Sarasota PC Monitor

Review Chairmans Industry Comments (5/06)

The Computer Buffet

by Herb Goldstein, Review Editor

E-mail comments, suggestions, etc. to Herb Goldstein at: revieweditor@spcug.org

JOIN "THE HOT LINE" E-MAIL about your computer-related experiences, bad or good and we will share it with our readers in a new section of the Computer Buffet entitled, "The Hot Line." Tell us about some computer software or hardware issue that either gave you ulcers or made your day. How about the service from your Internet service provider? Are you happy with your new computer? What about service-related issues? We will include your name or just your initials, your choice. Your opinions and experiences can be of valued interest to our readers. Send them to editor@spcug.org Let's hear from You!

HERE'S A BELL RINGER! It's a list of companies, banks, services, etc. and what you have to press on your phone to get a live person and avoid all the frustrating and annoying announcements and propaganda before you can get there. Print it out, keep it handy, and reduce your blood pressure by at least 10 points or more. www.gethuman.com/us/

MEDIACODER is a universal audio/video batch transcoder, combining many audio/video codecs and tools from the open source community into an all-in-one solution, capable of transcoding between formats. Device conversions, ripping tools, audio extraction, and more. Support for AVI, MPEG, MP4, PMP, H.264, XviD, DivX, MP3, AAC, WMA, FLAC, APE and WAV. http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net

UPLOAD EXPRESS provides FTP functions via the Windows Explorer right-click menu. Configure multiple FTP upload locations in the application menu, right-click a file, and automatically upload the file to your selected destination. A currently undocumented plugin architecture provides an interface for adding addition features to extend Upload Express. Supports ImageShack Upload in addition to traditional FTP. http://www.killcode.com

TEST YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION SPEED. The CNET Bandwidth Meter speed test will check the bandwidth of your Internet connection against top DSL, cable modem, and other broadband services. The bandwidth test is as easy as 1, 2, 3." http://reviews.cnet.com/7004-7254_7-0.html?tag=nl.e404

WINDOWS VISTA COMING IN 6 FLAVORS. Microsoft's new operating system, Vista, is scheduled for release in the in the beginning of January. It will probably have six core editions, four aimed at consumers and two aimed at the enterprise. The consumer editions are Windows Vista Starter, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, and Windows Vista Ultimate; the business editions are Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise.

  1. Windows Starter 2007 (Previously Windows Vista Starter Edition). This version does not use the Vista branding because it will not include the Aero graphics display found in the Vista line of products, and will only ship in a 32-bit version.
  2. Windows Vista Home Basic (and Home Basic N). A simple version of Windows Vista that is aimed at single PC homes. Windows Vista Home Basic is the baseline version of Windows Vista, and the version that all other product editions will build from. Home

Basic N is aimed at the EU and will lack Windows Media Player.

3. Windows Vista Home Premium. Whole home entertainment and personal productivity throughout the home and on the go. As a true superset of Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium Edition will include everything from Home Basic, as well as Media Center and Media Center Extender functionality (including Cable Card support).

4. Windows Vista Business (and Business N) (Previously Windows Vista Professional Edition). Windows Vista Business is roughly analogous to XP Pro today. This version is aimed at business decision makers and IT managers and generalists. Business N is aimed at the EU and will lack Windows Media Player.

5. Windows Vista Enterprise. Optimized for the enterprise, this version will be a true superset of Windows Vista Pro Edition. It will also include unique features such as Virtual PC, the multi-language user interface (MUI), and the Secure Startup/full volume encryption security technologies ("Cornerstone"). There is no analogous XP version for this product.

6. Windows Vista Ultimate. The best operating system ever offered for a personal PC, optimized for the individual. Windows Vista Ultimate Edition is a superset of both Vista Home Premium and Vista Business, so it includes all of the features of both of those product versions, plus other features.

FIREFOX 2 COMING SOON. Mozilla, which plans to ship the next major update, Firefox 2.0, by early in the third quarter, is concentrating on adding features and improvements to make sure that its browser stays ahead of Microsoft and will include more features that the user will see. Firefox 2.0's development roadmap lists the main feature updates and additions, and their priorities. Among those at the top are redesigns of the browser's bookmark and history system, security enhancements to extensions, the popular plug-ins, search engine improvements, and changes to the tab-based user interface.

