I never really liked movies that had tons of sequels (see The Police Academy 1-10 or what ever )
And I believe that the maximum limit should be 3(three). Like "The Matrix" or "Lord of the rings".
Therefore this should be the last part of the rather lengthy article and should be rather short because I am not going to debate about why one is bad and the other is good. Just a few words about some other useful pieces of software.
Let's get this going with:
CCleaner: formerly known as 'Crap Cleaner': his objective is to get rid of unnecessary files, broken registries , temporally files etc. - cleans your pc.
Daemon Tools: the virtual cd/dvd emulator; pretty popular not much to say;
Dev-C++: free C++ compiler probably not the best there is, but it's free so stop complaining :P
RivaTuner: one of the best tweaking utility for you gpu.
Joost: if watching tv over the internet is you thing, then this should be your software.
Fraps: use it if you would like to see how well does you gpu in games. measures low/high/average fps in you 3d-aplication; also you can use it to make an in-game video.
Well that pretty much sums up most of the software I currently use. Sure, there are other that I like such as Adobe Photoshop but that far from being free! You could use Gimp if you want to...
End of part III and of the article.
V
vineri, 15 februarie 2008
Free World (part II)
Here we are, at the second part of this article. In the previous one I have talked about what I programs I chose for my notebook, referring to antiviruses, firewalls, torrent clients, office suite, e-mail clients and web browsers.
The first category I am going to discuss today is media player. Many programs are out there and more importantly, too many codecs. You see, when a digital file is made (movies for example) a certain codec is used to compress, encrypt and transmit the file. Therefore, when someone other than the one who created that file wants to see it, he or she would need that specific codec and, as I said there are many options out there.
Hence it is not wise to download each and every one you need, not long ago people looked for what there were called 'codecs packs' like for example "Ace Mega Codec Pack". But still, the amount of codecs were overwhelming and many users had problems in either viewing or maintaining their computers stable. It then arrived ffdshow which is a decoder and an encoder for mpeg4 video( encoded in Divx, xvid) and AVC (h.264) and many others.
Moreover, in this high definition world many people suggest the combining ffdshow with media player classic is the best way of viewing an HD video.
The first category I am going to discuss today is media player. Many programs are out there and more importantly, too many codecs. You see, when a digital file is made (movies for example) a certain codec is used to compress, encrypt and transmit the file. Therefore, when someone other than the one who created that file wants to see it, he or she would need that specific codec and, as I said there are many options out there.
Hence it is not wise to download each and every one you need, not long ago people looked for what there were called 'codecs packs' like for example "Ace Mega Codec Pack". But still, the amount of codecs were overwhelming and many users had problems in either viewing or maintaining their computers stable. It then arrived ffdshow which is a decoder and an encoder for mpeg4 video( encoded in Divx, xvid) and AVC (h.264) and many others.
Moreover, in this high definition world many people suggest the combining ffdshow with media player classic is the best way of viewing an HD video.
However, I have made another choice -> VLC Media Player.
It comes with many free codecs, it is pretty light and it is cross-platform. Practically, you download it, install it and watch every movie, video clip etc you want.I've been using it for some time now and have never been disappointed.
Every once in a while, everybody has to deal with an archive. Like movies, those files from the archives were compressed using a specific algorithm. Therefore, the other person has to use the same algorithm so that it can open it (this was 'encryption 101'). One of the most popular solutions out there is WinRar. However, it is not freeware. You only have a 30-day trial period. It is true that after that period you can still used it: you just have to press 'close' every time you open it.Therefore many users have nothing against doing this so many continue to use it. But, it is not legal. The alternative is called 7-zip. For any common user that does not depend on a specific format or basically on archiving as best as one could, almost any tool is good as long as it is not bloatware and supports a decent amount of formats.
People love to communicate. And the internet gave us this opportunity. Besides sending e-mails, most of us now send instant messages. To do that, of course, you need a client. Choosing what client is best for you is mostly a task of knowing what protocol you are using.
