Recent Posts

601

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... what version of .net a program is using

« Last post by barney on June 07, 2012, 01:21 PM »

Yeah,

That's the conundrum  .  I've got someone - not the author - asking me what version of .NET a program is using.  And I don't know how to find out.  .NET seems to be a lot like Java:  multiple versions required because of program(s) requirements.  And, apparently, no way to tell what version any given program is using unless you have the source and can read it  .  (Or, alternatively, you uninstall a version and the software no longer runs  .))
 
(And then there's the side issue that popped up when I compared the .NET folder to the registry entries  .)

602

General Software Discussion / In search of ... what version of .net a program is using

« Last post by barney on June 07, 2012, 10:59 AM »

Folk,

Is there a way to determine which version of .NET a given program is using?  Windows Explorer shows six (6) versions (four (4) major versions) installed on one (1) of my machines.  Regedit shows four (4) (three (3) major) versions (?!?  ).  Search provides much info on determining what is installed, but I've not found anything to show what version is actually being used by any given program.

603

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... hotkey finder - maybe resolved

« Last post by barney on June 06, 2012, 09:41 PM »

Oops.

Apparently - obviously? - I read into the verbiage what I wanted to be there.  Only hotkeys it lists are the ones created within its purview  .  For one (1) brief, glimmering moment ...  .  Sorry for the false alarm  .

604

General Software Discussion / In search of ... hotkey finder - maybe resolved

« Last post by barney on June 06, 2012, 09:29 PM »

HotKeyMan may be the answer to a problem I've presented here in the past.  Haven't tested yet - just downloaded - but part of the blurb claims it will detect existing hotkey combinations for running software.

If so, it'll be the answer to a dream I've long held, and I suspect more than a few of you would find it of interest.  I'm gonna test it, will report [relative] successes  & failures  .  Keeping fingers crossed that it'll actually perform - that would be a dream come true  .

605

General Software Discussion / Re: psr.exe = Problem Steps Recorder (for Win 7)

« Last post by barney on June 06, 2012, 07:00 PM »

Addendum:  it also has popped up a few times when Win7 saw something amiss that I didn't.  So there's some intelligence somewhere in the system.

606

General Software Discussion / Re: psr.exe = Problem Steps Recorder (for Win 7)

« Last post by barney on June 06, 2012, 06:59 PM »

It has been beneficial a couple of times in my arena.

607

Living Room / Re: Lost my father

« Last post by barney on June 06, 2012, 06:56 PM »

Lost my father ~three (3) years ago, my mother ~two (2).  Can't say whether what you feel is what I felt (I suspect it is), but time does dull the edges, although not the memories.  Save those, above all.  ('Tis said time heals all wounds, but that's a lie:  it just lets 'em scab over.)  Great sorrow for your pain and grieving.

608

Living Room / Re: Gmail to Warn Against State Sponsored Hacking

« Last post by barney on June 06, 2012, 06:42 PM »

I wonder if that includes the USA/PSA/NSA?

-Renegade (June 06, 2012, 09:07 AM)

Hadn't realized until now that you're an incurable optimist, a true romantic  .

609

General Software Discussion / Re: image editing tools

« Last post by barney on June 03, 2012, 02:33 PM »

This might do what you want.

610

General Software Discussion / Re: which programming language is most powerful in automating/interacting with MS Wi

« Last post by barney on June 02, 2012, 07:17 PM »

That question may be unanswerable as stated.

Most any answer you get is going to be highly subjective, methinks.  And I suspect you're looking for versatility, rather than power. 

When I was using VB, it was the most versatile. 

Then when I used Turbo Pascal or Delphi, they were, in turn, the most versatile.

As far as raw power, C/C++ will likely take the lead, but there will be differences of opinion even there.

Power/versatility, other than really hard core programming, are mostly going to depend upon what you are trying to do at the moment.  Each language has degrees of weakness and strength, and each has differing ways of dealing with GUIs.

I'd suggest that you pick a language, then really learn it.  That's the only way you're going to discover whether it will perform according to your needs.  If it doesn't try another one (1).  Sooner or later, you'll find the one (1) that truly suits your needs and purposes.  Yes, it's an arduous process, but the only one (1) that works in the long run, at least in my experience.  There really aren't any shortcuts  .

611

General Software Discussion / Re: Fastpreview x32 and x64

« Last post by barney on June 01, 2012, 09:52 PM »

Thank you for that discovery.  A lifesaver  !

