Topics

101

Living Room / Beware Domain Searching at Network Solutions!

« on: January 09, 2008, 03:55 PM »

If you search for a domain at Network Solutions and don't register it immediately, Network Solutions reserves it and will sell it to you at their inflated price.  Just like we always thought....

PC Mag Security Watch Story

DomainState.com broke the story here.

Network Solution's first response - they're "protecting" you from other's grabbing the domain you might want!

Nice, huh?  Creeps.

Jim

102

Living Room / Anyone Else Have an Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) Problem in the Winter?

« on: January 08, 2008, 04:35 PM »

As soon as winter arrives and the heat goes on, I turn into "Electro-man"!

My family avoids me like the plague.  I don't even have to touch anyone;  if I just get too close the blue sparks fly, loud snaps are heard, and people are screaming at me!  "Snnaapp!! Oowww!  Get away from me!"  I look like a complete nut (in reality I am nowhere near complete, but I am trying hard) when trying to put my key in the door lock.  I try to turn on a light switch and it takes me forever, because I am putting my finger close and then pulling it away, until finally I flip it and get a giant blue spark jump out and try to take my finger off.

I purchased a little device that can go on a keyring, but I just carry it around my little finger like a ring.  If I touch that to something first it gets the shock, though occasionally it jumps right out the back and gets me too.  I have a "wireless anti-shock wristband" that doesn't help at all.  In every room I have a small electrostatic release pad attached to a receptacle's ground plug, so I can touch that before anything else in the room.  Whenever I wash my hands I get a blue spark jump out of the water stream when I get close to it.  All that anyone in the house hears from me during the winter months is, "SNAP!!  OUCH, @%^$$!!@&^!*^@*!&@^*!!!!!!".  Over and over again.

But I can still be destructive.  So far this year, even with me taking great care, I ruined a relatively small floor fan, the kind that oscillates and has a small remote control?  It was locked in a stationary position and someone had apparently bumped it so it was facing the wrong way.  It has a cage coated with vinyl or something, so I did not expect what happened next.  I reached out to reposition the fan by turning it a little and as my fingers got to within about two or three inches and a blue flash jumped out and met my fingertips.  Yeeooww!  Except the fan immediately turned of and has not started again.  I have no doubt that it is fried and will never work again.  It is still much better than past years, though, when I have fried a digital cable box, a Panasonic AM/FM receiver, CD/DVD multiplayer -- actually part of my home theater set up -- and a 40 GB Seagate pocket drive.  Sometimes something that I thought I fried will work again after a day's rest, but too many are ruined for good.

Has anyone else ever had such a problem?  I actually mentioned this to my physician once and he simply laughed.  One of these days I will reach out and touch his nose - see if he laughs then!   

It sounds funny, I know.  But it truly is maddening!

Thanks.

Jim

103

General Software Discussion / IMAPSize

« on: December 29, 2007, 02:08 PM »

I just downloaded and installed this application, IMAPSize.  It allows you to view all folders in multiple IMAP email accounts, has a lot of searching capabilities, etc.  I would only have limited use for it but I thought that others may find it useful.

IMAPSize

Jim

104

Living Room / Power and Ports - The Ever Diminishing Resources in My Office!

« on: December 28, 2007, 02:30 AM »

Do others have the same problems I seem to have in my little office at home?

Two questions I find myself asking... well, myself as I sit at my desk:

"Where in the hell am I going to plug THIS in?!?"  and  "Why don't they put more USB ports on computers if every new peripheral is connected via USB?!?"

(A corollary to the first question above is, "Why do so many manufacturers put the stupid transformer blocks at the plug end of the cord?!?")

First, the power issue.  In my office I have two PCs running most of the time; my main box, and my previous main box, which my wife now uses for gaming.  My PC has two monitors connected.  Add to these my wireless router, cable modem, external USB drives, a Canon MP830 All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier, a few powered cradles for handheld devices, desktop phone, desk lamp, PC speaker systems.... I could go on for a while.And that's just MY side of the room!  Then there's the HP Media Center box my wife uses along with all its peripherals.  Then there's the opposite corner with a shredder, air purifier (to help clear cigarette smoke out? Go figure...), a couple battery chargers, a Dust Buster, a couple more lamps, etc., etc.  There are a total of 4 receptacles in the room, but not all on separate circuits.  I am pretty sure that there are two separate 15A circuits feeding the room - though some power is going to the room next this one, I think.

I keep wondering at what point my circuit panel in the cellar is going to just vaporize or something. I mean, how much more of this can it take?  BTW, the heat in the room gets stifling so I now have some fans in there to keep things a little cooler. Fortunately both PCs have cooling systems inside the cases, plus graphics cards with attached coolers, so at least the PC equipment itself is staying cool enough. But the rest of the room is HOT.  So now I make sure all monitors and lights are turned off when not in use. That has helped a little. But I just know that soon I will be paying electricians to come in and give me MORE POWER. Which will not be inexpensive as I live in a 100+ years old house.  There must be a better way........

