Topics

76

Found Deals and Discounts / Puran Defrag 4.0 at $14.95 USD instead of 24.95 USD

« on: December 12, 2007, 02:05 PM »

http://www.puransoft...an-Defrag-Order.html

Puran Defrag is a recently appeared defragmenter that gives excellent results according to those who have tested it.  More info from http://donnedwards.o...xx-puran-defrag.html

I am currently evaluating it on my PC :
Good points :
- it is quite fast
- Re-defrag (after a few days) is even faster
- Boot time defrag is working nicely
- I really feel the difference before/after

Not so good points :
- no graphical display
- set it and forget it mode takes too much resources and applies to all drives (on my system)

77

Found Deals and Discounts / -50% on TuneUp 2007

« on: December 12, 2007, 04:32 AM »

Today (2007-12-12) on Bitsdujour (http://www.bitsdujou....aspx%3freview%3d167).  I use the 2006 version which is excellent.  Upgrade fee was too high but with this offer I might be tempted...  Have to evaluate it first.

Warning : 2008 is probably out anytime soon.

78

Found Deals and Discounts / 20$ off XYplorer and lifetime license

« on: September 26, 2007, 02:05 PM »

Hi,

I just had an exchange with XYPlorer developer. I was asking him if there was a possible discount for DC members.

He told me basically no because it is currently discounted for everyone :

Current price is $29.50 for a lifetime license.  This offer will end on Oct-09-2007.
From Oct-10-2007 onwards it will be $49.95.

So if you're interested...

There is a minireview in the review area.  First impression is very good (I am a Total Commander Fan).

79

Found Deals and Discounts / Eastec Backup

« on: September 03, 2007, 09:46 AM »

This backup program is today's giveawayoftheday. Seems to be nice, especially since backup files are in zip format, hence non proprietary.  I have not tested it but one should ask for a free license anyway, at http://customer.east...otd/backup/index.htm, IMHO.

80

Living Room / $7.5 to optimize XP NTFS Drive access : rip-off or not ?

« on: September 02, 2007, 09:45 AM »

Hi,
I recently came across a recent announcement from www.disktrix.com (the publisher of a powerful HDD defragmenter, UltimateDefrag).  They propose for $7.5 to "reveal" a tip to optimize NTFS access.  You can download a "teaser" pdf at http://www.disktrix....indows_Secrets_1.htm and here : http://www.disktrix....ets_1_NTFS_Intro.pdf

Apart from the fact that it's discutable to ask for money for this, I strongly suspect it's related to the NTFS lastfileaccess flag, one can modify easily with the "fsutil behavior" command from the shell prompt.

Any opinion on this ?

Thanks.

81

Living Room / Calling for help - again !

« on: May 23, 2007, 06:46 AM »

Hi all,

After the hibernation problem I had a few weeks ago, successfully solved thanks to you, I have now another problem, a more serious one, yet I have the feeling the solution is close :

I just bought an entry level HP notebook for my Dad, a HP510, and I have the following problem : at first boot, a windows (low-res) appears asking me to chose between French or US Windows XP, French being selected by default.  I am supposed to be able to change the choice with up and down arrow keys, and validate with enter.  Alas none of these keys seem to be operative.

I have tried using an externel USB keyboard, same problem (enabling and disabling USB legacy support).  I finally booted with BartPE CD and observed that the keyboard was OK. 

I moved the content of the root folder to a backup dir, I moved the content of what seemed the French XP install files (including NTLDR, and similar critical files) and guess what : it started OK with a French XP and installation of Hp specific software seem to work.  But I may have missed something.  Anyone already encountered such a problem ?

82

Found Deals and Discounts / New Raxco Product : Defragmenter - Optimizer ; $9.99 until 2007-05-13

« on: May 08, 2007, 12:18 PM »

I just received this a few mlinutes ago.  Raxco publishes PerfectDisk, an excellent defragmenter.

"After years of leading the systems utility market with an award-winning defragmentation tool, Raxco has just completed the rest of the puzzle by creating the PerfectDisk Rx Suite. In addition to defragmentation and optimization, this industry first also includes a safe registry cleaner, a tool to remove duplicate files and reclaim free space, a tool that securely erases tracks to protect privacy, and a tweaking tool that will personalize your entire Windows experience. This unique combination of utilities makes the PerfectDisk Rx Suite the only vitamin your PC will ever need.

