Recent Posts

576

General Software Discussion / Re: DLS: Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons

« Last post by cyberdiva on April 07, 2011, 05:45 PM »

I was surprised to find that I had only three from the list: AdBlock, ColorZilla, and Better Privacy (though Better Privacy had only a 1% impact).  I disabled ColorZilla, since I realized that I almost never use it.  I was relieved to find that the add-on I value most--Lazarus--is not on the list, though I'd keep it even if it were #1.

577

General Software Discussion / Re: Never again will I purchase that shampoo! (or will I?)

« Last post by cyberdiva on March 31, 2011, 11:26 PM »

Ashampoo occasionally gives away the previous version of a product free of charge. More often, though, their free offerings are "LITE" versions of their paid offerings and are thus crippled in some way or ways...

-Darwin (March 31, 2011, 09:43 PM)

Well, all I know is that Burning Studio 2010 has worked VERY well for me, better than any other program I've used, including some I've paid for.  Then again, my needs may not be all that complex, so perhaps I wouldn't recognize if some features were missing.  But I've been interested to see that several other people have also had good things to say about free versions of Burning Studio.

578

General Software Discussion / Re: Never again will I purchase that shampoo! (or will I?)

« Last post by cyberdiva on March 31, 2011, 09:00 PM »

I sawed, I harvested. But I was a fool for ever trying to be funny on another person's account. Sorry, cyberdiva!      

-Curt (March 31, 2011, 03:32 PM)

Hey, no apology needed.  

Of course one might ask why on earth I should bother if any one understand why I prefer the better program A over the cheaper program B.

-Curt (March 31, 2011, 03:32 PM)

But from the discussion, it wasn't at all clear that more expensive program A was also BETTER than cheaper program B.  That's why I asked the question. 

579

General Software Discussion / Re: Never again will I purchase that shampoo! (or will I?)

« Last post by cyberdiva on March 31, 2011, 12:22 PM »

I guess I'm a little confused about why you would pay money when some of these programs (or one version down) are available from Ashampoo for free.  Are there features you can't get in the free version?  I've got BurningStudio 2010.  I keep getting offers for BS10, but BS2010 meets my needs well.  I also get ads for all Ashampoo's other programs (sigh), all of which I delete.  So what is the appeal that you (Curt) and others find in the versions that cost $?

580

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Copy selection on webpage as text with text hyperlink URL's and ASCIIart

« Last post by cyberdiva on March 25, 2011, 08:21 PM »

I couldn't get MultiLinks to do what I wanted, and based on the other addon descriptions, they couldn't copy an entire block of text (hyperlinked or not) and grab the text of the non-hyperlinked text along with the titles of hyperlinks with the associated link all in one command.

-Nater (March 24, 2011, 05:49 PM)

Surfulater can "copy an entire block of text (hyperlinked or not) and grab the text of the non-hyperlinked text along with the titles of hyperlinks with the associated link all in one command."  But Surfulater is not a text editor.  I'm not sure why you want to copy all this to a text editor.  If there's no compelling reason to use a text editor, then I would enthusiastically second hornet's recommendation that you take a look at Surfulater.  It works very well with Firefox.

581

LaunchBar Commander / Re: problem with deleting nodes

« Last post by cyberdiva on March 20, 2011, 06:48 PM »

Thanks, Mouser, for your response.  Actually, I don't think that I highlighted one node but right-clicked on a different one, but even if that's what I did, that doesn't explain why ALL my nodes were deleted.  Had I accidentally right-clicked on the "Very Useful" parent node, wouldn't just that node and its handful of child nodes have been zapped?

Oh well, since I've now successfully deleted just a single node, I think I'll stop worrying about the wholesale zapping incident.  Unless, of course, it happens again  .

582

LaunchBar Commander / Re: problem with deleting nodes

« Last post by cyberdiva on March 20, 2011, 09:09 AM »

I've now installed version 1.124.01 and tried to delete just one child node.  In fact, I tried to delete the AnVir Task Manager node pictured in an earlier message, since it was located right under the parent node ("Very Useful").  I was asked whether I was sure I wanted to delete this node (i.e., AnVir).  The only strange thing is that the box with the question seemed to claim that the AnVir Task Manager node had one child node (see screen shot).  I assume it thinks there's a child node that will be deleted along with the AnVir Task Manager node, but there is no child node.  Have I misunderstood what this means?

