As far as I can tell, Autoruns works much like msconfig, just showing you what is currently set to startup (and letting you disable them).
The difference w/ Winpatrol (the free version) is that it sits in your system tray and alerts you immediately whenever a program tries to add itself to that startup list. And for frequent offenders (how many times has qttask.exe appeared in your startup?), you can set a task to "disable" so that any time that program attempts to join the auto-start list, it will fail.
I don't work for WinPatrol or anything. I just heard about it on TechTV & now can't believe I lived so long without it. This seriously is the best way to find out when spyware is trying to install.
I've recently become a fan of WinPatrol. It's shareware, but will do pretty much all you need indefinitely in its trial version.
Most spyware tend to set themselves to run automatically on startup, and WinPatrol's watchdog will bark at you whenever a program does that, and let you confirm or deny. (If you register, they'll give you information about tat program to help your decision).
I do the same thing w/ Opera. In truth, my real "start page" is set to the blank page. But I have two nicknamed bookmark folders w/ a large & small set of URLs I generally keep an eye on.
In the morning, I'll start the browser, hit F2 (open URL/folder), and type 'startup' to open the folder w/ 8 URLs. If I'm in more of a rush, but still want the basic sites (slashdot, my.yahoo.com, techbargains.com), I'll launch 'startup2' instead.
Don't forget Rock City!
on
Borg Cube Case
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Does anyone remember the original Borg cube computer case? I always wanted to pick up a Rock City system from the Panda Project.
Back in '98, they had systems w/ the coolest cases and AMD processors for just over a grand.
True, it's not free (beer or speech), but this really is the most impressive NN development platform I've ever worked with. It has a VB-like interface for creating a custom network, and powerful wizards to handle the common problems.
Plus, the only limit on their demo is that you can only save a networks structure, but not the trained weights or output. This means you can use the demo to determine if a problem is solvable through a NN, and only get your company to buy it if it works for your project.
Definitely check out PowerMarks. It's shareware ($25) w/ a trial version, and needs windows, but they'll basically store your bookmarks on their server (no extra charge) & sync your bookmarks from each location.
The downside (and why I don't personally use it) is that any category information for a bookmark(what subfolder you used to keep it in) is lost. You search for a particular bookmark using keyword searches (kinda like Opera's bookmark-search).
Other options, without the sync functionality: URLBase (shareware) BKM
... and then the MSCE (who happened to be walking by) said: "Wait, let's try closing the windows and opening them again... THEN see if it happens again"
Re:Some FAR more interesting underwater structures
on
Pillars Underwater
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· Score: 2
I agree that is seems strange not to release any images; however, considering the validity of Zelitsky's last find, maybe her team deserves the benefit of the doubt?
>Remember, the people who are pumping us full of the "China wants us to apologize
>for hitting the plane" bullshit were the same ones who were pumping us full of the
>"the votes have already been counted and recounted time and time again" bullshit five months ago.
Huh? The idea that China wants an apology for the plane crash incident isn't coming from the White House. It's coming from China! I agree that China probably is hoping to use this incident to stop the ongoing US spy plane missions, but they have indeed been demanding apologies for the plain wreck. So where's the bullshit?
> So set up a bunch of URLs in your Startup directory if you're using Windows.
This will load a set of pages every time I reboot my computer, not every time I launch my web browser. If you know of another web browser besides Opera that can do that, I'd love to know.
After looking into the topic more deeply, I think I've figured out that MDI itself (having multiple documents controlled by a single instance of the program) isn't really what's frowned upon by most people (particularly the HCI experts). The thing most commonly attacked is Window-in-window (or WIW) MDI, the method of handling these multiple documents by letting each document be its own window, bounded by the main program window's borders. This is generally seen as a confusing metaphor to new users and wasteful of screen space - which I'm sure are both valid points, although as an experienced computer user I find it the most usable option.
In any case, there are other ways of handling MDI which I'm sure are more acceptable to many people here. Gnome, for instance, supports MDI and allows the user to choose how MDI programs should handle their documents. They can take the least intrusive approach, and allow each document to have its own window, or they can use the note-tabbed style to allow selection of which document to display within the entire application window. Currently, WIW-MDI isn't an option, but it may be in the future.
Basically, I guess I'm saying I don't think it's necessarily MDI itself that people are objecting to, only MS's WIW-style implementation of it, although I still think emacs could be considered to be WIW-MDI. And of the types of MDI that are availble, I still support WIW as the best option for me for many tasks (web browsing included). A note-tab style MDI that allows keyboard selection of documents (like Opera) and the ability to hide those tabs (like Opera) would probably be a good compromise, although it gives up the ability to compare to documents within a window visually, side by side.
