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1726

Living Room / Re: UserNameCheck: A very cool way to see what sites your username is available on

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 24, 2008, 02:43 PM »

Beat me to it Edvard. That's too bad, I was looking to test the site out.

1727

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: The Superior Software List

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 24, 2008, 06:41 AM »

@superboyac @jgpaiva

Sorry. Those words weren't really intended to offend.

You sure can dislike the site, I just think you chose the wrong way to express it. Some constructive criticism would be better, as the way you expressed yourself is just offensive towards the author of the work, IMO.

Agreed and that's why I added the part about Mashable and Kathy Sierra as those were the formats that resounded well with me.

Any further constructive criticism I really couldn't share as the list isn't up yet.

I definitely did not appreciate that comment.  I understand what you are saying.  But my list is sort of a "thank you" to DC members, and you just can't say that.  Even though I don't write the details, I put a lot of thought and experience into what appears in that list.  I can talk for pages about exactly what I like about each and every one of those programs, I just don't have the time to write it all out.  This forum here is very special, and there's a lot of trust between the members.  Don't devalue the importance of that trust.

I'm not sure if this was lost in translation but I wasn't criticizing your site content as much as the model. Just making sure that was clear.

I would have quoted the part about Zaine's list since that was what I mainly reference on but I didn't feel it was necessary since someone quoted that section just right before my post.

I bet you like the long reviews, Paul!  You write the longest posts ever!  Ha!
I'm with you about the long, in-depth reviews.  But from a maintenance standpoint, it's impossible to keep up with it.  Like my Notetaking roundup, that thing took so long to do, I can barely ever do something like that again with all my other responsibilities.

Well, guilty as charged 

I would just like to clarify though that it's not necessarily the length of the reviews that matter to me but the value. I'll clarify below.

The way that you get turned off by a short, not detailed review is the most people would get turned off by an extremely long review.

See, the thing is, believe it or not, I'm not turned off by a short, not detailed review.

The other thing that you have to understand is that the majority of people are not like you.  They don't like to read super long posts nor do they write super long posts.  So, when they see an extremely long review about a piece of software they are considering, they may not even have th motivation to read the whole thing and just ignore it as soon as they see the length.  You write some seriously long posts, brother, and as much as I like reading your posts, I know for a fact that most people would not pay attention to everything you write (I'm not normal either!).

So, you prefer to be really, really complete and extremely detailed when you write something.  But that's not necessarily better than taking a step back, and just concentrating what you want to say in a very short, concise way.  That is what Zaine is so good at in his list.  In a couple of sentences, you get the idea.  Now go download the software and play with it.

Don't worry, I understand. In fact, you could say that's why I prefer writing this way.

It's not so much of a desire to see something in-depth over something short but of the fact that Zaine's format has been overused.

Don't get me wrong, I like Zaine's choices. It's the format that's overused. This becomes problematic for users wanting to find something more because all these kinds of lists are designed to as you said "get the idea, go download the software and play with it." and what's worst, often times these becomes the list that gets on top of Google and on the frontpage of social media sites.

The end result being that even if the author didn't have that intention when writing the article, the bottomline is that these lists have become linkbaits whose value is to repeat certain programs that have been mentioned before and add "something" more and it's just a constant race of updating the format again and again with most writer expressing similar concerns as you.

This isn't bad per se because it is true that many don't have the time to maintain a detailed list but the unfortunate side effect is that the sheer amount of these kind of short lists outweigh in depth lists that in the long term, it produces a tidal wave effect where choice heavily favors a certain kind of "tech" searcher and the lesser ones must suffer through forums (most not being as kind as DC to newbies) or settle for a book that is basically a collection of blog articles combined, rephrased and polished and made to look scrumptious.

That is what the "Oh that sucks" meant. It wasn't so much "Oh that sucks, that list is not long enough" or "Oh that sucks, why bother making this list?" as much as "Oh, that's unfortunate. Another list that's not for people like me." 

To further clarify this, I'm not saying you should change the format and it might sound contradictory to what I've expressed above but the truth is, I'm truly not bothered by the Zaine's list format one bit and that is the optimum format for most diagonal readers so it's far from a bad thing in my opinion.

1728

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 -- ribbons for everyone!

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 09:35 PM »

Besides, you can install that FARR-like plugin for Office and search through the functions.

Hmm... I don't use FARR but this sounds interesting. Care to elaborate?

