Recent Posts

826

ProcessTamer / Re: How to make ProcessTamer "UAC-friendly"?

« Last post by daddydave on May 07, 2010, 12:04 PM »

I think you can do that from Scheduled Tasks (instead of putting it in the Startup folder). How-to Geek has a nice how-to.


EDITED:
Except I would skip the "Create the Shortcut to Start the Task" section. I think you can create a scheduled task to run at at startup, he doesn't show that in the how-to.

827

Living Room / Re: KVM switch woes -- any recommendations?

« Last post by daddydave on May 05, 2010, 12:32 PM »

Unfortunately one of the computers I want to connect with it is a work laptop so installing software is probably not an option for me. The powered Iogear one seems to be getting pretty good reviews and it is self-powered so I can see how that one might be a better hardware option than what I had.

Here are some of reviews for it:
http://www.google.co...mp;ved=0CAsQ9AIwADgA

828

Find And Run Robot / Can I have an alias like +T without the + being treated specially?

« Last post by daddydave on May 05, 2010, 07:39 AM »

The title says it all. In FARR, can I have an alias like +t without the + being treated specially? Or in other words, if I want to type +t in the FARR search, and have it act as if I typed +t +alias.

If no, that's cool, for now I am just curious whether it's possible.

829

General Software Discussion / Re: XML editor

« Last post by daddydave on May 04, 2010, 01:48 PM »

It's been a while since I've had a need to edit XML, but I always liked <a href="http://www.wmhelp.com/">WMHelp's XMLPad</a> best, also freeware. It can validate-as-you-type based on your XML schema file (XSD or DTD) and seemed the most straightforward of all the ones I tried at the time.

830

Living Room / Re: KVM switch woes -- any recommendations?

« Last post by daddydave on May 04, 2010, 12:11 PM »

Thanks to all for all the suggestions and insight. Now I have to decide.

831

Living Room / Paragon Backup 9.5, normally $49.95, free today until 9AM Eastern time on May 4.

« Last post by daddydave on May 03, 2010, 07:05 PM »

Paragon Backup 9.5, normally $49.95, free today until 9AM Eastern time on May 4.

http://www.paragon-s...m/free/giveaway.html

I have no affiliation, and I have no opinion of the product. I found out about it here.

http://lifehacker.co...skyline=true&s=i
 One of the comments says it is not incompatible with Windows 7, I haven't tested it myself yet. I installed the 64 bit version on Windows 7 just now.


Ah, I should have posted here:

https://www.donation...index.php?board=39.0

832

Living Room / KVM switch woes -- any recommendations?

« Last post by daddydave on May 03, 2010, 05:57 PM »

I have a little KVM switch and I am not too satisfied with it:
http://www.buy.com/p...c/101/202531007.html

It works fine, until it doesn't. When I first got it, it started reinstalling the mouse and keyboard every time I flipped between the two machines (a laptop and a desktop, if that matters). Finally for the most part, they stayed installed. But the mouse cursor gets stuck in one spot frequently (at least daily) and I have to unplug it from the desktop machine. To get to the USB port I have to unplug the monitor cable as well. The other day I unplugged and replugged everything for several minutes and it still wasn't working. I don't know if I got a bad one, or if that's just the way it is for this. I leaning toward that's just the way it is. It seems to be basically unplugging the usb and plugging it back in, hence the constant reinstall that I experienced initially. I know this type of device was more reliable in my memory, back when all the keyboard and mouse ports were PS/2 style. If I recall correctly, the good ones held some power, sparing the motherboard from the shock of constantly unplugging the PS/2 connectors. It seems I need the same for USB, I was trying to go bargain basement, but that seems to be a fail. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations. By the way, this may not be a typical use: usually only one computer will actually be powered up.

833

Living Room / Re: Ergonomic mouse and keyboard

« Last post by daddydave on April 29, 2010, 05:10 PM »

I have been using Microsoft's Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 for some months and absolutely love it.

