Recent Posts

2026

Find And Run Robot / Re: Latest FARR Release v2.107.04 beta - Sep 23, 2012

« Last post by J-Mac on August 19, 2008, 11:14 PM »

just uncheck the upper right checkbox to turn off all use of aliases in a given file.

or wait a few days for me to implement that feature im talking about.

-mouser (July 19, 2008, 01:45 PM)

Mouser,

You posted the quoted reply in response to my query about stopping all the other stuff showing up when I am just trying to launch programs with FARR.

So far the subsequent releases have only made it worse for what I am doing.  I haven't really used FARR as a pure search tool, but only as an application launcher.  Each release makes it harder and harder to use FARR as a launcher.

I guess I misunderstood your quote above. I thought that FARR was going to have a setting that would make it useful once again as a program launcher.  Yet at this point, using the latest version - even with ALL aliases turned off - I type in the first four or five letters of a program name and the first .lnk from the Start Menu is almost always no higher than 8th or 10th on the results list.  Instead I see junk that I in no way wish to open.  I realize that I am not checking the results list as carefully as I need to mainly because FARR used to present me with the program shortcut that I wish to launch, almost flawlessly.  Now it is much more likely that I am going to start the setup file to reinstall that program than to launch the program.

I realize that these extra search features are more popular among members here and so you are catering more to those members.  But if FARR is no longer going to be as useful as it once was as a pure program launcher, please just say so plainly.  That way I can give up on it and start using a real program launcher.

Thanks!

Jim

2027

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

« Last post by J-Mac on August 18, 2008, 03:36 PM »

Also, I am still not certain exactly how he set up its Boolean operations. If you just type in three or four words, it searches as "ANY" and brings back far too many words.

-J-Mac (August 18, 2008, 01:11 PM)

Settings > Advanced > check "Use AND mode as a default"

It should be ON by default, IMHO.

-yksyks (August 18, 2008, 03:20 PM)

No such thing in mine. Are you speaking of Copernic? Mine has Tools>Options>Advanced, but nothing at all about Boolean usage there.

Jim

2028

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

« Last post by J-Mac on August 18, 2008, 01:11 PM »

J-Mac,

I have had zero problems with Locate32 after using it for, oh, I don't know, over a year, and on dozens of computers. My only guess as to why you have problems is that you are not updating your index. Locate32 will only show you files in its index. That index needs to be updated. I have mine set to update every night and sometimes update it manually when I know the machine will be sitting idle for a while.

Do you have Locate32 properly configured to update the index?

-tinjaw (August 18, 2008, 08:15 AM)

Yes, the database updater is run every day automatically at 3 pm.  Two computers are indexed each time. But it does occasionally miss some results - sorry!

Also, I am still not certain exactly how he set up its Boolean operations. If you just type in three or four words, it searches as "ANY" and brings back far too many words. Copernic has similar issues - they just don't seem to follow any single method for Boolean. E.g., if I use + or - it returns ANY. In Copernic I usually have to use AND & OR & NOT in upper case and with spaces surrounding them. Quotes don't always work, either.

Thanks!

Jim

2029

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

« Last post by J-Mac on August 18, 2008, 02:27 AM »

... Windows Desktop Search (have you tried version 4? People do seem to like it)...

-Darwin (August 18, 2008, 01:42 AM)

Tried it - still don't like it.  Still too much of a resource hog, still installs as a service and does not allow you to disable indexing for a short time.  Still steals focus from other windows, even if it is not indexing.  If you use Dragon Naturally Speaking you cannot use WDS.  You'll be dictating right along and as soon as this poorly designed application steals focus you are dictating to the air!

They knew this was an issue in V.3 and did nothing about it.  I don't think I'll ever install it again.

Jim

2030

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

« Last post by J-Mac on August 18, 2008, 02:23 AM »

So Archivarius is out unless there is another way to purchase.

-J-Mac (August 18, 2008, 01:09 AM)

According to their order page, orders can be made over phone (toll free), fax, or postal mail, if that's acceptable to you.

