Recent Posts

3151

Backup Guide / Re: Information about Backup4all 2.3.2

« Last post by zridling on July 02, 2005, 12:25 AM »

[mouser]: ...i was put off by the unusual button icons...

Coincidentally that was my first impression, too. I purchased Backup4all a version ago, but never used it much. After some crushing experiences with the ZIP format across a several programs, I abandoned it in favor of either RAR or just no compression at all, and just synching everything instead.

3152

General Software Discussion / Re: free diary app..

« Last post by zridling on July 01, 2005, 11:42 PM »

I can't believe that's free. Very nice. I could use something like that to track letters and phone calls. I actually have relatives who send me a postcard that says nothing more than: "Write me!" I send them all a form letter, to which they all race to their phones at the same moment to read their individual letters only to find that they all say the same thing.

Your father may have been right about some things, but the longer I live the more I realize Buddha was right about everything.

3153

General Software Discussion / Cool Java and other stuff — bodytag.org

« Last post by zridling on July 01, 2005, 06:51 PM »

Found some cool flash ideas and other java at bodytag.org that some folks like GoHeer.com have turned into screensavers. I especially like the following:
__Evaporate
__Cursory
__Linedraw
__Pingtron

Check it out next time you got time you're bored.

3154

General Software Discussion / Re: List of Color Palette Tools

« Last post by zridling on July 01, 2005, 04:14 AM »

Just a follow-up, the color for School Bus Yellow is #FFD800 in Hex, or RGB (255,216,0).

3155

Living Room / Re: anyone know a tool to empty recycle bin when drive gets full?

« Last post by zridling on July 01, 2005, 04:12 AM »

There are lots of "cleaners" floating around that include that function, if that will do what you're wanting. CCleaner is free.

3156

Living Room / Re: Bob Parsons talks of quitting

« Last post by zridling on July 01, 2005, 04:08 AM »

Exactly! I can't believe how much money that guy burned on GoDaddy, but like a lot of entrepreneurs who make millions overnight, they always think they can do it in another business.

3157

Living Room / Bob Parsons talks of quitting

« Last post by zridling on June 29, 2005, 10:22 PM »

Bob Parsons of GoDaddy.com fame blogs about how tempting it was to quit right before he finally succeeded, confirming Confucious' line: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."

3158

General Software Discussion / Re: Google Earth - free tool/toy

« Last post by zridling on June 29, 2005, 08:21 PM »

Hey, I think that's my cat crossing the street! Way cool.

3159

General Software Discussion / Re: For those who like all-in-one utils

« Last post by zridling on June 29, 2005, 08:20 PM »

Wow!

3160

General Software Discussion / List of Color Palette Tools

« Last post by zridling on June 29, 2005, 07:26 PM »

mambofrog has a nice list of Color Palette Tools that's pretty cool.

3161

Living Room / Re: Scripting utility suggestions?

« Last post by zridling on June 29, 2005, 04:00 PM »

Given how cost-conscious many businesses are, I'm surprised they buy it! Ouch. Upgrading my software from Europe and outside the States is killing me now that the USDollar is almost not worth the paper its printed on anymore. Most programs have gone up 40-50% in the past year and that hurts.

3162

Living Room / Re: Scripting utility suggestions?

« Last post by zridling on June 28, 2005, 01:18 AM »

Thanks for the clarification, mouser. I agree, it's a deep topic to mine, but wow, the rewards for diving deep into scripting software is great indeed. The forum activity of AutoHotkey alone is astounding. Sometimes I think you coders are mutant freaks who could decipher anything thrown in front of you.
But I don't mean that in a bad-freak way, just the normal, good-freak way.

3163

General Software Discussion / Re: Finally, a robust keyboard shortcut app!

« Last post by zridling on June 28, 2005, 01:09 AM »

Just an update, for now I've switched full time to AutoHotkey to my delight.

3164

General Software Discussion / Large Freeware Links Site

« Last post by zridling on June 28, 2005, 12:25 AM »

I've seen these before, but here's a German fellow's nice freeware link page to many freeware apps:
http://myhq.com/public/f/r/freesoft/

3165

Living Room / Scripting utility suggestions?

« Last post by zridling on June 27, 2005, 08:33 PM »

Can anyone recommend a robust scripting utility? Here are two I've used over the past 20 months, one of which I've rejected:
__(1) AutoHotkey
__(2) AutoIt

I'm considering buying PrimalScript later this year when the 4.0 version comes out, but it's a full-fledged scripting editor unlike the two above.

