Messages

476

General Software Discussion / Re: On Strike for your Favorite Lost Sheep

« on: January 09, 2006, 05:48 AM »

[edit]ope, nevermind[/edit]

477

General Software Discussion / Re: beeping, cheeping, chirping :-(

« on: January 09, 2006, 05:43 AM »

A couple things I would try...

Uninstall the driver, restart the comp, and let windows reinstall it. This fixes tons of problems...

Also, I find that if something happens "for no reason" it's probably a heat issue. It's possible the "recovery" period is simply letting whatever is overheating cool down.   ...?
Whenever I suspect something is overheating I will just stick a desk fan in front of the comp/device. If the problem goes away it's heat, if it stays it's something else. Maybe your case needs a canned air treatment.



One last thing, how often does this happen?

478

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite launch bar? Your favorite features? Missing Features?

« on: January 09, 2006, 05:37 AM »

bonus points to anyone who can figure out what my specialty is from my avatar

Anthropology?

Does T.L.B. (1 lower than TLC?) let you create right-click submenus? (Like what Edvard was talking about.)

my Firefox button of course opens Firefox when I click it. A right-click pops up a menu of the category "internet" that includes IE, Filezilla, Opera, and may also include Instant Message and IRC apps, Upload links, etc.

Like I said before, my experience with a very similar feature has been VERY beneficial! I hope you consider putting a feature like this into your launch bar mouser!

479

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

« on: January 07, 2006, 05:06 AM »

Yeah, good lord that's a lot of partitions!

The kind of sorting Carol is talking about is one of the few "new" features of XP that I wish I had with 2000. Another one is the "snap to grid" thing for icons on the desktop.

480

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite launch bar? Your favorite features? Missing Features?

« on: January 07, 2006, 04:48 AM »

Right-click on the same icon gets me a menu of other apps in that category. For example, my Firefox button of course opens Firefox when I click it. A right-click pops up a menu of the category "internet" that includes IE, Filezilla, Opera, and may also include Instant Message and IRC apps, Upload links, etc.

That sounds like a GREAT feature! I used something similar when I customized my Rhino 3D interface. It is SO convienient to have ONE button that does the most common task when left-clicked, but gives access to similar tasks when right clicked!


I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but I actually use Windows Toolbars. I used to hate the "Quick Launch Bar" but, with some tweeking, I hate to be without it! Pretty much what I've done, is created folders that contain the shortcuts that I use, then created custom Toolbars that display the contents of those folders. The cool thing is, you can drag the toolbars off the Task Bar onto the Desktop, then drag them off the Desktop to create a new docked window on the side/top of the screen.



As you can see: I have a new bar on the left side, the top is a toolbar pointing to my "!Shortcuts" directory, it has pretty much all the shortcuts that I ever use, all in one place. To access the shortcuts I have to press the little "»" to open the submenu.

Below that I have a toolbar pointing to my "!Shortcuts\Common" folder, in there I keep copies of shortcuts that I use all the time, or shortcuts to programs that I don't want to forget about.

Then on the bottom I have a toolbar that displays the contents of the Desktop. I download everything to the desktop first, then decide if I want to keep it or delete it. With the handy left toolbar I can open the newly downloaded program/file as soon as it's done downloading. I can also grab newly downloaded documents and drag them onto open programs without having to minimize any windows! It works very well!

A feature I would request of a dockable toolbar: a pause before it opens (even if it's 200 ms). The one bad aspect of the left toolbar is that it opens instantly, so it'll open sometimes when I'm trying to select something on the left of the screen (be it a button, or just trying to highlight text...).

Another feature that might be cool, is to make it possible to only display files created/modified within a settable amount of time. With this feature you could have an easily accessable list of newly downloaded/created files, without having to sort through all your old files...

Also, it seems like a lot of people have shortcuts on their toolbar "just as a reminder." Having a dedicated "reminder" feature of some kind might be helpful.

