Recent Posts

10801

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: timer that counts resting, interruptions, and work as separate entries

« Last post by tomos on July 04, 2007, 01:54 PM »

But would you be interested in _using_ such a system?

I'm asking that because I think it's useful enough for me to either code it myself or delegate it...

-urlwolf (July 04, 2007, 08:22 AM)

Yes,
I'd be very interested in using something like that.

I use instant boss & was combining it with TaskLog which I liked but it doesnt recognise when the computer goes into hibernation which i use a lot. (nor does Timekeeper for that matter)

Red Clock, it's a 'unscheduled pause' timer, goes up while the main countdown is paused. Records how often you hit pause, and it shows the # of pauses next to it. This is indicative of how often you are interrupted.

I find anything which requires user input (which isn't forced on you..) tends to get left by the wayside - by me at any rate.
i.e. if I have to hit pause button (or shortcut for pause) when I take a break I'm guaranteed to forget it more often than not... so something that can recognise my absence would be good!

Otherwise sounds good to me - one thing I was considering requesting App to add - or take away I mean -  from Instant Boss was keyboard control - I keep pressing return at the wrong time & it thinks I'm working when I'm not &/or vice-versa.
Use of a designated shortcut would get around that though I guess

10802

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: List Printer 0.0.0.3 - My FARR2 Plugin Contest Submission #1

« Last post by tomos on July 04, 2007, 01:37 PM »

"prnlist" could be misinterpreted...

looking forward to trying this one out 

10803

Word Processor Roundup / Re: Has anyone tried Scribus?

« Last post by tomos on July 03, 2007, 03:59 AM »

I'm beginning to learn my way around the Forum -- will search back threads.  There's enough back there to keep my busy for weeks!

-TomColvin (July 02, 2007, 08:42 PM)

a word of warning (!) the forum search is pretty much a waste of time (imo) -
if you use Firefox there's a very good search plugin

if no FF you can download a file with, well, all the posts which you can then index and search.

There is a way to use google to search the forums only but I'm not too sure on that

Find relevant Links in Lanux128's signature!!

Tom

10804

General Software Discussion / Re: hibernate, damit! or a nice tool called wizmo...

« Last post by tomos on July 03, 2007, 03:35 AM »

here's another set of Farr aliases by nontroppo: NirCmd Setup, a guide of sorts..

-lanux128 (July 02, 2007, 09:05 PM)

thnks lanux

10805

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Free computer help online (tune-ups, customization, etc)

« Last post by tomos on June 30, 2007, 02:47 AM »

Brandon

for what it's worth -

CCleaner if i remember rightly has some fairly aggressive approaches in it's default setup - or maybe I dont remember rightly ??
I do remember though it erasing my startup options that I had simply disabled with Starter (Code Stuff)
After that I used EasyClean

as I say it's just a memory now but just thought I'd mention it in case

10806

General Software Discussion / Re: Ultra Explorer; I am impressed!

« Last post by tomos on June 29, 2007, 09:11 AM »

Okay Curt, maybe I just didn't figure it out yet, but do you know of any way to make UltraExplorer a multipane environment.

-steeladept (June 28, 2007, 07:01 PM)

Do you mean Open New Tab? From memory, I could open as many Tabs as I wanted? Or have I missed something?

-Perry Mowbray (June 28, 2007, 11:28 PM)

or do they not mean like dual-pane, like Total Commander style ?

10807

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: My paid donation wasn't acknowledged

« Last post by tomos on June 29, 2007, 06:22 AM »

I just made a donation which was acknowledged - by email.
I think you have to click on the link in email to actually "get" your credits on site .. (?)

I was surprised though that half the donation wasn't automatically credited to the site - i.e. I got full credits for the money donated - is that new policy or just a "special" at the mo?

10808

Living Room / Re: Dumpr - Automatic Photo Manipulation

« Last post by tomos on June 29, 2007, 05:35 AM »

...
(definitely not ".com"!!)

-Loonier (June 29, 2007, 04:49 AM)

10809

General Software Discussion / Re: Any "search this folder only" engines?

