Recent Posts

25901

General Software Discussion / CCleaner 2.0 Beta Released - Clean the Crap off your Computer

« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 01:44 PM »

One of the best free cleaning tools just got a little better (note this is a beta build so normal people might want to wait for a stable release!)

Features of CCleaner 2.0:

• Complete rebuild in C++ - With the requirements for a portable version, 64-bit compatibility and Windows Vista increasing against the limitations of the old architecture. We decided to rebuild the entire CCleaner application in highly optimized C++.
• Faster analyzing and cleaning - Each scanning process was rewritten from scratch and fully optimized. The result being a noticeable speed increase in all areas.
• Portable - CCleaner can now run from a USB thumbdrive and be installed/run on a computer without a complicated setup process.
• Compact - The rewrite removed all external file dependencies, so the main EXE is now half the size of the original program and support files.
• Redesigned User Interface - The original CCleaner user interface was looking a little dated, so the GUI was redesigned with a modern look, but without sacrificing speed or usability. New icons were created for the interface and the main program icon was updated with a more modern style.
• Exclusions - It is now possible to specify files, folders and registry keys to ignore from the cleaning process.
• Loads of little tweaks - Too numerous to mention them all separately, we've tried to improve CCleaner in all areas.

http://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner-20

from http://tech.cybernetnews.com/

25902

DcUpdater / Re: Program freezing with non-typical program directories

« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 01:38 PM »

Let me ask this, is it enough for me to drop in just the c:\programs directory

That's surely the problem -- it's trying to scan the entire giant directory each time, to find update files.
Each time it tries to update it's list of updates its trying to rescan it all.

so yeah, you need to drop in the specific directory.

BUT:
note that you actually dont even have to do this -- the first time you run one of these other programs from it's non-traditional directory, it will register itself.  So save yourself some trouble and just run each program once and the updater will know where to find them. (i'll try to fix this on a future update so you dont even have to run them once).

25903

Activation/License/Language Help / Re: Welcome - READ THIS FIRST!

« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 11:22 AM »

It means you are pasting in something other than the correct license key.
You can email me at [email protected] if you continue to have difficulties and i will try to help.
See this help entry as well:
https://www.donation...er.com/Help/entry/1/

The program saying ".. bad key file.."
what should i do?

-wusapf (August 16, 2007, 10:44 AM)

25904

Post New Requests Here / Re: Brainy idea (sort of) to import VCFs into Palm Desktop

« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 01:41 AM »

there are free file joiner programs that should do this for you without any problems.
just search for freeware file join tools.

25905

Find And Run Robot / Re: Ode to FARRv2

« Last post by mouser on August 16, 2007, 01:09 AM »

Wow that's beautiful!! 

I'm going to try to collect links to sites that mention FARR2 for the new web page for it, and this is going to be first on the list 

25906

Screenshot Captor / Re: How does the menu: "Expand Canvas to Fit Objects" work?

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 10:43 PM »

you have got it exactly right, that is the purpose of that menu item. but it doesnt seem to work perfectly -- text boxes attached to objects aren't accounted for.  putting it on my todo list.

in the meantime you can work around this by going to the Edit -> Resize menu and choosing to resize canvas instead of stretching:


ps. rather than try to get the size exactly right, i find it's easier just to add a big border all around and then crop.

25907

General Software Discussion / Re: DonationCoder apps integration with PortableApps?

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 09:30 PM »

yes, they should all run fine from usb drive. 

25908

Living Room / Wikipedia Scanner: Finding Who Games Wikipedia and a Service Tracking Them

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 07:49 PM »

Cool article and a digg-like site highlighting new interesting edits..

See Who's Editing Wikipedia - Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign
By John Borland Email 08.14.07 | 2:00 AM
CalTech graduate student Virgil Griffith built a search tool that traces IP addresses of those who make Wikipedia changes.
Photo: Jake Appelbaum

On November 17th, 2005, an anonymous Wikipedia user deleted 15 paragraphs from an article on e-voting machine-vendor Diebold, excising an entire section critical of the company's machines. While anonymous, such changes typically leave behind digital fingerprints offering hints about the contributor, such as the location of the computer used to make the edits.

In this case, the changes came from an IP address reserved for the corporate offices of Diebold itself. And it is far from an isolated case. A new data-mining service launched Monday traces millions of Wikipedia entries to their corporate sources, and for the first time puts comprehensive data behind longstanding suspicions of manipulation, which until now have surfaced only piecemeal in investigations of specific allegations.

...

Wikipedia Scanner -- the brainchild of Cal Tech computation and neural-systems graduate student Virgil Griffith -- offers users a searchable database that ties millions of anonymous Wikipedia edits to organizations where those edits apparently originated, by cross-referencing the edits with data on who owns the associated block of internet IP addresses.

Article in Wired: http://www.wired.com...2007/08/wiki_tracker
WikiScanner Page: http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/
Cool list of up-to-date discoveries: http://wired.reddit.com/wikidgame

25909

Developer's Corner / Re: Best Language for Employability?

