Software Guide

[erjin999]

I use Klite exactly for that. I always install the alternatives.

So is anyone still going to produce the alternatives, as I dont want apple crap or real's bloat on my 'puter, if I can avoid it.

[Andrew]

Real alternative is still being updated and available at codecguide.com

From the front page of website:

Saturday - June 9

Some news websites have written that QTA is doomed because we removed links to it. However, we have no control over what the creators of QTA do. Even if they would decide to stop making new versions, which is likely to happen, this does not automatically mean that there won't be any trimmed down mods of QuickTime available in the future. Creating such a pack is no rocket science. So anyone with a few ounces computer skills can make something similar. In fact, many of such packs already exist.

So yes quicktime alternative might still be developed, but would have to get it from somewhere else (I'm not sure where yet).

So I migth suggest downloading a copy of the latest QTA (here) and have it installed. And wait and see if it gets updated. But update the other packages whenever they are released.

I'm gonna have to uninstall klite mega codec pack. Then install standard pack, real alt and quicktime alt separately.

[erjin999]

Yeah, headache. Thanks for the info though. I might only update it when I have to rather then now. Maybe when the codec says "update me, you lazy sod" or text to that effect!

[Andrew]

Looks like they still have mega codec pack, just removed QTA. Mega codec pack = K-Lite Codec Pack Full + Real Alternative

New versions released today

http://codecguide.com/

[Andrew]

Going to try clamwin AV since AVG won't update. Funny on the download page for clamin, it had this below download link.

It made no sense and I don't think it is some random ad, they actually put it there. Why would clamAV advertise norton antivirus with google pack?? Must have gotten money from google. Although there is no link in the advertisement so it makes no sense.

Hmm, according to wikipedia:

On March 27, 2007, Google added two new programs to the Google Pack: Spyware Doctor Special Edition and Norton Security Scan.[4] These programs are free and do not require subscription, unlike Norton AntiVirus.

So I guess everyone stopped using norton and are using free antivirus products so norton is now providing a free product to compete.

I downloaded antivir, but I will try clamav first since it is opensource.

EDIT:

While browsing clamwin website, I came upon this link:

103 Free Security Apps for Mac, Windows and Linux

Lots of links to lots of security programs.

EDIT:

Installed clamwin. Installed very quickly, no problems. Runs fine. Looks like the autoupdate will work fine (havn't seen it where it does find updates and updates itself, but I hope it is unobtrusive like avg free)

Also, hosts file was updated on June 14. I love this. no ads whatsoever. No need for special programs to get rid of ads.

If you have dialup connection I would say this is a must have to prevent all those unwanted ads wasting bandwidth.

EDIT:

Clamwin updates fine with just a simple "it has been updated" tooltip in systray

[Andrew]

After formatting my computer I thought I'd try Paint.net.

Wow, it blows GIMP away. Much better program. No errors or forgetting window sizes/positions. GIMP really needs to finish up the 2.4 release.

No problems with clamwin yet. :)

Thinking of trying nlite program

EDIT:

I'm having a problem using nlite. I keep getting this error:

I tried copying contents of my acer dvd backups to desktop and have it try it from there but still same error.

Here's the first directory of the dvd

EDIT:

Reading some of the forums, it seems I do not have the official windows cds, therefore it wont work. I guess distribution (OEM) OS won't work.

Seems that the "official" version of windows cd work fine. (why is my OEM take up a full DVD 4.44gb, where a fresh windows cd is only 700mb ? I don't think there is 3gb of crap on the dvd.)

Interesting, able to bring a 700 mb installation cd down to a 273mb cd.

[erjin999]

Paint.net is better then GIMP, eh ? I havent heard of paint.net but I have used GIMP a bit. Its ok, does the job, for reasonably simple stuff (probably does more, just I didnt need it to :P).

[Andrew]

I got fed up with GIMP. I probably should have reinstalled it. It gave me an error when starting that I had to press ok (it couldn't find a certain file). And the picture window would be on top of the tools window. When I would tell it to crop the picture the crop window would popup in front of the image window, so I would have to move the crop window to be able to select what I wanted cropped. I would have to do this with every image. Easier to crop with paint.net now.

I don't do much image editing. Just crop and resize mostly. I would use microsoft paint, but the zoom ability in it is no good, so I cant crop large scanned 300dpi images.

I might switch back to gimp when they release 2.4 since it will have lots of changes.

[erjin999]

I had that problem with the missing files with many files and then realised that it doesnt like installing from anything but an admin account, using that solved the problems for me.

[Andrew]

Looks like utorrent 1.7 will be released within a month is my guess (probably a week at the rate of releases).

They are on release candidate 5.

The changelog for 1.7 series is large. Go the to announcements forum and one of the stickies has the info. (I'd post a link but I'm using anonymous proxy since keyword 'torrent' is blocked)

[erjin999]

Andrew, when is that going to be sorted ?  :-X

[Andrew]

utorrent 1.7 has been released.

utorrent.com

[erjin999]

Thatsnk, utorrent is the best one out there for me at the moment. Super light weight and easy to use.

