Recent Posts

1876

Living Room / Re: Great Britain is frozen!

« Last post by rjbull on January 12, 2010, 02:33 PM »

lovely picture (+ lovely landscape!)

-tomos (January 11, 2010, 04:38 PM)

Thanks, tomos!    I was on my way to photograph something else, but I couldn't pass that by.  We don't often see hoar frost like that in my part of England.

1877

Living Room / Re: Great Britain is frozen!

« Last post by rjbull on January 11, 2010, 04:15 PM »

Somerset, 4th January

1878

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by rjbull on January 04, 2010, 03:42 PM »

Getting started with Total Commander was a brilliant idea

-TucknDar (December 31, 2009, 06:00 PM)

I had that idea ten years ago    Mostly because it was put into my head by a knowledgeable Fidonet sysop - thanks, Martin!

1879

General Software Discussion / Re: Quasi Post-It note utility?

« Last post by rjbull on December 31, 2009, 04:24 PM »

barney,

I currently use Magic Notes which is $19.95, mostly as I've been using it for years.  Recent versions can attach to specific windows, but I haven't tested this feature much.  The main thing I don't like about MN is that every note is a hidden window, so if you lose some other window and have to go and find it, you're apt to have horse's work to do so.

Tom Revell who wrote Stickies is very helpful, so it's worth contacting him.  And, as you're a DC charter member, DC discounts are available to you.  The "Specials" page still lists the 30% discount on Notezilla as active.  Notezilla has had some happy comments on DC in the past.

I'd be interested to hear if you ever do find your original application, though.

1880

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by rjbull on December 31, 2009, 04:02 PM »

Buying a lifetime license when there was a discount a while back was a good idea 

1881

General Software Discussion / Re: Batch photo filter software?

« Last post by rjbull on December 31, 2009, 04:00 PM »

8bf^w is the file extension of photoshop filters*

-tomos (December 29, 2009, 04:38 PM)

Thanks, tomos!  Clearer now 

1882

General Software Discussion / Re: Batch photo filter software?

« Last post by rjbull on December 29, 2009, 03:56 PM »

What are 8bf filters, please?

1883

General Software Discussion / Re: ShadowProtect Desktop or Macrium Reflect?

« Last post by rjbull on December 22, 2009, 04:20 PM »

I don't know if Macrium has a refund policy, if yes, you don't risk that much by buying the real product and ask a refund if it doesn't work with your setup.

-MerleOne (December 22, 2009, 06:39 AM)

Quoting the Macrium Purchase page:

30 Day Money Back Guarantee:

All purchases from us come with an unconditional guarantee. If you are not satisfied with one of our software products, contact us within 30 days for instructions on obtaining a refund.

1884

Word Processor Roundup / Re: Textmaker (Softmaker/Ashampoo Office) 2008

« Last post by rjbull on December 17, 2009, 02:53 PM »

I am pleased with Office 2010, but if you don't need to have the newest I would say Office 2008 may be a better deal; it is for certain worth every penny...:

-Curt (December 17, 2009, 02:06 PM)

Curt, please, what advantages does 2010 have over 2008 for you?

1885

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Breevy - Text replacer / expander and program / website launcher.

« Last post by rjbull on December 03, 2009, 02:57 PM »

Breevy is scheduled to be on BdJ at 57% off on November 29th.

-P.a.t.r.i.c.k. (November 01, 2009, 11:47 AM)

I see that went wrong, and has been re-scheduled for 3d. Jan. 2010.

I plan to make a post a week or so before that date.

I didn't see it,  but I don't log on to DC as often as I used to.  I set a reminder at BdJ for the January offer, though.

1886

General Software Discussion / Re: Text editor with filtering of lines

« Last post by rjbull on November 28, 2009, 03:56 PM »

Kedit does this ... But Kedit is most definitely not freeware.

-xtabber (November 26, 2009, 12:46 PM)

Not tried by me, but maybe The Hessling Editor, THE ?