And on a side note, this is the way I have firefox layed out (with the back, forward, refresh, and stop buttons, the address bar, and the google search box in the same line as the File, Edit, View, etc menus). It saves a decient amount of space...

481

General Software Discussion / Re: Naming and tagging MP3 files from a PDF?

« on: January 05, 2006, 10:49 PM »

TGF can tag files based on text copied to the clipboard. I don't know how well it'll work, but it's worth a try. If the info gets parsed into the wrong tags it would be easy to re-arange the tags afterwerd.

Go into the "Online" panel and hit the "Get tracks from clipboard" button.

482

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

« on: January 03, 2006, 04:08 AM »

I have a quick question: I have a layout that I would like to be opened every time I open DO, no matter if I press WIN+E, double click the desktop, open with the tray icon, or with a shortcut. How do I use the same layout for everything?

483

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

« on: January 02, 2006, 02:50 AM »

There is a "Phone Dialer" included with Windows 2000. I don't know if it has the features you're looking for, but it's probably worth checking out.

It's in:
Start > Programs > Accessories > Communucations

484

General Software Discussion / Re: folder comments in explorer?

« on: December 31, 2005, 03:59 AM »

I don't know jack squat about comments, but I do have a couple bits of info I'm going to share anyway. I think it has something to do with the NTFS filesystem (new technology file system filesystem?). Also, I do indeed seem to remember seeing something about editing them in Directory Opus. I took a very quick look, but couldn't find where I may have seen that...

I'm just full of useful info aren't I?

485

Living Room / DIY Projector Project - Pre-Pre-Planning stage

« on: December 31, 2005, 03:50 AM »

I was wondering, have any of you made a "do it yourself" projector?

I stumbled appon a pdf with instruction to make one. It seems like it would be pretty easy (as long as I took the time to make everything accurately). More or less what you do is build a box with a bulb in it, get a LCD monitor, take it apart, and stick it inside. Then you need a couple sheet lenses that make the light from the bulb pass straight through the LCD and back into another lens that projects the image onto your screen.

Long story short you can build a 1024x768 projector for around $400 (based on a 15" monitor), or if you want to use a larger monitor and get up to hi-def.

I think this would be an awesome project, the main problem is the website that distributes the PDF is very concerned that you purchase a membership to their premium forum ($20 for lifetime).

486

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

« on: December 29, 2005, 06:14 PM »

I used to use one that was super tiny (the cpu and ram bars were probably 1 or 2 pixels thick), I also used it with windows 98 (I think) so it must be pretty lightweight. I'll look through my download backups later tonight to find the name for you.

What I got now may intrest some people on this forum. It's the Logitech G15 keyboard. It has an LCD screen that you can write applets for. One of the few applets it comes with is a CPU/RAM usage meter.

If you'd like to see othe apps written for the keyboard, or if you just want some more information; check you www.g15forums.com.

487

General Software Discussion / Re: Context Menu entries that cannot be deleted

« on: December 28, 2005, 01:42 AM »

There is probably a way to turn off this "feature" in the various Office programs.

I haven't installed Office for a while, but I seem to remember some stupid "Office Startup" program starting with my comp afterwards. I think it's suppose to help with searches or something....
Maybe that stupid office startup thing is putting those items in your context menu, stop it from starting with your comp (there's usually a link in Start > All Programs > Startup, delete that). If there isn't a link in your start menu, it might be lurking somewhere in you startup items, you can edit your startup items by clicking Start > Run (or hitting Winkey + R) and typing "msconfig" <enter> and unchecking stuff in the Startup tab (look for items with the word "office" or "mso" etc in them).

488

Living Room / Re: Been asked a MILLION times...Internet explorer

« on: December 28, 2005, 01:35 AM »

Does the same thing happen when you open IE?

Try the web browser "OffByOne"

I personally use about:blank (or whatever the firefox equivalent is) as my homepage, but I know how mothers need something to open automatically too. Maybe change her homepage to something like www.cnn.com (assuming they don't have pop ups) or www.homestarrunner.com.

