Recent Posts

551

General Software Discussion / Re: Linkman 8.80 released

« Last post by Innuendo on December 28, 2013, 12:52 PM »

I'm in agreement with the Diva. When new browser versions come out that break extensions, OuterTech is always one of the first to release an update to get their extensions working in browsers again.

Last time I had to renew my license they had just started offering the lifetime option & it was a BDJ sale so I greedily added the lifetime option onto my order. I haven't been disappointed with updates yet.

552

General Software Discussion / Re: 'logging off' & 'shutting down'

« Last post by Innuendo on December 28, 2013, 12:49 PM »

In response to the OP, to put it simply the act of logging the user off before shutting down is much the same as saving all data in any open programs before you shut down and reboot the PC.

When Windows logs the user off it is saving all user account data and closing all files in an orderly fashion that were in use by the user account before it moves on to the shutting down process which performs an orderly closing of all files that were being used by the operating system in general.

A bit over-simplified of an explanation, but rest assured that Microsoft was not receiving 'phone calls' from your PC.

553

General Software Discussion / Re: Sandboxie lifetime license discontinued

« Last post by Innuendo on December 28, 2013, 12:45 PM »

I'm late to the thread here, but I have to echo 40hz's opinion which he voiced back in late October. With the evolution of virtual machine technologies like VMWare, VirtualBox, and HyperV becoming so easy to implement and use I don't see the technology used in sandboxing programs such as Sandboxie and Shadow Defender as being as necessary as they once were.

VMWare's new Workstation 10 walks the user through a simple wizard that does all the grunt work for you. It's literally a click next-next-go affair now.

554

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: XYplorer offers 50% competitive discount for Directory Opus users

« Last post by Innuendo on December 24, 2013, 01:27 PM »

I agree it's nasty. And it's certainly not my style. It's the first time I did this in 16 years. But, what you probably don't know, this little campaign is running at least since September 2013:

Remove the animal to make the link work: http://<kangaroo>www.gpsoft.com.au/dscripts/compupgrade.asp

Tit for tat, as they say.

-DonL (December 23, 2013, 02:13 AM)

Don, and I say this criticism as constructively as I can, the difference between what they did on their web site and what you did in your post is that they had a firm, concrete list of advantages of what their product could do over the products they were advertising upgrades from. If you had approached your sales pitch from that direction I don't think nearly as many people would have had a problem with it.

Compose a solid list of what your file manager can do that others cannot and use that to sell your product. Advertise by building yourself up, not by tearing others down and you'll run a much more successful campaign, IMHO.

EDITED TO ADD: Offering a competitive upgrade is awesome. It just was not presented as well as it could have been.

555

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: XYplorer offers 50% competitive discount for Directory Opus users

« Last post by Innuendo on December 24, 2013, 01:23 PM »

I don't know whether Leo (username on this forum is Nudel) officially works for gpsoft; he's an amazing presence on their forums, and he participates from time to time on the Donation Code forums as well.

-cyberdiva (December 22, 2013, 07:57 PM)

Sometime in the last year or so Leo did become a formalized paid employee of GPSoft. He's an awesome guy...but a little preoccupied with cats.

556

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: XYplorer offers 50% competitive discount for Directory Opus users

« Last post by Innuendo on December 24, 2013, 01:20 PM »

I do think we should strongly discourage developers from making negative statements about competing products. It's just not not our style here.

-mouser (December 22, 2013, 04:11 PM)

Thank you, Mouser. I'd hate to see this forum's reputation tarnished by any sort of mud-slinging in the name of increasing sales. For anyone.

557

Living Room / Re: 'gallows engineering' expression?

« Last post by Innuendo on December 23, 2013, 07:27 AM »

Cost/Benefit analysis, as a term, has been getting some bad press and the business world has moved on to fancier terms that are less likely to stir up emotions in their vict...er....customers.

Everything that's been discussed in this thread here falls under the umbrella of "Risk Management". What bit is talking about now has a new fancy term under this umbrella and the terminology used is "Risk Appetite".

Definition from Wikipedia:

"The level of risk that an organization is prepared to accept, before action is deemed necessary to reduce it. It represents a balance between the potential benefits of innovation and the threats that change inevitably brings."

How much of an appetite organization has dictates how much risk they are willing to accept.

You can read more here:

https://en.wikipedia...g/wiki/Risk_appetite


Discussing 'appetites' with stockholders is much more conducive to business than discussing 'gallows'.

558

General Software Discussion / Re: what can replace mp3info / mp3ext?

« Last post by Innuendo on December 23, 2013, 07:16 AM »

The way that is phrased is a throwback to a couple years ago when there was a $5 or so annual subscription fee for one of the services he used for tag information lookups. (I think the service was GraceNote). That has since been eliminated and now it's a flat $38 for full use of the program with no subscription fees. The only future charges would be to upgrade to new versions of the program, which if I recall correctly, is $12.

According to the web site a new version is coming out in March so you might want to plan any purchases accordingly.

