Messages

6251

General Software Discussion / Re: software i love

« on: January 05, 2006, 05:33 PM »

PocketMad?!  That's very weird, I like it!  Do you actually use that? 

6252

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

« on: January 03, 2006, 11:33 PM »

While my selfish ways will say that I want more free software and discounts, I really feel that that is not what makes this place as valuable as the other more important things.  The two things that I love here are the great reviews of software categories, and the custom software coming out of here.

By the way, I still feel like the computer world is ready for a robust addressbook software, like I mentioned in my other post.  (hint, hint).

6253

General Software Discussion / How do you backup your files?

« on: January 03, 2006, 02:15 AM »

I've wondered about this "poweruser" question for a while now, and I know this is the perfect place to get an answer.  I'm wondering how you guys backup your information stored on your computer.  I'm not talking about making an image of your system or anything like, I'm talking about backing up stand alone files, like mp3's, your documents, receipts, pictures, etc.

Up until now, what I always do is have two directories, "new" and "burned".  As you can tell, stuff that gets burned then gets moved from "new" to "burned" so I know that it's been taken care of.  I do this for each category, so for my pictures directory, I have a new and burned directory, and same for "my documents", etc.

But I was looking at software like Genie Backup, and I see that it can "span" or something, where it sounds like I can make incremental backups as necessary.  Like, as my directory grows by about 4 GB, I know it's time to burn another DVD...so can I just use Genie, and it will automatically detect which files are new/changed, and only burn those on the new DVD?  Is that how it works?

The other problem with that is that I won't be able to tell what is backed up and what isn't just by browsing my files.  If I use the incremental backup way, I feel like I have to ditch my previous "new/backup" method, because otherwise, the program would burn everything because technically they are changing locations.

Anyway, so I was wondering how you guys go about backing up your files.  I just have this feeling that I am going about rather inefficiently.

6254

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

« on: January 03, 2006, 02:00 AM »

I'm a little po'd that I paid full price for DO a year ago, but I love the program so I guess it's worth it.  It really is the most incredible file manage ever...EVER.  There are a lot of features that you don't even know about.  I'm pretty active on their forum also, I'm always asking stuff about how to do this that.  One of my concerns with DO was trying to get it to function like Total Commander because that's what I used before I knew about DO, so I have a saved layout that imitates Total Commander.  If any of you wants me to show you how to do it, let me know.

6255

General Software Discussion / Re: sparse but good - Bob's World's Best Freeware List

« on: January 03, 2006, 01:33 AM »

Some very questionable application listed:

Best Note's application:
http://webpages.char...obad/vectornotes.png

Not sure I agree with that.  Seems alot of the software in the list is his own personal software.  Makes the list very biased and unrealiable if you ask me...

-Veign (January 01, 2006, 10:31 AM)

That is definitely NOT the best notes program.  Gimme a break.  By the way, mouser, if you want an extremely difficult category to do the next DC "best of" review, try these note-taking software.  First, it would take forever to come up with a good list of software since there are so many, and then to pick one would be crazy. 

6256

General Software Discussion / Re: slideshow to dvd making

« on: January 02, 2006, 06:32 PM »

I can't say I've tried the other software mentioned here, but take a look at ProShow Gold.  It is unbelievable software with probably all the options you can imagine. 

6257

General Software Discussion / Ad Muncher - Does it block embedded flash ads?

« on: January 02, 2006, 04:11 PM »

Does Ad Muncher block those flash ad's that are not pop-ups, but inside the page you are visiting?  Like ESPN.com and myspace has a lot of these, where things will start playing (very loudly, which is extra annoying).  I think all of them are flash related stuff, although I don't know the details.  The only problem is that some flash stuff is necessary for webpages, and some are ads, so I'm wondering if Ad Muncher (or another program) can distinguish.  Right now, I have a plugin for Firefox that blocks anything flash related on a webpage, but a lot of it is stuff I need, like the navigation bar or something.  I hate ads so very much.

6258

Mouser's Zone / Re: Ideas i want to bounce off you guys

« on: January 02, 2006, 03:46 PM »

i have written a lot on this forum about the philosophy and theory that this site was started with - it was my belief that the chief obstacle to people donating was not that they weren't willing to make a financial contribution, but rather that they just didn't follow through with an initial impulse to donate because it was too much effort.  and that if you could convince them to go through the steps of donating, most would donate more than the minimum.

that was a theory 9 months ago.  i don't know if there have been published studies of this issue in the past, but after 9 months i can tell you that the question has been clearly answered: almost no one donates the minimum.  probably less than 1% of donators have donated $1 or less.  quite a few donate $5, and quite a few donate more than $25.  some have donated very generously.

it is a testament to people's good will that they have been willing to donate more than the minimum they had to, and this is an extremely significant result - it suggests that as donating becomes easier and more secure, it becomes a more and more viable approach to ethically funding projects.

