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1426

General Software Discussion / Re: Duplicate Finder 2009

« Last post by J-Mac on June 25, 2009, 12:22 AM »

Reading through these posts I am now wondering if any of these programs can help me fix my music library.

I use MediaMonkey and I used to have it set to auto-organize - one of MM's favorite features. However it somehow went totally crazy and got way out of control. It has renamed a fair number of my MP3 tracks to other tracks' names. I posted on the MM forum about this and the only solution I found there was a plugin called MusicIP, wihch you set to replace MM's "Auto-tag from the Internet" feature. MusicIP spins for a while and then comes back with the actual track name and details - the correct stuff. And I then select the "Auto-Tag" button and that track is fixed. Problem is that I don't know which tracks were erroneously misnamed until I happen to try and play the track and something else starts coming out of the speakers!  

So the only way now to fix all the bad named tracks in my library (~2,000 tracks) is to listen to each one by one and compare it to the track name. I don't have the patience for that. I have been doing a couple a day for weeks now. Grrrr..

Would any of these programs be able to find the misnamed tracks and repair them? That would be more than worth the cost of a license.

Thanks!

Jim

1427

Living Room / Re: XP Reinstall - some thoughts - be prepared

« Last post by J-Mac on June 24, 2009, 10:24 PM »

There was a known bug in one revision of Acronis that stopped images mounting.

You can still use normal file based restore to get stuff back and you can simply double click on the archive to explore and extract multiple files.

If you download and install the latest build it doesn't have that problem with new archives. To mount older archives they need to be rebuilt (use the option to consolidate a set of files to a new archive).

By the way I am using True Image Echo Workstation - not sure if the same bug applied to the Home edition.

-Carol Haynes (June 24, 2009, 01:15 PM)

You're probably talking about Acronis TI 2009 - the latest upgrade. I'm still using Acronis TI 11 and I do have the last build they released of that version. When the 2009 version was released there were a lot of bugs and unhappy campers, so I stuck with this version since it works more often than not!

I'm still sore over the Acronis TI 10 debacle - that version was faulty from day 1 and never did get fixed; they ended up releasing V.11 instead of fixing 10 - at a price, of course!

Jim

-J-Mac (June 24, 2009, 01:24 PM)

As I have said many times before I went away from the Home version because it seemed to be in a permanent beta phase - using home users as free testers of new versions.

The Corporate version (Echo Workstation) is much more solid and reliable and although it is a bit more expensive (though you can get a relatively inexpensive upgrade from the Home version) you can buy an annual maintenance which is just a few dollars and gives you priority support (literally within minutes of sending a message - impressive, and they are not snotty to corporate edition purchasers) and free updates to any versions released throughout the maintenance subscription. The subscription is also renewable annually.

-Carol Haynes (June 24, 2009, 04:12 PM)

I'll give it another look Carol. I did look into it after this was discussed here in another thread and I could not find an upgrade path that was that inexpensive. It would have more than tripled my cost.

BTW, I have not experienced any snottiness from Acronis support. Mainly just very slow and generally not too helpful when I dealt with them.

Thanks!

Jim

1428

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« Last post by J-Mac on June 24, 2009, 01:29 PM »

My second example is an easy pot shot....a channel specializing in science-fiction has no gosh-darned business airing programming consisting of reality shows and professional wrestling!

-Innuendo (June 24, 2009, 09:10 AM)

Damn Straight! ...That ones been bugging the hell outa me since it started.

Another TV habit of late is the Channel logos overlaid on the screen during the show are not only getting bigger but are displaying advertising for all sorts of nonsense. It's bad enough that the 1hr time slot contains 20min of commercials...now they gota run the damn ads during the show too (good luck reading any captions, they're covered).

Cripes! ...We pay good money for entertainment ... not to be bombarded with advertising! <...or so I thought...)


lol ...Looks like 40Hz beat me to the punch!

-Stoic Joker (June 24, 2009, 01:23 PM)

You know why, don't you? Can't fast forward through the on-screen ads if you record the shows. The bastards!