« Last post by tomos on June 29, 2007, 05:28 AM »

I am sick and tired of search engines that will promise to index and search my entire PC but do not deliver the right search result...

-Curt (June 28, 2007, 09:37 AM)

Curt, how do you find Wilma 

I mean do you have to keep it running (I guess yes?)
Does it use a lot of resources
Can you set it so it doesnt keep scanning/indexing designated folders? (Maybe to index once a day or just manually even?)

I dont have huge use for index/contents/search programme but thinking it would be nice all the same to have something lightweight that I could use - like yourself, for certain folders..

EDIT: I had that quote in on top & was meaning to ask you had you tried other (desktop) search programmes

10810

General Software Discussion / Re: My favorite software! What's yours?

« Last post by tomos on June 29, 2007, 03:55 AM »

I never could get startup delayer to work properly, programs that should start minimized didnt, splash screens that id got rid of returned, i got rid of it in a hurry, now using the chameleon startup manager and it works really well, for me, in this case,  you gets whats you pays for...

-Grorgy (June 28, 2007, 04:29 PM)

I like the ideas of a startup manager where you can simply designate the startup sequence - i.e. without having to say: delay this by 20 seconds - I have no idea how long individual apps need to start so I'm not going to dictate to them!

Does Chameleon offer that possibility ?
just did a quick search found this thread where the author seems to say it can - it does sound good anyways 

10811

General Software Discussion / Re: hibernate, damit! or a nice tool called wizmo...

« Last post by tomos on June 29, 2007, 03:31 AM »

thanks rj, I think I'll wait for version 2 [FARR] to come out & see do I understand any of it

-tomos (June 28, 2007, 08:07 AM)

tomos,

As the 1950s photographer J. Allen Cash once said, you don't have to understand technicalities, just how to use them   

FARR2 works a treat, and it's easy to use.  Ask Mouser for a link   

-rjbull (June 28, 2007, 10:30 AM)

well I am using it - maybe not the most recent, but the alpha ..
& well,
I've never used the aliases
so you inspired me to have a look  - I wouldnt use most of the ones currently listed there but I know theres more coming.
Who knows I could even try figuring one out but that regular expressions is a scary business 

10812

General Software Discussion / Re: hibernate, damit! or a nice tool called wizmo...

« Last post by tomos on June 28, 2007, 08:07 AM »

I wonder could you use something like that in conjunction with Autohotkey -
in order to make keyboard shortcuts for some of it's various commands - or would there be an easier way ?

-tomos (June 28, 2007, 12:50 AM)

Here's a DC thread that mentions NirCmd in FARR aliases:
https://www.donation...ndex.php?topic=955.0

-rjbull (June 28, 2007, 03:54 AM)

thanks rj, I think I'll wait for version 2 [FARR] to come out & see do I understand any of it

10813

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: desktop icon manager/grouping

« Last post by tomos on June 28, 2007, 01:08 AM »

I am not sure I completely followed all of the requests, but it brought together an intriguing idea.  What if the "zones" were created such that a smallish zone (maybe the top half of the screen for example) was shortcuts to other zones.  Then say two or three zones taking up the lower half would change based on the shortcut selected.  Then you could go to the "Work Zone" for example, and the lower half would show work related shortcuts on the left and documents and other data links on the right.  Then you could quickly switch to the "Play Zone" to play your tower defense game, for example that would be in the lower left zone when it replaced the "work" icons.  Sort of a partial virtual desktop.

Just a thought to any interested in such an idea...Personally, I just use FARR and am done with it.

-steeladept (June 27, 2007, 12:26 PM)

I've always wanted something like that - was considering various virtual desktops but didnt want other aspects of same (I use a deep/high[?] taskbar & like being able to see everything thats running)

My idea was different desktops with the same taskbar. Maybe e.g. Win/Tab (or Win+1 etc) through your Work/Edit/Tools/Etc desktops 

I use FARR as well but if you cant remember the name of that seldom used programme ...

10814

General Software Discussion / Re: hibernate, damit! or a nice tool called wizmo...

« Last post by tomos on June 28, 2007, 12:50 AM »

to add to the list: NirCmd.

