Free software every day

[stencil]

thank you!

[dr_ml422]

Well this is free software and at a free software site. filehippo's update checker is pretty neat. i have the stand alone and i feel it's handy. it'll scan your files and pc then check on filehippo 4 updates. then if any it'll list them and you just dl the new updates str8 from them. worth taking a look at.

[MilesAhead]

Pasty 1.2 should paste the selected text into the Run line in the XP Start Menu by default. Of course you can change the hotkey to use any program the pops open a window with the caret waiting for text input. But it looks for OS earlier than Vista and search hotkey of Control Esc as a special case, to accommodate the XP Start Menu. Seems to work flawlessly in Vista and Windows7.

It may not show up on Softpedia for awhile since they seem to test everything with XP and it didn't work as expected. So download straight from my page if you want to try it:

http://www.favessoft.com/hotkeys.html

Just scroll down a bit until you see the Pasty link.

Edit: Pasty 1.2, the latest version, now up on Softpedia:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Clipboard/Pasty.shtml

[dr_ml422]

It's excellent and for the life of me can't figure out why they didn't come out w/this long b4. It actually is a hands on PnP and Hot Swapping Gizmo. You don't even have to turn it off to take 1 drive out and put the other 1 in. just make sure it stopped spinning and it's not that hot. The Seagates will be really hot as always.

Ttytt I leave one in the dock that I know I'll be using often on a project. Drives aren't that sensitive as b4. I've had no problems to date. Unless of course you have pets or kids running around that might knock the station over.

You know I did a upgrade to the last release b4 7229 win 7 and it took longer to upgrade than a actual clean install. That's why I feel the cloning comes in handy. You could just throw a clean drive in and install a new OS and if you don't like it just throw the previous 1 in. The other drive you could just have on the side ready for w/e or put it in the Dock and run WD Diagnostics which will write zeros to it and clean it up reall well. all this while you're still working on something else. Glad you liked the concept.

[MilesAhead]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll go with that. I didn't even think of the cloning aspect. Sounds like a good gadget to have.

[dr_ml422]

I have 1 for a while now. It's the Thermaltake BlackX. It's the best invention they came up with imo. No external cases etc... I just put any drive I want in it and do w/e. Whether it's cloning, copying, burning, etc... You could prolly get 1 w/more features like extra USB ports like Soup has I think. Man It's a very efficient and convenient gadget. I just store my hdd's in their original anti-static bags or some I got at Jameson and put them on the side in a box. Whenever I need 1 I just pull it out and insert it right in the Dock.

7 is good now for their security concerning the autoplay/autorun on external hdd's and flash drives. They won't open anymore exposing themselves or your other files to any potential threats. I wouldn't even give it a second thought. Get yourself 1 and throw a 1TB in it for the ride. You could prolly get both for about a lil over a yard at Tiger and that would suffice for the $1 and something shipping via UPS. I've grown a lil leary here of late w/all those free shipping deals and rebates. The rebates take 4ever and the free shipping has cost me more lately also in the long run, or short run. Lol...

[MilesAhead]

Have you done anymore research on the docking stations? I'm thinking it might be good to do the internal drive into the docking station trick. Seems like it's not saving that much but if the dock lasts for awhile then I'd get good use out of it.

[dr_ml422]

Get it while it's hot

I should probably get a 1 TB or larger USB now. My 500 GB is hanging around 50% used. Think I'll start looking for deals.

Miles you can't go wrong w/this> http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...Sku=TSD-1000H4

They also have a 320GB for $10 bucks less, but that's not enough for storage. However I would get it for a OS n apps.

Here> http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=H450-6044

Matter of fact I do feel like getting it. I'll see. I like to clone my pcs so I need about 2 more 4 that. The 1TB above I should b getting here soon is 4 some personal video files.

[MilesAhead]

I should probably get a 1 TB or larger USB now. My 500 GB is hanging around 50% used. Think I'll start looking for deals.

[dr_ml422]

Well according to the guys at WD and the web most drives are going to be way off the charts as far as size. No more 80 GB or even 250 Gb's left to put a OS and some apps. So basically everyone will have at least 70% free space on their main OS drive. I can't for the life figure out why they would go that route. I men for Pete's sake who in their right mind is going to use 500-1ooo GB's of apps. really?

Only thing I could think of they're getting rid of the large drives already made and in stock to make room for the SSD's that to my common sense I would think would start at the low end of storage b4 blowing up as well.

I just snatched a Hitachi 1TB for $79.99 from Tiger. I'll get 1 or 2 more if I can. I need them for storage and some backup. If it wasn't Hitachi I wouldn't of bothered. Those Seagates while offering 5 yrs. warranty get a lot of attention, but they run way too hot despite being able to handle the heat. Throw some rendering and/or Games and forget about it.