WINDOWS DISK MANAGEMENT TOOL. Fred Langa reminds us that Windows' little-known, built-in Disk Management tool lets you create, format or delete partitions or drives; change drive letter assignments and paths; set up disk mirroring and RAID; and so on. This free tool lets you do most of the basic tasks that many people buy third-party tools for- software like Partition Magic, BootitNG, and Acronis Disk Director. The Windows Disk Management tool even gives you one-click access to defrag and chkdsk for all the drives or partitions on your system, without having to use Windows Explorer to open each one in sequence. And it's available in all normal versions of XP (and a very similar tool is available in Win2K). For step-by-step instructions on using the Disk Management Tool, illustrated with many screen-shots, click over to Fred Langa's column in Information Week at www.information week.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID = 180207718

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES AND BACKUPS. Far and away, the best medium for doing backups is an external USB or firewire connected hard drive. It not only provides the capacity you need, but you can disconnect it readily from your computer making it independent from any catastrophe that may effect your computer. They come in a wide range of capacities and are quite reasonably affordable.

TRACK DOWN RESOURCE HOGS. Whenever Windows 2000 and XP run out of system resources, they start to misbehave. Symptoms include the inability to open new windows, and the failure of menus to display.

To find the resource hogs, right-click the taskbar and choose Task Manager. Click the Processes tab to see the programs and services that Windows is running. To get more information on each process, choose View, Select Columns to customize the Processes display. Check the items you think will help you track down the process gobblers. For example, you'll certainly want to keep Memory Usage checked (it should be selected by default). Another useful item is Handle Count. Handles are values Windows assigns to identify various resources that applications use; the Handle Count gives you a sense of how many resources each process is using.

Once you've made your category selections, click OK. Monitor the processes that are using the most memory, handles, and such hardware resources as CPU usage. However, you'll rarely if ever need to end an SVCHOST, Services, or other Windows process, most of which the OS needs to run properly. For more information, read about and download the free Process Explorer utility: www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23780,tk,srxdwn,00.asp

MEMORY STATUS. As programs, games and even shareware evolves and grows, so too do their file sizes. Memory Status takes the guess work out of wondering whether that new game or program you got for the holidays will fit on your computer. The aptly named Memory Status displays your system's memory status and your system's CPU usage. But this program is more than a fuel gauge for your system. It automatically frees memory no longer used by Windows so programs start faster and run more efficiently.

Other features let you deal with memory allocation and more. Easy install and, as you'd expect, takes up little system memory. www.quicksoftware.net/

SPACEMONGER is a tool for keeping track of the free space on your computer (Thanks to member Aaron Watkins for this tip) . Each file or folder on a given drive is displayed in a box in the main window whose size is a relative comparison to all the other files in your system. So, for example, if the "Windows" box takes up 90% of the screen, the "C:\Windows" folder and all its sub-folders and files are taking up 90% of your "C:" drive. www.werkema.com/software/spacemonger.html/

AN EXCELLENT MEDICAL RESOURCE. The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy is a doctor-trusted medical resource. And you can access it online to read up on conditions and treatment. www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/home.jsp

OPEN FILES WITH ONE CLICK. If you can do the same thing in Windows with a single click of the mouse that you can do with two clicks, you'd take the shorter route, right? To take the one-click path:

  1. Click the Start menu and then My Computer.
  2. Click Tools and then Folder Options.
  3. Select the General tab, choose Single-click to open an item (point to select), and then click OK.

COMODO BACKUP. Losing your valuable files through accidental deletion, hard drive crashes or virus attacks can be devastating. Whether it's the priceless collection of family photographs; the college thesis you've been slaving over or the entire accounts database - data loss always carries a disastrously high cost in time, money and stress. Of course, making regular backup copies of your files is a good idea - you'd do it if you knew where to begin, right? What if we told you there's a free, simple to use program that allows you to create, schedule and run your own backups 5 minutes after you've downloaded it? Just pick your source and destination folders, pick the times you want it to run and you're set. From now on, if your data gets lost, damaged or deleted you can quickly recover it at the touch of a button.

Comodo BackUp is suitable for both beginners and experienced users alike and is completely free of charge.

Features include complete file and folder duplication to local / network drives, FTP servers and CD/DVD re-writers; intelligent incremental backups; e-mail reporting; extensive report logs; real time back ups with 'synchronization' mode; advanced rule-based filtering; flexible scheduling of backups; space-saving archiving capabilities and more. www.backup.comodo.com/

WINDOWS LIVE SEARCH BETA. Live Search is one of a string of "Live" products from Microsoft, this one being a Google competitor. It's worth a try. Find just the information you're looking for, no matter where it lives. Windows Live Search beta gives you instant answers in search categories like maps, images and more. And you won't have to click through dozens of pages to see your results-they're all presented on one clean, easy-to-read page.

