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376

General Software Discussion / Re: collaborative software, note strong, for small biz

« Last post by Steven Avery on August 31, 2014, 08:42 PM »

Google Docs I will try more.  I wouldn't mind using it sometimes as a word processor to go to HTML to the web, an alternative to my current Atlantic Word Processor which is desktop.

It just seems to be so integrated with google drive, and I like DriveHQ with a real file manager, maybe I am missing some app or widget or something.

Even at the best though, for the biz needs, it seems like it would only be a fair documents in folders with search solution. Very limited.  I always find google trying to do too many things, other than the one I want to get done.

I'm not automatically non-google and non-MS, OneNote in the cloud might be good, (downloaded Wiznote too) it is just that you are really winging it without true support and without the most cohesive program for the job. (Although Google docs may be A-1 for cloud docs, and also the spreadsheet we are using already, although that has its own questions.)

Let me reiterate that ProofHub seems to be reasonably acceptable. The docs were funny, visible enough, and ruled lines with two sizes of font, and various RTF.  Unusual, yet good enough, especially seeing how weak, so far, most every web app is in the shared docs areas, i.e as part of task, calendar etc collaboration tools.

There are so many alternatives it is hard to narrow it and then try them out and find the gotchas.  I'll probably spend some time with both ProofHub and Wiznotes now and see how they fit (Wiznotes maybe become my personal Rightnote-style program in the net, even if it does not feel comfy for the biz, the China syndrome is always a concern.)

Steven

377

General Software Discussion / collaborative software, note strong, for small biz

« Last post by Steven Avery on August 31, 2014, 01:55 PM »

Hi,

A complex field.  Lots of issues like mobile sync, response time, support, etc.

I'm working with a small company (small in # of people, about 5 total involved) where sometimes we are a distance away and a good collaboration software would be helpful.  It should not be too complex a project management paradigm, more a notes-task-calendar + paradigm. The task manager paradigm (e.g. Toodledo and Producteev-Jive) seems a bit limited.  The company works with WooCommerce and is probably replacing the Method CRM.

btw, we are using LuxSci now for the email, which has been a good move. They have built-in collaboration software, but I really don't see using too much of it, in this case. Partly because of the multi-threading aspect, it is hard to be in the email and notes at the same time. (Maybe two instances?) Also while functional, it is not elegant. We also are not too interested in the Google and Microsoft environments.

One place many of them seem to be weak is simply having an easy to get to RTF note document related to each "task" or "item" or whatever.  If it is RTF you can color-code who is writing, and keep things nice and condensed compared to the "discussion" format (which has its own limited place).

Asana is an example of a good program that is working with "comments" that use keystrokes for bold, etc. Not yet a real editor, otherwise a nice looking program. They will probably improve it in a while, yet still comments to be documents have to be re-editable.

Proofhub is so far my leader.  Bitworks24 is a sleeper that might be very good.  On a test account I set up today they have some nice features.

Podio was nice but did not fuzz me warmly enough. HyperOffice I might check. PBWorks is a nice program, but a little difficult for this use. Smphonical. Azendoo. Flow I have to check, likely too tasky. There are many others.

I really want the collaboration NOT to lose the "read and improve and enhance this note" aspect, which is a good way to think and work (think RightNote, KeyNote-NF etc.)  The great weakness of many of these programs is losing the simple clean note paradigm.

=============

Even if there was a collaborative note program that had some features, or if RightNote or TreeDBnotes etc have a good server edition, that would be a real possibility. Their hosting or mine.  They could work with the X-Y axis of folders and tabs and good searching. In fact, consider that a separate question. Any good web note programs, or server editions?

Ok, I'm looking at WizNote
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=36909.0

Also I noticed something about Onenote Cloud stuff, that might be interesting.

Your thoughts?

Steven

378

General Software Discussion / Re: rtf documents to the web for no-bureaucracy sharing

« Last post by Steven Avery on July 11, 2014, 08:19 PM »

Now for my next question.  What if I want that HTML page or RTF file to be embedded within a section of a blog or a CMS, rather than being a full separate page?

