Recent Posts

926

General Software Discussion / Re: White Identical Twins

« Last post by IainB on August 06, 2017, 09:42 PM »

@ital2: I just now read this thread and followed the links you provided.
Rather interesting. Thanks for pointing it out.
I guess the correct term for it might be "politically correct propaganda-driven social re-engineering/conditioning", or something.
In the UK, I gather that they often tend to refer to this sort of thing as "cultural Marxism", where the predominantly operative mantra is probably "perception is everything" or some such nonsense.

927

Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS

« Last post by IainB on August 06, 2017, 04:04 PM »

...the back has fallen off it, so the battery is held in with a hair elastic. ...
___________________________________

-tomos (August 06, 2017, 01:24 PM)

Tip: Battery covers are often the first bit to "fail" on small DC appliances that might otherwise work just fine. I found that Blue Tack placed strategically on the inside of the cover is unobtrusive and can sometimes perform better than elastic bands or tape, and it isn't messy and doesn't "break" - one may just need to "readjust" it every now and then.
Don't use fake/copy or non-Blue Tack brand though - from experience, they tend to dry up and go hard, losing their flexible and sticky characteristics.

928

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Extracting All Image Links from a Booru Website

« Last post by IainB on August 06, 2017, 06:46 AM »

Might be worth looking at the references to "image download" in the thread Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

Also see:

...Does it really work? Wow. It hasn't been updated for 11 months, so I assumed...
__________________

-Curt (March 12, 2014, 08:47 AM)

It most decidedly does work, and you can crawl any website, gathering specific file types.
For example, from the Mozilla FoxySpider Add-on page:
____________________________
About this Add-on
With FoxySpider you can:

• Get all photos from an entire website
• Get all video clips from an entire website
• Get all audio files from an entire website
• Well, actually get any file type you want from an entire website

FoxySpider can be used to create a thumbnail gallery containing links to rich media files of any file types you are interested in. It can also crawl deep to any level on a website and display the applicable files it found in the same gallery. FoxySpider is useful for different media content pages (music, video, images, documents), thumbnail gallery post (TGP) sites, podcasts. You can narrow and expand the search to support exactly what you want.
Once the thumbnail gallery is created you can view, download or share (on Facebook and Twitter) every file that was fetched by FoxySpider.
____________________________

-IainB (March 12, 2014, 04:12 PM)

929

T-Clock / Re: T-clock reviews

« Last post by IainB on August 06, 2017, 06:23 AM »

@Pear:
Logic? There was no logic, but merely the ergonomic/perceptual benefit (to me) that comes from having a contrast between illuminated light green digits on a black background. I don't really like the segmented digits, either.

Atomic time synchronisation? I have no need of atomic time synchronisation - too much risk of passive X-ray radiation for my liking. If I wanted radiation, rather than get it from a radioactive Start Menu clock, I'd go visit a Chernobyl cafe and have a couple of caffè lattes whilst having a convivial chat with some of the mutated natives - probably a bit like visiting the Wastelands in Fallout 3. Of course, if I did that, then I'd not only be wearing a radiation-proof suit, but also I'd be watching that Geiger counter like a hawk.

930

T-Clock / Re: T-clock reviews - my Hi-Vis T-Clock.

« Last post by IainB on August 06, 2017, 03:10 AM »

(Click to see full image.)

931

Living Room / Re: Peer Review and the Scientific Process

« Last post by IainB on August 02, 2017, 08:47 PM »

There is an interesting bit of psychological research that has been done on the attention-distracting effect of things like smartphones, as reported on here: Your iPhone Reduces Your Brainpower, Even If It's Just Sitting There.

Rather than the research itself, or its conclusions, I find this comment honest and very wise - in light of what we now know about the falsifiability of a lot of psychological research: (my emphasis)

...“We can yell our opinions at each other, and people are going to agree or disagree with them, and set up luddites-versus-technolovers debates. But I wanted to get data,” he told me.

