Mike C. at my work place showed me this cool program and gave me a copy of it to play with. I was really impressed with the cool graphic effects when you change between the four virtual desktops.
Later, I found out that the version I have may be the last freeware version.
Yod'm 3D (Yet Another Desktop Manager 3D) has been purchased by Otaku Software, which will continue to develop it under the name DeskSpace. Although not mentioned in the page, it will obviously no longer be free, as the download link is no longer offered.
Added download link for version 1.4, which isn't "officially" payware.
I've been using this program for four or five years. I don't run a PC without it.
This week, I found out that they have released a new version!
Quote from Spybot S&D website
We're proud to announce: version 1.5 - 3 September 2007
We have to admit, it was delayed a few times, mostly because we always had some new feature we wanted to implement in mind, but now it's finally here: we're proud to announce the availability of Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.5. This new version features a lot of improved detection mechanisms (which in parts were already made available through the regular 1.4 updates in the past months), improved Operating System support (Windows Vista integration, restored support for Windows 95, more compatibility with Wine, support for bootable Windows CDs), improved browser support (e.g. for immunization) and much more - you can find an overview of noticable changes and some screenshots here.
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Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if you browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm in trying to see if something snooped into your computer, too :)
I know a few home astronomers. One of my friends at work loves to stare into the night sky. He recommended this cool astronomy software. Thanks Dave!
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Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
I've seen plenty of great advice in our WhatDoYouNeed section of the newsletter. Be sure to check it out when you get the time.
Mindblower wrote:
My simple request is to find software that can "capture streaming video". Some software claim they do so, till you actually try 'em out and find out they are full of "hot air", Mindblower!
Jimbo replies:
Hi Mindblower - I hear you mate, I tried lots before I finally found one which actually works. It's a Firefox add-on - "DownloadHelper 2.3.2"
Very easy to use and it has not failed me to date.
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DownloadHelper is a tool for web content extraction. Its purpose is to capture video and image files from many sites.
Just surf the Web as you are used to, when DownloadHelper detects it can do something for you, the icon gets animated and a menu allows you to download files by simply clicking an item
Can I draw your attention to this program which detected the unwanted "invaders" that Spybot search and destroy and Adaware missed.
I would be interested to hear your and other users opinions
Keep up your informative notes
Regards
Gerald
From Clif:
I looked at the reviews and I think it's too soon to tell about this one. So far, I have found out that it is not a "cure all". See this post for an example. I recommend that you stick with better known tools like SpyBot and AdAware. Follow up with a visit to reputable security forums like TeMerc's if you suspect you've been invaded.
TC spy will protect you by scanning your entire computer system against a database of thousands of known spyware and adware threats and then alert you to any infections found. It will also provide you with a detailed report and clean any infections found.
Here's a great open source and portable solution for file compression and de-compression. You can't do much better than this if you need to take it on the road in a thumb drive.
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PeaZip free archiver is a portable open source compression, encryption and file split utility.
PeaZip is cross platform and supports handling of many archive formats:
I found this program in a list of file conversion software. This is a free version of a more complete professional package, but I feel it can be useful for it's own features alone.
The program installed easily and it doesn't appear to have any nasty "buy the pro version" ads in it. I used it to convert a small picture of myself into a sketch and I was mostly pleased with what it does.
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It is a tool to convert a photo to excellent sketch, and paint water color freehandly.
It's no joke. Microsoft is a bully. You can't buy into any "we play nice" crap that you hear from them after finding out about this incident.
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Sad day
Posted by Antonis Kaladis on August 29th, 2007
Today we received an e-mail from Microsoft, requesting the immediate take-down of the download page, which of course means that AutoPatcher is probably history. As much as we disagree, we can do very little, and although the download page is merely a collection of mirrors, we took the download page down.
We would like to thank you for your support. For the past 4 years, it has been a blast. Unfortunately, it seems like it's the end of AutoPatcher as we know it.
Comments are welcome...
Antonis Kaladis
What is AutoPatcher?
... with only a few mouse clicks and two minutes of your time, AutoPatcher is able to continue with the installation of the items you selected. In short, AutoPatcher combines the advantage of both Windows Update (presentation and description of updates and automated installation), and the special administrative updates (portability and installation without the need of an Internet connection).
I haven't tried out this program yet, but it looks great. Maybe someone here can tell us what they think after trying it?
They certainly have a lot to live up to considering this slogan ...
"The only video player you need."
"Free and open-source, because open media matters.
"
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There's an opportunity to build a new, open mass medium of online television. We're developing the Miro internet TV platform so that watching internet video channels will be as easy as watching TV and broadcasting a channel will be open to everyone. Unlike traditional TV, everyone will have a voice.
