Recent Posts

5976

General Software Discussion / Re: Freeware, Shareware, Registerware, Donationware, Requestware, Nagware, glossary

« Last post by superboyac on May 17, 2006, 01:45 PM »

underware

5977

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

« Last post by superboyac on May 17, 2006, 12:40 AM »

Spidey, great first post!

I thought about your idea, and I really like it.  I'm not a programmer, so I'll leave the technical discussion to the others here, but I'll comment on the conceptual aspect of it.  I love the whole modular approach of what you are saying.  As an engineer, I love when solutions are modular because it offers flexibility and reversibility, which are very valuable building blocks, especially when the are unknown variables that only the future will bring about.

In one of my recent posts here, I mentioned something about starting from the fundamental element, the note, and building from there.  And you took it a step further and explained that the note should be a universal and standardized file, and the notetaking application would basically just be a frontend for managing and organizing the notes.  That's a fantastic idea.  It also will potentially allow users or programmers to build an infinite amount of organizational schemes based on the notes.

I have to sleep now, but as you can see, I'm really excited about the idea and hopefully someone will be able to implement it.  Doesn't AskSam do something like this?  Even if it did, I've tried AskSam at least 3 times and was less than impressed, I could never get into it.

Here are some issues that come to me, I'll throw it out there:
--How do you deal with notes you wish to keep private, or only accessed by password?  If each note is a separate file, wouldn't someone be able to look at it any time, without the use of a program?

--What do you do about captured content?  Like Surfulater, which can capture content from webpages and other applications...how do you incorporate that into a format where each note is a seperate file?


PS.  Rover is just dying for a program that interfaces with Google Desktop Search!  Sorry, but I have no ideas on that.  I feel your pain, though!

5978

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

« Last post by superboyac on May 16, 2006, 05:21 PM »

thombthowolf, I agree with your suggestion.  It would be nice to be able to turn the headers on and off.  Sometimes headers are nice for the organization they provide, but for general note-taking, I'd rather keep it as compact and simple as possible.  You can see how there are empty fields that just take up space in the picture I posted.  That's why I prefer a blank slate like most other programs would provide.

Also, in Surfulater, the font display is a little different than other programs.  Most programs have a choice of font, font size, but Surfulater also has this font style (like I see on webpage applications) and the font size selection is limited to a handful of choices.  Again, I see this as leaning towards a webpage-like feel rather than a blank notepad-like interface.  For a notetaking application, I prefer having the notepad-like interface.  I don't like the whole "style" settings which change the font size and linespace settings depending on whether it's "normal" or "heading 1" etc.

To me, it still feels like the current version of Surfulater is not yet totally committed to being a true notetaking application.  It is still strongly leaning towards a web-capturing/application capturing/referencing system with notetaking as an afterthought.  Fortunately, nevf seems committed to evolving surfulater beyond this and each version offers significant advances in notetaking.  I'm not nevf, or a programmer, but seeing what surfulater can already do, it doesn't seem too difficult to incorporate the typical notetaking features into.

5979

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

« Last post by superboyac on May 16, 2006, 01:06 AM »

Just to provide an example of what I'm talking about in my previous post, here are some screenshots of the three programs (Mybase, Evernote, and Surfulater).  I know it's subtle, but it shows what I mean by wasted space.

Notice how in Surfulater, there is a significant (subjective) amount of space being taken up by the headers, borders, and the pencil tool in every field.  In the other programs, there is none of that and only the the content of the note is displayed in that pane, which I like.  I know that the headers help organize the information, but I like the organization to be done elsewhere, like on the tree on the left or in separate panes, but in the actual note pane, I just want to see the note.  I like how mybase makes use of panes instead of weblinks for attachments and other references.  Both Surfulater and Evernote use hyperlinks instead of panes for references and stuff.  I will admit that it is more efficient and faster, but I don't like the visual organization of it.  This is partly due to the fact that i don't like the whole idea of a web-like interface in my standalone applications, in general.  To extend this thought further, I've also always resisted web-based applications replacing my standalone applications, because I just don't like that interface for anything besides browsing.  I hate webmail, and the thought (that mouser has mentioned before) that software will eventually be run from the web instead of actually installing files on the hard drive actually scares me.

Ok, back to the point.  As I said, it's pretty subtle, nothing to make a big hoot about, but notice how I can cram a whole lot more information into the mybase note pane compared to evernote and especially Surfulater.  It's also a scroll vs displaying only one note issue.