1729

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 -- ribbons for everyone!

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 06:24 PM »

I don't understand the hate for the ribbon. Its a fresh UI idea backed up with lots of research and has good intentions, it seems people like to hate on it (I'm not talking about the discussion here) just because its from Microsoft. Somehow I think if Apple had done this it would be hailed as the 'best user interface in the world' to thunderous applause for Steve Jobs

-MrCrispy (September 23, 2008, 06:11 PM)

That's the internet for you.

1730

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: The Superior Software List

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 06:21 PM »

Oh that sucks. I was hoping someone would mix the Mashable Long as Hell Lists with the way Kathy Sierra used to blog by creating two similar articles, one that was short and precise and the other being long and chock full of in depth thoughts but that's just me. I've been burned for so long with lists that recommended products but never linked to in-depth reviews of those products and just cross-reference an old article they wrote about said products.

1731

General Software Discussion / Re: [How To] Control your computer by voice commands

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 06:04 PM »

2sri
For NfS you could sound like a bad wife on passenger's seat
"Left, Left, Right, Slow down! brake!"

-fenixproductions (September 23, 2008, 06:38 AM)

Damn it, now you make me want to play NfS 

1732

General Software Discussion / Re: [How To] Control your computer by voice commands

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 06:31 AM »

Yeah, that's better. 2nd program looks more promising since it seems it can be used for games based on the command list. Looking forward to your review.

1733

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 -- ribbons for everyone!

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 06:29 AM »

Haha 

1734

DC Gamer Club / Re: This man knows what is he talking about! (CHECK IT OUT!)

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 06:28 AM »

Haha, yeah. I was just kidding around. Still wouldn't you have rather seen Gordon Freeman wielding the Painkiller rather than some cheap crowbar to kill the aliens?

1735

General Software Discussion / Re: [How To] Control your computer by voice commands

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 06:01 AM »

I feel so stupid for repeatedly clicking the screen and wondering why it was referring me to a broken link instead of playing the video. 

1736

DC Gamer Club / Re: This man knows what is he talking about! (CHECK IT OUT!)

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 03:14 AM »

I hated Half-Life like the pit of Hades but it could be because I never got past the reality that I could dominate the early opponents with a crowbar. I mean a crowbar?! A freaking crowbar against aliens!!!???

-Paul Keith (September 20, 2008, 05:37 PM)

A crowbar would be quite effective against humans, so why not aliens as well?

I loved half-life and half-life 2 + the extra episodes. Decent graphics (but not over-the-top, runs great even on older hardware), nice storyline, etc.

-f0dder (September 21, 2008, 06:57 AM)

Clearly you're not a fan of Ridley Scott's Alien  Come on, a crowbar? Not even a fire breathing torch like the one in Alien 3?

It's just a different opinion though and hey, I haven't played Half-Life much after all.

1737

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 -- ribbons for everyone!

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 03:10 AM »

Well, with regards to this topic, I don't think better research would have helped. Software firewalls are in themselves a hit or miss type of security that can differ based on one's preference. (see f0dder and nosh's opinion)

Of course anything that works will be said to greatly improve one's security especially in the stinking bile of virus goo that is Windows. I'm sure there are even people out there that would stand by Norton because it's enough, then there would be people that would stand by the old Spybot + AdAware Spyware combo because it's enough, then there would be people that would stand by AVG because it's enough. All three different levels of security quality but also have people who would stand by that there's better. Isn't that always the case with security programs?

The key thing with these programs though is that they should never be installed by default especially when they can break something in my opinion or at least have a way for average users to know the difference rather than just secure them when clearly the operating system is still very vulnerable even with it on especially on a not yet updated Windows.

1738

General Software Discussion / Re: CCleaner Or Not?

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 03:00 AM »

For unnecessary files, I too find Revo to be the best because of it's multiple settings. It's a bit slow because of trying to detect these additional files though but I haven't found anything better out there.

1739

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you keep two computers synchronized? i.e. work + home. If so, how?

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 02:56 AM »

Applications like these appeal more towards people who want a free online usb stick than a synching or backup system.

-Paul Keith (September 22, 2008, 03:50 PM)

I organize my USB stick with directories as well.

-Deozaan (September 23, 2008, 01:47 AM)

As do I. Sorry for the misunderstanding. What I meant to say was whenever I have a new usb stick, I find half the fun is to recreate all the directories and subdirectories and see if I get a better structure than before rather than uploading the old folders.