Gary at Internet Fixes continues to amaze me with hundreds and thousands of tips for your PC. Whatever your operating system, or how you use it, a visit to Gary's site will soon have you saying "So that's how you do this!".
2. I was cleaning out my computer the other day and everything was sent to the Recycle Bin. I realized later that I had gotten rid of a couple files I needed to save. Is there any way I can get them back if it's only been a couple days?
3. When I go to download something new on my computer, every once in awhile, it just stops in the middle of the process. Can you give me any reasons why this type of hang up happens?
5. I have a Freeware Program that I use quite often that didn’t install a shortcut on the desktop or I some how deleted it if it did. How do I create another shortcut to this program?
1. When I Booted My Computer Up This Morning Everything Went As Normal Until I Got To The Desktop And It Was Blank. How Do I Recover My Desktop, Icons And Taskbar. They Seem To have Disappeared.
2. I Have Seven People In The House Right Now Using The Same Computer. Two Of My Younger Users Often Venture Into Areas They Shouldn’t And Cause Problems At Times. If It Is Possible How Do I Hide My Drives On My PC
3. There Are Times When I Look At The Time In The Status Bar And The Time Is An Hour Or More Off. It Never Stays At The Correct Time Regardless Of What I Do. How Can I Correct This Time Error In Windows XP?
4. After installing Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and downloading emails into Outlook Express, I find that no images are downloaded with the email. Only the placeholders are shown. How Do I Unblock Images In Outlook Express
5. I Have Read Some Where (Maybe On Your Site) That I Can Improve Performance By Moving The Page File. How Do I Move The Windows Paging File To Another Drive
7. In Vista I am able to create one dialup connection. But, when I go to create a second one it over-writes the first. Isn't there a way to create multiple connections?
I have been a Windows user since 3.1, and have gone through 95, ME (ick), XP Home and now XP Professional. While they have had their problems, I have generally been satisfied. In fact, I recently bought another copy of Pro to hold until I need it, which I am sure I shall for the following reasons.
I have been involved with four PCs running Vista -- none of them mine, nor purchased at my recommendation -- belonging to family members. Three are OEM machines (a Dell and two HPs) and one is an upgrade from XP Home to Vista Premium on a Systemax that was running fine on XPH. (What a mistake that was!) All four have had multiple problems that took hours to sort out. I'm not going to enumerate them because I solved them and I don't expect action from Microsoft in any case.
Then, over the past weekend, two of the four were crippled by Microsoft's server problem, which took another three hours of my time in travel and fooling with reactivation.
Enough is enough.
I will continue to use Pro until support expires, formatting the drive on the laptop I expect to purchase next month -- that will, doubtless, come with Vista -- and installing the copy of Pro that I purchased a couple of months ago. I'm doing this as a matter of personal convenience, because I use several Windows programs and don't want to bother transitioning the work to other systems. But come the expiration of support for Pro, unless Microsoft has come up with a system comparable in every way to the Mac OS, I'm SO outta here.
It is ridiculous that the largest software company in the world cannot seem to create an operating system that is trouble-free and runs properly out of the box.
With sincere annoyance,
Bill Webb
And below is the reply. Bill noted that they really don't say much.
Hi Bill,
Thank you for your feedback and for being such a longtime customer of Microsoft.
Since launch date, hardware and software support for Windows Vista has been growing in quantity and quality at an exponential rate. Microsoft and its partners have been working hard to provide updates and fixes not only to address known issues, but also in anticipation of possible future security exploits. We are also in the process of beta testing Service Pack 1 for Vista, which is scheduled to be released to the public early 2008. This service pack will include security, reliability, performance, network and internet and hardware support fixes.
Here's a good collection of email tips and tricks for Firefox users.
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If email is an inevitable part of your everyday online life, and you spend a lot of time browsing the web, perhaps you should consider managing at least a part of your email related tasks from Firefox itself. Mashable has compiled over 20 Firefox plugins which enable you to send, receive, check and manage emails from your favorite web browser.
I use online apps more and more. I like it that way. Nothing to install, no revision or security updates and I can access them almost anywhere. I have fewer tabs open in my Windows taskbar, but I do have more tabs open in Firefox. Can't win 'em all.
Take a look at Read/Write Web's review of the best online Office Apps.
Quote from the website
A Web Office both embraces the functionality of desktop office suites (e.g. Microsoft Office) and extends it by using Web Native features.
Office Suites aren't the only thing that are good for students. The Download Squad searched and found some online apps they think students can really use.
Web 2 Cool for school - A rundown of online applications for students
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This DLS special feature lists out current tools that are floating around the web as highly competitive alternatives for both students and professionals.