Jim

1429

Living Room / Re: XP Reinstall - some thoughts - be prepared

« Last post by J-Mac on June 24, 2009, 01:28 PM »

Hey, I just noticed that Acronis 2009 is available at Newegg - both CD and Download versions - for $13.99 USD after a $20 mail-in rebate. Maybe I'll upgrade now - most of the bugs have supposedly been ironed out - somewhat - kinda...

Though I don't usually place any trust at all in MIR's. 

Jim

1430

Living Room / Re: XP Reinstall - some thoughts - be prepared

« Last post by J-Mac on June 24, 2009, 01:24 PM »

There was a known bug in one revision of Acronis that stopped images mounting.

You can still use normal file based restore to get stuff back and you can simply double click on the archive to explore and extract multiple files.

If you download and install the latest build it doesn't have that problem with new archives. To mount older archives they need to be rebuilt (use the option to consolidate a set of files to a new archive).

By the way I am using True Image Echo Workstation - not sure if the same bug applied to the Home edition.

-Carol Haynes (June 24, 2009, 01:15 PM)

You're probably talking about Acronis TI 2009 - the latest upgrade. I'm still using Acronis TI 11 and I do have the last build they released of that version. When the 2009 version was released there were a lot of bugs and unhappy campers, so I stuck with this version since it works more often than not!

I'm still sore over the Acronis TI 10 debacle - that version was faulty from day 1 and never did get fixed; they ended up releasing V.11 instead of fixing 10 - at a price, of course!

Jim

1431

General Software Discussion / Re: How to configure Website-Watcher for DC forums?

« Last post by J-Mac on June 24, 2009, 01:20 PM »

I always end up asking Martin after reducing myself to a drooling idiot trying!

-J-Mac (June 24, 2009, 12:32 AM)

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one!  

-cyberdiva (June 24, 2009, 09:51 AM)

Grrr..  I have spent about three hours on my WSW bookmarks between yesterday and today. Watch filters for price checks at Amazon and Newegg. Very simple. Highlight the price alone - nothing else - and then a watch filter set as "contains changing numbers/dates". They all work great for a couple days, sometimes a week or two. Then - suddenly I get error messages saying that the whole content is blocked! If I delete the filter and then recreate it exactly, all is well again. Well, at least for a short time.

Grrr....

Jim

1432

Living Room / Re: XP Reinstall - some thoughts - be prepared

« Last post by J-Mac on June 24, 2009, 01:01 PM »

If you use Acronis (and presumably others) to image you C drive to the external hard disc you can 'mount' the image as a virtual drive which gives full access or use file based recovery.

Gets round the locking issue.

-Carol Haynes (June 24, 2009, 03:18 AM)

Very true. I use Acronis TI 11 and I do keep weekly images. But I had an image of my C drive - which had been "verified by the program - that was unable to mount due to some sort of corruption that I feel should have been seen during the verification stage. Others have reported this too at Wilders. Of course I could get around this by test-mounting the images every time one is created but you know that doesn't happen! At least not here. I try them once in a while but not all of them. So the drive copy - which I usually do with SFFS - is my ace in the hole, so to speak. As I said, only for the program data that I miss in backups that's stored on C;

Jim

1433

Living Room / Re: XP Reinstall - some thoughts - be prepared

« Last post by J-Mac on June 24, 2009, 12:56 AM »

Unless you start/boot from a bootable Windows CD (for example: BartPE) and then copy the complete content of the C drive, I wouldn't trust the "copy all files to external HD"-method. Windows has a nasty habit of locking several files which could prove to be real party crashers.

-Shades (June 24, 2009, 12:41 AM)

Shades,

I don't use it to copy back system files. If any of those are missing after a reinstallation then something else is terribly wrong. Where it helps me is with installed program data files and/or settings in wither the Documents and Settings or Program Files areas. Sometimes programs are saving certain data there that I didn't realize, or forgot about, or just overlooked including in my regular backups. When I realize that has happened I can just pop over to the USB drive, find the data that I had wanted to retain, and copy it over. Doesn't have any impact on the system itself.

Jim

1434

General Software Discussion / Re: How to configure Website-Watcher for DC forums?

