topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Wednesday November 12, 2025, 3:05 am
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Recent Posts

Pages: prev1 ... 113 114 115 116 117 [118] 119 120 121 122 123 ... 127next
2926
What's the Best? / Re: Anti-Virus Package
« Last post by rjbull on April 13, 2006, 10:31 AM »
Are F-Secure and F-Prot completely separate companies?  Not just F-Secure being a re-packaged version of F-Prot with more features?


2927
Finished Programs / Re: DONE: abbreviations importer
« Last post by rjbull on April 12, 2006, 03:44 AM »
patteo,

Which macro program are you using?

Would you get more mileage out of IntelliComplete or Instant Text (reviewed on DC by Harrie?)

2928
Living Room / Re: Alert for new threads?
« Last post by rjbull on April 11, 2006, 03:51 AM »
goto search->advanced and check " Topic subjects only"

I didn't spot Advanced search (it's fairly well hidden).  Thanks  :)
2929
Living Room / Alert for new threads?
« Last post by rjbull on April 10, 2006, 04:43 AM »
SMF gives you these options:
Show recent posts  (full text display). Show recent topics.
Show new replies to your posts.

Is there a way to show new threads started since one's last visit?  Also, is there a way to restrict Search to searching for thread titles only, not full text?

2930
I'm not popular, but it has saved me on many occasions when I forgot about my family's birthdays :D

So it stopped you getting even more UNpopular  ;)

TheBat! - phew, what a lot of options.  But basic things are still pretty easy to do.  Good piece of work.
2931
General Software Discussion / Re: Review of File Renamers — let's make a list
« Last post by rjbull on April 10, 2006, 04:29 AM »
RJ, your comment is quite common in my email this week. Seems most people use other tools, viz., their file managers like Total Commander or Directory Opus to rename files on the fly. This fact of utilization will need to be noted within the review, I believe.

The Epilog to The AWK Programming Language by Aho, Kernighan and Weinberger says they were astonished at seeing people writing AWK scripts that were more than one page long, as they had conceived of AWK as one-liners or very short scripts.  It seemed that
rather than writing in a "real" programming language, [people] were stretching the tools they liked.

Perhaps the built-in, ready-to-hand, familiar tools are adequate for most people, most of the time?

2932
General Software Discussion / Re: Review of File Renamers — let's make a list
« Last post by rjbull on April 09, 2006, 02:27 PM »
For example, BRU cannot rename files using mp3 track information. Its developer, Jim Willsher, holds that mp3 extraction slows down the program too much and recommends specific mp3 renamers for that purpose.

That's not a bug, that's a feature  :)

Jan Falke's RenameFiles utility. When you open it up, it does 90% of what most people do with a renamer on the fly. I love his description of Preview: (for cowards!)

A place I go on holiday has several coats of arms in its stained-glass windows.  The motto of one of them reads "Non timeo sed caveo," which my rusty Latin translates as "I am not afraid, but I am cautious"  :D

I think you're right that Jan Falke's program does most of what most people want, but it isn't as visual as some of the others.  I mostly now use the multi-rename tool built into Total Commander, which remembers the "macros" for inserting text at specific points, remembers search-and-replace strings, etc., in pull-downs  This seems similar to what's been said above about Ant Renamer, which I haven't tried.

2933
General Software Discussion / ForKeeps multi-format mail archiver/converter
« Last post by rjbull on April 07, 2006, 09:19 AM »
The formerly expensive ForKeeps message archiver has just been updated.  At the same time they have dramatically dropped the price and even made some aspects of the program freeware.

Details here:  http://www.fkeeps.com/fkindex.htm

From their Web site:
Drowning in email and newsgroup or CompuServe Forum messages? Can´t find the information you need? Looking for a way to organize, archive and index your messages so you can quickly find what you are looking for?

Look no more - ForKeeps can do the job for you! Import from a variety of file formats into ForKeeps' relational databases. Browse, maintain and search your messages in one place, regardless of how and with which browser or mail program they were downloaded.

The tools provided within ForKeeps to organize and find the information you need are superior to those you can find in any browser or mail program.


Yes, ForKeeps version 1.0 was released in 1996. No other message archiver has survived on the market for such a long period.

This will be celebrated by completely changing the price structure of ForKeeps:

    *      The Pro Forum & Newsgroup Message Archiver is now freeware!
    *      The price of the full Pro Mail, Forum & Newsgroup Message Archiver is slashed from $124 to $39.
    *      Upgrades are now free. For registered users this means that anyone with any combination of a ForKeeps Mail Message Archiver (Standard or Pro) license can now upgrade to a Pro Mail, Forum & Newsgroup Message Archiver for free. Those with any other (non-Mail) ForKeeps license can upgrade to a Pro Forum & Newsgroup Message Archiver for free.

