Recent Posts

276

Living Room / Re: Links page - suggestions wanted

« Last post by Scott on May 09, 2005, 05:41 AM »

That one was already on the links page.

277

General Software Discussion / Re: opensourceversus.com

« Last post by Scott on May 09, 2005, 05:12 AM »

... capitalism

278

Living Room / Re: Links page - suggestions wanted

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 11:53 PM »

wikipedia has some problems, which have been written about.
however it's an amazing idea, imho, and deserves encouragement and support.

-mouser (May 08, 2005, 11:37 PM)

OK, I still don't get it though.  The premise is that incorrect information will eventually be corrected.  That doesn't help if you stop by before that happens.

279

Living Room / Re: Links page - suggestions wanted

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 11:28 PM »

OnlineConversion.com is all by itself now in that category of Best Online Reference Sites/Tools..
we'll have to add some more links, like maybe some dictionary and encyclopedias..

-mouser (May 08, 2005, 11:11 PM)

http://www.m-w.com/

Online dictionary, thesaurus, and more.  Better than Dictionary.com IMO, because (for just one thing), it offers free audio pronunciations.  (Dictionary.com charges $20/year for its "premium" content.)

http://www.noaa.gov/

Free, authoritative weather forecasts and alert information (for the U.S. only, as far as I know).  A lot of other weather sites use NOAA data for their own sites.  If you pay federal taxes in the United States, you already pay for it, so you may as well use it, until the idiots in congress take it away to help the third-party weather sites compete.

http://www.mapquest.com/

Needs no explanation; there may be better ones, and probably not what you have in mind, but...

I'm sure someone will recommend http://www.wikipedia.org, though I'm not sure why.  The last time I made the mistake of using that waste of bandwidth, I saw a message at the top of the article that indicated the content was probably wrong, and needed review.  No credibility whatsoever.

280

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Alarm that utilizes WindowsXP's Notification Balloons

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 09:49 PM »

In case the application complains about MSCOMCTL.OCX missing on your system, which isn't likely unless you don't have much software installed, here is what to do:

1.  Download a copy of MSCOMCTL.OCX from here (495 KB).  (I uploaded my own copy because every other one I found available for download was of a version that was about five years old.)

2.  Extract MSCOMCTL.OCX to your %systemroot%\system32 directory (usually C:\WINDOWS\system32).

3.  Click Start, then Run.

4.  In the Open text box of the Run dialog, enter this command, and click OK:

regsvr32 mscomctl.ocx

You should see a dialog telling you that MSCOMCTL.OCX was correctly registered.  The calendar application should then run fine.

281

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: time calculator

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 08:53 PM »

Cool.  I noticed a minor typo: "Conver just about anything to anything else."

282

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Alarm that utilizes WindowsXP's Notification Balloons

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 08:13 PM »

Here is a (probably only semi-helpful) screen shot of Alert Me Jigaro doing its thing.

283

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Alarm that utilizes WindowsXP's Notification Balloons

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 08:11 PM »

You may want to check out Alert Me Jigaro, which is a calendar/reminder application that shows balloon tips.  I believe that the freeware version is limited to 30 reminders, and lacks a backup/restore feature, and that the full version is $15.  (You may want to double check that, though.)

I tested it very briefly, and it worked fine for me.  On first run, though, it did complain about a missing file--mscomctl.ocx--which the installer was too stupid to handle.  Once I installed and registered a copy of that file from my other system, it ran fine.

284

General Software Discussion / Re: latest pc magazine has utility guide

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 07:40 PM »

But they do, of course, mention WinZip, which hasn't improved much since what, 1996?

285

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: time calculator

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 07:36 PM »

http://www.onlinecon...ion.com/timecalc.htm
http://www.onlinecon..._time_calculator.htm

(Hopefully at least the advanced time calculator above does what you need it to do.)

This is why I suggested OnlineConversion.com for the links page--it's really helpful.

286

General Software Discussion / Re: RSS Reader?

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 11:10 AM »

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one to have weird experiences with interpreted craplica...--oops, "applications"--but I've never had the problem with any other Java or .NET app.

287

General Software Discussion / Re: RSS Reader?

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 03:45 AM »

Sharpreader made my system freeze.  I know it sounds bizarre, but it really did--reproducibly.

288

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone know of a free default-printer selector app?

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 03:33 AM »

I've seen at least two of them.  At least one of those two is defunct.  That one was called "SetPrinter", and I have version 2.0 of it for safekeeping.  (I have attached it here.)

I'll see if I can find the other one.

Edit:  Oops, I think that ActivePrinter may have been the other one I've seen, which I assumed would be free, because it seems like such a small, lame, restricted, specialty, ah-what-the-hell-it-took-me-two-hours-to-write-so-why-be-a-dick-and-ask-$15-for-it kind of application.

289

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: commandline to add specified directory to "windows path"

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 03:29 AM »

Your %path% is over 8,191 chars long?

http://support.micro...scid=kb;en-us;830473

AFAIK, "App Paths" has no limit, so you'd never have to remove and re-add a program.

290

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: giant start menu

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 02:52 AM »

True Launch Bar and its freeware version, Free Launch Bar, may work as well.  I use TLB and it lets you configure how large menus (and icons) should be, how many columns, and so on.

http://www.truelaunchbar.com/
http://www.freelaunchbar.com/

291

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Titlebar Clock

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 01:51 AM »

I think I've seen title bar clocks, but I can't remember where.

