Recent Posts

1351

General Software Discussion / Re: Software licences

« Last post by mwb1100 on February 06, 2008, 11:54 AM »

If by LWA you mean Local Website Archive, then I don't think you'd be stepping all over the license:

The licensed version of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT (single user license) can be installed by the licensee on as many computers he wants, as long as the SOFTWARE PRODUCT is only used by one single person. The use of the software by different users needs additional licenses.

-http://www.aignes.com/license/wsarc.htm

This type of confusion underscores johnk's original point that this kind of licensing needs to be more easily 'branded'.  Even though there's a clear link to the license for LWA, it took me a minute to locate it (I first landed on the FAQ for ShareIt link).  Something like Borland's old "like a book" tagline.  Since this licensing is a bit different from "like a book" (even if it's in a similar spirit), maybe a tagline like "licensed to YOU, not your machine".  I'm sure that someone out there can come up with something a lot less lame.

1352

General Software Discussion / Re: How much email do you keep…and why?

« Last post by mwb1100 on February 05, 2008, 06:04 PM »

So I’m a little curious to hear why people keep all the email they do, how frequently they actually search or otherwise access archived email, and how they decide what to keep. For those that may have business reasons for keeping email, do they ever have concerns that they’ve kept too much (i.e., stuff that would turn up during a “discovery” process in litigation?)

-dspelley (February 01, 2008, 01:46 PM)

As far as personal email goes, of course I delete spam, other than that though most stuff get kept.  My philosophy has evolved to agree with Jim Gray's (http://research.microsoft.com/~Gray/) - never delete anything:

http://www.research....rprise%20Exabyte.ppt

Obviously I don't follow this literally.  Things which are completely of no consequence get deleted if I think about it or some folder or something gets cluttered enough that I decide to throw out such things.

For business use, this may not be the best policy (due to document retention policies, etc.).  Actually I suppose there could be some legal ramifications, but I don't think anything I have or do will ever merit serious legal scrutiny (I hope I never have to test that statement!).

In the long term, I fear that much of this will be moot because entities (like the Government, Credit Bureaus, and Google) will actually have nearly all data archived in some fashion.  This may sound like SciFi conspiracy theory, but I think that it will come be reality soon.  As Jim Gray's slide #25 in the powerpoint I linked to says:

Soon everything can be recorded and indexed

The only problem will be how to find the data you want.

1353

Living Room / Re: 64 Bit CPU - Is it worth it?

« Last post by mwb1100 on February 05, 2008, 05:40 PM »

The good side of running Vista x64 on a 64 bit capable CPU...

-Ath (February 05, 2008, 04:50 PM)

Just a note of clarification - you can run 64-bit guests using VMware Workstation (5.5 or newer) even if the host OS is 32-bit.  Whether VMware will run a 64-bit guest VM depends only on the processor, not whether the host is in 64-bit mode.  However, not all x64 processors are supported for running 64-bit guests.

Note that MS Virtual PC/Virtual Server do not support 64-bit guests at all (though they will run on a 64-bit host).

1354

General Software Discussion / Re: Software licences

« Last post by mwb1100 on February 04, 2008, 02:19 PM »

Great post - I have nothing to add, except to say I'm in 100% agreement (especially about how difficult it can be to ferret out license details sometimes).

1355

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Powerpoint shrinker

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 31, 2008, 06:40 PM »

Yeah, the NXPowerLite works really well, but it's $45!!!  . . .  why would I want to pay that much for a program I will use maybe once or twice a month at most?

-yacht_boy (January 16, 2008, 08:37 AM)

I do a *lot* of work on other people's powerpoints (unfortunately--maybe I should find a better job) and just want a simple 1 click solution to shrink them down quickly with a minimum of fuss.

-yacht_boy (January 15, 2008, 09:52 PM)

I know it's easy to spend other people's money, but to my mind if you do this a couple times a month and NXPowerLite does the trick (I don't know anything about the program except what you've written), then $45 would probably be money well spent.  Especially if it's for work (in which case, your work should buy it, not you).  Let's amortize over a relatively short period -  if you use it 12 times over the next 6 months that comes out to something like $4 per use.   Would you pay someone $4 or $5 to perform this task for you?  If so, you should probably consider the purchase.

