Author Topic: MiniReview of Linkman URL Organizer and Search Tool (Read 264621 times)

Outertech Support · « **Reply #100 on:** December 18, 2008, 03:08 PM »

Linkman 7.70 is out:

<ul><li>Firefox 3.1 compatibility and integration enhancements</li>
<li>Added feature to Internet Explorer to add all Tabs at once to Linkman</li>
<li>Over 20 new mouse and keyboard Shortcuts</li>
<li>Improved USB Stick installation: Linkman will find his link databases even if you move them between different USB Sticks and Computers</li>
<li>User Interface tweaks and speedups</li>
<li>More Screenshots added to CHM and PDF tutorials</li>
<li>Query search improvements: and search is now active by default (instead of phrase search)

Example:

Before you had to type: hardware and news and not 3d

Now it's enough to type: hardware news not 3d

if you want to search for the phrase hardware news type "hardware news" instead</ul>
Web: http://linkman.outertech.com

Tutorial video: http://linkmanvideo.outertech.com

Dormouse · « **Reply #101 on:** December 18, 2008, 04:19 PM »

Interesting.

I clicked on the search for updates and up sprung internet explorer (definitely NOT my default browser) looking for the update. I took advantage of it to install the security patch, but I definitely do not like it launching ie.

techidave · « **Reply #102 on:** December 18, 2008, 05:07 PM »

-Outertech Support (December 18, 2008, 02:50 PM)

The Linkman Free installer collects no personal user information whatsoever. You don't have to provide any information, not even your name. You get some adverts for other software/products during the installation with an accept/decline button. If you decline the other programs only Linkman Free will be installed and nothing else.

[/quote]

I did decline everything and still got more than I had planned on. I shall not try your software again based on previous experience. Yeah, at least it didn't ask for any personal info that I remember.

I don't have thousands of bookmarks but I do have hundreds and was looking forward to something easy and fast. Oh well.

Nuff said

Outertech Support · « **Reply #103 on:** December 18, 2008, 05:26 PM »

Interesting.

I clicked on the search for updates and up sprung internet explorer (definitely NOT my default browser) looking for the update. I took advantage of it to install the security patch, but I definitely do not like it launching ie.

Where is "search for updates"? If you mean "Help | Updates" in Linkman's main menu then it launches the browser that is specified in the Linkman settings as your default browser (Tools | Settings | Launch URLs).

I did decline everything and still got more than I had planned on

Please specify what got installed besides Linkman Free (if you declined everything else). I'll investigate the matter immediately. I've done a test installation just 2 minutes ago and as usual nothing else was installed at all.

Dormouse · « **Reply #104 on:** December 18, 2008, 06:03 PM »

If you mean "Help | Updates" in Linkman's main menu then it launches the browser that is specified in the Linkman settings as your default browser (Tools | Settings | Launch URLs).
-Outertech Support (December 18, 2008, 05:26 PM)

I do and I have changed it now , but surely it should use the default browser in the absence of instructions to do the contrary?

Outertech Support · « **Reply #105 on:** December 19, 2008, 03:33 AM »

On first (no configuration found) Linkman start the program tries to determinate your default browser and sets it as default also in the Linkman settings.

This registry key is evaluated: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\http\shell\open\command

I've just tried it in a Virtual Machine on a freshly installed Windows XP SP3 with Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 and Firefox was detected as the default browser.

Dormouse · « **Reply #106 on:** December 19, 2008, 06:53 AM »

That's very strange then. It is many years since I had ie as a default browser and the only time it can ever appear so on any of my machines is when Windows is first installed. I know it has never been the case here since other progs always launch the default browser (Opera). Well, I'm glad Linkman usually installs the same default as the machine, but slightly perturbed at why it wasn't the case with me (this is the point at which I become slightly paranoid about what might have been secretly changing settings in the background).

Thanks for all the info.

cyberdiva · « **Reply #107 on:** December 19, 2008, 08:18 AM »

Please specify what got installed besides Linkman Free (if you declined everything else). I'll investigate the matter immediately. I've done a test installation just 2 minutes ago and as usual nothing else was installed at all.
-Outertech Support (December 18, 2008, 05:26 PM)

I just want to say that these guys at Linkman are serious. Unlike some software companies that tell you "we'll look into it" and then nothing more is ever heard, the folks at Linkman have taken seriously every issue that I've raised with them, and they've corrected problems and implemented suggestions very quickly.

