Topics

51

General Software Discussion / Make the alphabetic menu display in Windows 10 the default

« on: February 22, 2016, 09:43 AM »

Is there a way to make a Desktop Shortcut to access the Alphabetic 'list-by-letter' menu in Windows 10?   Additionally, maybe a way to make that the default display type instead of scrolling through from the 'A' apps to get to the 'R' apps.

Currently I click any letter to bring up the full alphabet then choose the letter I want but for some reason in this one place MS decided not to allow any keyboard interaction to reach a letter.  Logically you would think typing the letter R when in that menu would jump to the R's but nothing happens at all.  It is Mouse Only.  If I could, I would make that my default Display option when clicking All Apps in the Start Menu in the first place since seeing all the tiny tiles listed alphabetically does not make things any faster to access.

There may already be some 3rd party app out there to do this but I have not seen one.  And I know this is the fastest place to find something like that.  This might even be best posted in Skrommels 1 hr software as I bet he already has an answer

52

General Software Discussion / Shortcut to All Apps displayed by letter Alphabet

« on: February 21, 2016, 12:49 PM »

I have seen several threads where people want to remove this feature but in my case it is actually easier to use than scrolling down through 10 to 20 pages of programs listed by letter to get to "X" for "Xcopy+" for example. Is there a way to make a desktop shortcut one-click to access the All-Apps alphabetic 'list-by-letter' menu? If I could, i would make that my default Display option when clicking All Apps in the Start Menu.

53

General Software Discussion / Use Checkboxes to select specific Sites in returns from a Google Search to save

« on: February 16, 2016, 12:50 AM »

This is a 'spin-off' of another way to achieve something that apparently cannot be done.  My original request was a way to add a linefeed or <cr> to anything I Pasted to any document text or otherwise.  Apparently there is no longer a clipbrd.exe and it doesn't seem possible to modify the Windows Paste to include that linefeed.

The effort was being made in order to create a more specific list of links from those returned in an initial Google Search.  If there was a way to "click" a check box on the ones that I think are promising and let me scan thru maybe 10 pages dong this, then save a list of ONLY the ones that were checked.  This would actually be an even better solution.

The end result would be exactly what I wanted and no need to tinker with "way down deep" in the guts of Windows to add that extra linefeed which was only needed so all my copy/pasted links did not run together.  The option to choose maybe 4 out of 10 returns on each of 10 pages would give me a quick "saveable list of 40 links that I think have a high probability of needing further reading. 
There likely is already a Google App for that but I would not know what to call it.  If anyone has a similar program that would do something like this, I generally only use Google as I can start out with several parameters such as time span and other that give me more of the relevant data than most other searches.

54

General Software Discussion / Using the folder contents of a directory to auto fill an input window

« on: February 11, 2016, 03:32 PM »

This is a question i have often wondered if there is a proper way to manage.  Given that you have a folder with 20 or more sub-folders in it,each folder-name having no spaces:
When typing input into a query created using the "set /p" command is there a way to make the input field auto-fill the text to match the folder-names in the existing directory similar to how Outlook fills in the email address-field based on names in your contacts (or actually it now uses a special file for this purpose but the results are the same) . 
Each progressive key entered by the user would narrow down the displayed name until it either matched the name of a sub-folder that already existed or if not already there the script would proceed to ask "Create?  (Y)es  (N)o  with the default being NO.

55

General Software Discussion / Use batch script to merge 2 .png files into single png or other option

« on: February 11, 2016, 03:00 PM »

This is a little bit off my usual day-to-day dealing with documents. 
I need a way to take two .png files (each contains text but not text that would recognized by OCR software) and combine these end to end to make a single line. 
As an example. 
If "This.png" was a picture of the words "City of Angels".  And "That.png" which was a picture of the words "Sanitation Department".  I need 'add' them end to end to make "This+That.png" which would read "City of Angels Sanitation Department".  And then i need to shrink the results to a size no longer than would fit on an 8.5 wide sheet of paper.

