Recent Posts

476

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

« Last post by Darwin on October 05, 2010, 01:24 PM »

Welcome Pschmidt, sandyjames , AlSweigart, otieatkins, and satishchandra!

477

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: One Day Promo - TreeDBNotes,TagControl 40%OFF

« Last post by Darwin on October 05, 2010, 11:14 AM »

Hell - VIPRE won't even let me visit the TreeDBNotes homepage... 

478

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: One Day Promo - TreeDBNotes,TagControl 40%OFF

« Last post by Darwin on October 05, 2010, 11:09 AM »

VIPRE won't let me visit the TreeDBNotes link - claims it's a known "BAD" site! The second link seems OK, though.

FWIW, I disabled web filtering and the site *looks* genuine, I'm not sure why VIPRE threw a fit...

479

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Vectorian Giotto-50% Discount

« Last post by Darwin on October 05, 2010, 11:08 AM »

Looks like they were having activation problems: http://blog.giveaway...activation-problems/

480

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone familiar with Oops!Backup?

« Last post by Darwin on October 05, 2010, 11:07 AM »

Well, well, well... Oops!Backup 3 will be on BDJ on October 11th for $18.50.

481

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by Darwin on October 03, 2010, 07:50 AM »

As noted in the Kaspersky thread, my CPU/resource issues with Sunbelt VIPRE have been solved and I have been able to re-enable Active Protection's "scan files and folders as they are opened" feature. Apparently, the issue originated on some machines with a recent defintiions update that has since been corrected.

482

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« Last post by Darwin on October 03, 2010, 07:47 AM »

Just an update - lately (Sunbelt's) VIPRE has been well-behaved and I have even been able to turn on the option to have Active Protection scan files and folders as they are opened with no hit to my system again. Turns out, after digging through their forum, that the problem I had was related to a defintion update in September that was subsequently patched.

All is well...

483

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« Last post by Darwin on September 30, 2010, 01:50 PM »

Bamse - I'm sure that the answer is the latter of your suggestions, rather than the former, but WTF? I guess we have to blame the clueless end-user, education must be the answer.

484

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« Last post by Darwin on September 30, 2010, 09:08 AM »

...and so we're discussing these things and thinking about them and scratching our heads, figuring our the best way, trying to do the right thing... and then you see this on the website of a big IT hardware vendor:

Disable your anti-virus scan prior to downloading any products

-tranglos (September 30, 2010, 09:01 AM)

A number of installers recommend that you disable AV/AS software during installation as well...

485

General Software Discussion / Re: GemX - missing in action

« Last post by Darwin on September 30, 2010, 08:02 AM »

Well... I'm not beta testing do-organizer 4, having asked years ago to be put on the beta testing list. I can report that v.4 seems stable and that it works with Windows 7 (previous versions do not - they don't retain any db information on system restart).

So, gemx IS developing their products and seem fairly active on their own forum. However, reading between the lines (based on the number of non-gemx rep posters there), I'd say that they lost a LOT of customers over the last three or so years.

In my case, v.4 is nice, but I've moved beyond this sort of product (I think). The combo of Outlook and OneNote 2010 with VueMinder Calendar really works for me and will be hard to switch away from. Time will tell...

486

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone familiar with Oops!Backup?

« Last post by Darwin on September 30, 2010, 07:10 AM »

I downloaded the GTL update yesterday morning, but haven't installed it (and probably won't). I might install it on a different machine to see how it goes, but none of the listed updates will solve the problem that drove me to distraction and to removing it (mostly, the updates themselves corrupting my installation). FWIW, the download was over 160MB, Oops!Backup is 17.2MB...

487

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by Darwin on September 29, 2010, 11:10 PM »

(I'm thinking about the fate of Norton products when Symantec took them over, though from what I've read/seen they've been steadily improving for the last few years).

-Darwin (September 29, 2010, 11:31 AM)

i'm not a big fan of Symantec but lately i've been using machines with Enterprise Edition and find them a bit more appeasing to the system's resource.

-lanux128 (September 29, 2010, 09:41 PM)

Heh, heh - good to hear! It will take an awful lot for me to forget the bloat and resource hogging circa 2005 or so, though... I have high hopes for MSE - hopefully they'll keep it lean, mean, and free... MOST importantly LEAN.

488

Living Room / Re: Am I the only one who finds the new Apps-based world boring?

« Last post by Darwin on September 29, 2010, 06:59 PM »

Yeah, that's pretty much what I had concluded as well. But good grief! What a waste of resources (to manufacture the devices), money to first buy and then/or to pay for the monthly data plan and, in short what a waste of TIME.

Up here in Canada we've actually seen a debate over whether or not smartphones have a role to play in the classroom! This from a provincial premier (Ontario).

