Topics

1

Living Room / What, if anything, has IMPROVED for you as a result of the pandemic?

« on: October 19, 2020, 08:14 PM »

New hobby?
Learning more?
Developing new skills?
Better immediate family time?
Realization of long-term objectives?
Freedom to work in your underwear?

2

General Software Discussion / Out, damned WiFi spot! Out, I say!

« on: July 03, 2019, 02:48 PM »

Running Windows 10.

I recently dropped one ISP in favour of another.

My WiFi is connected to the router provided by the current ISP.

The previous router has been removed, all cable disconnected.

When I select the internet icon on the task bar, the fly-out still shows entries for the old, defunct ISP as options

It looks roughly like this:

NewISP
Connected, Secured
---------------------
NewISP_5G
Secured
---------------------
OldISP_24G
Secured
---------------------
OldISP_5G
Secured

How can I remove the OldISP entries?

I've tried various netsh wlan commands which I thought should have done the job.

It's only a cosmetic issue but I'd prefer not see entries for non-existent connections.

Any help would be welcome.

3

Living Room / You just couldn't invent this stuff!

« on: June 05, 2018, 09:12 PM »

From The London Daily Mail Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Arrival of Britain's new £100m 'game changer' F-35 Lightning stealth fighter jets is postponed... due to the weather"

Tally-ho chaps, don't forget the brollies!

4

Mini-Reviews by Members / Mini Review of jAlbum web site creator.

« on: March 18, 2018, 08:17 AM »

Basic Info

App Name	jAlbum
App URL	https://jalbum.net
App Version Reviewed	https://jalbum.net
Test System Specs	Intel Core i7-7700K ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1070 Gaming OC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 16GB DDR$ SDRAM 2TB SSD, 2.5TB spinners
Supported OSes	Windows 10 Version 1709 x64
Support Methods	Free email support, FAQ, Tutorials, Forum, Blog
Pricing	Starts at € 39
Upgrade Policy	Free for any updates in the 12 months following purchase, discounted for the next major release
Features	See https://jalbum.net/en/software/features
Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product	I am a very satisfied customer, no more, no less.

Intro:

The full scope of jAlbum is greater than I can address because I do not take advantage of all of its features.

Basically, this product provides a fast, easy method to create sophisticated web albums, for users not versed in the (to me) complexities of writing code.

jAlbum offers web site hosting if desired. I do not use that and so cannot comment on it other than to point out the option.

The main interface.

The interface to tweak settings (if desired). It is not essential.


Who is this app designed for:

Those who would find it daunting to create their own web site from scratch. Those who would find it too expensive to pay an expert to create a web site. Those whose time is at a premium.


The Good

jAlbum is simply a very easy way to construct a web site for people who cannot, or do not wish to write raw code. It is a boon to those or who haven't the time or inclination to construct a site from scratch, or who cannot or are unwilling to pay the fees of an expert to do it for them. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux for the main desktop version and iOS + Android for the mobile version.


The needs improvement section

Almost everything on this planet could be improved but jAlbum brings out regular enhancements.


Why I think you should use this product

It saves time, it saves money, it saves headaches, support is good. There is a range of pre-built free templates available, these templates are easily modified to suit individual tastes. There are some templates the use of which costs a small fee. Typically, these are more complex, or offer additional, more sophisticated features. Personally, I use what is free and am more than satisfied with that.

Much of the process can be executed by simple drag 'n drop. Many of the grunt-work details are taken care of in the background, for example ensuring that thumbnails are produced, optimized, and sized appropriately. Also, I find it extremely easy to make changes and additions, to expand existing sections, or to add in new ones. If desired the entire web site can be uploaded to the host from within the program itself.


How does it compare to similar apps

Depends on one's skill set. I found it easier by far than using tools from, e.g. Adobe (which are very good but require more time to master than I can give). My experience is that building with jAlbum is infinitely easier, and the results more stable, than were several other 'out-of-the-box' solutions that I tried.


