Recent Posts

6176

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Calendar/to-do manager with special repeat patterns (for students)

« Last post by Curt on January 02, 2008, 04:24 PM »

I believe ReminderFox, addon for Firefox and for Thunderbird, the can do this.

http://reminderfox.mozdev.org/
https://addons.mozil...S/firefox/addon/1191

{ada4b710-8346-4b82-8199-5de2b400a6ae}

6177

General Software Discussion / SysInternals auto-installler & auto-updater!

« Last post by Curt on January 02, 2008, 01:43 PM »

http://www.lerup.com/SISetup/ 

SISetup

The Sysinternals set of freeware utility programs is a great software package. Once you have started using them it is almost impossible to get along without them.

Whenever I get to a new PC, one of the first things I do is to install e.g. the Process Explorer from Sysinternals. However, installation always requires some manual operations as the programs are delivered in zip-files and without installation programs. Another issue for lazy people like me is that the author Mark Russinovich quite often update the programs with new great functionality and checking for this and doing the manual update can be a bit tedious.

Due to this I created SISetup, a small program that facilitates installation of an arbitrary number of the Sysinternals utilities. Once installed it is also very easy to check for updates of these programs and when available the update will be installed automatically. I also wanted the program to be as simple as possible with no fuzz and to run without any prerequisites i.e. unzipping of the packages should be made by the program itself. The program is quite small, only 108 KB.

If you (like me) are addicted to the Sysinternals utilities you may find use for SISetup.

Installation and usage:

No specific package download is required, you just start the program from the link below. You can choose to either run the program directly or download it for a first virus check or alike. When starting the program for the first time you will get the usual warnings about running an unsigned application.

SISetup will install itself into a folder named Sysinternals in the "Program Files" directory. It will retrieve it's initial default settings from this site, see more ...

http://www.lerup.com/SISetup/
 

6178

General Software Discussion / Re: Adware on today's GAOTD: Chameleon Desktop

« Last post by Curt on January 02, 2008, 08:43 AM »

A little funny FYI maybe, but otherwise just plain embarrassing to me: This "Watermark Factory", you know: the one this Chameleon adware seems to be hardwired to, right? Guess what? I have it! -and I have owned it for 3/4 of a year!!     

But I have never used it, not even once. Today I found it by accident... it was the giveaway the 12'th of April, 2007. Why did I keep it? I have no idea - I mean: why would I ever want to destroy a picture by adding watermarks? No, thank you.

Now the big question is if I can figure out how to tell Chameleon Desktop not to keep opening that homepage anymore? Hmmm... How do you open the inside of a program? I know some ripoff'ers are doing it, so it must somehow be posible. 

6179

General Software Discussion / Re: How far can you throw a paper airplane

« Last post by Curt on January 01, 2008, 11:46 AM »

Ohh.. there is a fan hanging from the ceiling... ouch!! 2.2 m

6180

General Software Discussion / Re: Office suite for my mom?

« Last post by Curt on January 01, 2008, 11:02 AM »

..., my vote would go for Ashampoo/Softmaker as well.

-Darwin (January 01, 2008, 10:53 AM)

I should mention that I have not been able to update my Ashampoo version via SoftMaker (SoftMaker updates more often), and the price on the Softmaker is $80 compared to Ashampo's $60 ($24 in my case), so they are not all identical. If price doesn't matter too much I would recommend SoftMaker (Edit: - for non-US resident non-students/teachers, that is - otherwise MS Office 2007 is the logical choice).

6181

General Software Discussion / Re: post your 5 most used applications in 2007 here!

« Last post by Curt on January 01, 2008, 08:08 AM »

<shameless_plug>Agenda At Once</shameless_plug>

-vradmilovic (January 01, 2008, 07:46 AM)

- http://www.datalandsoftware.com/agenda/ may be a better link

6182

General Software Discussion / Re: post your 5 most used applications in 2007 here!

« Last post by Curt on January 01, 2008, 08:04 AM »

Top five or six, also without any links....:

Maxthon 1.6
Winamp Pro
FastStone Capture
M8 Spartan Clipboard
True Launch Bar
PS Tray Factory

6183

General Software Discussion / Re: Any 'print as printerfriendly page' automatizer?

« Last post by Curt on January 01, 2008, 07:44 AM »

I found this free one for Firefox + PDF only: Select-Arrange


http://select-arrange.com/welcome
http://www.all4you.d...ctArrange-43300.html

6184

General Software Discussion / Re: Office suite for my mom?

« Last post by Curt on January 01, 2008, 07:12 AM »

, so ease of use is probably a pretty important factor)

-CWuestefeld (December 31, 2007, 03:12 PM)

- then it really is hard to exclude MS Office 2007, isn't it... see CyberNet's award:

I couldn’t help but give Microsoft first place in this category. Their new Office 2007 has made me a hundred times more productive thanks to the intuitive Ribbons that have replaced the old-fashioned toolbars. I find myself using features I never knew existed, and it looks so darn good. Yeah, I’m a sucker for eye candy.

