Messages

6226

Best E-mail Client / Re: The Bat - how to customize?

« on: January 24, 2006, 12:29 AM »

One more question...in the Bat, there are a lot of settings and what not, but barely any of them are explained in the help dialog.  Is there a manual or some kind of comprehensive set of settings available anywhere?

6227

Best E-mail Client / Re: The Bat - how to customize?

« on: January 23, 2006, 11:44 PM »

absolutely there is - in fact the first thing i do with each new account is set that to 0!
it's in the account properties:

-mouser (January 23, 2006, 01:29 AM)

Mouser, I set the time to 0, but it kind of still doesn't work.  Let me explain.  I don't have message preview pane on, when I want to read a message, i double click on it and open it in a separate window.  When I do that, that first message immediately gets marked as read and filters to it's appropriate place (because I have filter set for "read messages".  But then, as I click through the next messages with the arrow, none of the other messages get marked as read.  In fact, they don't even follow the order I have in the listed folder.  Let me explain a little more, I think that may be the problem...

Like I said, all of my new mail comes into the inbox.  I have a virtual folder that includes all mail recieved today, from all mailboxes.  When I click on the first unread message in the virtual folder, it gets marked as unread, and when that happens it automatically gets filtered away as I explained.  But then, when I click....Oh!  I found the problem.  My list is sorted by created time, and the most recent time is on the bottom.  I do this so that I can read the messages in the order created as I go from top to bottom (like we read normally).  I just found out that if I click on "Follow Previous" it goes down the list, and "Follow Next" goes up the list, which seems contrary to what it should be.  Shouldn't Follow Next go down the list to the more recent email?  Can I change that setting so it makes more sense to me?

6228

Best E-mail Client / Re: The Bat - how to customize?

« on: January 23, 2006, 10:28 AM »

Ah!  Thanks, mouser, we think alike yet again. (I still can't believe that you like realplayer  )

6229

Best E-mail Client / Re: The Bat - how to customize?

« on: January 23, 2006, 01:14 AM »

For those of you familiar with the Bat...

Is there somewhere to customize how long you have to be on a message before its status changes from unread to read?  Usually, email programs have a way to change how long you actually have to read a message before it becomes read.  I want to shorten the time it takes to almost 0, but I can't find the option for it anywhere.

6230

Living Room / Re: Rubber Johnny

« on: January 20, 2006, 03:47 AM »

What the heck was that?  I don't get it, and please don't explain.  I suppose it was kind of eerie which is the effect it's supposed to give I guess.

By the way, I hate these web things where there's no volume control.

6231

Living Room / Re: Best Video Player there is

« on: January 19, 2006, 05:14 PM »

Thanks Black Mamba, Light Alloy seems very interesting...but compared to the free MPC, it would make it a tough decision.

Perhaps I can give you a private message and you can help me figure out filters for Zoom Player?

6232

Living Room / Re: Best Video Player there is

« on: January 19, 2006, 10:35 AM »

i know i have to be one of the only people on the planet to choose realplayer, but for so many years they were *the* company that made possible streamling audio and video from cspan and "this american life", and they've always done right by me, so i love them for that.

-mouser (January 18, 2006, 10:44 AM)

Wow, mouser...I am shocked.  You'd be the last person that I would expect to actually prefer this program.  I will admit that RealPlayer can be tamed if you turn all of their automatic stuff off, but I still hate the program.  And I hate Quicktime also.  I have bothe Reaplayer ALternative and Quicktime alternative installed, but I have noticed that while it works initially, I always find out that soon after, they don't play realplayer clips or mp4 files and I'm always left confused.  I tell you, the whole video codec thing is very confusing to me.  Filters, codecs, I can't seem to find a good way to manage everything or even figure out how it all works.  And I also like Zoom Player for watching movies and DVD's, but it's kind of hard to configure all of the codecs and DVD filters and what not.  You know what other problem I have with Zoom Player?  Is it me or is the volume always much lower in it than in other programs?  I don't understand that either.  I play a DVD in Zoom player and the volume is very low, and I can only get it up a certain amount, then I play it with PowerDVD and the volume is fine.

For the record, I use Media PLayer Classic (MPC) for most of my short clips and as my default video player.  If there is anything simpler and lighter than it, please let me know.

6233

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Startup Delayer

« on: January 19, 2006, 10:08 AM »

So I've been using Startup Delayer ever since this thread started...anyone else have this problem?

There are quite a few programs that get listed twice in the Startup Delay dialog, and even if I remove one of them, the program gets run twice when Windows starts up.  Also, i think I have one or two programs that get started twice even though it's only listed once.  It's almost as if Startup Delay can't accurately detect or control all of the startup instances of the programs.  Anyone else experiencing this?