-nosh (April 29, 2010, 10:10 AM)

Can you give me the the dimensions of keyboard? I am considering one, and curious whether it would fit in my keyboard drawer (not that I'm really a fan of keyboard drawers, but there is kind of a house rule to "hide" things.) One I thought I could use was too tall.

EDIT: Never mind, I see the PDF with specs at the link.

834

Living Room / Re: Seeking methodology (best practice?) for cloning dissimilar boxes ...

« Last post by daddydave on April 29, 2010, 03:55 PM »

I agree with mouser.

If you do a lot of this, you might look into software that can slipstream drivers and application installs (HFSLIP, nLite, vLite), but for two machines, it's not going to save you any time (but you would learn a lot )

835

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini-Review: Breeze Cat Litter System

« Last post by daddydave on April 28, 2010, 04:32 PM »

Gives new meaning to the word crapware.

836

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Fix Vista so I can drop a file from Windows Explorer to cmd yet again

« Last post by daddydave on April 27, 2010, 11:19 PM »

@skrommel:
On your page, 'DropCommand' has wrongly been named "RunToClose" (the second one).

-Curt (November 05, 2009, 01:29 PM)

I noticed that, and went and found this thread again to figure out why the name changed.
You can see the incorrect name here. The name is correct at the top of the page, only incorrect at the screenshot.

837

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA - Save / Convert any given URL to a PDF File

« Last post by daddydave on April 27, 2010, 02:56 PM »

Wondering if there is a command line equivalent of right clicking on a URL shortcut and hitting print and having it figure out what to do based on the what Print verb for the URL filetype says in the registry.

838

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA - Save / Convert any given URL to a PDF File

« Last post by daddydave on April 27, 2010, 11:48 AM »

 I like  lanux128's idea, here's another thought


PDF Creator has a command line option to convert a file to PDF

/IF<input-filename> /OF<output-filename>
Convert a postscript file to a PDF or bitmap. The /OF parameter must be used in conjunction with the /IF parameter. To set the output file format, include the file extension in the output file name. There is NO space between the parameters and the file names.
Examples:
pdfcreator.exe /IF"C:\description.ps" /OF"C:\description.pdf"
pdfcreator.exe /IF"C:\description.ps" /OF"C:\description.tif"

It doesn't accept a URL, though. I did see a command line url to mht converter out there if you want to be a guinea pig. (I haven't tried it). Then you might be able to do that in two lines of a batch file, the first line converting the url to mht, the second one converting the mht to pdf. There may be a better intermediary than MHT, I was just thinking of it because it preserves images.

839

General Software Discussion / Re: Advice on keyboard shortcuts.

« Last post by daddydave on April 24, 2010, 10:31 PM »

If you're looking for something quite powerful, light on resources, but without any eye candy, then HotkeyP is the solution.

-yksyks (April 21, 2010, 08:27 AM)

I've been looking for something that could remap multimedia keys, glad you mentioned it.

840

TapTap / I use TapTap to launch Launchy

« Last post by daddydave on April 23, 2010, 01:57 PM »

I am another happy TapTap user.

I use it to launch Launchy with Ctrl Ctrl. Seems to make some logical sense because it is next to the Win key, which in Vista/Windows 7 does kind of a weak version of a Launchy/FARR thing with the Start menu if you press the Win key.

I have it send an Alt-F13 (a key I can't press accidentally and which is unlikely to be a conflicting hotkey with any application, UNLIKE Alt-Space which is the Launchy default), and I have Launchy hotkey configured Alt-F13.

841

General Software Discussion / Re: Need help regarding DOS and BAT files.

« Last post by daddydave on April 15, 2010, 10:58 AM »

Although I don't really call myself a programmer, I do tend to have pretty strong opinions on programmery things.

1. I share f0dder's skepticism that batch is a gateway language to C++ and also his statement that "you have to work around instead of with the language to get things done." However, I think it is still worth learning batch in itself, it is becoming kind of a lost art and there is still value in it as a Windows user. No comment on Java.