It’s worth noting that the type of psychological research Ward conducts—trials on willing, Western undergrads, often participating in studies to fulfill course credit—has suffered a crisis of confidence in recent years. Psychologists have had difficulty replicating some of the most famous experiments in their field, leading some to argue that all psychology experiments should be replicated before they are published. Ward’s study has not yet been replicated. ...

932

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by IainB on August 02, 2017, 01:24 AM »

I don't think I'll bother with that electric-powered bike idea now...
PIMP my ride please! Kooky Russian inventor combines jet engine with bicycle.

933

Web Link Captor / Re: Latest Web Link Captor Release - v1.11.01 - Dec 17, 2013

« Last post by IainB on August 02, 2017, 12:34 AM »

OK, ta muchly.

934

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 - Collection of Hacks, Tweaks, Improvements

« Last post by IainB on August 02, 2017, 12:09 AM »

techidave:

...I am running version 1703 of Win 10 Pro.  I cannot find those font settings anywhere.  I have looked in Control Panel and also in Settings.  Searching for "Fonts" or "Display" doesn't reveal them either.
__________________________________

-techidave (August 01, 2017, 06:01 AM)

I am running Windows 10 Pro - Build 14393.rs1 release.170706-2004
Last update occurred on 2017-07-12
- it was: 2017-07 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems (KB4025339)
_______________________________________

The relevant settings page is rather buried away in the nested Settings menus.
The access to the font settings is: Settings-->System-->Display.
At the bottom of the Display page, select Advanced display settings - which goes to a page of the same name and with a subheading "Customise your display".
Scroll down the page to the bottom of the page and select the penultimate line (option), which says "Advanced sizing of text and other items".
Clicking on that takes you to an old-style (white) settings window, where there is a sub-heading "Change the text size only", under which is where the text changes (that I mentioned above) can be accessed.

It's really simple/quick to make and check/test/change-again the new settings from that page, to see how they affect the display. I suggest playing around with those till one finds what one likes.
Before I discovered that page, I used to use the WinAero tool (which worked OK, but was not as quick and easy as using the Settings).

935

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: CHS - Clip Text Font Size

« Last post by IainB on July 31, 2017, 06:50 AM »

...How would i make this box bigger, I tried the setting  - it still didnt change
When i hover on the quick paste menu the yellow box appears - how do i make that 400px wide and the height maybe 200px...
______________________________

-slc7 (July 30, 2017, 04:03 PM)

Not sure I understand that. I think the box automatically resizes itself, so as to fit the content that it needs to display - so you don't need to (and cannot) make it a fixed height/width.
If it is simply a case of you can't read the text though, then you could increase the relevant font size (or embolden it) in the system settings (i.e., not in CHS itself), as described above. Then the box will auto-adjust itself to fit the changed (extra) text display requirement. (This is what I have found to work on my system in Win10, in any event.)

936

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks

« Last post by IainB on July 29, 2017, 07:04 PM »

@dantheman:

@IainB:
The folks at Microsoft should find ways to contract those "Quick Note" pages.
Perhaps a quick game of Scrabble could help them at finding contractions!
_____________________________

-dantheman (July 08, 2017, 05:26 AM)

I forgot to respond to this. Sorry.
As a confirmed Scrabble-player, I have learned that the idea is not so much to go for word "contractions", but "expansions" - the longest words! And with lots of high worth letters (e.g., X, Y, Z) for higher scores!   

937

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks - Introductory Video.

« Last post by IainB on July 29, 2017, 06:20 PM »

This video might be worth a look. I happened across it in one of my BasQux feeds and watched it all, though fast-forwarding through some bits. It could be regarded as being a tad elementary, but I reckon it's probably just about right as an educational/training talk and as an introduction to some of OneNote's functionality, for newcomers to OneNote.
Interestingly, the guy (Scott Skip Concilla, a Microsoft Certified Trainer) giving the talk seems to have arrived at some of the same conclusions as I had arrived at, in my long-time trialling/use of the software - e.g., there seems to be no "right" way to use containers on a page. He does a good demo of Tags and Tag summaries too. There seem to be quite a lot more OneNote training videos available "near" that one.