Bill Webb dropped me a note the other day about Google's Flight Simulator. It's hidden inside the new version of Google Earth. I confess, I haven't even tried out Google Earth. I'd rather use FlashEarth when I want to look down from on high.
I did get curious and I looked for any reviews on it. Here's a blog about it from a student in Cape Town, SA.
Some time last week, Google expanded Google Earth with Google Sky. As fascinating as Google Sky is, that's not the focus of this post. Along with the latest update comes a hidden feature of which I cannot seem to find any other information about. It's not in the release notes and a search on Google produces no results. Seems Google have done one of their unpublicised updates they're becoming well-known for.
I hope to see this in graphic editors soon. Check out the video, it's pretty cool.
Quote from the OhGizmo website
Like it or not, most of the time when you take a picture, a significant portion of the image is (for lack of a better word) useless. Or rather, there are lots of areas of the image that aren’t conveying any important information. Obviously this excludes you artsy-picture types, but if you’re just trying to show and/or explain something ... wouldn’t it be useful if you could make images smaller by selectively removing the least important pixels?
I'm a bit of a science geek and it started for me way before PCs were even invented. I love looking at the images from the Hubble Space Telescope. I'm hoping our next orbital telescope is even better.
If you like space snapshots, here's the website to see.
Quote from the website
Nearly 400 years after Galileo first observed the heavens through a telescope, we continue to seek answers to age-old questions about the universe. And while the technology has evolved over the centuries, the inquiry remains essentially the same: What's out there, where did it come from, and what does it mean?
Tony at TopFreeware showed me this website. It's the best collection of conversion sites and software I've seen. Thanks Tony.
Quote from the website
Few things are more irritating than having to deal with a format that is incompatible with what you need it to do. It doesn’t matter if it’s a media file, document, or shoe size; it’s just plain frustrating. To make your life easier, check out this list of 101 tools that will allow you to convert just about anything.
There are so many multi-media players out there. I would never have imagined that someone actually took the time to try them all and compare many of the features in nice tables for everyone to see.
Thanks to Tony at TopFreeware for telling me about this site.
I hadn't heard from Karen in awhile. Even though I've only gotten one real letter from her, I feel like I know her. Maybe it's because people leave their mark in the software they write. In that case, I know she's good, just like her software.
Below is a snippet of the letter she wrote to everyone.
Quote from the website
Can you believe it's been over a year since last we got together?
I know many of you believe, since many have written to me, asking where
I've been. Some of you have included your own speculations, or passed along
rumors you've heard.
Was Karen abducted by aliens? Did she go on a secret government mission?
Perhaps her time machine malfunctioned, hurling her into an adjacent 'brane
Here's a great web search for mp3 files and information about songs and the artists. I tried it and was amazed with all I found. I don't think the RIAA will try to shut this site down. It's hosted in Canada. LOL
Quote from the website
SkreemR is a search engine for locating audio files on the web.
We don't just want you to find and experience music and audio that interests you. SkreemR wants to launch you into the internet music community. When you find something you really like, check out some suggestions of where you can buy the music and support the artists. Visit the sites that host the audio content and read what they and others are saying about the music you love. Find out facts about the artist and their songs, find concert tickets, and share your experience with your friends.
New. 1st SoundTaxi Professional. Easily convert DRM protected music files and various audio files to unprotected MP3, CD, iPod and other MP3 player file formats at high speed and CD quality: http://www.dirme.com/soundtaxiprofessional/
New. My Little Mole Toolbar - Easy to use, no web blocking, no surfing interference, simple information to warn about dangerous websites. Compatible with any ISP: http://www.mylittlemole.com/
COOLSITES is a list of safe, fun, useful, informative and just plain cool websites and programs that are FREE, FREE and FREE. All of the programs and websites I list are free. If I list anything that is so good but isn't free I will list the price with it.
You need a free 2.8 GB Gmail account to access many of the cool features at Google. After more than two years in beta testing Gmail is open to the public. Just go to http://gmail.com and sign up for an account.
I think Gmail works best in the awesome Firefox browser. It's free, easy to use, and it's way more secure than Internet Explorer. My favorite thing to do is to customize Firefox so that it does much more than IE ever could. You can select new button controls for your toolbars, install extensions to add new features, or change the look of your browser with themes - the way Firefox looks and works is under your control.
Wow! Over 800 people and still growing! I invite all of you to record your locations on this map. You can include as little or as much information as you wish. I think you'll enjoy seeing yourself there.
Here's a small look at my frapper map.
Write your own review
I get many of the reviews in the newsletter from the readers. You don't have to be a genius or computer guru. Just answer a few questions and send me a review. I'll probably put you in the newsletter.
What do you have to say?
Just tell me what article you are talking about and leave me your comment.
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