Messages

1026

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Google Translation Plugin

« on: February 17, 2008, 04:48 PM »

This translation plugin looks great! It is quicke to use compared to having FARR opening a page in the browser. Has anyone thought about writing a similar plugin that replaces/supplements the default "define" action in FARR? Example: typing "df football" could trigger a plugin that shows the english definition for the english word football (="the greatest sport ever") in the FARR results field, similarly to how the translation plugin works. The definitions could be pulled from definr.com or from one of the site used in the current define action in FARR.

1027

Coding Snacks / Re: my app to quickly save page URL, title and tags to .url -- anyone interested?

« on: February 17, 2008, 03:44 PM »

Tourl version 080217
The .zip file attached to this post contains
the compiled tourl.exe (md5 = dfc0b825750d78efe1146afd06ef532a)
the source code tourl.ahk (md5 = 36aab907237edce66a60d0a5f49f874b)

changelog:   - Added instruction for editing and compiling tourl.ahk to do site specific title replacement actions

Read "tourl_replacement_actions_instruction.txt" for details.
The .txt has replacement action code for: donationcoder , boingboing, askmetafilter, wikipedia
If you write some useful replacement actions then please post them to this thread! 

edit 080331: removed attachment, get latest tourl at http://nod5.dcmembers.com/tourl.html

1028

General Software Discussion / Re: How many of you use encryption?

« on: February 09, 2008, 02:41 PM »

F0dder,
You are right. I wasn't thinking (not enough anyway  ) when I wrote that about CPU-heavy activities.
I want keyfile support only because it is so much more convenient, not more secure.

1029

General Software Discussion / Re: How many of you use encryption?

« on: February 09, 2008, 07:53 AM »

After doing a disk repair through the SeaTools for DOS boot-CD ( http://www.seagate.c...t/downloads/seatools ) I've now gotten truecrypt 5.0 system encryption to work. 

I've experience no performance hit and have no other major drawbacks to report either. But I haven't yet tried any CPU-heavy activities like gaming.

The system encryption supports passwords only, not keyfiles. I hope they add some smart support for that in the next version so that the bootloader at startup autosearches for a file with a certain name on any connection usb device and then tries to use that as a keyfile.

1030

General Software Discussion / Re: How many of you use encryption?

« on: February 06, 2008, 05:23 PM »

Great that it is released!

Has anyone gotten the new system encryption (WDE) to work yet?

I tried twice to do it on a test system with and without secure overwriting but got a CRC-error half way through each time. I did a chkdsk inbetween these two attempts and that showed no errors. Maybe something else installed on that machine is interfering with TrueCrypt.  Tomorrow I'll put an image of a clean XP install on the same testmachine and see if I succeed with system encryption on that.

Some interface issues for the new features definitely needs to be improved. For example, it would be very useful if TrueCrypt could give you an estimate of how long time the encryption will take BEFORE you start the actual encryption. That way, the choice of what level of overwriting you want would be easier to make. TrueCrypt currently only gives a scary fixed estimate saying that opting for overwriting (3, 5 or 35 times I think) may mean that encryption can take a week to complete, or something like that. Not very helpful.

1031

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Batch read nfo files in RAR archives

« on: February 05, 2008, 04:22 PM »

I think the command line tool UnRAR , http://www.rarlab.com/rar_add.htm , can do what you want, at least in combination with some scripting language like autohotkey.

this command line phrase would extract only .nfo files from the archive:

[Select]

unrar e -n*.nfo ARCHIVE_NAME.rar

I don't have time to put together a working script at the moment. But hopefully you or someone else can do it.

1032

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple audio DB app. to launch default player

« on: February 05, 2008, 04:05 PM »

hi parpfish,
I would also love to find the kind of db application that you request here! 
I searched for something similar (as far as the separation of music catalog and music player goes at least) in this old thread https://www.donation...25.msg68731#msg68731 . But I did not find what I was looking for. I hope some good suggestions crops up in this new thread!

1033

Living Room / Re: How do you repair screw holes in computer case after too much use?

