Recent Posts

1376

Find And Run Robot / Re: Schedule

« Last post by justice on October 05, 2007, 04:35 AM »

yeah release candidate would be better wording the developmental state of the program. or 'ready' lol.

1377

General Software Discussion / Re: Need Help Identifying a Program

« Last post by justice on October 04, 2007, 05:21 AM »

Does that work with any mouse? never mind it appaars it does.

1378

General Software Discussion / Re: UpdateStar

« Last post by justice on October 03, 2007, 09:49 AM »

++ Good looks, also allows you to uninstall software quick
++ not intuitive, overly complicated, doesn't recognise most of my software and relying on software partnerships as explained on their website.

A lot of these tools actually add in unnessecary information. Why make a program that is meant to make things simple so complex? all the different options of showing or not showing certain kinds of software, vague labels such as "more information" and a badly layed out results screen (after a scan) don't help anyone.

It's not intuitive, for example some software have multiple download links, only when they're downloading you notice they're different versions -- but both the buttons are called download.

I like the piechart as it gives a visual overview of how much software is out of date. Also the purchase option could be something to look into for DcUpdater as they could perhaps link to the DC discounts (try and buy the software on discount this month directly via DcUpdater)

I like how DcUpdater focuses on the new instead of the old. It's not just about what software is out of date, also what addons are out there or what's new in softwareland.

And Updatestar sits in your systemtray 24 hours a day even if you choose only to update once a month (this can be disabled but is a bad default). We've got a capable Task Scheduler in modern OSes that hardly gets used. Come'on.

And yes I really need to sit down soon to do the reviews of all these similar software for Mouser (sorry man).

1379

General Software Discussion / Re: What linux needs?

« Last post by justice on October 03, 2007, 03:18 AM »

I was putting my hopes on PC-BSD or DesktopBSD (hey they even share developments with each other), they seem to be able to make quicker decisions regarding desktop users decisions. Especially after the departure of Con Kolivas and the attitude problem of some of the driving force behind the desktop linux movement.

1380

Developer's Corner / Re: Good Article For Beginners On Version Control (w/ Pictures & Examples)

« Last post by justice on October 02, 2007, 10:55 AM »

There was some kind of decentralized version control software that started with a 'd' i think but I can't remember the name just a professor that created it mostly himself with his team. It worked really well but at the time I was looking for filehamster instead (i realised)... ahh I think it was Darcs (http://darcs.net/). ahh I have to say i just dabbled with it but in princple it seemed less strict than subversion + tortoise. Always found it overly complex for personel development use but then I only create websites and AHK scripts

1381

Developer's Corner / Re: Good Article For Beginners On Version Control (w/ Pictures & Examples)

« Last post by justice on October 02, 2007, 07:21 AM »

Always funny to read:
either: save your word document with _v2 at the end
or read through several pages of information to set up a version control system.

That said I can't get my colleague to use one of these or I would be a lot happier working on a functions include (web development) without having to yell "do you have this file open" a few times each day.

1382

General Software Discussion / Re: Defraggler,add another defragger to the list

« Last post by justice on September 27, 2007, 04:59 AM »

Note that it seems the quote is referring to fragments larger than 64mb not files. so if you have a 2gb vpc image with 4 fragments there's no point defragmenting it, but if it has 40 then it does.

1383

Living Room / Re: Microsoft patches applied - EVEN WHEN AUTOUPDATE IS OFF

« Last post by justice on September 27, 2007, 04:02 AM »

AFAIK, It's an update to ensue compatibility with the update service, which seems to suggest that not installing means the update functionality (manually or automatic) won't work for you...
There would be a lot more complaints if the update procedure broke, so therefore i voted RIGHT in this case. It's the right thing to do. There's no privacy problem and it makes sure things keep running. Noone would not want to install it, everybody needs it, therefore not having it is not an option.

1384

General Software Discussion / Re: Defraggler,add another defragger to the list

« Last post by justice on September 27, 2007, 03:57 AM »

unless you're running big databases or such, I've never seen evidence in support of home users needing to defrag single files really. (maybe wow data files lol). Yeah it feels super organised but you could spend that 1-10 minutes better, like making a cup of coffee. (or enjoy the benfits of green tea). It is quite a specialised usage from my experience so the program doesn't really sit nicely next to their other offerings?

