Messages

5576

General Software Discussion / Re: InstantStorm: Freeware to make Flash based screensavers

« on: February 15, 2008, 03:03 AM »

OH GOD!  Does that mean I can convert that damn 'How far can you throw a paper plane?', (https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=11601.0), thing to a screensaver ?

Nothing's ever going to get done around here now..................... 

5577

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple download manager?

« on: February 14, 2008, 09:07 PM »

Another to try 

WinBITS http://sourceforge.net/projects/winbits/ - It uses the XP/2000 Background Intelligent Transfer Service.  I played with it a couple of years ago - it only uses free bandwidth so it shouldn't slow down other programs accessing the net.

And, in theory, because it uses a default windows service it should pick up whatever proxy settings are required to access the net.

Also, it's portable (extract and run) and doesn't seem to create any registry entries (apart from the usual MRUs).

However, be warned - it IS simple 

Of course, it doesn't run on Win98 due to the service not being available.

EDIT: On another note, I've managed to create a portable version of FDM, that leaves no trace, using JauntePE.  I'm not quite sure whether Admin rights are needed to run the JauntePE dlls though.  Calls to registry and filesystem are caught and redirected to local file storage, so even if it crashes there no registry entries or %appdata% files sticking around.

5578

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple download manager?

« on: February 14, 2008, 03:18 AM »

What I meant was that 4wd's link was a direct download.  I was expecting the file to be embedded in its

-rjbull (February 13, 2008, 09:25 AM)

Yeah, sorry - that's the direct link for updates, (of which it should be noted that's an old one).

I got it from http://www.portablefreeware.com/, they list a few other dl managers but almost all either write settings to registry or can't get the proxy automatically.

What happens if you explicitly tell wget to not use a proxy ?

eg. wget --no-proxy URL

Otherwise, the only way I think you're going to get out is by using some form of tunneling to bypass the firewall/proxy.

I just had a thought, (yeah, shocked me too) the absolute easiest way to do what you want is to use a Linux LiveCD distro.

The LiveCD runs in it's own environment and doesn't leave any tracks on the host PC.  All you need is either a CD or USB Flash/HDD to run it off.

Have a look at DSL, (Damn Small Linux 50MB http://damnsmalllinux.org/), which can be fired up within the host environment, (run it from within Windows), all you need then is any Linux download manager that can be installed in DSL, (using MyDSL will get access to hundreds of other apps), and the DSL environment should pick up the proxy settings via standard protocol.

There may be other distros that will allow booting within a host environment but DSL was the only one I could think of.

5579

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« on: February 14, 2008, 12:53 AM »

Well, I have to say that I'm completely stuck on DOpus, having been a beta-tester from way back during the heady days of Amiga DOpus v5+, (though I owned it since v3.xx).

Other filemanagers just seem anemic by comparison.  Sure it doesn't do everything everybody wants but it does what I want.....and I want a filemanager.  I don't use it for archives, picture viewing, video viewing, etc for the simple reason that there are far better programs for doing those things, (eg. IZArc/WinRAR, XNView, MPC for example).

The only other filemanager I use with any regularity is A43 http://www.primitus.us/a43/, perfect for my USB flash drive.

5580

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple download manager?

« on: February 12, 2008, 09:04 PM »

Here's another downloader you might like to try, it seems to be geared towards fileshare sites like RapidShare, etc, but will probably handle normal file downloads.

http://usd.altupdate...USD/clear.php?file=0 USDownloader

Doesn't seem to write anything to the registry, you can input a proxy but it also has a button to get it from IE - so it might work.

5581

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple download manager?

« on: February 08, 2008, 07:15 PM »

I struggle with GNU-speak manuals    and may still have the same problem with permissions.

-rjbull (February 08, 2008, 08:42 AM)

Doesn't everyone?

AFAICT, if you can run a program, access the net and write files then you shouldn't have a problem with using wget, permission wise.

A bonus is it will read from a file of URLs.

wget --input-file=<file>

Only thing is I believe you'll need to input the proxy manually - could be a problem if you don't know the authentication.

5582

General Software Discussion / Re: Best password manager?

« on: February 08, 2008, 06:36 PM »

4wd: What if you dont use firefox or thunderbird?

-Josh (February 08, 2008, 06:56 AM)

Ahh well, you're already behind the eight-ball then 

What if you have other passwords you want to remember? What if you have network passwords for your job, what about combos to a safe? I can do all of this in roboform.

What if there's no computer next to the safe, your laptop's battery is flat and there's no power point near?

