Recent Posts

526

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a difference tool

« Last post by sajman99 on November 05, 2009, 02:12 PM »

Seems I'm a bit late, but AptDiff is another text comparison tool worth a shot.

527

General Software Discussion / Re: Paragon Drive Backup+Recovery 10 Free - good full drive imaging tool

« Last post by sajman99 on November 03, 2009, 08:13 PM »

Thanks for the Paragon info, mouser.

In additon to Macrium Reflect, EASEUS Todo Backup is another free disk imaging software which is worth a mention. Although it's not yet working on Windows 7 according to this blog, it seems like a good one to watch.

528

Living Room / Re: What's your favorite LOL joke?

« Last post by sajman99 on November 03, 2009, 06:49 PM »

The Lone Ranger and Tonto are camping in the desert. After setting up their tent, they go to sleep. Several hours later The Lone Ranger wakes his faithful friend.
"Tonto, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
Tonto replies, "Me see millions of stars."
"What does that tell you?" asks The Lone Ranger. Tonto ponders for a minute and replies.....
"Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.  Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Timewise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all powerful and we are small and insignificant by comparison. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What it tell you, Kemo Sabi?"
The Lone Ranger is silent for a moment, then speaks. "Tonto, you dumbass, someone has stolen our tent!"

529

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: One year of IObit's malware protection for free

« Last post by sajman99 on November 02, 2009, 11:49 PM »

Early IObit Security 360 tests/reviews were less than flattering with many saying the resident protection was deficient. But considering the IObit name, I just kinda figured they would get it all sorted out after a few versions.

Look at the Tools section of IObit Security 360. Anybody who's ever used HijackThis will immediately notice IObit's Hijack Scan is remarkably similar. Likewise, IObit's Passive Defense is eerily similar to SpywareBlaster.

After Malwarebytes' allegations, it's now a valid question to ask if there is any original component whatsoever in this IObit software. IObit better have good lawyers because this looks like a serious mess.

EDIT: btw I'm not rushing to judgment on this. I still have IObit Security 360 installed at this moment, and IObit is innocent until proven guilty. But it sure ain't lookin' good for the home team.

530

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« Last post by sajman99 on November 02, 2009, 11:06 PM »

Hi Fidel, aside from the leftover temp issue I really like your search app Hound. I'm definitely looking forward to its continued development.
Good Luck.

531

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: One year of IObit's malware protection for free

« Last post by sajman99 on November 02, 2009, 03:57 PM »

When I tried IObit Security 360 several weeks ago, I was struck by the similar results I found with it and MBAM. Now it seems there are allegations IObit is stealing Malwarebytes' proprietary sigs. Cripes, this has the potential to get real ugly, and legal action is reportedly imminent.

http://www.malwareby...t=0&#entry152610

532

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« Last post by sajman99 on November 02, 2009, 03:40 PM »

...Suggest you e-mail Fidel?

-rjbull (November 02, 2009, 01:49 PM)

OK, done. 

533

General Software Discussion / Re: How the mighty have fallen: TuneUp Utilities 2010

« Last post by sajman99 on November 02, 2009, 01:27 AM »

Those folks who recognize latest doesn't always mean greatest can still get a free and legal full version of TuneUp Utilities 2007 . 

534

General Software Discussion / Re: How to remove this file - KeyHH.its?

« Last post by sajman99 on November 02, 2009, 01:17 AM »

If the files are locked by Windows then you may need something like Unlocker to break it free so you can delete it.

-Innuendo (October 28, 2009, 09:26 AM)

MBAM's FileASSASSIN is another good one for targeting locked files.

535

General Software Discussion / Re: JkDefrag further developed as MyDefrag

« Last post by sajman99 on October 31, 2009, 03:34 PM »

Yes, MyDefrag won't win any beauty contests.   Other defraggers like those from Auslogics and IObit certainly look better with their more conventional interfaces--no contest there. But I think developer Jereon Kessels is on to something with JkDefrag and now MyDefrag. Considering it's free, I definitely consider it worthwhile software; I just wish the logfile was more complete like JkDefrag.

I checked out DiskTune which is also a good freeware defragger, but if you want to talk about slooooow...

536

General Software Discussion / Re: Beerware and Otherware categories besides Donationware, good or now gimmicky?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 31, 2009, 02:00 PM »

I ran into postcardware with Empathy which is mentioned on the postcardware Wikipedia entry. I'm not sure how common postcardware is today, but I admit I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of sending off my name and address on a piece of paper. I'm not really a paranoid person, but in today's world privacy concerns are much more real than in simpler times.

Mind you, most of the time generous software developers just want to know who is using their software and where they are located, but all I'm saying is we live in a more complicated world today.

537

General Software Discussion / Re: How the mighty have fallen: TuneUp Utilities 2010

« Last post by sajman99 on October 31, 2009, 01:34 PM »

...The thing is TuneUp remains pretty much the only product in this category worth using...

-Lashiec (October 31, 2009, 01:10 PM)

A few years ago when I used TUU another well-regarded utility package was Ace Utilites. Not sure if that's still true today, but back then both were very nicely integrated packages--in particular, the registry cleaners of both were very reliable.