379

General Software Discussion / Re: rtf documents to the web for no-bureaucracy sharing

« Last post by Steven Avery on July 09, 2014, 10:51 AM »

Hi,

Yes, Atlantis puts out HTML, it is a tad hidden (Save Special, Save as Web Page) and the page comes up right away with Total Commander as my viewer, surely Firefox as well. The HTML may not be elegant, but that does not matter in this case.

Next is to upload. Maybe later today.

Some of the editors like Abiword also input HTML, dunno exactly what that means yet on a practical level (is the output converted to RTF? or does it include tags?) and that may be superfluous for my needs.  I can see ongoing work in RTF, save as HTML, upload, as a consistent theme for many types of writings.

Steven

380

General Software Discussion / Re: rtf documents to the web for no-bureaucracy sharing

« Last post by Steven Avery on July 06, 2014, 10:35 PM »

Hi,

Interesting.
I see WordPad looks ok on taking pics from clipboard

However, I am not using fancy stuff in Atlantis (e.g. bullets and tabs might be fancy?) Rather vanilla. Color, italics, bold, and size are the main tools.

I'm glad someone agrees that .rtf has some nice heads-down aspects.  Now, do I put an .rtf document up directly (and what would that entail?)

Or convert it to HTML? e.g. Abiword has some sort of direct output to HTML. Or a separate converter. However, will my embedded pics end up ok?

Steven

381

General Software Discussion / Re: rtf documents to the web for no-bureaucracy sharing

« Last post by Steven Avery on July 06, 2014, 10:51 AM »

Thanks .. great ideas.

Yes, a simple index is definitely a help.

I'm a little skeptical of how well the Markdown / Writemonkey products will be in taking an existing RTF document, pictures adding even more difficulty, without lots of additional tweaking.  There was some discussion that this is not yet trivial. I like preparing in a simple whiz-kid WP like Atlantis, my goal is not to learn another environment.

I'm thinking of asking on some forums that specialize in creating .rtf and similar documents what they find best.  Possible venues - Atlantis, Jarte, Abiword and Libre/OpenOffice.

Apparently a key dichotomy is RTF-->HTML conversion (preferably native to the WP) vs. direct .RTF document upload. Seems like both might have a place.

Direct .rtf upload seems to be in the TaoPhoenix idea above (yay!) which I plan for review shortly. Maybe doable with any good web host? What happens when the reader hits the page?

Also I will test Google docs, maybe Zoho too.

382

General Software Discussion / rtf documents to the web for no-bureaucracy sharing

« Last post by Steven Avery on July 05, 2014, 09:41 PM »

Hi,

Ok, I am going to put aside all my feigned interest in CMS and web developments.

Today, I want to do stuff real easy, however there are so many ways to do it that I don't know what I want to do  .

I'm using Atlantis Word Processor for making documents.  It is light and real good for my purposes including smoothly taking multiple cut-and-pastes direct from the clipboard to a page with a lot of writing.  Also solid on taking the Greek fonts that come from certain Bible pages on the net  (e.g. a verse from Blue Letter Bible.) Also solid rtf as I use color and fonts for contrast. (I just would like its Paste Special -> Plain text to function better, right now I am doing that from my Eudora editor first.) If Abiword or anybody else has advantages over Atlantis, let me know, so far though I am quite happy.

I want to place the .rtf documents on the net shortly after they are made. (I would prefer not to convert them to PDF unless there is a compelling reason.)  I could cut and paste the document if that works, rather than upload, however that could easily clunkify.

Sometimes to be seen by a few friends, sometimes to place a link on a forum. They don't need fancy indexing initially. What I do later with such documents with CMS or ebook or other stuff is not the immediate issue.

I could use a simple web developer (Serif, etc).  And upload to a domain. Has certain advantages.  However, that leads to the intermediate step of how my document goes into the web developer.

Maybe a blog that does not have a blog feel but is more simply type and go.  Again, though, I want to prepare in my home word processor, not a blog editor.

Or I could use a special publishing tool like youblisher or whatever.  They seem to like PDF.