« on: February 04, 2008, 10:13 AM »

Tinjaw,
When some screws for a computer case of mine went missing I successfully replaced them with small zip ties. Pull one zip tie through the hole until the "head" of the zip tie stop it. Then tighten it on the other side by using a second zip tie. Then trim the non-needed "tails" of the two zip ties. I hope you understand what I'm saying with "head", "tail" and so on here.

1034

Find And Run Robot / Re: [bug report] 'Switch from Large to Small Icons on Dirlist' display problem

« on: January 31, 2008, 02:00 PM »

I have a problem similar to this so I'm posting in this thread...

The screencaps speak for themselves. This is a how a normal search with two or more matches matches looks like:

One match:

Zero matches (the search phrase was "xzyzx" or something like that):


The last case is especially problematic because whenever I mistype in FARR I run the risk of not seeing the editbox (since there are no matches). I then don't see what I mistyped and have tap backspace until the phrase is short enough to find some matches.

Can I somehow force FARR to always show the editbox, even when there are no matches?

Here are my current settings:

1035

General Software Discussion / Re: How many of you use encryption?

« on: January 31, 2008, 01:18 PM »

The truecrypt homepage now states:
"Next release 5.0 scheduled for:  February 4, 2008  "
So four days left until we have open-source WDE for windows! 

1036

General Software Discussion / Re: Best free firewall for Windows?

« on: January 30, 2008, 04:02 AM »

I've used Outpost Pro Firewall (non-free) in the past. What I like about it is the level of detail in the information it provides me and in the range of actions I can choose from. But despite being better at such things compared to other software FW I tried it was still somewhat limited. It often asked me for decisions based on scarce information and few choices.

Example 1: some component had changed but there was no easy way for me to get more details about it (its path, its "track  record" of changing, related components and I couldn't just copy its name to the clipboard for web searches)

Example 2: some process wants net access but I can only choose between "create rule" (subcategories always allow/always block/custom), "allow once" and "block once". (I don't remember the names Outpost uses exactly, but something like that). I would often have preferred "allow the next ___ minutes" where a dropdown would let me set the time.

So, can anyone here point me to an in other regards decent free firewall that provide VERY much information and have VERY many alternative actions?

1037

General Software Discussion / Re: Idea: File note

« on: January 28, 2008, 11:31 AM »

Hi Cuffy and others,
I haven't checked this thread for a while so I've missed some discussions. To reply to the most recent issue, filenoter.exe is written in the Autohotkey (AHK) language and compiled with the tool ahk2exe that come bundled with AHK. It is a well known issue that such compiled scripts from time to time get flagged by various AV and other security software as some form of malware despite not being anything of that kind.

See this thread in the AHK forum for some examples: http://www.autohotke...orum/topic27562.html

Since is is possible to write malware with AHK (or any other language) it is a good to be careful if an AHK application gives these kinds of AV-warnings. But in many cases the AHK application is distributed together with the source code and then the matter can easily be settled by glancing through the source to assure no harmful code is included and then compile it yourself. If the resulting .exe still gives AV-warnings then it can be treated as a false positive and added to the exclusions in the AV-program.

The source for filenoter.exe is included in the .zip posted previously in this thread so feel free to check it out.

1038

General Software Discussion / Re: Best free firewall for Windows?

« on: January 24, 2008, 03:43 PM »

Does anyone here have experience from using an old computer, two or more network cards and running some linux firewall distribution ( http://en.wikipedia....irewall_distribution )? If so, then I'd love to hear what you think the pros and cons of that compared to a regular software firewall are, since I'm thinking of putting such a "home made hardware firewall" together from various old computer parts.

1039

General Software Discussion / Re: IM & online file host combination?

« on: January 24, 2008, 11:33 AM »

jazper: thanks for confirming that.
nite_monkey: Yes, that would work for all IM systems that support offline messaging. ICQ also supports that. But I'd prefer some automatic solution.

Thinking some more about this, an automatic solution need at least these features:
1. IM system with support for offline messaging
2. IM system with support for plugins that can react to drag and drop of files
3. file host that supports "private drop spots" (password required to edit and download, but not to upload)
4. file host that support access to (uploading and downloading) private dropspots through external scripts or programs.

and as a bonus feature:
5. PGP encryption tool for encrypting/decrypting files before/after upload/download.