What you will be able to do with it: Search a wide range of sources including the Web, news, local information, images and feeds. Search the Web or get answers about places in your area, including detailed maps-right from your cell phone. Easy integration with your live.com homepage-save your searches and see them updated automatically. www.live.com

LOWER YOUR FPL BILL! A typical 150-watt PC consumes about 876 kilowatt hours per year. At an electric rate of 10 cents per kWh, that's $87.60 a year, before taxes and fees! Your system draws almost as much power when it's in standby mode with a screen saver active as it does when you're using it. By turning off your PC and peripherals when they're idle, and by employing power management while they're on, you can cut energy consumption dramatically. Save money and avoid computer problems by using the HIBERNATE setting on your power management/shutdown menu when you will be away from your computer for an hour or more. On "hibernate" your computer is off but retains your complete last settings so it will restart very quickly to exactly wherever you were before hibernating, as opposed to a complete shutdown. Never leave your computer on overnight!

HYPERWORDS is a Firefox and Flock add-on that turns every word into a hyperlink. When you double-click any word, Hyperwords pops up a menu of related items: searches, definitions, maps, shopping, and more. If you want to select a two-word phrase, like a name, double-click between them to search for that string. When the menu pops up, click the menu item that interests you to get more information. Hyperwords can search sites like Dictionary.com, Flickr, Slashdot, Yahoo Maps, and more. Additional functions include blog posting and translation. www.hyperwords.net/

FREE TECH SUPPORT. protonic.com is an online community that provides technical support to computer users for free. They prefer to call their users "Clients," because they have the philosophy that, despite their service being free, you should still receive the highest quality technical support. Each protonic.com support Technician is a volunteer. They have been featured in many media publications including USA Weekend, Yahoo! Internet Life and .net magazine. If you have a computer problem anything from hardware to HTML problems - then submit your question to them for help! They support nearly everything: PCs, Macs, Unix and PDAs.

PHOTOCLEANER lets you employ a plethora of touch up and clean up techniques to your photos by simply dragging and dropping. Like a car wash for your photos, PhotoCleaner automatically performs a sequence of operations to clean up and correct general photo problems, such as dullness or color shift. If you want more control, PhotoCleaner lets you manually select the processes you want it to perform, or leave it on automatic and let it do its thing. It also includes a batch mode setting for running multiple photos through the virtual wash. www.photocleaner.com/

SPYWALL ANTI-SPYWARE. Your Web browser is your window to the Internet, but spyware can punch it full of holes. SpyWall Anti-Spyware is a browser firewall that is designed to prevent spyware from entering your PCs. It also clams to block ill-intended ActiveX controls and Java scripts from taking hold of your system. With SpyWall Anti-Spyware, you can choose three levels of trust for each Web site, from "anything goes" to browsing only to fully blocked. You can also block downloads by file type. In addition, SpyWall Anti-Spyware scans your PC for existing spyware and removes it. www.trlokom.com/

EASIER TRANSFERS COMING. Microsoft Corp. today announced it has acquired Apptimum Inc., which provides award-winning products that automatically transfer customers' applications to new computers. Microsoft plans to use the acquired intellectual property and technology assets to provide customers of Microsoftr Windowsr with the tools they need to simplify the transfer of their applications to their new computers. The technology acquired from Apptimum is expected to be a strong complement to the transfer experience offered in Windows VistaT later this year.

THE NEW PEACHPIT 2006 CATALOG. Their 80 page color print catalog of Adobe and other software books and manuals is now available at www.peachpit.com/pdfcatalog.

STUDIOLINE PHOTO is a powerful and easy-to-use management and editing software for digital photos. Images can be imported from camera, scanner and all popular file formats. The image archive is the central database where you conveniently categorize your images and add keywords and descriptions. Standard IPTC and Exif tags are fully supported. 30 professional image tools are included to improve exposure problems, red-eye effects, color tones, etc. Photos can be printed, emailed or uploaded as web galleries. CD/DVD writing is included. www.studioline.biz

FOLDERSYNC synchronizes files between any two folders on your computer and your portable drive. This sync tool checks two different directories for new files and for changes to old ones. FolderSync can synchronize the files so that both directories have the same contents. FolderSync can also create a binary patch file of the changed and new files. According to the author, applying the patch file to the old directory makes the files in the old and new directory identical. www.kalab.com/freeware/index.html

MVIEW SE is a small footprint audio and video player. Minimal interface uses few resources. Support for all audio and video file types with the correct codecs installed. All controls have keyboard shortcuts like P for Play and Pause, S for Stop and O to Open files. Drag and drop support for quick media playback. Built in sound recording. Multiple instance support for playing back two or more files at the same time. www.manuontheweb.com/mview/help.htm