-mouser (January 02, 2006, 02:08 PM)

Well, that's good to hear, I was wondering about that.  A few months ago, I was having a discussion with a programmer at work about open source programs, and how amazed I was of the quality of some of these programs vs ones you have to pay for.  I just couldn't imagine how someone can spend that much time doing that and not expect to get paid.  I live in California and just to buy an average house you have to be pulling in at least 100k, which is not an average salary.  So these open source/freeware applications are just amazing to me. 

6259

Mouser's Zone / Re: Ideas i want to bounce off you guys

« on: January 02, 2006, 01:52 PM »

Well, either way works as far as I'm concerned.  Chonging the timeframe from 6 months to 30 days would help a little, but I'd be surprised if it made that much difference (but I'm just assuming).  How does the donation aspect work anyway?  What if someone donates 5 cents?  Does he get a universal key after that?  If that's true, you'll find a bunch of people just donating a penny or a nickel.  You can't do anything about that, these people will always be around, and it's kind of in a ll of us...it's human nature.

However you want to do it is fine.  I just don't see one method of freeware/donationware making much difference over another method because the bottom remains that it's still free.  I think there is great motivation as it is because you offer shareware programs as prizes and stuff to members and the discounts.  That's more motivation than changing the license key method.

6260

Post New Requests Here / Re: BusyBuster -- program to redial busy phone #s using your modem (IDEA)

« on: January 01, 2006, 11:07 PM »

OT once more...thanks Luckman.  I just rebooted my computer and the dialing works fine.  Duh.

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Post New Requests Here / Re: BusyBuster -- program to redial busy phone #s using your modem (IDEA)

« on: January 01, 2006, 09:43 PM »

THanks, I will give those things a try.  Man, i don't have a clue to what you're talking about, I know absolutely nothing about modems.  If you don't mind, I may have to ask a few more questions later!

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Post New Requests Here / Re: BusyBuster -- program to redial busy phone #s using your modem (IDEA)

« on: January 01, 2006, 03:45 AM »

Hey Luckman, this is kind of off-topic, but I was wondering if you could help me.  My telephone service is a VOIP (Voicepulse) and I was wondering if there was some way that I could use the addressbook software on my computer to use the modem to dial a number, and then I use the regular phone to do the talking.  Is this possible?  This way, instead of keeping numbers stored on the phone, I can just go straight from the addressbook on the computer.  I have tried it, but I can't dial or anything.  I don't even know if my modem is set up properly.  I haven't used a dial-up modem since the 90's.

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Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Windows system tray clock replacement

« on: January 01, 2006, 03:41 AM »

tclock2 is nice also.  But alfaclock is much better if you consider the calendar functionality also...you can show multiple months.  Tclock2 is better if you like to do some fancy graphical things with the taskbar and start button and stuff.  What I would like to see in either of them is the ability to show cpu resources/mem usage using a graphical bar like in TClockEX.  Alfaclock can do it, but just with text. 

6264

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Windows system tray clock replacement

« on: December 31, 2005, 05:19 PM »

whoops!  I forgot to look at alfaclock.  It's great!  Problem solved.  Now that's a nice program.

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Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Windows system tray clock replacement

« on: December 31, 2005, 04:28 PM »

TClockEx did not work right for me on XP (the appearance was buggy, all the functions were working properly however).  Anyway, there's a very similar program called TClock which did work for me, so now I am using that.  It can also do cool things to your taskbar, like customize your start button and other little things.

Unfortunately, TClock does not have a calendar function, which is annoying.  So now I am looking for a calendar system tray program.  The absolute best I have found is one called TrayDay.  It's exactly like I want...just a calendar, nothing more.  You can customize it's look, it's lightwieght, it can show 3 months at a time.  However, it's $15 which is a bit much for something of that nature.  Maybe someone can recommend a similar program?  Or if it doesn't exist, maybe could do it as a new coding snack?

6266

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

« on: December 30, 2005, 12:57 AM »

Thanks mouser, I wasn't trying to be overly critical, sometimes I can do that.

