Activity for November 18

Review - AVG Anti-Virus Free
9.0.707a1765 (Nov 18, 2009)

Once again a good release once "properly" configured:

a.) It's 2009 not 1989, make sure your PC has at LEAST 1gig ram and Pentium 4 2ghz or faster. You can buy a windows based 2ghz/2gig ram/160gig/DVD burner desktop for about $278 at Waly Mart now. Hardware is ridiculously cheap. Computers are not meant to be 20yr old appliances.

b.) choose "custom" setup and uncheck everything (leaving only the core AV itself).

c.) later during setup, DISABLE "daily scanning" option.

d.) for added security (especially friends and family) you need to judge whether or not they are competent to know safe computing practices. If they are "download and click" happy or not as knowledgeable, then consider setting them as standard or limited user rights WITHOUT admin rights. There is NO OS that is 100% secure. Even Linux/OSX with root password in the hands of the wrong user is dangerous.

e.) for friends and family of your choosing, consider installing teamviewer (installed as a service) for easy remote administration.

f.) sit back relax and have a beer
Review - VSO Image Resizer
3.0.1.1 (Nov 17, 2009)

Meh.. it works but there are MUCH better (and nag free) alternatives

http://www.faststone.org/FSResizerDetail.htm
(windows freeware personal use)

http://photobatch.stani.be/
(multiplatform freeware)

http://www.codeplex.com/ImageResizer
(context menu based resizer)
Review - FreeCommander
2009.02a (Nov 17, 2009)

Working great, seems to load faster than before

@anomoly - USB flash drive letter refresh works properly, make sure "extras>settings>auto refresh on drive" the "fixed/removeabke/remote" is checked ON

@tux - to get tree explorer style,

a.) click somewhere on the left pane window
b.) go to top menu and click view>tree
c.) go to top menu, and go to view>split window>split 100/0

And that should do it.

Personally, I use horizontal split with tree explorer view which gives more room for long filenames.

Another little known but cool alternative freeware "dual pane" file manager is Nexusfile:

http://xiles.net/programs

And the old school windows file manager, which I sometimes use because it still works well.

http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~davidsch/vistafm/
Review - Paint.NET
3.50 (Nov 7, 2009)

Great freeware app that has evolved nicely in a relatively short period of time. Incredibly easy to use and very intuitive. Great for touch-ups, logos, web graphics, simple layering and text effects. Supports third party plugins for additional features, just google "paint.net plugins".

@rom8_3139
for missing spray paint feature, simply use the spray paint add-in: (part of plugin pack)

http://www.isimonbrown.co.uk/plugin-pack.htm

free GIMP "brushes" for the spray paint addin above:
http://www.techzilo.com/gimp-brushes

free paint.net tutorials:
http://www.youtube.com/r...al&orig_query_src=4
Review - AbiWord for Windows
2.8.1 (Oct 30, 2009)

Wow this thing evolves WAY too slow. It's good for VERY basic docs. But there are better alternatives when you start to add tables/pictures/columns AND have to maintain close to perfect msoffice compatibility. (which today is STILL important when you have to send sending resumes/ebusiness documents/etc)

Softmaker office 2006 is also free, lightweight and fast to load, handles image placement better than abiword, and has better word and excel cross compatibility than Abiword and even openoffice (no I don't work for them but try it yourself):

http://www.softmakeroffice.com

Needs registering, but if you open and close it a couple times you'll get a dialog box to skip registration altogether.
Comment - Unconvinced by Windows 7? Ubuntu 9.10 debuted today!
2.8.1 (Oct 30, 2009 - 8:12 AM)

I found another parody site worth looking into:

http://ubuntard.com

Make sure to read the buglist before installing this version:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/karmic/+bugs
Comment - Microsoft wins round one in its battle against Vista
2.8.1 (Oct 29, 2009 - 12:22 PM)

Can it play Counterstrike Source natively or play blu ray movies yet?
Comment - Microsoft wins round one in its battle against Vista
2.8.1 (Oct 29, 2009 - 12:06 PM)

Just to clarify, Retail/Home Vista "retail" support will end in 2012, while business will get extended support/security updates into 2017. I think you can still apply a majority of future security updates/fixes for all versions of Vista until 2017. If not via windowsupdates then via autopatcher.
Comment - Toshiba's $249 Blu-ray player vs. $299 PS3: The choice is obvious
2.8.1 (Sep 3, 2009 - 7:38 PM)

I'd imagine the price would drop to $199 or $179 within a year. Whereas PS3 would likely stay at that pricepoint until Sony tells them otherwise [due to Manufacturer Minimum Advertised Price ( MAP )]

I would be interested to learn if any of the up-conversion/post processing SD tricks from the XDE-500 are in the unit.

Guess we'll have to wait and see..
Comment - Windows 7: Don't upgrade, says FSF, your civil rights are in jeopardy
2.8.1 (Aug 26, 2009 - 1:28 PM)

Looks like they're looking for a FUD manager, er campaign manager:

http://www.fsf.org/news/campaigns-manager

In addition to spreading zealotry, use common Linux Desktop excuses from the following:

YouDontNeedThatFeature(TM)
ItsNotAnIssueAnymore(TM)
JustRunItInWine(TM)
MyRealityBeatsYourReality(TM)
Tick-leMyKernel (TM)
WhoNeedsRibbons?(TM)
UseDistroX IfYouWantThat(TM)
We'reOnly18MonthsBehind(TM)
UseLatexInsteadOfWord(TM)
WhyCreateBoldButtonInGimp?(TM)
UseEsotericWorkarounds(TM)
DualBootIfYouNeedApps(TM)
NobodyUsesDualMonitors(TM)
YouOnlyNeed1SoundChannel(TM)
NeckBeardsAreCool(TM)
Make100DEBfilesToDistributeIt(TM)
WhyFixIssuesMakeNewDistrosInstead(TM)
OnlyProgrammersKnowUseability(TM)
BreakYourPulseaudio(TM)
TuxRacerBeatsDoom4(TM)
3DGamesAreUselessUtilities(TM)

and many more!