I have no connection to the company, but in the half year or so that I've been using Linkman, I've become a real fan.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #108 on:** December 19, 2008, 11:34 AM »

Just to add my experience on this point...

On first (no configuration found) Linkman start the program tries to determinate your default browser and sets it as default also in the Linkman settings.

This registry key is evaluated: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\http\shell\open\command

I've just tried it in a Virtual Machine on a freshly installed Windows XP SP3 with Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 and Firefox was detected as the default browser.
-Outertech Support (December 19, 2008, 03:33 AM)

FWIW updating Linkman Pro to the latest version, yesterday, called IE which I use very seldom indeed.
On my machine the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\http\shell\open\command yields:
Name: (default)
Data: "E:\Winsupps\Firefox\firefox.exe" -requestPending -osint -url "%1"

I'm not stating this as a complaint but it did cause a moment of very mild disapproval.

J-Mac · « **Reply #109 on:** December 19, 2008, 03:48 PM »

When I click on Help>Updates it opens a new tab in Firefox. Of course I have been using Linkman for a while and I know that I do indeed have ther default browser set in the Settings as Firefox.

I can't remember Linkman having ever launched IE in my experience with it. It usually does what you ask of it.

Thanks!

Jim

BTW, here's my reg key dealing with that:

[attachthumb=#1][/attachthumb]

Note that it doesn’t look like yours at all, cranial. Weird. Of course this is on an XP Pro machine.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #110 on:** December 19, 2008, 08:13 PM »

Note that it doesn’t look like yours at all, cranial. Weird. Of course this is on an XP Pro machine.
-J-Mac (December 19, 2008, 03:48 PM)

Mine's XP Pro also.
Probably not so weird; the only difference is that FF isn't installed to the default folder on my box.

Outertech Support · « **Reply #111 on:** December 20, 2008, 12:40 AM »

FWIW updating Linkman Pro to the latest version, yesterday, called IE which I use very seldom indeed.
On my machine the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\http\shell\open\command yields:
Name: (default)
Data: "E:\Winsupps\Firefox\firefox.exe" -requestPending -osint -url "%1"

I'm not stating this as a complaint but it did cause a moment of very mild disapproval.
-cranioscopical

On which event was IE launched? Have you selected a special menu entry? Was it during installation, or when you started Linkman?

Mine's XP Pro also.
Probably not so weird; the only difference is that FF isn't installed to the default folder on my box.
-cranioscopical

A non default folder should be no problem, since Linkman parses all browser registry data values for the correct location. You can check if the path is correct by going to Tools | Settings | Browser.

p.s.

The default browser check is done only if Linkman detects a new installation. It does not happen if you had Linkman installed before.

J-Mac · « **Reply #112 on:** December 20, 2008, 01:49 AM »

Hey Outertech guy,

A question for you: Why is there no export template for Firefox 3? For that matter, there is no direct way to export my Linkman bookmarks/favorites to Firefox 3 at all. One must export in the Firefox 2 format and then import/convert those to get them into Firefox 3. It's not like Firefox 3 is that new, after all. You designed all your new Firefox features - which by the way are great - to work with Firefox 3, so why no export capabilities for Firefox 3? Is the Firefox 3 bookmarks format difficult to accommodate? Or just something that you haven't gotten around to doing yet?

Thank you.

Jim

Outertech Support · « **Reply #113 on:** December 20, 2008, 02:34 AM »

During implementation we have discovered that Firefox 3 does not allow write access to its database while Firefox is running (so the user would have to quit FF3 in order to export from Linkman).

We have postponed the implementation until we can find a solution for this problem.

Dormouse · « **Reply #114 on:** December 20, 2008, 06:03 AM »

Cranioscopical's occurrence seems the same as mine: calling ie when trying to update from Linkman. At least it suggest that the issue was not for my system alone.

cranioscopical · « **Reply #115 on:** December 20, 2008, 04:03 PM »

On which event was IE launched? Have you selected a special menu entry? Was it during installation, or when you started Linkman?
-Outertech Support (December 20, 2008, 12:40 AM)

On updating an already-installed Linkman Pro. IE was called automatically from the installation, as I recall.
(The already-installed version had 'Linkman settings: Browser' properly configured for FireFox)

