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5901

Mini-Reviews by Members / Firefox add-on - MAFIAAFire now adds "PirateBay Danciing" - quick review

« Last post by IainB on December 02, 2011, 07:58 PM »

A clever Firefox add-on - it always seemed to me that MAFIAAFire Redirector was an intelligent response to the corporate psychopathic (QED) dinosaurs' efforts to impose their outmoded business model on us all by limiting freedom on the Internet.
This seems to me like just another form of Fascism, and it is fortunate that Mozilla have reputedly refused to be coerced by the RIAA/DHS to take down the add-on.

The "sister" add-on MAFIAAFIRE: Gee! No evil! is clever too. I intensely dislike that Google were apparently obliged by the likes of the RIAA/DHS to discriminate against any terms I might put in my search bar - e.g., "torrent" - by filtering/blocking it.

Now I see that the MAFIAAFire people have introduced the brilliantly simple add-on ThePirateBay Dancing!:

• See ThePirateBay Dancing! FAQ
• See article: ‘The Pirate Bay Dancing’ Add-On Killls DNS and IP Blockades
• See YouTube video (use headphones, but take care - use  with volume down a bit): ThePirateBay Dancing!

I don't think I have ever used PirateBay (at least, not as far as I am aware) or torrents, but I wholeheartedly support the concept of freedom on the Internet - said freedom seems to be getting progressively eroded by corporations in cahoots with government. But not yet the Swiss government, it seems.

For an amusing music artiste's take on this, if you haven't already done so, then you could always download Weird Al Yankovic's "Don't Download This Song" mp3 from his website. There's a YouTube version as well, I gather. It was released in 2006. I think I downloaded it in 2009. My daughter Lily likes it and thinks it is funny too.

5902

Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by IainB on December 02, 2011, 05:45 PM »

Yet the Swiss government apparently sees things in a much more consumer-oriented way:
Swiss Govt: Downloading Movies and Music Will Stay Legal

(Excerpt from the article.)
The overall suggestion the Swiss government communicates to the entertainment industries is that they should adapt to the change in consumer behavior, or die. They see absolutely no need to change the law because downloading has no proven negative impact on the production of national culture.

Who'da thunk?

5903

Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by IainB on December 02, 2011, 04:18 AM »

Wow. Amazon seem to be really into this market, boots and all.
Amazon to Congress: No, Silk won't invade people's privacy

Yeah, right.

5904

General Review Discussion / Re: Microsoft Security Essential - new Beta out 2011-11-30

« Last post by IainB on November 30, 2011, 01:14 PM »

Maybe I should look into Malwarebytes - I presume from what you say Iain that they work well together? (MSE & MWB)

-tomos (November 30, 2011, 02:33 AM)

Yes, they seem to work fine together - and without duplication so far. For example, I was helping to restore someone's user directory the other day and had to employ the use of  a password hacking tool to finish the job. MWB made no objection at all, but MSE logged it and reported it as a Hacktool of "Medium" Alert Level and asked me what I wanted to do about it (I opted for ignore).

There's a thought: I hope the new ß does not forcefully override user control in such circumstances.

5905

Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by IainB on November 30, 2011, 12:16 PM »

Presumably contracts are for a certain length of time and not in-perpetuity - what happens when the big six publishers finally realise that Amazon has them in a headlock and they don't renew their contract? Presumably a lot of blank Kindles ????

-Carol Haynes (November 30, 2011, 03:48 AM)

I don't think it's that easy.  It's the DRM that's the problem, not the Kindle.  I think the point is that the DRM is driving sales of the Kindle over other devices as the DRM is kindle specific, rather than, for lack of a better word, open.  So people get locked into the platform.  Sort of like the way DRM on music used to work.  But the same out exists for them- remove the DRM.

-wraith808 (November 30, 2011, 07:14 AM)

+1 for what @Carol Haynes says.   
+1 for what @wraith808 link says.     

The reason I say this is that the Kindle does not meet  my criteria 3, 5, 6, 7a, 7b, 11 (see list below). In particular, the demonstrated capacity for Amazon to unilaterally and silently hack into your Kindle and their ruthless (psychopathic) pursuit of DRM in so doing beggars belief. It could well end up as "an empty Kindle", and the customer would have little or no recourse for remediation/restitution under the contract. I would not be in my right mind if I purchased a Kindle for my use.

