Recent Posts

14851

Developer's Corner / Re: Need help from Inno Setup gurus

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 03:23 PM »

agree with ATH, using version # in start menus and start menu groups is messy and error prone.

14852

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: JottiQ

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 01:36 PM »

Hey i just thought of a really cool request idea:

What about a Specials Menu
With a menu item to: Queue ALL running process files.

That seems like a really cool unique and useful feature.

14853

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: JottiQ

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 01:29 PM »

I'll give it a long hard thought. I like the idea - just not sure I like the implied consequences. Why google, why not bing? Make it configurable? Why not add multiple search engines? Why not directly index into some virus/security related sites?

any of these solutions would be fine -- no reason to use google. im just suggesting that a common thing someone will want to do is search web for filename and it would be nice to make that easy.

14854

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: JottiQ

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 12:54 PM »

i still dont like the fact that the menu is not going to be fully visible for people without big screens.
changing some of the menu icons+labels to just small icons would fix.
or as i suggested earlier moving the per-item ones to bottom.

also, i think a right-click for an item and choosing "perform a google search for this filename" would also be nice.

14855

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: JottiQ

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 12:50 PM »

Would be nice to have an "Uninstall" entry in the start menu group; it's easy to do.
you can find sample, including a dll to let your inno setup close app if its running at install/uninstall time here:
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=24786.0

14856

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Teaser: JottiQ

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 12:50 PM »

Setup works perfectly for me.. installed it and shell extension -- queuing items via shell extension worked perfectly even when dialog was already on screen.
Shell extension works here on WinXp Pro x64.

14857

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder.com NEW SERVER ACTIVATED Dec 17, 2010

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 12:42 PM »

it must be some slowdown related to sending mail from the new server; i have code that emails a copy of every forum post and post mod to a special email account, as a kind of low-tech poor-mans real time offsite backup system.  disabling that seems to have fixed most of the speed problems with posting.  I say most because i'm still noticing some slow posting speeds when posting to some threads (maybe ones currently being read by many users..)

14858

Living Room / Re: Need a New Mouse

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 11:04 AM »

The cool thing about the MX revolution is (and I've already mentioned that), when it runs out of juice, the cable to charge it plugs in right at the front, where the cable of a non-wireless mouse goes. It just feels like a wired mouse then, while you charge it.

That's a HUGE improvement and very clever; the ones that kill me are the ones that have to "dock" to recharge, and so can't be used at all while recharging.

14859

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder.com NEW SERVER ACTIVATED Dec 17, 2010

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 10:46 AM »

ps you can always make test posts that others will not see in the special Personal Area: https://www.donation...index.php?board=55.0

14860

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder.com NEW SERVER ACTIVATED Dec 17, 2010

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 10:40 AM »

Let me know if the problem is fixed now please.

14861

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder.com NEW SERVER ACTIVATED Dec 17, 2010

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 10:38 AM »

we are working on the posting speed issue.. we should be able to fix it.

14862

Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 10:05 AM »

has anyone noticed that nudone is making an art out of doing 720 degree turns? 

14863

Living Room / Startup Applications List: Executables that do/dont need to boot with windows

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 09:34 AM »

This looks like quite a useful reference.

If you're frustrated with the time it takes your Windows PC to boot and then it seems to be running slowly you may have too many programs running at start-up - and have come to the right place to identify them. This is the original startup programs (as opposed to processes/tasks) list - one of the most comprehensive and most accurate!

"Name or Startup Item" in the table below refers to how an entry is displayed in MSConfig, Windows Defender or the registry "Run" keys. "Command or Data" refers to the program the entry runs. For further information on this and how to identify and disable startup programs please visit the Startup Content page.

http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

from http://lifehacker.co...up-applications-list

14864

Find And Run Robot / Re: Font size in Options window

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 09:17 AM »

Ah yes.. ok so what we have here is the following:

• You have your Windows OS configured for "large fonts", meaning that normally all of your fonts are larger than the default setup, and the setup i design for.
• When my programs detect this, they explicitly force the fonts in the dialog to a fixed size so that they fit in the space available on the form.
• Unfortunately there is no good solution to this.
• Though i COULD make an option to disable this behavior, which would result in larger fonts in options, but some text would get cut off at the end.

14865

Living Room / Re: Naming and Shaming Bad Forums with Bad Ethics

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 09:13 AM »

I think "read the manual" is a completely valid response, but only when it's fair to assume that *IF* the person opens up the manual/help file, they will be able to easily find the answer they are looking for.

Most of the time, if the person is asking for help, it means that they cannot find the answer in the manual when they looked, and so even if the answer is in there somewhere, simply telling them to "read the manual" is not helpful.  In those cases a more helpful answer would be "it's in the manual, in this section, at this location."

14866

Find And Run Robot / Re: Font size in Options window

« Last post by mouser on December 27, 2010, 09:00 AM »

could you attach a screenshot?

