Archive for the Category ◊ software ◊

BattCursor
Thursday, August 06th, 2009 | Author:

image There are a lot of battery monitors out there that improve on the one built in to Windows. Some are better than others. Some are more visually appealing. But for those that totally live and die by their laptop battery, why not have your battery meter built right in to the mouse pointer. That, along with several other features is exactly what BattCursor does for you. Now you’ll never have to look down at that little tiny battery icon ever again.

GetFile image

imageSidebar Overlay bei niedrigem Energiestand image

Category: batteries, software  | Leave a Comment
Use Twitter in Outlook
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 | Author:

TwInbox Screenshot I pretty much live in Outlook. E-mail at the Commission runs on the state’s Exchange server and my use of Outlook allows me to sync my office and home PCs’ tasks and calendar via my Windows Mobile-running cell phone. Love it or hate it, I live in Outlook. So, when I heard about TwInbox, “the Twitter add-in for Microsoft Outlook” I was intrigued. A quick download and install and I had a new Twitter bar in my copy of Outlook.

Overall, the program is easy to setup and use. Just go into the options and supply your Twitter login information. (You’ll also want to choose a new folder for all your tweets in else they all end up in your Inbox.)

TwInbox 4

After a checking for new posts, all of your tweets will arrive as if they were individual e-mail messages. Posting and replying can be done via the Twitter bar at the top of Outlook.

TwInbox 1

Just like e-mail individual tweets can be opened, forwarded, filtered, searched, filed and printed.

TwInbox 2

Most interestingly, the program can also analyze all of your tweets and give you back some interesting statistics.

TwInbox 3

Overall it’s an interesting program. (Obviously I’ve not covered everything it can do.) But even with the way I work I don’t see the point. Tweets aren’t e-mail and to treat them as such sort of defeats the purpose. If I wanted to e-mail someone I’d send e-mail. Twitter just isn’t supposed to work this way. However, if your location blocks twitter.com I suppose this might be a suitable workaround.

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Keep your passwords safe
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 | Author:

main Speaking of using good passwords, they most definitely may not be as easy to remember as less secure passwords. How about trying some software to store your passwords. KeePass Password Safe is an open source and free program to do just that.

You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish).

Features include:

  • Strong Security
  • Multiple User Keys
  • Portable and No Installation Required
  • Export To TXT, HTML, XML and CSV Files
  • Import From Many File Formats
  • Easy Database Transfer
  • Support of Password Groups
  • Time Fields and Entry Attachments
  • Auto-Type, Global Auto-Type Hot Key and Drag&Drop
  • Intuitive and Secure Clipboard Handling
  • Searching and Sorting
  • Multi-Language Support
  • Strong Random Password Generator
  • Plugin Architecture
  • Open Source!
Category: opensource, security, software  | Leave a Comment
Find old versions of your favorite software
Wednesday, July 08th, 2009 | Author:

image Sometimes that new version of a program just won’t work. Maybe you’ve got an old PC that you’d like to set up for the public with basic Web surfing but it won’t run the latest and greatest software. And have you ever tried to find an old version of something on the publisher’s site? Good luck. Instead, check out OldVersion.com which contains and archive of hundreds of programs for easy downloading.

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Tweet Your PC
Tuesday, July 07th, 2009 | Author:

FileDownload Set up a Twitter account for your PC then install TweetMyPC on your Windows-based computer. Now, just send a tweet to that account you created and you can shutdown, restart or log off your PC via twitter.

A few notes from my experience in testing this:

  • Do not use your regular twitter account. Set you a separate account just for this or it won’t work.
  • TweetMyPC checks for new tweets once a minute. Because of this do not set it up then immediately leave your PC. Leave it running for a few minutes to make sure no errors are reported once you start it the first time. I did just that and came back a hour latter to 60+ errors on my screen that I had to clear.
Category: software, twitter  | Leave a Comment
Clean your iTunes library with meta-iPod
Monday, July 06th, 2009 | Author:

meta-iPod-icon-h400Those of us with large iTunes libraries know that getting all that metadata cleaned up can be difficult at best. meta-iPod is a free downloadable program for Windows that provides the following features:

