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2251

Living Room / Re: New Trend: Sabotage Your Divorce on YouTube

« Last post by J-Mac on April 20, 2008, 02:13 PM »

She is apparently trying to confirm all the slanderous jokes about blondes!

Strange lady. Or maybe a nice lady who is just emotionally wrought over all of that.  Goes to show that a camera can be truly dangerous in the hands of some!

Jim

2252

Living Room / Fujitsu Scansnap S300 - Looks Nice; Anyone Using One?

« Last post by J-Mac on April 20, 2008, 12:34 PM »

Since reading this review for the Scansnap at Lifehacker I've been interested in it.  Though if it is not quite as good as advertised, it's a lot of cash to lay out for a relatively limited scanner.

It only scans documents - no photos - and only outputs to PDF files.  It has software that apparently is something like Paperport, though I would imagine it is more like a Paperport "Lite" version.  Virtually all reviews I have read thus far have been glowing.  Extremely portable, it really does sound great for pure document scanning, though I will have to also maintain another scanner for my photos. My Canon MP830 handles those well enough.  This scanner is NOT TWAIN compliant, so you it will not be recognized by your applications as a source for scanned documents.

Is anyone here using this, or another model, Fujitsu scanner?  I'm curious to hear from folks I know rather than just reading reviews.

Thanks!

Jim

2253

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by J-Mac on April 20, 2008, 02:21 AM »

Hi lanux!

Oh, not that much - Just looks and functionality!!  No, there is a lot I can do, but generally it's interface is SO different than most file explorers that I get stumped a lot and need to end up opening another one.  Little everyday things like trying to access features that I am used to accessing from a right-click context menu. I start out needing to do something relatively routine and find myself spending 10 to 30 minutes rummaging around in the TC Help file, and then another 20 minutes or so looking around the TC forums.  Then I realize I have spent well over an hour sitting at my computer trying to find out how to accomplish something that I could have done in 30 seconds using even the Windows Explorer interface!!  So I open that or DOpus or whatever and do it and close TC, not to open it for another month or two.

Been that way for 6 years now! Other similar tasks also.  I'll decide that I need to have folder sizes available in the panes and then I am off again looking for that one, single plugin that allows you to do that. Of course the plugins - which are very useful - are not documented well at all and I end up spending wayyy too much time looking and not enough time doing.

Am I coming across clear?  Or like mud?

TC is just SO much different in how you access and do things that some users can easily outspend their available time looking for instructions for what should be very simple tasks.  Certainly does not help that the Help file is in the old, old Microsoft .HLP format, where you can look at the contents, then clicking on a topic expands to a standalone window and if you need to look for another possibly related topic you must close that window and go back to the contents. They have come out with newer Help formats to make the user experience easier, but many older programs stayed with the first help file they ever created - 10 or more years ago - and then just add to it as time and development goes on.

If I had the time to spend a couple days doing nothing but re-learning Total Commander oddities, I could probably use it more effectively.  But I usually give up once I have spent more time trying to find out "How" than the initial task would have taken!

Any advice is appreciated, though, as always!

Thanks!

Jim

2254

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by J-Mac on April 19, 2008, 10:01 PM »

I've gone back with Total CMD  The most powerfull file management . Xyplorer is simple and cool but it doesn't have dual pane and great plugins :p

-Nxqd3051990 (April 19, 2008, 09:47 PM)

I've had TC for years, and I do love it for some of the things it can do.

Regrettably, however, I have never been able to customize it to look and act act as I would like it to do.  I think it actually CAN be customized as I would like - I have seen screenshots from others - but I've never had the time it takes to research it.  I belong to their forum but nothing seems to be as simple as it would have to be for me to be able to do it fairly easily.

One of these days....

Jim

2255

Living Room / Re: Home Network Recommendations?

« Last post by J-Mac on April 18, 2008, 03:16 PM »

That will have to come later for me.  Wiring anything in a 100 year old house - especially when I can only really do much of anything with one of my arms - is a little more than I'm willing to take on right now. But next year? Maybe then.

Jim

2256

Living Room / Re: Home Network Recommendations?