1740

General Software Discussion / Re: The New (And Improved?) VLC

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 23, 2008, 02:52 AM »

Thanks. Ironically I just redownloaded VLC today after a long while without reading this thread and was surprised with the new look. I'm not sure what to say to it.

It looks better but at the same time, looks too kiddie but I always never felt right when I couldn't go fullscreen using alt+enter.

1741

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 -- ribbons for everyone!

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 22, 2008, 07:48 PM »

I really do not understand how being ignorant of what the firewall is up to makes it dangerous.  Seems to me that for even the most novice user then a firewall like the windows one is a little piece of security you can have which takes no work on your part.

-Grorgy (September 22, 2008, 04:48 PM)

How many times do I need to copy paste this? 

Windows Firewall turned out to be one of the two most significant reasons (the other being DCOM activation security)[4] that many corporations did not upgrade to Service Pack 2 in a timely fashion. Around the time of SP2's release, a number of Internet sites were reporting significant application compatibility issues, though the majority of those ended up being nothing more than ports that needed to be opened on the firewall so that components of distributed systems (typically backup and antivirus solutions) could communicate.

It's like not understanding why windows update is bad. Yes, the concept is simple enough but when you start having a company that adds WGA activation out of the blue, hardware/software incompatibility and other things that makes having it act like a russian roulette, then yes, it's a bad thing. In the case with the XP firewall, it was near useless. Something that made you think you were safe but of course you had to add lots of other security apps like a decent antivirus and a decent anti-spyware and by the time you have them all installed, it becomes what it is: something that you don't even need enabled because it wasn't protecting you enough in the first place and only either made it a headache for ignorant users or made these same ignorant users feel secure while they go install all the junk into their PC.

1742

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you keep two computers synchronized? i.e. work + home. If so, how?

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 22, 2008, 03:50 PM »

I've used DropBoks (not Box, thats a different service) ever since it first showed up on the web - small files for school and personal stuff, but it it freaking awesome how they keep it simple, yet powerful behind the scenes. Familiar interface, compressed.

EDIT: Also, unlike DropBox, DropBoks doesn't require a download - you upload and download your files in a small explorer-like box.

-wreckedcarzz (September 19, 2008, 12:33 AM)

I just tried out DropBoks. It's almost completely useless because it doesn't have an easy way to upload an entire directory and all subdirectories. Instead it forces you to manually create each directory, navigate into the directory, then browse your computer into the appropriate directory, then upload all files from the directory. But any subdirectories are ignored and you have to start the process over again.

-Deozaan (September 22, 2008, 12:50 PM)

True but with the size available to you in DropBoks, it's really more a hassle if you had to restructure your directory just to reduce the space it takes.

Applications like these appeal more towards people who want a free online usb stick than a synching or backup system.

1743

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 -- ribbons for everyone!

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 22, 2008, 03:45 PM »

So the ribbon will find its way into the Windows Firewall? 

-TucknDar (September 22, 2008, 11:22 AM)

That might just make me enable it. 

The Windows Firewall is quite adequate, it's stable, and it's light on resources. The bad things said about it has mostly been out of ignorance, FUD, or marketing interests from the various software firewall vendors. If you need outbound filtering, you need a proper firewall box, not a software firewall on client machines.

Ignorance is the core issue that makes the firewall most dangerous.

End-users generally don't need to mess with the firewall, especially since most proper apps these days add exceptions during install or config time.

Windows Firewall turned out to be one of the two most significant reasons (the other being DCOM activation security)[4] that many corporations did not upgrade to Service Pack 2 in a timely fashion. Around the time of SP2's release, a number of Internet sites were reporting significant application compatibility issues, though the majority of those ended up being nothing more than ports that needed to be opened on the firewall so that components of distributed systems (typically backup and antivirus solutions) could communicate.

Security through ignorance is much more dangerous than security through obscurity.

1744

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 -- ribbons for everyone!

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 22, 2008, 04:34 AM »

* market inertia - Windows firewall was new so people stuck to names they had trusted before

True but you're omitting the fact that these were also the users most likely to look in depth into their firewalls which leads us to:

* marketing - all the main manufacturers said Windows Firewall was crap and people believed them

Which would make sense if you didn't just clearly point out that the firewall is at the end only as secure as having a router firewall thus rendering it insecure and all that fear didn't come from marketing alone. Windows has a reputation for being insecure.
   

