V7 , as it stayed a perpetual license.

-disenchanted (June 22, 2017, 04:46 PM)

It appears that it's the non-subscription "Home" license that normally sells for $79:

  - https://www.sodapdf.com/buy-edition/  (you have to read carefully to find the link to this purchase option from the normal subscription-buy page)

So I think that once you get this license you should never need to pay again as long as you're happy with v9.  That said, I became a little reluctant to invest the time in getting to know Soda PDF because something in the marketing & licensing of the software seems a little bit not-my-style. 

I don't really need a PDF editor, but I have occasionally wanted to remove or reorder pages in a PDF.  Also I have needed (rarely) to convert a PDF to Word and the software I used to do this with landed some PUPs on my system. That was annoying. So there's potentially some value in Soda's convert-to-Word functionality.

Since it's only $1 I might give it a try.  I'm also considering the $12 tier so I can try out a VPN for an extended 1 year trial on the cheap.

Does anyone have more detailed knowledge/opinions about Soda PDF or Windscribe VPN?

95

DC Gamer Club / Humble: free key for "Killing Floor" for next day or so

« on: June 22, 2017, 12:32 PM »

For the next day or day and a half or so Humble Store is giving away free steam keys for some zombie game: Killing Floor

  - https://www.humblebu.../store/killing-floor

96

Living Room / Re: Developers who use spaces make more money than those who use tabs

« on: June 18, 2017, 03:51 PM »

...those who don't indent at all *shudders*

-Stephen66515 (June 18, 2017, 03:41 PM)

They've done so well for themselves, they don't have to program anymore.

97

Living Room / Re: How can I identify a flashing DOS window?

« on: May 30, 2017, 06:19 PM »

So is there a fix, is it a virus?

-kalos (May 30, 2017, 05:27 PM)

Dd you read the linked article from Mr. Happy's post?

98

Living Room / Re: How can I identify a flashing DOS window?

« on: May 28, 2017, 05:43 PM »

This may have some ideas to help:

  - Is there any tool to log create process activity in Windows

99

General Software Discussion / Re: Can Notepad++ send text to the cloud and read it on my android phone?

« on: May 20, 2017, 05:20 PM »

I use Simplenote for this kind of thing, but I wouldn't call it a text editor.  It's a simple webapp for keeping a small collection of notes.  It syncs to/from my devices and my PC (via a browser) no problem.

For anyone who finds this interesting and wants to understand more about how it works, much (maybe all?) of it is open sourced: https://github.com/Automattic (and search for "simplenote").

100

DC Gamer Club / Sang-Froid is now available free (permanently) on GOG

« on: May 17, 2017, 02:27 PM »

Sang-Froid is now available free (permanently) on GOG.  Apparently it has been free on Steam for a few months now. 

I don't know anything about the game other than it's set in old-timey, frontier Canada and has werewolves, but I rarely argue with no-strings-attached free. The screen shots are nice.

    Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves

    https://www.gog.com/..._tales_of_werewolves