Thursday, August 15, 2002

    New major release, v 2.4 is uploaded.  It contains the following fixes and enhancements:

• Major New Feature:  Thumbnail image preview window!  PaqRat automatically thumbnails every picture for you.  Click a thumbnail once to see it full size.  Click the image again to switch back to the thumbnail view.
• Major New Feature:  Now you can Browse Directory from Explorer or My Computer!  Select the image directory you want, right-click it, and select "Browse with PaqRat..."  PaqRat will launch and load all the images in that directory automatically, including all subdirectories.
• Major New Feature: Made Option for deleting all files on Exit, for those of you sharing a computer with friends or family and wishing to only view website pics temporarily.
• Fixed queueing problem which caused PaqRat to not see queued URLs in Windows XP.
• Now if your modem disconnects, PaqRat will stop fetching and stop the Fetch Queue also.
• While PaqRat is fetching, it now makes sure that the URL being loaded is always visible in window if you don't have another URL selected.
• We took out the PaqRat Throttle.  Now download at the max speed of your connection.
• We took out PaqRating Error Message Boxes whenever that site isn't working correctly.  (Yippee!)
• Fixed using [Esc] to exit Full Screen Slideshows when PaqRat was maximized originally.

Sunday, February 10, 2002

    New minor release, v 2.3.3 is uploaded.  It contains the following minor fixes and enhancements:

• PaqRat now handles Yahoo Groups messages as well as photos.  It still does not handle files, but I cannot figure out how to make it get them.  Again, you must be a member of the group and logged into Yahoo for PaqRat to find the pictures.  PaqRat expects the specified URL to be the "home" url for the club.  It also downloads both the "hi res" and "normal" versions of all the pics in the Photo galleries.   Pictures also get more friendly filenames as well.
• Fixed a problem with modification of bad chars in URLs, which was breaking port specifiers on domain names.
• I hope I have fixed some of the random crashing when PaqRat starts up.  I have switched from using the single-threaded C libraries to the multi-threaded version (which I didn't even know existed until yesterday).
• Added a display of filename underneath photo.  Works best with Shrink to Fit option "on".
  

    New minor release, v 2.3.2 is uploaded.  It contains the following (mostly) minor fixes and enhancements:

• PaqRat now detects and handles Yahoo Groups automatically.  You must be a member of the group and logged into Yahoo for PaqRat to find the pictures.  PaqRat expects the specified URL to be the "home" url for the club.  It only downloads the "hi res" versions of all the pics.
• Added 'X' key to remove current slide from slideshow while it is running.
• Removed ad banner rotator.  I only made $12.50 in three months from the cheapskates who use PaqRat and never click the banners. ;-)
• Made completion barchart filename shorter on status bar.
• PaqRat now confirms before exiting if a fetch is in progress.
• Auto-Save/Auto-Recover of URL List if PaqRat crashes in the middle of a big Fetch.
• Create option to ignore repetitive errors (javascript, etc.).  Some advanced users do not want PaqRat to stop if a server is having a problem.  People on dial-up modems are encouraged to leave this option off, so disconnections are detected.
• Fixed a bug that the Confirm Deletions option gets reset every time PaqRat is run.
• HTM selection now says "HTML: (file)" instead of "Image: htm" in status bar.
• Shrink to fit is now set by right-clicking in Image Window, not in Options. 
• Fixed a bug which caused users' PAQRAT.INI file to become corrupted for very heavy users.
• Fixed toolbar width so that it is entirely visible for users using 1024x768 resolution with the Button Text enabled.
• Fixed bug that locked up PaqRat if user deletes file PaqRat is currently loading.
• Added check for http:/ and http:/// and http:\\, allowing PaqRat to compensate for common typo errors made by webmasters in their links.
• Added a filter for special characters in filenames like : and $, which cause problems in Windows pathnames.  All special characters are silently changed to underscores now.

 

    New minor release, v 2.3.1 is uploaded.  It contains the following fixes and enhancements:

• Fixed HTML Pasting to paste discovered links to the end of the URL list instead of inserting the items at the top.
• Fixed "Skip Entries" so that it works all the time instead of just when continuing a stopped Fetch.
• Added 'P' command to show the previous slide in the slideshow.  It also pauses when it shows the previous slide.  To show the next slide and resume the slideshow, press 'N'.
• Fixed startup to accurately reflect count of saved Fetch Queue items.
• Moved the image moving commands (very frequently used) to the top of the right click menu.
• Improved move directory guessing.
• Added a wizard when first running PaqRat to set crucial settings and explain how to use the tool a little bit.
• Fixed (hopefully) the toolbars with Win2K.
• Made the number of files shown in slideshow groups user adjustable.
• Added Prepend/Append options when doing mass renames of files.
• Added feature for zoom in/out on pictures.
• Added ability to create a subdirectory under the current image location and move the image there.
• Added bitmap wallpapers to image window.  Right click on the image window to see choices for bitmaps.
• Added % complete indicator in title bar of window during Fetching.  This will allow users to see progress in their Start bar.
• Added an ad rotator to allow PaqRat affiliates to show their banners within PaqRat.  Hopefully people will go check out their sites.

