Recent Posts

2576

Screenshot Captor / Re: Configuring Gmail in the SendTo

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 23, 2009, 08:08 PM »

Why not just use your default mail client?

2577

Living Room / Re: Should I switch from Dreamhost?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 22, 2009, 12:14 PM »

I haven't used DreamHost but I have been using www.nativespace.co.uk for the last few months and they are fantastic. The servers seem responsive and don't seem to have any issues. When I had a couple of niggling issues both times I got an email response in under an hour and the problem fixed very quickly. (Some of those email responses were on a late Sunday evening). They also have a phone support line 24/7 though that may not be convenient if you are based outside the UK. Not only do they provide good technical support but they are very helpful and quick at answering other questions (including via Live Chat as well as email and phone).

2578

Living Room / Re: Why I Avoid Apple Products

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 19, 2009, 04:54 PM »

Oh - I suppose there is the iPod and the iPhone (both ideas stolen from other developers and manufacturers). I don't really count people who buy those as real people because anyone who buys a product where you can't change the battery must be an idiot, and anyone who pays a premium price because it comes in a plain box with only one button is either stupid or ...well stupid I guess (worth saying twice that one).

well i want to go on record saying that i don't feel this way.. i can see lots of rational reasons why people would buy Apple products, and there is much to admire in their approach and design choices.  i don't think anyone is stupid for buying and using Apple stuff, it's just there are a few things that prevent me from doing so.

-mouser (February 19, 2009, 03:22 PM)

I just feel that iPods and iPhones have become a cultish phenomenon which rather belie common sense. I cannot understand why the iPod has become ubiquitous when other media players have equal functions, equal quality in construction and sound, are cheaper to purchase and have replaceable batteries and yet struggle to sell.

To my mind it is a triumph of marketting more than product design. I know a number of people who have an irrational need to keep replacing their iPods as new models emerge - it doesn't make any sense when all they really use it for is to listen to music and watch the odd cartoon film they purchased from iStore to prove the video works.

I can see no rational reason at all to buy an iPhone with its expensive price tag, expensive service lock-in and Apple's  control freakery on what you are allowed to do with your own device! It's not as though there aren't alternatives that are probably more flexible and fuller featured at a lower price.

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Living Room / Re: Why I Avoid Apple Products

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 19, 2009, 01:19 PM »

Have you noticed how Apple have cornered the market in product placement in US TV series.

Many people on the West Wing had Apple computers (even though the Whitehouse doesn't apparently have any), school teachers (Boston Public) all use Apple computers even when they can't afford books or a private life. My favourite was on House M.D. where the hospital apparently has an Apple MRI scanner - I nearly fell off my chair when I saw that one.

Boston Public was a funny one because there were Apple computers visible everywhere but the closing credits only credit one computer company - Hewlett Packard!

I presume they are working on the assumption that if the public see the Apple logo through the media often enough they will actually get people to believe that there is a general market out there for Apple PCs and iMacs whereas they are owned by a tiny minority of individuals and the only major market they seem to have in business is the graphics market and that's mainly for historical and religious reasons.

Oh - I suppose there is the iPod and the iPhone (both ideas stolen from other developers and manufacturers). I don't really count people who buy those as real people because anyone who buys a product where you can't change the battery must be an idiot, and anyone who pays a premium price because it comes in a plain box with only one button is either stupid or ...well stupid I guess (worth saying twice that one).

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Found Deals and Discounts / MOVED: Virtual Music Composer 4.0: 51% off

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 18, 2009, 05:22 PM »

This topic has been moved to Announce Your Software/Service/Product.

https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=17097.0

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Living Room / Re: The Agreeable Cat - Never be Bound By Online Legal Agreements Again

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 18, 2009, 12:39 PM »

You can always act as Kitty's agent and push the button.

My two cats and my stuffed orangutan all registered with iTunes during a free download promotion

Of course they asked for my help in what to choose to download and to operate the keyboard.