2. I have a few links related to creating advanced batch files.

<a href="http://www.macaleste...nes/batch_tricks.htm">Timo Salmi's Assorted Batch Tricks</a>
<a href="http://www.commandline.co.uk/">Ritchie Lawrence's Batch Function Library</a>
<a href="http://hfslip.org/">HFSlip - a complete slipstreaming tool for Windows 2000/XP written as a 30+ page batch file</a>

3. I agree with MilesAhead's recommendation of AutoIt3 for a nice scripting, get-things-done type language, especially in conjunction with Scite4Autoit3 and the Koda Form Designer. Autoit3 is much like Autohotkey, with a little more humane syntax, I think. The help file is very good too, every function has a nice short example.

842

Living Room / Re: Should I swtich from w7 32 bit to w7 64 bit?

« Last post by daddydave on April 13, 2010, 11:35 AM »

I always forget about chipset drivers too, I had forgotten this, but when I bought my motherboard, I did actually seek out one that the manufacturer claimed was compatible with Windows 7 64-bit.

I also assume that if off-the-shelf computers actually work with an operating system it didn't ship with, it's merely coincidental. I don't picture HP saying "Oh, no, the user can't upgrade the computer, he'll have to buy one of our newer computers!" And if you're shipping a computer with 32 bit Windows, there actually is not much point in making it upgradable beyond 4 GB of memory. I see some off the shelf computers are shipping with 64 bit these days, I haven't checked their memory upgradability.

If you don't want to see more than 3GB of memory in the OS, I see very little point in going 64 bit. But I am repeating myself.

843

Living Room / Re: Should I swtich from w7 32 bit to w7 64 bit?

« Last post by daddydave on April 09, 2010, 10:11 AM »

Odd, I have a PCI wireless card working just fine in one of my Win7 x64 systems...

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (April 07, 2010, 08:42 PM)

Which one?

844

Living Room / Re: Should I swtich from w7 32 bit to w7 64 bit?

« Last post by daddydave on April 07, 2010, 06:17 PM »

Well, do us a favor and tell us the brands of your old wireless card with the crummy driver & the new card that you couldn't get to work well so we'll all know to avoid those like the plague.

-Innuendo (April 05, 2010, 08:54 PM)

I guess you'll be avoiding PCI wireless cards in Windows 7 64 bit altogether then (which is actually a good idea, see below). Linksys and Netgear don't seem to be in the 64-bit driver business as far as I can tell. The one that worked in Windows 7 64-bit was this one by Encore.

http://www.newegg.co...item=N82E16833180052

It worked well for a while, but keep in mind my computer and my wireless router are in diagonally opposite corners of a two story house and it was blocked by both the kids computer as well as walls and ceilings. This had been an occasional issue in the 32 bit world as well. Most of the time it worked well enough, then it stopped. Maybe one more neighbor added a wi-fi router and the interference pushed me over the edge.

Instead of wireless PCI cards, what I recommend for desktop or stationary computers and am using today is powerline networking. I got a refurbished Linksys powerline adapter kit model PLK300-RM, which I paid about  $92 shipped. The technology has gotten very reliable and inexpensive these days, and it appears as ethernet to the computer so you don't have to worry about drivers. Netgear makes them too.

For laptops, I have no idea.

845

Living Room / Re: Should I swtich from w7 32 bit to w7 64 bit?

« Last post by daddydave on April 05, 2010, 11:57 AM »

As a happy 64 bit Windows 7 user, I would say that compatibility issues with 64 bit are microscopic compared to compatibility issues going to Vista / Windows 7.

I did have to buy a new wireless card, though because although my previous did have a Vista 64 bit driver, it was an unsigned kernel mode driver, which is a no-no in Windows 7 64 bit with no workaround to my knowledge (apparently it would have been allowed in Vista). I never did get the new one to work as good as the old one had in 32 bit and eventually decided to go the powerline networking route.

