Archive for November, 2006

Optimising Windows XP

Published on November 30, 2006 in OS Tips & Tricks and Windows XP. 0 Comments

There are a wide range of guides and software applications for optimising Windows XP—an operating system that by default is somewhat inefficiently configured for the average user. The following guide is one that I found particularly useful in getting Windows XP to function well.

Optimize XP

Optimize XP - A Windows XP Optimization Guide

Optimize XP Clean Spyware and Viruses + Optimize Windows XP to improve home, work and gaming performance safely. Windows XP’s default configuration is far from optimized.
This Free guide will help you improve your overall system performance without having to manually edit the Registry. I avoid using or recommending “all-in-one” Windows XP Tweak programs since many blindly adjust settings that have no affect on performance and can cause future problems. This guide is designed to be performed top to bottom, in sequence since some steps are required to be performed before others. Before using this guide make sure your system meets the Windows XP System Requirements.

Click here to see the full guide

HOWTO: Windows XP driver guide

Published on November 21, 2006 in Windows XP. 0 Comments

Having problems with certain hardware crashing your PC? Perhaps your PC crashes and you’re not even sure what it is?

A system crash is typically cased by:

  • Incompatible software (rare)
  • Viruses, malware, etc. (common)
  • Faulty hardware (rare)
  • Incompatible / faulty hardware drivers (common)

The second of these can be eliminated by following the directions available via this page.
The forth issue is hardware driver related and there is a great guide on how to ensure you have the latest drivers over at:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/DriverXP.html

Let me know if it helps.

HOWTO: Secure Windows XP

Published on November 21, 2006 in Anti-virus Firewalls and Malware and Windows XP. 1 Comment

Here’s a web page with great information on how to make sure your PC is secure against viruses, malware, adware, and other nasties. If you want step-by-step instructions on how to secure your PC this page is what you’re looking for.

Check it out at: Secure XP

PC Wizard

Published on November 21, 2006 in Freeware Applications and Tools. 0 Comments

PC Wizard is a great application for finding out information regarding your computer configuration. Here is the info from their site. If you want to find out about something in your computer configuration this free tool is likely the way to go about it.
The product home page is at http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php


Since 1996 PC WIZARD is among the most advanced system information programs on the market.
PC WIZARD 2006 is a powerful utility designed especially for detection of hardware, but also some more analysis.
It’s able to identify a large scale of system components and supports the latest technologies and
standards. This tool is periodically updated (usually once per month) in order to provide most
accurate results.
PC WIZARD 2006
is also an utility designed to analyze and benchmark your computer
system. It can analyze and benchmark many kinds of hardware, such as
CPU performance, Cache performance, RAM performance, Hard Disk
performance, CD/DVD-ROM performance, Removable/FLASH Media performance,
Video performance, MP3 compression performance.
PC WIZARD 2006 can be distributed freely (ftp, archives, CD-ROMs …).


Hardware Information

  • Mainboard / Bios (Connectors, ID String, MP Support …)
  • Chipset (FSB Frequency, Norhtbridge, Hub, Direct Media Interface, XMB, NSI, …)
  • Main Memory (FPM, EDO, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DDR-2 SDRAM, RDRAM, FB_DIMM, Timings …)
  • Cache Memory (L1, L2, L3, Size, Frequency …)
  • Processors (Type, Speed, Multiplier coeff., Features, Model Number, Vanderpool Technology …)
  • Coprocessor
  • APM & ACPI
  • Busses : ISA, PCI, AGP (2x, 4x,8x), SMBus/ i2c, CardBus, Firewire, Hyper-Transport … )
  • DMI / SMBIOS
  • Mainboard Sensors, Processor, Hard Disk & Battery (Voltage, Temperature, Fans)
  • Video (Monitor, Card, Bios, Capabilities, Memory, Integrated Memory, Frequencies …)
  • OpenGL & 3Dfx
  • DirectX (DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectSound (3D), DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectInput, DirectX Media)
  • Keyboard, Mouse & Joystick
  • Drives (Hard Disk, Removable, CD-ROM, CDRW, DVD …)
  • SCSI (Card, Controller, Adapter, Devices …)
  • ATA/ATAPI & S-ATA (Devices, Type, Capabilities, S.M.A.R.T. Features, RAID)
  • Ports (Serial, Parallel, USB, IEEE-1394)
  • IDE & SCSI Devices
  • Twain & WIA Devices
  • PCMCIA (PC Card) Devices
  • Bluetooth Devices
  • Sound Card (wave, midi, aux, mix, AC’97 codec, High Definition Audio)
  • Printers (Local & Network)
  • Modem (Features, Speed …)
  • Network (Server, Connexion, Firewall …)
  • Security (Scan Ports …)
  • PocketPC & SmartPhone Devices