1, 2 & 5 seems to be available. I'm more unsure about 3 & 4.

1040

General Software Discussion / Re: IM & online file host combination?

« on: January 23, 2008, 07:36 PM »

hi jazper,
I didn't know about Share Folder in Messenger at all since I've actually never used Messenger so thanks for the info. This is what wikipedia says ( http://en.wikipedia....nger#Sharing_folders ) :

The Sharing Folder feature of Windows Live Messenger is an alternative to the "direct transfer" method of file distribution. When a user wants to deliver a file to another person on his or her contact list, the "sharing folder" window appears, which is an individualized representation of all previously shared items.

When files are added to the "sharing folder" for that particular person, the file will automatically be transferred to the corresponding computer when they are online. This means that the folder is literally "shared" between two computers. If a user deletes a file, for example, the file will also be deleted from the corresponding computer's shared folder.

Just to be sure, is this correct: when sending to an offline contact through this Share Folder functionality, nothing is sent to a third party (like a microsoft server). Instead, my local Messenger client puts sending the file on its todo list and later when the contact gets online, and the senders computer is still online, Messenger transfers the file automatically.

1041

General Software Discussion / IM & online file host combination?

« on: January 23, 2008, 12:01 PM »

The fields of IM (instant messaging) and online file hosting seems to be buzzing with activity and new developments. I'd like to hear if there currently are any interesting ways to combine them. 

IM (instant messaging) is in itself often sufficient for sending files when both sender and recipient are online. But it would sometimes be useful to through the IM window initiate sending of files not to a contact's local computer but rather to some online hosted drop spot that the user has. Here's an example of what I'm looking for:

User A has user B in his IM contact list. B is currently offline. A drags and drops file X on B's name in the IM window. The file is then sent to a private drop spot online somewhere. When B logs on, he has a message saying X has been added to his private drop spot. B can click to download the file X to his local computer, or delete it or keep it in the drop spot.

With "private drop spot" I mean that only B can see and edit it and download from it. Others, maybe just approved others, can only upload to it. http://drop.io/ seems to be in the vicinity of what I have in mind for the online hosting part.

Possible extra feature that would be good: encryption through PGP (or some alternative) so that A's IM client encrypts the file utilizing B's public key before the file is uploaded to B's drop spot (as an extra privacy measure vs the online file host).

1042

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: List of disc catalogers

« on: January 23, 2008, 05:09 AM »

mwb1100, yes I know that but google still ranks the old site as no 1 so that's where I ended up. After writing about this here I hope I'll never make that mistake again. We'll see how that goes in six months or so

noblejoker: I think most of the programs in this giant list are focused on cataloging discs (CDs, DVDs) and folders by scanning their filesystems. It sounds like you need another type of database. Just a thought: I haven't tried the range of programs by Collectorz.com http://www.collectorz.com/music/ (commercial), but according to their site they support importing items through bar code scanning. Maybe that works for LP:s too?

1043

Living Room / Re: Cat on a Dolphin - amazing physics driven flash game

« on: January 20, 2008, 06:57 AM »

I posted in the wrong forum section - can someone help me move this thread to the living room?

1044

Living Room / Cat on a Dolphin - amazing physics driven flash game

« on: January 20, 2008, 06:53 AM »

The creator of such amazingly innovative physics driven online flash games as Egg Way, Stick Remover, Double Wires, Cat With Bow Golf and Adventure of Cat is back.

Get ready for Cat on a Dolphin

You control a dolphin carrying a cat along a path from start to finish. Pressing left mouse button speeds up the dolphin, releasing the button slows down the dolphin and releases the cat from the dolphins back. That's all the controls. Here's the challenge: while in the water, the cat's air supply decreases. So you must release the cat at peak places so that so that the physics sends it on a trajectory upwards above the water. Next you must time the dolphins speed so that you catch the cat on its way down. This sounds simple but proves to be really tricky at times.

the air is running out! Toss the cat!


Now catch it on the way down!