-mwang (August 18, 2008, 02:18 AM)

Nope - that's not their number.  It's Share-It's number.  Look it up.

Thanks for the thought, though!

Jim

2031

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

« Last post by J-Mac on August 18, 2008, 01:09 AM »

OK Mr. Darwin:  I need some help here, and since you apparently own licenses for at LEAST 40 or 50 different desktop search engines (  ), I figure that you are the one to ask!

I've recently been reduced to using only Locate32 on my desktop computer (The one I hate so much!) and occasionally the way-too-slow DOpus search feature.  In the two to three years previous, I have experienced the following with desktop searches:

• Given up altogether on Google Desktop Search. It won't index all my files (it does have a max file limit, it doesn't have a max limit, it does, it doesn't...) Those are the various voices I hear from GDS support and the GDS Google Groups. Yikes! Anyway it never went past 72% indexed for me after V.4 and it can't find my MP3 files anymore. Lack of any real support makes it completely useless, IMO.

.

• X1 has been on and off my computer a few times.  It is great when it is working well, but it has a bad habit of getting a corrupt index folder or something. After my index has been around a while and gets very large it usually starts acting weird, finding files one day but not the next. It generally gets unreliable after being very precise for months on end. X1 people always say, "Just uninstall it, clean all traces, reinstall and re-index." That works, but it gets old after a while.  I did just try to get a paid license for it - Professional version - but they seem to have me locked out. Can't log into their forum with my old login. Used the "Forgot Password" link and it says my email address is banned! No matter which email I use. I posted twice in their forum about three years ago, nothing bad - just standard questions. Don't know what is going on there! I wrote X1 Support; see what they say.

.

• Archivarius:  Sorry, but I won't purchase using Share-It. They put some rather obscene markups on their Euro-to-Dollar conversions. Not related to the current value of the Dollar, because it was the same with them years ago when the dollar was much higher in value. Currently the price of Archivarius in Euros is 29.95 for the Personal version. That was $44.01 yesterday according to XE.com, yet Share-It wants $48.92.  RegNow, another affiliate of Digital River is an option, and they want $46.70. Plus American Express will not approve purchases through Share-It nor RegNow. They used to let it go through and then immediately call me to authenticate. Now they actually decline it and I have to call Amex to get it approved. In 25 years with American Express, they have only done this with Digital River affiliates. Supposedly extremely high fraud levels. So Archivarius is out unless there is another way to purchase. 

.

• Locate32 is doing OK for me, but it also gets stumped at times. It does not find items that I subsequently find on my own. E.g., it finds 12 results for a given search term but I notice that a particular PDF file is not in the results. Since I keep almost all PDF files in one main directory with subs, I scroll through it manually and find the PDF file, and the title indeed matches my search word. Lack of an index must cause some of this.  I'll keep it but I don't feel I can rely on it.

.

• I installed Copernic again earlier today. I have used it in the past, and it is OK. Not great, mind you, but OK. It once got a corrupted index and I had to clean it out. Otherwise it is adequate, but definitely misses files. And I am not particularly fond of the user interface. It only shows a few results in each category. You then have to click a link to see more. And again. And again. I would prefer to show all, but that isn't an option.

.
So...  Darwin! What else can I look at? I saw that you use dtSearch, but that is out of the question for me: way too high-priced! You made some nice comments recently about FileLocator Pro - is that really a good desktop search? Or were you just "slumming" with the lower-priced apps?  Any others I should consider?  Within, say, a $25 to $75 price range.

Understand that I do not have anywhere near the technical data that you have; no anthropological titles to search!  but I do have several hundred GB of files that can be very daunting to search through.

All advice appreciated!

Jim

2032

General Software Discussion / Re: Thank you to True Launch Bar author for the donated copies and 50% discount

« Last post by J-Mac on August 17, 2008, 02:40 PM »

Hello to all DonationCoder members.

My name is Yuri Kobets and I'm the author of True Launch Bar. I was very glad to see many TLB fans on this excellent forum. I hope you'll enjoy with True Launch Bar.

Thank you very much.

-tordex (January 31, 2006, 10:38 AM)

Hi Yuri!