Tuesday, July 24th, 2001

    New minor release, v 2.3 is uploaded.  It contains the following fixes and enhancements:

• Implemented a feature to search PaqRatings.  Use the command on the Internet menu, and if you specify "cindy" as the keyword to search for, PaqRat will show you all the PaqRatings with "cindy" in either the title or the URL, ranked in order of popularity and quality.  You can also launch these websites in your browser automatically.
• Enhanced Slideshow feature.  You can now Start and Stop the Slideshow with the "s" key.  There is also now an option to show the Slideshow in Full Screen Mode.  If you use this, you hit Esc to return the window to normal size and stop the show.
• Added more options for duplicate checking.  You can now set it to keep the larger or smaller picture and set whether you want it to confirm deletions of duplicates or just delete dupes automatically during Fetching.
• Added the capability to scroll large pictures with Keys (IJKL) instead of having to use the mouse and scroll bars.
• Added capability to turn a links page into a big Fetch Queue.  Now you can use the "Parse Links" command to get the links out of the specified URL without starting the rest of the Fetch.  Then you can highlight the links you want to add, right-click and select "Fetch Selected URLs" to add them all to the Fetch Queue and start the first fetch.
• Added a Clipboard Monitor since the current method PaqRat uses for monitoring the IE browser URL is so unreliable.  Now if you Copy a URL starting with 'http' to the Clipboard, PaqRat will automatically paste it into its own URL window if the list is empty, and you can use the Paste menu item anytime.
• Added a cool feature to Copy & Paste HTML from your Browser.  I added this feature specifically to make huge links pages easier to handle.  Now you can just highlight the specific ones you want in your browser, Copy them, and hit Paste.  PaqRat will parse the HTML on the clipboard for links instead of loading the entire page.  This way you will only get the links you want instead of hundreds or thousands of them.  Then you can highlight them and add them to the Fetch Queue.
• Added a menu item to Skip certain URLs.  Highlight them and select Mark to Skip.  Those URLs will change their status to SKIP from Unknown, and the Fetch will skip over them.  This is useful when you want only part of a large site.  Tell PaqRat to skip all the HTML pages that you don't want.
• Disabled PaqRatings verification message box on queued URLs.  If you have PaqRat set to verify fetching of low-rated sites, it can interrupt fetch queues.  Now if sites are queued, it skips the verification.
• Fixed bug with saved queue items.  Now the Fetch Queue is retained if you quit PaqRat while items are queued.
• Fixed bug with starting queue as soon as Paqrat starts.  The last version would automatically start fetching from the queue when it started and it sometimes seemed like it had lost its mind.  Now it confirms first.
• Fixed BOMIS rings again.  All BOMIS links in the specified web ring will now be added automatically to the Fetch Queue.
• Fixed a bug resulting in Favorites menu not loading properly.
• Fixed a bug asking for PaqRatings when no photos load.  Now at least 3 photos have to be successfully loaded before you will be asked for a rating.
• Synchronization of String Objects should reduce crashing for no reason during Fetching.
• Added a fix to the buttons on the toolbar for Windows 2000.  I develop in Windows ME so I am not able to verify this fix 100%.
• Fixed Domain Exceptions being lost mysteriously. 

Sunday, June 3rd, 2001

    Patch release, v 2.2.3 is uploaded.  It contains the following fixes and enhancements:

• PaqRat will now detect when the hard disk is full and stop fetching, rather than generating hundreds of errors.
• Fixed PaqRat to handle loss of modem connection during Fetching better.
• *Hopefully* fixed bug causing some people's PaqRat to crash when it is first opened.  This never happened on my machine so I am not sure if it is fixed or not.
• "Smart Move Guessing" speeds up sorting of celeb pictures by using the filename to suggest the right directory for you when moving pictures.
• "Smart Directory Guessing" uses the filename of the image to suggest a new directory name if you choose to make one.
• PaqRat now saves the last number used for every "Standardize Names" request, so numbers won't overlap.
• Added a 10 second delay in displaying newly fetched pictures if you view other pictures on the list yourself.  Should make viewing while fetching less frustrating for people with fast connections.
• PaqRat will now display random Slideshow Groups, where 3 images in a row are displayed in sequence before a new random place to start is selected.
• Fixed bug so that PaqRat is more intelligent about links containing bookmarks.

Thursday, April 26th, 2001

    Patch release, v 2.2.2 is uploaded.  It contains the following fixes and enhancements:

• Added capability to detect and use web forms to fill out userid's and passwords for Adult Verification Sites such as AdultCheck.com.  List of supported AVS' is downloaded dynamically from paqrat.com and so it will grow over time without needing to download a new version of the program.  Information about AVS links are stored in the database.  Your own userid's and passwords are stored on your machine and should NEVER be shared with anyone or you can be disconnected.
• Fixed Delete Key bug only deleting half the files selected.
• Fixed a bug causing PaqRat to crash trying to load binaries larger than 5MB+ (mostly AVI or other movie files).
• Changed the PaqRatings submit error notification so that you only get it once per session if the PaqRatings database is down for some reason.
• Improved detection of thumbnails and banners so they are not saved, even if they are loaded.
• Fixed a bug causing PaqRat to lock up when it encountered certain Internet server errors.
• Added option to Fetch web in depth-first order.  New links are inserted into the URL list right underneath the current entry, rather than being added at the end of the list.  This results in more images being encountered sooner.  The exact order will of course depend on the actual site layout and HTML.
• Fixed the slowness of right-click menu when many many directories are present.
• Fixed crashing problem with some password-protected sites.
• Enhanced PaqRat to do a better job with Javascript onclick events.  It will now work on many sites employing these.  Sites which modify the pathname before following the link, however, can still not be fetched effectively.
• Changed the Standardize Filenames feature to use leading zeros when numbering files.  Files now look like "name001.jpg" and so on.

 

Sunday, February 18th, 2001

    Patch release, v 2.2.1 is uploaded.  It contains the following fixes and enhancements: