Recent Posts

676

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Antivirus Software a Waste of Money?

« Last post by Innuendo on March 02, 2012, 10:01 AM »

I view anti-virus software the same way I view all security software (firewalls, anti-malware, etc.). I see it as being insurance for my computer the same way I have insurance for my car and home. You may grouse about the money you shell out annually for no visible benefit when things are non-eventful, but when disaster strikes that's when the investment shows its true value & you're glad you're covered.

Sure, there's about the same chance my PC will get infected as my house being hit by a tornado or a storm blowing the roof off my house, but I think I'll keep my bases covered, thank you very much.

Full disclosure: I'm a unique case. All of my security software has lifetime licenses so there's no ongoing yearly cost for me to run them & when I'm on the internet I behave like the digital equivalent of "looking for trouble." I go to a lot of those web sites your mother warned you about & yet, I've never been infected due to my layered security approach. Contrast that with friends and family who have gotten their PCs nuked by something simple as banner ad exploits.

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General Software Discussion / Re: WHAT Thaah ?

« Last post by Innuendo on March 02, 2012, 09:49 AM »

My question is... what happens during a scan to cause this?      Try to keep the answer(s) as simple as possible.   

-crabby3 (March 02, 2012, 07:52 AM)

Answer that is as simple as possible: bugs in your AV software. I'd file a bug report with Avast! because not all AV programs exhibit this behavior.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Linkman 8 Pro and Cacheman 7.10 62% off on Bits du Jour 8/15/2011

« Last post by Innuendo on March 02, 2012, 09:47 AM »

How does this tool compare to say, XMarks? Not opposed to the one time fee, vice a subscription. Just curious

-Josh (March 02, 2012, 08:31 AM)

I've never used Xmarks, but it looks like it is something one would use to sync their bookmarks through the cloud so they could have their bookmarks on all their devices.

Linkman won't let you sync your bookmarks to your phone, but it does sync with other PCs and browsers. What you receive in return for losing the phone syncing is organizing functionality that will let you find any bookmark in seconds even if you misfiled it. There is a full-feature trial so I'd suggest you install it to see if it's to your liking & there's a h-u-g-e thread here on DonationCoder where the devs have participated in the past.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Linkman 8 Pro and Cacheman 7.10 62% off on Bits du Jour 8/15/2011

« Last post by Innuendo on March 02, 2012, 09:43 AM »

Don't forget, the current offer is now active. Btw, the lifetime option can be added during the buying process. Thank you, Innuendo

-highend01 (March 02, 2012, 07:01 AM)

Glad I could help save someone some money. For $7.50 it's silly not to add on the lifetime license option.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Earning the 'daemon' inside DaemonTools...

« Last post by Innuendo on March 01, 2012, 03:39 PM »

Looks like the Daemon Tools people issued a formal statement regarding MountSpace & since it was missed over here I provide a link for the completeness of this thread:

http://forum.daemon-...space-service-29177/

Short version: If you'll use Lashiec's screenshot as a reference, disabling "Send anonymous usage statistics" prevents Daemon Tools from sending information *TO* MountSpace. Disabling "Enable Media Info Panel" prevents Daemon Tools from obtaining information *FROM* MountSpace.

Disable both & your privacy is assured. Maybe I'll go back to Daemon Tools. Every other program that offers the functionality is not elegant at all.

681

General Software Discussion / Re: Superboyac is throwing in the towel: I'm going to transition to Linux

« Last post by Innuendo on March 01, 2012, 03:16 PM »

Example?

-mahesh2k (March 01, 2012, 11:57 AM)

Gladly....from the Panda3D manual:

http://www.panda3d.o...ing_Panda3D_in_Linux

The easiest way to install panda is to use the RPM or DEB packages. This is only possible if your version of Linux is one of the provided versions of Linux. If not, you will need to compile from source. If there is an installer available, download and install the RPM or DEB appropriate to your version of Linux.

That's just one example. I've seen similar regarding lots of other programs.

Full disclosure: I don't run Linux myself. The huge push in 2000 or so to put Linux on the desktop only yielded Linux running my router & my NAS in my house.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Superboyac is throwing in the towel: I'm going to transition to Linux

« Last post by Innuendo on March 01, 2012, 10:07 AM »

Superboyac, I'm glad you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and try a new OS I advise you to be careful what situation you are putting yourself in. Windows has its problems, true, but Linux has its own share as well. Don't jump in expecting an easy time of it, either. Sure, things are a lot easier than they were even five years ago and there are some excellent distros out there, a lot of the problems you run into you will have to fix yourself. If you have any problem on Windows usually a quick Google search will find a blog or forum post from a Microsoft MVP laying out the steps needed to get things back on track. With Linux, while there are a lot of people out there who will be willing to help, there's unfortunately an 'ugly' segment of the population who parrot "RTFM!" and berate newbies till they leave their forums. The numbers in that 'ugly' portion of the Linux population seem to be dwindling, though, thank goodness.

