Recent Posts

1051

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by Innuendo on April 10, 2010, 09:09 AM »

yeah well put.  I am not young any more but I remember when I was a small child the TV programs would talk about us living on the moon in the year2000+

-delwoode (March 17, 2010, 10:11 AM)

Space: 1999 FTW! 

HAA nothing much has changed apart from TV sets got bigger (and tv programs got worse) and computers are used by most people, but they still cant really handle video well.

Computers can handle video well. My PC handles video quite well often & there are some PCs out there that handle video very well every day. However, it's not something for novices hoping for one-click solutions.

First, you have to have the right software for the job. There's tons of software out there for video editing, conversion, and manipulation and a large percentage of it is poo. Next, once you have the right software, your settings/preferences have to be correct for the task you are trying to perform or the results are going to be disastrous.

 Finally, and depending on the task you are wishing to perform, having the right codecs installed are crucial. If you don't have the right ones or they weren't installed correctly (usually due to a dodgy installer), the results are definitely going to be less than satisfactory.

1052

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by Innuendo on April 10, 2010, 09:01 AM »

Even when you think You have it right you then take the DVD with you and try to play it on a Friends DVD player and you discover it was only ok for playing on yours! 

-delwoode (March 17, 2010, 08:29 AM)

It's been my experience that when a burned DVD will play fine on some players, but not others it is almost always a media problem. Some players have trouble reading some brands of media. When it's not a media problem then it is the burner and/or player. Some players have weaker lasers than others and then you need a good burner with a strong laser that will burn a disc that the weak-lasered player can read.

This advice is only if you have a disc that will read fine on some players, but not others. If the disc won't read on anything then it could be something else....bad media, error in the disc authoring, PEBCAK, phase of the moon, etc.

You should have been tried burning discs back in 1998. Voodoo and black magic were required to get a disc to burn properly...and there was no such thing as Burn-Proof and the like back then. One CPU usage spike & you had a coaster.

1053

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Nitro PDF Pro v6 US $40

« Last post by Innuendo on April 10, 2010, 08:52 AM »

I have no use for such a  program, but it's nice that all proceeds from this sale go to charity. 

1054

Living Room / Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"

« Last post by Innuendo on April 10, 2010, 08:50 AM »

So the answer is, stop using Google?

-zridling (April 09, 2010, 10:26 PM)

I think the answer is don't blindly use Google without taking precautions. Depending on how private a person you are a few simple steps could improve your level of privacy when it comes to Google.

1. Delete Google's cookies on your computer regularly.
2. Minimize your activity on Google's sites while logged in to GMail & other Google services.
3. Use something like the TACO or Ghostery Firefox extensions to block GoogleAnalytics.
4. If Google's search engine is all you use then consider using Scroogle instead.

You don't have to cut yourself off from the web. You just need to practice a little diligence just like when visiting any internet site. And no, Google does not own your content. However, they catalog & digest it all. Don't let Gramma send you her top secret chocolate chip cookie recipe through GMail. 

1055

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

« Last post by Innuendo on April 08, 2010, 10:14 PM »

I have had a license for ObjectDock Plus for years but it stopped development and I'm pretty sure the new version that does eventually come out will be associated with Stardock's Impulse engine, meaning you will have to install that in order to use ObjectDock.

-J-Mac (April 08, 2010, 01:04 PM)

Guess ObjectDock Plus development has started back up. I noticed on their web site that v2.0 is in beta. I have to agree with you, though. Impulse re-installing itself behind your back is rather shady behavior.

1056

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 8 Requests

« Last post by Innuendo on April 08, 2010, 08:05 AM »

I'll try that next time! Where is your Docs and Settings as mine won't be moved!

-CleverCat (April 08, 2010, 02:08 AM)

I move nearly everything that is in C:\Users\Innuendo over to D:\Data and Settings\. Music & Pictures are such huge folders, though, they have separate locations.

1057

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 8 Requests

« Last post by Innuendo on April 07, 2010, 10:29 PM »

Do all your programmes run smoothly installed away from OS Drive?

-CleverCat (April 07, 2010, 02:02 AM)

Yep...they sure do. I keep my OS on one drive/partition and all my installed programs & data on other drives/partitions. Everything runs as smooth as silk. I've been doing it this way since before Windows 95 & haven't run into any problems from doing it this way yet.

1058

General Software Discussion / Re: save ebay auctions webpages

« Last post by Innuendo on April 07, 2010, 09:19 PM »

Innuendo, thanks for the tip. I researched the MAF add-on and it looks good!

-twinkler (April 07, 2010, 11:43 AM)

Glad I could help...that's what this forum is all about. Helping one another find the best software for a task.

1059

Living Room / Re: How do *you* tell when your OS is booted/ready?

« Last post by Innuendo on April 06, 2010, 10:14 PM »

Starting with Vista, but magnified significantly with 7, #2 is achieved surprisingly quickly following the appearance of the desktop. Windows 7 REALLY shines in that number 1 is achieved quite quickly after that.