538

General Software Discussion / Re: JkDefrag further developed as MyDefrag

« Last post by sajman99 on October 31, 2009, 11:29 AM »

When I view the MyDefrag statistics, I don't see a percentage like JkDefrag provided-- % of all items/% of disk. Seems like that's important data to have within eyesight.

539

General Software Discussion / Re: How the mighty have fallen: TuneUp Utilities 2010

« Last post by sajman99 on October 30, 2009, 07:34 PM »

Thanks very much for the info. I was just thinking about checking out the newest TUU and now I see this.

Looks like another case of "progress" gone awry. I loved the older version years ago because it was both powerful and intuitive.

540

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: One year of IObit's malware protection for free

« Last post by sajman99 on October 30, 2009, 06:08 PM »

New version is 1.10. IObit forum indicates the road has been a bit bumpy-- memory leak and crash issues with early versions.

btw- the installation offers the IObit Toolbar-- enough with the toolbars already!

541

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« Last post by sajman99 on October 30, 2009, 06:07 PM »

Crud, Hound is sometimes leaving behind text files when I search PDFs. I understand the PDFs are converted so they can be searched as text, but I had thought any text files were temporary. Since I don't really need a .pdf and a .txt with the same info, this is a bit of a pain as the app otherwise works great. Anybody else notice this?

542

What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 28, 2009, 07:22 PM »

...Every time I explore new software app I have to learn its quirks.  I guess I don't have a lot of patience...

-MilesAhead (October 27, 2009, 10:55 PM)

Yes, lots of folks are not interested in taking time to research some of these converting/encoding issues-- ie. should I use lumgain and/or adaptive quantization and what setting, what's the correct DC precision for DVD-5, what's deadzone quantization, etc.--and then running 2-pass trials to compare output. Many people are too busy so they buy an easy one-click software and call it a day. I've done exactly that on occasion when it seemed like a complicated software required a PhD.

Especially with freeware you're on your own as far as researching/determining optimum settings without any support, but the journey sure can be fun with something like HC encoder based tools.

btw- thanks for the DVD player and AviDemux 2.4 advice.

543

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Free AnVir Task Manager!

« Last post by sajman99 on October 28, 2009, 06:14 PM »

Thanks Ashraf. I can't belive this offer is still active, but I just got it installed today.

544

What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 27, 2009, 04:37 PM »

Last time I tried it, it insisted on running 2 pass mode no matter what. The change log implies it does 1 pass now. May be worth another look.

-MilesAhead (October 27, 2009, 04:16 PM)

If I had your hardware specs, I really wouldn't sweat it too much.

Anyways, let me know if you check out AVI Recomp. I'm starting to think a cheapo DivX/Xvid enabled DVD player wouldn't be a bad option.

545

What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 27, 2009, 02:26 PM »

...For cleaning up .avi source so you can play on stand-alone a good app is AviDemux 2.4 gtk gui version...

-MilesAhead (October 03, 2009, 07:18 PM)

btw- the freeware AVI ReComp reportedly also helps to alleviate playback issues by adjusting all encoding parameters for best standalone DVD player compatibility. In particular, the bitrate spikes control has helped many folks smooth out video playback.

I admit I haven't tried it yet because I don't have a DivX/Xvid enabled player, but AVI ReComp seems to be well regarded FWIW:
http://www.avirecomp.com/news.php
http://www.videohelp...com/tools/AVI_ReComp

546

What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 27, 2009, 01:07 PM »

Another freeware video converter perhaps worth a mention in this "what's best" thread is the lesser known AutoMen--it's supposed to be a quick, no-fuss/easy-to-use solution.

http://forum.doom9.o...thread.php?p=1018336
http://www.freewareg...ant-video-converter/

547

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 Commercials

« Last post by sajman99 on October 27, 2009, 12:51 PM »

Oooooo!!! Commercial idea...It practically writes itself. 

-Innuendo (October 27, 2009, 11:43 AM)

And add 7 cartoonish animals of some type, or maybe the 7 dwarfs from Snow White with a Disney promo/tie-in..yeah, yeah..I can see it now.

548

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« Last post by sajman99 on October 26, 2009, 06:59 PM »

...I think it was the cleanest video I ever saw on my TV...

-MilesAhead (October 26, 2009, 06:38 PM)

Good to hear. Are you still experimenting with QuEnc or are you "sold" on HC at this point?

btw- Did you see at Doom9 where AVStoDVD developer MrC stated that HCenc is usually faster than QuEnc in multicore systems? As I noted earlier, I haven't tested QuEnc at all--but I was surprised at that comment. For some time the rap on HC has been its slow encoding speed, but I'm not at all sure if that's the case today.

549

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 Commercials

« Last post by sajman99 on October 26, 2009, 05:59 PM »

However cheesy and/or ridiculous Microsoft commercials could possibly get, they couldn't begin to match the inane GEICO insurance commercials which include the GEICO gecko, the cavemen, and "the money you could be saving" bits.

I understand that these ads are apparently quite successful, but good grief...I must be getting old.

550

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hound: a grep-alike that searches inside PDFs

« Last post by sajman99 on October 26, 2009, 04:45 PM »

Yes, Hound seems to reliably search through PDFs.

Thanks goes to rjbull for the recommendation and to Fidel aka Jimmy the Fork for the cool app.