Recent Posts

976

Find And Run Robot / Re: Do you want to see F&R with optional skins?

« Last post by iphigenie on June 26, 2007, 06:55 AM »

sorry, i blame the jet lag and trying to catch up and my browser messing up

977

General Software Discussion / Re: Songbird

« Last post by iphigenie on June 26, 2007, 06:52 AM »

When did songbird go from being an open mozilla based project to being "owned" by a startup?

--confused--

978

General Review Discussion / Re: Best Archive Manager Review: Suggestions

« Last post by iphigenie on June 25, 2007, 05:07 PM »

my archive needs are simple and lately i have been using peazip - cute, simple, no install needed etc.

979

Find And Run Robot / Re: Do you want to see F&R with optional skins?

« Last post by iphigenie on June 25, 2007, 04:51 PM »

If you add skins, please do make them optional, i.e. make it possible to use the windows skin / standard skin.

I use windows blinds and I prefer it when apps use my windows blinds skin.

980

General Software Discussion / Re: teracopy: copy your files faster

« Last post by iphigenie on June 25, 2007, 04:48 PM »

I had to copy 200Gb of files and tried a few of these programs mentioned in this thread.

Based on the performance information submitted I did stick to explorer (or the file queue in wincommander) at first for small files, but they do get hung up if any question turns up. Which is annoying when trying to move lots of files over 1 day...

Of the ones I tried teracopy did feel the easiest and slickest to use, and the speed copying virtual CD images and mp3s was very good. Best of all it didnt get hung up waiting, which is what i needed. It will stay on machine.

981

General Software Discussion / Re: Download Managers

« Last post by iphigenie on June 16, 2007, 01:49 PM »

@nosh: That feature doesn't quite work that way for me - it just triggers IDM to kick in, but i still get the pop up box asking me to say "ok".

Any extensions not in that box, IDM does not kick in and Opera ends up handling the download.

Maybe it is because i use opera, not firefox or ie?

982

General Software Discussion / Re: Download Managers

« Last post by iphigenie on June 16, 2007, 05:23 AM »

I had a quick look around the IDM options and couldn't find a way to make a "category" download automatically.

There are options to make URLs sent to clipboard download automatically, or to set up a key which will force downloading via IDM, but no way I could see in the interface to say "for this category, just start downloading"

Obviously there is both the queue option and the site grabber to get a lot of files downloaded at once, but neiter are exactly the thing you wanted.

983

General Software Discussion / Re: Download Managers

« Last post by iphigenie on June 15, 2007, 03:21 AM »

I havent tried the "download without a question" option, but IDM (not free) can certainly do the category -> folder bit. I suspect it might do the ask/dont ask option as well, will go and have a try.

I must say I have never been penalised on any site for using a download manager. Could just be the sites I chose to visit and the amount of downloads I do.

984

Living Room / Re: Is it me, or is the internet getting S L O W E R ?

« Last post by iphigenie on June 14, 2007, 01:47 PM »

i thought it was ISPs packing too many people on their infrastructure

985

General Software Discussion / Re: Xara Xtreme and Xtreme Pro upgraded to 3.2 - Proceed with caution: Info-rant!

« Last post by iphigenie on June 13, 2007, 03:42 PM »

I never went for the pro version, still very happy with the non pro one

986

General Software Discussion / Re: toddandkeelee free software

« Last post by iphigenie on June 11, 2007, 09:36 AM »

PS! Save some time and download from Todd's site; it is much faster than going to C/NET

-Curt (June 09, 2007, 07:20 PM)

I just hope we havent caused Todd a large bandwidth bill

I tend to put up with third party hosted sites as I know how a surprise £200 bandwidth bill can hurt.

987

Living Room / Re: Why do so many micropayment systems fail?

« Last post by iphigenie on June 05, 2007, 02:02 PM »

there is one place where micropayments work and are successful and that is telephones - you make micropayments but they are totalled into your bill (cellular/mobile or normal phone).  You sign a contract with your mobile phone companies, and then services like ringtones or premium content gets added to your bill then paid on. This works because there is a compelling reason for you to sign the contract (the phone!).