Your first step is going to be to find the distro that's right for you. Everyone's got their favorites & everyone will gladly evangelize their top pick(s), but the truth of the matter is that a distro is like a pair of shoes. You have to find the one that fits you the best & is the most comfortable for you to roam around in. This step is very important, if not one of the most important decisions you'll make while in the land of Linux. Which one you choose could easily either bring you bliss or misery so choose wisely. Unfortunately, you have to make this huge decision while your knowledge is the weakest so lots of research will make things easier for you down the road.

As for software, you are (unfortunately) using two of the 800 lb. gorillas of the Windows world. The Bat! and Directory Opus do not have anything as powerful on Linux in their respective categories. The fact that the devs of these programs get barraged with requests to port them to Linux (and Mac!) attest to their power and desirability. You'll find Linux equivalents that will do a lot of what they do. You may even get lucky and find one that does most of what they do, but they stand alone. Total Commander is the only match for Directory Opus & it's Windows only as well, although lots of people report success using TC in Wine. Directory Opus, however, is too tightly integrated into the Windows framework so no such option exists for it.

While we're on the subject of software, we may as well talk about compiling. A lot of Linux software authors don't compile for every distro out there. You may be looking at a command prompt armed with source code if you are wanting to run certain programs on your distro. Are you up for that?

Linux is definitely most suited for those with a 'gearhead' mentality, those who want power & customizability and aren't afraid to get their hands dirty in order to access it. If you are more of a set it and forget it type person (the click one button or run a wizard) you may do well to stick with Windows or check into OS X.

Your OP stresses limits due to copyright. Just because the Linux guys are doing it for free doesn't mean they won't get their butts sued off as well if they violate copyright. They are limited by copyright just like the for-pay OSes are. The law is the law.

Linux can be a rich, rewarding experience, but like most things it'll only give you back what you put into it so if you are wanting an OS that just fades into the background and let's you do what you want to do be prepared to learn a LOT so you have the knowledge required to achieve that. This will not be the "drop in a DVD, click next, click next, click next, click done" Windows installation experience.

Either way, we'll be here with you every step of the way...be it to celebrate your victory over Linux as you declare your command line mastery...or...be it to cheer you on as you tie your PC's cables to your back bumper and drive down the street.

683

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: 7 Days of Free Downloads from VideoBlocks.com

« Last post by Innuendo on March 01, 2012, 09:39 AM »

We are not out to trick anyone and are more than happy to refund you for the monthly membership. Please email me at [email protected] in reference to this post, so we can proceed with the refund process.

-NikkiVB (March 01, 2012, 08:18 AM)

I am very impressed with this level of accommodation for a customer, especially since he used the service after his trial expired you are still willing to process his refund. Kudos to you & your company. I only wish all companies were so reasonable.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Agnitum Outpost Firewall - Lifetime License - $29.97 - Coming Soon

« Last post by Innuendo on February 29, 2012, 01:19 PM »

whoops - sorry if this is considered "off-topic". If so, please let me know.

-berry (February 29, 2012, 12:33 PM)

On DonationCoder anything that contributes to the overall topic of a thread is very much welcome even if it is not exactly the product being discussed. Here we concentrate on finding what's best for each individual's needs rather than pushing the agenda of any one certain program over others.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Agnitum Outpost Firewall - Lifetime License - $29.97 - Coming Soon

« Last post by Innuendo on February 29, 2012, 01:17 PM »

I may eventually take you up on your offer, but for the moment, I'm  content with the Windows 7 firewall, which required nothing more of me than to turn it on.  That much I can manage on my own. 

-cyberdiva (February 29, 2012, 10:14 AM)

There's nothing wrong at all with the Windows 7 firewall if all you are concerned with is stuff trying to get in. Where its weak point lies is with things trying to get out. Lots of programs try to phone home (some are benign and others not so much) so it depends on how important that aspect of your security/privacy is.

My favorite example of this is a few years ago it was discovered a very popular software DVD player was phoning home letting the developers know the title of every movie played with their software! Sure, that's nothing directly malicious, but there's no reason for them to know what their customers watched.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: 7 Days of Free Downloads from VideoBlocks.com

« Last post by Innuendo on February 28, 2012, 12:49 PM »

Curt, actually those rules are MasterCard's and Visa's. They aren't country-dependent, but....since you utilized the service after your 7 day trial then yes, that's proof you 'approved' the charge.

