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6626

General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by MilesAhead on November 03, 2009, 02:29 PM »

edit:

VistaBootPro free:

http://www.softpedia...s/VistaBootPRO.shtml

now it's morphed into Dual Boot Pro for about $10:
http://www.vistabootpro.org/

I don't know how useful it is for day to day operations.  But following the guide for adding XP to a PC with Vista already installed, VistaBootPro made fixing up the boot manager easy. Only thing is in the case of XP you still have to get around the "ntldr missing or corrupt" error.

afa my ugrade to W7 experiences, I did the "custom install" on top of Vista32 and got the 206,000 file Windows.old folder but everything seemed to work ok.  Doing the same on Vista64 my start menu was hosed and it was generally unrewarding.  Vist64 SP1 felt so much like W7 without the Superbar that I just put Vista64 back on.  It runs smooth on my quad core.  Don't see any reason to change it.

edit2: btw this is all beta W7.  I doubt I'll purchase W7 until it comes with SP1 integrated.

edit3: this link may also be useful:
http://www.sevenforu...bcdedit-how-use.html

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General Software Discussion / Re: Returnil free home edition with 64 bit support

« Last post by MilesAhead on November 02, 2009, 06:00 PM »

Yet another new build.  This one claims problems with restore points and other issues fixed:

http://www.wildersse...wthread.php?t=257195

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General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by MilesAhead on November 02, 2009, 05:23 PM »

I remember in the past having setups where one Windows could not see the other and juggling partition settings on boot. It turned into a real nightmare esp. if you try to install some software on a non system partition that can run on both OS, such as Visual Studio.

-MilesAhead (November 02, 2009, 02:16 PM)

Granted I did the same thing (and got the same result), but Microsoft did warn against that type of setup in a KB article written back in the Win2k days.

-Stoic Joker (November 02, 2009, 04:44 PM)

I did that before Win2k. I had NT 4 server and Win98 both booting as C:
Most 3rd party apps worked with it fine.

afa the drive letter issue goes, until it is totally transparent, it's broken.  IOW, if I want to move all my stuff from partition D: to F: the registry entries should still be valid since it will just map to the other device or partition with no intervention by the user other than a command similar to "move apps from (source partition id) to (target partition id) and the friendly name, even if the user wanted to use D: or F: for some stupid reason like backward compatibility, would map to the proper place.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by MilesAhead on November 02, 2009, 03:09 PM »

The entire business with drive letters is a kludge. It will never be a real OS until they do away with it.  There needs to be standardized storage identification that allows a user assignable alias for a friendly name.  If all the stuff is moved to another storage location the friendly name should just be associated with the non-volatile ID.  Anything less is just hobbyist crap.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Paragon Drive Backup+Recovery 10 Free - good full drive imaging tool

« Last post by MilesAhead on November 02, 2009, 02:40 PM »

Apologies for offtopic, but would appreciate if anyone with Thinkpad T61P/similar notebook has used Macrium Reflect
without problems to clone Vista 32/64 bit to a new disk ?

It seems there's something special on Lenovo hard disks/hidden partitions that traps many imaging softwares

SKA

-SKA (November 02, 2009, 03:33 AM)

Macrium has a forum where you may get more user responses. Just go to their site.

edit: I have the link here:
http://www.macrium.com/support.asp

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General Software Discussion / Re: Time to kill the OS upgrade disc?

« Last post by MilesAhead on November 02, 2009, 02:39 PM »

What we need is a free extended Dos to come installed on the machine so you can test that the hardware functions on boot.  Then either put Linux on or the OEM disc you bought.  I'm really getting tired of more and more crapware and annoyances coming on pre-installed machines.  It's a waste of 2 days just taking that crap off and getting the machine so you can use it normally.

Seems like the Linux pre-installed fad has faded and the PCs are not exactly kick ass machines anyway.  I keep hearing about market vacuums being filled but this one hasn't leaked in years.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by MilesAhead on November 02, 2009, 02:16 PM »

One good thing about the BCD boot management is that you no longer have to worry about drive letters - each operating system boots in as drive C once installed.

