Recent Posts

651

General Software Discussion / Re: alternative to filehamster?

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 20, 2010, 07:23 AM »

Hi Folks,

another possible.... Oops!Backup http://www.altaro.com/

-cmpm (March 08, 2010, 05:50 AM)

Half-price on Bits today. Some interesting comments back-and-forth.  There is a real forum with moderate activity, always an excellent sign, and the developer handled the critical comments quite well on Bits.  History Explorer (Sweden) has an ad for Oops on their website, perhaps they see the programs as complementary or have a connection.

May be worth a spin.  They are from Malta and have an emphasis with community forums and such. Maybe a bit simple for most Donationcoder users at this time, only been around since December last year. I'm considering a trial.

Incidentally, the filehamster site was rated red on WOT, so I put in a little thread that should fix that.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

652

General Software Discussion / Chameleon Task Manager

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 20, 2010, 06:24 AM »

Hi Folks,

Evgeni mentioned his new Task Manager in one of the Startup thread discussions.  Nice program, again in a crowded field (DTask Manager, AnVir and others).  Clearly CTM is, like CSM, a very nice program. We can get into comparison later.  CTM is in beta.

Right now....
Two questions/thoughts for Evgeni.

I really do not want my Task Manager programs to tell me with Pop-ups about Priority situations and options since that is usually being handled by Process Tamer (or Process Lasso, or something else).  Unless there is some compelling reason.  So we need an option to turn off those (relatively unobstrusive) popups that allow me to make priority changes. (You don't do anything automatically with priorities, I gather.)  Maybe I could make them 0% transparency, yet that is not really a solution.  

Also .. you automatically took over the Windows Task Manager status.  That is a no-no, you have to ask.  I put it back, by the uncheck mark. No matter how excellent other programs are, I reserve that for DTaskManager.  Others might reserve that for WTM.  One reason is .. minimal resource usage on loading, which often is a factor in crunch times. Your task manager has to be very simple to be loaded and active.  At other times, on demand, you want a far more involved task manager. So my recommendation .. no automatic taking of WTM status.

Generally .. very nice program, more later.  I could have emailed this to you, however CTM can use a DonationCoder thread for discussion.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

653

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: ABBYY Screenshot Reader 4Free

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 20, 2010, 05:51 AM »

Hi Folks,

This program starts a service that is an ABByy licensing service.  I ran into a little difficulty when one of my security programs apparently disabled the service (it is possible, albeit unlikely, that I clicked wrong .. the service is appropriately named .. so I trying to find out how).  When the service cannot go through .. it uses a Windows RPC .. Remote Program Call .. service .. as well, the program will not start, although it gives you an informative box as to what happened.    The fact that you have the serial # does not help.

I ended up having to do an uninstall (I did not try an install over) and reinstall, twice so far.

The ABByy people were responsive to my problem, answering in some hours, explaining the two services involved.  

Shalom,
Steven Avery

654

General Software Discussion / Re: Screenshot tool with built-in OCR?

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 19, 2010, 07:31 PM »

Note on Abbyy ScreenReader.

For some reason they use your Remote Procedure Call server, with their own Abbyy licensing service. (Ok, they want to make sure your $10 program is licensed, but this seems to be an unusual method.)

I have had something, not sure what yet, disabling my Abbyy licensing service, making the program give me an informative message that the service is not there, do not start.

ABByy Screenshot Reader will be terminated.
ABByy licensing service is unavailable: The RPC service is unavailable.
Please contact your system administrator to solve this problem.

So far I have gotten around this simply with an uninstall and reinstall, cumbersome.  Why is the service disabled by something .. dunno yet.  (Zemana and WinPatrol are two possibles).

A bit unusual.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

655

General Software Discussion / Re: my server life - setting up a local server

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 19, 2010, 03:47 PM »

Hi Folks,

Watching the thread carefully. MoWeS sounded nice to go with WAMP, before Caveat City.  No answer on the WebsiteBaker thread, I may revisit that.  Plan to build up and access my semi-rudimentary MYSQL database using Navicat and Alpha Five V. 10 (british mag 6 month trial) this weekend, see if they play friendly on the same database. (Alpha will not be thinking of it as a server, Navicat will). Also plan to load .. something .. in CMS .. blog .. webdev .. land this weekend or so.