EASY CD & DVD COVER CREATOR is CD labelling software you can use to design and print your CD, DVD, and Console covers quickly and easily. Includes templates for cd and dvd labels plus case inserts, for both standard and slimline cd and dvd cases. Can be used for Console games such as the Xbox, 360, Playstation, PS2 and Gamecube. This software comes with a full help file for your reference. www.easycoverdesign.com

MEDIAINFO is an audio and video codec and tag identifier for finding which application or coded iis required to playback a specific media file. MediaInfo provides details about a both video and audio details, including an tag information. Links are provided to Web locations for download of most video codecs and applications. File data is exportable in a variety of formats including CSV, text and HTML. http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en

BACKUP AND RECOVER OUTLOOK EXPRESS DATA. Here's some handy info direct from Microsoft to help you in applying some of the essential functions in the most commonly used email application, Outlook Express: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270670

FLASHGOT. Download file managers help you download files faster and without fuss. But Firefox users get frustrated because most download managers work only with Windows Explorer. If you use Firefox, Mozilla, or any of their relatives, you can improve file download speed with FlashGot. This Firefox extension works with existing download managers to make them work with Firefox. Supported download managers include Free Download Manager, FlashGet, Internet Download Manager, Mass Downloader, and Net Transport, among others. www.flashgot.net/whats

FIREFOX USERS will get some very useful info on making Firefox run faster and better by going to http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10165_7-6212515-1.html?tag=nl.e404

VISTA DELAYED. Microsoft's new operating system, Vista, originally scheduled for release in late 06 has been delayed until the first quarter of 07. If your PC is on its last legs and you (or a friend) are comfortable installing an operating system, you need not wait for Vista's eventual release before buying a new PC. Plus, nothing says this latest delay will be the last. To ensure that the PC you buy today will run Vista when it's released, familiarize yourself with the suspected requirements. Microsoft has yet to finalize the requirements for Vista, but this page on its site offers some guidance. From what we've heard, to run Vista, your PC should feature a 64-bit processor on a current chipset, a bare minimum of 512MB of memory (though 1GB is a safer bet), and a DirectX 9-class graphics card (or an open x16 PCI Express slot for a future graphics upgrade).

END OF SUPPORT FOR WINDOWS 98 AND WINDOWS ME. Effective July 11, 2006, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me will transition to a non-supported status. After this date, Microsoft will no longer provide any incident support options or security updates. Existing support documents, however, will continue to be available through the Microsoft Support Product Solution Center Web site.

CLEAR YOUR TEMPORARY FILES AUTOMATICALLY If you're really serious about keeping people out of your browsing business, you can automatically delete your cached files every time you close your browser. To do this:

  1. In Internet Explorer, open the Tools menu and click Internet Options.
  2. Click the Advanced tab in the dialog box.
  3. Scroll to Security and select the Empty temporary Internet files folder when browser is closed checkbox, and then click Apply.

Now, every time you close your browser, your cached files are automatically deleted.

AIRDEFENSE PERSONAL. Your free-wheeling, laptop-toting life shouldn't throw your data into harm's way. AirDefense Personal lets you know when your PC's data is at risk. This software agent lets you know when you connect your PC to an insecure network or to a hotspot that hasn't been declared safe. It works with-although it doesn't require-other AirDefense programs, such as AirDefense Personal Central Manager and AirDefense Enterprise Wireless Intrusion Prevention System. www.airdefense.net/products/adpersonal/trial.php

PHOTOCLEANER lets you employ a plethora of touch up and clean up techniques to your photos by simply dragging and dropping. Like a car wash for your photos, PhotoCleaner automatically performs a sequence of operations to clean up and correct general photo problems, such as dullness or color shift. If you want more control, PhotoCleaner lets you manually select the processes you want it to perform, or leave it on automatic and let it do its thing. It also includes a batch mode setting for running multiple photos through the virtual wash. www.photocleaner.com/

GOODSYNC uses an innovative synchronization algorithm to synchronize your data between desktop PCs, laptops, USB drives and more. GoodSync combines bulletproof reliability with an extremely easy to use interface. Most synchronization software claim to synchronize your files, but many simply copy from place to place. GoodSync offers true bi-directional synchronization, which prevents deletion of files and data loss. www.goodsync.com/

PANOPTICON EXPLORER .NET LEARNING EDITION. If staring at a spreadsheet makes your eyes cross, try looking at your data a different way. Panopticon Explorer .NET converts data into colorful treemaps, graphic representations that can show you the most important information at a glance. You can set the program to represent one metric by size and another by color, and then watch your data convert to a graphical format. A quick look shows you that the items with the strongest color and largest size are the strongest in the qualities you specified. Mouseovers give more specifics.

