Messages

276

General Software Discussion / Re: My Digital Documents Pro 2012 on BDJ Today 1-26-2013

« on: January 26, 2013, 09:05 AM »

Well, the professional version of this program is on Bits today for $99.

Does anyone have this? While I have searched fruitlessly for a decent document management program for home use, this one appears to not be the one for me. The discounted price of $99 is half off their regular price of $199! Pretty hefty, especially since - like most software - only minor updates are included free. And in their words,

"Upgrades to future versions of the software will be free up to the next major version. For versions after that, upgrades will require additional payment, which will not be discounted."

(Emphasis mine)

No discount at all for major upgrades? That's a policy I don’t think I could accept. I tried to find a version history to see how long between major upgrades but there does not appear to be any version history on their web site. I guess I could read through the last few years of their blog to see if that reveals when each new version was announced, but...  nah, I don’t really feel like doing that!

I don’t mind spending a fair price for software that I believe I will use to the fullest extent I can, but without knowing when I will be burdened with another large upgrade cost - gotta figure at least $199 or even more when it is released - and without being able to see when and how often they have released major upgrades in the past, I have to pass on this one.

However I am still interested in hearing from anyone here who is using this.

Thanks!

Jim

PS - Whatever happened to the document mgmt. software that Wagglesoft said was forthcoming? Anyone know more about that?

277

General Software Discussion / Re: Are you going to wait for Windows 9?

« on: January 11, 2013, 03:51 PM »

Notok, you seem to be extremely high on Windows! I don’t think things are quite as rosy as you paint, though. Their Windows RT launch has been much less than they had hoped. Both Samsung and Toshiba decided to not use RT. Windows 8, while being vaunted by, well, Microsoft and not much of anyone else, is not selling that well - though you have to look past the numbers put out there by Microsoft to see that. See this article in InfoWorld.

They are trying to make the desktop computing experience look like a mobile phone, which seems to be exactly what you like about it. Personally I hate it! Smart phones? meh... I use mine for really necessary lookups but I definitely don’t want it to become my "almost primary" computer. Just light stuff. I still like my desktop - and notebook for that matter - to have lots of processor power, memory, and disk space!         

Thanks!

Jim

278

General Software Discussion / Re: Software that sounded useful, so you bought it, but then...

« on: January 10, 2013, 09:51 AM »

Replacing Snagit (after many happy years of use) with Screenshot Capture is a perfect example.

-app103 (January 10, 2013, 08:38 AM)

+1  I did the same about two years ago and have never looked back.   

Jim

279

General Software Discussion / Re: Software that sounded useful, so you bought it, but then...

« on: January 08, 2013, 11:24 AM »

I made the mistake of purchasing both Paperport Pro and Omnipage Pro two years ago. I haven't found any decent utility in either. I purchased them only because of a promotion from Nuance, from whom I had purchased PDF Converter Pro a few years in a row. The discount was substantial, totaling $129 for both. However neither has worked very well at all. Paperport almost always freezes whenever I use it, and apparently that is a problem for a lot of users. No help from Nuance, as usual.

Those are most likely the worst software purchases I have made.

Jim

280

Living Room / Re: How Much Do You Trust Wikipedia?

« on: January 05, 2013, 10:26 PM »

Seven years ago at dinner, I mentioned something I had read on wikipedia and my 12-year-old piped up and said, "I edit postings there all the time!" And after dinner he proved to me that he did. He is 19 now and I just asked him if he remembered that incident and he just snickered and walked away. Just sayin'.

-Joe Hone (January 05, 2013, 06:57 PM)

While that is true indeed, I have noticed lately that there is a heckuva lot more oversight of changes now than in the past. Whenever a change is made to a page without noted and what I think they call "notable" references, it is either held out until such is provided or deleted altogether. So apparently someone is trying!

Jim

281

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: MyInfo organizer 61% discount on April 23, 2012

« on: January 05, 2013, 10:58 AM »

Thanks clean!

I agree with your statements in general though there are a few things I don’t fully agree with.