-Darwin (April 06, 2010, 12:39 PM)

I have been experimenting with hibernation & Windows 7 with my newly built PC. Everything fires up in 2 or 3 seconds with no wait time. I love it.  

1060

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: O&O DiskStat 2 Pro (Easter promo)

« Last post by Innuendo on April 06, 2010, 10:12 PM »

The point is, as I understand it .. you cannot be sure of removing the earlier Nets.  Unpredicatable results will occur, you cannot trust if a program designed for 1.5 will work under 3.0 etc.   If this is wrong, share away.

-Steven Avery (April 06, 2010, 03:10 PM)

And as I understand it...and I could be totally wrong here...is that you are not supposed to remove the earlier.Nets. If you have something installed that needs .Net v1 you need that runtime installed & if you have something that needs .Net v2 or v3 you need those runtimes installed as well, i.e. having .Net v3 alone installed will not work for programs needing the earlier runtimes. They are each mutually exclusive.

1061

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 8 Requests

« Last post by Innuendo on April 06, 2010, 09:38 AM »

# An option to move programs folder, my documents, app folder etc to another drive during installation

-InstantFundas (April 06, 2010, 02:14 AM)

Oh, I'd love this one. I don't store or install anything to my OS drive. Everything's on a different HD for easy re-install if necessary.

1062

General Software Discussion / Re: save ebay auctions webpages

« Last post by Innuendo on April 06, 2010, 09:34 AM »

I've been saving ebay pages to MHT for years using the UnMHT addon for Firefox.

-twinkler (April 05, 2010, 11:03 PM)

twinkler, you may want to take a look at the Mozilla Archive Format extension. It supercedes UnMHT providing all the functionality of UnMHT with while adding new features as well.

1063

Living Room / Let the Raptor show *you* how to be a man....

« Last post by Innuendo on April 06, 2010, 09:31 AM »

...while learning Windows 3.1! 

http://www.trainsign...WindowsTraining.aspx

Excerpt from the page:

"Glen not only taught me how to use Windows 3.1, but also how to be a man."

1064

Living Room / Re: How do *you* tell when your OS is booted/ready?

« Last post by Innuendo on April 06, 2010, 09:26 AM »

I usually just wait for the hard drives to stop churning and settle down. That's how I know it's fully booted.

I wasn't aware there was any other way to tell.

1065

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: O&O DiskStat 2 Pro (Easter promo)

« Last post by Innuendo on April 06, 2010, 09:22 AM »

Plus I see it is Net-2.0 happy.

-Steven Avery (April 06, 2010, 03:23 AM)

Avery, enlighten me on something. Why is requiring .Net a bad thing? I can see why people griped when one had to download huge runtimes in order to get the programs to work, but every Microsoft OS you can buy today comes with .Net pre-installed so I don't see any contention there.

Is it RAM consumption? With desktops commonly sporting 4, 6, 8 GB, or more I don't see how RAM usage would be an issue, either. What am I missing?

1066

Living Room / Re: Should I swtich from w7 32 bit to w7 64 bit?

« Last post by Innuendo on April 06, 2010, 09:20 AM »

I've got a box (laptop) with a good NVidia card that cannot handle a second monitor -- there is a critical bug that's been there for years that NVidia hasn't fixed (they are aware of it). BSOD-type stuff - not fun.

-Renegade (April 05, 2010, 09:02 PM)

It is because of bugs like this that made me, a loyal Nvidia fan, finally start looking for an Nvidia-free graphics card solution 5 or 6 years ago. What cinched the decision for me is that I had decided to give Dell a try that year & the XPS system I bought offered an ATI Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition, but no beefy Nvidia option that was comparable.

Later when I heard about the hardware flaw in the Nvidia 8x00 series of cards that they refused to do anything about I knew I'd made the right decision. This latest Fermi debacle isn't luring me back, either.

(I'm not even going to mention how long it took Nvidia to get stable Vista drivers.)

1067

Living Room / Re: Should I swtich from w7 32 bit to w7 64 bit?

« Last post by Innuendo on April 05, 2010, 08:57 PM »

Having saic that Crucial modules are pretty good but Corsair make faster modules and OCZ is also a good manufacturer.

-Carol Haynes link=topic=22317.msg200773#msg200773

OCZ is good if it will work with your motherboard...and you're lucky enough to not get defective modules. I didn't feel brave enough to try the lottery.

Also, the G.Skill RipJaws modules have been getting great user reviews.

1068

Living Room / Re: Should I swtich from w7 32 bit to w7 64 bit?

« Last post by Innuendo on April 05, 2010, 08:54 PM »

I did have to buy a new wireless card, though because although my previous did have a Vista 64 bit driver, it was an unsigned kernel mode driver, which is a no-no in Windows 7 64 bit with no workaround to my knowledge (apparently it would have been allowed in Vista). I never did get the new one to work as good as the old one had in 32 bit and eventually decided to go the powerline networking route.

-daddydave (April 05, 2010, 11:57 AM)

Well, do us a favor and tell us the brands of your old wireless card with the crummy driver & the new card that you couldn't get to work well so we'll all know to avoid those like the plague.