I will look at Bitnami, as well, is it sensible even with my WAMP up and running ?

Shalom,
Steven Avery

656

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: ABBYY Screenshot Reader 4Free

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 18, 2010, 10:33 PM »

Hi Folks,

Your article is very helpful with the pictures.  Hope you do not mind if I simply suggest folks try the program and buy it, for about $10. If you need text from google books and windows pop-ups and this and that, quickly, quite accurately in most cases ... and no muss, no fuss, this is the best $10 investment possible.  Or if you get it free, fine, especially if you are Croation .  Personally, I want Abbyy to know how much this product is appreciated. I even wrote with a support question or two and got a timely and accurate response.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

657

General Software Discussion / my server life - setting up a local server

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 15, 2010, 12:26 PM »

Hi Folks,

For development of a website I gather that setting up a local server is the proper way to go.  Develop at home, then mirror to the site with FTP. So I started with Xampp and hit a snag in trying to start MySQL.  (Maybe password related, maybe not, can show discussion later.) Rather than hassle too much, I then went with Wamp (my research did not place one above the other) and the servers turned on very nicely (after a little puzzling as to where to put the install).  Whew.

Then, for database development (I have a custom web-research-related app I would like to do, allowing real-time modifications by two or three people) I am playing with Navicat (Free), rather than simply PhpMyAdmin, and I am reasonably pleased.  It looks like it really may allow quick and proper database design, even if does not give a full end-user environment like my semi-beloved Alpha Five and other alternatives. Since it affects my real work, I may be playing with the pricier WinDev and Magic trials as well. (They have good iSeries integration.)  So I was pleased with everybodies fav PhpMyAdmin - but only for limited direct control -  and Navicat for database design.  Although there are good competitors for Navicat it looks like very likely a keeper.  Sweet. (I do not mind the cost when I go to Pro.)

WordPress or CushyCMS  or another .. maybe soon (unless WebsiteBaker cuts all the mustard and I decide against a blog or CMS mentality).  

Then WebsiteBaker, which looks like fun.  However I hit a snag on the install which I placed here.
wb crashes at installation
http://www.websiteba...p/topic,15100.0.html
It may also be password or something. Some of this stuff is a bit squirrelly.

Oh, one other discussion.  Which apps really give a decent front-end look-and-feel without too much learn and burn ?  I have not taken Navicat far enough to see what it looks like yet .. however it does not look like a real front-end, probably expecting you to do that in HTML, PHP etc.  Alpha Five will do it, at a cost, maybe $500 or so..oops. Is there a mid-point ?  A neat looking MYSQL "application" that the enduser almost feels he is at home running an app ? (Again, maybe Navicat does this, maybe Sqlyog, maybe some others, maybe the big boys.) Suggestions which way to go ?  I really like the idea of not developing the front-end look and feel by hand-code and I prefer a one-tool approach.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

658

Site/Forum Features / Re: Should we experiment with google ads on the site for 1 month?

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 15, 2010, 11:50 AM »

Hi Folks,

As a one-month learning experience, it is hard to be too upset, however all the caveats are real.  The forums we tend to go to are the ones that are 100% sincere, and with so many tech folks making hidden deals even the appearance of back-deals and influence that ads gives any site is a problem.

I just downloaded the hphosts file to get rid of Paltalk sleaze .. I have not checked if that influences google ads... my crosswalk.com and biblestudytools.com looks weres so lean and minimalist I was almost shocked at how much was blocked. (Probably I will turn of the hosts file for a few hours a week just to know what I am missing.)

One suggestion .. if you do google for a month, imo you really have to use their block on the worst offenders, like uniblue and friends, regcure, etc.  Please add that extra effort into the equation, if you allow one visitor to be sham-wared, when a block would have been easy, it is a real concern.

