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2226

General Software Discussion / Re: XP or Vista user — take the poll!

« Last post by Armando on September 18, 2007, 11:00 AM »

TrueImage does incremental and differential backups for images as well as at file level. If you want to be able to restore your system complete with installed apps the imaging is the only way to do it. I agree that you should get a "just installed image" of your system but for daily/weekly/monthly backups (however often you choose to do it ... and that reminds me ...) increments for the image are ideal. You can use it like a System Restore (albeit a bit slower but works properly) and has certainly been a life saver for me at times.

Ideally you need a cycle of something like:

Baseline Backup 1 ... Inc 1 ... Inc 2 ... Inc 3 ... .... ... Inc n (however long you want to keep this up)
Baseline Backup 2 ... Inc 1 ...etc.
Baseline Backup 3 (at which point all the increments for backup 1 become a bit irrelevant).

Generally I try to keep the current and last two baseline backups - but only one set of previous backup increments. That way I can wind back to recent daily backups but also jumpt straight back a few weeks to if a problem arises that seems to have started a while ago but was hidden.

File level backup is really only useful for data files - but I agree incremental backups should be unaffected in that case by defragmentation.

-Carol Haynes (September 18, 2007, 04:22 AM)

[off topic]This pretty much how I do it.

In my backup strategy, Images are not only for "baseline 100% clean system after you've just set it up with all your stuff". I image my C drive once every 2 weeks/month (depending on how much I've change my system), and use increments whenever its more convenient. Like Carol, these Images constitute my “SystemRestore” (a bit more flexible — can store images where ever I want — but slower than something like Firstdefense). I always have at least 6 months worth of images + archives of the first "baseline 100% clean system....". I use SyncbackSE for everyday Data backup. (See https://www.donation...99.msg58886#msg58886 for the details of my backup strategy — it changed a bit since then, but not by much.). I also Image my document partition once every 4 months for archiving purposes (on DVDs). [/off-topic]

2227

General Software Discussion / Re: GemX - missing in action

« Last post by Armando on September 17, 2007, 10:50 PM »

I'm a long time Ecco user and designer of SQLNotes (code name) which takes the Ecco outline/grid concept and improves on it.

-PPLandry (September 17, 2007, 07:27 PM)

Another developer! 

I haven’t tried SQLnotes yet, but I will happily install it in a week or two, when I have more time.

The feature list is impressive and the GUI looks very nice and ergonomic… I’m already curious about some aspects and how they’re implemented (like the “Item tagging” feature, the “exporting” features, etc.)

[off-topic]One thing: I’ve seen that SQLnotes doesn’t sync directly with palm devices (like many other PIM/organizers — apart from Outlook, Info Select , EssentialPIM pro, Lotus Organizer and a few others, some dead…). That’s one thing that will probably hold me back as I’m relying on my palm a lot and don’t like the idea of having a "permanently running Outlook" in the background just for the purpose of syncing (I decided against Achieve planner for this reason). Hence I use… Outlook 2003… (but often wish I wasn’t. for many reasons — for instance, I find the non hierarchical task management system in Outlook fairly limiting and have to be pretty creative to circumvent these constraints). Anyhow. Maybe I’ll like SQLnotes so much I’ll just accept the “going through” Outlook aspect. [/off-topic]

Great work, perhaps it could be updated with some SQLNotes info 

-PPLandry (September 17, 2007, 07:27 PM)

Yes, that would be nice. I wonder if superboyac will do a second “roundup”, eventually… It would certainly mean a LOT of work...

2228

General Software Discussion / Re: GemX - missing in action

« Last post by Armando on September 17, 2007, 06:41 PM »

Armando - had a quick look at SQLnotes - I liked the concept of Ecco without really seriously getting into it - once installed and run SQLnotes generated about 100 weird pop up error boxes each time I tried to access a tab! I'll give it another try maybe when they have sorted out whatever bug causes this!  