I have to look into this more.  I remember in the past having setups where one Windows could not see the other and juggling partition settings on boot. It turned into a real nightmare esp. if you try to install some software on a non system partition that can run on both OS, such as Visual Studio.

OTOH it doesn't really apply to XP and I'm not likely to mix W7 and Vista since they are pretty much the same picket fence with a different coat of paint.  But I wonder if they are playing the old "active partition swap" game?

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What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?

« Last post by MilesAhead on November 02, 2009, 02:09 PM »

Spyware issues aside, isn't it a transcoder anyway?  So not what you'd use for quality conversions(or maybe I'm reading something into the description that isn't there?)

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What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?

« Last post by MilesAhead on November 02, 2009, 01:23 AM »

I'm pretty happy with my Philips dvp 5990.  For the price I can't complain.  The main things on my wishlist are:

-MilesAhead (October 27, 2009, 09:42 PM)

Have you checked for alternative firmwares at DivXpert Firmwares ?

-4wd (November 02, 2009, 12:47 AM)

To me flashing firmware requires a major reason to take the risk.  I've experienced "instant paper weight" once. I don't want to go there again.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Paragon Drive Backup+Recovery 10 Free - good full drive imaging tool

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 31, 2009, 05:34 PM »

The point is that it hosed my system trying to make a backup capsule instead of knowing what it can and can't do.  Also 9 doesn't support my AMD Raid controller. Plus with the paid Macrium you can get either 32 bit or 64 bit version of WinPE.  You can use it to integrate a Windows driver into the CD boot.  So now I have both a Linux boot CD that works and a USB key that I can boot using WinPE and they both support my Raid driver.

Paragon seems to work well with XP but I would say don't try to use the backup capsule feature on Vista or later.  Also it's ok if you have a vanilla Sata disk controller.

Just seems like Macrium has it out in front with the hardware support.

To me, for a system backup/restore utility to blithely hose your partition table and go merrily on its way is totally bogus.  Vista was around long enough they should have gotten it right.  Thumbs down on that score. It worked ok on my XP machine with Sata controller.  That's about all I can say for it.

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General Software Discussion / Re: JkDefrag further developed as MyDefrag

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 31, 2009, 05:21 PM »

I noticed when I did a Crystal Disk benchmark after a MyDefrag Fast Optimize(which I guess is going to be called Optimize Daily now?) the performance for small random reads/writes went up quite a bit. I'm guessing it's because it defrags in "zones" rather than just trying to pack everything to the front.  The disk head didn't have to hop over the entire partition contents to write the files.

I think even the numbers for large contiguous reads and writes went up a bit too.

6637

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Add/Update Increment to File Extension

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 31, 2009, 05:07 PM »

This may not fit the spec. but it coincidentally popped up.  Somebody might like an automated backup software that's free for personal use:

http://www.docshield.com/

I have a feeling that it works by being notified by the file system. Since I turn that stuff off as much as possible I haven't tried it myself. But someone who does lots of documents may find it useful.  For my small amount of source code I just use FreeCommander to sync folders manually.

6638

Living Room / Re: You have a computer backup plan.. but does it work?

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 31, 2009, 02:54 PM »

I did the multiple partition thing so only my OS was on C: years ago.  The trouble with Windows is even if you install stuff on D: or E: many of the applications, such as Visual C++/Visual Studio insist on putting a bunch of stuff on C: making it difficult to guess how much space to allocate.  Back then I could jockey the drive space around with Partition Magic, but it was still a pita.

The approach I take now is to run with at least 70% free space.  If I don't want to throw away what I'm deleting, I move it off to an external drive.  Defrags are fast since there's plenty of free space to work with.  Image backups are small, typically 20 GB after compression. I have a 2 PC setup with network so I can back up from my main machine to the external connected to the other machine, and be surfing with the secondary machine. I make multiple backups every week since it only takes between 10 and 20 minutes.

Periodically I back up to drives that are only connected during backup and I swap out the drive in the docking station so that I have recent backups in case all the connected drives should be simultaneously infected by some wonder virus.