I am prone to being a bit of a technology junkie, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I lose my sense of self-control or reason over it. For me, it is really quite pragmatic - it's typically about the implementation and alignment of information management with general information theory. That includes/covers things such as, for example, PCs/laptops, cameras, scanners, printers, memory sticks, and software for these things, and even related processes and discussion forums (like this one).

I am very critical of the quality, design and purposes of most new technology. I tend towards a minimalist approach. The technology that I acquire usually has to meet some general benefit and function criteria. I usually put it through a PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting - per De Bono) review before I acquire it. The PMI will cover these pretty basic requirements:

• #1: Input: Does it improve my current processes of data/information/knowledge gathering?
• #2: Processing (includes Output): Does it improve my current processing methods?
• #3: Storage/backup: Does it improve my current processes of storage or backup/recovery?
• #4: Quality: Is it technically sound, well-designed and well-made for its purpose?
• #5: Support: Is it likely to have some reasonable degree of continuing support?
• #6: Reliability: Can I trust the provider to be delivering something of reasonable quality and that he will not rip me off (i.e., make a victim of the customer)?
• #7a: Use - Ergonomics (and efficiency): Does it at least meet my current ergonomic requirements?
• #7b: Use - Control: Will I have full, free and unencumbered control over the technology, to use as I need/please?
• #8: Cost: What is the cost, and does it seem reasonable?
• #9: Change: Will the use of the technology effect/necessitate a change for the better in the way I do things?
• #10: Deficiencies: How is it deficient in light of the above criteria, or in any other way?
• #11: Trade-off/compromise: What deficiencies are worth accepting in order to realise the improvements/benefits of using this technology?
  

5906

General Review Discussion / Re: Microsoft Security Essential - new Beta out 2011-11-30

« Last post by IainB on November 30, 2011, 01:57 AM »

The v4 in both cases came with the ß install I guess. It ran as an update from Microsoft.

Yes, I read similar good stuff about MWB, which is largely the reason why I ended up using it. It seems to be very good at what it does.
Belts and braces, I know, but then my training encouraged me to be a bit paranoid about system maintenance, backup and protection - and I have learned from others' bad experiences not to take risks.

5907

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Quickly remove redundant recursive folders

« Last post by IainB on November 29, 2011, 11:46 PM »

If I understand the OP correctly, then I think you should be able to do exactly what you want using xplorer² - I think the free/trial version might be OK for your purposes.
It is something that I need to periodically do to tidy up document repositories on main disk and backup stores.

All you do in xplorer² is select the topmost folder of the nested folder set, enter (go into) that folder, then do a search (Ctrl-F) on wildcard filename "*.*" (i.e., all files). One option is to choose to search "depth first" or "breadth first".

xplorer² then gives you a flat-file listing in a "scrap container" - e.g., as per the screenshot below, where I did the search on the Windows directory (but stopped it after a few seconds as the search would have gone on for ages).
In the scrap container, there you can have any column you need. One is a column named Path by default (or choice), which displays the full path of every file found in the nested folders.
The screenshot was taken after I had sorted the searched files on the Path column, and shows the path to the subfolders where the files are located.

Once you have done that search, you can treat the files listed as files. Thus, you can open or (in this case) move/copy any of the files from the container by selecting them and moving them or copy/pasting them into whatever drive/folder you want. This removes them or copies them from their previous/original path.

xplorer² has robust copy and move functions, so I prefer to use that when moving data around like this.
Scrap containers can be treated like files themselves, and provide some incredible versatility for file management.

Hope this helps or is of use.

5908

Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by IainB on November 29, 2011, 10:00 PM »

How Publishers Are Cutting Their Own Throats With eBook DRM

Spoiler

by Soulskill

An anonymous reader writes "Sci-fi author Charlie Stross has written a post about how the Big Six book publishing companies have painted themselves into a corner in the rapidly growing ebook industry. Between user-unfriendly DRM and the Amazon juggernaut, they're slowly pushing themselves out of business. Quoting: 'Until 2008, ebooks were a tiny market segment, under 1% and easily overlooked; but in 2009 ebook sales began to rise exponentially, and ebooks now account for over 20% of all fiction sales. In some areas ebooks are up to 40% of the market and rising rapidly. (I am not making that last figure up: I'm speaking from my own sales figures.) And Amazon have got 80% of the ebook retail market. ... the Big Six's pig-headed insistence on DRM on ebooks is handing Amazon a stick with which to beat them harder. DRM on ebooks gives Amazon a great tool for locking ebook customers into the Kindle platform.'"

