Recent Posts

5776

Best E-mail Client / How to accurately block junk mail? (The Bat and other clients also)

« Last post by superboyac on December 11, 2006, 09:27 AM »

I'm using the Bat, and I have several addresses.  On one of my addresses, and this is rare for me, I'm getting junk mail occasionally.  I'm using the Bayesit plugin that is supposed to handle this stuff pretty well.  But it's one of those junk mails that generates completely different email addresses for the sender (the prefix and suffix of the address is always totally random).  And the message contents are just random words put together, gibberish.  I've been marking the emails as junk and not junk in order to "train" the plugin and doing it for almost a year.  However, no matter how much I train it, it never seems to be able to catch anything.  Is there any way to catch these completely random emails?

5777

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by superboyac on December 06, 2006, 01:48 PM »

A OneNote 2007 60-day trial is available for download from the MS site.  It does require activation for the trial.

I don't know if it can be installed stand-alone or if it requires other Office 2007 components.

-dbrosius (December 06, 2006, 01:30 PM)

Thanks, I will check it out.  I got a free copy of the old Onenote several years ago, if only I could remember how...

5778

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by superboyac on December 06, 2006, 01:00 PM »

Hi Darwin, I saw your poll on the texnotes forum.  I just joined that forum, and I've made a couple of posts already, and I voted in your poll.  Gemx seems to be a great company, I wish I could get them to participate briefly in this forum or make a few donations to the site.  I've tried a little bit already, but I don't want to seem like I'm "advertising" on their site for donationcoder.  I've read their posts on the forum, and the developers seem to be extremely responsive.  However, they haven't really responded to any of my stuff, but that's okay I guess.  Maybe I have to buy the software or gain a reputation there or something.

I'm pretty much convinced now that Texnotes Pro is the best hierarchical notetaking program.  Just an enormous amount of features.  I love the macro feature, so very cool!

For the next roundup, I think I want to try to get away from my Big Three thing, and try to expand the various notetakers into different categories, and maybe say which seems to be the best of each category.

Onenote is going to be difficult to review, how can I get a hold of the 2007 version?  My friend emailed me an article in The Atlantic that breifly reviews Onenote and a couple of other notetaking programs.  I'll post a summary of the article shortly since I can't copy the article here (copyright issues, right?).  Like all Atlantic articles, it's a bit smug and has a "I hang around rich people" quality to it, but it actually has some good information.

5779

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the longest filename possible in Nero?

« Last post by superboyac on November 28, 2006, 03:40 PM »

Thanks Mobysaurus, so I guess I don't have to worry about filename lengths if I use either the relaxed restrictions on ISO 9660:1999, or if I just use UDF mode.  When I used to burn mp3 CD's, I remember that I'd always have to cut down the filename.  I'm not going to do that anymore because I don't think any of those files (with path) approaches 200 characters.

To address the file system issue, I use Windows XP with NTFS.  I remember I used to check burning options to ensure maximum compatibility, but I don't do that anymore because I never use my systems on older OS's than my current one, and any future OS should inevitably be compatible with whatever I currently burn to.

5780

General Software Discussion / What is the longest filename possible in Nero?

« Last post by superboyac on November 28, 2006, 01:15 PM »

When burning a DVD in Nero, what is the maximum length of a filename possible?  I know there are a few options that can tweaked to get less restrictions on the filename.  Could someone describe the proper settings that will result in the longest filename possible?

i've heard that 255 characters is the longest possible for path+filename characters, but I don't remember where I got that information.

5781

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted Photo Slideshow on DVD (1000s of photos)

« Last post by superboyac on November 28, 2006, 09:20 AM »

People who do computerised slide shows tell me the best thing is ProShow Gold, $69.  There's also a non-gold edition at $29 that I haven't heard of before.

