Recent Posts

2501

Living Room / Re: What do you do during your free time?

« Last post by Darwin on August 22, 2008, 01:27 PM »

Firefly? Warrants a google, I guess!

2502

General Software Discussion / Re: How to clone large HDDs?

« Last post by Darwin on August 22, 2008, 08:57 AM »

4wd - that is indeed a frightening story! Thanks for sharing it/warning us! Nice to know, though, that there are likely master reset codes (which makes sense) - gives one some ammo if ever faced with this (assuming, of course that the service centre communicates with the customer).

2503

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Calendar/to-do manager with special repeat patterns (for students)

« Last post by Darwin on August 22, 2008, 08:52 AM »

2Darwin
Isn't that a proof for Rainlendar?
 (see attachment in previous post)

-fenixproductions (August 22, 2008, 07:33 AM)

Certainly looks like it'll repeat that task everyday. PaladinMJ , did you ever give Rainlendar a triy? BTW I've never used it myself...Thanks for following up on this, fenixproductions 

2504

General Software Discussion / Re: CleanMem - apparently a memory optimizer with a difference...

« Last post by Darwin on August 22, 2008, 08:40 AM »

Thanks, f0dder! When I saw the claims being made, I was very skeptical (as noted, I am a reformed memory optimizer!) and posted here. Glad to see my gut feeling supported by some knowledgeable analysis 

2505

Living Room / Re: What is a mouser? What does it mean to mouser someone?

« Last post by Darwin on August 21, 2008, 09:01 PM »

Try mentioning his progress on his school work. He will INSTANTLY leave the conversation without a word

-Josh (August 21, 2008, 07:25 PM)

A very sensible course of action in my opinion... Is that the time?!

2506

Living Room / Re: What is a mouser? What does it mean to mouser someone?

« Last post by Darwin on August 21, 2008, 09:28 AM »

I'd like to suggest a refinement of the definition from: 

"To purposely leave a conversation, or gathering, without notice or intent of returning for at least a 2 hour period".

to:

"To leave a conversation, or gathering, without notice or intent of returning for at least a 2 hour period".

I've never gotten the impression, and mouser's comments in this thread back this up, I think, that he does this intentionally!

2507

Living Room / Re: Cracking Down on Abuse of DMCA Takedown Notices

« Last post by Darwin on August 21, 2008, 08:33 AM »

Finally! Common sense makes a return... Right, off to read the actual article now.

Thanks, 40hz 

2508

Living Room / Re: What are your favorite gadgets and gizmos?

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

If you like Daleks you may enjoy this...

-cranioscopical (August 21, 2008, 08:22 AM)

That's BRILLIANT! Thanks for the link, Chris 


edit by jgpaiva: fixed quote tag

2509

General Software Discussion / Re: Help! Good flowcharting sw needed

« Last post by Darwin on August 21, 2008, 08:19 AM »

Thanks for the update - seems kind of odd to me that they would remove support... ?!

2510

General Software Discussion / Re: How to clone large HDDs?

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 08:09 PM »

Hmm... googled the freezer trick myself and this was the first 'hit':

Freezing a hard drive can be used in data recovery, but will only fix the hard drive for a short period of time. If the drive is spinning (you will hear it turning) this is not the method to use, this method is best suited for data recovery cases where the drive is not spinning. If the drive is spinning it not physically damaged so it is a problem that should be approached through other methods.

2511

Living Room / Re: Show us the View Outside Your Window

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 08:04 PM »

Here's my view at the moment in Singapore...

-tsaint (August 20, 2008, 07:46 PM)

Ah... missed the "at the moment" - thought you were in Oz, and I was right! Hope you're enjoying your visit to Singapore (so, IS the airport that great?!).

2512

Living Room / Re: Show us the View Outside Your Window

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 07:51 PM »

tsaint - great picture. I was just reading about Singapore's International airport (here, if anyone is interested)! Sounds FABULOUS...

2513

General Software Discussion / Re: How to clone large HDDs?

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 07:44 PM »

I don't know that there is a guarantee that this will work and that you'll be good to go, but something like True Image (from Acronis) should be able to clone your drive in under an hour. I *understand* that if you toss the old drive in the freezer in a ziploc bag over night, it will increase the chances of recovering all of your data. Google this tip for more complete instructions/explanation...

The nice thing about imaging software is that you can create bootable discs, meaning that you don't have to further stress the failing drive by installing anything on it (assuming that you have a backup computer to create the disc with!).

So, er, I guess this is where I admit that I haven't got a clue about XXClone 

EDIT: clarified what I don't know about freezing electronics!

2514

General Software Discussion / Re: Help! Good flowcharting sw needed

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 03:03 PM »

Thanks Curt  I was actually going to do this myself  , but keep getting sidetracked today... 

