Herumor
Devoted Fan
I'm wracked by guilt...
Posts: 209
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Post by Herumor on Feb 3, 2009 4:42:59 GMT -5
By whatever automatic update I have 3.05 (or so it says) and it freezes at least once day, usually more. Still faster than Internet Explorer, though. Together with the 2002 version of Word (anyone else still using that and feeling blackmailed to buy an update? ) and an inexplicably wonky internet connection my laptop needs more patience than I have. Oh, then I'll suggest trying Open Office 3.0. I've been struggling with Word for over a year now, darn thing refused to install any language, spell checker or thesaurus pack in anything other than Spanish, so I gave up and installed Open Office; granted, maybe it's not for the casual user, there's a gazillion things more to use, and many things that it does have in common with word have different names (copyright issues, i suppose), but once you get the hang of it it's amazing. If nothing else, so far I've bot had any trouble opening, working on and saving any of my old Office files, on either format. Also, there's this very nifty add on for Write called Writer Tools... ;D. As an added plus on your case, it only takes about 200 mbs fully installed... and I DID go a little crazy with the thesaurus, template and font packs, several language packs, etc. Running in the background, working on Writer it only takes about 30MB's of system memory. Same doc on Word takes about 50. Also the toolbars are SO customizable it's ridiculous. Maybe this is how Mac users feel all the time... ;D
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Post by mari on Feb 3, 2009 17:48:43 GMT -5
Oh, then I'll suggest trying Open Office 3.0. I only understand half of what you’re saying but it does sound like a real alternative. (Unlike with the people last week telling me that Excel is the only way to go for just about everything (Right, if your whole world consists of nothing but boring calculations : ) Especially with the compatibility and how could I resist a good thesaurus or something called writer tools. ;D How is the spell check? (Asking because I find at least Word’s German version not all that reliable, it has the most ridiculous correction suggestions, nonsensical, non-existing words – makes me wonder who fed it with this nonsense. : Thanks for the tip.
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Herumor
Devoted Fan
I'm wracked by guilt...
Posts: 209
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Post by Herumor on Feb 3, 2009 20:41:48 GMT -5
Oh, then I'll suggest trying Open Office 3.0. I only understand half of what you’re saying but it does sound like a real alternative. (Unlike with the people last week telling me that Excel is the only way to go for just about everything (Right, if your whole world consists of nothing but boring calculations : ) Especially with the compatibility and how could I resist a good thesaurus or something called writer tools. ;D How is the spell check? (Asking because I find at least Word’s German version not all that reliable, it has the most ridiculous correction suggestions, nonsensical, non-existing words – makes me wonder who fed it with this nonsense. : Thanks for the tip. I've been told I tend to ramble on a bit ;D I haven't tried the German translation tools, thesaurus or language pack (meaning ALL Open Office is translated), because I don't speak German But I have Open Office in the original English install, with spellcheckers, thesaurus and translators for English, Spanish and Italian, languages I do speak, and they work perfectly, by themselves and with each other. Writer's Tools is basically a very specialized Toolbar, and includes things like Look up, just highlight a word an it opens an application that will search the word's meaning in several online sites. It's working only in English so far, and goes to Wikipedia, Cambridge Online Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary, and Google Define, to name a few. This is particularly useful to people like you and me, that are still wrestling with English as a second language. Other features are automated email back up (every time you save it sends a copy to an online account) Multiple format back up and a conversion tool, to change the format from .txt to .doc .pdf, to name a few. As I said, just a toy, but it's SHINY ;D!!! And I've seen several translators and thesaurus for German around. As to Excel being the ultimate solution, well, yeah, you could use a wrench to hammer nails, or a kitchen knife for a screwdriver, but the point of tools is to use the best suited for each case. And I find writing on excel for reports, or inserting pics and graphs to use a single program to be more trouble that it's worth. Pretty inefficient, too, you need to know your way around it very well to avoid any snafu's. I find it more expedient to know how to use all of Micro$oft Office tools to perform the task it was designed for. But that's just me. ;D Also, the installer it's only 30 MB, and it's completely free... Try it, you can always uninstall it later
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Post by mari on Feb 4, 2009 17:47:45 GMT -5
But I have Open Office in the original English install, with spellcheckers, thesaurus and translators for English, Spanish and Italian, languages I do speak, and they work perfectly, by themselves and with each other. Writer's Tools is basically a very specialized Toolbar, and includes things like Look up, just highlight a word an it opens an application that will search the word's meaning in several online sites. It's working only in English so far, and goes to Wikipedia, Cambridge Online Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary, and Google Define, to name a few. Multiple thesauri? Okay, that’s it. I need to have this. ;D Could only be topped by an in-built etymology-tool. Geek heaven. (There’s something seriously wrong with me getting excited over using my free time for this, but it’s like getting a new, geeky toy ;D) So I downloaded the German version and even managed to add Writer’s tools. Looks easy and surprisingly similar to Word… but the lookup tool is telling me that I need to ‘Enter the path to the default browser’ or ‘Connection to database failed. Make sure that database is connected to OpenOffice.ord’… Do I have to add all the addresses myself? Or just because I didn't register right away? As to Excel being the ultimate solution, well, yeah, you could use a wrench to hammer nails, or a kitchen knife for a screwdriver, but the point of tools is to use the best suited for each case. My point completely. (Imagine fic-writing in Excel. Logan says: “F (x)…” : Not that I said anything but still had to listen to a 5-minute sermon, ‘Once you tried Excel you’ll never again want to use anything else’. Then again those are the same people telling me not to bother with even 5-word instructions because 'People don’t read’… (Which is why I like your wrench and hammer comparison, might get through;D) Thanks for the tips. Any other add-ons you can recommend?