And now for my USB port rant. What is it with the recent proliferation of equipment that must be connected via USB ports - wait, no; check that. USB 2.0 ports! Heaven forbid I connect something with USB 2.0 capabilities to an old, stinking, rotten USB 1.1 port!  Then of course my operating system starts yelling at me with those annoying little popups: You have such and such connected to a USB 1.1 port, you flaming idiot!!! Fix it NOW!

Virtually everything I own must be connected to a USB port on my PC! I almost believe I could jump start my truck by connecting it to a USB port - as long as it is USB 2.0, naturally! Keyboard, mouse, Wacom tablet, mobile phone, All-in-One, external drives, speaker system, microphone, etc., etc.  I have USB hubs, though I had to replace them of course to get USB 2.0 hubs! What else?!  And these hubs, naturally, must be powered! (See question #1).  But then some equipment insists that I had better not plug it into some funky old hub! No, they have to be connected directly to a USB port on my PC. And some stuff goes even beyond that, insisting that they be connected to a REAR USB PORT, and not a front port.  And I am totally serious about that - no kidding!

Fortunately I had the foresight to tell Falcon Northwest when I ordered this Mach V that I would need as many USB ports as it was possible to add to a PC; as long as the total number of ports was not less than 15 or so. When they got done laughing their lunch through their noses, they politely told me that they could give me 8 USB ports. I insisted on 10 minimum and they agreed. Well, actually they just lied. Outright. When I received the PC it had all of 8 USB ports. However as I started using them I found that some didn't work. I submitted a support ticket and they told me......

"Oh, yeah. We knew that."  What?!?! You knew that?!?  there are 4 rear USB ports, all working. But in the front there are also 4 USB ports - only 2 working. According to Falcon, the Asus 8N32 SLI Deluxe motherboard can only support 6 total ports. Then, as only a completely stupid, non-techie type could do, I asked a terminally stupid question:  "If only 6 can work, then why did you build 8 ports on it?"  Their reply went something like,  "Duhhhhhhh!!  Because you wanted a multi-card reader, and that is using the power that WOULD have gone to those other two front ports. So there, you idiot!" Or something like that.

Still seems kind of odd to me that a machine with dual processors, three onboard HDD's: 1 - 80 GB, and 2 - 500 GB, - a high-end cooled graphics card, a 3D sound card (and, no - I have no idea how they make sound into "3D"!), a TV Tuner, two ethernet adapters, three optical drives, can only support 6 lousy USB ports!!  My HP Media Center box - 5 years old and less than one-fourth of the price of this PC -and it has 8 USB ports. Why is that? Of course I can't ask Falcon that now - they'll really laugh then.

But seriously folks, if more and more peripherals are going to be created with only USB connectors, PC makers are going to have to respond someday with larger buses to support more doggone ports.

And as for the power problem - well, what would Al Gore think?

Jim

105

General Software Discussion / Two Programs I am Seeking

« on: December 27, 2007, 11:09 PM »

I am looking for two particular applications.  One is a general timer/stopwatch/countdown application, similar to Timer/Timer Pro from Acute Software.  I do use Instant Boss and Stopwatch from our own coders here, along with a couple of other time and reminder-related utilities, but it's just too many to perform very related tasks. I am hoping for one to do a number of things.

The second application is a bit more involved: a program that can insert auto-text based on typed shortcuts. Something similar to MS Word's Auto-Text feature.  I used to use Pocomail as my email client and it has a feature that I used for repetitive phrases in my email messages. You create a phrase and then give it a shortcut. For example, I used "zbr" for "Best Regards" followed by a comma and two line breaks, for a closing in email messages. Blackberry has a similar feature for use on their devices.  BTW, I use the letter "Z" as a lead for most of my shortcuts only because it is unlikely that I would be typing a regular word and have the combination of "z" followed by the initials of the phrase I am shortcutting.  Thus the "zbr" for "Best Regards".

There is a program that is somewhat useful but too annoying overall to use, IMO. It is called PhraseExpress, but it pops up replacement suggestions while you are typing - as I said that can get a little annoying. Also, it has a number of built-in keyboard shortcuts that I definitely did not want, but they insist and instruct you to shut down all other programs that have any keyboard shortcuts so there won't be any conflicts. I really hate when a developer hard codes crap like this and then insists that you must live with it. I decided not to. A good example of how annoying this can be: a few months back I posted here about the Windows+S shortcut that OneNote 2007 uses for clipping suddenly started putting my PC to sleep - literally! Anytime I tried to clip something the PC immediately went dark without warning. The only clue was that I could see the white "progress"-type bar that looked like when my notebook PC was about to hibernate start across the bottom of the screen for a fraction of a second before all went dark. As I said, the developer said, basically, "Tough" and told me to either remove all other apps with KB shortcuts, or shut them down anytime I was running his programs. Yeah, right.

Anyway, does anyone have suggestions for the above two programs?

Thanks.

Jim

106

General Software Discussion / More on Super Flexible File Synchronizer; Updates Anyone?

« on: December 26, 2007, 05:17 PM »

I decided to check for updates to see if SFFS had done anything lately.  A couple of months ago the developer posted here in response to a thread where I was complaining quite loudly about the surprising difficulties with trying to schedule syncs with SFFS.  At the time he mentioned scheduling would be much easier in version 4 and he promised a free upgrade to anyone reading that post if they emailed him and requested it.  He didn't mention when version 4 was expected to hit the street, though.