At any rate, I said yes, I was sure I wanted to delete the AnVir Task Manager node with one child node.  I was happy to see that only the AnVir Task Manager node was deleted, not the other 188 nodes in my LBC.  I don't know whether this tells you anything useful, but at least it means I can continue to use LBC without worrying that deleting one node will delete them all.  (But yes, I will continue to be obsessive about backing up to my flash drive.)

Many thanks once again!

 

583

LaunchBar Commander / Re: problem with deleting nodes

« Last post by cyberdiva on March 18, 2011, 08:13 PM »

Would it help if I tried to duplicate the problem?

definitely.. but maybe wait for my new version so we can see if it triggers the warning.

-mouser (March 18, 2011, 05:54 PM)

OK, that's fine.  Just let me know when it's ready.   Again, many thanks.

584

LaunchBar Commander / Re: problem with deleting nodes

« Last post by cyberdiva on March 18, 2011, 04:48 PM »

Thanks very much, Mouser.  What you propose sounds like a good stop-gap measure.  Would it help if I tried to duplicate the problem?  As long as I have a current backup of the three key files on my flash drive, I wouldn't mind trying to delete a child node and see whether I again run into problems.  However, if you don't think this would be all that useful, I'd just as soon not do it.  If you do think it might help, I'll try to do it later tonight.

BTW, this time the thread did appear in my Unread Posts listing.  Not sure why it didn't do so earlier.

585

LaunchBar Commander / Re: problem with deleting nodes

« Last post by cyberdiva on March 18, 2011, 03:59 PM »

Hi, Mouser.  No, I don't think it was a display bug.  I closed the configuration dialog and my LBC icon was no longer in my system tray.  I also have an icon on my desktop (since I've managed to wipe out LBC more than once before), and when I clicked on it, a box came up that said something about there being no nodes, and do I want to configure LBC now.  I said yes, but after I saw that there really was nothing, I bailed out and instead moved the key backup files from my flash drive to the LBC directory.  That worked.  

BTW, shouldn't this thread appear when I click on "Unread Threads" after you've posted a response?  It hasn't done so.

586

LaunchBar Commander / Re: problem with deleting nodes

« Last post by cyberdiva on March 18, 2011, 08:13 AM »

Thanks, Mouser, for your reply.  For some reason, it didn't appear in my listing of unread posts, so I didn't see it until I poked around a bit this morning. 

The screen shot I posted doesn't actually show the specific program node I was trying to delete.  By the time I wrote my message, I had succeeded in getting rid of that node, using the rather cumbersome method I described in my first message.  So I just chose a random part of my LBC listings as an example of what I was trying to do.  And yes, like AnVir Task Manager, the node I wanted to delete was right below the parent node.  But I thought I was pretty careful about indicating which node I wanted to delete.  And, in any event, even if LBC had mistakenly thought I wanted to delete the parent node ("Very Useful"), why should it have wiped out ALL my nodes in all the different categories rather than just those few in "Very Useful"? 

587

LaunchBar Commander / problem with deleting nodes

« Last post by cyberdiva on March 17, 2011, 01:34 PM »

Hi, Mouser.  I seem to have a problem deleting nodes from LBC that I no longer need.  Today I wanted to remove one child node.  I highlighted it and selected Delete Note from the right-click menu.  To my dismay, that managed to delete ALL the nodes!  Fortunately, I had a relatively recent copy of the .mcf and .mcp and .ini files on my flash drive, so I moved those over and all was well, except of course that I still had the node I wanted to get rid of.  I should add that I've had similar experiences several times before.  This time I wondered whether all the check marks in the boxes meant that I was going to delete ALL the checked nodes (see accompanying partial screen shot).  Just in case that was the problem, I unchecked all but the node I wanted to delete--unchecking 189 nodes, one by one.  I then tried again to delete the single node I had left checked.  That worked.  I closed LBC, only to be told that I had no nodes configured!  So apparently I needed those check marks after all.  So one by one, I checked 189 boxes.  Now all seems well, except that I'm totally confused.  How do I delete just one node? 

