Favorite Files

1. 7-Zip (32-bit)
2. 7-Zip (64-bit)
3. Apple iTunes for Windows
4. Calibre
5. CCleaner for Windows
6. ComicRack
7. CrystalDiskInfo
8. Dropbox
9. Facebook News Feed Reader
10. FinePrint
11. Foxit Reader
12. Free Download Manager
13. K-Lite Mega Codec Pack
14. MediaMonkey
15. MediaPortal
16. Mp3tag
17. pdfFactory Pro
18. Picasa for Windows
19. Rainmeter
20. TagScanner
21. WinSCP

Recent Posts

1. 
   Review - Nero

   10.6.10600 (Apr 19, 2011)

   @Registered, nice review and analysis. I also think that Nero was great at v7 and went downhill from there, with huge installer downloads and installation times that rivalled those of Windows itself. v8 or v9 installer was so buggy that I had to wait weeks until a fix came out that allowed me to install it. I actually paid for every version from 6 to 9 (discounted rate) but since 2008(!), have not burned a single CD or DVD - it's all cheap (quality) hard drives now, using over 20 TB of storage - imagine this on DVD or even Blu-Ray!
   
   Also the appearance of GB-USB sticks (I've had a 32 GB drive since 2008 or 2009) meant that I could carry the data volume of 7 DVD with me, rewritable, editable, with no final error message telling me that the entire process had to be repeated with a new medium. Not the fault of Ahead or Nero, but as media files now can be played in .mkv and other formats from dedicated media hardware, less and less people get bothered with burning hard media for single-view content, e.g. TV episodes or moviers that turned out to be less than the marketing promised.
   
   What I want to say is that CD, DVD, even Blu-Ray will become marginal in data storage and transport, and there's just so little you can add to this program (whose core functionality is provided by free alternatives) to make it valuable again. I don't think Nero is the first choice for any of the functions it performs, and with an install size that rivals the OS... perhaps still good value byte for byte, but truth be told, for me just a nostalgic memory of the times when I burnt 5, 10, 20 DVD in a single day (and still have the 400 odd disks stored somewhere, slowly rotting away) and internet was slow... I'd suggest make a core version of it, just like v6 or v7, donationware, with not more than 20 MB installer size and perhaps 50 MB on the disk. I might buy it for old times' sake.

2. 
   Review - Audacity for Windows

   1.3.13 Beta (Apr 12, 2011)

   Let's even out the Goldwave spammers a little. Audacity is a great program for most purposes. Nice to see an update.

3. 
   Review - Griffith for Windows

   0.12 (Feb 17, 2011)

   Well, the program tried to be smarter than me... I work in Korea, I'm not Korean, don't speak Korean, don't use a Korean version of Windows. Unfortunately, the program has decided to switch to its Korean UI (about 75% translated as far as I can see) and there's no visible option (i.e., visible to me) to change the language. Wow...
   
   Move the language selection option to the installer please, then I hope to be able to give more stars. No need to copy the mistakes of Google, Facebook, Youtube etc.

4. 
   Review - Apple iTunes for Windows

   10.1.1.4 (Dec 16, 2010)

   I really hate iTunes... really really really hate it. But because I used to have an iPhone, I had to use it. It is terrible as a music management software (I use Mediamonkey for that, including the tagging), has many restrictions yet still makes it incredibly hard to restore your data if you move abruptly to a new computer, and has nothing that other (and smaller) programs don't have.
   
   Most of all, it is SLOW. Slow to install (even for a program of such giagantic size), slow to start, even slow to uninstall. And it requires other software that I never use or don't like, such as Safari and Quicktime.
   
   However (and this is why I give more stars than I should give)...
   
   I recently moved from iPhone 2G to Samsung Galaxy-S (Android).
   
   Now I MISS iTunes!
   
   Let me tell you where iTunes, as bad as it is for a non-Mac user, still shines compared to my Android phone:
   
   - I have to use the crappy Korean made software to upgrade firmware, a POS called "Kies" that's even more bloated and far less functional and reliable than iTunes,
   
   - unlike with iTunes, I cannot arrange my apps (there are over 150 of them) via desktop software, which means that after each FW upgrade I have to spend literally hours to get app links sorted how I want them,
   
   - well yes, maybe this is an Android thing, but now I lose EVERYTHING even after a minor FW fix... all user data, all apps, everything has to be reinstalled from backup, which does not always work 100%
   
   So for this I give 2 extra stars over the 1 I'd normally give. BTW I should have removed one star again because of the confusing UI for the sync settings - they never do what I expect, especially with Outlook Sync or Music Sync.
   