From the SFFS interface I could not find any way to check for updates.  No link for that under the Help menu as most programs do and nothing in Options to auto-check for updates.

So I visited the SFFS website to look there manually.  I did find that something has been updated in SFFS, but not exactly what.  My current version, 3.67, is the last dated release shown on the Version History page, but several more releases are also shown there - none with dates, though. I copied them from that page and they are listed below:
SFFS Version History

v3.75b build 714
- fixes minimizing problems on some computers
- scheduler tab sheet now supports Unicode better

 v3.75a build 713
- use + prefix in "Execute After" script to have it run only upon complete success
- fixes a problem where sometimes FTP transfers where not resumed when using "Auto Resume"
- fixes some service scheduler-related delays in the GUI

v3.75 build 712
- fixes a rare Range Check Error that can occur with WebDAV authentication when Basic Authentication is not used.

v3.75 build 710
- FTP retrying optimized
- renaming conflicting files now supported for FTP
- certificates can now be used without password again, (new checkbox on the FTP dialog)
- the Cache Destination option now correctly removes deleted files from the cache.
- fixed word wrapping on large system fonts in Wizard Mode
- the program no longer shows "30 days left for eval." for some registered customers
- FTP can now go over port 80 again

v3.73a
- new setting: Waiting time countdown before shutdown (on Options tab sheet)
- fixed Last Sucess not being updated

v3.73
- new setting: FTP Retries on the FTP dialog
- more detailed logging in case of errors when using the "Log Timing" option

v3.72d
- fixes rare AV at the end of processes running in parallel

v3.72c
- fixes emails not being sent from jobs running in parallel

v3.72b
- fixes a WebDAV compatibility issue

v3.72a
- fixes a bug when using a File Age "less than" filter, where the interval would be reduced by 1 second each time the profile is run (1 minute after 60 runs)

v3.72
- improved WebDAV compatibility and speed

v3.71a
- fixes an occasional WebDAV problem

v3.71
- Amazon S3 uploads are now automatically verified using their MD5 checksum

v3.70
- copying across networks such as VPNs now tolerates interruptions and will resme transfers appropriately
- Partial File Updating optimized
- setting timestamps via WebDAV now supports three different server types which can be selected on the Internet Protocols dialog (FTP ETC.)
- Execute before/after command lines can be set to only run on specific weekdays
- a Proxy can now be specified for Amazon S3
- the diff tool can now be invoked when one side is FTP
- program now works correctly if both Partial File Updating and Auto-Resume is selected with SSH uploads

(I tried using the forum "Table" feature for the above - yuck!)

Anyway, has anyone managed to receive/install the above updates?  How do you check for SFFS updates?  Or is it just like I did - look at the site and see if anything newer is there?

BTW, I don't see any way to download updates - only the regular trial version, and I have no idea whether or not that is the latest build.

(This is almost as bad a the Chameleon Startup Manager update circus - another poor implementation IMO.   The more I see.....)

Thanks.

Jim

107

Living Room / Mind Manager - Worth an Upgrade?

« on: December 26, 2007, 02:09 PM »

I have has the last few versions of Mind Manager from Mindjet.  I currently have Mind Manager Pro 6.  When MM Pro 7 was released I did not upgrade for the first time in a few years, mainly because there did not appear to be much in the way of added or improved features.  Instead it looked like the upgrade was mostly dedicated to Vista compatibility and revising the UI to the MS Office "Ribbon" style - as I understand it all Microsoft Logo Certified developers were required to do that in order to maintain their certification.  (Though I am not sure that's entirely true).

Two weeks before Christmas I received another upgrade offer from Mindjet - upgrade to Mind Manager Pro 7 for $129.00, which is $45 off the regular upgrade price.  At first I summarily dismissed the offer for the same reasons I did so when it was released in September - I don't use Vista nor Office 2007 (I use XP Pro and Office 2003) and I am not aware of any particular killer features added to this version.  I never installed the trial of MM Pro 7 because I had read of other users having difficulty getting MM Pro 6 to reinstall after removing the trial version.  So I am basing my opinion on other users' input on their forum and elsewhere.

However before I go ahead and ignore the offer altogether - it is good through 12/31/2007 and the next version shouldn't be available until next fall - I thought I would ask here at Donation Coder to see if anyone is using MM Pro 7 and, if so, to ask how you like it.  Is it worth the cost of upgrading?  Is the Ribbon interface very intrusive?  (Looks like it takes up about 15 to 20% more space which is now map space)  Is your opinion that I should just pass on this one and look to the next version?  I respect the opinions of my fellow users here more than any others I would find on the web.

I use Mind Manager for purely personal reasons, and I use it somewhat sparingly.  It is definitely not an "everyday, must be open on my desktop" program for me!

Thanks for any input!

Jim

108

Screenshot Captor / Printing a Screen Capture With Screen Captor?