I could, I would just extract the text from each .png to start with but nothing i have tried works consistently to read them. In the end, I may end up searching for each occurrence and just typing the lines of text by hand.  But finding a way to add two image files might come in handy for other things one day   and if scripted it could be plugged into a a larger script that i run on the same files daily

As a side question, I also considered using "echo" to get each png file into a pdf if that is possible.    I would also be more than willing to drop the effort if someone can tell me it is going to me nearly impossible to accomplish .

56

General Software Discussion / System resources monitor overload warning for Windows 10

« on: January 09, 2016, 12:01 AM »

If there is already a tool for this I would appreciate a link to it. 

I have a couple of people who can overload any system they are on.  No matter what system they use nor how much memory it has, they always end up with the same complaint:  System crashes and losing all the changes they have made to opened documents without saving them. 
I would like to find an app that creates a display in the taskbar showing how much of their system resources are in use and warn them before they reach a critical point.  Maybe something simple like a green bar which changes to red after reaching a critical point.  It may not help even then but worth a try. 

I have found a couple of utilities that will limit the number of tabs can be opened with a specific
browser but they will just open another browser if I limit that.  I have not found a way to limit the number of simultaneous documents that can be opened in Word, Excel etc.

All problems inevitably get  blamed on the hardware.  Never the "User" even when they are shown that they have so many things opened at once that Windows cannot install updates.

If there is such a "simple resources monitor" which could be set to plainly warn them they are over extending the capacity of their system to prevent a crash before it happens this is what I am looking for.  Something that monitors total available system resources and not just those used by a single application and that runs on Start-up with no user action required.

57

General Software Discussion / set the default contents of clipboard to contain two <cr> or add them after load

« on: November 27, 2015, 02:53 PM »

The intent is to end up with something that when pasted would put the item copied to clipboard PLUS two carriage returns.  I can't think of a better way to state it.  It would enable me to quickly cut and paste a number of items from various places into list or other document with a "double spaced" separation of the items without having to remember to hit "enter-enter" after each paste.  Since this is my main use of cut and paste it would be a great tool to have.  There may be other ways to automate this that I am not seeing.

58

General Software Discussion / active extension filter for archive drive

« on: November 25, 2015, 01:02 AM »

In the office we have a system with a drive that is dedicated to archiving mostly Word Documents but also other specific data file types.  In theory, it should contain only data files but in fact, it contains everything from temp files to executable to just about every possible type that can be copied from one place to another.

There are, however, a multitude of file-types that are absolutely worthless to anyone in the context for which the use was originally envisioned.  Half the space and probably 50% of the files by filename are actually worthless and never used.  They only take up space and slow down searches.

From time to time, I have used "Everything.exe" (the Best File Search engine I have ever seen...<a small 'plug' to Voidtools.com for making it > to locate the *.tmp and *.exe etc. and delete them all.  But it takes quite a lot of time and I am never sure I have gotten out all the various files extensions that just waste space and never will be of use to anyone.

It occurred to me that it would be nice to have two tools for this.  One would be something like the program "Filesize" to create a graph showing how much space is used by each of the various file extensions.  But most useful would be a "filter by extension" that could be applied to any files copied to the drive to either filter out or allow in each file based on its extension.  I am inclined to think it best to "block by specific extension" because it would give more control over unnecessary files and not possibly block those that I am just not familiar with yet. 

This probably sounds a bit off the wall(and I am sure it is) but when a 4TB drive is half full of worthless files and only 2 TB of it is data anyone really needs to keep, it would save upgrading to another drive just to be able to store more worthless trash as well as slowing down searches for the specific files that are needed.

Most users just drag and drop entire folder groups in order to get just the documents contained in them.  There are far too many ways to get the "trash in with the treasure" and no easy way to prevent it from being stored there.

This was a "Way-Out-There" solution that I thought might actually exist somewhere.  A "file-by-extension-filter"   (like a firewall for filenames)
that could stop it from ever happening in the first place instead of trying to skim them all out after the fact.  And one to make a nice graphic chart showing usage by extension would give me a way to prove or disprove the need for such a filter in the first place.

If anyone has ever written such, i figure someone here would know about it!   

