Recent Posts

1326

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

« Last post by Dormouse on February 22, 2010, 09:08 AM »

IdImager_
v4 Nov 2007, v5 Dec 2009.
Upgrades tend to be pretty major rewrites/feature additions.
Superb product, very well supported.
Zoner may be cheaper, but it's not the same level of product. I suspect it is upgraded more frequently too since it is now on v 12 and 11 was described on one site as being new in March 2009.
Of course, Zoner may be quite sufficient for you. idImager is relatively approachable for a heavy duty program - but it is still a heavy duty program.

1327

Living Room / Re: Google does no evil; kills reMail

« Last post by Dormouse on February 21, 2010, 01:34 PM »

btw.. if anyone has read things like 'the secret' or 'think and grow rich' you will notice that google's tag line does the opposite of what is intended.

-higherstate (February 21, 2010, 01:15 PM)

So you think the writer(s) of 'think and grow rich' know more about growing rich than the founders of Google?

1328

Circle Dock / Re: Deleted folder afther uninstall

« Last post by Dormouse on February 21, 2010, 06:29 AM »

I don't see how that issue would have arisen with a portable version either.

With a portable version there are no issues relating to installation or uninstallation. There is no 'Make Portable' because it is always portable. Moving or copying the program from one folder to another is just a question of cut/copy and paste. If you have a problem, you know it cannot be from installation/uninstallation/make portable processes so even if Lotheilian's problem had not originated with them, then neither would he have thought that they might be.

1329

General Software Discussion / Re: Why OpenOffice? Why Microsoft Office? Each one makes their argument

« Last post by Dormouse on February 20, 2010, 01:49 PM »

Talking mostly about Word:

I'm in favour of OO in theory, but agree with the comments of its being slow and clunky. And it doesn't really seem to be getting any better. I'm really not sure that duplicating MSOffice is what they should be doing. So, I always have it installed, but don't ever choose to open it - except on Linux. Used to a few years ago, but not any more.

I get MSOffice extremely cheaply, so cost isn't an issue. But, again, I find it slow - and it doesn't do what I want it to do (or at least the focus is on stuff I'm not interested in and stuff I do want like Outlining is atrocious). So I have it, but often only use it to print out or edit documents sent to me.

I use Textmaker (I got 2008 free and haven't felt the need to upgrade) much more, simply because it is faster.

In practice I do most of my writing in other programs, especially TreeDBNotes. I do have a lot of portable word processors which I use from time to time.

Within MSOffice, I do really like OneNote and no other suite has a similar application. I don't do a great deal with spreadsheets but prefer to use Excel because it leaves me with nil concern about compatibility: that would be different if I knew more people using OO, but they mostly don't. Access used to be OK, but I'm surprised it is still alive; database emphasis seems to have moved onto mysql, SQLite etc. Powerpoint seemed better than Impress last time I used them.

1330

Circle Dock / Re: Deleted folder afther uninstall

« Last post by Dormouse on February 19, 2010, 08:07 AM »

And, of course, an issue that would not have arisen at all with a portable version.

1331

General Software Discussion / Re: Installing Linux over ME, is it possible?

« Last post by Dormouse on February 18, 2010, 08:41 PM »

In my experience, inexperienced users get on fine with Linux unless there are setup problems (at least so long as they don't get confused by having to use Windows a lot in another environment).

But the critical issue is knowing what they do, and want to do, on a computer and what software they currently use. If they are running Me, it should be easy enough to find better programs than they have now but you need to work out what the options are. And that will guide you towards a choice of distros. I would agree with the suggestion of starting with LiveCDs.

1332

Living Room / Re: Antivirus companies support virus writers?

« Last post by Dormouse on February 18, 2010, 08:03 AM »

I see no sign that any reputable or major company does anything more than talk up the dangers of new threats or get OEMs to install tiresome free trials. Setting up an automatic subscription to any company is a bit risky in that companies in all industries have continued charging for periods after the contract has been ended. Over the last decade, I've used F-Secure, Kaspersky and now Online Armor (and AVG and Avast on machines where free seems sufficient); they've never pushed me to extend licenses beyond warning that the subscription was coming to an end (and the free ones occasionally listing the advantages of a paid for version). It's a pretty competitive market place and they'd find it hard to recover from being found out doing anything to sponsor malware.

1333

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: MultiFind Pro 1.7 - file search utility

« Last post by Dormouse on February 16, 2010, 08:32 AM »

Wasn't it on GAOTD in 2008, October 14th or 15th ?

-MerleOne (February 16, 2010, 06:29 AM)

And coming up on BdJ on 23rd Feb

1334

General Software Discussion / Re: Battle of the Free Online Storages

« Last post by Dormouse on February 16, 2010, 08:09 AM »

Mediafire free accounts are restricted to uploads of 200 MB per file and files are deleted if they are not accessed every 30 days

... the mother of all differences. I certainly wouldn't use their free service for backup purposes.