2515

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: MyInfo 4.10 - free form organizer

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 01:28 PM »

Hi milenix.com, welcome to DC! We're always thrilled to have developers drop by to discuss their products (or just interact!)

2516

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 01:25 PM »

Welcome Rowsdower! I'm glad that you've found your way here, and hope that we'll see more of you, and the other new members, on the boards 

2517

Living Room / Re: Show us the View Outside Your Window

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 11:56 AM »

PS the wasp nest is a fake... Apparently, wasps are exremely territorial and won't build nests within sight of another one. It's worked, so far...

2518

Living Room / Re: Show us the View Outside Your Window

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 11:48 AM »

For mouser:




Here's the view of my backyard from my computer room, about five minutes ago. NB it's August 20th here  We had a couple of weeks of weather in the high 20's and low 30's (celsius) and then rain yesterday and today...

2519

Living Room / Re: Show us the View Outside Your Window

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 11:27 AM »

  I had three homes in Seoul - Mapo, Chongno-3ga (Nokwon Apt) and Kil-dong (end of the purple line/line 5, past Chonho) and I had:

Mapo - a view of an alley - red brick, concrete, and wires
Chongno - a concrete forecourt on the fifth (fourth) floor below me, featuring a movie theatre and a bowling alley. Across the street my office building...  not good
Kil-dong - the street at eye level (lived in a basement apartment - got flooded out in both '98 and '99).

2520

General Software Discussion / Re: Help! Good flowcharting sw needed

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 10:53 AM »

One of the nice things about the update to version 4, is how much more quickly Edraw opens up now... Version 3 took about 20 seconds whereas version 4 is ready within about 4 

fenixproductions is right, from Edraw's website:

Exporting to SVG

You can export your document to the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format.

On File menu, point to Export, and click Native SVG.

The Save As dialog box will come up, type the file name and click Save.

Also you can:

Click Save As on the File menu.

On the Save As dialog box, select the Save Type as Scalable Vector Graphics Format.

Type the file name and click save.

None of the above options are available in EDraw Max 4...

2521

General Software Discussion / Re: What would your ideal Operating System be like?

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 10:47 AM »

I think Windows is one big complicated knot, whereas OS X is several fractal-like layers.

-nontroppo (August 20, 2008, 10:31 AM)

  Great analogy!

2522

General Software Discussion / Re: CleanMem - apparently a memory optimizer with a difference...

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 10:45 AM »

I know one memory optimizer trick that works: buy more ram!

-housetier (August 20, 2008, 10:36 AM)

Heh, heh, that's been my line for a couple of years now (I am a reformed memory optimizer, though  ). Thanks for the replies - was just curious about whether or not there is any substance the claims being made.

2523

General Software Discussion / Re: MOVAVI,avoid this company like the plague

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 09:51 AM »

S

The funny thing is that just today I was customizing a Lenovo laptop and they actually charged something like $40 more to "downgrade" from Vista Business Edition to XP.

-Deozaan (August 19, 2008, 11:54 PM)

Staples/Business Depot was charging $90 to do this in Canada until recently (the signs are gone from their computer section, so don't know if they've given it up or not...)! Of course, that represents a 3rd party tech going in and doing this for you (and you have to provide XP on top of that, of course)...!

2524

Living Room / Re: What are your favorite gadgets and gizmos?

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 09:47 AM »

It's without a doubt the bulkiest USB hub I've ever used, but oh how I love the sound of the Tardis each time I connect a device...

-allen (August 20, 2008, 08:33 AM)

 

2525

General Software Discussion / CleanMem - apparently a memory optimizer with a difference...

« Last post by Darwin on August 20, 2008, 09:35 AM »

I'm almost afraid to ask this question here, given my own role in some of the mem optimizer threads over the past three years, however, I'm curious if anyone has tried, and/or has an opinion about CleanMem? I discovered it this morning while trying to find information about WinXP Pro Sp-3 and explorer.exe, which has trebled in memory usage (over Sp-2). There are no proper reviews that I can find, but the author claims that CleanMem works differently:

This doesn't work like other memory cleaners that do nothing but force windows to free up memory by using up all the avail. memory.
This old trick then causes your system to lag big time!

Cleanmem works in a matter of about 5 sec. It uses a windows api call that is in Windows 2000,xp,2003,Vista & 2008
that tells windows to cleanup the workspace of a processes thus freeing up any memory the process no longer needs. Other memory cleaners end up forcing the memory into the page file slowing down your system.
This tool does not. The API call frees up unused memory from programs, when a program needs the memory again it can simply take it back instead of forcing the memory out of ram and into the page file.