« Last post by J-Mac on April 18, 2008, 12:40 PM »

Thanks for all this great info, Perry. Looks like I have an NAS candidate!!

Jim

2257

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by J-Mac on April 18, 2008, 02:50 AM »

Anyway, I see that the "purists" over at the XY forums are all smacking themselves on the back and posting how only rank amateurs want dual pane explorers, and "real" power users know that single pane explorers are so much better.

-J-Mac (April 17, 2008, 09:29 PM)

I think nobody thinks that "SP is good and DP is bad" or "only amateurs use DP". It's just a matter of personal tastes.

I never understood that so many people seem to see it like a war between different concepts and everybody who prefers "the other one" is a fool. We should be happy to be able to choose: some prefer XY (not because it's NOT a DP file manager but because of it's unique features, great support, etc.), some prefer one of the various other DP file managers.

-ad-min (April 18, 2008, 01:41 AM)

With quotes like this...

I wonder: is it a small but loud group of mad junkies (it seems so, looking at their dogmatic attachment to an outdated Win3.1 interface), OR is it a real majority of serious computer workers? I mean, MS dropped dual pane 12 years ago with Win95 and the introduction of the folder tree and never brought it back. Is MS also hassled by "Please DP"-whining?

...and this:

I really don't understand why you are so reserved about this topic and don't jump into programming action. Place a nice toolbar button called DP and on pressing a message appears 'UP YOURS' and then after brief interval for remorse, close down XYPlorer permanently.

... need I go into it any further?  Or can you see why I don't really relish the "discussions" about dual pane in that forum?

Jim

2258

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by J-Mac on April 17, 2008, 09:29 PM »

Oh well...  I have had my lifetime license for only about a week, and I am really 'jonesin' for dual panes.  Very painful withdrawal!  I can't believe I missed this - I guess I figured that everyone here spoke so well of XYplorer that it just must have dual panes!  After all, I see the availability of more than one pane as kind of a standard of aftermarket file explorers. After all it is one of the most visible and obvious differences from the default Windows Explorer. (And to me, one of the most helpful).

Anyway, I see that the "purists" over at the XY forums are all smacking themselves on the back and posting how only rank amateurs want dual pane explorers, and "real" power users know that single pane explorers are so much better.

I'd say that XYplorer will probably never have a dual pane view. Good think I have my Directory Opus license to fall back on - and, of course, my old faithful, Total Commander!

Jim

2259

General Software Discussion / Re: EverNote beta 2.2.0.372 has some nice new features

« Last post by J-Mac on April 17, 2008, 08:16 PM »

I myself am saddened with the way evernote is going. I had a look at their forum and it seems even the power users are disappointed. any of you find a good substitute for en? I am now a bit hesitant to add new notes to my current databases.

-JaneDC (April 17, 2008, 03:00 PM)

I'm still using Evernote 2.2.1. I figure it'll be good at least until I start using a new OS at some point that doesn't support it, as the Evernote developers most likely won't be supporting it by then.

In the meantime I also have OneNote 2007 and I am finding it very accommodating as a replacement for EN if need be. I've had it for a while but have just really begun to examine and use it more closely. Of course it is not free and you won't see it on a Give Away site anytime soon. However academic versions can be had very inexpensively.

Jim

2260

Found Deals and Discounts / Agenda At Once At Bits DuJour - $19.95 - Thursday, 17-Apr-2008

« Last post by J-Mac on April 17, 2008, 12:46 AM »

Agenda at Once is the Bits DuJour product today, Thursday, April 17, 2008.  $19.95.

Jim

2261

Living Room / Re: Home Network Recommendations?

« Last post by J-Mac on April 17, 2008, 12:23 AM »

Mark0:  They do look pretty good.  I was a little confused by the fact that they have no pricing at all on their site that I could find. Put me off a bit, as I figured they must be very high. Then I searched on Newegg and saw that line there. Very reasonable, actually. However they are not purchased very often and thus have no or very few reviews.

Thanks!

Jim

2262

Living Room / Re: Home Network Recommendations?

