Topics

26

General Software Discussion / A salty tale: Table salt multiplies hard disk space six times

« on: October 16, 2011, 10:45 AM »

Table salt multiplies hard disk space six times

I wonder just how many new mechanical drives will be required by the time 2016 rolls around.

27

General Software Discussion / Multiple printer defs under W7. Anyone have the key to this?

« on: October 10, 2011, 10:50 PM »

Does anybody know how to set up, under W7, multiple instances of a printer, each using its own set of parameters — and in a way that works?

E.g. for the same printer:
One definition might print on plain paper, fed from one source, and in draft mode.
One definition might print on photo paper, fed from a different source, and in highest-quality mode.

Under XP one simply made a copy of a printer listed in the devices section and then set the preferences for that copy.

After some fiddling, I made a copy of a printer under W7. Then I set one copy to params a and the other to params b. Both 'printers' appear but one is on a sub-menu of the printer icon (see image).




To my chagrin, both variants print with the params of the later of the two to be changed — whichever that might be. Despite being able to select one or the other from any printer dialog, each produces the same result.

28

General Software Discussion / Problem: I can't understand how to get a W7-64 machine into an XP-32 network

« on: August 15, 2011, 09:27 AM »

Friends, I could really use some help (a lot of people tell me that)!

The issueLately, I've been wrestling with a slew of failures on my main computer. I'm up against a nasty deadline so I decided to buy my way out with a new personal machine. This took me from XP-32 to Win 7-64.

My problem is coaxing the new W7 machine onto my small home network of XP-32 SP3 machines.

To say that I'm not good with network stuff is akin to saying that the world economy is slightly imperfect.
 

The grovellingBetween wrestling with a flaky machine and setting up a new one from scratch I'm just plain lost. Then terminology is different and my internet connection so slow that looking up material on line takes for ever (>30 seconds here, just to move between pages).

I have received good tips and pointers to reference documents from knowledgeable and goodhearted friends (thanks 40hz, Target). That ought to be enough: not so! Now I'm publicly humiliating myself in the hopes of:

• Being treated with the tolerance required by a simpleton
• Being led to a solution
• Leaving a trail that might help some other poor unfortunate

So far, I seem to have convinced W7 that my wireless network is my wired connection and vice versa.

Has anyone the time and patience to take me by the hand and walk me through this before I manage to disable every machine that I have?

I was hoping to find the light but I must have taken the road to Damascus — I just can't see!

29

General Software Discussion / Naming one's product

« on: June 05, 2011, 10:48 AM »

On Bits du Jour today  (June 5, 2011):

> Photopus Pro for PC - 60% off Today Only                         
>                                                               
> On Sunday 5 Jun EST you can get Photopus Pro at a huge discount!


Is it just me?

I realize what was intended here but would you really want to name your product Photo pus?

Perhaps it's for those who want suppurating snaps…

Probably a good idea to run potential names by as large a panel of friends/colleagues as possible.

30

General Software Discussion / How to find/replace a WDC WD5001ABYS-01YNA0 device driver

« on: May 27, 2011, 01:53 PM »

Apparently, my machine doesn't want to hibernate due to this device (WDC WD5001ABYS-01YNA0).

What's the right way to find the device driver and replace it without doing more harm than good?

Any help appreciated.

TIA

31

General Software Discussion / Please help me with a video card issue (April 2011) Now resolved

« on: April 17, 2011, 08:29 AM »

Dear Aunt Agony,

Can someone be kind enough to give me a piece of information about hardware?

My wife's machine runs XP SP3.

The computer has an ASUS P5LD2 motherboard (ASUS P5LD2) with 2 Gig DDR2 memory. This board uses PCI Express X16 for video, and its video card died. The dead card was an Asus GeForce 7300 GS with 256 Meg DDR2 SDRAM. The machine died and then came up with vertical lines on the boot screen, a munged Windows start screen, and then failed… every time.