612

Living Room / Re: Google Maps - watching the watchmen ("doing good")

« Last post by barney on June 01, 2012, 09:10 PM »

Shame that it only shows the US -but, then, I'd not envy the job of making it work world wide  .  Wonder if it will inspire similar efforts in other countries ... at least, the ones that don't tromp on it  .  'Course, the count would be pretty high right now in parts of the Middle East.  And it might be kinda hard to distinguish just the public servant aspect of it   .  But very interesting, nonetheless.  There are three (3) in my city:  not certain if I'm surprised at so few, or civicly (?) proud  .

613

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... opinions/recommendations, ftp diff software

« Last post by barney on May 31, 2012, 03:37 PM »

While I intend to investigate the Wikipedia files ewemoa so graciously provided, I went ahead with Beyond Compare because of mouser's accolade  .  Time constraints dictated faster action than would normally be palatable  .

Only problem I have with Beyond Compare - prolly 'cause I'm not fully conversant with it yet - is that it does not perform a text compare on the initial run.  Other than that, it works extremely well.  For me, this is the one thing that would have made FileZilla complete  .

614

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... opinions/recommendations, ftp diff software

« Last post by barney on May 28, 2012, 08:00 PM »

FWIW, the following seems to have a column for FTP support:

  Other features section of "Comparison of file comparison tools"

-ewemoa (May 28, 2012, 05:56 PM)

He-he-he ... my ignorance exposed once again .  For some reason, I always forget about Wikipedia  .  Thanks.

615

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... opinions/recommendations, ftp diff software

« Last post by barney on May 28, 2012, 07:58 PM »

I've found Beyond Compare to be quite wonderful.

-mouser (May 28, 2012, 03:27 PM)

That's enough for me ... bought it  .

616

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... opinions/recommendations, ftp diff software

« Last post by barney on May 28, 2012, 03:19 PM »

You're probably right - I didn't spend much time reading the fine print. 

I was hoping to find something similar to FileZilla, but when the first three (3) hits I ran across (and several times thereafter) were commercial, and nothing showed on FreeCode, I figured my luck was out.  Since I'll prolly have to pay for the product, I seek opinions/recommendations on the better product. 

I don't mind the pay for aspect, but I don't want to sucker myself into paying for a bad product (which has happened more than once, hardware and software both  ).

617

General Software Discussion / In search of ... opinions/recommendations, ftp diff software

« Last post by barney on May 28, 2012, 12:15 PM »

Folk,

I'm looking for ftp diff software.  So far, I've found DiffVue-$20.00, Diff Commander-$29.00, Beyond Compare-$30.00, and all prices seem to be very low end, such that if I'm going to use the software to check more than one (1) site, I need to buy multiple licenses.  Nothing showed up at freecode.com, at least, nothing that I could recognize (their descriptions are not always as comprehensive as they might be  ).

That being the case, anyone here have any recommendations?

618

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... a better way to list existing software

« Last post by barney on May 28, 2012, 11:28 AM »

Typo (brain typo, that is) ... was gonna say HDD, then went to check actual HDD size to be certain, lost track of what I was doing when I came back  .  Shoulda been 6GB RAM, of course  .

619

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... a better way to list existing software

« Last post by barney on May 28, 2012, 09:56 AM »

Status update.

After close to a dozen efforts (I lost track, of course), the Toshiba seems to be keeping the Ultimate upgrade.  At least, the upgrade has survived four (4) reboots, one (1) overnight.  The frustrating part is that there is no clear indication as to what finally - if it is final! - worked.  Very frustrating  .  As they say in military dialogue, "Confidence is low."

On the positive side, several programs have become evident that should at least alleviate some of the stress in case of similar future events.

Oh, one (1) other question, anent this topic:  how do I mark it as resolved?  I really should take care of housekeeping  .

620

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... a better way to list existing software

« Last post by barney on May 28, 2012, 09:45 AM »

Thanks.

I quit using Belarc some time ago.  Don't recall exactly why, but I think it was because it kept telling me I needed to upgrade PHP/MySQL/Apache, as well as a few commercial programs  .  However, in light of this recent set of events, it appears a revisit is in order, with a bit more attention to possible configuration(s).

Looks as though a [at least] weekly inventory would be beneficial, as well as the scheduled backups  .

Aside:  this is the first post I've made that had no corrections in spell check  .

621

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... a better way to list existing software

« Last post by barney on May 28, 2012, 01:08 AM »

Thanks  .

I have that on my to-do list, but hadn't looked at it yet.  Sounds promising  .

(Note:  that to-do list could keep me busy for well nigh a year, but life keeps getting in the way of the important stuff  .)