5909

General Review Discussion / Microsoft Security Essentials - new Beta out 2011-11-30 (updated 2012-07-11)

« Last post by IainB on November 29, 2011, 07:56 PM »

Just installed it:

From the "About" drop-down:

© 2012 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
System information:
[Security Essentials Version: 4.0.1111.0
Antimalware Client Version: 4.0.1111.0
Engine Version: 1.1.7801.0
Antivirus definition: 1.115.2818.0
Antispyware definition: 1.115.2818.0
Network Inspection System Engine Version: 2.0.7707.0
Network Inspection System Definition Version: 10.7.0.0

EDIT 2011-11-30 1526hrs (NZT):

I should probably mention that I am also using Malwarebyles" Anli Malware 1.51.2.1300, because I discovered in December 2010 that some annoyware/malware can apparently get past MSE. This was on a friend's laptop on which I had installed MSE. He had clicked on a link in some spam email and it hijacked his laptop - switched off MSE and then stayed dominant/resident, even after boot, insisting you pay via credit card for a "security scan". You couldn't do anything with the laptop - it was effectively locked-up.
The only way I could get rid of it was by taking the hard drive out and running Malwarebytes over it as a USB drive. MSE was broken though, and I had to uninstall and then reinstall it before I could get his system back to normal. I also installed the pro (paid) version of MWB, as that does real-time scanning, and even catches bad/suspicious URLs when you are browsing (if you enable that feature).

EDIT 2012-07-11 2251hrs (NZT):
Following a large Windows Update today, it looks as though MSE now includes the OpenCandy adware as "malware" in its virus definition files.
Version details:



See also post below - here.

5910

Living Room / Re: It's Dr. Brinkley, Rice is a university.

« Last post by IainB on November 28, 2011, 07:38 PM »

Wow. Is that a typical example of the quality of rationality of university professors/academics engaged in debate in the US?
If it is, then pity the poor students - they will come out of college with the same irrational attitudes, because that's what/how they've been taught.

Almost as bad as the UK University of East Anglia CRU professors:
Professional suicide by a climatologist - "Wot an assh#le"

5911

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... universal download tracker

« Last post by IainB on November 28, 2011, 06:58 PM »

Not sure if this is relevant, but I think MS Security Essentials is perpetually monitoring all downloads to disk, so it probably maintains a log of downloads somewhere.

5912

Living Room / Re: Beyond Gamification. Designing up Maslow’s Pyramid.

« Last post by IainB on November 27, 2011, 09:39 PM »

Here we go: http://www.scoop.it/

Easily Publish
Gorgeous Magazines
Leverage Curation to increase your visibility.
Give persistence to your social media presence.

I think I'm beginning to get it now. "Curation" seems to be publishing eye-catching pictures as a substitute for knowledge/information for people who may have limited reading ability and/or a low reading age. So you can "leverage curation" in such a way as you can imagine that you are somehow "increasing your visibility ... and ... giving persistence to your social media presence".

Yeah, right.

5913

General Software Discussion / Re: Wave? Good-bye!

« Last post by IainB on November 27, 2011, 05:43 PM »

@IainB[/b] I wasn't meaning to single you out before. I was just offering a different viewpoint than the one you shared and it was convenient for me to quote the words which got my brain going on the train of thought that followed. :Thmbsup

-Deozaan (November 27, 2011, 05:03 PM)

Oh, that's OK. Thankyou for saying that. You didn't need to.
I'm sorry, but I was just being a tad sarcastic. I didn't wish to get into a debate about whose opinion was correct.
In my experience, no-one's opinions are necessarily "correct" - especially mine!   

5914

General Software Discussion / Re: Wave? Good-bye!

« Last post by IainB on November 27, 2011, 05:32 PM »

Correct me if i'm wrong here but Wave looks more of project collab or social collab tool than social networking script like Google+.

-mahesh2k (November 27, 2011, 04:42 PM)

@mahesh2k: Who would have an insight into what would have been in the Google designers' minds when these things were conceived and developed? I have no idea. So you could be right, wrong, or some mixture of the two.        

In any event, both Wave and G+ look a bit like thneeds to me:

"A thneed’s a fine-something-that-all-people-need!"
In Dr. Seuss’ classic environmental fable, the manufacture of "thneeds" causes the total despoliation of an environment and the loss of the flora and fauna in it, in a place that was previously very beautiful. A thneed is a non-essential thing that people can be persuaded to think that they need, but which they probably do not need at all.

5915

General Software Discussion / Re: Wave? Good-bye!

« Last post by IainB on November 27, 2011, 04:00 PM »

Its use would have been apparent - if it had been of any use to anyone[...]