Me for example, I am using Yahoo!. Therefore I can either use their very own client called Yahoo! Messenger or I can use Trillian or Pidgin (formely Gaim) which support more than one protocol. The downside is that they do not support all the features a protocol has. In other words, while two people who are using Y!M can video-chat, two people who are not, can't. Even if one has it, they both need to have the same client so that it would work. Almost forgot, there is a webiste called 'ebuddy' I believe on which you can also connect on your favorite network without having to download any software. Currently, I am using an preview version of Yahoo! Messenger for Vista. It does not have all the features like audio or video chat but I'm sure in the end they will be supported.
Also, most of my audio communication through the internet is made using Skype. It certainly does not need any introduction from me.
The next software is used for making dvds or cds. Not literally of course, I am referring to writing data on them. For that you will need a burning software. The most popular solution out there is Nero. I know, it is not freeware but since I received a disc with a licensed Nero on it I am sure as hell I'm not going to miss it. However, it seems that in the last few edition, Ahead(the company behind this product) decided to make it VERY bloatware. luckily, you have a change to fix this. While installing, choose the Custom option and deselect whatever you don't need. I also noticed that the burning software that comes with Vista is pretty good so not many worries here ;)
It seems that the power grid failed (AGAIN). Fortunate for me I was writing this from the notebook which has it's battery full so I can finish up.
End of part II.
V
It comes with many free codecs, it is pretty light and it is cross-platform. Practically, you download it, install it and watch every movie, video clip etc you want.I've been using it for some time now and have never been disappointed.
Every once in a while, everybody has to deal with an archive. Like movies, those files from the archives were compressed using a specific algorithm. Therefore, the other person has to use the same algorithm so that it can open it (this was 'encryption 101'). One of the most popular solutions out there is WinRar. However, it is not freeware. You only have a 30-day trial period. It is true that after that period you can still used it: you just have to press 'close' every time you open it.Therefore many users have nothing against doing this so many continue to use it. But, it is not legal. The alternative is called 7-zip. For any common user that does not depend on a specific format or basically on archiving as best as one could, almost any tool is good as long as it is not bloatware and supports a decent amount of formats.
People love to communicate. And the internet gave us this opportunity. Besides sending e-mails, most of us now send instant messages. To do that, of course, you need a client. Choosing what client is best for you is mostly a task of knowing what protocol you are using.
Me for example, I am using Yahoo!. Therefore I can either use their very own client called Yahoo! Messenger or I can use Trillian or Pidgin (formely Gaim) which support more than one protocol. The downside is that they do not support all the features a protocol has. In other words, while two people who are using Y!M can video-chat, two people who are not, can't. Even if one has it, they both need to have the same client so that it would work. Almost forgot, there is a webiste called 'ebuddy' I believe on which you can also connect on your favorite network without having to download any software. Currently, I am using an preview version of Yahoo! Messenger for Vista. It does not have all the features like audio or video chat but I'm sure in the end they will be supported.
Also, most of my audio communication through the internet is made using Skype. It certainly does not need any introduction from me.
The next software is used for making dvds or cds. Not literally of course, I am referring to writing data on them. For that you will need a burning software. The most popular solution out there is Nero. I know, it is not freeware but since I received a disc with a licensed Nero on it I am sure as hell I'm not going to miss it. However, it seems that in the last few edition, Ahead(the company behind this product) decided to make it VERY bloatware. luckily, you have a change to fix this. While installing, choose the Custom option and deselect whatever you don't need. I also noticed that the burning software that comes with Vista is pretty good so not many worries here ;)
It seems that the power grid failed (AGAIN). Fortunate for me I was writing this from the notebook which has it's battery full so I can finish up.
End of part II.
V
New keyboard
I recently bought a new keyboard. Actually I was forced to because in the past, I owned a Logitech MX5000. Keyboard and Mouse connected to a bluetooth 2.0 hub. However. I received another mouse, the new G5 from Logitech(wired, gaming mouse). I couldn't say no, so I had to 'retire' the one from the kit.
So there I was, with one keyboard and two mices. I couldn't let go of the wired one so...I had to buy a new keyboard.
There it is! It is the Logitech's G15. I also liked the first version but it had a couple of flaws that bothered me. This one doesn't. I like it very much and the only small problem I have is with one small applet which doesn't work very well with Vista, yet. I fired up Command & Conquer: Tiberium War and it was niiice :D (btw, I heard Red Alert 3 is coming,yupi!)
