Tag Archives: Product Review

OpenDBDiff – Dangers Lurking Around The Corner

I’ve been doing some work which involves comparing a couple databases to identify differences so I could get them all in sync.

I decided to test out a program I found a while back OpenDBDiff

GitHub - OpenDBDiff/OpenDBDiff: A database comparison tool for Microsoft SQL Server 2005+ that reports schema differences and creates a synchronization script.
A database comparison tool for Microsoft SQL Server 2005+ that reports schema differences and creates a synchronization script. - OpenDBDiff/OpenDBDiff

 

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Screenshot/Screen Capture Software Snagit

This is a long overdue post to praise Snagit from TechSmith.

TechSmith Snagit | Screen capture and screen recorder
Screen capture and recording software for Windows and Mac. Quickly get images and videos. Start your free trial today!

As an Microsoft Access MVP, I have been privileged to get a free NFR license of Snagit.  After many years of use now, I think I owed it to TechSmith to publicly post my praise of their software.

What is Snagit?

For those not already familiar with the product, Snagit is a software that enable you to take a screenshot and then work with it (annotate, save under different formats, and much more).

Snagit lets you quickly capture your screen and camera, add additional context, and share images, GIFs, or videos across your preferred platforms.TechSmith

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LinkedIn Stop The SPAM

In recent months, I have noticed completely irrelevant posts, for promotional purposes, in certain groups I was part of, SPAM.

So we are all on the same page, what is the definition of SPAM exactly:

The short version:

Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages.Wikipedia

The more complete version:

Spamming is the use of messaging systems to send multiple unsolicited messages (spam) to large numbers of recipients for the purpose of commercial advertising, for the purpose of non-commercial proselytizing, for any prohibited purpose (especially the fraudulent purpose of phishing), or simply sending the same message over and over to the same user. While the most widely recognized form of spam is email spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, online classified ads spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam, junk fax transmissions, social spam, spam mobile apps,[1] television advertising and file sharing spam.Wikipedia

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WEme USB C 3.0 to SATA External Hard Drive Dock Docking Station

I recently purchased a

WEme USB C 3.0 to SATA External Hard Drive Dock Docking Station, SSD HDD Disk Duplicator Cloner for Dual Bay 2.5 3.5 Inch SATA I II III, Support UASP and Auto Sleep and 2X 12TB, Black
WEme USB C 3.0 to SATA External Hard Drive Dock Docking Station, SSD HDD Disk Duplicator Cloner for Dual Bay 2.5 3.5 Inch SATA I II III, Support UASP and Auto Sleep and 2X 12TB, Black : Amazon.ca: Electronics

on Amazon, model WM-3024B to be precise, and thought I’d post my thoughts here since Amazon won’t allow me to post a proper review.

I was eagerly awaiting this unit for work purposes and was happy when it showed up at my front door less than 24 hours after placing the order. Talk about service!

I quickly unpacked the unit, okay took it out of the box. Then attached the 2 cables that came with the unit: (i) Power, (ii) data cable. Plugged every thing in, inserted 2 different drives and powered the unit on. Then I waited, … and waited, … and waited. Nothing! I checked Disk Management, nothing there either!

I then started digging, checking the little leaflet that came with the unit, searching online, but came up empty handed.

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Access – New Find and Replace for Developers!

Most developers, at some point in time, need to make a change throughout a database, say change a field name. Now it can be a serious PITA to remember every object, every piece of code in which it was used, thus the need for a tool to help. Now I have previous written a post regarding this very subject, Great Access Tools – Find and Replace, but last week Philipp Stiefel of AccessDevTools was kind enough to invite me to try out a new add-in his company had developed. Below are my thoughts.

A Quick Overview of the Find and Replace for MS-Access

So let me introduce to you the AccessDevTools’ ‘Find and Replace for MS-Access’ add-in.

After downloading and installing the add-in you will have an extra tab in your Access Ribbon.
Find And Replace - Ribbon

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Huawei P30 Review

On was on the market to replace my 6-7+ year old Moto G cell phone and was looking for a phone for 2 primary uses:

  • Call quality (something that was very poor with my Moto G)
  • Good for taking pictures and videos with (I like photography)

So, like most people, I started researching online only to be submerged with too many options!