The last time I ran with 80% disk space used was on a machine with an 80 GB drive.  Once I got to 200 GB or higher I run them lean.  The maintenance chores are all faster and (almost) fun since they rarely exceed 1/2 hour.

6639

General Software Discussion / Re: Paragon Drive Backup+Recovery 10 Free - good full drive imaging tool

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 31, 2009, 02:42 PM »

Now I am reconsidering free Macrium  I think I knew Vista did similar system backup, in thoughts when choosing Ultimate, but fact is somehow blurred because I usually disregard most MS feature not absolutely necessary for Windows to work. That way no annoyances, all stable and great. Feels better even, like less MS is a good thing, while using Windows... Guess stupid to ignore build-in backup now they offer it. 

Important to check Linux based restore cd made by Macrium btw., not sure it is good friends with all hd-controllers or at least a ahci -> naitive sata trick is required.

-Bamse (October 30, 2009, 09:56 PM)

I bought the Macrium Reflect 4.2 because I did a save and restore with the trial version.  I had Paragon Drive Backup but the Boot CD did not work with my HP AMD Raid controller, except in "9 hours to do a 45 minute restore" mode. The Macrium worked flawlessly and even offered to copy over the saved MBR which coincidentally fixed my partition table that was hosed by Paragon trying to create the Backup Capsule hidden partition.

I verified with the Macrium forum sysop that the new free version has the same Linux Boot CD as the 4.2 paid version.  They just updated it. Not only does it work with my Raid controller but it also works with my USB Docking station from a cold boot.  So far the only minor annoyance is it insists on choosing the file backup name so to differentiate which partition is backed up you need to create a folder such as C_Drive or whatever so you know which is what.  I'm not sure about the free version but the $50 one has network support also, but it insists the workgroup be named WORKGROUP which is the default on Vista and W7.

6640

General Software Discussion / Re: Beerware and Otherware categories besides Donationware, good or now gimmicky?

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 31, 2009, 02:31 PM »

The postcard thing reminds me of Ham Radio operators.  Probably a ham who thought of it for software.

afa the Beer thing, it should probably be the other way around.  If the original author catches someone else stealing their software they have the right to throw a beer in the guy's face, and the guy with beer on face has to pick up the tab. (So if you are a smart programmer you wait until a few pitchers have been killed before you announce you have apprehended the perpetrator.  One needs to maximize the advantage of the moment and leave the dude with a big tab.)  

6641

General Software Discussion / Re: JkDefrag further developed as MyDefrag

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 31, 2009, 02:26 PM »

When I view the MyDefrag statistics, I don't see a percentage like JkDefrag provided-- % of all items/% of disk. Seems like that's important data to have within eyesight.

-sajman99 (October 31, 2009, 11:29 AM)

I know it's a big drag to reprogram something that already works, but I still think the biggest negative impression for that software is the status window or whatever the term for it is.  The colors are washed out and it's not easy to figure out what is supposed to be what.  Auslogics probably has the technically inferior defrag but the status window makes you feel like it knows what it's doing and it ain't wastin' any time doin' it.  It totally wins the Impression War when using it. Unfortunately cosmetics often wins out over technical genius.

6642

General Software Discussion / Re: JkDefrag further developed as MyDefrag

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 31, 2009, 02:23 PM »

I agree, there are many applications like this, but MyDefrag can be effectively used even without any knowledge. Just run one of the supplied script and that's all. Which is what I'm doing, because they do all I need, and besides, I admit I'm lazy to delve into the script language. But unlike with the vi editor I don't have to.

-yksyks (September 04, 2009, 04:34 PM)

The way I resolved it, I just dragged the Optimize Daily script onto my Selector launcher.

To run it I click on Text Parameter radio button, type the drive letter with colon in the input line, then select the short name for the script, and press the Go Button. Only that partition is defragged.

6643

Living Room / Re: You have a computer backup plan.. but does it work?