« Last post by J-Mac on April 16, 2008, 11:51 PM »

Looks like NAS is the way to go.

-J-Mac (April 16, 2008, 12:55 PM)

Take a look at Synology lineup.
Very nice stuff and top notch support.

http://www.synology....u/products/index.php

Bye!

-Mark0 (April 16, 2008, 05:49 PM)

Thanks for the tip, Mark0!  I'll go take a look at that now.

Jim

2263

Living Room / Re: Home Network Recommendations?

« Last post by J-Mac on April 16, 2008, 11:50 PM »

Since I currently have 3 internal SATA drives plus 2 external USB drives on my main desktop, along with one internal and two external on my wife's PC, I wouldn't want to risk losing anything. Also, I am one of those apparently clueless "end users"...  Not that I have reviewed WHS on Amazon, but I am not a professional tech either.  But I like to think I am not a complete idiot around computers (maybe a partial idiot?  Never mind - I won't go there...).  However, though I am at least more knowledgeable than rank amateurs at computer technology, I prefer not to jump into a product that is having such issues around setups so similar to my own.

Jim

2264

Living Room / Re: Home Network Recommendations?

« Last post by J-Mac on April 16, 2008, 12:55 PM »

Well I'm already trying to deal with a vastly inferior product from Microsoft - Vista on my new notebook. I don't need to risk using WHS and getting smacked with the bugs you pointed out, Carol.

Looks like NAS is the way to go.

Thank you.

Jim

2265

Living Room / Re: Home Network Recommendations?

« Last post by J-Mac on April 15, 2008, 10:08 PM »

The NAS idea is getting a lot of thought here.  Regarding centralized storage of files for serving out to my PC's, NAS or a server would accomplish the same thing easily, correct?  I don't know of any advantages of one over the other for storing and accessing files.  But I am wondering what other benefits I would derive from using a server that would not be available with NAS, other than using a server for things like hosting my own email server (which I have actually done right on my desktop PC in the past).  Can anyone tell me what all they use a home server for?  Especially the things that could not be accomplished using NAS.

Might sound like a stupid question - and, Lord knows I throw out quite of few of those! - but I'm just trying to avoid discovering all the reasons I should have gone one way or another after making the investment in the other alternative and getting it all set up.

Thanks!

Jim

2266

Living Room / Re: Home Network Recommendations?

« Last post by J-Mac on April 13, 2008, 11:04 PM »

Hmm...  Netgear Wireless-N RangeMax Next router gets only 2 stars out of 5 average at Newegg.com. This is Netgear's top Wireless-N router. Sounds like a lot of firmware issues are still outstanding.

Jim

2267

Living Room / Re: Home Network Recommendations?

« Last post by J-Mac on April 13, 2008, 08:10 PM »

Have you looked into Windows Home Server?  I have heard some great things about it.

-Veign (April 13, 2008, 08:02 PM)

I have read a lot about it - and a lot of good, actually. But I don't know anyone who has run or is running it, and that is usually a real good source of info!

Thanks!

Jim

2268

General Software Discussion / Re: Confirmed: UAC designed to annoy us!

« Last post by J-Mac on April 13, 2008, 07:55 PM »

Thanks Carol. I think I might give the free version a try and let you all know how it goes.

Jim

2269

Living Room / Re: Home Network Recommendations?

« Last post by J-Mac on April 13, 2008, 07:53 PM »

Thanks Carol. Yes, NAS is definitely a consideration. (Forgot to mention it!) I've just started looking into upgrading -- after spending a couple hours under and behind my desk recovering from the router unexpectedly resetting itself.     Never did find a cause, but I did have my router settings backed up and simply restored it to its previous config. But I wanted to see if I could find what triggered the reset.

I do need to investigate NAS also. Specific equipment recommended?

In looking for a new router I certainly plan to take a hard look at the "n" routers. Sounds like you have done your homework, and I like what I hear from you there.  As for Netgear I have an 802.11g Netgear router from about 2 years ago - hated that one! It automatically disconnected from the internet when connected wirelessly every 10 minutes, or after a few minutes of inactivity - though downloading did not stop the disconnects. Tried to turn that off but could not. Netgear support was not quite as helpful then as Linksys. Might have just been a not-so-good model, and support on a bad day! If you have good experience with them I'll assume I just had a bad one.