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 05:16 PM »

This is good timing, the author of Code Complete (Steve McConnel) has a blog, and his latest entry is:

"How to Self-Study for a Computer Programming Job"

http://blogs.constru...programming-job.aspx

25910

Developer's Corner / Re: Best Language for Employability?

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 05:00 PM »

Another thought:
It is impossible not to benefit from practicing coding and learning new things.  Do those two things and it's hard to go wrong.

25911

Developer's Corner / Re: Best Language for Employability?

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 04:58 PM »

I want to underline one thing especially that CW mentioned, because it's a really important for very smart people to absorb (emphasis mine):

I don't need rogue programmers, not even prodigies.

One of the things that can be particularly hard for really smart people to learn and accept, is that brilliance can only get you so far.  In fact, there are lots of fields where being really smart can be a very real impediment to actually getting things done.  My father always quotes his thesis advisor who said (paraphrasing): "Be a genius on your own time, while you're here just get the work done."   I wish i had been able to absorb that lesson.

The bottom line is that when working in the real world and with other people is that there are a lot of important skills, and it's often less important to be the smartest person in the room who knows the language best, and much more important to be the person who knows how to learn what they need and get the job done well and on time while working well with their co-workers, etc.

Having said that, there are lots of more independent ways to live if you are the super smart type who doesn't play well with others, just be aware the path you are taking.. 

25912

Developer's Corner / Re: Best Language for Employability?

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 03:55 PM »

CWuestefeld response sounded harsh to me, i don't think he was meaning it to be.  And some of the other posts did as well, but if you look deeper you will find some reasonable statements.

First it should be said, that you are in the very small minority of programmers who actually jump into the deep end and are capable of learning the nitty gritty stuff that can be so important to learn.  Many people will avoid such stuff at all costs, and lean on their tools like crutches.  So that's a good thing.

But some of the other comments people have made are also quite true, which is that in terms of getting a job, there are a lot of other skills that are probably as important or more important that skill at a particular language.  There are a few books i would really recommend for this kind of stuff, books like:

• Code Complete
• The Pragmatic Programmer

The last comment that really bears repeating is to find a niche that you love and get good at it.  Programming is too much work, and has too much of a potential to be so fulfilling and enjoyable, to focus on an area you don't enjoy just because there are a few more jobs there.  There are enough jobs in almost every language and area that if you are good and enjoy it you can find work.

Oh and let me also agree with KyleLanser, that there is no reason to limit yourself to just one tool or language -- they get easier to pick up as you go along, and you are learning key skills of programming that don't have to do with any particular language.  The more you program, regardless of what language, the better you get at coding, no matter what job you take.

25913

Living Room / Re: suffering online status anxiety

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 03:03 PM »

I think there are two very separate issues which should be treated independently.

Some people enjoy writing about their life and thoughts, and get deep satisfaction from having a nice place on the web for this.  I don't think it really matters at all to these people whether anyone is actually reading the information.  It's more that it "exists".  I've experienced this myself and can't really explain it.

Then there is the issue of establishing a presence on the internet to sort of claim your public identity and "market" yourself.  That's a whole different game with different rules.

25914

Developer's Corner / Re: Bjarne Stroustrup (creator of C++) talks about the development of C++0x

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 01:01 PM »

Ian Joyner wrote a long and thoughtfull and educational critique of C++: http://burks.brighto...fo/progdocs/cppcrit/

Some pictures are missing from the online version but you can get a 31 page pdf here: http://www.literatep....com/c++critique.pdf

And if you *really* like this kind of stuff, Ian wrote a 3rd edition expanding the critique to another languages here (63 pages, fantastic stuff): http://www.adaic.org.../ada-vs-c/cppcv3.pdf

25915

Screenshot Captor / Re: Small pictures when pasting into a new e-mail

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 11:32 AM »

this has been discussed before, it's due to the DPI setting of the images.

to change this, what you want to do is go to the Screenshot Captor options and change the DPI of captured images to something like 72:


ps. this will only effect new captures -- if you want to fix this for a capture made before now, select the image and change the dpi from the specialFX menu:

25916

Find And Run Robot / Re: search in startup folders ?

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 08:09 AM »

maybe we can collaborate on this : i could prepare a draft...

sounds good, others may be able to help too.

does it have to be ready for the V2 release ??

not necessarily.

25917

General Software Discussion / Re: Gizmo's TechSUpportAlert Recommends Mobysaurus Thesuarus

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 12:54 AM »

ps. if you like what wordzilla has done with his thesaurus tools or his recent amazing search enhancements for our forum: send him a few donationcredits !

25918

General Software Discussion / Gizmo's TechSupportAlert Recommends Mobysaurus Thesaurus

« Last post by mouser on August 15, 2007, 12:45 AM »

In the latest Gizmo's TechSupportAlert newsletter, our own Wordzilla got a big nod of approval for his Mobysaurus free thesaurus program.

Congratulations!! 