[Andrew]

Yah it is great. I got lots of use out of it when I had 10megabit connection. Lots of gb of bandwidth over a 3 month period. mmm. Enough data to last me over this summer. Now it doesn't get used at all because of my regular ISP. Still better than dialup.

Don't forget to use folders in it, they are great. Had a friend tell me how to use utorrent properly.

[erjin999]

Folders ?  :O

[Andrew]

omg, yes folders!

omg, I cant download it anywheres. someone please upload latest utorrent to fed2k. Then I can explain everything.

(the install version)

EDIT:

Nevermind, after trying dozens of web proxys one eventually allowed downloading of the file.

Append label to folder option. Make labels, and when you download stuff, put them to certain labels, and it will put the completed downloads to the label folders. that way all your downloads are sorted to specific folders. easier to find what you download. Say make a label "linux", or "software", "public" etc so when you download certain stuff it goes to certain folder. I used labels for download sites, that way I know what went where.

Damn I forget to backup the settings from before I formatted. There is also a cache setting that you can change to prevent it from writing to the hard disk all the time (increase it).

Also disable DHT network settings. Most places do not allow it.

Depending on your internet speed, you can tweak the number of connections to be perfect.

Also, get LvlLord. After winxp SP2 they changed number of half connections to 10 (it was 65,000 before that!) to prevent viruses from spreading so fast. Use hte program and change it to either default program 50, or whatever number you want (maybe 100). When I was using utorrent lots, I would get ~10 half connections at max at any given time. putting it to 50 is a safe bet. Also change 1/2 connection option in advanced options in utorrent to say 15.

Put in the labels you will always be using here:

When you download a torrent and the download box pops up, you can sleect the appropriate label from the label dropdown box. This sorts your torrents in utorrent along with where you download your torrents to. Once you get used to it it makes life a lot easier.

Also ENABLE protocol encryption!!!!!!!

EDIT:

QT lite has been released to take over quicktime alternative. I havnt tried it yet, but since it is only 1 mb less than QTA, I am presuming it does a similar job. I like most about QTA is the option to download quicktime files to view later instead of stream in browser. At least I get this option when viewing HD trailers.

I got bored and installed QT lite. So far so good. I think the only difference is that is is not registered like other version which was the pro version. Tried two different quicktime files and they both worked the same way they did with QTA.

Yep, similar thing except not the 'pro' version of quicktime. Might as well wait until a couple new versions come out before switching.

[erjin999]

Thanks for the guide there, I never really checked up on what settings to enable!

Very handy ;).

[Andrew]

Also disable "enable peer exchange".

utorrent 1.7.1 has been released to fix a single bug.

Thunderbird 2.0.0.5 has been released.

I just fixed someone computer who had Mepis installed. Someone else installed it for them. Maybe linux is getting more popular? Mepis was definitely not a good linux distro to use though since it is very cluttered (It was last Septembers release). Not very good for an older person to use.

[Andrew]

Sumatra PDF just released new version.

version history

Will have to wait until the end of this year whether to switch to it.

Since it is open source, and has just moved the code to google code, it will most likely be a big contender for pdf readers on windows.

[Andrew]

Seems that Free Download Manager went open source last month. They changed the look of their website to be more modern. New version was released.

I only install it when I need to download large files (100mb+) to insure I get the file downloaded (then I uninstall it). Otherwise Firefox will handle smaller files. The new version is 5 mb, whereas before it was only 1.5mb because of new features. You can still download the lite version which does not support the new features.

http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/

Foxit reader released a new version. Lots of changes in latest release.

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

Keep your eyes open for a completely rewritten ccleaner in the coming weeks and 0.7 Miranda IM.

EDIT:

If you've downloaded Free download manager lately, it seems they keep releasing bugfix releases (at least according to betanews).

[Andrew]

Just a heads up that openoffice 2.3 RC has been released.

The changelog is big.

[Andrew]

Openoffice 2.3 is supposed to be officially released tomorrow.

EDIT:

It has been released

http://www.openoffice.org/

It seems to start faster on my computer (just as fast as MS office). I do have the quickstarter (systray) disabled as well. There are some tutorials out there to speed it up. One of them that I did is disable java. tools->options->openoffice.org->java->uncheck "use JRE".

here is one result Google found. Starts for me in 1.5 seconds.

Although if you disable java, some things don't work. here is a short list. Nothing too important. You can enable it when you do need it. wiki article about java dependencies.

EDIT:

Also new quick time alternative has been released here

[Andrew]

After 3 years CD Burner XP Pro has released a new version.

http://cdburnerxp.se/

I hope it works good. They reduced the filesize from 12 mb to only 2 mb. Seems like they got rid of lots of stuff in it and just focused on being able to burn stuff. There is virtually no other free cd burning software out there.

If anyone tries it let me know.

[erjin999]

I used to use it loads before. It was great, didnt realised there was no update for 3 years!

Only problem can be hardware compatability.

[Andrew]

GIMP 2.4 has been released. It has been almost 3 years since 2.2 was released.