Conclusions

Draw your own conclusions from this. My wife asked me to create a web site for her. I was appalled. I struggled through, trying to resurrect my rusty knowledge of HTML etc. I floundered around spending all of my spare time for about 3 weeks. This produced a viable site (sort of) that looked as if the proverbial tribe of monkeys had been at work on it. Later I read about jAlbum. In 3 days (not weeks!) and working on it only sporadically, I produced the site that my wife now has. It is here: http://www.barbarabickell.ca/. The world won't swoon over it but it's far better than I could manage alone. My wife is happy, and a happy wife makes a happy life.


Links to a few other reviews of this application

A single quick web search brought up these and many more:

jAlbum 13 Photo Website Builder Software Review | Shutterbug

Review of jAlbum 11.6 by SoftPlanet - YouTube

jAlbum 15.3 - Audio, Video & Photo - Downloads - Macworld UK

jAlbum - Android Apps on Google Play

JAlbum for Windows | FileForum
 

5

Living Room / For 2017

« on: December 31, 2016, 04:20 PM »

Happy New Year to one and all!

May the coming year be gentle with you.

2017

6

General Software Discussion / Can't share files programatically between two machines on the same network.

« on: January 19, 2016, 05:47 PM »

Basically I want to dump a batch of files from one machine into the appropriate locations on another machine.

Using just one folder as an example of my problem, I have a shared folder on one machine (Win 10) that I can access from another machine (Win 8.1)

The Win 10 uses a Microsoft account. The Win 8.1 does not.

I can happily pass files to and fro using a file manager.

When I run a program to copy files from the Win 8.1 machine to the Win 10 machine, the Win 10 machine is inaccessible.

This was not so until I switched the Win 10 machine to a Microsoft account. Before that my program could happily scatter stuff into any shared locations on the Win 10 machine.

Does anyone have a solution to this that they would care to share with me, please?

7

Screenshot Captor / ScreenshotCaptor and SMTP/SSL

« on: October 29, 2015, 07:50 PM »

I'm having a little problem when trying to send SMTP/SSL email from ScreenshotCaptor.

From SC without authentication I get, for obvious reasons:

SMTP Error Sending Email: 503 5.5.1 Error: authentication not enabled

I've adjusted my other software but can't see a way to switch SC to using SSL connections.

Have I missed something? If not, can anyone help me out with a suggestion about how to address/work around this?

@Mouser, would you consider enabling an option for this at some point (unless it's there and I didn't find it)?

8

General Software Discussion / Eject USB under program control

« on: April 04, 2015, 01:11 PM »

I wanted to eject/stop my external USB HDD(s). Being lazy I found this on the web. It's versatile, and it works, and it's free.

USB Disk Ejector from http://quickandeasysoftware.net/software

Among other things it can:

•     Eject the drive that the program is running from.
•     Eject a drive by specifying a drive letter.
•     Eject a drive by specifying a drive name.
•     Eject a drive by specifying a mountpoint
•     Eject a drive by specifying a partial drive name.

In case anyone else needs a fast solution.
 
(one can make a donation if one so desires)
 

9

Living Room / Memory lane for motorists

« on: February 01, 2015, 06:02 PM »

I wonder how many of us have owned how many of these.

[Originally, I managed to post a bad link. My apologies, it's been corrected.    Nobody actually called me the name that first occurred, which is another measure of the rampant civility on DC.]
 

10

General Software Discussion / Help! USB 3 has left the building — I want it back.

« on: April 08, 2014, 01:09 PM »

Something that relates to USB 3 has changed in my system.

I have a Thermaltake BlacX  external cradle for use with bare HDDs. BlacX 5G Dual Sata 5.0 GBps 3 Tb Usb 3.0 External Hard Drive ST0022U. (link)

Suddenly, when I try to move files of significant size to/from it, under Windows 8.1-64, I get a system error which is:
An error occurred copying
<name of file>
The system cannot find the file specified

Among other things this means that I can no longer run or retrieve backups using USB 3.0.