Like you, I’ve seen the stunning ads put forth by Apple, Huawei, Samsung, …

Now, from a technical standpoint, nothing comes close to the Huawei P30!  So I was already leaning that way.  When I went to my local vendor for my cell company (presently Koodo) and was up front and asked for advice and was told the same, the Huawei was the way to go and that there was no difference (besides screen size) between the P30 and P30 Pro.  So I purchase a P30.  Below are my thoughts on the unit after a couple solid months of use.

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MSI GP73 8RE-079CA Leopard Misses The Mark

My Mission

I was getting seriously concerned about the longevity of my laptop after 6+ years of constant daily use and decided to venture out and find a new and improved replacement to take me into the future.

My needs were not too extreme, or so I thought.  I wanted

  • A big screen
  • Lots of RAM (to run my VMs smoothly – I currently had 8GB and thought 16GB was the way to go)
  • Lots of Drive Space

So I set out to my local suppliers (BestBuy, Canada Computers, Staples/Bureau en Gros, …) and was floored when none had any that could fit the bill.  They all seemed to be pushing 13″ tablets (I don’t call those laptops!).  So, since no local retailers had anything to offer, the world wide web had been promoted to my new best friend and so the search began.  I spent a lot of time going back and forth (amazon, newegg, …) reviewing dozens of laptops, but spending a lot of time on MSI and ASUS models, just the way my searches kept coming up.  After at least a month of my procrastination, I decided to finally purchase MSI’s GP73 8RE-079CA Leopard which had some impressive stats:

  • CPU: i7-8750H
  • RAM: 16GB
  • HD: 512GB SSD, 1TB HDD
  • Case: Steel (so they say, but in fact it has a plastic bottom which makes it prone to breaking when trying to upgrade/repair the unit!)
  • Ports: HDMI, USB-C, USB 3, Ethernet, …

On paper, it looked like a lean and mean machine!

Within a few days, my box arrived and hours of work began.  Installing Windows, Office, every other programs…  Oh, did I forget the countless Microsoft never ending slew of updates!!!  OMG!

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Surface Laptop – Microsoft Misses The Mark Again!

In a recent discussion, it was brought to our attention that Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop scored a 0 out of 10 for repairability. You can read Fstoppers full article by using the following link

Microsoft’s New Surface Laptop Scores 0 out of 10 for Repairability

Now I’m not even going to argue points like Apple’s, et al., have been doing this for years. This is true. And if everyone jumps off the bridge, you’re going to do that too!  So let’s move on.

This was Microsoft’s opportunity to shine and set themselves apart from there competitors, to be bigger and better, to show confidence in their product, to show respect to their users, and they didn’t. They chose to simply do as everyone else does, how disappointing.

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Bye Bye BELL, Hello Anyone Else!

After some 20 years with Bell, we finally ditched them as our service provider this summer and haven’t looked back!!!

Never have I experienced such poor quality of services (years of crackling on phone lines, Internet disruptions/instability), but worst of all is their customer service which is dismal. They make the mistakes and then tell you to calm down.  They mistakenly cancelled all our services on 2 occasions (and the service reps laughed at us), misbilled us and couldn’t fix it promptly (when I say promptly, I mean within a month’s time) and God only knows how much time I’ve spent on the phone with them to resolve their issues over the years.  They’ve made me rewire my entire house, buy a new phone, … and as I always told them it had nothing to do with our setup, it was their setup that was flawed, but their own personnel couldn’t figure it out for months and kept telling us to do this and that because they had no clue!

The only time I ever got any real service was when I sent an e-mail to the president of Bell, promptly got a phone call back from the VP and things were quickly fixed, but one should not need to do so and their contact information is not publicly available (I was able to figure it out by doing some serious digging because I had enough of their customer service run around).

Anyways, the point of this post was not to continue bringing up all there problems (I could go on all day as I have years of issues to elaborate on), …

No, the point of this post is to inform people, especially people living in the Greater Montreal area that there are numerous very viable options to get away from the BIG multinational service providers and start being treated like an actual human being rather than a number.

I Googled to see what was available, compared websites, spoke to friends and family and came up with several options available to us.

