RGdot

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  • Logos

    A collection of logos I made and uploaded on Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/rgdot_com/
    More to come.

  • TomiNote Is A Simple Notes Organizer

    TomiNote is a simple notes organizer or collector as its developer describes it. It is very lightweight, portable and multiplatform as well. It was mentioned by smaragdus in a comment here on RGdot.

    The program allows the user to create notes in sortable nodes and sub-nodes. Unicode UCS-2 is the supported character set which means emojis and more than 2 byte characters are not supported.

    Nodes can be moved up and down in the directory tree and can be moved right or left to become a nodes instead of sub-nodes and vice versa. Database (SQLite3) wide, selected branch/node or node specific search is a strength of the program with support for regex.

    Use the View menu to change the visibility of its toolbar, directory tree and other graphical elements. Toggling the theme to dark is also available. The two themes’ colors and fonts can be edited via Edit —> Options. In the same options it is possible to discard the history of changes as the program remembers changes to the nodes that remain available via the usual Undo.

    As it is compiled using Pascal the program supports a set of scripts with a few included at Edit —>Utils. Two simple yet useful examples being removing blank lines and extracting text from html.

    It is not in active development as of this article but it works as tested on a Windows 10 PC. As noted by smaragdus the download includes both the Windows exe and Linux file to run the program.

  • OneNote Comparisons

    OneNote is and feels different than virtually all note takers

    Broadly speaking note taking includes creating shopping lists, keeping journals, taking class notes, organizing text and anything else a user wishes and can imagine.

    The web features many software review articles. There are also many sites specifically for comparing software with each other and one of the bigger categories is those that review and compare note taking software.

    OneNote, being part of Microsoft’s Office suite of course, is widely used and is therefore mentioned often when note taking is reviewed. However OneNote has one unique characteristics that sets it apart from a very large number of others. This is that text can be placed anywhere as if on a board. This feature alone makes it vastly different than others and makes many comparison articles incomplete and arguably wrong. OneNote does not really belong in a comparison list when for example Evernote is mentioned or Apple Notes, Joplin, CherryTree or Simplenote. In some cases it may be possible to add text (or any media) in columns but even then the free form nature of OneNote is and feels different. Most articles concentrate on text styles, search features, image support, storage method, tagging or filtering, sync or encryption availability and others to compare but fail to mention the board feature as something that sets OneNote apart.

    KDE libraries based BasKet Note Pads is one of few – perhaps only – software that emulates a note board very well and can be a true comparable to OneNote.

  • Microsoft Edge Bloat

    For years Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was one of the biggest running tech jokes. Slow, insecure and all kinds of problematic stories were synonymous with the browser. Then Microsoft scored a hit with a switch a new browser that later came to use the Chromium based Blink engine.

    Many users found it faster and better and somewhat shockingly less resource heavy. That advantage is being eroded by various so called features and extensions.

    Among these features were shopping integrations that allowed users to find coupons and discounts and in some jurisdiction even offering buy now pay later features in the default download of a browser. Gaming features or a so called gaming panel is coming as well, with little regard to how many percentage of any browsers users would care about any, even simple, simple games being part of a browser. Other features like Collections are perhaps useful for those who collect info and would use syncing the said info across Microsoft’s ecosystem.

    The latest bloat is a Skype Meet Now extension. Skype has a poor track record in terms of reliability and perhaps just as importantly being resource heavy on its own. Launching it from and using it within a browser can and will add do this resource hog. Skype is also notorious for new versions breaking things.

    With a desktop market share of nearly 10% Edge has done better than many thought it would but it may plateau at these levels that it has achieved if it does not focus on speed and security.

  • Secure Folders With Password Folder

    Password Folder (version:2.0.4.0) is a simple and small freeware Windows program that encrypts and secures folders.

    Install Password Folder, optionally using the portable version. Click on the big folder icon and choose a folder to encrypt, alternatively drag a folder into the program window. As its name suggests individual files are not supported. Then choose and confirm a password in the ensuing popup, the big folder icon turns red while it is working and then the folder is replaced by its encrypted version with a pff extension. Double clicking the resulting pff file decrypts the folder and restores readable, normal versions of the folder(s).

    The program claims that the processing speed to secure folders is very fast. In a quick limited test on a Windows 10 machine with a relatively older i5 processor the program took approximately one second to encrypt around 20 small text files and images.

    Password Folder includes two so called advanced settings. The first that is enabled by default is to integrate in the right click context menu. The second is to use one password to encrypt more than folder. This does not allows the user to choose more than folder at the same time but to reuse the same password.

    The portable download is less than 2MB and decompressed it is less than 8MB. No word on which encryption method is used.

  • Kanbie: Kanban Board For Chrome

    Kanbie is an extension for Chrome based browsers that is somewhat minimal. A pop up accessed via the extension toolbar provides the three most typical columns in Kanban boards. However the To-do, Doing and Done headers can be renamed via a double click.

    The kanban method for staying organized works for some better than others, some might prefer a text or markdown based approach to note keeping, others with a calendar to stay organized with tasks.
    All methods require a bit of discipline to use regularly and take the most advantage of.

    Alt+K opens the Kanbie pop up, however this combination could be in use by other tools. The Space bar or + icon creates a task. The letter l creates a label which is also accessible via the label icon. A label can then be assigned to a task using the #hashtag method while typing the task. Each label can have a different color and the color can be chosen by repeatedly clicking through the fill icon as the extension cycles through different colors. While typing a task a time or date can be assigned to it by adding t: and/or d:

    As in all kanbans dragging a task between columns is the way to manage its progress. Kanbie also features several themes.

  • Chasys Draw IES Is A Quirky Image Editor, Viewer

    Chasys Draw IES (version 5.12.01) is an image editor (referred to as Artist) but also a convertor and viewer.

