Recent Posts

626

Find And Run Robot / Re: [feature request] how to get the search box value ?

« Last post by steeladept on April 10, 2009, 09:24 PM »

Too many cats on the shelf?  I know the family is in town from another thread - that must be it!

627

General Software Discussion / Re: A software security dongle provider.

« Last post by steeladept on April 10, 2009, 09:21 PM »

No, I think that is a recommendation with reservations.

Spoiler

At the loony farm maybe?

628

General Software Discussion / Re: On developer's block, and calling it quits. Being a programmer is hard

« Last post by steeladept on April 08, 2009, 12:25 PM »

Another point is to realize just what and why you enjoy doing it.  I know for myself the reason I liked doing deskside support had nothing to do with the work which was quite repetitive and boring and had a lot to do with the fact that I got out and met nearly everyone in the company.  I didn't realize this until they forced us to start using LanDesk (remote control desktop) when I started to realize just how boring and repetitive my job really was. The part I liked facilitated the completion of the part I didn't like as much. Go figure.

Now that I am doing a completely different job, I don't have either of those factors.  Instead, I had to find a new like (still looking for those interested) and a whole new set of drudgery.  That is why I am looking at going back to school and looking both internally and externally for another job.

629

Living Room / Re: which is better for hard drive transfers: ide or usb cable

« Last post by steeladept on April 08, 2009, 11:52 AM »

Yeah, that is why I made sure to point it out.  Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I haven't had a reason to use it on USB2.  It was capable, just the PC's I had to use it on at the time were not.  That is how corporate life is though, I guess.  I still think they are significantly slower than IDE though, aren't they?  (too lazy to look up specs right now - reaching for coffee - maybe later ).

630

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: BBCeditor 1.0.4

« Last post by steeladept on April 01, 2009, 08:43 PM »

Maybe something I missed, but I can't get this thing to work for me.  It appears as though it should be an extract and run application (assuming .Net 2.0 exists) - is that correct?

Either way, that is what I did and it is just not doing anything from what I can tell.

631

Living Room / Re: which is better for hard drive transfers: ide or usb cable

« Last post by steeladept on April 01, 2009, 08:09 PM »

I used to work in a place that I would use the USB cables all the time.  They are WAY MORE convienient, but they are also WAY SLOWER.  Though, to be fair, I am fairly certain they were not USB2.  I believe it was USB1.  I literally took half a day to transfer about 40GB off a failing HD, and when it was time to leave and turn off power (due to a scheduled power outage), I still had not finished.  The next day I said to myself I wasn't going through that again, attached it as a slave in another machine, and finished the job in some absurdly small amount of time in comparison (10 minutes maybe?  Don't remember now).  With the newer ones, it may not be as big a deal.  In the end, I would first suggest a hard-drive dock that connects via eSATA (if available for all drives - don't know now).  If that was not available, I found the convenience factor outweighed time - YMMV.

632

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for: Stability - System - Stress Test to run in Windows

« Last post by steeladept on March 31, 2009, 08:31 PM »

Doppleganger beat me to it, but it sounds like you don't want stress testing at all.  Rather you want a system monitor with thresholds (preferably predefined thresholds based on the specific model of each individual piece).  If that is the case, I don't believe it exists, but Spotlight-On-Windows by Quest Software does the monitoring in a very intuitive and useful way.  It is expensive, but there is a free download and trial that can be useful for what you want.  Scratch that, it is now old abandonware that is now offered free:

http://www.quest.com/spotlight-on-windows/

I just got it myself now that I see that  .  It used to be expensive though.  I tried talking the company into getting it for some issues we had and they wouldn't pay the price - though they agreed that it was good software and might help fix the issues we were having. It was just a case of the fix being more expensive than the problem I guess.  Negotiations weren't as successful as I hoped, but I digress.

Since it is free, give it a shot.  At very least it will give you an idea of where the bottlenecks are in real time and you can try to determine what might resolve these issues elsewhere.

EDIT:  A quote from the website that was part of what I loved about this particular software:

"Spotlight offers a calibration process that automatically sets a baseline of normal activity and sets thresholds for each system. This allows Spotlight to send warnings of impending problems with visual and audible alerts."

In other words, it tailors itself to your system!