OK, I'm done for now.  Nevf, sorry for the criticism, I mean in the most productive way.  And I haven't really mentioned the good parts about Surfulater yet, but there are many and they very much outweigh the little things I'm nitpicking on right now.

5980

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

« Last post by superboyac on May 15, 2006, 06:20 PM »

Hi nevf, good to see you post again.  For those not familiar with nevf, you should read his writings, because he talks about the philosophy behind his designs, which is interesting because a user can follow how an author implements the features in his software.

I've just tried the most recent Surfulater version.  It still looks like Surfulater has the best underlying foundation for being the best note-taking software to date, but there are still things that are lacking, I think.  The reason I say this is because the "engine" under Surfulater is obviously very flexible and can do a lot of cool things, especially being able to change the virtual tree structure.  But there are a few issues that I've talked about before that still make me wish it were a little different.  And I suspect that a lot of what I say is pretty subjective, so please, everyone, chime in and let me know if you agree/disagree with my points:

--Surfulater's edit mode/pencil thing is much better now.  But it's still just a little annoying simply because there IS an edit mode.  I think edit mode should be assumed for all things.  So I should be able to click right in the area and begin editing.  Not even the fraction of the second that I have to hold the mouse.  It should be immediate.  All other outliners and note-takiing software do it this way and I think most of us expect it.  Evernote is immediate, mybase is immediate, all the dozens of regular tree-heirarchy programs are immediate, I think Suruflater should be immediate also if it is to be a note-taking application.

--Basic Interface.  I'm still not a fan of the header columns for every note (title, description, comments, etc.).  I just don't like the space that is used for it and the structure it forces me to have (just listen to my part of the podcast!).  I'd rather have a completely blank slate.  The headers may be good for organizing collected webpages, which was Surfulater's initial purpose, but for notetaking, I think we want just a blank slate.  And nevf was kind enough to make a "note" template for me, but even that had to have a row taken up just for the header that said "note".  I know it's very picky, but still.  For collecting notes, I like the interface to be as compact as possible and just the blank rectangle that is immediately editable as soon as I click on it.

--The scroll design.  Surfulater and Evernote both implement a scroll design.  Surfulater's design is more advanced because it can be sorted many ways, not just chronologically like Evernote.  but I don't think the scroll works for me.  I like to see just the one note that I'm focuse upon.  However, I know that other people love the scroll, and I can't deny it's practical usefulness.  So I'm just being really personal here.  I guess what I'm saying is, I don't like the scroll, but if I had to use a scroll, I like the way Surfulater does it.

--Focus "jumping".  In Surfulater, when you edit a note, the screen jumps to position the note you are editing automatically to the top of the screen.  I find this frustrating.  I'd rather just have the screen stay wherever it is when I decide to edit a note.  This is especially annoying combined with the fact that it is a scroll display, so if you edit something at the bottom of the page, then all of a sudden it jumps to the top, and you kind of lose track of it for a split second.

--Webpage capturing.  This is probably just a problem with me or it should go under the official "bug" thread on the Surfulater forum, but I'll just mention it here.  I've always had a problem having the pictures show up when I capture content from Surfulater.  I always get the broken red "x" icon for pictures, I don't know why.  The same content appears fine when captured in Evernote or Mybase (for an actual example, I just recently tried capturing the frontpage content of cnn.com).  I think Evernote captures webpages the best out of all three programs, I've never had problems with it.  Another thing I like about Evernote's handling of captured webpages is that once the page is captured inside Evernote, it handles like a note instead of still acting like a webpage.  For example, when the cursor passes over a link, it doesn't turn into the hand (where one click will send you to the webpage).  The only way to follow a link is to double-click on it.  Both Surfulater and Mybase do the opposite with captured pages.  It still acts just like a webpage with the one-click hand thing.  I don't like that because once I'm out of my browser, my mentality reverts to double-click mode.  For reference, I also did not like when Windows introduced the web-like one-click mode for the Windows user interface, where everything in Windows acts like a webpage.  I hated that and turn it off always.  I have trouble when people have it turned on their comptuers, and you forget that single-clicking a file will actually open it and if you just want to select it, you just leave the mouse briefly hovering over the item.  That's how I feel with applications that bring the webpage feel to the software.  That's why I prefer Evernotes handling of captured content to Surfulater or Mybase.  I am also positive that I may totally "old-school" in my thinking on this, and there are tons of people who think otherwise.