My extremely limited hardware know-how (more properly don't-know-how) does run to replacing a video card but I live in the middle of nowhere, so there's not much choice locally. Just about any video will do for this machine, however.

All I could get on short notice is a ZOTAC(?!?) GeForce GT 430. This has PCI Express 2.0 support and 1 Gig DDR3 SDRAM. So, that's what I bought.
I removed the old drivers, powered off and inserted the new card: machine came up perfectly well.
Installed the new drivers, rebooted: machine came up perfectly well.
Updated the drivers to the latest version, rebooted: machine came up perfectly well.

The trouble is that, once I start to access some software pffft, down it goes. With the new card installed the machine runs okay in safe mode with network support and, to my surprise, at 1600x1200.

So, before I start digging, can someone tell me if there is something inherently problematic, from a hardware point of view, about replacing this 256 Mb DDR2 card with a 1 Gb DDR3 card that has PCIE 2 and DX 11 support? Or, is it going to be driver conflicts etc… ?

Yours truly,

Lost, in Limbo

32

Living Room / For a good cause, please take a moment to donate some goodwill only.

« on: April 09, 2011, 06:49 PM »

Folks, I hope you don't mind my posting this here; it seems like a good cause to me and I know the lad involved. He is a very nice young man.

Ten-year-old Quinn is the son of the woman who conducts art classes that my wife attends. He is a very nice young chap who works hard and already has developed a social conscience.

Quinn has entered a Christmas Card Design Contest. He has been told he is a finalist — in the top 10 in Canada — and that there is a "Fan Favourite" vote.
 
The winning card is printed and sold at Pier 1 and all the money goes to UNICEF. Please take a look at the link below and view Quinn's design. If you like what you see, please consider voting for him. It would appear you can vote as many times as you wish, and Quinn would appreciate all the support you are willing to give him. "International" support would be particularly appreciated.

Were Quinn to win, that would make him eligible for a scholarship.

Also, if you feel so inclined, please forward the link to others.
 
Please click here and look for the name Quinn on this page.

The actual URL is:  http://www.pier1.com/canada/en/UNICEF/tabid/545/Default.aspx

Voting closes on April 22nd. 2011


Thanks for reading this! Do please give Quinn a 'click' if you can spare a moment.

33

General Software Discussion / Firefox 4, Tab Mix Plus, middle-mouse click not recognized

« on: March 27, 2011, 01:21 PM »

As the title implies, FF4 doesn't want to recognize a middle click when handling tabs. That is when using an add-on to modify tab behaviour. I want a middle click to load a link into the current tab. Currently I'm using the dev build of Tab Mix Plus. I'd been using the betas of FF4 and assumed that the problem would go away once the final release appeared.

Before I resume hunting for a solution can anyone else confirm that this is a problem or tell me what I've overlooked?
If it's just me, I'll focus my attention on finding and removing the source of annoyance.

TIA

34

Mini-Reviews by Members / Micro-mini Review of Lipsum text generator

« on: March 08, 2011, 05:36 PM »

Basic Info:

App Name	Lipsum
App URL	http://lipsum.sourceforge.net/
App Version Reviewed	2.0 for Windows
Test System Specs	Windows XP Pro SP3 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 4Gb RAM nVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
Supported OSes	Windows, and any others that support Python.
Support Methods	Through the web site one can contact the author and/or access the forums.
Pricing Scheme	Lipsum is free.
Reviewer Donation Link	Click here to donate to the DonationCoder site fund.
Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product	REVIEWER: Merely a happy user of this free software.

Intro:

Virtually any designer who works much with text will be familiar with Lorem ipsum which is filler text frequently used in page layouts. Lipsum expands on this and generates meaningless filler text that a designer can use to populate layouts for typographical work, web pages, etc. This dummy content gives a good view of how the layout will look, regardless of subject matter.


 

 


Who is this app designed for:

Anyone working with layouts that will ultimately be filled with meaningful text. In this circumstance, it is useful to deploy text that has no particular meaning, the purpose being to see whether the layout itself will be pleasing to the eye, properly balanced and so forth.