« on: December 21, 2007, 12:05 PM »

When I want to quickly print a capture directly from Screen Captor, the print size is fairly large.  E.g., when I capture a Properties dialog in Windows XP and print that directly from Screen Captor, the printed image is the size of the paper. In other words it seems to be set to "Fit to Page".  I cannot seem to locate anywhere at all within the settings to change this. How is this done?

Or is Screen Captor not meant to print the images, but just to capture them?  And open the image in another application for printing?

Using another application for printing screen captures is easy enough, but if I am looking to get a fast capture of a given dialog and print it out, that method takes a lot more time.

Is there a way to quickly print a captured image with Screen Captor, and be able to change the printed image size?

Thanks.

Jim

109

Living Room / A Cheat Sheet of Cheat Sheets

« on: December 20, 2007, 01:12 AM »

I just thought I would share this with you all.  Many no doubt already know about this site, but I didn't, and maybe someone else didn't.  Basically a web page with links to just about every kind of "cheat sheet" imaginable - all are PDF files, a lot contain keyboard shortcuts for different applications and web sites.

http://whatis.techta...d9_gci826135,00.html

Jim

110

General Software Discussion / NovaPDF Pro Question - Can It Do Form Filling?

« on: December 19, 2007, 04:48 PM »

Hopefully we have some users of NovaPDF here at DC, since we do have the discount available.

I have been all over their web site and cannot determine whether or not it has the ability to fill forms on an existing PDF document.  I submitted a pre-sales request to them on a web form at their site but have not heard back from them. (Maybe not a good thing? I hope they are a little more responsive with support requests!)

Anyway, can any NovaPDF users here tell me if the program allows filling forms on existing PDF files? Like when you have a loooong form - insurance application, mail-in prescription form, etc. - and prefer not to print it and write it all out by hand each time. Instead fill in all fields by typing in them and then be able to save it for future use?

Thanks.

Jim

111

General Software Discussion / My Stupid Windows Question for the Day!

« on: December 16, 2007, 11:47 AM »

I know that certain folders, namely My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, My Videos, etc. are actually system folders.  However they can be relocated within Windows and have all shortcuts, etc., still point to them.  For example, I immediately relocated all to my D: drive after installing Windows XP Pro on this PC. I wanted the C: drive to contain only the OS and program files.  All data and media files are on my D: drive, and my E: drive (and a couple external USB drives) are for backups and synced folders only.

But....

Can these folders be renamed without causing issues? What I want to do is remove the stupid "My" from the folder names! Who in the heck ever dreamed that concept up anyway? It just sounds so darn childish for some reason - My Pictures, My Music, etc., etc.  Of course they're mine!!  And I know that!!  I don't need to remind myself and the world that these are MY very own folders!  It just makes them look kind of stupid among all my other data folders.

But can I take that possessive adjective away without any dire consequences?  I thought I would ask before just trying it and then asking you all how to get out of that mess!

Thanks.

Jim

112

General Software Discussion / My Latest Stupid Internet Explorer Question.

« on: December 13, 2007, 02:48 PM »

I have my security settings in Internet Explorer 6 set at a level that is probably lower than it should be.  I just hate some of the warning messages and prompts that come with the higher stock settings.

To compensate - hopefully - I do have the Spywareblaster site blacklist updated and loaded at all times, and I am running NOD32 2.7 from Eset, but I still get warnings from some testing sites that IE is configured in an unsafe manner.

A few of the most annoying "security" features that IE blows my way when configured safely are the script debugging warnings and prompt to start a debugger, and the always so popular Mixed content warning.  You know, the one that tells you the site you are trying to go to has both secure and insecure content?  And it will not allow you to navigate there until you click saying it is OK and that you are an ignorant, non-security-minded oaf?  Well I have those all turned off in IE6's advanced settings.  Which is a risk I happily take - I don't feel that I need Microsoft, of all entities, minding my security for me.

However most applications that invoke IE as part of their standard operation still show these pain-in-the-rear-end dialogs, requiring me to act in order to let them run.  Most apps that invoke IE continually show the mixed content warning.  And FileHamster - a program which I really like and would consider purchasing the Plus version - pops up the script error dialog asking if I want to continue running scripts on the page.  And it gives me an option to... ugh... debug the script.  No, No, No!!  I NEVER want to debug a script! That will invariably open that dreaded (by me, at least)  MS MDM service - the Machine Debugging Manager service.  Once started, that service will simply not let go - ever - until I go into Services and manually stop it. But then it can be started at any time by other scripts, other applications. And it can really mess with programs that you don't want it to mess with. Anything it perceives as buggy will get a good going over to see if it needs to be debugged - MDM does not like to sit around idle all day, and it will get into trouble if given the opportunity.

Which is why I usually have the service disabled. I manually set it in Properties as Disabled.  But requesting something to be debugged overrides my setting and starts it right back up.  So, why would I ask it to debug something ever again, you might ask? When that dialog opens - the one that FileHamster causes to be opened - if it is behind something else when it opens and it tries to take focus but the very moment it does I am pounding away on the keyboard, typing into another program altogether - and it sees a key click on the Enter key as permission to go ahead and debug away....