Version 4.90 contains the full Pro Mail, Forum & Newsgroup Message Archiver.

For non registered users it will be free during a 30 days trial period. After that period the Mail Archiver part will be blocked, unless the program is registered. However, the Pro Forum & Newsgroup Archiver parts are freeware and will always be available.

2934
Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: GeminiSoft Pimmy
« Last post by rjbull on April 07, 2006, 09:14 AM »
I had everything backed up, as TB has a very effective backup/restore feature.  Unfortunately, the backup was on the same hard drive -- in my defense, I was in the Navy and didn't have a lot of options on where/what to do with my data.

And I daresay that was before USB sticks and external HDs were so common.  Still, it's nice to know about TB's backup/restore features.

It's not picking on the bat specifically -- this is the case, in my experience, across the board.  Search is often thrown in as a feature not the focus

I keep thinking about converting things to Inmagic, the text retrieval system.  I doubt it will ever happen, but that would (for me) be a good way of storing/retrieving text.

No.  Well, TB does have virtual folders now -- they're a relatively new feature (Last year or two) -- I haven't spent enough time to know just how effective they are, though.  Even with virtual folders, one can lose a lot of time organizing

I think I read that they're dynamic, which I took to mean, once you'd set up a search profile, any new mail would automatically be filtered through that search as well and the relevant virtual folder updated.

I do keep my mailing lists in separate views, though -- as I don't need them mixed with personal mail or vice versa.

That makes very good sense...

re: m_s
-- Might be time to start a new thread about mail conversion/archival :)

I think I'd better put a note in general software about the new version of ForKeeps.

2935
Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: GeminiSoft Pimmy
« Last post by rjbull on April 07, 2006, 09:08 AM »
I recently reinstalled XP on home and work machines, and I've not got around to reinstalling FK on the work machine - which is where I use it: as I said, I've not used it much in awhile, so it's a pretty low priority. 

Suggest you take another look - just this week, there's a new version out.  More interesting, they've slashed the price of the Pro version from $124 to $39, and even made some parts of it freeware!

Which means I don't know which version I have...

I didn't mean version numbers, so much as whether it was worth having the e-mail only or e-mail + newsgroup or both + whatever versions, which is probably moot in view of ghe above.

five versions of the CompuServe software installed, in order to be able to read messages from all the different versions!  FK fixed that nicely.

That gives me some hope!  :)

2936
Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: GeminiSoft Pimmy
« Last post by rjbull on April 07, 2006, 03:53 AM »
m_s,

I've used ForKeeps for two years now, and it was absolutely invaluable for accessing an archive of 5 or 6 years of CompuServe and Pegasus message.  It's really easy to work with and very simply does what it says on the box.

Which version of ForKeeps are you using (I see there are several, with different capabilities and prices), and which version(s) of CompuServe access software were you using?  I'm still using a Win 3.1(?) WinCIM 2.0.1 from 1995   :-[

2937
Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: GeminiSoft Pimmy
« Last post by rjbull on April 07, 2006, 03:48 AM »
I haven't used The Bat! in a dedicated fashion in a few years--not since I lost my hard drive with everything on it.  I just haven't been in the mood to setup everything the way I like it -- you wouldn't believe how many hours I put into making TB 'perfect' for me.  Just don't have the energy to do it again, maybe one day . . . :)

Is TB's configuration in one or more identifiable files, so that you could back those up in case of disaster?

a well organized mailbase is easily more a hindrance than asset.  I say this for two reasons -- first of all, the amount of time spent setting up and maintaining a convoluted hierarchy of folders and sub-folders.  Secondly, the amount of time spent decoding this.

I've only just started with conventional email clients (mostly been using CompuServe) and haven't got very far yet.  I'm assuming I'd keep identifiable folders for mailing lists, but I hadn't thought farther than that.  Sounds like TB needs a faster searching system...

up having to check multiple folders.  If, perhaps, you organize by people as well as by subject, you can never know for sure if you filed a message by one or the other -- unless you copy it over into each -- but then you're increasing your mailbase potentially by 100%.

I thought TB had virtual folders?  It was really all a single message base?


2938
Living Room / Re: Keeping track of software license/serial keys
« Last post by rjbull on April 06, 2006, 10:35 AM »
pmowbray,

Two things.  One, as I understand it, XML may be an open format, but it isn't necessarily easy to work with.  You rapidly run into an alphabet soup of acronyms.

Sure, but the XSLT would be specific and transform one format to the other format. User doesn't need to see the xml.

But I don't know what an XSLT is...  see what I mean about alphabet soup?  I wouldn't expect to have the know-how to do the conversions myself.

Oh, just remembered; the author of Treeline says it can be used as a "crude" (his word) XML editor, if that's any use to anyone.


It's got it's own field (not part of notes) and has a pop-up to insert the various variables and constants for you

So, simply more powerful, then.  I think I very briefly looked at PINS but dumped it.  Probably didn't look hard enough, and came to KeePass after I'd more or less forgotten the others...

So not more complex, just easier to use.  :)

I didn't make that clear, again.  I was wondering aloud how complex the tasks of logging in would/should actually be, which is some of what dictates how complex the program needs to be to match.

2939
Living Room / Re: Keeping track of software license/serial keys
« Last post by rjbull on April 06, 2006, 10:17 AM »
My license keys are all stored in fsekrit.  I keep a copy on my computer, my palm's SD card, my usb drive and a copy on my ftp server.


Keeping multiple copies is a *** GOOD *** idea: encryption is obviously vital: it helps if data files are small: and it's always nice if it's free.  So, people might like to consider MemPad by Horst Schaeffer

Direct link: http://home.mnet-onl...t.muc/win/mempad.zip

Don't go straight for 2.52 beta, may be some problems, go for 2.51 which is solid.  MemPad is not a full tree-form notetaking software, it just looks and feels like it.  It's very small, very fast, completely free, and encrypted.  My list of about 300 nodes is about 100K.
2940
Living Room / Re: Keeping track of software license/serial keys
« Last post by rjbull on April 06, 2006, 08:16 AM »
If all notetaking programmes agreed to export to xml it'd be relatively simple to transform that into an import xml file for a different notetaking programme.

Some of them use XML as their native format, e.g. Treeline and ShadowPlan, though the latter's more focussed on Palms.

Two things.  One, as I understand it, XML may be an open format, but it isn't necessarily easy to work with.  You rapidly run into an alphabet soup of acronyms.  Two, the original post wanted a way to store registration information, so any format should be encrypted, which would mean it wasn't true XML any longer (OK, the app should be able to export in a clear format, or at least to have encryption removed).

Just had a look at KeePass and it does infact look excellent: very similar to PINs (my current standard). PINs has a better Auto-Text entry and URL definition, but KeePass could produce better trees (deep).

How much better auto-text?  Also, how complex does one really need?  Is a RoboForm fan going to jump in here?



2941
Living Room / Re: Keeping track of software license/serial keys
« Last post by rjbull on April 06, 2006, 06:07 AM »
I'm hoping that once  the notes are exported, they can be processed somehow with a little bit of work to be imported into whatever the new program I have chosen.  Yeah, it's a pain

As I have also said elsewhere, anyone who wants to be a Software Hero of the People should write a notetaking file conversion program  :)  Something of the sort should be possible, no doubt with limitations.  The author of Jot+ Notes offers his registered users a free-standing tool to convert numerous other formats into Jot+ format.  Export to text file and re-import may be possible, but I suspect with a lot of work.

KeePass seems to me a good and useful tool, as long as you accept that it's narrowly-focussed.

2942
Best E-mail Client / Re: Pegasus Mail?
« Last post by rjbull on April 05, 2006, 09:29 AM »
multiple accounts.

I've been using it for a mailing list, with only one e-mail address / user ID.  I found setting up extra ones impenetrably opaque.  The UK magazine Computer Shopper's recent review complained that PMail has "confusing" configurations.

Just set up The Bat! with the same single account, it remains to be seen if it's easier to set up multiple ones.  Multiple accounts seemed easy in the free version of Pimmy.
2943
Living Room / Re: Keeping track of software license/serial keys
« Last post by rjbull on April 05, 2006, 09:23 AM »
superboyac,

I keep all my licenses in my notetaking program

But as I have said elsewhere, the number of notetaking applications is approaching astronomical.  What are you going to do when your current favourite is superceded?  It probably won't be easy to convert from one format to another.

2944
Living Room / Re: Keeping track of software license/serial keys
« Last post by rjbull on April 05, 2006, 09:15 AM »
One of the nice things about AnyPassword (which doesn't interfere with RoboForm as the free version isn't automatic) is that the fiedls have a single click to copy to the clipboard function.
-Carol Haynes (March 19, 2006, 06:41 AM)

CarolHaynes,

One of the nice things about KeePass is that it can enter the data without accidentally copying it to a clipboard enhancer, that is, it apparently understands at least some clipboard enhancers and circumvents them (at least, that's the effect).  I certainly don't see the data appearing in the free version of ClipCache.  On the other hand, KeePass is meant for storing just passwords/logon data, not registration information: and the avoid-the-clipboard trick is probably more important for day-to-day logons than rare and occasional (we hope) re-entering of program registration details.

I suppose one could use DS Software's PassPack, which just gives you an encrypted note, and store the emails.  It's tiny, free, and stores data in one small file, but it wouldn't have many convenience features.

2945
Living Room / Re: Keeping track of software license/serial keys
« Last post by rjbull on April 05, 2006, 09:03 AM »
I used to palm notes. Now I keep all this stuff categorized as "serials" in gmail.

vamp07,

Take a look at this DC thread on Downloading your Gmail account, which points out that it's unsafe to rely too heavily on Gmail.

