Messages

201

General Software Discussion / Re: jv16 Powertools 2014- Endorse Study Results Before They're Published?!

« on: September 25, 2013, 07:55 AM »

Thanks, Jim, for calling this to everyone's attention.  I first followed your link to the study and then went to the JVPowerTools forum.  One poster had pointed out that "You specify are that the most aggressive registry cleaning option was chosen. Macecraft consistently warns users against using that option. It would be a more convincing study if the results were compared to the way real users would use the program."  The developer replied: "With the PowerTools 2014 version, we have changed the way the more aggressive scan options work and changed the warnings from "do not use this" to more like "you can use this option if you know what you are doing"."

I still think the point raised by the poster is a good one.  My impression is that a lot of people who use registry cleaners (including me) do NOT feel totally comfortable messing around with the Registry.  Even with the change to the 2014 version, I suspect many (most?) people will still opt for a setting less strong than "aggressive," and that a study using a less aggressive study would be more useful, or at least also useful.

202

Living Room / Re: Google Reader gone

« on: September 12, 2013, 08:17 AM »

Oops, I just found how to export feedly's OPML file.  It's under Organize. 

203

Living Room / Re: Google Reader gone

« on: September 12, 2013, 08:15 AM »

Thanks, phitsc, for your quick reply.  I guess I'll just have to see what I can do with the old Google Reader xml file that I imported into feedly.  Or start with just a few feeds added manually and see how I like bazqux.

204

Living Room / Re: Google Reader gone

« on: September 12, 2013, 07:58 AM »

Another recommendation for https://bazqux.com/. After trying feedly I've switched to Bazqux and been really happy with it. I've had to switch from Reeder to Mr. Reader on the iPad, which is ok too. Still looking for a good Android client though.

-phitsc (September 10, 2013, 03:14 PM)

How did you export your feeds from feedly to bazqux?  I couldn't find that info on feedly.  I'd like to give bazqux a try, but I'd rather export my current feedly feeds rather than try to use the old Google Reader xml file.

205

Post New Requests Here / Re: Remember where I got the Download

« on: September 11, 2013, 08:02 AM »

I tend to avoid the problem by asking that all downloads go to my Downloads folder.  Of course, not all do, but between the Download StatusBar extension in Firefox/Pale Moon and the wonderful Everything search engine, I can always find where the download has gone.

206

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« on: September 07, 2013, 07:25 AM »

So anyway... I guess everyone is perfectly satisfied with their desktop search engines? Since no one sems to be posting about them anymore?

-J-Mac (September 06, 2013, 11:21 PM)

Over the years, I've tried a number of different desktop search engines.  Copernic, Yahoo Desktop Search, Archivarius, and UltraFinder come to mind, but far and away my favorite is File Locator Pro.  None of the other search engines I've tried comes close.  (I'm not counting Everything Search, which is my go-to search engine if I'm simply trying to locate a file and I know all or part of the filename.  But Everything doesn't search file contents, whereas the others I've mentioned do.)

File Locator Pro doesn't index, so it doesn't consume system resources and is always current.  And while it can be slower than an indexing search engine, it can be set to be very narrowly targeted.  I've also found it much easier to use than Archivarius.  In my experience, if FLPro didn't succeed in finding something, that something almost certainly wasn't on my computer.  There's also a free version of FLPro called Agent Ransack, which is very good, but I've opted for the commercial version. 

207

General Software Discussion / Re: Best program to compare two files : word and pdf

« on: August 31, 2013, 12:04 PM »

I use Beyond Compare http://www.scootersoftware.com/, for last few years and am satisfied.
Similar in price, and you can check the 30 days demo, if it works.

-anandcoral (August 27, 2013, 12:41 PM)

I've also been very happy with Beyond Compare.  I didn't suggest it for this thread because I've never used it to compare a word document with one in pdf.

208

Non-Windows Software / Re: A new section for Linux, cross-platform code, embedded, mac, android, ios, etc.

« on: August 31, 2013, 08:59 AM »

I'm kind of hoping this forum section doesn't get hijacked by the tablet/phone crowd

-Gothi[c] (August 30, 2013, 01:12 PM)

I'm somewhat apprehensive, too, but perhaps for the opposite reason.  I'd love to see a separate forum section devoted to the "tablet/phone crowd," and a separate one for the Linux folks, and perhaps other separate ones as well.  Having one section devoted to tablets/phones/Linux/mac/etc. doesn't seem to me much of an advance over having no "others" section at all.   I should note, however, that I'm often very wrong in my predictions, and perhaps that will be the case here as well. 

