PCFormat Forum Archive

Nice one Anthro

PsyCLown wrote:Anthropoid, I dont think anyone is gonna read through your post...its....errr.....WAY TOOO LOOONG!!!!

He made it very readable if you ask me, since he used headings and sub headings perfectly.

Nice one Anthropoid.

Doomextreme wrote:

PsyCLown wrote:Anthropoid, I dont think anyone is gonna read through your post...its....errr.....WAY TOOO LOOONG!!!!

He made it very readable if you ask me, since he used headings and sub headings perfectly.

Nice one Anthropoid.

I agree, this is an excelent post and a lot of research into comercial vs open source alternatives . excellent stuff. But i giggled at the into from Vista to Ubuntu part... Windows users are disalusioned or something, hehehe and windows Media in your face... that is Mircorosoft getting worried... so it throws in your face. I actualy prefere Linux, just one problem thatprevents me from migrating over is that
1) I was braught up with windows
2) Poser cant run in linux
3) Linux sux when it comes to realtime 3D (gaming) no Direxct X.

Linux is perfect for an office, to business, to internet browser, programmer person. Which is the majority of people, unfortunately i am a minority.. The alternative for me is to get an Apple, but they way to costly and i am unem,ployed.
Love and hugs
Danielle, great post, and very informative.

Hey people, so I've installed windows from scratch and doing my rounds again downloading and installing my typical software, so I thought I'll share with you the stuff I use to keep my PC in top shape. Just a note, I am a I.T. specialist with over 10 years techical experience so you can trust the programs I recommend.

1. Orbit downloader: Excellent download manager, better than DAP and totally freeware so all the DAP "trial" features that are disabled are now available like auto-resume on startup etc. Also has built in video grabber for youtube and so on you you can download your videos at accelerated speeds without having to wait for it to stream.
www.orbitdownloader.com

2. Unlocker: Freeware. Excellent tool for deleting those files that don't want to be deleted because they are in use or a program/process is using that file.
www.download.com/Unlocker/3000-2248_4-10493998.html


3. Primo PDF: freeware. Nice tool for printing anything to PDF format. I use it for invoices, quotes etc so that clients can view document's with adobe reader 'cos it's pretty standard on every PC and it's read-only. It just adds a new "PDF" printer as a new printer.
www.primopdf.com

4. AMUST registery cleaner: Best tool I've found that I run every week or so that sorts out your registry after installing or uninstalling software, after PC crashes etc. It's the only one I've found that actually shows a noticable difference in performance, proving it's done it's job. Shareware but worthwhile.
www.amustsoft.com

5. IObit Smartdefrag: One of my best tools. It runs in the background and whenever your PC is idle, defrags it for you. Don't see any performace deterioration due to it running as a process. I Never have to defrag, EVER and I can honestly say, my PC stays at the same performace/speed level becasue of this program, and totally freeware.
www.iobit.com/SmartDefrag/index.html

6. AMD Power Monitor: Nice, especially for dual core AMD. Shows usage, frequency and voltage of each core, seperately.
www.majorgeeks.com/AMD_Power_Monitor_d4939.html

7. Autopatcher: Ok, so with all the hype on SP3, stuff it. I use Autopatcher and have for years. Rather check the link for more info but basically it keeps your system up to date with the latest updates. You download the large update file and install. Think of it as a offline redistributable update package. Once you have the file you can update any PC, comes out monthly. Must have especially for those who disable automatic-updates.
http://www.autopatcher.com/
*edit note* Autopatcher has been killed by microsoft so the last available update is February 2007.

Ok, so that's it for now. Just a few but these will mainly keep your PC running smoothly for a long time to come, you're welcome to PM me with additional info on these programs.

Doomextreme wrote:

PsyCLown wrote:Anthropoid, I dont think anyone is gonna read through your post...its....errr.....WAY TOOO LOOONG!!!!

He made it very readable if you ask me, since he used headings and sub headings perfectly.

Nice one Anthropoid.

I never said he didnt. It does seem very easy to read.etc
Just extremely wrong. Seems like I was wrong though

Hi there ppl I dont know who to ask but Hopfully you can help me I bought Lord of the rings The battle For middle aerth For me and my whife to play we want to lan the game but it seems to me that i need to seperate games to play it or can i only use the one?

sniperx wrote:Hi there ppl I dont know who to ask but Hopfully you can help me I bought Lord of the rings The battle For middle aerth For me and my whife to play we want to lan the game but it seems to me that i need to seperate games to play it or can i only use the one?

AFAIK Legally, no.

This is also in the wrong thraed

@ Synthesis and Anthropoid --> thanx for those links -- keep it up guys. i currently use AVG anti virus, what do u guys think of it? considering its free i havnt found any fault with it as yet...