While we are on the topic of user interface, I want to mention Screenshot Captor again as a very good example of a well-written program.  The program has a very simple use...take screenshots...and dozens of other programs do the same thing.  What's good about it is that it is probably the most "powerful" of al screenshot utilities (although, I use caution when using the word power with trivial applications, but the concept still applies as far as customizability and flexibility), but it still is usable right out of the box.  Furthermore, the program is extremely lightweight, and clicking on things and performing actions are instantaneous.

My pet peeve in programs these days is the desire to make things overly "bubbly" to match the Mac look.  Why does software have to look aerodynamic?  Most of the time, these big bubbly buttons take up way too much space and the whole interface is much bulkier than it needs to be.  I like the minimal buttons and the nice, simple rectangular look.  Anyway, enough ranting...I love this site!  By the way, I don't mean to imply TGF in this critique, I'm just responding to the above comment.

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General Software Discussion / Any recommendations for a system tray CPU/RAM meter?

« on: December 29, 2005, 11:01 AM »

Does anyone have any good recommendations for a CPU/RAM meter that can go in the system tray?  Preferably, the program would be very lightweight and not take up too much space.  Thanks.

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Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Windows system tray clock replacement

« on: December 29, 2005, 02:35 AM »

Hmm...mouser, are you sure.  I'm using classic mode display (I think) and the TClockEx is pretty buggy on my XP machine.  Not only that, but some of the memory usage meter stuff is not available in the options.  I'm showing 3 lines in the date display and even though I have them centered, they keep shoving over to the right whenever the taskbar autohides and reappears.  It's a little buggy.

6269

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: A-book: a very good, sync-able, alternative addressbook

« on: December 28, 2005, 06:02 PM »

Hmm, you have me interested, superboyac. As a hobby-developer, I think I might just take your idea on.

I am only (half) proficient in C# though, but the latest 2.0 version I feel is much smoother than the previous one. If you'd like me to start on it in C#, just give me the nod 

-Redhat (December 28, 2005, 05:57 PM)

Hell yeah!  (can i say "hell"?)

If you want, go to the coding snacks request forum, where I've posted a more detailed description of my suggestions.  I have even more specific, minute ideas about it, but I didn't want to make a long, boring post.  I'm very happy you're interested!

6270

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

« on: December 28, 2005, 05:58 PM »

superboyac , have you tried mp3tag yet? i'm curious to hear your view of that.

-mouser (December 28, 2005, 02:34 PM)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that!  I did try out mp3tag a few times, although i will admit that I didn't spend as much time with it as I did for TGF.  Here are my initial impressions:

Again, it is definitely a powerful program and does everything I want it to do.  The question is how it accomplishes this.  For example, it has the feature to preview the changes before you make them, but all it does generate a text file that notepad opens and you see the existing/changed files listed one after another.  Now, Tag&Rename's preview is much more polished.  It opens up it's OWN window, with all the existing names listed on the left side, and the new filenames (or changed tags) listed on the right, in a very nice interface (nice gridlines, etc, things that don't really matter but are nice).  Furthermore, both mp3tag and TGF have less convenient methods of selecting and deselecting the files you want to work with than Tag&Rename.  Like I mentioned before, T&R has those 4 buttons for this purpose which I use constantly, especially in huge directories that just have a bunch of albums dumped into them.  Also, in mp3tag, you change and save your favorite file-naming routines in the preferences, which seemed odd to me.  In T&R, you do it on the actual window that you are working in.  It seems weird to have that in the same place where you also decide whether or not you want the program "minimizing to tray", etc.

Again, none of these things are a big deal and it's just a matter of preference, but these programs are basically just specialized file-renamers.  Actual "power" in these types of programs are less of an issue than in, say, other types of programs like file-manages like Directory Opus, where power is very significant.  So, since all of these programs basically can do the same thing, excluding a few very intricate features, then the primary importance to me is the user interface and efficiency and speed.  This is why I keep going back to Tag&Rename.  I don't have a problem learning how to use a software if I have to, but I don't feel the need to do that for this kind of software.

So...that's my story.  Sometimes, I wish I new how to program myself, but all I do is ask for features...I'm a feature leech!

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Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: A-book: a very good, sync-able, alternative addressbook

« on: December 28, 2005, 05:43 PM »

Hi Superboyac,

On a quick poke around, it doesn't seem possible to get completely customised field names, but you can choose from a large list of options - click on 'Tools', then 'Options', then click the 'Other' tab and click on 'Select Fields'.