2.4 The Best Free Thesaurus Utility
Subscriber Bruce Fraser writes: "Gizmo, I've used your "46 Best-ever Freeware" suggestions of WordWeb and The Sage for years. The two products are virtually the same in that they both use the same data dictionary from Princeton University. Imagine a product which uses a different word database with ten times as many words. This product exists: Mobysaurus [1]. I installed it, looked up some sample words in it and compared the results to both WordWeb and Mobysaurus. I was stunned to see the difference. This is an amazing gift to the world for writers whether for pleasure or business. I donated $10 through DonationCoder but that is entirely optional." This is a great find, Bruce, but it is important to note that WordWeb and The Sage offer a combined dictionary and thesaurus, whereas Mobysaurus is a thesaurus only. Additionally, Mobysaurus is a stand-alone program, while the other two are more easily accessed from other applications. That said, it's the most powerful freeware thesaurus that I've tried and it gets my hearty recommendation for anyone who works with the written word. This is yet another outstanding free utility from the guys at DonationCoder. If you use Mobysaurus, do the right thing like Bruce did and support DonationCoder with a generous donation.

http://www.mobysaurus.com/

Thanks and welcome to all Gizmo readers 

ps.
Don't miss Wordzilla's online version of his thesaurus system: http://freethesaurus.net/

25919

Living Room / Re: Flash Game of the Week: Escape Game [RGB]

« Last post by mouser on August 14, 2007, 11:19 PM »

This is really good.. I've just solved it but i can't solve the bonus!

25920

Find And Run Robot / Re: search in startup folders ?

« Last post by mouser on August 14, 2007, 08:43 PM »

Nitrix how would you feel about preparing a little guide like: Advanced FARR Hacking?
I think you are the only one (and yes I'm including myself) that has discovered all these little tricks.

25921

Find And Run Robot / Re: search in startup folders ?

« Last post by mouser on August 14, 2007, 05:20 PM »

yes you could do like this:
go to directory search tab, and add those two directories:
 C:\Documents and Settings\Nico\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\
 C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\
And for both of them put a keyword modifier like: nicome

now in your alias put
dosearch +nicome $$1

should work i think.

25922

Developer's Corner / Re: Bjarne Stroustrup (creator of C++) talks about the development of C++0x

« Last post by mouser on August 14, 2007, 04:35 PM »

Having just watched this i have to add my 2 cents about the c++0x next generation of c++.

I am a 20+ year C++ programmer.  Sometimes i think my brain works in C++ syntax, and everything else looks ugly to me.

Having said that, I think the entire C++0x episode is a total train wreck, a completely bad idea being badly implemented.
Watching that video (and reading the Tech Reports that the c++0x committee releases regularly just cemented that view in my mind).

My favorite cynical part is where Stroustrup says how c++ is being designed by democratic voting and how anyone with $1200 can become a voting member.  I think what we have here is a an out of control project which had some nice goals and just became too in love with the beaurocracy.

But leaving aside the issues with the committe, I think what we have here is basically an example of putting million dollar bandaids on a patient that is about to die.

C++ is a wonderful language, plagued by the baggage of being backward compatible with a long like of mistakes from it's past (ps. I highly recommend The Design and Evolution of C++ book, very educational and entertaining).

Im my view, C++ is dying, and it should be left to die.  It's still my primary programming language, and I still love it, but you simply cannot "fix" C++ by adding stuff, which is the ground rules that C++0x is operating under.  It's simply not feasible, and the result is ugly.

All programmers are familiar with having to decide whether to keep patching some fundamentally awkward and unsuitable code base, or starting again with a stronger and cleaner foundation.  Speaking personally, I'm very much looking forward to the future language which will replace C++ for me.  I haven't found it yet, but it's coming.  And it'll probably get here before C++0x makes it out of committee.

In truth, the C++0x debacle is going to have some very useful side effects.  Their are some brilliant language designers working on C++0x issues, and churning out interesting, detailed, thoughtfull, argued positions.  I suspect that many of the ideas that come out of C++0x arguments will find their way into younger, more consistent and more elegant languages.

As an academic challenge (improving upon a dying flawed langauge while keeping it backward compatible), the new changes to the c++ standard are quite interesting.  As an actual language for coding in, all i can say is: no thank you.

25923

Find And Run Robot / Re: how to copy the selected file into the clipboard (like explorer do)

« Last post by mouser on August 14, 2007, 12:59 PM »

ok i could add that, maybe with like ctrl+shift+C

25924

Find And Run Robot / Re: how to copy the selected file into the clipboard (like explorer do)

« Last post by mouser on August 14, 2007, 12:28 PM »

i'm confused..

you can select a result item in FARR and hit ctrl+c to copy it's path to clipboard. is that what you are asking about?

25925

Screenshot Captor / Re: Should I add desktop screencast(movie) recording to ScreenshotCaptor?

« Last post by mouser on August 13, 2007, 10:46 PM »

sc can do it, its called a scrolling capture.