Micropayments online all worked either on prepay or a contract system, but never had a killer app like a phone to coast on - the one exception might be second life.

988

What's the Best? / Re: Anti-Virus Package

« Last post by iphigenie on June 02, 2007, 10:36 AM »

after trying a few around, including some security favorites such as eset nod32 avira antivir and kasperski, I ended up going back to Bitdefender.

* it has really good detection rates, up there with eset avira and kasperski in tests
* the interface is not too bad
* it does use low cpu for scanning etc.
* my small annoyances with its update process only happen on one pc

The fact that I could buy the pro version for 2 computers for 2 years for £25 (http://www.bitdefend...ller.co.uk/index.htm) also made it the cheapest antivirus from all the ones with top detection rates.

Although reading around even products like panda which used to have averag detection rates have greatly improved, and norton stopped being a resource hog, so you can't do too wrong with any mainstream products nowadays

989

Living Room / Re: Why don't you pay for software?

« Last post by iphigenie on May 29, 2007, 07:56 AM »

I must say, it doesn't occur to me. If it doesn't have a demo, I look for another program.

990

Developer's Corner / Re: Thriving Office: Background Sounds for Small Businesses

« Last post by iphigenie on May 26, 2007, 03:12 AM »

Hmm, you could get their CD of room sound effects(TM) and on cue press a key to trigger #21 "a room full of gasps of horror" and press a button to time it...

Freelancer: (on the phone with noisy office sounds in background) So it sounds like we have everything you're looking for, then.

Big Prospective Client: Yes! I'm glad I was given your number. I did have one more question, though. Can you be at all flexible on your price?

Freelancer: (sudden absolute dead silence)

-Jimdoria (May 24, 2007, 05:13 PM)

[room full of gasps of horror]

Freelancer: I don't think they'd let me

 

(seriously, i suspect you'd put it on loop though)

991

General Software Discussion / Re: Seeking opinions about combination antivirus/firewall products

« Last post by iphigenie on May 26, 2007, 03:03 AM »

It depends what kind of firewall you want

For all my grumbling about its update system which slowed my computer (it doesn't slow my laptop) I ended up staying with Bitdefender. It seems to fare really well in tests from the AV perspective, and the firewall component seems more than adequate (I have a packet filter on the router) - my only gripe with it is the lack of a firewall log.

It also turns out BD doesn't slow down things on my laptop, so i'm back to thinking something is wrong with my desktop... 

In the past I used AVG but never its firewall. It's a sturdy product and has a good pricing structure.

There are actually very few bad firewalls and bad virus scanners nowadays. Even the ones which used to be inadequate have improved. From discussions in the wilders forums I can tell that some have dry patches (where they fare lower on tests) but catch up etc.

None of them is perfect, and I think the trick is to figure out what threats are most likely to be your problem - and then pick the product that scores high in those.

I am pretty sure I won't fall for a lot of the social engineering viruses and web scams, but with all that i download i still want the old fashioned file protection to be very good. Other people who share their computer with family members who are less sceptical would probably want much higher spyware/malware protection etc.

992

Living Room / Re: Why don't you pay for software?

« Last post by iphigenie on May 26, 2007, 02:52 AM »

I am pretty certain I am 100% legal with the software on my computers, even though I have had 2 periods of 1 year in the past 6 years where I had very little income. I found freeware, cheap shareware, didn't upgrade windows and other software etc.

I even pay multiple times if I want something on 2 machines and the license says I have to - although when testing software I might try another product that says I can install on my laptop and desktop first. (I really do test software often in an order based on price and license terms and try until i find one that suits my needs)

If a program is too expensive for what I can justify to myself for the project in question, I search for an alternative. I use photoimpact, for example, as I can't see why I would pay for photoshop etc. (note that I am not a professional designer. if i were i probably would have to buy photoshop and bite the bullet)

Sometimes I search for and buy an old version - i bought acdsee 6 from amazon as the old version did the bit I needed (the nice near automated workflow for scanning in and tagging hundreds of negatives) and was a lot cheaper. (Version 9 is much improved, but not the part which i really needed at the time, and I could only justify paying that smaller amount anyway)

And I do donate, either within about 2 months if I use the program a lot, or much later if I use the program only occasionally. Sometimes I pay for or donate for something I don't even use much, because i think it's a great idea and needs supporting... (same things for games or websites)

* * *

The reason most people don't pay? Because they can get away with it. It is, in the end, pure greed.