Also, there are a few online virus/spyware scanners. I think Housecall is good (but they remixed their web page, and it's less user freindly now), Kaspersky also has an online scanner, it's probably good.
If you're in the market for a new Spyware scanner, you might give Webroot Spysweeper a try, it takes over your system, but it's supposidly very good.

489

Living Room / Re: Generate graph paper and more online

« on: December 26, 2005, 02:49 AM »

Whoa that's nerdy.

Probably REALLY handy if you need graph paper though! They charge a bundle for some of that fancy stuff don't they?

490

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

« on: December 24, 2005, 05:49 AM »

Welp, I finially got my copy, the discount code is still working (if anyone was wondering). It ended up being 84¢ more than I thought it was going to be (thanks random currancy calculator website (xe.com) and/or paypal).

I've been looking for a decient FTP client, so I can justify this purchase as being worth it as that alone.

491

Living Room / Funny/interesting websites I like... check these out if you're bored

« on: December 22, 2005, 01:31 AM »

Over the years there are a few websites that I've consistantly enjoyed every time I've visited. When I'm bored or looking to waste some time I check out a few of the ones I hadn't visited in a while.

The Onion This website is great, I go here almost every day! It's a fake newspaper, an hilarious fake newspaper I mean. I can't say I read many of the actual articles but the headlines are enough to keep me coming back. A feature I look forward to is the "What Do You Think" (now renamed "American Voices") section. It's updated every week day and pretty much has hilarious comments on some random news story.

The Straight Dope Not something you'd want to read every day, but very interesting for the nerd in you (I'm 80% nerd). As far as I can gather it's mostly an archive of a newspaper column where people would ask really tough/really random questions and the author would answer them after doing a lot of research. One current question: "Is it safe  to wash clothing at the laundromat?" (I haven't read this one yet, but it sounds like it could be interesting.)

Homestar Runner Very funny flash cartoon site. The "Strongbad Email" section is probably the most popular part of the site. On it one of the characters, Strongbad, answers questions and addresses comments sent to him. This site might take a little getting used-to; give a few cartoons a try before disregarding it. This is by the way, fun for all ages, something your kids might enjoy just as much as you...

Urban Legends Reference Pages Like the title says, this is an urban legend website. They either confirm or deny pretty much every urban legend out there. They also update it frequently with the latest e-mails that are going around (that my neighbor insists on forwarding me).

The Sneeze Very funny site with a single author, Steve. He is just pretty much a very funny writer and can turn anything into comedy. A feature you might check out if you're just testing the site out is "Steve Don't Eat It" where in the interest of entertaining us he'll eat various disgusting foods. Look for the link on the left, at the bottom of a list. Recient "food" eaten by Steve: Pickled Pork Rinds...

The Word Detective A great site for the ocational visit. And another site where the author answers questions sent to him by readers... These are all on the origins of words or phrases, sounds boring but I find it fascinating.

Maddox and Listen To Me Both of these are kinda the same, some guy, or a couple people think their opinions are worth reading. I don't know how often they are updated, but there's tons of content on each one, so it shouldn't be a problem for first time visitors. Go to them and check out movie reviews, video game reviews, rants, you name it.

Linkswarm I used to go here all the time, not so much any more. The website is pretty much a collection of links to other websites. The descriptions are short, but are usually enough to let you know if you wanna click or not. Linkswarm is a little racy at times, and not all the links are labled NSFW (even when they should be). A little more "family friendly" website with the same general idea is I-Am-Bored.

492

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

« on: December 22, 2005, 12:35 AM »

Do you think it can do what I'm asking for automatically?  That is, whenever an album has filenames longer than the cd/dvd standard (whatever that is) then it will shorten the album name in the filename to it's acronym ("Ropin the Wind" becomes "RTW").  If it can do that, then I will probably have to reconsider my audio renaming procedure...thanks for the reviews.