THE is a powerful text editor modelled on the VM/CMS text editor XEDIT with the best features of Mansfield Software's Kedit.

1887

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by rjbull on November 08, 2009, 10:23 AM »

Currently reading Kate Elliot's  "Traitors' Gate," third in her Crossroads series.  She's a good fantasist, but this one isn't to my mind as good as her earlier Crown of Stars sequence.  Before finding that one, I'd begun to think that fantasies set in pseudo-Mediaeval pseudo-North European milieus were, however enjoyable, using a paint-by-numbers public domain background.  Crown of Stars changed my view on that.  She used the very early Middle Ages, and made it grittily real, rather than starting from unconsidered hand-me-down retellings of Arthurian legend.  The marvellous inverted version of Christianity is fascinating and the character development is excellent.

1888

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by rjbull on November 08, 2009, 10:09 AM »

I've recently been reading the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich - 15

-tanis424 (October 17, 2009, 08:24 AM)

I gave up on those when they all began to seem the same - off-sage hot sex and on-stage comfort food...

1889

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: SysAdmin-focused Account Information Keeper

« Last post by rjbull on November 08, 2009, 09:55 AM »

I use KeyNote from Tranglos for this task.

-aimshk (November 08, 2009, 06:56 AM)

In the same vein, the OP might consider Horst Schaeffer's MemPad.  It's portable, which can be an advantage.

1890

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Bits Du Jour and GAOTD one-day deals

« Last post by rjbull on November 05, 2009, 02:23 PM »

PowerCMD is on offer again on Bits du Jour for Tuesday 10th Nov. 2009, for $9.99 instead of regular $29.95.

1891

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a difference tool

« Last post by rjbull on November 04, 2009, 04:02 PM »

app103, take a look at TED Notepad, a small, very fast and amazingly feature-rich editor.  Press Control-Alt-M and you get boxes to type/paste your texts in.  Don't know if it will show the differences as clearly as you want, see image attached, but it's worth a look as an all-round useful "Swiss Army knife for text" anyway.

1892

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by rjbull on November 02, 2009, 02:28 PM »

I don't like Evernote's web version.  Not because of the features, but more because I strongly prefer using localized software.  I still use Evernote's version 2.

-superboyac (October 27, 2009, 11:05 AM)

Same here.  I didn't want my data held hostage on someone else's servers, forcing me to keep paying to access what I had laboriously gathered.  Besides, I'm in the UK, and don't really trust the quality of Internet connections.  Evernote 2 was the way to stay.

1893

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« Last post by rjbull on November 02, 2009, 01:49 PM »

Crud, Hound is sometimes leaving behind text files when I search PDFs  [...] Anybody else notice this?

-sajman99 (October 30, 2009, 06:07 PM)

I hadn't noticed, but, I don't use it very often.  Suggest you e-mail Fidel?

1894

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Breevy - Text replacer / expander and program / website launcher.

« Last post by rjbull on November 02, 2009, 01:46 PM »

Simplicity, ease of use, and speed.

-P.a.t.r.i.c.k. (November 01, 2009, 11:47 AM)

Sounds good, as long as it has enough features.  E.g., Instant Text has very good import features, including the ability to analyse a corpus of text and produce a set of abbreviations from it, also to make those abbreviations in different styles, e.g. John Knowles' ABCZ Typing Abbreviation System.  IT is expensive...  no wonder.

Breevy is scheduled to be on BdJ at 57% off on November 29th. I plan to make a post a week or so before that date.

Sounds excellent 

1895

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Breevy - Text replacer / expander and program / website launcher.

« Last post by rjbull on October 31, 2009, 05:06 PM »

There's a load of programs that do some of all of what Breevy does: e.g. Phrase Express, Typing Assistant, Comfort Keys, Instant Text, IntelliComplete, Type Pilot/Speed Pilot, and many others, plus roll-your-won with AutoHotKey.  Some of them are free, or free for personal use, others have been offered at DC or BdJ discounts  <hint>.  What do you see as Breevy's special strengths compared to the field?

