Recent Posts

4051

General Software Discussion / Re: A rant about how I finally ditched iTunes... :D

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 08:43 PM »

Will Zune work with WMP 11, or is that the Zune software? If it doesn't work with WMP 11 that's pretty amazing considering WMP is quite good at recognising other mp3 players...

4052

General Software Discussion / Re: Paint Shop Pro X2 - installation from hell ...

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 08:41 PM »

Corel has one of those super uninstallers, which I have downloaded (couldn't tell you where to find it) and archived. I can send it to you if you like. FWIW, I had PSP 9, X and X1 installed on my system and X2 installed no problem and has been a real joy after the disappointments of X and X1.

Let me know about that Corel "zapper" - PM me if you want me to send it to you.

4053

Living Room / Re: PLEASE STOP POSTING

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 08:38 PM »

I have 131 pages of unread posts! You're doing really well with only 89, tinjaw (if you even get around to reading this one, that is  ).

4054

Living Room / Re: Coders' Watches

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 07:28 PM »

Man... I feel absolutely NAKED without a watch on my wrist (and if I forget to throw on a belt when I am wearing my shirt tucked in with pants (sorry for those of you smirking in Europe: trousers) I come unglued!).

4055

Living Room / Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 07:25 PM »

I have a friend that bought a 21.4" Samsung with 3000:1 contrast ratio. I'm not sure why he needed it (suspect he doesn't) but I'm gathering from people's choices here that 800:1 (which is a lot cheaper where I am) would be just fine for normal usage?

4056

Living Room / Re: these new cheap core 2 due laptops - any good?

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 07:07 PM »

jammo - out of curiosity, did Gateway ever quote you a price on XP, or did they say it wasn't supported and leave it at that? I lust after a new notebook but not Vista...

4057

Living Room / Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 07:06 PM »

I'm going to have to take the plunge and get a secondary monitor. This thread is an interesting read - most interesting to me is the discussion around USB ports and such - WTF? I'm slow at the best of times, but tonight I'm having real difficulty envisioning what good such a feature would be, except to increase the number of USB ports available on one's computer.

4058

Living Room / Re: Google Talks - a Google perk we can all use

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 07:00 PM »

What a wonderful perk to provide for their employees. I love that fact that they bring in speakers who have expertise in, and speak about, a range of disciplines many of them not computer-focused. Really impressive and like justice I almost wish I worked for them. Fortunately, though, I work for a college that brings in some pretty amazing speakers, too!

4059

Living Room / Re: Technology Myths

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 06:58 PM »

All I'll say is that it's funny that the bulk of the myths listed in the OP are sort of mirror images of a lot of the Apple myths that are prevalent in NA. I'm not taking sides, though, just making an observation!

4060

Living Room / Re: Pet Peeve: I will never buy a rechargeable mouse again for as long as i live

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 06:51 PM »

... and who would want a mouse with a dern receiver?


"That thar dern receiver dun lost mah connection!"

 

 

4061

General Software Discussion / Re: Free virtualization options

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 06:51 PM »

Thanks Carol - that's good to know. I'm still reeling a bit over the price. The sticker shock associated with VMWare has me permanently scarred, expecting to pay BIG money for proprietary solutions like this. I may have to download a trial.

4062

General Software Discussion / Re: Which MP3 tagger do you use?

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 06:47 PM »

Actually, the Total Commander reference reminds me that yet another option I have used (and rued due to the aforementioned conflicts that arise) is DOpus. It's pretty much restricted to ogg and mp3 but is actually quite easy to use. If it would do BATCH tagging I'd probably use it...

4063

Living Room / Re: Alternate Reality Gaming

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 06:42 PM »

Not even going there (to your links). The LAST thing I need at the moment is the temptation of something else to distract me from the myriad things that I'm already procrastinating on...

4064

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you use Desktop Widgets?

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 06:40 PM »

Nosh - couldn't agree more about Konfabulator/Yahoo Widget Engine being a resource hog. I double-dog dare you to go post to that effect on their user's forum. I used to hang out there a lot in the heady Konfabulator 1 and 2 days and briefly after Yahoo took over and any and all such talk was met with denial of their being a problem at all. I finally turfed YWE from my system when I realised that not only is it a resource hog (lie ie started believing what my eyes and instincts were telling me over the howls of protest from the developers) but it's also not terribly stable. I recently (within the last two weeks) installed Yahoo Widget Engine 4.5 (or is it 4.05?) and it's a bit better but my system still took a noticeable hit AND I couldn't see anything there that I couldn't live without, so it's gone.

