Messages

7551

General Software Discussion / Re: For Developers: Do Donations Make a Difference?

« on: September 07, 2005, 04:19 PM »

How about having a secure download page where the serial has to be entered to get the download, then only codes you have issued could work.

You can't stop what's out there but you can stop people downloading from your site, and make future editions more secure.

7552

Find And Run Robot / Re: Bug(?) in aliases

« on: September 07, 2005, 02:03 PM »

Need I say more 

7553

General Software Discussion / Re: For Developers: Do Donations Make a Difference?

« on: September 07, 2005, 11:24 AM »

Hey - me like them thar stickies ...

They are particularly good on a network where you can post a sticky on a friends dest to say "Don't forget to make Carol a coffee"

Top fun, and potentially useful when the novelty wears off 

7554

Find And Run Robot / Bug(?) in aliases

« on: September 07, 2005, 10:13 AM »

Here are a couple more settings

lookup
 (.*)
Encarta $$1 |http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/search.aspx?q=$$1
Britannica $$1 |http://www.britannica.com/search?query=$$1&go_button.x=10&go_button.y=5&ct=



Strangely I find if I type:

lookup Einstein                (I was feeling highbrow)

not only does it come up with the expected:

Encarta Einstein
Britannica Einstein

but it also comes up with all of the "define Einstein" results (based on your dictionary dist) but not the "search Einstein" results (based on my web search list).

Any idea why this should be?

I tried various alternative alias names but it made no difference??

Using build 1.07.06 by the way.

7555

ProcessTamer / Re: Feature Idea: Profiles

« on: September 07, 2005, 09:51 AM »

No the only time I started the config screen from Start is when the tray icon was disabled. In that case the config option on the tray icon would not work ???

7556

Find And Run Robot / Re: v1.07.02 beta - with regular expression commands

« on: September 07, 2005, 08:07 AM »

Now all we need is a scripting file - with import facility ....

7557

ProcessTamer / Re: Feature Idea: Profiles

« on: September 07, 2005, 08:04 AM »

Yes it says it is is enabled.

However if I disable it while the config window is open nothing happens (ie. it isn't reflected).

On the config page bottom right it reports whether the tray app is running correctly (including realtime loading and unloading).

New rules work fine when the config window is shut (not as you create them).

Here is a sequence & reactions ...

Start Process Tamer - icon appears

Open config window

Status - Running

Disable from tray - no response in config

Close config - reopen it (from Start menu - icon doens't work) - Status Running (even though disabled)

Re enable at  tray icon

Go to Process display - set rule on an item using CPU cycles (Below Normal, say) ... no response

Close Config - open config - new rule reflected in process status

Changing external tool or double click setting has no effect until tray icon exited and reloaded.

7558

ProcessTamer / Re: Feature Idea: Profiles

« on: September 07, 2005, 07:15 AM »

WinXP SP2 (all updates)

Rules are updated instantly - so they are obviously talking ?

7559

ProcessTamer / Re: Feature Idea: Profiles

« on: September 07, 2005, 06:47 AM »

It doesn't seem to update the 'Double click tray' setting either.

Also I had an 'Access Violation' error today when I deleted a rule ???

7560

Find And Run Robot / Re: v1.07.02 beta - with regular expression commands

« on: September 07, 2005, 06:30 AM »

Here is an initial set of search engines to cut and paste:

Google $$1 |http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=$$1
GoogleUK $$1 |http://www.google.co.uk/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=
GoogleGroups $$1 |http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&q$$1&qt_s=Search
Mamma $$1 |http://www.mamma.com/Mamma?qtype=0&query=$$1
AllTheWeb $$1 |http://www.alltheweb.com/search?cs=utf-8&q=$$!
A9 $$1 |http://a9.com/$$!
Ask $$1 |http://web.ask.com/web?q=$$1
AltaVista $$1 |http://www.altavista.com/web/results?q=$$1
Dictionary $$1 |http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=$$1
eBay $$1 |http://search.ebay.com/$$1
eBayUK $$1 |http://search.ebay.co.uk/$$1
HappyHunterDVD $$1 |http://www.happyhunter.co.uk/$$1
DvdPacific $$1 |http://www.dvdpacific.com/search.asp?title=$$1
PlayUSA $$1 |http://www.playusa.com/playusa.asp?searchtype=r1title&page=search&searchstring=$$1
Play $$1 |http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=search&searchtype=allproducts&page=search&Go.x=50&Go.y=9&searchstring=$$1
MusicRoom $$1 |http://www.musicroom.com/gmsearch.aspx?searchtype=mr_products&searchtext=$$1
ABEbooks $$1 |http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?bx=off&sts=t&ds=30&bi=0&sortby=2&kn=$$1
ABEbooksUK $$1 |http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?bx=off&sts=t&ds=30&bi=0&n=200000169&sortby=2&kn=$$1
Amazon $$1 |http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?mode=blended&keyword=$$1
AmazonUK $$1 |http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/external-search?mode=blended&keyword=$$1
MSN $$1 |http://search.msn.com/results.asp?q=$$1
YahooNews $$1 |http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?ei=UTF-8&p=$$1
Yahoo $$1 |http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=robo&ei=UTF-8&p=$$1
GoogleNews $$1 |http://news.google.com/news?q=$$1
BBCNews $$1 |http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?tab=news&go=homepage&q=$$1
BBC $$1 |http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?tab=allbbc&go=homepage&q=$$1