-celtichare (September 17, 2007, 03:57 PM)

Welcome to DC ! Thanks for the feedback!

Armando - had a quick look at SQLnotes - I liked the concept of Ecco without really seriously getting into it - once installed and run SQLnotes generated about 100 weird pop up error boxes each time I tried to access a tab! I'll give it another try maybe when they have sorted out whatever bug causes this!  

-celtichare (September 17, 2007, 03:57 PM)

Sorry to hear that the the installation was not successful. Most users report proper installation and operation. If you want, report it on the forums at www.sqlnotes.net. We should be able to fix it. We're preparing a new update and could include a quick fix.

-PPLandry (September 17, 2007, 04:12 PM)

And welcome too, PPLandry! I know you're an Ecco expert, from the yahoo Ecco group. Hope you'll participate here too. Have you looked at the General brainstorming for Note-taking software thread?


(Sorry to those who are intensely discussing GemX matters... Hope it's not considered too off-topic  )

2229

General Software Discussion / Re: XP or Vista user — take the poll!

« Last post by Armando on September 17, 2007, 03:52 PM »

Interesting. Thanks Carol. I must admit though that I was never able to have defragmentation work well with incremental images. I always en up with huge backups. So I've given up on frequent or automated defragmentation. (I now use JkDefrag, and used to have Diskeeper 1-2 years ago -- maybe Perfect Disk has options that would allow a harmonious coexistence with True Image....???)

2230

Living Room / Re: Internet Forum Lightbulb Maintenance...

« Last post by Armando on September 17, 2007, 03:40 PM »

Wow. That's a hell of a lot of people. 

2231

General Software Discussion / Re: "Disk activity" tamer...

« Last post by Armando on September 17, 2007, 03:35 PM »

It's good you mention that. You're actually not the first! See :
https://www.donation...47.msg71111#msg71111
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=6803.0

[edit : oups! yksyks posted at the same time!)

2232

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Office 2007 Ultimate for $59.99 (if you're a student)

« Last post by Armando on September 17, 2007, 03:29 PM »

the killer for me is the one computer limit.

-Carol Haynes (September 17, 2007, 03:21 PM)

Oh yes... that would be another one. Would be good if it was possible to buy 2 licenses at the same bargain price... (2 x £38.95 )...

2233

General Software Discussion / Re: XP or Vista user — take the poll!

« Last post by Armando on September 17, 2007, 03:26 PM »

I personally like automatic defragmentation in general because once you set it up it autodefragments intelligently, and  you usually don't have to bother with manual defrag jobs, setting schedules, worry about a schedule running during a busy time etc.,   

-bugis (September 17, 2007, 01:47 PM)

One potential problem with constant automatic defrag is if you use an imaging technology as part of your backup system. Acronis true Image, for instance, won't be able to use the advantages of differential/incremental backups after defragmentation (i.e. Incremental image will be as big as the first one). If you manually defragment, you can decide to only do it once every 2 months or so and still use incremental imaging...

2234

Living Room / Re: How much RAM do you have on your PC?

« Last post by Armando on September 17, 2007, 03:13 PM »

But at the prices these days why have less?

-katykaty (September 17, 2007, 02:19 PM)

Depends where you live and how much you earn...

2235

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Office 2007 Ultimate for $59.99 (if you're a student)

« Last post by Armando on September 17, 2007, 03:07 PM »

I suppose I am slightly tempted -

-Carol Haynes (September 17, 2007, 04:16 AM)

I am VERY tempted. I'm just affraid I'll be loosing time trying to make everything work the way they should, etc. I already know that some of my DOCs aren't read properly in Word 2007. A real shame.

