Recent Posts

151

Found Deals and Discounts / Defensewall HIPS free at Giveawayoftheday for today

« Last post by patteo on November 20, 2007, 04:18 AM »

The Donationcoder special for this month : It's free only today.

Giveaway of the Day - free licensed software daily. DefenseWall HIPS - DefenseWall HIPS is intended to protect from malicious software (spyware, adware, keyloggers, rootkits, etc.) when you surf the Internet.
"Giveaway of the Day - DefenseWall HIPS

November 20, 2007 DefenseWall HIPS is a strong barrier between you and malicious software (spyware, adware, keylogers, rootkits and viruses). You can now allow yourself safe browsing, open any e-mail attachments and install new software - DefenseWall HIPS gives you new vector of safety and freedom in one easy to use package. Annoying popups not included.

As DefenseWall HIPS doesn’t rely on a list of “already known as bad” software modules, its efficience is much higher that your anti-virus and anti-spyware software has nowadays."
http://www.giveawayo...om/defensewall-hips/

152

Found Deals and Discounts / SWISH Max2 $30 Discount till Oct 26.

« Last post by patteo on October 22, 2007, 11:29 PM »

Just for those of you who are interested in Flash Authoring alternative.

SWiSH Max2 - The Ultimate Flash Creation Tool
"Flash Authoring With Even More Power!
Now with support for components, a content library and assets, a new effects browser, in place text editing, video/image/sound effects as well as an improved interface, script editor, drawing tools and internal player. SWiSH Max2 takes Flash authoring to a whole new level at an amazing price of just $149.95!

Introductory Special: Save $30 on full price and $20 on upgrades*
*Discount offer valid until October 26th 2007 EST."
http://www.swishzone...max2upgradepromo2007

153

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)

« Last post by patteo on October 16, 2007, 12:04 AM »

OK, I will give it a shot.

154

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini-Review of Fineprint (Virtual Printer)

« Last post by patteo on October 15, 2007, 11:50 PM »

Fineprint just told me they like the review so much they bump the link for the review right up to the top of their Homepage (News section).

Hopefully, that may bring along some new friends to www.donationcoder.com as well 

It is indeed a great piece of software.

Unobtrusive, only appears when you most need it and then steps aside when you are done, just like a good personal assistant does.

Truly a Work of Art that does what you want and does not cost you two arms and two legs that most like most work of art but instead saves you money each time you print and makes you wonder, "How did I survive without it ?"

FinePrint Software
"FinePrint - A Work of Art"
http://www.fineprint.com/

155

General Software Discussion / Re: How to get rid of certain advertisements

« Last post by patteo on October 08, 2007, 09:16 PM »

Thanks Kuntau and Deozaan for your responses.

I disabled Adblock Addon and Installed Adblock Plus (a more advanced version) http://adblockplus.org/en/

Did a little tweaking and now I can just concentrate on the coffee and surfing without distractions.

156

General Software Discussion / How to get rid of certain advertisements

« Last post by patteo on October 08, 2007, 08:28 PM »

I was at this free wireless zone where I buy a coffee and you can use the wireless.

This is a great way check a few sites when you are out and about.

But just today, I noticed that they started taking over about 7% of the real estate at the bottom of each page.

I could block the advertising graphics. But that did not release the "hijacked" screen real estate.

I examine the html code on the page with the Firefox Firebug Addon and in fact I can get back my screen real estate by deleting the relevant code, but each time I refresh, the real estate gets taken over again.

Does anyone knows of a Firefox Addon that can help me block all this pesky squatters and reclaim the real estate.

Thanks

157

General Software Discussion / Re: How to determine ipaddress of mini-webserver on a wireless network

« Last post by patteo on September 23, 2007, 11:46 AM »

Actually the mini-webserver is my laptop (call it laptop "A"). So if I take laptop "A" to Starbucks, then if I'm set to a static ip, I might not be able to get a wireless connection at Starbucks unless this Alternate configuration stuff works.

