Recent Posts

4201

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 01, 2007, 07:23 PM »

If you want a big wall paper why not get a picture sized for span mode and then crop it into two pieces and put half on each monitor in dual mode?

4202

General Software Discussion / Re: Directory Opus 9 - How to..?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 01, 2007, 06:50 PM »

Assuming you're using Dopus 9, right click on the column headings in the lister, select More from the context menu that appears, under Columns in the dialogue should popup, select Music from the pull-down men and then select Bit Rate and click on the right arrow to add it to the columns that are viewed. Click OK out of there and you *should* have achieved what you are after...

-Darwin (October 01, 2007, 06:24 PM)

Why is it with DOpus I never see the wood for the trees I didn't even spot there was a pull down menu there.

Now how do you add that column header in "My Music" and apply it automatically to all subfolders recursively?

'edbro' I'd guess he asked 'cos he's here and he knows there are a lot of Dopus users around on the forums.

4203

Living Room / Re: UK Government wants your crypto keys... by law.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 01, 2007, 06:45 PM »

Hey Ken welcome back - if that isn't an inappropriate comment  Maybe I should have said your return is very welcome

 

... Sorry for the rant everyone - I get quite passionate about the dwindling pretence of democracy in the UK and I just needed to let off a little steam   

4204

General Software Discussion / Re: Directory Opus 9 - How to..?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 01, 2007, 06:21 PM »

It doesn't just give bitrate but try setting the lister to "Details" format (right click View > Details) and then right click on the heading columns and include description. That seems to include the bitrate (at least for MP3 files). You may need to drag the column wider to see them.

4205

Living Room / Re: UK Government wants your crypto keys... by law.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 01, 2007, 04:20 PM »

As a UK subject (we don't have citizens in the UK we are subjects of the monarch - and we say we have a democracy) I have to say this has been on the cards for some time.

I seem to remember some time ago the government said it would make encrypted email illegal - it doesn't surprise me that they want full access to data.

The current 'Labour' (yeah right) government are more right wing than Margaret Thatcher - and she was to the right of Attila-the-Hun. I have to say that when I see some of the legislation enacted over the last 10 years (like removal of the right to trial by jury, removal of the right to silence, attempts to allow imprisonment without showing any cause let alone a conviction - not to mention the concentration camps that currently masquerade as immigration holding camps) it makes me ashamed to be called British.

4206

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for an E-Mail Client which can be run on an USB Stick

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 01, 2007, 01:09 PM »

My Flash Drive is 256Mb - and unpacking the suite (using the installer) filled it completely - and then some.

4207

General Software Discussion / Re: Office 2007 Compatability Pack

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 01, 2007, 01:06 PM »

No - that's called paranoia

4208

General Software Discussion / Re: Office 2007 Compatability Pack

« Last post by Carol Haynes on October 01, 2007, 08:33 AM »

I haven't noticed that problem in Word 2003.

4209

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for an E-Mail Client which can be run on an USB Stick

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 30, 2007, 06:44 PM »

I always go to www.portableapps.com to find "x-on-a-stick". It's all open source s/w, tweaked to run from a USB drive.

-Jimdoria (September 25, 2007, 02:23 AM)

I'm pretty sure they were false positive but I downloaded the portable apps "suite" and PCTools SpyWare Doctor went absolutely mad when I unpacked the ZIP with malware reports !

My biggest gripe with the suite is that it is too big for my USB Flash Drive so the install fails leaving those apps that were installed unusable because the final part of the installation sets up the program menu and start files.

4210

General Software Discussion / Re: alternatives to partition magic/paragon?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 30, 2007, 06:36 PM »

20% free space is really only recommended to allow your drive to be defragmented easily. I have some drives that are just about full (files that are just read) and access is just as quick as on a half full drive.

Obviously if you have a near full drive disk writing will get slower as files have to be squeezed into randomly spaced gaps all over the disc - they are then slow to read again. It therefore makes sense to keep near full disks fully defragmented and organised properly - use a defrag app that runs every time the screensaver starts such as PerfectDisc, and regularly run a boot time defrag on the partition. It doesn't really help to use a defragmenter that doesn't do some organising too because you need the free space on the drive optimised into a single chunk if possible otherwise the first file write is fragmented again. The built in Windows defragger just defrags files and leaves stuff scattered all over.

