Recent Posts

601

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« Last post by Darwin on May 31, 2010, 11:03 AM »

Welcome RingtailedFox, from another Canadian

-rgdot (May 31, 2010, 09:28 AM)

And another!

602

DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve: "Mac is 5 times more stable than windows running games"

« Last post by Darwin on May 27, 2010, 11:20 PM »

5 times more stable?  Not 4 or 6?  Or maybe 4.997?  I hate statements that try to apply an obviously subjective number to a non-empirical statement.

-wraith808 (May 27, 2010, 10:37 AM)

Exactly my thought - how the hell did they quantify this (hint: they didn't).

603

Living Room / Re: It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft*

« Last post by Darwin on May 26, 2010, 05:52 PM »

-Stoic Joker (May 26, 2010, 05:27 PM)

Wow! I royally fcsked that one up didn't I? 

I meant to quote (and was responding to) this part:

The obsequious Apple salesman kept going on and on about the superior "innovations" on the iMac (like streaming video!) and went on about the superior security, yada, yada, yada. I was with my mum for that embarrassing spiel. She and dad went and checked out Windows 7 machines on their own and went and bought the iMac without me. The same salesman convinced them that the iMac was competitive in terms of hardware at that price point. Ridiculous.

No worries. I did want to throttle the guy (who was the head tech guy at the store as well). You should have seen his face when my mum asked him about Windows 7. Apparently, he has a Windows 7 machine at home that he has set up as a Media Centre. He didn't say much but his face and body language spoke volumes. He just kind of shook his head and said something about not getting on with it. WTF? Big time fan-boy.

604

Living Room / Re: It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft*

« Last post by Darwin on May 26, 2010, 05:48 PM »

the second secret teaching of the Kung-Fu Tech Support Masters

-40hz

And the first is?  Always take a non-refundable deposit?  

They're calling it the iWhopper.

-Stoic Joker

iWatering, iWept.

-cranioscopical (May 26, 2010, 05:33 PM)

605

Living Room / Re: It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft*

« Last post by Darwin on May 26, 2010, 05:02 PM »

PS I did consider loading Vista Ultimate on their iMac but can't see them using a dual-boot setup and doubt they'd enjoy running Windows as a VM. Thoughts?

-Darwin (May 26, 2010, 12:20 PM)

They're happy, leave them happy.
If they ever become unhappy that'll be the time to unveil another wonder.

-cranioscopical (May 26, 2010, 02:12 PM)

Agreed. Putting Vista on it would be more for me than it would be for them (I have a copy of Vista Ultimate that I'm not using). I would like to be able to load up some of my shareware that I'm not using so that they can use it (Photo editing, mostly), but it seems like too much hassle for what I suspect would be little return.

606

Living Room / Re: It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft*

« Last post by Darwin on May 26, 2010, 03:32 PM »

They paid $1300 for a 22' iMac

-Darwin (May 26, 2010, 12:20 PM)

Salesman probably told them a tall story!

-cranioscopical (May 26, 2010, 02:10 PM)

Doh! 22" iMac...

607

Living Room / Re: It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft*

« Last post by Darwin on May 26, 2010, 03:31 PM »

PS I did consider loading Vista Ultimate on their iMac but can't see them using a dual-boot setup and doubt they'd enjoy running Windows as a VM. Thoughts?

-Darwin (May 26, 2010, 12:20 PM)

If some schlockmeister Crapple sales tool did that to my parents? He'd be dragged out behind the boutique for a quick lesson in instant karma. I've got slightly less than half the patience of a coked-out badger when it comes to that brand of nonsense.

-Stoic Joker (May 26, 2010, 01:50 PM)

Which nonsense - the VM/Dual booting Windows idea? Just checking...

608

Living Room / Re: It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft*

« Last post by Darwin on May 26, 2010, 12:45 PM »

Good points, app 

609

General Software Discussion / Re: Uninstaller Roundup - Revo - Total - ZSoft & the less magnificent seven

« Last post by Darwin on May 26, 2010, 12:38 PM »

This is the trouble that I have had with snapshot based unisntallers as well. I still use Ashampoo to take a snapshot of my system before and after some installations but don't use it to actually remove anything. For that I use Your Uninstaller!, which takes a different approach and scans your system and registry for changes made based on the installer used. It offers several levels of thoroughness, but I tend to play it safe and use the recommended settings (not the aggressive one that is available). So far, in five years of use, I've never had a problem.