-IainB (November 27, 2011, 02:40 AM)

I disagree. I see this quite often with new innovations. ...

-Deozaan (November 27, 2011, 12:19 PM)

Well, though I wasn't wondering whether anyone agreed or not, I do appreciate your gratuitous disagreement, but I do think I phrased that badly.
My apologies, but my comment was a bit disjointed as I was trying to write whilst trying (unsuccessfully) to put up with nearby interruptions. I would rather say:

Though its use might have been difficult to perceive at first, having been open-minded and interested enough to give the thing a good "suck-it-and-see", its use would probably have become apparent to the user - if it had been of any use to anyone - and then it might not have needed all that nonsense.

I have edited the post appropriately.

You make the valid point about innovation.
The precursor to innovation is usually the invention of something (which can subsequently be subjected to innovation). The output from many Japanese manufacturers, over the years, has been held to show classic examples of innovation.

Modern history shows that some of the most useful discoveries/inventions of mankind's were the result of experimental discovery, or trial and error, or accident. The rest were largely attributable to deliberate research/design.
As examples of accidents, you have penicillin, and polythene. In the case of polythene, I recall my father-in-law (he was a an industrial chemist) telling me that whilst they were making napthalene (I think it was that) at the ICI plant in Northwich (UK) during the WW2 years and afterwards, there was this horrible gooey stuff produced as a by-product and which they had no use for. It was apparently polythene, or the precursor to it. The accidental creation of something, the use for which (the invention) remained unrealised for some time.

I don't think the same could necessarily be said about Wave though.
I think Wave would probably have been made to a deliberate design - a prototype - so it would probably have had an objective. I have no idea what that objective might have been.

Maybe, as @wraith808 seems to be suggesting, Wave was intended to be a prototype precursor to Google+. But then I have the same reservations about G+ as I did about Wave.

It seemed as though it was an interesting solution to an undefined/nonexistant problem.

If that seems a bit unfair, then let's pose a question: How many different designs of mousetraps do we actually need in the marketplace, for us to be able to feel secure in the knowledge that we each have a good choice of mousetraps and that we are probably using what feels like the "best" or optimum one for us?

Maybe the answer is unknown, and yet there is the tantalising prospect/possibility of hitting pay-dirt if we "just keep on digging".
In the development of information technology, this may mean that an acceptable business approach is for producers to take a commercial risk by tweaking/perfecting already perfectly good mousetraps, and applying innovative thinking like mad.
This is what the Japanese electronics manufacturers have been doing for years, and it seems to have paid off for them. They release most of their prototypes into the home market before exporting more widely. The prototypes ("gadgets") often have a short lifecycle. Sometimes the gadgets are testing out the viability of a particular method or technology, and sometimes those gadgets get bundled into a subsequent integrated product.

The marketing term for this is "product development and test marketing", and it is a classic, methodical approach.
This is arguably what Google might be doing - and it seems more likely the case if you consider that they have recently discontinued/shut down a raft of their unsuccessful prototypes. Or maybe they were successful prototypes and Google learned what they needed to from the test marketing.
If there is some truth in this, then it could further support @wraith808's suggestion.

5916

General Software Discussion / Re: Wave? Good-bye!

« Last post by IainB on November 27, 2011, 02:40 AM »

I too played around with Wave and genuinely gave it a good "suck-it-and-see".
But though it was an interesting "thing", it never did seem to add up - at least not as far as I could see. So my BS alarm went off and I tended to be highly skeptical of the whole idea when I saw/heard the talks and fanfares (read "hype and BS") about it.
Its use would have been apparent - if it had been of any use to anyone - and then it would not have needed all that nonsense.

EDIT 2011-11-28: Though its use might have been difficult to perceive at first, having been open-minded and interested enough to give the thing a good "suck-it-and-see", its use would probably have become apparent to the user - if it had been of any use to anyone - and then it might not have needed all that nonsense.

No surprises when it was bumped off - showed good business sense.
If Google decided to keep all of its lame duck ß products going indefinitely, then that could be a disastrous business decision.

It seemed as though it was an interesting solution to an undefined/nonexistant problem.

I think the kiss of death to many of the Google ß products/services is when they are launched with the accompanying words:

"We're excited to announce..." (OWTTE)

Since it is generally true that it is difficult to be in an excited and a rational state of mind at one and the same time, I usually run a mile in the opposite direction when I hear that phrase.

