Recent Posts

2426

General Software Discussion / Re: Digital ink/tablet pc: worth the effort?

« Last post by J-Mac on February 02, 2008, 08:46 AM »

I use all of these and have never found a need for a tablet PC, but can see that for a different set of uses I might prefer the functionality of the tablet.

-Dormouse (February 02, 2008, 04:49 AM)

After 11 PPC/WM devices in 7 years, I have quite a collection of them....

But I still want to try a tablet!!

Jim

2427

General Software Discussion / Re: Digital ink/tablet pc: worth the effort?

« Last post by J-Mac on February 02, 2008, 03:48 AM »

BTW, if I do go with a regular, non-touchscreen notebook, I would love to find one that is as thin as that new Mac looks to be.  I take it everyone has seen the commercials for that new Air Mac, or Mac Air, or whatever it is they call it?  Doggone that looks thin!  Almost like a couple pieces of paper together!  How do they do that?   

Jim

2428

General Software Discussion / Re: Digital ink/tablet pc: worth the effort?

« Last post by J-Mac on February 02, 2008, 03:45 AM »

I need a new notebook and I have been agonizing over the tablet/standard notebook for a while!  I would love to try one out for a while to see if I would really use it as I seem to think I would, but no one gives you a tablet to "try out" for a time!!

I, like most here I am pretty sure, don't get a new notebook very often!  So getting a tablet and finding out it is not all that would be a mistake that I'd have to live with for quite a while.  But the last two times I purchased notebooks I had thought hard about a tablet and then I spend the next 3 yrs wondering if I should have.

It's a shame that there isn't a "lending program" for such items - we could really benefit from something like that!

I'm not much of an artist - I have done some serious drawing and painting, but not a whole lot. But I could see taking notes longhand.  Yes, I am one of those who never really got very fast at typing!    And now I cannot even use both hands to type with; I often have to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking and when I do use the keyboard, I just got Direct Access to help make it a bit easier.  But with a tablet I would be taking notes longhand with my good hand - right - and I could still use the keyboard if I wanted to use it.

Plus I like to scribble or draw some graphics here and there when I take notes - a little of my right-brrain sneaking in I giess!!

Decisions, decisions, decisions!!

Thanks!

Jim

2429

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

« Last post by J-Mac on February 02, 2008, 03:24 AM »

Sounds like a good idea to me.  Not sure I fully understand the posts against this idea.

I just think it would be nice to have a place to take a quick glance and see if something we really like is being offered.  I have a number of such sites in FeedDemon and I try to take a look daily  Now I don't know about anyone else here but I seem to miss my daily glance just when one of those sites are offering a program I would have loved to try out. Just my misfortune, I guess!!

But I'm here at DC daily and don't think I'd miss anything at all if there was a daily "reminder" here.

Personally I like Carol's ticker idea!!

Thanks!

Jim

2430

General Software Discussion / Re: Wacom Tablet - Bundled Software Question

« Last post by J-Mac on February 02, 2008, 12:17 AM »

It becomes all the more fun if you're normally a left handed scribbler and a right handed mouser. One does have to be careful if trying to drink coffee (or similar) at the same time, though. 

-BigJim (February 02, 2008, 12:13 AM)

Shoot, I have to be careful when drinking coffee and trying to do anything else at all!!   

Jim

2431

General Software Discussion / Re: Wacom Tablet - Bundled Software Question

« Last post by J-Mac on February 02, 2008, 12:16 AM »

Now if I could just get the hang of using the pen!!  It is pretty easy to use in Art Rage and the like, but trying to use it to write with in applications like Evernote, OneNote 2007, etc. is a bit difficult, I find.  Someone posted above in this thread about having trouble with the tablet being scaled from the tablet size to the entire monitor screen rather than having a one-to-one scale, and I remember thinking that the scaling to allow the tablet to cover the entire screen sounded good - how difficult could it be?  Well, I am now finding out just how difficult that can be!!  Not in Art Rage - for some reason the scaling feels natural there.  But writing notes has my handwriting looking even worse than it truly is!!

Jim

2432

General Software Discussion / Re: Wacom Tablet - Bundled Software Question

« Last post by J-Mac on February 02, 2008, 12:04 AM »

Excellent!  I'm really surprised that they are full versions.  Actually that is a lot of software - the cost of having purchased each separately is pretty surprising.  Makes the Bamboo Fun that much better of a deal, doesn't it?

Jim

2433

General Software Discussion / Almeza MultiSet - Anyone Use It?