The Good

Lipsum will use text already on the clipboard if so desired. More importantly it also comes pre-populated with a variety of texts (including Lorem ipsum). Thanks to a very simple, relatively unobtrusive interface, with a few large buttons, one can choose quickly whether to use text from the clipboard or any one of the preset texts. Further, one can choose the number of paragraphs to generate as well as the length of those paragraphs. Another useful benefit is the ability to generate texts in a variety of languages. The chosen text is then sent to the clipboard  for easy pasting into the layout under construction.


The needs improvement section

I can see no area that needs improvement in the way Lipsum actually functions. It would be a nice bonus were it possible to add other items to the already copious preset texts.


Why I think you should use this product

If you work with layouts using large amounts of textual material, Lipsum will help you preview how your layout will look. This is better than having to work from empty placeholders. Because most of the texts used will be meaningless in the context of the page, it is possible to concentrate on how the layout looks instead being distracted by what the layout says. This is a very important step in the design process.


Conclusions

This is a nice piece of free software to perform quickly a task that will be familiar to those working with text layouts in various media.

35

General Software Discussion / onOne software

« on: February 17, 2011, 07:47 AM »

I had never anticipated using this area for complaints but…

I recently bought "Perfect Photo Suite 5.5.1" from onOne software. In the past I've used their plugins for Photoshop and have been reasonably pleased with them. The suite was offered at a promotional price of $250 (half of the usual amount).

When installing the software it correctly identified my CS5 and put the plugins under Photoshop. I was astonished to find, however, that it insists on dumping >3GB of support files onto C: (in addition to the usual application data stuff). There is no option to alter this. I suppose I could try some registry hijinks, but why should I?

I contacted onOne support who very politely said, to paraphrase, "Yes, you're not the first to complain, sorry you don't like it we apologize." I happen not to allow application software on my boot drive, so that response is not good enough for me. At this price point, with previous complaints, I'd expect some action other than "Oh dear, sorry." How hard can it be to create a sensible installer?

We'll see what happens next as I've asked for a refund.

36

Mini-Reviews by Members / mini(scule) review of "Fileminimizer Pictures" compression tool

« on: February 16, 2011, 11:28 AM »

Basic Info

App Name	FILEminimizer Pictures from balesio
App URL	http://www.balesio.c...ctures/eng/index.php
App Version Reviewed	3.0 (free version)
Test System Specs	Windows XP Pro SP3 Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 4Gb RAM nVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
Supported OSes	Win XP through 7
Support Methods	FAQ's, online contact form
Upgrade Policy	Unknown, this is a free edition
Trial Version Available?	This is a free version. Commercial use is not allowed.
Restrictions	Commercial use is not allowed. At infrequent intervals an exceedingly polite box pops up reminding you to pay for the software if you put it to commercial use.
Screencast Video URL	http://www.balesio.c...mp;h=755&lang=en
Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product	There is none.

Intro:

Compression tool for JPG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG and EMF images




Who is this app designed for:

Those who have large collections of images and who want to reduce storage requirements.
Those who move images, or versions of images, across the web in some manner (posting to collections, email, etc.)

The Good

Simple interface:

• collect files for compression by browsing or by drag and drop
• handles individual files or batches of files
• facilitates emailing of compressed files (compress and email in one step)
• pre-set compression levels for those wanting a little help
• custom compression levels for those with specific levels in mind
• optional context menu entry

It just works. The screenshot of the interface started as a jpg at 100% output quality. Its size was halved by this software, with a better result than that from just dropping the output quality to 50%.

It's free.

It leaves files in their native format(s) unless given permission to do otherwise.

Can be forced to output in lossless format.

Doesn't overwrite original images, although it can be forced to do that if desired.

Can output compressed files to a user-specified folder.

Optionally automatically renames the compressed file adding a user-dictated suffix or prefix, for example ThisPic.jpg could become ThisPic (FILEminimizer).jpg.

Optionally resizes the image(s).