« Last post by J-Mac on June 24, 2009, 12:32 AM »

Superboy: You really need to ask Martin at his forum. Filters in WSW can drive you crazy! Or, I guess I should say they can drive ME crazy anyway. A solid knowledge of Regex would help a lot but even with that they sometimes act different than what you would expect within WSW.

I always end up asking Martin after reducing myself to a drooling idiot trying!

Jim

1435

Living Room / Re: XP Reinstall - some thoughts - be prepared

« Last post by J-Mac on June 24, 2009, 12:21 AM »

One small tip that has made me a little more comfortable after my last two XP reinstalls: The hard drive with my system on it is an 80 GB WD SATA drive but only about 25 GB are used. I have three internal drives with a lot of space available but that doesn't really matter. I took a USB external drive - I think it is 250 GB and it had over 100 GB free. Before performing the XP reinstall I copied over the entire contents of my C:\ drive to the USB drive. That way when reinstalling my programs if anything ever goes wacky or it turns out my data backups accidentally excluded data that was stored in the Documents and Settings\User\Application Data or Local Settings directory, I have it all sitting on that USB drive and can copy it back without a problem.

Jim

1436

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« Last post by J-Mac on June 22, 2009, 02:59 PM »

J-Mac - I agree 100% and so does my Mum! It's not necessary...

-CleverCat (June 21, 2009, 02:21 AM)

Surely it depends on the context?

eg. The Exorcist - Yes, it was split pea soup but was an integral part of the movie.
     Team America: World Police - So over the top that no one could actually think it was gross, (although I'm not sure whether to class this film as an actual documentary or not ).

-4wd (June 21, 2009, 04:05 AM)

Of course it does - but I was referring specifically to TV shows. Regular, prime-time, standard broadcast network shows. You know, NCIS (which I love!), Criminal Minds, The Unit, etc., etc.  Not movies.

Of course we'll probably see this added to that confusing logo at the start of most shows, telling us the show has adult content, coarse language, mild violence (always wondered what the hell that was!), and so on...   

Jim

1437

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« Last post by J-Mac on June 20, 2009, 11:10 PM »

Warning:   Gross-osity ahead - - - -

Remember when someone got sick on TV? I don't mean for real, but as part of a show? They usually got a sick, "Uh-oh" look, turned and ran either off-camera or at least further away from the camera, and then bent over a trash can or similar container. That was it. You got the message, right?

Then they got a little more aggressive, and started including sound effects - loud, raucous sound effects. Soon they added off-angle viewing of the actual vomiting. Nothing too close... Just a view from the side/rear, letting you see just a bit of something spewing.

And finally, here we are today, and it seems like every damn TV show insists on showing us full frontal-view, up close, personal, and totally gross vomiting. Today you won't see a vomit scene without yellowish liquid shooting out of their oral cavity. Loud, tortuous retching usually accompanies the up-close vomiting. Even shows that are not known at all for shock value or cheap tricks seem to be showing a lot of vomiting nowadays. Why? Where is the data collected by advertisers/marketing geniuses that says the more frequently you display close-up, real-looking vomit - happening-as-you-watch!! - along with the most gut-wrenching retching sounds somehow increases the shows' ratings? I need to see that data! (They must be keeping it filed away with the data that indicates viewers will definitely purchase more of their products if they crank the volume up to an ear-splitting level! But that's fodder for another post.)

Anyway, that's my chief annoyance for today, having just seen three - count 'em - three TV shows where much vomiting was had!   

Jim

1438

Living Room / Re: Literal Videos - Hilarious!

« Last post by J-Mac on June 20, 2009, 01:13 AM »

Thanks Edvard! They're priceless!

Jim

1439

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MiniReview of Linkman URL Organizer and Search Tool

« Last post by J-Mac on June 18, 2009, 11:54 PM »

I received the post notification and since I'm here I might as well say something:

Linkman Pro has really become a mainstay for me! When I first purchased it at the time of the review that started this thread there were a lot of little things that gave me difficulty. Some just products of my own ignorance of how Linkman worked, but also some which were truly a problem using especially with Firefox. However at this point I can confidently say that Linkman is one of those programs that is among the very first I install on a new computer, or after a Windows reinstall. It is indispensable here.