In conclusion, I love Surfulater, and I love the design that is at the foundation of the program, but I have major trouble committing to it because of several minor, superficial issues.  I really feel a lot of physical space is wasted in surfulater because of the headings and other interface elements.  I know that when I use the typical outliner like Keynote and Mybase, I can fit 3 times the amount of text and content on one screen than I can with Surfulater.  I even feel Evernote is just a tad bulky also, but not as much as Surfulater since it doesn't have any headers and stuff. 

5981

Living Room / Re: Anyone actually use rewriteable media?

« Last post by superboyac on May 11, 2006, 12:35 PM »

You know what, Scott, I think you're right.  I think I'm going to start devising hard-drive based backup solution.  There's this company, Addonics, that makes interesting products, and I also think I may start using some SATA drives for some RAID duplicate backup.

5982

Living Room / Re: Anyone actually use rewriteable media?

« Last post by superboyac on May 11, 2006, 12:00 PM »

Scott, I can't say I disagree with you.  But what backup storage do you recommend besides hard drives?  Do you think Bluray will be any better, or probably worse?  Remember magneto-optical disks that were encased in hard plastic cases?  Were those more reliable than these optical devices?  I had the feeling that they were a little more reliable and easier to work with.

5983

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

« Last post by superboyac on May 11, 2006, 11:54 AM »

very cool, this discussion gathering a little steam again!  Ok, jimdoria, how do we address all this subjectivity?  From memory, I can recall just one application that I've used that has had multiple user interfaces.  When I used to do HVAC engineering, we used this software called TRACE from Trane.  THis program had, I believe, 3 different "modes" and you coould switch back and forth between them, it was pretty nice now that I think about it.  Let me give a little background, information has to be entered into this program on a room by room basis, and the 3 modes allowed you to enter all the information in one large grid (like an excel sheet), or in a per-room basis (with "next" and "previous" buttons), and a third mode allowed you to enter the information in another way which I don't really remember (it had something to do with a different way of categorizing the rooms instead of per-room).

Anyway, the point is that it is possible to do this and there is precedent.  From a psuedo-programmers perspective, let's look at what it involves.  Like jimdoria said, the foundational element of all this is the note itself.  You have a bunch of individual notes that can be presented, associated, and organized in different ways.  Obviously, there are infinite ways to do this to satisfy everyone, but I think the main ones are the tree-heirarchy, scroll, and desktop layout style(these are all existing examples taken from existing software).  Now, the question is, let's say there was a program that could do these multiple modes, how will a note "know" where to go in the different modes?  Do you have to place it 3 different times?  Hopefully not.  I can't think of a solution, but it warrants discussion, and I will think about it and post later.

PS thomthowolf, the author of evernote has posted here under "Evermike" recently.  I don't know what state Evernote is in.  I know that he doesn't publicize his roadmap for reasons given in his forum.

<<By the way, jimdoria, how did you know I was an electrical engineer (or did you just throw that out there)?  Does that mean you're a performance artist?>>

5984

General Software Discussion / Re: Recommendations for form creation software?

« Last post by superboyac on May 10, 2006, 04:45 PM »

ez-forms looks very interesting, I have to try it out.  What's cool about an omniform form is that everything is self-contained in one file, that's the best way.  So anyone can get the file and use it without having to use a viewer or any other software.

I'll have to look at ez-form, looks like it does a lot of cool things.

5985

General Software Discussion / Recommendations for form creation software?

« Last post by superboyac on May 10, 2006, 10:49 AM »

Anyone know fo a software that can be used to create forms (like a pdf with fields in it, for example, and application form)?  I know acrobat can do this, but the end-user can't save the form unless he has the full acrobat, which people rarely have, so they either have to print it or submit the information online.  I need something that can be saved to the computer and recalled later.  Also, Omniform does this, but i was wondering if there were any other alternatives.  Omniform creates an exe file that is standalone, so no viewer or anything is needed, the user just runs the exe, and fills out the form and all the information is saved in that exe file, it's pretty nice.  However, Omniform hasn't been updated for years, and for some reason, I can't find any competitors out there.