Although, at first my folks were agains the idea, after I showed it to them, they changed their mind.
Now, all that that I have to do is to sell the other kit and after I'm back from the holiday I can start doing some serious damage >:).
V
So there I was, with one keyboard and two mices. I couldn't let go of the wired one so...I had to buy a new keyboard.
There it is! It is the Logitech's G15. I also liked the first version but it had a couple of flaws that bothered me. This one doesn't. I like it very much and the only small problem I have is with one small applet which doesn't work very well with Vista, yet. I fired up Command & Conquer: Tiberium War and it was niiice :D (btw, I heard Red Alert 3 is coming,yupi!)
Although, at first my folks were agains the idea, after I showed it to them, they changed their mind.
Now, all that that I have to do is to sell the other kit and after I'm back from the holiday I can start doing some serious damage >:).
V
joi, 14 februarie 2008
Free World (part I)
As promised, I am now going the write about what happened after my Microsoft Office 2007 license expired. I decided it was time to go legal(again). Why again? Because my pc is full with licensed software, licensed games and freeware. Now it was time to do the same thing again. The only difference here was that now, I had no funds available to buy anything. Therefore, except for Windows, every other software should be free.
The first thing I started with was protection software. Since Vista is now far better when comes to security than XP, I've done some research and it seems that, if one is behind a router, you set its' firewall and combined with the one build in vista that's all you need. (from a firewall point of view).
Next up, antivirus. unfortunately, there are not many options out there. I've used AVG, Avast, Bitdefender free edition and one or two others, all of them, of course, vista compatible.
The one that eventually remained in here was AVG. Not many reasons here, it just seemed best for me. Note to everybody else, the best protection is yourself! If you stay low, do not enter suspicious sites or download strange files you will be most of the time safe no matter if you have or don't have an antivirus installed.
It's time for firewalls. Again, not many free options here. I will start with Zone Alarm. At the end of the installation process I received a blue screen(it was the second time in 'it's' life I've seen one.
After rebooting in windows, it seemed that the installation actually finished. The application worked and started asking questions(that is what a firewall does :) ). However, being concerned because of the bsod and since I really did not liked the interface, of it went. Next up was Comodo, an application that I dealt with in the past. I liked the interface then, I liked it now, I knew how to adjust it so that it wont bother me too much and also to work with my torrent client so...it stayed!
Moving on to torrent clients since I mentioned it: In this domain I can say there are a lot more options. For me, there were only two: Azureus or utorrent. I choose utorrent because one, this IS a notebook and two, Azureus is already installed on my pc so a new software to deal with seemed a lot more fun.
Next up, office platform. We all need to write a letter or a C.V using a more powerfull text editor that notepad, make spreadsheets, presentations etc. Therefore we all need Microsoft Office! Or not :). Since I decided to play it free, I installed OpenOffice (the best alternative to the office suite for microsoft; or so some say). If it is so or not I can't tell so soon. It seems ok for now, I managed to open all the documents I had without any problems. The only issue is that this office suite doesn't come with an e-mail client like M Office does so I had to install another application.
We now arrived at e-mail clients. Up until now i only used either Microsoft Office or the web interface form Gmail. Now it was time to move. I chose the first thing that got into my hand, which was Windows Mail. It is a sort of reconfigured, redesigned and eventually renamed Outlook Express. It's ok I guess. I noticed the lack of setting any rules from a click. The option was there but a little too difficult. I wanted to try another one and I went to a very known company - Mozilla. Their e-mail client is called Thunderbird. It is pretty nice and the first thing I want to talk about is the fact that I could install add-ons. And one particular that I liked it was the one that minimized it to tray so it would stay there after I close it and continue to check for new e-mails and notify me accordingly. Great tool.
The 'perfect companion', or so their 'parents' called it is the web browser Firefox. Why firefox? I know it is not the best browser out there (opera is by far THE best) but I got used to it and I really enjoy installing new themes or extensions. Actually, I was quite happy that I discovered a NEW add-on which makes part of the browsing experience far better.This was one of many examples that makes surfing a lot more fun and entertaining, and that is way I choose to stay with Firefox.
