Recent Posts

17101

N.A.N.Y. 2010 / Re: NANY 2010 Release: Anuran

« Last post by mouser on February 04, 2010, 05:53 PM »

anuran featured on pcworld today:
http://www.pcworld.c..._freebie_anuran.html

17102

Circle Dock / Re: circledock DELETED ALL MY FILES! help!

« Last post by mouser on February 04, 2010, 11:26 AM »

thegipper,

as someone who has suffered from data loss in the past, i know that no amount of saying sorry or sympathy is going to do much to ease your pain.

this shouldn't have happened to you.  you have every right to be angry and upset.  and i want to thank you for being so understanding and not becoming uncontrollably enraged at the programmers, as i fear i might have become.

the only thing i can say is that the people who work on circle dock feel truly sick about this, and have worked hard to get out a fix and make sure this kind of thing never happens again.  if it's any consolation at all, it's that your loss, and your taking the time to come here and tell us about it, has no doubt saved others from suffering the same fate.  so for that we thank you.


for the programmers out there, as has been pointed out by others in this thread, if you get the brilliant idea of adding a function to your program that involves deleting the contents of a folder, you should stop what you are doing, take a break from the computer, and jump into an ice cold shower.  it's just a recipe for disaster, and no matter how clever you try to be, the chances of something going wrong are just way to high to offset any convenience that might be gained.  the solution, if you need the directory emptied, is as veign suggests, and as i understand circledock does now, is simply to tell the user to go empty the directory on their own.

17103

Developer's Corner / Re: Free icons for developers

« Last post by mouser on February 04, 2010, 10:57 AM »

Thanks app, those are nice 

17104

DcUpdater / Re: For developers who want to add DcUpdater check to their apps: dcuhelper.exe

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 11:43 PM »

ok let me see if i can answer.. the way dcuhelper works is its checking for a .dcupdate file in the directory where the dcuhelper.exe was run by default.  so it doesn't care how many instances of circledock is installed or running.. it's only going to check the version of the .dcupdate file in its directory with the web version.  so i think that solves the mutex issue, and means it's suitable for portable installation as well.

now keep in mind that typically the way dcuhelper and the fuller dcupdater program work is they just offer to download and run the normal installer.. after that it's up to the user and/or the installer to decide where to install, etc.  though it's also possible to have the updater unpack a zip file.

but for simplicity the idea i've always followed is to let the installer do the work.. the updater doesn't try to support fancy options for figuring out what files need replacing, etc.  it simply checks if a new version is available, and either brings them to the web page to grab it (dcuhelper without dcupdater installed), or downloads and runs the installer (if they have the optional bigger dcupdater installed).

17105

Circle Dock / Re: Update: WARNING!!! Circle Dock Portable Maker has a SEVERE program Flaw!!!!

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 10:07 PM »

maybe the smartest thing to do would be to avoid these portability options and process completely until a new version is released.

17106

Find And Run Robot / Re: FarrFolders Demo

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 07:12 PM »

very nice. 

17107

Circle Dock / Re: circledock DELETED ALL MY FILES! help!

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 05:30 PM »

same here.

17108

Circle Dock / Re: circledock DELETED ALL MY FILES! help!

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 05:18 PM »

yeah the most important thing is not to put any new data onto that drive where files were deleted, as that's the fastest way to make the lost data unrecoverable.
GetDataBack is the program i've seen recommended most often on DC for recovery.

17109

Circle Dock / Re: circledock DELETED ALL MY FILES! help!

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 05:07 PM »

My whole day has been spent on this, in between rubbing my eyes and pacing back and forth while the data recovery picks up my deleted files...

i've been there my friend, you only left out: heart racing, feeling like you were going to cry/die, screaming at top of your lungs.
hang in there, we're here to help.  sometimes the only thing that comforts me is thinking how much worse things could have been.. small comfort i know.

17110

Circle Dock / Re: circledock DELETED ALL MY FILES! help!

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 04:06 PM »

Hi thegipper,

try to stay calm and make sure you don't do anything on the computer that could make the situation worse:
don't empty recycle bin
avoid doing stuff that would create new files on the disk or write onto the disk, as that could overwrite space where the deleted files are and can be recovered from.

the authors of circle dock will see this soon and be in touch with you.

i didn't write the make-portable function, but your description certainly sounds like it might be to blame.. i worry that maybe that the make-portable function might not have the safeguards it should have and could have led to this.. but i have no idea.  let's wait and see what they say.

hang in there. you won't be ignored.

17111

Living Room / Re: Itching to put together your own pc from parts, but need help choosing parts?

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 02:12 PM »

 

17112

Living Room / Re: Itching to put together your own pc from parts, but need help choosing parts?

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 01:27 PM »

i agree with what JJ is saying.. it's very hard to argue for any financial savings in building your own pc, and the support problems and the defective part problems are completely yours alone when you build it yourself.

and with so many choices in the configuration websites of the big builders, you can really customize the pcs you have built by dell, gateway, compaq, etc.

i think the real reason to build your own pc is the same reason you might build your own furniture, the enjoyment of creating it yourself.