File sharing services are possible, but I think I want a tad more sophistication.

Your ideas, please.  I'm ready to roll, I did about five .rtf docs last week, sent them to friends and realized I like the method of using Atlantis as the editor.  And I don't at this time need fancy dancy, drawings, pics ... this is research text tech.

Nothing proprietary.  So I don't need complex permissions.

Share away!

Steven Avery


 

383

General Software Discussion / Re: Raymond.cc compares 20 Drive Imaging Tools

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 20, 2014, 02:29 AM »

Hi,

Macrium also has a solid forum and Facebook page.  This (imaging and also partition) is an area where companies tend to be shy, not wanting the public to see the possible "you trashed my system, I have no backup" type of post that can arise. So they tend to want to have details done privately.

I'm considering their Professional, noting the possibility of using the Redeploy option.

And remember, nothing wrong with having images from more than one software. And doing a special data only partition with file-by-file backup.

Speed is my least-important factor in backing up.  Reliability and redundancy are the key.

Steven

384

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: BitDefender Leap Year Sale - Any Product for $29

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 16, 2014, 10:37 PM »

If you do this, read carefully and triple-check that you are not authorizing recurring billing later. Take pictures, save emails, make sure the license matches up, etc.

385

General Software Discussion / Re: Malwarebytes is moving away from lifetime licenses

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 15, 2014, 04:28 PM »

I just bought one of the $15 specials. So much talk, need a little action.

386

General Software Discussion / Re: ad hoc network setup, Microsoft home, Teamview, dedicated VPN ?

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 15, 2014, 04:20 PM »

Hi,

Great suggestions.  And if Samba will work nicely under my OpenSuse (or Mint, OpenSuse is supposed to be more server friendly) I am not adverse to trying that.

I'll play around, I have the two Dells now with 8GB and more, one designed as a server, graphics, virtual architecture (i.e heavier stuff) so one of them I can dedicate in the way you suggest. (This is on top of my regular two systems.)

The Chrome is interesting, but rather light, more for remote control, and one of my Windows 7 puters does not even want to give a good Chrome install, it goes gray.  A known glitch. I wanted to try out their CloudPrint, which works through Chrome.

Steven

387

General Software Discussion / Re: Malwarebytes is moving away from lifetime licenses

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 15, 2014, 03:45 PM »

MBAM is really great on removing malware. I had the same good experience at a clients, and find their scans very fine.

So I think I will buy a one lifetime license, if still available, even if it is only for stuff like scheduling regular scans, and other goodies unknown, and not for the real-time mode.  Sometimes real-time seems to be CPU intensive.  Of course with a lifetime, if the real-time improves, you are already licensed.  Gotta check the cost.

Just some thoughts, have your grain of salt ready:
On Wilders and elsewhere, one guy got upset on a trick he claimed MBAM played, a few years ago, (placing in a dummy text file, blank I think, as a .dll and then finding it as malwre) .. he gets everyone annoyed by playing that trumpet, since MBAM people are generally spot-on, helpful, etc. However, when I went back, I think it may have occurred. (If so, it needed an apology.)  I got curious enough to think of trying to download a FileHippo type of old version and seeing if I can replicate the behaviour.  

Kaspersky is supposed to be an A-1 company, they got involved in a finger-pointing game with Microsoft about some unusual low-level behaviour, hooks that were said to damage some systems over time, and I still don't rush to try their products even many years later. (And I hesitate to install any product that seems to involve too much hooking or low-level, including rootkit stuff, I would like reviewers to pay more attention on that element.) That is without going into Comodo's CEO stuff, when they were soo tricky with toolbars, and moving away from Avira when they played games for a little while partnering with Uniblue. And BitDefender played a painful recurring billing scheme, a fairly common trick where they try to gotcha on the install, which may be part of some super-duper-special, and then a year later can bill you on a credit card that you might not notice. Bits du Jour just discussed that problem with Anvir Task Manager (which is partly a security program).

Even if the company is spot-on today, if they did not really come clean, you wonder whether you want to work with their products.

