I'm a tech for a school district. One of my high schools was hit by lightning. The computer that my faculty uses to clock in every day (a windows 95 machine) died. I need a replacement ASAP. [more inside]
posted on Jul 21, 2008 - 6 answers

How can I create a social networking site? I am in Southern California (Inland Empire/Orange County) and interested in building a social networking/message board/blog site along the lines of Sermo or Metafilter that isn't really about customizable media and meeting friends, as much as it is for people within a certain specialty, let's say the veterinary community, to share their ideas about their expertise with peers, receive newsletters relevant to their work, and ask for their peers' opinions or advice. [more inside]
posted on Apr 12, 2008 - 10 answers

Where can I find LaTex book templates? [more inside]
posted on Sep 7, 2007 - 3 answers

Anyone know of a tool to automatically extract 'Product Keys' from Microsoft Products installed on your machine ? [more inside]
posted on Aug 2, 2007 - 7 answers

Need help with foreign language spellcheck dictionaries in wordperfectx3 [more inside]
posted on Jul 4, 2007 - 0 answers

How can I continue to operate my one-man software business while out of the country for 3 months? [more inside]
posted on Mar 12, 2007 - 7 answers

I just got my grandfather a new computer. How can I make that computer useful and fun? [more inside]
posted on Feb 1, 2007 - 11 answers

I'm playing Santa's elf this year, and am setting up 2 computers for my siblings that Santa is bringing them. I need suggestions on software to equip it with. [more inside]
posted on Dec 19, 2006 - 8 answers

With Firefox 2.0 (did not happen on 1.5.) when I return to the previous page via the back button, I am always sent to the top of the previous page regardless of how far I had scrolled down prior to jumping to the next page. Can I set it to go back to the spot I had scrolled to and not to the top or am I stuck? (My current workaround is to use the add on script that creates a duplicate tab)
posted on Nov 17, 2006 - 8 answers

What is the purpose of Altiris Connection Monitor Log or Altiris Carbon Copy? [more inside]
posted on Jun 16, 2006 - 8 answers

iTunes and Mozilla. Slow? or fast? [more inside]
posted on Apr 8, 2006 - 13 answers

Is it worth moving to either version 7.0 or 8.0 of the contact/sales management software ACT!? [more inside]
posted on Mar 29, 2006 - 1 answers

Is it possible to perform computer analysis to determine the similarities and/or differences between two logos? [more inside]
posted on Feb 28, 2006 - 15 answers

Has anyone ever added two mice/cursors to one computer? Can I get that on my computer today? [more inside]
posted on Feb 8, 2006 - 20 answers

I'm having major problems with both Firefox (my browser of choice) and Opera 8. Firefox stalls consistently for a considerable amount of time (1 min - 5 mins) on specific sites (for instance del.icio.us/popular/) and Opera has a font-rendering bug on most sites (for instance, again, del.icio.us/popular/). [more inside]
posted on Dec 17, 2005 - 15 answers

What recommendations do you have for an intranet wiki? I need: - page-level access controls - a simple calendar of events (birthdays, travel dates, etc) - written in PHP I love MediaWiki, but there is no concept of private pages (there is a plugin script that supports it, but I want something in the core to ease upgrades). I've also checked out Wackowiki which looks good, but doesn't seem to have any calendar integration. Any suggestions?
posted on Dec 7, 2005 - 9 answers

Are Tetris clones legal?
posted on Nov 28, 2005 - 4 answers

I like what VisualCD does (makes a browseable catalog of a given disk), but it is bonking on files bigger than 2GB. This is a deal breaker for my needs. Anybody know a more robust alternative for Win32, that does the same thing?
posted on Nov 8, 2005 - 0 answers

I need survey software which can do both open-ended questions as well as ratings. [more inside]
posted on Oct 5, 2005 - 9 answers

Extremely odd and specific Microsoft Works word processor text entry problem... [more inside]
posted on Aug 1, 2005 - 5 answers

A tech support survey: [more inside]
posted on Jul 22, 2005 - 11 answers

What WYSIWYG HTML / Web page Editor will you recommend? [more inside]
posted on Jul 5, 2005 - 17 answers

How do I make a VCD disk using the CD burner in my Powerbook? I have an .avi file that I would like to play on my DVD player, but I have no idea what's the best software to use for encoding, burning, etc.
posted on May 24, 2005 - 13 answers

