Recent Posts

576

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: UltraRecall discounted on BitsDuJour.com today (2009-10-07)

« Last post by MerleOne on October 08, 2009, 03:39 AM »

It seems this offer had a nice success on BdJ, and the deal is still available today.  The learning curve of this tool is steep (for me), but it seems worth to take some time to master it.

577

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: UltraRecall discounted on BitsDuJour.com today (2009-10-07)

« Last post by MerleOne on October 07, 2009, 03:13 PM »

Thanks.  I just ordered the Pro version.  I found also there is a much better display of .eml files.  Now I just have to understand how to use it properly, it seems to have so many possibilities.

578

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

« Last post by MerleOne on October 07, 2009, 02:44 PM »

Merle how is it for fast forward of .wmv?  My Philips will play .wmv via the USB port but it doesn't seem to seek like it can with .avi .divx or DVD standard video.  When I hit FF it just holds the current frame.

Also will yours play source with res higher than the standard 720x480 or 720x576? Divx was making some noises about DivxHD but I see almost no players that support it. At least not any <$300

-MilesAhead (October 07, 2009, 01:49 PM)

The instruction manual says the resolution is 720x576 for divx files.  For FF for WMV, I'll have to try.  I'll let you know.

579

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: UltraRecall discounted on BitsDuJour.com today (2009-10-07)

« Last post by MerleOne on October 07, 2009, 10:16 AM »

Thanks.  I think I also found something in favor of the pro version : behind my corporate firewall, only the pro version seems to be working, just for opening a simple URL...  I'll try one more time and report here !

Edited :  Now it's also working fine with the Std version...  Some glitch in our Internet access maybe.

Edited II : I have removed UR, with Revo Uninstaller, cleaned all possible references, re-installed the std version and guess what, it won't load any URL again.  Last time I had installed the pro version over the standard, saw that it worked, re-installed the std over the pro, and it kept working.  Maybe something is installed with the pro version that solves this.

Edited III : after a reset of my default IP parameters to Windows standards, reboot, all seem to work again with the Std version...

580

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: UltraRecall discounted on BitsDuJour.com today (2009-10-07)

« Last post by MerleOne on October 07, 2009, 08:14 AM »

have you had a look at the comparison page -
I dont use UR myself but it looks to me like the Pro version has a lot of worthwhile advantages.

-tomos (October 07, 2009, 07:57 AM)

Thanks, I have looked at this comparison, but I find it hard to translate into real situations, for many items (like "hoisting").  Even regarding Search capabilities, it's not obvious to see if it's a major difference.  Actually I was hoping that someone from DC is already using either version and could comment on this.

581

Found Deals and Discounts / UltraRecall discounted on BitsDuJour.com today (2009-10-07)

« Last post by MerleOne on October 07, 2009, 06:44 AM »

Ultra Recall is today (Wednesday) on BdJ, at 62% discount.  Question is : go for pro or standard ? There is usually a $50 upgrade fee, but today std is at $19 and Pro at $39.  Any recommendation ?  Thanks.

582

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

« Last post by MerleOne on October 07, 2009, 04:13 AM »

There one here that has a Card Reader - is that better as I see cards are holding more and more GB's?

-CleverCat (October 07, 2009, 01:54 AM)

Except that it is usually easier to connect a usb key to a PC than a Memory card (many formats, reader not always included).  Also I suspect these DVD players can only read photos.  Better double check that !

583

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

« Last post by MerleOne on October 06, 2009, 10:02 AM »

BTW, some recent DVD players have a USB port than can read flashkeys and divx/mpeg2 files that are on it.  I recently purchased one, my previous DVD player having met its EOL.  I chose a LG 492H (simple DVD player with upscaling / HDMI output) and this USB port : it really solves the problem of converting/mastering DVD.

If that's really what is needed, I would vote for VSO ConvertXtoDVD, which is relatively easy to use and has a quick encoder.  It's main drawback is that it insists on reencoding already DVD-compliant mpeg2 files.

I also use a lot VideoRedoTVsuite, that comes with a simple but efficient DVD masterring program, very useful when dealing only with mpeg2 content.  Then there is TMPGEnc DVD AuthorsWorks 4, nice and powerful, but somewhat expensive and also activated online and locked to one computer only.