« Last post by J-Mac on February 01, 2008, 02:09 PM »

I saw - too late for the discount - the posting about Almeza MultiSet. Reinstalls Windows and installed software?  Sounds too good to be true.

Has anyone here tried it yet?  I hate to soend $100 to find out it doesn't work well.

Thanks.

Jim

2434

General Software Discussion / Re: windows security - what's really necessary?

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

They charge you for it??!?

2435

General Software Discussion / Re: windows security - what's really necessary?

« Last post by J-Mac on February 01, 2008, 11:22 AM »

   Saw that.  Actually it's an MSDN site, and some of those folks obviously have a sense of humor!

2436

General Software Discussion / Re: windows security - what's really necessary?

« Last post by J-Mac on February 01, 2008, 10:31 AM »

f0dder - No, the very first link states that it is a Microsoft program.

Jim

2437

General Software Discussion / Re: DC User's Resource - Phase I (Interest survey - Please post comments)

« Last post by J-Mac on January 31, 2008, 11:57 PM »

I'm in.   

Jim

2438

General Software Discussion / Re: windows security - what's really necessary?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 31, 2008, 12:39 PM »

Lashiec:  That sounds like a good idea.  I hate running as a user because I am quite often - like multiple times daily - performing tasks which require Admin rights, and I guess it might be a bit of laziness on my part, too.  I hate "double-doing", meaning that when logged in as a user and I start to do something that requires admin rights, I forget which I am logged as and get some steps done before realizing that I cannot complete them.  Then whether I log out and back in as Administrator or use "Run as...", those steps are lost, or some services, etc. that I need to access to complete what I am doing cannot be done unless I log out and in again.  So I usually just login  with Admin rights from the start.

Drop My Rights looks to be a potentially nice compromise!

Thanks.

Jim

2439

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: DirectAccess - Text Expander program for free today at GAOTD

« Last post by J-Mac on January 31, 2008, 12:13 AM »

I've been using it for a few days and it is nice!  I do have a slight problem with it crashing if I try to add any applications by isng the "Browse..." button; as soon as I select the app I want to be able to open w/ a shortcut it pops up a "Direct Access Must Close" and wants me to send in a crash report - which also fails and I have to email it to them. They're looking at that. In the meantime I can add programs in other ways, like by having the program already open and either selecting it from the open apps list, or drag & drop it into DA.

Only other PITA is the fact that they only give you a handful of included autotext shortcuts. I'm adding my own little by little, but it'll be a while till I have enough built up to make me truly more productive w/ DA.  Availability of some pre-written libraries of shortcuts, or even a users exchange of shortcuts would be great. Give you some to use until you get all that you want there added or customized.

BTW, I did import the MS Word Autocorrect library, but it works just differently enough in Direct Access to make a number of those more trouble than they are worth. E.g., Word has an Autocorrect entry that automatically changes the letter "i" to "I".  However Word only uses this if the letter "i" is typed by itself, meaning that you are typing the pronoun for yourself: "I".  Direct Access, on the other hand, wants to change every lower case "i" to an upper case "I"!!  Now it won't do it unless you press the "Confirm" key - Shift is the default, but I use the Right Arrow. This causes that little Bell sound to go "DING" every damn time I typed a lower case "i".  Aarrggghhhh!!  So I tried unchecking the "Confirm" box but all that does is allow DA to change all of my lower case "i"'s to upper case without a sound.  This is not a good thing, obviously!! So I just deleted that shortcut, as their is no way to disable it; only delete.

So like I said, I have some work to do with it yet.

Jim

2440

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your boot time?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 30, 2008, 11:48 PM »

Renegade,

I guess then that I mean Yes, and Yes! The boot itself is close to the two minute mark - I would have to time it but my perception is that its right around there.

And if I add my startup items, well - it's tough to say now.  I am using Chameleon Startup Manager to delay a number of startup entries; that way they get spread out and all are not banging heads trying to beat each other to the finish line.  So excluding all that I have a delay set for, it is probably about another two minutes at least after the bootup itself is done.

Jim

2441

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your boot time?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 30, 2008, 11:27 PM »

I've had boot lag issues for quite some time here.  I spent some time trying to find a utility - any utility - tha would log all events during bootup but there doesn't appear to be any.  MS Bootvis, which is not supported by MS since XP was released, can do this for some users, but I have found that it cannot complete its goal if you are running a dual core processor, which I am.

Process Monitor is supposed to be able to do this also, but each time I try it crashes before I even get to a boot.  (Thought it was just my PC but I see others now having the same issues with ProcMon).