My orangutan keeps pestering for an iPod now though!

2582

Site/Forum Features / Re: Signatures now not shown if you have under a certain number of posts

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 15, 2009, 03:29 PM »

Thanks - seem to see sigs again now - not sure if it is blocking sigs for new users though ?

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Site/Forum Features / Re: Signatures now not shown if you have under a certain number of posts

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 15, 2009, 09:01 AM »

No - they were there a couple of days ago.

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Site/Forum Features / Re: Signatures now not shown if you have under a certain number of posts

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 15, 2009, 06:49 AM »

How many posts do you need for a signature? I have over 5000 and I don't see signatures any longer for anyone?

2585

General Software Discussion / Re: Collectorz.com... again!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 14, 2009, 02:25 PM »

I haven't looked for a while but when they released the latest version bumps they specifically said they were using US catalogues only. Maybe they relented but it was certainly off putting - and if they can do/say that sort of thing it doesn't instil confidence that some other random decision will be made in the future.

2586

General Software Discussion / Re: Drupal is f*cked

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 13, 2009, 03:16 PM »

True - I have only been put of Drupal because it is so unapproachable - if they get that right in version 7 they will have a real winner.

2587

Living Room / Re: single sata drive install xp first and then vista but have to change bios

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 13, 2009, 11:55 AM »

You don't want to enable RAID - if you do the two drives will probably appear as one!

They should just be listed as two separate drives.

Having said that if they are connected to the same SATA interface I would guess you might have the same problems trying to install XP on that drive!

2588

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 13, 2009, 03:34 AM »

There are a number of assumptions about how people ARE ABLE to work.

It has become increasingly clear to me in recent months that even people working within the line of sight of where I live have very different broadband experiences (from non-existent to barely faster than dial up and very error prone to fast and efficient) and I know from other user comments in these forums that these problems occur all over the world - even in the USA, especially in non-urban areas.

Given that there is a growth in 'work from home' models sorting out decent and affordable internet access has to be a priority but companies who provide these services are limited to what is cost effective.

Not only is broadband highly sporadic and variable in the area in which I live and work but it is becoming increasingly difficult to get decent dial-up services and when you do get them to work the internet is fast becoming a place that doesn't effectively support dial-up users.

This seriously limits the effectiveness of the 'cloud' model. The problems of internet access are only going to get worse as the number of users grow exponentially worldwide - effectively drowning the bandwidth capacity of the WWW.

If you can access it I agree that you can backup your data on your own system from some 'cloud' systems but when people and companies buy into the idea and spend a lot of time and effort getting access and security sorted out what happens when the big companies such as MS see other companies (such as Zoho) doing well and come along offering a deal that can't be missed to sell off their service?

This has happened so many times in the past with online services and software solutions (and seems to be a model many online companies are actively courting because it is a way to become very rich very quickly) .

Just taking Zoho as an example - if it is bought out there is no guarantee the service will be continued. Even if it does continue there is no guarantee that it will remain free. OK you can move on to another provider but if you have invested a lot of time and money training employees how one system works (not to mention implementing backup systems and evaluating and setting up security systems) you are not going to be very happy when you wake up one morning to find out your entire infrastructure has closed down - or is likely to in the next month or two.

There is also the whole confidentiality issue. The war on terror has seen many terrifying liberties taken with personal freedom in the US and the UK (and probably other countries too). Recently the UK wanted to build a database of EVERY email sent and received, internet browsing history and even mobile phone calls for every UK citizen (in the name of combating terrorism). As it happens the non-elected parts of UK government managed to get the proposals thrown out (so much for democracy) but if this proposal rears its ugly head what is to stop governments demanding legal access to any files stored in cloud systems. Are businesses really going to be happy storing anything sensitive where there is the potential that governments (and even potentially foreign governments) can simply access everything at the touch of a button (and possibly even store archive copies)? It is already illegal in the UK to use encrypted email because the government want to be able to intercept and read your mail!