One website I found useful was Internet providers in Montreal in which I started looking at companies such as:

  • AEI
  • Bravo Telecom
  • TekSavvy
  • …

Then this summer, we made what felt like a leap, but in reality was the easiest thing we ever did. We now get faster, cheaper Internet with almost double to the monthly capacity (we don’t need unlimited) and we also switched over to VOIP telephone so we only pay 40$/year for our phone and get all the bells and whistles and we can call anywhere in Canada and the US at no charge (BELL charges more than that for a single month with their basic plan with which we can’t call outside of Quebec without incurring extra charges)!  The service took 10 minutes to install and I was up and running.  Everything has been running smooth ever since (it must be 4-5 month in now).

All of this to say, if you:

  • Aren’t happy with your current service provider
  • Find you are monthly bill is excessive
  • Etc …

I’d urge you to look around because there truly are good options available to you.

Lastly, one thing I will mention was that when I researched my options, numerous people (and I do mean a lot of people) kept telling me to switch to Videotron. Everyone that mentioned Videotron mentioned how good their customer service was and how they never experienced any issues.  I personally was no longer interested in using one of the Big Telecom companies and went with a smaller local company, but I thought I’d mention it in case it could help any of you.

Windows 10, Should I Upgrade or Not?

I’ve remained quite quiet on the subject of Windows 10, but over the past month or so I’ve had several clients and family members ask me about my impressions/opinion on the matter, so I thought it was time to finally make a posting.

I was lucky enough to be part of the Microsoft Insider’s program and got to take Windows 10 for a test ride well before its official release.

In comparison to Windows 8, Windows 10 is (in my opinion) far superior.  Then again Windows 8 was a dud, so it isn’t hard to improve upon it. That said, when compared to Windows 7, I truly see nothing of note!  I personally find Microsoft hasn’t innovated on the Windows or Office front in several iterations.  They change layouts, themes, … but not functionalities/features, nothing of note and in the process they keep changing menus, … for no real gain for the average user.

I will limit myself to say that it appears to run very smoothly.

That’s said, recent issues at a client’s office illustrate issues with third-party drivers not being compatible causing MAJOR headaches and performance issues with MS Office, printers and other hardware/software.

The real issue with Windows 10 however has nothing to do with its performance, appearance, … but rather with privacy. In this new version, Microsoft has chosen to follow in the footsteps of most of the other service providers (Google to name but one major player) and has embedded Windows 10 with a number of services/programs that will transmit all sorts of information regarding your usage, software, web surfing, …, in it you give them permission to transfer your personal folders and files. Furthermore, from what I have read, even deactivating all sorts of settings does not in fact terminate the invasion into your privacy.

The other thing that bothers me is the initial EULA you have to accept to use Windows 10 is some 45 pages long! I’m sorry to say but that is simply nuts and unacceptable. It can not be expected of anyone to properly read, little alone understand sufficiently its content to be in a proper position to accept the agreement put forth. No agreement should ever be this convoluted. So people simply agree without ever understanding, little alone being aware of what they are accepting. In this instance however, they are giving Microsoft full permission to pretty much do anything they see fit. Microsoft also does not explain for what purpose the data collection is being done. Perhaps if they elaborated the use, people would not object, but the whole thing is so vague that it allows them to do pretty much anything to choose.

All of this to say, I personally will not be upgrading. If you are not concerned with data harvesting and wish to be an early adopter, do be aware that you may experience so pains until such time as all the necessary drivers are made available.

Lastly, I’ll simply say what many people already know to be true, Nothing in life is Free. So if Microsoft has decided to offer Windows 10 for Free, then they must be getting something in return. They are a corporation and have but one goal in life and that is $$$. I’m not saying don’t upgrade, that is up to you, but do so knowing exactly what you are getting into.

I would have preferred paying for Windows 10 and having a ‘regular’, non-invasive copy, rather than be offered a so called free version which invades one’s privacy in ways no one truly know.

Then again, what do I know anyways, this is just one person’s opinion.  Take the time to read up on the subject, read the EULA and form your own opinion on the matter.

 

The following links maybe be of interest to you and relate directly to this post

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/windows-10-1.3223168
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/31/windows-10-microsoft-faces-criticism-over-privacy-default-settings
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/the-windows-10-privacy-settings-you-need-to-change-right-now-1301257
http://pastebin.com/2qhnMk60
https://fix10.isleaked.com/ (appears to be gone!? so try http://web.archive.org/web/20150828023511/https://fix10.isleaked.com/ instead)