-rjbull (November 28, 2006, 05:13 AM)

I second that.  Proshow Gold blew my mind the first time I used it, and the current version is stunning.  If you want even more flexibility and pro options, they also have a package called Proshow Producer...but it's roughly $400.  I don't know what additional features it has, but it's hard to imagine it justifies that price.  It must specifically tailored for professionals.
http://www.photodex.com/

5782

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by superboyac on November 27, 2006, 06:16 PM »

nudone, you brought it to my attention that I didn't include TexNotes Pro in my review.  Man!  What an oversight that was!  TexNotes is freaking awesome.  I'm 90% sure that I'm going have to move Mybase out of the Big Three to include TexNotes Pro into it.  From what I've seen so far, it has most of the tools available in Mybase with a much more eye-candy options that are actually quite useful.  And I also checked out their forums, and the developers seem to be extremely responsive to suggestions, and pretty good at implementing them.

I don't know why, but in my mind, I had GemX pegged as one of those bloatware companies that make a half-ass product with a lot of bubbly eye-candy.  I couldn't have been more wrong!  They have great software.  Furthermore, in their flagship Do-Organizer product, they have a really cool modular approach to prevent it from being an unnecessary bloated software like InfoSelect.  Basically, the Do-Organizer can do a whole lot (Contacts, To Do list, Calendar, Notes, Finances, etc.) but you don't buy the whole thing as one package.  You buy the basic foundation, and you add the extra modules as you feel necessary.  So you only need to get the parts you want.  For example, if all you want is a Calendar and Notetaking, then you just buy those two.  Very Nice!

I am very impressed, and ashamed that I left one of the best software in this category out of the review.  I kind of knew this would happen, that's why I labeled my roundup #1...I knew there would have to be updates and fixes for it to be complete.

5783

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: AutoClose

« Last post by superboyac on November 27, 2006, 05:31 PM »

Oh yeah, Brutus looks nice.  I might use it to create a shutdown or restart shortcut.  Cool find!

5784

General Software Discussion / Re: Another alt.comp.freeware post on donationcoder.com, for your consideration

« Last post by superboyac on November 27, 2006, 05:28 PM »

Great story, john.  True colors shine through in the end, don't they?  You just can't help to appreciate something when it's done with integrity and good intentions.

5785

General Software Discussion / Re: Another alt.comp.freeware post on donationcoder.com, for your consideration

« Last post by superboyac on November 27, 2006, 09:53 AM »

I've recently weened myself off completely from participating in any forums except this one.  DC is the only forum which has gone on for this long without any flame wars.  Furthermore, everyone here has always shown a lot of respect, patience, and consideration from top to bottom.  Like I said, I've been on a lot of forums over the years, and they've never lasted this long without any flaming among the members...not even close.

All this is, in my opinion, a huge testament to mouser's efforts to keep everything civil, yet with the freedom to pretty much say anything you want.  It's a rare combination, but it's been working.  So, as far as I'm concerned, I don't care what you call your software, the bottom line is that it doesn't cost you jack squat to use it, and it's some of the best software available.

5786

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: AutoClose

« Last post by superboyac on November 27, 2006, 09:28 AM »

Glad you like it.  I love those little programs that make life a little easier.  That's true about extending the click options, that would be nice.  I personally use the double-click to shutdown, and just right-click the icon for anything else.  I also customize the tray icon so it's not that weird window with a moon icon...I replace it with the red XP shutdown icon:

5787

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by superboyac on November 24, 2006, 11:50 PM »

Heres another:

Secure Notes Organizer
http://www.secureaction.com/notes/

5788

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by superboyac on November 24, 2006, 11:44 PM »

Here's a program that I don't think has been brought up here yet:

My Notes Keeper
http://www.mynoteskeeper.com/index.html

Doesn't seem like anything special, but it does look decent.

5789

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by superboyac on November 21, 2006, 05:30 PM »

From the thread covering my review, I thought I might include for discussion here the notable programs that I left out of the review.  TexNotes and OneNote are the two big ones that are not included that will definitely be included in my next review.

I've tried OneNote, and while it lacks several features that prevent me from commiting to it as my primary notetaker, it does show a lot of promise.  Furthermore, if you keep up with the news, it sounds like the new OneNote (2007) is going to be awesome and have lots of great features.

Texnotes, which I initially thought was bloatware, is actually fantastic.  It does so much, and seems to do it really fast and efficiently.  I'll write more about it later.  From looking at it right now, it's going to give Mybase a run for it's money, and it might even knock Mybase out of the Big Three in its particular category.