J-Mac, if you ever want to do it the other way round, use Treepad: Install the Treepad trial, export from MI into TP, then import the TP file into UR: Works like a charm (whilst being illegal). But as you've seen already, UR's export facilities are much less than its import facilities, and you can't blame them: They facilitate new customers' coming to them, but then want to retain them.

-clean (January 05, 2013, 09:30 AM)

Oh, yes I can blame them! I hate software that tries to hold you hostage! That said, I don’t think UR falls into that category. UR does have a lot of ways to export your data, and you can get it all out and into another program. But it ain't easy doing it piecemeal the way they have their export setup. But the true "Hostage-holding" applications are the ones that keep all your data in a proprietary format and refuse to allow any exports that aren't in that format. That way you can import the data into other copies of UR, but no other program. My opinion, anyway.

Interesting here, PersonalBrain, or, as they call themselves lately again, TheBrain: Here, it's almost impossible to get data INTO their software.

I never could quite see what others see in Personal Brain. If I want mindmaps I use MindJet. There is nothing else in Personal Brain that I found particularly useful. For me, that is. Takes a lot of graphics memory but I don’t see a benefit for it.

  <snipped>....Back to MI: Here, it's just the same sloppiness and lack of design and programming you'll encounter at every detail of this program.

In outlinersoftware.com, a certain Susi just asked for very heavy duty sw of this kind. Well, she ended up with MI (which also clearly shows the level of advice you'd get there were you in real need). Good luck to her.

Well, while MI is definitely missing some important features, it accomplishes most of what I need. I'm sure it doesn’t do that for everyone, but it gets most of the stuff I need done. Or at least better than most of the other UR alternatives I have tried.

Hence, J-Mac, be happy with what you've got in UR and don't try to put it into lesser sw that could give you some headaches further on. If it does, remember how to re-export, as explained above: That move out at least will be easy (and surprisingly reliable).

Which makes me wonder if TP might be a valid solution for some. (Ok, it's ugly as s***.)

As for MI's AS import, well, any macro can do this, and would also preserve your text formatting, which their AS import from Switzerland doesn't - but that's a country on the decline anyway.

UR is still installed here, though NOT v.5; I am not yet willing to pay $50 for that no-new-features, no-real-bug-fixes "major" update. Actually upon reading the forum posts there it appears that v.5 has introduced a whole new set of bugs!

Unfortunately the latest update to v.4 that I am running is still not working well for me here. A lot of freezes while doing nothing unusual in it; far too many web sites captured do not render well, if at all; and programs that once opened internally in UR now don’t. Or - and this is probably more frustrating than anything else - they sometimes do and sometimes don’t. About two thirds of the email messages stored in UR will open internally; the rest insist on opening Outlook, and some even insist on trying to open Thunderbird - which is no longer installed! All have the same attributes, the same URL, are the same format - which is associated with Outlook on my box. Why the mixed actions? Who knows. Also, trying to open a PDF file - whether internally or externally - freezes UR AND explorer. (Because explorer is the parent process when opening UR). Never used to do this. Evernote opens all the PDFs I have stored in it flawlessly. UR presntly is just very unpredictable and Kinook doesn’t seem very inclined to help.

Thanks!

Jim

282

General Software Discussion / Re: Are you going to wait for Windows 9?

« on: January 03, 2013, 02:36 PM »

Had someone previously been fiddling with the machine causing the OOBE to not run?

-Stoic Joker (January 03, 2013, 06:59 AM)

This question for me, I guess? No, it was opened by my daughter about ten minutes before I tried connecting it. But all she did was turn it on and the doorbell rang as people started arriving, so she put it down and I picked it up. (I had just then finished setting up the router). Given time I am certain I could have gotten everything configured one way or another. I'm not a coder but I'm not a novice with these confounded machines either! Been setting them up since Commodore/Atari/Radio Shack TRS and then IBM-XT & AT, etc....

This was just extremely unhelpful/unfriendly directly out of the box. IMO there was no simple navigation path to several settings. Understand that once I got the WiFi setup - finally - I faked a little dinner and headed home, as I was pretty sick with something. Still trying to kick it now, thus my rather quick & not-so-informative posts! It just seemed like they're trying to be too cute - making it like a so-called "smart" phone.

