Messages

901

General Software Discussion / Re: What makes an application "useful"?

« on: May 19, 2009, 06:25 PM »

Yes, App103 hit it on the head for me, too.  The only criterion on App's list that wouldn't be on mine is software that's "so intuitive."  Mind you, I love it when software just works perfectly right from the start without my having to beat my head against the computer monitor, but App's statement made me realize that at least some of the software I've come to love took me a while to warm up to.  DirectoryOpus, Linkman, and ActiveWords are three that come to mind.  They seemed too complicated at first, or (in the case of Linkman) had too many features I didn't like, but their complexity turned out to be a virtue: they can do so incredibly much.  I use all three constantly, every day.  To those I'd add three programs that just worked beautifully for me right from the start: ClipMate, HyperSnap, and Mulberry.  Mulberry too is complex, but fortunately its complexity hid itself until I was hooked.     There are other programs I'm enthusiastic about as well, but without these six I'm lost.

902

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

« on: May 17, 2009, 08:54 PM »

Any chance that Donation Coder can get a discount on Archivarius?

903

Living Room / Re: Wolfram Alpha - Impressions On Launch

« on: May 16, 2009, 08:39 AM »

Rather than rewriting all my thoughts, I'll link to what I posted on my blog, if that's okay. The post is here.

-raybeere (May 15, 2009, 11:05 PM)

FWIW, I thought your blog entry was terrific!  It was interesting, informative, and--in spite of what you claimed--well written.  It also prompted me to try Wolfram Alpha.  I spent much less time than you did, but Wolfram Alpha struck out on all my queries.  They were simple queries--"who is _______?" for example.  I tried my husband's name, my name, and my brother-in-law's name.  Google had no problem returning information on all of us, but W.A. didn't know what to do with any of the queries.    I tried several more queries of a different sort, and ended with "What is Donation Coder?"  All I can say for W.A. is that it's consistent--it consistently didn't know what to do.  By contrast, when I then put "what is Donation Coder?" into Google, its first three hits were to the web site, the forums, and Wikipedia's coverage of DC.  Guess I'll stick with Google. 

904

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite launch bar? Your favorite features? Missing Features?

« on: May 11, 2009, 01:19 PM »

I'm quite new to launch bars.  Before I decided to give LaunchBar Commander a try, I'd never thought about using one.  Of course, the description of TrueLaunchBar aroused my curiosity, so I took a look.  Perhaps I'm too new to all this to appreciate how it's different from LBC.  The only thing of importance that I could see was the plugins.  Those are pretty impressive!  But other than that, what does it offer that LBC does not?  I'm not asking that in a hostile way--I'm just trying to understand the differences between the two apps.

Thanks in advance.

905

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite launch bar? Your favorite features? Missing Features?

« on: May 05, 2009, 03:15 PM »

That's a lot of money for a program launcher & scripting utility. Sure, the ActiveWords implementation is on steroids, but still...that's a lot more expensive than any of their competitors.

-Innuendo (May 04, 2009, 12:41 PM)

I didn't look into what alternatives there were.  I didn't think I needed or wanted ActiveWords, so I never investigated what else might be out there.  A friend kept bugging me to give it a try.  I finally did, and soon I was hooked.  I use it multiple times a day every day.  I might add that you can try it free for 60 days--a pretty generous amount of time.  Also, the purchase price entitles you to install it on all your computers.  Still, there may be other programs as varied and capable as ActiveWords for less $--I just never looked for any.

906

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: X-Setup Pro at Bits Du Jour today Monday - 5/4/09

« on: May 04, 2009, 07:53 PM »

The Neat Net Tricks Software Panel reviewed X-Setup Pro back in October of 2007.  I don't know what version they reviewed or how relevant it is to the present one, but if you want to read several panelists' assessment, you can find it at http://www.neatnettricks.com/?http://www.neatnettricks.com/SoftwareReviews/2007/review_X-SetupPro.htm.

907

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite launch bar? Your favorite features? Missing Features?

« on: May 04, 2009, 11:04 AM »

and if you like FARR, you might like my LaunchBar Commander.

-mouser (May 03, 2009, 04:55 PM)

I've never tried FARR, but I absolutely LOVE LaunchBar Commander!    

I suppose one of these days I should take a look at FARR, but between LaunchBar Commander and ActiveWords (which enables me to launch documents, substitute text, open folders, navigate to websites, and arrange for more complicated activities by means of its scripting ability), I suspect I may not need FARR.

908

General Software Discussion / Re: Is AnyDVD actually necessary for copying DVD's?

« on: May 01, 2009, 03:30 PM »

There is a version of DVDSkrink which is integrated with ImgBurn - so you can reduce that to one step and forget CopyToDVD.

-Carol Haynes (May 01, 2009, 01:51 PM)

The integration seems the same as the integration I already have with DVDShrink and CopyToDVD.  When I use DVDShrink, it automatically sets things up so that it will use CopyToDVD to do the burning.  I also think I prefer CopyToDVD.  I used ImgBurn a few days ago with a problematic DVD that CopyToDVD wouldn't burn.  ImgBurn burned the DVD, but it turned out to be unreadable.  ImgBurn had simply made me a coaster for the beer I needed after this experience!     Had I just stayed with CopyToDVD, I'd have been spared an hour's burning time and one coaster.