I first started using Microsoft Office 2007 over a year ago when it was still in the pre-release stage. It took a few weeks to get accustomed to where some of the options had moved to, but in the end I find myself saving loads of time. A big thanks goes out to the developers who came up with the idea for “live previews,” because that alone deserves a gold medal. And the Mini Toolbar is sheer genius.

Copyright © 31-12-2007 CyberNet |

Is her church really that small that they cannot afford this? Not yet being graduated she should be able to have it death-cheap from Microsoft themselves:

Microsoft is offering Office 2007 Ultimate to students for $59.95 through April 30, 2008. ...

-Darwin (September 14, 2007, 07:19 PM)

6185

General Software Discussion / Re: To cut or not to cut - The lousy MS Office ribbon

« Last post by Curt on January 01, 2008, 06:55 AM »

Seems someone, but not just "someone", does not hate the ribbons:

2007 CyberNet Awards:
Most Productive Apps

Posted: 31 Dec 2007 04:50 PM CST

1'st Place:
Microsoft Office 2007

I couldn’t help but give Microsoft first place in this category. Their new Office 2007 has made me a hundred times more productive thanks to the intuitive Ribbons that have replaced the old-fashioned toolbars. I find myself using features I never knew existed, and it looks so darn good. Yeah, I’m a sucker for eye candy.

I first started using Microsoft Office 2007 over a year ago when it was still in the pre-release stage. It took a few weeks to get accustomed to where some of the options had moved to, but in the end I find myself saving loads of time. A big thanks goes out to the developers who came up with the idea for “live previews,” because that alone deserves a gold medal. And the Mini Toolbar is sheer genius.

So could it be that some haters didn't thoroughly check out the features before starting hating?

http://cybernetnews....ost-productive-apps/

6186

General Software Discussion / Re: Adware on today's GAOTD: Chameleon Desktop

« Last post by Curt on January 01, 2008, 06:26 AM »

... are there really ads bundled with it?

-Nighted (January 01, 2008, 02:37 AM)

No, no ads, just the forced launching of Watermarks Factory's homepage, which of course is the home of Chameleon Desktop   though it is VERY difficult to find the link   because it is not listed on the "products" page! 

Icon Constructor MAY be part of the same family.

I wonder if the owner also owns vladstudio?

BTW, clicking "?" opens this:

6187

General Software Discussion / Re: Adware on today's GAOTD: Chameleon Desktop

« Last post by Curt on December 31, 2007, 07:07 AM »

I should tell that I wrote a comment on GAOTD, warning about the behavior. My tactics must have been wrong, I don't know - I did use the phrase ADWARE!!! - anyway, my post was censored and doesn't show, even it was among the first thirty comments or so.

I find this to be a problem, to put it mildly. (Edit: wrong info deleted)
 

Giveaway of the Day (Abbreviated GAOTD on the website) is a website that gives away a piece of licensed PC (Windows) software for free every day. The site was launched on 24th October 2006.

(...)(...)(...)

Lately, the games and software have been receiving poor user ratings because of their low quality, simplicity, bundling with adware, or otherwise.

(...)

-Wikipedia

6188

General Software Discussion / Re: No sound in Flash 9. Anyone else?

« Last post by Curt on December 30, 2007, 04:36 AM »

A paste from a link from phil's link:

No sound in Macromedia Flash Player 9?

I just reinstalled my system with XP SP2 and found that sound in Macromedia Flash player (version 9) wasn’t working. I compared it to another machine and found out that - for some obscure reason - the wavemapper mapping was missing.

I tried reinstalling other versions of the Flash player, but to no success … So I added the mapping myself via the registry.

Go to the following sweetspot in your registry:

My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32

Create a new String value named “wavemapper“. As value give it “msacm32.drv“.

And that’s it, no restart necessary, all your Flash embedded videos will have sound again

-Weyland.be

6189

General Software Discussion / Re: Adware on today's GAOTD: Chameleon Desktop

« Last post by Curt on December 30, 2007, 04:02 AM »

There clearly was a reason that I didn't supply any link to the program's homepage, but only to Giveawayoftheday. I have edited the post in order to amplify the warning. The program itself is actually of an okay quality, nice to look at, and easy to operate - but I am truly sorry that I forgot to tell about the pre-checked option to install Watermarks Factory. 

6190

General Software Discussion / Re: I need help

« Last post by Curt on December 30, 2007, 03:37 AM »

@ polski8, would you fix the link to your board, please, so we can try it out?

6191

General Software Discussion / Re: Replace Windows Explorer [SOLUTION]

« Last post by Curt on December 29, 2007, 05:54 PM »

Is it the search feature, Curt? Or is it Windows Explorer? As noted above, if I run Windows Explorer with the QTTab plugins I get a second explorer.exe process running as well... If, as f0dder notes, I have "launch folders in a separate process" enabled the second instance of explorer.exe doesn't close with Windows Explorer. What With "launch folders in a separate process" disabled, the second instance does close...