The problem I've been having recently with Mybase is that even though it has a lot of features, something is mentally preventing me from using a lot of the more interesting ones.  It has to do with how they are implemented, some slight annoyances just make me say, "forget it, I don't need to use it anyway."  More on this later.  TexNotes seems to do some of these things better (at first glance).

Evernote recently had a significant update.  Surfulater, as usual, is always being consistently updated.

5790

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Virtual Window Managers

« Last post by superboyac on November 21, 2006, 12:25 PM »

Edvard, the dexpot version out now installs fine with English, just in case you haven't checked it out.  It's actually pretty nice.  I checked out a couple of the virtual desktop programs for about an hour today, and I settled on dexpot, for whatever that is worth.  I like having a lot of options, and lightweight programs.

I actually liked XDesk a lot also, even though his configuration dialog is pretty involved, but it shows how many options there are.  What I don't like about the XDesk guy is that (from his writings) he seems pretty frustrated/suspicious/defensive and kind of in a bad mood about piracy and competitors and such.  I don't have a problem with what he says, he just seems a little moody.  And it's reflected in his license policy...he makes a big deal about his software having "lifetime" registrations, but it's actually a pretty restrictive policy.  I own two of his products, Systray and XFilesDialog, and this is how his licensing policy works:  instead of giving you a registration key or license, he instead has a separate installation file for the registered version of the software compared to the one you download off the website.  No key or anything is needed to install the registered version, but he demands that it is mailed to a valid isp email address (no hotmail, yahoo, or google, etc.).  Then you have free updates for only a year.  What he means by "lifetime" registration is that the particular version he initially emails you will never expire, even after the one-year registration period.  Well, duh!  That's nothing to brag about...imagine a software not working after a year, that would be very lame, I mean, it's not like it's an antivirus program where databases need to be updated.  Anyway, for new versions that come out after that period, you need to renew your registration.  And in the year I've been registered, there has only been one minor update to the software.  So, overall, it's a pretty expensive piece of software, especially compared to his competitors.

So that's the story of XDesk software, I just thought I'd hash it out since it's not obvious from his website.  His software is actually really good for the most part...efficient on resources, loaded with options, and stable.

5791

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here dial their telephone using their computer modem?

« Last post by superboyac on November 20, 2006, 07:11 PM »

Yeah, I remember those days, a couple of my friends made some telephone hacking devices like that.  It was supposed to get them free calls from a payphone, and I think it actually worked a couple of times.

I guess I'm not going to find too many people who use their computer to dial, if any.  I just can't stand cellphones, I only use them when necessary.  I hate their small little size.  I got a house phone (corded) so that there is no keypad on the headset, so I can grab the thing with my hand.  Plus, I don't like talking too long unless I'm comfy and not a lot of people around, since I'm kind of loud (and I don't want normal people hearing all the weird stuff I say).

So, I'm thinking that nobody uses their computer to dial their phone.  Okay, I'm a loner.  I thought there would be more people, because all those PIM applications and addressbooks come with this dialer, and Windows XP even comes with a built-in phone dialer.  However, I've never met anyone that uses it besides me.  I can understand why, it's a little annoying to set up on the phone anyway...you have to use a splitter and do some stuff with the line going to the modem and the phone simultaneously.

Oh well...

5792

LaunchBar Commander / Re: LATEST LaunchBar Commander VERSION INFO THREAD - v1.60.06 - Nov 19, 2006

« Last post by superboyac on November 20, 2006, 05:38 PM »

Ah, I see.  That's ok, no big deal.  the only place it was really useful was when you were switching themes, and you could try out all the themes before closing the preferences.  That's the only one I could think of.

5793

LaunchBar Commander / suggestion: More docking options

« Last post by superboyac on November 20, 2006, 04:01 PM »

I've been using LBC for a few weeks now, and the thing I desire most is more docking options.  So far, the options available are:
--permanent docked bar on edges of screen (I don't like it because it takes up screen space, but I love that it is always available no matter what window is open or maximized, etc.)

--Sliding docked bar that hides when not in use (My favorite option, but the sliding behavior is inconsistent and becomes frustrating to use).  I like this option because the toolbar is always available like the permanent dock, but it also allows you to retain the screen space.  I really hope this one gets improved upon.