633

Living Room / Re: What's your favorite food snack?

« Last post by steeladept on March 31, 2009, 06:21 PM »

For me, not very unusual, but very tasty:

Pretzels dipped in Nutella...Yum!

(Not the SUSE/Yast kind of Yum either; Cranioscopical, et. al.)

634

Screenshot Captor / Re: FEATURE REQUEST - Edit Enhancements

« Last post by steeladept on March 20, 2009, 04:59 PM »

I didn't even think of dragging and dropping the picture.  Duh!  Oh well. 

As for the resize, I thought that was for stretching the picture to the canvas size (or collapsing the canvas to the picture), not adding canvas size to the picture.  That is cool.  Thanks.  Glad these were easy ones for you.   

635

Screenshot Captor / Re: Something I miss -

« Last post by steeladept on March 20, 2009, 01:29 PM »

No I wasn't using those methods, but I have been since and I find them quite useful now.  And  I am using the version 2.37.03.  It is stable and works for the project I am currently working on.  Though I must say I use newer versions at home. I really should update this version shouldn't I

636

Screenshot Captor / FEATURE REQUEST - Edit Enhancements

« Last post by steeladept on March 20, 2009, 01:25 PM »

I would have added to the pinned feature request, but that post is locked, so I figured this was the best place to put it.  If there is a better place, feel free to move it.

I use SC constantly lately and I have found a few features I would appreciate that may be in line with the product.  The first one I may have asked for elsewhere, but I will ask here again.  That request is to be able to open files in SC.  If you go to File>Open - wait, that doesn't exist!  That is what I am talking about.  I have a current work around - choose file, use open with... and then select SC, but that is annoying when already working in SC on other related captures.  See, I find SC extreamely easy to do certain things like crop or adding arrows, text, etc. and taking a screenshot of an existing image sounds counterintuitive to me.  Especially if the picture is bigger than the screen and not scaleable (I know, SC can handle that, but why not allow it to open it instead of taking a complicated screenshot).

The second request is a simple (well to the user  ) expansion of the canvas.  I often find myself cropping the picture down to a menubox (for example) then needing to paste that into Word so I can take another screenshot just to get a white background to write the arrow and information into.  I admit, there may be easier ways to accomplish this already built in, but I can say I haven't found it yet.

Hope that give a few good ideas.

637

General Software Discussion / Re: cannot play ripped music files

« Last post by steeladept on March 14, 2009, 04:30 AM »

Audiograbber is a good candidate for cd ripping, even though it's no longer in active development.

-lanux128 (March 13, 2009, 08:52 AM)

Band candidate - outdated ripping engine, poor MP3 encoder.

-f0dder (March 13, 2009, 12:09 PM)

Which band is putting it forward as a candidate? 

-Darwin (March 13, 2009, 01:32 PM)

Don't want to be called a 'snitch' or something, but....I think it was the rubber band 

-Shades (March 13, 2009, 07:33 PM)

Hey, leave Ryan Shupe out of this. 
He has some good songs though - IMNSHO.

638

Site/Forum Features / Re: Badge/Award Mod Rewritten

« Last post by steeladept on March 06, 2009, 07:24 PM »

Don't know about the others, but I tried to add the USAF one and could not get it to work.  I may be doing something wrong though?

639

Official Announcements / Re: MARCH 2009: It's the 4th Anniversary DonationCoder.com Fundraiser

« Last post by steeladept on March 06, 2009, 05:36 PM »

one thing that has come up in discussions is the idea of offering something special to people who donate during the fundraiser that they wouldn't be entitled to if they donated before the fundraiser.  while that might be a way to get more donations, it seems completely unfair and illogical to me, and we haven't ever done something like that.