• I have the same error with a cradle of a different brand.
  
• I have the same error when trying different drives in the cradle.
  
• I can read/write what I like if I'm connected with USB 2
• I have the latest USB 3 driver in my system (Renesas USB 3,0 eXtensible Host Controller - 0096 Microsoft).
  
• Using USB 3, I can read/write smaller files to from a drive in the cradle (4.96GB for example)
  
  

So, like a lumber-jacked tree, I'm stumped.

Can somebody be kind enough to suggest an appropriate starting point for seeking a fix?
 

11

Living Room / Multiple Mini Reviews

« on: January 01, 2014, 04:51 PM »

May I suggest that we owe a vote of thanks to IainB for the past year of thorough, well-researched, and interesting mini reviews. These take a fair bit of time to assemble and have proved to be enlightening.

So, thanks IainB 
 

12

Living Room / Network/website problem 1+1+1=0. Seeking a solution.

« on: November 30, 2013, 08:04 PM »

Networks are a closed book to me — heck, I have trouble even reading the title on the cover.

I have three facts here that I think state my problem. After testing under WIndows 7 and 8.1, and with a plethora of browsers, the three statements resolve to these:

• On my own desk-top computers I can load any site except my own.
• The same is true on my Android tablet (entirely different o/s).
• Other people can load my site just fine.

What happens when I try to load my own site from the web is interminable load times, and 'not available' content, and badly-formed layouts.

A few more details

• The site is hosted by a small-ish, fairly local ISP. My previous site there had no problems.
• My feed comes through a satellite modem and thence to a router.
• tracert info for the site is poor, but not as poor as that for other sites that load just fine.
• I put up a minimal, unfinished site to play with at barbarabickell.ca

I've been banging my head against a wall trying to understand why the site doesn't work properly for me (from the web) but does work for just about everybody else. If nothing else, it makes revisions tricky as I've no way of knowing their real-world effects. Whenever I have what I think is an 'aha moment' a review of the three statements rules it out.

I'd welcome any insights that might help to resolve the problem.
 

13

General Software Discussion / Adobe does it again with a revised 'boot' policy - kick customer in teeth.

« on: October 09, 2013, 12:05 PM »

Apart from the fiasco with 2.9 million compromised accounts...

Adobe has the following offer:

Since introducing Photoshop CC, we’ve listened to feedback from a spectrum of our customers, from advanced professionals to casual enthusiasts. One common request was a solution specifically tailored for photographers. We listened, and at Photoshop World we’re announcing a special offer for our loyal Photoshop customers. Beginning today, customers who own Photoshop CS3 or higher are eligible for a special Creative Cloud membership offer that includes all of the following for just $9.99/month

At the moment I have the full Adobe Creative Suite 6, which includes Photoshop and doesn't come cheap.
Even so, I thought I might take up this offer.
However, when I spoke to an Adobe sales rep. I discovered this. The offer is limited to those who have only the stand-alone Photoshop, not the full Creative Suite.
So, if you spent a few hundred on Photoshop alone, you're in. If you spent a few thousand on the whole suite, too bad, so sad.

I can't say that words fail me but those that spring to mind cannot be used here       
 

14

General Software Discussion / Objective upgrade Netbook with XP to Netbook with Win 7

« on: October 07, 2013, 10:38 PM »

In a classic case of the blind leading the blind I have to help someone upgrade her XP netbook to Windows 7.

At the moment I don't have an available copy of Windows 7 so I'd welcome any suggestions about where to get one these days.

The netbook will boot from a USB stick.
It has an Atom N270 1.6 GHz processor.
1 GB memory.
160 GB hard drive.

So, my questions are

    Assuming I can get my hands on new Windows 7 DVD, what's the best way to go about creating a bootable USB stick and getting the DVD contents onto that?

