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5176

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Announcing my new website (superboyac).

« Last post by superboyac on August 11, 2008, 07:39 PM »

Haha!  I'm working on it!!  Cut me some slack!!

I read that wordpress doesn't natively support php code, so I was just trying it out to make sure.  I don't know what I'm doing yet.  I'm trying to do something fancy with this particular page.  I need it to read the tags of my posts and autmatically put the Software List together without me manually editing each link in there.  It can be done, I just need to figure it out.

I also found out I have to do a lot of other things to get ready (and accepted) into a top grad program, hopefully Berkeley, so it looks like I won't be able to focus on this site as heavily as I was intending to for a few months.  Argh!!  I hate working and going to school.

ps
New logo and slogan coming tonight!!

5177

General Software Discussion / Re: What's the right way to deal with admin rights vs. software running correctly?

« Last post by superboyac on August 08, 2008, 01:17 PM »

I agree with that also.  It is pretty easy to tell a good program from a questionable one.  I'm just finding out that a lot of companies, not just mine, but others I'm hearing about, are getting super restrictive about rights.  A lot of users don't know the meaning of the restrictions, they just know they can't do certain things.  But for people who use a lot of little tools, like FARR, a third-party file manager, etc. it can really be frustrating.  After all, this is my job, and I need to be as efficient as possible for the sake of the company.
Everyone always focuses on the big programs like Microsoft Office, project management suites, and so forth.  But those little coding snacks and tools (a lot of them are freeware) are really the little things that increase your productivity a lot.  These things are mostly ignored and that's a shame.  Nobody in IT holds meetings to discuss third-party file managers, or email plugins, or open/save dialog replacements.  But they should.

5178

General Software Discussion / What's the right way to deal with admin rights vs. software running correctly?

« Last post by superboyac on August 08, 2008, 12:22 PM »

I'm sure a lot of us have experienced the classic struggle between having restricted rights on your computer (on a large network) and trying to have software run correctly.  Is it possible to restrict access to users, yet have everything functioning properly?  I know, for the most part, all of the major software applications will function fine in a restricted rights environment, like Microsoft Office, etc.  However, all those little programs that we powerusers like to use will not necessarily work fine, and it becomes a big headache for the IT to try to fix all of your little problems with, say, programs like FARR or Direct Folders, or other little gadgets.

Of course, with full Admin Rights, there would be no problem.  With the restrictions, however, there are usually restrictions to writing and/or modifying files in certain locations like the "Program Files" directory.  And, I know, settings should be in the Documents and Settings location, but sometimes they are not.  My question is, what is the best way to have all these little programs working fine, not giving IT a headache, and still have restrictions on your computer?  What about updates?  I have to call for support every time a program releases a minor update?  The response will be the update is no big deal, so don't install it.  But that's stupid, I like to keep my programs updated.

I bring this up because this problem keeps coming up at work.  We beg to have certain productivity tools installed in our computer.  But IT doesn't want to approve it because they don't know if it's a "good" program or not...but the real reason is that they just don't want to deal with it.  We finally get our way and get the program.  Then, some things change, let's say the network is updated and that little productivity tool got broken for whatever reason and needs a reinstallation.  Now, the IT will say that "see, we told you it's not a good program."  But that's not really the problem.  If there was full access to the computer, there would be no problem.

I feel this whole admin rights thing gets out of hand.  I mostly feel that IT prefer to not give rights to users because they are lazy.  You see, if they give users full power and flexibility to deal with their computers, they will make mistakes and there will be more errors to fix.  So, instead, they just don't allow anything.

5179

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: new birdy comic website from nudone and timns

« Last post by superboyac on August 07, 2008, 11:13 AM »

Dang, you guys sure are artistic.  I'm jealous of your websites!  I love those pencil sketches, I have a thing for pencil sketches.  All I can do is copy people's ideas for websites.  Boo!

By the way, I also copied nudone's avatar thing, where it looks like the head's coming out of the box.  I'm shameless!

5180

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Announcing my new website (superboyac).

« Last post by superboyac on August 07, 2008, 10:39 AM »

OK, the site has a new theme now:
http://aram.dcmembers.com

5181

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Announcing my new website (superboyac).

« Last post by superboyac on August 07, 2008, 09:59 AM »

i do think your web page design+logo needs a serious redesign. unless it's supposed to be intentionally bad.

-mouser (August 07, 2008, 02:38 AM)

Booo, haha!  I know, I know.  I have to change the logo for sure.  It's called "Aram: Uncovering Truth, Beauty, and Goodness" now.  About the colors and overall design, I'm somewhat limited in that I'm using somebody else's theme right now, his name is Justin Tadlock who is like mouser, in that he has this rare determination to provide quality free themes to wordpress users and also gives prompt and dedicated service for people's issues while using his themes.  Most other guys charge $75-150 for a good theme.

If anyone has suggestions for the logo, or the colors or something, I'm all ears!