I purchased TLB over a year ago but stopped using it way back. I just reinstalled again and am having fun kicking it around.   

Thanks!

Jim

2033

General Software Discussion / Re: Any virtual printer for .doc or .rtf?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 17, 2008, 01:46 AM »

Firefox has been the poorest browser in the world at printing web pages.  Sadly it did not improve at all with FF3.  I was really hoping that this new version would have some kind of fix finally, but it didn't.

I also use IE7 and the latest version of Opera installed and print in either of those.  Opera seems to render web pages the best of all, unless it has to use its page-squeezing function. Then it wraps some lines, throwing everything off.

Another trick you can try is to install the Scrapbook extension, capture the page there, and then either try printing it from there, or capture it in Evernote after performing Select All and Copy. You'll be surprised how many pages get captured perfectly that way!

Jim

2034

Living Room / Re: Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation Gadgets for Pain Relief?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 17, 2008, 01:37 AM »

I have a similar unit, also from Empi. It actually does help to an extent, but I have two problems with using the device:
.

• First, where I have to place the electrodes is next to impossible for me to do by myself, unfortunately. There is a product called "conductive garments" that have electrodes built-in so that you just put it on, plug the TENS unit in, and turn it on. But they are commonly made only for areas that affect the most people. None are available for my problem, so my unit sits in a drawer.

.

• Empi requires that you purchase supplies (mainly the electrode patches and leads) from them regularly, like a subscription.  However they apparently go through sales people often:  I had a new person every month for almost a year! Problem arises in that once that person leaves, they do not reassign nor monitor the person's voice mailbox, so you leave message after message until it fills and then you get nothing but an auto-hangup. Calling the operator always gets you the same result - she transfers yopu to the voice mail of the last person assigned to your account.  Aarrghh!

.


I gave up.

.

Jim

2035

Screenshot Captor / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - ScreenshotCaptor - 2.41.01 - AUG 1, 2008

« Last post by J-Mac on August 16, 2008, 11:35 PM »

Thanks - Maybe I'll give it another try, though it doesn't quite work as well on graphics drivers for whatever reason.

Jim

2036

Screenshot Captor / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - ScreenshotCaptor - 2.41.01 - AUG 1, 2008

« Last post by J-Mac on August 16, 2008, 12:27 PM »

Yeah, but both nVidia cards have had performance problems here, unfortunately. 

I am running a Falcon Norhwest Mach V computer with pretty upscale components - they just don't seem to want to work together! The 7900 GTX would continually cause a graphics driver crash - BSOD and all that.  Though that was fairly common with the 7900.  However the 8800GS is supposedly performing great on most machines. Yet here, even though it is not crashing me now, it scores exceedingly low on all performance tests I have run.

Must be a bad combination of hardware here - even though they are all high-end components. Something are apparently not getting along, but I'll be darned if I can determine which!

Thanks!

Jim

2037

General Software Discussion / Re: Is your ISP throttling you? If so, check for it!

« Last post by J-Mac on August 16, 2008, 12:22 PM »

Switzerland Homepage

-Josh (August 04, 2008, 01:30 PM)

I've tried to get to that address for two weeks now - without luck. http://www.eff.org won't open either. Any thoughts?

-anne_r (August 16, 2008, 05:53 AM)

Really?  Both are working fine here. Are you trying to connect through a VPN or anything?

Jim

2038

General Software Discussion / Re: Carbonite Online Backup

« Last post by J-Mac on August 16, 2008, 12:20 PM »

Mozy is doing fine with mine.  I have over 60 GB going there and it is refreshed daily....

Jim

-J-Mac (April 25, 2008, 02:19 AM)

I need to update this post.  I had just renewed my Mozy subscription - two year renewal - right around the time of my first post (quoted here), but have since canceled my Mozy subscription and gotten a refund for the unused portion.