Google-blocks are allowed up to a point, I understand, but not sure about the first month.  I think one idea is to allow block of direct competitors, but it is lightly used in the real world.  I got involved a while back in encouraging Mozillazine and one or two others to be more active in integrity blocking.

Shalom,
Steven

659

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: 90% off! 'Full Convert Enterprise' database converter

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 14, 2010, 09:07 AM »

Hi Folks,

Here is my question, looking ahead. (Presuming that the discount may be extendable, or come back in the future.)

Those of you who do occasional conversions .. e.g. to MySQL from Access, Dbase or Excel (these would be the most likely ... plus the possibility in the future of Filemaker) .. do you have any difficulties finding freeware or inexpensive tools that do a competent job ?

Have any of you compared the "Full Convert" product  ?  Clearly it has some automation and interface and command-line features that might help an enterprise environment, how about the small and simple data conversion ?  Any significant benefits over the common tools, whatever they are.

Shalom,
Steven

660

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: FREE Today Zemana AntiLogger

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 14, 2010, 08:30 AM »

Hi Folks,

Thanks. This was a nice find, and a bit more than simply an anti-keylogger.  Interesting is see what Zemana asks you about. One of the best logs I have seen.

ClearMem is said to do "Physical Memory Access" . That makes sense. Linkman does something that is considered "Code Injector". I ok'd that base on the Linkman rep, probably they are modiifying their own .dll or something, I can ask them to comment.

I have stayed away from the ultra-techie security programs because some of them have gotten into unseemly wars with each other and come from individuals unproven.  The programs may disappear or fall into a vortex.  In contrast, this Zemana gives the impression of being both clean and slick.

I may look a bit more at the Wilder's discussions.  They like the program too, generally.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

661

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: 90% off! 'Full Convert Enterprise' database converter

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 13, 2010, 03:27 PM »

Hi Folks,

Actually they are playing nice.  I asked over there.  The first 12 months you are a full registrant.

a) After 12 months, if you still want to upgrade, you will pay $119 and be able to download for 12 more months which ever version is current.

b) App never loses functionality. What you installed will work forever. However, keep your downloaded installer - if your upgrade license expires,you won't be able to download from our site anymore as we don't keep old versions.

c) If you purchase now for just 10% of the standard price, we still give you standard 12 months of free upgrades, starting with the purchase date. All further renewals afterwards go with standard pricing, of course.

If it helps with one database conversion, at $29 you are ahead of the game.  

On the other hand, a lot of what you might want to do might have database importers to your target .. in that case this software might help with automating, which would not be a factor for a one-time converter, one real question is which does a better job on the conversion.  There are always issues with data types and such.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

662

General Software Discussion / tree-style notes - TreeDBNotes - Keynote-NF - AllMyNotes Organizer and more

« Last post by Steven Avery on March 06, 2010, 06:29 AM »

Hi Folks,

We have had incredible threads on note-taking concepts as a whole.

Here I would like to limit the discussion to the basic motif - a tree-style (often with tabs) note program.
Three come to mind.

Keynotes-NF (Free, Open Source)
TreeDBNotes  (Free and Pro)
AllMyNotes Orgranizer  (Free and Deluxe)

Keynotes-NF is the open source followup to Keynote, when I use TreeDBNotes I must admit the interface is rather a bit more pleasant (a real factor in note programs) and AllMyNotes Organizer looks like the new kid on the block, with a DC discount and perhaps the most active development ?

I'm sure there are probably 5-10 other similars worthy of consideration, lets not include them other than en passant notice .. unless they are overall really right there in the mix, with their own advantages.

Some of the issues to consider.

Interface
Search strength and speed and utility
Portability, integration with web in any shape, manner and form
Licensing on USB-Work-Office puter with 1 license at a time
Import-Export
Database facilities - some user defined fields
Note and a source URL logically connected (not just urls in a note) - e.g. consider this for a research database
   (this is a pseudo-bookmark facility, if a note program could be linked with a linkman type of program, even better)
Cost
Support (forum, developer response)
Solidity, Backup
Attachments and pictures

(Add 10 more here)

I would like to personally make my decision for the next couple of years, right now I am toggling back and forth from Keynote to TreeDBNotes and the BitsDuJour and DC discounts for AllMyNotes caught my notice, leading to the post .

