Messages

376

Coding Snacks / Folderwatch (a MAC application) for PC's

« on: October 27, 2014, 02:39 PM »

I found exactly what i needed in FolderWatch, unfortunately, it is for Mac's only.  The concept behind it is so simple that I felt sure there had to be a "built-in" method to accomplish the same thing in Windows 8.1.  After playing with various settings in "Libraries" (none of which worked) I though i would see if someone here has already written the App

The need is pretty simple.  I want to make any changes done to files in the "Documents" folder occur simultaneously in another folder on the same drive.  Basically a "local" version of Sync. 

Changing the location that the "Documents" folder points to still leaves me with only one copy of each file. 
Without making an edit to any of the applications that use it, is there a way to make "Documents" , "Pictures",  etc work so that they have a real-time "clone" in another location on the same drive

377

Coding Snacks / The Best Way to handle finding and removiong Duplicate Files

« on: October 26, 2014, 12:04 AM »

In trying to create an all encompassing archive of all the company documents, i have ended up with an extremely bloated folder containing more redundant info than anything else.  There are probably 10 copies of the exact same file in all in different places.  I can't risk running a mass "delete all but one copy"(though i wold like to) and am looking for the best way to scan this huge repository maybe in small chunks the first time to try to remove as many as i can.  
Some of these files are backup copies of PST files over 5GB in size that I may have 3 or 4 copies of.

This has been a work in progress for some time and and as it all starts getting into a single location i am finding this more and more often.  The ability to scan for duplicates exceeding 500MB might be a good start.

Years ago I used to have a program i used a lot on MP3's and Photos but don;t remember the name and it may not even be Windows 8 compatible.  If you can point me anything at all right now, just cleaning out the duplicated PST files would be a huge help.

The more control the program offers for filters would probably be nice.  I doubt I would even throw away the extras but getting them out of the main reference area would be a big help.

378

General Software Discussion / Re: Cloning SERVER 2008 R2 SYSTEM TO A BACKUP 2TB DRIVE-Which app is best?

« on: October 24, 2014, 01:09 AM »

OK, got lots of good options.  The one that saved the day this time was he first one i tried after EASUS.  Macrium had a Free trial of their Server version and it worked   Best of all, it even worked as a HOT clone so the server stayed on line th whole time.  Now that i have a working clone on a NEW 2TB drive, i can upgrade from MSDE to SQL Express which was the only problem, we had hit the 2GB limit.  But I can tell you this, I am going to try out every version of every program mentioned here because the absolute WORST feeling an IT or DB Farm Mgr can have is when he finds a drive failure on a system with no backup .  Even a Data backup is next to worthless if you count the hours to reconfigure.
I do have one question that someone may have the answer to.
When you clone a drive it becomes a bit-copy of the original.  I have never seen any of these programs make a huge issue about immediately removing the cloned drive before restarting the sytem and i have always wondered just how risky it could be to have two pf the exact same files on what appears to the system to be the same "location" on two different drive letters
Being a safe rather than sorry type, I always disconnect one of them but i can see so places where being able to leave both connected might come in handy.  If the intent is to keep the main drive "lean and mean" but you did not want to toss out files hat go added, i eventhink Macrium or EASUS offers some way to make a sort of incremental backup so that you could have an actual up to date "cloned drive" even months down the road with changes to the main drive being propagated to the cloned drive on a delayed basis

Anyway, for time bing Macrium gets my vote for "getting the Job done" in an easy to see and descriptive manner.

379

Living Room / Wanted to get some opinions on current ultrabooks if possible

« on: October 24, 2014, 12:50 AM »

She also is not fond of spending big bucks on anything and in some cases I have to agree.  Bu Murphy's Laws and a trail of bad luck had put me through 3 systems in the past 4 weeks,

Screen size, Touchpad, Memory, Speed, Storage, wifi capability and battery life.  She uses the same system as her desktop when in the office

Every one of the normal brand ultra-books I tried failed for one reason or another. And I wondered if anyone had found the perfect mix.  SSD would be nice but 256 is too small for her, must be 500GB minimum.  8GB RAM is necessity.I5 or I7 depending on price. 13-14 “screen, no larger.  Weight as low as it can go.  Touchpad that works like a TOUCHAD with no fancy whirly finger motions.  No Multi triple function F keys. Must have webcam and Windows 8.1 OS. Other than that it should work as well on WiFi as it does on wired as she travels more than home or office.  Reliability would be a big Plus.
 
It seems that out of every brand I set up from the YOGA-2 to the Toshiba Ultra she has now and a couple others in-between.  They all seem to fail at critical moments.  It is my opinion that most of what is hitting the market right now seems to be set for Low price not quality or performance.
 
I usually get one or two days to set up the next one before she leaves again and right away I start getting the phone calls.  “Pointer won’t move” or, “Outlook is frozen”, or “Touch-pad acting weird”, or, in the WORST case lately, hard-drive died! (That one I blame on  Murphy!!)

Tomorrow I have to find another one and wondered if anyone had any suggestions with pricing at $1000 +/- $100 with specs as above.  I would love to go with the Intel Surface Pro but in addition to price being high, it just doesn’t feel very sturdy.  Drop it and you better have Replacement Insurance on it.

Thanks to all for any suggestions. And this has to be a normal production model I can pickup locally custom load and have ready for her to leave with on Monday 

380

General Software Discussion / Re: Change the focus of all the"save or search in" possibilities at once

« on: October 22, 2014, 03:34 PM »

I left a detailed request too.  I guess I will find out how fast they are

381

General Software Discussion / Re: Change the focus of all the"save or search in" possibilities at once

« on: October 22, 2014, 03:00 PM »

Then it is Pro for me DR!
Does it work on windows 8.1 x64 if you happen to know?

382

General Software Discussion / Re: Change the focus of all the"save or search in" possibilities at once

« on: October 22, 2014, 01:06 PM »

Someone somewhere posted a link to a program that makes TABS .  I think it was called Clover?  I DL'ed it and ran it on my Home system (as usual without reading instructions) and promptly forgot it was there.  A day or so later i noticed all kinds of odd things and uninstall-ed it.  Has anyone tried Clover?  This would certainly do the trick for one specific need. 
In that setup, I have to copy/paste, save as, etc a lot inside of PAINT and Notepad and a few others.  Drilling down to the level of the folder i need is just tedious and since it is the SAME folder for every project, i have accidentally saved files from one of them into the same sub-folder of a different project since the programs in question were used there last. 
I guess one way of doing ti would be to make a list of all the programs i use on each project in this manner, find out where they save their "last used path" at, and write a script to allow me to input the needed path all at one time in each of them.?  Sound possible?

383

General Software Discussion / Re: Cloning SERVER 2008 R2 SYSTEM TO A BACKUP 2TB DRIVE-Which app is best?

« on: October 22, 2014, 12:59 PM »

Thanks to all.  I agree on the problems with makign a "bad" clone but  working "bad" clone would at least give me some comfort-zone for THEN trying to make cluster repairs.  I have had this happen before on this same system when it ran RAID and it was even MORE trouble then.  One of the pauir was bad and not synced to the other but the one that was newer would not boot.
 
This system has been on the sheet to be upgraded/(REPLACED) now for over 6 months.  I guess now someone will finally OK it.

384

General Software Discussion / Cloning SERVER 2008 R2 SYSTEM TO A BACKUP 2TB DRIVE-Which app is best?

« on: October 22, 2014, 12:46 AM »

I have had wonderful luck using even the Free copy of  Macrium  Reflect on almost anything, windows 7 all versions as well as windows 8 all versions.  I wont need to use it but once for a real Server OS but it has to be done prior to performing a Database upgrade.   I Must have a complete failsafe in case the upgrade  falls through.

Quick reading led me to believe that Easus Advanced server, even though the rice was pretty steep, might be best for the job.  I ave just spent over 5 hours of failed attempts to Clone this drive.  I considered that the empty clone being used might be the problem ought a new drive: Still no help.  It gets to 60% (I guess he visual; cues with EASUS are not so good, you have to guess at where you are.
If it gets to where the time left seems to go up and down while the time spent kept going forward, this was the only indication that something was not Right.
Tomorrow is do or die.  We are at Max capacityfor the DB and have to change formats or risk losing it all. 
I would appreciate anyone whohas used one of these programs with better than average results.  I have been lucky so far.  Five failed attempts and it still boots though not without a lot of struggling.
The EASUS To Do ADV Server at over $200 was a real disappointment.

These problems may be coming from cross linked files but there is no report of any kind generated telling you why it failed.  It just gets stuck in a loop and after almost 2 hours of running and the clock still ticking but the countdown gets to 40 minutes down to 35 back to 55.

Just asking for advice,  If I had a working copy that could be used to "Save the Day" I would be more comfortable with trying to run repair tools

I am not sure Macrium Reflect Freeversion will work on a Server but until i can get a refund for the EASEUS software I cant buy another high priced failure

Thanks for needed advice.

PS:  I ran the EASUS both as a a hot clone through Windows GUI and using the PE environment but both failed.

385

General Software Discussion / Re: Change the focus of all the"save or search in" possibilities at once

« on: October 16, 2014, 10:18 AM »

ah.  Such is life

386

General Software Discussion / Re: Change the focus of all the"save or search in" possibilities at once

« on: October 16, 2014, 09:42 AM »

found your favorite FlashFolders and will try it as well as Listary and the ahk script that Rhory wrote.  Thanks SKwire

387

General Software Discussion / Re: Change the focus of all the"save or search in" possibilities at once

« on: October 16, 2014, 09:27 AM »

Did that and got  lot of thread but most were pretty "dated" so much that I was afraid they listed programs that would not apply to Windows 8.  Is this just a "Duh" moment for only  me?  Am I the only one that this annoys?.  If I could just select the group of programs that I have to use in this project and set them all to have a common open/save-in path until they are all closed, that is really all i need.  I would not want to have to pick from a long list, I can do that by clicking back up the path and then back down again.  It is more the annoyance that I always assume I am where I thought I was.  And it seems every single windows utility does this.  Saving a weblink to saving a downloaded image to uploading a file to Saving in Paint.  Etc.  They all seem to hang on tot he last place they were used and have no way to make a single change affect them all. 
But I would d not want to undo whatever is set fr application I don't use in this procedure.  It is just a certain subset of applications that I have to do it to.  It is just an annoyance not a major thing.

388

General Software Discussion / Change the focus of all the"save or search in" possibilities at once

« on: October 16, 2014, 08:23 AM »

This is just an annoyance but if anyone knows the answer. 

When working with various editor programs like Paint, Notepad, etc.  I have to go to the same folder with each program to save the results of the items I am working on.  If there is a place to change the default locations used for everything all at once,  that might solve the problem.  Apparently each one uses the last directory that program was used in which is not the one I currently need it to be in. 

The layout is such that unless I am watching close, I end up in a previous subfolder which is in the same name for two levels up the path until it reaches the USER level where it will be in the User's layout.  I have to reset each one manually for the first save until they are all going to the same place. 

Examples would be saving images downloaded from the net.  If that is the first thing I need to do, I navigate to the correct user's directory and down to the correct subfolder and save the result.  If the next thing I do is open that image in Paint to add a background and then save the result, they end up in whatever location I last used Paint in.  The list is endless.  Every program remembers where it was last used and puts results there instead of using the current directory in focus at the time.   When I am in a hurry, this results in creating files that I cannot find later .  Or worse!  Overwriting files in a folder where they were already correct with the images that need to be in the another User's images folder.

I am not sure how Windows manages the "default remembered" folder for each program but the current setup has caused more than one time-consuming mistake that has to be corrected.  At  the same time, its normal setup I am sure has many advantages under other circumstances.

A utility to "make this my default location" would be a great right-click option.

389

Coding Snacks / Packrat's tool for "Idea Surfing" the web

« on: October 16, 2014, 07:22 AM »

I once asked for this and got many suggestions for download managers that were either more than needed or didn't offer the methods I would like use.  This probably could be written in AHK if I was better at using it.