They sent down a forced upgrade of their client software and, unfortunately, mine never again managed to stay connected to their servers for more than a few minutes. I spent almost four full weeks corresponding with a truly clueless support tech there trying to get it working again, but it never happened. And to make things worse - and clinch the cancellation - he had me uninstall Mozy and download/install the previous version. I questioned whether or not the uninstall process would cause my 60+ GB of backed up files to be deleted and he insisted that it would not - that he would make sure they were properly backed up. Well you can guess the rest - not only were all my backup files lost, but since the Mozy client automatically downloads and installs the latest version, I never did get a chance to use the previous version after all - it upgrades itself before it will perform a new backup.  And of course that would immediately cause it not to connect!  It was a real experience try to work with the support guy!

I used a network monitor to see exactly what Mozy was doing wrong when trying to connect to their server, and it was pretty obvious to me.  Mozy's instructions tell you what port to filter ijn order to allow Mozy to connect through a home network.  But the port that they used to use was no longer being used - that same port number was what the Mozy client was trying to connect to on THEIR server, instead of my network. Bad code, I guess. Either way, I dropped Mozy.

I now use JungleDisk and Amazon S3 - much nicer, easier to use, easier to restore files - all or individual.   

Jim

2039

General Software Discussion / Re: The quiet disappearance of the top two mp3 cataloging software.

« Last post by J-Mac on August 15, 2008, 01:39 PM »

Ah, missed the collectorz is Sytske!

-Darwin (August 15, 2008, 01:13 PM)

Wake up, Mike!!   

2040

Screenshot Captor / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - ScreenshotCaptor - 2.41.01 - AUG 1, 2008

« Last post by J-Mac on August 15, 2008, 01:00 PM »

Hi mouser.

I seem to be the only one that sees this, so I presume it is something else on my computer that causes it, but I still cannot use Screenshot Captor to capture scrolling windows.  Whenever I try I get a flashing affect that ultimately causes me to reboot my machine.  The flashing is extreme and takes place withing the SC window, but even if I minimize SC, it has a negative affect on the entire computer operation.

Whenever I get brave enough to try this again - like after an upgrade of SC - the flashing occurs and I cannot shutdown SC; even with End Process in the Task Manager.  I have managed once to open Process Explorer and kill the process, but something obviously keeps going somewhere in the background because the machine's performance is about shot until I reboot. Really weird!

I had a number of problems with the graphics card in this computer - an nVidia GeForce 7900 GTX (pretty high-end, actually) - so in the past I just chalked it up to the card.  However several months ago I swapped out that card with a brand new nVidia GeForce 8800GS card - even higher end - and yet I still get all the same issues whenever I try to capture a scrolling window with Screenshot Captor.

So I obviously cannot blame the previous graphics card. Perhaps it is a conflict with nVidia GeForce cards in general, or maybe with Asus SLI-capable motherboards, AMD processors, or some other hardware I have in this box.

Anyway, I purchased the SnagIt 9 upgrade just to use for scrolling window captures, so it is not really hurting me in any way.

Thanks!

Jim

PS:  A quick question about the location of Options or Preferences in various applications.  A personal gripe I have always had with developers is that they can never seem to agree on where to put the Options or Preferences link in their program menus!  I almost always have to search through the menus to find it - even in software I regularly use. Mainly because all seem to like hiding it somewhere different from the next developer.  However your applications seem to suffer from the same problem!!  E.g., Screenshot Captor options are labeled as "Preferences" and are located under the Edit menu.  CH&S, on the other hand,  calls them "Options" and locates them under the View menu.  Dcupdater calls them "Preferences", like SC, but puts them under the View menu like CH&S.  It is maddening at times! I didn't want to go through all my apps to find more examples, but I could - and I'd find even more names and places for program options!!

The most common seems to be Tools>Options.  At least on the apps on my computer.  But some are spread out all over the place.  I know there is no specific guideline for placing such menu items in applications, but what criteria do you use?  Why different in the various applications that you yourself have designed?

Just curious!

2041

General Software Discussion / Re: The quiet disappearance of the top two mp3 cataloging software.

« Last post by J-Mac on August 15, 2008, 12:26 PM »

Hi Sytske.  Thanks for the information.

Very much appreciated!

Jim

2042

General Software Discussion / Re: The quiet disappearance of the top two mp3 cataloging software.

