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576
General Software Discussion / Re: I'm tired of being told.
« Last post by sajman99 on October 04, 2009, 02:49 PM »
Bamse, no problem mate. I was just mentioning Hitman Pro as a new malware tool to generate discussion, not trying to make a recommendation for some wonder tool. Other posters seem to have broadly interpreted this thread so I figured what the heck. 

Thanks for throwing some malware at Hitman Pro and giving your impressions. Seems too early to tell if it will evolve into a reliable on-demand scanner. I tested with Early Warning Scoring (EWS) enabled, and it scanned about 15,500 files in just under 2 minutes--great speed. But I agree it's hard to know precisely what this "behavioral scanner" is actually scanning (versus a more conventional signature-based scanner). It didn't detect anything on my system, but that wasn't surprising and it's hard for me to draw conclusions.

I definitely agree the lack of quarantine is a major flaw. Hitman Pro may still be in its early stages of development, but I'm not ready to fully trust any malware scanner without a quarantine option. If they add quarantine and continue to improve it over the next year or so, I could see myself adding it to MBAM, SAS, and a-squared(btw--likely to dump this one due to huge signature updates) for occasional checkups.
577
General Software Discussion / Re: BlueScreenView by NirSoft - find driver causing blue screen
« Last post by sajman99 on October 03, 2009, 06:46 PM »
Thanks, I've had this for a few weeks and agree it's yet another Nirsoft gem-- unbelievably useful tool.
578
General Software Discussion / Re: I'm tired of being told.
« Last post by sajman99 on October 03, 2009, 05:38 PM »
Dont know Hitman, or rather have some memories of program downloading and installing a bunch of free different tools.
-Bamse (October 03, 2009, 03:15 PM)
Indeed. Please note the all-important adjective preceding the phrase Hitman Pro--new. A short visit to the site and/or Wilders link will reveal that this program is decidely different from the old program of the same name which was nothing more than a GUI for popular/well-known anti-spyware tools-- all of which had to be downloaded.

The Wilders link was to a specific page and specific comments of an individual purportedly representing Hitman Pro. Never did I suggest that you read the entire 18 page thread--hopefully you have better things to do with your valuable time. Nor did I make a foolish assertion about Hitman Pro being a malware panacea. My intent was to simply point out a new and possibly effective malware tool.

Yes, I already have a multitude of effective anti-malware tools at my disposal, but that doesn't stop me from learning about new tools which become available. As to whether the concept of this new Hitman Pro succeeds, your prognostication skills may be better than mine, but I prefer to reserve judgment for now. Personally, I found the Wilders link to be interesting and not particularly well-known info at the present time. If you're simply not interested, then that's your prerogative.


 
579
General Software Discussion / Re: I'm tired of being told.
« Last post by sajman99 on October 03, 2009, 01:16 PM »
I'm not telling anybody anything here, so please don't be tired. ;)

All I'm saying is if someone were to tell me the new Hitman Pro is self-described as "the first behavioral scan and multi-vendor cloud confirmation anti-malware", then I would probably take a look. And if they were to tell me "you must be online to scan" or "you cannot remove malware without a license", then I would say "hey, get your facts straight before you go spouting off".

Mind you, I'm just saying if.  http://www.wildersse...?t=236732&page=8  (see erikloman's comments near the bottom of the page)
580
General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?
« Last post by sajman99 on October 02, 2009, 07:52 PM »
Regarding HC GUIs, I recall considering HCbatchGUI, but FAVC is just so darn easy I never really took the time to fully explore freebird73717's creation.

http://hcbatchgui.awardspace.com  HCbatchGUI home page
http://forum.videohe...com/topic336128.html  HCbatchGUI forum thread
581
General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?
« Last post by sajman99 on October 02, 2009, 06:57 PM »
MilesAhead, you can upgrade the "HCenc.exe" in the AVStoDVD folder with a newer version of HC Encoder by carefully renaming the newest version. Of course, the issue is whether the latest software is yet able to utilize the newer features/settings-- which I'm guessing is what you mean by "set for HC 0.23".

I'm sticking with the HC .24beta from May for now since the very latest HC has undocumented settings. Even the experts at Doom9 are asking questions, so I surely wouldn't know the correct config until developer Hank315 offers explanation.