5986

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

« Last post by superboyac on May 10, 2006, 10:23 AM »

I have to chime in on OneNote...

jimdoria's got me curious once again about this program.  I got a free copy from Microsoft a couple of years ago, and I've only fiddled with it a little.  It's definitely an interesting program and has gotten a lot of love from even the most hardcore MS haters, so there's something to be said about that.  jimdoria's singled out presentation as the issue to focus on in these programs.  I'd have to disagree with that somewhat, but I understand his point.  Presentation is a broad term that can include aspects of user interface and organization ability, and probably other things.  I can see that he was focusing primarily on OneNote's ability to just plaster information all over the desktop of the program, which is definitely a cool and unique feature.  For myself, I haven't given that a fair try yet, and when I did try it, I didn't like it because I like the usual style where I can only see one note at a time, it's just easier for me to think about that way.  But, obviously, there is an advantage to seeing multiple notes all at once, and programs like OneNote, Evernote, and Surfulater have implemented this to a varying degree.  Personally, I'm not a big fan, but others love it to death.  In the case of Evernote and Surfulater, I don't like the whole scroll system of just putting the notes one after each other.  Surfulater actually does it better because it still has the virtual tree on the left, so if you don't want to scroll, you can click on the note title in the tree (like a normal tree heirarchy program) and the view will jump directly to that note.  That being the case, Evernote's search feature is hands down the best around, so finding anything is not really a problem.  Then there's Onenote, which doesn't do either of these things well, but it does put all the notes visible in a freeform way, not a scroll.

it's mind boggling to try to figure out which is the best way to do it, and it's all very subjective.  The best to do is to take the best parts of each program and combine them into the ultimate notetaking program, like I mentioned before.  Ideally, the user can decide which "mode" he wants the information presented in and all the modes are available in the same program.  How cool would that be!

5987

General Software Discussion / Re: Saving data in fields in pdf forms

« Last post by superboyac on May 09, 2006, 06:25 PM »

Sorry, I can't seem to attach any files from work, not can I use yousendit.  I'll try sending the file tonight.

5988

General Software Discussion / Re: Saving data in fields in pdf forms

« Last post by superboyac on May 09, 2006, 04:28 PM »

Well, in the Document Properties, all I can do is see what the document restrictions are (allowed or not allowed), but you can't actually change anything there.

I just spoke with the person who created the document, and it seems to be something weird with just that one pdf.  Other pdf's are able to be saved with the fields and all.  I can attach the pdf here if anyone wants a crack at it.

5989

General Software Discussion / Re: Saving data in fields in pdf forms

« Last post by superboyac on May 09, 2006, 01:36 PM »

ACtual Carol, I just came across that bit of text a few minutes ago also!  But here's the problem, I remembered that I filled a form once that I was able to save the fields inside, so I opened that document, and I found that in the "Document Properties" Security settings, everything listed said "Allowed", and for this form that I am having trouble with, 3 of the options in the list say "Not Allowed" including the one that says Changing the document (is not allowed).

SO, I need a way to change the Document Restrictions so that everything says Allowed.  I tried making the pdf again from scratch using Adobe Designer, but the same thing happens and I can't find where to change these settings, called "Document Restrictions", and furthermore, the phrase "Document Restrictions" doesn't appear in the help dialog.  That's another pet peeve of mine, when a help file doesn't contain the exact phrase that they use to define something in the program.

5990

General Software Discussion / Saving data in fields in pdf forms

« Last post by superboyac on May 09, 2006, 11:36 AM »

Is it possible to save the things you type in the fields of a pdf form when using Acrobat Reader?  When I open a form in Acrobat Reader, I get the message "You cannot save data typed into this form".  Is there a way around this?  Is it a security feature?  I can find the original file and recreate the pdf to remove this feature, but I can't find the setting for it in Adobe InDesign.  I have a feeling it's a limitation of Acrobat Reader and not a security setting in the form.

5991

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

« Last post by superboyac on May 09, 2006, 10:35 AM »

Yeah, there's lots of good information in this thread.  There are a few other long threads on this subject around the internet also, but this is the only one that looks at the genre in general, the other ones are more specific to a certain software.

John Buckham's been mentioned here a couple of times, since he has a webpage summarizing the different outliners available (although it's a bit dated).  I recently tried Jot+ which he calls the best two-pane outliner, but it's nothing special.  It's standard stuff, tree-heirarchy, maybe it's a bit more user-friendly than some others, but there are no ground-breaking features there.  Mybase really is the best in that category that I've seen so far, it wipes the floor with Jot+.

