Recent Posts

1951

Living Room / Re: Things your kids will never know - old school tech!

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 05:16 PM »

Yes, you're right. I used to have nightmares about the Soviets nuking us (live within 5 km of an air force base that was targeted during the Cold War). The Matthew Broderick movie "War Games" really scared the snot out of me...

1952

Living Room / Re: Things your kids will never know - old school tech!

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 04:56 PM »

Ah! I forgot about the air raid drills siren tests as well... not to mention weekly ICBM Raid drills in school.

1953

Living Room / Re: Things your kids will never know - old school tech!

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 04:17 PM »

I can't believe how quickly I've forgotten about horizontal and vertical hold! Of course, I guess it has been at least 20 years... but still. I actually remember life before cable TV... and on a b+w TV at that. I know, I know, I'm in good company here!

1954

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 03:36 PM »

Three hours later and PaperPort is on folder 54 of 6027  I'm debating whether this experiment is worth it or not... I certainly don't need to have my pdfs indexed by PaperPort and it's using a lot of CPU... Right, that's that, then. I've just decided that I can't be bothered.

I agree with you about OCR, Carol. However, while using OmniPage to convert a scanned image into a text document can be an exercise in frustration, I've had really good experiences using PDF Converter 4 and now 5 Professional to convert pdfs into searchable documents.

1955

Living Room / Re: Apologies

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 01:15 PM »

I hope you stick around as well, Glenn. Your post was inappropriate in part because there was no context provided to indicate that it was meant to be humourous, and, frankly, came across more as spam than anything.

Your bio indicates that you have a fair amount of experience and expertise in programming and computer usage/maintenance so you're in good company here!

You'll find that there is a vast range of personalities, politics and worldviews represented here - there's no reason why you shouldn't fit in as well.

Hope you heed mouser's advice and give it a shot.

1956

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 01:11 PM »

I decided to update the all-in-one index in PaperPort... The reason it takes so long is that it uses OCR technology to convert the pdfs to text. I have 10's of thousands of pdfs, some up to 1000 pages long, hence the HUGE amount of time it takes to index. Why it is done this way is beyond me - the three dedicated indexers that I mentioned index my pdfs in minutes. THe main advantage to the Nuance approach is that it will index pdfs that have been created by combining images (and not selecitng "save as searchable pdf" or some similar option). These are not indexed by X1, dtSearch or Archivarius and I assume are no indexed by WDS 4, either.

1957

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 01:05 PM »

Hmm... I've had good luck with all three of the indexers that I use re: indexing pdfs (Archivarius, X1, dtSearch). These are all shareware, however. Windows Desktop Search 4 (is this the same as Live Search?) might be a good one to look at first as it's free, espeically if you are running Vista (?). I run Vista but have X1 installed on that machine and set it up to take over from WDS (before putting WDS through its paces), so can't comment or even test it... I do recall trying it at version 3 on my wife's machine and the pdf searching and previewing capabilities were pretty good, but I really didn't put it through its paces.

1958

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Scanahand RC1 Released

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 10:48 AM »

  Thanks erwind... Don't know how I missed that 

1959

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 08:46 AM »

Not as robust? Hell, I have had to stop using it due to little nicities included in it's search functionality. It's extremely quick and allows launching under admin rights simply by hitting CTRL+ENTER on the selected result. Very handy indeed.

-Josh (October 29, 2008, 08:41 AM)

Well... as noted, you can't set it up to default to a particular program to launch, for example. I do find it very handy and don't run any other launcher under Vista. Thanks for the CTRL-ENTER tip 

1960

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 08:39 AM »

OK, not much else to read, but the screenshots are worth a thousand words. Very nice! I'll be interested to hear from anyone who gives it a go...

1961

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Scanahand RC1 Released

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 08:37 AM »

Congratulations, Erwin 

I bought a licence before Scanahand was released at version 1 and before the Premium version was hived off. Do I need a new licence for Scanahand 2, is there an upgrade fee, and what version (Standard or Premium) do I now have?! I did check out the forum and the FAQ but couldn't find any answers.

1962

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 08:30 AM »

Interesting find, Curt. Thanks for pointing it out to us  Off to read up about it now...

1963

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Perfect Disk 20% discount offer

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 08:29 AM »

I did upgrade (have a maintenance agreement with them) - I haven't noticed a compelling difference. NB, though, that PD 2009 is due to be released later this year!