Once again, thanks in advance for your help.   

588

General Software Discussion / Re: iResizer

« Last post by cyberdiva on March 10, 2011, 09:39 AM »

Thanks, Curt, for the heads-up about GAOTD.  I like InPaint and decided to take advantage of the offer for iResizer.  At this price, I can afford it. 

589

Living Room / Re: Borders Goes Bankrupt - The Death of Print at Retail?

« Last post by cyberdiva on February 13, 2011, 08:41 AM »

Go back before Amazon...go back to the 80's. Nearly every shopping mall around here had both a Borders and  B&N, with Borders being the smaller store with less stuff.

-app103 (February 12, 2011, 08:48 AM)

Again, our experiences are very different.  Where I live, both Borders and B&N usually started out in malls, but never in the same mall.  And the first Borders stores in my area were larger than the B&Ns.  Oh well, it hardly matters now.  Sigh.

590

Living Room / Re: Borders Goes Bankrupt - The Death of Print at Retail?

« Last post by cyberdiva on February 12, 2011, 04:25 AM »

Borders was always that bookstore in the mall that you went in by mistake because you didn't read the sign overhead to see it wasn't B&N. This was the problem long before ebooks came along.

-app103 (February 12, 2011, 02:30 AM)

Hi, app.  I guess our experiences were very different.  For me, B&N was never in the picture.  Borders blew me away when it first opened, and while I felt very sorry for the small independent bookstores that the victims of Borders' success, I was in awe of a bookstore that had on hand such a rich, deep assortment of books in so many fields, even rather esoteric ones.  It was a heady experience shopping at Borders in the early days.  I didn't accidentally walk into Borders by mistake, I deliberately went to the mall so I could shop at Borders.  I never found the same depth of holdings at B&N.

It was clear early on, though, even before e-books, that any physical bookstore, even one as mammoth as Borders, would have a hard time competing with Amazon.com, both in terms of availability and in terms of price.  I agree with you that Borders' troubles started before the rise of the e-book, but at least in my experience, the early threat was not B&N but rather Amazon.

591

Site/Forum Features / Re: Need some quick help identifying the new forum problem with character sets

« Last post by cyberdiva on January 26, 2011, 09:37 AM »

Here's another one that may be useful to diagnose problem characters:

https://www.donation....msg233767#msg233767

-Deozaan (January 26, 2011, 01:10 AM)

Deozaan, you beat me to it.  I was about to cite the same thing, which JohnK very kindly posted at my request yesterday.  (I'm assuming that all the ? is unicode that isn't being handled well by the DC forum.)

592

General Software Discussion / Re: How To Type Symbols and more

« Last post by cyberdiva on January 25, 2011, 05:31 PM »

John, thanks VERY much, muchísimas gracias, merci beaucoup, Vielen Dank!   

593

LaunchBar Commander / Re: How to stop backups

« Last post by cyberdiva on January 25, 2011, 03:35 PM »

Mouser, that was the first thing I did when I noticed the backups. I've attached a screenshot:

594

General Software Discussion / Re: How To Type Symbols and more

« Last post by cyberdiva on January 25, 2011, 03:29 PM »

I've been playing around with AX and the best thing about it is that you can create a custom set of changes that make the program do exactly what you want. By default it works in a single language of your choice, but with a custom set you can cover multiple languages. My set currently looks like this:

Custom=aàáâäåa AÀÁÂÄÅA BßB cçc CÇC eéèêëe EÉÊÈËE iîïíìi IÎÏÍÌI nñn oôöòo OÔÖÒO uûùúüu UÛÙÜU ?¿?

-johnk (January 25, 2011, 10:10 AM)

John, how did you create this custom set?  Could you provide a "Making a Custom Set for Dummies" set of instructions?  I ask because I tried to follow the instructions to add Spanish, but doing that wiped out French.  So then I added French after Spanish, and it now does recognize some French letters that aren't in Spanish, such as ç, but it failed to recognize the vast array of accented e's in French.  So then I put French before Spanish, but it now fails to produce the á that I need for Spanish.  So clearly what I need is a custom set, but I don't have a clue how to make that.