Thanks Outertech dudes!   

Jim

1440

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your prefered source of registry tweaks?

« Last post by J-Mac on June 13, 2009, 11:47 PM »

So very true, f0dder. One misstep in the registry and your computer is not going to boot anymore. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see what the allure is with editing the registry on modern Windows systems. Vista and Windows 7 have optimized defaults for most things and mucking around in there when you only have half a clue (I'm looking at you, Black Viper!) is just going to degrade system performance.

Back in the days of Windows 3.11 and Win95, sure...if you wanted a decent performing system you were tweaking the crap out of the registry, but these days it's just not needed unless you have specific wants/needs.

-Innuendo (June 13, 2009, 09:55 AM)

I couldn't disagree more. There are plenty of tasks that XP simply does not perform as designed. Or maybe it WAS designed that way, but some things just don't work well. E.g., occasionally the system tray (Taskbar Notification Area for you pedants out there!) loses some icons or starts showing the wrong icon for running programs. The ONLY way to get them back is two delete two registry keys, end the explorer.exe process, and start a new explorer.exe process immediately.

As another poster mentioned, changing the right-click menu - for when a few programs you install have wacky developers who decide that you should have four, five, or even six context menu entries for their program.

Another is after uninstalling a program and installing a similar one from another developer - especially security programs - and you can't get the new installed because the old left a number of reg entries behind.

Sometimes you just need to!

Jim

1441

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your prefered source of registry tweaks?

« Last post by J-Mac on June 13, 2009, 12:20 AM »

Black Viper is pretty good about saying exactly what each tweak does and why HE uses it, and warns you to make sure you are not removing a service you will use. And to NOT tweak any of it if you are not experienced enough to know the difference!

 

Jim

1442

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: BBCeditor 1.0.18

« Last post by J-Mac on June 07, 2009, 10:39 PM »

Uh-oh.

1.0.18 is throwing errors here. I can open it, check or change settings, no problem. But as soon as I click in the left pane the following error dialog appears:

[attachimg=#1][/attachimg]

If I click continue it stays open but again I cannot click in the left pane or I get the same message.

Jim

1443

General Software Discussion / Re: Collectorz.com... again!

« Last post by J-Mac on June 07, 2009, 01:32 PM »

heh. For anyone who isn't tracking, Ken and I have a very joking relationship on IRC ;-)

Anyways, Collectorz does make a nice application, but I am not entering all of this information only to submit it to collectorz and have them charge for it later. Nuts to that.

-Josh (June 07, 2009, 10:02 AM)

Josh, I know that you remember all the "way out there, ranting" posts made about two years ago, where out-spoken users claimed that Collectorz.com would be locking customers into their database and having users build it. And then moving the program to a web-based program and taking away all control over your collections.

Man oh man, the raging, conspiracy-theorist maniacs were right!!!     The sky truly IS falling!!   

Jim

1444

Living Room / Re: Weird Window When Computer Boots Up

« Last post by J-Mac on June 07, 2009, 01:27 PM »

OK. Let's see if we can help you get this fixed.

If the only problem is activation, then purchasing a new full copy of WindowsXP will solve that problem.

If you lost your original disks - and have no way of getting a replacement CD for the Home Edition you paid for when you bought your PC - then buying a new copy will be your only option.

I'm not happy that the tech didn't warn you about what would happen if you couldn't supply him/her with your original software (i.e. that you'd need to buy a new copy) - but that's the way it goes. (Also a good reason to put your disks someplace where you can find them.)

So to recap - buying and installing a new copy of Windows XP will solve your activation problem.

I also think your tech should do the reinstall for free.

Especially since you've already been billed for the service. And also because any tech worthy of the name already knew you wouldn't be able to legally activate the copy he put on your machine.

If there's anything else you need clarified, just post it here. Or send me a personal message. I know how frustrating it can be having a machine down when you're trying to go online and pay bills with it.