And because you're already a valued PerfectDisk customer, you can add the PerfectDisk Rx Suite for only $9.99. That's 66% off the single license special introductory price of $29.99 but you must purchase online by Sunday May 13th and use coupon code RXCLEANPC . http://www.raxco.com...s.cfm?ItemTitleID=75

How does the new PerfectDisk Rx Suite compare to PerfectDisk 8 Professional :
http://www.raxco.com...ons_whichisright.cfm

What exactly will the PerfectDisk Rx Suite do for you: http://www.raxco.com.../perfectdiskrxsuite/

Optimize Drive: This feature improves performance by defragmenting the drive using our award-winning PerfectDisk engine. Run it manually, in screensaver mode, schedule it with AutoPilot Scheduling, or use our exclusive new StealthPatrol technology to automatically defrag only when your system is idle. With StealthPatrol, just set it to "automatic" and never think about defragging again because it does the thinking for you. No other defragger offers this many options.

Clean Registry: This feature brings a new level of ease, simplicity, and safety to the tricky problem of registries cluttered with abandoned, incorrect, and broken entries. Different than other registry cleaners, this feature only deletes the keys it knows it can safely remove without harming Windows. These are the same keys that cause the majority of system slowdowns. The key phrase and difference here is "safely remove".

Reclaim Freespace: Do you know how many unwanted duplicate files are wasting space and slowing your system right now? You might be surprised. This feature not only finds and removes any redundant documents, mp3, photos and videos that are wasting space on your hard drive, but it also easily removes unwanted files that are just sitting in your recycle bin and temp file folder. It's like spring cleaning for your PC with 1 click of the mouse.

Erase All Traces: Did you know that your computer is tracking every move you make and is storing the evidence on your hard drive? Did you also know that clearing your history and emptying your cache doesn’t make them go away? Whether on purpose or by accident, every website, image and movie that you have ever viewed is there for anyone to see – that is until it’s been "completely" removed. This feature digs deep into your system and scrubs the index.dat file so any traces of where you’ve ever been is no longer there. Every time you use this feature, you can be assured that your privacy is intact and sanitized in compliance with US Department of Defense standards (DoD 5220.22-M) for safeguarding classified information. You never know who's using your computer when you're not around.

Tweak: This feature will customize and change hidden Windows settings so that your computer behaves according to your personal preferences. By using the Tweak feature, there's no need to risk editing the registry on your own - which is never a good thing. You can change the way Windows acts in the areas of performance, security and appearance just by clicking a few buttons. 

Take the PerfectDisk Rx Suite out for a free test drive! You can download the 15-day free trial here: Make My PC Healthy

To take advantage of the special $9.99 offer, purchase the PerfectDisk Rx Suite Single License directly from the RX Download Store by Sunday (5/13) and make sure you apply code RXCLEANPC in your cart. This code can only be applied towards purchases of the PerfectDisk Rx Suite Single User License.

If you should have any questions for Raxco technical support, please contact them here. If there is anything I can do to assist you, please let me know and if you have a chance, I would love to hear what you think of the PerfectDisk Rx Suite. It's another big day for Raxco Software!     

Best Regards,

Wendy Clontz     
Raxco Software, Inc.
Toll Free (800) 546-9728
Direct: (301) 519-7806
[email protected]
Web: www.raxco.com

83

Living Room / Solving an hibernation-related problem on a XP Home PC

« on: May 07, 2007, 05:03 PM »

Hi,

I am posting here in the hope that someone could help me find the right direction to solve the following problem with my Dell Dimension (model 4700, runs XP Home).  It used to be a minor problem but is becoming much more annoying as I want to use this PC in unattented mode.

The problem is the following : I am using a lot the XP hibernation feature, only rebooting when necessary.  Putting the PC in hibernation works fine, waking it also, except the wake up part is behaving strangely :
After wake up (using the on/off switch), XP resumes normally, but goes into hibernation again after 2 minutes or so if I don't do anything with it.  On the contrary, if I perform some minimal activities after the waking up like launching an application then the PC won't automatically go into hibernation again.

I have managed to far to live with this, until recently when I wanted to have my PC start during the day and record something from the attached DVB-T tuner (Terratec).  The Terratec software is perfectly capable of waking the PC from hibernation, but when in unattented mode, the hibernation kicks in after a few minutes...  The only way to perform unattented recordings is to leave my PC on all the time.  Not very energy saving friendly...