In any case, there may be a alternative solution even if I leave my Linksys Wireless WRT54G router on DHCP, because they have another configuration tab that is called Port Triggering.

It seems, that you can do some settings so that whatever Dynamic IP, I may have been assigned, the router would be smart enough to find it. ie whether I have been dynamically assigned 192.168.1.100 or 101 or 102 etc.

I could be wrong but I'm trying to understand what I'm reading here.

"Port Forwarded Only On Specific IP Address - ZeroPaid
"The answer might be found under port triggering in the tab next to forwarding. I used triggering on my Netgear router and it worked woof well, following my computer to whatever IP it was using that day."
http://www.zeropaid....dex.php/t-43203.html

So if it turns out to be right, that would be ideal - have your cake and eat it, leave my laptop alone, leave the Linksys DHCP setting on, but tweak the Port Triggering tab.

It's a bit of an info overload for my tiny brain - but I hope the solution lies here.

Has anyone heared of Port Triggering before. The Linksys configuration tab on Part Triggering is as clear as mud.

Update:
As far as I can determine, Port Triggering is not the answer.

Port triggering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Port triggering"
http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Port_triggering

"The disadvantage of port triggering is that it only allows one client on the network to supply a particular service that uses a particular incoming port. Port triggering is unsuitable for putting servers behind a NAT router because it relies on the computer to make an outgoing connection before it can receive incoming ones; servers should use port forwarding."
http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Port_triggering

I have to rethink this again. Meanwhile, any suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks once again to everyone who made a suggestion here.

158

General Software Discussion / Re: How to determine ipaddress of mini-webserver on a wireless network

« Last post by patteo on September 23, 2007, 11:24 AM »

patteo: you need to disable DHCP (which is what assigns those ips) and configure static ips on the computers, one per computer.

-jgpaiva (September 23, 2007, 10:31 AM)

Actually, that is not quite true.  That router allows you to define a range for DHCP.  Assign the PC a static IP address outside that range, (say 192.168.1.99 for example) and it should stay there.  You may have some other minor things you need to setup - it has been a while since I did that - but you should be able to set it up fine.

-steeladept (September 23, 2007, 10:51 AM)

But how do you assign the PC a static IP address ?

I have looked in the control panel or just clicking the right clicking the wireless icon in the system tray helped me get to the properties tab and I scroll to the TCP/IP settings where it appears I can set a General and Alternate configuration.

See pics attached

However, since I'm using a laptop for this purpose, if I set a static ip address, and I decide to go sit at Starbucks in a public network, I may possibly find that I'm unable to access the network at all (never mind about the mini-webserver I was referring to earlier), unless somehow the laptop is smart enough to look in the Alternate configuration when I'm out in a public wireless network.

In other words, ideally after configuring, when I'm in my personal home network, it should be smart enough to pick say 192.168.1.99 and when out in the wild public network, my laptop should be smart enough to revert to Dynamic IPs since at that point in time, all I'm interested in is a internet connection ( I won't be worrying about connecting to the mini-webserver - of course it would be nice if I could connect to it - but I don't think I would be able to since I won't be able to set any port forwarding in any case)
 

159

General Software Discussion / Re: How to determine ipaddress of mini-webserver on a wireless network

« Last post by patteo on September 23, 2007, 10:20 AM »

Thanks patthecat for the suggestions on Port forwarding and closing of TCP outgoing.

I tried it and it works.

The only thing is that my Linksys WRT54G dynamically assigns the ip addresses and sometimes I find Computer "A" is assigned 192.168.1.100 and sometimes, after a reboot it is assigned 192.168.1.101.

How does one stop this dynamic assignment.

I was looking through the settings and cannot seem to figure out how to assign static addresses like 192.168.1.100 to say Computer "A".

Any suggestions ?

Thanks again.