Here's something I want to do when I have the time, put together a graphic that takes the best parts of the existing elite notetaking programs, and combine them into one perfect notetaking utility.  Kind of like Frankenote, or "The Ultimate Notetaker", or "The Amalgamation" (I'm not even sure if that's a real word).  I'd like to do that someday, but I can't commit to it yet, and mouser is still waiting for me to do the addressbook review.  I wish I had a secretary to do my non work related tasks.

5992

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Display Volume Level in TaskBar

« Last post by superboyac on May 08, 2006, 01:21 PM »

I like the idea.  And I also use winamp advanced controls with the keyboard.  And I also never change windows volume, unless there's no other way, like in the webpage example.

As a sidenote, it would be nice if there was a way to control the volume of the web browser, because often the flash videos or sounds coming from webpages have no volume control, which is really annoying.  it would be cool if firefox or ie had it's own volume control, like in the status bar area or something.

5993

Living Room / Re: Very disappointing wifi connection!

« Last post by superboyac on May 05, 2006, 03:42 PM »

hmm...interesting.  I'll try seeing if I can install different drivers for the laptop.  It's an acer, and I just installed the software for it a couple of weeks, but I'll check to see if there are more up to date drivers.  There MUST be something configured wrong, it just doesn't make sense for the signal to be that weak.

5994

Living Room / Re: Anyone actually use rewriteable media?

« Last post by superboyac on May 05, 2006, 11:55 AM »

Wow, these blu-ray discs are incredible.  That storage capacity is enormous!  I can't wait until I move my backups to them, they'll fit on just a handful of discs.  I got my first dvd-burner last year, so it usually takes me a few years to get the latest burning technology.

But what do people have to backup that takes up so much space?  Besides video and music, everything else I have can fit on one dvd.

5995

Living Room / Re: Very disappointing wifi connection!

« Last post by superboyac on May 05, 2006, 10:40 AM »

I've tried changing the channels around, but it didn't do much.  I have an ethernet connection, which I use for my main computer, but I need the wifi for the laptop for convenience.  They say that the encryption level and some of the security connections can affect the connection speed, and I've tweaked with some of them, but I haven't noticed much.  It's just annoying, the laptop is like 3 feet away and it's still getting a stronger signal from my neighbors.

It's a Linksys router WRT54GS (version 2).  I certainly hope it's not a hardware issue.  To be honest, I don't think I've ever had that great results with wifi.  I set up a wifi at my parent's house, and it's better there, although not that great.  I set up a wifi at my friend's house, and it's not super-fast either.  I've certainly never seen anything capable of streaming large video files over the network, like some people have told me.

5996

Living Room / Very disappointing wifi connection!

« Last post by superboyac on May 05, 2006, 01:39 AM »

I've had my wifi connection for about a year now, and I have to say, the performance is extremely disappointing.  I know a thing or two about computers and hardware, but I can't set this up so that I can transfer between computers at any reasonable rate, let alone get a "good" connection.  I mean, even when I bring my laptop like 3 feet away from the router, it's still barely a good signal, what's up with that?  I've heard people tell me that their wifi connection is good enough to watch movies through the network.  No freakin way here!  I can't even transfer a 10 MB file without a hitch in the connection, and that would take me like 10 minutes.

I have one of those linksys speedbooster wifi routers, and I can't figure it out.  Most of the time, I can get a better signal using one of my neighbor's unsecured wifi router.  Yesterday, I went in my bedroom, and I couldn't even connect to the router...it's like 20 feet across the hallway!

5997

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Uninstallers (a very short look at what I've tried!)

« Last post by superboyac on May 04, 2006, 03:51 PM »

Here's my review for Total Uninstall done last year.  It's not the greatest review, not very detailed at all.  In fact, I'm quite ashamed of it now.  Enjoy!

Software Reviewed: Total Uninstall
Version:
Source: http://www.martau.com
Review Code: PTREVAUG05

INSTALLATION
The installation was painless, as is expected for any
decent program.  It gives you the option to change the
installation directory, and whether to place icons on
the desktop and start menu (simple, but some programs
don't offer this).