   Once Android has developed to a non-Beta stage OS (perhaps from 3.0?) with universal desktop phone management software, I'll come back and remove 1 or 2 stars here. Just now, there's still something that this program can do better than the competition...

5. 
   Review - Where Is It?

   2010.104 (Jan 4, 2010)

   What F1Racer said.
   
   I have been using WII? to catalog backup media dating back more than 12 years (nevermind that some of the CDs have become unreadable; at least I still know what I've lost) and the catalog files themselves are now over a gigabyte, spanning some 600 DVD. With that many media, WII? is the fastest way I can find, say, img9803120001.jgp or that old backup of Paintshop Pro 3 or where I have stored the best quality version of xxxx.mp3 and so on. I love the option to save previews of many file types with the catalog, but unfortunately between versions I found myself unable to find that option again (there are definitely too many options for some things you can do) and missed saving previews on several thousand jpgs. 5 stars for the program minus 1 for, well, clustering too many options.

6. Comment - iPhones are for the rich, Androids for the rest of us [Infographic]

   2010.104 (Aug 16, 2011 - 7:52 PM)

   So every Android phone is priced the same?
   
   You might also say the same about "Mac vs. Windows" users but Windows users are spread from $300 computers all the way to $5,000 and up high end gaming rigs. The available spread for Apple computers is much narrower, and so it is for iPhones vs. phones running an Android OS.
   
   I wonder how an Infographic for "Ferrari vs. KIA Owners" would appear ^^

7. Comment - Foxconn to replace troublesome human beings with robots

   2010.104 (Aug 2, 2011 - 8:11 PM)

   Oh wow... how to break the modesty filter (obviously calibrated to pre-1960's morals and TV codes)? The word I'm trying to write is perfectly legal, I just write it backwards t-f-i-h-s there you have it.
   
   It's not that I've tried to quote George Carlin.

8. Comment - Foxconn to replace troublesome human beings with robots

   2010.104 (Aug 2, 2011 - 8:09 PM)

   Oh come on! I cannot write "sh_ifts" here? What will people think - am I talking about people s***ting on the can for 18 hours?

9. Comment - Foxconn to replace troublesome human beings with robots

   2010.104 (Aug 2, 2011 - 8:07 PM)

   Well, statistically, out of 1.2 million people, what would be the "natural" suicide rate? And if there really are 18 hour shifts - hard to believe if there's even a tiny quality requirement to the work performed - wouldn't it be "normal" to have the suicides performed at the workplace rather than in the 6 hours of free time (nothing ruins your time off more than a suicide)?
   
   I also feel that the performance of the "robots" is not as high as it should be. If the article states, "some" of the 1.2 million workers will be replaced by 1 million robots, for me "some" means less than half, so 2 robots would perform as well as 1 real person at best? Working 24 hours instead of the alleged 18? And in addition, requiring highly specialised technicians for maintenance and engineers for programming?
   
   Still, the numbers are staggering. In most countries, if you could put >1 million people in the same city, it would be the largest city in that country or at least among the Top 5! Not in China, of course, where a city of 1 million is referred to as a "town".
   
   One other thing: Since Foxconn is Taiwanese, and robots seem to replace most human labour soon, what's the point of having production in mainland China? Might as well move the assets closer to home or closer to the customers, with easier access to the educated labour required for robot maintenance and programming.

10. Comment - E-textbooks are destroying the old publishing business model

    2010.104 (Jul 17, 2011 - 7:34 PM)

    "faculty can remove content they don't want to use, or even modify information and share it with the students in their class"
    
    Nice way to have one book cater for both the evolution and "intelligent design" adherents. Let's hope that faculty always makes informed decisions before removing or changing parts.
    
    Alternatively or in addition, political change can now be reflected immediately in politics and history text books.
    
    What I wonder is this: Will the student obtain the right so "sell" the ebook license, or will the purchasing model be that of a fee with limited usage rights (e.g. expiry after 1-2 years, or after graduation)?