160

General Software Discussion / How to determine ipaddress of mini-webserver on a wireless network

« Last post by patteo on September 23, 2007, 09:37 AM »

I'm testing a software application that also runs a mini-webserver so that it's database can be accessed from the web via port 82.

I made sure that my firewall, I allowed Incoming TCP ports 82 and allowed Outgoing TCP ports 82.

There's one thing that I'm rather confused by.

If I use Windows ipconfig command, I can see my address as 192.168.1.100 (on computer A where the mini-webserver resides)

And if I use http://192.168.1.100:82 I can actually see the data on the mini-webserver, but it is only accessing Computer "A" locally via my wireless network.

If I use a tool like FollowmeIPlite (http://www.snapfiles...re/network/fwip.html), my External IP address is shown as 202.156.173.124 for example.

Now I have 3 computers A, B, C in my home network. Each one of them show exactly the same External IP address 202.156.173.124

But computer "A" is where the mini-webserver resides.

If windows ipconfig command shows :
"A"  ipaddress as 192.168.1.100
"B"  ipaddress as 192.168.1.101
"C"  ipaddress as 192.168.1.102

What would be the correct url to put in a browser for me to access port 82 on computer "A" from anywhere on the internet ?

http://202.156.173.124:82          - This would be incorrect as which of the computers would it refer to since A, B, C has the same External IP address. In fact the browser cannot locate the mini -webserver at all.

http://192.168.1.100:82             - This would be incorrect although it would access the data via the internal network which is not what I want.

So the url is somehow a combination of both.

Is there some software utility that can help me determine the correct answer ?

I would appreciate if someone can point me to a solution ? Thanks

161

General Software Discussion / Re: How do you launch stuff?

« Last post by patteo on September 19, 2007, 10:40 PM »

I use a combination of

FARR
https://www.donation...r/findrun/index.html

Slickrun
http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/

They are both amazing programs and free and light on resources.

They both have the ability to remember the most recent programs you want to run. It takes some getting tweaking to really tap the power and that is something that I have not spent enough time as yet.

Don't be put off by the word beta for Slickrun - it's very stable but of course I encourage you to periodically backup your MagicWords that it uses to launch programs, browser, webpages etc.

162

General Software Discussion / Re: Gmail Account Lockdown: Unusual Activity Detected getting much more frequent

« Last post by patteo on September 01, 2007, 11:15 AM »

No, I do not have Gmail extensions at all as I know they can potentially cause this problem.

Similarly, I remember to open Gmail only in one tab (generally that is).

Anyway, it's a good reminder to backup your email. Unfortunately, the only way I know how to backup my Gmail account is via pop into Outlook (although for the past few months I've not been doing it because I have some duplicates problem in my Outlook that I want to clear up first).

163

General Software Discussion / Gmail Account Lockdown: Unusual Activity Detected getting much more frequent

« Last post by patteo on September 01, 2007, 05:35 AM »

Gmail has been giving me this message a lot more frequently.

This has happened simply because I delete a particular email, or tried to add a Label to another or simply click an email to open it.

It certainly unusual activity but by seem to be created by Gmail itself.

Is anyone else experiencing this as well ?


----------------------------

Account Lockdown: Unusual Activity Detected
   
This account has been locked down due to unusual account activity. It may take up to 24 hours for you to regain access.

Unusual account activity includes, but is not limited to:

   1. Receiving, deleting, or downloading large amounts of mail via POP in a short period of time.
   2. Sending a large number of undeliverable messages (messages that bounce back).
   3. Using file-sharing or file-storage software, browser extensions, or third party software that automatically logs in to your account.
   4. Leaving multiple instances of your Gmail account open.
   5. Browser-related issues. Please note that if you find your browser continually reloading while attempting to access your Inbox, it’s probably a browser issue, and it may be necessary to clear your browser’s cache and cookies.

If you feel that you have been using your Gmail account according to the Gmail Terms of Use, you can troubleshoot your problem by clicking here.