Well, I guess this is the end of part I. More software to follow. Stay tuned ;)
V
The first thing I started with was protection software. Since Vista is now far better when comes to security than XP, I've done some research and it seems that, if one is behind a router, you set its' firewall and combined with the one build in vista that's all you need. (from a firewall point of view).
Next up, antivirus. unfortunately, there are not many options out there. I've used AVG, Avast, Bitdefender free edition and one or two others, all of them, of course, vista compatible.
The one that eventually remained in here was AVG. Not many reasons here, it just seemed best for me. Note to everybody else, the best protection is yourself! If you stay low, do not enter suspicious sites or download strange files you will be most of the time safe no matter if you have or don't have an antivirus installed.
It's time for firewalls. Again, not many free options here. I will start with Zone Alarm. At the end of the installation process I received a blue screen(it was the second time in 'it's' life I've seen one.
After rebooting in windows, it seemed that the installation actually finished. The application worked and started asking questions(that is what a firewall does :) ). However, being concerned because of the bsod and since I really did not liked the interface, of it went. Next up was Comodo, an application that I dealt with in the past. I liked the interface then, I liked it now, I knew how to adjust it so that it wont bother me too much and also to work with my torrent client so...it stayed!
Moving on to torrent clients since I mentioned it: In this domain I can say there are a lot more options. For me, there were only two: Azureus or utorrent. I choose utorrent because one, this IS a notebook and two, Azureus is already installed on my pc so a new software to deal with seemed a lot more fun.
Next up, office platform. We all need to write a letter or a C.V using a more powerfull text editor that notepad, make spreadsheets, presentations etc. Therefore we all need Microsoft Office! Or not :). Since I decided to play it free, I installed OpenOffice (the best alternative to the office suite for microsoft; or so some say). If it is so or not I can't tell so soon. It seems ok for now, I managed to open all the documents I had without any problems. The only issue is that this office suite doesn't come with an e-mail client like M Office does so I had to install another application.
We now arrived at e-mail clients. Up until now i only used either Microsoft Office or the web interface form Gmail. Now it was time to move. I chose the first thing that got into my hand, which was Windows Mail. It is a sort of reconfigured, redesigned and eventually renamed Outlook Express. It's ok I guess. I noticed the lack of setting any rules from a click. The option was there but a little too difficult. I wanted to try another one and I went to a very known company - Mozilla. Their e-mail client is called Thunderbird. It is pretty nice and the first thing I want to talk about is the fact that I could install add-ons. And one particular that I liked it was the one that minimized it to tray so it would stay there after I close it and continue to check for new e-mails and notify me accordingly. Great tool.
The 'perfect companion', or so their 'parents' called it is the web browser Firefox. Why firefox? I know it is not the best browser out there (opera is by far THE best) but I got used to it and I really enjoy installing new themes or extensions. Actually, I was quite happy that I discovered a NEW add-on which makes part of the browsing experience far better.This was one of many examples that makes surfing a lot more fun and entertaining, and that is way I choose to stay with Firefox.
Well, I guess this is the end of part I. More software to follow. Stay tuned ;)
V
Windows Vista
Ei bine, e timpul sa zic cate ceva si despre acest sistem de operare. Nu vreau sa discut daca e mai bun sau nu decat XP sau daca linux-ul reprezinta o alternativa viabila la el sau daca mac-ul merita luat in considerare.
Acum cateva zile am avut o problema cu instalarea unei distributii linux care mi-a distrus toata bootarea si nu mai puteam deloc sa intru in win. Am incercat o zi intreaga sa-l repar, la un moment dat reusisem sa intru, l-am folosit ca in oricare alta zi, seara l-am inchis iar dimineata
Am luat un Live CD ubuntu, am baga hdd-ul extern si mi-am copiat fisierele importante.
Pe urma am formatat si reinstalat Windows Vista Business 32-bit.