Panopticon Explorer .NET's highly customizable views let you look at your data in a number of different ways-several colors at once, for instance. If one view doesn't show what you need to know, you can reassign a color or size to a different metric.

You can save the graphics in several formats to add to slides or printouts. This edition is free for individuals and nonprofits. www.panopticon.com/panopticon/Page?id=41

GIMP, a Photoshop substitute is a freely distributed piece of software suitable for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring. It is a powerful piece of software with capabilities not found in any other free software product.

It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert-quality photo-retouching program, an online batch-processing system, a mass production image renderer, or an image-format converter.

GIMP is modular, expandable, and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image-manipulation procedures to be easily scripted. http://gimp.org

FOXIT READER. Adobe Reader isn't your only option for viewing PDF files. FoxIt Reader is a free utility that includes some tools that Adobe Reader lacks, including a "typewriter" tool that lets you type text in any PDF, not just files that have been set

with form fields. FoxIt launches very quickly (in about 1 second) and it requires no installation-you just run the executable file. It allows you open, view, print, and change the page layout in PDF files. www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

PDF CREATOR is a free printer driver that lets you create PDF files from within most Windows applications. Once PDF Creator is installed, you can use it from within your applications. If you are working in Microsoft Word, for example, you select Print and then choose PDF Creator as your printer. We found it to offer a wide range of options for controlling the output, and it even creates password-protected PDF files, so you can limit users' ability to print, copy, or modify the documents. http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator

DOWNLOAD ACCELERATOR PLUS. With more than 115 million registered users worldwide, Download Accelerator Plus (DAP) is the world's most popular download manager. It leverages patented technology, ease of use, and rich features including multi-connections for optimal downloads from most responsive servers, automatic recovery from lost connections and errors, AlwaysResume (when standard resume is not supported), scheduling, and automatic hang-ups. DAP integrates with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, and other browsers, and is available in 10 languages. It also is 100 percent spyware-free and enjoys industry-wide recognition from Norton, Ad-Aware, eTrust PestPatrol, Spyware Doctor, and McAfee. Version 8 brings you enhanced privacy with file shredder and trace cleaner, improved algorithms for higher download speeds, redesigned friendly and clean interface, and weekly most popular downloads from fileratings.com. www.speedbit.com

DBPOWERAMP MUSIC CONVERTER 11.5. Often called the Swiss army knife of audio, dMC can digitally rip sound from audio CDs to a multitude of formats. Convert from one format to another while preserving ID tags. Nearly every audio type is supported, including MP3, MP4, Windows Media Audio (WMA), OGG Vorbis, AAC, Monkey's Audio, and FLAC (with optional installs from Codec Central). Windows Explorer integration. Right-click convert to and pop-up information for audio files (such as bit rate and length). Record from LPs with auxiliary input. Version 11.5 updates MP3 decoder: freeform MP3 files supported, correct reading of all MP2 and MP1 files. Lame MP3 tag reading (will show profile used or encode in pop-up information). MP3 lame compression self converts incoming data to correct format (i.e. MP3 is only 2 channel, might be passing 6 channel audio) shouldn't now be possible to get an MP3 encoder to fail. www.dbpoweramp.com

WEATHERBUG. Millions of people rely on the WeatherBug application for accurate U.S. weather, forecasts, radar, severe weather alerts, and traffic. The program is light and spyware free and reports weather from a private U.S. network of 8,000 weather stations that stream weather information directly to users. While most weather sources provide weather that is often hours old and from stations located at local airports, WeatherBug streams up-to-the-moment weather data from stations that are usually a short distance from most users locations. www.weatherbug.com

7-ZIP is a free utility for creating compressed archives. It supports the following formats for packing and unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, and TAR. For unpacking only, it supports RAR, CAB, ARJ, LZH, CHM, Z, CPIO, RPM, and DEB, the vendor says. It also features an integrated file manager and a self-extracting capability for files in the 7z format. www.7-zip.org/ SAFE VS. BAD WEBSITES. If you give a Web site your e-mail address, will you get spammed? Can you safely download files from a site you just found? Will clicking a search-result link dazzle you with endless pop-ups? The free SiteAdvisor add-in for Internet Explorer and Firefox answers these questions and more. It gives every site a good/bad rating and backs up its analysis with a wealth of data. Keep in mind, of course, that even with a good rating, a site could be dangerous in a way SiteAdvisor doesn't test-but a bad rating definitely means trouble. www.siteadvisor.com :

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Copyright 2006. This article is from the May 2006 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/

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