2946
Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: GeminiSoft Pimmy
« Last post by rjbull on April 05, 2006, 09:01 AM »
Thanks - that's a pretty complex strategy  :)

Erstwhil I use The Bat! to download/maintain the actual backup of my mail.

What put you off The Bat!?

I had used mailbag assistant in the past --

=== cut ===

it natively supports most formats.  (All but Opera, really).  I've since lost my registration, however, and don't have enough need for it right now to warrant the price.  Maybe with a 50% discount . . . :)

I was interested to see that the ForKeeps one can cope with CompuServe messages, which would be useful for me, whereas Mailbag Assistant doesn't claim to.  It's very expensive, though.  Hmmm...  maybe 50% discounts twice over...  :)

2947
Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: GeminiSoft Pimmy
« Last post by rjbull on April 05, 2006, 03:45 AM »
Allen,

Given your other DC thread on Downloading your Gmail account, what strategy are you using now?  Using Pimmy as you main email client, despite its slowing down with big message bases?

Have you looked at things like Fookes Software's Mailbag Assistant or the ForKeeps Message Archiver for long-term message storage?  (I haven't, just wondering)


2948
General Software Discussion / Re: Review of File Renamers — let's make a list
« Last post by rjbull on April 04, 2006, 09:08 AM »
Virtually every corporation/company I've ever worked for severely restricts what users can see and do

Security is a common justification for paranoia, but in this case I don't think its strictly speaking a security (as in hack attack) issue.  The IT Dept. try to force us to use networked directories beause they claim to back those up, whereas they can't back up the directories on your local hard disk.  But they don't understand what real users need to do.

I don't understand what the TinyApps blog entry quote is trying to say with regard to file rename utilities.

I think he's trying to say, suppose you have a directory with a file called foo.bar in it, and you're about to copy it to another directory.  But, that directory already contains a different file with the same name, and you want to keep both of them intact.  The idea is to avoid conflicts or overwrites by renaming files on the fly, adding suffix numbers to the file names if source and target names are the same.  Rather a specialised trick.

any idea if there are other utilities exist other than 1-4a and Lupas Rename that can do what you say?

I haven't looked at many other renamers.  RenameFiles 2.42 at http://renamefiles.it-falke.com  can see my C: drive, though it's more basic than some mentioned so far (but available in German as well as English, for our small but honourable German contingent).  Many other sorts of programs work fine, such as the excellent DoubleKiller.  In both these cases you can just type in the path you want, and the program will go there.  This doesn't work with BRU, where nothing happens.


2949
General Software Discussion / Re: Review of File Renamers — let's make a list
« Last post by rjbull on April 04, 2006, 03:40 AM »
Here's another interesting sideline from TinyApps blog

Question about drag & drop with auto incrementing of filenames #
Is there a method for dragging and dropping a list of files with the same name into a new folder and have them automatically increment the filenames rather than give an overwrite warning? Two instances where I've seen this work: when dragging files from a search result window into Nero (screenshot) and when dragging email messages from Outlook Express into Explorer. I'm not looking for a renamer to change the original filenames, but rather a way to create new files with incremented names. Answers sent to "mail AT tinyapps DOT org" will be appended to this post.

UPDATE: Jorg Kliemann has kindly crafted a solution.

Continuing, here's the solution:

DROP++ #
Jorg Kliemann has generously crafted DROP++ (source available here) using AutoIt (itself a mostly open source project) to address the drag & drop overwrite problem mentioned recently. Simply drag and drop a group of files from search results or any other Explorer window onto its icon; DROP++ will copy the files and autoincrement the resulting filenames. If you're tired of seeing "Confirm File Replace - This folder already contains a file named foo. Would you like to replace the existing file with this one?", give DROP++ a try. (By the way, holding Shift while clicking No to the above dialog behaves like "No to All", which is otherwise not provided.)



2950
General Software Discussion / Re: Review of File Renamers — let's make a list
« Last post by rjbull on April 04, 2006, 03:32 AM »
Please let's not overlook drawbacks and problems.

The company I work for have gimmicked the networked computers so that many applications are unable to see the C: drive (IT Dept. trying to force you to use networked drives only).  This is true of both Bulk Rename Utility (BRU) and Oscar's, for example.  I e-mailed Jim Willsher, BRU's author, and he replied:

Yes, they will have implemented Group Policy to restrict access to the drive. My utility reads the Shell Namespace, which will honour the restrictions. Your other utilities will operate on the drive directly.

My "other" relevant utilities that do work are the multi-rename tool built into Total Commander (thank goodness), 1-4a and Lupas Rename.

Pages: prev1 ... 113 114 115 116 117 [118] 119 120 121 122 123 ... 127next