610

Living Room / Re: It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft*

« Last post by Darwin on May 26, 2010, 12:20 PM »

My parents had to replace their G5 iMac recently (the capacitors on the motherboard were all melting down - evidently a known problem with iMacs of it vintage - 2005) and I insisted that they look at both Windows 7 and Apple replacements. They paid $1300 for a 22' iMac with a Dual Core Intel processor, integrated graphics, 4GB DDR3 RAM and a 500GB harddrive. It's stunning. However, for about $300 less, they could have gotten an HP with Quad Core processor, 16GB RAM, 1GB dedicated graphcs and a 1 TB Harddrive. The obsequious Apple salesman kept going on and on about the superior "innovations" on the iMac (like streaming video!) and went on about the superior security, yada, yada, yada. I was with my mum for that embarrassing spiel. She and dad went and checked out Windows 7 machines on their own and went and bought the iMac without me. The same salesman convinced them that the iMac was competitive in terms of hardware at that price point. Ridiculous.

I do have to say this: the way that the Apple was presented - in a very uncluttered, very bright environment with lots of light-coloured, real-wood and stainless steel furnitutre - half sold me on the thing. Around here, most Windows based machines are available in box stores - crowded, dark, austere, and with horrible music blasting at you. Further, the machines don't tend to have any software on them for you to play with. At the Apple store everything was loaded for demonstration, so the salesman was showing my mum streaming video from websites that he'd bookmarked, showing off TimeMachine, and demonstrating OpenOffice and iWorks. I think that made a big difference as well...

I take comfort in knowing that: I have access to Snow Leopard to play around with and that my parents are using a machine that they are comfortable with and that they know. But it still rankles... I keep thinking about the GB's of unused Windows shareware that I have and don't use and that I could have loaded up for them. Perversely, I bought my mum an Acer netbook with XP on it for Christmas and she loves it. I wonder what would have happened if I'd sprung for a Windows 7 Starter based machine instead... ?

PS I did consider loading Vista Ultimate on their iMac but can't see them using a dual-boot setup and doubt they'd enjoy running Windows as a VM. Thoughts?

611

General Software Discussion / Re: What's the best software uninstaller tool?

« Last post by Darwin on May 25, 2010, 06:49 PM »

Your Uninstaller is Pay First and a little expensive, so I want to ask if you ever use the other features it is offering (clean this & that)?

-Curt (May 25, 2010, 08:55 AM)

Hi Curt - not really. I don't use any such services anymore, to be honest. However, I have used the Start Menu cleaner and it worked really well. The other tools look good - I've looked at them but haven't "run" them.

612

General Software Discussion / Re: What's the best software uninstaller tool?

« Last post by Darwin on May 25, 2010, 08:39 AM »

Heh, heh - as we have discussed elsewhere, Curt, those Yiggles! are insidious! I've upgraded all sorts of Ashampoo apps that I have using them... and I didn't need to! Oh well, "found" money, right? With the exception of Ashampoo Uninstall Suite 4, I no longer have any Ashampoo software installed. I think that Ashampoo Uninstall Suite 2 was very good, with the caveats outlined above, of course.

613

General Software Discussion / Re: What's the best software uninstaller tool?

« Last post by Darwin on May 24, 2010, 10:33 PM »

I use Ashampoo Uninstall to monitor changes that *some* installers make to my system. Your Uninstaller very safely handles the uninstallation of most of the applications that I remove. I occasionally refer to the Ashampoo logs to remove more difficult/hidden elements of some software that I feel it necessary to *completely* remove from my system. So, overall I am curious about what changes an application's installer makes to my system. I just don't feel that it is necessary to monitor every installation that I make on my system.

614

General Software Discussion / Re: What's the best software uninstaller tool?

« Last post by Darwin on May 23, 2010, 09:19 AM »

What about for 64 bit Windows?

-doctorfrog (May 22, 2010, 11:27 PM)

I'm running 64 bit Windows 7 and both Your Uninstaller and Ashampoo Uninstaller work flawlessly. NB they're both 32 bit applications.

615

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Burning Studio 10

« Last post by Darwin on May 22, 2010, 05:37 PM »

Would there also be a theatre in Anjou ?

Do they play Death of a Salesman ?

-Curt (May 22, 2010, 05:10 PM)

 

616

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Burning Studio 10

« Last post by Darwin on May 22, 2010, 01:56 PM »

Sigh... I hear ya, Curt! I'm in the same boat, but I am *trying* to let go of past investments - afterall, a foolish investment is a foolish investment...

PPS - I suffer from it as well... 

617

General Software Discussion / Re: What's the best software uninstaller tool?