Right now my main companies are Avast on the anti-virus and Online Armor and Private Firewall on the firewall and Win Patrol on the start-up area control.  Not that those companies are perfect in every way, I have been quite happy with each one.  I use WinPatrol and Chameleon, WinPatrol for the security, Chameleon for the startup interface and control.  Don't use a dedicated HIPS, or file integrity control program, partly because Avast is part-hips, partly because no one program stands out.

And I always look around and saw some more goodies today that I might test out, although overall I am pretty placid.  Paltalk gives me jitters a bit, since it sets off Avast alarm bells about stopping Trojans.  That is the most problematic spot I visit.

My fav three static scans are Malwarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware and Emsi Emergency Kit, all of which give you a lot on freeware. It is interesting to see their small differences.  Occasionally I play with Hitman Pro, but it really is not a free scan if you want to do any cleaning and fixing.

Your thoughts?

Steven

388

General Software Discussion / ad hoc network setup, Microsoft home, Teamview, dedicated VPN ?

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 11, 2014, 03:12 PM »

Hi,

Hope this does not make your head spin.

My goal is to have reasonable network capability by about four puters behind a Verizon FIOS router (right now I am chaining through a second router but the master can do four if it is better to unchain).  Mostly Windows 7, maybe one is Windows XP, and Linux is being dual-booted in one or two, per the plans. I actually have finally seen a Linux download-and-install work, with Mint 16, next is OpenSuse! (One puter is a master hot dell puter that might play with virtual stuff, picked it up from a failed day-trader for not too much, at about $400.)  Ok, there is a puter at work that would be nice to be included, if it were VPN.

File sharing is of course a major goal.  Plus I would not mind doing that through mapping the drive, something that has always seemed problematic with Windows networking. Similarly, Windows home network facilites and such always seems problematic to me .. am I missing something? It's supposed to be sooo easy.  (Putting aside the Linux wildcard.) Seems like drives drop, names change, things get confused.

If some files can be accessed live as if it were a real network/mini, that would be nice (understanding that programs not multi-user don't want concurrent updates from two sources holding data in memory and updating. Talking especially Eudora and Linkman here. Eudora also has the problem that the mailboxes are biggggg.).  

Maybe I would use a real multi-user program like Filemaker, one PC being a server, if I was really trying to emulate a true network.  Then you are thinking more server architecture than peer-to-peer.

Teamviewer has been my remote control program of choice. I use it to help friends far away, and for calling in from/to work. And is VPN-capable. File sharing is good.  Drive mapping .. think they have their own file commander.

So, first question.  What options should I consider?  And I don't even mind paying a little for a better long-term solution.

Should I do two things, a Microsoft built-in thing plus more?  

Anyway, your general thoughts will be very helpful.

==============================

INTERNAL

3 Windows 7   - one potentially
1 Windows XP

(dual booting to Linux on 1 or 2)

=====

EXTERNAL - minor

1 Windows XP at work

occasional call home from outside when traveling or if I buy a laptop or smartphone

==============================

My gut feeling is to run with Teamviewer, expanding usage, maybe going paid. Haven't checked how
that works.   However, I really would like to hear your thoughts.  And if I use some such software,
I wonder if I should simultaneously do anything with the Windows home network, or if that is simply
a toy albatross.

Steven

389

General Software Discussion / Re: Malwarebytes is moving away from lifetime licenses

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 11, 2014, 02:30 PM »

Thanks for the info.

While I frequently use the MBAM scan, if you have a system with say Avast and Online Armor and WinPatrol, do you find the extra Paid version stuff of MBAM to be very useful?

My understanding is that you are paying for the real-time protection aspect.  However, too many real-time programs gets cumbersome.

Your thoughts?

If it is positive enough I will likely spring for the $14.95 times 1, test it and then go for maybe 2 or 3.  (Yes, I know I could read Wilder's, you guys are usually clearer.)  In fact, I will download the trial.

Ok, I just activated it, and I see it can be my missing HIPS, and can probably fit in, with a couple of other goodies.  MBAM has been quite a fine company.