Thanks in advance.

595

LaunchBar Commander / Re: How to stop backups

« Last post by cyberdiva on January 25, 2011, 12:05 PM »

Hi, Mouser.  Well, I unchecked the box about making updates, and I also set the drop-down menu to .bak (fewest updates), but today I found that the program was still making updates.  Of course, perhaps it will make them only once a week or so, so perhaps I shouldn't send this message yet, but....

Anyway, another reason I'm sending this is that repeatedly, I find that the LBC .ini file starts out at 533 bytes each time I install a new update, but within a day or so it changes to 0 bytes.  Is that normal?  What good is the .ini file if it has 0 bytes?  On my flash drive, I have a copy of the original 533-byte file from when I installed the most recent version, but my desktop has only the 0-byte file.  Should I move the 533-byte file over to the desktop computer?  I think I did that for an earlier version, but eventually it too dropped back to 0 bytes.  The program seems to be working fine, but I'm a little puzzled by the .ini file.

596

General Software Discussion / Re: How To Type Symbols and more

« Last post by cyberdiva on January 25, 2011, 11:18 AM »

Belated thanks, cmpm, for the info about AX.  It seems to work the same way as the myKbd alternative keyboard I installed several years ago on my PalmTX, which has proved invaluable. 

I know all the ALT+4 codes I need for my desktop computer, but I think AX may replace AllChars on my netbook.  As others have pointed out, most notebooks and netbooks do have a numeric keypad that can be accessed with a function key, but it's a rather awkward way to get these characters, especially if you need them frequently (as I do when I write in bad Spanish).  AX looks very promising.  I haven't tried it out yet, but I will very soon.  Thanks also to Curt and johnk for offering more testamonials about this program.

597

LaunchBar Commander / Re: How to stop backups

« Last post by cyberdiva on January 24, 2011, 06:58 PM »

Thanks once again, Mouser, both for the encouraging info re 64-bit compatibility and for the simple instructions for how to deal with backups.   

598

LaunchBar Commander / Re: How to stop backups

« Last post by cyberdiva on January 24, 2011, 01:11 PM »

it's kind of crazy i dont have an option to disable backups -- i will add in next version coming this week.

-mouser (January 09, 2011, 03:51 PM)

Hi, Mouser.  I just thought I'd mention that the "next version" (1.117.01) still makes frequent backups. 

While I'm writing, I thought I'd ask a quick question: does LBC work on 64-bit versions of Windows 7?  I'm beginning to think it's almost time for a new computer, and I've been debating about 32-bit vs. 64-bit.  I definitely do not want to opt for 64-bit only to find that some of my favorite programs (like LBC) will have problems.

599

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Sagelight Image Editor - pay what you want promo (Apil 2010)

« Last post by cyberdiva on January 20, 2011, 10:48 AM »

Thanks Rob.  I went ahead and uninstalled version 3 and installed version 4.  I won't have much time to play with it for a while, but I'm delighted to have it.

I might just note that I uninstalled version 3 with Revo Uninstaller Pro, and I was impressed by how clean the uninstall was.  Just a couple of registry entries to zap, nothing more.  What a pleasure!

600

General Software Discussion / Re: Unlocker punishes you for not installing toolbar.

« Last post by cyberdiva on January 19, 2011, 10:03 PM »

i do not like these bundled toolbars and wouldn't include them with my apps, but i can imagine putting a 30second delay in an installer for non-donators and asking people to consider donating.

-mouser (January 19, 2011, 09:17 PM)

To be honest, I think imposing a 30-second delay when the person hasn't even installed the software may wind up alienating a potential donor who resents being penalized.  After all, the person probably has no idea yet whether s/he will like the software.  It's OK to ask the person to consider donating, but imposing an obstacle during the installation process seems to me to be potentially counterproductive.  I say this as someone who has happily donated for software I really like, but I do so only after I've had a chance to use it and see how terrific it is.