User Profile for mlarnes

User Name mlarnes

Member Since 2005-08-03

Total number of Feedback Posts: 8

Total number of comments: 3

Last 10 Feedback Posts by mlarnes [ Search for All ]

EndNote X2.0.1 (Mac OS X)

Absolutely Awful - Sente seems much more stable; it doesn't have Cite While you Write (CWYW), but then again EndNote's CWYW crashes virtually every time anyway. Having previously used EndNote fairly reliably on a PC, I bought it for Mac before the 'X versions'. That version rarely worked, but given the hype about the newest refined X2 version and CWYW fixes, I paid again for the latest update (another �75 or so!). It is every bit as buggy, and has virtually no innovation over previous versions. In contrast, I am now looking at Sente, which lacks the much hyped integration with Pages, but will produce bibliographies for Pages outwith the application itself after inserting easily formatted citations. Sente also features a much more intuitive interface, web search facilities that actually work, and a great system for linking downloaded PDF files to the citation database. It can be a little slow opening my 50k database, but not intolerably. Unlike EndNote, it also has a trial. I have to reinforce what others have said about a complete lack of Quality control from the EndNote developers for Mac, which is amazing given the extortionate prices and update charges. I am disappointed that Apple have tied themselves in with this company, and can only hope that they also open up 'Pages' integration for software developers that have a track record of interest in the Mac - Sente and Bookends for example, which I understand are both better than EndNote, but could be better still with Pages integration. Only thing I will say for EndNote, is that their UK distributor at least was supportive and did give me a refund. [alert admin]

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Saturday, February 21 2009 @ 03:04 PM PST

1Password 2.9.4 (Mac OS X)

Can't support these guys enough

Excellent product - makes my passwords far more secure, remembers them all for me (hundreds already), and allows me to syncronise very easily between my computers. Add this to a developer - user interaction the likes of which I have never seen before and I have to say this is the best product I have seen for ages. Still expanding regularly on the feature set too - although I can't think of much more they could do, I am awaiting some secret developments that are apparently going on??! The iPhone platform needs some work, but this is made near impossible by the restrictions apples has put on the iphone browser, so on the phone, 1Password is not so great, but nothing else is either! [alert admin]

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Saturday, November 29 2008 @ 04:02 AM PST

UK.keylayout 050306 (Mac OS X)

Tiger keeps changing back

Excellent piece of software, enabled me to use my old PC keyboard on the Mac, something Apple have never offered any solution for despite the simplicity and utility. One problem, (possibly since a recent auto-update) the keyboard layout doesn't stay configured! After setting it, a couple of minutes later Tiger decides to go back to the US keyboard layout. Thanks a lot Apple! Don't think you will force me to pay out good money for one of your stinking keyboards yet! [alert admin]

Growl 0.7.4 (Mac OS X)

Am I missing something?

I could really do with a way to dismiss all these RSS alerts and email alerts without launching the applications. If I'm writing a document, I appreciate the odd alert to tell me I have new mail, but I may want to continue without going straight to mail, or a browser full of "spam" news. I kind of expected there must be a way to dismiss the alerts without this, but have tried everything I can think of - am I missing something here? Note - obviously the alerts fade if you are there, but if you set them to sticky so that you get to see them if you are away from the mac at the time, then when you get back you have this problem. If there is no way, perhaps the developer can take this as a suggestion? Perhaps option clicking an alert to dismiss without application launch? It is a good application, but would be much more natural for me with this feature. [alert admin]

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Tuesday, February 07 2006 @ 07:32 AM PST

LaCie SilverKeeper 1.1.4 (Mac OS 9, Mac OS X)

Error -50 on backup to network drive

Silverkeeper is free, and seems to have all the basic features I really need. It has worked for me, but I have also had intermittent problems. I am running a daily (3 session) backup to a network drive running on a PC. Ok - so this isn't a "simple" setup, but I've had some problems. The main problem is hard to fathom. I arrive in the morning to find a report dialog telling me that only a small fracton of the backup has been processed, and an error -50 has occured. The backup progress window remains present but inactive showing about 1/20th complete, and is pretty unresponsive - although for the first time today I got it to close without reboot by clicking the stop button. Any ideas? Suggesting I throw away the PC and buy a pristine new Mac based system for a network drive is not helpful unless supported by funds... Another problem - it doesn't backup files with PC incompatible filenames. Reasons are obvious, and so I can't really complain.... Final problem, being freeware, there doesn't seem to be any active support - no forums, no web FAQ, they give an email address, but warn that they may well ignore any emails received. Fair enough really being freeware and all, but what can you do when you do get problems? Web search for the first error gave no results either. [alert admin]

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Saturday, January 14 2006 @ 02:30 AM PST

PassGenX 1.0 (Mac OS 9, Mac OS X)

Doesn't do anything fancy at all - contrary to other review

All this program does is generate an 8 chaarcter alphanumeric password and let you copy it to the clipboard. It has no configuration options at all and a very blotchy interface in Tiger. Doesn't generate passwords from a master and key - see my reply to this previous review. Try RPG - much better (albeit very simple) interface, more features. Am using Tiger btw. [alert admin]

Missing Sync for Windows Mobile 2.0.2 (Mac OS X)

Premium Price, Terrible Product

I am a demanding user, I accept (hundreds of contacts, thousands of appts). However, this missing sync is marketed as a golden shilling, yet fails to be worthy of any place in my pocket. I did get a refund, which is something. Specifics - Crashes, failures to sync, duplications (try deleting over a thousand duplicate entries by hand), and errors in syncs are just the start of it all. Don't buy it, and if you do, make a hell of a stink to get your money back at the end of the day. [alert admin]

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Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 12:20 PM PST

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Good Enough

Simple, but does what it says it will. Logs separately for different accounts. Could be a bit cleverer with the presentation of data, and doesn't feel overly "nice", but its cheap and does the essentials - logging my Treo network use so I don't pay a fortune every month. [alert admin]

Last 10 Comments by mlarnes [ Search for All ]

Error -50 on backup to network drive

Thanks Mike, and thanks for your prompt and precise assitance! One solution that has solved pretty much all the problems is to back up to an image file. So - I created a 40GB image file which is sat on my PC based network drive. After mounting the image, I set this as the destination. Advantages - This is now a Mac drive despite it's PC based location. All permission information is retained in the backup! (Permission…

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Wednesday, January 18 2006 @ 03:42 PM PST

Error -50 on backup to network drive

WOW! Support replied within a matter of hours. No definite answer, but they tell me that -50 is a timeout error waiting on the network drive. I find it a bit hard to believe when I can edit iMovie digital video using the same drive, but I shall see if it is trying to access the network at the same time as autoupdate or similar tasks, maybe try it in the middle of the day while…

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Saturday, January 14 2006 @ 09:54 AM PST

Useful tool to manage many accounts

I was positively excited at the posibility you described of entering one master password and a site specific key (say "amazon") and getting a secure and unique password for every site I visit, but only having to remember one master password and the site name to reconstruct it! Unfortunately, this app doesn;t seem to do that at all. Graphically it is very blotchy for some reason (not just the obscured password field), so I don;t know if…

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Monday, January 02 2006 @ 04:00 AM PST