Neil Rubenking at PC World a year ago thought their realtime stuff was a little blahh... while lauding the malware cleanup. So it should should be close.  With a lifetime license you can look at at least one license as a sort of future investment and thank you .

Steven

390

General Software Discussion / Re: XP to Windows 7 advice

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 03, 2014, 07:35 AM »

Hi,

Is the concern here the (April?) withdrawal of XP support by Microsoft?  Is that really a problem for a well-layered security system, if you are not some sort of sensitive business enterprise that has to follow auditing directives?

When my Windows 7 had 2 Gb it was slow, it really needed 4. XP does fine on 2 (with a slight preference for the 4 max, not all usable). It seems like a lot of effort to get a new OS and expand the hardware just to maintain the same level of speed.  Would it make more sense to try to get a newer or refurbed Windows 7 (still available?) or 8.  A friend just got a Gateway 8 with 6 GB at some Walmart special in the $200s.  How much is the Windows 7, the memory upgrade (I say its probably necessary) and the time and effort to convert a 6-year old box. Maybe the older box can be converted to a good Linux box instead?

Just some thoughts, since I face a similar situation, my older XP box is a Dell Precision, which is slowly just now decreasing so that the Windows 7 PowerSpec can increase.  The XP box is even tight on space with about 100Gb disk.

Steven

391

General Software Discussion / Re: unattended large file copies that will not prompt for msg

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 03, 2014, 07:03 AM »

Hi,

Great answers, guys (more suggestions welcome). I have a license for Total Commander, and
they have a great license  policy, so I will start there.

Sometimes TC seems a lot slower heads-down on copying that the alternatives, although again,
there may be some special or alternative modes. Any thoughts on that aspect as well?

From what I could tell, some copy programs work more directly with the OS copy command, others
go around it with their own tweaking?

Incidentally the long file names comes out of some .jpgs and such that are email attachments, which
in Eudora are a separate disk file.

============

I had some backup externals that were not able to be read by Windows 7, they were from the XP
days. One goal is to empty the data off any such disk (copy to a really big backup external) and
attempt to format in Windows 7, using the format command from a partition program. (These externals
are seen by the OS but not assigned a drive letter, and the manufacturers want them to be orphaned.)
So far, so good, the first one took fine.  In such a case you can easily want to move 100 Gb in the
background or when away.
one worked.

Steven

392

General Software Discussion / unattended large file copies that will not prompt for msg

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 03, 2014, 05:24 AM »

Hi,

When you try to use the file managers, Total Commander, Free Commander, Xplorer2, Xyplorer to do large moves or copies (say from one tape backup to another) it is very hard to get a true "unattended" mode.  You keep hitting hidden files, +or write-protected, or overly long file names, or UAC stuff, and although some items get a "skip all" you never can quite get unattended. And each program glitches out different and has totally different speeds.

In this mode, you just want:

 "move as much as you can, I'll worry about the leftover later"

Maybe some of the file copy/synchronizer tools have this right?  Your recommendations?

Steven

393

General Software Discussion / Re: CMS lite with fine RTF editor

« Last post by Steven Avery on February 16, 2014, 09:34 AM »

Hi,

Thanks for the two suggestions. 

Right now, I am going back to Concrete5 (I had never really tried to work with it.) It seems to be a good mid-range CMS that is designed for what they call "in-context editing".  The administration looks good, like CMS Made Simple (which was in some ways a tad more elegant) and it has a good support base.  I was able to look through many free themes that look fine and there are a gazoodle of others for $25-$40.

Will report back. Right now I am uploading a group of files, creating pages and sub-pages, stuff like that.  Plus I read a lot of comments from the "common man" that is friendly to the program. (Not to slight Silverstripe, Processwire, Modx, CushyCMS and 100 or 1000 others, besides the big boys.)

I think the desire for real easy editing is not emphasized enough in the reviews here and there.  Where the RTF editor functions cordially right as you design the pages in a full-feature mode. (As I mentioned, CMS Made Simple put the RTF in style sheets.)  And the question as to whether a light webpage implementation  needs to fall into code. (eg. The CushyCMS demo surprised me by showing some code-tag changes, and that is a Lite product.)