584

Living Room / Re: Be warned - Acronis Backup and Recovery

« Last post by MerleOne on October 03, 2009, 08:50 AM »

It that was the message it is more than likely a faulty driver.

If you want to track down past BSODs try http://www.nirsoft.n...lue_screen_view.html which allows you to look at past BSODs and lists the drivers involved.

I have found this incredibly useful for troubleshooting.

-Carol Haynes (October 02, 2009, 03:50 PM)

Thanks ! This does look excellent.  I'll use it next time it happens.

585

Living Room / Re: Be warned - Acronis Backup and Recovery

« Last post by MerleOne on October 02, 2009, 02:39 PM »

Ummm...I don't know how to say this, but...there's nothing 'normal' about getting a recurring BSOD, no matter with what frequency it occurs. I never blue screen on any of my machines (I have several), unless I've just installed a flakey video or chipset driver. One quick rollback later and the problem's gone.

So! Whatcha doin' that you're getting a monthly BSOD? Curious minds want to know.

-40hz (October 02, 2009, 11:36 AM)

It doesn't happen often, I just said 1/month as an estimate, it might be less.  Last time I got one, I think it was some error message like referring to IRQ_LESS_OR_EQUAL..., but there is no hint as to what has caused it.

586

Living Room / Re: Be warned - Acronis Backup and Recovery

« Last post by MerleOne on October 02, 2009, 10:36 AM »

About Macrium, a lot of people seem to find it excellent. I also did so, until I started to get a bunch of BSOD on my system, when ejecting usb drives, or doing usually harmless operations.  I traced it back to the filter driver install by Macrium that is active even when Macrium Reflect is not running.  After uninstalling this product, I resumed a normal BSOD frequency (less than 1/month I would say).  That was 1 year ago approximately.

587

Living Room / Re: Be warned - Acronis Backup and Recovery

« Last post by MerleOne on October 02, 2009, 07:02 AM »

I too ditched Acronis True Image a long time ago, even if it was a really nice software for the first versions, especially the incremental imaging they were among the first to bring to the market (I think).  Also, I remember I had a problem on a saturday, where my recovery CD refused to boot on a new laptop.  I mailed them and 1 hour later, I got the download link for a new bootable CD, that solved my problem.  This was really customer service !

Then bugs started to get more frequent with new releases, and upgrade price too high for just a few improvements.  I finally switched for drive snapshot, and its differential image "philosophy" easier to manage than incrementals.  I also use Image for Windows/Linux because it can write DVD directly and with excellent reliability.  Sometimes, when I see a huge discount on Acronis (like $9 for TI11...) , I buy a new license, but I never use it, I just build the recovery CD...

588

General Software Discussion / Re: Most Recently Installed Programs

« Last post by MerleOne on September 25, 2009, 07:02 AM »

I think RSIT does exactly that : see http://www.raymond.c...-installed-software/

589

General Software Discussion / SOLVED (was "Re: Help for solving a XP home lan mystery")

« Last post by MerleOne on August 31, 2009, 04:53 AM »

I finally found the solution to my problem, thanks to WXPNews. 

In a recent newsletter (http://www.wxpnews.c...ews-392-20090818.htm),
"How to fix a problem where you can't see other computers on the network", it says :
> Click Start | Run
> In the Run box, type regedit to start the registry editor
> Navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ NetBt \ Parameters
> In the right details pane, find the values named NodeType and DhcpNodeType and delete them
> Close the registry editor and restart the computer.

And it worked !!!

 

590

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Lightcraft Aurora - intuitive image editor; free - today only !

« Last post by MerleOne on July 16, 2009, 03:36 AM »

Thanks, got one license !

591

Living Room / Re: Advice on Netbooks

« Last post by MerleOne on July 11, 2009, 03:08 PM »

I have been using a Samsung NC10 since a few months and it's great.  I think there is a newer model, N110 which has a bigger battery time.  Keyboard is excellent. You should definitely have a look at these models.