7561

ProcessTamer / Re: Feature Idea: Profiles

« on: September 07, 2005, 04:18 AM »

#1 didn't work when I added an exteral utility. I had to shut down and reload the tray icon.

#2 Great

7562

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Graffiti Picture ScreenSaver

« on: September 06, 2005, 06:29 PM »

Hey, can you imagine 360 degree rotating and changing panoramas ... and not just screen savers ... how about wallpaper too.

Now that would be cool!

7563

ProcessTamer / Feature Idea: Profiles

« on: September 06, 2005, 06:26 PM »

Two requests:

1) Is it possible for the configuartion app to force the tray app to reload its configuration file? One possible way this could be implemented is for the config file to be monitored and when configuration changes are OKed a flag in the ini file is read by the tray app and reset as it loads the new config.

2) Another possible solution/enhancement is allowing profiles to be loaded (ie. different ini files). I find that invariably the one process I want to be working at full steam is the one that gets slowed down! Consequently I end up with loads of processes set to ignore, which defeats the purpose. If I could have eg. a CD buring profile that suppresses CPU usage for everything other than Nero then I could carry on doing things while Nero gets on without disruption ...

7564

General Software Discussion / Re: For Developers: Do Donations Make a Difference?

« on: September 06, 2005, 06:14 PM »

Mouser - out of curiosty how are you hosting your site and community pages? Are you running your own server or is it being hosted externally and costing you dosh?

7565

Living Room / Re: paypal announces new micropayment system

« on: September 06, 2005, 02:38 PM »

Interesting pricing structure. Can't quite see how it is going to work. Does the item price have to be less than $2 or the total payment?

If it is the total payment it isn't very good from a sellers point of view as there is basically a 10% transaction fee - which to my mind is quite heavy.

7566

Best Archive Tool / Re: New Review (09/05/05) - Best Archive Tool

« on: September 06, 2005, 01:28 PM »

There is a way to do that - it isn't MS's fault if developers can't be bothered!

I have toolbars in MS Word, Excel and Outlook all of which are able to retain their correct position each time the app starts.

For me it is one criteria to decide whether to use a piece of software. If developers can't get that right what chance have they got of writing software that behaves properly in other respects ?

7567

Best Archive Tool / Re: New Review (09/05/05) - Best Archive Tool

« on: September 06, 2005, 12:57 PM »

Trouble is programmers can take shortcuts, and do. I think this is one area where MS can't be blamed really (there aren't many times I'd say that). Actuallythere must be times where being able to generate custom toolbars on the fly would be useful.

7568

Best Archive Tool / Re: New Review (09/05/05) - Best Archive Tool

« on: September 06, 2005, 12:31 PM »

I'd guess locking toolbars is a bit difficult when they are generated by third party products. Adobe Acrobat is notorious for cocking up other toolbars (at least it does in version 5), and the macros that generate StuffIt 8 and 9 toolbars are generated on the fly when the program starts up - which is why the position is not retained.

7569

Living Room / Re: File associations screwed - anyone help?

« on: September 06, 2005, 08:32 AM »

Hmmm ... went back to play with this and see if I can resolve the issue.

Disabled all context menu items in ShellEx and then re-enabled individually.

No probls with IrfanView Extension or Ghost Security CryptoSuite

- or anything else ... 

What I did find though was that leaving ShellPicture disabled allowed all other context menus to function ... so

I either have Shell Picture or IrfanView + CryptoSuite but not all three.

Very strange but I have removed Shell Picture for the moment.

Interestingly I had a copy of ACD mPowerTools which I hadn't used in a long time (since most of its functions are provided by ACDSee). mPowerTools also provides ContextMenu thumbnail for graphics files and loads of other options, but when I installed this I again got the same problem.

