Author Topic: My favorite software! What's yours? (Read 234141 times)

BrokenNails · « **Reply #175 on:** July 02, 2007, 06:23 PM »

I used to use dbPowerAmp all the time too, but i've been disapointed with the latest version so i looked for an alternative and found Switch. Convert anything to anything very simply, i like it and it's free. The "plus" version offers a command-line ability that should very interesting with Drag n Drop Robot.
-ak_ (July 02, 2007, 05:17 AM)

Hmmm, I haven't had any problems with dbPowerAmp myself. Does Switch have 'right click -> convert' integration into explorer?

Also, i was looking for a nice alternative to Winamp and discovered XMPlay (thanks to *i don't remember who* on this forum) and i love it. You should try it.
-ak_ (July 02, 2007, 05:17 AM)

Winamp may have had a stay of execution courtesy of jgpaiva's tip on how to get the global hotkeys working. That said, I might just give XMPlay a try and see what I'm missing. Thanks for the recommendations.

But AutoHotkey is "on the cusp"?! ;-)
-zridling (July 02, 2007, 05:33 AM)

Heh, what can I say?

I've only been using it for a couple of months and haven't yet developed a dependency on it. Still, I can see how it might be able to solve one of my more annoying work related problems (just have to find the time to do it) and if that's successful it'll most likely cross the "love and couldn't do without" threshold!

ak_ · « **Reply #176 on:** July 02, 2007, 06:28 PM »

Hmmm, I haven't had any problems with dbPowerAmp myself. Does Switch have 'right click -> convert' integration into explorer?
-BrokenNails (July 02, 2007, 06:23 PM)

Yes it does.

BrokenNails · « **Reply #177 on:** July 02, 2007, 06:31 PM »

1. Sandboxie - I haven't even seen a false positive, much less any real malware since I started doing all my surfing in a sandbox.
-howiem (July 02, 2007, 08:54 AM)

Have you experienced any major slowdowns when browsing within Sandboxie? I found that whenever I had more than, say, two or three tabs open in Firefox I would be browsing fine and then suddenly, BAM, everything starts timing out and the only solution is to kill the current sandbox and restart it.

It was almost like once the browser had more than a few concurrent connections going Sandboxie would just choke and not be able to recover.

It could well be a system related issue though as Sandboxie worked fine for about 3 or 4 months before this problem cropped up a month back. I have, however, reinstalled Windows since and yet experienced the problem again immediately.

howiem · « **Reply #178 on:** July 03, 2007, 02:37 AM »

BrokenNails,

The only slowdowns I have experienced in a sandbox is with IE7, which is very slow to load, and gets very sluggish in responding to such things as opening new tabs. However, I use AM browser (an IE shell) where I usually have from 15-30 tab open, as well as TheWorld browser, Firefox, Safari and Opera and have not noticed any major slowdowns in any of those. I have not tried IE7 no-addons or gone through the ritual of disabling add-ons one at a time to try and pinpoint the problem (if that is the problem). I am currently using sandboxie 2.94.23 (beta).
One of the things I like most about Sandboxie is if you post issues on the forum, tzuk or someone else will reply in very short order, and tzuk sometimes is able to fix a problem in minutes. I've done a lot of beta testing with him and he is extremely responsive. The only reason I've found to surf outside of the sandbox is when I want to do MS Updates manually. And in case you haven't tried any recent versions, Sandboxie now has a Quick Recovery function, so when you download a program or file in the sandbox, you get a dialog immediately upon completion of the download asking if you want to save the file to the hard drive location where you saved it. This feature is not enabled by default (for security reasons), but it only takes a second to enable in the SB Control Window.
What? Me Worry? I surf in a sandbox!!

Curt · « **Reply #179 on:** July 03, 2007, 03:39 AM »

Volumouse

Volumouse was yesterday updated to 1.5 and is now fully Vistable:

Version 1.50:

Volumouse now works under Windows Vista (both 32-bit and x64 versions)
Under Vista, there is no default mixer device anymore, but you can select the default playback and recording device in the component combo-box.
Under Vista, You can select more 6 channels, in addition to the 2 standard left and right channels.

Under Vista, changing the master volume doesn't affect the default left/right balance, as in the previous version of Windows.

All default settings are now saved into .cfg file instead of the Registry.