938

Web Link Captor / Re: Latest Web Link Captor Release - v1.11.01 - Dec 17, 2013

« Last post by IainB on July 29, 2017, 03:47 PM »

@mouser: I've been trying a test of WLC to search the DC site and I can't for the life of me get it to work.
I thought I'd do something simple like search for all DCF posts with "NoteFrog" in the title, but all I seem to get is undefined script errors and then the things aborts.
The Help doesn't seem to help much.
I must be missing something.

Any ideas?   
TIA.

939

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: CHS - Clip Text Font Size

« Last post by IainB on July 29, 2017, 10:55 AM »

...I would still like to know how to change the pop up menu  box size on the paste menu
______________________________________

-slc7 (July 28, 2017, 10:12 PM)

In the main CHS pane, click on the icon of the little cogged gears, or select menu View-->Options, and that will bring up the Options panel. Then select Quick Paste Pop-up Menu and adjust the settings to get the desired - or an acceptable (for you) - result. Trial-and-error at that point usually works for me.   
Thus:


Also, regarding the highlighted link text (red oblong box in the image clip above), take a look at that link (discussion thread), especially:

Improving ergonomic readability in the CHS (Clipboard Help and Spell) clipboard manager.
...
__________________________________

-IainB (August 22, 2016, 02:55 AM)

and

I mentioned this (about CHS) above, and here's a more explanatory example.
This sort of thing is not only good for helping one to quickly make changes to the GUI to optimise (ergonomic) readability for one's personal needs, but also is ergonomically efficient.
...
__________________________________

-IainB (September 07, 2016, 04:34 PM)

Also, this post could make a heap of difference to readability:

How to improve ergonomics/perception/readability of text across all applications in Windows 10: Adjust System font settings.
This could effectively transform the readability experience for people who - like me - have to use reading spectacles for reading from laptop screens.
(The image below was been "sharpened", and the text it contains is in the spoiler below the image.)
The text in the menus for all my applications are now made more readable with this simple change. Adjust and test the settings by trial-and-error to see what best suits your peculiar needs.
....
__________________________________

-IainB (July 29, 2017, 10:51 AM)

940

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 - Collection of Hacks, Tweaks, Improvements

« Last post by IainB on July 29, 2017, 10:51 AM »

How to improve ergonomics/perception/readability of text across all applications in Windows 10: Adjust System font settings.
This could effectively transform the readability experience for people who - like me - have to use reading spectacles for reading from laptop screens.
(The image below was been "sharpened", and the text it contains is in the spoiler below the image.)
The text in the menus for all my applications are now made more readable with this simple change. Adjust and test the settings by trial-and-error to see what best suits your peculiar needs.

Spoiler

      Adjusting the text (font) size/weight via the Control Panel:
      
      Screen clipping taken: 2017-03-29 08:35
      
      Text (font) size/weight settings: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display
       --- Change size of items
      I just now had to recreate these settings as my changing the DPI
      From 100% --> 125% reset all such settings to default.
      I did not make a note of the default settings, but I recall that they were all smaller than the settings I settled on, below. I had not made a note of my previous settings (which were "just right"), so these latest ones may need to be changed on a trial-and-error basis until I get them just right again.
      Text item
      Default
      (Not sure)
      My setting2017-03-29
      Title bars
      9? Normal
      12 Bold
      Menus
      9? Normal
      11 Bold
      Message boxes
      9? Normal
      10 Bold
      Palette titles
      9? Normal
      10 Bold
      Icons
      9? Normal
      10 Bold
      Tooltips
      9? Normal
      10 Bold
      The result of these settings was to make the text on most application windows/panes visually more legible.

941

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.]