Shalom,
Steven Avery

663

General Software Discussion / Re: Battle of the Free Online Storages

« Last post by Steven Avery on December 27, 2009, 11:17 PM »

Hi Folks,

I think when I have the file manager, pretty much everything is there.  The batch photo thing doesn't interest me, but that is likely online.

Mostly the premium service is size of use, and amount of use, not quality of features.

Compare DriveHQ free and premium services.      
http://www.drivehq.com/premium/

Feature / price comparisons with major providers: many times better and cheaper!
http://www.drivehq.c...&service=storage'

The key is:

Map network folder / drive     
FileManager is better, never slows down your PC, never locks Explorer

And far easier to use, like Total Commander vs. Explorer.

Shalom,
Steven

664

General Software Discussion / Re: The 10 best new Firefox add-ons of 2009

« Last post by Steven Avery on December 26, 2009, 09:26 AM »

Hi Folks,

Seems to be nothing of interest to me there (some is Firefox programmer stuff).

Now when a firefox add-on allows two or three or four "Find" fields (we had a thread on that) -- then I will be go right to town.

Good news. I will try the new release of Find All. Individualizes the Find for each tab, which is similar functionality. I may also look at Find Toolbar Tweaks and some others, however it looks like you generally have to decide on one Find extension for compatibility.

Oops .. check that. Find All does not seem to have that functionality, I think I read about it for one of these find search extensions.

Shalom,
Steven

665

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: VueMinder Calendar Pro - 50% Discount

« Last post by Steven Avery on December 25, 2009, 06:02 PM »

Hi Folks,

Sound good Dan.  Tomorrows the day. I just did a little ad hoc compare of you and Rainlendar, and I decided you are more my style.  Lots of ease-of-use niceties.  Stuff like adding and changing categories and events is all smooth. Calendar viewing mode toggles are very easy.

I see the Pro has some stuff I really need, too. About five of the features.

And I am curious how strong "event" style lists are, since in Lite you have nothing on that.  Compact lists of events (eg. high priority programming) outside of the calendar picture mode. Looks like Pro only. (I used up my demo a while back.)

A feature that would be nice is to go into a "Recurring event" and then be able to see the lists of dates in the events (say "Third Tuesday" you would see January 20, Feb, 18..etc) and then navigate to each event to change them individually.  Rather than getting to them from the calendar view.

A big help would be to save a view or a printout format.  I did not see that in Lite, or mentioned in Pro.  If you get sophisticated in setting up a view .. say Calendars Steven and Spirit for categories Radio and Webinar and Paltalk, Priority medium and high (just to get fancy, I think you can do that, at least in view, maybe in printout) then if you can save that view and name it and bring it up later .. very nice. Theoretically, even print formatting decisions as well. Has this come up in your techie discussions ?

I realize you do not try to do too much on ToDo lists, and I can accept that. My dreams that programs have the ultimate strengths of both combined have turned out to be a bit on the unrealistic side. Similarly with PIM capabilities.  I realize some PIMs have servicable integration (perhaps Chaos 32) but I think I am more simple calendar and alarm and notify oriented now (your strengths).  Since I use Linkman as my de facto PIM now, for names and phone #s, a PIM is a bit redundant. And I am moving away from ToDo stuff as well. What gets done, get done.  GTU .. Getting Things Undone.

You have a very nice "Description" editor, however the URL of an event is so basic in a calendar that it might do better in a dedicated field in the front.

A phone # ?  low priority.  The url can take you to the event in a flash and use would be rare enuf that the description field is fine. Let the PIMs be PIMs.

There also is the idea of "dup-ping" an existing event on another day.  Drag-and-drop is always fun. Ok, this may be more show-pizazz than necessary, but it is a thought.