I’ve been assigned to evaluate the feasibility of using Lucene for our website, a large, high-use government site with rapidly-changing data. [more inside]
posted on Apr 27, 2005 - 3 answers

I'm asking on behalf of a fellow law student who is having a big, fat laptop problem as we fast approach the zero our for our finals. She copies some lines of text in Microsoft Word. When she pastes them, Word pastes literally a thousand pages of the same lines of text into the document. This isn't happening in any other programs, but her computer does seem to be running pretty hot for no reason that we can discern. What the hell is going on? [more inside]
posted on Apr 26, 2005 - 7 answers

A recently purchased iBook comes with Zinio, an application that allows for the onscreen reading of print magazines. I like the concept, and the interface is decent, but their selection is paltry and it all seems a bit too pricey. Still, I might be willing to give it a go. Does anyone use the service regularly? What do you think of it? Is there a comparable service out there that might be better? [more inside]
posted on Apr 22, 2005 - 4 answers

ComputerMusicFilter: Is there a good piece of OS X software for learning to play the piano? I'd like to buy one of those inexpensive USB keyboards and noodle around in GarageBand, but my actualy musical skills are sorely out of practice, and I don't think they're going to just come back to me, either.
posted on Feb 16, 2005 - 3 answers

Laptops (again). I want to buy one. Specifically, I want to know which laptop is the best for multi-track audio editing (and why). Aditionally, which software should I use if I want to create stories "pro" enough for radio journalism? Do I have to get pricey studio stuff? Finally, when people out there submit already-produced audio stories to say BBC, NPR, PRI, Pacifica . . . is there a simple way to send the files via email? What kind of file would it have to be?
posted on Feb 13, 2005 - 9 answers

Mac OS X Mail.app putting annoying line breaks into long URLs. [more inside]
posted on Feb 11, 2005 - 4 answers

What free hit counter do you guys recommend for a blog?
posted on Feb 9, 2005 - 7 answers

MacEDAFilter - I'm looking for a copy of MI-Sugar, which seems to have fallen off the face of the web after the publisher stopped supporting it (all downloads I've found link to the publisher's 404). Anyone know where to find a recent version, or barring that, have any reccomendations on Mac circuit schematic and simmulation programs?
posted on Feb 2, 2005 - 1 answers

I have a DVD that I want to edit using a tool like Windows Movie Maker or Adobe Premiere. How do I somehow get an editable file from the files on the DVD (vob, ifo, etc.)? I'm looking to retain as much quality as possible, so I assume this means I need an MPEG2 file? I've looked all over dvdrhelp and doom9, and if this is covered, it's covered using words I don't understand. In order of priority: Quality of final product/ease of use/price. Thanks!
posted on Jan 31, 2005 - 7 answers

Hope I'm not opening a can of worms here. I'm jumping into the Linux ring for the very first time. There are a ton of distributions and I was wondering if there were any that the community would recommend for a noob like myself. So far, I've downloaded Mandrake and RedHat images but there are a ton of other out there and I wonder if I'm missing something better? I'll be dual booting on a WinXP pro box (Intel) so I'm looking for something that is relatively easy to install in this situation.
posted on Jan 15, 2005 - 30 answers

Im too good to pay for a remote desktop application so I searched for the best/most secure and found Back Oriface 2k. The problem is that now Mcafee shits it self and deletes it! Is there anyway to get McAfee to ignore or it am i going to have to uninstall Mcafee?

or - second question: Is there a better one out there that doesn't have the unfortunate reputation as being a script kiddie tool?
posted on Jan 12, 2005 - 18 answers

any recommendations for personal finance software for the macintosh? (mi)
posted on Jan 3, 2005 - 9 answers

Mac OS X Groupware Filter: A friend of mine is switching to Mac from Windows and is looking for a groupware calendar.[mi]
posted on Dec 30, 2004 - 4 answers

Augh! What happened to Bitbeamer.com? (No link 'cuz it's gone.) Bitbeamer was the shareware successor to freeware LeechFTP. I just tried to reinstall my (paid for!) copy, and the registration routine failed when it could not connect to its home base. Google reveals nothing. Has anyone noted what happened -- did it get acquired by another company? Did the author abandon the product? Do I have any hope of using my favorite ftp client again?
posted on Dec 22, 2004 - 9 answers

Laptop Clean XP Install:
1] My (on board?) sound card is unrecognised. How do I find out what drivers to use?