1964

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AnVir Pro $17

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 08:28 AM »

NB - if you have a real-time antivirus program already installed you'll need to disable the protection provided in AnVir Pro!

1965

General Software Discussion / Re: Save the Cookies!

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 08:26 AM »

Just to note - WinPatrol, in either the free or the Plus version, comes in a 64-bit flavour and allows you to specify which cookies to keep and which to zap. It's been updated recently to work with Firefox as well.

1966

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 08:21 AM »

So pretty! 
( I wonder why no one at MS has thought of incorporating a popup launcher like FARR/Launchy into the OS.  )

Waitasec, is that what the Run dialog is supposed to be?

-nosh (October 29, 2008, 03:11 AM)

The search field in the start menu functions as a file/program launcher in addition to finding content. It's not as robust as FARR or other dedicated launchers (for example, I don't think it can be trained), but it works quite well.

1967

Living Room / Re: Things your kids will never know - old school tech!

« Last post by Darwin on October 29, 2008, 08:15 AM »

I think the valves he refers to ARE tubes...er, WERE tubes. I had a Radio with tubes in it when I was a kid - my grandfather gave it to me and I restored the case and got it working. Size of a (big) microwave oven. Very warm sound, though. Anyway, transistors replaced tubes in radios, allowing for true portability - late '50s, early '60's (I think), thus, "transistor radio".

1968

Living Room / Re: High Capacity Portable MP3 Player

« Last post by Darwin on October 28, 2008, 11:07 PM »

The Zune has not been released in Australia.

Ehtyar.

-Ehtyar (October 28, 2008, 11:03 PM)

Ah... difficult, then to make the comparison 

1969

Living Room / Re: Why do so many fruits and vegetables look like human genitalia?

« Last post by Darwin on October 28, 2008, 10:50 PM »

I'm gonna go out on the edge here and guess you're from the West Coast?
In particular Pot City. :/

Edit: If you also giggle when you click the "go down" link at the top of the thread then seek immediate professional help.

-SirSmiley (October 28, 2008, 10:39 PM)

getrant is from North Bay, Ontario (ie far from the West Coast)... I just read his bio for the first time - he's pretty open about this stuff there.

1970

Living Room / Re: Eggnog season is upon us!

« Last post by Darwin on October 28, 2008, 10:44 PM »

I thought you meant cheesecake.
Hmm... that might not a bad combination either...

-Edvard (October 27, 2008, 04:37 PM)

I can't remember what brand it was, but I have had strawberry cheesecake ice cream before.

-app103 (October 28, 2008, 10:42 PM)

Baskin-Robbins carried it in the late 90's (don't know about now - haven't been since... the late 90's). Dairy Queen does a Strawberry Cheesecake Blizzard as well.

1971

Living Room / Re: High Capacity Portable MP3 Player

« Last post by Darwin on October 28, 2008, 10:43 PM »

Even though the Canadian dollar has dropped like a stone, the Zune 120 is still available priced at par with the US dollar ($240 CDN.)... Have you checked on the Aussie prices?

1972

Living Room / Re: Why do so many fruits and vegetables look like human genitalia?

« Last post by Darwin on October 28, 2008, 10:36 PM »

Have you never wondered why God (or mother nature) put a cleft in fuzzy peaches, but not in apples, oranges, or grapes?

-gpetrant (October 28, 2008, 08:53 PM)

Nope.

1973

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by Darwin on October 28, 2008, 07:12 PM »

Incidentally, re: Windows slow down over time - I didn't really experience this with either Win2k or WinXP. I found it easier to keep my systems "clean" with these NT based OS's and have been very happy with both. I think the big problem is that software that we install down the road is "optimized" for hardware that is often higher spec than our systems because what is "high-end" today is "average" tomorrow. Don't know if that is clear or not... Probably not - I'm running on a couple of nights of fractured sleep and can think clearly only of a pillow. And my duvet.

1974

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by Darwin on October 28, 2008, 07:04 PM »

PCMag snagged a milestone build of Windows 7 - here's a peek:

http://www.pcmag.com...,2817,2333434,00.asp

1975

Living Room / Re: High Capacity Portable MP3 Player

« Last post by Darwin on October 28, 2008, 06:28 PM »

I'm guessing that the Archos line is guilty of premium pricing for the screen...?