1896

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: UltraRecall discounted on BitsDuJour.com today (2009-10-07)

« Last post by rjbull on October 13, 2009, 03:05 PM »

I hope development will continue at a reasonable pace, though I'm not sure (yet) what more I want from it.

-Dormouse (October 10, 2009, 06:17 PM)

I originally registered because I didn't like the way EverNote was going, and UR seemed a possible replacement.  In my experience, clipping from the Web isn't nearly as seamless as it is with EverNote.  However, it looks like UR offers many more possibilities for organisation of information.  I was beginning to wonder if I could use that to make bulletins in more graphical form than the plain text I used to use.  UR's royalty-free reader program might have been a useful extra, if I'd had to distribute knowledge bases.

1897

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: UltraRecall discounted on BitsDuJour.com today (2009-10-07)

« Last post by rjbull on October 10, 2009, 04:09 PM »

Whether it is really worth upgrading to v4 from v3, I'm not so sure - though it does bring compatibility with W7. Given that they had announced that they weren't going to develop UR any more, getting a new version and continued development is a good thing and they do need enough money coming in with it to make their work worthwhile.

-Dormouse (October 07, 2009, 01:11 PM)

I wondered why the installer I had gave an unregistered version on my new Vista laptop, until I discovered it was v4 and a for-pay major upgrade.  Kinook kindly pointed me to a v3 file, so I was able to get going again.  I was disappointed the BdJ offer didn't include a 3 to 4 upgrade.  Without an income now, I wasn't prepared to spend that much to update a program I've never (yet) got to grips with.  As you observe, they said they weren't going to update it any more, so I was surprised at a new major version.  But I was very grateful to get the old one back.

1898

General Software Discussion / Re: The Best Of: text editors

« Last post by rjbull on October 08, 2009, 10:44 AM »

In the recent EmEditor 9 beta, the author introduced the CSV mode which is very handy.
Most of my scientific data are saved in csv and EmEditor 9 is the only text editor can display it nicely. (except those sluggish spreadsheet program)

-cecilyen (October 06, 2009, 03:35 PM)

I think UltraEdit can instantly convert CSV into neatly-spaced columns.  For quick looks at small CSV files intended for import into Excel, I used to use List² (ListSquared) which is great for that job.  Warning - the ListSquared Web site is up and down like a yoyo.

1899

General Software Discussion / Re: Recommend a text scraper for Vista?

« Last post by rjbull on October 01, 2009, 04:00 PM »

I suppose you could always take a .tif screenshot and feed that to SI7.
Not quite the ideal solution, though.

-cranioscopical (September 27, 2009, 12:02 PM)

I thought of taking a screenshot and pasting it into EverNote 2.2.  Trouble is, EverNote will index text in a screenshot, but doesn't seem to make it accessible, even though it does that for handwritten "ink notes."

@Curt:
Thanks - I must have thought ScreenOCR was some sort of clone of Kleptomania (they use the same icon) but if it can do more, will be worth a look.  I e-mailed StructuRise, authors of Kleptomania, but so far don't seem to have had a reply.

1900

General Software Discussion / Re: Recommend a text scraper for Vista?

« Last post by rjbull on September 27, 2009, 10:59 AM »

I don't have Vista but how about Snagit, which has a trial version here?

-cranioscopical (September 26, 2009, 03:56 PM)

I have a license for the free but older 7.something version of Snagit, picked up in their fairly recent offer (I think from following a DC notice).  But Snagit say that particular version won't work on Vista - some people say it will,  but it didn't seem to for me - so I took that line no further.  In fact, the free license qualifies you for a reduced rate on the latest full version as being an existing user, so maybe I'll look into that.  At present though I'm trying to reign in expenditure... 

I should also have mentioned JOCR as well, but that will only work if you have M$ Office installed.  My laptop came with it, but I haven't licensed it, so don't know if JOCR will work.