Jim

283

General Software Discussion / Re: Are you going to wait for Windows 9?

« on: January 03, 2013, 01:08 AM »

Each search I tried brought me an error page because of no connection. Same with the "Help" search. I think they all default to online searches anymore.

I would guess that the machine you searches on was already connected?

Jim

284

General Software Discussion / Re: Are you going to wait for Windows 9?

« on: January 02, 2013, 11:47 PM »

I must say that trying to wade into Windows 8 blindly is not fun! Frustrated me to no end!

I purchased Lenovo laptops for both of my daughters for Christmas, and yesterday I was at one's house for dinner and decided to install a wireless router for her so she could use the laptop anywhere on her property. Also, my granddaughter has a new iPod and couldn't connect it to the web so it also made her very happy. Setup of the router was a breeze; I used the Linksys WRT54GL that I had "retired" recently at my house. Easy peasy. Then I fired up the new laptop to connect it wirelessly. Ha! So where the hell are the connection/network settings? Looked all around the stupid damn interface... Settings screen has a "WiFi" menu item. But only two items within: Airplane mode on or off, and Connect wirelessly - on or off. That's it. Doesn’t take you anywhere else. The damn machine wanted to keep sending me back to "Personalize your system", but personalization is not permitted until Windows is activated. Windows Activation section can't connect because IT IS NOT CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET!!! Where the hell are the connection settings?!

Took quite some time to find another pop-out menu along the right side - wiggling the mouse all up and down that side would occasionally cause it to appear. I finally clicked on an image of what looked like battery level bars - of course they were actually signal strength bars - and that allowed me to select a network, etc. So I got it done but I was mightily pissed off by the time I did. There is a manual, naturally, and I am one of the idiots that usually read manuals front to back religiously. But the manual was still sealed and looked to be one of those "Overview"-type manuals - probably need to download the read manual online. And my daughter had a lot of other people coming over for dinner so I had to get finished fast. I thought it would take a couple minutes, what with as many wireless connections I've done by now - I am a really old fart, after all! But without the manual it ain't an easy task to find even the necessary settings to setup the doggone machine.

I am now going to look for some full retail Windows 7 licenses to buy up a handful of them. Hopefully I won't have to mess with another Windows 8 OS for a long time. Hate it!

Jim

285

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

« on: December 30, 2012, 05:56 AM »

You would prefer the alternative that he didn't offer the update at all - realistically that is the alternative?

-Dormouse (December 30, 2012, 05:45 AM)

It is not. C'mon, you make this into a Hobson's choice when it is no such thing! So there are only two alternatives? What makes that "realistic"?

Jim

286

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

« on: December 29, 2012, 09:39 PM »

I agree with applauding a developer for supporting a new OS, but not quite to the tune of $50 for a no-new-features upgrade! Just can't do it!

Thanks!

Jim

287

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

« on: December 29, 2012, 11:00 AM »

I tried MyInfo after seeing a number of people say it had overtaken Ultra Recall, but haven't seen anything in it to confirm that view.

-Dormouse (December 29, 2012, 06:14 AM)

I was using UR-Pro for a few years but I was getting really aggravated about a couple things. For one, capturing web pages - it works great, and then it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t it really doesn’t, in a big way! And requests for help, while not going unanswered, don’t get me anywhere. Also, MS Office docs will open internally just fine... and then they stop and insist on opening externally in the relevant Office programs. Then I must go through re-doing the registry changes recommended by Kinook and revamping all my UR settings - usually ending up where I started - and the last time it happened it never did get back to opening documents internally. Kyle just doesn’t seem as committed to customer support as he once was.

Oh, yes - and then there was the upgrade to version 5, which turned out to be not a major upgrade after all. No new features, no bug fixes. Just wants folks to pay to continue using UR as it is. I gave up. Unfortunate because it definitely was the best out there IMO. At least when everything was working right, which it wasn’t anymore for me. I just had to get out and try other PIMs. I couldn't stand to go through another Support Request PITA again with Kinook. If he ever decides to develop UR again and show even just a little commitment to the users I'd upgrade and go back to it in a minute.

