Topics

26

General Software Discussion / FTP Client that can process multiple threads in background

« on: February 01, 2008, 08:17 PM »

I am currently using Total Commander for my FTP Client. Its best feature is that I can send any File transfer operation to the background and then go onto to do another one. I prefer this way to using queues, which almost all FTP clients already support.

If I wish to perform multiple file transfer operations in most FTP clients (e.g. FileZilla), I need to open a new window and connect to the server for each one. I would like an FTP client that can perform Total Commander's send to background feature without opening a new window each time.

My current solution has been to use Total Commander for the file transfers and then do more advanced file operations using a terminal connection via putty.

27

Living Room / Dreamhost mistakenly bills customers for the entire year

« on: January 15, 2008, 06:04 PM »

I got one of these emails last night, telling me that they could not charge my card and I had a limited time to pay up. I've been with Dreamhost for a year and a half now and had no major problems, but I suspect they will be losing a few customers over this screw up.

<a href="http://digg.com/tech...s_for_multiple_years">DH Billing Issues Page</a>

<a href="http://blog.dreamhos...2008/01/15/um-whoops">DH Blog Entry</a>

28

Finished Programs / SOLVED: Scrollable Desktop Like a Folder

« on: January 11, 2008, 11:59 PM »

I regularly use Pitaschio and its list view for the desktop. However, the once you reach the bottom of the screen, the new icons are placed at the top again, next to the my computer icons, forming a second column. Moreover, the new icon's sometimes overlap the text of the first column of icons.

I would like to know if it would be possible to set the entire desktop to act like a scrollable window. I would like my desktop to be like a fully open and maximized window of Windows Explorer in list or details view with a scrollbar on the right so that I can scroll down to see the remaining files. However, I would still like to retain the ability to use wallpapers and I do not wish for the wallpaper itself to scroll.

My searching on the Internet has brought me to a program called <a href="http://www.nearestexit.com/sdesk">SDesk</a>, but even after installing it and reading the help files, I am not too sure if it does what I need. SDesk seems allow the desktop size to be enlarged beyond the visible area of the screen and then lets the user zoom in on specific regions of the desktop.

29

JGPaiva's GridMove and Ahk Tools / Interesting Feature on Volumouse - Quick Window Resize

« on: November 15, 2007, 10:44 PM »

Volumouse has a plugin that allows the user to scroll on top of the title bar of an active window and hence resize it. While not the same as gridmove, which is meant to move windows to specific grids, it offers a common end benefit - being able to resize windows quickly. Unlike gridmove, which uses pre-defined window sizes, this can resize to any dimension in realtime with a simple mouse scroll. Of course, one can always click on a window corner and drag, but from usage, I think that this is the quickest resize I've seen so far. The step size can be varied to make the resize operation faster or slower.

Link to Volumouse (FREE) : http://www.nirsoft.n...utils/volumouse.html
Link to ResizePlugin (FREE) : http://www.nirsoft.n...ins/move_resize.html

30

What's the Best? / Package Management for Windows

« on: November 15, 2007, 06:07 PM »

Linux had had great package management for quite some time with apt-get, emerge and the like. But, I think the fact that most of the software is Open Source makes it easy to hold a central repository that integrates well with the OS. I've recently been interesting in using this feature on Windows. I never realized that there may be tools out there to do this until I came across FileHippo Update Checker.

Through Wikipedia alone, I've found the following :

1) AppUpdater (http://www.nabber.org/projects/appupdater/)

2) Windows-Get (http://windows-get.sourceforge.net/)

3) Get-It (http://puchisoft.com/GetIt/)

4) AppSnap (http://appsnap.genotrance.com/) - This one works with FARR as a plugin, it seems.

5) VersionTracker (http://www.versiontracker.com/windows/)

6) AppGet (http://www.app-get.com/)

7) FileHippo Update Checker (http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/) - Not strictly a package manager, but fetches information about new programs.

8) WinPackman (http://www.winpackman.org/)

---
IDEA:

Ideally, I would like to see a package manager integrated with a uninstall utility like Revo Uninstaller (http://www.revouninstaller.com/). Maybe this could be done through FARR, so that you can for example, type 'uninstall software-A and update package information'.

Revo would then run, uninstall software-A, clean up leftover registry entries. One of the above package managers would then run, update the list of Add/Remove programs and then fetch information about new programs, organized into categories. Users can then pick a new one and hit install.
---

So, which ones do the DC users prefer and why? Maybe we can do a mini or full length review on this one.

31

General Software Discussion / How to open a 700MB picture?

« on: November 15, 2007, 02:36 AM »

This was an image taken by the Hubble telescope.

Link to Actual Image (WARNING Large Download ~ 706MB) - http://www.spacetele...iginal/heic0710a.tif

Link to Reduced Image (~ 6MB) - http://www.spacetele...ionjpg/heic0710a.jpg

I am curious to know if Windows Picture and Fax viewer can actually open this. How long would it take? Which program opens large image files quickly?