Shalom,
Steven

666

General Software Discussion / Re: Eudora 8.0b7

« Last post by Steven Avery on December 25, 2009, 05:44 PM »

Hi Folks,

I use Gmail for some special accounts, and forward the incoming email to also go to my Inbox download.  For large quantities of mail, such as internet forums, I find gmail far too cumbersome and I do not even consider using it. I use it more for some personal home-biz mail where I may be at work away from my downloads and I want to be able to check easily at home or work.

If you want to stick lots of mail on your disk for with quick filtering and searching and moving and deleting, I find Eudora (or another comparable client) the only way to go.  Despite all the brouhaha about gmail and other webmail.

Also for composing email there is no comparison.  The stability and speed and more of composing at home is far, far better than the net.  Again, I only compose on the net if I am at work or traveling.  (Even then I could compose with Eudora or Thunderbird, however I do not want to bother with SMTP so you run into some awkwardnesses in long term archiving, so I compose with my Gmail account, which I find .. acceptable.)

Shalom,
Steven

667

General Software Discussion / Re: Eudora 8.0b7

« Last post by Steven Avery on December 24, 2009, 10:36 AM »

Hi,

With the right settings you can browse pics in the email.. Eudora 7 gives you a choice between the Eudora viewer and the Internet Explorer VIEWER (not the browser, separate internal OS piece).  Take the MS IE viewer, and there are two security settings to have on.

Tools-Options.

Display -->  
attached images inline                                ON
automatically download HTML graphics           OFF  **

Viewing Mail
Use Microsoft's viewer                                ON  **
Use separate settings from Internet Explorer   ON
Automatically open next message                  ON
Zoom windows when opening                        ON
Allow executables in HTML content                OFF  **

The ** are the critical settings, the MS viewer to see, the other two for security, especially the executables, on the other .. who wants downloaded pics for email anyway. I've never missed anything afaik.

Shalom,
Steven

668

General Software Discussion / Re: Battle of the Free Online Storages

« Last post by Steven Avery on December 23, 2009, 04:56 AM »

Hi Folks,

For small free usage (I think it is 50 mg a day) DriveHQ is truly excellent.  They give you a very good file manager client.

I use them for files from home to work, alternate to a USB drive or FTP. And backup of the critical PIM style data files, like Keynote or Linkman or this or that. Originally I started with them when I was at a library and needed an upload site to hold some JSTOR files, and got set up in 5 minutes.

Maybe .. occasionally they slow you up or make you maybe do an extra "start" click because  you are on free service.

They are the only one I have used that have given you a solid File Manager client on your PC that has copy, move, delete from your PC to their storage and vica versa that works fine (in addition to the "navigate the site" possibility).

If there are others similar, please let me know.
Thanks.

Shalom,
Steven

669

General Software Discussion / Re: Eudora 8.0b7

« Last post by Steven Avery on December 22, 2009, 01:39 PM »

Hi Folks,

Steven, does Eudora 7.1 run on Windows 7?  The web page doesn't go any further than WinXP.  Do you have a paid version (that's no longer available)?

-cyberdiva

I can double-check the Eudora forums (they remain active). I doubt there are any Windows 7 problems of significance.

The "sponsored mode" is fine, which is available. (I can check where later.) You undock the ad and it falls behind and out of the way. (I think I throw if over the edge of the cliff or something). In the old days you would be forced to keep it visible .. no more.

This is functionally almost the full paid mode, it might not have the X1-based super-search, but that wasn't the most stable fun thing anyway.  Again, I can check on the forums, but I sense no lacks.

Shalom,
Steven

670

General Software Discussion / Re: Eudora 8.0b7

« Last post by Steven Avery on December 22, 2009, 08:11 AM »

Hi Folks,

I am still very happy with the real Eudora 7.1.  Every time I look at the supposed replacements
I go back quickly.  Any reasons to switch yet ?  I definitely do not want to lose the robust
filtering and any searching capabilities, or any stability.  If we have all that, great, and what else ?