Added new options to "Use the wheel when" combo-box: Windows Media Center is focused, iTunes is focused, Mouse cursor is over the Vista Gadgets, GOM Player is focused, Alt+Shift are down, Alt+Ctrl are down, Ctrl+Shift are down, The cursor is on screen corners.

New option: Use hot-keys instead of the mouse wheel.

Added additional rule line (6 instead of 5 in previous versions...)
-Versions History

http://www.nirsoft.n...utils/volumouse.html
http://www.snapfiles...m/get/volumouse.html

BrokenNails · « **Reply #180 on:** July 04, 2007, 10:08 PM »

1. Sandboxie - I haven't even seen a false positive, much less any real malware since I started doing all my surfing in a sandbox.
-howiem (July 02, 2007, 08:54 AM)
Have you experienced any major slowdowns when browsing within Sandboxie? I found that whenever I had more than, say, two or three tabs open in Firefox I would be browsing fine and then suddenly, BAM, everything starts timing out and the only solution is to kill the current sandbox and restart it.
-BrokenNails (July 02, 2007, 06:31 PM)

After further investigation I've discovered that Ad Muncher was causing the problem. I had tried disabling it in the past without effect - it seems you need to shut it down entirely!

howiem · « **Reply #181 on:** July 04, 2007, 10:49 PM »

After further investigation I've discovered that Ad Muncher was causing the problem. I had tried disabling it in the past without effect - it seems you need to shut it down entirely!
[/quote]

I have never used Ad-Cruncher, but IE7 w/o add-ons works a lot better in the sandbox than the full blown IE7. I just tried Avant which has a lot more features than AM Browser, and it also works OK in the sanebox, whoops, sandbox

, as does Opera, Firefox and TheWorld browser.

Nxqd3051990 · « **Reply #182 on:** July 05, 2007, 10:13 AM »

I found strokeit is so amazing

nXqd

Curt · « **Reply #183 on:** July 05, 2007, 10:41 AM »

We talk very often about virtual sandboxes as if they are security devices. And I will say they are. But at the same time they might be classified as RootKits!!! This is the scanning result from another favorite of mine: RootKit Hook Analyzer 3.01 (was updated today):

My favorite software! What's yours?

One favorite that I tried but couldn't afford to buy was Registrar from the same company, Resplendence because is was €45. But during this July there is a 30% rebate. You really should think about it; I was sad I didn't have the money back then, but now it just may be affordable:

Registrar Registry Manager offers a very complete and safe solution to administrators and power users for maintaining the registry on both their desktops and remote computers on their network.

Apart from common features, like those offered by the native Windows registry editors (regedit.exe and regedt32.exe) this program offers a solution for backing up and restoring registries, fast background search and replace, a bookmark editor with categories which supports key coloring and adding descriptions to registry keys and values, detailed property pages, tools for easy navigation. The program offers multi-level undo so all registry changes can be individually undone.

The software offers a registry defragmenter, a registry monitor which logs l changes made to the registry by external programs as well as security editors which allow you to set access restrictions on your registry keys.

Version 5.50 adds support for Windows Vista, includng the x64 editions.

http://www.resplendence.com/registrar

Take a tour at http://www.resplende...m/registrar_features

Darwin · « **Reply #184 on:** July 06, 2007, 12:49 AM »

Too late for me, Curt, as I bought Registry Manager last year. However, thanks for letting us know about the discount - it's a great tool

Curt · « **Reply #185 on:** July 06, 2007, 01:35 AM »

Fine tool it must be, this Registry Manager, well, almost perfect, I guess. I mean, why update a perfect program?... Or are there any other reason there has been no updates since August 2006...??

f0dder · « **Reply #186 on:** July 06, 2007, 05:14 AM »

Curt: RootKit Hook Analyzer requires a bit of knowledge not to panic

- a bunch of programs hook kernel functions, since they really need to do that in order to work properly. Too bad you can only see the last hooking program, since hooks can be layered. There isn't really any reliable way to determine multiple levels of hooks, though.

Curt · « **Reply #187 on:** July 06, 2007, 08:31 AM »

Thanks for explaining, f0dder.

I didn't panic, though..

- in fact, I have so far chosen to do nothing.