Didn't think of the network password bit, although when I did work, (retired), we were required to use a username/password to use the corp's network which required a change of password every month, (which contrary to everyone else I think is a stupid requirement).

Trouble with the corp network was everyone hated it, so everyone's password was 'yearmonth', eg. 1998janu

Old blog but true: http://blogs.technet...04/07/28/199610.aspx

Then again maybe all our passwording will become redundant: http://technology.ne...rticle.ns?id=dn12825 

BTW, Equilibrium is a really excellent movie. 

5583

General Software Discussion / Re: Best password manager?

« on: February 08, 2008, 05:56 PM »

IIRC, the password manager in both of these are akin to unix account password management, the setting of the master password basically means you've lost your stored passwords if you forget it - it's also extremely secure.

-4wd (February 08, 2008, 03:34 AM)

How is that akin to unix account password management? Those don't work with a "master password", each user password is stored separately, usually as the md5sum of {salt,password} where salt is a 12-bit (iirc) random number.

-f0dder (February 08, 2008, 06:09 AM)

I did say "akin", ie. similar in that they are very secure due to the encrypted way in which password info is stored, very hard to bruteforce.  Not because it requires a master password.

5584

General Software Discussion / Re: Best password manager?

« on: February 08, 2008, 03:34 AM »

I use Firefox v3/Thunderbird v2, (both portable editions), I use their inbuilt password manager with a master password.

I just copy the Firefox/Thunderbird directories to a Flash drive and use on another computer - no other software required.

IIRC, the password manager in both of these are akin to unix account password management, the setting of the master password basically means you've lost your stored passwords if you forget it - it's also extremely secure.

So why would anyone want/need yet another program they have to remember a password for, (ie. the password manager) ?

5585

General Software Discussion / Re: PDF to DOC converter?

« on: February 08, 2008, 03:33 AM »

Why bother looking for and installing any software for document conversion?

Go to ZamZar, http://www.zamzar.com, upload your PDF, choose 'doc' as the output, enter your email address, wait for an email.

There's also Media Convert, http://media-convert.com/, but they don't do PDF->DOC, (PDF->RTF and others though).

How successful the conversion will be will probably depend on the originals complexity but it probably won't be any worse than a dedicated program on your machine.

5586

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple download manager?

« on: February 07, 2008, 11:10 PM »

Use wget and the Task Scheduler.

It'll do HTTP, HTTPS and FTP, download to wherever you like, it's a CLI command so doesn't leave traces all over the computer, runs on all versions of Windows, and has more options than you can shake a stick at.

Simple example: wget.exe "http://somewhere.net/somefile.zip"

wget is at http://www.gnu.org/software/wget/, a search of Google will turn up precompiled binaries.

If you go to sourceforge.net and search for wget you can also get quite a few GUIs for Windows if you need one, eg. http://sourceforge.net/projects/wwget/ is a Windows GUI that allows scheduling.

Oh yeah, it's also GPL so no problem with commercial environment.

5587

General Software Discussion / Re: Emulate mouse clicks with keyboard

« on: February 07, 2008, 10:29 PM »

You could use MouseKeys in conjunction with remapping the keys it uses for left/right click to other keys, eg. Cntrl-A, ~, etc.

Try SharpKeys, (http://www.randyrant...7/sharpkeys_211.html), or KeyTweak, (http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/).

Of course, this will completely screw up the default numpad mappings.

5588

General Software Discussion / Re: What Are Your Views On BUGS?

« on: February 07, 2008, 02:15 AM »

Personally I think bugs are intolerable, inexcusable, and grounds for uninstalling a program.

Except when they are in programs i write, then they are just minor inconveniences barely worth mentioning.

-mouser (February 03, 2008, 01:31 PM)

Actually, in your case Mouser, they are evidence of its hand-crafted nature 

5589

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

« on: February 07, 2008, 12:47 AM »

Is there a truly portable encryption system that allows someone to access an encrypted file on any system via a usb drive?

-Josh (January 20, 2008, 04:32 PM)

Yes, any portable archiver that supports encryption.  I use WinRAR to encrypt all my software keys but I can unencrypt using IZArc2Go, PeaZip or any other that supports encrypted RAR archives, (encrypted RARs are far more secure than encrypted ZIPs - it's been mentioned time and again that if you lose the password for an encrypted RAR in would be faster to create the original file than bruteforce the password).