I wonder if it is to do with the way graphics are added to the context menu ??

Any one got any other context menu addons that add graphics so that I can test this theory out?

7570

General Review Discussion / Re: Free PDF tools review?

« on: September 06, 2005, 04:13 AM »

I know you'll want to wait for the review but I have used Acrobat 5 (full version) and Jaws PDF Creator and Editor. I was lucky enough to get a free copy of Jaws PDF Creator as I had a registered version of their earlier software (which I got free from a magazine disk).

Jaws software is chearp, solid and reliable. The only places it falls down in comparison to Acrobat are speed (the Editor is quite S..L..O..W at loading and saving files - in fact sometimes with large files you may as well go and get a coffee) and updating. The updates for Acrobat are pretty regular and the file format grows and grows with time. So far I haven't felt the need to splurdge out on the upgrade to version 7 but I do now have some files that aren't fully functional in version 5. I haven't seen updates at Jaws which address all the growing options in the PDF format.

If you simply want to create PDF files and edit them, Jaws is well worth a look. If you want to edit files from other sources then you may need to look elsewhere. (Actually just been to their website and note that new versions are due out soon. For the new version of PDF Creator see the press release at http://www.globalgra...0EE38025706E00688280 which is the enterprise version but new consumer versions of Creator and Editor are due soon and will be free upgrades if you purchase current versions now. See http://www.jawspdf.com/products.html for details of upgrading.)

Personally I haven't had very happy experiences with ScanSoft software. I haven't tried their PFD software (and have no wish to) but other software I have used (and purchased ... TextBridge, OmiPage and PaperPort) always promised much but the results are never as good as  expected. Their upgrade prices for new versions are always high (often higher than the cost of the new software if you keep your eyes open for special offers), and free updates (even for bug fixes) are few and far between ... not that there aren't bugs that need fixing.

7571

Living Room / Re: Remove startup folder? Anyone ever accomplish this ?

« on: September 06, 2005, 03:41 AM »

Don't forget that there are two StartUp folders in Win2k and XP.

Right click on start and "Explorer All Users" and you'll find one Startup folder - common to all users thatlogin to your computer (including you if you are the only one), there is also another option on Start Right Click just saying Explore. This opens you personal user based Program folder and in there you'll find another Startup folder.

If you want it to "disappear" you will need to hide both. Not sure if this'll work though.

There are good reasons for keeping it visible though - esp. if you install and unistall bits and bobs a lot in that you can see what installers have added to these folders. Often these are links that load tray icons, and if you want to get shut of them you just need to remove the item from the startup folder(s).

Most of the startup items that you shouldn't remove are hidden away in the registry.

By far the baset way to deal with these management issues is by using StartUp CPL at http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml which allows you to see pretty much everyth application  that loads things at startup and allows you to remove them (whilst keeping a backup in case things go wrong and you need to put it back)

7572

Best Archive Tool / Re: New Review (09/05/05) - Best Archive Tool

« on: September 05, 2005, 07:10 PM »

Thanks Zaine,

My only comment is on StuffIt. You say it has good MS Office support. I haven't used the latest version but in the last three versions they have had MS Office support and it has at best been flaky.

It looks good on the surface but in each of the three previous versions I disabled it after giving it a go as it caused so many headaches in Office - particularly other macros.

The only reason I used it was because I needed SIT file support, but I won't be upgrading from now on (and probably won't bother installing it in the future as the need for SIT support these days is marginal).

WinZip have lost one customer. I have had WinZip installed for the last 5 years but I won't be upgrading again!

WinRAR is definitely the way to go for me - and it isn't just that lifetime free upgrades (er ... didn't WinZip promise that when you registered), but is is a lot slicker and comes as a complete set of tools.

7573

Living Room / Re: Remove startup folder? Anyone ever accomplish this ?

« on: September 05, 2005, 06:39 PM »

Its a system folder that is just recreated if you manage to delete it (as far as I can tell).

Why bother - just open it and delete anything that offends !

7574

General Software Discussion / Re: Worst. Interface. Ever.

« on: September 05, 2005, 03:58 PM »

That link doesn't seem to work

Correct link is: http://homepage.mac....iarchitect/shame.htm

7575

Living Room / Re: File associations screwed - anyone help?

« on: September 05, 2005, 03:38 PM »

Thanks for that tinyvillager - were your file associations OK for graphics files (they seemed to be the only ones affected for me - all the others were OK).