Other than those two I can find nothing that gives a good picture of just what occurs during boot up. Should be something that can tell you what starts in what order, and where any head-banging occurs - if any - during boot up.  Seems like pretty valuable info to me, but no one else seems to care much about it!  I remember last year asking if anyone knew of any such app and I got a few seemingly condescending posts telling me that XP manages its own startup well and if mine is not then I have apparently been misbehaving with my PC. So I just quit that thread!

So in this age of knowing everything that goes on in our PCs, boot up activities are still nothing more than a guessing game.  Weird!

Jim

2442

General Software Discussion / Re: windows security - what's really necessary?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 30, 2008, 09:48 PM »

And Trucker - you are correct in that most threats that succeed ARE due to users'.... stupidity?  Maybe "lack of care" is a kinder way to put it. Sad but true.  Could there still be a threat out there that might trap me? Certainly! But the chances are so slight that I choose to sit behind NAT and SPI and not use any software firewall. If you somehow feel cool by saying I am foolish for that, then go right ahead!  I feel I am as careful as I need to be, I browse cautiously, I haven't opened an attachment to an email message in...  I can't even remember when I last did!  I only open downloaded files/archives after downloading to an isolated folder and scanning it.  Can I still get bitten? Yes, but IMO I have no more chance of it than you do.

Jim

2443

General Software Discussion / Re: windows security - what's really necessary?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 30, 2008, 09:40 PM »

trucker - That has to be one of the most poorly misplaced analogies I have seen.  Out of place and so much not related to personal computer threats. I'm more than a bit surprised.

Or then again, maybe I'm not.

Jim

2444

Living Room / Re: Me & my crazy optical mouse

« Last post by J-Mac on January 30, 2008, 03:18 AM »

i have a Pleomax optical mouse which since recently has caused me much grief. the problem started when this *NEW* mouse placed on a flat surface (my table) starting giving off random clicks. e.g. a single click becomes double-clicks, middle click became right-click & so on. after some googling, i found a couple of links but nothing more..

• http://www.velocityr...2-sneakey-mouse.html
• http://www.daniweb.c...s/thread68390-2.html

now i am left wondering why is this happening.. should i get a new mouse? or are there software/drivers that can overcome this? i await your answer.

-lanux128 (January 29, 2008, 09:20 PM)

lanux,

Two possibilities that I can add:

It could be because of the surface on which you are using the mouse.  What exactly is the surface directly under the mouse?  Not only the material (Is it very smooth?  A little bumpy or grainy?) but the color and reflectivity.  Is it mirror-like? Not necessarily shiny, but reflective just the same?  Try a dull colored mouse pad just for the heck of it.

It could also be the single most common problem with optical cordless mice.  Of course I have no idea whether or not the mice you are trying out is cordless or not!  If so, then interference is a real possibility.  Biggest problem I have had with cordless mice turned out to be my mobile phone!!

Jim

2445

General Software Discussion / Re: Personal Movie Organizers - A quick rundown

« Last post by J-Mac on January 30, 2008, 01:37 AM »

thanks Nosh.

I already did go ahead and purchase Movie Collector 5 by Collectorz.com, but I also downloaded Personal Video Database and will load that up at the same time.  Can't hurt to have a couple databases with my stuff in it!

I fully agree with you, BTW, about MC5's slowness in several areas.  I have also already seen a number of UI goofs (IMO) that could stand significant improvement in MC5, but generally it is a very nice, polished application.  I'll post back and let you know how I like PVD when I get a chance to run it through its paces.

Thanks again!

Jim

2446

General Software Discussion / Re: windows security - what's really necessary?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 30, 2008, 01:30 AM »

I am probably a cynic (well, actually I am a cynic; I realize fully that!  But here I mean the cynic in me speaking out!), but personally I feel that much of the hype about malware infections is generated to keep PC security products moving off the shelves.  I truly am not a conspiracy theorist by any stretch, but I do think that the problem is significantly overstated by the software industry and much of the media that covers it.  As much as I read about computer security, including all the warnings and cautionary stuff that hits my RSS reader and mailbox daily, I can't help but to notice that I never see very much about mass identity thefts, loss of tangible assets, etc. due entirely to malware infections.