14867

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Release: Snap DB

« Last post by mouser on December 26, 2010, 10:18 PM »

looks fantastic.

couple of quick suggestions:

• 1) on first use, in help file, and maybe even at bottom statusbar on startup it should explain "right-click on column titles to rename them"
• 2) have it auto-reload the last database file, OR the database file in the current directory if no config file entry for last database file exists; one reason this would be SO useful is because it would let users SHARE the exe+database with someone by sending it to them, and all they would have to do is run the exe to have the data loaded and ready.

14868

Living Room / Re: Cute jokes' thread

« Last post by mouser on December 26, 2010, 09:26 AM »

 

14869

Living Room / Re: Cute jokes' thread

« Last post by mouser on December 26, 2010, 08:57 AM »

curt, lol 

14870

Living Room / Re: Need a New Mouse

« Last post by mouser on December 26, 2010, 07:33 AM »

Jury is in...
Not happy with the battery life. It doesn't last a day.
Being as I'm using it on my desktop, I should have gone with the wired one.
Other than that, it's good. The battery life just isn't there though. But that's a common problem across all devices.
Verdict: Good mouse. Batteries suck. All batteries suck.

-Renegade (December 26, 2010, 03:38 AM)

in 2007 i wrote a long rant against logitech (internal rechargeable battery) mouse and vowed never to use one again.
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=10688.0

i've been using a microsoft intellimouse wireless that takes standard AA batteries, and they seem to last a long time.  i'm one of those people who found using a wired mouse to be hell.

finding a wireless mouse with good battery life is very important.

14871

Point Motivator / Re: How to create a category?

« Last post by mouser on December 26, 2010, 07:17 AM »

Hi Anne,

The way you create new categories and item types is by going into the "Item Definitions" -> "Launch Item Definition Editor" dialog.
From there you can load the default item definition file or create your own from scratch.  The help file describes the process.

It's not exactly the most user-friendly process I'll admit -- keep in mind that there are very few users of Point Motivator -- it's just one of my programs that never really caught on -- maybe because it requires quite a bit of work to configure these kinds of things.

14872

Living Room / Re: Contact information in one's profile

« Last post by mouser on December 25, 2010, 11:55 AM »

nice, thanks app!

14873

Activation/License/Language Help / Re: About signing up to download freeware license keys - READ IN PLEASE

« Last post by mouser on December 25, 2010, 09:20 AM »

All true, but we need to remember ourselves how we sometimes feel when being told we have to sign up somewhere to post a comment to a blog or whatever -- it can seem like a huge hassle at the time, enough to frustrate you and put you in an angry state of mind.

Once people understand what we are like they tend to feel great about the site -- but let's just try to be sympathetic to those just encountering the site and feeling like they have to jump through some annoying hoops.


IMPORTANT:
It also pays to remind people that even the programs on this site that require a license key (and a lot of the software on DC does not) can be downloaded, installed, and run right away without having to sign up or do anything unusual -- and they work with all their features.  They just will eventually after a couple of weeks start popping up a message instructing you to visit the site to get a free license key.

Inevitably some percentage of people contact me wanting to know how they can "try" the software first before donating.  I always explain that everyone can download, install, and use fully any of the programs on DC that use license keys just like any other piece of freeware on the web -- they don't have to sign up for anything or donate, etc.

Only if you decide to keep the program after a week or so will you be asked to visit the site to request a free license key, and then you can choose whether to sign up at the forum to get a long term free license key, or bypass that and download immediately one that lasts for a month or so without signing up.  This process, whether you find it annoying or not, is so that we can at least have a chance to ask you to consider donating to the site to help fund our work.

14874

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder.com NEW SERVER ACTIVATED Dec 17, 2010

« Last post by mouser on December 25, 2010, 08:49 AM »

Am i the only one experiencing DC forum as being very fast to browse, but as having gotten verrrrrry sloooooooooooowwwwwww shen you submit a new post (or post modication).

14875

Activation/License/Language Help / Re: About signing up to download freeware license keys - READ IN PLEASE

« Last post by mouser on December 25, 2010, 08:47 AM »

The only thing to add to what wreckedcarzz has said is that:

I know it can be frustrating to have to do the extra stuff, and I know we need to do a better job of making things easier to understand.

This is an imperfect site.  We are trying our best to navigate a path to survival that is not simple.  It involves raising enough money directly from our users to be a long term sustainable project while keeping all of our software freely available to everyone, who can choose whether or not to donate, and how much.

While many other sites have embraced the idea of creating free content and focusing on trying to drive traffic to make money on serving ads, we have decided instead to be an experiment in direct funding by users.  [see the article I wrote about DonationCoder here].

Some of the steps we've taken to follow through with this idea (the free license keys) make life more complicated for new users who aren't yet familiar with the site and the ideas, and cause frustration.

But I think on the flip side of this, it has created within our community a closer bond of shared participation -- and that's a big part of why we encourage people to sign up at the forum -- we really enjoy being a family here and feeling like we are all in this together.