Prima observatie este ca in timpul instalarii, in momentul in care iti partitionezi hdd-ul si selectezi locatia instalarii s-a intamplat un lucru ciudat. HDD-ul era deja formatat(ntfs) prin GParted. Pentru cei ce nu stiu, GParted este un utilitar asemeni Partition Magic doar ca se scrie pe un cd bootabil si toate operatiunile se fac in afara oricarui sistem de operare. El provine de fapt din linux, scris in c++ etc.(mai multe detalii in link).
Cum partitia era deja pregatita, am ales-o pe aceea pentru a instala win-ul insa, surpriza... nu vroia; imi spune ca nu e compatibila sau ceva de genul asta.
Am mai avut probleme de acest gen asa ca am decis sa sterg partitia si sa fac una noua cu programul din instalare si sa continui procesul. Din nou insa m-am lovit de refuzul de a continua pe partitia ntfs. Eram deja obosit dupa 2 zile si nu stiu cum mi-a trecut prin cap asa ceva dar, efectiv am sters partitia si am ales spatiul nepartitionat pentru instalare si, culmea, a mers! De abia astept sa mai instalez un Vista sa vad daca si in alta parte face la fel sau doar la mine.
A doua observatie. Pentru prima data dupa mult timp mi-am adus aminte sa verific si eu starea sistemului dupa instalare. Astfel, la prima bootare completa, windows-ul ocupa aproape 9 GB iar task manager-ul inregistra 37 de procese active.
Acum dupa ce aproape am terminat de instalat toate programele de care am nevoie, hdd-ul are aproximativ 36 gb ocupati(fara sa pun 2 serii Lost si alte kit-uri) iar in task manager am acum 52 de procese in conditiile in care am doar 3 aplicatii deschise fata de momentul in care booteaza in windows.
Inca nu e rodat cum trebuie, mai trebuie sa-i dezactivez niste optiuni total nefolositoare(precum functia de tablet pc) si pe urma trag concluziile. Bootarea este un pic mai greoaie decat prima data(este si normal) dar acest lucru va fi remediat de stick-ul meu SanDisk(prin readyboost adica).
A treia observatie este mai degraba o consecinta a faptului ca mi-a expirat licenta de Microsoft Office. Am decis ca (daca nu toate) macar 90% din soft-ul pe care il pun sa fie cu licenta sau gratuit (mai multe detalii intr-un viitor post).
Ca o ultima idee, luand toate programele de pe internet, implicit si ultimile lor versiuni am observat niste imbunatatiri semnificative la unele dintre ele care fac viata si mai frumoasa. Un bun exemplu ar fi un gadget pentru Vista Sidebar numit 'App Launcher'. O idee frumoasa ca o implementare de baza in prima faza(si instalat pe pc)si o a doua versiune muult mai elaborata si mai bine cizelata(cea instalat pe notebook).
V
sâmbătă, 9 februarie 2008
Victorie
Sunt mandru sa spun ca am terminat cu bine prima mea sesiune. Un pic obosit si, sper eu, am invatat destule pentru a putea razbi in continuarea in aceasta facultate. Bucuros si trist in acelasi timp, acestea sunt sentimentele pe care le traiesc vis-a-vis de aceasta facultate aleasa de mine. Ar fi multe de spus dar nu cred ca acesta e locul potrivit. Trebuie sa ma bucur de moment si sa ma gandesc bine la viitor.
Acum pot spune cu incredere ca, in prima saptamana de scoala din semestrul II, in loc sa ma duc acolo impreuna cu toti colegii mei, eu voi pleca cu matusimea intr-o vacanta in Egipt. De abia astept. De abia acolo, departe de calculator si de alte tentatii voi putea sa ma odihnesc cu adevarat.
Singura intrebare care ramane este: sa ma duc sau nu la scufundari?
Ciao,
V
Acum pot spune cu incredere ca, in prima saptamana de scoala din semestrul II, in loc sa ma duc acolo impreuna cu toti colegii mei, eu voi pleca cu matusimea intr-o vacanta in Egipt. De abia astept. De abia acolo, departe de calculator si de alte tentatii voi putea sa ma odihnesc cu adevarat.
Singura intrebare care ramane este: sa ma duc sau nu la scufundari?
Ciao,
V
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