Messages

2626

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone else having random reboots with Firefox 2.0.0.11

« on: December 16, 2007, 11:35 AM »

Carol - since this occurs only when you click on the Firefox desktop icon, can you look at the icon and tell us what is there? Target? Location?  Start in (folder)?

Maybe there's a clue there.  Perhaps instead of calling Firefox from Program Files something got corrupted and it is calling for something that causes a shutdown?

Just a thought...

Jim

2627

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone else having random reboots with Firefox 2.0.0.11

« on: December 16, 2007, 11:28 AM »

Here's an error I've noticed in the Event Viewer for the last few days:

Event Type:   Error
Event Source:   Application Error
Event Category:   None
Event ID:   1000
Date:      12/12/2007
Time:      12:51:14 AM
User:      N/A
Computer:   JMCGO92504
Description:
Faulting application firefox.exe, version 1.8.20071.2514, faulting module unknown, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x02a2c51b.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft....om/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 41 70 70 6c 69 63 61 74   Applicat
0008: 69 6f 6e 20 46 61 69 6c   ion Fail
0010: 75 72 65 20 20 66 69 72   ure  fir
0018: 65 66 6f 78 2e 65 78 65   efox.exe
0020: 20 31 2e 38 2e 32 30 30    1.8.200
0028: 37 31 2e 32 35 31 34 20   71.2514
0030: 69 6e 20 75 6e 6b 6e 6f   in unkno
0038: 77 6e 20 30 2e 30 2e 30   wn 0.0.0
0040: 2e 30 20 61 74 20 6f 66   .0 at of
0048: 66 73 65 74 20 30 32 61   fset 02a
0050: 32 63 35 31 62 0d 0a      2c51b..

All after installing the 2.0.0.11 update. Yet, no crashes here?!?

Jim

2628

General Software Discussion / Re: houseforge recommendation December 2007: Protection

« on: December 16, 2007, 11:22 AM »

Just wanted to note that encryption - not properly implemented - can be very troublesome.

Back in October 2006 I installed the Freenigma extension for Firefox - it encrypts/decrypts web mail.  Or, well at least it does encrypt it - but maybe doesn't allow you to decrypt it - which is more than a little annoying!

When I realized that I really didn't use it much at all I uninstalled Freenigma.

Then almost exactly one year later - in October 2007 - I started receiving various emails in Thunderbird that looked fine upon initial opening, but when I opened them again to read them through - these were all newsletters - the messages were replaced by the standard invitation to sign up for and install Freenigma!  I am then never again able to read those messages.

Freenigma says, "No Way - not our problem".  I contacted the one source of a newsletter and they did not say at first, but eventually admitted that they encrypt their email with Freenigma, but that if you don't use it the mail is supposed to be non-encrypted.... (How's that supposed to work?!?!). Anyway, fortunately for me I do have a good bit of redundancy built-in to my email, so I was able to read the newsletters in a duplicate in another client.  Those were with the premiom version of the Windows Secrets Newsletter. Two days ago it started happening with Gizmo's Tech Alert premium newsletters!

Note that Freenigma was only used in Firefox - not Thunderbird. But it apparently is affectiung Thunderbird!  Which will probably drive me right back to Pocomail again. But NEVER again will I install an email encryption client. As far as I am concerned - NO form of electronic mail is private, and critical personal or financial info should NEVER be transmitted via email.

Stick with that and you'll have a lot more protection!

My opinion, of course.

Jim

2629

General Software Discussion / Re: How do you 'capture' a BSOD?

« on: December 16, 2007, 11:08 AM »

Nosh - I also run two monitors: a 21" Viewsonic as primary and a 19" WS Viewsonic as seconday.  I used UltraMon for a while and loved it but several odd conflicts and many crashes later I finally gave up on it.  I discovered that it can have some issues with upscale nVidia cards - particularly if you try to use the nVidia Desktop Manager software that you usually install with your card.

The UltraMon developer - at least the guy who replies for UltraMon on their forum - told me about the nVidia Desktop Manager conflicts but he insisted that there should be no other conflicts with nVidia cards. Yet I have "run into" several folks online who have expereinced similar issues when using UltraMon with nVidia cards. Which is a shame because UM does add plenty to dual monitor setups.

Jim

2630

Living Room / Re: Applications Stealing Focus...

« on: December 16, 2007, 08:19 AM »

Evil. definitelly.

Happened to me with the reboot windows thinguie, i inadvertedly rebooted the computer while i was doing something else. (don't ask me how, it was an unfortunate chain of events).