Shalom,
Steven Avery

671

General Software Discussion / Abbyy screenreader - $10 superb OCR

« Last post by Steven Avery on December 21, 2009, 02:54 PM »

Hi Folks,

A llittle follow-up.

Abby ScreenReader is a $10 gem.
 
Very simple .. click, then make the box (or the whole page) and click again.
The text in the section goes to clipboard, ready to paste.

I used it the other day on a number of paragraphs in google books (the ones
in Limited Preview that do not have a text mode) for a project and it works
very fine.

This is ONLY a text generator to clipboard, it is not screenshot --> printer.

Correction, it can send an image as well to the clipboard, so that might have
uses too.

They added a 15 day trial, if it meets your needs, you will know in 15 minutes.

Shalom,
Steven

672

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Chameleon Startup Manager Pro on GAOTD Friday 23rd, October

« Last post by Steven Avery on October 23, 2009, 07:30 AM »

Hi Folks,

Yes, and the developer Evgeni posts on forum here very excellently.

This will become my more extended trial.  And if all is smooth will lead to later purchase.
A nice GAOTD .  (Yesterdays Astra32 was nice too, but this is far more consequent on a
daily level.)

Shalom,
Steven Avery

673

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox - new window - can you remember the google search you opened with

« Last post by Steven Avery on September 26, 2009, 03:14 AM »

Hi Folks,

Thinger may well take care of the main concern, except that it is no longer in any active development.  I will try it out.  Apparently it has a dedicated following, much like Powermarks while we waited for Linkman.

TabHistory is a good idea, but will not cut it.  I do not want new tabs to have a full history, since then there will be a lot of redundant back-pedaling ..

I simply want to know, without a lot of drop-down drag-out dohickey stuff .. what was my google search that got me here ? That way I can search for those words within that text.  In one window I may have 20 tabs open, and they may have come from five different searches, and I may have closed the actual google search that led me here, so now the tab is a bit of an orphan, and if I only knew how I got here ...

The best solution would be the page to open with a nice highlight somewhere.

"the page opened from Google search for 'donationcoder firefox extension multiple searches' "

Shalom,
Steven

If I have to resort to Google history, or a clipboard manager, I can try that .. as a workaround on occasion, but usually it is not so important that I want to look back over 20 searches, since afaik Google history will not tell me what I opened from each search.  None of those solutions will be very quick, unless there was some sort of simple relationship maintained between the search and the page.

Shalom,
Steven

674

General Software Discussion / Firefox - new window - can you remember the google search you opened with

« Last post by Steven Avery on September 24, 2009, 09:49 AM »

Hi Folks,

Yes, I know I could ask in FF land, however let's try here first. A bit more out-of-the-box.

I open a new window in Google (usually I have the setting as a background opening) and 30 minute later I go to the window to search for ... what was in the google search.  However I forgot which search it was ! hmmm .  Any extensions or tricks to overcome this ?  Keep that search somewhere .. e.g. in the Find: bar when the window returns or a special little view area.

Another big FF need, the wonderful little "Find" box on the bottom bar.  I want two or three of them, so I can toggle searches without retyping and remembering as I go over pages.  Once I asked in FF land and got mostly blank stares, yet I think this would be 10x more effective that the fancy stuff they do in search land.

Shalom,
Steven Avery

675

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Drive Backup 9.0 Professional - FREE from Paragon at GAOTD; today only

« Last post by Steven Avery on August 01, 2009, 12:37 AM »

Hi Folks,

You get registration details by email and a login to the user area where you can download the full installer without the GAOTD wrapper.

-Carol Haynes

Just to be clear, we have.

Registration: Paragon Drive Backup 9.0 Professional Edition GAOTD (English)!
Download:    Paragon Drive Backup 9.0 Professional summer_special06

As far as you can tell, this registration "takes" for this download ?  The download would have to get its own registration though, since it asks for email confirmation.  Or do we have to find a copy of the earlier GAOTD file ?

Shalom,
Steven