5590

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

« on: February 05, 2008, 06:48 PM »

FWIW I gave PC Tools a whirl and have to say I was mightily disappointed. 

first problem (for me) - it blocked the internal network for some reason (and I'm not even on a network!!!), wouldn't let me play CounterStrike (single player).  Tried tweaking the rules to no avail (probably my lack of expertise didn't help here...)

-Target (February 03, 2008, 06:07 PM)

Interesting, I can't recall having that problem but it's easily fixed.  If you go to the History screen you'll see a list of whatever was blocked, (Source, Dest, Port, Protocol, etc - doubleclicking will give detailed info), right-click on it and select 'Add Rule: .....' and it will create a rule in the appropriate zone, (Internet/Trusted).
You can then edit it, (it always appears at the top before other rules), to fine tune, etc.

second problem - inability to connect to the net.  It may be a good firewall, but I never found out 'cos it either blocked my connection, or dropped it after a very short time.  I spent well over an hour trying to establish a reliable connection, and in the end simply disabled the firewall (problem solved!!).  Maybe I'm a slow learner, but I can't for the life of understand why an app that is apparently as well considered as this one appears to be shouldn't work straight out of the box...

Strange, what can I say except it didn't happen here and it sounds more like a software conflict.

On top of that it was so intrusive (I'm still installing stuff after a rebuild) - every install required a response (some several).

Generally because the installer wants to connect to the net, accept connections, etc, (Microsoft Installer will).  But at least you don't end up with 50+ uninstall/install/setup items in the Apps list like ZA, (mine has none).  All the firewalls I've tried do this, (except purely rule-based), and personally I'd consider it a failing if they didn't, (open a requester when net access is happening during program install/uninstall).

This is one reason why the majority of programs I use are portable.

Now I know this is a 'good thing', but it's irritating in the extreme.  Clicking on the 'remember this' option shortcuts some of this, but creates a useless rule.  Uninstalling was an equally frustrating exercise (why would I want to create a rule to uninstall something???).

Because, again, the uninstaller is trying to connect to the net, accept connections, memory injection, etc.

And at least it shows you in the Apps list if a application is no longer available - about the only firewall I've seen that does.

5591

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

« on: February 05, 2008, 05:50 PM »

Darwin,
I was tempted to try it myself but I read somewhere it doesn't have checks for dll injection. You may want to look this up (I'm not sure if it's been rectified in the newer versions) before you make it a permanent fixture.

-nosh (January 27, 2008, 01:34 PM)

The free version of PCTools Firewall V3 allows you to set the following permissions for applications:

Memory Injection
Access through Child process
OLE object activation

All can be set for Allow, Block or Prompt.

I say free version because it allows you to enter a registration code but I don't know whether you need to buy it or just register online - I haven't bothered and it still works.

I will mention that under Settings->Filtering you can turn on 'Protection against Code Injection' - I don't know if this is what you mean.
The only time I turned it on I stupidly answered Block to a requester, (when I should have Allow'ed), and that was the last time I saw the Desktop for a couple of hours while I recovered the system 

Oh, as a bonus it is about the only free firewall I've found, (besides purely rule-based, ala Ghostwall), that installs and runs on Windows Server 2003.  Most of the others won't install either because they don't support it, (eg. Comodo), or because it's automatically assumed you're a corporation, (ergo, you need to buy the Enterprise Edition or some such).

5592

General Software Discussion / Re: Mini-HowTo: Handling Cookie Privacy the Right Way

« on: February 05, 2008, 05:06 PM »

Unfortunately the CCleaner method of cleaning cookies only works IF you have an installed browser.

I don't.

My XP-SP2 has been nlite'ned to remove IE and a lot more, (the core still remains for those retarded programs that still need it), and I use Portable Firefox - in fact, wherever possibly I only use portable applications and my machine has never run more stable.

For cookies, I just set Firefox to accept all and clear on exit - this just tells Firefox to set all cookies to session only.

I also use the CustomizeGoogle plugin which stuffs up their tracking 

5593

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

« on: February 05, 2008, 05:04 PM »

So for a software firewall I've settled on PCTools Firewall V3.

-4wd (January 23, 2008, 03:55 AM)

With or without ThreatFire ??

-Curt (January 23, 2008, 10:00 AM)

Sorry, for the slow reply - only visit when the moon is blue, red, green or purple 

Without, I don't use any form of HIPS.  Since anything 'nasty' that starts to run has to:

a) get onto my PC - which is hard for anyone to do physically.
b) get through the router's firewall, the only open ports go to a dumb NAS not capable of running software - and the router uses SPI, so the connection has to be originated at my end first.
c) get through NAT translation.
d) get through PCTools Firewall V3, which also has SPI on plus it has basic 'software-not-doing-the-right-thing' protection, (in the Application rules).
e) and finally I've even found avast! AntiVirus free edition works remarkably well for picking up stray malware/spyware.