INITIAL REVIEW
The interface of the program is very clean, and it
seems like a lightweight program in that it starts
quickly.  The options are very customizable and not
overwhelming to the experienced user.  It is obvious
that this program is not meant for the casual Windows
user.  In other words, this is a power user tool.
Despite the clean interface, a quick glance through
the options shows that you really have to know what's
going on in a computer to be able to use this program
effectively.  For example,  you can customize
directories for the saved logs and snapshots, you can
use wildcards to detect monitored applications, and
you can even create different profiles for different
levels of monitoring.  These are all poweruser
features, and your typical Windows user would have no
idea what these things are for.

That being said, a novice user, even if he never
fiddled with the options or knew what they meant,
would not have that difficult a problem using the
program.  The default settings work flawlessly; all a
user has to remember is to use the program to install
or uninstall software rather than just double-clicking
the install file and going.  Of course, a regular
Windows user would have no motivation for this kind of
software.

Total Uninstall can begin to monitor programs in a
variety of ways, which is always nice (flexibility is
the key to poweruser software).  It can either detect
a setup file using keywords (setup, install, etc.), or
the user has to install the program through Total
Install's wizard.  Another option is the ability to
use shell integration to right-click on a setup file
and run Total Install from there.  It seems to have
all the bases covered.

Now for the real purpose of the
program...Uninstalling.  Uninstalling seems to be a
breeze with Total Uninstall.  But it's not like it was
so hard to uninstall software with Windows' Add/Remove
default utility.  The benefit of Total Uninstall is
that it shows you exactly what it is doing, and
because it live-monitors, it can essentially do a much
complete uninstallation than the Windows method.
With Total Uninstall, it shows an extremely complete
list of changes made before and after each
installation and uninstallation.  These changes are
both for the file system on your computer AND the
registry.

VERDICT
Total Uninstall does exactly what it says it does...it
completely uninstalls all the changes made to your
system by a software installation for any program that
it monitors.  Does it offer anything that the Windows'
Add/Remove programs doesn't.  Well...yes and no.  For
most people, the Windows default uninstaller is
enough.  But those of us that are fairly knowledgeable
about computers and software, and can be classified as
"powerusers", we know how the registry and file
systems can can overly cluttered with useless files
and entries after just a few months of installing and
uninstalling software.  For those of you that are
annoyed with this, Total Uninstall is the perfect
product for you.  However, be wary that if you really
want to be diligent about it, you should use it for
all software installations.  This means that you can't
just double-click and go anymore, but you have to go
through the whole Total Uninstall process of taking
pre and post-system snapshots.

But, it's not just the extreme powerusers who may
benefit.  I can see myself using Total Uninstall to
monitor some of my more "heavy-duty" software
installations like Microsoft Office or Norton
Utilities (not that I would ever use Norton!).  But I
wouldn't use it for just any piece of little
shareware.  I don't know if that defeats the overall
purpose of Total Uninstall; I don't think it does.

One interesting thought I had about Total Uninstall is
that it could potentially extend the life of your
current Windows installation.  We all know that as the
months go by, Windows tends to become more and more
sluggish.  Many people usually like to totally format
and reinstall Windows every so often.  Maybe if you
use Total Uninstall to monitor all software
installations, it can significantly reduce the
aging-Windows syndrome.  I can't say for sure now, but
maybe in a few months I can give an answer to that.

My ultimate recommendation is that Total Uninstall
does what it says, and it is better than the Windows
version, and it probably has good long-term benefits.
So I heartliy recommend it for those reasons alone.
Just remember that it requires more time and thought
than the mindless installing/uninstalling that most of
us are used to.

And here's another review done at the same time by someone else:

Software Reviewed: Total Uninstall
Version: 3.40
Source: http://www.martau.com
By: David Troesch <tun_review@...>
Review Code: PTREVAUG05
Reviewed 8/31/2005

Having been a previous user of Total uninstall 2.x (the previous freeware
version of this software) the first thing that struck me is that scanning is
FAST (a major Achilles heel of most install monitoring software). Version
2.34 of the software took at least 4 to 6 times longer (50 seconds to scan
beginning and end of an install). The new version averaged 10-15 seconds on
the same system (running in a Vmware session).

