Recent Posts

6551

General Software Discussion / Re: Good news for any InfoSelect users

« Last post by IainB on September 23, 2009, 06:59 AM »

@SKesselman:
Thanks for your post on this.
My InfoSelect notes record the fact that I bought my first licence (for IS V5.00.14) on 23rd Sep. 1998.
This discussion forum forray is an interesting change from Jim Lewis (the developer). I wonder what triggered it?

(Now, if only you had given some good news about Lotus Agenda too! Over all the years since I started using it in 1990 or so, I have still been unable to find anything to adequately replace Agenda.)

6552

Living Room / Re: Hell has frozen over - 802.11n is Finalized!

« Last post by IainB on September 13, 2009, 09:38 AM »

Well, I have to admit that I was using the word "DRAFT" as a valid reason for procrastinating over my purchase of something  (i.e., the 802.11n gear) that I wanted emotionally, when I should really be putting the funds elsewhere...if I were to be "sensible".

6553

Living Room / Re: Hell has frozen over - 802.11n is Finalized!

« Last post by IainB on September 13, 2009, 08:31 AM »

Good, I've been waiting for 802.11n to be agreed/ratified by the IEEE.
Now I can go out and buy that 802.11n gear I've been covetously watching for a couple (?) of years.

6554

General Software Discussion / Re: Organize desktop icons and more...

« Last post by IainB on September 13, 2009, 08:24 AM »

I also recently started to use Fences, and would recommend it. However, the persistence of Impulse with the latest version is enough to make me de-install the whole lot.

As an interim measure, I have used Zone Alarm to block Impulse at the firewall, and I have set DC's Process Tamer to force kill the two Impulse applications that run. The Impulse system remains on the hard drive.

It's not an elegant approach, I realise, but it does save me the time and effort necessary to find out what happens to Fences if I try and expunge Impulse from the hard drive.

6555

General Software Discussion / Re: Has anyone tried Perfect Utilities ?

« Last post by IainB on September 08, 2009, 06:48 AM »

Oh no, not another spam post!

Later edit:
@tomos: I had not read that thread you refer to.

@joiwind: Abject apologies and grovels if I was being premature and cynical, but the DC forum seems to be occasionally plagued by people making similar "Has anyone tried/seen/used [THING]?", with no other reference and followed by a link. They often seem to be spam posts apparently designed to get clicks or to divert to some otherwise useless site. Makes reading the forum a bit of a pain in the rear for me anyway.

I now have DC forum posts feeding into my Google Reader and I read the first line of each new subject posted, but, if it starts with the words ""Has anyone tried/seen/used ...", I tend to switch right off. For that reason, I did not go to read the site you linked to.

6556

Find And Run Robot / Re: FARR Google Calculator Plugin

« Last post by IainB on September 08, 2009, 04:48 AM »

Some of the links in "Available for installation" on the DC Updater screen are flaky/broken (have changed, but not been updated in DC Updater?).

Might that be the case with the DARR Google Calculator and czb pack too?

6557

General Software Discussion / Re: Add tabbed documents to MS Office

« Last post by IainB on August 28, 2009, 08:44 PM »

I just downloaded and installed an updated version from here: http://files.cnblogs.../OfficeTab_v1.21.zip
(OfficeTab v1.21 - Build 090828)

However, despite the more recent build (I had previously used Build 090823) the same problem as I posted earlier persists - i.e. it Works fine in Office 2007 Excel and PowerPoint, but does not work at all in Word. Note that my experience is that the Add-in behaves itself - the Tab Add-in is definitely installed in Word (I checked Alt-F|Word Options|Add-Ins) and nothing is "messed up" in any of the 3 Office applications.

@tsaint: Using the OfficeTab Setting Centre function that is built-in (installed by default to C:\Program Files\OfficeCM), I disabled the Tabs function in Word only, and when I checked Alt-F|Word Options|Add-Ins, the function is shown as an "Inactive Application Add-in".
You could do the same if you wanted to, thus avoiding any risk that Word is "messed up" in any way.

This really is a useful Add-in to MS Office. I shall be able to make great use of it in Excel, and a little use of it in PowerPoint. I could have made good use of it in Word also, if it worked there.