    Any idea if Windows 7 will update the existing XP leaving things intact (data and executables)?

    Which version of Win7 should I be looking for?


(The software now on the machine is legitimate but nobody knows where the installation media are, nor does there appear to be a record of serial numbers. Having to wipe the drive will therefore have unhappy consequences.)

Your help would be appreciated.
 

15

Screenshot Captor / Poor man's 'gallery view' in Screenshot Capture

« on: September 06, 2013, 01:33 PM »

Often, I read comments on DC from people doing things that seem perfectly obvious to them and yet are enlightening to me.  So, while I expect that many do already what I describe below, this feature of SC is so useful that I thought I'd mention it.

I refer to the fact that by setting the icon size for the left panel to the standard 96x96 and making the panel wider I get a pretty good 'gallery view' of whatever I want to look through. (The new search bar is an additional convenience.)
 

 

16

Living Room / Off-brand li-ion camera batteries - personal experiences/recommendations, please

« on: July 13, 2013, 05:04 PM »

I recently acquired a new pocket camera.

I'd prefer not to pay the manufacturer's price for spare lithium-ion batteries (or charger, come to that).

I'm aware that there are plenty of very dodgy ones out there. So, can anyone give me some pointers to reliable sources, based on personal experience?

Thanks for your time!
 
 

17

Living Room / Samsung Galaxy Android Camera EK-GC110 Anyone have real-world experience of it?

« on: June 28, 2013, 04:13 PM »

My 'pocket' camera died and I need another.

Has anyone used one of these Galaxy Android cameras?

I like the idea but what worries me most is the trouble I have trying to read smart-phone displays out of doors. This is especially true on sunny days, of which I expect there to be at least two this year.
 
Thanks 
 

18

General Software Discussion / Best method for a dead simple web site?

« on: May 12, 2013, 11:22 AM »

Apologies in advance as  I know there are numerous topics that contain pieces of information about this subject. My problem is too much information, not too little. I wonder if some of you can help me to cut through the clutter.

My wife is an artist who needs a web site on which to display her work. 

She is wilfully computer illiterate.

She has a web site that I put together. It's (I'm) just not good enough.

I need to set up (or have set up for me) something that allows the very easiest point and drag method for her to:

• Add pages, and add images to those pages
• Replace existing items on pages
• Label items with appropriate titles and descriptions (probably multi-line text)
• Possibly re-arrange items on any given page.
• Have visitors move easily between pages.
• Have some method whereby thumbnails will enlarge for greater detail.

I can do this with the site that I created but my wife can't, so we're going to start again.

This has to be easy enough for a five-year-old to manage as I might be required to use it myself.

The task should be as easy as falling off a log but, no matter how hard I throw myself at the ground, I haven't reached it yet.

So, please, what's my best option?
 

19

Screenshot Captor / Question about post-capture file naming

« on: March 28, 2013, 03:44 PM »

I have a question about automatic file names and automatic captions in SC4.

This is where I'm at...

(I'm using a custom date string of %b-%y)

Default new filename field has:
%description% %customdate%

Automatic captions has:
%description% %customdate%

Post Capture - Actions has:
Add caption to image checked

Post-capture pop-up form has:
If custom comment...add a caption for it checked


So, if I grab a shot from "BBCeditor" and add "Baffled" in the post-caption pop-up field (because I am) 
I get a caption of: Baffled BBCeditor Mar-13
and a file name of: BBCeditor Mar-13 (no "Baffled")

Is there any way for SC naming to use the comment added in the post-capture pop-up, in the same way that the captioning does?
In other words, I'd like the caption and the name to be identical, each using whatever I type into the post-capture comment field.
 
Any help  would be appreciated — but make it fast, they don't let me out of the rubber room all that often.
 

20

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Beet Box

« on: December 27, 2012, 12:19 PM »

Anyone can use a good pun…

and here's one for Renegade.
 