When "Idea Surfing"  I run across more than I have time to fully research.  I downloading trial software of all kinds that a month later I have no idea why or what it is for.  When I can remember to do it, I like to use the following process:

Create a sub folder inside Downloads with a name as close to the actual sitename as possible.
Change focus to that folder and save the complete link to the page I am on.
Save a single-file MHT webarchive of the page because often when I go back later, these sites are no longer there.
Then DL the item I went there for.
Last, open notepad to leave "additional_info.txt" I might find useful later.

I end up with a complete package in a folder that I can easily find by searching for any word that might appear in the txt file or mht title and organized by type of DL.

It would be nice if this could all be a right click download option offering "Where to save" showing the directory tree under Downloads so I could file it in a sub-folder by type such as AV software, Programming tools, Website Applications, or create a new category if necessary. 

My main objective could be accomplished by simply creating the mht file and embedding the hyperlink inside the title of the mht.  If that part could be automated I could just run it before downloading the file itself.

Call it a "Packrat's Dream DL Tool" 

I figured I might as well "Ask for the Sun and stars if asking for the Moon   
Add zipping the folder and all files when done and delete the original to save HD space and maybe even small enough to email the  package to anyone I am collaborating with.

(Might help keep any accidental "Malware" safely stored too!         You never know these days!

390

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: Program to show total character count in path for filename in a directory list

« on: October 15, 2014, 02:53 PM »

Thanks Skwire.  If you post a link to name knife after it can do full paths, this program is a little tedious to use.  No instructions at all.  It does not install, just runs which is OK by me. But i wisj i had known it was saving the file to its own folder and that I could change it.  Most of the things I SHOULD have just assumed to be so but i hardly ever "Assume" anymore.

The ability to do some automatic trimming with set options like removing spaces, dashes, underlines, etc would be nice too. 

391

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: Program to show total character count in path for filename in a directory list

« on: October 14, 2014, 05:56 PM »

Duh.  cnt believe i found it so fast.  In case anyone else needs this.  Download from HERE

Thanks.  If I had not I asked I would not have found.  Murphy's Law 

392

Finished Programs / SOLVED: Program to show total character count in path for filename in a directory list

« on: October 14, 2014, 05:32 PM »

I have seen this somewhere so i know it exists.  A directory display that lists all the files in a given directory showing the total length of the path to display the file.  I believe I have an issue where the total path length is exceeding the allotted variable size to store the file for download.  The variable is set to 255 and I am pretty sure the path to reach the file from root c: is over 190 characters (in some cases) including all directory names.  A few people are getting very creative about names and I have seen Word docs of over 60-70 characters long.  A directory display showing this would allow me to see if there really is a problem and if so make it very clear to the people causing it.

393

General Software Discussion / Re: Fake for Windows

« on: October 14, 2014, 05:19 PM »

Pretty nifty.  If you find one for Windows I would like to know.

394

General Software Discussion / Xcopy Batch to run a loop inside of another loop loop

« on: October 12, 2014, 06:38 PM »

xcopy (var1)\(var2)\cache\*.* C:\backupdata\(var1)(+var2)
next to end

where var1 = list of names (20 or so)<Loop A>
and
var2 = list of their clients (up to 20)<LOOP B>

Tis is to create an exact copy of the files inside Only the cache folder stored in the backup above.  My problem is I always get lost in the "Loop-d-loop Logic" options.  (For x in ?= etc.)
The folders exists in the past as stated each (name) may have from 0 to 20 (client) folders and each client folder has a (cache) folder.
I need to copy the complete contents of that folder to another one at C:\backupdata\"(name)+(client)"\cache\*.*
If the file already exists in that folder it should overwrite but none ever deleted.  After copying every subfolder and file in that "cache", it should shift to inputting the next client until it has run through all of them for that (name).  These names are all subfolder names in the root folder the batch starts in (or it can be one level down)
Root\names\clients\cache The structure is just like that.  Some (name)s may not have any (client)s but all (client)s have cache folders

The only reason for doing it this way is to avoid keeping backups of all the Other folders and files that are inside each client that are all standard.  I'm still trying to get inside the 2nd loop.   Any pointers.  I know it is probably something simple.  I tried pulling the variable from a list but it would be better if they could be pulled from the run itself since they are all names in a directory listing anyway.

The current process works fine but wastes a ton of time and space making redundant copies of unneeded files.