This is the best game I have played in a long time. It's so simple yet has great gameplay and an incredible thrill to it due to the physics. You can really feel the cat hanging in mid-air for a second before plunging downwards. I also found myself yelling "NO!!" when I just missed the cat and laugh loudly and proudly when I succeded at a long toss catch. A game that gets you that engaged is bound to be good. 

1045

General Software Discussion / Re: How many of you use encryption?

« on: January 20, 2008, 05:36 AM »

Lusher wrote earlier in this thread that WDE is coming for TrueCrypt. Some more details from their site reveals that it should be released very soon. Very interesting!

TrueCrypt 5.0
Release scheduled for: January 2008
Windows system partition encryption with pre-boot authentication
Mac OS X version
GUI for Linux versions of TrueCrypt
Parallelized and pipelined read/write
and more.

http://www.truecrypt.org/future.php

1046

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: List of disc catalogers

« on: January 20, 2008, 05:16 AM »

thanks for the update Nod5,
how are you finding it - or have you had a chance to try out the update?

You used use the Advanced Disk Catalog before ?
How do they compare (if you have the time for a comment or two )

-tomos (January 17, 2008, 12:40 PM)

Sure. I still use Advanced Disk Catalog, since VVV still lack som basic features, like support for file type icons. But it is getting better and better. So I hope to migrate to it some time soon since it is steadily updated, open source and works in both windows and linux.

But finding some way to migrate the catalog and avoid the tedious task of manually entering all discs into VVV might prove to be a challenge.

I know the Advanced Disk Catalog hasnt been updated since 2004 & isnt available at it's website (I added a link for tucows) so that's obviously a factor...
[edit] major rewrite - I got Advanced Disk Catalog and Advanced FTP & Disc Cataolger confused - whodathunkit
I also see it's not on the exrended list will correct that ... [/edit]

-tomos (January 17, 2008, 12:40 PM)

Once every six months or so I go to the Advanced Disc Catalog site to see if there are any updates. When you google http://www.google.co...dvanced+disk+catalog then the first match is http://www.elcomsoft.com/adc.html . Clicking that takes me to a completely empty window and I have more than one time thought "that's it, they've pulled the plug on it!". A moment later I realize that it's my ad blocker that obstructs the page from showing  Yet I moment later I realize that I was fooled in the exact same way 6 months ago Anyway, naming a page adc.html is not smart design.

1047

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: List of disc catalogers

« on: January 17, 2008, 11:48 AM »

Tomos, VVV has been updated. You can paste this into the list:
Virtual Volumes View v0.8 http://vvvapp.sourceforge.net/ for Windows & Linux (Ubuntu) Freeware FOSS 2007-12-22
list of news in v0.8: http://sourceforge.n....php?forum_id=767473

1048

General Software Discussion / Re: What's the best program for cooking and recipe management?

« on: January 17, 2008, 11:37 AM »

A relatively unexplored category!  I'm thinking a must-have feature for a software like this would be to connect to an online repository and contribute or download specific recipes to the local database with ability to modify it further.

-nosh (January 17, 2008, 02:31 AM)

That would be incredibly useful! There are so many great foodblogs out there but no really easy way to do advanced searches across many of them. I get hungry just by thinking about how much more good food I could've eaten with such a tool at hand! 

1049

Find And Run Robot / Re: slenderFARR - a new skin for FARR

« on: January 12, 2008, 10:07 AM »

Robert, great!  I guess the other obstacles on the "road to minimality" are things only mouser can do something about.

1050

Find And Run Robot / Re: slenderFARR - a new skin for FARR

« on: January 11, 2008, 03:19 PM »

This skin is really slick.

One idea to make it even more minimal: add an option to make the "help" and "options" icons normally invisible but visible when the mouse pointer is held over them.

edit:
It could be even more minimal if there is some way to make the horizontal dividing lines between the input box and the match list and between the match list and status bar invisible. And remove the black border for the FARR window.

It would be really cool if it was possible to through the above and through transparency minimize the GUI so that it on launch only displays a blinking caret somewhere on the screen, waiting for input!  BTW, is there some way to make the caret itself more bold? I have set "Arial bold 14" for the input box and the caret looks a bit to thin in comparison to the typed characters.