 

21

Living Room / Pumpkin carvings which are not to be missed.

« on: October 15, 2012, 06:27 PM »

Here they are. It's a link, the images will be copyrighted.

There's some really good work to be seen.

22

Living Room / Tech support — why bother?

« on: August 24, 2012, 09:42 AM »

A recently purchased Photoshop plug-in was creating all kinds of problems. After trying a few potential remedies, to no avail, I sent email to the tech support group.

The product is available both for PC and Mac. That being so, the first line of my email was to establish which O/S I use.

I began:

My system runs Windows 7-64.

The reply began:

Go to your Macintosh HD => Library => Application Support => CrashMaster*
>and delete the CrashMaster* folder...you will need to enter your system password
>to OK this change.

* Product name changed to protect the imbecilic.

I suppose it's better than "First, format C:" but only just.
 

 

23

Living Room / A roaring nuisance with Aurora 15

« on: June 17, 2012, 10:56 AM »

I'm getting a daily reminder to update my copy of Aurora.

Is anyone else seeing this?



Thx

24

Living Room / Moronic would-be scammers

« on: March 17, 2012, 01:51 PM »

I had one of those phone calls today from an "IT company" whose representative was most concerned about the virus that must be on my computer. Would I go to my computer so that he could help me?

I'm fed up with these jerks so,

Me:   "Oh no! Really, a problem with my computer?
          I'll fire it up right away so that you can help me"
He:    "Take your time, sir "
Me:    "It's in another room, so hold on and I'll go there"
set down speaker phone, launch pinball game... 5 minutes elapse
He:    "Sir, are you there sir?"
Me:    "I'm on my way, I don't move very quickly"
He:    "Take your time, sir "
Me:    "Okay"
set down speaker phone, resume pinball game... 5 minutes elapse
He:    "Sir, are you there sir?"
Me:    "I'm at my computer, I'll start it up"
He:    "Take your time, sir "
Me:    "Okay"
set down speaker phone, resume pinball game... 5 minutes elapse
He:    "Sir, are you there sir?"
Me:    "It won't start, must be a virus, thank goodness you called"
He:    "Take your time, sir "
Me:    "Okay"
set down speaker phone, resume pinball game... 5 minutes elapse
He:    "Sir, are you there sir?"
Me:    "It still won't start, I'm working on it"
He:    "Take your time, sir "
Me:    "Okay"
set down speaker phone, resume pinball game... 5 minutes elapse
He:    "Sir, are you there sir?"
Me:    "What should I do, I'm still trying to start it?"
He:    "Take your time, sir "
Me:    "Okay"
set down speaker phone, resume pinball game... 5 minutes elapse
He:    "Sir, are you there sir?"
Me:    "Yes, I've found the virus!"
He:    "What do you mean?"
He:    "You are the virus. Now piss off and stop wasting my time and yours!"
hang up speaker phone, achieve high score in pinball game

Sigh...

25

General Software Discussion / I seek calendar software to suit a specific requirement.

« on: February 25, 2012, 05:58 PM »

I need help! Well, you knew that already... 

Looking back down the ever darkening tunnel of time, to the days of Borland Sidekick, I recall calendar software of a very basic kind.

This would create a month view that allowed one simply to type into any day's 'cell' whatever was required. This text appeared — in full — on the cell for that day. Not just the first few words, not a clever little coloured bar, not a link to the 'day view' but exactly what it was that one had typed. If required, the font size would reduce to accommodate longer entries, subject to reasonable limits. What's more the software would allow for printing one-month, two months, or three months per page.

I have looked at a fair bit of calendar software, but don't see anything on the market that does this, to me, simple but essential thing. Surely I'm missing something, somewhere! I still have the Borland (latterly Starfish) software but it's a little absurd to impose that on a 64-bit W7 system.

So, I throw the question to the DC Hydra...

What software for Windows will do this specific thing?