Spare a thought for all those poor Wave developers/marketers who put their best and earnest endeavours into trying to create some Emperor's new clothes - and some even ranted on enthusiastically about it on YouTube broadcasts. Uncomfortable/embarrassing to watch those vids now though.
I sometimes wonder whether that could have an adverse effect if they mentioned it in their CVs.

5917

Living Room / Re: Beyond Gamification. Designing up Maslow’s Pyramid.

« Last post by IainB on November 26, 2011, 09:31 PM »

@Paul Keith:

...That is what modern social curation tools are aiming for.

I have read and reread what you wrote above, and am unable to wrap my mind around what you are saying - at least, not to the extent that it makes sense to me as much as it apparently makes sense to  you. Sorry if I seem to be missing something obvious. And if you were making a joke, then I apologise for treating it seriously!

My take on it so far:

Here's a thing called "curation", and it means whatever I say it means, but it means kinda everything. This "everything" is the objective that the designers of "modern social curation tools" are aiming for. Yet those designers seem to be unable to define what curation is any more clearly than they can define what the objective of using them is.

From pragmatic experience, this looks to be potentially even less useful in practice than the idea of an enterprise architecture model has apparently shown itself to be for the enterprise.
It seems to me that curation does not yet exist except as a vague Tweedledum-Tweedledee-ish concept with a Will O'the Wisp definition.
(Is it God?)
Are you "self actualizing" (as Maslow might have put it) in your last post above?    
Is this a "gamification" of "curation"? (Eheh. Sorry, a weak joke)

My brain hurts still.

On another but possibly related topic, I came across this today:
Out to Lunch: A Bad Start for Apple on Black Friday.
I found this definition of "Routinization of charisma":

Spoiler

The "routinization of charisma" is an expression dating from German sociologist Max Weber's classic sociology of religion. A prophetic leader attracts followers to his anti-traditional message by his personal magnetism or force of personality, in short, his "charisma." To keep a movement going after the death of the original founder, however, that charisma must be "routinized," or redirected to the continuing leadership and meaning of the organization. The path of routinization is fraught with danger since it by definition results in a formalization of the meanings of the original movement, involving institutionalization, and the formation of a new "tradition" and the potential for schism and new "charismatic leaders" to emerge. As institutionalized religions spread the teachings of their founders, there is a danger that more energy will go into preserving the outer form of the traditions than into maintaining their original inner spirit. A recent example of the difficulty of routinization can be seen in the troubles experienced by the Robert H. Schuller televangelism empire as it has attempted to "routinize" the original charisma of the elder Schuller and transfer its continuing authority to his son. See for example http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28953451/

I thought this was interesting in the context of the apparent "deification" of Steve Jobs, who was of course just a man like any other great prophet (e.g., including Jesus Christ and Mohammed).
Looks like Apple may have a FAIL on that (the routinization of Jobs charisma), anyway.

Where are those aspirins?

5918

Living Room / Re: Tip - workaround for Windows 7 disappearing Systray Icons bug

« Last post by IainB on November 26, 2011, 02:15 AM »

@CleverCat: Thanks, the NirSoft would do the job fine, except that it apparently restarts Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer. I just want the former restarted.
Found what I need in the form of Restart Explorer.exe - see below.

Just to keep this together - I made this post elsewhere on the forum: Ultimate Windows Customiser (Windows Club) - quick review

Ultimate Windows Customiser (Windows Club).
Just a quick heads-up from me in case it this software might be of help/use to anyone.

There was a post in The Windows Club on 2011-11-25 entitled Customize Windows with Ultimate Windows Customizer

There is a downloadable file (uwc.zip) of version 1.0 of a customising tool (developed by Lee Whittington, for the Club).
Most of the tool's features seem to be cosmetic for the GUI, and some features are still under development, but I reckoned it was worth giving a trial, so I did. I let the proggy install itself to its defaults, and then gave it a whirl.

Conclusion:
1. Not bad as far as it goes. Am awaiting the next version with interest.
2. The executable Restart Explorer.exe (see list below) was of particular interest/use to me. It kills and restarts explorer, and then exits.