See the comments by the windows defrag team who have done tests on this:

A lot of customers complain that the Windows XP defrag is more thorough because running the Windows XP Disk Defragmenter against a Windows Vista volume reveals a lot of fragmentation. What gives?
This misconception is due to our partial defrag algorithm in Windows Vista. We don’t try to make the volume 100% defragmented because defragmenting to the point where there are no fragmented files has negligible benefits. In our Defrag FAQ we state: “The performance benefit of coalescing two extents larger than 64 MB is minimal while the I/O load and free space requirements are significant. “ What this means is that the amount of time it takes to move the 64-MB fragment of a file is larger than the performance benefit you gain. This 64-MB figure comes from how long it takes to move and read/search a 64-MB file on an NTFS volume. Searching for the next extent of a file on an NTFS volume takes less than 1% of the time to read through the file extent at a size of 64 MB. For this reason, trying to bring together chunks bigger than 64 MB is not worth the effort in terms of CPU I/O and free space.

-http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/archive/2007/01/26/don-t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover-why-windows-vista-defrag-is-cool.aspx

1385

Living Room / Re: All your info in one place

« Last post by justice on September 26, 2007, 10:53 AM »

I used to use mozy for backup, but the free version restores too slow, (took a day), the paid version restores in minutes apparently. however if that's not a problem (or you pay) then i can definately recommend it)

1386

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Locate32 Plugin for FARR by Okke

« Last post by justice on September 24, 2007, 07:00 AM »

Could you add or verify the option -u or -U to run a database update? I'm not sure if it's working, perhaps you'll want to add something less cryptic to make sure the dbinfo is current.

1387

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Direct Access - text expander and application launcher (and much more)

« Last post by justice on September 24, 2007, 06:55 AM »

I can only say it's really that good, also for quickly filling out forms using abbreviations such as your email, address etc. Additionally I use it for coding, email, bugreporting etc. Also support is always quick, personal and friendly and i'ts like glueing your programs together: no matter what you're using it brings productivity improvements. You soon start calling  Andrea by their first name, it's not often (although MOUSER!! is the other exception  ) that using software feels like a personal connection with shared interest.

1388

General Software Discussion / Re: What linux needs?

« Last post by justice on September 24, 2007, 06:07 AM »

I think there are plenty opportunities there that you could argue for this Carol:

• Manufacturers can still have kickbacks by "recommending OS [whatever]", or for every activated / registrated copy.
• OEM versions can only be delivered as part of a computer purchase: ie they'll no longer exist. Linux options are free - or commercial linux distributions (or completely new ones) will have a chance. Similar to different cars for different budgets.
• Linux distro's will have a clear incentive for improving that part of their distro. And other commercial OS vendors will step in. Besides this, the report suggests manufacteres include a "driver disk". This could also include software to ease through the installation.

I encourage you to read the report, a lot of other options that have been considered are written down and their reason for not recommending those options. It's very readable english too.

1389

General Software Discussion / Re: What linux needs?

« Last post by justice on September 24, 2007, 05:53 AM »

  What linux needs:
Computers in the European Union should be sold without a bundled operating system, according to our new submission to the European Commission.

1390

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Locate32 Plugin for FARR by Okke

« Last post by justice on September 24, 2007, 05:50 AM »

Wow things have come a long way. Congrats to everyone involved! 

1391

Coding Snacks / Re: add / remove lines in text file

« Last post by justice on September 22, 2007, 01:33 PM »

yeah you're thinking about patching aret you

1392

General Software Discussion / Compare filelisting on two pcs and sync differences?

« Last post by justice on September 21, 2007, 07:59 AM »

Ello. as you might have read I'm using Jungledisk (Amazon S3) for online storage. Now I also have a usb stick, synctoy, Super Flexible File Synchronizer, DVD-RWs and a bigger music collection. I don't want to upload and pay for all of this just to sync the music between two pcs using Amazon S3.
Is there any way of comparing two sets of files/folders and uploading just the differences between these two sides? Would foldershare for example work?
I want to minimize the amount of data transferred. I was thinking I could also set up an ftp server at one location and then use SFFS to sync the data.