I didn't know tweakui could solve this. I shall look into it

-jgpaiva (December 16, 2007, 07:28 AM)

To eliminate the unexpected restart of Windows due to Automatic Updates, do the following:

• Click Start>Run and then when the Run box opens type gpedit.msc
• Next click on Computer Configuration>Administrative Templates>Windows Components>Windows Update
• In the right pane you will see several settings - looks like the "Services" screen. There are two ways to do it here:
• 1) Double-click on "Prompt for restarts with scheduled installations" and change the setting there to 720 minutes or 12 hours. That allows you to go the rest of the day without that nag screen. Or...
• 2) Click on the Disable bullet and you'll never get that nag - but then you have to remember to restart on your own or the Updates won't take effect.

I have it set for 720 minutes and I never see that nag anymore!

Jim

2631

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« on: December 16, 2007, 02:53 AM »

Wow!  Just installed the latest beta - looks pretty powerful.

Shame I have no earthly idea what I am doing with it, though. Create a new field and all I can do with it is give it a name and say it's text or number, etc. Field length? Can't find where they're assigned & I just searched for it for an hour. I read through the entire thread and see that no one else has questions like that.

I think I'm not ready for this one.

Jim

2632

Living Room / Re: How do you tag (or even organize) your files?

« on: December 15, 2007, 11:00 PM »

I would love a nice, fairly simple but reliable tagging system for files and folders. I have been using Directory Opus for about two months but haven't really scratched the surface yet - though it doesn't appear that will help solve any significant document management deficiencies from Explorer. I have been using COllections, which are useful to an extent but not for tagging that I can see. Haven't really examined using colors yet. I see it is possible according to their help file, but I need to look harder at it.

But while tagging is a definite "want" for me, my needs are still more in the pure document management aspect. I too use only folders and subfolders currently. I haven't found anything that I felt confident enough in to abandon my folder system yet, rudimentary though it may be.

Heck, I still don't have a good way to just track documents properly, let alone overall management of them!  Still using spreadsheets - I haven't found a database program I can live with since good old dBase3+ !!

Jim

2633

Living Room / Re: Greetings from Costa Rica

« on: December 15, 2007, 11:52 AM »

Welcome Richard!

Enjoy - it's a great community here.

Jim

2634

Living Room / Re: Applications Stealing Focus...

« on: December 15, 2007, 11:48 AM »

Not OK!!  It IS evil!!!

Man, I hate when focus is lost - and BTW, a window doesn't have to appear for it to steal focus.  Anytime another program causes the one you are currently using to LOSE focus - you know, where nothing appears but the title bar dims? - that is as bad as it gets.

I often have to use Dragon Naturally Speaking to input any large amount of text - my one arm stops working if I do a lot of keyboard work. And I can have Word open, dictating away - and suddenly the title bar dims and the dictation is going absolutely nowhere!!  If I am staring at the monitor I may notice it quickly.  If not, I may dictate a paragraph before realizing it is for nothing.  Plus, when using speech recognition you really have to get into a rhythm and speak fluidly - no choppy, hesitating speech - or the recognition quality goes down the tubes. Whenever this got really bad I would stop everything and go nuts on the PC until I found the offending application - then I would remove it while laughing maniacally! (Computers do this to us!)

Last time it was Windows Desktop Search - it was installed when I installed OneNote 2007 - OneNote needs WDS if you want to search for text in graphics.  I don't use WDS otherwise, so that went.

Other desktop searches occasionally go crazy and start indexing even when you don't have it scheduled to do so.

Process Tamer is the best weapon I've found thus far.

Jim

2635

General Software Discussion / Re: My Latest Stupid Internet Explorer Question.

« on: December 15, 2007, 11:32 AM »

I don't see any errors on http://www.mogware.c...leHamster/index.html - it is google's tracking script IINM (perhaps geotargetted?). Anyway I'd suggest posting it on the mogware forum.

-nontroppo (December 15, 2007, 03:48 AM)

Actually it appears that this HAS been reported there - even the same Line Number incurring the script error. Looks like Tuckndar also reported it.

Here's the link to the thread:  http://support.mogware.net/index.php?topic=100.0

And it appears that since it is not a critical error Mogware decided to leave it alone! That's not a good thing!

Thanks,

Jim

2636

General Software Discussion / Re: My Latest Stupid Internet Explorer Question.

« on: December 15, 2007, 03:30 AM »

Don't know why you're not seeing this, nontroppo.  Sounds like justice is though.

Here's what it looks like:

2637

General Software Discussion / Re: How do you archive your Email or MBox2CHM?