Hats off to the 21-year old Chinese male "Bo Master" who developed this Add-in.

6558

General Software Discussion / Re: Add tabbed documents to MS Office

« Last post by IainB on August 27, 2009, 07:46 AM »

@CWuestefeld: Yes, I had already found that it did not work in Word, and when I saw your post and the image, I went back and reinstalled OfficeTab - in case I had made some kind of mistake. Same result though.

It's very frustrating.

6559

General Software Discussion / Re: Add tabbed documents to MS Office

« Last post by IainB on August 27, 2009, 02:08 AM »

I came across this in Lifehacker, and straight away installed it (after reading through the web site in English translation).
Only thing is, it doesn't work in Word in Office 2007, though it Works fine in Excel and PowerPoint.

Any ideas?

6560

General Software Discussion / Re: Down with Foxit!

« Last post by IainB on August 01, 2009, 05:08 AM »

Yes, that's a good point. It would be interesting to know why you were banned. Foxit may have banned you for what they perceived was a perfectly correct/valid reason. Check up on their forum rules?

I don't use Foxit - I tried it and found it was flaky.
You should have used a cross smiley in your post. Here, use this------> 

6561

Living Room / Re: DRM hits a new low as Amazon hits the delete key

« Last post by IainB on July 19, 2009, 06:56 AM »

Why I do not recommend that people buy a Kindle: I had read that Amazon had inserted the "delete in situ" technology into the Kindle, and I suspiciously wondered why...now I wonder no more.
It would seem to be supremely arrogant for such a company as this to have a premeditated policy and to exercise a unilateral authority for intervention and invasion of the consumer's property and rights in this manner. It beggars belief. What a staggering and telling action.

6562

Coding Snacks / Re: IDEA: Convert a set of related web pages into a Windows Help file

« Last post by IainB on June 29, 2009, 12:19 AM »

Many thanks for your helpful suggestions folks - yet another example of what a helpful forum this is.     

@cmpm: lizzer.com - Wow! What a powerful and nifty blogging tool! - but yes, not quite the same thing as an alternative to WebTwin.

@MilesAhead: Well, though Treepad is no simple alternative to WebTwin, it looks like a rather powerful PIM. I might look at that anyway, as I am always interested in PIMs and have been a long-standing PIM user - e.g., Info Select, which I just saw records the fact that I first registered the Info Select product in Sept. 1998! (Info Select meets my information pack rat needs.)

@belkira: I reviewed KEL CHM Creator - which looks like it will enable me to do the job, I think. It's not all that easy/simple to use, but it does look pretty useful. I think that's the closest I will probably find to WebTwin.

If anyone is interested, here's a sample of a help document as output from WebTwin - Instructions for making a home-built dynamo.HLP - and it is dowloadable from here: http://www.box.net/shared/95fe4qdhcd
(I can also make a copy of  WebTwin available if anyone is interested for historical reasons. It's obsolete really - not very effective when used with some of the current website technology. I keep a copy anyway, as I am also a software pack rat.)

6563

Find And Run Robot / Re: Find And Run Robot (FARR) - Features You Should Know About

« Last post by IainB on June 10, 2009, 08:44 AM »

@mouser
Be careful - if you do "...finally sit down and make some screencast demo movies showing how to use various features of FARR", then you might discover some other useful features of the thing that you had either forgotten about or had not previously realised!

6564

Find And Run Robot / Re: Find And Run Robot (FARR) - Features You Should Know About

« Last post by IainB on June 10, 2009, 07:28 AM »

Many thanks for these notes (and for FARR, of course). Useful info - for me, at any rate. 
I am still getting to grips with all the multifarious uses of FARR, and learning how to take advantage of it to make my use of my laptop/PC more efficient. I have noticed that FARR becomes increasingly more useful to me the more I actually explore its potential and use it.

6565

Coding Snacks / Re: IDEA: Convert a set of related web pages into a Windows Help file

« Last post by IainB on June 07, 2009, 08:05 PM »

@MilesAhead
Thanks for the link. I had a look at some of these (and other) options a while back - and found nothing similar to WebTwin's ease of use and simplicity - but there may be some new developments, so I shall go over the ground again.