6234

Best E-mail Client / Re: How I set up my mail folders

« on: January 17, 2006, 01:14 AM »

Thanks, Hirudin. for the great post.  I do agree with what you say.  I guess a lot of us have different ways of using email.  I'm not the kind of person where I have to check mail all the time either.  I'll just check it once a night when I come home from work.  My life is busy enough where I don't have to add constantly checking email to complicate things.  The same goes for contacts for me.  I'm not big on the whole cell phone thing.  Even though I have one, unless it's an emergency, I'll wait until I get home before I make my casual calls.  I have a phone at work if I need to make calls there, and I have my separate work email there also.  They make us use Groupwise, so I can't check my home mail there anyway.  And Groupwise is so restrictive, I don't even have the opportunity to act like a poweruser...I just take what they give.  It's horrible, just so you know.

I hate webmail, I hate the way it feels, it's restrictiveness.  I hate applications that have web-like interfaces.  It is always slower than something written in C++ for a computer.  I like having files and folder and options and all that stuff.  And I have never had a problem with spam because of the way I use my multiple email accounts. 

Anyway, that's what I have to say.  I'm with you Hirudin!

6235

General Software Discussion / Re: How to migrate email mailboxes? (specifically Pegasus-->the Bat)

« on: January 17, 2006, 01:06 AM »

OK thanks.  I see the import wizard includes Pegasus.  Nice.

6236

General Software Discussion / How to migrate email mailboxes? (specifically Pegasus-->the Bat)

« on: January 16, 2006, 07:48 PM »

I was wondering if any of you were aware of a good way to migrate mailboxes from one program to another.  I'm trying to go from Pegasus to the Bat.

I've seen the program Aid4Mail, but I was hoping there was a free program, or even just a method of doing it manually.  I know that if my mailboxes were in the Unix format it would work, but they are in the Pegasus 2.x format.

6237

Best E-mail Client / Re: How I set up my mail folders

« on: January 14, 2006, 01:07 AM »

Ah!  Thanks mouser, that sounds like it might do the trick quite well.

Others...I doubt I will use google mail anytime soon, at least not using their web interface.  I already use it as a regular pop account.  I hate webmail with a passion.  I need to have the mail on my computer.

6238

Best E-mail Client / Re: How I set up my mail folders

« on: January 13, 2006, 06:12 PM »

Very interesting, mouser.  I guess I didn't have to start a whole new thread for this...

I have a question about the Bat...I've used Pegasus all my life, but I do like the Bat also.  Pegasus has this "new mail" feature where all new mail comes into a temporary "new mail" folder (mailbox, whatever).  You can apply filters to be run either before it gets into the new mail folder, or after the new mail folder is closed.  You see, the new mail folder pops up after you hit the check mail button, and they all collect there until you close it.  If you don't apply any filters, the new mail stays in that folder.  I apply a filter that acts as soon as the new mail folder is closed, so that once I've read the new mail, the messages automatically get filtered to where they are supposed to go.

My question is, is it possible to do this in the Bat?  Can all my new mail come into one location (whether it's virtual or physical doesn't matter) where I can read it, and then have a filter automatically be applied once I'm done reviewing all of my new mail so that the emails get properly filed away?  What I don't like about most email programs with filters is that the filters get applied as soon as you check your mail, so that you have to navigate through multiple directories to read all of the new mail.

6239

General Software Discussion / How do you organize your email?

« on: January 13, 2006, 12:27 PM »

I'm interested in how some of you powerusers organize your email.  Maybe you can help me come up with a better way, or maybe my way is good enough.  I thought it would be an interesting discussion.

I'm the kind of person that hasn't deleted an email since I started using email about 10 years ago.  I keep it all like a packrat because I consider it part of my personal history.  However, as you can imagine, it gets a bit much.  Here is my organizing philosophy, most of which is accomplished with automatic filtering, some of which is organized manually once or year:

--All of my personal correspondences (friends, family) go into a big "personal" folder.  I don't subfilter at all, it's just one big block of email sorted by date.  If I could thread it like newsgroups, I would, but it's impossible to thread email as well as newsgroups...I've seen no program that can do it (i think it's a limitation in the email protocol itself).

--Email that is not very personal that I consistently get on a large volume gets it's own folder.  Examples of this are emails from discussion groups, or emails related to ebay/paypal, etc.

--I filter out annoying email or other stuff that is not necessarily spam, but still pretty annoying.  This includes things like forwards, and group emails that are not addressed to me personally.  They go into a "forwards" or "misc" folder depending on my algorithm.

--I also keep a two sets of archive folders.  These apply only for my personal folder and outbox folder.  Once a year, I make a new archive folder for that year, one for personal and one for outbox.  I transfer all of that year's messages into the box.  This way, it keeps my personal and outbox mailbox a manageable size and I can always go back and check out older messages I have sent/recieved.