I also know this kind of analysis is sometimes easier said than done.  My wife often chides me for spending hours and hours researching a purchase in order to save $8.  Now, since that's my own personal time, I'm OK with it (even if it makes no sense).  However, for work, time *is* money so spending chump change to save time is an easy decision.  But I also have a reasonable work place that doesn't freak out over a $45 expense as long as I can justify it (and for $45, "I do this a couple times a month" is ample justification).

1356

Living Room / Re: Me & my crazy optical mouse

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 31, 2008, 06:21 PM »

I think you need to start removing software to see if something is installed that's causing the problem, rather than installing software to try to fix the problem.  Start by booting in Safe Mode.  If the problem still occurs, I'm not sure what you'd do to fix it since the problem happens across different mice and attached to either USB or serial ports (which indicates that the problem is not hardware).

But assuming that the problem goes away in Safe Mode, I'd then use Autoruns or some other Start-up manager to disable all auto-starts, and test.  If the problem does not happen in Safe Mode but does happen with all autorun programs disabled, then the problem is probably the mouse drivers, which you should uninstall and use the native MS drivers. 

If the problem is still gone, re-enable things one at a time (or in small groups) and retest.  When the problem reappears, you should be able to narrowing down what's running when the problem occurs vs when the problem does not occur.  This process should end with a good indication of what software is causing the problem.

1357

Living Room / Re: Me & my crazy optical mouse

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 29, 2008, 11:27 PM »

I'd say get a new cheap mouse (you can find these easily for less than $10) if you don't already have another mouse lying around somewhere, or borrow one from a friend.  Use it and make sure the problem goes away.  If it turns out to be a problem with the old mouse hardware, throw out the old mouse.  I think there's probably no point wasting time trying to fix it.  However, it's possible that the symptoms remains if it's really a software problem, in which case there's no need to toss the old mouse - you've still got some sleuthing to do to figure out the problem.

If you want or need a mouse with more features or ergonomics that are not on the cheap 'test' mouse, get a more expensive replacement only after you've proved it's a hardware problem.

1358

Living Room / Re: 12 Crazy old ads!

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 28, 2008, 02:52 AM »

what you posted for the ad and the text there seem to be a bit different. There's a reference in the graphic to "1914-1918", but not in what you had. Perhaps there were different versions of it?

-Renegade (January 28, 2008, 01:17 AM)

You're right - I couldn't read the text in the one posted on oddee.com.  I googled around to find one I could read (with a bit of difficulty - I think it's time for a visit to the eye doctor).  It looks like the text on oddee.com differs after the "What to do about it" heading.

1359

Living Room / Re: 12 Crazy old ads!

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 27, 2008, 11:26 PM »

In case anyone's interested, just a little background on the "killed in action" ad.  World Peaceways was an anti-war pacifist organization between WWI and WWII.  Here's the text from the ad:

He's going to grow up to go to war?

No - he's never going to grow up at all.  If another war comes, he and his mother and thousands upon thousands like them are going to "die in action".

"Impossible!" you say. "They're non-combatants." Don't be silly - there'll be no such thing as non-combatants in the next war.

Wide-cruising submarines and bombing planes will laugh at front lines.  Gas - gas so powerful that one drop on your skin will kill you - will not be particular whose skin it touches. There will be no haven, no sanctuary, no safety. Everone will suffer.

And for what? Glory - where was it in the last war?

Victory - where was it in the last peace?

With that cruel lesson still fresh in mind, is another war to be forced upon us - a war infinitely more horrible, more futile, and more lasting in its harm than the last?

That is for you to decide.

What to do about it

Hysterical protests won't avert another war, any more than will "preparedness".

Civilization must build its own defense out of human reason and intelligence, properly organized and applied.

To every reasonable and intelligent man and woman in America goes the responsibility of doing his or her share to avert the coming war.

