Recent Posts

551

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by Darwin on August 12, 2010, 09:38 AM »

I was using NexusFile at work but the antivirus started complaining about it

-Perry Mowbray (August 12, 2010, 07:30 AM)

I just tried to visit the website to "check it out" and VIPRE's firewall threw up this warning

VIPRE has determined that the site

you are trying to visit is malicious.

I bet this is a false-positive, though. I've had a number of websites/programs get incorrectly flagged by various different security apps in the past for reasons unknown. IOW, I doubt that the developer suddenly decided to start distributing viri or worms, etc.

552

General Software Discussion / Re: Which archive software are we using in 2010 (and why)?

« Last post by Darwin on August 09, 2010, 11:08 PM »

I've been using WinRar/Dopus for at least five years. I have a lifetime license for PowerArchiver, but don't have it installed. I found that WinRar does everything I need it to do.

553

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Review/Tips: "Scanning - VueScan and Associates" Pt.I: Intro & Bookscanning

« Last post by Darwin on August 07, 2010, 09:23 AM »

Hi,

Mouser wanted me to tell everybody that we are grateful for Ed Hamrick to donate 5 copies of VueScan for our monthly drawing.

Ed was extra generous too and donated the "VueScan Professional Edition" for the lucky winners to enjoy  .

Mouser will post the drawing details soon to the appropriate sections.

-brahman (August 07, 2010, 08:09 AM)

Awesome, thank you brahman, Ed, and mouser 

554

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Review/Tips: "Scanning - VueScan and Associates" Pt.I: Intro & Bookscanning

« Last post by Darwin on August 06, 2010, 03:15 PM »

O-M-G! 

Awesome work, Brahman. I'm going to have to look at VueScan now... I have PaperPort 11 Professional but have never used its scanning functions as I find the whole integration with Windows (XP/Vista/ or 7 - tried em all) to be buggy. VueScan may be just the ticket.

Thank you for this, I'll have to go back and read it through several times to digest it all...

555

Living Room / Re: Should I buy a tablet pc, ipad, netbook, or other?

« Last post by Darwin on August 05, 2010, 06:44 PM »

superboyac - I'd wait. Let the mania surrounding the iPad die down AND give the competition some time to release their own tablets. I've played with an iPad and was impressed with it, despite the lack of Flash support and the lack of multi-tasking. I wonder, though, if you wouldn't be just as happy with an iPod Touch/iPhone or an Android phone? I don't own either, but from what I gather they all provide a decent online experience, access to e-mail, and extensive note-taking capabilities - ideal and convenient for on the road use.

556

Living Room / Re: Five Reasons Why People Hate Apple

« Last post by Darwin on August 05, 2010, 06:39 PM »

Overall, I agree with you, alivingspriit. However, the discussion seems to me to be about hating Apple the company rather than the products that they produce. I happily admit to liking Macintosh computers, OSX, and other Apple products while having an aversion to the company that produces them. I wouldn't characterize that aversion as hatred, either.

557

General Software Discussion / Re: DRM Management

« Last post by Darwin on August 04, 2010, 08:42 AM »

Ooh! Looks nice - thank you, skwire 

558

General Software Discussion / Re: Office 2010 Spell Checker Broken

« Last post by Darwin on August 03, 2010, 11:08 AM »

Weird - I don't have that key in my registry and I've never had a problem. FWIW, I upgraded a clean install of Office 2007 Enterprise to Office 2010 Professional Plus.

559

General Software Discussion / Re: DRM Management

« Last post by Darwin on August 02, 2010, 11:18 PM »

OK. Me? I have burned and re-ripped DRM tracks back to MP3 and they play fine here. Of course I am not extremely discriminating regarding very high-quality sound; $200 stereo always sounded as good as $2,000 one to me, so the re-ripped MP3's sound fine to me.

Jim

-J-Mac (August 02, 2010, 09:22 PM)

Well... I'm with you, really. Not too discerning an ear on PC speakers. However, it's the prinicple that annoys me! I am very principled, ya know? 

560

General Software Discussion / Re: DRM Management

« Last post by Darwin on August 02, 2010, 06:34 PM »

No, no, I'm not explaining myseff well 

The originally purchased wma and/or mp3 files no longer play because the DRM files are long since gone. The CD's, and any mp3/wma file I rip from them, play fine. However, when I re-rip the CD files to a compressed format, I lose audio integrity. It tangentially (also) ticks me off that the files I paid for are no longer accessible to me. At any rate, I'd like to get rid of the files that I can no longer play and the app suggested sounds like just the ticket to do this quickly.

561

General Software Discussion / Re: DRM Management

« Last post by Darwin on August 02, 2010, 12:07 PM »

Ah, no. Whenever I buy DRM tracks/albums, I immediately burn them to CD. So, I've got access to the tracks but I have quite a few that I purchased about 8 years ago that I can no longer play from the orginal files, as the DRM licenses are MIA and Puretracks won't let me download up to date licenses anymore.

562

General Software Discussion / Re: Tabbles on BDJ on Wednesday

« Last post by Darwin on August 02, 2010, 12:04 PM »

Darwin, do you have Tabbles? And if yes, do you use Tabbles?

Thanks!

Jim

-J-Mac (August 02, 2010, 11:39 AM)

Hi Jim,

No on both counts! The idea of it is "sort of" intriguing to me... but I doubt I'd use it. I don't tag my photo or music collections as it is...

563

General Software Discussion / Re: Tabbles on BDJ on Wednesday

« Last post by Darwin on August 02, 2010, 10:18 AM »

A ha! A man after my own heart 

564

General Software Discussion / Re: DRM Management

« Last post by Darwin on August 02, 2010, 10:18 AM »

Hi skwire - yes, I think I would be interested in something like  you describe. What would you do - have the app output the file path to a text file or something?