If all goes well I have some decent looking pages designed shortly and get it uploaded to my server account at Knownhost (which I have never used).  I do have good domain names available for what I am doing.

Steven

394

General Software Discussion / CMS lite with fine RTF editor

« Last post by Steven Avery on February 14, 2014, 08:56 AM »

Hi,

Greetings!

Been awhile.  Always appreciate this forum.
Have a question.

Now I know we have some fine CMS and lite website builders here on the forum.  

A while back I tried playing with the blogging platforms, WordPress and Blogger, they are nice
for my type of quick posting, however I don't like having to work around the sideways blogging
architecture, to mimic the top-down structure of a website.  (Maybe this is not as awkward
as I think? With a special admin panel, eg. on WordPress? On Blogger, extras are minimal.)

One of my major goals is simple.  Pages with fine RTF for basic color, size of fonts, italics.
And easy insertion of pics, usually simple screen pics of a manuscript or from a book (all
copyright fine).  The best is cut-and-paste, also very good is an upload facility that integrates
nicely, I don't mind the extra steps of creating a disk folder and save to file from a screen pic.

Also I want a good webpage administration architecture, built in. This item is underneath this, and then
when you  move that, maybe some tabs and links automatically recognize the new architecture.  In a blogging
platform that is probably doable with modules, however unless there is some special implemenation,
I prefer a more elegant CMS-website building architecture.

Now, I looked at CMS Made Simple. The adminstration architecture looks very fine, exactly what I like.
However RTF is not directly implementable on the page through the editor, RTF works through style sheets,
which seems like it would  be overly structured for my purposes, which are more ad hoc.  This Bible verse
is purple, this quote is brown, this is highlighted and in italics. etc.  I want that type of formatting
through normal editing (like when I work here, or on Eudora) not front-ended. (Unless I am missing something.)

Oh, an extra plus is if you can RTF cut-and-paste from an existing document (e.g. my Eudora email, or a web
forum) and keep the formatting intact.  However, the extra steps of reformatting in an editor are not too bad, if
necessary.

======================================

SUGGESTIONS WELCOME

So anybody have a suggestion?
Likely a CMS (reasonable cost ok) that:

a) is easy to use and rarely if ever has to fall down to code on simple pages.

b) has a fine administration center, where pages are edited, moved around, structure is built, pages are disabled, etc.

c) has a good regular editor, with color, sizes, maybe fonts, a step or three beyond the underlining etc.
that is in the rudimentary editors (e.g. MicroTiny that is bundled with the CMS Made Simple install).

Any help appreciated.

====================================

Here is my discussion on CMS Made Simple forum. (What puzzled me was that one of the CMS
videos I thought showed a nice full-featured editor. And I thought maybe loading the TinyMCE
module would accomplish my goals. The answers I got seemed to indicate not.)

editor functionality, RTF - text colors, size, fonts
http://forum.cmsmade....php?f=2&t=69386

I thought I put the following post in, as a follow-up.
Possibly, my error. Possibly not.

======================================

Hi,

Thanks.

Eudora has simply a normal easy-to-work editor, with good RTF functionality.  

Plus it has a special nicety, that you can paste pictures directly in from the clipboard (they don't have to be uploaded attachments.) So I think when I was playing with Wordpress I used that feature combined with emailing to the blog. However, I do not particularly like trying to mold a blog architecture to mimic a website. Seems unelegant.

With CMSMS I gather if I use style-sheets for RTF it would be hard to go in and out of different color and size on a web-page, in a free-form, not previously sectioned, manner.  Without tweaking in HTML after the fact. That sort of free-form writing (e.g. Bible verses in one color, quotes from books in another, my text in another, some words might be in italics) is an ongoing part of my writing and what I am trying to accomplish on my web-pages.