Any suggestions?

1393

Living Room / Re: All your info in one place

« Last post by justice on September 21, 2007, 06:31 AM »

i've started using http://jungledisk, which uses http://amazon s3.
for 12 cents a month i store my keepass passwords,todo lists and anything else i can save to a file on there and it appears as a webdav mapped drive in my computer. that way i can keep using all the programs i already use but always work on the most current information. plus its a great unlimited storage backup service too.

and it works with all synchronizers in case you want to synchronise application settings or something.

1394

Coding Snacks / add / remove lines in text file

« Last post by justice on September 21, 2007, 05:57 AM »

I'm looking for a small coding snack which i think should be easy for someone who has done something similar:
I want it to open a configuration file,
add one or more series of lines over time
and being able to work with these lines even though another program might have changed the same file at another point in time.
Addittionaly if the program would be able to add the same operations to a file on another computer (so i can take it home on a usb stick and save more time) that would be a bonus.
This means the program has to detect its own additions, but can't rely on looking at the top or bottom of the file.

I need this to setup dozens of development websites. Each of them needs a line in the HOSTS file. However other software adds lines to this file (for example anti-spyware tools). Fortunately HOSTS supports commenting by prefixing a line with #

If I could take my hosts-file-changes home and add them there too that would be ace. Then I can make changes whereever i like and add them to the other side with a few clicks.

1395

General Software Discussion / Re: 13 Reasons Why Linux Won't Make it to a Desktop Near You

« Last post by justice on September 20, 2007, 08:28 AM »

They've been saying the same thing "linux will get mainstream on the desktop when..." for the last 5 years (and probably the 15 years before it) but the one major kickstart happened when a major company took it up (in the case of ubuntu). So I think the community is too fragmented to kickstart itself. Whether there are enough companies willing to take up linux and kickstart it (like Nokia, Canonical, and Dell) to persuade major software companies to release linux products for the desktop, I don't think it will happen. It's much easier to push Apple's OSX -- Apple does all the work, it's more ready for the desktop, it's already in the shops, it's already being marketed well (and it runs most linux software). It will take a lot less effort if you're looking for a competitor to Windows to become mainstream on the desktop. That's my view. In the time linux could persuade adobe & microsoft to release creative suite and office for linux for example, apple will have persuaded the whole pc gaming industry to release games on OSX.

But then again, it will depend on people who disagree to push these distrubutions so that won't stop them (I hope!! it's probably the next wonder of the world, how worldwide collaboration on such a massive scale works together). Perhaps the pdf in the start of the topic just shows how conservative some marketing companies are -- realising the potential for linux but not their potential role in helping it move forwards and the benefits of that.)

1396

General Software Discussion / Re: IrfanPaint - a painting plug-in for IrfanView

« Last post by justice on September 12, 2007, 05:07 AM »

I think online webapps are good competition for simple image editing in most cases. I heard good things about http://www.fauxto.com/ for example.

1397

General Software Discussion / Re: Good parental control software

« Last post by justice on September 12, 2007, 05:03 AM »

Have you tried Windows One Care Family Safety? I have no experience with this kind of software but I heard it's an updated version of the parental controls in vista and it works on xp too.
https://fss.live.com/

1398

General Software Discussion / Re: And you thought you designed a bad interface...

« Last post by justice on September 10, 2007, 10:21 AM »

interesting...

1399

Living Room / Re: Very funny video commentary on the Game Console Wars (foul language)

« Last post by justice on September 10, 2007, 09:46 AM »

the other zero punctuation videos are a big laugh too (http://www.escapistm...tag/zero+punctuation)

1400

Living Room / Re: How to stop worrying

« Last post by justice on September 10, 2007, 08:37 AM »

It's a bit of a one-tip page, so putting the whole tip here would rob you from a great online resource but basically they're applying a gtd methodology (writing down on a list 'takes it out of your thoughts') to worries.