« Last post by IainB on July 27, 2017, 12:58 PM »

This post at desertsun.co.uk (part-copied below) seemed rather intriguing, and amusing - when I followed the links it gave me a LOL moment anyway. It seemed "wrong" on so many levels.
Follow all the the links yourself for what look like some remarkably silly threats/intimidation apparently tweeted in all seriousness by Wiltshire (UK) police. The comments are worth a read.

Wiltshire Police Dig In
Posted on July 26, 2017 by Tim Newman.
Yesterday I said the British police had hit rock bottom and started to drill. Last night they shipped in some dynamite:
...(read the rest at the link)
_______________________________

Some people (not me, you understand) might say that, for further reading, you couldn't do much better than the book Fascism: One Hundred Questions Asked and Answered - (pub. 1936) by British fascist, Oswald Mosley, but I couldn't possibly comment.

A sobering thought is that the tweet comes from England, "the mother of all parliaments" (John Bright, 1865) and the source of the Magna Carta and Westminster democracy.

It's such a silly tweet stream, one wonders whether mischievous hackers may have hacked the Wiltshire police's tweet ID, just for a lark, like.   

942

Living Room / Re: DOTCOM saga - update 2017-07-25.

« Last post by IainB on July 25, 2017, 01:23 PM »

Well, it's now July 2017 and Dotcom apparently still hasn't been extradited from Kiwiland to Merika. More appeals etc.

@40hz made a prediction:

Prediction: Kim Dotcom is going to be offered a "deal" where he'll be required to plead guilty or "no contest" to some very minor charge(s), pay a fine, be required to make some half-assed public apology to the music/movie industry, and promise to never ever do it again - despite the fact he didn't do anything provably illegal under the law as it's currently written.
In return he'll be required to waive his right to seek any future legal recourse for the incident. And probably consent not to discuss or reveal any of the details about the deal he was offered.
Be interesting to see if he ends up taking it.
____________________________

-40hz (November 17, 2012, 06:31 AM)

To which my response was:

@40hz: I suspect that you might have summarised the situation pretty accurately. It will be interesting to see how close your prediction is as events unfold.
____________________________

-IainB (November 17, 2012, 08:30 AM)

So far, however, it seems to be not panning out that way.
Interestingly, it seems that belated attempts to suppress the facts (by making them a state secret) of the GCSB spying on Dotcom have blown back on the current NZ Prime Minister, Bill English, who was acting Deputy Prime Minister for Prime Minister John Key when the latter was out of the country at the time when the issue of legality of the the GCSB spying was being questioned.
(NZ Herald report copied below sans embedded hyperlinks/images.)

Court papers claim Bill English acted 'unlawfully' on Dotcom
25 Jul, 2017 6:58pm  5 minutes to read
Kim Dotcom says new legal action will be taken after a court judgment stated he had been spied on longer than previously admitted.

Photo / Brett Phibbs

Bill English's role in trying to "cover up" spying on Kim Dotcom faces scrutiny after new evidence shows the internet entrepreneur was under illegal surveillance longer than previously admitted.

The Prime Minister has refused to comment citing ongoing legal action - unlike predecessor John Key, who made his initial public apology to Dotcom during a slew of High Court proceedings and went on to answer questions.

But the legal action which disclosed the extended spying also targets English specifically, saying he acted "unlawfully" when he signed a ministerial certificate intended to bury the spying operation forever.

A High Court judgment made public last week included a key detail which stated surveillance on Dotcom went on longer than previously sworn testimony from spies had admitted.

Previous sworn testimony to the High Court has seen Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) staff stating they spied on Dotcom until January 20 2012 - the day of the police-FBI raid which saw Dotcom and three others arrested.

But the latest High Court judgment said the spying continued until March 22 2012 and has drawn focus back to those involved at the time the GCSB first admitted illegal surveillance.

English was at the centre of it and documents filed with the High Court seeking compensation for the illegal spying include allegations English "acted unlawfully" when the spying was about to come out.