Well that's usually how it gets started again - at least that's what I suspect.  Or it could be a little trick that Microsoft has played on me many times in the past:  It sends me a critical update and when it is installed it goes around and checks some of my settings and, yes, it changes them to what the Microsoft programmer thinks is best for my own - and the rest of the Internet world's own - good!

I guess I don't even have to say how much I HATE THAT!!  Sorry....  but does anyone here know a way to truly disable those IE warning dialogs in programs that invoke IE?  If so, I would greatly appreciate it if you would share!

Thanks.

Jim

113

Screenshot Captor / Way More Than Your Average Screen Capture Tool!

« on: December 13, 2007, 01:48 AM »

Mouser:

Sorry for the non-informative post, but after using Screenshot Captor a few isolated times over the last few months, I decided to get the PDF manual and read up on everything it can do. All I can really say is that it blew me completely away! I had no clue just how powerful this application truly is!  Where do you get off creating such a program that blows all others like it out of the water?!

I've used SnagIt for a few years - I think since Version 5 or 6 - and since Version 8 was released I have had a lot of difficulties with it.  Techsmith's initial installer package for V. 8 was really wrecked and I don't know if my PC ever fully recovered from the resultant Windows Side-by-Side issues it caused.  (MS had released an auto-update in April of last year which caused this same problem for many developers who, rather than create new installer packages with MS Installer 3.0 when it was released, just took their existing MS Installer 2.X packages and imported them into V. 3.0 - big mistake with disastrous results for many users who installed with these packages).

I eventually got SnagIt working again after much repair, but lately it has had periods where it simply will not start. It's supposed to start with Windows and the correct processes show as running, but the app itself won't appear at all and worse - won't capture! Sometimes an immediate reboot helps, but mostly it doesn't. No errors show up in the Event Viewer nor in SnagIt's log file, so fixing the problem is not easy because you can't easily diagnose what's happening. I did discover - purely through trial and error - that placing SnagIt on the Windows XP Data Execution Prevention Exclusion list helped to reduce this behavior but it still occurs more often than not after a regular reboot of Windows.

Anyway, all that on SnagIt was just to lead up to me deciding to take SnagIt out of the Startup config and going full-bore with Screenshot Captor.  And since I had never really read up on Screenshot Captor, but had only used it occasionally when SnagIt was giving me problems, I took one good look at the interface window and Preferences dialog and knew I had a lot of reading to do so I could effectively use this program. And that's when the "Wows" started flowing from me uncontrollably!  Heck, my wife even came into my office to see "...what's wrong..." as she kept hearing Wow after Wow coming from there. I am certain it will take me some time to comprehend all the features and get used to the object handling features in particular, but do it I shall.  Because it's there, and I'm sure it will bring another wave of Wows when I master it!

So I just thought I would stop in here and comment.

Thanks!

Jim

114

DcUpdater / How Many DCUpdaters Do I Have Here!?

« on: December 12, 2007, 04:23 PM »

OK - weird topic title, I admit!  But...

I am seeing two different windows of DCUpdater at different times on my PC and, while I know my machine sometimes has a strange sense of humor, I cannot figure out what it is doing this time.

I initially installed DCUpdater several months ago - I don't remember exactly when -and I have it configured to start with Windows using Chameleon Startup Manager.  When DCUpdater starts with the system and I view the window by right-clicking on the tray icon and then "Show Updater", most of the installed programs are not listed in the Installed Packages window, but are listed in the Available for Installation window.  If I then minimize that window - thus closing it to the tray - and immediately open DCUpdater again in FARR, all of my programs show correctly!

The obvious explanation is that I have two separate installations of DCUpdater installed, of course.  Yet both Chameleon Startup Manager and FARR are showing the same exact path:  C:\Program Files\DcUpdater\DcUppdater.exe.  And both are also showing identical paths to the same Startup folder entry:  C:\Documents and Settings\[My Username]\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\dcuppdater.LNK

I searched through my C: Drive with DOpus's search facility using the term "dcup*dater.exe" just to see if I somehow had the older version hiding somewhere - the one with only one "p" - or the latest version spelling - with two "p"'s.  Nope - only the one instance exists.

So how can DCUpdater show the incorrect info upon starting the first time, and then show the correct info when I re-open it?

Thanks for any help with this.

Jim

115

Living Room / Excellent Editorial on IT Security Philosophy

« on: November 28, 2007, 02:34 AM »

I just happened to find this article by Marcus Ranum, purely by accident as I was searching for another:

http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/dumb/

Not really earth-shattering or revolutionary -- just, well, the kind of common sense that we often forget we were born with.  (Or were we?!?!)

I thought I would share it here. If by some chance it happens to already be here somewhere and I just wasn't able to find it, sorry!

Jim

116

General Software Discussion / Question about Super Flexible File Synchronizer

« on: November 13, 2007, 01:11 PM »

I purchased SFFS, based of course on the great recommendations here at DC.  But I have run into a stupid issue that's driving me a little crazier than I already am!  It doesn't affect functionality, but it is annoying me just the same.

