Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   caulbox
   Member

   I tend to download lots of files daily. I locate my downloads in relevant nested folders within my own neatly organized 20GB downloads partition, where they remain until a (pertinent) DVD is ready to be burnt. But due to the amount of files which I download, and their diverse saved locations, I often completely forget about some.

   One thing I've always liked about GetRight is that it keeps a record of my download history, and allows me to view and locate downloaded files very easily. I can view all my downloads in GetRight's history browser, or choose to view only what I might have downloaded Today, Yesterday, Past week, Past Month. There's even a right click option to "open containing folder" which takes me directly to the location of the downloaded file on hard disk, whilst another right-click option will open the source web page. I really do love the GetRight history browser. Simple, very user-friendly, and extremely useful IMO.

   However, with more and more sites not allowing GetRight these days, I'm now tending to download the majority of my stuff with IE8 (I don't use Firefox). As a consequence, all too often I find that I've been overlooking and ignoring some potentially very useful downloads.

   I know that the IE history cache keeps records of everything (URLs, downloaded files, cookies etc.) and I can view/search my history in the browser. But what I'm really seeking is a simple (preferably free) standalone tool or IE add-on which somewhat mimics the GetRight history browser, allowing me to browse and view IE8 downloads in a similar way - thus serving as a much-needed reminder.

   I'm usually quite good at finding freebies tailored to match my needs. I haven't exhausted my efforts yet, but I'm still searching on this occasion. I'd be very grateful for helpful suggestions....

   Posted 14 years ago #
2. 

   Whiterabbit-uk
   Games Guru

   That's something I could do with as well. My download history sounds similar to yours, however I am 'much much' more disorganized. I tend to have regular spring cleans where everything I've not already labelled and backed up is dumped together into a 'To Sort' folder. Now I have several internal hard drives and five large external hard drives, all with 'to sort' folders on them. Also, there's freeware folders scattered everywhere and several Games and utility folders. It's got to a stage where even a couple of 1.5 Terabyte storge disc can't cope with my downloads. I'd love to see software similar to what you are describing. I'd also like to find a decent Disc cataloging program that creates a good data base of where all my programs are stored. I've found several such program over the years, but with my appalling memory (due to the opiates I have to take) and my constant battle to try and keep things organized (but which end up beng more disorganized), I've misplaced these and can't remember their names. I have around 50 DVD's already numbered (and hundreds yet to label and sort) after making an effort to get everything into a database, but then had to format my computer (and was unable to save the database). Any ideas

   (please excuse the hijack - I think both subjects are related so though t would be a good idea to include my request with yours).

   W.R.

   Posted 14 years ago #
3. 

   Robert
   StrayCat

   Hi Caulbox

   Maybe take a peep at
   IEHistoryView v1.45

   ...and there's a similar freebee from Nirsoft for Firefox users
   MozillaHistoryView v1.20

   Both programs allow you to select one or more URL addresses and save them into text, HTML or XML file.

   Posted 14 years ago #
4. 

   Robert
   StrayCat

   Hi Stephen,

   I'd suggest using "Everything" that does a pretty neat job doing a fast file search (even you don't remember the exact name of what you're looking for).
   For software/games cataloging purposes take a look at SoftCat Free.The free version has it's limits but you can always use the "note" section to add things you want to remember.

   And to get things organized I'd like to point you to Karen's directory printer.

   Posted 14 years ago #
5. 

   caulbox
   Member

   Wabbit - You're certainly not hi-jacking. I agree there's an overlap. I personally use the (free) lite edition of InsideCAT for cataloguing DVDs. The (somewhat dated) interface can take a bit of getting used to, but it gets the job done. InsideCAT will catalogue the nested or compressed files in 14 formats of compressed files: ZIP RAR CAB ACE JAR SQX ARJ LZH LHA ARC ZOO PAK TAR GZIP....so little escapes being catalogued. The search features are also interesting. Even the lite edition permits a fuzzy search (albeit limited to just one such occurrence in the free edition) which allows you to fail a single letter, and notices when a letter is in a different position. With typos running rampant the fuzzy search can be an invaluable asset. Whilst the lite version is limited to a maximum of 100 catalogues, this can prove to be a VERY generous limitation - certainly if cataloguing DVDs rather than CDs. The program also makes thumbnails of photo files (JPEG, TIFF and PCD) whilst cataloguing. If you subsequently select a folder (or disk) within InsideCAT, there's an option available to "visualise all the thumbnails of this folder". I'm in the habit of saving my downloads with accompanying identifying jpg images whenever possible, and the view thumbnails feature of InsideCAT has on quite a few occasions helped me to locate files with names that I'd forgotten - from pictures only. Again very useful, although I have to say that the view thumbnail feature is sometimes a bit temperamental on my system. I'm currently using InsideCAT version 4.03....just noticed there's now a 4.10 available, so I'll be downloading the update to see if there's any improvement.

   I suspect that InsideCAT is probably one that escaped your memory?

   Robert - thanks for the Nirsoft link. I think I've already got that program somewhere. I confess I haven't (yet) had a look in any detail...but I suspect that it probably isn't really what I'm hoping to find (i.e. something with the focus primarily on downloaded files).

   Posted 14 years ago #
6. 

   Robert
   StrayCat

   Caulbox,
   Thanks for the link to InsideCat.

   One thing I've always liked about GetRight is that it keeps a record of my download history, and allows me to view and locate downloaded files very easily. I can view all my downloads in GetRight's history browser, or choose to view only what I might have downloaded Today, Yesterday, Past week, Past Month.

   
   Well, Internetdownloadmanager seems to be quite popular these days (though not free).
   ...now that would be a neat giveaway....
   :)

   Posted 14 years ago #
7. 

   SeniorCitizen
   Member

   Robert wrote: "And to get things organized I'd like to point you to Karen's directory printer."

   I have been using Karen's Directory Print for a long long time to keep track of what is on each of my CD-ROMs, Floppy Disks, and now my USB Flashies. I save the info to my C-Drive and around once monthly I put it onto my (continuing) database and then make a hard copy.

   Karen's Directory Print is one of the most useful programs I have. Stupendous if you don't know name of file you're looking for. Or, if you have a memory problem.

   Posted 14 years ago #
8. 

   caulbox
   Member

   Well, Internetdownloadmanager seems to be quite popular these days (though not free).
   ...now that would be a neat giveaway....
   

   Unfortunately Robert (for my purposes anyway) with regards to "Internet Download Manager", what I said about more and more sites now denying the use of GetRight will most likely apply equally or with more severity. Since the demise of typical dial-up connections, nearly all download managers and accelerators are no longer permitted by an ever growing number of sites. If anything, I think that GetRight is probably treated the most favourably.

   Posted 14 years ago #

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