6566

Coding Snacks / IDEA: Convert a set of related web pages into a Windows Help file

« Last post by IainB on June 07, 2009, 08:09 AM »

IDEA: Convert a set of related web pages into a Windows Help file
What I mean is, if you find some documentation in web (html or other) form that you want to bring into yoir knowledge base and save it as a discrete document, then, if you had a facility to convert those web pages into an indexed Windows Help file, that would be very useful.

I currently use the excellent ScrapBook Add-In to Firefox to save nested web pages, which means that I have a knolwedge base containg lots of HTML stuff (bits and pieces from related web pages) stored in lots of folders, which can only be searched/read as a coherent whole via a web browser - though it can be searched and indexed by Google Desktop, so it is knowledge that is findable/accessible.

Why a Windows Help file? Because it is one of the LCDs (Lowest Common Denominators) in a Windows OS, is harmless (no risk of embedded macros or viruses), and requires no special or proprietary software to open it - apart from the OS. Also, Help files can be searched and indexed by the brilliant Google Desktop.

The old trick of printing the web pages to (say) a .PDF file would not be quite the same thing. We know how cr#ppy they can look.

There was a program called WebTwin that used to do this (I still have a free trial installation copy), and it operated on a sort of web-scraping basis. However, the people who produced it, and their website (webtwin.com), seem to have disappeared. It was quite good, and I used it to good effect (can provide a couple of examples), but as a product it seems to have remained static and gradually been made obsolete by emerging/new web technologies. There is a reference describing it here: (rainbowpcm.com/webtwin.html).
EDIT: 2017-08-09 2334hrs - Try Wayback

6567

General Software Discussion / Re: Top Greasemonkey userscripts that you use

« Last post by IainB on May 14, 2009, 07:31 AM »

Thanks, RNiK!
All your Snopes are now belong to us...

6568

General Software Discussion / Re: Top Greasemonkey userscripts that you use

« Last post by IainB on May 13, 2009, 10:37 PM »

@ayryq
I tried that "Autocomplete On" Greasmonkey script you referred to. It works a treat - thankyou for the pointer! Nice find.   

For quite a while, I've had two small problems whilst using Firefox - and they're not peculiar to Firefox.

1. Text fields blocked from auto-insert: On some bank logon sites, they disable the ability for a secure password keeper to automatically insert bank ID and password details. So, you have to manually copy and paste the things, every time you login. I find this tedious in the extreme. The "Autocomplete On" Greasmonkey script fixes that, and the problem goes away.

2. Select and Copy is disabled: On some (not many) web sites, the web page disables the user's ability to select and copy text or images on the web page. e.g., at Snopes.com, where, if you look at the source, I think they do this with the JavaScript "function disableselect(e)". I still haven't found a fix for this.

Has anyone else found the same problem or found a fix for problem #2?

6569

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: FARR plugin: FARR Windows Search 0.1.0

« Last post by IainB on May 07, 2009, 08:01 AM »

@phitsc
OIC! Thanks for the correction. Yes, it looks like I was confusing things.

6570

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: FARR plugin: FARR Windows Search 0.1.0

« Last post by IainB on May 06, 2009, 01:29 AM »

If a FARR search plugin could usefully include Google Desktop Search that could be v-e-r-y interesting - I use GDS quite a lot. It is brilliant.

However, If FARR included the MS Index Search, I have to say that I wouldn't be able to make use of it. The MS Indexing is the biggest resource hog and performance reducer I have ever come across, and for those reasons it is the first thing to be disabled on any PC that I use. Because of that, I thought that nobody actually used it! (But I guess some people must do, no?)

6571

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: KlipKeeper (A FARR2 Plugin by hamradio)

« Last post by IainB on May 05, 2009, 11:53 PM »

@sosimple
Thankyou for the pointer to the changes necessary in the dcupdate file. I had been trying to figure out how to install KlipKeeper and had got nowehere, until I read your posts above.