4065

General Software Discussion / Re: Free virtualization options

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 06:23 PM »

MS VirtualPC is fine - though on both machines I've installed it on the cooling unit kicks into high gear pretty much the instant the VM opens up. I'm relatively content with it...There's the odd niggle - like I've got one that insists on opening full screen and I've not found a way to disable it but other than things like that it works and it's free. Good enough for now.

Parallels does look nice and the price is not outrageous - I'll be keeping a lookout for reviews.

4066

Developer's Corner / Re: Consumating’s Ill-Fated Point System: Nice Blog Essay

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 06:17 PM »

You get two thumbs down for "sucking up" Mike...   

Jim

I won't dignify that with a response 

EDIT: Dang, I edited out my smiley (was going for clever wordplay, gave up and posted the above, but managed to edit out the smiley  Corrected now, but damage done 

4067

General Software Discussion / Re: web mail client

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 06:14 PM »

Well... what updates are you hoping to get, Kalos? It's only been a little over a month and there are a limited number of options available to you and most of the most promising ones have been mentioned here. There is not a huge demand for development in this area and consequently development is slow.

If you want to be able to access your Yahoo.com (as opposed to co.uk, .de etc. accounts, which are indeed free - I have a yahoo.co.uk account) reliably from a pop3 client, pay your $19.95 a year to Yahoo. Otherwise there are a range of solutions, both shareware and FOSS, that have hit and miss reliabilty. Why? Because Yahoo constantly changes the way it communicates with your pop3 client and developers of third party solutions scramble to keep up to date.

4068

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 05:40 PM »

Congratulations, Tom. The Kilo Club is growing!

4069

Living Room / Re: Pet Peeve: I will never buy a rechargeable mouse again for as long as i live

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 08:37 AM »

I can't believe how lucky I've been - two years of trouble-free wireless computing and I use crappy rechargeable batteries that last for at least 8 months on a charge. I've never had a connection problem and am thrilled by the longevity of the batteries. My wireless setup is a MS Standard Wireless Mouse and a Multimedia Keyboard v.1.1 that I got free with the purchase of MS Office 2003 Student and Teacher edition (I wound up springing for the academic version of Pro about two months later - had to have Access).

4070

Living Room / Re: Structured Procrastination - hahaha

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 08:34 AM »

The laptop story strikes a nerve - I *always* used to think that I'd be productive on a 9 hour flight to Europe, but no longer even bother taking the notebook out of its carrying bag. I far prefer to waste my time with a mystery novel (last flight it was the last Harry Potter book!). The only way I'd even consider trying to use my laptop on a flight now is if I were able to snag a bulkhead seat (or business class. Could happen. Eventually.).

4071

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you use Desktop Widgets?

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 08:16 AM »

[Darwin asks timidly] What about the system tray?[/Darwin asks timidly]

I tried in vain to tame mine with the "hide unused icons" function built into windows before I found PS Tray Factory and took advantage of a DC discount to buy it. Has had a profound, positive, effect on my computer "experience".

Or were you referring to the "system tray" vs. "windows notification area" debate 

Similarly, I've reined in the Quick Launch Bar with TrueLaunchBar

4072

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 07:54 AM »

Thanks for the head's up, Don. Your committment to your product and your customers is OUTSTANDING!

4073

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« Last post by Darwin on November 05, 2007, 07:52 AM »

Welcome Mark and Jaime! Glad to have both of you here and hope to see more of you on the "boards" 

4074

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Tor - The Onion Router

« Last post by Darwin on November 04, 2007, 06:23 PM »

I *think* Ghost Surf encrypts your data before sending it... but then, it's a shareware solution. I actually used it extensively circa 2005 but stopped using it circa 2005 because I don't really feel that I need the level of security that it provides.

4075

General Software Discussion / Re: Which MP3 tagger do you use?

« Last post by Darwin on November 04, 2007, 04:53 PM »

Yup. No argument there, Lashiec. I guess rather than writing

mixing and matching different tagging solutions

I should have written  

using more than one programme to handle mp3 tagging