World Peaceways offers a practical plan of how you can help. Write for it. There is no obligation involved in your inquiry, except the obligation to your conscience and to your conviction that there must be no more wars.  World Peaceways, Inc., 100 Park Avenue, New York City.

1360

Living Room / Re: Speed up audio playback?

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 27, 2008, 06:40 PM »

If you're not opposed to a command line app, I think that SoX (Sound eXchange) for Windows will do what you want:

http://sox.sourceforge.net/

1361

Living Room / Re: 12 Crazy old ads!

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 27, 2008, 01:45 AM »

Is the Puma ad original?

-PhilB66 (January 27, 2008, 12:30 AM)

It turns out that the Puma ad is fake: http://www.felixsalmon.com/000150.php

1362

Living Room / Re: 12 Crazy old ads!

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 26, 2008, 11:17 PM »

Ahh, the good ol' days.

I love the 7-Up ad - it's going on my wall, right next to my smoking baby figurine (http://www.mcphee.com/items/11095.html):

Of all the things that shouldn't smoke, babies are at the top of the list. The tag line for this product emphatically states our position on this issue: Real Babies Should Never Smoke! Ceramic babies smoking, on the other hand, are strangely appealing. Celebrate this absurd juxtaposition with one of these 2 3/4" tall ceramic babies. Each infant comes with a pack of ten Li'l Smokes and has another one in its mouth, ready to light up and puff. The smokes are actually non-toxic, unscented incense wrapped in paper.

1363

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: List of disc catalogers

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 22, 2008, 08:44 PM »

Once every six months or so I go to the Advanced Disc Catalog site to see if there are any updates. When you google http://www.google.co...dvanced+disk+catalog then the first match is http://www.elcomsoft.com/adc.html . Clicking that takes me to a completely empty window and I have more than one time thought "that's it, they've pulled the plug on it!". A moment later I realize that it's my ad blocker that obstructs the page from showing  Yet I moment later I realize that I was fooled in the exact same way 6 months ago Anyway, naming a page adc.html is not smart design.

-Nod5 (January 20, 2008, 05:16 AM)

Looks like they've fixed your problem: http://www.disk-catalog.com/

1364

Coding Snacks / Re: Idea: TCP/IP Configuration Save/Restore

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 22, 2008, 06:00 PM »

"netsh dump" may be helpful - it generates a netsh script file corresponding to the current config.  The resulting script may have too much stuff, so may need to be culled.

you can have netsh generate a subset for you by specifying the sub-context.  Ie., "netsh interface dump" creates a script of netsh configuration commands for  your network interfaces.

1365

General Software Discussion / Re: Prompt Uninstaller is extremely fast!

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 21, 2008, 06:33 PM »

they do all sorts of scanning, which is why it's slow.

-f0dder (January 21, 2008, 06:19 PM)

And the worst thing about it is (well, the slowness is really the worst thing...) that the information it presents as a result of that scanning is so often incorrect that it's basically useless.  Not to mention that 99% of the time I know exactly what I want to uninstall so I don't care about the other information anyway.  If Add/Remove Programs wants to present that info, it should do it in a background thread (or on demand).

1366

General Software Discussion / Re: Prompt Uninstaller is extremely fast!

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 21, 2008, 04:16 PM »

I've been using Safarp (http://wistinga.online.fr/safarp) - a GPL Add/Remove Programs bit of code:



They look remarkably similar.

1367

General Software Discussion / Re: content management systems (CMS): are they still so bad?

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 21, 2008, 03:34 PM »

What does WP stand for?

1368

Living Room / Re: 64 Bit CPU - Is it worth it?

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 18, 2008, 06:34 PM »

As Mouser said - you'd have to go out of your way to get a processor that was not 64-bit capable.  In my opinion, unless you know you need the large amount of memory that 64-bit enables, or you want to be on the technology cutting edge there's no reason to install a 64-bit OS.

However, dual-core is definitely worth it.

1369

General Software Discussion / Re: Best free firewall for Windows?

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 16, 2008, 07:09 PM »

Who cares about outbound "protection" anyway? When you get to the point where it kicks in, your PC has already been compromised... I see it as fixing the symptoms instead of curing the problem.