5182

Living Room / Re: Why is all audio on websites so freakin loud?!

« Last post by superboyac on August 07, 2008, 08:17 AM »

That would be awesome.  I love Indievolume, and I love how the developer is constantly updating the program, but in the past, it does crash all the time, to a point where I only use it when I know I'll be visiting loud web sites for a prolonged period of time.  So, I'm happy to hear the update has improved that.

5183

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Announcing my new website (superboyac).

« Last post by superboyac on August 06, 2008, 05:55 PM »

Yeah, the GRE is definitely like a game.  Unfortunately, there are only a few computer adaptive practice exams available and I'm saving those for the optimum time.  For what I'm trying to do, the quantitative sections are the important ones, as in, I need to get 800 on it, which shouldn't be all that hard for me.  I've been practicing for a little bit now, and usually I'll miss only 1 problem per 30 questions when I'm careless.  But like I said, the practices that I have are mostly paper.  You're right, the timing is the most crucial part.

5184

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Announcing my new website (superboyac).

« Last post by superboyac on August 06, 2008, 04:01 PM »

Great, thanks!  This is pretty fun.  I wish I were wearing my tie today, so the coffee picture would have been more formal!  I'm studying for the GRE right now, but when I have more time, I'm really going to tweak some of the minor things on the site.  Mouser, really, thanks for making me stick to wordpress.  Now that I'm learning this stuff a little, I think I would have had a nightmare with anything else.

5185

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Announcing my new website (superboyac).

« Last post by superboyac on August 06, 2008, 03:36 PM »

Glad you liked it!  Did you find the layout of the article comfortable while reading, with the pictures, size of the pictures and such?

5186

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Announcing my new website (superboyac).

« Last post by superboyac on August 06, 2008, 01:20 PM »

OK, I just put up my first "fun" post.  It's about my coffee mug.  Now, I finally have something in the miscellaneous column.

Yesterday, I made a list of the software that I'm planning to put in the software section.  it includes about 80 little discussions of all the tools I recommend.  I guess that's the section people here would be most interested in.

I still have a lot of work to do on the site to make it look and function the way I want it to.

Since the whole software part was partly inspired by Zaine's great software list, I'm going to have a special feature...for software that we agree on, there will be a nice little avatar indicating.  For software in similar categories that we disagree on, I'll have a fun little dueling icon.

5187

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Catalog - What Are You Using & How Do You Like It?

« Last post by superboyac on August 04, 2008, 01:34 PM »

I tried Softcat, it's nice!  I like it.  I don't have much of a need for it, but if I did, I think it does a good job.  I can recommend it.

5188

General Software Discussion / Re: Scam? Regnow Extended Download Service

« Last post by superboyac on August 04, 2008, 01:32 PM »

Whoops, didn't notice that the thread is redundant!  Thanks Josh.

Geez, if this were another forum, I know I'd be attacked for starting a redundant thread.  That's why I love it here.  Everyone's so nice!

5189

General Software Discussion / Scam? Regnow Extended Download Service

« Last post by superboyac on August 04, 2008, 02:49 AM »

I was just using RegNow to buy something, and there's a $7 charge (optional, but default included) for "Extended Download Service".  I'm wondering what this is, so I click on the info for it and it says:

Because Not Everything Goes As It Should.

Think of this as your digital safety net for those unexpected occurrences - like your hard drive frying or a virus infection. EDS means that with the purchase of your digital product, we'll keep a copy of your file for ONE FULL YEAR. You'll gain peace of mind knowing that we have your program stored and ready for you to download again [for FREE] at your convenience once your computer is up and running again.

A little extra insurance on your order to keep your products safe? Why not!

For full terms and conditions, click here

What the heck is this mumbo jumbo?  I'm an intelligent, literate person and that explanation makes little sense to me.  They keep a file for me?  What file?  My registration code?  My confirmation email?  What could they possibly keep that I can't just email or contact the company I'm buying from and get it from them (in case there was a problem)?

Seems fishy to me.  Keep an eye out people for this when you buy from regnow.  I'm sure most of the people here do anyway.

5190

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on July 31, 2008, 12:58 PM »

Yeah, I understand that.  Of course, there are also the confirmation dialogs for removing the children of parent items as a security measure.  My issue was that I removed unrelated items and some other items disappeared, they were not parents or children of each other.  And they only disappeared after I exited SN and reopened it the next day.  So, it's more of a bug rather than an issue with using the system.

5191

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on July 31, 2008, 11:26 AM »

Thanks Pierre, Armando.  I got the lost items back using the check boxes.

Armando, as far as your explanation goes, it makes sense.  However, I rarely play around with the source and filter settings.  I just add an item to the grid and input text into the fields and/or html pane.  So nothing should disappear between sessions because I'm not really messing with anything.  I still think it has something to do with the fact that I deleted some items from the grid, and that caused something to happend.

Pierre, it's true, I don't think I've ever completely lost items, so that's always reassuring.  Ok, back to work, right?