« Last post by Darwin on May 22, 2010, 10:21 AM »

I'm still using Your Uninstaller and Ashampoo Uninstaller. They take different approaches - YU thoroughly removes installed applications via the applications uninstaller and THEN scans the registry and file system for known changes based on the type of installer/uninstaller used. Works really well. Ashampoo I use very rarely, but do use it to create before and after snapshots of my registry when installing certain apps. I NEVER use it to actually perform an uninstall, though... Doing so is asking for trouble because any background process that is running while creating the uninstallation snapshot that makes changes to the registry during that time is going to be corrupted... but I digress...

618

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Burning Studio 10

« Last post by Darwin on May 22, 2010, 08:51 AM »

Curt - don't go for the CAD program, yet... I purchased it in March of 2009 at v.1 (at the time my Yiggles garnered me a discount on the upgrade from 3D CAD Architecture to 3D CAD Pro and I paid over $100 for it) and received no updates or bug fixes at all. In about July or August they released v.2 with no option to buy at a discount other than  upgrade (another $259) - ie no Yiggles determined discount on top of the upgrade price. I say wait because v.3 could be coming out soon.

Once the urge to play around with the programs overwhelms me, I'll cave and start installing them again. My goad is to have around 170-180 programs installed and I'd been doing pretty well. However, they've crept up to 209 and I've managed to get back down to 203, so quite a way to go!

EDIT: Of course, another issue with the CAD program is that I never - NEVER - never used it   The pricing is really actually very competitive when compared to other 3D packages available...

619

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« Last post by Darwin on May 21, 2010, 01:41 PM »

Not sure if it's been said in this thread, but I'm sure it warrants repeating anyways... 

Programs that steal focus! Pure evil! 

-Renegade (May 21, 2010, 06:33 AM)

I think that this has been mentioned already, but heck, it BEARS REPEATING! Probably my biggest computer based pet-peeve...

620

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Burning Studio 10

« Last post by Darwin on May 21, 2010, 01:39 PM »

-as I said, I like the Simpsons' version better ;-)

Nonesense, sorry.

I also have 120% version 7 installed, and I like Ashampoo's better for the very simple reason that the Ashampoo GUI is made for dummies like me! 

-Curt (May 21, 2010, 11:32 AM)

Heh, heh - I do like how easy Ashampoo Burning Studio is to use. Had the beta 10 installer not overwritten version 9, I'd probably still have it installed. However, I'm into austerity mode with program installations at the moment so for now it stays off the computer. No doubt this will change in the coming months (it's a cyclical thing with me  ).

Not trying to play Eve here, Curt, but Burning Studio 10 is only 1,000 Yiggles 

621

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Burning Studio 10

« Last post by Darwin on May 21, 2010, 11:18 AM »

Back to Burning Studio 10, I did install the beta and take a look. It overwrote version 9... At any rate, the experience prompted me to uninstall the beta and I DIDN'T bother to reinstall 9. I have Alcohol 120% installed and for the extremely rare times when I need to burn a CD/DVD, it is more than sufficient.

PS differences between 9 and 10 don't appear worth the upgrade price (though with all my Yiggles I would get it for nothing).

622

General Software Discussion / Re: What to use to back up 1:1 ?

« Last post by Darwin on May 18, 2010, 10:34 PM »

+1 for Super Flexible from me, too. The latest build of 5 beta is rock solid. I also use both Acronis Backup and Recovery 10 and Genie Timeline Pro 2 (Acronis for C: drive - my system backup), Genie to backup and keep earlier versions of all of my work files and SFFS to sync my music, video, and photo files, none of which change very often..

623

Living Room / Re: Identity Theft OFFLINE - Get ready to be VERY scared

« Last post by Darwin on May 17, 2010, 02:12 PM »

These 'deleted' books, however, would remain on the shelves until somebody needed the space and got around to actually tossing them.

-40hz (May 15, 2010, 12:08 PM)

So much for those dewey-eyed librarians!

-cranioscopical (May 15, 2010, 12:27 PM)

624

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by Darwin on May 10, 2010, 10:08 PM »

So... I went from XYPlorer 9.10.0000 to 9.10.0009 and note that maximized or minimized to the taskbar, XYPlorer is pretty much solid at 00% of my CPU. I changed folders, changed preview to a pdf, changed back to a jpg and the worst "blip" I saw as up to 31% as the pdf preview opened, but it lasted for about 5 seconds, if that and settled back down to 00%, where it remains.

Overall, looking at this makes me wonder if I shouldn't be using XYplorer MORE than I do now (I have DOPus 9 set up as my default) as it seems much lighter...

625

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by Darwin on May 10, 2010, 10:00 PM »

OK - I'm several builds back of the latest beta (dated yesterday) and am installing it now.