3166

Living Room / Re: The Onion - from the year 2056

« Last post by zridling on June 27, 2005, 12:25 AM »

Holy crap that is hilarious! Some good flash work there, especially on the "Hottest Mutant Bachelors."

3167

Living Room / Re: DonationCoder.com Mascot needed

« Last post by zridling on June 27, 2005, 12:19 AM »

what about something like a framed square of Matrix code (only with real code), and barring that, I tend to like GoDaddy.com's approach or the Budweiser Girls. They have nothing to do with coding, unless you count excellent genetic coding, and if nothing else, looks great on a cup. ;-)

.

Others can be found at http://maxysoft.com/3DMatrixCommunication.shtml

3168

Living Room / Re: Software Listing Sites - Hall of Fame vs. Hall of Shame

« Last post by zridling on June 26, 2005, 12:03 AM »

Indeed. Many of those sites suffer from terrible design, Snapfiles being one. Their RSS feeds are often no better. But more than anything I hate it when an author forces a user to download their app via FileForum, which is not only a terrible site because of its inconsistency and bad journalism (they often just fail to check the facts), but because doing so is a bad idea from a security standpoint. Support PAD files, you fools!

3169

General Software Discussion / Re: Finally, a robust keyboard shortcut app!

« Last post by zridling on June 23, 2005, 03:22 AM »

Thanks for the recommendation, dnm!

3170

Living Room / Re: Discount for BB FlashBack Screencasting Tool now available - and commentary

« Last post by zridling on June 23, 2005, 03:18 AM »

Wow, that's very nice of Blueberry Consultants to do that! You're right — for those wanting entry to screencasting, you won't go wrong with BB Flashback Express. If you find you need more export and editing power, then you can eventually move up to the full BB Flashback. I just used it to demonstrate some issues with a beta version for a company and they were grateful, since my descriptions fell short. In this case, a video was worth 2,000 words!

3171

Living Room / Re: What Programs Run In Your System Tray?

« Last post by zridling on June 23, 2005, 03:14 AM »

I'm surprised I run so few:
__AI RoboForm
__MSN Desktop Search
__Outpost Firewall
__As-U-Type

3172

General Software Discussion / Re: Finally, a robust keyboard shortcut app!

« Last post by zridling on June 08, 2005, 02:55 PM »

Posted by: zridling
             You two would have been very frustrated in the DOS days of the 1980s,
Posted by: DragonRider
             I disagree.... In those days (1980s) DOS didn't use hotkeys.

Just to clarify, I was thinking about specific apps under DOS, such as WordPerfect, which was on most business desktops in the mid- to late 80s.

3173

Living Room / Re: Avoid bad software versions by reading their forums

« Last post by zridling on June 08, 2005, 02:48 PM »

PGP is part of a trend I've noticed where every other version of most programs are just outright bad news. And as much as software costs these days, it's really worth finding out as much as you can before throwing down the money. (Thank goodness for DCC, I say!)

3174

Living Room / Upgrade cycles — How often is too often?

« Last post by zridling on June 03, 2005, 02:10 AM »

We all know of a software app that is updated constantly. Not a problem. But I get pissy when a developer reduces his upgrade cycle to 10-12 months for major versions, primarily because they are seldom major upgrades, but "that time again" to make another truckload of dollars. Worse still are companies that have time-limited (often 12-month) license policies. I say major upgrades should occur every two years with everything in between being free updates. Am I wrong? Help me understand if so.

3175

Living Room / Microsoft Office 12's new XML format

« Last post by zridling on June 03, 2005, 01:53 AM »

Although it's too bad that Microsoft didn't use the OASIS standard for XML schema, they claim it's solely because of their intent to remain backwardly compatible with MSO's prior binary formats. It was suggested that in a future version they would eventually go that route, though. A video interview with Brian Jones of the Microsoft Office team demonstrates some really cool things, and their press release is here and here is Brian's new blog. What's cool is that you can see everything in an office document now, and since it's zipped, you can open the file and exchange parts such as macros, pictures, excel sheets, whatever, and when you reopen the file, voila! there it is, updated.

If you're an OpenOffice user, this is also good news because starting with MS Office 12's new formats, OpenOffice will be able to convert MS Office files with perfect accuracy, and ironically, this should spur further adoption of OpenOffice! If you're a long time MSO user like myself and have over a decade of files locked into various closed Microsoft binary formats, this extends the half-life of your document integrity almost infinitely.