164

General Software Discussion / Re: IBM Lenovo T61 Thinkpad - a standard SATA harddisk cannot be used ? Is this

« Last post by patteo on August 30, 2007, 08:18 AM »

Just a little update.

Trying to purchase a downgrade to Windows XP Pro setup disk (with all the drivers) from Lenovo is "trying". Yes they say you can buy it from them but it takes at least 6 weeks from the time you place and order and that is not counting the countless calls and the wait for them to transfer you from this department to that department and so forth and the inevitable we will get back to you as soon as possible or let me transfer to the correct deparment and the line goes dead.

I think they certainly try to discourage you.

So the next best thing is to just go to your regular computer shop and buy it and download the drivers from their website.

It's a very painful process. So it's best to buy Windows XP Pro preinstalled if you can if you don't want to move to Vista yet.

165

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone Using OmniPage and PaperPort?

« Last post by patteo on August 29, 2007, 01:29 AM »

PDF Converter 4 is scheduled to show up on Bits du Jour tomorrow. I don't know what the discount will be.

-edbro (August 28, 2007, 04:59 PM)

Sometimes Bitsdujour timing puts a lot of pressure on you to make a decision you would later regret.

If you are in no great hurry, you may wish to check out
http://www.retailmen....com/view/nuance.com

But do take note that they do not always work. So it's a gamble I guess

166

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone Using OmniPage and PaperPort?

« Last post by patteo on August 29, 2007, 01:21 AM »

I'm using Omnipage Pro 14. It can convert PDF to text.

I think basically it does that by scanning PDF as an image.

Actually, the recognition is quite good whether for scanning pages of PDFs. The retention of the page formatting is not fantastic though. But that did not quite matter for me.

Perhaps it's to do with tweaking the settings.

But one thing that keeps me from upgrading is that I reckon Omnipage Pro 14 is that it is good enough for my purposes.

The other thing is that Omnipage Pro 16 and probably all their other products require me to activate the products.

I'm always a bit leery activation of this since, from time to time I have to reinstall, or wipe my harddisk clean and do a fresh install. And besides I'm thinking, what if I upgrade my computer or for that matter if my computer dies. Do I have to beg them to allow me to move to another laptop.

Activation would be fine for me provided they have a properly set up system to allow me to deactivate and move to another computer to activate again. I doubt they have a such a system.

I don't want to beg them for an activation code each time I have to move on. What if the company shuts down or even drop the product. Of course if the software is absolute must have type then I don't really have a choice then.

So the present version is fine with me.

167

Found Deals and Discounts / PerfectDisk 8 - August 20% Code - Expires Friday (8/31)

« Last post by patteo on August 28, 2007, 09:58 PM »

"To take advantage of this special 20% offer, just follow the steps below before midnight on Friday (8/31):

    *
      Purchase directly from our Online Store and enter and apply coupon code BBSUMMER after filling your cart.
    *
      For volume purchases, use the PerfectDisk Volume Discount Calculator and enter coupon code BBSUMMER in your cart

http://www.raxco.com...cts_all_download.cfm

168

General Software Discussion / Re: IBM Lenovo T61 Thinkpad - a standard SATA harddisk cannot be used ? Is this true

« Last post by patteo on August 24, 2007, 05:53 AM »

Because I don't know about Lenovo harddisks, but in case you need a plan b: DriveImage Xml, create a full image of the vista system, back it up somewhere, then put xp on it.

DriveImage XML is free and should allow you to restore it on the drive.

-justice (August 24, 2007, 05:18 AM)

Thanks Justice for the heads up on DriveImage XML. I will also check it out.

169

General Software Discussion / Re: IBM Lenovo T61 Thinkpad - a standard SATA harddisk cannot be used ? Is this true

« Last post by patteo on August 24, 2007, 05:52 AM »

IMO, by "proprietary things" your co-op vendor was referring to IBM Preload Desktop partition (a hidden partition on almost every thinkpad harddisk that helps with system recovery and can be accessed through BIOS).