The needs improvement section

Limited to reading/writing the formats mentioned above, viz. JPG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PNG and EMF


Why I think you should use this product

Everyone's standards are different. You may or may not like this software so I can't say why I think you should use it. For a price of $0, however, you probably owe it to yourself to try.


How does it compare to similar apps

I can't speak with any authority here. Empirically, its performance on the test files that I used left me with the strong sense that this is better than other methods that I've tried.


Conclusions

A very nice personal-use freebie for those with images and who are concerned about bandwidth and/or storage capacity.


And also

balesio has other, paid, compression software on its site. It's forté seems to be in squeezing Microsoft products such as PowerPoint and other Office components.

37

Living Room / Can anybody recommend a free XML to PDF or RTF converter?

« on: February 15, 2011, 05:09 PM »

mouser recently implemented a mod that allows the export of personal messages. Out of curiosity I tried it out. It works very nicely. The result is a large chunk of xml.

Does anybody know of a free solution to convert xml into, say, PDF or RTF or even just plain text?


Better yet a free application that would display the .xml in a manner similar to that in the forums...

38

Living Room / The Curse Of The Web

« on: January 29, 2011, 03:01 PM »

The current situation
I have a clipboard manager that is a long-time favourite of mine.
For the past 15+ years I paid for upgrades to multiple licenses as it changed and improved.
It still works just fine.

The Problem
There is a lot of data filed away in that thing and it's difficult tedious to retrieve.
Without warning, the developer disappeared some time during the past year or two.
Activation over the web is the only way to make a new installation of this software work.
So, the next time I upgrade to a new machine…  guess what?


There's rather too much of this online activation stuff these days for me to feel comfortable.

It's one thing for a giant like Adobe to do this, there's a good chance that they'll be around in future in some form or other. It's quite a different proposition when a small company adopts the practice.

[edit to clarify "difficult"]

39

Living Room / Not thrilled by you Christmas gifts - could have been worse

« on: December 23, 2010, 10:17 AM »

Link

40

Living Room / Fatuous Advertising

« on: December 20, 2010, 07:25 PM »

From a leaflet sent by one of my charge card providers, trying to flog insurance…

An accident doesn't have to take the fun out of your family vacation.


What the hell will an accident do to a vacation then, enhance it?

41

Developer's Corner / Your software — screencasting — why do it?

« on: December 15, 2010, 03:20 PM »

Smashing Magazine has a decent, short, and common-sensical article about screencasting. It covers some do's and dont's and points out why a good screencast can be more important to your project than you might think. It's a five-minute read, tops.

http://www.smashingm...es-in-screencasting/

42

Living Room / A bit of fun with jQuery - Pong

« on: December 08, 2010, 08:29 AM »

A few minutes of fun

http://demo.marcofolio.net/jpong/
(via: [email protected])

43

Mini-Reviews by Members / Mini-Review and Discount (Sep 2010): USB Safely Remove and Zentimo

« on: July 20, 2010, 01:42 PM »

USB Safely Remove
This software is mentioned more than once as a favourite of DC members in the Must-have Windows Programs topic (click here).

In brief, USB Safely Remove is a device manager that improves on the basic 'Safely Remove Hardware' mechanism that is built into Windows itself.
USB Safely Remove makes it easier for users to see and work with USB, SATA and other devices that are connected to the system. The software simplifies managing flash-drives, portable drives, card readers and other gadgets.  

When a device cannot be stopped for some reason, the program can show what is preventing this and help to defeat the problem. The program also allows a user to set up hot keys to remove devices safely, without the need to use a tray icon. If a user has stopped a device, USB Safely Remove can return it to an active state if desired. USB Safely Remove can show a menu of attached devices, displaying considerably more useful information than is available from the native Windows tool, and it allows the user to identify devices by name, give names to devices, allocate specific drive letters to devices, hide devices that are not useful to see (e.g. card readers with no card inserted), and more.