909

General Software Discussion / Re: Is AnyDVD actually necessary for copying DVD's?

« on: May 01, 2009, 01:19 PM »

it sounds like AnyDVD is not completely necessary for all DVD's.  And since the people I've heard from don't know anything about AnyDVD, I assume that most DVD's can just be copied fine without AnyDVD.

-superboyac (April 30, 2009, 06:38 PM)

At times I've backed up DVDs I own, and normally I use DVDShrink coupled with CopyToDVD.  DVDShrink will even remove some protections.  Most of the time, these two programs are all I need, but at times, DVDShrink will examine the disk and report, "Sorry, this disk is copy protected, I can't deal with it."  After that happened several times, I bought AnyDVD, and it has always managed to remove whatever was preventing DVDShrink from moving ahead.  AnyDVD works very quickly, after which I turn things over to DVDShrink, which makes an ISO file and then calls on CopyToDVD to do the burning.

I might note that if you're interested in removing protections from HD and BlueRay disks, you need a special (i.e., more expensive) version of AnyDVD, not the plain vanilla one I have.

910

Found Deals and Discounts / Button Shop at 25% off

« on: April 28, 2009, 12:24 PM »

I'm not sure how many people on Donation Coder make buttons for their websites, but one rather nice program for making a variety of attractive web buttons is Button Shop.  In a newsletter I received today, they're offering a 25% discount on this program, making the price $29.95 rather than $39.95.  The discount is good only for a week: until May 5, 2009.  Here's a link to the newsletter in which the offer appears: http://ymlp14.com/zfn5Ju.  Bits du Jour (I think) had it at an even more substantial discount a few months ago, but that was only for a day, and whether that offer is likely to be repeated anytime soon, I don't know.

911

Living Room / Re: WinPatrol Plus - Half-Price until Midnight Tonight (CDT)

« on: April 24, 2009, 03:49 PM »

+1.  WinPatrol Plus is one of my favorites.  I bought it several years ago after it got rave reviews from the Neat Net Tricks Software Review Panel.  And 50% off is a terrific price!

I might also mention that it's been Bill P's policy that once you buy WinPatrol Plus, ALL updates/upgrades are free!

912

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: www.bitsdujour.com clone at FevoDiscount - 24 hours discount software, buy cheap

« on: April 23, 2009, 07:37 AM »

Fevo Discount home page
- Buy your favorite software at generous discount in 24 hours "
http://www.fevodiscount.com/

-patteo (November 10, 2008, 07:19 AM)

Hmmm...when I tried the link, I got an error message:
Fatal error: Call to a member function load() on a non-object in /usr/www/users/trudger/fevodiscount/index.php on line 28

And when I searched for fevodiscount in Google, the top hit was to the same error message.   

913

General Software Discussion / Re: What's the dfference between using portable installaions vs PortableApps?

« on: April 22, 2009, 08:29 AM »

Just wanted to mention that yesterday's Daily Tech Treats (part of Gizmo's Freeware site) featured lists of portable apps, plus a link to a guide to portable apps.  And the comments offered other lists of PAs.

914

General Software Discussion / Re: CintaNotes

« on: April 21, 2009, 01:21 PM »

Probably after seeing it mentioned somewhere in this site (CORRECTION: I saw it first in the Neat Net Tricks newsletter), I downloaded CintaNotes and started to use it.  I soon put it in my Quick Launch bar, and I'm finding it quite useful.  I've tried a bunch of programs for quick and dirty note-taking, including Zotero, list.it,, KeyNote, KeyNote-NF, CollectyCut, and AskSam.  (The last two are commercial programs; the others are freeware.)  I still use AskSam, but mostly for more extensive databases, not for quick note-taking.  I also still use KeyNote-NF, but mostly for notes about one specific project rather than for notes in general.  I kept waiting for CollectyCut to come out with a promised new version that would add needed features lacking in Version 2, but it hasn't happened.  I'm not sure why I never really took to Zotero or list.it, but I simply found that I preferred CintaNotes.  I'm not passionate about it, as I am about some programs, but I do like it better than the others for quick notes.

915

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MiniReview of Linkman URL Organizer and Search Tool

« on: April 20, 2009, 01:26 PM »

Hi, Steven.  Experiences similar to the ones you've described finally led me to give up on a-squared.  I uninstalled it from my computer and haven't been sorry.  That's not to say that I've given up on anti-malware programs, just on a-squared (and AVG).  Right now the ones I've got on my computer are SpyBot, AdAware 2008, SuperAntiSpyware, and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware.  I run scans with one or another of them pretty regularly, but since I lead an amazingly boring computer life, they tend not to find much.

916

Living Room / Re: for the past 50 years, American students were taught bullshit

« on: April 18, 2009, 08:41 AM »

LOL, do they have to get to COLLEGE (uni) level to learn basic grammar rules like that???!!!
I am not even a native speaker but I knew this stuff when I was ~13...
 