SFFS takes whatever profiles I create and tries to group them as it sees fit.  I would prefer to group my profiles as I desire; not as the program decides.  THe first example I ran into is naming some sync folders starting with the word "My", as in My Important Docs, My Pics, My Music, etc.  SFFS insists on then creating a group named "My" and then listing profiles under that group.  For example, the folders I named in the previous sentence show up as follows:

--My
-----Important Docs
-----Pics
-----Music

How do I stop it from grouping my profiles as it sees fit?  I can rename folders but not groups.

Thanks.

Jim

117

General Software Discussion / A Simple Database Program? (Or is that an Oxymoron itself?!)

« on: October 29, 2007, 12:11 AM »

I have a number of documents relating to a single subject that I need to be able to catalog, search, etc.  I have MS Office 2003 which includes Access, and I have atarted to build a database for this a few times and then gave up -- I am just not interested in having to learn another computer language in order to be able to use a canned database program!

However I have looked high and low for a simpler database program - something where I don't need to actually set up the table and field configurations and then tweak it and watch it crash - or watch it NOT give me the output I need when I need it. I have not been able to find anything, though. I currently have most of the documents listed in an Excel spreadsheet but that quickly stopped being very useful.  I did find a number of "document tracking" applications but all were geared toward the "enterprise" (I don't remember them using something like that on Star Trek!!).  Meaning their prices were also geared toward the enterprise.

I'm in the process now of moving the data into a program called Web Idea Tree - a website design program that is actually derived from a program to track/organize books and publications.  It's better than a spreadsheet, but not quite what I had hoped it would be.

The documents are mostly correspondence and submitted forms involved in insurance claims - all mine - and the volume has grown to a few hundred.  I am continually asked to reiterate or confirm information that was already submitted on previous forms and other correspondence, and trying to find the appropriate documents to look up that information (and maintain as perfect consistency as possible) has become a nightmare without a good cross-reference system.

Does anyone know of a good program to track documents and their contents like this? 

Thanks.

Jim

118

General Software Discussion / Weird Issue with Roboform - Need Some Advice

« on: October 26, 2007, 07:52 PM »

I know this post isn't really a "General Software Discussion" topic, but I wasn't sure where else to post it.  (Jesse -Please move this thread if it belongs in a different forum - Thanks).

I've been using Roboform for my password storage/forms filler since it was initially released.  I used to know all the support techs there and could usually get things resolved quickly and easily.  But as they have grown as with most growing developers, their support has degenerated somewhat, and trying to get a real issue resolved can engender true Tier 1-type responses from newer support techs.

I currently use Roboform2Go, which is simply Roboform and its database on a USB flash drive.  It usually generates a pop-up when new a version is available but it hadn't done so in a while, so I performed a manual version check.  Or at least I tried.  When I clicked Help>New Version Check their download page opened in Microsoft Word!  I looked at all the files on the flash drive but none show the command for checking for new versions.  I wrote to Roboform Support and received a reply to check my default browser - it's Firefox.  I wrote back and said that wasn't the problem.  Next reply said that the data automatically submitted with the support form shows my default browser is set incorrectly and to contact Firefox if I don't know how to reset it. That didn't make me too happy.

I looked through the support data that goes with all support requests and saw that it shows my default browser is "msohtmed.exe".  Yet Firefox insists that it is set as the default browser!  I did a little research and that file, msohtmed.exe, is a part of Microsoft Office 2003, wihch has been installed on my PC for a few years now - since it was released.  But it is not set as a default browser anywhere that I can find.  I tried clicking on links to the Internet in every program I could for a good half-hour and all opened Firefox.  I set IE as default browser and tried again - Roboform still calls up Word.  I switched it back to Firefox - it still opens Word.

The only place I can find a possible clue is that Word is set in Internet Explorer as the HTML Editor.  (I have changed that on more than one occasion and IE always switched it back to Word the nest tome I open it).  I went all through my registry and find no reference at all to msohtmed.exe.  I cannot find any other application that looks for new versions in anything other than Firefox.  I checked all keys in the registry that can affect the default browser and none are pointing to anything else except Firefox.  Finally, in Roboform's Options, I changed the "Login Browser" setting to "Other" and then browsed to C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe, and set that as the default browser.  Roboform still opens the download page in Word!

So I have come to the conclusion that this version of Roboform is NOT calling the default browser, but is instead calling Internet Explorer's HTML editor.  Mostly because I cannot think of any other possible reason fir Roboform to exhibit this behavior.  And to be the ONLY application on my PC that does so.

I wrote back to Roboform support and relayed all the above info to them.  After a half day they responded by saying that if I cannot figure out how to set a browser as my default browser, then I should reinstall Windows.  Yeah, right.  I can download the stinking latest release manually - that's not the problem now.  I want to know how and why the New Version Checker in Roboform is trying to open Word!  I would love to know how I can find within Roboform exactly where the code is that is supposed to call the default browser.  Mainly, at this point, just to show that I am setup correctly and that Roboform is the problem here.  Can anyone help by pointing me in the right direction?

Thanks.