5192

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on July 31, 2008, 10:40 AM »

OK, one more note:
I did a quick search on the lost items, and I found them.  I remembered from the past that sometimes data disappears from a grid, but rarely is it gone from the database.  So, the lost items showed up in the quicksearch.  But in the properties, they appear in no grids, which is weird because I obviously entered them in a grid.  So what causes this to happen?  And how do I restore it back into the proper grid?

As I mentioned, I also entered new items in another grid, and didn't lose those.  However, in the grid where I did lose items, I also remember that I went through the list and also deleted some other items (delete from database, not just the grid).  I'm guessing that that caused something to happen to the grid that made my other items disappear.  So, if that's the case, that's a bug that needs to be looked at.


Now, how do I add the lost items back into the proper grid?  Do I have to move it manually, or can I restore it somehow?

5193

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on July 31, 2008, 10:29 AM »

It seems that I ran into some data disappearing problems again:
Yesterday, I added a few items to my "Evernote" grid (where I keep random notes).  Nothing major, just a list of software I use with Autocad.  I had short descriptions in the html pane.  I come back this morning, and all of those items are gone.  I also had some work-related items in another grid I added yesterday, and those are still there.  Does this happen to anybody else?  Between my past experiences with the HTML pane and things like this, I get a little nervous.  Is there anything I can do before exiting the program that sort of ensures me that the changes are being saved?  I still think it's important to have a more sophisticated backup settings (like the one I posted here earlier for mylife organized).
I think part of the reason why I seem to be the only one experiencing this is because I'm using this program actively while most of the other users are just testing it out.  I'm actually doing work in this program on a daily basis, I'm not just trying out new features once in a while or experimenting with it while I do my real work in other programs.  Anybody else here that relies on the program daily?

The worst part of all this is that I come in the morning, open up SQLNotes, and I don't see some of the items I added yesterday.  So I'm wondering if I even put them in, or maybe I was planning to but never did.  You see, it's making me doubt myself, which is the most difficult part for me.

5194

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Catalog - What Are You Using & How Do You Like It?

« Last post by superboyac on July 30, 2008, 04:20 PM »

But SQLNotes won't scan computers and locate all applications, right?  That's the feature I'm seeking.

Thanks!

Jim

-J-Mac (July 30, 2008, 01:37 PM)

Yeah, that's true.  I don't do a full blown catalog of the software I use yet.  I just have the shareware that I've paid for.  Basically, I have a short list of software and their registration codes.  I don't keep track of all the freeware and hundreds of other applications that show up in belarc like java and all that extra stuff.  I guess if I were trying to be really complete, I'd need scanning abilities.

I'm curious how well these scanning programs are actually.  I don't even keep my software in a program files directory.  What does it do for applications that have multiple exe files?  Geez, if I catalogued everything, it would be a huge list.  I'd like to know how you guys manage all of this, that's interesting.

5195

General Software Discussion / Re: Software Catalog - What Are You Using & How Do You Like It?

« Last post by superboyac on July 30, 2008, 01:06 PM »

Me too.
I put the registration info into whatever my current notetaking program is.  Most likely, I'll move them all into SQLNotes.  SoftCat is cool, but you can pretty much modify SQLNotes to do the same thing (minus some conveniences I suppose).

I also have used Belarc in the past to get a summary.  There was another program that I'm forgetting right now, that will scan your computer and give you a summary.

5196

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Announcing my new website (superboyac).

« Last post by superboyac on July 29, 2008, 10:34 AM »

OK, I've decided to change my slogan again.  Now it will be:
"Uncovering Truth, Beauty, and Goodness"

I don't know what the logo will be yet.

5197

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by superboyac on July 28, 2008, 06:44 PM »

I'll do it this afternoon during my coffee break.

-Armando (July 28, 2008, 10:43 AM)

[except I'd nearly believe you could Armando]

-tomos (July 28, 2008, 04:37 PM)

Haha!  Yeah, I know.  Don't do it Armando!  I don't want to be responsible for a heart attack.

5198

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Announcing my new website (superboyac).

« Last post by superboyac on July 28, 2008, 10:47 AM »

By the way, what do you people think of my logo?  Don't be afraid to criticize.  I'm just going for a clean, professional look.


Initially, my slogan was "Only the Good Stuff", but someone said it reminded them of a Kenny Chesney song, which is true.  As I can't stand Kenny CHesney, I had to change it.  "Top of the Line" was a slogan my cousin and I used to say a lot when we were kids and were always trying to find the best things to get.

5199

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by superboyac on July 28, 2008, 10:25 AM »

OK, who wants to do an exhaustive roundup of that list?  (not me!)

5200

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by superboyac on July 27, 2008, 06:40 PM »

Related to the subject of thi mega thread, there's super list of Outliners announced there

-Armando (July 27, 2008, 04:15 PM)

Yowsers!!  Now that is a list!!  Thanks Pierre, now I know where to go to for a reference.