As for HC wrappers etc., the only suggestion I can offer is to try this. Good Luck!
582
General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?
« Last post by sajman99 on October 02, 2009, 02:40 PM »
I really hope Mr. Odwin returns to update FAVC by incorporating the newest HC Encoder settings. If he does, I'll definitely be downloading as soon as possible.

I feel the same way.  I sent an email to the support address on the download page.  Got no bounce and no reply.  It's been over a month.  Looks like 1.07 is it.

-MilesAhead (October 02, 2009, 02:09 PM)
Well, crud to that. And some people say no news is good news. :(
583
General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials
« Last post by sajman99 on October 02, 2009, 02:37 PM »
This just in....

Got an email from a friend who placed his trust in Microsoft Security Essentials. Seems he ran across a couple malware-laden sites & what's curious is while MSE popped up dialogs that it was blocking the download when he double-checked with MBAM he discovered that some malware MSE said it blocked had gotten through to his hard drive & installed itself.

I think I am going to recommend people for the time being to NOT install MSE & trust their safety to it.
-Innuendo (October 01, 2009, 10:31 PM)

Given your excellent standing here in DC land, I don't for a millisecond question your veracity, so thanks very much for sharing this important information. I will certainly not be rushing into this one.
584
General Software Discussion / Re: photo duplicate scanner
« Last post by sajman99 on October 02, 2009, 01:38 PM »
Fantastic as it is, here are a few (admittedly) minor issues regarding AntiDupl.NET:

(1) There should be an option to remember the preview window position. I have a widescreen monitor and don't need 1/2 the screen (ie. default position) for image preview. Yes, I can slide previews over every time I use the app, but that becomes a real pain.

(2) The new update feature should be optional so it doesn't check every time the app is launched. Yes, that can be configured via firewall, but a "check for new version" feature would be preferable.

(3) I see no reason to identify the first match as Group 0; nobody I know starts counting 0,1,2,3... What's that about?

(4) The maximum threshold difference is presently 15% and should be at least 30% for flexible usage. Those users who have captioned images in a collection are perhaps aware how those pics challenge image comparison tools and require a much wider tolerance for detection.

(5) For users with older computers and/or huge image collections, a cache option could be preferable. The commercial apps previously mentioned in this thread and most of the best freeware tools have some form of cache management.

(6) As is, the columns are sortable, but an option to view the matches in high-to-low % (like Dup Detector has) would be preferable.

@Curt: If you are inclined to elaborate on AntiDupl.NET's GUI shortcomings, I am certainly interested in your thoughts.
585
General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?
« Last post by sajman99 on October 02, 2009, 01:34 PM »
@MilesAhead: I hate to hear about FAVC's possible demise. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've used FAVC with HC encoder for the last year and never had any issue with it whatsoever.
-sajman99 (June 22, 2009, 04:10 PM)

btw have you tried FAVC HC with Predictive Quantization setting?  I've been using it a lot.  When in a hurry I used to do QuEnc but I'm finding this a good compromise between speed and quality.  The output looks almost as good as 2 pass HC but it's only a bit slower than a 1 pass.  It kind of skips around taking samples, then does a 1 pass encoding.  Going from low bitrate to higher such as when the input is .avi or .wmv it seems to give really good results.  Esp. too if the input is 720p .avi or .wmv the output DVD looks great.

-MilesAhead (October 01, 2009, 11:53 PM)
HC all the way. People much more knowledgeable than me over at the Doom9 forum have indicated the HC encoder produces output very closely approximating the highly regarded CCE encoder's ouput. Their informed opinion is good enough for me.

I had very good results using FAVC's predictive quantization. It saved lots of time and the results were virtually identical to 2-pass VBR. BUT the issue I had was that PQ mode was less precise in terms of file size-- often undersizing and occasionally oversizing (yikes!).

However, I haven't used FAVC for some time. AFAIK Mr. Odwin is still MIA with no new FAVC version since 1.07, and his program is getting less useful with each release of the HC encoder. I mean, HC Encoder now has its own 1-pass VBR and there was a new release just days ago with several new features. AFAIK FAVC cannot utilize any of the new HC features, including settings like AQ and LUMGAIN.

