01/02/2017
Topic:
Search window
jimlad68
|
I'm also new to SyMenu which I am liking very much but this search losing focus is my only major gripe. Very annoying, you have to keep going back to click the search and enter the criteria again. Is there a workaround for this, is one planned. The Liberkey (seems to be out of date now) and portableapps search are far easier to use, i.e. they stay put!
It would be nice if the search bar just 'stayed open' at the side of the Contextual Menu, or just as good would be to open a separate search window say like that in Arsclip http://www.joejoesoft.com/vcms/97/ |
02/02/2017
Topic:
RIOT Radical Image Optimization Tool 0.5.2
jimlad68
|
I tried to downlaod RIOT Radical Image Optimization Tool 0.5.2, but got the message 'The remote server returned an error (404) Not Found. Please retry'.
I notice on the website http://luci.criosweb.ro/riot/ there is a new version 0.6.
Apologies for my newbie ignorance, but I have no idea if SyMenu should pick this up automatically or if human intervention is required.
Just a thought. This is obviously a rewrite/big upgrade. Is there a way that SyMenu can have more than one version of a program available to download. I note there is already often 86 and 64 versions. I also note that RIOT (and many other programs) offer more than one release. |
02/02/2017
Topic:
PazeraAudioExtractor blocked by Windows Defender
jimlad68
|
I downloaded PazeraAudioExtractor 2.4, but got the message
from SyMenu - 'An error has occurred and your SPS program may not work.'
and from Windows Defender - 'Windows Defender has found an untrusted app, Your IT settings cause the blocking of any app that might perform unwanted actions on your computer'.
If I stop Windows Defender, it installs OK. Yet if I then do a Windows Defender scan on the folder it show no problem.
I'm not too happy to install this way. Is there a less drastic way of changing my 'IT settings', or a better way of installing. |
30/12/2018
Topic:
Prog settings different if run from shortcut
jimlad68
|
I have noticed this with more than one Symenu program. This example is for HandBrake (Q-Dir is also a problem).
If I PIN it to the Windows Taskbar OR create a shortcut, the settings end up being saved at:
C:\Users\jim\AppData\Roaming\HandBrake\settings.json
If I call the program from SyMenu it saves the settings at:
E:\.....\SyMenu\ProgramFiles\SPSSuite\SyMenuSuite\HandBrake_(x64)_sps\User\AppData\Roaming\HandBrake\settings.json
Is there a way to always save the settings in the same place, ideally within the SyMenuSuite.
edited by jimlad68 on 30/12/2018 |
30/12/2018
Topic:
Prog settings different if run from shortcut
jimlad68
|
Many thanks for that explanation.
In this case, the only variable that seams to be written to the Windows drive is
C:\Users\jim\AppData\Roaming\HandBrake.
However:
I put this in a batch file:
E:\zPortAps\SyMenu\SyMenu.exe -runb7fc73be-f485-4505-807e-914c3102d731
(having eventually found the GUID from E:\zPortAps\SyMenu\Config\SyMenuItem.zip\)
Which ran OK, but the settings and presets still ended up on C:\Users\jim\AppData\Roaming\HandBrake\
I suppose the simple answer is to always use one or the other. But that partially defeats the purpose of portability! (I also use portable programs to have a smaller OS drive image)
The other advantage of calling from outside of SyMenu is the option to use the "SendTo" in File Explorer.
For the future:
1. Would it be possible to create shortcuts to SyMenu items that go "via" SyMenu, hence picking up the environment variables changed by SyMenu?
2. I use taskbar shortcuts (or PINs) for regular programs because, as wonderful as SyMenu is, I find the program selection via SyMenu panels a bit clunky (especially the bit where if your cursor moves from the panel the search menu is gone!). Also when trying to run "minimally" there is no need to have SyMenu running all the time. It would be nice to have a "search items" more like liberkey where the "search items" does not disappear and search results stay for later selection.
Thanks again |
31/12/2018
Topic:
Prog settings different if run from shortcut
jimlad68
|
As expected; I did notice that if Handbrake advanced parameters was unticked it saved to the Windows C: drive.
I am not sure if there would be any other downsides to leaving it unticked??;
otherwise this would allow continuity between the SyMenu call and a shortcut or explorer Send To
I created a shortcut link for Handbrake which worked nicely, but I could not find the "temporary desktop shortcut" (I looked for *.lnk on C: drive + SyMenu drive)
I did notice this file: ….\SyMenu\ProgramFiles\SPSSuite\SyMenuSuite\HandBrake_(x64)_sps\portable.ini.template
Containing:
#################################
# HandBrake Portable
#################################
# Notes:
# - Rename this file to portable.ini to activate feature.
# - storage.dir => Stores Presets, Settings and Log Files.
# - tmp.dir => temporary files only. (i.e Preview images)
# - update.check => true | false (enabled / disabled, default disabled for portable)
#
# Set to 'cwd' to use the current applications directory. It will automatically create "storage" and "tmp" folders in this instance.
# Leave blank to use the system "TMP" directory and the "AppData" user profile folder.
#################################
storage.dir = cwd
tmp.dir = cwd
update.check = false
Would that make it easier to be portable?
Anyway, thanks again, I am now reaching the end of my "geriatric" investigative powers and have a "reliable" working solution. |
31/12/2018
Topic:
Prog settings different if run from shortcut
jimlad68
|
Firstly, I worked out the shortcut problem, I had created shortcut keys from Programs Shortcut, instead of Desktop shortcut!!! That now works a treat.