Outertech Support, this isn't a big issue for me.
I commented simply to confirm that what Dormouse encountered is not an isolated case.

cyberdiva · « **Reply #116 on:** December 21, 2008, 08:22 PM »

On first (no configuration found) Linkman start the program tries to determinate your default browser and sets it as default also in the Linkman settings.
-Outertech Support (December 19, 2008, 03:33 AM)

I've just come upon another place where Linkman (I'm using 7.70 Pro) calls up Internet Explorer even though Firefox 3 is my default browser and the path is listed in the Linkman settings under both "user defined" and "Firefox." In Linkman under Help --> Tutorial, you get a page that contains two different links to the Outertech website. Clicking on them will bring up the site--in Internet Explorer. I poked around in the Settings and saw that Linkman was set to use my "default browser" for going to URLs, but it nonetheless opened IE instead of Firefox. I then changed that to "user defined," but that made no difference. Linkman still opened the links by calling up Internet Explorer. I should note that Linkman always uses Firefox when going to a bookmark that I've put in Linkman; it's just the URLs in Linkman's Help file that are opened with the wrong browser.

J-Mac · « **Reply #117 on:** December 22, 2008, 01:54 AM »

cyberdiva: That is a separate issue altogether. URL's are directly due to either Outertech or your own Settings in Linkman. The Help (.chm extension) file is configured to run in an Internet Explorer window - IOW, the actual window in which you are reading the Help file IS an Internet Explorer pane, and all links within that file will always open in IE. You could copy the link and then put it into the URL bar in Firefox if you really, really need it to open in Firefox.

Jim

cyberdiva · « **Reply #118 on:** December 22, 2008, 05:10 AM »

cyberdiva: That is a separate issue altogether. URL's are directly due to either Outertech or your own Settings in Linkman. The Help (.chm extension) file is configured to run in an Internet Explorer window - IOW, the actual window in which you are reading the Help file IS an Internet Explorer pane, and all links within that file will always open in IE. You could copy the link and then put it into the URL bar in Firefox if you really, really need it to open in Firefox.
-J-Mac (December 22, 2008, 01:54 AM)

Thanks, Jim, for the clarification. I understand that this is in some ways a separate issue, but it seems to me related. I'm just surprised and a little disappointed that Linkman's Help file is configured to run in an IE window rather than in the window of the user's default browser. Mind you, this isn't an important issue for me--Linkman behaves the way I want in every other respect--but since this topic came up here, I thought I'd mention this other related but not identical instance of Linkman's using IE when the default browser has been set to be Firefox.

Dormouse · « **Reply #119 on:** December 22, 2008, 05:20 AM »

I'm just surprised and a little disappointed that Linkman's Help file is configured to run in an IE window rather than in the window of the user's default browser.
-cyberdiva (December 22, 2008, 05:10 AM)

I'd agree with that. Seems to me that most people who don't use IE as their default prefer not to see it activate at all. May not be a big issue, but a bit disquieting.

Outertech Support · « **Reply #120 on:** December 22, 2008, 06:00 AM »

Firefox has no ability to display CHM files. So this is not a configuration issue. All CHM files, on all Windows versions and from all programs are displayed by Internet Explorer. If you don't like this you can use the PDF help file.

Dormouse · « **Reply #121 on:** December 22, 2008, 06:06 AM »

Firefox has no ability to display CHM files. So this is not a configuration issue. All CHM files, on all Windows versions and from all programs are displayed by Internet Explorer. If you don't like this you can use the PDF help file.
-Outertech Support (December 22, 2008, 06:00 AM)

Has an add-on for CHM, though.

Outertech Support · « **Reply #122 on:** December 22, 2008, 07:13 AM »

Linkman does not specifically launch IE to display CHM, but the program that is associated with CHM on the system (which in 99.9% of the cases is IE).

hkay · « **Reply #123 on:** December 26, 2008, 09:36 AM »

I was wondering if there is a possibility that Linkman searches my entire drives and collects all existing IE, firefox bookmarks and eliminates duplicates.

I am carrying quite a lot in too many backup directories and this would help.

thanks

cyberdiva · « **Reply #124 on:** December 26, 2008, 10:35 AM »

Linkman can certainly import your IE favorites and Firefox bookmarks. And once they're imported, Linkman has a Delete Duplicates feature you can run that will either delete the duplicates or move them to a duplicates folder (you choose which action you'd prefer).