System Information

  • MCI Devices (mpeg, avi, seq, vcr, video-disc, wave) & ACM
  • SAPI
  • Passwords (Outlook, Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger, Dialup …)


    MSN Password Recovery

  • DOS Memory (base, HMA, UMB, XMS, EMS, DPMI, VCPI)
  • Windows Memory
  • Windows (Version, Product Key, Environment, Desktop, XP Themes …)
  • Windows UpTime (Boot, Shutdown, BlueScreen, System Restore Points …)
  • TrueType & OpenType Fonts
  • WinSock (Internet), Telephony et Remote Access
  • OLE (Objects, Servers …)
  • Microsoft® Applications
  • Activity (Process, Tasks, Threads)
  • Modules (DLL, DRV, 32 & 16-bits) & NT Services
  • Internet Navigator (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, FireFox)
  • ODBC
  • CMOS/RTC
  • Ressources (IRQ, DMA, E/S, Memory)
  • System files (.ini, .log, .bat, .nt, .dos …)

System Benchmarks

  • Processor (MFLOPS, Whetstone …)
  • L1, L2, L3 Cache, RAM (Bandwidth, Latency …)
  • Main Memory (Bandwidth, Latency …)
  • Hard Drives
  • CD/DVD Rom
  • DirectX 3D
  • Video
  • Removable/Flash Support
  • MP3 Compression

Tools

  • Can save, print, e-mail a report
  • Can save a TXT, RTF, HTML, or PDF report
  • Can compress report to .CAB or .ZIP
  • Can export any graphics as BMP file
  • Can export text and graphic with the clipboard
  • Web update Wizard
  • Communicate with Motherboard Monitor
  • Dump (Hardware registers, System BIOS, video BIOS …)

Multi Languages

  • English
  • French
  • Serbian
  • Slovak
  • Russian


Use this 100% free software to learn more about your computer and its components,
detect/diagnose any problems in your computer, and increase your computer’s performance.

Free file comparison

Published on November 16, 2006 in Freeware Applications and Web Design. 0 Comments

If you work with web development or coding of some kind you surely know that automated file comparrison is a handy and time saving thing to have on hand. There are many programs available for this function both free and commercial. The editor I use (PSPad) has a fairly good comparison toolset in it. If you are looking for a standalone and feature rich comparison program you may like to check out WinMerge.

WinMerge is an Open Source visual text file differencing and merging
tool for Win32 platforms. It is highly useful for determing what has
changed between project versions, and then merging changes between
versions.

Features

  • Visual differencing and merging of text files
  • Flexible editor with syntax highlighting, line numbers and word-wrap
  • Handles DOS, UNIX and MAC text file formats
  • Unicode support
  • Difference pane shows current difference in two vertical panes
  • Location pane shows map of files compared
  • Highlights differences inside the lines
  • File filters in directory pane
  • Moved lines detection in file compare pane
  • Shell Integration
  • Rudimentary Visual SourceSafe and Rational ClearCase integration
  • Archive file support using 7-zip
  • Plugin support
  • Localizable interface via resource DLL
  • HTML-based manual

You can check out winmerge here (www.winmerge.org)

Free Software Lists

Published on November 16, 2006 in Freeware Applications. 0 Comments

FreeCountry.com has a great array of free software sorted into various categories. If there’s a particular application you have been looking for, the chances are you might find it here. Check it out…

thefreecountry.com: Free Programmers’ Resources, Free Webmasters’ Resources, Free Security Resources

Free HDD folder size manager

Published on November 15, 2006 in Freeware Applications. 0 Comments

One particular application I find very useful for helping me maintain my hard drives is a program that present my HDD data in a tree format with folder sizes showing. The program I use for this is called TreeSize Professional and is available here. The personal version costs US$19.95 whilst the pro version sells for US$44.95. Some people may not want to dish out the dollars for the advanced features these application provide. If that is the case I suggest checking out JDiskReport.

JDiskReport
JDiskReport enables you to understand how much space the files and directories consume on your disk drives, and it helps you find obsolete files and folders.

The tool analyses your disk drives and collects several statisticswhich you can view as overview charts and details tables.

This is ad- and nag-free uncrippled binary multi-platform softwarethat is free of charge and that never expires. It is available here.

Free CD/DVD Burning Software

Published on November 15, 2006 in Freeware Applications. 0 Comments

The following two applications are free and will fulfil most people’s requirements when it comes to burning CDs and DVDs. Check them both out and see which one you find better. You may also want to compare which is most compatible with your particular CD/DVD burner.

DeepBurner (Free Edition)
DeepBurner is an advanced and extremely powerful CD and DVD burning
package. It even removes the hassle of making autoruns, creating and
printing your own labels and booklets. Burn any data, copy any disc,
make backups, create astonishing photo albums, make ISO images and
Video DVDs with this very easy to handle professional software!

