Recent Posts

3476

General Software Discussion / Re: XPPro SP3

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 29, 2008, 04:31 PM »

• the TaskBar address Toolbar is still removed (as in the release candidates) - shame but I can live with it. You can always use Windows+R instead

-Carol Haynes (April 24, 2008, 08:13 PM)

You can get it back here:
http://www.systemsab...ress-bar-go-missing/

-edbro (April 29, 2008, 02:24 PM)

There are a number of ways of dealing with this without using third party tools:

1) Don't bother with the address bar just use START > RUN (or keyboard shortcut Windows+R) and enter the URL there - provided you include www. or http:// if it doesn't use www. the default browser will open and load the page.

2) If youi have WDS installed (if you have Office 2007 you probably will anyway) just use the search bar on the taskbar. Works fine.

3) Copy browsereui.dll from an SP2 installation into Windows/System32 folder and get back your old address bar. I haven't tried this but no other side effects have been reported.

4) On a per session basis (ie. it doesn't survive logoff/logon) go to Start and left drag 'My Computer' to the top of the screen, right click and select ToolBars>Address and then drag the address bar back to the bottom and close the My Computer toolbar. (An alternative, and useful, workaround for this is to drag My Computer from the Start menu to the top of the screen and right click and select AutoHide from the menu - you van then have a drive pop down tool bar at the top of the screen and easily add the address bar to it when required).

I can't for the life of me see how the address bar (which opened the default browser - not IE) violates the anti trust agreement - esp. as it is still there in Vista SP1 !!!)

3477

General Software Discussion / Re: XPPro SP3

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 29, 2008, 01:57 PM »

Hmmm http://blogs.zdnet.c...1368&tag=nl.e589

MS withholding the SP3 update because of a last minute 'glitch' - not that anyone will be affected by it!

3478

General Software Discussion / Re: Vista Aero vs. Linux Compiz

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 29, 2008, 12:21 PM »

MrCrispy: I don't like the trend that all software is moving towards a license+activation model rather than me owning it.... Modern computing is complex, but at least with Windows, it's the devil I know.

You're right: Microsoft has long had a subscription-type licensing model for business clients, and I hope they don't apply it to home users. If I want to use XP until 2010 or Vista until 2015, I should be allowed to do so (without support, of course).

-zridling (April 29, 2008, 10:36 AM)

And there's the rub. If MS do go down a subscription route they will HAVE to provide support to subscribers otherwise they will find subscriptions cancelled. Under current models OEM users don't get support full stop and even full price purchasers get precious little support even when the problems are clearly bugs that MS haven't fixed.

3479

Developer's Corner / Re: Software protection and registration.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 29, 2008, 03:12 AM »

This is my standard license grant:

-Renegade (April 14, 2008, 09:02 AM)

It is all very well having a license agreement - realistically how do you enforce it?

3480

General Software Discussion / Re: Office 2007 Search Command add-in

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 28, 2008, 05:45 PM »

Wow! That's brilliant - probably better than the 2007 ribbon or 2003 toolbars !

3481

General Software Discussion / Re: XPPro SP3

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 28, 2008, 03:10 PM »

I would say if it hasn't been updated for a long time SP3 is the best and quickest solution.

I noticed a slowdown in reboot times when I installed it but that went away after the first reboot (I presume it was doing some sort of housekeeping after rebooting the first time). Not noticed any other issues.

3482

General Software Discussion / Re: How much should Microsoft charge for its Home software subscription?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 28, 2008, 01:37 PM »

The Ultimate edition list price is $599 (not that any one in their right mind would pay that).

Having said that the Home/Student edition doesn't include Outlook and is basically just Word/Excel/PowerPoint and OneNote where as the ultimate steal version includes all the Office products including: Outlook, Access, Publisher, InfoPath and Groove.

3483

Living Room / Re: Knock, Knock, It's the FBI

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 28, 2008, 11:31 AM »

Sorry mea culpa .... 

