November 16, 2018

By Joe Winett

IN THIS ISSUE

Welcome to winter!

Ok, it's not actually winter, yet, but we've had our first snow here at the Secluded Programmer Habitat and Network Operations Center in Oklahoma, USA.  So, that's close enough to call it, winter.

Autumn is my favorite season, but I love winter, too.  Since we had only one snow last year in April, I'm encouraged that winter is getting a head start this time around the sun.

What is Karen's Replicator?

Last month's newsletter generated much excitement when I announced that Karen's Replicator v3.7 is available for download on our website from:
https://www.karenware.com/powertools/karens-replicator-backup-utility

Many subscribers were so excited about Replicator that they replied to the newsletter message.  Here is a dramatized account of one:

Hi Joe, this is Ted from Perth, Down Under — longtime listener, first-time caller.  Weather's nice here. 
What is Replicator?

Doh!  My bad.  I'll explain.

Grandfathers

My grandfathers were different from each other in the coolest ways.  Both great men — both salespeople — both business owners — both available and willing to teach.

My dad's dad was methodical about eating, working, golfing, and conversing.  Arnold literally counted bites as he chewed.  He arrived at work at the same time every morning.  His golf swing only improved.  And, he spoke in complete paragraphs that followed a logical structure: Here's what you might already know, here's what you need to know, and here's why you need to know it.

Mom's dad was charismatic, driven, creative, and always thinking about nine different projects.  Richard built a huge organization.  He worked most of the time he wasn't fishing, but he'd arrive at the office whenever he felt like it.  Even at home, even in the middle of the night, even watching television, you could tell he was planning, building, planning on building, all in his head.  He spoke like a story teller, but sometimes the story would begin in the middle.  Richard assumed you were following along in his head for the last ten minutes and would be able to jump right into the conversation.

I also assume people know what I know sometimes.  I forgot that while you're a subscriber to the newsletter, you might not be completely versed and jazzed about each and every one of Karen's Power Tools.  I should have included the following description of Karen's Replicator.

Replicator is the second most downloaded of Karen's Power Tools.

There are hundreds of thousands of people around the world using Replicator to backup files from their Windows machines.  The application runs backup jobs on a schedule that you set and makes a copy according to your specifications.  For instance, you can task Replicator to copy only files that have changed since the last run — based on file time and/or file size.  Optionally, you can have Replicator delete files that you have removed since the last run.

Fans of Karen's Replicator have expressed to me that they love tha backup application because it's so simple.  For each job, you pick out a Source Folder and tell it the Destination Folder.  Replicator can recurse down into subfolders or not — your choice.  The files are copied to the same relative subdirectory of the Destination Folder as they were found in the Source Folder.  The file isn't copied to a database or some weird file structure that you'd have to translate back into reality when you want to find something your backed up.

There are plans to improve Replicator based on user suggestions and my own wishes, and my experiences with consumer backup solutions (floppies!), Windows File History (dark magic!), file versioning (sneakerNet!), and enterprise-level expensive tape-drive incremental backup nightmares (commas omitted for your comfort).

Please send feature requests and suggestions to me at support@karenware.com so the help system will make a ticket for it and I won't lose your advice in my pile of everyday emails.

You can view improvements already tasked-for-the-doing on the Replicator workboard here:
https://phabricator.karenware.com/project/view/1/

Not every suggestion I've received is on the board.  While it will be a terrific improvement for our website one day, there's not yet a complete collection of suggestions, wish list items and feature requests on a page somewhere with voting.

Karen's Directory Printer v5.4.2 Released

Actually, there have been three (3) new versions of Directory Printer released since the last newsletter went out on October 4th.  The latest was posted yesterday, making the utility accessible for our sight impaired users using a screen reader like Microsoft Narrator for Windows 10

Directory Printer is the most downloaded of Karen's Power Tools.

Directory Printer is a utility for Windows with which you can print out (or save) a catalog of the files in a folder on your computer.  You have the option to print just the file names and information, or information about the folder itself, or both.  You can choose to also include the subfolders of that folder and the files contained in them.  In addition to the name, you can include file sizes, dates, hash values, etc., about each file; and similar information about each folder.  You can also change the order of the columns on the report to suit your needs.

The latest build of Directory Printer is available for download on our website from:
https://www.karenware.com/powertools/karens-directory-printer

The project workboard for Karen's Directory Printer is here:
https://phabricator.karenware.com/project/view/3/

You're invited to send feature requests, suggestions, and pleas for assistance to me here:
support@karenware.com.

Thank you!

As Karen always wrote: Don't forget to wave and say, "Hi!"

Love,
Joe


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https://www.karenware.com/donate

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