======================================

Note: I test on my XAMPP installation.  I don't mind testing a couple of CMS or similar platforms.  Right now WordPress, CMS Made Simple and some others are "installed".  (Also Concrete5, getsimpleCMS, ProcessWire, WolfCMS and MediaWiki, the last for a different purpose)

My goal is to to decide the best without too much extra testing of a tool, especially not one that might not have the basic features or on the flip-side one that requires too much initial coding expertise.

Steven Avery
Bayside, NY

395

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: FREE Today Zemana AntiLogger

« Last post by Steven Avery on August 12, 2013, 11:38 PM »

Hi,

While I have tended to like Zemana when it is installed (see above) I have an aversion to low-level hooks of any kind, or at least any more than is "necessary".  And I am not convinced that Zemana is necessary to a fairly stable and well-protected system.

Steven

396

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Syncovery at 50% off - BDJ

« Last post by Steven Avery on April 03, 2013, 10:58 PM »

Hi,

I understand this is fine, well-supported program.  However, if we do not do fancy sync stuff, but more backup in the mode of Cobian and Backup4All, can you mention what you like about the program that might help me justify jumping at the special and making it my main backup program, with whatever sync comes down the sink ? Thanks.

Steven

397

General Software Discussion / Re: image backups after OS reinstall with clean system

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 26, 2013, 10:11 AM »

Hi,

Ok, got the O&O.  A bit slower (1/2 hour in my case others were about 10-25), but since I am posting while it backs up, really no problem. That speed thing is really an issue on a professional situation with many images, or large images which I do not do.

It is possible that the O&O is better than some of the others on restoring to another PC.  If I get a chance later shortly, I may give that a try.

Incidentally, Freewaregenius
http://www.freewareg...omparative-analysis/

and Gizmo  
http://www.techsuppo...-imaging-program.htm
 (a few articles around the issue)

both have very fine articles about this imaging thing, and the freeware programs.  Mostly similar to the above, not going into the issue of pseudo-freeware specials. One also mentioned "Redo Backup" which is open source SourceForge, however it does not seem to do individual partitions, it may be very fine for full disk bare metal backups.

btw, the DriveImageXL boot disk is probably no probably at all with UBCD and the plugin, which may be in the standard edition anyway, since that can be a straight download and iso burn.

Steven

398

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Chameleon Startup Manager 50% off

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 26, 2013, 02:15 AM »

Hi,

Here is a thought for Evgeni.

When we save Chameleon we are really backing up two different aspects that can be at dissonance.

1) settings
2) data - programs loading, configs

e.g If you do an OS or early image reinstall, you may end up with very different programs and want (1) but not (2).  In other cases, you might want both.  

Thus, the save should be split up into the components.  As it is now it is hard to save the settings without also getting the program data that you often might not want.

(This is off the top of my head, so if I am wrong on this, correct away.)

Steven

399

General Software Discussion / Re: image backups after OS reinstall with clean system

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 25, 2013, 11:15 AM »

Hi,

Ok, I got the Paragon freebie above.  Definitely a bit more sophisticated, in a nice way.  Makes you think a bit about the boot record, MBR. Apparently the others don't tell you exactly what they are doing with the MBR when you reinstall a partition. This is especially an issue if you do any repartitioning after the early backup.

And I did a bit more checking on DriveimageXL. Apparently if you want to restore the primary OS partition, you need to burn a CD with a DriveImageXL plugin.  Some mention BartPE but that is a bear, however UBCD is likelier easier.  

However, this is another spot where Paragon, Easeus and Macrium (and maybe Aomei, the new kid on the block) have a notch over DIXL.  You have another hoop to jump over, rather than simply burning a CD from the program itself, all one integrated unit.

Another area is that some of these programs also allow for file-by-file backup out of the image.  I don't particularly need that, I consider them two different functions, however, it does allow a little extra redundancy.

Steven

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General Software Discussion / Re: Linkman 8.80 released

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 25, 2013, 11:08 AM »

Hi,

Your right.

Somehow I did not think I saw it before, I definitely see it now in my 8.8.0.14 !
A couple of days ago I did a reinstall (after an image reinstall) perhaps I had an earlier version.

Thanks, well done once again.  (Sometimes the little foxes jump through the vines.)

Steven