Office 2007 is also slower (of course), more resource hungry, etc. etc.

anyone know if you can install Office 2007 without Outlook and retain Outlook 2003

-Carol Haynes (September 17, 2007, 04:16 AM)

Normally, you can.  Haven't tried it though.
But here's a reference (among many others):

To keep Outlook 2003, click the Installation Options tab and set Microsoft Office Outlook to Not Available. To install Outlook 2007 in place of Outlook 2003, select Remove only the following applications and then check just the Microsoft Office Outlook box.

http://pcworld.co.nz...9F5FCC2572EA001C1EA6

[edit : added some details...]

2236

General Software Discussion / Re: GemX - missing in action

« Last post by Armando on September 17, 2007, 10:16 AM »

I'm pretty happy I never tried do-O, after all!!!
The only thing that stopped me at the time was the absence of synchronization with palm devices.

Anyway... ANother one -- but never tried : SQLnotes seems like a promising app. All the retiring ecco enthusiasts look forward to its completion. Maybe not before 6months/1year though...

2237

General Software Discussion / Re: GemX - missing in action

« Last post by Armando on September 16, 2007, 11:29 AM »

@Sigh...

Well, there's Info Select. Pretty expensive. But does what you're looking for. And much more, probably.
There's also Sunbird (Mozilla) or Lightning + Thunderbird (free/donations), or/and the Evolution (free/donations) port to Windows (I'm not sure I'd trust this one though...).
There's also Anytime Organizer, but I'm not sure if it handles multiple calendars.
Or other Web based solutions like Google Calendar.

I use Outlook 2003.

2238

General Software Discussion / Re: GemX - missing in action

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 11:51 PM »

 
steeladept, did you know that Toronto was not part of Quebec (the frenchy province)?
Toronto is actually very English.
But who cares anyway : he was speaking French and so you were absolutely entitled to tease him.
J'aurais fait la même chose. 

2239

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Very simple timeclock utility

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 10:25 PM »

thanks brett,
I've just discovered this. Will see if it can help me track a bit better what I do... Where do all these hours go?

I have been using titlelog quite a bit, put it on my machine at work and passed it to a few people as a suggestion to "help see where their time goes"

An oddity I seem to have is that even when I mark myself as "off to lunch" or "on the phone" with the pre-canned activities, the "what have you been doing" box does pop up as well

Might get a look myself to see if it is by design or a fluke

-iphigenie (July 21, 2007, 03:47 AM)

hummmmm. It doesn't do that with the ahk script I downloaded. Are you using the script or the exe?

One thing I've noticed : the comments inserted with the "add comment to log..." don't show in the log window. I wonder if that's by design or not.

2240

General Software Discussion / Re: GemX - missing in action

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 09:55 PM »

i mostly need a calendar scheduler (and it MUST have the capabilities to schedule multiple calendars (so far no luck with that), and a task scheduler - and overall view of my "day" would be great too - i also need to be able to create fields (or categories).

so, if anyone has any they are using or trying out - let me know.  finding a multi-calendar PIM is proving to be very difficult.......

-sigh... (September 15, 2007, 08:05 PM)

Do you need to sync with a Palm or a Pocket PC?
Have you decided to rule out Outlook?

PS : BTW : to all canadians here : I'm from Montreal. So yes, as Darwin said : "we're getting a healthy number of Canadians in this thread" 

2241

Living Room / Re: Programming Can Ruin Your Life: A Fantastic Blog Essay on the Mind of a Coder

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 08:07 PM »

The relationship of a person with its job varies from person to person, but you can classify people in two groups: those who work for a living, and those who live to work.