I was once a Thinkpad salesperson and support specialist and to my knowledge all ThinkPad hard drives are interchangeable - it's really no big deal to change hard disks on a ThinkPad.

-Wordzilla (August 24, 2007, 05:42 AM)

Thanks for your thoughts.

So if I understand it, the standard SATA should still work. Only thing is that I probably cannot perform a system recovery by accessing this hidden partition which is no big deal to me anyway as I prefer to load all my various needed software make all the necessary settings, update all the patches before I make an image (say with Acronis True Image before corruption sets in). So if need be, I will just restore this image (with its pristine state). I won't need to restore it to the factory condition stage which is probably too raw for me anyway.

170

General Software Discussion / IBM Lenovo T61 Thinkpad - a standard SATA harddisk cannot be used ? Is this true

« Last post by patteo on August 24, 2007, 03:34 AM »

I was talking to the University co-op vendor who sold my son the Lenovo T61 Thinkpad and since I'm the so called resident computer "expert", I was exploring how I should go about downgrading from Vista Business to Windows XP Pro.

In the course of the discussion with the co-op vendor, I was given to understand that I cannot just buy an "ordinary" SATA harddisk, pop it in and just install Windows XP Pro on it because of certain proprietary things that Lenovo put in the "Lenovo" harddisk. That is, a ordinary SATA harddisk, will not work.

Why I would like to buy another harddisk is because I don't want to overwrite Windows Vista on the existing harddisk that came with the laptop because at some future point in time, he may just want to so call move on to Vista.

There are two possible comments that I make to this so call proprietary things that Lenovo put in the "Lenovo" harddisk (which if I remove it, looks exactly like a Hitachi harddisk - simply because it says so on the label).

1. It's a crappy red herring to scare me so I have to buy the high priced "Lenovo" harddisk from him - ie just go and get a ordinary generic SATA harddisk, either a Hitachi, Seagate or Samsung - I have done this so many times with Fujitsu, Toshiba and a Dell as well.

2. It is true that they make it proprietary by what they put in the harddisk - In which case, it is a rip off and I'll never ever buy a Lenovo again, at least not in this life time.

Tell me your experience or what you know about this.

I'm inclined to think it's 1 - it's a crappy Red Herring.

171

General Software Discussion / Re: Guess what, you do have certain downgrade rights from Vista to Windows XP

« Last post by patteo on August 19, 2007, 10:49 AM »

Here's some additional stuff

Vista – XP Downgrade Rights – Hot Microsoft Subject - Microsoft wants Vista upgrades, customers want Vista downgrades - Softpedia
"Vista – XP Downgrade Rights – Hot Microsoft Subject
- Microsoft wants Vista upgrades, customers want Vista downgrades
By: Marius Oiaga, Technology News Editor "
http://news.softpedi...-Subject-57931.shtml

172

General Software Discussion / Guess what, you do have certain downgrade rights from Vista to Windows XP

« Last post by patteo on August 19, 2007, 10:45 AM »

I have been playing around with Vista for a few days now and my conclusion is that there's still a bunch of software I almost cannot live without that still would not run properly on Vista.

I was googling around and found this :

For more information on Microsoft downgrade rights, please visit the following URL:
http://download.micr.../downgrade_chart.doc

I have not had a chance to call the Laptop manufacturers to find out how many arms and legs do they want.

One issue of downgrading a new Vista based laptop is to make sure you can obtain the right drivers for the hardware.

173

General Software Discussion / Re: Dieting my laptop, starting with Windows Desktop Search -But I'm stuck, Help !!

« Last post by patteo on August 19, 2007, 09:42 AM »

Patteo - did you replace WDS with an alternate indexing app, by chance? I want to remove WDS from my wife's computer but need to replace it with something that will preview office and outlook files with formatting (ruling my favourite indexer - archivarius3000  - out of the mix)? WDS was installed as an alternative to X1 (latest full release) which conisistently crashes Outlook when using a notebooks standby or hibernate feature.