I have looked so far in the Microsoft KB, tried to find something in Dell's one (much more difficult), to no avail.  I have tried different settings for the internal ethernet card, which is sometimes responsible for problems with the hibernation process.  No result so far.

Has someone encountered the same behaviour or know a solution for this ? 

Many thanx !

84

General Software Discussion / Need some help in recovery data from a damaged external HDD

« on: February 16, 2007, 07:52 AM »

Hi,

Yesterday, I just came across a strange problem on an external HDD : it is a 200 GB 3"1/2 Maxtor HDD, located in an IDE/USB2 enclosure.  There were 2 primary NTFS partition, P: and Q:.  I was using Q: to store freshly recorded content from DVB-T and Cable TV.  I have a XP Home system.

I was burning, as I do quite often, some MPEG2 files on a DVD, when suddenly, during the verify phase, lots of errors appeared and the verification failed.  I then tried to access Q: when I realize P: and Q: were somehow not reachable any longer, hence the verification error.

Chkdsk returned a strange message saying the MFT was missing on both partitions.  Looking further with tools such as testdisk (opensource), I came to the conclusion that both the MFT and the MFT mirror are gone.  I also ran a HDD surface verification tool for the first sectors, and the surface seems OK, so it doesn't seem like a H/W problem.

I have tried to delete then undelete the partition with Terabyteunlimited's BootItNG (it has helped me in the past for more or less similar situations), to no avail, chkdsk still refused to do anything.

I have tried the demo version of File Scavenger which, after quite some time, managed to find files on the damaged partitions, but for Q:, their names are lost, which complexifies the recovery process.

I have two questions :

1/ which software would you recommend to recover data from this HDD considering its current state
2/ does anyone has a clue as to what could have happened for having MFT+MFT mirrors both damaged on 2 partitions from a same drive.

I know there is a thread on this forum talking about file recovery, https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=5242.0, but since its already more than 3 months old, there may be new solutions.

Thanks.

85

Found Deals and Discounts / Web Stream Recorder Pro

« on: December 22, 2006, 02:28 PM »

This software is free today on GiveAwayOfTheDay.com.  It's supposed to record audio and video streams (except Real and DRM protected streams).

Anyone has tried it  before ?  DC had a promotion link some time ago (within the member-only area).

86

General Software Discussion / O&O Defragmenter 8.5

« on: December 18, 2006, 11:16 AM »

Hi All,

I just noticed that O&O has just released a new version of its defragmenter, v8.5.   I used to rely on PerfectDisk, but since version 6, I see no real improvements in every new version, just cosmetic changes.

Are there any opinions on this new O&O release ?  And yes, I do use also Power Defragmenter GUI + Sysinternals' contig.exe

Thanks.

87

Found Deals and Discounts / -20% on PerfectDisk until EoY 2006

« on: December 10, 2006, 02:23 PM »

Found in a recent Raxco mailing :

"Special Holiday Savings

A special savings offer just for our eNewsletter readers. To close out the year right, you can save 20% off PerfectDisk v8, the world's premier disk defragmenter, and all other products in the Raxco ecommerce store by using promo code 20END2006.

Click on http://www.raxco.com/products/commerce/products_all.cfm
to go to our Buy Now page to look our our latest product selection - including the product bundles towards the bottom of the page.

Hurry - promotional offer ends December 31, 2006!"

88

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: The Holy Grail of text reading on a PC

« on: December 05, 2006, 05:08 AM »

Hi all,

Some of you may remember the excellent but short-lived Amiga computer.  It had a unique feature, the ability to synchronize display with the screen refresh on CRT.  This made it possible to have scrolling text reader such as View80, which was very convenient to read long text (books, ...), on screen, thanks to the ultra smooth scrolling with variable speed.

I have not been able to find such a smooth scrolling text reader on PC/Windows, even if todays machines are much more powerful.  Do you know a software doing the same thing (I guess LCD don't work as CRT, but I hope it's still possible) ? 

Thanks.

89

Post New Requests Here / DONE: Keep a given windows to front

« on: December 04, 2006, 08:54 AM »

Hi,

I was wondering whether there already exists a utility that can make it so that a given windows can be kept on front as long as necessary, even if other windows below are selected.

Thanks.

90

ProcessTamer / Tray Balloon messages auto-extinction ?

« on: November 09, 2006, 07:38 AM »

Hi,

Is there a way to have balloon messages, when activated, to automatically disappear after a few seconds without having to click on them ?  Thanks.