2] What programs do you really think I need? I already have VNC, VLC, Firefox, Thunderbird and AVG installed. What else should I add? (Freeware/OS appriciated but not needed.)
posted on Dec 16, 2004 - 9 answers

I recently got an Ipaq for an early xmas present. It's neat and all...but I really don't like that you cannot use an alternate web browser or email client. Does anyone know if Mozilla has their web browser ready for the Ipaq yet? Or an email client? Or does anyone have any software advice for Ipaq?

Thanks!
posted on Dec 13, 2004 - 12 answers

What software/hardware do you use in creating mashups?
posted on Dec 4, 2004 - 8 answers

I'm looking at different anti-spam systems, and one of these is a challenge-response system. Anybody know of an open-source, free, or relatively cheap challenge-response system that I could try? I run a couple of mail servers for a public school district, and we're always looking for ways to deal with spam.
posted on Nov 28, 2004 - 10 answers

CSS, XML, XHTML: What are some good books to bone up on newer technologies for someone who already knows the basics of web design?
posted on Nov 26, 2004 - 12 answers

So now that I've had to start looking for work and a new home, my five-year-old Dell laptop has decided to die on me. I'm probably going to order a Gateway at around the $1000 level (I don't do gaming or any of the stuff that would require something fancier), but what I want to know is what software I should make sure to get with it. I'm planning to do freelance work in editing and maybe translating; can anyone who does that tell me what I'll need besides MS Word (which I presume most files will be sent in)? Thanks.

I was going to preface this with "JobFilter" until I realized that looks like job 'work' rather than the intended Job 'guy to whom all that bad stuff happened in the Bible.' Damn ambiguous English language!
posted on Nov 19, 2004 - 27 answers

Any free flowcharting/ decision-tree software recommendations?
posted on Nov 19, 2004 - 6 answers

Is there any easy command or application that will randomise lines in a text file?
posted on Nov 12, 2004 - 12 answers

I'm giving away an old tray-loading iMac (256MB, either 266 or 333Mhz, I really can't recall right now) to a friend and have loaded it up with productivity-related stuff. Now I'm looking for games I can download. Freeware and shareware, preferably, as opposed to warez (although if you care to recommend a NES/SNES/etc. emulator ...). In particular, is there a decent FPS I can download for this machine?
posted on Nov 5, 2004 - 6 answers

Firefox ~ Mozilla What is the relationship between Firefox and Mozilla? Is Firefox just the revised browser component of the suite of programs called Mozilla?
posted on Oct 28, 2004 - 37 answers

Can Apple's X11 and Xdarwin coexist in peace and harmony on my Imac?

I ask because there are a number of cool Fink packages that crave the love of Xdarwin, and Fink teases me with cryptic references to peaceful cohabitation but leaves out specifics.
posted on Oct 28, 2004 - 7 answers

If someone were asking me to redesign a table-based small business site with full CSS and an integrated blog (visuals wouldn't change much, but navigation structure would be completely different), how much should I, hypothetically, charge?
posted on Oct 27, 2004 - 5 answers

I need a search tool replacement for the built-in windows XP search, or suggestions for it. I have a lot of files on different drives in different directories (C:\AA F:\BB ...) and I when I want to find a specific file that I know is in one of those directories, I have to select and search each directory one at a time. (searching all folders on all drives would take too long.) Anyway to make this quicker?
posted on Oct 18, 2004 - 7 answers

OS X: All of a sudden clicking things on the menu bar of any program makes a SF-like "click" noise. (I checked under sounds in the system preferences and noises from the interface is unchecked.) It happens when I click on the Apple in the top right or the program name and sometimes File. I have not installed any news software. My question is: WTF?
posted on Oct 14, 2004 - 7 answers

Perl, semaphores, linux, problems [mi]
posted on Oct 4, 2004 - 6 answers

QuickSilverFilter: After purusing this thread on cool Mac OS apps, I decided to try out Quicksilver. I think it's pretty darn spiff, but there's one thing I can't figure out. (MI)
posted on Oct 3, 2004 - 6 answers