* ignorance - if you can't cope with Windows Firewall HTF are you going to deal with ZoneAlarm ?

Exactly so why give casual users a ticking time bomb that they might break?     

* Windows XP SP2 Firewall doesn't protect outgoing connections (leaktests). True but then most of the 3rd party apps don't out of the box (and most don't really even after extensive tweaking - they only appear to with smoke and mirrors). Those that do are usually complex to set up and even more complex to manage in use.

Agreed to the best of my understanding which isn't much.

If you live behind a Router firewall Windows Firewall is perfectly adequate for most people and doesn't screw up your system like many of the 3rd party apps.

I think the better question here is if you live behind a router firewall, do you even need Windows firewall or is it just adequate for the very reason that you no longer need it except for risking the stability of your system?

1745

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 22, 2008, 04:09 AM »

Hoo boy...anyone have a summary so I don't end up repeating most if not all my extensions?

1746

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 -- ribbons for everyone!

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 22, 2008, 04:02 AM »

Wordpad must be the most useless app in Windows. There, a completely useless remark, but I just felt like it.

-TucknDar (September 20, 2008, 04:36 PM)

Have you tried Windows Firewall for XP? 

-Paul Keith (September 20, 2008, 05:26 PM)

I hope that was joke?

-f0dder (September 21, 2008, 07:56 PM)

What if I was serious? 

-Paul Keith (September 21, 2008, 08:36 PM)

Then I'd have to ask 'why?'.

The Windows firewall protects against incoming attacks, which is what a software firewall should be doing. It's pretty light on resources, doesn't generally get in your way, doesn't cause stability problems, and works out of the box.

-f0dder (September 22, 2008, 12:51 AM)

Actually if it did, no one would be recommending other software firewalls like ZoneAlarm. What the firewall did was add a whole lot of headaches to novice users who didn't know how to configure the firewall while not being on par enough with other firewalls that it didn't really make XP secure while also causing stability problems.

From the wikipedia entry alone:

Windows Firewall turned out to be one of the two most significant reasons (the other being DCOM activation security)[4] that many corporations did not upgrade to Service Pack 2 in a timely fashion. Around the time of SP2's release, a number of Internet sites were reporting significant application compatibility issues, though the majority of those ended up being nothing more than ports that needed to be opened on the firewall so that components of distributed systems (typically backup and antivirus solutions) could communicate.

1747

General Software Discussion / Re: List of newbie questions regarding software

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 22, 2008, 12:41 AM »

Just another quick update:

After reading this topic about an old school PIM, it struck me that there isn't a definite minimalistic standard a data dump application should have but obviously people have their core set of definition judging by the popularity of RTM, Google Notebook and EverNote over more feature filled alternatives so I just like to inquire what's everyone's preferred minimalistic apps or feature list to gain some insight on my own needs.

1748

General Software Discussion / Re: Please Help Me "Transition" to Internet Exploder...err Explorer

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 21, 2008, 08:37 PM »

THe "point" is that when companies allow employees to install programs on company-owned computers, the IT department spends more time cleaning/disinfecting machines than any other activity.

-J-Mac (September 19, 2008, 10:19 PM)

At which point they should admit that their preferred method of reactive maintenance is fundamentally flawed and they should start looking at something a bit more proactive, eg. DeepFreeze.

Of course, the only problem with that approach is that management might find they no longer need such a large IT department 

-4wd (September 21, 2008, 07:38 PM)

Damn it, I don't have some corporate friends to share this joke with. 

1749

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 -- ribbons for everyone!

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 21, 2008, 08:36 PM »

Wordpad must be the most useless app in Windows. There, a completely useless remark, but I just felt like it.

-TucknDar (September 20, 2008, 04:36 PM)

Have you tried Windows Firewall for XP? 

-Paul Keith (September 20, 2008, 05:26 PM)

I hope that was joke?

-f0dder (September 21, 2008, 07:56 PM)

What if I was serious? 

1750

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 -- ribbons for everyone!

« Last post by Paul Keith on September 21, 2008, 04:40 PM »

As a result, the data MS collects might be biased toward less experienced users.

Bingo. Less experienced users means users less likely to go look for an autosaving notepad or know about keyboard shortcuts.