3484

Living Room / Re: Knock, Knock, It's the FBI

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 28, 2008, 09:21 AM »

Aren't you under visual scrutiny 24/7 these days?

-cranioscopical (April 28, 2008, 08:53 AM)

True - but only if you are stupid enough to live in a city (esp. London).

Where I live the 'wireless' is still new technology ...  now to tune in to the Home Service

3485

General Software Discussion / Re: How much should Microsoft charge for its Home software subscription?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 28, 2008, 06:16 AM »

Well it is run by MS - I have the software downloaded from the MS servers, I received a genuine MS CD set and it registered and activated on two machines without problem (allowed under the Office license). I also have a printed receipt from MS UK.

3486

Living Room / Re: Knock, Knock, It's the FBI

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 28, 2008, 06:14 AM »

Terrifying story - I don't know why anyone wants to live in the 'land of the free' any more.

Am I imagining it or does the US have laws on entrapment ? Surely the FBI should be in the next cell ?

3487

Activation/License/Language Help / Re: About signing up to download freeware license keys - READ IN PLEASE

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 28, 2008, 05:29 AM »

Ha Ha - I like it

nubzor pee all you like ... its you that will be dehydrated.

Seriously have you gone back to https://www.donationcoder.com/Keys/ and got your key after registering. There should be a new key there now that doesn't expire in 60 days.

3488

General Software Discussion / Re: How much should Microsoft charge for its Home software subscription?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 28, 2008, 05:12 AM »

The student price isn't a realistic comparison because I bought the whole "Office 2007 Ultimate Edition" which contains just about every package in the Office family for about £38 ($60 in the US) and the UK rental price is a one year only option (it isn't an annual subscription as far I can see - just a one off - especially as The Ultimate Steal offer finishes in 2 days so there will be no offer to return to for renewal). Strangely the US seems to be one of the minority of countries that doesn't include the one year rental offer!

3489

General Software Discussion / Re: Splitting a large MP3 file based on .cue

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 27, 2008, 05:32 AM »

Thanks nosh - I'll take a look.

3490

General Software Discussion / Re: XPPro SP3

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 27, 2008, 05:28 AM »

I was reading an article that says MS Is going to be offering SP3 as a normal service pack download but also as a full Windows XP SP3 CD image. It may be worth waiting for the slipstream and save the hassle.

I haven't had any problems that I am aware of since installing SP3 final - but MajorGeeks (where I got it from) only has the English version. Typically MS releases the English versions first and then a while later other language versions.

3491

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea: Insert System Date From Context Menu

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 27, 2008, 05:26 AM »

Sorry having read this thread over and over I really very unclear what exactly Geminate wants.

From your first few posts you SEEM to want to a 'enter todays date' to as many context menus in applications as possible - is that right?

If it is then I don't think it is possible because almost all applications have context menus that aren't extendable and those that are usually have to be manually configured within the application and how you do that is different for each application.

If all you want to do is quickly enter todays date in text in any application it would be better to do it via a keyboard shortcut and use something like an automatic text expansion tool. That way every time you enter a short code at the keyboard it would be expanded to what ever you want. For example set it up so that when you type .dt the date is entered.

If I havn't understand what you require can you try and explain again and give a couple of specific examples of what you want to acheive.

3492

General Software Discussion / Re: Splitting a large MP3 file based on .cue

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 27, 2008, 05:18 AM »

Menu -> Save Split will presumably split a large file into components tracks

Is there a batch mode that would allow you to supply a list of source 'album' files and split them all into their tracks or do you have to manually do this one album at a time?

3493

Post New Requests Here / Re: Idea: Insert System Date From Context Menu

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 26, 2008, 08:51 PM »

No the context menu is not hard and thank you for your response.

-Geminate (April 26, 2008, 03:32 PM)

If it isn't hard why do you need help?

Sorry but since most right click context menus are specific to the application they pop up in how can you add an option to all of them globally.