MyInfo does not have an addon to clip from Opera, and the other methods are rather tedious. The thing I will say about RN is that it does clip from Opera, not always reliably I agree. I feel that UR is still better than MyInfo, even if MyInfo has improved (and it does have its note pane for clips from other applications).

Where is the Notes pane for other applications in MyInfo?       I can't find it and I have really, really looked for it!

I rarely use Opera and haven't tried clipping from it, so I can't comment on that.

I'm still not sure what I will do about whole page webclips. RN works okay for when I am casually browsing using Opera - but so does Evernote - and for highly targetted browsing I could easily enough use FF or ie and then use UR. Evernote looks increasingly ubiquitous; lots of ways of putting stuff in, such as the little click.to app. For clips from webpages, there are lots of ways of doing it and I'm likely to just use a program I already use. Haven't really decided about CintaNotes or whether I will use a clipboard manager (ClipMate, Ditto, CH+S etc) more systematically for longer term, info storing clips.

I agree wrt Evernote. I just use it casually and then I start reading about more and more positive changes they make. It is still the only one that makes your data easily and quickly available on just about every other platform. I have tried the free (or trial?) version of CintaNotes and it is looking nice, but I don’t see it replacing anything I have at this time.

Thanks!

Jim

288

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« on: December 28, 2012, 11:49 PM »

The original Gerber baby then and now:

http://s3-ec.buzzfed...401-1356717209-0.jpg

-TaoPhoenix (December 28, 2012, 11:48 PM)

Still as cute and bubbly as ever!

Jim

289

General Software Discussion / Re: The first rule of kernel maintenance: YOU DO NOT BREAK USER SPACE!

« on: December 28, 2012, 11:48 PM »

Being straightforward and avoiding sugarcoating is fine, but IMHO you can do so in a respectful manner.

-f0dder (December 28, 2012, 11:11 PM)

Sarcasm, f0dder; just sarcasm!

Jim

290

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

« on: December 28, 2012, 10:09 PM »

I am running RightNote Pro and MyInfo concurrently. I try to mimic everything in both, e.g., capture a web page in MyInfo and then immediately do the same in RN. RN still misses on more than a few pages, either claims that it cannot capture that page or it just muddles it up when it tries. Also takes significantly longer than MyInfo. MyInfo has captured just about everything I have thrown at it. Not everything, but close. MyInfo also keeps an Attributes pane full of source info for each capture, while RN doesn’t. However MyInfo, while having a "Notes" pane for each webpage capture, does not have the same for captures of other content - not webpages - like another open program's window.

BTW, where is the Note pane for RN? I don’t see one at all. There is a "Scratch" pane but whatever you enter there shows for all captures. Not sure what use that has.

Thanks!

Jim

291

General Software Discussion / Re: The first rule of kernel maintenance: YOU DO NOT BREAK USER SPACE!

« on: December 28, 2012, 10:00 PM »

Whew! Guess he was hoping to get that message across to Mauro loud and clear, huh?   

Gotta give him a little credit for not beating around the bush, or sugarcoating his reply...  but I don’t think I would appreciate those finer points if I worked for him!

Jim

292

General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis Backup

« on: December 27, 2012, 09:29 AM »

Looks and 'feels' exactly the same to me!

 

-CleverCat (December 27, 2012, 04:37 AM)

Really? I can't believe that it's just a name change.

Well, Tobias has been extremely generous wrt upgrades so I don’t mind paying for this regardless of what has changed.   

Thanks!

