Recent Posts

3151

Living Room / Re: OK - lets het to know each other a bit ... where do we all come from ...

« Last post by rjbull on August 31, 2005, 08:23 AM »

Nice to see someone else from the UK.  I'm in north Somerset.  Is that Ingleborough or something rather like it on your horizon?

3152

Image Manager Shootout / Re: Xnview vs. Irfan View

« Last post by rjbull on August 31, 2005, 08:07 AM »

hi rj-

we've been having a running discussion of the file open/save dialog box extenders.
see this post: https://www.donation...ndex.php?topic=506.0

in fact we are going to do a review of them very soon.

sounds like you are one of us who couldn't live without such a tool

-mouser (August 26, 2005, 05:45 AM)

Found that afterwards  :-/  Actually, I found a way round it for what I wanted to do.  That was, print out the first pages, only, of a series of PDF files.   Eventually I realised that all I had to do was point Total Commander at the directory they were in.  Because Acrobat reader is a known application to TC, all I had to do was Alt-Tab to TC, move the cursor down one, and hit Enter...  Later I discovered the freeware PDF Toolkit, so now I use pdftk to construct a new PDF file out of the front pages, and just print that complete.

pdftk - PDF toolkit

http://www.accesspdf.com/pdftk/

3153

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: ITSD Organizer keeps your notes at hand

« Last post by rjbull on August 31, 2005, 08:02 AM »

if anyone knows of an organiser that will sync with a pocket pc then i'd like to know, please.

-nudone (August 31, 2005, 05:16 AM)

Doesn't Natara Bonsai do that?

http://www.natara.com/index.cfm

ShadowPlan seems well-liked on the Palm, but the PC version is less good.  Jot+Notes has some degree of synchronization with it, but I don't think there's a Pocket PC version

http://www.codejedi.com/

3154

General Software Discussion / Re: Macro programs - advice sought...

« Last post by rjbull on August 31, 2005, 07:58 AM »

Doesn't AutoHotKey keep its macros in the Registry?  I'd rather avoid that.

3155

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: ITSD Organizer keeps your notes at hand

« Last post by rjbull on August 31, 2005, 04:56 AM »

Maybe folk should look at the Yahoo! group Power Tools Software
http://groups.yahoo..../powertoolssoftware/

where this kind of thing is a preoccupation?

I've recently been playing with JBLab Secure Notes, which is cheap shareware and small and fast, but still has rough edges

http://www.jblab.com/pim.html

Password generator, encrypted, special past mode for Web (tries to guess the right node name), reminder feature that I haven't tried.

--
Robert Bull

3156

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: My new favorite pen

« Last post by rjbull on August 31, 2005, 04:38 AM »

I like Pilot G2 gel ink, Uniball "eye" micro for fine work, Uniball micro deluxe waterproof for permanence; Pilot's pencils and ballpoints based on the same basic tubing and grip as the G2; my old but excellent Papermate, with fine black refill; a cheap Zebra pencil; and Sheaffer "No Nonsense" fountain pens.  Keep looking at Lamy fountain pens, too  :-)  Essentially, the pen/pencil that works best is the one that wants to work, so for me that means light in weight (a plus for plastic), isn't too thin to hold comfortably, gives a dense line, and preferably doesn't make a mess.  For that reason, I mostly use Zebra or Pilot pencils with the softest leads I can find, usually 0.5mm B or 2B, for scribbling.

I seem to be a sucker for writing implements  :-))

--
Robert Bull

3157

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: PowerPro

« Last post by rjbull on August 31, 2005, 04:29 AM »

PowerPro is amazing but the most inscrutably opoaque program I've ever seen...

--
Robert Bull

3158

General Software Discussion / Re: Macro programs - advice sought...

« Last post by rjbull on August 31, 2005, 04:23 AM »

The answer to macro programs seems to be:

"PowerPro.  Now, how much time are you prepared to put into getting to grips with it?"

PowerPro, freeware macro program for Windows
http://powerpro.webeddie.com/index.html

Beginners user group / mailing list:
http://groups.yahoo..../powerpro-beginners/

Main mailing list:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/power-pro/

PC Rangers third-party PowerPro support
http://powerpro.pcrei.com
Contains archives of the user groups, the "Wink" based Flash demos, etc.


--
Robert Bull

3159

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you use a password manager? if not, maybe you should

« Last post by rjbull on August 31, 2005, 04:19 AM »

Passpack by DS Software (Dariusz Stanislawek)
http://members.ozema...etv/freezip/freeware

Not so many features but tiny - the .EXE is less than 15K - no-install, fast and free

--
Robert Bull

3160

Backup Guide / Re: MirrorFolder compared to reviewed programs?

« Last post by rjbull on August 31, 2005, 04:07 AM »

I would most likely use XXCopy, the "boldly extended XCOPY"
http://www.xxcopy.com/index.htm
set up in a batch file run from a "CRON"-type scheduler (I never tried the Windows scheduler).  The cron I use is OTTO, short for "ottomate" <groan> from
Eric Taucke's software:
http://user.mc.net/~warp/index.html

there's also nnCron.

some fold would think of SyncBack from 2BrightSparks but that's a back-up which isn't quite the same as a mirror.

--
Robert Bull

3161

General Software Discussion / Re: Clipboard manager

« Last post by rjbull on August 30, 2005, 03:43 AM »

so if you are like me you might want to just look for a freeware tool, but look for one written by an author with some experience with reliable connections to clipboard bility to search for text would be nice.

-mouser (July 09, 2005, 01:05 PM)

You could try the last free version of ClipCache, available at

"Freeware programs that either went commercial after these versions or were discontinued, or are hard to find or just plain good: "

http://www.woundedmo.../win32_freeware.html

or

321Download.com's Last Free Version page for freeware that later went shareware/payware.

http://www.321download.com/index.html

Includes, e.g., ClipCache, PrintKey, Total Uninstall, etc.

--
Robert Bull

3162

Image Manager Shootout / Re: Xnview vs. Irfan View

« Last post by rjbull on August 26, 2005, 05:43 AM »

> One of my longstanding real pet peeves with irfanview is its
> absolute insistence on Save As starting in the last directory
> you saved into, rather that the current directory holding the
> picture. 

Have you looked at Cottonwood Software's  payware, File-Ex?
http://www.cottonwoodsw.com/welcome.html

I've only briefly looked at it.  Here's their blurb;

"File-Ex saves valuable time and mouse clicks...

- Automatically enhances almost all Windows applications, saving you valuable time.

- Larger file window reduces scrolling clicks by up to 90%.

- Re-opens the last folder used so you don't have to hunt for it each time you open a file.

- Default to the sorting you like, and have it remember the column widths in details view.

- Remembers 100 recent and favorite folders / files, reducing clicks to the file you need.

- Create and open a new folders with fewer steps -- opens to the new folder automatically.

- Built-in Find tool searches all of your hard drives for files. "


I wish it automatically put the cursor on the last file you used, but they've had more than one request for that so maybe it will come.