592

Mouser's Zone / Strange behavior (or not) with Minicap

« Last post by MerleOne on July 09, 2009, 03:54 AM »

Hi,

I'd like to know if this is normal :

1/ I open a window on my XP Pro Desktop (any window), I make it active, press Alt+PrintScreen, create a new Outlook message is rich text mode, press Ctrl-V, and I get a perfect copy 1:1 within my e-mail message. All is OK, apart from the size of the message that can be huge since it's apparently BMP uncompressed format.

2/ I open the same windows as before, launch Minicap, lasso the windows with minicap, press Ctrl+Click, and I get a perfect 1:1 copy of the window within Minicap.  I press on the copy icon at the bottom right, open a new Outlook message, in rich text format, press Ctrl-V and this time I get some kind of unreadable (because too compressed) thumbnail in my message. I would expect to get a 1:1 copy ?

It seems this started with recent releases of Minicap, but I am not 100% sure.

Thanks for any help !

593

Coding Snacks / Re: Desktop dynamic icon management based on the Noguchi Filing system

« Last post by MerleOne on July 08, 2009, 01:15 AM »

Thanks for your reply.  I'll definitely try what you suggest regarding documents.  I just have to adapt it to xplorer² which I use as file manager.

About your question : actually I was referring mainly to shortcut to applications.  And to the "real" desktop space, not a view within the file explorer.

594

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the Best Movie Collection Organizer Program

« Last post by MerleOne on July 06, 2009, 03:48 PM »

I am using Mediaman, because of its efficient webcam scanner, and because it handles video, music, books, games in one single software.

595

General Software Discussion / Re: Advice for Testing USB Sticks and Data Recovery Tools

« Last post by MerleOne on July 05, 2009, 04:34 PM »

I had once a fake USB key, supposedly 1GB, actually only 512MB.  The HP USB Format Tool was able to reformat it to its real size. It has been working nicely since then.  Other keys, that weren't reformatted, got damaged after a while, probably whe  more than 512 MB was written.

To test them, I also rely on a similar tool, Bart Stuff Test (http://www.nu2.nu/bst/).

596

Living Room / Re: Where did your DC user I.D come from?

« Last post by MerleOne on June 30, 2009, 03:47 AM »

Mine comes from the work of Roger Zelazny, the second Amber series, where the main character, some kind of magical computer genius is called.... Merle.  Since it's used fairly often on forum, websites, etc., I have added 1 or one.  In French, it is also pronounced as Merlin, the well known wizard...

597

Find And Run Robot / Re: Faster startup by disabling plugins ?

« Last post by MerleOne on June 29, 2009, 10:27 AM »

Using 24/32/32 instead of the previous values for normal/extended/grow dramatically improves response time. Now the history is displayed almost instantly...  Thanks !

598

Find And Run Robot / Re: Faster startup by disabling plugins ?

« Last post by MerleOne on June 29, 2009, 09:37 AM »

Yes, I forgot to mention that Farr displays searching plugins in the status bar for 1-2 seconds, then only after opens the history.  And I have checked the plugins : I have none installed !!!

Maybe it's the history display that takes time, and the search plugins is displayed as long as the history is  not ready ?  My history settings below...

[attachthumb=#1][/attachthumb]

599

Find And Run Robot / Re: Option to start Find And Run Robot after installation

« Last post by MerleOne on June 29, 2009, 09:34 AM »

Sure, but this comes from the time where there was no real start menu in Windows, so the only way to launch apps was to have a shortcut on the desktop or a direct navigation with the file explorer.  Opening a windows with the shorcuts after install was enabling the user to launch the installed app.  And closing that window was slightly frightening, because the folder location was not always obvious.  Anyway, installers improved afterwards...

Seems quite funny if that should be necessary. The computer asking the user "Will you please click this icon and then close the window?"

Aren't computers meant to do exactly this kind of stuff for us...?

-Jesper Hertel (June 29, 2009, 08:25 AM)

600

Find And Run Robot / Faster startup by disabling plugins ?

« Last post by MerleOne on June 29, 2009, 08:23 AM »

Hi,

I never use plugins with FARR, and with recent versions, whenever I type pause or ctrl+space, the history window opens but spends quite some time reading the plugins.  I would just like to have the history right away.  I have seen nowhere how to disable plugins ?  Is is possible, and if yes, would this speed up the first history display ?  Thanks.