59

General Software Discussion / one click shortcut to enable all default windows desktop icons

« on: October 17, 2015, 05:50 PM »

There has got to be an easier way.  I found references where others have looked for this here and there
    www.msfn.org/board/topic/53212-commandline-for-show-desktop-icons/
but no one has a reasonable solution.  If done as it should be, a right click on desktop choose personalize then desktop icons or in windows 10 under themes. 
The defaults now are ONLY for recycle bin.  I cant find a winkey-plus etc. or anything else short of writing a code to change registry values in Shell and supposedly this requires a reboot while dong it the "normal way" while it does take maybe 5 or so clicks and such you finally get there with no reboot.

Seems there would be some other app out there that can control this with less activity. 

60

General Software Discussion / Best REAL Program to use for AVCHD video format conversion

« on: October 09, 2015, 10:44 PM »

Not looking for a Freebie necessarily, I need something that works properly.  No one here is a Pro at making movies  These are just several hours of Family Home Movies where we used a new (at the time) Video recorder and the format AVCHD must be a One-off from a Sony/Panasonic marriage of minds.  Nothing wrong with the video quality that the camera took.  Colors and all are astounding for such a tiny gadget but AVCHD wont play on Windows at all apparently and I am trying to keep all our videos and Photos in a digital format for storage

I have to convert it to some format that can be stored on a Home Media center and watched whenever someone wants to without having to play it back back through the camera.  There is no lack of software that claims to work but most of it has weird descriptions of capabilities and they always want you to get the FREE version first, THEN upgrade to the paid.  I hate to spend hours getting one configured only to find out it does not perform well or is a pain to configure.

Anyone know of one that works well and can handle the AVCHD format?  I am mot much into editing, I just like to see it like it was but minor adjustments and at least the ability to merge separate sessions into a single play would be nice

61

General Software Discussion / One Key Popup for an Office phone directory

« on: October 09, 2015, 05:09 PM »

WOW!  I gotta learn Look before I leap.. 
 I found about a million apps....The key was to ask Google the question phrased in the exactly right way.
So if anyone has a favorite they can recommend, I now have everythign from links to Outlooks People lists that do not require opening Outlook to tiny programs that can remind you when someones birthday is near.  Plus (of course) their phone number

Thanks to DC for being a place someone can ask even "dumb" questions and still get polite responses and Help.

Except for anyone offering an opinion on a "Good One", I think everyone and their brother already wrote at least one.   

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Before I start trying to code some poor imitation to work with Notepad or a similar text program,  it occurred to me that surely there is one of these already out there.

A simple text document "Phone Book-like listing I can use for people in the Office (or I can see many good Personal Uses too now that Phone Directories are a thing of the past).  Back in he days of Windows 95 (I think) i used to have a fantastic one that ran as a "TSR:" app  back then but it has long since died as it would not run on X64 at all.  I don't even remember the name but i have missed it mightily!  The program would have to be one that loads in memory as I have to refer to it while doing all kinds of other things.  The Old program used to work like a charm if only i knew the name, Maybe someone picked up the pieces and brought it forward to the Windows 10 world.

Something where I can hit ALT+P or similar and have a simple text listing in alphabet order of names and phone numbers that another ALT+P would close.

In my case I only have to deal with maybe 50 names but each has a Home/Office/Cell/Fax/Ofc Extension# etc and it is tiring to have to look them all up on their email signatures or deal with the MS Office Contact program just to get a phone number every time it is needed.
The "paper sheet" hard-copy version tends to "migrate south". (ie: the Round File Area) or.. maybe migrates to other desks!
I would not complain if there was room for an email address on each person as well.

62

General Software Discussion / HOT-key utility (preferably free of course) compatible with Windows 10

« on: September 17, 2015, 05:33 PM »

I have one somewhere that i used on XP and win7 and maybe Win8 but I cannot remember the name of it
Best Hot-Key manger I ever used though I am sure there are better.  This one was written by someone in France i think.
Windows 10 has so many "presets" i am not sure if it would work here even if I find it.  A user in the office just want to be able to hit (example) ctrl + P and get the word "Products" or something similar to be typed for her on whatever she is doing..  And it has to be drop-dead-simple to use
and "No, she isn't blonde". 