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 30, 2009, 11:01 PM »

I bought the Paragon Drive Backup Personal 9.0.  It has file exclusion on image backups which is okay if you want to exclude a few big files.  For example I used to exclude my DVD folder.  If I did a restore there would be "phantom entries" in the DVD folder for dvd images that didn't really exists... but just deleting them fixed that.

The problem comes if you have a folder tree with hundreds of files in it.  The Paragon backup will tick off the name of every file it is excluding so that the backup will take 5 hours instead of 15 minutes.  You are better off just to move the big files you don't want to throw away, onto an external drive before the backup.

So far I haven't found an image backup with exclusion that doesn't have this same problem.  Other than that the Paragon is fine.  One thing about the Macrium is you get network support without buying some "deluxe" version.

Also just a few days ago I tested the Macrium Linux boot CD and it recognized an internal Sata drive in a USB Docking station(which was a relief since I mainly use that for backups.)

6644

General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 30, 2009, 06:00 PM »

I know what you mean about the intermittent thing.  Can be very frustrating.  Kind of like trying to tune in a TV with a rabbit ears.  As long as you stand there holding the antenna, the picture is fine.  Take one step away and it's back to fuzz.

6645

General Software Discussion / Some FavesSoft Hotkey programs updated for Windows 7

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 30, 2009, 05:54 PM »

FavesSoft Hotkey programs listed below were updated for Windows 7

FolderCache
HomeFolder
Pasty
ReOpen
Selector

It's just a minor update for Windows version number detection.  In Windows 7 a memory optimization may not be called since the version of AutoIt3 used did not have an enumeration for Windows Seven OS.  It's just a reduction of memory working set and a minor optimization at that.  Latest corrected programs can be downloaded from this link:

http://www.favessoft.com/hotkeys.html

6646

General Software Discussion / Re: Minefield(Firefox) 3.7Pre seems to work

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 30, 2009, 04:33 PM »

For some reason the Oct. 29 build Firefox 3.6 beta is still called "3.6 beta 1" so I guess we now have betas of betas.

6647

General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 30, 2009, 02:29 PM »

40hz how is the hard drive activity?  One thing I noticed where stuff will pause is if the drive is busy.  I turned file indexing off.  Now the only time I notice it being sluggish is if I'm transferring files over the network.  I put a Gb card in the machine with W7 so it can take faster than the HD can copy.  If you haven't tried it already, try Everything Search and disable file indexing.

My old HP PC with the Intel graphics with no onboard ram(used system ram for all video) worked pretty snappy with no Aero and basic theme, with 1 GB ram.

The one I have W7 on is 2 GB ram AMD dual core so admittedly it has more horses but it seems pretty responsive with Aero on.

6648

General Software Discussion / Re: Surprised by Win7

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 29, 2009, 06:30 PM »

I won't know until I end up with a "Home Premium" on my machine.  Right now I'm still running the 7077 build, which is Ultimate.

I like that you don't have to hack system dlls to put themes on.  Plus it seems like all I had to do to reduce the HD usage to an acceptable level is turn off file indexing and use Everything Search.

But it's all conjecture until I buy a Home Premium OEM edition or whatever is the cheapest that still has the Aero.

afa the networking goes I don't know why they keep changing stuff.  I set all the workgroup names to MSHOME to match XP.  Maybe instead I should set them all to WORKGROUP since I rarely use XP now.  But I hate to change stuff that's working.  I'll leave well enough alone for the time being.

6649

What's the Best? / Re: Video conversion: What's the best (freeware or shareware)?

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 28, 2009, 08:38 PM »

The free converters have sure come a long way.  I can remember for awhile it seemed like every free tool I tried just wouldn't produce a compatible DVD. Now instead of worrying about picking one that works I'm concerned with the best looking output.  A couple of years makes a big difference.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Minefield(Firefox) 3.7Pre seems to work

« Last post by MilesAhead on October 28, 2009, 03:22 PM »

Speaking of 3.6 beta, the latest was supposed to be available for download today.  I don't see it anywhere.  Newest I can find is Oct. 19 build.

Anything in the Minefield nightly builds you have to try day by day until you find a good one.  Then hold onto that installer.  If you update and it's sour, regress to the good build.