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2601

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by zridling on August 25, 2006, 10:24 PM »

PS: Anyone notice how much faster DOpus (Directory Opus) is in the latest 8.2.2.4 version? Noticeable difference.

2602

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by zridling on August 25, 2006, 10:23 PM »

I'm sure that has to do with how DOpus handles virtual folders. Or am I wrong on that?

2603

Living Room / Re: Excellent art

« Last post by zridling on August 25, 2006, 10:21 PM »

Awesome find.

2604

General Software Discussion / Ribbon vs. Toolbar, round 2

« Last post by zridling on August 25, 2006, 10:17 PM »

The Office 2007 ribbon has been memed to death by now, but how can you lie about something so obvious as the size of the ribbon as Marc Orchant seems to do? It ain't smaller! Here's more on the subject in response to March Orchant's claim (lie!) that it takes up 5-8 pixels less than the Office 2003 toolbar. See for yourself and ask what he's looking at:

. . .

Thank goodness I can hide that ridiculous monstrosity. As for Office 2007's keyboard shortcuts, this is the mess they created:

. . .

2605

General Software Discussion / Re: Need recommendation for data migration software

« Last post by zridling on August 24, 2006, 06:08 PM »

I get asked this question a lot. My answer is PCMover from LapLink. There are other apps that will do the same thing, but PCMover has no learning curve since I'm rarely going to use it, and it works. It not only moves your programs, but updates your registry (saving the original, of course) and system folders so that when you turn on the new computer, your old programs actually work.

That's all I want!

2606

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by zridling on August 24, 2006, 06:04 PM »

Here's another neat feature.

Every other week or so I need a feature which will copy directory structures in all Windows environments (drives and folders mainly). The ability to copy a whole folder structure, including all subfolders, to a different location, without copying the files inside those folders is a great time-saver.

Right-click on any folder and drag-n-drop to its new location. And then select the "Create Branch(es) Here" option. It also gives you options to move or create a link to the folder/s.

2607

Living Room / Re: Thoughts on What's Wrong with the Business End of Blogging..

« Last post by zridling on August 22, 2006, 11:45 PM »

This along with paying people to create Digg links and write fawning things about software in forums, blogs, and chatrooms. Money influences everything, but when it warps reality, then it's just propaganda.

2608

Living Room / David Brent spoofs Microsoft in his training video!

« Last post by zridling on August 22, 2006, 05:18 PM »

David Brent, or Ricky Gervais, spoofs Microsoft in this training video. Hilarious.

. . . .

If you've never watched the UK version of The Office, it's so real it makes you cringe. The American TV version cannot compare IMO. Presented in two segments, I love how he shreds the interviewer and "criticizes himself" at around the 12:00m mark. Ricky can sing, too, if you haven't heard his songs!

2609

Living Room / Re: Companies paying people to say good things about their products on forums

« Last post by zridling on August 22, 2006, 02:03 AM »

Man I wish people would pay me to say the nice things I do about some of the software on my site, but that's exactly why I don't. I'd be like every other whore and take the money and write the glitter. What's worse than saying nice things about crappy software?

Oh yeah I forgot, this is it.

PS: Hirudin — tell us more, don't leave us hanging!

2610

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« Last post by zridling on August 22, 2006, 01:57 AM »

Would you believe mine is the classic blue screen with only four icons on it?

Stop laughing. Please stop. 

2611

Living Room / Re: Is IE7 or Firefox 2 safer?

« Last post by zridling on August 22, 2006, 01:53 AM »

I'm still waiting for Firefox 2.0 to hit, but I've been happy with Opera and IE7/Maxthon. Opera will render more pages than either Firefox or IE6/7, and when I really truly need to access a funky site, Opera does it. As for security, I figure most of us have come to the conclusion that computing itself is insecure unless you're not online, and don't install any software on your computer! Today Firefox has a problem, tomorrow IE has five more new ones. Much like fighting in the MidEast: it never ends.

2612

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MyLifeOrganized - a journey in search of the perfect GTD software

« Last post by zridling on August 22, 2006, 01:46 AM »

Since the late 80s, I've subscribed to the FranklinCovey/7 Habits approach, which eschews systems and mere to-do lists in favor of a much broader approach to time management. I've read the GTD book a couple of years ago and even spent a year reading the 43 Folders site, but others like Hyrum Smith were writing and talking about this same thing since the 1970s, and it all seemed derivative of the early Franklin content. What I like about it is the shared lifehacker/tech approach to saving time, i.e., take a tip from wherever you find it and see if it works.