Another nice feature of USB Safely Remove is that it allows a user to set up actions that will occur automatically when a device is connected and also when it is removed. I also like the fact that I can assign custom icons to the devices that appear in the menu, in order to see at a glance which device is which.

As of this writing the program is at version 4.3.2. In my experience it has been improved consistently.

The normal pricing of USB Safely Remove is, for a Personal License, $20 USD.
Private usage only, One user / multiple computers / lifetime upgrades

Here are a few illustrations to give an idea of the program at work (click on an image to enlarge it).

          


More information is available on the web site, which is http://safelyremove.com/


Zentimo
The company that offers USB Safely Remove also offers a similar but more powerful program called Zentimo.

The Zentimo web site lists these advantages over USB Safely Remove. Not every user will need them: for many, USB Safely Remove will be enough:

• An improved device menu. This allows right-click access to more information about the attached device, and offers common functions such as browsing a drive or launching software from it.
• A drive-speed test for an attached drive.
• A quick-launch menu for any portable application on the device.
• Integration for TrueCrypt (for example, with Zentimo running, TrueCrypt containers can be mounted on device connection and dismounted on disconnection).
• The ability to have portable settings, on a relevant device, so that your Zentimo configuration will be recognized automatically on another computer running Zentimo.

The license details listed for Zentimo are these:
Personal licenses which are for private use only, One user / multiple computers / lifetime usage
Note the difference between lifetime usage and lifetime upgrades.

License with free upgrades for one year	$35 USD
License with free upgrades for two years	$45 USD
License with lifetime upgrades	$70 USD

To extend upgrades beyond the initial upgrade period costs $19 USD per additional year.

There are also commercial and site licenses available.


Here are a few images of Zentimo in action:

          
 
  

For those who are interested, some information about Zentimo appears here.


Disclaimer
I should make clear that I have no connection to the people who offer USB Safely Remove and Zentimo.
I am a paying customer of USB Safely Remove.
I first learned about it, on DonationCoder, by reading favourable comments from other users.

44

Mini-Reviews by Members / Mini-Review: Atrise Golden Section

« on: July 12, 2010, 09:26 PM »

Basic Info

Application Name	Atrise Golden Section
Application URL	http://www.atrise.com/golden-section/
Version Reviewed	4.1.1
Test System Specs	Intel Q9450 Quad core @2.66Ghz; ASUS P5E3 mb, 4Gb RAM; NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT video; Windows XP Pro, SP3
Supported OS's	Windows XP, Vista, 7. 32 or 64 bit.
Support Methods	http://www.atrise.com/support/ email (and online chat GMT 16:00-20:00)
Upgrade Policy	Currently at v4.1.1, license valid for versions 4.x.x. Minor upgrades free. Major upgrades a small fee, currently USD $15.
Trial Version Available?	An unlimited trial version is available for a 30-day period.
Pricing Scheme	Euro €30 or USD $35
License Terms	One license per one computer or one user. Only one user must use it at one time. Self-employed and home users may install it on any personal computers and notebooks. Technical support service for 1 year is included.
Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product	I am simply a satisfied, paying customer. Other than that, I have no connection to — or financial interest in — the company that offers this product.

Introduction:

Golden section is a design grid for web, graphic, logo and user-interface design.

This program is designed as a tool to help artists, designers, programmers, photographers and others.
It allows the user to design something by applying those proportions defined as the golden section or golden ratio.
Various aspects of the golden section can be overlaid visually on whatever design software you are using in Windows.
See also the Wikipedia article on the golden ratio here.




For whom this app is designed:

Atrise Golden Section has potential for anyone designing a web site, or a user interface, constructing a newsletter, or indulging in digital photography, or a whole lot more.

In use, it positions an overlay grid that 'floats' above your work. Aligning elements to that grid is a quick and efficient way to ensure a layout that the human eye/brain combination will find appealing, often at a level below conscious thought. Without having to know a great deal about æsthetics, it is possible to make very worthwhile improvements to the layout of material at which we ourselves and others will be looking. (Using this application I have even improved the look of Powerpoint slides!)