I used to run HIPS of one kind or another, (was a while ago and can't recall any of the products - damn alcohol!),  but just found that they caused to much interference with my normal operation of my computer.

I'll also mention here another scenario I have:

I have a XP-SP2 PC, it's an old Dell Optiplex GX150 PIII-1GHz running as a headless, (no keyboard, mouse, monitor), Usenet downloader.  It runs 24/7/365.

It doesn't have a firewall, (not even the default XP).  It doesn't have antivirus.  It's only form of protection is the router, (firewall/NAT).  It has run for more than a year.  It has never had a virus/spyware/malware/software problem.

Why?

It runs ONE program only, (SABnzbd - which is compiled Python).  It doesn't execute anything it downloads, (it doesn't even get unarchived).  It doesn't do Microsoft updates, it doesn't do any updates.  It is permanently stuck at SP2.

5594

General Software Discussion / Re: photo duplicate scanner

« on: February 03, 2008, 03:15 AM »

But now that I read your post and just tried the DOpus renamer, I will definitely give it a workout.  Looks to be a lot more comprehensive than I had realized!

-J-Mac (January 26, 2008, 10:38 PM)

Also remember that you can save any rename pattern you use regularly.  I'll assume you have now converted to using the DOpus Advanced Rename requester

Just set up the rename pattern for photos/files/whatever how you want it, then:

1) Hit the Presets: Add button (above the list on the right).
2) Give your new rename pattern a name.
3) It appears in the list.

You can now just select files, select the preset from the list on the right and Robert's your father's brother  

Also, for a preset you use all the time:

1) Create a new lister toolbar button.
2) Give it the function 'Rename PRESET=<insert your preset name>'
3) Select some files, hit your new button.

4wd

5595

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

« on: January 23, 2008, 03:55 AM »

I've run a few firewalls over the last couple of years.  I had ZA for a while, then ZA Pro (had 2 licenses for it until recently), but somewhere they lost the plot and it just started bogging down the system, corrupting it's own files, and all the extra crap they kept adding - damnit! I just want a firewall.

I've tried:
Tiny Personal Firewall - Last free version before it became Sygate, (IIRC).  A bit too 'Tiny'.

Ghostwall - Very fast but a pain to set up for every one of your apps.

Primedius Free - Very fast lightweight firewall that will run with other firewalls.  Use it with Windows Firewall for incoming protection and let Primedius handle the outgoing stuff - however the list of applications does get cluttered.

Sygate - Tried it for about 30 mins, didn't like it.

Comodo - Used it for quite a while, a very good firewall but it's interface and rule creation let it down.

And a few others I've long since forgotten, I've finally settled on:

Zyxel Prestige 660HW - The routers firewall is turned on plus NAT is also running, however I have a couple of ports left open for servers.

So for a software firewall I've settled on PCTools Firewall V3.  It doesn't slow down my PC at all, (not that I've noticed anyway, pings are still sub-40ms for gaming), and the ease and variety of rule creation for both network and apps is far ahead of Comodo.  The interface is also a lot better than Comodo.

And bliss, it allows you to export and import rule sets - set it up, export the rules, install on another PC, import the rules.

5596

General Software Discussion / Re: photo duplicate scanner

« on: January 23, 2008, 03:17 AM »

But now, I've got a new dilemma: my camera outputs video files as *.mov
And as pointed out by my original post, the file names are all wonky. Is there any way to batch rename all based on creation date? There is no exif type data on these.

-jammo (January 20, 2008, 11:41 AM)

You mentioned DOpus above, so I'll assume you have it.

The easy way:

1) Select files/movies/etc.
2) Hit the Rename button.
3) Hit the Advanced button - assuming it's in Simple mode.
4) Tick 'Enable file information fields' - you'll now notice a selection button on the right side
    of the 'New name' input field.
5) Hit that selection button, (a down arrow), and select 'General->Date (Created)'.
6) The new filenames will be displayed in the preview area - hit the OK button.
7) Job Done.

The 'Enable file information fields' also gives you access to a lot more renaming info, including EXIF data.

Cheers,
4wd (ex Amiga DOpus beta-tester

5597

Find And Run Robot / Help with alias needed

« on: December 25, 2007, 05:56 AM »

Hi folks, I'm having trouble trying to get an alias to work.

It's basically a modification of lanux128's locate32 alias, https://www.donation...81.msg66910#msg66910 using Index Your Files instead, (http://www.indexyourfiles.com/).

[Select]

1000>>>IYF>->iyf $$1 Local|C:\PortableApps\FileUtils\iyf-x\iyf-x.exe --databases:Local --files:$$1>n>iyf $$1 in database $$2|C:\PortableApps\FileUtils\iyf-x\iyf-x.exe --databases:$$2 --files:$$1>+>^iyf (?:\s|)([^\s]*)(?:\s|)([^\s]*)(?:\s|)([^\s]*)(?:\s|)([^\s]*)

The first works fine where it searches in the database 'Local', but the second just doesn't seem to accept a database as an argument, it always defaults back to 'Local'.

i.e. I have two databases, 'Local' and 'Network'.

     'iyf posters network' should do: iyf-x.exe --databases:network --files:posters  (this works from a CLI BTW).

     But it just defaults to whatever database(s) used in the last search, (usually Local).

Can anyone point out what I've done wrong or what I need to do to get the second alias working.

Thanks

EDIT: AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Forget about it, my brain has obviously taken leave of my body.......thought it would automatically use the second alias when there was more than 1 argument...........too much Christmas cheer methinks...........

5598

Living Room / Re: Any old Amiga users among us?

« on: December 07, 2007, 04:35 PM »

@Ralf, it was called the 'IBM Sidecar', and worked fine on the A500 pointing the wrong way

Yes, I admit it.....I'm an old Amiga user, (or should that be 'a user of old Amigas'?).  I've bought every version of Cloanto's 'Amiga Forever' and Amithlon, (very, VERY quick), when it was available.

I've had an A500, A600, A500+ and numerous attachments - SupraTurbo28 anyone?  All sold off when I migrated to my ultimate - the A3000.   (AGA sucks, ECS RULEZ!!!!

My poor 'old' 1990 A3000 with CyberStormPPC 180, PicassoIV (including Paloma and Pablo II), 132MB, A2065, HDs, 1.76MB floppy(!) and Wizard mouse now lies lonely and semi-forgotten in the wardrobe.  I've often thought about selling it off but just can't bring myself to do it

And yes, every damn day on the PC I really, REALLY miss ARexx - VBScript is a complete dog's breakfast by comparison, and all these bl**dy uncommunicative programs........AAAARRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

60 programs to do what you could do with 10 really good ones plus ARexx.  Bill Hawes was my hero, WShell still can't be beat IMHO.

For those that are interested still, my sites: http://4x4.hopto.org and http://4wd.hopto.org

A new emulator that has appeared, (well not really new, more 'tuned'): http://xamiga.net/index.html

....Jeeezz....I'm feeling inclined to get the A3000 out and fire it up again......

EDIT: One of my favourite games that I always returned to on the Amiga, (after killing things in whatever the latest fps was), was Larn - and now I play it on the PC in the guise of ULarn, 2.91MB   When a Level III Demon Lord belts you one from nowhere......the suspense 

5599

General Software Discussion / Re: Firewalls - please, i can't be bothered.

« on: March 11, 2007, 06:01 AM »

Hi nudone, if all you want is a simple firewall, (or just a program), for outgoing program access control, see if you can find the latest version of Primedius Firewall Lite, 1.6 here: http://www.majorgeek...wall_Lite_d4146.html

It's small, you can start or stop it at any time, seems very low impact.  The interface is a little outdated but it seems to work fine.

I used to use it with Ghostwall, (gave me more control over incoming connections).  They had no problem co-existing together.  However, it does basic inbound filtering so you don't need to install anything else, just use XP's or rely on your router's NAT/firewall.

The only thing that annoyed me about it was the fact that if you updated a program, after asking for access permission, it would add it to the program list leaving the old program version in the list - so every so often you'd need to go through the list and clean out the old entries.

Now-a-days, I use Comodo on my main machine and laptop, (gives more control), and nothing on a download-only machine, (it relies on NAT and the router's hardware firewall - it runs 2 programs and doesn't execute anything it's downloaded so it's fairly safe - runs AVG as a basic precaution).

5600

Official Announcements / Re: --> OCTOBER SOFTWARE DRAWING RESULTS - POSTED

« on: October 16, 2006, 05:50 PM »

Thank you very much to Scooter Software and DonationCoder, (all of you there).

I think it's only about the second time I've won something in approx. 40 years