993

General Software Discussion / Re: Lightweight alternatives to FeedDemon

« Last post by iphigenie on May 20, 2007, 09:44 AM »

opera has starting mixing up my feeds / i.e. the posts from one feed also appear on another.

This is obviously not good(TM)

994

General Software Discussion / Re: Web Mail Recommendation?

« Last post by iphigenie on May 18, 2007, 09:02 AM »

Another way to look at it is what other toys come with each account

One of the possible advantages of a yahoo account is that you automatically also have a my yahoo page, a blog if you want it, messenger, yahoo groups etc.

One of the possible advantages of gmail is that you also get the calendar and possibly the new personalised search and search notebook etc.

995

General Software Discussion / Re: Good programs for helping you manage what programs start with windows?

« Last post by iphigenie on May 18, 2007, 04:05 AM »

I  use the bit that comes with regrun - it has never done anything strange ever.
I do wish it had delayed startup options like winpatrol or chameleon but I keep going back to it.

996

General Software Discussion / Re: Web Mail Recommendation?

« Last post by iphigenie on May 18, 2007, 04:01 AM »

I have friends on yahoo and I only see a tagline "sent via yahoo" thingie (just like gmail) no ads. Can't comment about hotmail, seems noone uses it to send anything anymore, only as a spambox.

That model is much better: after all the account holder chose to get on gmail, and therefore agreed to see ads and be profiled, but the people receiving the email did not agree to anything and why should they be subhected to ads or tracking bugs?

That's why I have always either paid for email or run my own mail server - courtesy to my recipients as well as professionalism. Also, I want to make sure I have the control over my email etc. If fastmail lose all my email I can expect them to do everything to restore it quickly, and I can also demand compensation.
If google decided tomorrow to change all the T&Cs of their account, drop certain features, access etc. I don't believe users have any recourse... (Both google and yahoo have in the past changed their features, changed their conditions, dropped entire areas of service)

997

Found Deals and Discounts / Wirekeys on giveaway of the day

« Last post by iphigenie on May 18, 2007, 03:53 AM »

I am a registered user of wirekeys. I use it for some hotkey automation, a minimalistic clipboard history, clipboard clean up and sorting, right click menu customiser, process killer...

It is another one of those automation / macro / text tool which comes with a lot of features. It is a bit quirky to set up (to me - I dont use 10% of its features cause I haven't found them yet...) but is very versatile and powerful and certainly worth a try and download.

998

General Software Discussion / Re: Web Mail Recommendation?

« Last post by iphigenie on May 18, 2007, 03:33 AM »

I do know that gmail is sexier and that yahoo mail has improved immensely lately, but I use fastmail. Less sexy, but I know that I pay for it and they won't sell my profile to anyone.

I stopped trusting google about 3 years ago when they changed their description to "the largest advertising agency on earth"

I use fastmail - paid for - and find it reliable and well set up etc. They are very transparent in their blog as to what technology they use and what the customers can do with it, which I appreciate since I used to run mail servers and have seen so many badly configured services (godaddy's for one)

999

Word Processor Roundup / Re: Missing in Part 2...

« Last post by iphigenie on May 17, 2007, 03:34 AM »

It hadnt had an update in a long time, something which is now corrected. That should get it more exposure again.

But when I think of it I would classify Framemaker as a publishing tool more than a wordprocessor - i.e. more likely to be reviewed alongside pagemaker and quark than Word and Wordperfect....

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Developer's Corner / Re: Thriving Office: Background Sounds for Small Businesses

« Last post by iphigenie on May 13, 2007, 03:53 PM »

hehehe i wonder if it really works