Jim

293

General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis Backup

« on: December 27, 2012, 12:40 AM »

Yes, good point x16wda. I've recently given up on using Genie Timeline and Oops! Recovery Backup as well (wasn't using them at the same time!). They both worked but were, to varying degrees, detrimental to the performance of my computer. I use Syncovery (used to be Super Flexible File) to backup my data, important program settings, and files. Works like a charm 

-Darwin (December 23, 2012, 11:08 AM)

Darwin,

I am still using SFFS. I never got wind of Syncovery. Check for Updates still brings me to the SuperFlexible web site. Weird - I've been using SFFS for years and at one time corresponded fairly often with Tobias. I read about the change to Syncovery somewhere quite by accident; at first I didn't realize that it was the new incarnation of SFFS!

Is there much difference between SFFS and Syncovery? Better? Worse? About the same?

Thanks!

Jim

294

General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis Backup

« on: December 27, 2012, 12:37 AM »

.... and I've pared down installed programs to next to nothing.

-Darwin (December 23, 2012, 10:23 AM)

   Really? A software addict like you?! Wow!   

Jim

295

General Software Discussion / Re: Best Anti-spyware.

« on: December 24, 2012, 09:44 AM »

then i'll continue with my mbam

-flamerz (December 24, 2012, 02:56 AM)

Which also is a lifetime license if you purchase it.   

Jim

296

General Software Discussion / Re: Best Anti-spyware.

« on: December 23, 2012, 08:38 PM »

Darwin!! Long time, no see dude!

BTW, you will want to purchase another new license for Norton AV when your current one expires, rather than renewing. Norton is still in the "kill 'em with the renewal pricing" mode. If you purchase Norton AV anew - packaged or downloaded - you just have to enter the new license/serial code and it will show the new expiration date. Or if it is a whole new version just install it over the current and the license is updated.

Jim

E.g. - I have a license for Norton Antivirus 2012, 1 user, 3 PCs. Symantec would like me to renew the license and upgrade to NAV 2013 at $44.99 per PC for 1 year each! That would be $134.97. I just purchased a new license from Amazon for NAV 2013, 1 user, 3 PCs for $17.99 total! Downloadable too! I am told on their forum that if I contact Symantec Support they will offer a discount, but how the hell much could they discount it? Surely not enough to match $17.99!

Jim

297

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Ad Muncher - half off

« on: December 21, 2012, 10:36 PM »

Well, one "new technology" that I don’t like much is that they have done away with Ad Muncher items in the context menus (right-click) and instead use an appearing/vanishing toolbar. When you want to block something, or allow a pop-up you must press Ctrl+Right Click to cause the AM toolbar to drop-down from the top of the page. But it doesn’t have all the selections that their context menu/submenu used to have. Also, the tray icon context menu has no more items that affect ads. Their reasoning is that the browser updates are coming too fast and furious to keep up with the add-ons coding - especially the frequency of the Chrome and Firefox updates now. Which seems reasonable I guess. But I do miss the context menus.

Additionally when a pop-up occurs and is blocked, if you want to allow it you have to be fast. The toolbar appears very briefly and you have to click it to allow the pop-up. If you don’t catch it before it vanishes you can't allow the pop-up. I miss the damn thing most of the time!

Jim

298

Living Room / Re: Be Careful What You Download - Or Go To Jail...

« on: December 13, 2012, 09:58 PM »

Actually everything I see says firearms are the number one murder weapon. Where did you get the baseball bat stat from, Ren?

Thanks!

Jim

299

Living Room / Re: I need your help...

« on: December 08, 2012, 11:50 PM »

OK - Got you the Barilla Medium Shells, Barilla Rotini, and the Spaghettio's with Calcium for your daughter.

Take care.

Jim

300

Living Room / Re: Be Careful What You Download - Or Go To Jail...

« on: December 08, 2012, 11:19 PM »

Got my original Anarchist Cookbook in 1972! Unfortunately that got lost in Hurricane Andrew, along with a lot of my books.     I did get another copy afterward, but the damn thing isn't the same! They changed parts of it. Someday I'll find an early printing again. Renegade is correct in that a lot of the material is bogus - dangerously so. For me it's just a piece of trivia - nostalgia actually - from my sometimes misspent youth.  I had another similar book that I got around that same time - can't remember the exact name but it had the word "surveillance" in the title IIRC.

Ahhh, memories!

Jim