The predominant goal of most malware I see hitting the masses is to grab people's attention for the purpose of getting a larger share of their spending.  Adware, browser hijacking, redirecting people's search toolbars to show targeted advertising.  This is where I see most malware hitting.  And, of course, to create zombies of the computers of the largely uneducated masses (and I don't mean folks who have no or little schooling, but those who have no earthly idea what they are doing when they open their browsers) for the strict purpose of propagating the above-mentioned adware, BHO's, redirecting search facilities, etc.  And spam of course!! Spam, by the way, which seems to be pointless if you think logically about it.  Haven't you all wondered who in their right minds would ever respond to these ridiculous spam emails?  Actually spam snags enough folks who buy these outlandish products to make it enormously profitable.  These spammers aren't sending out millions of messages hourly so they can picture you spending so much time and effort cursing and deleting their emails.  They do it only because enough people actually buy the crazy stuff they're pushing!!

But the virus that will destroy your machine, steal your identity, and make your life a complete mess?  Sure, it does happen, but to a much smaller percentage of web surfers.  But the software companies who develop newer, bigger, and better computer security applications need desperately for us all to be very fearful of malware!!  It is an unbelievably rich industry which they are not going to abandon because the threat is not as big as you think it is.

My opinion, anyway!

Jim

2447

General Software Discussion / Re: windows security - what's really necessary?

« Last post by J-Mac on January 29, 2008, 11:11 PM »

Stoic Joker,

Probably preaching to the choir here at DC, but still a good post!  Common sense, so sadly lacking in those from whom we would usually expect better, is still the rule.

Thanks.

Jim

2448

General Software Discussion / Re: Personal Movie Organizers - A quick rundown

« Last post by J-Mac on January 29, 2008, 04:23 PM »

A very, very late post to this thread, but I just started looking seriously for a DVD collection program.  While looking at Movie Collector, and also reading about all of the angst among users over their sudden change in upgrade policy.  Despite the upgrade thing, it does appear that many DCers are still using MC and speaking well of the program itself - if not the developers.

One disavantage:  No discount here at DC.    

So I decided to look around for one elsewhere, and lo and behold:  There is an $8.00 discount for users of ListPro by Iliumsoft.  I have used ListPro on a Pocket PC and desktop PC for years and never new about it.  The page, hidden away on the collectorz.com site - the only way I found it was through a link on the Iliumsoft web site - is here:

http://www.collectorz.com/listpro_offer.php

And the referring page at Iliumsoft is here on their support site:

http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/lp/lp_suptp1.php#qcolz

Not a windfall, but hey! $8 is $8 last I checked!!  And actually that is 20% off one Pro version of any product there.

I was using DVD Attache, a free app from a private developer which is very nice, but limited.  His website is currently down, though it appears that he has obtained a new domain - www.dvdattache.com - and it is not up yet.  Also, ominously, he has not replied to any of my recent emails.  I'm an early donater to him and had become friendly with him; he usually responds immediately, so perhaps something is wrong there.

Anyway, this has prompted me to seek out another DVD database program.  Looking like Movie Collector right now. 

Jim

2449

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: List of disc catalogers

« Last post by J-Mac on January 29, 2008, 01:35 PM »

Mr. Darwin,

I see that you use Music Collector - is this one of the Collectorz programs, BTW?

Also, I know that you also have WhereIsIt?  Have you tried using that for music, DVDs, etc.?  Or is it better/more convenient to use a specialized "collector" application for those?  Plus, if you use programs like Music Collector for your media, what do you use WhereIsIt? for?  (Just curious - not trying to give you the "third degree"!!  Trying to research before I select a program for my DVD collection.  CD collection is next!!)

Oh - while I am asking, I read a lot of complaints about Collectorz.com in the Complaints forum.  Have you had issues with upgrades or anything?

Thanks!

Jim

2450

Living Room / Re: HELP !!! Outlook corruption

« Last post by J-Mac on January 29, 2008, 01:18 PM »

Sorry to rehash an older thread, but I read that Microsoft is just now putting out the MS Office SP3 on Microsoft Updates.  Apparently, despite earlier reports that SP3 was being "stealth-installed with other Windows critical patches, it has never actually been available via automatic updates - at least according to Microsoft.  They say they have been holding back on releasing it through the Updates system to allow enterprise users and developers time to thoroughly test it.  Here's an article about this:

http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2007/09/office_2003_sp3.php

I personally had only read an occasional blog post attributing various strange behaviors noticed after installing this service pack.  (It has been available via manual download since September 2007).  But now I see that MS has intentionally disabled several Office features due to FUZZ testing they have done to determine the latest security risks - real or potential.  Ouch!  Carol, no wonder you were seeing some confusing behavior in your Outlook's functions!

One disabled feature that surprised me is that Office will no linger allow saving nor opening the TIFF image format.  Yeah, but almost every other imaging app still does use this format - and every fax machine ever built, I think!

Way to go, Bill!

Jim