Recent Posts

726

General Software Discussion / Re: outlook 2003 adds to the original email

« Last post by techidave on December 05, 2009, 09:22 AM »

good ideas SKA and 4wd.  don't know why I didn't think of those.  That's what I love about DC is the gentleness of the members in these reminders.   

727

General Software Discussion / Re: outlook 2003 adds to the original email

« Last post by techidave on December 04, 2009, 07:11 PM »

just trying to appease those who don't have word.

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General Software Discussion / outlook 2003 adds to the original email

« Last post by techidave on December 04, 2009, 12:08 PM »

not sure how to solve this question but our school sends out a weekly calendar or newsletter done in MS Word 2003.  When we email it out to everyone using Outlook 2003, it then adds to the orignal by a half of a page.  That is the original was done on just one page but the email comes through at a page and a half.

I have tried sending it out using plain text but that didn't help.  We just copy and paste it from Word to Outlook.

I know the mail header stuff like from, sent, subject and all that add to it and id does add the date at the bottom... but another half of a page??   

Is anyone know of a way around this?

Thanks in advanced,
Dave

729

Living Room / Re: Death in Family

« Last post by techidave on December 02, 2009, 05:50 PM »

I am sorry to hear that Stoic.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

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General Software Discussion / Re: looking for an easy way to convert vhs tapes to dvd

« Last post by techidave on November 30, 2009, 08:48 PM »

so 4wd, what was your choice of software??

731

General Software Discussion / Re: looking for an easy way to convert vhs tapes to dvd

« Last post by techidave on November 28, 2009, 07:09 AM »

would Blu-Ray be a better choice than a DVD?  I have heard it is higher quality but have no experience with it.

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General Software Discussion / looking for an easy way to convert vhs tapes to dvd

« Last post by techidave on November 27, 2009, 09:34 PM »

I have a friend who like to convert some old vhs and BETA tapes (football games) to DVD.  It would require some editing to get rid of the unimportant stuff.

The question is:  Is there some kind of hardware box,software or maybe both that would make this easier to do?  He is not very techie but is persistent, so he probably could figure it out.

He is running XP Pro on a 3 or 4 year old computer if that helps.

What kind of recommendations do my fellow dc'ers have?

733

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: simple drawing or floor plan program

« Last post by techidave on October 15, 2009, 05:45 AM »

Thanks for the list but is still overkill in my opinion.    maybe I will look at publisher or print shop to see what they can do. 

734

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: simple drawing or floor plan program

« Last post by techidave on October 14, 2009, 09:36 PM »

Andy's idea may work... the jury is still out here.  not quite as simple as I envisioned.

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Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: simple drawing or floor plan program

« Last post by techidave on October 14, 2009, 09:14 PM »

Thanks Andy for what could be a simple solution.  I will have to look at this option. 

Any others?

736

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: simple drawing or floor plan program

« Last post by techidave on October 14, 2009, 08:52 PM »

It seems to be overkill for what I am wanting.  It isn't free either.  When it comes to CAD, pagermaker type programs, I have virtually no experience with them.  To me, Simple is the keyword.

I also look at the other programs mentioned in Mouser's post but also found them to be more complex than necessary.

But keep those comments coming!

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Post New Requests Here / IDEA: simple drawing or floor plan program

« Last post by techidave on October 14, 2009, 08:16 PM »

I have been searching google as well as trying out the Google Sketchup 7.1 but all seem to be to complex. 

I am wanting to make a floor plan of my school on the computer.  pretty much needs only straightlines or boxes, simple text editor.  It doesn't need to be 3d or 2d but just some lines on a page.  If it had a feature that shows the distance of the line in feet and inches while you are making the line that would be fantastic.  Sketchup has this feature.

If there is a program out there that does this, then point me in that direction. 

Any ideas?

thanks in advance,
Dave

738

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: SysAdmin-focused Account Information Keeper

« Last post by techidave on October 11, 2009, 09:43 PM »

I use the Firefox password manager but maybe I should/need to consider KeePass or RoboForm but for what reasons??

739

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows vs. Mac: I'm starting to change.

« Last post by techidave on October 02, 2009, 07:51 AM »

You have to wonder if Apple didn't hire some ex-Microsoft employee in charge of pricing! 

740

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows vs. Mac: I'm starting to change.

« Last post by techidave on October 02, 2009, 06:17 AM »

They look good, they work without fussing around with it, and everything that it does is COOL. 

-superboyac (October 01, 2009, 02:13 AM)

Yes they do look good.  But they don't always work without fussing around with them.  I work in a K-12 school and we do have a few Intel Macbooks in our high school.  One of the main reasons we got them were they would always "just work".  Not true.  We were told they would just work when you hooked up a projector to them... out of the box work.  Nah, you have turn the "mirror" setting on under display preferences.  And sometimes it loses that setting too.


The main apps we use on it are Indesign and Photoshop for our yearbook classes.  I don't believe they are any faster than using it on their windows machines but they have an older version so am not comparing apples to apples.   

I believe the pc world has made great strides to close the gap in graphic applications over the last few years.  But unfortunately those who are mac people will refuse to admit it.  Just like saying you cannot run a mac os on a windows machine.  Not true either.

I know some who seem to think those iLife applications are free on a mac but in reality you pay for them. 