395

Coding Snacks / Right click Hyper link in email text and have option to send shortcut to desktop

« on: October 08, 2014, 01:54 AM »

Outlook 11 windows 8.1 if it matters.
This sounded so easy i told my wife she should be able to do it. BUT I would gladly do it for her.

Then, I tried.      I found that  there seems to be a total disconnect in the right click context menu when using Outlook.  Nothing I could find and no research I could do seemed to touch anywhere near the problem.  Yet this seems like a useful tool.  If you have the email with the note saying "Click for Free Daily What-zit" link in an email why can't you just right click and choose to send it to your desktop as a shortcut named "Click Here for Free Daily What-Zit?"  No big deal, just send the shortcut to the desktop from the email

Sure, you can go through all the copy hyper-link, create shortcut on desktop , paste in the hyper link and STILL have to go back and copy the name "Free Daily What-Zit" as well for the shortcut and maybe 5 minutes later you get what should have been a single right click and done job.

Hated to admit defeat to the wife but I am hoping someone here might have the answer before i face her in the am
PS:  Tried quicksteps too but they were worthless.
Help!

396

General Software Discussion / Re: Opinions on Best software for Extracting Attachments from PST files

« on: October 07, 2014, 04:35 PM »

Gosh, I was hoping for at least a few people to comment .    Thanks for yours Lanux128.  Maybe this is a slow week ?  Or maybe really this IS something nobody else needs to do?

397

General Software Discussion / Re: Opinions on Best software for Extracting Attachments from PST files

« on: October 07, 2014, 01:36 AM »

Yes and norsoft is always one of my first places to look for the odd and one-off things that no one else neds,  they d o have it but i was not sucessfule in setting it up.  Coud be because the PST's are stored on a system that does not even have Outlook installed and maybe they need part of the Outlook engine to make it work.
The one on source forge can run totally independent but the output was a bit confusing  It was written for a Government Committee to use so ...
I guess that was our tax dollars at work in Arizona. 

Thanks fr the feedback and Nirsoft may be the one t o use in the end.

398

General Software Discussion / Opinions on Best software for Extracting Attachments from PST files

« on: October 06, 2014, 11:19 PM »

There are quite a few out there from Free to $49.95.  So price isn't an issue as much as which one can do the job.  I need to gather and save all the attachments from several years worth of Email that is saved into several hundred PST files.  It would be nice to be able to run the program on the whole directory just once and have it dump all the attachments found into folders named after the PST they came from.

There must not be a big demand for anything like this as there doesn't seem to be a lot of opinions on which one, if any, is worth the price.  The ones offering the  "Free Trial of 10" look just like the ones that say Free ..Period.  The only one I have found that seemed to actually do anything was a Free script hosted on Source-Forge.  I would not mind paying for something made to do this and do a good job of it.

It is a simple straightforward need and I just wondered if anyone out there has tried any of them and could give me an opinion of whether they work, or just make a mess of things.  There is no need to cut out the attachment, I just need to make a copy of each attachment saved in a folder and leave the PST intact.  This is part of an effort to archive emailed documents separate from the stored email files not a need to reduce the size of the PST in use.

Thanks for any advice.

399

Living Room / Re: Is there a way to ZCode for self destruct in PHP?

« on: September 19, 2014, 02:12 AM »

Thanks.  I had someone else tell me similar  Have to check the exact layout but whatever i tried , it did not work
The script fi al chatacter is a "?"  for input .  As in OK or ..
it is always OK
anyway I added the "unlink" after it and i think i need to get rid of the ? input mark.
Will try again tomorrow
Just a little bitty niggle that I would have liked to add.  I forget to delete the installer sometimes

Thanks Stoic..

400

Living Room / Is there a way to ZCode for self destruct in PHP?

« on: September 18, 2014, 06:00 PM »

have to run a web-installer written in php that has to be deleted after it is run. It is a run-once setup process that for security reasons needs to be removed so it cannot be run again. The final lines of code display that the routine successfully completed then exits. Is there a way to script in for the file to "self destruct" after displaying that message?

It has never failed a successful run so I am not very worried about having to add another copy of it if that happens.