32

General Software Discussion / Quicksilver Goes Open Source

« on: November 09, 2007, 07:08 AM »

It seems that this application launcher for the mac is now open source. Maybe someone will modify it for Windows? I am currently using Launchy and compared to that this will be a resource hog I'm sure, but given all the fuss about this program I am keen to try it out again.

I had it for a week while I used my friend's Mac. Too complicated in my opinion, but FARR users might like it.

Original Story: http://www.tuaw.com/...er-goes-open-source/

Source Page : http://code.google.c...chemy/downloads/list

33

General Software Discussion / Does reliable PC security have to cost money?

« on: November 04, 2007, 11:12 PM »

A friend of mine brought over his virii (yup, there were plenty on board) infected external USB drive and plugged it into my laptop. Avast Home edition (free) was running, up to date with the latest definitions (updated daily). Before I knew it, I couldn't open msconfig or regedit from Win + R or any other way. A bunch of files called hfhludy.exe and meex.exe copied themselves to every freaking drive on my computer and the network. Needless to say, those on my network were not pleased.

I find this virus interesting because its also like a Trojan. If I went to Google and searched for how to remove it, it would close my browser (Firefox and Opera). If I tried to go to TrendMicro's Online Scanner, it would close the browser window again. It added two processes to the startup. Since regedit didn't work, I used Spybot S&D to disable them, but they appeared again on startup. Deleting or replacing the autorun.inf file in each drive did nothing either.

The bottom line is : Avast Failed against the TR/downld.B Virus. But, both AVG and Antivir were able to detect it when I plugged in the Hard drive into another computer through an external case. This isn't the first time. I've had the flashplay.dll worms on my computer from USB thumb drives and Avast kept scanning them, but said they were okay. It was only a week later that the worm was added to the virus definitions.

An anti-virus is only as good as it frequently updated by its manufacturer. I liked Avast and recommended it to all my friends whose machines I've fixed, but I will be emailing them with an advice to switch to AntiVir or AVG at the soonest.

Perhaps, it is indeed fallacy to think that free anti-virus solutions will stand up to their commercial counterparts. Multiple layers of defense by installing several anti-virus programs would be nice, but I've encountered conflicts while attempting that in the past. Not to mention the added resource overhead, which an old machine like mine does not need.

Does reliable computer security (on Windows) have to cost money?

34

General Software Discussion / Program to Change File Attributes on Windows

« on: October 31, 2007, 04:14 PM »

I am looking for a program that can quickly change file attributes of several files on Windows. SO far, I've found

Attribute Changer (FREE) - http://webplaza.pt.l...windows/windows.html
Attribute Magic Pro ($) - http://www.attribute...ributemagic-pro.html
Febooti File Tweak ($) - http://www.febooti.c.../products/filetweak/

Any other suggestions?

35

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Seeking Website Feedback for kid's product

« on: October 28, 2007, 03:52 AM »

I started working with a company that created a experiment kit for kids a while back. I made the website and helped design part of the product. Please give your feedback on the site and product. Positive comments and criticism is both welcome.

Main Site - http://www.yaxpert.com
Product Page - http://www.yaxpert.com/enviromanya

36

General Software Discussion / Need Help Identifying a Program

« on: October 03, 2007, 05:08 PM »

I am not able to uninstall a program because I can't identify it. It shows up when I middle click the title bar of any application and produces an 'mac expose' like effect showing me a screen with all open windows. Also shows up when I middle click the task bar.



I have used Autoruns to identify starting processes, but can't seem to find the program doing this. Currently, I use Pitaschio, Strokeit and taskbarshuffle, but its not any of them because I have tried disabling them from startup, yet this effect persists.

I would appreciate any clues from fellow users as to which programs do this.

37

General Software Discussion / Double Right Click Start Menu

« on: July 23, 2007, 05:33 PM »

I was trying to implement a start menu that will fly out anywhere on the screen upon a double right click. I also removed all the icons for speed. That part is similar to eaticons (http://www.regxplor.com/other.html)

Problem : Upon execution, the program seems to lack the ability to distinguish between single and double right clicks properly.

I get erratic behaviour : sometimes it pops up the start menu of a single right click, other times it gives a regular right click menu even on the double.

How can I implement this properly? Either on Powerpro or some other scripting program?

Upon searching many forums, I found a similar product called LaunchOnFly (http://arturdev.com/...;product=launchonfly), but it doesn't do the same thing.

38

General Software Discussion / Concatenating Benefits of Various Time Saving Programs

« on: July 17, 2007, 07:33 AM »

I have the following applications installed on my computer :

-   Strokeit
-   Volumouse
-   Pistachio
-   KatMouse
-   Filebox Extender

Though they are low resource applications, I would like to know if the functions of all of these can be provided by a single application. I looked at AHK and AutoIt, but they seem quite complex. I have recently tried powerpro, but I am still learning to use it. Any other suggestions?