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Herumor
Devoted Fan
I'm wracked by guilt...
Posts: 209
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Post by Herumor on Mar 1, 2009 12:50:39 GMT -5
Thanks for the tips. Any other add-ons you can recommend? Sorry for the delay I've been tinkering with a few but this is just perfect for us... addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4925Basically, when you are getting to the bottom of the current page, it'll automatically load the next one, creating a single, continuous page...and works perfect on FFN!!! ;D ;D ;D Makes reading and saving copies of stories a lot easier! addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4490This checks all your Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo accounts (being open source means that you could add virtually any POP3 email account with a bit of effort), checking every 10 minutes or so, and letting you know when you get a new email, on wich account and how many, with a single icon on the task bar. Just input your email addresses and the passwords and you're good to go. addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7684This logs in to LastFM.com and manages your preferences, and lets you listen to your music library from the browser, without needing to go to the actual page. addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/219This little gem is a very complete music player, that manages virtually any music format, and has some nifty functions like searching for lyrics and related media. addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5244A tab manager, very useful when doing heavy browsing. lets you navigate using Ctrl+Tab, and also opens a small image of all tabs, so you can actually see what's what. .
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Post by mari on Mar 4, 2009 4:56:09 GMT -5
New toys! Thank you! (And your campaign for Open Office worked so well that I turned down to install my uncle’s ('asia-imported') full business version of Office last week) I've been tinkering with a few but this is just perfect for us... addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4925Basically, when you are getting to the bottom of the current page, it'll automatically load the next one, creating a single, continuous page...and works perfect on FFN!!! ;D ;D ;D Makes reading and saving copies of stories a lot easier! Oh, endless internet. Even more addicting. ;D (Although I’m very habitually pedantic about how my internet has to look like) Not so much a real question but wishful thinking but is there any way to block out the noise from those stupid audio-supported ads? I think they’re the equivalent of something jumping out of the screen into my face (and I’ve actually reacted pretty much the same way ) and recently there’s been this very annoying one on FFnet for a role playing game, stupid jungle sounds.
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Herumor
Devoted Fan
I'm wracked by guilt...
Posts: 209
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Post by Herumor on Mar 4, 2009 17:35:39 GMT -5
New toys! Thank you! (And your campaign for Open Office worked so well that I turned down to install my uncle’s ('asia-imported') full business version of Office last week) Hey, everything for a righteous cause! ;D Not so much a real question but wishful thinking but is there any way to block out the noise from those stupid audio-supported ads? I think they’re the equivalent of something jumping out of the screen into my face (and I’ve actually reacted pretty much the same way ) and recently there’s been this very annoying one on FFnet for a role playing game, stupid jungle sounds. Yeah, I think there's a way, I was really pissed when visiting Demonoid, there's this add for some smileys, a demon and an angel, so I started tinkering and finally got rid of it, but can't quite remember how... I'll see if I can find out, and let you know.
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Post by Aerie on Mar 22, 2009 11:01:27 GMT -5
The last two upgrades got rid of almost all the problems I was having. I'm happy again.
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Post by mari on Mar 24, 2009 11:07:46 GMT -5
Anybody else having issues with Firefox just installing add-ons and messing around with settings without any warning? (Or maybe that’s just because my laptop felt bored being alone so long… ;D)
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Post by Aerie on Mar 24, 2009 13:03:57 GMT -5
Firefox has been great for me but now I better go check my add-ons. I only have four - Thanks to Herumor who helped me a lot by informing me of these little guys. Download Helper 4.2 RealPlayer Browser Record Plugin 1.0 IE Tabs 1.5.20090207 Foxy Tunes 3.0.4 You went on vacation without your computer. Good for you.