-Darwin (December 29, 2007, 12:14 PM)

Hmmm... I am not too sure what is causing what. Testing: As I am typing this I only have a single explorer.exe running and no Explorer window / shell open. As I open C\Programs (incl QTTab, and with six other folder tabs ready) there is still only one explorer.exe. Using QT to move files to another folder: one copy only. Using Explorer to copy2 = one. I am beginning to be confused again again. How did I even manage to have two copies of explorer.exe? I have seen two of them many many times (latest when I typed my previous post), but it is only now I am realizing that I actually don't know WHY there sometimes are two instead of merely one copy open. Apparently I have changed the "seperat process" settings without remembering, but I am using QT a lot right now and with only one explorer.exe open, so I will have to eath my words about the use of "Stifinder" (what is the English name?).

EDIT1+2: One explanation on my XP is that when ALzip has extracted a container it will open an extra copy of Explorer in order to display the folder's content. (I do this several times a day).

Well, that was one reason...

6192

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: DivX Author rebate coupon needed

« Last post by Curt on December 29, 2007, 05:15 PM »

Sorry for the mixed signal; I bought it "long ago" - I was merely reminding others:

Offer expires: January 3, 2008... 

-Curt (December 29, 2007, 06:55 AM)

...

6193

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

« Last post by Curt on December 29, 2007, 01:30 PM »

Yet another file manager I didn't know about is the portable BonCommander, but FreewareWorldTeam wrote me about it today:

About BonCommander

BonCommander is simple file manager application with FTP client functionality for Microsoft Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista.

BonCommander features:
simple user interface, similar to other programs of this type (Total Commander, Norton Commander, FAR manager etc.)
fast navigation using keyboard and hot-keys
built-in FTP client
build-in simple text file viewer
it doesn't use Windows registry for configuration, thus it can be used as "portable" application - just copy BonCMD.exe (and optionally also HLP and INI files) to USB flash-disk and use it on different computers
interface in English language
absolutely free software - it contains no ads, no spyware, no adware and no toolbars

http://boncmd.php5.cz/about.php

6194

General Software Discussion / Re: Replace Windows Explorer [SOLUTION]

« Last post by Curt on December 29, 2007, 12:04 PM »

Curt what's Pathfinder?

-tomos (December 29, 2007, 11:29 AM)

Sorry, I merely translated the Danish name (Stifinder), in fact I have no idea of the English term, but it is MS's name for Explorer when you are using it to navigate.

6195

General Software Discussion / Re: Replace Windows Explorer [SOLUTION]

« Last post by Curt on December 29, 2007, 11:23 AM »

I also have two. One is for Pathfinder.

6196

General Software Discussion / Re: Replace Windows Explorer [SOLUTION]

« Last post by Curt on December 29, 2007, 11:21 AM »

I love shell extensions! 

explorer.exe (XP, 32 BIT):
Virtual Size | Working Set | Private Bytes:


 

6197

General Software Discussion / Re: Print Calender on Desktop Wallpaper?

« Last post by Curt on December 29, 2007, 11:11 AM »

just print a small calender on the top right area of wallpaper, then quit.. 

-blackcat (December 29, 2007, 06:01 AM)

I don't quite understand how you can expect the screen to keep displaying a calendar when the calendar program has closed. I cannot think that is posible, unless it is saved to the wallpaper's picture file itself.

6198

General Software Discussion / Adware on today's GAOTD: Chameleon Desktop

« Last post by Curt on December 29, 2007, 10:23 AM »

As always I went off to see what today's giveaway was, but didn't think much of it. Later on I came to think of it and downloaded it anyway, because there were some features I would like to try out. The first time I launched the program it opened the homepage of some Watermarks Factory - "okay", I said to myself, "the author wants to tell about his other products. Well, that's okay the first time you lauch one of his programs". But the very same thing happended the second and the third time! hrmmffff... Shame on you, GiveawayOfTheDay, for allowing this!
 

When I had cooled down I started to play a little with the program. I know it claims to be handling wallpapers, but it can also add many sorts of effects to all your other pictures, which you then can save - without involving your wallpaper - and this was the very feature I was interested in. To make a long story a little shorter: I am recommending (Edit: can only recommend) this piece of adware because of how easy it is to add (high quality) effects to images: just a click on a button.

Edit continued: As Nighted is pointing out, I have forgotten to tell that this adware will try to install Watermarks Factory during setup - the program this adware seems to be all about - so you (surely) may want to uncheck this option (and of course you can).

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

Here are some of the one-click results of this image:

6199

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: DivX Author rebate coupon needed

« Last post by Curt on December 29, 2007, 06:55 AM »

Bumping:


Offer expires: January 3, 2008...   

6200

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: White Smoke 70% off

« Last post by Curt on December 29, 2007, 06:44 AM »

I only need to say that the $100 price is with VAT included - or more precisely: the word "VAT" is never mentioned, so the price is $100 whether you should pay VAT or not.