687

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Linkman 8 Pro and Cacheman 7.10 62% off on Bits du Jour 8/15/2011

« Last post by Innuendo on February 28, 2012, 12:47 PM »

Lifetime Free Upgrades (+50% to base price)

A normal 2 computer license costs 39$.

-highend01 (February 28, 2012, 10:28 AM)

Yes, but on the last BDJ offer, that 50% upgrade to lifetime was based on the discounted price not the list price.

I just looked up my invoice and in my case, I bought, thanks to BDJ, a 2 computer license for $14.98 and the lifetime free upgrade (+50% to base price) was a whopping $7.50 giving me a grand total at check-out of $22.48.

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General Software Discussion / Re: So, it has come to this. Pick an ecosystem -- Google, Microsoft, or Apple

« Last post by Innuendo on February 28, 2012, 12:41 PM »

And to think, just a few years ago, it felt like we had it all. Now we're all dependent little corporate whores, like it or not.

-zridling (February 27, 2012, 01:32 PM)

A few years ago the choice was simpler. You chose either the Microsoft or Apple eco-system unless, of course, you went off the grid with Linux or a BSD variant.

Or, since you include Google, are you talking about smart-phone/PDA eco-systems? In that case, a few years ago your choices were RIM, Palm, or Symbian.

I guess I'm not understanding the motivation of the OP. Corporations have always tried to lasso consumers into their eco-system. It's just these days the cast of characters is a little different than the ones of days gone by.

tl;dr....same ole, umm...stuff, different day.

689

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Agnitum Outpost Firewall - Lifetime License - $29.97 - Coming Soon

« Last post by Innuendo on February 28, 2012, 09:33 AM »

There are a couple settings that cut down on the permission dialogs a lot. The first one tells Outpost to let through any app which is digitally signed by a trusted publisher. That will cut down on a LOT of the permission requests. The second one, I don't really recommend, but it's there if you want either further elimination of permission requests & that's a training setting. Turn it on and for the next two weeks any app you run on your system will automatically be given permission. After the two weeks the training setting automatically goes back to normal & by then almost all, if not all, of your apps will have the necessary permissions to run unheeded.

Even without these two settings, though. You are only asked for permission once...unless you specifically hit the button to only allow the action once.

I'm not surprised an Outpost Security Suite serial number didn't work on an Outpost Firewall installation. They are different products, after all. Outpost Security Suite's anti-virus is deeply intertwined with the firewall component so that's why you can't turn that off. However, what with Outpost Security Suite being awarded no less than ten AV100 awards in a row, I'm not sure why you would want to turn off that AV anyway.

I should probably mention that Agnitum's firewall products are among just a handful that can pass all known leak tests as well.

Anti-malware is a lot like paying taxes...I hate it as much as the next person....which is why I jumped on the offer a few years ago to buy a lifetime license to Outpost Security Suite...and grabbed a BitsDuJour offer for a lifetime license for MalwareByte's Anti-Malware as well.

As for you, Ms. Diva....firewall tutoring is available upon request.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Linkman 8 Pro and Cacheman 7.10 62% off on Bits du Jour 8/15/2011

« Last post by Innuendo on February 28, 2012, 09:16 AM »

I recommend buyers, if offered, go for the lifetime updates/license option. It is only a few dollars (less than ten) more if I remember correctly.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Genie Timeline Professional 2 for 10USD

« Last post by Innuendo on February 28, 2012, 09:15 AM »

I like them because you can store your drive away from your computers, which makes it a little more burglar safe. Performance is OK but I have gigabit ethernet wiring and yet it's still kind of sluggish on the "reload folder information" bit when copying/moving from windows.

Currently I have a Zyxel one that has a bit of extra logic and can run a web server or other goodies (also has a media server but that never functioned properly for the amount of music i have)

-iphigenie (February 27, 2012, 05:33 PM)

You have to be careful of the low-end NAS boxes you see. They'll have a gigabit ethernet port on the back, but the box's CPU and other electronics won't be able to sustain anywhere near that speed. A few years back when I was in the market for such a device the only sub-$200 NAS that was capable of greater than 'ethernet 100' speeds was the D-Link DNS-323 (no longer sold). It's speed tests blew anything Zyxel, Netgear, Linksys, etc. had out of the water.

Just a couple weeks ago, I rejuvenated its usability by flashing a third-party firmware (a la DD-WRT) that gave it the ability to use EXT4 or even a full-blown Debian install off of it if I want. I greedily upgraded to EXT4 for the journaling and other features, but I think I'm going to  hold off on going all out with Debian.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Genie Timeline Professional 2 for 10USD

« Last post by Innuendo on February 28, 2012, 09:06 AM »

SORRY for my wrong accusations!