  • File Metadata & iTunes Database Label Comparison
  • Album Art Download & iPod Transfer
  • iPod to iTunes Playlist Copy
  • iPod Play Count & Rating Recovery
  • Automatically Assign Ratings
  • iPod to iTunes Track Transfer
  • Scan folder sources & find tracks not in iTunes
  • Automatic Duplicate Track Removal
  • iTunes No-Location Track Finder

Each of these features can be run independently so if you feel that any of these features aren’t for you, there’s no need to run them. For example, I have a lot of Jazz in my collection. Therefore I have many different version of the same track by the same artist. Running “duplicate track removal” on my collection would be a disaster. On the other hand, I’ve found the “find tracks not in iTunes” feature very handy.

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Game Booster
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 | Author:

I will admit I don’t use my PC for gaming all that much so I’ve not used this program but I found it via a source I trust.

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Better Play Experience!
Designed to help optimize your PC for smoother, more responsive game play in the latest PC games with the touch of a button, Game Booster helps achieve the performance edge previously only available to highly technical enthusiasts. It works by temporarily shutting down background processes, cleaning RAM, and intensifying processor performance. That means you can keep all the features of Microsoft? Windows Vista? and XP? ready for when you need them, but turn them off when you are ready to get down to serious business – gaming. Game Booster makes it simpler to enjoy the latest games and take your experience to a new level. All systems go!

Category: gaming, software  | Leave a Comment
Get Rid of Your Orphans
Monday, June 15th, 2009 | Author:

screenshotEver look through your Windows start menu, especially those of you still on XP, and count how many shortcuts are listed for programs that are no longer installed on your computer? “Endless” seems to be the right number in many cases. This problem stems from uninstall programs, not cleaning up after themselves. Oh, and don’t bother removing them manually, it’s a tedious process at best. (This I say from experience.)

OrphansRemover to the rescue. Just install and run this small program and it will find all the orphaned shortcuts in not only your start menu but in other locations on your computer. What could be simpler?

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Another way to keep your PC up-to-date
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 | Author:

RadarSync Previously I’ve mentioned Secunia PSI, software that will scan your computer for insecure software. As important as that software is on all the computers I run, it doesn’t actually find everything. The key is the difference between “insecure” and “out-of-date”. In other words, you might have a program that has no known security vulnerabilities on your computer, but that doesn’t mean it’s the current version. To check for current versions try RadarSync.

Once downloaded and installed RadarSync quickly scans your system looking at the version numbers of your installed programs and hardware drivers. Those numbers will be run against it’s list of current versions. If there’s a newer version available you’ll be given the ability to directly download the new version. Once downloaded you’ll be able to install it directly with the option to first create a system restore point. (I recommend this should you be updating drivers.)

Now that I’ve run both Secunia PSI and Radar Sync, all of my home computers are completely up-to-date and secure. (As secure as any computer can be anyway.)

RadarSync does have a few additional features, such as “packaging” software downloads but that required registration and/or a fee so I’ll not get into them here.

Category: security, software  | Leave a Comment
Control Your Phone via Your Computer
Wednesday, June 03rd, 2009 | Author:

image I’ve found myself preparing several presentations on mobile technology lately and one of the central topics of these presentations will be what you can do with cell phones. My phone is a Motorola Q9c which runs the Windows Mobile OS. The biggest problem has been how to show what’s going on on a 2 inch screen to a room full of people. I’ve finally found a solution for Windows Mobile phones named MyMobiler. Just install this small program and then connect your phone to your computer. Once connected launch the program and you’ll be able to:

  • View your mobile screen on your desktop.
  • Control your mobile by using desktop keyboard and mouse.
  • Copy/Cut/Paste text between mobile and desktop.
  • Capture mobile screen as a screenshot.
  • Create a screencast of you using your phone.
  • Drag and drop files to your mobile.
  • Support ActiveSync / IP Connection
  • Support Mobile Explorer (File Browse)

This little program has removed the need for me to take any more photographs of my phone with my digital camera. I can’t wait to try controlling my phone live on the screen in a future presentation.

Category: mobile, software  | Leave a Comment
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