Favorite Files

1. 7-Zip (32-bit)
2. Adblock Plus
3. avast! Free Antivirus
4. EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition
5. ExtractNow
6. KeePass Password Safe Classic Edition
7. Microsoft SyncToy
8. OpenOffice.org for Windows
9. Opera for Windows
10. Paint.NET
11. PDFCreator
12. priPrinter Professional Edition
13. Recuva
14. SharpDevelop
15. SpamAware
16. TeraCopy
17. TheSage's English Dictionary and Thesaurus
18. Ubuntu
19. Virtual CloneDrive

Recent Posts

1. 
   Review - avast! Free Antivirus

   6.0.1287 (Sep 8, 2011)

   i use avast, MS Security, and AVG on my home PCs and Symantec at work. Symantec catches more bad stuff, but heavier on resources. Avast and MSE work great even on cheap netbooks.

2. 
   Review - dBpowerAMP Music Converter

   13.5 (May 20, 2010)

   use mediacoder audio edition instead. dbp had its moments i.e. when it was free.

3. 
   Review - Flock for Windows

   1.1.1 (Mar 26, 2008)

   I have been using Flock for 1-2 months now, it's now my most used browser. Over Firefox, I like Flock's media bar, webmail integration, and better RSS feedreader. It also has some features that I don't use, like facebook integration, photo uploader, and blogging stuff. The only downside is that there are no themes other than the default, so I had to get used to it.
   
   Firefox 3 may just pull me back. But why not keep both?

4. 
   Review - Audiograbber

   1.83 Build 1 (Mar 26, 2008)

   4 years since its last release, I still come back to Audiograbber. At least the Lame encoder is still being updated. The dynamic sync works nicely with my old banged up scratched CDs. Everything works fine in Vista, even SP1.
   
   The only time I don't use Audiograbber is when the CDDB can't find the album info and the Media Guide in WMP can. Which unfortunately seems to be the case with *many* new albums. Of course, that's not Audiograbber's fault.

5. 
   Review - musikCube

   1.0 (Jan 16, 2008)

   Nothing fancy here, except the fact that it's the most efficient player I've seen that's actually usable. I've used it on *very* low end PCs running 2000/XP (it works fine under Vista, too) with tens of gigabytes of songs, no problem. The internal database system is fast fast fast for searching songs. It's also music-oriented (hence the name), unlike other players who try to be video players etc. I don't know how it does with streaming, as I don't use it. I also don't know how well it rips CDs, as I use WMP or Audiograbber (another classic) for that purpose.
   
   The downside is that development of Musikcube seems slow - although I'm unsure myself what to do with such a good piece of software.
   
   One annoying bug I've found is that on a few setups (XP with Windowblinds, Vista), sometimes I can't see the scroll bar and volume control. I'm pretty sure this is a compiler problem, though.

6. Comment - E-books take longer to read than print, study says

   1.0 (Jul 7, 2010 - 9:32 PM)

   ebooks take longer to read because people mess around with it, instead of actually reading the thing

7. Comment - Microsoft's 'Telescope' to compete with Google 'Sky'

   1.0 (May 12, 2008 - 9:54 PM)

   I haven't used Google Sky, but I did see part of Gates' presentation on Worldwide Telescope, and it looks cool. Hey, if it can get more kids into science, like Mythbusters, I say go for it. Marketing WT in a big way only opens it up to bashers, though, for better or worse.
   
   I actually think Microsoft Research has come out with some interesting projects over the years, although perhaps only a handful become actual useful products. My favorite is probably Snarf. The software is very rudimentary, but that's not what research is about, I guess.
   
   http://research.microsof...layArticle.aspx?id=1365

8. Comment - Indonesia lifts its YouTube ban

   1.0 (Apr 14, 2008 - 9:53 PM)

   The second link you gave explains the drug policy better than I can explain, so I'll just leave it at that. I say the less drugs the better.
   
   Regarding corruption and bad government, need I remind you that only 10 years ago Indonesia was ruled by a dictatorship. The country still has a long way to go to have the great leadership and democracy that the west currently has.

9. Comment - Indonesia lifts its YouTube ban

   1.0 (Apr 13, 2008 - 10:57 PM)

   "They execute people for drug smuggling crimes which in a civilized country would warrant a 10 year jail term."
   
   You're thinking of Malaysia. Close, though. I believe Singapore does the same. When Indonesia arrested an Australian drug smuggler a couple years ago, the government of Australia pretty much went on their knees for Indonesia to go easy.
   
   In any case, people in your so-called "civilized countries" may or may not realize, but drugs are a much more serious problem in third-world countries. Civilized country drug problems = whether or not Roger Clemens was juicin it.

10. Comment - In Memoriam: CNET's James Kim

    1.0 (Dec 6, 2006 - 7:54 PM)

    Condolences