There is the ultimate lazy man's solution: Cursor Clock.  And it's free.

292

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: commandline to add specified directory to "windows path"

« Last post by Scott on May 08, 2005, 01:45 AM »

an app that adds a specified folder to windows path so it can be run from anywhere .. maybe a commandlineapp like:
add2path.exe "c:\program files\dydlo\"
or even add the function to the explorerrightclickmenu so that you can simply click on a icon to add the path of the app!

-mtp (May 03, 2005, 08:31 AM)

You can do this easily, yourself, without a program.  (More accurately, without a compiled program.)  Just add the program name(s) as a subkey to the following key:

[Select]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths

For example, Insecure Explorer is represented with the following key and values:

[Select]

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\IEXPLORE.EXE
(Default) = C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
Path = C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer;

This can be done with a batch script and a command line util like NirCmd (to create the applicable registry values and key).  Adding a context menu item is easy, too.

If I had time, I'd put together the script to do it.  But I don't want to make promises I can't keep.

293

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: submit google searches

« Last post by Scott on May 01, 2005, 01:04 PM »

Yes, mouser has the right idea.

Google shouldn't have a "database" on me in the first place.

294

Unfinished Requests / Re: Coding for system tray icon hide application.

« Last post by Scott on April 27, 2005, 11:06 PM »

Regarding Kerio, the latest version (at least) lets you password protect its settings.  I wonder if the same feature also protects it from being shut down--have you checked?

295

Finished Programs / volume control stuff

« Last post by Scott on April 27, 2005, 09:50 PM »

There are a bunch of utils that can easily control (or completely mute) the volume.  One of them is the command line utility NirCmd.

I use NirCmd for exactly this purpose already.  Whenever I boot, the following command line runs, to make sure I didn't accidentally leave the volume too high before shutting down:

nircmd.exe setsysvolume 16384

To do it on a per-user basis, you'd run a similar command in each user's startup group (as a shortcut), or under the applicable HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run registry key.  This won't work if you're using Fast User Switching on WinXP, though, and using it to switch between user accounts.

296

General Software Discussion / Re: software i love

« Last post by Scott on April 25, 2005, 03:54 PM »

I used Ashampoo UnInstaller quite a bit.  It works well, but the one thing that rrrrrrrrrrreally drove me bonkers about it is how incredibly lllllllllllllllllllong the scans took--especially the post-install scans.  They were so bothersome that I found myself dreading them, and not monitoring application installs just to avoid them.  (Though they do provide a handy use for Process Tamer.)

Total Uninstall 3 has scan speeds that are so fast, I have no idea how he does it.  And the ability to remove parts of the log is a nice touch, too (something you can't do in AU).

297

Unfinished Requests / Re: monthly contest: most useless app that takes 2-5 hours to write

« Last post by Scott on April 25, 2005, 03:27 PM »

I think we need some rules laid down for this.  Such as whether or not it's appropriate to take up an idea if someone else already has.

298

Best Text Editor / Re: UltraEdit 11 - Best text editor?

« Last post by Scott on April 25, 2005, 12:43 PM »

And it only took an hour and a half for an experienced user to figure out?  And I guess I've been nuts to consider the Ctrl key to be a "dead key" all these years...

299

Best Text Editor / Re: UltraEdit 11 - Best text editor?

« Last post by Scott on April 25, 2005, 09:25 AM »

If an application has such poor usability that important features like code folding and column mode aren't obvious, then it deserves a poor review.  The poor review is deserved not because the features aren't there, but because they're not convenient.

Usability matters.

I've had discussions with confused people who would argue with me over this.  It usually goes something like this:

"CrapMaticX 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.2.1.0.5 doesn't have the ability to open files via FTP."

"shuttup yooze.  stop spreddin fud becuz yooze dont know how tew read the wiki.  its right there under wiki/stuff/1-001/hiddendocs/mystery.html.  all yooze need to do is add "Xftp-change REQ:1=enable|disconnect|4|parse" to the [CRAPPO] section of the config file, download the Qftp GML component and compile it, then take the Qftp GML DLL file and save it in a directory named \qml\extras\bin\final\test\unsure\plugin\ under the main app directory, and restart CrapMaticX 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.2.1.0.5.  if yooze are not using CrapMaticX 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.2.1.0.5 in console mode, yooze also need to download and compile the metasnap 0.0.0.1.0-alpha.tar file, then extract the source from that, edit the source so it runs on win32, then pseudo-compile it using Py2exe and put that file in \supp\test\random\src\ under the \plugins\whyme\ directory.  stop spreddin fud l00zer."

"OK, thanks.  Have a nice day.  How could the author possibly give this away for free?"

300

General Software Discussion / Re: software i love

« Last post by Scott on April 25, 2005, 12:57 AM »

Yeah, and SmartSync Pro is another one.  I used it for a long time, and very recently removed it in favor of Beyond Compare.  The functionality isn't identical, but it does overlap.

SmartSync Pro has (I think) a very good interface, but from a glance, it looks like DirSync has it beat on features.  (Actually, I'm not so sure now.  I just looked at SmartSync Pro's feature list, and I see an awful lot of features I never used).