Author Topic: Any new ideas for small utilities? (Read 150161 times)

nudone · « **Reply #25 on:** March 29, 2005, 10:57 AM »

i get the feeling there might be a few programs that will do something like you request - i certainly know of one you could try called 'handything' http://www.starfishbay.com/handything/

i've not used it recently but i'm sure you could set it up to do what you want.

mouser · « **Reply #26 on:** March 29, 2005, 11:19 AM »

this should not be too hard to do if there isnt already an app for this.

windows already has a system in place whereby you can "dock" a bar on the side of your screen, and all other apps will obey it, so that if you click "maximize" they will stop at the boundry of this dock.

i use one mysefl for a launcher, it is a bar that docks to side of the screen and the destop is reduced in size so that nothing every intrudes on top of it. it is extremely reliable and ive never seen it fail.

SO,
it seems to me that one way to solve your problem, other than samuraize modifying their code to act like a dock, would be to design a "transparent" docking bar type thing, whose only job was to be a transparent thing that docked to the side of your screen and reserved the space.

kind of a fun idea - and i *believe* that it sould not be hard to make it so you can "click-through" this transparent bar - thats the only thing i'm not 100% sure of. obviously if you cant, then there are problems with this idea, but i believe i've seen skinned shaped windows that do this so i don't think it would be a problem.

keep looking for a tool to do this - if you still can't find one in a week or so remind me again, could be something that might be whipped up in a couple of days.

Ozzy1 · « **Reply #27 on:** March 29, 2005, 12:36 PM »

Actually, I have been looking for a program for years to do this.
Nothing seems to do this (without doing a lot of other things).
I have tried 2 programs that say they do this, but they do it the other way around.
You have to set the size of the gui's yourself NOT as I would want it: Make it work with all programs.

And I just don't whant another dock. www.samurize.com is not a "dock", its a .. well, see for yourself

Anyway, this program would be great for irc'ing also. You could have the irc-client set on the right (of left side), having the other progams keeping away. There is always the option of "always on top", but that doesn't do the right thing (I want the other program to keep away, so that both can bee seen).

If anyone uses rainlendar or a calendar that uses the desktop background, they know how it is.

Here is my setup:

nudone · « **Reply #28 on:** March 29, 2005, 12:53 PM »

well i've just had a look at handything again and it falls into the category of doing a bit too much. looks like you have to specify how you want every single window to open instead of just being able to set a maximum area that they can fill.

i also use samurise - just stuck in the bottom right of my screen - but if mouser could develop this area blocking idea, i think i'd also stretch samurise out a bit.

i tend to get a bit bored so i'll always want to move the windows back over the blocked area or possible would like specific programs to open up full screen... so, just as another suggestion, mouser, if you do develop the idea could you incorporate a kind of overide option for certain windows (user specified)?

mouser · « **Reply #29 on:** March 29, 2005, 01:28 PM »

ah i see, these put stuff on the desktop background, rather than dock.

well.. i can try to whip up a demo pretty quickly next week if no one finds anything by then..

mouser · « **Reply #30 on:** April 12, 2005, 08:29 PM »

ozzy (and anyone else),

i've got a working proof of concept of a util that lets you "reserve" space on a site of the screen.
anyone care to test it?

Ozzy1 · « **Reply #31 on:** April 16, 2005, 05:30 AM »

I have another idea. Part of its done before, but hten again its different (and in my mind better

)

A startup-program.

(silence)

NO, not a "what-have-I-in-my-startupfolder-do-I-need-to-delete-it" kind of program.

A program that would take hold of ALL programs that is started and:
1: start them up in order (preferably the user could change what is started first).
2: start the program, wait until the program isnt using much prosesstime, then start the next program on the list.
3: Show in a centered window what is being started
4: Exit without making a fuzz about it

I know there is a program that start things in your startup-folder, but it doesnt wait for the next, it isnt showing anything and it uses more resources starting them up that is clearly nessesary.

The all important: WHY?

Have you listened to you harddrive when windows starts all the programs at once? It hurts man, it really hurts...
On my belowed Amiga there was a program doing exactly this. It made the startup-prosess quicker (a,ll the programs dont need to rip all dll's and fight for resources and prosessortime at the same time) and it made the harddrive smile and the user would see what programs got started (and wonder why THAT program is getting started and fix it;)

nudone · « **Reply #32 on:** April 16, 2005, 06:47 AM »

i'm pretty sure i've seen a little program that does what you're describing Ozzy1 but it was a few years ago and i really can't remember what it was called.

i'm sure it does exist and i've probably still got it somewhere - if i can find it i'll let you know.

okay, my memory won't be perfect but i do remember that it allowed for programs to be started in order and that there was a message box that did something. it might have asked if you wanted the program to carry on loading or to prevent.

this might have been all determined on whether the 'numlock' key was on or not - something like that.

Ozzy1 · « **Reply #33 on:** April 16, 2005, 06:50 AM »

Yeah, I know there is a program doing something like this, but as you said, its OLD, and nobody remember it

The main difference though, is the ability to have it go on to the next program when the first program isnt using to my prosess / disk anymore...