No wonder the US is losing its' status as a super power!!

-johanna0507 (April 18, 2009, 08:02 AM)

Er, um, perhaps you intended your last sentence as humor, but...there should never be an apostrophe after the "s" in "its," and the only time there should be one after the "t" is when "it's" means "it is."   

917

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Choose which browser will open a url from external app

« on: April 02, 2009, 09:13 PM »

If I can define and set specific URL's to open a new page in IE right out of the application in use at that time (usually Firefox), that would be awesome.

-steeladept (June 24, 2007, 05:34 AM)

I should mention that this is possible with the bookmark manager I use, Linkman.  You can set certain bookmarks to open with a specific browser regardless of what your default browser is, and you can also right-click on any bookmark and choose on the fly the browser in which it should open.

918

General Software Discussion / Re: Uninstaller Roundup - Revo - Total - ZSoft & the less magnificent seven

« on: April 02, 2009, 02:51 PM »

On "System Restore Cleanup" cyberdiva is trying to avoid too many system restores ! .
So that leads to this uninstaller roundup, with the emphasis on 3 solid in-depth programs.

-Steven Avery (April 02, 2009, 12:13 PM)

Hey, thanks very much, Steven!  I'm happy to report that after reading your very helpful assessment, I've installed Revo.  Haven't used it yet, but at least I haven't done another System Restore, either! 

919

General Software Discussion / Re: System Restore Cleanup

« on: April 02, 2009, 09:07 AM »

Thought: if you're not using Revo Uninstaller ( www.revouninstaller.com ) to remove programs from your machine, you might want to consider doing so. It does a very nice job of cleaning up registry entries and artifacts left behind by a lot of installers.

-40hz (April 01, 2009, 11:03 PM)

Thanks very much for the suggestion!  I had actually downloaded a copy last week, but I haven't yet installed it.  I've been unsure whether I really needed yet another piece of software  , but after reading your recommendation, I think I'll go ahead and add it.

920

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« on: April 01, 2009, 02:28 PM »

Linkman HAS a function to launch a URL into the non default browser: Right Click Menu -> Launch in New Window with (IE, Firefox etc).

-Outertech Support (April 01, 2009, 11:47 AM)

That's terrific!  Thanks so much for letting me know this.  Even though I've been using Linkman for about a year, I didn't realize this feature existed.

921

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« on: April 01, 2009, 11:37 AM »

LinkStash has a series of hotkeys to open in current/new window with a series of browsers - so I could open the same page in IE, Firefox and Opera at the same time by hitting different hotkeys.

-rjbull (April 01, 2009, 10:34 AM)

Both Firefox and Opera have right-click options to open the viewed page in each other's browsers or in IE, but I think it would nonetheless be faster and more efficient if Linkman had a right-click option like the one SKA describes Powermarks as having.

922

General Software Discussion / Re: System Restore Cleanup

« on: April 01, 2009, 10:36 AM »

Out of curiosity, what's been up with you that you're needing to use System Restore so much? You really shouldn't need to. Almost sounds like you have a deeper undiagnosed problem on your PC that needs fixing. Maybe some of us can help you if that's the case.

-40hz (April 01, 2009, 10:04 AM)

Thanks, 40hz, for your concern.  I really appreciate it.  However, I may have made it seem like I've used system restore more than I have.  By "a bunch of times" over the last few months, I meant somewhere between five and ten.  And they were almost all prompted by problems I encountered when I installed software that didn't play nicely on my computer (normally, just removing the program is all that's necessary, but there were some times when that wasn't feasible or sufficient).  There was also one time when I used system restore to undo the results of what I thought were trivial registry changes.     In each case, system restore proved very helpful.

923

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« on: April 01, 2009, 09:59 AM »

2] opening a stored link from within PM in browser of yr choice - had to be chosen manually via right click or it'd open in default browser set in PM.

-SKA (April 01, 2009, 01:02 AM)

Thanks, SKA, for the clarification.  Actually, I'd be delighted if I could simply right-click to tell Linkman which browser to use to open a stored link.  That seems to me considerably less cumbersome than having to go into Settings-->Launch URLs each time I want to use a browser other than the one I've specified as "open with."

924

General Software Discussion / Re: System Restore Cleanup

« on: April 01, 2009, 09:53 AM »

I seriously doubt if the restore points will even work.
System restore is unreliable imo.

-cmpm (April 01, 2009, 08:37 AM)

I hesitate to take issue with what you've said, cmpm, since you know a lot more than I do about tech matters.  However, my experience with system restore is very different from yours.  In the last few months, I've used system restore a bunch of times, and it always worked as I'd hoped.

925

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« on: March 31, 2009, 11:26 PM »

How would it do that? I don't know of any bookmark program that knows what browser you have open. Did Powermarks do that?

-J-Mac (March 31, 2009, 10:15 PM)

Perhaps I'm remembering incorrectly.  I no longer have Powermarks on my computer, so I can't check.  But I thought it simply worked seamlessly regardless of which browser was open.

Oh well, at least Linkman will make a bookmark from any browser without my having to do anything special...I suppose it's possible that that's all that Powermarks did as well.