Restart Explorer.exe seems to have saved me the effort of automating the steps outlined in the post about restoring Systray icons, here: Tip - workaround for Windows 7 disappearing Systray Icons bug .
(In that post CleverCat had already commented about an alternative at http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/restart_explorer.html)

Included in the tools are these executables (which are called from the tool's GUI, but some seem to run OK as stand-alone processes too):
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\memorb.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\QuickHide.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\RegOwnit v1_1.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\ReplaceIt.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\Restart Explorer.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\Screenshot.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\Shadow.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\Showit.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\Taskbar Color Effects.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\Updater.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\UserPic Reload.exe

-IainB (November 26, 2011, 12:02 AM)

5919

Mini-Reviews by Members / Ultimate Windows Customiser (Windows Club) - quick review

« Last post by IainB on November 26, 2011, 12:02 AM »

Ultimate Windows Customiser (Windows Club).
Just a quick heads-up from me in case it this software might be of help/use to anyone.

There was a post in The Windows Club on 2011-11-25 entitled Customize Windows with Ultimate Windows Customizer

There is a downloadable file (uwc.zip) of version 1.0 of a customising tool (developed by Lee Whittington, for the Club).
Most of the tool's features seem to be cosmetic for the GUI, and some features are still under development, but I reckoned it was worth giving a trial, so I did. I let the proggy install itself to its defaults, and then gave it a whirl.

Conclusion:
1. Not bad as far as it goes. Am awaiting the next version with interest.
2. The executable Restart Explorer.exe (see list below) was of particular interest/use to me. It kills and restarts explorer, and then exits.

Restart Explorer.exe seems to have saved me the effort of automating the steps outlined in the post about restoring Systray icons, here: Tip - workaround for Windows 7 disappearing Systray Icons bug .
(In that post CleverCat had already commented about an alternative at http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/restart_explorer.html)

Included in the tools are these executables (which are called from the tool's GUI, but some seem to run OK as stand-alone processes too):
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\memorb.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\QuickHide.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\RegOwnit v1_1.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\ReplaceIt.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\Restart Explorer.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\Screenshot.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\Shadow.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\Showit.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\Taskbar Color Effects.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\Updater.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Ultimate Windows Customizer\Tools\UserPic Reload.exe

5920

Coding Snacks / Re: Image Tile Joiner

« Last post by IainB on November 22, 2011, 08:25 PM »

Oh.
If your images are not part of the same overall object, then, yes, ICE probably would not help.
I think it figures out the borders/joining points of the pix and then puts them into a logically connected 2D array, for example:
R1C1 R1C2 R1C3
R2C1 R2C2 R2C3
R3C1 R3C2 R3C3

You can give it the pix in any order, I gather, and it will figure out which Row/Column to put things in.

I think it is designed that way, so, if your pix are not actually parts of an overall object, then it probably could not work.

5921

Coding Snacks / Re: Image Tile Joiner

« Last post by IainB on November 22, 2011, 03:45 AM »

Try Windows Image Composite Editor (ICE) - a brilliant proggy.      
Should be able to do all that you want and more.

Hope this helps or is of use.

5922

General Software Discussion / Re: Special File Recovery Software

« Last post by IainB on November 21, 2011, 10:19 PM »

Just installed System Restore Explorer and Shadow Explorer.
Interesting. It seems that I am now able to answer my own Q above.
The Answer is "Yes".

I'm using Win7-64 Home Premium.

• System Restore Explorer: mounted a selected Restore Point as some kind of a drive/volume, and that enabled me to use Windows Explorer and xplorer² to see and restore the Restore Point files. I could also view .JPG files, and delete a file in the TEMP directory of the Restore Point. The deleted file appeared in my Recycle bin.
• Shadow Explorer: Gave its own explorer-like window, enabling me to see and restore, but not touch, individual files.

Very nice.

Thankyou very much @MilesAhead and @PhilB66.    
It's nice to learn something new.

5923

General Software Discussion / Re: Special File Recovery Software

« Last post by IainB on November 21, 2011, 09:30 PM »

So, does this mean that Win7 Home Prem has the capacity for Shadow Copy, but it has been disabled as a feature?
This would presumably be what what passes for "marketing".

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Living Room / Re: Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal

« Last post by IainB on November 21, 2011, 06:24 PM »

Penguin Yanking Kindle Books From Libraries

New submitter moniker writes "Penguin Group is removing Kindle ebooks from libraries using Overdrive citing 'security concerns' as a weak excuse, while most likely taking a shot at Amazon. One more example of DRM being about protecting business models, not content."

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General Software Discussion / Re: Special File Recovery Software

« Last post by IainB on November 21, 2011, 06:01 PM »

I didn't know about Shadow Copy or GetDataBack. Thanks.

Shadow Copy is apparently only in Win7 "Business" and "Ultimate" versions though. Bother. Mine is Home Premium.

GetDataBack looks very good. I see there are 2 separate versions - NTFS and FAT.