I really hope Mr. Odwin returns to update FAVC by incorporating the newest HC Encoder settings. If he does, I'll definitely be downloading as soon as possible.
586
General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?
« Last post by sajman99 on October 01, 2009, 10:10 PM »
I think Wondershare Video to DVD Burner is the best one amoung the ones i have used...
-susanzhai (August 21, 2009, 02:21 AM)
I've been seeing the Wondershare products mentioned lately, but I've not yet tried any of them. Does anybody happen to know what encoder this particular software uses-- ffmpeg, hc encoder, etc.? Just thought I would ask among the DC experts before checking it out myself. For $39.95 I would hope the results would be significantly better than those produced by freeware like FAVC, AVStoDVD, etc.

587
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: WinX DVD Ripper Platium - free for the rest of Sept.
« Last post by sajman99 on October 01, 2009, 01:23 PM »
DVDFab lets you rip and convert. It also lets you rip to VIDEO_TS, direct to another DVD (both DVD5 and DVD9 and also transcode DVD9 to DVD5) and will even copy discs 'as is' maintaining the exact structure and protection of the source if you want it to.
-Carol Haynes (September 29, 2009, 06:48 PM)
Agreed, the free version of DVDFab (ie. rip only) is what I use for DVD to DVD and it's very good software. But I guess I cannot help myself, I'm always looking for alternatives even if I'm presently satisfied. I'm reluctant to characterize DVDFab as bloatware, but it has certainly grown significantly in the last couple of years. 


588
General Software Discussion / Re: video player software.
« Last post by sajman99 on September 30, 2009, 02:05 PM »
On the subject of the KMPlayer, does anybody know of a good optimization guide? I googled a bit and didn't find much useful info. In my case, I am using the "Preset: Quality (3GHz)" setting, but as noted there are a ton of options regarding post-processing, sharpening, etc. If the OP wanted options, then he could easily spend days sifting through this amazing player.

FYI: I'm probably the last person to find out, but I just recently discovered KMPlayer also will display your pics-- a true multimedia player!


589
General Software Discussion / Re: .flv thumbnails
« Last post by sajman99 on September 30, 2009, 01:36 PM »
Innuendo, thanks again for the helping hand. To clarify my prior comment on FLVSplitter, all I had to do was extract and register the .ax file. Although FLVSplitter is in the K-Lite Codec Pack, I got it from here:

 http://www.videohelp...m/tools/FLV_Splitter

Good Day, sajman99

590
General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials
« Last post by sajman99 on September 30, 2009, 01:19 PM »
Despite the fact I don't think I have pre-conceived notions regarding Essentials, I cannot seem to get that idiom about "the fox guarding the chicken house" out of my head. ;)

591
General Software Discussion / Re: photo duplicate scanner
« Last post by sajman99 on September 30, 2009, 11:25 AM »
@Innuendo: Your characterization of me as a "dupe finding junkie" is regrettably true.:P Thanks for the comments. Positive remarks help to encourage new people to post here-- just my two cents.

Not to stir it up too much, but some folks are likely to prefer the free AntiDupl.NET rather than some previously mentioned commercial software. Surprising, but true.

@Curt: I've rarely seen a mismatch at that low percentage--usually the accuracy doesn't start diminishing until well above 10%. IMHO that artistic blue pic 'outfromthedeep' is what causes this anomaly. I mean, there really isn't much detail there for an image comparison tool to process--it's a blue amorphous mass with a small pyramid-like object in the middle. Regardless of size and/or resolution, this low-detail image could be the weak link. The same kind of incorrect results often occur if you have lots of pics with white backgrounds. Bottom line: no matter how precise these programs become, the human eye remains superior (but slower). 

If the CPU usage is of great concern, you might try adjusting the thread count in the advanced options. Thanks for sharing your impressions.


592
General Software Discussion / Re: photo duplicate scanner
« Last post by sajman99 on September 29, 2009, 03:06 PM »
Curt, regarding the 4.85% match- I cannot tell from the pic (the right side is cut off) how big those particular images are. I'm just taking a shot in the dark here, but (1) if those images are very small, then many of these comparison utilities cannot properly compare them. Mathematically, it's just too difficult to overlay a grid on a very small pic and make accurate comparison.
(2) I also cannot tell if you have "check on defect" selected in the options. That setting could account for some weird results which are clearly not similar images.