209

Living Room / Re: *Email privacy and security survey*

« on: August 17, 2013, 09:20 AM »

Yes, I know what it is, and no, I don't use it.  I rarely if ever have anything in my email worth hiding from the world.  Also, almost no one I write to uses it or wants to be bothered. 

210

Living Room / Re: Where/how do you mostly watch movies/videos?

« on: August 05, 2013, 12:25 PM »

On my treadmill, which is set up facing a television connected to a DVD player.  That's the only way I can bring myself to use the treadmill.   Thank goodness Netflix still rents an amazing selection of DVDs! 

211

Living Room / Re: Couple Visited by Feds After Google Search for Backpacks and Pressure Cookers

« on: August 02, 2013, 11:03 AM »

On such specious evidence, it seems strange that his former workplace called the police, however...

-wraith808 (August 02, 2013, 10:36 AM)

Yes, probably, but if the ex-employee left the company on very unfriendly terms, the ex-employer could have feared retaliation in the form of a bomb. 

212

Living Room / Re: did you ever throw your back out?

« on: July 26, 2013, 10:35 PM »

@Diva, I am pleased to know it usually was fixed in a week or two. But "several times"?

-Curt (July 26, 2013, 05:10 PM)

Yes, Curt, but that was "several times" over a period of many years. (I'm not in my late 20s any more  )

I'm very surprised by your account of your (mis)treatment.  I've long believed that the health care system in most European countries is better than in the United States, but your account is making me re-think my belief.

213

Living Room / Re: did you ever throw your back out?

« on: July 26, 2013, 02:49 PM »

Yes, I agree with nosh, 8 months sounds extraordinarily long.  I've thrown my back out several times, but I was usually pretty fully recovered in a week or two.  The fastest and most unusual recovery occurred the first time I threw my back out.  My husband drove me to our doctor's office.  I was in my late 20s, and the doctor was probably at least 20 years older than I was.  He told me to stand next to him back to back.  He hoisted me up onto his back, and then lowered me down again.  To my astonishment and delight, my back no longer hurt.  (Alas, that technique never worked again.)

214

General Software Discussion / Re: text and files

« on: July 20, 2013, 08:22 AM »

Another possibility is to use a desktop search engine like the freeware Agent Ransack (I use the commercial version, File Locator Pro, from the same company).  You can tell it what block of text to search for, likely file extensions to look in, and any number of other ways to narrow the search (date, time, size, etc.).  It will be slower than a search engine that indexes your files, but I like the fact that it doesn't index and is thus always up to date.  Once it has identified the files, you can delete them.

215

General Software Discussion / Re: Swapping Out Software?

« on: July 18, 2013, 12:04 PM »

That's a hard thing to do- especially with software that others use that you depend on, like skype.  It's just a slow process... I mean, look at the adoption of word and how long it took (is taking) to get people to see alternatives.

-wraith808 (July 18, 2013, 08:48 AM)

Yes.  Ironically, years ago I switched to Word (from WordPerfect, which I much preferred) because so many other people I worked with used Word.  And then, a few years ago, I dumped Word in favor of TextMaker, from SoftMaker Office, since TextMaker could read and write Word files, so it didn't matter what my colleagues were using.  

216

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: SoftMaker Office 69% off Friday 12. July

« on: July 12, 2013, 07:54 AM »

Wow!  These are the lowest prices I've seen, even less than I paid.  I've been using SoftMaker for several yeas and am very pleased.  Mostly I use TextMaker, the MS Word replacement, but from time to time I also use PlanMaker, the Excel replacement.  Both have worked well for me.   

217

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA - Picture searcher

« on: July 11, 2013, 01:22 PM »

From the description, it seems as if Visipics depends on your telling it what directory you want it to look in.  I think a more useful program would be able to search your entire computer, or at least an entire drive.  One program that does this is IDM's UltraFinder, which can also find text files (not all that well, IMHO).  It does a better job with finding duplicate photos, but it's rather over-priced (again, IMHO) at $49.95.  I mention it only to suggest a feature that would be nice to have that Visipics doesn't offer.

218

Living Room / Re: Google Reader gone

« on: July 06, 2013, 12:49 PM »

InoReader looked rather interesting, but when I clicked on "see what other readers say about InoReader," a message appeared at the top of my screen that said "You will need Google Chrome to install most apps, extensions and themes.  Download Chrome now."  Apparently, the link to other readers' remarks went to chrome.google.com/webstore/.  I can't imagine why they'd put the comments there, but I decided that I'd move on.

219

Living Room / Re: How Google is Killing Honest (Organic) Search

« on: July 02, 2013, 10:24 PM »

I remember feeling the same excitement as x16wda when I first came upon Google.  It was, indeed, so much better than any other search engine.  But, as x16wda said, it's not the same search engine now, and one has to wade through increasing amounts of garbage to find the good hits.  However, the saddest thing is that it's still better than the competition, at least in my fairly limited experience.  For quite a while I tried using DuckDuckGo on one computer and Bing on another, but more often than not I'd have to turn to Google.  Though I had to wade through garbage, at least there were some gems.  Those gems were all too often missing from DuckDuckGo and Bing.  I'm now back to having it as my primary search engine.

220

Living Room / Re: Google Reader gone

« on: June 24, 2013, 08:25 AM »

Thanks very much, Iain.  I found your chart helpful, and I'm glad to know about AOL Reader as well.  

221

Living Room / Re: Google Reader gone

« on: June 23, 2013, 08:40 AM »

I love FeedDemon, and was a registered user of a previous version. It really is one of the most slick desktop clients. But since it's end-of-life'd, it probably won't be updated to support whatever comes down the road.

-Jibz (June 23, 2013, 05:07 AM)

I have relatively simple requirements for an RSS reader, and most of the bells and whistles that I've seen in other readers do not interest me.  But still, I am concerned about FeedDemon's ability to deal with "whatever comes down the road."  That's why I will continue to keep my eyes open and read helpful threads like this one.  For now, though, FeedDemon seems more than capable of handling what I need.

222

Living Room / Re: Google Reader gone

« on: June 22, 2013, 08:01 PM »

FeedDemon Pro is excellent, I've been using it for years. But as mentioned earlier in this thread, it has gone free because the program is now dead. The developer has explained in some detail why the program will no longer be developed. FeedDemon now only makes sense for people who will only read their feeds on the desktop. I imagine that's now a small minority, but I may be wrong...

-johnk (June 22, 2013, 07:36 PM)

Well, I only read Google Reader on my desktop, and I expect I'll do the same thing with FeedDemon.   I guess I'll continue to pay attention to what other RSS Readers are available, but so far I'm happy with FeedDemon.

223

Living Room / Re: Google Reader gone

« on: June 22, 2013, 07:18 PM »

I tried Feedly but I couldn't get it to show me all my feeds, and no matter what "view" I tried, I couldn't find one that was similar to what I had (and liked) on Google Reader.  Then a day or so ago, I read that FeedDemon Pro was now free.  It's not browser-based, though you can read the feed links in your browser if you want to.  It's free, it doesn't ask for a name or password, you just download FeedDemon 4.5 from the website and install it on your computer.  I imported all my Google Reader feeds and I was good to go.  So far, I'm very pleased. 

224

Living Room / Re: Now you can "Log-In with PayPal"

« on: June 20, 2013, 12:23 PM »

Linking any login to a financial entity = bad idea IMO.

-wraith808 (May 01, 2013, 12:43 PM)

+1 

225

General Software Discussion / Re: Opera 15 Preview

« on: May 29, 2013, 08:58 AM »

I've been using Opera since the days when I had to pay for it.  Somewhere along the way, it went from being my default browser to being #2, mostly because Firefox had a number of extensions I found valuable and because fewer web and software developers took Opera into account.  Still, there were a number of things I liked about Opera and in some ways found it better than Firefox.  But last week I downloaded a new copy of Opera 12.15 to use as my backup to Firefox on my new Win 7 64-bit laptop.  To my dismay, the Opera 12.15 I downloaded and installed was VERY different from the Opera 12.15 I have on my Win 7 64-bit desktop computer.  The laptop version was exceedingly stripped down, and I could at first find no way to customize it, no way even to tell it what homepage to use or what cookie settings I wanted.  There was no Tools menu anywhere.  After much gnashing of teeth, I finally found where it had hidden the Settings, and from there I was able to get it into usable form.  But the experience left a bad taste in my mouth.  And version 15 sounds a hundred times worse. 

So while I'll keep Opera 12.15 as my backup browser for now, I guess I'll start looking for a replacement for the future.  Alas, it may not be easy, since I'm very wary of Chrome, and I'm also not eager to use IE.