Jim

119

General Software Discussion / New Webroot Firewall - Free Download

« on: October 23, 2007, 02:22 AM »

I don't know if anyone else has posted this -- I didn't see it here yet:

http://www.webroot.c...=PRODUCTS_DF_BoxShot

Free Webroot Firewall.  One caveat - they do require registration, including name, home address, and email address.  (Not sure why they ask for a postal address; they claim the registration info is needed to send you the download link - which is via email, not postal mail!)  Of course who's the wiser if you list any postal address you wish?  And a throwaway email address -- you only need it for about 10 minutes till the download link is mailed to you.

Jim

120

General Software Discussion / Yes, Another Network Moniotr Thread...

« on: October 15, 2007, 01:11 PM »

Hi folks.  Sorry to start yet another thread about network monitoring.  I've searched and read all I could find here on DC, but I have different questions -- plus those threads were mostly pretty old and I am hoping that there is better info available now.

I have recently tried - or am currently trying - several monitoring applications, including:

• Micorosoft's Network Monitor
  Nice capture program but it only captures when you set it to do so and saves the data in a log file. Nice for analysis.

• Show Traffic
  Simple, but limited to one adapter at a time, and again, appears to be mostly for analysis later.

• The Dude
  Looks cool but I cannot get it to do much - most likely due to my own limitations more so than the program's.  Instructions look like a rough translation to English and are brief; not verbose at all. I need "simple"!

• NetMeter
  Very nice for monitoring bandwidth. Shows real-time amount of data uploaded and downloaded plus has reports that show daily, weekly, monthly, and to-date totals. But not really a network traffic monitor per se.

What I cannot seem to find is one with a feature similar to something that TrendMicro's PCcillin used to have when I was running that:  A monitor that tracks exactly what is connected to my PC and send me alerts if/when another computer connects to my home network.  I would enter the device names and MAC addresses of my own PCs/devices that could connect and if any other MAC address - or one with a cloned MAC address but not the same device name - connected it would alert me and prompt me for an action.

All others I have tried show any and all connections, similar to a firewall, but non appear to have the ability to alert me if any connections not meeting certain parameters connect to my network. Great for analysis - which I also need. But none are suitable for keeping a small graph/chart visible.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Jim

121

General Software Discussion / How Can I Globally Rename the File Types in WinXP Pro (SP2)?

« on: September 29, 2007, 12:07 AM »

I am SO tired of having to have a ridiculously large column width set for the File Type column in my Windows file explorer.  I can remember when a JPEG was called just that - JPEG. Now, on my machine anyway, all file types are named after the default application that a file type opens with.

Instead of seeing JPEG, CSV, Excel, or Word, I now see ACDSee Pro JPEG Image, Microsoft Office Comma Separated Values File, Microsoft Excel Worksheet, and Microsoft Word Document. At the default column width it can be difficult at times to see what file types I am looking at unless I widen that column a lot.

Is there a way to set the file type to the old, short version?

Thanks.

Jim

122

General Software Discussion / Display Existing WinXP Hotkeys? (Hotkey/Standby Issues -Really Need Help Here!)

« on: September 19, 2007, 11:28 AM »

Got myself a bit of a problem here on my desktop PC running Windows XP SP2.

About five days ago my PC started shutting down just as it finished rebooting; I could not get the darned thing to start and run! After many hours on the phone with Falcon Northwest support (which, By the way,I have no great respect for at this point...), I finally realized that the PC was actually going onto either Standby or Hibernate mode -- which is a little distressing since I have ALL power options disabled - no standby, no hibernate, no hard disk rundown, etc.  During a few reboot attempts I noticed that the familiar white bar across the bottom of the display with vertical lines going through it like a progress bar -- like I am accustomed to seeing on a notebook PC, but never on my desktop.

Testing performed so far:

•   1) Memory:  memtest86+ shows no problems with my memory (2 GB Corsair RAM).  Well, actually it kept generating errors on Pass #6 until I discovered that on my Asus mobo I needed to disable legacy USB or that is common. Afterwards all showed as OK.

•   2)  Hard Disk Drives:  The Hitachi Drive Fitness tests show some bad areas on my E:\ drive - that needs to be replaced. (I have three hard drives in this machine: C:\ = a 80 GB Western Digital SATA IDE drive with only Windows XP and Program installations; s -- D:\ = a 500 GB Seagate SATA IDE drive with all data files, media files, everything not directly OS or program setup-related; and E:\ = another 500 GB Seagate SATA IDE drive used only for backup volumes - Acronis images of C; and D:, Quicken backups, ACDSee digital photo backups, and various data file backups using Nero's BackItUp utility.)

Up to that point I had seen the white bar immediately prior to the reboots failing, but I was unable to confirm that the PC was actually suspended. All Power Options are deselected regarding Standby and Hibernating. However ACPI is enabled in the BIOS and apparently something is activating it. Then late last night I was trying to clip something to OneNote 2007 using its standard hotkey - Win+S - and the PC immediately went into hibernation or standby! I restarted and tried it again -- same result.

Today I started searching for the program that had changed my Win+S hotkey shortcut from OneNote 2007 clipping to "Suspend Windows". I looked for applications installed recently and discovered that PhraseExpress -- an auto-text application that is recommended at Gizmo's TechSupportAlert site -- has Win+S configured as a hotkey for "Suspend this Computer Now". Aha! However after writing to the developer he assured me that this is not a setting generated by PhraseExpress, but would have had to be added by PhraseExpress. In other words, it already existed and PhraseExpress just scanned for current hotkeys and added it to its own settings.