565

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini-Review and Discount (Sep 2010): USB Safely Remove and Zentimo

« Last post by Darwin on August 02, 2010, 09:48 AM »

a drive letter and label manager

-Darwin

I think that's essentially the same as in USB Safely Remove's device properties\drive properties.

-cranioscopical (August 02, 2010, 09:38 AM)

Ah, thanks for that. I've just read the website blurb and you're right. I explored using the USB Safely Remove feature in the past (instead of USBDLM), but I rejected that idea. I wonder why...?! I stupidly didn't take any notes. Will have to revisit this idea.

566

General Software Discussion / Re: DRM Management

« Last post by Darwin on August 02, 2010, 09:41 AM »

Hey rno2,

You can make the tracks playable if you wish. Just burn them to a CD and then rip the CD back to your hard drive again. The DRM should be gone.

Jim

-J-Mac (July 30, 2010, 01:32 AM)

I think the issue is that some tracks will no longer play. I have this problem as well - and it really pisses me off! I purchased some tracks through Puretracks years ago and over time the DRM licenses have been lost (I've gone through two or three new computers since then). Fortunately, I always rip my purchased tracks to CD. However, to recover them to mp3/wma there will be further data loss when I re-compress them.

At any rate, I too would love an application that would scan my collection and offer to delete tracks for which the DRM is missing.

567

General Software Discussion / Re: Tabbles on BDJ on Wednesday

« Last post by Darwin on August 02, 2010, 09:32 AM »

Just to note - Tabbles is availabe on Bits du Jour again today (August 2, 2010).

wraith - any updates on how you feel about this application?

568

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini-Review and Discount (Sep 2010): USB Safely Remove and Zentimo

« Last post by Darwin on August 02, 2010, 08:59 AM »

Thanks, Chris  I missed this when you posted it (thanks to Tomos for bumping the thread and drawing it to my attention). I have a license for USB Safely Remove and couldn't live without it. I'm curious about Zentimo, particularly its ability to function as a drive letter and label manager and as a portable applicaiton launcher. I can't believe I hadn't heard of its development thus far.

569

Living Room / Re: Some initial reflections on using an ebook reader

« Last post by Darwin on July 16, 2010, 07:25 PM »

Love my Aluratek Libre - and it'[s dropped almost 30% in price since I bought mine - $129 Cdn. at the moment. I use it solely for novels and it's re-kindled ( ) my passion for reading. I'm waiting for colour e-ink/e-paper to come out before I get a bigger format reader. I expect that a large screen, long battery life, and colour will make reading textbooks and other reference/academic material a dream... I'm also looking forward to reading the newspaper that way, too... 

570

General Software Discussion / Re: Add tabbed documents to MS Office

« Last post by Darwin on July 01, 2010, 07:24 AM »

superboyac - what did you wind up doing? Are you running any tab add-on today and, if so, what one? Are you happy with it? Any bugs? Questions, lots of questions... 

571

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by Darwin on June 30, 2010, 09:42 PM »

Currently reading Greg Bear's "Blood Music". ...

-Darwin (June 03, 2010, 03:13 PM)

Haven't yet read a Greg Bear book that wasn't excellent.

-AndyM (June 30, 2010, 08:41 PM)

Yes! I enjoyed it thoroughly. I'm no finishing off "Oath of Fealty" by Elizabeth Moon, having devoured the first three books in the Deed of Paksenarrion series earlier this month.

572

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

« Last post by Darwin on June 29, 2010, 08:25 PM »

Welcome, mofohobo (that's quite a handle!) 

573

General Software Discussion / Re: If you think OpenOffice is a competitor to MS Office 2010, think again

« Last post by Darwin on June 22, 2010, 08:22 AM »

The OO team needs to de-couple all of the component applications in my oh so humble opinion. Just as with the switch from v.1 to v.2 (if memory serves) the development team dropped the navigator sort of thingy that opened and from which you then clicked on an application's icon to open it, so too do they now need to allow any componenet to load on demand without the necessity of the entire suite loading in the background. This is what slows it down. Of course, it's convenient to be able to open any OO supported file from any application, but it has this cost. Note, too, that I'm just an ideas guy - I can't code my way out of a paper bag and the de-coupling of which I speak my be a tall, tall order?

574

General Software Discussion / Re: If you think OpenOffice is a competitor to MS Office 2010, think again

« Last post by Darwin on June 21, 2010, 05:32 PM »

Too bad they couldn't forget about PowerPoint and  every other piece of presentation software while they were in a coma.

 

(Can you guess I'm not a fan of slide presentations?)

-40hz (June 21, 2010, 02:12 PM)

I'm forced to use 'em when I lecture (long, convoluted story) and I hate Hate HATE them. Powerpoint itself is not bad, it's slide presentations in general that get me in a lather). Why? Because they so often BECOME the lecture instead of something to support the lecture.

575

General Software Discussion / Re: is there an ultimate file extension manager (to work with windows 7, at least).

« Last post by Darwin on June 16, 2010, 11:14 PM »

Yeah... I'm almost ready to give Firefox another chance. I got REALLY fed up with its resource utilization and the fact that it (seemed to have) caused explorer.exe to crash with alarming frequency on my setup (no longer recall if this we under Vista or Win7, but suspect the former). IE8 seemed like a breath of fresh air, but lattterly it's hogging resources and freezing too... Maybe I have too many accelerators (99% of which I don't use anyway)... Hmm... for for thought!