That would be fine with me. I noted a few of my apps in Vista Software forum but Brink seems to have only noticed that I wrote one of them. Another good thing for me would be if members try them out on W7 64 bit. I have W7 32 bit, but on my 64 bit machine I really need to stick with Vista64, at least for awhile.
Hi all.
Maybe it's a nice idea -- but my philosophy on this stuff is in general (For your own user data of course) that if you don't know what it is or what it does then it shouldn't be on your system.
Of course only for your OWN data files. I'd be reluctant to tamper with any Windows system files in any case.
Another "housekeeping" tip is to have meaningful names for your files and directories where possible.
Music files shouldn't present any problems as these can have any number of tags - and keeping these in some sort of "Queryable" database is a better idea in any case.
Cheers
jimbo
I usually rename my download to something descriptive. However, many times the name of the download on the server may be something like w7zxx233.zip which isn't. I find it useful in such cases to put that original name in the comment. Often times the original source site may go away, Web site lifespan being what it is, but often you can find the download, say on a public university ftp site years later.
Afa the database, that's what the TreePad mechanism is for. You can search both the node names and descriptions. If you periodically link the nodes together in one file, then you have a system wide database. It's a convenience utility. The downside is that it's not hooked into the file system, so I have to do all the functions with shell hooks. The upside is it's not hooked into the file system, so it can be used on any version of Windows capable of ToolTip shell extensions. Which I think is some flavor of Win98 2nd ed. on.
afa knowing everything on your system, I did a "custom" install on W7 and got the resulting Windows.old folder. I had to use RichCopy to copy it off to another machine to avoid it being included in my backup image. The copy was approximately 206,000 files, folders and links. I don't really think anyone can know what's on their systems anymore. Maybe back in Dos days when you could install off a diskette.
Probably the best approach would be somebody who does database to have a convenient shell extension so you can easily add file data in 1's and 2's. I know I get bored sitting there entering my DVDs into the things. There's no perfect solution, which is why I complained that there's no OS supported mechanism and wrote the thing originally. Again, because of the Drive Letter Deamon we're stuck with in Dos OS/2 Windows etc. any system wide database is likely to have problems unless you configure all your system changes to avoid it. You may not be able to keep everything the same if you move it to another machine.
The good part about this TipOff approach is you run a couple of shell extensions. You are not toting around a big database unless you insist on commenting 20,000 files in a single folder. So it's localized and light weight. The bad part is it's a 32 bit shell extension and those are on the way out. I'm working on a Rescue USB for my Vista64 and I'm stuck trying to find 64 bit "portable" applications to use on it. Since it won't have the SysWow64 to run 32 bit stuff. The transition phase is always a pain. :)
Since I use Free Download Manager, it allows for comment addition on the fly for DLs - and I use it whenever the file name is not descriptive enough.
However, file commenting should be a part of the OS, and if M$ turned it off to not confruse (sp *on purpose*) poor XP novices, then there should be a way to turn it back in for those of us in the know, right?
Hmmmm....
Most things engineering are a double-edged sword. Some of my programs I think it's great they can work from Win9x to Vista64. otoh some special purpose things like Everything file search I like they are NTFS only, since they use the file journaling info to update file system changes instead of endlessly scanning my drive. Won't work on FAT32 but works way better on NTFS. Nothing is free I guess. There's always a trade-off.
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