> I don't think hair-color has anything to do with

63

General Software Discussion / Must be too easy ? or Windows 10 does not like it

« on: September 15, 2015, 04:01 PM »

This is something that 4WD already wrote about a year ago and i have used it as needed on a Windows 7 system.  But i cannot get it to work for some reason on windows 10 with the same requirements.

It should be as simple as a one liner  (or maybe 2)

In a given directory there are sub-folders named "A" to "Z".  In this same directory many people just dump their files without alphabetically filing them. 
This little batch script just went through the loose files in the folder, extracted the first letter of any file it found and moved that file to the correct folder based on its first letter.

So "C:\Lots-Of-Files\Smith, Adam.txt" would get moved into "C:\Lots-Of-Files\S\Smith, Adam.txt" with the overwrite switch to ON and no permission asking.
the "A"to "Z" sub folders are already there and in that same directory.  It would be preferable to just set the variables to be run from the local directory
(of course the ends up moving the bat file too but that is OK, i name it "ZZfiler.bat" so I know where to go get it next time i need it

anyway, 4WD's solution was a little more complex as it would even create the alphabetic sub-folders when needed which is not really required as every directory i have to use this on already has A to Z in it.  And like I said, it worked fine on Win7 but on Win 10 it just blinks and does nothing.?

64

General Software Discussion / Windows 10 All In one Shortcut bar

« on: September 06, 2015, 08:05 PM »

The link below takes you to a page on InfoWorld where someone took the time to list what may be the most complete coverage of shortcuts to everything in Windows 10.

      http://www.infoworld...on-your-desktop.html


I ran across this pretty complete list of how to make your own shortcuts to all these new "features" in windows 10.  There are several I would like to have but too many to use up all the desktop real-estate it would take.

IF there was a way to make a kind of scroll wheel that presented each option as it rolled by you could have one MASTER Shortcut for everything.  Just scroll to where you wanted to go then click to get there. 

I am sure this could be done but I have no idea how to create the "Rolodex" effect to show these by clicking an up or down arrow.  I used it to make a handy shortcut to the location to "Forget"  WIFI networks so they can be "renewed". 

I have found this to be the best way to reconnect to a "flaky" Wi-Fi.  But finding the place to forget a network takes several clicks if you can remember them all.  They cannot just be forgotten from the same list they are joined from.

Anyway.  I  made the one I needed right now but I imagine having that Master Shortcut Icon would be a nifty tool as the link above seemed to list every imaginable need for many things that I did not even know there was a shortcut to.

Anyone have any ideas on how to build such a Multi-link shortcut roller? 
 

65

General Software Discussion / Test cell value for BLANK in Excel and take action (or not) based on it

« on: September 02, 2015, 08:51 PM »

This is actually pretty simple. 
Columns Cx and Dx both have an auto calculation function that I need to lock to protect the formula from being changed.
The calculation is based on the contents of column Ax and column Bx. 
The problem is that due to auto calculating, the values of column Cx and Dx are instantly filled in based on calculating a value from BLANK in both Ax and Bx

I need to add a test both C and D calculations that check for Blank values in either Ax or Bx and do nothing if either are blank.
Then Cx and Dx will also be blank. 
As it is, the auto calculation runs and puts a value into Cx and Dx based on a value of BLANK in Ax and Bx.  It is just a nuisance but one that is annoying.
I need to find a way to incorporate this into my current setup such that it will allow the current formulas to run if those cells are filed in with anything other than just blank

 

66

General Software Discussion / Simple network drivemapping utility

« on: July 29, 2015, 02:56 PM »

I can probably do this if i get q few minutes of peace and quite but i thought someone may already have one.  I am looking for the method of making this  look like a real program not just a line of text?  I think i have seen a shell generator script that is the standard for most of this small utilities.  I just need them to input their name.  The rest can be done inside the script and i hated to resort to a dos box of a batch file.

