Activity for March 7

Review - Bandizip
3.01 (Mar 7, 2013)

I like this program, simple, runs fast, easy to use GUI. However I have to knock two stars because:

-By default it installs to appdata for local user only, you have to manually change location if you want all users to have access. It should by default offer to install for local user only, or all users.

-When you install BandiZip into c:\program files, if you want to install additional iconpacks, create a dos cmd shortcut, run it as admin, then type c:\users\myprofilename\desktop\nameoficonpack.iconpack" to install it. Otherwise doubleclicking the .iconpack will fail (access denied). You can't "run as admin" an iconpack file from windows context menu.

-icon pack changes the archive icons, but unfortunately doesn't change the BandiZip toolbar icons. So you will have a mismatched look.

Fix those 2 and it's a 5 star!
Review - IObit Uninstaller
2.4.6.325 (Mar 7, 2013)

Absolutely love this program, the "batch mode" uninstall feature works great to unclutter an existing PC. Not perfect by any means, but gets most leftover program folders/registry entries left behind. As with similar programs, you still need to manually weed out program data/app data/registry locations for remnants. I love that you can also uninstall certain third party toolbars/BHO also. This is a great PC technician tool for your USB flash drive.
Review - FileOptimizer
5.00.213 (Feb 20, 2013)

This is a nice bulk file optimzier tool, it really does slim down and optimize files. However it has 2 critical flaws which needs to be fixed.

Things that could be improved:

1.) The default setting is to remove metadata info. So for example on JPG files, the program strips out critical pieces of Exif data from JPG files:

exif-camera (date picture was taken)
exif-origin (camera f-stop/exposure/iso)

This is critical because if you want to rename your JPG files based on "date taken", it's stripped out and won't work.

Under "options" there is a checkbox "copy metadata". I recommend you enable it for all applicable file extensions. This really should be enabled by default.

2.) There is no "abort" or "pause" button. You have to close out of the program to cancel operations. Understandable as it uses multiple command line operations/plugins, but it'd be nice if it was possible to abort.

Other considerations:

PDF/PNG/EXE compression compression is slow, especially on dual core systems (YMMV) sometimes not worth the effort considering most PDF/PNG/EXE files won't compress much further.

Keep in mind during processing, the program places originals in your recycle bin. So if you process 1 gb of data, it takes up 2gb of space (until you empty recycle bin)

In some cases EXE files also do self integrity checks on itself and related DLL files. Some cases it fails to run after compression. One example is WinWGetPortable, which failed NSIS self integrity check after compression of both EXE and DLL files.

Tests:

On a sample JPG photo created from a Canon EOS 60D (18 megapixels) it shrunk down the file size from 5.95 MB to 5.88 MB with no difference in picture quality, even zoomed up close. True to it's stated "lossless" description.

On a sample PDF file, by default it downconverts to 150DPI, so images inside will slightly change when viewed close. Setting to "prepress 300DPI" should make it virtually exact.

Conclusion:

Good program for squeezing every last drop of space from files, just make sure to backup first, exclude certain program directories, enable "copy metadata" for all extensions, enable "keep file attributes", and change PDF DPI to "prepress 300" under program options.
Review - nVIDIA GeForce Drivers for Windows
310.70 (Dec 13, 2012)

Unfortunately this beta is not a good release, at least for my 9xxx series desktop card . For my 9xxx series video card, I get a black screen after install in Windows 8 32-bit. Had to cold poweroff by holding down the power button a few seconds.

UPDATE WINBDOWS 8 BLACK SCREEN ISSUE!!

Apparently the black screen is caused by windowsupdate installing the stock driver in the background, and this conflicts with the new driver being installed.
Thanks to "battleaxe231" for finding the issue.

Here's what you need to do for windows 8 install:

1.) Make sure you have the 310.70 driver already downloaded on your PC
2.) Boot into safe mode in windows 8, uninstall the existing NVidia driver via add/remove programs. If it's the stock driver from windows, right click on the video card in device manager and select "uninstall". Now while in safe mode, go to device manager and temporary disable your wired/wireless nic and reboot into normal mode.
3.) In normal mode, check device manager video card, it should say "wddm", now you can install 310.70 and reboot.
4.) After rebooting it should now work fine from here, go to device manager and re-enable your wired/wireless nic
Review - Freemake Video Converter
3.0.2.3 (Jun 21, 2012)

This is a good video converter which can convert video files or DVD into almost any format of your choice. Some notes:

-During installation, choose the "custom" install option and uncheck any toolbars you don't want installed

- Output quality depends on the quality of the source file and encoding bitrate. If you allow Freemake video converter to download directly from YouTube, your output may not be optimal. It seems to default downloading YouTube streams as 360P source files, even if a higher 480P, 720P or 1080P is available for the same YouTube video. I recommend to download the source file first using Freemake video downloader (at the highest bitrate available) and then converting using Freemake video converter.