-nosh (February 16, 2010, 05:29 AM)

But when I checked here this is what it said-

free accounts, there is currently no time limit on how long uploaded files will be stored as long as you access your account (i.e. login to your account) at least once every 60 days OR at least one of your files is accessed (i.e. downloaded) every 30 days

That's not quite the same thing. Logging in once every 60 days shouldn't be too hard.
Not that I would rely on an online service (paid or free) for backup - but certainly worth considering as a backup to a backup to a backup. And 200mb a file isn't hugely restrictive.

1335

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple Machines Forum Organization in Chaos

« Last post by Dormouse on February 10, 2010, 07:12 PM »

Reminds me of the SMF-Joomla Bridge saga.

Loved the concept of taking a salary just to improve the tax position

Yeah i pretty much agree with you there.. so no panic or rush to leave it on my part.

-mouser (February 10, 2010, 03:46 PM)

Transferring a big forum from one software to another isn't something easily rushed anyway.
Even deciding what to switch to is likely to take a lot of time.

Plenty of time to see how things go, but if it ever looks as if you might switch you'll need to start making provisional decisions and plans well ahead of the need. With a bit of luck though, there'll be a fair number of big forums who moved early and you can learn from their experiences (so long as you know who they are).

1336

Circle Dock / Re: Version 1.52 (Full Version) and Update v1.5x to v1.52 is now available

« Last post by Dormouse on February 10, 2010, 12:46 PM »

It would be quicker if I simply tell you to copy the following files:

-Markham (February 10, 2010, 12:27 PM)

The advantage of a single portable zip file being available for download is that the 'Make Portable' function only needs to be done once (admittedly by you) and everyone who only wants to use CD as a portable app can simply download and use that and have as many instances as they want. As it is, there are going to be lots of people out there going through the process; probably quite huge numbers given the number of downloads. People who have difficulty with it could simply use the install version.

1337

Circle Dock / Re: Many background and and CircleDock Clone

« Last post by Dormouse on February 10, 2010, 12:40 PM »

I can cope with posts in Italian, even if it does mean having to take them to Google, although English is certainly easier for me.
I do agree with Mark that when Circle Dock was first released it was pretty much unique as a functioning idea.

1338

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Dormouse on February 10, 2010, 12:11 PM »

 That made me wonder whether it's the real page.  

-cyberdiva (February 10, 2010, 11:13 AM)

No, I think that must be the one.  
Hope so anyway as I've just installed the update.

1339

Developer's Corner / Re: Is a website login script something people on DC need?

« Last post by Dormouse on February 07, 2010, 08:45 AM »

I nearly always use a CMS (for ease and security), but I don't rule out completely being open to simpler options for a few things.

1340

Living Room / Re: HTML...In Britsh?

« Last post by Dormouse on February 04, 2010, 08:47 PM »

As I say, it's not usually the native speakers who give the name to a language and there has to be a good enough reason for other people to start making the distinction clearly. And nothing much depends on whether there is an official language or not unless there is an attempt to exterminate variations or other languages. Certainly the name won't change any time soon, and there's a fair chance the language will develop with a much stronger Spanish flavour well before that. But if you tell someone you speak 'American', they will know what you mean - and more exactly than if you say 'English'.

1341

Living Room / Re: HTML...In Britsh?

« Last post by Dormouse on February 04, 2010, 08:10 PM »

Nobody on this planet currently uses the version of English that existed at the time of the American Revolution.

To prove my point, I refer to this excerpt of a British publication about the work of Benjamin Franklin, as it appeared when it was first printed, way back in 1751:
 (see attachment in previous post) (zipped pdf)

None of us spell like that any more, not in the US or the UK.

-app103 (February 04, 2010, 04:20 PM)

I had a look at this and would say it is pretty much identical.
The spelling of subtil/subtle has changed.
The dipthong/ligature ae and ligatures ct & st are now usually written as separate letters, if only because that's all that's available in typefaces.
f is used as a way of writing s (depending on position in sentence).
But these are just different conventions in the way it is written, not a change in spelling or meaning, and the passage is still very easy to read as long as you are aware of the f/s convention.
There are changes in words since then, many of them simply with greater standardisation of spelling, but the biggest difficulty for most people with texts from the 19th or 18th centuries is the style of writing rather than the words or spelling.

1342

Living Room / Re: HTML...In Britsh?

« Last post by Dormouse on February 04, 2010, 08:00 PM »

If you want to change the name of the spoken languages, be it English, Spanish, French (yeah there are different versions of that too) or anything else, you are going to have to go back in time

...

Languages are named after their country of origin, not after the country they belong to, because a language can't really belong to any single country that doesn't seal off its borders and never lets anyone in or out.

-app103 (February 04, 2010, 07:38 PM)

This isn't really so. Languages evolve and diverge. After a while, it becomes inconvenient and impractical to call different versions by the same name and then they get different names. Languages are usually named by people who speak another language; it seems very unlikely that when this time comes for different names that English will be the name for the language in the USA and a different name will be used for the language in England. Canadian English is a bit of a mix of the two, tending more towards American English.