We simply can't keep up this pace of conspicuous consumption and ostentatious display.

Ridiculous.

489

Living Room / Re: Am I the only one who finds the new Apps-based world boring?

« Last post by Darwin on September 29, 2010, 06:44 PM »

What I find distrubing is that kids in middle school are able to convince their parents (or is it marketing that does this?) that a smartphone or an iPod Touch is an "essential". For a 14 year old? WTF? I guess this has been going on for millenia...

490

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Quality Comparison: 8 x freeware PDF Readers / Viewers

« Last post by Darwin on September 29, 2010, 06:16 PM »

Gotcha... 

491

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Quality Comparison: 8 x freeware PDF Readers / Viewers

« Last post by Darwin on September 29, 2010, 03:29 PM »

superboyac - are you still using Bluebeam? Or have you switched to Adobe Acrobt?

492

Living Room / Re: Am I the only one who finds the new Apps-based world boring?

« Last post by Darwin on September 29, 2010, 12:24 PM »

rxantos - I agree with your points, particularly about instant gratification 

493

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« Last post by Darwin on September 29, 2010, 12:24 PM »

Googled it? Why didn't I think of that?! Thank you, Tom 

494

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by Darwin on September 29, 2010, 11:31 AM »

Yeah... I got that memo from them. I'm hoping that they continue to support and actively develop VIPRE and their other security products and DON'T let it rest on its laurels (I'm thinking about the fate of Norton products when Symantec took them over, though from what I've read/seen they've been steadily improving for the last few years).

495

Official Announcements / Re: Sep 2010 Giveaway+Discounts: Atrise Golden Section and USB Safely Remove/Zentimo

« Last post by Darwin on September 29, 2010, 08:58 AM »

Congratulations, everyone  I won last month and was thrilled. Enjoy Zentimo - I love USB Safely Remove 

496

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« Last post by Darwin on September 29, 2010, 08:56 AM »

ftfy?

On point, though, surely if less people were using Windows, security issues with other OS's would rise accordingly, regardless of any built in process monitoring? Look at the increase in nasty stuff written to target OSX. I think that Linux is less susceptible to security issues not only for the much touted reason that "its market share is infintesimal so why bother writing malware, viri, trojans, etc. for it" but also because Linux users are generally far more tech savvy than most and are more likely to montior actiivity on their systems. No?

497

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials

« Last post by Darwin on September 29, 2010, 08:51 AM »

Heh, heh - I just checked my license for VIPRE and its good until 2012! So for now I'm "sticking" on my own machine (hopefully the resource utilization will be tamed in the meantime - I'm already seeing some improvement, but how much is due to my tweaking and how much to Sunbelt's development is hard to say at this point), but I'll be watching MSE closely as I have it installed on four other machines in the house. I've been reading about beta 2 over the past week or so and it does look impressive.

498

Living Room / Re: Am I the only one who finds the new Apps-based world boring?

« Last post by Darwin on September 29, 2010, 08:47 AM »

Why are we surprised, though? Isn't this essentially what happened with the OS and shareware in the 1980's and early 1990's? It all went from a world of choice and possibility and got distilled down into a world of standards and CONTROL.

I think that what Zaine is complaining about is really part of the bigger issue of the internet becoming more standardized and controlled and its evolution resulting from the appearance of truly handheld internet enabled devices - smartphones, iPod Touches, tablets, etc.

The internet is a victim of its own success - in 20 years we've gone from having the patience to wait for our correspondence to be delivered, read, answered, and the response delivered to expecting INSTANT replies. The same with photography, 24/7 connectivity to our friends and familiy courtesy of mobile phones, etc. No waiting in line for the latest album or book at a bricks and mortar store on the day of release, just downoload it. We're not even tethered to our desks or laps anymore because all of the can be done from the palm of your hand, anywhere., anytime.

Someone or some people are bound to step into the fray and figure out how to control this and make (more) money from it. Internet access is no longer a "money maker" and the hardware isn't as profitable as it once was, so people are looking for other ways to profit from it.

499

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: VueMinder Calendar Pro 75% Discount

« Last post by Darwin on September 27, 2010, 12:47 PM »

Despite the incedibly generous licensing (which allows my wife and I to use the software at home), I bought a second license. Hands down my favourite calendaring software.

Thank you, Dan 

500

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« Last post by Darwin on September 27, 2010, 12:40 PM »

One thing to be aware of with MSE is that for some bizarre reason it is not set to ignore itself. Thus, everytime it scans a file it winds up scanning its own logfiles and whatnot! So, go into options and direct it to ignore the following locations:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Microsoft Security Essentials

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Security Essentials

Source: http://www.1stbyte.c...using-high-cpu-time/

This tamed MSE under both XP (32-bit) and 7 (64-bit).