Looking Up Filenames/Extensions Online (A Utility)

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ZoNi
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Post by ZoNi »

After installing xplorer pro v2.3, Online Lookup stopped working :(

I don't have its icon in context menu and when I choose any menu entry, it opens "Open With..." dialog!

Problem on my PC or incompatibility between new xplorer and OL?
Kilmatead
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Post by Kilmatead »

Run the OL executable directly and click "Remove Context Menu", then click "Create Context Menu" to reset where the registry reads OL's binary location.  You probably moved or renamed OL's home folder without removing/recreating the context menu entry first.

This is the downside of using static shell entries - if the user moves or deletes the binary there's no way for the shell to know where it went to. :wink:  In other utilities I've tried to mitigate this slightly by having the executable check its own location in the shell entry each time it's run... but it's one of those chicken-and-the-egg things - if the user runs the utility from its folder first, everything is grand - but if he tries to access the context menu first, the gods do not smile down quite so benevolently.

A compromise of portability we just learn to live with - which largely explains why "portable" applications virtually never add shell entries - too many opportunities for user-error to throw a spanner in the works. :shrug:
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ZoNi
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Post by ZoNi »

I will try that, but right now I can't download it ("unknown error").
Kilmatead
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Post by Kilmatead »

The link works fine for me - it's just a bog-standard public Dropbox hosting.  :shrug:

In the mean-time, if you want to remove the context menu entry (since without the programme itself it's just swingin' in the wind), delete the following registry key:

HKCU\Software\Classes\AllFilesystemObjects\shell\OnlineLookup
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Post by RightPaddock »

I use Click.To to do this - highlight whatever, wherever, copy to clipboard, up pops a set of buttons for what you configure as your common 'go to's' like goggle, translate, wikiP, amazon - click the one you want - voila job done.  you can add your own 'go to's'.

Some get lost without their Mum, I'd get lost without Click to.  Runs on windows and mac - get it from here http://www.clicktoapp.com/

It works nicely with Firefox Autocopy extension

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Windows 10 Pro (64 bit) version 1809 - Xplorer2 version: Pro 2.5.0.4 [Unicode] x64 2014-06-21
Kilmatead
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Post by Kilmatead »

Not to knock to pseudo-competition, but we take pleasure in noting that ClickTo is rather completely uncustomisable (unless you only use cookie-cutter links like Facebook, Google, or whatever); it does not seem to allow the definition of bespoke links which (in the real world) is rather important; and most significantly, it's rather awkward to select filenames with, which is the whole point of this particular exercise. :wink:

Weirdly, it also doesn't give you an opportunity to edit your selection before looking it up, which is an odd ergonomic oversight.

That said, for normal stuff it's just fine - but falls seriously flat for looking up filesystem objects. :shrug:
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Post by RightPaddock »

Investigating file names is something I might do once in 3 months, so Click.to despite its lack of specialist features is good enough for me.  

And when I have a need to investigate file names I think I'm more likely to be in a context where I don't have Windows Shell Extensions available - e.g in a Browser or a Torrent, FTP, Mail or Usenet client... or looking at an archive that I just downloaded in WinRAR

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Windows 10 Pro (64 bit) version 1809 - Xplorer2 version: Pro 2.5.0.4 [Unicode] x64 2014-06-21
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ZoNi
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Post by ZoNi »

Strange - I can't download this on my home PC, but I have download it on my office PC.

Second strange thing: I can't extract OnlineLookup.exe from that RAR! I can extract ALL other files, just not OL! When try to drag&drop OL.exe from RAR to any folder, it looks like it is extracted, but it is not! Weird! Damn are those gremlins! :D
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Post by Kilmatead »

More than likely just typical interference from AV's, Malware sniffers, etc - the OL binary is packed with UPX compression which is often flagged by signatures resembling "other things", so the EXE's can get auto-quarantined by over-zealous false-positives. :shrug:  Queerly the AV purveyors keep changing signature updates, so what was Kosher one day is then Halal the next, and we're all just pigs to slaughter in the end.

Hence the reason I always include the source-code... keep people's minds at ease while reminding them that AV's are as fallible as the humans that designed them.

Other than that, there's no reason it wouldn't extract.
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ZoNi
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Post by ZoNi »

It is OK now... Yesterday Avast Free was updated, so I guess he is to be blamed :)
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