« Last post by J-Mac on August 14, 2008, 02:40 PM »

I am browsing from the US.  As as for the US Dollar's plight, what Darwin said!   

Jim

2043

General Software Discussion / Re: The quiet disappearance of the top two mp3 cataloging software.

« Last post by J-Mac on August 13, 2008, 02:51 PM »

I hope it's a free upgrade also - that would give me MP3 Collector, and it mau be the only way I will get it.

Anyone notice that Collectorz.com jumped their prices up?  All "Pro" versions are now $49.95 instead of $39.95.  I definitely was not about to purchase an old release of MP3 Collector at that price!

Jim

2044

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder/Veign Programming Contest Results Posted

« Last post by J-Mac on August 11, 2008, 11:41 PM »

Aw man.....

I really, really don't need another launcher!  Honest!  One more and my computer might just revolt against me!

But those screenshots.....  Oh no......  Aaarrrgghhhh...

Jim  (Trying to crawl away as my machine starts to explode...)

2045

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Liquid Story Binder (2.91) on GiveAwayOfTheDay

« Last post by J-Mac on August 10, 2008, 01:38 PM »

Well, currently most of my writing is in my own personal journals plus the occasional article for a blog or an online publication here and there.  Liquid Story Binder is simply too much for that type of writing, IMO.  However if I were authoring a book it would probably be great.  But it would definitely take some time to get to know it well enough!

Jim

2046

Living Room / Re: Blocking text-ads, no revenue left for web-writers?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 09, 2008, 11:30 PM »

I have a dynamic link list/blogroll that picks up feeds and fetches the favicon of sites listed in it...and Wordzilla's site is in the list.

I didn't know about the issue, and I'll remove the entry till it is fixed.

Sorry about that.

-app103 (August 09, 2008, 08:16 PM)

Not a problem.  I know about the freethesaurus site - I have had Mobysaurus installed for a while now.  I just didn't know what was giving me the popup.

Thanks!

Jim

2047

Living Room / Re: Blocking text-ads, no revenue left for web-writers?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 09, 2008, 10:37 AM »

I wrote a blog post a few months ago about my experiences with Project Wonderful.

-app103 (August 09, 2008, 02:39 AM)

app,

When I open your blog post page I get a popup telling me that it is restricted and I have to sign in to "freethesaurus.com".  (See image below).  What is that?

[attach=#1][/attach]

Thanks!

Jim

2048

General Software Discussion / Re: Scam? Regnow Extended Download Service

« Last post by J-Mac on August 09, 2008, 02:20 AM »

All of the software payment sites that start with "Reg" are scammers!  RegSoft, RegNow, RegNet.  All part of Digital River.  Another affiliate of DR is ShareIt!, which marks up their conversion rates without mentioning it.  And all of the DR "Reg" sites claim that they now accept PayPal payments - but they really don't want you to use it.  Three purchases with them (Two w/RegSoft, one with RegNet) where I used PayPal, the payment did not go through - so they claimed - and insisted that I pay again at their site using a credit card.  Twice I had to get PayPal to contact them to prove that they were paid by PayPal already.

In each case they told me that this wouldn't be a problem if I paid with a credit card directly to them instead of using PayPal.  Then why do they offer it?!?!

Jim

2049

General Software Discussion / Re: Is your ISP throttling you? If so, check for it!

« Last post by J-Mac on August 09, 2008, 02:15 AM »

Heck - I don't have to check...

Comcast is my ISP.  Of course they are throttling me!  Proven by way too many experts for me to ever dispute!

Jim

2050

Living Room / Re: Blocking text-ads, no revenue left for web-writers?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 08, 2008, 08:14 PM »

I don't really mind Google text ads, as long as there are a reasonable amount. I don't know who controls how many appear - Google or the account holder, but I have been to a few sites where there were just an unusual amount of Adsense ads.

I don't want to hurt blogs that I like, but I admit I have not whitelisted all in AdBlock Plus.  I just never thought about it, and no blogger - before today - has ever mentioned it that I have seen.

Jim