I would also recommend keeping some free space on your system drive as programs are constantly wring temporary files on the system disc. You can move your temp files to another drive (See Control Panel > System > Advanced > Environment variables), point your browser cache to a folder on a different partition and move your pagefile to a partition on a different physical hard drive to the system partition. These will help somewhat with system speed - especially when it is under load - and reduce fragmentation on the system drive.

It isn't a panacea though as many programs don't behave well and use their own temporary files - usually stored in your user profile hidden "Applications" or "Local Settings" folders and I haven't found a way to move those off the system drive yet.

4211

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 29, 2007, 12:44 PM »

That's the one

4212

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 29, 2007, 12:34 PM »

Depends on your graphics card(s) - ATI have a utility that is supposed to sort that out (its called hyper.... something or other I forget). Don't know about nVidia.

I'm sure there must be a utility out there!

How about http://www.gis.usu.e...u/unix/monitors.html for nVidia?

Or use a Matrox adapter instead of multiple cards or dual head cards. I think MAtrox do a 3 monitor version too. This manages popup windows automatically.

4213

General Software Discussion / Re: What linux needs?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 29, 2007, 12:31 PM »

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes summarised the most importants points about Linux lack of success before we started discussing the matter. Worth a read, even if everything mentioned there has been discussed here smiley. Be sure to read the follow-up as well.

Yep - pretty much what I said early on in this thread. The trouble is for the average user a PC is an appliance these days, like the TV or fridge, and people don't want to have to install new firmware in their TV or fridge or try and convert their TV into a microwave any more than they want to spend hours tinkering with a new OS. People simply want to switch it on and do things!

OK if you have the right hardware so that Linux installs all the right drivers from the get go and automatically chucks you into KDE then it will probably be OK for the average user (except that they won't be able to buy games or software in their local store). Have a bit of hardware that needs a driver and you are in serious trouble - even assuming you can find a driver it is never terribly obvious how to get the damn thing installed and working.

Hell the first time I installed Linux (Mandrake as it happens - which was reputed at the time to have the best installer) I couldn't get any audio and my bog standard IDE CDROMs wouldn't work. After 3 weeks of emails to Mandrake I eventually got them working - but who needs that! At least on Windows if you need a driver you can put a manufacturer name and model into google and withion 0 seconds be downloading the correct driver - and all you need to do is double click.

4214

General Software Discussion / Re: What linux needs?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 29, 2007, 11:56 AM »

Don't you mean an iBMW ?

Shame you can't change the battery or add fuel!

4215

General Software Discussion / Re: Why I put a slash before my signature !?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 29, 2007, 05:53 AM »

Fair enough - I couldn't remember. It was just a thought

4216

General Software Discussion / Re: Why I put a slash before my signature !?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 29, 2007, 05:31 AM »

Is it something to do with Usenet? I seem to remember that correctly configure news readers should ignore signatures when they are properly formatted - and I think that involved either / or //

4217

General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis charging customers for bug fixes

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 28, 2007, 07:39 PM »

On my old system I always had hit and miss success with the Acronis boot disk - I had to use the full version if I had no RAID setup (or disconnect the RAID drives) but wanted to use an external USB drive, but if I wanted to use RAID I had to use the Safe mode version. Same goes for their Disc Director suite.

Luckily my new system doesn't seem to suffer from those issues.

I suspect it is a combination of the version of Linux they use and the BIOS's abilty to set up devices at boot time.

4218

General Software Discussion / Re: What linux needs?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 28, 2007, 06:41 PM »

Mac OS X, but he'll deny it

-Lashiec (September 28, 2007, 06:00 PM)

Yeah right ... have you seen the price of Apple hardware - you can buy 3 or 4 PCs with higher spec hardware for the price of the cheapest iMac!

Not only that Mac OS X is suffering from the same interminable heaping of old code as Windows - it is by definition one OS built on top of another before you start and every version brings a new layer.

Plus to keep up you have to buy a new computer every 6-12 months.

I suppose if Windows 7 or 8 is the new OS from scratch that people is demanding, that would fit the bill.

I am sure there are many at MS that would like to do that but it will never happen - by Version 8 you will need an HD-DVD drive just to install Windows and larger hard disks than are currently available. Graphics cards will need more memory than Windows currently supports for the pretty desktop and DRM will be so embedded you won't be able to log on with written permission from Sony, Paramount and countersigned in person by Bill G!

As for Linux, well, maybe they'll fix their way.