The Poor Man's Laptop: As I've parted ways with my previous employer, I've had to relinquish my beautiful, 15 inch aluminum PowerBook. I can't afford a new machine, but have a need for some basic word processing and note taking capabilities. So I've picked up a Palm Tungsten E and a wireless keyboard. It works great, but I could use some recommendations for useful software. My main computer is a desktop G4 running OS X 10.3.5. [MI]
posted on Sep 20, 2004 - 6 answers

Does anyone know of a freeware or shareware database program that can read and edit .fp5 files? I know they're proprietary to filemaker.
posted on Sep 15, 2004 - 5 answers

I have and Nvidia GeForce2 MX/Mx 400 64Mb video card and work a lot in AutoCAD and 3DSMax 6 in 3d.
I understand there is a software patch that allows you to trick the card into thinking it's a higher end card (Optima, I believe) and taking advantage of the 3ds-specific drivers made by Nvidia, without cracking the case, soldering anything, etc.
Does anybody have any experience doing this kind of thing? I am using XP Pro, 0.5 Gb, 1.5 Ghz.
posted on Sep 8, 2004 - 3 answers

Is there any free app that will allow an officefull of networked Macs and one PC to share an address book?
posted on Aug 24, 2004 - 10 answers

I'm compiling a disc of useful windows diagnostic and troubleshooting utilities for when I have to make house calls for friends and relatives. what are some maybe lesser known tools that you guys have found particularly useful? freeware would be nice, but not necessary.
posted on Aug 6, 2004 - 28 answers

What is the current best freeware audio editing application? The specific need is for ripping a cd, then playing it back slower without altering the key.
posted on Jul 20, 2004 - 11 answers

Which Dreamweaver MX 2004 extension do I need? --So my company insists on using this crazy versioning system (TeamSite) which means that every edit I make to my project site can only be viewed after no less than seven interim steps. All I want to do is view my edits locally before I go through the hassle that is uploading to the development workarea. [mi]
posted on Jul 12, 2004 - 9 answers

How would you start an open source project? (A greater amount of detail will be presented upon clicking below.)
posted on Jul 6, 2004 - 5 answers

My stubborn roommate won't let me use his alarm clock, and I need to get up for work. I generally don't trust alarms - what's the easiest to operate, most reliable, free to download alarm clock program available?
posted on Jul 2, 2004 - 29 answers

ASCII/Unicode conversions/importing into MT problems...[mi]
posted on Jun 29, 2004 - 3 answers

I'm looking for a a cms like phpnuke or postnuke that offers selective membership. something like a membership form is emailed and reviewed before membership is allowed. or maybe a field in the form has to be filled out correctly or something. I think i'm just being an idiot and not looking in the right places, but i can't seem to find what i so desire. send help
posted on Jun 28, 2004 - 6 answers

What are some ways to turn a RealPlayer streaming video file into a ripped, usable file on your hard drive? I've seen stuff for the audio part, but not so much video.
posted on Jun 28, 2004 - 4 answers

AOL comapatibility filter...I have a client that uses AOL. He says that the site isn't working on his computer. I suspect it's an old junker, but is there anyway that I can check this? My google fu is not working today apparently.
posted on Jun 16, 2004 - 3 answers

Keeping a daily task list on my Windows computer: is it possible? I don't need anything fancy, just a piece of software or a hack that lets me mark tasks as complete when I'm done with them, that brings yesterday's uncompleted tasks forward to today, and that doesn't bother me with tomorrow's tasks before tomorrow. Can anyone suggest a way to accomplish this?
posted on Jun 11, 2004 - 8 answers

I want to broadcast a single desktop to multiple computers for training purposes on our internal network. I looked at VNC, but it looks like that is only one-to-one viewing. Is there any software to accomplish this with a group (8-10 per session)?
posted on May 24, 2004 - 6 answers

Hey, Celestia users. I have a couple of questions about buggy textures, and I want your recommendations for plugins. I am on Celestia for OS X. More inside.
posted on May 11, 2004 - 5 answers

Music software reccomendation needed: I'm looking for a very simple VSTi host application for Windows. All it needs to do is load a VSTi plugin and send external MIDI input to it - no sequencing, no effect chains. And, it needs to work on Windows 95. (There seem to be a few of these available for MacOSX, but Google doesn't give me any for Windows) Any suggestions?
posted on May 9, 2004 - 7 answers

DVD authoring software?
posted on May 4, 2004 - 8 answers

I have a screwed up driver situation on my pc. I've tried everything i can think of, and i need help. it was suggested i look here.