559

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Ad Muncher End of 2013 sale

« Last post by Innuendo on December 22, 2013, 03:30 PM »

I've more than gotten my money's worth out of Ad Muncher, but I was one of the lucky bastages who bought it when $25 got you a lifetime license. If I were looking to purchase today with today's pricing structure and blatant lack of updates from the author, I doubt I'd be quick to pull the trigger on the purchase.

560

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: again: lifetime key for Outpost Security Suite Pro

« Last post by Innuendo on December 22, 2013, 03:26 PM »

I bought OSS at the same time Curt did & to be honest, I was taking a chance because the version at the time (v6.5) didn't work at all with my chosen OS (Windows 7), but I thought if it could get me away from the annual subscription for signatures AV vendors charge, it'd be worth it.

Each version has gotten better than the last and never once has my serial number quit working.

It doesn't hurt that Agnitum's firewall component is one of the best in the industry and one of the few that will pass all leak tests.

561

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: XYplorer offers 50% competitive discount for Directory Opus users

« Last post by Innuendo on December 22, 2013, 03:17 PM »

GP Soft came last week or so with a beta of Directory Opus v11...so there is quite some action going on there as well.   

-Shades (December 22, 2013, 02:58 PM)

I've been using the Directory Opus v11 beta for a few days now & it looks like it's going to be a day one purchase for me when it is released. I wasn't a fan of Directory Opus in the past, but v10 really won me over and v11 shows they haven't run out of ideas yet.

562

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: XYplorer offers 50% competitive discount for Directory Opus users

« Last post by Innuendo on December 22, 2013, 03:15 PM »

You are a frustrated Directory Opus user who has been fed too much bloat for too much money for too many years?

-DonL (December 22, 2013, 11:12 AM)

I also find this advertisement to be in very poor taste...and extremely inaccurate. Just a couple of the reasons why I use Directory Opus instead of XYPlorer is because XYPlorer doesn't have half the features Directory Opus does and when I was seriously looking at making XYPlorer my file manager of choice I posted a feature suggestion on the forum and I was quickly told by the author and numerous users on the forum it was never going to ever happen (and some were quite rude about it).

My personal interpretation of your question is "You are a frustrated Ferrari owner who has been fed too much speed for too much money for too many years? Well, switch to a Fiat 500 today."

This ploy is in similar taste to those gawd-aful "I'm a Mac vs. I'm a PC" commercials.

Sorry, my experience in your user forum soured me on XYPlorer years ago and this 'stunt' doesn't sweeten me on your product one bit.

Edited to add: It also irritates me that we tend to only see DonL around here when he's looking to hawk his goods.

563

General Software Discussion / Re: what can replace mp3info / mp3ext?

« Last post by Innuendo on December 22, 2013, 03:06 PM »

The English language is a mess. With so many rules and exceptions I'd hate to try to learn it as a second language. It doesn't help also that it is human nature to look at something and sometimes see what we expect to see instead of what's really there.

564

General Software Discussion / Re: what can replace mp3info / mp3ext?

« Last post by Innuendo on December 22, 2013, 11:32 AM »

it's not grammatically incorrect - but it's more like saying:

-tomos (December 21, 2013, 04:35 PM)

No, Curt is correct. "it's" is the contraction of "it is" while "its" is the possessive form of "it". Given that....

dBpoweramp integrates it's true self with Windows Explorer
or
dBpoweramp integrates it's "consciousness of it's own being or identity" with Windows Explorer
or
dBpoweramp integrates it's "total, essential, or particular being" with Windows Explorer

translate to...

"dBpoweramp integrates it is true self with Windows Explorer
and
"dBpoweramp integrates it is "consciousness of its own being or identity" with Windows Explorer
and
"dBpoweramp integrates it is "total, essential, or particular being" with Windows Explorer

...and those statements just do not make sense. If the web site had said "its self" I'd be inclined to agree with you that it was just awkward wording. The apostrophe, however, makes it incorrect.

565

General Software Discussion / Re: what can replace mp3info / mp3ext?

« Last post by Innuendo on December 22, 2013, 11:06 AM »

I am not English, but even I can see, this is wrong:

dBpoweramp integrates it's self with Windows Explorer

-Curt (December 21, 2013, 02:57 PM)

Curt, you freaked me out for a second. At first glance I thought you were quoting me and I was thinking "I don't remember typing that!"

What I really wanted to complaint about is the absence of the promised "Popup info tips"

Not only do you have to turn on "Popup info tips" but you also have to hit the [Advanced] button and go in to turn on what attributes you need to show.

Just tried it with my copy of 14.4 Reference in an Explorer window running on Windows 8.1 x64. It works.

566

Living Room / Re: Any one else have a bad Window update?

« Last post by Innuendo on December 22, 2013, 10:39 AM »

I'll abide with J-Mac's opinion on this one as I'm one of those people who doesn't use IE unless I absolutely, positively have to.