So that is how I do it, I'd be interested in how some of you do it.  I know I have some friends who sort out their emails in separate folders for each contact.  That's a little bit too much for me because then I lose the overall chronological feel to the messages.  Also, most of friends don't save all of their email, just a few that they really want.

6240

General Software Discussion / Re: Worst. Interface. Ever.

« on: January 12, 2006, 06:00 PM »

nikkho i'm with you about total commander,
though in fairness its one of the most beloved programs by a large number of people,
so i think it's one of those programs you either totally love, or totally can't bear to use.

-mouser (September 29, 2005, 06:55 AM)

I don't have a problem with Total Commander.  It's not a pretty interface, but it is highly functional and practical.  I do agree that Real Player and QuickTIme have horrible interfaces.  I also agree that Winamp skins are in general, quite lame.  Real Player and Quicktime are bad interfaces because they have like 5 buttons take up this enourmous amount of space, there's no efficiency!  I hate that.  I hate the bubbly Mac crap, where everything is from happy bubble-yum land, with their shiny aerodynamic look as if it's going to be faster because there's less wind resistance.  Ridiculous.  The screen is rectangular--all buttons, general shape should be rectangular also, that's my opinion.  And keep them small please.  The good thing about winamp skins is that there's always some minimalist programmer who makes a highly efficient, compact skin.  That's a good thing.  Having the option is always a good thing, because of course not everyone is going to agree with me!

And I normally don't like java type programs for windows.  Now, I don't know a thing about programming, but whenever I see something that is Java based like Konfabulator or azureus, it seems to be sluggish, and I like to use the term "viscous".  You know, you click on something and the change isn't instantaneous, but there's that slight delay  that can be annoying?

Man, talk about getting all riled up.

6241

General Software Discussion / Re: Nero 7 issue - Nero Scout really annoying delays!

« on: January 12, 2006, 05:44 PM »

The only problem I have with Prassi is the somewhat inconvenient way of making a tree structure on the cd/dvd itself.  With nero, you have that explorer-like interface, where you have the folder tree in the left pane and the the files on the right pane, and you can create and move the folders around in both panes as you desire.  In Prassi, there's only one pane, so if you want to create a custom folder heirarchy on that cd that is different than the source on the physical hard drive.  To do this in Prassi, you have to create a new path, but you don't actually see it visually, you just see the path listed there.  Also, you can't see the files inside the folder, it just tells you how many files there are.  I don't know, I just like seeing the heirarchy before I burn.

It's a nice software though.  If they added the heirarchy thing to it with the explorer-like double pane, I'd probably drop Nero like it's hot (or whatever Snoop says).

6242

General Software Discussion / Re: Nero 7 issue - Nero Scout really annoying delays!

« on: January 11, 2006, 01:00 PM »

Anyone know a decent basic burning alternative, preferably with a full verify?

The main reason I use Nero is that it can systematically verify the disc contents against the source when it has finished, few other utilitities seem to have this feature.

Can someone also explain (following an earlier thread) why Music CD copies suffer degradation in copying (hence the need for specialist software to copy them) when Nero compares sector for sector in RAW mode copying?

-Carol Haynes (January 11, 2006, 09:30 AM)

I asked this very same question a few weeks ago at another forum.  The alternatives that I was pointed were called:
Cheetah CD/DVD Burner, and DeepBurner.  I tried both of them, and they are pretty lightweight programs, Cheetah seems to be very lightweight.  I liked that about them.  However, after using Nero for so long, I kind of miss all the features of Nero.  There are certain things about the interface of Cheetah and DeepBurner that feel "cheap", nothing very important, but you know how picky we get here.  I like Nero, but it's become way too bloated, it's very sad.  That being said, I still use it, but like you, I'm looking for a satisfactory alternative.  WHy do these software companies do this, it's so obnoxious.  It's like they start doing something very well, which was their burning ROM.  Now, they've thrown in everything and the kitchen sink.  It's just annoying.  If I'm not mistaken, Nero 7 is a 100 MB download now.  That's just silly.  Now, it has overlapping features with like 15 other programs I use, and of course, it does none of them all that well, except the Burning part.  At least they've still allowed the custom installation, where you can pick which components to install, but they've kind of bungled that up also.

I don't know what commercial/business motivations make this trend so common in these popular applications, but as you know, it's rare for it not to happen.  Software companies should stick to the "In 'n' Out" philosophy.  You start off as a hamburger joint, with only like 5 things on the menu, get really popular, and still only have 5 things on the menu.  Instead of bloating their menu, In n Out retains it's original philosophy, is still very successful, and still provides the best fast food burgers available.  Have you seen the workers behind the counter there?  There are like 15 people working like crazy back there in an area about half the size as a normal McDonalds work area, and all they are making are hamburgers and fries.  It's genius.