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Post by mari on Mar 24, 2009 17:37:44 GMT -5
I don’t have many (any?) add-ons either, just convenient clickable bookmarks in the top bars (uni library, city library, dictionary, Merriam Websters…), so was annoyed when the Yahoo toolbar and some wizard thing (?) just installed itself (or so it seemed) and erased my bookmark symbols. And refused to be deactivated the way it said it would. I’m sure it’s just some kind of user failure, but Firefox seeming to develop a mind of its own is kind of beside the point of using it. Did anybody here ever use the google calendar application in Gmail? (One of the lab options?) And made it work? (My problem with it ) You went on vacation without your computer. Good for you. Uhm. I lived of very generous laptop sharing. (Thanks, laptop sharing person ;D)
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Post by dzero on Jul 22, 2009 22:06:16 GMT -5
Soon after this thread was started I gave firefox a try ( basically just so I could be one of the gang ;D ) and I loved it, you all were right a million times better than IE. I've been using 3.2 and been happy but Have been getting prompted to update to a new version and finally it just started to do it on it's own . I canceled this a couple times but finally just gave in and updated to 3.5. I lasted probably 45 seconds before uninstalling it . Am currently using Google's Chrome. Not sure how I feel about it yet. It is a very simple design which I like and the clutter is what I didn't like about firefox 3.5, I know I probably could have found a way to fix that but 10 seconds looking for how to get rid of that extra bar at the top was the limit for me until I had to take drastic action, and lets face it uninstalling the whole program is just more cathartic. ;D Anyways the only problem is that Chrome seems to be just a tiny bit slower, has anybody else tried it? Is it really slower or is it just in my head?
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Post by Aerie on Jul 23, 2009 13:08:30 GMT -5
Soon after this thread was started I gave firefox a try ( basically just so I could be one of the gang ;D ) and I loved it, you all were right a million times better than IE. I've been using 3.2 and been happy but Have been getting prompted to update to a new version and finally it just started to do it on it's own . I canceled this a couple times but finally just gave in and updated to 3.5. I lasted probably 45 seconds before uninstalling it . Am currently using Google's Chrome. Not sure how I feel about it yet. I've been using FireFox since the first beta a buncha years ago. I only use IE for MS updates. I love new computer stuff so I'm open to changing to Chrome after we get some good reviews from peeps like dzero. I've heard Chrome is a little slow and you have better luck with at least 2048 MB of RAM=2 GIGs. Do you mean the firefox toolbar? That is the coolest thing. I do have a huge monitor so I have room for stuff at the top. I rationalize buying computer stuff because it's my livelihood. Please explain clutter.
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Post by Mr.Clark on Jul 23, 2009 14:22:23 GMT -5
For the most part Firefox is pretty good about updates, every once and a while they release one thats buggy but I haven't had that happen in a while. I love that firefox is so customizable and all the add ons are fantastic.
As far as getting rid of toolbars all you have to do is go to View>Toolbars then uncheck which ever one you don't want to see. Either that or check to see if its in Tools> Addons and delete it.
Personally I like having a few different browsers installed just to so if somethings screwed up in one I can try it on another. I've currently got IE, FF and Opera. I use IE occasionally for sites that just aren't set up for FF which happens more than one might think given how popular FF has become. I really dont like Opera and only use it as a last resort as unlike FF that tells you when your missing a plugin Opera just crashes when you get to something it can't load. I might take a look at Chrome as a possible replacement for Opera as my 3rd string browser but for now I'm a loyal FF guy.
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Post by dzero on Jul 23, 2009 16:45:15 GMT -5
I've been using FireFox since the first beta a buncha years ago. I only use IE for MS updates. I love new computer stuff so I'm open to changing to Chrome after we get some good reviews from peeps like dzero. There are no good reviews forthcoming from me . I have already switched back to firefox. There was a pretty sweet homepage with chrome that showed thumbnail sized images/icons of your most frequently visited websites. It just looked pretty cool . but everything else about it was sub firefox in fact probably sub IE. There are five bars at the top. First is a blue bar stating the website your on and then mozilla firefox. Second the bar with "file, edit, view, history, bookmarks, tools, help." Third is the Navigation bar this is followed by the bookmarks bar which I can and did get rid of by rightclicking the top and unchecking it, this also gives you the option for the navigation bar which I need. But the fifth bar which is new for me is basically just a repeat of the first bar, it is grey and just gives you an icon saying which website you have up and you can hit a + to open a new window. I don't need this I don't want this and I can't seem to get rid of it.
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