 

-40hz (June 07, 2009, 07:24 AM)

I think moranacus should just purchase an inexpensive new computer instead.

Consider that he just spent $243 on a SEVEN year old computer and will now probably have to spend another $150+ for a new XP disk IF he can find one (I only see System Builder versions being sold lately).

IMO it makes no sense to sink another dime into his current machine.

Jim

1445

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: BBCeditor 1.0.17

« Last post by J-Mac on June 07, 2009, 02:16 AM »

2J-Mac
I understand it completely because it happened to me few times too.

The strangest issue was with already mentioned nVidia. I am always switching off unnecessary garbage from my system tray in home PC but at office you've got preconfigured environment to work with and lot of apps you're not aware of. So it took me more than 15 minutes and physical screen rotation (hopefully: LCD) to figure out what happened. I was in the middle of writing and my whole screen rotated unexpected. I was wondering who, the hell, had thought it was "nice to have" feature

-fenixproductions (June 07, 2009, 12:32 AM)

Same thing almost happened to me last week! I recently purchased an Acer monitor and while installing the driver that came with it four programs were also installed. One was a configuration app that was OK; E.g., it has an auto-brightness adjustment depending on the ambient lighting and whether or not the screen is mostly white or a darker screen. I can live with that one, but the others were not necessary at all. One is a screen rotator and when using a hotkey that I use often in TextAloud a dialog popped up asking if I was sure I wanted to rotate my screen orientation 90 degrees. Yikes! I removed that one.

Jim

1446

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: BBCeditor 1.0.17

« Last post by J-Mac on June 07, 2009, 12:12 AM »

2J-Mac
I see your opinion better now. There was no recipient in your message and that is why I overreacted a little bit

I agree with you with some parts of ranting (I've mentioned nVidia already)…

-fenixproductions (June 06, 2009, 11:47 PM)

Sorry about that. Actually I thought I had quoted Chris's post - guess I missed it.

I imagine the hotkey issue sounds weird to most - unless they have experienced it! I agree that the in-focus app should be in control, but I can tell you that is not always the case! It is maddening when you are working in one applications, use a hotkey that was defined for the program, and suddenly see a different program open and respond to the hotkey instead. And you didn't even know you had a hotkey available for that program!

Right after my last post I opened Tranglos's new app ActiveHotkeys and Autohotkey and decided try once again to learn AHK.    Maybe I can fix some of these that way.

Jim

1447

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: BBCeditor 1.0.17

« Last post by J-Mac on June 06, 2009, 11:36 PM »

I wasn't criticizing your program fenix. Just commenting in reply to Chris's post. I often can't use keyboard shortcuts because of the reasons I mentioned. If there is no other way to access a feature, I'm sometimes in trouble!

Jim

1448

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: BBCeditor 1.0.17

« Last post by J-Mac on June 06, 2009, 10:43 PM »

Unfortunately I have to be very wary every time I use a keyboard shortcut. There are too damn many on my computer as it is. I love using the keyboard but this is getting crazy! No software installations overwrite existing software's hotkeys, Or the existing ones refuse to yield and then I can't use them in the new software... unless it has a way to change the hotkeys manually.

I never know what will happen when I press the hotkeys now. Grrrr.  !!

Jim

1449

General Software Discussion / Re: Collectorz.com... again!

« Last post by J-Mac on June 06, 2009, 10:37 PM »

I already moved to DVD Profiler. I still have MOC v 5.6 but I don't believe I will be going forward with it. It is working fine for me now but I'm sure that won't last, as Alvin is trying to get all users to upgrade of course.

You know, I am not quite that upset with the changes he made. It is his attitude toward users and his terrible demeanor that I don't like. He gets too offensive with his users. I don't need that!

Jim

1450

Living Room / Re: Weird Window When Computer Boots Up

« Last post by J-Mac on June 06, 2009, 10:32 PM »

No, the program is called ADWARE PROFESSIONAL.

-moranacus (June 06, 2009, 01:14 PM)

Sorry - I'm not usually contrary with anyone so stubborn, but I think you should check again. And if you insist on yelling...  then KOJA!

Jim