Recent Posts

401

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: new DVD-Creator: $9.95!

« Last post by MerleOne on June 13, 2010, 12:46 PM »

Hi,
Did you try it ?  I'd like to know if it reencodes MPEG2 DVD compliant files (which takes quite some time) or almost-compliant (for instance datarate too high / DVD std).  Most recent DVD players have no issue playing these DVD and it saves time.
Thanks.

402

General Software Discussion / Re: Uninstaller Roundup - Revo - Total - ZSoft & the less magnificent seven

« Last post by MerleOne on June 10, 2010, 10:14 AM »

I have just tried the pro version since my first post on this thread, and as mentioned earlier, the pro feature seems to work by recording every change done to the system, on the filesystem and in the registry.  The trick is that if a background install occurs at the same time, uninstalling using the record of changes may yield to bad results.  Recorded changes can be optionally unselected at uninstall time, but this requires a thorough manual examination, and may not work in every situation.

So, I'll probably stay with the free version for now.

403

General Software Discussion / Re: Uninstaller Roundup - Revo - Total - ZSoft & the less magnificent seven

« Last post by MerleOne on June 10, 2010, 09:06 AM »

-there is no discount link in the Std version. And yes: 1 for $40, 2 a' $30, 4 a' $20

Revo_PRO is "merely" a competitor to TotalUninstall, etc. It may be fine, but I have some of the competitors, so I didn't find any reason to purchase Revo's version.

-Curt (June 10, 2010, 07:48 AM)

OK, the link is a bit hidden, it's visible when doing an autoupdate, it then appears in the info window :

see

404

General Software Discussion / HFS+ partitions Imaging (Mac OS X)

« Last post by MerleOne on June 10, 2010, 07:12 AM »

Hi,
Is there a PC imaging tool you know of that can also image HFS+ partitions (Mac OS X) ?  Thanks.  I found so far Clonezilla, but I'd also like to know about commercial products.  Thanks.

405

General Software Discussion / Re: Uninstaller Roundup - Revo - Total - ZSoft & the less magnificent seven

« Last post by MerleOne on June 10, 2010, 02:16 AM »

I think they have a 50% rebate from within Revo Std.  And I do have only the std version.

406

General Software Discussion / Re: Uninstaller Roundup - Revo - Total - ZSoft & the less magnificent seven

« Last post by MerleOne on June 02, 2010, 03:17 PM »

Not sure it was mentioned before but now Revo exists in a commercial version, with a much more powerful feature that monitors exactly the changes made on the system, apparently.

407

General Software Discussion / Re: What to use to secure delete a HDD?

« Last post by MerleOne on June 02, 2010, 03:10 PM »

I strongly recomment "CopyWipe" from TerabyteUnlimited : download the free software, burn a bootable media (floppy, CD), reboot and follow the instructions.  You may select the least secure module, it will be good enough.

408

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: PuranDefrag V7 now free for home use

« Last post by MerleOne on May 23, 2010, 03:57 PM »

Am I understanding correctly that you do not use fill gaps or PIOZR? Are these choices related to your imaging strategy? Perhaps you are attempting to minimize excessive file movement to achieve efficient backup?

Thanks very much--just trying to learn from a knowledgeable source.

-sajman99 (May 23, 2010, 02:46 PM)

Exactly !

409

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: PuranDefrag V7 now free for home use

« Last post by MerleOne on May 22, 2010, 02:50 PM »

Puran Defrag 7.1 was recently released, but it's a very minor update which only adds user selectable idle time in automatic defrag.
...

Puran also meets all those criteria, doesn't it?

I still have portable versions of Defraggler and Quicksys Disk Defrag to compare fragmentation numbers, but I now only use Puran for a full system optimization.

-sajman99 (May 21, 2010, 03:48 PM)

I currently reverted to puran, in automatic mode, since the 7.1 update.  The average CPU usage is often over 10% so I needed the new version.  For automatic mode, I chose : optimize dirs + defrag files but not fill gaps.

I keep Smart Defrag IObit for the full defrag of the c: partition.

410

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Burning Studio 10

« Last post by MerleOne on May 21, 2010, 07:35 AM »

Isn't it CSI Miami theme also ?

411

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Process Lasso Pro at GAOTD (May 21, 2010)

« Last post by MerleOne on May 21, 2010, 07:33 AM »

with all respect to the Tamer, which I was running for a couple of years, it really is my impression that the Lasso, which I am running now, is somewhat more advanced - especially for people like me with a lot of background processes running.

-Curt (May 21, 2010, 06:26 AM)

Be sure to try the CPUEater demo they have on their website (follow the "Graphical Demo" link) with and without Lasso.  Would be interesting to know how Tamer handles this demo ?

412

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Vipre Antivirus: -10.00 USD

« Last post by MerleOne on May 21, 2010, 07:31 AM »

BTW, Vipre did make my PC slow down to a crawl, just the opposite of what they claim, so be sure to try it first ! 

413

General Software Discussion / Re: What to use to back up 1:1 ?

« Last post by MerleOne on May 19, 2010, 08:44 AM »

Regarding zip, etcetera: I want to be able to browse my backup, in Explorer, just as you would brose your every day hard drive. Further more I download several zip files each day, so I *know* first-hand that they are much too fragile for back up jobs. There is not a month without "container may be broken, etc...". This is unacceptable for a back up. So in general containers are not wanted, zip containers in particular.