-Lashiec (September 15, 2007, 12:44 PM)

True to a certain extent... But IMO this distinction flattens a bit too much the complexity of the interrelated factors which can lead to these 2 seemingly diametrically opposed attitudes. Some “obsessed workers” aren't even living to work per se, but are just addicted to any activities which would allow them to avoid certain uncomfortable aspects of their existence they should probably face to sustain personal growth in other weak lines of development (sexual, emotional, intellectual, etc.) -- it should also probably be noted that identification with work is more common in males (yes, studies say). The same reasoning can be applied to the other category : many are satisfied (or have to be satisfied…) with the minimum of "working for a living",  for avoidance reasons, lack of awareness of themselves, or for very unhealthy contextual causes…

That's all. Oh, it seems I'm a ENFJ, although that test was quite of short sighted for me, as all the answers were either black or white, no middle point, so I cheated (sort of) in some of them

One more thing (oh man, I'm quoting Steve Jobs). As app says, obsession with perfection is not necessarily related with programming. I'm quite picky about how to do things this or the other way, my room is neatly arranged and if someone moves something I'll go mad (well, almost)... but my medium brother or my mother are even worse (particularly the former, it's almost sickening), I'm a bit in the middle point between my parents stance about perfection. Also, lots of programmers are known for their careless attitude to perfection outside code.

Some Myers Briggs tests are just not accurate enough. So it’s better to 1) do the tests (and the real ones)  2) and also read ALL the descriptions to see if other personality types descriptions fit better. It's fun stuff. A bit like an astrological system for nerds...

Uncontrolled obsession with perfection is just a bad disease. Believe me...

2242

Living Room / Re: Programming Can Ruin Your Life: A Fantastic Blog Essay on the Mind of a Coder

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 07:50 PM »

Armando, thanks for reminding me about Csikszentmihalyi.

-nudone (September 15, 2007, 04:01 PM)

You're welcome.

i read 'flow' many years ago and i found it to be one of those defining books that can provide a paradigm shift with how you view the world. unfortunately i can't remember much about it as it was passed on to someone else straight after reading it - who then passed it on again, etc. reading the bits you've quoted makes me realise i must have forgotten almost everything that was said. i was also working in an absolutely soul destroying job at the time so i think i found the idea of 'flow' a bit too much of a luxury that wasn't attainable for the majority. i probably just missunderstood the argument at the time as i tend to believe in 'flow' nowadays.

-nudone (September 15, 2007, 04:01 PM)

It is a great book if you can distill and transform into actions some if the enunciated principles. (Actually, the posted excerpts are from "Finding Flow", a condensed and more recent version of  Flow, the original work. I do have both books here and Finding Flow is more accessible; its structure is clearer.)

M.C. is sometimes a bit overrated (and some flaws in his experiments have been pointed out since Flow was first edited -- Allen Parducci, for instance, raises some questions about Experience Sampling Method, or ESM, which M.C. developed at the University of Chicago in the early 70s for gathering data): from M.C.s perspective,  Flow  (and happiness) seem to be only a matter of following certain fairly simple principles. I generally find his ideas interesting and fascinating (and often immensely inspiring), but, again, he tends to dismiss some important facts...

BTW, there are some good summaries of the Flow theory on the net. One is by M.C. himself, it seems (or maybe not...) : http://web.ionsys.co...emedy/FLOW%20%20.htm

It is not the whole thing, but better than... nothing!

2243

Living Room / Re: Before I head to the computer shop... (Memory slot problem)

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 02:58 PM »

NEver heard of it, never used it...
50$? Well, if it could have solved one year worth of reboots and BSODs, why not... A bit much though...

2244

General Software Discussion / Re: Recommendations for project/schedule management software (besides MS Project)?

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 02:25 PM »

wow! cool stuff!

And what about L
FastTrack. Looks impressive.


There are other smaller ones like FusionDesk or Achieve Planner (more for personnal use and life projects/goals...)
Or huge guys like Primavera... I believe that primavera is pretty much considered likE THE project planning application.

2245

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Office 2007 Ultimate for $59.99 (if you're a student)

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 02:15 PM »

thanks Darwin

Can anyone chime in here and suggest a reason to upgrade?

-Darwin (September 15, 2007, 01:47 PM)

  (Don't try to find good reasons to install yet something else...)
But... I'd be interested too. 

2246

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Office 2007 Ultimate for $59.99 (if you're a student)

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 02:12 PM »

I have an add-in that brings back the old toolbars as a tab in the new ribbon.