I need some free CCTV software, something that can use 2 TV cards and switch between the different cameras connected them them. Any ideas would be of great assistance

bootsie wrote:@ Synthesis and Anthropoid --> thanx for those links -- keep it up guys. i currently use AVG anti virus, what do u guys think of it? considering its free i havnt found any fault with it as yet...

i use to use avg. but now i use avast. i feel it works better. its also free. but u must register every year. i cud neva get avg to update.

EDIT: Download mxit 4 pc at http://wwww.mxit.co.za/mxitpc

i had norton - then mcaffee ---- u nd another pc jus to run the anti virus -- the darn things carried on as if i had my pc jus to run anti virus software --- my avg updates properly and seems to be working fine.. n it doesnt get in the way.

I use AVG Free. nothing wrong with it. BUT I switch every few months because any virus scanner will always pick up things another one doesn't. So my list is AVG free, Bitdefender and NOD32. NOD32 is really good. I haven't had problems with it, bitdefender on the other hand, gives me problems but the safest one I found for browsing, always blocking things on "dodgy" sites that the others ignore.

I recently came acros:
...some great media players:

no1.media player classic:(It works better if you get it bundeld with Qtime alternative) It plays almost any media (even videos form ps2 games) and has a lot of filters

no2.vlc media player :it plays a wide variety of media and can stream video

...a great set of codecs and filters called ffdshow (use it with media player classic)

For my media players I like to use:

Windows Media Player 11 for music

GOM Player (like VLC, but better in a few ways) for vidoe

Then Media Player Classic for my anime with built in subtitles (So anime in MKV and OGM format)

All 3 are freeware media players as well

I also use GOM player. Really good player and not a file that it can't play, from those that i have used and if there is u can just download the codec from their site. Its easy too use and user friendly.
I always used Mplayer but i got a file that it couldn't play and from then i used GOM.

http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

A proggi which analyzes your mp3 files and can change the volume:

Tired of reaching for your volume knob every time your mp3 player changes to a new song?
MP3Gain analyzes and adjusts mp3 files so that they have the same volume.

MP3Gain does not just do peak normalization, as many normalizers do. Instead, it does some statistical analysis to determine how loud the file actually sounds to the human ear.
Also, the changes MP3Gain makes are completely lossless. There is no quality lost in the change because the program adjusts the mp3 file directly, without decoding and re-encoding.

Last updated in 2005 but still great software...

PsyCLown wrote:For my media players I like to use:

Windows Media Player 11 for music

GOM Player (like VLC, but better in a few ways) for vidoe

Then Media Player Classic for my anime with built in subtitles (So anime in MKV and OGM format)

All 3 are freeware media players as well

I like to use XM player, it uses less memory even less than winamp, and can play your mod music compositions as well in dolby 2 surround sound. It also has sound enhancer plugings which do not suck memory/resources like media Player , and iTunes.

www.un4seen.com/xmplay.html

I found this little gem while sorting out my music. Musicbrainz Tagger get it at http://musicbrainz.org/. It compares your unknown file to theirs, gives a percentage match, tags the id2 and id3 values(Artist, track name, genre, tear, etc) and also renames the file to a user specified covention.

Really cool prog for those peskey unknown tracks.

trakAxPC

A nice software for creating and editing video and audio its free and easy to use it can be downloaded from http://www.download.com

Free security software from pc tools

1. Pc Tools free anti virus
http://www.pctools.com/free-antivirus/

2. Pc Tools firewall plus
http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

3. Treat fire!!!
http://www.threatfire.com/download/

Media Players

1. KMPlayer (video)
http://www.kmplayer.en.softonic.com

2. Xion (audio)
http://www.xion.r2.com.au

Userbars

1. AmitySource UserBar Generator
http://www.amitysource.com/

Free Studio Manager 4.1.1.1

This is a nice piece of 20 programs for most of your video audio needs everything put into one easy to use program.

Converters ,Downloaders, Burners etc.
And only 25MB so there would be no hassle getting it

Download Here

Hi guys

I'm using Allway sync to sync files between my external and system hdd. As of 10 min ago damn thing asked for an activation key.
Do you guy know of any other totally free syncing software?

I wanted something like this a while ago. I think there's one called folder sync

try this for backups and sync.

Windows only: Portable application Toucan backs up and syncs your data between two locations (like your hard drive and your USB drive). Weighing in at just over 4.10MB installed, Toucan offers several advanced backup and syncing settings, like incremental backup with compression (supporting 7-Zip format), portable drive variables, scripts and advanced rulesets. Similar to SyncBackSE but smaller and portable, Toucan is a nice option for making sure you've got everything on your thumb drive. Toucan is a free download for Windows only.

http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/toucan/