6572

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Create folder structure or path

« Last post by IainB on April 27, 2009, 07:28 PM »

@MilesAhead: That Code Project bit was spot-on. 
I was just wondering how to put that code into an AHK script (I am a beginner in AHK) when your post with the script popped up. Thanks! Nice work and smart thinking, Batman - if you don't mind my saying so! (...and at the risk of further inflating your possibly already over-inflated ego).   

6573

General Software Discussion / Re: Top Greasemonkey userscripts that you use

« Last post by IainB on April 26, 2009, 07:29 AM »

For what it's worth:
I use the Google web apps.: Gmail, Calendar and Reader.
To support these, I use the LifeHacker Add-Ons that support them (with some functionality switched off, because I don't want all of it).
I also use related Greasemonkey scripts:
* Google Reader New Style Minimalistic by DemianGod
* Gmail 3.0
* G3P0 Productivity PlugIn
* LabelLinks4Gmail

The latter 3 are pretty novel, and all by the same author, I think, and seem to overload the 2 CPUs (CentrinoDuo) in my Toshiba laptop, causing overheating and the fan to come on a lot (I use SpeedFan). So I enable them on an as-needed basis.

In particular, LabelLinks4Gmail is *absolutely fantastic*, but seems to slow down Gmail response to a crawl whilst overloading the CPUs.

6574

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Create folder structure or path

« Last post by IainB on April 22, 2009, 05:15 PM »

It might help if I describe what I would do and/or actually do.
To do what you are suggesting - i.e., Create folder structure or path - I think I would first use xplorer2 (a brilliant product  ) to create a duplicate copy of just the directory structure. I have not needed to do this myself, but page 183 of the xplorer2 User Manual (Version 1.7.2.0-1) describes a 3-step approach to doing this:

Copying only the structure of a directory
This powerful command copies an entire directory structure into another
place, minus its contents. All the subfolders of the original directory are
copied recursively, but files in them are not copied.
The original directory is not affected by this command at all. To copy
structure, follow these three steps:

1. Select the top-level folder and press CTRL+C (or select the Edit |
Copy menu option)

2. Go to your destination folder (the folder where you want to place the
copied structure).

3. R-click and from the context menu that pops up, select the Paste
special | Folder structure menu option. (Instead of the context menu,
you can also use the Edit |Paste special | Folder structure menu
option.)


Once I had the duplicate structure set up, I would use the sync and mirror copy functions in xplorer2 to copy files individually or in blocks, from the original structure to the duplicate structure. I sometimes use this approach when manually updating/checking some of my duplicate files/directories on different devices- e.g., backup drives, or USB memory sticks that I use for portable applications.

The manual goes on to describe some circumstances under which you might find duplicating a directory structure useful:
It also describes the two ways to do it in Windows Explorer (one of which you described), and describes the corresponding disadvantages:

We never did this before because doing it with Windows Explorer had some
serious problems. With Windows Explorer, you can follow two different
optional methods to copy structure; and both have problems, as we will see:

> Copy the entire top-level folder to a new place (along with its
subfolders and their contents). Now find all files in this directory by
launching a search with *.* as your search condition. Explorer will
list all files in the directory. Select all of them and delete. This will
leave an empty folder structure that is identical to the original folder
system.

The disadvantage in this method is that you need a huge free disk
space at the destination drive, because the entire contents of the
original directory have to be accommodated there before you start
deleting them.

> Creating each subfolder manually. This is an extremely laborious
method if you have to create large directory structures. You may
make numerous mistakes, which requires enormous correction effort.
Besides, if you don’t realize your mistake, you will actually create a
different subfolder!

You can get a free Lite version, or buy a trial Pro version of xprorer2 from here: http://zabkat.com/

Hope this helps or is of use. 

6575

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the proper way (etiquette) of replying to emails?

« Last post by IainB on March 16, 2009, 03:57 AM »

@AJ-Mac: Thanks for your kind comment, but, as stated on the post, "This material has been consolidated from sound policy advice provided by major computer companies."

The reason I posted it was that it helped answer a general query that I had been hearing from several clients, and it saved me the breath/time of repeating things. Instead, I just direct people towards the post. It was the most comprehensive response that I could come up with.