67

General Software Discussion / Problems using a Windows 8.1 as a file-server via VPN connection

« on: July 13, 2015, 11:49 AM »

I need to create a simple "file-server" where anyone with permissions to access the files can add/edit etc. to the places they have permissions.  If possible I would prefer that this be done using a standard Windows 8.1 Pro system.

It works perfectly in a normal networked environment with all local connections.  The problems occurred only when the same people wanted access if they were not on the local network. Since i already had a VPN configured with all the users access permissions on another system i tried adding a few of these as a test and they worked with no problem.

I used Soft-ether <Thanks  4WD > which i have found to be the best VPN software I have ever used.  But I cannot leave these shared files on the Server 2008 System; Its normal use of hosting a SQL DB has too many restrictions on what I can do as far as virus-scans etc.

Everything i am doing is possible on Windows 8.1 Pro by creating additional users with "Local" accounts on the system hosting the files and it works as it should as long as the access is on the local network.  It also works as it should over VPN if I use the Server 2008R2 system as the host.  The problems come up trying to access those same files over a VPN  on Windows 8.1. 

The VPN connection goes through, the remote system is assigned an IP as though it was in the office, No errors are showing anywhere.  But there is no access to anything on the remote system using the the same files that work fine when the users is actually ON that network rather than connected via VPN.  I cannot even ping the host IP from the remote system even though it shows as being on the same IP range.

This leads me to believe it is something that is being blocked by Windows 8.1 that was not blocked by Server 2008R2.  In the past I have made many connections of this type using Windows 7 Pro systems as host with no problems.  What I found so far seems to be in some way related to the new Home-group  setup in Windows 8 n order to share in this manner but I am not sure if it is possible in a HomeGroup to set individual permissions at the shared folder level?

If anyone has already done this and could point me the way to a solution, I would appreciate it.  I hate to buy and load Server 2012 OS just to be able to share folders over a VPN unless that is the only way.

68

General Software Discussion / Custom Paste option to include special formatting

« on: July 13, 2015, 11:00 AM »

I often need to cut and paste text to create lists such a a list of names or folders etc.  After each paste, I always have to hit "return" twice,  or I end up with a bunch of run together lines. 

Is there a way to "pre-load" the paste option with two carriage returns such that any time i use (Copy/Paste) or (Cut/Paste) it would result in the item being pasted PLUS two carriage returns?   This would make each pasted item <end> and then be separated by a blank before the next one.  If not, is there a 3rd party solution that offers customizable copy/cut/paste options other than the one built into windows?

It might be best to create a special option such as "paste+" where the "+" would be paste plus (in this case) two carriage returns rather than changing the Windows default but it is a shame there is not a way to set the defaults built in to Windows anyway.  I can think of many cases where having a custom preset preference for paste would be handy.  Such as changing fonts or other similar for the items "copied or cut" so they end up being "pasted" already pre-configured to the task at hand.

69

General Software Discussion / Is robocopy faster than Windows GUI to "Move" files between drives

« on: July 05, 2015, 08:24 PM »

The problem may even be in the manner in which i coded for it.  I had originally thought it to be a lot faster and for small folders this setup worked pretty well but when i tried it on an entire "Downloads" folder with several thousand files, it seemed to bog down.  It also seemed to ignored Ctrl+C to get it to exit for some reason.  If anyone could suggest modifications to allow it to be exited while running as well as restarted without an error (due to the mkdir command not being needed)

Code: Text [Select]

1. @echo off
2. cls
3. set /P  from="Enter Move from Path:  "
4. set /P to="Enter Move To path:  "
5. mkdir %to%
6. FOR    %%i IN ("%from%"\*) DO           MOVE /Y "%%i" "%to%\%%~nxi"
7. FOR /D %%i IN ("%from%") DO ROBOCOPY /MOVE /E "%%i" "%to%\%%~nxi"
8. exit

Or maybe a completely different method.  Windows GUI works fine if it didn't have to do the "calculating" test run before it ever starts at all

70

General Software Discussion / when Google fails..DC! Cut and paste text adding double carriage return option

« on: June 27, 2015, 10:16 AM »

This is just a "pet peeve" but I must be the only one who ever needs it.