It is easy to do in some applications but for others/most it would mean recoding the application or at the very least writing some sort of macro within programs that support macros (such as MS Office) to add the functionality ???

Please refrain from commenting if you cannot be of any aid in giving me a solution for my idea.

Bit of a rude response to someone who was trying to help you! Can you keep comments civil around here please.

3494

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 26, 2008, 08:19 PM »

Been playing a bit more.

It is very quick at finding files by name - takes a while (not surprisingly) to scan lots of file content.

I did a similar search on all my PDF files - I have a lot of those. It listed them all almost instantly but if I added a search for a text string in the PDF files it took a little while. Not bad though for an unindexed search - a lot faster than Windows Explorer search takes just to find the file names!

3495

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 26, 2008, 07:57 PM »

Yep - I was amazed at how quickly it scanned a 30Gb partition for .doc files and then looked inside for text matches. Almost realtime! OK I haven't got thousands of DOC files but it had to scan all folders and there are a lot of them - and there are quite a few DOC files to check.

3496

General Software Discussion / Re: Splitting a large MP3 file based on .cue

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 26, 2008, 07:04 PM »

Looks really useful - maybe now I will get round to transferring all those old cassettes and Vinyl discs! The thing that has put me off is trying to auto detect tracks and cut appropriately.

Haven't really tried it yet - does it have any sort of batch mode?

3497

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 26, 2008, 06:46 PM »

I found it awesomly fast on my data files - especially as it searched content as well. It seemed to me to be as fast as most of the indexed search apps.

3498

General Software Discussion / Re: Need to track missing space on my Hard Drive

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 26, 2008, 04:41 PM »

Try running CHKDSK C: /X /R /V from Start Run and when prompted restart your machine.

If that doesn't do it try using a boot time defrag utility (such as PerfectDisk). You can often lose space on a disc when parts of the disc are incorrectly marked as in use in the FAT. CHKDSK and a boot time defrag should sort it out (hopefully).

3499

Image Manager Shootout / Re: Xnview vs. IrfanView - integrity issue examined

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 26, 2008, 10:46 AM »

As for the legal issues mentioned by Carol ("take XnView to court" ..if its illegal, sue, othewise be quiet), that is a non-issue, and diversionary.

-Steven Avery (April 26, 2008, 10:30 AM)

Actually pretty much what I said - the point I was making really was that a one sided argument leaves him angry and frustrated. If he can't do anything about it then it is better to let it drop and get on with life in a positive and more productive way - for his own sanity and health.

If he has evidence for what he has written perhaps a simple paper displaying that evidence would suffice to warn others of the issue - but getting steamed up over a number of years about evidence he has is not productive for him either, making him come across as aggressive and defensive.

3500

Image Manager Shootout / Re: Xnview vs. IrfanView - integrity issue examined

« Last post by Carol Haynes on April 26, 2008, 09:51 AM »

Maybe the XnView position is that they don't want (or can't be bothered) to get involved in a mud slinging match that can only flare up into a web wide flame war.

Whatever the merits of Irfan's argument he needs to get over it and get a life or else take XnView to court for infringement of copyright.

I doubt he'll get anywhere with the latter option and he certainly wouldn't win under the classic 'look'n'feel' argument since XnView has a completely different (and lets be honest a much more attractive) approach to GUI design, and as Irafn says himself it serves a different function too.

He can't have it all ways! Either XnView is a ripoff or it isn't - but I can't see how something that is different in look and function can be considered a rip off.

Having said all that all application developers pick and choose what is good and useful out there to include in their own apps.  Corel PaintShop uses loads of stuff from Adobe PhotoShop (as do many image manipulation apps even to the point of supporting the same plugins). Corel Painter IX onwards even adopts the GUI of Photoshop pretty much lock stock and barrel. No one would accuse Corel of stealing Adobe's intellectual property - just that GUIs have a certain consistency and functional similarity for the sake of the end user. Similarly Adobe has taken note of Painter's real media in PhotoShop.

Horses for courses I think - no one out there is developing in a vacuum.