« on: December 14, 2007, 11:30 PM »

I've been using MailBag Assistant by Fookes Software for years.  Probably the most versatile email archiver I've seen.  Here's a list of features from the web site:

    * Easy to use thanks to helpful wizards.
    * Handles the most popular message files.
    * No need to import e-mails to use them in Mailbag Assistant.
    * Handles native message files even if you no longer have the original e-mail program on your computer.
    * Enables you to easily share your correspondence with other Mailbag Assistant users.
    * Favorites menu to quickly reopen frequently used e-mail folders.
    * Message text is colored based on quote level.
    * Match tool selects all messages matching your criteria.
    * Filter tool shows only messages matching your criteria.
    * Search tools support Boolean operators, approximate matches, and Soundex matches.
    * Groups messages together meaningfully.
    * Sorts grid data when column header is clicked.
    * Saves e-mails into compressed message archives.
    * Stores and extracts e-mail attachments and HTML messages.
    * Exports e-mails as plain text, EML files, Web pages, and other formats based on customizable templates.
    * Extracts information like e-mail addresses and traffic statistics.
    * Provides built-in scripting language to automate tasks.
    * Integrated editor for scripts and templates, with syntax highlighting.

I will say that it is fast and offers searching in just about any way you could want.  You can tell it to find messages that match a certain set of parameters, extract all email addresses from those messages and then view them, print the list, store it in a file.  It carries the attachments with the messages - in the archive file.  I have been archiving my email messages with it in their compressed file format and also exporting all messages to EML files and zipping them up, then writing them to CD's - and now to DVD's.  (Mailbag Assistant doesn't burn anything to optical drives - I use Nero for that).  I need to make sure I have all email messages saved - can't afford to have a new version of my email program lose any past files, and restoring some email message stores from a regular compressed backup doesn't always work.

This is not a free program, though.  $39.95, so you really have to need it, IMO.

Fookes also sells Aid4Mail, a utility that will take all your email from most any email client and convert it to almost any other format.  When I decided to stop using Pocomail and switch back to Outlook the whole process took about 15 minutes for > 15,000 messages.  No preparatory work is needed.  Then I switched to Thunderbird 2 from Outlook and moved them all again.  Best part is it will maintain the same folder structure for you, which was a lifesaver for me.  This application has four versions: Standard, Professional, Forensic, and Enterprise.  If you will be converting to or from Outlook, though, you need the Professional version. Apparently there are not many other programs - if any - that will convert to and from Outlook because the PST file structure is so different from other mail apps.

Jim

2638

General Software Discussion / Re: Which app stays open on your desktop all day?

« on: December 14, 2007, 03:25 AM »

The single most used application on my PC - with the possible exception of Firefox or Thunderbird - is The Journal 4, which is - no surprise here: a journaling/writing application.  I do keep a regular journal with it, but I also do all blog writing in it - it can send articles to any blog you are using. Also, I keep numerous other specialized journals in it. E.g., every time I make any kind of configuration change on my PC, I log it into a PC Maintenance journal. I have about 7 years of data in that journal alone. Whenever I start experiencing a new problem I start performing searches and find anything I changed that could have had an impact and caused the problem.

I also write reviews and compose them in The Journal. It's basically my one, all-around writing/logging tool.   

Jim

2639

Living Room / Re: How often do you reboot your primary workstation?

« on: December 14, 2007, 03:17 AM »

I reboot this monster daily, and even with that I have had more BSOD's in the year and a half I've owned it than I did even with Windows for Workgroups 3.1 or Windows 95.  I am really growing to hate this machine.

I purchased this PC from Falcon Northwest last June - a Mach V, top of their line.  I did not want to go with a Dell or HP POS again - I wanted something with full, top line, retail components instead of the self-specked junk that the big manufacturers usually throw in their PC's. I would have built another myself, but I became disabled and have lost a lot of the use of my left arm - didn't want to try building my own because I didn't know if I could finish it. The Mach V gets rave reviews all over, for the most part. But this one started crashing about a week after I received it and has never gotten any better. Hard drives failed, memory failed, and now I am waiting on a new nVidia card because my GeForce 7900 GTX is throwing nv4_disp.dll crashes almost every day.  (A lot of users are suddenly seeing this - not sure why, but nVidia has no solutions for it other than replace the card).

Every time I get it all fixed up something else fails.  Can't win sometimes - no matter how good you buy.  And my old HP Pavilion Media Center PC and a Dell Dimension - one four years old and the other... gulp... 9 years old, are running perfectly!

Jim

2640

DcUpdater / Re: How Many DCUpdaters Do I Have Here!?

« on: December 14, 2007, 02:07 AM »

Yeah, sorry - I misunderstood you.  But you're right - I did do a thorough search to see if that had happened, and I can find no trace of it.

Thanks!

Jim

2641

DcUpdater / Re: How Many DCUpdaters Do I Have Here!?

« on: December 14, 2007, 12:14 AM »

Maybe it's an old version? Remember there was a change from DCUpdater to DCUppdater. I'm not sure if that would make a difference, but I suppose it's a possibility.