When pasting text into a list (website URL's or other) it is hard to get that format.  Maxthon (my favorite web browser) has the option to grab both the title of the page as well as the URL in a single click.. very handy!

But when making neat and tidy list in either an Outlook Email body or a Word or other text document, it requires adding two carriage returns at the end of the paste or else you end up with a mixed up mess all run together.  There are 3 options usually presented for pasting what was in clipboard but none of them includes adding that double <enter> after the text to make a nice vertical list. 



While there may be list making software out there, i cant find anything that can do something as simple as adding the two <cr> so that I have closed the pasted line and skipped a line between that entry and the next one.  Plenty of stuff to REMOVE carriage returns but none to ADD a couple? 

This calls for a custom "Paste" option to for right click in Windows.  I am sure there are other variations that would be more helpful to different people who "live by the mouse" because I am pretty sure I could create a "Ctrl+?" version that would do it from the keyboard but that would not be as convenient when mousing around.  If I could take that macro and turn it into a little icon that showed up in "Right Click <> Paste....  Now that would be a handy thing to have.  Multiple custom-formatted paste options.  Surely there is a program for that?   

71

General Software Discussion / recover an SQL .mdf file that is currently written to a bad sector

« on: June 20, 2015, 06:06 PM »

That is as best as i can explain it.  The company who wrote the software is notorious for being UNhelpful.  They connected and told me the problem we had were due to a "xcorruption" of the Logs file so nothng to worry about.  He fixed that and left paying NO attention to the Other Windows error logs I was trying to indicate that said Urgent Warning Bad Sector replace drive.
Anyway, his proof was that their program was working again.  AND it also starting making its own backups again (It had stopped which is why i called).  BUT  their backups are proprietary and i cannot recover from them or even see what is in them.

If the data is STILL in a bad section of the hard-drive and Windows is still telling me to get it out/fix it/replace the drive etc and i ignore those warnings it would be my fault if something ever happened. (or that is how I see it)

I have tried every tool i have (which isn't a lot) and I can copy every file in the DATA folder in that SQL instance, except the one that matters the most.  The  .mdf file which is 2,315,904KB and it cannot be copied due to a cyclic redundancy error.
I was able to get it copied by zipping it and copying the zip, but when unzipped I  am left with 2,181,760KB file size  which I presume means something got left out.  The DB is so large that if left where it is, it will continue to grow but the backups will all be bad.
While their tech may be comfortable with leaving it on a system with Windows screaming to replace the drive, I am not so warm and fuzzy about that.

72

General Software Discussion / Nifty FREE Utility to do almost anything to a filename in Windows

« on: June 17, 2015, 05:32 PM »

I get so many pieces of great software from everyone here that I wanted to contribute a link to a program that I think has got to fill a very unique need for anyone using Windows.  I am always trying to figure out how to script various functions that were never intended to be done with Windows and unless I load GAWK of GNU or some other better software for file manipulation there never seems to be a way to do these things in Windows.
After many hours of digging though all the places i have never heard of before I ran across this little GEM of a tool called 1-4aRename and thought i  would post the link herein case it might be of use to others.
My need was to be able to truncate all filenames in a folder by 12 characters without chopping off the extension.  This was due to a file creation setup in a backup utility where they did not provide for any other alternatives.  The 12 characters (which i did not need and were causing a problem with further processing) i just needed to chop off the end of the name.  
After testing at least a dozen versions of awk, sed, (and even rename which failed for some reason) I ran across this tool and was amazed to see that it not only worked as needed but would allow you to preview the changes before they were applied as well as undoing them afterward.

This may be something only someone like me would ever need but the utility is Free, has no strings attached (that I could find), included no junk-ware or other trash and just worked perfectly.
If you get it, be sure to try the advanced mode (click F2) as that is when things got really amazing.
I hope it is of use to someone else as well.