-f0dder (January 16, 2008, 06:52 PM)

I suppose that you can think of it like a burglar alarm.  Not that I use outbound protection - it's far too much work to configure.

1370

General Software Discussion / Re: Best free firewall for Windows?

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 16, 2008, 02:37 PM »

You do not need a firewall on a stationary PC if you are using a router...

-wilfrednilsen (January 16, 2008, 11:40 AM)

This is true if you trust that other computers (if any) on your LAN behind the router are not going to get infected with malware and if you are not interested in controlling outgoing connections (which is an interest of many people using software firewalls).

However, I agree that putting a router between your PC and the Internet is a very easy and important way to gain a lot of security.  I set up my Mom (who has only one computer) with a router  for this very reason.

1371

General Software Discussion / Re: VisualWget - Wget for Windows

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 16, 2008, 10:55 AM »

I do not really see the point in this GUI wrapper. What is wrong with the command line version of wget?

-wilfrednilsen (January 16, 2008, 10:40 AM)

As with many things, there are different strokes for different folks.  I use wget a few times a year.  It takes me a half hour or so to get reacquainted with the options and which ones I need for a particular task.  The GUI front-end might make that pain point disappear (haven't tried it yet, so I don't know).

1372

General Software Discussion / Re: Editor Needed

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 15, 2008, 07:00 PM »

OMG, what an interface >_<

-Lashiec (January 15, 2008, 10:30 AM)

yes, Michael has some very 'young' ideas about this, but Skinnable Interface is included.

-Curt (January 15, 2008, 11:17 AM)

I thought that something about Ultra-Pad rang a bell...  It seems that Michael J. Hardy has a less than stellar reputation among several freeware/open source authors:

http://paintdotnet.f...viewtopic.php?t=2442
http://youfailit.net/?p=63
http://youfailit.net/?p=49  (etc.)

I'm not sure if Ultra-Pad falls in that camp, but I'm not given a warm, fuzzy feeling.

1373

General Software Discussion / Re: photo duplicate scanner

« Last post by mwb1100 on January 15, 2008, 01:20 PM »

In a few days Bits du Jour will be having an offer on some software called "Image Comparer" which claims to be able to find similar photos - not just exact file copies.  I have no idea how well it works, I only noticed the advertisement:

http://www.bitsdujou....aspx%3freview%3d161

So for anyone who is looking to cull out a photo library, this might be an interesting bit of software to test.

1374

General Software Discussion / Re: Office suite for my mom?

« Last post by mwb1100 on December 31, 2007, 09:16 PM »

There's a free download for the older Ashampoo Office 2006 at Computer Active magazine's website:

http://www.computera...co.uk/asoffice/index

It says it was supposed to expire June 2007, but it still seems to work.  It requires registration at the AShampoo website to get the reg key.

On a somewhat related note, AShampoo is giving free downloads to some of their applications here: http://r.ashampoo.co...ings/1/071207_en.htm

I think that these are mostly older versions, and I'm not sure how useful they are, but I believe that Burning Studio 6 is pretty well regarded.  Also, when I clicked on the link to one of them, in addition to the download I was sent to a page that allow me to buy software by making an "offer of what the products are worth to you".  I could make an offer, which they would accept or refuse (if too low) by email - kind of like Priceline's "name your own price" for airfare.  I didn't try it because there was nothing I was interested in, but I thought it was a novel marketing pitch

1375

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Instant Text V Pro - more than the usual features of a text expander

« Last post by mwb1100 on December 31, 2007, 02:09 AM »

I am so used to hitting the spacebar after my abbreviations, it would take me months to get away from that...

Every time I type an abbreviation I really don’t want this whole list of mess popping up at the bottom of my screen and distracting me.

-Brandi (December 28, 2007, 01:01 PM)

You might want to take look at Texter (http://lifehacker.co...r-windows-238306.php).  It's a free AutoHotKey script (compiled to an .exe, so you don't need to get AHK to use it) that puts a decent little UI configuring AHK's hotstrings.  It allows the expansion of hotstrings to be triggered with the space key and it has no little pop-up 'helpers'.