--Tray icon menu.  (this is nice and unobtrusive.  Unfortunately, it is tiny and doesn't have the advantage the other toolbars have, which is being able to see those nice, big large buttons all at once.)

--Floating toolbar (I'm currently using this one because it takes up no screen space and I can see those big buttons all at once.  But what I don't like is that it gets hidden under other windows, and no, I don't want it to always be on top for obvious reasons).

Additional docking options I suggest:
--For the floating toolbar, it would be cool if you could "lock" it's position, so that there is no danger of moving it with the mouse

--Another feature that would be really cool for the floating toolbar is kind of a combination of the sliding/hidden toolbar with the floating window:  when you move the mouse to a specific edge of the window, the toolbar would automatically be moved to the top of the other windows.  This way, when the toolbar is in floating mode, you don't have to minimize all the windows to uncover the toolbar.  I really like this idea, how about you?  Maybe this could be a coding snack idea that could work with any program.

5794

LaunchBar Commander / Re: LATEST LaunchBar Commander VERSION INFO THREAD - v1.60.06 - Nov 19, 2006

« Last post by superboyac on November 20, 2006, 03:38 PM »

Re: v1.60.06

One thing I noticed missing from this release was that when you go into preferences to edit the launchbar, the actual launchbar disappears until you exit the preferences dialog.  Then it reappears.  before, the launchbar would never disappear, and it was still useable even with the preferences open.  That was nice.

5795

Living Room / Does anyone here dial their telephone using their computer modem?

« Last post by superboyac on November 20, 2006, 12:15 PM »

I know most people don't do this, but I know we're all somewhat of computer geeks here, so I was wondering if anyone else did this besides me.  Let me first explain why this is a weird thing to do:
--Modems are less and less common on computers now.
--A lot of people now use their cell phones as their primary means of communication.

So, what I do is this.  I only use my cell phone for those times people need to get hold of me right then and there, and the conversations are usually pretty quick.  For business, I have a business phone, and when I really need to talk for a while, I wait until I'm at home and use the house phone in comfort and in privacy.  Therefore, I've realized I can use the modem to dial my numbers through the computer, it's really cool.  It's much better than any memory features on a phone and saves me loads of time (I barely ever touch my keypad).

I just wanted to know if anyone else does this, and if so, we can get into a fairly detailed discussion about software and related issues.  Of course, this is also related to my obsession with addressbook software (or lack of!), but that's a sidenote right now.

PS. mouser, I know I bailed out of the addressbook review earlier this year, but I was thinking of resuming something like that.  Except it won't strictly be a review, but something a little more creative that might incorporate a light discussion about PIM's.  I'll discuss it more later.

5796

Living Room / Re: Agnitum Outpost 4 .... dumped

« Last post by superboyac on November 20, 2006, 11:14 AM »

Yeah, Carol, I'm with you here.  Every time I try Outpost (and it's been several tries) I get nothing but headaches.  Here's my post from a few days ago:

Ugh, I tried using Outpost again.  What a painful experience.  I don't know what it is, maybe it's interaction with Kaspersky or something, even though I read about how to make them coexist together properly.  Every time I try to use Outpost, it results in nothing but problems...slow internet, webpages not displaying, computer slowing down, computer working too hard, antivirus working too hard.  Geez.  I give up, I don't need this, do I?

Years ago, i used Zone Alarm and even though I got rid of it for the bloat, it's actual firewall functions never gave me any problems.  I'd train it a little in the beginning and that was it.  But then I tried Outpost because it was supposed to be better and lightweight, but it was a headache.  As I got better with computers, I keep trying it again like every year it seems like, and no luck.  I don't even think I need a firewall.

I've just decided to forget about firewalls for now, besides, my antivirus program has a firewall on it that I can turn on whenever I want to.