-mouser (March 06, 2009, 03:53 PM)

I definitely agree with this!  I donated in Feb because I had a few extra dollars (a rare enough event!) that I could send and since it had been a while, I knew it was time to donate again.  I knew about the fund raising drive before I donated and didn't wait mostly because I wouldn't still have the money in March (I would have spent it elsewhere and probably for less good!)  I certainly feel I get more than my fair share out of the software I use from here, and giving back money as well as participation is only fair.  Otherwise, getting this kind of software with this kind of developer response would be overwhelmingly expensive.  In addition, I would loose a major source of information, as much of what I learn (news-wise) ends up coming from here long before I hear about it elsewhere.  Only the headlines come from elsewhere.  Interesting page 3 stuff comes from DC 

640

Official Announcements / Re: MARCH 2009: It's the 4th Anniversary DonationCoder.com Fundraiser

« Last post by steeladept on March 06, 2009, 02:59 PM »

Well I made my big infusion in February, so I can't commit more at the moment without my wife trying to steal my bank card for good, but I did give Donation Coder a little more exposure on CNET.com.  They are currently highlighting several screenshot capture programs and completely missed ScreenShot Captor.  So I bumped it.  If they come here, they should see the donation push as well, even though I forgot about it so I didn't mention it.

641

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Fundraiser discussion.. again.. need help with ideas

« Last post by steeladept on February 25, 2009, 12:40 AM »

I like the "store" idea, and you already have that sort of in place.  If you just created a page to display available items/prices, then it should be great.  Don't forget to add the static sticker idea Darwin mentioned - I would so buy one!  I like these stickers and I like putting them on my car, but I will NOT put an exterior standard sticker on.  The static ones, I can take with me to my new car when this one expires.

My first thought though is the thermometer (Wasn't this brought up somewhere else already?)  Anyway, if it gave an actual reading that we watched grow, that would be awesome.  I donate $100 (see that little blip, it was my donation  ) Don't forget to make it really large (say $15,000 for example) with a line at the goal mark.  If we can beat the goal, all the better!  Lets shoot for busting the application by overdonating 

As for the badges, well you already have a badge and naming system.  Is there one for donors?  I could care less about this personally, I like badges for work done (earned if you will).  Buy-a-badge doesn't do anything for me.  However, for others, it does.  There is a world full of completeists out there who would donate just to complete a badge collection.  Not that I am looking at Darwin or anything.  His software compulsion is just the need for everything ever coded, not set completion per se. 

How about this for another idea?  Many programs, particularly ones that rely on membership growth, support a bring a new member day.  Perhaps we could compile a best of DC CD (ISO, or whatever) that we could give out to a friend as a sort of introduction to DC.  It should include some of the best software and some sort of a key generator so that it tracks back to the compiler (the DC member who made it for the friend)  This key would be a way of tracking who is bringing in new members and can be used for a prize idea or even just recognition.  Heck for those who like the badges, you can even use it to have a badge line (1 new member, 5 new members, etc.).  I know I have mentioned the site to MANY people, but I don't know anyone who has actually visited, let alone joined.  I think that is because it is too much of a hastle for them to look for the site if they don't know what they are missing.  I tell them, but that only goes so far - seeing the software and the community in action - well that is effective!  At least it was for me when a friend of mine introduced me.  The best part of the CD idea is that it can be completely free of charge to DC.  The referring members can create the CD and distribute it; or for those on a very low budget, I suggest using a virtualCD program and mounting the ISO.  Though that may be problematic as it prevents you from just giving a copy to someone unless they already know exactly what they are doing with ISO files...Anyway that is my idea.  Refinements welcome. 

642

Screenshot Captor / Re: Configuring Gmail in the SendTo

« Last post by steeladept on February 24, 2009, 11:18 PM »

Personally, I would give a shot using Portable Apps.  I think there is a Thunderbird version, then you can configure that and take it with you wherever you go.  As a side bonus, you can configure SC in there as well (I already do) so they will always be together and available.  And I believe you can configure Thunderbird to work with GMail.  If not, I am sure there is a plugin for this!  Just a thought....

643

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your mouse of choice?

« Last post by steeladept on February 22, 2009, 03:49 AM »

I don't know about the other mice, but on the VX Revolution (as compared to it's larger brother, MX Revolution) there is a little slider switch to manually adjust how much "click" is available.  I find it nice as I occasionally set it to one setting or another depending on what I am doing (and how much I do it).  At first I didn't like the free-wheel much, but as I got used to it, I am finding I use it more and more in all situations.

Just a personal preference though.  I can definitely see where others would prefer the detents.

644

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your mouse of choice?