73

General Software Discussion / Maxthon Browser Users: Maybe one of you has already solved this

« on: June 13, 2015, 01:40 AM »

For a long time now I have been looking for a way to save the URL to the sites where I download from.  A simple way to be able to go back to the site where I found each app or Program I downloaded.  Just the written text in a TX file would do but an active URL shortcut would be even better.
One day I noticed that Maxthon has the option to copy the target URL at the time I save the download which would be a perfect solution.  Except they did not complete the task.  After i click Save and the download finishes i still have to navigate to the downloads folder, open a text file, (or create a new shortcut) name it as the name of the download and paste the contents of the clipboard into it and save the results.
The end result is exactly what I needed but it takes so many steps to do something that it seems should be a part of the setup.  What is the point in copying the URL if I am not going to save it somewhere?  Most logically in the downloads folder with the name of the download I got from that URL.   If i could change the layout such that the URL is saved to a Shortcut instead if a text file this would probably work.
I wrote to the developers at Maxthon but go no reply so far.  I wonder what they intended that Save URL to be for if not what I need?  Anyway, since it saves to clipboard, if there is a way to add the rest of the process into the download script it would sure be nice.
So far I have not found the name of the variable that holds that info nor a way to add a couple of steps into their download script but I assume it is there somewhere in their developer modules?
Has  anyone here played with customization of their browser?

74

General Software Discussion / A one line Dirt Simple way to Compare and delete one of a pair of equal Folders

« on: June 01, 2015, 10:45 PM »

This job is TOO simple for most Duplicate finders.
Just compare the size of folders in two directories that have the same name. "The Objective" is to delete the folders in Directory "A" if the same folder i Directory B is the same size.

Any "Duplicate Finder" can do this but they all require too much time to build indexes of filenames.  I am 99% sure that every folder IS a duplicate.  I only need to be certain that it is (verified by size) before I delete them from Directory "A"
By hand:  Check to see if a folder in Directory A has the same name as a folder in Directory B.  and if they are the same size.  If those two conditions are met I delete the folder from Directory "A".

If there is no folder by the same name in List B OR if the names are the same but properties show different sizes, then skip that one and g to the next folder in Directory A.  The odd few I will double check by hand at the end.

These are very long directory lists and the duplicate finders I tried took so long to just scan and index the filenames (which is not necessary for this task) that I think they have stopped working.  Also, if I could create a list of all the confirmed deleted folders that would be nice too but not required.  In the end, I hope to reformat ALL of Drive A and move on to combining Drive B and Drive C until they are all one copy of each file all in just one drive.

If i could get this to work just like the find and delete Zero length files script I posted the other day I would be very happy   I am still tinkering with getting 4WD'S test for the old Windows encryptions files to clean up the other misfits.  Doing this by hand from a printed directory isn't so bad but if there is a way to automate it, why not?


As usual, if I only had to do this once, i would not even ask, it would be easier to just plod through them by hand.

75

General Software Discussion / Processes and/or folders to exclude from malware scanners for Exchange email

« on: May 21, 2015, 07:32 PM »

I have asked the vendors themselves and gotten almost nowhere.  They usuallytell me to run half a dozen other pieces of software some of which i have never heard of and post on a public forum the results of these scans.  This does not sound very secure or give me a lot of faith in the abilities of the software involved.  It is like those programs that say "Turn off all AV and Mal-ware programs before installing"

Isn't that exactly what a virus or Mal-ware would want you to do?  I can understand the need in some cases but the logic behind the statement that is as if '  Of course you should never use an Antivirus or Mal-ware program before installing OUR software .  Trust us! '  This ongoing issue is creating a serious problem with our email in Exchange 2013 but the same protection software has worked so well for keeping us free of threats that I am hesitant to dump it, yet cannot get any assistance in what needs to be excluded for the mail to get through.  

Has anyone else seen this problem and found any working solutions other than getting another product which may not work any better and could be far worse.  I do not want to be "brand specific" but we all have the same two pieces of protection software and turning 'ONE' of them OFF is >Always< the solution.  It isn't the AV software either so that narrows it down a bit.  If I have posted before about this, sorry to be a repeat offender  But the problem won't go away and there are too many people for me to just remove it from everyone even though doing so is an instant fix.