Currently, there are two versions of the program: DeepBurner Pro and DeepBurner Free. The free version has the following features:

  • You can easily create and burn regular data CDs/DVDs
  • AudioCD recording functionality is included
  • Quickly build and burn ISO Images
  • Supports IDE/EIDE, USB, SCSI, and Fire Wire CD/DVD writers
  • Overburn function
  • Buffer underrun technology “Burn-Proof”
  • DAO, SAO and TAO Writing methods support
  • Support for CD-R / CD-RW / DVD-R / DVD+R / DVD-RW / DVD+RW / DVD-RAM
  • Create Multi-session CDs
  • Bootable CD/DVD support
  • Dynamically adjustable drive buffer size
  • High Performance File/Disc Caching
  • Supports Long File Name (Joliet) File Systems
  • Creates ISO (100% DOS/Windows) compatible data CDs/DVDs
  • Supports multiple simultaneous recorders
  • Easy to use wizards help you create any type of burning project
  • The Autorun Wizard makes it easy to create effective autoruns for your CDs
  • You can even easily make your own cover, booklet or case insert
  • Multi-language interface, of course

CDBurnerXP Pro
This is a great piece of software with a wide array of features. I am sure it will do just about everything most people would require in a CD/DVD burning application.

CDBurnerXP Pro has the following features:

Create Data-CDs/DVDs

  • burn any Data on CD-R/CD-RW/DVD+R/DVD-R/DVD+RW/DVD-RW
  • burn mp3-CDs to store many audio files on one single disc
  • create bootable discs
  • verify written Data automatically after burning process
  • use either the internal browser to add your files or the intuitive Drop-Box to drag and drop files directly from any Windows Explorer window
  • apply file filters to see only the files you need (for example *.jpg to display only JPEG files in local browser)
  • save your compilations for creation of backups
  • burn on-the-fly and with buffer-underrun protections
  • import previous (ISO 9660) sessions and edit existing file structure on CD/DVD
  • quick- and full-erase disc
  • retrieve recorder and disc information

Create Audio-CDs

  • create Audio-CDs from mp3, wav, ogg and wma* files
  • add single or multiple tracks from existing audio-CDs directly to your new compilation without ripping tracks before (add cda-files)
  • play audio-files with integrated audio player
  • gapless audio-CDs supported (disc-at-once-mode)
  • import m3u-playlists

Rip Audio-CDs

  • rip tracks from any audio-CD to wav, mp3, wma or ogg
  • download album information from online database
  • sort ripped files in subdirectory automatically (based on information you get from online database)
  • supports jitter-correction ripping modes to rip tracks from scratched CDs

ISO features

  • burn ISO files to CD
  • create your own ISO files
  • convert bin- and nrg-files to ISO

Other features

  • simple cover printing feature for Data- and Audio-CDs
  • Audio Editor
  • MP3 Tag-Editor
  • converter for audio files (wav+mp3)
  • supports most IDE, USB, Firewire and SCSI drives
  • ASPI not required for NT/2000/XP
  • integrated option to enable access to drive for restricted users
  • lots of settings to customize CDBurnerXP Pro     
  • online update

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IZArc archiver

Published on November 14, 2006 in Freeware Applications and Tools. 0 Comments

For a long time now I have been using and recommending ZipGenius as my preferred multi-format and free archiver. An archiver is what handles files with extensions such as .zip, .arc, .rar, etc..

Today I came across the free archiver from http://www.izarc.org/.

This archiver handles just about every format known to man, including .iso images and .cab files. Here’s the full list:

7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, B64, BH, BIN, BZ2, BZA, C2D, CDI, CAB, CPIO, DEB, ENC, GCA, GZ, GZA, HA, IMG, ISO, JAR, LHA, LIB, LZH, MBF, MDF, MIM, NRG, PAK, PDI, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TGZ, TZ, UUE, WAR, XXE, YZ1, Z, ZIP, ZOO

ZipGenius also handles a very comprehensive array of formats (perhaps more than IZArc). So really, at the end of the day it’s a matter of choosing which program you find easiest, quickest, and nicest to work with. I shall leave that decision in your hands.

Info on ZipGenius is available here: http://www.zipgenius.it/

Speed up Adobe Acrobat Reader

Published on November 14, 2006 in Tips & Tricks. 0 Comments

Adobe Acrobat Reader is by far the most popular PDF reading program. Some people find it quite slow to load and run. There are many others that are potentially better and quicker than Adobe Acrobat Reader, yet most people find it easier to stick with it.

If you would like to speed up the loading of Acrobat Reader you may find this tool useful. It is called Adobe Reader Speedup. You can get it from here.

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