As for the Gigabit technology, that does sound good, though wiring in a 100+ year old house is not easy, and I would still need wireless capability at times.

Thank you!

Jim

2270

Living Room / Re: Home Network Recommendations?

« Last post by J-Mac on April 13, 2008, 07:41 PM »

Well, depending on the version of your router, you might want to look into the alternative firmwares for the WRT-54G. Not all versions of the router can support it, but if yours can it could give you some very nice extended cababilities for no extra costs, and might improve stability as well.

Check out Tomato, Sveasoft Talisman or DD-WRT for alternative firmware possibilities.

-Jimdoria (April 13, 2008, 06:58 PM)

Jim, thanks - I currently have the latest optimal firmware for this router, which is - I'm pretty sure - a Rev. 5 WRT54G. I asked a tech about the last FW released for it and found out that was for a specific problem that I don't have. They recommended I stay with the version I have.

Jim

2271

General Software Discussion / Re: Confirmed: UAC designed to annoy us!

« Last post by J-Mac on April 13, 2008, 07:01 PM »

While on the topic of Vista usage, if I may go off-topic for a moment:  Has anyone tried TweakVI, either the free or Pro (paid) version? I was just searching for the equivalent of the TwealUI powertoy for XP and I see instead a lot of search results for this TweakVI, including the fact that it is a utility download at PC World.

Is it relatively safe?

Thanks!

Jim

2272

Living Room / Home Network Recommendations?

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

Hello all.

I have a fairly simple home wireless network that has been working OK for me for a few years now. However I want to make it a little better!

Currently I have a Linksys wireless router (WRT54G), 2 desktop computers connected via Cat V cables, and my notebook connects from all over the house/yard wirelessly. The router gets its feed to my ISP through an eMTA phone/high speed cable internet connection. Also, a wireless adapter that picks up the signal from a Slingbox Pro and feeds it to the router.

So the 3 computers are able to see one another and share files and one Canon All-in-One printer/scanner/fax machine.

All is working - except when it ain't, of course! I have to power cycle the router now and then when it just loses the connection to all computers - it is getting kind of old so I will probably upgrade that, though I'm not certain to what yet.

Also, I am thinking of setting up a server here and keeping all files stored on it - or at the very least store all my media files there. Just so I am not taking up gobs of hard drive space on all the computers so that I have access to my photos, music, and videos on all of them.

Anyone care to comment on the most effective setup? Equipment to use? Server format/OS? Also, any other advice is appreciated, like should I continue to share the one Canon AIO as it is currently connected only to my main desktop and that shares it with the others -- or should I set up the printing capabilities directly on the network itself?

Thanks!

Jim

2273

General Software Discussion / Re: Confirmed: UAC designed to annoy us!

« Last post by J-Mac on April 13, 2008, 08:18 AM »

Maybe, but I'm the only user of the PC and have no tolerance for such nonsense!

Jim

2274

Living Room / Re: USB Flash Drives: What to look for or avoid.

« Last post by J-Mac on April 13, 2008, 08:16 AM »

I didn't know either until I was looking to buy one and saw that the 16 GB - which had always gotten great reviews at Newegg - was now getting bad reviews for several weeks, all due to this changed technology. 8 GB drive was just starting to get the same when suddenly Newegg temporarily stopped sales. They were issuing RMA's for so many.

I ended up with a Kingston 8 GB Data Traveler 100 for $31.00!!  Good enough speeds for my purposes!

Jim

2275

General Software Discussion / Re: Confirmed: UAC designed to annoy us!

« Last post by J-Mac on April 13, 2008, 01:35 AM »

My new Vista notebook popped up so many in the first hour I had it running, I stopped everything until I found the setting and turned UAC off. Annoying is putting it mildly!

I don't see how anyone could eventually overlook those intrusions. Aaarrgghh...

Jim