-Curt (February 27, 2012, 04:13 PM)

I wouldn't apologize if I were you, Curt. The release notes say Genie Timeline Pro's last release was over a year ago. I think you were more than fair with your accusation.

I am actually pleased to hear  I was wrong  and Genie still is developed
- otherwise their new cloud service wouldn't give any meaning ;-)

Looks like their cloud service just backs up the pictures and stuff people post on Facebook. That doesn't interest me at all...

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: 7 Days of Free Downloads from VideoBlocks.com

« Last post by Innuendo on February 28, 2012, 09:02 AM »

Dispute the charge with your credit/debit card issuer, Curt. You'll get the money back without any trouble. If you do run into difficulties let me know. I used to be in that business (credit cards/banking....not fleecing customers ).

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Living Room / Re: Firefox and LastPass problems

« Last post by Innuendo on February 28, 2012, 08:56 AM »

Very odd - never had an issue with lastpass. Have FF 9 and the up to date lastpass. But then FF is my secondary browser so I would perhaps not notice

-iphigenie (February 27, 2012, 02:24 PM)

Just like you perhaps didn't notice that Firefox is now up to version v10.x.

695

Living Room / Re: OpenDNS updates their censorship policy

« Last post by Innuendo on February 28, 2012, 08:53 AM »

However, though this policy pronouncement from OpenDNS looks pretty good on the surface, I still remain skeptical.
We shall see. When the almost inevitable pressure on them (OpenDNS) is brought to bear by some government or other (probably the US), then any tendency to cave in under that pressure will become apparent.

-IainB (February 28, 2012, 07:38 AM)

All this policy states is that OpenDNS will not help an organization or country censor the internet. I really doubt any government would pressure them into providing content filtering. To clarify, OpenDNS has never stated that they will not refuse to cooperate with any investigation into legal wrong-doing. I'm sure they'd handle any logs over to law enforcement officials straight away....and I support that.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Genie Timeline Professional 2 for 10USD

« Last post by Innuendo on February 27, 2012, 01:20 PM »

I tested it back then when it was new, and didn't like it. Also, our Barney and Darwin almost hated it. The Home version of 2.1 was on giveawayoftheday July 21, 2010, and they are still promoting version 2.1 ! I expect it has been abandoned - and "$10" may give the same impression.

-Curt (February 26, 2012, 11:52 AM)

I just finished reading Darwin's thread. There wasn't a lot of love for Genie Timeline Pro....but by the end of the thread there wasn't much love for Oops!Backup which he tried to use as a replacement, either.

And according to the the Genie Timeline Pro release notes the last version released was February 2, 2011 - Genie Timeline 2.1.11.343.

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General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« Last post by Innuendo on February 27, 2012, 12:21 PM »

One more thing: On my USB stick I have just found license keys for Paragon Rescue Kit 11 Professional, and for Paragon Backup & Recovery 10.0 Suite, still valid. The programs were never installed. Ironic, almost absurd.

-Curt (February 27, 2012, 02:37 AM)

What would be absurd is if, given your track record with Paragon, you would let any of their programs touch your computer ever again.

698

Living Room / Re: Firefox and LastPass problems

« Last post by Innuendo on February 27, 2012, 12:16 PM »

Sounds like it's time to find a replacement for LastPass rather than a replacement for your browser.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Agnitum Outpost Firewall - Lifetime License - $29.97 - Coming Soon

« Last post by Innuendo on February 27, 2012, 12:05 PM »

Today's the day, folks. Visit Bits Du Jour if you want to partake of the deal.

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General Software Discussion / Re: ReImage: online Windows repair!

« Last post by Innuendo on February 25, 2012, 01:32 PM »

Sadly there are not a single person that I know of in my circles that have a retail Vista SP2 disc; Vista, yes, but always from Dell or something, and never SP2. I will have to look around some more, before trying to restore.

-Curt (February 25, 2012, 03:43 AM)

For what you'd be using it for (a quick login to recover some files) any Vista disc would work. You'd just have some OEM branding throughout the OS and maybe some trialware installed & you could install the lastest SP right away or just get down to business recovering your important files & getting the heck out.

When that new, shiny OEM Windows 7 disc shows up just remember you aren't alone. We'll all be here to help you along the way. Personally, though, I'd use that new Windows 7 disc to do an upgrade install over your Vista OS (not activating Windows 7), copy off all your important files to a safe place, and then format the hard drive & do a clean Windows 7 install followed by *then* activating it.

Don't be surprised if your computer seems faster/snappier after you're done. Windows 7 is a lot nicer with resources than Vista ever was.