567

Living Room / Re: Security in TV Shows

« Last post by Innuendo on December 21, 2013, 12:10 PM »

To play Devil's advocate, it may not be a "writer's impression of security" that were behind these scenarios. Hiring extras to fill the shoes of these additional characters costs money not to mention the sets are not generally huge spaces. There are only so many bodies one can comfortably fit in an area before it starts looking ridiculous.

Then there's the whole can of worms that is scene composition. Given the size of TV screens 20-30 years ago if you were to show a ton of people in the shot all at once it's going to look extremely cluttered and your viewers are going to start to complain that they can't make out what everyone is doing.

I think a better use of this discussion would be rather than talking about how many security staff one saw utilized in a show's production it might be interesting to discuss what the general views on security in general and computer security in particular were viewed. For example, in the various Star Trek series, how many times did you see any computer security at all? I can remember the elaborate passwords and voice recognition being utilized when the captain was going to blow up the ship, but think about it. In day to day operations, anyone could walk up to any dang computer workstation they wanted and start pushing buttons.

What's especially amusing to me watching Star Trek these days is a storyline would talk about this computer or that automated satellite installation being compromised by the enemy and not once was computer security was discussed in regards to how it happened (I guess everyone knew that the Bad Guy(tm) just needed jimmy a door open and start typing at the relevant computer console) or how to prevent the breach from happening again. Oh, sure...every week they'd re-program the sensor array to do this or that...something it wasn't designed for or re-program things in engineering to get more speed out of the engines, but when it came to protecting the navigation systems from being taken over and the Enterprise being sent off across the galaxy, it seemed like the only ones who knew how to lock people out were the Bad Guys(tm).

568

Living Room / Re: You're a sly one. Mr.........Disney?

« Last post by Innuendo on December 21, 2013, 11:54 AM »

It's shrewd marketing because there's a certain segment of the population who keep falling for it over and over and over again. If people would wise up and vote with their wallets then companies wouldn't feel cocky enough to pull stunts like this.

However, as a wise man once said, "You can't fix stupid."

569

Living Room / Re: PROJECT: Children's home store server

« Last post by Innuendo on December 21, 2013, 11:32 AM »

This is a brilliant concept. Lots of kids have a hard time grasping the concept of the value of money and I could see this being useful for all parents trying to teach their child the value of a buck.

The best part of this, though...exhibiting a near evil genius level of brilliance is the part where Josh's wife talked him into doing all the work. 

570

Living Room / Re: Any one else have a bad Window update?

« Last post by Innuendo on December 21, 2013, 11:25 AM »

If you use Internet Explorer as your browser, you should strongly consider upgrading. Security improvements and bug fixes will help keep you safe while browsing the internet. If you use a third-party browser, you should still consider upgrading as there are a lot of programs that will use IE to render HTML/web content.

As far as my sound goes, I always use the OEM manufacturer's drivers (Realtek, for example, and not Microsoft's or even my motherboard manufacturer's) as those will usually give one the best experience.

571

General Software Discussion / Re: what can replace mp3info / mp3ext?

« Last post by Innuendo on December 21, 2013, 11:21 AM »

dBpoweramp has as one of its components something similar (but in my opinion better) to AudioShell. Not free, though, but does a lot more. Conversion between different audio formats, etc. It's more of a full-service solution than just an Explorer extension.

572

General Software Discussion / Re: What Labeler / Cover Printing Software Do you Recommend?

« Last post by Innuendo on December 12, 2013, 06:43 PM »

Yes...we are. We're not necessarily proud of it. But we hope to be loved for what we are.

-40hz (December 11, 2013, 11:46 AM)

Musicians can literally live out of the back of a van. For years. And think it's normal. And it's not even their van.

573

Living Room / Re: Anti-Tracking Smartphone Pouch

« Last post by Innuendo on December 11, 2013, 10:44 AM »

If you ask me though, the iphone with its permanently fixed battery is a fire hazard. Lithium packs can and do explode after all, and should be required to have a method to quickly eject them in order to spare the device's contents.

-SeraphimLabs (December 10, 2013, 04:22 PM)

Don't get me started. I've been of the opinion for years that Apple is trying to move their entire product line to appliance-like device architectures. They'd love to move to a no-user-serviceable parts manufacturing system and if your shiny Apple product breaks (or bursts into flame) there's no repair option or if you want to add more RAM or storage space there's no upgrade path. You would have to buy a new iThing.

574

General Software Discussion / Re: What Labeler / Cover Printing Software Do you Recommend?

« Last post by Innuendo on December 11, 2013, 10:39 AM »

FYI: musicians. Y'know...these guys:

-40hz (December 09, 2013, 12:29 PM)

Musicians are truly a breed unto themselves.

575

General Software Discussion / Re: Special Security Software Just for Women?

« Last post by Innuendo on December 11, 2013, 10:37 AM »

Isn't it interesting that even in the digital age you're stupid people are still fairly certain to get a virus of some sort?

-Deozaan (December 10, 2013, 05:37 PM)

I took the liberty of fixing that for you, kind sir.