1343

Living Room / Re: HTML...In Britsh?

« Last post by Dormouse on February 04, 2010, 07:22 PM »

The truth is that either both versions of English are right or they both are wrong.

-app103 (February 04, 2010, 04:55 PM)

They may both be right, but that doesn't mean it makes sense to call both of them English.
At some stage, English will need to be defined as the language as spoken/written in England, leaving the language spoken in the US needing a different title. It's the same situation with Spanish as spoken in Spain and South America.
And that's the issue about HTML; it's actually written in American but that does make it just a tiny bit more confusing for people used to writing in English - though personally I notice myself switching between the two spellings fairly automatically depending on where I'm writing (and sometimes switching back to English if I think that using the American spelling might seem an affectation).

1344

Circle Dock / Re: circledock DELETED ALL MY FILES! help!

« Last post by Dormouse on February 04, 2010, 07:03 PM »

why can it not be made portble already, without the needto install and "make a portable" whenyoure already inside the program?

-thegipper (February 04, 2010, 01:32 PM)

On the settings page for the Portability what you are actually seeing is the ability to make CD portable now.
Simply click "Set Portable Mode". This will re-write the XML files to the same folder that Circle Dock is located in and will allow CD to be utilized as a portable application.
Once "Set Portable Mode" is active; The file that contains Circle Dock can then me moved, and or copied to any directory including Hard drives, Flash, other portables, etc.

Now the "Create Zip file" is almost a different animal, but delivers similar stripes.
The create zip file was created for the convenience of folks that wanted multiple distributions of their Circle Dock.
Such as My self; I create my dock from the full install. Then I package (zip) and then move to my thumb-drive and my MP3 player to take with me.
This option also allows me to share my dock setup with others, assuming my icons and everything are in the Circle Dock file when it zips.
This is also convenient when you are the Corporate IT person and the boss wants this an on a hundred Thumb-drives across several states and/or countries.
This also assists folks that want to run multiple incidences of Circle dock, as you then take the zip and unzip to appropriate other labeled files, and then run them each.
This also allows for a user to create a back-up of there current build of Circle Dock
For all the advantages: It is the documentation that is lacking! 
I am partially to blame for this 

-sgtevmckay (February 04, 2010, 06:01 PM)

I think the question, from me at least, is why can't the Portable Version be available as a download? If someone (eg me) only wants to use it portably, it is a great deal more straightforward to have it like that from the beginning and never having to install CD at all.

And if the create zip does everything you say, how is it different at all to the Portable option (except for being zipped)

1345

Circle Dock / Re: circledock DELETED ALL MY FILES! help!

« Last post by Dormouse on February 04, 2010, 12:05 PM »

One of the things I never quite understood was the need for a 'Make Portable' function.
A lot of apps have Install and Portable options available.
I have some apps with the 'Make Portable' option, but they are all shareware and I always assumed that this was a way of having portable functionality with a lower risk of having their app ripped off. But since CircleDock is free and Open Source, that can't apply here.
I just continued  to use Eric's version for portable needs so I never spent time trying to work out the answer or ask the question here, but it still intrigues me.

1346

Living Room / Re: HTML...In Britsh?

« Last post by Dormouse on January 31, 2010, 11:04 AM »

The WWW was invented in Switzerland

-Tuxman (January 30, 2010, 05:39 PM)

By an Englishman

1347

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: $60 Online Armor++ for free!

« Last post by Dormouse on January 29, 2010, 06:37 AM »

I addition to the free one year offer, they're reducing all prices by $59.95.
This means that their 2 year offer is reduced to $30.
The free offer has to be installed within 30 days or it is made inactive, but the paid offer can be installed at any time and the subscription will start from the install date.
So Free + 2 years at $30 means you can get Online-Armor ++ for the next 3 years for $10 a year.

1348

Circle Dock / Re: Start CircleDock via Desktop Context Menu?

« Last post by Dormouse on January 24, 2010, 06:25 PM »

For anyone who is primarily a mouse user, I'd've thought the best (though not the cheapest) solution would be a better mouse.
One of the buttons on mine is set up just for Circle Dock (though I actually do it by triggering a keyboard shortcut rather than directly).

1349

General Software Discussion / Re: Best PLAY-LIST EDITOR, please?

« Last post by Dormouse on January 17, 2010, 06:23 PM »

I feel for you. Stunningly bad behaviour.

I've never used 14. Just the free version 12. That's never attempted to rewrite tags; and I always told it where I wanted to look (except for pure Search programs, I don't want programs looking around my computer at will).

1350

General Software Discussion / Re: Best PLAY-LIST EDITOR, please?

« Last post by Dormouse on January 17, 2010, 02:37 PM »

any standard program from Microsoft is faster to use.

-Curt (January 17, 2010, 01:57 PM)

The equivalent standard program from MS is WMP. Is that what you mean?