593
General Software Discussion / Re: photo duplicate scanner
« Last post by sajman99 on September 29, 2009, 02:37 PM »
- the author was afraid the program now has become too bloated; it used to take up 373 KB...!
-Curt (September 29, 2009, 02:08 PM)
Ha! Curt, be sure and test the smaller (last generation) AntiDupl also. Its interface is quite primitive, but it's speed is blazing with very good accuracy! Actually, there's no reason you can't use both AntiDupl and AntiDupl.NET conflict-free as both are portable apps.

594
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: WinX DVD Ripper Platium - free for the rest of Sept.
« Last post by sajman99 on September 29, 2009, 02:03 PM »
Darn, I too was disappointed to discover this WinX DVD Ripper Platinum doesn't (AFAIK) rip to a VIDEO_TS folder. If it would do that in one step, then the decrypted files would be available for processing in a separate step and the software would be much more useful (ie. DVD to DVD). But I guess another commercial WinX software (WinX DVD Copy?) is required for that functionality.

Perhaps the WinX folks will have a giveaway/promo on WinX DVD Copy some day. Hey, one can always hope, right?

595
General Software Discussion / Re: photo duplicate scanner
« Last post by sajman99 on September 29, 2009, 01:58 PM »
Innuendo, I should have mentioned the small download size. After testing bunches of these similar image tools, there's just too many good points to make about AntiDupl.NET. I didn't want to go overboard on details, but AntiDupl.NET is simply damn good software actively maintained by a developer who obviously knows about image comparison.

596
General Software Discussion / Re: .flv thumbnails
« Last post by sajman99 on September 29, 2009, 12:50 PM »
Just a brief FYI on my WinXP .flv thumbnails issue:

(1) I discovered the latest version of XnView (1.96.5) accurately renders .flv thumbnails (but not .mp4) on my machine. So the following info isn't really necessary unless you are determined to view .flv thumbnails in Windows Explorer.

(2) The registry ShellEX entry for .flv (referenced by Innuendo) plus installing and registering FLVSplitter allowed me to generate .flv thumbnails in WinXP. FLVSplitter is a component of the K-Lite Codec Pack, but I didn't choose to install the whole K-Lite package because all my video files play just fine.

Good Day, sajman99
 
597
General Software Discussion / Re: photo duplicate scanner
« Last post by sajman99 on September 28, 2009, 08:27 PM »
Oh My Gosh! Don't look now, but there's a new sheriff in town. AntiDupl.NET is free, fast, accurate, and portable. If you don't have .NET installed, you can get the last generation AntiDupl which works just fine, but without the more fully developed interface and granular control of the current generation AntiDupl.NET.

http://antidupl.narod.ru  Russian site (Belarusian developer)
http://antidupl.naro...u/english/index.html  English section of the site


598
What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?
« Last post by sajman99 on September 28, 2009, 06:53 PM »
Are any of these converters portable?
-superboyac (September 03, 2009, 10:25 AM)
If you want both free and portable, I would encourage you to take a look at Pazera Video Converters Suite. Honestly, it's hard to pick between Format Factory and Pazera VCS so I'm keeping both-- that way I can convert just about any multimedia file I might encounter.

599
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: WinX DVD Ripper Platium - free for the rest of Sept.
« Last post by sajman99 on September 26, 2009, 05:22 PM »
Mea culpa, Innuendo. You are 100% correct. I should have stated that this version of WinX DVD Ripper Platinum will work lifetime, but that's clearly distinct from a lifetime license. What can I say, I have my good days and my bad days. :-[

More significantly, I look forward to determining if their "high definition encoding engine" is marketing bull or legitimate terminology.


600
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: WinX DVD Ripper Platium - free for the rest of Sept.
« Last post by sajman99 on September 26, 2009, 02:19 PM »
MilesAhead, thanks very much for this notice. This is supposedly a free lifetime license for a commercial software which I've heard good things about. And away I go to download...

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