If and when you have time, consider reading Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The 7 Habits "Quadrant" approach to prioritizing tasks makes GTD seem thin and overly focused on smaller, "urgent/pay-attention-to-me-now" tasks; that is, do the easy stuff first, and push the larger tasks deeper in the day. Problem is, most people burn too much time; that five-minute simple task took 35 minutes to complete because you got distracted from the main goal, which is to get X done today, not just a bunch of little t's. I can't criticize anything that really works for another. But in my own experience, GTD kept me busy on "urgent" things, but not necessarily focused on the "important" things. FranklinCovey uses a planner and/or software, or if you're really good, your own mind; GTD can use anything, even an index card. And that too is good.

2613

General Software Discussion / Re: The Great Software List Site Gets a Big Update

« Last post by zridling on August 21, 2006, 10:36 PM »

Thanks guys! I went on a caffeine and chocolate bender for about five days to get it updated. I'd been working with tons of programs throughout the summer and finally pulled it together. Next up, a smaller, prettier front page to the site that categorizes all the apps on one page for a quick glance of what is where. I haven't worked out the exact design yet, but it will look good and be much easier to see what programs I have listed without having to surf through eight separate pages or one long alphabetized list. (You'll still be able to do both, but KenR has given me some good ideas for the rest of this year.)

I'm thinking of dropping the RSS feed since I have to manually update that, and man, that's a time sink.

2614

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by zridling on August 21, 2006, 10:28 PM »

[urlwolf]: How is the search function compared to locate? Does it do continuous indexing like google bar, copernic etc?

It can cache a scan if you like or you can save complex find operations as a template to be used again and again. It scanned my 400G HD (with 262G of data) and found 96 files with the term "keyboard shortcuts" in 25.410 seconds. XYplorer doesn't index your drive. I asked the dev about this and he thought tools like Locate and Copernic do that function better and he doesn't want to bloat the program with sub-par features. He wants to keep XYplorer fast, and churning the HD slows everything down. File Search, however, is XYplorer's strongest feature. RegEx is supported, too.

2615

Living Room / Re: Be the author of a scientific paper

« Last post by zridling on August 19, 2006, 09:51 PM »

OMG, that is so funny, and I remember the news reports of this story. The PowerPoint slides are funny, too. The first tip is non-peer reviewed papers, and thus the reason for peer review in science.

2616

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by zridling on August 19, 2006, 07:07 PM »

Thanks Tuck, I appreciate the feedback! We both agree it is great to have several solid choices in this category, which means it's a toss-up — pick one and you'll be happy with your favorite. Of the ones I listed, Total Commander took me the longest to customize, but that's just me, and once I did, I was comfortable. Setting up XYplorer took less time than any other except for xplorer2. But then I customize the crap out of every app I use (nod to SuperboyAC).

Is there any app that older than Total Commander that has as many users today, viz., from the DOS days? You can't throw a rock through a window without hitting a Total Commander user, ha! 

2617

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: What was that word I was looking for....Mobysaurus Thesaurus

« Last post by zridling on August 19, 2006, 06:58 PM »

Good job, Josh. I've used Thinkmap's Visual Thesaurus for years. Both take different approaches, and I applaud Moby for making this app small. Most of these references apps are naturally fat by virtue of their database/s.

2618

Older Newsletters / Re: Newsletter for August 2nd, 2006 - Codename ''Blogs and Bosses"

« Last post by zridling on August 18, 2006, 11:01 PM »

Man, I really like the newsletter format! It points me toward things I missed or dismissed and it's a nice layout. Good job, mouser!

2619

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by zridling on August 18, 2006, 08:41 PM »

Usability: Ease of use, configurability, or to be more specific, the ability to tailor the program to the way you work to meet your needs. XYplorer can be mimic almost any other file manager layout. My screenshots provide only a very few of its possible layouts.

2620

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by zridling on August 18, 2006, 06:51 AM »

Thanks Josh, I appreciate the kind words.

2621

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by zridling on August 17, 2006, 04:39 PM »

mrainey, yes, you can, and I'm glad you mentioned it. (For those who don't know him, mrainey is one of the true software geniuses around here — his work with and advice to developers is well regarded around the web.)

My experience with export/import in version 8.x of Directory Opus has not been entirely accurate in that both my toolbars and listers were not fully imported. The difference between the two is that with XYplorer you don't have the "big install" routine. Run the little 751k .exe file (the install folder only adds up to 2M), import the .ini, restart, and voila! Done in about a minute. For anyone in the field, this is a delight.