-edbro (September 15, 2007, 01:52 PM)

Should call it a "subtract-out"...

2247

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Office 2007 Ultimate for $59.99 (if you're a student)

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 11:33 AM »

Thanks Darwin. it IS a pretty good deal.
I would probably buy it but.... the problems I had with certain (very long) documents in word 2007 really makes me hesitate.
Also, I've heard that OUtlook 2007 can be extremely slow.
Are you yourself using Office 2007?

2248

Living Room / Re: Before I head to the computer shop... (Memory slot problem)

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 11:30 AM »

the CPU was having these problems because of one the pins was torn, so it seems Photoshop somehow used a certain functionality only accessible via that pin.

-Lashiec (September 15, 2007, 09:32 AM)

  Wow. Thanks Lashiec.

2249

Living Room / Re: Programming Can Ruin Your Life: A Fantastic Blog Essay on the Mind of a Coder

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 11:24 AM »

I'm now thinking that we'd be better off if more of them were programmers. 

-CWuestefeld (September 14, 2007, 08:39 PM)

  If all of us were programmers, It wouldn't be too lively out there. And hospitals would be even more filled with patients with coronary diseases, diabetes, back problems, etc.   

2250

Living Room / Re: Programming Can Ruin Your Life: A Fantastic Blog Essay on the Mind of a Coder

« Last post by Armando on September 15, 2007, 11:14 AM »

i wonder if any research has been done to show how wonderful being a loner is).

-nudone (September 15, 2007, 01:15 AM)

Some people are happier alone (i usually am, but I NEED to find the right balance between loneliness, and social life -- maybe 70/30, or something like that). But, as Mihaly Csiksczentmnihalyi and others report, findings and studies suggest that, IN GENERAL, people get more depressed when they are alone, and they are more lively and happier when they rejoin the company of others.

As you know, it's not a simple matter you can reduce to alone=bad. It is possible for many people to learn to enjoy solitude and it is a very useful aptitude, but... specialist agree to say that, again IN GENERAL, it is an acquired taste, and it is a function of your unique biology, psychology, sociocultural and immediate context. Csiksczentmnihalyi actually considers that, in the long run being able to enjoy happiness in solitude is quite a useful skill to acquire is the ability to tolerate solitude, and to even enjoy it. For a solitary person, I'd say that it is also useful to acquire the tast of being with others!

Here's an small excerpt of Finding Flow :

"Alone a person generally reports low happiness, aversive motivation, low concentration, apathy, and an entire string of other negative states such as passivity, loneliness, detachment, and low self-esteem. Being alone affects most those individuals who have the fewest resources: those who have been unable to get an education, who are poor, single, or divorced. Pathological states are often invisible as long as the person is with others; they take effect mostly when we are alone. The moods that people diagnwosed with chronic depression or with eating disorders experience are indistinguishable from those of healthy people—as long as they are in companyw and doing something that requires concentration.  But when they are alone with nothing to do, their minds begin to be occupied by depressing thoughts, and their consciousness becomes entropic. This is also true, to a less pronounced extent, of everyone else. The reason is that when we have to interact with another person, even a stranger, our attention becomes structured by external demands. [...] By contrast, when we are alone with nothing to do there is no reason to concentrate, and what happens then is that the mind begins to unravel, and soon finds something to worry about." (p. 41-42)

"Everyday life is defined not only by what we do, but also by who we are with. Our actions and feelings are always influenced by other people, whether they are present or not." (p.13)

"The strong effects of companionship on the quality of experience suggest that investing psychic energy in relationships is a good way to improve life. Even the passive, superficial conversations at a neighborhood bar can stave off depression. But for real growth, it is necessary to find people whose opinions are interesting and whose conversation is stimulating." (p.43)

Of course, some other questions that come to mind are : what about internet chatting, forums, etc.? Anyway, like I said, it's a complex subject...