-Curt (May 19, 2010, 07:43 AM)

Then you could use OCB, which relies on winrar, to perform backups.  It's some kind of front-end, with all winrar options (almost all of them) that is really nicely done.  The free version is very usable, the pay-version adds some features like CD/DVD burning.

With winrar as archive format, you can specify an added amount of redundancy that protects your archive in a very nice way.

Minor drawback : you have to get a registered winrar version.  I know there are some gievaways for the 3.80 version here and there.

OCB : http://acritum.com/ocb/

414

General Software Discussion / Re: What to use to back up 1:1 ?

« Last post by MerleOne on May 19, 2010, 03:43 AM »

XXClone is maybe what you want, if you want a perfect, file-based, yet bootable 1:1 clone of your system partition.  However, reading the forum messages for xxclone, I suspect there are a few issues.

If you accept a proprietary format, I would recommend Macrium Reflect : it's one of the fastest, both in full and incremental or differential mode.  they also have a very efficient support.

You mentioned Backup4all as having a proprietary format : it uses .zip, a de facto standard on a windows machine.

415

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Steam Sale: 50% off Guild Wars Trilogy

« Last post by MerleOne on May 10, 2010, 08:11 AM »

BTW, if the last Steam updated resulted in a non working Steam, with "unable to load modules" error or something like that, I found a fix using google : basically, you rename Steam.dll in the Steam top program directory, launch Steam again, it reloads the "full" update and starts to work again.

416

General Software Discussion / Re: an entire drive suddenly missing!

« Last post by MerleOne on May 06, 2010, 08:35 AM »

That's the best way to solve this !  I would still backup the important data currently on that disk...

417

General Software Discussion / Re: Hard drive Cleaning, which one you use?

« Last post by MerleOne on May 06, 2010, 08:27 AM »

DiskMax and CCleaner are what I use on a regular basis.  when using DiskMax, use Quick mode first, Standard mode is already pretty extreme (it removes Windows hotfixes uninstallation files for instance).

418

General Software Discussion / Re: an entire drive suddenly missing!

« Last post by MerleOne on May 06, 2010, 08:24 AM »

You have to see if it's recognized, even non formated in windows disk management (execute, diskmgmt.msc, enter). If yes, try loading easeus or active partition recovery to make an image (if possible) or recover files right away.  Alternatively, try Partition Find and Mount to see if the former partition is seen, then backup files asap.

Sometimes, a few bad blocks in the partition table cause just that.  Try also running HDTune to see if there are some physical errors.  If yes, try imaging the drive before it degrades further.  Then use something like spinrite, HDD Regen (demo version) or DRevitalize to try to repair the bad blocks.

419

Living Room / Re: Do you collect anything?

« Last post by MerleOne on May 04, 2010, 03:10 PM »

I used to collect watches when I was in elementary school. The big question though is do you *wear* your collection? Yes, I wore up to 3 watches simultaneously on a regular basis.

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (May 04, 2010, 12:53 PM)

Yes, I do wear them, but one at a ... time.  I change every week or so.  I keep the most expensive ones for special occasions.

420

Living Room / Re: Do you collect anything?

« Last post by MerleOne on May 04, 2010, 10:53 AM »

BTW, nobody else but me seems to collect :
1/ Mp3 players
2/ Watches (mainly Casio)

Not that huge a collection, but a few too many items - if that's grammatically correct...

421

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Partition Wizard Business Edition - free registration limited time offer

« Last post by MerleOne on April 08, 2010, 08:54 AM »

Here's something you don't see every day. The business edition of a popular Symantec MT Solutions utility being offered free for registration.

-40hz (April 06, 2010, 12:55 PM)

Thanks !

422

Living Room / Re: How do *you* tell when your OS is booted/ready?

« Last post by MerleOne on April 08, 2010, 07:58 AM »

I personnaly use Startup Delayer from R2 Systems, a nice freeware.  I delay all possible application launch (whenever possible) and when SD has finished launching the last app, I consider it done, even if my AV might be updating in background, as well as Windows Update...

423

General Software Discussion / Re: Video Editing software - Any recommendations?

« Last post by MerleOne on April 06, 2010, 07:05 AM »

For Mpeg2 editing and DVD burning, Videoredo TV Suite is excellent.

424

General Software Discussion / Re: A new approach to reduce NTFS fragmentation

« Last post by MerleOne on March 30, 2010, 03:08 AM »

Here is the first result of my test :
F: after a "regular" defragmenter
F: after Raxco Scrambler
F: Lace Level after step above
F: after LaceDefrag (1 time)
F: Lace Level after step above

Subsequent LaceDefrag executions improve the defragmentation further, and after 4-5 times, it won't change anything.  LD apparently thinks that the performance is now good enough (it's also a beta version, their main product being LaceLevel2).

425

General Software Discussion / Re: A new approach to reduce NTFS fragmentation

« Last post by MerleOne on March 29, 2010, 04:19 AM »

I performed a simple test, and will try to post here the screen capture later on.

1/ I have a well defragmented partition
2/ I use "Scramble" from Raxco to create a very fragmented partition
3/ I use LaceDefrag on this partition
4/ Most files got defragmented and regrouped, but not all.

So it does defrag !  It's not an optimal defrag like what would PuranDefrag do.  Regarding performances, I not really sure on how to measure is the Lace Index is really correlated to some aspects of the performance.