Here is what XYplorer's author (Donald Lessau) wrote in response:
"- You'll get [keyboard] shortcuts for destinations [folders, files]... after I've done a couple of other fantastic things;
- Scripting is on my list as well (frankly, I use XY scripting already for automated backups — but for now it's only available in my personal special developer edition)."

_______________________
For anyone reading this, each change you make in Directory Opus, I urge the user to backup and export all its settings asap so you don't have to reconstruct them. Directory Opus allows you to save all or part of your current setup, including any keyboard shortcuts you created (although that's not listed in the export/import settings). I say that because I'm the fool who backs up incessantly, making a backup of the backup.

I frankly cannot say a bad word about Directory Opus because it does every single thing I want. I just think the only caveat is its complexity (which is not a bad thing because it is the ultimate power user's tool, unlike xplorer2, for instance). But it's that very complexity that ensures its customizability, which in turn ensures its mass appeal. In other words, there's a reason everyone swears by Directory Opus — it works.

2622

General Software Discussion / Re: good software review site

« Last post by zridling on August 16, 2006, 10:42 PM »

PS: And I know the reason for only reviewing shareware/commercial apps is the ad money. If TTR did include programs like Screenshot Captor, how many people would still go out and buy HyperSnap or SnagIt?

2623

General Software Discussion / Re: good software review site

« Last post by zridling on August 16, 2006, 10:33 PM »

I can vouch for that. You wouldn't believe the number of solicitations I receive for my little site each week, and I haven't updated it in months. Yet people send me free software all the time. Most of it is highly marketed junk that forces you to cut through mountains of marketing copy amidst a good UI, but you end up asking, "Where the substance, the edge; i.e., what makes this slick program different from the freeware one?" What's odd is that they almost never send a registered version, ha!

One of the attractions to DonationCoder.com is its openness to the best software, no matter its licensing. My gripe with TopTenReviews is that without reviewing freeware/OS/Donation apps, then you're really only giving readers a partial review. Imagine if in his Image Shootout Review Nudone had stopped after reviewing ACDSee, ThumbsPlus, and PicaJet FX? Or if I had stopped after reviewing WinRAR, WinZip, and PowerArchiver in the Best Archive Tool review?

I welcome more review sites, and Veign makes an excellent point about synopsizing content. If you want the "quick and happy cheerleader" version of software reviews, visit The Great Software List, where everything is reduced to one paragraph and a screenshot. However, if you want more depth, with user input, response, and feedback, I'm coming here to DonationCoder.com. One reason I think DonationCoder.com has a great advantage with reviews is that many of you guys build software and approach it from several different angles, not just the "user" perspective I come from every time.

JavaJones, as for benchmarking, remember that it, too, can be subjective to an extent. Slow-opening programs are like slow-opening websites — they kill you, and that information does have a direct impact on users. But when I was doing my research for the Best Archive Tool review, I found tons of benchmarking sites that measured compression ratios and compared their algorithms, and in the end, I just wanted to see what each would do with a big freakin' fat file on my own (fast) computer. Much benchmarking is done at the university level for papers and studies, it seems.

When you look at TTR's best feature — its comparative tables — you still want to know "how" they thought one program received a 3.5 rating and another received a 4.0. At least, I want to know why — was it slower, did the feature not work, was it more difficult to access, etc.

2624

Living Room / Re: Cool website: usbgeek.com

« Last post by zridling on August 16, 2006, 10:11 PM »

I do like the flexible, rollup keyboards!

2625

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by zridling on August 16, 2006, 09:53 PM »

[KenR]:...I do all these things with the script language. Does XYPlorer have these features as well?

Not that I know of. XYplorer goes about such customizations in a different, somewhat more visual style. At first impression, you might say, 'hmmm,' but then it grows on you when you see what's going on. That's why I can't wait for customizable keyboard shortcuts, even though there's a keyboard shortcut for almost everything right now in XYplorer, I'd like to be able to assign a keyboard shortcut to a specific file or folder, for instance. The only bad thing I can say about DOpus is that it's too powerful. And that's never a bad thing, so I contradict myself! I don't think XYplorer is going to knock DOpus off that top tier, but for anyone looking for alternatives, it's a solid option, assuming you take the time to customize it like anyone would do with Directory Opus.

What is nice is that we have several rock solid options in this category (among others):
 — Directory Opus
 — XYplorer
 — SpeedCommander
 — Total Commander
 — ExplorerPlus
 — xplorer2

PS: Thanks mouser!