Here's the PbP:

- My DVD player (Sony DDU1621) on my WinXP box wouldn't open. it would just whirr and blink, so i removed it, uninstalled it, and then reinstalled it.
- While I was checking the connections, i accidentally unplugged my harddrive ribbon. I had XP installed on the second drive in a daisy-chain, and when i replugged everything, my computer started up in win98. But my DVD drive worked.
-- The goal here was to install Linux, so i figured i didn't need XP anyway, and while i was downloading the linux iso (onto another box), i set out to totally clean out the harddrive that used to have XP on it, so i could get it ready for Linux.
-- Two hours later, i went to actually begin installing Linux, and suddenly the DVD drive won't open again.
-- I have now physically removed and replaced the DVD drive at least a dozen times. Sometimes the F drive shows up in My Computer, sometimes it doesn't. When it does show up, it still doesn't work (when i click on it it gives me an error alert saying there is a problem with the device).
- When it doesn't show up , i go to Install New Hardware, and it lists Sony Proprietary CD-Rom Controller. When I select it, i get an update window that says 'This device is already installed, but it has a problem.' There are no updates available (i'm not currently online and all of the networking software was installed into XP), and so i just click OK, and nothing has changed.
- I cannot find another driver for this device. I found something listed on DriverGuide, but it was just some batch that callibrates audio and video input.
- I found another DVD drive, this time a cheap one called a MadDog BKM-52X16, and i replaced it. but my win98 device manager doesn't detect it and still brings up the Sony Proprietary CD-Rom Controller as the only option when i run Install New Hardware.

so all i need is to get a cd drive recognized so i can either reinstall xp, or go ahead and install Linux -- both of which, of course, would solve the problem. but so long as i can't read a cd, i can't do either. so i'm stuck.

help would be deeply appreciated.
posted on May 1, 2004 - 4 answers

I've been playing around with the idea of using a genetic algorithm for automatic music composition, but I can't seem to find a decent introduction/reference on the subject -- the best I've seen is a few relatively high-level academic papers. Could anyone direct me to a good source, or even give a brief overview? Thanks!
posted on Apr 29, 2004 - 10 answers

In need of a recommendation for an Windows outlining tool that has the same functionality as the Omni Outliner that ships with Mac OSX? Need to document a software testing plan and can't find a program for the Windows that works as well as Omni does for the Mac. All suggestions are appreciated.
posted on Apr 20, 2004 - 8 answers

Is there a free alternative to eFax for sending faxes via the web or via email? eFax has increased their setup fee to about $26, and all I need to do is send two faxes over this coming weekend. That's all. I've looked at send2fax and MaxEmail, but neither are instilling confidence. Anyone?
posted on Apr 16, 2004 - 6 answers

Bah! I'm working on a Word doc and this program is driving me just batty. It's too clever by half all over the place -- wanting to add hyperlinks, format this way and that-- all kinds of stupidity that are keeping me from controlling the layout the way I want. Any suggestions for a nice, simple word processing program that will just give me the basics of font and tab control and without all of these M$ bloaty gewgaws that get in my way? Stop me before I fire up Illustrator!
posted on Apr 2, 2004 - 24 answers

Can anyone recommend some Windows software to synchronize a local directory with a remote FTP directory? I want to do nightly remote -> local backups that just download the changed files from my web server, but I can't seem to find software that will do this simple thing.
posted on Apr 1, 2004 - 9 answers

Browser questions: (1) are there any browsers that have word-wrap options? I find that when I read certain pages, specifically Usenet via Google Groups, each line runs way past the edge of the screen, and I have to scroll to the right to read. (2) Are there any browsers that have word-wrap options for print? I'm tired of having to remember to set orientation to landscape so the right edge of text doesn't get cut off.
posted on Mar 24, 2004 - 6 answers

Google hates me. For some reason, it's refusing to provide me with a comprehensive list of Quake 1 command line variables. Can you?
posted on Mar 18, 2004 - 6 answers