-Deozaan (December 13, 2007, 10:44 PM)

Nope - latest version.  (If you look at my first post it says "dcuppdater", with the two p's).

Jim

2642

DcUpdater / Re: How Many DCUpdaters Do I Have Here!?

« on: December 13, 2007, 10:35 PM »

if it doesnt then its a clue that however its being invoked on startup is confusing it.

-mouser (December 13, 2007, 03:31 PM)

But supposedly Chameleon, other than monitoring for programs trying to add themselves to the Startup folder, just places approved programs IN the Startup folder and that should make the start the same as when I use the Start menu, right?

Not sure I understand the mechanics of this issue!

Jim

2643

General Software Discussion / Re: My Latest Stupid Internet Explorer Question.

« on: December 13, 2007, 10:07 PM »

From the IE7 Toolbar there are two check boxes to turn off debugging.
Goto Tools-->Internet Options-->Advanced.
In the second group, "Browsing"

I think some of the MS tools, when installed, toggle them off.

-e712 (December 13, 2007, 09:27 PM)

In IE6 it can be done for the browser itself via IE Options>Advanced.  But when other programs use Internet Explorer within the application itself, I don't see anyway to disable it.

2644

General Software Discussion / Re: My Latest Stupid Internet Explorer Question.

« on: December 13, 2007, 10:06 PM »

i never get any confirmation box after disabled them somewhere in the options, tried to install FileHamster but it needs .net craps.

is there any way to get debug box beside using FileHamster?

-kimmchii (December 13, 2007, 08:56 PM)

Yes, but this is definitely FileHamster. Confirmed. Just wish I could find a way to shut it down in there, or it might have to go.

2645

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

« on: December 13, 2007, 02:58 PM »

Hey Mike,

Until I started really looking at it yesterday, I had no idea that it had all of the features that it does have.  It is, like many of the programs created by coders here at DC, and mouser in particular, so muted in its appearance that you would never know how powerful it is until you took a closer look at it.  In my opinion - and this is probably a very premature opinion as I haven't even begun to use it that much yet - SSCaptor appears to at least match SnagIt in its feature set, and possibly surpasses it in a number of ways.  Again though, the "home-grown" applications here at DC are so muted, so lacking in the usual overstated, four-color, screaming text effect advertising that is all too common with commercial software packages, that it is almost too easy to overlook just how great some of them really are.

(You can pay me later, mouser!!  )

I'm going to stick only with SSCaptor for a good long while and get some real use out of it.

Jim

2646

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

2647

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« on: December 13, 2007, 02:07 PM »

superboyac,

I did install SQL Notes, but then when Pierre suggested I download a later beta about a week or so after that, I tried but it wouldn't install. I think Pierre posted again that I have to pluck some of the files from the newer beta and replace the ones in my already-installed beta.  Something like that - I'll have to read that post again.

I just didn't get around to doing that. Not that it's difficult or anything; I was just super busy at the time, and ... hmmm...  I guess I just got lazy after that and didn't think to go back and do that.

Let me take another look at the SQL Notes thread and maybe try again.

One thing - I am a "needy" user if there ever was one.  I NEED some kind of documentation to reference when I need to - which is always too often! Some things are just completely intuitive to me - usually the complicated stuff. And then I choke on the simple stuff! Don't ask why. Because I'm Irish? Old and decrepit? Because I have raised too many kids? It's just one of those universal truths! 

Jim

2648

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

« on: December 13, 2007, 01:59 PM »

keep in mind the pdf is exactly the same (but perhaps a bit older) than the .chm help file included with every install of screenshot captor.

-mouser (December 13, 2007, 01:49 PM)

True, but the Help+Manual software you features here once is, oh... like a $399 program for the Standard version, and $599 for the Pro!!  So how would one make the CHM file into a PDF file?

Printing a CHM file is NOT something anyone wants to do!

Jim

2649

DcUpdater / Re: How Many DCUpdaters Do I Have Here!?

« on: December 13, 2007, 01:55 PM »

Even weirder - I just exited DCUpdate and started it again from the Start>All Programs menu but this time I clicked on the link in the Start>All Programs>Startup folder and all shows fine there also.  Then again, since it has already been opened today with the correct programs showing it probably will stay that way until I reboot Windows again, right?

Jim

2650

DcUpdater / Re: How Many DCUpdaters Do I Have Here!?

« on: December 13, 2007, 01:51 PM »

Starting it from Start>All Programs shows all that it should.  So it appears that only when Chameleon Startup Manager starts it - which is really just making sure that same shortcut is in the Start Menu>Startup folder - it does not show all DC programs. Weird!

Jim