« Last post by steeladept on February 22, 2009, 12:17 AM »

sounds nice
if you spin it does it keep going - is there that little resistance?

-tomos (February 21, 2009, 10:08 AM)

No, not like that, but it does take much less effort and a much lighter touch to move it. After using a smooth wheel for about 2 years, using a normal mouse wheel has a certain "ewwww" factor that feels "cheap" to me.

-app103 (February 21, 2009, 11:00 AM)

Actually, on my VX Revolution (I forgot that part before - Thanks TucknDar), it does mean exactly that.  On long pages I have sent it spinning with a quick little flick and it kept going to the bottom of the page (or up as the case may be).    You can see what it looks like here:



EDIT:  Wow, that attachment was harder to do than it should have been!  Anyway, I guess it does have several more buttons.  I never use them though.

645

General Software Discussion / Re: Password Protect File Or Folder?

« Last post by steeladept on February 22, 2009, 12:11 AM »

Thanks.  Turns out the site is being blocked by our firewall and that appears to be why I can't see it.

646

General Software Discussion / Re: registry editor

« Last post by steeladept on February 22, 2009, 12:02 AM »

Have you tried a rootkit detector?  It may well be something NOD32 et. al. can't fix - or it may not really be a problem. 

As for the registry issue, I could be wrong, but I don't believe there is anything that can look at a registry that is not booted.  In other words, if you slave the drive to another computer and run regedit, it will show the existing registry and not the one on the slave drive.  To open the one on the slave drive, I *believe* that you must boot to it.

647

Screenshot Captor / Something I miss -

« Last post by steeladept on February 21, 2009, 04:24 AM »

I often find myself trying to capture dropdown menus, but I often fail as the capture will steal focus and loose the menu-shot I am trying to capture.  I usually can work around this through full screen screenshots and cropping, for example; but perhaps this is something that can eventually be worked in for a regional capture?

Just a thought.  Oh, and there may be a better way that I just missed in the usage instructions.  If so, I am all ears

648

Screenshot Captor / Re: Can You Put Multiple Screenshots on 1 Page?

« Last post by steeladept on February 21, 2009, 04:20 AM »

Mouser, wouldn't this be a wonderful tool to add via plug-in?  If you were wondering what kind of tool a plug-in architecture for SC would be useful for, here is a perfect example - or maybe you weren't, but it doesn't change the fact that this would be a useful plugin....

649

General Software Discussion / Re: Password Protect File Or Folder?

« Last post by steeladept on February 21, 2009, 04:11 AM »

Okay.  I just read your post as TrueCrypt doesn't use the strongest available encryption, but that isn't what you said.  I must say for clarity I don't believe there is any closed source or commercial software available to the public that has a better algorithm or better implimentation, just different ones.  If this is not true, I am very interested to learn about the "better alternatives".

Thanks for the clarification.

BTW:  Can't see the comic strip.

650

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your mouse of choice?

« Last post by steeladept on February 21, 2009, 02:12 AM »

That is funny, I am the opposite.  I will never willfully use anything other than a Logitech mouse (though the thing about the software is true enough).   I just use MS mouse drivers with whichever one I choose and it works great.  I have yet to find anything I can do with the software that I can't do without it.  (well maybe if you have the 5 button mouse and want to program each one, but I only use the 3 buttons and they are configurable through windows).

As for the OP, I use the original VX - you know, before the Nano receiver.  It is quite possibly the best mouse I have ever owned.  I like it better than the MX because the thumb wheel seemed to always get in the way and it is so large in any event.  I chose the VX because it was going to be used with a laptop and hence more portable.  I also didn't need the extra wheel or buttons.  It has since migrated to everywhere I go (desktop and laptop).  The user replaceable AA battery is a bonus as well as the self-storing USB receiver. (This is for you Mouser!).  It is great because it lasts for weeks (usually 4-6 depending on usage) on the one AA battery and I use a AA recharger and rechargeable batteries (but am not beholden to them if I can't get back to the recharger  )  I like the Nano receiver, but would not go with the flatter nano VX if I had a choice because this one just fits so well.  However, if I ever loose the choice, I would not hesitate to consider the current VX version.

And for those of you who mentioned the freewheel - my VX has the user select slider switch for this capability as described about the MX620.