FWIW, I like to buy cheap but not noname memory. I am not convinced that paying twice for the same amount of memory is going to get me better performance than just buying twice as much cheap memory. I'm actually currently using 8GB of OCZ brand memory (it was recommended to me by colleagues and the price was right).

It's all about patience & catching sales. I was able to get my Corsair RAM for the same price the OCZ was going for & the Corsair had better timings.

1069

Living Room / Re: Should I swtich from w7 32 bit to w7 64 bit?

« Last post by Innuendo on April 04, 2010, 07:18 PM »

For RAM upgrade, Crucial (good RAM brand) has a pretty good configurator doohicky that can recommend RAM upgrades for you:

-JavaJones (April 04, 2010, 04:25 PM)

Not only a great RAM brand, but the only manufacturer whose RAM modules are 100% made in the U.S.A.

Having said that...I just upgraded the RAM in two computers here & went with Corsair XMS3 because I caught the modules on sale for cheaper than any other brand yet with faster timings. (Side note: first time *ever* buying Corsair RAM, but I have been quite pleased with the whole experience thus far....pricing, packaging, build quality, and performance.)

1070

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Sharkoon USB 3.0 QuickPort Dock

« Last post by Innuendo on April 04, 2010, 07:15 PM »

By comparison the top of the line workstation card the Quadro FX 5800 (nvidia) is $3000 and yet 2 or 3 generations older than the 5970.

-JavaJones (April 04, 2010, 04:32 PM)

Remember the good ole days when a hacked driver would turn your Geforce card into a Quadro? 

1071

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is it so hard to find a decent image organizer?

« Last post by Innuendo on April 04, 2010, 07:13 PM »

Unless a really bad driver is installed I still don’t see why a program should balk at having an Nvidia card.

-J-Mac (April 04, 2010, 12:43 PM)

My advice isn't specifically for Nvidia cards only. All drivers have bugs. Sometimes those bugs in graphics card drivers from any manufacturer may affect the way programs draw their elements on the screen.

1072

Living Room / Re: Should I swtich from w7 32 bit to w7 64 bit?

« Last post by Innuendo on April 04, 2010, 09:17 AM »

Oh, nearly forgot something in going from 32 to 64 bit & it's important enough for its own post.

There are simply things you are going to need both versions of....Flash & Java, for example. You're going to need the 32-bit versions so your 32-bit software can use them and you're going to need the 64-bit versions so your 64-bit software can use them.

1073

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Sharkoon USB 3.0 QuickPort Dock

« Last post by Innuendo on April 04, 2010, 09:14 AM »

sometimes I need to go by this:- 'Don't have what you like, like what you have!'

-CleverCat (April 02, 2010, 02:23 AM)

Very good advice to have when it comes to computer components! Unless, you are doing....

1. Gaming
2. Editing video (hobby or vocation)
3. Ray-tracing (hobby or vocation)
4. CAD (hobby or vocation)

But of all those, #1 is the deadliest to one's wallet.

1074

Living Room / Re: Need a new sound card (non Creative)

« Last post by Innuendo on April 04, 2010, 09:09 AM »

unless I attach a USB-powered harddrive to my front USB ports, then the front headphone jack receives massive noise

-f0dder (April 03, 2010, 09:51 AM)

That sounds like a problem that might be the fault of the case you are using (maybe the connectors aren't grounded very well).

1075

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is it so hard to find a decent image organizer?

« Last post by Innuendo on April 04, 2010, 09:05 AM »

Possibly Unrelated Note: In the past I have had a couple of developers tell me that their apps always have difficulties rendering properly on computers with Nvidia graphics cards and that I should try changing out my card for another brand because of that.

-J-Mac (April 04, 2010, 02:24 AM)

These days I prefer ATI cards myself, but I have owned Nvidia cards in the past & what I can tell you from my experience with Big Green is that their driver eco-system is more varied and diverse than ATI's is. This is neither a good or a bad thing. It's just the way things are.

With ATI driver releases are very controlled. There's one driver release each month & you can be darn sure that what's in the newest driver release solidly builds on the driver that came before it & beta driver releases, while they happen, are very rare.

Nvidia has a different way of doing things. In between each official driver release posted on the web site there can/will be anywhere from 1 to 20 unofficial beta driver releases that can be found in the wild. Sometimes they are leaked and sometimes they are released by Nvidia's partners on their web sites to get the latest code out to their customers ASAP. The trickiness with Nvidia drivers is that one beta driver may have a bug fix or workaround that a later beta driver won't & for that matter the next official driver may not have it, either with the missing code either showing up in a later official release driver down the road or maybe never at all.

What all my wordiness is saying is that when you own an Nvidia graphics card and experience problems it doesn't necessarily mean you need a new card (Unless you have one of the hardware-defective 8x00 cards). All problems mean is that you need to use a different driver...maybe a beta driver...maybe a driver 1 or 2 revisions behind or ahead of the one you are using now. Experiment and you'll almost always find a fix to the problem without having to lay out any money or swap any hardware.