On a personal level I can see the cloud being a convenient form of storage and access but I can't see businesses jumping at the idea.

On another comment from Zaine - how does MS lock you into proprietary formats? OK if you use MS formats they are proprietary but every MS app allows you to save documents in open formats (such as HTML) and always has. AFAIK Office 2007 is the first time in about 15 years where new file formats have been introduced to their office suites and even so you can still set the apps to only use the old formats - they have also produced addons for older products that allow the new file formats to be opened in older products so there is no particular lock-in and there is no necessity to upgrade.

I don't usually sing the praises of MS but we have to remember that MS Office was (and always has been) aimed at the corporate market and most of the innovations since Office 97 have been aimed at that corporate sector. It is testament to the quality of the software that individual users have adopted the software for home use too even when there are viable free alternatives.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Collectorz.com... again!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 12, 2009, 03:24 PM »

There is a simple reason why they remove the negative comments - they constantly send out newsletters saying how the vast majority love their apps and there are few negative comments. What better way to prove the point in the future 'look at are forums - all our users are tremndously positive and happy about our products'.

It is simply a cynical marketing ploy and if they manage to alienate long term users so much the better from their warped perspective.

I have three life time licences and they have won with me - I no longer request updates and it is a long time since I have bothered to use the software I purchased because I know it has a limited life span - either Windows upgrades will kill it or source catalogue changes will kill the versions I have.

Personally I have no interest in only having access to only US catalogues for Books, DVDs and Music (I live in the UK) when every country has different editions, cover art, editors etc. and I can't see for the life of me why a European business wants to exclude the rest of the world - including themselves!! I presume they perceive the biggest market is the US - but with the US only representing about 3% of the world population - and about 85-90% are likely to be online by 2020 the whole policy seems stupid and short sighted.

2590

Living Room / Re: single sata drive install xp first and then vista but have to change bios

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 12, 2009, 09:30 AM »

Hey f0dder does this mean i would have to reinstall everything. and can i make the cd in vista to burn and then install.
I mean to say use nlite in vista with my xp install cd and then burn all of it with the fixes to a new xp install cd.
thanks

-topcattroy (February 12, 2009, 07:47 AM)

Yes to those for XP - I had to use nLite to create an installation disc with the required SATA drivers to get Windows XP to install. You shouldn't need to do this for Vista (and if you do you should use vLite)

You could probably do a repair install of Windows XP from the nLited CD but you would then probably need to fix the Vista installation too as XP's installer will overwrite the boot sector.

I am not sure how you do that in Vista but in XP you run the recovery console and type FIXBOOT at the command prompt. There must be something similar in Vista.

2591

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 12, 2009, 08:56 AM »

MS is building cloud like facilities into Office 2007 already (through Microsoft Update) and many big software companies are looking towards a cloud based future (Adobe's Acrobat.com, the whole of Google, MS's live.com etc) and it is on;y going to get more competitive.

Unfortunately they all see this as the next cash cow in computer terms - and with the growth of netbooks etc. I think it is going to get more an more integrated into operating systems.

I don't want it, I don't like it and I will resist any attempt to get me to use it (unless it is to my benefit) but I can't help feeling that at some point it will become more difficult to avoid it and that is when cloud computing will become essential to most users and computers will become little more than appliances (glorified TVs and DVD recorders with internet access).

Sad but it is coming.

2592

General Software Discussion / Re: Collectorz.com... again!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 12, 2009, 03:45 AM »

It just shows how stupid they are and how prepared they are top bury their heads in the sand rather than listen to customer feedback. It also shows the level of contempt with which they treat their customers.

The net effect is that manyh users will simply stop recommending their software and will never buy another title.

Personally I think the whole thing is a way to alienate people who have lifetime licenses! Bad idea as they have formed the bedrock of their sales team.

