Favorite Files

1. Ad Muncher
2. AMD Catalyst Drivers for Windows
3. RoboForm
4. UltraMon

Recent Posts

1. 
   Review - Directory Opus

   9.1.0.1 (Mar 1, 2008)

   This is a pretty nice program... but $80 is NUTS. Are the developers crazy? Poor value.
   
   Go with XYplorer or Total Commander.

2. 
   Review - Miro for Windows

   0.9.9.9.1 Public Preview 3 (Nov 6, 2007)

   This is a pretty nice program overall. Very good interface, and does the job of downloading videos/podcasts in the background well. Where the program falls, and falls HARD, is it's memory footprint and overall responsiveness. On my computer gobbles up 157 megs of memory while sitting idle. That's not counting the 17 meg downloader that is running as well. That's WAY too much memory usage for a program that is designed to be always running in the background and when Windows starts up. A general comment regarding it's snappiness... I'm running a pretty decent machine and Miro seems to holdup my Windows startup pretty bad. The window just sits there unresponsively for about 15-30 seconds while the 150 meg program is loaded up. Once everything is up, it runs pretty good, taking a few seconds to come up of "sleep" state, or whatever you want to call it.
   
   Anyway, it's an excellent program and is what I am currently using for my podcasts and video downloads... but I really hope they clean up the code as it is just way too bloated in its current state.

3. 
   Review - ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite

   7.1.087.000 (Jun 23, 2007)

   It **DOES** use Kaspersky:
   (From Zone Alarm's website)
   "New and improved ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite version 7.0.302.000
   
   All new antivirus engine from Kaspersky includes a new virus database and extended spyware database as well as the industry's only hourly update system."
   
   All in all, not a bad product. It certainly is a "loaded" app though. Whether it's bloat or not probably depends on whether you need all the features ZA has grown to include. I like the game mode, and find the firewall to be pretty friendly compared to other firewalls that provide as much protection.
   
   Finally supports Vista too. The list of firewalls that don't support Vista in at least 32bit form is getting pretty small - notably absent is Outpost Pro which waited far too long to begin beta testing Vista in my opinion.

4. 
   Review - Quick Macros

   2.2.0.5 Beta (Mar 10, 2007)

   That other review almost looks like a paid advertisement. And if you go to the websites forum you will see that the company is giving people free registrations for giving glowing reviews, and other users are even coaching people on how to write them (one gave suggestions on how to write a con up so it was really a compliment). Ethical or not, any positive review for this software is tainted. And although the company never states that the review must be positive, I won't be holding my breath for my free registration. There are two free macro programs out there anyway that are both excellent (AutoIt and AutoHotkey), so save some of your pride and just use one of those if you want a freebie!

5. 
   Review - Stardock DeskScapes

   1.0 (Feb 14, 2007)

   Pure eye candy that will drain away at your system resources (both Ram, GPU, and yes - even a little CPU). And let's face it, moving backgrounds are **annoying**. Why am I supposed to be impressed anyway, BeOS did this on my much older computer 5 years ago.
   
   And definately NOT free when it requires a $400 Operating System.
   
   I gave this a second star though for those of you that are impressed by shiny things that sparkle.

6. Comment - Microsoft slashes Windows Vista retail price in surprise move

   1.0 (Mar 1, 2008 - 12:32 PM)

   I've run Vista on a decent rig, Athlon 4200X2, 1.5 gigs ram, Nvidia 8800 etc...
   
   Vista ran great on a fresh install, but when I added the 3 or 4 3rd party apps I use things got a little sluggish. Particularly with one program that ran in the background and would popup when I held down a key. After it had been idle for a while the program would take 30 seconds to respond. I wrote the vendor and was told it was the way Windows unloads programs from memory that aren't being actively used. I'm guessing Vista must be a little more aggressive than XP in that regard because I never have that issue now that I've downgraded. I could add more Ram, but Vista is so Hell bent on using all available Ram that I don't believe it would make a difference in this case. If I can find a way to prevent Vista from unloading specific programs, maybe that'll make it useful for me.
   
   Anyway, my point is not all people with performance issues with Vista have cheapo Wal-Mart PC's. My rig is getting a little long on the tooth, but if Vista's minimum specs are higher then Microsoft has a major problem.

7. Comment - Sears.com offers the cheapest desktop PC at $185

   1.0 (Jan 18, 2008 - 11:04 AM)

   Does that come with the Sears spyware preinstalled? And I agree with the other post here, $199 without the hassle of a $100 rebate is a better deal. No thanks KMart.

8. Comment - XP SP3 Beta Preview Out, Last Update to XP

   1.0 (Oct 6, 2007 - 12:29 PM)

   Alex, I think you should reread the guys whole post and not just the bits that you quoted... it seems he pretty much agrees with you. OOOOoops!

9. Comment - Apple Improves the iPhone Ahead of Release

   1.0 (Jun 20, 2007 - 12:37 PM)

   For someone with a name "smarterthanyou"... you come off pretty dense.

10. Comment - Amazon to Open Music Download Store

    1.0 (May 16, 2007 - 1:18 PM)

    How many times are Amazon and/or Apple going to announce this prior to actual launch. This is the second time I've read a press release from Amazon about their DRM free music store. Just do it already!