Reinstalled HandBrake as you suggested, copied/overwrote my saved presets.json and settings.json to the SyMenu folder:
And all is well with the world at the end of 2018 (if only).
However, for the file explorer "send to" to pickup the selected file in explorer, I had to use a standard shortcut e.g. :
Target "E:\zPortAps\SyMenu\ProgramFiles\SPSSuite\SyMenuSuite\HandBrake_(x64)_sps\HandBrake.exe
But it did use the same presets and settings, so not a problem.
Is there a way to pass the explorer selected file name as input to the "send to" SyMenu shortcut? Perhaps it would not have made any difference which shortcut was used without the new "portable" option.
Thanks, yet again. |
02/01/2019
Topic:
Prog settings different if run from shortcut
jimlad68
|
I understand your ideology regarding portability, and to me every program should be built to be portable, unfortunately they are not. But I do appreciate that some programs need to interact with the "system" and other programs.
That said, as mentioned before, I like portable programs because they do no clutter up my OS disk and make image backups much smaller, and do not add unnecessary items to the already massive registry. Hence my reason to use a portable version of HB, and many other programs, but as you intimate, a portable version may not be the best option for regular use and integration. (In those instances I may have both portable and non-portable versions).
So, especially if one uses mostly 1 PC, features like the Explorer "Send To", shortcuts/Pins on the taskbar are very useful and time saving. So why not take advantage of them.
I use the explorer "send to" feature rather than adding to the explorer R click as it is less cluttered for the R click, and as you show, very easy to add to the "send to" folder. I have a shortcut to the "send to" folder in the "send to" folder!
Throughout my IT career (mostly operations and system testing), and not being a programer (a limited bodging scripter at best) I have often resorted to use products/features made for one function in another domain, far from ideal, but often solves a problem. So I am very appreciative of the "collection" features of SyMenu.
Hope that helps. |
08/01/2019
Topic:
ULTRASEARCH Multiple Instances
jimlad68
|
I requested from the developers "Jam" if it was possible to have multiple instances of Ultrasearch running (as the similar Everything program does), their reply was:
" You can do this by editing the 'Settings.xml' in your '%appdata%\Jam Software\UltraSearch' folder and setting <MultipleInstances>False</MultipleInstances> to 'True'."
So I asked them:
"""""
1. Is there a reason for single instance to be default?
2. Would it not be better to have this as an option within UltraSearch, rather than having to change the 'Settings.xml'.
3. I could not find any reference to this in the help file, or your website.
"""""
To which they replied:
""""
So far no other user asked for a similar feature, so this is currently a hidden option which is not documented.
We want to keep the interface as clean as possible and only add the features which are relly necessary.
The single instance is activated by default because this is the most common use case.
E.g. right clicking on a drive or folder should not open a new instances each time you do this but should just 'replace' the previous search.
If further users ask for this feature we will most likely add an option to the Interface.
""""
Interesting to "hide" a useful feature. I'm sure more people would use it if it were not hidden!
I have no idea why the default is only 1 instance (perhaps there is a downside to multiple instances, or just that it can be confusing for new users with many instances popping up?), so I do not know if you would wish to make it the SyMenu default or if there was any easy way to make users aware of the option. I could not see a mention of it in the Ultrasearch Help files.
This works fine in the SyMenu portable version, but, because a SyMenu call of Ultrasearch does not pick up the selected file for Explorer "send to" a standard target shortcut
(e.g. Target E:\zPortAps\SyMenu\ProgramFiles\SPSSuite\SyMenuSuite\UltraSearch_(x64)_sps\UltraSearch.exe)
needs to be used there, which works well for 1 instance, but does not MIX a SyMenu shortcut call for say a 2nd instance, it starts but fails.
So, this is one of those instances where I may also have a non-portable version on my PC.
So (as similarly discussed in the HandBrake topic) this workaround works:
Always call from either a shortcut (say on desktop) or via Explorer "send to" with
Target E:\zPortAps\SyMenu\ProgramFiles\SPSSuite\SyMenuSuite\UltraSearch_(x64)_sps\UltraSearch.exe
I'm sure I said that very well, but basically use either ALL Symenu shortcut calls for all your instances, OR use ALL standard shortcut calls
(e.g. Target E:\zPortAps\SyMenu\ProgramFiles\SPSSuite\SyMenuSuite\UltraSearch_(x64)_sps\UltraSearch.exe).
or experiment on your own system to see what works!
Hope that helps |
09/01/2019
Topic:
ULTRASEARCH Multiple Instances
jimlad68
|
Apologies, I forgot the NOT, it should have read (and I'm sure you will agree):
"I'm NOT sure I said that very well......."
Anyway, the "hidden" option is now out there for other SyMenu users.
Gianluca wrote:
Well I did it the same to test some new features or to implement things I though were not so useful for all the users. It's not so unusual doing so.
Beauty (usefulness) is in the eye of the beholder!
Cheers
edited by jimlad68 on 09/01/2019 |
2 days ago
Topic:
"Search Items" from Nirsoft suite
jimlad68
|
When I "Search Items" from the main menu (pop up from taskbar) it does not show items from the Nirsoft Suite.
Although the search works from the "configuration" menu, but that does not include Host programs.
Do I need to alter a setting somewhere, or is that the way it works?
It would be nice to have all areas search from both. |
1 days ago
Topic:
"Search Items" from Nirsoft suite
jimlad68
|
Many thanks for the prompt reply, has given me the impetus to check out the manual again. However whatever I do does not include items from the Nirsoft suite via
"Search Items" from the main menu (pop up from taskbar).
But no problem I have my workaround. |