3.60- one change I wish hadn't

Started by bluelake, June 01, 2009, 08:55:04 AM

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bluelake

A minor annoyance with the latet version.  Mixed in with all the great new and improved features is the change that the top graph is no longer adjustable-- able to be made smaller.  I never use the key that shows what graphic indicates what etc, so I have always been able to keep the graph a smaller size and save room for a longer list of processes.  With this latest edition the graph will only shrink to just larger than the key (legend) box and no smaller, even if you do not use the legend.

Any chance we minimalists could get the option of shrinking it down as small as we used to be able to?  That would be outstanding!  Other than this minor bellyaching, I am constantly amazed at how far this product has come in such a short period of time.  Thanks!   :-X

Jeremy Collake

#1
Ah, yes, that is an unfortunate side-effect of my child window sizing changes. I will see what I can do in a future version. Maybe by v3.60.4 ...

In the meantime, I do have a work-around that kinda/sorta works: Adjust the size of the entire PL application window (using the standard edge sizers). This will automatically start adjusting the graph size to accommodate for the smaller application window size. Doing it this way will let you size the graph smaller than the minimum size enforced by the graph/process slider. Unfortunately, this isn't a great work-around as the application window may end up being vertically smaller than you want.. and so this may not be useful at all. But, it's something to try.
Software Engineer. Bitsum LLC.

Jeremy Collake

I just made a change to the latest internal build here that allows you to resize the graph until its nearly invisible ;). This change will be in the next official release for sure. Thanks for pointing it out to me.
Software Engineer. Bitsum LLC.

Jeremy Collake

I posted a silent update to v3.60.3 that changes this behavior. Give it a try if you like..
Software Engineer. Bitsum LLC.

Hotrod

#4
I've been trying out 3.60.4 and it seems quite stable and much faster than before. The process throttling has been very usefull and has allowed me to put the finishing touches on some stubborn processes that defied previous tweaking attempts. Nice job.  ;D  I've been able to adjust the graph size to as small as a tad larger than 1/4" high on my screen and when the view is disabled I have noticed a difference of about 10% CPU usage. I have however noticed that some processes appear to be throttled correctly but the "<", "<<", "<<<" indicators don't show in the rules column even after restarting. The log says they are being throttled and I can see what appears to be throttling in the graph, but the rules never show it. It's a minor bug and the application appears to do it's job excellently. Also, while the update file and it's links show the version to be 3.60.4, the about box, hovering over systray icon, and other indicators show the version to be 3.60.3. Probably just overlooked and it doesn't affect the actual performance. On a side note...my work is picking up now and I look forward to sending you some much overdue compensation in the next few weeks. Keep up the fantastic work.

P.S. I've noticed that since I updated my IE7 to IE8 that I always have at least 2 instances of IE running now sometimes several more(I assume this is how they are able to recover crashed tabs now) when I only have one instance actually running on screen. This makes instance limiting a bit more difficult to prejudge and setup correctly. Any ideas how to simplify this?

Jeremy Collake

Thanks for this reports. You are right, v3.60 is much faster than the older versions. I increased the default refresh rate of the core engine and GUI. Therefore, instead of taking up to 1.5 seconds to take action, it now takes a maximum of 1 second (averaging 500ms). If you want even faster responses to system events, you can increase it further (Options / GUI and Core Engine Refresh Speed) -- though you probably already know that. In the HIGH setting, the speed is again doubled. Of course, this will moderately increase CPU use by PL -- but the CPU utilization by the core engine and GUI (when minimized) is so negligible that you probably won't mind it ;).

I'll address the version inconsistency in the next release, v3.60.5. I'll also check the throttling rules column to see what's going on with it.
Software Engineer. Bitsum LLC.

Jeremy Collake

I just checked the rules column for temporary CPU throttles.. I see the problem you are speaking of. The process may continue to be throttled even after a PL restart, but that won't be depicted in the rules column or in the menu item. The fix for this is going to require a lot of code modifications, so I'm deferring it to the next beta.

Software Engineer. Bitsum LLC.

Jeremy Collake

I went ahead and released a silent update to v3.60.4 that fixes the version number inconsistency and updates the Russian translation. I still plan to release v3.60.5 soon, which will include some minor tweaks to gaming mode and (hopefully) the remainder of the languages updated.
Software Engineer. Bitsum LLC.

Hotrod

Thanx Jeremy, this fix and the server issue in your last post fixed the version issue. Take your time with the rest(as I know you will to get it just right  ;)  ) You've done so much with this latest release that you shouldn't need to rush into anything for a bit. Take a break man...we all need one now and then to get a fresh perspective.  :D

Jeremy Collake

Quote from: Hotrod on June 11, 2009, 12:34:05 AM
Thanx Jeremy, this fix and the server issue in your last post fixed the version issue. Take your time with the rest(as I know you will to get it just right  ;)  ) You've done so much with this latest release that you shouldn't need to rush into anything for a bit. Take a break man...we all need one now and then to get a fresh perspective.  :D

I do need a bit of a break ;). I, too, am pleased with v3.60.

I think I am going to spend some time on product marketing and business development. I often neglect them, hoping that if I build good enough software everything else will just fall into place. Sadly, this isn't always the case.

Thanks for your continued support ;)



Software Engineer. Bitsum LLC.