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37726

General Review Discussion / About this section

« Last post by mouser on March 29, 2005, 03:06 AM »

This section of the forum is for discussing and helping to nominate and test candidate programs for upcoming awards.
In all cases i would like to be able to recommend a freeware/OpenSource alternative if one does not win.

I will try to work out a schedule of awards so we have some idea of the deadlines for comments.

Skipping next week, here is are some categories i'd like to schedule, begining  April 9:

Best backup tools.. imho this really needs to be divided into two sections (maybe 2 reviews one after the other), with
Best backup tool for complete system backup, aka drive imaging (my current award choice is True Image).
Best incremental backup tool for quick incremental versioned backup of personal documents (my current award choice is Retrospect, but i'm open to being swayed to another product).

Best Text Editor (current top candidate = UltraEdit), likely to be contentious award

Best File Explorer (current top candidate = Directory Opus | Powerdesk), sure to be a contentious award

Best email client (current top candidate = thebat), likely to be somewhat contentious

Best free+commercial antiviruses (current top candidate = needs more though), likely to be somewhat contentious
(this award needs a separate winner for free, since recurring charges of the commercial ones make it imp. to be able to present a free winner)

Best clipboard helper
Best Macro tool (macro express)
Best dictionary
Best weather tool
Best launch helper
Best duplicate file finder
Best archive tool
Best disk catalogger (whereisit)
Best search and replace tool
Best small graphics viewer (irfanview)
Best screenshot tool
Best icon tool
Best webcam tool
Best font explorer/tool
Best color helper tool
Best demo maker
Best diagramming tool
Best big graphics tool (photoshop)
Best photoshop plugins
Best dynamic dns tools
Best bookmark tool
Best browser addons
Best ftp client
Best password manager
Best irc program
Best newsgroup programs (newsbin, newsrover)
Best peer-to-peer clients
Best remote administration program
Best site spiders (teleport pro or offline explorer)
Best proxy manager
Best poster/bookley/envelope printer
Best label printer
Best printing helpers (fineprint)
Best PDF tools
Best Scanner tool
Best cd/dvd burning tool (nero)
Best cooking program
best route planning
Best screensaver
Best small game
Best translator tool
Best bibliography tool
Best calculator
Best equation plotter
Best financial software
Best personal database tool
Best presentation tool
Best time tracker
Best file encryption tool
Best screen toys
Best benchmarking tools
Best spyware removal
Best context-menu addons
Best defrragmentation program
best dialogbox replacement helper
best file/registry trackers (ashampoo uninstaller)
best partition management tool
best startup organizer
best undeleter
best virtual desktop tool
best windows setting tweaker
best virtual machine software (vmware)
best alarm/reminder tool
best webllog analysis program
best html editor
best photo gallery maker
best audio player
best file splitter/joiner
best graphic file converter
best icon tool
best mp3 tag tool
best music broadcaster
best voicemail program




In addition we might have some days where we just highlight some unique small programs that don't fit neatly into a single category; nominations for those would be welcome too.

37727

General Software Discussion / Re: Advanced Software Reconnaissance Team

« Last post by mouser on March 29, 2005, 02:40 AM »

i've made a new board in the Members Only section entitled Advanced Software Reconnaissance Team
where we can talk about upcoming awards in an "official" capacity.
having these discussions in a separate section will allow me to restrict access to it if we decide to do that at some point.

37728

General Software Discussion / Re: Advanced Software Reconnaissance Team

« Last post by mouser on March 29, 2005, 02:33 AM »

the more i think about this the more it seems like a good idea..

i think the way to begin is for me to post a schedule of the categories planned for the next 5-10 reviews/awards.

and perhaps also the winners i have in mind.  that will give us time for people to nominate winners and look for alternatives that might be missed.

it doesnt even nescearily have to be a strict schedule, i can just post categories and people can nominate candidate winners and we can go in whatever order we want.

depending on how things worked out, the "Advanced Software Reconnaissance Team" could either be a loose collection of whoever in the forum decideds they want to post some info about a category on a given week, or it could turn into a semi-official team of people who might lend their views and dissenting opinions along with awards - sort of like when a game magazine has 5 dif reviewers comment on a game and rate it.