5797

Post New Requests Here / Re: AutoClose

« Last post by superboyac on November 18, 2006, 01:15 PM »

Curt, I use a program called Quick Shutdown to shut down my computer.  It has options to "kill" and "force" applications to close so you don't have to deal with that dialog, and it works pretty well.  Another benefit is that you can set it to shut down just by double-clicking the icon in the tray, or you can right-click it and quickly select other options (restart, sleep, etc.).  It's a great program and now it's one of the first ones I install on new computers.
http://www.winutility.com/qsd/

5798

Living Room / Computer cleanup/maintenance manual for newbies

« Last post by superboyac on November 17, 2006, 05:29 PM »

Most of you here are pretty "good" with computers, and I'm sure you run into the same things that i do.  There are always family and friends around you that approach with computer problems about various issues, worded like:
--"My internet is slow"
--"My computer is crashing a lot."
--"It takes forever to boot up"
--"I need more RAM"

Anyway, 90% of the time (in my experience) most of these comments all boil down to having a computer just full of spyware, malware, lots of useless startup processes, etc.  Nothing too serious.  Usually, all it takes to fix the problem is make sure they have a good antivirus program running, run a couple of the free spyware cleaners (Spybot, Ad-Aware, CCleaner, etc.), remove unnecessary startup processes (realplayer, quicktime, aol crap, etc), and the computer is usually running fine after that.

I was thinking that it would be good for the world out there if we put together a nice-looking, easy to follow "manual" that goes through the steps of how to clean up the crap on your computer.  I'm not saying it will be comprehensive, but like I said, it should solve most of the common problems inexperienced users run into.  What do you guys say?

Or maybe something like this already exists out there, but I bet our DC community can do it better

5799

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Stand-alone DC forum post editor [modify existing AHK script]

« Last post by superboyac on November 17, 2006, 04:38 PM »

Skrommel, I just read that all of your coding snacks are done in AHK!  Perhaps you would be the perfect one for this project, if I could convince you to do it? I even noticed some of your programs on the AHK forums.  Nice!

5800

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: Stand-alone DC forum post editor [modify existing AHK script]

« Last post by superboyac on November 16, 2006, 01:09 PM »

I think this is something that would be fantastic for those times that you want to write a mini-review or long post with nice formatting.  The great thing is that someone has already compiled a general bbCode AHK script for doing this, and all someone would have to do is modify it to custom fit our DC forums.  I know there are a lot of people here who are fond of AHK, so I'm hoping someone would pick it up.  Here are the links for the information I've come across so far:

The AHK BBCodeWriter v6.6 - An offline BBCode Editor:
http://www.autohotke...forum/topic6161.html

Screenshot


Install file for AHK BBCodeWriter
http://file.autohotk...BBCodeWriter_6_6.exe

Source Code
http://file.autohotk...BBCodev66_Source.zip


Here are some instructions from the author about how to customize the script for specific forums:

So you wanna customize BBCodeWriter

You'll need the source code for making any changes. You'll find the link to the
related posting in the '?' Menu under "About". Or you open

   www.autohotkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6161

in your preferred browser.


You have different possibilities. If you don't like the design of the preview page
simply change it by modifying "style.css" in the "phpbb" subfolder. The only thing is,
you have to know s.th about webdesign. With "style.css" you can change all
displaying aspects like color, positioning, fonts ...

If you would like to change s.th in the html code, you have to do that in
"BBCodePreview.ahk".

Look out for the sections "Create Head of HTML page" and "Create end of HTML page".
The code is appended to a temporary html file with the help of the FileAppend command.
HTML code changes have to be made in these sections.

The hardest task is to customize AHK BBCodeWriter to your favorite board
(assuming it's not phpbb).

Start out by creating a new subfolder within your script's working directory and name it
the way you like (e.g. "wbb", "ibb", "vb", ...). Then copy the content of
the "phpbb" folder to your new subfolder (copy the content, not the whole "phpbb" folder).

Now you have to change the #Include directives in main.ahk to your new subfolder.
Look out for #Include %A_ScriptDir%\phpbb\BBCodeEditor.ahk and change "phpbb"
in the line to your newly created subfolder. There are two #Include directives
that need to be changed in this way.

Now you can begin editing "BBCodeEditor.ahk" and "BBCodePreview.ahk" to your needs.
Add new icons, buttons, support for other bbcode Tags, ...


Happy customizing :-)

There is also a program out there from Pawsoft called FASS, that is a standalone editor for bbcode, but it can't do all the features of DC forums, and I doubt it would be as easily customizable as the AHK script.  Here is the link regardless:
http://www.pawsoft.com/?p=fass/home