2593

Living Room / Re: Please tallk me off the ledge... Intervention needed!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 09, 2009, 12:36 PM »

If you’re ruinnig SATA in your notebook

-Darwin (February 09, 2009, 10:30 AM)

Now that would be naughty ...

2594

Living Room / Re: Please tallk me off the ledge... Intervention needed!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 09, 2009, 12:35 PM »

Carol: £30 for a BIOS battery? W-T-F?

-f0dder (February 09, 2009, 09:53 AM)

It was a Dell laptop and they had chosen to use a rechargeable button battery that was not available in Europe or the US (even from Dell). The problem was that the battery design had changed over the years. When the computer was new it was a plain button battery but by the time it needed replacing all the batteries of the same size came with 'legs' welded on which couldn't be removed without damaging the battery. The only place I could find a 'legless' version was from Singapore and they were horrendously expensive (mainly because they used UPS to deliver and refused to consider any other method of delivery - that was about 80% of the cost).

It was a choice between buying a battery from Singapore or buying a new laptop.

2595

Living Room / Re: Please tallk me off the ledge... Intervention needed!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 09, 2009, 09:29 AM »

Wouldn't you be better off buying a new cheap laptop. OK it will cost you more but there are loads of cheap laptops about these days and they will all improve your experience of Vista enormously (esp. if you go for 2Gb of RAM). I wouldn't bother with upgrades for a 4 year old laptop - it is only a matter of time before it will need uneconomic repairs such as replacing the keyboard, screen components or even a BIOS battery. It recently took me ages to track down a laptop BIOS battery for a DELL computer that was about 4 years old for a client - I ended up, with their permission, ordering the battery from Singapore and it cost around £30 (UKP) - which is about $45. They wanted to extract a little more life from the laptop so they were happy to pay £30 for a battery that should have cost £2 but the nature of these things is that components become unavailable and expensive over time.

2596

Living Room / Re: Tech News Weekly: Edition 06-09

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 09, 2009, 04:49 AM »

Don't stress - I don't mind being one of the boys ... if it'll make you happy 

2597

Living Room / Re: Tech News Weekly: Edition 06-09

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 08, 2009, 02:20 PM »

Did you see any women reply prior to that comment?

-Ehtyar (February 08, 2009, 01:12 PM)

I don't know - it is difficult to tell with the use of nick names 

2598

Living Room / Re: Tech News Weekly: Edition 06-09

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 08, 2009, 07:16 AM »

10: Awesome motor bike! ...in look and price

-Shades (February 08, 2009, 12:09 AM)

I am not really a fan of motorbikes but I always thought one of the attractions was the engine noise? Who will buy a silent bike - esp. at $63,000? Maybe they could fit hi powered speakers with a range of engine noises geared to the throttle - that way you could ride a different bike every day!

My pleasure, as always gents

-Ehtyar (February 08, 2009, 12:17 AM)

Is this a boys own column then?

2599

Post New Requests Here / Re: Software to pinpoint the cause of hard-drive activity

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 06, 2009, 08:33 PM »

How about FileMon (for Win XP and 2003)

or Process Monitor (for Win XP/2003 and later)

Process monitor requires a few clicks on the tool bar to do what you want.

Click to enable auto scroll and then to the right hand end of the tool bar you 'unpress' all the buttons except file activity.

You can also enable logging to a file (presumably it filters the resulting file activity out!)

Note both tools don't require any installation - just unpack and double click to run.

2600

General Software Discussion / Re: Help! My new computer is freezing!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 06, 2009, 08:17 PM »

Check that you have installed the latest motherboard drivers (from the chipset manufacturer rather than the mobo site as they are often not updated much after release). Similarly check you have the latest Graphics and Audio drivers.

In the BIOS disable any unused devices (there are often game ports, midi interfaces, audio and lots more that you are not actually using) and check for any 'performance' settings. If there are high performance settings defaulting 'on' try turning them off (not sure what is in your BIOS - take some photos of the screens and post them here if you are not sure).