Scott · « **Reply #34 on:** April 16, 2005, 03:17 PM »

I'd appreciate a utility that ... don't laugh ... sends fake searches to Google every 5 or 10 minutes or so.

OK, I'll explain: I'm not a real privacy paranoiac, but I'm not unconcerned, either. I don't like the fact that Google could potentially track everything I search for, and associate it with my Gmail accounts, and whatever else. (Please, I'm not looking for advice on how to use or not use cookies, or anything like that.)

So, my idea was to have some automated means of sending Google fake searches every once in awhile. There would be a list of words that the script or program looked at, and it would randomly choose some, and send them to Google. This cycle would repeat itself, with a pseudo-random search string being sent each time. The result would be an erratic, essentially meaningless compilation of search history for "me".

For example, for a given day, Google would see something like this coming from my IP address, in the way of searches:

cooking pain "lava trouble"
driveway run ephemeral
leaky sustained
step +ladder accident
reboot wire hole "gracious can"

Which are real?

mouser · « **Reply #35 on:** April 16, 2005, 05:56 PM »

scott, that is a strange idea indeed, but somehow im guessing the such a tool already exists.. probably in the form of spam-sending tools..

Ozzy1, the startup app does sound useful actually.. but sounds like it might be tricky to do properly.. maybe someone can tell us about any success they may have had in the past with apps that change the order or delay of startup programs..

JeffK · « **Reply #36 on:** April 16, 2005, 07:11 PM »

I really like Ozzy1's idea. I have been trialling software lately (eg firewalls) that requires multiple reboots. It would be nice to control the speed/order of startups. I think the previous programs may have had names like "start delay".

Jeff

Ozzy1 · « **Reply #37 on:** April 17, 2005, 04:22 AM »

Mouser: the only problem I have seen (it was years ago though) was that virus-programs wanted to be started first...

JeffK · « **Reply #38 on:** April 17, 2005, 04:27 AM »

I found one of the startup delay programs I was thinking of...

http://r2.com.au/sof...02f8068a527510467edf

Jeff

Ozzy1 · « **Reply #39 on:** April 17, 2005, 08:17 AM »

Tried that one, JeffK
Difficult to set up for newbies.
And do you know how long program X needs before the next one starts? I sure didn't.

It doesnt really do what I would like such a program to do. The key word here is AUTOMATIC.
I shouldnt need to set a spesial time setting everytime something worked its way to my startup...

This program is more a sceduler, not a tool to make your startup easier IMHO...

Scott · « **Reply #40 on:** April 17, 2005, 08:24 AM »

Do you really need an application that let startup applications load depending on CPU load? It probably isn't going to make startup occur faster; if anything, it will take longer, because you're forcing it to be spread out over a longer period of time. Don't you just want it to be done with, so you can start using your system?

Scott · « **Reply #41 on:** April 17, 2005, 08:54 AM »

I'll answer my own question and say that: I guess it's a matter of how you want to use your system.

If you just want the startup process done and over with, you let it run the way it was designed to--let the disk and CPU get maxed out, because if your disk is only doing half the I/O it's capable of, and your CPU is only doing half the work that it's capable of, you're just slowing the startup process down if you take it easy on them.

But... If you want to begin using your system before waiting for everything to load, then it makes sense to stretch the startup process out over a longer period of time. I can see how that would be handy for some people.

JeffK · « **Reply #42 on:** April 17, 2005, 12:03 PM »

Tried that one, JeffK
Difficult to set up for newbies.
And do you know how long program X needs before the next one starts? I sure didn't.

It doesnt really do what I would like such a program to do. The key word here is AUTOMATIC.
I shouldnt need to set a spesial time setting everytime something worked its way to my startup...

This program is more a sceduler, not a tool to make your startup easier IMHO...

-Ozzy1 (April 17, 2005, 08:17 AM)

Yes, for your needs, something that works on CPU use would be better. I think this is good for programs that you can afford to start later. An example would be mst Defrag discussed elsewhere on the forum.

Jeff

Scott · « **Reply #43 on:** April 17, 2005, 12:06 PM »

mst Defrag runs as a service, and uses very little CPU time.

JeffK · « **Reply #44 on:** April 17, 2005, 12:11 PM »

Do you really need an application that let startup applications load depending on CPU load?
-Scott (April 17, 2005, 08:24 AM)

About the same as I need a program that does random searches on Google

Jeff

mouser · « **Reply #45 on:** April 17, 2005, 12:16 PM »

rofl.

Ozzy1 · « **Reply #46 on:** April 18, 2005, 03:49 AM »

I started typing an explanation, but then Jeff cam with his answer...

ROFL!

Thanx Jeff, you made my day

JeffK · « **Reply #47 on:** April 18, 2005, 03:53 AM »

Aargh! Poor Scott. He will feel set upon. No offence or malice intended, Scott. A legitimate question you asked indeed.

BTW Startup Delay does not appear to work properly on my Win XP SP2

Jeff

Ozzy1 · « **Reply #48 on:** April 18, 2005, 04:20 AM »

Scott: I tried Startup delay again. I found it really buggy on my WIN XP SP2,just like JeffK.

Scott · « **Reply #49 on:** April 18, 2005, 08:18 PM »

No problem guys; I never hang around any one forum for long anyway.