622

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... a better way to list existing software

« Last post by barney on May 27, 2012, 11:26 PM »

I'd love to do that ... but the restore disc won't install ... can't get Toshiba to boot from it.

OK, more on the situation.  I finally - after a dozen or so tries (Einstein was wrong  !) got the system to recognize the upgrade.  Seven (7) times, in fact.  Same result each time: 

• update installs
• system reboots into Ultimate
• system crashes on next reboot - no boot record.

Then I have to go through several tries to get system to boot from optical drive.  I'm typing this prior to my next [probably failed  ] reboot, 'cause I don't know what it'll take to get back online.  I had a crib sheet for EasyBCD, but that seems to be gone with the wind.  If reboot doesn't fail, I'll see if I can find it again online.  If worse comes to worst, I can get online with the Thrive tablet, but an OSK is not well suited to any kind of real communication - it barely suffices for search  .

I'm basically very unhappy  with Toshiba at this point  .

623

General Software Discussion / In search of ... a better way to list existing software

« Last post by barney on May 27, 2012, 04:16 PM »

Folk, I have a[nother] problem.

Have a [relatively] new Toshiba Satellite, P775, with Intel i7 CPU, 600GB RAM, 750GB HDD, Win7 Home Premium. 
The disk is partitioned thusly:

• 250GB OS (C:\) drive partition
• remainder partitioned as E:\ drive for data & some software that wants to write to the install directory.

I want to upgrade to Win7 Ultimate.  In light of that, I went to Amazon, purchased the appropriate Windows Anytime Upgrade.  I'm still working with that, but so far the results have been nil.  The upgrade cannot even create a restore point, so that kills it before any upgrade has been initiated.

I've checked that the drives are properly configured, insofar as I can tell, for restore creation.

In light of this, it's likely that I'll have to do a full install, rather than an upgrade.  I've been using this box for a month or so, and have installed a number of programs.  I'm trying to list all the installed software so as to create a checklist for installs subsequent to the upgrade.

I tried the late Karen Kenworthy's Directory Printer, but I don't know that it's listing everything.  I also tried Revo Uninstaller to export both a .txt and .html file.  Again, I'm not certain that everything is being listed.

I know I'm gonna have trouble replacing some of the utilities Toshiba put on the box, so I want to be certain everything is listed in order to research those utilities.  So, back to the question at hand, is there a better way to list everything that is currently installed  ?

(A better question might be, "How can I get past the restore point issue?"  However, I'm not certain that could be addressed by anyone who did not have physical access to the box  .)

Oh, yeah, I did shut down everything that did not have to load on boot (Chameleon Startup Manager Pro, v3.4.0.761), which did make the Windows boot process much faster.  However, this Toshiba takes 123-126 seconds for the physical boot, i.e., two (2) minutes before the OS even begins to load  .  That can be shortened in the BIOS, but then it will boot only from the HDD, not even from a LiveCD 

624

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you like CAPTCHAs?

« Last post by barney on May 26, 2012, 11:49 PM »

There's an old saying - older than me  - that I cannot quote directly, but paraphrased, "What man can create, man can defeat/break."  (Well-l-l, I did say paraphrased  .)

There is serious doubt that any of us can devise/create anything that some other of us cannot defeat/circumvent.  Inventiveness prevails on both sides of the force, always has, always will.

625

Living Room / Re: The Downfall of Internet Advertising

« Last post by barney on May 25, 2012, 01:24 PM »

One thing I've noticed is when people recommend a free (FOSS or Freeware) application or suite, others chime in with their happy reports on a software that is NOT free, thus the commentary on something that is freely available becomes an unwitting WoM platform to drive profitable business.

-Edvard (May 25, 2012, 12:46 PM)

Yep.  When you look at the history of marketing, there are instances in earliest recorded history that we have found - not by intent, just a casual byproduct of recording some other event  .  (Unfortunately, marketing history is something I know more about than [n]ever I desired to know  .) 

Can't you just imagine some Cro-magnon selling his brethren on hunting mastodon because he overheard one Neanderthal telling another how good it tasted  ?  WoM will always be around, but Internet folk are a varied and talented lot, and someone will come up with a marketing methodology better suited to the venue. 

Current/recent methodology has been patterned after newspaper/magazine models with some input from TV/radio models, none of which are really suited to this new venue.  The existing model is a shotgun approach, using repetition to produce seeming familiarity/need, with an occasional serendipitous purchase.

When someone devises a model specifically suited to the Web, that person:

• will garner significant valuta,
• will be copied so fast that heads will spin.

Just a matter of time.