   


       


The Good:

The application is very easy to use because it is a grid that appears above whatever software is being used and is therefore independent of that software. This makes it equally suitable for just about any Windows software that has anything to do with design. I use it with several image programs, including Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, with InDesign, with components of Microsoft Office, and many others. The grid is easily moved, and re-sized, and reoriented. It is simple to switch it into various modes e.g. linear grids or spirals, circles, ratios…


The needs improvement section:

I am not a design professional: to my untutored eye, there is no area that I find to be problematic.


Why I think you should use this product:

I can share with you the main purpose to which I put this application, though there are many other uses. My principal use for AGS is very simple. I use it to help me crop large digital photographs in ways that are pleasing. Typically, especially when in a hurry, I deliberately shoot an image containing more information that I want. I rely on being able to crop and re-size photos at a more leisurely moment. Later, when editing, it has become virtually automatic for me to overlay the Golden Section grid on any photo that I want to crop, in order to extract the most pleasing composition.

Professionals and good amateurs can do this stuff in their heads, of course. For the rest of us, however, AGS is there to help.


Conclusions:

Atrise Golden Section helps users to improve the appearance of what they produce, with very little effort, and with only a basic understanding of the underlying principles of design on which it depends.

If this golden section stuff was good enough for DaVinci, it's good enough for me!


Links to other reviews of this application:

Some reviews and testimonials appear on the Atrise web site click here.

45

General Software Discussion / Help me to understand .mp3 naming issue on a DVD player reading from a USB stick

« on: June 10, 2010, 03:30 PM »

Here's my issue.

The background:
I want to play a reasonably large number of .mp3 files in one location.
The audio system in this location had no .mp3 capability.
The way I chose to remedy this was to buy an inexpensive Samsung DVD player and add this to the sound system. I chose this player largely because:

• it has a remote control
• it can read from a USB stick.

To try this out I dumped a few .mp3's onto a stick and all was well. Things played from the USB stick, and in the sequence that I expected.

Next I put 67 .mp3's onto a blank stick, using 8.3 file names in the format of:
01 xxxxx.mp3
02 xxxxx.mp3
..
67 xxxxx.mp3
where xxxxx represents 5 letters which could be anything.

I chose to lead the names with numbers as I wanted the items to play in the specific order of 01 to 67.
(There's nothing magic about the 67, that just happened to be the number of files on hand.)

On my computer, the directory of the disk reads exactly as I'd expect, viz. it starts with "01 xxxxx.mp3" and runs to "67 xxxxx.mp3". The items play in that order.

I put this stick into the DVD player and get items 1 to 67 on the DVD display panel (since it is connected only to an audio system, there is no display of titles, just item numbers).

The problem
When I play this stick:
item "1" on the DVD is actually file "47 xxxxx.mp3"
item "2" on the DVD is actually file "48 xxxxx.mp3"
..
item "21" on the DVD is actually file "67 xxxxx.mp3"
item "22" on the DVD is actually file "01 xxxxx.mp3"
..
item "67" on the DVD is actually file "46 xxxxx.mp3"

In other words, the file names are shifted 46 places from what I'd expect.

Can anybody tell me why, and if so, how to avoid this?

46

Living Room / Low-cost laptop in February 2010. Comments anyone?

« on: February 15, 2010, 07:31 PM »

I want to try some things with W7 on a machine that's well away from the rest of my systems.

Principally, I want to try out some legacy stuff that I have to run. My goal is to discover what, if any, problems I'll find if I switch more systems to W7.
I'm not interested in any O/S other than Windows for reasons that are too boring to explain here.

So, I'm going to buy a cheap laptop that I don't otherwise need.

When I say cheap, I'm not kidding and I don't expect great build quality.
I don't watch movies.
I might try non-extreme games (probably not).
I do need to view and edit some .mp4/.mov stuff.