Nah - it's designed by geeks, for geeks. They are very vocal but numbers are so small as to be insignificant (it is estimated that the number of Linux desktops out there are fewer than half the number of Macs - and that is pretty small. Servers are a different matter - but how many people run servers). The only way Linux will take off is if the OS is unbundled from new PCs and you have to purchase an OS with your PC - THEN and ONLY THEN will Linux look attractive (or even visible) to most users - and THEN and ONLY THEN will Linux look interesting to hardware and software vendors.

4219

General Software Discussion / Is Windows XP too good for Microsoft’s own good?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 28, 2007, 12:38 PM »

LOL - Microsoft have extended the period in which OEMs can offer new machines with Windows XP (what does that say about demand for Vista - or does it reflect the number of people taking up the 'downgrade to XP' scheme MS have had to set up).

So MS plan to sell XP until 2010 - what is Vista for then? The next generation will be out then - and that will a DRMed boot system!

Here is an article about it: http://blogs.zdnet.c...=759&tag=nl.e539 the discussion following it is quite entertaining if you like the:

"I know more than you 'cos I use Linux"
"No I know more than you because I use an iMac (and I'm richer)"
"What are you talking about Vista is wonderful and lightening fast on 5Kb of memory"
...

type of thing

4220

General Software Discussion / Re: Shareware that don't have freeware replacements

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 28, 2007, 05:32 AM »

You could also try http://www.ranish.com/part/ which says it can resize partitions.

Also http://www.softpedia...tition-Resizer.shtml

Try looking through: http://www.google.co...p;btnG=Google+Search

Just looked at CutePM again and it doesn't seem to resize - just acts as a suped up. graphical FDisk type utility.

4221

General Software Discussion / Re: Shareware that don't have freeware replacements

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 28, 2007, 03:52 AM »

Thanks Nighted, but that just talks about partitioning a new drive added - that was always easy. I am talking about a Notebook Computer, where there is only one drive, and it is all C:\

-heinziten (September 28, 2007, 12:56 AM)

How about http://www.cutepm.com/ (free partition manager).

Haven't tried it - get a backup image before you do!

If you try it let us know what you think (start a new thread)

4222

Official Announcements / Re: Brand new web-based live text chat channel interface -- try it!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 28, 2007, 03:48 AM »

Same error ...

I changed my forum ID to include the space when you first made me a moderator but now you have changed the rights I have so I can't remove the space again. Can you do it for me (simpler than fiddling with the code).

Actually looking at my profile my username doesn't have a space - it is just my display name. I still can't change it though! If that is the problem can you just remove the space in my display name. (Out of curiosity why can I no longer change this myself?)

4223

Official Announcements / Re: Brand new web-based live text chat channel interface -- try it!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 27, 2007, 06:06 PM »

I'm getting somewhere now (but not far). All I get is:

[00:05] *** Welcome to DonationCoder.com Web IRC
[00:05] *** Looking up irc.prison.net
[00:05] *** Connecting to irc.prison.net [209.249.249.126] port 6667
[00:05] -86.145.63.155- *** Processing connection to irc.Prison.NET
[00:05] -86.145.63.155- *** Looking up your hostname...
[00:05] -86.145.63.155- *** Checking Ident
[00:05] -86.145.63.155- *** Found your hostname
[00:05] -86.145.63.155- *** No Ident response
[00:05] *** dcCarol Erroneous Nickname DCC Bots
[00:05] *** Closing Link  127.0.0.1 (DCC Bots)
[00:05] *** Disconnected from IRC (click to reconnect)

If I click to reconnect I just get the same.

Could it be something to do with my DC id having a space "Carol Haynes" ???

4224

Official Announcements / Re: Brand new web-based live text chat channel interface -- try it!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 27, 2007, 01:43 PM »

Thanks ...

Now the domain doesn't appear to be recognised at all www.mrmouser.com and I am having odd intermittent probles with the main forums too - sometimes posting or editing a message refuses to post or save (the page just freezes) and a little while ago I just got blank white pages across the whole website. I had no other issues with other websites.

Anyone else experiencing these freezes and blackouts?

4225

Living Room / Re: Microsoft patches applied - EVEN WHEN AUTOUPDATE IS OFF

« Last post by Carol Haynes on September 27, 2007, 01:34 PM »

It gets even better - according to the WindowsSecrets newsletter today the updates have broken Windows XP's abilitlity to use the "Repair Install" facility from the CD. If you do this all goes well until you try to update your repaired installation and then there are 80 updates that will not install because MS has deregistered various WU files during the update and they aren't repaired back to a known state properly!

Brilliant!

You can read the article here: http://windowssecret...m/comp/070927#story1

There are also instructions on how to fix the problem if required!