i still want to keep the idea of presenting awards for best-in-class, rather than simply saying, here is a good program, but it could be useful to have some "dissenting opinions" at the end of a particularly subjective choice...

before i post a list of upcoming awards, there is one thing i need to figure out, and that is to what extent should i care about such a list spoiling the surprise of new reviews.  is that ridiculous to even think about.  a voice in my head is telling me it is silly to even consider such a thing, but from talking to people sometimes they seem to look foward to the week's review where they get to discover what's been chosen.  having advanced debates about the winner for the week would lost that surprise.  on the other hand if we keep our discussions to a particular board on the forum, then only those who go in there would find out, and we could always limit it to those with permission, and anyway a small percentage of viewers to the site would go in there anyway.. so i'm probably being ridiculous..

37729

Official DonationCoder.com Reviews / Re: Reviews content suggestion

« Last post by mouser on March 28, 2005, 06:52 PM »

you are the 2nd person to suggest this to me, and i think youv've made a great case for this.
i cannot disagree with that you are suggesting at all.

and i really like your statement

I'm not one to look at comparison charts with other products; that's usually an advertsing gimmick because most such charts only include the desirable features of the product that is pre-determined to win against the others. I immediately mistrust them. But if you would just list the things you looked at or considered, and how the product ranks against those features (not against other products),

not so much because i think it wouldnt be useful to compare features against others, but just because i don't think such comparison tables could be created without huge amounts of work.

i will try to do this. i will try to list some objective criteria that i consider when i review a program and give it an award and where i think it falls.  for me, some of picking a best program is a subjective total experience, including the feel of the gui, and so it may be hard for us to lay out objective points about everything, but i think your point is extremely valid and should be adhered to whenever possible.

this might also be something that could benefit from others suggestions.
ie if we set up a sort of advanced team prior to each weeks review, maybe one of the things they could do is suggest waht kinds of features are important.  then if we had a list of such imp. features it would be easier to touch on them during a review.

really good idea ric, just have to figure out a way to keep these reviews doable in the required time frame.

37730

General Review Discussion / Re: What categories should we review next?

« Last post by mouser on March 28, 2005, 06:28 PM »

ric,

the new wave of drive imaging software is good at making a complete clone of your hd, while windows is still running - it backs up your registry and all open files.

True Image is my current favorite for this - it does a remarkable job and its very fast.
i recommend buying an external usb drive and using such a program, instead of tapes.

37731

General Software Discussion / Advanced Software Reconnaissance Team

« Last post by mouser on March 28, 2005, 06:25 PM »

i was thinking that i need to try to find some people willing to help me track down soft in prep for reviews.  Some people to form an Advanced Software Reconnaissance Team.

the idea is simple, the way we do awards/reviews here is we recommend the BEST software in a given category - so its important that i not miss some program and later find out its better than the one we awarded as best.

so i'm thinking i could use some help finding programs once a decision is made about the category.

ie if we were doing backup programs, then it would be important to find all the backup software we can that could at least be a possible contender for best software.  we don't need to find everything, just those that could be in contention for best - the main goal being avoiding missing a possible winner.

i'm not sure if this would spoil the surprise of the saturday review.. is it fun having it be a surprise?

one possibility would be to only have a few people in this ASRT team and only those would know about the week's upcoming review ahead of time.

other ideas are welcome..

37732

General Review Discussion / Re: What categories should we review next?

« Last post by mouser on March 28, 2005, 06:18 PM »

i am a very big backup fanatic,
and i have some def. views on best backup software.

i was actually thinking of doing a special kind of review for backup, in the form of a guide.

so i would layout my guide to backing up your computer and files, in terms of a complete guide w/ associated best recommended software.

to me backing up involves having a couple of different systems for dif. purposes, so its not just a matter of recommending one piece of software.

next week i have a real special app that i am really looking forward to awarding..

37733

Living Room / Everyone happy with PayPal?