-Darwin (August 19, 2007, 08:31 AM)

I must confess !!!

One of the reason for removing WDS was that I was an indexing junkie at some point in time.
I actually had 3 indexing programs installed all at once.

I had Windows Desktop Search, Google Desktop Search and X1 (But X1 was only called up as and when needed)

Anyway, since I rarely used them, I thought it was wise to remove one, and I happened to removed WDS which was installed because it was the only one that indexed I think Onenote. But as I stopped trying Microsoft Onenote, I thought I should then removed WDS (thank God I did).

In any case, I have used X1 without problems with Outlook 2003. Maybe you can try Yahoo Desktop Search which is actually the free version of X1. Alternatively, you can always use the older versions of X1 in which you hopefully had no problems with.

There's also the free Copernic Desktop Search which I believe is good and free. But I never tried it though.

Anyway, all things considered, I think the X1 interface is the best.

174

General Software Discussion / Re: CPU Usage shoots up to 100% !?!

« Last post by patteo on August 19, 2007, 04:49 AM »

I've had a situation very similar to yours. After several reinstall of the OS, I would still be experiencing this problem. I was kind of on the verge of giving up what with my laptop freezing when I launch a program and it could be launching something as innocuous as IE, Firefox, or maybe some other programs and suddenly while using it I would hear a sound (like an exclamation type windows sound) and the CPU cycles with be very high and stay that way. And even trying to call up Sysinternal Process Explorer to find and kill the offending program would be next to impossible, since the CPU is tied up and Process Explorer takes forever to come up.

I tried to use Mouser's Process Tamer to solve this without success.

I had almost pulled up my last bit of hair after many months of hard resetting my laptop and reinstalling until I stumbled onto a most unexpected solution.

I thought perhaps my laptop needed to go on a diet by removing all the programs I rarely used.

I hit pay dirt with the 1st casualty in my diet - I removed Windows Desktop Search and I was no longer in 100% CPU hell anymore.

I cannot explain why that is so but that is just so. I have been out of 100% CPU hell for 20 straight days now and still counting.

See this thread below :

Dieting my laptop, starting with Windows Desktop Search -But I'm stuck, Help !!
"I've got an incredible bonus from removing Microsoft Windows Desktop Search.

Part of the reason for wanting to send my laptop on a diet was because my Laptop was inexplicably hanging every now and then.

I wasn't sure what it was due to. I had hoped that reducing the over-load on the processor would reduce these hangs and reboots.

But ever since I removed Windows Desktop Search, I have not had a single instance needing a reboot compared to at least 4 or 5 reboots everyday. I hope I'm not speaking too soon.

I had been dreading the day I would be forced to reinstall the laptop especially since I had been forced to do that only a few months ago.

From now on, I would go lite when possible and try to remember to remove the software I rarely if ever use. Or better still, ask myself do I really need a particular software before I install it (them)."
https://www.donation...82.msg70036#msg70036

175

General Software Discussion / Re: The software awards scam

« Last post by patteo on August 18, 2007, 02:20 AM »

• SnapFiles is a very big software listing site, and i'm impressed that they actually take the time to try software and write minireviews, and take their own screenshots.  The opinions there are not as informed as on the sites above, but they are one of the only sites i know on this mass scale who are doing this seriously - http://www.snapfiles.com/

-mouser (August 17, 2007, 01:06 PM)

Sometime ago, I noticed a software that I had that was listed in snapfiles. I had bought it on the strength that it came with lifetime free upgrades as compared with its competitors.

But 3 years later and no development still.

So I posted a comment at www.snapfiles.com that there has been no upgrades since 20xx and mind you, you can actually work out the lack of upgrade at the author's site.

But the comment was never published. I checked back at www.snapfiles.com several times to confirm this non posting.

I'm not saying that Snapfiles is no good. Indeed, I do check there routinely. Just saying that you should take the positive comments with a large pinch of salt.