-superboyac (December 21, 2005, 03:14 AM)

As far as I know it doesn't have that feature built in, but it is something you could do with a script. You could have it check the length of the album tag, if it's over 30 characters you could have it search for spaces and only keep the letters imediately following them.

If you don't want to make a script yourself, jtclipper (the author of The GodFather), or maybe someone else, will usually write scripts if they're easy/short enough and if people ask for them nicely.

493

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

« on: December 21, 2005, 01:57 AM »

Thanks GHammer!

In the rename panel of TGF there are options to truncate the filename down to a few different standards: ISO level 2, Joliet, or Xbox. Or you can choose the length manually; say cut off everything after the 38^th character.

494

Older Newsletters / Re: newsletter poll

« on: December 20, 2005, 07:54 AM »

I'm not a big e-mail forwarder.

If the poll was: "Do you ever forward anything?" my answer would also be no.

495

Found Deals and Discounts / Xbox Live 12-Month Starter Kit -- $34.99 + $5 shipping

« on: December 20, 2005, 12:51 AM »

I don't have an Xbox, but this seems like a good deal to me. The deal is either just starting or just finishing (I'm not sure). If you're interested, the deal only lasts 24 hours so act now!



It's on the website woot that Mouser found.

496

General Software Discussion / Re: How fast is Microsoft? (Re: Has any one held off on upgrading to Firefox 1.5

« on: December 19, 2005, 11:49 PM »

~$250 for office Standard Edition.

They've got to be out of their minds...

497

General Software Discussion / Re: Agnitum just sent me a newsletter...Outpost Pro 3.5 due in February

« on: December 19, 2005, 11:43 PM »

At work we install Norton on as many computers as we can (sorry, I know it sucks, the rest of us employees know it sucks, but the name sells... so...?). Norton wont install unless the previous versions are removed, you have to use a tool "SymNRT" (Symantic Norton Removal Tool) if norton was ever on the computer previously. You also have to uninstall McAfee.

I hate the fact that aparrently firewalls don't play nice together. I had Zone Alarm before I tried Outpost. When I installed Outpost it clamed that if I didn't uninstall ZA first it's possible neither would work...
Could this possibly be true?

498

General Software Discussion / Re: Program Wanted

« on: December 19, 2005, 11:36 PM »

It's one I haven't tried yet, but could you use the program "Process Tamer" to controll that message?

499

Living Room / Re: nudone's new pc

« on: December 19, 2005, 02:02 AM »

I'm not a speed reader, so this post is being made having only read to the pic of the 24" monitor with Friends on it.
Sorry if something I say is repeating or something...

I can see you're thinking about silence. I can say that SilenX make some very silent fans! I have ~4 80mm fans in my case and I can barely hear it. I leave my comp on pretty much at all times and even though it's touching my mattress, it doesn't bother me while sleeping. The downside is they are expensive (I think mine were about $14 each...).

I don't know how well it cools, but mineral oil apparently doesn't conduct electricity. It's sold by the gallon at feed stores. I'd guess it's around $12 a gallon.

As for RAID, the only experience I've had with it (when IDE RAID was very new) was bad. I had 2 40gb drives and lost all the data on both. It's possible I could have got the data back, but I didn't feel like screwing with it at the time.

[edit]Oh yeah, one more thing. I think the chipset fan in my comp is very noisy. It's the smallest fan in there and I think it's the loudest. As someone mentioned above, passive cooling on the chipset is the way to go.

Also, for the video card you may just bite the bullet and completely disregard the built in cooling and purchase an after market video card cooler. That way you can get the card you want and the silence you want without having to comprimize. I must say that I haven't ever used an after market video card cooler, but I'd be willing to bet a quality after market cooler would be better than what comes on the card.[/edit]

500

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

« on: December 16, 2005, 04:31 AM »

Good god Directory Opus has a lot of options!

I'll leave the other half for tomorrow...

I think I'm a lock for buying this one!