« Last post by mouser on March 28, 2005, 02:12 PM »

 

Occasionally I get email from someone who is wary about using PayPal.

I've had a PayPal account for over 4 years, using it mostly as a a way to pay for things rather than receive money, and I have to say that I have never had a single bad experience, and overall my experience has been fantastic.

So far my experience in terms of using it to receive donations has been equally pleasent, and PayPal charges a much lower surcharge than other credit card / shareware processing services, and they are well set up for accepting user-chosen donation amounts.

But I am aware of all the sites on the web complaining about PayPal - all of them seem to be from seller's who have had their accounts closed by PayPal and had some of their money confiscated without warning.  I can certainly understand why this would be infuriating, especially if PayPal is not forthcoming about their reasons behind it..

I've also had at least one person tell me they were having trouble getting PayPal to accept their donation.

I'd be very interested in hearing other people's experiences with PayPal, both bad and good, and whether you think I should set up an alternative donation method (and if so, any recommendations?)

37734

Find And Run Robot / Re: New Version

« Last post by mouser on March 28, 2005, 08:29 AM »

fixed version 1.05.10 updated.
i also took the opportunity to remove the "Super Happy.." part of the installer name, which i should have done earlier; this change makes it seem like a different program to the installer, so if you want to avoid having an extra entry in your "installed programs list", you should uninstall prior version before installing this one - if you don't its not a big deal.

37735

Living Room / Daily Blog Columns have begun!

« Last post by mouser on March 28, 2005, 08:26 AM »

The daily blog columns have started !

They are arranged as 5 columns, one for each weekday, and each written by a different columnist.
More info can be found on the start page for the columns: https://www.donationcoder.com/Columns

But you can always get to the lastest column for the current day at: http://blog.donationcoder.com

There is even a link to this page in the upper right of this forum, in the news box.

Please show some love and appreciation to our bloggers by posting feedback in the comments sections of their blogs.

37736

Find And Run Robot / Re: New Version

« Last post by mouser on March 28, 2005, 07:46 AM »

yes it should say launch history - ill fix that now.
asking to delete or add should bring up a messagebox saying not allowed to do that..
if it's hanging on your machine, i know whats happening and i will fix (for some reason something is causing the options dialog to hide the messsagebox telling you you cant add/delete), which means you cant press the buttton to click "ok" which is in effect hanging the program.  thanks for report, should be new fixed version up in the next couple of hours.

37737

Open Source Roundups / Re: DrawSwf files submission

« Last post by mouser on March 27, 2005, 05:07 PM »

 
my bad, news updated.

37738

Open Source Roundups / Re: DrawSwf files submission

« Last post by mouser on March 27, 2005, 04:41 PM »

 

why am i wasting my saturdays writing these reviews if no one reads them??!?!?!?!

37739

Living Room / Should I increase avatar size? Poll.

« Last post by mouser on March 27, 2005, 11:21 AM »

should i increase avatar max size?
i was considering 130x65 instead of 65x65..
any other web site / forum design suggestions welcome

37740

Open Source Roundups / DrawSwf files submission

« Last post by mouser on March 27, 2005, 11:01 AM »

if anyoene wants to send me a drawswf drawing they made i'll upload it to the board and make a link to it here
this offer will be open for the limited time of 99 years so hurry and take advantage of it.

37741

Find And Run Robot / Re: Feature Requests...

« Last post by mouser on March 27, 2005, 10:59 AM »

this was already implemented.  should work, if it doesnt let me know.

37742

Find And Run Robot / Re: Including some scripts with next version

« Last post by mouser on March 27, 2005, 07:38 AM »

i agree 100%
i am trying to make it usable right after install without any configuration,
but also tweakable for people who love to tinker with custom settings.

37743

Find And Run Robot / Bugfix, updated to v1.05.09

« Last post by mouser on March 27, 2005, 03:43 AM »

found a bug that was causing error message about not being able to focus a nonvisible window when launching an app while search was still ongoing.