Prime Minister Bill English has refused to comment on the spying allegations, citing ongoing court action.
Prime Minister Bill English has refused to comment on the spying allegations, citing ongoing court action.
The original claim against the GCSB stated "the Honorable Bill English acted unlawfully in signing the ministerial certificate suppressing all details of the GCSB's involvement" in the police raid on Dotcom.

English came to be involved when the possibility of spying emerged in 2012 during a court hearing in the Dotcom case.

In the weeks leading up to it being made public the GCSB went to English, who was acting Prime Minister at the time because Key was out of the country, to try to have its involvement made a state secret.
________________________________________________

ARSTechnica also have an interesting take based on the above news report, with the post: NZ judge: Our spies surveilled Kim Dotcom for 2 months longer than admitted.

As a New Zealand citizen, I am really saddened to read of this, because, whereas I had previously considered Bill English to be a straight-up-and-down Kiwi politician and a good choice, it now seems that the actions of this new Prime Minister (who was appointed earlier by PM John Key when the latter resigned) might well fail the Cadbury ethics rule-of-thumb:

"The rule of thumb is that, if a business process can not stand the hard light of scrutiny, then there is probably something unethical about it." - Sir Adrian Cadbury (Chairman of the then Quaker family-owned Cadbury's) in his prize-winning article on Business Ethics for Harvard Business Review circa 1984.
__________________________________

Voters of principle could certainly encounter some difficulty supporting or voting for a political candidate and party leader who was perceived to have been shown as being less than ethical or hadn't been squeaky-clean in his involvement in an apparent legal fiasco (the Dotcom raid) that continues to generate a bad - and possibly worsening - smell, as it works a tortured path through the (hopefully objective) NZ judicial system.
The judicial system itself is also likely to be under some scrutiny here by concerned citizens, because it's not so long ago that the justices decided NZ was now mature and ethical enough and had sufficient legal brains to hold its own NZ Supreme Court of final appeal, having previously relied on the UK's Privy Council in that role.

Not only that, but also, over the years, the prodigious and persistent Kiwi judicial reformist and vexatious activist irritant of the judiciary, one Vincent Ross Siemer, has - like a solitary "White Knight" - consistently shone that unwanted hard light of scrutiny on the flaws in the NZ judicial system and on any debatable actions/decisions of the judiciary, per his blog (Kiwis First News), books and reports - e.g., refer Judicial Entitlement and Oppression Beg Reform, and Kiwisfirst.co.nz 2014 New Zealand Judge Survey (PDF).

943

Living Room / Re: The Bike Shed - efficiency, ergonomics and knee-joint health.

« Last post by IainB on July 24, 2017, 03:10 AM »

@Shades:
I think I understand most of the points you make above, but am confuzzled where you say:

But if you cross your arms in front of your torso and bring your torso down towards the curved handlebar, so that your hands have good grip on the straight part of the curved handlebar, the aerodynamic efficiency is almost equal to that of a mountain bike, there is no strain on any injured elbow or wrist and you still have the advantages of the city bike model.

-Shades (July 23, 2017, 12:09 PM)

- "cross your arms in front of your torso"? How does that work?   

Also, "afflicted by mountain bikes"?  Did you intend to mean "think they need to use" or were you being sarcastic? Sounds like mountain bikes are the only option (no choice) in Paraguay.
The gearing (gear ratios) of bikes is generally optimised for the kind of terrain the bike is intended for use on. The gearing of mountain bikes is thus all wrong for road use anyway - less efficient and more energy-draining. I always shake my head in wonderment when I see people on mountain or off-road bikes pedalling furiously along a road/pavement but actually moving rather slowly and not realising the implications. Ergonomics is all-important. A badly-designed bike - or one with the wrong gear ratios or that is the wrong size for the individual using it - can be very inefficient in use, and may even cause injury - e.g., kneecap damage, leading to patellofemoral arthritis

A well-designed bike efficiently converts and optimises the energy of muscle power into forward motion. Trick bikes, for example, might be great for bike tricks, but have shallow depth frames where the length of the fully-extended leg is not usually accommodated, so a lot of potential energy is lost unless one stands up from the saddle - which is inefficient anyway. So they are not of much use for road-cycling, but I have seen them used for that.