Aside from the fact that MS used it, I still haven't seen a single reason presented for why the MDI concept is absolute evil.
The concept of letting applications keep track of what documents are open seems natural to me. You save system resources. You minimize the number of active tasks to switch between (regardless of the selection method). You allow a web browser to do things like open a large subset of your bookmarks simultaneously. Emacs (standard and X) has always let you work with multiple buffers in one instance of the program. IRC has always allowed you to maintain conversations in multiple channels from one session. It's just a common sense idea that isn't limited to any MS platform.
And what exactly makes "graphics creation" programs so much different from text editing, slide presentation, web browsing, spreadsheet, or any type of program that tends to access more than one document at a time? Agreed, using multiple desktops (when I'm on my linux machines) helps greatly in separating programs by how they're being used at the moment. But there still is usually no need to have a separate window (and taskbar item) for each document used by each program. In my opinion, a good MDI program (such as emacs) should allow you to have multiple instances of the program, each with its own documents. This is what I hope Opera will do in the future.
As for "the correct solution" for web browsing, I'm sure this will always be a matter of personal preference. Personally, I like to have a core set of home pages presented to me when I start up my browser every morning. To my knowledge, no SDI browser provides this.
Agreed, MDI doesn't give you a way to separate your "work" pages from your "play" ones. MDI combined with an ability to have multiple Opera applications running simultaneously would help greatly here. I personally pull up IE for these cases (plus for any pages that require plug-ins not available for Opera).
I disagree, however, that the "crowded taskbar effect" is a MS-specific problem. KDE, Gnome, QNX/Photon, and any other desktop that uses a taskbar will always suffer from taskbar overload if every document in every application must be represented as a separate process. Whether or not the MDI interface is a MS creation, I think it definitely merits continuing across platforms.
I think MDI web browsing is best suited to people (like myself) who tend to browse through lots of web pages while they work on other things. Now that I've spent a few years as a registered Opera user, I can't imagine going back to SDI browsing. Using IE/NS, my taskbar gets filled with a mix of pages and programs, and switching between work and browsing requires either a whole lot of alt-tabbing, or some very precise clicking on the taskbar (assuming your windows are maximized). MDI programs (like Opera) keep the taskbar relatively clean, so a few alt-tabs gets me to the program I wanted, and then then a few more keystrokes gets the document.
Granted, Opera really should provide an option to run in SDI mode, but I suspect most people would adapt to MDI browsing fairly quickly if they give it a chance.
... but did the original press release last November promise a sub-$200 color, wireless internet device for the first Sony handheld? Has Sony made any attempt to explain how we wound up w/ a $400 b/w Palm V? Just curious.
Check out SpaceLand.net, where they've apparently bought a few 2000-acre plots from Lunar Embassy and are re-selling it at 3 pounds/acre. (what's that in $ anyone?)
Another old favorite is the Martian Consulate page. When they opened, they had a pyramid scheme going. Once you bought land, you could refer friends (read "spam the UseNet with your referral #") and get a percentage of what they pay for their Martian plots, as well as any people they referred, etc. It doesn't look like they're promoting that program anymore, but the order form still asks for your referral number.
Slashdot Mirror
I hear he spent a lot of time training with this.
I personally feel safer with a noodly appendage protection plan...
It should be noted, that Opera's initial response to MS's clear disregard for web standards was perhaps the funniest move ever by a tech company.
Just ask the Swedish Chef...
As far as I can tell, Autoruns works much like msconfig, just showing you what is currently set to startup (and letting you disable them).
The difference w/ Winpatrol (the free version) is that it sits in your system tray and alerts you immediately whenever a program tries to add itself to that startup list. And for frequent offenders (how many times has qttask.exe appeared in your startup?), you can set a task to "disable" so that any time that program attempts to join the auto-start list, it will fail.
I don't work for WinPatrol or anything. I just heard about it on TechTV & now can't believe I lived so long without it. This seriously is the best way to find out when spyware is trying to install.
I've recently become a fan of WinPatrol. It's shareware, but will do pretty much all you need indefinitely in its trial version.
Most spyware tend to set themselves to run automatically on startup, and WinPatrol's watchdog will bark at you whenever a program does that, and let you confirm or deny. (If you register, they'll give you information about tat program to help your decision).
I do the same thing w/ Opera. In truth, my real "start page" is set to the blank page. But I have two nicknamed bookmark folders w/ a large & small set of URLs I generally keep an eye on.