It appears that this hotkey is using the macro {#run "C:\WINDOWS\System32\rundll32.exe" "PowrProf.dll, SetSuspendState"}, although I have not been able to determine why or how this hotkey was even created, or by which application.

Could a bad hard drive somehow generate this, or cause it to occur? Seems unlikely to me but Falcon NW insists that once I replace the defective hard drive all should be OK. I am having difficulty swallowing that.

How can I determine exactly what hotkeys are presently setup on my PC? I did see a few threads requesting this type of utility but it looks like there are none out there.

My primary reason for posting this is to see if anyone knows how I can display all hotkeys on my system. Troubleshooting will continue regardless, but knowing if an application did this will help a lot!

Thank you!

Jim

123

General Software Discussion / Anyone Using OmniPage and PaperPort?

« on: August 28, 2007, 02:04 PM »

Just when I thought I was weened of of most Scansoft/Nuance programs, they sent me one of those "too good to pass up" upgrade offers.

I had previously used their PDF Converter Pro 3 and had a real love/hate relationship with it. When it works, it is pretty amazing.  However it has a way of throwing errors of the "Must Terminate" variety and usually does that just when you really do not have the time to deal with it.  I also use Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Professional and get by with it even though they tend not to support any of their products, except for enterprise versions, and then only with a paid support plan.

But a couple of weeks ago I received a promotion offer from Nuance that may be too good to ignore:  OmniPage 16 Professional, with PaperPort 11, PDF Create 4, and a throw-in called MediaRecover. The whole package will cost me $99.99.  I checked Nuance's web site and the full prices for each are OmniPage 16 Pro:  $499.99; PaperPort (but not the Pro version): $99.99; PDF Create 4:  $49.99; and MediaRecover, which I never heard of before: $29.99.  They total $679.96. All for $99.99.

Unbelievable price.  But are the programs worthwhile?  If not, then even at that price, why bother?  The product pages read great, but of course that's Nuance tooting their own horn.  PC Magazine wrote them up pretty good, but I would prefer to hear from someone who has used these applications.

Thanks.

Jim

124

Find And Run Robot / Long Time to Find Programs

« on: July 22, 2007, 12:25 AM »

Why does it take FARR so long to locate a program when I enter it?

I am running FARR 2.00.126 on a Windows XP Pro SP2 machine, a pretty quick one usually.  I did have to go into the settings and select Program Files as a folder to search when I installed it. (I would have expected that folder to the first one automatically configured for searching for programs, if any. But it, along with several others, like My Documents, was not selected at installation).

I kind of thought that FARR would go and perform an initial search and cache all found program files as soon as it is installed, but apparently it searches anew every time I type in a keyword. And that is if I know the exact program executable name. If the program has a name that does not match the nominal title of the program, it then takes FARR an extremely long time.  (E.g., Total Commander actually starts with cecmd.exe).

Is this configured all wrong on my PC? Or is this normal behavior?

Thanks.

Jim

125

Screenshot Captor / Wow! Goodbye SnagIt

« on: July 15, 2007, 02:19 PM »

I never bothered to download this application because I already have a license for SnagIt, the screen capture program that seems to hold almost every online award available. However SnagIt has had a number of problems ever since the 7.2 release, I think.

First they changed the installer package that they use, from Installshield to Microsoft Installer 3, and they did it rather poorly.  Errors in their installer package that centered around the Windows SxS DLLs sent a lot of Windows PCs spinning, including mine! Once you have installed a program with a faulty installer package like that you get errors that are almost impossible to fix until the developer rebuilds their installer package to correct the errors -- or reinstall the OS. TechSmith didn't acknowledge this FUBAR for about six months, leaving a lot of users hurting.

Next, they reworked the program to comply with Microsoft Logo Certification, and to get ready for the Vista release. And SnagIt has never been the same -- at least for me. One issue is capturing cascading menus -- very simply, it doesn't work anymore in snagIt in most cases. Occasionally I can get it to work almost by accident, but never when I really need it.

I needed it for the last few days.  I purchased True Launch Bar using the Donation Coder discount and installed it. Everything seemed fine until I restarted -- and TLB did not. When I started it again, my configuration was gone and I had to start again. After that it would start with Windows, but it did not have everything that I configured.  It loses the separators and will not retain the order I set up. I wrote to their support group and they asked me for a screen capture of my TLB -- which meant capturing the cascading menu, of course!  I tried with SnagIt for three days: an hour or two until I'd get too frustrated to deal with it anymore for a day. Then I'd try again, only to get more of the same.  (Disappointment, that is...)

Finally today I had an "Aha" moment and remembered Mouser's Screenshot Captor.  Downloaded and installed it, and while I still have a LOT of configuration to do, the simple fact is that I had the screen cap of the cascading True Launch Bar about 2 minutes after I installed it. That fast with nothing set up and customized yet!

I just wanted to shout out what happened to you all, and to thank Mouser for this program  (Another donation coming!!)

There is literally no end to my amazement at the programs I have found on Donation Coder.