Curt · « **Reply #188 on:** July 12, 2007, 05:31 AM »

Another one of my FREE favourites was updated today, and for this one it is not something to happen too often:

Release notes for Startup Delayer v2.3 build 125

Item Description

1 Fix items getting removed when upgrading from old version with 0 delay
2 Added complete support for loading languages
3 Add Option to allow showing of Application Location Icons instead of Application Icons
4 Fix Uninstall Issue where the Uninstall never completes
5 Fix Bug where Add was editing due to modified Language files
6 Add ability to change the colours on the Time Chart
7 Fix Some commandline options not being recognised. All should now be recognised.
8 Fix for second run time error 52

http://www.r2.com.au...=2&dl=startdelay

Nxqd3051990 · « **Reply #189 on:** July 13, 2007, 11:16 AM »

Nice update

Thanks

Curt · « **Reply #190 on:** July 13, 2007, 01:54 PM »

Nice update
-Nxqd3051990 (July 13, 2007, 11:16 AM)

- no, it wasn't!!

Several problems was introduce to my pc with this update!
I have written the support and asked for a link to the old version.

Nxqd3051990 · « **Reply #191 on:** July 14, 2007, 03:51 AM »

huh ??
You got problem, can you tell us

Still wait
nXqd

[Sorry for my bad english]

yksyks · « **Reply #192 on:** July 14, 2007, 07:11 AM »

Curt, what problem with Startup Delayer? I've just updated and there was just one issue with the "Adobe Speed Launcher" link, but exactly the same I experienced with the previous build. Otherwise the update is quite nice (the customizable colors and especially the buttons in advanced mode that don't change theirs location anymore).

The mentioned link file is quite cryptic to me, if anybody wants to analyze it, I can send both the modified (non-functional) and original (restored from backup) versions to analyze. If anyone else comes across this issue--the solution is to restore the link (it's in the Startup group of All Users) from some backup and it works again.

Anyway, if you want the previous build of Startup Delayer, I can post it somewhere for you.

Curt · « **Reply #193 on:** July 14, 2007, 12:20 PM »

My problems with the Startup Delayer update began at first reboot: one program had disappeared (and didn't start); one entry said the program was missing (but started all the same), and one entry said the program was all right, but didn't start. At PC shutdown there were all sorts of problems with programs not shutting down and popping up boxes to be clicked. Of course some of this may be due to the fact that anothe prorgram was installed at the same time, but I have removed that program and re-installed two others, and still the shutdown procedure is unstable.

yksyks; wow! - yes, please! I would very much like you to mail the file to (now deleted)

Thanks a lot!

tinjaw · « **Reply #194 on:** July 14, 2007, 01:14 PM »

One favorite that I tried but couldn't afford to buy was Registrar from the same company, Resplendence because is was €45. But during this July there is a 30% rebate. You really should think about it; I was sad I didn't have the money back then, but now it just may be affordable:
-Curt (July 05, 2007, 10:41 AM)

I almost overlooked this post. Thanks Curt. I have been hesitant to purchase this because of the price. This discount was enough to get me to buy it.

Curt · « **Reply #195 on:** July 14, 2007, 01:21 PM »

You're of course welcome, tinjaw.
Would you mind telling about the use of Registrar - before the end of July, please?

tinjaw · « **Reply #196 on:** July 14, 2007, 01:38 PM »

You're of course welcome, tinjaw.
Would you mind telling about the use of Registrar - before the end of July, please?
-Curt (July 14, 2007, 01:21 PM)

I'm not sure how much I will use of it between now and then, but feel free to send me a PM toward the end of he month to remind me to post.

Grorgy · « **Reply #197 on:** July 14, 2007, 01:43 PM »

They have a lite version of registrar as well, which is free. I find it meets all my needs, but my needs in the registry are minimal, i try to stay away from it. Could be worth a look though.

yksyks · « **Reply #198 on:** July 14, 2007, 02:04 PM »

Curt, the file is on its way now. Enjoy and let us know the results. I don't believe it's caused by the new version, though. But one never knows...

Anyone else with similar problems? Not even the Adobe Speed Launcher link?

Grorgy · « **Reply #199 on:** July 14, 2007, 02:09 PM »

Maybe i should have another look, i find the adobe stuff a real hassle to get rid off, even though i sort of need it, sometimes