Interface
The old version was very wizard centric. Initial screen asked you what you
were doing: Install or uninstall/view results. Once you made that decision
it would take you to the next logical step. The new version is more of a
program, that you launch a wizard in to capture the install process. A new
left toolbar shows previously monitored installs ready for removal. When
highlighting each install snapshot you have summary and detailed information
about that particular (un)install. Installation and uninstallation are now
their own independent wizard. More information is displayed on the screen by
default than  with the previous version. Busier, but better for the more
advanced user. New graphics (buttons) and styles are used in several areas
of the programs. The detailed changes screen is still the old 2.34 interface
which was clear and easy to navigate/view.

New Additions
- "Scanning Profiles" which allow selecting options on how to clean up when
uninstalling apps
- Summary screen to show changes in the system during a monitored app
install
- Left Toolbar of Uninstall items
- More options For default views and limits on scanning.

The Good
- 3 to 5 times faster
- More options for control on scans
- Summary of changes per scan profile
- Export of scan profile option
- Prettier Icons
- Not a memory-resident monitoring uninstall program - no memory overhead
when program is not running
- Small program, only 1.3MB download which included the installer shell

The Bad
- Slightly more complicated interface for computer novices
- No optional list of default to ignore items after clean install. Ignore
RND reg key for windows random number generator key, prefetch directory for
windows etc. You should have an option to be able to enable "skip standard
items" for scan.
- No micro launcher app to prompt to monitor when "install.exe" or
"setup.exe" are run.

Summary
Looks like Gavrila put a lot of work into the new version which is deserving
of the new version number and a purchase ($29.00 for single license). Great
monitoring app to determine how software changes a system for
troubleshooting and software uninstallation.

5998

Older Newsletters / Re: The First DonationCoder Audio Podcast Radio Show - Broadcast Schedule

« Last post by superboyac on May 03, 2006, 10:36 AM »

It's clear, trust me. 

Well, I definitely don't have an east-coast accent.  And I don't have the typical surferboy accent that a lot of people have here.  You're probably right, it's just my own thing.  Some of my cousins have an Armenian accent, but they grew up in parts of Los Angeles that have Armenians everywhere.  I grew up away from all that, mostly whites and asians around.

Maybe I'll do my next podcast in a mock surferboy accent.  No offense to surferboys, but I turned on my local cable channel last night, and they were interviewing the swim team members from my high school (of which I was a member of ), and they were all these whiteboys and all spoke with the same annoying surferboy accent.  When I was on the team, at least there were almost 30% asian guys on the team also, and I was the only middle-eastern dude.  Now, it's all white.  I don't get it.

5999

Older Newsletters / Re: The First DonationCoder Audio Podcast Radio Show - Broadcast Schedule

« Last post by superboyac on May 03, 2006, 01:35 AM »

Ha!  Wow, I've never been accused of having an accent in my life!  However, let me give my background:  I'm Armenian, but I was born and raised in Southern California, and have never set foot out of this country unless you count a cruise in Florida and a week vacation at Niagara Falls.  The only time in my life I've been accused of having any sort of accent is in 8th grade when people got on my case for saying "tangerine" like "tayne-gerine".  Go figure.

I'm listening to my podcast, and I can maybe sense a slight Southern touch to my speech.  Maybe it has something to do with being self-conscious about talking to myself.  I probably sound different when I have a live audience.

A friend of mine sometimes makes fun of the way I talk sometimes, just to piss me off.  But he just makes me sound like an over-exagerrated Goofy than whines a lot (partly because I complain about a lot of things, as you guys know/will know).

Oh well, that's how it goes.

6000

General Software Discussion / Recommendation for Project Management software?

« Last post by superboyac on May 01, 2006, 05:35 PM »

Can anyone recommend a good project management software?  I'm a sueprvisor and have 5 people working under me and between us, we have to keep track of 20-30 projects.  I don't need a heavy duty project management package, like Microsoft Project, or something that complex.  What I'm looking for is something simple with just basic information in the database.

The data I'd like to keep track of are the following:  project manager, Project, project description, project #, state of project (how far along it is, either as a percentage or a description), random notes.  I'd also like to be able to separate out the projects according to the project manager, so I can see who's in charge of what.

So, are there any ideas out there?  I use mylife organized right now, but it's more of a To-DO list maker, than a true project management program.  Although, I can probably tweak it easily enough to act like what I'm trying to do, I'd be interested if there was a better option.  The main issue with MLO is that I can't separate the projects according to the different managers--it's basically meant for one person.  It would be cool if every person had their own MLO file and they could be combined to form one master-supervisor list for me.

Anyway, look forward to the suggestions.  Thanks!