In the morning, I'll start the browser, hit F2 (open URL/folder), and type 'startup' to open the folder w/ 8 URLs. If I'm in more of a rush, but still want the basic sites (slashdot, my.yahoo.com, techbargains.com), I'll launch 'startup2' instead.
Does anyone remember the original Borg cube computer case? I always wanted to pick up a Rock City system from the Panda Project.
Back in '98, they had systems w/ the coolest cases and AMD processors for just over a grand.
Check out an image, and a contemporary review.
Plus, the only limit on their demo is that you can only save a networks structure, but not the trained weights or output. This means you can use the demo to determine if a problem is solvable through a NN, and only get your company to buy it if it works for your project.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/898648/posts
This is the edition you want: Opera Bork Edition
Definitely check out PowerMarks. It's shareware ($25) w/ a trial version, and needs windows, but they'll basically store your bookmarks on their server (no extra charge) & sync your bookmarks from each location.
The downside (and why I don't personally use it) is that any category information for a bookmark(what subfolder you used to keep it in) is lost. You search for a particular bookmark using keyword searches (kinda like Opera's bookmark-search).
Other options, without the sync functionality:
URLBase (shareware)
BKM
To really ease kids into python, be sure to check out the turtle module first. (ahhh... the memories)
... and then the MSCE (who happened to be walking by) said: "Wait, let's try closing the windows and opening them again... THEN see if it happens again"
I agree that is seems strange not to release any images; however, considering the validity of Zelitsky's last find, maybe her team deserves the benefit of the doubt?
Well, that and the sheer numbers of people playing them. 2 million gamers in a country of 46?!?
>for hitting the plane" bullshit were the same ones who were pumping us full of the
>"the votes have already been counted and recounted time and time again" bullshit five months ago.
Huh? The idea that China wants an apology for the plane crash incident isn't coming from the White House. It's coming from China! I agree that China probably is hoping to use this incident to stop the ongoing US spy plane missions, but they have indeed been demanding apologies for the plain wreck. So where's the bullshit?
This will load a set of pages every time I reboot my computer, not every time I launch my web browser. If you know of another web browser besides Opera that can do that, I'd love to know.
In any case, there are other ways of handling MDI which I'm sure are more acceptable to many people here. Gnome, for instance, supports MDI and allows the user to choose how MDI programs should handle their documents. They can take the least intrusive approach, and allow each document to have its own window, or they can use the note-tabbed style to allow selection of which document to display within the entire application window. Currently, WIW-MDI isn't an option, but it may be in the future.
Basically, I guess I'm saying I don't think it's necessarily MDI itself that people are objecting to, only MS's WIW-style implementation of it, although I still think emacs could be considered to be WIW-MDI. And of the types of MDI that are availble, I still support WIW as the best option for me for many tasks (web browsing included). A note-tab style MDI that allows keyboard selection of documents (like Opera) and the ability to hide those tabs (like Opera) would probably be a good compromise, although it gives up the ability to compare to documents within a window visually, side by side.
The concept of letting applications keep track of what documents are open seems natural to me. You save system resources. You minimize the number of active tasks to switch between (regardless of the selection method). You allow a web browser to do things like open a large subset of your bookmarks simultaneously. Emacs (standard and X) has always let you work with multiple buffers in one instance of the program. IRC has always allowed you to maintain conversations in multiple channels from one session. It's just a common sense idea that isn't limited to any MS platform.
As for "the correct solution" for web browsing, I'm sure this will always be a matter of personal preference. Personally, I like to have a core set of home pages presented to me when I start up my browser every morning. To my knowledge, no SDI browser provides this.
I disagree, however, that the "crowded taskbar effect" is a MS-specific problem. KDE, Gnome, QNX/Photon, and any other desktop that uses a taskbar will always suffer from taskbar overload if every document in every application must be represented as a separate process. Whether or not the MDI interface is a MS creation, I think it definitely merits continuing across platforms.
Granted, Opera really should provide an option to run in SDI mode, but I suspect most people would adapt to MDI browsing fairly quickly if they give it a chance.
... but did the original press release last November promise a sub-$200 color, wireless internet device for the first Sony handheld? Has Sony made any attempt to explain how we wound up w/ a $400 b/w Palm V? Just curious.
> chat room, but the fact that they think it is
> chat room scares me even more)
I guess the IDG lawyers have been spending more time reading "Wine Tasting for Dummies" than "Internet for Dummies"...
Another old favorite is the Martian Consulate page. When they opened, they had a pyramid scheme going. Once you bought land, you could refer friends (read "spam the UseNet with your referral #") and get a percentage of what they pay for their Martian plots, as well as any people they referred, etc. It doesn't look like they're promoting that program anymore, but the order form still asks for your referral number.