This one's on offer locally for about $500CAD (roughly $475US). I want to buy locally. That way, if any problems occur, I can just walk in to the store and have the machine replaced on the spot.

Acer Aspire
15.6-in. CineCrystal™ HD LCD display, 1366 x 768 native res.
Athlon X2 L310 cpu
4  Gig RAM
250 Gig SATA HDD 5400 rpm
ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics
Win 7 Home Premium
The chip will handle virtualization, which is likely to be important.

Bearing in mind that the machine is very inexpensive and not destined to be used much beyond this experimental stage, I'd welcome any comments about it from those in the know.

Thanks!

47

Living Room / I'm in big trouble now

« on: December 24, 2009, 07:55 AM »

Not even into 2010 and my credit's dropping like a stone.
You can see how I've suffered in the space of just a a few short hours:

"Federal Credit Bureau" <files?fedcb.org> Your Credit Score has down to 571
"Federal Credit Bureau" <no-reply?fedcreditbureau.org> Your Credit Score has down to 515.
"Federal Credit Bureau" <no-reply?fedcb.org> Your Credit Score decreased to 469.

Thank goodness there are helpful scammers out there who'll relieve me of the little that remains and so end this awful problem!

48

Living Room / Milestones

« on: April 20, 2009, 11:03 PM »

I believe that I am right in saying that April 21, 2009 marks the 1,500-day anniversary of DonationCoder.com.

Hearty congratulations to mouser and to the nicest bunch of people it has been my good fortune to encounter on the www!

 

49

General Software Discussion / What's the dif? (drive icon fandango

« on: April 08, 2009, 11:37 PM »

I face a mystery.

Directory Opus is one file manager that I use.
Periodically I notice a change in its display of drive icons (I refer to the appearance, not the difference in drive letters).

Sometimes they appear like this:

At other times like this:


These displays switch from time to time, but I can't see what causes it. 

I'm not even sure that the phenomenon is limited to Directory Opus or if that's the only place I happen to have noticed it.

Any ideas?

50

Mini-Reviews by Members / Macro Express - MiniReview

« on: March 20, 2009, 08:15 PM »

Basic Info

App Name	Macro Express Pro from Insight Software Solutions, Inc.
App URL	http://www.macros.com/index.htm
App Version Reviewed	4.0.2.1
Test System Specs	Virtually irrelevant, any machine that supports the required O/S will do.
Supported OSes	Windows 2008, Vista, Vista 64, 2003, XP, XP 64, 2000
Support Methods	Email: [email protected] Knowledgebase: http://www.macros.com/cgi-bin/faq_interactmacros.cgi?search Online forum http://pgmacros.invisionzone.com. Phone: (801) 927-5009 (8:30 AM - 5:00 PM Mountain Time, Monday-Friday) Fax: (801) 927-5011 (24 hours a day) Mail: Insight Software Solutions, Inc.,  P.O. Box 106,   Kaysville,   UT 84037-0106,   USA
Upgrade Policy	Updates within major version numbers are free (e.g. 4.1 to 4.2 etc.). Discounts for existing users on major version updates (e.g. 4.9 to 5.0 etc).
Trial Version Available?	Trial version which is fully functional during the 30-day trial period.
Pricing Scheme	US$59.95.
Screencast Video URL	A whole series of 'how to' videos at: Video Tutorials Page.
Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product	I have no association with Insight Software other than as a regular, paying customer. I offer this review (such as it is) simply because I find the product useful and hope that others might find the same.

Introduction:

Macro Express Pro is software to do what the name implies, that is create macros with as little fuss as possible. A macro, of course, is something that will automate a series of actions, in order to make our time at the computer more productive.

My own feeling is that if something has to be done on a computer more than a few times then it's worth automating it -- taking care of that stuff is a fundamental role of the computer. It's a personal point of view of course and since I acquired my dog I've stopped barking, too.

Macro Express Pro is a well established, mature product that first went into development in 1990. It is continually updated and improved, often at no cost to the user.






For whom is this software suitable?