Interestingly, riding a correctly-sized bike in a low gear a lot is recognised as a very good way to repair knee damage in patellofemoral arthritis. I know this to be the case from personal experience - because it was the recommended remedy/treatment to repair the patellofemoral damage I had unwittingly incurred between the ages of 16 to 20 from too much ski-ing, weight training with heavy squats, distance road-running, and intensive soccer-playing. The arthritis surfaced painfully in my 30's whilst I was walking/climbing over some NZ mountain ranges and since then has been one good reason I try to keep regularly cycling. The arthritis thus rarely bothers me as the rough bits (criss-crossed grain of repaired cartilage) on the joints at the back of the patellas are kept smooth/polished and healed by virtue of the gentle repetitive cycling motion (in low gear), which also stimulates blood flow to the joints to help repair/maintain the damaged areas.

944

Living Room / Re: The Bike Shed - drag effect in cycling.

« Last post by IainB on July 23, 2017, 09:28 PM »

If cycling on roads, which can make for quite fast progress, there are two drag effects worth considering:

• (a) Air drag (friction): on the forward-facing surfaces of of the cyclist's body. Many cyclists do not appreciate how much energy they have to expend pedalling to overcome air drag. The drag effect is more noticeable the faster one goes. That drag can be significantly reduced by fitting (say) the drop-handlebars of a road bike. The trouble with drop bars is that the handbrake levers are lower also. I tend to find that long periods in the crouched position for drop bars are tiring and restrictive and can hurt my wrists a bit. Thus, at lower speeds, I like to ride my road bike sitting up more straight and with my hands gripping the top (straight) part of the handlebar - which is risky as the brakes are too far away to get hold of in a hurry. So I have an ancillary pair of handbrakes fitted on the top part of the handlebar, angled down and just right ergonomically, positioned right within reach of my extended fingers when my hands are on the upper part of the handlebar - very comfortable.
  
  
• (b) Rolling resistance (friction): on the tyres as they touch the road. Many cyclists do not appreciate how much energy they have to expend pedalling to overcome rolling resistance. This drag can be considerably reduced/minimised by fitting the smoother road tyres (i.e., not the knobbly multi-terrain type tyres) - which is what I usually do for my daughter's bike. Keeping them at max pressure also helps to minimise rolling resistance.

Reduced drag can equate variously to:

• greater efficiency (less energy used),
• better energy reserves, improving the potential ability to cover greater distances,
• higher average speeds,
• a more enjoyable ride,
• a less tiring ride,
• improved motivation to cycle because one's ability to cover greater distances in a more relaxed fashion is enhanced.

The last point (motivation) in the list could be significant - e.g., when taking on the challenge of longish bike-rides, the challenge is reduced. Motivation and enjoyability could also provide mutually reinforcing feedback.

945

Living Room / Re: The Bike Shed - bicycle ergonomics

« Last post by IainB on July 23, 2017, 07:53 AM »

Thanks.
I know what you mean about the wrists bent position. It hurts because it puts unnatural strain on joints and ligaments - which are not really built for that load.

946

Living Room / Re: The Bike Shed - query re Bergamont Vitess 5.0

« Last post by IainB on July 21, 2017, 02:55 PM »

@tomos:

^ here's a link -- I got the 2015 model but, AFAICS, there were only cosmetic changes for the 2016 model.
Bergamont Vitess 5.0

The V6 model is lighter again, but they didnt have it in stock, and I was happy enough with this one weightwise (and pricewise). Beyond that I cant say much as I'm pretty ignorant of bikes and bike parts. It's at 300+km now and going nicely apart from the saddle which is bruising (!). The shop has offered to let me test saddles, just have to find the time.
__________________________

-tomos (April 28, 2016, 05:54 AM)

One of my cycling buddies is considering buying a second-hand Bergamont Vitess 5.0.
What is your view of the bike now? Did you also find a less "bruising" seat for it?