37744

UrlSnooper / Re: Problem with Peculiar Stream (Tried View-Source, URL Snoop)

« Last post by mouser on March 27, 2005, 03:14 AM »

thanks shahram!

looks like GetASFStream is a good tool to have.

download info for latest version here:
http://p084.ezboard....ge?topicID=115.topic

37745

ProcessTamer / Re: ideas for process tamer

« Last post by mouser on March 27, 2005, 02:27 AM »

there is a program for this - and it's quite an elaborate one.. trying to think of the name, will modify this post with it when i remember.

a couple:
http://www.softperfe.../traffic-limiter.htm
http://www.homeqos.com/

and the one i was thinking about originally:
http://www.netlimiter.com/

if you try these out give us a report of how well they work and which one you recommend.

37746

Find And Run Robot / Re: Including some scripts with next version

« Last post by mouser on March 26, 2005, 06:48 PM »

i almost included that in the last release.

f&r has an alias feature already that even lets you make groups of programs under an alias.
i will add the right click -> add to alias
exactly as you suggest.

37747

Find And Run Robot / Re: Including some scripts with next version

« Last post by mouser on March 26, 2005, 08:05 AM »

thats a good idea, i will add it.
you can already have it search your ie favorites and launch them by clicking them,
just like launching any app.

but i think i will add the ability to type in a url directly.

i think i will also add ability to specify a custom file explorer and web browser for use in such operations and explore operations.

37748

Find And Run Robot / Including some scripts with next version

« Last post by mouser on March 26, 2005, 04:53 AM »

I was thinking it would be nice to add some ability to add functions that you could run through F&R robot,
like to be able to things like shutdown computer, etc.

but i was thinking maybe the cleanest most flexible way to do this is not to reinvent new features in f&r but rather use windows scripting and the normal ability of F&R to search shortcuts, and just maybe make it a tiny bit easier to work with.

so i was thinking to include with the next version some basic scripts in a subdir called Scripts, and automatically add this directory by default at the top of the search list with a reasonably high score bias.

scripts might include things like shutting down the computer, or performing operations like reporting disk usage, etc.

so you would hit break and then type "shutdown" and it would find the shutdown script and show it at top, etc.

if anyone has any scripts to recommend or can help me find scripts that would be useful i'd be happy to add them to the next release.

i could also add some minimal functionality to aid in working with scripts (ie editing and adding new ones).

opinions?

37749

Activation/License/Language Help / About Donations, Honorary Membership, and the Members Only Sections

« Last post by mouser on March 26, 2005, 03:14 AM »

The forums at DonationCoder.com are open to the public.
You may make posts once you create a profile and login.

There are a couple of forum boards which are for Members Only.  These boards contain the current discount codes for software, as well as occasional beta releases of software, the debates about upcoming award nominees, etc.  These boards are only available to those who have officially joined the site by making a donation (of any amount).

Once you have made a donation your member profile status will be upgraded to Charter Member and you will be able to see the previously invisible boards which are in the same section/category as this one.

Note that when you make a donation, an account here at the forum is not automatically created, you still have to create it, and then I have to upgrade your profile, which usually occurs within a few minutes but could take up to 8 hours.

These members-only boards are our way of encouraging you to make a donation to the site, even if it is only for $1.

We know that it's a pain to donate, and that's why donation-based sites usually fail.  We are trying hard to strike a balance between providing a great site and making enough money to survive, and that's why we're trying these efforts to encourage donations without becoming jerks about it. I hope that makes sense.

And if you make your donation via Amazon.com don't forget to email us ([email protected]) with the info about it since amazon doesn't tell us who donated.

More about the ideas behind DonationCoder.com: https://www.donation...com/About/index.html
To join the site with a one time donation: https://www.donation...om/Donate/index.html


Please don't hesitate to email me or send me a pm from this forum with any questions or suggestins 
-mouser ([email protected]).

37750

General Review Discussion / Re: What categories should we review next?

« Last post by mouser on March 26, 2005, 02:00 AM »

best file manager/explorer replacement is DEFINITELY in the cards soon.  should be contentious award - i expect some real disagreements here.