NirCmd is a small command-line utility that allows you to do some useful tasks without displaying any user interface. By running NirCmd with simple command-line option, you can write and delete values and keys in the Registry, write values into INI file, dial to your internet account or connect to a VPN network, restart windows or shut down the computer, create shortcut to a file, change the created/modified date of a file, change your display settings, turn off your monitor, open the door of your CD-ROM drive, and more...

http://www.nirsoft.n...t/utils/nircmd2.html

P.S. it also does hibernate mode..

-lanux128 (June 27, 2007, 09:11 PM)

I wonder could you use something like that in conjunction with Autohotkey -
in order to make keyboard shortcuts for some of it's various commands - or would there be an easier way ?

10815

General Software Discussion / Re: Backup methods and programs.

« Last post by tomos on June 26, 2007, 09:13 AM »

Have everything you want to back up loaded on both hardrives.
This would be a dual boot system with identical activation codes.

Install winxp on your slave drive.

Install your programs and sync them

-cmpm (June 25, 2007, 07:46 PM)

1) "Have everything you want to back up loaded on both hardrives."  -
presume that mean the files/folders (i.e. not the installed software/OS)

2) do you know, if you add a new drive to your computer, can you still activate as shown in your link above?

3) when you say -sync programmes- what exactly do you mean  ??
would regristry have to be the same on each drive - or not?? (different paths relevant?), programmes often store (or try to) info all over the place ...

4) dont understand this I'm afraid -

Other benefits of this setup is you can work with files on your master from the slave (Or the other way around). Because none of them should be in use, that would free up some operations that require the file to not be in use.

-cmpm (June 25, 2007, 07:46 PM)

-well I guess I do understand but probably not of importance to me

5) Would an advantage be that if the main drive dies, you can than boot up the other?

Imho if you're doing backups, you should be doing them "right" - incremental or differential sets to some external device (fileserver with mirror or parity RAID, or external USB/FireWire/eSATA drive). Preferably with a set per day, so you can guard against partial corruption etc.

-f0dder (June 26, 2007, 08:24 AM)

of course
cmpm's idea could be done as well as incremental backup ... 

10816

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Set up "App Wiki"

« Last post by tomos on June 26, 2007, 07:37 AM »

sounds great Curt 

I've had a couple of ideas* lately but didnt want to start them cause if I start them I have to keep them going & up-to-date - such as, for example - the list of disc catalogers here (https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=7764.0)
okay,
others can post their comments,
but a wiki type thing would be wonderful I think - much better way of keeping the info up-to-date

forum members only - probably would keep it manageable

* one idea I had was to start a sort of a dictionary page for the non-experts amongst us (then again we're probably all non-expert in some area or other..)
something like that could work well wiki-style

10817

General Software Discussion / Re: SCRIBUS - Open Source Desktop Publishing

« Last post by tomos on June 25, 2007, 09:39 AM »

I came across a portable version as well
but it's still at 1.3.3.9 ..

I actually gave up on Scribus because it converted text to paths when importing EPS's which I didnt want for what I was doing.

At the end of the day that wasnt such a big deal - it was just no great advantage over using freehand so I stuck with what i knew best..
This (version 1.3.4) sounds like it's worth a try though 

10818

General Software Discussion / Re: SCRIBUS - Open Source Desktop Publishing

« Last post by tomos on June 25, 2007, 09:23 AM »