As for encoding bitrate, for most purposes "auto" is best. However I've found encoding at H.264/768kbps a good compromise to achieve smaller file sizes at acceptable video quality.

The sister program "Freemake video downloader" allows you to download the source file at the highest bitrate allowed.

http://fileforum.betanew...Downloader/1279639222/1

-Sometimes video converted directly from DVD contains scenes that drop in framerate during playback. If so, try to rip DVD locally first before conversion.
Comment - Windows Phone ramps up enterprise appeal with 7.5 'Mango' update
3.0.2.3 (May 16, 2011 - 1:41 PM)

Here is a list of features from a link I found earlier:

http://www.geekwire.com/...e-stuffed-full-features

-Bing Audio: Shazam-style audio track recognition
-Multitasking for third-party apps deeper integration with live tiles
-Internet Explorer 9, support for HTML 5
-Bing Vision: Integrated scanning for barcodes, tags, text, etc.
-Voice recognition for drafting text messages
-Email folders pinnable to the start screen for quick access
-Facebook Chat and Windows Live Messenger integration
-New conversation view for email exchanges
-Ability to search email servers for archived messages
-New Lync app for Windows Phone (IM and presence), a likely first step toward Skype integration
-Support for complex passwords (alphanumeric)
-Information rights management support for protected emails and documents
-Ability to access hidden corporate WiFi networks
-Native podcast search and download in the Windows Phone Marketplace
-Integrated turn-by-turn directions
-The ability to send SMS text messages to preset groups of contacts
-Integration of Office 365 and SkyDrive in the Office hub
-Overhaul of the Games hub, with an auto-sync feature
Comment - iPad Wi-Fi complaints echo those of Nexus One, iPod Touch
3.0.2.3 (Apr 7, 2010 - 10:27 AM)

Just reading the article, it might be helpful to tweak some of the settings on the wireless router/access point itself (YMMV of course).

Some settings as recommended by Linksys support (will work on other routers):

"Fragmentation Threshold" to 2304.
"RTS Threshold" to 2304.
"Beacon Interval" to 50.
Comment - Firefox 3.6 RTM officially released, includes personalization
3.0.2.3 (Jan 21, 2010 - 3:58 PM)

Running fine over here, previous add-ons/greasemonkey scripts are also working.

@Paul Skinner "it means hunting around for buttons that are bound to be obscured."

From Firefox FAQ:
=============
What's the difference between a Firefox theme and Personas for Firefox?
"Themes change the appearance of Firefox. A Persona is a special type of theme that changes the look of your browser without changing the navigation buttons, toolbars, and menus."

It's more of a background overlay. However some personas do unfocus the idle text menus.

@jafo818-"Right clicking on a link and selecting "Open Link in New Tab" is broken. It opens a new tab with the link, but does not load the page. "

Right click "open in new tab" is loading fine for me. Close Firefox, check your processes list to make sure no phantom "firefox.exe" are running. Or you can "Reset" your Firefox settings back to factory defaults:

http://www.browserland.c...without-uninstalling-it/
Comment - Should you dump Internet Explorer, NOW?
3.0.2.3 (Jan 18, 2010 - 11:15 AM)

side note:

For you techies, some interesting articles, "how to run firefox in protected mode"

http://superuser.com/que...-at-low-integrity-level

How to run an application with lower user rights user using "drop my rights"

http://cybercoyote.org/security/drop.shtml

As always YMMV, and again dropping IE entirely is not a realistic option for many companies. There are certain websites that will only work/view properly using IE only.
Comment - Should you dump Internet Explorer, NOW?
3.0.2.3 (Jan 17, 2010 - 8:51 PM)

You can get a sort of sandbox for firefox (and IE6?) using sandboxie and running firefox/ie6 from inside of that.

http://www.sandboxie.com...WebBrowserSettings1.png

YMMV