In some cases, you are better off running the 32 bit version of the app for plugin compatibility. The most famous example being any browser plus Flash plugin (there is no Adobe Flash 64 bit).

For me, the reason for going 64 bit was that I didn't want to be limited to 3GB of memory. Vista convinced me I needed more than that, even though they say Windows 7 manages memory a lot better. Most motherboards intended for 32 bit will max out at 4GB, so I think most people may as well get a new motherboard and memory if upgrading to 64 bit, otherwise what's the point of gaining access of only an additional 1GB of memory?

FWIW, I like to buy cheap but not noname memory. I am not convinced that paying twice for the same amount of memory is going to get me better performance than just buying twice as much cheap memory. I'm actually currently using 8GB of OCZ brand memory (it was recommended to me by colleagues and the price was right).

846

Developer's Corner / Release the source without the program being open source

« Last post by daddydave on March 28, 2010, 06:12 PM »

I have a little AutoIt3 script I am about to release after a little more testing and rewriting. It's not much and it is only about 250 lines of code. It will be freeware. I am happy to make the source code available. But for some reason I am thinking it should not be open source, even though I am releasing the source code. I'm not sure why--more of a sense of ownership, maybe?

Do you think there's any benefit to that approach, or would be best to keep it simple and make it open source?

847

Living Room / Re: Yay, Upgrade time! - Inspire me with hardware I can buy =-D

« Last post by daddydave on March 17, 2010, 06:42 PM »

Of the specs you currently have, 1GB stands out as the one thing I couldn't live with. I hated running Vista in 1GB so I when I upgraded (motherboard+cpu+memory) I made sure I would be able to install at least 8GB memory, which I have. (Which required the 64 bit version of Windows 7, by the way). A memory upgrade to me has the most bang for the buck of any upgrade.

By the way 4GB in 32 bit Windows shows up as 3GB, but 8GB in 64 bit Windows shows up as the full 8GB. "Google it."

Next thing would be graphics card, just to make the Vista/Windows 7 visual effects run nicer. (Don't know if you are one of those who plan on running Windows XP for the next decade or not   I actually ran Windows 2000 on my home system for 7 years. ) You also didn't mention if you are a hardcore gamer (sounds like not), in which case you're probably spending more on graphics and sound than I spend on my whole system.

If you go with some kind of motherboard+cpu+memory combo, really do your homework to make sure the pieces will work together. As you probably know, you can buy preconfigured combos sold as a set, but sometimes you can get better deals buying each piece from a different company.

Good luck!

848

Living Room / Re: Return of the Commodore computer name?

« Last post by daddydave on March 17, 2010, 05:22 PM »

Considering that a phone nowadays has more computer power than personal computers did back in the day, can a multitouch GEOS phone be far behind?

849

Living Room / Re: Return of the Commodore computer name?

« Last post by daddydave on March 17, 2010, 05:18 PM »

I wonder what kind of software it's supposed to run. Is it actually supposed to run old Commodore software, or did they just want rights to the name so they have a keyboard PC that runs Windows 7? Or is there going to be new Commodore software?

850

Living Room / Re: Nice site found while looking for right click/copy path extension

« Last post by daddydave on March 01, 2010, 05:15 PM »

While I was looking for a shell extension so that I could right click on any file and or directory and be able to copy path and or file to my clip board

-KiTTy (February 25, 2010, 01:51 AM)

Did you settle on one of those? My favorite of those is SendToA3X although I haven't really used it since I was using Windows XP honestly. It actually is a little different, it uses the SendTo menu instead of the direct right-click menu. It can also be used to add command line parameters on the fly and it also has a lot of functions geared toward unattended installs and AutoIt3 scripting. I haven't messed with unattended installs lately, which is what I mainly used it for, so I haven't bothered to install it on my current setup, but I thought it was pretty slick when I was using it.