Scribus 1.3.4 Release Wednesday, May 30, 2007 The Scribus Team is pleased to announce the release of Scribus 1.3.4 Антон (Anton, newly born son of a Scribus developer) Almost one year in the making, this new developement release brings Scribus to a new plateau in professional print capabilities, innovative features and a completely re-written text layout engine. Among the major new features in 1.3.4: * A rewritten preview mode which allows designers and artists to view layouts on screen as readers with color viewing deficiencies would view a document. Thus, this enables a designer to avoid color combinations which affect legibility. * Major additions to TIFF/PSD support. This includes the ability to use clipping paths in TIFF and PSD files to allow text wrapping.In addition, Scribus now can import special flavors of EPS exported from Photoshop known as Desktop Color Separations (version 1.0 and 2.0). Layers, blend modes, Duo,Tri and Quadtone PSD files are now also supported. * The new styles and text capabilities include style inheritance for paragraphs, character styles and line styles. This is now managed by a new style manager palette. * The new text layout engine has a multitude of enhancements for vastly better more appealing justification, including the use of optical margins and more sophisticated word spacing algorithms. *New pre-press capabilities including, registration marks, crop marks, calibration bars and document meta info. These are all easily managed within the print and PDF export dialogs. * Color management enhancements including better CMYK > CMYK conversions. * A rewritten and more capable Scrapbook * Support for patterns; both bitmap and vector * A more capable Align and Distribute Palette * Extended Multiple Copying *New transparency features including blend modes for layers and individual objects * A new cross-platform Icon set from the Tango Project Detailed release notes: (EN) http://www.scribus.n....EN_releasenotes.pdf (DE) http://www.scribus.n....DE_releasenotes.pdf

http://www.scribus.n...=article&sid=143

10819

Living Room / Re: gmail slowing down??

« Last post by tomos on June 22, 2007, 09:02 AM »

Ooooh, so gmail SMTP actually saves your sent mail to your online gmail archive? Nifty. I still prefer local mail archive, though.

-f0dder (June 22, 2007, 08:40 AM)

Yeah,
I was suprised myself, happy naturally -
I now have backup of all mail in gmail or in Thunderbird -whichever way you want to look at it

(I do backup Tbird as well, but it is nice to have everything in gmail too)

10820

General Software Discussion / Re: get free licenses by signing up a new ebay account (roboform, novaPDF, etc)

« Last post by tomos on June 22, 2007, 08:34 AM »

tex notes pro (115) & backup4all (138) in there as well !!

I had a go yesterday to get roboform, took the 7 day trial of Napster - the ebay option isnt available here (germany)

No sign of regristration key yet ...

EDIT: I used the checkoutfree link as given in thread linked to from post one

10821

General Software Discussion / Re: Java install - online or offline?

« Last post by tomos on June 22, 2007, 08:28 AM »

ahhhhhh, now I understand, thanks f0dder! 

I thought it had to do with what you used it for      

10822

General Software Discussion / Re: Java install - online or offline?

« Last post by tomos on June 22, 2007, 08:00 AM »

I did  have a look at their website but couldnt find any relevant info..
-
dont mean its not there of course ...

10823

General Software Discussion / Java install - online or offline?

« Last post by tomos on June 22, 2007, 07:51 AM »

discovered (using http://secunia.com/s...inspector/?task=load)
I had already have two [older] versions of Java installed so will probably uninstall both & start from scratch.

But which version of Java to install ???

Windows XP/Vista/2000/2003 Online * filesize: ~7.1MB          Windows XP/Vista/2000/2003 Offline * filesize: 13.16 MB

(http://www.java.com/...nload/manual.jsp#win)

(I have contacted Java already but fear a long wait ...)

10824

Living Room / Re: gmail slowing down??

« Last post by tomos on June 22, 2007, 07:42 AM »

Doesn't your ISP offer a SMTP server? That tends to be the fastest and most reliable way of sending your mail, no matter where your pop3 is hosted.

-f0dder (April 25, 2007, 07:04 AM)

I tried a different SMTP server successfully
till
I realised my sent mail was no longer being saved in my gmail account

Logical,
but I hadnt thought of it.

Gone back to gmail.smtp now & just have to be patient sometimes
(It's definitely slowed down since they opened it up though ...)

10825

General Software Discussion / Re: The great defrag shootout

« Last post by tomos on June 22, 2007, 03:34 AM »

Having tried JKDefrag, it seems to take a very long time, even on a supposedly "fast" setting.

-SpiderJon (June 21, 2007, 12:52 PM)

I didnt time it but was very happy it defragged a drive that was 95%full
The optimization seemed to take longer than the defragmentation but i was off for dinner so didnt care ...

ClifNotes has it in his newsletter this week & explains how to use it as a screensaver, which i hadnt taken any notice of till now..
http://freewarewiki....ueandhandydefragtool