17113

CircleDock Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials / Re: Adding "Power Options" for Windows OS (Tips & Tricks)

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 01:23 PM »

very nice walkthrough!

by the way in addition to normal, minimized, maximized, there is also a "Hidden" execution mode that may not be added to the program yet.  might want to add that so it doesn't even flash on toolbar.

17114

FlipSuite and Flipbook Printer / Re: help, impossible to use flipbook primter

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 10:09 AM »

sounds like maybe there is something about the video file that is confusing the program.. a non-standard file maybe?  could you maybe convert it to another avi file using a video processing program?  How big is the file?

17115

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 10:08 AM »

Welcome Jason    Nice avatar by the way.

17116

Living Room / Re: Just how many Hitler videos does the world need?

« Last post by mouser on February 03, 2010, 12:07 AM »

i've reflected on how upsetting this could be to those whose families were affected by this man and this regime.. i'm sure there are a variety of views -- some might enjoy the mockery of the man, but i can also see some people being deeply hurt at the idea of people having fun watching this mass murderer...

anyway, maybe it's just not the best subject for making a donationcoder video..

17117

Screenshot Captor / Re: Screenshot Captor and drop shadow - continuation from email...

« Last post by mouser on February 02, 2010, 07:37 PM »

that png that i attached to the previous post is a working example of saving with transparency when that option is unchecked (note you have to uncheck that BEFORE you create the shadow effect).

it has a shadow with true transparency, that is blended into the background of the web page (at least in firefox and IE8).

if i open it in irfanview here is what it looks like:

17118

Screenshot Captor / Re: Screenshot Captor and drop shadow - continuation from email...

« Last post by mouser on February 02, 2010, 07:36 PM »

this should be possible by unchecking the flatten transparency option:


just make sure you save as a png file.

17119

Mouser's Zone / MOVED: Screenshot Captor and drop shadow - continuation from email...

« Last post by mouser on February 02, 2010, 07:33 PM »

This topic has been moved to Screenshot Captor.

https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=21596.0

17120

Living Room / Seagate's Replica: Highly praised foolproof backup drive and software

« Last post by mouser on February 02, 2010, 06:40 PM »

Just came across this on Tom's Hardware site -- they really love it and say it's the first foolproof backup solution they've come across.  Might be the perfect gift for a loved one in your life who needs some backup intervention.

Seagate’s Replica is a portable hard drive with automatic backup, versioning, and disaster recovery features to make backup a no-brainer. The product works so well that it deserves our rare Best of Tom’s Award.

Looks like its from $130 to $180 in price: http://www.seagate.com/replica/

http://www.tomshardw...p-recovery,2450.html

17121

WorldCup Predictor / Re: FIFA World Cup Predictor 2010

« Last post by mouser on February 02, 2010, 06:01 PM »

awesome work anodyne, can't wait to check out your scores.

because of the nature of the simulation, it is certainly calculating the predicted finalists, semi-finalists, and winners as it simulates millions of games, the only question would be how to display this info.. are we talking about just reporting the most likely finalists, semi-finalists, winners, or listing probablities of each team for each of these categories, or trying to look at betting payoffs for these bets?

17122

Living Room / Itching to put together your own pc from parts, but need help choosing parts?

« Last post by mouser on February 02, 2010, 05:53 PM »

Tom's Hardware is one of the most respected computer hardware review sites on the web.

They've started a new regular series called "BestConfigs" where they regularly challenge some of their more serious people to put together and optimize a few machines at different price points, and then they analyze the hell out of them, overclock them, and sum up the performance.

So if you've been itching to try putting together a new PC, I think you'd do well to keep an eye on this series, and when you find a pc setup that tests particularly well and fits your budget, well then you have a parts list and you can give it a try.

Welcome to a new feature we call BestConfigs, where you can find recommended parts for office PCs, gaming rigs, a workstation, or a home theater setup. If you're so inclined, feel free to chip in with suggestions for next month's recommendations, too!

http://www.tomshardw...e-pc-build,2506.html

17123

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: Live Screensaver

« Last post by mouser on February 02, 2010, 05:27 PM »

but I need the information to continue to update itself at least every 5-10 seconds.

that's an interesting idea and i'm not sure i've seen it implemented yet.

To sum up:

• You want a screensaver -- something that kicks in automatically after some disuse, or which could be triggered manually
• You want something that acts prevents burn in by changing the screen pixels regularly, but presumably leaves the information on the screen in a somewhat readable state.
• But you also need it to work with the latest view of the desktop, which is going to be changing regularly.

Some things that would be useful to know:

• You mention swirling screensaver effects, etc.  it's not clear to me what your ideal desire is in terms of how readable the screen should be while this is in effect.
• Does anyone know what kind of minimal visual manipulation is necessary to prevent burn in, and might also save energy?  In other words, could you simply invert the screen colors for every other second?

17124

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Release: Trout (audio player)

« Last post by mouser on February 02, 2010, 04:19 PM »

i don't use cover art, but the new layout is fine with me. 

17125

LaunchBar Commander / Re: Using LBC to make Windows 7 usable

« Last post by mouser on February 02, 2010, 09:21 AM »

Right ok now i understand completely.. you want to be able to control spacing more.. perhaps something as simple as being able to create spacer elements.  I think i should be able to add that.