I still use A-book and find it really good - especially with the added Pocket PC sync.  However, my mission to break free of Outlook has pretty much fallen apart...  I will start a thread on this sometime early in the new year, because my process might be useful/interesting to others...

-m_s (December 28, 2005, 01:52 PM)

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.  Like I said in my other thread, I've been looking for a good addressbook for years.  I use Pegasus for my email, and I doubt I will ever use anything else, because I love that program.  The Bat is a fantastic program, but what sets Pegasus apart from every single other email program is it's old-school ability to have it's own desktop configuration inside the program.  I have 3 or 4 mailboxes open at once, along with an addressbook and a notes window, all tiled just the way I want.  Most email programs are limited to some 3-pane format.  If any of them were to go retro and allow that feature, I would consider another email program.  But I don't see it happening anytime soon.

Anyway (that was a little off-topic), I like to know how people deal with all their addresses and stuff.  I still think that someone here should think about writing a software similar to Screenshot Captor for addressbooks.  Screenshot Captor is such a good, high-quality program.  In my mind, I can see combining features from Screenshot Captor and the Find and Run Robot to make a very nice, simple, addressbook software.  But A-bbok is pretty good, but there are many things lacking in it.

FYI, I am not a PDA guy.  Unless my career requires me to have one, I won't do it on my own.  That is why I want to have a good addressbook on my computer.  I think that because people rely on PDA's and cellphones, and their default email contact lists so much, that the addressbook category has been ignored in software.

If you guys ever get a chance to try out the Cardscan software, it is ALMOST the perfect addressbook software.  The only problem with them is that it is only meant to be used with their card scanning hardware.  And you can't try demo of it out.  It can store pictures, but only if it was scanned from their scanner, ie you can't just add pictures you already have.  But it has the search-as-you-type feature that I love, and it has all the fields you can imagine, and customizable fields.  It doesn't have the sophisticated relationship feature that I mentioned in my other thread, where you can share information between contacts that live in the same house, etc.  But no program I've seen has that.

Have I talked enough about something no one cares about?  Ok, I'll stop now...

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Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Windows system tray clock replacement

« on: December 28, 2005, 03:46 PM »

Perfect, thanks!  I looked pretty hard to find one but I couldn't find it.

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Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: A-book: a very good, sync-able, alternative addressbook

« on: December 28, 2005, 12:35 PM »

Hi m_s,
A-book is kind of growing on me ( I just wish it wasn't so bulky!).  Do you know if there's a way to add custom fields to the already big list of fields?  Like, if I wanted to add a field for "Team name" or something.

6274

Finished Programs / DONE: Windows system tray clock replacement

« on: December 28, 2005, 11:30 AM »

Can someone make a small program to replace the system clock in the windows system tray?  Something where we can customize exactly how to display the time and how much information about the date it shows.  I know mouser or someone has a clock utility that goes in the titlebars of windows that does this exactly like I'm suggesting, so maybe they can incorporate that into the system tray.

There are programs out there like 1st Tray Clock, and CLock Tray Skins, but they do too much, with alarms and everything, and they are too expensive for what they do.

Thanks.

6275

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

« on: December 28, 2005, 10:24 AM »

So, I keep going back to TGF and checking it out.  Here are some of my comments...and I am comapring it to Tag&Rename since that is my favorite right now:

--There isn't a good preview screen to see the previews of your changes that you are making.  HOWEVER, I will admit that TGF gets around that by having this unique update system where the changes don't actually get applied until you hit the update button.

--Selecting which files you want to work with doesn't seem to be easy.  T&R has these 4 buttons, select all, select none, select highlighed, deselect all.  These come in very handy when working in a large jumbled directory with a bunch of albums just dumped in there.

--Using allmusic or amazon to download album information seems to be a bit involved.

TGF is definitely more powerful than T&R, but I feel like it is more complicated than it has to be and/or it's user interface is not as polished (I'm not exactly sure which applies).  Another thing I'm not sure of is if I'm understanding who TGF is designed for.  Is it for people who just want to rename their audio files, or is it for something more?  Like I said, my audio files are all dumped into one common directory, one big mess, and I use T&R to rename the albums one by one, and then I move them to their appropriate place.  I guess I can use TGF to save me a step and automatically move my files once I'm done renaming, but T&R can do that also, and I actually don't want to move it right away anyway.  Anyway, I guess I'm just struggling with the fact that I know that TGF is a very powerful program, but I just see how it makes anything any easier for me.