As embarrassing as it is to confess, I am not very sophisticated with computers and technology. Recently my computer has become the eager droid of "purityscan," which (to my never ending frustration and dismay) opens a few hundred pop-ups per hour. I Googled for the best spy/pop up removal software, but I am unable to tell the good guys from the bad guys. I downloaded and ran "adaware" but now that they have identified "368 spyware components" on my computer they want $30.00 to remove them. I have no problem paying to end this problem, but I do not want to pay for dreck or pay evil extortionists who create the problem and then sell the solution. So: Which software is best, from an honest company, to fix this loathsome problem?
posted on Mar 5, 2004 - 19 answers

My 48x CD-R drive is *really loud*. Is there any way to slow it down for basic tasks like audio CD playback? Googling finds me some brand-specific "control panel" apps, but this is a no-name model. Is there a generic utility out there?
posted on Feb 22, 2004 - 3 answers

The HD on my Dell died recently. I bought a new one, and did a clean install of Win2K Pro. Now I have an operating comuter with no drivers for the hardware... How do I handle this?
posted on Feb 8, 2004 - 4 answers

So, I want to type in Spanish [More]
posted on Feb 4, 2004 - 5 answers

This may be a forehead-slapper, but occasionally my taskbar (Win2k) will go dim (dark grey, all icons shaded), as though I've selected it. It'll sometime revert to light grey when I'm not looking. What the heck causes this, and how do I make it go away?
posted on Jan 30, 2004 - 1 answers

Know of any software that will let multiple users edit a wiki-like document without requiring a central server or network access? [...]
posted on Jan 29, 2004 - 12 answers

I'm investigating document management solutions for a client running Office 2003. After spending quite a bit of time digging through their marketing junk, I still can't tell the difference between Microsoft Sharepoint Services and Microsoft Sharepoint Portal Server. Can anyone explain these things in non-Microsoftese?
posted on Jan 28, 2004 - 9 answers

Academics and scholars: anyone familiar with the text processing product on Windows called Nota Bene? A friend is switching to Macintosh and it's an application area I don't have a lot of experience with. In particular, he likes the fact that Nota Bene stores citation information separate from the formatting, so switching from MLA to APA (?) is easy to do... Any suggestions welcomed.
posted on Jan 27, 2004 - 14 answers

I'm an amateur musician and since Multiple Sclerosis ate my hands, I can't play my guitar. So want to try to make music with my computer. I've got a fast Win XP machine, a SOundblaster card with midi and a midi keyboard, CoolEdit, Cakewalk and lots of ideas.

What I want to do is find a program that'll let me play my midi keyboard and record the music, allowing me to edit/ Quantize blah blah (Cakewalk allows me this). But I want those midi notes to trigger samples that I've got as . wavs, transposing them to correct note (so it plays the real sounds, not tinny midi stuff), and obviously allow me to multi-track to layer the stuff into the songs in my head.

Anyone recommend a program that's easy to get to grips with/ a way of saving the samples so I can do this/ a book or online resource to get me started?
posted on Jan 18, 2004 - 9 answers

Any easy way to uncompress about 400 zip archives in a Windows XP directory? I thought I was smart but this problem has made me feel dumb.
posted on Jan 14, 2004 - 10 answers

What windows (2K) software do you prefer to rip CDs to mp3? (Aside from iTunes, which I had to uninstall after it totally hosed my machine.)
posted on Jan 12, 2004 - 10 answers

I'm looking for a very simple to-do list that will sit on my desktop. I've searched Google, but a lot of the results that come up are integrated with calendars and other functions I don't have use for. The ones I did download seem suspicious and attempt to contact their home networks; I don't want anybody spying on me. Does anyone use something like this, where I can simply type a linear list of things I have to get done, and have it floating on my dekstop?
posted on Jan 5, 2004 - 14 answers

I built a computer for a friend and he tells me that it hangs and freezes out of nowhere (XP Professional SP1). Anybody have any software recommendations to verify hardware integrity?
posted on Jan 5, 2004 - 13 answers

I used to use winVNC to access my home PC from any web enabled computer. [more...]
posted on Jan 3, 2004 - 14 answers

What's the best free antivirus for Windows?
posted on Dec 17, 2003 - 13 answers