As you can tell, it's almost lunchtime.

6243

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mp3 Bitrate At A Glance...MP3ext

« on: January 09, 2006, 03:08 AM »

Is there any way to get mp3ext to show VBR files as such?  Or is there another program that can do the same thing but also supports VBR detection?

6244

Site/Forum Features / Re: January's Poll - What Area Should DonationCoder.com Focus on Most in 2006?

« on: January 08, 2006, 04:04 AM »

writing a review of address book programs would be a good way to discover the best and lay out a blueprint of what you think the best such tool should look like, missing features, etc.  it would be a service to users and might help get those features implemented.  having such a comprehensive review would be a good first step before a programmer here embarked on writing a new address book app.

-mouser (January 07, 2006, 09:23 AM)

OK, that's a good idea.  Someone here already did a pretty good review on A-book, which is one of the best out there.  I'll try to do a personal mini shootout of addressbook programs and conclude with the features that I feel are ideal for a great addressbook.  (as a sidenote, combining features from Screenshot Captor and FindandRun Robot would be a good foundation for an addressbook program...I'll explain later in an appropriate thread).

6245

Site/Forum Features / Re: January's Poll - What Area Should DonationCoder.com Focus on Most in 2006?

« on: January 07, 2006, 04:47 AM »

here's an offer: i'll write a custom program for every new review someone writes

-mouser (January 06, 2006, 09:01 AM)

Here's my reponse:  I'll write 10 reviews if you write an addressbook software called "The Greatest Addressbook Ever"

Seriously...but I'll write the reviews anyway

6246

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: The GodFather - Audio File Manager with Scripting

« on: January 06, 2006, 09:24 AM »

OK, and I mean this to be taken contructively:

One aspect I found hard to enjoy about TGF is that as you switch to the different modes of tagging/renaming files, the whole view of the program switches.  I found this rather difficult to work with.  For example, if I go from the Tag view to the Rename view, the window contents change and it seems like it switches to a new interface or something.  The problem is, I'm still working with the same files!  So why does the whole thing have to change?  In Tag&Rename, as you go from renaming tags to renaming files to manually editing files, the pane which shows the files always stays constant, and your selection is unchanged.  Doesn't that make more sense?

6247

General Software Discussion / Re: caller ID / answering machine software - any recommendations?

« on: January 06, 2006, 07:56 AM »

One question I have with these software is regarding phone control.  I tried the program A-book, which is an addressbook that can also dial number for you and keep a log of who you called, and the duration.  However, the program doesn't know when you actually hang up...you have to hang up the phone and then click a "hang up" button.  Can these programs automatically detect when you pickup/hangup so you don't really have to do anything yourself?  Is this even possible, or is it not possible to have the modem and the telephone that tightly in sync with each other?  I don't know.

6248

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Possible Large Directory Opus Discount

« on: January 06, 2006, 12:33 AM »

Hello and Happy New Year to all.

superboyac, I'm a new user of DO and a longtime user of Total Commander. I would appreciate any help and it would be great if you could show me how you did your TotalC-Layout.

Thanks

-peteg05 (January 03, 2006, 07:05 AM)

Sure, no problem, I can help you set it up like TC.  I can't do it right now since I am in a rush, but let me show you what it looks like, just for you to have an idea.  I have a screenshot of it in the following thread:

http://resource.dopu...?t=1459&start=15

Basically, what you have to learn is how to make a saved layout, and how to make custom toolbars.  The rest of it is fiddling with it a little.

6249

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Possible Large Directory Opus Discount

« on: January 06, 2006, 12:29 AM »

I have a quick question: I have a layout that I would like to be opened every time I open DO, no matter if I press WIN+E, double click the desktop, open with the tray icon, or with a shortcut. How do I use the same layout for everything?

-Hirudin (January 03, 2006, 04:08 AM)

I'm not sure about this one.  I've made a few suggestions about Dopus' saved layout functionality already, I'm not sure when/if they'll implement any of them.  I don't think what you are asking for is possible yet.  I've made a related request that when I do open a saved layout, and then change directories, sorting methods, etc, that when I eventually close that layout, then all of those little changes are automatically saved so that the next time I open that layout, it comes back to where I left it.  Currently, any time you open a saved layout, it opens to wherever that layout was first saved on.

6250

General Software Discussion / caller ID / answering machine software - any recommendations?

« on: January 06, 2006, 12:20 AM »

Anyone have any particularly strong recommendations for a caller ID software?  Something that will give a popup or something when a call comes, maybe even keep a log of made calls and duration and other nice features, etc.  Thanks!