947

General Software Discussion / Re: Organize files using virtual folders

« Last post by IainB on July 16, 2017, 10:51 PM »

@wraith808: That's interesting...and IIRC  (when I last looked) tagspaces can't allow Libraries as "Locations" - it seems that it has to be a Windows Folder...
Hmm. So, maybe Libraries are a kinda kludge.

948

Living Room / Re: Hard Drive SMART Stats - from the BackBlaze Blog

« Last post by IainB on July 16, 2017, 01:50 PM »

@4wd: Hey, many thanks for your response and advice.

Fortunately, with HDSentinel's relatively early warning, I should have time to think about this and plan accordingly.

949

Living Room / Re: Hard Drive SMART Stats - from the BackBlaze Blog

« Last post by IainB on July 16, 2017, 01:19 PM »

@mouser: Yes, that's what I would have intuitively thought as well. I asked the Q of @4wd because of his experience - which I don't have.
His comment was 3 years ago, and with the subsequent fall in prices of hard drives and SSDs, I wondered about the relative economics/benefits.
BackBlaze's view seems to be "toss it out" at the first sign of a #187 error, but then they may see it as simply cheaper than the (for them) false economy of expending labour on recovering a drive.
Interestingly, the first #187 error on this drive was a few months after I had bought the laptop new (shop-soiled at 50% discount in a closing-down sale, with 2 months of its warranty already used up). The HP support people didn't see it as a valid warranty claim (under the terms of the warranty) at the time, so I left the drive in the laptop. I've since extended the warranty, but it rather looks as though I shall have to foot the bill for a new drive myself. I don't want to wait for it to fail.

950

General Software Discussion / Re: Organize files using virtual folders

« Last post by IainB on July 16, 2017, 12:47 PM »

Sorry, "apparently broken" per @jeromg's comment (2012-09-22, 10:41:22) re searches on native Windows Libraries not working.
I'm not sure whether they are/were actually "broken", or if it wasn't Search that was broken. If native Windows Libraries were OK, then the solution to the requirement for VFs would be within our reach - I presume. Or maybe it's just too hard to use them easily/flexibly as VFs?

Separately, I recall the author of xplorer² commenting in the http://netez.com/bbs/ forum that Microsoft's implementation of Libraries was a seriously badly done hack, or something. I'm not sure how much this related to the difficulty Libraries presented to him as a developer. "Poorly-documented" was in there somewhere, as well, I recall.

When Google first introduced "Labels" for Google Drive, I was blown away by this easy creation of VFs. Suddenly, one could have a file that might appear in several different VFs (Labels). I mean, if Google could do it, then why the heck hadn't MS done it in the OS for the hard drive?
Then Google later essentially withdrew VF Labels, and turned the Labels into conventional logical folders (same as Windows folders), leaving links to those documents which had appeared in several VF Labels on Google Drive. At the same time, without a by-your-leave, Google messed with some of the files - e.g., turning them into proprietary Google docs.
All this seemed to indicate that VFs might have been simply "too much trouble".

What I would like is to be able to set up a VF parent called (say) "Vegetables", with subfolders (child VFs) called "Carrot", "Lettuce", "Cabbage", etc.
Any file with the tag [Carrot] would automatically go into the VF "Carrot", and be inherited by the parent VF, and so on for [Lettuce], etc.
If you dragged and dropped a file called "Foofile" into the VF "Carrot", then the tag [Carrot] would be inserted into the filename - now "Foofile [Carrot]" - and if that file was later dragged out of the VF "Carrot", then that tag would be automatically removed, whereas if you copied it into the VF "Cabbage", then that file would get an additional tag [Cabbage], so becoming "Foofile [Carrot] [Cabbage]".

Over a period of years, by dint of careful use of tags and Regex searches and a lot of tedious and meticulous file tag naming, @Armando has apparently managed to move in this general direction. It's all been done manually and/or in batch, but it seems to work OK despite any prevailing constraints.