The coolest and pretty fast I've snatched is the WD Green Caviar 1 TB. Almost like a Rolls Royce you hardly know it's on and way cool. Reason I point this out is because I'm not that crazy about drilling some holes and adding new fans just for unwanted or preventive heat issues. Especially as I'm looking to really max my Builds and start playing some games.

[MilesAhead]

Pasty - paste text into search engine with hotkey

Another one of my freebies. Someone on DonationCoder requested a utility where he could either drag & drop text or hotkey paste selected text into Windows Search. I came up with Pasty. You can select some text in an editor or browser or whatnot, and press the hotkey. By default it will open Windows Search and paste the text in. It does not add an Enter key to the macro, so if it turns out to be a program found in the search and you don't want to run it, you aren't committed. You can just close the search window.

You can change the Pasty hotkey and the search hotkey. Just about any app that pops up with a hotkey can be used as the target for the paste.

Here's the page on my site:

http://www.favessoft.com/hotkeys.html

I've already submitted to Softpedia. If it's posted I'll add an edit with the Softpedia link.


Edit: sorry to the XP users. I didn't realize the Start Menu was so different. Worked right off the bat with W7 and Vista to paste into the Windows Search. However in XP you can still use any external search that pops open with the caret in the input control, such as Everything search or Find And Run Robot or others. I changed it so if the OS is older than Vista it asks you for the search hotkey. I made a few attempts to work around it but it's not obvious why macros with pauses between don't make XP start menu happy. So it may be but just as well to leave it as is for now.

The hotkey and macro stuff is still new to me. I did mainly shell extensions and stand-alone executables with compiled languages before. If I figure it out I'll update eventually. I didn't realize it didn't go in XP until I rebooted to try it.

[MilesAhead]

I gotcha'. Different people have different strategies too. Not everyone can run with 70% or higher free drive space. I don't believe one size fits all. Now and then you find a super piece of software that you can say, "yeah, that's the best of its type" but most of the time you can find several alternatives with various pros and cons to using them, depending on your setup, how you like to work etc..

[dr_ml422]

Thnx for the info. I just wanted some reference as you well know how reviews can be from 1 site to another. I used Defraggler once just to see how it went. Pretty much simple as their other freebies like Ccleaner.

1 mistake I made was running a defrag on my backup HDD w/all my video files. It's a 1 TB. I'm so here n there lately I realized after a bit wth I was doing. Lol... It's a damn Backup not a OS. I could care less about how the video backup drive is. If you know what I mean. I just use it to plug into my Docking Station and burn w/e w/ImgBurn.

[MilesAhead]

Hi Miles. How does it pair up to Defraggler from Piriform? I saw some reviews on the latest free defragglers and defraggler was up there. I think they mentioned Auslogics, but not sure if it was that highly recommended compared to the others.

It's not the highest rated. I use it because in all the versions I've installed and tried over serveral flavors of Windows I had one glitch starting and stopping and deleting files, then continuing the defrag. It's a good fast "quick and dirty" defragger.

Every now and then I use the windows defragger to defrag boot files:
defrag c: -b

I can't see buying a defragger to get that. Also, to me, "defragging in the background" is an oxymoron. I do manual defrags, quick, not thorough, but often. To me the trick is keeping lots of free disk space.

I haven't tried all the other ones out there. I did one that was supposed to defrag boot files, but it told me it had to be run on bootup. So when I checked the box to run at bootup, it ran at bootup every boot!! It never cleared the "dirty bit" on the drive. Lots of fun clearing that off!!

To me it's more important that it's fast and makes the disk access smoother. A super thorough defrag that takes 10 hours isn't likely to be run every day. A quicky that takes 7 minutes is. Just my philosophy. Everyone has their own ideas and preferences. I try to stay out of the "the defragger I use is better than yours" arguments. It's just a waste of time.

[PurpleDemon]

Giveaway of the Day - Wondershare Photo Collage Studio 4.2.9.1

June 15, 2009


Wondershare Photo Collage Studio 4.2.9 is a simple yet powerful tool to make amazing photo collages and digital scrapbooks for print. With plenty designed templates, clip arts and photo frames, you can easily assemble your still photos into an artistic compilation. What’s more, you can create photo books, greeting cards, calendar and more you can image. Try to make this Father’s Day more fun and impressive with it now!
Features:

* Turn photos into collage and scrapbook;
* Plenty collage templates and layouts;
* Multiple-page Designs;
* Wordart, cliparts, stamps & more;
* Photo retouching and effects;
* Magic doodle drawing;
* DIY personalized calendar;
* Print directly to share anywhere;
* Save as JPG, JEPG, PNG, BMP, TIFF formats;
* Quick and helpful online support.

I used this software to make calender tops for my family. They turned out super.

I highly recommend from personal experience.