And just when you thought that Apple gave education a break on software pricing, read thisabout their new program:

I just got a letter stating that Apple has a new Apple Education Licensing Program (AELP) that has replaced the previous Apple Maintenance Program (AMP) and Volume Licensing Programs.


Here is a link to the new program and cost of products under this program.  new program


For the past couple of releases of iWork and iLife we've been able to get a school building site license for $250 per software title for up to 500 seats. It appears now that you won't be able to do this individually per software title anymore, but you are required to get these together with the OS for what they call Mac Software Collection.  For 500 seats under the new program, it has a list price of $14,999 for 500 seats.  Also if I am reading this correctly, this is $14,999 per year to stay current!

741

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Right Click any file and create New Folder by its Name

« Last post by techidave on September 28, 2009, 01:18 PM »

What a fantastic app, skwire!  thanks for coding this!

742

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: FARR Plugin: TinyEV (Everything integration) - 0.9.5 - 12 June 2009 (updated)

« Last post by techidave on September 23, 2009, 09:54 PM »

What an incredible plugin.  I really like FARR but now with this it just elevated it to the top of the class.

I have been trying to make FARR and the ev plugin search the offline files folder stored in this path: %Windir%\CSC but it doesn't do it.  I redirect the My Documents folder to the server so if I am at home it won't find anything.

I have added the path, %Windir%\CSC to the "list search folder" but it still doesn't find anything.

What am I missing here??  by the way I am using XP SP3

thanks
dave 

743

General Software Discussion / Re: Bypass internet filtering?

« Last post by techidave on August 13, 2009, 05:26 PM »

As a school computer tech who also happens to manage the filter.  Our filtering is setup to block proxies, youtube and some game sites.  We also allow quite a few game sites cause they(Administration) want to students to be able to "relax" at the end of the period.  They figure that is better than them getting rowdy and loud do to boredom.

However, we also have a system in place where a student or teacher can request to review a blocked site.  I do look at those notifications because I realize some sites are ok but for whatever reason they mean the criteria to be blocked.

Here in the United States, schools and libraries are REQUIRED to have filtering in place if they get "erate money".  For more info on erate check out their website

It doesn't pay for the filtering it just requires that you have it.  Porn, sex, sites like bomb making or other damaging to others or self are required to be blocked.  Youtube has good videos and also bad videos and a number of the filters cannot yet tell the two apart so they block the whole thing. 

Facebook and other similar sites are blocked since they can be used to bully others.  Proxies are also blocked since they allow you to circumvent the filter.  This is most likely a violation of your internet and network use agreement that you may have signed.  At our school, you may lose computer use for trying to use a proxy or other "workaround". 

Please bear in mind that I am speaking for a K-12 public school and not a college. 

744

Living Room / Re: multiple users using one set of favorites

« Last post by techidave on August 04, 2009, 10:23 AM »

I would be open to a solution for either one

745

Living Room / multiple users using one set of favorites

« Last post by techidave on August 04, 2009, 06:32 AM »

Is there an easy way for multiple users to have the same set of favorites?  We are in a school setting where last year each user logged in.  This year I am thinking about have more generic users like "third grade", "second grade", etc..  Since our funding got cut we had to let our elementary computer teacher go, so I am trying to make it easier on me.  this way I could adjust what icons or favorites a certain generic users gets.  I am running Windows XP Pro on Windows Server 2003 network.

Last year I tried copying the favorites over to the "all users favorites" but that didn't work like I expected it to.  They just didn't show up.

any ideas?  preferably free.

746

Living Room / Re: alternatives to windows magnifier

« Last post by techidave on July 31, 2009, 07:23 AM »

In following Lanux's suggestion, I could do that and then increase the text size in IE, Word, and Outlook and see what that does for her.

747

Living Room / Re: alternatives to windows magnifier

« Last post by techidave on July 31, 2009, 07:21 AM »

I have also heard about Xoomer here

I will try out some of these and see how she likes it later on today.

748

Living Room / alternatives to windows magnifier

« Last post by techidave on July 30, 2009, 09:12 PM »

I have a friend who just purchased a HP Pavilion dv3-2155mx netbook.  She has very poor eyesight like macular degeneration so everything has to be big in print or on screen.  The netbook has a 13.3" screen with a max resolution of 1366 x 768.  I can lower the resolution thus increasing the size of everything but that doesn't necessarily help that much.  I know Windows Vista has a magnifier but I don't think she will like that very well.

Is there some other kind of solution that I can use to help her out?  It would have to work for any screen or window that she might open.

thanks a bunch!

749

Living Room / Re: linux network question

« Last post by techidave on July 28, 2009, 09:26 PM »

Well 40hz, I was thinking about this today and probably somewhat procrastinating about just doing it.  But I am working real hard trying to get my school computers finished up before Aug 1st.  Not sure I will make it but that is my goal.

But I do need to at least attempt it and see how hard/easy it is.  Since I don't already know Linux I am somewhat hesitant about even trying it.  But I did have to ask to see what my options are.

750

General Software Discussion / Re: Help! Outlook Express problem.

« Last post by techidave on July 22, 2009, 12:46 PM »

This has happened with Outlook on our school email.  I (wrongly) guessed that the same would be true with OE.