An appealing aspect of Macro Express Pro is that it is suitable for almost anyone. At one extreme, people who have never before created macros will find it easy to use. At the other extreme, those with a lot of experience can create and automate solutions to extremely complex problems.


A quick overview

Think of Macro Express Pro as your electronic butler. It is an easy way to get things done on your computer without engaging in a lot of repetitive effort. Do you want a series of events to happen when you hit a certain key? No problem, Macro Express Pro can arrange that. Do you want some specific text to appear in a document when you type "zzz" or "home address"? Easy as pie. Need to monitor some data on the web and capture it when it changes, and then have Adobe Illustrator produce a top-quality chart based on that? Consider it done. Do you require files to be backed up when they appear in a certain folder? Macro Express is your willing servant. Simple or complex, Macro Express Pro is up to the task and, with a little ingenuity, it can produce quick solutions for innumerable problems without needing to reach for a full-scale programming language.

For beginners, Macro Express Pro can monitor what you do and then create a macro based on your actions. It will capture both keyboard and mouse activity. It also offers an optional "Wizard" interface to make things even easier when starting out with the program. Later, if desired, the code that the macro produced can be examined, learned from, and modified (it's not necessary that one does this but it is a good way for beginners to expand their skills). There is a useful built-in help system peppered with good examples of just about every aspect of the software.

For those who progress a little further, Macro Express Pro gives full access to to a set of over 900 commands which provide the building blocks with which to create some highly intricate automation.

Macros can be triggered in a number of ways. A few of these are:

• when a hot key is pressed
• when a scheduled event occurs
• when a window is activated
• when some mouse-key combination is pressed
• when a change occurs to a file or folder
• when some system event or process occurs
• when specific data appears on the clipboard

there are more...

Macros can be set to play back:

• globally, in all Windows programs
• only when a specific window is active
• only when a specific program is active
• always, except in a program that you specify

If desired, macros can be compiled into standalone programs that will execute independently of whether Macro Express Pro is installed on a given machine.
[Sorry, my mistake, an exported macro will require a copy of Macro Express on the machine where it runs - Cranio]

When running in its normal mode Macro Express Pro has a presence in the form of a tray icon. To program or edit a macro one activates the appropriate interface by means of the tray icon or a hot-key combination.

This overview barely scratches the surface of Macro Express Pro. I intend it only as a way to draw your attention to a program that has satisfied me for a good long time. If these few words have raised your interest level, I encourage you to take the trial version for a spin and discover whether you share my enthusiasm.


Why I think you should use this product

I find Macro Express Pro to be a good and useful way to offload repetitive tasks and have the computer take care of them. In addition, with a little creativity, it can be used to weld together disparate applications and so form a customized, comfortable workflow. I believe that it is a valuable tool for beginner and experienced user alike. It is updated and improved at regular intervals, often at no cost at all to the user. I'll let the fact that I have been using it for over a decade speak for itself.


How does it compare to similar apps?

This is not a comparative review. Some software categories seem to lend themselves to highly subjective likes and dislikes. Why each one of us prefers his or her favourite word processor, for example, is sometimes difficult to define. I suspect our feelings about automation software are similar. I know, like, use, and am comfortable with Macro Express Pro. I can bring it to your attention, I am confident that it will perform well, but I cannot say if you will like it more than others.

I do know of some competing software.
One is AutoMate. This is a highly competent product but significantly more expensive. This can be found at http://www.networkau...WotJkCFSbxDAodWgnP4w.
Another is Macro Scheduler. This is also highly competent but somewhat more expensive. This can be found at http://www.mjtnet.com/index.htm.
Another is WinAutomation I have no experience of this one. It is moderately more expensive. This can be found at http://www.winautomation.com/index.html.


Conclusions

Macro Express Pro is an effective, easy, mature, reasonably-priced tool to increase productivity and reduce drudgery. It is adaptable to a range of skill levels, from novice to expert.


Links to other reviews of this application

Apart from on the developer's own site, I found one here, at SoftSea.