    The quirky nature of the software comes into view immediately after downloading and perhaps even before it when the download page can confuse the user by offering a self signed and zipped version that includes an “Installer for Standard Install and Portable”. The downloads ofcourse include setup.exe and the user choose to use the portable mode after clicking the setup.

    The program then proceeds to warn the user that portable mode may miss some unnamed features, those features are not necessarily clear but include inability to load RAW files and a custom temp folder among others. During the portable install several errors appeared, some to add the aforementioned warnings, but they were dismissible and the program loads.

    The user then has to choose which of the three modes to enter, that is the aforementioned editor or others. The editor will ask if a blank project is required. The other options are Poster or Flyer, Object Animation, Frame Animation, Edit Photo, Stack Photos, Icon, Animated Cursor, Batch Job, Screenshot or Screencast and more.

    The program can open images from a url and multiple images at once to speed up editing. It also supports importing or acquiring from a scanner.

    Perhaps most importantly it supports layers. Animation adds to the rarer features of the program besides icon generation (Under Processes menu)

    Chasys has a whle set of editing features including brushes, shapes and others familiar to any image editor user. In addition there are more advanced tools such as liquidify (see in the image above), smudge and background erase.

    The convertor only accepts a folder and not individual files, adding to the strangeness of Chasys. it proceeds to ask many questions about the file types, destination folder, EXIF retentions and more. For example if not careful and the Include Subfolders option is checked the program will try to load and convert many files.

    The viewer provides a shortcut to edit the currently viewed file, to convert, print, rotate, zoom, and even send it via bluetooth.

    The program also supports plugin with a set included with most adding support for various file formats such as PaintShop Pro (PSP), Photoshop (PSD), Affinity (Afphoto), QR codes, Text in circles and others.

    Chasys is certainly different and needs getting used to. Not just first time use but subsequent uses feel different. The online help does help clarify but the workflow is not the most typical.

  • Pictor Is An Image Editor With Unique Features

    Pictor (v 1.27.0) is an interesting image editor that while basic looking has some not often seen features.

    Of these more unique features are 36 predefined collage shapes that arrange 2 to 25 images in different configurations. Plus a whole set of shapes (geometric, stars, arrows etc.) that can be added to images. Perhaps more unusual is the crop and erase features where an image can be cropped using a shape instead of a rectangular crop. Free hand cropping is also a less common option. In the screenshot below Crop —> Crop by shape is chosen and drawn on the image. After drawing the shape clicking enter crops the image leaving only the parts of the image within the triangular shape. The Erase option does the opposite by erasing a (triangular) shape and leaving the rest of the image intact. The crop has a few more options as well with one being crop by text whereby a typed text remains with the the rest of the image cropped.

    The Add menu adds text and other images to the existing image. This feature includes a ‘Text Circle’ option where the text entered is drawn in a within a resizable circle, a less configurable feature of something seen in the likes of Photoshop. The Replace option is like overlaying the open image with another.

    Pictor also does batch (resize, rotate, add image, etc) processing plus the expected gamma, brightness, grayscale, negative, emboss and others under the Color menu. It also features various pens for drawing on images with various thicknesses.

    An important limitation seems to be that the program supports only one Undo level and further changes are therefore destructive.

    Pictor is portable and less than 3MB unzipped. It supports most standard set of image formats including the likes of EJPG, WebP and PGM.

  • Flow Launcher Is A Super Charged Launcher

    Flow Launcher is a featured packed launcher for Windows 7 and newer computers. It is fully portable and support an extensive list of commands that can be augmented with plugins.

    The first and most obvious feature is finding and launching files using Alt+Space keys to bring the search box to the foreground. Start typing and matching results appear. Enter to choose one of the highlighted results. Priority can be given to specific actions besides launching system files. For example to search the web with the phrase being typed. The program also supports variable paths using the % at the beginning of the search query. In addition system commands such as restart, shutdown, any batch or PowerShell commands can be executed through Flow Launcher. Each type of query has an – editable at Settings —> Plugins – action keyword to make the program more efficient. One example is the default b to search various browsers’ bookmarks.

    Typing a url – for example rgdot.com – can also open the default browser and navigate directly to the site. Other web commands include the likes of ping.

    Matching results are set at 5 by default, this can be changed as can be the browser used to launch web related queries, thus overriding the system default.

    Of the more useful plugins is clipboard history that can be installed along those available in the default download via Settings —> Plugin Store. The program restarts after the user presses enter to confirm a plugin installation.

    The programs supports an extensive list of themes and modifications of its interface that even include the likes of the search box width and a minimum number of typed characters it uses to show better results. Somewhat expectedly the download is almost 180MB and decompressed at over 300MB.

  • ForceDelete For Stubborn Files

    ForceDelete is a XP and newer compatible software which helps users when they encounter an undeletable file.

    Anecdotally this has become a rarer occurrence in the Windows 10 era but there are times when Windows displays a “The action can’t be completed because the file is open…”, “Cannot delete File: Access is denied” or similar error when attempting to delete a file. In those instances it is not clear which application is using the undeletable file. Perhaps a system file or application that has been uninstalled poorly.

    ForceDelete comes to the rescue. It is available in a portable format besides the usual executable so it can be used and archived or deleted. It should work for any kind of file including program exe files. Additionally it offers to securely delete a file, an option that may be welcome but seems like an unrelated extra.

    The program can be invoked in the command line with the forcedelete.exe [file1name] [file2name] etc. format and includes an option to add Unlock and Delete options to the right click context menu.

    The exe is a less than 1MB download and the portable is just 345KB unzipped. The program is freeware, from the same author as the AutoClose program open and close scheduler.